My final game of the group stage was vs Alex Mountain and his Elves. I’ve faced Alex a couple of times before at Warhammer and he can be a canny opponent. He was particularly good at using Chaff in that system, so I was expecting this to carry over to this one.
Alex’s Elf list – 2000pts
Kindred Archer Horde – Brew of Keen Eyedness – 295pts
Kindred Archer Horde – Jar of Four Winds – 285pts. (They may look suspiciously like unpainted 5th edition Bretonnians in the pictures but Alex assured me that yes they were in fact elves, with extra large sunhats on. It was funny but in the course of the game he had to explain this to 4 or 5 others who for some inexplicable reason had come to the same conclusion as me).
Hunters of the Wild Troop – 135pts
Hunters of the Wild Troop – 135pts
Kindred Tallspears Troop – 100pts
Silverbreeze Cavalry Troop – Brew of haste – 160pts
Stormwind Cavalry Troop – Diadem of Dragon-kind – 170pts
Stormwind Cavalry Troop – Potion of the Caterpillar – 160pts
Bolt Thrower – 90pts
Dragon Kindred Lord – Ensorcelled Armour – 345pts (Again this in no way looked the slightest bit like a Zombie Dragon with an undead rider but instead completely resembled a haughty elf riding his noble dragon).
Mounted Mage – Inspiring Talisman – 125pts
As normal I’ll take a look at his units and then try and see if I can guess his deployment.
His entire army has elite, allowing him to re-roll 1’s on the hit roll. This is possibly one of my favourite army wide rules.
Horde of Archers – With 20 attacks, hitting on 4+ and a standard 24″ range, these will project a solid area of denial. One of the units will have a range of 36″ due to the Jar and the other will hit on 3+. I won’t lie, these do worry me somewhat as if they focus on the same target, they will be deleting units pretty quickly,
Bolt Thrower – I’ve found bolt throwers hit and miss with just 2 attacks. They do have a 48″ range so will be threatening my forces from the first turn. Their piercing is somewhat wasted on my army so overall i’m not too fussed about this unit.
Silverbreeze Cavalry – This is the last of his ranged units and what he would have used as chaff in the previous system. With the brew of haste it would have a range of 11″, the most of any unit on the field. They also have nimble and bows so they could easily delete my chaff from the get go and start chipping away at other units/get in the way. They are a prime target for my limited ranged units.
Hunters of the Wild – This unit pumps out a lot of attacks for their size and with Vanguard, they could potentially be in my face really early on and he has 2 of them. They do need to attack first as with their low nerve (10/12), they’ll die to a stiff breeze. They are also a prime target for my Chieftains ranged attack as even a few wounds could remove them.
Kindred Tallspears – This unit is probably the closet to chaff in his list in terms of points. I suspect their sole use is to get in the way of anyone going for his hordes.
Stormwind Cavalry – The troops only have 8 attacks but hit on a 3+ with TC (2) and have a def of 5+. Again the nerve is low at 11/13. He will definitely be wanting to get these guys in the flank to maximise their potential. One of them also has a breath attack (10) which can so some damage.
Mounted Mage – This guy is fairly bare bones with heal (3) and Bane Chant (2). I think his primary job is to buff the 2 hordes.
Dragon Kindred Lord – another filthy flyer 😉 with ensorcelled armour. I just need to try and ensure he doesn’t get behind my lines.
This is the most amount of shooting i’ve come up against so far, so it will be a good experience for me. I would expect the Archer hordes to make up the centre of the lines with maybe the bolt thrower in between them. The mage will likely be nearby to throw on a bane chant.
Everything in his army, with the exception of the 2 hordes and the Dragon Lord, have a top nerve of 13 or less so should be easy to remove.
He also has the same number of drops as my list (11).
To recap my list.
The Herd of Khazbar the Reborn – 2000pts
Khazbar – Shaman – heal + Myrddin’s Amulet – 130pts
Wazzock the Renewed – Shaman – heal – 120pts
Zurrock the Mighty – Chieftain on Chariot – bows + Fire Oil – 205pts
Beast Pack – Troop – 70pts
Beast Pack – Troop – 70pts
Tribal Spirit Walkers – Horde – Brew of Strength – 260pts
Longhorns – Regiment – 145pts
Stampede – Horde – Brew of Sharpness – 305pts
Guardian Brutes – Horde – Blessing of the Gods – 255pts
Brutox – 220pts
Brutox – 220pts
Terrain
We rolled map pack 5, from Neil’s terrain generator, which gave us 4 buildings, a wood, a hill and 24 inches of obstacles. After deployment it looked like this:
Scenario and Deployment
The game was Dominate which was nice, as I hadn’t played this yet and due to the fortuitous placement of the woods, might give me an edge with my army wide pathfinder.
Alex won the roll for sides and the armies after deployment looked like this. (his right most hunters vanguarded up to the wall and those on the other side of his lines moved up to the building.
He then won the roll for first turn which he took.
Turn 1 – Elves
The Elven right flank surged forward with the hunters, Stormwind Cavalry and his Dragon Lord making the most of the lack of Herd on that side of the board. There was little movement on the other side of the board with the exception of the Silverbreeze that moved to cover the nearby heavy cavalry.
His massed shooting opened up, the herd lines withered under the deluge of arrows with one of the beast packs left as a pincushion.
Turn 1 – Herd
Zurrock seeing an early chance in the game, unleashed the Brutox and he charged in alongside to wipe out the Silverbreeze Cavalry. Unable to contain its bloodlust, the Brutox overran towards the Stormwind who had been cowering behind.
In the centre the Stampede forced the longhorns forward to act a emergency chaff. The brutes also moved up to take advantage of the cover.
The Spirit Walkers, their numbers replenished by the duel heal thrown on them, swung round to join the Brutox in forming a new battle line to tackle the Elven flanking force (conveniently making sure the dragon couldn’t get behind the lines).
Turn 2 – Elves
The rain of Arrows continued with the remaining beast pack doing its job and ensuring more valuable targets were spared. The Longhorns were subject to the brunt of the shooting and failed to survive the fire. The Herd ranks were starting to thin rapidly.
Faced with a slavering monster, unable to escape its charge arc and with no ranged support to help them, the heavy cavalry realised they were going to have to do more than just posture. They swallowed deeply, charged in and managed to waver it. It was hard to tell if the horses or elves were the more terrified of what was sure to occur next, with all eyes rolling and the whites showing.
The flanking force moved up to form a coherent line with the lord on dragon showing what dastardly underhanded tactics the elves would stoop to by flying forward and fitting into the smallest possible gap between the table edge and the flank of the Brutox.
Turn 2 – Herd
The Brutox, ignoring it’s waver, and Chieftain charged into the Stormwind Cavalry and barely raised a claw in anger before the Elves ran off the table. The Blood drunk monster regenerating as it savored it’s first taste of elf.
Knowing that their lines were in trouble due to the position of the Dragon, the left flank pushed up aggressively with the Brutox covering the rear of the Spirit Walkers (this was one situation where the oversized base actually worked in my favour!).
In the centre, the Guardian Brutes moved into the forest followed closely by Khazbar. Wazzock stayed with the Stampede, remaining out of the range of the nearest horde.
Turn 3 – Elves
The hunters that were still hiding in the eves of the large tower, spun round as the recognised the threat that was rapidly approaching from the other side of the buikdings. The Elven Phalanx moved over to block any potential charge from the Stampede, now that the hunters had been re-tasked. This move also opened up the firing lanes for the two hordes to target the Guardian Brutes but the cover impeded their aim and the damage for fairly insignificant. The Bolt thrower had but one option and shot into the writhing mass of animals making up the stampede.
On the other flank, the Hunters and Stormwind combined to charge the Spirit Walkers felling half their number. Despite, in a move reeking of fear, charging the Brutox in the flank, the Dragon rider failed to remove it.
Turn 3 – Herd
Zurrock and accompanying Brutox (who continued to regen), finished their flanking maneuver and moved up to now threaten the Elven shooters.
The Spirit Walkers, blood raised, counter charged the hunters and made short work of them. The Brutox also counter-charged but into the Dragon causing a few wounds but more importantly disordering it (I cunningly also forgot to roll to regen the 10 wounds on it – probably as we forgot to mark the wounds up!).
In the centre, Khazbar invoked the power of his amulet, first healing and then bane-chanting the Brutes. They then stormed into the flank of the Spear elves and that fight was only ever going to go one way. The Stampede and Wazzock then moved up in support. The Herd were now threatening the elven shooters that had caused so much damage early on.
Turn 4 – Elves
The remaining Hunter troop moved to block the herd charging the flank of the shooters.
The Stormwind and Dragon Lord both charged into their respective targets (Spirit Walkers and Brutox) and both units were removed as a consequence (Alex, ever the gent, did say I could roll the regen when we realised there were no wound counters on the model and it hadn’t been done but I refused as it was a comp game and frankly that will teach me for not remembering my own armies rules!)
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Turn 4 – Herd
Eager to clear a path to the hordes of archers that had killed so many of their herd, the chieftain and Brutox tore through the hunters that stood in their path.
Wazzock cast a heal on the Stampede before sending it forward where it crashed into the nearest archers. Elven bodies were pulped under the crushing bodies and despite cowering in the mud, their mettle held under the gaze of the nearby mage and they held their ground.
Turn 5 – Elves
Realising that they needed to support their brethren in the centre, the Bretonnians Elven archers marched forward with all haste. The mage also moved up.
The Dragon Lord and Stormwind cavalry both moved up to the woods and rather than engage in honorable combat they both used their breath weapons to torch the woods. As Khazbar looked to be burnt to a crisp, their was a flash of green and he disappeared.
Turn 5 – Herd
The Stampede again charged the archers and this time their nerve broke and they fled from the field. The Brutox then proceeded to trample the bolt thrower and crew into the ground.
Zurrock moved towards the centre ready to contest it.
Turn 6 – Elves
The remaining archer horde turned and tried to remove the Stampede but the legendary elven archery skill deserted them facing a sea of ferocious animals.
The Dragon Lord, mage and Stormwind Cavalry all moved in to contest the centre of the battlefield.
Turn 6 – Herd
In the final turn of the game, the remaining herd units rushed towards the centre of the board. Zurrock charged the Dragon Lord, inflicting minor injuries and Wazzock moved up to support.
Results
Conclusion
I always really enjoy my games against Alex, they are normally close run affairs and this was no exception. During the game there was tension, beaded sweat on brows, swearing (that was me), disgraceful dancing with glee (that was me again), instant karma (due to the aforementioned dancing) and a good amount of laughs.
I made some errors straight off the bat on this. I should have deployed one set of buildings more in the centre of the board as this would have obstructed the lanes of fire. I guess i’d been caught out before with obstacles and the impact of crossing them whilst facing archers, so didn’t want them to impede my movement. I was reasonably happy with my deployment though.
Probably my greatest mistake was moving up in the centre way too early. If i’d either set up further back or retreated in the opening move, it would have limited the early shooting and thus the units killed off and might have meant i’d been able to concentrate on the flanking elven force. But more to the point I should have waited until my own flanking force had moved up and was threatening the flank of the archers before moving my forces forward.
Forgetting to role regen on the Brutox when it had suffered 10 wounds was poor and that could have been the difference between that unit dying or lasting another turn.
It is worth mentioning that Alex managed to bane chant one of his archer hordes every single turn on two dice. A feat i’ve not seen or even managed with my 3 dice BC.
As things go that loss is likely to mean a bottom two finish in the group (i’ll probably be fighting the bottom spot with Tony). Neil will probably top it and Dan has a good chance of second though that will likely depend on his match with Alex.
Kill points will decide which 2 runner ups will progress through after the 2 top spots in each group but after my poor first game vs Neil, where I failed to route anything, I seriously doubt i’m in with a chance of scrapping through.
