So, yesterday I played a 1000 point game game against high elves, with both of our lists being less than optimal (both of us are fairly new to the game and still working on out units). This is my first battle report so I hope you like it. Anywho, here are the lists that went into the battle:

Dwarves:

Runesmith:
Shield, MROB, Spellbreaker

Thane BSB:

28 GW Dwarf Warriors:
Full Command

16 GW Dwarf Quarrelers:
Full command

1 Cannon:
Rune of Forging

1 Organ Gun

This was a pretty solid shooting list going up against the following eleven list

20 Sea Guard

20 Pheonix Guard

10 Swordmasters

1 Loremaster of Hoeth

Overall I felt that it was a enjoyable game, but you can read the report and tell me what you think. Elves deployed first and got turn one.

Deployment: The elves put their units as close as they could to the edge of the deployment zone, ready to make a mad dash through the field of shooting units! He had a group of 20 sea guard, 20 phoenix guard including his general, the lore master (and his eight signature spells to choose from) and 10 sword masters.

I deployed my troops to match his. I put mine close to the line than I usually would, but that was more to get the quarrelers in range of his units as soon as possible. The quarrelers and the warriors made up the battle line, with the organ gun stuck a bit back and between the two units, and the cannon in the corner of the map ready to fufill its durty and start sniping the bejezus out of his units. My BSB and Runesmith were nestled into the unit of Dwarf Warriors. We rolled to see who would get first turn, and the dwarves lost the roll so elves got to make the first move!

Elves Turn 1: There is not much to say here as he more or less just moved his units straight forward. He positioned his phoenix guard in front of his sword masters, hoping that they would block line of sight from anything that could shoot them. His magic phase was unsuccessful, as he rolled a 3, got two dice, and I got 4 dice. His shooting phase saw his sea guard fire on my quarrelers killing one of my dwarfs and drawing the first blood. His first turn ended after that.

Dwarves Turn 1: Well, no movement, no magic, straight to shooting! I unloaded everything I could to start whittling down his phoenix guard, seeing as I did not want to deal with 20 4+ ward saves in close combat, and seeing as how the Sea guard were taking pot shots at my quarrelers and not my warriors, I was content to let them go for the moment. Quarrelers fired first, taking down 3 phoenix guard with 15 shots, cannon attempted to fire through both his units of phoenix guard and sword masters, but full shot and only got 3 phoenix guard, and only one failed his ward saves. The organ gun, however, fired like a champ and on a roll of a 10 knocked out 6 more after wounding nine, bringing his unit down to half strength ( he passed his panic test unfortunately). Was a nice round of shooting all in all.

Elves Turn 2: The first thing he did was try to charge his phoenix guard straight into my dwarf warrior horde...and rolled snake eyes on the charge (which even I winced at, no one likes rolling snake eyes on the charge). He left his sword masters where they were and did not move up his sea guard, instead choosing to fire more hots at my quarrelers, killing three more, bringing my unit down to 12. Again he tried to use some magic, but again the runesmith was their to stop it and double 6 saw an irresistible dispel.

Dwarves Turn 2: Movement...yeah no. Magic...yeah no. Shooting...oh boy, oh boy! The organ gun fired into the phoenix guard again, this time only rolling a 2. Naturally I re-rolled it, and on the second roll I scored a 10, and I watched 4 more phoenix guard drop, leaving 6 left and the lore master of Hoeth. The cannon shot next, this time going through his unit of phoenix guard (one who passed his ward save and one who didn't) and bounced right through his sword masters, nabbing two more of them dead. Quarrelers decided to fire on the sword masters now that the phoenix guard only had 5 models and the lore master remaining, and they did absolutely nothing, failing to wound on all but one of their shots.

Elves Turn 3: The phoenix guard, finally tired of being shot at, declared a charge at the untouched unit of 28 (plus a runesmith and BSB) dwarf warriors wielding great weapons. This time the unit easily made it. The sword masters also moved around trying to set up for a charge on the following turn. Once again he tried to have his sword master cast magic, and once again the runesmith said no. After moving his sea guard up a little bit towards the now engaged dwarf warriors, he took another round of shots at my quarrelers, knocking down three more models, reducing the unit to a group of 9.

Anyway on to close combat! After all was said and done there were four wounds from his side of the field to the dwarf warriors, The elves and the lore master put up a good fight, but...a thane, runesmith and the supporting 20 attacks from great weapons in horde mode saw that his unit was very much depleted, although he rolled an amazing amount of ward saves, his phoenix guard was wiped and his lore master had one wound left on him. Dwarves won the combat and attempted to pursue. Curse our short legs he got away... but we were right on his tail anyway.

Dwarves Turn 3: So, the dwarf warriors charged the fleeing lore master, and after that it went straight onto shooting. The organ gun tried to fire on the sword masters, but this time the organ gun misfired (although with those 2 shots on a roll of 10, it had more than made up its points!). Thankfully it didn't explode, but it would be unable to fire for the duration of the turn and its next turn. The cannon then turned its head to the sea guard, as I was tired that unit taking pot shots at my quarrelers. The cannon shot right through the full ranks of the unit, failing to wound one of them but taking out three models. The quarrelers, having no line of sight to the sword masters, also shoot at the sea guard, picking off two more models when all is said and done.

Close combat was, well, quick. He declared a challenge, I declined, he took out two more dwarves...and the dwarves ran him through. Sword masters took their panic checks for seeing the lord wiped and passed, then it was his turn.

Elves Turn 4: So he did not move a single unit (which was weird, I was expecting to be charged by the sword masters), and choose to just fire on me either his sea guard (which I was now in close range with, and lost 4 models to their bows). He had no mage and with nothing in close combat, he ended his turn.

Dwarves Turn 4: As luck would have it, his sea guard were well within the front arc of my dwarf warriors, and having no desire to fight even 7 sword masters in close combat (angry folk, they are), I charged his sea guard with my remaining dwarf warriors (still 20 dwarves strong). Then we went straight to shooting. The organ gun couldn't fire this turn as a result of its misfire last turn, so it was up to the cannon and the quarrelers. The cannon whiffed its shot, landing just short of the unit, but the quarrelers lined them up and knocked two of the remaining seven sword masters down and he had to make a panic test on his unit of sword masters ( 2/7 = 29%), who failed their leadership test and started to run away from the quarrelers who had shot at them.

Close combat was brutal. He scored two dead dwarves, and in return he lost eight sea guard. Failing to roll the double ones that would be required of him to stay in close combat, his unit fled, dwarves once again trying to pursue, and once again our short legs failed to catch the sea guard.

Elves Turn 5: This elf player was very honorable and determined to see the game through to its end. During his turn he rallied his sea guard so that they could turn around to face the dwarves once more but his swordmasters...they were not as determined as the sea guard. They just kept on running as fast as they could.

Dwarves Turn 5: So the warrior horde charged once more into the sea guard, and then it was time for the shooting phase. The organ gun was out of range of the sword masters, but the quarrelers were not! they had nine shots needing a 5+ to hit, and they landed 5 shots! On the rolls to wound they wounded (and successfully killed) four of the sword masters. The remaining sword master was picked off by a cannon shot to the back, wiping the unit.

In close combat, there wasn't much to say as the dwarves killed off the sea guard to the man, concluding the battle as a massacre victory for the dwarves!

Afterthoughts: After the battle me and the high elf player (again, who are both fairly new to the game) talked shop about what we could have done differently. For myself I thought that I could have deployed my quarrelers a bit differently so that they were less of a target, and I should have probably moved the dwarf warriors to get into a better position to flank or overrun the phoenix guard in close combat

After talking things through we thought that he should not have marched his phoenix guard straight up the middle taking shots from every angle, and that he should have moved his sea guard up into close combat a lot sooner instead of using them to just pick at the quarrelers all game (a decision that we both agreed was not all that wise seeing as I ignored that unit for the majority of the game). We also agreed that when given the opportunity to use his sword masters in close combat against the dwarf warriors he should have, seeing as the 14 strength 5 attacks that he could re-roll the misses on would have put a big hurt on my unit of 20 remaining.

All in all we both felt that it was a good game and shook hands, eager to play another one in the near future.

Hope you enjoyed reading the battle report (kind turned out to be a bit long, but whatever).

-Bruenor