Shirts off at crossroads - part 1

gidday gang
so back from crossroads and canada, and what a blast! word to dave and maris for putting up with my terrorizing the last 3 weeks, been keeping up with the gaming and painting while ive been away too. gonna split this up into batreps in the first post, and army photos and painting in the second.

so first up - crossroads! loads of photos. 2500 pts, minimal comp, at a holiday inn. good times. i decided to take something nasty, as i could get what i wanted through de comp, would probably never see anyone i played again (lol), and of course i wasnt flying all the way to take a knife to a gunfight. so the nasty fasty dirty darkies it was! took:

dreadlord, 1+, dawnstone, cloak, steed lance
l4, steed, death, mr3

master, 2+/5++ steed, bsb, gw
master, 1+, steed, lance, ring of hotek
master, 1+, steed, lance, pofoolhardiness
l1, metal, steed, scroll

3x9 driders, fc, shields & rxb

2x5 harpies
4 rbts

2x7 warlox, champ

which looks like

ran out of time and cash to complete a 3rd unit of driders, so had to borrow a painted mercenary unit from dave, which cost me in painting points.

so yeah, ill be the first to say its rough list. in my defence, there was another de player there with 16 warlox, which was the cap lol.  if its not clear, the idea is to vanguard a tonne, and essentially do what i want, with shooting and magic to get pts the turns im not charging. double mr3 for double bunkers, l4 and bsb in one unit of lox, and dlord and masters in the other. ive since then changed my thinking, but thats what i was doing most games here. also not ideal kit on bsb, but has since changed, this was a few weeks ago now. with 0 practice games with this list before crossroads, i was very much looking forward to using -what later became known as - the bangbus & friends

now crossroads was using rulebook missions with their own twists. what was also a bit different is that you had to set up terrain yourselves each game, something i wasnt too stoked on, gives you a free folding fortress if you're lucky.
dave and i also had our own missions, the first was a contest to see if i could purple sun/final trans more than he could gateway/final trans. the second challenge was for me to try and do a lap of the table with a unit in 6 turns.
we were ready. game on!

well some of us were ready, that is

 
first game was target of opportunity - battleline with extra bps for killing 3 targeted enemy units from different book slots - against an beautiful looking greenskin army. my opponent matt perry had grimgor ironhide, an orc shaman, couple of gobbo wolf heroes, couple wolf units, 8 trolls, 10 boar boys, 2 units of 30 orcs, two wolf chariots, 2 manglers, 2 doom divers, and a lobba. i win the roll off and we pick our targetted units, you can see my choices on his left marked by dice

so after vanguard and movement it looks like this. the bangbus lurks in the centre, waiting for an opening. meanwhile the l4's unit stays just out of 18" from the trolls. she spends a lot of this game standing next to them, trying to start a chainsaw, and get a purple sun off. as you do. i manage to shoot a targetted chariot, and put some wounds on a unit of targetted wolf riders

in matt's turn, he shuffles about and wisely targets the l4's unit with shooting and magic. doom divers take their toll in this turn and the next, blasting most of the unit of lox

ive skipped a turn, but i move up and shoot/explode manglers. one unit of driders on the right charges a dd through a forest, but enough die to force a panic and they run towards the table edge. balls in the breeze, the l4, bsb and remaining few lox try to start that chainsaw next to the trolls, to no avail. my opponent had failed a charge on driders after they fled, and the bangbus goes into the flank in my turn, as none of his other units could see em there. 

in the last two turns between shooting and a searing doom i had shot all the boar boys, perhaps putting a wound on grimgor. bangbus earns its name when i kill 20 orcs on the charge lolol. the luck continues to hold good in his turn when a doom diver blows up, and i rally the driders on the right and pop the bsb in there

done with the first 30 orcs, the bangbus goes into another. i get around the forest this time with driders and start charging warmachines on both flanks. i sacrifice l1 to redirect trolls, but its unnecessary when i finally get the chainsaw started, and purple sun off 7/8 trolls.

bangbus combat takes longer thanks to parries and return attacks, but a reinforcing drider unit in the rear clears em out. meanwhile gorbads troll bodyguard is shot to death, and he himself is left on one wound

defiant to the end, gorbad runs towards his doom and is met with bolts to the face.

matt was a great opponent, and ive got some better pics of his army for the second post. so a strong start with max pts, loads of wounds for the purple sun tally, and definately a good match up for me. the rbts pulled their weight for once, but the bangbus was the star this game, taking down 60 orcs. and yes, throw enough purple sun at a wall and youll kill trolls. i was very lucky not to lose my l4, who does not have a ward

next was lunch, and its very important to note here that i got quite drunk. my first time to america, and 7$ dozens of ok beer - in the petrol station?!? so between stuffing my face with chicken nuggets much swilling of beer was had in the hotel room and from then on. foreshadowing? yes. was i having a good time? hell yes!

my second game was against mike norton and his chaos dwarves. i got all giddy seeing his stack of etc dice, and we'd heard the american team were here to sharpen their swords. he had a tough list with a great theme. start off with k'dai on the left, gobbos, deathshrieker, l4 death on taurus, magma cannon behind the building, tonne of infernal guard with bsb and another character, more gobbos, and an iron daemon on the right. we were playing blood and glory, and extra bps for breaking/not breaking, and having units in deployment zones. i won the first turn again

here is the end of my t1, and you can see here my first dumb mistake of the day. the warlox on the right with l4 head up periously close to the board edge, and get a purple sun through his iron daemon, which he promptly rolls a 1 for. whats worse is i dont think about it enough, seeing i needed a 10 to get the dwarves, i put it on the wrong angle, and missed a cracker of a shot through his big cdwarf unit and magma cannon. no reason not to put it on that angle. face. palm. 

 mike carries on like nothing stupid happened, and moves up appropriately. iron daemon blasts a unit of driders with l1 mage in there too, and magic & magma nip a couple lox from the l4 unit. gobbos do some charging and chaffing

missing a turn here, but bangbus kills gobbos and reforms, and after a bit of a beard stroke i charge it into the kdai. likewise with the halved l4 bunker into iron daemon. it cant possibly dodge another purple sun!

but i cant get the chainsaw started, and it takes two rounds of combat to kill it, leaving my mage on 1 wound. bangbus kill the kdai after a couple rounds, but at the cost of most the unit and both the masters. a drider unit manages to pick up both warmachines before fleeing off the table

from here its time to retreat! his taurus doesnt want to get too close to my rbts after i burnt his charmed shield earlier. i run away, he kills some harpies and tries to snipe general. my l4 has died at this point, dont ask me how

in the end he manages to snipe out the unit champ on a depleted unit of driders and panics them off the board, breaking my fortitude and picking up a few more pts for driders. end up a 15-5 against i think

so yes, not my finest game of warhammer, perhaps some practice games/less beers would have been advisable. but i had a good time, another great oppponent, and i enjoyed gambling with the bangbus. coulda been a lot different if idve only stopped for a moment to consider, but there we go. and it gets worse

game 3 was against sam nordmeyers empire. he was an excellent dude, and this mission was moving objectives off the table, worth both bps and vps, can only be moved by a certain type of unit, etc. hes got 3 capasus, a l4 on heavens, mounted bsb, 2x6 & 1x8 knights, 6 icknights, 6 reiksguard, 5 outriders, 4 & 3 demis, and a stank. 3 for 3, i end up going first, and the dice below are the various tokens to take and get off the board

 im not really sure what my plan was here, aside from general drunkeness, i had also developed a belief the bangbus could cleave through everything, and basically set the controls for the heart of the sun. in reality what id done is line it up against 3 demis with a soaheroes capasus in support. get a few wounds off the stank with shooting, but not much magically.
sam responds with a general advance, and blasts a rbt with the stank

heres my 2nd turn, and 2nd big mistake of crossroads. while im still sure the math was on my side in this combat, i fail a fear test with the bangbus, and cannot punch through the demis. this mistake was with the harpies behind, i could have easily blocked the knights on the left as i had done on the right, but i didnt, incorrectly and somewhat arrogantly assuming the combat would be in the bag. on the plus side,i do steadily get wounds on the stank and shoot another capasus, and drider unit blows through 6 knights and into some demis. whoops

demis hold, and i get soaheroes capasus in the front, and knights in the flank. kill the capasus somehow thank god, but without lances im buggered. bsb is miles away, and although i dont lose by much i break and get caught. at this point sam very kindly pours us shots of commiseration whiskey

stank makes a long move into l4 bunker and there were perhaps more shots. everything else grabs tokens and moves towards my board edge for max token pts. i cant quite recall the fate of the stank & l4 combat, but i imagine not well for me, although i may have gotten the last wounds off the stank somehow.

and thats about all she wrote. one rbt crew may have defeated a capasus, but for the most part its little red arrows of doom

no idea what the final score was here, but 17-3 rings a bell. i did get some tokens off the board, but other than that a dismal display. great opponent though, he was like the first guy to stop at a car crash to check if dudes are alright, although in this case it was a bus crash with a drunk driver

so after a sobering and early night, a breakfast buffet under out belts, it was onto game 4. this one was a battle line with 3 objectives you had to control by having a scoring unit within 6, which were worth bps and vps. i was playing mike szedlmayer and his ogres. mike had an absolute cracker of an army, and was kind enough to send me some better pics of it after the tourney for yall in part 2.
another great opponent, my vote for best army and a team mate of my previous opponent, i was met with a groan which made me blush.
hes got a tough as nails list, with a l4 on heavens, soaheroes tyrant, l2 butcher on maw, flaming bsb, and another bruiser with the stubborn hat. 1x8 and 1x9 guts with sodiscipline, and 8 maneaters, pistols, poison & swiftstride with dhbanner, and 3 kitties. good thing i rolled purple sun!
you can see the little black tokens across the centre are the objectives and i think mike goes first

the motiff of this game is merry dancing. around and around i go, while he moves in and out of the building. my t1 i shoot off some kitties, get a purple sun through the top irongut, but he rolls amazing and i only kill a couple. soulblight and rbt a good amount more

mikes turn and he bails the characters from the wounded gut unit into the untouched one and shoots and magics off a rbt

i double charge the depleted gut unit off the table, and try start up the chainsaw again with the l4 to no avail. clean up kitties and chaff ogre units

he charges a butcher out and magics off another rbt. i circle around, but no purple suns for ben

he does a number on my l4 unit, so i hide the last lock and bail characters into a nearby drider unit. i shoot a maneater or two, and circle his gutstar in the building with the bangbus. we both realise that his leaving his unit in the building doesnt make it a scoring unit as they have no ranks, so after a bit of a ponder, mike gambles on his t6 and pops the guts in front of the bangbus

i go for it with bang bus in front and l4 drider unit in flank. other units spread out onto the objectives

the dice gods smile on me and a big magic phase is had. he throws everything to stop the purple sun, but i get a doom and darkness and soulblight on em. unit has taken some casualties, but has 4 characters in there. no big deal right?

i manage to kill the stubborn character, along with at least another character, unit champ, and couple more ogres, with the loss of 2 warlocks. dlord couldnt even fight when he got locked out due to challenge. helps a lot when i dont fail my fear test ay. grumble. guts cant hold on snakes and they get run down

big win for the darkies, and a really satisfying way to go about it. definately preferred that to just purple sunning him off, as mike was an awesome dude. he did later regret his gamble, but even still, it was a gamble for me too, i was lucky with a big magic phase and to kill that stubborn guy, else it potentially would have been quite different. but yeah, more of this army in part 2.
also, after the photo judges checked it i was awarded my additional objective of nearly doing a lap around the board with my bangbus this game lol.

last game was battleline with vps for having killed more banners, characters, rare units, etc. i was playing against an everqueen botwdragon swordmaster star! joy. he has alarielle, l2 on light, l1 on light, bsb on foot with avelorn banner, 2x 5 reavers, 2x9 shelms, 25 swordies with botwd, 6&7 sisters, 2 rbts, eagle and frostie. i did however roll final trans on my l1. huzzah! my opponent goes first

i respond by shooting at chaff, and bangbus charge unit of 9 shelms. one drider unit is near shot to death and moves to block other shelms. bangbus kills 7/9 and they run off the board while i reform

remaining shelms kill driders and eagle makes a long charge into a rbt. frosty ignores all my shots, and harpies in flank of remaining reavers sees the reavers off. i think get a final trans through on the swordies, killing the bsb and 11 swordmasters. youch

 he terrorbombs a unit of driders off with frosty, and no one fails stupidity. this time bang bus kills all the shelms on the charge. try to overrun into swordies, but fall short

he may have failed the charge with swordies, not sure. either way, those two units get into combat, as eagle prepares to go for another rbt

someone charges someone else, and he goes from 14 swordies to 1 and three wizards. frosty goes in the flank but we all hold. may have a soulblight up, he may have a phas up

l4 bunker to the rescue, winning and splitting the combat, and both his units break and are caught

think i end up shooting off a rbt too, but thats how it ends up. turns out that disembodied high elf head my dlord is clutching is the everqueens. rejoice!

ended up with another big win, and finished on 76 battle pts, which is pretty good for me. painting score let me down through and came 35/80 in the end, although was the top de there ( out of 4 i think lol). and after we tallied it up, dave got way more wounds from his gateway/final trans, so well done to dave. also well done to chris slye for taking it out, a gw store manager from canada winning crossroads! very nice. thanks to the to's for a sweet as and slick tourney, and also thanks to mr b for driving us all the way there and back, and tasting every flavour of fart on the way. you're never going to sell that car tony.

so that was crossroads, a very expensive tourney for me, but a great time. i played a few more games when i was away too, so ill go over those next post along with army photos and list thoughts. after that youll be seeing more of my mono nurgle woc for a bit, which is apparently the filthiest thing ever to die to bolt throwers and choir.
until then, stayed tuned and take your shirt off!