Hey Guys!
So I did manage to make it out to our local game night this past week, and was really looking forward to trying my list out against a random opponent. Because it was a store game, I opted to take my own list instead of the modified Dragon list, since I wouldn't have to proxy anything for the match.
I was randomly assigned an opponent, and I drew up an Empire player. Sure enough, when we get to the table, I see him take a cannon out. Then a mortar. Than another... and another... and another...
Oh God.
Our lists:
Empire
Arch Lector, War Altar, 2+ rerollable, Van Horstmann's
Warrior Priest, Armour of Meteoric Iron (1+ AS)
BSB
Mage, Level 1, Lore of Life
Mage, Level 1, Lore of Beasts
Mage, Level 1, Lore of Fire
14 x Knights, Full Command
12 x Crossbowmen, Musician
6 x Free company (Detachment)
6 x Handgunners (Detachment)
50 x Greatswords, Full Command
6 x Free Company (Detachment)
6 x Free Company (Detachment)
3 x Mortars
3 x Cannons
High Elves
Archmage, Forliath's Robes, Jewel of the Dusk, Guardian Phoenix Level 4 (Lore of Light)
Mage, Seerstaff, Level 2 (Pha's Protection, Banishment)
Mage, Anullian Crystal (Lore of Light
Noble, BSB, Armour of Caledor, Dawnstone, Great Weapon
35 x Spearmen, Full Command
14 x Archers, Musician
11 x Archers, Musician
19 x White Lions, Full Command, Banner of Sorcery
14 x Swordmasters, Standard, Banner of Eternal Flame
14 x Swordmasters
5 x Dragon Princes
2 x Great Eagles
So after my first glance at his list, I said to myself "how the heck did he meet minimum core?". After further research once I got home, I realized the answer was quite simple: "He didn't". Oh well. One of these days I'll play vs. a legal list lol.
Spells:
Mage (Life): Earthblood
Mage (Fire): Fireball
Mage (Beasts): Wildform
Archmage: Pha's, Banishment, Net, Timewarp
Mage: Speed of Light
Mage (Level 2): Pha's, Banishment
Deployment
Because of his large number of detachments, warmachines and characters, I basically got free reign of this phase. I happily surrendered the +1 to my roll to go first in exchange for a nice fakeout with the archers and Dragon Princes on the western flank to draw out his arch lector thinking I was going to go heavy on that flank.
Once his army was down, I kept my key units tight together on the eastern flank for those handy light buffs and leadership bonuses. I deploy my units very wide to mitigate the template damage.
Naturally he won the first roll (that's 5 games without going first for those that are counting), and we began the game
Turn 1
Empire
His chaff free company moves up, and his handgunners move into a position to be able to shoot next turn, but the rest sits tight.
Magic is relatively uneventful. I dispel a fireball on my eagle, and allow him to Wildform and earthblood his Greatswords. I also say to my opponent "You better hope that unit never gets dwellered... like ever".
Shooting - I brace for the incoming pain. His first cannon shot is on my Western Eagle - hit, wound, 3 wounds on a D6. Dead eagle. His next two cannonballs are on the Dragon Princes, each taking one out. All 3 mortars shoot at the white lions - when the smoke settles, one direct hit results in 4 lions laying dead on the ground. The rest just have dirty jackets. His crossbowmen take out 2 more dragon princes due to crappy rolls on my part.
I wipe some sweat from my brow, and we move to the next turn.
High Elves
I advance my troops full steam ahead, aiming to shut down his shooting ASAP. My lonely Dragon Prince charges his free company, on the off chance he can make it - he flees, and the prince moves forward 4".
Magic comes up big for me - 12 v 8. I start with a Pha's bubble with 3 dice from my archmage. A big roll has me in a good spot - He rolls 4 to stop it and takes it down. Next I roll 3 dice at the spell a second time from my level 2 - goes off, and he rolls 3 dice to dispel my average roll. He fails to meet my value by one, and all of my Eastern troops are protected from shooting next turn. With only one dice left on his side, I throw 3 at a Banishment on his knights from my archmage. It goes off successfully, and I score 11 hits on my 2D6 roll - now we're talking! 6 knights drop dead from the magical energy. I then throw my remaining 3 at a powered up Banishment from my level 2 - He is also successful, and kills another 4 knights. What was once a fleet of glistening armour and stomping hooves is now just 4 lonely knights.
Shooting phase, I manage to kill a couple handgunners and they panic.
Turn 2
Empire
He moves his chaff up more to intercept my advancing infantry. Other than that, it's a pretty static movement phase. His free company that fled the Dragon Prince rally.
Once again, I allow his two buffs on his unit of Greatswords, and dispel fireball - I have no intention of tangling with them this round.
In his shooting phase, he starts with the cannons. The first one makes his 4+ roll to shoot my remaining eagle. 2 wounds later, the eagle is hurting, but still alive. The next cannon lines up a shot... but Pha begins to show his power. The cannon fails to fire, and so does the third. Then the mortars start, aiming to rain death on the white lions again - but every single one of them is unable to fire.
My opponent looks at me and shakes his head. "What spell is that again?" He says, reaching for my cards.
His crossbows manage to take out my last Dragon Prince, and we move on to the next turn.
High Elves
I declare a charge on the first unit of chaff with my white lions, which flees, so I redirect to the second, which also flees. Luckily, my white lions roll huge for their charge range, and catch the fleeing free company. This puts them mere inches away from his vulnerable artillery, but also within charge range of his knights. The spears reform and turn to face the two incoming threats head on; the arch lector and the greatswords.
Magic comes up huge again - 12 v 8. I start off with a Pha's bubble with 3 dice, which he dispels. I then manage a Banishment on his knights again, but after some careful measurement, it becomes apparent that their charge took the archmage out of 12" from the other light wizards. The S4 banishment only nets one wound on the knights. Finally, I go all out on a timewarp bubble from my archmage; I want that extra movement to guarantee my next turn's assault. this goes off.
Turn 3
Empire
He staggers his artillery, bracing for the onslaught, and moves his knights to threaten the flank of the lions/redirect the swordmasters if they get aggressive. His greatswords also reform to face the white lion's flank and his mages move to a free company bunker behind the action. His arch lector attempts a charge on the spears, but fails.
Magic, is a bit different this time; since I intend to assault his unit next turn, I don't want him getting wyssan's wildform off on the unit (the assaulting swordmasters have the banner of eternal flame, so earthblood is inconsequential). Luckily, this phase rolls relatively low, and I'm able to succeed in my goal. Only eathblood goes off.
Shooting is at 1/3 effectiveness since two of his artillery pieces moved. Two of his cannons fire grapeshot at the white lions, but only manage to produce two wounds. A partial hit from the Mortar produces another casualty, and the final mortar shot misfires, disallowing a shot this turn.
High Elves
This turn really needs to be read, the picture doesn't do it justice.
The High Elf host springs into motion; the swordmasters declare a charge on the free company, and they flee from the incoming weapon experts. The swordmasters redirect into the Greatswords, and the stage is set for an epic battle (My goal here was to grind on this unit as much as possible while my other two elites finish up the artillery and knights.
My Eastern Swormasters charge in to finish off the knights, and naturally, the white lions commence tearing apart the artillery. The spears make a somewhat long charge on the Arch lector, and we move on to magic.
The winds roll 8, but I manage to channel one, add one for the jewel and 2 from the banner, giving me 12 dice to his 7. I start off with a speed of light on two dice on the Western swordmasters, and he fails to dispel it. They're now weaponskill 10. I then get an irresistable Pha's protection on 3 dice on the same swordmasters, and unfortunately my level 2 loses both his levels. I throw 3 dice at another pha's protection on the same unit, and he manages to dispel this. I finish off the phase by successfully putting a Timewarp on the same swordmasters. So these guys are now WS10, I10, 3 attacks each and are at -1 to hit...
I kill a couple crossbowmen with my archers and we move on to combat.
My Eastern Swordmasters kill two of his knights, and he does one wound in return - his knights flee off the board, and the swordmasters reform to face the artillery. The white lions shred the crewmen of the cannon they're assaulting and overrun into the next artillery piece.
The super fast, super hard to hit, super skilled swordmasters start their assault. Despite all of their buffs, they only manage 14 wounds (I know, only...) on the greatswords due to some incredibly lucky 6's for armour saves. His return attacks come back at me and he rolls 3 hits out of his 25 attacks. I then realize I forgot to allocate attacks on his Warrior Priest to eliminate his hatred... and he rerolls his misses, scoring another TEN 6's. When all is said and done, 12 swordmasters fall dead from the return attacks and character attacks - blah! They lose, but don't lose by much, and manage to hold.
On the Western front, the spears direct all their attacks at the Arch Lector's war altar, but don't manage anything. He kills one of them in return, and the battle is a stalemate.
Turn 4
Empire
His crossbowmen charge in to help the Arch Lector out, but besides that, he's pretty limited to what he can move. His fleeing free company rally.
In shooting, two of his artillery pieces misfire; a cannon and a mortar. The cannon explodes (and I forget to take it out of the diagrams), and the mortar can't shoot this turn. The remaining mortar shot misses the swordmasters, and the cannon takes two more off their numbers.
Magic sees him get Wyssan's off this turn due to a luckier phase (I think it was 5v4, and I rolled low to dispel). Despite it, my swordmasters manage 4 more wounds, but are killed to a man in response.
The spears in the West manage 2 lucky wounds on the War Altar, and a couple on the crossbows. The crossbows break, but the altar is unbreakable.
High Elves
The white lions reform and shuffle down, leaving room for the swordmasters to overrun after their charge on the cannon. The archers also charge the flank of the war altar. I think silently to myself "I wonder how many S3 hits it takes to take that thing down?" - the answer... a lot.
Magic, I get a net of amyntok off on his remaining mortar, and a pha's protection and a timewarp off on the white lions (can you tell my note taking got a little dicey at this point?)
I manage no wounds on the arch lector's war altar, and predictably obliterate any artillery the swordmasters touch. Remember that C2 isn't actually there anymore due to a misfire.
Turn 5
Empire
Not wanting to tangle with Timewarped and Pha's protected White Lions, he moves up his detachment for support and hopes for the best in the coming magic phases. His crossbowmen rally.
Magic, he is able to get a wildform off on his unit, and I'm unable to stop it (irresistable force)
Shooting, his only shooting is netted, so we move to combat.
My spears manage another wound on the war altar, leaving it with 2 left. The swordmasters finish off the artillery piece, and restrain from overrunning - I have bigger plans in mind!
High Elves
I charge in with both my swordmasters and my white lions.
Magic is 7 v 6 , and I start with a Pha's protection on my white lions... and fail with my archmage. That leaves me with only Speed of Light on my level 1, which I attempt but he easily dispels it. Great, looks like you're going at this one unbuffed fellas.
Combat is nasty - I direct the BSB's attacks at his warrior priest, but only manage 1 wound. I decide I need to work at elminating the unit to get rid of stubborn and return attacks, so I focus all my attacks at them. I do 18 total wounds to him, and in return he reduces the white lions to 4 models (about 10 casualties). He passes his break test, but I'm confident I can kill the rest of his greatswords next turn - especially since the swordmasters reform to get every model in base contact.
In the East, the spears and Archers manage to put the last two wounds on the War Altar, and seeing his beautiful golden griffon destroyed, the Arch Lector flees from the units. Neither unit, however, manages to catch him.
Turn 6
Empire
He fires one last mortar shot at the recently freed up spearmen and scores a direct hit - 14 spearmen fall dead, but the rest resist the urge to panic.
I shut down his magic phase for a final time thanks to the annullian crystal, and we move to combat.
The remaining swordmasters and white lions manage to take out the remaining greatswords and break heroes. With that, my opponent concedes the match.
End result: A Massacre for the High Elves!
After Battle Thoughts
So let me start with this, because I know you're thinking it. It wasn't the hardest gunline in the world. Yes, it had 6 pieces of artillery, but it had very little in terms of ballistic skill shooting, no level 4 wizard and frankly, I don't even think it was legal, failing to meet core requirements.
Having said that, I think this match was a great showcase of two things: First, it really showed what lore of light brings to the table defensively. I realize it was lucky, but Pha's protection effectively shut down one of his most important shooting phases. I also realize that I was unlucky with my buffed swordmaster rolls, but that unit was nothing to scoff at - nothing short of a hatred wielding horde could have taken that unit on buffed the way it was.
Second, it really showed the power of banishment *when it works*. My opponent, despite his bonus dispel dice, had relatively mediocre magic defense, but with so many bonus dice, it becomes very reasonable to expect overpowering magic phases. It was very apparent second turn, when 10 knights evaporated from S6 banishments.
I made a couple mistakes this match, namely not killing that warrior priest in the large unit to eliminate hatred, but having said that, it was quite a bit of fun for me, especially given the lackluster performance of my magic phase in recent games. I feel like this was the first game where things worked "the way they are supposed to".
Finally, I'm not sure why he put his Arch Lector on the flank like that. He was cursing it almost the minute the game started, but I still don't know what his thinking was at the time.
Hats off to him though, he was a great sport and a very nice guy. Always nice when you get an opponent like that.
Hope you guys enjoyed the read, feel free to leave any comments or criticisms!
D