Anyway, beside the general limitations, described in the first post, the following extra limitations are put on the Vampires:
- They are using the old book.
- Wraiths, Varghulf, Black Coach and Terrorgheist are all 0-1.
- Maximum unit size is 40.
- Blood knights' maximum unit size is 6.
Vampire Lord (General)
Sword of swift slaying, the flayed hauberk, dispel scroll, dawnstone, master of the black arts, red fury
Vampire
The balefire spike, book of Arkhan, dread knight, ghoulkin
Vampire
BSB, dread knight, flag of blood keep
Vampire
Blood drinker, Dragonhelm, dread knight, beguile
40 Crypt ghouls (General goes here)
40 Crypt ghouls
Corpse cart
8 Black knights (Two vampires and BSB goes here)
Barding, musician, standard bearer, royal standard of Strigos
Black coach
Terrorgheist
Not surprisingly, mine is the same as the preceding four games
It has actually been a few weeks since this battle and my report is based on memory, so it might be a bit lacking.
0. Deployment
This time I had to show up rather unprepared. So I had to approach my deployment by relying on gut feeling. My thoughts were that the Black Knights containing the three Vampires must be the dangerous stuff. So I better shoot them with what I've got (I think they had some very good save against flaming attacks, so two of my artillery should shoot other stuff). The Ghouls should be manageable. I have overhead other battles with these Vampires and it appears that the Terrogheist is more scary looking that actual scary.
My plan would be: Shoot the Black knights and Vampires with anything not flaming; shoot Black Coach / Corpse Cart with the other Cannon; and decimate one of the Ghoul blocks before crushing it with infantry. Thus, I deployed my infantry in the middle, and a battery of Cannon and Grudge thrower on each flank, each protected by a unit of Quarrellers.
1st round
As always the dice gods failed me and my opponent goes first.
Vampires do not really do any shooting so they just rush ahead. He might have done some sort of magic but nothing noteworthy.
My turn.
I am thinking that the dead might as well come to me, so no point in moving about. I employ my shooting strategy, nick a few wounds of the Corpse Cart and the Terrorgheist. I kill a single Black knight and some ghouls disappeared.
All in all the entire round was rather uneventful. The field looked like this at the end of the first round:
2nd round
So far I'm pretty confident. My plan is sound, except that I didn't really manage to wound the cavalry sufficiently and more dead-dead Ghouls would be nice. But I am happy. I expect the Terrogheist to wreck havoc on my artillery on my right flank. But I have grown up. Even though it still pains me to loose troops, I have learned to accept it.
My prediction was correct. His Terrorgheist charged my Grudge thrower. The rest of his troops moved ahead.
In the close combat phase the result of his Terrorgheist crashing into my Grudge thrower had to be decided. I was not too confident; and correctly so. Not only did the flying monstrosity chew up some of my valiant crew members, those who were left got stumped. After burping up one of my helmets the geist turned around and stared hungrily on my cannon.
My turn.
Since the firs battle against the foul Skaven, known as "Zwerg Tungsten's great charge" my Hammerers have really missed the sound of battle cries whilst charging enemies far away. So the charge the "nearest" Ghoul block, they were pretty far of. But of course my super fast Hammerers make it
Inspired by the tremendous distance covered by my general and his entourage my Quarrellers on my right flank charges the Terrorgheist in its flank. My Warriors makes a right turn to be ready to receive the Black knights who will most likely charge right through my Cannon.Before we can get to the close combat phase the rest of my artillery has a few word to say. My (soon to be dead) Cannon on the right shoots the Black knights and removes a single one. My remaining Grudge thrower shoots at the block of Ghouls not currently engaged and removes a handful. The Cannon of the left flank fires at some Spirit Hosts that for reasons I have forgot had appeared in front of the Black coach. Nothing like a good rune filled cannon ball against Spirit hosts, half of them went away.
So close combat. My Hammerers crash into one of the Ghoul block, the one containing the general. As the Ghouls are already dead it was more or less a walk in the park. My hammerers rolled over them and the few standing after the sound of hammers on skulls crumbled; including the general. Alas, six of my valiant Hammerers succumbed to the tearing of the Ghouls. For good measure they reformed and eyed the other Ghoul block.
My Quarrellers heroically fought the Terrogheist but did not manage to kill it. However, seven perished, which of course not was sufficient to break them
This eventful round left the battle field looking like this (at this point my excitement got me carried away and some sort of confusion might have affected my picture taking.):
3rd round
My opponent is severely shaken after loosing his general. He is also cursing repeatedly and complaining about his very bad idea of putting his general in front of my Hammerers. I tried to be supportive and tell him that it was a very good idea, but it was not well received
Anyway, the round was very eventful and unfortunately a bit of a blur but I'll do my best to recollect.
His round started with crumbling due to lack of general. It killed off the Terrorgheist. After that he got annoyed. On the left flank, his Black coach, now being ethereal, flying, hatred, well basically the lot, charged and removed my Cannon.
On the right flank, his Black knights charged into my Cannon, which was unsurprisingly flattened and his cavalry continued into my Warriors, who were also charged in their flank by the last of the Ghouls. They were apparently not in the mood for my Hammerers.
Even though my Warriors fought with all the bravery in the world they were simply over powered. Both the Black knights and Ghouls took out enough to break my Warriors. On the bright side (I think) both unit pursued off the table.
In my turn the Hammerers, robbed of a target had to turn around and face the Corpse cart. Some uneventful shooting happened.
After the loss of my Warriors the battle scene is in a sorry state, which can be seen here:
4th round
His Black knights and Ghouls returned to the battle field. He charged my Hammerers with the Black coach. I took out his Corpse cart with a nicely aimed shoot from my remaining Grudge thrower. My Quarrellers settle down for beer. There is really nothing left on the table that they can either shoot at or wound. Nothing here to see, move along.
5th round
Now his black knights can charge my Hammerers, which they do. Luckily, there is no room for his Ghouls. So they just hang around as target practise for my Grudge Thrower.
My BSB and General are the only ones who can touch the Black coach, so I leave that to the BSB. Besides that this is more or less a slaughter house. More that half of my Hammerers are taken out. I do not manage to get rid of the blasted Black coach and only a few Black knights fall.
Anyway, end of the 5th round leaves the battlefield like this:
6th round
The battle revolves around my Hammerers. His Black knights manage to kill all of them, but my BSB and general refuses to leave the battle. All in all, this would be a perfect time to roll insane courage on my break test; which I do
I thought that Vampires were immune to psychology but man was he annoyed So after the dust settles this is what was left:
Lessons learned
Yet another fast a furious battle. I know I lost, but only by 43 points! If I had found these point it would have been a draw. However, I obviously claim the moral victory. I think I played OK. I think my moral victory was down to chance.
This was the final battle in the league. I'll return shortly with a summary.
Edited by Zwerg Tungsten, 07 April 2012 - 09:14 AM.
