Dark Elves vs Lizardmen Massive 4999pts Battle Report (pictures)

A great Warhammer Fantasy Battle bloodbath !

"Salamander and Razordons manage two wounds on the Hydra..."
[Ed - I love monster on monster combat :)].

Ed. - This fantasy battle is a toughie for me, the Lizardmen and Dark Elf armies are my arch rivals since the new Army books came out. Esp. Dark Elves !

source :warhammer.org.uk

credit : David L

23-Sep-2009

Time for another big battle, this time 4999 points, Lizardmen vs DE. I dislike the new Lizardmen book compared to the previous version (Slann now boring, bad magic items even worse, little reason to take anything but stegadons), so I have barely played with it, but I basically have Lizardmen to play big games like this. Raf has lots of armies this big and chose to run his Dark Elves.

Lizardmen Army 5000 points (almost !)

Slann, BSB, extra dice, all spells, discard 6s, magic resistance, Cupped Hands, Bane Head (Hotek), power stone, power stone, war banner, Lore of Metal
Oldblood, la, cold one, Scimitar of the Sun, Enchanted Shield, Carnosaur Pendant
Oldblood, la, sh, Burning Blade of Chotec, Horned One, Glyph Necklace
Scar-vet, la, sh, Charm of the Jaguar Warrior
Skink Priest, level 2, Engine of the Gods, Amulet of Itzl, Plaque of Tepok (Second Sign, Lightning, Comet)
Skink Priest, level 2, Engine of the Gods, Curse Charm of Tepok, Scroll (Second Sign, Thunderbolt)
Skink Chief, la, sh, blowpipe, terradon, Blood Statuette of Spite, Sword of Might

10 skink skirmishers
10 skink skirmishers
2 swarms
2 swarms
11 skinks with 1 krox, musician, champion [Ed - "Skrox" in the text below]
11 skinks with 1 krox, musician, champion
19 Saurus, full command
18 Saurus, spears, full command
12 Saurus, spears

21 Temple Guard, full command, Sun Standard of Chotec
4 Terradons
Stegadon
6 chameleon skinks
6 Saurus Cavalry, banner, Huanchi's Blessed Totem

Salamander
Salamander
Salamander
3 Razordons

Army List tactics / theory
I didn't want to take scrolls, so the Slann has extra anti-magic in case Raf does run some big magic. I highly doubt it, but I'd regret getting nailed by magic when I could have slowed it down.

I don't own a Carnosaur, or I might have taken it. But I have trouble coming up with any good Oldblood builds. The idea of the top Oldblood was to have enough attacks (8 and 2) to actually chew through Dark Elf units, but I would need to keep him off of enemy characters and their incredible saves. Too much of the DE army will be stubborn, and I cannot hurt them much at range, so he is likely necessary to actually kill them. I don't much like the Carnosaur Pendant, but it fit with the idea and it might be handy against a Hydra.

Second Oldblood is just what I could fit on him, so is the scar-vet. The Engines are fairly standard. Terradon Chief was just to try it, I don't expect much from him. I was tempted to get the bow or the mirrored shield, but I wanted the Blood Statuette somewhere and everyone else already had an enchanted item.

Swarms are for 360 charge rear-area patrol.

Skrox are bait units that might hurt something wimpy.

Pretty sure the chameleon skinks are not worth having, but I'll try them. Pretty sure the cavalry is not worth having either, but they do have multiple attacks. I gave them the banner to outcharge enemy cavalry.

This is almost everything I have. I have a few more skink models (not a unit), 7 more Kroxigors and a few more Saurus. No more stegadons. Unhappily, I left a box behind with the 3 Razordons (Salamander models) and the 4th Jungle Swarm base. So those all got proxied by Kroxigor models!

5000 points Dark Elf Army list (well almost 5000 pts !)

Dreadlord, Armour of Darkness, Ring of Darkness, Soulrender
Dreadlord, Ring of Hotek, Armour of Eternal Servitude, Dagger of Hotek
Dreadlord, Manticore, Pendant of Khaeleth, Caledor's Bane, Potion of Strength
Death Hag BSB on Cauldron with Banner of Nagarythe
Death Hag on Cauldron
Sorceress, level 2, two scrolls, Chill Wind, Doombolt
Sorceress, level 2, two scrolls, Chill Wind, Word of Pain
Sorceress, level 2, two scrolls, Doombolt, Word of Pain
Assassin, manbane version
Assassin, manbane version

10 crossbows, shields
10 crossbows, shields
20 Corsairs, frenzy banner
10 handbow corsairs
10 handbow corsairs
9 harpies
9 harpies

18 Black Guard, full command, ASF, Crimson Death
21 Witch Elves, full command, armour piercing
21 Executioners, full command
21 Executioners, full command
7 Shades, great weapons
2 RBTs
Hydra
Hydra

Thoughts from the Lizardmen perspective
This is basically the combination of the two armies Raf took to the last GTs, plus Executioners. Largely what I was afraid of. He can negate my magic entirely, is mostly stubborn, and hits really really hard. I've fought the Corsairs, Black Guard and Witch Elves (each with one or two characters) repeatedly with Dwarfs and they kill 5-10 elite Dwarfs every round. Saurus will die even faster.

Also tells me I made a mistake taking Temple Guard. That locks the Slann in place, which means either the Temple Guard are useless (if on the flank), or the Slann is trapped by the Ring of Hotek. Perhaps the best alternative would be a cheap Slann in the TG as BSB and general (nothing but war banner) and a real caster Slann solo on a flank. But I only own one Slann model.

Deployment
Terrain is a couple forests, a couple hills, a swamp, a building, and a big rock.
Going from north to south, I have ...

Terradons with chief, Thunderbolt Engine, chameleons,
skrox with swarms behind, TG with scar-vet, swarms, big spears
shield Saurus with Horned One Oldblood, Razordons, Salamander, skirmish screen, Comet Engine
skirmish screen, small spears with Salamander behind, attacky Oldblood, skrox, normal stegadon
salamander behind rock, Saurus Cavalry

Lizardmen north side

Lizardmen south side

His army, from north to south ...
handbows, RBT, crossbows with wizard, RBT
Executioners with harpies behind, Black Guard with general, frenzied Corsairs with Hotek Dreadlord, BSB Cauldron and harpies behind
both hydras in forest
Executioners, second Cauldron, Witches, handbows with wizard, crossbows with wizard, Manticore behind, shades

Dark Elves north side

Dark Elves south side


entire table

The Stegadons are hoping to flank his big infantry blocks. Saurus cavalry are hoping to take out some shooters and turn inward on the infantry. Terradons will hopefully stop his artillery. I could have tried to avoid the ring with the Slann, but then my TG, general and BSB would be totally separate from the main battle.


Turn 1
My having a few extra drops let me get a few of the direct matchups I prefered (TG unit, big spears opposite BG, cav away from RBTs), but also gives him the first turn.
BG and southern Executioners get Cauldron ward saves as the DE army starts a general advance. The fliers stay conservative.

His three level 2s gives him 8 power dice to my 8 dispel dice and one scroll. Nothing is in range for the Slann to make discard 6s, and nothing is going to cast at the Slann, so those 100 pts are useless. Chill Wind gets through and kills half the chameleons.

Shooting kills 2 regular crew on the northern Engine while the Sun Standard limits Temple Guard losses to 1. The south side is a disaster for the Lizardmen as 10 crossbows and 7 shades drop half the Saurus Cavalry.

end of Dark Elf turn 1

In the north, the Terradons move to the front of the forest, hoping the cover will prevent them being slaughtered by the DE shooting. The Engine moves into position to flank the advancing Executioners while the chameleons and skrox move to bait them. My center largely stays in place, except swarms going out to annoy harpies.

Attacky Oldblood moves toward his Executioner target with a skink screen against RBT fire from the north.

I see an opportunity towards the south, as his Witches can be frenzy baited. Skrox move to about 9 inches away, while Stegadon and spear Saurus prepare to flank. The skrox will have to take the charge to ensure a double flank, but overrun will get the witches away from the cauldron and remove their Stubborn. The Saurus are probably unnecessary, but if he pops a manbane assassin to hurt the stegadon, the stegadon alone might not win by enough to force double 1s.

On the far south end, injured Saurus cavalry advance to just out of shade charge range while a Salamander moves along with. The Manticore is going to charge something, nothing I can do about that.

Magic is useless. I will not get a spell off the entire game.

Shooting, however, is not entirely out of range. The Giant Bow on the regular Stegadon shoots at a Hydra, rolls a 6, and it fails the regen save!!! Two wounds means its breath weapon is no longer total death.

end of Lizardmen turn 1


Turn 2
In the north Raf takes none of the skink bait, but the witches in the south have no choice. The Manticore charges a Salamander, which flees out of range.

The main middle moves up, one unit of harpies being annoying in the center, the other hanging back.

Magic kills the Skink Chief on a Terradon and wounds one of the unit. Also wounds southern Stegadon. Despite a super Slann and two Engines of the Gods, I'm getting seriously out-magiced by three level 2s!!

Weakened Hydra breath gets one skirmish skink, big hydra puts two wounds on Razordons. RBT injures northern skink priest.

Skrox get butchered, but 3 skinks and the injured Kroxigor survive, which is exactly 25%, so after they escape pursuit they can rally. Witches pursue right where I want them.

end of Dark Elf turn 2

Attacky Oldblood, who is lined up to go into some nice Executioners, now fails his stupidity and stumbles in front of them. If they get the charge, he likely gets killing blow'd instead of chopping them up.

Terradons charge RBT, two of them able to drop rocks on crossbows along the way for 3 kills. Jungle Swarms charge rear harpies, figuring poison on the charge should ensure victory. Little spears and little stegadon squish Witches. Saurus Cavalry charge crossbows with wizard and activate their banner in hopes of preventing a successful flee. Elves stand-and-shoot to no affect. Fleeing Salamander and skrox rally.

Northern Engine moves into complete flanking position along the lake, while the 3 chameleons get wet next to him. Skrox stand in front of Exeuctioners waiting to die. Skinks and one Salamander move up to be annoying while Razordons and last Salamander hope to kill something.

I forget to explode the northern Engine, so it keeps the ward save. Shooting kills a couple Executioners and puts one more wound on the injured Hydra (2 left). Skinks get a few Black Guard.

The Terradons kill just one crew and lose the injured Terradon in return. Last crew holds. I really miss Terradons that were slightly useful in close combat, the current ones are only good for dropping rocks.

Jungle Swarms fail to poison and kill just 2 harpies, but aren't entirely wiped out.
Little spear Saurus use hand weapons and still take a casualty, but stegadon impact hits crush the witches. Saurus run them down, hitting the rallied skrox, while the stegadon restrains.

Saurus Cavalry kill two crossbows and wound the wizard for no losses. Dark Elves break, but outrun a pitiful 7 inch pursuit. More importantly, the shades fail panic and run off the table!!

A real unit dead (but no assassin), a useful unit killed (shades) and another unit with character fleeing and likely to die next turn. A good turn for the Lizardmen!

end Lizardmen turn 2


Turn 3
Northern Cauldron continues to ward save the BG, southern grants Executioners an extra attack to killing blow the Stupid Attacky Oldblood.

Northern Executioners charge Skrox, who hold. BG charge skinks, who stand-and-shoot to no affect. Healthy Hydra charges Salamander who flees and dies on building. Injured Hydra charges skinks who hold. Executioners charge Stupid Attacky Oldblood.
The fleeing crossbows with wizard fail to rally, but stay on the table.

Manticore flies back towards the center.

I stop his magic this turn and shooting doesn't kill anything, although I think it put more wounds on the northern Engine.

Terradons still fail to kill the RBT crew, but don't die in return. Elf holds. Harpies wipe out Jungle Swarms.

Executioners beat the snot out of the skrox, but they roll Insane Courage. I'm not sure this is really that good, since I wanted the Executioners to overrun off to nowhere.

Black Guard obliterate skinks and pursue into spear Saurus. Hydra obliterates skinks but pursuit is very short.

Executioner champion declines my challenge (smartly), but the three normal guys, with 6 attacks thanks to the Cauldron, fail to land a killing blow. The Oldblood's super armour save protects him from their hits. He then earns his Attacky name and rips them a new one (5 kills?), although they stubbornly hold. That's big. Huge even.

end Dark Elf turn 3


Temple Guard flank charge Black Guard. The spear Saurus are my best bet to actually kill BG, so I might as well add the static combat res to ensure they must all be individually killed instead of breaking. And the longer the Dark Elves are killing spear Saurus, the less time they can spend killing Temple Guard.

Block Saurus charge harpies, who hold (I could EitW into a Hydra).

Saurus Cavalry charge crossbows again, this time running them down at the table edge. One enemy character dead!

Chameleons move to shoot harpies. Center Engine moves up to explode on stuff. Razordons and last Salamander move south a bit. Small spears turn back east, little steggy moves east as well.

Engine explosions get a few Executioners and handbows in the north, but the central one fails to hurt the injured Hydra. Uh oh ...

This is the only magic phase of the game where I get a spell off. Sort of. Casting Transmutation of Lead on the Black Guard, the ring makes me miscast and I roll a 12. Won't have the spell anymore (Molten Silver and a level are already gone too), but it works this turn.

The Giant Bow produces another 6, this time for 3 wounds on the Manticore. Baby Steggy is kicking butt this game! Razordons then blow away the beast. One Large Terror causer dead! Salamander kills some handbows, but they don't panic. Chameleons kill 3 harpies, but they pass panic.

Combat sees the Terradons finally finish the RBT. The skinks, swinging before the Executioners, kill the unit champion and his friend. While the Kroxigor dies in return, 4 skinks are still alive and I didn't lose combat by much. With the Slann nearby, skinks hold happily.

Block Saurus crush the harpies and overrun. Healthy Stegadon flees, not wanting to be charged by the Burning Blade of Chotec (which really isn't that deadly to a hydra) and static 5. Overrun is a couple inches short of the second Hydra, because of the angle, but the frenzied Corsairs are still in my front arc.

Thanks to Transmutation of Lead, the Black Guard only kill 3 Saurus, the Saurus champ in a challenge, and one TG. I kill a number of them in return and the elves hold.
Attacky Oldblood, swinging first since the Executioners have great weapons, now gets in a challenge with the champion. Attacky is frenzied and really p'ssed with his stupid mount for nearly getting him killed, so he takes that out on the enemy with max overkill. And the Executioners fail their Stubborn test! Attacky runs them down. Afterwards, I learn this unit had the Manbane assassin, but the Oldblood's armour save was so good Raf didn't want to pop him out the second round, figuring he could hold with the champ dying and then kill me with the Manticore. So one assassin dead!.

end Lizardmen turn 3


Turn 4
Cauldron grants frenzied Corsairs killing blow.

Frenzied Corsairs charge block Saurus. Fleeing is death on building, so I decide to hold and hope for luck.

Healthy Hydra charges Engine. Dismounted Dreadlord charges Attacky Oldblood. Harpies charge chameleons.

Hydra rallies. North crossbows turn north to shoot Terradons.

Terradons are reduced to two models, but pass panic. RBT shoots priest off northern Engine.

Executioners kill skinks down to just 1, but he rolls insane courage again. That is one brave skink!

Harpies kill a chameleon, but the skinks somehow kill two back and the last harpy holds.

BG crush the spear Saurus, killing 9, but I get a couple elves back and I hold. My scar-vet is intentionally not moving over to fight and the TG champ keeps declining challenges, so the dreadlord has to keep killing spear Saurus and cannot move into base contact with the TG.

Hydra kills the priest off the Engine as I forget my Amulet of Itzl. And he only did two wounds, so the amulet probably would have saved the priest. Stegadon takes a wound off the Hydra in return.

Dismounted Dreadlord uses his potion of strength to put 2 wounds on Attacky Oldblood. If not for the latest GW FAQ that nukes dismounted lances, even magic ones, I'd be dead. Attacky, of course, bounces off the Pendant of Broken.

Corsairs killing blow my Oldblood and crush the unit, running them down. I should have issued a challenge to reduce the hatred driven killing blow attacks coming at him. He got hit by 2 and ward saved one. I missed the break test by 1 (needed a 3, rolled a 4), because of the Banner of Nagarythe.

Overall not a good turn for the Lizardmen. Three characters and a big unit dead, another lord nearly dead. But the overall situation is looking very nice ...

end Dark Elf turn 4


With only one brave skink still alive to give up combat resolution, the Ancient Stegadon (dead priest) charges the flank of the Executioners. Stegadon charges southern handbows with wizard, they smartly flee. Small spears charge Cauldron, passing Terror.

Desperate to not get shot more, terradons charge flank of handbows. Since I think it will help, and it will prevent fleeing, the Jungle Swarms charge them as well. Corsairs stand-and-shoot. 7 guys, 14 shots, hitting on 5s. Yet they inflict 7 wounds on the Jungle Swarms!!!

Salamander and Razordons manage two wounds on the Hydra.

Black Guard continue beating up spear Saurus, with just 2 Saurus still alive. But BG are reduced to banner, champion and Dreadlord. Elves make Stubborn test.
Terradons and one Jungle Swarm whiff entirely, but the handbows manage just one wound on the Jungle Swarm for a draw. Apparently the elves used all their offense on the stand-and-shoot.

Chameleon skinks kill the last harpy.

Ancient Stegadon squishes 5 Executioners, which reduces them below 10 and autobreaks them. Big guy runs them down. But the last super brave skink infantry died. Turns out this unit had the second assassin and Raf forgot to reveal him, so second assassin dead!.

Skink crew of the center Ancient luckily finish off the Hydra before it can swing and the stegadon squishes the handlers. Second Large Terror causer dead!

The Cauldron of Blood cannot make a ward save, then fails the Stubborn test and is killed by the small spear Saurus. Second enemy character dead!

With just strength 4, the dismounted Dreadlord cannot hurt Attacky Oldblood. I cannot hurt him either, but I am unit strength 2 and cause Fear, so run him down. Third enemy character dead!

A very good turn for the Lizardmen, with 3 characters, a Hydra and a big unit killed.

end Lizardmen turn 4


Turn 5
Hydra charges Razordons. I would much rather flee, but they have to stand-and-shoot. They avoid misfiring and produce 30 shots ... which do 1 wound. As I said, I would much rather flee.

Fleeing handbow corsairs with wizard fail to rally and flee another 2 inches.
Frenzied corsairs turn north towards Temple Guard.

Shooting hurts the northern Ancient again. It has one crew and two wounds left.

Hydra eats two entire Razordons, breaking them. But I escape.

Terradons manage a wound on the corsairs, who only wound the swarms once. Thanks to numbers, I win and the handbow corsairs break. Terradons restrain pursuit while the elves outrun the swarm (which has a single wound left!).

Black Guard kill the last spear Saurus and stubbornly hold.


North Ancient charges the Cauldron. Swarm charges and catches the fleeing handbows. Terradons charge RBT. Razordons rally.

Middle Ancient lines up to rear charge the frenzied Corsairs. Baby Stegadon lines up to flank charge the Hydra. Attacky Oldblood is going Hydra hunting too, but I position him poorly. Saurus Cavalry and southern Salamander (who fled from the Manticore turn 2) move to chase the fleeing handbows with wizard.

Terradons whiff and take a wound.

Ancient Stegadon kills the hags, but takes a wound in return. Stegadon holds.
With nothing in front of the Black Guard, and therefore the champ and dreadlord not in base contact with anything, my scar-vet now moves over to fight. Scar-vet delivers perfectly, producing two kills, which takes out the Black Guard banner and champion. That leaves the Dark Elf general on his own and he breaks and is run down. Fourth enemy character dead! I pursue into the corsairs.

end Lizardmen turn 5


Turn 6
Northern crossbows flank charge Terradons. Terradons get one RBT crew before breaking. They will fail to rally. Two chameleons then charge the last RBT crew in the bottom of the turn and kill him.

Fleeing handbows with wizard again fail to rally. Fifth enemy character dead!

Hydra charges Razordons again and kills them. It pursues at skrox, but they flee and rally in the bottom of the turn.

Stegadon and Cauldron BSB fail to hurt each other and Stegadon holds.
Charging Temple Guard are able to kill three Corsairs to prevent mass killing blow damage in return. Elves hold.

Bottom of the turn, the Ancient Stegadon flanks the Corsairs while the baby Stegadon flanks the Hydra.

I forgot the baby steg was a baby steg and not an Ancient, which means I should not have charged the Hydra. I do nothing, Hydra does two wounds for a draw.

Northern Ancient Stegadon finally gets the Death Hag to fail her ward saves and kills her. Seventh enemy character dead!

Charging Ancient crushes the formerly frenzied Corsairs and they break. Sixth enemy character dead!

The Dark Elves have only 7 crossbows with a wizard, and a Hydra with two wounds left on the table.

I lost most of my characters (lord, 3 heroes, half a lord) and most of my Saurus, but all the Stegadons survived.


Game Thoughts
My opponent couldn't make a leadership test! Shades panic, Stubborn Executioners run, Stubborn Cauldron runs, wizards repeatedly fail to rally. He made a couple panic tests, the BG held once (needing the BSB re-roll!) and hte Corsairs held once (down 1), but overall his troops ran away much more than they should. If they don't run away, how do I kill 4 Stubborn units? I only killed one outright (Black Guard) and broke the rest.

Luck wise, I also got incredible shooting from the Giant Bow, with 2 wounds on a Hydra and 3 on a Manticore. The stegadons generally kicked butt.

The Ring is insane. Zero spells all game. Zero!! His harpies kept the ring unit screened early, so I couldn't suicide charge it, but on a Dreadlord I probably cannot stop the ring that way anyway.

I inflicted zero wounds on his three Dreadlords all game. They were too tough to hurt. I broke them by avoiding them.

He could not kill the Stegadons. Lots of shooting went into the northern Engine, and got the priest eventually, but couldn't stop the Stegadon. I used the Engine explosion poorly, but I did great with the Stegadons themselves.

Stegadon kills: 4 wounds on hydras, 3 wounds on manticore, executioner unit, witch elf unit, Cauldron of Blood BSB, fleeing handbows with wizard, half credit for corsair unit with dreadlord (TG helped, but stegadon alone won by 5).

Swarms are just as horrible as I expected. Even with the limited goal of fighting harpies, they cannot do that.

Game did show a value in spear Saurus against glass cannons like the Black Guard, but without the Transmutation of Lead that first round, the Saurus kill output would be halved. This game largely reinforces my general reading of the army book - stegadons are better than any other unit. Replace the cavalry with a 4th steg. Replace the Terradons and chief with a 5th steg. Replace the swarms and little spears with a 6th steg. Keep some spear Saurus and stubborn Temple Guard. Glad I don't own more Stegadons.

Warriors of Chaos Khorne & Slaneesh vs Tzeentch & Nurgle 2000 pts battle report

A rare Warriors of Chaos vs Warriors of Chaos fantasy battle report

(an interesting mix of Chaos units; the Khorne / Slaneesh army favours mainly horsemen, marauders and knights while the Nurgle / Tzeentch force favours Warriors)

source :warhammer.org.uk

credit : David L

22-Sep-2009

I'm running Warriors of Chaos and so does this opponent. I have no idea in advance what he runs in the league, but since I've been posting detailed battle reports, he should know I run two or three units of knights. I don't think he's a Khorne guy, so I'm expecting the standard "strategy" of Gateway for the Win! I sort of expect a unit of Chosen, but I resist taking marks of Nurgle just to fight one unit that he might not field.

Khorne / Slaneesh Army List 2000 points

Lord of Khorne on Juggernaut, shield, Aethersword, Armour of Damnation
Exalted BSB of Tzeentch on steed, shield, Axe of Khorne

scroll caddy on steed

5x6 warhounds
always love the dogs!

6 horsemen, flails, musician
6 horsemen, flails, musician
if the enemy fields 5, having 6 is an advantage

27 marauders, light armour, shields, full command, Slaanesh
in case I need rank bonus to support something

4 Dragon Ogres, great weapons
kill enemy knights

7 knights
kill other stuff

7 knights, champion, Banner of Rage
kill everything

Tzeentch and Nurgle 2000 pt Army List

Sorceror Lord of Tzeentch, got Gateway
Sorceror of Nurgle, Buboes and Quagmire
Exalted of Nurgle on steed

15 Warriors of Nurgle, full command
15 Warriors of Nurgle, full command
15 Warriors of Nurgle, full command
15 marauders, flails

5 knights, banner
5 knights, banner
All the knights might have been Nurgle, not certain
Warshrine of Tzeentch


Deployment
Setting up terrain we both throw it around the edges and leave the middle extremely open. We are chaos, we just want to get into it. But then we roll a scenario with angled deployment, so our nice open lanes don't work as well. Particularly, the ruin I put on my right now occupies a chunk of my frontage and my stuff is very squeezed.

I do the usual deployment, with 8 drops of no value to start. So I get to react to his deployment, not that it matters much. Dragon Ogres go on the left, Rage Knights with Lord in the middle, other knights with BSB on the right. Scroll caddy and rank bonus go behind.

His lord goes in the middle warriors, the level 2 in the western ones. Exalted joins western knights.


Turn 1
I go first.
Some dogs try to bait charges, other stuff advances cautiously. I keep my knights and Lord out of sight from Buboes while the Exalted tries to be out of range to the east.

end of my 1

He knows what the dogs are doing and doesn't take the bait. Slight advance. Warshrine grants +1 armour save to Marauders. I dispel Buboes at my BSB and Gateway fails to cast.


Turn 2
He isn't cooperating, so the dogs turn up the pressure. Three units shove themselves into his face while the big hitters wait behind. My Lord decides he wants some right frickening now and goes off on his own. Frenzy won't matter since he will have a wide variety of targets. Western horsemen shift way out to the side.

end of my 2

His eastern knights charge dogs, who flee. Dogs barely hit the trailing knights to jump over and enemy knights barely misses the trailing knights. I was worried I had gotten too close before he declared the charge, but it was about 14.5 inches. Not what I intended, I prefer some wiggle room, but good enough.

Marauders charge dogs, who hold. If I fled the charge, my dogs would go east. That could get in front of my eastern knights who, per above, have just arranged a charge on the enemy knights.

His eastern warriors charge the horsemen, who flee. Horses flee short, staying in difficult terrain. They then fail to rally and roll big to leave the table. Bad horsemen!

His Exalted shifts from the knights to the neighboring warriors, with Nurgle wizard.

He casts Quagmire on my Rage knights. With initiative 5, I should lose one knight and I am more afraid of Buboes. I took 7 knights for a reason - hitpoints. I let it go. I roll 3 6s and lose 3 knights. Oops. Gateway miscasts to no affect.

Marauders kill one dog and break them. Dogs escape, jumping Rage knights. Marauders nearly pursue into Rage's dog screen, but are just short.

end of enemy 2


Turn 3
Charge!!! Khorne Lord charges center infantry, containing enemy lord. Eastern knights (with my BSB) charge enemy knights.
Fleeing dogs to the east rally, but the ones to west keep on going despite the general.

Horsemen move nicely into the flank of the western enemy knights. Those knights can 1) take a flank from 4 flails or 2) charge dogs and get charged by Dragon Ogres.
Rage Knights are blocked by their own screen, which gets out of the way. Rank bonus moves up.

My BSB and knights kill 4 enemy knights and break the last one, running him down. Most importantly, we see the secondary virtue of 7 wide knights. My western-most knight model will hit the enemy infantry with a straight line pursuit. The infantry unit that my lord just charged, and hasn't fought yet. Which means we wheel to maximize and I get 3 knights in close combat for a double combat. My BSB won't get to fight again, being on the eastern end, but 3 knights should tip the combat in favor of my lord.

Khorne Lord challenge is accepted by the unit chump, of course. Who dies 3 times. On average, my 3 non-frenzied knights should kill about 1 chaos warrior. But my opponents armour saves are bad and they kill 3. Not that it matters, the knights provide numbers and the BSB banner. Enemy has 2 ranks and a banner, so the 3 CR from the Khorne Lord is enough to autobreak. The Lord of Khorne runs down the Sorceror Lord of Tzeentch! I was so excited to break the wizard that I didn't pay attention. The knights made a second pursuit move they were not allowed by the rules. Didn't matter, Khorne Lord went further.

I forgot to take a picture. See below.

His Marauders charge the dogs screening the remaining Rage knights. Dogs flee, Marauder EitW into the knights. Better to charge with flails than to be charged.
Western warriors charge dogs, who flee and never rally.

Western knights charge dogs. I was supposed to flee here, ensuring the knights get into charge range of my dragon ogres. For no apparent reason, I declared hold.

Eastern Warriors turn around to face the BSB knights that just blew through.

With Gateway gone, I scroll Quagmire and his magic will not contribute further this game.

Western knights wipe out dogs, then choose not to overrun. Dumb of me to forget to flee, the Dragon Ogres are still out of charge range.

After the Warshrine grants the Marauders Terror, the Rage Knights punish the Marauders, killing 9 of them outright and running them down.

end of enemy 3. Arrows show combat progress of both parts of the turn.


Turn 4
Marauder horsemen have lined up their nice flank charge on the chaos knights, so in they go. Except I should have bought the mark of Slaanesh instead of the 6th horsemen, and they cower instead.

Dog tactical stupidity means I don't think the DOs can reach his remaining knights, but the warriors look to have moved up too far. Dragon Ogres charge them successfully.
Rage Knights turn around to rear charge those warriors if they survive the Dragon Ogres and the Khorne Lord heads that way as well.

BSB and his knights turn east to face the last warriors. Rank bonus moves forward towards Warshrine, but the scroll caddy "re-assigns himself" to the rallied dogs, who are now headed for the southeast corner in a controlled fashion.

Mark of Nurgle makes his Exalted harder to hit (now WS 3), but I roll 2 5s. Then he rolls 2 6s for armour saves. Then I only get one wound on the Nurgle wizard. I kill the champion and 3 other warriors, but the Exalted puts 3 wounds on the Dragon Ogres. Dragon Ogres bravely hold, for the moment.

end of my 4

Given that my horsemen were cowards, the Dragon Ogres won't be holding for long. Knights in their flank.

Warshrine needs a miracle, so charges the rank bonus.

Dragon Ogres get butchered and the one that gets to attack whiffs. He's run down. Warshrine cannot beat static 5 and breaks, but escapes.

end of enemy 4


Turn 5
Rank bonus charges fleeing Warshrine while BSB knights charge eastern warriors. Warshrine escapes, just barely on the table.

Khorne Lord rear charges knights, who flee. Rage Knights rear charge warriors, who flee. COWARDS!!

Cowardly horsemen head south to line up another chance at the chaos knights.

Knights kill 4 warriors, which should autobreak them. But I keep assuming Warriors are Slaanesh (if not Khorne), so they pass a normal break test.

end of my 5

His stuff rallies. BSB knights crush warriors, as his armour saves cease to roll at all, this time breaking and running them down.


Turn 6
Marauder Horsemen get another shot at the enemy knights. And again are cowards.
Khorne Lord and Rage knights go into the warriors. The table edge is nearby and he's lost the game currently, so they hold.

Khorne Lord slaughters the Nurgle wizard. That earns the first Eye of the Gods roll I've ever earned. But its turn 6, so I forgot. Knights kill some warriors, but Exalted gets one Rage knight in return. Doesn't matter, enemy breaks and is run down.

How to beat Chaos Warriors with Chaos !

Conclusions
* Not getting Irresistible Gateway on either of the first turns was probably the game. Failing to make me use a scroll in those turns made it even worse, but his sorceror lord was doomed once my khorne lord charged, baring really bad dice on my part.

* Clear difference was that half an inch on his knight charge. If he reaches my knights, I think I can still win because of my Exalted and I had more knights, but its much dicier.

* Writing this up 4 days later, it looks like I stopped paying attention after his big wizard died. Not consciously, but I started making all sorts of mistakes (pursuit, dogs not fleeing, fear). I think the wizard decided the game, but it bothers me to have gotten careless like that.

* The more I play Warriors of Chaos, the less I like it. No reason to run anything but Knights with dogs and big magic. I can see a reason to have the Dragon Ogres, but just barely. Nothing else even comes close.

2000 pts Skaven vs High Elves fantasy battle (photos)

"...a chariot charged the surviving censor bearers and crushed them all. His mage killed a ratling gun with the dark hand of death, flames of the phoenix singed seven slaves, and the dragon princes were granted an aura of fear." (uh-oh !)

(a short and sweet Warhammer tournament Fantasy Battle massacre !)

source :warhammer.org.uk

credit : Silas7

20-Sep-2009

Skaven Army List

Grey Seer Z’ym: (dispel scroll, warpstone charm,
twisted crown of horned rat, riding a screaming bell).
Grrr!: cheiftan, battle standard, heavy armor, war banner
Hantus: plague priest, flail
Typhus: plague priest, flail

28 clanrats: standard, musician (the bell pushers)
25 clanrats: standard, musician, ratling gun
25 clanrats: standard, musician, ratling gun
3x20 slaves
3x3 poison wind globadiers
3x5 night runners: extra hand weapons, throwing stars
2x19 plague monks: full command
2x5 plague censer bearers
2x3 jezzails (yellow and red team)

High Elf Army list

Archmage (lvl4 ring of corin, jewel of dusk)
Mage (lvl 2, ring of corin, scroll)
Commander (bsb, helm of fortune, sword of might)
21 spears full command
17 spears full command
17 spears full command
6 silver helms full command war banner
5 dragon princes full command
banner of ellyrion
2 chariots
2 eagles
2 bolt throwers

Derek moved his army gradually forward, the bsb/dragon princes pranced through a wood. His mage cooked a yellow jezzail with a dark hand of death, but they didn’t run. His RBT’s started shooting with deadly accuracy, picking off a ratling gun (gotta love hills) and two globadiers, panicking the last one. The skaven horde shambled forward to meet him. Z’ym made the right clan rats frenzied (to avoid panic tests and to better tear up the elves). My red jezzails killed two silver helms, but they remained steadfast. Z’ym cackled as the bell tolled, and each of the bolt throwers cracked a little.

The battle was swiftly joined as his eagles, chariots, and silver helms charged into combat. One eagle failed to reach the yellow jezzails, the other reached the globadiers and tore one to pieces. They cut the eagle back, but fled successfully from the eagle. One chariot crushed a sole censer bearer, and the survivors did three wounds back. The other chariot fared much better, backed up by the silver helms. They decimated the left clan rat unit, paniced the nearby red jezzails who would flee from the field. Two units sacked for the price of one! Five censor bearers were cooked by a ring of fury, while the archmage tried in vain to deactivate my seer’s magic items. All the magic in the army was located in the screaming bell unit, and the magic resistance would prove adequate defense against the ring of corin. Three night runners were slain by RBT fire.

The two survivors let out a vicious squeek and charged the arch mage. The arch mage dodged all their attacks (those Asuryan sure are speedy!) and the spears skewered the poor night runners. Another night runner squad charged the wounded eagle, who fled into some woods and died (how odd is that?) My unit of slaves charge into his dragon princes; five slaves died but the elves were held in place. My censer bearers kill the chariot they were facing.

Derek’s second chariot charged the surviving censor bearers and crushed them all. His mage killed a ratling gun with the dark hand of death, flames of the phoenix singed seven slaves, and the dragon princes were granted an aura of fear. His RBT’s killed the surviving jezzails. The dragon princes killed eight more slaves, but they fought on with insane courage!

My frenzied clanrats charge his spears between the trees, where the pesky mage is hiding. A few die on either side, but the elves break and run down by the clanrats. One of the pesky mages is silenced. My plague monks are just in range of the dragon princes, but do to their position can only charge with the very corners touching. This proves to be a disaster, as the plague priest can only watch as the dragon princes and commander slaughter all the slaves, breaking the plague monks and running them down. Disaster! I managed to dispel the f lames on the phoenix on my poor plague monks.

Derek’s high elves continue to sweep the field clean. His large spears charge my slaves, who fail to flee enough and are caught. His silver helms charge my plague monks on the flank (my plague priest is on the wrong side) and breaks them on the charge. His arch mage left the spear unit and joined a RBT crew. From that vantage point, she rained spells on the clan rats that killed her student, panicing them. The bolt throwers shot the clan rats down to the point where they couldn’t rally. The dragon princes ran down a second unit of slaves. Bit by bit, Derek was carved a statue of victory out of the wood of my army.

Z’ym moved forward and cast pestilence breath on a spear unit, killing about eight of them and they ran to escape his foul stink. He jumped up and down with happiness, then looked around in panic. All of his army was gone now, save for the rats pushing the bell. Behind him were dragon princes, on the flank were silver helms and a chariot, in front of him were the rallied spears.

The arch mages cast flames of the phoenix at the bell, but miscast. Z’ym took that power and hurled a lightning blast that killed three dragon princes, only the commander and champion remained. Z’ym cast warp lighting on the chariot, but HE miscast. The arch mage took that power and cast flames of the phoenix, killing fourteen clanrats! Z’ym howled in rage as the elven chariot and cavalry charged in. The flames burned hotter (I had no chance to dispel it) and cooked all but one of the clanrats and the BSB. The last clanrat died under the hooves of a chariot. Z’ym screamed a challenge and hurled himself at the BSB. He failed to wound, and was cut down. He snickered as his wounds stitched back together, and he outran the elves who tried to catch him. The problem was, he didn’t stop running, and left the field with two night runners hot footing it after him.

All the rats were dead. Long live the High Elves! Derek played his army like a real pro, picking off the small, dangerous units quickly. He applied overwhelming force to deal with situations, and was able to concentrate his spells and shooting to devastating effect. Derek would go on to take 5th place overall with a very balanced, very strong army (similar to lists I used to field). I don’t think I did anything terribly wrong this game. I could have been a little more observant with the plague monks in their spacing, and I could have moved the characters around when combat was looming to make sure they too part instead of sitting around. What do you think?

Skaven vs Lizardmen 2000 pts fantasy battle (photos)

"He holds my magic at bay, while my ratling gun and globadiers kill five skinks on the left flank. The bell tolls another 13, an army wide panic test. Brian snickers and passes all his tests."

(another friendly, engaging tournament battle report from Silas7)

source : warhammer.org.uk

credit : Silas7

19-Sep-2009

Skaven Army List

Grey Seer Z’ym: dispel scroll, warpstone charm, twisted crown of horned rat, riding a screaming bell.
Grrr!: cheiftan, battle standard, heavy armor, war banner
Hantus: plague priest, flail
Typhus: plague priest, flail

28 clanrats: standard, musician (the bell pushers)
25 clanrats: standard, musician, ratling gun
25 clanrats: standard, musician, ratling gun
3x20 slaves
3x3 poison wind globadiers
3x5 night runners: extra hand weapons, throwing stars
2x19 plague monks: full command
2x5 plague censer bearers
2x3 jezzails (yellow and red team)

Lizardmen Army list

2nd gen Slann
(+1 spell, diadem of power, 2+ ward, fear banner) with
16 temple guard full command, war banner?
2x3 kroxigor
3x10 skinks
5 terradons w/brave
skink priest
nike saurus.

This was another objective based scenario. There were three markers along the center of the table. The player who had the highest collective unit strength within 6” of the objective won it. You needed a majority of the objectives to win the game; victory points only mattered for bonus points. I was sweating because Brian had a 2nd gen Slann, and Brian was sweating because I had him outnumbered about four to one.


Brian deploys his temple guard, salamanders and some skinks near the center objective, and his kroxigor and more skinks near the left one. I split my army evenly between all three objectives. He moves forward cautiously, sending his terradons to about the midfield. I weather his first batch of spells with little damage. I move forward boldly on the right, and with more caution on the center and left. A miscast on my part works in my favor, as I drain away the stored dice he was holding in his diadem!


The rain of spells begins, as the slann kills two jezzails and two censer bearers with his magic missiles. His skinks shoot a few slaves and a clanrat. His terradons hurl javelins and pin the ratling gun to the ground. The salamanders work up a tremendous volume of spit and melt fourteen plague monks into a puddle of goo! My slaves charge his skinks near the central objective. The night runners leave the safety of the woods and charge his terradons. Here's a shot of the left flank, showing the depleted plague monks.


He holds my magic at bay, while my ratling gun and globadiers kill five skinks on the left flank. The bell tolls another 13, an army wide panic test. Brian snickers and passes all his tests. His skinks hold up my slaves, being so close to the slann’s army standard. My night runners fail to wound at all, and his terradons “terr” them to messes, panicing the nearby globadiers. Why oh why didn’t I just stay in the woods? It’s not like he could have charged me! Stupid rats.

The scar veteran decides to take a chance and charges at the screaming bell, brandishing his great weapon. The salamander pack tears along with him. The rain of spells and darts continues to fall. It takes three magic missiles, but the slann finally finished off a unit of censer bearers. His left most skinks shoot the ratling gun that was causing them so much pain, while another plague monk falls from a dart in his neck.

His terradons swoop behind my second plague monk unit and skewer another four plague monks. The slave / skink combat continues, the slaves win but the skinks hold. The scar vet takes many swings at the bell, but only hits once. Once is enough, as I fail my ward save and the bell explodes! Some clanrats die, but my seer survives the mess with only one wound lost. Despite that loss, we still win the combat.


The depleted plague monks and surviving censer bearers charge into the salamander combat, while Z’ym skitterleaps out of the unit and into the clanrats on the right, far away from any hostile enemy. My night runners and globadiers sandwich the skinks between them (to deny them the chance of standing and shooting). The larger plague monk unit charges into the flank of the slave / skink combat, hoping to settle things at last. The last jezzail in the damaged squad takes his own life rather than risk getting fireballed again (reliable… HAH!) This round swings firmly my way. The night runners butcher his skinks, the plague monks slay the last of the skinks. The bell combat is epic: the plague monks kill a salamander, his scar vet challenges and kills my plague priest, and I kill enough handlers to make it nigh impossible for him to hold. My censers and monks run down the fleeing lizards, but my clanrats hold, not wanting to end up in charge range of his temple guard.

The temple guard surges forward into the slaves, who wisely flee. He just manages to “enemy in the way” into my clanrats, who (un)wisely decide to flee as well. Grr laughs manically. Brian sends the terradons into the rear of my plague monks to pin them down. (3d6 for Ld tests plus a BSB makes almost any unit a tar pit). The slann doesn’t blink as his spells kill five clanrats and 4 slaves from the fleeing units. His last unit of skinks shoots two censer bearers. The plague monks weather his charge and hold.

The censer bearers charge the skinks who fired on them, while the few plague monks charge a kroxigor unit in the flank. The slaves flee off the board. Grr yells out “Last one home has to clean the rat ogre cages! WEEEEEE!” and the clanrats leg it after the slaves, also leaving the board. I just lost almost fifty US worth of troops, leaving the center firmly in Brian’s hands. Z’ym curses his idiotic standard bearer, then hurls a plague into the temple guard. Four of them catch cold, and die. Z’ym’s hysterical cackle fills the air. The plague priest moves to the rear of the monks and swats some terradons, but they continue to hold cold-bloodedly. The censer bearers make short work of the skinks (short, get it?), but the plague monks and kroxigor fail to wound each other, and he holds.

Brian looks around the board. Currently I am winning the objective battle: my slaves and Z’ym’s clanrats hold the right objective, my plague monks are contending the center objective, and my clanrats and various skirmishers stand poised to swoop in and take the third, outnumbering his two kroxigor units greatly.


At his telepathic command, the temple guard charge into the plague monk unit. The slann sends more magic missiles to thin out the slave units, killing eight of them near the left objective. The temple guards make a wonderful mess of things and break the plague monks. The temple guardss wisely hold, while the last terradon (the brave, of course) runs down the monks and takes their banner. My other monks fail to wound again, and his kroxigor cuts two of them in half, breaking the rest of them and picking up their standard (this is very important!).

The censer bearers dither between charging the kroxigor on their left and the temple guad on their right. They end up careening into the temple guard, hoping to reduce their unit strength a little. Z’ym orders the clanrats forward towards the center, while the slaves sit on the right objective. Z’ym chuckles and wrings his hands. “Foolish flying jungle lizard! Keep our precious standard. It makes a wonderful conductor… for ELECTRICITY!” The brave is sheathed in a corona of warp lighting, and burns to ash along with his mount and the banner. On the left the night runners and globadiers run behind the kroxigor and pelt them with pointy and stinky things, wounding them slightly. The censers kill two temple guards before being slaughtered.
Here's the hotly contested left flank on the last turn.


Everything hangs in the balance on the last turn. The slann directs all of his remaining spells at the left clanrat block, killing about eight of them with spells. They panic and flee off the table. Suddenly the entire left flank is in doubt! My slaves, globadiers, and night runners all run like mad towards the objective. Z’ym urges his rats forward, but they won’t make it to the center in time. In spite, he kills a few more temple guard, reducing them down to three remaining. Shooting fails to kill any kroxigor, and the battle comes to an end.

Brian holds the center objective, and I hold the right. We add up the unit strength on the left flank. I have a total of twenty four (slaves, globadiers, and night runners) and he has eighteen for the two kroxigor units… and TEN for the captured standard. He has twenty eight, giving him the objective and the game!

At the time I was pretty broken hearted about losing that clanrat unit in the last turn, but as I review the report, this was a kick-bottom game of Warhammer. Brian is the kind of opponent who can make you laugh even when he's kicking your butt. Fortune swung back and forth, and while Brian was winning on points I was making him work hard to get the objectives. The last round was crucial. One thing I could have done better was to move Z’ym’s clanrats a round sooner, so they could have held the center. Who knows how things would have gone though? I do think my dice let me down in a number of key places, and I don’t know if I could have accounted for that. What do you think?

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2000 points Wood Elves vs Skaven battle report (photos)

"A hail of doom arrow killed 10 slaves on the right and panicked them. His glade guard got in a shooting war with my jezzails, killing one in each team and panicking them off the board." (will they hold ?!)

(another short but succinct Warhammer Fantasy tournament report from Silas)

source :warhammer.org.uk

credit : Silas7

18-Sep-2009

2000 pt Skaven Army

Grey Seer Z’ym: dispel scroll, warpstone charm, twisted crown of horned rat, riding a screaming bell.
Grrr!: cheiftan, battle standard, heavy armor, war banner
Hantus: plague priest, flail
Typhus: plague priest, flail

28 clanrats: standard, musician (the bell pushers)
25 clanrats: standard, musician, ratling gun
25 clanrats: standard, musician, ratling gun
3x20 slaves
3x3 poison wind globadiers
3x5 night runners: extra hand weapons, throwing stars
2x19 plague monks: full command
2x5 plague censer bearers
2x3 jezzails (yellow and red team)

2000 pts Wood Elves Army list

Highborn (great weapon, rhymer’s harp, annoyance?)
noble (bsb) with 22 eternal guard (full command, war banner)
3x10 archers
3x8 dryads
2x5 wild riders (full command)
3 treekin
3 warhawk riders
giant eagle



The game started slowly, our two armies advancing towards each other. I baited some of his wild riders off the left board edge with my night runners, this would keep that nasty cavalry a little further from my flank as I marched more towards the center.


His warhawks charged my seer, wounding him once before they hit and ran. A hail of doom arrow killed 10 slaves on the right and panicked them. His glade guard got in a shooting war with my jezzails, killing one in each team and panicking them off the board. My clanrats charged a nearby eagle and broke it, but failed to catch it. Two units of slaves charge in and tie up his war hawks and his elm dryads.

A huge combat erupted in the center. Willow dryads come to the rescue of the warhawks, breaking the slave unit. The willows would pursue into some night runners, and the warhawks pursue into globadiers. On the right the elm dryads ripped the slaved to shreds and chased through into some more night runners.


On either side of the carnage, the highborn’s eternal guard stared daggers at Z’ym and his bell. Z’ym cast an irresistible plague into the eternal guard, killing seven of them, and spreading it to kill 4 more dryads. Cackling with glee, Z’ym ordered the bell struck…. which promptly blew up, killing Z’ym with it. My rightmost plague monks and censer bearers charged the treekin, breaking them and running them down. My ratling gun blasted four of his birch dryads. The earth grew wet with blood and sap.

On either flank, the wild riders come charging in. My clanrats flee on the left but are run down, and my plague monks on the right are hit in the flank and broken as well. The glade guard shoots all but one of the censer bearers. After killing the night runners, the willow dryads charge a ratling gun and chased it off. The elm dryads tear the night runners into bits, declining to charge the clanrats, who still looked in shock at the ruins of the bell and seer at their feet. Grrr waved his banner and urged them to fight on, in his high pitched voice.


The skaven army squeaked as one and swarmed forward: censer bearers charging the willows, clanrats and plague monks charging into the eternal guard, and the lone blue censer bearer dodge a dozen arrows to charge into the glade guard! The surviving ratling gun roared and mowed down the wild riders that killed their parent unit. The green censers kill seven willow dryads, the last holds. The clanrats and plague monks fail to do a singe wound (!), while the eternal guard and their leaders kill nine rats. Both units break, despite Grr’s frantic flag waving, and the plague monks are run down. The lone censer bearer kills two glade guards, but they hold.

The slaughter continues, but the Asrai’s spirits are rising. His eagle runs down the clanrats that failed to catch him earlier. The wild riders move around to the flank of Grr’s clanrats. The birch dryads charge the censer bearers, killing two before I wipe them all out. Two more glade guard fall to fumes and flail, but they persevere. The elm dryads kills seven clanrats, but can’t overcome the weight of number and banners. With two army standards so close to each other, breaking was unlikely for either side. Covered with the sap of the birch dryads, the green censer bearers charge into the flank of the clanrat fight. Grr sees the waiting wild riders, and high tails it out of the unit into a nearby unit of slaves. The glade guard finally drags down the last blue censer bearer. Three elm dryads fall, along with one clanrat, and the elm dryads are run down and destroyed.

Their victory is short lived. The wild riders charge the flank of the clanrats and scatter them under their spectral hooves. Grr waves his army standard, not in victory, but in defeat (Ed -Wood Elves beat Skaven).

What a slugfest this turned out to be! Mychael was a great opponent, it was nice to fight him w/out any extreme scenario cards in play. There were a few points when dice really let me down; in playing about 20 games with this army the bell only blew up twice. The combat with the eternal guard was disappointing; even a few wounds to them would have made it much easier to hold. I think I played a pretty good game, overall. What do you think?

2000 pts Ogre Kingdoms vs High Elves Battle Report (pictures)

"His hunter charges the lion chariot. The scraplauncher... moves over to target the phoenix guard. His Ironguts move forward to threaten my dragon princes. The trappers... wound the march blocking eagle, while the gnoblars and tyrant shoot down the baiting eagle." (sounds like a good start for the Ogres !)

(this Warhammer game is all about good tournament armies designed for seizing scenario objectives)

source :warhammer.org.uk

credit : Silas7

17-Sep-2009

High Elves 2000 points army list

Elendriel – Archmage, lvl 4, annulian crystal, dispel scroll, ring of fury
Farendil – Mage, lvl 2, jewel of the dusk
Mithrandel – Noble, army standard bearer, dragon armor, shield, barded steed, helm of fortune, sword of might

10 archers
20 spearmen: full command, lion standard
15 phoenix guard: full command, war banner
14 white lions: full command, standard of balance
6 dragon princes: champion, musician, amulet of light
Lion chariot
2 phoenix claw bolt throwers
2 eagles

Ogre Kingdoms 2000 points army list

Tyrant: great weapon, pistols, light armor, 3 thiefstones;
Hunter: sword of battle, long strider, sabertusks
10 bulls, full command, extra hand weapon
5 bulls
5 iron guts: champion, standard, runemaw banner
5 iron guts: champ, standard
20 gnoblars
scraplauncher
2x2 leadbelchers
8 gnoblar trappers
gorger

In this scenario, you place three of your objective markers on enemy units. You must break that unit and re-capture your objective marker. If you flee a charge, you drop the objective marker. The person with the most of their own markers is the winner. You get four bonus points if you defeat your opponent by 300 pts.

I put my objective markers on his gnoblars (easy to kill), his big “train” of bulls, and an iron gut unit (he would have to attack with these, so I had a chance of getting them.) Alex put his objective markers on my archers (easy to kill), phoenix guard, and dragon princes (I’d have to attack with them).

There was a pond dividing the center of the field, and hills and forests on either side.

another choke point!

High Elves turn 1 – The white lions move towards the woods, to flush out the trappers and support the phoenix guard and spears. Eagles on the flanks again, missile troops in the center and lion chariot and dragon princes on the right. Elendriel used the lore of fire this game, and threw fiery blasts at the gnoblars. Alex used his two dice to dispel my ring each round, and let all the other magic through. Five gnoblars burn to death and they panic, dropping their objective marker. The archers and bolt throwers start trying to winnow down the ogre train, and do two wounds to a bull.

The ogres in the center shuffle forward slightly, while on either flank the bulls and hunter march swiftly towards the elven lines. The gnoblars rally, while the scraplauncher shuffles over and picks up the objective before firing a volley of garbage that kills five spears. The tyrant shoots and wound an eagle. His gnoblars stay just out of sight of my white lions.

Objectives: Ogres – 0, High Elves – 0


trying to set a trap

Turn 2: The dragon princes and lion chariot move just out of range of his iron guts, one eagle flies to try to tempt the scraplauncher into a charge that would strand it in the lake, and the other flies to march block his belchers and the big bull unit trying to flank me. All available magical and mundane missiles pepper the scraplauncher, but we only manage two wounds on it. I concentrate my spells and shooting on the scraplauncher, but again only do two wounds to it. It was a very underwhelming performance.


look closely at the upper right corner

His hunter charges the lion chariot, and is just in range thanks to his longstrider name. The scraplauncher doesn’t go berserk, but moves over to target the phoenix guard. His iron guts move forward to threaten my dragon princes. The trappers poke their heads out of the woods and wound the march blocking eagle, while the gnoblars and tyrant shoot down the baiting eagle. I underestimated how many attacks the hunter and his cats can dish out. I failed to wound any cats on the charge, and after five strength five and six strength four attacks, my chariot is cut to pieces. The overrun from the hunter just clips my dragon princes by a few millimeters, and into the flank comes the hunter. Big problem!

Objectives: Ogres – 0, High Elves – 0

HE 3 – The elven line holds steady. Elendriel blasts the iron guts, but her spell rebounds onto the gnoblars, revealing where the runemaw banner is. A fireball from her kills an iron gut that’s threatening my princes. Missile fire accounts for the scraplauncher, an iron gut, and a bull from the “train.” The hunter kills two dragon princes, but not before they wound a sabertusk. The princes valiantly hold.

The “train” charges my phoenix guard, the leadbelchers also charging the flank. If it were just the bus, I would risk fighting them. Losing my rank bonuses was too dangerous, so the phoenix guard fled, dropping their marker and l leaving the white lions to absorb the charge from the “train”. The iron guts pile into the dragon prince combat, killing three more princes. The champion flees, and the ogres run him down and reclaim a marker. The white lions kill a bull and sorely wound a champion, so now the “train” has no ranks. The bulls and tyrant win the combat, and I roll my stubborn test. Nine. The “train” runs over the white lions, and I am in a world of trouble. (I can’t believe I don’t have a picture of this!)

Objectives: Ogres -1, High Elves – 0

Turn 4: Mathrandel rallies the phoenix guard, looking with dismay at the bloodied ogres. Eledriel hurls fireballs and blasts and wipes out the depleted iron guts. Shooting this round kills a sabertusk, but is otherwise ineffective.

The ogres draw their trap shut around the elves. The five bulls on the left round the forest, the “train” turns to face the phoenix guard and picks up the second objective marker. The hunter charges the archers in the flank, while his right leadbelchers charge a bolt thrower. The other leadbelchers move closer and fire on the spears, killing one. The gorger finally crawls out of a hole in the ground, and shambles in front of the phoenix guard, blocking my charge on his “train”. The bolt thrower crew dies, and the archers break from combat. The hunter, minus a sabertusk, plows into the last bolt thrower.


closing the net…

Objectives: Ogres – 2, High Elves – 0

Turn 5: The phoenix guard step up and attack the gorger, but can’t kill it. My archers rally. The spears turn to face the leadbelchers who are behind them. Elendrial and Farendil move out on their own, but magic again is ineffective this round. Eager for more scalps, the hunter wipes out the bolt thrower crew and overruns into the phoenix guard.

The bulls charge and annihilate my archers. The tryant sits back with his “train”, picking bits of elf from between their teeth. The leadbelcher who fired last round charge the rear of the spears, while the other belchers claim the archer’s marker. The gorger lunges forward and bites Mithrandel’s head off! The phoenix guard kills a sabertusk, and stay in the fight. The bulls pile into the other flank of the phoenix guard, beset on three sides now. The spears lose combat, but hold against the ogres.


the last stand!

Objectives: Ogres – 3 High Elves - 0

Turn 6: Elendriel blasts and kills the leadbelchers, who drop their objective. The phoenix guard fight bravely, but are overcome in the end, and die. The ogres have their revenge.

Objectives: Ogres – 2, High Elves – 0

1 pt loss for the High Elves.

While I had some lackluster turns of magic and shooting, I lost this game due to some bad decisions. Had I positioned the chariot a little further away, my dragon princes would have been free to slam his iron guts, and start cleaning up his back field (and seizing objective markers). The white lion’s breaking was unlucky, but they should have been further forward to force the charge from the “train” and take advantage of the army standard re-roll. That would have made all the difference in the world. I could have had a little better target priority initially, but that’s a small mistake.

I never felt like I was out of the game, because only the objectives were important for winning.

Dwarfs vs Dogs of War 2000pts Battle Report (Miniature Pictures)

"The cannon now brought down another Lancer, while the archers killed two of the Light Horse and scared the last remaining rider away! Both regiments of Thunderers targeted the duellists creeping up the road between them, and when three spun to the ground the rest stumbled backwards, falling away in shock."

(A great story style report, an object lesson in how to (or not to) handle gunlines !)

source : battlereporter.freeforums.org

credit : BatPadre

12-Sep-2009

Prologue - The road to Waldbach, Wissenland, Summer IC2524

In the dying light of evening, at the crossroads just north of Pahl, Thane Forkbeard gathered his veterans and ironbeards around him. Upon the road, his baggage train of mules, wagons and warmachines streamed past while two local dwarfs (who had lived amongst men as long as they could remember - which was a long time) came out to cheer their cousins along.

Famed for his blonde locks and beard, fashioned appropriately to suit his name, Forkbeard had unsheathed his sword and held it aloft to signal silence and that he was about to talk war. The local Solland scout stood by Thane Forkbeard's side, having described what lay ahead in the most detail he could, and now Forkbeard intended to pass that intelligence on to his warriors.

They listened obediently to all that was said of hills and swamp, villages and forest, but then their interest suddenly doubled when they heard Forkbeard announce that the Black Company, the villainous dogs who had butchered their kin in the mountain passes, were ahead and would be their enemy in the morrow. Their faces showed their true feelings, for on each was writ a stern expression revealing a wholehearted and unstoppable intent to exact cruelly appropriate vengeance upon the foe.

The Battle - Egredy Inn Part One
Near to Waldbach, Wissenland, the Empire

Captain Carlos Atobello, paymaster to the Black Company, marched with his bodyguard of halberdiers at the heart of the column. He was clad in his full armour, and so the journey was heavy work, but he chose to march rather than ride so that he could be with these his most loyal men, who had a personal bond with him. While a soldier behind him carried his helmet, which was some relief, he was free to twiddle his large Tilean moustachios as he walked - out of old habit rather than nervousness.

Not everyone, however, was as calm as he. Beside him was a trumpeter, the youngest soldier in the regiment, perhaps the youngest in this whole brigade. Carlos could see the man was trying to hide his fear, and for a moment or two he considered what it was that he could be afraid of. This brigade was strong enough, surely, to handle anything the Sollanders could muster to send against it? He had two regiments of veteran pikemen, both at full strength, and although not as experienced or battle worthy as the Don’s two favourite regiments (the Resplendente and Instancabile) they were toughened warriors who had fought in several campaigns. He had two companies of heavy cavalry, two regiments of crossbowmen, some duellists and some light horse, and though yet again these were not the Don’s elite units they were certainly a force to be reckoned with. Maybe the young man did not believe that? Or maybe he did not like being under Carlos’ command and would prefer the Don himself were here?

In the end, Carlos decided that the young soldier was probably afraid because they were out ahead of the main force, as far from home (whichever place he thought of as ‘home’) as they had ever been. Carlos chose not to linger upon that thought however, but simply said to himself that someone had to be in the vanguard, and today it was he.

They had marched around Waldbach, having gained intelligence that an enemy force approached the town. Considering that gaining access to the town might take a little time, if only to come to some sort of agreement with the locals, Carlos had decided to postpone that particular business. He did not want to be caught outside Waldbach by the enemy, especially if the town’s militia might well take it as a sign to ally with the Sollanders and sally forth to attack him from behind. So he had abandoned his artillery train to look to themselves for a while and with the rest of his much more mobile troops half-circumnavigated the town. Now he moved along the road to the west of it, directly towards the advancing foe. He was convinced this should be something the enemy could not possibly expect, for they would surely assume he would attempt to take possession of the town? Thus he hoped he might gain the element of surprise.

His light horse came up on the flank and trotted alongside the guard. Their leader jumped down from the saddle to describe the land ahead, between them and the foe. He told of woods to the right, though not at all thick or extensive, more a few scattered copses of trees than a forest; the road being walled for some distance yet; small enclosed fields for the penning of livestock; and an inn of some size, called Egredy - not fortified but a substantial structure surrounding a courtyard.

Good enough, thought Carlos, or at least no worse and no different to much of the terrain they had so far encountered in Wissenland.

Within moments Carlos ordered the trumpeter to blast a call for his officers to attend him and confer, and within minutes they also had their orders: the two pike regiments would form a vanguard to the north of the road, while the Lancers moved along the edge of the wooded area to protect the flank and launch a charge when they could. The light horse would guard the far southern flank (the left), while the only unit on the road (where the enemy might expect them) would be the skirmishing duellists, certainly able to get off the road if it might prove too hazardous. Meanwhile the rest of the force would form a rearguard and move a little more cautiously, ready to advance exactly where they were needed once the enemy's formation was known.

NB: Scenario rules reflected the forming from column of both sides by allowing only half the units (rounded up or down, player’s choice) to deploy. The other half would come on from their own table edge in turn two.

Two things Carlos did not know were firstly that the enemy were not the Sollanders of Uryens de Crux he expected but their dwarfen allies, who had a burning hatred of the Black Company for deeds done as they passed through the mountains; and secondly that the enemy knew full well they were coming. Thane Forkbeard commanded the dwarven force, but as well as dwarves he had a handful of local men, militia and archers, guiding him through the land and acting as incredibly able scouts. They knew the land and its inhabitants well, and thus informed the thane of the Black Company’s approach. He thus ordered his artillery to be placed as best they could beside the road, and arrayed his handgun and crossbow regiments so that they might pour lead and steel-tipped bolts at any who approached.

Apart from his own Ironbreakers, however, he ordered the men and his two other fighting regiments to form a rearguard. If the foe could dance around a town then they might try to dance around him. Only when battle was properly begun and their help was needed would he risk bringing them forward.

Upon Thane Forkbeard’s left his engineer found a good spot to quickly entrench the cannon, using the muscle of the Quarrelers. Once done, they themselves formed up ready right by the hastily made earth and stone work they had fashioned.

While Carlos played safe and took his place in the rearguard, his second in command, one Captain De Bordon, though a Bretonnian outcast of considerable years, trotted on with his mercenary Lancers, quickly finding himself much forwards of the rest of the mercenary vanguard.

Upon the other flank, the Light Horse, more out of curiosity than impetuosity, also moved quickly up, skirting the Inn which blocked their view of the enemy to come galloping around its left towards the centre of the field. There they found themselves facing a bolt thrower and a regiment of handgunners. There was the briefest of moments where a good half of them hesitated, as men (not horses) baulked at the likely outcome of their advance, but then remembering that hesitation could prove a unit’s undoing in battle, they prepared to charge.

They soon learned that their initial doubt was well founded, for a volley of bullets and two bolts were unleashed at them and five were bloodily unhorsed. The remaining three were stunned, but did not flee. Perhaps they thought if they turned they would suffer the same fate before they could get away? Or perhaps they just thought 'To hell with it'? But they decided they would charge anyway.

The dwarfen cannon proved accurate in its first shot and felled one of the Lancers. But nothing else the dwarves unleashed harmed anything. In truth, many dwarves still had nothing to target and were forced to bide their time.

Part Two

Now the Black company rearguard entered the field, crossbow, lancers and Carlos with his guard. Every one moved as far as they could, for the sound of gunfire and cannons made them only too aware that the vanguard would need support.

As they did so, the three surviving Light Horse went for the only target they felt they had a chance of defeating and charged at the bolt thrower to the Thunderers’ right. Two spears found their mark, slaying a brace of the crew, then the three riders leapt over the machine to run down the last crewman, and (perhaps more importantly) put themselves were they thought they would be out of harm’s way.

The newly arrived rearguard Lancers rode speedily forwards so that they soon presented a solid front with the advancing pike of the vanguard, and impressive enough sight, were it not that an enclosed field was standing right before them and would surely thus force their formation to have a short life!

None of the Black Company’s crossbow could yet engage the foe, and in truth Carlos now realised that by keeping them close to him he had probably wasted their potential. Still, he thought, if they can’t shoot, then they can come up and fight instead.

Behind the dwarfen guns and machines, their own rearguard marched up. The Empire archers surprised the surviving Black Company Light Horsemen by suddenly appearing before them, ten arrows notched in ten bows and about to be unleashed straight at them. To the archers’ left marched up the Empire Free Company, all local Solland sympathisers, then on the far left came the last two Dwarven fighting regiments, led by the army standard bearer and advancing to support their Thane.

The cannon now brought down another Lancer, while the archers killed two of the Light Horse and scared the last remaining rider away! Both regiments of Thunderers targeted the duellists creeping up the road between them, and when three spun to the ground the rest stumbled backwards, falling away in shock.

The Solland militia, who could see this, began cheering. In truth, they had been unsure about their allies, these mountain dwarfs, but now those uncertainties were washed away by sulphurous smoke and the Black Company's blood. They cheered the dwarfs, most crying ‘Huzzah!’ and ‘For Solland!’, while one gruff voice said “Good shot”. They were beginning to realise that these dwarfs knew what they were doing.

Captain De Bordon wondered whether there was any sensible purpose to being this far forward of the lines, but knowing that now he was there he had to act fast or be cut down by missiles, he ordered his Lancers charged into the Dwarf Quarrelers. One Lancer crashed to the ground when the Dwarfs shot into them, but the Lancers reached the foe to kill the unit champion and another. They soon learned, to their surprise, that the Dwarfs had not come to this field to do anything but fight, and the Quarrelers stood their ground to fight on, which meant that moments later Thane Forkbeard and his Ironbreakers could crash into the Lancers’ flank with a cry of ‘Vengeance’.

The second unit of Lancers were moving up on the other side of the field, unwilling to hold back so as to stay in line with the pikemen, yet also wholly aware that they were facing a potential crossfire from two regiments of Thunderers. If they could time their charge right, however, they might disrupt the enemy lines just in time to allow the massed foot behind them to get in and finish the foe off. Their worst fears then came true and more, however, for when the dwarven handgunners and one of the bolt throwers let loose at them five of their number fell, leaving only one solitary, stunned Lancer.

And this was not the only unit of Lancers to be mauled at that moment, as Thane Forkbeard and his Ironbreakers brought down two of De Bordon’s Company and then the Quarrelers chased the remaining few, including Captain De Bordon himself, right off the field. This left but one lone Lancer as the mounted arm of the Black Company. Carlos Atabello was ignorant to the fate of his horse, however, because the Pike regiment stood in his way so that he could see nothing of the field of battle.

The last Lancer, perhaps simply to avoid a pointless death by bullets, charged into the crew of the Organ gun. He and they would fight on for sometime while the battle continued around them, neither side able to harm the other.

All the five remaining regiments of Black Company foot could do was advance, an unnerving exercise considering that they had to step over the fallen bodies of armoured Lancers and watch as crazed and wounded horses ran past them. The pikemen on the far right could see that they too were heading towards a deadly arc of Dwarfs, with no other Black Company men to support them, apart from the two shuffling Crossbow companies moving up behind them, still uncertain of their role in this battle.



The Dwarven Quarrelers reformed so that both they and the cannon could bring their ranged weapons to bear, and a terrible calm settled on them as they awaited the arrival of the next foe to be blasted. When the cannon did fire, commanded by the engineer, its ball ploughed through five of the pikemen, killing all instantly. More soldiers, Duellists and pikemen, fell to the Thunderers’ volleys elsewhere on the field.

Desperate, the Black Company pikemen moved towards the Thane, hoping that they might draw him on with jeers and shouts to charge their hedge of steel tips. This way they could fight dwarfs that they could reach and not have to face another withering blast from the cannon.

Only one dwarf fell as the Black Company Crossbowmen finally found themselves able to shoot, but his death, and the taunts of the pikemen were not enough to make Thane Forkbeard abandon his calm and calculated approach to dealing with this foe. Why bring cannons and crossbows if not to use them? He stood and watched, coldly determining that he would let these men receive one more bloody volley before he unleashed the sword-dwarves against them.

It so transpired that the dwarven swords would not be necessary, for when six more pikemen fell screaming to another cannon ball and several quarrels, the entire regiment broke and fled, scrabbling over the hedge by their side to run pell mell through the little field in panic.

As they ran, three pikemen from the other regiment were felled by bullets, the last of the Duellists were shot and five of Carlos’ Bodyguard also tumbled to the ground. The paymaster was now definitely unnerved: Were all his horse lost? Were those pike tips he could see over the hedge, running in the wrong direction? Was there any way to turn this battle or had he already been defeated before he had personally even seen the foe?

It was to prove so - he never did see the enemy. When the pikemen ahead of him desperately charged the Dwarfen Thunderers they were met with a potent countershot which so panicked them that their charge was not driven home. They turned to join the other fleeing pikemen frantically dashing away from the enemy, and when they thus crashed into the Paymaster and his Bodyguard behind, that regiment also broke and ran. A panic fear had overwhelmed the Black Company, and all but the Crossbowmen could think of nothing else but to run, run, run.

At the head of his army (where every leader should be?) ran Carlos. Breathless and bewildered, he was already he was thinking how he would explain his defeat to the Don: not how many men he could save; not whether he could rally enough to take the town and thus fortify themselves; but how he would stand before Don Matthias to describe his failure. Maybe if he could get to the artillery and at least escort that back to the main force, then his master might be more forgiving. That was the best he could think to do and, still running faster than all those around him, he decided it was indeed what he would do.

Thane Forkbeard stood as if in a daze. This foe were meant to be the men who had butchered Dwarfs in the pass, yet here they ran like cowards and levies in the face of a little gunpowder. Hardly a dwarf had fallen, while the Black Company’s dead and dying littered the field before him. Perhaps they were the archetypal bullies, cruel and threatening in the face of weakness, but when up against a ready and willing foe, they became fearful wretches?

He waved his sword and shouted his command: “On to Waldbach.”

And that is what the Dwarfs did.


Game notes:

A short battle, against a player who's more used to Dark Elves, though has commanded DoW in campaigns. Maybe the shortness was because we had no magic?

I thought it would be unfair (if fluffy) that the Black Company had no artillery, being a quick moving column, against such a strongly missile army - which is why I made the terrain so cluttered and gave them three units of horse and one of skirmishers. So terrain and mobility favoured them, guns favoured the dwarfs. Not only was such terrain appropriate for the area, but would give the vastly quicker Black Company troops plenty of cover if they were clever enough to use it.

They weren't!

Admittedly they avoided the organ gun. But as he's done before this player divided his strength and arrived before the bullets, balls and bolts in little packets to be butchered in turn. The three Horse units could have come hurtling around the left side of the inn and out-flanked the dwarf line, forcing the rearguard to deploy there and thus blocking the missile troops' line of fire. On the other flank they could have deployed a long screen of crossbowmen (they had 28 all told) and thus kept the dwarfen missile troops busy. Meanwhile the massed foot could have come down the centre hopefully to take on the dwarfs just as the horse were weakening. Well, that's what I would have done.

At the start I thought the Black Co were odds on, and was itching to command them, but I wanted the other player to command troops he was used to, rather than dwarves who he has bever commanded.

We didn't total up Vic Pts as there was no need. It was obviously a massacre - 4 units wiped out (including 2elite Horse and a captain), 3 fleeing (including another captain) and only 2 still operating, against the loss of one Bolt Thrower at a measly 45 pnts and I believe only 4 other dwarfs!