Game 3: Dark Elf vs Skaven - Battle for the PassThird and final game for day 1, after facing two Empire artillery armies, I was just about sick of destroying what's left of my precious brain cells in thinking of ways to silence artillery before the better part of my army died. And since this mission is played along the length of the table, I REALLY wasn't looking forward to an artillery army. As game 3 came around, hey guess what? Skaven! Two Warp Lightning Cannons and a Bell, what a fantastic way to end my evening haha.
Without further ado, we went off to setting up our armies. I kept the Harpies at the center so it didn't matter as much, where his Cannons went. The Corsairs I held back in deployment because I wanted to wait for the Bell first. The Corsairs were going to head straight for it, my S7 Dreadlord had a task to do, and a task he is designed to accomplish I might add, though the ward was going to give me trouble.
There were a couple of baleful statue things scattered across the board too. They were pretty much 'Beat'em Up' forests except it affected every unit within 6" of it. They kind of restricted where I placed certain units such as Harpies and Shades and the smaller units of Warriors. They're not included in the pictures because I wasn't bothered to put them in, they killed models here and there, at times affected my Harpies too. But they weren't game changing.
Our final deployment can be seen below after much holding back and thinking. Skaven won the roll off for first turn too. Which wasn't a good thing because well...I REALLY needed my Harpies to get up there asap!.
p.s. The deployment of the Shades were rather foolish too. I was riding on the fact that he had -2 for multishot and shooting at skirmish to see me through intact for a possible charge. I forgot they had poison, and since they had quick to fire, I wasn't going to be able to charge them, kill them off (possibly) then overrun into the cannon.
Note: I rolled up Pit of Shades for my Lv1 wizard. I decided to keep it for the Bell.
Turn 1MovementKind of surprisingly, the Skaven army did push forward at the northern side. I actually would've expected them to sit back and lob cannon after cannon shots at my elves till they died.
MagicHis magic phase was nasty, as expected. I've played Ed enough times and witnessed his games enough times to know that when Ed takes Skaven, it is a losing battle from the get go. He played his magic conservatively, he drew out my dispel scroll in the first turn of the game, and attempted to cast skittle leap. I dispelled it. My policy is that whenever someone wants to cast something so random and subtle, it's usually bad. Things like Tree Singing, TK's movement spell etc, I usually dispel. He casted no more spells after that even though he had a handful of PD left.
ShootingOuch is the best description. The Shades surprisingly, survived with one model remaining. Which kind of made me happy because the one model can now run past the Gutter Runners, and straight for the Cannon in my turn. The Warp Lightning Cannons themselves punched holes here and there. Ed has been spectacularly accurate all game with all of his shooting.
The Gutter Runners at my back nibbled at my 15 Warrior unit, nothing of great concern to me. I was simply relieved the Cannons hit and did some damage, but not enough to cripple my units at this stage, although, landing right into the middle of the Corsairs was a bit disheartening. (hitting 15-20 models a shot isn't funny...)
MovementShade charged quick smart, the rest of my army pushed forwards quickly, but cautiously. There was a sea of Slaves in front of the bell I needed to get rid of first before I attacked the bell itself. My Corsairs weren't going to be able to walk and shoot this turn, so they didn't march the full distance. I made sure they were able to walk and still fire their handbows next round though, and that there was sufficient distance between us that Ed would be taking a risk when charging the slaves - IF he chose to charge them out. I didn't want the slaves charging out and the Bell following suit with another unit of mine, a bell in my face by turn 2, that's BAD.
On the far south, the train of spearelves decided to go for the charge. It was going to happen sooner or later, I figured I'd rather do the charging than receiving it whilst he had potential magic to influence it to his favour. Plus, I get a +1 SCR for charging ^^
MagicMagic wasn't so fantastic, I didn't roll up Bladewind this round, I rolled up Doombolt, Word of Pain (yay) and Black Horror. So Doombolt became Chillwind. There wasn't much I could do with magic this round, so I opted to throw all my PD at Pit of Shades at his Bell, which I succeeded with an IF. The scatter rolled a 'HIT' result so the bell copped it. However...apparently the Bell takes an I check on the rider's value. I was a little bummed by that. I always thought it was like a War machine, ie, it auto popped. Regardless, we watched the die roll, I had never stared so intently, nor paid so much attention to a single roll such as this one. My heart skipped a beat when I saw the 6 loom up, too bad it ended up being a 5.
The miscast result was a value 11, meaning my wizard lost her Pit of Shade spell. She was now a walking PD/DD generater heh.
ShootingMassed fired onto the Slaves. Killed a ton, they didn't flee which was fine with me.
CombatThe Shade made it in, but we both fluffed our rolls so the Cannon tested on -1 and remained. I wasn't fussed, it meant silencing the warmachine for one turn, fine by me.
The spear train killed a bunch of giant rats, they did some damage back, nothing significant happened, the rats didn't flee. I decided to go 8 wide to combat is 6 wide unit because I did significant damage this round and chances are, I'd remain steadfast next round after combat if it went ugly. I figured it would be safe to maximise the potential damage this time since it was T3 vs T3 and he had no armour but I did.
Turn 2MovementKind of interesting the Slaves didn't charge. I was fine with it anyway, since that was what I wanted. The Warp Fire Thrower was in front of the Bell anyway, so that was fine with me. I think he was going to use it as a speed bump, but as long as I get a unit past it, I can overrun through it easily enough.
MagicAny other gut wrenching turn, it was going to be ugly without my Dispel Scroll already. I can't remember too well what happened here at this point, - oh yes, I believe he was trying to nuke my Harpies with Warp Lightning. I allowed him to have it because I don't fancy permanent T2 Corsairs. I saved all my DD for when he got around to that spell.
ShootingMore Warp Lightning Cannon greatness, continues to chip away at my unit with S8 hits. At least there was one less shot firing this turn, which I was simply thankful of.
CombatThe lone Shade died, wasn't surprised since he fluffed the charge.
The southern combat continued, my elves were getting the upper hand against his unit. He didn't break again, but he only had three ranks left, next round of combat should see them scurrying off.
MovementHere, I was tempted to charge my Corsairs into the Slave unit. But no matter how I looked at it, it wasn't going to favourable because of the Warp Fire Thrower. If I overran, I'll hit it, then the Bell will bowl me over plus he'd have magic advantage too. I needed to push a unit of Warriors into the bell so an overrun into it will take me into its combat too. Simply put, I wasn't going to fighting the Bell this turn, so rather than charging and slaughtering slaves to be at the mercy of the Bell, I held my charge.
The Harpies flew in to kill the Fire Thrower and the center Warp Lightning Cannon (yes!), foolishly, I forgot about the Fire Thrower's S&S reaction. It fried a fair few Harpies with a good roll, there was still one alive to take care of it, hopefully. The Corsairs instead, moved up right in front of the Slaves to both shoot it and also when it charged me, there wasn't going to enough space for the Bell to wheel past it to charge my flanking Warrior units.
I should also note that
Clan Rat unit 1 shifted up there because there was actually suppose to be a unit of Rats up there (I left them out). What happened at the southern side of the board didn't quite matter at this point. It was all about the Bell now
MagicNothing fantastic, next turn's magic will start to become more interesting.
ShootingI made sure I didn't shoot too many slaves so as to thin their ranks out too much. I didn't want to risk allowing the Bell to wheel out and charge because of it. The Corsairs shot, the RxBs shot elsewhere.
CombatThe Gian Rats finally broke with just the front rank left. My Warriors was also quite beaten up, but at least I scored VP and he still had to destroy the remains of that train to get my VP. The train of elves ran down the Giant Rats and that was the end of the southern edge pretty much.
The Harpy that charged the Fire Thrower bounced. I didn't quite mind, because it was still going to get in the way of the Bell, which was what I wanted anyway, be it my Harpy blocking, or his Fire Thrower.
The ones at the Cannon destroyed it, that's one down, one to go!
Turn 3MovementInterestingly, Ed opted to charge his Slaves out at me. He tried to charge the Bell, but we agreed it wasn't going to happen because of the Warp Fire Thrower. The northern unit of rats didn't actually charge either, which was fine with me. I get to stall them for another turn now. But the best thing was the Slaves charged, and they should die and disappear this turn too, then in my turn, I'll be able to charge the Bell with both units whilst Magic was in my control. The following turn is going to be interesting for me.
Ed also reversed his southern unit of Clan Rats too. The diagram doesn't show it, but on the tabletop, it was a ploy to block my Harpies from charging the Cannon because I forgot to reform into 3+2. He successfully blocked the charge too which was frustrating.
MagicAnother large batch of dice for Ed. The Bell tolled, and he casted Scorch with it. Not what I needed! I foolishly ignored the spell because I didn't expect too many models to be hit by the small template. Unfortunately, it turns out to be 21 models were going to be hit...wtf?! All the while I was muttering "if that was the case, I would've dispelled it.". At this point, I didn't need more models dieing. I needed every model I have left to combat the Bell and what's left of his army. Regardless, a massive chunk of Corsairs died, but at least I stopped Wither again. He also Warp Lightning my Harpies and they fled because the General now was too far.
ShootingThe Cannon shot into the Corsairs, killed some Slaves, killed some precious elves. Gutter Runners in the rear continued to be a pain in the arse.
CombatButchered a good number of slaves, lost a few Corsairs in return. Alas, it wasn't enough to be rid of the Slaves for a clear run into the Bell next turn. This is going to be troublesome...
MovementAt this point, I couldn't really delay the charge into the Bell for much longer. More like I'm out of units to stall it. So in went the BSB unit of Warriors with their hidden Assassin. The northern unit of Warriors had one job, and that was to redirect the charge of the Clan Rats up there. So they didn't charge, which buys me another turn of stalling. They simply marched right up to the rats and turned as shown below.
MagicFor magic this round, I basically threw 5 or so PD at Word of Pain, which Ed failed to dispel. The Bell was WS1, which will help keep my BSB unit there until the Corsairs arrived. I then Black Horror'd it, anything to help quicken the destruction of the unit carrying the Bell will be fantastic at this point. Black Horror killed off a handful of rats, fantastic!
ShootingNothing too fantastic here now. It was more about the CC against the Bell that I was more concerned about now. The RxB was very tempted to reform to shoot at the Gutter Runners, but the thought of lots of negs to BS persuaded me not to. Instead, they aimed at weakening the northern unit of Clan Rats. (At this point, I was kicking myself - I forgot you could single out the Bell from the unit with shooting...last time I killed the Seer with 40shots into it and its Bell. I had ample of time up till now >.> - meh)
CombatSurprisingly, my unit won combat in the end. We couldn't maximise (I'm glad) because the Slaves and ruins were all in the way. Meaning only two columns of Rats plus Bell could attack me, and Ed opted to not make way his BSB and Engineer to fight me. Fine by me. At this stage I was more concerned about holding than destroying the Bell, so all my attacks went to the Rats. Having them hit me on 5's really helped me survive.
Finally the fight with the Slaves ended with them going "kaboom" in my face. At this point, my Corsairs were only reduced down to its front rank of 7 wide including the General. Not good... At this point, I was losing heart because I doubt that's going to be enough to tackle a Bell with half a unit of Storm Vermin remaining. May Khaine smile upon me, seriously >.>
Turn 4MovementNorthern Clanrats charged me as predicted. Southern ones moved forward to chase away my dwindling train of elves. Gutter Runners continued to move into position to annoy my units. At this stage, I dashed all hopes in destroying their last warmachine. I was out of resources to take it out now so, next turn, the train of elves are going to fall back and deny VP instead.
The rest of the turn wasn't too spectacular. Magic and shooting took off wounds here and there. CC I was still concerned about losing combat and risk breaking, so I opted to chomp the unit instead of the Bell again. Won combat so all was well thank to Word of Pain.
MovementIn went the Corsairs with the second hidden Assassin, lets see how things fare now.
The Harpies that fled rallied, so maybe there was still hope in removing the last Cannon!
The Warriors down south swift reformed and made for my board edge to remove unnecessary risks of losing needless VP.
MagicI rolled well for Winds of Magic, and I threw all 11 PD I had at Word of Pain again. It proved very effective last turn, and I sure do need it again this turn! However, I didn't get my IF (kind of surprised), now I just pray Ed doesn't roll one up with his 6 DD... and hey guess what? He doesn't! Guess Khaine really was smiling down on me heh. With Word of Pain in effect again, I was content. Moving onto next phase.
CombatI did the Bell first, in case anything at north went awry and randomly affected my fight with the Bell. But to make things simple, the norther unit of Warriors got stomped all over and fled. The Rats chased them down- oh well, they did their job, so...meh!
At this stage of the combat with the Bell, there wasn't much left of the Storm Vermin, so I opted to butcher every last one down first before I concentrated at the Bell later on. No challenges were issued, so we went off chomping nearly all but the command of the Storm Vermin left. I suffered some damage, but all my characters were still alive. Combat ended, I was starting to see the ray of hope at the end of this filthy vermin tunnel.
Turn 5MovementEd was content on not allowing my train of Elves to escape at this point. Though he didn't charge them. Smart move on his part there too, since the Warp Fire Thrower would've been out of range otherwise. The northern Clanrats reformed to face me (even though not shown in the diagram).
The northern Gutter runners faced my rear. At this stage, Ed is pretty much trying to finish off the remaining 4 or 5 models in my surviving units for their VP. The Bell fight was going to get ugly real soon! Seriously Khaine, smile upon thee lol.
ShootingEd's shooting, as you can see, was mightily accurate! The Warriors got smashed, but Khaine really was smiling on me, for there were still a handful of Warriors left alive after all that. I could still make it for a draw!
CombatThe combat became more urgent for me at this stage. Surrounded and at the mercy of an unbreakable Bell unit. For my part, I decided to slay everything around the Bell and then fend off the new attackers next turn, it was my best bet for survival really. And so with great effort all but the banner bearer of the Storm Vermin was left alive and their BSB. Next turn they'll all be dead and with luck, the Bell too. There was hope still.
MovementThis turn, was going to be pivotal for the final turn of the game for me. The Warriors down south continued their march away from all the nasty stuff down there. The Harpies charged in to get rid of the final Fire Thrower that can really hurt when it wants to! The RxB reformed, what's left of them anyway, to chase off the Gutter Runners next turn or else support the big combat that was about to ensue at the Bell.
MagicWith magic, I once again spammed all my PD at Word of Pain, however, this time, I opted to cast it on the big unit of Clanrats up north. The Bell's threat was more or less neutralised, to a rather insignificant level anyway. I IF it this time, and rolled up a 7, Oh noes! three RxB died! That's a price I'd pay to keep my General's unit from losing straight out, anyday!
CombatIn this combat phase, my two Assassins went for the bell instead. there was 13 attacks between them, and I dealt a lot of wounds to it actually. Ed only managed to save one normal AS. Then as I watched him roll for his ward saves, my heart actually skipped a beat when he failed a number of them. I saw 4 and was like "woah!", too bad, there wasn't two more in there to carry it through. My BSB gave it a shot, dealt nothing. His spearelf buddies finished off the last Storm Vermin. The General decided to whack Ed's BSB down instead of the Bell, so that was that. Just the 2wound Bell left. Didn't quite work out, but still, it's looking up. But now, to face the reckoning of Ed's final counter charge.
Turn 6MovementThe obvious charges came in. Ed must've been desperate to send in the Gutter Runners into my flanks too. Oh boy.
ShootingEd wisely moved his southern Gutter Runners up and poisoned my remaining unit of Harpies to death. Bummer, he really did end up protecting his final Cannon to the end
The Cannon itself, shot at the RxBs. Wasn't surprised to be honest. There was my Lv3 and two RxB left alive
At least I had succeeded in denying him VP for two rather large units.
CombatMy Assassins without a doubt, went straight for his Gutter Runners. They were more threatening than the Bell at this point. Plus, they were free ACR, easier to obtain than the Bell anyway. They killed all but two thanks to some dodge rolls, and they actually managed to finish off my Warrior unit. Ouch.
My general was on the receiving end of the flank charge by the Clanrats, so I wasn't that fussed. The Corsairs were protected, I may yet see through this round of CC. The Clan Rats did nothing to my General, who smacked some Rats down with his S7 AP sword. (he was no longer in B2B with the Bell.)
The Rat Ogre pulling the Bell however, managed to kill one of my Assassins, that kinda hurt since I just gave him an extra 160 something points right there. The Bell really needed to go next turn!
The BSB went for the remaining two Gutter Runners instead of the Bell. Easier to achieve VP for the Runners instead. Of course if the Bell popped, that'd be fantastic, but I wasn't going to take risks at this point in time. Staying alive and denying him these few precious VP was my first priority. It held the game's result right there. Fortunately, my BSB managed to finish off the last two rats, that was a relief, and the CC was in my favour actually. Though the Clan Rats held on their stubborn check.
MovementVery little need for movement here, the RxB and Spearelf train was now safe and denied their VP. Very little point in shooting now, so it was straight to magic then the final combat. - Well, magic had little impact since Word of Pain was stopped, it wasn't going to remain so lucky, and I guess it pulled through for me when it mattered the most anyway. (This game I pretty much learned that even a Lv1 could cast a spell that you need, and how to reliably cast it. It's called throwing pretty much all your dice at it if it's the spell that's going to matter the most. Something I'll be taking on board for future games and lists.
)
CombatSo, straight to combat. Khaine seemed to have gotten bored of my struggles it seems, for the Assassin rolled +1 for his D3 attacks, of which two attacks hit with rerolls, both wounded but Ed battered them off with his 4+ ward saves (the Bell).
My BSB fluffed his rolls altogether (shows DE really can't stand prolonged combats without rerolls!)
The Rat Ogre attempted to pummel my BSB to the ground, my 1+ rerollable AS saw me through
The General punched down more rats for no damage in return, I lost the combat by 1 and stayed with no mishaps and that was the end of game 3. I had successfully denied him a lot of VP with each unit having 3 or so models left alive.
It was definitely one of my favourite games, it was a pleasant way to end the evening I guess. Unfortunately, Ed had managed to still score a Minor Victory, so good for him. I'm happy with it even though I was aiming for a draw. Fighting two Lightning Cannons is never ever fun... >.>
And so Game 3: Minor Loss - MEH!
What's mine is mine, What's yours is mine.
Now that we understand each other, lets get down to business.
Jacks -Shade
- WS 5 - - S 3 - - T 2 - - D 6 - - I 5 -
Equipment
Short Sword, MC Long Sword*, Dagger, RxB & RHB [20/10] MC Shade Cloak, 4 Throwing Daggers, 3x Healing Vials, 451C, [3]Dark Venom, [4]Unseen Chains, Food, Dark Steed- Spike
Skills
Basic Stealth, Awareness, TWF, Suithenlu Khythan, Ride
Magic Item
Eye of the Jabberwock
*Magical properties possibly imbued
