This weekend I was able to get in a game of the new Warhammer Fantasy. I squared off against Dannato from the forums. He was fielding an Empire army and I brought my Ogres.
I had an absolute blast playing. I brought a Tyrant with Tenderizer, and three Bruisers - one had the Siege Breaker, the second a Great Skull, and the third was my Battle Standard Bearer with a War Banner. I had one unit of six Bulls, two units of Iron Guts, a unit of Gnoblar Trappers, a Scrap Launcher, a Gorger, and four Lead Belchers.
Dan was fielding a nice mixed shooty army. He had two units of Pistoleers on horseback, a unit of knights with lances, a few units of Swordsmen with a detachment of Halberdiers, a Cannon, Mortar, and Hellblaster, a guy on a War Altar, a level 2 Wizard, and a Battle Standard Bearer.
Dan plays quite a bit more Fantasy than I do, so I was expecting a really uphill battle - especially since I was fielding Ogres (one of the bottom two armies in the last edition.) Man, I was in for a suprise. In the new edition Ogres have gotten a HUGE boost. The new charge rules mean they are faster to get into HTH, the new shooting rules mean that Lead Belcehrs can fire in two rankes, and not having to guess with the scraplauncher was a big boost as well.
The biggest buff that Ogres got was being able to fight in two ranks. I fielded my Ogres two ranks deep and they were just brutal in hand to hand. I was throwing 24 attacks from the Ogre Bulls (they had extra hand weapons) and 18 S6 great weapon attacks from the Iron Guts.
The game was fast and frantic - we both had some ups and downs. On turn one Dan's wizard bought it on a miscast, and I failed a whole host of leadership rolls that saw my Tyrant, BSB, and a unit of Iron Guts get driven off and destroyed.
The Empire shooting did a good job at softening me up, but it just couldn't wipe out a whole unit of Ogres - their three wounds a piece made it tough to get rid of them. Since I was fielding a Gorger, Dan spread his war machines out so I wouldn't be able to get to them as fast. His plan worked, but he also wasn't able to bring multiple war machines to bear against multiple units.
In the end Dan pulled out the win - he had more units, was very maneuverable, and had a hard as nails character on the War Altar. I am really excited about this edition of Warhammer Fantasy - I am sure with a bit more practice and a bit more thought in my lists I will be able to hang.
Be sure to check out warpighobbyshop.com - Having been inspired by my game of Warhammer Fantasy vs. The Empire this weeks deal of the week is for the Empire Cannon/Mortar box at 25% off.