Thraundils battle log game 56: UB tournament Round One!

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Thraundil
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Thraundils battle log game 56: UB tournament Round One!

Post by Thraundil »

Greetings, esteemed Dreadlords and Hag Queens!

I bring you here my battle log, which, instead of overflooding the battle report subforum, I will try to post as many interesting battles here as possible. I have a decent memory, but exact numbers and exact magic items of my opponents will remain unknown, by and large :p its the big picture that counts. The first battle will be posted straight away! It was a game between my own Druchii forces and a dwarven army, the story being that my forces were out to capture dwarven slaves from their mines and villages, in order to labour in the mines of Naggaroth. However, the dwarven scouts saw my advance and escaped in time to warn the dwarves, who swiftly rallied their army for a Dawn Attack! Battle was for 1500 points, without restrictions.

Landrys Skirmishers:

Supreme Sorceress, 4++, powerstone, 6++ vs warmachines
Pegasus Master, cloak, lance, 1+.
17 Darkshards, FC, LD standard
5 Dark Riders with crossbows, shields and mus
2x5 Shades, AHW
6 Harpies
3 Reaper Bolt Throwers
5 Doomfire Warlocks

Dwarven Defenders:

Thane, great weapon, +3 attacks
Master Engineer
20 Warriors, GW, FC
20 Warriors, HW+shields, FC
16 Ironbreakers, HW+shields, FC
16 thunderers
16 quarrelers, FC
Cannon
Bolt Thrower

Terrain and Deployment:

Image

We deployed the terrain, alternating turns at placing a piece each. The board was reasonably balanced, with forests obscuring both sides of the centre of the map. Plenty of places to hide my pegmaster from the first turn shooting.

He won the rolloff for deployment, meaning he had to deploy everything first. He placed warriors and ironbreakers first, bit of a mistake since it blocked a good position for his thunderers who also ended up in the centre. Quarellers he rolled 6 for, as with war machines, so he got to place those on nice hilltops with quarellers covering one flank.

I then had to deply all my non skirmishers. All my units rolled 3-5, except for war machines which scores a 1; left flank! Nice, there was a hilltop for them to deploy on all 3 reapers forming a nice artillery battery. Pegmaster thankfully didnt roll 2: the right flank was entirely without terrain, and he would have gotten two turns of shooting on me. When deploying my shades, I realised he had made a critical error: his cannon was just about 14" from the table corner, allowing me to squeeze in shades behind him! The other unit of shades deployed in the middle of the board, behind cover. He deployed first, and I rolled a 3 allowing him to pick who would start. He chose to go first.

Dwarves turn 1:

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My vanguard saw dark riders and warlocks take point in the centre of the board, eyeing his cannon which he, due to the shades, didnt bother trying to cover; it was a hopeless situation. Warriors and ironbreakers form to block a complete flanking by my fast cavalry, thunderers take position in the forest, and quarellers move around the hill. The bolt thrower fired into the flank of my dark riders, cutting down 2 of them and forcing a panic test. They fled, the cowards! Thankfully my warlocks passed their test from seeing their friends flee... The cannon aimed for the warlocks, but bounced just 2 inches into a direct hit, falling 4 inches short of hitting them.

Dark Elves turn 1:

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On my first turn, shades and warlocks combocharged his cannon to make 100% sure it was silenced on turn one. Dark riders rally and turn to face the dwarven infantry, centre shades move forward to get within short distance. Harpies move to the centre of the board, spotting the bolt thrower and covering my darkshards from his thunderers. The pegasusmaster flew just outside of 15" of his quarellers (meaning long distance), and within a 17" charge range of his bolt thrower. Also, he was not in the warrior unit's front arc, guaranteeing a safe charge next turn.

Magic phase was short, rolling 2 and 3 for winds of magic. He dispelled chillwind on the quarellers, meaning a doombolt hit the thunderers for 3 casualties. Shooting saw me trying to get a panic test on the thunderers with my crossbowmen, but they scored only 2 kills thanks to his cover. The reaper batteries let loose, hailing volley after volley at his quarellers, cutting down 4 of their numbers. They passed panic. Close combat saw his cannon crew cut to pieces by the warlocks, who reformed to spot the flank of the warriors.

Dwarves turn 2:

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With his cannon destroyed, the two blocks of infantry turned to face the warlocks, preventing flank charges. His left flank warriors moved forward, and shooting saw his thunderers kill all but one harpy, who passed panic. Quarellers scored 4 wounds on the master, which he saved all of thanks to his sturdy armor. The bolt thrower hit the master thanks to the master engineer hitting on 2+, but I managed to save it with the cloak of twilight. (Also, he only rolled 1 wound, so phew!).

Dark Elves turn 2:

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Not yet ready to engage in close combat, my cavalry circled around his infantry and set up on their flank again, with the shades keeping a 12" distance. My harpy moved in front of the warriors, intending to flee their charge, thus wasting a turn. Pegmaster charges his bolt thrower. Magic once again saw unfavourable winds of magic, allowing me once again to cast doombolt on his thunderers for 2 kills. Shooting sees my reaper battery kill 5 ironbreakers, and the shades and dark riders manage to do nothing with their crossbows.

In close combat, his engineer challenges, is utterly obliterated, and they fail their break test and flees. My master pursues, and fails to catch up!

Dwarves turn 3:

Image

HIs frustrated infantry again wheels to avoid the flank charge, and his central warriors charge the lone harpy, who flees. He catches them! Now he is within charge range of my darkshards, whoops. Quarellers abandon the bolt thrower crew to their fate and moves up to obtain better targets. With both war machines disabled, things are looking bleak for the dwarven forces now! The bolt thrower crew does manage to rally, though.

Dark elves turn 3:

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Landry has decided it is time. She shouts a command, and as one, the entire left wing charges the dwarven infantry. Warlocks in the front of the great weapon wielding warriors, with shades in the flank, and a double front charge by dark riders and shades onto the ironbreakers to hopefully keep them in place, preventing a flank (I should probably just have blocked with the dark riders instead of going in!) The pegasus master charges the master engineer and his crew once again.

Magic saw Landry with a large amount of power, 10 PD vs 6 DD. A massive doombolt spells the end for the thunderers, but the remaining spells were dispelled, including a soulblight attempt by the warlocks. The reaper battery slays 3 quarellers, but they pass panic. In the melee, the warlocks mercilessly cut through 7 dwarves, and the shades scoring another 3 casualties, before the warriors return blows and cut 3 warlocks from their saddles. I win combat by 8, and the dwarves flee and are run down by the warlocks, who choose to slay every last dwarf rather than enslave them. Slaanesh must be pleased this day! The ironbreakers are more sturdy though, they lose only a single model. In return, the thane singlehandedly kills every last dark rider, but the shades manage to avoid the blows of the ironbreakers and hold on to the fight. His master engineer again challenge my master, is slain brutally, and the remaining two crewmen flees off the table. The master reforms to face the main action.

Dwarves turn 4:

Image

Deciding that he must make action, his dwarven warriors charge my crossbowmen. The stand and shoot reaction sees a few dwarves stumble and fall, but the charge is completed. Quarellers continue their advance for targets. Ironbreakers manage to save every wound the shades get through, and slays 4 shades. The final shade breaks and runs for it. The dwarven warriors takes 4 wounds from the warriors, and then manage to do 2 in return which I save! Really unlucky dice rolls from him, and he breaks and flees into the centre of the field. Last ditch effort; had he killed my sorceress, he may yet have drawn, but now it truly seems hopeless.

Dark elves turn 4:

Image

It is time to end the battle, and move into the main village to collect slaves aplenty. My warlocks and shades set up for a charge on the ironbreakers, while the pegasusmaster charges the warriors fleeing down the centre of the board, trampling them underfoot of his dark pegasus. Magic saw both warlocks and Landry succesfully cast doombolt on the ironbreakers and quarellers, respectively, thinning their numbers massively. The darkshard shooting slew the remaining quarellers, and the bolt throwers lined up for 3 massive, point blank volleys on the ironbreakers. The first two volleys sees every last ironbreaker die, and the Thane falls to the final volley, with the knowledge that his wife, children, and kinsmen will be taken back across the sea to become slaves to the cold hearted dark elves!

I clear the table by turn 4, so we called it a massive victory for me. He only picked up a unit of dark riders and a unit of harpies, whilst also taking one of my shade units below 25%.

Postgame thoughts:

I probably had this game, barring him managing to snipe my sorceress or master with warmachines. My army was incredibly mobile so I could choose when and where to fight, and due to the dawn attack his deployment was not optimal at all. He got two rounds of shooting on his bolt thrower and only one cannoshot fired all game, and his shooters did almost nothing since they where on opposite sides of the board compared to my fast cavalry. That being said, I also had some MONSTER rolls, and often scored quite a few more casualties than I should have. (One crossbow volley saw me hit 17 of 34 shots at 5+ for example). I expected the win, but I didnt expect such a large win. I had thought he would bring more war machines and more shooters, but instead he gave me superiority in both movement, magic (of course), shooting, and allowed me to pick my close combat fights as I saw fit.

The way the game was played, I only really made two mistakes; the darkrider + shade charge on the ironbreakers. I should just have placed dark riders in front of them, blocking them from flanking. He would have run them down, sure, but that way my shade unit had remained untouched. Small thing, but worth noting. The other thing was my magic phase in turn 3. I had the game at that point, and instead of doombolting his thunderers I should have soulbligthed and word of pain'ed his great weapon warriors to limit his strike-back potential. I still won the combat hugely, but it got fairly close to me losing my warlocks.

Man of the match: warlocks and pegmaster for their extreme killyness. And, surprisingly, bolt throwers! In a battle where he had nothing to prevent me from shooting him down, they scored a LOT of casualties throughout the game, making the eventual close combat very onesided for me. In future battles I will probably still take them, though their role will drift more towards chaff clearing. Also, in any other game I probably wont deploy all 3 of them together ;)
Last edited by Thraundil on Mon Mar 09, 2015 11:37 am, edited 27 times in total.
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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Marchosias
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Re: Thraundils battle log

Post by Marchosias »

Congratulations!

Just a quick note, if a warmachine is broken during close combat, it is automatically destroyed. No need to run the crew down. Not that it mattered much here. :)
Setomidor
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Re: Thraundils battle log

Post by Setomidor »

Nice battle report, thanks a lot!

I've added your report to the list of illustrated reports, I couldn't find it above but I'm guessing this was a 2000pts game?
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Thraundil
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Re: Thraundils battle log

Post by Thraundil »

Setomidor wrote:Nice battle report, thanks a lot!

I've added your report to the list of illustrated reports, I couldn't find it above but I'm guessing this was a 2000pts game?


Thanks! :)
Nope, was a 1500 pt game. Edited the OP to reflect this :)
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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Thraundil
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Thraundils battle log: ETC Dark Elves vs High Elves (dragons

Post by Thraundil »

Greetings, fellow warlords!

Today I played a testgame of a list I want to bring to an ETC tournament between christmas and new years. I really like the idea of a dragon list, so my army concept is based on a few core infantry units that can hold their own in combat vs fast stuff, and will be supported vs slower stuff, as well as a large amount of very mobile units that I intend to combine in battle. I havent a single sorceress in the army! Any comments on the list would be nice, if anyone's reading this. My friend plays HE, and he also played a test list with a star dragon and almost no shooting! I dont know all of his magic items.

His list:
Prince on Star Dragon. 2++ vs first wound suffered, OTS.
BSB on eagle
Lvl 2, life.
Lvl 2, high.
2x5 Reavers, only one of them had bows.
29 Spear Elves with FC
6 Silver Helms
10 dragon princes with FC
Frostheart Phoenix
Great Eagle

My list:
Dreadlord on Black Dragon. Cloak, full mundane, dawnstone, spellshield.
Pegasus master, BSB, 4++, potion of foolhardiness
2x6 DR, crossbows, shields, mus
20 Corsairs, mus, handbows
10 WE
9 CoK, FC, gleaming pennant
War Hydra, flaming breath
4 bolt throwers (mostly to control enemy chaff)
10 Warlocks with master

Terrain and deployment:

Image

He had 8 drops, I had nine. We set up an even table with some ruins in the middle and some scattered forests. He won the rollof for deployment and picked me to go first. The deployment result after vanguard (he vanguarded first) is seen above. He heavily overloaded his right flank! I took advantage of this to win the center, as we will see soon. He won the roll and decided he would go first. His life mage rolled signature + dwellers, and his high mage rolled tempest and apothesis. As I only have warlocks, they just gain doombolt and soulblight. In high PD magic phases I will probably get one of the two off, in low PD magic phases I will get one off almost assuredly. It limits me a bit, but I get a lot of flexibility for the extra points from saving a mage, and warlocks are not at all bad I find :) (well in this game they underperformed, but oh well!)

I should mention that there are certain inaccuracies in the diagrams. I am not very good at placing terrain in the correct locations, but I subsequently place models and units as close to the terrain pieces as they are in the games. I have physical photos taken after every movement phase, and from these pictures all that I describe (charges, magic missiles etc.) should be "good" to take.

HE turn 1:

Image

The entire high elf army moved to claim a solid control of their own right flank, as the few units in the centre moved forward to deny as much terrain as possible. His silver helms was forced to take a dangerous terrain test, and the dark elves cheered as the first high elf steed stumbled across a root and fell to the ground, crushing his rider!

Magic saw a monstrous 11 power dice! Earthblood go off on the spear elves, and a tempest was placed right on my corsairs. I failed to dispel (6 dice = roll of 10 total), and it scatters to hit my witches too. Two witches die, but only a single corsair fall as he fluffs all his rolls to wound. Not so bad after all, it made up for my atrocious dispel attempt. His high mage then casts a bound item magic missile on my dark riders, killing just 2 models. Apothesis is cast on his unit champion for the lore attribute.

Shooting didnt see much; his reavers failed to hit anything!

DE turn 1:

Image

With my left flank so heavily overloaded with hated high elves, I decided to establish control of the centre of the board first. I moved dark riders up to block charges, warlocks behind them. Everything else surge to the center, setting up for a charge against the spear elves next turn.

Winds of magic sees just 5 powerdice. Suited me just fine; I cast doombolt onto his silver helms, score a massive 10 wounds of which he only makes 5 saves... So 5 dead models. One unit wiped from the face of the earth, good start!

Corsairs manage to fell a single spear elf, dark riders shoot 2 of his flank reavers, and my two rightmost bolt throwers obliterate his center reaver unit. The two left bolt throwers aim on onto his dragon. 2 hits, both on the dragon! A single manage to wound, knocking 3 wounds off the dragon. That should make him a bot more cauteous.

HE turn 2:

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He continued his flank tactics. His flank reavers now actually blocked himself in, and he couldnt charge my dark riders or warlocks. His eagle moved to my back to cause some annoyances. His spear elves attempted a charge on my corsairs, hoping to break them in close combat with their ranks. He rolled snakeeyes! Bad time to fail, as the unit is now completely exposed. On a small bonus note for him, my stand and shoot reaction did nothing.

Magic saw him generate 7 PD against 4 DD. He attempted a dwellers on my warlocks, and rolled only a total of 17, so failed spell! Apothesis again went off on the dragon prince unit champ. But he had not scored a single casualty this round.

DE turn 2:

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The dark elf general had decided it was time to bathe his lance in the blood of the Asur. A massive combo charge went off on the HE spear elf unit containing his life mage. Dragonlord, knights, pegasus master and witch elves all slammed into the unit. My left flank dark riders moved to safety and warlocks moved to the flank of his dragon. Sadly just within his forward arc, I didnt believe he would risk a charge with a dragon against poisonous attacks. Hydra and corsairs reform for position.

Winds of magic sees only a few dice. I attempt soulblight on his dragon, he scrolls it (the life mage had a scroll, so he might as well!)

Shooting sees little action also. All 4 bolt throwers aim at the hulking star dragon, but all bolts either fall short of the target or fails to wound. The corsairs make a pin cushion out of the giant eagle, though!

Close combat is nothing short of a massacre. He doesnt manage a single wound on my knights nor witch elves, and in return I wipe the unit down to 3 models. He doesnt make the snakeeyes and runs. Witch elves must pursue but fails to catch them. The pegasus master does catch them though, and cut them down with little regards to their cries for mercy. The center is mine, but his most nasty units are yet to come! Dragonlord and knights reform.

HE turn 3:

Image

His flank overload starts to pay off, as his center now threatens my entire rear! The star dragon defies the odds (I was very surprised by this choice) and charges the warlocks. Frostheart phoenix hides behind terrain, dragon princes and BSB charge a bolt thrower each. Reavers move up to block flank charges.

Magic saw him cast tempest on the corsairs. I believe he may have killed a few, I am not sure. And apothesis again on his unit champ (the dragon was just out of range!).

In close combat, he naturally wiped two bolt throwers and reformed. The warlocks did 7 wounds to the star dragon with S4, so his armor save is 4+. He of course saves 6 of them, blasted! Then I proceed to fail every single ward save on my warlocks. He uses his breath weapon, leaving nothing to change, and cuts down 9 models in total. (In all fairness he had OTS, but out of the 9 wounds caused I passed 3 ward saves, where all rerolls then failed. Bah!). The master of warlocks looses his cool, and flees. I should of course have challenged, and held on steadfast! Stupid me.

DE turn 3:

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An uneventful turn, the dark elves used this momentary pause to regroup. I move my units to threaten his dragon princes. I thought his reaver unit would prevent his DP from charging my knights, but this turned out that he could just squeeze them in. Ah, I relied on them to hold nevertheless. Both general and BSB was close by. Corsairs rally, warlocks continue their flight. The flank DR unit moves to the edge of the board, trying to bait his phoenix to charge off the board. Centre DR moves close to the action. Bolt throwers take flank shots with single bolts on his dragon princes, but I forgot his ward save, and he stops the missiles short of killing anything.

HE turn 4:

Image

In a mess-up on the rules by me, his reavers and DP both charge into my knights. It turns out he could just barely squeeze through with the DP after making the charge with the reavers. Dragonlord and eagle BSB move to the center to threaten the flank and rear of that same combat. The frostheart phoenix, realising theres no more room in the middle, takes the charge on the DR. They choose to flee off the board, and he needed 4 or lower to NOT pursue off the board. He failed. Bye ice birdie!

Magic saw apothesis and tempest cast once again. The tempest does very little, but apothesis heals his dragon for one wound. It now has 4 left again.

In close combat, he really needed to break my knights. I direct as many hits as I can onto reavers, and manage to slay all 3 of them. Meanwhile, he rolls poorly to hit with the DP, managing only 5 wounds of which I save 3, and retain steadfast. Important! He said it was poor luck, but of 13 hits he hit 7 and wound 5, which I think is quite reasonable. I should maybe have lost combat by one more, but him charging with reavers gave me free CR. He didnt have much of a choice, though. Had he stayed where he was, I would have combo charged him on the following turn.

DE turn 4:

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Now was the time. Charge, for glory! Pegasus master, war hydra and dragonlord slam into the dragon princes, corsairs and DR move to block any flank and rear maneuvers by his general, and the witch elves move down to cover the rear of the CoK battle from his star dragon. Shooting again saw my bolt throwers fail to inflict anything on his dragon.

In close combat, his rubber lances did all of nothing to me. My pegasus master slew his high mage, but combined, my war hydra and black dragon killed a total of 1 dragon prince since he still had a 4+ ward from high magic lore attribute. Bah! My general killed two princes, and my knights one more, but he held with a reasonably easy roll seeing as his general and BSB was both nearby. That means he had another chance thanks to the rear threat by his dragon! Warlock fails to rally, and runs off the board.

HE turn 5:

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Things where looking grim for the Asur. He really needed to break my knights now to stand any hope, but his dragon princes no longer had ward saves except for their 6++. And to get to the fight, his dragon lord had to go through my 8 brides of khaine! He takes the charge. The eagle BSB flanks the ongoing CoK fight. Frost phoenix reenters the board.

Witch elves. Oh you sweet little girls. 16 attacks with poison resulted in 8 wounds directed on the dragon. This time he was not so lucky, failed 4 of the armor saves, and the great beast fell to the ground, poison coursing through its veins! The prince killed 4 elves, though, but the combat was only lost by 1, and they easily hold with LD 10 and BSB auras nearby.

Meanwhile, the dragon princes was beaten severely, losing all but a single model in the next round of combat. Without wards, they easily fell to the two huge monsters. The eagle standard bearer does not make up for this, and he breaks from the combat. BSB fights to the death, and the lone dragon prince flee and escape from the war hydra.

DE turn 5 and onwards:

In the DE turn 5, both flying characters fly behind his prince. Impending doom! Every other model makes ready for the frostheart phoenix. The bolt throwers shoot the last dragon prince down. In close combat, however, the 4 witch elves continue their rampant slaugther, as they leap at the high elf prince and cut him apart in Khaines name. In the HE turn 6, he thus opted to hide his phoenix, and the game was over with a massive victory to the dark elves.

My own analysis: I made a few bad calls allowing him to charge my knights. However, the amount of ward saves he made in the close combat once my dragon and hydra joined in was beyond belief. He should never have had the chance to do a rear overrun with his star dragon! That was the only critical error on my part I feel. His dragon ate my warlocks for dinner, but honestly I had not expected him to dare charge a unit with ASF poisons! He made way too many of his armour saves - but in the next battle with the witches, I sort of got back on him I guess. He learned the hard way why you never charge poisoned units with monsters! Other than that, I controlled movement pretty well. My bolt throwers cleared his chaff and knocked a few wounds off the dragon, but after turn 2 they actually didnt really do much. Every shot either missed or failed to wound! I somehow have ridiculously poor ward save karma. I believe I didnt make a single ward save this game. While on the other hand I swear he made 2 out of 3 on those dragon princes. Still, I had shooting superiority, and he committed too heavily on the flank. He didnt have room for all those units, and his phoenix did nothing all game long.

Unit of the match; witch elves and bolt throwers, who teamed up to kill the dragon! However, the fact I was able to combo charge him several times really paid off.
Last edited by Thraundil on Mon Dec 23, 2013 10:01 am, edited 1 time in total.
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 2: DE vs HE with dragonlords

Post by Gerner »

Hey Thraundil!
Great report and congratulations on beating those hippies!

I'm afraid to say I think you made some mistakes, but it could be the pictures and your wording.
1. Corsair's Reaper Hand Bows only have a range of 12''. They shoot at the Spear Elves who in the following turn need a 8 to charge, that must mean there was 13 inches?
2. Your Doomfire Warlocks cast a Doombolt at the Silver Helms. A Doom Bolt is a magic missile so the target must be in front arc and line of sight.
3. Don't know if you played this right but the ward save from High Magic only works untill the casters next magic phase.
4. On DE turn 2 your Dreadlord charge the spear elves. From the picture it looks like he should be in their flank and not front.
5. On HE turn 4 he multi-charges you, and from what I can see it is possible - although I would probably had charged the corsairs with the reavers instead.
6. I don't get how the dragon princes was steadfast? Did he have a rank more than you?

Anyways nice battle report! :)
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Re: Thraundils battle log, game 2: DE vs HE with dragonlords

Post by Dragon9 »

Very nice! Thanks for the write up!
"The dark elves have everything cool. They are pirate blood cultist ninjas riding dinosaurs and flinging magic. They're metal. They're the most metal race out there, rivaled only by Warriors of Chaos. They bring a cauldron of boiling blood onto the battlefield. You don't get much more metal than that." -- Mostlyharmless on Warseer

My Blog: A Small World - My Life in Miniatures

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Thraundil
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Re: Thraundils battle log, game 2: DE vs HE with dragonlords

Post by Thraundil »

Cheers guys :)

On your points, Gerner, I understand your concern from the diagrams. It is not 100% accurate, I still have difficulties placing the terrain just as it was on the board. But I then go on to place all models relative to terrain, which leads to certain inaccuracies. I have pictures taken after every movement phase of the game.

For example, below is shown the situation with the warlocks' magic missile onto the silver helms. I have just ended my movement phase, and Iød argue the SH are well within the warlock units forward arc. Just one warlock need to have line of sight - even if it is a rear rank one according to the rule wording, and he is for a certainty.

Image

The corsairs shooting wasnt a mistake, we measured. I must just have remembered the charge distance wrongly. We did remember to remove the high magic ward saves, but they last until HIS next magic phase so where still active in my turns. The dragonlord charging his spear elves is again an inaccuracy in the diagram, but maybe also an inaccuracy in the way we played it. Going in a direct line, the dragon actually hits the flank of the spears. It didnt matter much for the result, anyway. The DP might not have been steadfast now that I think of it, but I only won combat by one or two those two rounds so with the BSB and general near he easily held on. Thanks for pointing these things out. I write the battle reps from the pictures I take of the movement phases, and then from memory. I may have just let a few things slip. Ill edit my post to better explain a few of these :)
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 2: DE vs HE with dragonlords

Post by Gerner »

Still a good job. I wouldn't be able to remember half of it. I'm always so impressed with battle reports because they must take forever to make and be hard to remember.
Thanks for clearing that out. :)
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Marchosias
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Re: Thraundils battle log, game 2: DE vs HE with dragonlords

Post by Marchosias »

Good job both in writing and fighting!

Protecting the rear of your COKs with witches was a good move. However, how did you get them to face the dragon? Had they not faced it, they would have no supporting attacks.

I think you were quite lucky that your COKs held. In the HE turn 4, your opponent could have charged the corsairs with his reavers (or maybe the hydra if it was visible): the Ellyrians would die anyway but they would not give up unnecessary combat resolution to the COK fight. Then your knights could have been charged by both dragon princes and the BSB. This would mean quite a few high strength attacks while you would only retaliate with S4 against 1+ armour and some ward save. Then it would be not as probable as before to hold your ground until help arrived. Or he could have, instead of reforming towards the center, continued with his rampage through your warmashines and maybe he would even manage a charge on your corsairs.

I am writing this because I think you might have sent too many units to kill the poor spearmen. Witches and corsairs would probably suffice while your dragon, pegmaster and COKs would be better (I think) to threaten with a countercharge should the dragon princes go to near. Then, a difficult positioning battle would probably follow, but you would have denied the dragon princes their rampage through your backlines which is always a good thing.

This is not to say you did wrong, I just wanted to present an option. ;)
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Re: Thraundils battle log, game 2: DE vs HE with dragonlords

Post by Thraundil »

Gerner: NP :)

Marchosias; the witches where, in the actual game, not as far away from the dragon as the diagram shows. They had enough movement to simply move down and then wheel around to face the dragon.
Yep, I was lucky the knights held. But actually I had also missed the ruling of charges. Im still relatively new to the game, so some of the kinks are unknown to me.
The position before he charged was this:
Image

My corsairs are well off to the side (they are not included in the image), but they are "blocked" by the knights also. If the reavers where to charge the corsairs, they would have to wheel to get past the knights, but the corsairs would then no longer be in their direct front line, and as such it would not be a legal charge as I understand it, since you are only allowed to wheel once during the charge before contact is made... Right?

Anyways. The actual turn went like this. Reavers declared charge on knights. Dragon princes declared charge on knights. Both units could not possibly fail the charge. The point of contention was, if the dragon princes can actually close the gap here. The ruling says that an equal amount of models from each charging unit must fight if at all possible, which would mean all 3 reavers should be in B2B, in other words the 2 leftmost CoK models frontage would be covered. But in order to now have the dragon princes, 5 wide, close the same gap... Well they would not be able to fit due to the war hydra. What we did was move the reavers way out so 2 reavers where in B2B, which made just enough room for the DP to squeeze through. This, incidentally, also caused his mage to not be in B2B with my CoK, which he was obviously very happy about. But I am still abit iffed about it, actually, and my understanding during my own movement phase (which concluded in the situation in the picture) was that only the reavers would be able to charge the dragon princes.

What I could (I had plenty of move left on most units) and should have done, was to place the war hydra so it blocked the dragon princes, and then placed my BSB so the overrun made by the DP would take them into the BSB. My next turn would then have seen ME charge him, with both dragon and CoK. Either that, or I should just have not moved that far down with my knights. Hydra would have been an expensive blocker for sure, but it would've done the trick I think?

Anyways. I'd appreciate it if you guys who have given me feedback could give your two cents on the matter based on the photo. I'm actually really interested in knowing :) if its me who misunderstand the rules, then its lucky I held. If its him doing overeager movements to complete charges, then its only fair that I also held, I think :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 2: DE vs HE with dragonlords

Post by Marchosias »

I am no seasoned veteran, either. :)

My solution would be: first, move the ellyrians to the left flank of the COKs (this means to the right from the point of view of the photo). I think they cannot go to the other side as was shown on the diagram, because they are only allowed a single wheel up to 90 degrees and then one more wheel to close the door. And after this charge, the dragon princes should fit to the right flank of your knights. There would probably be a gap between the two units, but I do not see a reason this would be against the rules.

In any case, from the photo it seems quite clear that the reavers cold really only charge the knights, so good job in this regard.

And I really like your witch elf maneuver. 8)
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Re: Thraundils battle log, game 2: DE vs HE with dragonlords

Post by Thraundil »

Alright. That would make a lot more sense indeed, putting the reavers on the right. And that actually meant that the CoK where not as exposed as you would think, since his wizard would have been exposed to attacks, and he had no armor, so thats another couple of "free" combat resolution for me there. Of course, putting the knights there was a bad move, and if I had been clear on the rules (and had been a bit more precise with my hydra perhaps), the whole thing would've turned out better.

The witch elf maneuver was super slick. I was very happy when I found it too, and even more happy when he charged his dragon into it :P

Thanks for the comments, guys =) helps me improve my gameplan every time!
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 3-5: Local oneday ETC tourney

Post by Thraundil »

Greetings, one and all. I played a local tournament today with ETC restrictions. My list is not an optimised list in any way, but something I wanted to try out in a competitive setting nevertheless. It turns out; against certain opponents it can be a super good, flexible list, whereas against certain others (as you will see if you keep reading) it can be completely powerless. These reports are without diagrams and from memory, as I forgot my camera at home, and also there is time restratings during the games. We have to play 3 games in less than 10 hours including lunch and cleaning up.

So anyways, the list I brought was:
Dragonlord, cloak, dawnstone, spellshield
Pegmaster BSB, 4++ and foolhardiness pot (which I forgot to use every game!)
21 corsairs AHW FC
3x5 DR
4x RBT
7 Shades AHW
War hydra, flaming breath
2x5 Warlocks
Bloodwrack Shrine

I attempt to make the choice of shooting and magic "harder" for the opponent, giving him 4 dangerously looking targets. Sadly, the dragon looks TO dangerous, as we will see soon.

Game one: vs Warriors of Chaos, Tzeentch

First ever game against a WoC.

His list:
lvl 4 wizard on disc, breath weapon, scroll, ward saves etc
BSB on disc, lots of wards
Like 10 marauder horsemen
9 chaos hounds
3 Chimeras with breath weapon, regen, flying, the lot. (I dont know how many of these comes standard, and how many are upgrades).
Something about 18 or 20 chaos warriors with GW.
Hellcannon

Deployment saw me get my bolt throwers on a central hill, with my dragon and master out of sight of his cannon, and my corsair-shrine unit centre field, hydra next to it. Fast cav spread out along the board. He deployed his hellcannon on top of a hill, his warriors centre board with both characters, hounds one flank, marauders the other, and chimeras hid as best as he could from my RBTs. I vanguard my fast stuff forward, outside of his "optimal charge ranges". He then wins turn 1.

WoC turn 1:

He moves chimeras up. Two of them attempts charges, against which I flee my DR and his charges fail. His warriors have swiftness banner, and he tries to charge my warlocks. He needs to roll 8 still, so I elect to hold because thats above average. He sadly makes it. With ASF I kill I think one warrior (grr). I then proceed to take 7 wounds, fail all 7 ward saves, luckily he overruns only 5" and does not catch my (fleeing!) dark rider unit.

Magic saw him cast infernal gateway. I dispel with 6 dice, roll a total of 9(!), luckily he fails to inflict any wounds on my dragon, and so he gains regen 6+. Treason goes on the dragonlord as well and that seems to happen throughout the rest of the game. Hellcannon blasts my shrine out of the game (nice debut for this model), the corsairs panic and flee. Hydra doesnt panic though, good for me!

DE turn 1:

Having exposed his warriors centre field, I imidiately charge with my dragonlord and pegasus master into his one flank, and the 5 other warlocks on the other flank. Hydra also declares a long charge, but it fails. Dark riders move to attempt to block his marauder horsemen from charging my dragon. Chaos hounds are shot to smithereens centre field by shades and dark riders. RBTs take a wound off the hellcannon, and I think also a wound off one chimera. (He literally makes almost all his regen saves on them this game). Corsairs and fleeing DR rallies.

Magic seems me soulblight his warrior unit, he scrolls it. His wizard then makes way to my warlocks, and after they kill a single warrior with ASF he obliterates the 5 of them with his breath weapon - no more magic for me. His champion challenge, pegmaster accepts and overkills him by 3. Dragonlord and dragon rips a good deal of warriors to pieces, I use breath weapon (this was a mistake, I should have saved it). I win the combat, but he holds on steadfast since he still has warriors left. He fails to reform, though!

WoC turn 2:

Chimeras tries more long charges, fail. Cannon takes a shot at I forgot what, does very little. Marauder horsemen get a flank charge on my dragonlord. In magic he can only cast treason, which goes on the dragon.

Close combat sees his BSB challenge, I accept with the master. They do a wound to each other, he fails to leech the wound back. The dragonlord and dragon then butchers most horsemen, and the combined return attacks only do a single wound. He loses combat by a ton, horsemen flee, warriors hold on steadfast. They reform to deny my dragon thunderstomp B2B with a warrior model, but I then reform to reclaim B2B with a warrior model. (He has 5 left).

DE turn 2:

Corsairs and hydra attempts long charges on the warriors, both fail. A DR unit charge his hellcannon to keep it from shooting hopefully, centre stuff and RBT tries to shoot chimeras but take maybe a wound off one more. So many succesful regen saves by him.

In melee, the challenge was inconclusive, and the dragonlord + dragon manage to kill all 5 warriors. He breaks, the BSB dies and the wizard sadly gets away from the pursuing pegmaster. Dragon reforms to face down the hellcannon. DR only loses 3 models and holds thanks to the BSB. No cannon shots next turn!

WoC turn 3:

He rallies his wizard (drat!), and then blasts my pegmaster off the board. Chimeras start to run rampage. Chimera vs Hydra (on paper a very even match) sees me do one wound to his chimera who then kills my hydra. Another one starts eating dark riders and bolt throwers, the third one tries to chase my corsairs. Cannon kills the dark riders, reforms to face my dragon.

DE turn 3:

I charge his lvl 4 with my dragon. He flees, rolls low and moves his distance. I need 9 to catch him, roll the 9, but the guy swore that he measured before moving the flee roll that I would need a 10. Drat for not checking the distance myself before I allowed him to move the flee, it was his word against mine. I still think I should have called the organiser aka rule guy and have him declare it. If I had made the charge, I'd have won the game by alot more than I did in the end... Anyways. Dragon fails charge. I should of course just have redirected into the cannon instead, but the 9 on swiftstride is plausible.

Chimeras eat some RBTs.

WoC turn 4:

Wizard rallies, blasts my dragon stone dead. The resulting miscast kills the lvl 4 outright though! (Double 1, then a roll of 3. Bye bye!). Lord survives, hellcannon shot does nothing. Now a chimera with 1 wound left charge my RBT. The crew cuts the beast down before it gets to strike. Mwahaha! Suck it, regen.

DE turn 4 and onwards:

Subsequent turns see me charge his hellcannon with the lord and some dark riders. I probably shouldnt have, but I forgot about that the stupid cannon has thunderstomp. In either case, I make a ton of saves but at the same time roll no 6s to wound, so we just stand there not killing each other. Corsairs and remaining shades and DR dance around with the 2 remaining chimeras, who elect mostly to hide from the single remaining RBT. In the end, my lord was alive with 1 wound left, he had 2 chimeras and the cannon, and I still had corsairs, shades, some DR and a bolt thrower, too. I should probably have lost the lord, which would make the game drawn, but considering how poorly I rolled for saves with all other units, I find it OK that my lord made it. (Also that thing he did with the flee / pursue move on the lvl 4. Im still convinced that rule wise, I should've just insisted and killed his lvl 4).

Won by I think 648 points.

Games 2 and 3 against empire gunline with coven of light, and orcs and goblins "gunline" to follow. Both devastating losses for me, yuck. Had virtually no targets - should have just hid behind hills in both games and waited for him, but I tried to overwhelm. Didnt work out. Empire guy almost tabled me without ever moving out of his deployment zone except for his demigrpyhs, and his wizards in turn 6.
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 2: DE vs HE with dragonlords

Post by Gerner »

Nice report!
The WoC list is downright nasty! Taking 3 Chimeraes with Breath Weapon and Regen Saves are cheese, those things cost nothing compared to what they do.
Both the Characters are almost impossible to kill if you don't destroy them with CR - which you did good. Sad you didn't catch the General, but karma that he blows up.
Also know you know never to charge a Hellcannon.. I seriously don't know what to do about that thing, it is evil.

Looking forward to read the next to battle reports even though they sound like they are going to be nasty. :)
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Thraundils battle log, game 4: Local oneday ETC tourney

Post by Thraundil »

Its nasty indeed! It was a close game all the way, I feel. He cleaned up my backlines real good with those beasts, but thankfully I had a super mobile list aside from the bolt throwers, so was able to avoid giving them too many points. What I really learned, from all the games of the day really, is that giving up the magic phase like my list does is dangerous :p but yeah, karma for him that the lvl 4 died. You're right about the hellcannon charge too. Should've just hidden my lord behind the hill and supported him with dark riders to avoid chimera charges.

Anyways, here comes the 2nd battle of the day, versus the Empire! Its not gonna be pretty, I guarantee it.

Empire Armylist:

Lvl 4 with lore of light
3 lvl 1's with lore of light
Captain BSB with armor and MR and stuff
Lord on War Altar
5 Demigryphs, mus
20 spears, 5 archers detachment, FC.
60 Halbardiers, FC, 2x5 archer detatchments.
3 Cannons
2 buff chariots (6+ ward, +1 PD, +1 to hit, +1 DD in total)

There where 2 big hills on either side of the map. I hid all my monsters behind the hill turn 1, and deployed everything else ready to advance. RBTs on the hilltop, too.
He deployed his 3 cannons way back in the corner, placed so no overruns would really be plausible. War altar and 20 spears + characters goes there, too. Halbardiers covering one front, demigryphs covering the other. Archers out front. In total he used maybe 1/5 of his deployment zone... In retrospect I should have either deployed way on the other side of the board to outrange him, or just hid everything and played boring vs boring, but I chose to try the overwhelm.

DE turn 1:
For blood and glory! Everything forward as much as possible, threatening multiple charges on his demigryphs. 5-star doombolt aimed at demis was scrolled. 4 volleys went into his war altar from the bolt throwers, and they managed to knock his charmed shield off and score one wound on the altar... Out of the 12 shots that hit, 9 went into the altar wounding on 5+... One wounded. Granted, he then failed saves, but still. Not impressed! Dark riders and shades killed some archers, but no panic checks where failed by him.

Empire turn 1:
He moved nothing, except archers abit forward. Magic saw 2 banishments go on my dragonlord, I dispelled one and the other rolled not very many hits, of which I managed to save on the lord. Dragon took a wound. Cannons then fired at the dragonlord. Lord was hit by one ball, I failed the 3++, and he died right there. I pass monster reaction and panic checks. Dragon is drilled down to 1 wound. He tries to finish it with archers, but they dont wound. On the far flank, I made a movement mistake with my shades and they where routed by one of his buff wagons.

DE turn 2:
Time to conserve dragon points. He flies right behind the hill to sit there for the rest of the game. On the flanks I charge his archer detatchments with corsairs and warlocks, and move some DR in to support. The rest, I line up for a big combocharge on his demis with hydra, shrine, pegmaster and warlocks next turn.

Magic saw him eat a soulblight onto his halbardiers (to dissuade them from countercharges), and dispelling my doombolt. For shooting, another 4 volleys on the war altar managed 0 wounds. In close combat, both archer detatchments where wiped out. Corsairs restrained, warlocks overran into one of his buff chariots.

Empire turn 2:

He tries to assist the buff chariot with the other buff chariot, making ready for countercharging next turn. Demigryphs charge my master, there was an angle I hadnt seen and I had to flee, but he then fails to redirect and fails the charge. Magic sees him fail to cast banishment with his lvl 4! The fleeing master is brought down to 1 wound by cannons. In close combat, his buff chariot takes 4 wounds and does one back which I save, he flees, I pursue and kill the chariot. His other buff wagon panics and runs off the table.

DE turn 3:

Master rallies. Seeing a gap in his lines due to the demis failed charge, I run my warlocks down 1" from one of his cannons. Other units line up for a combo on the halbardiers. Shooting I directed on the demis this time. Surprise surprise. I managed 1 wound with 4 RBTs worth.

Empire turn 3:

Halbardiers charge corsairs. He banishes the warlocks threatening his cannon off the table. Then he cannons my shrine off the table. Tries another shot at my wounded master, but misfires. He puts WS10 on his halbardiers, drat. They also have hatred from the war altar. I lose combat by 4 or 5, and the corsairs run.

DE turn 4:

Corsairs rally, but my dark riders and warlocks making ready to support the charge pulls off. Its just time to conserve points, now. Master and hydra runs behind the hill to join the dragon in hiding. RBTs now target his spear bunker, meaning to panic them. I knock a good amount of wounds off, but he passes with the reroll of course.

Empire turn 4:

Demis charge an RBT. He magics one RBT off the board with banishment, which forces panic checks on the monsters behind the hill. With rerolls, I manage to pass. He then cannons another RBT off, I again clear all panic checks. Phew, with a LD6 hydra! The demis then kill a third RBT in close combat, the hydra now fails panic and runs off the board with full wounds. He overruns into my 1 wound dragon.

His halbardiers chase corsairs.

DE turn 5:

Corsairs run away. Master (1 wound left) charge demis. He hits first, takes a model out and puts another 2 wounds on another. He then fluffs all attacks on the dragon! And the master passes his saves. Dragon then eats another demi. He loses combat by tons, and the pegmaster runs the unit down, while the dragon restrains.

Empire turn 5:

He chases corsairs, who flee. Puts movement spells on his wizard. Shoots / magics the master clean off the board. Moves all his characters forward.

DE turn 6:

I hide and run.

Empire turn 6:

With movement 18 on his lvl 4, both the lvl 4 and the war altar makes it just to the edge of the hill. Due to the way hills work in ETC this gives them vision on the dragon. One banishment later, he is dead. I end the game with 1 warlock model alive, and 6 corsair models fleeing.

In retrospect, the second I saw his cannons deployment (which was early due to his few drops), I should've deployed everything on the other side of the table, and just used RBT to keep his wizards back. It is quite obvious a list like mine can do absolutely bugger all to a list with S7 and S8 magic missiles, cannons, 5 channels and +1 PD each magic phase. He had the worlds most boring deployment and list, his only tactic beeing to stand still and shoot + magic big stuff off the board. I should've put boring against boring, but I wanted to see for myself what would happen if I tried to swarm. The result is quite obvious.
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 2: DE vs HE with dragonlords

Post by Thraundil »

3rd and final battle of the day. At this point I was tired, abit annoyed with the extreme whooping of game 2, and not so focused anymore. I faced an orcs and goblins army which under normal circumstances was a match made in heaven for me, but with my and his specific lists was actually quite hard from the get-go.

Orcs and Goblins army:

Lvl 4 shaman with orc lore
Lvl 2 shaman with goblin lore
Lvl 1 shaman with goblin lore
Black orc warboss
BSB with poison banner
Like 39 savage orcs with bows
12 trolls
1 troll
1 troll
20 night goblins with short bows
6 bolt throwers
2 doomdivers
2 catapults
5 wolf riders

He deployed his massive savage orc horde centre field with all characters except one lvl 1 which went with nightgoblins. Trolls in a wood next to the savage orcs. Night goblins covering a hill full of bolt throwers, catapults and doom divers behind his line, and a couple of lone trolls as chaff. I hid as many targets as possible for turn 1, and deployed my shrine unit facing down the middle along with the war hydra. Fast cav on flanks. I really had a hard time picking my way to go about this game, because with THAT many poisoned shots from his big unit, and that many war machines, I would have a hard time even getting close to his lines. He won first turn.

O&G turn 1:

Savage orcs walk 4" forward, big troll unit walk up through the forest, everything else holds stationary. His magic phase sniped a single warlock, and his 32 archer shots saw the same warlock unit wiped out. Nearby DR panicked and rank. Doom divers each hit the other 2 DR units, scoring 6 hits on each, wiping them out handily. Rock lobbers did little, and bolt throwers managed to hit my pegasus master but he made saves.

DE turn 1:

DR rallies, moves towards his war machines along with shades. Remaining warlock unit swing around his flank with the troll unit, dragon follows. Shrine unit sneaks forward along with the hydra, out of charge ranges. Master moves up to charge bolt throwers next turn. Magic is uneventful, and 4 bolt thrower volleys see me put a single wound on a lone troll. Those bolters have really not impressed me these games!

O&G turn 2:

He moves trolls forward to threaten my shrine unit and hydra. Everything else holds steady. Magic does very little again as I first fail to dispel Foot (6 dice, I roll 11 total), but it then scatters off target. His sacage orc unit shoots my war hydra dead though. 6 wounds, I fail 5 of the 4+ saves. Bolt throwers puts 2 wounds on my master, one on the dragon, and doomdiver puts 2 wounds on my remaining DR unit. Rock lobbers fall off target, and kill a few corsairs.

DE turn 2:

Master charge a bolt thrower. 2 fanatics come out at him, but fail to do anything. Shades charge a bolt thrower, DR positions to charge another. Shrine unit moves forward, dragonlord goes behind his savage orc unit, warlocks move down to charge rock throwers next turn. Shooting is again underwhelming from the bolt throwers, managing to kill one redirecting troll and a few goblin riders. Master kills a bolt thrower, shades kill another.

O&G turn 3:

HIs big troll unit charge my shrine unit, which has to flee. So much for having all my redirectors essentially shot off the board turn 1 (seriously! I take as many DR units as I may and they are just focusfired down so fast). Savage orcs reform to face the dragon, with deep ranks. He then combocharges my shades with wolf riders and a troll. They stand and shoot the troll (failing to do any wounds of course), flee from the wolf. I manage to roll 12 on the flee roll which actually takes them clean off the board -.- troll fails charge, wolf riders redirect into dark riders with whom I hold (they would also have fled off the board). I manage to dispel all magic, Bolt throwers all fail to hit, doom divers kill 4 of my 5 remaining warlocks. Rock lobber misfires and dies, the other fails to hit. Savage orcs kill the last warlock with shooting.

DE turn 3:

Shrine unit rallies. Status; I have my dragonlord, 2 dark riders in combat with 3 wolf riders and prone for a troll charge next turn, a master with 1 wound left, and my bolt throwers. He has lost 3 bolt throwers and a doomdiver. Theres no way I can approach his savage orc horde with all those shots, I cant fight his trolls, so I resign to picking as many points as I can. I charge his night goblins with master and dragon. They flee from both, are run down, and both my characters now sit on a hilltop with no measure of cover.

O&G turn 4:

He hands his trolls right in front of my shrine unit. Then he reforms his savage orc horde and shoots my dragon down to 1 wound. War machines kill the master, troll charges the dark riders and wipes them out.

DE turn 4 and onwards:

Dragon hides behind a house. Shrine unit has no way of avoiding the troll charge, so in order to get impact hits I opt to charge. I kill I think 4 trolls in total, he wipes out all but 3 corsairs in return. I break, he catches them. I tries, at least. In subsequent turns he aims rock lobber and doom diver at my dragonlord. The lord dies, but the dragon makes it through the game so at least he conserves his points in all 3 games.

Postgame thoughts: I think my tactic should have been to ignore war machines(!), there where so many of them and my DR where basically nullified from turn 1. I should have hidden all my units from his savage orc horde, and used bolt thrower volleys to slowly widdle them down. The problem the whole game was there was no way I could charge his units (regen on trolls, 38 stand and shoot shots from the orc horde), and with all his shooting I could barely get close to his war machines with any units either. The lesson learned from games 2 and 3 is: when there are that many ways to deal with my anti-warmachine units in the enemy list, just bloody hide behind hills and play the boring game hoping for just a minor loss, rather than try to overwhelm and get a massive loss -.-
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 6: 1750 vs High Elves

Post by Thraundil »

Greetings one and all!

After licking my bruises a little bit from the heavy gunline defeats, I am back with another battle report. This time against high elves, at 1750 points, with a little "fluff" behind it. His army is a defender of a small island containing a sleeping dragon. My army is a raiding force out to capture said dragon. His list is not entirely optimal even within his own fluff settings, so there could have been a few more models on the board. Game turned out incredibly onesided; he made a small deployment error, and rolled overall slightly below average, while I rolled around average (except my winds of magic which where monstrous all game). Anyways, check it out! Lovely slaugther!

Thraundils raiders:

Supreme Sorceress, lvl 4 dark mage. Ring of Hotek, dispel scroll.
Master BSB on pegasus, cloak of twilight.
21 Corsairs
13 Darkshards, LD banner (converted to look like corsairs with crossbows, yir!)
10 Cold One Knights, gleaming pennant
10 Warlocks
War Hydra

Egolas' defenders:

Loremaster of Hoeth, scroll, ring of magic missile thingy.
Lvl 2 high mage
24 archers
8 silver helms
25 white lions, banner of the world dragon
25 phoenix guard, razor standard
Bolt Thrower

He spent probably abit too much points on his casters (the lvl 2 was not needed) and magic banners.

Anyways without further ado, here is deployment:

Image

As you can see, his bolt thrower and archers are exposed, where he should probably have deployed his phoenix guard in front of the bolt thrower on the hill. His main line is theoretically strong, though, with high magic giving wards and PG having a ward of their own. I was not entirely sure of victory. My warlocks vanguarded towards his exposed artillery.

Magic saw him get tempest and the signature magic missile on his lvl 2. I got doombolt, word of pain, bladewind and black horror on my sorceress.

I won the rolloff for turn 1, and the game was on!

Dark Elves turn 1

Image

Movement: Warlocks moved right in front of bolt thrower (bit unclear on the image; theres no way a unit can prevent the charge on my next turn, unless by charging the warlocks themselves, and I was just out of PG front arc). Pegasus master took point behind them, using the warlocks as cover. Corsairs and hydra marched up the middle, darkshards with my sorceress moved up 5" for a better view of the field, and my knights set out to protect my flank.

Winds of magic saw me roll a 6 PD vs 3 DD. The warlocks doombolted his archers, rolled a double for the cast, too. When the smoke cleared, 9 archers lay dead on the grass, their bodies scorched with dark magic. I then attempted word of pain on his silverhelms to discourage any long charge attempts, it was dispelled, and that was it.

My crossbowmen then took aim and felled a single silverhelm.

HE turn 1:

Image

Movement: His phoenix guard realised too late that the archers where exposed. They tried wheeling around to protect the bolt thrower, but the smarter move would have been to reform them in front of the archers instead, or simply advance headlong. Sword masters advanced down the middle, and silver helms edged forward a few ", meaning they could charge CoK on a 8 next turn while my CoK would need a 9.

Magic saw him roll 3 PD to 2 DD, I even channeled one so dead even. I easily dispelled all he attempted.

Shooting saw his archers all fail to wound the warlocks. The eagle claw, realising the pressure it was under, fired a volley into the warlocks at point blank range, skewering 4 doomfires with massive, armor piercing bolts. They passed panic thanks to the BSB.

DE turn 2:

Image

Charge, for glory! Pegmaster into archers. Their stand and shoot did a wound to him. Warlocks into bolt thrower, making sure to align for an overrun into the archers.

Movement saw me back corsairs and hydra back a bit, not wanting to tackle the sword masters by themselves. Knights set up for a flank maneuvre.

Magic saw me generate 9 PD to 5 DD. I cast word of pain on the silver helms to discourage them from charging my knights, but it was dispelled. Soulblight went through on the archer unit, and black horror failed to cast at 10 with 4 dice! Bah :)

The darkshards then felled one more silver helm with their crossbows.

In close combat, the warlocks effortlessly wiped out the bolt thrower crew, and overran into the archers. Here, the combined power of warlocks and master saw another 9 dead archers, and the rest turned tails and fled off the board. I managed to restrain both units, and they reformed to face to the centre (as shown in HE turn 2).

HE turn 2:

Image

Sword masters tried a long charge onto the war hydra. They needed a 9, and didnt make it. Silver helms charged the knights, phoenix guard reformed to face down the warlocks.

The magic phase again saw him roll poorly. A spirit leech on my sorceress was dispelled, and then he even failed to cast the magic missile high magic signature.

In close combat, the silver helms managed 2 wounds onto the knights which I saved both of at 4+. The knights then mowed down 4 silver helms, and the cold ones saw the remaining 2 silver helms right off. I'm liking knights better and better! He is in a terrible spot now, with both flanks in shatters and his magic falling short.

DE turn 3:

Image

Now for some freaky dice. My war hydra declared a charge on the sword masters, intending to flank with knights and possibly master (knights was an easy 7, master was a long 10 I believe). They failed terror, rerolled, failed again, and fled 11"! The master now declared a charge, he rolled 10" to flee, and the master charge also failed. Knights declared a charge, he rolls 11" again! This time I roll high, however, and the sword masters are mercilessly run down by the knights, every survivor bound and chained, intended for the slave harbors. We agreed this was uncanny, the SM unit moved over 6 times its move value in flee moves. And for 5 straight rolls, he rolls 10+.

Warlocks charge phoenix guard.

With no magic defense left to worry about, I easily cast both soulblight and word of pain on the phoenix guard. The warlocks inflict 3 casualties, taking 2 in return. Combat draws (I had downhill charge, he had ranks). I take break -1, but holds thanks to the BSB.

HE turn 3:

Image

At this point he is eager to just pick up some VP, so he fights on with the PG rather than calling it. He manages 2 casualties on my warlocks, while I do 4 in return, this time winning combat by 1 and he holds on.

DE turn 4:

Image

I decide it is time to end it. Master flies to the flank to watch his troops succeed, and the knights rear charge the PG. Corsairs and hydra both attempt the long charge, but fail. I renew soulblight and word of pain on the PG unit, the soulblight was cast with irresistible force and a warlock dies to the feedback. In combat, he manages to slay my last warlock, thus picking up some VP! Knights kill several PG, he barely holds the break test. In the following melee in his turn, however, he is less fortunate and the unit is wiped out.

Overwhelming victory for the dark elves! Only warlocks died - yet again they fail to stay on the board to the end of the game, but then again they are there such that my nobles need not risk their lives ;)

Plentiful slave bounty, and I succeeded in my mission to rout the high elves and capture the sleeping dragon, which means in the next series (we agreed to 3 game mini campaign) I will raid a dwarf city with my general on a migthy dragon!
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 6: 1750 vs HE

Post by Amboadine »

Thanks for the report. Looks pretty comprehensive and good exploitation of his early deployment error.
Pretty lucky with the Swordmasters, but it is situations like that, that can give everyone a source of entertainment. Don't forget to bring it up next time you face them. :)
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Re: Thraundils battle log, game 6: 1750 vs HE

Post by Dragon9 »

Thank you for beating on our weak cousins! :)
"The dark elves have everything cool. They are pirate blood cultist ninjas riding dinosaurs and flinging magic. They're metal. They're the most metal race out there, rivaled only by Warriors of Chaos. They bring a cauldron of boiling blood onto the battlefield. You don't get much more metal than that." -- Mostlyharmless on Warseer

My Blog: A Small World - My Life in Miniatures

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Re: Thraundils battle log, game 6: 1750 vs HE

Post by T.D. »

Thanks for providing the battle reports with pictures.

In your earlier game (ETC Dragons) versus High Elves, I really like your move on your first turn -- using the scenery to turn his outflanking manoeuvre against him! If you had allowed him to multicharge with his overload on the left, you would have been in a lot of trouble -- but by setting up your Warlocks and Dark Riders defensively whilst blocking him with the tower and seizing the centre of the board you gained the upper hand impressively.

Your most recent game against High Elves was well played too, but as you say he was up against it from the start thanks to his list + deployment!
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Re: Thraundils battle log, game 7: ETC vs Wood Elves

Post by Thraundil »

My my my! Time for another game! Thank you for the kind comments, I am here to provide another, this time more exciting, game! Theres a tourney arranged next month with ETC comp system, and considering my failure with my last ETC list I have now devised one that should do fairly well against most army types, as it does not stand and fall on my ability to get my monsters into close combat :) critique on the list is also welcome. I played against a Wood Elf player, they get 2500 points in ETC restrictions, and all elves (incl wild riders) have ASF and all the tree-people ward saves are actual ward saves so works on everything ;)

This was a great test of my list, as my army is based on a big block of executioners supported by a corsair+shrine bunker for my sorceress - the unit will sometimes see battle, and sometimes not. It has been discussed excessively by Dalamar in his "two towers" army list how to keep your SS out of combat by using the rules and the bloodwrack shrine to your advantage.

Thraundils Executioners:

Supreme Sorceress, lvl 4, dark magic, ironcurse icon, scroll, 4++
Pegasus Master, cloak, lance
Master, ring of hotek (MR caddy for executioners; I will probably drop him for more execs or a 4th bolt thrower)
Death Hag, witchbrew, BSB, banner of swiftness
21 Corsairs, handbows (will probably swap for AHW)
2x5 DR
10 WE
28 Exec, flaming banner
10 Warlocks
3 RBT

Wood Elves (from memory):

Lvl 4, lore of life, rerolls failed dispels
Noble BSB with hail of arrows
Dryad hero with +1 DD
3x10 Glade Guard
18 Glade guard
3x8 dryad
6 treekin
10 wild riders
1 treeman
1 giant eagle

I rolled chillwind, word of pain, soul stealer and black horror on my lvl 4. Swapped soul stealer for doombolt.

He rolled a terrible roll: awakening of the woods, shield of thorns, and 2x throne of vines. He swapped shield for earthblood, and picked up dwellers for his free pick. No regrowth, no flesh to stone. Ouch for him!

Deployment saw me go first. I knew I had fewer drops than him, so I just set up dark riders on the flanks as he put down glade guard units and dryads. Warlocks kinda flank-ish but in the open centre, then witch elves, executioners in the dead centre, and corsair+shrine towards the left flank facing his treekin and treeman. His characters went with the 18 glade guard unit, supported by the smaller glade guard units holding the centre.

Deployment after vanguard:

Image

I vanguarded first, thus denying him the opportunity to vanguard his wild riders that far forwards.
He won the first turn (drat! I never get to go first it seems). As always, "left flank" means as seen from my side of the table.

WE turn 1:

Image

Movement: His entire left flank advances, some more carefully than others. Some glade guards shuffle forward to get into short range from my warlocks. (Probably shouldnt have vanguarded them at all, as they where now the only target viable for shooting, whoops. Probably my one big mistake this game). Right flank shuffles to protect from dark rider and pegasus invasions.

Magic: He rolls 5 PD vs 3 DD and I even channel one. He attempts throne with 3, I dispel, he earthbloods with 2 and gets it off.

Shooting: So much shooting! He fluffed his big units "to wound" on the warlocks, otherwise I took 50 arrows to the face. 6 dead warlocks, phew wards!

DE turn 1:

Image

Movement: The plan was simple. Advance everything in the centre, get into combat with him before he can shoot everything to pieces. Wood elves move to support my left flank, which looked like it might get pressured.
Since I didnt go first, my warlocks charged one of his 10 GG units, just hoping to get them stuck in combat so they couldnt get shot. He S&S, kills 2 warlocks but pass panic, and easily makes the charge. Dark riders reposition to shield my pegmaster from missile fire, and he flies behind them. Exec march 12" up the field, corsairs reform to face wild riders in case they wanna charge. Left dark riders infiltrate his lines.

Magic: Pew! Rolling 10 dice to 6, he gets another but I channel one, so 11 to 7. I soulblight his glade guard that my warlocks charged with 3, roll average, he tries to dispel with 2 but fails, rerolls, fails! I then doombolt AND chillwind his wild riders (only ones in range), they take double up on lore attribute and loses 4 models. (I think he failed to dispel those because he didnt have the +4 from his wizard anymore).

Shooting: I decide to limit his archer numbers, so volley his generals unit. First volley: 0 hits. Next volley: 2 hits, 1 wound. Thanks a lot, bolt throwers! Third volley on a 10 glade guard unit kills 4, so alright there.

Close combat: Thanks to soulblight, he does no wounds to me. I, in turn, slaugther 4 glade guard which means he breaks and runs off the table. I pursue off the table, to prevent him from shooting the remaining 2 warlocks.

WE turn 2:

Image

Movement: Dryads reposition to threaten my centre. He moves his damaged glade guard unit back, and moves the other small glade guards into the forest 3" backwards. The wizard bodyguard moves forward to get into close range of my executioners. Left flank repositions to set up combo charges, yet stays out of charge range knowing I only have magic to really pressure him with. (His eagle failed a march test)

Magic: rolls double 2, and I channel whilst he doesnt. He tries throne with 3, I dispel with 3. He then earthbloods with his remaining dice, which I chose to let through even though I probably should have scrolled it (knowing that I would likely kill his wizard if he didnt wipe my executioners with shooting). I think he really hoped for enough dice for a dwellers - if succesful, the following shooting phase would have done so!

Shooting: Hail of arrows. 3d6, come on, please roll low... 6+6+4. Thanks! In total, he drops 15 executioners. Yawza! Thankfully ItP. His treeman shoots my dark riders, who panics and runs off the board.

DE turn 2:

Image

Charge: For glory! Executioners charge small glade guard unit (needed a 7 and got it, stand-and-shoot killed I think 4 more executioners!). I knew I could overrun into his big unit since their edge overlapped with mine - an error on his part allowing this I think, though he might have expeted me to charge the big unit in the first place. Instead, I charge the big unit with dark riders first (eating the S&S, only 2 dead riders!), then the pegmaster charges against whom he elects to hold.

Movement: My shrine unit reforms to face the wild riders, wanting to get their pesky rear threat out of the way with a massed volley of handbow bolts. His treekin was sufficiently far away that any charge from them would be above average. Witch elves move abit backwards as well, passing their frenzy check.

Magic: Double 4 I think for winds, allowing me a decisive advantage. Soulblight on his big glade guard unis is promptly dispelled, leaving him to eat a boosted word of pain on his treekin, reducing their S by 3 (which was what I was going for the most, now he couldnt charge me). I think I also chillwinded his wild riders, but failed to wound.

Shooting: 28 handbow shots on short range and 4 medusa stares at short range manages... one wound, which he then luckily fails to save. Man! Two bolt thrower volleys sees the giant eagle plucked from the sky. The last bolt thrower (R3 on the diagram) shoots at dryads, but fails to hit. So far not impressed at all by my shooting phases ;)

Close combat: His maniac glade guard butchers 5 executioners! My death hag and master, striking at the same time as the glade guard, manages a just 3 casualties, losing rerolls to hit really blows (considering I had poison S4 and S5 on the master!)... I was just about to grow concerned, but the remaining 7 executioners pulled through; all hits, all wounds. Combat solidly won, and I overrun in to the big glade guard unit, and make way with my DH and master to get into base contact. GG, DR and the 3 characters strike at same initiative. Highlights: he kills 3 more executioners, I fail to killing blow his characters, but he loses combat needing snakeeyes. He doesnt get it, his BSB dies defending his standard and I reform with executioners (since they had already overran once), pursue with DR and pegmaster mostly to get them out of charge arc of his dryads. The master catches the enemy and mercilessly butcher them all. Most of his ranged threats were now gone and the magic phase would be all mine. I was still concerned though since my executioners now counted 4 or 5 models + 2 characters, and he had 2 angry dryad units with I6, so striking before executioners.

WE turn 3:

Image

Movement: Dryad unit charge the executioners, who must hold, and makes it. His left flank closes in around me, but decides not to charge, than you very much word of pain. Other dryads move towards the centre.

Magic: I dispel his treemans attempt at moving a forest.

Shooting: His remaining 4 glade guard reform and kill one warlock, thankfully the remaining warlock master passes his panic check.

Close combat: DH and master goes first, with full rerolls, and... kills sod all. He retaliates, fluffs his to hit, and only kills one executioner, the remaining 3 models strike back and drops 3 dryads. He loses combat by a lot thanks to my 2 banners, and flees. I fail to catch him, but sits 1" away from them for next turn (shown in next turn).

DE turn 3:

Image

Charges: Executioners run down the dryads.

Movement: Dark riders screen the lone warlock from the glade guards. Pegmaster moves to the left flank with all haste, where my shrine unit and witch elves again shuffle around a bit to only present front charge options to him.

Magic: Low winds roll, but I manage a boosted word of pain on the treekin once more, this time just reducing all their stats by 1.

Shooting: 2 bolt thrower volleys are needed to kill the last 4 glade guard. Pff. The last bolt thrower, however, puts a single bolt into the treeman, dealing 2 wounds to him.

WE turn 4:

Image

Movement: Dryads move to rearcharge executioners. Left flank shuffles yet again, with his dryads moving abit back to avoid me charging my corsairs into them, and out of the treekins front arc. He had trouble engaging that flank since I constantly pumped hexes onto his treekin. The treekin did attempt a charge, I believe, since I only reduced their stats by one this turn, but they failed since it was kind of a long charge. (I might misremember on this one). Treeman moves down to shoot my witches.

Magic: I dispel his attempt to move a forest.

Shooting: Treeman kills 4 witch elves.

He is struggling to find an opening on my left flank to combocharge.

DE turn 4:

Image

Charges: Deciding I will attempt to break his left flank before he gets the good engage on me, I want to fight on my own terms. WE and corsairs with shrine charge into his treekin, keeping the SS out of harms way.

Movement: Pegmaster takes point just behind the treeman. Death hag and master jumps ship from the executioners, both passing their march tests (but only with rerolls, both of them, on LD 9!). Executioners move towards the edge of the board, probably going to be giving up all their points but will at least keep that dryad unit out of the game from here on out.

Magic: Boosted word of pain on the treekin, reducing WS to 2 and S to 3. Soulblight was out of range, and since the SS was technically in combat I couldnt cast anything else.

Shooting: 2 reaper volleys take down 2 wild riders, reducing their numbers to a far more manageable 2. The final reaper fails to hit the dryads.

Close combat: Impact hits put a wound in the treekin, as does avert your gaze! Witch elves slaugther a treekin on their own, and corsairs put another single wound on them, taking out in total of 2 models. Their return attacks are all resolved at 4+ to hit and S2! They kill 2 witches and a corsair before breaking. Corsairs restrain, witch elves pursue, but end up charging into the treeman.

With his treekin broken, I now feel confident that I will win this game.

WE turn 5:

Image

Charges: Wild riders charge my corsairs in the rear. He is hoping the treeman wont kill all 4 witches, such that he gets the chance to pursue.

Movement: Dryads position themselves on the flank of the corsairs. (Unclear from the image, but he was not able to declare a charge). Right flank dryads move right behind the executioners and reforms to be 10 models wide and skirmish. No way I can sneak past them.

No shooting or magic.

Close combat: Witch elves do 3 wounds to the treeman who saves all. Then he butchers them, so no pursue for him and since he didnt charge, he cant overrun. His wild riders then kill 2 corsairs, I kill none but manage to hold with steadfast. I then reform to face him.

DE turn 5:

Image

Charges: Pegmaster charges treeman.

Movement: Death hag and master on foot goes behind dryads. Just to see if I could table him :P Dark riders and warlocks move in.

Magic: Boosted word of pain, and a soulblight, both find their way to the treeman.

Shooting: Bolt throwers dont do much. I believe all targets are in hard cover or are skirmish + long range, so...

Close combat: Pegmaster drops the treeman. Bam! Wild riders do nothing to my corsairs, and they cut them down in return.

WE turn 6:

Image

Last call to pick up some points!
Charges: Dryads charge the executioners who stands. Left flank dryads charge dark riders, who flee, redirects into warlock who flees. Dryads hit a monstrous 11 on the roll, and catches the dark riders. Warlock gets way. First game in a while where the warlocks are still on the table at game end!

Movement: treekin fails to rally. They stay on the board, though, so only gives up 50% of their points.

Close combat: He murders my executioners, and overruns off the board to prevent any funny business from taking out the dryad hero.

DE turn 6:

Image

No charges. I reposition shrine unit to blast a black horror onto the dryads!

Magic: 4 powerdice black horror due to ETC restrictions (stupid if you ask me! Might swap black horror in future games, I dislike the 1/6 chance to blow your own unit up anyway). But... Wait for it. Need to roll 10, rolls 8. On 4 dice. Of course :) but oh well.

We didnt bother counting up VP. He picked up both DR units, WE's and executioners (400 pts for that one, so nice). I butchered all but his 2 dryad units, his fleeing treekin and the dryad hero. Massive victory for me.

Postgame analysis:

I probably should have waited 1 or 2 turns moving my executioners up the field, and I shouldnt have vanguarded the warlocks up. I gave him targets to shoot at close range, and it murdered. I was lucky to see the executioners reach combat at all; if his winds of magic roll on turn 2 hadnt been a 3, he would have gotten dwellers off, and the ensuing shooting would have killed the unit to the last man. Instead, I should have volley-fired glade guard units off the table, and maybe spiced them with some magic missiles. I even had chillwind. I'm just too impatient, but I really know now that against massed BS shooting, stick back a little! Brutal damage, they did. But, I pulled through in the end, and I do believe the vanguard of the warlocks was the one big mistake. Had I had both them + executioners at full strength on my own turn 1, I had presented 2 big threats, forcing him to divide fire. And I did have a dispel scroll for his dwellers... So all in all. Bit of an early game blunder, but otherwise I feel I had it under control. My use of hex spells on the left flank effectively prevented him from engaging my sorceress. In future games, I might centralise her a bit more, though. Her constant need for reforming also meant that I couldnt focus my magic on the centre very easily.

Also. I think I will end up dropping the ring of hotek master. 123 points for hotek is eh. Many of the popular horde killers ignore wards anyway, and for his cost I can bump the unit to a full 30 man, include a 4th reaper bolt thrower, or maybe instead of the 4th reaper take a unit of 6 shades to have a little more small arms fire.

I like the idea of flaming banner on the executioners. When I march 12" with them on turn 1 or 2, I might be able to trick a few opponents into thinking they dont have it. Most will suspect it anyway, of course. But just in case they somehow get stuck vs regen monsters. Chimeras will be able to fly to my corsair unit and maul it, so if I face warriors of chaos I might deathstar up, and put the shrine+sorceress in the executioners, too.

I gotta say the sorceress+shrine trick really worked out. He was never able to charge a suicide mission in to attempt sniping her. The shrine, in itself, didnt do all that much since I mostly lost rerolls to hit, and their one impact hit was a roll of 1. Still, ignoring armor altogether WILL make some people hesitate to suicidecharge them, and as long as I can see it coming I can have help ready and waiting. LD10 steadfast will hold most. And anything that can prevent steadfast, I'll probably win combat against :)
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 6: 1750 vs HE

Post by Amboadine »

Nice write up and analysis. Being open and honest about the mistakes you make, allows others to learn.
You have also tempted me to try one block of ten warlocks rather than two units of five, definitely has more staying power.
looking forward to the next Batrep.
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Re: Thraundils battle log, game 6: 1750 vs HE

Post by Thraundil »

Amboadine wrote:Nice write up and analysis. Being open and honest about the mistakes you make, allows others to learn.
You have also tempted me to try one block of ten warlocks rather than two units of five, definitely has more staying power.
looking forward to the next Batrep.


Yep, this is indeed why I run them 10. The last many many games where I've gone for 2 units of five, they have lost a few models to shooting and panic'ed right off the table, or otherwise just generally been shot to pieces. Or they have moved into position to take out a cannon, and my opponent tosses a big magic missile after them. They just generally fail to do their job, which is to limit enemy firepower. I no longer rely on dark riders to take out war machines, they are too easily shot down. I use them now as screens and annoyances mostly, the warlocks and pegmaster are there to hunt warmachines. And with 10 warlocks, sure, they can only take out 1 warmachine and not 2, but at least I can rely on them to actually do so.

Or, in this game, rout some of those archers to allow my executioners closing time.

The one big thing I took from this game was; dont move into close range of massed firepower, unless you do it all at once :)
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 7: ETC vs Wood Elves

Post by Gerner »

Nice battle report. Thanks!
I can't help but feel sorry for the WE. :(
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