Clockwork's Battle Reports (Tournament Practice)

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Clockwork
Highborn
Posts: 624
Joined: Thu Sep 29, 2011 7:57 pm

Clockwork's Battle Reports (Tournament Practice)

Post by Clockwork »

So I'm going to use this thread to file battle reports featuring the Druchii Legion armylist posted up over here. I'm using House Arrath as the name of my Dreadlord's noble heritage, though this might be subject to change. For now, I like the ring of it.

Sadly, there will be no pictures for a while as I am using a lot of proxy models and stand-ins. But I do have awesome maps!

My first game with the Legion was against one of my friends playing my Lizardmen army - he wanted to try them out, and after moaning about them being overpowered I told him to put his money where his mouth is. Sadly, we rolled Watchtower and the game basically came down to who could abuse the movement and building mechanics better. It didn't make for a very fun read. So the next day, we played again!
Last edited by Clockwork on Sat Oct 25, 2014 12:23 pm, edited 8 times in total.
Clockwork
Highborn
Posts: 624
Joined: Thu Sep 29, 2011 7:57 pm

Post by Clockwork »

A Game of Two Halves

200 points Lizardmen vs Dark Elves

Deployment

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Terrain: both buildings are mundane, hill in the top right is an Anvil. To the right of it is a fence. The wall in the top right is a Blessed Bulwark, and the fence down on the other hill is a Blazing Barricade.

So I won the roll off for board edge and deployment. I picked the top edge largely because of the placement of the forest. You could get past it in one-two turns - which meant that it would be an obstacle for the Lizardmen advancing towards me from the bottom, but if deployed at the top they would get past it quickly. With two stubborn units I wasn't very concerned about losing ranks or steadfast whilst fighting in it, whereas it would be a major concern for his Saurus and Skroxigor. With any luck he'd be forced to split up around it. I also had two barricades and a hill up here, whereas deploying from the bottom the terrain is concentrated on the extreme two flanks, and the tower would cover him from my crossbows on that flank.

I led with C2 on the right, then C1 to see what the Lizards were thinking - but they just matched me with 10 Skink Skirmishers. With so many drops I knew I had to commit, so my Warriors went behind the fence and were matched by the 24 Saurus, the Blackguard went in reserve and were matched by the 24 TG (who also didn't care about fighting in a forest, it seemed), and the Chariot went in position to move between the crossbows and Warriors once they reformed. I tried to keep my Knights back till after the 22 Skinks/2 Kroxigor went down, but it wasn't to be and they got to face off of them.

Magic: I rolled Word of Pain and Bladewind. I wasn't sure which one to swap out for Chillwind, but ultimately I decided to keep both - I can always WoP skinks down to BS1 and try and kill off the Salamanders with a Bladewind or two.

The Slann, being a boss, knew every spell in the lore of Light, and the level 1 Skink rolled something but swapped it for Iceshard.

Getting the +1 I easily won the first turn.

Dark Elf Turn 1
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I first drop the 5+ ward on my Warriors to keep the big tempting block safe from Salamanders. My Crossbows march into the tower, mostly to deny that Camo Skink unit use of it (I didn't like the idea of hitting on -4 before any other modifiers, whilst they were free to shoot back). Otherwise, I don't feel like I need to do too much. My plan is to let the Temple Guard advance into the forest, where it and my Blackguard can grind each other out on re-rollable Ld10 break tests. The Saurus can throw themselves at my Warrior block for a turn or two, until I can throw any combination of Crossbows, Chariot and Knights into their flank. Till then, my Crossbows will try to pick off a Salamander a turn and then rain hell on the Skroxigor, who I'll redirect all over the show with my Harpies. To that end they flutter over to the left a bit.

Magic rolls highly. 9 power dice and 5 Dispel, with no channelling. My Sorceress tries Word of Pain on a couple of dice and gets a 10, and the Slann rolls poorly to dispel with 2. I try to follow up with Bladewind, but the last three dispel dice come out and stop me.

In the shooting phase, my Crossbows get lucky and manage to kill three Camo skinks despite needing 7s. Naturally, they pass their break test.

Lizardmen Turn 1
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In the Lizardman turn, he basically pushes up everywhere. He sends his depleted Camo Skinks into the Forest after moving his Temple Guard, though. It turns out to be a Blood Forest, which is a pretty big deal. If he pushes in with the Slann, he's going to be causing D6 strength 4 wounds on his TG everytime he casts - and he likes to cast a lot of spells. On the other hand, if he wants to move around it he'll be wasting several turns, and either causing his battleline to hit me peicemeal (which favours me), or have them spinning round in the open (which also favours me). Worse - the Forest might go stalking off into the Saurus and take off their Steadfast - win-win for me! His Skink Priest sticks with the Skrox to take advantage of Telepathy - presumably to use Burning Gaze on my Knights.

Magic is suitably dominating. After double-6ing his channels, the Lizardmen have 12 power dice to my 6. He first drops a high Level Pha's buff, but rolls terribly and only gets 13 - I stop it easily on 3 dice. He follows up with a low level Burning Gaze on the Crossbows in the Tower (o.0), and I let it through which kills 3. He then tries to 3 dice Banishment the Warriors in cover, but gets only a 9 and fails to cast! I then throw my remaining dispel dice at stopping the Priest Icesharding the Crossbows on the hill.

His shooting is dire - the Skinks all either miss or are out of range, one Salamander falls short of the Warriors, and the other misfires and eats all 3 crew. Sadly, he gets the top result on the MR table, and gains Frenzy and Hatred.

Dark Elves Turn 2
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So that could have been a lot worse! The Blood Forest, magic phase, and Salamanders all went my way and I'm quietly confident. So confident, in fact, that I don't feel like I need to do much movement here - just repositioning the Harpies closer to the Skrox seems enough. Once again I drop the 5+ ward on the Warriors - sure enough they are attracting the Salamander's attention.

Magic is a low roll - just 4 Power dice and 2 Dispel. In the past I've pulled off some gutsy long range charges with my Skrox before, utilising their 6" Movement, so to deter them from trying to hit my Crossbows I cast Word of Pain on 3, which is let through. I try a Power of Darkness and roll an 8, but both Dispel dice are used to stop it. Worth a shot.

In my shooting phase, my Crossbows in the Tower wipe out the Camo Skinks with a close range volley. My Chariot puts a lucky wound on the leftmost Salamander, and I try to finish it off with my Crossbows but roll miserably and only kill the 3 handlers. Once again the MR table is rolled, and once again its Frenzy and Hatred. Grr.

Lizardmen Turn 2
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The left Salamander passes its Frenzy check this turn on General's Ld, but the right hand one is too far away and fails. He is forced to charge the Crossbows. I deal two wounds to it on the Stand and Shoot reaction, and it rolls a double 6 or something silly to get in - and in base contact with my Sorceress, too. The Skrox take advantage of their 12" March to push right up the flank - maybe they are hoping the Salamander will hold the crossbows up for a turn, and want to home in on my Knights, I'm not sure (we've both seen Skrox wreck 10 Knights before and they will massacre 6 Elven ones, so its entirely plausible). After debating, at length, the Temple Guard evantually decide to damn the torpedoes - or in this case, the forest, and push in anyway (3 average hits, 1-2 wounds, maybe 1 saved - its not going to be a nightmare, really). Both Skirmishers move to shield the approaching blocks from missile fire, and one manages a lucky wound on the Chariot in the shooting phase. THe Salamander also massively overshoots the Warriors. Not sure what the 2 surviving Camo Skinks are doing, other than to tempt the Blackguard into a charge that exposes them - they do manage to poison one, though.

Magic is 7 Power dice vs 4 Dispel. He leads with Net on the Blackguard, 2+1 and rolls highly. I decide to use my Dispel Scroll - at T3 there is a 50% chance of failing the test, and even D6 Strength 4 hits will ruin their day when there is only 19. I also want them ready for action next turn. The Forest eats one and marches some 10" off towards the Saurus Warriors, but still touches the TG back rank. He follows with a 4 dice Timewarp and gets 19. I try all 4 dice to dispel but fail, and the Forest eats another 2 Temple Guard and marches South to end up where the black target is (I couldn't alter terrain in BC, so sadly the forest will stay on the map but it really sits here for the rest of the game). For his last trick, the Slann tries a 3 dice Speed of Light on the TG - and the law of averages being equal, manages to IF it. He rolls up a power drain, and with the forest out of the way and the Sorceress in plain sight on the hill, Cupped Hands it away (its not very clear in the map, but she was very much in LoS). My Sorceress promptly loses 2 levels and all her spells. Sigh.

In combat, my Crossbows deal the last wound to the Salamander. Sadly, because of the positioning of the Harpies, I'm unable to reform them either into ranks to receive the Skrox, which would have freed up my Harpies for use against the Timewarped Temple Guard. I slightly angle them towards the Skrox in two ranks so I can get a close range volley off instead.

Dark Elves Turn 3
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So we're not even halfway through the game, and I'm out of the magic phase entirely and facing down Timewarped WS10 I10 Temple Guard. I'm thinking that, if I don't advance the Blackguard then they are dead. He doesn't even need to charge the Temple Guard in - he can sit back and rain Burning Gaze, Banisment and Net on me until the unit is dead, then move on to something else. Strangely enough, they're actually safer in combat with the buffed TG than they probably are outside of it. Or so I think, anyway. I also want to see the Blackguard vs Temple Guard fight, so I throw the 5+ ward save on them and charge the Camo Skinks, hoping to either overrun or pursue into the Temple Guard. I catch the Skinks but roll poorly and only stumble forward 8" or so, leaving them exposed. Well, I guess tempting a charge is good enough - and maybe in the next turn they won't be so buffed...

Elsewhere, my Cauldron and Chariot reposition to support the BG advance. My Sorceress, now useless, bails out of the Crossbows, my Harpies fly over to redirect the Skroxigor (hopefully off the board), and my Knights shuffle sideways out of their overrun. In my shooting phase, the Crossbows on the hill kill 5 Skinks and wound a Kroxigor, but they pass their break test. My other Crossbows kill some Skirmisher Skinks, who also pass.

Lizardmen Turn 3
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In the Lizardman turn, he takes the... bait, I guess? ... and charges the Temple Guard into the Blackguard. Curiously, he chooses not to charge the Harpies with his Skroxigor. One unit of Skinks moves up to protect the flank of the Saurus, another runs around the Blackguard combat to lure away the Chariot, and the Salamander moves to line up what I would call a perfect shot on the unbuffed Warriors.

The magic roll is low, fortunately - snake eyes, but the Slann channels for 2vs1. He throws all of his dice on Timewarp on the Temple Guard, and I can't stop him.

In the shooting phase he reveals his master plan - the Skrox shoot the Harpies! But even at shoot range and without moving, he only manages to kill one. One more, and there's a good chance I would have failed that panic test and fled off the board, opening his Skrox to a charge on the Knights the next turn. Not certain that was the best plan really - probably better to charge the Harpies and overrun off the board where my crossbows can't shoot him, and then come back on in my flank.

In combat, the Temple Guard go absaloutely mental and wipe out 12 Black Guard before they can attack back. Thanks to the ward save, though, I save 9 of them and they still put in a good show by killing 4 in revenge, with the Crimson Death champion bagging 2 more. I lose, but being Stubborn Ld10 on a re-roll gives zero ****s, and reform to bring all 9 remaining into base contact.

Dark Elves Turn 4
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Right, so, at this point I'm back to being confident again. The Skrox are still stuck out on the flank. My Blackguard survived the combat, which is pretty lucky as it means I've held the Temple Guard up. Now I'm faced with some options here. Option 1 - charge the Warrior block into the Skinks, overrun on the flank, clip the Warriors and wheel into combat, buff up with Killing Blow, wipe out the back rank, break him on something like -3 leadership test (I kill say 6 Saurus, he kills 5 Warriors, my CR is 11 vs 8), pursue past the Temple Guard and out of his charge arc, and everybody goes home happy (except the Blackguard, who die). But there's a number of risks with this:

1) Charging sacrifices the -1 to hit the fence gives me, which means Saurus are hitting on 5s.
2) I fluff my pursuit/overrun, and don't reach the Saurus.
3) I fluff my Killing Blows and don't kill a rank.
4) The Saurus pass 4+ armour saves and 6+ wards like no tomorrow.
5) The Saurus go crazy and kill more than 5, costing me 1 CR from the back rank.
6) The Scar-Veteran goes crazy and generates a ton of Overkill from killing my Lordling, and/or my Dreadlord fluffs his attacks and doesn't do enough to balance out the Scar-Vet.
7) He stays steadfast and passes an Ld10 break test.
8) He loses steadfast, but still passes his re-rolled cold-blooded break test.
9) The Temple Guard wipe out the Blackguard, reform to face the Warriors flank, charge in his turn, and the Lizardmen pack up and go home.
10) I break the Saurus, don't overrun far enough, get charged by the Temple Guard in flank/rear/

Way, way too many risks this early in the game. Warhammer's a risky business, and I'd accept one or two, or even half of these, but all of them? Nope. Instead I try to play it safe, and clever. The 5+ Ward goes back on the Blackguard. The Dreadlord charges out of the Warriors and into the Salamander. The Chariot charges the Skinks. The Warriors reform into 7 ranks so they stay Steadfast even after dying in droves to the Warriors, my Knights pass their reform check and move over to position for a flank charge on the Saurus (there are still 6 of them, not 3 as in this picture). Finally, my Cauldron goes to redirect the Temple Guard in the unliktly event that they win the combat, because I'm either an idiot for not thinking of this first (and sparing me all that dilemma), or I'm an idiot for moving it more than 12" away from my whole flank, or I'm an idiot for placing it in harm's way like that - you decide! Finally, my Crossbows abandon their tower and go into ranks, ready to help out the Temple Guard combat.

Again I skip the magic phase.

In the shooting phase, my Crossbows unleash another close range volley on the Skrox - they kill 9 Skinks and wound another Kroxigor. They fail their breaktest and flee, and I'm back in the game!

I start with the Dreadlord, who predictably kills the Salamander and overruns into the flank of the Temple Guard - where he gets to attack again! Sadly, they still have ASF, but either my opponent forgets or wants to maximise his attacks on the Blackguard - either way he doesn't challenge with his Champion. He throws some 22 attacks against the Blackguard, and after some lucky 5+ saving throws the lone Standard Bearer survives! Between him and the Dreadlord I kill another 4 Temple Guard, and though I lose the combat significantly both models continue to give precisely zero ****s.

The Chariot kills all but one Skink and reforms to face the Temple Guard in the gap created by the demise of the Blackguard.

Lizardmen Turn 4
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With few other choices, the Saurus Warriors charge my Warrior block. The surviving Skink skirmisher fails his double 1 to rally, flees into the Crossbows, and fails his DT test. The Skroxigor rally, and the skink skirmishers move in to shield them from another round of Crossbows.

Magic sees 5 power dice vs 3 dispel dice, and I sigh at the prospect of another round of Timewarped Temple Guard. Whatever I do, I do it terribly and he gets off Pha's and Timewarp on the Temple Guard, and Net on the Chariot. The Skinks shoot the Crossbows, but I pass all my saves.

In combat, I challenge the Scar-Vet, who wins but fluffs his attacks, so only gets 1 on the overkill. Meanwhile, the Warriors somehow get 3 kills but lose 4 to the Saurus. Still, I pass my Steadfast break test. The Temple Guard champion now challenges the Dreadlord, fails to wound and dies with +1 overkill. There are only two Temple Guard eligible to attack the last Blackguard thanks to positioning and base sizes, and they fluff all their attacks, with the only wound to get through saved on the Ward. This means the Temple Guard actually lose the combat by 1 as the Blackguard kills another, but they pass break test on a double 1.

Dark Elves Turn 5
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Its the penultimate turn, and although I'm without a wizard and about to lose the Blackguard, I'm actually still in the game. I need three things to happen for me to win: the Chariot rolls well on its impact hits and finishes off the Temple Guard (there are only about 10 left at this point), the Slann breaks and gets run down; the Crossbows finish off the Skroxigor before they get back in the game; the Warriors hold up the Saurus whilst I bring the Knights and Dreadlord in. To this end, the Chariot charges the Temple Guard and gets an additional attack (it passes its Net roll).

I then try to do something clever. Given that my Sorceress is useless, I figure that I'll charge her in to the Saurus combat and challenge the Scar-Vet, who won't be able to refuse the free points. This means he's not killing Warriors, so they'll stay Steadfast longer (as part of The Plan).

In Movement, my Crossbows march up to support the Temple Guard combat, I try to swift reform the Crossbows into ranks but fail miserably, my Harpies move to give them some cover, my Knights reposition for a Saurus flank charge (After failing Stupidity but passing on the re-roll), and my Cauldron gets the hell out of Dodge.

There's no magic or shooting this turn, so straight to combat. I resolve the Chariot first who rolls... 1 impact hit and kills 1 Temple Guard. Sigh. In return, they put another wound on it, and one Temple Guard fails to kill the last Blackguard. 5 Temple Guard die to the combined counter attack, but I'm hitting on 4s for the most part and 4 survive.

The Saurus Champion accepts the Sorceresses challenge - I forgot about him - but fails to wound her. Meanwhile, I only kill 2 Saurus but lose 8 Warriors. But I hold, so I guess the plan still works.

Lizardmen Turn 5
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With no charges to declare, the Skinks rush in to protect the Saurus flank. I curse myself for not seeing that coming, and throwing the Sorceress in - without her, the Knights would still have been able to clip the unit at the front! The Skrox advance on the crossbows with the Priest, who I assume is angling for some magic missiles.

Fortunately, its only 5 vs 4 in the magic phase. The Slann 2+1s Timewarp, but rolls low and only get 13. I use all 4 dice to dispel it. He then follows up with Speed of Light and Pha's.

In combat, the last Blackguard finally dies and the Chariot takes another wound. I'm hitting on 5s and 6s now, though, so only kill one back, but the Druchii pass their break tests.

The Sorceress issues another challenge and takes a wound. I kill a Saurus, and the Scar-Vet rolls 3 1s when wounding to kill one Warrior, and the Saurus don't do much better and only kill 2 or 3 (not shown). I still lose, but I'm still Steadfast.

Dark Elf Turn 6
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Well, at this point the game is on a knife-edge. I start by putting the ward save on the Chariot as its down to its last wound. I've lost the Blackguard, but I'm confident in getting the Temple Guard and probably the Slann, too. I also have a cunning plan for getting the Saurus, too. Its worth breaking down a stage-by-stage chain of events as it got a bit messy.

Step 1) Harpies charge the Skink Priest, who elects to Flee.
Step 2) Crossbows charge the Skink flank, who cannot choose a charge reaction
Step 3) Knights charge the Skinks in the front.
Step 4) The Priest is moved and rolls low.
Step 5) The Harpies go into a tight formation, and as there is an even number in the front, I get to chose which model the others form around. I chose the right hand one.
Step 6) The Harpies run down the Skink Priest and hit the Skroxigor, but because of their new formation they have more models in the flank.
Step 7) The Crossbows move into the Skinks.
Step 8) The Knights go into the Skinks.

Seem legit? In reflection, I'm not sure if flying units can pursue into a fresh enemy, or if they fly over. What are your thoughts?

In any case, my Harpies pass their fear test, kill 4 Skinks, but take 3 wounds back (2 from a Kroxigor that ended up in base contact thanks to casualties). They still win thanks to CR. Go Harpies! The Skrox reform to face the survivor.

My Crossbows and Knights wipe out the Skinks to a man, predictably. I chose to overrun the Crossbows first, which takes them into the Saurus flank. As my plan unfolds, I instantly regret not putting KB on the Warriors or Crossbows, and from the picture you can probably see why. For every game I've played as Lizardmen where I lose Saurus in droves, there's one game where everything bounces off them. This was that one game. Despite some 25 attacks I do precisely 0 wounds. The Saurus are just making 4+ and 6+ saves left, right and centre. The Sorceress dies and I lose 8 Warriors from the big block. No biggy, I think, I'm still Steadfast on Ld10 - roll 11. Re-roll - roll 11 again. The Warriors break and flee from the combat, and the Saurus reform to face the Crossbowmen, in a path that will overrun them into the Knights. Sigh.

My bad luck continues, as my chariot fails 2 5+ armour saves and 2 5+ ward saves. My Dreadlord also fluffs his attacks, but my other unit of Crossbows gets in and kills 2 Temple Guard thanks to Hatred, with no losses.

Lizardmen Turn 6
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So the final roll of the dice is upon us, and there's no way of telling who has won. I've given up a load of points, and about to give up even more, but if I manage to get the Temple Guard and Slann its game over. My opponent knows that too, and prays for a good magic phase.

7 vs 4. Good enough. Sigh.

He leads with 3+1 Speed of Light on the Temple Guard, and I choose to dispel with all 4 dice hoping for IF. Why Speed of Light, and not Timewarp? There's three spells he can cast to save his Slann: Timewarp, Speed of Light, Pha's. Of these two, the combination I fear the most is Speed and Pha's. Based on the previous 2 turns, it means my Crossbows are hitting on 6s and my Dreadlord on 5s. There's every chance I won't kill the last two Temple Guard, let alone the Slann. Until they die, he's still stubborn on 10. Speed of Light and Timewarp means he's extra killy, whilst Timewarp and Pha's makes him a little bit of both, but not enough of either. Out of the worst two combinations, Pha's+Light and Timewarp+Light, Light is the clear danger.

I get my double 6 :D Pha's and Timewarp goes off.

The Last Harpy fluffs all his attacks, and gets killed by a skink. THe Saurus once again save all 3 wounds inflicted, and go through my Crossbowmen like a hot knife, and I'm passing on a double 1. First roll, no. Re-roll, no. Roll my charge distance... double 1. Sigh. The Saurus run them down and clip into the Knights, making me pleased this is the last turn.

And so it all comes down to the last fight. If I don't kill the TG or the Slann, I've only got a couple units of skinks, Salamanders and a Priest. Maybe 500VPs, if I'm lucky. He's got that alone from the Blackguard, not to mention the Chariot, Crossbowmen, Sorceress and Harpies. One Temple Guard attacks the Crossbowmen, and kills an elf. The other attacks the Dreadlord, and fails to wound. The Slann attacks the Crossbowmen... and manages to kill an elf, stripping them of their rank an an additional CR. Sigh.

But the Dreadlord finally finishes off both Temple Guard, but the Slann is only losing now on 1, and easily passes. Is it enough, though?

The Final Score:

Dark Elves = 984
Lizardmen = 915


O.O

And during the course of VP calculations, it was discovered the Skink Priest snuck onto the battlefield when he had no right to be there, putting the Lizardmen at 2088 points. So not only was I fighting without a wizard for most of the game, but with a handicap, too!

I can't fault him, though, as this 90 points edged me just ahead of the Lizards to win the game!

Analysis to follow later. In the meantime, I welcome witty comments, constructive criticism and praise of all varieties :D There were also some funny movements pulled off in this game, why do you think, especially about the Flying overrun?
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Red...
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Post by Red... »

Thanks for the bat rep: great reporting and excellent maps. Looks like a very close game.

It looks like you ran your army very static and didn't really move out of the deployment zone. Was that deliberate? Did it impact upon the quality of the game?
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Clockwork
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Post by Clockwork »

Red... wrote:It looks like you ran your army very static and didn't really move out of the deployment zone. Was that deliberate? Did it impact upon the quality of the game?


Definately, and something I'm going to touch upon in my analysis. I was overly cautious with almost everything for the opening turns.

I know what I would have done differently, how would you have played it?
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Tyrannus deathbringer
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Post by Tyrannus deathbringer »

Cool game and even cooler write up.

I thought your legion performed pretty well against a foe that is also pretty implacable-legion like in its modus operandi!

Thanks for taking the time to post! :)
"All who surrender will be enslaved; whoever does not surrender but opposes with struggle and dissension, shall be annihilated."
Clockwork
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Post by Clockwork »

I've tweaked my list somewhat for a game against Chaos Warriors next week. I'm bumping the level 2 up to a 3 and giving her the Obsidian Amulet, and adding a level 1 on Shadow with Dispel Scroll and Obsidian Trinket. I really felt the absence of my Sorceress after she lost her levels, which is why I wanted a second, but as I'm going to be using Metal I want the extra casting level of the 3.

The Cold One Knights are going up to 8 with the Razor Standard, and Null Talisman and Potion of Foolhardiness on the Champion. Also, I'm adding a second Chariot. Both of these are to account for the stationary play of my last game - in short, I wanted more manoeuvrability and flexibility, and with 8 Cold One Knights rather than 6 I'll feel much more confident in being aggressive with them, rather than holding them back.

There's a couple of other tweaks. I've increased one crossbow unit to 20 and added Banner of Murder to the Spearhorde.

Sadly, the cost of this means dropping the other unit of crossbows and Black Guard entirely. On the other hand, I don't have those models yet anyway and have been using proxies, so at least I'll be playing with a nearly complete army (if my last 16 spearmen and Cauldron models arrive by the next weekend, of course!).

Why so much armour penetration, mobility and magic resistance? Well, I'll be playing against Warriors of Chaos who have a love for lore of Tzeentch. The level 3 sits in the crossbow unit, giving them a 5+ ward against Flickering Fire and Infernal Gateway. My Spearhorde and Cold One Knights, meanwhile, get 6+ MR each. Whichever unit is more threatened can get buffed by the Cauldron for a 4+ ward (or 3+ on the crossbows, if they draw attention). And Killing Blow AP Warriors can't be a bad thing.

I may drop the Razor Standard, though, as it means I can bump the level 1 up to a level 2, as there's always the chance I'll get Enchanted Blades.
Clockwork
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Post by Clockwork »

So here's a game I played a couple of weeks ago against my friend's High Elf army. He's recently discovered the Coven of Light and tabled my Lizardmen at 2.5k in the week before. If nobody has seen it before, check out this threat over at our cousin's Ulthuan.net: http://www.ulthuan.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=67&t=35454.

Two chances to cast Str7 Banishment a turn, double Pha's, Timewarped White Lion horde - and all the magic items you need to generate power dice. Ouch! This time it was my chance for my Dark Elves to get revenge.

The Elf Off: 2000 points

Dark Elves:

Dreadlord (Crown of Command, Pendant of Khaeleth, Armour of Darkness)
Supreme Sorceress (Lv3, Dark Magic, Dispel Scroll)

Master (Obsidian Loadstone, Charmed Shield)
Death Hag (Cauldron of Blood)

40 Warriors (Shields, Full Command)
10 Crossbowmen (Shields, Musician)
10 Crossbowmen (Shields, Musician)
5 Harpies
5 Harpies

Cold One Chariot
Cold One Chariot
8 Shades (Additional hand weapon)
8 Shades (Additional hand weapon)

Fearing the double Banishment, I had loaded up on magic resistance on a Master (it was cheaper than a Sorceress platform), and planned to drop all three characters in the Warriors and buff them up with the Cauldron Ward save. I intended to push this big unit up the middle of the table drawing his attention, whilst my Chariots go for Swordmaster flanks or archer bunkers, the Harpies redirect his White Lion horde, and the Shades do what Shades do best - cause a nuisance, and try to assassinate his mages.

High Elves:
Archmage (Level 4, Light)

Mage (Level 2, Light)
Mage (Level 1, Light)

22 Archers (Standard of Discipline)
10 Archers
10 Archers

30 White Lions (Banner of Sorcery)
13 Swordmasters (Standard of Balance)
Eagle
Eagle

I don't remember exactly the equipment his mages had, and one of them might have been a level 2 - suffice it to say, one of the Mages had the item that let him choose his spells, one character had the item that generates +1 dispel dice, and one had the item that steals one of my power dice.

One High Elf Mage has pre-picked the spells Banishment and Pha's Protection (he joined unit A3, below). A level 1 Mage joined A2 and rolled Banishment, but this was swapped for Shem's Burning Gaze. Finally, the level 4 rolled Banishment and three 4s, ending up with Net, Timewarp and Pha's.

The Sorceress rolled 6 and a double 2. I selected Word of Pain from my double, then swapped for Chillwind. I wasn't expecting to get a lot of spells off this game, so wanted to make each of them count: a template weapon, something to negate the shooting blocks, and something to help out in combat was just fine.

We rolled Battle for the Pass and I sighed: the last thing I wanted was for him to castle up in the corner of the board whilst I charged across it to get to him, taking Banishments and massed archer fire. Then a river went down right in the middle and I sighed again. Predicably, he chose the board edge with the hill...

Deployment

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See what I mean? Anyway, he foolishly left his left flank open wide enough for me to sneak a unit of Shades in. I thought about doubling them up over there, but couldn't really find anywhere else to hide them from LoS of anything. In the end I settled for the tower - at least they would be spared archer fire. From there they can give the Swordmasters hell, too. My plan was to try and use the Harpies to get him to fight me in the river, where I could at least strip away his rank bonus and hopefully it would be something horrible, then hit him in the flanks with Chariots. Failing that I would have to push across, but I really didn't want to lose my Chariots doing so...

Nothing really special about the terrain here. There is a bridge roughly in the middle of the river, and as in all our games forests block line of sight.

Sadly, the High Elves got the first turn and I readied my trusty Dispel Scroll...

High Elf Turn 1

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The Swordmasters wheeled in front of the large unit of archers behind the safety of the forest (in our houserules, forests block line of site except for units on a hill), but otherwise not much happens .An eagle also flew up to meet them. Magic rolled low but the High Elves still ended up with 5 against their dark cousins' 2, they went straight for a 3 dice Banishment on the Shades in the tower, which was stopped with the Dispel Scroll - from my turn I can start protecting stuff with the Cauldron, all I need to do is get there. A Burning Gaze was attempted but stopped. In the Shooting phase, two units of archers killed 3 of the shades.

Dark Elf Turn 1

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In the Dark Elf turn, the Shades went through the forest which turned out to be mundane. The crossbows, with no targets in sight and apparently no advance from the High Elves, abandoned their building. Both units of Harpies moved up, being sure to stay out of LoS of the archer units – they also both moved into ranks of 2 to do so, a decision which on the right would prove costly... My Warriors advance cautiously to stay out of immediate Banishment range, whilst my Crossbows next to them marched right up to the river – my plan was to try and use this unit to either bait the High Elves into an advance, or test the waters (literally). I dropped the 5+ ward from the Cauldron on the Shades in the tower, hoping to keep them alive.

I didn't have anything in range for magic, and my shades killed 2 archers on the left (not shown).

High Elf Turn 2

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There was little movement again from the High Elves: though one Eagle flapped to get a flank charge on the Shades and – crucially – the White Lions reformed to face them also. I have no idea why, as chasing after 8 skirmishers with 30 White Lions seems a little odd, but my Skink Skirmishers have driven the fear of God into my opponent, so I guess he can't help himself (this is what you bring archers for, though, surely?). It is not clear on the map, but without reforming they would not have been able to complete the charge without being blocked by the building – as the picture shows.

In magic the level 2 first tried with 3 dice Banishment on the Crossbows – he got it off and killed 3, but at the price of a miscast. The resulting roll was Calamitous Detonation – 7 archers died and the Mage was sucked down a hole. Great success!

I wasn't able to stop the second Banishment. though, which reduced the Crossbows to 2 models, and then a Net hit my Shades. In the shooting phase, however, he managed to finish off the Shades in the tower, which I was pretty gutted about and felt I had wasted them.

Dark Elf Turn 2

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Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth (one Strength 5 Banishment is so much better than two at strength 6...), I decided to press the advantage. I charge the Harpies into the Eagle – multiple attacks, even wounding on 5s, should kill it off or break it due to CR, I think. Plus, I need my Shades free to manouvre – they are the only ones left, and they've got the White Lions spinning in the wind. They subsequently run around them after passing their Net roll. I also push up with my Horde warriors and advance right up to the river. Just to bne sure, I drop the Cauldron 5+ ward on them. My 2 Crossbowmen dip their toes – it turns out to be a Fear river, so no big deal.

I roll low for magic this round – my template spell gets dispelled on 4 dice against the Swordmasters, as does my attempt at Power of Darkness. In shooting, my Shades chip two wounds off the White Lions, and in combat my Harpies spectacularly fluff their dice (this would be a running theme of me rolling lots of 1s to hit), and fail to wound – they lose 2 models, fail their break test and flee. I think I managed to chip a wound off the second Eagle this turn, but I couldn't say how.

High Elf Turn 3

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The Eagle spies some Vps and goes into the 2 last crossbows- they fail to inflict any wounds in stand and shoot (more 1s). The White Lions give up on chasing Shades and reform to advnce again, and the Swordmasters reform to face forwards but without a musician are unable to continue to move. The Eagle and 3 surviving archers turn to face the Shades – but they fail their swift reform, and so cannot shoot.

In the magic phase he drops a Pha's on the Swordmasters – I let it through ,as I don't really have much that can shoot them besides the Shades, and they have other targets. He then hits the horde Warriors with a Banishment that kills all of two, thanks to low rolls and 2+ ward save vs magic. A third dies to archery fire, and 2 of the crossbowmen meet a similar fate. In combat, the crossbowmen inflict one wound on the Eagle and lose a model – but they pass their Ld9 break test.

Dark Elf Turn 3

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In my turn, I debilitate for a moment – and then throw caution to the wind by casting my die to cross the Rubicon. Undaunted in mixing metaphors, the Chariot passes its dangerous terrain test and hits the eagle. To add insult to injury, my other Chariot passes its test too (the Harpies going into a rank of5 in the river to let it past, and the Crossbowmen first going into the tower). However, my Shades fail their leadership test to march.

In the magic phase I get 7-7 again and throw another 5 at the template spell – this time it goes off and kills 6 Swordmasters despite a dispel attempt (my result was 20 vs his 19...). My next spell is blocked, however. In the shooting phase my Shades only manage to kill 2 of the remaining archers, but my Master finishes off the last one with his repeater. I really struggled whether to shoot the archers or the eagle here – either unit could probably redirect me next turn, but it would be tougher wounding the Eagle than it would killing the archers (even though the Shades failed to do this). On the other hand I was hitting the Eagle first in any combat, whereas I might lose a model to the archers ASF (hitting on 4s, re-roll, wounding on 4s – its not unlikely). In the end I decided going for the archers was the better option as they were easier to kill and would inflict panic checks on all nearby units – but these were all passed anyway.

My Chariot went through the Eagle on impact hits and overran – I was hoping to get it out of LoS of the Archmage, but it was blocked by the building.

High Elf Turn 4

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Turn 4 is bleak for the High Elves, with my army virtually unscathed bearing down upon him. He charges the Eagle into the Shades- I would have tried to redirect them, but we are both learning here. The White Lions and Swordmasters both push up looking for a fight and, in his magic phase, he hits the Lions with Timewarp which I again let through (its still a 20” charge which is dicey, and the Spearmen will have the 5+ ward anyway – plus they are steafast, and I reckon they'll only lose about 15 models in the first round before help arrives). He then gets a Banishment which miscasts and knocks 3 wounds off the Chariot- the resulting miscast inflicts a strength 6 wound on each of his two mages and knocks 3 power dice off (the last spell is then dispelled by me). Two Crossbowmen also die in the tower to archery fire.

In combat, my Shades easily score two wounds to kill the Eagle and reform to face the archer block.

Dark Elf Turn 4

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At this point the game is becoming clear – but I drop an additional attack on the Shades and send them in to the archers just in case. Their mission: kill the Archmage! My Harpies go over to carefully redirect his White Lions, whislt one Chariot slips past the building and the other runs across the river, again passing its DT test. I also back my Warriors up a bit to make sure they are out of charge range/arc. My Sorceress also hops over to the left hand side of the unit (not shown in this turn).

In the magic phase I think I try for another template but it gets stopped. The Crossbowman in the tower kill 3 archers and I manage to pop a couple of Swordmasters.

In combat, the Archmage falls to the Shade's blades and they also kill a couple of Elves, though lose one – the Archers pass their breaktest and reform to face me.

High Elf Turn 5

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With Shades in his rear causing havoc and chariots racing up his flanks, my opponent knows that at this stage he really needs to press home in the centre to claw back a victory. To that end, the White Lions go into the Harpies and the surviving Mage bails out of his unit . His final mage rolls a high strength Burning Gaze on my Chariot which he can just make out – sadly, I fail to dispel and it suffers the final wound. In combat the Harpies are wiped out and the Lions reform for the Horde-off, whilst the archers only kill one Shade which is pretty lucky for me – I should have given them the ward save. Still, I kill 4 archers in return but he passes his break test again.

Dark Elf Turn 5


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In what turns out to be the last turn of the game, my Chariot goes in to his archer unit. I think about moving my lone crossbowman up to redirect his White Lions, but I'm not confident about getting the right charge arc off with his limited leadership. In any case, he's within short range of the Swordmasters. My Sorceress bails out of the horde – theres's a combat a-coming, and I have a plan for her...

In the magic phase I reveal my grand plan: its 7-7 again, and I throw all 7 at the template spell, which he can't dispel. This kills 8 White Lions, removing the last rank. More importantly – he fails his break test and flees. At this point my opponent concedes. Just for kicks we roll my Chariots impact hits – he gets 6, easily enough to wipe out the unit.


All in all, a fun game and a solid victory. My opponent did what I did in the last game: sit in the corner and let the enemy come to you, and probably had about as much fun as I did. Meanwhile, he ceded the entire board to me and with several fast-moving, highly manoueverable units I could essentially dictate where and when I wanted to fight. This really proved obvious with the Shades out on the left, who danced around 4 different units before driving into the Archmage like a dagger in the night. I love these guys! Whilst the miscast was pretty lucky for me, I still think I would've won the game - sure, I might have lost a few more Warriors along the way, and probably one Chariot a lot earlier than I did. But the Shades probably would have got into that Mage, too, on their way to the Archmage.

The thing with an army like the Coven of Light is that when it works well, it dominates - but if something goes wrong in the magic phase, it can cost you the game. As I keep saying, if you keep rolling lots of panic tests or spell casting, sooner or later you are going to fail - and the more you do it, the more likely it is to happen. In fact, I've just been watching the same opponent play 2.5k against Wood Elves. He was comfortably tabling the tree-lovers, when his Archmage turns to use Banishment to chip the last wound off a Treeman. IF ensues and rolls a 5 - 6 archers blow up and the Archmage loses a wound. Then they fail their break test. Then they flee 12", causing another mage stood behind them to fail his break test. They hit another unit of archers with a mage, and they fail their break test. The fleeing Archmage bunker puts him in line of sight of some sneaky Dryads, who run them off the board, and the second archer bunker soon follows suit. The High Elf still won by about 100 VPs - but it was dicey, and that one bad roll nearly cost him the game.

On the other hand, I felt like I went for the right approach in going magic-light. In fact, in contrast to my Lizardmen, I'm really enjoying playing a list where I'm not dependant on the magic phase in order to make things happen.

In the next game I also fought a Warriors of Chaos army, but it was so dull I'm not going to bother with the battle report. He brought a 600 point unit of Warriors, 600 point unit of Chosen, a Warshrine and 3 heroes at 2000 points - and that's it. I hit the Chosen with Chariots and Knights and broke it after two rounds of combat, and gave the Warriors the Killing Blow Warrior Horde and a Chariot in the flank - which they, too, broke and ran down. Game was over by turn 4, I think.
Clockwork
Highborn
Posts: 624
Joined: Thu Sep 29, 2011 7:57 pm

Re: The Annals of House Arrath

Post by Clockwork »

Well, its about time to bring this blog back to life, and what better way than with my first battle against the new Warriors book?

I'll post up the full report in a few days, but for now here's the two sides

House Arrath
Lord Arrath, First Gatekeeper of hag Graef
Dreadlord, Dark Pegasus, Armour of Darkness, Pendant of Khaeleth, Soulrender, The Other Trickster Shard - General

Lady Arrath
Supreme Sorceress, Level 4, Seal of Ghrond, Dispel Scroll, Lifetaker, Lore of Metal

The Primarch's Shrine and Shrinekeeper
Death Hag, Cauldron of Blood, BSB

Arrath Household Foot
36 Dark Elf Spearmen, Full Command, Standard of Discipline

12 Dark Elf Crossbowmen, Musician, Shields

Arrath Houshold Light Cavalry
5 Dark Riders, Repeater Crossbows, Musician

Shade Clan Wyrrlock Auxiliary Light Cavalry
5 Dark Riders, Repeater Crossbows, Musician

Animated Gargoyles
5 Harpies
5 Harpies


Arrath Household Chariotry
Cold One Chariot
Cold One Chariot


Arrath Household Heavy Cavalry
10 Cold One Knights, Musician, Standard, Banner of the Eternal Flame

Arrath Household Heavy Infantry
20 Executioners, Standard

Shade Clan Wyyrlock Auxiliaries
5 Shades

5 Witch Elves

So there's a few new things that I'm trying out here: double Fast Cavalry, a Witch Elf dart, and Executioners. The idea is that the Witch Elves run in and assassinate any Tzeentch BSBs on foot, whilst the Executioners get a flank on something and stomp it. But even head on against Warrior units they can force a draw or outright win, so I'll probably deploy them 7 or 8 wide.

The core remains unchanged, however: a phalanx of Spearmen backed up by Chariots and Cold One Knights, who have the BotEF for dealing with Chimeras. I have 12 Crossbowmen with Shields in case we roll Watchtower - my mathhammer tells me that this is the optimal size, as with parries I shouldn't lose more than 10 models against Strength 5 or better. Running a Pendant Pegasus Lord leaves a bad taste in my mouth, but I really need something to tank that Nurgle Deamon Prince. Nothing else I could bring can face it (Assassins aren't considered honorable by House Arrath!), and at least he doesn't have the Stubborn Crown.

I really like Metal over Shadow magic as it compliments my army with some ranged damage potential, especially against things Repeater Crossbows struggle against. There's also some excellent buffs in there.

The Chariots of Chaos aka Ben-Hur

Nurgle Daemon Prince, Level 4, Soul Feeder, Scaled Skin, Flaming Breath, Chaos Armour, Daemonic Flight, Dispel Scroll, Lore of Nurgle

Tzeentch Exalted Hero, Disc of Tzeentch, Talisman of Endurance, Third Eye of Tzeentch, Dragonhelm, Halberd

Chariot
Chariot
Chariot
Chariot
6 Warhounds, Vanguard, Scaly Skin
5 Forsaken
5 Forsaken

5 Hellstriders, Musician
5 Chaos Knights, Full Command
Gorebeast Chariot, Mark of Nurgle
Chimera, Regeneration, Flaming Breath

3 Skullcrushers, Full Command
Chaos Spawn, Mark of Tzeentch

So my opponent wanted to try out something new, and whilst its not quite the 8 Chariots of Doom, Double Daemon Prince, Triple Chimera build, its pretty close - Ben Hur light, perhaps. Regardless, with a minimum movement 6 (not including the Spawn), three flyers, and more Swiftstride than you can shake a stick at, its going to come at me fast. But on the other hand - very few banners, and non-existant infantry, so if we roll up any battle that's going to throw spanners in the works (Blood and Glory, Dawn Attack, Meeting Engagement, or Watchtower), then things could get hairy for the Warriors. On the other hand, a Battle for the Pass could go very badly for me - no room to maneuver, and a wall of incoming chariots rolling across the table!
Clockwork
Highborn
Posts: 624
Joined: Thu Sep 29, 2011 7:57 pm

Re: The Annals of House Arrath

Post by Clockwork »

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Left to right, Temple of Khaine, hill, Scree Slope, Building, Elven Waystone. Both Forests are Mysterious and the river turned out to be a Raging Torrent.

We rolled Dawn Attack which presented some problems. There was a wide open space on one side and a lot of terrain on the other. My opponent won the roll off and elected to deploy on the side with all the terrain so he could get past it on the first round.

Events conspired against him. Firstly, almost all his stuff ended up on my right or centre, which meant they'd have to cross the river, unless trying to squeeze over the bridge. The river, as it turned out, was a Raging Torrent – which meant dangerous terrain tests all round! Then, I went and stole the first turn.

But things had hardly gone well for me. My Warriors started on the far right, and the Cauldron started on the far left– too far away to grant BSB re-rolls and unable to make the Executioners Steadfast. This was a real problem as it could only move 5”. Due to positioning of the Dark Riders, to run into the centre, and the harpies too far forward by the tower, I had to squeeze these units in as best as I could. My Dark Riders to vanguard towards the centre, a just below the forest.

I figured that at least my Warriors would be Steadfast on leadership 9 and could hold the right flank against all those Chariots. But I'd support them with the Executioners and a Chariot, whilst giving way to the Chimera and Daemon Prince on the right. The Cold One Knights went dead centre to support either the right flank or try and break through in the centre.

Supreme Sorceress: Golden Hounds, Searing Doom, Glittering Robes, and Final Transmutation.
Daemon Prince: Rancid Visitations, Curse of the Leper, Stream of Corruption, and Plague Wind.

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Knowing I wouldn't have long before the Chariots arrived, I advanced only cautiously into charge range of units crossing the river, but mostly moved stuff towards the centre where they could support each other.

The Dreadlord ran out to present a challenge to the Deamon Prince, which I knew my opponent wouldn't be able to resist, but was far enough back to avoid getting charged by the Chimera. In the Shooting phase, the Shades killed off all but two Dogs, whilst the Crossbowmen and Lady Arrath took off the Hellstriders entirely, but the Gorebeast passed its break test.

I rolled low for winds of magic and threw 4 at Final Transmutation on the Skullcrushers. I rolled low though and failed to cast.

The 5+ Ward Save Cauldron blessing went on the Dark Rider 1, as I was expecting a breath weapon next turn.

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My opponent formed his chariots into a double column to cross the bridge, which was just wide enough to allow two. Everything else pushed forward, with the Daemon Prince dropping a template which killed two dark riders. In the magic phase he buffed himself up with +2 Toughness, which I let through, and used all my dice to dispel Stream of Corruption. I wasn't going to kill the Prince outright in one particular combat anyway, so I was happy to let him try and effectively waste dice buffing himself throughout the game.

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My Dreadlord got +1 Attack from the Cauldron and went into the Daemon Prince, as I couldn't block it from charging anything in its next turn. This was a turn earlier than I wanted the combat to start, but I didn't really have much of a choice. He took a wound for his trouble (first roll in the Pendant is a 6, sigh), but held. Naturally he couldn't do anything back against a T7 Nurgle Prince. I shuffled around a little bit and one unit of riders dived through a gap on the flank, but otherwise held the line that I had established; backing the Knights up a bit too give the Shades some more room to move, but leaving the chariot forward. Really, I should have let them in position, as we'll see later...

My Sorceress tried 5 dicing Searing Doom at the Chimera but didn't IF and it got scrolled. This left me in a bit of a panic as I was expecting to kill it this turn, and now it could get into my flank or the Cauldron. Still, she took a wound off it with Lifetaker.

Elsewhere, my Dark Riders only killed one dog, who rolled insane courage, whilst the rest of my shooting killed off a couple of Forsaken.

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The charges began. First, the Chimera charged my Riders who fled. He then redirected in to my Crossbows rather than the Cauldron (the Witch Elves and Sorceress were just out of range), who also elected to flee, and bounced through the centre of my line. I was content with this as I needed them on the right flank really anyway. Finally, something – I think the Gorebeast Chariot, though it might have been Forsaken given where they ended up, charged my Shades, who also fled.

His Skullcrushers rode up to the edge of the river and held, not wanting to dip their toes, whilst the Knights went over and the Chariots crossed the bridge. To allow this, he pushed the Forsaken extremely far forward, barely a few inches from my line, which dangerously overexposed them. Rather than going in to any of my units, the Disco Lord decided to go fly behind my lines.

In the epic duel, my Dreadlord got lucky and managed to slip a wound through. One down, three to go!

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I declared three charges against the Forsaken, Chariot and Executioners. However, due to the positioning, it was impossible for the Warriors to get into them – if I moved them first, the chariot blocked them from getting in to base contact; if I moved the Chariot first, the Forsaken had to close the door with me, which meant my Warriors also couldn't make contact. And if I moved the Executioners first, they had just enough room to completely maximise, which meant that the chariot couldn't get in at all. The Warriors would get in here, but then I wouldn't be able to bring my chariot to bare on the overrun into the bridge.

In the end I put the Chariot in first, followed by the Executioners, which blocked off the Warriors. I probably should have not charged and reformed them into more ranks here.

The second Chariot pulled off a long range charge into Chariot 3, happily surviving its dangerous terrain test. I resolved the Executioner combat first, but only rolled 1 impact hit. The crew fluffed their attacks. The Executioners then lost 6 men to the 3 remaining Forsaken before wiping them out. They then rolled 4 for overrun, and the Chariot only 5 (yes, on swiftstride). This meant that they didn't hit the line of chariots ahead of them. Then my other chariot also rolled 1 for impact hits, dealt a wound, and took a wound, and the Chaos Chariot held. So much for the breakthrough.

To my surprise, the cowardly Crossbowmen continued to flee. In doing so, the Warriors held, but they just clipped the Harpies and sent them running off the board. However, the Shades rallied.

Elsewhere, I spun the Cold One Knights round to face the Chimera. With their flaming banner, they were the only unit which was capable of killing it should my Sorceress fail again. However, had I kept them in place last turn rather than backing up, they could have charged the Forsaken or the Knights in the river. The Dark Riders would have bounced through them, but instead were blocking any possible charges. As it was, the Harpies and rallied Riders went in to secure their flanks. It turned out that this was unnecessary as the Lady of the House 6 diced Searing Doom, didn't IF, my opponent wasn't able to dispel, and took the Chimera off. As expected, the Lord combat went nowhere again.

My Dark Riders shot off all but one of the Forsaken. The Witch Elves charged the last dog, who had moved in front of them the previous turn, but he fled and got away. I think the Sorceress finished it with Lifetaker that turn.

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I wasn't looking forward to this, and for good reason. Chariot 1 into the flank of my chariot in the river, Chariot 2 had just enough space to clip the Executioners, which then freed up Chariot 4 to clip my Chariot 1. Chariot's everywhere! All dangerous terrain tests were passed. The Disco Exalted, after some careful consideration, went into the rear of the Executioners. I'm not sure this was the wisest choice. The combat in the river was resolved first, and my chariot was destroyed, allowing chariot 1 to overrun into my Executioners and attack again. With impact hits, chariot crew and the Exalted, all but 2 Executioners died.

However I still had the additional attack buff, and as this was the first round of combat, got to re-roll hits. I directed my remaining 4 attacks at the Exalted. 4 hits, 3 wounds and one Killing Blow, 2 wounds saved on armour, one wound saved on ward – but the Killing Blow went through! I considered this a happy exchange, given how badly things had gone on this flank. The Excutioners broke and the survivor was run down by Chariot 2.

In the chariot-on-chariot combat, I think I took a wound and broke. Chariot 4 then overran into my Warriors (who, if I'd had reformed, probably wouldn't have been in the charge arc).

The centre was also a bit complex. First, the Spawn span around and use its random movement to get into my dark riders – I had foolishly moved right into a gap where it could get through. I got lucky in that it took a wound from the river on the way in, then I produced three hits and wounded with two 6s to take it off before it could even attack. The rest went like this:

1) Gorebeast into Harpies. I hold.
2) Forsaken and Knights into Dark Riders. I hold.
3) Skullcrushers into Dark Riders, I flee.
4) Skullcrushers redirect into Harpies, I flee.

I got some more good luck here. The Skullcrushers failed a dangerous terrain test and lost one on the way in (producing a 6 for wounds), and they were then happily blocked by the Gorebeast. The Forsaken couldn't quite catch the Dark Riders, and then the Chaos Knights lost a model crossing the river as well. Great success!

In the magic phase, the Daemon Prince buffed himself again, and I again I let it through and held back my dice. He then cast Plague Wind with IF on 4 dice on my Knights, but luckily it scattered off the table. The IF inflicted a strength 10 hit on my Dreadlord, but he was saved by the Pendant again.

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With the right flank on the brink of collapse, and heavy cavalry menacing my centre, I felt like this turn was the game breaker. I pretty much abandoned the Warriors and Crossbowmen at this point, hoping that they would at least hold for another turn or two, taking the Chariots out of the rest of the game. I was encouraged when the Crossbowmen finally rallied.

To that end, the Cold One Knights went in to the Gorebeast chariot. Due to the positioning of the Harpies, I couldn't close the door and forced him to, which meant I didn't take any dangerous terrain tests. They got an additional attack from the Cauldron and took it out. I was hoping to destroy it and overrun out of the 'Crushers charge arc, but this would have put me in combat with the Daemon Prince, which would have been even worse as it would have been stuck in a challenge and leaving my Knights twiddling their thumbs, so after destroying it I reformed back towards the middle.

One unit of Dark Riders went to redirect the Knights, and another went to get the Skullcrushers. However, I lost one on the dangerous terrain and couldn't get the angle right – by blocking them from the Knights, their overrun/pursuit would take them into the flank of my Dreadlord. As it as, they had just enough space to get into the Cold One Knights. My Dark Riders and Shades couldn't fell any knights or take any wounds off the 'Crushers, but my Sorceress just had line of sight to the Forsaken – she killed it with her Lifetaker, which panicked the Knights back over the river, and took another model off!

The Chariot and Harpies rallied, and in my magic phase I managed to Searing Doom one of the chariots. My Dreadlord also got another wound on the Daemon Prince, though took one himself. Disaster then struck when I failed to inflict any wounds on the Chariot with my Warriors, lost a bunch of models, then failed the leadership 9 break test. The Warriors broke, produced double 6, bounced through the Crossbowmen, and went off the board, the chariot hot on their heels. Fortunately, my Crossbowmen held.

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he Knights failed to rally and kept running. Chariot 3 charged the Crossbowmen, who stood and shot, inflicted no wounds, didn't lose enough models to lose their steadfast, and... failed another leadership 8 break test. They went off the board and the chariot reformed back into the centre.

The Skullcrushers went in and killed 6 of my Knights, who only inflicted a single wound back. However, I passed my leadership 4 break test on the BSB re-roll. Whatever he tried to cast I stopped, because my Dreadlord then got two wounds on his Daemon Prince to kill it!

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One unit of Dark Riders charged the fleeing Knights, who fled further but didn't quite reach the table edge. I sent the other unit up to chase them who lost 2 on the dangerous terrain test coming out of the forest, and brought Shades up to try and shoot them too. Unfortunately, all armour saves were passed. The Dreadlord wasn't able to declare a charge against the Skullcrushers due to the placement of the Dark Riders, so moved up to catch them if they killed the Knights. As it turned out, my opponent rolled poorly and with the Cauldron ward save I only lost one Knight and easily passed the break test.

The Sorceress cast Searing Doom at one of the chariots – I think 3 – but could only take a couple of wounds off. I then went for a high level Golden Hounds on another, and only did a single wound.

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Chariot 1 declared a charge on the Harpies, who fled. The Chaos Knights failed to rally and fled off the board, and I lost another Knight to the Skullcrushers thanks again to the Cauldron. This left just enough space for my Dreadlord to get in!

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Harpies rallied and my light auxiliary ran to get in the way of the chariots and shoot them up. I see now that I marched one unit over the river, which it shouldn't have done, but it wasn't able to inflict any wounds anyway. With magic and shooting I managed to kill one chariot, but couldn't take the last wounds off the other two.

The Witch Elves inflicted a ton of wounds, but the Skullcrushers passed all of them. The Dreadlord defeated the champion in a challenge and the surviveor fluffed all of his attacks, broke from combat, and auto-died.

I had given up around 1,000 victory points, but I was sitting happily on about 2400. Dark Elf Victory!
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Re: The Annals of House Arrath

Post by Clockwork »

Some after battle reports.

I made a few mistakes here, largely with positioning out on the right and in the centre. My other big mistake was with the Knights - I'm not playing aggressively enough. I should have sent them and the Chariot into the Forsaken/Chaos Knights whilst they were in the river and broken through. Exposing their flank and letting them get charged by the Skullcrushers was just silly. I didn't need to run them round to the flank like that, but after failing to kill the Chimera in one round, I panicked a bit. Luckily I had the chaff to save them from the worst of it.

However, overall I was pretty pleased with how the battle went. After seeing my opponent's list, my plan going into this game was to draw the chariots out to the flanks using my chaff. Being unable to march, its difficult to then get them back into the game, as we saw in the final turns. To a certain extent this is what happened – only instead of using chaff, I had to sacrifice the Warriors and the Crossbowmen. The former got charged, inflicted no wounds, and ran away. The latter shot off some dogs, failed a rally test, failed to inflict any wounds through stand and shoot, then failed a break test and ran away. A poor trade off to keep two 120 point chariots out of the game, really. Here the scenario really worked against me as I could have desperately used the BSB in range. Still, they couldn't get back in to tip the central combat in his favour, and it did give my Sorceress some additional round to magic them off. Had the Executioner and Chariot charged worked, I could have crushed the chariot squadron and ran him back over the bridge.

I was extremely pleased with how my characters performed. With the Seal of Ghrond, I didn't feel under pressure in my opponent's magic phase, and I think I played the long game well in letting him have Fleshy Abundance whilst stopping everything else. When it came to my turn I stuck to the plan – using Searing Doom on the Chimera, and trying to force it through rather than getting as many spells off as I could, which has been a flaw in my play in the past (too many Slann trickle phases lead to bad habits!).

I really wasn't expecting to kill the Daemon Prince, and counted on just tanking him for the whole game, so that at least made up for things. Despite that, and having seen it die twice now, I continue to believe its a huge, unnecessary pain in the ass. In this occasion I had to beat it with the Pendant, and we all know the reputation that has. Last time it was with a 1+ re-rollable armour save Scar-Veteran, buffed by Slann Focused Rumination Speed of Light and Timewarp. This is the issue that I have with it – if you don't have cannons, you need extreme luck or your own borderline-broken combination to beat it. Before the new Warrior book I wasn't too concerned about losing these things with the 8th edition revision, but now I am worried. Making it Unbreakable was genuinely a mistake, maybe Stubborn and ItP would have been more appropriate.

I think I'm going to try working Executioners in future lists over Blackguard, as I was pretty pleased with their performance despite things. 20 seems to be about the right size – its 250 points with a standard which isn't too much to give away if they get into something that will kill them first (they are less points than the Warriors, in fact), but just enough bodies so that they have a decent amount of attacks back. And as today proved, even if they die to a man, all it takes is one Killing Blow to mitigate the loss!

I'm hoping to fix my camera for next time so there are some nice pictures, but no promises.

Any critiques, suggestions, advice?

Edit: Its just been pointed out to me that we played Plague Wind wrong, scattering it like Pit when it actually works like Purple Sun. It would have decimated the Cold One Knights had we done that! A rematch is in order, I think.
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Re: The Annals of House Arrath

Post by Gidean »

Clockwork wrote:Edit: Its just been pointed out to me that we played Plague Wind wrong, scattering it like Pit when it actually works like Purple Sun. It would have decimated the Cold One Knights had we done that! A rematch is in order, I think.



I was going to say. I had my Chaos book by me and I had to grab it to make sure. I was scratching my head wondering how it 'scattered'. As a Nurgle DP player myself, sometimes you want to give your opponent the flank so you can do direct damage spells like Steam out of combat.
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Re: The Annals of House Arrath

Post by Dyvim tvar »

I always love reports with diagrams!

Just read the one versus the Lizardmen so far, but I noticed that in turn 1 your crossbows marched in a turn in which they garrisoned a building, which you aren't supposed to be able to do ...
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Re: The Annals of House Arrath

Post by Clockwork »

Indeed, you are correct! I just checked the second game and made the same mistake there, too. It looks like we completely overlooked that rule - part of the reason I post these is to learn things like that though, so please point out any others you see.

With regards to Plague Wind, in my defence, my opponent had the card and I was checking with him as we played it out - I think we were both a bit in the zone though and didn't stop to check. Its a pretty devestating spell, especially against T3 Elves o.O. There's a good chance I would have lost half the Knight unit and they wouldn't have held out nearly as long against the Daemon Prince.

Which just encourages me to go MSU so I don't have so many big, tempting targets :p
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Re: The Annals of House Arrath

Post by Swordmaster of Hoeth »

Hi Clockwork,

It is about time you give it a go and organize a game with MSU force. So that we can discuss army list and tactics based on a real game experience. :)

Cheers!
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Re: The Annals of House Arrath

Post by Clockwork »

Been busy with other commitments I'm afraid! However, I'm trying to arrange just that and get something in this week.
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Re: The Annals of House Arrath

Post by Clockwork »

Well, I finally had my first MSU battle against my opponents Warriors of Chaos all-comers list today. I'll hopefully get a battle report up in the next few days!

Won't give too much away now, but I really enjoyed the playstyle.
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Re: The Annals of House Arrath

Post by Clockwork »

Right, its about time I got on with this.

A little philosophy behind my list first of all. For those who didn't follow the MSU thread, this list is designed to mimic Swordmaster of Hoeth's High Elf MSU playstyle. It looks like a hell of a lot of fun, so initially I wanted something that was as close as possible to it. Therefore: no monsters, no flyers, no Mindrazor FTW, a focus on lots of units in the 100-200 points range, and try some undervalued things (handbow Corsairs, Executioners). To really push things, I went for bodies over command options - and because I am a little OCD, even numbers of equal pairs where possible.

In the end I had to relent a little: my special was bursting at the seems and literally up at the 50% mark. The lack of any sort of viable Daemon Prince counter also really hurts, and try as I might I could not find a use for Corsairs. So in the end I ended up with a Cold One Pendant Master to tank DPs (and/or give the Knights some additional punch), and swapped Corsairs out for Crossbows. In the end I think the list is still close enough, although I have some thoughts about it that I'll come on to later.

The Exiled House Arrath

Supreme Sorceror with Lifetaker, Dispel Scroll, Level 4, Metal.

Death Hag with Cauldron of Blood, BSB.
Master with Pendant of Khaeleth, Dragonhelm, Cold One, Lance, Heavy Armour, Sea Dragon Cloak.

20 Dark Elf Warriors with shields and Full Command.
20 Dark Elf Warriors with shields and Full Command.
10 Dark Elf Repeater Crossbowmen
5 Dark Riders with repeater crossbows.
5 Dark Riders with repeater crossbows.
5 Harpies

6 Cold One Knights
6 Cold One Knights
12 Blackguard
12 Blackguard
12 Executioners
12 Executioners
6 Shades
6 Shades

Note: Although it says 6 Shades here, I totally forgot and played all game with 5. Balls.

Warriors of Chaos

Nurgle Daemon Prince with Chaos Armour, Charmed Shield, Sword of Striking, Dragonbane Gem, Flight, Flaming Breath, Scaled Skin, Soul Feeder, Chaos Familiar, Mark of Nurgle, Lore of Nurgle, Level 3.

Tzeentch Exalted Hero with Talisman of Endurance, Mark of Tzeentch, Disc of Tzeentch, Third Eye, Dragonbane Gem, some other inconsequential items because its already OP.

18 Nurgle Warriors with Full Command and Halberds.
6 Warhounds
Chariot
Chariot
Chariot

Chimera with Flaming Breath, Regeneration.
Nurgle Gorebeast Chariot with Mark of Nurgle.
5 Hellstriders
6 Nurgle Ogres with Full Command, Great Weapons.

3 Skullcrushers with Full Command, Enchanted Weapons.

Its fast. Its beardy. It has a Daemon Prince with almost as many upgrades and items as there are units in the entire army. What more is there to say?

We played on a reeeeeeeeeeally long table, and I was dreading a Battle for the Pass, but we ended up rolling Meeting Engagement. This was both good and bad for me: on the one hand, a wide table meant plenty of space to move around in and as I lost the roll off, I could see my opponent's deployment first. But it also meant that both sides started closer, with more units I risked having more in reserve, and there was a lot of space to bring on reserves that I couldn't account for. In fact, I completely misdeployed as we'll see.

Magic:
Supreme Sorcerer: Searing Doom, Enchanted Blades, Glittering Robes, Final Transmutation.
Daemon Prince: Stream of Corruption, Rancid Visitations, Fleshy Abundance, Plague Wind.

Reserves:
Dark Elves: Supreme Sorcerer, 20 Dark Elf Warriors, both units of Cold One Knights, Executioners.
Warriors: Chariot, Gorebeast Chariot, Chimera.

Those reserves. Sigh.

Coming up next: Deployment
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Re: The Annals of House Arrath

Post by Clockwork »

Procrastination is a wonderful thing, isn't it? Anyway, on to Deployment!

Deployment

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My opponent picked table edge and had to deploy first. I ended up with the side that I wanted, and hoped to use the central building to break his army up in two. To that end, I deployed mostly to the right. My general thoughts were to hold him around the fence, then bring on my fast-moving and hard-hitting reserves on my left to sweep into his flanks and rear and roll up the line. Blackguard went on the Warriors flanks to act as tarpits. Deploying here also gave me a lot of room to move about, rather than in the narrow right flank.

What I didn't consider was that this was a terribly stupid idea, as it put all my points within easy reach of his reserves, as we'll see.

Turn 1 - Warriors

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Remember when I said my deployment was terrible? Here's why. The Chimera flies on, drops a breath weapon on the Blackguard, and kills 10 of them. MSU lesson 1: Templates are bad. In addition, two chariots are now up in my flanks, ready to roll down my line (GC is the Nurgle Gorebeast).

Things then go bad to worse when the Daemon Prince casts Rancid Visitations on the Executioners. I elect to let it through, and my reasoning is actually sound: everything in the MSU army is expendable, right? And besides, I've got a 50-50 shot of dodging the Toughness test, and I'd rather block Plague Wind. As it turns out, I didn't fully understand vortex rules (lack of experience with vortex armies in our group), and in hindsight would have stopped Visitations had I known better. We pushed on so I would remember my lesson, and 9 Executioners dropped dead after I failed the Toughness test. Whatever else he tried to cast I dispelled.

I don't remember entirely what the Hellstriders did this turn, but they mostly just messed around with my Shades.

Turn 1 - Dark Elves

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With the rolller derby coming in on my flank, my plans had to change. I committed one unit of Knights to flank a chariot on my left which the Dark Riders had blocked (and shot a wound off). The idea was that the Knights hit the chariot, reform into the centre, and combo charge the Warriors with Executioners and Blackguard (who are trying to set up a Swordmaster of Hoeth trap). Again, this wasn't a very good idea as there was a chance the Chariot would pursue off the table – I would have been better off letting it through and then charging it, but I didn't want to risk a long-range charge into my Executioners. The other unit of Knights come on to go after the other chariots, and are accompanied by my Supreme Sorcerer – who fulfills his duty and 6 dices Searing Doom to take off the Chimera. Sadly, in the miscast he loses 2 levels, Searing Doom, Final Transumtation and Power of Darkness. Totally worth it.

Speaking of this trap, I'm not sure if the positioning of the Shades is good at all. I wanted them far enough forward that the Exalted hero wouldn't be able to charge at them over the Buildings (the disc is reeeally tall), but they are a little too far forward to get charged by the Warriors and then flee into the movement arcs of the units behind.

I think my positioning of Crossbowmen and surviving Blackguard is worth highlighting. The Blackguard are angled so that any charges from the Gorebeast or Chariot 2 will take it in front of my Warriors in an overrun (and directly into the path of his large base Ogres). Meanwhile the Crossbowmen have moved forward so that if the Gorebeast charges, it will go away from my army in a flee/overrun situation, whilst their angle is such that Chariot 1 will also overrun/pursue at an angle. Although I'm sacrificing some 250 points here, I like to think that this is a good use of it to mitigate some 350ish points of rolling thunder for 1-2 turns.

I keep the Master back to react to the Daemon Prine and Exalted. The Shades shoot off 3 Hellstriders, the Crossbowmen manage 2 Warhounds and the Shades in the centre shoot off some Warriors (not shown). The Cauldron Ward goes on my Warrior block garrisoning the fence.

Turn 2 - Warriors

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That Daemon Prince looks like he flies a long way, because I'm pretty sure that his positioning was off (or my Warriors were more to the left). Either way, you get the idea – as he drops a Stream of Corruption which kills off half the unit.

There are a lot of charges this turn: Chariot 3 hits the Dark Riders and runs them down, but doesn't quite go off the table. I hold just to make it more likely that he stays on, but still its a waste. Nonetheless, remember when I said I was wary of long distant charges? Chariot 2 proves why when it produces an 11 to hit the flank of my Warriors. It kills a bunch, but with my BSB nearby and the Cauldron ward save I hold. The Gorebeast predictably kills the Blackguard and reforms to threaten my reinforcements, whilst Chariot 1 fluffs its impact hits and the Crossbowmen hold – they even manage to get a wound on it through stand and shoot. Some luck at last!

Elsewhere, the Warriors charge the Shades – who flee, and end up right in front of my Blackguard, blocking them off, which was just silly positioning by me. The Disc Exalted lands behind them to be a general menace to society, and the Warhounds rush into the gap in my line – possibly to redirect my Master?

Turn 2 - Dark Elves

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In this turn my Knights go into the left chariot and predictably kill it, although sadly overrun and go off the table. With my rallied Shades blocking my Blackguard, I abandon the trap idea and throw the Executioners forwards to bring the Nurgle Warriors into the Knight's path. I know its a lost cause, but I buff them up with an additional attack either to ward the Warriors off a charge, or at least take a few down with me. This is important because I have reformed the Blackguard to face towards the Disc Exalted – the idea is that if he goes into my Cauldron next turn, the Blackguard can hit him the turn after with Killing Blow. At this point, I am regretting a Musician on them...

Sadly, my other Knight's cant repeat their counterpart's success and fail what should have been an easy charge on Chariot 2. To save them from the Gorebeast, I throw the Harpies in to redirect. This turn also sees the Crossbowmen finally break and get run down. Cheeky MSU redirect of the turn, though, goes to the Executioners who run in to die hard and stop the Ogres going into my Warrior's flank.

As it turns out, I needn't have bothered – my Sorceress IFs Enchanted Blades on 3 or 4 dice, with which they are just able to get a wound through on the Chariot and break it through static CR. It flees, but not very far and my Warriors easily catch it. The cost is high, though, and I lose 2 Knights to the miscast result and a wound on the Supreme Sorcerer.

Turn 3 - Warriors

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The second long range charge of the game goes down when the Disc Exalted gets off a 19” charge into the flank of the Knights. Fortunately, he fluffs his attacks and only manages to kill one, so I just hold on a low leadership test. The Gorebeat chariot hits the Harpies and goes through them like a hot knife, but fails its restrain check and overruns – meanwhile, Chariot 1 fails its charge roll and just spins around. Both Executioner units pay for time with their lives – killing one Ogre, but only 2 Warriors after they get buffed to T6 with Fleshy Abundance.

The Daemon Prince continues to get up to mischief by breath weaponing the Blackguard, killing 9, after I scroll Plague Wind and throw all my dice at Rancid Visitations. That's 29 models lost to templates, if you are counting.

Turn 3 - Dark Elves

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Luck swings back in my direction this turn, when my Cold One Master pulls off his own long range charge to clip the Exalted's flank. With his lance he surprisingly manages to kill him in a challenge, 4+ Third Eye or no 4+ Third Eye. Then the Warriors go into the rear of the Gorebeast chariot and take a few wounds, but I generate enough static CR that it loses, breaks and runs off the board. The victorious Warriors, all 12 of them left, reform to face their third Chariot of the game. Elsewhere, I throw the other Warriors into his Daemon Prince in an effort to hold it up for another turn and save my Cauldron. Leaving it where it is keeps it in the Prince's charge arc; but any movement forwards them in the Ogre's charge, whilst to my right takes them out of buffing range for the far Knight unit – neither is a good proposition. The champion dies in a challenge and the unit passes their Steadfast leadership check on a re-roll.

My Blackguard play operation don't be a victory point and run away, and my Shades shoot off some Warriors to take the unit down to 12 models. This is very important, as we'll see.

I think that my Sorcerer drops Enchanted Blades on the Warriors again, after Glittering Robes is dispelled, and give the Master +1 Cauldron attack.

Turn 4 - Warriors

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The Nurgle Ogres attempt a charge on my Warriors, but double 1 it and go nowhere. In order to get past, the Skullcrushers reform into a 2 wide at the front – there is just enough space for them to fit through the gap, though this isn't represented very well on the map. The last chariot runs into the Warriors... but despite killing another handful, the resolute Warriors pass another breaktest.

The Nurgle Warriors reform to face the Cold One Knights menacing their flank. The Daemon Prince tries a Plague Wind at my Master... and rolls a miscast. Through the vortex and miscast explosion, all the surviving Warriors die, though the Wind itself doesn't go far enough to reach my Master. Naturally, a 1 is rolled to wound the Prince itself...

We forget to play out the vortex in subsequent turns, however I believe my opponent intended to dispel it in the next turn anyway, before it could roll towards his own lines.

Turn 4 - Dark Elves

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Its time for an admission. I very nearly tried to avoid charging my Knights into the Nurgle Warriors here. Although I was confident of killing at least 6 if buffed with the Cauldron, I thought I would pay for it and loose too many Knights, even if the combat was won. Luckily, my opponent talked me into it – and this being a balls-to-the-wall test game, I decided why the hell not? So in the Knights went.

They hit 10 times. I think that's worth repeating, because this are Nurgle Warriors and I was hitting on 5s. The dice gods smiled at me, I guess, because they went on to wound with everything. When the dust settled only the Champion and Standard Bearer were left standing, and they were too shocked to inflict any casualties – clearly so was I, because I forgot to attack with the Cold Ones. Nonetheless the survivors broke, the Standard Bearer auto-died, and I reformed to face the oncoming 'Crushers who had been neatly redirected by the Shades.

My Dark Riders got an Enchanted Blades buff and went into the Chariot rear, but could only inflict one wound. Despite the Combat Res, The Warriors finally got some luck and it held. My Master fulfilled his destiny to stall the Daemon Prince, but the Curse of the Pendant struck and he took a wound (the Curse is that every time before I roll it, I say “all I need to do is not roll a 6,” and then I roll a 6. Every time).

Turn 5 - Warriors

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The 'Crushers went into the blocking Shades and killed them, though didn't go far on the overrun. The Nurgle Ogres went to garrison the fence rather than take a Knight flank charge, and the Chariot finally broke from combat. Because I was down to 3 Warriors at this point, it fled away from the Dark Riders (who had more ranks), but was run down.

The Daemon Prince and the Master swung at each other ineffectively. I think the Winds of Magic were low, as I don't remember any spells going off this phase.

Turn 5 - Dark Elves

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The Knights hit the 'Crushers, killed two, lost two, and broke the Champion – though, sadly, couldn't quite run him down and he bounced through the building whilst the Knight's stopped 1” away. Again the positioning is ever so slightly off here, as they would be just able to sneak a charge on the fleeing model next turn.

My Shades killed the last Nurgle Warrior, but sadly my Master died in combat. I was out of range for Enchanted Blades on the Knights, and didn't have line of sight for Glittering Robes due to the Ogres. I deploy the Dark Riders to stop his Ogres going in to the Cauldron.

And, yes, my Supreme Sorcerer is out of charge range from the Prince. Just in case ;)

Turn 6 - Warriors

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Sadly, once again luck turns against me. First, the last Skullcrusher rallies. Then his Daemon Prince charges my Cold One Knights, who elect to flee but roll so low he pulls off the last long range charge of the game to catch them. Then, in the magic phase, he drops another Plague Wind which, of course, doesn't harm him as he's T5 anyway and T6 after casting Nurgle spells (because, you know, its balanced for it to not have any weaknesses at all); hits my Supreme Sorcerer doing the second wound to him, and rolls over into my Knights... killing 4. So now there was no chance of getting the surviving Skullcrusher.

Turn 6 - Dark Elves

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In the game's final moments, I once again decide to risk everything and roll 5 dice at Enchanted Blades on the Shades, hoping to kill off that damned Skullcrusher. Of course, I miscast, and its one of the results that deals a wound, and my Supreme Sorcerer dies. Oh, and I don't kill the last Skullcrusher.
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Re: The Annals of House Arrath

Post by Clockwork »

Defeat :(

When I first wrote up my post-battle thoughts, I said that I felt pretty hard done by with some of my luck. With the exception of the Knight's roflstomping the Nurgle Warriors, it does seem that a lot of things go badly for me, and where things do go well I usually have to pay for them. In comparison, my opponent gets a bunch of long range charges, only miscasts once with a favourable result, and so on. In hindsight, however, I don't think this is fair, and whilst there are occasions where things go badly for me, these are not helped by the mistakes that I make (of which there are a lot). You can decide for yourselves who you think had the better luck this game.

Regardless, until my Sorcerer died I was actually up by about 200 Victory Points and winning; his death swung things about 200 points in my opponent's favour. And what's even more important is that we were both really enjoying the game. Even when I was removing models by the handful or whole units at a time, we both still felt that I was able to stay in it – the Knights proved that just one thing going right for me could turn things around, and there was a lot of tactical thought involved in both our mind's to keep the other from being able to concentrate too much force in one place.

So overall, I came away pretty pleased - despite the hard luck and the screw ups, I felt I did pretty well in playing a tough match up, in a tough scenario, with an army that was way out of my comfort zone.

After weeks of theorycrafting it was good to finally get the list in a game. There is one revision that I am thinking of making, though, that would be a major departure for the Swordmaster build – and that's the level 4. In this army, the sole role that it provides is 6 dicing Searing Doom at something scary with high armour and/or regen that I can't deal with. Everything else is a secondary consideration. Its rare that I need more than one buff in more than one location, so the Cauldron provides that without worrying about the casting nonsense. Whilst additional buffs helped in this game (especially Enchanted Blades on the Warriors against those Chariots), I'm not certain if they are worth the investment.

If I'm only after Searing Doom, then, this is something that a Level 2 or even a Level 1 could provide. The only thing that I miss out on (besides the additional spells and versatility they bring) is the +4 to dispel. Still, I find that even with +4 I'm really only stopping 1 spell a turn on average outside of a Scroll. If I gear a level 2 appropriately (Seal of Ghrond and Scroll of Shielding for instance, or a Dispel Scroll and Null Talisman), they may be able to do it just as well, for cheaper. I also then don't have to worry too much about 6 dicing something as it returns to the theme of expendability – right now, the only two elements that aren't expendable are the Sorcerer and the Cauldron. I can't do anything about the latter, but I can about the former.

This would give me another 130 points spare. I can do a lot with 130 points. I can, for instance, upgrade my Master to a Dreadlord on a Dark Pegasus and give him 100 points of magic items and gear. This would make him both a better Daemon Prince hunter (one with a similar set up has killed a Prince before... just), but would also give me a lot more mobility, high strength attacks, and leadership 10. Versatility can be further improved with the Black Dragon Egg (although this does push his points cost up higher).

On the other hand, there's always the possibility of adding a second level 1 or 2 Sorcerer on, say, Shadow for further utility and magic. Something to definitely consider, though I am trying, where possible, to avoid relying too heavily on magic - that is a major theme of my Lizardmen army, where magic is basically a crutch.

Speaking of which, I've been taking a break from the hobby recently (as you might note from my absence), but a friend has recently started attending a local gaming club. I hope to be doing so soon too, although at least initially this will be with my Lizardmen army. I am looking forward to revising the MSU build and taking to the field again - particularly against the new High Elf book.
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Re: The Annals of House Arrath (Now with 100% more MSU!)

Post by Calisson »

Nice report. Impressive battle. Good spirit.
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Re: The Annals of House Arrath (Now with 100% more MSU!)

Post by Gidean »

Did you know that you were 200 points ahead when you 5 diced enchanted blades and miscasted on your Sorceress on the last turn?

Also, when you lost two levels early in the game why did you lose 3 spells? Namely Power of Darkness?

Good report! Informative.
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Re: The Annals of House Arrath (Now with 100% more MSU!)

Post by Clockwork »

Gidean wrote:Did you know that you were 200 points ahead when you 5 diced enchanted blades and miscasted on your Sorceress on the last turn?

Also, when you lost two levels early in the game why did you lose 3 spells? Namely Power of Darkness?

Good report! Informative.


Sort of :( We both knew it was close, and I had a feeling I was edging out ahead - I was certain that the Skullcrushers would definitely swing it my way, though. After the Cold One Knights cleaned up the Nurgle Warriors, I was in balls-to-the-wall Warhammer mode, and at this point was just enjoying throwing lots of dice around. In any case, the vortex had really frustrated me and I was determined to finish off the last 'Cruser. It was a silly risk to take and completely unnecessary, but I viewed this game as a chance to push things to the max and take silly risks, so I wasn't too upset that it lost me the game. In other words, if I was really keen on the win and playing seriously, I know I wouldn't have done it and therefore would have won ;)

In regards to losing the spells, the miscast result was Power Drain, and I must have even gone down to Level 1. The magic level didn't have any affect on the rest of the game though, as the casting/dispelling attempts were all looking for wide margins/IFs (from both sides).
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Re: The Annals of House Arrath (Now with 100% more MSU!)

Post by Calisson »

Probability of IF according to the number of dice thrown:

Dice IF
1 0,0%
2 2,8%
3 7,4%
4 13,2%
5 19,6%
6 26,3%
-----------
7 33,0%
8 39,5%
9 45,7%
10 51,5%
11 56,9%
12 61,9%

5 dice were only 1/5 chance for IF, knowing that often IF is not the end of the world.
Bad luck happens...
Winds never stop blowing, Oceans are borderless. Get a ship and a crew, so the World will be ours! Today the World, tomorrow Nagg! {--|oBrotherhood of the Coast!o|--}
Clockwork
Highborn
Posts: 624
Joined: Thu Sep 29, 2011 7:57 pm

Re: The Annals of House Arrath (Now with 100% more MSU!)

Post by Clockwork »

Yeah, the miscasting itself wasn't too bad - rolling one of the three results that actually kills the Sorcerer was pretty bad luck, though.

Of course when my opponent miscast, he got the one which only dealt 1 wound to the caster (and dodged it with a 1 in any case), but killed a bunch of my men. He couldn't have rolled power drain and lost the vortex, oh no :P

But, that's why we roll the dice.
Clockwork
Highborn
Posts: 624
Joined: Thu Sep 29, 2011 7:57 pm

Re: CLockwork's Battle Reports (new Wood Elves coming up!)

Post by Clockwork »

Just fresh from a game against the new Woodies, and a battle report should be coming up in the next few days.

All I can say is - ouch. Waywatchers and Glade Guard are going to hurt.

Edit: Here's a sneak preview of Deployment after Vanguard:

Image
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