INITIAL THOUGHTS:
Some of you were quick to point out that my last Raze game was played wrong. You were correct. Thus, having assed it up last time, this time I’ll be playing it correctly. I’ll be facing off against Dice Dad Steve Forster’s goblin hordes again. His list has changed, or evolved again, and now there is a new threat I have to deal with – exploding carts. He no longer has Magwa and Joos, which is a bit of a relief to me, since Magwa is the toughest ever goblin alive. Now I have to worry about being blown up and minced. Also, with Raze, Steve has more units than I do, which compounds the issue of gaining control. This makes for a difficult scenario. I have to push his units off my objectives, while keeping him from claiming his. That can be tough.
SET UP:
We roll for sides, and Steve gets his choice. He chooses the top half. Looking at the terrain, I think the top half of the board was a better call for me, at least if I had my choice. My scarecrows are so slow when they start in terrain, so I do prefer a more open deployment zone. We both end up placing 2 objectives on the left side of the board, so that, obviously, is where the fight is going to happen.
This fight really is mostly between two infantry forces, and we each have lots of throw away units, thus I’m going to change up my deployment plan a bit, and do everything I can to take out his guns quickly and get the phantoms into the rear. This means not necessarily putting them out on the extreme flanks. I’m going to try to get them up into the middle using the building on the right center as cover. Thus my forces, from left to right: Phantom troop, scarecrow regiment, rock formation, reaper troop, scarecrow regiment followed by reaper regiment with Gaze of the Gods, Horror with bane chant and Aura (Pink Horror,) scarecrow regiment in the woods, shade with Beastslayer Blade, reaper troop, Horror with Lightning bolt aura and bane chant (Blue Horror,) Reaper regiment followed by phantom troop, dread fiend with Slashing Blade, phantom troop, mind screech, scarecrow horde, reaper troop and final phantom troop. The terrain on the deployment line is really going to slow me down, but we’ll see if I can catch a break on the first turn roll.
Steve has his forces arrayed very strong to the left, some to the right, and almost nothing in the center. That, however, is where his 3 big rock lobbers are sitting with a really strong and open kill zone. Fortunately, I have stealth, or I’d be in real trouble. His forces, from left to right: Blaster, rabble regiment followed by wiz with inspiring talisman and bane chant, luggit regiment, rabble regiment followed by the J-Boots troll horde, King with Jareth’s pendant, rabble regiment followed by pathfinder troll horde, king on a chariot, Mincer regiment with Brew of Sharpness followed by goblin blaster, 3 rock lobbers, luggit regiment, king on chariot, rabble regiment followed by goblin blaster, and a rabble horde.
TURN 1:
Nope, I don’t win the roll off for first turn. The goblins all advance to challenge my objectives. The shooting phase really makes a difference as lobbers score 3 hits (needing 6s) to the non-elite reaper regiment, and the right chariot king wounds the phantoms in the pond. The reaper regiment is trashed. This is not a good way to start a war. (Well, not for me, anyways. Steve is pretty happy with it.)
Wow, I’m already down by more than 200 points. That hurt. I move up very cautiously on the left, with my phantoms just touching their leader point to the hill so I can see through it. everyone else tries to get clear of the hindering terrain, but naturally, the scarecrows are stuck in the woods for at least another turn. I invite the right chariot king to come and charge one of my units, either the mind screech, dread fiend or horde. 2 of the 3 are in hindering terrain, and could likely take the hit, and the third is unlikely to break from a single charge. Everything else on the right stacks for counter punches. My shooting does about as well as every other roll so far. Out of 9 lightning (with one re-roll of a miss) on 4’s and 3’s, I manage 2 wounds on the right chariot king. Could it get any worse?
TURN 3:
The left side goblins creep forward while the right side backs up. This seems like an odd choice for me on the right. My right flank is really an economy of force mission, with the hopes of maybe holding 1 objectives from the goblins, and possibly taking one, but it’s not looking good so far. In the center the mincers and blasters turn to face the phantoms winging their way down the field. Shooting sees the right chariot king score 1 more bow hit on the phantoms, but all 3 rock lobbers miss the center reaper troop this time. Well, at least I didn’t lose a unit this turn. Let me see if I can work some kind of magic.
The extreme left phantoms fly over the hill into the rabble regiment, this is meant as a cover move to get everything else closer. The scare crows move up onto the hill behind them. The next scarecrow regiment scores a good roll for wild charge and takes on the next rabble regiment. The scarecrows in the woods continue to shamble forwardm emerging from the woods at least somewhat. The shade takes a hindered charge on the king, which is actually kind of safe since he is then out of the mincer arc, and the troll hordes’ lines of sight. The 2 center phantom troops charge the rock lobbers. and the dance on the right continues. Shooting from the lightning results in 4 more wounds to the right chariot king, but he holds his ground. Combat sees 2 of the lobbers broken into splinters, and the phantoms turn basically back to back, the ones on the right to take the charge from the luggits, and the others to threaten flanks or rears on the left. The shade manages a single wound on the chariot king, and basically bounces off. The king is kind of stuck though since he now can’t really charge anything else. The scarecrows only manage 2 wounds on the rabble, but the phantoms do 5 on their chosen target, complete with a waver nerve result. This is going to hold up the whole right side. I would have happily taken down that rabble regiment, which I lucked out on the nerve roll, and razed the objective, but the re-roll result caused a waver. Fair enough.
TURN 3:
The goblins finally decide to start mixing it up. The left blaster charges the phantoms, the rabble regiment counter charges the scarecrows, the next rabble regiment charges the elite reapers, The chariot king counter charges the shade, and the luggits on the right charge the phantom troop. The rest of the army tries to figure out what it’s going to do next, as the right flank holds its ground, and the trolls shift to get into charge positions. The center blaster turns towards the phantoms to shoot at them, and the right side chariot king positions to shoot them as well. Yep, goblin shooting does really well. The phantom troop is blasted back to the ever dark, and the pink horror gets 2 wounds from the wiz. No big rocks dropping on anybody, though, so that’s a plus. Close combat see both the phantom troops, and the scarecrow regiment eradicated. The shade gets wavered, and the reaper regiment takes a single wound. Some good came out of it, but I literally shed 4 units this turn alone. Against goblins, that’s not a good thing.
It is time to commit some forces on the left. The scarecrows charge down the hill into the rabble regiment. The reaper troop charges the next rabble, and the elite reapers counter charge their rabble. The scarecrows in the woods get a good enough wild charge roll, and smack into the PF trolls. The center reaper troop charges the chariot king after the wavered shade breaks contact, and scoots out of the way. The Dread Fiend finally commits with a happy little rear charge on the chariot king, and the rest of my now dwindling forces position for the next turn. My shooting phase is a bust as both horrors fail to cant bane chant, and the mind screech moves forward more than 6 inches. I start close combat on the left this time, and once again waver, instead of breaking the left rabble regiment. The reaper troop and regiment both wipe out their rabble opponents, and reposition to avoid taking too much damage. The hindered scarecrows manage a wound on the PF trolls, which is pretty spectacular, all things considered at this point. The true high point of the round though is the hindered reaper troop slices clean through the chariot king, even without a bane chant, and advances to threaten the j-boot trolls flank. The dread fiend easily destroys the other chariot king, and faces back towards the right. Half way through the game and the score is 0 to 0.
TURN 4:
My inability to break those far left rabble leaves me in a precarious spot. The J-Boots troll horde can finally do something, in this case charge the scarecrow regiment’s flank. The luggits take the hindered charge on the reaper regiment and the PF trolls counter charge the crows. On the right, the last rabble regiment charges the dread fiend, and the other luggits reform to face the right side of the board. The mincers do the only thing they have an option for, and charge the blue horror. Shooting accomplishes nothing for the goblins, which is good. And in combat, the blue horror is crushed under the mincers, the scarecrows are turned into shredded wheat by the J-Boot trolls, and the reaper troop is reaped by the luggits. All pretty sad. I am down another 2 units; one because those stupid left side rabble refuse to run away. Fortunately, the dread fiend holds, as does the scarecrow regiment facing the PF trolls. It’s still 0 to 0.
I guess I need to do something, just not sure what right now. The shade flies forward into the front of the J-Boot trolls, the elite reapers charge the luggits, the scarecrow regiment again engages the PF Trolls. The reaper troop emerges from the woods to threaten the PF troll horde’s rear, the dread fiend re-engages the rabble, and the scarecrow horde charges down the hill into the rabble horde. This allows me to bring the remaining phantoms and reaper troop forward to get into the fray. The mind screech blasts the center blaster, but it doesn’t explode. the pink horror does manage to cast bane chant on the elite reapers. They go on to squash the luggit gang, and are out of charge range from the mincer mob, so they hold their ground. The shade causes 3 wounds to the J-Boot trolls, but they’re fine, and the scarecrow regiment wounds the PF trolls again, but they are fine. Even the dread fiend pretty much botches things, and he’ll remain locked in combat, as will the scarecrow horde. Score is still 0 to 0!
TURN 5:
The mincers flank charge the scarecrow regiment, because there’s no such thing as over kill in this game. The J-Boot trolls counter charge the shade, Jareth charges the reaper troop, the rabble regiment again attacks the dread fiend and the right blaster joins the rabble horde in attacking the crow horde. The wiz zaps the elite reapers for 2, but they hold just fine. The rock lobber shoots at the mnd screech, but misses. The blaster on the right goes boom, and the scarecrow horde is obliterated. The trolls and Mincers destroy the scarecrow regiment, and both turn to face the elite reapers. The rabble regiment fails to wound the dread fiend. Also, shockingly, Jareth fails to cause a single wound on the reaper troop. This means that since the goblin king is not mighty, I can charge through him into the trolls’ rear. That is very bad for the trolls. The J-Boot trolls fail to rout the shade with a troublesome snake eyes nerve roll, but the shade is not decimated. After a lousy turn for the goblins, the score remains 0 to 0.
Steve started moving before I got the pic, so the mincers have shot forward but they’re really closer to the woods at this point. The pink horror sneaks past the the 2 troll hordes so it will be able to spread his aura to everyone, and bane chant the reaper troop who rear charges the PF troll horde. The elite reapers and shade charge the J-Boot troll horde. the phantom troop on the right rear charges the rabble regiment, and the reaper troop charges down the hill into the rabble horde. The mind screech forgets he has a 36 inch range attack, and instead tries, unsuccessfully to damage the blaster, and the pink horror casts bane chant successfully, and 60 attacks on 4/3 with vicious and dread carve clean through the PF troll horde. The elite reapers and shade also carve through the J-Boot trolls. The Elite reapers turn to face the mincer mob since they are out of the rabble regiment’s charge arc. Both units of rabble are routed on the right, and I am able to raze the objective in the woods on the left and behind the hill on the right. The score is now 2 to 0; with the one objective that should have been claimed 2 turns ago still standing.
TURN 6:
The Still alive rabble regiment scoot over the hill into contact range of the left objective, the mincers move south to control the objective in the woods, Jareth charges the pink horror, the goblin blaster moves to control the center objective, and the luggits charge the final reaper troop. The wiz targets the shade with lightning, and finally zaps him into oblivion. The rock lobber finally gets their range right and hits the mind screech, and the luggits wipe out the reaper troop, but Jareth again pretty much whiffs his rolls and scores a single wound on the pink horror. The score is now 2 to 2 (potentially 3.)
The elite reapers back up into control of the final left side objective marker. The reaper troop charges out of the woods into the flank of the blaster, and the phantoms charge the final rock lobber. The mind screech and dread fiend both move into control of the center objective, so if there is a turn 7, I have 3 units to claim it, should the wiz try to blast someone. The phantoms finally take down the final rock lobber, and the reaper troop smashes the goblin blaster. I was surprised to learn that it doesn’t blow up if you attack it, so in the future I will be a little braver in attacking those things. I raze the left objective, and we roll for a turn 7, but it is not to be. Night Stalkers win 4 to 2.
AFTER THOUGHTS:
What a bloody battle. We were both seriously down on combat power at the end of the game. I really was surprised that the goblin blaster doesn’t detonate when you kill it. I gave those things a wide berth the entire game because I was concerned about the potential damage they could do. The one did significant damage with grenades taking out my phantom troop in the early going. The other two did blow things up quite effectively.
I really thought I was going to end up losing this one. The first half of the game was all goblin, and I was losing units fast. It really was stunning to lose a reaper regiment before I even got to move. Then that far left rabble regiment took 2 wavers, both resulting in me losing units. I finally managed to score some points on turn 5, but then so did Steve on turn 6. Ultimately, it was a rough and bloody battle, but I pulled it out at the very end.
The pivotal moment of the game is when Jareth failed to score a single wound on the Reaper troop. Since a goblin king is not mighty, it meant the reapers could basically ignore him and rear charge the trolls. Speaking of that reaper troop, it was the man of the game to be sure. that unit took out a troll horde, a king on chariot, and a goblin blaster. It scored a raze point, and claimed the center of the board. Overall a very strong performance for a US 1, 10/12 nerve troop.
Steve’s goblins are getting tougher and tougher. He is really using them effectively, and he is a force to be reckoned with. I also want to point out he is playing TO for the 2300 Point, “It’s Always Sunny in Panithor,” tournament starting on 23 Aug, 2020. I am looking forward to playing in it with a new army, if I can figure out how to make it work. The link to the tournament can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/events/584703235519637/
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