First High Elf game proper. 2400 vs WoC Watch Tower

SO first game with the High Elves and keen to get the ball rolling. My list is a “I think it will be useful” mix up.

Lvl4: Scroll, ruby ring Shadow

BSB: GW, 2+ dragon armour re-roll

35 Spears: FC

10 Archers: m

13 Archers: m

23 Whitelions: M, SB-Banner of Sorcery

16 Swordmasters: M, SB-flame

T. Chariot

5 Reavers

5 Dragon Princes

2 Eagles

2 RBT

I was up against a list that was also “let’s mix it up a bit”

Tznch Lvl4: 3++, puppet

Lvl1: flame, scroll

Tznch BSB: Stuff

Tznch flying guy: breath weapon, 3++ vs shooting and MM

18 Korne Warriors: M, SB. Halberds-flame (Kwar)

17 Tznch Warriors: FC-hw/sh (Twar)

30 korne Maurders: FC-flails (KMau)

3x5 doggies

2 unmarked chariots

Warshrine

Hellcannon

So a good splattering of infantry on both sides. I had no idea how I was going to take out the Hell Cannon (no treeman to smash it down).

Ben got the watchtower and chose to leave it empty.

 

Turn 1:

My turn starts with me waltzing my army up. I moved the reavers right up into the face of the hellcannon and moved the chariot to peak out from behind the building.

On the other flank, my eagles shielded the dragon princes who wanted to have some fun with the flame attack korne warriors.

My magic phase resulted in the chariot by the hellcannon being -1 toughness, and the other chariot was big miasmaed for -3 to relevant stats. I hoped to take advantage of the t4 chariot and unleashed a volley of daffodils from the 2 RBT and managed 2 wounds. My archers are a little more successful, panicing a unit of doggies.

The WoC turn starts off good/bad for me.  The Kwar frenzy failed charged an eagle-wasnt fishing for that but yay! The Hellcannon also decided it was time to go eat before shooting and frenzied into the reavers. Now this caught me by surprise as I thought the HCannon charge would allow a charge reaction (ie reavers flee), but after a bit of discussion we decided that since it is a random move = rules of random movement apply = dead reavers (though they score a wound on it first for good measure).

The rest of his line moves up, including the Twar who march up to the building with the intent of occupying it next turn.

Magic phase was a little bit more eventful. I stopped treason on the swordmasters before Gateway was IFed at them resulting in 5 dead swordmasters. The puppet moved the miscast to a 7= nothing woot! The warshrine then thought it would be a good idea to give the Twar +1 attack for good measure.

TURN 2:

With a quick glance around the board I saw my moment (not the Rebecca Black one, but my moment). The T. Chariot charged the doggies and the White Lions charged the Twar, getting a nasty clip...perfect.

I then move the eagles to block the chariot and the Kwar from coming to the the aid of the Twar. The Dragon Princes also move up to look down the line at the oncoming carnage (though from the pic I think I wheeled a little illegally to get them to where they were-but didn’t affect game at all).

My magic phase did what it needed to do. -3 to relevant stats miasma on the Twar, though wither was dispelled when aimed at the chariot on other flank. Shooting was once again a bunch of daffodils, getting 1 wound on the chariot (seriously, who employed the Welsh to make/grow the arrows?).  In the combat there is an epic BSB vs BSB duel. I win the combat, but the Twar hold.

My chariot runs over the doggies and JUST misses the chariot (Which I realised as soon as I moved the charge grrr).

So, the just fed Hcannon decides that it hasn’t removed ALL my painted models of the board and frenzies into the chariot.

The chariot and the Kwar charge their bait (I guess best to remove them) who hold. Disc dude flies behind my lines to vomit on the spears.

The magic phase was more “pick on the swordmasters”. I scrolled treason, then stopped gateway with all my dice, resulting in 5 dead swordmasters from flicker and fireball. The massive burp hits 22, though only manages to kill 6 spears.

In the chariot combat the HCannon only manages 2 wounds. The T. Chariot then flees 11 inches through the Kmau and fails the dangerous terrain test...sigh.

In the all important combat, my heroic BSB cuts down his counterpart, and the White lions win the combat and run down the Twar into the flank of the chariot (not shown very well in pic due to the hill).

The eagles die an honourable death.

TURN 3:

With all the important stuff in combat and the watchtower unthreatened I opt to keep the swordmasters to their best role – magic missile fodder, so no charges.

In my back field, the archers turn to face off with the doggies

Rolling up a 12 dice magic phase (and a channel on top and 2 dice from the Banner all wasted) I start by unleashing wither on the Kmau for -1t. Miasma onthe Kwar is stopped, then in a case of “well I have dice I’m not using and no LoS for ruby ring” I threw a precautionary MINDRAZOR on the spears to buy me time. This of course was cast with IF and my lvl4 became a lvl1 keeping only the predulum spell (6D6 initiative test or take d3 s10 wounds) spell-ie my only real non MINDRAZOR anti Hcannon tool. Shooting is more productive. I finish off the chariot, kill 6 Kmau and 3 doggies who flee.

Combat is very exciting. I wipe out the chariot and overrun into the flank of the Kwar.

The WoC now realising the Welsh RBT’s have run out of Daffodils react by charging the disc dude into one of them. Thankfully the arc he was in (rear) meant no overrun into the other one. The Kmau frustratingly pass their frenzy check and opt to not charge the MINDRAZORED spears.

Magic once again picked on the swordmasters. I let treason through (5 dead). Swordmasters decide they have had enough and flee. I then stop gateway aimed at the spears. A fireball at my lvl4 thankfully fails to wound and flicker finishes off the last of the swordmasters. I guess them going down in flames is suiting given that they had the flame banner.

The warshrine decides to buff the Kmau, but does nothing. The Hcannon then finally decides to fire and, typically, gets a hit on the spears killing 13. The spears then flee.

In the combat phase the RBT dies and my White lions break the Kwar who then run off the board aided by my Dragon princes. The White lions then reform to face the rest of the battle and capture the watchtower.

TURN 4:

No charges are declared and the spears rally. The Dragon  princes and the whitelions move up to get some juicy LoS on the Kmau. Please note my lvl1 in the WoC deployment zone (see Alex I do advance!). Also note the Whitelions are really where the solo dude is-they just wouldn’t balance.

My magic phase is actually productive. I kill the lvl1 with the rubyring and then frustratingly the pendulum fails to wound the Hcannon grrrrrrrrrrrrr. My shooting kills 5 Kmau.

The Mau fail to swift reform, so only turn to face the oncoming whitelions. The flying dude charges the other RBT.

I throw all my dice to stop treason on the Whitelions = lets Gateway through which kills 4. The onslaught continues when 11 die to another direct hit from the Hcannon. In a fit of usefulness the Kmau are gifted mr(3) by the warshrine.

The flying guy kills the RBT and overruns into the archers.

TURN 5:

So the fun begins. The Whitelions, Dragon princes and the spears charge the Kmau. The Whitelions, obviously tired of doing all the fighting fail to reach the combat. My archers, fresh from killing doggies, notice that there is potentially no WoC infantry (other than lvl4) to take the building. They take advantage of this my swift reforming and walking towards the watch tower. The magic phase is another big fail as the pendulum fails to reach the Hcannon.

In the unimportant combat, the flying guy breaks the archers who flee. Flying guy reforms to face the battle. In the important combat I win by lots (lose 2 Dragon princes for the effort though). The Dragon princes then run down the kmau (exposing flank to HCannon...) and the warshrine flees in panic.

So to make the decision easy for the WoC, the HCannon rages into the Dragon Princes (grrrrrr no flee). The flying guy declares a charge on the spears who flee 9, A redirect into my archers fails to reach phew! The lvl4 finds itself march blocked. The warshrine then fails to rally. Treason on the lions kills 3 and Gateway fails to cast on the archers (hero shield!).

 IN the combat the Dragon princes do nothing. 2 die, the final guy escapes to need to rally on snake eyes...

TURN 6:

My archers rally and the other archers enter the watchtower. The Dragon prince fails to rally and runs off the board. ANOTHER 12 dice magic phase (with wasted banner again) is IF-tastic. Rubyring is IFed at the lvl4 (nothing) and then the pendulum is IFed (escape warp) only for the Hcannon to matrix the initiative test...(hero shield max power!). That’s THREE failed attempts to even get 1 wound off the damn thing! My shooting is a bit more successful, getting a wound on the lvl4.

The flying guy then attempts to beat the archers out of the building with a charge. My luck pays off though as the warshrine flees off the board woot! Magic is another lvl4 fest. Treason on the spears kills 2 before they are Gatewayed into oblivion! The MVP of the match Hcannon then gets ANOTHER HIT on the whitelions killing the last, however the BSB survives unharmed and holds. In the combat 4 archers die, but hold.

TURN 7:

That’s right-SEVEN TURNS. Epic. Not much really to report though. I FINALLY GET A PENDULUM OFF ON THE HELLCANNON (2 wounds...). I also get a 2^nd wound on the lvl4.

The WoC turn is not that eventful either. Archers hold again and 2 wounds are taken from my lvl1.

The game finally ends with my archers holding the tower.

AFTERMATH:

MVP for me was the whitelions of awesome. The WoC MVP was the artillery dice...that Hellcannon was nasty; I have a new found respect for it. 

For a first time out I was happy how the High Elves preformed. My thoughts for “improvement” at 2400 would be to drop the Chariot and use the points to turn the swordmasters into 21 whitelions, though to begin with I’ll trial 21 swordmasters (don’t have more whitelions and no $$$ to get any).  White lions die just as easily to magic missiles and they have the best “grind”. Though I think 21 swordmasters will create problems for opponents-their “grind” being lots of kills. Would it be better to split them into 2 units? Most definitely, but don't really want to go down that track as smaller units also = easy points to give up. 

Still, early days and lots of forum advice to ignore :)