Monkey invited me over for a game of Warmahordes in March, with each of us having not played in a while (Monkey at Cancon, me not since December!). The game was at 75 points, and we rolled for scenario getting Entrenched. I chose Bunker as my objective, whilst Monkey picked Effigy of Valour.
Monkey’s list
My List
Ragnor Skysplitter
Trollkin Runebearer
Dire Troll Mauler
Dire Troll Bomber
Troll Bouncer
Troll Axer
Horgle Ironstrike
Pyre Troll
Fell Caller Hero
Krielstone Bearer & Stone Scribes
Stone Scribe Elder
Northkin Fire Eaters
Trollkin Runeshapers
Deployment
Monkey packs in a tight box in the centre of the board. I have a heavy left flack, which is intended to steamroll his objective and keep him out of his zone. In hindsight, I made a mistake here as my bomber was too far on the flank and should’ve been closer to the centre. With the heavy presence on that side of the field, I leave the units (Fireeaters and Runeshapers), as well as Horgle and his Pyre Troll to guard my zone.
Turn One
Monkey unpacks his army, with Handsome Jack sitting right in the middle of the field, with it feeling like it threatens everywhere. Monkey pops off a few spells across his army.
I unpack my army, beginning to execute on the plan and rushing towards Monkey’s objective. My Fireeaters charge Monkey’s Magehunter assassins, and whilst they fall short, they have the assault special move, so can make their spray attack. I make another critical mistake here, charging only one of the assassins, rather than both, as I was thinking that units operated as units in this game (I’m sure my 40k hangover will clear one day…). With boosted attack rolls from being set on fire by the Pyre Troll, the assassin that was charged turns into a splatter.
Turn Two
Monkey starts out using Handsome Jack’s Sentry ability to shoot at the Fireeaters, but misses.
Banshee activates and moves within 10” of the Dire Troll Mauler, also placing it within the zone, and makes a boosted Force Cannon attack on the Dire Troll Mauler. This misses with a stunning roll of triple ones!
The remaining Mage Hunter Assassin charges the Dire Troll Mauler and hits for six damage due to it’s decapitation special rule.
The Manticore moves out to Monkey’s left flank, shooting at the Fireeaters, with two shots (it rolls a D3 to determine how many times it can shoot). These shots each kill one a Fireeater, with one of them left remaining.
Handsome Jack shuffles forward slightly and starts unloading. It’s Starburst cannon fires ont eh Fell Caller Hero, but fails to topple him, with one Thresher cannon then finishing the job. The other Thresher Cannon fires at the remaining Fireeater and kills him.
Hypnos moves up and fires at the Dire Troll Bomber, causing six damage, but the blast fails to hurt anyone around him.
Imperatus moves forward but falls short on range, with the rest of Monkey’s mans then falling in behind the wall of ‘jacks.
I start off with Ragnor, I state he’s popping his feat, and he then charges the Mage Hunter Assassin, crushing it’s head with Rumbler. I declare again that this is my feat turn, before casting Pulveriser on the Dire Troll Mauler. I confirm with Monkey that I’ve popped my feat before moving on…
The Axer moves to the Banshee and makes an attack which causes six damage.
The Dire Troll Mauler then wails on the Banshee also, hitting twice for a large amount of damage, before getting a free throw, which he uses to toss Banshee into a nearby Arcanist.
The Runebearer uses Shockwave on Imperatus, which causes Knock Down on him and Monkey’s caster, but limited damage.
The Runeshapers then use their rockhammer spell on the knocked down Imperatus, causing a bunch more damage.
The Dire Troll Bomber charges Monkey’s objective and does a few points of damage to it.
Turn Three
Monkey uses Handsome Jack’s Sentry attack on the Pyre Troll but misses.
Hypnos moves to the Dire Troll Maulers back arc and makes a strike on him.
The Arcanists activate, moving up and dishing out focus to a few ‘jacks.
Banshee gets back up and moves into the zone.
Imperatus repairs four shield boxes (which should’ve been done in the maintenance phase, but I very graciously let Monkey have it). Then uses his Thermal Blades on the Dire Troll Mauler, dealing six damage.
Monkey’s caster runs and hides
The Manticore boosts his strength and moves towards the Pyre Troll, hitting and then buying a bunch of attacks to ultimately kill him.
Handsome Jack moves to the Dire Troll Mauler and Troll Axer, killing the Dire Troll Mauler with his first attack, before wailing on the Axer a bit. He then shoots and kills a Runeshaper with Starburst Cannon, before firing both Thresher Cannons at the Runeshapers, which annihilates one, and sees the other reduced to one wound (after passing his tough roll).
I spend a bit of time thinking through what I could possibly achieve, as it’s not looking good, with the Mauler and both units down.
Ragnor starts by running away and then casting Shockwave on the Manticore. The running away is both to get him away from a potential assassination run and to try and get to my zone for control points.
Most of my army shifts across with Ragnor, trying to block off charge lanes and to ultimately remove the Manticore from my zone.
Following this, the remaining Runeshaper moves in and casts shockwave, knocking down Imperatus, the Axer and Banshee.
The Axer springs back up and makes a Thresher power attack, hitting and killing Banshee, as well as doing some damage to Handsome Jack and Imperatus.
The Dire Troll Bomber then throws two bombs at the knocked down Imperatus, dishing out a fair bit of damage to him and also killing Sylys with blast damage.
Turn Four
Hypnos hits the Runebearer, killing him easily, before commencing to wail on the Dire Troll Bomber.
Handsome Jack makes melee attacks on the Axer, killing him off, before unloading his shooting into the Krielstone, which sees two stone scribes killed and one knocked down from his tough roll.
Imperatus gets back to his feet, moves across to the Dire Troll Bomber and kills him handily in melee.
Manticore activates, with continuous effect fire not going out and dealing five damage to it, seeing it killed.
I choose to concede at this point, with limited models and options left to me to turn it around.
Conclusion
For those who are paying attention, yes, I reference Imperatus throughout the report and he’s not in Monkey’s list. Monkey got confused when setting up and pulled out Imperatus as well, as he’d been toying with a separate list that would’ve included him in place of one of the other ‘jacks. Not being familiar enough with Warmahordes to have caught it, I played 23 or so points down for the game and we only picked up on the issue when I asked Monkey for his list for this article. So, take my following comments as good learning, but due to a hilarious mistake it’s unlikely I could’ve pulled off a win here…
Well, it’s clear re-reading my notes I do not play Warmahordes enough, with several small mistakes and a couple of big ones compounding to bring about my defeat.
I took a deliberate stance of ignoring Handsome Jack from the get go, as I figured that I wouldn’t have much chance of taking him down. Having looked a bit further at him during and after the game, I think this might have been mistaken, as he isn’t significantly harder to kill than a ‘jack, albeit his boxes scale with his points.
In hindsight, I should’ve stacked my right flank and attempted dominance on my zone for the game to achieve scenario victory, with the units and Horgle chasing down Monkey’s objective. This would’ve allowed me to play an attrition game as it would’ve ensured I was scoring through most of it.
My Bomber also massively underperformed this game, mostly due to my poor placement in deployment. Further, only having one unit of Runeshapers also limits my ability to knock down opponent models, so the blasts I’m launching are slightly less effective because of that.
Whilst it’s always a little disheartening getting beaten so soundly, it really comes down to my lack of focus on Warmahordes. Every game teaches me a bunch of new things, but without regular application they fade out and I’m re-learning them in the next game, much like any game!
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