The Cavalry Prince - List Design, Tactics, Battle Reports

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SpellArcher
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Re: Return of Seredain the Cavalry Prince - 2.5K

#301 Post by SpellArcher »

jwg20 wrote:KB is something that I rarely need for BLs as I usually use them against infantry where it is sort of a moot point.
S5+Hatred = chop chop

:)
jwg20 wrote:And yes, the potential damage a BT can be dealt by shooting is pretty severe, and anyone who uses one realizes the safest place he can be is in combat...
The reason I've done OK against them in the past is that Firestorm Blade used to be very common and it doesn't like Dragon Armour. With items like Dragonhelm and Dragonbane Gem now, I take it the Blade is less common?
wbarobinson wrote:Am I wrong? Tell me why because I want to know.
I don't think you are. It's just a question of how the change affects your list and the opponents you are likely to come up against. The advantages you list are valid. Against this, magic is a bit unreliable and 2 RBT are more reliable than one IMHO.
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Re: Return of Seredain the Cavalry Prince - 2.5K

#302 Post by Elindar »

Seredain wrote: I've just started a mighty empires campaign at my local gaming club (which should be fun), but I've never played in a major tournament, basically because I've only had a painted army for a matter of a few months (and only properly based for a matter of days thanks, ahem, to members of this forum). I've played dark elves lots in the past and know them pretty- I'm not worried about them. Crossbows have poor range and a High Elf army can punish them for that (archers, repeaters, cavalry), while making itself nicely resistant with Lore of Life. If his army is going with 2 hydras, I'll outshoot him easily. As for the hydras and cold ones, I've got plenty of high strength ASF attacks to make a mess of them with. Warriors like to field marauder hordes and these are very vulnerable to combined-arms elves. We can beat them in the movement phase and focus a lot of strength against them. Repeaters and the prince eat knights very well. My characters will also eat the Hell Cannon very nicely. Their characters are good, but they have to issue challenges and this undermines them- best thing I've found is to challenge them out with unit champs (regrowth handy here) and kill the troops around them. Expensive warrior blocks don't like being held up by cheap units like eagles, either. They're also quite slow so you should be able to keep them out of the game for a while.

As for the big power builds, I can't say I've faced all that many! But I've faced Slann bunkers and 40 khorne marauders and beaten them just fine... I've been coming to the conclusion that 8th Edition is far less about a very few power builds than 7th was. Unit types have much more distinct strengths and weaknesses than they used to, so I'd be surprised to find that there was an overwhelming consensus as to which builds were the best (although 3+ ward chosen would be up there!). It wasn't so long ago that pretty much everyone thought the only way to play High Elves was with an Archmage, all elite infantry + eagles.
Thanks for your answer! It helps me a lot. I use to play a lot against WoC and it's always a mess to manage them.
I will try your list tonight in a training for a tournament. I hope it will work!

A last little question: have your prince ever be sniped by a lore of death spell? I'm very afraid of that since a VC sniped my archmage T2... :?
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Re: Return of Seredain the Cavalry Prince - 2.5K

#303 Post by jwg20 »

Yeah the firestorm blade +1 S and flaming attacks, making any Khornate character S7... its really a great item but yes I don't think its all that common anymore, especially if your opponent, Seredain, knows you like to use Dragon Princes. It is the same reason I did not say skulltaker is a risk. Skulltaker is the best character hunter in the game: WS9 S6 I9 4 Attacks with eternal hatred and KB on 5+ in challenges in a hero-level choice is really hard to pass up if your worried about your opponents characters. There is one drawback though: he has flaming attacks, so HE characters are immune to him. If Dragon Armor was out of the equation, I'd say Skulltaker is one of your greatest threats, as he could kill your general and BSB in consecutive challenges.
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Re: Return of Seredain the Cavalry Prince - 2.5K

#304 Post by Curu Olannon »

jwg20 wrote:Yeah the firestorm blade +1 S and flaming attacks, making any Khornate character S7... its really a great item but yes I don't think its all that common anymore, especially if your opponent, Seredain, knows you like to use Dragon Princes. It is the same reason I did not say skulltaker is a risk. Skulltaker is the best character hunter in the game: WS9 S6 I9 4 Attacks with eternal hatred and KB on 5+ in challenges in a hero-level choice is really hard to pass up if your worried about your opponents characters. There is one drawback though: he has flaming attacks, so HE characters are immune to him. If Dragon Armor was out of the equation, I'd say Skulltaker is one of your greatest threats, as he could kill your general and BSB in consecutive challenges.
Will a hero survive 4 S7 ASF rerolled attacks where every save needs to be re-rolled though?

Regardless, dragon armour solves!
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Re: Return of Seredain the Cavalry Prince - 2.5K

#305 Post by Seredain »

jwg20 wrote:It depends on how he wants to use the BT. If he wants it to destroy large units, expect Dark Insanity (coupled with tunderstomp can really reduce a large infantry unit to so many respective parts, especially if he sees your SMs with only 14 models. I'd be drooling...). If he wants to use it to take out your characters and/or cavalry, expect killing blow and hatred. His deployment of the BT will help in deciding what he is likely to have.
Thanks, this is good advice. Deployment is so often the key to winning in this game- this is something to watch out for.
wbarobinson wrote:Why shouldn't I replace an RBT and a WL or SM with an Mage with Lore of Light's basic spell and jewel of Dusk (115 point each). The way I see it, the mage offers mobility, about the same number of hits, costs your main wizard one powerdice (assuming you throw two at the 5+ casting spell), works as a great backup with the sup'ed up version if your main wizard fails to cast, and doubles his help against the very tough matchups of VC, WoC and Demons (Tomb Kings might be viable in 2 months too)... Worse case he's offering channeling dice and 1 dice from jewel against dwarves with their armor and magic resistance.

Am I wrong? Tell me why because I want to know.
Bolt Thrower or Level 1 Mage?

Not at all. In fact, if I were tailoring my list against Daemons, the option you give would be a nice idea. You'll see (on page 3) that I've had a similar struggle over whether or not to replace a bolt thrower with a Lore of Metal mage. For all comers, I've stuck with the repeater. As SpellArcher says, magic is unreliable (the enemy can always dispel, you can roll poorly for power dice, miscasts etc etc) and shooting is reliable, while repeaters work well in pairs (whereas a single repeater will typically be bound to shoot at whatever the archers target, reducing your abilities when it comes to target selection). Also, when I roll 12 dice, my archmage can typically spend them. I've invested a minimal amount in a magic phase which can, nonetheless, be very powerful. You only need to buy one caster to gain access to the winds of magic - in plenty of cases, taking that extra mage is a case of spending points on diminishing returns without the banner of sorcery and some other good arcane item. Jewel of the Dusk makes up part of the difference, but not enough to change my mind for the all-comers list. In any case, my elite units are small enough!

As I say, if I were tailoring this list against the Daemons, I'd be tempted by the light mage (though Daemons do have an item which gimps light magic). The organiser of this campaign is allowing tailored lists, but I'd feel dirty doing it to this extent. I could probably bring myself to swap Amulet of Light in and out in this environment (only), but that's about it. Hopefully I can capture a few territories and buy myself the Banner of Sorcery and a second mage when I feel I need it.
Elindar wrote:Thanks for your answer! It helps me a lot.
No problem!
Elindar wrote:A last little question: have your prince ever be sniped by a lore of death spell? I'm very afraid of that since a VC sniped my archmage T2... :?
The Cavalry Prince vs Death Magic

No this has never happened. Although I think I've only faced Lore of Death once or twice, I don't believe the cavalry prince makes a good victim. His armour isn't much good against the character-sniping spells, but he has other qualities. He is of course Leadership 10, which isn't good for the default spell. He's also fast and, typically, deployed out on a flank. He shouldn't, therefore, be sat within 24" (the range of the buffed spells - expensive to cast) of an enemy death mage at the start of the game. Likewise the speed of the cavalry allows you to keep your distance from most mages in the initial turns (which is also how I avoid Dwellers Below on Slanns). If an enemy mage want to come out and get the prince (like our beloved Death Archmage on eagle), I'm ready with a scroll and a whole host of missile fire with which to deflect him then take him down.

Finally, remember that all the Death sniping spells are Direct Damage spells and, as such, may not be cast into close combat. Since cavalry princes are very good at getting into combat quickly, they make slippery targets for these spells. Played properly, your cavalry prince can be hovering out of sniping range in one turn and be fighting in close combat the next. Your opponent will obviously reveal what spells he has at the beginning of the game, so you'll have plenty of time to plan accordingly.
Last edited by Seredain on Mon Sep 12, 2011 10:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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SpellArcher
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Re: Return of Seredain the Cavalry Prince - 2.5K

#306 Post by SpellArcher »

Seredain wrote:I'd feel dirty doing it to this extent.
I always remember Nigel Stillman's attitude that you should write your army list when you create your army and never change it!
Seredain wrote:cavalry princes are very good at getting into combat quickly,
It strikes me this is a big advantage of this set-up, as Princes in a less formidable unit (or no unit!) cannot commit to combat so readily and so gain the spell protection.
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Re: Return of Seredain the Cavalry Prince - 2.5K

#307 Post by Elindar »

Seredain wrote:The Cavalry Prince vs Death Magic

No this has never happened. Although I think I've only faced Lore of Death once or twice, I don't believe the cavalry prince makes a good victim. His armour isn't much good against the character-sniping spells, but he has other qualities. He is of course Leadership 10, which isn't good for the default spell. He's also fast and, typically, deployed out on a flank. He shouldn't, therefore, be sat within 24" (the range of the buffed spells - expensive to cast) of an enemy death mage at the start of the game. Likewise the speed of the cavalry allows you to keep your distance from most mages in the initial turns (which is also how I avoid Dwellers Below on Slanns). If an enemy mage want to come out and get the prince (like our beloved Death Archmage on eagle), I'm ready with a scroll and a whole host of missile fire with which to deflect him then take him down.

Finally, remember that all the Death sniping spells are Direct Damage spells and, as such, may not be cast into close combat. Since cavalry princes are very good at getting into combat quickly, they make slippery targets for these spells. Played properly, your cavalry prince can be hovering out of sniping range in one turn and be fighting in close combat the next. Your opponent will obviously reveal what spells he has at the beginning of the game, so you'll have plenty of time to plan accordingly.
Thanks again! :wink:

Well, I played your army yesterday night, against a 2500 classic HE army. Lvl4 life, lvl2 metal, 25 LSG, 3*10 Bows, 20 WL, 20 SW, 6 DP, 4 eagles. And a BSB on an eagle. 5 objectives, 1 in each deployment zone, one in the middle, 1 near each flank in mid-way between deployment zones and center of the board.

Searing doom and dwellers, I was frightened for the SH bus. And magic didn’t give me a valuable solution to manage the WL block (no dwellers, no awakening). But with the speed of cavalry and HE dissipation, none of those spells caused me damages.

Eventually, I charged the WL block with my prince alone, hopping the flames banner would be on it, and block them with a 4+ rerollable save and a 2+ ward. But they didn’t have it. I could however hold them for 4 turns before dying, time to destroy the main part of his army with my other units, and reduce his unit to 7 guys. My SW could destroy them easily after. We had to stop at turn 4, but I was leading in victory points, with good opportunities to destroy some other units, and in good position to control the majority of the objectives.

So a very nice first test with this army, shooting and cavalry allowed me to control the movement phase and he was always obligated to react to my moves. I just missed one offensive spell to manage his archmage who was impossible to catch with his robes, once prince and BSB were engaged. Shield of thorns on a charging chariot is lethal against SMs. Your deployment advices were great, he began to castle on right corner and I could lead my attack on the left (where the objective was), while my shooting, spears and DP blocked his advance in the other flank.
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Re: Return of Seredain the Cavalry Prince - 2.5K

#308 Post by Swordmaster of Hoeth »

Hi Elindar!

I am really interested in more details about your game against another HE army. Did his Archmage have Book of Hoeth? What was the deployment (would it be possible to get some simplified diagram)? What was your shooting priority and how did you deal with his shooting?

Thanks!
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Re: Return of Seredain the Cavalry Prince - 2.5K

#309 Post by Seredain »

SpellArcher wrote:I always remember Nigel Stillman's attitude that you should write your army list when you create your army and never change it!
Ah, Stillman. He is wise beyond measure.
Elindar wrote: Well, I played your army yesterday night, against a 2500 classic HE army...
You may be the first! Certainly this sounds like an interesting game. What did your opponent make of it?

In any case, very courageous use of your prince!

Swordmaster, sounds like the enemy archmage was wearing Folariath's Robes, so no Book.
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Re: Return of Seredain the Cavalry Prince - 2.5K

#310 Post by Elindar »

Here a little diagram to show you the map (made on paint, i don't have other programs...) and the deployment.
Image
Green scares: forests
Black scares: Houses (and fences when lines)
Green Triangle: hill
clear blue: river
Grey circles: stones (hard cover, impossible to go in)
Grey square: bridge
My army (bottom) from left to right: SW, RBT, SH+Prince+BSB, TC, Bows+Archmage, Spears, RBT, WL, DP
His army: DP, GE, Bows+lvl2, WL, GE, GE, SW, GE, LSG, BSB (forgotten on the diagram), Bows, Bows
What was your shooting priority and how did you deal with his shooting?
Well, the main part of his shooting was on my right flank, so had very low effect on my troups covered by fences and houses. They killed some spears and caused one wound on my RBT, it'as all :)
Bows on the left killed one SH and one SM, and were then killed by my BSB who charged them alone (SH could'nt go 'cause an eagle was on the way).
My shooting was focused on turn one in SM, which I charged next turn whith spears and chariot. For one wound, he reached a raw, so he countercharged with LSG, broke me, but didn't catch me, so I achieved the last SM's with a RBT.
On a second phase, i killed all the eagles who were blocking all my moves.
Next I began to kill his units of bows, but we ended the game.
Did his Archmage have Book of Hoeth?
Seredain already answered, he had silver wand and robes. He could'nt have BoH, because we used a tournament restrictions, and he had to choose between BoH and banner of sorcery.
In any case, very courageous use of your prince!
Thanks. I lost him, but it opened all his flank to my army.

Other key elements:
-DP keept his BSB and an eagle busy 3 turns on the right, threatening his 20 bows of the corner.
-my eagle redirected his DP, survived :shock: , and then charged the fleeing bows unit, leading them out of the board
-my BSB killed a unit of 10 bows+lvl2 metal, then charged his DP, destroyed them, and then achieved the WL with help of SM Elve of the day.
-after defeat of spears, WL could flank charge his LSG, but they escape very far from the important places
-my archmage was perfect dispelling a lot of dangerous spells, and being active during his magic phase (throne shield on chariot, T7 on WL)
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Re: Return of Seredain the Cavalry Prince - 2.5K

#311 Post by Ildrahir »

Greetings Seredain! Love your list and great fan of this topic, best tactics discussion I ever read =)
This shows that through persistance and a love for your army wonderfull ideas can spring!

How ever, I'm curious, now that you seem to have mastered this type of army, are you planning to stick with it and refining it even further or do you have plans to explore some new ideas/lists?

I haven't had time to play as many games as I wish with my list but getting there.

//Ildrahir
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Re: Return of Seredain the Cavalry Prince - 2.5K

#312 Post by pedrogzc »

Seredain! Did you play against Daemons?! Succesfully?

Cheers!
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Re: Return of Seredain the Cavalry Prince - 2.5K

#313 Post by Seredain »

Hello chaps,

Apologies for my lengthy sojourn abroad. I was in London for the weekend busily making myself poorer and less healthy.

Ildrahir, thanks for your kind enthusiasm! As you suggest, in fact, I intend to show persistance and play the same list for as long as I can, unless I really feel that a particular change here and there is necessary (and I do like to tinker). This is mostly because I want to face as many different types of enemy army as I can so I can really test my army's all-comers credentials. I've played against several armies and players, but there are many many more I haven't faced and, I think, I really need to bring them down before I can say 'mission accomplished'. On the plus side, the campaign allows extra points to spend on an army over and above the set 2500, so this should allow me plenty of variation on top of my fixed list.

Anyway, speaking of 'one of those armies'...

Mighty Empires - Game 1

So, Daemons. Yes I played them, on Thursday evening. This was Game 1 of our local Games Bunker's Mighty Empires campaign. They'd designed an excellent (large and painted) campaign board (I'll get a picture of it soon) and 16 players had entered. Points limits are set at 2500 (unless your army isn't fully painted, in which case you lose 250pts!), though mines etc can grab you up to an extra 350 points in a battle. Sat around my city are a mountain tile and two river tiles (on which you can build mines) so, since this was game 1, it was important to get off to a good start and grab these decent territories to win me some extra points for game 2. My opponent was rumoured to be a strong Daemons player and was also, as chance would have it, my nearest neighbour.

So, Here we go...

High Elves vs Daemons of Chaos - Preview

High Elves

Prince - Barded Steed, Dragon Armour, Shield, Giant Blade, Helm of Fortune, Plucker Pendant, Talisman of Loec - 286
Level 4 Archmage - Dispel Scroll, Lore of Life - 280
Battle Standard Bearer - Barded Steed, Great Weapon, Heavy Armour, Shield, Dragonhelm, Dawnstone, Amulet of Light - 190

35 Spearelves - Full Command, Gleaming Pennant - 345
14 Archers - Musician - 159
11 Archers - 121

14 Swordmasters - Bladelord - 222
12 White Lions - Full Command, Banner of Eternal Flame - 220
8 Silver Helms - Musician, Shields - 192
5 Dragon Princes - 150
1 Tiranoc Chariot - 85

2 RBTs - 200
1 Eagle - 50

= 2500 points

Daemons of Chaos

Bloodthirster- Eternal Fury (perma-hatred), Armour of Khorne (3+ AS), Dispel Scroll (equivalent of), MR (2).

Herald of Khorne BSB- Juggernaut, Killing Blow, 1+ AS, Re-rolls failed hits, re-rolls failed wounds.
Herald of Slaanesh- Siren Song.
Herald of Tzeentch- on Disc, Lore of Life, Knows all Spells, Dispel Scroll.

26 Bloodletters- Full Command (HoK here)
19 Daemonettes- Full Command (HoS here)
10 Daemonettes- Champion, Standard
5 Flesh Hounds
5 Flesh Hounds
5 Flesh Hounds
1 Fiend
1 Fiend

Somewhere, I guess on the HoK, he also had the Sundering Banner (gimps spells cast from a chosen Lore and/or (I think 'and'), gimps Lore of Light.

Image

Pre-game Thoughts

I was actually ok with what he was putting on the table but had distinctly mixed feelings about the Bloodthirster (to put it mildly!), since I had no idea what kind of loadout he was carrying and hence no idea whether my prince could take him on or not. Despite the campaign rules allowing tailored lists, I had taken my all-comers list to this game without changing anything (due to some skilled emotional blackmail on the part of SpellArcher). This meant my Amulet of Light was wasted and I didn't have the lovely Other Trickster's Shard. On the plus side, my 5pt Plucker Pendant would be worth its weight in gold if my prince ever came into contact with the greater daemon.

My basic plan was quite simple: don't allow the greater daemon to dictate the way you play the game. As a flyer who was afraid of my shooting (as useful psychologically than it is actually, here), he was likely to dance around a bit. I was resolved not to chase him about but to try and tear up the rest of his army while compensating for his movements as best I could.

Since he had an army which was generally much faster than mine, I'd have to take on deployment differently. I didn't want to spread my units out on the flanks for fear that they'd be triple teamed by the Thirster and his hounds. I was also resolved to ensure that I didn't have my units failing fear tests all over the place. This meant I'd need a fairly compact deployment to ensure my Prince's leadership and the BSB's re-rolls could get to my important units, while preventing my opponent from chomping my units one-by-one.

In any case, I was bound to lose some elves here. I'd just have to play smart and see if I could get through my first Daemons game...

Battle Report coming soon...
Last edited by Seredain on Mon Sep 12, 2011 10:57 pm, edited 4 times in total.
The Cavalry Prince - List Design, Tactics, Battle Reports

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Re: Return of Seredain the Cavalry Prince - 2.5K

#314 Post by SpellArcher »

Seredain wrote: I was in London for the weekend busily making myself poorer and less healthy.
Ha ha! I've been doing that for years!

Obsidian Armour looks like bad news for the Prince. He should take the Herald though I guess. Nice that the Disc Rider doesnt' carry the unkillable load-out of the Warriors equivalent.
Seredain wrote: I had taken my all-comers list to this game without changing anything (due to some skilled emotional blackmail on the part of SpellArcher).
Thus earning yourself multiple Man Points!

:)

Yep, his list looks fast...

I get the feeling this game has significance for HE in 8th edition.
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Re: Return of Seredain the Cavalry Prince - 2.5K

#315 Post by Scactha »

Looking forward to this. Playing Beastmen who have some similarities to HE (Brittle, but great to hit ratio troops, thus needing to win fast.) I find Seredains observations interesting. It´s especially nice to read a tactics discussion and not a rules one, which is more often the case.
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Re: Return of Seredain the Cavalry Prince - 2.5K

#316 Post by Coeyan »

Good day everyone!

After browsing through the pages in this thread, I must say it contains many excellent pointers for all new warhammer players, high elf or not. Thank you Seredain for your time effort in your batreps, really inspiring work!

Allow me to pose you a difficult scenario in which perhaps your combined arms list is most tested. How would you respond to a dark elf force fielding an unkillable stubborn dreadlord on dark pegasus, with his intention to use it to shutdown your list's most dangerous elements?
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Re: Return of Seredain the Cavalry Prince - 2.5K

#317 Post by Seredain »

Coeyan wrote:Good day everyone!

After browsing through the pages in this thread, I must say it contains many excellent pointers for all new warhammer players, high elf or not. Thank you Seredain for your time effort in your batreps, really inspiring work!

Allow me to pose you a difficult scenario in which perhaps your combined arms list is most tested. How would you respond to a dark elf force fielding an unkillable stubborn dreadlord on dark pegasus, with his intention to use it to shutdown your list's most dangerous elements?
Thank you Coeyan!

Pendant Pegasus Dreadlords

Well, off the top of my head, I'd ensure he didn't get into my helm bus with the characters still in it. If he looked like he was in charge range, I'd shift my characters out and perhaps place them behind the helms, giving them cover from reapers and denying a charge from the pegasus. I'd also deploy deep and use my long range shooting/life magic to punish the Druchii in a shooting war early. The character you describe is vulnerable to repeaters, not only because he's highly visible but also because the repeaters are armour-piercing while being only strength 4- an excellent middle ground when you're thinking about the pendant.

Finally, I wouldn't worry about it too much. As long as I keep him away from my bus (either by placing a bubble of repeater fire around it or by splitting it up when he closes in and running the characters separately), the dreadlord is a threat I can handle. Excepting the spears (which aren't his best targets with their static res and my Life magic), there is no unit in my army as expensive as his dreadlord. If the DE player is using this character to hold units up (rather than aggressively combine with his own units), he's not spending his points well as long as he's playing my list. If I had to, I'd ignore him and kill the dark elves around him to deny him powerful combinations.
Last edited by Seredain on Mon Sep 12, 2011 10:56 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Return of Seredain the Cavalry Prince - 2.5K

#318 Post by Marinero »

I am facing a DE game with a really scary build (under ETC rules):
* Dreadlord, pendant, crown of command, dark steed
* Dreadlord, 1+ AS, 4++ WS, pegasus
* Noble, BSB, regeneration, pegasus

* sorceress, lvl 2, item that allows a unit to reroll missed shooting attacks, dispel scroll (shadow)
* sorceress, lvl 2, seal of grond (shadow)

* 35 crossbows in 2 units
* 3x5 DRs with spears
* 2x COC
* 6-7 shades
* 2xRBTs
* Hydra
There are also some additional items, units and weapons I am not certain about...

Seredain, how would you deal with this army?
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Re: Return of Seredain the Cavalry Prince - 2.5K

#319 Post by Seredain »

High Elves vs Daemons of Chaos - Report

Spells
The Tzeentch herald got all the Life spells and I got Flesh to Stone, Throne of Vines, Awakening of the Wood and Regrowth. I actually had a chance to take Dwellers, but with all the high strength units in the Daemon list, I figured the healing buffs would be needed more.

Deployment

Daemon had fewer drops than me so it quickly became apparent that he was putting his two blocks in the centre and covering his flank with the many (many) fast units, including the Bloodthirster. My initial plan was to deploy around the hill on the right of my deployment zone (where I kicked off by landing some archers and, soon after, the repeaters). About a couple of drops in, though, I decided that, if I simply castled in the corner, I'd surrender an unhealthy amount of the movement phase to my opponent for no real benefit: since I intended to target the bloodthirster with all available repeater shots (I was afraid of it), I wasn't going to be doing much damage to the other Daemons at range. If I gave him enough time, my opponent could put himself in a position where he was able to bring all his units to bear at the same time.

So, the plan became more aggressive. Daemon was bound to try and get some kind of surround on me, moving up with his dogs. Rather than sitting back, I would aim to chop through these fast advancing units before he could bring his big infantry into play. This would mean playing hold-up with the bloodletters until I was ready to get my own surround on them once I was through killing hounds. My shooting placements, already stuck out on the right, would just have to weather the inevitable Slaaneshi storm and hope the repeaters could get some big bolts into the Thirster before they were taken out.

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High Elf Deployment.
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Daemon Deployment (with some advancing fast daemons because I'm a tardy photographer).

I won the roll for first turn but chose to go second. Two reasons: (1) all his powerful stuff was in hiding (including the BT, hidden from true line of sight by a particularly large tree); and (2) I wanted my opponent to make his moves without being sure of what I was planning to do. Hopefully he'd get too aggressive and leave himself open to my counter-attack. I'd also buy myself the final turn to swing things, since my anti-hound flanking plan could possibly take a while.

Daemons Turn 1

As shown by the photo above, the Daemon right flank, led by the massive Bloodthirster, formed a flanking wing on my left. His infantry units came on as predicted, except the daemonettes who wheeled slightly to face my silver helms (wonder what they were planning?). The Slaaneshi daemons on my right did the sensible thing and headed quickly for my shooty hill. Magic was an epic fail for my opponent: I dispelled Throne and the Tzeentch caster didn't manage anything else.

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Daemons have tricks up their sleeves...
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...and are as fast as hell.

High Elves Turn 1

So, I asked my opponent if he had any bad news to give me and, unsurprisingly, he had the daemonettes' herald throw Siren Song against my sliver helms. This wasn't really bad news, however. The charge was so long that I wasn't likely to make it and, if I did, I had the eagle ready to prevent a flanking move from the bloodletters. As for the daemonettes and neighbouring hounds, my knights' heavy armour and killer characters would aim to make the daemons regret their haste to get into combat! As it turned out, in fact, the cavalry couldn't make it in and just moved forward 5".

To the knights' left, my army began to open up to allow some future charges while evading, as far as was possible, a Turn 2 charge from the Thirster. The lions and princes shifted left to put the stone tower on my left flank between them and the big boy. The swordmasters, within charge range but only a very long one, moved to cover the flank of my knights incase the Thirster went for the money shot and moved toward my general - the chariot following suit to pose questions for the advancing hounds in the centre of the daemon army.

To the right of the helms, the eagle leapt into action and began the quest of holding up the bloodletters and their mighty herald of Khorne. He landed right infront of them, angled to my left so that, if they charged and overran, my helms would have a flank charge against them (the chariot covering their left from the daemonettes). If they charged and reformed to face the helms, however, my spearelves would be able to move up into their flank and cause them problems in conjunction with the knights. The spears moved up, then, to threaten this side of the board and, particularly, to have a charge on against the small daemonettes if they advanced on my right flank next turn.

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The High Elves refuse the Daemonic offer of a nice trap.

Magic was an underpowered 4 dice which nonetheless saw me get Throne of Vines up. Shooting was a mixed bag. Lecalion's archers, in the centre, picked off a flesh hound from the central unit while their comrades on my right flank single-handedly destroyed the nearest fiend. Both repeaters targeted the Bloodthirster with big bolts, but neither managed to even hit him.

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The elven right flank looks solid but the repeaters, perhaps distracted by Slaanesh's minions, struggle to do their work.
Last edited by Seredain on Wed Apr 06, 2011 1:44 pm, edited 4 times in total.
The Cavalry Prince - List Design, Tactics, Battle Reports

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Seredain
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Re: Return of Seredain the Cavalry Prince - 2.5K

#320 Post by Seredain »

Marinero wrote:I am facing a DE game with a really scary build (under ETC rules):
...
Seredain, how would you deal with this army?
Hmm... I'll get the battle report done, have a think on it and get back to you!
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Re: Return of Seredain the Cavalry Prince - 2.5K

#321 Post by Marinero »

Cheers mate! Your report is great so far, I hope you managed to clinch victory.

On the DE, I am having a real tough time figuring how to deal with it. I will appreciate your feedback
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Re: Return of Seredain the Cavalry Prince - 2.5K

#322 Post by Curu Olannon »

There's been a couple of games against DE posted in the battle reports section lately, they're worth checking out.

Basically, if he's flying try to take out his mount. A unit of swordmasters to the face should do the trick. If he's not flying, just ignore him. Eagles for diverting and feed him cheap units while denying him support of his own important units. Since he doesn't have any combat blocks you can expect to be outmanuevred. Just make sure your flanks are protected and that you match up the right units (Banner of Flame unit against hydra etc). Use your own fast elements to lock down his important units.
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Re: Return of Seredain the Cavalry Prince - 2.5K

#323 Post by Coeyan »

Pegasus have combined stats with characters now, meaning you cannot kill them separately in 8th ed now.

A typical Dark Elf army has combat blocks, usually a 30 -35 strong spearmen block, about 40 crossbowmen in a couple of units and their hot favourite, 20 black guards. High mobility comes in the form of hydra, harpies and the dreadlord.
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Re: Return of Seredain the Cavalry Prince - 2.5K

#324 Post by Coeyan »

Seredain wrote: Finally, I wouldn't worry about it too much. As long as I keep him away from my bus (either by placing a bubble of repeater fire around it or by splitting it up when he closes in and running the characters separately), the dreadlord is a threat I can handle. Excepting the spears (which aren't his best targets with their static res and my Life magic), there is no unit in my army as expensive as his dreadlord. If the DE player is using this character to hold units up (rather than aggressively combine with his own units), he's not spending his points well as long as he's playing my list. If I had to, I'd ignore him and kill the dark elves around him to deny him powerful combinations.

I'm still not sure how you can actually ignore a high mobility dreadlord tarpit. In whole scheme of things, the dreadlord actually plays an important role of nullifying dangerous units, allowing the dark elf player to concentrate his forces on the remaining.

Once in combat the dreadlord is almost indestructible. Once in a challenge, opposing str6 or 7 characters would be giving him 5/6 chance of a ward save. Such dreadlord builds are very capable of holding up hammer units, such as yours.

Statistically, repeaters do actually have a higher than average chance of wounding him. However, that still pretty decent chance of shrugging off the shots. (3+ armour save and 4/6 ward save) In fact, I would believe the dark elf player would be happy to have the dreadlord soaking up such ranged attacks, keeping his other units safe.
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John Rainbow
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Re: Return of Seredain the Cavalry Prince - 2.5K

#325 Post by John Rainbow »

Looking forward to the rest of your batrep. I'm also waiting for you to face the Tzeentch chosen with 3+ ward and block of 50 marauders WoC army to see how you deal with it!
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Re: Return of Seredain the Cavalry Prince - 2.5K

#326 Post by Eldria »

Coeyan wrote:Allow me to pose you a difficult scenario in which perhaps your combined arms list is most tested. How would you respond to a dark elf force fielding an unkillable stubborn dreadlord on dark pegasus, with his intention to use it to shutdown your list's most dangerous elements?
Seredains prince is cheaper than the 'unkillable' Peg lord and has pretty good odds of killing it (I've done the fight twice in games and killed the DE both times) they struggle with the 1+rr save. and TOL will carry a wound or two through.
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Re: Return of Seredain the Cavalry Prince - 2.5K

#327 Post by Seredain »

Eldria wrote:
Coeyan wrote:Allow me to pose you a difficult scenario in which perhaps your combined arms list is most tested. How would you respond to a dark elf force fielding an unkillable stubborn dreadlord on dark pegasus, with his intention to use it to shutdown your list's most dangerous elements?
Seredains prince is cheaper than the 'unkillable' Peg lord and has pretty good odds of killing it (I've done the fight twice in games and killed the DE both times) they struggle with the 1+rr save. and TOL will carry a wound or two through.
That's certainly something to think about.

What I mean by 'don't worry too much', Coeyan, is that the character you describe costs the best part of 340 points (approx). Since my list, where I field the characters separately, consists largely of units costing between 150 and 200 points any drawn-out combat involving this Dreadlord is going to find me holding him up, not the other way around. My most dangerous elements are individually all cheaper than this character - so I'm not worried if he 'holds them up' at all.
John Rainbow wrote:Looking forward to the rest of your batrep. I'm also waiting for you to face the Tzeentch chosen with 3+ ward and block of 50 marauders WoC army to see how you deal with it!
In principle, I'd feed the chosen chaff - eagles, small archer units, the chariot if I have to. As for the marauder horde, I'd focus Dwellers and my shooting on it for as long as I could before hitting it with a combined charge of as many units as I could get in. An army made up of two such expensive units will be quite small. Getting around the flanks with my fast units should be pretty doable. If not, the horde's wide frontage makes it vulnerable to concentrated force.

Marinero,

I've had a think about your DE problem. In principle, his 24" range means your shooting has a turn 1 advantage which you need to use. It also means he needs to be relatively close to you. Don't charge his centre - you'll get surrounded and shot to pieces. Basically, you keep your distance and play defensively with your soft units (archers, repeaters, swordmasters), denying his light cav the surround (semi-castle up if you have to); and you hit one end of his army with all of your durable units (knights, spears) with some other stuff running alongside (chariot, eagle, perhaps white lions depending on hydra deployment). Don't have time to post in full now, but will get back to you asap with some thoughts on how I'd deploy against that DE list.
Last edited by Seredain on Tue Apr 05, 2011 4:36 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Return of Seredain the Cavalry Prince - 2.5K

#328 Post by Seredain »

Battle Report - Continued

Daemons Turn 2

The bloodletters refused to charge the eagle to prevent either Seredain's knights or the spearelves from closing in for a saucy flank charge. They shuffled back a little. Daemon player was happy to take his time and win a surround which, presumably, he was hoping I was going to march straight into in an effort to close with his blocks. The daemonettes therefore came on a little while the flesh hounds duly closed in further to form a ring around my army's left flank, anchored by the stone tower on my left and the daemonettes to my front. The Bloodthirster likewise hopped over the tower and placed himself in the rear of my deployment zone, staring at the flank of half my army's units and wondering which he'd like to chew on. All the Slaaneshi units facing my right-hand shooting hill sped forwards with the daemonettes, amazingly, managing to scrape out of my spearelves' line of sight with an 11" march and 1" wheel, by literally 3mm. I'd moved my spears too far forward by a fraction. Damn. The fiend, meanwhile, looked set to chomp a repeater next turn.

Magic was another dud for my opponent. He rolled some decent dice but I dispelled well and, finally, he failed to get off a long-range Dwellers against my spearelves on 5 or 6 dice, the shortfall between a level 2 and a level 4 caster making the difference.

High Elves Turn 2

Now was the time to begin cutting my way out of Daemon's trap and setting my own. I'd crush the dogs and daemonettes, then get to work surrounding the bloodletters, keeping the Thirster at bay with challenges, shooting and Life magic. Lord Seredain cried out the elven equivalent of "Let's do this!"

The white lions and princes together charged the nearest flesh hounds by the tower, the cavalry effortlessly vaulting its adjoining wall and both units clearing the Bloodthirster's line of sight. The silver helms tried the same trick with a charge against the daemonettes but they couldn't make it (rolling about 4") and shuffled forward again. This was bad but not too bad for me. The helms could receive a charge and win- I just wanted them in combat for as long as possible before the bloodletters shook off my harassment. To ensure this would prove difficult, the eagle resumed his position right infront of the bloodletters while the chariot moved to the helms' right flank, ready to take on eagle-duty in case the bird snuffed it.

On the right flank, the green archers wheeled right so that, in the event of a charge, the small daemonettes wouldn't overrun into a bolt thrower. The spearelves, whose primary task was to support Seredain's knights, decided to waste no time chasing 10 daemonettes around the board and so took a free reform before heading behind the silver helms, facing the left flank to cover my back-line and prevent the Thirster from having free-reign to move around as he pleased (since I was able to hold the 'letters at bay with harassment, this was the greater threat). Lecalion's archers likewise took a free reform, faced the greater daemon then moved backwards 3" to keep their distance (thank you, Leadership 10). The archmage himself, meanwhile, moved out of his unit and to the side of the spearelves. This way, if the Bloodthirster managed a successful (very) long charge against archers, I wouldn't have to worry about losing an archmage into the bargain.

The swordmasters were the last unit to move, moving up to cover the left flank of the helms. They couldn't get out of the charge arc of the Thirster, but in so doing they'd tempt a charge from the central hounds. If the greater daemon did charge them, wounds against the dogs would garner me extra combat res, allow the swords to get some kills before they were destroyed and, further, allow my helms to concentrate on clearing out just the daemonettes- an easy match-up for me. In moving forward in this way the swordmasters would also ensure that any eventual pursuit move made by the BT (at least two turns away since I'd challenge with the bladelord), would take him passed all my other combat units and uselessly out into the middle of the field.

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The High Elf centre braces itself for impact.

Magic didn't go brilliantly for me and neither did shooting. Flesh to Stone on the swordmasters was scrolled by the BT (at least I'd got that out of the way), and neither my repeaters, ignoring the nearby fiend and going for the money shot, nor the 14 blue archers managed a single wound on the Bloodthirster. He was at full wounds and about to enter combat. In taking this gamble, I'd also left my machines defenceless. Darn.

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"So, what are we shooting at?"

Combat was a different story. My mighty princes (passing their fear test) and white lions (not needing to test for fear against war beasts because of the flaming banner), completely demolished the flesh hounds while losing only a single knight. The white lions overran into the second hound unit (tasty) and the princes, unfortunately failing a restrain test, overran past the second hounds and out into the open left flank. [This was, of course, a mistake, since you can choose whether or not you want to overrun. My opponent told me I had to test and I didn't follow my gut instinct to argue. Lesson learned!] In any case, the daemons' fence was looking busted, my centre was looking solid and things were going ok.

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High Elven elites prove mightier than Khorne's dogs, breaking through the daemons' surround.

Daemons Turn 3

The Bloodthirster charged my swordmasters in the rear as expected, but the central hounds didn't take the bait and elected to charge my silver helms alongside the daemonettes (who rolled impressively for distance). The elven knights lowered their lances and confidently held their ground. On my right flank, the fiend punished one of the repeaters for being foolhardy by charging in while, nearby, the daemonettes charged the green archers, to close to allow a stand and shoot reaction. The Khorne herald took a punt on charging out of his unit against my chariot (I'd carefully left a corridor for him to flee through), but he couldn't make it far enough, stumbled forward 2" and was now exposed to some missile fire. Arf.

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As the army's left flank begins to break free, the High Elf centre is beseiged.

During the magic phase the Tzeentch herald, who had moved to within close range of the spearelves, managed to cast Dwellers Below on them only for Lecalion to scroll it (something told me I'd need those ranks). Everything else was dispelled (including a toughness buff on the herald himself), leaving the caster dangerously exposed to my archers. He did manage, at least, to dispel my Throne of Vines.

Combat began on the right flank with my green archers and repeaters showing what they were made of, the former killing three daemonettes for the loss of only one elf and the latter scoring a wound on the fiend while, miraculously, suffering none in reply! Both combats stuck. In the centre, Caradath called out a challenge and the daemonette champion stepped forward - I knew I'd have to cut through this thing to get to the herald, so I was happy to have the noble do it while the prince concentrated on mincing hounds. The noble elf dispatched the daemon with ease. Likewise the silver helms managed a respectable number of kills while losing only a single knight but the prince, although easily shrugging off the attacks of the khornite hounds, found his efforts frustrated by the wards of the dark gods. Only one wound of four actually went through. Ugh. Still, he'd successfully tanked a load of hits for his companions and I'd won the combat by 3. It could've been more and the dogs weren't at all fussed, but three daemonettes vanished into the ether.

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Seredain's companions hack their way into the heart of the daemon army, but their efforts are frustrated by the dark gods.
[photo is pre-combat]
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The archers show the world how it's done while the twisting Tzeentch caster hangs a "Shoot me!" sign on his disk.

The combat on the left, meanwhile, needed to go well for me so that I could get the valuable lions and princes into the centre to form my own surround. It did not go well. The lions didn't score an impressive number of hits but, even so, managed 5 wounds on the hounds, only to see every single one of them saved by wards. They stood there, stunned, before an entire rank of them were torn to pieces. Khorne's thunderous laugh boomed over the field. Regardless of their peril, the remaining lions held, but they had another two turns of combat to go before the princes rode to the rescue and it was by no means certain that they'd last that long. My attack on the left flank had stalled, badly.

While all this was going on, the swordmaster bladelord made his way to the Bloodthirster, bravely challenged him and quickly got himself smashed into vapour. The steadfast swordmasters resolved to stand by their prince, however, gritting their teeth and simply turning to face their doom.

High Elves Turn 3

The disaster on the left flank had left my plan damaged but not in tatters - the princes were looking to get a rear charge on the left-hand hounds in a couple of turns and the bloodletters, stuck behind their silly herald, would be unable to stop my general and his knights carving away the central hounds, daemonettes and the expensive Slaaneshi herald, while the bloodthirster was stuck clearing away a 222-point swordmaster unit. The plan was, in short, to soldier on.

The chariot, looking to help break the deadlock developing in the centre, charged the daemonettes who, with only two full ranks left, looked like they were in for some trouble. The princes wheeled round on the left flank to face the rear of the semi-victorious hounds while the eagle positioned himself right infront of the khorne herald (hahaha- this bird was earning his points). The blue archers took a free reform to face the Tzeentch herald, whose "Shoot me!" sign was now positively neon.

Magic saw Lecalion raise up a Throne of Vines and successfully cast Flesh to Stone on the swordmasters (aha!), though Regrowth on the swords was scrolled (if I could get my bladelord back I'd keep the Thirster there forever, so this was annoying). In the shooting phase, the blue archers took revenge on the HoZ for the successful dispel, filling him with arrows before watching him ooze quietly into nothingness. That was my opponent's magic phase gone. The unengaged repeater, meanwhile, plugged a single bolt into the Khorne herald, scything cleanly through his armour only to find the 5+ ward save preserve his worthless life. Cries of "Oooo" went up from table-side spectators.

In close combat, the fiend on the right flank ate the last of the repeater crew while the green archers and small daemonettes fought each other to a standstill. On the left, my white lions managed to bring down a hound, lose three of their number and, once again, stoically hold. In the centre, the Bloodthirster destroyed 6 swordmasters despite their monster toughness but, at the end of combat, there was still a full rank of 7 left and they held on Seredain's steadfast leadership. Well done, those elves.

I was looking forward to smashing the combat in the centre but, once again, found myself frustrated by my opponent's increasing tendancy to roll 5's and 6's to save his units. The chariot managed no kills at all on the charge and, although Seredain himself called out the Slaaneshi herald and plunged his sword into her blackened heart, killing her, all my other attacks managed only one wound (argh!). I lost two knights in reply and the combat stuck.

Daemons Turn 4

The only movement available to my opponent saw the fiend charge the remaining repeater on my right flank. In the centre, the herald of Khorne finally decided to rid the world of the damned eagle and charged it. I held it to deny a redirected charge into the helms. Behind all this the Bloodletters, who still had no way into the central combat, shifted sideways toward my left-hand side of the field, hoping to find an angle in there.

During the magic phase, my opponent just used all his power dice to dispel Throne of Vines.

Combat saw the fiend yomp the last bolt thrower and the small daemonettes begin to gain the upper hand on the archers, who nonetheless brought a few daemons down and held their ground. On my left flank, the white lions killed another hound but suffered severe casualties. Only the guardian was left at the end of combat though, once again, he bravely held his ground. The Bloodthirster, livid about being held up for two whole turns already, seemed distracted and only managed to squish 4 stony swordmasters. However, despite receiving a wound himself (at last), he'd finally reduced their numbers to such that they could no long hold. The swordmasters duly broke and fled, but fortune sped their feet and took them a full 12" away while the Thirster managed only 8". Stuck out in the middle of the field, with no victory points and nothing visible to charge, the beast could only roar his frustration. The Khorne herald, meanwhile, easily dispatched the great eagle and reformed to face my knights in the centre who had, once again, found their attacks bounced by an incredible number of lucky ward saves.

High Elves Turn 4

The three remaining swordmasters continued to flee from the Bloodthirster, running into the daemons' deployment zone. On the left flank, however, the princes finally slammed into the rear of the hounds fighting the last white lion. Hoorah!

Other movement saw my archers free reform to face the Bloodthirster and my spearelves free reform to face the Khorne herald before advancing to cover the right flank of Seredain's knights. The archmage Lecalion moved left, out into the field, to ensure he was within range of both the helms and the remaining white lions, who were begging for a decent casting of regrowth some time soon. Of course he carefully ensured that he was out of sight of the bloodthirster, stood very close on the left-hand side.

During the magic phase, Lecalion cast Throne and successfully buffed the silver helms with Flesh to Stone. Regrowth on the white lions was dispelled, however - my opponent having saved all his dice for it. In the shooting phase, the blue archers finally put a wound on the Bloodthirster, bringing him down to 3 wounds.

Combat, then - and a big round, this. With the dogs on the left gone and my prince and BSB both free in the central combat, the daemons were in for some serious pain! Except they weren't. The charging princes and remaining white lions managed only one wound between the lot of them, my opponent rolling six ward saves out of seven. Then, in the central combat, he did it again - saving six out of eight ward saves. His daemons in the centre then managed to kill two knights, despite them all having toughness 7 and AS 2+. Both combats stuck. I was stunned. On the right flank, the daemonettes killed some more of the green archers and made some decent saves to win combat, but the archers held on Ld 6. That was something, but I was starting to feel that fate was against me.

Daemons Turn 5

Despite the dark gods cackling in his ears, there still wasn't much my opponent could do to alter the game in his favour. The Bloodthirster, with no charges on, decided to get a view of the field while also hiding from the archers. I got the feeling he was afraid of getting involed in the central combat for fear that I'd bounce him with my prince and finally kill enough to blow him away on combat res. I knew he had a 3+ armour save but whether or not he had the Obsidian Armour (negating my Giant Blade) was actually never made clear. Since he was so cautious, I suspected not. In any case, the greater daemon flew to the stone tower on my left and hid behind it, giving him a better view of the board (including a view (just) of both of my cavalry regiments), and blocking my archers' view. He was now about 20" away from my helms, however, so a Turn 6 charge on them looked unlikely. Instead, I supposed he wanted his hounds on the left to hold so he could pick up some easy points by killing the princes. The remaining fiend was likewise feeling cowardly, deciding that it couldn't achieve anything with my archmage and archers so close and still at full health. It scarpered back from whence it had come. The bloodletters took a free reform and moved to my left again to open up a possible approach into the silver helms on that side (though their own units still stood in the way of a Turn 6 charge). They were joined by the herald of Khorne.

Magic saw Throne dispelled again - no biggy.

Combat and, in the centre, it was just more of the same. I managed to scrape a wound off a hound and kill two or three daemonettes when my opponent again rolled about five successful saves out of eight wounds, then killed a silver helm and wounded the noble Caradath. I won the combat, but the daemons' instability test was passed with the Khorne herald's re-roll. On the right flank, the daemonettes finally broke and chased down the stalwart green archers. With only four of them standing, however, they were no threat to my remaining archer unit and looked set to become pincushions next turn. Meanwhile, on the left flank, my opponent finally failed some ward saves (but only about half), allowing me to kill a hound and, finally, pop the other. The last white lion was killed but, at last, the four princes were free.

I hadn't been taking any photos of all these combats because everything had been so static that I had become depressed. At this stage, however, I came to my senses and grabbed a view of the field.

Image
The battle for the centre - end of Daemon Turn 5.

High Elves Turn 5

On balance, the big combat was still mine to win (he wasn't able to break me) but, unless I was able to kill the bloodletter block, I wouldn't get the full load of campaign points I wanted. I was ahead on battle points and my units were fairly secure, but I wanted the big win and reckoned I could get it. I still had the last turn to counter my opponent's moves and get me final charge I needed. I just had to draw the bloodletters into combat...

Movement, then. The spearelves swift-reformed yet again and moved behind the silver helms before making a slight wheel to the right in order to cover the silver helms' left flank with their field of vision. The blue archers made another swift reform (my prince and BSB's leadership had allowed me to do this literally every turn), faced right and advanced 5" to put the small daemonettes within close range. On the left flank, the princes made a slight move (perhaps 1" back or to the side), to cover the centre of the field without putting themselves in line of sight of the Bloodthirster. Lecalion likewise kept himself in play while keeping out of sight.

Magic. Throne was dispelled by my opponent but Flesh to Stone went up on the silver helms (toughness 5 knights would very much help with The Plan), as did Regrowth, raising two knights and bringing the unit up to 4 strong. Caradath's lost wound was healed. In the shooting phase, the blue archers fired a full volley into the daemonettes and killed all four, bagging me some more points.

The only combat now was in the centre. Predictably, my helms and chariot combined managed only a single wound against the daemonettes, now stood at 7 strong (ugh- they'd lost only a handful of models in all these turns of combat). Seredain and Caradath went to work on the hounds, however, finally getting through some ward saves and killing the last two. This left the gate open for the bloodletters to finally get into close combat. Since I had toughened knights, I felt the risk of a charge was acceptable: my opponent wouldn't be able to get many daemons into combat (especially because of the herald's large base), and I had killy characters with excellent leadership to counter his ranks. Crucially, though, if my knights held I'd have counter-charges on for my spearelves and princes which could get me the big win. The only question, then, was would I hold?

Daemons Turn 6

A roar rose up as the daemons, eager for victory, declared their charge. Unsurprisingly, their master the Bloodthirster couldn't close the 20" gap and was stuck out of the game, but the Bloodletters and their mighty herald smashed into Seredain's knights alongside the daemonettes. The High Elf prince heard the call of Destiny and challenged the herald of Khorne to immortal combat. Despite invoking the power of Loec, however, he managed only one wound on the herald, who made three out of his four ward saves then, when forced to re-roll the successful saves, three out of three. Horrifying. The prince was wily to this stuff by now, however, and had kept his guard ready for the coming onslaught. He parried and shouldered aside everything the daemon threw at him and, in spite of all the luck gifted to him by the gods, the herald could not land a killing blow.

The great daemon's followers, however, were still favoured. The High Elf knights, chariot and valiant noble could only manage one wound between the lot of them as the hellspawn again made save after save. Although their own efforts were foiled by fine elven mail and the blessings of an archmage, the daemons still managed a wound on the chariot and won the combat convincingly. They rushed on, exultant, against the elven lord and his companions and threatened to wholly overwhelm them. The elves needed to test on Leadership 6 to hold. I rolled a 7.
Then I rolled a 5.

High Elves Turn 6

Seeing their leader struggling against overwhelming odds, the High Elves let out an enormous battle cry, lowered their flashing spears and, in a single fluid movement, surged into the fray. The spearelves, blessed by Lecalion with the toughness of stone, crashed into the front of the daemons' formation even as their champion cavalry galloped at full tilt into their rear.

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The deciding moment.

Surrounded by the battle-songs of their brothers, the elves were invigorated to new heights of valour. The Chaos gods, furious with their children for so wasting all of their many gifts, turned their gaze away and left the field. Howling filled the air as the daemons began to perish. First, Seredain cleaved Khorne's herald in two and smote his steed to the ground. Emboldened by the spectacle of their Lord, the silver helms and chariot rode roughshod over the daemonettes, killing a whole rank of them while the spearelves and princes simply tore into the bloodletters, slaying without mercy.

Easily over half of Khorne's daemons died in a matter of moments. They struggled to defend themselves but were nothing compared to the mailed fury carving into them from every angle. The scale of their defeat was total and even as they suffered mortal deaths they vanished, howling, from the worldly plain.

Watching impotently in the distance, the Bloodthirster could only bellow his rage. Even as he attempted to close in and take his revenge, his grip upon the world was stolen by a vengeful patron. He faded from view and then was nothing.

The battle was over and I had lost 11 archers, 12 white lions, 2 repeater bolt throwers and an eagle. My opponent had lost everything except the Bloodthirster and a fiend.

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Massacre to the High Elves!
Last edited by Seredain on Thu Apr 07, 2011 3:45 pm, edited 3 times in total.
The Cavalry Prince - List Design, Tactics, Battle Reports

http://www.ulthuan.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=76&t=33584
Baeronvonbleat
Posts: 434
Joined: Thu Mar 24, 2011 5:31 pm

Re: Return of Seredain the Cavalry Prince - 2.5K

#329 Post by Baeronvonbleat »

Wow, that was a nailbiting end game to say the least... your archers holding for so long were vital, but his ward saves were just agony to read... favor of the dark gods indeed, and such a crushing victory in the end... wow!

Great read!
akielzather
Posts: 293
Joined: Wed Dec 29, 2010 1:03 am
Location: Scotland

Re: Return of Seredain the Cavalry Prince - 2.5K

#330 Post by akielzather »

Good game and well played.
8th 2012 Tournie P12 W8 D0 L4
8th 2013 Tournie 7th Ed book P17 W9 D2 L6
Totals P29 W17 D2 L10

Characters.
Calidiane - Captian of the Silver Helms of Saphery. Death Knight of Hoeth.
Maulinerine - Archmage of Life.
Kavineer - Battle-standard Bearer
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