Initial Leadbelcher Testing
So last week, I talked about updating my Uber Ogre list by dropping my Stonehorn in favor of adding half a dozen Leadbelchers. I got to play 3 games with my revised list over the weekend (also changed the Slaughtermaster to Armor of Destiny, Greedy Fist and Biting Blade), and I have to say I was quite impressed with the results.
Game 1: vs. Slaanesh Daemons
I knew from the beginning that this was going to be an interesting game. My friend Britton runs an almost pure Slaanesh daemon list, including 3 Siren Songs, one large and one small unit of Daemonettes, some Horrors with herald, a pair of individual Fiends and plenty of Seekers. The game started off with my Leadbelchers being forced by Siren Song to charge the biggest unit of Seekers. I succeeded in the charge, whiffed my rolls and was promptly run down after only killing a couple daemons, not a good start. Most of the rest of the game can be summed up about the same way. I lost an Ironblaster after one turn to the Haunted Mansion (Britton's dice were on fire!), then after being charged in the rear of my gutstar by that aforementioned unit of Seekers, I continued to only kill about 2-3 daemons per turn with 15 attacks. My second Ironblaster charged in when he was down to 5 models, hoping that the added impact hits would make up for my bad rolls, instead the impact hits, plus 15 iron gut attacks, and the 7 attacks coming from the Ironblaster crew killed a whopping 2 models, causing the Ironblaster to flee off the board.
With my terrible rolls, Britton could have snagged the victory, but instead he fed a bit too much to the Gutstar and pulled out a tie (94 point victory to him). This is the first tie I've got with my Ogre list, but it's better than a loss, and I'm sure our rematch will involve plenty of crushed girly daemons.
Game 2: vs High Elves
This was a bit more like it, my dice were warmed up and ready to kill some silly elves. My Ironblasters and Leadbelchers annihilated all of my opponents redirectors right away, which for me means they're now worth their weight in gold. After this, the Leadbelchers continued to shred Swordmasters by the handful, as well as just about anything else they could point their fat fingers towards. In my opponents third turn I unleashed the Hellheart, only needing a 2 to reach his general (level 1 due to elfy magic items) and level 4, but I rolled a 6 and got to make his level 2 miscast as well! After totally shutting down his magic phase, I charged in and utterly destroyed his army.
Since I killed his redirectors, I was free to engage where and when I wanted. I say that this is a major victory for my Leadbelchers.
Game 3: Rematch vs High Elves
Not content with his crushing defeat, I chatted a bit with the High Elf player and what he could have done differently with his list. Previously, he was running a "Coven of Light" style army, which seems like an interesting gimmick, but ultimately wasn't helping much against most armies, especially mine. After our talk, he switched around a few magic items and lores, coming back to the field with Lore of Metal on his level 4 and High Magic for his level 2.
Right away on turn 1, he got IF for Searing Doom, rolled boxcars and ended up doing 9 wounds to my Mournfangs, leaving one alive with the Dragonhide Banner. Unfortunately for him however, he got power drain (another pair of 6's) then reduced his levels by 3 (another 6). My Leadbelchers and Cannons did their job killing his redirectors again and dwindling his units. I moved my Mournfang into the side and unleashed his breath weapon on the Swordmasters who had the 5+ ward. Using a Sabretusk who was hiding behind a building to redirect his White Lions, I was able to obliterate the Swordmasters, then turn to face the White Lions. The epic show down involved me charging through Khemrian Quicksand, losing 3 of my Ironguts in the process, then a round of combat, which while I won, left too many White Lions alive thanks to the 5+ ward from High Magic. Chip rolled an 11 to break on his White Lions, which we knew was game over (they fled 2"), so I let him re-roll even though I killed his BSB, 11 again. We did fight out another round of combat anyhow, I took another big chunk out of the White Lions and he killed some Ogres, in the end though, it was pretty clear that the Ogres were going to win after another turn with my Ironblaster poised to charge the flank.
Thoughts so far...
While I definitely like having my Stonehorn on the table, unfortunately, it seems that these Leadbelchers are just too good to pass up. Their performance in the first game was less than spectacular, but in both games against High Elves, they were beyond fantastic. It will obviously take some more testing, but the preliminary results are very promising.
For those wondering, here's a recap of the list I was using:
Slaughtermaster: Level 4, Lore of Death, Ironfist, Armor of Destiny, Greedy Fist, Biting Blade
Bruiser: Iron Fist, Heavy Armor, Battle Standard Bearer, Deathcheater, Runemaw Butcher: Level 2, Lore of the Great Maw, Great Weapon, Hellheart
15 Ironguts: Crusher, Bellower, Standard Bearer with Lookout Gnoblar, Standard of Discipline
4 Mournfang Cavalry: Heavy Armor, Iron Fists, Bellower, Standard Bearer, Dragonhide Banner 6 Leadbelchers: Bellower Sabretusk Sabretusk
Ironblaster Ironblaster
2495 Points