High Elves vs Ogre Kingdoms 2000pts

Warhammer Fantasy Battle Report summary:-

A close fight against the [new at the time] High Elves (good all round entertaining report)

source : warhammer.org.uk

credit : Xtapl

27-Nov-2008

As promised, here is my battle report of one of the games I played vs. the new High Elves. The High Elf list was developed using a combination of rumors culled from the various WFB boards, and a couple of insiders with the actual High Elf book in their hot little GW-employed hands.

My list was a Sky Titans-themed affair (Gnoblars? We don’t need no stinkin’ Gnoblars!), and looked like this:

Tyrant 296
Heavy Armor
Thundermace
Fistful of Laurels (reroll one failed break test)
Wyrdstone (5+ ward)

Butcher 180
Dispel Scroll
Tooth Gnoblar
Skull Mantle (-1LD penalty LD tests by bearer and unit)

Butcher 185
Tooth Gnoblar
Bangstick
Dispel Scroll

3 Bulls 127
Xhw
Mus

3 Bulls 127
Xhw
Mus

3 Bulls 127
Xhw
Mus

3 Ironguts 204
Standard and Muso
War Banner
Lookout Gnoblar

3 Ironguts 159
Muso and Standard
Lookout Gnoblar

3 Ironguts 154
Muso and Standard

2 Leadbelchers 120
Muso

2 Leadbelchers 120
Muso

Gorger 75
Gorger 75

My opponent’s army, from memory, was:

Prince (the item that lets you take a wound to reroll all hits and wounds that turn and force your opponent to reroll successful saves, plus the thing that gives you a 4+ ward save)
2 level 2 mages (at least one dispel scroll and an Annulian crystal)
10 Archers
20 Spears with full command
14 Swordmasters with full command
15 White Lions with Full Command
5 Dragon Princes with Full Command
5 Ellyrian Reavers with musician
White Lion Chariot
RBT

The mages each had the 5+ ward save spell, while one had the Stubborn spell, and the other had Flames of the Phoenix.

He set up near the bridge, where the river meets the lake, with the hills to funnel the Ogres in. The Sky Titans happily obliged by stretching themselves out across the center of the battlefield.



March, march, march! The Sky Titans pushed forward, with the Tyrant leading front and center with his unit of Ironguts. The turn was pretty uneventful, with most of the Gut Magic getting dispelled. However, one Butcher was able to get Trollguts off on his own Ironguts unit (center right).



The Elves countered very aggressively. Dragon Princes streaked down the left flank, with White Lions ambling forward menacingly. The Reavers and Spearmen hung back a bit, while the Archers, Swordmasters, and Chariot pressed forward cautiously. The Elves’ magic phase came to a screeching halt when their mage (center bottom) miscast on the first roll of the game for the HE and ended the magic phase (and gave the mage a wound to boot). Shooting, however, was on point, and an Ogre Bull felt the pain and fell, while his buddy next to him took a wound.



Charge! Bulls rushed into the Swordmasters and White Lions while the second wave of Ogres got ready for the countercharge. Leadbelchers took up positions on either hill while the Tyrant and company inched forward, ready to take on the Spearmen. In the magic phase, not much happened, although the left-side Bulls did get +1 Toughness and Stubborn. The shooting phase was much, much more exciting, as Leadbelchers put two wounds on the White Lion chariot, and utterly demolished the Dragon Princes, leaving the Champion to wonder where his unit went.

In combat, the Bulls’ +1T and Stubborn came in handy, as they only took one wound, and caused a bucketload of casualties in return. The combat ended up as a draw. Not so lucky for the other Bulls, who took five wounds before they could strike back, killing four Swordmasters, losing the combat, and running for the hills.



The High Elves countered with a suicide charge by the Dragon Prince champion and a charge of the Leadbelchers by the White Lion chariot. The Leadbelchers turned and burned, while the other Leadbelchers stood their ground. Meanwhile, the High Elves went on a maneuvering spree, moving the Swordmasters closer (but curiously not charging), while the Spears and Prince moved up to prevent Bull Charges, and the Reavers moved for a flank charge. The High Elves dispelled the Stubborn from the Bulls, then, in a stellar display of lunacy, the High Elf mage miscast a second time in a row, and ended the magic phase early. Shooting was largely ineffective, although the Tyrant did take two wounds from RBT fire. Note to self: move the Lookout Gnoblar to the unit with the Tyrant in it.

Without the Stubborn, the Ogre Bulls were roundly thrashed, broken, and run down by the White Lions.



Charge! The Ironguts countercharged the White Lions, while the Tyrant and his unit slammed into the Spearelves, and the Butcher’s Ogres declared a charge on the Swordmasters, hoping the Bulls would continue to run and get out of the way. They obliged, and continued to flee, and after passing a panic test, the Ironguts hit the Swordmasters. The Leadbelchers rallied, and the Gorgers finally decided to show up for snacks. The magic phase was highly eventful, as a timely irresistible force on a bonecruncher spell made short work of the High Elf mage caught out in the open on the left flank. In combat, the Ironguts failed to break the White Lions, taking a wound, while the Swordmasters did unspeakable things to the Butcher’s Ironguts, breaking them by a ton and running them down like dogs. The Spearelves’ champion took one for the team and challenged the Tyrant, who beat the poor elf into a fine paste, but it allowed the Spearelves to hold.



The Reavers really wanted to help out the Spearelves, but one look at that Tyrant, and the lightly armored Elves were too afraid to charge. Meanwhile, the Prince decided to mix it up with some Bulls, while the Swordmasters chased off the fleeing Bulls, and the White Lion chariot raced toward the Leadbelchers. However, that turn spent rallying and reloading did the Leadbelchers some good, as they opened up their cannons on the incoming Chariot and reduced it to splinters. Not much for the lone mage to do, as he was easily dispelled, but RBT fire did wound a Gorger. The battle between the White Lions and the Ironguts raged on, with neither side giving and inch. The Prince was able to dispatch one of the two Bulls, but the Tyrant’s presence close by kept the Bulls put.

Speaking of the Tyrant, my opponent found out the hard way that, yes, some people actually DO take the Thundermace instead of the Tenderizer, and he also found out why. With a grim chuckle, the Tyrant shrugged off the spear attacks, then unloaded. Ten Elves felt the fury and were smashed into a stone thrower-sized hole in the ground. Nothing could withstand an attack like that, and the few Elves that survived ran for it and left the battlefield. The Tyrant and his Ironguts trundled into the RBT crew, laughing maliciously.



Both Gorgers charged the flank of the Reavers, who promptly fled. With nothing else really to charge, the Sky Titans just maneuvered. The Leadbelchers each spun and started reloading while the Butcher got into position to Bangstick the Archers, and Bulls rallied from their flight. The Bangstick went off when the High Elves rolled a 1 to dispel, and three Archers hit the ground. Instantly, they panicked, despite the proximity of the Prince, and took off running.

The White Lions were reduced to just their command, but still did enough damage to break the Ironguts and run them down. Meanwhile, the Prince basically whiffed most of his attacks, ended up in a draw with the last Ogre Bull, and, seeing as the Bull also happened to be a Bellower, the Prince had just lost to a fear-causing enemy which outnumbered him, and ran. He ran so far away.

The less said about what the Tyrant did to the RBT crew, the better. The Ironguts and Co. ran off the table.



The Swordmasters advanced on the rallied Bulls. The White Lions turned around. The Reavers rallied and moved to help out against the Leadbelchers and Gorger. The Prince and the Archers rallied. Then, on the Ogres’ turn, the Butcher joined the returning Tyrant and Bangsticked most of the Reavers out of existence. the Leadbelchers got busy, firing up on the White Lions and obliterating them, and also thinning the numbers of the Swordmasters. The lone Ogre Bull charged the Prince, but it was a bad idea, and the Ogre was cut down easily.



Not much left for the Elves to do except have the Swordmasters mop up that last unit of Ogre Bulls and wait to count victory points.



At the end of the game, counting points for quarters and banners, the score ended up 1225 to 1612, for a very bloody minor victory for the Sky Titans!