The Empire vs Tomb Kings 2250 pts battle report

warhammer fantasy battle report :-

"The Cannon of Altdorf picked off the unpainted chariot (served it right for destroying my ambiance)" [Ed. Lol]

(I find Atchman's battle reports friendly and strangely addictive to read)

source : warhammer.org.uk

credit : Atchman

03-May-2009

The ATCHlector versus the Tomb Craigs!

Old Skool War Altar I painted in the early 90s

It was Game Night in Knoxville! Craig and the Tomb Craigs had been talking smack the entire day on Yahoo chat. I predicted a turn three victory for the beloved Empire and the new Atchlector.

2250 points Empire Army list

ATCHlector riding the War Altar with the Mace of Helsturm (only one attack but it S10 doing a D6 wounds) and Armor of Meteoric Iron (1+ AS)
Level 2 Wizard with Light magic, Dispel Scroll, Dispel Scroll
Level 2 Wizard, Fire Magic, Doomfire Ring, Wizard’s StaffBattle Standard Bearer, Full Plate Armor, Barded Warhorse, Banner of Sigismund

28 Swordsmen, Standard Bearer, Musician,
10 Free Company Detachment

29 Swordsmen, Full Command
10 Free Company Detachment

10 Handgunners with Marksmen and Hochland Long Rifle
10 Crossbowmen
13 Flagellants (all the models I have painted, though I own more)

5 Knights, Musician
5 Knights, Musician

2 x Great Cannon
5 Pistoliers with Outrider upgrade
5 Outriders with Champion upgrade and Hochland Long Rifle

2250 points Tomb Kings Army list

Tomb Kings (aka the Tomb Craigs)
Tomb King, Spear of Antharak, Collar of Shapesh, Scorpion Armor
Liche Priest, Jar, Cloak of the Dunes
Liche Priest, Steed, 2 x dispel scrolls
Tomb Prince, Chariot, Great Weapon, Golden Eye, Chariot of Fire

Core:
29 Skeleton Warriors, Full Command
15 Skeleton Warriors
15 Skeleton Warriors
20 Skeleton Warriors, Bows
20 Skeleton Warriors, Bows
4 Chariots, Full Command with the Mirage Banner

Special Units:
2 Tomb Scorpion

Rare Choices:
Catapult with SSC


The Empire is ready for battle

Empire Setup:

I didn’t have much choice in the setup. I was pretty certain the Tomb Craig was going to castle in the corner. I put my troop blocks in the nice open ground so that I could move quickly. My left flank was protected by the Flagellants, a unit of Knights Panthers (musician only, but the Fire Wizard was riding with them), and a unit of crossbowmen.

To protect my right flank I deployed the Pistoliers, another unit of knights, the handgunners, a great cannons and the Outriders. They went there with the theory that if Tomb Craig left his flank open they could race forward to get into firing range. However, Craig place his Chariot over there and the battle was on.


Tomb Kings Setup:

I was shocked about the split deployment but in many ways it did make sense. By having his troops in the corner, it made it difficult to project enough force with my slow infantry blocks to actually shift him and win the game.

The mistake though was splitting the Tomb Kings magic phase so that neither flank really had enough to cause me to run out of magic defense. One of the Liche Priests was hiding behind the woods, both to help the Catapult fire and to assist the Tomb Prince moving his chariot force.

The Empire moves out

Despite having more deployments, I beat Tomb Craig’s dice roll and got to go first. The Pistoliers moved up to take cover from the archers behind the house. I angled the Knights, while marching up with the Handgunners in case he decided to hang back.

Over on the other flank the Flagellants marched forward, as well as the Knights Panthers. The remainder of the battle line marched their full movement hoping to squeeze though the gap in terrain.

Deadly Light Magic killed several skeletons from the right most unit. Tomb Craig dispelled my Conflagration of Doom cast on his Chariot unit. This sucked out the first scroll of the game and he hadn’t even moved yet. Lastly, the Fire Wizard’s Doomfire ring killed a couple more skeletons.

The Cannon of Altdorf picked off the unpainted chariot (served it right for destroying my ambiance). Over on the left the Nuln Gun, clipped a shot though several skeletons killing a few. My rolls to wound this entire game were pathetic.



Another look at the Empire advance, the colored dice were the markers for the two Tomb Scorpions



The Tomb Craig’s response

With so few fast movers and the vital scorpions underground, the Tomb Kings just shuffled about. The main battle line moved forward 4” and prepared to fire with their 40 archers! Over on the left the Chariots formed a line to protect the Screaming Skull Catapult.

All of the nastier spells were stopped by the Atchlector’s dispel pool. However, the archers fired and killed one of the Knights Panthers.

In the regular shooting phase the SSC killed two swordsmen and failed to wound the Atchlector’s Popemobile. With the Atchlector standing nearby the Swordsmen easily passed their panic test from the Screaming Skulls.



The Empire pushes forward

Again the Empire moved forward aggressively, it was quite plain that Tomb Craig wanted to stay semi-static so I tried to move to exploit. Using their lightning quickness the Pistoliers flashed around the woods to surprise the Liche Priest. I moved the vanilla knights forward hoping to tempt a charge from the Chariots so that they overran into the house. This was a mistake in retrospect since it would have been better to set a different trap for them.

The terrain squeezed the Empire battle line putting the normally ordered Empire ranks into disarray. This clustered up the troops in a bad fashion making them easy targets for the Catapult. I think I made a classic Empire mistake and chose to go to the right around the tower instead of to the left. I didn’t want to mask my shooting when in fact it was all but useless against the Deadite archers.

My magic hammered the Skeleton Archers with two light spells. The Conflagration of Doom was also dispelled pulling the last scroll from the Tomb Priest.

All of my shooting was inept this turn; both cannons misfired when they had a perfect chance to destroy more of the Chariots. My normal shooting was ineffective due to the Mirage banner. However, the Pistoliers made the entire shooting phase worthwhile by blasting the Liche Priest from his saddle!



The Empire squeezes into the gap lead by the Atchlector’s War Altar.



Tomb Kings turn

Tomb Craig saw the mistake I made with the Knights and expoited it. I had no choice but to hold with the knights because fleeing might have killed them anyway (fleeing into a building-we normally play them as impassible). I cursed at my ineptitude, but on the bright side, the chariots were now lined up for a great cannon shot.

Between Craig’s shooting and magic phase the Knights Panthers were reduced to the musician and the wizard. I used the Atchlector in the previous turn to put a ward save on the wizard. Also, one of the Free Company detachments panicked from shooting (I rolled an 11).

The silly horses killed one of the knights! While I did manage to cause one in return, I lost the melee by outnumber and my knights fled into the house and were destroyed. What a senseless loss from a bad move.



Empire turn three

I did my best to move the troops forward since Tomb Craig refused to advance towards me. The remainder of one of the skeleton archer units formed into a unit, which the Atchlector decided was small enough for him to destroy. I used my Pistoliers to block the LoS of the Skull Catapult and to try and shoot down the crewmen. The Flagellants moved up and stopped 1” away from a unit of Skeletons. Near the house the Free Company rallied.

My magic rocked this turn with both a Cleansing Flare and Soulfire into the skeletons that the Atchlector had charged! Craig had to use his dice to stop another Conflagration of Doom on the Chariots.

My shooting did much better this turn, dismounting the Tomb Prince and destroying another of the chariots. The once proud unit of five models was reduced to two.

The Atchlector slaughtered the Skeleton Archers and overran 13” towards the middle of the Tomb King army. I didn’t think I would go so far and now I was out of leadership range of the swordsmen blocks.



Tomb Kings turn 3

The remaining chariots moved forward to threaten my Great Cannon, by charging my handgunners, which fled (never to return-darn!). Not wanting the Flagellants to get into their backfield, the Skeletons charged them hoping to pin them in place for a while. Seeing the Atchlector’s vulnerable and long flank, the Tomb King reformed his unit and was hoping for a magical charge into the War Altar.

Accurate shooting slew my poor Fire Wizard. I had dropped the RiP spell to cast something else and it proved fatal. The Skull Catapult tried to take out the Atchlector’s War Altar but blew up!



The Handgunners flee in fear!



Empire Turn 4

The only charge I had was my Wizard’s Swordsmen into a unit of skeletons. However, I failed the fear test and I was stranded. If I had only passed the test, I would have destroyed that unit and overran into the Tomb Craigs’ bodyguard unit’s rear! Since I chose to charge with my single knight as well, he passed his test! Yet another pointless loss of the points for a unit of knights, when he of course broke and the skeletons pursued just to get away from the Swordsmen. Not only did I lose my last knight, I allowed the Skeleton unit to slip through my fingers.



Empire Turn 4 - Another View



The Empire tries to come to grips with the castled up Tomb Kings.

Trying out the new “Martyr Rule”, I managed to destroy most of the unit of skeletons! I was very pleased with how that rule worked in this game; I’d never tried it before.



A view of the Empire left flank, where the Flagellants are attacking the Skeletons.



The Tomb Scorpion eats the Cannon of Altdorf while the Outriders look on.



The Tomb Kings Turn 5

The Tomb Scorpion came up and ate the Great Cannon. Its brother never arrived tunneling to China. Also on the left side the chariots moved backwards to shoot at the Pistoliers (they shot up the Tomb Prince down to a single wound last turn).

I rolled two dice to stop the Tomb King’s Skeleton unit from charging and rolled TWO ONES! My poor Atchlector was charged in the flank.

Tomb Craig’s shooting was ineffective with only the archers remaining.

In the melee the Atchlector decided to challenge the Tomb King, which accepted. I just knew he had the Destroyer of Eternities and I would pay for my boldness, but he only had the Spear of Antharak. I managed to fail my ward save, and totally forgot about my 1+ Armor save! Regardless I took a wound. (I also forgot that I could heal myself in the following turn!) Since I was still alive, I enjoyed telling Tomb Craig about the Mace of Helsturm! I hit, wounded and rolled only a single wound. Craig failed his ward save and I managed to at least give as good as I got.



Last shot of the game

In my last two turns I managed to kill the last chariot with shooting from the Pistoliers. The Tomb Scorpion, which destroyed my Cannon, was in turn destroyed by my Outriders (360 degree shooting helped!).

In the melee phases, the Flagellants finally killed the last skeleton, only to be reduced under half by the archers. My crossbowmen and spells killed all but two of the Skeleton archers, a pretty good accomplishment I thought.

In the big melee, I was shocked when the Atchlector had a higher initiative than the Tomb King! This time the Mace of Helsturm worked and the Tomb King took 5 wounds (failed his ward save again). The Atchlector survived “The Curse”, but died later on turn six to two wounding hits from skeletons (Yes, I managed to fail both two 4+ ward saves and two 1+ armor saves-SNAKE EYES, oh the agony!).

Regardless, the game ended with only a few Tomb King units remaining and most of the table quarters in Empire hands.

VICTORY TO THE EMPIRE!

The Butcher’s Bill:
Empire Losses

Atchlector-KIA 210 pts plus 100 pts for being the General
Fire Wizard-KIA 154 pts
2 Units of Vanilla Knights 123 pts each
Handgunners 105 pts
1 Great Cannon

Total: 912


Tomb Kings Losses

Liche Priest 165 pts
Tomb King 273 plus 100 pts for General
Skeleton Warriors 145 pts
Skeleton Archers 160 pts
Damaged Skeleton Archers 80 pts
Damaged Skeleton Warriors 73 pts
2 x Tomb Scorpions 85 pts each
Screaming Skull Catapult 110 pts
Damaged Tomb Prince 50 pts
Chariots 250 pts

Total: 1576


Summary:

Though some seriously unlucky dice rolls killed him, the Archlector was incredibly powerful. The Empire dominated the magic phase throwing four bound spells per turn, before even attempting both Wizards’ spells. I was simply blown away to see what he could do.

I think the Outriders are a good unit. I’ve now used them twice and I like the fact they have good firepower without clogging up your lines. In retrospect, I may just keep the champion with a Repeater Handgun instead of the Hochland Long Rifle.

The new Pistoliers were one of the keys to the game. They finished off the Chariots, wounded the Tomb Prince, blocked the Catapult, and slew the Liche Priest! What more could you ask for from such an inexpensive unit?