2400pt. Coven v. Warriors of Chaos
A few days ago I played against the new Warriors of Chaos on Universal Battle. I was using my 2400pt Coven of Light list for Adepticon as follows:
Archmage(4)+Dusk Jewel, Ironcurse
Seermage[Phas, Banishment]
Mage(1)+Annulian
BSB+RGoH, GW,HA
24 Archers +MS, Flaming
14 Archers +M
14 Archers +M
24 WLs +CMS, BoS,Am.Light
14 SMs +CMS, Gleaming Pennant
14 SMs +CMS
2 x Great Eagle
My opponent brought this lot to the (artificial) table:
Tzeentch Daemon Prince(3)[Metal] + 1+, 4++, Soul Feeder, Sword of Striking
Sorceror(2)[Shadow]+scroll
BSB
22 Nurgle Warriors
Chariot of Nurgle
5 Warhounds
5 Warhounds + vanguard
2 Chimeras
2 x 3 Skull Crushers
Deployment
Deployment went reasonably well for me in that my opponent committed his Chimeras before I had placed the bulk of my forces (I think his deployment strategy was a bit off). This early placement meant that I was able to castle up in the opposite corner and would be able to deal with his flying monsters one at a time. A big problem I have had with playing against the new Warriors of Chaos is that with the speed of their new book, they can be on top of the Coven before my Banishments have time to take effect. With the deployment as it was, I felt that I would have a good chance to do some damage at range before getting stuck into CC. Note that the one archer unit and mage are deployed in the building.
Rolling for spells we got:
Archmage: Shems, Net of Amyntok, Banishment, Timewarp
Seermage: Phas, Banishment
Mage: Shems
Radiant Gem BSB: Phas
Tzeentch DP(3)[Metal]: Searing Doom, Transmutation of Lead, Plague of Rust [not the best selection against HE!]
Sorceror(2)[Shadow]: Miasma, Pit of Shades
Luckily the Chaos forces had rolled up some pretty poor spells – at least for use against my HE forces. I was only really going to need to be worried about Miasma. Adding to the good news, I got the first turn, despite the Chaos forces being deployed ahead of the High Elves.
HE 1
The High Elves moved minimally to consolidate their castled up positions and we moved straight to magic. The dice came up 8v4 and two casts of Banishment on 4d each were both successful. The first attempt was scrolled but the second went through after a poor dispel attempt by my opponent. 3W on the Daemon Prince was the result of the phase.
In the shooting phase, the left-most unit of hounds was destroyed by combined archer fire.
WoC 1
The Warriors began their implacable advance across the board in an attempt to engage the High Elves up close in later turns. Magic was 8v7 after channels/crystal and no spells got through the defences of the mighty High Elf mages.
HE 2
As the Warriors drew near, a lone eagle moved up to block the Skullcrushers and hopefully delay the enemy advance whilst the mages concentrated on banishing the Daemon Prince back to the Chaos realm.
The winds blew strongly for the HE and another imbalanced phase resulted with 10v6 dice. A 4d(19) Banishment was initially dispelled with all 6 of the opposing dispel dice and the follow up cast of Banishment on 3d dealt 9 hits to the Daemon. Unfortunately, and in an unlikely result, the Daemon managed to save all 9W! He would definitely be able to make it into combat next turn! To this end, the mages united to cast a bubble of Pha’s Protection using 3d.
The High Elven archers again vented their anger on the Warhounds and 3 of the second unit fell to the floor as the rest of the dogs fled.
WoC 2
As the distance between the armies had closed, there were many charges declared. The ‘unfortunately for me’ still living Daemon Prince charged my White Lions who were 17” away. This was successful. Both Chimera’s declared long charges on the Sword Masters to the right of the building but failed in their efforts and shambled forwards a few inches. The Skullcrushers charged the blocking eagle and the Warhounds rallied before general movement took place.
The winds were not kind to the Warriors and blew 5v5 dice. A single casting attempt at Miasma on the WLs was successful despite a dispel attempt and they had all their stats reduced by 1.
In close combat the Eagle was stomped by the Skullcrushers. The victorious jugger-knights could not overrun far however due to the placement of the Chimera which had failed it’s charge.
The combat with the Daemon Prince went badly, even protected by Pha’s the WLs were cut down in droves after failing to wound the DP. 9 brave Elves fell to the floor and the vile Daemon fed on their souls to heal 2W.
HE 3
The Sword Masters declared a charge on the Daemon Prince and were successful in their attempt to lend aid to their White Lion brethren. I justified this move with the knowledge that I needed to contain the DP while I dealt with the rest of the Warriors. There was also the off chance that the Sword Masters and White Lions combined might kill the Daemon Prince – very, very unlikely with the 1+/4++ with Tzeentch reroll but possible…
The remaining Eagle knew his role and moved up to speed bump the flanking Chaos forces.
The dice gods granted 9 PD to the Elves in comparison to the Warriors 5 DD. An initial cast of Banishment on 4d(18) destroyed the closest Chimera and caused the second to flee away from the destroyed unit.
The remaining dice were used for Timewarp on the WLs (my opponent had all his dice left still so I needed all of mine)which went off with irresistible force. The result of the miscast was that the Archmage became a lvl.3 and lost all knowledge of the Timewarp spell… “time-what-now?” he could be heard mumbling…
Shooting put a single wound on the fleeing Chimera and 1W on the Skullcrushers.
In close combat, the WLs & SMs failed to wound the Daemon and in return, 7 Lions were cut down. The DP regenerated a wound from this and was back up to it’s starting strength.
WoC 3
With the chimeras dead or fleeing, it was left to the chariot to charge the Sword Masters defending the right flank of the Elven army. Needing an 18”(ish) the chariot was successful in its attempt. The Skull Crushers on the left also attempted a charge on the same SMs unit but were unsuccessful. The rest of the Warriors moved up at pace although they left the blocking eagle alone.
Another poor magic phase for the forces of Chaos saw no spells get through the Elven defences and we moved straight to shooting…
… there was no shooting.
So we moved onto combat and started with the DP. The HE somehow managed to dole out a single wound before 2 Lions fell. This time no souls were fed on though. The SMs put 3W on the Chariot and took 3W in return. They held on steadfast.
HE 4
Again there was little movement on the HE side although the Coven shifted position to get into a better position for some magical bombardment. The winds came up 10v4, oh how I love the Jewel and the BoD and 4 attempts at channels, and the initial cast of Shems on the remaining chimera – 5d(18) – resulted in a very dead and very burnt monster. This was followed up with a 4d(20) Banishment on the Skullcrushers and 4W were dealt. 1d was used for Phas on the SMs on the right flank.
Getting back to the norm for me, shooting was ineffective this turn.
Up close and personal, the nurgle chariot was chopped into rotten splinters and another wound was dealt to the Daemon Prince. In retaliation he smote down 6 White Lions but could not regenerate any wounds. There weren’t many left now and the remaining warriors reformed to get more attacks on the DP.
WoC 4
The Skullcrushers finally decided it was time to kill that annoying eagle and declared the obvious charge. The other unit of Skull Crushers declared on the ‘Coven bunker’ unit of archers (the big unit) and somehow managed to lose one of their number to a stand and shoot reaction then fail there charge. The distance was 18” so I guess it was an unlikely one. Instead they moved 6” forwards.
Finally the Chaos forces were dealt a decent hand in the magic phase and received 9v6 dice. A 4d(IF) miasma took 2 off all of that stats of the Sword Masters (defending the building) and resulted in a wound on the sorcerer and 3 dead warriors. A single power die was lost from the pool. The next cast of Pit of Shades on 4d(21) somehow managed to get through the 6DD defence of the HE mages but didn’t’ kill any of the Sword Masters it landed on-I rolled a lot of 3’s.
In combat the Skullcrushers earned their name and stampeded 9” past the eagle they brutalised in combat. In the DP combat the remaining Lions fell along with a couple of SMs.
HE 5
Again there was little movement. Magic came up 12v5 and the mages prepared to do some damage to the remaining enemy forces. A 3d(16) Banishment killed the remaining Skullcrusher on the left and a second cast on 5d went through the Chaos dispel attempt and did 4W to the other Skullcrusher unit. A final 4d boosted Shem’s attempt on the same unit was failed.
Again the archers were true to form and did no damage to their armoured foes.
In combat the DP did 4W to the SMs who passed leadership on a 7 with a reroll.
WoC 5
The Nurgle Warriors finally made it into CC as they charged the SMs. The Skullcrushers reformed to face the Elven lines. Magic came up 5v5 and I failed to dispel miasma on the SMs facing the Warriors.
In combat, 2 Warriors fell before the Sword Masters were struck down, the entire unit destroyed. Again the Daemon Prince survived the blows of the remaining Sword Masters and killed the rest of the unit. He reformed to face the Coven.
HE 6 and WoC 6
Unfortunately I don’t have the pictures from these rounds as we had some technical issues with the communication software me and my opponent were using. I moved to limit the damage that could be dealt to me by vacating the building and hiding the Coven as best as possible behind the large archer unit. The archers on the right flank also reformed to face the warhounds and present their flank to the Skullcrushers – only one of them would get into B2B if they charged so there was a good chance that the unit would remain steadfast and not give up any VPs.
After rolling up 10v6 dice for magic, two casts of Banishment managed a total of zero wounds on the Daemon Prince! Again, this was an unlikely event to say the least…
My opponent made some glib comment here to the tune of… ‘maybe the archers can finish it off’ before laughing down the phone at me. The archers then managed to put 2W on the Daemon Prince! That’ll teach them for making nasty comments about High Elf bowmanship! It wasn’t enough to put down the beast though.
Precious little else happened after this as I had failed to kill the Daemon and my units would be steadfast when charged. Counting up points it was a minor victory to the forces of Chaos by just over a hundred points or so.
Result: Chaos trip over the finish line and manage a small win
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Elithmar of Lothern wrote:Thanks for the reports, even if they were a bit light on detail. Sometimes it's best just to get them out of the way to get up to date.
In the last game, I take it the Slann had shadow? With not many missile or damage spells, he wasn't much of a threat at range. Could you have waited for him to come to you so you'd have more time to shoot and magic missile the approaching units before engaging with sword masters? I suppose you had to stay out of range of all his nasty items.
Yeah I had a couple of them outstanding and I just wanted to document my experience and thought so I could move on. The Slann did have Shadow but I had to move up against it in order to stay out of range of Becalming Cogitation and the item that gives stupidity to characters within 18".
