hmmmm how to take on the VCs and Ogres with the puny elves

Hi all,

So now that the VC pics are out (awesome) and the rules are becoming clear/scary + it's the first "top tier" army book for 8th, I thought it would be an appropriate time to start thinking about how my puny "over priced/out of date/need an update" elves (of the pansy and hippie variety) can survive the onslaught of 8th in all its (fantastic) glory.

I've put alot of thought into it, applied the local comp (not as a limitation, but as a "guide" for my army and what to expect) and come up with the following two lists + justification:

First the Woodies:
lvl4: Beasts, scroll, ICI        280
BSB: Abane, HODA            130
4x8 Dryads                384
18 GGuard:FC-flame            250
6x10 GG: m                756
2x5 Wildriders: (m)            260
2 Eagles                100
2x5 waywatchers                240

So pretty much the list from a couple of posts ago minus all the surplus stuff.

Vs Ogres:
Basically hope and pray. T4 limited armour is no match for my shooting, so that is most of the army sorted. Scouting/stubborn Maneaters is basically free points turn 1. The big beasts are an issue, but can be shot and shot and shot. The 2+ as/unit rolling monsterous calv are the main issue (surprise surprise) as they cannot be KB'ed by the waywatchers (my usual anti armour). This unit/s will need to be bravely diverted by eagles and most likely the waywatchers (who are now "cheap"). Beasts + dryads in the flank could brave the attacks, but only as a last resort (and mainly to hold them up). Hopefully the "divide and conquer" principle will work its charm.

Vs VC's:
In 7th my woodies never struggled vs VC's. Treeman Ancient, treesinging + wardancers was basically the end of most units. Even my eternal guard had fun chomping though the zombie hordes and dryads LOVE etherals. Same principle in 8th me thinks. The etheral fast calv is the main concern and made me TEMPTED to drop an eagle for the magic attacks sprite and 2 more glade guard somewhere (still tempted), however that means losing a diverter which is useful vs other stuff + the etheral calv have "HODA target" written all over them (apparently for the same cost as Dprinces...). In fact, I believe this unit will be the first genuine HODA-able target in 8th. + dryads and wildriders can clean up where necessary. Flying monsterous stuff = just gets into short range faster. If concentrate on the points = should be able to get "quick wins" (sorry for gross business speak) and then hopefully not bleed too many in return.

High Elves:
Prince Moon Dragon: Ogre Blade, DA, Ench Shield, talis of Pres    571
BSB: A Silvered Steel, GW                    163
Noble: Eagle-AoC, GW                        168
lvl2: light, Scroll, amulet of light                170
25 Spears: FC                            250
25 Spears: FC                            250
10 A                                110
2x7 Swordmasters                        210
26 Wlions: m, Sb                        408
2 Eagles                            100
2400

My first thought is "oooooo contraversal no lvl4". My response is as follows:
My general concern with High Elf lists (and my experiences with them) is that I can be carving up my opponents troops no problems, but the real points are invested in magic (and die too easily). lvl4, lvl1, crystal, scroll, banner of sorcery is a big chunck of the army that is basically there to make sure I get miasma off when I need it. Too many games have gone from solid wins to close wins because the lvl4 (with no real bunker-and I refuse to use Phoenix "I need mindrazor" Guard) dies.

So my solution is to limit the points spent on magic and instead invest in killy stuff + a lvl2 has the same dispelling ability of a lvl3. The  army (like the woodies) is not really reliant on the magic = less of an impact when the hellheart kills everyone else's 800pt investment. Highelves dont really need buffs and hexes to do well-they just need them to dominate. I would rather have a cheap dispelling effort and the odd magic missile to thin chaff to let the mass s5/6 shine.

With Killy stuff I have made another contraversal choice: the dragon.

The Dragon is there for a number of reasons:
1) looks cool and was really, really fun to paint
2) centre piece of army
3) DISTRACTION
4) repeat step 3
5) eagle noble + dragon = calv that is fast and not s3 after charge.

points 3 and 5 are the main ones for army considerations. I was thinking about dragon princes (and I love my lion riders) and they hit hard, but then get stuck-dragons dont (or do less often). With dragon and eagle 1 of them will get through-esp with eagle "body guards". Vs Ogres they give me something to hunt the monster calv, the iron blaster + the Prince has magic sword, and when up vs the ASL aura still swings at i8 (so still faster than an ogre). The Amulet of light on the lvl2 is because it means I can either have magic shooting (etherals) or magic attacks (killing treekin) + being lore of light = missile battery and (hopefully) some useful annoying buffs.

Army tactic is to distract everyone with pretty dragon and noble eagle + the eagles while the spears, swordmaster detachments and whitelions + BSB kill everything. Dragon and eagle aim for squishy unit and kill as much as possible with no real consideration for getting their points back. If they spend every game war machine hunting, well so be it.

+ I am very, very consious that dragon + 1 swordmaster detachment = another unit of 25 whitelions with FC...possibly the better investment, but no where near as fun (+ would have to source another 25 whitelions! or sell my soul and put my unassembled 20 phoenix guard together + rank filler and start using them). If the 8th books get even more crazy with monster killing stuff, it will definitely be on the cards (with a prince on eagle and noble doing something else killy in the 2nd whitelion/phonix guard unit).

Armies I will struggle against:
Skaven due to storm dumbness banner and empire with non-flaming cannons + stank (which neither army can really deal with). However I'm the local empire player (and can be selective when lending it out...) and skaven games are not "real games" anyway as a under pointed banner basically makes the army ineffective. However both lists have enough combat stuff to mitigate that and moon dragons are m6 with swift stride, so can still smash into clan rats easily enough. Right now consious that phoenix guard instead of dragon would solve this problem...possibly have fun army and tournament army...must be getting late...

Vermintide results-won best painted army

Hey,

SO just came back from Welly NZ's last tournament of 2011. A 1 day 5 game 1200 point event. I took the following list:

lvl1: (general) shadow, scroll

BSB: GW, Armour of Caledor

19 Spears: M, SB

10 Archers: M

2x6 wlions

5 Swordmasters

5 Dragon Princes: M

2 T.Chariots

Eagle.

Game 1: vs WoC Battleline.

This game was an intro game where the points were maxed at 15-5, which was a little annoying as I tabled my opponent turn 5. His list was a lvl1 with 3rd eye, Tznch BSB with stuff, enough Tz Board and sword Warriors to get core, 4 Dragon Ogres with GW and 5 Tznch Knights with FC.

My Swordmasters struck early with a successful suicide strike on the General, giving me freedom to cast miasma. My Dragon princes were solid gold breaking and running down the dragon ogres on the charge (had suffered a few wounds from the archers). Game ended with a picture perfect combo charge on the warrior unit when I got 2 chariots (4 impact hits in total...) 1 unit of whitelions and the spears into the front and chopped the unit up good (thanks miasma) for a run down by the chariots, followed next turn by a whitelion sandwich with Chaos knights as the filling,

A good first game of the day.

Game 2: vs Delves random deployment

So finding myself at the top of the table I came up against the list that would take out the event...and my army rather comprehensively. He had: lvl4 (shadow) scroll, pendant pegman, 20 spears, 2x10 xbows, 2x5 harpies, 8 shades, hydra. Basically you can guess what happened. I decided that the only way to win would be to get to combat fast...only 1 unit made it through the fire (unit of 6 wlions) who chomped up a unit of xbows. I also killed the harpies for the loss of everything. So a nice 0-20 to put me back down the table. Not so happy I was tabled, but my only other option was to play a very boring defensive game (proving once again I am not a ruthless tournament player...maybe if I was not up against one of my usual gaming buddies haha).

Game 3: diagonal deployment vs Dwarfs

So back down the table and I draw a dwarf gunline....not looking good. He had: runesmith with 2+ and GW, 2x25 warriors, 10 quarrellers, a dragonslayer (with i5!), 2 cannons (1 flame) organ gun. My game plan was to rush the quarrellers and clear out the artillery while avoiding the warrior blocks (1 unit had GW). As it transpired I got to the quarrellers and beat them down to the loss of my Dprinces (counter charged my dragon slayer while I was s3...). My archers sat outside the organ gun range and slowly killed it off over the 6 turns...takes a while to roll 3 6’s to wound! His hw/sh warriors came out to play and I diverted them with the eagle and got their flank with the spears. After a thorough thrashing the dwarfs + runesmith managed to flee from my sluggish spears who then wore 8 dead from the organ gun before charging the front of the warriors to clean up (eagle in the flank). Win combat by heaps, but 1 frustrating kill short of breaking steadfast means those points were not taken. We draw the game with a 5 VP swing in his favour. If my lvl1 didnt explode turn 4 I would have squeaked out a minor victory. Oh Well

Game 4: Watchtower vs Dwarfs.

As this draw went up I queried with the TO whether there was a tournament rule about not having to play dwarfs 2 games in a row...seems that there wasn’t (note to self-if I'm ever a TO-that will be a rule). I got the watch tower and decided not to garrison it with a grudge thrower, flaming cannon and organ gun + 2x12 quarrellers all lined up to destroy whatever was in  it + 2 units of 20 hw/sh warriors to occupy it. With that in mind I used the same tactics as last game. Conveniently the 2 quarreller units were on the same flank (and not on same flank as organ gun) so I rushed them.  I basically drew a 24inch diameter on the table around the organ gun and stayed out of range. My Dprinces  took a grudge thrower to the face, losing 2 = I could slip the gap and do a bit of fast calv action. The Dprinces cleaned out the cannon, the 2+ as GW runesmith “anvil”, and then hit the grudge thrower (the organ gun exploded). They got flanked by the 2^nd unit of quarrellers who then got flanked by 2 whitelions-the game ending end of turn 5 with the 2^nd whitelion unit posed for a rear charge to clean up. My spears hungry for dwarf blood successfully broke and caught the warrior unit that was not in the watchtower. Swordmasters survived and didn’t see combat. I was saved by a poor 1^st round shooting from the dwarfs meaning my 2 chariots a eagle had a 2^nd turn to be big distractions. I won 13-7, having gifted my opponent 400vps for the tower.

Game 5: blood and glory vs Goblins

So last game of the event and I draw a gobbo list that was rocking: dude on giant squig with 5 squig hoppers, BSB on giant spider with 5 trolls, 2 fighty dudes on wolves in unit of 14 wolves, unit of 5 wolves, unit of 5 spider riders, pumpwagon, 2 gobbo chariots, mangler. So lots of stuff that will wipe my small units off the board. To win mission I had to take out the wolf bus as had banner + general. Things went well for me to start with. Whole game can be summed up as “grrrr failed pursuit roles”. I use my chariots as bait (1 taking out the pumpwagon in the process). My swordmasters wear the wolf bus to the front-they fail fear test and I hold (having killed a fair few wolves and wounded general). My Spears then get the flank and destroy the unit, it flees and I miss by 1 inch grrrrrrrr. His squig hoppers then decide my spears flank would be a good place to attack = game over for me. His giant squig guy killed my BSB in a challenge and then the rest of the unit. I managed to get a chariot to flee off the board, kill the squig hoppers (a bit too late though), mangler got eagled, and get the small wolves to flee off board. Rest of his army sat back threatening to flee any charge and sitting on edge of my charge range (and any failed charge by me would have cost me the unit). So with extra VP’s available to make up for 1^st game I lost 16-9. Could have swung the other way very easily had I caught the wolves/my swordmasters managed 1 more wound on the general.

RESULT

Results were rather good for me. My army won best painted (woot!), and I came 7^th which was good, but I was aiming for top 5, so just missed out. My empire army came 2^nd, which was also a fantastic result. On the "butcher award" I took the 3rd most VP's from my opponents-1st and 2nd going to the armies that placed 1st and 2nd. That I think is a good indication of aggressiveness of the list.

I like the list. Not enough to expand it to 2400, but enough to have a bit of respect for MSU. I chanced 3 games vs gunlines and came out alright considering...the BSB was the best investment I made! I’m still not sold on chariots. They did a fantastic job of distracting cannons and the like, but when they actually got a charge off (3 times) they did a combine total of 8 impact hits... Eagles could have done their job better and cheaper (and they too have “cannon magnet” tattooed on them).

I think I now have a handle on using smaller units of hit impact stuff. My 2400 list has the eagle prince and 2x7 swordmasters-so it will be fun to put into practice the things I have learnt over the weekend. I’m still not prepared to drop the whitelion horde or the banner of sorcery, but that current format is definitely something that could be up for review for a more mobile approach. For instance dropping the banner of sorcery could give me 2  units of 14 whitelions, which would be cool, but still not sold on whether it would have the same bite + would be vulnerable to magic missiles/shooting in a way the horde is not (but less vulnerable to dwellers etc).

Now to finish basing and painting the 2400 list so I can show it off and get some big wins on the table...WoC armies I'm looking at you! Though I still have to figure a way to deal with Delf shooting armies other than putting my woodies on the board.

Vermintide III army pics and list

Next weekend is the last Wellington Event of 2011. It is a 1200pt one day even that in the past has been a whole lot of fun.

I figured it was time that my much talked about High Elves should get their first run at an event. I will be taking the following list:

Lvl1: Shadow, scroll (General)
BSB: GW, Armour of Caledor

19 Spears: M, SB
10 Archers: M

6 White Lions
6 White Lions
5 Swordmasters
5 Dragon Princes: M
Tironic Chariot
Tironic Chariot

Eagle

So a bit of an MSU list. Figured that at this points level the High Elves either have the minimum legal drops and suck, or try and maximise frontage vs units by having lots of small very hitty units. Also having lots of units means that only having a lvl1 (2) for dispelling will not be much a problem.

Not sure how I'm going to do. I know I will struggle vs armies with lots of bodies to churn through (ie skaven), but vs most armies I have the drops, the speed, and the hittiness to smash my way through a few units.

I have also managed to get the army painted, based, and some movement trays done up. I was originally going to do the basing in an autumn theme. However Once I started doing the bases I thought a dry plain look would work. Suits my theme too as I went for Greek/Roman feel for the paint scheme. Enjoy!

Just taking a quick break from Skyrim...

Last night I took the night off Skyrim to get absolutely thrashed in a blood and glory match High Elves vs Dark Elves.

Things that went well:
1- The horde whitelions + BSB. This is the key punch unit of the army. It wiped out a unit of horde frenzied corsairs on the charge. 31 attacks, 31 hits (boom!) 27 kills...nice. Was however isolated having done that and could not support the rest of my army.

2- magic defence. Crystal + remove spell scroll + drain magic + banner of sorcery is awesome. I had effective domination of the magic phase. Delves didnt cast much at all, and the threat of drain magic meant I could get 1 spell off uncontested. The 2nd spell and the threat of drain magic = can usually get 1 of them off. Banner of Sorcery meant my smallest magic phase was 9 dice.


 Things that didn't go too well:
1- Helf chaff being a rare choice sucks-especially when playing to comp. Highelves are the only army that have their chaff comped and I cannot see why. Sure they fly...but so do harpies. They cause panic to my army and die rather easy. Storm banner/lore of heavens removes them from the game. High Elves do a poor man's gunline and need to get into combat to be effective. Max of 2 eagles = I cannot dictate my match ups meaning having less units actually means having less units that cannot gang up on other units. I suspect Helf armies would feature in more competitive environments if they were allowed to bring their chaff; t3 5+ as is not that much of a disadvantage with ASF and controlling match ups...however it is also not point and click.

2- I completely forgot hydra's have skirmish rules...meaning 15 out of 18 swordmasters died to breath weapon (2 inches back and it would not have been a perfect flank shot...). Also meant my right flank collapsed because of it.

The huge defeat has strengthen my resolve, and have tweaked the list to this:

lvl4: shadow, crystal, dragonbane Gem  305
lvl1: high, scroll of remove the spell from game on 4+  140
BSB: GW, 2+ rerollable dragon armour 168
2x25 spearelves: FC     500
10 archers: M      115
2x T.Chariot        170
18 Swordmasters: FC-flame banner, potion of fool  315
27 White Lions: FC-banner or sorcery   485
4 eagles     200
2398


Basically dropped the 5 Dragon Princes + musician and the lvl2 upgrade to get a 2nd chariot, 2 more eagles and spent the remaining 10 points on dragonbane gem (means lvl4 can hang alone and ignore flaming magic missiles) and potion of fool (an extra attack on swordmaster champ = should pwn most characters in a challenge on the charge).

The 2 chariots gives me a good counter punch/flank protection. 1 chariot dies too easily, 2 chariots means I can use them as detachments to the spears. 4 eagles = I should be easily delaying the units I do not want to be engaging and isolating the units I want to smash. I found that the 5 Dragon Princes were just expensive chaff; they have lost all their 7th ed punch!

List incorporates MSU and MMU. 2 real threat units and lots of stuff to support them.

I think the list is not as scary as some of the allowed comp lists and will still get pwned by the Storm banner + min sized ratpack/engineer chaff. No real shooting, no book of hoeth, no phoenix guard bunker...ACTUALLY TAKING SWORDMASTERS IN A SIZABLE UNIT...this list is not extreme High Elves that everyone moans about and is competitive vs the allowable builds (2x10 shades, 2x20 BGuard, cauldron Delves...stank, walter, 2 cannons and engineered Rocket battery Empire...usual skaven stuff...slann star+skink spam...WOC builds etc).


SO there we have it. Now back to chopping things up with a battle axe in Skyrim. Playing as a Red Guard specialising it kicking ass with battle axes; I prefer the non-subtle approach.

First Run with the revised Woodies-quick summary

Had a game tonight. Didn't take photos or write exclusive notes as I was trying out the new woodie list to see what its limitations were etc (+ had 10 Helf archers, 10 Glade gobbos and a unit of 5 gobbo scouts filling in for the Glade Guard/scouts I dont have yet). I have a fair idea of what each unit can do, it is just a matter of seeing it in action to find weaknesses etc.

Anywho the list I used was:

lvl4: beasts, scroll, ICI    280
BSB: La, HODA, Abane        132
19 GGuard: m, sb-flame        256
2x10 GGuard: m, sb        276
2x10 GGuard: m            252
2x5 Scouts            170
4x8 Dryads            384
2x5 Wildriders: (m)        260
2x6 Waywatchers            288
2 Eagles            100
2398

I was up against WoC with:
Tznch lvl4: 3+ ward and puppet
fire lvl1 scroll
Tznch BSB in unit of Tznch board and sword warriors
Tznch discman with 2+ as and 3+ ward vs shooting and MM
unit of flaming halberd korn warriors
Flail korn marauders
3x5 doggies
2 unmarked chariots
warshrine
hell cannon


I was really excited to see what I could do vs this army as it has 1 of the 2 key things my list is not good against....t4/5/6 with good armour save. I have to tools to point deny and get the key points (wolves, chariots, hellcannon, discman, maurders), just got to play smart.

Random deployment mission didnt help my cause either.

The Good:
Amber spear is awesome. Killed all the crew of the hellcannon and took 4 wounds off it. (We played that the d6 wounds got distributed....not sure if right, or if should have distributed a single wound that does d6 wounds to the target...my way sounds more logical). I Only managed to cast wildform once (would have prefered to have cast it at least once more!).
The sheer amount of units is great. I nerfed the opposing magic phase purely by having nothing really to target. Tznch magic is MM heavy, so had something to cast. I can just imagine how powerful this "tool" will be vs some of the more traditional lores (like shadow that will do next to nothing vs me). Very Few magic missiles in 8th = good for MSU.
Also love the shooting when not trying to get passed 2+/3++ 2 wound annoying flying guy who refuses to die.

The Bad:
UNIT POSITIONING. One crucial error cost me the game. I set up my dryads to take a charge from a chariot (with nearest unit behind being 13 inches away). I then killed the chariot with shooting, allowing his Tznch warriors behind to come in, fluff, win by CR and over run into flank of waywatcher unit (just clipped), meaning only 6 KB shots at discman (who soaked up 2 rounds of concentrated shooting + HODA before dying). I joke rolled the tied up in combat Waywatcher unit's shots...would have killed the discman allowing 2 turns of Glade Guard to concentrate on other stuff. oh well.
Lessoned learned: LOTS OF UNITS = LOTS OF THINKING ABOUT ALL OPTIONS. I'll get used to it as currently set 2/3 sets of traps with Empire-just now got to think in 4/5 traps.

Fluffed attacks are dumb. 8 dryads charge maurders in building (curious as to what I would do)...kill 4 and lose 4 in return. I just dont see the hype around Dryads. Sure vs ws3, t3 stuff they kick some serious butt, but vs ws4 they can fluff, and vs armour they can fluff even worse. Same thing happened with unit of wildriders vs wolves...all the riders missed and got 1 wound from the horses. Sure that happens when using dice, but garrrrr!
Also I had 19 dryad attacks vs a chariot for 5 combat phases before I finally killed it-and it started down 2 wounds from wildriders (who had fled to safety causing the overrun/counter situation...accidentally). Seriously...


So the jury is still out as to whether I have the right balance. I was unlucky to take AGES killing the 2nd chariot in Combat (where a rundown/kill on charge would have finished off the hellcannon a turn earlier saving my 2nd unit of waywatchers), and to have the tnzch guys overrun into the other waywatcher unit denying me the KB on the discman (he warded the KB from the 1st unit grrr). Also the Korn warriors had stubborn/4+ ward from warshrine on them from turn 2. lvl4 also sucked self into warp last turn sigh....nothing really went my way.

However I liked that I could trade points and be "up" as trading with units worth nothing. Also 4 units of scouts (2 of them chaff) and 2 eagles + 2 vanguarding wildrider units is fantastic. Got to love being able to casually deal with all chaff turn 1 before the Glade guard shoot, allowing them to focus on the real stuff. Having sooooooooo many drops also means in the missions where take turns to deploy (ie all but 2) I can put all my Glade Guard opposite their intended target and let rip while the chaff (ie everything else) distracts the rest of the army. Perfect...now to get good at it!

The High Elves-finally a painting update

As promised, here is a couple of pics of what my High Elves are looking like.


First up are the Swordmasters:

These are the lastest things I have painted-and the unit that relies on the red part of my colour scheme. The guy with the winged helmet is a conversion I stole of the internet. It is the upper body of the griffon rider, the legs of the IOB swordmaster standard bearer, the arms are from the chariot set, the hand is from the flagellant in the stocks, and the sword is the IOB swordmaster unit champ. The swords/horn/banner have blue flames licking them because this is the unit that I give the flaming banner (and therefore need flames that look magical).

Next up the chariots:

So two Tironic Chariots. I have dropped them from my standard list, however I very much see a role for them, especially when go down the MSU route (more on that in a later post).

The BSB:

Bit of a conversion. The banner and torso is from the noble kit, along with the lion fur coat (not really visable). The legs are from the chariot set (yes, I got myself a 3rd set of chariot crew from horde o bitz). and the sword arm is from the Phoenix Guard champ (who are still yet to be assembled because they are boring and I refuse to use life magic!).  Standing on a rock for a bit of height.


The Mages:

Yet to paint the magical swirl and the floating rocks. Still not decided which one is the "P addict" (lvl2 High magic with the crystal) and which one is the shady master (lvl4 shadow and scroll). Should possibly swap the equipment around, but I just like the nick names too much. I was scared these guys would look like Christmas decorations, but thankfully they didnt.


The White Lions:

These guys rock! I am also rather pleased how they came out (and just look different to the swordmasters, yet use the same colours). The bottom pic is the 40x40mm rank filler, The pic left foot is pinned and balances on the tree stump. Lots of fun with wire and green stuff making this...baby steps for me...next project is a hand made dragon....

The Spearelves:

Didnt photograpgh as well as I hoped. These guys are not yet finished either. They still need a shield that will be red with gold pattern (the rock on hands holding half moon from sprue). The unit has been modelled to rank up as a phalanx with the spears all pointing forward in front 3 ranks, the progressing up. Looks really cool.

The RBT crew:

Another casualty of list tweaking (though I've heard good things about them vs Ogres). I posted these guys because they are exactly how the archers will end up looking. Due to the lack of armour they emphasis the green cloth over the red and cream/stone colour.


Still to come are the griffons (as eagles), the noble on an eagle, the archers, the reavors, the RBT's, the Dragon Princes, and eventually the Dragon. 

Also still thinking of how to do the bases autumn theme. I'll probably do the sand thing, then put autum leaves and grass on it.

Anywho, hope you like the pics. As usual comments are more than welcome.

The new BSB

Just thought I would share what my new BSB looks like. After years of on/off casual ebay/trademe hunting for the limited Ed. BSB that I believe came in the battleforce box when Woodies were last updated, I finally found one for $14US that had not even been undercoated (apparently the apparent "power level" of the army affects the price!).

As a side note, who are all these people who buy cool models, don't assemble/paint them/unpackage them...leave them lying around for years then decide to sell them?

A quick clean up, paint job in the current scheme and it looks like this:

The flames in the background are because my partner took the photo and loaded it onto her computer. I then jokingly requested flames in the background...

Nothing too exciting or "different". A Quick look through the High Elf army book and I found the symbol for revenge (which is a woodie kindred), so I thought that was appropriate given the lack of big lumbering trees in my new direction. I see my army as more an expeditionary force.

So what you all think? I could possibly tart up the banner a bit more, but not too good at the free hand, so as much as a want beautiful elven swirls etc, I'm not exactly able to do it myself!

Postscript:
As requested, here is the BSB minus flames of awesome.

Hope that is a bit better!

The rock he's standing on is dheneb stone, washed with the devlan mud, then highlighted with dheneb stone. The skin is foundation flesh, elf flesh highlights, then ogren flesh wash. The red is foundation red, washed black and kinda layered with blood red (dip normal brush in watered down colour, suedo dry brush-but more layering than flicking over for just highlights). Brown is scorched brown, then vermin brown, then devaln mud wash. Green is dark angels green, then goblin green, then goblin green/rotting flesh highlights. The symbol on the flag then has skull white mixed into do a final, final highlight. Metal is chainmail with black wash. Antlers are scorched brown, dheneb stone, ogren flesh wash, then dheneb stone again. Spite is white with blue wash. Feathers are (poorly done as usual) Scorched brown, then snakebite leather with white ends. Hair is Tausept ochre base with bleached bone mixed in to highlight.

Resurrecting the Woodies-the paint job

ZOMG! painting post.

I thought I would give an update of how the Woodie painting is coming along. A few months ago I had a post on repainting the Glade Guard. Looking back that was very productive time because it meant that the "core" of my army is up to date + gives me a new theme to work with.

So first thing I updated were the Waywatchers....the 2nd unit I painted (the first being Wardancers who need a rules update to justify a new paint job!). 12 are ready to go (sans bases-though that happens last!).

Here is what they look like:

Hopefully that looks ok.

SO as you can see I've continued the grey/green cloak with the red highlight....looking suitably killy.

Next up I got my first unit of 5 Wildriders updated. These guys were the 3rd thing I painted. (Note to EVERYONE OUT THERE: when someone starts the hobby there is a reason why Space Marines are the go to army-nobody cares if you butcher the paint job on them learning the tricks of the trade!)

So the same theme continued.
I painted the horses in 2 different ways. The brownie horses are Dwarf flesh with a Devlan Mud wash. Tail is Scorched Brown with Snake Bite Leather highlight.The white horses are Astronomican Grey, with Skull White dry brush. The tail was Astronomican Grey, Ogryn Flesh wash then Skull White highlight. I wanted them to look different to the horses I use for my Empire army, and I think I have achieved this.


So there we have it. Not bad for a weeks work. I got myself the OOP BSB from Ebay that I currently painting. 5 of the 5th Ed OOP Waywatchers are still on there way to be my scouts. Really looking forward to theme arriving. Now to sneak 2 more boxes of Glade Guard past the boss so I can complete my 2400 army.

I will however be taking Woodies to Vermintide III. I'll have a post closer to the event going over the list and my thoughts behind it. My High Elves are most likely also going to be getting a run onto the field at Vermintide III. My friend (who deserted the faithful for the heresy Warmachine...) will be running them. Hopefully the do really well as he is planning on being a little "unique" with his set up + it gives me an excuse to get the painting of some of it finished. Next painting post will be what they look like and my thoughts behind why I did what I did etc.

2400 Empire vs Dark Elves: Ode to the 4+ ward/regen

A show down between the Empire (revised list from 2 posts ago) vs Dark Elves consisting of:

Lvl4: stuff shadow

Lvl2: flame and scroll

Bsb cauldron

Hero on Pegasus with the dumb ward thingie

Block of spears

Block of frenzied 2hw corsairs

10 xbows

20 Bguard

Block of witch elves

2 units of shades

Hydra

Spells were rolled for, armies deployed and the battle commenced!

TURN 1

Empire:

stuff moves up=-mainly the stank and the chaff. Peg moves to block the cannons form the hunters.

The magic phase was rather uneventful with 1 harpie killed with the ruby ring and the shades by the cannons suffering -1 BS. Shooting was more eventful. Xbows shot 3 shades, archers killed 1 xbow and the Hydra regened 2 cannon hits sigh.

Dark Elves:

The harpies jump to in front of the peg

Rest of army avoids the flagellants and the stank except for a unit of harpies that landed in front of it to delay it for a turn (re: no overrun).

The magic phase is interesting. All dispel dice are used to stop a pit on the stank. The Stank is then withered to t8 and the archers running with the flagellants find themselves with -3 to the miasma’ed stats.

The shades then return fire at the xbows and kill 2. The xbows wipe out a unit of free company and the other shades fail to do anything to the cannon phew!

TURN 2

Empire:

The stank declares charge on the harpies who fail terror test and flee. Stank then redirects into the black guard...the plan all along! The Pegasus charges the harpies.

 Banishment kills 4 xbows. One cannon finally get past the regen and do 4 wounds to the hydra, the other fails to wound. In the peg combat the harpies lose and flee-peg reforms to face the shades.

The stank destroys the black guard killing 9. 1 wound is caused back in return.

Dark Elves:

1 unit of harpies rally, the other continues to flee. The Elf Peg decides to charge the flank of the flagellants. The 2 shades then flank charge the xbows.

The hydra moves through the forest, only for it to be dangerous, so refrains from marching. The left flank shades move to the flank of the empire xbows.

I let Power of darkness be cast. Flaming blades is then IF’ed on the bguard. The rest of the dice are lost and 5 spearelves die. The shades have a poor shooting phase bouncing off a cannon while the xbows kill 1 archer.

In the combat phase the 2 shades run down the xbows who fail a steadfast test. Burning blades fails to help the black guard and the Elf Pegasus wounds the flagellants who fail to reform to face.

TURN 3

Empire:

The Pegasus charges the shades.

My archers move to divert the hydra away from the flagellants inside the ldship 9/bsb bubble.

Magic is a big let down when the 2 flaming magic missiles are dispelled. The hydra then regens 2 cannon hits sigh. In combat, the empire Pegasus takes a wound failing a re-roll 1+ as. However the shades are still run. The stank kills 5 black guard-many surviving with a 5+ ward. 4 more flagellants die to the elf Pegasus.

Dark Elves:

Well, the best laid out plans can always fail as the archers flee in terror from the hydra who promptly redirects into the flagellants. The corsairs fail a frenzy charge on the waralter, 4 dying in the dangerous terrain.

The fleeing harpies on cannon side rally. Magic phase did nothing with mindrazor failing to cast on the blackguard. Shooting kills 1 free company and bounces off the waralter.

The flagellants are butchered down to 2...thankfully the waralter is looking at the flank of the hydra...

TURN 4

Empire:

Waralter runs over the hydra with impact hits and continues into the shades, last flagellants die to the elf Pegasus. 1 unit of halberds turn to protect battle line from any advancing witchelves who have been sitting back in a frenzy trap successfully restraining every turn. Lvl4 also leaves the unit for some reason I have forgotten (most likely to be looking in the right direction for pit on bsb).

Black guard almost dead (thank you 5+ ward)

The cannons then decide to bounce off the BSB (more 4+ saves grrr).

Dark Elves: (sorry forgot pics of this turn)

The Pegasus charges the lvl4 (left enough room for it to land-silly mistake). The lvl4 flees and the Pegasus stumbles forward into awkward position with halberds looking right at it. The corsairs then flank the waralter -7 dying on the charge (with KBlow blessing). The corsairs get flaming bladed and mindrazor is dispelled. Shooting kills 2 free company-they hold. In combat the shades are run over, the corsair champ declines challenge (boo hiss). In a crucial dice moment, the 1 Kblow inflicted is warded. PHEW.

TURN 5

Empire:

SO the lvl4 rally, the Pegasus moves back to protect it from the shades.

The halberds declare a charge on the elf Pegasus who flees and is run down woot!

The trap on the witch elves then gets personal as the free company move up real close.

So my next attempt to get rid of the cauldron fails when I fail to cast Pit. The Archlector IF’s soulfire and manages to kill 1 corsair...

The cannons continue their reign of terror when 1 fails to hit the cauldron and the other fails to wound...the archers on the other hand kill a single witch elf!

In this combat my 4+ ward skills fail me and the archlector dies. However thankfully the alter is unbreakable! Also the Stank finishes off the black guard.

Dark Elves:

Finally the harpies get a charge on the cannon and delete it, over running into the 2^nd one.

With an exposed stank, the lvl4 decides to IF pit and suck it  up with a 1 inch scatter. The shooting then adds to the misery by finishing off the free company.

TURN 6

Empire:

Pegasus charges the harpies in Combat with the cannon and defeats then-saving the cannon!

My lvl4 then gets his chance to IF the pit and promptly misses the cauldron with a 5 inch scatter.

Dark Elves:

Mindrazor scrolled meaning the alter survives yay!

RESULT

Darkelves win by 120 points. A very close game that would have been mine had my IF pit hit the cauldron-but of course by the same small margin. My cannons failed to capitalise on anything really due to fantastic ward and regen rolling. This meant I swapped my flagellants for his hydra (and I suppose his peg man who was caught in the open). Not the best swap, but the best I could do given the circumstances. I was expecting the witchelves to be used a bit more offensively-but my opponent insisted that the halberds would have won the grind. I suppose he was correct given the frenzy trap I set (but with no way to capitalise on it...).