Dark Elves vs High Elves 2000 points

Warhammer Fantasy Battle Report summary:-

Hatred all round ! (summarised with some lessons learnt)

source : druchii.net

credit : Alkatchoff

19-Jan-2009

For my second game with Dark Elves, I faced our most hated foes: the Asur!

Dark Elves Army List

My list was as follows (and contains everything I own at the moment):
High Sorceress, Level 4, Dispel Scroll, Dark Star Cloak, Seal of Ghrond, Talisman of Protection
Noble, Cold One, Armor of Darkness and Heartseeker
Assassin, extra hand weapon, Manbane and Rune of Khaine

20 Warriors, shields and full command
10 warriors with repeater crossbows
5 dark riders, musician, repeater crossbows
18 Witch Elves, full command, Manbane and War Banner
6 Harpies
5 Cold One Knights, standard, musician, Banner of Murder
Cauldron of Blood
Repeater Bolt Thrower

High Elves Army list

Archmage, Level 4, power dice stealing item, bound damage spell
Mage, Level 2
Battle Standard Bearer, banner of +D6 combat res

20 Spearmen, full command
10 Archers
6 Silver Helms, full command
20 Swordmasters, full command, banner of +D3 power dice
10 Shadow Warriors
2 Repeater bolt throwers

I chose the Lore of Shadows for the High Sorceress and got the Steed, Crown, Unseen Lurker and Pit of Shades. I really should have gone with the Lore of Death.

Deployment

From left to right, I deployed:
Dark Riders, Harpies, crossbowmen, Cauldron of Blood (Front and center!), Witch Elves (with hidden assassin), Cold One knights, Spearmen (with sorceress) and Bolt thrower.

The High Elves deployed:
Bolt Thrower, Archers, Mage, Sword Masters, Silver Helms, Archmage, Spearmen (with Battle Standard), bolt thrower. The Shadow Warriors hid in woods to threaten the crossbows and Cauldron.


Turn 1

High Elves: General advance. Combined shooting and magic kill the repeater crossbows and a couple of spearmen.

Dark Elves: Dark Riders march to the flank, prepare to charge the bolt thrower. Harpies land in front of the bolt thrower and archers. The Cold Ones go stupid and the battle line moves slowly to keep pace with them. Shooting kills one crewman from the rightmost Bolt Thrower.


Turn 2

High Elves: The advance continues. The Shadow Warriors make a bee line for the Cauldron. Shooting and Magic kills 4 harpies, panics the other two. A couple more Dark Elf spearmen die as well.

Dark Elves: The Dark Riders charge the bolt thrower, the Cold Ones go after the Silver Helms, but are 1/2 an inch out, even with the Banner of Murder.
In the Magic Phase, Unseen Lurker on the Cold Ones miscasts, and the Sorceress takes a wound. The combat phase sees the Dark Riders lose one of their own before killing the Bolt Thrower crew and overrunning into the archers.


Turn 3

High Elves: The Shadow Warriors charge the Cauldron, the Silver Helms charge the Cold Ones. Magic and shooting take out about half of the Dark Elf Spearmen. In combat, the Silver Helms kill one Knight and lose one of their own. Draw. The Shadow Warriors kill two Guardians, the Hag kills two Shadow Warriors. The Dark Riders lose two of their numbers, but kill 4 archers. The Archers run and are run down.

Dark Elves: The Harpies run into the woods and are destroyed. The Witch Elves are forced to charge the Silver Helms (frenzy indeed!), The Dark Riders charge the other Bolt Thrower. The High Sorceress casts fails to get Steed of Shadows through, and starts to look really vulnerable in her unit.

Shooting picks off a couple of Sword Masters. In combat, I reveal the Assassin to fight the Silver Helms (I REALLY should have waited...). The Cold Ones and Witch Elves kill one Silver Helm, for no casualties. The Helms lose and run, both units pursue, fail to catch them (sigh) and end up on the front and flank of the Swordmasters. Against any other opponent, this would almost mean a victory. Against the Swordmasters? Not so much.

The Dark Riders take a casualty, but kill off the last Bolt Thrower. The Shadow Warriors kill the Hag, destroying the Cauldron.


Turn 4

High Elves: The Spearmen and Shadow Warriors manoever to help the Sword Masters, the Archmage takes aim at the DE spearmen and the Silver Helms fail to rally and are close to the board edge. Magic tears into the DE spearmen. There are now 4 left along with the wounded High Sorceress. The combat is absolutely brutal. The Swordmasters kill a rank of Witch Elves and all the Cold Ones except for the Noble. The Noble, Assassin and Hag kill just enough Swordmasters so that combat is a draw!

Dark Elves:The High Sorceress leaves the Spearmen while the last Dark Rider trots into charge range of the High Elf Mage. Everything else is in combat. An irresistible Pit of Shades on the Archmage does nothing. The Bolt thrower fires a volley at the Archmage, wounding her once. In combat, the Witch Elves take more casualties and the Cold One Noble is wounded, but the Noble/Assassin/Hag cause enough casualties to draw the combat again. There are only 4 Swordmasters left!


Turn 5

High Elves: The Silver Helms rally. The Shadow Warriors charge the rear of the Witch Elves, the Spearmen charge the rear of the Cold One Knights. The Archmage blows away the High Sorceress, but the mage's fireball at the lone dark rider only causes one wound, which is saved on a 6!
The big combat goes poorly, and the Witch Elves are wiped out to a woman - the Noble and Assassin both survived, finished off the Sword Masters before being run down by the Shadow Warriors and Spearmen.

Dark Elves: Not much left. The Dark Rider charges the Mage, who flees. The Rider catches him, runs him down and plows into the Spearmen, in contact with the BSB. The Reaper shoots at the Archmage but misses. In combat the Dark Rider is killed.


Turn 6

High Elves: The Spearmen and Silver Helms both take a table quarter. The Archmage miscasts, which gives me a free spell. Hurray! Except that my High Sorceress, being a charred corpse, is a little incapacitated and can't take advantage. The Archmage then wipes out the DE Spearmen.

Dark Elves: The Reaper Bolt Thrower goes for broke, shoots a single bolt at the Archmage and kills her!


Battle Conclusion
Major victory for the High Elves.


Learning points
1. If I'd waited a turn to reveal the assassin, I would have revealed him against the Sword Masters, he would've hit first and limited my casualties - in all likelyhood, I would have won by 1 or 2 at least. I gotta be more patient.

2. Deploying my High Sorceress away from my mobile units (Harpies/DR) was dumb. With Unseen Lurker, I could have tried for a first turn charge at the bolt thrower or archers.

3. Lore of Shadows wasn't the right choice in this game. Either the Dark Art or the Lore of Death would've been more helpful.

Most Valuable Units
High Elves: The Sword Masters. Their last stand annihilated my two big combat units and two characters.

Honorable Mention: The Shadow Warriors. Helped wipe out the crossbowmen, killed the Cauldron and helped finish off the Witch Elves.

Most Valuable Units
Dark Elves: The Dark Riders. Killing two units of Bolt Throwers, one of archers and a mage.

Honorable mention: the Bolt Thrower, killing an Archmage, two Sword Masters and a Bolt Thrower crewman.