Lost colony in 9th age - 2500 vs. VC

[Marchosias]

List of all battles:

7ed armybook:
1. 500 points vs. Chaos Dwarfs (played against Majkol)
2. 500 points vs. Bretonnia (played against Panmarek)
3. 500 vs. Chaos Dwarfs (Corrupted)
4. 500 vs. Warriors of Chaos (Udunai)
5. 500 vs. Bretonnia (Panmarek)
6. 500 vs. High Elves (Nazghul)
7. 500 vs. High Elves (Kasumi)

8ed armybook:
8. and 9. 500 vs. High Elves and Wood Elves (Panmarek)
10. 1000 vs. High Elves (Sylfaen)
11. 1000 vs. Tomb Kings (Elmariachi)
12. 1000 vs. Bretonnia (Panmarek)
13. and 14. 1000 vs. Ogre Kingdoms and Warriors of Chaos (Kejv)
15. 1500 vs. Empire (Orsman)
16. 1500 vs. Empire (Anomander)
17. 1500 vs. Warriors of Chaos (Savannah)
18. 1500 vs. Tomb Kings (Meshuggah)
19. 2999 vs. Tomb Kings (Elmariachi)
20. 1500 vs. Vampire Counts (Landis)
21. 2000 vs. Warriors of Chaos (Udunai)
22. 2700 vs. Vampire Counts (Landis)
23. ETC vs. Dwarfs (Xod)
24. ETC vs. Lizardmen (Firstflash)
25. ETC vs. Warriors of Chaos (Atonius)
26. ETC vs. Dark Elves (MoonShade)
27. ETC + battle of the pass vs. Tomb Kings (Elmariachi)
28. ETC vs. Warriors of Chaos (Atonius)
29. ETC vs. Tomb Kings (Alquds)

Team Tourney:
30. ETC vs. Dwarfs (Dupi)
31. ETC vs. Wood Elves (Míra Papáček)
32. ETC vs. Lizardmen (Nazghul)
33. ETC vs. High Elves (Rhawn)
34. ETC vs. Skaven (Deff)

Last days before the end:
35. 2750 vs. High Elves (Majkol)

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Original first post of this thread:
We have spent with Rowena almost a year discussing fluff and the overall theme and searching for the most fitting miniatures. And now, finally, our army is ready to enter the battlefield, if only for friendly skirmishes at 500 points. With this comes this thread to highlight important or interesting moments in my battles, so that I can better remember my mistakes and hopefully consult them with more seasoned generals. It is perhaps a bit bold to start such a thread after one single battle, but it is more of a journal than a proper battle report log.


Lost Colony vs. Chaos Dwarves (500 pts)

Lost Colony:
Sorceress, lvl 1 shadow (going for Miasma), Ruby Ring of Ruin
16x Dark Elf Warriors, shields, Standard of Discipline
5 Harpies
2x 5 Witch Elves
5 Shades, ahw

Chaos Dwarves:
sorcerer lvl 1 death (Spirit leech) with heavy armour, enchanted shield, dispel scroll
5 riders - some fast cavalry with bows and BS3
14 Infernal Guard - shields, 3+ armour save, 5+ ward save againts flaming attacks
war machine - shooting canonballs or S3 templates


My first battle ever, a simple battleline. It lasted quite long, because I was asking about the rules very often, but the battle itself was very one-sided. As you can see from the lists, my opponent had not many tools to pressure me. He decided not to use the template mode on his warmachine, saying that it would be too destructive for such a small game. The canonball was only killing one model per turn, thanks to my small units. The riders shots were not really accurate. The infernal guard was too slow and I only engaged when I was ready. The wizard, being out of range of my sorceress, sniped some shades and then blowed himself up. In general, my opponent played in a relaxed way and even advised me a few times what possibilities I have. He was clearly trying to make the game enjoyable for me first of all, for which I owe him thanks.


highlights of the battle:
- the unit that helped me the most was probably the enemies wizard. His miscast killed not only him, but five members of the Infernal Guard as well. It made the unit, quite durable when fighting S3 elves, far more manageable. And it panicked it, too.
- I was spreading my forces unnecessarily, thinking that for a good encirclement I need enough free space. But this meant that when the infernal guard was fleeing so close to the table edge, neither my harpies nor my shades were in range for a charge. This is a sad thing, given that they were on the opposite sides of the enemy.
- he placed his fast cavalry before one of my witch elf units. One failed frenzy check later, one elf lied with an arrow in her hearth and the riders were butchered before they could strike just once (lowering their WS to 1 had helped a bit). The resulting overrun just barely missed the infernal guard, still fleeing as a result of the miscast, and carried the witches behind his forces. I think he wanted me to get some easy early kills, I see no strategic benefit from this move of his.
- dwarfs are really hard to kill. When my harpies charged the warmachine, they suffered three casualties in the course of two combat phases and then run away, not inflicting a single wound in the process. But they hindered the canon shooting for one turn, so the attack served a purpose.
- the sorceress starts in warriors, because they have that fancy banner and are the most durable of my units. But in the course of the game, she can leave them and join a witch elf squad. If they charge a flank, the units are so small that she probably stays out of combat. It worked in this battle. A lone sorceress is a dead sorceress when canons still shoot.
- The Infernal Guard is even tougher. After my combo charge, 14 spearman and 9 witch elf attacks were directed at them, from which only two resulted in wounds (and I think they had their WS lowered by 1 thanks to Miasma). Still, they tested on leadership 4, thanks to flank attack and ranks, broke from combat and never rallied again.
- I am very happy with my sorceress: fireball is nice, miasma helped a few times, and with two spells, I can can probably burn all the dice I can dig. My opponent often decided to throw only four dice out of seven at his spirit leech out of fear of miscast.
- In the end, I cleared the table while loosing three shades, two witches, three harpies and three warriors and not giving up a single victory point. Good matchup for me.


Things learned:
- I should probably try to stay as close to the enemy as possible at all times - if it does not generate additional risk, of course
- beware of dwarven warmachines, they can actually fight
- the sorceress should dance between units to avoid both combat and canon shots
- my only armour counter in this list is having more ranks then the opponent - it takes care to set up properly, but it can work

[Calisson]

Compliments for your first battle!

Comments:
- dwarfs are really hard to kill. When my harpies charged the warmachine, they suffered three casualties in the course of two combat phases and then run away, not inflicting a single wound in the process. But they hindered the canon shooting for one turn, so the attack served a purpose.
That's usual. Harpies are poor fighters and should not expect to kill a warmachine crew. Agree that sometimes, spending 5 harpies to prevent 1 shooting can save your game.

- the sorceress starts in warriors, because they have that fancy banner and are the most durable of my units. But in the course of the game, she can leave them and join a witch elf squad. If they charge a flank, the units are so small that she probably stays out of combat. It worked in this battle. A lone sorceress is a dead sorceress when canons still shoot.
Mistake. Witch Elves are Khainite and cannot be joined by any non-Khainite character.
As harpies are flyers and can't be joined either, only shades and spears could babysit the sorceress.
Note that harpies or WE still provide "Look Out, Ma'am" if they are within 3" of a lone sorceress (BRB p.97).

- The Infernal Guard is even tougher. After my combo charge, 14 spearman and 9 witch elf attacks were directed at them, from which only two resulted in wounds (and I think they had their WS lowered by 1 thanks to Miasma). Still, they tested on leadership 4, thanks to flank attack and ranks, broke from combat and never rallied again.
That's the major problem with your army: everything has the mediocre S3 and nothing pierces armors.
You must solve that issue with magic. I would recommend dropping shadows and getting metal instead.

My opponent often decided to throw only four dice out of seven at his spirit leech out of fear of miscast.
Not all miscasts are horrible.
6-dice casting is 26,3% chances of miscast "only". With 4 dice, that's 13,2%.

- In the end, I cleared the table while loosing three shades, two witches, three harpies and three warriors and not giving up a single victory point. Good matchup for me.
With the kind attitude of your opponent. Nice from him to encourage you to play again.

[Marchosias]

Thanks for your feedback!

I will probably switch to metal, indeed. I will miss Miasma, it is a beautiful underhanded tool. But you are right that I have no answer for units such as ten silver helms. Apart from outmaneuvering, which is very unlikely to achieve, given that heavy cavalry has still far better movement than my infantry.

Hiding the sorceress gives me a nice headache. Spearmen will go in hard fights, shades are needed behind enemies lines, she cannot join anything else, but she is too vulnerable when traveling alone - so she should better not go to the battlefield at all. Maybe I should switch her for a master with soulrender? But I do not have the mini for him! The joys of list building. I will stick with her for a while and see how big a problem it actually is.

And yes, I almost feel bad that I was more or less given the victory as a present. But there will be plenty of times where things will go the other way around, so it is nice to have a good start at least.

[Calisson]

Magic is too good to leave the sorceress home! Especially such a beautiful model that you wife has chosen as avatar.
If the opponent has some magic missile, some mobile shooting or some long range snipers such as cannons, then she must remain with spearmen until the threat is overcome.
If the opponent has none of these, then the opponent is probably melee-heavy and you'll need your spears to fight. Then the sorc can remain alone.
Even infantry shooting is not really a threat for a footlogger, as long as she can hide behind other models or terrain.
Of course, sometimes you will lose her to a miscast or to opponent's melee. So be it.

[Marchosias]

Rowena is not my wife. "Just" a girlfriend, we are both still students. Other than that, you are absolutely right.

[Calisson]

Oops... relied wrongly on my memory. Apology if any goof.

[Marchosias]

No need to apologize. You said a nice compliment.

It seems that on Friday, there will be a skirmish (I do not dare say battle with armies this small) against Warriors of Chaos. All is going according to fluff so far.

[Marchosias]

Lost Colony vs. Bretonnia

Lost Colony:
Sorceress, lvl 1 metal (going for Searing Doom), Ruby Ring of Ruin (with warriors)
16x Dark Elf Warriors, shields, Standard of Discipline
5 Harpies
2x 5 Witch Elves
5 Shades, ahw

Bretonnia
Paladin (with Knights of the Realm)
5x Knights of the Realm, full command, Standard of Discipline
6x Knights Errant, full command
2x 10 Peasant Bowmen

Bretonnians should normally have a BSB, too, but for an army this small, it is almost (if not completely) impossible. The opponent was so desperate he even considered a lord on foot; then he decided to simply ignore the rule.

We played battleline, again. I was a bit worried, my small units are not exactly durable against shooting or lance charges and cannot open armour very well, too. In the end, it went very well for me. (I do not think a picture report is necessary, but the terrain was the same as in the battle against Ogres which will be described next. Feel free to take a look.)
The Bretonnians prayed, so I got the first turn. I marched in range with my sorceress and blasted four of the Knights Errant, my shades shot one bowman. I placed my warrior block 18 inches from his KotR unit, so he charged, I decided to hold and he did not roll high enough. The bowmen killed a few shades and witch elves.
In my second turn, my harpies flew behind the enemies lines (in the back of one bowmen unit, in the flank of the other, angled so that they could charge both). My witches marched to the bowmen, saying that being in cover is for cowards, whereas the two remaining shades tapped their forehead and moved out of the bows reach. The sorceress with warriors garrisoned a house, which opened a nice view on both the bowmen units. She blew up five of the poor peasants with a fireball and the two remaining Knights Errant with searing doom. The fireballed unit panicked, but ran only a few inches away.
The bretonnian paladin decided it is time to charge the building. This moved the general to the vicinity of the fleeing peasants, who then rallied, trusting their holy hero that he can make short order of the strange sorceress. After a pile of mistakes regarding the building assault rules, all knights were in the saddle again, two warriors lied dead, but their comrades refused to leave the building. The peasants shot at something without causing considerable casualties.
In my third turn, my harpies charged the full unit of bowmen and hacked three of them. The peasants were able to kill two of the attackers, but they were far from their leader, not used to war and under the attack of some furious otherworldly creatures. No wonder they ran for their lives. A few moments later they were caught on the run. On the other side of the battlefield, my witches prepared to divert the knights in case they would try to ride towards my vulnerable units. The winds of magic blew low, so the sorceress tried to gather more power from the depths of darkness, but her might proved insufficient even for that (rolled two on two dice).
The paladin, convinced that the enemies magical powers are waning, ordered one more attack on the building. After another pile of mistakes, one knight was dead and the warriors were fleeing out of the building. The remaining bowmen shot at witch elves.
In my fourth turn, my witches charged the four peasants. After "stand and shoot", only one of the women was standing, but she did not care and continued her run. It was four to one, but the witch swiftly dispatched two of the men and the remaining two were so much in horror what a crazy naked women is going for them that they turned to flee. The warriors with sorceress rallied and this time, there was enough magical power available to make armour really boil. All of the knights fell to the ground and even the general was wounded. He than decided that he could not achieve anything useful; instead, he left the battlefield with a message for his lord about the mysterious attackers. Next time, his folk will be better prepared.

Post-battle thoughts:
- I am not sure about the charge on the first bretonnian turn. It was a long one, but one he could complete. Maybe I should have fled instead? I would probably stay in range of the Knights Errant and fireballing the bowmen could wait. On the other hand, I was relatively safe in the house, whereas a flee would carry me into the open field, where avoiding the knights would be much harder.
- Searing Doom is brutal. So brutal that some spectators said I should maybe have stayed with Miasma to make my list more friendly. On the other hand, I think my opponent had the tools to inflict me a serious headache. Not praying and rushing forward, or maybe hiding the knights behind impassable terrain and firing arrows at my squishy unarmoured witches... difficult to find the balance between too weak and too strong. This thoughts will continue in the next report.
- Buildings are fun, but only if you know the rules. Otherwise, they slow down the battle considerably. But it made me think about when it is a good idea to garrison at all. Against cavalry and shooters, it certainly was. But other times, maybe it would be better to stay outside and retain ranks.


There was another battle yesterday, this time against Ogres. I will write about it soon.

[Marchosias]

Lost Colony vs. Ogre Kingdoms

Lost Colony
Sorceress, lvl 1 metal (going for Searing Doom), Ruby Ring of Ruin (with warriors)
16x Dark Elf Warriors, shields, Standard of Discipline
5 Harpies
2x 5 Witch Elves
5 Shades, ahw

Ogre Kingdoms
Butcher, lvl 1, great weapon, dragonbane gem (with Ironguts)
5 Ironguts, great weapons, 5+ armour save
2 Mournfangs, 2+ armour save
Sabretusk


The ogre mage had a spell that causes 2D6 S2 hits.

I know Ogres can be very scary, and when I looked at the list, I understood why. Everything had great weapons, meaning it wounded my elves on 2+ without any armour saves. Everything had better movement that me. Impact hits, fear, high toughness. I think this was probably the first real battle for me, because in the two clashes before, I had quite a few obvious advantages, while here I had to really think.

For this battle, I made pictures in Battle Chronicler. It is just an approximation, though, as I did not make proper notes and am not able to reproduce the positions exactly. Hope the diagrams help nevertheless.

Deployment and Ogres Turn 1
My opponent placed his Sabretusk to my left and his two big units to my right. Therefore, I decided to shoot the sabretusk down first and in this way buy a round or two of shooting and magic. Sadly, I placed the shades badly, which meant they could do just a little without supernatural aim.



The sabretusk hid behind the house, so that the shades could not shoot. The two hard hitting units advanced on the right. The mournfangs were positioned so that it would be difficult (altough possible) to get them into view of the sorceress for some metal blasting.
For magic, he threw the spell on my harpies, killing four and panicking the last one.

Lost Colony Turn 1


The last harpy remembered it had important business elsewhere and fled the battlefield.
I decided I really want to kill the sabretusk. I feared it would try to assassinate my sorceress or get behind my lines and marchblock or add a rear charge when I feel it the most. After this, the left half of the battlefield would be mine to think of something clever. For "Operation: Kill the cat", I moved the shades, but only one was able to try a shot. I advanced with my warriors to begin the chase around the hill, and screened the sorceress with my witch elves. The right witch elves were meant to hide behind impassable terrain, ready to charge the enemy into his back. Sadly, I measured wrongly and they were open to charge.
As I really wanted the sabretusk dead and had 6 PD against 4 DD, I decided to just throw everything at a fireball. A bit reckless, I know. In the end, I lost the Ruby Ring because of a miscast and scored a magnificent 1 hit, which did not result in a wound. Next time, I should play it safe.
The one shade tried to snipe the sabretusk, but unsurprisingly missed.

Ogre Kingdoms, Turn 2


The sabretusk charged my witches, hoping probably that it can panic them away and get an overrun into my sorceress. The Ironguts wheel towards my main line, whereas the mournfangs march towards my witches. Probably too far away to try a charge.
The butcher probably tried some magic, but as I do not remember any effect, it got probably dispelled (I had crazy good dispel rolls in this game). In combat, the sabretusk was slain before it could strike. My dice just loved me.

Lost Colony, Turn 2


Here it goes tricky. The Ironguts were relatively close and could well hope for a successful charge. So I wheeled around them, out of their charge arc. In the end, I managed to flee for a one more turn, but it was a really close call. The right witches managed to control their frenzy and instead of charging the mournfangs outright, they just walked to them, hurling insults and taunts.
Thanks to this, the sorceress was allowed to cast a searing doom on the mournfangs. Sadly, she did not manage to form the spell at all.

Ogre Kingdoms, Turn 3


This image is weird, but it will have to do - sorry for the imprecision.
The mournfangs charged the right witch elves, did short work with them and reformed facing west.
The ironguts moved towards my units (there should be an arrow of course). After this move, they were so close that I could not hope to avoid them one more turn.
The butcher once again tried to kill some elves with his spell and the sorceress once again saved them.

Lost Colony, Turn 3


Here I thought I cannot win anymore. Both ironguts and mournfangs were unharmed, the guts were very close to me and the mournfangs could join them very quickly, while I had barely the units to handle one of the units, but surely not both. Or so I thought. Because of this, I did a few desperate things.
First, I charged the witches into the ironguts. This was not so desperate, as this is their job and they had no other choices anyway. But I ordered all three who could to attack the butcher, hoping that I assassinate the general at least. This was stupid, I should have targeted the unit instead.
Second, in a zany maneuvre, I moved the sorceress into the shades and shuffled the warriors right behind the witch elves. The idea was that after the ironguts butcher my witch elves, they would not be able to reform towards the shades, as it would bring them too close to the warriors; I hoped that it would enable me to evade, cast and shoot for a little longer. It did not work, the reform was perfectly possible.
Third, I threw all my six dice on a big searing doom on the mournfangs. This worked and suddenly, there were no ogres on the battlefield save the ironguts.
As a result of the close combat, the witches were dead, butcher suffered two wounds, the unit another two and the ogres reformed facing the shades.

Ogre Kingdoms, Turn 4


Now it gets easy. Ogres charged the shades, who were too close for a stand and shoot. The butcher challenged the sorceress who, after impact hits, had no one to hide behind. She then showed that she really deserves the model of a cute girl with a book, as she twice rolled a one on her roll to wound. The butcher then decapitated her easily. The remaining shades were butchered, as well, but they were able to inflict one more wound on the unit. Together it meant that one of the ogres fell. The ogres chose to overrun.

Lost Colony, Turn 4


I had only my warriors left, so I reformed them towards the ogres.

Ogre Kingdoms, Turn 5


The Ogres reformed facing the warriors. One more attempt at the damage spell got dispelled.

Lost Colony, Turn 5


I decided to charge, reasoning that losing five attacks is better than suffering impact hits. I inflicted three wounds, meaning only three ironguts and the butcher could strike back. They together killed four spearmen. With the bonus for charge, one more rank and a standard, I won the combat by two. My opponent tested for leadership, then rolled two ones for the charge distance and then congratulated me on the win. It took a good while before I could believe it.
... and now I am not sure if we rolled for stomp... I hope we did.

After-battle thoughts:
- The bad placement of shades was already mentioned. Note to self: a rulebook does not count as impassable terrain.
- I feared that in this battle I was going to feel the pain of having units this small. It was not really the case. Sure, bigger units could have attacked in (almost) full might even after impact hits, but I feel more battlefield control is worth the few extra wounds. And if I feel so even in a match against ogres, I can hardly imagine an opponent where I would wish to build my army in the other way. Maybe some gunline.
- The hope that nine witch elf attacks can assassinate the butcher was childish. I should have directed everything I could against the unit. Normal ogres die considerably easier, the unit loses attacks faster and combat resolution stacks higher.
- I still think that the initial battle plan was reasonable: kill the cat, earn a lot of free space, avoid other fights, fry what you can. The execution needs improvement, though.
- In the end, when only shades, warriors and ironguts were remaining, i had maybe one other option. I could have moved the sorceress to the side and angled the warriors so that they would shield her. He could cast his spell on her then and most probably kill her outright, but he would have to stay out of combat. Next turn, he would receive a combined charge from both warriors and shades. Alternatively, he could charge something. If it were shades, it would be as in the actual battle, only with the sorceress alive. If he would charge warriors, he might be able to break them and then I would need to dance around him with my shades and sorceress and shoot him to death. How much chance of success this would have, I have no idea.

[Rowena]

Great reports.

I would just like to add that praying to Asuryan seems to work. That's what I was doing towards the end of the second battle, when I just couldn't watch it anymore. Call me weak, but such slaughter was too much for me.

[Marchosias]

Lost Colony vs. Warriors of Chaos

His list:
Chaos sorcerer (Miasma)
15 or so Chaos Marauders
Gorebeast Chariot
Normal Chariot with Mark of Khorne (frenzy)

It was more of a discussion rather than a battle, so a few findings:

- a frenzied chariot has to overrun. With careful positioning, it will overrun into dangerous terrain.
- the chariots are extremely durable. Searing doom is the best bet. If I am able to get the charge somehow, warriors can beat them through SCR. And it is possible that a unit of mine can wipe them out in combat - in this case, shades took two wounds off the frenzied chariot and the spearmen another two - but it depends on luck.
- to avoid getting charged, circling around dangerous terrain helps. But for this, a musician is necessary.
- I was surprised that when my squad of five witches was charged by two remaining marauders and the wizard, they lost the fight. From six attacks against the unit, only one warrior fell, and I was not able to go through the sorcerers armour (and toughness and WS, he is not bad a bad fighter actually). I should probably have directed everything on the unit, again, to produce a nice combat resolution.

[Marchosias]

Lost colony vs. Bretonnia

It was the same player as in my first battle against the Brets. I decided to play a gentleman and find out how much can I do against them using shadow magic. I have also tweaked the list a bit so that I could include musicians in my units, inspired by the tag play with chaos chariots last time. He brought some magic protection after the last time experience and swapped his paladin with a mounted damsel. In the end we ended with this:

Lost colony
sorceres lvl 1, shadow, ruby ring of rhuin
15x dark elf warriors, shields, full command, gleaming pennant
2x 5 witch elves, musician
5 shades, ahw
5 harpies

Bretonnia
damsel, lvl 1, lore of beasts
5x knights of the realm, full command
5x knights errant, full command
10 peasant bowmen, skirmish
10 peasant bowmen

The terrain was not very favourable to me, a huge open plain in the middle, every obstacle near the table borders (we created the environment using dice). There were two hills on one side of the battlefield, so I went there, firstly to strip his bowmen of the advantage of higher ground, secondly to hide behind them before arrows and charges.

He chose a very wide deployment to ensure my scouts cannot go behind his lines - skirmishing bowmen on the left (from my point of view), knights of the realm, the damsel (deployed alone) and the other bowmen in the middle, knights errant on the far right. Therefore, I placed almost all my forces in one corner so that I could deal with his units one at a time, with the only exception of one squad of witch elves placed right to redirect his knights errant.

The plan was:
1. fireball his skirmishers and add a few crossbow bolts for good measure, then proceed with the other bowmen
2. force his knights errant to stay on the right side
3. threat with charges and shots against the damsel
4. combo charge his knights
5. then only the knights errant will remain to worry about

Shutting up his shooting worked, his skirmishers fled in my first turn, the other bowmen were always hitting on 6s or 7s, producing no kills.
Delaying his knights errant did not work, as I somehow forgot what the purpose of the right witches is and hid them behind the hill. Therefore, the witches did nothing useful the whole game, while the horsemen managed to build up additional pressure in the center.
Pressuring the damsel did not work, either. When my harpies landed right behind her back, she just hid in a unit of knights errant. In the second rank, as the chivalrous knights protect their damsel. It is a nice fluffy rule, but it is unfair and derails the assassination potential of my suicidal witch elves squads. *angry*
Crippling the knights of the realm with miasma did not work, either. Even on WS 2 (reduction by two), they hit on 4+. I would need the best possible result (33% chance) to make it 5+. I should have slowed down the other knights instead probably.
Another thing I did not realize was that mounts have actually an attack, too.
In the end the knights (boosted with the lore of beasts signature) refused to charge into my obvious trap (warriors in front of them and witches ready to countercharge into their flank). So I charged them with my warriors instead, in the hope that with the +2 combat resolution for more ranks and charge I will be able to defeat them. I was not, and in the subsequent round, the warriors were broken and caught. I wanted to deny him the charge, but had I waited, I would be probably able to stack bonuses for charge, rear and flank. The question is if I had caught the fleeing knights with my infantry.
In the end was a textbook example of bad positioning. After breaking my warriors, the knights overran into my witches and then right away into the shades.
And I should position my sorceress as close to the enemy as possible, so that I can get a use out of a miscast.

In hindsight I think I could have won, but I would need to play flawlessly, something I probably will not be able to for a time. It was an interesting experiment, though.

[Calisson]

Fighing armoured knights with only S3 attacks is an uphill battle. You'll struggle with armour saves, you'll need all the static resolution you can get.
Your opponent made a mistake leaving the sorc alone, you could have fireballed her easily.
The Bret rule for damsels protected by knights leaves one vulnerability: on the rear.

[Marchosias]

Thanks for your comment!

The damsel was hidden behind impassable terrain, do not worry. She joined a unit once I got too near. I could have pressed more against her, but it would mean getting closer to the knights, so I decided I have time for this.

And I knew I was probably going to lose. I just wanted to see what can I achieve with my other tools. I might try a similar setup again some day, because a victory in this kind of battle would probably be really well deserved. We will see.

[Marchosias]

Lost Colony vs. High Elves

Finally, we had the chance to prove to the hypocrites of Ulthuan that they are weak, dumb and, most importantly, boring. My opponent asked me if I want a cavalry army or a infantry one, so I chose infantry to get some change from Bretonia. I returned to metal magic for this battle; other than that the army remained the same.
We played on a smaller table, some 4x4 feet. I felt a bit tight suddenly, being used to run circles against opponents. I cannot imagine playing a standard 2400 points game.

Lost Colony
sorceress lvl 1, metal, ruby ring of rhuin
15 warriors, shields, full command, gleaming pennant
2x 5 witch elves, musician
5 harpies
5 shades, ahw

High Elves (approximative)
noble, 4+ armour save, 4+ parry save, maybe sword of might?
10 archers
5 elyrian reavers
6 swordmasters with musician
15 spearmen

So he had reasonable shooting, which could really hurt. But he lacked magic.
There were some swordmasters, who would decimate my spearmen if given the chance. On the other hand, they are badly protected against shooting and witch elves strike before them.
And there was a quite large unit of spearmen. I was quite confident my own spears could hold them for a while, but I knew they would need help soon - probably from the bunch of witches not busy killing the swordmasters.
All in all, an army that could be beaten, but only if I got the right matchups. This was going to be interesting.

I deployed one witch elf squad on each flank, hidden from shooting behind a hill and a forest. Warriors went centrally to make the fireball threat area as big as possible. I was able to squeeze the shades behind his lines. And I managed to steal the first turn by rolling two sixes. How rude of me.
He chose a tight formation, spearmen protecting one flank, archers the other, swordmasters in the middle. The swords were quite protected this way and getting my witches to charge them could be difficult - and swordmasters in my flank was the last thing I wanted.
For magic, I rolled plague of rust and decided to keep it. I could have picked some wounds here and there with the signature, but I was curious what could I achieve with the hex.

In this game Rowena was able to remind me twice of my possibilities. She likes to watch the games and obviously she is learning.

Lost Colony, Turn 1


The Elyrians vanguarded forward.
In my first turn, I mostly stayed in place. The harpies moved in front of the spearmen to screen them and shades advanced behind the high elven backs.
I managed to lower the armour save of the elyrian reavers and the fireball was stopped.
In shooting, two crossbow bolts were aimed precisely at the necks of swordmasters, but they deflected both with their blades. Despite being shot at from behind. They are just that cool.

High Elves, Turn 1


The spearmen and swordmasters advanced forward, while archers and elyrians turned to shoot at the shades. This made me happy. The poor scouts were doomed, but it gave me time to pick the fighting units apart while they were not supported.
In the end, only two of the shades fell.
In Battle Chronicler, something weird happened with the formations of my skirmishers, ignore it please. Both harpies and shades remained in a straight line for the whole battle.

Lost Colony, Turn 2


The shades just stood, accepting the shooting contest (they had nowhere to hide, anyway) and killing two of the reavers.
I moved my warriors backwards to avoid getting charged this early and started an encirclement with the witch elf squads. My harpies continued to screen the warriors. The archers could get the idea that shades are actually insignificant.
My sorceress fried two swordmasters. This meant the witches were now able to defeat them.

High Elves, Turn 2


He advanced far forward with his swordmasters, whose unit included the noble, while his spearmen unit stayed quite a lot behind. He feared the spears would get charged in the flank by my witches had he advanced more.
His archers finished off my shades and the reavers killed one witch elf.

Lost Colony, Turn 3


This was the crucial point in the battle. The image is not really accurate, so tu sum up:
The High Elven spearmen could only get charged by the harpies, who were 17 inches away. Other units could never hope to close the distance.
The swordmasters could get charged by the right side witches and, if the harpies got out of the way somehow, by the warriors, too.
So what could I do? Charging all three units into the swordmasters did not occur to me, it would probably be the safest way, but I am not sure if it was possible at all to squeeze all units in in a manner favourable to me (i.e. all witches can attack the unit).
To beat the swordmasters, I needed cooperation of both my combat units. The warriors alone could have probably beaten them, but at a great cost, and the witches would get hurt from the noble before becoming the chance to do anything, so they would probably get wiped out.
Therefore, I charged the harpies in his spearmen, believing that a 17 inch charge is safe. And he fled.
Had he rolled some reasonable number - six or more, actually - he would get out of my reach, my charge would fail and the harpies would probably block both the charges against swordmasters. The question is if I would really care. He could have then charged my harpies, slaughter them and overrun into one of my units, but this fight would only get resolved in my turn, where I would join it with the other unit. I think the worst what could have happened this way would be that my witches would perhaps need to fight from the flank, which would mean less attacks from them. Alternatively, he could have just stood there, which would give me another chance to move the harpies away.
Anyway, he rolled two ones for his flee roll, was caught and all charges went smoothly. In combat, my champion challenged the noble and got killed, witch elves slaughtered all the swordmasters easily, the noble panicked and got caught. The girls are just that cool.
After that, the witches had to pursue, so I pursued with the warriors as well.

High Elves, Turn 3


Not much happened after this. He swift reformed his archers, moved his reavers and shot something insignificant. I think that only one witch elf fell.
The pictures are very inaccurate in this stage, so I took the liberty to just reorder the troops in the next diagram without paying attention to rules, so that the picture is somewhat sensible in HE turn 4 when it matters again.

Lost Colony, Turn 4


Something weird happened, which I am not able to reproduce in the picture. Despite having four units very close to the Ulthuan archers, I could not charge with any one of them. The harpies saw their flank, but if they wanted to charge, they would tighten up, their front arc would move and suddenly, they would not see the unit anymore. And the harpies were standing in the way of any other unit, making other charges impossible, too.
Therefore, I moved the harpies behind his archers and closed with my units so that in the next round, a charge would be inevitable. I marched my witches to the flank of the archers, so that they would not get shot that easily.

High Elves, Turn 4


In a desperate attempt to break away, the rest of Ulthuan army charged my warriors. With this move, the archers got away from the charge arc of my witches. Once again, one of the squads never gets to fight during the whole battle. Poor girls.
The archers can actually fight. They hit as hard as my spearmen (which is not much, but against us squishy elves it still does matter). In conclusion, the combat was more even than I would think. Still I won and he held.
Sadly, my sorceress got killed when a horse kicked her. This is another proof that even horses fight better than High Elves.

Lost Colony, Turn 5


I charged my harpies in the back of the archers and the battle was over.


Thoughts
In the end I did not manage to use Plague of Rust much, only getting it off once. I chose Reavers as target so that they had no save against fireball anymore. Maybe hexing his swordmasters or spearmen would have made him more nervous.
The game was decided by the unsuccessful spearmen flee. I still do not know what were the right options for both of us. I think he should have advanced in a more compact manner and not leave his swordmasters unsupported. Speaking of which, maybe he should have not advanced at all. I think he would have won a shooting contest and I would be forced to march forward instead, exposing myself to his arrows.
My shades did almost nothing during the five or six games. They managed to pick off two wounds from a chaos chariot once, but other than that, two of five reavers is probably their best shot so far. But everyone hates them and goes to great lengths to get rid of them - my High Elven opponent turning his archer unit around and firing their arrows on them for two turns, my Bretonnian enemy spreading his formation to hinder their scout deploy. It probably is a considerable psychological pressure to have a unit in your back, no matter how (in)significant. Good to know.
By the way, initially I wanted to charge the shades in the archers backs. They would probably not win, but they would stop them from shooting for a turn (or two if I were really lucky). Enough time for my army to advance if I had to do so, I think. But this is pure speculation.
And I was really glad to have the champion here.

[Calisson]

Cogratz, excellent job!
You are doing great on the learning curve.
The slave market prices will drop significantly, that's all I regret.

[Marchosias]

Do not worry, Calisson, with army so small, not many slaves can be captured. (and selling slaves in Naggaroth conflicts with our fluff, anyway )

Lost Colony vs. High Elves

Lost Colony
sorceress lvl 1, metal, ruby ring of rhuin
15 warriors, shields, full command, gleaming pennant
2x 5 witch elves, musician
5 harpies
5 shades, ahw


High Elves
lvl 2 mage, high magic
20 spearmen, full command
5 elyrian reavers
bolt thrower

Another player than last time. I had no real experience with the bolt thrower before and I underestimated it greatly.
The High Elf rolled two sixes for spells and ended with hand of glory (+D3 WS, BS, I or M, or all of that in boosted version) and soul quench (2D6 S4 hits).
As I soon realized, soul quench can be devastating in such a small format and against my squishy army. Four shades fell in the first turn and the subsequent attempts were quite successful, too.
At the beginning, I thought I have enough time to deal with the bolt thrower. Mistake. With boosted BS, all of its six shots can hit with a reasonable chance - and S4 vs T3 can kill a lot.
Finally, I was able to declare charge against the bolt thrower with my two remaining harpies and one witch elf. The harpies did make it, the witch elf not. After two rounds of close combat, the harpies were wiped out and the bolt thrower stood with one wound remaining.
Then, both my witch elf groups failed their frenzy checks. One ran to the bolt thrower and was killed by the last crewman, too. The second one charged the front of High Elven spears, and so I sent my spearmen to the fight as well. I lost the combat badly, did not manage to roll snake eyes, and so the battle was over.

There were certainly some factors against me. Soul quench is devastating and hand of glory + bolt thrower make for a very good combo. And my opponent rolled very well for the whole battle.
On the other hand, I did not run forward as aggressively as I should have. With correct prioritizing, my harpies could have charged the bolt thrower turn 2 and so could the shades. And while advancing, they could have maybe even provided cover for other units. The question is what would the reavers able to do if my attention would be concentrated elsewhere.
For magic, I had enchanted blades which never got off. But I managed to miscast power of darkness (I generally cast it on two dice, as I have few spells and therefore am usually not short of power).

It is time to send an official diplomatic note to Ulthuan and demand satisfaction.

[Marchosias]

Today I fought my first two battles with the new armybook.

The biggest changes from my point of view are:
- Witch elves can no longer get fielded in five strong squads. A unit of ten is far more durable and remains devastating even after a few arrows, but it cannot be used as chaff anymore.
- Higher point costs mean I have to leave something home. Or play at a bigger format. If I want a nicely tooled unit of warriors to provide ranks and endurance, it is going to cost some 180 points. This is quite a lot compared to the previous 125.
- The two points together imply that I can hardly squeeze more than three units in the army, making clever maneuvering and combo charging difficult.
- ASF means little: I attacked first in most fights anyway due to high initiative, had rerolls in the first round anyway due to eternal hatred and did not really need them in subsequent rounds, because my units were not made for prolonged combats.
- On the other hand, I can now field a level 2 mage with many interesting lores.
- When I do not restrict myself to models I have, I can field a nice variety of lists. Witches + execs, for example, a combination which I tested in the second battle today.

Lost Colony vs. High Elves

A third High Elf in a row. I have played his Bretonnians twice (see above) and was mentally preparing myself for armoured knights, so I was a bit surprised.

Lost Colony
sorceress level 2, dark
15 warriors, FCG, standard of discipline: 180
10 witch elves, musician: 120
5 shades, ahw: 90

High Elves
sorcerer level 1, high, Khaines Ring of Fury
three ranks of spearmen
10 archers
tiranoc chariot
bolt thrower

Now I see that I unintentionally cheated, thinking that the warrior unit was only 171 points.
The reasoning under this army was: I play with what I have. I will slaughter unarmoured enemies, I have shades to hunt warmachines; my units can hardly chew through armour, but doombolt can inflict some damage, as can soul stealer, for example - every dead knight counts. The list depends on the doombolt a bit too much, but I can hardly achieve anything better without proxying.
He deployed in a very wide line, therefore I stacked everything on the far flank so I could deal with all of his units separately. What was my surprise when I realized doombolt had only 18 inches range and I was not able to blast anything in my first turn.
The deployment was very simple, warriors in the front, witches behind them so that they could not be shot at that easily, shades behind his lines on the same side as my troops. His chariot started on the opposite side of the battlefield and did nothing until the last turns, the bolt thrower hit almost nothing due to cover and long range.
It turned out to be just a battle of magi. He had double soul quench, I had doombolt and bladewind. In his first turn, he wheeled his archers and spearmen (with mage) to get a view on my shades, who were promptly fried by a spell. I answered by blasting the archers away. Then we exchanged a few more spells while I advanced behind a forest to a reasonable charge distance. For a long time, he was not much successful and managed to kill only a few warriors and one witch, whereas I eliminated all his spearmen, which meant that only his general, chariot and bolt thrower remained. And I could hide from the bolt thrower for the most part and the chariot could not beat me alone.
In this situation, he almost hid his sorcerer behind a hill to preserve some points at least. Had he done this, I would have doombolted the chariot away and the battle would be a clear victory for me. But I pointed out it is well possible for him to blast me away from the table, still. So in the end, he cast a big soul quench on my warriors, killed everyone but the champion and panicked the unit - including my sorceress. They ran off the battlefield shortly after this and suddenly it was almost sure i am not going to win.
Having little options remaining, I advanced with the witches. They survived another soul quench (I am starting to hate this spell) and then the three remaining ones charged a chariot and destroyed it. A little bit consolation at least.

All in all, a rather boring game, with nothing besides magic actually happening. There was some shooting, but it almost never did anything. There was only one close combat.
Valour of ages is a huge advantage in a shooting contest. I do not recall this argument from the discussions comparing Asur and Druchii gunlines.
Once again my shades got massacred before they had the chance to do anything. Once again the enemy turned towards them and spent his entire turn killing this five models. I will have to give a medal to the poor guys.
I will have to find a way how to either include more units, or more maneuverable ones at least. Spending the entire game shuffling two infantry blocks was not giving me a lot of options.


Lost Colony vs. Wood Elves

When I was thinking about lists I could come up with, I got the idea that since witches are core, I could field them alongside something more elite than warriors. Executioners seem an especially good counterpart to them: they can provide high strength attacks and break through high toughness and armour, while the girls hack to bits everything else. The executioners have few attacks, which mean I should make sure their chance to hit is as favourable as possible. A bigger concern is that with no armour on witches and low number of execs, shooting can be even more devastating than usual. This is why used lore of light: it helps my units get into combat and perform there better. Strategically speaking, dark would be probably better. But I just wanted to do something different than just blast everything I see and in general I enjoy hexes and buffs more than damage spells. Besides, a dark elf with light magic is just hilarious.

Lost Colony
sorceress, level 2, light
10 witch elves, FCG
10 executioners, FCG
5 shades, ahw

Wood Elves
hero with 4+ AS and hail of doom (or something like that - once per game he can shoot 3D6 arrows instead of one)
13 glade guard
5 waywatchers
8 dryads

The table looked really fluffy. I deployed both of my combat units tightly next to each other and shades directly in front of them to provide screening. He by contrast had glade guard in a forest in one corner, waywatchers scouting on the other side and dryads in the middle. So in the hand I had a compact invasion force in the middle of the battlefield, surrounded on all sides by wood elves.
For spells I rolled Banishmend and Pha's protection. He had no magic.
One part of my plan was simple. Advance the witches towards glade guard, continue screening with shades and hope enough of the girls can arrive. There was not much terrain to hide behind. Dryads were a job for executioners and waywatchers had to be banished.
The plan crumbled when I did not managed to get banishment through in the first turn. He saved all his six dispel dice for it and I did not want to risk a miscast to early. I have then advanced the execs with my other forces so that everything stayed in a 12 inches bubble around the sorceress and got the -1 to being hit modifier, hoping that the executioners can get into combat with dryads before waywatchers inflict too much damage.
My opponent thought otherwise. He moved his dryads towards his glade guard and menaced with either a flank charge on witches, or a countercharge in their back should they catch the archers. This meant the execs would need another two turns at least to catch them, too many given how many shooting could be directed at them. Therefore I reformed them once again to give my sorceress a good view on the waywatchers and this time the banishment got through. Only one wood elf survived who left the battlefield soon after.
To this moment, all shooting was aimed at my shades, who, thanks to skirmish rule and Pha's protection, took two volleys from both glade guards and waywatchers to finally be slain. In this turn, however, glade guard shot the executioners and the hero released his 3D6 arrows. Two of the executioners survived and the sorceress suffered no wounds, they even passed their panic test, so no points lost, but their combat effectiveness was gone.
Having little choice, I charged the glade guard with witches and managed to roll the 9 I needed. Stand and shoot took four of them, but six remained. They killed zilion of glade guards and put a wound on the noble, while only the champion and one more witch elf were slain. My opponent needed to roll snake eyes to hold his ground. And he managed it.
In his turn, he charged with dryads in the back of my witches and I thought this combat is lost. But I have underestimated the witches. They killed the remaining five glade guards. The noble took two of them, two remained. And the dryads scored no wounds at all. In total I have won the combat by one, and although he held, it was a surprising success. I think I deserved this stroke of luck after he miraculously held the combat phase before.
Then there was not much happening. Witch elves directed all their six attacks against his general and managed to slay him, dryads then finally started to fight and made short work with my girls. I hid my remaining three models from charges and tried my luck with one more banishment, but two dryads survived. Having preserved my general, I won comfortably anyway.

So, I did not manage to test the executioners in combat. I saw once again that witches are unbelievably effective in the right fight and that shades are indeed a failproof magnet for all available shooting and magic missiles.
Lore of light worked, I think. The protection really helped, glade guard hitting on 6s instead of 5s means halving the amount of received wounds. The nice thing is that it works on all units in some bubble, no matter who shoots or charges them, while most other tools shut down only one enemy unit at a time.

As I read it after myself, I think I am leaning towards a MSU combat list with at least some augment spells. Swordmaster of Hoeth would be pleased.

[Rowena]

Thanks for writing these up. I'm sorry I missed the battles and hope I will be able to watch the next ones.

Also, the poor Shades. Won't they ever get a break?

[Marchosias]

Lost Colony vs. High Elves (1000 pts)

First of all, I would like to thank my opponent for lending me his cavalry. It was only his generosity which allowed us to play this gigantic battle.
I should probably warn in advance that we both made some rules mistakes which might have influenced the game significantly.

Lost Colony
sorceress lvl 2, light, ruby ring of rhuin, shrieking blade, opal amulet
20 warriors, FCG, standard of discipline: 225
10 witch elves, musician, standard: 130
5 shades, ahw: 90
5 harpies: 75
5 cold one knights, FCG, gleaming pennant: 185
5 warlocks: 125

High Elves (approximative)
loremaster
12 swordmasters
2x 12 archers, musician
frost phoenix
lion chariot of chrace

This list is a logical step forward from what I played at 500 points with the old AB. The cavalry units add even more mobility and a lot of punch to it, while I have not the feeling of being cavalry-heavy.
What deserves some comments is the choice of magic lore. Originally, I wanted to go for dark with tome of furion - both word of pain and doombolt are awesome spells. But I was pointed out that all of my spells would then be quite expensive for a level 2. Additionally I realized that I would be too tempted to just throw two doombolts every turn. While they are potent, obliterating whole units with magic (or shooting if you have an unmaneuverable gunline) feels boring and does not help me much with learning. Light won for its good number of cheap and useful spells.

Back to the battle: the only thing I really feared in the high elven army was the phoenix. Other than that, the archers can be attacked by something fast or shot down with magic or shades, swordmasters strike after witch elves and are not that heavily armoured and the chariot can hardly do much on its own. But a flying monster with T6, S6, terror and stomp is a dangerous foe. The good part is that such a monster is expensive, too, and the opponent is probably going to great lengths to protect it.

Deployment



He started with his archers, followed by swordmasters and chariot. I placed harpies and warlocks near his archers to allow them a swift attack on them and put the cold one knights centrally so that they could threaten with a charge against the chariot. I placed the witch elves a bit too early and they did not end up directly across the swordmasters as I had originally hoped, but they were still close enough. I was a bit surprised the phoenix hid behind high elven line, I have expected it to go on a flank. But it made little difference, anyway. Sorceress went with my spearmen, loremaster with the swordmasters, no surprises here.
Having learned from past experiences, I hid the shades behind a hill to protect them from being blown away by a fireball before they even get to shoot. I left there enough space for my warlocks, too, who rode there using their vanguard move.

For magic, I rolled Light of Battle and Banishment. Not exactly what I wanted - back to blasting everything apart, then.

I won the roll for first turn and gladly used it.

Lost Colony Turn 1



Shades and warlocks encircle the enemy. They both manage to get to the flank of both archer units and the phoenix. Sorceress advances with her warriors in range of banishment, witch elves and knights accompany her. I thought the knights could have stayed behind for a while to avoid the inevitable attempt at searing doom, but decided I can probably stop the spell and gain little by hiding. Harpies stayed in place, hidden behind a hill, waiting till they were needed.
In the magic phase, I managed to cast a doombolt on his phoenix despite his dispel attempt and scored a glorious one wound. Then I dropped some archers from the more central unit with banishment and shades. They rolled a panic check and passed.

High Elves Turn 1



The archers turn so that they get my flanking warlocks into their front arc. Swordmasters march forward with loremaster ready to blast and chariot accompanies them. I think they did not use the whole movement allowance, but am not sure about this. The phoenix flies to a safe spot and threatens with a flank charge.
In magic, big searing doom on the cold one knights was attempted. Even on six dice the spell had not enough power. The arrows slay one warlock.

Lost Colony Turn 2



Warlocks charge the nearer unit of archers. Shades move up the hill to get into a good position for shoting. Warriors step back a bit so that should the phoenix attack them, it would hit them to the front. The knights reform, threatening with a countercharge, and the witches wait just outside the chariots range. Harpies are still hiding behind the hill and sneakily look at what is happening.
For magic, I manage to cast a soulblight on the phoenix that has actually no effect at all (S5 is the same as S6 when fighting T3 5+ troops, as is T6 and T5 against S3). Other than that, nothing significant happens. Shades try their luck shooting at the phoenix, but their arrows bounce off.
In combat, warlocks lose one but turn the archers to retreat and catch them. I am not sure about this but I fear we forgot the archers were still steadfast.

High Elves Turn 2



The remaining archers swift reform towards the warlocks who are now deep behind high elven lines. Swordmasters and chariot go forward a bit and are now in a reasonable charge distance - if I do not move next turn, the foot warriors will charge my spearmen on a roll of 9. The phoenix flies behind my lines to show me what a feeling it is when my back is threatened. To put it shortly, I am not happy.
The loremaster, having learnt his lesson, casts a small searing doom this time and succeeds. Three cold one knights perish, but two remain in the saddle and ready themselves to avenge their comrades.
Archers, once again, score no kills.

Lost Colony Turn 3



For some reason I think my warlocks can only reform, so I let them do it. Shades go in range for some shooting.
I do not like situation in the centre. I am too far for a safe charge, but the phoenix threatens my warrior bunker and can add its weight with a charge in the back of my witches - if he decides to risk the poison, of course. What I come up is this: the witches go forward at full pace, tempting a charge. Knights position themselves right behind them, so that the phoenix has no room to land should it decide to charge the back of the girls. At the same time, should the phoenix attack my warriors instead, my cavalry would be able to conterchange the next turn. Harpies screen the side of my warriors, so that if the phoenix charges, he has to destroy them first and the fight with warriors can only take place in my turn. The warriors go a bit back again to make a swordmaster charge unlikely, but continue facing them - and not the phoenix - as the swordmasters could actually make it to them still. Finally, the sorceress leaves her unit and goes a bit more to the back (this is not shown in the diagram), which means she is safe from both swordmasters and phoenix.
So, what have I gained: it is unlikely the warriors are going to fight next round. The phoenix has no easy and costly targets - he can charge either harpies, or knights, while should he choose harpies, knights can possibly counterattack.
What have I lost: sorceress is now in danger of beinig fireballed. Which is not that bad as no spell can fly towards her if the swordmasters charge. I am now in pressing need of getting rid of the chariot in one single turn of shooting and magic, as its impact hits could hurt quite a lot. There is a danger that the swordmasters butcher both my witches and my knights through an overrun. It all depends on how effectively can I deal with chariots.
So, to the all-important magic phase. To cut a story short, I inflict two wounds on the chariot, two remain and I think I am doomed.

High Elves Turn 3



Unsurprisingly, he declares two charges against my witches and one against my knights. All of them automatically succeed, as the distances are very short. His archers are ordered to march directly forward to avoid a charge from my warlocks.
In his magic phase, he rolls high for winds of magic and attempts all possible buffs in his fight. I have to let Wildform through, but he casts nothing else.
I am not sure which combat went first, so I will start the phoenix battle. The beast scores no kills at all thanks to the thick armour the knights wear, but two wounds are inflicted to it. It loses combat by two and breaks and the battle suddenly looks much better for me. The sad thing is it was likely a victory through cheating as we forgot to lower the strength of my troops due to the aura.
Then we move on to the witch elf battle. My opponent, depressed by his low rolls, asks his girlfriend to roll the number of impact hits for him (yes, we both had our prettier halves cheering for us) - and it is a six! With six witches dead, it is obvious the unit cannot survive, so I decide to kill the loremaster at least - he was so kind to make way into the combat - and strip my opponent of magic. I direct six attacks at him, score two wounds and am very happy - until I learn he is actually a lord with three wounds. The remaining two witches are so angry that the effort of their friends ended in vain that out of their six attacks, five swordmasters die. After that, the girls are unsurprisingly killed and the swordmasters reform.
So in the end, the witches were dead, but swordmasters suffered heavy casualties, the phoenix was fleeing and my knights reformed to face the chariot. A very good outcome which is mainly the consequence of my oponent's mistake. It was almost certain the witches were all going to die or break from combat at least. He should have resolved their combat first and overrun into my knights. He would easily dispatch them, too, and his phoenix would be alive.

Lost Colony Turn 4



There was not much to do left. Knights charge the chariot, destroy it and reform facing the swordmasters. Harpies charge the fleeing phoenix and are able to catch it. Other units come closer to the centre, prepared to lend hand if needed.
Magic and shooting does not accomplish much.

High Elves Turn 4
His archers swift reformed and run away. Swordmasters turned to face the knights and the loremaster was finally able to kill them with another searing doom.

At this point, we called the game. It was clear I would be able to defeat his swordmasters and we decided the archers were able to get away so that there are at least some survivors.

Post battle thoughts:

I feel bad for forgetting the phoenix's aura. There were other mistakes, too, but none so vital. The battle could have been much different.

After doing some maths, it is clear to me that I had little chance to destroy the chariot in one go. I should have started casting on it earlier. I concentrated on the phoenix in the hope that I can strip it of some three wounds and force my opponent to move him about more carefully, but I have not enough ranged presence to ensure this.

It would have probably been better to use the harpies not as screens for warriors, but for redirecting the chariot. If it were only witches versus swordmasters, the girls could maybe even hold their ground. Especially with light of battle on them. I would gain a turn or two more for destroying the chariot and it would be a good way to at worst reduce the swordmasters to some laughable size. My warriors could probably survive the phoenix for one round and then the knights would come to aid.

Fast cavalry is really awesome - the vanguard move helps a lot, charging archers in turn two is something no flyer can achieve - and if said fast cavalry is warlocks, it makes for one incredible unit. They bring so much flexibility to the army they are considered an auto-include for a good reason. I actually think they are the best equipped unit in my list to deal with the phoenix, thanks to mobility, two poisonous attacks each and 4+ ward.

The phoenix is another incredible beast. Being a flying single model, it can choose only the fights it can win - how am I supposed to throw a bunch of witch elves at him? Even warlocks or cold one knights would struggle to catch it. A bolt thrower would help, of course, but bolt throwers do not go well with the rest of my army, I think - even a small amount of shooting can force me to rush forward as quickly as possible which would render the bolt throwers almost useless.

I got a good diversity for magic, even though I actually never used the light of battle. My elves do not need help with their morale, after all. And as I mentioned earlier, a boosted light of battle might have been cleverer then bombarding the chariot on turn 3.

It was an interesting experience to be at the receiving end of searing dooms this battle. Now I know how unnerving the spell is. Maybe I will swap back to metal magic just to annoy my poor opponents who dare to bring heavy cavalry. But I want to test light magic properly first.

This is probably enough for now - thanks for reading!

[Giles the zog]

Well done

Off topic, what s/ware package are you using for the maps /diagrams ?

[Setomidor]

It's called Battlechronicle, see sticky-post in Battle Reports sub forum

[Marchosias]

Lost Colony vs. Tomb Kings (1000 points)

I was a bit surprised finding out that I am actually able to field a 1000 points army without proxying if I spend enough points on characters. I am not sure how much such a character heavy army is viable - two lucky death snipes and half of my points is gone - but I can try out and see how it fares.

Lost Colony
supreme sorceress lvl 4, metal, ruby ring of rhuin: 245
master, dark pegasus, HA, SDC, cloak of twilight, lance, shield: 188
19 spearmen, FCG, standard of discipline: 216
10 witch elves, FCG, razor banner: 185
5 shades, AHW: 90
5 harpies: 75

So it is just the army I was previously using with some gaps filled. Lore of metal is here to counter armour; it is quite useless against Tomb Kings, but has interesting spells even then. Master hunts monsters and armoured opponents (and is able to pin a few enemies in place if need be). Shades and harpies for battlefield control, spearmen as the sorceress bunker, witches to slaughter unarmoured things.

Tomb Kings
Hierophant, level 4 Nekehara
40 skeletons
20 skeleton archers
8 horse archers
one unit of three chariots
casket of souls

I was quite nervous seeing this army (as I often am). The skeleton archers unit alone can fire twenty shots each round - fourty if boosted by the appropriate spell - and I have only 44 wounds in my army. My elves are squishy and have little to no armour. The skeletons always hit on 5+, which means no skirmish, no screening, no hiding in forests was going to be of any use. And there were horse archers and chariots providing additional shots to make things worse. Now I realize that I was probably a bit too scared, as from 20 shots, only two warriors or three with elves should statistically fall. On the other hand, three witches out of ten is a lot.

The second big threat was the casket of souls. Additional D3 power dice are always handy and the bound spell could be painful with its ability to jump between units (roll three dice, discard the lowest result, add the remaining ones and substract leadership of target unit - that many models are slain; on 4+ the spell jumps to a nearby unit). Harpies are only Ld6 now...

On the other hand, my army is vastly superior in close combat. The only dangerous unit were charging chariots. I could probably charge his fast cavalry with harpies and win, something you rarely see. (I was said Tomb Kings are very bad in this points range as they cannot bring their usual tricks. With a larger allowance, the skeletons could have hatred, KB and WS6 or so as long as the heroes in their unit would be alive.)

Magic:
Supreme sorceress: Enchanted blades, Glittering robes, Transmutation of lead, Final transmutation.
Hierophant: +1 attack spell, -1S/-1T spell, additional movement spell, 5+ ward save spell

Deployment



As I feared the shooters, I placed everything I could behind cover. The warriors were meant to enter the building, leave on the other side and so avoid dangerous tests from marching across the fences. Now I know it was not necessary as infantry does not treat fences as dangerous terrain. Witches were planned to go through the gap between two hills to the skeletons. Master was placed to counter chariots and harpies denied his scouting cavalry the possibility to deploy on my right flank - on the left, there was the sorceress with some frying abilities.

Lost Colony, Turn 1



Warriors fail their swift reform test. Witches go around the hill, staying in cover from the potential archers shooting (it is very well possible they were out of range, anyway). Master threatens chariots, harpies move forward to stay in reserve until they are needed. Shades are not allowed to charge, so they move a bit to the casket and unsuccessfully try to snipe a few wounds off it.
The sorceress turns three horse archers into gold. Fireball from her ring is dispelled and she might have managed glittering robes on the warriors.

Tomb Kings, Turn 1



The shades ability of arrow attraction is once again put into action as both archers and horsemen move to shoot at them - but together they manage only three wounds and two shades remain on the table. Both skeletons and chariots move forward and the charioteers (augmented by +1 attack) are able to shoot one harpy down from the sky.

Lost Colony, Turn 2



Shades charge the casket. It might have been a bold move, but I thought that the casket is quite crap in combat with WS3 S3 T3, so I have a reasonable chance to inflict some wounds, while there will be not that many attack in retaliation - and that the poor shades would be shot to death in the next turn. Pegasus master charges the chariot unit.
There is no shooting and magic brings nothing important. The pegasus master does six wounds, suffers none and the unit crumbles. The shades are able to kill two of the casket attendants while the third one places no hit on them - and so the casket crumbles as well. The following detonation kills both scouts, sadly. I hoped they could overrun into the archers and grant me one turn of clear sky.

Tomb Kings, Turn 2



Skeleton warriors continue their journey forwards, horse archers try to shoot some warriors without much success. Archers turn to face my victorious pegasus master.
In the magic phase, I let through +1 attack on the archers and stop the spell that reduces strength and toughness. After that, an impressive volley of forty arrows shadows the sun - producing mere three wounds for which the master passes his armour saves.

Lost Colony, Turn 3



My pegasus charges the archers block containing enemies hierophant (actually, my plan was just to hinder shooting, I thought there is a champion in the unit - there was none). Warriors do not hesitate to enter the open field anymore and move to encircle the skeletons. Witch elves walk a bit forward and stop fourteen inches from the skeletons, meaning a charge is possible, but unlikely. Harpies position themselves so that they can charge both archers and skeletons next turn.
In the magic phase, final transmutation is dispelled, but I manage to fireball an impressive one skeleton. Then we go to combat, where my master inflicts four wounds on the hierophant and the undead army starts to crumble. The archers are unable to wound - I do not even need to pass many armour saves.

Tomb Kings, Turn 3



Not much happens. Skeletons try and fail the long charge against witches and horse archers fire a few shots without success. All over the battlefield, the undead army is turning to dust.

Lost Colony, Turn 4



All unengaged units charge the skeletons. For some weird reason the witches do not complete the charge - maybe there is no fun in destroying skeletons or competing with warriors is boring? Anyway, I cast bubbled glittering robes just to be sure (resulting in a miscast that cost me two levels - does not really matter), win the combat by a zillion and only one skeleton is left after the crumble. A fun detail: both harpies and warriors pass their fear check by rolling a 10. Standard of discipline for the win.
The pegasus master still remains unhurt and kills or crumbles some more archers. There is not much to do anymore and so we call the game.

This means that despite my initial fear I only lost five shades and three harpies during the whole battle.

After battle thoughts:
I have the feeling that apart from the shooting, there was no threat in my oponents army. Well, the casket magic missile, but I can save my dispel dice for that. Everything is T3 no armour and I am an expert at killing those (granted, a unit of 50 goblins might be a challenge). The chariots could hardly hope to get the charge on me - they move 8 inches a turn, my master 20 and can fly.
I was surprised how effective the master can be. Destroying chariots was expected, this is what he is designed for, but he managed to singlehandedly defeat a full unit of archers and there was nothing in the Tomb Kings army that could endanger him. I could almost have just stayed behind hills with everything save him and let him fight alone - and it would probably work. (In fact, I more or less did so.) I am not sure I like such powerful models being on the table, be it on my side or the enemies. But one would need quite a hard comp to ban them all.
I might have been too focused on the horse archers with my warriors. With only final transmutation and ruby ring of rhuin able to hurt them, the sorceress was unable to do much harm, anyway. I should have sent harpies after them. On the other hand, it was not bad holding the warriors away from archers, even though the bowfire would only claim two spearmen per turn.

[Setomidor]

Great report, and well played! Some random advice:

- you could just have marched the Witches in front of the skeletons and let them have the charge, you'll tear them apart anyway so the charge bonus makes no difference.
- the cloak is great but does not work against all ranged attacks (only shooting attacks), this means that stuff like screams from Terrorgheists (and the Casket, I presume) go straight through. When up against such threats you need to deploy the Pegasus inside your warriors or another infantry unit (so they take all the hits). You can then charge out of the unit with only the Pegasus into the relative safety of CC.
- always try to keep your army together to ensure that you have BSB coverage for all your important stuff during the first turn of the game. That failed quick reform could have been a failed panic check, and you would have lost the game turn one.

[Thraundil]

Nice battle. Onesided; a pegasus master in these point ranges is deadly!

Just a small correction from the poster above me. Terrorgheist screams are, as I recall, treated as actual shooting attacks... I believe it was discussed somewhere on the forum but I forgot where. The cloak works against it. Basically, the cloak will work against anything that is not specifically melee attacks.