Battle Report; 3000 pt Beastmen vs. Dark Elves + Tyrion

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flatworldsedge
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Battle Report; 3000 pt Beastmen vs. Dark Elves + Tyrion

Post by flatworldsedge »

This is my third "official" battle, and it's taken me a lot of time to get around to writing it up. As a result, it is a little less detailed perhaps than others. It was a follow up fixture to my first battle against Beastmen - http://druchii.net/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=75997 a bloody rout in which Veysha's force slaughtered their opponent with barely a soldier lost.

This time my opponent asked to raise the agreed 2,000 pts to 3,000 pts boasting of a tailored list. As discussed on a thread here http://druchii.net/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=76132 I simply added a little core, and Tyrion. I wanted a battle in which Tyrion and Veysha fought together as part of the fluff I was writing at the time, way back in December. Nonetheless I was concerned with his plotting, and feared that with 700 odd points sunk into Tyrion I would simply be outnumbered and over a long slog, T3 would prove insufficient to last the day.

Here, then, is how we lined up;

Image
VE BM2 Deployment by FWE Veysha Everkiss, on Flickr

Beastmen

Great Bray Shaman, Gnarled Hide, Talisman of Preservation
- Viletide, Devolve, Traitor-kin, Mantle of Ghorok
Beastlord, Armour of Destiny, Shield, Great Weapon
Wargor, BSB, Heavy Armour, Shield, Great Weapon, Lichebone Pennant
39x Bestigor, Full Command

Bray Shaman, Shard of the Herdstone
- Wyss
Bray Shaman, Scroll of Dispel
- Transformation of Kadon
18x Gor Herd, Full Command

10x Ungor Raider
10x Ungor Raider
10x Ungor Raider
10x Ungor Raider
10x Ungor Raider
10x Ungor Raider
10x Ungor Raider
10x Ungor Raider
10x Ungor Raider
10x Ungor Raider

1x Cygor
1x Cygor

10x Harpies, Scouts

2x Razorgor Herd
2x Razorgor Herd


Dark Elves (Khaine)

Tyrion
Dreadlord (Veysha) on Cold One, SDC, Hvy, Black Amulet, Charmed Shield, Sword of Antiheroes
Master BSB on Cold One, SDC, Hvy, Shield, Lance
9x Cold One Knights

Supreme Sorceress Level 4, Life, Talisman of Preservation, Pegasus, Dispel Scroll
Life
- Dwellers, Regrowth, Throne, Flesh to Stone

Kharibdyss

30x Witch Elves

5x Dark Riders, Musician, Shields, Crossbows
5x Dark Riders, Musician, Shields, Crossbows
5x Dark Riders, Musician, Shields, Crossbows
5x Dark Riders, Musician, Shields, Crossbows

5x Warlocks
5x Warlocks

5x Shades
5x Shades

It is worth noting that the Black Amulet is likely an illegal inclusion under the strict reading of the army list/selection rules. I took it before realising it was contentious, and would not take it now. Something I oppose in terms of fluff/common sense, but am convinced of having read the arguments of those better versed in the small print of the rules.

Having lined up, I decided to push forward with vanguard. It felt like a very strange Beastman list. I'm sure there are better armies for this kind of approach, but it was an obvious reaction to the first bout where my magic and shooting took the field. It's definitely the kind of list one only plays with cardboard/empty bases - who would buy 100 Ungor Raiders? - yet it left me with a decision; either (a) sit back and get whittled (b) charge their general and BSB, then rout.

I went for option 2. Boosted with Flesh to Stone I figured the COK unit with it's brutal character set would reach the enemy, and at the very least kill their counterpart characters. If they were killed, it would surely take all the Beastman firepower, at which point my Dark Riders and Warlocks would be in combat with the Ungor Raiders and would have the quality to kill them. The Witch Elves could do enough to the main combat units for the surviving Dark Riders and Shades to retreat and whittle the enemy heavy infantry. That was my sketched plan as I went full vanguard!

Dark Elf Turn 1

Image
VE BM2 Turn 1 VE by FWE Veysha Everkiss, on Flickr

(Key - red = magic, blue = shooting.)

Beastmen dispel Throne of Vines, but I get a devasting Doombolt away to ravage one of the 10 Ungor Raider units. Shooting offered a broad if generally unimpressive result across his lines, though I was lucky in two areas; (i) where the Dark Riders (DR4) on the "doombolt flank" routed their targets, who then lost two additional Ungors to the dangerous terrain, leaving the whole flank weakened, and (ii) where the Shades (S1) put three wounds on the hilltop Cygor, leaving it on 2.


Beastman Turn 1

Image
VE BM2 Turn 1 Beastmen by FWE Veysha Everkiss, on Flickr

Magic saw a Viletide dispelled, but an IF boosted "Transformation of Kadon" that turned one of his lv1 Brays into a Mountain Chimera, at the cost of his only wizard level.

Though he did admit his plan had been to concentrate all fire on my characters, with Warlocks and Dark Riders closing, and Flesh to Stone in play on the COK's, he shifted his Ungor fire to my cavalry. Ungors, it turns out, are pretty useless. You do pretty much need hundreds. Nonetheless, I had few in terms of numbers and lost 40% of 3 units. His Cygors both clipped the back of the COK's and dropped one stone plum on top of Tyrion - saved by a "Look Out Sir".

Meanwhile whilst my Dark Rider's fled his Razorgor "trouble shooters" on the left, my right hand Warlocks decided to fight, being caught too close to the edge of the board and with an advantage developing on that flank. They proved pretty fearsome fighters, dealing 8 wounds to the pair of hogs taking nothing in return. That flank was looking increasingly strong, with one of his routing Ungors fleeing the board.


Dark Elf Turn 2

Image
VE BM2 Turn 2 VE by FWE Veysha Everkiss, on Flickr

His Harpies had clearly been taken to hunt my Pegwitch, and I'd initially thought to evade them, yet casting a sober eye over the stats of the newly arrived Mountain Chimera, I thought I'd embed her with the COK's. My rallied DR3 Dark Riders whizzed around to deal with them and prevent a rear charge on what promised to be a pretty tense battle between Tyrion/Veysha's heavy cavalry and a wall of Bestigors with endless support.

Likewise, I thought I'd gamble DR2 Dark Riders on the heavily wounded Cygor - with its WS2 I figured they'd survive long enough to prevent another stone thrown on the COK's. The right continued to develop well with good fighting from the Warlocks and shooting from DR4 Dark Riders. On the left I figured the safest place for the depleted W2 Warlocks was combat, where they excelled deleting a unit and overunning into another.

Magic had simply seen the Flesh to Stone renewed, after another dispelled Throne of Vines.


Beastman Turn 2

Image
VE BM2 Turn 2 Beastmen by FWE Veysha Everkiss, on Flickr

Magic this turn set up a 12 vs 7, which served to showcase how unimpressive the "Lore of the Wilds" turns out to be. He cast a "Devolve" on the COK's, causing no casulties, then a Viletide which caused 21 hits... but no casulties. His third spell "Traitor-kin" was decent, killing two to take the unit down to 4 Knights + characters. I dispelled a Wyssian on his Bestigors.

In shooting he missed with his Cygor, before causing minimal casulties elsewhere. Combat saw my S2 Shades stand and shoot against the second Razorgor charge, losing one man in the fight. Meanwhile, the massed charges on W2 Warlocks meant they lost the fight on CR, but held. His central Cygor, went down to 1 wound, yet wiped out the sacrificed D2 Dark Riders.

The main event of the turn, was something of a non-event. It's not quite clear thanks to my inept manipulation of Battle Chronicler, but his Mountain Chimera had charged straight into the head of my COK bus. I have to say I was concerned - 4d6 WS7 S7 poisoned attacks, T7, W10... Tyrion killed it instantly. Without any drama. I thought I'd noted the wounds down on my pad with everything else, but it turns out the data was lost to roaring celebration - it was something like 21 wounds dealt. He is insane. Obviously.


Dark Elf Turn 3

Image
VE BM2 Turn 3 VE by FWE Veysha Everkiss, on Flickr

Perhaps the most amusing action of VE T3 was the charge of the Witch Elves - 30 screaming, naked primitives carved a path of blood through the wood. The Ungors stood and shot killing one, before being deleted with tens of wounds to spare, as the Witch Elves over ran in an orgy of blood... losing a total of 6 Witches to dangerous terrain checks.

Similarly the charge of Tyrion, Veysha, COK master and 4 COK's utterly obliterating the U9 Ungors, finally, courtesy of the overrun, delivering the COK bus to the Beastman general, Great Bray and BSB. With just four power dice, all I could do was renew Flesh to Stone on the unit.

My Shades did good work on both flanks - S1 killing off the central Cygor, whilst S2 finished the Razorgors with assistance from DR1 Dark Riders. I do love how competent our units are in close combat when combining ASF and MP. The left hand Warlocks offered similar proof, slaughtering a disproportionate number of Ungors to rout one of their opponents and leave the others ruined.


Beastman Turn 3

For clarity this turn is shown in two parts;

Image
VE BM2 Turn 3 Beastman part 1 by FWE Veysha Everkiss, on Flickr

Image
VE BM2 Turn 3 Beastman part 2 by FWE Veysha Everkiss, on Flickr

Magic played a significant part in the finale of the battle - having again failed to cause damage with a "Devolve", I scrolled a second casting of "Traitor-kin" to avoid further losses to the few remaining COK's. Then his Great Bray IF'ed a "Mantle" spell to give a +5S/+6A to his lv1 Shaman. Rolling a "Dimensional Cascade" on the miscast table triggered a vast, ridiculous blast of energy that sucked his lv4 into the warp, wounded everyone except Tyrion, killed 3 of my 4 remaining COK's and 12 Bestigors.

His buffed lv1 Shaman issued a challenge, which I decided to meet with Veysha, as Tyrion had base contact with his general and BSB. As her sword had her on 7x S7 attacks, and with the Black Amulet I was confident she'd kill it with overkill for the combat resolution, whereas my BSB didn't feel like a sure bet, and if the Shaman survived then its 7x S8 attacks could cause an upset.

Indeed, she butchered it for max overkill. Tyrion killed both enemy general and BSB with ease. My BSB took 3, the sole remaining COK another and even the SS chipped it with one. In return, the Bestigors killed the final COK. CR 12 vs 7 in the Dark Elf favour, without general or BSB, the Beastmen routed and the Bestigors were charged down and slaughtered.

We called it there, the forces of Khaine taking the field.
Last edited by flatworldsedge on Fri Jan 30, 2015 12:25 pm, edited 5 times in total.
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Amboadine
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Re: Battle Report; 3000 pt Beastmen vs. Dark Elves + Tyrion

Post by Amboadine »

Nicely presented report. Ridiculous Beastman list with that many small units of Ungors, but you handled it well. Good aggressive vanguard putting him on the back foot from turn 1.
Feel a little sad for your Kharibdyss who didn't even get to play and have a good lunch.
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Re: Battle Report; 3000 pt Beastmen vs. Dark Elves + Tyrion

Post by Daeron »

Very nice report, thanks!!

Good to see Tyrion in action :P

flatworldsedge wrote: the Witch Elves over ran in an orgy of blood... losing a total of 6 Witches to dangerous terrain checks.

It totally reminded me of this clip:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKXKWBcaV3A
(Note: it has explicit images of blood / violence)
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flatworldsedge
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Re: Battle Report; 3000 pt Beastmen vs. Dark Elves + Tyrion

Post by flatworldsedge »

Thank you!

@Amboadine - Yeah! It was somewhat harsh on the Kharibdyss... if we'd played that next turn, of course, he'd have had all sorts of fun. The aggressive start felt like a real gamble, but even two minutes after making the decision, seeing his panic, I knew it had been the right one. Our vanguarding cavalry is so quick. I think he was counting on another turn of shooting at me with his ridiculous horde of raiders, but seconds into the game and I was inches from his line.

@Daeron - Ace video; not seen it before, but that is pretty much exactly how I imagined it! Even recreating the charge on Battle Chronicler I was smiling about the madness of it. Not sure it was a great return on points really, but it had to be done.
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Re: Battle Report; 3000 pt Beastmen vs. Dark Elves + Tyrion

Post by T.D. »

flatworldsedge wrote:Magic saw a Viletide dispelled, but an IF boosted "Transformation of Kadon" that turned one of his lv1 Brays into a Mountain Chimera, at the cost of his only wizard level.


Lol. Quite an advert for Lore of Beasts. The stats on those Kadon choices are nuts.

Good thing you had the power of the Avatar on your side or you might have been in trouble!

Enjoyed the batrep and your aggressive play. Aggressive play can get the opponent into a state of mere reaction ...and DE have the troops to do it :)

"Those who arrive early at the place of conflict
will be in a position to take initiative.

Those who arrive late
must hasten into action troubled.

Thus, those are skilled in conflicts
will make the first move to
prevent others from taking initiative"

- Master Sun


"Opportunities multiply when they are seized"
- Master Sun


Incidental: I don't see the problem with Veysha's equip?

@Daeron

It totally reminded me of this clip:


Nice. Love a bit of early Prodigy, and I've never seen this video or heard this remix before 8)
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Re: Battle Report; 3000 pt Beastmen vs. Dark Elves + Tyrion

Post by flatworldsedge »

@TD - love the quotes. Re: that Mountain Chimera, without (a) Tyrion (b) him charging straight at him, I'd have been in trouble. It's stats are wild and Veysha's build is anti character - it would have gone through her and the whole unit. I've no idea how I'd have stopped it. I think you'd mentioned that Tyrion would be a good answer to his various monstrosities in my pre-game advice thread, and you were spot on. He is a machine. He made an insanely dangerous situation utterly trivial. Will definitely use him (or his stat line) again in bigger games.
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Re: Battle Report; 3000 pt Beastmen vs. Dark Elves + Tyrion

Post by Lord Drakon »

Nice report, also well played !

I was thinking how to defeat that list of yours with Beastman options, as ungor spam was clearly not the way. Maybe chariot spam and some other fast high tougness units is the best way while fielding ? He just don't have to try win the chaff war with you as that is impossible. He has to accept chaff is going to be useless against your list and he have to invest in fast hard hitting units (difficult to kill with RXB shooting).
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Re: Battle Report; 3000 pt Beastmen vs. Dark Elves + Tyrion

Post by T.D. »

flatworldsedge wrote:(or his stat line)


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Re: Battle Report; 3000 pt Beastmen vs. Dark Elves + Tyrion

Post by flatworldsedge »

@TD :) Just not sure how to fit a 700pt Veysha into a 2,000 or list... Maybe take a Lv3 Pegwitch with ward save, then that's all the character points. Must have the 2x 6 Shades and 9x COK's as they're nearly painted. Then just core... 2x 12 WE's and 2x 5 Dark Riders. Would that work? No Warlocks...

@Drakon Thanks. Good question - what do I not want him to take next time (playing again in Feb)? Chariots would panic me, as I've never played against them. Doombull on flying carpet would concern me too - hunting the Pegwitch, deleting remote units... Have to admit I don't know their list well enough... Yet.
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Re: Battle Report; 3000 pt Beastmen vs. Dark Elves + Tyrion

Post by Marchosias »

Thanks very much for the report! Some short notes:

1) Well fought! :)
2) Transformation of Kadon is a RIP spell. This means you can dispel it in any subsequent magic phase by meeting the casting value. So you could have just dispelled the shaman and then, he would have been just a sad little hero with no protection (apart from a 4+ lookout) eating your arrows. You could have even waited with the dispel for the turn he attacked. Just imagine his expression when his charging chimera turns back into a lowly shaman. :D This is risky though as you are not guaranteed to have enough power dice for this dispel.
3) I do not know this matchup well but your witches were able to carve through anything the beastmen had, right? If so, you should have maybe deployed them centrally so that their march to the enemy would be minimized. The ungors could have shot you, sure, but who cares? If they shoot the witches they neglect the fast cavalry which will make them killed very quickly.
4) is the chimera still treated as a character? If this is the case there was no way your opponent could have avoided Tyrion as you could have just challenged. Lone characters are forced to accept - something to remember when playing a pegasus rider.
5) provided this solution is not possible, why did you move your COK so much forward? One sensible option would have been to stay back, far from the charge range; another to charge some ungors and overrun out of the beast's front arc. This way, however, you just exposed yourself to the charge.
6) one more way to use the kharibdyss is to force terror tests. Even if the charge itself is unlikely the target can panic. Beastmen leadership is quite low as far as I know. If you happen to catch a unit outside the general's and BSB's bubbles...
7) when playing life magic, it might be better to put your sorceress on a steed and inside the COK unit. She wants to stay close to your units to buff them, anyway. A pegasus sorceress makes more sense with short ranged offensive lores such as dark or death. Just a suggestion, your list obviously works fine and you do not have to use all the tricks against your poor opponent. :)
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Re: Battle Report; 3000 pt Beastmen vs. Dark Elves + Tyrion

Post by flatworldsedge »

@Marchosias - Thanks for the comment and thought (and again for introducing me to Battle Chronicler!).

Dispelling the Transformation would have been hilarious, though the target was quite high! One thing that didn't come out in the write up was just how much his herdstone (and dice rolls) had me in the back foot. I really struggled and was maybe over focused on keeping my Flesh to Stone live.

You could well be right about the witches. I was indeed scared of them being shot at! I will always be a roleplayer before a wargamer - and started life as a Dwarf player - sacrifice and acceptable losses don't come as naturally as they should... But we're getting there! I was happy with the sacrifice of the Dark Riders to pin the central Cygor.

The idea of switching the sorceress to a steed is an interesting one. My first (recent) game against this old opponent the agility of the Pegwitch was stunningly powerful, yet I did move to a steed against High Elves with a Dragon Prince. To be honest I wasn't expecting flyers in this one, and I'm realising that more and more when there are flyers the Pegwitch can be exposed if you don't have flyers of your own. I keep wondering if I shouldn't look harder at a Pegmaster, but fluff wise Veysha on a Cold One with the loss of feeling is kind of part of her character - and it wouldn't look "right" to have a Pegmaster with her on Cold One in simply terms of visual impact! Sorry, I know that's a slightly weak rationale!

I have the model for the sorceress - the black dragon sorceress and Island of Blood griffin. That said, I did pick up some magnets on eBay yesterday, so might have a go at magnetising the conversion.
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