Age of Sigmar - Spearhead League

This past Sunday I rode out to the Warhammer Store in Saskatoon to play in the new Spearhead League. The league had started two weeks earlier, but that Sunday it was brutally hot and smokey and I wasn't yet finished the Spearhead army I was working on at the time (Hedonites of Slaanesh). I've since painted ANOTHER Spearhead army (Blades of Khorne) and took THOSE out to play in the league. 

(Wow, this turned into a LONG POST - here's a little TL/DR [with SPOILERS] - I rode out to Warhammer store to play in Spearhead League, played two games with my new Blades of Khorne army. I lost both. Vampires suck. Ghouls can eat my ass.)

When I got there Sean and Orion were already playing and Dray was waiting for someone to play. 

So my first game was against Drayden's Flesh-Eater Courts army... I won the initial dice-off and decided to be the attacker. I'm not sure there is much value in being the attacker... but I was playing KHORNE!? How can I NOT be the attacker if given an option 

I picked Favoured of Khorne for my regimental ability - at the start of my turn roll d6 on a 2+ gain one Blood Tithe Point (the other one grants a ward (5+) on any unit that has used a Fight ability in the same phase... but who is ever going to attack a unit that has already fought when there are units that haven't... so it's at best only going to help half of your units that are targeted in a melee round... Maybe I'll try it out sometime, but it doesn't make a lot of sense to me (in theory) compared to MOAR BLOOD TITHE. 

I also picked Crimson Plate for my Heroe's Enchancement, which gave the Slaughterpriest a Ward (5+). He's pretty squishy with only a 5+ regular save (and there is just SO MUCH REND out there... I figured he needed as much help as he could get!).

Drayden took Defenders of the Realm (+1 to saves when contesting an objective they control) and Crimson Victuals (roll to potentially deal D3 Mortal wounds to enemy within 18" of General, and then return equal number of Cryptguard to unit)

Drayden chose Ghyran for our battle, and deployment area and set up terrain and I set up terrain then set up my force and then he set up his and they we were ready to go!

For the first round we drew Grandfathers Blessing for the twist. Which allowed the underdog (or winner of a roll off) to choose between picking an enemy unit to have -1 to save rolls or not be allowed Ward rolls for the round. Drayden won that roll-off and chose my Mighty Skullcrushers to have -1 to save rolls. 

and kind of forgot to take pictures of the set up... 

So here we are in Round one with by Mighty Skullcrushers and a unit of Blood Warriors charging into the Flesh-Eater Courts territory being all "Shock-and-Awe-muthafukkas!"

Very nearly took out that unit of Ghouls... Of course they'd come back... but they only come back ONCE and not finishing them off in one go, means parts of the unit just keep coming back.. Would have liked to have gotten at the heroes... but he's gotten a little more cagey about protecting them since our last game... 

And then there were these guys all sitting on their asses because I didn't think to hard about setting up and where they might actually be able to charge at enemy or whatever... 

It was less that I set up super poorly than my army takes up a lot more space... 

The Flesh-Eater courts have ten little Cryptguards on 25mm bases... two Heroes on 40mm and 90×52mm bases, and then three Morbheg Knights on 75×42mm bases... I have TWENTY infantry on 32mm bases, one hero also on a 40mm base and then three Mighty Skullcrushers on 90 × 52mm... so my army takes up a LOT MORE SPACE and his army can be shoved into a relatively small area in the corner where only a few of my units can get at them in the first round... 

I think the Cryptguard were finished off by the end of my turn...? Varghulf Courtier and Morbheg Knights piled in and just started hammering on the Mighty Skullcrushers. 

On his turn, the Morbheg Knights fucked off from the combat they were in to go eat my Bloodreavers.. 

The Archregent and Varghulf Courtier were left to deal with the Mighty Skullcrushers and Blood Warriors... Somehow there are more Cryptguard back... not sure how that happened? Reinforcements on his turn? But there are only six or seven? did I waste the Mighty Skullcrushers attacks on taking out Cryptguard and not killing the Varghulf Courtier? I don't know... 

By the end of the first round, they'd finished off the Mighty Skullcrushers... Which scored me a Blood Tithe point (because Khorne cares not from whence the blood flows!) 

At the end of the round I scored Four Victory Points (three for holding objectives and a fourth for a Battle Tactic card requiring me to hold the Draconis Objective). Drayden only scored three (two for holding objectives and a third for a Battle Tactic card requiring him to hold the Ignax Objective).

For Round Two we drew the Lifespring twist which allowed the Underdog (Drayden) to pick an objective to be worth an additional VP if controlled at the end of your turn AND each unit contesting it at the end of each turn could Heal (1). I think he chose the Ignax objecrtive which was the one His Heroes and Cryptguard were currently on and fighting my Blood Warriors that would just not die. 

Drayden won the roll off and chose to go first this round, taking two turns in a row! If one chooses this, they do not get to draw new Battle Tactic cards for the round... 

Everyone piled into to take down the Blood Warriors... These guys took SO MANY hits... and saved a LOT of them. They were eventually taken down, but they took that Archregent General with them!

Morbag Knights kept retreating and charging (because they can) to reposition for better advantage and desperately trying to take out MY General... 

But that just wasn't happening... 

By the end of Round Two the Flesh-Eater Courts had scored TWO more Victory Points bringing their total to Five (though, looking back I think that should have been +3 Victory Points...? bringing total to Six... not that it would have changed anything - Oh, except that I would have been the underdog for Round Four... which could have made a bit of a difference! Ah, well...) 

For the Third Round we drew the Grasping Vines - were the underdog (Flesh-Eater Courts) got to pick an Enemy unit to be ensnared (Halve Move characteristic) - he chose my General... 

Round Three Mosh Pit in the center of the table... 

Still trying so hard to kill the Slaughterpriest... Pretty sure I took out that Douchebag Courtier this turn... leaving the Flesh-Eater Courts without either hero... 

Grrarrr! Bloodreaver that would just not die! 

(Okay, eventually he did...) 

At the end of Round three the Flesh-Eater Courts had scored FIVE Victory points, brining their total to TEN. I only scored three, bringing my total to ten... 

In the final round we drew Take the Land which meant each player scored a bonus Victory Point if there were more friendly models contesting the Large Terrain Feature in Enemy Territory... Also, the underdog adds +1 to wound rolls for attacks made by friendly units that target a unit contesting a Large Terrain Feature... (that should have been me!) 

Stupid formation of Cyptguard... this is the stuff I dislike about the game, the weird  positioning of units that happens sometimes, like, in this case, where the Cyptguard who are trying to simultaneously fight my slaughterpriest AND contest the Large Terrain feature to score points. This just destroys any feeling that this is in fact some kind of simulation of combat and  reinforces the feeling that it's more of a sporting event simulation - like capture the flag... 

(Hey look, an enemy unit contesting a 

Because my Bloodreavers had FINALLY been finished off the previous round... there was some confusion about where exactly they can be set up - I couldn't remember if it was not within combat or not within 6" or 8 " of Enemy. It was not within combat, which meant I could have set up much closer than I did... Alas... all I really needed or wanted to do was get onto the Objective as I would score THREE Victory for holding THAT one... 

I think these Cryptguard FINALLY took down the Slaughterpriest in the final turn of the final round... 

In the final round the Flesh eater courts scored SIX Victory Points! Three for holding three objectives, one for the Twist, and two from Battle Tactics (Hold Ground and Raid). That brought their final tally to SIXTEEN!! 

I only managed to score Four Victory Points in the final round... Two for held objectives, plus two more for Battle Tactics (The Behemat Dais and Take Without Warning), for a total of Fourteen... 

Ah, well... Blood was spilled... the Blood God was pleased... 

By the time we were done, Orion and Sean were finished their game so we switched things up... 

For game two I played Orion and her Soulblight Gravelords army. 

I had previously played against them with my Hedonites of Slaanesh army. You can read about that debacle here:

Spearhead: Hedonites of Slaanesh versus Soulblight Gravelords

Again, I won the priority roll and decided I needed to be the attacker, because BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!? 

I chose Favoured of Khorne and Crimson Plate again. 

Orion chose Endless Legions (which allows them to bring back a unit of Skeletons that has been destroyed) and Cloud of Bats (which allows the General to, once per game in her Movement Phase, to turn into a cloud of bats and fly off somewhere else) 

Look at that ridiculous Khorne army taking up nearly the entire deployment zone... 

For some reason, despite being the attacker... and playing Khorne... I thought I'd let the Gravelords go first (probably worrying about my nigh indestructable Mighty Skullcrushers being destroyed on the first turn again because over extended and overwhelmed... 

So the Blood Knights just charged them. 

And those Blood Knights and my Blood Warriors and Mighty Skullcrushers battled over that objective for the next three rounds... Slowly... VERY SLOWLY chipping away at each other's units. 

In the middle by Bloodreavers entered an endless battle with some Deathrattle skeletons - both units replacing their losses each turn. 

The two Generals eyed each other up and decided NOT to fight each other as either could potentially kill the other... 

Over on my right flank, the other Blood Warriors got stuck in against the other unit of Skeletons... a few rounds they killed enough of the skeletons to wrest control of the Objective long enough to score it... only for MORE skeletons to rise up and take it back on their turn!? 

I did keep track of all the cards played and points scored... but I'M getting bored of typing all that stuff out, so I can't imagine anyone else is still reading... 

In the first round the Soulblights were ahead, in the second round I scored SEVEN points putting me in the lead 

The Vampire lord joined in the fight against the Blood Warriors. I swear at least two turns in a row I had dealt her enough damage that she was down to one health remaining, only to have her eat half the unit and gain back a bunch of health... 

the Slaughter Priest joined the fight with the Bloodreavers and by their third turn they FINALLY overwhelmed the Skeletons... 

And then the Vargheists showed up and ate a Skullcrusher... 

Then the Vampire Lord turned into a cloud of bats and flew away... 

The Bloodreavers charged the Vampire Lord - also dealing her a PILE of damage... but NOT QUITE ENOUGH to take her out... 

So she ate half the unit and healed right back up again!? 

Vargheists killed the Slaughterpriest... 

This game ended with the Soulblight Gravelords scoring SIX Victory Points to end the game 19-15... Not as bad as the game against the Hedonites... 

I'm really starting to feel like it's better to NOT have a lead early in the game and take advantage of all the Underdog abilities. You want to keep it tight, but be a bit behind in points... 

It's hard when you play Khorne and you want to play them like Khorne fights in the fluff (CHAAAARRRRRGE-KILL-KILL-KILL!!!)

I wonder how different they might play against an army that DOESN'T just keep healing and bringing stuff back EVERY FREAKING TURN!?