Army Blog - The Dark Reapers - Dragon Lord Musings

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rusty_
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Re: Army Blog - The Dark Reapers - BR vs Ogre Kingdoms 18.06

Post by rusty_ »

Well done!

Two draws vs two of Norway's top players, and major loss vs a third isn't bad for your first ETC-style tournament.
I've faced the same WoC army (and the same player) you did twice. First time I got totally wiped out. Second time i holed up in a corner and got a solid win. Olannon got a point:
Olannon wrote: The problem in the TK and WoC game is in my opinion experience.

I expect you to do significantly better next time.

Our Next match is scheduled for august 26. I'll bring shooty ogres again. Will you bring the Corsair deathstar?
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Re: Army Blog - The Dark Reapers - Post-Tournament Musings

Post by Dark reaper »

Thanks for the feedback guys, I truly appreciate it.

I will probably not make any drastic changes to the list afterall. While I think the Corsairs have merit, I don't think I will have enough time to really playtest it and get to know the list as well as I should. For the next few matches, I will probably try to use the list that won the Swedish Masters earlier this year. Basically, I am dropping the Shades, adding another DR and splitting the Warlocks into 2x5. This will give me another good redirector as well as some extra spells. I usually like to do my own twist on things, but I am starting to wonder if this list is just superior to the one I am currently running.
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Re: Army Blog - The Dark Reapers - Post-Tournament Musings

Post by Dark reaper »

I played three games with the list since last time. I have the notes and pictures lying around, but I don't know if I will have the time to upload them anytime soon. I managed to win big against Ogres (something I think I should be able to do) and Vampire Counts (something I don't think I should be able to do), as well as losing big against Daemons (a matchup I will do better in next time).

I feel like I am starting to get very comfortable with the list, I just hope it will be enough to get a good placement at BSK. What I will need to work on is to play safe. I will probably get some unfavourable matchups where I need to focus on getting 7-8 points.
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Re: Army Blog - The Dark Reapers - Post-Tournament Musings

Post by Dark reaper »

It has been too long since I wrote anything worthwhile here, but I had a game against my friend Niblit's Dark Elves yesterday. I have been wanting to test the mirror matchup for some time now as I think the probability of playing it at some point during BSK is very high.

I took:

Dreadlord on Dark Steed: General, Repeater Crossbow , Heavy Armour, Sea Dragon Cloak, Shield, Giant Blade, Dawn Stone, The Other Tricksters Shard, 282
Supreme Sorceress: Level 4, Lore of Death, Dispel Scroll, Ring of Hotek, Ironcurse Icon 300
Master on Dark Pegasus: Lance, Heavy Armour, Sea Dragon Cloak, Shield, Cloak of Twilight, 188
Master on Dark Pegasus: Lance, Heavy Armour, Sea Dragon Cloak, Battle Standard bearer, Talisman of Preservation, Charmed Shield, 211
Master on Dark Pegasus: Lance, Sea Dragon Cloak, Shield, Armour of Destiny, 184
5 Dark Riders: Rptr Crossbow, Shields, 100
10 Dark Riders: Rptr Crossbow, Shields, 200
24 Darkshards: FCG, Banner of the Eternal Flame, 328
5 Harpies: 75
4x 1 Reaper Bolt Thrower: 4x 70
2x 5 Doomfire Warlocks: 2x 125

He had:

1 Dreadlord @ 307.0 Pts
General; Heavy Armour; Sea Dragon Cloak; Shield
Ogre Blade [40.0]
Talisman of Preservation [45.0]
The Other Tricksters Shard [15.0]

1 Dark Pegasus @ [50.0] Pts

1 Supreme Sorceress @ 290.0 Pts
Magic Level 4; Lore of Death
Dispel Scroll [25.0]
Obsidian Lodestone [45.0]

1 Master @ 209.0 Pts
Lance; Sea Dragon Cloak; Shield; Battle Standard
Armour of Destiny [50.0]

1 Dark Pegasus @ [50.0] Pts

1 Master @ 188.0 Pts
Lance; Heavy Armour; Sea Dragon Cloak; Shield
Cloak of Twilight [50.0]

1 Dark Pegasus @ [50.0] Pts

1 Master @ 108.0 Pts
Lance; Heavy Armour; Sea Dragon Cloak; Shield
Luckstone [5.0]
Potion of Foolhardiness [5.0]

1 Dark Steed @ [0.0] Pts

22 Darkshards @ 316.0 Pts
Rptr Crossbow; Light Armour; Standard; Musician
Banner of the Eternal Flame [10.0]

1 Guardmaster @ [10.0] Pts

5 Dark Riders @ 85.0 Pts
Spear; Light Armour; Shield

5 Dark Steed @ [0.0] Pts

10 Dark Riders @ 210.0 Pts
Spear; Rptr Crossbow; Light Armour; Shield; Musician

10 Dark Steed @ [0.0] Pts

5 Shades @ 80.0 Pts
Rptr Crossbow

5 Harpies @ 75.0 Pts

1 Reaper Bolt Thrower @ 70.0 Pts

2 Crew @ [0.0] Pts
Light Armour

1 Reaper Bolt Thrower @ 70.0 Pts

2 Crew @ [0.0] Pts
Light Armour

1 Reaper Bolt Thrower @ 70.0 Pts

2 Crew @ [0.0] Pts
Light Armour

1 Reaper Bolt Thrower @ 70.0 Pts

2 Crew @ [0.0] Pts
Light Armour

5 Doomfire Warlocks @ 125.0 Pts
#3: Soulblight [0.0]
#DrkS2 - Doombolt [0.0]

5 Dark Steed @ [0.0] Pts

5 Doomfire Warlocks @ 125.0 Pts
#3: Soulblight [0.0]
#DrkS2 - Doombolt [0.0]

5 Dark Steed @ [0.0] Pts

So, two lists that looked very much like each other, except for the fact that he had Shades and his character setup was a bit different to mine.

Deployment

I won the roll for side and took the one with the giant wall.

I rolled Spirit Leech, Caress of Laniph, Doom and Darkness and Purple Sun. I decided to keep Purple Sun instead of Fate of Bjuna on the off chance that I would need it to block movement or try and snipe an RBT. This was a mistake.

Niblit got Spirit Leech, Caress of Laniph, Soublight and Fate of Bjuna.

Niblit had to deploy first and I won the roll to go first. Go me!

Image

This shows the board after vanguards. I am quit happy with my deployment. His leftmost Warlocks are quite isolated and my DR, Peg and WL can team up on them. I vanguarded my DR up next to the wall so that both they and my Darkshards would be in hard cover. Keep in mind that the hill his DS are standing on is in reality a wood.

Dark Reaper 1

I move my Dark Riders up aggressively to take care of his DR and Warlocks. My rightmost Peg blocks his Warlocks in case my magic and shooting fails me. I try to use cover to the best of my ability and my fast cav are almost all safe from his RBTs and RXBs.

Image

Magic is 8v6, a pretty good roll considering I want to cast 2x Doombolt to clear his WL and Shades ASAP. The Doombolt targetting the Shades is stopped, but the other kills four Warlocks. The last one passes his panic check.

My shooting kills one of his Reapers and 3 DR from each unit. I fail to kill the last Warlock. Not too bad for a first turn.

Niblit 1

I think Niblit makes a small mistake during his first movement phase, namely how he placed his Peg Rider on his right flank. His placement means that I can move my DR and Twilight Peg up on the hill next turn without him seeing me. On his left flank he counters my aggressive Peg move by placing his lord and BSB facing toward his RBTs meaning I will have to back off.

Image

Magic is 6v6 and I dispel his attempt at Doombolt with 6 dice against 5. His last die tries to spirit leech one of my Warlocks, but apparently there wasn't much there to leech, the warlock stays alive. Shooting sees his Shades kill one Warlock.

Dark Reaper 2

I move my left DR up and my Twilight Peg joins them. I find this to be a nasty little surprise for a lot of opponents as they often don't know that you can allocate a single hit on the character when the unit is hit by shooting. My right flank backs off a bit to be out of his line of sight.

Image

Magic is 10v7 and I kill of his Shades with a Doombolt. My DR wipes his Warlocks with shooting and his Peg fails panic. Unfortunately, he rolls a 5 for his flee distance and barely stays on the board. My shooting does almost nothing this turn and only wounds one of the Reapers once.

Niblit 2

He moves both his general and his BSB forward to threaten my Reapers. I find this to be a huge mistake as not only could I shoot at them, I could also snipe them with death magic. Best case scenario for him is that he survives and runs off the table, only to be killed when he returns back on.

Image

Magic is 7v7 and he rolls double 1s on Caress. He kills 3 crossbows and loses the rest of his dice. Shooting kills one DR.

Dark Reaper 3

I charge his Cloakpeg with my Cloakpeg. I have a static of two here due to charging down from a hill. I turn my Darkshards around to target his characters and move my Warlocks in front of his two remaining DR to block them from charging my RBTs, I need them to shoot at characters.

Image

Magic is 8v4 and I IF Caress on his lord. I roll 5 wounds, but he saves 4 of them on his ward. My RBTs finish off his lord and my Cloakpeg kills his Cloakpeg outright.

Niblit 3

His BSB and Harpies charge my RBTs, the Harpies managing to pull off a 20" charge after I failed to kill more than one of them in my last shooting phase.

Image

Magic is 5v5, the third magic phase in a row where I had the same amount of PD as he had DD! He fails to cast Caress and I dispel Souldblight. Shooting does not do anything.

His harpies and BSB kill one RBT each and overrun off the table.

Dark Reaper 4

My Twilight Peg charges his RBT and I shuffle around a bit to try and make it hard for to move toward my RBTs when he comes back on the board.

Image

Magic is 10v6 and he scrolls CoL and dispels the rest of my spells. Shooting kills the last two DR.

Niblit 4

He moves his BSB away from my army but in the sight of my two remaining RBTs. His harpies move up on the hill.

Image

Magic is 8v6 and he double 1s CoL. SL fails to damage my Dreadlord. Shooting does nothing yet again.

Dark Reaper 5

I decide to play safe and not risk anything. I probably could have pushed with the Darkshards this turn or last turn, but I decided to be happy with a big win without pushing my luck.

Image

I get a big magic phase 12v6 and manage to take 2 wounds off his level 4 with CoL and put Doom and Darkness on his BSB. If he fails his march test I will have another round to shoot at him with RBTs. My RBTs put two wounds on him in the shooting phase.

Niblit 5

He shuffles his troops around a bit and unfortunately passes his march test.

Image

Magic is 7v7, but he miscasts CoL on snake eyes again and lose three levels, leaving him with soulblight as his only remaining spell.

Round 6

Nothing much happens. My magic phase is 3v3 and my CoL on his level 4 doesn't produce any hits. In his last turn he fails to do any damage to my Warlocks.

In the end, he got 190 VP and I got 1335, meaning that I won the game 17-3!, something that I was very happy with.

I could probably have played more aggressive and gone for the 20-0, but he had Fate of Bjuna and I did not want to leave my warm, comfy wall. I think two things really determined the results of this game, the insane dice rolls and his Peg placements. What do you guys think?
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Re: Army Blog - The Dark Reapers - BR against DE 21.09.2014

Post by T.D. »

Thanks for the write up with piccies!

Finely balance match ups like this tend to either (1) neutralise one another or (2) collapse one army.

I think your proactivity won the match here. Although having similar resources to your own, your opponent didn't bring the fight to you quickly enough ...and when he did commit to attack he was undersupported.

Aside from Peg placement and rolls, I'd say losing the first turn hurt him bad. First turn is crucial vs shooty opponents, and from then on in, the more troops your opponent lost the bigger his uphill struggle became.

Despite the role of fortune in this result, you should be proud of your play here -- you took the initiative, anticipated his moves, imposed your forces on his and consequently won a fine victory!
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Re: Army Blog - The Dark Reapers - BR against DE 21.09.2014

Post by Amboadine »

Nicely done. Pictures are always nice.
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Re: Army Blog - The Dark Reapers - BR against DE 21.09.2014

Post by Niblit »

Well played by Dark Reaper. Bad placement of Boltthrowers and a suicidal move in turn 2 ( thought I would loose anyway so took a chance) cost me the game. I need to point out that my General missed it's march test in turn 2. Would have hide behind BSB.
Nice report as usual.
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Re: Army Blog - The Dark Reapers - BR against DE 21.09.2014

Post by Dark reaper »

Yeah, I forgot your General failed his march test. I would also like to draw attention to the fact that the map favoured me heavily. The wall in the middle and the hill placements all favoured me. I think your best bet is to try and play conservatively and get points from sniping, although considering you miscast four times on double 1s, that probably would not have been the best bet either.
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Re: Army Blog - The Dark Reapers - BR against DE 21.09.2014

Post by Dark reaper »

I had a game vs. Olannon yesterday which he chronicled on his blog: http://www.ulthuan.net/forum/viewtopic. ... 20#p888947

In my defence I played a list I don't really know and I got unlucky with some ward saves. I will reluctantly admit that he played a bit better than me as well :P

Army development

I am thinking of trying something different after BSK. My current list is pretty much locked for the team tournament, but I feel like everyone is currently playing variatons of the same list and I want to try something slightly different. Draft 1 looks like this:

Total Roster Cost: 2395

Dreadlord, General, Dark Steed, Heavy Armour, Sea Dragon Cloak, Shield, Giant Blade, Dawnstone, The Other Trickster's Shard - 277 pts
Supreme Sorceress, level 4 Life, Dark Steed, Dispel Scroll, Ring of Hotek - 315 ptsDeath Hag, Cauldron of Blood - 275 pts

Master, BSB, Dark Steed, Heavy Armour, Sea Dragon Cloak, Shield, Lance, Cloak of Twilight - 173pts
Master, Dark Steed, Heavy Armour, Sea Dragon Cloak, Ogre Blade, Charmed Shield, Luckstone - 140pts

26 Witch Elves, Full Command, Banner of Swiftness - 331 pts
17 Dark Riders, Full Command, Shields - 319 pts

Reaper Bolt Thrower - 70 pts
Reaper Bolt Thrower - 70 pts
Reaper Bolt Thrower - 70 pts
Reaper Bolt Thrower - 70 pts

5 Doomfire Warlocks - 125pts
Kharibdyss - 160 pts

What do you guys think? :)
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Re: Army Blog - The Dark Reapers - BR against DoC 08.10.2014

Post by Dark reaper »

I played another BSK test game yesterday, this time against Rusty's Daemons. Due to a dumb mistake on my part this match really did not go very well last time, so I had to make sure not to do that again. This time he brought a Herald list instead of the GUO.

My list (which is not gonna change at this point):

Dreadlord on Dark Steed: General, Repeater Crossbow , Heavy Armour, Sea Dragon Cloak, Shield, Giant Blade, Dawn Stone, The Other Tricksters Shard, 282
Supreme Sorceress: Level 4, Lore of Death, Dispel Scroll, Ring of Hotek, Ironcurse Icon 300
Master on Dark Pegasus: Lance, Heavy Armour, Sea Dragon Cloak, Shield, Cloak of Twilight, 188
Master on Dark Pegasus: Lance, Heavy Armour, Sea Dragon Cloak, Battle Standard bearer, Talisman of Preservation, Charmed Shield, 211
Master on Dark Pegasus: Lance, Sea Dragon Cloak, Shield, Armour of Destiny, 184
5 Dark Riders: Rptr Crossbow, Shields, 100
10 Dark Riders: Rptr Crossbow, Shields, 200
24 Darkshards: FCG, Banner of the Eternal Flame, 328
5 Harpies: 75
4x 1 Reaper Bolt Thrower: 4x 70
2x 5 Doomfire Warlocks: 2x 125

His list:

2 Heralds lvl2 with metal

5x10 horrors

4 Beasts
2x1 Beasts
2x5 Flesh Hounds w/ ambush
2x5 Furies
2 Nurglings

Skullcannon
4 Plague Drones
3 Plague Drones

Deployment

He won the roll to choose sides and I had to start deploying. Considering the fact that he has 1000 drops and I have 8, this was not a good start for me.

He got 2xSearing Doom, Enchanted Blades and Plague of Rust on his Heralds as well as Blue Fire, Bolt of Change, Firestorm, Glean Magic and Gateway on his Horrors.

Image

I vanguard to protect my bunker and to threaten his units with my Dreadlord. I am trying to make no go-zones for his units so that he is unable to threaten my bunker properly. Even though I have +1 to go first, he grabs first turn.

DoC 1

He moves up aggressively and tries to prevent my Dreadlord from charging my BoN by putting Furies in front. In hindsight, it is easy to say that he moved up way too aggressively, but we will take a look at this later.

Image

Magic is 11v6 (10+1 channel), which means that he gets 4++ on all of his units, not exactly what I needed to say the least. He starts by rolling double 1s on two dice when casting Blue Fire on the Dark Riders who are within 6" of the Hotek-toting Supreme Sorceress. Unfortunately, they are Horrors and don't really care about miscasts and only one die. 5 dice Gateway then goes off with IF and he manages to roll up 16 s10 hits, killing all my DR. He loses 4 Horrors from the backlash but gets 3 back from the lore attribute.

In his shooting phase we were discussing if his cannon could actually shoot at my Dreadlord. Granted, he does not hit any of the Furies, but the cannonball still bounces through the unit. We ruled it that he could, but fortunately the Dreadlord only takes one wound.

DE 1

After what felt like an eternity of pain, I finally got my first turn and my Dreadlord was alive. He charges the Furies and I unveil a little trick. One of the Pegasi behind the hill charge as well. He is 15" away and easily makes his charge tying up two of the Furies and allowing my Dreadlord to go corner to corner against the last one, only needing to overrun 6" to hit the BoN next turn. I move my Harpies up so that the Flies will have to charge them in the front as they cannot fit into the Dreadlord's flank whether he hits the BoN or not. The Warlocks charged the Nurglings to keep them away from my Reaper.

Image

Magic is 11v7. He stops Purple Sun, but I manage to get Soublight off on both the Plague Flies on my right flank and the Nurglins to ensure that the Warlocks can beat them easily. My last two dice sees SL go off with IF on his Plague Flies. We both roll a one and he saves all three wounds with his ward save. The backlash kills one Warlocks and puts a wound on the SS. Shooting kills one of the Flies, but does little more than that. The Lord and the Master kill the Furies and the Lord overruns into the BoN while the Master runs right in front of the Horrors who have both his characters stationed within. Things are looking quite good.

DoC 2

This is the turn I afterwards told Rusty that I would not allow him to repeat during BSK. :P We look at it and see that the Flies cannot actually see the Dreadlord, so he charges the Harpies instead. I realise that a flee will see them stopping right in front of my bunker where I have a unit of Warlocks and two Pegs waiting to charge the Flies, so I choose to flee. His four flies are now in a horrible position. He also charges my other Peg with Horrors and the Skullcannon as the Skullcannon could not move past the Horrors if they did not move first. This meant that I had a free shot at killing his general and I also had ld10 due to the Lord being right next to him. He also charges my Warlocks who are fighting the Nurglings with both a single Beast and his two remaining Flies which is great as those are two more units I do not have to worry about. The Flesh Hounds do not arrive.

Image

Magic is 12v7 and he gets 12 new Daemonettes to place behind my bunker. I scroll Plague of Rust on my Dreadlord, dispel Aiban on the Beasts with dice and lose 4 DR to one casting of Blue Fire.

His cannon is in combat so he has no shooting.

In combat the Warlocks kill off the Nurglins and they draw the combat, the Peg saves everything coming from the cannon and the Horrors, kills his general and draws combat, while the Lord does a few wounds to his BoN, but they hold on steadfast.

DE 2

The Twilight Peg charges the Flies together with the Warlocks. My BSB charges his single Beast. The Darkshards turn around to face the Daemonettes.

Image

Magic is 4v4 and PURPLE FUN happens! The Sorceress sends the sun backwards through her own unit and hits 6 DS, 5 Warlocks, 3 Flies and 3 BoN. The agile elves obviously pass their I-checks, but more surprisingly all the Flies does as well. Two of the BoN die however. I get two dice back, but roll a 1+3 to cast Soulblight on the Flies, needing a 5. Still, two dead BoN is obviously a good thing, even though I should have gotten more.

In shooting, I kill all but two of the newly formed Daemonette unit. If Purple Sun was a disappointment against the flies, the Twilight Peg was a revelation. He did 7 wounds to the Flies, the Warlocks managing one more. Rusty rolled a 3 on his break test and one Fly remained vigilant. The Warlocks on the right win combat against the Flies and the single Beast. The Lord continues to win combat against the now one remaining Beast and the Peg in combat with the Horrors and the Skullcannon wins and pops the cannon.

At this point the board looks like this and we call the game:

Image

He had lost pretty much everything that could fight, while I had all my Pegs and the Dreadlord left. In the end it was a 20-0 victory to the Dark Elves!

He probably played this way too aggressive. If he forces me to push I will probably win, but it will probably be more like 11-9 or 12-8 as his Flesh Hounds will kill my RBTs while I move around and gather points.

I am sure I made some mistakes as well, they are just hard to see sometimes when things go your way. If you have any comments or criticism, you are very welcome to give it. What would you have done differently if you played the DE and what would you have done differently if you played the DoC?
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Re: Army Blog - The Dark Reapers - BR against DoC 08.10.2014

Post by Dark reaper »

BSK is getting close and we are currently looking at the matchup process and trying to evaluate how best to go about the pairing.

After BSK is done there will be a GF-comp tournament in Oslo, which I intend to go to. I am planning to take this list:

2400 Pts - Dark Elves Roster

Total Roster Cost: 2387


Dreadlord, General Giant Blade, Dragonhelm, Dawnstone, Heavy Armour, Sea Dragon Cloak, Shield - 252pts
Supreme Sorceress, lvl4 life, Dark Pegasus, Dispel Scroll, Cloak of Twilight - 345pts

Death Hag, Cauldron of Blood, BSB, Banner of Swiftness - 315pts
Shadowblade - 245pts

30 Witch Elves, Full Command, Razor Standard - 405 pts
5 Dark Riders, Shields, RXBs - 100 pts
5 Dark Riders, Shields, RXBs - 100 pts

Reaper Bolt Thrower - 70 pts
Reaper Bolt Thrower - 70 pts
10 Shades - 160 pts
5 Harpies - 75 pts

5 Doomfire Warlocks - 125 pts
5 Doomfire Warlocks - 125 pts

I don't think it will be able to win big against good opponents, but it will probably be enough to secure me a win against players who don't know how to deal with the Witches. I am kind of struggling with how to build DE under GF comp and I think this might be a good list, at least it is different.
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Re: Army Blog - The Dark Reapers - BSK

Post by Dark reaper »

We are leaving for Sweden and BSK tonight. For the first round, we have drawn arguably the strongest of all the teams, featuring half the Swedish ETC team from this year. I will try to take notes during the tournament and present them here in some capacity.
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Re: Army Blog - The Dark Reapers - BR against DoC 08.10.2014

Post by Amboadine »

Good luck. Looking forward to hearing back from the tournament.
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Re: Army Blog - The Dark Reapers - After BSK

Post by Dark reaper »

So, the tournament is over and we had a fantastic weekend. The team format was highly interesting and I have to say it promoted a quite different playstyle than a single tournament does.'

Game 1

Our first game was a hard one, meeting one of the strongest teams in the world. They had Orcs and Goblins, High Elves, Dark Elves and Empire. I figured I could pretty much play against everything and play for a draw. After pairing, I ended up against Empire with the following list:

Grand master, runefang, charmed shield, potion of
speed, dragonbane gem: 255
Battle wizard lord, lvl4, light, scroll of shielding,
obsidian amulet, crown of command, warhorse:
298
Captain, BSB, fullplate armour, warhorse, shield,
sword of might, luckstone, the other trickster's
shard, dragonhelm: 155
battle wizard, lvl1, light, dispel scroll, ironcurse
icon, warhorse: 107
14 Inner circle knights, FCG, standard of discipline:
395
5 Empire knights: 110
5 Empire knights: 110
5 Demigryphs, mus: 300
5 Demigryphs, mus: 300
1 Great cannon: 120
1 Steam tank: 250
2400

So much 1+... I figured I could probably redirect his bus, zone his small knight units and focus the demigryphs if he decided to push while trying to take some points from range. The player playing Empire was IIRC the player scoring the highest points total for the Swedish ETC team this year.

Image

We pretty much deployed in opposite corners. I got lucky and he failed to get Banishment with 5(!) levels of light magic.

I started shooting at his tank, but failed to do a significant amount of damage. He played quite passively and did not push. He took two of my RBTs as well as a unit of Warlocks (by casting one Shem's Burning Gaze!). My Twilight Peg ran 5 of his knights off the board early on, the only VP i got during the entire game, as his Stank survived on one wound and his Demis passed a LD7 check, due to Doom and Darkness, preventing them from running off the table in the last round. In the end, he was 200VP up and won 11-9, a result I was actually quite happy with. I played tight and did what was expected of me.

Olannon decided to push against shooty High Elves and got 9 points after having his whole bus shot off in a single round of shooting, preventing him from getting a nice, big win. Strange managed to beat O&G 12-8, which is extremely impressive and Rusty took 8 points with Daemons against Dark Elves, which is no small feat. This means we ended up with 38-42 against one of the best teams in the world. Even though it would have been nice to win, we were extremely happy with the result and were looking forward to the rest of the tournament.
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Re: Army Blog - The Dark Reapers - After BSK Game 1 Empire

Post by rusty_ »

Quick note: I just reread the report from our last game. I'm very grateful you stripped away most of my dumbest mistakes before the tournament. Particularly since some (to remain unnamed, but very sadistic ) person chose to pair me versus Dark Elves in three out of five games.

DE is still one of the hardest matchups for defensive daemons. Playing three games, facing almost the exact list I would go on to face three times during the tournament was invaluable.


As for your Empire game, I can see why he didn't push. All those hills and the ruins would have been a perfect area for you to trap his units, while he would suffer with less manouverable units.

Do you think you'd be able to push and win versus this kind of Empire?
Reason I'm asking is partly for a singles setting. Mostly because banishment could probably have netted him a further couple of fastcav units, winning 12-8 or 13-7.
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Re: Army Blog - The Dark Reapers - After BSK Game 1 Empire

Post by rusty_ »

PS: draw vs the reigning ETC Empire champ is pretty solid.
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Re: Army Blog - The Dark Reapers - After BSK Game 2 Daemons

Post by Dark reaper »

I don't think I can push versus Empire. I could try moving my Pegs up more aggressively as well as trying to get in range for sniping the stank, but I chose to do the safe approach and play for the small points. Considering how the rest of the games went, I think I made the right choice.

Game 2 on the other hand would be a whole different kettle of fish. I got paired against one of the Norwegian ETC players from this year. He played a very interesting Daemon list.

Herald of Tzeentch, lvl2, Lore of Metal - 125 Pts.
Herald of Nurgle, Regen, BSB - 160 Pts.

12 Pink Horrors - 156 Pts.
31 Plaguebearers, M, S, C, Std. of Swiftness - 448 Pts.

3 Screamers - 120 Pts.
3 Screamers - 120 Pts.
3 Screamers - 120 Pts.
4 Beasts of Nurgle - 240 Pts.
3 Beasts of Nurgle - 180 Pts.
5 Chaosfuries, Mark of Tzeench - 70 Pts.
5 Chaosfuries 60 Pts.

5 Plague Drones, Poison upgrade - 300 Pts
5 Plague Drones, Poison upgrade - 300 Pts

Total: 2399

I have no picture from this game, which is okay as I don't want to relive it. I made the mistake of playing as I would against a more defensive DoC list, but didn't consider the fact that 2x5 Drones is a whole other ballpark to 3+4. My opponent played a flawless game, came at me with everything and I let him have the game exactly were he wanted it from the start. I was easily beat 20-0, with only my BSB and one Reaper survining the battle. Fortunately for me, Rusty and Olannon played extremely well, winning 20-0, and 16-4 respectively, which meant that even though both Strange and I were beaten into a bloody pulp, we still ended up with 36 BP and at least a decent shot at a respectable placement.

The game was probably the hardest I have ever played. My opponent was a great sport and knew his list and how to play it extremely well.
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Re: Army Blog - The Dark Reapers - After BSK Game 2 DoC

Post by Amboadine »

I think we have all had games like that, where you complete unestimate or do not immediately assess the threats correctly. Live, learn and move on :)
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Re: Army Blog - The Dark Reapers - After BSK Game 3 WoC

Post by Dark reaper »

After game 2, we had 74/110 possible points (each round was capped at 55pts) and we figured that we had to go for some big wins if were to have any chance at a top placement. We had a pretty good pairing where we got HE-HE (always good w/ Star Dragon, especially as our opponent had no RBTs!), DoC-O&G and DE-WoC (w/ DP), only having to sacrifice Strange against VC. We pretty much decided that we should go for the big points this time. Olannon was pretty sure that he would go 20-0, which meant that the rest of us only had to get 25 BP combined, which should be doable.

His list:

Deamon Prince: General, Deamon of Tzeenth; Level 2; Lore of Metal; Deamonic Flight; Chaos Armour; Scaled skin; Flaming breath, Charmed shield, Sword of striking, Dragonbane gem, 455
Exalted Hero: Barded Deamonic Mount; BSB; Halberd, Talisman of Preservation; Mark of Tzeenth, Shield 249
Chaos Sorcerer: Level 2, Lore of Metal; Enchanted Shield, Dispel scroll 175
18 Chaos Warriors: Halberds; Shields; Mark of Nurgle; Gleaming Penant; FCG 395
Chaos Chariot: Mark of Slaneesh 115
Chaos Chariot: Mark of Slaneesh 115
Chaos Chariot: Mark of Slaneesh 115
5 Chaos Warhounds 30
5 Chaos Warhounds 30
Chimeara; Flaming Breath, Regenerating flesh 275
3 Skull Crushers of Khorne; Musician 235
Hellcannon 210

He deployed aggressively, with his DP out in the open. I got first turn. After SB, the RBTs managed three wounds on the DP which is about average. He then moved up quite aggressively on his turn, which meant that I could probably shoot the DP, start shooting the Skullcrushers and focus on his Warriors and BSB. Unfortunately, his Hellcannon hit my DR with Dreadlord, panicing them toward the board edge. He also IFs Final Trans on my bunker.

Image

The Dreadlord rallies, but the Darkshards fail a re-rollable 9 for their stupidity test. Great! Warlocks kill the DP and everything looks great. I plan to use the Dreadlord and Pegs to mop up the rest of his army, but unfortunately, my Twilight Peg fails to do the 2 wounds needed to break steadfast on a rear charge against Skullcrushers, my Lord stood still in combat against the Chaos Warriors for 4(!) turns with him only having ld5 from Doom and Darkness, while he grinded down the Warlocks in his side. I also threw away my BSB on a downhill charge against his BSB. He managed to kill me over a few turns of combat, despite having double Soublight on himself. In the end, I only managed a 12-8 win, after his Hellcannon hit my bunker, making them run off the table in the last round. The fifth Hellcannon hit off the game! I have to admit I was a bit miffled at the result, as only a few of the obnoxious dice-rolls instead going my way could have given me the 20-0 victory I wanted.

It turns out it did not matter anyway, as Ollanon predictably got his 20-0 (his opponent could not do anything), Rusty got 20-0 against O&G after a Plague Drone decided to pass three ward saves during the last turn AND stomp his general to death (stupid Daemons) and Strange managed to tank the VC matchup into a very respectable 8-12 result. We capped our opponents and were suddenly back in the race.
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Re: Army Blog - The Dark Reapers - After BSK Game 3 WoC

Post by T.D. »

This is great feedback.

Sounds like a top quality tournament full of top quality play!

Nice work :)
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Re: Army Blog - The Dark Reapers - After BSK Game 3 WoC

Post by Dark reaper »

Thanks. I am glad you appreciate it! The tournament was indeed a top quality one. The team aspect was very interesting and something that none of us had much familiarity with from before. I was usually put out as a counter army as this kind of list can pretty much play against everything and do ok (Daemons apparently being the exception).

The idea that I could play against everything was again explored in game 4, where I drew an evil and wicked Vampire Counts list.

Vampire Lord: General, Level 4, Lore of Vampires, Great Weapon, Talisman of Preservation, Nightshroud, Aura of Dark Majesty, The Other Tricksters Shard, 460

Vampire: BSB, Level 2, Lore of Death, Shield, Obsidian Amulet, Scroll of Shielding, 212
Necromancer: Level 2, Lore of Death, Dispel Scroll, 125
2x1 Tomb Banshee: 95

55 Skeleton Warriors: FCG, Banner of Swiftness, 320
2x20 Zombies: Musician, 65
3x5 Dire Wolves: Champion, 50

8 Crypt Horrors: 304
2x2 Fell Bats: 32

Terrorgheist: 225
Mortis Engine: 220

I decided to play this one safe and castled in the opposite corner from him. Unfortunately I didn't remember to take pictures during this game, but nothing much happened anyway. I shot off his Dire Wolves early with Doombolts and RBT fire, but I made a stupid mistake and placed my Warlocks within 6" of each other. He killed an entire unit with one Gaze of Nagash (unlikely, but possible) and the other unit ran off the board. At the end of the game, my shooting and a well-placed Purple Sun managed to reduce his Skeleton bunker to two models. If I had got the last two, it would have been an 11-9, but in the end it was a draw, 10-10. I was fairly happy about this all things considered. Vampire Counts is not an easy matchup and at this point it was crucial that I did not lose big if we were to have any chance in the overall standing. I just wished I had not made the mistake with the Warlocks.

Olannon really brought out his top game and beat the HE life bus 20-0, Strange managed 8-12 against the Empire, even with his war machines being gone early on in the game, while Rusty again tanked the DE matchup, this time winning 11-9! We got a total of 49 points this round and we were at a respectable 7th place before the last game, which would be played on the following day. For that one I actually have some decent pictures as well!
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Re: Army Blog - The Dark Reapers - After BSK Game 4 VC

Post by Dark reaper »

I have to admit I lost some interest in writing this a while ago, when I figured that I was pretty much talking to myself and occasionally two or three other people. Since it has been a while since BSK, I am not going to write a report on my last game against Skaven, but I managed to draw 10-10 after being 1" short of running his deathstar off the table, which would have netted me the 20-0 win. It turned out not to matter in the end, as rusty again did great against DE and Olannon won big, making us cap our opponents once again. In the end, we finished 4th, one BP away from third place. I really hope we will have the chance to go again, as the tournament was the most fun I have ever had playing Warhammer. The team aspect was just such a nice addition to the game.

I see some more Army Blogs popping up in the BR forum, maybe a mod could move this over there as well?
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Re: Army Blog - The Dark Reapers - After BSK Game 4 VC

Post by Dark reaper »

At the time, I am playing in a league where I so far has managed to get 87/100 points, second place having 64 points. It features a mounted level 4 death, a Witchstar and 10 Warlocks. I am honestly starting to get a bit tired of playing it and want to try something different. There is a tournament coming up in April where I though I would field something fun. The list so far looks like this. (ETC 2.5)

Dreadlord on Black Dragon, General, Heavy Armour, Shield, Sea Dragon Cloak, Ogre Blade, Talisman of Preservation, The Other Trickster's Shard - 557pts
Supreme Sorceress on Dark Steed, Lvl 4, Lore of Metal, Dispel Scroll, Ring of Hotek - 315pts

Master on Dark Pegasus, BSB, Heavy Armour, Sea Dragon Cloak, Shield, Cloak of Twilight - 213pts

30 Witch Elves, Full Command, Banner of Eternal Flame - 370pts
11 Dark Riders, Repeater Crossbow, Shield, Standard - 230pts

Reaper Bolt Thrower - 70pts
Reaper Bolt Thrower - 70pts
Reaper Bolt Thrower - 70pts
Reaper Bolt Thrower - 70pts
5 Harpies - 75pts
5 Harpies - 75pts

5 Doomfire Warlocks - 125pts
Kharibdyss - 160pts

The worst thing is that it actually uses all my 5 choices, the Dragon taking up one...

While the dragon is by no means an optimal choice, I really want to try it to see how it works, maybe it can work well in tandem with Piercing Blades of Aiban or something. The Kharibdyss is also a suboptimal choice, but it might prove to be tricky to deal with for some opponents. I like the fact that it is s7 and its Abyssal Howl ability. With Piercing Blades it might actually get to use its Feast of Bones ability once in a while as well. I am not 100% on the double Harpies yet, but I think it might be good against opponents with a lot of war machines (cannons) where they can try and kill them so the Dragon can come out of hiding. The Witch Elves are mainly there to kill huge amounts of stuff, such as BoN, Trolls, Empire State Troops etc. What do you think? Can I win battles with this list? :D
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Re: Army Blog - The Dark Reapers - After BSK Game 4 VC

Post by Amboadine »

Dark reaper wrote:I see some more Army Blogs popping up in the BR forum, maybe a mod could move this over there as well?


And done.

To be honest, I have enjoyed the Blog to date. I think you will find that a lot more people read it than comment upon it.

As for your new list. It is quite an interesting, my main concern would be the unprotected block of witches, I might have been tempted to drop the harpies and try and give them a little protection in the way of a screening unit of Corsairs or maybe split the DR's.
The peg master should be able to take care of more war machines anyway, or perhaps go with Shades with GW's instead of Harpies as an effective war machine killing unit.
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Re: Army Blog - The Dark Reapers - Preparing for a Tournamen

Post by Dark reaper »

Thanks, mate.

I usually enjoy writing the blog, I just felt that it was just me posting for a few pages.

The list is not going to be fantastic, but I think the Witch Elves will be able to hold their own, mainly due to the fact that there are precious few things who can just go in and wipe them out. I am not perfectly happy with the Harpies, but I always include one unit anyway, mostly to protect my big blocks by redirecting other blocks (mainly 1+/2+ save units in this case) for that one crucial round where I need it. I could have split the DR, but I really want my SS to have somewhere safe to go.

My main concern is undoubtely going to be the dragon, as it is just not that good...I do however think that it can actually be decent against some of the more powerful characters in the game right now, such as Chaos Lords, Daemon Princes and Greater Daemons. I still haven't figured out what the Kharibdyss truly excells at and I haven't really found anyone writing anything constructive about using it either.
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