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?