Dark Elves vs Vampire Counts 750 points

Here's my first battle report! w00t w00t! Everybody dance now....!

It was April 11th, 2009. It was warm in the garage....too warm....I, kennyb, a noble druchii (dark elf), could sense a .....sense of dread. I could smell mold, like grave mold. I put on deoderant and the smell lessened. But then I could smell....mustard? I wiped my lip and the smell subsided, but that allowed me to smell the gas. Mustard gas? No..... Drew gas! Or Rick (Space Monkey) gas? The difference is minimal at most. Must be time for the battle!

Today it would be my 751 point Druchii force against the evil and ignoble Chris' 740 point Vampire Counts. I am going into this battle with a great fear knowing that only my "General Malus" and my Sorceress will be able to harm his ethereal units, and also Malus is most likely the only model in the army capable of taking out his characters in melee combat. That is a precarious and unenviable position to be in, let me tell you! My heart is racing before the battle begins and I'm perspiring furiously. Oh....nope. My nose was running and I wiped it inadvertantly on my arm, making it feel like perspiration until it dried, so I threw it at Chris. Ha! My weakness suddenly turned into a weapon, let's see how I do in the battle:

Here are the armies:

Chris's Grave Stenchy Ignoble Vampire Counts

10 Skeleton Warriors at 8 pts ea : 80/80 sub-total

10 Crypt Ghouls at 8 pts ea : 80/160 sub-total

3 Cairn Wraiths at 50 pts ea +Banshee upgrade at 25 pts : 175/335 sub-total

3 Cairn Wraiths at 50 pts ea +Banshee upgrade at 25 pts : 175/510 sub-total

1 Wight King at 75 pts : 75/585 sub-total

1 Vampire at 100 pts w/Lord of the Dead Ability at 15 pts, and Blood Drinker Magic Sword at 40 pts : 155/740 sub-total

For a grand total of 740 pts. Should have had another Skele there Chris!

kennyb's Noble Druchii Valorous Defenders of the Rightful King Malekith

13 Spearmen at 6 pts ea w/Shields at +1 pt per model : 91/91 sub-total

10 Crossbowmen at 10 pts ea : 100/191 sub-total

10 Crossbowmen at 10 pts ea : 100/291 sub-total

1 Malus Darkblade, Scion of Hag Graef : 275/566 sub-total

1 Lvl 2 Sorceress at 135 pts w/Sacrificial Dagger at 25 pts and the Pearl of Infinite Bleakness at 25 pts : 155/751 sub-total

So to open we rolled to see who would place the first piece of terrain. I won. I rolled a 9 for type which is a fence. I placed it towards closer to the side of the table I was standing on and near the table edge, hoping to use it for cover for my archers or sorceress. Chris rolled a river and placed it near the edge of the table to his left. I rolled another fence, and placed it next to the first fence leading further onto the battlefield. He passed. I rolled my final roll....a forest. Bleh. I placed it on the left table edge near me to try and keep it out of the battle basically. We rolled for terrain scatter and the items moved further into the field and a little bit more towards the side I was standing on. Nice.

Rolling for magic Chris rolled high for his spell (6 I think) and exchanged it for Raise Dead. I rolled a 1 and a 6, so it was decided for me completely! Luckily, I always end up with Chillwind anyway and Black Horror seemed like a good spell for this battle since he had some weak Strength units and it uses the large round template. Sweet! (Chillwind is a 24" D6 S4 Magic Missile that keeps a unit taking casualties from shooting in it's next turn {5+ to cast}, and Black Horror let's you place the large template anywhere within 18", and all models TOUCHED must pass a Strength test or suffer a wound, no armour saves allowed, and any unit suffering a casualty must take a panic test [no good against undead, but oh well!] {11+ to cast}. Thankfully, with the Power of Darkness spell, Druchii Sorcery (can use any amount of casting dice no matter what level the sorceress is), and my Sacrificial Dagger I figured I would get them both cast every magic phase, and he couldn't dispel that much power. We shall see.....

I won the roll to pick table edge first, so I chose the edge I was already standing on. The terrain placement gave me a good place to hole up my sorceress AND my archers behind fences, and the trees could actually shield Malus until the enemy got close enough for me to charge, at which point I planned on working my way out of the trees and flanking. I was hoping to riddle his troops with arrows as they advanced, from behind my fortified position, but I forgot about ethereals.

Chris won the roll to choose who placed first and chose to place the first unit. He placed his Wraith units in the front, followed by his Skeletons and Ghouls, then placed his Vampire with the Skele's and his Wight with his Ghouls.

In the meantime, I placed my x-bowmen, then my 2nd x-bowmen, then my spearmen, all in position to run up to the fences and blow him away. Then I placed my Sorceress with my Spearmen and Malus on my left flank in the trees, about 2" in.

We rolled to see who went first, me having a +1 from finishing my setup first (my 3 units + 2 characters to his 4 units + 2 characters). He rolled a....1 and I rolled a 6. Pretty decisive! I chose to go first, thinking I would advance as quickly as possible into x-bow range and hail him with black fetched bolts.

Dark Elf Turn 1

Movement Phase

I advance all 3 units straight ahead toward the enemy as a noble Druchii would, and it just so happens there was a defensive position directly in my path. Fate is kind to the true hearted. :)

Malus comes out of the trees so I am in a better position to charge when the time comes. I didn't want to get stuck in the trees at a critical moment.

Magic Phase

I get 4 power dice per turn, 2 for my lvl 2 Sorceress and 2 for my army pool. My first casting intent is to cast Black Horror on his approaching Wraiths. I roll 3 dice to cast and achieve a 10. Perfect! I love to kill my own troops so I do. I sacrifice a Spearman (6pts!) to roll an additional die and roll a 3 to bring the total to 13. That's sufficient so Chris rolls all 3 of his Dispel Dice. He rolls a 10. Success! I place the center of the template at 18" and it reaches....nothing! Oh well, it was close, and he used all his Dispel Dice. I cast Chillwind towards the same Wraith unit using my last Power Die. I roll a 3. Yes! I murder, I mean "Sacrifice", another Spearman and roll an additional 3 for a total of 6. Success! I roll a 3 for quantity of hits. 1 for each model in the unit. Fail the to Wound on the first Wraith. Success on the Banshee. Success on the second Wraith. Not bad. For 12 pts of sacrifice 2 spells that would have failed were successful, and ended up doing 2 wounds. I'll take that any day of the week!

Shooting Phase

I state my intent for all 40 of my Bolts (20 Repeater x-bows) to fire at the Wraith units. It is mentioned that I certainly may, but that THEY ARE ETHEREAL SO IT DOESN'T MATTER. Ouch. That's going to sting for a few turns! Half my army is useless until the Wraith Units are decimated. Oops. lol

Vampire Counts Turn 1

Movement Phase

Chris marched all of his army directly towards me.

Magic Phase

Chris attempts Invocation of Nehek with 2 Power Dice. Rolls a 4 (3+1). I roll 2 Dispel Dice and score a 5 (3+2). Great rolling from both of us. An average roll of 2.25 on a d6 (total of 9 rolled on 4 dice: 9/4=2.25). Chris attemps Raise Dead with his last Power Die and scores a...1. That brings our average rolls for this phase to a whopping 2. lol. Better his phase than mine!

Shooting Phase

Chris attempts to use his Banshee howl but is out of range.

Dark Elf Turn 2

The first thing I do is invoke Tz'Arkan with Malus. For the uninitiated, Malus is

M WS BS S T W I A Ld

5---6--5-4-3-2-7-3-9

Invoking Tz'Arkan gives +1 WS, +1S, +2T, +2I, +1 Ld, and Frenzy, with a result that looks like

M WS BS S T W I A Ld

5--7---5-5-5-2-9-4-10

A very nice stat line if I do say so myself. :)

The main reason I did it is for the Frenzy. I didn't want to fail a charge, and becoming frenzied lets the game take over that for me.

Movement Phase

Malus is within range (14" charge range on Cold One) of the left hand unit of Wraiths and so must charge them. Chris declares his reaction will be to stand and whimper (Banshee Wail). His wail is a 2d6+2 roll against my Ld of 10, with the difference being the # of wounds Malus will take with no armour save allowed. Potent indeed! He rolled a 7 I think, for a total of 9. No wounds! Im-potent perhaps...the poor Banshee must have had a sore throat or strained vocal cord...

I moved my archers on my left flank back 2 and 1/2" (turned 180, walked 2 1/2", and turned 180 back around) directly away from the Wraith unit and my right flank arhcers 3 3/4" (turn 180 and walk away) directly away from the other Wraith unit, hoping to stay out of reach of that horrible wail! I left my Sorceress where she was because I needed her on the offensive to have any hope of survival, seeing as her and Malus are my only models capable of even damaging the Wraiths in this army build.

Magic Phase

I roll 3d6 to attempt Black Horror again, and this time roll a 12 (6+5+1). I wanted to sacrifice another Spearman but since I rolled a 1 already, and the spell is successful, I didn't want to chance a miscast. So I let him live. But I did lurch at the intended winner (victim some might say) causing him to yelp in fear. The other Spearmen thought it was a Banshee Wail and almost ran him through, but caught themselves just in time. Chris rolled all 3 of his Dispel Dice and scored an 11 (5+4+2). Yes! The template covered his entire Wraith unit so all will suffer the wrath of the Black Horror! They only have Strength 3 so I figure 2 will wound meaning 1 should die! The first Wraith rolls a 5. Yes! 1 Wound. The Banshee rolls....a 3. No! It survives. But 1 more wound to the other Wraith would kill it... he rolls....another 3! NO! Oh well. 1 Wound is better than none!

I roll my final Power Die to cast Chillwind at the same unit again, and roll a 4. I sacrifice the wailing Spearman and roll a 6 to bring the total to 10. Success! I roll a 3 for the quanity of hits again, which is definitely acceptable. Roll to wound the first Wraith (needing 3's I think), a 5! Success. The first Wraith is DEAD! Roll to wound the Banshee...a 1. Epic fail. Roll to wound the last Wraith, a 3! Yes! 2 more wounds and 2 dead wraiths...2....dead....wraiths.....I'm sure there is a more "accurate" way of deading a dead, but hey, they are epic dead now! Unfortunately, the Banshee is the thing I'm most afraid of and the last man standing in the unit! Oh well. No complaint, just a healthy dose of fear!

Shooting Phase

1 unit of my x-bowmen fired 20 shots at his Skeletons that were exposed by the reduced size of the wraith unit. Needing 6's to hit, I rolled : 2 1's, 2 3's, 6 4's, 8 5's, and 2 (2!) 6's. Bleh. To wound, 2 4's. Both successful! He needs 6's to save and rolled...2 5's! Yes! 2 hits and 2 wounds. The to hit ratio wasn't great, but 100% hit-to-kill is awesome!

Close Combat

Malus rolls 4 attacks all against the Banshee (I really am scared of them!) needing 3's to hit. 2 hit. Re-rolled the 2 misses with Eternal Hatred and scored 1 more hit for a total of 3. 3 rolls to wound needing 2's = 2 successful. Re-roll failed to wound with Warpsword of Khaine and it's successful. He killed the Banshee! YES!! Go Malus! (I really, really, really, have high hopes for Malus and this is a great start for his career with me!)

Chris' Wraiths roll 6 attacks needing 5's to hit (WS3 vs WS7): no hits! Sweet! So Combat Result is he had 3 models at start giving him unit strength 3 to my 2, giving him +1. I got +2 for causing 2 wounds, winning by 1. 1 Wraith takes a wound.

Vampire Counts Turn 2

Movement Phase

Right Banshee moves 6" towards Sorceress. Right Skele's move in a wheel towards Malus's right flank. Vampire led unit on left wheels to move past the Wraith unit between them and Malus.

Magic Phase

Chris attempts Raise Dead with 2 Power Dice and scores a 7 (5+2). I roll all 3 of my Dispel Dice and score an 11 (6+3+2). Nice! He attemps Invocation of Nehek with his last Power Die and rolls....a 2! Awesome (for me)!!!

Shooting Phase

Cris's remaining Banshee draws a deep breath, aims at Malus, and...sneezed! She shouldn't have eaten that snake and maybe she wouldn't have sneezed Snake Eyes! Malus is INVINCIBLE!!

Close Combat

Malus's initiative trumps the Wraiths badly. I roll his 4 attacks and hit 2 needing only 3's. :(

I roll to wound needing 2's and roll a 1 and a 2. Re-roll failed roll to wound with Warpsword and score another 2. Good enough! 2 wounds kills 1 Wraith and wounds the other. 2nd Wraith hits me one time but does not wound. Wraiths lost the combat by 2 so the remaining Wraith dies! Malus Wins! Go Malus, go, go, go Malus!

I believe the battle is decided at this point. So far, I have done 275 pts to the Vampires' army with 2 characters, and my only losses are from the 3 sacrifices I made. I am in positon to flank the Skeleton unit containing the Vampire, my sorceress is free to go toe-to-toe with the final Banshee who is down to 1 wound, and my archers are going to unleash. However.... :

At this point we have another engagement to attend and so leave with the intent to come back and finish. I was unable to come back, but Rick (Space Monkcy) finished it out for me and won. Cris miscast with his Vampire and his head blew up, Malus finished off the remaining Banshee, and the x-bowmen and sorceress ate through the Skele's and Ghouls. My plan was to send Malus against the Vampire unit (he had a flank attack, so he had 4 attacks with re-rolls to hit and to wound, and his Cold One Spite had 2 attacks with re-rolls to hit, so I believe I would have squashed the unit single handedly and in a manner befitting the Which King's personal champion), have the sorceress finish off the Banshee and then move on to the Core units, and have the x-bowmen eat up anything they could see. Either way, I don't think Cris had a chance at this point.

A fun time for me, but Cris had been up all night working on his army and so came half asleep, and probably won't remember any of this. rofl