It's another weekend which hopefully means gaming, originally I had three matches lined up but one fell through due to some personal matters. Tomorrow, as of writing, I should be playing against Bretonnians which I plan to do a proper Battle Report for, since they're very different than what I've gone against at 2000 Points, thus far. In general I'll likely go to one Battle Report per week, at least if I get in one game, and simply choose the best of the games that I played.
A few people might have seen a post I made, and then took down, regarding competitive play. While I do stand by what I said, in hindsight I didn't feel the need to put that level of negativity out there and on display. Instead, I'll just note that I am no longer pursuing The Old World as a competitive game, and will in general stick to softer lists that generally match what my opponent is bringing. I'm hoping my Vampire Counts will be up to speed soon so I can inject some variety, then I just need a few models to finish my Beastmen lists and I'm pretty much done. At this time no other armies really excite me except perhaps Orcs & Goblins but I'm waiting to see how things shake out before spending more money.
Right now TOW is really in a holding pattern, in not one but two ways. First, the community is very fractured over what kind of Comp to use, if any. NOVA Open posted their attempt at Comp, which was roundly hated by everyone I've seen discuss it. I'd be among that number too, it simply goes to far and somehow doesn't even fix the issues that it wants to. The other issue is the game needs a massive, massive FAQ and likely some Erratas. There are way too many common cases where the rules simply provide no guidance on what to do, you just have to make it up as best you can. Every single one of those needs to be addressed, and probably a balance pass or generally agreed on Comp, then I'll dip my competitive energies back in. I may still do articles on competitive topics, but they will be broad in nature and not things that are likely to change.
My focus is going to be keeping a positive mindset about the game, as best I can. It's immensely frustrating to have so many obstacles to being able to play the way I love, but that's the reality right now. Dragons and Monsters have simply made the game very boring when you're playing seriously, but as a casual product pretty much everything works fine. Perhaps I can do some narrative write-ups as well, to create a little more fun for readers. We'll see what happens.
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For my half-hearted Battle Report, I played against Dan and his Warriors of Chaos once more. This time he'd made some pretty substantial changes to his list, which I applauded. The basics were a Chaos Lord on Manticore, a Lvl 2 with the Infernal Puppet, 6 Chosen Knights, a block of Chosen with a BSB, a block of Warriors, two small units of Marauder Horsemen, a Chariot, and a block of Flail Marauders with Mark of Khorne. My list was the same as I've taken for the last few games, so you can check on it in older posts if you want specifics.
Our match came down to several major points, with me winning in the end. For one, I placed a lot of Terrain on the flanks to funnel the smaller army in. Ordinarily this can hurt a larger army, like mine, but I can move through the Forests and so on with less opportunity cost lost than anything WoC have except the Manticore. This allowed me to get several big charges off, without the threat of retaliation from anything but the Chaos Lord and his flying steed.
Second, I switched back to Elementalism because Demonology still isn't sitting right with me. I dislike having to have my Shaman in a unit to get work out of Demonic Vessel, and all the good Spells are on a quite high value so I fail them sometimes. I wanted to try and make Elementalism work again and free my Wizard up to run around and not get trapped in a fight, which feels bad since it cuts his usefulness way down. Thanks to Curses of Rust I was able to plow through the regular Chaos Warriors with my General's unit, and then fend off the Chosen Knights with another casting. Travel Mystic Pathways was also awesome, allowing a unit of Dragon Ogres to get in the rear of Dan's army and ultimately provide a lot of support. It felt good to finally use that Spell effectively, Dragon Ogres into a Rear is going to crush most any unit.
Third, I was able to get my General into a Challenge with the Chaos Lord after getting +1 Weapon Skill from Gaze of the Gods, which Dan unluckily didn't match. This meant it only hit me on 6's, and ended up doing nothing. Unfortunately this was just a mistake on Dan's part, I'd told him about the combo to start the game but he forgot about it. Ultimately the Chaos Lord needed to go off on his own and fight a block, but it was the models first game so it's natural not to play perfectly with it.
In the end I lost a unit of Chaos Ogres and killed everything but the Chaos Lord, and a few of the Marauders. A few of my units were below half Strength, but only two. This was on the top of Turn 5, so Dan didn't have much time left to do major damage and at best might have picked up another two units. For my part I've still struggled to get the Chaos Ogres to work, I think I just have such a full deployment zone that it's difficult. I might swap back to a Wargor on Chariot, in my casual list, because it's less space and I love the interaction with Ungors.
Elementalism felt much better and I think I've got the Spells just about figured out. Earthen Ramparts is great for going against a faster army, or I can put it on my Dragon Ogres and turn them into a major Anvil with a 3+/5++ and a Linear Obstacle. Curse of Rust is amazing and lets my Gors interact with better Armor Saves. Travel Mystical Pathway can let me plop a Chariot or unit of Dragon Ogres somewhere they shouldn't be able to get to, and then the last is a choice between Wind Blast, Summon Elemental Spirits, or Storm Call depending on the opponent. Demonology is amazing, don't get me wrong, but it's best for armies with fighty Wizards, like Warriors of Chaos, and that's not my style.
I'm still having a ton of fun with my Beastmen, they just fight and outnumber which is how I've always adored playing. My Vampire Counts will likely be similar, several large Anvils and then some Hammers to play good ol' Rank & Flank with. Expect to see a lot of that in my blog, and I will twiddle my thumbs to see where the game goes otherwise.