"The Blood Knights were the 2nd unit deployed by the Vampire Counts, on the flank. I figured I'd throw everything I had against them, since, I didn't know what Vlad was packing.. he intimidated me.. most special characters do."
(a nice round up of the Battle and food for thought for armies fighting the Vampire Counts)
| source : z4.invisionfree.com/Khemri | credit : Sepulcher | 12-June-2009 |
So I had my first encounter against the new VC. Despite the amount of VC players at the club, I had been actively trying NOT to go toe to toe with them. Mind you, I haven't read the VC book, (just skimmed through it) so I don't really know too many things about them other than the basics.
Alas, I couldn't run and hide forever and was asked by a VC player.. I hesitantly accepted, knowing I had nothing in my list to deal with the new tricks the VC get. I had to hope for the best.
Anyways the lists were as follows, 2250:
Tomb Kings 2250 pts army list
King with Cloak and Flail of Skulls, CollarPriest with steed, 2 scrolls
Priest with steed, SoR
Heiro on foot with Jar
2 x 25 Archers, commands, 1 with BotUL
2 x 3 Chariots, banners, 1 with War Banner
6 Light Horsemen
5 Carrion
2 Scorpions
21 Tomb Guard, command, IotSE
Vampire Counts 2250 pts army list
Vlad Von Carstein: Spells 1, 4, 5 in Vampire Lore - went on foot with the Grave Guard.Vampire Hero: Spell 1 in Vampire Lore, BSB, Walking Death (+1 CR) on Hellsteed with a lance, Drakenhof Banner (booooo!!!!) - went in the Blood Knight unit.
3 x 10 Ghouls
27 Grave Guard with Great Weapons
9 Blood Knights
3 x Bat Swarms
Upon first looking at this army I thought I was doomed. It was not too heavy on magic but it had 2 rock hard units, capable of being raised back... and me with nothing to deal with them, save my Scorpions and MAYBE Tomb Guard with their Killing Blow abilities. But I suppose I shouldn't complain.. some armies have nothing to deal with Regening 2+ armor save knights from hell.
Deployment:
The Blood Knights were the 2nd unit deployed by the VC, on the flank. I figured I'd throw everything I had against them, since, I didn't know what Vlad was packing.. he intimidated me.. most special characters do. So I loaded up my flank opposite his Knights, hoping to just do enough wounds to crumble his Blood Knights. Terrain played no part in this game, really.
I won the roll to go first. I advance my archers a few inches. Everything on my loaded flank moved about 5" up. My Carrion moved towards the middle of the field, but within Incantation range. In the magic phase I managed to move the Carrion - putting them along side the Blood Knights and march blocking 2/3's of his army. I also was able to Smite my archers who killed a Bat Swarm.. T2 is fun!
In the Shooting phase I killed another Bat Swarm and picked off 3 Grave Guard.
Top of 1:
VC turn he moved up everything a few inches, being marchblocked. His remaining Swarm flew forward its full 10". In his Magic phase he manages to raise his 3 Grave Guard back despite my efforts.
Bottom of 1:
Turn 2:
Now, this is probably where I made my biggest mistake. I don't know why but I charged my Carrion into his Blood Knights, thinking he'll beat me and then have to pursue me away from my battle line... except... Undead don't break....
I guess I was back in my Empire mode of thinking. Aside from that my 2 Scorpions charged his right most Ghoul block. My War Chariots moved up and faced his Grave Guard. Meanwhile my King flew behind his lines to try and do some damage. My Priest with the fast cav left his unit, to get into better positions for future magic phases.
In the magic phase - again thinking my Carrion would "break" I moved my King over behind the Bat Swarms. More Smiting saw the remaining Bat Swarm killed from bow fire, as well as a few Grave Guard. I also magic'd my War Chariots into his Ghoul block near his Grave Guard.
In Shooting, I dropped 4 Ghouls from his left most block and some more Grave Guard.
Combat I do nothing to his Knights who kill 2 birds, CR leaves a single Carrion there, holding them up for a turn (I guess a little good came of it..?). My War Chariots breeze through his Ghouls and overrun behind his lines. My 2 Scorpions only do 2 wounds, winning combat but keeping them pinned.
Top of 2:
VC half is again straightforward. Grave Guard turn around to face my War Chariots. Small Ghould block does as well. Magic is mostly nullified, 1 Raise attempt got through and 3 Grave Guard were brought back. In Combat my last Carrion died. My 2 Scorpions strike first and manage to kill all 6 remaining Ghouls... (what the heck.. I usualy only average 1 wound per scorpion).
Bottom of 2:
Turn 3:
I think here was another huge mistake. I underestimate the Blood Knights - being used to trouncing Brettonians knights. But these are no Brettonians... no....
I charged both Scorpions into his Knights' flank and my Chariot unit into his front. In hindsight I should've waited.. perhaps withdrawing and buying another turn. I manuevered my War Chariots behind his Knights hoping to magic them into his rear.. my King also flew over to possibly help out. In the Magic phase, both my Kings attempts to magic the War Chariots into the rear are stopped. I didn't roll higher than a 3 with my King for MWBD's.. *sigh*
In Shooting I pick off another 2 Ghouls and a couple more Grave Guard. (He rolled insanely well on armor saves).
In Combat I do a nice amount of wounds, but only 2 Knights are actually killed. Return attacks see 2 Chariots smashed apart - and combat res see's both Scorpions and remaining Chariot crumble..
Top of 3:
The VC have the option to charge my Light Horsemen or Tomb Guard. He opts for the TG. His Grave Guard wheel a bit to see my King, and his wounded Ghoul unit makes for the hills - literally. In magic his tries to bring back his Blood Knights but I make sure to stop the attempts. In combat his does a below average amount of wounds but still manages to win by alot and I'm down to 12 Grave Guard.
Bottom of 3:
Turn 4:
At this point, I'm at a loss what to do. I decide to just go for it and charge my War Chariots into his Blood Knights' rear.. just making it. I opted not to flank charge them with my Horsemen.. being that they're Horsemen.... I then decide to reform the nearest archer block and try to magic them in. My King again flies along side the Knights to try and magic himself in.
In the Magic phase he lets my King have it and he charges in. Next all my attempts to move the archer block are stopped - so I just try and raise the Tomb Guards back (upon closer inspection I decided the archers were outside of 8" which they turned out to be.) - I manage to return some models (via the Jar).
In shooting I don't do much as the Grave Guard are out of range for most of my archers.
In Combat, my Chariots whiff utterly doing nothing. His Knights swing at, and kill, 2 Chariots. My Tomb Guard failed to kill anything either. My King challenges and kills the Blood Knight champion, but barely. I still manage to lose by alot and my Chariots and King die (forgot the Curse). I'm down to 5 Tomb Guard and about to throw in the towel.
Top of 4:
The VC just move his Grave Guard closer to the Blood Knights, hills Ghouls keep heading to the hills. Magic is stopped. In Combat he just finishes off the remaining Tomb Guard.
Bottom of 4:
Turn 5:
No charges, just moved the archer block up some and moved my nearby Priests out of LOS. In Magic I get lucky and pick off a Knight with my SoR. And then magic my archer block into his Knights. Shooting sees a Grave Guard or 2 picked off. In combat I do horrible, as expected, and lose something like 13 Skeletons, losing another bunch to combat res. Another bad idea to throw them in there, but I was too angry at this point to care.
Top of 5:
VC half is just moping up. His Knight kill my remaing archers. I think he finally manages to raise a single Knight back as well.
[Ed. Vampire Counts beat Tomb Kings]
Afterthoughts - Yes.. a single unit destroyed 1400 points of my army, by themselves - and I charged pretty much everytime. I really don't want to whine.. but that's a little rough, wouldn't you say!?
My charges could've been better.. I could've bought my time and charge with my Tomb Guard and then all my Scorpions and Chariots.. it might've gone alot better. But I played best I could. While we were playing I felt I played well, making little mistakes - but looking back now I could've done better. Instead of charging with the Carrion I could've forced him to charge and redirect his Knights.. possibly flanking them in my turn. I feel the unit, however, is so stacked that no matter how well I played, he could just roll average and hack his way out of trouble. I took apart the rest of his army piecemeal but only garnered 600 victory points.
His Grave Guard was effectively out of the game.. I think next time, despite Vlad, I'm going all out on them. I shouldn't have focused on the Blood Knights. I'll also be taking a catapult in the future (once I buy the model) and so it will hopefully be able to deal with those Regening Knights.
As a side note, I think I'm done with the flying King combo. Had it been the Heiro flying around I think I might've gotten that crucial rear charge with my War Chariots.. plus the King seems to whiff when I really need him to excel. I'm just going to stick him back in the Tomb Guard.. but I might keep the Flail rather than taking a great weapon. His ability to fly around and threaten stuff with magic is cool - but he just hasn't pulled through for me. I suppose another game or 2.. but I doubt it'll change my mind towards keeping him.
Also, the Icon of the Sacred Eye hasn't been paying off. But then again I've been getting charged rather than charging.. so I'll think about keeping it or not after a couple more games.
Anyways thanks for reading.. I hope this helps with any future VC entanglements.
Edit: Just looked over the post and the top of turn 2 map is wrong. Forgive me, you'll have to use your imaginations there because I saved over the image already.
