Not posted one of these for a while! I forgot to take pictures during the World Cup, so it's time for a tournament report from Langden Bowl I over in Ipswich.
This was an everything goes event, with all star players allowed, and was 1,150,000 for team builds.
I decided to take Nurgle, which were my worst performing tournament team, accompanied by everyone's favourite two-headed, four-armed rat - Hakflem! That meant missing the Rotspawn, which is a shame as I quite like them even if tentacles isn't as strong as it used to be, and only two Pestigors which I definitely missed in one match.
The team:
4 Bloaters (4 x block)
2 Pestigors (wrestle, leader)
5 Rotters
Hakflem Skuttlespike
2 rerolls
1 assistant coach
It seems most people had a similar idea to me, with Hakflem appearing on many of the tables, along with others including Varag and Morg. And Nurgle are rubbish, Ag4+ rotters - why? Nevermind!
Game 1 vs Wood Elves
So I was up against Ben and his wood elves - a tricky team at the best of times. No star to worry about, but obviously strip ball is a real issue as is countering all that speed.
He had:
2 Wardancers (strip ball, frenzy)
3 Catchers
Thrower (leader)
Treeman (guard)
5 Linemen (kick)
1 reroll
I lost the toss and was asked to kick. Fine by me! Ben made steady progress, but an early rooted tree didn't help much. I was able to apply pressure, trying to force a score if I could, and Ben eventually made a couple of rushes to hand off to a catcher for the score.
My drive also went fairly well, as I employed a loose screen to make the strip baller think twice, and then eventually injured him to remove that threat. Wood elves piled in front of my cage though, and I was left with a dodge with Hakflem having failed to knock down the offending elf. He promptly snaked. Oh dear.
Second half, and finally I could make my number of blocks pay off as I began to remove wood elves. Over the course of 4 or 5 turns I removed the second wardancer, two catchers and caused some KOs too and decided to go for broke. Hakflem scored in turn 14, giving me two turns for a winner (or Ben 3 for one).
Without rerolls the wood elves couldn't afford any 1s, and the dice gods obliged me as an early turnover meant I could grab the ball with Hakflem and score in turn 16.
Nuffle wasn't finished though - and gave the wood elves a riot to even the scores. A catcher ran through into range, and Ben scooped up the ball. I could place disturbing presence everywhere, and fashion 3 dice on the catcher, but with all pushes went for a reroll and promptly got triple skulls.
Thankfully for me, a rush from the thrower to make the pass a little easier was a 1 and I could breathe a sigh of relief. The catcher was marked by disturbing presence and a rat tail as well, but I'm glad it didn't get that far!
Result: 2-1, 4-0 CAS
Game 2 vs Vampires
Apologies to Dash, I forgot to take a picture before this game. Was nice to take on the new vampires roster, complete with a new star player as well.
She had:
2 Vampire Throwers (block)
1 Vampire Blitzer (block)
Captain Karina Von Riesz
9 Thralls (3 block)
3 Rerolls
Apothecary
This time I had to receive, and conscious of all that hypno-gaze I had to work to keep vampires away from my cage.
I could knock down thralls fairly easily, but didn't break much armour. Fortunately the vampires removed two of their own thralls after bloodlust rolls, and the Nurgle drive went off without a hitch, scoring in turn 8.
It didn't get easier for the vampires, as they began to fail bloodlust rolls more in the second half, and the Nurgle began to knock out thralls.
My team then knocked the ball loose and scored in turn 11, and repeated that trick twice more in the half as the depleted vampires struggled after using their rerolls. Foul appearance was pretty strong here - effectively rolling D6 twice just to make a block with a vampire used up rerolls and made it hard for them to progress.
Not really sure on the vampire roster, but one game doesn't really teach me much.
Result: 4-0, 1-0 CAS
Game 3 vs Chaos Dwarfs
Lovely Darren was up last with his chaos dwarfs, and another Hakflem. A Skuttlespike-off no less!
This was tricky as he has block all over the place, guard as well, and a threat in his own rat star.
He had:
2 Bull Centaurs (2 x block)
6 Blockers (3 x guard)
3 Hobgoblins
Hakflem Skuttlespike
2 Rerolls
I chose to kick in this one, not sure if that was the right idea or not. I hoped my foul appearance might slow the chaos dwarfs down, and it did a little, but all that block meant they could progress.
I got a bull centaur down and surrounded, so wisely opted for the boot, but got sent off for my efforts and Darren capitalised by knocking out a rotter and a bloater immediately. Oops.
Eventually all I had was a Hakflem blitz on his Hakflem, and I got a both down. Result. Except it knocked out my Hakflem, while his got up and scored anyway. Ho hum.
I did make all 3 KO rolls including Hakflem so potentially a draw on the cards unless one of us caused some damage.
The Nurgle didn't make as much progress as their opponents, and neither team were removing the other, so it was looking like a draw. I did surf the opposing Hakflem, but Darren dodged out a blocker who knocked mine down. This happened a couple of times, until the rat was stunned in my opponent's end zone, but I had two turns to recover and score.
The crucial moment came, clear a tackle zone, make a pick up on a 2+ and dodge to score. 1. Loner! 4! Pick up reroll 1. Oh you silly rat...
Result: 0-1, 0-0 CAS
Good enough for sixth place in the end, which isn't bad I think with Nurgle. They are even worse than they were last time I used them, Hakflem notwithstanding. As for the star rat - well it's easy to see why he is banned. I think 5 of top 6 fielded him. Nice to try out a tournament with stars - I missed all the star tournaments as wasn't playing then - and it gave me an excuse to paint the old 3rd ed model!
Happy with how I played for the most part. And happily, my Nurgle are back above 150 now so they are no longer my worst-performing tournament team (looking at you high elves...).
Here's me and Tom - fellow Welwyn Wargamers member - at the event. He walked off with most CAS with his black orcs!
Thanks for reading!
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