Goblins Vs Ogre Kingdoms, 2.5k, Catchweb and 3 Shaman

[Apaosa]

Yesterday I played against a quite tough OK army. Things did not go my way until the very end and, as bad as it was, it was nearly game winning.

Ogre Kingdoms:

Slaughtermaster - Grut's Sickle
Bruiser BSB
Firebelly - GW, Potion of Speed

16 Ironguts w/ Dragonhide

7 Leadbelchers
8 Leadbelchers

4 Maneaters w/ Brace of Handguns, Poison, Sniper
Ironblaster

Yep, a shooty ogre army backed by a horde of Ironguts.

As with the past game:

Goblin Great Shaman w/ Arachnarok, Catchweb, Ironcurse
Goblin Warboss w/ Opal Amulet, Charmed Shield, Other Trickster's

Goblin Big Boss, BSB, Spider Banner, Shortbow
Night Goblin Shaman, Lvl 2 (2, 6 - Horde)
Night Goblin Shaman, Lvl 2 (3, 5 - Bunker)
Night Goblin Shaman, Lvl 2 (1, 4 - Bows)

20 Goblins, Shortbow Shield, SB Mus, Skulkers x 3
49 Night Goblins, Spears, Nets, SB Mus, Fanatics x 3
38 Night Goblins, Short Bows, SB Mus, Fanatics x 2
5 Wolf Riders

8 Trolls
24 Squigs / 16 Herders

Mangler
Mangler
Doom Diver
Doom Diver

Due to those maneaters, if I don't have cover for the unit, I'll be losing a character a turn. One of the few games where I actually chose to keep Nightshroud. The Firebelly was quite a threat to me. With that potion, he can breath on my trolls and negate regen before anything else in the unit swings. The horde I pretty much couldn't face head on with any of my units, ever. Even with a frontage of 5 models, he'll have 36 attacks into my Night Goblins. I'll hold, but for 2 combat phases at best. I think my anxiety about that unit got the best of me. I probably should have faced it head on with the 5x10 block and try to get a flank with the squigs. However, 16 leadbelchers can really put hurt on a squig block.

Again, the we rolled up scenario 1.

Deployment


I was able to set up a refused flank, somewhat. Every character was in cover from his Maneaters and my GGS was screened by my trolls from his Ironblaster. OK won the roll to go first.

This post has been edited by Apaosa on Dec 22 2011, 06:35 PM

[Apaosa]

Complicated game with the movement. It was hard to accurately portray the final turn, so you'll notice a little jump so I could best convey the situation.

Turn 1 - Ogres



Everything advances. Maneaters put a wound on the mangler. His cannon shoots at the Arachnarok. With a troll screen, I believe the chance to kill the shaman is roughly 23%... and he got em. I suppose I could have turned sideways and improve my odds slightly.

Turn 1 - Gobs



Squigs fail animosity, can't move. General's unit passes, but the archers fail and lock both units down. Attempted a Bad Moon and got IF, miscast reduces his levels to 0. Worse, I rolled really high for the distance and it ended up passing through the unit, instead of potentially blocking movement. I also should have sent it at the IGs. Both doom divers put wounds on the Maneaters.

Turn 2 - Ogres



Maneaters snipe one mangler and the Leadbelchers splatter another. Luckily the Ironblaster misfires and destroys the cannon.

Turn 2 - Gobs



Things move to avoid combat. A boosted Glare kills a maneater and they fail their leadership check. Ironguts are reduced to movement 2. Doom Divers focus on the Leadbelchers.

Turn 3 - Ogres



He charges in with the Firebelly unit and the chariot, but the Firebelly fails the charge. Ironguts march their 4" and the other Leadbelchers advance. Maneaters rally. During magic I prevent Flaming Sword that would have been cast on the chariot. Trolls win combat, but failed all their regen saves... 2 trolls down.

Turn 3 - Gobs



Everything moves to position on the ogres and to allow flee reactions. Magic is uneventful, low rolls and no channels. Between one doom diver and the shortbows, I drop two FB Leadbelchers.

Turn 4 - Ogres



Just ick... I flee with my spear gobs as planned, but my general fails his leadership with reroll and also flees. Which is particularly bad, my trolls are now out of his range if he rallies.

Turn 4 - Gobs



My general rallies and the night gobs keep running going off the board. The trolls fail their stupid check and wander forward. Magic is meh. During shooting I blow up one doomdiver, the other panics and is locked down, and my general fails his leadership and runs off the board as well.

Turn 5 - Ogres



The Firebelly finally reaches my trolls and they lose as expected, He pursues and catches them, and I'm ok with that. I just realized that I have a very high potential to win on the next turn. I realize I haven't touched his army much, but I think he's about to lose his full Irongut unit.

Turn 5 - Gobs

I fail animosity on my squigs...



By failing, I pivot and face the nearest in LoS and must charge them. I had a flank charge on his Ironguts who were standing in some woods and my remaining shaman had Gork'll Fix It. Instead, I charge the Firebelly unit and I'm stuck in the front arc of the incoming horde.

A great game overall. I was on my backfoot the whole time and nearly pulled off an upset. I need to keep my warmarchines split up a bit more to prevent panic lock-down if one blows up. Also, I should have started with my Arach sideways, to reduce my depth. Again, I should potentially try to take his IG unit head on instead of avoiding... although it'll require a Gork'll and a Poison on my attacking units.

[Gobso]

Cool report- looks like you had a lot of harsh, Gobliny bad luck. Are you sure he didn't have Crown of Command in his deathstar? It'd be crazy if he didn't. I've faced Ogres twice, and both games have ended up similar to you, I've completely outmanoeuvred them while feeding them bits of my army, and then hit them from multiple sides with my strongest unit... only to be told "Crown of Command", and so it's all for nothing...

[Apaosa]

I really don't think he did... I think he was relying solely on the 54+ S6 attacks w/ Dragonhide. Crown is only useful if you lose combat.

Two units of 8 Leadbelchers is particularly rough. I couldn't near his line without eating a face full of lead.

I think in order to break his frontage I would need to have my GGS alive for spell saturation. My goal would be to Itchy-Up the IGs, Gork the LBs, and get my squigs into those same LBs th next turn. If I could Gork both LBs, that would be even better. Not thrilled about facing 15d6 shots on my herd without the LBs re-rolling 6s, even if it is only for one turn before I can charge.

[Gobso]

It's a little thoughtless to wave it off by thinking things like "Crown is only useful if you lose combat". If he did have it, then it allowed him to freely move his unit into a position where ordinarily it would be a problem- it seems from your diagram he declared a long charge in turn 5 which he failed. If he had Crown of Command, then he'd have been exceedingly happy to put himself into the position where your unit charges in, does some damage, but achieves nothing, and then lets him reform and utterly annihilate you in the next combat phase.

Every single Ogre player I've encountered uses it, without fail. I'm not saying that means he had it, but you should really ask him if he did, because that means a complete change in tactics! Sadly, from, "avoid all game then smash him in the flanks" to "just avoid him, stupid game..."

[Apaosa]

Should have been more specific with my first reply... No, he didn't have the crown. His Slaughtermaster had Grut's and a Talisman, his BSB had the 4+ ward armor.

If he did have the crown, I would have had to go head on and drop the character first. With the amount of bad luck I had, if he had the crown, it would have been over much sooner. I know I'd have to nail him with a large choppy block...but with those 15 Leadbelchers, it would be hard to get any unit close and still be combat able.

This post has been edited by Apaosa on Dec 23 2011, 05:53 AM