Warhammer Fantasy Battle Report summary:-
Arch Mage Fizzlepuff ! lol :) (well written report with a useful "after thoughts" section)| source : ulthuan.net | credit : fuzzynis | 31-Dec-2008 |
High Elf Army List
Archmage + Lvl 4 + Silver Wand + Ring of FuryMage+ Lvl 2 + Seer Staff + Elven Steed
Noble + BSB + Radiant Gem of Hoeth + GW + Dragon Armor
Caradryan
16 x Spear Elves + Command + Warbanner
10 x Archers
17 x Sword Masters + Full Command + Ring of Corin + Lion Standard
5 x Dragon Prince + Champion + Talisman of Loec
5 x Ellyrian Reavers + Bows + Musician
Tiranoc Chariot
Tiranoc Chariot
Repeating Bolt Thrower
Repeating Bolt Thrower
Great Eagle
Great Eagle
Vampire Counts Army List (Approximately)
Vampire Count (5 power dice and raise skellies and bats) + PeriaptVampire + Crown of WS
Vampire + 1 to Dispel
Vampire + Book of Van Hells
15 Skellies + Command
15 Skellies + Command
15 Skellies + Command
3 x Fell Bats
20 x Grave Guard + Command
5 x Black Knight + Command
5 x Black Knight + Command
Corpse Cart
Overview: So here I was, finally dusting off my High Elves after a 2 year Dwarven hiatus, and who should my first opponent be? None other than the dreaded 15 power-die Vampire Counts. I knew going in that fear could be crippling since I only had one unit immune to fear, and that was the unit most likely to win combat in the first place… I just wanted to be able to get that charge off when I needed it. Getting back into the Elves, I decided that I was going to start slow and not use a Dragon. With this in mind I build what I felt was a pretty balanced list which would have a decent performance in all the phases. Bottom line though, 15 power-dice have a way of skewing even the best laid plan. I chose table sides and got to deploy first. Given the massive number of deployments that I had this was defiantly worth getting the side of the table with the walled-hill. I also set up my Spearmen with Lord with their right flank to a wood, just to narrow the avenues of approach. When it came to magic selection, I chose the High Elf lore of magic on all 3 mages, figuring that drain magic was going to be the game breaker this time [ed. could well be !]. My Archmage got everything but Fury of Khaine, my BSB got Fury of Khaine, and my mounted Mage got Fury of Khaine and Flames of the Phoenix.
Unfortunately, I did not get a photo of the game before my turn one, so I will have to request your indulgence in imagining my Elven units in position pre-movement, I will mark where they came from.
Vampire Counts Army (left to right):
Black Knights, Fell Bats, Skellies with a Vamp, Graveguard with a Vamp, Corpsecart, Skellies with a Vamp, Skellies with Vamp Count, Black Knights.
High Elves Army (left to right):
Tiranoc Chariot (only partially in the picture), Archers, Eagle, RBT, Sword Masters with Caradryan, Dragon Princes, Spear Elves with Archmage (General) and BSB, Eagle, Ellyrian Reavers and a mounted Mage, Tiranoc Chariot, RBT.
High Elves Turn 1: Well, if there is one phase that I know that I can really put a hurting on the VC’s it is movement… that is if I can keep the Van Hells in check at least. So, I begin by moving my chariots out to the sides and and Eagles down the middle. With the Eagles either march blocking or baiting some failed charges, I am confident that his first movement phase will be less than spectacular. Moving to the magic phase, I draw out a few of his 7… yes 7 dispel dice. The low point of the magic phase is when I throw a 3 dice Flames of the Phoenix which goes off on an 11, only to get dispelled by 2 dice. However, my Mages then redeem themselves by sneaking off a drain magic. You show those dirty Vamps! My shooting was a little less than spectacular and I only managed to destroy one vile Black Knight, but it was a start.
Vampire Counts Turn 1: The Vampires chose not to charge the Eagles, and instead made a steady 4” advance with all their rank and file. The Knights on my left flank moved up to find the cover of the trees, and the Knights on my right flank moved into the shadow of the impassible terrain, planning no doubt to lure me into an ethereal charge in the coming turn. Now, we moved into the dreaded magic phase. Thankfully, instead of 15 single die spells, I only have 7 raise dead/ invocations to deal with. The Vampire Count began by raising Zombies in front of my Reavers, which I promptly failed to dispel. After the unit of 6 popped up, I didn’t really see any reason to prevent him from increasing their size, I would rather save the dice for the Van Hells that would make them a threat. In the end, with drain magic in play he failed on the Dance Macabre, I easily dispelled the book, and the first Vampire Count turn came to a close.
High Elf Turn 2: My Dragon Princes charge into a unit Skellies with a Vampire, and after passing their fear test, they are in, with absolutely no support. Now, I know what you are thinking, but give it a moment.
Vampire Counts Turn 2: The Grave Guard flank charge my Dragon Princes, the Fell Bat with one wound charges my Eagle who fails his fear test, the Zombies shuffle forward and the Black Knights advance as inexorably as death itself. In the magic phase, the Vampires summon more bats, many more bats. My opponent also adds a few Skeletons to several of his units, but nothing of any real substance. In combat, my Dragon Princes get broken and flee into a unit of Skeletons. To be honest, this was my first time using the new High Elf book and I had not expected them to win combat in the last round. They are pretty awesome now. Anyhow, the Dragon Princes die and the undead manage to restrain pursuit. In the Fell Bat combat, no wounds are dealt, due to my needing 6’s to hit, and with his outnumber I fly away, directly into the waiting arms of the Black Knights in the woods. The bats also restrain, and this turn comes to an end.
High Elf Turn 3: My chariot charges between the Zombies and the Woods and finds purchase in the Black Knights on my right flank. My Reavers dart around the terrain to harry the rear of the VC’s. My Sword Masters move forward, seeing the depleted Vampire ranks as more to their liking. In the magic phase, now that my opponent is down to only 6 dispel dice, I can start to implement the vices. Although I do not manage to get a drain magic off this round, I do land a Flames of the Phoenix on the Skeleton unit containing his Lord. The magical flames consume 4 skeletons now, and I am sure that there will be more to come. The RBT on my left flank finally does its job and mows down 3 Black Knights, even more of a feat now that they are safely located in the woods. My archers do not fare as well against the Fell Bats this turn, and my other RBT dispatches a whopping two zombies. In combat, my chariot fares amazingly well, dealing 3 unsaved wounds from its 5 impact hits and seeing the crew deal with the last rider. As it happens however, my overrun is a bit overzealous and I smack into some rocks. Driving while under the influence of victory claims another unit’s life. No matter, a fair trade.
Vampire Counts Turn 3: The Vampire Count directs his lone Black Knight into my archers and his Fell Bats into my RBT. He then turns the Zombies away from my now non-existent right flank. The magic phase sees one of his Skeleton units being rebuilt, but I throw all of my dice into an attempt to keep his Lord’s unit small. The result is that his Lord finds himself in a unit of only 5 other models at the end of his magic phase. In combat, my archers dust his last remaining Black Knight, and although they were able to deal a wound to the beasts, my Bolt Thrower Crew is driven off the table, where the bats follow to feast.
High Elves Turn 4: My Ellyrian Reavers, passing their fear test, charge into the rear of the Vampire Count’s entourage. My Eagle flies to other side of the Corpse Cart. Even though the Eagle hadn’t participated in any combats yet, he was still earning his points. In the magic phase, my Flames of the Phoenix flared again, dealing one wound to the Vampire Count and reducing all but two of the Skeletons to ash. Fizzlepuff, my Archmage, then decided that his work with that unit was done, and it was time to turn his attention to other enemies, namely the Grave Guard. Fizzlepuff muttered the words of an old and trusted spell, and again the Flames of the Phoenix sprang to life enshrouding the undead abominations in cleansing fire. Although the flames only claimed 3 Grave Guard this turn, Fizzlepuff was sure that with a little time, that would change. In combat, the Vampire Count issues a challenge which my mounted Mage feels obligated to accept. Brandishing his hand weapon, the mage manages to place a second wound on the Count, but is then cut down as the enraged Vampire deals two wounds of his own. The Reavers, incited by the death of their comrade, dispatched the remaining two skeletons and the Count found himself faced with a problem… namely he was far far out combat ressed, and so pop goes the vampire. The army begins to crumble, my Reavers restrain themselves and all is right with the world. One vampire count and one vampire down, chances are that this battle just became uphill for my opponent.
Vampire Counts Turn 4: The undead, now deprived of their leader continue to crumble. In the magic phase, my opponent is down to a much more manageable 6 power dice, and he is reduced to complete and total damage control. Also of note, my opponent failed to dispel the Flames of the Phoenix. He begins by trying to keep his Grave Guard unit above half strength, and his bats fly back onto the table behind my archers.
The turns got shorter here and I missed a photo or two. I marked the movements and will try to describe what happened. My apologies.
High Elves Turn 5: My Sword Masters advance, my Spear Elves hold and my chariot moves to a more favorable vantage point. In the magic phase the Flames become more intense, swallowing up 6 more grave guard and wounding the vampire in their ranks. Fizzlepuff feels confident that given more time, the winds of magic will finish their job, so he lets the fire burn. Again my opponent is unable to quench the flames born of the winds of magic.
Vampire Counts Turn 5: The Vampires start out this turn doing what I love to watch them do… crumble. The remaining bat charges into my archers on the hill, and, in a last ditch effort to earn some points, his Vampire and Skeletons charge into the waiting jaws of the Sword Masters of Hoeth. In the magic phase he attempts to restore his rank bonus on the charging unit, and I am able to stop most of his casting. In combat, the Sword Masters hew through several Skeletons assuring that they win combat, although 2 of their numbers fall, one to the vampire and one to a skeleton… oh the shame.
High Elves Turn 6: My Ellyrion reavers attempt to charge into the unit of 5 Skeletons standing before them, but decide that they are much more fearsome than the previously vanquished Vampire Count, and do not follow through with their planned course of action. On the other hand, my chariot decides that it can help out the Sword Masters, much to the consternation of the Vampire player. In the magic phase, Flames of the Phoenix finish of the Vampire hiding in the Grave Guard, and now that it is Str 5, it does a number on the Grave Guard also. In combat, I only get 1 impact hit, but in an attempt to make up for their slow approach, the crewmen kill the Vampire!! Who would have seen that coming? Between the loss of the their last Vampire and the awesome force of the Sword Masters, the Skeletons crumble.
Vampire Counts Turn 6: With all of his Vampires dead and nothing within charge range, the Vampire player is left with only one possible course of action. You guessed it, crumble. And crumble he does, losing all of his remaining models with the exception of the Corpse Cart.
Results
At the end of the game, we decided not to count points, because there wasn’t much of a need to do so. As stated he had only the Corpse Cart left and I had captured 2 banners, I controlled 4 table quarters and my casualties were minimal (less than 500 points).
After Thoughts :-
This was a very good first game for my High Elves coming off such a long period of inactivity. After playing Dwarves for so long I had forgotten just how much fun it was to cast spells and move. My opponent during the game, mentioned that I was playing a very anti-him army, and in a way I have to agree. Although my magic couldn’t come close to matching his in quantity, having 3 attempts at getting Drain Magic off a turn definitely put the clamps on him early on. Once I started breaking down his magic defenses, Flames of the Phoenix really started to make my Archmage earn his points. The only way that this could have changed at all is if he hopped his characters around units a lot, and even then it would have made it tough as then they wouldn’t have had the protection afforded by being in a unit. I think the biggest advantage that I had was in the movement phase. His entire army moving 4” a turn, and some turns less than that to keep his line intact is really what swung the game my way. The only thing that I am thinking about changing with my list concerns the use of the special character Caradryan. During the game his magic resistance came into play one, stopping a curse of years that I forgot to chronicle, but other than that he was a slightly better noble. I am tempted to drop him for a second level 2 mage, but I really like his versatility concerning dragons/greater demons, but is it worth the stigma attached, at least in my head, with taking a special character?
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