Hello The Old World enjoyers! I am Mac, an avid Warhammer fan and lover of gaming. This past weekend I attended the Battle of the Beltway event in Arlington Virginia. I’ll be going through a summary of the event and then doing my five rounds of battle reports followed by an after action summary of my thoughts and the final standings.
The Comp System (High Level)
The event required lists at 2000 points and used rule of three for non core choices. We had 30 players and followed the NOVA comp format with a few changes. Your overall score comes down to a handful of categories:
- Win/Loss/Draw (this only really matters for the Best General award and pairings)
- Battle Points: determined by the difference in kill points and special scenario objectives
- Game VP (your overall victory points from murderin)
- Sportsmanship: a 1-5 score your opponent gives you each round with 5 being the best game you ever had.
- Theme: How sweaty your list is. Did you run double bone dragon? Or did you play something fluffy.
- Paint: What it says on the tin, how well did you hobby.
I could write a whole article on this system and the pros and cons. It’s a pretty good system that appeals to everyone. Creates a lot of incentives for players to focus on play experience over just winning games.
The Faction Spread
We had a pretty good pool of factions here. The breakdown is as follows:
- 6 Warriors of Chaos (4 Wolves of the Sea and 2 Grand Army)
- 4 Tomb Kings (all Mortuary Cult)
- 3 Vampire Counts
- 3 Orcs and Goblins (2 Grand Army, 1 Nomadic)
- 3 High Elves
- 3 Beastmen
- 2 Dwarven Holds (1 Royal Clans, 1 Expeditionary)
- 1 Dark Elf
- 1 Skaven
- 1 Lizardmen
- 1 Empire
- 1 Deamons
- 1 Bretonia (Exiles)
Lists were pretty diverse. You had double casket, you had sweaty double bone dragon double Necrosphinx, there was the classic 630pt chaos dragon and his hype crew list, elves with dragon centerpieces, a shooty night goblin with an Arachnarok build, and a surprisingly good Dwarven iron breaker points denial build.
Even amongst the more prevalent factions, lists were fairly unique. Sure every Elf list had a dragon, but the units and tactics varied between them. Not every chaos list was Dragonhammer™ and the tomb kings had a good bit of uniqueness too! You would get a new experience every round which I think makes for a great tournament environment.
Da Little Wagggh Wit Da Big Heart
As an orcs and goblins player you have probably guessed that I am big into memes. I also have a problem where I desire symmetry in my lists. This in combination with a desire to also place well and stress test the comp system influenced everything about the list.
Ride of the Squighirrim (2000pts):
Goblin Big Boss: Smosh Da Waiva [85 pts]
– Hand weapon
– Light armor
– Shield
– Battle Standard Bearer [War Banner]
– On foot
Goblin Odnnob: Little WigZag [200 pts]
– Hand weapon
– Level 4 Wizard
– On foot
– Idol Of Gork
– Waaagh! Magic
Orc Wierdnob: Ole Zigwag [230 pts]
– Hand weapon
– Level 4 Wizard
– General
– On foot
– Ruby Ring of Ruin
– Lore Familiar
– Battle Magic
Goblin BigBoss: Gobbla the Gnobbla [65 pts]
– Hand weapon
– Cavalry spear
– Light armor
– Giant Cave Squig
– Charmed Shield
++ Core Units [692 pts] ++
30 Night Goblin Mob [195 pts]
– Hand weapons
– Shields
– Netters
– 3x Fanatics
– Standard bearer
– Musician
30 Night Goblin Mob [195 pts]
– Hand weapons
– Shields
– Netters
– 3x Fanatics
– Standard bearer
– Musician
30 Night Goblin Mob [252 pts]
– Hand weapons
– Shields
– Netters
– 3x Fanatics
– Boss (champion)
– Standard bearer [The Big Red Raggedy Flag]
– Musician
10 Orc Mob [50 pts]
– Hand weapons
– Warbows
– Light armor
– Skirmishers
++ Special Units [252 pts] ++
7 Night Goblin Squig Hopper Mob [84 pts]
7 Night Goblin Squig Hopper Mob [84 pts]
7 Night Goblin Squig Hopper Mob [84 pts]
++ Rare Units [475 pts] ++
Mangler Squig; Molly the Mangler [95 pts]
Mangler Squig: Dolly the Dangler [95 pts]
Mangler Squig: Jolly the Jangler [95 pts]
Doom Diver Catapult [95 pts]
Doom Diver Catapult [95 pts]
_____________________________________
I have problems…nine fanatics, three of everything night flavored, and a grand total of 16 units with the random movement special rule if you count the fanatics.
It’s a very surprising list that’s all about defying expectations and punishing an aggressive opponent. There are potentially four Magic Missiles and two Vortexes I can put out every turn and I have some of the best debuffs in the game via itchy nuisance and bad moon rising. This makes goblins feel mighty and squigs feel even more brutal when it pops off. All my opponents except for my round 5 match up were pretty shocked at what the list could do.
The fanatics are delivered via marching column and arcane urgency to the enemy line, and then released in the opponent’s start of turn phase. I either leave no other units in charge range (so they can’t escape) or pin them in place with goblins or squig hoppers to keep them in prime fanatic formation. This can devastate an opponent early on.
The list also puts a ton of shooting pressure via the magic and doom divers. It can fairly reliably kill just about any dragon if the opponent gets too bold through debuffs, magic, and good old fanatic or squig clobbering.
It’s also absurdly fun to play and you get to roll an insane amount of dice. Movement phase alone you roll 18 D6 between your squigs and 18 D6 for your fanatics. That’s potentially 36D6s every compulsory movement phase.
Overall I think this is a very strong build that can place at top tables with a good pilot. I recommend Ride of the Squighirrim to anyone willing to Bounce for Ruin.
Round Recaps
Round 1 vs Beastmen
I get paired down into a Beastmen player running a MSU build. His list highlights were a Viletide + Elementalism + Hagtree fetish lvl4 shaman on chariot, a beast lord on chariot, a Shaggoth, dragon ogres, and chaos spawn (the little bro version) with the mark of Khorne.
*Moments Before Disaster*
I out threat him, out shoot him, and really can abuse bad positioning on his part with fanatics who love big base MSU builds. When I get the first turn I decide to move a little bit forward to bait him into rushing me a little too aggressively. I shoot some stuff off and his beast lord takes two wounds from a doom diver (Jeronimo!) He moves up, fails to cast viletide and just kind of sits there hoping to get into me turn 2 or 3. Sadly my fanatics have something to say about that, and as you can see in the pictures below, six fanatics and some forced charges later and I’ve killed about 500 points of models. The rest of the game is me cleaning up his army and chasing a very stubborn bray shaman until I finally kill him with magic and shooting.
*Moments After Disaster*
Result: Decisive win for the noble boingy bois.
Round 2 vs High Elves
My opponent round two is a local from a community I’ve been playing with since pre-COVID. I had just beaten up his Bretonnians at a previous RT so he was out for vengeance. His list featured a large block of sword masters, a lvl4 illusion wizard, a prince on dragon with the dreaded 3+, 5++, 5+++ statline and some other cav and shooting units.
I don’t out threat him reliably, but I sure do shoot better! He wins turn one and moves forward very aggressively. Creating a very fanatic friendly battle line. I respond kindly…marching two units up and casting arcane urgency to reform one unit out of marching column. The rest of my army stays out of dragon charge range and my hoppers on the right gum up his cav to force a bad charge that I can counter with the remaining hoppers. Importantly, I get itchy nuisance off on the dragon to drop it to T5 and do 2 wounds with shooting/magic.
*Hello Sir, have you heard of our new massage therapy offer?*
His turn 2 I released all nine fanatics…so kowabunga it is. I do this to force him to make a bad decision. He chooses to sit still and after 5D6 S5 AP3 hits he only takes 2 wounds…go figure. His sword masters have a stare down with my three manglers and hide behind the column.
My turn two I go all in, get the debuffs off I need and shoot everything I have at his dragon killing it with a doom diver that drops the last 2 wounds. His right flank collapses and then the rest of the game involves him taking two mangler squigs to the face and losing nine sword masters just to impact hits. Needless to say, another Orcs and Goblins Victory!
*Fear of elves was conquered this day*
Result: Decisive win for the small but mighty.
Round 3 vs Chaos Dragonhammer™
Another local and the man who has done the most work to keep the Old World alive in Nova, Blue from square hammer. He was running Chaos Lord on Dragon with Ogre Blade, Mark of Nurgle, and Enchanting Aura, two Giant Chaos Spawn of Nurgle, and a bunch of MSU shirtless Vikings with Mark of Khorne. He challenges me as is customary for wolves of the sea and I decline (also customary because, well…im a goblin).
His turn one is pretty much just moving his dragon 20” up my flank then casting arcane urgency on his lvl2 to move him 10” more and lumber to face me at a better angle. Everything else just rushes forward. I respond with a cheeky play, I move a mangler squig in his chaos lords way and lumber sideways so he cannot draw LoS anywhere but the Mangler. On the right flank I put a mangler in such a way that his Huscarls with frenzy have to charge but it will be disordered and he has to roll close to maximum distance. On turn 2 he charged my Mangler with his dragon and go figure, he also makes it into my other two manglers (mistake on my part here I thought he would only clip one) with a high charge on the right. But it’s disordered so I get 2D6 S6 AP attacks plus timber if he does kill them. I release fanatics to force his chaos spawn on the right to take them dead on and to hit both his chaos lord and my mangler squig on the left. The idea on the dragon side, is that if I kill my own Mangler in the compulsory phase his dragon doesn’t get to overrun or reform. He’s just stuck and fairly Isolated. And then I get an entire 2 turns of stalling to either go for the Dragon or take out other targets.
*This is what clenching your butt looks like*
The plan fails, I leave my Mangler on one wound and my fanatic attacks into his dragon do 1 mighty wound. On the right flank my manglers both wiff and then both die to flails from the Huscarls. Luckily his giant chaos spawn on the right dies so I get a consolation prize but the game is essentially over. His chaos lord overruns into my lvl4 Waagh magic wizard unit, preventing me from casting the rest of the game and grinding me down on the rest of the table. I actually recover on the right but because of MSU and not being able to finish off units he pins me with Chaos warhounds and takes the rest of my army down with two dragon ogres, his dragon, and his remaining spawn.
*Narrator: Shortly after this all the valiant goblins were sacrificed to the Dark Gods*
Result: I took a horrible loss which was a big blow to my score and ultimately knocked me down from podium. I tilted pretty hard this game during turn 2. 30” dragon teleport is just really hard to adjust to and caused me to get tunnel vision. There’s certainly things I could have done differently that could have bought me some more time or made the score closer but I think the choices I made to stall his dragon were right at the end of the day. The combination of a tight deployment and an all in strategy turn 1 made it a quick game for both of us.
Round 4 vs Warriors of Chaos
This game was into a new opponent and he was playing MSU chaos knight spam with a Warpfire dragon. As you can see my opponent basically gave me a fanatic feeding frenzy turn 1. But something wild happens, I leave his Warpfire dragon on one wound after he tanks 4 Doom diver shots, 3D6 Fanatic hits, and two rounds of magic missiles. This warp fire dragon proceeds to solo most of my army for the remaining 5 rounds, with one wound….I still manage to win by just grinding it out and making a clutch 17” mangler squig charge at the very end of the game. Lots of bad dice for me this game, but good play choices and a couple clutch rolls made up for it.
*The moment I thought I won the game (oh the folly of gobliman)*
*Yes, that dragon survived 5 rounds with only one wound (he died to a goblin slap at the bottom of 6…)*
Result: Close Victory for the waaagh!
Round 5 vs Orcs and Goblins!
This was the match I wanted to play all event. Luckily I got to play it for round 5 and end day 2 on a high note. His army was a LVL4 Waagh wizard on Arachnarock, two units of 40 night goblin archers (one with spider banner), six fanatics, a bone grinder, two doom divers, wolf riders, and two mangler squigs.
*Take it in folks, this is what peak Warhammer looks like*
My opponent goes first and both his doom divers misfire and can’t shoot for two turns so off to a great start. He casts foot and shimmies up. My turn I sent my squigs up aggressively to pressure his doom divers and force him to come forward a bit. I take a couple wounds off the Bone grinder with shooting and magic, and kill a few goblins from the right unit with a fireball. His turn 2 he charges my mangler with his bone grinder and they kill each other. Our flanking forces clash and I come out on top in my turn two killing the wolf riders and his mangler squig. Turn 3 we both release fanatics and our fanatics touch…with some killing each other and my two whiffing and not killing his mangler squig! He wipes my right flank with fanatics and shooting. I am able to kill the mangler in combat somehow with goblins on the left and then my Big boss on cave squig and my remaining goblins charge his left unit of archers. He begins to obliterate my big unit of goblins and characters with shooting and magic. The game wraps up with his Arachnarok wiping my orc archers and my night goblins in the center thanks to a failed terror test. I fail to wipe out his remaining goblins on the right but kill the unit on the left and one of my wandering fanatics kills his last doom diver somehow.
*The Hill of Shame*
We end in a draw on VP and I get 1 point more on battle points due to a special scenario objective where I get a point if I win a challenge.
*Right before the end of bottom of 6, everything is dying and having a great time*
Result: Victory for all things Green!
Standings
The Top Five lists from victory points and win/loss were:
- Tomb Kings: Double bone dragon double Necrosphinx
- Bretonian Exiles: Pegasus Death Star and cannons
- Vampire Counts: 12 man Blood Knight death star and 15 man Black Knight death star.
- Orcs and Goblins (Me): Ride of the Squighirrim
- Orcs and Goblins: Double archer block and Arachnarok
For Overall Event Points:
- Empire: Traditional empire build, stank and artillery) Record: 3-1-1
- Bret’s (same as above) Record: 4-1
- Tomb Kings (same as above) Record: 5-0
- Dwarves (Iron Breaker Death Star) Record: 2-3
- High Elves (Dragon and double phoenix with sisters Death Star) Record: 3-2
Worth noting here that 3rd place went 2-3 and still podiumed due to scoring high on Theme and sportsmanship. Notice the Records for these Top Five; the event victory points had a major impact on final placing. The 5-0 player did win the Best General Award for going undefeated despite placing third in overall score. Points denial builds were strong because you could consistently score event points each round when almost 1K of your army was in one unit.
Post Event Thoughts
I enjoyed the event and had good opponents. Lots of fun people and lists were present and it seems everyone had a good time. This event was designed to be more about well rounded play than just winning at all costs and aimed to reward multiple types of players having awards for sportsmanship, painting, and overall best event score.
As far as “the meta” the reality is monsters are king. The winning list is 4 monsters all of which have high T, W, and regen as well as the ability to heal and fly. It’s honestly miserable to play against and folds just about every army it plays. Dragons will win you games just by existing and you need to have a game plan for them. Even if you do have a plan, dragons are very forgiving for your opponent and one mistake or bad series of dice on your end will probably close a game out. Most players seem to be playing what they own vs what’s optimal (which is healthy for growing communities) this also exacerbates the issues with players that can afford to play sweaty lists. There’s going to need to be some changes to comp formats or the core rules to accommodate these issues.
Finally, I have to gush a bit about Orcs and Goblins. This faction is incredible, it has amazing options and a wildly diverse range of play styles. It has better infantry than other factions, zany combos, and can keep up with the top dogs in the meta. You may not be stomping your way to 5-0 at every event but you can have a blast and make it to top tables consistently while you do it.
My biggest list change would be finding the points to give the unit with the BSB and wizard short bows and replacing the War Banner with the poison banner. This would have given me way more counter play and offensive punch into things like the Warpfire dragon and taking out hard to reach units. Big units of archers with poison may be the next wave of meta units to counter dragon and monster builds.
Overall it was a great weekend. I’ll be working on an “oops all infantry” build next to see what we can do with the least played unit type in the game!
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