DarkSky's Battle Reports

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DarkSky
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DarkSky's Battle Reports

Post by DarkSky »

Hello fellow Druchii!

Starting my battle reports here, as I plan to post quite a few.

Battle Report: 2000 Points vs Warriors of Chaos

Dark Elves
DarkElves
DarkElves


Supreme Sorceress, Lvl4, Metal, Dark Steed, Ring of Hotek, Dispel Scroll
Death Hag, Ogre Blade, Witchbrew
Master, Dark Pegasus, Cloack of Twilight, Lance, 1+
Master, Dark Steed, BSB, Dawn Stone, Dragonhelm, Halberd

5x Dark Riders, Crossbows, Shields
8x Dark Riders, Crossbows, Shields
19x Witch Elves, FCG, Flaming Banner

5x Cold One Knights, FCG
13x Executioners of Har Ganeth, Musician
3x Reaper Bolt Thrower

5x Doomfire Warlocks

Warriors of Chaos
woc
woc


Daemon Prince, Lvl 4 Nurgle, 1+, 5++, Familiar, Dragonbane Gem
Exalted Hero, BSB, 1+, Mark of Tzeentch

5x Hounds
27x Chaos Warriors, Shields, Mark of Tzeentch
Hellcannon
3x Skullcrushers
Chimerae

Deployment
Having more drops than my opponent I could leverage the strategy I laid out before in the Army List posting. Three fast cavaly covered the flanks, the Bolt Throwers had excellent positions and my Executions could position themselves in front of the Warriors/Skullcrushers with flanking support from the Witch Elves and the Pegmaster. With some luck I got first turn despite the +1 on his side.

03-deployment.jpg

(Picture shows deployment before vanguard movement. The Dark Riders with orange manes are actually my Warlocks.)

For spells he basically had free choices, thanks to the familiar. I rolled 2, 2, 3, 5 and opted for Plague of Rust instead of Final Transmutation and swapped away Lead for the Signature Spell. On high magic phases I would always be able to use my power dice by casting the large version of Searing Doom.

1st turn - Dark Elves

Movement: Fast Cavalry moved aggressively forward, allowing good positions for casting and 2nd turn charges on the Hellcannon. The Cold One Knights moved out of direct sight behing the large tower. Remaining unit hold still more or less.

Magic: Winds blow low with only 3+1. No channeling on either side. I cast Searing Doom with four dice on his Prince, score six hits, but he reveals the Dragonbane Gem and saves everything.

Shooting: Repeater Crossbows fail to wound anything. The RBTs try to hit the Daemon Prince (ward saved) and the Skullcrushers (scoring one wound).

1st turn - Warriors of Chaos

Movement: The hounds place themselves as redirector for the Warlocks. The Warriors advance inside the possible charge range of the Witch Elves. Chimerae and DP place themselves very near the board edge and flank of the Dark Riders. The Skullcrushers advance fully.

Magic: Winds show 6+5, no channeling. I brace myself for a nasty magic phase, but his first spell (Signature, T-Test Template) causes a miscast on only two dice. My Dark Riders manage 6 of 8 tests and one is saved by my Ring of Hotek. He gets one hit, is unlucky in his saves and suffers one wound. More importantly he loses 6 dice from his pool. The last spell is easily dispelled.

Shooting: The Hellcannon aims for the Dark Riders. Scores as hit and annihilates four riders (lucky armour saves for me). The Dark Riders do not panic.
Last edited by DarkSky on Mon Jun 22, 2015 9:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.
My Blog containing battle reports and painting updates: https://bleaklegion.wordpress.com
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Re: DarkSky's Battle Reports

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2nd turn - Dark Elves
Movement: Dark Riders charge Hellcannon. Witch Elves fail their frenzy check and fail a long charge on the Warriors. Warlocks charge the hounds. Dark Riders flee from Prince and Chimerae to the center and the other units slowly retreat.

Magic: Phase is low again 3+2, but I channel one die, leaving me with a nice 3+3. Plague of Rust on Warriors (2 dice) is not contested. Glittering Scales (2 dice) on Dark Riders is dispelled, but Searing Doom manages 6 hits on Skullcrushers, killing two outright.

Shooting: RBTs focus on Skullcrushers, one wounds and manages two wounds, annihilating the Skullcrushers. RXBs fail to wound anything.

Close combat: The Dark Riders fail to do any damage, as all wounds are saved. The cannon manages to kill two Dark Riders, causing a draw in combat resolution.
Battlefield after the 2nd turn of the Dark Elves.
Battlefield after the 2nd turn of the Dark Elves.


2nd turn - Warriors of Chaos
Movement: Warriors try a long charge on Witch Elves, which fails. Chimerae and Dark Prince take the scenic route around the tower.

Magic: Winds blow strong 5+5, no channeling. He casts the Nurgle Vortex straight through my knights. I decide not to dispel as his roll was quite high. The vortex kills three knights, but Immune to Psychology prevents a panic test. Being out of range for most spells, nothing more happens (I might have dispelled something).

Close combat: Dark Riders fail their fear test. Receiving two more losses but don't break. I try to combat reform to make more way for the warlocks, but fail that test.

Battlefield after the second turn of WoC. Chimerae and Daemon Prince are behind tower. Witch Elves are actually 6'' further ahead, indicated by the single model.
Battlefield after the second turn of WoC. Chimerae and Daemon Prince are behind tower. Witch Elves are actually 6'' further ahead, indicated by the single model.


3rd turn - Dark Elves
Movement: Warlocks with Master charge the Hellcannon. Knights advance forward to prepare a flank charge on Warriors, the Pegmaster does the same. Executioners and Witches move slightly to allow the perfect setup.

Magic: 6+3, no channeling. Finally a strong magic phase, but I manage snake eyes on the first spell (Plague of Rust on Warriors). With Soulblight as the only remaining viable spell, I try the large version, but fail to roll 16 with 6 dice.

Shooting: RXBs fail to wound anything. The RBTs all try to takeout the Daemon Prince. Two even wound, but both times the ward save saves his daemon.

Close combat: I score a good amount of wounds, but all but one are saved by his armour and ward saves. Hellcannon inflicts two wounds on Warlocks, but my ward save is also in overdrive mode.

3rd turn - Warriors of Chaos
Movement: DP tries a long charge on the RBT and fails. Chimerae moves towards the center, the Warriors successfully charge the Witch Elves. (Somehow the Chimerae doesn't seem to have advanced nearly as much as it could have, maybe my opponent forgot to move it completely?)

Magic: 6+6, one channel for me. These winds start to annoy me. He casts the large vortex with 6 dice, rolling high but no IF. I use my dispel scroll. Then he casts the toughness boost on his Warriors and rolls double sixes. The Warriors get +1 Toughness and he loses the remaining dice (no wound on the Daemon Prince).

Close combat: Challenge of champions sees my Witch killed as he saved all three wounds she inflicted. Albeit producing 39 attacks the Witches only inflict three loses and lose six in return, making them flee. He decides not to pursue but reforms to face CoK and Executioners.

Warlocks and Hero inflict a lot of wounds again, resulting in two more damage on the cannon. The cannon fluffs most attacks and fails to kill anything (one more lucky ward save).
My Blog containing battle reports and painting updates: https://bleaklegion.wordpress.com
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Re: DarkSky's Battle Reports

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4th turn - Dark Elves
Movement: Executioners, Cold One Knights (front) and Pegmaster (flank) all successfully charge the Tzeentch Warriors. Sorceress positions herself for best casting opportunities and out of any obvious vortex lines. Witch Elves rally.

Magic: Don't know anymore, but must have been quite nice, 4+3 perhaps. Rust, Blades and Scales are cast. He dispels the scales. Blades on Executioners go through.

Shooting: All RBTs aim on the Daemon Prince. One wounds, but is ward saved.

Close combat: He challenges and my Death Hag accepts. With Ogre Blade and Aibanblades she managed to inflict exactly one unsaved wound *phew*. Despite a massive amount of S6 attacks, I do not win the combat that decisively (the +1T could have helped, but it was mainly the 5+ ward saves). We forget the Dark Pegasus and the Cold One attacks and he remains steadfast at 2x7 warriors. But I manage two killing blows on the BSB, he only saves one of them so his Hero is down. His unit does not break.

The Warlocks and Master continue to grind down the cannon. Inflict another one or two wounds and do not lose anything in return.

4th turn - Warriors of Chaos
Movement: The Daemon Prince decides to ignore the bolt thrower and moves towards the action in the center, alongside the Chimerae.

Magic: Don't know anymore, but at least 6 dice in total. No channels. He improves the regeneration on the Chimerae, then tries another large vortex but fails to roll the necessary casting value.

Close combat: Without the toughness boost I expected to gloriously win this combat, but didn't. Somehow 5-6 Executioners and one Knight died, while the Warriors only lost seven. They hold again.

The Warlocks finally grind down the cannon and reform.

Battlefield after the 4th turn of the Warriors of Chaos (with some Executioners losses still on the battlefield)
Battlefield after the 4th turn of the Warriors of Chaos (with some Executioners losses still on the battlefield)


5th turn - Dark Elves
Movement: Stuff moves towards the centre, all spells in range, nothing in charge arc for his flyers. The Witch Elves join the fight again.

Shooting: RXBs do not inflict any wound. The RBTs try once again and his ward saves finally fail. Two wound and manage the necessary 3 wounds. The Daemon Prince falls and my opponent concedes the match.

Pivotal Moments
I think the main deciding factor was the poor movement of my enemies Daemon Prince and his Chimerae. He could have used the Monster for a counterattack on the Warlocks freeing the Hellcannon again. Or advance in the center. Instead the Chimerae did not see any action at all and the prince just dangled to long in front of the RBTs.

Troops
- Executioners: I never played Death Hag on foot before and in a unit with Executioners this setup totally convinced me. The unit is just deadly. Kill blowing the BSB with some leftover attacks: Priceless!
- The RBTs proved once again critical versus a Warriors of Chaos list, seriously thinking about cramming in four at 2000 Points.
- Dark Rider, Warlocks, Supreme Sorceress, Master on Steed setup: The idea of a mobile master to either join the Warlocks versus a hellcannon or the Cold One Knights, if not also worked good. The Warlocks/Master combo took longer than expected to grind down the Hellcannon, but the plan worked. Supreme Sorceres on Dark Steed is the best thing anyway.

The Dice Gods
Fickle once again. While my rolls were not bad at all, my opponent's uncanny ability to roll only 5s and 6s with the ward save left me slightly despaired. On the other side, scoring six wounds with one Searing Doom was not bad at all either. The combats were quite even, again only his ward saves really stood out. Crossbows did nothing, but not very much was expected of them after all. His magic could have been huge, but I feel he didn't leverage his selection of five spells correctly, focusing too much on a possible game changing vortex. My winds were low, but at least my rolls were high, enough to get at least one those crucial buffs and hexes almost every turn. In hindsight taking Rust above Final Transmutation was the correct choice, but I think even with higher magic winds the choice would have been favourable for me.

Of course this is not nearly enough, so I need more sacrifices in my Cauldron of Blood devoted to the Dice Gods :twisted:

Hope you enjoyed reading my first battle report here, sorry for forgetting to take pictures at the right moment, was too excited playing! Any feedback regarding the battle report itself (format, description, writing style) and leadership of the Druchii forces is greatly appreciated! (The three attachments limit is really bugging me, do I need a flickr/photobucket account after all?)
My Blog containing battle reports and painting updates: https://bleaklegion.wordpress.com
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Lord Drakon
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Re: DarkSky's Battle Reports

Post by Lord Drakon »

Hi Darksky, very nice victory you got there !

You can upload as much pictures as you want via the website tinypic.com.

I am currently fielding Supreme Sorceress on Pegasus solo with Cloak of Twilight, but as she should stay behind my lines and Light magic have great range anyway maybe a steed is also fine. How fragile do you find her against more shooty armies ? How do you play your Dark Rider bunker ?
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Re: DarkSky's Battle Reports

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Lord Drakon wrote:Hi Darksky, very nice victory you got there !

You can upload as much pictures as you want via the website tinypic.com.

I am currently fielding Supreme Sorceress on Pegasus solo with Cloak of Twilight, but as she should stay behind my lines and Light magic have great range anyway maybe a steed is also fine. How fragile do you find her against more shooty armies ? How do you play your Dark Rider bunker ?


Hi Lord Drakon,

thanks for the feedback. For the next battle report I will strongly consider this, the attachments are not really looking good.
Regarding the Supreme Sorceress: A good question without an obvious answer, yet. Never played her on a pegasus, and never Lore of Light, so I can't compare. Additionally I didn't play versus a lot of shooting, yet. Last matches were mainly versus Chaos Warriors and some Orcs & Goblins.

Generally I am pleased with the survivability and mobility. Between 4+ armour and Ring of Hotek, Magic Missiles are not that effective. Morale is also high enough to stand an occassional panic test. I have never been caught in a close combat and if an opponent tries to, the match usually swings hugely in my favour. The only time it failed was versus Lizardmen, who depleted my Dark Riders with Razordon shooting and forced my Sorceress to remain behind my lines without any good position to cast Black Horror.
My Blog containing battle reports and painting updates: https://bleaklegion.wordpress.com
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Re: DarkSky's Battle Reports

Post by DarkSky »

The 9th Age begins and I started to document my battles on my blog (where the problem with the attachments is not present):

9th Age 0.9.1 - 2000 Points - Dread Elves vs. Ogre Khans

https://bleaklegion.wordpress.com/2015/ ... gre-khans/
My Blog containing battle reports and painting updates: https://bleaklegion.wordpress.com
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Re: DarkSky's Battle Reports

Post by Diobarach »

Thanks for sharing your BR. In your report I see a bunch of text such as: Ø 0,4. What is this representing? I couldn't figure it out, is it a font issue?
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Re: DarkSky's Battle Reports

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Diobarach wrote:Thanks for sharing your BR. In your report I see a bunch of text such as: Ø 0,4. What is this representing? I couldn't figure it out, is it a font issue?


The Ø symbol means average. I introduced posting the average wounds a certain spell, shooting attack or melee attack would make. This is just for easy comparison whether the shoot was poor, average or lucky. Probably should have explained that :oops:
My Blog containing battle reports and painting updates: https://bleaklegion.wordpress.com
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Re: DarkSky's Battle Reports

Post by Diobarach »

Ahh ok, nice addition. I thought it had something to do with sets somehow.
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Re: DarkSky's Battle Reports

Post by Calisson »

Thanks for a well developed batrep and gratz for the win!
Winds never stop blowing, Oceans are borderless. Get a ship and a crew, so the World will be ours! Today the World, tomorrow Nagg! {--|oBrotherhood of the Coast!o|--}
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Re: DarkSky's Battle Reports

Post by DarkSky »

Calisson wrote:Thanks for a well developed batrep and gratz for the win!


Thank you! If (any of) you have some feedback on what I can improve, I would greatly appreciate it. This evening another match is scheduled vs. Highborn Elves and I have a battle report against the Warriors of the Dark Gods half done, so stay tuned 8)
My Blog containing battle reports and painting updates: https://bleaklegion.wordpress.com
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Re: DarkSky's Battle Reports

Post by DarkSky »

I made my second 9th Age game on Sunday. Still like the system very much, especially the core rules and Paths of Magic:

9th Age 0.9.1 - Dread Elves vs. Warriors of the Dark Gods - 2000 Points

https://bleaklegion.wordpress.com/2015/ ... dark-gods/
My Blog containing battle reports and painting updates: https://bleaklegion.wordpress.com
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Re: DarkSky's Battle Reports

Post by Diobarach »

Grats on the win even if it was fortune favored. It is good to see you trying out different stuff too, thanks for sharing.
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Re: DarkSky's Battle Reports

Post by DarkSky »

The third match with 9th Age finally is against our archenemies, the Highborn Elves. A truly epic fight over the full distance:

https://bleaklegion.wordpress.com/2015/ ... orn-elves/

(sorry for some missing pictures in between, it really wasn't my best day, I hope it is still an interesting read)

@Diobarach: Thank you for the feedback. As I don't prepare for any tournament, I am free to play completely different lists every time and for now, I'd like to get to know everything, so there are again new units tested in this game.
My Blog containing battle reports and painting updates: https://bleaklegion.wordpress.com
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Re: DarkSky's Battle Reports

Post by DarkSky »

Two more games done. The first one is 2500 points versus Dwarven Holds, but under the old 0.9.2 rules:

https://bleaklegion.wordpress.com/2015/ ... ven-holds/

The second one, is with the brand new 0.10.1 rules, 2400 versus Saurian Ancients (and this one, is really, really close):

https://bleaklegion.wordpress.com/2015/ ... -ancients/
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Re: DarkSky's Battle Reports

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Some more games on my blog:

The first one is versus the Vermin Swarm: https://bleaklegion.wordpress.com/2015/ ... min-swarm/
Sadly we did some major errors in rules handling at the end.

The second one is versus the Saurian Ancients again: https://bleaklegion.wordpress.com/2016/ ... ncients-2/
This time the game was not close at all, and showcases how small errors can create great losses if a few dice roll right for the opponent.

Both games were shortly before christmas and with the 0.10 ruleset. My first game with 0.11 comes up on Saturday versus Dwarven Holds. Looking forward to it, and will heavily use Medusae this time (I think).
My Blog containing battle reports and painting updates: https://bleaklegion.wordpress.com
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Re: DarkSky's Battle Reports

Post by Lord Drakon »

Darksky I love your reports of the Bleak Legion, great design of the blog with all those pictures!
I absolutely love your corsairs and will paint the cloaks of mine the same, very cool effect and suits nicely with my raptor/monster scheme

Image
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Re: DarkSky's Battle Reports

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Lord Drakon wrote:Darksky I love your reports of the Bleak Legion, great design of the blog with all those pictures!
I absolutely love your corsairs and will paint the cloaks of mine the same, very cool effect and suits nicely with my raptor/monster scheme


Hi Drakon, thank you for the kind words. Another Battle Report versus Dwarven Holds should be coming up shortly. There also is a reason, why my Corsairs fit your raptor/monster scheme, because I shamelessly copied your Har Ganeth war host colour scheme :mrgreen: the Cloaks were indeed the most fun part of painting the corsairs.
My Blog containing battle reports and painting updates: https://bleaklegion.wordpress.com
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Re: DarkSky's Battle Reports

Post by Lord Drakon »

DarkSky wrote:
Lord Drakon wrote:Darksky I love your reports of the Bleak Legion, great design of the blog with all those pictures!
I absolutely love your corsairs and will paint the cloaks of mine the same, very cool effect and suits nicely with my raptor/monster scheme


Hi Drakon, thank you for the kind words. Another Battle Report versus Dwarven Holds should be coming up shortly. There also is a reason, why my Corsairs fit your raptor/monster scheme, because I shamelessly copied your Har Ganeth war host colour scheme :mrgreen: the Cloaks were indeed the most fun part of painting the corsairs.


I am looking forward to it. Haha that explains something! Are the pictures you uploaded so far the painted units or do you have more. I would like to know the Bleak Legion better.
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Re: DarkSky's Battle Reports

Post by DarkSky »

I have some more stuff painted: 26 Blades of Nabh, a Raptor Chariot and a unit of Dark Raiders (my favourite so far), but did not get around to make the photos and post updates. Currently I am painting a Bolt Thrower after having spent three month on the Dread Legionnaires. After that I'll probably go on to the Warlocks or my Executioners, based on whether I can decide what colours to use on the Warlocks.
My Blog containing battle reports and painting updates: https://bleaklegion.wordpress.com
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Re: DarkSky's Battle Reports

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Sorry, completely forgot to update this thread with my battle against the Dwarven Holds.

Dread Elves vs. Dwarven Holds (2000 points, 0.11 rules):
https://bleaklegion.wordpress.com/2016/ ... n-holds-2/

In the meantime there was also another clash. A huge force of the Dwarven Holds faces an unlikely alliance of the Sonnstahl Empire and the Dread Elves.

Empire of Sonnstahl & Dread Elves vs. Dwarven Holds (3200 points, 0.11 rules, with secondary objectives):
https://bleaklegion.wordpress.com/2016/ ... ven-holds/

Have fun!
My Blog containing battle reports and painting updates: https://bleaklegion.wordpress.com
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Re: DarkSky's Battle Reports

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New Battle Report: 2000 points. 9th Age 0.11. Dread Elves vs. Infernal Dwarves

https://bleaklegion.wordpress.com/2016/ ... l-dwarves/

Have fun reading and as always, comments and feeback are very appreciated. So far I made 11 9th Age games and have not lost a single one :twisted:
My Blog containing battle reports and painting updates: https://bleaklegion.wordpress.com
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