I played a 3000 point game against Dan the other night who plays High Elves. Once we had laid down our forces we realized that out forces aren't exactly very big so a battle of elites then!
I fielded
Level 4 Sorcerer of Tzeench with 15 disposable maruaders
Level 2 Chaos Dwarf death sorcerer with a bodyguard of 10 fireglave wielding dwarves
30 Warriors with extra hand weapon and shield including exalted hero with banner of the gods
2*5 warhounds
10 Marauder Horse
10 Knights with exalted hero
Shrine, Hellcannon and spawn
We rolled the meeting engagement scenario and I got to set up first denying Dan the chance to hide behind the river like he wanted (what is it with Elf players!?)
As I deployed first Dan could match up his army to mine meaning my warriors face the sword masters and my Knights up against the White Lions. Yay...
The only tardy units not to bother arriving on time were my exalted hero onna horse and a unit of spearelves
Apologies for the sideways photos I can't seem to change them!
The Hellcannon is just off camera to the left
Turn 1
I went first declaring a charge on the Swordmasters with my warriors. 12" apart with movement 5 and of course they fail.
My marauder horse move around the Silverhelms flanks with the spawn and warhounds moving to get in their way. I really didn't want these hitting my flanks so the plan was to annoy the hell out of them and hopefully keep them away from the main battle.
I rolled 9 for magic but thanks to Elven dominance I only managed to cast infernal gateway on the White Lions with irresistible force killing all bar 3 of them. I chose to kill 3 marauders rather than let me sorcerer take a wound. That would do me nicely though!
Shooting saw my Hellcannon score a direct hit on the Seaguard mangling them horribly leaving only a front rank. Suddenly my knights were only facing a few pitiful elves and the game already looked to be going heavily in my favour. A well thrown axe in the back took down a silver helm and the dwarves bullseyed an archer off the hill.
The elves were reeling from their losses but were determined to come out fighting so the Swordmasters declared a charge on my warriors and the 3 brave (or stupid?) White Lions went into my Knights and the Silverhelms into my spawn hoping to over run into the hounds
This time the Swordmasters only needed a 5 to reach me but failed it. The lions made it and the Silverhelms couldn't fail
Elven magic was embarrassing with only a buff spell on the Silverhelms working. Shooting wasn't much better with the archers picking off two dwarves.
In combat the Silverhelms promptly minced the spawn and went into the hounds who held ground. The white Lions killed a knight and my unit champion before dying a glorious death.
Turn 2
My warriors charged into the Swordmasters and reached their lines this time. I thought about charging the knights into the remaining Seaguard but decided against it.
My exalted hero sauntered onto the battlefield casually cleaning his breakfast from his sharpened teeth with a claw.
Magic failed me this turn with the winds to low to provide any powerdice. Shooting was equally bad with the Hellcannon missing but the dwarves did hurt two archers this time.
In combat my unit champion issued a challenge and made three 6+ ward saves to survive but didn't manage to hurt his challengee. Unfortunately for me my exalted hero was in base contact with the Elven general who stuck his magic sword right up his **** killing him easily. Warriors died in droves but did enough damage back to stay in combat as I only lost by 1. This seemed a pivotal combat.
On the right flank the warhounds died.
No Elven charges were declared but the Silverhelms were crossing the river on my flank and a new unit of Seaguard entered battle taking aim at my horsemen.
Elven magic saw my warriors lose a point in toughness and a buff on the Silverhelms again (why I don't know) I lost a few more Dwarves to shooting and 4 horsemen bit the dust from the Seaguard.
Combat and unsurprisingly I lost with the warriors as the elves hacked at the weakened unit. I outdistanced the elves though.
Turn 3
My knights charged into the Swordmasters with the warshrine moving up in support. My leftmost warhounds went into the flank of the seaguard hoping just to tie them up.The marauder horsemen moved up behind the Silverhelms and the Hellcannon decided it wanted to join in the fun by breaking loose and rampaging up the field.
Magic blew strong and I needed to do something about the Silverhelms so the dwarved sorcerer tried and failed to snipe the units banner bearer but once again I cast infernal gateway with force causing 10 hits on the 11man unit... Only strength 5 meant they still had 4+ armour saves and only 2 died! Oh dear...
Shooting took down another archer and Silverhelm.
In combat only my unit champion and 3 knights went down so I had a chance if i could cause enough damage back. I couldn't and lost the combat but held firm. the warhounds fled after failing to wound anyone.
The Silverhelms didn't quite get across the river this turn and the only other movement from the elves were the new seaguard unit coming up on my horsemens rear.
Magic saw my Knights lose toughness and a thorny hedge appear around the silverhelms
The warriors took a few arrows in the back but their armour held.
To combat and all bar one knight died and fled through my marauders but he survived. The Swordmasters were now nose to nose with my marauders and sorcerer. Ulp...
Turn 4
I needed to do something about the Swordmasters before they butchered my sorcerer and his bodyguard. Queue heroics from the lately arrived hero with a charge into their flanks. As he has to issue a challange I was hoping he could tie them up so I could magic them to death before he died.
My dwarves went into the silverhelms with my horsemen and warshrine hitting them as well. The plan was just to hopefully keep them there by sheer stubbornness.
With magic I managed to kill the Elven mage in the Silverhelm unit as they all turned to hit themselves (stop hitting yourself) and they had their strength and toughness reduced by 1.
The Hellcannon rampaged again and with everything else in combat there was no shooting.
My exalted hero killed his opponent in combat! He was armed with the sword of strife so with 6 st5 attacks you'd hope he would be dangerous. I won the combat but the elves held firm.
In the Silverhelm fight I lost by 1 but stayed in the fight with all units.
A charge from the Seaguard into my exalted hero was the only movement from the Elves. Shooting was restricted to my fleeing units and magic saw buffs applied to the silverhelms with more thorns appearing.
The thorns didn't scratch me though and in a new challenge I again won with Tzeench favouring his champion saving him with two 6+ ward saves. However he thought this was enough favour as 2 rolls on the eye of the gods table saw it closed.
As I won the combat the Seaguard fled but the Swordmasters were firm again.
I actually managed to win the Silverhelm combat but they went nowhere either.
Turn 5
No movement for me apart from very reluctant warriors to flee the board. The game is a mosh of combats to resolve.
The only magic saw me cast infernal gateway right in the face of the Swordmasters with irresistible force AGAIN = bye bye Swordmasters :-D
Shooting saw another hit with the Hellcannon and here is what happened.
Poor lonely elf but he stood firm bless him...
Combat still didn't resolve the silverhelm fight and all units stayed locked together.
In the Elven turn I lost a few marauders to shooting but the only mage now left fluffed his lines and failed his first spell so wasted the turn.
Still nothing happened in the silverhelm fight.
Turn 6
I forgot to take photos from here on in but a quick summery. My exalted hero onna horse charged into and minced the unit of archers in the river running them down onto the hill. My warshrine finally died in the Silverhelm combat and at the end of the game there was only 1 left against 3 dwarves and the sorcerer.
A comedy moment saw the Elven mage in desperation move closer to my hero hoping for a miscast to take him out. He did miscast thanks to pandemonium being in play but I modified the roll so there was no detonation and instead the mage took a wound.
Final scores were
Elves - 980
Chaos - 1200
Conclusion
Avery messy game that started well for me but then saw my two hardest units bounce off the Swordmasters which I guess is what they do. If I had had my bsb in with my sorcerer then it could have all been different as it would have made the warriors stubborn and hopefully I could have ground them down some more meaning I could charge my knights into their flank.
I think Dan made a huge mistake with his Silverhelms as they were out of the game where they were. Not dispelling the hex on them as well meant all their combats were at Strength and toughness 2!
This army is very reliant on me getting in some good magic and the Hellcannon hitting directly twice didn't hurt either.
The dwarves aren't worth the points but fair play they are quite handy in combat being stubborn and with a 4+ armour save and strength 4 too.
I do find it silly how having 1 model on the board from a 545 point unit means you get no points for them. Luckily my warriors didn't leg it and saved me a load of points so it balanced out :)
A fun game with a great opponent. Cheers Dan
Zombie Apocalypse
Turns out Archeon the Everchosen is really good at it getting to the helipad first and killing 18 zombies along the way :-D
