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...). 

Thoughts from the forest

Following up from my musings about the Empire, my thoughts have been distracted by all the flowering trees in the Hutt. This naturally brings out the Woodie in me (tree hugger that I am-blame my father and having a garden with "potential"). So I thought I would share my current beliefs on how I think I want a woodie list to look like.


First off a history:

I've had mixed success with the woodies in 8th. Vs some armies I have kicked some butt, vs others I have fallen apart. Success has ridden on how quickly the Treeman dies (or not) and if my Treekin are gatewayed/flamed to death. Shooting has played a biggish part, but mainly I have stuck to a rather boring formula of:
lvl4, bsb, bwraith with cluster, 20 GG, 10 GG, 2x 10 Dryads, 6 treekin, 2 eagles, Treeman and then spare points on more trees.

Works wonders, but is really let down by the fact that it does alright in most areas, but excels at none. Compare that to my Empire (excels bait and trap based combat with plenty of scary and owns both magic phases) and my High Elves (excels at straight up fisty cuffs and dangerous in the magic phase).

So what do woodies excel at? Shooting and avoidance. s4 move and shoot is awesome. small units that pack a punch is awesome. I have not been utilising these 2 aspects of the woodies. Instead I have been relying on the t5/s5 to win the day...and at 390 points a units that's a lot of hope (especially when for LESS points my 18 swordmasters will walk over 6 treekin without blinking).

So I have decided to focus on emphasising the shooting and the avoidance to create Elven based woodie lists.

Oh-and my 46 Eternal Guard are still yet to get removed from their box-as beautiful as they are. Here's hoping the drop in cost and/or get awesome (at least to 7th levels of awesomeness when they were deceptively amazing).

Below are 3 lists that I have worked on in succession to help demonstrate my thought process:

First list:
lvl4: scroll life         275
BSB: LA, Abane, HODA        132
20 GGuard: m, sb-flame        268
4x10 GGuard: m            504
2x10 GGuard: m, sb            276
5 wardancers            90
5 wardancers            90
4 Tkin                260
5 Waywatchers            120
2 Eagles            100
Treeman                285
2399

So this list is like "ZOMG SHOOTING" Will waltz over any army that has no calv/isnt skaven. However, 285 points are just asking to be pitted/stone throwered/gatwayed etc. It's good, but excessive and falls apart vs certain things.

Second list:
lvl4: scroll, life        275
BSB:  Abane, HODA:         130
20 GG: m, sb-flame        268
4x10 GGuard: m            504
2x10 GGuard: m, sb            276
5 wardancers            90
5 wardancers            90
6 Tkin                390
6 wildriders: (m)        156
5 Waywatchers            120
2 Eagles            100
2399

SO similar theme to first list except the pit target has disappeared and in its place is a combat effective unit of treekin and some wildriders. Wildriders are a bit controversial in anyone's language in 8th because they have lost their main 7th role...sit back, chose target and pounce. I ague that they can still do this-they just have to be a bit savvy about it-and vanguard really helps here. Deploy 3 wide to reduce return attacks. Hit target, win combat and reform to wide formation to maximise special rule. Also gives a unit to charge forward at chariots etc. HOWEVER, the list is still vulnerable to storm banner and will get crowded out and block its own line of sight...shooting is excessive.

Third and latest draft:
 lvl4: scroll, life        275
A.Highborn: La, 2hw, Dhelm, BoLoren, a.bodkins, SoRB 289
BSB: LA, Abane, HODA         132
19 GG: m, sb-flame        256
2x10 GGuard: M            252
2x10 GGuard: m, sb            276
5 wardancers            90
5 wardancers            90
6 Tkin                390
5 wildriders: (m)        130
5 Waywatchers            120
2 Eagles            100
2400

So dropping 21 archers, 1 wildrider to gain the machine gun alter with uber defensive kit and 6 s4 attacks. This guy has it all. Deals with the things woodies struggle with (armoured knights, stanks) and adds a nasty combat charge. 6 s4 attacks alongside the wildriders and the target unit is losing that combat! List is now almost competitive vs Skaven too. Less shooting to be affected by Storm Banner and more small combat units to get multicharges going + enough fast units to get to the greyseer quickly. Still very vulnerable to the 13th...but what isnt really? (Tune in next week for my Horde of Inner Circle Knights list). If I was tabled by anything other than panzer division Skaven I would feel like I had played a crap game/really bad luck.

But vs other armies?
OnG-can deal with chariots, manglers, doomdiver and blocks of troops are just blocks of troops
WoC-Hell cannon will be an issue, but enough s4 shooting and KB to dent the warriors for clean up.
Delves-Dark what? List is effectively shadow magic proof and will out shoot anything that gets sent near it.
Empire- Stank can be wounded now (ignore armour woot!). lightly armoured troops die just as easily as the always have to bowfire and no real artillery targets except the alter (so get to combat fast or get smart about positioning for shooting at stank)
Helves: same as the Delves. More likely to see a dragon-but KB galore and bowfire will win the day.
DoC-hmmmm lots of t3 will suffer. Alter and Wildriders might find the siren annoying, and Greater Demons will require concentrated bow fire-but not impossible to fell one.
Brets- KNIGHTS ARE ANNOYING. Shoot lots to get past the armour! Treekin and wardancers will be king here.
Lizards- well hmmmmm shoot out the skirmishers, kill the steg and hope the Slann doesnt finish you off!
Tkings- yet to play them, but plenty of shooting to get the chariots and warsphinxs
Ogres-the new kids on the block...approach with caution...hopefully can kill enough with shooting before crying
Beastmen- well...list is very shadow proof, so that's them sorted.

So hopefully my reasoning is sound and the list is effective. If I cant get my Helves painted up for the next event (looking unlikely due to all the effort etc being put in), will very much consider rocking a list like this to see how it rolls.

Rethinking the Empire post Home Con

Alrighty, so Home Con has been and gone. I've spent the last few weeks kinda avoiding the hobby. Not on purpose of course...more just taking a mental break to refresh.

I had 2 games 2 weekends ago with my Helves and Empire vs WoC. These games were very much dominated by the WoC lvl4 IFing turn 1 both games (game 1- sucked into warp, game 2-became a lvl1). The Empire game was a lot closer than the High Elf game when my horde Whitelions wiped out the 2hw Korn Warriors in 1 round (the Kwar charged me), then took out the Tznch warriors the next. Whitelions are nasty and should be avoided at all costs. At this rate my 2 boxes of Phoenix Guard are going to be spending alot longer on the sprue waiting for an armybook upgrade to justify their inclusion in an army. Swordmasters are still awesome-even if just from the threat factor. Lore of shadow and High Magic on the lvl2 is an awesome combo. The threat of drain magic means I can get the hexes off easier as dice are held back. My Star Trek fanboi credentials were tarnished though when wraith of Khaine only killed 1 doggie all game...

The Empire game was rather interesting. One of my Halberd blocks took a pounding early on, so reformed to bus only to get the discman in the rear. Careful use of lore of light and challenges meant that unit survived (holding lvl4, BSB and wpriest!). But damn can a WoC hero with the breath weapon rip through units! The other unit was lost to the Tzch warriors in a prolonged grind, but I cleaned up everything else for a comfortable win.

Last weekend was the Auckland tournament with the weird comp that I did not attend. I got a game or 2 tomorrow where I test my "revised" Empire list that rifts off the lessons learned and observed at Home Con + with the Ogres now a "real" consideration.

The list I'll be trialing:

Alector:Walter, GW, AOMI, VHS                    286
lvl4: shadow, seal of destruction, ruby ring, dragon bane gem     285

BSB: FPA, Opal Amulet, ch.shield, ICI,                 108
W.Priest: HA, fencers "hammers"                    129
Captasus: FPA, sh, Dhel, SoMight, Dstone            160

38 Halberds: FC                            210
38 Halberds: FC                            210
2x5 FCompany Detach                        50
30 Flagellants                            300
10 xbows                            80
2x5 5 archers detach                        80

2 Cannons                            200

Stank                                300

2398

So some choices are aesthetic (dual hammers W.Priest is the most bad ass model ever...other than Fabio Valten), others are obvious (2 cannons).

I've opted to gross myself out and take stanky walter for a number of reasons that were mainly motivated by dropping the 2nd unit of Flagellants.
I found that 600 points in very squishy models can be awesome!, but if someone has the ability to stay out of combat and just simply shoot them = massive points liability. This happened vs Pete's Skaven, and Jack's Empire, and I forsee it vs any Lizardman/Delf/woodie list I come across.

Bringing in the Walter gives me loremaster 6 dice monkey of cool-freeing up my lvl4 for shadow. The last wee while I've stopped using the area of affect lore of light spells (other than pha's turn 1/2). This is due to me becoming more selective in my combat decisions, and from using shadow with High elves (ie forcing me to focus on 1 combat at a time). Shadow gives me the tools to deal with the things my Empire really struggle with (ARMOUR)...with mindrazor and also Pit for the big scaries (Im looking at you Ogres!).

It also ties up points in a hard to get place.

To counter the "focus on 1 thing at a time" I've added more chaff....skirmishing chaff. this means I should always catch the manglers + a little bit more token shooting (woot!) that is not to be underestimated;  my archer detachments in 7th were fantastic at killing Greater Demons...

Also early game I have 2 magic missiles/turn to throw at opponents + pit if I have it. This + the shooting = clearing out the chaff and keeping the pressure up.

WHY NO ROCKET BATTERY????????????
For the same reason I dropped the mortar. I dont want to spend points on an Engineer to baby sit it + it's more free points for stuff that gets past my lines/comes on from behind. With 2 cannons, magic missles and shadow = dont really need "another" template. It also stops me feeling bad having Stanky walter...Jack was very correct when stating that walter, stank, engineered Rocketbattery, 2 cannons is a very, very strong empire build starting point! I like to sit just behind the "max" build out of principle.


Anyway, looking forward to gaming tomorrow and also vs Pete....if you're reading this...NO TAILORING!

Home-Con 2011 quick battle reports

Ok, so just attended Home-Con hosted by Pete Dunn. The event was a standard 10 man tournament with Pete-lite comp. I took the following list:

A.lector: Ha, sh (general)

Lvl4: Light, Rod of Power

W.Priest: Ha, 2hw

BSB: FPA, Charmed Shield, Opal Amulet, Wrymslayer Sword

Captain: Pegasus, FPA, sh, Sword of Fate, Dragon helm

2x38 Halberds: FC with 5 Free Company Detachment

10 xbows

2x30 Flagellants

2 Cannons

Stank

Other lists can be found here: http://www.thefieldsofblood.com/2011/09/homecon-lists.html

My thinking going in was “yay 4 WoC lists that love to get into combat with my combat army.”

So anyway the games:

Game 1: vs Tom Dunn DoC. Battleline 15-5 to me

Game one got off to a great start when I was half an hour late due to my car having a hissy fit at the supermarket. I was a little concerned with the GUO, but the rest of his list wasn’t too much of an issue as I was confident I had the numbers to deal with it....underneath that 5+ ward is a t3 guy who is wounded just as easily as any other t3 guy. The game really swung my way turn 1 when the GUO sucked himself into the warp in exchange for 1 flagellant. Good trade if you ask me. Other highlights included flags with timewarp rolling snake eyes for support charge...then basically getting shot to bits. My Sword of Fate sat at the back guarding my cannons. I managed to get his fiends, 1 unit of Bletters, 1 unit of furies and the GUO of course.

Game 2: vs Jack Dunn Empire. Random Deployment. 6-14 to Jack.

So the mirror match. The game started badly with turn 1 the stank getting pitted, then in my turn the lvl4 decided to join the GUO in the warp. This was my death blow...540 points down is a bit of an ask. I managed to destroy the alter turn 1, and got the A.lector turn 5 when my flagellants ripped his Halberds a new one. This flagellants ripped my other unit a new one. Shadow miasma was really good here when have identical stats! I think I fought back well from the initial loss, but a few things like only 1 wound on the stank from cannon etc meant things didn’t really work out for me. But a really fun game.

Game 3: vs Tim Norling’s WoC. Battle for the Pass. I won by 220 points so I assume 11-9

THE UBER MAURUDER HORDES! I have been looking forward to playing against this army for a long time. Basically Cannons with clear field of fire FTW. This game was a bit of a tactical thinker. Tim made a crucial mistake when he forgot you cannot pursue off the edge of the table. This enabled me to get flagellants into the front and halberds into the flank of one of the hordes. The other horde got a stank to the front and slowing ground down. I then charged one of the Free Company units into the flank (to get it out of the way to allow the other halberd flank charge). I won the combat by lots, the horde failed its re-roll ldship 9 test, to get run down by an angry redhead lass. In other news, I lost a halberd unit to a tzch warrior unit with HW/SH + BSB and combat lvl4, but I got the other unit in a grind with the other halberd unit. Best part of the game was getting a 12 dice dispel phase...yeah.

Game 4: vs Pete Dunn. Blood and Glory lose by 335 points So I assume 12-8 or 13-7

Having faced the sons, I finally face the father. Last time we met on the table my army fell apart sceptically. I played this game really carefully. I got his Abomb with my flagellants-losing 1 unit in the process. My cannons got his plague furnace, but the priest passed his opal amulet ward when the first ball of iron picked him off. I then spent the rest of the game trying to get them to fail a frenzy test and run into my trap...sadly they kept passing their restrain tests...no matter how many ranks I stripped off them. My “golden ticket” failed to pay off. The Warp lightening cannon exploded, I banished the catapult, and the points swing was losing my 2^nd unit of flagellants on the last turn....I can dispel magic, cant dispel gutter runners! Lamest part was my Pegasus guy charging the engineer worth points in a building and failing to do anything! This is after failing 2 of 3 poison s3 wounds when attacking gutter runners in combat. Captasus was worst performing part of my army. A very thinking close game which could have gone either way...I’ll get you yet Pete!

Game 5 vs Sam Whitt’s WoC. Diagonal Deployment Draw 10-10

This game was a draw for 2 reasons: my super Tory deployment, and me rolling all the crap lore of light spells with no doubles. To be fair, my stank, lvl4, A.lector and W.Priest all started in reserve. Basically vs WoC to go toe to toe (esp with 2 units of knights) I need the buffs. Only combats were my xbows vs Marauder horsemen (I won that one), knights on Flagellants (Had 1 left at end of game woot!). The other flag unit took out the other fast calv, and then got stuck on a building. I screwed up their deployment. They should have been 7 wide to squeeze though and support my halberds getting pulverised by knights. Good thing I regularly play Sam, so plenty of chance for less boring a re-match. SORRY SAM FOR CASTLING.

Game 6 vs Neil Williamson’s Brets. Battleline. Win 14-6

This game was rather fun. I took bets from all in the room as to what turn my stank would be Heroically killing blow’ed. They all said turn 3...it was turn 4. I managed to delay this by parking my stank behind a marsh. It was only when the one time all tournament I went for 5 steam points and rolled a 6 that he got his knights around and into the stank (I went into panic mode and re-arranged my line to absorb the charge with the stank as "bait"). Having a lvl4 vs 2 lvl1’s really swung the game my way. Casually giving flagellants Timewarp and my halberds ws and I 10 meant I could grind against his 2+as casually. I was lucky to take out the general’s unit. After HKBing the stank, he needed a 9 on the overrun to get into my halberds. He rolled a 7, giving me a casual flank charge. Timewarp later and his general’s unit was rolled on the charge. My Captasus was once again a massive fail at killing. It managed to hold up the peg knights all game, but didn’t do any wounds. Neil played well, just getting a little unlucky with the general and not having the ability to control my magic. 

RESULT.

In the end I drew for 4^th place with Tom’s DoC. 3 wins, 2 loses and a draw was a good result given that of the two loses, 1 could have swung in my favour by the same amount, and the other was a turn 1 fail. No one managed to win all 6 games, and no one lost all 6 games; so a really fun, close tournament. Hopefully there will be another event soon.

My army:

I was happy with my list. The only change I would make is to drop the Sword of Fate, replacing it with the sword of might. The captain just wasn’t killy enough, and I found that I had killed the target with cannons before he could get into combat, or the target was so good that it would be fluky for me to get the kill. Sword of might makes him more “all round useful”. The spare points could give him a ward of some sort, or more xbows (who were on FIRE all weekend).

Still though, hopefully I can get the High Elves looking good before the next event as I’m keen to get them blooded.

Home-Con lists

So I promise battle reports!

The lists for Home-Con can be found here: http://www.thefieldsofblood.com/2011/09/homecon-lists.html

Basically it's a Chaos fest.
Biggest army of concern: the Demons-Hopefully I have the anti magic to control the GUO. Not too sure how I'm going to kill it-cannons + Sword of Fate I suspect. Hordes of Blood letters are not too much of an issue as I have hordes of cod pieces and fluffy hats, so basically I win on that front. Also lore of light ftw here... Games history vs Tom has been a horrible loss with Ogres vs DoC in a watch tower mission (woot!) and a very, very ,very boring draw with woodies on woodies.

Next army of concern is Neil's Brets. I've only ever played against Brets on 2 occasions in 7th with my woodies. Both times I was beaten soundly. vs Neil my history has been a tabling by super goblins in 7th and a solid victory to me vs a more "balanced" 7th OnG list. He's been a solid team mate the last two campaigns, so will be an interesting match up. I'm basically going to be relying on my superior magic to shut down his magic and get some light buffs up to stop his charges meaning anything. Also very scary that Virtue of Heroic Killing Blow auto hitting my lovely stank :( Plan there will be to throw the Stank forward into something and pray to Sigmar that it kills something before it gets splatted. Sword of Fate will be no use as in a unit and will just challenge me away (as he has to do). I'll think of something like diverting him away.

Army to watch will be Peter's High Elves (for tips and tricks for my own selfish reasons). This list is basically his 7th ed high elf list that kept beating everything that got thrown at it. Hopefully the 8th effect will be in my favour. I see the speed of his being a bit of an issue, but cannons to the FACE of the dragon and I should be ok...Also only lvl1 on the prince = I should have magic dominance. I suspect each magic phase will be "I cast shield of sapphery, and  then I cast drain magic". Unit to note: them pesky White lions-they have a history of treeman killing...vs Peter my games history has been a slight win with woodies vs Dwarfs, and then 2 losses vs his high elves with woodies. Also a frustrating loss in the first campaign with fun empire (ie had knights and swordsmen unit) vs his Goblins. Basically my army blew itself up and everything went wrong so wasnt really a game.

And then the Warrior armies woot. Flagellants love warriors and ironically I want to be in CC with them to get my grind on.

So looking forward to it. Just gotta finish my 2nd unit of flagellants....

Home Con 2011

Home-Con is approaching soon. 2400 points, Petelite comp, 6 games, all battleline (I assume for speed and ease of play).

After much thought and "you know, a last minute modelling project is just what you need" niggle to itch I've decided to take the following:

Alector: HA, sh    (General)        134
Alector: HA, 2hw             137 
lvl4: light, scroll            235
BSB: FPA, charmed sh, opal Amulet    103

46 Halberds: Fc                250
5 free company Detach            25
30 Flagellants                300
10 xbows                80
40 Halberds: M, Sb            212
5 Free company Detach            25

2 cannons                200
5 Pistoliers: M                97       

30 Flagellants                300 (the modelling project)
Stank                    300 (Have old metal one to use, but want to convert up a holy mobile for future "fluff")

2398

My first thoughts after writing this were "crap-no pie templates" and "+4 Dispel dice and scroll...nasty I like"

Why no Pie templates?
Artillery = easy points for opponent to take. Scorpions, gutter runners, miners, shades etc love artillery. + my artillery loves to explode inconveniently. My list works around preserving points and dishing the pain...in Close combat. The artillery I have is to kill the things my other stuff struggles to kill + cannon to front of t4 unit will kill more than a direct mortar hit.

Why all the anti Magic?
Because I can. And it was not the "intention." The intention was to give my halberds hatred and not spend points on defensive equipment. W.priests are great, but adding an extra wound adds survivability. + now ld9 for tests woot!

Why 2 units of Flaggellants?
Because 2 is better than 1. One unit can be diverted/dwellered/artilleried etc. 2 + the stank = 3 mega annoying things to deal with, so something is going to get through-even if it is the halberds.

This list looks like a "what is good in the book"...where's the fluff bunny?
Fluff bunny is meet through a number of things. 2 Alectors = 2 units of flagellants. The Stank will be replaced with converted stank to be a priest mobile (suedo Waralter-but not). No artillery wall, no engineers + using lore of light-which suits the religious theme. Also halberds because every province has them. Not really a justification,  but it's not the "usual" internet Empire list.


So those who are attending-you have been warned... the Empire is on the march and it has a crazy look in its eye!

Sorry for the lack of posts-round up and High Elf thoughts

Hi fellow Warhammer nerds (Restpec....Westside..iiiiiiiiiei)

Sorry for the lack of posts. I've just bought a house (move in this weekend-so no Call to Arms for me sadface). I've got a HE vs OnG battlereport to put up when I have time. Basically it is random charge fail 101...in a lolz way.

My high elf army is coming along nicely. Got heaps painted; I'll put pics up when I get a chance. The theme is coming together really well.

I''ve also had some thoughts on the High Elves:

1. Need magic defence: +5 to dispel with lvl4 is really good, so is the scroll. However, the lack of channelling and extra dice really hurts-hence why decided to add a 2nd mage with the steal a power dice crystal to help even the odds (and hopefully keep the swordmasters alove longer!).

2. Lore of Shadow is not all it's made out to be (really, well unless you have the cauldron providing support too grumble grumble): The threat spells are too obvious and the lack of magic missiles really hurts. The Meta of 8th maybe towards big blocks of doom (something I do not buy into),  however having a way to zap pesky chaff units etc is really useful. My current thoughts are to have shadow on the lvl1 for the base spell and beasts or light on the lvl4. High magic is also something that crosses my mind-possibly on the lvl1 (upping them to a lvl2). Get the drain magic, and chance for some useful spells (flames of the phoenix, etc). I'm dropping the RBT's (to fit the new stuff), so curse of arrow attraction is a dumb "possibility" but with 26 shots I still see it being useful. Beasts gives me an excuse to buy the new DElf dragon model (very, very tempting-but with a different head-like the spare I have in the HE dragon kit....) and solves toughness issues. However the spells are still specific and easily targeted for dispelling...HMMMM 3 characters in combat...I wonder what spell I'm going to cast...Lore of light has 4 spells that have area affect = hard to dispel the "key" ones-especially if also know drain magic is on its way. ASF spell gives my swordmasters/DP's, WLions some serious chop that will prove very useful. Also the i10/ws10 gives me something to combat black guard with. Also pha's to help control pesky war machines!

3. Shooting is great, but RBT's too expensive and archers not good enough: so basically need the archers to make up core. I've toyed with the idea of sea guard (cool models mainly), however the ability to focus on 2 different units wins out in the end. RBT are a "nice to have" and in the big scheme of things and integral part of the HE army. However, more troops/smarter troops feels like the better choice. Also, if get the curse of arrow attraction spell it is nice to have some "threat units" even if only s3.

4. 2 units of Whitelions seems "optimal": yes/no/maybe? I lose attacks. This is what it comes down to for me. a 2nd unit of whitelions = I have to buy more models (not necessarily a factor, but a consideration), and lose a "lots of attacks" option. Lore of light + swordmasters should = win. The extra magic defence + buffs from lore of light should = they get to combat and HURT.


5. Chariots and E. Reavers: fantastic models. My 2k list sees me using 2 chariots (no calv). However the key here is "two" chariots. The single chariot gets in the way and hasnt achieved what I want it to. It's something I will be dropping. I want to keep the reavers because they are AWESOME vs everything except WoC (unless they bring fast calv of their own. Otherwise they are reduced to anti wolves and an extra 5 shots/turn).

6. SPEED IS KEY: with the Eagles, reavers, DP's, the only thing missing is a support hard hitter = noble on an eagle (with potential double charge range...) possibility to make it a lvl1 for beasts/fire/shadow support too....(evil thoughts). Also means my "griffons" as eagles can have the IoBlood noble all painted up for cool looking awesomeness. (Side note, I REALLY love the IoB models...all of them!). From a tactical perspective The Eagle noble gives me something to take out their support and combo charge with the DP's for a hard hitting flank.  

So after all that: my proposed 2400 list:

lvl4: light, scroll        280
BSB: GW, AoCaledor, dawnstone    168
lvl2: high, crystal        175
Noble on Eagle: HA, GW, Dhelm    157

35 Spears: FC            340
13 Archers: M            148
10 Archers: M            115

23 Whitelions: M, SB-Bosorcery    413
5 Dp's: M            160
14 Swordmasters: M, SB -flame    238
5 Reavers            105

2 Eagles            100

So I hope that list supports my thoughts. Next time I get a game with them, this is the list I'll be rocking. If anyone can be bothered commenting on the list, please feel free.

Also got home con coming up in September, so I'll be sharing my thoughts on my Empire list for that (stank stank stank stank...)