RE.Lee's "Record of Lost Colonies"

[RE.Lee]

Wood Elves:

Spellweaver / dispel, ward 4+,
Waystallker / bow of Loren
Branchwraith
Glade guard 18 / st, mu, trueflight arrows
Driads 14 / champion
Treekin 6 / champion
Scouts 6 / poison
Wildwood rangers 14 / dow.
Treeman / strangleroots
Eagles 2

[RE.Lee]

Game played! A rather brutal affair - I'll post a full report soon

[SpellArcher]

Bravo!



From a quick look at the lists I like the Elves for board control but their characters look in serious danger from Death sniping, unless accompanying the Swordmasters.

[RE.Lee]

The battlefield pretty much reflected the setup suggested in ET:Nagash.

Deployment:


My plan was to threaten with my left flank, led by Mannfred, to slow down the enemy advance. The center is packed with chaff to throw in their way, while the Tomb Guards and Chariots wait to counter-attack. Both armies had very solid magic - death-snipes are always a good idea, but Belannaer is a tough opponent and I also needed those dice to bring back my troops.

The Elf generals decided against deploying a spearhead (their zone had a protrusion in the middle) - they figured that advancing cautiously in a straight line was the better option.

[SpellArcher]

The battlefield

Looks great!

My plan was to threaten with my left flank, led by Mannfred, to slow down the enemy advance

Yeah, I don't rate WE combat troops except for Wild Riders. Mannfred is not a Blender Lord though, so the Treeman could be an issue.

Both armies had very solid magic - death-snipes are always a good idea, but Belannaer is a tough opponent and I also needed those dice to bring back my troops.

I'd have though the elves would be targeting that chaff first, which is hard to raise back. Having foght Mannfred I could just see a Death snipe spam phase coming, with his superb repertoire. But yeah, World Dragon keeps Belannaer safe. If he can get Convocation through the RIP will suck out Power dice.

[Prince of Spires]

The battlefield

Looks great!

+1 Looking amazing

For the moment my money is on the undead side of things. Not a lot of room to manoeuvre for the HE, especially with the garden of Morr on the left flank. Which means a lot of one on one combats. Which is not where HE excel. Especially when the undead go for drawn out, grinding combats. Still, there is a few wild cards the undead need to take care of. You don't want those SM or the cav bus to get into your line undamaged for instance. They can really do some serious damage on the smaller undead units.

Bring on the battle report!

Rod

[RE.Lee]

Thanks for the comments guys!

Turn 1.

The Elves advance steadily, sticking to their plan of not getting their fast assault units drawn out. In the magic phase Eltharion (who picked Lore of Light) managed to cast Net of Amyntok on the Ghouls, which was not a big problem. The shooting phase was disasterous however, as 6 Scouts rolled 3 three 6s to hit and, thanks to their poisoned arrows, destroyed my Casket of Souls! A chariot and some Dire Wolves die too.

I advance a bit with Mannfred, who is without Ghouls support for now. Shooting kills the pesky Scouts, while magic sees Curse of Years cast on the Glade Guards, mainly as a defensive measure. I also manage to bring back a Chariot.



Turn 2.

The Elves decide to speed up - the left flank swings inside, with Eltharion inside the Garden of Morr. On the other side the Eagles move to block my Black Knights. Shooting drops 2 Knights and some chaff. The Wood Elf Mage casts Wildform on the Eternal Guards, while I dispel the rest.

I block the Helms with my Horse Archers, Mannfred stays put, not wanting to risk getting multiple charges into his unit. I kill some Eternal Guards and Swordmasters with Gaze of Nagash.



Turn 3.

Silver Helms delete the Horsemen, while the rest of the army follows up. The Wood Elves leave one eagle to block Mannfred - the Treemen moves towards the center leaving the Eternal Guards, Driads and Treekin to counter the Vampire Counts. I lose a Necroknight and some 5 Tomb Guards to shooting and magic.

Necroknights charge the Helms and fail to cause a single wound. They suffer none in return and the combat is a draw, but the Swordmasters are ready to counter. Mannfred charges the Eagle and the unit only manages 2 wounds (!). I still win, break the beast and overrun into the Treekin. Lets see how this goes. Ghouls move to block the Driads, while the Dire Wolves advance close to the Spearmen.



This is where things stand after 3 turns. Almost no combats so far, which is good, I think. The VC/WE flank opened up a bit, but now the Elves had to stop and focus on Mannfred, which could slow them down. The downside is that he's worth a VP, so losing him would be bad. I should have tried casting more summoning spells perhaps, to create road-blocks for the Elves. I don't have much experience with VC, unfortunately. Eltharion in the flank is problem, will the archers tie him up?

Opinions welcome

[SpellArcher]

Opinions welcome

The shooting phase was disasterous however, as 6 Scouts rolled 3 three 6s to hit and, thanks to their poisoned arrows, destroyed my Casket of Souls!

That's the thing about Poison isn't it? Sometimes it does nothing but sometimes...

magic sees Curse of Years cast on the Glade Guards, mainly as a defensive measure.

How did this pan out RE? Did the elves dispel the RIP or did it keep eating the unit?

Mannfred stays put, not wanting to risk getting multiple charges into his unit.

Sounds wise, he needs the Ghoul support to get fruity.

I kill some Eternal Guards and Swordmasters with Gaze of Nagash.

I worry a bit that the Treeman is not being dealt with.

overrun into the Treekin. Lets see how this goes.

Would favour you because Treekin are only S4 and lack static res. He looks to have a flank charge on before combat starts though. Also gets to buff first because round 1 is in his turn. Scroll time?

Ghouls move to block the Driads

Should eat them alive unless the unit to their right intervenes. It can't do that and help the Treekin though.

Eltharion in the flank is problem, will the archers tie him up?

Both monsters look a bit of an issue.

[RE.Lee]

Nice analysis!

magic sees Curse of Years cast on the Glade Guards, mainly as a defensive measure.

How did this pan out RE? Did the elves dispel the RIP or did it keep eating the unit?

They did dispel it with a cheeky 1-dice Drain Magic, which was disappointing

I worry a bit that the Treeman is not being dealt with.

I was really counting on catching him with the Ghouls, unfortunately he's quite maneuverable and he got away...

Would favour you because Treekin are only S4 and lack static res. He looks to have a flank charge on before combat starts though. Also gets to buff first because round 1 is in his turn. Scroll time?

Round 1 is actually in the Elf turn as I overrun on mine. This also means he's open to flank charges...

[SpellArcher]

Nice analysis!

Thanks!

They did dispel it with a cheeky 1-dice Drain Magic

Nice move.

Round 1 is actually in the Elf turn as I overrun on mine. This also means he's open to flank charges...

That's what I meant RE.

[RE.Lee]

Oh, he=opponent, not Mannfred, silly me

[Prince of Spires]

Interesting battle. I decided to look up the victory conditions again since it seems like they were forgotten a bit in this first half of the battle. If the HE / WE players manages to push through on the left flank the undead are in trouble. Eltharion and the SH bus + any remaining swordmasters could really go to town on the shrine, which would give the elf side a win as long as Eltharion manages to survive. Though I must say that I probably would have charged Eltharion at Arkhan or at least positioned him in such a way that I would be able to T4. Take him out and a large part of the undead magical threat is gone.

As for the undead, I think they committed too early. Given that they had the advantage in VP, they could have easily waited for another turn before moving forward. This would have bunched up the elf forces and removed any advantage in superior numbers and strength. Now the undead forces are very spread out, while the elf ones are still a coherent force. And once the elves push through the Necroknights, there is little between them and the shrine, especially with the treeman holding the center.

Rod

[RE.Lee]

Some interesting thoughts, Prince of Spires! You are right that the big objective remained largely safe so far. This was my hope of winning. I actually thought that I committed to late, having been weakened by superior ranged power of the Elves. Nice to see a different perspective on this.

Anyway, the second half:

Turn 4.

Rangers (which I've previously called Eternal Guard, because those were the models proxying for them) charge into the flank of Mannfred and his units. Some bad rolls later (I had let through the Curse of Anraheir), the vampire is left on his own, though the Elves melted a bit, too. Driads charge Ghouls and beat them up badly - that hatred and extra rank of attack in the wood hurt! I hold on though. Eltharion charges into the archers, kils the champion, some skellies crumble. The Treeman moves to support him. An Eagle charges my Chariots in the flank and wins the combat. The Spearmen delete the Wolves and overrun into the Horse Archers. Swordmasters and Silver Helms follow up. Shooting kills some more Tomb Guard, who are now looking quite weak

I don't have much moving to do. I bring back some skeleton archers, mostly to ressurect the champion and challenge Eltharion again. I also manage to raise quite a lot of Ghould, which heals Mannfred thanks to the lore attribute. The last spell results in a miscast - however, the result (a small S10 blast) is by far more damaging to the Elves. The last of the Rangers die. My rolls are once again horrible and Mannfred is almost dead (like totally). Ghouls fare better, thanks to their increased numbers - this should go my way. The eagle kills my chariot, while I'm unable to even wound it! Eltharion kills the champion again.



Turn 5.

The Wood Elf Mage, of all things, charges Mannfred in the flank! I do know what's up and dispel the Transformation of Kadon. The Treeman joins Eltharion against the archers and the two powerhouses kill them all. The Silver Helms advance. The Ghouls continue to grind down the Driads, while the Eagle carries on destroying my chariots! Shooting keeps on weakening the poor Tomb Guards...

Desperate, I charge the Silver Helms and Spearmen with the Tomb Guards. Before I get to swing I'm down to 3 models. The King does well, but the unit crumbles (I forgot about the curse again!). Mannfred casts some buffs on himself mostly to heal. He manages to bring down a Treekin, but again, this is not enough the break the deadlock. The struggle between the Eagle and the last Chariot continues, but the Ghouls finally finish off the Driads.

I looks bad, but I actually still winning 4:3 at this point!



Turn 6.

Eltharion, the Treeman, the Silver Helms and the Spearmen all charge the summoning site, causing 7 damage total. On the other side of the battlefield, disaster strikes and Mannfred is slain by the Treekin...

I try a charge against the Swordmaster with my Ghouls, but they all get slain.



The Elves assaulting the summoning site do their attacks:
Eltharion and Stormwing - 3 wounds, all saved
Eldyra - 2 wounds, 1 saved
Silver Helms - 1 wound, all saved
Treeman - 2 wounds, 1 saved
Spearmen - 3 wounds, only 2 saved...

So it was that the summoning site was destroyed with literally the last dice roll of the game. I went down from losing 3:4 to 0:7 which was pretty painful. Tell me what you guys think and I'll give my post battle thoughts

[Prince of Spires]

A pretty epic conclusion. Definitely fit for the End Times

I kept thinking, as the turns passed that the elves would be late. The game was about the shrine after all. Remove that and the elves win. Fail to kill it and a draw or small loss is likely. After all, killing Manfred would also secure a win. But the elf player then still is only on dead character away from a draw. That's one unlucky miscast away from a draw or loss for instance. They managed to get enough bodies into the shrine in the end to make a difference. Though I must say I'm shocked at seeing spearmen managing to do 2 wounds in a round of combat. Not that common...

I think the elves were a bit on the cautious side in the battle. As said, they needed to get the shrine. And leaving it to turn 6 was a big gamble I think. It worked in the end. But it came down the wire. It could have easily dropped the other way as well if Manfred had been a bit luckier perhaps and you made one extra ward save. That's perhaps 3 rolls between a massacre and a loss. And so really playing the odds.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I do think you were a bit on the aggressive side. You had the advantage in victory points and thus could afford to wait. And as you were down in victory points from the start, you could use the relatively narrow battlefield to your advantage. Now, your forces were drawn out and you ended up getting charged from multiple sides. Manfred could handle a lot of the combats he ended up in. But in the end he was simply worn down through attrition. Commit a turn later and he would have survived the battle.

Rod

[RE.Lee]

Thanks! Again you made an accurate analysis.

I thought I was being smart with advancing on my VC flank - putting some pressure on the Elves and preventing them from attacking too quickly. In the end it was the Wood Elves who were the distraction, luring away my second biggest combat threat and, to add insult to injury, killing Manfred.

On the other side I had some bad luck with the Necroknights but the biggest mistake was charging with the Tomb Guards. I thought I'd diminish the amount of attacks the Elves would get against the Summoning Site - in the end I gave them 2 rounds of combat, which cost me the game.

It was a close call, all in all. Could have gone any way but in the end the Undead suffered yet another defeat. The time was clearly not right for Nagash, but just as one danger was extinguished another lit up. Up north, Archaon ordered the Chaos hordes to descend upon the lands of the Empire.

[SpellArcher]

extra rank of attack in the wood hurt!

House rule? I'm pretty sure this is elves only by the book.

It was close in the end but no cigar. TK troops do tend to disappear very quickly when things go bad. Maybe the VC's should have blocked off the summoning site, leaving their allies as a distraction on the flanks? I also still think it would have been worth targeting the Monsters with magic, as they chew up infantry very quickly.

[RE.Lee]

You're right, we played that wrong! Good to know, even though that was the only combat that went my way

A zombie tarpit fueled by Manfred would have been a more efficient, if boring, option. Vampire Counts, and him in particular, are really good at bringing back dudes. Maybe I should buy some Mantic Zombies after all!

Water under the bridge, all of it - time to focus on that Chaos invasion! Rumour has it that Marienburg will be the first to suffer the wrath of not one but two Chaos Gods. I really liked the premise of a hidden Undead force within the city - I'll either keep the original VC force or change it to an escaped exhibition from the local Museum of Ancient Nehekhara The added twist will be that, while 2 armies of Chaos will cooperate against the unfortunate defenders, only 1 can win the game (depending on VP scored, most likely, to keep things simple). This should add an extra layer of backstabbing and role-playing - stealing kills, neglecting support - should be good fun for all involved

[SpellArcher]

Encouraging that the victory conditions make the battles go down to the wire.

Water under the bridge, all of it - time to focus on that Chaos invasion! Rumour has it that Marienburg will be the first to suffer the wrath of not one but two Chaos Gods. I really liked the premise of a hidden Undead force within the city - I'll either keep the original VC force or change it to an escaped exhibition from the local Museum of Ancient Nehekhara The added twist will be that, while 2 armies of Chaos will cooperate against the unfortunate defenders, only 1 can win the game (depending on VP scored, most likely, to keep things simple). This should add an extra layer of backstabbing and role-playing - stealing kills, neglecting support - should be good fun for all involved

Looking forward to it!

[RE.Lee]

Cheers! The battle is planned for Feb the 25th right now. I should get some other games in the meanwhile as well - my the friend whom I've started playing Warhammer with back in th 90s is coming to Warsaw for 2 weeks

My opponent was quick to remind me that the Ghouls vs Driads combat was not the only one I won - I also beat the Eagle with my Chariots and another Eagle with my Black Knight bus

About the Marienburg scenario - what do you think should be the point difference (percentage-wise) between the two chaos armies and the defenders, to take into account the semi-cooperative nature of the battle? Do you think its a major handicap for the forces of evil or just a minor thing (the standard BRB VPs will be in place for a change)?

[SpellArcher]

Cheers! The battle is planned for Feb the 25th right now. I should get some other games in the meanwhile as well - my the friend whom I've started playing Warhammer with back in th 90s is coming to Warsaw for 2 weeks

Excellent!

My opponent was quick to remind me that the Ghouls vs Driads combat was not the only one I won - I also beat the Eagle with my Chariots and another Eagle with my Black Knight bus

Much have cheered you up no end!

About the Marienburg scenario - what do you think should be the point difference (percentage-wise) between the two chaos armies and the defenders, to take into account the semi-cooperative nature of the battle?

Are the Chaos forces actually allowed to fight each other?

[RE.Lee]

About the Marienburg scenario - what do you think should be the point difference (percentage-wise) between the two chaos armies and the defenders, to take into account the semi-cooperative nature of the battle?

Are the Chaos forces actually allowed to fight each other?

No, no infighting within the horde. The only negative interaction is in that they can fail to provide support, or indeed provide too much support in order to steal kills from the other side Magic might be a slight problem, but the Khorne guys will likely not have a wizard (as is appropriate). How to deal with dispels, though?

[SpellArcher]

The other question is, do the defenders need to score more VP's than the total Chaos score to win?

[RE.Lee]

Yup, bigger than both.

Regarding magic - as only Nurgle will have a caster they get to keep all the Power Dice. Dispel Dice are a little more tricky: Nurgle has the wizard, so should be in control, while Khorne getting to dispel would be more thematic and perhaps balanced - either way controlling them is quite a big advantage. Allowing the target player to decide how to dispel would make some sense, but what about buffs?

Or maybe the good guys should just decide on one player to target during a particular turn (T&T like) and allow that player to make dispel decisions for the entire Chaos faction in that turn? This would weaken the good guys a bit, but is perhaps the most fair.

[SpellArcher]

Or you could have one Chaos player dispelling turns 1, 3 and 5, the other 2, 4 and 6.

Or just have them dice off for the privilege at the start of each defensive phase.

[RE.Lee]

Good ideas! I like the dice-off more - it adds another tense moment and a chance to squabble a bit Not sure if its fair towards Khorne though, Nurgle getting all the casting is quite the advantage...

[Lohendrinus]

Absolutely enjoyed your painting and battle report blog. I just finished all its 29 pages . Wish I could play you sometime at any edition. Guys like you would keep the Old World to last for a long time

[RE.Lee]

Absolutely enjoyed your painting and battle report blog. I just finished all its 29 pages . Wish I could play you sometime at any edition. Guys like you would keep the Old World to last for a long time

Thanks! Things sure have changed over those 29 pages, but the passion for the hobby lives on If you're ever in Warsaw, Poland drop me a message

[SpellArcher]

Not sure if its fair towards Khorne though, Nurgle getting all the casting is quite the advantage...

On the other hand, Nurgle does pay points for those Sorcerers.

[RE.Lee]

Dilemmas!

What would Korhil do?

[SpellArcher]

Dilemmas!

What would Korhil do?

Is that an ale-house he's found?