Warhammer 8th Edition: Test Game

So, last Tuesday the Master Manipulator (every store needs one) sent me the message to meet at high noon to duel with pistols... or rather, to get in our first game with Warhammer 8th Edition.

So, here's my army.  We both had the same thought: keep the lists simple to test the system.  I brought two Wargors and a Bray Shaman.  One of the Wargors is the General and the other is the Battle Standard Bearer.  I have two units each of Warhounds, Gors, and Minotaurs.  I'll admit, I was expecting big things of the Minotaurs given the new advantages for Monstrous Infantry.

The Master Manipulator (every store needs one) brought his Orcs and Goblins.  He had a a large unit of Black Orcs and a Boyz, a reasonable sized unit of Gobbos who were naturally drugging some Fanatics for the fray, and two units of Doom Divers.  (The catapult is a proxy.)  He had the same characters: General, BSB, and Shaman.

We were playing Dawn Attack, and I have to say for my first outing, I was impressed with the subtle change in the setup.  I also learned some strategies for it, simply by making mistakes with which units I rolled to place first.

The Orcs move forward.  Don't expect anything deep in this game; we were literally just going through the motions, testing the rules.  I will say, it played very, very quickly - a pleasant surprise.

I shuffle around a bit, except for the Gors with the Bray Shaman and BSB; they march straight toward the Black Orcs, intent on my carrying out my plan!

And carry it out I do!  I have spell 3, which is a breath weapon, and I rolled an Irresistible Force... miscast?  Yup, it's a double-edged sword.  I hit him with the spell but have to roll on the miscast table.  Luckily, I only take a wound.

I kill off a good chunk of his unit... ha!  In your face!  Wait, what's that?  Fanatic!  Duck!  SPLAT.  Yup, my Warhounds moved to within an inch of the Night Goblins, releasing two Fanatics.  One was short, the other hit my Gors quite nicely, killing off three.  Both block my movement.

Top of 2, and the Orcs are declaring charges.  There's only the obvious one...

...which leaves my Gors a splattered mess.  My Bray Shaman and Battle Standard Bearer both flee through the unit of Minotaurs and have to make a dangerous terrain test.  It kills the Bray Shaman.  Oh well.  The Minotaurs and the General hold though, having made their panic test.  The Black Orcs restrain pursuit so as not to end up on the Fanatic.

My turn, and I begin declaring charges.  We enter the oddest turn of the game, which is either a huge change or we fucked it up.

Okay, see the Black Orcs... wtf?  Basically, you declare a charge and resolve the pursuit.  I declared a charge with my Minotaurs and General, then the unit flees... now wait though, it's not time to move the chargers... I still have to declare the rest.  So I declare the Warhounds on the right will charge the Black Orcs, reasoning I can catch them and finish them off with a cheap unit.  So, by the book, the MM(esno) resolves his charge reaction, which must be to flee, so he wheels away from that unit and rolls and additional 2d6.  THEN, the unit of Warhounds on the left declares a charge!  You get the idea.

So, did we screw it up?  It obviously a very odd flee, but he did roll really high each time.

Moving back, I can redirect my charges, so the Warhounds will redirect to the Night Goblins, followed by the Minotaurs (who've been softened up by Doom Divers along the way)...

...so we have a multiple charge.  The Warhounds have to make a difficult terrain test, which they pass.  Both units rolled high enough to reach the Gobos...

...who promptly beat the shit out of them.  Ranks are important!  Having multiple ranks that can fight, in this case three, is important!  This was perhaps the biggest lesson of the game.  One unit of 6 Minotaurs would work much, much better than two units of three.

Blah, blah, blah - some other shit happens.

I can't rally to save my life...

This is me running, not rallying.  The fanatics played hell with my ability to maneuver. 

I charge his Orcs with my General's unit - 'cause why not?  They're sent running too.

The Master Manipulator (every store needs one) was writing down questions to research after the game.  It's why he got the store's book, 'cause he actually does that shit.  Here was his email to me later.

Here are the ones I wrote down and the answers I found.

1) Can a Character rally if the unit he was with is destroyed?

    -They count as part of the 25% when determining the starting strength of the unit and they can not leave a fleeing unit, so my first instinct would be that they work as a normal unit (see below).

    -Having said that it would be a moot point because standards (including BSBs are destroyed when ever they flee from combat.

2) Can a unit rally if it falls below 25%.

    -A unit can only rally when below 25% of its starting size on a Rally  roll of double 1s.

3.) Direction of Flight.   

    There are 5 different times when you flee and here is the rules for direction.

    -Flee Reaction from Charge...Turn unit to face directly away from the center of the charging unit.

    -Flee from cobat...Turn the unit to face directly away from the unit it was fighting.

    -Further flight...the unit flees directly forward.

    -Failed LD test from being charged by a model with Terror...same as Flee Reaction from charge.

    -Flee from heavy casualties...turn unit to face directly away from unit that caused the most casualties that phase (I would assume the center of the unit as in the charge reaction)

    -Flee from any other affects....turn unit to face directly away from the closest enemy unit (I would assume the center of the unit as in the charge reaction).

4) Dangerous Terrain for fleeing units.

    This one needs two answers. One for the correct response and one to explain why we did it wrong.

    -A unit that flees through DT must test.

    -Hills are open ground, and forests are only DT to calvary, monstrous calvary, and chariots. So our infantry should not have unless we decided the terrain in question was DT at the beginning.

5) DT for Fleeing through a fleeing unit.

    -A unit does not take a DT for fleeing through friendly units it is only enemy, so I had this one wrong.

    -If the unit you flee through is infact a fleeing enemy unit then you would take the test.

One thing I did forget and I am not sure this came up but it might have on your side. "A unit may not move closer than 1" of anoter unit freindly or enemy unless they are charging."

Till next time - Brent