Apologies for missing a few days of blogging, dear friends and readers. I've actually been away om Warhammer business, doing work for Games Workshop in the very north of Sweden. Tons of fun, but the hotel where I was staying were struggling with their wi-fi, only offering ethernet cable connection, which my tablet does not support.
So we have entered the month of May, which can only mean we're less than 30 days away from the Fantasia Fanatic tournament at the full point level of 2500. Therefore, it's time to look at tightening up my army list; getting rid of some of the dead weight and figuring out how exactly to spend those last points.
After adding all of the mainstays I've found myself short about 150 points, with all the necessary core points sorted out already. This means I can spend the points on whatever I want, except for more Lords as that's all but filled up.
So the obvious choice would be a unit of three Wolf Chariots, which would be great against elven deathstars such as White Lions or Executioners. But to be honest, I'm not really that afraid of such units, confident that my Savage Orcs with the help of a Boar Chariot can do enough to kill them.
The second idea is to bring a small missile unit with another banner, to help my vitality score, bringing me up to 8 instead of 7. With the bows of Arrer Boyz or Night Goblins I should be able to clear out fast cavalry and other annoying enemy harassers. The thing is, although it's a good idea in theory, I haven't actually encountered that many situations at all where I had to get rid of annoying harass units, so for a almost all my matches, that missile unit has been doing very little at all.
So I got to thinking about what units in particular my army might struggle against as it is. Without shooting, I'm going to either kill things with magic (a fickle thing indeed) or beat them in combat, which might hurt sometimes. Without Rock Lobbers, I'm going to have a hard time against Steamtanks, having to dedicate my trolls to vomit on them which will take forever - 3-4 rounds of combat at least. Similarly, while my Black Orcs should be able to deal with Abominations and Hydras, Hellcannons and Treemen might require me to go in with my Wyvern (The Treeman mainly because I expect the Black Orcs to fight Treekins), which I prefer not to do. So to properly deal with 'big things', I'm going to bring in my own big thing, which in this case means the Giant. He should be able to take out some of the beefy beasts that might cause trouble, and although he won't be supporting the Orcs in combat, combined with my Night Goblin block I think he will do very well.
As an added bonus, he does make for a second large target for enemies to fire at, which might keep the Wyvern safe for a while if they decide to fire at the Giant instead. Or, if a lucky shot takes out the flying beasty, the Giant can still provide the S6 thunderstomps that I need in order to defeat armies like Warriors of Chaos.
Will it be a better fit than the Wolf Chariots? I'm not sure, but I do think he can play a more pivotal role, as I find my Wolf Chariots are usually just sacrificed to inflict some casualties before my boyz charge in. Something I think the Giant can do just as well, if not better. In order to afford him, I've ditched one of the Pumpwagons and given two upgrades to the first one, equipping it with both an Outrigga and Exploding Spores, for that 4D6 movement and ignoring armor saves. With the wagon and the Mangler one flank each, knights better beware. Anyway, here's my updated army list:
Orc Warboss on Wyvern
Charmed Shield, Amulet of Preservation, Sword of Striking
Savage Orc Great Shaman, level 4
Lucky Shrunken Heads
Black Orc Big Boss
Battle Standard Bearer, Enchanted Shield, Ironcurse Icon, Talisman of Endurance
Night Goblin Shaman level 1
Dispel Scroll
Night Goblin Big Boss
Great Weapon, Dragonbane Gem
28 Savage Orc Big 'Uns
Full Command, Additional handweapons
38 Night Goblins
Full Command, Shields, Nets, 2 Fanatic
5 Goblin Wolf Riders
Short bows
Boar Chariot
Additional Orc Crew
20 Black Orcs
Full Command, Banner of Eternal Flame, Shields
8 Trolls
Mangler Squig
Snotling Pump Wagon
Outrigger, Exploding Spores
Giant
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
