Waste Wars XI - Part One

Recently I participated in the latest Waste Wars tournament hosted by the Waaaghcast.  Joe and company usually run 3 or 4 tournaments a year down in Bloomington, Illinois (~100 miles south of Chicago).  This one was a 1000 point primer for the Adepticon version of the tournament being held in early April.  This was also my first outing using my Ogre Kingdoms army.

As much as I want to pretend to be interested in competitive play, the reality is that I always build my armies based around what I am interested in painting.  Sometimes this results in me building an army the swings to one extreme or the other when it comes to playability and tabletop efficiency.  When it came to my ogre kingdom army, I was focused on bringing stuff that I liked and playing with models that I have been interested in for a long time.

Firebelly: Gold Sigil Sword; Talisman of Endurance; Ironcurse Icon; Level 2 Wizard. 205
7 Ironguts: Gutlord; Bellower; standard bearer; Look-out Gnoblar; Dragonhide Banner. 386
4 Ogres: Bellower; ironfists. 138
3 Maneaters: standard bearer; 3× additional hand weapon; heavy armour; Immune to Psychology; Scouts. 178
Gorger 90

997 points

For the first round of the tournament, I was paired up against Ryan G and his lizardmen army.  Lizardmen list have always been a bane of mine as skinks with poison tend to ruin elite armies if not dealt with quickly.  The scenario for this game involved rolling off for each unit, including characters, to determine if they started in reserve or on the table.  The scenario also involved capturing an objective in the middle of the board that basically would freeze a unit in place if they touched it. 

When it came to deployment, I ended up not getting to place my firebelly because of the special rule.  I also had to start the gorger in reserve because its ambusher rule.  This meant that I only had two units place during standard deployment.  The ogres were put directly across from Ryan’s saurus block, while the ironguts were positioned to come in from the right side of my deployment zone.  Ryan focused his salamanders and chameleon skinks deployment on the ironguts while I placed my scouting maneaters to flank the saurus block.

Early Turns

The early part of the game was focused on trying to get the ironguts towards the saurus warriors while getting away from the skinks and salamanders.  At the same time, I jockeyed for position with the maneaters and bulls in an effort to get a double charge off with them.  Ryan pushed his block forward to close in on the objective while his skinks proceeded to kill a couple of ironguts.

The second turn saw my firebelly arrive on the table and wipe out one unit of skinks with magic and the other with its flaming breath.  The gorger on the other hand remained off the board due to a roll of a 2.  The skinks had done what they needed to and had delayed the ironguts long enough to allow the salamanders a chance to get into range with their shooting attacks.

Middle Turns

The middle of the game became focused on close combat as the bulls and maneaters charged the block of saurus.  The maneaters were effective at dropping basic saurus warriors, but Ryan’s characters were equally effective at dropping the bulls at the front of the regiment.  Across the table, the firebelly bought the ironguts time by becoming the focus of the salamanders’ shooting.

Late Turns

The late turns saw the remaining ironguts hit the saurus warrior block and pound on them, only to be grinded away as the special rules for the objective ensured that the saurus warriors would not break from combat.  At the same time, the salamanders and firebelly continued to exchange flaming attacks until the firebelly was dropped.  The game ended with the gorger making it into close combat and killing the saurus BSB with a lucky killing blow.

Overall

Overall, the game was really fun.  Ryan is a great opponent and knows how to play his army very well.  I made a number of mistakes looking back on the game and really wish the gorger would have come on sooner.

 

Next Week – Part 2