Disaster at The House of Doom

I’ve played WHFB maybe a dozen times at Byakhee Jim’s house and all but one time (actually the previous time) something goes wrong. Having won my last battle there, I had hopes the trend had been broken Today’s battle was a hideous reversion to type.

Both Jim & I were late for various reasons. He was playing Orcs again. He’s on a roll with them maxing out on artillery and heroes.

First Disaster: On arrival I found I had forgotten my army sheet.
I could remember most of it (actually about 95% of it) as it was substantially the same as the army I’d played there before.

I also forgot my camera I’d left recharging…so the two photos below are from Jim’s iPhone.

Previously I’d simply gone for forgetting my Dark Elf army book, or maybe forgetting key figures. These two account for 50% of the reasons for defeat.

Ok so we set up, I refused one flank except for using Mengil Manhide’s (10 strong) to target two Shamen he’d left unattended on the far flank. Jim deployed 4 stone throwers, 2 Doom Diver catapults and a bolt thrower. I’d planned to target these with harpies.

Jim won initiative, having heard his curses during rolling spells, I was (over) confident. He cast a spell on his own troops giving me a -1 to hit on them (simple version). He then hexed my main RXB unit.

Second Disaster: She who will not be named bungled the dispell roll ! So now I had re-roll all to hit and wound rolls of a 6.

Third disaster: shooting is dismal. Not just bad, dismal. My Repeat Bolt throwers did next to nothing. My only success was in killing a troll with Mengil’s troops.

Second turn: Jim manages to move his 25 strong Savage Orcs to within an inch of the flank of one of my RXB units, ummm not good. Jim targets my Black Guard. Raise deflector shields! After 3 stone throwers had hit the unit, they’d caused one casualty, through a combination of bad rolls by Jim and exceptionally lucky save/ward rolls by me. Then he targeted a doom diver on my High Sorceress hidden behind the RXB unit, the one flanked by Savage Orcs. Oh dear…Splat ! Exit one third level High Sorceress. Leadership rolls for the RXB and one Repeat Bolt Thrower are passed. But not by my unit of Black Guard nor another Repeat Bolt thrower…

Fourth Disaster: The Black Guard fail their Leadership re-roll (near army standard) and run sideways towards my other flank, ending up a good 20 inches away tearing a hole in my line… And that’s the unit in which my Sorceress is embedded.

Ok my turn, harpies charge the bolt thrower, so now my attempt to re-form the Black Guard.

Final Disaster: Black Guard again fail their Leadership test, and run off the board with the Sorceress.

So now I have lost 700+ points out of 2500 ish in one single turn.

The centre of my army line is broken

My one hard combat unit is gone.

I’m outflanked by essentially undamaged Orc units

I only have one High Sorceress left.

Ok, so I normally soldier on and try and retrieve something from this mess, so my magic phase does…nothing…my shooting phase kills a lone goblin boss on giant spider…combat phase my 10 harpies barely defeat a goblin bolt thrower crew.

For once I called it a day then and there. Out gunned, out magic’d, out numbered and out manoeuvred.

The House of Doom lives up to its reputation. 😦

Back to the drawing board to cope with Orc columns.

Maybe those Cold One Knights should be finished off… 😉