Thraundils battle log game 56: UB tournament Round One!

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Pablo
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Re: Thraundils battle log, game 31: Vampire Counts

Post by Pablo »

I am super excited for the lizardmen fight!!!

Congrats on the win. Dark elves do horrible, horrible things to vc.
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Thraundil
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Re: Thraundils battle log, game 31: Vampire Counts

Post by Thraundil »

Pablo wrote:I am super excited for the lizardmen fight!!!

Congrats on the win. Dark elves do horrible, horrible things to vc.


Well. If he'd had a blender lord, I would have been way more cautious about going in... But he overextended a bit. Could've had more screams coming my way. I did think, going into the game, that the matchup would favour me. But those screams means it could go either way.

I look forward to the lizard game as well. I played him a few weeks ago where I won pretty convincingly (shot a bastilladon turn 1, the other decided to panic and leg it off the table, so yeah). I've changed my setup slightly going into the game! Im tired of the 5+ ward master, it is a bit sketchy. So now I run a lord on steed with an ogre blade, OTS, dawnstone and charmed shield, then run all 3 pegmasters with 4+ ward or the cloak. I think in cannon matchups its gonna be abit dangereous since the lord only got one save, but hopefully thats all he should need. Will write a short review of the game tonight =)
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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Re: Thraundils battle log, game 31: Vampire Counts

Post by Thraundil »

Long story short. I tabled him with superior movement and magic assisted stupidity check fails ;)

Will try and write a walk-through tomorrow. The guy failed so many LD tests though, in the end it was really rather brutal.

Updated: short game summary below.

My list was trying out something new, which I will probably step away from again. I put my lord on a steed which would make all 3 pegasus masters with the best available saves.

My list:
Dreadlord on steed, ogre blade, OTS, charmed shield, dawnstone
Lvl 4 death, scroll + hotek
Master BSB on pegasus, talisman of preservation
Master on pegasus, armor of destiny
Master on pegasus, cloak
20 darkshards, flaming banner + mus
2x5 DR crossbows, shields, mus
5 DR, shields
4 RBT
chariot
2x5 warlocks

His list:
Slann, loremaster high magic, channeling staff
Skink priest lvl 1 beast, scroll
Scar vet on cold one, BSB, that +T helmet, hand weapon + shield
Scar vet on cold one, great weapon, armor of destiny
Scar vet on cold one, dragonhelm, dawnstone, great weapon
23 saurus warriors, FC
4x12 skink skirmishers
10 skinks
3 terradons
5 terradons
2 bastilladons
1 stegadon

Kind of 'monster heavy' list that didnt worry me too much, since I have a lot of artillery perfect for taking out small packs of monsters.

The terrain had a small hill on either side, and 2 big impassables in the middle of the board with a forest on the left flank from my perspective. He deployed almost his entire force on the left side, whereas my force was more centered. I had the big impassable in the middle of the field to work around and set up plays. He did have the 5 terradons on the right along with one skink skirmisher unit to try and flank my artillery on the hill.

Turn 1

Lizards:
He moved forward cautiously. 2 scar vets joined the skink cohort, the last scar vet + slann was in the saurus block. The skink cohort advanced quite a lot while the rest of the army shuffling up in support. Magic did very little, and shooting chipped a few wounds off of fast cav here and there.

Dark Elves:
Chariot took a medium charge on his 5 terradons. Needed a 9, but didnt get it. Also some fast cavalry butchered some skinks that came too close for comfort.
My fast cavalry move up to do a double-flee on his cohort holding his BSB and another scar vet, to delay them. I placed the riders such that they would block the great weapon bloke, but his BSB was free to solocharge if he wanted to. Could have charged my lord into them solo, but the stand and shoot would have taken his charmed shield, and I was not keen on a S7 challenge!
Rest of my army moves up to take advantage of the situation. Masters placed themselves ready to charge, while the lord placed himself to protect a lone bolt thrower from 3 terradons. Magic saw me snipe the skink priest to his death, then placed doom and darkness on his cohort which would hopefully cause him to have trouble with stupidity. Shooting saw me kill a few off the 5 terradon unit, and the rest panics and runs.

Turn 2

Lizards
He does fail stupidity thanks to doom and darkness. Rest of his army moves up to block charges and set up counters. Magic again does very little, he is quite unlucky with his dice. He opts to not dispel doom and darkness since he can see where this is going.

Dark Elves
Time for the combo. 2 masters and 3 dark riders slam into the stupid skink/scat vet unit. A skink skirmisher unit was actually blocking the charge, but I slammed some warlocks into that unit; they where forced to gather in to ranks, thereby opening space for my pegasi to land. Magic saw me recast doom and darkness for good measure, then try a purple sun through the stegadon. He fails to dispel, but I roll 2 for distance. RBTs unload and drop a bastilladon, and corssbowmen dispatch a skink unit to a man. He panics, flees through the stegadon, which panics and runs... Them leadership tests. In melee, his BSB challenge and I take with the cloak master. One butchering later I have 5 overkill wounds. The 3 dark riders die to return attacks, but overall I win by so much that he needs snake. Doesnt get it. I have set up a dark rider unit behind his unit meaning I catapult the entire unit through my dark riders then through his own units and straight off the board.

Turn 3 and onwards
He is in shambles and desperately tries to remedy the situation. A bastilladon IF's a bound spell on my general who was along for some reason, and kills him. Stupid mistake. I slowly encircle his saurus bunker, attacking it in both flanks. Skinks shoot at one master and I actually manage to fail 3 out of 3 armor saves, then also fail 2 wards. So I run and hide with him as a warlock unit and 2 other masters combo charge the saurus unit. I win combat by a huge margin, he is steadfast, but still somehow manage to fail. I think he literally never passed a leadership check the entire game. The matchup is hard for him to begin with, and then his LD went to shiz all over. I also outsmarted him and he advanced with no support for his scar vets. Doom and darkness doing work, that failed stupidity test cost him the game, and you should never put yourself in such a situation.
I like the idea of the lord on a steed, I might test play it again on friday vs a HE friend of mine. But overall, it seems to me as if he is a little exposed to cannon shooting once the charmed shield is popped. I really do like the idea of a vanguarding general with perma S6.
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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Re: Thraundils battle log, game 31: Vampire Counts

Post by Thraundil »

While since the last post!

Tomorrow (if I get the time!) I will be putting up at least one, possible two, battle reports. One of which will maybe be illustrated, and may eventually be extended into a "how to pegasus" article for all of those out there who might want to give this powerhouse of a build a go.

My current version of the brutality build looks like this - very much inspired by the danish ETC dark elf player but with a few alterayions:

Dreadlord on pegasus, HA, SDC, dragonhelm, cloak of twilight, dawnstone, lance
Lvl 4 shadow or death depending, ring of hotek, dispel scroll
Master on pegasus, HA, SDC, BSB, charmed shield, talisman of protection, lance
Master on pegasus, SDC, shield, armor of destiny, lance
Master on pegasus, light armor, SDC, enchanted shield, talisman of endurance, the other tricksters shard, lance
2x5 Dark Riders, shields, crossbows
5 Dark riders, shields
22 darkshards, FC, shields, flaming banner
4 RBT
2x5 warlocks
Bloodwrack medusa


Game one (which will be text-version only, as its a few weeks ago now) vs these high elves:
Archmage, high, book
Mage, metal, scroll
BSB, reaver bow and strength potion
30 archers
6 silver helms
2x5 reavers
4 eagle claws
24 sword masters with cheat banner (world dragon)
22 phoenix guard with razor
7 sisters

Taking all bets! How does this ancient and bitter struggle end this time?



Game two (might be illustrated) will be versus the following vampire counts player - who is playing for the slovenian ETC team!

Vampire Lord: General , Lvl4, Vampire, Great Weapon, Heavy Armour, Nightshroud, Talisman of Preservation,
The Other Trickster's Shard, Red Fury, Beguile, Aura of Dark Majesty, Summon creatures of the night
Vampire: BSB, Lvl 2, Vampire, Heavy Armour, Enchanted shield, Fear incarnate, Obsidian Amulet, Warrior
bane
Necromancer: Lvl 2, Death, Dispel Scroll
Necromancer: Lvl 2, Death, Book of Arkhan
Cairn Wraith
Cairn Wraith
24 Zombie Horde: Musician
24 Zombie Horde: Musician
20 Zombie Horde: Musician
5 Dire Wolves: Champion
5 Dire Wolves: Champion
5 Dire Wolves: Champion
40 Skeleton Warriors: FCG, Screaming Banner
8 Crypt Horrors: Champion
2 Fell Bats
2 Fell Bats
2 Fell Bats
Terrorgheist

Ouw! A dire looking list indeed, not much stray points to collect, and a "blender lord" if there ever was one! Place your bets here, how will the noble dark elves fare against the notorious undead? Who will suck whoms blood?!?
Last edited by Thraundil on Tue Jul 29, 2014 6:59 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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Re: Thraundils battle log, game 31: Vampire Counts

Post by T.D. »

Thraundil wrote:Taking all bets! How does this ancient and bitter struggle end this time?


No bets. Just Win :twisted:
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Gidean
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Re: Thraundils battle log, game 31: Vampire Counts

Post by Gidean »

With no book of Hoeth or Banner of the World Dragon your witches eat his swordmasters and you win. :) Oops...you have no witches. :oops:
Last edited by Gidean on Wed Jul 30, 2014 10:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Thraundil
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Re: Thraundils battle log, game 31: Vampire Counts

Post by Thraundil »

T.D. wrote:
Thraundil wrote:Taking all bets! How does this ancient and bitter struggle end this time?


No bets. Just Win :twisted:


Dont spoil it for the others! :P

Gidean wrote:With no book of Hoeth or Banner of the World Dragon your witches eat his swordmasters and you win. :)


Forgot to type in, he has the book of course. Also the "cheat banner" is what I call the world dragon banner, hehe. And I dont have witch elves in my list, its the pegasus circus! ;)
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, game 32: High Elves

Post by Thraundil »

Party time!

Time for the first of the promised battle reports. Versus the high elves, with ETC lists!

Dark Elves:
Dreadlord on pegasus, HA, SDC, dragonhelm, cloak of twilight, dawnstone, lance
Lvl 4 death, ring of hotek, dispel scroll, ironcurse icon
Master on pegasus, HA, SDC, BSB, charmed shield, talisman of protection, lance
Master on pegasus, SDC, shield, armor of destiny, lance
Master on pegasus, light armor, SDC, enchanted shield, talisman of endurance, the other tricksters shard, lance
2x5 Dark Riders, shields, crossbows
5 Dark riders, shields
22 darkshards, FC, shields, flaming banner
4 RBT
5 shades
2x5 warlocks

High Elves:
Archmage, high, book
Mage, metal, scroll
BSB, reaver bow and strength potion
30 archers
6 silver helms
2x5 reavers
4 eagle claws
24 sword masters with cheat banner (world dragon)
22 phoenix guard with razor standard
7 sisters



The terrain saw a hill to the right of my deployment zone and a small forest to the middle-left. An impassable ruin took up the dead centre of the board, whilst my opponents deployment zone had a hill across from the forest, and a lake across from the hill in my zone. I chose the side with the forest rather than the lake, to goat him into deploying mostly in the open. Had he utilised his hill, I would've had soft cover for my darkshards.
For spells I rolled all 3 snipes + doom and darkness, and he got soul quench, hand of glory, arcane unforging and fiery convocation on his lvl 4, and signature + plague of rust on his lvl 2.

Deployment saw me having the vast drop advantage in 5 fast cav units - while still finishing my deployment first. I dropped all the fast cavalry in the midddle of the board. Dark riders in front, warlocks behind, with a little air between them all. Before I was done with fast cav he had placed archers next to the lake, and I elected to place my darkshards on the hill across from them. He had placed his archers 30" from my deployment zone so I could not shoot him on turn 1. He then placed sword masters and phoenix guard in a castle-like formation, supported by sisters. Bolt throwers went to both his flanks. I just spread my bolt throwers without much regard, 6" spaced to avoid panic. All 4 heoes joined into warlock units, benefiting from cover from the dark rider units should I lose turn 1. My lvl 4 in dark shards, his two mages where in the PG and his BSB in the SM unit.

I managed to get my scouts in his deployment zone on the flank, since he castled up the way he did. Vanguard I just moved one dark rider unit forward to block his movements, and in the end I won turn 1.

Turn 1:

Dark Elves
I decided my best bet would be to neutralise his bolt throwers on the double, and then utilise my superior movement to encircle and defeat him with the fliers. In order to protect all characters, I advanced my 3 dark rider units agressively forward, then joined one pegasus character into each unit. This left one warlock unit "empty" of characters, so I advanced that unit forward too, then joined the last pegasus into this unit. I then moved the final, now empty, warlock unit around the impassable in the middle and onto his flanks. Everything was placed such that he could only charge with reavers, or sisters, but not both. Or, he could take a long charge with his archers. I, on the other hand, had great charge arcs on 2 bolt throwers and a silver helm unit if I wanted them.
Magic saw 3 PD vs 1 DD, so I doombolted his sisters. He scrolled it, so my 20 darkshards and 5 shades unloaded on the sisters, vaporising them. Bolt throwers then dropped a reaver unit stone dead.

High Elves
He shuffled a bit, placing his sword masters to countercharge should I charge in. Otherwise movement didnt do much. He tried to block in his bolt thrower with a reaver unit. Magic saw him throw a fiery convocation on my darkshards with irresistible force. With 6+ armor and MR(3), I only lost 5 models and passed panic, whilst the miscast saw him lose 2 wizard levels, forgetting fiery convocation and arcane unforging! Shooting he chose to focus everything on one dark rider unit in order to open up my character therein. His archers killed 4 riders, then a bolt thrower volley caused 2 hits. He failed to wound the rider, he did wound the master which I saved on armor. Next volley killed the final rider, and a single shot failed to hit the character.

Turn 2:

Dark Elves
Dreadlord charged the reavers in front of the bolt thrower, while another master (the BSB) charged a 2nd bolt thrower. A third master (regular 4+ ward guy) slammed into the silver helms, and the fourth master took up countercharge stance sitting in a warlock unit. Magic saw a doom and darkness being dispelled, and a spirit leech fail to do anything to an eagle claw. Shooting dropped a few archers, and in close combat my lord wrecked the reavers and overran into his bolt thrower. His other thrower died, and in the silver helm combat his champion challenged me. The master killed him, and the remaining 5 steadfast silver helms broke and fled! Darn.

High Elves
With the silver helms fleeing off the board, a tactic opened for my opponent. His archers made a long charge on the warlock unit containing my 4th master, opening up for a path for his sword masters to charge my lone 4+ ward master. Both charges where succesful. His phoenix guard bunker swung around to support. Magic saw a plague of rust land on my engaged master, shooting saw him start to volley my darkshard bunker with his 2 remaining eagle claws. In melee, my dreadlord killed his eagle claw and reformed, while his sword master unit declined my challenge. This sent his BSB to the back, and I killed 3 sword masters whereafter he inflicted a wound or two on my master. However, I held thanks to my BSB being nearby! In the archer combat, I absolutely mauled him. He was steadfast, but ran and was caught.

Turn 3:

Dark Elves
3 more characters slam into the front of his sword masters. Doom and darkness go down for good measure. Fast cavalry block the phoenix guard from charging. I start volleyfiring his bolt throwers, but they go down slow as I cant seem to roll a 6 to wound. In close combat my wounded master again calls a challenge. He declines again. I murder a great amount of sword masters, but my wounded master dies a heroic death. He retains steadfast.

High Elves
Phoenix guard shuffles in a way such that it is extremely difficult for me to block him. He also stands such that IF his swordmasters holds on another round, I'd be dead for sure. He tries a plague of rust, but I dispel it. His eagle claws panic my supreme sorceress unit who runs.
In the close combat, I challenge and this time he accepts with his BSB, to whom I inflict a wound and takes nothing in return. After some rather poor rolls, he has exactly 5 models left. Drat!

Turn 4:

Dark Elves
Theres only one way I keep my characters. Flankcharge his phoenix guard with a warlock unit and hope to win combat. Or at least hold. So I do that. I slap doom and darkness on his swordmasters again; this time they die! In melee, I murder the swordmasters and the BSB alike, and reform all masters to spot the phoenix guard. My warlocks manage to win combat as well, and he holds and opts not to reform. My supreme fails to reform, but only runs a few inches, barely staying on the board. I finally shoot down one of his remaining eagle claws.

High Elves
With very few options, he continues to fight my warlocks in the flank, anticipating the big charge.

Turn 5:
3 masters slam into his PG front, another warlock unit in the other flank. We dont roll the dice as my opponent concedes the game. A near-flawless 20-0 for the dark elves.



The game really took a turn when I got first turn and got such a menacing position to his flank. He should have kept his close combat units in position to avoid such a play, and I punished him for not doing so. Catapulting fliers forward like this using fast cavalry is just godly, as they are so safe from any BS based shooting.
When his silver helms unexpectedly broke and ran, it gave him a free charge on my master. I pondered simply pursuing off the board with him, but that would just have opened my BSB for the charge, and he was worth more to me. I recovered though - and in the close combat with his sword masters, he was a) leadership 6 and b) should not have had steadfast after the 2nd combat round vs my 3 fliers. Man oh man, it was one casualty (I believe all my pegasi flunked their "to hit" and didnt kill a single model).

Anyways, the game displays rather well the overwhelming strength of the pegasus list versus an infantry based army. I neutralised shooting threats and flak fast, and then combocharged with a doom and darkness on. If I had not gotten first turn I believe I would still have done alright, but would maybe have lost another master to shooting during my approach. The method is still the same; get the fliers across the board safely, get his flak and bolt throwers down to manageable size, and then combocharge. If you can get 3-4 masters into the same combat, they will almost certainly win it.

And then the lesson; if you find a lone master in an isolated combat, challenge! Either he takes, limiting the attacks you will suffer, or he declines, sending something of importance to the back.
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 33: Vampire Counts

Post by Thraundil »

And now for the promised land. My clash, and probably one of my to-date best warhammer fantasy performances. Squaring off against a danish guy who usually plays for the "United Nations" team at the ETC (filler team if theres an odd number of teams). This year though, the number of teams is even so he plays for the slovenia ETC team as their Vampire Counts player (he is usually warriors of chaos). Morale of the story is: he is a very good player.

His list:

Vampire Lord: General , Lvl4, Vampire, Great Weapon, Heavy Armour, Nightshroud, Talisman of Preservation,
The Other Trickster's Shard, Red Fury, Beguile, Aura of Dark Majesty, Summon creatures of the night
Vampire: BSB, Lvl 2, Vampire, Heavy Armour, Enchanted shield, Fear incarnate, Obsidian Amulet, Warrior
bane
Necromancer: Lvl 2, Death, Dispel Scroll
Necromancer: Lvl 2, Death, Book of Arkhan
Cairn Wraith
Cairn Wraith
24 Zombie Horde: Musician
24 Zombie Horde: Musician
20 Zombie Horde: Musician
5 Dire Wolves: Champion
5 Dire Wolves: Champion
5 Dire Wolves: Champion
40 Skeleton Warriors: FCG, Screaming Banner
8 Crypt Horrors: Champion
2 Fell Bats
2 Fell Bats
2 Fell Bats
Terrorgheist

My list is the 4 pegasus list that I show a few posts up. I have a medusa as the "optional filler" instead of 5 shades for this game, just because I want to run her a little, see what the fuss is about.

Here is the terrain and deployment featuring my all-new terrain set:

Image

And here once again transcribed into a diagram:

Image

I chose sides, and went for the centralised hill (no way I could avoid him having something to hide behind. This is an official ETC terrain table).

For spells, he got signature, Vanhels, magic missile and raise on his vampire lord who was a lvl 4 wizard, and signature + reroll to wound on his BSB, while the two death necromancers got signature + caress, and fate + doom and darkness, respectively. For my own spells I got the enfeebling foe, the withering, penumbral pendulum and pit of shades. I swapped pendulum to miasma.

For deployment I think I made a small mistake with my crossbowmen. They should have been on the hill, this placement gave his crypt horrors free reign over the right flank. Trouble was he had so many units of flak I had placed everything before he placed anything important.

Code: "PL" is pegasus lord, "B", is BSB, "A" is armor of destiny guy, "O" is OTS guy and "M" is medusa for all the 40x40 mm bases ;)
His characters are 2 necros and a cairn wraith in the zombie unit, rest in the skellies.

After vanguards he had a dog unit in the centre, but I had blocked most of his other vanguards. With that, we rolled for first turn. He got a 5, I got a 6+1, so I was very pleased about that.



Turn 1:

Dark Elves

Image

I had a choice to make. Abandon the right flank and take as much of his centre as I could, or try to defend the right flank and allow his centre to advance. I decided I could not allow the blenderlord anywhere near me, so I went in for the centre. A dark rider unit hadnt vanguarded, and charged his hounds at the fence. 2 died to dangerous terrain! The other 3 made it in though. Everything else advanced very agressively, with a rider unit baiting out his bunker for a flee. I just kept two of the masters attached to their units as I saw no reason to split them up just yet.

For magic I threw a pit at his small zombie unit (all I could reach), he ate it and it scattered a bit. He made his look out, sir! and lost a handful of zombies I believe. This meant he could dispel my doombolt aimed at a unit of bats. Shooting had no good targets, so just fired 3 RBT volleys at a bat unit, managing a single wound. R4 took a singleshot at the terrorgheist and missed (story of the day). In melee, I killed 3 dogs and lost 2 riders in return (blasted saves), resulting in him crumbling a single dog thanks to his BSB.

Vampire Counts

Image

His right flank moved forward, and the skeleton bunker moving up just a step. Two necromancers jump ship into the backfield zombie unit, and other zombies shuffle. For magic he tries to invoce within 12" but fails the casting requirement on 3 dice. I dispel the rest with ease, and move on to kill his last hound in melee.

Turn 2:

Dark Elves

Image

Pegasus lord and BSB eye a possibility and slam into a zombie unit. The now lone dark rider move to block his bunker, with another rider unit setting up such that I can doubleflee from him. Warlocks move in to block the zombie unit with cairn wraith. Medusa comes forward a bit, as does the AoD master. Darkshards shuffle to get a good look on the skeleton bunker.
In the magic phase he lets a withering through on the skeletons, and dispels a pit of shades. Shooting sees me kill a good 15 skeletons, as well as a unit of bats. Singleshot misses the terrorgheist. In melee, I murder 10 zombies, and another 11 crumbles, leaving 3 left.

Vampire Counts

Image

That was a valuable lesson. Since two zombies from the front rank died, there was now a hole in my warlock block! So a cairn wraith charges out into my armor of destiny master and his unit. Curses. His other cairn wraith charge out of his bunker onto my 5 DR unit who fails terror and runs. He redirects into my lone rider. His hounds I think declare another charge at the fleeing riders to try and push them off, but he doesnt quite manage it.
His bunker reforms and suffles to salvage at least a necromancer. The zombie unit reforms to try and protect the other necromancer. The right flank advances. Magic is again uneventful, he heals I believe some skeletons. He rolled very low, and his death snipes had no targets yet. His terrorgheist kills a bolt thrower, and in close combat his cairn wraith murder my lone dark rider. The other cairn wraith puts a wound on my master with his special attack, but I hold. The BSB and lord murders off the last zombies (the reason he didnt charge the wraith into that combat; zombie CR would have made it pop instantly). They reform.

Turn 3:

Dark Elves

Image

BSB charges the cairn wraith in the rear to pop it with CR. Dreadlord flankcharges the hound unit from earlier. Medusa walks to just outside 6" of the other wraith. Warlocks on the left flank made a wide swing to pressure his backline, and the OTS master flies to cover the vampire bunker. Magic sees me try a pit on the horrors which is dispelled. I then cast withering on them, and he scrolls it. Shooting phase is uneventful as a result. I kill another bat unit and miss another couple of singleshots at the terrorgheist. (I know I know, I should volley). The real biggie is the medusa. With 5 shots and 5's to hit, 2's to wound she manages just a single wound on the cairn wraith, aargh!

In melee I save the cairn wraiths wound and he pops from CR. I reform.

Vampire Counts

Image

The cairn wraith runs into my AoD masters unit again. *sigh*, my own mistake for not being more careful earlier. Terrorgheist and bats charge a bolt thrower, while the crypt horrors move up. Bunker reforms. Backline reforms to try and protect his necromancer as good as possible. Magic sees him get vanhels off on something, resulting in him healing his cairn wraith to 2 wounds. Terrorgheist kills another bolt thrower with his scream, causing the dark riders to panic and flee. In melee they then kill the third bolt thrower, but not after I kill a bat!

Turn 4:

Dark Elves

Image

Feeling the pressure rising, my fliers slam into his back line. Warlocks and BSB into the hound speedbump that I crush and overrun into the zombies, OTS guy directly into the zombies. I choose to let the AoD master fend for himself now. Lord shuffles, warlocks go into to block his skeleton bunker. Medusa blocks the crypt horrors and the dark shards march forward a little bit. He dispels a withering, and a pit of shades land on his skeletons. The lord passes his look out, but the necromancer fails it and falls into the pit, along with a handful of skeletons. My shooting doesnt accomplish much. I believe I miss a single shot on the terrorgheist. I obliterate his back line, so at least thats something. Once again his cairn wraith hits and I miss my ward. Down to 1 wound.

Vampire Counts

Image

Bunker slams into the warlocks. Terrorgheist moves up to eye my darkshards rear. Horrors take the medusa. Bats make a long charge on my remaining bolt thrower. For magic, he raises 8 zombies in front of my darkshards, and his terrorgheist removes the dark riders from the face of the planet. Close combat goes as you might expect. I manage a wound on both the vampire lord and his BSB, but the warlocks die as does the medusa. He opts not to overrun with either unit, instead reforming the crypt horrors. The RBT puts a wound on the remaining bat and takes nothing in return for a tie.

Turn 5:

Dark Elves

Image

Closing time. I can see that my darkshard unit is doomed as my gambit failed (see below). I ram warlocks and 2 masters into the remaining zombie unit, determined to get as many points as I can. I tried for a few minutes to see a good position for the darkshards in which I could use his own raised unit against him, but there was nothing to do. Realising there was one and only one way my supreme sorceress would live, I run her behind the hill. Winds of magic is a dream roll: 4 dice to 2. I land a pit of shades on his terrorgheist, who falls into the hole as he screams a last cry of defiance. RBT crew finish the last bat, and in the zombie combat I just about panic as I see one zombie left standing after the crumble, and his cairn wraith eyeing the OTS master! (Other two are out of his arc). But then I remember I forgot to strike with my 5 warlock horses (which would happen before the crumble), so I actually end up wiping the unit and getting my overrun to safety.

Vampire Counts

Image

Diagram is not perfect. The crypt horror charge was good (as I knew it would be), and he stomps the darkshards over a few combat rounds. I hide all my stuff, and in a last ditch effort to get some more points his 2 characters run out into the open to try to raise a zombie unit in front of my bolt thrower. They manage to do so, but it has just 5 man in it. He also tosses a magic missile on my warlocks, scoring 5 wounds, of which I fail 5 god damned ward saves. What the actual?

Anyways, I elect to fire on the zombie unit in my final turn, though it dawns on me that I could have single fired on his vampire lord. Hah! Anyways I kill the unit and retain my bolt thrower.


The tactic with the warlock block and darkshard move-up in turn 4 was, that if he overran, I would have combocharged with the darkshard unit and 3 characters, and seen how much damage I could have done. All I needed was enough CR to crumble the lord.


At the end of the day, he has his bunker with 1 cairn wraith, the vampire lord and the vampire BSB remaining, and then the crypt horrors. I give up 2 units of dark riders, both warlock units, the darkshard unit and a master due to that unfortunate mistake. All in all, an 11-9 victory in favour of the vampire counts. If I had placed my warlocks a little better, to block that cairn wraith, I think I could have achieved a tie. But, considering I manage a desperation-pit on his terrorgheist, I have to say I am rather pleased. Versus an army with 2 incredibly durable melee blocks I find I have a hard time protecting the darkshards. I could have covered my backline better with better deployment, but the issue with crypt horrors is their T5, meaning I can drop maybe a few models if I focus all my firepower on them. And then he will likely just heal them right back up. I chose to go for the cleanup and I believe that was the right call. Maybe if I had been faster and had backed away with the darkshards rather than going towards him, I could have salvaged the unit. All in all, I played the game very well and gave this guy a few good lessons to take to the ETC as well. Hope you guys enjoy the read :)
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 32+33: HE (text) + VC (diagr

Post by Amboadine »

Absolute delight to read as normal. Narrow loss but pretty well planned I think.
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Re: Thraundils battle log, game 32+33: HE (text) + VC (diagr

Post by Mikael.k »

Nice reports :) How is it better to shoot volleyfire at the terrorgheist?
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Re: Thraundils battle log, game 32+33: HE (text) + VC (diagr

Post by Thraundil »

Mikael.k wrote:Nice reports :) How is it better to shoot volleyfire at the terrorgheist?


Well actually, now that you mention it. Theres no statistical difference between single shots and volley fire against a terrorgheist :p

Thanks for the comments :) Playing a one-day tourney in 10 days time, where I hope to put up a worthy performance. Maybe claim another top 3 =]
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 34-36, oneday tourney

Post by Thraundil »

Yo lads! Short recaps coming up from a oneday tournament I played yesterday. The restrictions where odd, and I used it as a sort of prep game for giant fanatic, testing out a witch deathstar. I didnt like it too much :P rather easy for opponents to exploit. Also, we where 14 players, 4 of them warriors, as the restriction set we played with favoured warriors big time. I sadly didnt manage to avoid the warrior matchup :/
Restrictions where very dont-take-your-usual-cookie-cutter-list based at 2400 points. My list was:

Lvl 4 on steed, ring of hotek, scroll, ironcurse
Death hag BSB, cauldron, ogre blade, rune of khaine
Death hag, rune of khaine, obsidian blade
10 dark riders, shields, mus
10 darkshards, flaming banner, mus
25 WE, FC, razor
8 knights, FC, swiftness
2 chariots
2 RBT
Medusa




Anyways. Game 1 was vs Orcs and Goblins.

His list was aprox.
Lvl 4 orc shaman on wywern
Orc warboss on boar
black orc BSB on boar
Goblin big boss on spider
35 orc boys
18 savage orc big 'uns
2x5 goblin wolf riders
1 troll
giant
boar chariot
snotling pump wagon
2 arachnarok spiders

I was very pleased to see no artillery. A rather atypical orc list with multiple blocks. I knew I would be able to take any single block head-on, but couldnt really handle multicharges.

The game was a real dance-off. Witch elves held his centre really well at bay, he couldnt advance much. I misplayed my knights abit on the flank, allowing a long charge from his chariot and giant. He got both in, but knights rolled like bosses and put wounds back onto him, causing me to win combat on musician. Chariot ran, giant stuck. Right next to the same combat, 2 chariots where ramming into his arachnarok, causing a combined 9 impact hits of which 6 wounded. He proceeded to make 4 6+ armor saves. As a result, one chariot ran. The other stuck.
Both of these combats where stuck for I think 4 rounds before my knights finally killed the giant, and he got some savage orcs into the chariot, killing it (but not before I got the big spider!). Thanks to reforms, I then charged the savage orcs with knights, chariot and shades, wiping them straight out. His other flank took my darkshards and bolt throwers, but there was never really anything I could do to prevent that. In the end I got slightly more off the flank combats than he did, since I wiped his savage orc unit along with a chariot, pump wagon, giant and one spider, allowing me a small 11-9 win.
(Fun fact; one bolt thrower - the same one very time - hit 3 single shots in a row, wounding every time, taking his other spider down to 1 wound. Every time we would roll melee with it I would say "ready for my crew to kill your spider?", but they never did :P last turn of the game, 3 shades got 1 wound on it. He saved it. )


Game 2 vs warriors of chaos

Round 2 I drew the only warrior player who had a "bad" game in game one, only getting like 13 or 14 battle points. (The other 3 warriors took clean 20-0's first round. No no no, the restrictions where not written by a warriors player.)

His list:
Deamon prince, 1+ AS, wings, breath weapon, soul feeder, mark and lore of nurgle (hue hue. The only restrictions on DPs where; no lore of death on them. But they had basically comp'ed all war machines to hell.)
Exalted hero BSB 1+ rerollable
Bunch of nurgle warriors
8 Marauder horsemen
3 slaanesh chariots
5 dragon ogres
hellcannon

Okay, so well. I deployed in a tight formation hoping to be able to at least shoot him a little bit while he approached. But the game pretty much consisted of him moving his big guys forward turn 1, giving me a 50/50 charge. I failed it, he charged me turn 2 and that was the game. (also hellcannon panic'ed my supreme off the board, hue). Super poor game - not a fault of my opponent, we spent a lot of time chatting about what could have been done, but he largely agreed that infantry-DE vs warriors (best meleers of the game) is a disastrous matchup.


Game 3 vs Tomb Kings

So for game 3 I drew a guy who had also been struggling abit during the first 2 games (he also got tabled by one of the warriors... like almost everyone present :P)

Lvl 4 lore of whats-it-called, hierophantm, dispel scroll
Lvl 4 light, general, scroll of incantations thing (those who dont know it: add 4 dice (which are not power dice) to a spell. On ANY double on these 4 dice, irresistible force)
Lvl 2 light
30 archers
20 archers
2x3 chariots
2 scorpions
3 sepulchral stalkers (how do you spell this again?)
Necrosphinxs
2 warsphinx
Hierotitan
Casket of souls


Again no artillery, which I was pleased about. I deployed with my head up my ass, sadly he just placed chariots and scorpions around until I was forced to show my hand, which meant my knights where placed too far from my witches to form a real good flank support. I advanced, knowing I had to threaten him before his archers shot me to smithereens. I got flesh to stone off often on the witches, and regrowth to replenish the few fallen. It came to a point where he was forced to go for it, slamming the necrosphinx and hierotitan into their front, and a warsphinx into their flank, and a scorpion in the rear (a mistake on his part, the latter). I had fury of khaine running at this time. He bubbled a timewarp, burning the superscroll on it. Unfortunately for him, he didnt get a double, and I scrolled it off, dispelling speed of light with all my other DD. Had he gotten it through, I would probably have lost the game since ALL his hits would go through. As was, though, we got a nice demonstration of how brutal witch elves are vs high T, low AS opponents, as I removed the necrosphinx and hierotitan, and the scorpion in the rear, before they even got a chance to fart. The warsphinx in the flank took 3 wounds, and managed to kill a good number of witches, but not enough to save it from crumbling. My opponent conceded. A game which I probably shouldnt have won, simply because my deployment was not strong enough. But I did win, 'cos he threw everything on getting magic through, and failed.




Overall, I like the threat factor of the witch star, but the problem is in a meta very dominated by monsters, MC and cavalry, I will seldomly get to charge - which means I need to let the opponent charge. Which means I need my opponent to underestimate the power of the witches, which means I need my opponent to play poorly. But in the good combat, they sure didnt disappoint.
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 32+33: HE (text) + VC (diagr

Post by Amboadine »

Interesting new list for you. What were the restrictions that made warriors so favourable, amazing that they could dominate that easily?

Anyway thanks for the write up and sharing.
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Re: Thraundils battle log, game 32+33: HE (text) + VC (diagr

Post by Thraundil »

Well. Mounted/mobile heroes where limited to 2 for any army (except orcs / brets), and war machines where limited to 1 of each choice... So you'd only ever face one cannon, meaning the demon prince becomes easily viable with a charmed shield to take care of that shot. Dark and high elves limited to max 2 bolt throwers, with heavy restrictions on pegasus as well for dark elves (upped to 100 points). So that meant warriors are pretty much guaranteed to make it into combat with their demon prince on their turn 2, 3 at the very latest, and once a nurgle DP reaches melee... Well. Soul feeder and a horrible amount of wounds per turn spells trouble.

Basically, the two things demon princes need to respect - war machines and mobile combat characters - where heavily restricted, whilst the "beast build" warriors setup was barely touched. (8 trolls, 4 skullcrushers, 3 chariots, warrior bunker, exalted hero BSB, hellcannon and demonprince where the almost-exact replicate across the 4 warrior lists). Its hard to put a finger on one specific thing, of course, but the numbers dont lie. When 3 out of 4 top finishers are warriors, they might be abit too strong. In fact, one of my friends (who plays warriors, and will be attending the tournament whos restrictions we where testing out) says that he is expecting a mirror match for half of his games over there, so he is actually tailoring his warriors list as anti-warriors, using a slaanesh DP instead of nurgle, and a lvl 1 metal in a horseman bunker :p

I felt wildly uncomfortable with my list. Infantry is not really my style. I've gotten so used to pegasus play that my army just felt incredibly clumsy.
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 32+33: HE (text) + VC (diagr

Post by Amboadine »

Wow, those are truly terrible restrictions. I know what you mean about the lack of peg heroes though.
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Re: Thraundils battle log, game 32+33: HE (text) + VC (diagr

Post by Thraundil »

Amboadine wrote:Wow, those are truly terrible restrictions. I know what you mean about the lack of peg heroes though.


The dark elf generals at the ETC (and all tournaments using ETC restriction sets around denmark and probably also the rest of europe?) have been making hay, big time. At a local tourney in Aarhus in july, out of I think 18 players there were 5 dark elves with identical lists down to the last crossbow :P and while it is not necessarily a list that defeats everybody, it is a list which is very hard to take points from, prompting many non-ETC restrictions to introduce several anti-pegasus entries. Either subtle ones, like "max 2 mounted heroes", or harsh ones like "pegasus are 100 points. Yep, if you want a pegasus lord, you cant take a lvl 4, biatch". And while it certainly introduces some more variation in list options because there are no obvious "2nd best list" for us, it is kind of a shame because the single best entry in the dark elf book is the mounted master. Everything else pales in comparison.

Anyways! Some contenders for my next tournament includes a malekith bus (which I struggle to make work in playtesting), a shade deathstar with shadowblade in it, or a quadruble flier, magic-less "breaking the system" list. (Dragonlord and 3 peg heroes, no warlocks).

If they allow my break the system list, I'll play it for sure. No magic is gonna be a challenge, but the strength of the fliers in an environment where everyone else is limited to 2 mounted characters, I think it will be brutal. If they rule against it, I am leaning toward the shade star. I can squeeze in a lvl 4 metal (shadow and death are comped to hell), a lord with S7, a BSB with S6, a death hag to give frenzy, and then shadowblade for the on-demand 5 S8 attacks. I am gonna test it for a few games, I am kind of hooked on the idea and if I can make it work its gonna be fun. The obvious flaw is the low mobility once again coming into play, but the massive strength of massed firepower and one hell of a first combat round should make up for that.
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 34: Giant Fanatic Training game

Post by Thraundil »

Hey guys! This is as much for me as for your pleasure, and just a short recap of the first giant fanatic testgame with my shadestar. The restrictions are found here: http://www.giantfanatic.dk/wp-content/u ... on-1.3.pdf
Put short: unit size restrictions, max 2 mounted characters, and each army gets 5 "construction points". Every "strong choice" costs some of this. For example, a 2nd mounted character costs 2 points, every bolt thrower after the first costs 1, every 4 warlocks costs one, and every dark rider unit after the first costs one. Also, CP can be used to either get +75 VP for every unspent CP, and you can buy +1 for first turn for one CP.

My shadestar:
Dreadlord: HA, SDC, shield, giant blade, dragonhelm, dawnstone, ironcurse icon.
Supreme Sorceress: lvl 4 lore of metal, dispel scroll, ring of hotek, the other tricksters shard.
Master: BSB, HA, SDC, enchanted shield, luckstone, ogre blade.
Death hag: witchbrew, obsidian blade
Shadowblade
I spend 1 CP on magic items.

5 dark riders, mus, shields
15 darkshards, flaming banner, mus
13 witch elves, mus
12 witch elves, mus

2 RBT Costs 1 CP
20 shades, FC, great weapons I spend 1 CP for having more than 10 shades

5 warlocks 1 CP for having a warlock unit

+1 for first turn. 1 CP spent here

I think +1 will, by and large, make me more than 75 VP. There is very little wiggle room as I spend alot of points on characters, but I could drop both RBTs for another unit of warlocks (I experience that 2 bolt throwers are shot off the table very fast).

So basically all characters join shades on turn 1, so I have a unit with hotek bubble, frenzy (so ItP, but LD10 so should pass checks easily), and the characters pump out so much damage that any serious hardhitters will be dead before they get to strike - and "massed troops" which would kill my shades, well those I can shoot off. With metal i can also pressure deathstars.

The stats of my star: 5 S7 attacks, 4 S6 attacks, 5 S4 attacks which ignore armor, and the option with shadowblade for 5 S8 attacks for one round. (Since I wanna pack as many high S attacks as I can, the alternative is a regular assassin with potion of strength, or a master with potion of strength, but nothing comes even close in brutal impact power as shadowblade with all forbidden poisons, S8 and WS10 I10. He rerolls vs anything except other ASF troops... Also shadowblade is cool, and in this list he could work. Testing phase is to see if he is worth his salt. If I drop him I can make 1 kitted hero instead, but not 2)



The orc list I played versus was a very rag-tag fluffy feeling list. He had the black orc special character, a lvl 4, a lvl 1, a black orc BSB, 30 savage orc big 'uns, 25 black orcs, 25 night goblins with fanatics, 2x5 wolf riders, a mangler squig, 7 river trolls, a rock lobber and 2 doom divers. At a glance very little shooting, so good for me.

Deployment was not super sharp. I got clustered in the middle, as did he. We rolled for a scenario and got the magic phase one: +d3 power dice, +1 dispel dice every phase. Also, every miscast is a dimensional cascade, no matter the source. Yawza. In spite of me getting +2, I lost first turn.

The orc guy moved forward full speed. I had to burn my scroll on turn 1. He shot 1 bolt thrower with a hit! from the rock lobber. I moved backwards abit, shot him a little, but didnt achieve too much. My dark riders rushed at his rock lobber though.

In my turn 2 (or 3?) I make the first IF of the game with my warlocks. They suffer no penalties, so hue hue. I then also IF with the supreme with a stupid spell risk, and she jumps into the hole. Advantage orcs! I elect not to shoot his blocking wolf riders, so he cant charge me, and he cant move too close for fear of overruns. We dance the whole game, I sacrifice a witch unit into his savage orcs to snipe his lvl 4, and succeed in doing so. Nice! On turn 5 I succesfully trap his savage orc unit with both BSB and lvl 1 in it, and block his black orcs off. He fails frenzy check, charge my shadestar, and since he only had like 18 models left after shooting and witch elf roadbumps, I removed his unit before he got to strike. He took everything else off the table though, so it ended in a draw.

Lessons: dont cluster! The most important thing is for the star to move freely. Never put that in the middle. But, what I saw was I can dish out horrible punishment, and my shooting is decently strong. If I had gotten soulblight off more often, I would have really done some damage with it. But since he knew I wouldnt risk too many spells with the lvl 4, he focused on dispelling soulblight a lot. But on the other hand I also was rather safe from foot of gork, as I knew he, too, wouldnt risk it too many times. He only got it off once on my darkshards - that turn I HAD to stop a hand of gork at all costs.

Shadowblade statistics: revealed in turn 6. Took a challenge from the black orc BSB and instagibbed him with 5 attacks, 4 hits, 4 wounds, only 2 passed ward saves.


Statistics versus a nurgle demon prince (not likely to meet in the restrictions, but still):
Shadowblade hits him 2,5 times then rerolls for another 1,25 = 3,75 hits.
Wounds on 2+ with rerolls. So 3,75 wounds.
6+ armor then 5+ ward. Which, if I can make way with the supreme into base contact, must be rerolled.
Which means that if I roll about average, theres a very decent chance shadowblade can pop a demon prince in one combat round due to frenzy which improves his performance immensely, going from 4 to 5 attacks. On the offchance he doesnt make the kill, the dreadlord can step up on the following turn with S7 and rerolls, very likely finishing off the very hurt demon prince.

Great weapons vs AHW on the shades. I lose rerolls, but get a higher punch versus toughies like ogres. I also get to wound monsters on 5's instead of 5's. With frenzy they have 2 attacks each, anyway. If anyone can persuade otherwise, I'm be happy to hear the arguments :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 32+33: HE (text) + VC (diagr

Post by Scyloc »

Good luck with giant fanatic.
Generally speaking, The restrictions on DEs in Danish restrictions Are ridiculously hard and over The top.
And Yes The Main reason is that The 3-5 people who make the restrictions do not play DEs and hate to play against them.
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Re: Thraundils battle log, game 32+33: HE (text) + VC (diagr

Post by Thraundil »

Scyloc wrote:Good luck with giant fanatic.
Generally speaking, The restrictions on DEs in Danish restrictions Are ridiculously hard and over The top.
And Yes The Main reason is that The 3-5 people who make the restrictions do not play DEs and hate to play against them.


Couldn't agree more. And whats worse, its kind of obvious, too :/
Are you coming to GF? I think that unless you can somehow make a dragonlist work with the already extreme restrictions for a 2nd mounted character, the shadestar is going to be my strongest all-round list. With the restrictions effectively shutting down all form of board control, infantry lists will just not work :/


Coming up soon! A game with the latest shade star iteration versus the HATED ASUR!
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 32+33: HE (text) + VC (diagr

Post by Scyloc »

No, i have stopped going to GF The last couple of years primarily because of the restrictions.
But I Can strongly recommend going. It is a Great experience.
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Re: Thraundils battle log, game 32+33: HE (text) + VC (diagr

Post by Thraundil »

The restrictions do seem harsh, but they are reasonably harsh on all races. Although I can see that some races get to do some real nasty things... High elves can at the moment field double dragon + double frostheart if they want, which just seems ridiculous, but ah. I did hear rumours about dragons being additionally comped, though, so we'll see when restrictions are finalised on september 1st. I just know that me having to already dish out 2 CP for having a dragon + pegmaster alone, plus 2 CP for the 2 warlock units I will definitely need without a lvl 4, theres no way in hell thats ever going to work for me with zero missile support.

Anyways next post will be a short battle rep :)
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 35: GF training 2

Post by Thraundil »

And here it is. My 2nd game with the shade star. First game was a rather poorly played draw vs orcs, which I was OK satisfied with considering I lost my lvl 4 in turn 2 to a miscast... This game is vs a high elf player and its his first game with the restrictions.

The shade star list:

Dreadlord, HA, SDC, shield, dragonhelm, dawnstone, ironcurse icon, giant blade, crossbow
Supreme sorceress, lvl 4, dispel scroll, ring of hotek, the other tricksters shard
Death hag, witchbrew, obsidian blade
Master, BSB, HA, SDC, enchanted shield, luckstone, ogre blade, handbow
Shadowblade

5 DR, shields
13 darkshards, mus, flaming banner
27 witch elves, FC, gleaming pennant
2 RBT
20 shades, FC, great weapons
5 warlocks
+1 for first turn.

So 6 drops in total, with the only real requirement is I must spread the two infantry units abit apart, and have the shades finish turn 1 within 10" of the characters. So theres a very nice chance ill finish deployment first, thus earning me a total +2 to start. The opponent knows this, and must deploy defensively, without ever knowing exactly where my powerunit goes.


The high elf list (dont know his precise items since lists are closed):

Alarielle the Radiant, Everqueen of Ulthuan <-- 2 CP
Lvl 1 light, scroll
BSB noble
Handmaiden with reaver bow
26 archers, FC (or just mus, not sure)
2x5 reavers
10 SH, FC
25 White Lions, FC, banner of avelorn
2 bolt throwers <-- 1 CP
2 eagles
Frostheart Phoenix <-- 2 CP
7 sisters


For spells he chose to roll all on lore of life with alarielle, getting awakening, flesh to stone, shield of thorns and regrowth. Yes, he rolled 1, 2, 4, 5. No dwellers, no throne. Harsh! His lvl 1 took signature. I rolled plague of rust, golden hounds, transmutation of lead and final transmutation. 2nd game in a row I dont get enchanted blades for my shades, drat. Anyway I swapped golden hounds for the signature, not having much use for either spell this game.

The table layout featured some buildings and a ruin in the middle of the board, with spread out forests and hills along the edges. I got to pick sides, and took the side with the fastest distance to the ruins, which gives hard cover at giant fanatic. Yum. Deployment saw him semi-bunker to the right of the middle (my perspective), with a building forming one defensive edge and the corner of the table the other. Archers next the building, all characters in them, and white lions next to the archers toward the flank. I deployed the witch elves across from the middle ruins, and spread everything else nicely out. Throwing a curveball for the test value, I tossed my shades on the far right flank to get some nasty shooting in early, momentarily forgetting that my lvl 4 would be in danger from the witches :killed:


Turn 1

Dark Elves:
Winning first turn, I moved my shades closer, marched the WE straight into the ruins, luckily passed the witch elf go crazy test on my lvl 4, everything else mostly stuck behind covers. Magic was uneventful as I was actually out of range for final transmutation...
He had vanguarded some reavers into the open on the far left flank where my darkshards where hanging, so I unleashed 26 black feathered bolts, destroying the unit outright. The shades did a similar thing to the right flank reavers next to his white lions, destroying them too. Very nice opening for me. A singleshot on the frostheart missed, and a volley into his archers dropped a few.

High Elves:
On the left flank, 10 silverhelms ran in high speed toward my darkshards hiding in a forest there. His sisters took position in the centre building, whilst everything else shuffled a little. Magic saw a burning gaze toward the witches which I dispelled. He then got some buffs running I think, I wasnt too concerned there. Shooting saw my hard cover pay dividence, as I took very few casualties on the witch elves.

Turn 2

Dark Elves:
Witches marched forward just so much as to still claim hard cover. Shades relocated toward the witches, allowing just my lvl 4 to jump ship into them. Warlocks came forward ever so slightly, hiding behind the witches to also get hard cover. In the magic phase, 7 vs 3 (thank you channel!) I landed a final transmutation which was promptly scrolled. Soulblight was then dispelled. On the left flank, everything unloaded on the silver helms, dropping 4 of them. I was rather pleased with that. On the right, shades shot through a forest at the white lions on long range, dropping one or two.

High Elves:
Silver helms charged my darkshards, with the stand and shoot reaction killing two more of them. The dangerous terrain saw another trip and fall, thus 4 made it in. On the right, white lions tried a 14" charge on the shades with lvl 4. Stand and shoot missed altogether, but he didnt make it in, needing a 9 on two dice (calculated risk by me). An eagle flew to block my witches, the rest shuffled. Magic again was contained nicely by me, him not having too many ranged threats helped. Shooting killed off some more witches, nothing crucial. In melee, I managed to kill two silver helms, and he did nothing in return, winning me combat by 1! He sticks, though. I had a lot of 50/50 dice rolls go my way on that left flank.

Turn 3

Dark Elves:
All characters relocate to the shades, with the witches doing a swift reform and running full speed at the archer bunker. Mission: distraction underway. I was less than 5" from the building with my corner, I made sure. Warlocks came forward to doombolt his rightwing bolt thrower. I IF'ed with them, with 3 6's. The lore attribute alone killed it. He passes all panic, and i lose 2 warlocks and pass panic. My lvl 4 then mimics them, IF'ing a final transmutation into the white lions, turning 8 guys into solid gold, and the miscast doing a wound on my dreadlord 'cos I misplaced him and failed look out, sir!. Stupid! The lvl 4 was wounded also. Shooting see me drop an eagle to the ground with bolters. Close combat draws with the darkshards and 2 remaining silver helms.

High Elves:
White lions failed their stupidity check and stumbles 2" forward! They are now 11" from my shades. As a result, he blocks the shades with an eagle. Magic missiles are dispelled, he regrows some white lions, using the magical staff to cast it twice for a total of 6 resurrected lions. Shooting sees witches die in droves, but he rolls slightly poorly to wound and I have 6 left standing. Which was their frontage, so still within 5" of the building! Score. Melee his silver helms finally wins combat by 1, and due to the forest im not steadfast, a small detail I forgot, so I break and is run down (of course he passes 3 break tests in a row at -1 only to have me fail my first one :badh: )

Turn 4

Dark Elves:
Witches charge the building garrison. Shades declare a charge on the white lions, and to his dismay he had overlooked that shades must close ranks before measuring charge distance! So I close ranks, and can now squeeze past the eagle, and as a result I slam right into the white lions. I should stress my lvl 4 sits in the 2nd rank. On the left, my dark riders make a charge into his remaining bolt thrower after 3 turns of volley shooting had only killed 2 of them (like I said, had great 50/50 rolls on that flank). Magic sees him dispel transmutation of lead on the white lions (it would mean I would have hit him on 3s with the shade attacks). This means his archers must suffer the terrible effect of a final transmutation. He makes all 4 look outs, and 10 archers suffer a terrible fate. Shooting sees my 2 bolt throwers finish the 2 last silver helms, vengeance! In close combat, dark riders pop the bolt thrower and reform. Sisters kill 4 witches and the witches annihilate them and take over the building. On the right, I kill many white lions with just the characters (shadowblade doesnt come out yet), but his 12 remaining models that strike back inflict a wound on my dreadlord, and kill the death hag (to be expected - shes only there to give the frenzy). Shade attacks drop the unit to 2 man, but he is stubborn.

High Elves:
Frostheart slams in to aid the white lions. Magic seems him try a burning gaze to finish the 2 witches in the building. I let it through, wanting more to stop the other spells. He rolls 1 hit !lol! he then casts shield of thorns with 2 dice on the white lions. I think, hey, I can probably dispel that with 4 dice, then scroll the flesh to stone or regrowth. But doh! I fail the dispel! Meaning flesh to stone comes on the frostheart. He is not T8. Faaaaaack. His archers finish the lone witch elf. In melee, a shade, whos face is hidden by a hooded cloak, drops his axe and draws to hand weapons, each shining with an eerie green glow. He kicks back a substance from a flask, and leaps at the frostheart! Shamefully, he only manage to wound the bird once. (This is where the 50/50 went his way, where it mattered ;) ) my BSB also managed a wound on him. My lord makes way only into contact with his white lions - striking on I, I still hit before them, and he drops the last 2 where they stand. His bird pops my BSB, and the stomp only managed a a single dead shade. He has the charge and 3 wounds inflicted, I have a banner and 4 wounds inflicted. He sticks, though.

Turn 5

Dark Elves:
Time to do or die! Warlocks move through the ruins to get out of sight. I then fail 2 dangerous terrains, fail both wards, the unit panics and runs off the bloody board! Dark riders take cover. I get a nice 4 vs 2 magic phase, resulting in yet another final transmutation landing on the archers. They die in droves to bolt thrower volleys, too. 3 archers left standing!
I cant allow life magic to restore that bird, so I make way! with everything into base contact with it. The dreadlord, the lvl 4 for OTS, the whole business. Dreadlord manages a wound, and then shadowblade comes up big, wounding on 5's thanks to manbane, he drops the beast.

High Elves:
He shuffles a bit, and this time his last remaining eagle properly blocks the shades from charging the - much depleted - bunker. I finally scroll all his magic.

Turn 6

Dark Elves:
Final transmutation goes through yet again, in spite of him having 4 DD too. 1 archer and his BSB bites it. Shooting manages to finish off the archer unit, the lvl 1 mage and the handmaiden, while alarielle is left on 1 wound.

High elves:
He does not want to risk a miscast, and does nothing. We shake hands.

In the end, he had alarielle and an eagle left, whilst I gave away my warlocks (stupid unlucky xD), my darkshards, all the witches, and my death hag and BSB. Bit unlucky with the BSB, the bird was S7 when it hit him I think, and inflicted 2 wounds. I had 5+ and was allowed to reroll one failed. Statistically, I should have lived. The death hag death is 100% expected. She is only there to give frenzy with several benefits: ItP, and extra attacks for all characters. The difference between 4 and 5 high S hits is massive. I was sweating abit when his white lions hit my lord, but thankfully he made most of his saves. The game was just shy of 1k difference, netting me a respectable 16-4 victory. The list is meant to always make a stable 13-14 VPs, but this matchup was pretty good for me.

Lessons: dont ever have other characters next to the lvl 4! Other than that, my gameplay was solid. I had more rolls go my way than he had, amongst others my dark riders should not have killed his bolt thrower. And maybe his silver helms should have broken my darkshards earlier (I had, once again, forgotten about the steadfast in forest rule, hue!).
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
Miscast into the Warp
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Re: Thraundils battle log, game 35: GF training 2

Post by Amboadine »

Another enjoyable report as normal. Thanks for doing the write up.
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Thraundil
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Joined: Wed Jan 09, 2013 1:46 pm
Location: The Depths of Despair

Thraundils battle log, game 36: GF training 3

Post by Thraundil »

Yo lads!

Here to bring another training session for Giant Fanatic, once again featuring the shade star. People I know comment that many lists will use few construction points to get a ~300 VP every game, and I should consider a light council with with elves + cauldron. I dislike that style of list though, as its terribly fragile :/

Anyways. Latest variation:

Dreadlord, 1+ armor via dragonhelm, giant blade, dawnstone and ironcurse icon
Lvl 4 lore of metal, dispel scroll, hotek, other tricksters
Master BSB, 1+ via enchanted shield, luckstone, ogre blade
Death hag, witchbrew, obsidian blade
Shadowblade
5 DR, shields
30 WE, FC, gleaming pennant
10 darkshards, mus, flaming banner
2 RBT
20 shades, FC, GW's
5 warlocks
+1 for first turn

I played vs a Warrior of Chaos. Yes, they can make the list outlined below by spending only 1 CP :killed:
Closed lists, so I dont know all the magic items.

Lvl 4 mark + lore of tzeentch
Exalted hero BSB, mark of nurgle, armor of destiny, scaled skin, demonic mount, GW
Exalted hero, mark of nurgle, talisman of preservation, charmed shield, demonic mount, GW
12 tzeentch warriors, hw+shield, FC
5 warhounds
5 marauder horsemen, mark of slaanesh
2 chariots, mark of slaanesh
warshrine, mark of tzeentch
2x7 chaos trolls, AHW
Chimera, regen, flaming breath
+300 VP at the end of the game



The map featured some hills in both deployment zones, mild spread forests and a building to the far left in one deployment zone. I got to pick sides, and chose to occupy the building with my darkshards. I was forced to deploy most of my army first, which I was fine with. Witches went dead centre, fast cav and bolters spread out for minimum exposure. Characters went in the house too, and shades got dropped 5" in front of said house. I faced his trolls taking the centre both units, each joined by one hero. Warriorbunker went opposite my shades position, and chariots where covering his trolls' flanks. Chimera went far right, afraid of the flaming banner.
Spells:
Chaos: signature, treason, glean magic, gateway
DE: warlock spells + signature, plague of rust, enchanted blades, final transmutation
We vanguarded, and I won the roll-off to start with +2 and putting down a 6 ;)


Turn 1:

Dark Elves
Characters joined the shades, who stayed put for the first turn. Witches went forward a little, giving both his demonic heroes an 11 on the dice to reach them. Darkshards abandon the building to get within range of one troll unit. Warlocks zoomed up the left flank. Magic saw him fear a final transmutation, causing him to allow a searing doom to vaporize a chariot on the left. He then dispelled final trans. Shooting saw my darkshards pop a wound off the trolls, and my bolters and shades let loose, dropping a total of 4 trolls dead. Nice start!

Warriors
His centre shuffled a bit. Chimera made a run for my right-most bolt thrower. In the magic phase I dispelled his gateway, and he then got off a blue flames on my darkshards which failed to kill any. (S3, 1 hit, which I saved :D ). Bound spell gave his non-BSB +1 A.

Turn 2:

Dark Elves
I play very agressively with my witches, confidently moving them up seeing as his trolls are very depleted in one unit. I block the other unit with dark riders. His BSB can still get out, though, which turned out to not be so good. Shades move straight toward his bunker, maintaining a firepower angle to his trolls. The magic phase was rather uneventful, as I believe I fail to cast final transmutation. Shooting was not as hot as last turn. I drop the trolls to 1 guy, and pop the charmed shield off of the exalted hero since he must share the hits.

Warriors
Both his heroes + a chariot declare charges on the witch elves. Heroes make it in, chariot fails. Fair enough. His chimera also charge my right bolt thrower. In magic, he gets treason on the witches (he didnt know of the gleaming pennant), and since I dispel gateway another bound spell also goes through, giving one hero a +1 I, getting him out of reroll range. Drat. The BSB also gets +1 to his ward save to top it all off. Chimera eats my bolt thrower and overruns toward the other. In the witch combat my hag takes the challenge of the BSB. I manage nothing to him (the plan was to get one wound on any hero, then have shadowblade appear next round to kill them). He only kills a few witches though, and I hold on steadfast on the first roll.

Turn 3:

Dark Elves
I position shades to charge the heroes in my next turn, should the combat go on. Darkshards reform to shoot the chimera. Magic gets a plague of rust off on his non-BSB (giving him a 3+ armor save in melee). In the shooting phase, the darkshards roll like crazy motherfuckers, putting 2 wounds on the chimera! The remaining bolt thrower then finish it off... I was quite pleased here, and my opponent drew a big sigh. In melee, I again manage squat all, and he kills a rank of witch elves. I hold on steadfast again, though.

Warriors
He makes the charge with his chariot from before, this time around. He fails march test on his horsemen and so cant block my shades! He gets treason off, though, and yet another bound spell giving his BSB +1 WS and his other hero one more attack. In melee I manage a wound on both heroes! He then proceeds to hit with almost everything, and the witches break and run. He catches them with his hero and chariot, but his BSB ends up exposed!

Turn 4:

Dark Elves
I declare the charge on his BSB and he holds. I then make the huge mistake of being greedy with my warlocks, charging his horsemen. He flees, and runs through my shades to block their charge. F me! Big lesson learned there. I fail both charges as a result. I consolidate my position, readying for the inevitable. Magic does very little, and shooting also fails to do anything.

Warriors
He runs his chariot right next to my darkshards. BSB rejoins the big troll unit, other hero + his rallied horsemen sandwiches my shade unit. Magic blocks my warlocks out of the universe with a gateway, because I really had to stop treason in order to not risk overrunning my shades into a horrible position. He then casts treason with IF, which costs the wizard 2 lvls and also treason + signature.

Turn 5:

Dark Elves
My shades manages, via clever reforms, to edge themselves out and spot his bunker again. I try to shoot his chariot but fail. The shades do manage to take out the lone troll from one of the units, netting me a nice VP there.

Warriors
Chariot charge the darkshards. His horsemen manage to block the shade charge, sadly, and he sets up for his own turn 6 by boxing in the shades once more. In melee, his chariot kills 6 darkshards with impact hits, when suddenly one crossbowman drops his crossbow, draws two weapons covered in green poison, and kicks back the contents of a bright red elixir flask. Shadowblade brings the chariot crew a quick and merciless end.

Turn 6:

Dark Elves
Dark riders charge the horsemen, while the shades reform to spot the exalted hero standing now right in front of them. One searing doom later, and he is down for the count. I also get enchanted blades up on the shades. In melee my dark riders only manage to kill 2 horsemen and they get away! The last guy flees through my shades, though, landing a 1 on his dangerous terrain. Alright then.

Warriors
His warshrine charge the dark riders (I should have kept them out of sight, free points for him). Trolls + BSB charge my shades in the flank - they are at this point 3 deep, with the unit champion in his direction (I need to remember this - I didnt tell him this on my turn, but we agreed it was the only logical place for him to be - but in the real tourney, I wont get away with sloppyness). His bunker does a fancy reform to cast one final gateway on shadowblade and his darkshard friends. He fails the cast though, being just lvl 2. In melee the warshrine kills all dark riders. In the big combat we couldn't find any wisdom as to which comes first, make way or challenges?

We agreed that its his combat round, so he decides. He calls a challenge with his BSB, my unit champion accepts, and the dreadlord and BSB make way such that trolls can only hit the two characters. I barely manage to scratch a troll as he makes 7 out of 9 regen saves. He then pukes 4 times on my lord, killing him. My bloodshade then bravely picks up his great weapon, and walks away from his comrades to face the exalted hero with the mark of nurgle... Thank heavens for enchanted blades as I hit him twice. And wound him twice. And he fails both armor saves. And he fails both ward saves. Sweet jebus! The shade drops the exalted hero BSB. BAM! I still lose combat by 1, but I stick.



End of the day, I manage an 11-9 victory. I take alot more of his than he gets, but he has those 300 extra VP. I must say the fact warriors of chaos can make a list like this at 1 CP, compared to dark elves paying 2 CP just from mounting 2 combat characters, magic items aside! And double troll unit. Wat.
The big lesson: Dont be greedy! If I hadnt tried to take the horsemen unit with my warlocks, I would have killed his BSB, and a lot of his pressure would be gone. My little trick with shadowblade popping up in the darkshards to save their points AND get points for the chariot is something I shall try to remember. The medium lesson: dont be so agressive with the witch unit. Theres no reason for them to press forward like that when I can take so many points with my shooting and magic. Rather focus on removing his flak and chariots, and then go in for the big prize in turn 5-6. The small lesson: when he did charge the witches, I turned my shades around. If they had stayed the course, and went for the bunker and lvl 4, I had killed them for sure - which was worth alot more points than the witch elves. So its a trade I should have taken! Especially because there was very little redirection he could have done, as I would probably have blocked his retreat path with dark riders.

Anyways! A game where luck swung slightly to my side on shooting, and HUGELY to my side in the end, with that BSB war. Him getting +1 to the ward save from the warshrine was big, as it meant I didnt trust even shadowblade to fight him. Mark of nurgle is incredibly good. If I where to play the entire game again, I would keep my witch elves back, and pound the trolls with arrows while pressuring the bunker with the shadestar. This would force the heroes to turn around to assist, because I have one of those few units that can walk all over a tzeentch bunker - THATS when the witches move forward. Me getting the chimera was rather a big luck, though. Easily a 500 VP swing. Lore of metal did great this game, burning down a chariot and an exalted hero. I never got to cast final transmutation though... A lucky 6 would have roasted those heroes, too. Good game in which I made a huge blunder but still came out on top. I still like the performance of the shade star. Gut feeling tells me to go with this list.
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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