Dwarfs vs Wood Elves 1750 points

Warhammer Fantasy Battle Report summary:-

Charge of the Forest Spirits - lots of them ! (this guy sounds like a real Warhammer pro)

source : asrai.org

credit : domus

6-Jan-2009

Wood Elf Army List

Branchwraith - Lvl 1- General - Annoyance / Murder
Branchwraith - Lvl 1 - Cluster of Radiants
Alter Noble -LA / GW / Shield / Hail of Doom Arrow / Helm of the Hunt
5 x 8 Dryads
2 x 4 Treekin
Treeman

Dwarf Army List

(My memory is sketchy as to his list and I dont have a copy of his army list. It is very close to what is below though).
Master Engineer with Stuff
Master Engineer with Stuff
Runesmith - Spellbreaker / Spelleater

10 Thunderers
10 Thunderers
10 Thunderers
10 Thunderers
10 Thunderers (or quarrellers not sure)

20 Miners - Full Command

Cannon - Rune of Forging

BT - Str 7
BT - Str 7 / Flaming

Organ Gun

Scenario - Allowed deployment up to 15" in with the caveat that you had to stay 24" away from any enemy unit. The table side deployment choice was key which Jacob won. He placed his first unit (one of the thunderer units between the ruins and stones). We rolled a dice to see if those ruins & stones blocked LoS and they did not. This scenario plus the amount & size of the terrain really put Jacob at a disadvantage.

I placed my free forest in such a position that I could screen the left flank and hide many units in that and the other forest nearby.

My first deployment was a unit of dryads strung out on my far right side to prevent much deployment over there. The last thing I wanted was Thunderers on a hill. My second deployment was near that first unit to try and pretend as if I was stacking that flank - when my real intention was to stack the left flank and take advantage of the big forests screens on that side of the table.

Jacobs made a big mistake in the game by deploying his warmachines as his 3rd deployment, giving me full knowledge of where the magic machines would be - especially the Str 7 Flaming BT (Which was on my far right flank in a forest). The Str 7 BT was in the ruins and the Cannon & organ gun were in the stones terrain.

I basically continued to string dryad units out in long lines, being sure to place 2 units on the small gap on my left flank back to back.

These would screen all missile fire. I then stacked both treekin behind those dryads. The treeman went as near the left forest as I could get him while keeping his big wooden butt out of LoS of the Flaming / Str 7 BT. The alter noble was on his left.




Turn 1
Jacob won the roll to go first and took it.

Jacobs dice turned on him from turn 1 and there was no end in sight. He killed maybe 2dryads that turn.

Wood Elf Turn 1
Everything advanced as quick as possible. I moved the leftmost dryad units str8 forward and the treekin right behind them. A unit of dryads went into the big forest on the left and the alter went slight behind the two leftmost dryad units - giving it a very narrow window of LoS to a thunderer unit with the runesmith. Only a couple of thunders could see to shoot back, and I was hoping they would not be there on turn 2.

The central most unit of dryads got into my free forest, and was able to stay out of LoS of the accursed organ gun.

My rightmost unit of dryads moved into their forest, but stayed visible to the dwarfs.

I used treesinging to move a forest and it was promptly eaten from the Branchwraith via the Spelleater rune. The rest of the treesinging attempts were dispelled with dice / spellbreaker.




Lastly but not least, the Alter fired the HoD arrow into the thunderer unit with the runesmith. 7 Dwarfs died and the unit turned and fled in panic. Fair compensation for the loss of a treesinging.

Dwarf Turn 2
Miners came on and came in behind the treekin and turned to rear charge them on turn 3.

Offended by his late arrival which delayed the tourney start by about 30 minutes or so, the dice gods continued to punish him. He rolled 1's to hit with his BT's and his cannon killed a dryad. He killed another 2 dryads with thunderers (The dice gods were clearly favoring me, as I was making my 5+ ward saves like nobobdy's business). (5 Total Dryads dead so far)

He moved a unit of 10 shooters ahead full speed on my right flank.

Wood Elf Turn 2
My leftmost dryads not yet in charge range, were sadly now marchblocked by those miners. Both units & 1 unit of treekin advanced as far forward as they were able.

The other treekin unit turned to deal with the dwarfs. The treeman left his forest to get within 6" of the miners and out of LoS, but ready to flank charge them if they stayed in combat with the treekin.

My alter moved to the edge of the big forest to lend a hand if needed with the miners.

The big Dryad unit (which had the general) in the forest moved to the edge of the forest to move out, taking care to stay out of LoS of the Organ gun.

My dryads in the other two forests stayed put - he was focusing his shooting on them, and I did not want to deter him from doing that and shooting at the units about to engage him in H2H.

Treesinging moved the big forest up a bit on my left side of the table.

Strangleroot killed 5 Dwarfs (Woot for 1 less Static CR).

Dwarf Turn 3


Miners passed their terror and fear tests to charge the Treekin to the front. The miners whiffed. The treekin did not and had enough CR to autobreak. Insance courage roll did not happen and the treekin chased the miners off the table, glad to have the standard.

Rest of the shooting continued on as before, very ineffective due to the dice rolls.

The runesmiths unit rallied and turned to face me.

Wood Elf Turn 3.
No longer marchblocked, everyone hightailed it full speed ahead.
1 unit of dryads moved in front of the left most unit of thunderers (close enough to prevent stand and shoot).

Another unit of dryads moved in front of the ruins terrain to charge the BT there.

The big forest unit of dryads moved out in front and to the left of the unit of thunderers near the stones. This got them close enough to charge next turn while denying S&S reaction, yet allowed the thunderer unit to block the LoS to them from the Organ Gun.

Alter moved to the edge of the big forest, intending to charge the small unit of thunderers with Runesmith next turn.

My treeman moved back in the big forest as was heading for the center of the table, as that was an objective of the game (Be within 6" of the center).

My dryads in the forest on my right flank moved to the very edge to continue to encourage Jacob to shoot them.

Dwarf Turn 4
Jacob unloaded on me with everything he had, yet he had not yet earned the dice gods favor. A couple of dryads died that turn and that was the only time he shot the organ gun (at the unit in the woods on my right flank).

Wood Elf Turn 4
Everything charged that could.

Charged, broke and rundown the Thunderers on the left.

Dryads wiped out the BT crew and spiked the machine.

The alter charged the 3 thunders + runesmith. Survived the stand and shoot and purposefully left the runesmith out of combat. Killed three dwarfs, broke and ran down the unit.

Dryads charged the thunderers near the stones. The dryads won the combat but the unit held its ground.

Jacob called the game on turn 5 as my dryads + 1 unit of treekin & alter were preparing to roll up his left flank.




Another win for my trees.

The alter noble is absolutely priceless with the ability to flee, Hail of Doom Arrow, Speed, and the ability to deal with small units. I love this guy!

I think if the table had less terrain and with no deployment special rules, Jacob would have been much more prepared when I finally got into close combat.