I said I'd post a battle report a few weeks ago, but I've been busy lately and only just had time for a game tonight. I'm pretty tired, and can't be bothered to write it up for the next 3 hours, so this report may be a little less detailed than others I've written, I'll see how it goes. Without further ado, the lists:WoC
Sorc Lord - mark of tzeeeeeenctzch, spell familiar
BSB - breath weapon thing, ward save armour, book of being-a-wizard (shadow)
3 x 18 Warriors - all tzeeenvzctch and HW&S
50 Marauders - mark of khorne, GW
10 Marauder horsemen - mark of khorne
2 x 5 Warhounds
2 x Hellcannon
High Elves
Archmage - Robes, Dispel Scroll, Talisman of Protection, High Magic
Prince - Barded Steed, DA, Shield, Giant Blade, Helm of Fortune, Talisman of Loec
BSB - Barded Steed, DA, Shield, GW, Dragonhelm, Dawnstone, The Other Trickster's Shard
30 Spearmen - FC
18 Archers - Mus, Standard, Banner of Discipline
10 Archers - Mus
14 Swordmasters - Mus
12 White Lions - Mus
8 Silver Helms - Mus
5 Dragon Princes - Mus
2 x RBT
2 x Eagles
Now looking at my list I realised that my Prince is ld10, and AM ld9, so my mage couldn't have been my General and the Banner of Discipline needs taking out. I don't think it affected anything this game anyway.
So spells: my opponent got his usual selection of all the good spells in the Lore of Tzeenzcthcz, and his BSB took Miasma. I got Shield, Courage, Fury and Flames, not bad.
Deployment
So remembering that last time I spread my forces too thin I decided to concentrate them on one side of the board. I intended to get my Spears to protect the left flank using steadfast, but I also wanted them near the Marauders to help break their streadfast. Sadly that didn't happen. The Princes and Helms went down last, and I wanted them to smash through the lone warrior unit and on to the Hellcannon behind. The left hand archers were purely there to stop the Horsemen from harassing my flanks as I advanced like they usually do.
We rolled for the first turn, my opponent had his +1 but finally I got a chance to go first.
High Elf Turn 1
Ya k gogogogogogogogogo. Pretty much everything moves forward.
The only spell I have in range is Shield of Saphery, and I had 4v3. Throwing all 4 at it on the spears I of course roll 3 6s
Thankfully I only get detonation and only 2 archers die. Afterwards shooting sees a whole 2 warhounds killed.Chaos Turn 1
Everything comes forward. Not sure what he was doing with the hounds on the right, he wanted to use them as redirectors but it didn't work out very well....
Magic sees pandemonium go up first (of course), and then I fail to dispel Flickering Fire and down go 5 swordmasters.
Shooting phase.....
Both hellcannons pass their leadership test, and the first kills 3 silver helms. The second aims for the spears and misses, but manages to get 8 archers instead.High Elf Turn 2
The Helms charge the warhounds, who decide to flee. My opponent forgetting that I can redirect the charge, which I do into the Warriors. The Eagle charges the depleted unit of warhounds, and everything else just moves up in support. The second Eagle moves over to redirect the Marauders, as usual.
I roll to dispel Panda, I need 4 on 2d6, obviously I fail ....
In the shooting phase the left hand archers kill 1 horseman (great shooting...) and the middle RBT kills 1 warrior. Remembering SpellArchers advice to always shoot at the lone Sorcerer, my right hand RBT takes aim (through hard cover!) and smacks 2 wounds of the wizard hiding in the trees, awesome.
In combat the Eagle does sweet FA, but neither do the hounds. They hold on a reroll. The Prince, BSB and Helms kill 6 warriors, who kill 2 in return. At this point the warriors are steadfast, but up step the noble steeds who kill another 2. The warriors break, are easily run down, and the Helms overrun into the Cannon. Awesome.
Chaos Turn 2
The Marauders charge the Eagle, and the Horsemen (for some reason) attempt a very long charge on the archers. They fail and move a whole 3 inches, another round of shooting for me
The right hand hounds fail to rally and run straight into a wall, clever little puppies (The 'wall' is actually a big rock that we counted as impassable terrain. Were we right that a fleeing unit would be dead here, or would it stop an inch away?)Treason of Tzeeenxzthc gets cast on the spearmen and I let it through, losing 5. My opponent then took a risk and went for Flickering Fire on 1d6. Bad move, phase over.
The Hellcannon takes aim at the spears (here's an idea: I should paint the outer models red, then the next ones white, and the middle 4 or 6 in red again, like a target, since the attract template fire like no other unit in the army), and nails 10 of them. They flee 7 inches
The Eagle managed a wound on the hounds, who do one back so they draw. The Marauders decimate my other Eagle and overrun a mighty 10 inches into my Dragon Princes, I did not plan for this....
I get 3 wounds through on the Hellcannon, but 2 pesky Dwarves get in the way.High Elf Turn 3
Movement isn't very exciting as you can see.
I get 12v6 this phase, and promptly dispelled Pandemonium. I chose to cast Fury of Khaine next as I was pretty sure my opponent wouldn't want his sorcerer toasted, and would have to dispel. This would leave me with loads of dice for Flames and Shield. To my surprise he let Fury go through, so I picked up my 2d6 and of course I rolled snake eyes and failed to wound....
I threw 5d6 at flames, since my opponent had 5 dispel dice left, and true to form I miscast once again. Thankfully I only killed another 2 archers (felt like a Dark Elf with a Sacrificial Dagger this game) and put a wound on my Archmage.Shooting saw my left hand archers and RBT manage 5 wounds on the horsemen, causing them to panic. Only needing 1 wound on the sorcerer I chose to volley fire with the other RBT, and I managed exactly 1 wound
The Eagle took another wound, but killed the 2 remaining warhounds. The Dragon princes managed to kill a whole marauder, before losing only 3 in return. They needed snake eyes and.....got it! Saved by the reroll from the BSB! The Prince and BSB managed to put 3 wounds on the Cannon as well as killing off the other Dwarves. My S3 Helms somehow manage a further wound on it, smashing it into the ground.
Chaos turn 3
Not a lot happened this turn. The Warrior units move forward, the right sided ones a bit more cautiously now, and the Horsemen rallied.
Flames is dispelled in the magic phase, which then ends
The Hellcannon misses the Helms (phew!), and the Marauders finish off the Princes.
High Elf Turn 4
I was stood for a while trying to figure out whether it was better to charge the warriors with the Lions (who had 12 left), or the Swordmasters (who had 9 left). I went with the Lions in the end because if I made the wrong choice then at least they were stubborn and it probably wouldn't cost me the game. The Spears went in the side for a rank bonus as well. My remaining Eagle also moves over to play chase with the Marauders
Magic saw Fury kill 3 warriors from the left hand unit (they were in the forward arc, I think!), Flames was dispelled but I managed to get Shield on the Lions
In shooting the archers caused the horsemen to run off the board, mission accomplished! Though I now realise as pointed out in my last report that they are Immune to Psychology so would have passed that panic test. Doesn't really matter though as the archers would probably have finished them off next turn, need to start remembering this stuff.....Back to the game and the bolt thrower also killed 2 warriors.
The Spears do absolutely nothing in combat, while the Lions fell 7 warriors. The Chaos BSB uses his breath weapon and kills an awesome 2 spearmen. Another 2 spears and 2 Lions are killed, and I win by 2. The Warriors fail and fail again and so flee 9 inches. I throw everything after them but the Lions only get 5, and the spears stop an inch behind.
Made the mistake here of forgetting that standards auto die in this situation, so the Chaos BSB should now be dead... d'oh!
Chaos Turn 4
The Marauders charge the Eagle who holds, and the Warriors now charge the exposed flank of the Spearmen. The fleeing warriors rallied, and the Hellcannon continued to miss.
In combat the warriors walked right over the spears, and overran towards the swordies. The marauders predictably demolish the Eagle, and overrun towards the centre (the diagram isn't right here, they weren't facing directly downwards, and the swordmasters were further to the left. This meant their overrun took them towards my Archmage and his unit
)High Elf Turn 5
The Swordmasters charge the Warriors, while the Lions prefer to wait for backup. The Archmage gets the hell out of dodge.
In magic, flames is dispelled, while Fury kills 3 warriors (was just enough of a gap that mage had LOS). I get courage of Aenarion up in case the Swordmasters fluff their attacks, and Shield on them for good measure.
Shooting sees a few marauders downed, but there are so many left I might as well not have bothered. In combat the Swordmasters pretty much do fluff their attacks and only kill 3. Thankfully they only lose 3 and with charging vs standard bearer they draw.
Chaos Turn 5
The Marauders charge the archer unit, and the warriors charge the Lions. The hellcannon manages to kill 2 of my left hand archers, who were just hiding to keep their victory points. In the archer combat they kill 3 marauders and are wiped out in return. The remaining 6 swordmasters manage to kill 6 warriors (9 can kill 3, but 6 can kill double that...
), and only lose 1. The warriors break, but the elves fail to catch them, again. The Lions kills the remaining 5 warriors, leaving the BSB alone. He kills 2 back and holds.High Elf Turn 6
As I said before, the BSB should have died when the Warriors broke from combat. However I'm glad that he didn't as it allowed me to charge in my Prince and his unit for a much better finale. The Elven hero challenged the lonely BSB who had no choice but to accept. The Talisman of Loec was then called upon and the Chaos warrior was cut to shreds by the General of the Elves.
This was a fantastic way to end to a great game, and a rare victory for the High Elves!
Very happy with the win, like my other reports I'd love to write up some analysis but I'm bad at it, and I'm tired, so I'd appreciate any comments or criticisms as always
Thanks for reading!