Some interesting comments re. the choice between the archmage and the two Level 2s, guys. I'll deal with those in a mo but, for now, on with the report...
Jadex wrote:Dear Seredain,
Looking forward to the rest of the battle report! Not pushing you, just trying to encourage you, since we've all be enjoying your adventures so much! Any plans, or are you just teasing us or testing our patience
?
Yours sincerely!
Speak of the devil!
Battle Report continued - High Elves vs Warriors of Chaos
Chaos Turn 2
Seeing his main caster forced to the corner by missile fire and then decapitated, the commander of the Chaos forces was despondent. His best hope now, he thought, was to try and pin down my cavalry with single models and buy the Khorne marauders time to get into the game. The chaos chariot took the only option open to it, then, and smashed into the waiting silver helms. To my annoyance, the nearest shrine made a long charge to join him and put me under some pressure. Further to the west, the warhounds ignored by my cavalry now moved around my left flank (but where I had my backup eagle facing west to counter this next turn). The Khorne marauders, meanwhile, sheepishly emerged from the building and, since my first eagle had set up just to the south of there (to prevent an escape around my left flank), formed up over the area where their sorcerer had once stood. To my surprise, the rest of the chaos infantry, stretching out into the east, remained pretty static, the only real movement being made by the maruaduer horse who, finding themselves blocked off by a combination of dense buildings and a force of elven archers and knights, galloped behind Chaos lines and headed west. I guess my opponent's thinking was that, if he advanced too aggressively, I'd turn his left flank with a combination of units or burst through his warriors with my white lions. He also reckoned on his hellcannon doing work on my lines before combat but, from my point of view, the shooting war was in my favour.
Magic and, not surprisingly, there wasn't anything doing. If my opponent got any spells off, Lecalion dispelled them.
Shooting saw the shrines buzz up some powers but, without the manipulation item on the chosen, the bonuses weren't so bad for me. +1 toughness went up, along with magic resistance. Worse, the hellcannon belted a missile right into the heart of my infantry, landing it between the swordmasters and spears. Seven citizens and three elites died horrible, screaming deaths.
Combat saw the chariot and warshrine cleave into the silver helms. With lances lowered and shields raised, the elven horse defended themselves as best they could, aided by the blessing of Saphery, but they still lost three of their number. In the thick of the fighting, however, Seredain drew his sword and smashed three wounds off the chariot. This was good, but I still lost the combat and had to make a break test on leadership 10 (since the cavalry had a full rank and were stubborn), which... I passed. Phew.
The prowess and leadership of the prince keeps the elven cavalry in the fight.
[Edit: you'll see I've already moved my archmage and, at the bottom just out of shot, the 2nd eagle: this is at the start of High Elf Turn 3.]
High Elves Turn 3
With the centre turning into something of a stalemate (albeit one I was happy with), my job was to consolidate my gains on the left flank. I wasn't willing to commit any of my infantry - the Khorne marauders were too far out and I wasn't willing to put anything close to the chosen just yet. Instead, I resolved upon a holding action to buy Seredain time to smash up the expensive models to be found there. Since the knights were already in combat, this meant eagle action and the return of the BSB. Eagle 1, stood by the building, now swept down infront of the Khorne marauders to pin them in that corner, safely stuck behind their 2nd shrine. While they were thus neautralised, Caradath emerged back onto the field and galloped right behind them, daring the hellcannon to try its luck. Eagle 2 did what it was supposed to and, in defense of the open ground behind my western advance, charged the warhounds. Meanwhile, with an eye on the engaged warshrine sticking around against my knights (with its damned 4+ ward save), Lecalion left his spearelf bodyguard and marched into its flank zone. If the thing had the temerity to stick around, I'd at least get some combat res on it next turn.
Toward the centre, the swordmasters and spears stayed static facing toward the Chaos centre. The spears kept their eye on the warriors in particular, sensing a future combination with the white lions to smash through this weak point and get behind enemy lines. With the new plan in mind, word went along the elven line to redirect all missile fire into the warriors while, to the east, the green archers and dragon princes continued their encirclement of the right flank.
In the magic phase, I couldn't get arrow attraction off on the warriors, but Lecalion blasted two chosen from the earth with the Fury of Khaine, then used his wiles to shatter the power of the their Terror banner, dragging away their chance to get the 3+ ward they craved. Vaul be praised!
Without the curse guiding their missiles, the elven archers proved completely useless at skewering chaos warriors, not managing to kill a single one. I'm a great believer in concentrating my shooting power as much as possible but, it seems, archers should try and stick to killing marauders. The repeaters, however, performed well and brought down four of the fifteen warriors with a hail of bolts.
In combat, Eagle 2 crushed two hounds in its talons and drove the others on, failing to catch them but, probably, putting them out of the game. Seredain carried on his good work in the centre, swinging his great sword to crush the chariot and put a wound on the warshrine. Two silver helms were lost to the shrine but it was an elven victory this time (due to my musician), which forced a break test on the shrine, only to see it passed. Annoyingly.
Awaiting a decision in the west, the advance of both armies grinds to a halt even as elven missiles begin to erode the chaos centre...
Chaos Turn 3
The western dogs, not wanting another taste of Eagle 2, fled the field. The khorne marauders, meanwhile, did what they thought was the only useful option and surged forward to overwhelm Eagle 1. The second shrine didn't want try a charge against my prince (fine by me- perhaps it didn't fancy its luck with ward saves), staying camped in the wood just infront of the marauders. And other movement...? Still pretty much nothing. Content that the hellcannon would do its work, that the khorne marauders would overwhelm (or pin) my prince in place and (perhaps above all) nervous about being flanked by my right flank, the body of the Chaos army simply held its ground. The chosen, too far away to charge convincingly, and unwilling to abandon their fragile warrior comrades (and also, perhaps, to commit against the swordmasters without a mega ward save), likewise stood their ground and kept their BSB within range of the hellcannon and the engaged warshrine, now desperately battling to hold the elf prince at bay.
Magic was another dud, elven archmagery proving superior by far to the Chaos hero's crude attempts at conjuring some fireballs, or whatever the hell he thought he was doing. The shooting phase was a bit more of a worrying prospect, however, with the hellcannon gazing down upon my lone BSB. True to form, and completely unconcerned by the danger to the marauders, the beast fired an immense missile at the elven hero, but could only bellow in powerless anger as it scattered wide. Caradath, emboldened, raised his sword in mocking salute. The maruader horse, having swung round into the western front to face the swordmasters, now tried their luck with some javelins but, enjoyably, couldn't kill anything. The shrines couldn't help out either, since one (again) rolled the magic resistance result for the chosen while the other gave them terror which, with the terror banner newly eradicated, stuck. The broken ward chosen combo seemed undone! Pay heed, deathstar haters: Vaul's Unmaking is your friend.
Combat saw the engaged eagle ripped to shreds by Khorne's marauders, followed by the unedifying spectacle of a whole horde of barbarians overrunning a single bird into the flank of their own warshrine: fine by me. Seredain, meanwhile, performed stellar work against the other warshrine, successfully wounding with all of his attacks... Only to see three of them saved by 4+ ward rolls. Argh! This is, I think, the precise moment that I resolved to draft in the Other Trickster's Shard (albeit on my BSB). I wasn't willing to burn the talisman yet, but this shrine was getting annoying. Another silver helm was brought down by the shrine's cultists; I won the combat again, but the shrine held with the aid of the Chaos BSB's re-roll.
High Elves Turn 4
The khorne marauders were nullified for at least another turn, but my battle standard bearer was feeling the call of destiny. Holding his standard high in the wind, he let out his battle cry and plunged into the exposed rear ranks of Khorne's marauders. Likewise sensing that the time was ripe, Lecalion assaulted the flank of the warshrine fighting Seredain; assailing it, we must assume, with ghostly noises. Elsewhere in the field, I was happy with the status quo. The longer we waited before a general engagement, the more time my magic and shooting had to bring down the chaos infantry, and the more time my characters had to win the left flank. What little movement there was saw the surviving eagle fly to the flank of the khorne marauders, looking to hop infront of the chosen as required and tempt the hellcannon, dangerously close by, to do something stupid. In the east, the white lions, sensing weakness in the ranks of chaos warriors, advanced to threaten a charge if they chose to come forward. Meanwhile the dragon princes continued to shift around the flank, coming to a halt almost perpendicular to the line of buildings and facing westwards. If the Tzeentch marauders came forward and marched passed the buildings now, they couldn't avoid a flank charge from either the dragon princes or the white lions, with the archers in support as well if I saw fit. In effect, the Chaos left now had to choose between advancing into a trap, or standing still and getting shot. It wasn't a good set of options.
The magic phase, a poor 6 v 5 setup, again saw the arrow curse getting trampled by all my opponent's dice. On the plus side, Lecalion threw Shield of Saphery back up on the prince and his comrades, hoping that the extra save would stack the odds further in favour of the elves...
In the shooting phase, my units finally divided their efforts by choosing to kill what was infront of them. The repeaters targeted the warriors again and killed three - averagely good. The archers underperformed again, killing not very much but, nonetheless, providing a useful service. The last warhound bit the dust, becoming food for lesser dogs, while three more Tzeentch marauders also fell dead. Getting the dogs out of the way was useful, but I was happiest by the state of the warriors this round. If they ever saw combat against my elites in such small numbers, they were toast. The white lions began throwing taunts.
Combat, and I resolved the prince/archmage fight first. Sure enough, Seredain scored a decent three wounds, only to see two of them saved (ugh) and the warshrine, barely, live on. Fortunately, the shrine's cultists could only bring down a single helm and, with a combat resolution of 2 in my favour from the flanking archmage, it broke, fleeing away from the prince and directly toward its brother shrine. Seredain, duty bound to kill this cursed thing, charged on, smashed it with gusto and overran into the surviving shrine to bring it a similar end. Lecalion dashed after the prince but, on foot as he was, couldn't quite close the distance and came to a stop just inside the woods, directly to the west of the Chaos line. The was perfect, however, since he was immune to non-magical damage (everything in the chaos army) and, being a lone character in woods, was also stubborn. With the prince and BSB nearby, my left flank now had a permanent anchor. However, the greatest battle, of course, was to be found further to the west...
Even as his mailed horse crashed heavily into the midst of a whole host of barbarian warriors, the elven battle standard bearer, Caradath, caught sight of a flashing light beyond, then another - the sword blade of the prince, carving through the air and racing north toward the trees. The light brought with it sound, of vengeful laughter, the twisted screams of slaughtered cultists and a shouted challenge across the heads of the interposing northmen: "Join me!"
The words barely reached the ears of the elven noble even as his own sword began to swing.
The few barbarians who were even aware that their rear was under attack had barely time to turn their heads before slumping lifeless to the ground. Eventually, more heads did turn as the commotion grew, only to see a great shining sword blade mercilessly cleaving apart the bodies of their comrades and, above, the standard of the High Elves- blazing furiously in the sunlight. The sky was now smote loudly with the light of elven runes: it blinded them, deafened them, reached into their souls and called them weak, howled for vengeance. It grew large in their minds and finally shattered their will even as its bearer, so small beneath it now, shouted and gloried in his triumph, teeth bared, drenched in the blood of his enemies. In a flurry of disordered shouts and cries, the formation of marauders broke completely and scattered. Most men fled for safety in the trees to the east but noble Caradath rode on, as the light of day returned to its usual bloody hue, and pursued the survivors through thick woodland before crashing headlong into another battle between more cultists and, here, the High Elf prince, Seredain, still laughing and perhaps, though it was hard to tell, even singing. He called out to his old friend as he swung his mighty sword- crashing- into iron-bound devil-worshipers and the strange relics of Chaos. "You're late brother, haha! Welcome!"
From a distance, the picture was clearer. My BSB had won combat against the marauders with a combat resolution of 7 (rear charge, standard, three kills), vs 4 (ranks and standard - no wounds). The marauders then failed their steadfast break test on a 7, fled and were run down by Caradath as he pursued headlong into the flank of the last warshrine, now engaged by Seredain, spelling its doom next phase (I'd have a static res of 3 before wounds), and leaving the path to the hellcannon open to a charge on my next turn. In short, the western flank was now mine for the loss of only one eagle. Brilliant. With the hellcannon under threat, the Chaos centre under siege from shooting and magic and the Chaos left effectively pinned in place, my opponent called it a day and conceded.
The endgame: the khorne horde is routed and the first warshrine breaks and is destroyed as both Seredain and Caradath (replaced for this picture) converge on the last shrine. The last dog (centre left) is killed by arrows while more warriors fall to bolts in the centre of the field.
Victory to the High Elves!