Junior WoffBoot 2018 - Game 1

Those of you playing attention will know that our annual tournament was played overseas for the first time this year. All very good, and many langoustine were slain in the process, but what about the younger enthusiasts who weren't able to travel - were they to be denied a game?

Not on my watch!

This Junior WoffBoot comprised of four players who, for ease of reading, will be assigned cool WoffBoot names: Tinky-Winky, aged 11; Dipsy, aged 8; Laa-Laa, aged 7 and Po, aged 4.

Of the quartet, Tinky-Winky was a WoffBoot veteran, having attended several and played his own army in the previous one (I believe Kraken's scalp is still hanging from his belt). Dipsy had also witnessed a few WoffBoots in action. Laa-Laa and Po were both half-way through a HeroQuest campaign. In addition, Po had been eyeballing the inside of 'Daddy's toy cabinet' and was overjoyed at getting to play with them.

The game was Age of Sigmar, with myself as gamesmaster and General Yalfrezi assisting (re: making tea). As I was supplying three of the four armies, I'd gone through the warscrolls and chopped out anything extraneous, such as special rules, different weapons, champions, musicians etc.

Each unit was simply the 'stat circle' and one line for the missile and melee options respectively. This should strip everything down to a bare minimum so we can focus attention on the table, not the paperwork. I even used an illustrative picture on each warscroll (thank Sigmar I obessively catalogue everything).

Game 1 - We're Going On A Spawn Hunt

Four-player games can get complicated, even with grown-ups involved, but with limited time and only one table/referee, we went for it. Each player had a small force of three units (one command and two troops) and deployed in separate corners of the table.

In the centre of the table were three Chaos Spawn, who would be controlled by Yalfrezi. The object would be to 'catch' one or more Spawn (reduce it to zero wounds), then escort it back to your corner. Rival warbands could fight each other as well, and if they removed all your models from a captured Spawn, they would take possession of it.

The contestants picked their forces from the alliances available, and chose a corner to deploy. The first turn was randomised and went around clockwise (there was no random determining of the turns after that - the boys were showing a great amount of patience in waiting for their turn as it was).

Tinky-Winky's Stormcast Eternals

• Lord-Celestant on Dracoth
• 5 x Liberators
• 5 x Retributors

Dipsy's Chaos Monsters

• Ogroid Thaumaturge
• 10 x Kairic Acolytes
• 3 x Razorgor

Laa-Laa's Last Alliance of Order

• Lord-Celestant
• 9 x High Elf Archers
• 10 x Swordmasters

Po's Destruction Ironjawz

• Megaboss
• 5 x Brutes
• 8 x Grot Scuttlings

Turn 1

Tinky-Winky took the first turn, and sent his Lord-Celestant on Dracoth charging forward to quickly knock out and capture the first Spawn.

Laa-Laa was next, who elected to hold his Lord-Celestant in reserve, while sending the two units of Elves forward to take on the second Spawn. The archers were ineffectual, but the Swordmasters ripped it apart with an unmatched ferocity (he could barely hold all the attack dice in his hands).

That left one Spawn left, so Dipsy and Po were now eyeing up each other as the potential threat. Po went next, but his slow-moving Ironjawz weren't going to out-run Razorgor.

Sure enough, when Dipsy took his turn, he sent his Razorgor hurtling towards the final Spawn, locking it down in combat (then finishing it off in the Spawn's turn). The Kairic Acolytes were sent off to harass the Orruks, while the Ogroid was also held back (as the only spellcaster on the table, he was enjoying his Arcane Bolt supremacy).

Turn 2

Tinky-Winky's Lord-Celestant handed off his capture to the Liberators, while his Retributors advanced towards the Elves. After all, one Spawn could only tie the game - he would need two to win it.

Laa-Laa pulled back his Swordmasters and their capture, while bringing his Lord-Celestant forward to take control of it. The Elven Archers formed a screen against the advancing Stormcast and managed to plink off a wound from the Retributors.

The Ironjawz continued to slog towards the centre, led by their Megaboss, who tried a long charge at the Razorgor and failed. The Grots fired ineffectually at Acolytes, but the Brutes charged in and chopped down the unit until only a handful remained.

Reeling from the loss, Dipsy pulled back his Razorgor and their captured Spawn, making a break for his own corner. The Ogroid continued towards the centre, to meet the challenge of the Megaboss.

Turn 3

While Tinky-Winky's Lord-Celestant on Dracoth galloped to catch up with his paladins, the Retributors charged into the Archers and hacked them to pieces, leaving only one survivor.

In response, Laa-Laa's Lord Celestant grabbed his Spawn and pulled back to his own corner while the Swordmasters counter-charged the Retributors. The elves did a surprising amount of damage, while the paladins whiffed their rolls. By the end of it, only the Retributor-Prime was left standing among the elves.

On the other side of the battlefield, Po's Ironjawz chopped down the last of the Kairic Acolytes, while the Megaboss got in a successful charge against the Ogroid. Sadly, luck was not with the greenskins this day, and the Ironjaw general flubbed every attack. The Ogroid was not so careless and, having already softened up the Megaboss with Arcane Bolts previously, now ran him through with his horns.

Following up on the success, Dipsy blasted the Brutes with an Arcane Bolt, then followed up into the Scuttlings. He found it a lot harder to crush an enemy that was running around his hooves, however, and killed none of them while taking a wound in the process. More importantly, the Razorgor were almost half-way back, and nearly out of interception range.

Turn 4

In a valiant attempt to save what was left of his Retributors, Tinky-Winky charged his Lord-Celestant on Dracoth into the Swordmasters. However, he fared no better than his paladins and felled only a handful of elves as the last Retributor was cut down.

Having secured his own prize, Laa-Laa's main task was to chop down the Lord-Celestant on Dracoth with his Swordmasters, who were having the game of their lives.

On Po's battlefield, the Scuttlings were still inexplicably tying up the Ogroid, leaving the Brutes free to chase down the Razorgor. They caught them with a long charge, chopped them into bacon bits, and relieved them of their captive.

In Dipsy's turn, the Ogroid finally managed to crush the Grots, and was now blocking the Brutes' escape route back to their own corner - could the third Spawn exchange hands yet again?

End Game

Tinky-Winky was staying put with his Liberators, guarding his prize. Laa-Laa was doing to the same with his Lord-Celestant, though he had dispatched his Swordmasters to the far end of the table to see who they might support/betray.

In the final contest, the Ogroid kept edging backwards, keeping the Brutes in Arcane Bolt range, but out of effective charge range, hoping to whittle them down with magic. It was a fine plan, but the Ironjawz eventually made their charge and beat up the Chaos general, ensuring their prize.

Or had they? The Swordmasters had now completed their march across the table and could have tried to charge in and kill the Brutes, taking a third Spawn and ensuring victory for Order. With a sportsmanship that is rarely displayed in grown-ups, Laa-Laa decided that Po had earned his laurels, and everyone retired to their respective corners, a three-way draw as the outcome.

Milk and Biscuits wrap-up

That was quite a game! Despite the general excitement and clamour (answering four questions simultaneously was not uncommon), all four players took to the game well and really enjoyed themselves.

I remember in the early days of Age of Sigmar, one of the sour gripes was that it was a kids' game. While this is patently untrue, it doesn't take much to translate it into something that pre-teens can latch onto. I doubt if Warhammer Fantasy could have been 'levelled-down' quite so quickly, nor gamesmastered so efficiently. The boys knew what they had in their forces, understood what they could do, and grasped the aim of the game. They also had terrific fun, which is really the Most Important Thing.

Personally, I had a blast. The four-way scenario worked pretty well. If I were tweaking it, I might have made the Spawn more durable (or had the objectives as locked chests to break into), or had more of them (so that every team could have captured at least one). I had a supply of random monsters to make an appearance if anything got dull or one-sided - luckily, it flowed like butter.

That concluded the four-way game. After that, Po had to go to bed and Laa-Laa's mum came to take him home (not the usual excuses at a WoffBoot). But that still left Tinky-Winky and Laa-Laa wide awake and present to play a final, full-strength battle scenario! 

To be concluded!