High Elves vs Skaven 2500pts
Posted: Sun Nov 04, 2018 12:08 am
Hello everyone. Back with another battle report, my first game since moving to the UK! Hopefully there will be many more coming. Picture quality isn't too great, apologies for that, need to spend more time taking them.
High Elves:
Prince w/ Ogre Blade, Armor of Destiny, Shield
Archmage Level 4 w/ Book of Hoeth, Talisman of Preservation, Lore of High Magic
Dragon Mage of Caledor Level 2 w/ Dragon Armor, Dispel Scroll, Enchanted Shield, Sword of Battle
Noble BSB w/ Heavy Armor, Sword of Might, Shield, Talisman of Endurance
5x Ellyrian Reavers w/ Bows
30x Spearmen FC
25x Spearmen FC
10x Dragon Princes of Caledor FC
21x Phoenix Guard FC w/ Razor Banner
Skaven:
Grey Seer mounted on Screaming Bell w/ Skalm, Fencers Blades, Earthing Rod w/ Lore of Plague
Chieftain BSB w/ Armor of Silvered Steel, Great Weapon
Warlock Engineer Level 2 w/ Warp Energy Condenser w/ Lore of Ruin
Warlock Engineer w/ Doom Rocket
40x Clanrats FC w/ Spears, Shields, Warpfire Thrower
29x Clanrats FC w/ Shields, Doomflayer
29x Clanrats FC w/ Shields, Doomflayer
35x Slaves w/ Musician
35x Slaves w/ Musician
5x Giant Rats w/ 1 Packmaster
5x Giant Rats w/ 1 Packmaster
25x Plague Monks FC w/ Plague Banner
Hellpit Abomination
Plagueclaw Catapult
Spells:
Archmage: Apotheosis, Arcane Unforging, Soul Quench, Fiery Convocation
Dragon Mage: Flaming Sword of Rhuin, Piercing Bolts of Burning
Grey Seer: Skitterleap, Plague, Bless with Filth, Wither
Warlock Engineer: Scorch, Death Frenzy
Deployment:
High Elves dropped first in a standard Battle Line game. I put Ellyrian Reavers on the far right flank as my throw-away chaff deployment figuring they can redeploy to wherever they need to once the fight commences. I then put my Dragon Princes on the far left flank to try and sweep the side with the Dragon Mage behind a building nearby. The center is held by my Phoenix Guard will all three characters and on each side of the Phoenix Guard are some Spearmen with a woods anchoring the right flank. The skaven drop both slave blocks dead in the center with the Bell unit right behind them. The Monks are on the Skaven left with the catapult behind it and the gap between the monks and the slaves is filled with one of the clanrat units with the level 2 embedded. The BSB is with the Bell. On the Skaven right is the other clanrat block with the other engineer, and their far right has the two rat-darts and the Abom. High Elves get first turn.
Initial Plan:
My beginning plan is to advance my infantry obliquely up the center holding back the right flank a bit. The Reavers will dash behind the enemy line to kill the catapult. As my infantry blocks engage the enemy infantry blocks pinning them in place, the Caledorians will sweep the left flank and circle behind the engaged enemy infantry and be the hammer to my infantry's anvil. The plan's primary weaknesses are twofold. Firstly, if the Skaven magic and shooting takes a toll on my infantry they may not last long enough for the Caledorians to arrive and save the day, secondly, if the Caledorians are delayed too long by the Hellpit then my center will stagnate and die through force of numbers. Both risks were, in my opinion, acceptable, though.
High Elf Turn 1:
I follow my plan to the letter. The infantry in the center advances relatively quickly with the right flank holding back. The Reavers use their vanguard and march moves to get completely behind the Skaven front line and in range of the Plagueclaw. The Dragon Princes move forwards almost full speed and the Dragon Mage takes up station beside them. If the Hellpit goes for them it would need a 17-18" move, which I figured was unlikely, allowing me to counter-charge. If the Hellpit went for the infantry's flank it would be in the same position, needing an 18" move the reach them and in that case leaving its flank open to my Princes.
Magic sees Soul Quench miscast on 3 dice, killing 5 Skavenslaves and wounding my Dragon Mage along with draining the rest of my dice. Great start boys.
The Reavers wounded the Plagueclaw with some sharpshooting.
Skaven Turn 1:
The whole field advances, wheeling to face my line. The rat darts move forward to cause movement issues for the Dragon Princes, but then the Hellpit rolls a 14" move and blasts right past the rat dart screen.
Magic sees a big Skaven phase with 10 dice, and the first of 3 successful condenser rolls. Scorch goes onto the larger Spearmen block, miscasts, and burns 10 of them. The miscast wounds both engineers and the Grey Seer, though, and costs the Skaven 5 dice. Skitterleap is summarily dispelled.
The Plagueclaw tries to splatter some Dragon Princes but misses with a 10" scatter.
High Elf Turn 2:
Charges! Charges everywhere! The Dragon Princes hit the Abom in the flank, the Dragon Mage hits it to the front. The Phoenix Guard charge the center Slave block and the weakened Spearmen charge the far right Clanrat unit. The Reavers attempt to charge the Catapult but come up short. The final Spearmen block moves up to cover the flank of the Phoenix Guard a bit.
Magic is useless as a weak phase sees Flaming Sword dispelled and no other spells to cast.
The Spearmen kill 3 clanrats on the flank and lose 1 elf. The Phoenix Guard cut down 15 slaves in a brilliant display of martial prowess losing none in return. This breaks the Slaves' steadfast and they promptly explode. The explosion gets one Guard, while they overrun into an inconveniently located Warpfire Thrower. In the critical title match, the Dragon Princes and Dragon Mage roll 12 wounds to the Abom! And then 9 are saved with regen. The Dragon then unleashes it's breath weapon! For 2 dice. And no wounds. Two Dragon Princes are then squished under an Avalanche of Flesh and the High Elf plan is suddenly in serious danger.
Skaven Turn 2:
Counter charges! Counter charges everywhere! A Doomflayer charges into the Phoenix Guard and another one goes into the Spearmen on the Skaven right. The second slave block hits the Phoenix Guard in their left flank and the second block of clanrats hits the Guard in their right flank, while the Plague Monks hit the Spearmen to the front. These charges were all possible due to that very very inconveniently placed Warpfire Thrower holding up the Phoenix Guard advance.
Magic sees Wither scrolled as it goes onto the Phoenix Guard while Blessed with Filth on the Clanrats is dispelled along with Scorch.
The Plagueclaw kills two Reavers as that is the only eligible target.
The Spearmen on the Skaven right kill the Doomflayer and drop 6 more clanrats at the cost of 2 elves. The Monks kill a further 2 elves, but lose 2 bodies in return. The Guard kill both weapon teams, 3 slaves to their left, and 1 clanrat to the right, but lose 1 Guard. More dangerously the Archmage takes 2 wounds from targeted attacks. And then disaster strikes. The Caledorians fail to do any damage to the Abom and lose 3 more princes to a further Avalanche of Flesh along with a wound to the Dragon. Not to worry, though, as I can make their leadership tests surely. The Dragon Princes break. Then the Dragon Mage breaks. Hmm.
High Elves Turn 3:
I'd like to say I made brilliant maneuvers to recover the damage, but alas most of my army was either running or engaged in combat. So the Reavers charged the Catapult, and then the Dragon Princes rallied. But not the Mage, the coward.
My Archmage heals himself up to full with Apotheosis and brings the Phoenix Guard up to the indomitable 3+ Ward save.
On the Skaven right the Spearmen kill another 3 Clanrats at the cost of 1 elf. The Plague Banner is then activated on the Monks and they slaughter a whopping 9 elves, but lose 7 in return, enough that the Spearmen hold for another round. The Phoenix Guard kill off 2 more Clanrats and 3 more Slaves without losing any Guard. The targeted attacks against the Archmage roll 3 wounds. I am not worried though, as I've got a 3+ ward save. No way he dies. He died. The one bright spot is that the Reavers kill the Catapult. Nevertheless it's looking bad for the Elves...
Skaven Turn 3:
The Hellpit turns and crashes into the back of the Spearmen on the Skaven right, while the rat darts move to block the Dragon Princes from playing a further roll in the game. The Screaming Bell also charges into the front of the Phoenix Guard now that the pesky weapons teams are out of the way.
Scorch goes off on the Guard but kills none thanks to the glorious 3++ that they still have. Death Frenzy miscasts on the Screaming Bell unit and 5 clanrats are killed by the explosion.
The Spearmen on the Skaven right valiantly kill 3 Clanrats and the Engineer, but 9 are killed by the Abom's attacks and the unit breaks and is run down. The other Spearmen kill 2 Monks and lose 5 in a rapidly shifting battle. The Phoenix Guard prove that they are the stuff of legend, however, as they kill 2 Slaves and 3 Clanrats at the loss of 2 elves, while the BSB cuts the head off of the Grey Seer in revenge for the Archmage. They win combat through sheer epicness, but the Skaven don't go anywhere.
High Elf Turn 4:
The Dragon Mage rallies and the Dragon Princes charge a Rat Dart.
Piercing Bolt kills 4 rats.
The Dragon Princes wipe out the Dart and overrun into the next one. The Spearmen again lose 5 bodies to the Monks, but kill 3 in revenge. The Phoenix Guard continues to shine killing off 10 rats of various units at the loss of 1 elf.
Skaven Turn 4:
The Bell casts Scorch which is dispelled, but then the Engineer casts Scorch killing 3 Phoenix Guards.
The Spearmen then turn combat around a bit killing 3 more Monks at the loss of 1 elf. The Guard kill off a further 10 rats but lose a dreadful 4 elves. They win combat, though, and the Slaves blow up killing 1 rat and 1 Guard. The Princes kill off the second dart.
High Elf Turn 5:
As it is getting very late and the game is obviously nearly over the Dragon Princes stay put and the Dragon Mage shifts position slightly to try to get the Phoenix Guard with Flaming Sword. This is dispelled, but he then decides to cast Piercing Bolts onto the remnants of the Skaven right clanrat unit to try and get some cheap VPs. He promptly miscasts and kills himself, for a measly 3 rats that then don't flee.
The Spearmen lose 1 elf and don't kill any Monks, but hold. Then the Phoenix Guard goes. They kill 6 rats and wound the bell, but Asuryan removed his favor and a further 4 were cut down. They then broke from combat and were run down ignominiously. The game is called as a resounding Skaven victory.
Thoughts:
That went very badly, though it was a fantastically fun game to play. The turning point of the game and definitely my massive tactical mistake came on Turn 2. I charged essentially my entire army into combat that turn, which at the time seemed like a decent idea. I was very concerned about the attrition my units would take while exposed to the Catapult and Scorch, and wanted them out of that quickly (I didn't realize Scorch could be cast into combat, whoops). I figured that all of my units could hold on in combat for a decent length of time and that they would last longer in combat than under the template of a Plagueclaw or repeated Scorches, and to some extent I was right. My units did last a good length of time in combat and once I got close in the Catapult was useless and my opponent didn't want to cast Plague for fear of it annihilating his own units (his next magic phase would have seen ~22 Phoenix Guard and characters test along with more than 60 rats). Lasting through combat, of course, isn't enough, though, you need to win them, and I thought that would be possible by the arrival of the Caledorians. With all of my infantry locking down all of the Skaven infantry the Caledorians could have roamed free and simply rolled up the Skaven flank. This all relied on the Caledorians killing the Abom, though. I thought I had been handed a blessing by the Abom running so far forwards accidentally, but I still failed to kill it. Some of that was down to dice rolls, (passing 9 of 12 regens and rolling a 2 for the breath weapon), but I also failed to go for the 6-dice intentional miscast of Flaming Sword to ensure the Abom died (I think I rolled 4-5 dice). Furthermore, once the Abom lived there was nothing I could do to solve the situation since I had charged all my units into combat. My plan to pin the Skaven into place and give myself operational freedom instead resulted in the Skaven getting operational freedom with the Abom to crush my Spears on the Skaven right, and then even though Phoenix Guard are incredibly tough, 100 rats + a Bell + an Engineer + a BSB + Scorch of course would eventually win. I should have held back on Turn 2 until I knew the Abom was dead, and during that time I could have also used my awesome magic, like Fiery Convocation, to burn up probably more rats than I killed through combat that turn.
The game was still great fun, though, and I look forward to a rematch!
As a side note, immediately following the battle all surviving Caledorians were summarily executed as cowards and traitors.
Thoughts and comments are appreciated!
High Elves:
Prince w/ Ogre Blade, Armor of Destiny, Shield
Archmage Level 4 w/ Book of Hoeth, Talisman of Preservation, Lore of High Magic
Dragon Mage of Caledor Level 2 w/ Dragon Armor, Dispel Scroll, Enchanted Shield, Sword of Battle
Noble BSB w/ Heavy Armor, Sword of Might, Shield, Talisman of Endurance
5x Ellyrian Reavers w/ Bows
30x Spearmen FC
25x Spearmen FC
10x Dragon Princes of Caledor FC
21x Phoenix Guard FC w/ Razor Banner
Skaven:
Grey Seer mounted on Screaming Bell w/ Skalm, Fencers Blades, Earthing Rod w/ Lore of Plague
Chieftain BSB w/ Armor of Silvered Steel, Great Weapon
Warlock Engineer Level 2 w/ Warp Energy Condenser w/ Lore of Ruin
Warlock Engineer w/ Doom Rocket
40x Clanrats FC w/ Spears, Shields, Warpfire Thrower
29x Clanrats FC w/ Shields, Doomflayer
29x Clanrats FC w/ Shields, Doomflayer
35x Slaves w/ Musician
35x Slaves w/ Musician
5x Giant Rats w/ 1 Packmaster
5x Giant Rats w/ 1 Packmaster
25x Plague Monks FC w/ Plague Banner
Hellpit Abomination
Plagueclaw Catapult
Spells:
Archmage: Apotheosis, Arcane Unforging, Soul Quench, Fiery Convocation
Dragon Mage: Flaming Sword of Rhuin, Piercing Bolts of Burning
Grey Seer: Skitterleap, Plague, Bless with Filth, Wither
Warlock Engineer: Scorch, Death Frenzy
Deployment:
High Elves dropped first in a standard Battle Line game. I put Ellyrian Reavers on the far right flank as my throw-away chaff deployment figuring they can redeploy to wherever they need to once the fight commences. I then put my Dragon Princes on the far left flank to try and sweep the side with the Dragon Mage behind a building nearby. The center is held by my Phoenix Guard will all three characters and on each side of the Phoenix Guard are some Spearmen with a woods anchoring the right flank. The skaven drop both slave blocks dead in the center with the Bell unit right behind them. The Monks are on the Skaven left with the catapult behind it and the gap between the monks and the slaves is filled with one of the clanrat units with the level 2 embedded. The BSB is with the Bell. On the Skaven right is the other clanrat block with the other engineer, and their far right has the two rat-darts and the Abom. High Elves get first turn.
Initial Plan:
My beginning plan is to advance my infantry obliquely up the center holding back the right flank a bit. The Reavers will dash behind the enemy line to kill the catapult. As my infantry blocks engage the enemy infantry blocks pinning them in place, the Caledorians will sweep the left flank and circle behind the engaged enemy infantry and be the hammer to my infantry's anvil. The plan's primary weaknesses are twofold. Firstly, if the Skaven magic and shooting takes a toll on my infantry they may not last long enough for the Caledorians to arrive and save the day, secondly, if the Caledorians are delayed too long by the Hellpit then my center will stagnate and die through force of numbers. Both risks were, in my opinion, acceptable, though.
High Elf Turn 1:
I follow my plan to the letter. The infantry in the center advances relatively quickly with the right flank holding back. The Reavers use their vanguard and march moves to get completely behind the Skaven front line and in range of the Plagueclaw. The Dragon Princes move forwards almost full speed and the Dragon Mage takes up station beside them. If the Hellpit goes for them it would need a 17-18" move, which I figured was unlikely, allowing me to counter-charge. If the Hellpit went for the infantry's flank it would be in the same position, needing an 18" move the reach them and in that case leaving its flank open to my Princes.
Magic sees Soul Quench miscast on 3 dice, killing 5 Skavenslaves and wounding my Dragon Mage along with draining the rest of my dice. Great start boys.
The Reavers wounded the Plagueclaw with some sharpshooting.
Skaven Turn 1:
The whole field advances, wheeling to face my line. The rat darts move forward to cause movement issues for the Dragon Princes, but then the Hellpit rolls a 14" move and blasts right past the rat dart screen.
Magic sees a big Skaven phase with 10 dice, and the first of 3 successful condenser rolls. Scorch goes onto the larger Spearmen block, miscasts, and burns 10 of them. The miscast wounds both engineers and the Grey Seer, though, and costs the Skaven 5 dice. Skitterleap is summarily dispelled.
The Plagueclaw tries to splatter some Dragon Princes but misses with a 10" scatter.
High Elf Turn 2:
Charges! Charges everywhere! The Dragon Princes hit the Abom in the flank, the Dragon Mage hits it to the front. The Phoenix Guard charge the center Slave block and the weakened Spearmen charge the far right Clanrat unit. The Reavers attempt to charge the Catapult but come up short. The final Spearmen block moves up to cover the flank of the Phoenix Guard a bit.
Magic is useless as a weak phase sees Flaming Sword dispelled and no other spells to cast.
The Spearmen kill 3 clanrats on the flank and lose 1 elf. The Phoenix Guard cut down 15 slaves in a brilliant display of martial prowess losing none in return. This breaks the Slaves' steadfast and they promptly explode. The explosion gets one Guard, while they overrun into an inconveniently located Warpfire Thrower. In the critical title match, the Dragon Princes and Dragon Mage roll 12 wounds to the Abom! And then 9 are saved with regen. The Dragon then unleashes it's breath weapon! For 2 dice. And no wounds. Two Dragon Princes are then squished under an Avalanche of Flesh and the High Elf plan is suddenly in serious danger.
Skaven Turn 2:
Counter charges! Counter charges everywhere! A Doomflayer charges into the Phoenix Guard and another one goes into the Spearmen on the Skaven right. The second slave block hits the Phoenix Guard in their left flank and the second block of clanrats hits the Guard in their right flank, while the Plague Monks hit the Spearmen to the front. These charges were all possible due to that very very inconveniently placed Warpfire Thrower holding up the Phoenix Guard advance.
Magic sees Wither scrolled as it goes onto the Phoenix Guard while Blessed with Filth on the Clanrats is dispelled along with Scorch.
The Plagueclaw kills two Reavers as that is the only eligible target.
The Spearmen on the Skaven right kill the Doomflayer and drop 6 more clanrats at the cost of 2 elves. The Monks kill a further 2 elves, but lose 2 bodies in return. The Guard kill both weapon teams, 3 slaves to their left, and 1 clanrat to the right, but lose 1 Guard. More dangerously the Archmage takes 2 wounds from targeted attacks. And then disaster strikes. The Caledorians fail to do any damage to the Abom and lose 3 more princes to a further Avalanche of Flesh along with a wound to the Dragon. Not to worry, though, as I can make their leadership tests surely. The Dragon Princes break. Then the Dragon Mage breaks. Hmm.
High Elves Turn 3:
I'd like to say I made brilliant maneuvers to recover the damage, but alas most of my army was either running or engaged in combat. So the Reavers charged the Catapult, and then the Dragon Princes rallied. But not the Mage, the coward.
My Archmage heals himself up to full with Apotheosis and brings the Phoenix Guard up to the indomitable 3+ Ward save.
On the Skaven right the Spearmen kill another 3 Clanrats at the cost of 1 elf. The Plague Banner is then activated on the Monks and they slaughter a whopping 9 elves, but lose 7 in return, enough that the Spearmen hold for another round. The Phoenix Guard kill off 2 more Clanrats and 3 more Slaves without losing any Guard. The targeted attacks against the Archmage roll 3 wounds. I am not worried though, as I've got a 3+ ward save. No way he dies. He died. The one bright spot is that the Reavers kill the Catapult. Nevertheless it's looking bad for the Elves...
Skaven Turn 3:
The Hellpit turns and crashes into the back of the Spearmen on the Skaven right, while the rat darts move to block the Dragon Princes from playing a further roll in the game. The Screaming Bell also charges into the front of the Phoenix Guard now that the pesky weapons teams are out of the way.
Scorch goes off on the Guard but kills none thanks to the glorious 3++ that they still have. Death Frenzy miscasts on the Screaming Bell unit and 5 clanrats are killed by the explosion.
The Spearmen on the Skaven right valiantly kill 3 Clanrats and the Engineer, but 9 are killed by the Abom's attacks and the unit breaks and is run down. The other Spearmen kill 2 Monks and lose 5 in a rapidly shifting battle. The Phoenix Guard prove that they are the stuff of legend, however, as they kill 2 Slaves and 3 Clanrats at the loss of 2 elves, while the BSB cuts the head off of the Grey Seer in revenge for the Archmage. They win combat through sheer epicness, but the Skaven don't go anywhere.
High Elf Turn 4:
The Dragon Mage rallies and the Dragon Princes charge a Rat Dart.
Piercing Bolt kills 4 rats.
The Dragon Princes wipe out the Dart and overrun into the next one. The Spearmen again lose 5 bodies to the Monks, but kill 3 in revenge. The Phoenix Guard continues to shine killing off 10 rats of various units at the loss of 1 elf.
Skaven Turn 4:
The Bell casts Scorch which is dispelled, but then the Engineer casts Scorch killing 3 Phoenix Guards.
The Spearmen then turn combat around a bit killing 3 more Monks at the loss of 1 elf. The Guard kill off a further 10 rats but lose a dreadful 4 elves. They win combat, though, and the Slaves blow up killing 1 rat and 1 Guard. The Princes kill off the second dart.
High Elf Turn 5:
As it is getting very late and the game is obviously nearly over the Dragon Princes stay put and the Dragon Mage shifts position slightly to try to get the Phoenix Guard with Flaming Sword. This is dispelled, but he then decides to cast Piercing Bolts onto the remnants of the Skaven right clanrat unit to try and get some cheap VPs. He promptly miscasts and kills himself, for a measly 3 rats that then don't flee.
The Spearmen lose 1 elf and don't kill any Monks, but hold. Then the Phoenix Guard goes. They kill 6 rats and wound the bell, but Asuryan removed his favor and a further 4 were cut down. They then broke from combat and were run down ignominiously. The game is called as a resounding Skaven victory.
Thoughts:
That went very badly, though it was a fantastically fun game to play. The turning point of the game and definitely my massive tactical mistake came on Turn 2. I charged essentially my entire army into combat that turn, which at the time seemed like a decent idea. I was very concerned about the attrition my units would take while exposed to the Catapult and Scorch, and wanted them out of that quickly (I didn't realize Scorch could be cast into combat, whoops). I figured that all of my units could hold on in combat for a decent length of time and that they would last longer in combat than under the template of a Plagueclaw or repeated Scorches, and to some extent I was right. My units did last a good length of time in combat and once I got close in the Catapult was useless and my opponent didn't want to cast Plague for fear of it annihilating his own units (his next magic phase would have seen ~22 Phoenix Guard and characters test along with more than 60 rats). Lasting through combat, of course, isn't enough, though, you need to win them, and I thought that would be possible by the arrival of the Caledorians. With all of my infantry locking down all of the Skaven infantry the Caledorians could have roamed free and simply rolled up the Skaven flank. This all relied on the Caledorians killing the Abom, though. I thought I had been handed a blessing by the Abom running so far forwards accidentally, but I still failed to kill it. Some of that was down to dice rolls, (passing 9 of 12 regens and rolling a 2 for the breath weapon), but I also failed to go for the 6-dice intentional miscast of Flaming Sword to ensure the Abom died (I think I rolled 4-5 dice). Furthermore, once the Abom lived there was nothing I could do to solve the situation since I had charged all my units into combat. My plan to pin the Skaven into place and give myself operational freedom instead resulted in the Skaven getting operational freedom with the Abom to crush my Spears on the Skaven right, and then even though Phoenix Guard are incredibly tough, 100 rats + a Bell + an Engineer + a BSB + Scorch of course would eventually win. I should have held back on Turn 2 until I knew the Abom was dead, and during that time I could have also used my awesome magic, like Fiery Convocation, to burn up probably more rats than I killed through combat that turn.
The game was still great fun, though, and I look forward to a rematch!
As a side note, immediately following the battle all surviving Caledorians were summarily executed as cowards and traitors.
Thoughts and comments are appreciated!