Rise of the Anointed - 2,200pts HE vs TK

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korabas
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Joined: Fri Jan 10, 2014 1:53 pm
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Rise of the Anointed - 2,200pts HE vs TK

#1 Post by korabas »

I’ve never played Warhammer Fantasy before, and have only just returned to tabletop games having been away for 15+ years, but I’ve been busy gathering elves from every corner of Ulthuan over the last couple of months (by which I mean IoB and eBay!) and now have just enough to field 2,200 points, led by an Anointed of Asuryan.
I arranged my first ever game against Simon from my Necromunda gaming group – he’s a bitter enemy; my Cawdor gang suffered some horrible losses at his hands, so I figured it was time for some payback!

I want to build a list centred around the Anointed as my general. He’s a great character, with awesome back story, and really fits in with my love of Phoenix Guard. His unit buffs in particular are really great, and I was looking forward to trying him out. Stay tuned for more battle reports – I am hoping to write up all of my games here, to track the evolution of my army. This is only the beginning!


Game 1: Host of the Anointed VS Tomb Kings – Battle Line

Host of the Anointed – 2.2K

Note: I have full command on all the units, mainly to bulk up the points. This will be changed as I add more units to the army, especially for archers, etc

Lords:
Anointed of Asuryan (GENERAL): Ogre Blade, Enchanted Shield, Crown of Command (290)
Archmage, Lvl 3: Book of Hoeth, Golden Crown of Atrazar (250)

Heroes:
Noble (BSB): Dragon Armour, Reaver Bow, Charmed Shield, Potion of Strength (155)

Core:
22 x Lothern Sea Guard: Shields, Full Command (301)
5 x Ellyrion Reavers: + Bows, Musician (105)
5 x Ellyrion Reavers: + Bows, Musician (105)
14 x Archers: Full Command (170)

Special:
20 x Phoenix Guard: Razor Standard, Full Command (375)
10 x Swordmasters: BotWD, Full Command (210)

Rare:
Bolt Thrower (70)
Bolt Thrower (70)
Eagle (50)
Eagle (50)

TOTAL: 2,201 pts

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--

Tomb Kings
Tomb King: Gleaming Scales, plus some other items
High Liche Priest Lvl 4 (TK lore)
Liche Priest Lvl 2 (Light)
Necrotect

37 x Tomb Guard: Halberds, Full Command
30 x Skeleton Warriors
30 x Skeleton Warriors
15 x Skeleton Archers
15 x Skeleton Archers
5 x Skeleton Horse Archers
5 x Skeleton Horse Archers

Casket of Souls
Screaming Skull Catapult
War Sphinx: Fiery Roar

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-

We rolled for spells – I took Shadow on my Lvl 3 Archmage and rolled 5, 3, 3, taking Withering, Pit of Shades and Mindrazor.

The TK Lvl 4 High Liche Priest was using their lore (Nehekara?) and got Cursed Blades, Desert Wind, Incantation of Protection and Skullstorm.
The Lvl 2 Liche Priest chose Light and rolled up Net and Timewarp.

Being my first ever game I didn't really know what I was doing! I was conscious that taking a single level 3 wizard was far from optimal, so opted for Shadow as I had read that it is a strong lore for HE due to powerful S/T buffs and hexes, plus I noticed it had a slightly longer range than Beasts.

In retrospect, Beasts might have been a better option for Wyssan's (and, indeed Savage Beast of Horros for my Anointed). Range is quite tricky – with the Archmage in a unit of Archers it would require moving up quite close to get in range for a lot things.

Interested to know your thoughts guys!


Annnddd... on with the battle!


Deployment

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I won the roll for sides, although it was fairly irrelevant as we'd already set the table up in a mostly symmetrical format. I also won the roll for deployment and chose to go second. Tomb Kings began deploying their skeleton warriors in Horde formations, while I strung out my unit deployments by starting with Eagles, Reavers and Bolt Throwers. I went for a fairly central deployment due to a rock formation in my deployment zone, but tried to favour my right flank, with only a unit of Reavers and an Eagle on the far left.

My Phoenix Guard deployed opposite the War Sphinx and large unit of Tomb Guard deployed in Horde formation, with a small forest in between. The LSG went on their right flank, opposite the two hordes of Skeleton Warriors, with my Archers (containing BSB and Archmage) on the hill behind.

Tomb Kings placed both the Necrotect and Tomb King in the Tomb Guard, while both Priests went into one of the Archer units.

Finally, Simon deployed his two units of Horse Archers, which have the Scout ability. These went in front of each of my Reaver units, neatly blocking my Vanguard move on my left flank, and leaving me only a little room to move up on the right. Curses!

Tomb Kings: Turn 1

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Tomb Kings had +1 for first turn but we tied our roll off! Sadly they won the re-roll and proceeded to shuffle all of their forces forward slightly. Both units of Horse Archers move up, the unit on my right revealing a forest as a Wild Wood.

Simon rolls a 6+6 for the first magic phase! He also channels and gets 2 extra dice from the Casket, but these are all lost due to having a maxed-out pool. Unlucky!

I let a 2-dice Desert Wind through without attempting to dispel and the Tomb Kings shuffle forwards again. The Archers and War Sphinx move up off the hill.

Next up, Incantation of Protection is case on the Tomb Guard with 4 dice. Once again, I let it go through, planning on saving my dice for the inevitable Casket...

...which is 6-diced with IF! I just wasted all 6 of my dispel dice! Inexperience ftl 8(

I didn't actually note down what result was rolled for the miscast, but I don't remember it having any effect. The Light of Death spell targets the Reavers on my left flank, killing four of them! The lone surviving Musician passes his panic test and, thankfully, the spell fails to jump to the nearby Eagle (I think the Eagle was just outside of range for it).

In the shooting phase the Horse Archers on the left attempt to finish off the Reaver musician, scoring 1 hit, but fail to wound.
Skeleton Archers fire at the Phoenix Guard for 5 hits, 3 wounds – all of which are saved.
The Horse Archers on the right loose a volley at my Archers and kill one brave elf.
Finally, the Skull Catapult aims at the centre of the Archers, potentially hitting the entire unit, plus BSB and Archmage. Thankfully it misfires, takes a wound, and can't fire.


Host of the Anointed: Turn 1

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Reavers on the right flank, mourning their slaughtered kin, declare a vengeful flank charge on the Horse Archers to their front. I needed a 14 and rolled 18, passing my dangerous terrain tests.
The Eagle follows closely behind, along with the Swordmasters marching up.
The PG and LSG both move up cautiously.
On the left flank, the lone Reaver musician elects to retreat behind the Bolt Thrower, hoping deny the enemy the satisfaction of finishing his unit off altogether. The nearby Eagle moves forward to cover him, flapping over to the right-hand corner of the Horse Archers, hoping to block them.

The winds of magic must have blown themselves out last turn as I roll a miserable 2+1, with no channels from either side.

I attempt a boosted Withering on the Sphinx but miss by 1, even with the Book of Hoeth re-roll! My Archmage must be a trainee...

In shooting, both Bolt Throwers fire volleys at the Sphinx, scoring a total of 7 hits. Sadly, no wounds – that thing is one tough kitty!
The Sea Guard loose 19 arrows at the middle Skeleton Warrior unit, but score a miserable 2 hits – 1 kill.

The Archers and BSB plink away at the same target, hoping to show the LSG how it's done, and kill 5 more warriors.

Time for the first combat of the game! Reavers vs Horse Archers!
The Reavers hit first with their ASF and high initiative, scoring 3 hits, 2 wounds – 2 (re)dead skeletons. The Horse Archers, surprised by the flank charge, are unable to make any hits in return and the unit crumbles to dust. The Reavers restrain and reform out of the Wild Wood, into a wedge-shaped formation facing the Skeleton Warriors and angled back towards the table edge.


Tomb Kings: Turn 2

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Predictably the Skeleton Warriors charge the Reavers, who can't stand and shoot due to the close range and elect to hold. If I had fled here I would have run the risk of fleeing off the table edge – surviving combat would have left the flank of the Warriors exposed to the closing Swordmasters.

Elsewhere, the Tomb Guard and other units of Skeletons shuffle towards my lines.
The cursed Horse Archers on the left flank free reform away from the Eagle and then proceed to move around behind it, out of its line of sight. I had thought that being 1” away from them would prevent them from moving, but forgot that fast cav can simply free reform and dance away.

Once again Simon rolls 6+6 for magic! He starts with Desert Wind on 2 dice, which I fail to dispel with 2 dice. The unit of Skeleton Warriors in the centre heals 4 warriors and shuffles forwards a few inches.

Protection is cast on the Tomb Guard with 4 dice.

The final 6 dice are chucked at the Casket again and fortunately I am able to dispel with irresistible force on my 4 dice. Yay!

In shooting the pesky Horse Archers shoot my Eagle at point blank range, doing 4 hits. The Eagle takes a single wound and remains in the fight.
The Skeleton Archers on the left shoot at the LSG, doing 4 wounds. 3 of the elves are felled, but the fourth is saved by his armour.
The other unit of Archers also fires at the LSG, causing 2 wounds. 1 makes his armour save, and the other is protected by the ward from the Anointed.

In the combat between the Reavers and the Skeleton Warriors, the Reavers lash out at their oncoming foes and manage to hack 2 skeletons apart. A 3rd skeleton somehow manages to parry the blows with his shield.
The horde of skeletons dishes out 11 hits in return, causing 5 wounds. The Musician is saved by his valiant horse, but is forced to watch in horror as his men are cut down around him. The Skeletons win by 5 and the musician, galled by what he has just been through, flees.

Both units roll 11 so the brace Reaver is caught and killed before his wounded horse can carry him to safety. The nearby Eagle passes his panic test but finds himself in combat as the pursuing skeletons crash into him.

NOTE: We're pretty sure we forgot to take a Fear test for the Reavers here, and before when they charged the Horse Archers. Also, is it right that the Reaver is still destroyed by the pursuing Skeletons, even though they hit the Eagle half-way through the pursuit?


Host of the Anointed: Turn 2

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Time for some payback!

The Eagle on the left can't charge anything, as it is facing the wrong way and can no longer see the Horse Archers.

The Swordmasters declare a long charge on the Skeleton Warriors and make it, hitting them in the flank.
The Archers move forwards, off the hill, and all other units move forwards slowly.
The Eagle decides to try to get away from the cursed Horse Archers, passes his march test, and flaps over to the hill behind the Sphinx.

Once again the winds of magic ebb in my turn, with 3+1 – TK channel 1 dice.

I throw all my dice at a boosted Withering on the War Sphinx and succeed – but Simon Dispels it with a scroll.

We get to the shooting phase and I realise I forgot to declare that my BSB would chug his Potion of Strength! My gracious opponent offers to let this slide (thanks!) and my BSB pumps his guns and takes aim with the Reaver Bow at the War Sphinx. He puts 2 wounds on it, and his Archers buddies also put a wound on it, but this one is saved.
One of the Bolt Throwers puts another 2 wounds on the beast, leaving it with just one remaining! Of course, the other Bolt Thrower fails to wound.

It's all down to the LSG. The Elven marines take careful aim and let loose, scoring 11 hits on the gigantic construct. They make 3 wounds, but the first is... saved! The second wound... is also saved! One wound left... one needed... and it goes through! The War Sphinx is brought down in one turn by some excellent combined shooting from the Elves.

The Eagle and Swordmasters facing the Skeleton Warriors both pass their Fear tests. The Swordmasters are a blur of DEATH, smashing 12 skeletons into pieces. The Eagle rends a further Skeleton to bits, for a total of 13.
The Skeletons direct 3 attacks at the Swordies and 7 at the Eagle, but are not able to score any wounds at all.
The Skeleton unit crumbles and is destroyed – the High Elves reform to face their enemies in the centre.

NOTE: Not hugely relevant, but totally forgot that the Eagle gets a Stomp attack.


Tomb Kings: Turn 3

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The Tomb Guard and Warriors continue their relentless (ly slow) advance.
Both the Skeleton Archer units swift reform to face the Eagle – uh oh!
The Horse Archers on the left move towards the Bolt Thrower, their skeletal steeds clattering ominously across the scrub-grass plain.

Magic is 3+3 this time – finally, no box cars for the Tomb King priests this time, although they do gain an extra dice from the Casket.

The Casket spell comes out first this turn, with only 3 dice – even I, new player that I am, saw something fishy in this, but I elected to throw my dice at it anyway and managed to dispel.
The TK Priest then casts Timewarp on the Tomb Guard with their remaining dice and I am unable to do anything about it.

In shooting, the first unit of Skeleton Archers only manage to land 4 hits on the Eagle, but with 2 wounds and no armour save they just manage to finish it off!
To add insult to injury, the Horse Archers on the left target the lone Reaver musician, who fails his armour save and finally tumbles from his saddle.
The Screaming Skull Catapult takes aim at the LSG, placing the template square over the Anointed’s head. Luckily, it scatters – but only 2”, hitting some of the front rank. The brave Elven marines shield their general with their bodies, taking 2 casualties.


Host of the Anointed: Turn 3

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Lifting his Ogre Blade to the heavens, the Anointed spurs his forces to the attack – both the LSG and Swordmasters charge the remaining unit of Skeleton Warriors.
The Eagle on the right flank is keen to land in front of the Tomb Guard, to shelter the LSGs flank, but can’t quite make the distance. Instead, he moves behind the Tomb King units and flies up in front of the Skull Catapult and Casket.

The winds blow strong for the Archmage this turn and magic is 6+6, no channels.
With a word, and a gesture, the Archmage casts Mindrazor on the LSG, rolling a 22 on 5 dice. The High Priest elects to let it pass unchecked.
Despite the risks to nearby troops, Pit of Shades targets the Tomb Guard, rolling a 14 on 4 dice (with a re-roll from the Book). This time, the spell is dispelled before it can take effect.
With a final surge of power the Archmage hexes the Tomb Guard with Withering, dropping their Toughness by 3!

The Bolt Thrower on the left flank fires a volley at the approaching Horse Archers and downs 4 of them.
The rest of the Elven forces take aim at the weakened Tomb Guard, but a combination of heavy cover and terrible dice rolls means that they are only able to kill 5 in total. Perhaps these elves are as rookie as their general!?

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The combat between the Skeleton Warriors and the Swordmasters and LSG led by the Anointed is vicious! The LSG and Anointed, boosted with Mindrazor, take down 14 Skeletons on their own. The elite Swordmasters are staggered by this brutal display and, rolling three 1s to wound, only manage to kill 2 of the enemy. The battered Skeletons are only able to impale 1 of the LSG in return, and the unit crumbles to dust in the face of such heavy casualties.

After the dust clears, the Swordmasters reform to face the Skeleton Archers to the north, while the LSG turn to face the Tomb Guard unit, expecting a charge...


Tomb Kings: Turn 4

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… but they are surprised when the Tomb Guard speeds past them, boosted by Timewarp, to charge into the Phoenix Guard! They rolled a 6+6 for charge distance, and revealed the intervening forest as a Fungus Forest.
Elsewhere, the sole surviving Horse Archer declares a charge against the Bolt Thrower, and only just makes it with a roll of 2+2(+1). However, he passes through a Venom Thicket on the way in, fails the dangerous terrain test, and is destroyed. Phew!
Both of the Skeleton Archer units reform to face the LSG and Swordmasters.

The magic phase is a 4+1, with 3 extra dice from the Casket – i'm learning to hate that thing!
First up, 4 dice for Light of Death against the nearby Eagle, blasting it from the sky in a plume of charred feathers. The Swordmasters pass their panic test.
The High Priest then dispels Withering from the Tomb Guard with the remaining dice. Once again, I didn't attempt to dispel the Casket spell and ended up wasting my dice.

The Screaming Skull Catapult once again aims directly at the Anointed, and this time scores a direct hit! Luckily, he passes his LoS roll but can only watch as 5 LSG are killed by the blast. He grits his teeth and spurs his troops on, passing the panic test.
Both of the Archer units fire on the Swordmasters, killing 5. Fortunately, they pass their panic test.

In the combat between PG and TG, the Tomb King leading the charge offers a challenge. The PG champion steps up, hoping to get a wound in before the Tomb King can react. He does 2 hits but is out of luck, with no wounds. His warriors are only able to take down 5 of their skeletal enemies, leaving them vulnerable to a huge amount of return attacks.
The horde of skeletons manage to land a huge 17 attacks, and an impressive 16 wounds! Ward saves don't save all of them, and 10 Phoenix Guard fall.
The brave champion meanwhile took 4 hits from the Tomb King, and promptly fails all 4 of his ward saves. Asuryan must have averted his gaze during this combat...

The Skeletons win by 11 but the PG roll a 1+1 for the panic test and hold fast! (is that right? Units don't necessarily auto-flee, even if beaten by so much? I don't think I was Steadfast as the Skeletons had more than 5 left in their 2nd rank).


Host of the Anointed: Turn 4

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All or nothing! The remaining Swordmasters declare a long charge on the Archer unit containing the Priest and High Priest. They need to roll a 10 and... they get it!
The LSG swift-reform to face towards the Tomb Guard, while still keeping the 2nd unit of Skeleton Archers in view.
My Archers move forward and wheel to aim at the enemy archers.

Magic is an underwhelming 3+2, but my Archmage manages to channel. I start with Pit of Shades on the unengaged unit of Archers, choosing to chance it with 3 dice to leave me enough to cast something else afterwards. My inexperience/greed does NOT pay off, as I roll a 13 even after the Book of Hoeth re-roll, and my Archmage fails to cast and breaks concentration. Argh!

In Shooting, my LSG fire 12 arrows at the Skeleton Archers but only land 1 hit! Which, luckily, re-kills a Skeleton. My Archers, and both Bolt Throwers, also shoot at the same target, with varying degrees of cover modifier and movement penalty, and manage to kill 4 more between them.

In Combat the PG only manage to dust 2 Tomb Guard. The Tomb King retaliates and strikes down one of the warriors of Asuryan. Then his troops throw 21 attacks at the PG, making 12 wounds. Only 6 are deflected by the ward save, leaving a scant 3 standing. Sadly, they break, but their heavy cloaks and halberds weight them down and they roll a terrible 1+1 for flee! The TG cut them down and overrun 5” towards the Bolt Thrower. Gloom.

On the other side of the field the Swordmasters direct 5 hits at the High Liche Priest, landing 4 wounds, crushing him beneath the weight of Saphery greatswords! The remaining SM wound 3 more skeletons, but 2 are saved by 6+ regen.

NOTE: Stupidly, I completely forgot that the Liche Priest was also in this unit, and that I could've easily shut down the TK magic phase right here. Curses!

1 Swordmaster dies to the return attacks – the Skeletons lose 3 to crumble.

With the High Liche Priest dead the Tomb King units begin to crumble away. Simon passes all his crumble tests this turn, but I had my fingers crossed for better luck later on.


Tomb Kings: Turn 5

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With no losses to crumble the Tomb Guard swift-reform to face the LSG. The 2nd Skeleton Archer unit turns to face the combat with the Swordmasters.

We had a 3+2 for magic, with +3 from the Casket. I also manage to channel!

The inevitable 6-dice Light of Death is cast on a 20 – this time I attempted the dispel, but just missed out with 19. It lashes out against the central Bolt Thrower on the hill and reduces it to splinters. The magical blast jumps to my Archer unit but they luckily pass their 3-dice LD test. It then jumps to the LSG, causing 2 wounds – luckily these are saved due to 6++ and MR(2) from the Anointed.
With no dice left I am powerless to stop Net of Amyntok being cast on the LSG.

The Skeleton Archers have no target this turn, but the Skull Catapult lobs a shot at my Archers. Fortunately this scatters 6” and misses!

In combat the Swordmasters realise their earlier mistake and take care to separate the Liche Priest's bony head from his shoulders, and also have time to shatter 2 of his buddies. The Skeletons do a wound in return but this is somehow saved by the SM's light armour. The enemy crumbles by 3, leaving just 2 Archers holding the SM's up.


Host of the Anointed: Turn 5

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Feeling risky, the Anointed and the LSG declare a charge on the TG, but they fail their Strength test and take 2 casualties from Net.

Seeing the threat posed by the TG, my Archmage leads his Archers in a swift reform and moves away from the enemy unit.

I roll 6+3 for magic and immediately throw a 5-dice Withering at the Tomb Guard for -1T. I also attempt to 4-dice Mindrazor on theLSG, but roll 16 and fail to cast the spell.

My Bolt Thrower fires into the rear of the Tomb Guard, killing 3. The LSG also attempt to shoot them, but again fail their S test, taking a further 2 losses to the Net spell!

Predictably, the Swordmastes destroy the final 2 Skeleton Archers, and reform to face the other unit of Archers. I had wanted to threaten the Casket of Souls, but my opponent kindly pointed out that i'd get rear-charged by the Archers if I even thought about it. Oh well!


Tomb Kings: Turn 6

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The Tomb Guard, led by their bony King, declare a charge on the stranded, and now rapidly dwindling LSG, but thankfully fail their charge roll, shuffling forward 3”.
The Skeleton Archers DON'T charge the Swordmasters, and instead ready their creaking bone bows.

Magic is 4+2, +2 from the Cakset. Simon starts with Light of Death, rolling 17. I attempt to dispel but only manage to roll 15. The spell goes off and targets the LSG – it causes 1 wound, which is saved by the Anointed ward, and then faisl to jump to the Archers! A bit of luck.

Withering on the TG is not dispelled.

The Skeleton Archers only make 4 hits on the Swordmasters, but still kill 2 of them! The Skull Catapult aims at my Archers but misfires, taking a wound.


Host of the Anointed: Turn 6

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It could easily have been a stupid thing to do, but the Swordmasters charge the Archers. It felt better than simply doing nothing with them on the last turn!

I choose to ignore the Tomb Guard and swift-reform both the LSG and Archers to face the Skull Catapult, hoping that I can plink its last wound off with shooting.

Magic is a miserable 2+1. At this point we realised we had forgotten to roll crumbling for the Tomb King army – amusingly the only unit effected is the Catapult, with collapses into dust! It seems the burning glare of my Anointed was all it took!

Pit of Shades is pretty much the ONLY thing I can attempt at this point. I measured to the Casket of Souls and declared myself 1/2” out of range. Simon re-measured and graciously declared it in! He soon regretted it when I rolled 6+5+5, and was unable to dispel. I scored a direct hit, the Casket fails the test and is destroyed! Wow!

The Bolt Thrower kills a Tomb Guard, for fun, but my LSG and Archers now have no targets.

In combat the Swordmasters kill 3 Skeletons, but take a loss in return, leaving them dangerously close to destruction. 3 more Archers crumble, leaving the unit on 2. Almost had them, but not quite – very disappointing!

And with that, the armies disengaged to lick their wounds. After the bloody combat the High Elves were the victors with 1,450pts vs 680pts!

Here's the end game state of play:
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Final thoughts:
Well, this was my first game and I'm sure I made many rules mistakes throughout. In particular, forgetting to roll various tests at the right time, or declaring potions, etc. I was greedy with magic dice, and ended up wasting a lot of chances.

I didn't really have any definite idea of what I wanted to do with my Eagles, and ended up doing very little with them. I'm quite pleased with the Reavers on my right flank – they cleared the Horse Archers easily and then sacrificed themselves to slingshot the Swordmasters through the flank of the TK army, ultimately culminating in the death of both of his wizards.

My Phoenix Guard were well-matched by the Tomb Guard, who had halberds and WS6 from the Tomb King. As they had numbers on me, especially with the extra attacks from horde, it was fairly clear that I would lose that combat. I think the mistake was in deploying the PG in the centre, with the woods blocking their way through. I had planned on running them up alongside the LSG to either block enemy units or provide a flank charge, but I think I was quite indecisive with them. If I had deployed in a tighter refused flank, I think it could have been different.

Wow, these reports take a while to write up! I hope you enjoyed this first one, I plan on putting up more as I play more games, to track the progress of my army from raw recruits to hard-bitten vets.

I'll probably switch up my lore to Beasts for my next game, to take advantage of Wyssan's and Savage Beast of Horros. I may ditch the Crown of Command as well, as I don't think it's really needed with Elves. Instead I may kit the Anointed out with Sword of Anti Heroes, Enchanted Shield, Dawnstone and Other Trickster's Shard – what do you think?

Bonus photo! The Tomb King army has a beach theme, with bronzed skeletons, beach balls and sandy unit fillers. Check out the War Sphinx frolicing in the surf!

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[url=http://www.ulthuan.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=51&t=62719]Rise of the Anointed - Battle Reports[/url]
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solith
Posts: 737
Joined: Thu Apr 04, 2013 2:59 pm
Location: London, UK

Re: Rise of the Anointed - 2,200pts HE vs TK

#2 Post by solith »

Wow, an incredibly detailed and well written report!

Those Swordmasters were the men of the hour. Mine never seem to do much but your small unit was able to tear through much of the Tomb Kings. :lol:

List stuff: Get that level 4! It's probably the best 35 points you can spend at this point - the +1 to cast and dispel is really nice but the extra spell is simply amazing. It opens up new options and makes it far more likely that you get the spell selection you want.

Rules stuff:
In Tomb Kings turn 2, yes he Skeletons do catch your Reavers. If the pursuing unit rolls higher they catch the fleeing unit regardless of how far they physically move.

Tomb Kings turn 4, yes your Phoenix Guard hold. Double 1’s is always a passed break/rally test. (See the Insane Courage rule, page 55)


I look forward to many more of these. :D
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korabas
Posts: 37
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Re: Rise of the Anointed - 2,200pts HE vs TK

#3 Post by korabas »

Cheers Solith, glad you enjoyed it!

I was surprised at how well the Swordmasters did, especially as the PG didn't perform quite so well (although, I think that was more to do with my lack of a solid plan for them). I was expecting the Swordies to get shot off the board by archers fairly early on, but I was luckily abe to keep them in combat for a lot of the game.

Thanks for clarifying those rules q's, very helpful. Re list stuff - yep, I shall be squeezing the Lvl 4 into the list! I was hampered at 2200pts by the 25% restriction on Lords, but having added extra archers to the list I can now afford the upgrade. Yay!

Hopefully i'll be able to get another game soon.
[url=http://www.ulthuan.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=51&t=62719]Rise of the Anointed - Battle Reports[/url]
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Jimmy
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Re: Rise of the Anointed - 2,200pts HE vs TK

#4 Post by Jimmy »

Hey korabas

Firstly thanks for the report, it’s great to see more and more of these popping up around here, they make great reading, and motivate others to have a go so well done for that alone.

I think you did the right thing sticking to Shadow, it works well with High Elves and that Pit of Shades can be devastating against Undead.

Interesting deployment strategies from your opponent, by leaving his priests behind the Tomb Guard he’s pretty much prevented himself from casting Skullstorm (very devastating to Elves) without causing casualties of his own. Besides, sticking the Hierophant in the Tomb Guard gives them a handy 6+ regen which is better than nothing.

Turn 1 – 6 diced casket going IF doesn’t result in a miscast because it’s a bound innate spell. Just means it “can’t be used for the remaining turn”. At least the Light of Death did minimal damage. I’m curious about you casting The Withering onto the Warsphinx, you’d still be needing 6’s to wound with the Archers and RBT would require 3’s with a single bolt or 5’s with multiples provided you got the max -3. Did you see the Warsphinx as your greatest threat?

Turn 2 – Yes Reaver is still caught and killed via skeletons in overrun. Taking out the Warsphinx for you must have been monmumental, I’ve always found it’s sheer volume of attacks whether it be from combat or shooting that is the bane of these monsters. Right flank secure! :)

Turn 3 – What was your reasoning behind casting mindrazor onto the Sea guard? They would have easily won that combat anyway I feel without the addition of the augment spell?

Turn 4 – I take it the casket didn’t bounce from the Eagle? Any unit will hold on snake eyes (insane courage), well done! I feel your opponent made a critical error here by not moving his Archers back away from the incoming Swordmasters/LSG.

Turn 5 - I’m surprised your opponent didn’t cast Net on the Archmages unit instead to reduce your magic. I probably would have still faced the casket, if he’d somehow charged you with the archers with your single rank you still would have been getting 2 attacks a piece and would have probably wrecked him completely but certainly no harm in playing it safe, just means he gets another chance to 6 dice Light of Death.

Turn 6 – Great clean up of the back line.

Well done on the win. I’d stick to shadow however to be honest but see how you go. I’ve run an Anointed list and he’s generally tooled up but I think perhaps next time I do run it he’s going to be cheap, he’s fairly survivable now as it is and he’s supposed to be a support tool not a unit decimator on his own.

Once again thanks for writing the report, they’ll only become shorter in terms of the time it takes to write them up as you get more experienced with Battle Chronicler.
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korabas
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Re: Rise of the Anointed - 2,200pts HE vs TK

#5 Post by korabas »

Hey Jimmy, thanks for the detailed feedback! I have enjoyed reading your posts in the past couple months.

You had a few queries regarding my tactics for casting spells (Withering on War Sphinx, etc) - most of these are a result of my inexperience I am afraid! I didn't know the rules or characteristics of the War Sphinx and basically just wanted to cast stuff at anything. I think I did see it as the biggest threat (i'm aware of its breath weapon and special stomp attack), but probably more because it happened to be the only big thing on the board. In retrospect Tomb Guard would have been a better target for Withering, and the resulting storm of arrows, as that could have put a large dent in their ranks.

Turn 4 - I agree that he should have moved away here. I think he underestimated the Swordmasters in general and I wouldn't be surprised if he simply shoots them off the board first next time we play. They were able to take out both of his mages, plus the archers, giving me much needed VP. Clearly I got lucky with the Crumbles and self-destructing catapult at the end as well - without these things the scores would have been a lot closer.

I'm very conscious that the Sea Guard are quite fragile and weak, even with the Anointed buffs. Am tempted to replace them with a small unit of Helms and add a larger (21) unti of White Lions in place of the Swordmasters, with BotWD.
If so, the Anointed would go with the PG. This would negate most of his unit buff benefits, of course, but the MR2 would give the PG a 2++ against magic - it would be like having a DOUBLE BotWD list. Interesting.
[url=http://www.ulthuan.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=51&t=62719]Rise of the Anointed - Battle Reports[/url]
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