Da Monstaaagh! Mash: Savage Orcs vs Warriors of Chaos

It's All-Skype Fight Night!

Prebattle

My turn to host the SkypeBoot, and that meant only one thing: up into the attic to blow the cobwebs off the Big Board!

The foundation of our 6th Edition battles.

After printing out all the spell cards for Big Waaagh! and Little Waaagh! (why, GW, why wouldn't you just sell them to me?), I became quite industrious with cardboard cut-outs. 

I've long-coveted Gen East's Arc of Visibility, and finding none in the online stores, went ahead and printed my own:

I See You.

As well as some Animosity Counters, to remind me which of my units were squabbling.

My hopes weren't high.

Forces

I knew I'd likely be facing a lot of tough infantry, so went for an army of cunning brutality (rather than brutal cunning).

• The Big 'Uns have never let me down yet, so I went with a whopping 32 of them (I thought a horde formation would be too unwieldy - and most of my attacks come from the front rank anyway - so I went 7-wide, which would allow for manoeuvre, but also maximise attacks against any 5-wide unit)
• An 8-strong unit of Trolls was my other big hitter. I've never used Trolls in these numbers before, but if they could do what they were told, they could be awesomely effective.
• The small unit of Boarboys was just to clear away any chaff units that might upset/redirect my big units.
• The Giant to perform a similar role - hold up a flank, or stop any nasty monsters getting to my main units.
• And finally a chariot, because they usually come in handy for support.
• My general was a Lv 4 Shaman, kitted out with the optimum combination to boost the Big 'Uns and protect himself (if I could cast Fists of Gork as well, he'd be something of a combat monster himself)
• I took a Battle Standard, as I needed the leadership to restrain Frenzy and keep the Trolls from going stupid.
• I also added another Big Boss to the unit, partly to have someone to accept challenges (and keep my General and BSB safe) - I also had it in mind that he could leave the unit and lead the Trolls, if needed (like if my General suddenly expired).

For spells, I rolled Brain Bursta, 'Eadbutt, Fists of Gork (yay!) and 'Ere We Go. A decent enough mix, although it's been a while since I went to battle without Foot of Gork (must be getting its verrucas seen to).

Da 'Eavy Mob

Go big, or go home.
And I was already playing at home.

Skullfink da Arkane, Savage Orc Shaman Lord – Lvl 4, Lucky Shrinken Head. Fencer's Blades Obsidian Trinket

Noggchoppa, Savage Orc Big Boss BSB - Great Weapon, Standard of Discipline

Rokhamma, Savage Orc Big Boss - Additional hand weapon. Potion of Speed
32 x Savage Orc Big 'Uns - Additional hand weapon, Big Stabba, Full Command
5 x Savage Orc Boar Boyz - Spears, Shields. Musician
1 x Boar Chariot

8 x Common Trolls

1 x Giant

1600

My opponent was to be Kraken, who will be representing himself in bold type.

Shadows 'n' Marauders

Finally, an army I could take my heavy infantry blocks against without a grim feeling of futility! Merely cautious anxiety instead. Orcs and Goblins can hit just as hard as Warriors in close combat, and are an unpredictable foe at the best of times. 

• Savage Orcs would mean a massive pack of naked savages. What better to meet them than an even more massive pack of naked savages? Fifty vanilla marauders, please. 
• Two units of WoCs, for versatility and general menace
• Another crack with the SlaanOgres, as flank guards
• Nothing says 'I'm going to kill the giant I suspect will make an appearance' like a Daemon Prince of Khorne. With wings, for flanking. 
• Lore of Shadows has good spells for nerfing tough, strong foes. Or outright killing them with initiative tests. A level 2 sorceror for that. 
• Battle standard bearer and banner of discipline would be needed - with the general flying around bellowing and killing, I'd need the leadership bonuses to hold a line.
• Spawn! Because they're rubbish but entertaining, and I reckoned they might work to disrupt or hold off flankers for a bit. I had a susicion those painted river trolls I'd seen might be coming out, so some fiery Tzeentch spawn to burn them and a nippy Slaanesh spawn to tickle them. 

All those marks of Slaanesh and naked marauders made me decide this is clearly a fairly S&M army, hence its title. Makes me uncomfortable, though. Good old fashioned Tzeentchians next time round for me. 

I got the full Edgar Allen of spells - both Pit of Shades and Penumbral Pendulum. Getting both off in one turn would probably be unlikely, though, so I swapped the Pendulum for Melkoth's Mystifying Miasma - good synergy between the two. By firing a cheaper miasma off I could potentially burn dispel dice for a knockout punch.

Matt Daemon, Daemon Prince - Chaos armour, Daemon of Khorne, Daemonic Flight, Soul Feeder
Kelmoth Shadepit, Chaos Sorcerer - Lv 2 Shadow, Dispel Scroll, Enchanted Shield
Jerek Darkoby, Exalted Hero BSB - Standard of Discipline
50 x Chaos Marauders - Full Command
10 x Warriors of Chaos - Shields, Full Command
10 x Warriors of Chaos - Shields, Full Command
4 x Chaos Ogres - Mark of Slaanesh
1 x Chaos Spawn - Spawn of Slaanesh
1 x Chaos Spawn - Spawn of Tzeench

1600

In Glorious Technicolour

In Close Proximity

Deployment

The battlefield was pretty simple - a couple of woods, a scattering of hills and a fortified village at one end. Clearly the Savage Orcs had beaten the Chaos Warriors to plundering this hamlet and the Slaves to Darkness were coming for their revenge.

As the SkypeBoot guest, Kraken picked the sides with the hills, and set up a refused flank around the hills. I deployed more centrally, with Big 'Uns and Trolls in the middle. As long I could get these two units against his big combat blocks, I would be happy.

Green-on-green action.

My concerns were the Spawn redirecting me, the Ogres flanking me and the Daemon Prince (without a Foot of Gork, I didn't really have an answer to him - I'll bring a Rock Lobber next time). I'd just have to push out my Boarboys, Chariot and Giant to clear or delay these elements.

Yes, a denied flank seemed the way to go. I didn't fancy a head-on clash without dictating the terms a bit, that many S5 hits would dint even the most chaotic armour. Deal with the flankers then flank the remainder, that was the order of the day.

Turn 1 - Savage Orcs

The battle began in unexpectedly good order. Animosity and Stupidity tests were passed and the whole army advanced.

The Winds of Magic rolled low for me (as they did for the whole game - averaging 5 and never going above 6). I cast a Boosted 'Eadbutt at the Chaos Sorcerer, but Kraken dispelled it, which meant I could start tooling up my Shaman early with Fists of Gork.

Turn 1 - Warriors of Chaos

A nice gentle start, with the bulk of my troops merely tightening their strappy armour, clipping on their nipple rings and slapping each others' butts in anticipation. 

The Daemon Prince declared a failed charge on the distant giant, eager to put distance between himself and his kinky minions. The Chaos Warriors coyly hid behind him, shuffling forwards to start closing the jaws of my folding line.

Magic went well - a hefty three-points-off-everything Miasma settled on the Savage Orcs. Okay, -3 BS wasn't going to win the battle for me, but the rest would keep them off until my troops were in position. The Shaman dispelled an attempted Pit o' Shades, and that was turn one dusted. 

Turn 2 - Savage Orcs

Animosity tests were passed, which meant my Miasma'd Big 'Uns could now sweep forward a massive two inches. The Trolls passed their Stupidity and nudged alongside them, the Chariot continued along the flank.

I didn't bother to restrain the Boarboyz as I wanted them to charge into the Slannesh Spawn, and so they did.

The only other charge was the Giant, who had the dubious honour of going nose-to-nose with the Daemon Prince (it's not explicit in the diagram, but we agreed the Daemon Prince was blocking the Chaos Warriors from being charged by the Giant - I'm not sure I would have fancied my chances with them either).

I once again cast 'Eadbutt on the Chaos Sorcerer (which has increased to a S5 hit, now there were greenskins in combat) - Kraken used his Dispel Scroll to stop that right away. The rest of my dice were spend removing Miasma from the Big 'Uns.

Combat didn't go so well. In the clash of the titans, the Giant's Thump With Club attack was easily avoided by the I6 Daemon Prince, but at least I only took two wounds and held fast.

The Boarboys didn't make much of a dent against the Slaanesh Spawn - they caused only one wound apiece, and only the charge meant I won the combat (the Spawn was Unbreakable, but it meant I stayed Frenzied).

Turn 2 - Warriors of Chaos

Now we were in business. With the Daemon Prince cheerily whittling the giant down into bitesize pieces, the right-hand Warriors snuck up to help themselves to freshly carved flank if needed. 

The Slaanogres, sensing their big wobbly gimpspawn might benefit from a hand, charged in on the boarboyz. The Tzeentchspawn hobbled towards the trolls, the marauders stayed on the hill and the other warriors continued a gentle advance. 

Magic went particularly well. A six-dice, unstoppable souped-up Pit o' Shades landed directly under the trolls and swallowed half of them. The rest legged it, and the sorcerer shrugged off his S6 hit nonchalently. Excellent.

The Trolls weren't even testing on their own dumb Ld - they failed their Panic check on a re-rollable 9!

The boarboyz made no further headway on their opponents before being wiped out. The Ogres tried for an optimistic follow-through to the chariot, but it was a jog too far. Serves them right for wearing cleats to a battle. 

The last remaining sixth of the giant managed to hold, irritatingly, but it wasn't going to hold for long. The DP was dancing round his thumping club like a proper Dubstepper. 

So far, so good - the plan was surviving contact with the enemy intact. Which meant something shit was surely about to happen. 

Turn 3 - Savage Orcs

Fortunately, what remained of the Trolls were still in range of my general, so they were able to rally. Unfortunately, that was their last chance to use the general's Inspiring Presence, as the Big 'Uns declared a charge against the Ogres. The Chariot also joined in the fun, and charged into the Tzeench Spawn.

Even with my paltry Winds of Magic dice, I was able recast Fists of Gork on the Great Shaman (although I was looking good for the win even without that), then cast 'Ere We Go to re-roll any misses (which, again, might have been overkill).

The Big 'Uns made short work of the Chaos Ogres (actually the Big Boss and the Great Shaman made short work of them - by the time the regular Boyz got to fight, there was only one wound remaining), for the loss of a couple of Boyz. They ploughed on into the Slaanesh Spawn, who had been slobbering behind them.

The poor Tzeench Spawn didn't even get a chance to fight. Impact hits from the chariots took off a couple of wounds, and the tusks of the Boars got the last one (hurrah for I3 boars!). The Chariot decided to hold firm, rather than contemplate the long charge into the Warriors, or the suicidal one into the Marauders.

Not learning from experience, the Giant tried to Thump With Club again, and the Daemon Prince dodged it again (oh, it would have been glorious if he had hit just once - give me Ogres to fight). Three more wounds on the Giant, but he was still holding fast as an effective, albeit expensive, roadblock.

Ah, not so I'm afraid! The Giant lasted three turns (two wounds, three wounds, three wounds and gone), and this was its last stand. Licking his claws clean, the Daemon Matt started to look further afield for more gore.

Oh yes, that's true. I'd forgotten to count the WoC turn. The Giant was dead. Giant, you suck.

Turn 3 - Warriors of Chaos

The Savage Orcs were looming rather hard on my flank, with only a rather frail-looking chaos spawn to hold them up. As such, I decided the Mauraders would do better trying to get stuck in. It needed just over average, but hitting the chariot (and then hopefully combat resolutioning it out of the way) would get me out of the way, I reckoned. 

I never expect units that aren't fast cavalry to turn and flee, which is sensibly exactly what the chariot did. This left my flank very firmly open, which was bad news. The DP leapt forward to threaten the savage orc flank, but it was likely to be too late to hold them. The timid chaos warriors tiptoed forward, determined to keep safely to the plan. 

Magic was a washout - I failed my casting rolls and forgot I could try to get rid of Fists of Gork. Bah. 

Turn 4 - Savage Orcs

The maps got a bit confused here, sorry about the arrow tapestry. I forgot who charged the chariot and invented an alternative timeline which proved rather hard to overwrite. 

Struggling on their own leadership, the Trolls fail their Stupidity and shuffle forward an inch. Of slightly more importance, the Big Uns' pass Animosity and declare a charge against the Marauders.

Rather unsportingly, the Maurader horde choose to turn tail and flee, rather than face the music. It nearly proved disastrous for them when they rolled low to flee and the Savages rolled high to charge - they missed by an inch. The failed charge stuttered to a halt, and the successful flight stopped on the very edge of the board - another inch and they would have been off.

(So that really was the sweet spot of dice rolls - any other number would have meant immediate destruction.)

Nothing of note happened in the magic phase, and there was no close combat, so the ball was back in the Cowardly Chaotic Court.

Turn 4 - Warriors of Chaos

Cowardly, eh? We'll see about that. The Marauders felt this taunt so keenly, they reformed immediately, pulling up short with the Chaos Warriors in tidy order along their right side, ready to clamp shut the beartrap I'd set in deployment. 

The Daemon Prince soared across to the other flank, a jutting lower jaw to the upper incisors of the warrior units. After a short and uneventful magic phase, the die was cast. All the marauders needed to do was hold for a single turn, and I'd have my savage foe right where I wanted him.

Turn 5 - Savage Orcs

The Trolls fail their Stupidity test (but only by one - we're getting closer!), the Chariot rallied (or maybe it did that last turn - either way it was trundling back into action) and Animosity is passed to enable the Big 'Uns to charge into the Marauders.

In the Magic Phase, I recast 'Ere We Go (Fists of Gork was still in play), so my Savage Orcs could maximise their damage against 50 Marauders.

The Marauders got to strike first, although they had been sent into battle dangerously under-equipped, and that parsimony proved their undoing as they were only able to kill a couple of Big Uns.

Two! Two from twenty seven attacks! I knew I distrusted Slaaneshi tendencies for a reason!

The Big 'Uns struck back in style, killing more than 20 Marauders like a big green blender. Fortified by a Potion of Speed (also unnecessary, given the opposition) the Big Boss took on the Marauder Champion and smashed him into the dirt for an extra 4 Overkill.

The Chaos boys had lost the combat rather badly, and had even lost enough ranks that they were no longer Steadfast. A couple of tries at double 1s and they were out of there.

The Big 'Uns were compelled to pursue, and they did, catching and destroying the Marauders and then disappearing off the table themselves.

Turn 5 - Warriors of Chaos

Hold the line for one turn, he said. It'll be a walk in the park, he said. 

Yes, true to the ethos of the British Military I was raised with, I'd left my core troops horribly ill-equipped for the task in hand. At least I was left in possession of the field. This whole thing was shaping up like Iraq. 

Casting a bloodshot eye down the skidmark of gore the savage orcs left in their wake, the Daemon Prince strode confidently into position to wait for their inevitable return. The Chaos Worriers over the hill failed a reform test and only managed to sheepishly revolve in place, rather than mount the summit majestically like the killers they were supposed to be. 

This left their flank wide open to the chariot, so the other warrior unit reluctantly sloped into place to defend their chums. Another miasma failed to gather around the chariot, and there was nothing else going on. I would need to recoup the cost of the Marauders from my foe if I wanted to retain the game, and that meant I needed some pretty deadly combat in my last turn. At least everyone was in place to give me a good chance at that. 

Turn 6 - Savage Orcs

An interesting question arose: do returning units test for Animosity? The test is in the Start of Turn sub-phase, and returning units don't appear on the board until the Remaining Moves sub-phase - so unless they have to test off the board (which would be difficult to resolve if they had to charge the enemy - or fight other units) it looks like they get an automatic pass (I may have tested anyway, just to be sure).

The Trolls once again failed their Stupidity - no they passed! THEY BLOODY PASSED! I don't think anyone was expecting that, certainly not Kraken who placed the flank of his Chaos Warrior unit so invitingly in front of them. The not-stupid Trolls smashed into the side of the Warriors, and the Chariot hit the front.

The Big 'Uns returned to the field, and after much hemming and hawing about whether I should reform to face both Demon Prince and Chaos Warriors, I decided to stay put (trading a Deamon Prince in the flank in return for making the charge harder for the Warriors).

I got an all-time record 6 dice for Winds of Magic, and I really wanted to restore 'Ere We Go for the upcoming fight. I could tell Kraken had a newfound respect for the spell (he'd previously let it go thorough) and so, egged on by calls of 'Go For It!' I threw six dice at the spell...

... and it went off. Irresistibly (extra-irresistibly, in fact, as I rolled 3 sixes). And then I rolled Dimension Cascade, which blew up 8 of my Big Uns. Fortunately, most of the unit was spared by their ward saves, and the two characters were not wounded by the S10 hit, so it could have been worse...

... and then my Great Shaman got sucked into the warp, taking with it my general, a quarter of the armies' point, and my hopes of victory.

So there's that.

Woot!

In the combat phase, the Trolls saluted their fallen leader with a fountain of vomit that melted the Chaos Warriors, while the Chariot account for a couple more. The Warriors could only muster a single wound on the Trolls, broke from combat, and were run down.

This caused the other unit of Chaos Warriors to panic and flee. Meaning they were never going to charge my unit of Big 'Uns, which makes my 6-dice gambit even more stupid.

Turn 6 - Warriors of Chaos

What a mixed blessing that last turn was. A melting pot of raised and dashed hopes. And exploding orc brains and troll vomit. Gross.

Well, the sorceror rallied the Chaos Wusses over on the hill. At least he got his own back for the ignominious defeat of the other warrior unit, slapping another dead-on Pit of Shades on the remaining trolls. Only one survived, and duly set off for the Chaos Wastes to the far north of the battlefield, determined to join the ranks of those who could wield such terrible power. 

The Daemon Prince got a last round of combat, challenging to try and minimise the chances of being mobbed by crazed orcs. Flinging an empty potion of speed bottle at the daemon, the non-banner-bearing big boss accepted, and was pulled into stringy shreds of meat for his troubles. 

A flank charge, two wounds and one over against the ranks and banners - I swung the combat by one. But the orcs handily passed the break test, and that was all she wrote. 

It was going to be close. 

Final Score: 1,080 (Stylus) : 1,017 (Kraken)

Aftermath

You know, I knew Stupidity was going to be a problem with this army, but I didn't think it was going to come from me (but that might be because I was, you know, stupid).

I really managed to pluck a draw from the jaws of victory there. To begin with my game-deciding mistake: I got a case of final-turn giddiness and didn't think it through. I had available two character sniping spells (that were going off at a boosted strength, due to the Troll/Chariot combat) as well as 'Ere We Go. Any of these would have been an acceptable cast, and Kraken would not been able to stop them all - I should have just drawn out his dispel dice, rather than going for broke (and then going broke).

In truth, I didn't even need 'Ere We Go. The battle was done by that point - even if the worst had happened and my Big 'Uns had been charged by the Daemon Prince and the Warriors, I doubt they would have done enough damage to take away my steadfast (re-rolling Ld9) - I'd have lost the combat, but the game had ended. But I wanted to win the combat (at the expense of the game, as it happens). The same thing happened when I accepted the challenge with my Big Boss, and not a champion - that cost me 82 points (which would still have squeaked a win), and the Big Boss had no chance of killing the Deamon Prince, but I wanted to make a show of it. I'm really going to have to learn when to play it safe, and just go for the points.

Turn 5: just waiting for the Big 'Uns to return to the field
 - so they can blow themselves up and throw the game.

But I'll stop grousing (although that will haunt me for a while) - a draw was a fair result. My Trolls passing their Stupidity test at the exact moment when they could make a flank charge was an absurdly lucky moment, and you don't hear Kraken complaining (maybe you'll have to scroll down for that).

You can't complain when your larynx has dissolved in troll vomit.

In terms of the units: the Big 'Uns brought it home (as they always do) - although I glad they avoided the two Pit of Shades, at the expense of the Trolls. I was putting all my chips on this unit and it came away relatively unscathed from enemy action (most of the damage came from myself).

The Trolls themselves did pretty well under the circumstances - they were unlucky to get two direct hits from the one spell that would devastate them (poor Initiative 1 - it's amazing even one of them survived) and I did abandon them with leadership (with a unit that size, I should just stick a Big Boss with them). I quite liked the 2x2 formation (which they took after rallying), as that seemed to bring a lot of power to the party.

The Chariot was useful as always - it's usually small enough to be overlooked, but it killed a Spawn and helped destroy the Warriors. In fact, it did all the jobs I would want the Boarboyz to perform (and which they failed at all of them - the best you can say is that they drew out the Ogres in the charge range).

I'm on the fence about the Giant - it did hold up the Daemon Prince for 3 rounds, and was the only unit with the sufficient toughness, wounds and leadership to do so (although 200pts is a lot for the task). The whole point of these supporting units was to clear the path for the Big 'Uns, so I guess he did his job - I just need to get out of the mindset of wanting every unit to do some damage. Some pawns you are meant to sacrifice.

Well, I certainly managed to sacrifice the bulk of mine. Surely some god somewhere must be pleased.

I often have a plan in mind as I start a game, and it very rarely makes it as far as deployment. In those terms, I think the game was a success for me. I kept to my refused flank and mousetrap line, and it very nearly worked. 

There were three key mistakes that cost me the game, I think (and frankly, Stylus was robbed by that miscast, although them's your onions in this game). Stylus mentions them all below, so I won't go on about them here. If you're feeling like flexing your tactical nous, however, note them down on some handy paper before reading on and see if you get them all!

And maybe I could have charged the unbreakable Daemon Prince into the side of the marauders and issued challenges in my 4th turn, hoping to delay them. That could have swung it, although against that Gork-fisted shaman, it would have been a dicey prospect. Mind you, that's Warhammer in a nutshell, eh? 

The Eye of Mork

A new addendum, where I look at what I would have done as my opponent (Kraken is invited to reciprocate), as it my throw up new insights, like pearls from a troll's gullet.

Kraken's 'refused flank' was sound enough - we both wanted to get into combat, but he had the ranged spells and the more disciplined army, so I had to come to him.

You know, from this angle, it's fairly clear I'm heading into a trap.
All I could think of at the time was 'Waaagh!'

But I think the flanks needed to be reversed (Ogres on the right, Chaos Warriors on the left). The Chaos Warriors really seem to struggle with their M4, and they would have done a better job holding back, while faster Ogres worked the extreme flank. (#Key Error 1)

Thinking about it, the Ogres had no business charging the Boarboyz anyway - the Slaanesh Spawn was handling them fine (better than I'd have thought - it's pretty good with ASF), and whatever Boarboyz survived were going to be no threat to anyone. Bringing the Ogres forward just allowed the Savage Orcs to get stuck in faster, and start the domino effect that ended with me running the Marauders off the board.

Dunno - I got lucky with the spawn's attacks. I certainly shouldn't have charged the ogres onwards, though, it was a bridge too far. Arnheim and Iraq in one fell battle. Any more famous British screwups I should re-enact?

Shadows is the perfect lore to put against this army - and Pit of Shades the best spell (with Miasma a pretty good backup). I was missing my Dispel Scroll (which had to be abandoned as my Shaman was loaded up).

I don't know whether, when they rallied, the Marauders should have deepened their formation, just to keep Steadfast, but I think they desperately needed some equipment - flails would have been nasty to face in those numbers. (#Key Errors 2&3)

Some of the slottabases were so under-equipped they didn't even have models standing on them. 

Finally, the Daemon Prince - I was obsessing on how powerful and unkillable he was, but in hindsight, he didn't actually do that much. His kill tally (Giant + Big Boss) didn't even equal his points costs, and he was flying around the place too much for the army to benefit from his Inspiring Presence. Not sure whether's that a valid criticism, or what I would have done differently, just an observation.

Ah well - making your opponent obsess about something is worth its weight in points, I'd reckon. I could have used him better, I agree, as mentioned above. I took him to deal with fast flankers and hoped the Banner of Discipline (used here as I believe it's actually meant to be used, he said sniffily) would plug the gap. 


The Gods Play Dice

I'd never pass up a chance to reciprocate. And I pretty much agree with all the above, bar the Daemon Prince - I'd say he was well worth the money. A return giant or a Shaggoth were the alternatives for monstrous hard hitter, and neither would necessarily fare as reliably well in close combat. 

Given that the orcs had to deploy first, hard to know how to counter the denied flank. Ploughing straight into it would have been a good idea, from any direction, and having the trolls sent off with magic early on reduced the army's available front a great deal. 

I'm not sure the giant was the right choice to take on the Daemon Prince, though. Given that it was sent out to die, in much the same spirit as the boarboyz, I might have considered reversing their roles. The giant could easily power through spawn and probably ogres alike, where the boarboys or even the chariot could outrun a daemon prince by fleeing for longer.

Agreed - I do need to expand my army choices, and some cheap, expendable fast cavalry (of the goblin kind) should be a tactical priority (in terms of a painting priority, I'd rather do squigs). Working with what I had, there were no good redirectors (Boarboys are ItP, so can't choose to flee; Chariot would only have to graze the forest to fall apart) - maybe I should have tried fleeing with the Giant. It would be certain to rally at least, and could have bought me another turn or two.

Situation Normal: All Flanked Up

Maybe even hurt it more reliably on the charge, in fact - against an unbreakable (no Yell and Bawl victories), high-initiative creature (Thump With Club a remote chance), even Headbutt is only going to draw out the inevitable. I was certainly going to try and get the DP on the giant first chance I got, though, so hard to know how you could avoid it with characters deploying later. 

Yes, I actually wanted to put the Giant against enemy infantry, but as you deployed the Deamon Prince after the Giant had been placed, I got caught out and tried to make the best of it (as I said, my best hope was that it will die slowly - Eadbutt would have worked in that case).

I don't think it was necessarily worth sending stuff against the spawn, at all, really. Running over them with the orcs (their eventual fate anyway) was far more reliable than using the boarboyz. As an infantry-heavy general, I'm learning to completely ignore charge-diverters where possible. They're minor irritations at worst if you leave them be, only helpful if they actually turn up behind you later. Spawn are unlikely to do that, the random movement means they're usually too slow.

I had visions of a single flaming-wound caused by the Tzeench Spawn would open the door to a whole round of unregeneratable wounds on the Trolls, so that was my aim for the Boarboyz (they were only cheap-ish chaff-clearers). I thought they would easily pop the Slaanesh Spawn then overrun into the Tzeench one - turns out I underestimated them (although the Chariot might have done just that, given a chance).

Not much else to add, really. This was the Orc's battle in all but actual result, although I've learnt several valuable lessons from it. 

1. Arm the Marauders
2. Don't rely on fancy manoeuvres with a footslogging army
3. Spawn aren't as bad as their reputation insists

Great fun (and my first hosting of a SkypeBoot - I was quite impressed by the proxies I could field). Not a bad pace either - 3 hours for 1,600pts.

I think I may have exhausted the combinations for Savage Orcs for a while (Lesson Learned: Big 'Uns led by tooled-up Great Shaman are awesome) - so I may be putting them out to pasture until I can get some more greenskin diversity going on. Maybe it's time for the Empire to have a try.