2000 points Skaven vs Lizardmen tournament battle (photos)

"These skinks just won’t die!" (Two warhammer lessons; 1] mounts always cause the most damage, esp. warhorses and 2] skinks die hard ! Grrr...)

(another good fantasy tournament battle report from Silas7)

source :warhammer.org.uk

credit : Silas7

22-Sep-2009

Skaven tournament 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 2000pt Army list

2nd gen slann (2+ ward, +1 spell, diadem of power, haunchi’s totem) leading 16 temple guard
3x12 skinks (cohort, immune psych)
2x3 kroxigor
4 kroxigor
2 scar veterans. (There may be some other magic items, but I forget what they were).

Yes, you read that right. Two 2nd gen slann lists in a row. Time to fight in the shade again! David deploys evenly across the board, while I load most of my troops to the center and right.



Davis unit advance in a neat line. Going with mostly fire spells, the slann kills nine clanrats with firey doom. His scouts poke their heads out of the woods and pepper my night runners with javelins, killing three. Nobody runs. My rats move forward to close the distance with him. Hopefully I can make his immune to psychology work against him. Z’ym makes the singed clanrat unit frenzied, and zaps two skinks with warp lightning. I take some pot shots at the slann. A ratling gun blows away ten of his scouts, and night runners finish off the last one.



His army begins to consolidate towards the center of the board, while skinks and kroxigor work their way towards my weak right flank. The slann burns ten slaves to death, and then casts wall of fire on my frenzied clanrats (who are in charge range of his skinks). Blow darts kill two more slaves and four night runners, who panic away.



Howling in pain and frothing in fury, the frenzied rats charge through the wall of fire into the skinks. Seven of them burn, but the rest make it in to kill two skinks. The skinks kill one in return, and hold. The rest of my army edges forward.

The presence of the Old Ones makes itself felt. My censer bearers somehow avoid getting burned by fireballs, but two globadiers and five night runners get the life drained right out of them, falling to the ground as shriveled husks. An irresistible wall of fire springs up in front of Z’ym’s clanrats, to this frustration. Three clanrats die, and Grr takes a wound (he was in the front, to better influence combats). His skinks shoot five more slaves and the last globadiers from the drained unit. My frenzied clanrats kill 2 skinks, but they hold.



A unit of plague monks and the green censer bearers charge a wall of skinks in the center that are screening his kroxigor. My blue censer bearers charge the skinks coming round my right flank. Z’ym drives the blue censers into a death frenzy. One succumbs to the fumes, but the other two kill eight skinks and break the unit, running them down and pursuing into the kroxigor, where they promptly expire from the death frenzy. The other pestilent troops make short work of his skink screen and blast on through. Each one over runs into a different kroxigor unit, as my army presses forward. My clanrats kill two skinks, he kills none, and they hold.

The slann continues his rain of fire. Three globadiers go up in smoke, another irresistible wall of fire falls on my plague monks: three die, the priest takes a wound. My clanrats kill two skinks, he kills none, and they hold. These skinks just won’t die! My green censers wound a kroxigor twice, and then get chopped in half. The plague monks fare better, breaking and running down the lumbering lizards. The plague monks stand stock still before the wall of fire. Z’ym sees that the kroxigor are ready to charge the plague monks and will break them next round, rolling into his own unit! Warp lightning rends the air and two kroxigor explode in a shower of blood and bone. Zy’m then frenzies the clanrats to his left, preparing them for combat with the kroxigor. One ratling gun jams, the other one kills a third kroxigor, and a jezzail puts one more wound on the surviving one. The threat to the plague monks is contained. Clanrats kill one skink, they hold. Again!



One of his scar veterans charges out of the temple guard at my slaves, his kroxigor swing around the flank at the slaves as well. Understandably they flee. This exposes the flan of his kroxigor to my clanrats, and offers a charge to Z’ym’s unit. The slann lives up to its status as a 2nd generation by casting ANOTHER irresistible spell, this time drain life. Several rats die, but nothing that will cause a panic test. Another wall of fire lands on my frenzied clanrats killing two of them. (Truly a blessing and a curse, that frenzy.) The eternal clanrat / skink fight continues, neither side being able to wound this round. Thirteen clanrats die charging through the wall of fire at the kroxigor, losing several precious ranks. Neither side hits nor wounds, but we hold. The bell charges forward at the scar veteran, which flees. Only now, do I realize that the scar veteran may have HAD to have the mark of immune to psychology on it (as the entire army was a cohort) and therefore couldn’t have fled. Oops. Z’ym twitches and gnashes his teeth in agitation. A vermintide munches a temple guard, and warp lightning kills four others. Both jezzail teams decide to shoot themselves in the face and panic off the table. (Two failed reliable rolls?) Z’ym orders the bell struck, and his clanrats become stubborn. The clanrats finally managed to kill the last skink. My plague monks move behind his main unit

After many turns of silent contemplation and furious spell casting, the temple guard moves forward around my frothing clanrats. His scar veteran rallies. He uses the hanchi totem, and the temple guard move 6” forward, exactly what he needed to hit my seer’s rats.



He kills a lot of rats, but my stubborn rats stay. My clan rats failed to hurt his kroxigor, and he chops some of them down. The plague monks and clanrats charge his hero, who managed to chop down my plague priest before we drown him in a sea of furry bodies. I move some night runners, globadiers, and a ratling gun in range of the kroxigor fight, but decide not to shoot into the combat. His kroxigor had two wounds, andif I killed one, I would have to do three wounds in combat to avoid being attacked, instead of one. Also, if I took any wounds, I would be lower US than him and primed to flee if I lost combat.

Z’ym desperately casts death frenzy on his clanrats, dismissing the fate of the other frenzied units. There was no time for the bloated frog to cast wall of fire again! The bell is struck again, but no sounds emits from it !!! My clanrats fail a third time to hurt the kroxigor, and lose enough in combat to be outnumbered and broken through fear. The ratling gun, globadiers, and night runners all panic and flee (not a very smart move on my part, putting them so close to a combat I was likely to lose). The clanrats and temple guard fight again, and more clanrats die. I lose the combat, and fail my break test. Z’ym screams for Grr to wave his flag. Grr holds up a little snowflake doily he made from the army standard. Z’ym flips out and chases after Grr, threatening to tear him limb from limb! Grr runs away waving his snowflake, and the rest of the clanrats dutifully follow, running from the bewildered temple guard. (This colorful description of failing a break test and re-roll is funnier if you've seen Invader Zim).

Any chance of a win vanished with Z'ym.

Facing two 2nd gen slann is definitely a job of work. Both of the armies were much lower in comp than I was, but we were in the stage where matching were based on battle points. The last game was an entire fluke either, so there’s nothing to complain about. David dice were absolutely on fire, and he weathered everything I could throw at him, which wasn’t terribly much. I confess that right about when both jezzails blew themselves up, I gave up inside. I played the game out, but my heart was definitely not in it, and it showed on my face. Fortunately, my sullen behavior only cost me a point, and by that time I was so far behind it didn’t matter. Kudos to David for bringing a tough list, but not going over the top with it, and for getting a higher battle score than his friend’s comp score.

The ride home was pretty bleak. This year's GT season hasn't treated me kindly. After sitting down and recording my tales of woe, I did find that there was some triumph to be found as well. Derek showed me that High Elves are still a good army in the hands of a good general, without needing to go all cav, and before the new upgrades. Mychael and I had a great game with lots of carnage. I managed a win in game three despite losing my Seer. Brian is so much fun to play you don't mind his army and the rules for the scenario gave me a better than average chance of winning. My last game I can't shake the feeling that my poor dice and Dave's hot dice were a major factor in how things turn out. But isn't that how it goes sometimes? When you are on, you're on.

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?

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.

Warriors of Chaos (Hordes) vs The Empire 2000 point Army Lists

"The exalted demon swoops back to the field of battle, debating which wizard he would kill first. The blood spattered chariot turns to face my swordmens, who are still locked in combat. The Khorne/war banner/marauder fight rages on, neither side willing to yield."

[a tournament report with some nice scene setting narrative from "the Sushi Master" :) ]

source : warhammer.org.uk

credit : Silas7

30-June-09

My list was very fluffy, I knew this coming down but I wanted to try to make a statement about not needing the usual Empire tools to do well at a tournament. How did I do? Let’s find out.

The Empire Army - The Legion of Araby

Lawrence (general of the empire): full plate, barded warhorse, sword of might, enchanted shield, icon of Magnus, holy relic
Captain: army standard, full plate, barded warhorse, banner of Sigismund
Battle Wizard: lvl 2, rod of power
Battle Wizard: lvl 2, barded warhorse, dispel scroll, wizard staff
25 swordsmen: full command, 9 free company & 5 archers detachment
20 greatswords: full command, 9 free company & 5 archers detachment
20 flagellants
10 hand gunners, 5 hand gunner detachment
6 knights panther: preceptor, standard, war banner
6 inner circle knights of the white wolf: preceptor, standard
5 knights panther: musician
2 great cannons

Chaos Undivided Army list (6th edition army book)

In this scenario, you picked your lowest point unit and had to keep them alive at the end of the battle, while killing your opponent’s scouts for bonus points.

Chaos Lord with great fang, riding w/5 undivided chaos knights
Chaos sorcerer (lvl 2, shadow) riding with 5 undivided chaos knights
5 Chosen Khorne chaos knights: full command, banner of rage
Exalted demon: soul hunger
3 chariots
7 marauders: spears, full command
5 chaos hounds (his “scout” unit)
10 furies

Brian’s list was lean and very mean! I knew I was in for a fight.



I jumped right into the swing of things, blowing up a chariot with a cannon. He advanced cautiously in the middle and right, while his demons flew around my left.



My cannons blow up another chariot, and put a wound on his exalted demon. His furies quickly race in and devour the cannon crew, while the demon flies closer to the handgunners trying to terrorize them.



The handgunners flee, everyone else is fine. My white wolves charge his last chariot, wounding but not breaking it. The cannon sends 3 furies screaming back to their hell, while my infantry forms up into a wall of men, standing to receive the charge of the knights of Chaos. My war banner knights move to countercharge. The trap is set.
HELL IS UNLEASHED! His furies run down my fleeing handgunners, the sorcerer’s knights charge my knights panther, but we hold. The Khorne knights kill 12 flagellants and spray everyone nearby with blood, but they are pinned. The lord’s knights charge my white wolves, breaking but not catching them. His Chaos lord overruns into my swordsmen. His demon charges my wizard, who flees for his life.



Khorne stretches his dark hand over the field of battle, his shadow spreading like a curse among the brave men of Averland. He saps the strength from my war banner knights (I do no wounds to his Khorne knights when I flank charge), he inhales the winds of magic to protect his demon from the burning gaze of my wizards (mistcast ends the phase), his laughter rolls like thunder and fills my knights panther with dread and despair (I break and run from the fight with his chaos sorcerer’s knights).
Grapeshot does manage to destroy 4 furies.

The furies shriek and charge the surviving cannon, tearing the crew to bloody messes. The demon prince charges my “scouts” (an archer detachment), but only kills 2 and we hold! His marauders flank my war banner knights, and we hold again. My white wolves aren’t so lucky and are ground under the wheels of his chariot. Fritz sacrifices himself again to save the army standard bearer, and we hold in the combat. The courage of the Empire men is strong.

(You might wonder why my greatswords are just sitting there? I didn’t charge on my turn because I wanted to leave a clear path for my war banner knights to hit his knights when the broke his Khorne knights. Little did I know that I would fail to wound! I could have broken his general’s unit had I charged…)



Lawrence shakes off the lethargy that gripped him and charges to the aid of the army standard bearer. My wizards finally start to pull their weight. The remaining furies are drowned in molten silver, and I heal the wounded army standard bearer (he need a catchy name…). Lawrence kills a chaos knight, tipping the combat in our favor, but the knights fight on. A small cheer goes up in the Empire lines. The exalted demon kills 2 archer and swoops down on the fleeing survivor, carrying him off the table to some gruesome fate. He's achieved his objective. His own scouts, the war hounds, were kept in a kennel hidden behind a rocky hill, where I could not reach them for the entire battle.

The exalted demon swoops back to the field of battle, debating which wizard he would kill first. The blood spattered chariot turns to face my swordmens, who are still locked in combat. The Khorne/war banner/marauder fight rages on, neither side willing to yield. Lawrence sees the hulking Chaos lord bearing down on the army standard bearer, and bravely issues a challenge. The Chaos lord's great fang pierces through Lawrence's armor as if it were paper, but with a flash of light the relic Lawrence carries protects him from the blow. The Chaos Lord taunts Lawrence, attempting to seduce him to the side of Chaos.



Is that a guardian light surrounding my mage on foot? Heh.

Spitting words of power from his lips, the battle wizard engulfs the exalted demon in a rain of molten silver, the pure metal anathema to the demonic creature. It shrieks in pain and disintegrates. The Chaos Lord knocks Lawrence off his horse, and stabs him when he tries to rise. “If you only know the power of Chaos”, the general hissed. Lawrence turns and sees that power exercised. He sees his swordsmen die, ground to paste beneath the chariot, leaving only the army standard bearer. He sees his war banner knights falter, then flee, despite the frantic waving of the army standard. He sees them fall as well, cut down as the turn.

All around Lawrence the hordes of choas ride, picking off the remainder of his army. The marauders sweep aside the handgunners from behind. The Khorne knights butcher a wizard. The sorcerer’s knights charge the surviving archers, who hold against all odds. "Yield," hisses the Chaos lord. Lawrence's spit splatters on the twisted lord's helm. "So be it… general.” The great fang darts forward, embedding itself in Lawrence's chest. Lawrence's vision fades to black...

This game started out very well, with my cannons dishing out a lot of pain. His flying troops were a bother, but I was able to do a lot of damage back with my wizards and artillery. I had no way to get to his scouts, and I could have hidden mine a lot better. I was still frustrated by my character's inability to do damage. My biggest mistake was not flanking Khorne knights with my general. I should have folded them on both sides, then turned to deal with the Chaos lord.

Wood Elves vs High Elf Army Battle Report 2000 pts

warhammer tournament fantasy battle summary report :-

"On the left, his dryads charge my eagle, and I lead them on a merry chase." [Ed. :) ]

(neatly summarised. it sounds like this one went right down to the wire)

source : warhammer.org.uk

credit : Silas7

20-May-2009

2000pt High Elves 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

[Ed. sounds like a good fun overnight tournament] Another night of lousy sleep, but it was our last night there. Breakfast was even better this time around, with bacon! All the wine was gone, [Ed. aha, it was a good fun overnight tournament !] and I figured I could really use my wits about me today as I started my next game.

2000 pt Wood Elf Army List

spellsinger: lvl 1, 2 dispel scrolls, general
alter lord: spirit sword, light armor, shield, longbow, ?
alter noble: wraithstone, great weapon light armor, shield, longbow
alter noble: hail of doom arrow, briarhearth, light armor, shield, great weapon, longbow

3 x 8 dryads
2 x10 glade guard
2 x7 wardancers
3 treekin
5 wild riders: standard, musician, war banner
eagle
treeman

Objective: Control the markers on the battlefield by having the highest amount of US within 6” of the markers. Banners add 10 to your unit strength. Control more markers than your opponent to win.
Bonus Points: Score 300 pts more than your opponent for 4 battle points.

On paper I had a big advantage going into this fight, as I had a lot of ranked infantry with banners. My numbers would mean nothing if my infantry was shot down of course. I decided to cede the right objective and concentrate on holding the left one. As the game neared the end, I would rush over and seize the middle and win. Theoretically.

The wood elves were pretty evenly spread out: To my left were wardancers, dryads, and an eagle. In the center were more dryads and wardancers, a treeman, the spellsinger, and an alter noble. To the right were dryads, treekin, wild riders, archers, and the two remaining alters.
My eagle and white lions were on the left. Left center were the phoenix guard. The bolt throwers, archers, spears, and dragon princes were in the center, with the lion chariot hanging back to protect the spears. My other eagle sat on the far right.


The trees are moving!

Turn one: His eagle flies close up to my line. One alter peeks out of the woods and fires the hail of doom arrow at my bolt thrower. The crew is safe, but the machine nearly breaks.

My eagle charges his eagle, starting a dramatic aerial duel. The lion chariot moves to deter the oncoming dryads and wild riders. Most of the dryads are out of range for spells, but Farendil withers a dryad with dark hand of death. (My other spell was the fear causer. Had I chosen fire I would have had fiery blast instead!) Elendriel curses the altar noble who shot at us. A bolt thrower opens fire on him, and Brian is astonished when I hit the altar four times, even with the protection of the briarhearth!! The noble dies of shock (and arrows). Further shooting kills a dryad in the center, and on the left. The eagles each wound one another.

Objectives: Wood Elf – 0, High Elf -0

Turn 2: Both alters charge the dragon princes. The dryads and wardancers on the left flank move towards the dueling eagles. His center dryads move to the side to join the treeman, while the treekin move through the woods.


The trees are closing!

On the right, the dryads and wild riders own the objective, clearing room for the glade guard to fire. Arrows fly, two archers die, and a lion yowls in pain. The alter lord challenges my dragon prince, weathers his attack, and strikes with the spirit sword. One wound gets through, and the altar wins his test by five for a lot of combat resolution. The princes break and flee off the table. The two alters pursue and hit my spear unit. The eagles remain locked in combat, wounding each other again.

Mithrandel bravely charges into the center unit of dryads. The white lions move forward slowly, while my eagle on the left flies behind the wild riders to stall their advance. Elendriel can’t cast most of her combat spells, but she can curse the treeman, and throw a shield over herself and the spears. One bolt bounces off the treeman. Put off by this (and remembering the goal of the scenario) my archers and the other both thrower killed six of the much softer glade guard. My eagle finally emerges triumphant from his fight. Mithrandel is also triumphant, killing two dryads and running the others down, heading right for the glade guard, who flee to safety. The altar lord cuts Elendrial down where she stands, and the noble kills the unit champion in a challenge. The spears heave a great sigh, but stand fast.

Objectives: Wood Elf – 2, High Elves 1

Turn 3: WE 3 – the wardancers charge after my eagle, which flies to safety (and pulls them away from the objective). The treeman stomps forward to sow terror among my fire base. The center wardancers charge Mithrandel from behind, calling on their killing blow dance.


far too close for comfort

On the left, his dryads charge my eagle, and I lead them on a merry chase. The treekin charge into the spear combat, but due to the position of the noble they can only clip their way in. The wild riders surge close to assist their companions.


thank Isha for awkward charges

The fleeing glade guard rally, the other turn towards my center. A treesinging slips past Farendil’s defense and the lashing braches kill five white lions. The left flank is looking rather tenuous… Vines reach up and strangle six archers, who run away before they are pulled underground. Six spears die in the combat with the treekin and altar lord, but we kill the altar noble and stay in the fight. Mithrandel kills two wardancers and saves two regular wounds. The wardancers break, and he runs them down, heading back towards his own lines again!

Disaster strikes the high elves when both bolt thrower crews fail their panic tests, and both eagles fail to rally and fly away! At least the archers make their rally test. The lion chariot charges into the flank of the altar lord. The phoenix guard starts moving towards the center objective hoping to avoid the treeman. Mithrandel faces the left dryads and prepares for a charge. The lions devour the altar lord before he can swing, and the treekin lose their nerve and run. The chariot runs down the treekin, while the spears stay put.

Objectives: Wood Elf – 2, High Elves 1


Isha’s light shines on us!

Turn 4: the phoenix guards are too slow, the treeman charges them in the flank! The wild riders charge the chariot, which flees into the treeman and explodes, wounding it slightly.


caught between a tree and a pointy place

The dryads hide behind a wall, while the wardancers move up to charge the flank of the white lions. The glade guards try to eliminate the war machine crews, but fail to. The treeman flattens one phoenix guard, but we win the combat and turn to face the tree.

The white lions reform to face the wardancers in a single file. The fleeing crew all rally, and the spears make their way towards the center objective. Farendil rushes forward and with all his might casts an irresistible dark hand that chokes four of the wild riders to death! The phoenix guard wins against the treeman and expand frontage to regain their rank bonus. Things look good, but the wood elves currently hold the center and right objectives, and threaten to take the left as well.

Objectives: Wood Elf – 2, High Elves 1

Turn 5: The wardancers move towards the objective, and the dryads move close as well. I’m only outnumbering them by about five models, including my banner. The glade guard concentrates their shooting on the spears and kills nine of them at close range! The spear panic, unable to rally! This is a major blow for me; I was counting on their banner and numbers to hold the center. The phoenix guard wins combat again, and the treeman breaks!! The guard restrain from pursing it, focused on their goal.

The guard turns and moves towards the center. Mithrandel prays the white lions can hold the flank without him, and gallops towards the center to threaten the depleted glade guard unit. The crews man their war machines, and the bolt throwers are back in action.

Objectives: Wood Elf – 2, High Elves 1


it all comes down to this

Turn 6 – The wardancers charge the white lions, calling on their extra attack. The treeman rallies, but too far away to strangle root, too late to charge. His wild rider tries to march block my phoenix guard. The glade guards kill the last of my archers. The white lions kill three dancers, and he kills six lions! The white lions refuse to run, with victory almost in their grasp.

Mithrandel charges the small glade guard unit and runs them down. The phoenix guard march and claim the center objective. The bolt thrower kill nine glade guard, the survivor doesn’t panic. The wardancers switch to their always strike first attack, hoping ot wipe me out before I can strike. He misses every single attack, and we kill three wardancers in return. The survivor flees, and we stand fast.

Objectives: Wood Elves – 1, High Elves – 2

8 pt win for the High Elves!

When we added up the battle points, it was a draw. I had the edge on victory points, but Brian had two tabled quarters and the bonus for my general. His stayed safely in a woods for the rest of the game. Brian was a little non-plussed about his luck this game (and he did get some tough breaks) but he was actually winning for the majority of the game. I had banners on my side, but he had mobility and a lot of attacks, a great benefit against my T3 army. He very nearly took the right objective and almost stalled me from taking the center.

It just occurred to me as I wrote this, that I should have charged the treeman with either my archers or Farendil once he broke from combat. He would have fled back into my phoenix guard and been wiped out, give me enough extra points to win the bonus objective! I’m not overly upset, as a win is a win. I haven’t won three games in a tournament since the Boston GT in 2004, so whatever the outcome of my last game, I was very pleased.

Bretonnia vs High Elves 2000 pts battle report

warhammer fantasy battle report :-

"The errantry knights charge the dragon princes, who wisely retreat. The grail knights thunder into the flashing blades of the white lions." (blurry pics but nice friendly writing style)

source : warhammer.org.uk

credit : Silas7

27-Mar-2009

2000 points High Elf 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

2000 pt Bretonnians Army list

Lord: wyrmlance, tress of isoulde, mantel of damsel Elena, virtue of discipline, on royal pegasus
Paladin: army standard bearer
Damsel, 2 scrolls; warhorse
2 x 20 men-at-arms,: full command
10 archers
10 skirmishing archers
2 x 6 knights errant: champion
2 x 6 knights of the realm: champion, standard
5 mounted squires: shields, musician
2 x 3 pegasus knights: champion
7 grail knights:
trebuchet


Pitched Battle

Objectives: kill the enemy general, hold more banners than your opponent, wipe out your opponent’s biggest point unit.

Brettonians are a tough army for High Elves to fight, and I was very nervous about his flying cavalry. After looking at the terrain and my spell selection (rule of burning iron, molten silver, transmutation of lead, spirit of the forge; shield of Saphery and courage of anaerion) I thought I had a good chance.


quick, move up while they’re kneeling…

I deployed all my infantry around the “rocky” forest in the center which would limit the angles the knights could charge at me. My princes and chariot would help protect me from the longer range threats. The shooting was deployed away from my main army, so if the knights went after it, it would give me more time to react to their attack.

Turn 1: While the knights await their blessing, I fly my eagles far forward, while my infantry advances. The dragon princes crest a small hill, surveying the land. The only enemies in range are the archers, so four of them get bathed with molten silver, and the archers slay two more of them. This will cause the peasants to flee, never to return. The knights are silently glad they have fewer mouths to feed on the way home.


are those griffon riders?

The realm and errantry knights canter forward. The pegasus knights land near the eagles, while the yeomen gallop to their right. The peasants move forward at a march, while the grail knights are more cautious. The right flank sees a lot of tactical maneuvering; the errantry knights position themselves in front of the realm knights, with pegasus knights to the flank of my dragon princes. The skirmishing archers rush into the house. The trebuchet flings a rock at the phoenix guard, but it scatters to their left.


it’s like we want them to charge us

The phoenix guard and dragon princes present a common face to the pegasus and errantry knights. The white lions move up to pin the grail knights in place. All of them are within sight of Mithrandel’s army standard. One eagle diverts the errantry knights; the other moves to march block the peasants. Elendriel and Farendil move into the rocky woods and try to launch a magical offense, but the damsel burns all her parchment to stifle them.

Arrows and bolts fill the air, but only manage to do a single wound to a pegasus knight.


those are the most intimidating pegasi I’ve ever seen!

The pegasus knights fold their winds and dive at the bolt thrower, wiping out the crew. The errantry knights chase away the interfering eagle. More action occurs on the right flank.


for Bretonnian and the Lady!

The errantry knights charge the dragon princes, who wisely retreat. The grail knights thunder into the flashing blades of the white lions. The pegasus knights fly past the fleeing princes to land behind the spears. A huge rock sails wide over the phoenix guard, one of the takes a moment to follow it’s progress and gets shot by an arrow from the house. Six lions die in the charge, and not a single knight dies, but the lions stand firm.

Turn 3: One eagle rallies, the other charges the trebuchet crew. The phoenix guard charge the errantry knights, who almost flee the field.


. . . . (the phoenix guard battle cry

Meanwhile the lion chariot causes the realm knights to flee as well.


the lion’s roar is much more impressive

The dragon princes rally to face the pegasus knights. Magic does nothing of consequence (amazingly) and the archers shoot down two yeomen. The last bolt thrower again can’t hurt the pegasus knights. Elendriel bites her lip in frustration. Another white lion falls, his death unanswered, and they hold. The eagle rends a peasant, but they stand fast.

The “griffon” knights charge and overwhelm the second bolt thrower. The errantry knights charge the chariot, their realm companions rally. The errantry knights on the far side of the field rally as well.


Farendil, look out!

The other pegasus knights want to charge Farendil. I measure the distance and the hapless mage is exactly 2” from the edge, so visible to the pegasus knights. I sigh and take the charge. The archers in the house kill two more phoenix guard, and the eagle is seriously wounded by the trebuchet crew. The great melee continues, with a lion and a grail knight falling this round. Farendil tries his best, but is no match for the pegasus knights. Rather than kill him, they sling his protesting form over their saddle as they gallop forward out of the forest.

Turn 4: The archers try a desperate charge into the flank of the errantry knights. The lion chariot rallies. Elendriel runs through to the far side of the woods as the dragon princes race to support the phoenix guard.


this is for Farendil…

Elendriel’s wrath fuels her magic, and the errantry knights in front of her scream as their armor glows white hot. All of them fall from the saddle. The eagle kills two more peasants but the last one crushes its head with a rock. Two more white lions fall, as does another grail knight. The archers can’t penetrate the heavy armor of the knights, and lose one of their own for their troubles. They flee and are cut down, but do pull the errantry knights away from my army.

The “griffon” knights fly behind my spears, while the pegasus knights charge the rear of my white lions. The last peasant tried to load the machine, but he turns the crank to hard and it snaps. The Bretonnian duke, who spent most of the game hiding behind some trees, flies out now to the flank of the spears and unleashes the dragon’s flame from his lance. Four elves die, but refuse to panic. All of the white lion perish except for the standard bearer, the knights are untouched.



things are falling apart, will the center hold?

Turn 5: Elendriel is wracked with indecision. Pegasus knights are flying all around, the peasants and knights are getting closer, and her army is slowly unraveling. She joins the spears and orders them to face the pegasus knights, as they will be easier to hurt than the realm knights. The phoenix guard turns to face the grail knights and the dragon princes brazenly march into the face of the realm knights. Elendriel uses her ring, the rule of burning iron, and the spirit of the forge, and still only kills one pegasus knight. The damsel in the grail knights begs the white lion to surrender his banner. Faced with overwhelming numbers, the elf swallows his pride and hands over his standard.

The Duke sounds his horn, and the Bretonnians leap to the attack again. Realm knights charging dragon princes, pegasus knights and more realm knights charging the spears. The peasants abandon their house and move to block the phoenix guard. A flurry of spear attacks glace off armored hide and shield, and Elendriel too is captures by the pegasus knights. Her spears are scattered to the four winds. The dragon princes lose two of their number on the charge as well, without doing a single wound to the knights. They too are broken and scattered, ignoring Mithrandel’s orders to stand fast.

Turn 6: The phoenix guard charges the peasants, who naturally flee before them. They ready their halberds for the oncoming charge from the grail knights, but the paladin raises his hand, and forbids the charge. “Enough blood has been shed today, noble Asur. Clearly, the field is ours.”

1 pt loss to the High Elves.

It’s pretty safe to say that I could have played this game better, but I don’t want to take anything away from Steve. He had a good army, and he knew how to use it. I was unable to remove his pegasus knights, which were the biggest thorn in my side. Protecting Farendil better would have been very useful in several cases. In the end it wasn’t important. I have a winning record at a GT for the first time in about three years. I was extremely happy overall.