A new game vs Wood Elves. I was eager to check them out under ETC restrictions: last game saw TONS of shooting that could easily have been hard for me to handle. With the restrictions bringing these builds significantly down, I was eager to see how this matchup had changed.
.::. Battle Report - 2400 vs Wood Elves (ETC comp) .::. My list:
High Archmage L4 Steed, Power Stone, Crown of Command, Dragonbane Gem = 300
Prince on Barded Steed, Giant Blade, Dragon Armour, Dawnstone, Enchanted Shield, Ironcurse Icon = 282
Lords = 582
Noble BSB on Barded Steed, BOTWD, Heavy Armour, Shield, Lance = 172
Noble on Barded Steed, Ogre Blade, Dragonhelm, Dragon Armour, Shield = 147
Noble on Barded Steed, Lance, Dragon Armour, Charmed Shield, Luckstone, Potion of Strength = 131
High Mage Steed, Dispel Scroll, Ring of Fury = 145
Heroes = 595
18 Silver Helms, Full Command, Shields = 444
5 Reavers, bows = 85
5 Reavers, bows = 85
Core = 614
5 Shadow Warriors, Champion = 85
1 Frostheart Phoenix = 240
4 Repeater Bolt Throwers = 280
Special & Rare = 605
Army total = 2396
His list:
L4 Dark, steed, mr2, power stone, moonstone
L2 Heavens, steed, scroll
BSB Hail of Doom, Bow of Loren, steed
10 Archers poison
10 Archers trueflight
19 Archers starfire arrows
7 Sisters, fc, +1LD banner
7 Wild Riders
7 Wild Riders
1o Waywatchers
10 Waywatchers
2 Eagles
// Pre-battle thoughts and deployment //I brought the same list as last time. We rolled a table with better terrain for me as well. With both players being more experienced with this matchup, I was expecting this game to be very different from our last encounter. I was hoping that my choice of prioritizing flexibility would pay off, as I believe this is one of the matchups that go from good => insanely good because of this.
Deployment was good, I got a nice hill to hide my bus behind with frostie in cover as well and flanks well protected. The RBTs were also way harder to reach for him and he`d have to commit significantly to take them down. Spells saw my L4 roll a triple, I took Fiery, Soul Quench, Apotheosis, Walk Between Worlds. L1 took Soul Quench. He got Word of Pain, Doombolt, Soul Stealer and Power of Darkness. He elected not to take black horror because he didn`t know this little important bit:
ETC FAQ wrote:
Q: What kind of ward saves can be used against Arnzipal's Black Horror? Can you use Regeneration?
A: You can use only generic, all purpose Ward Saves and Magic Resistance. The spell doesn’t cause wounds so Banner of the World Dragon, Cloak of Twilight, and other Ward Saves against wounds caused by magic and similar do not work. No Regeneration.
His L2 got Iceshard + Harmonic.
With +1, I went first!
// HE T1 //Bus marches up, just within range of Waywatchers in the corner (he had deployed one unit in each corner, so by T2 the bus would be too far away for him to handle with both). Shadow Warriors + Frostheart move to the East to neutralize threats. Reavers move to intercept on the West if necessary.
Magic is 7v5. Two casts of Soul Quench on poisoned Archers (central unit, trueflight in corner near WWs) was dispelled and I power stoned Fiery Convocation on the WWs which he scrolled. Shooting saw 3 RBT + Reavers kill Wild Riders on the West, RBT + Shadow Warriors killed 3 on the East. He removed the ones near the SWs so I was no longer blocking him and he could charge the RBT. Smart, I didn`t see that coming actually. Regardless, with the spacing of it relative to the rest of my forces it wouldn`t matter too much: with only 4 left they would not be too hard to handle.
// WE T1 //WWs move into ruins, 1 dies to dangerous terrain. Other WWs back up. Bunker moves towards the corner I`m pointing my bus towards. Eagle blocks bus.
Magic can`t remember numbers but I let him have curse of anraheir + boosted word of pain (-3) on the bus. I stopped Harmonic Convergence on Waywatchers. Speaking of which, they killed something like 5 Helms. The rest of his shooting did next to nothing. In combat the Wild Riders killed the RBT and overran 2" (that`s right, 3 ones).
// HE T2 //Bus reforms and moves further up. Shadow Warriors charge Waywatchers (12" away so roughly 50-50) and make it. Frosty moves up in case the SW somehow lose or need support. Reavers stay cautious.
Magic sees me roll snake eyes. I channel one and get a bit happier. I start off with 2D6 Walk Between Worlds on the bus, but I roll a 1 and a 2 so the spell barely goes off (+1 to cast high magic!). He dispels however. I use the last D6 on Soul Quench on the trueflight Archers, but roll low on hits and only 2 are killed. In shooting the RBTs kill the Eagle, I let the Wild Riders be, for now.
Shadow Warriors lost 1 to dangerous terrain when charging WWs. The WWs dealt no wounds however, but WS5 proved solid as the SWs managed 2 casualties in return. Testing on -4 was bad news and the Nagarythe Warriors chased the Wood Elves down.
// WE T2 //Last Eagle is too far away to block the bus. He reforms starfire arrow Archers to congaline to block the bus, taking care to keep me in his front arc so an overrun won`t take me into the bunker. Magic sees him land Curse on the bus. I dispel Convergence on WWs. Shooting: WWs kill more Helms. No biggie as there was only 1 unit left.
But wait a minute. That unit has a lot of characters. Surely some of them can make something happen? The Prince for example, now where is he at?
// HE T3 //Flexibility, flexibility, flexibility. When you invest north of 1600 points in a single unit, you are bound to have some tricks up your sleeve. I was very surprised that he left me with a possible charge from the Prince, as we even discussed the fact that characters can charge out from the second rank (I had to have the mages in the first rank next to command because of the short ranges on soul quench/fiery convocation). Anyway, the opportunity was there. He declared S&S with Hail of Doom, which presented an interesting question: would the Prince get the benefit from BOTWD? We didn`t know and couldn`t find a quick answer on the internet so we rolled a D6 and it decided that I would get no benefit. S&S was his only option regardless in my opinion and with Curse of Anraheir and a little luck, my General could die (flee would`ve seen 8+ on swiftstride needed to flee off the table). Alas, 1+ re-rollable proved solid and the charge hit home with the Prince intact on 3W.
Bus reformed and took a central position. The situation got worse when I managed to cast a boosted Soul Quench on his Waywatchers, killing 8/10 and basically making it impossible for him to kill the bus now. Shooting followed up with the Wild Riders being dispatched. It was looking very good for the High Elves.
In combat I was challenged out by the champion and managed to deal 0 wounds (no re-rolls to hit and 4++ is tough). I lost by 1 but held.
// WE T3 //He tries to shoot, but there are too few units and too little damage to get anything serious going. In magic he gets off Iceshard I believe (might`ve been curse, don`t know) but he miscasts and drains 3 levels.
Combat sees the Prince kill the champ. No overkill, so I lose again but hold.
// HE T4 //Ogre Blade Noble charges out to help the Prince. Bus reforms. Frostheart moves up, along with all chaff. I figure he can`t kill it all. Magic sees the Waywatchers and trueflight Archers disappear in a hail of magic missiles. Right now I feel my bus is like the Battlestar Galactica, its guns (= magic missiles) blazing and vipers (= prince + noble) being sent out on killer missions.
Shooting kills a few poisoned archers as 3 rbts have nothing better to do. In combat I kill his general with the Prince and the Noble wounds the L2.
// WE T4 //He gets off Shield of Thorns, I dispel the rest. Shooting deals 3W to the frostie (I had taken 1 due to DT previously, landing in the ruins for cover) and it`s left on 1W. In combat I deal a wound to the BSB, one to the mage, the mage survives because of Lifebloom. I lose, but hold.
Frostie charges blocking Eagle, another viper (= noble) is launched on the starfire archers and reavers charge poison-archers who flee 3", I catch them. Shooting: nothing to target. In combat the Prince kills the BSB and the Noble kills the mage. He breaks, I catch him. We roll out the last combat as I charge his Archers with the bus (at long last it sees combat) and an Apotheosis`d Frostheart. They die in droves, he breaks, I catch them.
I had lost an RBT. He had lost everything and given up 225 bonus points. A clear
20-0 victory to the High Elves! // Evaluation //This matchup is so brutal for Wood Elves it`s not even funny. The only fighting chance they have is getting first turn on favourable terrain with poor high magic selection and deployment mistakes from HE. Even then, they`ll be hard pressed even to achieve a draw. The flexibility of my bus really shone in this game, they didn`t need to enter combat to be a huge threat. 3 magic missiles and fiery convocation has that effect against all things Elves + Lizardmen, along with a few others (Ogres without mawbanner will find this very frustrating for example). I do believe this is a very valuable asset, as the bus is otherwise too one-dimensional while it`s not the strongest deathstar around.
Few mistakes on my part in this game, quite a few on the WE side of things. Splitting the army up might work in some cases, for me it just makes things easier.
Getting T1 here, while not essential, makes the game very easy for HE to play. Basically you march up 18" and start throwing spells around. With anything barring snake eyes winds, you can pretty much draw a scroll T1 as well due to the power stone, opening up for huge moves throughout the game.
For the team tournament, this list has +2 vs WE, with low volatility and high confidence. I don`t see what WE can do short of being insanely lucky to have a fighting chance here. 15-5 or better should be expected of the HE player. Basically the Sisters cannot necessarily be caught, but the rest should be killable without losing too much yourself.
Thanks for reading, C&C welcome
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), which works with keeper of the flame and the whole mute thing, a Seer (I did it again 
We want to see what we can match him against and what we absolutely cannot. I still feel like the bus is the safer way to go, while the Star Dragon is perhaps the most devastating alternative. It is certainly the most fun!
Deployment was almost perfect. The Griffon Noble was a bit off and the Spears were a bit far East. Other than that I got everything I could ask for, given his superior amount of drops. Again, the mistake was not going all-in and praying the Star Dragon would live through one turn to be able to combo-charge with the frosty. If the Noble had been better deployed, he could`ve joined in as well. These 3 hitting home would likely be game over. 
