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Mar 21, 2009
71
Chi-town
If you've never tried "Triumph-&-Treachery" rules, here's a battle report which can show how different these battles are. Think "Munchkin-Flavored" Warhammer. I could see these games becoming like Diplomacy if the players are serious and cutthroat, but the games could also get quite silly if the players want to laugh it up. Sometimes, 4-player battles devolve into a stepladder bracket, and the survivors of each side-duel face each other for the finals... that is if the game goes on that long. But three player games, well, someone's gonna get picked on, and us three inexperienced players slogged it out for 7 hours, until the store kicked us out LOL. Experienced peops will take less than half the time we did, but could spend more time than we did on plots and negotiations...

At the beginning, we are each dealt two T'n'T cards, and have the option to turn our starting gold (BPV/5, round down to nearest 100) into a "suspicious-allies" mercenary unit which must include a character. The scenario, terrain, starting positions and deployment order was all randomly selected. Our game had 6 objective counters, placed one in each of the 6 main tiles. The terrain was considered all flat land despite the hilly bumps in the corners. The gold leader gets one card at Turn's End, and others get 2 or 3 (if least gold).
I'm playing my VC and draw two "exquisitely meh" T'n'T cards. Mike is an older gent playing Skaven. Jack is a nice, patient young lad playing Lizardmen, whom I faced last week but he had to bail out of the game 1/3 the way through it, so I didn't know if he would do the same this week.

No Battle Chronicler here, the tactics were simple and subtle as a flying mallet.

Here's who we brought to the party:
Master Necro-Level3 LoV wizard, talisman of preservation, dispel-scroll = 235 pts
Vamp hero-Level2 LoV wizard, quickblood, talisman of endurance, dragonhelm, HA, shield, lance, Barded nitemare = 240 pts
20 ghouls, 5 dire wolves, 5 dire wolves, 15 Zombies = 325 pts
8 Black Knights, champion, standard, razor banner = 273
Terrorgheist = typical
I used up my 200 gold to buy my mercenary unit, a Chaos Sorcerer-Level2 Lore of Tzeench wizard, Mark of Tzeench, Flying disc, 3rd eye = 200 pts
The Disc emits Fear just like my Zombies do, so my entire army is Fear-inducing. Sadly, no-one ever missed their Fear-induced Leadership rolls.
Our spells rolled were:
BK Vamp: Vanhel's and Hellish Vigor, swap Hellish out for IoN
MN-General: Raise Dead, Curse of Years, Wind of Death, swap Wind for IoN
Sorcerer: Glean Magic and Firestorm and more than happy with that

116.JPG

Jack's Lizardmen showed up as follows:
33 saurus with full command
Saurus Scarveteran, light armor + shield, GW
10 Skinks with blowpipes, Skink Priest Level2 Lore of Heaven wizard with Windblast and Comet of Casandora
10 Skinks with blowpipes
Stegadon
Mercs: 5 mounted Knights of Inner Circle with lances, mounted Priest with hammer

Mike's Skaven showed up as follows:
20 Clanrats with full command, Poison Windmortar, Chieftan, Grey Seer-level4 Lore of Ruin wizard with Scorch, Cracks Call, Warp Lightning, Dreaded 13 -- items include Skalm and 2 warpstones
20 Clanrats with full command, Poison Windmortar
20 Clanrats with full command, Ratling Gun
20 Clanrats with full command, Ratling Gun
Unknown to us, Mike also secretly took the Charmed Life Amulet, which guaranteed ridiculous dice rolls at inopportune times.

115.JPG

Setup was kind to the Dead, as the Lizzy/Rat battlelines were close, and the Dead were far away from the Lizardmen, and a full tile away from the obvious-first-target Skaven. Only an Objective Marker and a Well stood between us and our craven victims. Mike and Jack secretly conferred before they deployed, and my Dead got to look down the barrels of these guns...

117.JPG

Vanguard deployment saw my leftside Wolves run a fly-pattern to interpose between Jezzails and BKs. Rightside wolves centralized mid-board.

--==## First Turn ##==--

Skaven start, and continue to turtle up. He "moves against Lizards" but stands still, but that allows me a 1/3 chance for a new T'n'T card. I fail.
He bails on the Magic turn, not wanting to buff anything, and designates me as the target, so Jack rolls and fails at a T'n'T card.
Sometimes one of us would succeed at gaining a card, but much more often not.

Then the Shooting Phase hits. Us. Hard.
Jezzails see The Big Thing and conclude it must die. They hit twice and wound the Terrorgheist, who muffs both Regens. Not good.
The Ratling Gun crew squeals, "Incoming!", at the wolves and let off a flurry of shots: 5+2+3, and Mike proceeds to roll 6655444442 to hit, inducing 6 wounds, and the Lefthand Wolfpack is vaporized.
The Grey Seer squeaked, "What are you waiting for, shoot the Big Thing!" and the Warp Cannons complied. Lefthand warp Cannon tossed a Strength-4 bolt but barely singed my Terrorgheist.
Righthand Warp Cannon: Bounce before TG's Feet, Strength-10, 6 full Wounds, and shriek in glee as my TG missed. Every. Single. Regen.
265 points shot literally to Hell, before my Necromancer could even blink.
Master Necromancer: "Thou hast earned my undying enmity, Rats!", and suddenly all thought of Objectives went right out the window... One doesn't unearth a TG every day and we were deprived of its dismal shrieks and mobility.

Last weekend, I played 1000+200 and was left with only Vampire-hero and Varghulf. This week I wanted to minimize casualties, lose maybe only my wolfpacks at best. Nope. Time to bear down and grind this thing out, immediately minus some chaff and a wrecking ball. But, sadly, we now needed to clump to stay viable, there was not enough mass for standing near cute little tokens.

---

Lizardmen go and jockey the skinks out of the way of the main Saurus force somehow, and creep forwards towards the rats. It would be literal hours before Jack got a successful Charge off upon Mike's rats. One unit of skinks would meander towards the objectives on Jack's side of the board all game, tactically invisible to the battle at hand, but strategically worth a couple hundred points at the end.
Winds of Magic go against Skaven and are 5+3 with no channelings.
Jack ironically Windblasts a Skaven Windmortar 7" backwards. The first of many "we blew those rats away" notes. We giggle.

---

Desperate to silence those Warp-Cannons-From-Hell, my Wolfpack tries a need-11 charge attempt with predictable results. They move 6" towards the righthand Cannon. Rest of the force moves Skavenward, with BKbus in the lead. Sorcerer saw what skinks did to the Wolves last week and decided to stick to the left edge of the battlefield, far far away from the Lizzies, but closer to that Level-4 Seer...

118.JPG

Dish best served cold time, Magic phase vs Skaven. Winds of magic blow 5+1 and we Channel once.
Vamp tries to pry some dispel dice loose and casts Vanhels on the Wolves, Cannon Crew squeaks in fright and Seer easily dispels it.
Sorcerer then smiled and called upon his God, Tzeench's Firestorm, large template of course, targeting the Grey Seer unit but also 'plating both Cannons and crew. BUT NO, Mike plays the T'n'T Misdirection Card, and he designated My Own Ghoul Unit, completely breaking a cardinal rule... but legal with this game. So the Firestorm rained down which, strangely enough, I was OK with since I want my Toughness-4-or-better units to try Warpflame and have a good chance to enjoy the extra Regeneration it brings. Hell knows the TG sure needed more Regen. And again, the Godz-o-Dice were unmerciful, as the tempate rolled S-SE-8" and missed the ghouls and black knights completely, but ironically clipped the casting Sorcerer. Thankfully, they were "only" Strength 4 and did not wound.

120.JPG

First turn is over and I'm seriously shaking my head, wondering what the Hell will happen Next...

--==## Second Turn ##==--

VC get the honors, mercifully. Don't want to contemplate a second volley of WarpCannon fate.
Wolves charge Rightmost Warp Cannon and succeed on a 6+5+1 for 11.
BKbus charges Lefthand Warp Cannon and succeed on a 3+1+1 for bare minimum success.
Rest of force shambles forwards, Sorcerer tries to keep Seer in view while avoiding sight of Jezzails and Lizardmen skinks.

121.JPG

Winds of Magic vs Rats rolls 6+4 and the Dead quiver with anticipation. Rats channel once and we fail.
Sorcerer is now close enough and fires off the Glean Magic spell vs the Seer... BUT NO, Mike uses the Duplicitous Mage Card and not only autofailed the spell, but rendered the Sorcerer out of the phase entirely. Didn't even need any dispel dice for it.
Vampire wanted to draw dispel dice and/or ensure the Cannon's demise, so he tossed 3 dice at Vanhel's: 7+Level2 = 9.
Mike was concerned about what was to come next, so he tossed only two dice on dispel, but rolled 6+5+Level4 easily dispelling it.
Necromancer had had enough, and popped a Curse of Years on the Seer's Ratpack, but rolled 10+Level3 on 4 dice. Seer tossed all 5 remaining dispel dice, totalled a 25 and chittered a sneer to the Dead.

CC vs Skaven
Wolves get their two bodies in on the Cannon crew. Rats get 2/3 hits in and we get 1/2 in. One wound per side is served up, but their armor saves. CR is even.
BK Vampire gets his 4 ASF hits in anyway and serves up 4 wounds that crush the cannon+crew. 90 points (although only a 50-pt Brass Token is gained).
Fueled by rage and confidence, the Vamp and BKbus plows through, and clips the left-most Ratpack, stopping them, um, dead. Could have ran 4-wide at the start and plowed onto the Ratling Gun next, but assuming a quick demise to that device, running 4-wide into the Chieftan Ratpack didn't sound all that appetizing, with not only the lefthand Ratpack but the Jezzails flanking. All in good time, little vermin, all in good time...
VC then plays the Masterstroke T'n'T card, the best card we drew to this point, and gained 2 more Brass Tokens for killing something vs. my left-hand opponent. VC then forgets, like a noob, and doesn't enforce a Panic Test to the entire Left Rat Flank. Duh. Seriously.

122.JPG

...

Lizardmen next
Jack fails a charge with his Mercs. Others jostle forwards.
Winds of magic vs Rats is 6+3. Another Windblast pushes Rightmost Ratpack back 7". Problem is, I WANT him to clash with the rats, and he's making that more difficult than the Rats are.
Lizardmen then try the fabled Comet of Casandora, with a total of 16, and Mike discharges all dispel dice on that idea within a few milliseconds and totals 23. Grey Seer shakes his head and wags an index finger at the Lizards.
Stegadon misfires a mundane shot at a Ratpack.
I finally managed to draw a nice card.

123.JPG

...

Rat Retaliation
Skaven skitter towards the lizardmen. Jezzails pivot and line up either shots or charges against the BK bus. Grey Seer sees the BKbus, realizes he doesn't want to become oncoming traffic, and dances out of the Chieftan's Ratpack unit. Vampire nods, "Um hmm."

Winds of Magic blow 5+2 and it's time for Jack to enjoy Mike's offerings. Channeling misfires all around.
Scorch is served up upon the Scarveteran (designated as "Mr. Lucky" by the Grey Seer all game) and his unit. Dice read: 6.6.6 ScarVet gets a good order Look Out Sir, but the furnace results in 2 dead Saurus. Miscast rolls a 7, but the Strength 10 hit misses on a 1, of course. Power dice are lost and no more spells escape from the Seer.
Lizardmen enjoy the shooting phase too. Ratling Gun kills 3 Saurus. Not to be outdone, a Windmortar kills 5. Another Windmortar tries to outdo them both, but its shot gets wind-blown back onto a nearby Ratpack, who see it coming and escape any danger.

CC is vs VC
Wolves whiff, and Cannon crew gets one wound in. Down to 4 Dire Wolves on crew. We forget to Crumble the Wolves. Duh. (They're not undead are they?)
Charging vampire gets challenged by the Skaven Champion. Vampire Hero almost dies again laughing but immediately complies with flaring eyes. ASF only gains 3 hits, but all of them wound... in theory, but This Champion Has Studied The Art Of War, and parries on 6.6.5, ALMOST surviving the onslaught. The Seer makes a mental note to immortalize this Champion as he finally falls to an enraged blow that would have killed a Forsaken.
2nd rank rat and 2nd rank BK both whiff.
CR was even but rats musician gives the edge. Both Mike and I muff the rule that states the muso really increases the CR by 1 for the Rats (BKs had no musician), so we didn't think Crumbling would lose one BK (muso not in CR chart near index). Duh to us. Sorry, we're inexperienced. BKs then fail a Ld reform roll and stay put, instead of sliding leftwards a little.

124.JPG

--==## Third Turn ##==--

Skaven draw pole position
Mike finds out the Chieftan Ratpack in front of the BK bus is impeded by the special weapons. Cannon can't move, but the Ratling Gun can back up a bit, and does. Jezzails charge the BK flank. Things just got "interesting" for the Vampire.

Winds of Magic blow against the Lizards 6+4 with no channels.
"Mr Lucky" prepares for another Scorch present. 4 dice complete the spell but it gets dispelled. Annoyed for the first time this battle, the Grey Seer pulls out Ye Olde Dreaded 13 but fails the roll on 6 dice in his consternation.

Shooting Lizard In a Barrel pt-2: Windmortar that went wayward shoots to atone and does much better, positioning the windlag directly upon the nearby Ratpack, accounting for 5 VERMIN kills! The Chaos Sorcerer sardonically snickers. The nearby Ratling Gun reminds the Windgasser how it's done, accounting for 5 SAURUS kills.

CC vs VC. Be reminded, Mike never failed a Fear test.
Crew hammers the wolves and get a wound in. CR crumbles the wolves another casualty. Down to 2 wolves on the Cannon crew. Yea! We remembered this time. At least the damned thing isn't shooting anyone, and by now the Ghouls will rip it a new one once the puppies fall.
Vamp attacks the flanking Jezzails, thinking the Zombies can get up into the Lefthand ratpack's face soon (after the Necro jumps out of the unit).
3 hits after ASF and only 2 wounds kill off two of the pests, but one remains to continue the flanking. Clanrats, Jezzail and trailing BK all whiff.
At this time, we are told how Muso-Loss really affects undead, so the tie broken by the Rat Muso induces the Crumbling loss of one BK as it should.
To celebrate this newfound and applied knowledge, the Grey Seer drinks his Skalm.

...

VC next, and I think poor Jack took a long bathroom break at this time, LOL. He certainly was a trooper for this game.
VC goes and compresses upon the rats as able. Sorcerer still tries to keep the Seer in sight.

Winds of Magic call the Skaven, 3+2 and Sorcerer channels after rerolling a 1, so we get 6 dice.
Time to revive the Dires. MN tries Invocation of Nehek and rolls double-5s, but Rats will have none of that and dispel it.
Vampire, noting the Rats are out of dispel dice, casts it again, bellowing, "It's our Signature, Vermin."
Grey Seer expends both Warpstones, wincing but not exploding, and manages to dispel it yet again, shrieking, "And that's OUR signature, Corpse!"
Chaos Sorcerer demands the last two power dice, firing off a Glean Magic against the Seer, but his lack of finesse only watches it fizzle. The Seer shakes his head laughing, then looks at the Lizardmen and narrows his eyes.
Three turns into the battle, seven magic levels available, and I've yet to resolve a spell the way I wish it. The Curse of Undeath Lore has not been invoked once... (not that it would have done anything until this turn, but still)

125.JPG

CC vs Skaven
Wolves manage to take no damage and better yet, inflict a Wound!
Vampire puts 4 hits on the rats and 3 wounds, 2 of which kill Rats. Rats retaliate and put a wounding hit on the Vampire that's nullified by a successful Ward Save. Jezzail and BK whiff against each other. Once again, the Rat Muso swings the battle and one BK crumbles.
Warp cannon breaks! And dies breaking! And I once again fail to induce a panic test all around! And Mike doesn't pipe up about it! Gawd, I suck! Sigh... (did get another Brass Token though)

...

Lizardmen
Mike's Skaven bribe the Lizardmen Mercs to dither instead of charging. Brass Tokens can forestall the inevitable.
Saurus unit suffers another failed charge, and the Stegodon joins alongside them.
Magic was uneventful.
Skinks shoot a Windmortar dead.

--==## Turn Four ##==--

Lizardmen go first
Jack once again mounts a series of charges, BUT NO, Mike plays the T'n'T card Paranoia, and Jack must pick me as the player to move against, so his forces creep a little closer to the Rats. And his other Skinks slink around the Objectives.
His magic featured a failed Windblast and another pithy comment.

126.JPG

...

Skaven shift the Grey Seer back towards the Ratling Gun which pivots and aims at the Skinks nearby.
Winds of Magic vs VC yields 4+1 with no channeling
Seer fires off a Scorch on my Wolves, BUT WAIT, I fire off the T'n'T Trickster's Ring card, which induces a Miscast out of the Seer if they roll ANY doubles (and they did). Grey Seer totals 19 and Necro's Dispel of 18 doesn't quite cut it, so the Wolves take 2 wounds and fitfully expire after a job well done. Ironically, the Grey Seer suffered a 10 result on Miscast, lost the wizard Level the Sorcerer should have extracted and lost Scorch to boot.

CC vs VC
Now, I didn't start the game with this card, but I picked it up early on, and had been biding my time to use it, and now was the time.
Rats try to CC my Vamps, but I KNOW I go next, so I SAY THEE NAY, and haul out the T'n'T Ancient Enemy card, which forces Mike to choose Jack, and my BKbus is not only spared another Crumbling opportunity but, I am told since the units aren't in combat anymore, that puts the BKbus 1" away from all enemies, and allows my Vampire to charge the Chieftan Ratpack in front, who so eagerly wants to charge us and finally is ready to do so...

...

VC movement
BKbus charges Chieftan Ratpack
Necromancer says "To Hell With It" and charges the Jezzail with his zombies, but fails and they creep ahead.
Ghouls reform to squeeze between BKbus and the Well. Sorcerer on Disc moves to keep the Seer in sight. By this time I had gotten tired of knocking the Sorcerer figure off the Disk, so he watched from the sidelines, LOL.

Winds of Magic blow against the Vermin 4+2 with no channellings.
Here we go again. MN fires off a 12" IoN upon the BKs, trusting to a good dice roll. He nails a natural 11 on two dice! Down come 4 dispel dice in fury and the spell is snuffed. Vampire tries the 6" variety on two dice and succeeds with a 9. Mike lets it past. I STILL can't extract that Dispel Scroll! But at least I get my two BKs back, and Invoke Curse Of Undeath! Yay! ...to no effect...
Sorcerer takes the remaining two dice and tries another Glean Magic upon the Seer, barely hits an eight, and hears the Seer exclaim, "Stealing an enemy spell is Frowned Upon In This Establishment!" as the Dispel Scroll finally falls expired. Sorcerer concludes that that vacation in the Bay of Blades instead of the purse to show up here would have been a better idea right about now.

CC vs Skaven
Vampire ASF hits only twice, gaining one wound and one rat death. Chieftan and rats do two wounds, one gets armor saved, other kills a BK. Vampire mutters, "Bloody Hell, slay them!" BKs swing three hits, do 2 wounds and result in 1 kill. Steeds follow suit, but the CR still stands even and the Rat Muso forces another BK Crumble.

127.JPG

--==## Turn Five (and final due to closing time) ##==--

Lizardmen lead off and Finally Get Their Charges Into The Rats
Knights get into the Righthand Ratpack, Sauruses slam into Ratpack/Ratling Gun before the Seer. Stand-and-shoots kill 2 Saurus.
A Comet of Casandora is successfully cast near the Seer and the Ratling Gun.
The Stegodon shoots at the Ratling Gun but misses.
Saurus kills off the Ratling Gun.
Righthand ratpack kills one Knight but 5 rats die.

128.JPG

...

Skaven now go and do not move
Strength-1 COMET COMES IN
Seer takes a wound, Ratling gun near him dies, Righthand Ratpack loses one rat and a Knight expires as well, 3 rats near the Jezzail die, Black Knights feel a flurry of papercuts but shrug them off to no effect.

Seer yips a curse and fires off a Cracks Call at the threatening Ghouls. 5 Need an Init save of 3 and two do not make it. Two ghouls fall into the earth. Not finished, he cast Warp Lightning, but all my 5 dice easily dispelled that.
The Jezail shot against my Sorcerer and scored a Wound on him.

CC vs VC, and I use my remaining good T'n'T Card Inspire Fury, which is good for +1S on one unit in CC for one round and it goes on the BKbus.
Vampire rolls 3 hits but scores only one wound and one kill, but BKs do 3 Wounds and gain 3 Kills, and even the mounts get a Kill! BKs finally win a CC, but the Steadfast make their Ld roll.

...

VC go and Ghouls charge Ratpack near Seer and Necro+Zombies charge Jezail, but the game timed out as we were at closing time.
VC and Rats managed to be close to one Objective, Lizards got the others, with my compliments, as I thought it was great that Jack was attentive through the whole match. Had to feel like the Bataan Death March to him.

VC get 300 points
Skaven get 350 points. Good show Mike, for dealing with a 2-pronged front with grace and only getting testy with my annotation once.
Lizardmen get 550 points for the win. Good show, Jack, you are indeed a patient lad.

--==## Epilogue ##==--

T'n'T is a fun, unpredictable game that elicits many different emotions.
Well worth a try, but I'm not sure it's the best vehicle in which to learn Warhammer. :)

Well, I remembered to enforce Fear rolls.
Now I need to remember to enforce Crumbling effects and Panic rolls.
And if I don't put a Musician in the BKs, shoot me. With a WL Cannon, preferably.
Tune in again next week to see what I forget then!
Talespinner out.
 

Alabaster427

Minister of Thriftiness
Dec 9, 2013
1,315
I love TnT. I once played the same scenario as this. I ended up claiming an objective with IoN. The guy was pissed. I had a single Direwolf that had been forgotten with the objective on his flank and HE archers on the other side that were actually claiming the objective. But once I cast IoN, I just put each additional Direwolf closer and closer to the objective (muahahaha) until I was in base contact with it. Such a fun game. Don't play with five people though...
 
Mar 21, 2009
71
Chi-town
T&T *is* fun, yet I think I'd like it more if I already had five years of games under my belt and was looking for something new and offbeat. Rough, information-overload way of learning warhammer. C'est la vie.

It seems to put a premium on defensive all-comers lists, but you must weather the storm to earn points, which is hard vs a glasscannon army aimed at you. Wood Elves can merely show up, steadily roll forward and shoot the crap out of what they want.

As usual with any game with cards, if you keep drawing crap, that assures you that not only have you no special resources, but who you advance towards DOES. And thise cards can and will sway battles if played right.

5-player game is interminable, especially if most at table are new. For extra suffering, try the Skaven / Dwarf / O-n-G scenario at the back, add two more players, and then assume the Skaven role in the middle of four armies while removing the special rules for them. Let me assure you it is a test of will.
 

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