An Army Reborn: WA Dark Elves in 8th Battle Reports

[T.D.]

Astranil focused on the water. An image formed of flecked white clouds, pink and blue sky and a sea of motionless waves, amber and dappled black in the rising sun. In the centre of this land-sea a tower stood, megalithic and partially ruinous. It was a tower top - truly its true extent must be hidden beneath the sands.

With her wych sense she could experience the real reason for her journey in her inner eye; a bright amethyst jewel set in a hallowed chamber of that ancient tower. A vortex of shyish magic spiralled from deep within the earth and up and through the crystal. It was a focusing stone capable of channelling incredible power.

No wonder my Lady Morathi covets it so.

Astranil intended the vision forward to the tower but the moving image froze as two titanic wills collided suddenly with her own. Their diaphanous aetheric forms occluded the image, bright green unlife pulsing through their aether shades and shining out balefully from their aether eyes.

They knew she was here, they knew for what she was coming and they resolutely opposed.

Astranil had heard of the dhar-children before. That the cast off powers of weakling and outcast Druchii could corrupt and then raise whole civilisations of lesser beings was a source of endless mirth in the halls of the Dark Convent. It was yet more and fitting proof of Druchii true superiority and destiny to enslave the world. But she had not expected that these corrupt beings could match her in magical power and will. She also had not expected to find two of such stature together.

But great missions require great opposition, she reminded herself.

These liche priests, old even unto an elf, openly projected their hatred and disdain for her. Through the mind-contact of the scrying pool she could feel them beginning to raise their army of the dead. They made no attempt to hide their plans, though they could have. They wanted her to know of their strength, and they wanted her to know they were invoking something even more ancient than the race of man to deny her. An image flashed into the pool of a mighty gilded blade of titanic proportions set upon a monsterous stone arm. Runes on the great blade crackled with purple nimbus - it was an instrument of pure Death, enchanted with her very name.

Enraged, Astranil hurled her attention from the bowl and ended her spell.

Perspiration ran down from her hairline. She had not faced such opposition even in the trials of the halls of training.

So, these lesser creatures would dare to destroy me?

Wiping her brow and composing herself, she summoned her lieutenant.

Llithandro knocked at the door of her chamber within moments.

A chill shot to her core as she opened the doorway. The touch of the Dark Prince. She hoped her lieutenant would not notice the weakness.

“Your orders my Lady?”

“Tell the Lord of the Ark to prepare the landing vessel. The given will of Her Majesty Morathi obedes it.”

Llithandro departed. She was glad to be out of his immediate presence; although he had proven himself a trusted and capable underling, both he and others of his cursed brotherhood brought unease into every Druchii heart. With so much magical power blazing through their bodies that even the wych-blind could see it, the Warlocks were Elves of supernatural nous. But that power came at too high a price, and they were slaves to the blood sacrifice needed to sustain it.

Army List: http://www.druchii.net/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=73344

Lords
Astranil Lifebane
Supreme Sorceress Lv4 Death
Dark Steed
Black Amulet, Dispel Scroll

Heroes
Kuron
BSB Master
Full mundane, Cold One, Lance
Ring of Hotek

Core
Haaldrak's Raiders
5 Dark Riders Sh, Rxb, muso

Granil's Raiders
5 Dark Riders Sh, Rxb, muso

Zhaka's Raiders
5 Dark Riders Sh, Rxb, muso

Elleria's Darkshards
13 Rxb FC (BoeF)

Special
Reaper Battery
3 x RBT

Harbhui
5 Harpies

Iagho's Reavers
5 Cold One Knights FC (Gleaming Pennant, Sword of Might)

Kuron's Reavers
9 Cold One Knights FC (Razor Standard, Warrior Bane)

Rare
Llithandro's Coven
5 Warlocks

Opposition:

Liche Lord Lv4 Nekehara

Liche Lord Lv4 Light

Skeleton Archers

Skeleton Warriors

Skeleton Horsemen

Skeleton Chariots

Warsphinx

Necropolis Knights

Necrosphinx

Casket of Souls

Points: 2000

[T.D.]

Astranil and her elven steed, Buccleus stood on the bluff at the head of the raiding force. Below, an oasis provided the only flat and stable land for miles around; it would be the place of battle. She watched through the spy orb as the enemy emerged in front from beneath the desert sands. A citadel surrounding the tower still existed underneath the sand sea, and its denizens still ambulated as if the centuries of dunes had not intruded.

To mortal eyes files of skeletal warriors, archers, chariots and horsemen assembled; the relic remains of a once proud mortal army. But to her wych sight the glowing silhouette of the animating force was evident. A great war construct formed up on their left and heavy Serpentine cavalry to the centre, protecting their unholy battle shrine. A defensive deployment. She could see the white nimbus of the Hysh magic around one of her liche lord adversaries, a remembrance of his past mortal skill, and the pulsing green, purple and yellows of the Dhar-spawned Nehekaran lore of the other.

So, they are going to give up the initiative? This is a gift I am happy to take.

“What are your orders, My Lady?”

It was Kuron, her bodyguard and her standard bearer of the Dark Convent.

“We assemble in the Oasis below. Reapers man the hillock in front, with Darkshards in the centre. You form up with your Reavers once the Wraith Lord unveils itself; take Granils unit with you and tell Llithandro to enchant the Harpies to attack their shrine. Iagho, the other Raiders and Warlocks are on the left with me. You break through on the opposite flank from the Wraith Lord. When we crush their leaders, the puppet strings will fall."

“Wraith Lord? My Lady”

“A fell construct - it is hidden in the sands and waits for us”.

“To Rule and Be Ruled, My Lady” Kuron gave the clenched fist salute and bowed.

“To Rule and Be Ruled, My Vassal” she dismissed him.

So, this was a friendly game at my local games club.

I had played My Tomb King Opponent (hitherto: MTKO, unless he decides to post here ) last month in my final "old book" game. The game had ended early, but a clear victory for the TKs. This game was to be my first of the "new book", and also my first major cavalry list - something I'd always wanted to try but never had the models for!

MTKO had played a tournament preparation game at the weekend, and so went for a softened experimental list for this game, as he knows I am relatively inexperienced at 8th.

N.B. I didn't write down the sequence of events at the time, so what follows is a rough approximation of the battle

So, onto my first battle report (which also reveals the answer to the mystery of why I don't post any of my stuff in the PnM ):

Deployment

After my last game, in which I'd try to play an infantry gunline, I realised I'd been far too conservative in my actions.

So, for this game my motto was:

"Fortune favours the Brave"

and my strategy high risk - essentially I had only one counter to his constructs, and that was my Sorceress General. I was going to use vanguard to get her as close to the Necrosphinx as possible and then throw all my dice at Purple Sun - hoping that any miscasts would be soaked up by her and the Warlock's wards. The CoK Bus would rampage up the opposite flank from wherever the Necro was, and my general tactics would be to outmanoeuvre and magic snipe.

I won the roll for table edge and chose the side that would give my Reapers the best view of his incoming troops.

I formed up with a centre of Rxb supported by reapers. I held my SS and my Bus back ...but was surprised when he placed his Necrosphinx early - so I formed the Warlocks up opposite, supported by the small unit of Knights and two units of Dark Riders, whereas on the other flank I had one unit of Riders, the Bus, and the Harpies as close to his Casket as possible.

He castled up on the opposite side of the board, with the Warsphinx on the left, a cavarly centre and the lone Necrosphinx on his far right.

Vanguard moves

"Fortune favours the Brave" - I moved the Warlocks (+ General) to 20" of the Necrosphinx, while the other riders moved forward in support.

[T.D.]

Astranil took the field. The dunes opposing her shifted, and the nameless one from the Underworld, now cloaked in physical stone, emerged as her direct opponent.

She controlled her fear, and used it to steel her resolve. To Glory, or to perish.

“Attack!”

The Druchii cavalry lines surged forward in unison. She urged Buccleus and the Warlocks into full gallop. With the wind flying through her hair, and the motion of her steed like flight, she knew what it was to be a Dark Elf.

Astranil raised her hand heavenwards and began the incantations. The winds of magic spiralled down to her intent, and she wove the spell in her mind as her being swelled with pure power. Spurred on by the fatal challenge the liche lords and this Underworld Terror had brought on, Astranil poured every fibre of her being and the lifetime depths of her sorceries into one perfect spell.

No one will dare to destroy me! No one!

She felt the energies coagulate and the spell complete. With a cry of dark delight she unleashed the aethers power; at the cast of her left hand a cataclysmic portal of brightly burning darkness opened and sped from her like a comet.

It struck the construct true, boring a perfect hole straight through it. She felt the emotion of surprise, something the nameless one had never felt in this physical world, as it tried to register the happening. Then it collapsed in on itself, banished to the Darkness once more.

I win the roll off to go first.

Dark Elf Turn 1

So, high risk strategy was in action.

After the Vanguard I advanced with the Cold One Cavalry and bounced the Harpies over the scenery towards the Casket. The Riders pushed even further forward, with the two in the middle setting up a double-flee in front of his cavalry centre.

Magic time: I threw all of my dice at Purple Sun. No IF. My opponent attempted to dispel. He missed by one point. The construct was 20" away. I rolled 10 (30") for Purple Sun = hit! MTKO took the I test. Failed. One dead Construct! Could hardly believe my luck.

Shooting: 3 reapers fire. 1 wound taken of the NKs.

Kuron advanced his Knights gradually, making sure to protect his flank with the scattered ruins of the oasis, while the harpies, jeering and cackling, swept towards the enemy line. Haaldrak’s Raiders advanced on a deep outflanking manoeuvre, while the other Raiders fanned out to bait and tempt the enemy cavalry into Iagho and Kuron’s deadly embrace. The Reapers sent a greeting volley into the Serpent cavalry.

Undettered, the necro-priests responded. The dread shrine was opened and lights shot up and out into the morning sky. They resolved into the aetheric forms of long dead maidens.

At first they circled lazily the heights above the Undead centre.

But with a word, the shrine keeper commanded them and they attacked; swooping down upon the Druchii ranks.

Astranil knew this form of shade magic. It was simple, yet not to be underestimated.

“Close your eyes! Do not look at them!”

Only the Reaper battery on the hill did not hear or heed, and those Elves payed the price with their lives — the airborn shades unveiling their true form of undead daemons, and relieving the Reaper crews of their mortality by magical force.

Tomb King turn 1

The chariots and horsemen charge the Dark Riders in the centre.
First flee is successful, but sets off a panic in the other Dark Riders - well, okay, I was going to flee with them anyway - so no problem there? But it becomes a problem when they roll 3 for flee distance and can't get behind their brothers!
Both charge rolls are successful and they are caught and auto-killed by their pursuers.

Sphinx retreats to prevent Harpies charging the casket, and the archers adjust and shoot down the harpies {both archer adjustment and harpies not shown on diagram}
NK reform to threaten the flank of anything rounding the scenery.

Magic and the evil Casket of Doom hits my Warlocks and bounces all the way through the army to the two Reapers on the hill, who are both nuked!

[T.D.]

The undead horsemen and chariots surged forward, baited by the Dark Riders. Granil’s and Zhaka’s men attempted to false-fly through one other; a signature manoeuvre perfected by the Druchii fast cavalry. But something unexpectedly went wrong; the scent of death from the Undead horde had sent Zhaka’s unit’s horses into panic. They froze in terror.

Elves and horses were caught by their pursuers and crushed.

Iagho knew what to do; he had not come across the Sea to look on as his brothers and sisters in arms perished at the hands of lesser races. He gave the order and his Knights charged straight at the chariots.

Elleria gave the order and loosed the Darkshards at the skeletal horsemen. All were brought down by the storm of bolts.

Kuron, seeing the carnage in the centre, wheeled his unit out from the lee of the ruined wall and prepared to strike a hammer blow to the chariots anvilled against Iagho’s Knights.

Buoyed by the improbable ease of her victory over the Necro Assassin, Astranil lead the left wing towards the enemy position. She smiled at the thought of what another shysh Death-Star would do to the enemy lines. She felt for the aether and began the incantation.

She gestured to unleash her spell again, but in her overconfidence the supporting aether was not properly controlled. Raw magic threatened to explode into the physical world like a thunderbolt, but Astranil managed to earth the energies at the last moment ...however she could not protect herself from the side effects of the power drain.

The spell was cast, but without the velocity and menace of the last Death Sun; the orb merely spun slowly towards enemy lines.

Astranil slumped to fall, but was caught and re-seated by Llithandro.

She held on to the saddle, grasping at consciousness as her whole body burned and ached from the shock of the miscast. She could taste her own blood in her mouth, and feel the trickle of heat as it ran from her nostrils. Her mind and magical focus scattered.

Dark Elves Turn 2

Charge small unit of Knights and Big unit of Knights into the skeleton chariots and horsemen
Big unit fails! Worse, they stumble out into LOS of the NK.

SS - purple sun to nuke the entire army! It goes off, but miscasts. Spell travels all of 6 inches, and my SS loses three magic levels and all her spells save Fate of Bjuna.

Rxb mow down Horsemen.

Remaining reaper kills a skeleton infantry.

5 Knights best the Chariots thanks to murderous prowess and hungry steeds!

Tomb Kings Turn 2

NK succeed with a long charge into the flank of the Knight Bus (gulp!)

Warsphinx moves round to offer countercharge threat to my advancing left. Infantry reforms to face my left wing as well.

Banishment kills a Warlock, but L4 Light miscasts and loses their dice pool. Casket kills another Warlock.

I trust my Knights but they were surely in for a hard test versus their Necropolis counterparts In the combat, Knights wound a snake, but one gets KB'ed in return. I test and hold on 8. Knights take a MC charge in the flank like the bosses they are!

Buoyed by their enemies misfortune, the liche lords re-assembled their troops. The harpies were shot down in a single volley and the Warsphinx advanced from its position protecting the shrine. The skeleton warriors reformed to face the Druchii left wing, and most unfavourably for the Druchii of all, the great Snake-Knights charged suddenly and with unexpected speed from the centre, taking advantage of Kuron’s forming up to support Iagho.

Their attention set on the chariot combat, it was all too late that Kuron’s Knights sensed the danger from their flanks, and the great Necro Beasts shuddered into their side ahead a cloud of dust before they could properly adjust. One Knight on the flank was decapitated immediately, but the other wheeled his Cold One expertly to run his sword through the head of an incoming construct-serpent.

The wrath of the liche lords poured down upon the Dark Elf lines in the form of the shrine’s shades.

Astranil, still reeling from shock and barely conscious, turned to her army to warn them.

But even at full strength her voice could not have carried across the whole plain.

Iagho and his men, elated at the victory they had won over the undead chariots, met the gaze of the incoming shades with spite. It was their last mistake. The aether maidens morphed into their daemon forms at the invite, and flew straight through the bodies of the Knights, turning their armour to molten liquid and causing their viscera to bubble out through the gaps in their helmets and armour. Their Cold One steeds roared in pain and scattered in panic, molten metal and the remains of their masters leaking on to them.

It was a horrible death.

Granil’s unit lost their nerve and looked on in horror as the proud Knights were magically destructed.

They too perished.

[T.D.]

Astranil, enraged at the toll the Liche army was having on her charges, pressed Buccleus onward. Her adversaries would die by her hand; she vowed it.

She summoned the Winds. Llithandro, sensing his Mistress gathering her energies urged his Coven into the chanting of a spell of their own. The Warlocks would burn these unliving pretenders to Sorcerous power to blackened husks.

The Liche Lords, intuiting the magical quickening, threw their power at the Warlocks to earth the energies.

Llithandro was thwarted, but Astranil sensed her opponents had over extended themselves in their attempt to counter. But her mind and focus had been fragmented by the earlier disruption...

Come on, Astra!

...she cast the only spell she could still remember; one that was burned into her memory from the trials of the Dark Convent - the Fate of Bjuna...

It was more than enough. The tendrils of magical power encircled around the Hysh High Priest and Astranil cried with sheer joy as she felt her adversaries’ unlife being cursed out of existence by her evil spell.

Dark Elves Turn 3

I continue my "Fortune favours the Brave" strategy by moving my now Lv1 Sorceress into Fate of Bjuna range of one of the Liche Lords.

Left wing Dark Riders push up alongside. Rxb and other Dark Riders move up into support positions. Small Knights form up to hit flank of the NK next turn.

Warlocks cast Doombolt on the Archers. Dispelled. Lv1 SS (!) casts Fate on the Lv4 Light, successfully tickling him to re-death

Cold One Knights win the grind against the NK.

In the midst of the field, Kuron showed his courage and wheeled his unit to better engage the attacking Serpent Knights. Dust spiralled into the air. The infantry on both sides watched transfixed, knowing in their hearts that the outcome of this no-man's-land combat would determine the tide of the battle. The shadows of the great hooded serpents danced with the dark elf warbeasts and their horned-helmed masters amid clouds of sand and dust. Only the undead Knights atop their warconstructs could be clearly seen above the billowing clouds, their spears thrusting and parrying with millenia of deadly efficiency.

Tomb Kings Turn 3

I forget that swift reform can allow the archers to swing round and target my SS/Warlocks! They do.

Magically, all sorts of buffs go off, including a speeding up of the Sphinx and some shooting steroids for the skeleton archers....

...which allows it to breath weapon me! One Warlock dies. Two are left to soak up wounds from the coming archer arrow onslaught!

After much ward saves and the sacrifice of all 'loks, my Sorceress is left unharmed!

Small units of Knights are not so lucky as they, the nearby Dark Riders and RxB all get Casketed. Knights are wiped

In better news, the COK Bus finishes grinding out the NK and the remaining two crumble. Knights 14 wounds, NK 4 wounds

The Heirophant knew that this was the time for desperate measures. The archers reformed to face Astranil and Llithandro, magically enervated to allow them to turn the sky black with arrows and a magical fleetness of foot was put upon the War-Sphinx.

Sensing the danger from the encroaching construct, one of the Warlocks spurred his steed into the path of the burning Sphinx-flame. His mount screamed as it took the brunt of the fire and died, whilst the Warlock merely gazed at Astranil and his comrades as he was immolated.

The archers took their cue and unleashed volley after magically quickened volley in the blink of an eye. Llithandro and the remaining Warlocks sheltered their mistress. As even his balefire-enfused body was fatally disrupted by the accumulated missiles, he looked into the eyes of his leader one last time before Slaanesh took him.

Astranil held his dying gaze. He had lived a cursed life, but had died a heroes death.

Her senses re-collected by his sacrifice, she spurred Buccleus around.

Discretion is the better part of valour.

She gave the signal to withdraw to the rest of the army as she galloped back towards safety.

[T.D.]

On the wing, Haaldrak saw it all, and knew he had to create a diversion.

“To Glory, men!”

The Raiders levelled their spears and charged straight at the skeleton infantry ahead.

Their dark mounts, sensing the engagement, coursed with renewed vigour, muscles pulsing under black silken coats. Rider and steed became enveloped in the anticipated thrill of mortal combat.

The Raiders spear points crashed home, and the skeleton warriors broke apart like so much chaff. Haaldrak whooped; this was it, this was life, this was why he had left Naggaroth to serve in the raiding fleets! To feel the power of your enemy come apart by your own power. They all felt the rush, as did their steeds, crushing skeletal warriors with hoof and breast. One rider was dragged down in response, but the will of the skeleton warriors had been broken and they crumbled into dust. Haaldrak followed the momentum and re-spurred his elven mount to engage the archer unit beyond.

Uncowed by the great size of their monsterous cavalry opponents, the Cold One’s had been worked into a death frenzy by the presence of the great construct Snakes. Their Knightly rider’s murderous prowess and mercurial blades had proven too much for their skeletal adversaries. Three more Druchii Knights had fallen, but the Necropolis Knights had been utterly vanquished.

Kuron bid his men hold position and steady their raging steeds. Opposing him was the flank of the remaining Sphinx, but his weaponry was inadequate for its engagement.

At the sight of his Mistresses new command, he ordered the withdrawal to the high ground.

Dark Elves Turn 4


DR charge the skeleton warriors. SS sees the light and exits stage left.
The COK, faced with a KB T8 thingamajig decide to retreat as well.

DR and their steeds murderous prowess their way to the end of the warriors, and follow up onto the Heirophants archer unit.

But the Tomb Lords were not finished.

The shrine priest set the shades after the retreating Sorceress.

Six undead daemons swept down upon the galloping Buccleus as Astranil steered him behind ruined walls.
Astranil never even turned around.

At the last moment she reached into her baggage and pulled out a scroll.

It's runes flickered bright orange sparks as it burst into flame.

The speeding shades exploded in orange flare, as if they had all struck an invisible wall.

Astranil smiled.

The Heirophant roared. Summoning the depths of his ancient power, he set a shimmering aura around his now embattled unit and prepared an apex spell to destroy the upstart girl-elf. But in his haste and fury he called upon too much of the Winds of Magic. The power reached a critical level and the unrefined energies of the realm of chaos cascaded into the physical dimension, obliterating him and blowing much of his bodyguard to pieces.

Their Overlord gone, will leached from the remaining unquiet dead.

The Shrine priest fell into dust, and the Shrine imploded, before exploding in a burning pyre high into the sky.

The archers opposing Haaldrak regenerated due to the remnants of the Heirophant’s miscast spell, then comically collapsed immediately after due to his passing.

Only the Warshpinx remained, rocking back and forth, it’s beast intelligence not allowing it to know what to do. Exhilirated, Haaldrak and his men turned to mock and bait it. The skeletal howda riders, now impotent, could only stare on malevolently at their quicksilver tormentors.

Tomb Kings Turn 4

The Sphinx forms up to threaten the Dark Rider vs Archers combat.

The Casket goes after the Sorceress, and I am glad I sat on my Dispel scroll till now

Heirophant nukes himself and half his unit through miscast. Casket crumbles.

We end the game as its getting late and there is not much more than a Sphinx and soon-to-be-dead archers for the TKs.

[T.D.]

Review & Post-Mortem

Deployment:

I was holding my Bus and SS in reserve, but MTKO surprised me by placing the Necrosphinx early - so that determined the placement of my key units.

MTKO explained later that he was going for a refused flank, with the Necro tasked to hold up that whole side.


Unit-by-unit:

Reapers: Fluffed most of their shots and two died early. I am experienced enough with Reapers not to count on them - they are as much about psychology and target saturation for me. When they do well its a bonus. At sub 2600 I'm happy with 3.

Harpies: Not shown on the diagrams. Died in TK turn 1. But I was very happy - they pushed the Warsphinx back beside the Casket, and basically kept it out of the game. A tactical success in early death. I definitely will be taking them again over another Reaper; no other regular troop can threaten a castled backfield in 2 turns, and I need at least one redirector in the list -> I think Dark Riders are too good to sacrifice.

Dark Riders: False flee fail aside I thought they were excellent - so fast and manoeuvreable, as well as durable with shields. Can do well against weak units in CC as the batrep showed. One of our long time good units just got better (and cheaper )

Warlocks: Died to a man but probably my most important unit. If it wasn't for their durability (4+ ward save), my Sorceress would have died several times over in course of the battle. With Dark Riders she would have died, on a Pegasus, she would have died. But with Warlocks she was unharmed till the very end. On the upside of their magic, the strength of their spell selection opened up my opponent to her snipe. On the downside of their magic, powered up Doombolt is just about uncastable if you want to use your SS's selection, and I generally didnt have enough dice to power one unit, never mind two. I think that before I run more than two units, I'll run multi-ranked units as medium cavalry. I later found out MTKO was worried about their poison attacks...he also wondered about my "all the eggs in one basket" approach as well - but as I said, solo or with Dark Riders the SS would have been toast.

Cold One Knights: Murderous Prowess. Wow. Every hit was a wound with these guys thanks to ASF and MP! Thanks to the amount of their attacks, the Cold One's did as much damage as the riders! Having the BSB definitely helped - though he never got to use his Ring of Hotek once!
I also like the Razor Standard versus all comers. Swiftness and Rampagers are the other competitors, as I now think that Rangers is too situational, and better on one of the small Knight units.

Only downside to the Knights is that they are unreliable due to stupidity - I was on the edge of rolling "doh!" several times in the game

Darkshards: Didn't do much but ice the Horsemen. Later in the game I didn't want them to get charged by the Warsphinx.

BSB: Was out of combat for most of the game, due to me not wanting to make way into the face of Killing Blows! The +1 for BSB very useful in making the Bus work though.

SS: First time I've played a mobile Lv4 Death for a long time. Vanguard FTW Am now in love with the lore - so reliable in comparison to others and it won me the game! The other big lesson was how the Warlocks add to her durability. She would have died several times during the game - Banishment, Casket x 2, Arrow storm - if it wasn't for their wound-soaking and ward saves!

Compare and contrast:
Peg: 50 pts +1T, Fly, Stomp, 2 WS3 S4(S5 charge) A
Warlocks: 125 +5W, (4++), 10 WS4 S4 A(poison), 5 WS3 S3 A, Lv2 mage w Doombolt, Soulblight

If I run her with a Peg, then she will definitely need the Cloak of Twilight to make her survivable vs Tomb Kings.

Random discovery: Major/All Cavalry lists are much easier to transport. A snug fit into a small box, they don't jiggle as much as infantry, and there are less models, so lighter => this list has the unexpected upside of ease of automobile delivery

Conclusions: "I love it when a good plan comes together". I was happy my high risk strategy and general tactics were successful. I'm not going to read too much into it though - at the end of the day it's a game of dice. I rolled consistently above average at key points of my turn, my opponent consistently below average at key points of his turn. If those rolls had been reversed, it would have been a very different outcome!

It was a good game played in good spirit against a good opponent - and that is what Warhammer is all about


Looking ahead:

For expanding to 2400-2500 I''d like to experiment with;
[*]Breath template Hydra
[*]Sisters of Slaughter
[*]Beef up the RxB
[*]L4 with board control lore (Heavens, Fire) in the RxB
[*]L1 suicide with Metal and Ruby Ring on a Dark steed
[*]Flying combat character
[*]Another unit of Warlocks
[*]Another small unit of Knights
[*]10 RHB Corsairs

...but I can't fit them all in!


Thanks to:
Stratagem for his feedback, and allowing me to play a legal list
Killer K for his excellent articles on Charging and Dark Riders; http://www.druchii.net/viewtopic.php?t=71733

Astranil reassembled her troops on the bluff.

“Tend to the wounded, they have supported victory and thus deserve our mercy.

Burn the dead and their mounts; do not let the necromancy of this realm taint their bones.

They have died as heroes. Make songs and stories of their deeds.”

She turned back to the vista in front of her. There was the ancient tower, now under the bright blue sky and burning sun of midday. No longer guarded by an undead army; hers completely for the taking.

Morathi will be so proud.

Siddhriel and her co-horts on the Ark will be seething.

She allowed herself to continue to experience the swelling emotions of victory. Her epithet was "Lifebane"; perhaps now she would need to be called "Un-lifebane!". This had been her greatest day as a Supreme Sorceress of the Dark Convent. That her mastery of Shysh had allowed her to win the day, and to reach a treasure on a vortex of the Amethyst wind was poetry.

The losses did not bother her; they had died a good death. Unlike the past mortals of this realm, she knew that her physical body was just a vessel and that the end of a story was as certain as a beginning. They had tried to cheat death, not knowing of its inevitability; not knowing that every single living act of Glory changes the entire Creation forever. They had made themselves into caricatures whilst mastery of Aether had allowed the Dark Elves to master reality. Astranil’s fate would not be determined by lesser beings. She was a mighty member of the mightiest of all races and she knew that her story would be written by her own hand, and would echo to eternity.

Only a Druchii can know this success.

She gave the order to march on. There was an undefended prize to claim and the rewards of her Mistress to return to.

[strategem]

well done on the result of the game, and thanks for the informative battle report.

[T.D.]

well done on the result of the game, and thanks for the informative battle report.

No worries. I told you I'd write it up if I won

[Drek]

An excellent report. Thank you!

[T.D.]

Deployment:

Vanguard:

[T.D.]

Tomb Kings Turn 1:

[T.D.]

Dark Elves Turn 2:

[T.D.]

Tomb Kings Turn 2:

[T.D.]

Dark Elves Turn 3:

Tomb Kings Turn 3:

[T.D.]

Dark Elves Turn 4:

[Dragon9]

Nice win. Thanks for sharing. But you should post even if you lose.

[T.D.]

An excellent report. Thank you!

Cheers!

Nice win. Thanks for sharing. But you should post even if you lose.

For tournaments and suchlike I would. But for fluff writing I need suitable inspiration

[Hillbilly Carl]

Great report! I especially like the after battle analysis. Looks like cold one knights, dark riders and warlocks were your most useful units. I'm especially interested in your insights because you are running a nearly all cavalry army. I'm currently building a cavalry army and I wanted to see how it worked out before I invested too much time and money into it.

I have a few questions for you:
1. What are your thoughts on running 2 units of warlocks as your only magical support? Is a Level 4 absolutely necessary?
2. Dark riders in units of 5? 6? 10? What's best in your opinion?
3. I'm thinking about running 2 units of 9 COK with a combat hero in each. Should I rather split one unit into 2 units of 5 and mount the extra character on a dark pegasus?
4. Chariots - have you used either? If so, thoughts?

If you'd rather not have your thread jacked like this we could continue the discussion via PM

[T.D.]

Hi Hillbilly,

Thanks for the kind words, comments and questions.

I don't actually get to play FB that regularly, so I think it is best if you asked the more regular & tournament players on here those questions in another thread if you are deciding on what models to buy.

But I will answer from my relatively limited 8th experience:

1. What are your thoughts on running 2 units of warlocks as your only magical support? Is a Level 4 absolutely necessary?

Two units of Warlocks are a good addition to most lists. I don't know for sure about Warlocks plus no level 4 as I haven't run this exact combination. I have had success with Lv2s vs enemy Lv4s in old book 8th games. But if I were making a competitive list Level 4's are so strong in the game that I would have to include one (possible exception being a Dragon list containing Warlocks).

My L4 pretty much won me this game. If her second turn Purple Sun was as successful as her first, she had the potential to end the game right there!


2. Dark riders in units of 5? 6? 10? What's best in your opinion?

I tend to run 5 with muso - small, fast, cheap, get around board easily, can team up for double flee and are expendable at a push. 6 is slightly more powerful but slightly less expendable. 10 is more like medium cav.
I'd like to experiment with units of 10 DR, but I think 10 Warlocks (optional plus characters) or 10 Knights are more optimal. 10 Warlocks are proper medium cavalry and a great deathstar-base whereas 10 Knights hit like a truck and are resistant to small arms.
-> It really depends on the rest of your list and the particular role you have in mind for the unit of 10 DR.

3. I'm thinking about running 2 units of 9 COK with a combat hero in each. Should I rather split one unit into 2 units of 5 and mount the extra character on a dark pegasus?

Good question! You will have to playtest for yourself and find out! I think to take on all comers an all cav list needs some flying characters to take out the flying threats that can defeat the control of the movement phase that all cav lists need to be successful. For example, in my battle report above if I hadn't killed the Necrosphinx early it could have flown into the side of my Knights and tarpitted them long enough for me to lose the game, as I had no other real combat block.

Having two powerful blocks is very useful because of the hitting power and redundancy if one gets nuked. But having MSU can also be advantageous with good play...you just have to be careful with stupidity in the case of CoK/CoC.

Like most questions in FB, the "right" answer often depends on (1) the rest of your list, (2) what enemy list you happen to be playing and (3) your own playstyle and experience of the game.

4. Chariots - have you used either? If so, thoughts?

I want to experiment with chariots. In theory they are a great addition to infantry, cav or monster armies -- although they may lag behind other cavalry due to no march. Don't have the models as yet to play them myself.

[Lord Drakon]

I just read this battle report, amazing !
This makes 1 battle report so much better than several battle reports !
The moment the story got epic was when the warlocks sacrificed theirselves

Congratz with the win!

[T.D.]

The moment the story got epic was when the warlocks sacrificed theirselves

True story as well! It was pretty epic as a game playing experience as they absorbed about 40 wounds over the course of the battle thanks to my successful 4+ ward rolls. Opponent was not so happy

Congratz with the win!

Cheers. Itching to get another batrep done, win or lose

[xFallenx]

I have 20+ forum pages to read & very little time to do it...after this topic even less, but it was worth it. Thanks for sharing!