WHFB – Beastmen vs Dark Elves – 3rd Place Playoff – SELWG Competition Game

Or the game of ‘elevens and twelves’.

After a very close defeat against Neil’s Lizards in the club Semi-Final, it put me into the third place playoff (or loser’s game) against Luke C and his Dark Elves.

This was the third time I’d played Luke in the last year and each time had been against his Dark elves using my Beastmen. I’m afraid to say that I failed to beat him in the last two showings (including our game earlier in the competition with the same lists). Suffice to say I wasn’t feeling overly confident and combined with it being my first time at the club in a while, I decided the main aim was to have fun (whilst winning if I could!).

As always, any mistakes are entirely down to my notes (with a bit of poetic licence thrown in).

The Herd was in disarray. The battle against the Lizards had driven them from the ruins and the Beastmen had started to look at Khazbar in ways he didn’t like. He knew his authority was on shaky ground. There were whispers growing that the gods had abandoned him. Even worse, Bashor had survived the battle, though in a weakened enough state that Khazbar had managed to wrestle control back but not to expel the troublesome lord from the herd. Decisive action was needed.

Thankfully Khazbar, unlike most of his kin, was forward thinking and had already found a fallback location. A dark twisted glen, within the remains of a fortress, deep within the forest. Gathering the remnants of the herd, they set off to this last refuge unaware that even now their movements were being tracked by an old foe.

After several hours of trudging through the thick undergrowth they neared their destination. Vine strewn walls appeared with regularity and crumbling towers could be seen in the distance. The woods began to change the closer they got, drawing in the light and becoming darker and more sinister.

Ahead, one of the Halfhorn scouts appeared from the undergrowth. He rushed up to Khazbar, a scent of fear palatable in the air. The fear was justified as Khazbar’s dark magic ripped the unfortunate Ungor apart as his displeasure manifested itself. How was it possible? How could the vile elf sorceress have found them again?  With a shout he ordered the herd forward, determined to reach the twisted glen first.

Lists

Beastmen

Khazbar the Magnificent (Lore of Beasts) – Great Bray Shaman, Brass Cleaver, Jagged Dagger, Talisman of Preservation, Gouge Tusks

Cattleclysm – Doombull – Gold Sigil Sword, Ramhorn helm, Dragonbane Gem, Arabyan Carpet, Gnarled Hide

Bashor the Bloody (General) – Beastlord, Ogre blade, Armour of Destiny

Wazzock the Lame (Lore of Shadow) – Dispel Scroll

Zurrock the Mighty (BSB) – Wargor, Beast Banner

48 Gor – AHW

37 Bestigor – Standard of Discipline

Tuskgor Chariot

Tuskgor Chariot

Razorgor

Razorgor

5 Harpies

5 Ungor Raiders

5 Ungor Raiders

Dark Elves

Dreadlord (General) – Lt Armour, Sea Dragon cloak, sh, Ogre Blade, Talisman of Endurance, Cold One – 246pts

Supreme Sorceress – Power scroll, Talisman of Preservation, Darksteed, Lore of Life – 320pts

Death Hag (BSB) – Cauldron of Blood, Obsidian Blade, Rune of Khaine – 390pts

Master – HA, sh, Sea Dragon cloak, Lance, Cloak of Twilight, Dark Pegasus – 188pts

Dark Riders (5) – Musician, Standard, Spear, Repeating Crossbow, Sh – 120pts

Dark Riders (5) – Musician, Standard, Spear, Repeating Crossbow, Sh – 120pts

Dark Riders (5) – Musician, Standard, Spear, Repeating Crossbow, Sh – 120pts

Witch Elves (27) – FC. Razor Standard – 372pts

Cold One Knights (9) – FC, Banner of Eternal Flame – 310pts

Executioners (23) – FC – 306pts

Scenario, Secret Missions, Terrain and pre-match rolls

We initially rolled Dawn attack but as neither of us were taking the game too seriously and I had groaned loudly when it had been rolled (mainly as it was the scenario I’d played the most during the comp), Luke suggested we play wicked woods instead.

The terrain was pack 5, so we had 2 sets of 2 building that were linked by walls/hedges. There was also a single wood and a hill.

We ended up surrounding the ‘Wicked Woods’ with all the scenery and it ended up like this:

For spells generated:

Khazbar  – lvl 4 Great Bray Shaman (Lore of Beasts): Wyssans, Curse, Savage Beast and Transformation

Wazzock – lvl 1 Shaman (Lore of Shadow): Miasma

Supreme Sorceress – Throne, Regrowth, Earthblood and Flesh to Stone

Deployment

With a symmetrical layout, we didn’t even roll for table sides and stayed on our respective table edges.

I laid the first unit and it was then alternating. After deployment and the 3 vanguards of the darkriders, it looked like this:

A little bit of proxying took place by Luke, due to the wrong mini’ case being picked up.

The closest Razorgor was not meant to deploy there, that was me totally forgetting to move it after putting the rest of my stuff on the table!

Turn 1 – Dark Elves

The Witches led by the frothing Hag made their intent clear from the offset, attempting to dominate the game by surging forward to capture the woods in front of them. Two of their number were torn limb from limb as the woods struck at them and the Cauldron also lost 4 wounds.

The Cold One knights, even with the General in them, then proceeded to fail their stupidity and in a display of palm to face slapping, Luke realised that in moving the witches first, the BSB was now out of range so the best the unit could do was stumble a few inches forward.

During the magic phase, two of the wounds to the Cauldron were immediately recovered with the lore of life attribute as Earthblood was cast on the Cold Ones and Flesh to Stone on the Witches – both were the weakened versions as throne was dispelled. (Edit: I realise now that this wasn’t possibly because the level 4 Sorceress was bunkered in the Cold One’s and failing stupidity with the unit would have prevented her from both casting or channelling).

Between them, the dark riders managed a wound on the chariot on my right flank. The other Darkriders (having lost a model to dangerous terrain) failed to wound the Bestigor.

The 2 Bestigor in the witch unit were slaves, chained to the front of the Cauldron. Or they were spares that I lent Luke, that conveniently matched the footprint of the Cauldron. I’ll let you decide

Turn 1 – Beastmen

Seeing the twisted elves move into the woods, Khazbar ordered the forces of the herd to advance on all fronts, chaff moving to the fore and the rest jostling for position. Khazbar himself, unsure about the horde of lunatics in front of him, ordered his Gor to position themselves behind the wall.

Seeing an opportunity to further impede the enemy cavalry unit, to cast Curse onto the them. Completely fluffing the spell, he managed to miscast and the resultant power drain stripped him of three levels and spells and left him with just Transformation of Kadon. Bugger!

Turn 2 – Dark Elves

Both he Witches and Cold One knight units decided to hold their positions. The witches because doing so gained them a scenario point, due to holding the woods and the Knights as they ‘bravely’ decided not to risk the dangerous terrain test.

The Dark Riders continued to move round and get in the way. Their shooting was still completely ineffective with just 3 Gor dying to their shots.

The Executioners, fancying their chances, charged into the Doombull and despite him cutting down 4 of their number, he lost the combat due to the musician swinging the odds, proceeded to fail his leadership test (box cars) and was run down in short order (damn that was not part of the plan!). The Executioners then overran into the nearby chariot.

Magic was ineffective with Throne dispelled and the sorceress failing to cast regrowth.

Turn 2 – Beastmen

Raging about his loss of power and needing to vent his frustration, Khazbar ordered his bodyguard of Gor to charge the darkriders in front of him. The riders fled but the Gor not only  ran them down, as the Gor made a maximum move but they managed to also career into the witch elves too (losing 11 of their number to dangerous terrain in the process…). They were joined by the Razorgor, who having charged first (in order to complete my secret mission – take a message), ensured that the Gor combat would take place in my turn and not Luke’s. (Again this was not part of the plan).

Wazzock tried to cast Melkoth’s to help that combat but it was dispelled. Khazbar did cast Transformation and became a Mountain Chimera but this just ensured that he was moved out of combat (as the Razorgor was in the way).

Combat was a brutal affair. 24 of the Gor fell to the combined attacks of the witches, leaving just the front rank of Gor alive. This was the best result possible for the Elves as a few more kills and the Chimera would have made it into combat! The remaining 9 Gor, BSB and Razorgor, fought back with the same ferociousness as the witches with 15 of the 17 attacks available each killing a witch. It wasn’t enough to save them and they ran back towards their lines. The brave Pumba was cut down but the Gor outdistancing their pursuers and shockingly neither unit lost any further models from the dangerous terrain test. (I will say I wasn’t totally unhappy that the two units had clashed as I was curious to see the outcome and would have suggested us squaring them off after the game anyway, I just didn’t want them in combat at that point).

The Executioners were only able to cause 2 wounds to the chariot and the plucky crew held their ground.

Turn 3 – Dark Elves

The Witches again charged the remaining Gor, who had no choice but to flee. They weren’t able to escape their fate this time and the witches pulled up just short of the edge of the board.

One unit of Darkriders charged the chariot they had previously been railroading but failed to do any wounds.

The other charged the Ungor in the house killing all the halfhorns.

The Dark Master finally got in on the action and charged and slew the final Razorgor.

The Cold One Knights, finally able to do something, crashed into the Bestigors. Seeing the imminent demise of my level 1, I used his scroll to get rid of Throne and dispelled Earthblood. In the combat, Luke suggested a wizard challenge and with very little remaining on the board I agreed (Yes the sensible option would have been to direct my rank and file attacks at his sorceress but at this point we were having such a good laugh and killing his level 4 wouldn’t have made a lot of difference to the outcome, so I accepted for shits and giggles). As it happened, Wazzock got the first moral victory and caused a wound!

In the rest of the combat in the unit, the Dreadlord caused a single wound on Bashor and the knights killed 8 of the Bestigor. In a frightening display of rolling (I had forgotten what Luke’s rolling could be like) he saved 7 of the 9 wounds rolled in return. The Bestigor were steadfast 10 so weren’t going anywhere for the moment.

The Executioners unsurprisingly finished off the chariot and turned to face the woods in the centre.

A very convincing Dark Master on Peg!

Turn 3 – Beastmen

Determined to salvage a bit of pride, the Harpies charged the flank of the nearby Darkriders and in a total first for the unit, not only decimated their target, they then ran down the remainder too. Shocking behaviour!

Wazzock managed to cast a boosted Melkoth’s onto the Knights, reducing their WS, BS, I and M by 2.

The ‘Wizard off’ continued but with neither side managing to cause any wounds. The Dreadlord finally got the better of Bashor who ended up a bloody mess on the floor. The Bestigor managed to kill off 4 of the Knights for the loss of another 8 or so (at this point I had forgotten to note the numbers) but the unit still remained steadfast (if only on an 8 with the loss of the lord).

Turn 4 – Dark Elves

In what was the final turn of the game, the Executioners moved up to the edge of the woods, ready to move in and gain more scenario points if needed.

In the magic phase, Throne was dispelled but this allowed regrowth to go through on the Cold One Knights, replacing two of them. Earthblood was also cast on the unit and in the process, the Sorceress was healed of the wound she had taken earlier.

She immediately lost the wound again as Wazzock once again got one up on his foe but her mount returned the favour, giving him a good kick to the head. The remaining Bestigor put down the newly resurrected Knights but with the Dreadlord now free to concentrate on the rank and file, they had another 6 of their number cut down. This on top of the death of their leader, was too much for them and they turned tail. The Cold Ones, their blood finally heated by the combat, tore into them leaving none alive.

In the one bright point of the round, the remaining chariot destroyed the dark riders and turned to face the witches.

At that point we called the game as I had nothing left with which to contest the scenario (or much else for that matter!).

Results

Luke – Win (15) = 15pts

Me – Loss (5) + Secret Mission (6) = 11pts

So overall I came 4th in the club comp out of 20 players. I must say that I’m pretty happy with that, especially using an army that is generally considered underpowered.

Conclusions

Khazbar frantically flapped his wings as he tore his way through the air. “What a disaster”, he thought. One defeat after another had culled the weak from the herd but the latest setback had not strengthened the core but utterly shattered it. He thanked the dark gods that his transformation had given him the means in which to escape the fate of his herd. There was nothing left but to head back to the Drakwald to start over. As he roared his frustration and turned to wing his way north, his cry was answered and a blooded Cattleclysm burst from the forest to join him in his journey.

This was yet another thoroughly enjoyable game. Not so much from the outcome or the way I played (which was riddled with errors) but from the banter, laughs and improbable dice rolls.

With regards to the dice, I don’t think I’ve ever played a game where so many 2 dice rolls (with the exception of the magic phase), ended up as either an 11 or 12. Almost every charge or overrun came up with that roll.

I won’t go into detail about my errors in the game (there were many) but there was a definite rustiness to my play. That isn’t to take anything away from Luke. He pretty much dominated the game from start to finish.

The one comment I will make is around the magic phase. I made a point of dispelling Throne every time it was cast (this was for historic reasons) but this was a mistake. With the limited magic available to me after my first turn miscast, in some turns I would have been far better off letting it go through and getting rid of it in my turn, so I could dispel the only other thing he could cast. Still you live and learn.

What next?

I’ve not quite had enough of playing with the Beastmen yet. I will do my standard after tournament list evaluation in a later post and I have one of the club guys who wants a game as he has never played Beasts before.

I’m trying to delay that game until after the arrival of my Twisted Catacombs kick starter miniatures, as I’ll definitely run a full minotaur and double Ghorgon ‘frenzy’ list for fun.

Before that game, I’m hoping to get some more time in with the Wood Elves and once I move house (in a couple of months if all goes well) I’ll be able to dig out and finally build my Bretonnians.

Oh and with no one else coming forward, I’ve been thinking about running the next whfb competition. I’m very much fancying the 2014 Brawler Bash rules with a few amendments.