First attempts at 9th age

[Lord Drakon]

Greetings,

Here is my first 9th age list, based on my 8th edition list and will look how it goes.

High Sorceress, LVL 4, Lore of Light, 4+ ward, Dispell Scroll - 300
Death Witch on Altar of Blood, BSB, Potion of Strength, Enchanted Shield - 320
Assassin, Blade of Strife, Killing Blow - 150

24 Sisters of Blood, Full Command, Razor Banner - 309
5 Shadow Riders, RXB, shield - 110
5 Shadow Riders, RXB, shield - 110

5 Shadow Warriors, AHW - 85
5 Shadow Warriors, AHW - 85
2 Reapers - 160

1 Kraken - 175
5 Dark Art Apprentices, Champion - 195

1999

High Sorceress LVL 4 is now 225 points, talisman of protection costs now 50 points and the dispell dice 35 points, therefore the now total cost of 300 for the average LVL 4 casters. She is my general and can safely join the Sisters of Blood (Witch Elves). Lore of Light has remained the same for the most part.

Death Witches (Death Hags) have still the same stats, but can now buy 50 points of magic items instead of only weapons, so armour, talismans and potions, nice! Altar of Blood now provides 6+ ward save for all models in the unit (no 5+ anymore for Witch Elves) and re-roll to wound. It has fear instead of terror and gives MR (2) to the unit. As Death Witch has already 5 attacks I gave her the potion of strength, which can now be used at the start of any phase!

Assassins now get a 4+ ward save, which means all points can be invested in damage output. I decided to go for extra attacks instead of strength and therefore blade of strife (+3 attacks). Therefore he has 6 poisoned attacks with +1 to hit and killing blow. He is scout again, but the hidden! rule is gone.

Sisters of Blood (Witch Elves) are exactly what they used to be, with First Strike being removed from the game and replaced by +1 to hit. So they all have 3 poisoned attacks (works the same) at Initiative 6 with +1 to hit. AoB gives them 6+ ward save, MR (2) and re-roll to wound.

Shadow Riders also remained the same, but now 22 points with shield and RXB.

Shades have are now 5 points cheaper, but lost standard command option. Additional hand weapons now provide + 1 Attack and Initiative. Dark Elves have another +1 to hit because of their supernatural reflexes. As striking order is done only on Initiative, and Great Weapons makes your Initiative 0, it seems to dangerous for us squishy Elves to wield Great Weapons in small numbers.

Reapers cost now 80 points, but also remained the same.

Kraken (Kharibdyss) has remained largely the same, although it got Killing Blow and Multiple Wounds (D3) which I guess is huge. No terror anymore and Initiative is lowered to 2 with Weapon Skill 4.

Dark Magic Apprentices (Warlocks) lost their Fast Cavarly rule and need to be upgraded with a champion for 70 points in order to cast Soulblight and Doombolt, other than that stats and points remained the same. As I have become too addicted to Soulblight and the occasional Doombolt I am happy to pay the higher point cost.

[Calisson]

A big block with a monster on its side, five agile support and two shooters.
The big block is probably able to take most threats head-on and the fast cav are able to get the evading foes.
Beware not to do the opposite, to go head-on with your agile troops and chase the nimble with your big block!

[Lord Drakon]

A big block with a monster on its side, five agile support and two shooters.
The big block is probably able to take most threats head-on and the fast cav are able to get the evading foes.
Beware not to do the opposite, to go head-on with your agile troops and chase the nimble with your big block!

Thanks for the feedback! We played a 2 vs 2 battle, which was my first time and it was a great experience! I got teamed up with Skaven and especially his Plague magic had some synergies with the Sisters of Blood. We faced the new Warriors of the Wastes and Entombed Dynasties. Because of the multiplayer it is not possible to make a first battle report, but hopefully next time.

I did make some pictures

Deployment

Our battle plan was to push through at the right flank when they got close and hold them at left flank by double flee etc. We had magical damage output and artillery superiority so wanted some turns to inflict damage.









Turn 1





There was a particular battle of interest after my deathstar had charged 8 Brutes, killed four of them after which they fled and they overrun into the 6 Shabtis. The next turn the Entombed Dynasties player could counter-charge with most of his army into my flanks. Although they all had WS and I 10 (this is even better than before) it looked like it was over for me.

I should have been more careful, but I also wanted to test their performance.



Forces
24 Sisters of Blood, Assassin, Death Witch on Altar of Blood and High Sorceress surrounded by 3 Desert Chariots (135), 18 Pyramid Guard, shields and halberds with full command (246) led by Cursed Prince (150) and Death Priest (100), Dreadsphinx (225), Necrotitan (180) and 6 Shabtis (270) = ED 1306 points versus DE 1076.

Combats
I inflict 16 wounds killing Dreadsphinx, Death Priest etc, enemy inflict 17 wounds wounds of which only 6 by actual attacks because of the WS 10 defence, but with flanks and ranks bonus I lose with 7. I make a heroic re-roll after I rolled 12 and hold my ground on a roll of 3. The next round I inflict another 10 wounds while enemy only inflicts 6 wounds (2 by hits) killing all the Sisters of Blood by stomps etc. We stop the game and after two bloody rounds of combat both my general and BSB are still alive while being completely surrounded.

Although our re-rolls have dissappeared, I was always rolling 2's to hit because of our supernatural reflexes. This resulted into less hits and poisoned attacks, but the damage output was still big, especially because of re-roll to wound by the Altar of Blood. What has become very important for us Elves of Darkness is to either lower enemy Initative or boost our own Initiative as Initiatives importance has increased a lot to us. This is what determines who strikes first, therefore Speed of Light has become the uber-augment in the Lore of Light to my opinion, especially when you field a Deathstar or big block. Weapon Skill has always been a great defence, and needing 5's to hit without re-rolls is a pain for any enemy. Although the Witch Elves had practically no save besides the 6+ ward save (which still saved around 3) the high WS saved them. The big amount of Impact Hits, Grinds, Stomps and Thunderstomps is what smashed them, but it normal combat situations you should not be so outnumbered.

I think there is a better way to equip the BSB Death Hag, I am not sure if that is more attacks (7 STR 4 attacks with Blade of Strife) or more strength (4 STR 7 attacks with Giant Sword) as you can re-roll to wound but no to hit. Being the Battle Standard Bearer she changed the fate of the Sisters of Blood two crucial moments and because of 18" allowed me a re-roll of fleeing Shadow Warriors. While the Sisters of Blood get killed you can count on her, so far I am extremely satisfied with her.

Shadow Riders did their stuff as usual and blocked a big unit of Trolls for three turns who would had otherwise reached meaningfull combat much earlier, RXB fire was as usual not that impressive but a nice extra. I take them next time again.

Dark Art Apprentices have to played a little different as they are not Fast Cavarly anymore. The mobile presence of Soulblight and Doombolt on your side is worth the 70 points in most cases I guess, although it didn't in this battle. But besides this 70 point magical extra, they are still great in defence and damage output. They charged the big unit of Trolls in the flank after they chased the Shadow Riders and inflicted 3 wounds, while enemy Trolls inflicted 4 wound which all got saved by their incredible 4+ ward saves and they won combat. Enemy did managed his Leadership test but otherwise these 5 Dark Art Apprentices had cleared the whole flank and could have wrecked much more havoc behind enemy lines. Also these guys still have a place in my list.

Reapers killed the enemy chariot (which got nerfed a lot to my joy) in first turn and inflicted two wounds on enemy Giant and two wounds on enemy Deamon prince. Still reliable and worth the 80 points. I have never taken 4 of them, but they are still a great choice for our shooting phase and board control.

Shades had no good targets and got easily killed in combat by a Chimera or something but I suspect them to more usefull in 1 vs 1 battles where I have more space to control the board or disrupt enemy lines.

Kharibdyss was insta-killed by a Giant, I think next time I will invest his points into more Sisters of Blood and some more shooting. Unsatisfied as his purpose is to kill big things but had to take I test against Giant, logically failed and died.

BTW what is huge is that my LVL 4 now can safely join the Sisters of Blood.


Adjusted list

High Sorceress, LVL 4, Lore of Light, 4+ ward, Dispell Scroll - 300
Death Witch on Altar of Blood, BSB, Blade of Strife - 345
Assassin, Mithril Mail, Strength Potion, Killing Blow - 150

30 Sisters of Blood, Full Command, Razor Banner - 375
5 Shadow Riders, RXB, shield - 110
5 Shadow Riders, RXB, shield - 110

5 Shadow Warriors, AHW - 85
5 Shadow Warriors, AHW - 85
3 Reapers - 240

5 Dark Art Apprentices, Champion - 195

1996

[Amboadine]

Great looking game you had set up here.

[Lord Drakon]

Great looking game you had set up here.

Thanks! Have you had the chance to play any 9th age battles already? I think this new community based Warhammer will provide an unique and amazing wargaming experience for the future. Next week the first army books are coming out and I look forward to all the new DRAICH contributions we can work on.

BTW which list do you prefer?

High Sorceress, LVL 4, Lore of Light, 4+ ward, Dispell Scroll - 300
Death Witch on Altar of Blood, BSB, Blade of Strife - 345
Assassin, Mithril Mail, Strength Potion, Killing Blow - 150

30 Sisters of Blood, Full Command, Razor Banner - 375
5 Shadow Riders, RXB, shield - 110
5 Shadow Riders, RXB, shield - 110

5 Shadow Warriors, AHW - 85
5 Shadow Warriors, AHW - 85
3 Reapers - 240

5 Dark Art Apprentices, Champion - 195

OR

High Sorceress, LVL 4, Lore of Light, 4+ ward, Dispell Scroll - 300
Death Witch on Altar of Blood, BSB, Blade of Strife - 345
Master on Manticore, Scaly Skin, Shield, Lance, Repeater Crossbow, Armour of Destiny 345

30 Sisters of Blood, Full Command, Razor Banner - 375
5 Shadow Riders, RXB, shield - 110
5 Shadow Riders, RXB, shield - 110

5 Shadow Warriors, AHW - 85
5 Shadow Warriors, AHW - 85
3 Reapers - 240

Because monsters and characters now have combined profile, the Master / Manticore has 4 wounds, toughness 5, 3+ armour save and 4+ ward save.

OR

High Sorceress, LVL 4, Lore of Light, 4+ ward, Dispell Scroll - 300
Death Witch on Altar of Blood, BSB, Blade of Strife - 345

30 Sisters of Blood, Full Command, Razor Banner - 375
5 Shadow Riders, RXB, shield - 110
5 Shadow Riders, RXB, shield - 110

5 Shadow Warriors, AHW - 85
5 Shadow Warriors, AHW - 85
3 Monster Hunting Chariots - 300
3 Reapers - 240

Dancing around enemy with the Monster Hunting Chariots, Shades and Dark Riders shooting it to pieces, all difficult to catch and take points out with one bad ass combat block

[Amboadine]

Unfortunately I haven't managed to get a 9th age game in yet, been quite busy with KOW when I have gotten a game.
I have however been keeping a close eye on 9th rules progress and when there are some new army books, my group will most likely give it a good chance.

Also, as you stated a good chance to get some activity going here.

As for your choice of 3 lists, I like the second. Mostly due to the Manticore.

[Lord Drakon]

Sorry for the list-spam, but there are just so many possibilities. Another possible list

High Sorceress, LVL 4, Lore of Light, 4+ ward, Dispell Scroll - 300
Death Witch on Altar of Blood, BSB, Blade of Strife – 345
Assassin, Midnight Cloak or Flying Carpet - 140

25 Sisters of Blood, Full Command, Razor Banner - 320
5 Shadow Riders, shield - 95
5 Shadow Riders, shield - 95

10 Shadow Stalkers, AHW - 170
10 Shadow Stalkers, AHW - 170
2 Reapers – 160

5 Dark Art Apprentices, Champion - 195

Dark Reaper concept of a single core deathstar (Sisters of Blood) + as much as possible shooting and board control is one I like very much. Although he used Life magic, I prefer Light magic because of its cheap magic missiles and great augments. One of my favourite battle reports is of Omnichron with his Shade list. Although they don't have the Manbane Rending Stars anymore, the 4+ ward save and Scout rule is something I want to make use of. With this list I can combine aspects of Dark Reaper and Omnichron lists.

[Marchosias]

I know it's getting old but how are you going to handle armour? I suggest to at least give your shadow stalkers GWs - they will still strike at the same time as most other elves and if not, you have lore of light on your side.

However, there should be new armybooks out *really* soon (tomorrow if all goes according to schedule) and I suspect you will want to change some things again. For example, sisters of slaughter should be back according to rumours.

Anyway, good to see you posting!

[Lord Drakon]

I know it's getting old but how are you going to handle armour? I suggest to at least give your shadow stalkers GWs - they will still strike at the same time as most other elves and if not, you have lore of light on your side.

However, there should be new armybooks out *really* soon (tomorrow if all goes according to schedule) and I suspect you will want to change some things again. For example, sisters of slaughter should be back according to rumours.

Anyway, good to see you posting!

That makes sense! Oke last one before the new armybook. Assassin of Flying Carpet is experiment with his 4+ ward, scout rule and possibily to join units. Maybe I might try your beloved Medusa's soon.

High Sorceress, LVL 4, Lore of Light, 4+ ward, Dispell Scroll - 300
Death Witch on Altar of Blood, BSB, Blade of Strife – 345
Assassin, Flying Carpet, Multiple Wounds (2) - 150

25 Sisters of Blood, Full Command, Razor Banner - 320
5 Shadow Riders, shield - 95
5 Shadow Riders, shield - 95

5 Shadow Stalkers, AHW - 85
5 Shadow Stalkers, AHW - 85
4 Reapers – 320

5 Dark Art Apprentices, Champion - 195

[Lord Drakon]

Greetings, although a lot of cool possibilities have become available through the new army books, it has also increased in point cost so more focused lists are needed and choices have to be made. I made the list based on my current strategy : one core infantry deathstar supported by as much shooting and board control I can bring. Ideally this deathstar is supported by a small all-round combat unit (Hellpit Gladiators). As our assassins have gained some cool poison upgrades but more important can throw 3 stars in the shooting phase again I have to try them out inside units of 10 Shades.

Lord of Darkness (cool name) provides an important function the Lore of Light (now not able to take anymore except 100 point magic items) which is -1 to hit to the naked Blood Maidens. With the Ogre Blade and 2+ save as soon he has killed two enemies he is capable of taking out most opponents.

The Cult priestess magic point allowance is invested in the Razor standard which is crucial for the unit, but now too expensive to be taken by the unit itself. Her Altar of Blood does provide a lot of extra's, most importantly one of the blessings every turn which are + 1 attack, + 1 to wound ( ) or hard cover (in total -3 to hit for shooting). It also provides the unit with MR (3), Impact Hits (STR 5 D6+1) and Fear. Because she is a Blood cult character leading a Blood cult unit, they ALL receive +1 strength on the charge! To make it even worse, I brought a scroll caddy with the lore of beasts (wilderness) to give them +1 tougness and +1 strength. Imagine a situation where I have charged with the Blood Maidens, got the signature off and gave them +1 attack with the Blessing. That's 46 Blood Vestals (3 crew on Altar included) attacks, poison, strength 5, +1 to hit, re-roll 1 to wound, armour piercing + Impact Hits, Cult Priestess and Lord of Darkness attacks. Enough to wipe out most units on the charge.

I have never fielded 2 x 10 shades + assassin, so I have no idea what to expect from them in the shooting phase compared to the RBT's but there is only one way to find out


2000 points version

Cult of Blood (+1 strength at the charge for Cult Priestess and Blood Maidens)

Lord of Darkness, Blood Armour, Shield, Ring of Darkness (-1 to WS for combat & -1 to hit shooting at unit), Whip of Subversion, Gemstone Amulet - 245

Cult Priestess, BSB, Altar of Blood (+ 1 attack, +1 to wound or being in hard cover), Razor Standard - 365
Sorceress, Lore of Wilderness (+1 tougness and strength + D3+2 magical move), Dispell Scroll - 100
Assassin, Nightshade Venom - 110
Assassin, Nightshade Venom - 110

25 Blood Maidens, full command, Icon of Relentless Company (once triple movement march) - 315
5 Shadow Raiders, shields - 95
5 Shadow Raiders, shields - 95

10 Shadow Stalkers, AHW, poison in CC - 180
10 Shadow Stalkers, AHW, poison in CC - 180

5 Dark Art Apprentices, champion (LVL 2 soulblight or doombolt), poison darts - 195

2400 point version

Lord of Darkness, Blood Armour, Shield, Charm of Cursed Iron, Whip of Subversion, Dusk Stone - 245
High Sorceress, Level 4, Lore of Alchemy, Book of Arcane Power 285

Cult Priestess, BSB, Altar of Blood (+ 1 attack, +1 to wound or being in hard cover), Razor Standard - 365
Assassin, Nightshade Venom - 110
Assassin, Nightshade Venom - 110

34 Blood Maidens, full command, Icon of Relentless Company (once triple movement march) - 414
5 Shadow Raiders, shields - 95
5 Shadow Raiders, shields - 95

10 Shadow Stalkers, AHW - 170
10 Shadow Stalkers, AHW - 170
2 Dread Reapers, upgrades - 150

5 Dark Art Apprentices, champion (LVL 2 soulblight or doombolt) - 190

[Calisson]

Love the DE beta book indeed! Plenty of synergies and new toys.
Please report how it went!

[Lord Drakon]

Love the DE beta book indeed! Plenty of synergies and new toys.
Please report how it went!

I played my first battle and will play my second in another 10 minutes. I will try to get the battle reports up tonight. I can already say one thing. Priestess of Blood on Altar of Blood combined witg Maidens of Blood with the +1 attacks Blessing of the Dark God of Blood on the charge (+1 strength) produces some killing power I have not witnessed before. They first killed 5 chariots with Nomarch on Chariot on the charge and later killed 40 skeletons, hierphaunt and BSB on the charge. Its expensive and glass cannon, but its worth it!

I also love the 2 x 10 Shadow Stalkers both with Assassins with Nighshade which killed 6 Shaptis (18 T4 wounds in two rounds of shooting) but got decimated very quickly by enemy Casket but were able to preserve their points. Assassins with 3 wounds and 4+ ward save is incredible powerful for a master, same for the Assassin Throwing Stars with Nightshade. I will try to keep them out of Casket range next battle and see how they perform when remaining at full strength.

[Calisson]

I guess that a couple more of such reports will soon lead to a nerf of that combo, if I understand well the spirit of the beta version.
That is a good thing. We DE generals don't want to win because our units autoplay for us, we want to win thanks to superior tactics.

[Lord Drakon]

With the new Army Books of the 9th edition Warhammer out, I was lucky to arrange some battles to try out the new Dread Elves. The list I took can be found in earlier posts and is build upon a game-winning recipe so far. The idea is made one Deathstar out of core troops for your core tax and invest the other points in shooting & board control. I wanted to test the new Witchstar and MSU shade-stars with the new assassins.

My first 1 vs 1 opponent fielded his Entombed Dynasties (Tomb Kings), an army I had little experience with.

Size of Game: 2400
Length of Game (time): 3 hours
Player Experience Level: Casual (now play Warhammer for 9 months)
Opponent Experience Level: Intermediate
We both felt the game was generally balanced
9.0

Entombed Dynasties : Tomk Kings
His list had a Pharoah (close combat lord), Nomarch BSB, Nomarch on Chariot, Death Cult Hierarch (Hierophaunt), Death Cult Acolyte (Light), a unit of skeletons (40), unit of skeleton archers (25), Necropolis bodyhuard of pharao (25), colossus, 6 shabtis, unit of 5 chariots, unit of two swarms, two carrions and a casket of phatep.

Only chariots as a real danger, all combat blocks could be handled by the Witchstar and slow infantry blocks could be taken out by heavy missile fire. I was afraid of the casket and general shooting of the Untombed Dynasties because of there rule that allows them to always hit at unmodified ballistic skill (5's mostly).

I was happy enemy got no real dangerous spells as their lore is mostly based on augments but he did get Banishment on the Light sorcerer. I took beast signature Wyssan Wildform and the auto-included Soulblight and Doombolt. Although its nice to roll for spells at the start and such, in my current set up I only need a scroll caddy and therefore an Deathstar augmenting signature.

The terrain was evenly divided and we both got a hill in our deployment zone. I won the deployment roll and took the south deployment zone. Some argue that you win battles in the deployment zone and with a list like this, I agree with that statement. The 9th edition deployment is a little different as 8th edition deployment as you can deploy more than one units at a time, and instead of +1 you receive +1 for every enemy unit undeployed as soon as you finished. As I only have 1 real important drop (the Witchstar) this is a great advantage to my side to secure the first turn with a shooting heavy list.

As I had 600 points of scouting (25% of the army) with the 2 x 10 shadow stalkers (shades) and 2 x assassins my plan was to attract his force to one side of the map and leave some space open for my scouts to inflitrate. If he tried to prevent this he had lost 1 unit from his main battleline, and if he deployed too much, I could simply deploy them somewhere else. This powerful advantage in the deployment zone is something I really liked, especially with the assassins being scouts again.

I first deployed my both my shadow raiders (dark riders) units (this is still autochoice in 9th edition) because they are so flexible in manouevre, followed by the dark art apprentices (warlocks). Enemy responded with core combat blocks in the centre and chariots in the right flank. Gladiators are deployment left centre and bolt throwers around the hill. He keeps his battleline and leaves space open for my shadow stalkers. Lastly I deploy Witchstar in the centre on the hill.



Dark Elves - Turn 1
He had 3 units undeployed when I finished so I had +3 on the roll to start, and we both rolled a 1 so I got the first turn! Shades both deployed in the open corner as it was a perfect spot and revealed their assassins.

The battleplan was to get as much shooting phases as possible so let the enemy forces close in and then counter-charge with the witchstar. So shades close in and fast cavarly march up to slow down enemy advance.

In the magic phase soulblight is dispelled and witchstar gets wyssan wilform. The blessing of blood altar gives all models in the witchstar +1 attack.



In the shooting phase I tried out the new cheaper bolt throwers without multi-shot upgrade and killed both vultures. The assassins alone already inflicted 4 wounds on the shabtis and shades another 6, killing three of them. Impressive round of missile damage for the first turn!

Entombed Dynasties - Turn 1
Shabtis charge the dark riders who flee and make a failed charge, the dark riders did panic the poorly placed warlocks and they flee. The rest of the undead army advances steady.

In the magic phase the enemy lvl3 gets a augment aura remains in play off giving his blocks a lot of bonusses.



He aims the casket at one of the units of shades and rolls a double 6! 7 instantly die, ouch! Thats even worse than I feared, luckily they pass their panic test.

Dark Elves - Turn 2
As the shade units are 180 points each I wanted to preserve the points of the depleted unit and move my assassin in the second unit while they retreat out of range of the casket (36"). Gladiators and Witchstar shuffles forward a little bit. Both dark riders and warlocks rally on the 18" re-roll of the BSB.



All bolt throwers miss this time and without the second shade unit the missile storm is less impressive, but mainly thanks to the assassins I still inflict 4 wounds, killing one and wounding the other badly. Hmm, the missile damage had decreased a lot.

Entombed Dynasties - Turn 2
The enemy battleline keeps advancing and shabtis again charge the dark riders who escape once again. Enemy skeleton horde is now within 13" of the Witchstar and Gladiators and leaves a great overrun into the skeleton archers.

In his magic phase he buffs his units again but nothing special.



The casket aims at the other Shade unit and roll another double 6! 7 die and somehow he kills another 2 (I forgot how). Hmm, depleting my shade units so fast was unexpected and had halted my infiltration. But, both units were still alive and I could try to preserve their points while the assassins went solo.

Dark Elves - Turn 3
As the skeleton horde was only 13" of both combat block (witchstar and gladiators) I have to try and smash through his lines. Unfortunately only the gladiators make it and witchstar rolls a 5 so failed charge. Luckily I have learned to use our agile troops and place units of dark riders and warlocks for redirecting. The warlocks are not fast cavarly anymore, but the dark riders remain a basic redirecting unit in most dark elf lists I suppose. I really like them without the RXB, as those shots and points are usually wasted. Both shade units march outside the casket range and both assassins continue their hunt on the last two shabtis.

I have a low roll on winds of magic and can only get wildform through.



In the shooting phase the bolt throwers miss their shots again and assassins also fluff their attack, only finishing off the wounded shabti.

I had no idea what to do with the gladiators now they can choose how to to use their weapons differently every combat phase. You can choose out of spear (good againts chariots/cavarly), flail (+2 strength at normal I, but enemy gets +1 to hit), AHW (+1 attacks and initiative for total of 2 attacks..), hand weapon and shield for parry and great weapon for +2 strength but strike last. I tried to kill the bsb but utterly failed and 7 got killed in return and fled. What a disaster haha. 5+ ward save can not be compared to 4+ ward save and 1 attack can not be compared to 2 attacks. They got nerfed a lot which is a shame. But they now also have possibility to come in units of 30 and are special, so I need to find out what their role and strength is in the current 9th age and new AB. The time of fielding 10 without extra investment which earned their point easily back in last edition is gone. At least they escape and preserve their points

Entombed Dynasties - Turn 3
The enemy tomb guard and pharoah charge the dark riders. Afraid he could combo charge with the skeletons and chariots into the witchstar I hold. With the new allignment rules of 9th edition, the defending unit alligns towards the charging unit instead of differently to prevent such redirecting. I also hold with the warlock against charging collossus which therefore makes overrun of tomb guard into Witchstar impossible this turn. Realizing this the enemy does not take the risky charges with the skeletons and chariots. His ambushing scorpion swarms do appear on the battlefield and move into a reaper.

In the magic phase he buffs his skeletons once more which I scroll and I dispell the remains in play spell.



Casket finally fails to kill anything while aiming at one assassin because of a low roll. Skeleton archers kill two dark riders in front of the chariots.

The collossuss kills four warlocks, who only inflict a single wound in return. They do hold on LD 6 with re-roll. The swarms eat the reaper crew and overrun. Dark riders are easily killed by the pharoah alone.

Dark Elves - Turn 4
Initially I nearly took the bait, but realized on time that he was hoping I charge would the skeletons so he could counter-charge into my flanks when I failed to destroy the 40 skeletons in one turn. Therefore I charged the chariots instead. They just made it, pfew. Assassins close in on the last shabti while the dark riders protect last bolt thrower against incoming swarms. Gladiators want to show they are still bad ass and rally.

In the magic phase I roll four dice for wildform and miscast! 13 witch elves die under the large explosions and the sorceress dissappears into the void! Not good.



The assassins finally finish the last Shabti and earn therefore the firs real points (250). Both reapers hit & wound one of the swams and eventually kill it, actually thats pretty amazing to pierce all those scorpions on 1 bolt. After four turns of shooting their combined effort only netted me 85 points, but, they killed those small nasty units which can ruin a witchstars turn so they did what I expected them to do. Normal bolt throwers are quite different than dark elf reapers tho.

Alhtough the witchstar has lost 1/3 in the miscast explosion, all attacks of the witch elves were resolved at strength 5 because od being part of the Blood cult and led by a Blood cult character. As they also got +1 attack from the blessing the lord of darkness and bsb both had 6 attacks, the crew on altar another 12 attacks and around +/- 40 attacks from the unit itself. The enemy chariots and character simply pulverized. Its great to see that the witch elf / cauldron combo still is a deadly one, but I think blood cult bonus of the +1 strength is overpowered, especially when you combine this with blessings of the altar. The enemy unit had no chance at all and were dead before they could strike, but otherwise the unit had become T4 and enemy needed to distract -1 WS from their attacks because of the ring of darkness. Because of frenzy the unit overruns which cost another extra turn but its worth the immune to pscychology and extra attack as long you control the movement phase. Unfortunately not all goes well and my warlocks and reaper die at the claws of the enemy.


Entombed Dynasties - Turn 4
Shaken after this blow the enemy makes some mistakes. He charges his wounded swarms into the last two dark riders and his colossus into the last bolt thrower, leaving the last three gladiators alive (130 points). The tomb guard moves up and enemy again places skeleton horde in the centre, flanked by tomb guard and archers.

In the magic phase he gots off another remains in play buff on the archers which kill 6 witch elves.


The casket aims at one of the assassins and inflict 5 wounds! I still save 3 of them and because of their 3 wounds he is now left on a last round. Although three wounds for a hero is absurd, it saved his ass. The casket is really something I have to take off with the warlocks asap next turn. It wounded both shade units and one assassins so badly in one turn I had to retreat them out of range. Luckily they all just survived so preserved a lot of points.

The collossus makes short work of the bolt thrower crew but the dark riders inflict two wounds on the swarm.

Dark Elves - Turn 5
While the witchstar (swift) reforms to face the enemy the wounded assassin is forces to flee together with the last couple of shades. Hoping to influence the final decdiding battle the second assassins ignores orders to stay alive and advances towards the enemy pharoah. The gladiators realize its suicidal to try take out the colossus and dance around him to preserve their points.

Without warlocks and sorceress I have no magic but give the +1 attack blessing again to the witchstar. In situations like this it is also possible to give them hard cover with the blood blessing, which combined with the blurry special rule of the ring of darkness makes them -3 (almost impossible) to hit.



The dark riders and their horses inflict one more wound to the swarm, but one is killed in return, only one left! The last bolt throwers aims at the colossus but misses.

Entombed Dynasties - Turn 5
The skeletons are satisfied with their positions and don't move. Only the colossus moves up to shoot with his own bolt thrower on my last bolt thrower. The lvl 3 hierophaunt does moves into the skeleton units whch later seemed to become crucial.

He buffs himself in the magic phase



Another try from the casket to take out some points and its inflict 4 wounds on the assassin, on which I save 2 and he lives. The colossus misses his shot at the bolt thrower.

In combat the dark riders misses, but his horse kills off the swarm! This is great as I now can use him for a last redirection.

Dark Elves - Turn 6
Last turn and I had a crucial choice what to do. Now with both general and bsb in the skeletons I could earn another +200 above their points and the skeleton unit + banner. But if they got stuck they could be flank charged by the tomb guard and it was likely I would lost the unit and lost big. I tried to calculate how much skeletons I would kill on average and then crumble the rest of the unit. The odss were good, so I pushed. To prevent worst case scenario I also sacrificed the assassin into rear charge of the tomb guard for a challenge, no idea if that was a good move or wrong, but he failed the charge. The witchstar just!! make it into the skeletons because of a low charge roll, but I made it. The last dark rider moves in front of the tomb guard to redirect it. The enemy mentions he absolutely hate these sort of moves so I apoligize, but in the end that is why I take them after all. I give the witchstar +1 to attack.



The last bolt thrower tries to inflict a wound on the colossus hits, wounds but inflict only 1 wound.

In combat I kill 33 skeletons!! But in return he also kills all but one witch elves with his characters and last 7 skeletons. Unfortunately for him its not enough to prevent his unit and characters to crumble and I overrun. This combat alone netted me about 700 points and secured the win.

Entombed Dynasties - Turn 6
Enemy has no other choice than to try taking points with shooting. He charges the dark riders but he easily escapes (but netting him points for fleeing).

8

The skeletons all shoot at witchstar which is now reduced to only champion, general and bsb. He hits with 4 and because he can now allocate the attacks, he could allocate 2 to the champion. One wounds which is just enough to wipe out the unit and net him 400+ points. The casket gives it another shot at the assassins but fails to inflict any wound.

We caculcute the victory points, and its 1600 -1050 : Major Victory for the Dark Elves!

[Lord Drakon]

Later that day we played a second battle with the same lists on the same battlefield as now both had discovered how the enemy list and units worked and ofcourse how our own new units worked.

Size of Game: 2400
Length of Game (time): 2.5 hours
Player Experience Level: Casual (now play Warhammer for 9 months)
Opponent Experience Level: Intermediate
The battle was pretty unbalanced into my favour
9.0

While in the first game the opponent got all the best spells, in the second game he had not so muck luck. The big remains in play augment of his own lore missed and for the lvl 1 light he got pha’s protection.

My plan this game was too offensive instead of defensive, therefore making use of the great triple movement banner for the witchstar while the rest of the army has movement 9 or can scout (except for gladiators). I deployed in a similar fashion as the first game although I placed the warlocks at the flank the chariots where not deployed to doombolt the casket as soon as possible. The opponent deployed his force in the centre again, but to my surprise deployed the chariots to the other side of the battlefield. To prevent him changing this mistake too early I placed one of the 60 point bolt throwers there for bait and some bolts while he crossed the field. I finish deploying first again with 3+ on the roll to start.

I deploy both shade units the corner where I plan to push and break through his lines to kill the vultures which could redirect the witchstar if the bolt throwers failed to kill them this time (very likely with only single shot)


 
Turn 1 – Dread Elves
In win the roll for first turn again because of the +3 bonus. I really like this new rule as having first turn for my army is incredible. All my units advance as far as they can through the right centre, the Witchstar make their 15” move and end up in the forest. I fail one dangerous terrain test with the Altar, you now roll 4 D6 for chariot dangerous terrain tests, of which I fail one of average but then you still get the 4+ ward save. Warlocks are just 19” from vultures so no doombolt yet. The opponent later told me he had really not surprised this aggressive move because of the last game and similar deployment, but I think these sort of moves is what makes the list powerful and score 20-0 in good matchups. But this first movement phase had half of his army outmaneuvered and we both knew he was in some seriours trouble.

The witchstar gets +1 attack, which will be the case for the rest of the battle. I get wildform off on the witchstar



Combined shooting of the shades only kill one vulture and both bolt throwers also miss. The assassins are still out of range, hmm, if he redirects the witchstar I lose one turn. The lonely bolt thrower inflict a single wound on the chariots.  

Turn 1 – Entombed Dynasties
As he had lost the initiative already the only thing he can do is to try catch up with the colossus and shabtis while reforming skeletons and tomb guard to face the charge. The last vulture goes bolt thrower hunting instead of redirecting (I guess because redirecting is just not the tomb kings style of play).

Opponent in very unlucky in the magic phase and fails to cast two spells because of low rolls.



To try inflicting the same damage as last game the casket shoots at one units of shades, but fails to inflict any wounds, nice! His archers inflict 3 wounds on an unit of dark riders but two of them make their armour saves.  


Turn 2 – Dread Elves
Actually I don’t want to charge yet as I’m still 13” away and I am a terrible charge distance roller in general, messing up whole battles because of those low rolls. But enemy can’t believe I am even doubting to charge because of the low distance. I have two units of dark riders and gladiators in reserve to block enemy when it goes wrong so I go for it. A note about the dark riders. They are in 9th age very similar to 8th edition, maybe a little more expensive but only minor. Without the crossbows or command models but with shields they are only 95 points. 95 points might seem much for sacrifice, but the great thing is that they might lose most models and might flee every turn but next turn they are always back to be moved somewhere to block the enemy movement phase. Besides the double flee redirection which is still possible they are just so great at controlling the movement phase that you can fix or reinforce what happened in the charge phase. So I do fail my charge roll again (I rolled a 6) with the witchstar, which would place them in a terrible position for a counter-charge, the dark riders are able to fix this in combination of the gladiators. Warlocks move up to get to the casket and both shades move further away from tomb guard might he charge them instead of witchstar.
Warlocks get soulblight off on the tomb guard and wildform is also casted on the witchstar.



Bolt thrower kills the remaining vulture, while shades kill 7 tomb guard, around ¼ of the unit.  


Turn 2 – Entombed Dynasties
As tomb guard have soulblight on them and skeletons can’t combo charge with them in the witchstar, the opponent unfortunately declare no charges. If he had, the dark riders would have fled and give great charges for both my combat unit. Although the dark riders now did blocked the way, with 9th age when you declare charges with both, you first roll for both and make sure most units/models get in combat, so the dark riders did not prevented a next turn charge for me. His chariots, colossus and shabtis continue their moves hoping to catch up in time. Scorption swarms do appear on the battlefield near the two bolt throwers.
Enemy miscasts so get one wound on the lvl 1 but does provide a -1 to hit bubble. He also buffs the tomb guard.



Casket is more successful this round and kills three shades, but its not enough to have any impact. The skeleton archers kill three gladiators. 

Turn 3 – Dread Elves
Now was the turn to test the impact of the witchstar against buffed enemy main combat block, the tombuard with pharaoh. I declare charges with dark rider unit and witch star and both make it. Warlocks move up within doombolt and next turn charge range of the casket. Gladiators reform towards skeletons, colossus and shabtis and shuffles back. As the shade/assasssins have no targets anymore they march south as fast as they can.

In the magic phase the warlocks gets a doombolt through on the casket and easily kill it. This 18” spell of the warlocks is so amazing to have to your disposal, especially against enemy war machines which are otherwise impossible to hurt/reach so fast. Soublight and wilform are dispelled.



The bolt throwers try to hurt the swarms and chariots without much success

Finally I roll high for impact hits and kill 6 tomb guards. The lord of darkness (Lord Drakon himself) challenges hoping the Pharaoh would accept. He does. I like to introduce to you a new Druchii weapon which is really powerfull in certain situations like challenges and vs monsters, the Whip of Subversion. It is only 40 points, and gives him +1 attack. It always wounds at strength 5, no matter the modifiers but here comes the thing: if the weapon inflict any unsaved wounds, the enemy models loses all its attacks for this combat round. Like what! You only need to get 1 unsaved wound through (my lord of darkness had 6 attacks at weapon skill and initiative and the enemy can’t hurt you? Amazing! In my third battle we played a fictional 1 vs 1 battle against his chosen lord of 315 points, and my lord of only 220 points was actually able to take him down, without any ward save whatsoever. But also in this challenge, my lord only inflict one unsaved wound, and enemy pharaoh can’t attack anymore. The tomb guard is slaughtered by the witches, bsb and altar but those last 4 alive kill five witch elves. I easily crumble them and overrun, but as planned, stop directly because of the warlocks. Another great magic item Lord Drakon is wearing is the blood armour, heavy armour but gets +1 extra permanent save for each unsaved wound inflicted, so he is now 3+ combined with his shield.

Turn 3 – Entombed Dynasties
Losing two dangerous units the situations is becoming more an more hopeless for the enemy. The chariots finally make it into the bolt thrower which is great as they will not be back in time to change anything to the battle. Shabtis charge dark riders once again which flee. Swamrs make it into the first bolt thrower. Collossus prepare charge against gladiators. Skeletons reform into anvil formation, smart move

Without the lvl 1 wizard (was killed in the last combat) he buffs the skeletons.



Without the casket his shooting is not dangerous anymore and skeletons fail to inflict any significant damage.

In combat the chariots and swarms easily kill the crews, although the crew does also inflict two wounds on the swarm.  

Turn 4 – Dread Elves
Hoping to get the enemy hierophaunt the warlocks charge the skeleton archers, but fail their charge move (again low roll). Witchstar reforms to take out skeletons next turn while Shades march another turn. In 9th edition skirmishers can’t march and shoot anymore which is a big nerf as they are much slower. But it’s a balanced nerf I guess, as they are already powerful even without march & shoot.

Warlocks (aided by lvl 1) cast another doombolt, now on the colossus and also take him down! Alhtough they were not cost-effective last battle, they make up for that this battle for sure! Deleting two potentially dangerous units from a distance without casualties is always great.



In combat the enemy swarm kills the bolt thrower crew which also inflict one wound on the swarm. 


Turn 4 – Entombed Dynasties
The shabtis charge the dark riders once more so I flee, but before he declares what he does I already roll and roll a 3 in total. Therefore he tries to catch them, and indeed catches them. Hmm I lost focus for a moment and it’s a waste to lose units/points like that. But after all, besides the bolt throwers (180 total) this was the first unit to lose so no problem. The shabtis do realize they see some familiar faces with repeater crossbows from last game now . While chariots move up, both skeletons and archers shuffles back to capitalize on my bad charge rolls. The BSB flees out of the skeleton unit to escape his second death.



 
Turn 5 – Dread Elves
As time was up this was our last turn. I charge with all except for Shades and for once make all my charge moves.

Warlocks cast soulblight on the skeletons and sorceress wildform on the unit.



Shade shooting kill off the swarm and inflict four wounds on the combat.

Dark riders kill his BSB, Warlocks kill his Hierophaunt and 3 skeleton archers, Witchstar kills 30 skeletons and gladiators kills the rest.

Game result
20 - 0
We calculate victory points and its 2000 – 275 : 1725 VP difference is more than 60% of game size so therfore Massacre for the Dread Elves!

Post-battle thoughts
Because of the witchelf banner they could make a 15 " march in the first turn, which was followed up by the scouts and fast cavarly movement. Therefore I stealed the initiative the first turn and could focus most of my army on only the half of his army taking it out easily. Enemy had some bad luck and made a crucial mistake with deployment of chariots. Although I kept making bad failed charges, the fast elements of the list can easily correct those mistakes. I still need some more practice with the two shade units in this list, but I love them.

9th age feedback
- banner of relentless company is such a great new item! I think its great as it is
- whip of subversion is really powerfull, especially in challenges or I would been charged by crazy ass single model, as I only need to inflict a single wounds
- blood armour is great to have again and I love it, maybe too cheap now

[Lord Drakon]

Size of Game: 2500
Length of Game (time): 3 hours
Player Experience Level: Casual (now play Warhammer for 9 months)
Opponent Experience Level: Expert
We both felt the game was generally balanced
9.1

The third battle was against a experienced Warriors of the Wastelands player. His last had a chosen lord, chosen warlock and jarl leading unit of warriors (23), unit of ambushing barbarians (23), unit of change chosen (23), two units of five warhounds, two units of seven fallen of change, vortec fiend, battleshrine and warpscream cannon.

So a very different list that the one of Entombed Dynasties, and the sort of list I'll struggle with because of armour of his main combat blocks. Ofcourse I fear the hellcannon and have no idea what to expect from the vortex fiend. Still some chaff units and especially the barbarians which are easy pray for the shades. I'll have to admit the night before I had drank too much and slept too little so was less able to think ahead and therefore started the battle without actual battleplan besides trying the same flanking move which resulted in the massacre of the Entombed Dynasties. This was also based on the fact my experience with Warriors is that they are the offensive player so would want to oppose my witchstar.

I had soulblight, doombolt and wildform again, while enemy got lots of damage spells. Ofcourse damage spells in a case of being overpowered in the magic phase are the most dangerous to my shade/assassins, but I fail to realize this at the start. We roll for secondary objectives and we can earn 250 points extra by having a standard in enemy deployment zone.

We made the battlefield according to the 9th age battlefield rules and created a nice one. Some walls in one corner and impassable in the center, the rest pretty normal. The opponent wins the rolls to take sides and chooses the zone with the walls (this should have warned me in normal cases).

He deploys his four units of chaff throughout his zone, and I respond with 2 dark riders, warlocks and gladiators. He then places hellcannon behind a forest and I decide to place witchstar at the other side of the deployment and deploy the reaper bolt throwers. This was not a smart move at all, as the enemy still had to deploy all his points and combat blocks, while I deployed my witchstar at the flank with all the enemy chaff, and far from hellcannon who could therefore get maximum shooting rounds. Same for reapers, although I also put a reaper on the hill at the other flank. If I had just waited one more turn he had deployed one of the main units and I could have seen that deploying all three reapers at that hill was the best thing to do to fix my error with the witchstar. But I didn't. The enemy castles up his force in the right corner, only opposed by a single reaper bolt thrower.

Its great to make these reports as you realize your mistakes. Because the errors continue as I think its a good idea to deploy my Shades in front of the enemy combat block to shoot (with the idea he would advance to take my deployment zone for the secondary objective). Now I see its was a stupid move, as 1. the chaff which could block the witchstar had to die asap and I had no reliable shooting at that flank now 2. the chaff at the other flank were low armoured and perfect for the shades 3. the combat blocks had 3+ armour and 5+ ward, impossible to inflict much damage with str 3 shooting 4. they are now in range of enemy magic missiles while being far away from BSB or general 5. because enemy is castled up I can't come within 12" as they are charged, so assassins are useless now.

So the deployment phase had left me horribly outmanouevred, although I felt pretty secure at that moment.



Turn 1 - Dread Elves
With the +4 to start I win the roll and start the battle. I still expected the enemy to advance instead of playing dwarf-style (good surprise) so send my fast cavarly towards the shades to block enemy movement. The Witchstar makes her triple march movement. I don't know why, because there is still too much chaff to kill it this turn and therefore redirection is inevitable. Gladiators march forwards, but again I don't know why, but the warlocks take a strange position behind terrain instead of coming within doombolt range of the fallen units.

I try to soulblight warhounds but it is dispelled



In the shooting phase the two bolt throwers only kill 3 wounds, and as they pass their panic test they can redirec witchstar nex turn, note there is an error is where they are in the diagram, they are still on the hill. Shades easily kill the other warhounds and other shades inflict one wound on the warriors.

Turn 1 - Warriors of the Wastes
Most of the army stands still and I now realize the plan of enemy to castle up and play war of attrition. Again the warhounds are not good projected on the diagram as I was confused making the report. In reality they are now standing in front of the witchstar. One of the forsaken takes the flank while other runs towards shades.

One casts damage spell on the shades with IF so also miscasts. But, fearing to lose my Shades so fast I use my dispell scroll.... Another lesson learned, never stop miscasts as he could have blown his main caster in turn 1.



Hellcannon miss.

Turn 2 - Dread Elves
Witchstar have nowhere to go so I charge, they flee and I try to redirecting into chosen. I'm doing the exact things I know I shouldn't do, I let myself being redirected. Rest of the army moves up, warlocks within 24" of the enemy warriors.

I get soulblight off on the enemy warriors but with IF and a miscast. All combat users take a hit without any saves and my champion dies. In early dies miscast with D3 wounds + saves was overpowered, but now he will always die instantly with any miscast as he only has 1 wound! Especially in this situation it was pretty bad, as I was left with only a lvl 1 beast sorceress against his lvl 1 change..



Shades inflict around 17 wounds because of low toughness, of which 14 are saved by armour and wards. Reapers fail to do any significant damage.

Turn 2 - Warriors of the Wastes
No movement at all because forsaken. Warhounds flee off the battlefield.

Now im only left with lvl 1 without scroll the opponent controls the magic phase. He destroys the bolt thrower and unit of dark riders



Hellcannon misses.

Turn 3 - Dread Elves
With the warhounds gone I push forwards towards the enemy castle. I fail to realize to move the shades at forsaken for a shooting round + stand & shoot. I do move the general to flank to kill incoming forsaken.

Magic is not doing anything for me anymore as all gets easily dispelled and I don't want to risk another miscast.



Shades again inflict above average wounds, but all but one got saved. Reapers fail to inflict much damage on the forsaken with long range, cover and skirmisher.

Turn 3 - Warriors of the Wastes
The forsaken charge the shades, but because they can't stand & shoot flee. Other forsaken charge the witchstar in the flank and makes it. The rest of the army remains dwarf-style.

I am lucky in the magic phase and enemy only kills 3 shades.



Error in the diagram, Hellcannon does this hit next turn.

In combat the forsaken are dead before they can strike. But opponent argues I have to make an overrun move. As my understanding is that you can only make an overrun move when you are the charging unit I disagree, but unfortunately they overrun.

Turn 4 - Dread Elves
Now the witchstar is even further out of positions and I know I am not going to make it. Gladiators charge the forsaken in the rear while shades rally. Other shades retreat while warlocks take position to charge the hellcannon.



The gladiators use their halbers and easily kill the forsaken.

Turn 4 - Warriors of the Wastes
Without the forsaken units the enemy movement phase can be skipped. Something interesting does happen, his barbarians ambush me at the exact place where I can bring most firepower.

In magic phase he kills 3 gladiators and two shades from the other unit. Great he is shifting focus from unit to another instead of killing one by one for the points. So although I made major errors throughout first turns and deployment, I am lucky the opponents makes some major mistakes in the later phase of the game.



Hellcannon finally hits and kill 9 witches.

Turn 5 - Dread Elves
Realizing point preservation is now the best thing to do as I have the 250 secondary objective bonus while only list one bolt thrower and unit of dark riders while enemy lost both warhounds and unit of forsaken. Witchstar moves up, gladiators retreat and warlocks remain where they are. Shooting move for a nice shooting round and nice stand & shoot + counter-charge.



Combined firepower of shades, assassins and bolt throwers kills 2/3 of the barbarians, who flee off the table, securing me the win if I don't make any more mistakes.

Turn 5 - Warriors of the Wastes
Losing the barbarians and therefore losing the battle If not big points are taken, the opponent is luckily still in dwarf-move and doesn't try to catch any last points by getting combat blocks into mu deployment zone or hunt down gladiators.

Magic does kill another three dark riders, but they pass their panic test.



Hellcannon kills another 4 witches.

Turn 6 - Dread Elves
Last round and I just need to keep everything alive, so dark riders retreat and rest of army stands still



Turn 6 - Warriors of the Wastes
Too late to make any difference the enemy starts to move.

He flufss his magic phase and fail to kill my sorceress or BSB



Hellcannon kills some more witches more but not changing anything.

Result
We caculcute the victory points, and its 800 - 170 : 630 VP difference is between 20% and 60% of the game points size so therefore Major Victory for the Dark Elves!

Post-battle thoughts
So allthough I made a lot of deployment and movement mistakes, and had some bad luck with losing the warlock champion in turn 2 this was corrected by some major mistakes the opponent made in the later phase of the game. But as they say on druchii.net battles in hindsight are always 20/20. I am happy to see how the list fared in the war of attrition with a chaos warrior list fighting dwarf-style.

- I have learned my witchstar deployed at flanks lesson once more
- The list lacks magical defence, which is crucial for protection the shades/assassins
- The main weakness of this list the witchstar being redirected. Focus of shooting should always be the removal of redirectors in early phase of the game.

9th age feedback
- warlock champion taking miscasts without save is too harsh
- reaper changes are great
- removing 5+ for witches from cauldron is a balanced move
- losing the march & shoot rule for my skirmishers has really made them weaker, so I would argue they are balanced now
- assassins with 2 wounds again are great and worth the points. Please keep them as they are now!
- whip of subversion is very powerfull in challenges, maybe even OP
- dark riders are balanced
- gladiators needs some learning but that is what I love about them. making them so versatile and complex because of weapon master was the perfect choice. I will remove them from this list as they are lust, but build a second army based around them.

[Lord Drakon]

The first battle report is up!

[Lord Drakon]

The second and third also!

[Lord Drakon]

Newest 2400 list

Lord of Darkness, Blood Armour, Shield, Charm of Cursed Iron, Whip of Subversion, Lucky Charm - 220
High Sorceress, Level 4, Lore of Alchemy, Book of Arcane Power, Talisman of Lesser Shielding 290

Cult Priestess, BSB, Altar of Blood (+ 1 attack, +1 to wound or being in hard cover), Razor Standard - 365
Assassin, Nightshade Venom - 120
Assassin, Nightshade Venom - 120

34 Blood Maidens, full command, Icon of Relentless Company (once triple movement march) - 414
5 Shadow Raiders, shields - 95
5 Shadow Raiders, shields - 95

10 Shadow Stalkers, AHW - 170
10 Shadow Stalkers, AHW - 170
2 Dread Reapers, upgrades - 150

5 Dark Art Apprentices, champion (LVL 2 soulblight or doombolt) - 190

After the first three battles, where I did not used a LVL 4 because we lost Light and could not see a replacing lore I just used lvl1 and warlocks. But the LVL 4 defence only is already important in the magic phase for protection of skirmishers and witch elves, so she's back. With the Book of Arcane Power she is even casting and dispelling at LVL 5!

Looking at the new lore I doubted between Shadow and Alchemy, but actually Alchemy is amazing with my list. As Marchosias has always pointed out the main weakness of the list was armour, now the lore is actually worth taking I might finally solve this problem!

First of all, the attribute makes it already worth it. +1 armour save for any unit within 12" up to a total of 3+! If I cast four spells of the magic lore, my witch elves are suddenly 3+ armoured chicks, very neat protection attribute.

The signature is not that interesting as it is only focused on high armoured units. But as it is a signature I never have to take it if I don't want to.

1. enchanted blades is amazing. +1 to hit (including shooting) and magical attacks while armour piercing is increased by +1. For only 8 to cast for 18" this is a great 1 dice spell with huge effect. 12 to cast for 36" it becomes a great tool for the shades also.

2. permament -1 armour save for only 8+ is another amazing tool for my list

3. unit gains distracting and blurry, again another great defence for the witchstar

4. not so interesting

5. enemy close combat weapons can not add strength while mundane shooting gets -1 strength. Great spell for only 10+

6. On a 5 the model is dead, all units within 12" gainm stupidity is an amazing damage spell combined with those small protection bufss, all adding +1 armour to the withstar.

I hope to try it out soon, looking forward to the magic phases again

[Calisson]

Thanks for the reports.
Useful for you as you mention, to understand afterwards your mistakes.
Useful for the reader to learn better how 9th Age is going.

[Lord Drakon]

Thanks for the reports.
Useful for you as you mention, to understand afterwards your mistakes.
Useful for the reader to learn better how 9th Age is going.

Thank you for reading and commenting! I hope these reports will attract more players towards Warhammer again since we lost so many after the Age of Sigmar. Warhammer Fantasy Battles is still there, better than ever before!

[Lord Drakon]

Tonight I wil try out the Lust cult, and will use a totally different concept of my Blood cult list = MSU

The idea is to make a Gladiator force

High Sorceress, LVL 3, Lore of Lust, Talisman of Greater Shielding, 240
Cult Priestess, Cult of Lust, Battle Standard Bearer, Whip of Subversion, Blood Armour, Shield 173

5 Shadow Raiders, Musician, Shields 105
5 Shadow Raiders, Musician, Shields 105
14 Dark Repeaters, Musician, Shields, Standard, Banner of Discipline 213
14 Corsairs, Additional Hand Weapons, Throwing Weapons, Musician, 178

10 Pleasure Pit Gladiators, Champion, Musician - 150
10 Pleasure Pit Gladiators, Champion, Musician - 150
10 Pleasure Pit Gladiators, Champion, Musician - 150
1 Monster Hunting Chariot Harpoon - 100
1 Monster Hunting Chariot Harpoon - 100
5 Shadow Stalkers, Additional Hand Weapons - 95
5 Shadow Stalkers, Additional Hand Weapons - 95
1 Dread Reaper, Upgrades - 75
1 Dread Reaper, Upgrades - 75

5 Dark Art Apprentices, Champion - 190
1 Altar of Lust - 200

[DarkSky]

Quick question: It seems Lord Drakon is starting a battlelog here. If we want to post regular Battle Reports, should we do that in the Battle Reports Forum or here in the 9th Age Forum?

[Amboadine]

Quick question: It seems Lord Drakon is starting a battlelog here. If we want to post regular Battle Reports, should we do that in the Battle Reports Forum or here in the 9th Age Forum?

Feel free to keep it here. The forum is currently arranged to have everything 9th age within one place. This allows any learning or suggestions to be in one place.

No one will mind if you want to have your thread in the Battle rep sub forum however.