Avicii's 'Phoenix list' Second Game

[Avicii]

Second Game Vs. Beasts of Chaos

Senario: Battleline

Mystical Monument: Charnel pit (-1LD within 6”)

Again I must apologize for bad image quality
I was looking forward to this second game after a confident win against the Ogre list with Double Blasters. I had not played Beasts a lot only once or twice. From reading online talk I am mostly under the Impression that Beastmen are not the most competitive in 8th edition gaming, but this is not to say that my list is ether so I was ready for a tough match up. Merle was my opponent for this game and would be my most commonly played Opponent (also owns Ogres, DE and Warriors) In which I have a some BR up against him (one where I lost to his WoC with the Cav bus). On first looking at Merle’s list I knew this would be a tough to beat because of the body count comparison.

I would also like to take the time to ask all readers if they enjoy the break down of each phase I do per turn? If it is too much/boring then I’ll go to a short brief of the turn for more enjoyable reading. I try to use the break down so you can get a picture of how the turns actually took place, whether it was a bit of luck or actual tactics that helped some phases be successful. Feedback on this would be greatly appreciated.

Thoughts on my approach to taking down the Beastmen

The simple big blocks that housed so many points (including one unit of str7 attacks) meant that I would have to make sure I made combo charges to take them down, otherwise I would find myself out combat resolution and combo charged myself. The bestigors lead by a Doombull always pose a great combat threat to me so some focus of shooting and magic would be direct their way. I had Heavens again this game to give myself another tester on it since I found it successful in the first game. The general thoughts about taking on Merle’s list was to take my time with advancing and charging. The lack of his ranged threat and the great mobility means I can really take the time to advance. If I was unhappy with the idea of charging I would simply rethink what can be done in the movement phase.

My List(unchanged):

Anointed of Asuryan (General) mounted on Frostheart Phoenix
Magic Items: Blade of Leaping Gold, Enchanted Shield and Dawnstone

Carrier of the Phoenix Kings Banner (BSB) Mounted on Great Eagle
Equipment: Heavy Armor, Lance, Lion Cloak
Magic Items: Charmed Shield, Talisman of preservation

Mage of the Shrine Lv2 Lore of Heavens
Magic Items: Dispel Scroll and Khaine's ring

5 x Ellryian Reavers with muso, Bows & Spears
5 x Ellryian Reavers with muso, Bows & Spears
5 x Ellryian Reavers with muso, Bows & Spears
29 x Archers, muso and Std
18 x Phoenix Guard
Musician, Standard Bearer & Champion
Magic Banner: Razor Standard
1 x Blazing Bolt Thrower
1 x Blazing Bolt Thrower
1 x Flamespyre Phoenix
1 x Frostheart Phoenix

Merle’s List:

Great Bray Shaman level 4 (beasts), dispel scroll
Doombull (1+) Dawnstone, Sword of Swift Slaying, ramhorn helm
BSB, beast banner
Shaman lv2, beasts
4 x tusgor chariots
39 gor FC 2handweapons
19 gor FC
29 bestigor FC Std of discipline
5 miniator
5 harpies
5 harpies

Spells

Mage of the Shrine – Iceshard and Chain Lightening

Great Bray – Wildform, Amber Spear, Curse and Savage Beasts

Shaman – Wildform and Transformation

Deployment




Due to fairly restrictive terrain and LD limits I knew Merle would have to keep his blocks centeral and own the middle of the Field. Deployment was not too much of a concern for me, however I still wanted to threaten the flanks. Therefore I placed all three Phoenix’s to the eastern flank with the Anointed close enough to Inspire the rest. I did have the range advantage bet felt there wouldn’t be a lot I could really damage. I bunkered my infantry around the hill and would base my offense and defense from this point.

Merle won first turn

Beastmen Turn One




Movement: Everything moves with early intent.

Magic (3 & 3[Asur channel 1]): Merle starts with 2D Curse on the archers which I let through. Then uses remaining 4D boosted Amber Spear on the Anointed which I stop.

Chosen of Asuryan Turn One




Movement: Reavers attack the flank of the harpies. Phoenix’s bunch to the east of centre field and the mighty Guard make an advance.

Magic (3 & 2 [Beastmen channel 1]): I attempt a chain lightening with 5D, Merle dispels.

Shooting: a single wound is done to the Tusgor by bow fire while a single shot from the bolt thrower puts 1 wound on a minitor.

Combat: Reavers leave only 1 harpie alive breaking him from combat. The Reavers choose not to chase and reform to sacrifice themselves in the name of the king.

Beastmen Turn Two



Movement: Doombull breaks from his unit to take on the Reavers. Merle starts to box around the mystical monument making advancing in this area very intimidating.

Magic (2 & 1): 3D Savage Beasts on the Doombull which I do not stop.

Combat: Doombull murders the Reavers and is forced to overun his 1D6 from frenzy.

Chosen of Asuryan Turn Two




Movement: Again I send in some more Reavers to take out the Harpies. Anointed and Frost Phoenix both move to west of centre and the Guard back up to protect their lord.

Magic (5 & 4): I start with 1D Ring on the Tusgor in the ruins, I get 11 hits and bring it down. I then use 3D Iceshard on Doombull which my opponent lets go. I then Finish with 5D Chain Lightening which is dispelled.

Shooting: Bows and Bolts on the Hill finish the other Tusgor to the west. The other Bolt crew Line a single shot up on the Doombull and get 2 wounds on the beast.

Combat: Reavers kill 2 Harpies sending causing them to flee across field. Again the brave Reavers turn to sacrifice themselves.

Beastmen Turn Three




Movement: Doombull attempts a charge at the Bolt thrower but falls very short. Minitors and Gor charge the Reavers.

Magic (6 & 2): starts with 3D Curse on the Guard, I allow. Then 2D Wildform from both casters on the Minitors. I get lucky and dispel both.

Combat: Poor Reavers again....

Chosen of Asuryan Turn Three




Movement: This turn I decide is a good chance to make my assualt. Anointed and the Frostheart both charge the Minitors. Flamespyre moves forward to hold of the eastern advance.

Rule Question....If I had enough movement with the Flamespyre to move over the Bestigor and then back infront of them to redirect is this legal?

Magic (3 & 2): all dice go towards Chain lightening on the Doombull with IF. No wounds go on the bull, Harpies die, 3 BG die and 5 Gor also fall. Miscasts results in seven archers perish.

Shooting; Both bolt throwers fail to hit the Doombull uh-oh!

Combat: Two Minitors die from all my attacks, none are dished back in return and the Minitors hold steadfast......Double uh-oh!

Beastmen Turn Four




Movement: Doombull charges in for support while Bestigor take on the Flamespyre. Eastern flank closes the gaps.

Magic (3 & 3 [Asuryan and Bestmen channel 1]): 3D Savage beasts on the Doombull is instantly scrolled (kept it handy late in the game again). Then 2D Wildform from Lv4 is dispelled while the Lv2 fails to cast Wildform with 2D.

Combat: all attacks are directed at the Minitors and only 4 wounds are managed. Doombull puts 3 wounds on the Frostheart. Asur lose combat but inspiring presence proves enough to make them hold. Flamespyre goes down very easily!

Fire reborn results in large blast template doing minor damage.

Chosen of Asuryan Turn Four




Movement: Guard are stupidly out of position and cannot make it into combat to help (very unlike the Asuryan I know).

Magic (6 & 2): I am just greatful to get the 4++ ward on my Phoenix’s this turn. 3D Iceshard on the Doombull to start is scrolled. I then go 5D on Chain lightening, Merel dispels.

Shooting: A single Bolt manges 3 wounds on a Tusgor. Some Bestigor drop to the other bolt and bow fire.

Combat: This turn I finish the Minitors! The doombull striking back only does 1 wound to the Frostheart. Even the rage of the Doombull was not enough to hold and he is chased to his death. I try to reform the Anointed so that my opponant would not be able to combo charge him from all angles.

Flamespyre turns to ashes this time.

Beastmen Turn Five




Movement: the Gor with the Lv2 charge into my Phoenix Guard.

Magic (6 & 4): 4D boosted spear was aimed at my Anointed but I dispel it The inevitable 6D mountain Chimera came and I had no answer for it.

Combat: the guard kill most of the unit but are only left with 4 after the slaughter by the Chimera causing them to flee behind the line of bows.

Chosen of Asuryan Turn Five




Movement: Anointed decides to take on the Bestigors. The Phoenix guard below 25% could not regroup and continues to flee from the battle. Reavers move to redirect the horde and Frostheart gets into the back field.

Magic (5 & 1): all dice go to dispelling the Transformed Lv2

Shooting: 1 Botlthrower multi shot kills the Tusgor. all remaining shots get fired at the lv2 bunker causing them to flee.

Combat: the champion of the Bestigor steps up and the anointed only gets 2 wounds on him. Combat is lost by 1 and the courageous Lord holds, reforming to get out of the Gor charge arc.

Beastmen Turn Six




Movement; Gor horde charge but Reavers evade. Lv2 and Bunker ralleys.

Magic (3 & 2): 2D Wildform on the Bestigor is dispelled. 3D Curse is then successful on the Frostheart.

Comabt: This time the BSB steps forward, suffering the same fate as the champion. Comabt is won this time by the Anointed.

Chosen of Asuryan Final Turn




Movement: Frostheart attempts a rear charge on the Bestigor, proving Merle’s tactics of Curse to work.

Magic: I did not want to risk anything this turn

Shooting: Finishes the Lv2 and his unit.

Comabt: The Anointed this time takes down the enemy leader but is unable to break the tough unit.

Game result

A win for the Kings army once again!
Let me say that this was a hard match which took some patient decision making. It was good to see how my list would win against an army based on big block units. Obviously my Deployment and movement is still a bit of a weak point, which is okay with such a flexible army when it comes to movement. I am really enjoying the build and Fluff of this list tbh. I will soon write up a the observations of the list so far and see what could be changed or what is needed.

MVP goes to the Anointed. Although I had him in all the wrong places at different stages of the game he still managed to get many important kills and points.

[Domine Nox]

Great battle report, it's always odd seeing the Asur as the underdog in the magic phase.

I really like your pictures. I'm sure it isn't intentional but the slight haze/blur makes it seem more like an actual view of the field from a distance.

[Struthy]

Love these fast lists! Would love to have the models to play it.

Bottle necking him through the middle was awesome. Your much smaller footprint helped picking what units you wanted to fight in there. Transformation was really huge there and those poor PG stood no chance.

Great report and look forward to seeing more

[vespacian1]

Great reports, love the army as well.
How are you finding the blade of leaping gold build on your anointed? Does the st4 handicap the model?

I run mine with: ogre blade, golden crown, es, ots(or pot of fools), but I do wish I had those extra attacks.

Looking forward to more bat reps!

[Avicii]

Hey, thanks for the fast replies

Domine Nox - it feels really odd not having much authority in the magic phase. It is really hard letting spells go with no chance of stopping them. Praying for small winds rolls is all I can really do. I'm glad you like the blur in the pictures . It is because my lens on my phone cracked, but I will remember to take my proper camera to my next game to hopefully enhance the images.

Struthy - I am really enjoying this list and I am lucky the only model I must proxy at this stage is the Anointed. I think bottle necking my opponent might have been a fluke as I didn't want to take on such big units for low gain.
Transformation was always on its way as I figure the small unit of Gor with Lv2 was just a delivery system

Vespacian - Brest to hear you are loving the army as well .
I'm really glad you asked about how my anointed is equipped and yes it makes him super underwhelming! He is very well defended but just packs no realy combat punch. I think I would agree with you in that your build misses attacks so I am looking at changing to something like this>>
Sword of strife, enchanted shield, dawn stone and pot of strength
Might get the best of both worlds and still have high defense?

More battle reports and painting logs to come also so keep an eye out.

[Ferny]

It looked like for most of the game your Annointed was vulnerable to a flank charge from the gor herd but he held off and off and off. Any idea why? Was the combat power of your Annointed that high? He'd have charge, ranks and banner for static res and would be holding on steadfast (probably) if he lost, but would have got so many attacks in against your lone bird.

Anyway, great report. I tried my first flying circus game last night - lost abysmally, but lots of fun doing so (and I fully expected to too). Will give it a brief write up now.

[Avicii]

Hey Ferny, good to hear from you. I'm sorry if I didn't explain each turn in enough detail but I will try to clear it up for you.

For the earlier turns when it looked like I had my flank obviously exposed, we were actually playing the solid looking area of the monument as impassable. This made it impossible for His Horde of Gor to complete a charge with that and other units in the way.

As for turn four/five where I win combat and reformed, I actually turned to make it so all his units would have to charge the front of the Anointed. From this I guess he thought it more useful to try and get some good magic before I charged in (I can't tell you exactly what he was thinking). Once he had a big winds phase Transformation took more precedence over hexes and buffs.

I'm glad you still enjoyed the read despite some confusion. It is also great to hear you testing a flying circus of your own and I look forward to reading your report!

[Stormie]

Excellent report, the detail is good! It was a lot closer than I thought it would be. Sometimes I can't quite work out what happened though, did the Frostheart Phoenix die in the last turn?

You both seemed terrified by his casting Amber Spear on your Anointed on the Phoenix- I think with a 2 or 3+ ward save vs the spear, there might've been better uses of the dice.

[Avicii]

Hey stormie, good to hear from you again and I am glad you enjoyed.

The Frost Phoenix died in the last turn because I failed the dangerous terrain test (from the Curse spell cast on the Phoenix) and my ward save. The Frost Phoenix only had 1 wound left, which I forgot to display in the pictures.

As for Amber spear it is probably best to go through how I think (tactically) when it comes to defending magic in my turn. For the first turn I feel it very important to get a feel of my opponents intentions in this particular phase of the game. What I am trying to say is once you see your opponents first magic phase you can have a better idea of how the following magic phases will probably play out (especially when I only have a lv2 and a scroll).

Merle's first magic phase he had 6D to my 4. Straight away you can start to think that he will definitely get one spell off this phase (maybe 2 if he wants to risk only 2D per spell) as my 4D will have to go towards 1 dispelig attempt. Moving on his first spell was Curse on my Archers, which to me proved no threat at all over the next turn as there was no intentions of me moving them. Then once he took his remaining dice to cast Amber Spear it gives me free rien to try and dispel it. So instantly from his first phase I could tell that he was prepared to try the boosted Amber spear in hope that I would fail one of my wards saves probably resulting in a dead Lord or Mount (something I myself was not prepared to risk).

In the later stages of the game where he attempted it a second time Merle's magic phase consisted of 10PD. I knew that if his Lv2 didn't transform into something then that small unit of Gor was a lost hope against HE elite. So because he used 4D on Amber Spear that phase I knew he was saving 6 for Transformation (more than likely going for a miscast). So I decided to try and dispel Amber Spear so that I would at least stop one spell in that phase. Besides if he went for the boosted Trans he was going to need a very high roll to get it.

It didn't mean I feared that my Lord would go down to the spear it was just more sensible to dispel it in the circumstances it was cast.

I hope this made sense?

[Ferny]

Hey Ferny, good to hear from you. I'm sorry if I didn't explain each turn in enough detail but I will try to clear it up for you.

For the earlier turns when it looked like I had my flank obviously exposed, we were actually playing the solid looking area of the monument as impassable. This made it impossible for His Horde of Gor to complete a charge with that and other units in the way.

As for turn four/five where I win combat and reformed, I actually turned to make it so all his units would have to charge the front of the Anointed. From this I guess he thought it more useful to try and get some good magic before I charged in (I can't tell you exactly what he was thinking). Once he had a big winds phase Transformation took more precedence over hexes and buffs.

I'm glad you still enjoyed the read despite some confusion. It is also great to hear you testing a flying circus of your own and I look forward to reading your report!

Thanks for the clarification - a good game well fought and won.

I've written up my list and a poor-man's bat rep here:
http://www.ulthuan.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=67&t=58961

Definitely a learning curve to these lists...

[Stormie]

Yep, it makes sense! If I were the Beastmen player I wouldn't have been casting the Amber Spear on the one heavily magically-resistant Phoenix out of the three in his position, it makes me wonder if he realised that the model would have such a great ward save. But from the High Elf POV, if your opponent has used 4 dice on Amber Spear while you have each have 6 magic dice left and a Transformation incoming, it does make sense to go for the more likely dispel of the Amber spear.

[Jimmy]

Hey Avicii

Thanks for the battle report, always a thorough and enjoyable read to be had and I really do like your list.

On the rules query with the Flame phoenix I’d direct you to the screamers of tzeentch and/or the Lizardmen and their unit of terradon with the drop rock attacks. I am unsure.

A question for you, what was the purpose of keeping the Flame Phoenix on the right flank as it appeared nothing was going to break the stale mate between your unit and the chariots? Wouldn’t it have been better to move it back towards the centre of your lines in order to threaten the oncoming advance of the Doombull?

Shame the Flame Phoenix cooked off so quick and I can’t help but feel he would have been put to better use getting into the back lines to start using his Wake of Fire rule right away – a lot easier said than done but it’s a shame you didn’t get to use it at all as these large Beastmen units would have been the perfect candidates for it.

As always looking forward to the next report.

[Avicii]

Hi all, thanks again for the replies.

Ferny - Thanks for the link, I just went over to your thread and had a read

Stormie - Yeah I understand what you're saying. Maybe perhaps because it was just a friendly Merle was going for all or nothing

Jimmy - Great to see you are still enjoying my games!

Thanks for your response to the rules question. I will head to the rules section on the site to enter in a more detailed description of the question. The place this idea actually occurred to me was because in a game not too long ago I was playing against a lizard men army where my opponent wanted to literally just clip one of my units and then back infront of me so he could still drop rocks. I am torn as to whether this is a weak move or it is totally acceptable.

You're definitley correct in saying my Flamespyre seemed out of position the whole game and was probably better of retreating centre field with the rest of my army on turn 2. I would have loved to use the Flamespyre's abilities to full extent this game. The stale mate was working for me I think? holding those units off for the 2 turns that I did saved me from an overwhelming flank attack that I might not have been able to control.
The reason for using him to redirect was because during the turn while I try to think ahead (not my strong point) I could only see a bad outcome once I had committed my Annointed and Frostheart to the Minitors. The outcome in following turns in my mind was that the Bestigor unit would then charge into my Frostheart then giving him an upper hand in combat.
I am glad you asked the question as this makes me think about what I could've done differently in the game to hopefully achieve better outcomes.

[Swordmaster of Hoeth]

Hi Avicii,

Thanks a lot for your reports and apologies for not commenting much. I just wanted to let you know I do check your reports, as always your maps are very inspirational and I keep promising myself to make enough of templates to use as spells too! They add so much to the story and show nicely what has happened!

Congratulations on the victories and it is great to see Anointed in action. At the moment he seems to be a little under rated and people don't take him that often.

Just a question about the photos. What is the reason of that milky effect? I am afraid it takes away a lot from the effect and does not give justice to your nice looking army.

But other than that all perfect so please, keep up the good work!

Cheers!

[Avicii]

Hey Swordmaster, great to hear from you as always!

No need to apologize, I understand that keeping up your own blogs and battle reps along with life is time consuming enough as it is. I think I speak for everyone on ulthuan when I say I am glad you do so many BRs for most of the big tournaments in Australia (also masters this year ). I have been reading your masters journey and I am yet to add my comments, mainly because I see you have heaps to reply to as it is.
I'm glad you still enjoy my battle chronicler art , it is a part I enjoy when writing up a BR. Maybe if I spark enough interest I will create a zip folder with all my components so others can use them.

As I said earlier I think this list will be one I stick with for a while. It is super enjoyable and sort of unreported on ulthuan (but seems to be a lot of HE players interest since the new book), so I thought I would start to report on this style of list. Obviously the Anointed is the back bone of the list and to me is fun to use purely because of freedom and versatility of equipment.

Let me say that the photos are definitely not intentional. My iPhone lens has cracked recently causing the blur in the images . I will try to remember my camera next game for clearer images.

Cheers.

[Swordmaster of Hoeth]

Hi Avicii,

Thanks! The thing is that I would like to show the appreciation for posting the reports as I know how much effort it takes. And last thing one wants is to have no comments.

There is always a shortage of time so I decided to give you shout just to say I do support your efforts! And I will be very interested in your file with all the graphics!

So keep up the god work!

[Avicii]

Thankyou for the support Swordmaster! It is hard sometimes when you don't get many comments on reports after putting the effort in. I just hope at the end of the day I have helped other HE players out with my lists and reports even if they don't respond on here.

[Swordmaster of Hoeth]

Don't worry, Avicii, they are read for sure! It is quite typical that the reports do not get that many comments as other topics. It is far easier to comment on the army list because technically, everybody can be right. So you can argue forever, haha!

With the report you need some of the insight to spot opportunities or analyse multitude of options. That takes more time too! So don't stop and keep up the good work! You definitely add to the community's pool of experience and it is fantastic to have some regular battle reporters.

[Cealyne]

Hello Avicii!
First time posting on any if your posts. First, I like the list! Second, tough break on the flame phoenix.
I am curious on how u feel the list is doing for u. Double frosty plus flame phoenix seems like it needs to be handled with grey care. How do u find the blade of leaping gold? I tried it only once so far, and it was very lack luster for me. The odd 6 I managed to roll was against units that it didn't matter. Just curious.

[Avicii]

Thanks Again Swordmaster it is great to have your backing and I appreciate the kind words. You never know my Phoenix list might become as popular as the mighty MSU one day .

Hello Cealyne it is great to hear from you and I am glad you like the list and decided to post.

Moving onto your questions, I have only played 2 games with this style of list and I have won both of them (with a bit of luck). I can honestly say I feel comfortable with the list already, although some aspects haven't let me down yet i.e I haven't rolled double 1's for winds yet which will mean only a 6++ for the phoenix's. Surprisingly the list has been fairly forgiving of my silly mistakes even against the Ogre list with Double Blasters.

You are very correct about the Blade of Leaping Gold, it has been very underwhelming so I am looking at doing a change for the equipment my Annointed will be carrying. Also keep an eye on my army section post where I have done a break down of my first thoughts on the list before playing a game. I will do a write up of my thoughts since playing two games and I will have some changes to add. It will be good for me to get input from as many readers as possible .

[Ferny]

Thankyou for the support Swordmaster! It is hard sometimes when you don't get many comments on reports after putting the effort in. I just hope at the end of the day I have helped other HE players out with my lists and reports even if they don't respond on here.

+1 to what Swordmaster said - I read plenty of reports (especially nice ones like this with diagrams) but often don't comment because I have nothing useful to say. But I enjoy the read and try to learn from them. I always used to think the BatReps were teh best bit of WD before I went off the magazine, but I think the ones on here are generally better .

[Avicii]

Thanks for the support Ferny! Feel free to comment on any of my write ups because I always look forward to hearing back from other gamers .

[John Rainbow]

Great report. Thanks for posting it. As to your question about the Phoenix and moving over a unit and then back again I would say it is legal to do so if you have enough movement to do it. As someone else mentioned, such things happen a lot with units like Terradons and Hexwraiths. I quite frequently see a unit of Hexwraiths moving over a unit, doing a dance of sorts so they all cover the unit then moving back in front of them to block them yet again. It seems silly, but by the rules, it also seems to be allowed.

[Avicii]

Thankyou for getting back to me about the rules question John. I was under the same impression as you, however I still feel like I wouldn't have any evidence to back me up if my opponent was to question me?

I will get this into the rules question section when I next get a chance.