Daemons Turn 4As far as the main combats were looking, I felt things were going well for me. Unfortunately my opponent still had his amazingly flexible and powerful fiends and flamers to try and even the score before the next big combat took place. The next turn would matter.
The fiends began proceedings by charging my 4 remaining white lions in the rear. I figured I'd kill one and hold, so this wasn't such a big deal. Of far greater worry were the flamers, who moved with the speed and flexibility of skirmishers to bring every last model in range of the defenseless swordmasters (who had no protection of any kind after my duff magic phase and were now looking very worried indeed). Yeesh. The bloodletters, unable to charge the spearelves because of the interposing flamers, marched toward the silver helms to bring themselves into play and, especially, to protect the plaguebearers and their vulnerable standards from the elven knights, who'd have a charge on next turn. If I took that charge, the helms would end up with a bloodletter block in their flank- no good. The plaguebearers themselves kept their distance from the elves in order to allow this manoeuvre.
As the daemon infantry close ranks to protect their valuable standards, the flamers and fiends move in to even the odds.Magic. I prayed for a low roll and got totally the opposite. My opponent rolled 10 and channelled 2 more power dice on top! Lecalion, concentrating hard, channelled a dispel dice himself but this only brought me to 6. My opponent could, effectively, do what he wanted. He started by throwing up Throne of Vines before granting his bloodletters, nervous of my prince and his retinue, Toughness 7. I didn't bother trying to dispel either of these because the next cast was obviously going to be Dwellers against the spear column containing both of my casters. The Tzeentch herald threw all the dice he had left at it and...
...failed to cast.
Numpty.I'd effectively thrown away my dispel dice but this was fine by me! Shooting, then. The flamers spurted great balls of flame at my swordmasters, who merely stood in disbelief as the vast majority of these fireballs flew over their heads or plummeted into the ground before their feet. I lost only 5 swordmasters and quickly breathed a word of thanks to Asuryan, master of balance (who clearly had a distaste for flamers in particular- can't think why). Toughness 7 bloodletters were a problem, but I'd rather have had the living swordmasters and was now very, very pleased. My opponent took it like a champ, but he had reason to be annoyed.
Fail.
Epic Fail.Combat went much better for the daemons. The white lions couldn't hit the fiends and failed to manage a single wound. The fiends, for their part, tore the white lions apart and reformed to face the chariot. Since they'd managed exactly 4 wounds, I made a mental note that 10 really is a significantly smaller unit size than 12: in this instance the loss of 2 models had cost me a unit and, more importantly, a standard.
End of Daemon Turn 4High Elves Turn 4I wasn't going to get that lucky again against daemonic shooting and resolved to wipe those flamers out once and for all. The spearblock finally broke from its position and charged the nearest flamers- to my left. They had a very good chance to total this unit and overrun into the bloodletters, so I prayed for good dice. The swordmasters, too close to receive death by stand-and-shoot, charged the other flamer unit in the front while the 6 remaining blue archers charged them in the rear. Further to the right, the chariot charged the flamers, demanding vengeance for the death of their Chracian brothers. The 2 remaining dragon princes, hovering by my backline, turned to face this combat so that, if the chariot failed, they'd have a flank charge on next turn. This just left the silver helms, then. I deliberated for a long time as to the virtues of charging straight into the plaguebearers and claiming their BSB as my prize (in this instance the swordmasters would interpose themselves between the 'letters and the flank of my knights). In the end, I figured that discretion was the better part of valour. My cavalry would back up and allow my infantry to clear the field so that, when the big charge was eventually declared, I'd have more support on hand.
Very annoyed at being out-harassed, for once, the High Elves move to reclaim the open field.Magic gave me all the dice I needed- 9. Shield of Thorns and (crucially), Throne of Vines were still up- leaving Dwellers and Regrowth. If I could kill the enemy general (the Tzeentch herald) with Dwellers, the daemons army would drop to 3 fortitude points and break from the field. To draw some dice off, I attempted to regrow the swordmasters. My opponent used his last spellbreaker to prevent it (EDIT: I haven't mentioned it, but my opponent had already used a spellbreaker earlier in the game: unfortunately I can't quite remember when!). The herald's defenses were good, however, since he still had 7 dispel dice left to my 6 power dice. But 6 was all I needed...
Lecalion played it pretty safe, avoiding the miscasts, and Dwellers went off on the lone Tzeentch herald with a total cast of 27. The daemon threw all his dispel dice to resist it and scored a total of... 28! Bastard!
In a titanic clash of wills, Lecalion is unable to overcome his opponent's defenses. Just.Combat. The spearelves tore into the flamers but, even with all those ranks pushing forwards, only managed to bring the daemons down to one model after instability- not wipe them out. Damn. Things did not exactly go to plan in the other combat, either. The swordmasters and archers did fine against their opponents but, before they failed their instability and popped, the flamers brought down 3 swordmasters, a significant number now that they were so few. The remaining elves reformed to face the flank of the bloodletters, hoping for a good dose of regrowth from their patron archmage. Meanwhile, to the right, the chariot thundered into the fiends and managed to trample one of them into the dust. The other passed its instability test, however, and stood its ground.
Slowly but surely, the elves bring the daemons down.Daemons Turn 5To try and stall the spearelf column further, the nurglings (who'd been dancing their way across the board all this time), charged them in the flank (in hindsight, and with only 1 flamer left alive, I should have reformed to face them).
Nurgle's pets want to play.This didn't change the basic position, however. Now that his light units were rapidly melting, my opponent found that his bloodletters were in a desperate quandary. They'd moved into the centre of the board because, with the flamers running around, they'd had no charge on against the spears and, further, they'd wanted to protect the plaguebearers from my knights. Now, however, they were in a much worse position. The spearelves might well wipe out the little daemons this turn (after wounds, ranks and all the rest of it) and, if they did, they'd have a charge on against the bloodletters' rear on my next turn. If my opponent turned to face the spears, however, they'd leave their rear open to a thunderous charge from Seredain and his knights, still at full strength, still with Shield of Thorns up and running. Surely, that would spell instant death. To escape, the bloodletters continued on their journey toward the helms, evading the spearelves by having the high elf archers interposed between them both. There was a flaw in the plan, however. The plaguebearers didn't have the room to wheel now that the bloodletters had advanced so far, so they were forced to take a free reform and could move only 4" in the same direction. This left their army's line dangerously broken...
Elven knights stand ready to pounce as the daemons scramble for position in the centre of the field.Magic saw my opponent get up another good amount of dice, though not overwhelming. He drew all my dispel dice out with an attempted
Flesh to Stone on the plaguebearers, then threw another amber spear, this time at my swordmasters, who he really wanted dead after all this time! The noble elves were blessed, however. One was pierced easily by the magical bolt but, when rolling to wound the second (and last) swordmaster, my opponent rolled a 1. Aha! Praise be!
In combat, the chariot and fiend decided to have a chat about the nature of existence and did absolutely nothing to each other. The spears likewise seemed distracted and barely did anything to the nurglings (though they managed to skewer the last flamer). The little daemons held their ground and the spears were forced (to get the job done quickly), to turn to face their enemy and expand their frontage- sitting around was doing me no good.
High Elves Turn 5My silver helms now had the opportunity they wanted. They charged forward headlong, straight passed the bloodletters, and smashed into the front of the plaguebearers. One knight was knocked from his horse as he charged through the forest, but no matter. The khornite daemons, now badly out of position, could do nothing to help. The dragon princes, who'd done nothing so far other than manage to stay on the field, decided to make their mark and charged in against the fiend fighting the chariot.
The swiftness of the elven knights takes Khorne's minions completely by surprise, to the detriment of the followers of Nurgle.During the magic phase, Lecalion used an average number of dice (perhaps 7 in total), to cast Shield of Saphery on the silver helms (dispelled) and a throne-boosted Regrowth on the swordmasters, who saw their ranks swell back to 7 models. Aha! It's a wonderful Life.
In the shooting phase, the archers aimed to get me the easy win again by pinging the Tzeentch herald out of this world. They nearly managed it, too- scoring 1 successful wound and forcing a successful 4+ ward on another.
This phase was all about the combat, however. The dragon princes, in recompense for their earlier cowardice, easily trashed the last fiend: they and the chariot now reorganised and faced the flank of the bloodletters. The spearelves likewise destroyed the nurglings and now reformed to face the rear of both daemon blocks. The helms, then. Seredain, in base contact with the nurgle herald, found his skill sapped by nasty vapours and was forced to strike last. His companions, perhaps equally befuddled, managed only 3 kills against the plaguebearers, who brought down a knight in reply. The elf lord now swung his sword and invoked his own blessings, however. The Talisman of Loec burned with a bright light which shattered the miasma of Nurgle's herald. Seredain's great sword cut the daemon clean in two and, even as it collapsed to the ground, its great icon was shattered into a thousand pieces. In an instant, the fear that had wavered elven hearts was dissipated. Victory would surely be theirs!
The High Elves close in around their enemies.Daemons Turn 6The bloodletters were powerless to aid the plaguebearers and didn't have any charges on for themselves, either. Seething with frustration, they turned to face the swordmasters, calling out taunts and challenges. For their part, the plaguebearers looked doomed unless the Life Herald could help them. Sure enough, he got an absolute tonne of power dice again (argh!!), and went to town on Life spells. I let throne of vines up (I only had enough dispel dice to stop one decent cast- and that was for
Flesh to Stone. Unfortunately, FtS was the next spell on the agenda and it went off irresistibly. Shit! My opponent's remaining dice, thrown at a
Curse of Anraheir against the silver helms, was dispelled. Still, the damage had been done.
Toughness 8 plaguebearers: the fight gets serious.If anyone could overcome the uber-bearers, it was Seredain. Sure enough, he smote two to the ground (5+ to wound is better than 6+ to wound). With their lord leading by example, Caradath and the silver helms didn't do badly either, slaying another two or three of the foul daemons. Another knight died for the cause but, in spite of everything, the combat had gone my way. Infuriatingly, though, the daemons stayed stable and held on to their standard- the last one I needed to win the game. It was all down to my Turn 6 and, standing between me and scenario victory, were T8 troops.
High Elves Turn 6The spearelves were ready to lend a hand, however, and surged across the field into the rear of the plaguebearers. What strength of arm couldn't achieve, strength in numbers surely would. Getting hold of a good dose of power, the High Elf mages raised a shield over the citizen soldiers and redrew a shield of thorns around them too (this time, since Throne of Vines was up, at strength 4). The shield did as much as could be expected, killing only 1 or 2 daemons (but every little helps).
Buoyed by the sight of their fellows rushing to their aid, Seredain's knights fought furiously and killed a good number, perhaps 4 or 5, plaguebearers. The spearelves, throwing down an enormous number of attacks (and str 3 was as good as Str6 here), scored another 3 kills. The remaining plaguebearers found themselves outmatched and unable to kill enough elves to cling on. Surrounded, and with a column of furious elven warriors pushing through the back of their formation, they withered and died- all of them. Their standard slumped into the dirt and slowly vanished. The elves held their own banners high into the sky and cried out:
"Glory!"
Victory to the High Elves!(slightly marred by my daemonic opponent taking revenge and accidentally knocking my prince off his horse, breaking him in two. He'll need pinning!)
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So let me live vivaciously through you and crush all your opposition. 
