Solith's Battle Blog: Game 18 - 2000 HE vs WE - 26/04
Posted: Thu Aug 29, 2013 10:22 pm
I had a battle today at the local GW store. 1500 points, my High Elves vs Jesse's Wood Elves. I've already had two fun games against him - in the first my Swordmasters taunted his Wood Elves from the watchtower while my mage took off a unit per turn with Soul Quench, and in the second his Stegadon was completely unstoppable, his Ripperdactyls did horrible things to my Dragon Princes and I ended up being tabled. We rolled up Battle for the Pass.
My army:
Loremaster
Book of Hoeth, Gem of Sunfire, Golden Crown of Atrazar
Noble BSB
Star Lance, Dragonhelm, Luckstone, Potion of Foolhardiness, heavy armour, shield, barded horse
19 Archers - standard, musician
5 Reavers - bows only
5 Reavers - bows only
5 Dragon Princes - musician
12 White Lions - full command, Gleaming Pennant
13 Swordmasters - musician, champion
7 Sisters of Avelorn
His Wood Elves: (Roughly)
Eternal Kindred Noble (general)
Stag, Spear of -1 to hit after he wounds, 2+ ward vs fire
Waywatcher Noble
Hail of Doom Arrow
10 Glade Guard - musician, standard, Banner of Eternal Flame
2x 10 Glade Guard - musician, standard
10 Dryads
10 Wild Riders - musician, standard, Banner of Swiftness
9 Waywatchers
2x Great Eagle
This is my first time using Battle Chronicler and everything's from memory so everything's slightly out of place. I apologise if the ranges seem off at times.
Deployment with vanguarding. We forgot to use the effects of his forest and the temple in the bottom left we played as soft cover + dangerous terrain to cavalry.
My thoughts as we began were that my Sisters would jump into the building. That would put them in range of most of the board, they should be able to survive any return shooting and I could jump my Loremaster in with them should the need arise. My infantry would try to hold the left flank while my Dragon Princes would sweep around the right. I was hoping to use the right Reavers to eat those nasty killing blow waywatcher shots and the left Reavers to do... something. I didn't really have a plan for those. On to the game!
He got the first turn after I rolled a 1.
He advanced on the flanks, keeping his Glade Guard back. His shooting killed 3 Reavers on the left and wiped out the unit on the right. My Sisters passed their panic but the Dragon Princes failed - even after the re-roll - and almost went off the board!
High Elves 1:
My Reavers charge his Eagle - mainly to get out of the way - and then my White Lions fail a 15" charge on his Wild Riders. A bit of a long shot but worth the risk. Luckily my Dragon Princes rallied. The Sisters went into the building and my centre shuffled forwards, bringing my mage into 24" of most of his army but keeping my units more than 20" from his Glade Guard (so no close range shooting next turn) and out of charge range of the Dryads.
Magic sees me incinerating 7 Dryads with a top level Fireball. That was a big relief because with their 2 attacks each at I6 they could do a lot of damage to my small units of elites.
My shooting kills off 3 Glade Guard from the right hand unit and they fail panic. Combat between the Reavers and Eagle is boring and nothing happens.
Wood Elves 2:
His Wild Riders charge my White Lions, and his fleeing Glade Guard run off the table.
His shooting kills off ~4 Swordmasters and 5 Archers. He even used his Hail of Doom arrow, rolling a measly 4 shots and doing very little.
In combat the eagle kills off one Reaver, but we stick. His Wild Riders are much more effective. Between attacks, mounts and a single stomp he kills off 9 of my White Lions. Luckily I'm attacking at the same time as his Wild Riders, but because I'm suffering -1 to hit (after his Noble had gotten a kill or two) I only kill 2 in return. However, I'm stubborn and hold - thanks to the Gleaming Pennant's re-roll. 5 points well spent! He reforms to bring his Noble to the flank, hoping to inflict them with -1 to hit next turn.
High Elves 2:
My Swordmasters can fit past the Dryads with little room to spare, so they charge into the flank of the Wild Riders. My Dragon Princes charge the Eagle, it flees off the table and they walk forwards 5". My Loremaster jumps out of the rapidly thinning unit of Archers and into the building.
In the magic phase a mid level fireball kills off 5 Waywatchers. Excellent, now they won't completely destroy my Dragon Princes.
My Sisters kill off 1 Dryad, and the archers kill 4 from the central (flaming) Glade Guard unit.
In combat I sneakily challenge with my White Lion champion. He has no champion and so his Noble is forced to accept. His noble of course wins, but now my Swordmasters are free to attack without the annoying -1 to hit. After the dice are rolled my White Lions are gone and 2 Swordmasters lie dead, but 4 Wild Riders have been killed. He wins combat due to a banner, I stick and he reforms to face me.
Wood Elves 3:
His Dryads charge my Archers and I flee, ending up below the house. (which is mistakenly added to BC a turn late ) He redirects into the read of the Swordmasters.
His shooting... honestly I can't remember. Perhaps he rolled terribly, perhaps earlier casualties I reported happened here instead. Either way it amounts to little this turn.
Combat is relatively bloody, (for such small units) the Dryads are gone, 4 Wild Riders, the Noble and 3 Swordmasters remain. I'm not sure if I held this turn or fled, but I don't think either result would really change how things played out. I'll follow the picture and claim I held.
High Elves 3:
My Archers rally (They should be below the house here) and my Princes advance. I decide not to try and corner his Waywatchers. I figure that I'm unlikely to be able to catch them and so I can go after the Glade Guard instead.
I unleash the power in the Gem of Sunfire to roast the Eagle with Shems Burning Gaze. Pew pew.
My Sisters kill off two more Waywatchers, and the Swordmasters are predictably flattened.
Wood Elves 4:
His Wild Riders dismount and break into my house. His Waywatchers continue to back away.
After 2 failed swift reforms by the Glade Guard, my Dragon Princes shrug off the Waywatchers and his shooting does nothing.
In combat I challenge with my Loremaster. I figure that without the stag he's very unlikely to kill me in one round of combat and next turn I have the option of jumping out the back of the building, and by challenging I save my Sisters from a mauling. The challenge is uneventful and no wounds are caused. Between my Stand and Shoot and ASF attacks, I kill 2 Wild Riders. The remaining one is only able to kill a single Sister.
High Elves 4:
My Dragon Princes are within charge range of a single unit of Glade Guard, and far enough away that he'll flee and I'll be stranded where I am if I charge. Instead I walk forwards and stop at the edge of the forest. His unit of flaming Glade Guard can't move out of my charge arc next turn so I figure this is the better option. My archers (finally correct on BC!) move up, but their shooting does nothing.
In magic I get a nice 10 hits on his Wild Riders with fireball. 5 his on the lone Wild Rider incinerates him. 5 hits on the Stag Noble reveals his 2+ ward against fire. My Loremaster is thrown off balance and fails to cast Spirit Leech.
Wood Elves 5:
His various units circle around my Dragon Princes, and his Noble charges into the house again.
Shooting kills 2 Princes (1 to killing blow) but they pass their panic test.
In combat I challenge again. This time I do one wound to him and his return wound is saved by my Golden Crown.
High Elves 5:
My Dragon Princes finally connect a charge onto the flaming Glade Guard. One handful of dice later and the Wood Elves die before even getting to attack.
In magic I get 11 dice. 3 dice go to a medium Fireball on his Waywatchers and he fails to dispel with 4. I produce 4 hits. He allocates 2 on the Noble trying to save the unit, but this proves fatal as everything rolls to wound and the unit is exactly wiped out. I throw 2 dice on Iceshard Blizzard onto the unengaged Glade Guard, for the -1 leadership as much as anything else. (A mistake I think, I should have cast it onto the Stag Noble) I then 6 dice Spirit Leech onto his Stag Noble, get two wounds past his ward save and he dies.
My shooting rolls like fire and 8 Glade Guard from the remaining unit die, panicking the remaining two.
Turn 6 sees his Glade Guard rally only to be killed by my Dragon Princes, which means I win by tabling him.
Learning points:
- Making reports on BC for the first time takes ages!
- I need to use my Reavers better. My opponent likes to shoot them off early on, so I should probably vanguard them behind my lines to keep them alive until they're needed.
- I need to adapt my magic phases better. Especially in my turn 5, I had planned to use 6 dice on Spirit Leech on his Stag Noble. It was my best shot at killing him and he had 6 dispel dice that phase. Between having +2 to cast and the Book of Hoeth I had a good chance of getting it off even if he threw all his dice at stopping it. However by the time I actually cast it he had only 2 dispel dice left. I could have comfortably used 3 and spent the remaining on Wildform or Earthblood as a contingency should the Spirit Leech fail, but I had planned on 6 dicing Spirit Leech and so that's what I did.
I also really didn't think the game would end that way. By the time turn 4 came around I had lost my elite infantry, my Dragon Princes had spent the entire time dancing around looking pretty and even reduced the Wild Riders seemed unstoppable! One failed round of shooting and my Sisters proving to be an absolute roadblock later and things swung around for me.
As well as any comments on the battle itself I'd really appreciate feedback on the report itself. Any presentation issues, comments on my style of writing, anything you think would improve it etc.
I hope you enjoyed the report!
Edit: Also if anyone knows a way to lock a character into a unit (so they behave as one) on Battle Chronicler I'd appreciate the info.
My army:
Loremaster
Book of Hoeth, Gem of Sunfire, Golden Crown of Atrazar
Noble BSB
Star Lance, Dragonhelm, Luckstone, Potion of Foolhardiness, heavy armour, shield, barded horse
19 Archers - standard, musician
5 Reavers - bows only
5 Reavers - bows only
5 Dragon Princes - musician
12 White Lions - full command, Gleaming Pennant
13 Swordmasters - musician, champion
7 Sisters of Avelorn
His Wood Elves: (Roughly)
Eternal Kindred Noble (general)
Stag, Spear of -1 to hit after he wounds, 2+ ward vs fire
Waywatcher Noble
Hail of Doom Arrow
10 Glade Guard - musician, standard, Banner of Eternal Flame
2x 10 Glade Guard - musician, standard
10 Dryads
10 Wild Riders - musician, standard, Banner of Swiftness
9 Waywatchers
2x Great Eagle
This is my first time using Battle Chronicler and everything's from memory so everything's slightly out of place. I apologise if the ranges seem off at times.
Deployment with vanguarding. We forgot to use the effects of his forest and the temple in the bottom left we played as soft cover + dangerous terrain to cavalry.
My thoughts as we began were that my Sisters would jump into the building. That would put them in range of most of the board, they should be able to survive any return shooting and I could jump my Loremaster in with them should the need arise. My infantry would try to hold the left flank while my Dragon Princes would sweep around the right. I was hoping to use the right Reavers to eat those nasty killing blow waywatcher shots and the left Reavers to do... something. I didn't really have a plan for those. On to the game!
He got the first turn after I rolled a 1.
He advanced on the flanks, keeping his Glade Guard back. His shooting killed 3 Reavers on the left and wiped out the unit on the right. My Sisters passed their panic but the Dragon Princes failed - even after the re-roll - and almost went off the board!
High Elves 1:
My Reavers charge his Eagle - mainly to get out of the way - and then my White Lions fail a 15" charge on his Wild Riders. A bit of a long shot but worth the risk. Luckily my Dragon Princes rallied. The Sisters went into the building and my centre shuffled forwards, bringing my mage into 24" of most of his army but keeping my units more than 20" from his Glade Guard (so no close range shooting next turn) and out of charge range of the Dryads.
Magic sees me incinerating 7 Dryads with a top level Fireball. That was a big relief because with their 2 attacks each at I6 they could do a lot of damage to my small units of elites.
My shooting kills off 3 Glade Guard from the right hand unit and they fail panic. Combat between the Reavers and Eagle is boring and nothing happens.
Wood Elves 2:
His Wild Riders charge my White Lions, and his fleeing Glade Guard run off the table.
His shooting kills off ~4 Swordmasters and 5 Archers. He even used his Hail of Doom arrow, rolling a measly 4 shots and doing very little.
In combat the eagle kills off one Reaver, but we stick. His Wild Riders are much more effective. Between attacks, mounts and a single stomp he kills off 9 of my White Lions. Luckily I'm attacking at the same time as his Wild Riders, but because I'm suffering -1 to hit (after his Noble had gotten a kill or two) I only kill 2 in return. However, I'm stubborn and hold - thanks to the Gleaming Pennant's re-roll. 5 points well spent! He reforms to bring his Noble to the flank, hoping to inflict them with -1 to hit next turn.
High Elves 2:
My Swordmasters can fit past the Dryads with little room to spare, so they charge into the flank of the Wild Riders. My Dragon Princes charge the Eagle, it flees off the table and they walk forwards 5". My Loremaster jumps out of the rapidly thinning unit of Archers and into the building.
In the magic phase a mid level fireball kills off 5 Waywatchers. Excellent, now they won't completely destroy my Dragon Princes.
My Sisters kill off 1 Dryad, and the archers kill 4 from the central (flaming) Glade Guard unit.
In combat I sneakily challenge with my White Lion champion. He has no champion and so his Noble is forced to accept. His noble of course wins, but now my Swordmasters are free to attack without the annoying -1 to hit. After the dice are rolled my White Lions are gone and 2 Swordmasters lie dead, but 4 Wild Riders have been killed. He wins combat due to a banner, I stick and he reforms to face me.
Wood Elves 3:
His Dryads charge my Archers and I flee, ending up below the house. (which is mistakenly added to BC a turn late ) He redirects into the read of the Swordmasters.
His shooting... honestly I can't remember. Perhaps he rolled terribly, perhaps earlier casualties I reported happened here instead. Either way it amounts to little this turn.
Combat is relatively bloody, (for such small units) the Dryads are gone, 4 Wild Riders, the Noble and 3 Swordmasters remain. I'm not sure if I held this turn or fled, but I don't think either result would really change how things played out. I'll follow the picture and claim I held.
High Elves 3:
My Archers rally (They should be below the house here) and my Princes advance. I decide not to try and corner his Waywatchers. I figure that I'm unlikely to be able to catch them and so I can go after the Glade Guard instead.
I unleash the power in the Gem of Sunfire to roast the Eagle with Shems Burning Gaze. Pew pew.
My Sisters kill off two more Waywatchers, and the Swordmasters are predictably flattened.
Wood Elves 4:
His Wild Riders dismount and break into my house. His Waywatchers continue to back away.
After 2 failed swift reforms by the Glade Guard, my Dragon Princes shrug off the Waywatchers and his shooting does nothing.
In combat I challenge with my Loremaster. I figure that without the stag he's very unlikely to kill me in one round of combat and next turn I have the option of jumping out the back of the building, and by challenging I save my Sisters from a mauling. The challenge is uneventful and no wounds are caused. Between my Stand and Shoot and ASF attacks, I kill 2 Wild Riders. The remaining one is only able to kill a single Sister.
High Elves 4:
My Dragon Princes are within charge range of a single unit of Glade Guard, and far enough away that he'll flee and I'll be stranded where I am if I charge. Instead I walk forwards and stop at the edge of the forest. His unit of flaming Glade Guard can't move out of my charge arc next turn so I figure this is the better option. My archers (finally correct on BC!) move up, but their shooting does nothing.
In magic I get a nice 10 hits on his Wild Riders with fireball. 5 his on the lone Wild Rider incinerates him. 5 hits on the Stag Noble reveals his 2+ ward against fire. My Loremaster is thrown off balance and fails to cast Spirit Leech.
Wood Elves 5:
His various units circle around my Dragon Princes, and his Noble charges into the house again.
Shooting kills 2 Princes (1 to killing blow) but they pass their panic test.
In combat I challenge again. This time I do one wound to him and his return wound is saved by my Golden Crown.
High Elves 5:
My Dragon Princes finally connect a charge onto the flaming Glade Guard. One handful of dice later and the Wood Elves die before even getting to attack.
In magic I get 11 dice. 3 dice go to a medium Fireball on his Waywatchers and he fails to dispel with 4. I produce 4 hits. He allocates 2 on the Noble trying to save the unit, but this proves fatal as everything rolls to wound and the unit is exactly wiped out. I throw 2 dice on Iceshard Blizzard onto the unengaged Glade Guard, for the -1 leadership as much as anything else. (A mistake I think, I should have cast it onto the Stag Noble) I then 6 dice Spirit Leech onto his Stag Noble, get two wounds past his ward save and he dies.
My shooting rolls like fire and 8 Glade Guard from the remaining unit die, panicking the remaining two.
Turn 6 sees his Glade Guard rally only to be killed by my Dragon Princes, which means I win by tabling him.
Learning points:
- Making reports on BC for the first time takes ages!
- I need to use my Reavers better. My opponent likes to shoot them off early on, so I should probably vanguard them behind my lines to keep them alive until they're needed.
- I need to adapt my magic phases better. Especially in my turn 5, I had planned to use 6 dice on Spirit Leech on his Stag Noble. It was my best shot at killing him and he had 6 dispel dice that phase. Between having +2 to cast and the Book of Hoeth I had a good chance of getting it off even if he threw all his dice at stopping it. However by the time I actually cast it he had only 2 dispel dice left. I could have comfortably used 3 and spent the remaining on Wildform or Earthblood as a contingency should the Spirit Leech fail, but I had planned on 6 dicing Spirit Leech and so that's what I did.
I also really didn't think the game would end that way. By the time turn 4 came around I had lost my elite infantry, my Dragon Princes had spent the entire time dancing around looking pretty and even reduced the Wild Riders seemed unstoppable! One failed round of shooting and my Sisters proving to be an absolute roadblock later and things swung around for me.
As well as any comments on the battle itself I'd really appreciate feedback on the report itself. Any presentation issues, comments on my style of writing, anything you think would improve it etc.
I hope you enjoyed the report!
Edit: Also if anyone knows a way to lock a character into a unit (so they behave as one) on Battle Chronicler I'd appreciate the info.