Random thought: Am I the only one looking forwards to Warchief Saves Christmas..? 🙂
Right, so on with my grand plan to actually play test my lists before rocking up to The Slaughter and losing, I managed to get a game in against Kris and his evil Chaos Dwarfs. Dum, dum DUMMM!
We agreed to play to Sheffield Slaughter comp as I initiated the match up, but having read the Winter War comp pack, Slaughter was weighted in my favour (extra 100pts for me and less war machines for him).
Dramatis personæ
Kris’s Horde O’Doom consisted of:
Sorcerer-Prophet, Level 4, Lore of Hashut, Pinion of the Phoenix
Daemonsmith Sorceror, Level 2, Lore of Fire, Dispel Scroll
Infernal Castellan, Battle Standard Bearer, Enchanted Shield
12 Infernal Guard, Fireglaives, Musician, Standard Bearer
11 Infernal Guard, Fireglaives, Musician, Standard Bearer
19 Infernal Guard, Musician, Standard Bearer, Banner of Slavery
20 Hobgoblins, Musician, Standard Bearer
6 Bull Centaur Renders, Shields, Full Command
K’daii Destroyer
Iron Daemon
5 Wolf Riders
2399
My previous list never really acted well as a whole, so this time I actually looked at the comp and based my force around that. I took a more shooting focused list than previously fielded (maximum 70 models with missile weapons) and proxied some Treekin for some punch as I have models on their way in the post…*
Highborn, Great Eagle, Light armour, Spear, The Bow of Loren, Arcane Bodkins, Charmed Shield, Stone of Rebirth
Spellweaver, Level 4, Lore of Beasts, A Resplendence of Luminescents, Dispel Scroll
Noble, Light armour, Battle Standard Bearer, Asyendi’s Bane, Hail of Doom Arrow
Noble, Great Eagle, Light armour, Shield, Relic Sword, Dragonhelm, Amaranthine Brooch
8 Dryads
8 Dryads
16 Glade Guard, Musician, Standard Bearer
10 Glade Guard, Musician
10 Glade Guard, Musician
10 Glade Guard, Musician
10 Glade Guard, Musician
6 Tree Kin
Great Eagle
5 Waywatchers
5 Waywatchers
2498
Deployment:
On my left flank:
Treekin, Eagle Noble, Eagle Highborn, Dryads
Both units of Waywatchers deployed here too, looking to get some shots off at the Infernal Guard or Renders.
Centre:
All the Glade Guard, Spellweaver, Battle Standard Bearer
Right flank:
Dryads, Great Eagle
On Kris’s left flank:
Wolf Riders, Iron Daemon behind them
Centre,
Both units of Fireglaives, one with the Sorceror-Prophet, the other with the Daemonsmith Sorceror, Infernal Castellan led Infernal Guard, Hobgoblins, K’daii Destroyer
Right flank
Bull Centaur Renders
As you can see, from the start I had made a Big Bad Stoopid Error™ in deployment.  My Eagle Noble with Dragonhelm was too far to intercept the Destroyer! Also the Treekin were in danger of being left out of the battle due to their position. Only extreme luck could save me from my own deployment!
*Well, they have been ordered and paid for, just waiting for them to be sent..!
Kris took the first turn, I took a deep breath and the Wood Elves readied their bows…
Now, Warchief is far better at giving you a turn by turn account of the battle, I on the other hand have the attention and memory of an OOH SHINEY! So, erm, forgive me if this comes across as a “jumbled stream of thought”, as it, er, is.
Let’s get ready to ruuuumble!
Turn One:
Chaos Dwarfs advanced, the K’daii Destroyer stomping his way right towards my big Glade Guard unit with Spellweaver and Battle Standard Bearer in.
The Eagle noble rushed towards the K’daii but was short to get in its way. The Eagle on the right flank charged the Wolf Riders, who fled. One unit of Waywatchers got in the way of the Renders, while the others moved into position to shoot the Infernal Guard. Treekin and Dryads formed a trap for the Renders. All the Glade Guard fired at the K’daii and I used of the Hail of Boom arrow too. By the end of the shooting phase, it still stood! Albeit on one wound, but it lived! Eagle Highborn and Waywatchers took out a couple of Infernal Guard, well the Highborn did anyway.
Magic from both sides was uneventful. A Chaos Dwarf Fireball and Curse of Hashut were dispelled and an Elven Amber Spear was also dispelled with a scroll. Breath of Hatred was cast though.
Turn Two:
Kris forgot to charge the K’daii! Phew! The Wolf Riders rallied. The Chaos Dwarfs again advanced. The Renders stood still, bemused by the audacity of the Waywatchers. The magic phase led to a Fireball taking out some Glade Guard, Ash Storm being cast with Irresistible Force on the Eagle Noble and the Sorceror-Prophet being the victim of a Dimensional Cascade! He avoided being wounded and sucked into oblivion, but a few of the Fireglaives were not so lucky… A few Dryads were then shot by the Iron Daemon.
The Eagle Noble limped towards the Chaos Dwarf battleline, seeking to assassinate the Sorceror-Prophet. The Eagle flew over the Fireglaives and the Dryads on the right flank got in the way of the Iron Daemon. The rest of the army took a step back ready to shoot! Magic was limited to Curse of Aranheir cast on the Infernal Guard. In the shooting phase, the K’daii Destroyer went down under a hail of shots from the big Glade Guard unit. Rest of the shooting proved largely ineffectual, with a few Infernal guard falling here and there.
Turn Three:
The Bull Centaurs finally decided to charge the Waywatchers, who held. The Infernal Guard charged the second unit of Waywatchers, who fled out of reach, some of the Infernal Guard died due to Curse. The rest of the army carried on moving. The Iron Daemon moving away from the Dryads. The magic phase started with a Fireball and a Piercing Bolts of Burning blowing up some Glade Guard before the Sorceror-Prophet began to intone the mighty power of… Actually, I forget what he cast, what mattered was it was cast with Irresistible Force, didn’t do a jot to me (or very little) and led to a second Dimensional Cascade! This promptly wiped out more Fireglaives and then sucked the Sorceror-Prophet off to his doooom. I felt sorry for Kris at this point, that was some unlucky dice on his behalf. This empathy dissipated when he blew up a few more Glade Guard with his Fireglaives and Iron Daemon. The Renders made shot work of the Waywatchers and reformed to face the Dryads and Treekin.
Waywatchers rallied. The Eagle noble charged the surviving Fireglaives who had been accompanying the Sorceror-Prophet. Everyone else moved into better positions for shooting and general harassment. Most noticeably, both Dryad units inched forwards to tempt the Renders and the Iron Daemon. Magic was a no show, apart from Wyssans Wild Form being cast on the Eagle Noble. Shooting, again, was a bit disappointing, with arrows bouncing off here and there, but a few shots did find their mark leading to the odd dead Dwarf. The Eagle Noble was a mite bit rubbish, but managed to win the combat. The Dwarfs, unimpressed, decided not to flee…
Turn Four:
Due to some botched movement on my behalf, the Renders charged the unit of Dryads, missing the Treekin. The Iron Daemon charged the Dryads which stood in its way. The rest of the army, again moved forwards. The Daemonsmith Sorceror again blew some Elves up in the magic phase, but the Glade Guard all stood firm. The Iron Daemon absolutely mauled the Dryads, who didn’t flee (tough cookies!) while the Renders slew a couple of their Dryads who did scarper. These Dryads bounced through some slightly worried Waywatchers, but the pursuit roll was low and the Renders stumbled forwards. The Eagle Noble continued his grind and failed to do much, taking a wound. Luckily, he didn’t flee!
The Treekin charged the Renders in the rear. The Dryads rallied. Everything moved into better firing positions. The Spellweaver cast Wyssans Wildform on the Treekin with Irresistible Force and lost two levels. Shooting suddenly stepped up a notch with the second unit of Fireglaives taking heavy casaulties, but in true Dwarfish fashion, held. In combat, the Dryads managed to cause two wounds on the Iron Daemon (yay!) before being ground to mush (boo). The Treekin won their combat against the Renders, who held and reformed to face the Treekin.
Turn Five:
Infernal Guard attempted a long distance charge against some Glade Guard, who stood and shot. The charge failed. The Iron Daemon rumbled menacingly towards the Elf line. Magic and shooting killed another few Glade Guard, I then dispelled Breath of Hatred. But the Iron Daemon rolled a double Misfire and took a wound and was unable to shoot. Combat between the Treekin and the Renders ended in a Treekin victory (Strength 6 and Toughness 6 for the WIN), but again, the Renders held. The Eagle Noble again lost combat, but held!
The rallied Dryads charged the Renders and the Eagle decided to help the obviously-out-of-depth Eagle Noble by charging the rear of the (2-3) remaining Fireglaives. Twenty odd Glade Guard, the Waywatchers and the Eagle Highborn turned to face the Infernal Guard, the rest of the Glade Guard took aim at the remaining Fireglaives not stuck in combat apart from one suicide unit which marched in front of the Iron Daemon. In the magic phase, the Amber Spear was dispelled. In a flurry of shots, the unengaged Fireglaives and the Daemonsmith Sorceror were turned into pin cushions while a sizeable chunk of the Infernal Guard turned into porcupine impersonators. Combat between the Renders, Treekin and Dryads ended with the Renders losing. They held! The Eagle Noble and Great Eagle managed to wipe out a few more Dwarfs who fled and were chased down by the Eagle; the Noble ,just happy to be alive, stumbled forwards.
Turn Six:
The remaining Infernal Guard attempted to charge the Eagle Highborn, who stood and shot, killing another one, but could not reach him. The Iron Daemon thundered into the Glade Guard who stood in its path. The rest of the army slogged forwards. In the shooting phase, the Hobgoblins threw knives at the Waywatchers, killing one. The Iron Daemon turned the Glade Guard it had charged into mush. Again, the Renders lost combat, again, they held!
One Glade Guard unit took aim at the Wolf Riders, the rest at the Infernal Guard still jogging around. Curse of Aranheir was dispelled by Kris (I need no Wizard!). The final shooting phase saw the Infernal Guard wiped out with the Castellan falling to the Highborn and two Wolf Riders killed, leading to them panicking of the board. The final combat between the Renders, Treekin and Dryads ended with… A loss for the Renders, who…
… held!
With that, the game was over! Adding up, it was a 20-0 victory to the Wood Elves!
Yeah, I was surprised too.
Jerry Springer Final Thoughts
- I was lucky in a that my biggest error was not capitalised on: Yup, the placement of the Noble. If Kris had managed to smash the K’daii Destroyer into the main Glade Guard block, that would most likely have been it for me!
- Additionally the double Dimensional Cascade that took our the Sorceror-Prophet limited Kris’s magic phases. This was just as well, as he consistently rolled nines and tens for his phases, saving me a lot of grief. Conversely, I tended to roll fours and fives, with some decidedly below average casting rolls, so Kris losing his level four, did not mean that he suffered from my magic phases as a result.
- The Iron Daemon was scary. All I really could hope to do was feed it units and fire off Amber Spears. I think I just dodged the bullet in this game with that one.
- I have real trouble spelling “K’daii”.
But, enough about Kris’s army’s potential to hurt mine, what about my army?
- Shooting wasn’t particular impressive until the final turns, where strength four, hitting on threes bowfire really started to show. The Eagle Highborn and Waywatchers were a bit lacklustre, but admittedly five of them were smushed by Bull Centaurs. I may put the Highborn on foot, save some points on his magic items and just go back to running with two Eagles and an Eagle Noble.
- The Treekin were good, but for the Bull Centaurs big footprint, would have been left out of the game. Why would one take a unit for punch and then leave it a) away from the main battleline and b) away from any enemies? D’oh!
- This leads on to my biggest bugbear (apart from smart tactical decisions): intelligent deployment. I often have an idea where I would like things to go, but seem to have trouble following this through.
- The army in this incarnation is a bit “Gunline-lite”. How this will work out is anyone’s guess. Currently I would suggest other Elven armies can do this better as Repeater Bolt Throwers and hexes such at Soulblight and The Withering makes it a lot easier to take enemies out. But we shall see!
As ever, thoughts and comments are gratefully received!
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