Warhammer; 1000 Beastmen v. Tomb Kings

Click on the pictures to see the parts cut out by the post margins....



Well, as you can tell from post links...been a while. Close to a year since I have played. A lot of things have gotten in the way, but I still love the game. Chance came up to play my brother Fixed Dice. We elected to take...lower tier armies, lets say.

Battle report below a line of asterisks, the rest is all preliminary stuff about thoughts  on army building, etc.

His preferred army is the Dark Elf and mine is the Warriors of Chaos. I would argue we play those choices rather well, knowing the ins and outs of what works for the respective choices within our play group.

This time he would be playing his secondary army, the Tomb Kings and I would be playing my secondary army, the Beastmen.

At 1000 points it is tough to fit much in. The Beastmen the way I play them revolve around a horde of Gor buffed with Wyssans Wildform and beast banner to become a tough, hard hitting instrument of death and destruction.

Unfortunately, at 1000 points I cannot fit in my level 4, Herdstone, and barrage of level 1's giving me free power dice. So I looked to a Doombull...and that was too many points.

Nor could I fit in all 5 minotaurs I have painted.

So I started with a Beastlord with Crown of Command and, at the last second, through on the Brass Cleaver. This gave me a LD 9 stubborn general who could dish out several high weapon skill, high strength attacks.

Next I went with a Wargor for my BSB, gave him the ubiquitous Beast Banner, and planted them both in the Gor unit which ended at 29 Gor. So I had above average strength and WS, each front line guy dishing out 3 attacks...well, okay, 2 guys were dishing out 3 (extra hand weapon and the Frenzy offered by the Wargor), 2 were dishing out 4 and one was dishing between 5 and 8. So I had potentially 19-23 attacks S4 or better. That is a pretty stout unit.

4 Minotaurs and, to give me the requisite 3 units, I threw together a 30 point Ungor unit. This was pointless, as Ungor have a 16" range with a low strength bow. They figure to hit less and a third of the time and wound less than half the time they hit. So IF they shot 5 times 6 turns, they figure to hit ten times and wound 5 or less. They are unlikely to shoot more than once or twice so they are the epitome of throw-away points. Honestly, they are something I would normally never take.

Fixed Dice showed up with 2 20 strong and one 21 strong unit of skeletons, 3 chariots, and a  Necrophinx (sic) backed by a level 4.

Just looking at his army I thought I was in trouble. I assumed the skeletons had bows and I knew I would struggle against the sphinx and against his Hierophant's magic. I had to get across the table fast and hit hard when I got there.


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We rolled for scenario, got battle for the pass, and, in a rarity, ignored it. Re-roll produced Dawn Deployment. I won the roll and set up first. I rolled both the gor and Minotaur units in the center and the Ungor to the right. As it turns out, I put them where I would have put everything anyway except the Ungor who would have gone behind the fence to my left. As it was, my Gor unit anchored its flank against a building, the Minos against a fence, and a forest directly ahead would give me time to redeploy if he out-deployed me.

He then set u his three skeleton units on my left...one behind a fence, one behind the forest, the other opposite my Gor. His Chariots went on the right (all directions as I look at it) and his Necrosphinx anchored the right side of the line.

So as I looked at it, his best unit was looking at my weakest unit, his center could hit both my units that mattered head on, and he could flank me with his guys on my left flank.

Meanwhile, he could sit back and shoot at me, softening me up as I crossed the field and magicing me to death to boot if he had direct damage spells. Advantage; Tomb Kings.

He failed to seize the initiative and I thought about it for a bit. I figured he should go first, but then thought that might give him an extra turn of magic and shooting. I decided to take the turn and charge ahead full speed.

BEASTMEN TURN 1
I wanted the charge with my minotaurs. For some inexplicable reason, I therefore moved my Gor less than I could. I parked 13" from him, figuring he would need an 8 to reach and therefore probably fail. My Ungor advanced in a vain attempt to prevent his necrosphinx from charging my gor in the flank in combination, and my minos advanced and angled to countercharge his skeletons if they hit me in front of the Gor.

Tomb King Turn 1
He revealed the one small flaw in my otherwise brilliant plan for world domination. He had a different plan than I did. His skeletons (as I now knew) had no bows...and he had no intention of advancing. He tried to charge the Ungor with his Necrosphinx. I was able, thanks to my nearby banner, to stand and shoot...and hit twice, wounding him once. He did not save. He did, however, fail the charge.

Wow, the useless Ungor I took by desperation and did not want have wounded THE nastiest model on the table. I apologize, Ungor. Well done.

Meanwhile, he rolls a 5 and 4 for magic, then channels, giving him 10 power dice to my 5 dispel...and he being a level 4...this could be painful.

He casts righteous smiting on his entire army (healing his Necro...grr...), and the additional attacks mean his bowfire gets 4 hits, but only one Gor dies.


Beastmen Turn 2
I move forward to get into charge range. My Ungor look to see if they can protect the Gor flank from the necro. Not really but they advance, fire their bows...and wound his chariots twice. They have demolished my super low expectations, already outperforming the most optimistic expectations anyone could ever have for them, dealing out 3 wounds to tough opponents.

Tomb King Turn 2

His Necro needs snake-eyes to hit the Ungor this time. His Chariots charge the Gor front. The theory is the Necro will wipe out the Ungor, flank the Gor, get to fight twice and with his Chariot impact hits, Sphinx, and regular attacks, he will do LOTS of damage to my Gor unit.

Again my Ungor outperform themselves, hitting just once with their stand and shoot...but that one wounds. Yep, the Ungor have now put two wounds apiece on the necrosphinx and his chariots. Best 30 points I have ever spent.

At this point I am pinning my hopes on the Gor takg all that punishment, passing my stubborn 9 break test, and the minotaur swinging the battle in my favor by smurf-slapping (Minotaur-slapping?) his Chariots in the flank next turn.

Things grow bleaker when he rolls 6 for power dice and again channels. His righteous smiting goes off irreversibly.

An so the chariots and Necro are back to full strength, in the key turn of combat he has extra attacks for all concerned...

The silver lining is he got Calamitous something or other, does a wound to his Hierophant and "kills" 4 skeletons (he regenerated 2 of the 6 wounds). So even though my awesome Ungor have done the more impressive wounds, at this point he only actual damage done to him has been done by him, he got the charges he wanted and the game is about to tilt heavily in his favor.

My Ungor fight bravely, hitting him twice, but failing to wound. Oh, well, they had a good run. He has 6 attacks, can hit just twice. 2 dead Ungor. Disappointing, but irrelevant...I will be running almost certainly. His Thunderstomp then rolls a pedestrian 2, killing 2 more. One Ungor left.

Who promptly rolls a 3. With my nearby Beastlord, I lost by 5 and need a 4 to stick around. His poor rolling starts to unravel his plan at the seams. There is no way that Ungor should have lived, much less held him up.

His chariots start to make up for it, doing a whopping 12 impact hits. 7 Gor make their way to the graveyard. He is going to win this combat anyway...

I have higher initiative so go first.

Beastlor opens up a can of whoop-smurf on their candy smurfs. He hits 6 times, 5 of them being wounds that go through, finishing off one chariot and leaving a second with just one wound.

The Wargor hits 3 more times, but does just 1 wound. Still, he is already down to one chariot.

The Gor get ridiculous; mustering 11 attacks, 10 of them hit. They then make up for this great success by dealing just 3 wounds...but that is enough to finish off his chariot.

I then roll insane courage...which means my over-run is a whopping 2". Oops.

Still, what could...and possibly SHOULD...have been a disastrous turn for me turned into a disastrous turn for him. The Ungor standing left my Gor free to try to rampage through his skeletons while the Sphinx was occupied by 30 points.

Beastmen Turn 3
The minos want to charge his middle skeletons that are hiding the Hierophant, but awkward angles make it too tough, so they charge the guys behind the fence instead. The Gor charge the skeletons straight ahead.

For the first time ever, my Minos get their impact hits. It helps as they put down three bundles of bones. The obstacle lowers me by 4 potential hits...but I still wound 7 more skeletons.

He then hits back with 8 successful strikes and 3 wounds. Armor save of 5+; no saves. Parry save of 6+ I roll 5, 6, 6. 2 saves. I then hit with all three stomps, his remaining skeletons crumble and I advance 4" with Bloodgreed.

Meanwhile, the Gor kill 7 skels, the Beastlor dedicates 2 attacks to the champ, wounding once and killing him, and getting 3 rank and file. The Wargor chips in a couple wounds. He kills 3 gor in return and crumbles. I again advance something like 4". I just cannot overrun. Grr.

His Sphinx finally kills the final Ungor, but that unit MORE than did its job. Even though he healed every wound they did, that unit occupied his Sphinx for 3 full turns. Go Ungor!

Tomb King 3
His Necro charges the Gor rear. He thinks for a long time about what to do; charge with the skeletons in support or no. Ultimately he wants to A) keep his Hierophant out of the combat (wise decision probably; my Beastlord would have been rht there trying to kill him) and B) not give me the easy combat resolution, as we both just saw the Gor rip through him by a (Wargor and Beastlord aided) 14-3 margin. He refuses to charge with them.

He then rolls 3 for Winds...they failed him at the key moment. A power-stone aided Cursed Blades makes his Necrosphinx potentially even more deadly, though.

I "make way" with my heroes, a potentially risky move...an enhanced Killing Blow could do a lot of harm to my cause. But with no Wyssans Wildform or other boost, the Gor do not seem like much of a threat.

The Beastlord does okay, hitting just 3 times, but all three go through for wounds. The Wargor hits twice but cannot wound and the Gor cannot wound.

He tries the super slay on the Wargor, hitting him but then rolling a 1 to wound. He attacks my general with the rest but only one hit...and that one is poison, denying him the chance to killing blow, and needing a 6 to save, I do so...he crumbles to resolution.

Beastmen 4
I reform both he mionotaur and the Gor to face his last remaining skeleton unit. It is just mopping up at this point; if his chariots and necrosphinx could only take off 11 Gor and 5 Ungor and his other unit of skeletons could only put one wound on the minotaurs, he stood little to no chance against the inevitable combined charge.

Tomb King Turn 4
He starts to move, then says, "I am just trying to avoid and survive at this point."
"Want to call it?" I ask.
"Sure," he says and I agree. All that is left is seeing if he can run 8" per turn between regular and magic movement and if I can catch him before the end of turn 6.

Mopping up
So what happened here?

First off, he remembered construction rules wrong. He thought he had to have 50% core points. As a result, he built and army where he had no intention of ever using half of it.

Second, his Necrosphinx woefully underperformed. While it did have the only success he experienced, taking 3 turns to kill 5 Ungor whilst taking 2 wounds in the process is...ridiculous.

As a result, he really had no way of actually damaging me. Maybe if he had somehow gotten two skeleton units to simultaneously charge the Gor and had a very fortuitous combat round he MIGHT have won that combat...but that would have counted on me A) being a complete tool with my Minotaurs to allow that, B) failing a re-rolled LD 9 stubborn test to flee IF he even managed to win the combat...which, without help from Chariot impact or Necrosphinx Thunderstomp and power attacks was not going to happen.

Meanwhile, he had no direct damage spells, so although his magic phases helped by giving him a few extra attacks and healing numerous wounds...it was a factor but not a game-changer.

Meanwhile, my Brass-Cleaver, Frenzy-fueled and Banner of the Beasts aided Beastlord ran around making Chaos Lords look wimpy, tearing up everything in sight almost single-handedly. The minos melted an entire unit of skeletons in a good defensive position in one turn. The Ungor looked like a real tarpit unit.

Everything went very, very right for me and it resulted in a surprisingly easy win.

After the game we talked for a while about the Tomb Kings.

I pointed out that with the Beastmen, I knew their weaknesses...an effective range of zero inches, if you breathe on them they die...but I also knew their strengths. Decent toughness, an ability to put out large numbers of decent strength attacks. I knew what they needed to do to win.

What do Tomb Kings need to do to win?

The upshot is...we found some things that MIGHT work, but they rely on A) having lots of points and B) EVERYTHING going right.

In other words, when I look at the Tomb Kings book, one word comes to mind...fail.

And that is in comparison to the Beastmen, typically regarded as one of the lowest-regarded books out there.

On the bright side, he enjoys playing them, so we will hopefully get in a few more games with and against them...though none with a power house like the Warriors of Chaos.


And now time for the traditional "We survived" Group Photo.

Beastmen v. Tomb Kings

 Some of you may have been watching the slow but steady progress of my Beastmen army painting. Obviously my updating of it is a bit behind as I have completed a chariot, several heroes and the minotaur since then.

In fact, I have painted all the models I exchanged my once-well loved Wood Elf army for. So I was kind of wanting a game with them. My brother Ken came through, accepting a challenge for a Beastmen v. Tomb Kings battle.

It would be an epic battle between two of the lowest-regarded books currently.

Now, on the one hand this is advantageous for me. I have found a build for the Beastmen that looks like it would be both fun and effective. On the down side...I do not yet have the models to put it together.

On the other hand, there is a certain disadvantage. Back in 1995 I was unquestionably better at Warhammer than my brothers. Of course, back then I also had a lot of power gamer/waac type stuff in me. My Brettonian list involved a Lord character on dragon, a few archers, and the rest Grail Knights. It was all but untouchable in that edition and pretty stupid of me.

I would no longer argue I am the better player. In fact, if you had to pick one player in our group who I believe is currently the best, it would be Ken.

Part of that revolves around his list building. He mixes up his lists so well that I often have no idea what he will bring. This is not always true for the rest of us.

With me, for example, you know my WoC list will revolve around Knights. Everything else is just filler. Same with Liam's Bretonnians.

Kev's Skaven will always have the Plague Furnace, HPA, and Doomwheel with miscellaneous other stuff filling in around it.

Fullur will bring boatloads of skinks, some temple guard, slann, and a stegadon.

Ken does the best job of any of us of changing up his lists.

Then he deploys them well, maneuvers them with talent, and tends to maximize his advantages.

In short, any time I can win against him I figure I have done exceptionally well. In our group, I always feel I had to play well to come out on top. But with him I feel like I cannot make any mistakes and win. Which is good.

Well, anyway, I started to build a form of the list I am working towards building overall. But then something happened. I decided I really, really, really wanted to try a doombull. This already throws me off trail because it costs me that LD9 re-rollable big block I typically center my beastmen lists around.

So I decided to take it a step further. I went with a Gorebull as my bsb, costing myself another dip from LD8 to LD7.

Instead of multiple mobile blocks of Gor I horded 53, planting the Gorebull with Banner of the Beasts. To fill my core I upped my chariot plans from 0 to 3.

Going against prevailing wisdom I took a grand total of zero bestigor. I then fought prevailing wisdom by taking the vastly over-costed, nigh-defenseless Ghorgon. Then I followed up by taking 5 minotaur without doing the "plant a bunch of characters in there so the rank and file attack but do not get hit" mino-bus thing.

I had challenged him to a "soft" game between two low-ranked books. I felt like this was in the spirit of that. I "only" took 2 bray-shamans and a great bray-shaman instead of the 5 or 6ish I initially planned. I did come with a plan, though.

I expected him to take the special character who gave his entire army poison and figured to be facing blocks of skeleton archers hitting on 5s, doing wounds on 6s against my unarmored, no-save guys. So I was going to be flying towards him, hoping to get into combat on turn two as many people claim they unfailingly manage. With minimum 7" moves, this seemed possible.

The big Gor block should be steadfast for quite a while, so re-rolling on LD7 and tying up his expected Tomb Guard and/or Skeleton blocks. Meanwhile, my Chariots and Minotaur would sweep up the flanks close by, charging in to benefit from their impact hits to do some real damage.

It was really the Doombull and minotaur I was centering my battle plan around. Much like the Wood Elf Wardancers, Dragon Ogre Shaggoth, Galrauch, and the Chaos Knights I had mighty expectations for them.

 We rolled up Battle for the Pass, a scenario I had yet to play. With no less than three @#$%^ mysterious forests hanging out, I had to think about my plan. I decided to put the massive Gor block in the center. My BSB would go here, and by turn 2 everyone would be within range of the banner.  My three chariots went on my left, my Ghorgon and minos on the right.

As we set up, I began to see the first flaw in my plan. He had a couple chariot units. A casket. Not one guy on foot in unit form. Gulp. No stomp/thunderstomp for me. Already the Wardancer debut loomed in my head for the minos and the Shaggoth for the less-anticipated Ghorgon debut.

.

He set up one chariot unit on each flank and, wonder of wonders, had no hill in his deployment zone for his casket. I caught a break.

Beastmen Turn 1

I marched my gor forward, then made mistake one. Remember, the whole plan was to get everyone close to the banner. That means the Chariots should have circled behind the Gor. Instead I...moved them forward.

I then rolled snake-eyes for magic. With the Herdstone and a couple channels from the Arcane Ruins I got up to 5 or 6 magic dice. No point to any spell at this point so it did not really hurt me.

Tomb King 1

He has no ability to march. Still, he advances full speed. magic phase, I let him move everything forward since I want us in close combat ASAP. I try to stop his bowfire via magic but take a wound to a mino anyway.

Beastmen 2

I realize I had erred in turn one so turn my chariots to get close to the banner, then twitch the minos over to get in range. This turn probably should have been full advance, but I took the time to correct for my turn 1 error. Also, if he did full advance, then I stopped his magic I could charge in with my minos, get some nice impact hits and brutalize him.

I then miasma his chariots on my left flank, dropping their movement by 3. I want them out of the battle. I get Wyssans wildform on teh gor just in case he gets into them with Ushabti or Bone Giants. He then uses some TK item to auto-stop my pit of shades on his left side chariots.

Tomb King 2

He moves his chariots forward to where my minos will charge next turn. I have been saving my Dispel scroll for this turn. I am going to stop his charge so I get the charge and the impact hits.

Then I misunderstand his magic phase. I think I have to stop 8 attempts at the movement spell. After I stop the first, I think there are still 6 to go (notice the addition issue there) and, figuring I cannot stop them all, decide to try to stop the bonus attack and/or Casket.

So now his chariots boosted by a couple heroes slam into my minos. I then fluff my dispel roll and he gets the bonus attack. His Tomb King? Prince? wounds the mino champ, the other guys put 2 wounds on the rank and file. I have lost a mino already.

Meanwhile, on the other flank he gets off a few potshots at my chariots, wounding one.

His chariots are fierce, slapping down 13(!) impact hits, doing 8 wounds and killing the rest of my rank and file. In the obligatory challenge, his TK kills my mino champ.

So...yeah. Unlike the legendary fluffed Wardancer epic debut charge of failure, more like the Shaggoth debut of disappointment...all 5 minotaur died without ever getting to swing.

We later talked about it quite a bit and decided I should have taken the challenge with my Doombull, thus guaranteeing the champ could attack and my Doombull probably kills his TK. But my thought process was the Doombull's massive number of attacks should wreak havoc on his chariots.

He did. He hit 8 times, wounding 5, he saves none. He then wounds me back once which I save. I have the stubborn hat and BSB. I pass exactly on my LD8.

Great, epic charge. That is the type of charge I love. And he executed it perfectly, outplaying me badly and doing incredible quantities of damage.

Then again...the Doombull brutalized him right back, really doing a number on his poor chariots. So great, great combat.

Honestly, at this point I was thinking I was doomed. The Gor were there to withstand something like that chariot charge via re-rolls and steadfast, thus allowing the Minotaurs to sweep in and do damage. I had little faith in the Gor to do enough damage to make up for the 345 points just swept away.

Beastmen 3

My Ghorgon charged headlong into the front of his chariot line while my Gor flank him. My chariots irresolutely move back to pseudo-protect the Bray Shaman herdstone/Arcane Ruin magic park.

This will be the key turn. I need some big magic. Slap a Miasma or two on the chariots, a Wyssans and/or Okrans Mindrazor on the Gor and I can really do some work.

OR....I can roll snake-eyes for magic for the second time in the battle. then channel just 2, so I only have 6 magic dice for the key turn.

*sigh*

well, I start with an enfeebling foe with three dice, hoping to draw out his Dispel Scroll, then either wyssans or Mindrazor. Instead I get irresistible force, lose 2 levels and only accomplish reducing his S by 1. I then fail to get enough force for Wyssans. Epic fail.

Oh, the humanity. Wait, beastmen. Oh, the bestiality...wait a second...lets go back to the first. It was not a good moment for my morale.

This time I accept his challenge with my Doombull. He gets always strike first with some magic item, needs 4s, attacks 5 times and 4 of them hit. Then, needing 5s to wound, he wounds me 3 times. Needing a 5 to save, I save 1. I then hit him 5 times, wounding him back 3 times, he saves that same one.

The Ghorgon is more successful, with 5 hits, 3 wounds.

Then...the power of the Beast-Banner strengthened Gor.

Due to the length of his two ranks deep chariots, I get all 10 in contact. With the front row having frenzy from the Gorebull and extra hand weapon, that gave me a whopping 50 attacks; 30 from the front row, 10 from each of the next two. Slightly less/more as my Great Bray-Shaman and Gorebull replaced 2 of those.

Anyway, I hit 27 times and wound 13 times, he saves just 2. I end up winning even more epically than he did (by 19)! and he disappears to combat resolution. I follow just 7". Bad, bad position for me to be in.

Tomb King 3
His bone giant flank charges my Gor. His Ushabti rear charge them.

I try to dispel his bonus chariot move and fail to do so. They will be on my magic park next turn. Fortunately, he fails his charge this turn so moves only 4" extra.

I debate a long time about his righteous smiting ushabti attack on my gor. Ultimately, I make the single best decision I have made all game. I decide the point of a horde is to absorb casualties and still attack. I save my dice for the casket.

His Ushabti manage just one wound. I stop his giant from getting it when he rolls poorly, then stuff the casket again.

My Gorebull BSB makes way to face the Giant. I hit and wound 3 times. I am impressed. Everyone left is initiative 3 so will attack simultaneously.

The Gor hit the bone giant 4 times, but can muster just 1 wound which he saves. I hit the Ushabti 12 times, doing 4 wounds, of which he saves just 1.

The bone giant goes after the Gorebull. This was the chance I took. If he kills him, I will lose my LD re-roll. Fortunately, he whiffs all but one attack which fails to wound. The Ushabti do markedly better on my r&f gor, hitting 8 times and killing 7. He then stomps pretty good but the thunderstomp rolls just 1, so he kills just 4 more gor.

Still, he wins handily between his 11 wounds, charge, flank and rear. But I am steadfast and pass. I fail the reform roll by...well, bt the one point of LD difference between a Doombull and Beastlord.

At this point I have one chariot that will flank charge his Ushabti next turn. The other two will be moving to protect my two bray Shaman. That means he is likely to get 2 of my three chariots and the 2 bray-shaman in the next couple of turns.

Meanwhile, I need the Gor to hold off his Bone Giant long enough for the Ghorgon to sweep around the back and hit the Ushabti and the Doombull to go after his Bone Giant.

One bad roll kills by BSB and gives a good chance of my gor fleeing before that can happen. One good roll kills his Bone Giant and lets me concentrate on his Ushabti.

It is late, his kids want to watch The Sorcerers Apprentice, and this game has given us a great time.

He got off an epic charge. I got off an epic charge. I offer a draw. He accepts. I think it is a fitting end to this game.

He held an early advantage. I held a mid-game advantage. The dice could turn it into a massacre for either of us. I had a great time, I would just as soon reflect on it.


Reflections
Well, as usual for me, a unit I looked forward to rolling out was a huge disappointment. But this one was different.

With the Wardancers, I will never not believe I played them correctly. I softened their target, charged the right unit at the right time and fluffed the rolls, only to run into some very good rolls.

With the Shaggoth I simply experienced one of the problems of running into a shooting heavy army with a lightly armored model and died to shooting.

With the Chaos Knights, I played them correctly and they inflicted mass carnage.

With my highly anticipated Minotaurs I simply got out-played. He out-maneuvered me to get the charge, then I took the challenge with the wrong model and thus died bloodily and deservedly. this was not a unit fail. It was combo player fail and opponent superior play. Mostly it was his better use of magic, so I do not feel badly about their performance. I am simply not good enough to stop the plan he developed and executed.

Meanwhile, the herdstone park performed outstanding. As he commented at one point, "you rolled snake-eyes for magic and have 6 dice." Yep. And it mattered. I think slowing his chariots on the left flank for that one turn made a huge difference.I think having enough dice to at least ATTEMPT Wyssans on the key turn despite rolling snake-eyes was huge.

And the Gor with Beast banner...hitting the flank, rolling all those dice...oh, I LOVED that. Still think I would have been better served with units of 20 and 30 for assistance if we had rolled Blood and Glory or Watchtower.

But there is something about rolling 50 S4 attacks that is just plain awesome.

Overall, I am going to declare my initial foray with the Beastmen a smashing success. I enjoyed the game, it was much more involved than sometimes I get with my Warriors of Chaos, and every turn except the first brought excitement.

Thanks too, to Fixed Dice for a most entertaining game.

On a completely unrelated note...Fullur, you should come to painting Friday. Come early. We will go by Performance Bike. Let you try riding a...well, different type of bike. I see why you drive to work. You should try it on a more comfortable bike.


All fear the Beastmen!

Campaign Battle:Tomb Kings versus Ogre Kingdoms

Played in I believe 4 games Saturday, 3 for our Small Campaign and one for our big campaign. If I ever start writing a campaign history for the big campaign like I am in the early stages of doing for our small campaign (the intro is at the bottom, the beginning of the tale of Captain Nemo above it, so you actually need to read the bottom post first if you really want to waste your time reading my fiction, then this battle will have a place.

Set-up
Part of the campaign philosophy is resource building, and part of it is attrition. Essentially, the idea is for each person to have a few turns to build a power base before we start fighting each other. Each territory allows x amount of troops to be maintained, and you always fight SOMEONE when you enter a territory...but if none of the other players owns it or is moving there, then we fight random armies.

Since our starting War banners have 2250 and the size army they will face ranges from 1750 all the way up to 3500, most of the time the players will face armies smaller than their own, though there is always the danger they will face a larger army.

So one of the players NOT involved in that territory plays a randomly rolled size/type army. We know going in we will most likely lose, so the goal is to give the opponent the best game possible and, in our own interest, to cause as many casualties as possible in hopes they will be "permanent" casualties that will slow the opponent by making his army smaller.

The object then for the real player, as opposed to the "neutral" player, is two-fold;

1, be sure to win the battle so you get the points for the territory you will capture!
2, minimize the casualties you take.

Obviously, the closer you are to home, the easier it will be to replace casualties. The further from home you get, the harder it will be to replace the odd Chaos Knight or Wood Elf Spellsinger if they fall in battle.

I had never played the Tomb Kings and wanted to give them a shot.

Funny thing is, in our gaming group people have a very low opinion of them even though many people on the tournament scene consider them mid-tier.

And that brings me to another side-bar, of the type I am unfortunately famous for.

Types of players.
We like to think of ourselves as a pretty laid-back group. A daemons of chaos army with 2 bloodthirsters and a host of their other power units would be looked upon with much suspicion. On the other hand, a host of Night Goblins with minimal to no fanatic and war machine support is considered great fun, if hopeless and anyone ever played it.

A level up from us would be the people with 70+ shot armies (any of the 3 Elf armies, the Dwarfs, etc) or 12+ Power Dice type armies that are much tougher lists to play both as and against.

Another level up would be the comped tournament scene where double-Steam Tank lists might win every game and finish towards the bottom of the standings, as tournament organisers seek to balance the inherent flaws in the army books that allow some pretty powerful builds.

And at the top would be the no-holds-barred, bring that 4-Dragon High Elf list with 8 Bolt throwers and the rest all Knights.

Why do I sketch out these things?

because how you play has a direct and decisive link to how good an army is.

For example, our group has at least 3 views on tiers:
A:
1) High Elf, Dwarf, Dark Elf, Wood Elf
2) Lizardmen, Warriors of Chaos, Empire, Skaven
3) Vampire Counts, Bretonnians
4) Ogre Kingdoms, Orcs and Goblins, Tomb Kings

B:
1) Dark Elf, Dwarf, Wood Elf
2) Lizardmen, Warriors of Chaos, Vampire Counts, Dwarf
3) Bretonnians, Empire, Skaven
4) Ogre Kingdoms, Orcs and Goblins, Tomb Kings

C:
1) Dark Elf
2) Wood Elf, Warriors of Chaos
3) Dwarfs, Bretonnians, Lizardmen
4) Skaven, Empire, Tomb Kings
5) Orcs and goblins, Ogre kingdoms

Those lists may not be 100% the feeling, but they are pretty close to what I have picked up in discussions. Now, if you are familiar with the tourney scene, you might notice a few huge discrepancies:
- Vampire Counts a low tier? Dwarfs and Wood Elfs mid-to high tier? WoC that high? NO Daemons at all?

And that brings me back to the original point. The way we play, certain armies simply are ineffective, and others are hugely effective.

Does not mean our tiers are right or wrong, nor that the way we currently play is right or wrong. Just means the altered perceptions/expectations make for some interesting match-ups.

Well, my brother Fixed Dice was good enough to build the 1750 Tomb King list and I went to face kev's Ogre Kingdom 2250 War Banner


Tyrant -Cathayan Longsword, Sword of Battle, Gut Maw, Daemon-Killer Scars, Sword Gnoblar x2

Bruiser BSB - War Banner, Lt. Armor, Ogre Club

Bruiser - Sword of Might, Cathayan Longsword, Bullgut, Sword Gnoblar x2

Bulls x3
Bulls x3

Gnoblar Fighters x20 - Handweapons, Sharp Stuff
Gnoblar Fighters x20 - Handweapons, Sharp Stuff
Ironguts x5 - GW, HA, Bellower, Unit Standard
Ironguts x4 - GW, HA, Bellower, Unit Standard
Leadbelchers x4 - Lt. Armor, Leadbelcher Cannon
Scraplauncher
Maneaters x2 - Cathayan Longsword, Lt. Armor

Gorger
Slavegiant

Ironically, I know his list better than mine, but mine was more or less:
Tomb Prince with flying cloak and item giving him 4+ Ward
Liche Priest on skeletal steed
Liche Priest with Casket of souls
10 skeletons
31 skeletons
20 tomb guard with full command
Tomb Scorpion
Bone Giant

The field had a big corner hill on the left with rough ground half way across the table and about 12" in from the edge, a forest and other assorted terrain on the right that essentially closed it off meaning the game would be fought in the middle and left flank.

For scenario we rolled and he chose Break-through, which meant he needed to get 3+ US5 units off my side of the table for outright win, or if not then standard VPs.

Unlike most games, I figured with 500 fewer points and playing as the Tomb Kings, this would not be a particularly good game, so I took neither notes not pictures. Check out butts vente vente, as some might say (hindsight is 20-20 is the more normal phrasing).

Knowing he had to come to me and with the Casket of Souls planted on the hill to my left, I put the Tomb Guard next to it, then the 31 Skeletons with an 11 wide front, then the 10 wide archers in line to their right, with the Tomb Scorpion behind the archers and the Bone Giant between the Tomb Guard and Casket.

On my left flank he put a couple units of Bulls, a Slave Giant all angling to circle the rough ground. In the center he had Leadbelchers behind about 8 bulls or Ironguts or something. Beside them he put his Scraplauncher, then his Maneaters were more or less opposite the 10 archers on my right flank.


Tomb King Turn 1
Since I had planted the Casket on the hill, I knew my best chance for an upset would be doing mass damage in the first turn or two. I advanced the Bone Giant towards the left, hoping to cut off and bottle up his Bulls. If I could engage one unit, it would keep about 6 Bulls and his Slave Giant bottled up and allow me to concentrate on the rest of his force. It had a chance of nullifying the points disadvantage.

I advanced both units of Skeletons 2": If we both started at the 12" in deployment line, 1" would have been plenty but our group habitually throws the opponent off by stepping back a quarter inch, half inch, even a full inch or two to make shooting impossible or at least more difficult. The Tomb Scorpion started circling the right flank.

Time for the magic phase. I was going to take it slow since I did not really know the army. First, I did the one that lets the skeletons fire: he feared the Casket, had but 2 Dispel Dice, so let everything go but the Casket.

And so began some of the most effective shooting I ever hope to see.

Everyone has their own theory. Some spread out their shooting. I try to wipe out units because I do not trust even LD3 units to fail their tests. So I fired the 11 at his maneaters and got off a wound. Then the 10 guys got an extra firing and also wounded it. I was pretty ecstatic.

I still had some magic left, but at this point the only option was moving stuff. I advanced the Bone Giant a bit more, then made a huge mistake.

Not because I thought it was a good idea or because I needed to, but just because I still had an incantation to use, I moved my 31 skeletons back to their original location...and thus out of range for the shooting phase. Idiot.

Unfamiliarity with the army. Boo hiss.

Well, then it was time for the casket. I rolled...2 "4" results, a respectable 8 total. He picked up his two dice, rolled, the first one fell...a "4". The second one fell...a "4". yep, 4 out of 4 dice rolled a 4.

Oh well, in the shooting phase, the 10 Skeleton unit made me forget my blunder by actually putting enough wounds on the Maneater unit to kill one...and the other promptly failed its panic test, turned, and ran right off the board!

Great start for me, lousy start for Kev.

Ogre Kingdom Turn 1
His bulls came up and the front unit got past the rough ground, but just as I hoped the back unit was stuck behind the rough ground and the first unit. Everyone else came right up the middle. He had no Magic, and the Leadbelchers were covered, so he only fired with the scraplauncher.

After some hasty calculations, he said, "I think you are 18" away, so I will guess 16" and it will scatter on to you." Then he aimed it at the 31 skeletons, measured, and sure enough, 16" put the template where the edge was about a quarter inch shy of touching. And naturally on the scatter dice he rolled a "hit" result. Otherwise it would have scattered 10".

Not a very effective turn for the Ogres, though really, there was not much else he could do. He was doing everything right, but the results were not panning out. Which, by the way, is why we all think the Ogre kingdoms are below average. Their results are pretty sub-standard.

Tomb King Turn 2
Bone Giant charged the Bulls. I moved the Tomb Scorpion around the 10 skeletons, then retreated them 2". I wanted to make him take as long as possible to get the charge on me.

Magic: First I tried to give the Bone Giant an extra attack. He decided he could not stop the Casket again, so stopped that instead, then stopped some movement thing I think, but both the 31 and 10 archers fired again. With a few exceptions, I was hitting ridiculous numbers..like, needing 5s to hit, on 11 dice I got 7 or 8 hits about 4 or 5 times. A couple of times I got only 1. But overall, I am sure the dice favored me in the shooting phase.

Anyway, in the Magic shooting, I put a wound or two on his Bulls, then used the Movement one to move the Tomb Scorpion into his Bulls. Normally I would not make that charge...but in this game, my goal was to inflict casualties, not make combo-charges and win.

The Casket went off and was absolutely devastating. Almost every unit took a couple of wounds, and the Scraplauncher took so many it was utterly destroyed (and I just noticed...we neglected to have units within 6" take LD tests...which is just as well, as it was a close-run thing anyway)

Shooting was good to me again, as I think I took out 1 or 2 Bulls in this turn. That is pretty good for shots needing 5s to hit and 5s to wound, then he having 6+ or 5+ saves. He did make a fair few saves in the game, but he failed a fair number as well.

Anyway, close combat was cool.The Bone Giant hit on all 4 attacks despite needing 4s, (yes, he should have had 5 attacks...*sigh*...not knowing the army) but of his second 4, only one could hit, it wounded, but I could not hit again. Still, 5 wounds in one charge...I was not complaining. I did take one wound back, but he failed the LD test and fled through the unit behind it. Which failed its test and fled. With them bouncing into and through each other, they ended up fleeing about 12" on a 3" and 7" roll, which meant I caught neither, but I was just fine with that. I was not just bottle-necking that flank, I was rolling it up.

Meanwhile, the Tomb Scorpion did a couple wounds, but lost to his Battle Standard and outnumbering. Might even have taken a wound?

Ogre Kingdom Turn 2
With his own right wing (my left) in shambles and the Tomb Scorpion threatening to jam up the middle, he had to take some desperate measures...like charging the Scorpion in the flank with Gnoblars. His Slave Giant then charged my Bone Giant.

Everyone else tried to advance up the middle, but it was really a choke point, held up by the rough ground on my left and battle involving the Tomb Scorpion on the right.

In close combat, his Giant did the one where he auto-wounds me and I get no attacks. So I lost the combat there. The same result was rolled the next turn.

Meanwhile, his Gnoblars surprisingly failed to wound the Tomb Scorpion (it has become a running joke that Gnoblars are the deadliest OK unit as they have killed the Dark Elf special Assassin, the named one, and held up Slayers and Dwarf Warriors, killed a Chaos Warrior, and just generally been awesome).

I then had a choice; try to hit an Ogre or hope I could slay 4 Gnoblars to draw the combat if I was not wounded by the Ogres? I chose that route, but could only slay two of the little boogers. His Ogres duly failed to wound (almost not even hitting!) but he still won the combat by 3 or 4, the Scorpion crumbled to Combat Resolution. His Gnoblars then over-ran, trying to get clear of the Bulls, but their poor roll put them squarely in front. He was still bottled up.

By now I was wishing I had been taking notes as things started to run together in my head. So I will summarize:

The center of the field saw his Goblars pin him in place for my shooting while his left-flank Bulls managed to keep running and run right off the board. His Slave Giant and my Bone Giant beat up on each other for quite a while, until his Giant broke and, thanks to some Gnoblars, escaped my pursuit which instead hit the Gnoblars.

At some point I got the one through that heals, got it through twice and got the Giant down from I think 4 wounds to just one.

Meanwhile, his Gorger came on, but the Casket went off and one-turn killed it. Kev was quite unlucky with big, important units like his Gorger and Scraplauncher doing nothing, both being destroyed by the Casket.

Naturally the Giant beat the Gnoblars, who ran, allowing me to charge his by now badly wounded Giant. I finished it off.

At some point, my Tomb Guard flank-charged his big unit. I whiffed completely. He did a couple or 6 wounds back, one the combat, and got his big hitters facing me. Next turn he did like 15 casualties, the unit melted. He finally was on the board! Well, okay, he had the Scorpion points, but this added about 371 points or so, giving him maybe 500?

The only other success he had was the bull unit that had beaten my Scorpion got around the Gnoblars, charged the 10 Skeletons, wiped them out. He elected to leave the table with them as this happened on turn 4 and he did not think he would need them, but that was before his Giant broke.

Also at some point he finally got to fire with the Leadbelchers, getting a whopping 24 shots...but only doing like 2 or 3 casualties.

Tomb King Turn 6
I hastily totaled up the points I had given up. Not many. He really, really needed to do lots of damage to win. I was winning, and pretty handily at this point. Actually, I was winning by enough that he probably needed to get three units off the board to win or else completely wipe out my Giant, 31 man unit, and find a way to kill my Tomb Prince or Liche Priest.

So I moved my 31 skeletons back 2", hoping he could overrun them and get off the board. Later, a couple measurements showed that move took them out of his charge range, so I undid that move to ensure he got the charge. On the dark side, that meant I was more than 12" from the table edge, so he was absolutely going to have to score big on his turn.

Ogre Kingdom Turn 6
To be honest, at this point I was feeling somewhat bad. Yes, I wanted to do a few casualties. But the toll was too heavy...
-Scraplauncher
-Gorger
-2 maneaters
- Slave Giant
- 2 3-Bull Units
- several other Bulls or Ironguts to shooting
- A full unit of Gnoblars

Even worse, though I did not know the exact standings, I had a sinking feeling that I was winning. The only points I had given up this point were the Tomb Scorpion, Tomb Guard, and 10 Skeletons...maybe 600 points?

Time to do what the Starving Crazed Weasels do best; cheat in our opponents' favor :-)

This is when I undid the move of my 31 skeleton block to ensure he got a chance at them. He was going to do nothing with his Gnoblars, until I pointed out they could get lucky with sharp stuff and might do 5 wounds (I forgot he only needed to do 2 to get at least half points). Also, we debated if some or all Gnoblars could throw, with him arguing 2 ranks, me arguing all ranks. I won.

That is one reason I love this group. If we were actually hyper-competitive, we would have been on the opposite side, as both of us were arguing for the good of our opponent. Funny stuff.

So of course he charges with both Leadbelchers and the big unit.

The Gnoblars through their shiny stuff and, when the dust cleared, did 2 wounds...taking me to 3, giving him 1/2 points for the Giant. Huzzah!

I have seen the Ogres in battle several times. I have not been impressed. Until this one.

His Bull Charge took out about 7 or 8 guys. He declared a challenge. I asked how many attacks he had. With Sword-Gnoblars, 8. I pointed out that if I accepted the challenge, the most Overkill he could get was 5, whereas if I refused it, he would have the potential to get the full 8. I actually thought little enough of Ogre effectiveness to think the chance of the extra three might matter. Silly Weasel.

So I moved the champ to the back and he proceeded to kill5 rank and file...I should have stayed in the challenge :-)

Then his other guys went to work. When the dust cleared, he had done something like 26 casualties. The last couple Skeletons crumbled.


Who Won?
When we totaled up the points, we then used the chart for the smaller of the 2 armies, 1750. There are two ways to look at it:

1) If you interpret the rules strictly, We had a draw.

2) If you interpret them the Starving Crazed Weasel way, had he scored just 5 more points he would have scored a minor victory. Since you need a minor victory to take over a territory...we "discovered" 5 points he had earned and gave that to him. Because that's how we roll.

Yet his post-battle scsualty rolls were despicable.

Even though I mistakenly used the "Massacre" chart instead of "minor Victory" chart, he had 20% better chance...and STILL lost the Giant, a couple Bulls, a Maneater and mAybe (?) the Scraplauncher.


Post-Battle Thoughts
Okay, this was a phenomenally fun battle.

I was helped by some spectacular rolls, no mistake about that as my shooting was far more effective than it should have been, the Casket took out two dangerous units in timely fashion (if his Gorger kills my Liche Priest on the Casket, he was my Hierophant, and my army would have crumbled very badly), and the Bone Giant was awesomeness personified.

He was single-handedly responsible for 6 Ogre Bulls, a Unit of Gnoblars, and the Slave Giant. He also single-handed defended an entire flank.

On the flip side, I badly-mis-played the Scorpion, forgetting he would take wounds from CR. I should have combo-charged him and the Tomb Guards. As it was, the Tomb Guards stunk up the joint as they attacked the wrong unit at the wrong time.

I have played against the Tomb Guard and as them. When I was against them, I could not do enough casualties to overcome their healing abilities and, despite inadvertently cheating (I was taking 5+ Ward Saves with Dryads and 6+ with Wardancers even though the magic weapons of the Tomb Guards cancel them out) was taking more casualties than I was doing anyway.

I think this speaks back to my initial discussion of tiers. In my hands, the Tomb Guard is a very sub-standard unit, but in the hands of someone who plays them correctly, they are excellent.

After the 2nd turn, the Casket was a non-factor as few of his units faced it, so had no line of sight and it was not problematic. However, when they were facing it and it went off, it made me go blind from overexposure to awesomeness, as if I were watching a Panda do Kung-Fu.

On the other side, there is very little Kev could have done different. I think about the only things I would have done different had to do with the Leadbelchers. If they had been able to shoot more than once, they might have been more effective, though their 12" range and the way the field got bottle-necked mean even that may not have been possible, and had they been anywhere else, he might not have gotten his mini-DeathStar unit into action. So it is probably not a good quibble.

Which says an awful lot about the Ogres.

Played about as well as they could be against an army 500 points lighter, they struggled all game long.

It is definitely a match-up I look forward to seeing other people play, as the Tomb Kings have some fun little toys like their Chariot units and Ushabti to go with the fun Bone Giant.

Good times had by all.

Except the dead models. They had no fun.

Oh, and final point? Had the Gnoblars not done those 2 wounds in the last turn...just sayin'. Sometimes games turn on seemingly small, insignificant things.

Warhammer 1K:Wood Elf versus Tomb Kings

We have recently instituted the "Warhammer 1000". Sunday afternoons we try to get in a 1000 point game. Smaller than our typical game, it allows us to try out some different armies and combinations.

I had not played the Wood Elf army in a while so thought it would be fun to give them a go. Meanwhile, Fixed Dice was going to roll out the tomb kings again.

Locally, there is a feeling the Tomb Kings are...well..under-powered. Weak core troops, weak shooting, and marginal magic is the general feeling. Of course, this would only be their second game and would again be just a small one.

Knowing they are a weaker army, I went an interesting way. I decided to go a heavily close combat army. I took 12 Dryads (all I have), 10 Wardancers (all I have), took 10 Waywatchers because they are cool. I was facing a Magic-heavy army so I took a Spellsinger with 2 Dispel Scrolls. I still needed one core unit so I took Glade Guard. I had about 270 points to spend or so and so went with a massive 20 man unit with Standard Bearer and the Banner of Aenach.

Sometimes you realize very shortly you are stupid. Aenach is only 25 points and allows a Stand and Shoot. Tomb Kings cannot march. They are never going to close with my mobile Elf army anyway unless I decide to let them, and in that case I can maneuever to ensure they are getting shot on the way in anyway. Not that 30ish points for Bearer and Banner is a big deal...but little errors can become big ones.

My hapless opponent went with a couple 10 man Skeleton units, a big block of Tomb Guard, the Casket of Souls and the requisite 3 heroes, all tooled up in some way or the other.

By the way, my army composition is very unusual for me; limited shooting, only one hero, and that hero not expected to do anything but Dispel. I specifically wanted to try a close combat oriented army.

The field had 3 (THREE) forests, some rough ground on my left flank and a deep lake on the right. I put my 20 Glade Guard in a line across the center of the field, the Wardancers to my left, and the Dryads to my right. The Dryads would have to ford the river and sweep along the flank...but that was better than stacking behind the Wardancers (?).

He put his Casket of Souls on the ever-present hill in opponents deployment zone that is the bane of my existence, the Tomb Guard to its right (from my point of view) and the two Skeleton units side by each in front of the Tomb Guard and open space.

That meant my Waywatchers could take advantage of their awesome deployment rules to set up on his flank in his deployment zone.

The roll for first turn would be critical and I won it. We each rolled a 4 but I had set up first and the bonus +1 for that gave me the choice. I elected to go first.


Wood Elf Turn 1
My Wardancers moved forwards out of the woods into the rough ground, stopping just short of the fence. On the right flank, my Dryads all made it across the ford and into the forest. My Glade Guard and Waywatchers took advantage of the "Asrai archery" rule to move, knowing it would not affect their "to-hit" roll, but might get into half range, putting into effect S4 for the Glade Guard and Killing Blow for the Waywatchers.

Magic Phase:
I had a choice pre-battle between the marginally useful Tree-Singing and the awesome but unlikely to happen Ariel's Blessing. I went the high-risk, high-reward route and took the Ariel, not realizing he would make me -1 to cast, meaning I needed a 10. Since I already figured I would need Irresistible Force to successfully get it off anyway, that probably would not have altered my decision. I could only cast once per turn and figured either spell would meet Dispel Scrolls unless Irresistible so why not try to give someone Regeneration?

I will save time. I successfully met the required "10" just once all game, he used a scroll.

Shooting:
This is the Wood Elf strength. Whereas for my beloved Warriors of Chaos, shooting phases are short and don't do much, they make or break the game for the Wood Elfs. Mobility and firepower are the watchwords.

And fire they did. My Waywatchers opened a can of whoop-smurf on the closest unit of Skeletons, killing 7 of them. The Glade Guard would have killed 5 more if there had been more than 3 left. The upshot was, turn one saw me wipe an entire unit off the board.

It was at this point Fixed Dice stated the game had a predetermined outcome. He could not come to grips with my guys unless I chose to allow it and could shoot him down completely before the game ended without him ever touching me.

Tomb King Turn 1
Still, he moved his other Skeleton unit in a wheel to try to cover the Tomb Guard from my Waywatchers and moved forward. Since they can not march, the ungainly maneuver meant they would still all be able to see my Glade Guard.

Magic Phase:
With their "always successful", my defense was at a premium. I only had 3 Dispel Dice. The Casket being on a hill meant every model I had could see it so I simply had to save my Dispel Dice for that. Which meant he got off a free shooting phast, killing 2 Glade Guard, and some movement. Then I did Dispel the Casket.

Shooting Phase
This slew just one more Glade Guard. Clearly, even taking two turns of shooting, the Tomb Kings are not going to win a shoot-out with the Wood Elf army.

Wood Elf Turn 2
I moved my Dryads forward, moved my Waywatchers and Glade Guard...and inexplicably completely forgot to move my Wardancers. I have no explanation. I planned to advance them about 3" which would have put me approximately 9" from his Tomb Guard...outside their charge range, inside mine. And then I...didn't.

Shooting: See turn one. Waywatchers were slightly less effective despite having Killing Blow but this time 8 Glade Guard were within half range so the carnage was terrible and all 10 Skeletons died. He was now down to the Casket and the Tomb Guard bolstered by a Hierophant and Liche priest...I think.

I now had a new plan. Anyone who could see the Casket was going to shoot at it. My Wardancers and Dryads would work on his Tomb Kings. My plan for the battle had been to see my Colse Combat machines in combat so why shoot up their only target?

Besides, even if close combat went poorly, with still 27 shots per turn, all either S4 or Killing Blow, his unit would fall like Skeletons before Chaos Knights...so even if they won Close Combat, maneuverability and firepower would carry the field. At least, so I thought...

Tomb King Turn 2
He had to choose who to face: my Wardancers, the Dryads approaching the flank, the deadly Waywatchers or the 17 strong Glade Guard.He elected to do a partial wheel to face the closest unit, the Wardancers. magic not particularly memorable, I dispelled the Casket. I was quite afraid of it.

Wood Elf Turn 3
Here we go. The mighty, awesome, fearsome, deadly Wardancers charge. The Dryads also charge.

Shooting: My Waywatchers, heretofore deadly marksmen with unerring aim, cover the sky with 10 arrows, all of which either miss entirely or hit the Casket.

And I somehow, until typing this report, completely forgot my Glade Guard could have seen the Casket since it was on a hill. I did not fire them at it even once. That was a mistake.

Close combat:
I knew for this round I had S4 and 2 attacks apiece. I decided to perform the Whirling Death to get Killing Blow. My Champion challenged and his...Hierophant? accepted. I rolled my 3 attacks...I wounded once that was not saved. 2 Wardancers attacked his Champion...and whiffed completely. My other Wardancers struck with fury...just not with talent or success, felling maybe 2 skeltons?

But the Dryads can still save the combat. Here come their mighty 6 attacks. Great...not one wound gets through.

He strikes back, kills my Champion though no other Wardancer. He has ranks and since the Dryads are Skirmishers, they cannot negate the rank bonus. He has a banner. Fortunately, I outnumber him and win the combat by 1.

Bad news...once again, my "elite" hand to hand units charge in with about every advantage they can muster and more or less are defeated. At this point, it will take a minotr miracle for me to win this combat.

Tomb King Turn 3
He has no movement. His magic lets him get off a free attack. One Dryad and two Wardancers die. He uses a bound spell to bring his unit back to full strength.

Close Combat phase: another Dryad becomes kindling, a couple Wardancers become mulch. I flail away ineffectually in return, doing one wound to his Liche Priest and nothing to anyone that matters. I lose the combat, my Wardancers break and flee fully 12".

I have ranted about how bad the Wardancers suck every time I have used them. I am not going to do that this time. I am going to talk about how awesome the model I purchased way back in 1994 and painted way back then still looks as compared to the awful paint jobs on the ones I bought off E-Bay. He looked fantastic as he advanced to the rear at a high rate of speed.

Wood Elf Turn 4
Good news. The Wardancers rallied. Bad news. It will take them until turn 6 to get back to the combat; rally this turn, march in turn 5, charge in turn 6. There are just 4 left. Is it worth it?

I forget to move my Spellsinger out of line of sight of the Casket (if I had done so, I would have used my Dispel Dice to block the 2nd attack instead of saving them for the Casket), repositioned the Glade Guard so they could shoot up the soon to be ultimately triumphant Tomb Guard, advanced the Waywatchers so they all were inside half range, and opened fire on the Casket. I put one wound on the General and shot down one of the two guards. Pretty good phase I must admit.

Close Combat: More of the same. I might have put down a Guard or two, and I think I actually killed his Liche Priest. Unfortunately, at this point even doing that meant I was losing the combat...BEFORE HE EVEN ATTACKED BACK. He had 2 ranks, outnumbering, and a Standard giving him +4 and I did just 3 wounds. He killed another Dryad or two, I miraculously passed my break test (needing a 6, I rolled a 5. So that was good).

Tomb King Turn 4
He healed the wound on his General, brought the Guard back to full strength, and got in an extra attack in his Magic phase. I think he also Magic Missiled down a Glade Guard or two. In close combat he broke me. I fled, he could not catch me.

Wood Elf Turn 5
This turn would be tricky. I rallied my Dryads, moved the Wardances into the protective cover of the forest they started in, moved my Spellsinger into the same forest, and then had a tough choice.

My fear was he would use his movement to reform his Tomb Guard, catch my Waywatchers in their sight, and use his movement spell to pick off that juicy target. So I tried to move far enough that he could not reach them. Just in case I advanced the Glade Guard and let the bowstrings twang.

The Tomb Guard felt the full force of my fury and something like 4 of them fell. They were proving to be a very tough unit. The Casket escaped unscathed.

Tomb King Turn 5
He saw the same thing regarding the Waywatchers but for some reason elected to go after the Dryads. I think he forgot how much Static Combat Resolution advantage he had. I would have been down by 4 to start any combat, and if the Waywatchers broke...which they most likely would....they were just a couple inches from table edge. I think that is the target I would have chosen. He already had half points for the Dryads.

But that is part of the beauty of this game. Though it is what I might have done, that does not mean it was necessarily correct. Everyone has their own strategies and different people play the same situation different ways.

He elected to go after the Dryads. This time he rolled just a "1" to move again which would have given him the charge. I used one of my precious Dispel Dice to block it. He used a Magic Missile to shoot down another Glade Guard and then brought the Tomb Guard back to full health.

Wood Elf Turn 6
I actually was quite sceptical of the outcome at this point. Yes, in the firat two turns I had shot down his skeletons. Whoopee. At 80 points a unit, I only scored 160. Meanwhile, he had half points for both my Wardancers and Dryads...97 and 72 points respectively. I had also slain his Liche Priest...probably les than 100 points I would assume...and he was likely to wipe out my dryads next turn. So it was probably a draw at this point.

I took some time pondering my options. I could shoot everything I had at the Tomb Kings and try to get half points for them...or I could unleash the Waywatchers at the Casket hoping against hope to put down his King. (Forgetting again my Glade Guard actually could see the Casket...)

I ran the numbers and ultimately decided to go high risk, high reward. I shot at the Casket. And wonder of wonders...I did three wounds to his Tomb King, putting him down for good. That decided the game.

Meanwhile, the Glade Guard put a bunch of holes in the Tomb Guard, 6 or 7 casualties if I recall correctly.

Tomb Kings Turn 6
His choice was easy, now. With just a Hierophant, his magic was weak, his options limited. He charged the Dryads, trying for that last 72 points. I blocked his magic since I no longer needed to fear the Casket.

Close Combat: I lost no further Dryads and, since he could not regenerate with all the lost magic, I was only down 2 (outnumber, standard) and passed my break test. Game.

Total points were something like 650-170 or in that neighborhood. We did not figure it exactly because it was obviously a Massacre.

What Went Right
The Waywatchers are simply awesome, easily worth the whopping 24 points apiece. Starting out hitting stuff on a "2", they are going to hit lots of things and even with just S3, they are going to do some damage.

The Glade Guard are also pretty spectacular. Cheap enough to risk not having a place to deploy 20, they are mobile, good at hitting what they shoot at, and from 15" in hit on S4 so they are going to cause some casualties as well. They are, in my humble yet accurate opinion, one of the absolutely best Core choices in the game.

What went wrong
The Wood Elf close combat army simply does not fit my play style. Being skirmishers means they cannot rank up, cannot remove the opponent's rank bonus, and start every combat behind by 2 or 3. They are simply not good enough fighters to overcome that. they fail miserably every. stinking. time for me.

I hear of other people having great success with them. Good for those people. I keep using them because I think the concept is awesome, but they are the type of troop that would NEVER see the table top for me if I was in a highly competitive environment where I wanted to win.

The Dryads did okay but have the same limitations. Their ability to cause Fear might be all right against someone like the Skaven or Goblins or Brettonians...but against Undead it is no benefit at all and their limited combat ability does not offset that.

I am still likely to take one or the other to be War Machine or Mage hunters, but the Wood Elf army in close combat against even Skeletons is something that you will only see when I am badly outmaneuevered or hemmed in by terrain. They are just no good at it.

In the end, a fortunate barrage of "6s" meant I did enough wounds to his King to win the game. All the way through, it felt like I was winning...my arrows took out 20 Skeletons in two turns, I took out probably a dozen more in close combat...but he kept regenerating them and until the last turn, I was barely scratching out a draw.

Overall, it was a fun game with an Army I hope to play a bit more. I might try some other fun units like a Treeman (the Wood Elf version of a Shaggoth), Treekin....maybe even a Great Eagle or two. I do like the army and, against all odds, LOVE my cheesy paint job. Designed to look like Autumn, the bright Orange and Jade Green really pop on the battlefield.