Tidings from Bournemouth and cruising into Cardiff

Hello lovelies! I hope you've all been enjoying the new GHB, getting out to roll some dice or pushing ahead with hobby projects.

I'm at the midway point between my last event, The South Coast GT, and my next, Clash. I want to thank the organisers and my opponents for a thoroughly enjoyable weekend of games. I'm looking forward to attending another South Coast Series event in the future.

With that said let's jump into a review!

Game One

Allegiance: Seraphon

- Constellation: Fangs of Sotek

- Grand Strategy: Take What's Theirs

- Triumphs: Inspired,Inspired

LEADERS

Engine of the Gods (265)*

- Mount Trait: Beastmaster

- Universal Prayer Scripture: Curse

Skink Priest (90)**

- Universal Prayer Scripture: Curse

Skink Starpriest (130)**

- Spell: Hand of Glory

Skink Starpriest (130)**

- Spell: Tide of Serpents

Slann Starmaster (265)*

- General

- Command Trait: Arcane Might

- Artefact: Serpent God Dagger

- Spell: Stellar Tempest

UNITS

30 x Skinks (225)***

- Meteoric Javelins Celestite Daggers & Star Bucklers

30 x Skinks (225)***

- Meteoric Javelins Celestite Daggers & Star Bucklers

10 x Skinks (75)*

- Meteoric Javelins Celestite Daggers & Star Bucklers

10 x Skinks (75)*

- Meteoric Javelins Celestite Daggers & Star Bucklers

BEHEMOTHS

Bastiladon with Solar Engine (250)

Stegadon (270)*

- Weapon: Skystreak Bow

- Seraphon Battleline (Constellation: Thunder Lizard)

CORE BATTALIONS

*Battle Regiment

**Command Entourage - Magnificent

***Expert Conquerors

ADDITIONAL ENHANCEMENTS

Triumph

TOTAL: 2000/2000 WOUNDS: 133

LEADERS: 5/6 BATTLELINES: 4 (3+) BEHEMOTHS: 3/4 ARTILLERY: 1/4

ARTEFACTS: 1/1 ENDLESS SPELLS & INVOCATIONS: 0/3 ALLIES: 0/400

REINFORCED UNITS: 4/4 DROPS: 7

I took on the lovely Ben and his Fangs of Sotek skink army. Ben had some issues with his list that we didn't realise until we'd already started playing. He was definitely at a disadvantage and I'm glad he was able to fix that and go on to great success in his later games.

It was a pretty comfortable game for the Idoneth. The two units of sharks successfully eliminated the Skink starpriests which effectively nullified the damage. As the big dinosaurs weren't in Thunderlizard the Incarnate happily munched them up while the rest of the army slowly cleared through the skinks.

Game Two

Allegiance: Idoneth Deepkin

- Enclave: Nautilar

- Mortal Realm: Ghur

- Grand Strategy: No Place for the Weak

- Triumphs: Indomitable

Leaders

Akhelian King (250)**

- General

- Bladed Polearm

- Command Trait: Unstoppable Fury

- Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact)

- Mount Trait: Voidchill Darkness

- Universal Spell Lore: Flaming Weapon

Lotann, Warden of the Soul Ledgers (115)**

Battlemage (100)**

- Mortal Realm: Ghur

- Universal Spell Lore: Ghost-mist

- Allies

Battleline

10 x Namarti Reavers (170)**

10 x Namarti Reavers (170)**

Akhelian Leviadon (500)**

- Mount Trait: Ancient

Units

2 x Akhelian Allopexes (330)*

- Razorshell Harpoon

- Reinforced x 1

2 x Akhelian Allopexes (330)*

- Razorshell Harpoon

- Reinforced x 1

Endless Spells & Invocations

Lauchon the Soulseeker (30)

Core Battalions

*Bounty Hunters

**Battle Regiment

Total: 1995 / 2000

Reinforced Units: 2 / 4

Allies: 100 / 400

Wounds: 85

Drops: 3

My first ever mirror match! It was a tough match up as Jon had a lot of shooting available in his list, which forced me to play more aggressively than I would usually.

He was able to drop my incarnate a level on his first turn and I had to risk throwing it into combat with the Leviadon or losing it. I had to clear a couple of reavers with a unit of sharks, so I could get some hits onto the Leviadon before charging in. Sadly the sharks whiffed pretty badly and missed all their attacks. Then the Incarnate wasn't able to bring it down and was slain in return.

I also got to roll the purple sun into his key units, the king, turtle, lotann etc over a couple of turns. Sadly all it did was kill my own shark!

I also forgot about bounty hunters and foolishly tossed my screen of Thralls away leaving my reavers undefended.

From there it was easy for Jon to use the smash king and his bounty hunter sharks to take me out. A disappointment but a lovely guy to meet and I hope for a rematch in future.

Game three

Allegiance: Bonesplitterz

- Warclan: Drakkfoot

- Grand Strategy: No Place for the Weak

- Triumphs: Inspired

Leaders

Maniak Weirdnob (100)*

- General

- Command Trait: Master of Magic

- Artefact: Mork's Boney Bitz

- Mount Trait: Fast 'Un

- Lore of the Savage Beast: Gorkamorka's War Cry

Wurrgog Prophet (150)*

- Artefact: Glowin' Tattooz

- Universal Spell Lore: Levitate

Kragnos, The End of Empires (720)*

Battleline

10 x Savage Orruk Morboys (155)**

10 x Savage Orruk Morboys (155)**

10 x Savage Orruk Morboys (155)**

Units

4 x Savage Big Stabbas (160)***

- Reinforced x 1

4 x Savage Big Stabbas (160)***

- Reinforced x 1

4 x Savage Big Stabbas (160)***

- Reinforced x 1

Endless Spells & Invocations

Purple Sun of Shyish (70)

Core Battalions

*Command Entourage - Magnificent

**Expert Conquerors

***Bounty Hunters

Additional Enhancements

Artefact

Total: 1985 / 2000

Reinforced Units: 3 / 4

Allies: 0 / 400

Wounds: 139

Drops: 9

The last game of the day. It was a pretty weird one as the battleplan had 6 objectives but the standard score one, score two and score more. This meant that it was pretty easy for both players to reliably cap at least two objectives a turn even when losing.

The first couple of turns were pretty cagey, but after Kragnos went down the momentum strongly shifted to IDK. A big error on my part saw me narrowly failing a battle tactic as I chose to split my Reaver attacks rather than focus a single unit.

Although I had the advantage on objectives I was two points behind on battle tactics. So I needed to score my grand strategy in order to win the game.

The Incarnate really let me down rolling all 2s on 5 wound rolls and failing to eliminate the last few Morboys. Leaving us tied on points at the end.

Credit to Connor who, despite being outmatched in shooting and combat, did an amazing job to score battle tactics every turn.

Game Four

Allegiance: Sylvaneth

- Glade: Winterleaf

- Season: The Dwindling

- Grand Strategy: Defend What's Ours

- Triumphs: Bloodthirsty

LEADERS

Alarielle the Everqueen (840)

Spirit of Durthu (370)*

- General

- Command Trait: Gnarled Warrior

- Artefact: Greenwood Gladius

Battlemage (100)*

- Mortal Realm: Ghur

- Universal Spell Lore: Ghost-mist

- Allies

UNITS

10 x Dryads (100)**

10 x Dryads (100)**

10 x Dryads (100)*

10 x Black Ark Corsairs (85)*

- Vicious Blade & Repeater Handbow

- Allies

BEHEMOTHS

Treelord (260)*

FACTION TERRAIN

Awakened Wyldwood (0)

ENDLESS SPELLS & INVOCATIONS

Spiteswarm Hive (40)

CORE BATTALIONS

*Battle Regiment

**Expert Conquerors

I'll be honest, this was the worst game of Warhammer I've ever played. The battleplan Lurkers Below has an auto win condition if you control all objectives. There was no combat and my army didn't even take a wound, but I managed to lose.

As I lost priority into two Thom was able to give me the turn. He then used his expert conquerors to capture the middle on his half. Meanwhile turning my own boats overgrown and teleporting 10 more dryads to the bacThen he won the priority into three and was able to get those 10 expert conquerors onto my back objective. Thereby winning the game without any combat taking place.

It was very frustrating, but to be honest I have a better understanding of the scenario now. Mobbing the middle objective on turn 2 is really important to denying your opponent. I still don't think it's a great scenario.

Game Five

Allegiance: Stormcast Eternals

- Stormhost: Hallowed Knights (Scions of the Storm)

- Grand Strategy: Take What's Theirs

- Triumphs: Inspired

Gardus Steel Soul (150)**

Lord-Relictor (145)**

- General

- Command Trait: Master of Magic

- Artefact: Arcane Tome (Universal Artefact)

- Spell: Celestial Blades

- Prayer: Translocation

5 x Liberators (115)**

- Heavens-wrought Weapon and Shield

- 1x Grandweapons

5 x Liberators (115)**

- Heavens-wrought Weapon and Shield

- 1x Grandweapons

5 x Judicators with Boltstorm Crossbows (190)**

- 1x Thunderbolt Crossbow

3 x Vanguard-Raptors with Longstrike Crossbows (240)**

4 x Stormdrake Guard (680)*

- Drakerider's Lance

- Reinforced x 1

2 x Stormdrake Guard (340)*

- Drakerider's Lance

*Bounty Hunters

**Battle Regiment

Holy Command: Thunderbolt Volley

Total: 1975 / 2000

Reinforced Units: 1 / 4

Allies: 0 / 400

Wounds: 102

Drops: 3

Both myself and Matt found ourselves playing on the middle tables, not where either of us had hoped to be!

As the battleplan didn't allow any reserves it was really tough for the stormcast who had to walk forward while being unable to shoot into the IDK.

The sharks took out the longstrikes early while the rest of the army cleared out screens allowing the incarnate to get into the dragons. From that point it wasn't much of a game as the Incarnate was effectively immortal as long as it killed one dragon a turn.

Final thoughts

A slightly disappointing performance, but I feel like I learned a lot about the new GHB. Expert Conquerors in particular seems strong as you can often capture an objective even if you only have five or six models on the edge.

I was able to cast the purple sun, but I didn't get any big luck out of it. I've decided it's probably better when casted out of a sea eidolon who can get up close and personal.

I've also decided against using the Incarnate. It's a big old beast, but I don't think it synergised that well with my army. You rarely want to fight first with the Incarnate so often the area of effect all out attack doesn't get used. I think I'd rather take 6 morrsarr guard, who are less durable, but have more of a threat and can benefit from the allegiance.

I'm running a completely different list to Clash to try out how our akhelian units work in the new season. I hope you'll join me again tomorrow for a look ahead to Clash.

Much love,

Hazel