Watchtower Battle, High Elf versus Lizardmen

As a general rule when playing wargames, I have gone with armies that fit my tactical acumen. Typically that means mobile, hard-hitting, rugged warriors.


Space marines in 40K. Bretonnians, Warriors of Chaos in Warhammer.



From time to time I branch out...in 40K I used to be developing an Eldar army. Man how I loved the Warp Spiders. Great fun to play with. I loved some of the stunts I could pull off with them.



In Warhammer, I have experimented with Wood Elf, Orc and Goblin, Dwarf, Chaos Dwarf, and Lizardmen armies, but pretty much always come back to the WoC. Except for their lack of shooting, they are the perfect army for me. My preferred tactics work well with them.



Too well. I end up becoming rather predictable. By the time the second or third unit for each side has been set up, I more or less know when and where combat will be joined. I know what I want to happen and am able to get the guys I want to the place I want.

It does not ALWAYS work...but the percentages are with me.

So I wanted a more flexible army that fought in a different style.



So not too long ago I painted up most of a High Elf army and a month or so ago my brother and I started a 1k game between my High Elf and his Lizardman army.



When we first started playing warhammer Fullur was struggling. Tactics eluded him a bit, he struggled with force composition...but he kept using the same race and has progressively gotten better and better to where now he is likely to win any game he starts to play. His recent record has been among the top records in our group. This is something I am ecstatic about...



Anyhow, we rolled up the Watchtower scenario and I won the right to place a unit in there. Unfortunately, poor army building meant the unit I WANTED to put in there...my Lothern Sea Guard...was too large. So I put nothing in instead.



I deployed to get as much shooting at him as possible while he deployed to get his Skink block at the tower quickly with the Saurus coming up behind.



We played the first few turns a couple months ago, so memory might be hazy, but what I recall is



He killed 3 of my Dragon Princes with his Razordon. I tried to bring them back with regrowth, not realizing I only got 1 per 2 wounds...so when I rolled a 3, I only brought back one. They were slain by the kroxigor the next turn.

Meanwhile, his skinks got into the tower. But the next turn my Swordmasters charged in. This just in; elite High Elf Always Strike First with superior weapon skill, re-rolls to hit and needing 2s to kill versus...well...skinks...just might be a mis-match.

It was one of those epic charges I love so much about fantasy battle. Fortunately for me, I was on the right side of it. I do not think his skinks even got to swing back before they were mowed down and I took the tower.

This allowed my Wizard Lord to hurl Purple Sun at his Saurus block, killing just 5 or 6, but enough to force a break test...which, amazingly he failed, but only ran 4". Next turn he somehow failed to rally...and again fled just 4".

Meanwhile, his Carnosaur riding Scar-vet charged into my big block of seaguard. I challenged with my champ, he killed him with a few points of overkill, my ranks & banner won the combat.

Over the next few turns this combat would get more and more involved as my Eagle charged the back of his Carnosaur, his Terradons charged the rear of my eagle, his Kroxigor unit tried to reach the combat. Failed its charge, my Repeater Bolt Thrower

Each turn he would kill my champ, on my turn I would get my champ back with a successful Life casting..it was a real meatgrinder.

Back at the watchtower his salamander ate its handlers and got the result where it just shoots at the nearest enemy every turn...my Swordmasters in the building.

All game I had avoided shooting at his Engine because I did not want to remind him it could use Burning Alignment. Instead I shot his kroxigor unit, whittling them down to 1 krox. He was wheeling another skink unit through the forest to get at my Repeater bolt thrower.

Finally his krox made it into the combat. I actually did a wound with my spearmen, my eagle killed his last terradon, he whiffed his attacks. Then he remembered his stomp...it killed a Sea guard...and by that thin a margin, his Carnosaur stayed in the fight. Without that one extra wound he would have broken.

His Krox did break. By now, however, the Skinks were into my Bolt thrower and now he started using burning alignment.

Then came the fateful moment.

He cast Chain Lightning at my Swordmasters. He was using a level 2 and rolled poorly. I used my Level 4 and the same number of dice...and failed to block it.


It did several casualties.I then rolled under his total, so he got harmonic convergence off on his carnosaur.

Then Burning alignment hit hard. Then the Salamander ripped mighty gashes through others. I was left with just 2 Swordmasters and my level 4...having started the turn with 9 or 10 Swordmasters and the level 4.

He killed my champ with his carnosaur.

My turn; I tried regrowth with most of my power dice...and rolled poorly. He dispelled it. I used the last of my dice trying the transformation of kadon...and he dispelled it.

For all intents and purposes, it now came down to me hoping to roll a 5+ at the end of the turn to end the game.

In close combat his skinks finished off my warmachine crew. Harmonic convergence was cast with irresistible. He took a s10 hit...and rolled a 1. Ha ha ha ha nice! But then he failed the roll to keep his wizard around and died anyway.

We were not sure if Harmonic stayed in play after caster died, so we ruled it did. (It was a typical Starving Crazed Weasels rules discussion; he argued it did not since that would favor me and I ruled it did since it would favor him. Since I am bigger, older, and my flatulence reaks worse...I won the debate.)

It then made it so all his carnosaur/veteran attacks hit...and meant any that failed to wound would get a reroll. He tore a mighty hole through my Sea guard. Still, I was steadfast...oops. Broke. Got run down.

I was now down to 3 Sowrdmasters and a Wizard against a Kroxogor, a Scar-vet on Carnosaur, 15ish Saurus, 10 or so skinks, a salamander...

Yeah, so...I rolled a 2 and the game continued.

He charged in with his Saurus, killed me, and for the first time I can remember I got tabled.

I have come close twice against the dark elves, but each time had a couple irrelevant models left. This...this was devastation.


The thing is, the game completely turned on turn 4 when all his magic went off and mine all got stuffed...but I lost the game earlier than that.

Plain and simple, I got out-played.

I know WHY I put the Swordmasters in the tower...their S5 could hurt the Saurus I expected him to attack with. The S3 Sea Guard? Not so much.

BUT I needed to stick my largest, most resilient unit in the tower. that would be the Sea Guard. Instead I tied them down in a pointless battle they had little chance in. Basically they needed to get the Carnosaur to fail a LD8 check on 3 dice...a highly unlikely occurrence. Sure, I won combat after combat...but I was using my resources improperly.

Meanwhile, he concentrated more than sufficient force at the only place it mattered...the building. Even if I got lucky against his Scar vet...it distracted me from defending the tower.

His use of magic was outstanding. Mine? Not so much. I should have done regrowth a turn earlier, concentrated on buffs instead of Purple Sun...or even gone the Transformation route to kill his Carnosaur/Scar vet thus allowing my Sea Guard to help out around the tower.

I got outmaneuvered, out-strategized, and just generally outplayed.

That meant when just a couple small things did not go perfectly for me, I had no chance to recover. He, meanwhile, when things went wrong (Saurus breaking twice without seeing combat, his handlers getting eaten, his Kroxigor failing a charge and then breaking) had the right troops in the right location so those failures did not matter.

Well done, Fullur. I look forward to our next game!

1K High Efl v. 1k Dwarf rematch

Anger was always near the surface with Rigal Rocksplitter, clan chief of the Hidden Caverns. When he heard of the defeat of a scouting party near the village of...he neither knew nor cared the name, come to think of it...by the pointy-eared, effeminate elves, it got his blood to boiling.

It also gave him an opportunity to show his superiority over his twin, Lagir Rocksplitter. Always the twins competed...for the affection of their parents, for pre-eminence among the dwarfs of the Hidden Caverns, for the respect of the longbeards.

And hearing that the pointy-ears still held the village where Lagir had met defeat brought a smile to his face. He would avenge the defeat suffered by the forces of the Hidden Caverns...and make Rigal look inept in the process.

He assembled his forces and marched forth to wreak his vengeance.



Lately I have been playing a lot of 1K games, most of them with forces set up to be deliberately underpowered. The beauty of it is..against armies built the same way, it results in incredibly fun, entertaining games WITHIN THE CONTEXT OF THOSE GAMES.

At the same time, there is something missing...having no fliers, little to no magic, and using sub-par units almost exclusively takes a certain something away from the overall flavor of the game.

I think both types of games have a place...

Well, we had a day set up where Fixed Dice and Liam would face off over 3K of awesomeness, but Kev would have just a short time to play...so Fullur and I decided on a re-match of the game referenced in the flavor at the opening of this post.

In retrospect, I think the first time we played I counted on him needing 5s to wound and me having 5+ saves or better to eliminate the need for tactics. This time, I set up a bit more strategically.

First, I won the choice of sides and took the more open side this time. Second, I lined up 20 Thunderers across to whittle down his forces a bit as he came across the field, then backed them up with the Grungi-runed Hammerers to provide a ward save against High Elf shooting. The Warriors angled to face his Knights where they were set up, and this time I set the Rangers further back into the forest.

The plan was simple: make him come to me (good Dwarf strategy), whittle down his numbers with S4 shooting, when he inevitably wiped out a unit of Thunderers, I would have Hammerers to withstand the charge and then wreck the pointy-eared close combat blocks.

Meanwhile, the Rangers would pseudo-march block his White Lions and hopefully evade them for the entire battle instead of letting him wipe them out in one spectacular charge.


I won the roll and...what? went FIRST? There is a nickel in the Stupidity Fund. For whatever reason I thought his archers had 30" range so I was going to march forward, then when he climbed the hill, I would get first shot.

Dwarf Turn 1
I moved the Rangers back 1-1/2" in the forest...yeah, that would be a fast move! :-) Then marched everything forward.

High Elf Turn 1
He pretty much followed my plan for him, bringing his Dragon princes around the left flank, advancing the Lothern Sea guard and Repeater bolt thrower on top of the hill, moving his White Lions towards the forest and marching his Spearmen forward.


Dwarf Turn 2
I retreated the Rangers another 1-1/2". I let fly with 20 thunderers and watched gleefully as something like 8 Spearmen went down. Ah, yes...this was dwarf-like!



time to take some casualties off the table!

High Elf Turn 2

And now my nefarious plan began to evidence. His Swordsmen were too far from me to see me in the forest due to the 2" rule...but had to stop 1" away. Slowness, they name is High Elfs...

However, he cleverly advanced his spearmen in such a way that only one unit of thunderers would be able to fire. Very crafty, young padawan.

His shooting began to tell, now, as a few Dwarf Thunderers fell to his Repeater Bolt Thrower and Sea Guard.

Dwarf Turn 3
I continued my stall on the right flank, advancing to the rear another 1-1/2" I also reformed my right-most Thunderers to face outside the forest. Perhaps I would be able to enfilade his White Lions in a turn or two...

I also set up my Hammerers, anticipating his Spearmen would break my Thunderers, but planning to flank charge them.

My shooting was point-blank but far less lethal.

High Elf Turn 3

For the briefest moment, Fullur thought he was using the Warriors of Chaos. His Spearmen and Dragon Princes charged the Thunderers and Dwarf Warriors respectively.

He began shooting down my Hammerers and I continued to fail save after save (in the entire game I successfully made I believe 2 of nearly 30 5+ save attempts...)

Close combat went better than expected. He failed to wound a single Thunderer...and in return I did him the courtesy of wounding not one spearmen. I broke to combat resolution and my ploy worked to perfection...he was stuck right in front of the deadly Hammerers.

The Dragon Princes did a couple wounds, but the rank bonuses and outnumbering allowed the warriors to survive the charge.

Dwarf Turn 4

Fullur once had a great line where he made a bizarre tactical decision but explained it by saying, "I did not want to get charged by Dwarfs..that would just be embarrassing."

Fullur...welcome to embarrassment. Not only did he get charged by Dwarfs...he got FLANK CHARGED by my Elite Hammerers. Bwoohahahah.

Another 1-1/2" strategic advance towards my base battle line by the Rangers, another re-form of the Thunderers to get maximum firepower in a turn or so, a successful rally by the thunderers, and it was time for combat.

First, I went with the Hammerers. He struck first, killing 2. Whatever.

I struck back with a fury, hitting 4 times. I needed "2"s to kill.

Yes, all four dice rolled less than a 2.

Frankly, this was among the most dis-heartening moments I have ever had in Warhammer.

Unlike what I often do with the Warriors of Chaos (or, for that matter, the Dwarfs), I did not just "point and shoot". I actually put thought into my plan, deployment, and maneuvers. I set up things to get the combats when and where I wanted them. I even planned for poor rolls so they would not matter.

And then they did anyway. One brutal, unbelievably bad roll put all my plans in danger of failing.

If the Hammerers broke I would not have enough forces to bring his Spearmen to bear, he could happily retreat and shoot me to death. And should, by the way. The game was his.

I do not mind losing in games where I plan poorly, either through list-building or simply playing point and click (strong units, charge. Everyone else, stand around showing off your paint job).

I do not mind when my opponent does something clever and/or outplays me.

I HATE losing to a 1 in 1296 chance when I am actually trying to garner some sort of draw or win. And frankly, I did not have a lot of confidence in the ability of the Warriors, without their full rank bonus and with a wound on my T6 Thane (from a horse, no less), to win against the Dragon Princes.

Now, do not get me wrong...I do not mind losing. In fact, I actually wish I lost a bit more than I do outside of campaign games. But I want it to be reasonable losing, not to ridiculous horrific rolls.

Nevertheless, all my bad feeling was lessened when the combat turned out to be a draw.

On to the Dragon Princes V. Warriors round 2.

This time I was more successful, slaying two of them (after making one of my rare successful saves), and he ran. I ran as well...and ended up an inch behind them.

High Elf Turn 4

he advanced his White lions, started shooting down my heretofore untouched Thunderers before his White Lions emerged from the forest, rallied his Dragon Princes, and he rolled his General behind my Thunderers.

I knew at this moment I could not touch his General in the game, and lost another Thunderer to his S5 shots, and time to go back to close combat.

Another draw between my elite Hammerers on his flank and his 2 guys fighting spearmen. Not good.

Dwarf Turn 5

Outside the forest, the Rangers made a full march move away from the forest. My Warriors charged his Dragon Princes, mostly so they would not get a strength bonus.

Yes, that is two successful charges by my Dwarfs this game :-).

This time, I did a couple casualties to his Spearmen, they finally broke. I also broke his Dragon Princes and followed them off the table.

High Elf Turn 5
Things looked grim. His White Lions finally emerged from the forest, right in front of the Dwarf gunline.

He rallied his Spearmen, then went to work again shooting everything...Repeater bolt Throwers, Sea Guard, and his General, at the gunline preparing to take down the White Lions. Sure enough, he got them down to just 5 men.

Dwarf Turn 6

I turned the Rangers to face the inevitable charge from his White Lions, charged and finished off his Spearmen, and brought the Warriors back on the table.

Then I shot down 3 of his Seaguard, but did just one casualty to his White Lions.

I broke and ran down his Spearmen, and now it was time to see if I could withstand a furious last second attack by the reeling High Elfs.

High Elf Turn 6

Sure enough, his White Lions charged my Rangers...only to lose one of their number to my Throwing Axes.

His furious shooting from RBT, Sea Guard, and general combined to finish off the Thunderers who had been waiting for his White Lions.

The Close Combat was intense. He had 7 attacks. I did not have the advantage I hoped for...my rank bonus and outnumbering were nearly offset by his War banner, so he only needed to do one casualty to tie the combat and 2 to have an excellent chance to win.

He did about 4, I could only do one back. The Rangers broke and the game was over.

The Survivor shot...from the winning side.

And there were some living pointy ears, as well.

In the end, it ended up being I think a Marginal Victory...and that was just about perfect.

Wrap-up

This was a very entertaining game. There were moves and counter-moves. At one point he held off a charge I thought he was going to make because he wanted to break off his General from the Dragon Princes.

I was able to set up charges and counter charges, maneuver to get shots at units I wanted to shoot at.

He was very creative in a couple of maneuvers, such as his Spearmen wheel that invalidated half of my front line.

At one point, it looked like another High Elf victory, at another like a crushing defeat for them...but both of us seized the momentum back and in the final turn he pulled in enough points to turn it from probably a solid victory into a marginal.

I would love to see more games like this in play and outcome, regardless of size.

Overall, outside of one soul-crushing moment of discouragement, this was among the most entertaining games I have played in a while.

Rigal looked proudly at his force. The pointy-ears had fought better than he anticipated, but ultimately Rigal's forces held the field. He could not wait to get home and rub his success into the face of his brother.

"Sir, we fought for the village, should we not at least enter it?" asked his lieutenant.

Rigal shook his head. "Let the pointy ears have it. We have a victory feast to attend to."

He turned to go and his foot kicked loose a scroll trod under the hoofs of a Dragon Prince steed. He bent down an picked it up.

It unrolled quickly and easily. He gasped as he saw what it revealed. A smile lit up his face.

Even better than putting his brother to shame was what the map revealed...he instantly knew it for what it was. The path to untold wealth, power, and fame. This would make him the most powerful dwarf the world had ever known...

1K Dwarf v. 1K High Elf

No pics, as I am now in Nashville for the week and have no way of downloading them to the computer. Too bad, because there are some cool ones...

Background; I was fiddling around trying to make some small-game lists I would enjoy playing. Stuff with *gasp* no Chaos Dragon Ogres, no Dragon Ogre Shaggoth....lists that include stuff I normally leave off my list for suctitude like Chaos Warhounds, Chaos Warriors, big Chaos Marauder blocks not including Wulfrik...

Plus, I wanted to find a fun, workable Dwarf build that did not have the "gunline" feel but would be fun to play.

So I made lists for Warriors of Chaos, Wood Elfs, High Elfs, Dwarfs, and Orcs & Goblins.

All the lists were sort of restricted; less than 200 points in characters (and just 1 character), blocks of ranked core fighters, just one Elite unit (except the High Elfs).

My brother was going to take me to the airport, so we snuck in a game. Having just played Warrios of Chaos versus High Elfs the night before against Space Monkey (report to follow in a week or so), I was going to play either Wood Elfs, Dwarfs or High Elfs.

Just to give you a rough idea...my Wood Elf list was so soft it included both Dryads and Wardancers. This just in...skirmishing close combat troops with no ranked troops to help against ranked up fighter units = worse suctitude than normal.

Fullur selected the High Elf list, so I mentally flipped a coin. It came up Dwarfs.

I hesitated...with T4 and decent armor, against S3 Elfs...would the High Elf army have a chance? I decided they would and went Dwarfs.

Setup was simple. Dwarf Warriors in center front with Thane w/Oathstone in it. Thunderers to left and right, Hammerers directly behind the Warriors and a unit of Rangers in the woods on my left flank.

My right flank Thunderers would be blocked by a hill, but that was okay...this field was deliberately set to allow some shooting but encourage close combat and not allow hill-placed missile fire to control the field.

He had his Bolt Thrower on my right guarded by a small stream , then his Dragon Princes, big block of spearmen, then 11 strong Lothern Sea Guard, and on my extreme left, 5 White Lions.

He won the roll and passed the turn to me.

Dwarf Turn 1

I knew he was out of range. I also knew I wanted my Thunderers on the right to get up on the hill. I marched my battle line forward, meaning (but forgetting) to start my Hammmerers off to the right to back up the Thunderers who would almost inevitable get charged (and probably run off) by the Dragon Princes.

My turn took almost a full minute to complete.

High Elf Turn 1

He marches his Spearmen forward, angles his Dragon Princes to get my flank, walks forward with his Seaguard and advances his White Lions towards my Rangers.

He shoots down a Thunderer on my left with his Sea Guard(the Grungi-Ward save provided by the Hammerers did its job) and his Repeater Bolt Thrower does in one or 2 more. I easily pass my break test.

Dwarf Turn 2

This time I do turn and start moving behind the Thunderers. Too bad that means I move less than an inch because you cannot turn and march and Dwarfs are outpaced by slugs. I fire my right flank Thunderers at his Dragon Princes, taking out two of them. My left Flank Thunderers knock off a couple Seaguard.

I ponder retreating my Rangers so he cannot "see" me in the forest. But I decide to rely on the famed Dwarf toughness and armor. And my Rank bonus. I figure to put down a White Lion or two...

High Elf Turn 2

He does his best Warriors of Chaos impersonation, charging his Dragon Princes onto my Thunderer flank (the stand and shoot had maybe 3 or 4 guys firing and did nothing), his Spearmen into my Warriors, and his White Lions at my Rangers.

I pointed out if he put his General on the hill, he could fire the Reaver Bow at my Hammerers, so he did.

He took out I think 2 Hammerers. No big deal.

What I expected to happen: His Knights put down a couple of my Thunderers, they run, bounce through the Warriors 3" to their left, and he hit them in the flank, only to find me throwing my Oathstone and taking out enough Spearmen to win the combat decisively, while the Rangers lose one or two guys, put a couple White Lions down, break him, and the game is in great shape.

What happened: He put down a Thunderer, I break, and....roll snake-eyes. His Princes roll about a 6, which means they are 3" short of my Warriors, and wanting to set a trap, I do not throw the Stone.

His Spearmen put down a Warrior, my Thane gets 1 overkill in challenge with his Champ, but my Warriors only put down one more elf, he passes his test.

The White Lions put down FIVE Rangers. I break, he over-runs, and now I am hurting a bit.

Dwarf Turn 3

Because of how I am moving, the Hammerers have the flank of the Dragon Princes, but will only hit it...2 wide. On the bright side, he will be S3 hitting me and his Champ will not be involved.

My Thunderers take his Lothern under half strength with shooting. His one guy kills one of my Hammerers, I kill one in return, he passes his test.

The Spearmen then break my Warriors by doing one or two casualties to ONE in return. Yes, my Thane's 3 attacks needing 3s to hit and 2s to kill and my other 6 attacks needing 4/2 did a total of one casualty. I need a 7, roll an 8, then run...well, I rolled snake-eyes. He over-runs about 5".

High Elf Turn 3

He concentrates fire on the Thunderers and reforms his Spears to hit my Hammerers.

Dwarf Turn 4

The Hammerers kill one Dragon Prince, the last one breaks. His General passes his test, but the Spearmen fail, break...and run 9". 9-1/8th inch would take them off the table. They stay on.

I shoot at the Lothern, they have a couple guys left.

High Elf Turn 4

He shoots down the remaining Thunderers, we agree he will never allow my Hammerers to catch them so the rest of the game will be him shooting the Hammerers trying to force break tests and pack it in.

What Went Right

The Master Rune of Grungi in the middle of my line was awesome. Everyone had a 5+ ward v. shooting. The Hammerers were outstanding at taking on well-armored troops. The Thunderers were very effective and deadly...that -2 armor save is amazing verse high-armor troops.

What Went Wrong

2 bad decisions were painful;

1) The Rangers should have played hide and seek in the forest, keeping him from marching, staying 2+ inches away as long as possible. His 11 S6 attacks were always going to cause problems and I should have realized 1 rank and outnumbering would not be enough. I could have held up his unit for a while, then shot them with Thunderers.

2) The Hammerers should have either supported my weak right flank from the get-go or moved over there turn one.

3) Rolling snake-eyes for the Thunderer flee was an ouch moment; if I can reform 8 of them to do some more shooting, I am okay...unless, of course,

4) The Thane-led Warriors doing about 4 casualties total in 2 rounds of combat is simply unacceptable. I had them where I wanted them...fighting low-S guys who needed 4 to hit, 5 to wound, and I had a 5+ save whereas I needed 4s to hit and 2s to wound against what turned out to be no save.

At the same time, what cost me the game was not anything to do with dice, and had everything to do with getting out-played.

He properly protected his flanks, concentrated his fire, and made the most of his opportunities. He had some poor fortune in having his Dragon Princes unable to get in position to face the Hammerers and an ill-timed break of the spearmen (who would have rear-charged the Hammerers next turn) and yet dominated the game thoroughly.

I really enjoyed this game. It had some great moments and produced exactly what I designed the lists to do; some block infantry combat with tactics making the difference in the win-loss. Well played, young bean, and I want a rematch of those armies, that field!

Warriors of Chaos Versus Dark Elfs: Disaster Round 4

I have fought the Dark Elf army three times; twice in "Warbands" games and once in a pitched battle. Two of them have been complete massacres where i did not score a point off them, the other I won after taking a great deal of damage but running him off the table in the final turn.

In short, between Fixed Dice's ability as a general and the Dark Elf book being far and away the most versatile one our group currently uses, they are very difficult for the Warriors of Chaos.

A lot of this is due to the inherent weaknesses of the WoC. With just a single glorified Stonethrower and the 6" throwing axes on the Marauder Horsemen, the WoC have no range. They struggle with any army with easy access to massive quantities of firepower...Dwarfs, all three Elf armies are bad match-ups.

Of course, to compensate for the lack of ranged weapons, WoC have access to some of the best magic in the game. Unfortunately, the ridiculously over-powered and under-priced Ring of Hotek for the Dark Elf army, the high-priced but deadly Null Stone, Vortex Shard and Annulian Crystals combine with Drain Magic to render magic at best unreliable and at worst more deadly to the WoC than to those two armies.

That means when I know I am specifically facing an Elf army, I have to find a way to neutralize their shooting without using the advantage I allegedly have against shooting armies...my magic. (You could probably add the MR Dwarf army to the list, except I have never lost to the Dwarfs and do not particularly fear them, which is a minority opinion in our group.)

One way would be a fast, nearly all-cavalry army.



(This is, from right to left, how I lined them up)
A unit of Marauder Horsemen with throwing axes should get to the inevitable Repeater Crossbows in about 2 turns. The Dragon Ogres can go after the Dragon/War Hydra/manticore and have a better than reasonable chance of doing some damage. The Knights, bolstered by Archaon the Over-priced...err, Everchosen, my beloved BSB making everyone within 6" stubborn, and a scroll caddy should handle the Cold One Riders, and the 2nd Marauder Horsemen should deal with any other Repeater Bolt Throwers, Repeater Crossbowmen, etc.

Meanwhile, Wulfrik and his band of Marauders can see where they will be most effective on the turn they arrive.


Facing them would be, from my left to right, Dark Riders, a unit of Cold One Knights, his chariot, the War hydra, Crone something or other, a couple units of Witch Elves with the Cauldron supporting them, and on the rolled-every-game-in-opponents-deployment-zone hill 2 Repeater Bolt Throwers with a unit of Witch Elfs to guard against Wulfrik.

By the way, this game came about because Fixed Dice and I came across a guy selling his models extremely cheaply, and we wanted to play his new models the Witch Elfs and Cauldron and Chariot. Unfortunately, many of the Witch Elfs were not yet dry but they look smurfing fantastic. I am jealous of his painting skills.



Warriors of Chaos Turn 1
I already made a mistake in my set-up. After I had set-up, I re-read Archaon's entry and realized I could not, in fact, put the BSB and Scroll Caddy in the Knights. So I lazily put them to the side instead of behind, thinking A) they still could not get charged and B) keeping los for my scroll caddy might matter...ironically, both wizards rolled the exact same spells; Infernal Gateway and the Magic Missile.





I did not want him to charge, so advanced about 12" thinking he had M5 across the board, forgetting the Hydra and Chariot would have better movement, and forgetting the Cold Ones had 7". So on top of two set-up mistakes (my Knights should have been on the left by the Marauders), I made a mathematical, lazy error.

Against some opponents, I may or may not get away with that. I would argue the best player in our group is Fixed Dice...and against a superior general and army, I have to play flawlessly. This would cost me.

I sent my right flank marauders far off to the right after the Bolt Throwers.

Magic was unbelievably kind to me. Sure, my Infernal failed to cast, and I rolled a "1" to cast the magic missile, but my scroll caddy got it off successfully and slew 6 Witch Elfs. For me, that is a spectacular success.

Dark Elf Turn 1

He uses the Cauldron to give the War hydra a 5+ Ward Save. With high T, Regeneration and a Ward, the Hydra will be tough indeed to hurt. His Cold ones charge my Marauder Horsemen after Malus invoking his special rule that I thought meant he would attack one of his own guys every turn.

I debated for a while; if I fled the Marauders, he would probably re-direct onto the Dragon Ogres. I have no unit that can stand up to a Cold One Charge (the way he normally builds the unit...I end up facing approximately 3,000 S6 attacks that allow no armor save and he has rank bonuses, banner bonuses, and a static combat resolution score of 70 or 80...it may sound like hyperbole, but it doesn't feel like it) whereas if I let him kill my 86 point unit, it will force him to over-run and take him out of the battle long enough for me to use my Archaon-fueled Knights to rampage through his Witch Elves. So I stand and shoot.

And, in a shocking development, actually slay one of his Cold ones coming in.

Meanwhile, the frenzied Crone hellebron hits my carelessly placed Sorcerer.

he also moves the 2 remaining Witch Elfs in front of the knights and angles the chariot to flank the inevitable Dragon Ogre charge on the Hydra.

His Hydra then wounds the Dragon ogres twice with his breath, the RBT, one of them fires and kills two Marauder Horsemen, the other wounds a Knight with multi-fire, but I save it. Sweet, a good break.

Meanwhile, close combat goes about as expected. Malus and his mount alone kill all 5 Horsemen and he over-runs.

The Crone hits 6 times in 8 tries, the sorcerer folds like a cheap suit and he over-runs into my badly placed BSB.

The situation after one turn

Warriors of Chaos Turn 2

I ponder. I could avoid the front 2 Witch Elfs and hit the ones behind...but I would only have contact with 2 or 3 of them. With the Hydra being effectively unkillable, I figure the Dragon Ogres will be locked with him and protect my flank. So I will charge the 2, kill them, over-run into the Witch Elfs behind and do them in a turn, running through into the Cauldron. His Cold ones will have to take a turn to turn around, the Crone will over-run this turn and take at least 2 turns to be a problem, and that means for a couple turns the RBT are not a problem, by which time Wulfrik will arrive and deal with them.

And Wulfrik arrives this turn.

So I charge the 2 man unit.

And get lazy. I initially bring Wulfrik on the right flank, just where I should...I figure to hit his first RBT and slay them turn 1, allowing me to over-run into RBT two and, at that point, probably get flanked by his Witch Elves but I should be in decent shape against them.

However, the awkward hill edge frustrates me, so I move to the edge behind him, it is hard to place the models, so I move them over behind the Cauldron. Pure laziness, bad play, and irrelevant...because on this turn, things going good will mean things go bad.

See, the Dragon Ogres do what they should....they wound the Hydra 7 times. With S7 and 10 attacks, that is not a big surprise. Of course, the Hydra then regenerates 3 and ward saves a 4th, but I get 3 wounds through. He wounds back 3 times, I roll well and save 2. His handlers hit 4 times, somehow, needing 5s, wound 3 times...and I save 2. Sweet, I win. He tests on an 8, fails, runs 10" and I follow and catch him.

This was a disaster. I needed to tie or lose this combat, as my BSB was still alive and I would re-roll test on stubborn, protecting my flank. Now the Chariot had a clear line of sight to my flank.

The "mighty" Archaon does kill both Witch Elfs...barely. Between he and Dorgar, I have 10 S5 attacks and need all of them to kill 2 Witch Elfs. Uh oh. Still, I over-run into the second line, but at this point, though I do not fully realize it, the game is over.

in the least shocking event this side of a politician lying, the Crone gets mass over-kill on my BSB and over-runs.

Dark Elf Turn 2

His Chariot flank-charges the Knights, the Witch Elfs on the hill get ready to counter-charge my Marauder Horsemen (who had gotten to the hill...their axes were ineffective, hitting the Bolt Thrower instead of the crew), the Crone flies back to get right behind my Knights, and his Dark Riders prove the effectiveness of their shooting, putting 2 wounds in three tries on the Dragon Ogres.

The RBT both fire at the Marauders with Wulfrik, proving surprisingly inept and doing just 3 casualties.

Unfortunately, his impact hits take place before my Knights attack the Witch Elfs. The Cauldron gave the Chariot Killing Blow, and it kills 2 Knights, then I roll a "1" to fail to save a third hit. Three Knights down.

I forget to have Archaon invoke his sword, and he and Dorgar combine to, with 10 S5 attacks against a lowly Witch Elf champ, do just 3 wounds. The Knight and Knight Champ combine to do all of 2 more wounds and their horses do 3. His Witch Elf then kills a Knight, I lose the combat by one because that last wound kills my standard bearer and he has a musician...so instead of him taking break tests with Witch Elfs and Chariots, I take a re-rollable break test on a 9...and fail it twice.

At this point, I have 1 Dragon Ogre, 2 Marauder Horsemen, 12 Marauders and Wulfrik left. The Hag with the Cauldron removes all rank bonuses, outnumbering and so forth....the game is really over. We pack it in with the result I always expect against the Dark Elfs, a Massacre in their favor.

Not that I mind...this was a fun game, I win way more than my share, and I was outplayed in the following areas:

- army composition

- deployment

- maneuver

Plain and simple, his army build was better than mine. Once again, I had no way of dealing with a flyer and carelessness needlessly exposed my BSB. Had his crone had to charge my Dragon Ogres or Knights, I probably have at least a chance of killing her, which would help a lot. But I gave him a better target, he prudently took it.

My laziness with the Wulfrik brigade in effect cost me maybe 200 points...maybe not because his Witch Elfs in my flank would not be good for me.

In maneuver, I thought I was getting what I wanted, but when I was too successful (Dragon Ogres running the Hydra) it let him get the charge on my important unit. Impact hits with Killing Blow is exactly what my Knights cannot afford.

So I was out-built, out-played, and took exactly what I should have taken.

And I learned a couple things. Archaon would be quite viable at maybe 350 or 400 points. At 685 he is ridiculously over-priced and much better in theory than in practice.

The other stuff I will keep to myself...but the clues are there :-)

All in all, a fun game and a good afternoon.

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.