Today, I had arranged for a rematch against the list I faced in my final game at SM. I was trying out the Star Coven and was eager to see if mobile flyers would be a good solution to this problem.
.::. Battle Report - 2400 vs Dark Elves (ETC comp) .::.
My list:
Prince on Star Dragon: Star Lance, Dragonhelm, The Other Trickster`s Shard, Golden Crown of Atrazar, Shield = 598
Noble BSB on Barded Steed: Heavy Armour, Lance, Shield, Banner of the World Dragon = 172
Mage L2 Light on Steed, Dispel Scroll - 155
Mage L2 Light on Steed, Sceptre of Stability - 145
Mage L1 Light on Steed, Ring of Fury - 120
Heroes/Characters: 592/1190
14 Silver Helms, Full Command, Shields = 352
8 Silver Helms, Musician, Shields = 194
5 Reavers, Champion = 90
Core: 636
1 Great Eagle = 50
4 Repeater Bolt Throwers = 280
Frostheart Phoenix = 240
Special & Rare: 570
Army Total: 2396
His list:
Dreadlord, Dark steed, heavy armour, seadragon cloak, shield, Giant blade, Dawnstone, The
other tricksters shard - 277
Supreme Sorceress, lvl 4, Death, Ring of hotek, Dispel scroll - 295
Master, Pegasus, BSB, heavy armour, seadragon cloak, lance, Charmed shield, Talisman of
preservation - 211
Master, Pegasus, seadragon cloak, shield, lance, Armour of destiny - 184
Master, Pegasus, heavy armour, seadragon cloak, shield, lance, Cloak of twilight - 188
5 Dark Riders, X-bows, shields - 100
10 Dark Riders, X-bows, shields - 200
25 Darkshards, FC, Banner of eternal flame - 340
5 Harpies - 75
Bolt thrower - 70
Bolt thrower - 70
Bolt thrower - 70
Bolt thrower - 70
5Warlocks - 125
5Warlocks - 125
Totalt: 2400
// Pre-battle thoughts and deployment //
The table we got was ok, with a building (counting as impassable by ETC) in the center of my deployment and some ruins to hide 2 RBTs in, giving me a head start. Vs Death I was counting on needing my BOTWD for the mages. I played a refused flank and the idea was to get control of that part before sweeping middle and cleaning up mid-lategame.
Deployment was fine and he ended up with a unit of Warlocks severely exposed. I wasn`t happy with my small Helms, but everything else was where I wanted it to be. Magic saw me roll up Pha`s, Speed, Banishment, Net, Timewarp. He got Spirit Leech, Caress, D&D, Purple Sun.
My characters stayed with the bus all game. With +1, I grabbed first turn.
// HE T1 //
I moved up the bus to within 24" of the Warlocks and the Darkshards. The problem with the Warlocks is that going too close means he can suicide charge and maybe get a mage or two in the process, which is disastrous. Everything else shuffled West to support this plan, apart from the Helms who went East to cover the approach a bit better.
Magic saw a big phase land Net on his Darkshards (which he let through, to my surprise) and Banishment which killed all Warlocks. Panic was passed by both RBTs. Good start! In shooting, I single-bolted the cloak guy but missed, the others tried to hurt his RBT but couldn`t manage anything.
// DE T1 //
Net prevented him from moving. Fast Cav on the East moved up. Magic saw Warlocks IF Doombolt on small Helms, a few died but panic passed. Shooting removed golden crown.
// HE T2 //
Bus moves up along with flyers, Reavers near the table edge. Small Helms are lost but get out of WL frontarc, at least.
Magic saw boosted Phas go up, rest was contained. Shooting saw RBTs single-bolt WL flank and killed 3, panic passed. One RBT single-bolted the 4++ hero, dealing 2W.
// DE T2 //
L4 moves out to fire off PS. Flyers swap so that the BSB takes the place of the wounded Master, roughly. Dreadlord moves up to support. Fastcav clears the East. Magic sees me dispel soulblight on the SD and scroll Purple Sun.
// HE T3 //
Dreadlord is 19" away from the Dragon, I declare the charge and he elects to flee. Phoenix charges Harpies, they fail terror and flee. Helms reform to cast missiles on the L4, taking care to place the ring-mage within 18".
Magic is 8v5. I start off with 2D6 Ring of Fury which he dispels on 2D6. I then cast Speed of Light on the Dragon as a precaution, if I don`t get the mage (his scroll is intact), the Dragon should be able to handle PS. He lets it go and I 4D6 IF Banishment, his mage barely goes down after 4 hits (Hotek nearly saved her). Miscast is S6 on all mages, no effect thank you BOTWD.
Shooting kills nothing of significance.
// DE T3 //
He`s sweeping into my rear, Lord + Harpies rally. Magic is IF doombolt on an RBT, but he fails to kill it. Shooting puts 3W on the Dragon.
// HE T4 //
Eagle on 1W (RBTs targeting it) tries to charge a war machine. Reavers move up behind. Flyers move up, bus moves up. I figure if he charges the bus, I challenge-hold him and counter with the monsters.
Magic sees Harpies disappear and his Dreadlord panics, BSB out of range. Shooting sees the Warlock panic (only 1 left), 2 single bolts bounce off the Cloak.
In combat, the Eagle dies.
// DE T4 //
Darkshards (ab)use the cover of the hill to be invisible for my bus. Dreadlord rallies. BSB charges Reavers. Rear is cleaned up. Magic is non-existant because of the fleeing warlock. Shooting does next to nothing.
// HE T5 //
Dragon moves up to flame Darkshards with Frostie providing cover. Bus charges Dreadlord who flees, I fail to catch. Magic sees me try Banishment but it`s low and he saves it. The Dreadlord is proving very hard to do anything about. I also get Net on his big Darkshards.
In shooting the Breath Weapon does 10W, but he passes panic.
// DE T5 //
Everything moves towards the Dragon. Dreadlord rallies. Darkshards reform to face Dragon. Magic is void, shooting sees 1W on the Prince, cover from Phoenix proving solid.
In my T6 the SD + Frostheart charge the Dreadlord, Dragon is 19" away. Only one can land because his flyer blocking the other and my Dragon fails its distance so the Frostheart takes him on. I move up to within 12" of everything and cast IF boosted Pha`s Protection. The rest of my phase is drained. In combat neither the Frostie nor the Dreadlord manage anything and in his T6 the Dragon still lives, Pha`s preventing 2 single bolts from hitting.
With that, the game is over and neither side has killed a lot. It`s a close game and counting it up, the DE are ahead but only slightly, so a
10-10 draw.
// Evaluation //
As I feared, the bus plays awkward with 3 mages. You can`t really do anything with them without being afraid of losing a mage or two, especially against DE. While I probably played too cautiously with it (which cost me dearly as I never got to rid myself of his RBTs in the corner), it just isn`t as solid as it ought to be.
Getting the small Helms centrally was a huge mistake. I should have had them in the corner near my own, this would`ve been perfect in this game. As it were, they died without achieving anything.
Light has a lot of semi-hard to cast spells (from an L2 perspective) relative to High. While I got good spells and great mileage out of them, I really do miss the flexibility and low-cast values of high magic. This, coupled with the bus not being able to play offensively due to the threat of losing the mages too easily, means I won`t be playing this configuration again. It`s a shame that we don`t get to keep fast cav on characters mounted on non-barded steeds, as fast cav light mages with a big ER bunker could really be interesting to play.
I originally thought the matchup was slightly in my favour, but I believe it is a neutral matchup having played it now. That is miles better than what my SM list has against it, it simply loses every single time. I should have won this game, but I was unable to create a situation where I could capitalize on my T1 advantage. In the end, I couldn`t even get his RBT: due to moving the bus so cautiously T1, I had to choose between engaging RBTs and try to kill his L4. I chose the latter, but the best play would probably be to push hard T1 which would`ve allowed charge on 1 RBT with overrun into the other T2, free reforming and killing the sorceress anyway T3.
The monsters also did very little in this game. His shooting, magic and flyers are all dangerous to me once I lose a few wounds. I probably could`ve set it up better, or even spent these 2 to get the RBTs and thus gain a safe haven (his Eastern RBTs were very, very missplaced and couldn`t do much all game).
I talked to a friend who`s played this matchup a couple of times with High Magic. Essentially, pushing too hard allows his flyers to surround the bus and attack with impunity. Though it is solid, it`s not that strong, so this game inevitably boils down to who can gain local board control and capitalize on situations that arise (e.g. a single-bolt killing a flying hero). In this game, I played tactically better early game (with a strategic mistake of not pushing harder), but he played a better tactical game in the later turns. As such, given the neutral matchup, a tie is a result I`m happy with here: after all I`ve never played this configuration before and the DE list is very, very strong.
Next game will be with high magic supporting the Dragon. I have yet to decide whether to go for Spears or the large bus. I have a feeling that one game with the Spears is something I should try out at least.
An earlier build saw me play the Griffon. To make a long story short, the Griffon in itself is a decent usage of points I believe. The problem is that it comes at a great cost: you only get one mage along with it (unless you`re willing to make it your BSB, which is suicide). The difference between 1 L2 and 2 L2s is just insane. This is the main reason why I unfortunately don`t think the Griffon can fit this list.