1st Battle As An Ong General!, 2225 pt Bret vs OnC

So for my debut as a Warboss I played a 2225 pt pitched battle. I wasn't very sure how I would do and really did not have a large choice for my army. My list was my first attempt at making a balanced force that would hopefully be able to take on any army he could throw against me. In the days before we had talked a bit about our game and he told me he was either going to play Empire or Bretonnians (from what he had said he had enough Empire that he converted his extra models to make Bretonnians with a few exceptions like his Damsels and Pegasus Knights). With this in mind I tried to make an army that could either deal with a lot of Knights if he went with Bretonnians or the block troops that come with a standard Empire force. The following is a quick recap of our battle.

2225pt Pitched Battle, Orcs and Goblins vs Bretonnia

Bretonnia List

Bretonnian Lord 234pts
Sword of Heroes, Mantle of Damsel Elena, Cuirass of Fortune, Virtue of the Joust, Warhorse

Paladin BSB 124pts
Gromril Great Helm, Virtue of Purity, Warhorse

Paladin 160pts
Enchanted Shield,Virtue of Heroism, Royal Pegasus

Damsel of the Lady 130pts
x2 Dispel Scroll, Warhorse

8 Knights of the Realm 241pts
War Banner, Full Command

8 Knights of the Realm 216pts
Full Command

8 Knights of the Realm 216pts
Full Command

5 Knights Errant 100pts
Cavalier

5 Knights Errant 100pts
Cavalier

10 Peasant Bowmen 65pts

14 Peasant Bowmen Skirmishers

3 Pegasus Knights 175pts
Gallant

5 Mounted Yeomen 80pts

5 Grail Knights 220pts
Standard, Musician

Field Trebuchet 90pts

Orc and Goblin List

Black Orc Warboss 241pts
Heavy Armor, Ulags Akrit Axe, Effigy of Mork, Bigged's Kickin' Boots

Orc Big Boss BSB 122pts
Nogg's Banner of Butchery

Night Goblin Shaman 100pts
x2 Dispel Scroll

Night Goblin Shaman 135pts
lvl 2, Staff of Sneaky Stealin'

20 Orc Boyz Big 'Uns 250pts
Extra Choppa', Musician, Boss (BSB joined unit)

20 Orc Boyz 150pts
Shields, Full Command

20 Night Goblins 122pts
Standard, Musician, 2 Fanatics (Lvl. 1 Shaman joined)

20 Night Goblins 142pts
Spears, Standard, Musician, 2 Fanatics (Lvl. 2 Shaman joined)

10 Arrer Boyz 60pts

5 Forest Spider Riders 65pts

5 Forest Spider Riders 65pts

Orc Boar Chariot 80pts

20 Black Orcs
Full Command (Warboss joined)

2 Goblin Spear Chukka's 70pts

Grug Bub the Giant 205pts

3 Trolls 120pts

Setup

He lined up with all his Knights of the Realm and Knights Errant forming a solid block of cavalry. He put his Grail Knights, Pegasus Knights and Skirmishers on his right flank while putting his Bowmen, Trebuchet, and Paladin on Pegasus on his right flank. I on the other hand had my 2 units of Orcs, 2 units of Goblins, my Chariot, Giant, and Black Orcs in the middle. The Goblins were about 2-4 inches ahead of the rest so that I could use my Fanatics as troublemakers. I had my Spear Chukka's and a unit of Spider Riders on my left while my Trolls, Arrer Boyz, and other unit of Spider Riders taking the right. Before the battle I donned my (hopefully) good luck charm, The Grumpy Hat of Grump'n (a Disney Santa hat but made for Grumpy the Dwarf from Snow White, it allows re-rolls on anger tests during the game and any misunderstandings, it also calls upon the dice gods for luck). Thankfully I did as you will find out soon.

Unfortunately I do not remember everything turn by turn but will go over some important parts and very memorable parts.

Turn 1 was very interesting. To start off I got the first turn due to his praying. So after rolling for Animosity much to my dismay one Spear Chukka, the unit of Orcs Big Un's, my Chariot, and Arrer Boyz all failed their tests. On top of that my Trolls fell prey to Stupidity and stumbled forward at their own pace. Not a very good start. So everything that did not break out into a brawl pushed forward. Both of my units of Spider Riders shot ahead to threaten the flanks and Grug Bub ran ahead with every intention of playing with the new little shinny things that are staring him down. Then we moved to the magic phase and so I don't waste space and time on it let's just say that I either rolled crap to cast or the Damsel dispelled whatever I got off. After that we got to the shooting phase and my non-squabbling Chukka hit his unit of Knights of the Realm w/his general head on taking out 3 knights!

He responded by advancing at almost a snails pace with his central block of Knights. He did however run his Yeomen all ahead full to try and draw out some of the Fanatics, which they succeeded in. One unit sent 1 Fanatic directly into the Yeomen (to which I rolled a 1 on the number of hits and another 1 to wound doing jack squat) while another spun off to the left to try and hold up his Grail Knights and Pegasus Knights. His Pegasus Knights surged ahead on his right flank flying over the Fanatic and charged the unit of Spider Riders threatening to slip into the flank of his main blaock. The Grail Knights held back wearily eying the whirling Fanatic. On the left flank 1 unit of Knights Errant and his Paladin on Pegasus, seeing a tasty way to prove their worth charged Grub Bub. The Knights Errant triggered the other 2 Fanatics who both reached the young Knights and promptly failed to wound a single Knight. He never really used his magic phase the entire game so no use talking about that. His Trebuchet took aim, and missed terribly but his unit of archers was able to turn one of my Fanatics into a pin cushion thoroughly killing it. His Pegasus Knights easily beat and routed the Spider Riders and were able to hold off the pursue and readied themselves to charge the Chukka's next turn. In the ensuing combat his Knights Errant failed to even scratch Grub Bub. His Paladin then took aim with his Killing Blow...and only managed to cause 1 wound on Grub Bub. Not liking that at all Grub Bub reached down and plucked the pesky Paladin off his mount, ignored his attempts to stab him in the arm, and quickly swallowed him whole, proceeding to win the combat. This is where the game not only turned in my favor but took a short downward turn. My opponent had a little tiff and did not seem to think that Grub Bub could pick out the Paladin and then eat him that easily. I pointed out the rules in the book on top of a few on lookers and myself explaining that it made perfect sense. After discussing it, and taking a short break to cool down we continued and I will say had a good rest of the match.

On my next turn the dice gods smiled upon me and none of my units failed their Animosity tests! My Trolls however were again too stupid to follow instructions. With the bulk of the Bretonnians hanging back waiting for me to come to them I declared the only charge I had and my Chariot shot forward into the Knights Errant currently locked in combat with Grub Bub. I did manage to rally my 2 remaining Spider Riders on the left flank (this comes in handy later). My Fanatics spun around with 3 of the 4 bumbling around not really anywhere near the enemy but still out in front of his main line. The other however barley nicked the corner of a unit of Knights of the Realm and this time managed to take 2 of the buggers down. The rest of my units ran forward hoping to eventually find combat. Then the Magic again was nowhere to be found but my Chukka's took aim and both took down 3 Knights a piece (my Goblins were military trained snipers, who knew hehehe). The Chariot slammed into the Knights and quickly and brutally annihilated the entire unit. Not having to slow down in the slightest it rumbled on towards the pesky Archers and Trebuchet while Grub Bub stood there confused as his shiny tows were all suddenly not so shiny after a whirl of dust, hooves, and screaming.

Now for his turn. His Pegasus Knights charged 1 of my Chukka's and his Grail Knights tried to charge the other but came up 2" short and sputtered out halfway there. The bulk of his army again inched forward kept at bay by my insane little Fanatics. His shooting phase saw his Trebuchet almost hit something while his archers managed to stick Grub Bub full of arrows. Thankfully only one was deep enough to wound so no real harm done. The Pegasus Knights flat out destroyed my Chukka team and overran into the other.

My 3rd turn saw my Arrer Boyz decide to see who could pick the biggest booger instead of do what they were told and my trolls again stumbled ahead stupidly (note to self work on better leadership for them). My Chariot kicked it into high gear and proceeded to run his Trebuchet crew right off the board. Seeing the Grail Knights failing their charge the unit of Big Un's decided to try and pull off a very complicated "Wheel and Charge," which they missed by centimeters, while running headlong into the Fanatic holding the Knights at bay. Figuring they would be counter charged I hoped for the best. On a side note my Fanatic finally managed to wound something, too bad it was 3 of my Big Un's, oh well lol. With nothing else even close to being within range to charge I moved my center ahead and just accepted that I would have to be charged on his terms if I wanted to see combat. Then my surviving Fanatics moved on and started to hit the right targets. One stumbled around hitting no one but came very close to a unit of Knights of the Realm. The other 2 however both managed to connect with different units of Knights killing either 4 or 5 (the one that took a few of my Boyz down rolled an 11 and thankfully just missed some woods to connect with a unit of Knights!). At the end of the turn I realized I had completely forgot to get Grub Bub in on the action and cursed myself for leaving him out in the open.

Thankfully though the Fanatic that did not make contact with anything perfectly blocked Grub Bub from being charged! My opponent finally declared charges and got his Grail Knights into contact with my Big Un's, bypassed charging my Black Orcs for charging a unit of Knight Goblins, and charged my other unit of Spider Riders on his left flank. The rest of his Knights held hoping to get a counter charge in or admire their comrades or something for god knows what reason. His archers tried to shoot Grub Bub again but missed and so we moved onto the combats in the middle. The Grail Knights and Big Un's fought to a rather pathetic win for the Big Un's. I say pathetic because neither of us killed a single opponent and the Knights easily passed their break test. The Pegasus Knights again picked apart my Chukka crew and barely caught the edge of the flank of my Big Un's (crap!). His Knights whooped my Night Goblins and over ran them almost off the back edge of the board while his other Knights broke and ran down my Spider Riders off the board on his left flank.

Bracing myself for the combat with the Big Un's, Grub Bub and my unit of Black Orcs turned and readied themselves to charge the flank of the unit of Knights who hand overrun the Night Goblins. My other unit of Night Goblins managed to sneak out a flank charge on his unit of Knights of the Realm that my other unit of Boyz had failed to charge more out of making it clear that my opponent could easily charge them if he wanted to than trying to actually get to them. Not wanting to be out of the fun for long the remaining Fanatics all managed to hit a unit and each killed at least 2 Knights, one completely wiping out the rest of a unit he had managed to run through then turn around and come back through. The Arrer Boyz took aim and managed to kill a few archers in the distance and again my magic didn't want to show up. In the combat phase I used the ability of the Banner of Butchery which helped me hold off the Grail Knights and Pegasus Knights (oh which I killed enough to knock down the units strength to negate the flank charge bonus in CR) and win the fight but the pesky Knights both decided they wanted to keep fighting. Surprisingly my Night Goblins were able to beat the Knights and send them packing out of the Night Goblins pursue move. Even funnier, the Skirmish Archers passed their ensuing break test with a 3 and stuck around while the Knights ran like little girls.

On his turn he rallied his running Knights, brought his other unit back onto the board after they chased down my Spider Riders on his left flank, and turned his General's unit to face my Black Orcs and Grub Bub. His archers took aim and again littered Grub Bub with arrows and this time not a single one did more than bounce off. The only combat on the table was between the Grail and Pegasus Knights and the Big Un's. Both sides took a small amount of casualties but came to a draw and so lived to fight again.

This turn for me was where the game fell apart for the Bretonnians. First my Chariot moved back onto the board and readied to charge the rear of the unit of Archers. My Night Goblins recharged the recently rallied Knights. My Black Orcs roared happily now that someone was within range and took off at full speed alongside Grub Bub right at the Bretonnian General...who turned tail and ran. Upon running away he moved his General's unit directly away from the charge and right in front of the all but forgotten unit of 2 Spider Riders. Still being able to charge them, they did just that...and his General choose to flee again. This time luck was on my side and I was able to catch and run down his General and remaining Knight with my 2 Spider Riders. My Trolls passed their Stupidity roll and declared a charge on his unit of Knights who had recently returned to the board...and they turned tail and ran right off the board. So after watching in disbelief as brave Knights ran away left and right I moved to my Fanatics who didn't touch a things. In the shooting phase my Arrer Boyz managed to take down a few Skirmish Bowmen. The combat on my left flank between the Big Un's and Knights ended with only 1 Grail Knight and 1 Pegasus Knight left to my 13-15 Big Un's. Easily won, yes, did they flee, hell no! Wanting to show up the rest of the army my Night Goblins again beat the Knights (this time head on) and both myself and my opponent could only laugh as they turned tail and ran while the Skirmish Archers right next to them stood fast. At that point all my opponent had left were 1 Pegasus Knight, 1 Grail Knight, his 14 Skirmish Bowmen, what was left of his Archers (who were going to be smashed next turn), and his fleeing Knights. Needless to say we called the game cause I still had my Giant, a unit of Night Goblins, and my Trolls, Black Orcs, and Boyz all of which had yet to be touched.

Well maybe I remembered more than I thought. In hindsight I did a number of things wrong, from leaving my left flank almost completely open to not even getting my biggest, hardest hitting unit into combat. I do have to say that the Man of the Match was my Fanatics. While the Chukka's and Giant did a lot (like taking out a Hero turn 1), 3 of my 4 Fanatics survived and easily got their points worth and then some in kills. Thankfully my opponent wasn't too sore a sport and we both had a good laugh at how horribly things went wrong for him. He vowed to give me a proper good kicking next time and we went our separate ways. I think I as very lucky and hope to not rely on that much luck in future games but can't complain with an all out massacre like that as my first victory.

Congrats on the win and thanks for sharing.

Just one or quick notes, your units are small they could do with additional boy or 3.

Also don't put your warboss with the BOrcs. Put him with a unit of normal boyz so that they benefit from being with the army general if you call a Waaagh.

Cool report, thanks for writing it! Next time though, keep in mind that war machines and chariots don't test for animosity

i dont know if u guys would agree with me on this but i think the opponent in this case should declare what army he's using, otherwise he has an unfair advantage as he knows exactly what army u r going to use and you have to prepare for several different armies.

I completely missed that little line in the rulebook stating that War Machines and Chariots don't test. Boy I feel stupid. Oh well, it worked in my favor. I may have missed shooting with one of my Chukka's but because the Chariot didn't move ahead turn 1 it was able to charge the Knights Errant and destroyed the whole unit on the charge so it all worked out.

As for the declaring what army to play. I did not mind as much due to my limited army selection. On top of that, I was itching to play with my new army so I really didn't care who or what I played as long as I got to play.

Quick question. With the spear chukka, doesn't it just go through ranks, doing d3 dmg to each model it hits, instead of that many wounds to the whole unit? Just asking for future reference, I don't actually use that much artillery m'self.

Sounds like you had a fun game!

A couple of small things with the rules for next time, as said above no animosity for chariots or warmachines, the chukka only does D3 wounds to each model it goes through not each rank (and there is no overkill for these wounds, you just kill that individual model 3 times over lol, no point in rolling for models with only one wound). Also with your charges you have to declare them all first, then he decides what reactions to do. So with his general on the last round you should have declared both the spider riders and the black orcs charging the unit, and then he decides if he wants to flee or not, doing so from the unit with the highest unit strength (black orcs in this case). Other than that you looked fine!

One last thing I will say tactics wise is agreeing with Grimzag and saying you really dont need your general in the unit of Black Orcs unless you're against a really elite army, as being able to have two units auto-WAAAGH! is very handy to have. Also if you have any points spare I would consider giving your warboss a boar to ride, he can still go into a unit of infantry but then adds effectivly another model to the rank, gets an extra S3 or S5 attack & gets +2 to his armour save, which is worth the points IMO.

Anyway, good luck with your next game, and keep up the great reports!

Arfa da Grate

I guess I didn't really describe what happened very well. I declaired the charge with the black orcs first. His general chose to flee and that put them literally an inch in front of my spider riders. He then said that I could charge his general's unit if I wanted with my spiders. I, having not played in like 5-6 years, figured he wouldn't be offering that if it wasn't in the rules so I charged. He declaired a second flee but only rolled like a 3 or 4 on his flee roll (with 3 dice, hehe) and I easily caught him. I was a little confused with that but as I said was not 100% on the rules and he assured me I could do it.

I have also since put my General in a unit of Big 'Uns with extra Choppa instead of the Black Orc unit. It did help me in my last game against DE cause the unit the Black Orcs charged had an Assassin and only got to take out a champion instead of my general. So I'm glad for that advice and greatfully took it (hehe). On top of that my general and his Big 'Uns went on a killing spree taking out at least 3 units (1 of which was a blood cauldron!).

Cheers!