1,500 Pts vs Lizards - Sorry no pictures

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uklvrbm
Trainee Warrior
Posts: 29
Joined: Thu Feb 26, 2015 12:55 am

1,500 Pts vs Lizards - Sorry no pictures

Post by uklvrbm »

So I finally got my first game with my dark elves and they didn't disappoint. Having collected and played wood elves for the past 8 years or so it was really nice to want to get into combat and then actually do some killing once I got there.

My army:
Master, HA, SDC, shield, potion of FH, sword of striking, on a pegasus
Hag, witchbrew (in WE)

17 WE (ranks of 6)
10 DS w/ shields
10 DS w/ shields
hydra
bolt thrower
bolt thrower
15 executioners w/ full command
5 warlocks
5 warlocks

His army:
Gor-rok (a veritable wrecking crew)
priest lvl 2 - dispell scroll
3 x 15 skink skirmishers w/ blowpipes
20 saurus warriors (gor-rok in here) (I think full command)
15-20 saurus warriors (I think full command)
ancient stegadon w/ engine of the gods
2x 3 terradons

Deployment:
He placed all his skinks spread out across the middle of his line. Behind was the ancient stegadon, tightly flanked on both sides by the warriors. I mirrored him with my witches across from the stegadon and unit of warriors w/out Gor-rok. This unit was tightly flanked by my two units of darkshards. Across from his warriors w/ Gor-rok, I placed the execs and the hydra on the outside. I then placed my bolt throwers on a hill on the far flank. He placed a unit of terradons on the same flank, so I dropped some warlocks. Then the same thing happened. Finally, I placed my master on the same flank. He placed his priest in the back by himself.

Turn 1 -

(Not sure if this is before turn 1) Vanguard - He wins and doesn't do anything with a terradon unit. I then move some warlocks up a few inches. He does nothing with his other unit and then I move up the other warlocks a little bit.

He wins the first turn with his +1 even though I rolled a 6. :( He flies over each unit of warlocks and drops rocks. Killing 1 in a unit and 2 in the other. The unit he killed two then rolled a 10 for the panic check and fled towards his side of the table seven inches. He rushed his skinks up as far as they could, but still couldn't shoot. Nothing much else happened his turn. My turn, failed to rally and continued to run with the warlocks. I moved everything up a little bit, preparing to charge the next turn. I turn the warlocks, and bolt throwers to face one of the terradon units and charge the master into the other. For magic, I rolled really well and tried for soul blight on a unit, but was dispelled. I then rolled like 7 dice on doombolt at the terradons and managed not to get total power. He used his scroll. Shooting sees some skinks die and the bolt throwers take care of the remaining terradons. Combat - The master kills 1 and then runs the unit down.

Turn 2 - My buddy failed a charge with the stegadon at my center unit of darkshards needing a six, but rolling a five. I chose to stand and shoot and popped off a wound. He moved a couple of things forward a little, but not much else. Magic didn't see much. Shooting - He took out my hydra with the concentrated shooting of two units of skinks. The other unit took off a couple of witches. Nothing for combat. I then charged my execs into the unit of skinks in front of his warriors with Gor-rok. The witches went into the skinks in front of the stegadon and warriors. I move my master into his backline and the warlocks to where they could charge the warriors that were looking to fight the witches. Oh, and the warlocks fail to rally, but remain on the table by a few inches. Magic, I get soul blight off on the unit of warriors w/out Gor-rok. Shooting - take some of the warriors out I just soulblighted with a unit of darkshards. The bolt throwers try to single shot the stegadon and fail to wound. Other darkshards try again on the stegadon and fail to wound. Combat - Witches and execs mop the floor and overrun. Execs into the unit with Gor-rok and the witches into the stegadon.

Turn 3 - He charges the warriors not in combat into the front of the witches (right next to the stegadon). Lone skink unit stays still. Magic, he dispells soulblight. He shoots off a few darkshards. CC - Execs and warrirors w/ Gor-rok. He issues a challenge, I accept (even though I probably shouldn't have). My champion wounds with both attacks. He saves them from killing blow, but fails his armor save. Good bye Gor-rok. He then halts that combat because he says if the stegadon dies, the game is over. The witches do what witches do and they kill the stegadon.

We then shook hands and called the game.

Thoughts -

On my decisions - I screwed up deploying both units of warlocks on the loan flank. The bolt throwers and master should have been able to handle the terradons. The warlocks could have been used much better. At least one of the other side by the hydra would have helped a lot. But, had they not fled and continued to flee the match would have been even more of a massacre.

Darkshards were pretty good, but have to roll well to hit. Not used to that with woodies. Warlocks were amazing. That ward is stupid good. Both units should have died. I think he had something like 17 hits total and I can't remember the wounds, but I saved all but 3. Witches were awesome. Exec champion did his job, but I should have denied the challenge. Results were the same, but I would have had 3 attacks against Gor-rok instead of two. I just don't like to refuse a challenge.

On his - He said that he should have deployed the terradons opposite the witches. If they had dropped the rocks on them, it would have wiped out the entire unit (or at least most of it). I'm not sure how I would have stopped them had he done that. I guess running up and trying to doombolt or shoot them. We both agreed after that his failed charge was probably the nail in the coffin. It still would have been an uphill battle, but that sealed it.

Overall - What a fun freaking army. I was a little pissed that my hydra didn't see combat and equally as pissed that my dumbass forgot to add the breath weapon. Other than that, this was an amazing, fun game in which I desperately wanted to get into combat. With the woodies, I generally have fun avoiding combat, running around shooting at things and standing around shooting at things. :) I eventually get into combat, but it's late in the game and my friends are already pissed.

Please let me know your thoughts. I think next time I might need to change the list around because he will be bringing the two units of terradons just to drop the rocks on the witches. I might drop the hydra and pick up the cauldron. Or I could drop one of the warlock units in favor of a sorceress on a pegasus. I'd have to drop some points elsewhere though.
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Red...
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Re: 1,500 Pts vs Lizards - Sorry no pictures

Post by Red... »

Sounds like a fun game, thanks for the report. It sounds like he made an error by stacking too many points into the Ancient Stegadon, which then hurt him severely when it failed to perform (missing its charge and then getting slain by the witches).

Yes, Dark Elves are/were one of the nastiest melee armies in the game in 8th ed. Witch elves pretty much chew through anything - with a gaziliion attacks between them they can land a huge number of hits and their biggest weakness (low strength) is nicely mitigated by poison and murderous prowess (try running them with a cauldron in bigger games and you'll see they get even sicker - impact hits, re-rolling all failed wounds, and a 5+ ward save makes them just insane, truly). How did you find the executioners? Many people felt that they lost out quite a lot in the last book, and I wonder whether they might be better replaced by cold one knights in the future (retaining a nasty impact, but adding extra speed and maneuverability to your hammer).
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DarkSky
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Re: 1,500 Pts vs Lizards - Sorry no pictures

Post by DarkSky »

Sounds like a fun game and congratulations on the win. A few comments:

- I always try to get my units outside the range of the Terradons for stone throwing, if he advances too aggressively with vanguard, my opponent risks a first turn charge if I win the roll off.

uklvrbm wrote:I then rolled like 7 dice on doombolt at the terradons and managed not to get total power.

- you are only ever allowed to use 6 dice on one spell
- the chance for IF with six dice is only about one in four, so don't count on it
- additionally you only make the roll for the large version in about 50% of the cases
- all in all, trying to force a large Doombolt with the Warlocks is a risky proposition
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uklvrbm
Trainee Warrior
Posts: 29
Joined: Thu Feb 26, 2015 12:55 am

Re: 1,500 Pts vs Lizards - Sorry no pictures

Post by uklvrbm »

DarkSky wrote:Sounds like a fun game and congratulations on the win. A few comments:

- I always try to get my units outside the range of the Terradons for stone throwing, if he advances too aggressively with vanguard, my opponent risks a first turn charge if I win the roll off.

uklvrbm wrote:I then rolled like 7 dice on doombolt at the terradons and managed not to get total power.

- you are only ever allowed to use 6 dice on one spell
- the chance for IF with six dice is only about one in four, so don't count on it
- additionally you only make the roll for the large version in about 50% of the cases
- all in all, trying to force a large Doombolt with the Warlocks is a risky proposition


Yeah, I don't know what I was thinking getting within 20in of the terradons.

I guess we forgot about the 6 dice limit. I rolled 12 for the winds and I think took 5 for soulblight. I didn't want a miscast and don't like rolling that many dice anyway. But I only had the two spells with the other warlocks still fleeing. In our games (friendly), we don't try for crazy stuff like spamming doombolt with 6 dice because it takes some of the fun out. I just had all these dice and nothing to do with them, so I figured what the hell. :)

Thanks for the advice!!!
uklvrbm
Trainee Warrior
Posts: 29
Joined: Thu Feb 26, 2015 12:55 am

Re: 1,500 Pts vs Lizards - Sorry no pictures

Post by uklvrbm »

Red... wrote:Sounds like a fun game, thanks for the report. It sounds like he made an error by stacking too many points into the Ancient Stegadon, which then hurt him severely when it failed to perform (missing its charge and then getting slain by the witches).

Yes, Dark Elves are/were one of the nastiest melee armies in the game in 8th ed. Witch elves pretty much chew through anything - with a gaziliion attacks between them they can land a huge number of hits and their biggest weakness (low strength) is nicely mitigated by poison and murderous prowess (try running them with a cauldron in bigger games and you'll see they get even sicker - impact hits, re-rolling all failed wounds, and a 5+ ward save makes them just insane, truly). How did you find the executioners? Many people felt that they lost out quite a lot in the last book, and I wonder whether they might be better replaced by cold one knights in the future (retaining a nasty impact, but adding extra speed and maneuverability to your hammer).


Yeah, I've read about the witches and COB. I didn't want to take that in a 1,500 pt game and this was both of our first games with dark elves. His against and me with them. All in all, they are still crazy in combat. COB seems to make them more resilient and crazier. :)

Unfortunately, he asked to stall the combat with the warriors once Gor-rok was killed because the game was over if the ancient stegadon was killed. The champion took out Gor-rok, wounding on both attacks. So that was awesome, but likely lucky rolling. There aren't a lot of multi-wound infantry troops, so the killing blow really just puts a target on them. Because if they do get into combat, your infantry lord/hero is dying the first round of combat. Depending on deployment, you should be able to direct at least 4 attacks at him and that should do it. That is a huge psychological weapon because if they make it to your unit with a character, that character is likely dying. So that puts a big target on their backs. Unfortunately, they only have a 5+ AS which isn't very good against anything. They do have S6 attacks, which is nice. All in all, they performed very well in this game and I'm pretty sure would have ran down the unit of warriors. I would have been hitting on 3s and wounding on 2s while rerolling 1s. That's crazy good.
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