Ogres vs. Dark Elves Game Report 2/20/10

I played against Steve's dark elves. You can see his thoughts on the game at his blog.

The list I took:
Lord:
Tyrant
 - Cathayan Longsword
 - Heavy Armor
 - Greedy Fist
 - Beastkiller
 - Wyrdstone Necklace
 - Greyback Pelt
 - 2 Sword Gnoblar
 - Luck Gnoblar

Heroes:
Butcher
 - Bangstick
 - Dispel Scroll
Butcher
 - Skullmantle
 - Dispel Scroll
Bruiser
 - Battle Standard Bearer
 - Sword of Might
 - Heavy Armor
 - 2 Sword Gnoblar
 - Luck Gnoblar
 - 2 Gnoblar Thiefstones

Core:
3 Bulls
3 Bulls
3 Ironguts
3 Ironguts
9 Gnoblar Trappers
24 Gnoblar Fighters

Special:
2 Gnoblar Scraplaunchers
2 Leadbelchers
2 Leadbelchers

Rares:
2 Maneaters
 - Great Weapons
 - Heavy Armor

Initial Deployment:

From Impact Hits

I placed a set of Leadbelchers on each flank to handle the fast cavalry.  I also placed both of my Scraplaunchers on the left flank so that they would have some good shots at his line and later in the battle be in position to slam into the flanks of his main units.

I placed my Maneater/character death star type unit in position where it would for the most part, only have to worry about its left flank.  I staggered my two units of Ironguts behind the two units of Bulls with the intention of using the Bulls to set up charges with my Ironguts.  I also placed my Gnoblar Fighters where I hoped to get some decent Large Target shots with Sharp Stuff before the unit was wiped out or possibly use it to bait a charge from something.

Dark Elves Turn 1:
Steve got the first turn.  He moved his units up, picked off a leadbelcher from each unit and causing my Trappers to panic.  On his magic phase he irresistable forced power of darkness and then promptly miscasted his first spell rolling a 7 on the miscast table and avoiding a wound.  This caused his magic phase to fizzle out early and led into my turn.

Ogre Kingdoms Turn 1:
I moved my Maneater death star up in preparation for a charge from his cold one knights.  I moved my right flank Bulls up hoping to bait a charge from his hydra and my left flank Bulls up hoping to bait a charge from the chariot, hydra, or corsairs.  I also moved up my Gnoblar Fighters.  I set up my two units of Ironguts to countercharge anything that charged the Bulls and I moved my Scraplaunchers up in a flanking maneuver.

My remaining Leadbelchers moved up and unloaded into their respective Dark Rider units.  The leftmost one killed 4 riders causing them to panic and never return.  The rightmost one killed 3 riders but they passed their panic test and remained.  My magic phase accomplished nothing.

Dark Elves Turn 2:
I caught a lucky break and the cold one riders failed their stupidity test and stumbled forward.  The right hydra charged my maneater group.  The left hydra, chariot, and corsairs all charged my Bulls.  My Bulls fled and my Maneaters took the charge.

From Impact Hits

Unfortunately, my Ironguts failed their panic test when the Bulls ran through and my entire unit, Butcher and all, rolled high enough to flee completely off of the board.  My maneaters however pulled off a draw in combat with the hydra and hold.

Ogres Turn 2:
The turn starts with my fleeing Bulls (the ones that panicked a unit of Ironguts and a Butcher off the table) rallying.

I charge the rightmost hydra with both my Bulls and my Ironguts hoping to soundly defeat it in combat and overrun into the cold one riders and thus preventing them from getting the charge in the next turn.  I beat the Hydra in combat by 4 but it still managed to not break.

I charged the chariot on the left in the flank with both of my Scraplaunchers but it chooses to flee from the charge instead.  One of the Scraplaunchers is capable of reaching the Hydra however so it takes a Ld 5 Fear test to try to charge and miraculous passes slamming into the side of the hydra (or at least its handlers).  Unfortunately, even with impact hits, it only manages to kill a single handler and thus the hydra holds.

From Impact Hits

With both of my charges that I thought would win me combats completely failed, I resign myself to what I can tell is going to be a very bad next turn.

Dark Elves Turn 3:
The fleeing chariot rallied.

The corsairs charge my unit of Fighters which flee.  The leftmost hydra battle results in the death of the last handler but the Hydra holds again.

The cold one riders charge into my maneaters and win the battle even though I managed to finish off the hydra.  My maneaters and ironguts hold but my unit of Bulls flees.

Ogres Turn 3:
My unit of Bulls on the left side charge the flank of the unit of corsairs.  My hope is that with the 9 attacks and negating the ranks of the corsairs, I'll be able to win combat and force them to flee.  Instead, the death hag kills an Ogre and the corsairs kill and Ogre completely demolishing me in close combat.

My 2nd scraplauncher fails the leadership test to join the other scraplauncher in combat.

My maneaters and characters slaughter several cold one riders in combat, handily winning the battle but the unit rolls a 4 on its break test and stay again!

Dark Elves Turn 4:
The chariot charges my Scraplauncher stuck in combat with the Hydra.

The corsairs charge my other Scraplauncher.

From Impact Hits

Both Scraplaunchers are completely wiped out.

The Cold One Rider/Maneater combat involves both units completely whiffing and no wounds to anyone.  The dark elf general passes his break test yet again.

Ogres Turn 4:
My Bulls charge the Cold Ones and I finally force the general to flee and run him down.  However, the last of my Ogres are completely in the open for shooting at.  I'm completely out of magic defense.  And the rest of my line is gone.

We play through until turn 6 at which point I give up after all my characters are wiped out and my last unit of Ironguts is charged by the remaining hydra.

Conclusion:

This was easily the best game I have ever played with my Ogres.  I think the game would have gone completely differently if my Ironguts/Butcher hadn't fled off the field so early and the units I beat in close combat had actually broken.  It's really given me hope that a new book coming out this year will make them more competitive and made me excited to play my Ogres again.  I'm also planning to keep seeing what I can do with them and trying to win with the current book.