MSU bat rep #1

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Cealyne
Posts: 200
Joined: Tue Jan 22, 2013 1:59 am

MSU bat rep #1

#1 Post by Cealyne »

So, I had a game the today with my new list against a buddy of mine who plays Wood Elves! I little back story, he has been out of the game for 4ish years and just got back into the game 4 months ago. Sorry no photos or diagrams my camera sucks and battle chronicler isn't working yet on my comp. So here be the lists!

MSU high elves:
Lvl 4 heavens: talisman of preservation, dispell scroll
Noble bsb: dragon armor, sword of might, shield of the merwrym, goldbe crown

5 reavers: bows/spears, musician
2x5 reavers: spears only, musician
2x15 archers: musicians, standards

10 swordmasters: musician, blade lord
2x10 white lions: musicians, standards, 1 w/ standard if discipline
2x5 dragon princes: musician, 1 w/ banner of eternal flame
5 shadow warriors
Lion chariot
2 skycutters

Bolter
Great eagle
2x5 sisters of Avelorn
2500 points on the button!
My spells were: iceshard, harmonic, thunderbolt, comet

The woodies:

Treemen ancient: cluster
Lvl 4 life: divination orb
Noble: wild rider, killing blow spear
Noble: stuff, some it that allows unit to re roll psych tests

2x 10 glade guard
3x 14 dryads

20 eternal guard: full command
2x3 treekin
5 wild riders

Treemen
2500
Lvl 4 life had: earth blood, awakening, flesh, regrowth

Normal battle line set up, woods being mysterious.
Woodies from left to right. ( facing me )
10 glade guard, dryads #1, treemen ancient behind them, treekin #1, reg treemen behind them, eternal guard w/ lvl 4 and non mounted noble, dryads #2 and #3 side by side, treekin #2 behind them, wild riders next to treekin #2, and 10 glade guard

High elves from my left to right as well.
15 archers, 15 archers w/lvl 4, skycutter behind archers behind trees, reavers with bows, lion chariot, both dragon princes side by side, both reavers with spears, both sisters units, bolter, both white lions next to one another, swords behind and skycutter behind!

Turn # 1.....
So no vanguards, neither of us felt safe. My scouts made a blunder of a call and set up too close to the left most archers, their first and last mistake. As you can bet, the wood use went first. Damn the luck!
Woodies turn 1:
So he more or less shuffles everything forward a bit. Left archers wheel to face my scouts. Magic is a non event really, 3-1 phase. Failed to cast flesh on dryads ( whom he moved into his woods ). Shooting sees my scouts die, what a waste. Right most archers target a unit of sisters and kill 2. Panic passed.
High elves turn 1:
No charges! I think I should have charges my dragon princes into dryads in the woods but I decide against it. Everything sorta suffers around, left most skycutter flies over some trees hoping to flank the glade guard next turn. Left most reavers all but dare archers to turn and face them opening flank from skycutter. Magic is 4-1, what a joke! I throw it all on comet between his treekin and dryad units, it goes off. Shooting! Sees my archers fluby shots at his, 30 shits killing 4 glade guard, no panic. Bolter and sisters kill 5 total glade guard on right side! No panic, great start!
Woodies turn 2:
No charges! Left glade guard wheel to face reavers, flank exposed like the plan. Treemens move up in a the eating manner by his woods. Right most dryads ( both units push far forward real fast! Eternal guard shuffle up a few inches. He then forgets to move his wild riders, I offer to let him move um and he refuses. Magic is 1-1, man what a bad magic phase again! No spells cast. Shooting sees right most kill last 3 sisters from depleted unit. Not bad, reavers on left lose 2.
High elves turn 2:
I charge flank of glade guard, well that was the plan. Instead I roll three 1's and fail. On the right my other skycutter charges dryads and I attemp to charge both white lion units into far right dryads, only 1 unit makes it, bummer, or not. Magic 4-4, and comet comes down! Kills a treekin and 4 dryads. Nice! Thunderbolt wounds treemen ancient once, and that's about it. Shooting is also a bust, I also once agian neglected to charge my dragon princes into his dryads, ah well. Combat sees my skycutter kills 3 dryads and doesn't take a wound. I break them and pursue, catch them! Dryads whiff horribly and do 0 wounds to my lions and in return kill 8 dryads, break and catch them. In the pursuit I slam into the glade guard! Awesome!
Woodies turn 3:
He charges my right skycutter with treekin, I flee and am caught. Dumb shoulda held! He moves rest up a tad. Magic is 5-5, great. He cast regrowth on 3 dice and gets irrisitable! Treekin back to full health, and wizard takes a wound and about 8 eternal guard go bye bye! Shooting sees left most reavers die! Great! Combat, whites lions lose 2 guys and glade guard are murdered! I reform.
High elves turn 3:
Thunder cats hooo! Lion chariot and skycutter charge treemen ancient, and non flaming dragon princes charge dryads! All make it, skycutter hits flank of treemen ancient. Magic is 5-3, no channels. I open up with comet, he dispells. I then get iceshard on treemen ancient and thunderbolt on reg treemen dealing a massive 5 wounds! ( I will then go on to not being able to kill this damn guy! Shooting sees my archers do nil. Bolter kills 3 wild riders. Combat! Princes kill a mess of the dryads for no lose, he's in the woods so stubborn and then breaks. Ran wn and my princes are out if the charge arc of the reg treemen! Chariots do a total of 1 wound, skycutter broken to pieces and lion chariot holds on stubborn, well that could have gone better!
Woodies turn 4:
Treekin charges eagle, I flee ( going 12 inches off board, come on! ) he redirects into reavers, I hold... Still no clue why. Reg treemen into flank of lion chariot. Eternal guard shuffle up closer, wild riders move to charge bolter or sisters next turn. Magic is 3-3, no channels. He casts flesh to stone on treekin, with double 6's! Miscast losses a wound and rest of dice. The lore attribute heals first wound only to get another! Lol! No shooting he again forgot to move archers around. Treekin annihilate the reavers and over run into rear of flaming princes. Bummer! Lion chariot then does the impossible and does 4 wounds to the treemen ancient! And is then smashed to bits! Both treemen done to 1 wound a piece! For the rest of the game.
High elves turn 4:
This will be our last turn, he had to get going. Called into work early, oh well. Was a great turn. Swordmasters and white lions With bb charge eternal guard. They make it! Sisters move to face wild riders. Magic is a non event. Sisters and bolter kill last wild riders and noble with them! Bam! Combat sees my noble kill his in a challenge and lions in flank kill lvl 4. Rest kill last eternal guard. Treekin kill 4 princes and I hold on snake eyes!! Game!
After we totaled up points I was up by 840ish points! First victory with new MSU force!
Will follow up with an overview shortly.
Comments always welcome! Hope u enjoyed!

_________________
"So do all who see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time we are given!"
"So do all who see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time we are given!"
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Swordmaster of Hoeth
Southern Sentinel
Posts: 4480
Joined: Thu Jul 01, 2004 9:01 am
Location: On the path of an outcast

Re: MSU bat rep #1

#2 Post by Swordmaster of Hoeth »

Hi Cealyne,

Thanks a lot for your report and my sincere apologies for being so late with comments. I hope they will be of some use anyway.

First of all I was wondering if you could present a map with terrain and deployment of the units. I know that doing so adds some work but trust me, it helps the reader to visualize the battle field better. In particular if you are talking about MSU and many units involved in different actions.

Looking at your army list I admit I was the most interested in the performance of the heavens archmage and chariots. Heavens lore very often is one of the most dangerous MSU army can face so having it at your disposal can be a very interesting thing to observe. Chariots are also of great interest to me as I haven't been able to use them to good effect yet. What is more, you are going to use Lion Chariot and SKucutters, both units are completely strangers to me in terms of games experience. However, a few players have tried to use them so I am sure they can be a great addition too!

Your Wood Elf opponent had more combat orientated army and even included Eternal Guard! Is his army without BSB or is one of the nobles carrying the banner? He has some hard hitters in his force but you also have some good tools for the job. You seem to have a little better shooting as you have more Archers than he does and you could try and fight shooting war between the elves. Your combat units can fight against his but you need to choose the fights carefully. Dryads can be deadly against Swordmasters or Lions but your cavalry can destroy them. Treekin and Treemen are tough to defeat but if isolated may be in trouble.

I am going to try to make comments as I read so hopefully that will be in some order!

Where would you place your Shadow Warriors instead to correct the mistake you have made?

I don't think a long charge of DP against Dryads in the woods is always a good thing. First, what was the distance? The odds might be against you. Second, dryads are skirmishers and as such are stubborn in the forest. In addition to DT test (always a problem for small units) you are not going to kill them all and if they are positioned well you may be drawn into a trap.

I think some of these combats were lucky. Maybe it was to balance out some of the bad rolls for charges? Dryads usually take a few Lions with them and while being hit on 3+ and wounded on 2+ they also have good 5++ meaning it is not guaranteed they are going to take many casualties. However, good for you as you have eliminated 2 dangerous units in hand to hand!

it seems that the game was an exchange of punches and some rolls that shifted balance one way or another. Reducing both treemen to 1 wound by turn 4 is a great achievement and you can assume 2 more turns would have been enough to get them!

Congratulations on your victory then! I hope you are continuing your journey with MSU. It would have been great to see more of your games and if you find time, please add some diagrams. It is very hard to imagine the relative positioning of the units so that it is also hard to think about other options that may have presented themselves during the course of battle. Even pictures are adding a lot, even if they don't provide good overview of the situation.

Thanks again for the report!

Cheers!
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High Elves MSU - Observations
Rabidnid wrote:Are you seriously asking someone called Swordmaster of Hoeth why he has more swordmasters than white lions? Really?
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