Thraundils battle log game 56: UB tournament Round One!

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Thraundil
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Thraundils battle log, game 13: 2600 vs Bretonnia

Post by Thraundil »

Greetings, one and all! I bring you here another battle report. Looking towards a tournament with 2MD ruleset in 10 days, I've played a few practise games this week. One game with the list I played vs daemons of chaos a few battles up. I lost it horribly; my big fast cav bus cant work together with the very static infantry. I then decided to try something else. High mobility! For those who dont know 2MD, it goes like this; pick a 2200 points army with lots of mean stuff, a 2400 points semi mean, or a 2600 point "friendly" army. The more friendly army in any matchup gets +1 to who goes first. For DE, only the 2600 point list really makes sense, though you are capped at 35 shooting models (RBT count as 6) and 2 RBTs. Also, you cannot take more than two out of cloak, supreme sorc, warlocks, or shadow magic. Also, no duplicate characters, and no more than 2 characters with movement beyond 6 via mounts (bretonnia excempt from this rule), and in the friendly list special nor rare units may not be duplicated, and core may only duplicate twice.

So, without further ado, here is my test list!

Dreadlord on Black Dragon, black amulet, charmed shield and the other tricksters shard
Master BSB on pegasus, cloak of twilight
Lvl 2 metal sorceress, ruby ring + dispel scroll
2x5 DR with shields and mus (capped at shooting models)
14 darkshards, flaming banner
21 WE, gleaming banner
10 Cold One Knights
2 RBT
5 shades
5 harpies
15 Doomfire Warlocks

You will notice I have only one viable option to hide the lvl 2; the darkshards. Nothing really good to protect that unit - but deployed far back, the opponent will have to either ignore it, or send some soldiers to get them that will then not hinder my other units. I opted for 5 harpies to have 3 mobile redirector units, since I really want to control the movement phase with this kind of list, in order to set up charges.

I played vs a Bretonnia "middle ways" 2400 point list. In this middle ground he may take 2 trebutches, but not a crown of command. The reason he didnt go full friendly is, that in that scenario he must choose between trebutchet #2 and virtue of heroism. Mind you - we played closed lists, so all magic items I had no idea about where they would be. His list looked like this;

Bret lord on royal pegasus, charmed shield, "max 1 wound in any one phase" item.
Prophetess on Warhorse, lvl 4 lore of life
Paladin BSB on warhorse, +d6 on first charge banner
Paladin on warhorse, virtue of heroism
Damsel on warhorse, lvl 1 lore of beasts
2x12 Knights of the Realm
2x10 peasant bowmen
10 skirmisher bowmen
10 Grail Knights
2 Trebutchets
4 Pegasus Knights


Deployment:

Image

I rolled final transmutation and plague of rust on my lvl 2. His lvl 1 took the signature, and his lvl 4 had an awful roll! 1, 2, 4 and 6! Getting dwellers, but not getting neither throne of vines nor regrowth.

Deployment saw him putting a knight block on each flank and one in the centre, supported by peasants. All knight units where in lance formation. His pegasus knights went down fairly early on his left flank, this surprised me a little as it gave me freedom to place my flying characters to the right. Grail knights contained his BSB and lvl 4, and the central knights of the realm his paladin with heroic killing blow and his lvl 1. I was able to deploy and plan agressively, knowing I would get to go first. My shades blocked his pegasus vanguard, and my dark riders vanguarded in towards the centre.
And true enough, the entire Bretonnian army kneeled down and prayed to the Lady, which brought a smirk on my dreadlords face. Foolish human peasants, all of them! With grim determination he mounted his great black dragon and took to the skies........

Dark Elves turn 1:

Image

No charges. Dark riders soar forward to block the movement of his central knights of the realm. Harpies flies to hinder movement of his grail knights, and the dragonlord and his son the battle standard bearer flies towards the bretonnian lines, making sure to stay out of the bretonnian lords charge arc, just in case he had some sort of crazy long turn 1 charge. Warlocks took the centre, confident in their ability to grind versus the bret lord should he charge them. Knights advanced carefully, staying well out of likely charge range of the lord, too. Witch elves runs through the wood, eager to close distance with the humans.

Magic was boring; I get 4 dice to 3, and do a small doombolt on his lord. Turns out he has 2+ vs spells, but at least I knocked his charmed shield off.

Shooting saw a pegasus knight knocked from his saddle by RBT fire, and my shades wounded another.

Bretonnia turn 1:

Image

The bretonnians finished their prayer, outraged that the dark elven forces had just begun their attack already. Central knights of the realm charge the dark riders. I doubleflee, and he fails his charge. A single rider failed dangerous terrain. Remaining units move agressively forward. His lord flies right in front of my lord, possibly to bait a charge. Turns out this was a mistake by him. Grail knights choose not to charge harpies, and instead moves up, using the harpies as flank cover from my witch elves.

His magic phase saw 2 dark riders die to a magic missile from the lvl 4, and shield of thorns go on the central knights of the realm.

A trebutchet stone then landed splat in the middle of the warlocks, crushing 5. Skirmishers fired on them too, failing to kill any. Bowmen on the hill shot my dark riders in front of the CoK, hoping to kill them, but failed to do so. Bowmen on the flank shot 1 shade. The central trebutchet misfired and lost a wound, and would be unable to fire next turn.

Dark Elves turn 2:

Image

This would spell the beginning of disaster for the bretonnians, as the dragonlord and BSB both take off, soar right over the bretonnian lord and slam into the front of the grail knights. The witch elves, realising the path was now clear, then charge the lord. Warlocks charge the peasant bowmen, losing a few models to stand and shoot. Every charge succeeded.

Harpies moved to the rear of his hilltop bowmen (I could have charged them over the grail knights, shame on me for missing that!). Central dark riders rally and block his knights of the realm. Other dark riders move to support the crossbowmen from the advancing knights. My cold one knights fail stupidity, and decides to stay where they are.

Magic saw me cast plague of rust on the flank knights of the realm, which he dispelled. I then tossed 5 dice on final transmutation, but fail to even make the cast roll! Booh.

Shooting was entirely uneventful I believe. My crossbowmen put down one knight of the realm I think.

In close combat, my warlocks naturally wiped the peasants, and overran... 1, 1, 1 on the dice. Wow! :)
The grail knights called out a challenge which my BSB accepted. 3 killing blows and 3 succesful ward saves later, my pegasus had to step in, impaling the grail knight on its horn and slamming his corpse to the floor. My dragonlord and dragon combined managed to kill another 4 knights, while he did nothing in return. He was steadfast because he only needs 3 models to form a rank, however, he rolled 11 followed by 10 on the reroll. Disastrous for him, but the BSB heroically buys time for the rest of the knights to escape safely from the pursuing master. The dragonlord opted to restrain and reform to face the centre.
The witch elves put a horrific number of wounds on the lord - enough to kill him, in fact, where it not for him only ever being able to suffer a single wound in any one phase. Tut tut! He killed enough witches in return to draw combat, and I had no musician so we just stood there. I retained frenzy, though, and got a wound on him!

Bretonnia turn 2:

Image

Knights of the realm charge crossbowmen who stand and shoot. I drop a knight, but the rest makes it in. Pegasus knights charge the leftmost RBT. Central knights of the realm reform 5 wide to face the threat of both my knights and my dragonlord, forming such that both charges, if declared, would be frontal. Both bowmen reform to shoot. Grail knights rally, but the prophetess is more than 12" away from her lord, preventing her from healing his wounds!

Magic sees a high roll. He magic missiles my BSB which I take to the face and make all saves with ease. He then puts +2T on his grail knights which I dispel with all the dice I have. He tosses a dwellers on the dragon and I scroll it, knowing the sorceress would likely die this round anyway.

Shooting sees the lone trebutchet able to fire scatter off the dragon, putting a S5 hit on both mount and rider. Rider makes his save, and the dragon is not bothered by a little dust. Bowmen kill one harpy, the other unit kills 2 shades who panic and flee!

Knights of the realm crush the crossbowmen who break and are run down. Pegasus knights dispose of my bolt thrower and reforms to spot the other. Witch elves put another wound on the lord, lose 3 numbers in return. A draw again.

Dark Elves turn 3:

Image

Knights and dragonlord charge the central knights. He had to wheel in to close the gap with my knights, just barely bringing them into contact, but at least I would break his steadfast. Lord easily makes it into the front. Warlocks charge the trebutchet, BSB charge his grail knights. Harpies charge bowmen, and shades fail to rally. Central dark riders move out to spot the flank of the lord next turn for some CR should I fail to kill him, and the other dark riders move down to make reforming annoying for his knights of the realm.

In magic, I roll 10 dice. I use them all to dispel shield of thorns from his knights of the realm.

Shooting puts down another pegasus knight, leaving 2.

Close combat sees my harpies butcher 5 peasants, losing 2 or 3 in return. He is steadfast though, and holds. Go peasants! They hold where knights run. BSB slaugthers 2 grail knights, they dont wound him in return. For the second time, he rolls 10 on the break test, and without the BSB to save him this time, he runs right off the board.

The central battle sees him fail his fear test on the knights of the realm! My lord directs all attacks on the paladin, and his lance strikes true. However, some strange magic diverts the lance in the last moment, and only the paladins shield arm is pierced. Cold One Knights drop 2 knights of the realm. His paladin then draws his sword, and as the dragon moves his maw right next to him to try and munch him up, decapitates the dragon with a single swing of the blade. Hot, black blood spewed everywhere and the dragon fell to the ground in a dying struggle, the proud dreadlord thrown into the blood-mud in a clash of armor and flapping, leathery wings beating for the last time. Drat! I thought his lord would have that virtue. The 6 wounds right there means I lose combat by 2 or 3, I forgot, but in any case I luckily hold with both the lord and the knights.

Warlocks dispatch the trebutchet no problem, and reforms to face his bowmen and other warmachine.

Bretonnia turn 3:

Image

Pegasus knights charge the other trebutchet and makes it. Knights of the realm on the southern hill reform and moves slightly back towards the centre.

He chose not to risk a miscast on the only spell available to him. Shooting saw another 3 warlocks die to a trebutchet rock, and the peasant bowmen killed the last 2 shades from long range. Harpies kill another 2 peasants, losing a single harpy in return. He again holds. My remaining bolt thrower is destroyed.
The dreadlord now rose enraged, covered from head to toe in black dragons blood and grassy mud. He throws his shattered lance aside, draws his sword and cuts the paladins mount down from under him. As the noble knight scrambles to regain his posture, blood gushing from the wound in his arm, the furious dreadlord thrusts his blade right through the visor of the paladins helmet, leaving the dragonslayer stone dead on the ground. The rest of the unit actually manage to fail fear test again, and the cold one knights go to town on the unit, killing 3 knights in exchange for 1 dead cold one knight. No longer steadfast, his knights break and flee. I pursue, but fail to catch them.

Dark Elves turn 4:

Image

Fleeing knights you say? Not for long! The dreadlord charge after them, catching them outside the board and murders the knights to the last man. The damsel he takes captive - to the victor goes the spoils of war! ;)
Warlocks charge the bowmen, who attempts to flee, but they are run over and cut down. Witch elves charge the last 3 bowmen brawling it out with harpies on the kill, and my cold one knights reform to face the centre, towards which the BSB also flies. Central dark riders block in the knights of the realm, the others move to spot the rear of the pegasus knights.

Unsurprisingly, the witch elves butcher the remaining archers, and overruns 1" before the remaining harpy stops them.

Bretonnia turn 4:

Image

Knights of the realm charge the 2 dark riders, wipe them, and choose not to overrun and expose their flanks. Pegasus knights move up to act as sacrificial lambs, scrambling to preserve just a specker of honour.

Trebutchet falls short of the warlocks.

Dark Elves turn 5:

Image

Warlocks charge and wipe the trebutchet as the dreadlord returns to the battlefield dragging the captured damsel by the hair. BSB tries a long charge on the pegasus knights, but fails. The cold one knights slam into their front, though, and lances strike through armor, sinew and bone, leaving the remaining pegasi and riders alike dead on the ground. The remaining dark rider unit then moves up to make sure that the knights of the realm will not be able to charge the cold ones.


We called it quits here. His knights of the realm would likely reform and make it out of charge arc. To test this, he took a swift leadership test to see if he could really swift reform. Naturally, he failed, and we agreed that he would probably be tabled by my cold one knight and BSB combo charge as a result. Crushing victory to the dark elves!


As the surviving dark elves ran rampant through the surrounding villages and farms in the following days, plundering, raping and enslaving, the dreadlord held the captured damsel in his own tent. Her anguished screams made every enslaved bretonnian realise what fate awaited the lot of them.


Post-game analysis:

Okay. Heroic killing blow sucks! I nearly lost it there. Was really not expecting that :)

He was incredibly unlucky that the grail knights broke twice in a row, phew! I feel like I still would have killed them given the situation, since my dark riders did a fantastic job tying his central knights down, and his lord was busy with my witches, but it would have taken a lot longer time. And his lvl 4 would have been able to heal the lord at least a few rounds before I would take steadfast off of his grail knights, meaning that sooner or later he would probably have ground down the witches. However, I feel like my moves on that flank where just excellent, blocking his movement and setting up charges. The one big mistake he made was to advance so far with his lord; if he had been on the hill to threaten counter charges, I would probably not have dared charge the grail knights. Max 1 wound per phase combined with life magic is nasty, though! As long as he can win combats, he aint going nowhere.

All in all I think I played this game very well. Being assured first turn meant I could turn on the full agression, and just advance everything and almost full speed. My magic phase is not as strong as it could be, but having warlocks with 3 ranks means doombolting like a lvl 4, and the metal sorceress I feel will still bring some threats. Whatever I roll, I always have the option to take searing doom. Getting final transmutation this game was just lucky, but I dont need it so much. The main reason I take her is to carry a scroll, as having only lvl 2 wizards on the board means I will otherwise lack in magic defense.

One thing I ponder is if I should put the lord on a pegasus instead of a dragon. This would enable me to get a supreme sorceress OR a war hydra. Possibly the hydra; since I use cloak of twilight and warlocks, I cant also take a SS. Also, there is no really good unit for an expensive lvl 4 caster to hide in. Those who bother reading all my blocks of text - feel free to comment on this musing. Otherwise, I hope you enjoy the battle :)
Name: Ladry (female)
Class: Mage (Pyromancer)
Equipment: Staff, longsword, dagger, 20 gold, insignia ring.
Skills: Power of Aqshy (2), defensive figthing
WS4, S2, T3, D4, I6.
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Amboadine
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Re: Thraundils battle log, game 13: 2600 vs Bretonnia

Post by Amboadine »

Thanks for the write up, a good read. I don't think you could have done much differently and you won conclusively.
A little surprised how he used his peg knights, didn't manage to achieve much with them.

As for suggestion on re mounting your lord, not a bad plan, he will still be very fighty and potentially less of an obviously target.
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Thraundil
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Re: Thraundils battle log, game 13: 2600 vs Bretonnia

Post by Thraundil »

Amboadine wrote:Thanks for the write up, a good read. I don't think you could have done much differently and you won conclusively.
A little surprised how he used his peg knights, didn't manage to achieve much with them.

As for suggestion on re mounting your lord, not a bad plan, he will still be very fighty and potentially less of an obviously target.


In a longer (or slower - movement wise) game, where he would maybe get to vanguard them, he would be done eating war machines by turn 3, whereafter he could then threaten flanks and rears. The way he used them this game was a waste indeed, I was very concerned about them when we presented armies. Because using fliers against fliers is difficult :)
Name: Ladry (female)
Class: Mage (Pyromancer)
Equipment: Staff, longsword, dagger, 20 gold, insignia ring.
Skills: Power of Aqshy (2), defensive figthing
WS4, S2, T3, D4, I6.
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Gidean
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Re: Thraundils battle log, game 13: 2600 vs Bretonnia

Post by Gidean »

What does 2MD stand for?

Another quick question. On Bret Turn 1 you wrote the following: I doubleflee, and he fails his charge. A single rider failed dangerous terrain. Why did the rider take a dangerous terrain test? Per p.25 of the brb you only take dangerous terrain when you flee through an -enemy- unit or area of impassible terrain.
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Re: Thraundils battle log, game 13: 2600 vs Bretonnia

Post by MangoPunch »

One thing I ponder is if I should put the lord on a pegasus instead of a dragon. This would enable me to get a supreme sorceress OR a war hydra. Possibly the hydra; since I use cloak of twilight and warlocks, I cant also take a SS. Also, there is no really good unit for an expensive lvl 4 caster to hide in. Those who bother reading all my blocks of text - feel free to comment on this musing. Otherwise, I hope you enjoy the battle


I don't run a Dragon, but I do run a MANTICORE and have decided to do the same thing putting my Master (maybe BSB) on the Manticore and Dreadlord on a Dark Peg. Dark peg ensures he can get into combat without his mount getting magic-ed or shot out from under him, and improves his toughness. Splitting heavy hitters also increases threat saturation. ALastly with the manticore auto RAAAAAARRRRGGGHHHH, hopefully even if the mast does die, it could still contribute with its auto-charges.

And yes, I enjoy your reports, keep 'em coming.
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Thraundil
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Re: Thraundils battle log, game 13: 2600 vs Bretonnia

Post by Thraundil »

Gidean wrote:What does 2MD stand for?

Another quick question. On Bret Turn 1 you wrote the following: I doubleflee, and he fails his charge. A single rider failed dangerous terrain. Why did the rider take a dangerous terrain test? Per p.25 of the brb you only take dangerous terrain when you flee through an -enemy- unit or area of impassible terrain.


Should have pointed it out. The unit labelled "DR2" flee with 2 models going through the impassable ruins just next to the cold one knights. One of these two, fails the test and dies.

2MD is a gaming club in Copenhagen I believe. Its short for 2 Many Dragons. The restriction set is one they worked out for a relatively big tournament they host every year. Its the 14th annual this year. Im not going, but we're having a oneday singles tourney in Aarhus with the same comp set on the same day, to try something different from our usual ETC ;)


MangoPunch wrote:
One thing I ponder is if I should put the lord on a pegasus instead of a dragon. This would enable me to get a supreme sorceress OR a war hydra. Possibly the hydra; since I use cloak of twilight and warlocks, I cant also take a SS. Also, there is no really good unit for an expensive lvl 4 caster to hide in. Those who bother reading all my blocks of text - feel free to comment on this musing. Otherwise, I hope you enjoy the battle


I don't run a Dragon, but I do run a MANTICORE and have decided to do the same thing putting my Master (maybe BSB) on the Manticore and Dreadlord on a Dark Peg. Dark peg ensures he can get into combat without his mount getting magic-ed or shot out from under him, and improves his toughness. Splitting heavy hitters also increases threat saturation. ALastly with the manticore auto RAAAAAARRRRGGGHHHH, hopefully even if the mast does die, it could still contribute with its auto-charges.

And yes, I enjoy your reports, keep 'em coming.


Its my plan to buy myself a manticore mounted hero some time in the future! A master on manti and lord on pegasus does indeed seem like two equally large threats, whereas a lord on dragon is a nobrainer; shoot it. The big 'problem' is I love dragons so much ;) and if I can just get it into melee, its 'safe'. In 2MD, war machines are also generally restricted (the toughest empire list possible may take 2 cannons, for example, at 2200 points total).

Thanks! Like making them, the process of writing it out makes me see where I did mistakes.
Name: Ladry (female)
Class: Mage (Pyromancer)
Equipment: Staff, longsword, dagger, 20 gold, insignia ring.
Skills: Power of Aqshy (2), defensive figthing
WS4, S2, T3, D4, I6.
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Gerner
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Re: Thraundils battle log, game 13: 2600 vs Bretonnia

Post by Gerner »

Nice game!

The problem is that a manticore is a lot easier to kill in close combat than a dragon, unless your opponnet has HKB. :P
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Thraundils battle log, game 14: 2600 vs Daemons

Post by Thraundil »

Another tester! This will not be illustrated im afraid, as there was just so much happening that I forgot to keep track of pictures.

My list; similar to the one I played above. Again with the 2MD restrictions.

His list:
Keeper of Secrets, lore of slaanesh
25 daemonettes
15 horrors, treason
10 horrors, gateway
5 slaanesh furies
5 fiends of slaanesh
4 beasts of nurgle
3 plaguedrones
4 bloodcrushers
Soulgrinder

Another "friendly" list at 2600 points.

Lots of slaanesh, my poor warlocks! And a lot of nastyness. His greater daemon got the sword from his exalted gift and d2 wounds from his lesser gift - this effectively meant my dragon couldnt fight him. Every magic roll and gift went perfect for him ;) for magic he rolled... uhm, rusty on the names. "rolls LD on 3d6, discarding lowest dice", "random movement", "random movement but also 2d6 hits on 4+ with no AS" and, uh. Whatever, I dont believe he ever cast the last of the spells. And infernal gateway + treason on the horrors. I got searing doom, final transmutation on the metal Sorc.

Terrain; similar to the bretonnian battle report. Use that same terrain for guidelines. I was south and him north.

Deployment: furies, fiends and daemonettes on the left side of the table, with the horrors with treason on the table edge behind the impassable. Midfield was bloodcrushers and beasts of nurgle, followed by infernal gateway horrors on the hills. Then came plague drones and finally the soul grinder, with his greater daemon starting the game behind the hill.

My deployment saw me pretty much 100% replicate the deployment from the bretonnia game, with the exception of the shades which I deployed right in front of his horrors on the hill. The setup worked fantastically in the former, so why not give it another shot. My witches got to face the soulgrinder, I had all 3 redirectors to control the centre, and the left flank would be largely uneventful. I vanguarded dark riders up the centre.

I won turn 1.
Dark riders went out to block his bloodcrushers. Shades reposition with harpies landing right behind them, in the middle of the board. BSB and dragonlord land right behind the harpies. Witch elves move 10" up the board, knights take a few steps forward with the warlocks moving up the centre to be able to cast doombolt. Which they manage to not cast due to winds of magic being a 4 PD vs 5 DD (yeah). Shooting saw me take out a few of the gateway horrors.

Daemons turn 1:
Bloodcrushers charge DR who doubleflee, he failcharges. Beasts charge shades who flee, fail to redirect the harpies. Drones charge harpies. Slaanesh lord moves over the hilltop, horrors edge a few " backwards. Soulgrinder moves up. On the left flank he advances full speed. Magic saw 12 PD vs 6 DD. My BSB is hit by both treason, and taking LD on 3d6 discarding the lowest. (He was standing right behind the harpies in combat with the 3 drones). I dispel cacophonic choir and scroll gateway. In close combat, my harpies manage a wound on the drones, and the drones fluff their rolls killing just 4 harpies. And the survivor holds!

DE turn 2:
Witch elves into the flank of the plaguedrone unit. Dragonlord charge right over the slaanesh daemon into the horrors with gateway. Cold one Knights charge the now exposed bloodcrushers, BSB also charge them into the flank. One DR unit rallies, runs out to block his fiends for one turn. Other DR unit flees to the board edge. Shades rally.
Magic sees me with 6 dice. I toss 5 on a final transmutation on his daemonettes, fail to meet the casting value though. Shooting takes a few wounds off furies and daemonettes. In close combat, the witches maul the plague drones - my harpy even survives. My dragonlord wipes the horror unit and reforms to face the centre. I should have reformed him to face towards the witch elves, so he could have charged against anything that might engage them in next turn, as they where completely exposed. Knights + BSB wipes bloodcrushers with no return casualties. Knights overrun towards the treason horrors, BSB reforms to face the centre.

Daemons turn 2:
Soulgrinder into the rear of WE. Greater daemon in the flank. Beasts in the front. Daemonettes charge my warlocks, I have to flee, and they end up WAY across the board running straight over the impassable in the middle. He redirects into my crossbowmen, a few die to stand and shoot. Furies have a 21" charge on my RBT, and they instead move down to charge next turn. Fiends charge and wipe my blocking DRs, reforms to face the centre. Magic sees random movement on my BSB sitting alone in the centre. I dispel choir from my dragonlord. In close combat, my witches put 2 wounds on the soulgrinder, 2 or 3 wounds on the greater daemon, and a few wounds on the beasts. In return, they are wiped. The daemonette combat sees big losses on both sides, but somehow I manage to hold.

DE turn 3:
Knights charge horrors. The dragonlord had a 20" charge, but failing it means he would be charged by the greater daemon. Instead, I fly him next to the horrors whom the knights are figthing - thinking I have collected enough points now, I just want safety. Ironically, if I had reformed him properly, I could probably have killed his greater daemon because it took 2 or 3 poisoned wounds... BSB moves 3 or 4" away from the daemon on his random movement. The single harpy blocks the soulgrinder from moving forward. DR on the bottom of the board rallies. Warlocks rally. 5 dice boosted doombolt on the greater daemon. Doesnt IF. Final transmutation kills a few daemonettes. Shades put 2 wounds on the soulgrinder. Knights kill some horrors but they stick. Daemonette combat is this time won by me, I had some sick rolls. He loses a few models to instability.

Daemons turn 3:
Furies charge a RBT. Fiends move to the centre. Greater daemon moves towards my dragon, he has 2 wounds left. Beasts charge my BSB with whom I flee (or the greater daemon could have charged him also) - I manage to get over the impassable in spite of my d6 random movement. Soulgrinder scurries to the edge of the board to escape my warlocks who looks threatening. Magic sees a bunch of dice tossed at debuffing my now fleeing BSBs chances to rally, also random movement for my warlocks. Furies wipe the RBT, knights wipe the horrors and reforms to spot the greater daemon. My crossbowmen again win vs the daemonettes, but this time my lvl 2 bit the dust. He loses a few more but is still around.

DE turn 4:
9 knights vs a greater daemon on 3 wounds. I take the charge, make it in. Bottom dark riders charge his, now very depleted, daemonette unit. Warlocks randommove up to be within 18" of something to cast, harpies fly next to the soulgrinder to prevent him from hiding it behind the hill. IF doombolt kills 2 beasts. A few furies are shot also. The big thing; knights. 9 attacks on 4+... 2 hits. Bah! I wound both, he saves one. He then murders 3 knights, and my cold ones fail to wound him. Statistically, I believe I should have had a decent chance at getting him! Even so, I win combat, and he loses a single wound to instability. A thousand times drat.

Daemons turn 4 and on:

Summed up from here, I hide my two flier heroes. His daemon murders my knights. Warlocks kill his soulgrinder, but die to the fiends - a misplay by me as it was not worth it, points for points. Should have hidden the warlocks instead. Crossbowmen finally die, but not before reducing the daemonettes to just the unit champ! My dragonlord cleans up his furies. Thats basically it, nothing fancy for the last few turns.

End result:
Daemons take 1839 from me
I get 1359 from him. Just shy of 500 difference, which is a 12-8 victory for him.

Post-game thoughts:
- I should have had that greater daemon with the knights! Would have been a sure win for me then.
- Warlocks vs a multiple slaanesh daemon army is useless. Also, I gave away their points for not enough return.
- My movement phase is improving a lot these days. My turn 1 movement was near perfect. Granted, got a little lucky that the harpy held on, but I would still have killed all the drones next turn regardless. Would perhaps have been forced to flee with my BSB at some point, but oh well.
- Playing two mobile armies against each other, him having TWO random movement spells really, really is dangerous for me. I could only ever stop one of the two, for the most part.
- I didnt pick up many points with my dragonlord, but mostly because I had to avoid both his soulgrinder and his greater daemon, who statistically drops the dragon before it gets to strike. And on the plus side, he was never in danger of dying. Trouble was all his pricy units was always close to the danger units, too ;)

All in all, I played the match well, I dont believe I made any major mistakes except the warlock one. The high point of the game though was my 14 crossbowmen beating 20 daemonettes in close combat repeatedly, and he only had that unit champion left in the end. Tough game with my expensive warlock unit not really being able to go anywhere on the field without being afraid of mark of slaanesh.
Name: Ladry (female)
Class: Mage (Pyromancer)
Equipment: Staff, longsword, dagger, 20 gold, insignia ring.
Skills: Power of Aqshy (2), defensive figthing
WS4, S2, T3, D4, I6.
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Re: Thraundils battle log, game 13: 2600 vs Bretonnia

Post by Setomidor »

Thanks again for a great set of battle reports, very much appreciated!

A comment on your game against Bretonnia (congratulations on a well played game btw!):

Thraundil wrote:Image


At least the way it looks on your illustration, your WE could still charge the flank of the Grail Knights as long as a single model can reach the position exposed to the right of the harpy screen. In this particular game you definitely did the right choice, but if your WE would have made it in there as well you probably would have removed his steadfast and forced him to roll extremely well to stay in place.
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Re: Thraundils battle log, game 14: 2600 vs Daemons

Post by Gidean »

Thraundil wrote:Another tester! This will not be illustrated im afraid, as there was just so much happening that I forgot to keep track of pictures.

My list; similar to the one I played above. Again with the 2MD restrictions.

His list:
Keeper of Secrets, lore of slaanesh
25 daemonettes
15 horrors, treason
10 horrors, gateway
5 slaanesh furies
5 fiends of slaanesh
4 beasts of nurgle
3 plaguedrones
4 bloodcrushers
Soulgrinder

Another "friendly" list at 2600 points.


Excuse me? :o_O: The above is a "Friendly" list in 2MD? Is that simply because it lacked a Skillcannon? He's mixing all 4 gods and taking some of the nastier things. Plaguedrone, bloodcrushers, soulgrind...and last but not least the infamous Beasts of Nurgle. What is an unfriendly demon list under that system?
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Re: Thraundils battle log, game 14: 2600 vs Daemons

Post by Thraundil »

The restrictions for daemons is perhaps not very good :P I am not familiar with them tbh. What I mean by "friendly" is it is the socalled category C, giving you 2600 points, but forbidding e.g. skullcannon and duplicates of special and rare choices.

The list is very brutal. But I believe under Cat. B where you only get 2400, you can duplicate beasts of nurgle all you want and take a skillcannon too. Generally, most armies play cat C because you can get a whole bunch of models. I dont know what the advantages or disadvantages of mixing the gods are.

@Setomidor: Yes, I could have clipped his flank. Would much rather have the lord, though ;) but you bring up a good point. I think that charge was very long, though. My diagram is not perfect.
Name: Ladry (female)
Class: Mage (Pyromancer)
Equipment: Staff, longsword, dagger, 20 gold, insignia ring.
Skills: Power of Aqshy (2), defensive figthing
WS4, S2, T3, D4, I6.
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Re: Thraundils battle log, game 14: 2600 vs Daemons

Post by Gerner »

Thraundil wrote:@Setomidor: Yes, I could have clipped his flank. Would much rather have the lord, though ;) but you bring up a good point. I think that charge was very long, though. My diagram is not perfect.

Or charged the Harpies after into the Peasants, and then be free to charge with the Witch Elves - hindsight 20-20. :P
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Re: Thraundils battle log, game 14: 2600 vs Daemons

Post by Thraundil »

Gerner wrote:
Thraundil wrote:@Setomidor: Yes, I could have clipped his flank. Would much rather have the lord, though ;) but you bring up a good point. I think that charge was very long, though. My diagram is not perfect.

Or charged the Harpies after into the Peasants, and then be free to charge with the Witch Elves - hindsight 20-20. :P


Hehe yeah! But I think the witch charge vs the knights was a 9+, whereas on the lord it was a 6 or 7. Since I had his central knights blocked with dark riders, I was not afraid of countercharges; I was fine just grinding his grail knights down over a few turns. I knew I would have at least 3 full combat phases before he would get to countercharge - unless my witch elves charged his lord and lost combat and fled, which I knew was highly unlikely.

The way I played it, I would probably play it exactly that way again given the same situation. Locking down the lord with a unit with 2 static CR, a nearby BSB, LD10 and assured steadfast was just too juicy.
Name: Ladry (female)
Class: Mage (Pyromancer)
Equipment: Staff, longsword, dagger, 20 gold, insignia ring.
Skills: Power of Aqshy (2), defensive figthing
WS4, S2, T3, D4, I6.
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Thraundils battle log, game 15-17: 2600 vs HE/WoC/WE

Post by Thraundil »

Greetings, one and all.
Yesterday saw a oneday singles tournament with the aforementioned 2MD restrictions which the last few battle reports have been practice games for. I clashed versus HE in game 1, WoC in game 2 and WE in game 3, all of whom had made "category C" lists. For HE that means 2600 pts and restrictions on shooting, for WoC it means no all-chariot army and no duplicate skullcrushers, and for WE it means you get 2800 pts and dragons are -100 pts (so cost 220! He could have both a lord on dragon and a lvl 4, whaaat).

Games will be without diagrams as 3 games in one day means theres just not much time to take pictures and remember everything, so I will give highlights.

My armylist:

Dreadlord on Black Dragon, talisman of protection, charmed shield, the other tricksters shard, sword of anti-heroes
Master BSB on pegasus, cloak of twilight
Lvl 2 heavens, dispel scroll
2x5 DR with champs, shields and mus (capped at shooting models)
14 darkshards, mus + flaming banner
21 WE, gleaming banner
10 Cold One Knights FC, swiftness banner
2 RBT
6 shades
5 harpies
15 Doomfire Warlocks with master


Game 1 vs High Elves

HE armylist:

Anointed on Frost phoenix, sword that ignores army on a to-wound of 6, pot of strength and charmed shield
Lvl 2 high
BSB on steed
15 or 20 archers I forgot
11 silver helms
2x5 reavers with bows and spears
2 eagle claws
20 PG
20 WL
Frost phoenix

Yep, 2 frost phoenixes. No lvl 4 though so I thought that was pretty decent for me.

Deployment saw him stack heavily on the left flank, me as well. I had my CoK facing his SH, witches opposite of PG, and his WL was blocked behind his own troops. My two mounted characters was on my left flank also (I had to deploy chars first). His archers with lvl 2 and anointed went in the middle facing my crossbowmen where my lvl 2 was hiding, as well as my warlocks.

I vanguard warlocks up the middle with DR support. He cant vanguard much thanks to my blocking. He wins turn 1 though.

Turn 1:
His anointed elects to charge my 15 warlocks. I thought this was a big mistake by him. The rest shuffles up staying well out of charge range. His magic is uneventful as he is not in range for much. Shooting sees both my DR units decimated, one lone DR flees while another 2 DR holds in the centre. In close combat I challenge him with my master warlock, he overkills me by a few, meaning combat is lost by one for me. I hold on steadfast.

I move my dragonlord to the centre to threaten the anointed, attempt a charge on his reavers with my shades, but they fail and end up right in front of his PG. Drat :) my 2 surviving DR charge his bolt throwers that he had exposed, and make it. My left flank shuffles a bit, also staying out of HIS charge range. In combat, DR put a wound on the RBT crew but they hold. Warlocks manage to put 5 wounds on the phoenix, but he of course saves 4 of them, frig me! I lose a single warlock, which means due to rank bonus I win by 1! He unfortunately sticks.

Turn 2:
He attempts to block my dragonlords charge on his anointed by blocking with reavers. There is still room, though. Another mistake by him. His PG charge my shades who hold since they where 2" away. Magic is uneventful again, I dispel arcane unforging on my dreadlord. Shooting also fairly meek. Close combat sees my warlocks again put an astonishing 5 wounds on the phoenix, this time he saves all of them. F! He drops 2 warlocks, which means with ranks I lose by one but is steadfast. Boxcars! I then proceed to roll 3x1 for the flee distance and my big badass unit of warlocks are gone.

I charge his anointed in the flank with my dragonlord. He informs me he drinks his pot of strength. What I should have done: say "no you cant, you have to declare it before any movements are made - but if you wanna drink it, be my guest, ill shove my dragon somewhere else". What I did, like a moron, was to think I would probably have a very decent chance killing the bird out from under him with a total of 9 S5 attacks and a breath, all supported by the other tricksters shard, and then stomp the lord to death. After uneventful magic and shooting, he proceeds to hit all of his anointed and phoenix's attacks, and my dragon dies before it even gets to strike, and the lord flees and is caught.

Turn 3 and onwards:
He shuffles.

After such an awful first couple of turns and whatever I had left being pretty much trapped in the corner, I opt to just go suicide mode and kill whatever HE I could. I charge my knights and master into his SH, wipe them and overrun off the board. He positions his WL such that he would get a 100% charge on them next turn when I reenter. PG charge witch elves. I kill 3. With 21 attacks. I am starting to really hate high elves and their god damned wards all over the bloody place.

Anyways long story short I end up being tabled after playing a game where I actually made no real mistakes. Aside from letting his strength potion go through without changing my dragonlords course. On the other hand I feel like him charging his generals monster into a pack of poisoned 4+ ward save sure-to-be-steadfast warlocks was a massive blunder by him, but he got away with it with ridiculous save rolls. Off to a bad start!




Game 2 vs Warriors of Chaos

This guy was hungover from the day before, and lost his first game 0-20 too which is why we got paired. He is actually a really strong player, but he had to go out and barf mid-game, which tells you a few things.

WoC armylist:
Wizard Lord on demonic mount, tzeentch lore
Exalted hero on demonic mount, BSB, mark of tzeentch
Lvl 2 with lore of fire
12 warriors, mark of khorne
6 hounds
16 warriors, mark of tzeentch
2 nurgle chariots
16 chosen of tzeentch
warshrine
4 skullcrushers

I made a few deployment mistakes, shoving all my 3 redirectors down in the middle which gave him a free skullcrusher deployment in the flank. He had all 3 warrior blocks in the centre with characters in them and one chariot, facing my warlocks and dragonlord. The other chariot, warshrine and skullcrushers went on the flank facing my knights and WE. I should have deployed WAY back instead of way forward on the deployment zone. He puts his warhounds behind an obstacle, since he doesnt want them to panic or spoil movement. He got to go first.

Turn 1:
Everything surges forward. Gateway IF on my dragon, i lose a wound on the dragon and one on the rider (failing charmed shield, yo!).

I could charge his skullcrushers with knights, but its an unlikely fight. Instead I try my best to block him off with DR from max distance away, placing my witch elves in an overrun position. Dragon moves up to threaten his centre. 2 singlebolts into the skullcrushers. Short range. One hit, roll a 1 to wound. Boosted doombolt IF onto his unit with the wizard lord. MR(3) and mark of tzeentch prevents most casualties.

Turn 2:
Skullcrushers charge DR along with a chariot. His BSB charge out of his unit into the WE flank, so he would get to fight twice with the overrunning skullcrushers. Big mistake by him as we will see - he would likely have won the game by a huge margin if he hadnt done this, all due to my deployment error. He also charge a chariot into my warlocks front, and moves the 16 tzeentch warriors containing his lvl 2 up, shuffling his khorne and chosen around to spot my dragon. His lvl 4 leaves the unit and runs behind the dragon, out of bolt thrower sight. I dispel most magic. His impact hits wipe the DR, skullcrushers overrun into WE. I go first, kill a whole skullcrusher, wound his exalted hero, then is wiped down to 1 model left, the standard bearer. She breaks, his BSB reforms. (Skullcrushers cant overrun a second time). Warlocks wipe the chariot in the centre.

I charge my knights into skullcrushers. Dragonlord charge his khorne warriors. Warlocks ram into his tzeentch warriors in the centre, and BSB follows them in, all make their charges. I IF a curse of the midnight wind on the skullcrushers, the resulting miscast removes my lvl 2 and half the crossbowmen. Knights kill 2 skullcrushers, lose a few knights. He runs, I dont catch him. Dragonlord has to accept his champions challenge, he kills him with just a single overkill. Thanks to the charge though, I win by 1 and he sticks. BSB KB's his lvl 2, warlocks maim half his warriors. His unit champ kills my master warlock in a challenge, though, and a few warlocks die to the unit too. He snakeeyes to stick.

Turn 3:
His wizard lord moves to the centre to magic my knights. BSB charge a RBT. Warshrine shuffles, skullcrusher rallies. Chariot charge my BSB in the centre combat. Chosen shuffles. Magic sees a few wounds somewhere, forgot where, it was not that important. Impact hits on my BSB does 4 wounds, I save 2 of them. He then has to challenge, my master gladly accepts - his chariot cant attack now. Master kills the champion, warlocks drop the unit to 3 warriors. Banner dies, the remaining 2 flee and I reform warlocks, chase the master after the chariot but fail to catch. My dragonlord maims his khorne unit to a model, who flees. I reform the dragon to spot his wizard lord. His BSB wipes the RBT and reforms.

Dragon charge the wizard lord. My BSB charges after his fleeing chariot which runs off the board, he is now stuck in the centre though. Knights charge warshrine. Remaining RBT puts 2 wounds on the skullcrusher champion. Knights miserably fails to do much to the warshrine so he sticks. Dragonlord then... puts 4 wounds on his lord which he saves all of them. Dragon then... rolls 1 hit which even fails to wound. I take no wounds in return though, win by 2 thanks to flankcharge. He runs, I fail to catch with the worlds shortest pursue roll... Dragon now sits with his back to the chaos chosen.

Turn 4:
Wizardlord rallies. Chosen attempt a charge on my dragon, and fails with a 1+2 roll! A bit of a reprieve since I really had expected to actually kill his lord in close combat (he had only a 6+ ward save!). Skullcrusher charge knights. BSB charge my BSB, I have to flee and get away. He redirects my knights. His 2 fleeing warrior units are below 25% so needs snakeeyes to rally, they fail to do so. One unit even manages to panic the warhounds off the board too. He wipes my knight unit.

My dragon charge his lord again. BSB rallies. I fluff all my attacks. And all my dragons attacks. He does the same. I win by a downhill charge. He flees, and this time I catch him.

Turn 5+6:
Long story short, I manage to hide my BSB on one wound, and my dragonlord and shades finish his chosen unit off. When all is said and done, my lord + BSB + shades and a unit of DR is alive, he has his warshrine and exalted hero left. 14-6 victory for the dark elves!

This guy was super hungover and so made a few critical mistakes. Namely, allowing me to charge his skullcrushers, and putting his wizard lord next to my dragonlord in combat with 11 warriors with no champion left, in his turn. Nevertheless, he was a real good sport and I enjoyed playing against him a lot. He also talked to me abit after the game (we finished before all the others so had a little time to get some fresh air for his hangover) and said that aside from my deployment, I made pretty much no mistakes during the game. On a day where he didnt play like a moron though he would have beaten me. On a day where I deploy better too, though, its a tough call. WoC are just hands down scary.




Game 3 vs Wood Elves

WE armylist:
Lord on green dragon
Lvl 4 life
Lvl 2 light
Lvl 1 light
branchwraith lvl 1 light
BSB on foot
10 archers
12 archers
8 skirmisher archers
8 dryads
2x5 glade riders
7 wild riders
2 treemen
2 eagles

Deployment saw him overflood the centre. I attempted to pair stuff up against him, which I managed to do fairly well, but I was really concerned about the two treemen. His lvl 4 got signature, throne, shield and regrowth. His light mages got pha's, light of battle, net, and banishment. Theres a huge hill on the right flank which he hides alot of stuff behind.

I won turn 1.

Turn 1:
I surge forward. The big hill gives my characters some nice cover. I drop some wild riders with shooting.

His fast cav charges my shades and fast cav. The resulting flees sets off a cascade of failed LD tests which at the end of turn 1 has my shades, both DR, harpies AND crossbowmen with lvl 2 fleeing. He blocks both warlocks and knights with an eagle each. Magic sees him IF a banishment on my warlocks. He rolls an astonishing 9 wounds. I manage 8 saves, reroll them, another 7 saves! Phoooew.

Turn 2:
Dragon flies down to breathe his archers with the light wizards. BSB behind the hill still, ready to make supporting charges. Warlocks charge eagle, overruns onto the hilltop. Knights fail stupidity test twice and does nothing. Then comes the time to rally. DR both rally, harpies rally, shades rally. Crossbowmen doesnt, runs off the board. Oh well!

His dragon charge my dragon in the face, with his skirmisher bowmen charging him in the rear. BSB is nearby, though. I really wanted the dragon duel, and well I've got it! I think he really wanted it too, so :) both of us where far down the rankings, not much to lose. A treeman charge my warlocks on the hill, rest of his army shuffles. He challenges so I wont get to stomp. wounds my dragon twice and my lord once with breath weapon. I ward save. OTS. I ward save again! My dragon also makes one save. I manage a wound on his dragon, he immediately fails his 3+ ward. I lose by a total of 3 due to the rear. Stick, though. Warlocks and treeman grind, each doing a few wounds.

Turn 3:
BSB charge the archers with his light wizards, who are blocking off the dragons figthing. Knights fail stupidity again! My centre shuffles around to try and prevent his movement a little, and WE charge his treeman and dies horribly - cursed ward saves. I believe I shoot off his remaining wild riders and glade riders. BSB is challenged by his unit champion. Due to cloak of twilight I manage 5 overkills, he beaks and I overrun into the dragons flank. In the dragonfight, I now have a small edge; I have sword of anti heroes, he has a normal hand weapon. Thanks to this, I wound his dragon twice while taking one for myself. The race is on to dismount the other first, and then win by stomps. With my flank charge and banner, I manage to win by one! He sticks though. Warlocks and treemen grinds.

His dryads now flankcharge my master. Big cluster combat! Centre shuffles. Magic sees his treeman healed full. Drat. Master kills 3 dryads and takes no wounds. Put another wound on his dragon (fluffed my attack rolls big time!) and takes 2 wounds in return! Both dragons now have 2 wounds. I believe combat ties overall, since I still have my flag alive and because of the wounds I do to the dryads. Warlocks and treeman grind some more.

Turn 4:
I attempt some charges onto his central archers with his lvl 4 and BSB in. Harpies and one DR unit makes it in. Alot of fluffed rolls later though I lose by a bunch and flee. Knights finally charge the eagle and overruns towards the dragon combat. In the dragon combat my BSB drops another 3 dryads, and with a migthy swing of his sword my dragonlord finally lands 4 wounds on his dragon with ASF, so the beast dies! The resulting thunderstomp splats his lord completely. His archers no longer want anything to do with the dragon and flees off the board. BSB chases the dryads off too. In the warlock v treeman grind he really wants to finish the unit off and reform to get a charge on my dragon. My lone master of warlocks survives to stick, though.

He shuffles his centre to discourage me from charging. Final warlock dies.

Turn 5+6:
I fly my fliers to the centre, out of charge arcs, to spot his BSB and lvl 4. Knights turn around and gets out of charge arcs.

In his turn, his archers with BSB and lvl 4 charge my BSB! Realising that if I hold, the dragon cant charge next turn, I opt to flee and his charge fails. In magic, he wants to regrowth his unit back to a total of 6 models, meaning that once I kill the champion in a challenge he would be steadfast. He fails to cast it!

My turn 6 sees the dragonlord crash into his unit. Champion of course challenges. 3+ to hit with 5 attacks since in in base contact with his BSB. 4 rolls fail, so I only do a single wound to the champion! In fact, because he has a banner, he only loses by one thanks to my charge. And he has a flank setup with a treeman! He proceeds to roll 9, rerolls into an 11 and runs. I overrun 11, safely away from the treemen. In his final turn he does succeed in shooting the dragon to death with his treemen, but the lord is alive. A big 14-6 win for me again.


In all honesty I probably took a big gamble sending my dragon to bait his dragon. But with the BSB nearby and knowing I had OTS and better armor saves on my lord than him, I took the gamble and it paid off since I grind better with my SoAH. The fact my entire centre collapsed on turn 1 and my knights pretty much did nothing all game thanks to stupidity and no fast cavalry support didnt help either. Actually, almost all my points was collected by shades shooting his chaff, and then my two flying characters. A very fun game with a lot of action - we both agreed it had been our most enjoyable game of the day too, because the whole dragon duel was so intense.


All in all I ended with a total of 28 points - ever so slightly below an average draw score. Best result so far I even think :P
The winner was a beastmen player who gets 2800 points to play with. He tabled 2 opponents I believe, had 51 points. #2 and #3 both had 38 points. Both where warriors of chaos. Then a daemon player got 4th with 37. Then another WoC with 35. Notice the tendency? I do believe the makers of the restriction set has been a little too liberal with how the 3 chaos races can make their armies ;) but then, all 5 players are also really strong.
Me and the other DE player are next to each other in scoring - and he is far stronger player than me, so I think I did OK ;) the bottom half of the overall rankings are dominated by elves, though. Its just too difficult to handle all the armor of warriors.
Name: Ladry (female)
Class: Mage (Pyromancer)
Equipment: Staff, longsword, dagger, 20 gold, insignia ring.
Skills: Power of Aqshy (2), defensive figthing
WS4, S2, T3, D4, I6.
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Re: Thraundils battle log, game 14: 2600 vs Daemons

Post by Amboadine »

Nice write up and a good analysis of the day.
It's good to know you are improving and happy with the result.
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Thraundils battle log, game 18: ETC vs Orcs and Goblins

Post by Thraundil »

Greetings, one and all!
Busy tournament schedule these weeks! I am attending a singles 16-man tournament in 2 weeks, and yesterday I crash tested my list. Its a balls to the wall Cold One Bus, built under ETC draft 3.5. Basically it limis the total amount of Dark riders + warlocks + mounted chars you may field, and if you have warlocks at all you cant take lore of death or darkness on a mounted supreme sorceress.

My List:

Dreadlord: SDC, armor of fortune, dawnstone, ogre blade, cold one.
Supreme Sorceress: lvl 4, lore of beasts, dispel scroll, ironcurse icon, ring of hotek, dark steed.
Master: HA, SDC, charmed shield, talisman of preservation, cold one, lance, battle standard.
Master: HA, SDC, the other trickster's shard, dragonbane gem, cold one, lance.
Master: HA, SDC, crown of command, luckstone, cold one, great weapon.
3x5 Dark Riders: shields, mus, repeater crossbows
20 Darkshards: mus, banner of eternal flame
12 Cold one Knights, dread knight, musician, standard of swiftness
2x RBT
9 Doomfire warlocks, master of warlocks
2400 pts spot on.


I played the list against one of my "gaming group" guys, who is going to play Orcs and Goblins to the same tournament. At a glance, his list looks like it should beat mine, so I was abit worried. Actually a lot worried.

Orc List:

Orc Warboss: Armour of Destiny; Obsidian Amulet. 195
Orc Great Shaman: Earthing Rod; Talisman of Endurance; Level 4 Wizard. 255

Black Orc Big Boss: Talisman of Preservation; shield; Battle Standard. 162
Orc Shaman: Dispel Scroll. 90

27 Orc Big 'Uns: Orc Boss; Musician; Standard Bearer; Standard of Discipline; additional hand weapons. 293
20 Night Goblins: Musician. 70
• 2 Fanatics 50
20 Night Goblins: Musician. 70
• 2 Fanatics 50
2x5 5 Goblin Wolf Riders 50 ea for 100

12 Trolls 420
10 Trolls 350

Doom Diver Catapult 80
Doom Diver Catapult 80
Goblin Rock Lobber 85
Goblin Rock Lobber 85
Mangler Squigs 65

So basically; lots of regen trolls, lots of "ignores armor" or "penetrates armor severly". My bus would have severe trouble against all of his units save for the Big 'un bunker.


Onwards to the Game!



Deployment:

Image

He had way more drops than me, so I tried to spread my fast threats out evenly, certainly not going for any kind of denied flank shenanigans. I needed him to stretch his army. All characters are joined in the CoK unit, hereafter termed "the bus". Loaded up with MR(3), 6++ vs war machines, and no less than 4 characters with 1+ armor save, it would hit like a, well, a bus.

He deployed his war machines just over 6" apart to avoid any panic tests caused by misfires, and bunkered himself in very nicely. My goal was to hit his central trolls with all the firepower I have (save for a few shots aimed at the mangler squigs), and then try to bust through ASAP. His wolf riders look out of the map because of animosity. All characters are in the Big 'un bunker, with both casters in rank 2.

For magic, I got a dream roll. Wyssans, amber spear, curse of anraheir and savage beasts. He got the +3S +3A spell on his lvl 1, and his lvl 4 got the two sniper spells, as well as both hand and foot.

After vanguarding, I won the roll for first turn.


DE turn 1:

Image

Everything advances. There was a hole between his flank trolls and the terrain which I could squeeze a single cav base through, so i reform those dark riders. Warlocks move within soulblight range. Magic sees me IF a boosted amber spear on a doom diver with 4 dice. I kill the doom diver, lose 3 wizard levels on my SS forgetting everything but wyssans wildform. So much for bringing a lvl 4 wizard! Warlocks get soulblight on the central trolls, though. Shooting see a few trolls die, and 2 wounds onto the mangler squig.

Orcs turn 1:

[img][img]http://s28.postimg.org/fpckfx86l/DE_vs_Orcs_Turn_1_Orcs_and_Goblins.jpg[/img][/img]

Flank trolls charge the dark riders who flee, through darkshards who pass panic. Wolf riders relocates out of charge arc. Night goblins fail animosity and put a few wounds on each other. Mangler squig advances 15"! Trolls reform, and Big 'uns shuffle forward to close the line.

For magic he IF's a big foot on the knights, killing a single guy before jumping to the warlocks killing 5. Then jumping back to the knights, killing one or two more, then hopping to the darkshards drifting way off, then stopped. The miscast saw 6 big 'uns die and a wound on the lvl 4.

Shooting saw my leftmost bolt thrower die to a rock lobber hit!, and the doom diver inflicted 2 wounds on the knights both of which I saved like a boss laying down a double 6!

[img]DE%20turn%202:[/img]

Image

Central DR rally and move up with the darkshards. Other DR units are on map control duty. Knights relocate to the hilltop, giving my bolt thrower a clear shot at the mangler squigs. Whom I really, really needed to kill ;)

In the magic phase, I try a boosted doombolt on his remaining doom diver, but fail the cast. Shooting see the mangler squig down, along with another troll.

Orcs turn 2:

Image

Flank trolls charge the warlocks who flee. He redirects into my darkshards who shoots, killing a troll. The charge is long, sadly he makes it in on a roll of 10. His central line shuffles. One wolf rider unit moves in to block the bus.

Magic sees him with a large amount of dice, casting the sniper spell inflicting d3 wounds onto my SS. I let it through, fearing both hand and foot, and thinking that either her 4+ ward would save her or the spell would not inflict 3 wounds. Of course, I fail the save and it inflicts 3 wounds... He then fails to cast big foot. Still, ouch.

Shooting sees a few knights die as well. Both rock lobbers fall short I believe, the doomdiver killing 2 or 3 knights.

In close combat, the darkshards kill a troll before being mauled to the last man. They flee 3", trolls pursue 4" and fail to overrun into my dark riders.

DE turn 3:

Image

Flank DR charge the wold riders while the bus takes a few steps back to be out of charge range. Central DR shuffles. Warlocks rally and moves towards the war machines.
Magic is entirely uneventful, and shooting is too. In melee, I rip the wolfes apart, the last wolf flees and is caught by the pursuing DR, leaving them in a nice charge block position as well.

Orcs turn 3:

Image

His Big 'uns charge my "DR2" unit who flees. He redirects into the "DR1" unit who also flees well out of range, so he failcharges 6" forward with the big 'uns. Troll unit 2 then charge the "DR2" unit into the southern forest, catching them. Other trolls close the battleline.
Magic sees him get hand off on troll unit 2, moving them up to threaten my flanks. Shooting kills my last bolt thrower with a hit! (I believe I show this to happen in turn 4, but i think it happened around here).

DE turn 4:

Image

Action time!!! Dark rider unit 3 charge the troll unit, clearing the way for my bus to declare a charge on his big 'un bunker. He stands, trusting steadfast, but I had to take this charge; it was the only way I would have a remote chance of scoring some points. Warlocks charge the doom diver. Dark riders rally on the flank, and shoot a few wolf riders down. The rest panic and run off the board. Magic sees me fail soulblight.

In close combat, warlocks rape the doom diver and reforms to spot the rock lobber. His unit champion challenges, I accept with my own champion and he cuts the foul orc down. The remaining combined effort of the cold one knights kills his BSB, and 5-6 orc big 'uns. The death of the BSB forces his lvl 1 to the front line, where my great weapon wielding master is waiting to strike on initiative - where he quickly kills the shaman. His return attacks all fail to do any wounds, whereafter my cold ones dispatch another 3 or 4 orcs. He has LD10 though, and holds on steadfast, but I severely reduced his numbers.

Orcs turn 4:

Image

The inevitable counter charge from both troll units come. Night goblins also shuffle to protect the artillery. Magic is uneventful, shooting falls short. In close combat, his lvl 4 now steps forward and calls a challenge. I accept with my dreadlord, and cut the foul orc to the ground. The remaining knights wreak havoc on the orcs, I rolled really well and reduce the orc unit down to 6 man through the combined effort of both knights and mounts. Not enough to break steadfast, though. His warboss kills the unit champion, and troll vomit kills the remaining 3 rank-and-file knights, as well as the crown of command master with the luckstone, leaving 2 masters and the dreadlord. In spite of his flank and rear charges, I win combat, but all of his units are steadfast. His rear troll units nerve breaks, though, and he runs.

DE turn 5:

Image

Warlocks attempt to charge the rock lobber. Fanatics come out, and the warlocks meet a tragic end that they probably couldnt have avoided anyway. Flank dark riders reform to face the fleeing trolls!

In the grindfest I call a challenge with my lord, his lord accepts (he had to if he wanted LD10 on the break test-to-come). I put a wound on him, he fails to wound me. The two masters and their mounts kill every last big 'un orcs. The trolls then put all their vomit on the OTS master who was the only one they could hit, and kill him. He having inflicted 2 wounds and having a flank, I had inflicted 6 kills and a challenge wound. his trolls are steadfast but rolls 12. His lord is not, and rolls 6, breaking. I run him down!

Orcs turn 5 and onwards:

His goblins try a long charge into the flank of my characters, but they fail to make it. Trolls dont rally, one unit runs off the board. Rock lobbers dont kill my remaining two characters. In my turn 6 I split them up and move them behind obstacles. In addition, my dark riders charge and catch his other trolls. In his last turn he does score a hit! on my lord, but his 5+ ward takes care of it.


When all is said and done, a victory to the dark elves! Some 2300 VP for me, while I give up 1850 ish. I was really not expecting to win, but his crucial mistake was allowing my dark riders to charge out of the way, clearing a charge on his bunker. And then not fleeing with the bunker. He was concerned for his trolls stupidity. But as he said; he had a wolf unit - he should have just blocked my charge. But who am I not to capitalise on that blunder. I was really positively surprised at the grind output of my bus. Against T4 and not-too-high saves, they really continue to dish out the pain even after the charge. If I'd had my wyssans available I could have hurt him even more. And of course him not being able to direct his troll vomit attacks on characters on the first turn, and then failing with a troll unit... If the rearmost trolls hadnt lost their nerve, he had won the game. Still, it had been a narrow win to him, instead a narrow win for me. I also am pleased to note I made very few mistakes this game, in my own opinion.
Name: Ladry (female)
Class: Mage (Pyromancer)
Equipment: Staff, longsword, dagger, 20 gold, insignia ring.
Skills: Power of Aqshy (2), defensive figthing
WS4, S2, T3, D4, I6.
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Re: Thraundils battle log, game 18: ETC vs Orcs and Goblins

Post by Amboadine »

Congratulations on the win. Having your bus surrounded could have gone badly for you in turn 4, calculated risk that might have cost you the game had you had a bad few rolls.
Other than that I think you played well. Good luck in the coming tournament.
Last edited by Amboadine on Sun Apr 06, 2014 7:37 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Thraundils battle log, game 18: ETC vs Orcs and Goblins

Post by Thraundil »

Amboadine wrote:Congratulations on the win. Having your bus surrounded could have gone badly for you in turn 4, calculated risk the might have cost you the game had you had a bad few rolls.
Other than that I think you played well. Good luck in the coming tournament.


It was a massive risk. But since it was a practise game... I had two choices. Run behind hills and have his artillery smash me to pieces, and probably end up being charged by him anyway. Or take the charge, see how much damage I could do. As it turned out, with a few good rolls I was able to hold my ground. If it was a tournament game 3, I would probably have tried to conserve points... But, whats the fun in that :P
Name: Ladry (female)
Class: Mage (Pyromancer)
Equipment: Staff, longsword, dagger, 20 gold, insignia ring.
Skills: Power of Aqshy (2), defensive figthing
WS4, S2, T3, D4, I6.
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Re: Thraundils battle log, game 18: ETC vs Orcs and Goblins

Post by T.D. »

That was a very cool game. Thx for the write up :)

As well as the mentioned, I'm surprised your opponent didn't try and get his fanatics into your Bus, or used his wolf riders to better effect. But you capitalised on his caution well!

AoF, Dawnstone isn't a build we see a lot of, but it goes nice with the Ogre Blade 8)
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Re: Thraundils battle log, game 18: ETC vs Orcs and Goblins

Post by Thraundil »

T.D. wrote:That was a very cool game. Thx for the write up :)

As well as the mentioned, I'm surprised your opponent didn't try and get his fanatics into your Bus, or used his wolf riders to better effect. But you capitalised on his caution well!

AoF, Dawnstone isn't a build we see a lot of, but it goes nice with the Ogre Blade 8)


Its to turn him into the melee beast so that IF i get stuck vs a high armor grind, Im not hosed. He retains all offensive powers of S6 while having 1+ rerollable with 5++, and if SS is in his unit, 2++ vs spells. Stuff needs S7 before a 4+ ward would be equal in survivability, and S8 before it would be superior, which few has in close combat.

His goblins failed animosity 3 turns I think. But yeah, I think he played defensively because he hasnt played his orcs in a while and shaping up on them, on any other day he should win the game :P
Name: Ladry (female)
Class: Mage (Pyromancer)
Equipment: Staff, longsword, dagger, 20 gold, insignia ring.
Skills: Power of Aqshy (2), defensive figthing
WS4, S2, T3, D4, I6.
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Thraundils battle log, game 19-21: ETC singles tourney recap

Post by Thraundil »

Greetings again, one and all. Played an ETC singles tournament this weekend, and I am proud to say I finished 6th place out of 16, my sofar best tournament showing. And considering I played 2 bad matchups, I am very pleased with that performance!

I apologise for the lack of diagrams but 3 games in one day, I cant remember all of it and its too busy a schedule to take pictures.

The Bus:

Dreadlord: SDC, armor of fortune, dawnstone, ogre blade, cold one.
Supreme Sorceress: lvl 4, lore of beasts, dispel scroll, ironcurse icon, ring of hotek, dark steed.
Master: HA, SDC, charmed shield, talisman of preservation, cold one, lance, battle standard.
Master: HA, SDC, the other trickster's shard, dragonbane gem, cold one, lance.
Master: HA, SDC, crown of command, luckstone, cold one, great weapon.
3x5 Dark Riders: shields, mus, repeater crossbows
20 Darkshards: mus, banner of eternal flame
12 Cold one Knights, dread knight, musician, standard of swiftness
2x RBT
9 Doomfire warlocks, master of warlocks
2400 pts spot on.

Every game, all chars went with the cold one knights, referred to as "the bus".


Game 1 vs The Empire

Yikes! The Empire in game one. One of my friends too, I knew I wasnt gonna get any presents here.
His list:
Lord on steed with runefang
Lvl 4 life on steed
Lvl 2 light on foot
Captain BSB on steed
14 ICK bus
5 normal knights
10 skirmisher archers with 5 archer detatchment
2x5 Demichickens
Steam Tank
Cannon

His lvl 4 got dwellers, regrowth, throne and flesh to stone, pretty much the perfect roll. His lvl 2 got banishment and pha's. My lvl 4 got wyssans, amber spear, curse of anraheir and savage beast.

The game was a quite boring one. With that much, hard punching cavalry on both sides, neither would approach the other. He deployed centre, I deployed on the right flank behind a hill. The game basically consisted of us circling the map, neither daring to close in. I did make one mistake at one point, putting my supreme with 5 DR. He shot one with bowfire, then took a cannon shot. Luckily he failed to wound, it was a move I probably shouldnt have done (it was to get a flank amber spear through a demi unit).
He shot my bolt throwers in turn 1, and got two DR units I believe. In turn 6 I got his steam tank with the bus. Rather eventless game that consisted mostly of "dont make a massive blunder". It ended 10-10.


Game 2 vs Chaos Dwarves

More war machines!
Lvl 4 with the CD lore
2x lvl 2 with death
2 goblin wolf chars, naked
BSB with stubborn
30 infernal guard
65 goblins
3 centaurs
2 rocket artillery
hellcannon
K'dai destroyer.

I got a perfect deployment, with the bus pressed against a flank facing his flank. There was no way he could redirect me, as any interceptors would be forced to wheel my way. Nevertheless, he moved his bunker to the centre, so I decided to chase the big win instead of just settling for his war machines. His K'dai wrecked my entire backfield meanwhile. (Warlocks failed terror check twice, ran off the board -.-)
In turn 4, I got my bus into the front of his 65 goblin horde. One turn, 31 wounds. (To be fair I had 4 dark riders in the flank too ;) in his turn, he ran behind a building with his bunker, rear toward me to prevent his chars getting in combat, while the goblin horde was decimated and no longer steadfast. He ran, dark riders caught and the bus reformed to 3 wide. I had to keep my center, which meant my front line was catapulted forward, so that I now had his bunker in a charge range. I took the charge while dark riders cleaned up his rocket artillery. One DR unit of 2 overran into the hellcannon, preventing it from flanking the bus. In 2 combat rounds, I also decimated the infernal guard, and we shook hands. He had his centaurs, K'dai and hellcannon survive the game, while I had a DR unit and the entire bus. 17-3 victory to me.



Game 3 vs High Elves

This guy is a former ETC national team player and I believe maybe he will also go to ETC this year? I dont know. Anyways. Sick list for me.

Archmage on steed, lvl 4 death
Mage on steed, lvl 2 death
Prince on steed
BSB with world dragon, steed
2 nobles with combat items and steeds
2x6 reavers
14 (or 16?) wilver helms FC
4 eagle claws
great eagle
2x9 sisters

He had the shooting phase over me, and I feared his magic. I had to come to him, but in 2 turns of shooting he took all my DR, as well as the entire CoK unit (except the command group) off the board. At this point, my chars jumped ship to the warlocks and just ran as far away as possible. His magic phases were not strong; he never had a really big dice advantage, and the spells he got through I saved like a boss (he always went for my lvl 4, since she gave MR to the others). At the end of the day, I took one reaver unit, reduced the other to 1 model, a unit of sisters, and a bolt thrower, while he got everything except my bolt throwers, warlocks, and all my characters. So in spite of a pretty sound beating, it was just 12-8 in his favour.


When all was said and done, I closed out the day with 35 battle points to my name. A draw, and a win that was way bigger than my loss, and mostly I played without making any major mistakes. (Just the one with the SS into a steed unit, baaaad one! :P)

The CoK bus is good at preserving points, its difficult to take the chars down. However, since I played vs 2 cavalry armies, it was also difficult for me to take points from them because if I ever got close enough to charge him next turn, he could also charge me. The gunline chaos dwarf was a very strong matchup for me though, as he really had no way of taking significant points from me. He cleaned my entire backfield and still lost pretty big. And I got a game where the bus got to kill things!


The #1 and #2 spots went to dark elf players! One played a light council DE list (lvl 4+2 lvl 1, RxB bunker, 4 RBT, 2x5 shades, a peglord and a big WE CoB unit), the other the list Scyloc has been posting battle reps about. (I asked him; he is not Scyloc himself xD but said he had the list from him, which is why I recognised it). Battle rep with the list in question, all credit to Scyloc. I am tempted to try one of these two setups next time I go to a tournament :) probably the light council / CoB list, since I will hopefully soon get my 30 AoW WE in the mail :twisted:
Name: Ladry (female)
Class: Mage (Pyromancer)
Equipment: Staff, longsword, dagger, 20 gold, insignia ring.
Skills: Power of Aqshy (2), defensive figthing
WS4, S2, T3, D4, I6.
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Re: Thraundils battle log, game 18: ETC vs Orcs and Goblins

Post by Amboadine »

Well done on the personal best. Some hard match ups for you there.
Good Druchii showing all around.
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Thraundils battle log, game 22: ETC vs Empire

Post by Thraundil »

Hoi hoi! Its been a while since I reported a battle. Last week, I played a game vs the Empire, in the national warhammer league meaning we could both tailor within the ETC restrictions. I opted to include as many things the empire "should" fear as possible; stuff that reduces armor.

Lvl 4 death
Lvl 1 death
BSB on foot with hotek
20 shards
3x5 DR
4 RBT
30 exec
30 exec
5 warlocks

He opted to not go full cannon castle. Interesting to see the empire being the agressive player for once!

Lvl 4 light
Archlector on war altar
3 lvl 1 light wizards featuring feedback, dispel and shielding scrolls
Captain BSB on foot
60 halbardiers, 2x5 archers
20 ish spearmen 5 archers
Hurricanum
Cannon
2x5 Demis

So light council and multiple MC. Not so bad for my list, I thought at first glance.


The map featured a big hill on the middle right side, a forest and an impassable on my side of the board edge. On the left side was a bunch of stuff too, but nothing really went on there, as deployment saw both of us mostly go for the right side of the map. From the right flank he placed demis with hurricanum and war altar, then his halbardier horde with spear bunker behind. Then demis again with the cannon behind it.

I placed one exec horde on the right flank facing his demis, then fast cav and crossbowmen in my "centre" facing roughly his foot troops. Other exec horde went facing his other demis. Allround a great deployment for both of us. My bolt throwers all went in the centre for a clear view of fire on most of his stuff. A single DR unit went far left to flank around and take the cannon.

He won first turn. Magic saw him get every light spell (duh). I got all sniper spells on my lvl 4, along with soulblight. Lvl 1 took signature. I vanguarded everything agressively, but in as much cover as I could.

Turn 1:

Empire:
Mild shuffling forward with no decisive moves. His archer detachements went very far out though.. He took his war alter out of sight of most bolt throwers. Magic saw double banishment attempts on my warlocks. One got through, only making 3 hits and I saved one of them. His cannon failed to wound a bolt thrower.

Dark Elves:
A dark rider unit saw a charge on some archers and took it. Warlocks and leftmost dark riders started to move around the flank, aiming for the great cannon. Entire battleline moves carefully forward; lvl 4 into range of the war altar. I knocked a wound off the arch lector with magic, drawing his feedback scroll which cost my SS 2 wounds, yuck! Shooting saw dark riders pluck the arch lectors charmed shield, and bolt throwers failed to cause any big harm to him. Drat. Dark riders decimated the 5 archers and made a very long overrun right in front of his halbardiers and leftmost demis.

Turn 2:

Empire:
Demis charged the overrunning dark riders who flees in front of his halbardiers. The halbardiers now take the charge, and I continue fleeing a very long distance right in front of my central executioner unit. The halbardier unit failcharged, but as he rolled the demi charge range expecting to fail, he got an 11. That was exactly enough to catch the DR unit, bringing the demi unit RIGHT in front of my executioners in a way that no charge could take more than 3, maybe 4 demis in base contact. Pretty good for me! An unlucky roll on his part.
Magic was very uneventful. I let through timewarp on the demis, intending to not charge them before I could soften them up with repeater flank shots first. He shot one bolt thrower off the board with his great cannon, the other artillery crew passing panic.

Dark Elves:
The characters in my central exec horde bails into the shards, who shuffle in position for magic. The lvl 4 is now in range. Rightmost executioners move to block the other demi unit with their bodies. The BSB is in range of both demi units. Magic see me pick a wound off of the lvl 4. Winds only gave 4 dice total, so just the fact I got one wound off was a win. Bolt throwers let loose on the demi unit: 1 flank shot which hits, wounds, scores 3 wounds, wounds the next demi, scores 2 more. Nice! Both other bolt throwers then proceed to either miss or roll 1 to wound.

Turn 3:

Empire:
His demis charge my executioners. Rest of his line advances, halbardiers now getting quite close. I dont want to fight 60 S4 models with potential for ASF and WS10! He tries to boost his demis with magic, but I opt to use my scroll here to stop both speed and timewarp. Cannon takes down another bolt thrower. His right flank demis does not charge; he did not have the magic to boost both demi units. Close combat sees my executioners go first, inflict a total of 5 unsaved wounds leaving just 2 demi models figthing. He deals some damage, looses combat by a few but he holds.

Dark Elves:
My flank maneuvering dark riders charge his cannon. Warlocks find a charge on the hurricanum, its long but they make it in. The last central dark riders move to block his halbardiers from charging my shard bunker. I position the riders so they dont give cover, but the overrun will still take him towards my exec unit. Magic see me take another wound off the lvl 4, and in the shooting phase having not moved my shards, and being close range, I fell a total of 20 halbardiers. In close combat the dark riders rip the cannon apart, the warlocks cause the hurricanum to break, flee and run it down. The executioners massacre the remaining demis, and reform to 5 wide expecting the empire charge.

Turn 4:

Empire:
The empire begin to smell trouble. His spear bunker turns to receive the charge by the dark riders now behind his lines, and shuffle to bring the lvl 4 into the second rank. Halbardier horde charge my dark riders, whom they destroy and overrun into the waiting executioners. Rightmost demis shuffle; they still dont charge, as he cant beef up 2 units with magic. Said magic is a very low roll again, and he doesnt get a single spell through.

Dark Elves:
The shard bunker sees the halbardier units flank, and takes the charge. Riders try to charge the spear bunker to eat a few lvl 1's, but they fail. The lvl 4 was cleverly placed such that she did not get into base contact. Warlocks start eating up archer detatchments in the centre. I attempt a soulblight, but its dispelled. Not in front arc for any sniper spells :( in close combat I decimate several halbardiers, he gives a few back on both ends but looses combat horribly, and runs. Shards reform, executioners pursue and fail to catch. Shame!

Turn 5:

Empire:
Halbardiers rally. Spear bunker shuffles. The last remaining archer detatchment moves to block the executioners with a single model - but he made a big mistake here. Since they are skirmish, I could charge the unit with a lone character, forcing them to gather around the centre; the executioners can now get around! His rightmost demis finally charge my executioner unit. Magic sees him get timewarp off on them, ouch! They slaugther 19 executioners, and I barely get any wounds back. No longer steadfast, they break and are run down. Luckily, the impassable in my back lines means the demis are done for the game!

Dark Elves:
My BSB charge the skirmishers as mentioned before. I then charge the halbardiers with executioners to which he holds. I am greedy and declare a charge on them with the dark riders too. He opts to flee from the dark rider charge. I should have only charged with the executioners, since my BSB had overrun into the combat too. Bugger that! The dark riders redirect his spear bunker, who flees too. So all charges fail, except that of my BSB I march the shard bunker into 12" range of the fleeing lvl 4, knowing he had no bonus to dispel. The lvl 4 met with the fate of bjuna. BSb slaugthers the archers.

Turn 6:

Empire:
Halbardiers rally. Spear bunker fails to rally! War altar moves to banishment my BSB, but since its his only spell, I dispel it with all I have.

Dark Elves:
Lvl 4 and lvl 1 both march out of their bunker towards the war altar. A few spirit leeches later, and the lector is a dead man. I dont get full points for the altar, but the 100 VP for killing the general is there. Also, the moral victory ;)


When all was said and done, I should definitely have had the halbardiers' points too. That was a mistake. Also, his spear bunker should have rallied... I won 1356 VP over 780, giving me a 16-4 victory. Had I played better, and his spears rallied, I think the result had been similar. Overall, I played a very good game, apart from that greedy multicharge theres nothing I would have done differently so thats very good. He invested many points in his magic, and didnt get full bang for his buck - winds of magic where low on both sides for the entire game. The one good magic phase he had, though, did result in an entire executioner horde dead for free. Ouch! ASF and 10 additional attacks for the entire demi unit was painful to watch. But since my centre won on every phase, I gladly suffered the flank to lose. I should maybe just have taken the charge myself, but I have done the math and executioners cant grind vs MC unless they have a clear numbers advantage, and becayse my artillery and magic had been focused in the centre, that flank demi unit was at full strength.

I was abit gutted that my investment into death magic failed to kill his characters earlier. In my own opinion I had estimated 2-3 turns of magic to deal the lvl 4 in, but I only killed him in turn 5 after having pretty much taken the field anyway.

Still. A strong performance by the dark elves! Not a list I am likely to play much - maybe I will take it vs the other empire guy in my NWL group, because I really do like how it performs; there are no cannon targets except the RBTs (man I hate how cannons just eat them for free), and anything armored I can deal with - sort of.





Next weekend theres ETC singles tourney in my local game store. I am bringing a character heavy mobility list; peglord, lvl 4 death on foot, 2 pegmasters, a steed master, 20 shards, 15 DR, a chariot, 4 RBT and 10 warlocks - reports will come up when I'm done! Game one is already decided, its a grudge match against bretonnia. Silence the trebutchets early, then combo charge his bus. Also, bolt throwers and crossbows with -1 and -2 armor respectively LOVES 2+ cavalry that is T3 ^^ the match is by no means won. If his two trebutchets can drop my general, I could have my work cut out for me. I expect to see life magic on his side.
Name: Ladry (female)
Class: Mage (Pyromancer)
Equipment: Staff, longsword, dagger, 20 gold, insignia ring.
Skills: Power of Aqshy (2), defensive figthing
WS4, S2, T3, D4, I6.
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Re: Thraundils battle log, game 22: ETC vs Empire

Post by Amboadine »

Nice win. The council seemed pretty ineffective thankfully.
I like the list you are taking for the tournament more, I have not seen the twin Executioners horde list before. Glad it worked out.
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Re: Thraundils battle log, game 22: ETC vs Empire

Post by Thraundil »

Amboadine wrote:Nice win. The council seemed pretty ineffective thankfully.
I like the list you are taking for the tournament more, I have not seen the twin Executioners horde list before. Glad it worked out.


First couple of games in NWL went horribly, so I am now just using it to experiment with different setups :P
Name: Ladry (female)
Class: Mage (Pyromancer)
Equipment: Staff, longsword, dagger, 20 gold, insignia ring.
Skills: Power of Aqshy (2), defensive figthing
WS4, S2, T3, D4, I6.
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