26 replies to this topic

[Zwerg Tungsten]

I am currently attending a local league where I am lined up to fight: Skaven, Dark Elves, High Elves, Warriors of Chaos, Vampire Counts.

Here is the list of battles with links:

• Victory against Skaven
• Victory against Dark Elves
• Defeated by Warriors of Chaos
• Defeated by High Elves
• Defeated by Vampire Counts
• Summary and lessons learned

In addition to the general rules there are a few local ones:

• 2500 pts, one army that cannot change throughout the league.
• The lists are open up front.
• War machines are 0-2.
• War machines in total are 0-5.
• Special characters are allowed (except Teclis).
• Max 12 PD/DD per phase.
• Spellbreaker and spelleater are 0-2 togeather.
• Can only generate +4 DD pr. phase.
• Master rune of balance counts for +2 DD.
• Spellbreaker and spelleater counts for +1 DD apiece.

Anyway, after much consideration and good help from my fellow dwarfs here at the brewery the following army will march to battle:

Lord @283 pts
Shieldbearers, Rune of preservation, Rune of resistance, Master rune of spite, Rune of might, Shield

Thane @160 pts
Master rune of gromril, BSB, Rune of preservation, Rune of resistance, Rune of fire

Runelord @258 pts
Master rune of balance, Shield, Rune of cleaving, Rune of stone, Rune of preservation, Rune of resistance

39 Dwarf warriors @415 pts (Runelord goes here)
Great weapons, Standard, Veteran

37 Dwarf hammers @524 pts (Lord and Thane goes here)
FC, Master rune of Grungi

Cannon @140 pts
Engineer, Rune of forging

Cannon @145 pts
Engineer, Rune of forging, Rune of burning

Grudge thrower @170 pts
Engineer, Rune of accuracy, Rune of penetration x2

Grudge thrower @150
Engineer, Rune of accuracy, Rune of penetration, Rune of burning

10 Quarrellers @130
Great weapons

10 Quarrellers @130
Great weapons

I'll try to get reports made for all the battles. First up are Skavens.

Edited by Zwerg Tungsten, 01 May 2012 - 08:35 AM.

[Zwerg Tungsten]

So first battle is against the wretched Skavens. I have never fought them before and looking through their book leaves me a bit worried.

The local rules further modifies the Skavens in the following ways:

• Slaves are 0-2.
• No more than 40 slaves in one unit.
• Gutter runners are 0-2.
• All rare are 0-1.
• Grey seer is 0-1.
• Warlock engineers are 0-3.
• No doom rockets.
• Furnace can't be combined with bell.

He showed up with the following army:

Warlord
Rat Ogre Bonebreaker, Dragonhelm, Sword of anti Heroes, Talisman of Preservation, Shield, Other Tricksters Shard

Chieftain
BSB, Enchanted Shield, Foul Pendent, Ironcurse Icon, Bitting blade

Grey Seer (4 spells from Ruin, 0 from Plague)
Talisman of Endurance, Scalm, Power Scroll

Warplock Engineer
Level 2, Dispel Scroll

5 Giant rats & Packmaster

5 Giant rats & Packmaster

40 Slaves
Shield, Command

40 Slaves
Shield, Command

49 Stormvermin
Command, Storm Banner

40 Plaguemonks
Command, Plague Banner

5 Gutter Runner
Poisoned, Slings

5 Gutter Runner
Poisoned, Slings

Hellpit

Doomwheel

Warp Lightning cannon

I have tried to document most of the battle with pictures but excitement got the better of me so I forgot to take pictures of all the rounds, bear with me (grrrrrrr).

0. Deployment



Thanks to the advice of David L I deployed my artillery on a hill with their back to the table edge to avoid the gutter runners. One groups of quarrellers nearby and my infantry up front. I also hid one group of quarrellers in a forest on my right side.

Since I basically have no idea about how the Skavens will play, my plan was to sit back and see what would happen.

1st round

I got first round and was ready to warm up my artillery. The evil rat obviously raised his storm banner. So I was getting worried. However, what is a simple storm banner against the might of the Dwarven fire power?

Following the advice of Grim Stoki that the Hellpit was my 1st, 2nd and 3rd priority for my artillery, I started by aiming my cannon with rune of burning towards the foul creature and rolled against the storm banner. Obviously I got through. My other cannon was stopped along with one of my grudge throwers. The last grudge thrower scattered a bit and took out a few Storm vermin. I only managed to take of one wound from the Hellpit. The quarrellers took out 3 of the 5 of the first Gutter runners, for obscure reasons they did not break.

The Skavens advanced on the double.

The evil Grey seer managed to get a Scorch spell through an managed to kill 13! of my best Hammers. This should not have happened. I wouldn't if I was just half awake. I forgot to claim the two extra dispel dice for my Runelord. How much of a <fill in obscene word to taste> is it possible to be. I did not remember it until round five!

Anyway, his warp lightning cannon did not go through the storm banner. So much for Skaven ingenuity...

2nd round

First things first, nothing like the smell of gunpowder and burning rat in the morning. I couldn't be bothered to move so I just started shooting. All, but one cannon got through the pathetic Storm banner. A combination of a cannon and a grudge thrower took out the Hellpit. My second grudge thrower hit the Warp lightning cannon smack in the middle and took it out.

My quarrellers peel of a few Plague priests.

Do to my excitement I forgot to take a picture until in the middle of round two. So this picture shows the state before the rats moves in round two.



The Skavens did more advancement. The two Gutter runners on my right charged my quarrellers in the forest.

I can't remember exactly what, but some spell took out another five of my Hammers and also blew up the Warplock engineer. That was his magic phase.

The horrible Gutter runners manage to kill one of my crew on my Grudge thrower.

I many ways an uneventful round for him.

3rd round

Still a bit nervous, my photographing skills let me down again. So this picture is just before my 3rd round.



This round will hence forth be know as "Zwerg Tungsten's great charge".

My hammers charged the Storm vermin and the Doom wheel only running a comfortable 5 inches. Whilst my Warriors charge a full 10 inches a crashes into the Plague monks (this was almost the mistake of the day). The Quarrellers on my left flank marches forward to block the Slaves moving around my Warriors.

My shooting phase was nice. The storm banner had no effect what so ever even though I was slowly running out of targets. Two Grape shots from my cannons took out the Gutter runners sneaking up on my artillery. My two Grudge throwers removed what was left of the Slaves where the Grey seer and BSB was hiding.

Next up was close combat, which turned out to be bloody. From the right:

The remaining two Gutter runners managed to kill one Quarreller who in turn did nothing; except holding and reforming.

Seven of my valiant Hammers died fighting the Storm vermin and the Doomwheel. I took of one wound from the Doomwheel, a few from the Storm Vermin and killed his Champion in a challenges. I think I lost, but let's face it they (actually do) "laugh in the face of danger and drop ice cubes down the vest of fear".

Now, first lesson learned: do not get into a close evenly balanced fight with Plague monks! They pulled up their Plague banner. That was 51 attacks everything re-rollable. Oh, the pain... They took out 16 of my best Warriors. After my warriors revenge I had to roll a three to stand, which I did. Extra beer for my warriors after the battle. This was probably where the battle was won, or at the very least not lost. If my warriors had been broken I am pretty sure that I would have be dead.

Skaven's turn.

He moved his remaining Slaves forward along my left flank. He charged my Quarrellers on my right flank with both groups of Giant rats. Nothing here to see.

After my Warriors' heroic stand against the Plauge monks I was quite euphoric so I can't remember too much of this round. What I do know is that this is how the battle field looked before his round.



I am pretty sure that nothing happened with the combat on my right flank. My super Warriors broke the Plague monks, who ran but I restrained and reformed to charge the Storm vermin in their right flank.

In the magic phase the loathsome rats got the 13th through and turned my Quarrellers on my left flank into rats.

4th round

My warriors charged to right flank of the Storm vermin.

I finally had something to shoot at again. I took out eight of the ten rats that used to be my valiant Quarrellers. They broke and ran of the table.

My Grudge throwers took out two thirds of the last Skaven group. Having both the general and the BSB made them hang around anyway.

In the combat phase my Quarrellers on my right finally woke up. They killed the last two Gutter runners and one of the Giant rat groups and in good tradition ran down the last fleeing group of Giant rats.

The main combat between my Warriors and Hammers, and his Storm vermin and Doomwheel ended in a stalemate.

In the Skaven turn he routed his Plague monks and moved the remaining Slaves a bit closer.

Nothing happened with his magic even though I still could not remember to use my extra two dice.

I am pretty sure that this is a picture of the situation before the 5th round.



5th round

No movement except for my Quarrellers turning left to look at the combat. They were for all practical purposes out of the game. I allowed them to sit down and enjoy a crate of my finest ale.

I could still shoot and finally his Storm banner ended. In poor excitement of this my two cannons managed to overshoot the Slaves. My Grudge throwers took out most of the Slaves and some Plague monks.

The combined might of my Warriors and Hammers took out enough Storm vermin to break them. Begin outside the sphere of their general and BSB made them run. I pursued with my Hammers, of which only two were left. My warriors pursued the Storm vermin; neither was caught.

The Skavens were quickly running out of troops. He did not manage to route his Storm vermin. The Plague monks made ready to charged my Warriors.

His Grey seer managed to generate enough spells to both cast both Cracks call (most likely on my Hammers containing my BSB and Lord) and the 13th. I only had eight dispel dice. Not enough to dispel both! This is the point where I finally remember to pick out an extra two for my Runelord. I decided to allow Cracks call as both my BSB and Thane actually have an acceptable initiative. He cast Cracks call on my Hammers.... Suspense.....

My BSB made his initiative roll, my Champion did not, my standard did and my Lord!

Since he had already used his power scroll he needed 25 to get the 13th through. He managed 23!

His Storm vermin ran of the table. He managed to route his Doomwheel

6th round

I probably shoot something with my artillery, I honestly can't remember.

My remaining hammers (two, BSB and Lord) charge the Doomwheel.

My warriors reformed to receive the charge from the Plague monks.

In combat I learned that charging a Doomwheel it not a good idea. It killed my last two hammers and my lord! I managed to give it a wound or two.

I am pretty sure that this is a picture of the interesting part before the Skaven's 6th round.



He charged with his Plague monks and his BSB charged out of the Slaves.

I dispelled his attempt to case Death frenzy; remember I suddenly had two extra dice.

Now final combat phase.

His Doomwheel did nothing. My BSB killed it.

My warriors took out most of the Plague monks, broke them and the BSB and duly ran them down.

Since the slaves were so close they got scare and ran off the table taking the Grey seer with them.

Result

Not a single Skaven left on the table!

I had 9 out of 10 Quarrellers left in one unit.
Slightly less than half of my Warriors.
My Runelord.
My BSB.
I only lost one crew member from my entire artillery group.

I lost my Hammers, my Lord and one unit of Quarrellers.

A good day to be a dwarf.

I was a very good fight with many exiting situations. Most importantly, both the Skaven player and I had a lot of fun.

Lessons learned

• Remember the extra dice from the Runelord.
• Plague monks with Plague banner are lethal!
• Play it safe and do not get over exited with your lord. It was unnecessary to loose him in the final round.

Next up are Dark elves. A report on fighting these evil pointy eared elves will appear within a week or so. I'll try to remember to take the correct pictures.

Edited by Zwerg Tungsten, 30 April 2012 - 10:05 AM.

[Torendil Zharrgrund]

Thank you for reporting!

The report was very enjoyable. Both well written and with pics! It's nice to see a newer player forming his thoughts on units and situations.

Overall I think you managed very well! Some mistakes, but you spotted them yourself. That's an advantage of writing a battle report, it allows you to spend time thinking about the battle and learning from it.

Well done, I'm looking forward to the next report!

Torendil

[David L]

Are you sure you played the Storm Banner correctly? The odds of it lasting that long are extremely low. It tests every player turn to stay up.

[Montegue]

Well done. Have a brew on my tab.

Why are plague monks so deadly? I've yet to face a Skaven army, so I'm unfamiliar with them.

[Wendersnaven]

Well done. Have a brew on my tab.

Why are plague monks so deadly? I've yet to face a Skaven army, so I'm unfamiliar with them.

Maniac attacks and poison. Not to mention they're just plain ugly...

[David L]

Plague Monks do NOT have poison. They have three attacks each, and a one-use banner that gives them re-rolls on hit and wound. Combine with horde formation and even strength 3 will do damage. Still, even here the Plague Monks only killed 16 Dwarf warriors, which is not a massive number by 8th edition standards. Take a size 45 Hammerer unit, and you should kill that many plague monks.

[Zwerg Tungsten]

@David L, yes we did test every single round. He consistently rolled less that four. Which was not really a problem as I consistently rolled more that four

About the Plague Monks, they do pack a punch. In a horde they will have 51 attacks, being frenzy and using the banner be able to re-roll to hit and to wound. I just did a quick calculation and they should be able to hit 38 warriors, wound 21, and kill 14 in the first round (so his monks actually outperformed). In the first round our Warriors would only be able to hit 18, but wound and kill 15 (so mine actually underperformed). Following the law of average this should be OK. But it is a heck of a lot of damage and the dices only needs to be a little against you before even Dwarven Warriors are in trouble.

Of course if you survive the first round you are winning. Following the law of averages the Plague Monks would still have 51 attacks entering the second round. But now without the banner. The Warriors should enter with 27 attacks. This should give the monks 26 hits, 9 wounds and only 3 kills. Whereas the mighty Dwarfs would have 16 hits, 13 wounds and kills. Next round would then break them as they now lost their frenzy.

In summary, the Plague Monks do not look scary on paper, but they surely do when you have to remove the whole back rank, and a bit, from you Warriors in the initial combat round.

[Targ Ironfist]

Plague monks are his deadliest unit, which deserves a bit of attention then. (OG or GT - to get them under 30).

Good thing is to meet them head on (minimising his deadly attacks), weather the storm and reform after the first CC.

[Ryric]

Well done. Have a brew on my tab.

Why are plague monks so deadly? I've yet to face a Skaven army, so I'm unfamiliar with them.

My lone experience with plague monks wasn't bad. My BSB solo and my ironbreakers charged a horde of them, with the BSB ending up on the right side of the furnace and the IBs on the left, though both in the forward arc of the monks. His furnace killed more monks than ironbreakers consistently, while the 25 IBs lost fewer than ten models killing their way through the monk horde. The BSB took a single wound in the first round of combat, but was unscathed until the last monks died in the 4th or 5th round.

[Targ Ironfist]

Plague monks are one of the match ups where IBs shine like gold!

[Zwerg Tungsten]

So my second fight in this league, now, fighting dark elves. My least favourite enemy. Not because that are not generally beatable, but because I tend to doze off between the 250 attacks, with re-roll and probably some sort of re-roll, and just to be on the safe side an extra re-roll. Whenever I wake up from theses buckets of dice being rolled nothing much has happened anyway

Nevertheless, I am up against dark elves. Besides the general limitations described in my first post, the dark elves have the following extra limitations:

• Pendant is illegal
• Max unit size for specials is 30
• Max unit size for core is 40
• Hydra is 0-1
• Shade 0-2
• Max crossbows in an army is 30
• Black guard is 0-1
• Cauldron of blood cannot be combined with shadow magic or hydra

He showed up with the following army (mine is in my first post):

Supreme sorceress
Level 4 (Dark), Opal amulet, Darkstar cloak

Sorceress
Level 2 (Fire), Dispel scroll, the Guiding eye

Master
Heavy armour, Shield, Cloak of Hag Graef, Dark Pegasus, Lance, Dawnstone

Cauldron of Blood
BSB

28 Corsairs, FC, Sea Serpent Standard

19 Warriors, FC, Standard of Discipline (Supreme sorceress went here)

19 Repeater crossbow, FC, Shield (Sorceress went here)

5 Harpies

5 Harpies

8 Cold one knights, FC, Standard of Hag Graef, Whip of Agony

20 Black guards, Musician, Banner of Murder

6 Witch elves, Musician

Cold one chariot

So, this time I have tried to take more pictures and not get carried away. However, I might have dozed off a bit

0. Deployment



I kind of followed the same deployment strategy as against the Skavens. I put one of my Quarrellers on my left flank to at least slow down the Chariot and Cold ones. My Hammers and Warriors went together to benefit from my Master rune of Grungi.

The huge amount of units had me a bit confused, I had to admit. So I gambled on staying back a see what he would do. So basically the same "strategy" as before.

1st round

The dice failed me and he got first turn.

He moved ahead at full speed. No stupidity on his cold ones

The magic phase was uneventful as I remembered my two additional dispel dice

His shooting resulted in me loosing 4 (out of 10) Quarrellers on my right flank. Naughty crossbow elves. Yet, it takes more to rattle my sturdy dwarfs.

My turn:

I backed up my Hammers a bit to make sure that they would not expose their flank to the Cold ones. They ended up a bit behind my left flank Quarrellers. The idea was that he would charge with both the Chariot and the Cold one. My Quarrellers would stand and shoot on the first one, and flee through my Hammers for the second one. He did not comply with my plan.

The shooting phase was my chance for vengeance on the evil shooty elves. But also my "I should learn to focus" round. I knew the capabilities of all his troops (remember the list are open), but still, I managed to fire both cannons at the Master on Pegasus. I should just have ignored him. There is basically not a chance to wound him. Looking back, he would probably eat his way through one piece of artillery per turn. So I would have shooting for at least four turns. Lesson learned: "ignore stuff I can't hurt anyway".

Anyway, my two Grudge throwers took a nice chunk out of the Cold one knights. They managed to take out 5 out of 8 in the unit.

The situation at the end of the first round is:



2nd round

He rushed forward again. On my left flank, his Chariot made the stupidity test, but his Knights did not He moved one unit of Harpies in front of my Hammers, to annoy me? His Master on Pegasus, unsurprisingly charged one of my cannons.

The annoying Crossbow "men" (actually squashy elves, but to be polite "men") took out another 5 sturdy Quarrellers. But just a mere 90 % of a unit lost is by no means sufficient to move a good Quarreller.

In his magic phase, he managed to get Black Horror off. At least I think that was the one. Of course he managed irresistible force and to out 20! of my finest warriors. A small comfort was that he managed to kill 7 of his own warriors at the same time. But still, a senseless waste of perfectly good dwarfs.

Not a lot of close combat going on, except for his Master killing 3 of my Cannon crew. But it takes more to leave artillery, so my single Engineer was still standing.

The end of his 2nd turn left the board like this:



I was always taught that it is impolite to keep your guests waiting, so my Quarrellers made a massive 8 inches charge into the Witch elves. I was about to learn just how many times a pack of naked elves with knifes can try to poke you. Not wanting the Quarrellers to go to the party all alone my Hammers charged the Harpies. My Warriors was still a bit shaken (I have to admit) so they just assumed a threatening pose and waited to see what would happen.

I am not quite sure what my unoccupied cannon shot at. What I do know that it missed. My first Grudge thrower fired at the Black guards and removed 10 of them. That is 50 % The other Grudge thrower took out another 10 Corsairs just for good measure. My single Quarreller decided that it would be more fun killing a Harpy that a Crossbow man. All in all an acceptable shooting round.

Finally some good old fashion close combat. The Witch elves did their Japanese sushi chef trick on my poor Quarrellers. I think the were frenzied, had more knifes than I could count, and hatred. All in all, after a few buckets of dice half my Quarrellers had disappeared. Obviously, the remaining troops put their axes to flesh but only managed to kill two. My Hammers did a better show and basically ran right through the Harpies and did a bit of reforming.

After my 2nd turn the board looked like this:



3rd round

His Master on Pegasus had just finished my first cannon and charged into my first Grudge thrower. In the main part of the table, most of his troops now moved forward. I think he (thought he) had a cunning scheme.

His magic phase was uneventful.

His annoying Crossbow men finally managed to kill of my final heroic Quarreller.

Only close combat was against my Grudge thrower. Same procedure as last time. He kills 3 I do nothing.

My turn. Having acquired a taste for charging, my Hammers charged into his Warriors, whom the Supreme sorceress had just left. My Warriors had finally shaken off the loss of their comrades and charged into the Corsairs.

I am pretty sure that my remaining Cannon and Grudge thrower did shoot at something, but I can't remember what.

My close combat. Hammers are polished, axes are sharpened and there is an ample supply of fresh and soft elves. It is a good day to be a dwarf. My Hammers basically ran right through the Warriors. In the process they did loose 3 of there comrades though. They pursued right into the lonely Supreme sorceress. My Warriors also did an acceptable job. After the obligatory nap, whilst the elves rolled attacks, extra attacks from something, a bit more from the Cauldron, re-rolled the lot from frenzy, re-roll a bit more. I think the total amount was 30 odd attacks re-rolled and re-rolled wound (potentially 120 dice) they managed to kill 7. I am pretty sure that half of them just fell asleep and were left for dead. I hit back and took out 6. My last Engineer died heroic while defending his Grudge thrower.

This is the situation at the end of round 3:



4th round

His only surviving Harpies charged my last Cannon. His Warriors kept on running (they would eventually run of the board). The Cold one knights finally managed to get some control over their mounts. But that was basically it.

I can't remember what happened in the magic phase.

In the close combat phase the Supreme sorceress managed to get herself killed by my Hammers (no surprise here). The Corsairs did their bucket rolling, even though they only had 29 attacks now! so just 116 potential dice rolls. After half an hour of dice rolling they managed a massive 3 kills. Trying to be polite my Warriors hit back and also killed 3. Although they only needed 15 attacks with no re-rolls to do that, so just a mere 30 dice rolls at the most. The Master finished off my Grudge thrower and the Harpies managed to kill a few of my Cannon crew and chase them of the board. Oh, the shame.

In my turn, my Hammers charged into the Witch elves. That was it. They continued to wipe out the Witch elves and reformed to charge somebody else. My Warriors managed to loose 4 against 6 Corsairs. At least they lost frenzy now

The end of round 4 left the board like this:



5th round

His movement round was full of interesting situations. His Cold ones charged into the flank of my Warriors (I'm worried) and his Black guards also managed to charge my Warriors (now I'm really worried). His Chariot charges my Hammers right flank and dies.

In his magic phase he was so shakend by the loss of his Supreme sorceress that he forgot his other Sorceress; so did I.

His close combat phase allowed me a stroke of brilliance if I'm allowed to say so. The next picture is at the end of his turn (brillian explanation below).



I hope I played this correctly. We both think that I did. The Cold one knights had a Champion. So my Runelord issued a challenge, which he duly accepted. That led to me moving my Runelord into contact with his Cold ones. Thus, only 2 Black guard were able to strike at my Warriors and no Cold ones! (see picture above). I had no real hope of actually damaging the Cold one, but my Runelord is close to unkillable The results of this close combat was that I manage to take out 3 Corsairs, no Black guards (I did not attack them) and no Cold ones. He manage to only take out 2 Warriors.

It is now my turn. I can already tell you that he is in trouble. I do not think that my Runelord's challenge decided the outcome of the battle but it surly did make the result more obvious. Anyway, My Hammers charges the flank of the Black guards and the Cauldron.

In the close combat phase, my Warriors kill off the rest of the Corsairs, my Hammers takes out half of the Black guards, and unsurprisingly nothing happens between the Runelord and the Cold ones. This nice result breaks the Black guards who flees are are basically out of the picture.

Here excitement got the better of me and I forgot to take a picture.

6th round

His Master charges into my Warriors right flank. This charge kills of all but one of my remaining Warriors. The Cauldron is wiped out by my Hammers. Moving onto my turn.

My Hammers charge the Cold ones and the Pegasus in their flanks. The following combat goes as follows: The Master takes out my last Warrior and perhaps a few Hammers. The challenge between my Runelord and the knight goes nowhere. However, as his champion is in the middle of his unit my Hammers actually get to make an attack and kills two Cold ones. This breaks the Cold ones and the Master. I try to pursue, but let's face it...

The end of the battle leaves me with my Hammers including my Lord and BSB (967 pts); and my Runelord (258 pts). He only has his Crossbow men, all others are either destroyed or are currently fleeing the combat.

Look at the nice picture



Yet another good day to be a dwarf. I was a very bloody fight with lots of intricate counting going on in the centre main fight. But as always and most importantly, both the Dark elves player and I (and a few spectators) had a lot of fun

Lessons learned

• There is something fundamentally wrong with Dark elves. The Crossbow men rolls a bucket of dice and kills next to nothing. The Corsairs rolls two buckets of dice and kills even less. Why not just remove some of their attacks or hatred or something and upgrade the strength or something? Looking at dice rolling, knowing nothing will happen is boring (grumble done).
• I have to learn to accept loses. I should just have let the Master on Pegasus be and used my fire power on something else.
• Charging is fun.

Next up are Warriors of Chaos. I think that is going to be a hard nut to crack. As always, a report will follow.

[CitizenThane]

sounds like the dark elf player suffered from some poor rolling, not to talk away from you victory! Nothing stirs the soul like dismembering elfs

[David L]

Really good report there! Thanks for posting it.

[Wendersnaven]

Nicely done. Charging Dawi and combat reform ... I love 8th edition tactics.

[Torendil Zharrgrund]

Very nice report.

Funny comments are fun.

You should have moved the single surviving Quarreller off the hill and out of LoS to preserve the VP, but maybe the Master would have gone after him. Still, if he did, it might have saved the Warriors....

Otherwise a great game!

Torendil

[Furgil]

I may be wrong, but it sounded like you said your Hammerers charged the flank of the Black Guard & the Cauldron.

I must assume you charged the Cauldron, beat it and then overran into the Black Guard. Becasue charging both in the same charge phase is illegal now.

[Grix]

Great report! Thanks for sharing.

[Zwerg Tungsten]

Third game up against Warriors of Chaos. Given my recent success I am not really worried (damn am I going to be proven wrong). I have only played WoC a few times. I usually get beaten, but not too badly. However, this player is probably as good a player as the other WoC guy who beats me.

Beside the general limitations described in my first post, WoC has the following limitations:

• Infernal puppet can't be combined with dispel scrolls
• Chosen has max size of 15
• Hellcannon is 0-1
• Nobody can have better than 4+ ward save in close combat

He showed up with the following army:

Sorcerer lord
Level 4, Mark of Tzeentch, Enchanted shield, Disc of Tzeentch, Infernal puppet, Golden Eye of Tzeentch

Exalted hero
BSB, Halberd, Mark of Khorne, Juggernaut of Khorne, Charmed shield, Talisman of Preservation

24 Chaos warriors
Halberds, Shields, Mark of Khorne, Musician, Standard bearer, Blasted standard

14 Chosen
Mark of Khorne, Musician, Standard bearer, Champion, Wailing banner

38 Marauders
GW, Mark of Khorne, Musician, Standard bearer

40 Marauders
GW, Mark of Khorne, Musician, Standard bearer

5 Chaos hounds

5 Chaos hounds

5 Chaos hounds

5 Chaos hounds

Hellcannon

Warshrine

So tons of either naked dudes with great weapons or heavily armoured troops; all frenzy. This time I actually did a bit of calculations up front an figured out that my warriors should be able to kill the Chosens, but only my hammers can take care of the chaos warriors and marauders. So I need to decimate them quickly. There is no point in shooting at the characters as they are more or less immune. My plan would be to shoot the Hellcannon with my cannons and Marauders with my Grudge throwers; and hope for the best.

0. deployment



This guy has a Hellcannon and a level 4 sorcerer with magic missiles. I deploy with my Hammers in the middle in such a way that the Master Rune of Grungi covers all by the Quarrellers, one Cannon and one Grudge thrower on my left flank. My quarrellers are deployed on each flank to keep the Warhounds away (basically the only thing they can hurt). I am actually quite happy so far.

1st round

Again I loose the roll-off, bugger! He rushes forward at full speed. His Hellcannon misfires, but nothing happens. His Sorcerer is not in range.

My turn.

Movement is overrated so I'll just stay where I am.

In my shooting phase, my Quarrellers on my right flank takes out 3 Warhounds from the first group. They do not run away I shoot both of my Grudge throwers on the Marauders with the Exalted hero.

At this moment I discover something horrible (that I forgot): WoC are on 25 mm bases. This means I can hit a maximum of 16 instead of 21 under optimal conditions. Combined with my own idiotic "I could perhaps wound the Hero" I only kill 7! with each. The silly naked dudes are of course Frenzy so no chance of panicking them either My mistakes are not over yet. I also forgot that we play a different hight system than LoS. I can't actually see the Hellcannon so I shoot at something else. If I had remembered the different height system I could actually have shot at it I am not sure that I actually cost me the game, but it did not improve my chances.

As a good side note my Quarrellers on my left flank wipes out another group of Warhounds.

At then end of the first round the board looks like this:



2nd round

He continues he mad dash for my lines.

In his magic phase he starts off by casting Infernal Gateway, which I dispel. He then gets irresistible force on Treason of Tzeentch. Through some lucky dice rolling and the Infernal puppet only figures in base contact with the Sorcerer takes damage, which are none. 12 of my heroic Hammers end up dying from internal fighting.

He carries on in his shooting phase. His Hellcannon scores a hit on my Warriors and even though my Master Rune of Grungi was suppose to protect me, 14 of my finest warriors perish.

My turn

I turn my Quarrellers around on both flanks to guard against the Warhounds staring hungrily at my artillery. That's it.

In my shooting phase I keep on using my Grudge throwers on the same Marauder unit as before. I think I kill around 10 more. I have forgotten what my Cannons fired at.

This is the state after the second round.



3rd round

Mayhem begins. From the left flak:

• Marauders and Exalted charges my Quarrellers in their flank
• Chosen charges my Warriors
• Chaos warriors charge my Hammers
• Warhounds charge my Quarrellers

His Hellcannon can't find anything to shoot at, so it takes a small nap. His Sorcerer attempts to cast something that I dispel.

Close combat and lots of it...

• His Hero and Marauders walks right through my Quarrellers and overruns into my Grudge thrower. No surprise here.
• His Chosen kills tons of Warriors and I kill one! My dice rolling was just really really bad. I flee and is overrun.
• His Chaos warriors kills some of my hammers and I kill some back (yet another crappy dice roll). It's a stalemate.
• His Warhounds run into a wall of axes and are killed. This has the funny effect that his Sorcerer lord who just couldn't take loosing his dogs flees of the table

This is the situation before my turn.



My turn.

Except for my final Quarrellers I have nothing left that can move. So right to shooting.

My Grudge thrower on my left flank is a bit preoccupied so only my Cannon here can shoot. I fire on the Warshrine a takes out two wounds. My other Grudge thrower fires at the other Marauder group but misses! I pull out a Grapeshot on my other Cannon also on the Marauders but only takes out two or three (yet another crappy dice roll). Finally my Quarrellers shoot at the last Warhounds, kill three and the rest runs of the table.

For the close combat round he, unsurprisingly eats though my Grudge thrower on my left flank. His Chaos warriors only manage to take out 4 Hammers and they manage to take out a few more. This actually breaks the Chaos warriors who my trusted Hammers obviously run down

End of round three leaves the board like this.



4th round

It is down hill from here and fast...

His Marauders on my left flank charges my Cannon. His other Marauder charges my Hammers. His Chosen reforms and his Warshrine makes ready to charge my Hammers in their flank.

As he lost his Sorcerer he has no magic phase. In his shooting phase the blasted Hellcannon takes out my last Quarrellers.

In the close combat phase he takes out 11 of my finest warriors and I only remove 6. Yet another crappy dice roll. But of course they stay in the melee

In my turn, the combined might of my Grudge thrower and Grapeshot takes out 7 Chosen. But they are also Frenzy so they can't be bothered. Close combat kills of my last Hammer and I manage to kill absolutely nothing.

End of the fourth round looks like this.



5th round

His Chosen charge my Lord and BSB in their back followed by the Warshrine in their flank. His Marauders on my left flank reforms and moves towards my remaining artillery. His Hellcannon finally fails its leadership roll and moves forward.

In the close combat phase everything hacks away at my last two dwarfs. I manage to take out four Chosen. So far I am happy. I expect to hang around for a while. My Lord has a 1+ armour save, re-rollable and a ward save, my BSB has a 1+ ward save, re-rollable. How wrong am I...

His troops manage to wound my Lord three times. So I just need to roll 3+ three times. I roll: "1,1,2"; ah re-roll "2,2,1"; well I have a ward save, so.... "2,2,3". Dead. My BSB rolls just as bad..... Game over...

End of his fifth.



I'm done. In the 6th round he rolls though my final artillery with his Chosen and Exalted hero. Not a single dwarf left on the board. Not a good day to be a dwarf. I was a very fast fight. Just about two hours including setup. It was bloody and very funny. The main rule still applies: we both had fun

Lessons learned

• Warriors of Chaos might be the worst army we can face. All of them are Frenzy so there is no way our artillery can break them. They also have 25 mm bases meaning less kills pr. round. He had four large blocks that could potential kill any of my infantry blocks. I simply did not have enough artillery.
• I think I did what I could. I had a few errors though: I did not shoot at the Hellcannon with my Cannons. I should have done that; my hammers should have gone horde as soon as possible; and I should have ignored the Exalted Hero and used my Grudge thrower on the Marauders only.

Next one up is either the undefeated High elves or Vampires (old book). Report will follow.

[Zwerg Tungsten]

Fourth battle against high elves. I have fought high elves before but never this guy. He is currently undefeated in the league so I am expecting heavy resistance. As we will see I am right and as you will see this battle will hence forth be known as the big chicken run

For those who are interested in the views of my opponent his report is here.

Anyway, in addition to the general limitations, high elves have the following specific limitations:

• Book of Hoeth can't be combined with other arcane items or Banner of Sorcery
• Max unit size of 30 for special units
• Max unit size of 40 for core units
• Wizards with Lore of Light are 0-3.

He showed up with the following rooster . Mine was the usual one (see first post).

Prince on Star Chicken (star dragon)
Vambraces of Defense, Great Weapon, Armour of Caledor, Talisman of Loec

Noble BSB on Great Chicken (great eagle)
Dragon Armour, Shield, Great Weapon, Helm of Fortune, The Other Trickster's Shard

High Mage
Level 2, Annulian Crystal, Ironcurse Icon

30 Archers
Full Command and Gleaming Pennant

14 Archers, Musician

10 Archers

30 White Chickens
Full Command and Banner of Eternal Flame, Amulet of Light

5 Dragon Princes
Drakemaster with Skeinsliver

3 Great Chickens

0. deployment



We got some terrain on the table. I guess I should have payed more attention. The big rock in the middle will soon be very annoying. He hid the Star Chicken behind a house so that I would have to be spot on to hit him with my cannons. He also hid the BSB on Great Chicken. I put my artillery on the only hill, put my Quarrellers on each flank, and my Warriors and Hammerers in front so all but the Quarrellers would be under the cover of the Master rune of Grungi. The only really dangerous stuff he has are the Star Chicken, the BSB and the unit of White Chickens; the rest is manageable. So my plan is simple: shoot the White Chickens with my Grudge Throwers and the Star Chicken and BSB with my Cannons.

1st round

Again, I did not get the first round. That is 3 out of 4 times and I even have the +1 every time. I am going to shave that dices and dye its hair orange.......

So his first round. Not a lot happening for the High Elves. They had full speed ahead. His magic round was shut down. All his archers let a hail storm of arrows loose, and killed one Quarreller.

My turn.

I re-positioned my troops a bit so the Star Chicken would not be able to charge me in the flank. I also turned my Hammerers a bit in anticipation of his Dragon Princes. This turned out to be unnecessary and possible down right stupid. Later on they will spend too much time turning back again. Anyway, that concludes the movement phase.

Shooting. Of course, my first Grudge Thrower misfired The second one took out 6 White Chickens. My plan was to shoot the Star Chicken or the BSB with my Cannons, but being huge mean monsters of course means that the sneak about hiding. That's what to expect from those pointy ears. So I had to use my Cannons on some thing else. The probability of hitting spot on are simply too low. I took out a few more White Chickens, a Dragon Prince and a few Archers. My Quarrellers also took out a few Archers and a Dragon Prince.

The situation after the first round is this:



2nd round

High elves are fast, in particular when on horses or any type of chicken. 2nd round is charge time. His Dragon Princes charge my Quarrellers on my right flank. I stand-and-shoot and kill two of them, only one left. The Prince on Star Chicken charges my Warriors. The White Chickens storm ahead, and the BSB and two of the Great Chickens move between my Quarrellers and the White Chickens. Big scary woodland elves are afraid of my sturdy Quarrellers. I understand it, but still what is the point of being a big and scary chicken?

His mage finally manage to get something off in the magic phase. He casts Vaul's unmaking on my Hammerers with irresistible force and removes the Master rune of Grungi. His archers then shoots at one of my Grudge Thrower and kills it. Just to really ruin my day the other Grudge Thrower fails its panic test twice! So it's out for the next round.

In the close combat phase the remaining Dragon Prince manage to kill one of my Quarrellers and they kill him back. It is much worse for my Warriors. This huge Chicken with a Prince on top of it will probably wreck havoc on my poor Warriors so I opt for a challenge from my champion, hoping that my Hammers might arrive to help. Unsurprisingly my valiant champion quickly becomes Chicken fodder.

My turn.

This is when I realise that turning my Hammerers around was a mistake so I turn left hoping to get into combat with the Star Chicken in the next round.

In my shooting phase my Cannon has a nice line where I can actually hit three Great Chickens. So fire away. Unfortunately the cannon ball fails to wound the BSB who is first in line, so much for that plan. Following the great success of my artillery the remaining Grudge Thrower actually manage to miss the White Chickens My Quarrellers on my left flank only manage to take two wounds of one of the Great Chickens. On the positive side, my Quarrellers manage to kill enough archers in one of the small group on my right flank to make it panic and flee of the table.

Combat. So after my valiant champion was slaughtered in the last phase I am left with the same problem: big chicken vs. small stumpable and eatable dwarfs. I am still hoping for my Hammerers to arrive so my Rune lord shouts some obscene remarks and challenges the Prince. The Prince can't touch him, but the Chicken can. He will be remembered.

End of the second round leaves the table looking like this:



3rd round

It is down hill from here. His BSB and one of the Great Chickens charge into my artillery, One Great Chicken and the White Chickens charge my Quarrellers, and the last Great Chicken moves into to block my Hammerers so they can't charge the Star Chicken.

In the magic phase, his mage manage to blow him self up. Unfortunately he manage to get Shield of Saphery of on his White Chickens. In his shooting phase, the Archers manage to kill some of my Quarrellers on my right flank.

Close combat, argh! His White Chickens wipe out my Quarrellers and overrun into my Warriors. The White Chickens and Star Chicken and now beating my proud Warriors into a bloody pulp. They take out 23 of my finest. Hitting back doesn't really help a lot and they are run down. The Star Chicken smashes into my Artillery. My Grudge Thrower on the left is killed and they band of chickens are ready to eat their way through artillery.

My turn. For all practical purposes I am done. But we are dwarfs so giving up is not an option. My Hammers are the only ones who can move so they charge the annoying Great Chicken in front of them. Unsurprisingly it chickens out.

The board now looks like this:



4th round

I have to admit that the battle is actually over. The high elf announces that he have no intentions of actually fighting my Hammerers. The only sensible response to this is of course to sing the high elves' national anthem whilst flapping my arms in the international chicken fashion. Unfortunately he couldn't be baited. So the last three rounds of this battle will go down into the book of grudges as "The Great Chicken Run". I am a dwarf so I obviously insist on finishing the game (it also gives me an opportunity to actually move my Hammerers around a bit )

These last three rounds basically involves the high elves running away (my opponent claims it was a "tactical retreat") and my Hammerers moving around making chicken sounds.

After these three rounds the board looks like this:



Lessons learned

This was the fastest game I have ever played. It was a clear defeat but both the high elf player and I had a lot of fun. Being allowed to flap my arms and make chicken sounds for ten minutes was very nice

• My opponent was quite clever and used tactics.
• Fast moving flying stuff is difficult. It obviously opens up more tactical opportunities.
• I think I actually did as good a job as possible (except for the unnecessary Hammerers movement in the first turn). The most dangerous unit, the White Chickens were my primary target for my artillery. If I had managed to take them out I would have been very close to a draw.

Next game up is against Vampires (old book). Report will follow.