Dark Elves vs Dwarfs 2250 pts

Warhammer Fantasy Battle Report summary:-

A Dwarf player's first battle against Dark Elves (a good, fast paced and no nonsense report)

source : bugmansbrewery.com

credit : Thor Trommstrong

14-Dec-2008

I used a list with an anvil and that saved me from the worst magic. Only two spells went off the entire game, only one of them mattered.

Dwarf Army List

Runelord, Anvil, 2x RoSpeed, RoStone, 2x RoSpellbreaking, RoPreservation, shield
(Rune of speed to avoid loosing the Runelord to pit of shades)
Thane, BSB, MRoGromril, RoPreservation, RotFurnace, RoCleaving
Master Engineer, RoStone, GW

20 Longbeards - FC, Shields, RoCourage
23 Warriors - Banner, Mus, Shields
10 Thunderers
10 Quarellers
15 Hammerers – Banner, Mus, RoBattle, RoStoicism, Shields
10 Slayers
8 Miners

Cannon, Rune of forging, Rune of burning
Organ gun
Gyrocopter

Dark Elves Army List

lvl 4 scorceress with magic item to sacrifice a model to cast an extra PD. This item caused more than half of the unit their lives and two panic tests on the spearmen unit though the game

Master: General, GW, Armour of Darkness - 109p
Master: Caledor's Bane, Enchanted Shield, Dark Steed, HA, SDC - 150p
Supreme Sorceress: Level 4, Sacrificial dagger, Pearl of Infinte Darkness, Dispel Scroll*2 - 360p

Warriors: 19st, Shield, FC - 148p
Dark Riders: 2*5st, RXB, Musician - 2*117p
Harpies: 2*5st - 2*55p
Assassin: Add. Handweapon, Rune of Khaine, Cloak of Twilight, Manbane - 166p
Black Guard: 14st, FC, Crimson Death, Standard of Hag Graef - 277p
Cold One Knights: 6st, Standard, Musician, Standard of Slaughter - 221p
Cold One Chariot: - 100p

Repeater Bolt Throwers: 2st - 2*100p
War Hydra: - 175p

Total: 2250pts, 6 Power Dice, 4 Dispel Dice

Dark Elves rolled for spells and got Soul Stealer, Chillwind, Word of Pain, and Doom Bolt

Set up


The set up was as follow and as it can be seen on the picture. From top to bottom, Slayers, Cannon with ME, Hammerers, Anvil, Thunderers, entrenched Organ Gun, Warriors, Longbeard with BSB, Quarellers, Gyrocopter.



and for the DE right to left: Hydra in the woods, Dark Riders x 2, Black Guards with the hero on foot , Harpies in front of them, Spearmen with the sorceress, Harpies in front of them, Cold one Chariot, COK, and Hero on horse

I won to choose who was first and choose for him to go first in order to get him within range of my Thunderers and organ gun

Dark Elves turn 1

He moved his troops forward except for the hydra which stayed in the woods to much regret for my ME and my slayers, who finally thought they should have a glory death against a large monster. The magic phase saw first spell miscast which ended the magic phase and did a wound on the sorceress only two spells went trough my defences, so I will not mention this again until it is relevant. He shot with his RBT and cold on chariot at my Thunderers and killed three. The dark Riders shot at the Cannon and only hit the Cannon when the shots were randomised. No panic tests failed.

Dwarfs turn 1

In my first turn I turned the Longbeards to face possible the threat from the flank if the CoK should walk around the woods and charge me from the rear. My Slayers ran 6 inch towards the hydra, exited about the size of the monster, screaming that their death was near.

In the shooting phase the Cannon just overshot the Black Guards due to a roll of 8 on the artillery dice. The Thunderers killed 3 harpies. The Organ Gun rolled two on the artillery dice which I re-rolled to a miscast : (. The Quarrellers killed 4 spearmen and the gyrocopter fired at the CoK but their armour saved them. The Anvil however killed one with the Rune of Wrath and Ruin and ensured they could not move that far next turn being unable to march (I keep forgetting that my troops march block. I am used to being able to march all the time).

Turn 1



Dark Elves turn 2

The mounted Hero charged my Quarrellers and I choose to flee only to roll so high to run off the table – "I swear too much". The Harpies charged the Organ Gun and the rest of the army moved up. The two units of Dark Riders moved towards the center of the table. The shooting managed to kill my Gyrocopter due to me placing the Gyro just in line of sight to the both Bolt Throwers. I had not double checked the placement - so remember this. One more Thunderer died due to shooting. In close combat the Harpies killed two crewmen of the Organ Gun.



Dwarf turn 2

My Miners entered the battlefield to flank charge the CoK which was completed by the Anvil, and I charged the Warriors into the Harpies engaged with my Organ Gun. The slayers continued their movement towards the Hydra.
The Thunderers shot at the dark riders and killed one. Then my Cannon overshot again, when I rolled 10 on the artillery dice after re-rolling a misfire, this time trying to hit the dark riders.

In close combat the Harpies did not kill the remaining crewmember. The warrior did not kill any Harpies either, so the Harpies broke due to static combat resolution and my Warriors pursued. The fight between the Miners and the CoK ended in one knight failed the armour save against the pickaxes of the Miners and lost the combat but did not flee. At first we calculated the combat resolution wrong, therefore acted like the unit fled but next round we realised the mistake and repositioned the knights.



Dark Elves turn 3

With the Chariot being stupid, only the Black Guard and Dark Riders combined their charge against the Warriors. The other unit of Dark Riders charged my Thunderers. The Hydra finally walked out of the woods and flamed 7 of the Slayers angering the remaining three. The fleeing harpies failed to rally and fled towards the table egde.




In close combat the Warrior were wiped out due to hatred, and only double 1’s could hold them in placed which they failed - I lost the combat by 13 or so. They were run down but luckily the DE did not pursue into the Organ Gun. The pursuing Dark Rider ended a half an inch in front of the Organ Gun. The Dark Riders that charged my Thunderers killed none for two in return. So they fled 8 inch and my Thunderers pursued 4 inch. The CoK killed two Miners and the Miners killed one knight. The knights won the combat though, and reformed.

Dwarf turn 3

Realising that the threat from the DE was not coming from the left flank the Longbeards moved towards the center again and the Hammerers continued their long stride towards the battle around the impassable terrain. Shooting saw my Cannon hit right on top of the hydra. “But my hydra has regeneration”, “Yes but my Cannon shoots flaming cannonballs”. With flaming attacks and D6 wounds I killed the beast outright. The slayers could only stand and watch as their target was taken down.

The Thunderers took down the last two fleeing Dark Riders as it was the only thing they could see. The Anvil chose ancient power to move D3 units, but I only rolled 2 - so much for ancient power. The Organ Gun shot at the Dark Riders in front of them and 10 hits turned into 6 wounds which annihilated the unit



In close combat, between the Miners and CoK neither side did any wound but the CoK won because they had a standard. They expanded their frontage and the Miners prepared to die next turn.

This was the battlefield at the end of turn 3



Dark Elves turn 4

With the Hydra dead the Handlers charged the remaining slayers in a combined charge with the two Harpies.

The Longbeards was charged by the Cold One Chariot and the Black Guard and an Assassin that had hid in the Spearmen unit until now. On the charge the Chariot lost 1 wound during its charge through the woods.

The only important spell in the game went off in this turn, despite I used 4 DD to try to dispel. The spell reduced the BSB’s and Longbeards’ WS to 1 until the next DE magic phase.



In close combat the Miners fled and the CoK had to pursue over the edge of the table. The Handlers and Harpies killed two Slayers but the remaining Slayer butchered the two Handlers using an extra hand weapon. In the Longbeard fight the assassin issued a challenge and the BSB took it. He rolled 5 for extra attacks, meaning 7 attacks with hatred - ouch. 6 wounds and 6 4+ saves later (thanks to MRoGromril) my BSB inflicted one unsaved wound to the assassin. Despite of good luck in the challenge I still lost the combat by 6, fled and got caught. The chariot took two wounds from the wood and pursued off the table. The Black guard now had three banners, from the Warriors, the Longbeards, and the BSB.

Dwarf turn 4

With no more targets for the Cannon it moved towards the table edge to get a better view. The Hammerers moved toward the enemy units to get into combat. The Anvil killed 2 Black Guards, I did not see the exposed Assassin with just one wound left. In close combat the last Slayer died against the Harpies.

Dark Elves turn 5

The Chariot and CoK returned from the table edge and the other units turned to face the Hammerers. The mounted Hero charged the Organ Gun and killed the last crew member. The two Bolt Throwers shot at the Hammerers and inflicted 4 wounds in total.



Dwarfs turn 5

The Cannon moved further toward the table edge and got line of sight to the Black Guard. The Anvil went for ancient power with Wrath and Ruin, 3 units 2D6 hits, killed 6 spearmen (leaving only the standard bearer), the chariot, and one black guard, and ensured that only the mounted Hero could charge the Hammerers next turn.



Dark Elves turn 6

His mounted Hero charged my Hammerers and killed two. But the hammerers stubbornly held their ground.

Dwarfs turn 6

The Cannon took the flank shot at the Black Guard, the Assassin succeeded his “lookout sir”-roll so only 5 regular troopers died. The Anvil killed the lone Sorcerer, who had sacrificed the last Spearman in the previous turn.
No wounds were caused in the fight between the DE hero and the Hammerers and his Hero did not flee.

So at the end this was how it looked



Victory Points and Battle Findings

At the end 600 pts separated us. With him having 2 table quarters and 3 banners, so a Solid Victory for the Dark Elves.

All in all it was a great game against a great opponent.

Hope you enjoyed the report.

My first impression is that the DE are deadly in the first round of close combat. Watch out for combined attacks as they can kill a half unit on one charge.

The DE's magic phase is great because of the ability to generate PD combined with the magical item that allows you to sacrifice a model in order to cast another PD even after the spell is casted. This means that a spell can be cast with 1 dices and if you are not happy with the roll you sacrifice a model to cast another dice, this way the sorcerer can generate many more PD that each costs 7 pts if used with a block of spearmen like in this game. My opponent did not have that much magic but imagine what 2 or 3 Sorceress could cause of havoc.

The Hydra is a deadly creature, but with a flaming cannonball it gets what it deserves - after having toasted Slayers for a snack.

I do not think that the DE are broken in any way. They have gotten a great boost but are still very fragile just as the high elves, with no or little armour (just the thing for our Thunderers), except on the CoK whose thick-skinned ability gives +2 armour save without the movement penalty barded mounts usually receives. It is a competitive army that needs a lot of tactics to play it well.