Game 1 vs Empire
Game 2 vs DE
Game 3 vs DE
Game 4 vs Vampire Counts
My list was as follows:
Supreme Sorceress, level 4, Shadow Magic, Talisman of Preservation (4+), Sacrificial Dagger, Life Taker
Sorceress, level 2, Death Magic, Dark Pegasus, PoK, Tome of Furion
Death Hag, BSB, Cauldron of Blood
20 Spearmen with shields, standard, standard of discipline (level 4 bunker)
28 Corsairs, hand weapons, musician, standard, sea serpent standard
5 Dark Riders, repeating crossbows, musician
5 Harpies
18 Repeating Crossbowmen, musician
30 Witch Elves, musician, standard, banner of murder
20 Black Guard, musician, standard, banner of eternal flame
10 Cold One Knights
5 Shades, additional hand weapons
Hydra
Hydra
You may recognize my opponent's list; he is the same person I played in Game 3. The board is familar as well because this is the third time I've played on it. I believe we were matched up due to battle point total so we must have been the top two in order to get a rematch... at least that's how I think it went. His witch cult list is as follows:
Crone Hellebron
Supreme Sorceress, level 4, shadow magic, flying carpet, not sure of other gear
Death Hag, BSB, Banner of Hag Graef
Death Hag, Cauldron of Blood
Master on Manticore, heavy armor, lance, shield, cloak, Ring of Hotek
40 Witch Elves, full command
30 (or so) Executioners, full command (Hellebron and BSB here)
5 Dark Riders, musician
5 Dark Riders, musician
5 Dark Riders, musician
5 Dark Riders, musician
Hydra
Hydra
Deployment and scenario
This mission was battleline with a twist. Deployment goes as normal and then you roll on a D3 chart for various conditions that apply to the field. All would have a global effect on the armies.
As with the last time I played against this opponenet, I figured he would try and use his fast units plus the manticore to try and get behind me. I deployed so that would be difficult if not impossible. I thought the executioners block would be more dangerous this time as there was nothing to bottle them, so I set the Corsairs, Black Guard, and a Hydra to hopefully handle them. I went witches to witches on my left. Again, I set up shooting units to counter the dark riders. My opponenet vanguarded as indicated by the grey arrows.
So on to the dice roll! We rolled up a night fighting scenario. This caused us to roll an artillery dice each game turn. The result is multiplied by 3 and that is the distance each unit can "see." This capped the max distance for charges, direct damage spells, and shooting. Didn't so sound so bad, but then we started rolling.....
Turn 1
For the first time this tournament, I didn't get the first turn. We rolled up a 2 for sight distance... meaning an incredible 6 inches. My opponent begins moving up as seen. He is aggressive to the point of suicidal with the left most dark riders in order to get them in sight range. Magic is pointless as he is out of range for anything useful.
I basically keep my line in place for the bottom end of turn 1. The shades close with the right most dark riders, kill a few, and panic them. My peg sorceress flies out to try and shoot off the purple sun, which doesn't require targeting so basically ignores the 6 inch sight range. The repeater crossbows mow down the dark riders on my left.
My attempt at Purple Sun doesn't reach the casting value with 7 dice. Darn. Nothing else happens with magic.
Turn 2
We roll up 18 inches of sight range and my left side falls apart this turn. The manticore rider (who was exactly 18 inches away) declares a charge against the crossbows. They fail terror and run off the board. He then redirects into the dark riders. I take one wound off the manticore with stand and shoot, but he kills them all in combat and reforms to face down my line. The remaining dark riders on my left declare a charge against my level 2 and she flees, bouncing over the witches. A unit of dark riders on the right flank charges my Shades and is wiped out in combat.
The witch cult sorceress is out of sight range for any useful damage spells and nothing important is cast.
During my part of turn 2 the peg sorceress rallies and reforms to face the manticore rider. Rematch anyone? I shuffle the right side of my line around to prepare to box in the executioners if they decide to walk into the trap. The shades move around a bit.
During my magic phase I miscast something unimportant and eat all my power dice. Neat.
Turn 3
Industrial pollution is evidently a problem in the warhammer world as it blocks out the moon on a roll of 2 and we can only see 6 inches again. This develops into a problem, especially for me since I have the second half of the turn. I think that in 8th editon close combat, especially DE vs DE, the player who can get into combat on their turn with the right magic will win most of the time. The problem is that if I get close to his units when the sight distance is garbage and we then roll high sight for the next turn, I will get charged. This causes me to not move up aggressively, as getting punched in the face is not my favorite thing to do. Impacts the game as you will see....
My opponent moves his witch cult forward on my left, but the executioner block stays put. Dark riders and the manticore rider move very aggressively into my back field. I'm not really worried about the manticore rider as he's not great at combat aside from terror. My shades get burned by the right side Hydra and one lives. He's not impressed and passes his panic check.
Again, nothing important happens with magic.
In my half of the turn, I move the peg sorceress behind the manticore intending to fry him like I did in game 3. I move the Cold Ones up in an attempt to take out the Hydra. My Harpies fly out to block the witch cult horde and bait them into a flank situation.
During the magic phase, I miscast something on the level 4, blow up a few spearmen, and lose the rest of my dice. It has to get better eventually, right?
Turn 4
So you probably guessed it, we roll up another 2 on the artillery die. Manticore charges into the back of my bunker and eats a few spearmen, but I stick on a rerollable 10 due to steadfast. I think he forgets to move his left end dark riders and they fire some shots at my witches. My opponent's right side Hydra charges and runs down the last shade. The witch cult horde doesn't take the Harpy bait and reforms slightly, with the level 4 moving up.
With a sight distance of 6 inches, this is what magic was reduced to. The harpies see their initiative reduced and a pendulum shot through their unit. 4 out of 5 die, but one remains to be annoying.
I move up the peg sorceress aggressively to try and cause some damage. Growing tired of the riders in my flank, I move the witches back and the Hydra up, burning all of them to death. My spearmen go crazy in the manticore combat and kill the monster, leaving only the master. I fail the reform.
During the magic phase I again fail to meet the casting value of purple sun on 7 dice. That is it.
Turn 5
So guess what.... another 2 for sight distance. The remaining harpy gets charged and dies, causing the witches to overrun into the hydra on my left. As it is turn 5, they will do nothing further. Dark Riders run up to point blank my level 2, but can't manage to wound her. The witch cult level 4 moves within sight range of the Hydra (picture is a bit off) and drops Pit of Shades on it, killing it. The executioner block moves up a bit more, but is still a long way out from seeing action. Combat between my bunker and the master is a push.
Seeing that the enemy level 4 is in a vulnerable position with no possible counter attack, my peg sorceress zooms over to collect some points. I run my Cold One Knights up to an inch from the right side hydra, jamming it against the impassible terrain so it can't wheel at all to charge me. My remaining hydra burns the last of the Dark Riders. I put killing blow on my bunker and they beat down the master in combat.
During the magic phase I get a boat load of power dice. I reduce the enemy level 4's toughness to 1 and hit her with Bjuna. She takes 6 or 7 wounds and goes down. Without calculating the points at the time, I thought taking out this model might determine the winner.
Turn 6
The artillery die turns up a 10 for sight. With 30 inches of range, charges between the bigger blocks are now possible. My opponent send the left side Hydra into the witch horde. He kills a bunch, but they are stubborn rerollable thanks to the cauldron and hold. The Executioner block tries to charge my remaining Hydra and fails. The right side Hydra reforms to get the Cold Ones out of the flank.
I decline to charge the huge executioner block. The Cold Ones charge into the right side Hydra. I do maybe 3 wounds, but we stick in combat. The witch horde loses combat again, but sticks due to stubborn. I move the level 2 up again to try and claim some last minute points. She is able to fire the Purple Sun through the cult cauldron, destroying it.
Thats it!
End of game
I did not like this scenario at all. Our rolling poorly on the sight distance really handicapped the player going second in my opinion. As a result, I just sat still because I didn't want to be charged. The game essentially consisted of supporting units fighting it out. Neither of my opponent's big nasty units made it into combat, aside from killing a 55 point unit of harpies.
The game result was a win for me by 269 points. That was enough to not be tied under the tournament scoring rules by 70 points. With secondary objectives considered, the game result was a 14 to 8 victory.
Tournament results
Thoughts on the list: Repeating crossbowmen were the most under utilized unit. They killed some dark riders but didn't really do anything else. I need to find out how to use them better. The peg sorceress was an absolute rock star. She accounted for a huge amount of destruction in terms of points compared to her cost. Many times she took out key units, such as cauldrons or a hydra, that had a big impact. Over the 5 games, she took out over 2400 points worth of models, averaging 480 points a game. She costs 235. A 2 to 1 return and only dying once in 5 games isn't bad.
Playing this much warhammer over 2 days was kind of tiring. When the final results came out, I had gone 5 - 0 and had the highest battle points, getting the best general. Combined with painting, I had an overall score of 100. The best overall score was 105.
I woudn't say my army is ugly, but it doesn't contain conversions, a display board, or many (if any) advanced painting techniques. As a result I got 14 points on painting. The highest paint score was 38. I got crushed in that category by 24 points. The best painter ended up being the best overall as well, but his army was amazing and he deserved it.
Anyway, this was a fun tournament and the list worked out better than I thought it would. Thanks to those who commented on the army list!
, but congrats on your victories
