Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Warriors of Chaos v. Wood Elfs

Fresh off the Dwarf v. Wood Elf game, Liam and I decided to play another one. I had a ready made 1k WoC list, gave him an extra 2560 points and while he built his list I rolled up a magical, mystical field.

There were two Dwarf Ale houses, 3 sections of Ghost fence, an Altar of Sigmar, a Khainite shrine...plenty of terrain, a field built to look like someplace people would live.


My list is full of weaknesses, and on purpose. I have no magic defense, I put in some Chaos Warhounds...a unit I almost never take because they are so bad...and even a 10 man unit of marauders with full command and khorne.

That is a horrible build. They are there so I will have three units, so they should either have some of the guys from the larger block to give me two more reasonable sizes or else be bare of excess points.

But that sort of makes up for having Knights and a Lord level guy on a Juggernaut.


We rolled up Blood and Glory. I knew all I had to do to win was break his Glade Guard unit. He would have to break three of my units to win via scenario rules.

He had to set up a unit first and put it on my right flank. I put the dogs on my left flank, hoping to influence him to split his forces. He did not fall for it, putting his Dryads in the forest on my right flank. Inexplicably, I then put everything on the left anyway.

Battle plan: Marauders will sweep around the right using the houses for cover, then the small Marauder unit to absorb some bow fire, then get out of the way of the big Marauder unit.

Meanwhile the dogs would be a meat shield for the knights on the left, sweeping between the buildings. With any luck, the dogs would charge, get shot, flee, leaving my Knights a free shot at his Glade Guard.

Horrible deployment. I should have set up my Marauders on the left side of the right flank to head for the Dryads, allowing the dogs/Knights to head straight for the Glade Guard.


I forgot how slow infantry is and did not start my Marauders in time, having them hang out for a turn. I think I decided to go all or nothing, planning the Knight charge for the win or loss


The Marauders were first through the gap. In one turn he shot down 6 of the leading unit. The time lost getting them behind my other unit to save their points meant my Marauders did not have time to get to him even if I marched every turn. Time for plan B.

I sent the dogs on ahead. I kind of hoped he would flank them with the Dryads. He would win the combat easily, over-run, and perhaps the Dryads and Marauders could battle while I tried to withstand the inevitable hail of arrows.


He had no plans of leaving the steadfast-making confines of the forest, though. And he shot all 5 dogs down in one turn.

At this point both units of marauders were moving backwards. After he hit the unit with irresistible Dwellers, killing one Knight but not getting either character, it was obvious I could not reach him. I ran behind the building to avoid shooting.




He had set up a perfect situation. He had a wide open field of fire. If I did allow the Dryads to flank me, I would also be hit by the Treeman, who would be stubborn and re-rolling thanks to his BSB. That would keep me from combat reforming. It would also mean I could lose the battle but could not win it.


I turned and headed for the hills, having taken irresistible Dwellers twice (he receiving one wound each time).
I MIGHT have gone in if it were just the Dryads/Treeman. But with Dwellers in play as well...I retreated, giving him the 30 point advantage.



This was a short, entertaining and relatively bloodless battle. I probably should have made him charge with his Dryads and/or Treemen. Would have been interesting to see what happened. But..I did not.
I do think the Wood Elfs are a great army for Liam. He likes setting up defensively, which is near ideal for the Wood Elf army. So that was definitely a win for the day.











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