War of the Shrine Part 25, Turn 5 Wood Elf

As the Waywatchers fired ineffectually at any enemy they could see, the Treeman charged into the Chaos Knights as the Wardancers went after the Chaos Spawn.


The Wardancers whirling blades sang their song of death, finally felling the vile creature and putting it out of its misery. The Treeman, however, proved less mighty, felling only a single Knight before the savage attacks of Varangia and his minions felled 3 of the Dryads. It was too much for the remaining Dryad and treeman, who tried to flee but were cut down.



Casualties:
1 Chaos Spawn
1 Chaos knights

Suffered: 4 Dryads
1 treeman

War of the Shrines, Wood Elf Turn 4, part 21

A less disciplined army might have fled altogether when their last hero fell. Not so for the forces of Oakheart Wylde.

Except for the Eagle Riders who, seeing no real opportunity to save their brethren, flew away from the action.

The Treeman and Wardancers, fresh off destroying the Night Goblin Spearmen, turned and looked for their brethren. Seeing the Dryads in trouble, they headed over to help.



They charged headlong into the Goblins pressing forward on the few remaining Dryads.

An angry Treeman is a force to be reckoned with. With the Dryads pressing from one side, the furious Treeman and the deadly Wardancers on the other, it was too much for the goblins who broke and ran, only to be hacked apart by the Wood Elf forces.

Meanwhile, the Glade Guard broke the Dwarfs and turned to face the deadly Northmen. Even then, they knew the end was near.

Casualties:

Large block of goblin spearmen

5 Dwarf Warriors

War of the Shrines Part 17, Wood Elf Turn 3

The Wood Elf lines were on the verge of disintegrating. So long as they could keep the enemies at bay, their superior shooting and maneuverability gave them hope. But the northmen were killing their dryads, the wardancers had fled...their entire left flank was gone.

Their only hope was to free up the right flank and bring those Wardancers and that Treeman back to face the overwhelming power they were facing.

Unfortunately, the goblins were showing no signs of making their normal cowardly flee maneuver.

The fearless Dryads moved to try and rescue the handful of Glade Guard facing the goblins, charging into the flank.


The few remaining Glade Guard unengaged did what they did best, unleashing a flight of arrows at the Chaos Knights pursuing the rallied Wardancers. They found success as two of the heavily armored foe fell under the expert shooting.

Some how, some way, Oakheart Wylde fended off enough of the blows of Varangia to stay on his feet, though he was wavering and bleeding from two serious cuts.

The Wood Elf line shivered...and held.

Casualties:

2 Chaos Knights

9 Night Goblin Spearmen

Suffered:

2 Wardancers

4 Glade Guard

2 Wounds to Oakheart Wylde

War of the Shrine Wood Elf Turn 2, part 12

Oakheart Wylde was everywhere at once.

He directed the Glade Guard in a furious hail of arrows at the onrushing Dwarf warriors, pointed the Waywatchers at one Fanatic who might run wild through the Wood Elf lines...and away from another who looked like he might run into the Dwarf lines.

A flick of his wrist sent his Eagle Riders screaming in to help out the Glade Riders in their short-range duel with the marauders.

On he right, the Treeman and Wardancers were steamrolling the hapless Night Goblins.


At first, things went well.

The combined firepower of the Eagle riders and Glade Riders finished off the small unit of Marauder horsemen.


The Dryads demonstrated their ferocity, slaying one of the hideous spawn.



Then things began to fall apart. The Chaos Warrior on the Juggernaut attacked with ferocity and the Knights ably assited him, slaying both treekin and even as they crumbled to the ground in their death throes, the mighty Treeman took another hit and the giant got even stronger.

In the center, the combined bow-fire took out several Dwarf Warriors...but it might be too little, too late. The bearded midgets prepared to charge and the Glade Guard knew they were in trouble.

Casualties:

6 Dwarf Warriors

1 Night Goblin Fanatic

6 Night Goblins

2 Marauder Horsemen

1 Chaos Spawn

1 Chaos Knight

Suffered:

2 Treekin

1 Wound to Treeman (and Giant recovered one)

War of the Shrine; Part 7: Wood Elf

Oakheart Wylde looked grimly on the battlefield. The short men had chosen wisely...there were no trees for Wylde to hide his brethren in. The mighty Treemen and Treekin would be hampered by not having the strength of the forests to look upon.

He glared in anger as the strange men on his left flank sent a giant after his treeman and with hatred as the cackling squig hoppers moved towards his other flank.

He would prefer a different field. He would prefer not to be so far from his beloved Purewater Breezewalker. But that was what he wished. This was what was.

One gesture sent Wardancers, treekin, and Dryads to help their embattled brethren. A second unleashed massive flights of arrows. He could not worry now about what he wished...it was time to win the battle.

He smiled as he watched the skilled Glade Riders plunge ahead to block off the human horsemen. At pointblank range they unleashed their bows, slaying 40% of the hard-riding foes.

A few Dwarf Warriors also fell under the skilled bow fire of his Waywatchers and Glade Guard but few...too few. Curse those Dwarfs and their stout armor.

The Wardancers crashed into the battle alongside the mighty treeman. Their graceful moves entranced the deadly but stupid Squig Hoppers long enough for the Wardancers to cut down 5 of them.

However, the Treeman reeled momentarily as one Squig Hopper penetrated his defenses. Nevertheless, the strength of the Wood Elf charge was too much for the few remaining Squig Hoppers. They tried to flee but were run down.



Seeing the onrushing Wood Elfs, the Night Goblins released their deadliest weapons. With a maniacal chuckle, a Fanatic burst forth from their ranks, penetrating the thick bark that protected the treeman.

It only slowed him momentarily, however, and the Treeman, pitch seeping through his bark, joined the powerful wardancers in assaulting the Night Goblin Spearmen. Oakheart smiled, knowing the devastation about to be unleashed on the greenskins and turned to see how his other flank was faring.

The smile disappeared as he saw the Treekin crash into the Chaos Knights. One Knight fell under the onslaught...but so too did a Treekin. Oakheart knew he needed a better return in that battle.

He saw one of his Dryads take a piece out of a cursed Chaos Spawn only to die from the riposte.

Then the giant swung his mighty club at the treeman guarding that flank. Oakheart's heart jumped into his throat...that blow could kill Jahn E Treemayne...but the mystic wards surrounding Jahn deflected the blow, and his own attack staggered the giant.

Casualties:

9 Squig Hoppers

2 Marauder Horsemen

3 Wolf Riders

4 Dwarf Warriors

3 Wounds on the Chaos Giant

1 Wound on a Chaos Spawn

Took:

Lost 1 Treekin

Lost 1 Dryad

Took 2 Wounds on the previously unwounded Treeman

Small Campaign Report:Wood Elf Versus Lizardmen in a Treasure Hunt

My Leaves of Asrai War banner moved into a new territory, intent on recovering a mystic item they had heard of. Unfortunately, a small Lizardman force had gotten there first and acquired it.

Springing into action, Windstar rushed to set up a battle line, intent on stopping the Lizardmen from departing with the treasure.

In his rush to get there in time, he left behind the Treeman who had joined up with him after the recent battle. Fortunately, the Lizardman general had hurried ahead of most of his forces as well and several did not show up in time to take part in the battle.

Hastily Windstar ordered the Glade guard to deploy in a line with a hill on their left and forest on their right. The Glade Riders flanked out wide right while Windstar and the Waywatchers advanced up the left flank.

Only a few skirmishing Skinks and a small unit of Skinks in tandem with their over sized Kroxigor brethren stood between the Wood Elf army and seizing the treasure.


Special Rules:

This game was fought using the rules for Treasure Hunt from the 1995 battle book. I selected a slow arrival, just a 4 needing all my units. Fullur was a bit more aggressive, selecting a 9. He would win the game by getting his General off through my deployment zone. I intended to win by leaving no opponent on the field...

Wood Elf Turn One

Windstar gestured the hard-riding Glade Guard forward and led his band of Waywatchers towards the woods on the left, even as the long line of Glade Guard advanced up the center of the field.

The Glade Riders fired first, doing heavy damage to the skink skirmishers. Windstar nodded in satisfaction as his Waywatchers and the Glade Guard concentrated their army on the unit of Kroxigors and Skinks, doing heavy damage.

Seeing the deadly bow fire of the elf army, the skirmishers had enough and fled from the field, leaving only the Kroxigor-led unit and the Skink Chief carrying the treasure.

Windstar smiled in glee. Soon he would possess it!

Lizardman Turn 1

The Lizardman force marched forward as swiftly as possible. The Skink Priest tried to cast the Portent of far, but the Wood Elf forces felt the gathering magic and dispelled it.

Wood Elf Turn 2

Windstar's battle plan showed his wisdom as the fast-moving Glade Riders circled behind the Kroxigor unit.

Again the hail of Wood Elf arrows took a heavy toll, even felling one of the mighty Kroxigor.

Lizardman Turn 2

Too late the Skink Priest realized the danger his army was in but he was caught. The Glade Riders were between him and reinforcements, the Waywatchers were pinning them down from the side, and ahead were the numerous Glade Guard. He saw no way out, so as swiftly as possible tried the one thing he had left...pushing through the Glade Guard and trying to flee the continuous fire of the Wood Elf army.

Wood Elf Turn 3

Windstar frowned. He had thought the bow-work of his highly trained and discipline army would force the Lizardmen to drop the item and flee or at worst surrender, yet here they were continuing their implacable advance. They were as resolute as Dwarfs! Despite the mighty archery of his men, he knew the Kroxigor could do tremendous damage if they were to attack the Wood Elf line in close combat.

Again the hail of arrows flew forth, cutting down the last few skinks and a Kroxigor even as the Glade Riders shot down the Skink Priest. But one Kroxigor was left. He held up his hand, ordering his men to cease fire, assuming the Kroxigor would rather surrender than die.

Lizardman Turn 3

Windstar watched in horror as the kroxigor took the opportunity offered by the cessation of bow fire to charge his lines. With mighty swings of its stone axe, the Kroxigor decapitated two Wood Elfs before one of the Glade Guard managed to finish off the already wounded Kroxigor.

Windstar looked at the field. Overall, acceptable losses, he supposed...for the loss of but two Glade Guard, he had captured a mighty magic item. With eager anticipation, he approached the body of the Skink Priest to see what the Wood Elf efforts had won...

Conclusion

This was a curious battle. I already had a points advantage, even before half his forces did not show up. It was pretty certain from the beginning I would come out victorious.

The problem came when I got overconfident that his Krox would not reach me and diverted some fire to the General instead of everyone shooting the Krox. It had long-term negative consequences, as losing two glade guard, on both of them I failed their survival rolls, so will not have them available for future battles.

At the same time, it was well worth it as I can now take a 100 point magic item and, more important, was provided a second home where I can create specials, rares, etc.

Overall, I really liked the alternative scenario. I was crushed that my Treeman did not arrive...yet I almost prevented it.

Before I rolled the dice, I had a feeling I was going to lose a unit, and almost reversed the order i rolled for my Glade Riders and Treeman. Had I done so, the Treeman would have arrived and i would not have had the Glade Riders.

As it was, the Glade Riders were awesome and in this scenario, not sure the Treeman would have been the right choice anyway.





Beware the power of Wood Elf bows!

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.

A Chaos Proxy game

Wanted to get Chad a little more experience moving guys around the field and Rick also wanted to get a small game in so I made up 3 small armies. Okay, in truth I made 8, but we used 3. 

Basically what I did was make up 500 point armies for the Dwarfs, Wood Elfs, Vampire Counts and Chaos. My initial plan was to use the Vampire Counts to see what they could do, but then I thought it might be fun to proxy a bit of Chaos and see if I would like it. I also made 750 point armies for the above.

We decided to start with the smaller, 500 point games. Chad would be the Wood Elf army. I gave them 6 Glade riders (Fast cavalry which allows them to march and shoot, M 9, BS 4, S 3 Longbows with 30" range) , a unit of 14 Glade Guard with Aenach (M5, BS5, 30 Longbows with S3 over 1/2 range and S4 inside 15"), and a Wood Elf Noble on Steed with a Hail of Doom Arrow (one use, 3d6 S4 shots).  It is designed to be a fast moving force that can essentially skirmish in line. The fast moving Glade Riders have essentially a 48" field of fire every turn and can quickly move to prevent march moves by the enemy while still shooting every turn. 

Due to space constrictions, we (illegally per Warhammer rules) allowed Chad to split the 14 Glade Guard into two 7 man units. More on that in a bit.

Rick wanted to try out the Vampire Counts. They had 25 Skeletons with full command (M4, WS2, S3) and 14 Crypt Ghouls (Poison Attacks, T4) to go with Konrad. His stats don't matter as we will see shortly. 

Meanwhile, I took Chaos. To the untrained eye my guys looked like a Wood Elf General on Steed and 8 Night Goblin Spider Riders, but to those of us who could see Tzeentch change illusion magic, they were clearly a Mounted Exalted Champion with Mark of Tzeentch (M7, Ws7, S4, Armor Save 2+, level 2 Wizard w/Red Fire and Indigo Fire) and 2 each 4-man units of Chaos Knights (M7, WS5, S5, T4, Armor Save 2+). Yep, Rick had 40 models, Chad had 21, and I had 9. All is once more right with the world. 

The field had trees and ruined buildings essentially flanking the 4 corners of the set-up zone. To maintain the 24" separation, Chad and Rick each had 12"x12" set-up zones on one side of the table and I had a 12"by 12" setup zone at the apex of the triangle away from them.

I tried to get Chad to put the Glade Riders in front as this would take advantage of their tremendous range and harrying ability, while giving him still plenty of room for his Glade Guard to use their deadly bows. Instead he placed one 7 man unit facing towards the V.C. and another at a 45 degree angle across his zone facing me, blocking in his Glade Riders on the back line. I thought about changing it for him, but then decided it would be better if he learned why since my explanation had not been very clear apparently so I let him keep the badly flawed set-up. 

Rick meanwhile had a building between his set-up zone and mine so he wisely placed his large skeleton unit facing towards me with the building protecting their flank from Wood Elf shooting and put his Crypt Ghouls next to them against his baseline, also facing me, with Konrad in their unit. 

I have sometimes been critical of some of Rick's set-ups, but that was certainly not the case here. I believe he maximized the protective capabilities of his forces while minimizing their weaknesses.

I, meanwhile, had a pretty basic set-up. With no screening forces and no shooting, my army desperately needed to get into close combat as quickly as possible so I lined them up a full 12" into the table and in a line, 4 to the left, general in the center, 4 to the right. My left wing would just barely clear the forest and my right wing would barely clear the building.

I won the right to go first and off I went. I moved the unit on the right and my General up towards the corner of a ruined building towards the Wood Elf army and the other unit up past the woods on my left to get in position for a charge on his skeletons or Crypt Ghouls.

Now, some of you will note the tactical error here. With such a tiny force, I should never divide my forces. Instead, I should try to wipe out one army or the other with all my force, then go after the other.

However, with two inexperienced opponents, I did not want to "pick on" anyone and this game was more about seeing how movement, shooting, and magic worked. Speaking of Magic...

Not only was my general a level 2 wizard, I gave both units the Mark of Tzeentch which meant they each added a power die to my magic pool giving me a whopping 5 power dice in a 500 point game. Pure brute force would insure I got in some effective magic.

First I threw Red Fire (30", d6 S6 hits) at the Wood Elf Glade Guard on 2 dice, but Chad wisely rolled both Dispel Dice he had and, much to the surprise of nobody, Dispelled it. Ah yes, pointless Magic my old friend, You've come to mock me once again (read the last line to the tune and rhythm of the Beatles song The Sound of Silence), specifically the part that goes "Hello darkness my old friend, I've come to talk to you again" and you will see the kind of twisted thoughts and humor that is constantly passing through my mind).

Then I cast Indigo fire at the Skeletons. Lo and Behold...I rolled 2 6s! It was Irresistible Force, I got one off! So I rolled against his 25 skeletons with S2 against T3, so needing 4s on 25 Dice, I promptly hit 5 of them and he saved 2. So 3 Skeletons died and 3 Horrors of Tzeentch were created in combat with them. Bwoohahaha a 6 model swing! Magic is NOT pointless!

See, by that happening, his skeletons were locked in combat and his Ghouls would be unable to march move. *Twiddles thumbs a la Mr. Burns* EEEEEEExxxxxxxxxccccccceeeeeeellllllllleeeennnnnnnnntttttttt.

Combat was not so good as I failed to wound but he killed one of my Horrors.. Fortunately, I passed my combat resolution test so lost none of the little buggers.

Then Rick went. First, he had to test for Stupidity for Konrad. With a weak LD of 6, it figured Konrad would fail once or twice (remember, I designed that army for ME to play...I wanted some very real flaws in it). And he promptly failed. 

I then mis-remembered the rules and said he had to separate from the unit. WRONG! He should have stayed with it. Not the last rules mistake I would make in this battle. SO old Konrad rambled forward 5" which did allow the Ghouls to move up 4" behind him. 

Rules mistake #2. In the same turn, no less. Though suffering from Stupidity, I thought Konrad could cast magic. Of course, I dispelled his Raise Dead as I did not really want him either restoring the Skeletons or bringing in some Zombies to slow my Knights. And he failed the Lore of Nehetek so his magic...well...hello magic my old friend, you've come to mock me once again.

Combat was again not so good; this time neither of us wounded and I passed my test. On the bright side, I was holding up the Skeletons. On the dark side...I was holding up the skeletons.

Then Chad went. Now the realization dawned on him that he had blocked in his key unit. So he wanted to march the unit of Glade Guard closest to me to get them behind a building (which they could not do in less than 2 turns and I would be charging them before the second turn) which would keep them from firing. I convinced him the march was not needed and would keep him from shooting. He finally elected to march the other unit of Glade Guard towards the Skeletons and move the unit just 5". He then sent his Glade Riders also towards the Skeletons. A screen of Forest protected them from my Knights, so probably a good move.

Chad had no magic phase so on to shooting. First, his Glade Guard. They were just outside 15" from me so S3. Maybe 2 hits, but I easily saved both. If by easily saved I mean, rolled a 6 and one...which means I just lost a quarter of my unit and had to take a break test! Ouch. I passed. Then he shot down a Crypt Ghoul with his Glade Riders. Nice! At this point, I had lost 38 points, Rick had lost about 20, and Chad was unharmed. Time to change that.

I could not quite come to grips with 

My second turn. I had the charge on Chad's Glade Guard but needed to maneuver to avoid Rick's Crypt Ghouls, so just the one charge. Since I was on Chad's flank (he had 7 guys in line) he got no Stand and Shoot. 

Magic was cool as, though my Red Fire at Chad was again Dispelled, the Indigo Fire again was successful, this time at the ghouls. And it even did a casualty! Excellent, now I had both his units pinned with Horrors. 

Of course, in the CC phase, he won both, though both Horrors remaining passed their tests. 

Meanwhile, on the other flank I killed 6 (SIX!) of his Glade Guard. Ah, yes. Drooling a little bit. Finally, I have a close combat unit that, you know, can actually DO SOMETHING in close combat! The 7th broke and I overran off the table, mostly to stay out of Chad's bow fire for another phase since his 1 Glade Guard could not have rallied.

Rick's Konrad, for a third turn, tried to be Frenzied as opposed to stupid. For a third turn in a row he failed. Stupid Konrad kept wandering, his magic again was dispelled or did nothing, and in close combat he won both despite losing another skeleton. This time the Horror facing the skeleton failed its stability test and was destroyed. 

Chad shot down one of my Knights on the left flank. This was not going well for me! 

My turn, I charge the skeletons and brought my other Knights back towards Chad's Glade Guard.  Fortunately, he had moved them forward and was facing away.

I thought magic could not be used in close combat, so directly into that phase. I wracked up 6 skeletons. Unbelievably, they PASSED their break test! Of course, they had a 3 rank rank bonus and I, due to points, did not have a banner. So they only lost by 1. Still, they needed a 5 or below. I knew the way Rick was failing 6+ LD tests for Konrad that I could do a few more...but no. Still, he was now down to just 1 rank bonus.

Unfortunately, on the other battle, hit Ghouls killed my Horror. Which means...

Rick's turn. Do I even need to tell you Konrad failed his test and continued shuffling aimlessly away from the action? This time I remembered Stupidity does not allow magic. But his Ghouls charged my Knights. Already engaged, the flank charge by Fear-causing enemies...they broke. And were promptly slain when they ran into Chad's Glade Riders in their fleeing. Fortunately, General, who was not attached, who ALSO failed his test, was clear of the Riders and escaped. Unfortunately, the ghouls charged right into the Glade Riders. Things were getting messy.

And I lost track of events, but more or less they went like this:

Chad did a lot of damage to the ghouls and actually ended up doing a couple casualties. My knights took another casualty when he stood and shot at them coming in to his Glade Guard but then wiped out the Glade Guard. His General shot at mine with Hail of Doom, missed, charged in and finished off the Ghouls. 

My Knights charged in and finished off the Skeletons. His Glade Guard charged my Knights (!) even though I explained to him how bad an idea it was. His General joined the fray. My Knights and General broke his Riders and General and slew them. Rick failed another Stupidity test. We extended the game to have Konrad on Chaos hand to hand and he FINALLY passed his test...twice. We got into hand to hand, my general killed his, and I "won". 

I think we all won because it was a great learning experience and I think everyone had fun. 

Dwarf versus Wood Elf battle

Chad had never played, so after the Lizardman game was over, he and I set up to play. He wanted to try the Wood Elf army, so I grabbed the Dwarf army Rick had just played. I ripped out 2 cannons and replaced them with the Organ Gun just because I wanted to try it out.

On the right side of the field was a small ziggurat, on my left was the King's Wall, on his side of the field was a small building on his right (my left) and a forest on his left (my right). A small stream guarded the edge of the field, essentially meaning my left flank was protected. I put a unit of Thunderers (move or fire, 24" range, s4 guns, 150 points) behind the King's wall on my left, the Organ gun behind and to their right to control the center of the field, the cannon on my baseline to it's right, the second Thunderer unit (same as first) to its right but up towards the edge of my deployment zone, and a 17 man Warrior unit with the Thane in it behind them to protect their flank. 

I explained to Chad how to set up. It took some convincing, but finally I got him to put the 23 Glade Guard (30" range on their bows, no penalty to move or fire, BS 4)  in a line from the building over to the Woods. Behind them he put 12 dryads (2 attacks, cause fear, 156 points) and 7 wardancers (2 attacks, Shadow Dances), their General supporting them, and then planted the Waywatchers behind the ziggurat.

He won the roll for first turn. The Waywatchers came up over the Ziggurat, everyone else advanced straight ahead. He opened fire. Effectively. The Waywatchers shot down 3 Thunderers  on my right while the Glade Guard shot down three more. 

I knew how the Dwarf army was designed and kept my turn short; no movement and then I returned fire with pretty good results. The Organ gun flamed to life, killing 7 Waywatchers, forcing them to break. The Thunderers both shot at the Glade Guard, combining to kill just 2 or 3 of them. The Cannon killed a Glade Guard, a Dryad, and even got a wound on the General. 

His next turn saw him fail to rally the Waywatchers and everyone else advance. He decided to open fire on the Thunderers to my left, killing 3 despite them being behind the King's Wall.

Again I moved nobody and this time the Organ Gun fired on the  Glade Guard, killing 5. The Thunderers also shot pretty well, taking him down to about 10 Glade Guard. It was looking good....except his Dryads and Wardancers were untouched and almost ready to charge. He kept trying to take them out from behind the screen and I kept convincing him it was a bad idea. When facing a shooting army, let your screen do its job; absorb the damage until you are ready to charge. Unfortunately, the cannon ball simply stuck in the mud, failing to do any damage.

His next turn saw the Wardancers cross the ziggurat and everyone else move forward. This time he shot down 3 of the last 4 Thunderers on my right. 

Now I moved. My Warriors, who all game were hanging out defending my right flank (actually, I had moved them slightly each turn to deal with the Waywatcher threat, then the approaching Wardancer threat, so they were out on the extended right wing), got the charge on the Wardancers. Time to shoot.

First, the Cannon. I had his last 4 Glade Guard lined up, the cannonball would wipe them all out...except the cannon mis-fired. Then I opened up with the Organ Gun on the Dryads...only to watch it mis-fire and blow up, taking the Master Engineer with it. 200 points gone, just like that. But it DID do a lot of damage; I got 1/2 the Waywatcher points (147 cut in half) and 1/2 the Glade Guard points in exchange for 200. Costly.  My Thunderers could not even kill a single Dryad. I did win the hand-to-hand, but his Wardancers would not flee. 

The Dryads charged home against the Thunderers behind the King's Wall. The General unleashed the Hail of Doom arrow against the cannon, killing one crewmen. The Dryads killed about 5 Thunderers. The Wardancers lost a couple more.

I now had 4 Thunderers behind the King's Wall locked in combat with Dryads, 2 guys standing behind a useless cannon as they were charged by his Glade Guard, and 16 warriors battling Wardancers. After this turn I had 16 Warriors and my Thane. He had 3 Waywatchers, 2 Glade Guard, and all his Dryads, and his General. 

We totaled the points. We each controlled a table quarter. I did in half his Waywatchers and half his Glade Guard, 5 guys from having over 600 points, instead I had I think 3 hundred and some. Meanwhile, he killed 2 units of Thunderers (150 each), a cannon (90), and my Organ Gun/Engineer blow-up for 200 points gave him about a 220 point win, a solid victory. 

Oh, the pain...had his Waywatchers not fled I would have killed them all and had at worst a draw. Had my cannon not misfired I would have wiped out his Glade Guard instead of leaving 2 alive and had at worst a draw. Or had my Organ Gun not blown up (on turn THREE) I would have had at worst a draw. 3 dice rolls that went against me. *sigh*

On the bright side, Chad is hooked and fun was had by all. I think. And I did get a game in after all, so that was a good thing.

Dwarfs versus Wood Elfs pre-game nonsense

What a day. I have been looking forward to this game since last month's devastation of Josh's Orcs at the hands of my heroic and gorgeous Wood Elf shooting army of doom.  The humiliation of waiting 14 years to play a Wardancer unit only to see them routed by a crap unit notwithstanding, the game was a lot of fun. Warhammer usually is. Plus, with the new lights Rick installed and the felt he and I covered the tables with, it should look spectacular.

So I have been painting like mad and spent a good deal of time making sure there would be competitive armies for the Goblins, a couple Dwarf armies, a Wood Elf army, a fun and competitive Vampire count army. So I got the lists all together, gathered up all the stuff and set out to pick up Chad. 

Then I returned home to pick up the army lists. And headed off to pick up Chad.

Then returned home to pick up the army I forgot to bring. Then headed off to pick up Chad.

Then turned back to get the new scenery I had purchased. 

AAAAAAAAAggggggggghhhhhhhhhh! Not a good start.

Well, knew we would be having pizza, so did not eat breakfast. Well, got there late, things were a bit discombobulated. Never did get anything ordered. No big deal...except when all was said and done I would go from 2:30 yesterday afternoon until 9:00 tonight without eating. D'oh!

Well, anyway, we started off with a good game of Heroscape. Got some nice pictures, hopefully will get my camera issues resolved soon and get them up.

Unfortunately, the one thing I did not get resolved was table space issues. So we matched up Kenneth and his Dark Elf army against Josh and the Goblins, Phillip and his lizardmen against Rick and the Dwarf army (with Chad studying the game under Rick) and Kevin's new Ogre Kingdom army against Chris and the Vampire Counts. That left me without a game.

Now, to be fair Rick offered to sit out but I could not bring myself to play when someone else was sitting out so I was just going to take pictures and notes of all the games.

Oh, remember the numerous things I forgot to bring with me this morning? Well...I also forgot to recharge my camera batteries after Friday's Blazer game so I essentially had no batteries left. Just not meant to be my day.

I mostly watched Kevin and Chris. I explained the way I built the Vampire army to work; the Cairn Wraiths working as a protective screen to allow the Skeletons and Grave Guard to get into close combat without taking a lot of damage, plus carry Mannfred the Acolyte with them and let his Sword of Unholy Power do its work.

Unfortunately, he did not quite get what I was saying and put his screening unit off on the left, leaving his Grave Guard w/Mannfred unit exposed to the Leadbelchers of Kevin. With only 1000 point armies, this was a great risk; should the leadbelchers do enough damage to cause a break test and the test fail, he conceivably could lose almost half his army to the opening volley, a totally unnecessary risk.

That is why these learning games are good, because I could freely mention the strategy upgrade and reasoning behind it.

Meanwhile, Kevin had a pretty good set-up and won the first turn. His Leadbelchers and Gut-dudes all rumbled forward. Unfortunately for him, the Leadbelchers were about 1/4" out of range and his magic phase saw either failure to cast or else dispelled by Chris.

Then Chris was able to correct his set-up. He got the Ethereal Cairn Wraiths in front of his units so they would be the only target for the Leadbelchers. That was essentially the game as it turned out.

The next turn for Kev was more maneuvering and failed Magic. Then Chris charged his Cairn Wraiths into the Leadbelchers. Open up with the Banshee Ghostly Howl and soon the Leadbelchers were gone without ever getting to fire their guns. 

That was the way the game went; Kevin had nothing that could hurt the Cairn Wraiths who rampaged through every unit he had. Ultimately, one unit of Zombies Chris managed to raise was slain by one of Kevin's units, giving him 50 points, the total he ended with. At the end of the game he had fleeing Gnoblars and 1 character (75 point character) on the table while Chris lost a total of 4 skeletons. Brutal.

Lesson: Always, always, always have some way of dealing with ethereal creatures. That one unit did ALL the damage, 925 points. 

Meanwhile, the Lizardmen/Dwarf battle was almost as bad. A major tactical error saw 2 of the 3 cannons covered up by Thunderer units; the army he decided to use had 2 10 man Thunderer units (150 points each), 3 cannons (90 points each), a Master Engineer, and a 17 man Warrior regiment meant to surround the Thane. In theory, nobody in the entire army would move until the Warriors charged late in the game. However, he missed that part of the design and planned to move his Thunderers out of the way of the Cannons. However, an all-shooting army that sees 33% of its shooters unable to shoot (Move or Fire) is going to struggle. 

Phillip put a skirmishing screen of skinks all the way across the front. Perfect. Moved forward, fired. Rinse, repeat, and roll to a massacre victory which was only helped when 2 of the cannons blew up in the same turn. *Sigh*. Poor Rick. No luck paired with sub-optimal starting position meant disaster.

And in the third game, Josh also missed part of the army design. I tried to explain that he needed to put his Spider Riders spread 10 wide, then his Archers 20 wide, then all his hand to hand units, meant to move forward, firing as they went, and allow him to numerically overwhelm the badly outnumbered Dark Elf army. Instead he bunched the Spider Riders on one wing 5 wide, the archers about 10 wide, and spread his hand-to-hand units all across the table. Worse yet, he put his general off on his right wing.

This allowed Kenneth to charge his best unit into the unsupported, unready for close combat Spider riders, shoot one of his 40 spearmen units to ribbons on their way across the field, and never outnumber the Dark Elf army. Even with a 200 point advantage, that set-up meant he was way behind. 

I almost cried on the turn he charged his remaining spearmen into the Dark Elf quarrelers and instead of flanking them with his stone troll, instead charged the stone troll solo into a unit of Dark Elf Corsairs. 

Kenneth and Josh thought it was luck that the Stone Troll died in turn one; nope. Not even close. There were 3+ ranks of Corsairs. He had a +2 for that, +1 for outnumbering, +1 for Standard bearer. Before it even started he had a +4 to his combat resolution. He only had 3 attacks. Even if he killed with all 3 of them and took no return wounds, he would have to take a break test on Leadership 4 (out of range of the general) with a -1. The troll was dying that turn. 

This is not taking anything from Kenneth. He set up his army better and moved them better. Josh was in deep trouble from the word go. 

Overall, looked like everyone had fun, so that is a good thing. Shortly will post report on my battle with Chad.

Wood Elves Verse Orcs

Josh wanted to stick with the Goblin/Orc army. We bounced the point totals up to 2250 per army, this would allow Lord-level characters. The battles would be as follows:

Drew & Wood Elves versus Josh and the Orcs (proxying goblin figures for Orcs). We matched the points pretty well...2118 for the Orcs, 2112 for the Wood Elves!

Kenneth & the Dark Elves versus Rick and the Dwarfs. Using every Dwarf figure I have, we got the total for the Dwarfs up to 2188.

Phillip and the Lizardmen versus Chris/Kevin and the Vampire Counts. The Vampire Count army is interesting looking; We loaded them with Vlad Von Carstein, Isabella, Konrad, and Mannfred the Acolyte; the latter three are mere Hero level. Plus, we gave them Varghulf. All of them are Vampires which means at the minimum level one Wizards...though Mannfred the Acolyte is a level 2 and Vlad is a level 3. That means they had at worst a whopping 9 power dice! Magic ahoy. 

 Pictured from front right to back right: Vlad Von Karstein, Isabella Von Carstein, Konrad, Mannfred the Acolyte, 12 Crypt Guard (?), 15 skeletons, 15 skeletons, then on the left Varghulf, 24 Grave Guard, 25 Grave Guard.

Not that the Lizardmen were slouches in that department. Phillip had a 2nd generation Slann and 2 Skink Shamans. However, with somewhere around a million skinks, he also had plenty of firepower and with Temple Guard, a large Saurus unit, and 3 Kroxigor (I know, one cleverly disguised as a Minotaur...but whatcha gonna do, right?) he also seemed like a powerhous in every phase...shooting, close combat, magic.

Of course, the Vampire units were...well..wimpy. Other than causing Fear they pretty much blow chunks. Low ws, low strength, low toughness. Cheap, of course...but horrifically bad. As near as I can tell, their best use is protection and numerical support for getting the hand to hand monsters like Conrad and Vlad into close combat. Experimentation might prove that wrong, but it looked to me like throwing Vlad in with the 25 Crypt Guard, having him enter challenges and letting his overkill give huge cmbat resolution bonuses could really do some damage. Then again, I thought charging Wardancers into close combat was a good use of them...uh, no. So maybe (read "probably") I have no clue how to run the Vampire army.

Of course, one could argue I don't know how to run any army. This day would prove that further. The Goose and I went to Taken last night (review to be posted shortly) with Liam Neeson. Good flick, but I had planned that time to finish painting and gluing. Instead, I was trying to do that this morning. 

As a result, I was a bit rushed getting prepped for the Warhammer and later Texas Hold 'Em games and forgot some stuff...like, a pen to keep notes. So we will see how memory serves.

We were going with Victory Points and a different terrain set-up:minimum 4 pieces, alternate placement by rolling on the 1995 Battle Book terrain chart, then after everything placed, roll scatter dice and 3d6 to see where it moved before rolling for sides.

Josh initially ran the river all the way across the board, but that would have meant I could concentrate all my archers on the 2 fords which means the battle would be over before it began, so we agreed to change it to the alignment seen below where it entered and left the same table edge. 

He deployed his Orc Board Riders (which to the untrained eye might bear a suspicious resemblance to Goblin Spider Riders...), Black Orcs with their Special Character...Grimgor? the one that rocks the Black Orcs, giving them Hatred and so forth..., Orc Arrer Boys, Orc Big Uns and Black Orcs (?) if memory serves. He planted his shaman behind the bowmen and his Stone Troll over on his right flank.

It worked well for me as I was outside 12" and was able to put my scouts behind the ziggurat. This would be great for me. I also took advantage of the Waywatcher ability to plant in the open to guard the ford with some great shooting troops. As if "Wood Elf" is not the definition of "great shooting troops".

Meanwhile, I put 20 Glade Guard in the Forest more or less at the edge of the River with my 6 Wardancers behind them, my 10 man unit of Glade Guard on the Hill with the Dryad s behind them and my Wild Riders of Kuornos ready to back up the Waywatchers with some mobile shooting.

My plan was simple; shoot the Orcs as they advanced, retreat before they could charge me, shoot some more, shoot some more, and then, when I had shot as much as possible...shoot some more.

Of course, locking myself behind the river seriously reduced my mobility. D'oh!

WOOD ELF TURN 1

We had to roll 4 times to determine who would go first because we kept tying. Finally I won. Kenneth had pointed out that Fast Cavalry can march and still shoot so I got the Wild Riders up front in a hurry, getting them into range to fire on turn one. Meanwhile, my Scouts climbed the Ziggurat and unleashed a hail of arrows while my other 10 man Glade Guard got ready to fire. 

When you shoot 47 arrows, something is bound to go down and Orcs were dying in droves. It was mostly his Black Orcs taking damage.  

He was out of range of Magic so my first turn consisted of lots of shooting and lots of "Okay, your turn."

+

ORC TURN 1 

March forward except the Arrer boys so they could fire. He elected to ignore the small unit of scouts that shot at him. I probably would have sent the 12 Big 'Uns after them...but eh, whatever. I certainly can't fault him trying to get into my battle line as quick as possible. It is no secret Orcs rock at close combat while Wood Elves are not so good at it. If he could break my Glade Guard, I would be taking a LOT of Panic tests.

In his magic phase he rolled like a 15 for Gaze or Gork. I used a Dispel scroll rather than rolling against such a high score. Magic is pretty much worthless so far...

WOOD ELF TURN 2

Stop me if you have heard this one before; Not much movement, just minor tweaking to maximize my firing. Then shooting, shooting some more, and closing out by shooting...oh, and watching my Magic get dispelled...

But this time the shooting was much less effective as he saved virtually every wound. I think out of 47 shots I did like 1 casualty? Maybe even none. It was brutal. Especially after the Orc turn...

ORC TURN 2

Stop me if you have heard this one before...pass animosity except where it was beneficial, his Troll would not fail Stupidity all game, he did "fail" aniomosity with a unit he wanted to move forward quickly. 

Boom, the Close Combat is looming too soon as he moved forward rapidly.

At this point he looked to be charging my Waywatchers the next turn and my Glade Guard the following turn. THe Orc army was working well. This time I Dispelled his Gaze of Gork by rolling.

His shooting was pretty pointless, fortunately for me. 

WOOD ELF TURN 3

What to do? Oh, I know...back off my Waywatchers to get one more turn of Shooting. Magic? Ha, he dispelled both attempts. I shot and shot and shot with decent success. He lost rank bonuses with two separate units. 

Key was my pesky Scout unit, plinking away from the back at his exposed units.

ORC TURN 3

Ah, animosity, how I despise thee. His Black Orcs's Waaghed their way into charge range. I decided to flee my Waywatchers. He did not follow very far. My flee and shoot routine was working beautifully. The river was slowing him down, too.

Meanwhile, his Troll charged my Dryads unsupported. His troll suffered a wound for his audacity (after failing all 3 saves but Regenerating 2 of the 3).

Gaze was Dispelled again. See a pattern? Actually, late in the game my Spellweaver...a level 4 Wizard taken at the expense of being led by a Lord, a decision that would be disastrous when my Wardancers rolled one under the number needed on their break test...a test they would have passed if only I had the Lord general...my Spellweaver did get 1 (ONE) spell successfully cast after the Shaman died. And did kill 1 (ONE) Orc, about 12 points. SO I essentially spent 600+ points to kill a 12 point model. Magic is as good as the Orcs.

Wood Elf Turn 4

For the first time in several games, Magic mattered as I got irresistible force and struck down a few Black Orcs.

Shooting was also great as my pesky Scouts shot down his Shaman which he had left alone behind the lines. I also took out a few more Black Orcs.

 And then it happened

Ah, joy of joy...I FINALLY, after over a decade of wanting to, I finally, finally, FINALLY got to send in the Wardancers. WS 6, 2 attacks apiece, +1 thanks to the Shadow dance, S4 for charging...I was going to open a can of whoop-tushy on their candy smurfs. 

So yeah, 19 attacks unleashed. No wounds. Zip. Zero. Nada. Nothing. I did, however, manage to lose a couple and the break test, fleeing.

Yup, that above is my beloved, anxiously awaited Wardancers dancing back through their just-reformed Waywatchers. *Sigh*. That was...uh...not really worth the wait? I think that is a fair assessment.

Fortunately, the Dryads restored some fun as they crushed the Troll by causing another wound (he once again failed 3 Scaly Skin saves only to save 2 of  3 with his Ward save). This time he broke, I overran and charged into his much-reduced Boar Boys, forgetting to force a Panic Test since my Dryads cause Fear. No worries. I had shot 5 of the 10 dead with Glade Guard.

 

ORC TURN 4

His Black Orcs finally charged. Using Aenach, I decided to Stand & Shoot, taking out a couple more, including reducing his Rank bonus.

He also kept the pressure on my right flank, advancing across the river.

And just passing through to go after my Waywatchers.

Close combat, as you might expect between the Orcs and Wood Elves...uh..went the Wood Elf way as his Boar Boyz fled

After chasing them down, a turn or so later I turned my Dryads on his hapless Arrer boyz...good shooters, bad in close combat. Of his 7 remaining guys, I slew 5. Josh said, "no problem, the last two will each kill one." Which, needing 5s to hit and wound, they did. I, needing 5s to save, rolled 4s. So he went 2 for 2. But he still ran.

On his fifth turn, his last remaining unit chose to charge the Glade Guard. They, unsurprisingly, elected to stand and shoot. They shot down 4 of the 16 charging Orcs, just enough to force a break test, which...they failed. 

See the Orcs.

See the Orcs run.

 Dragon model not included...

His turn 6 he rallied which kept me from winning that table quarter, but that ended the game. 

This was a complete and total rout. He eliminated my 9 man Waywatchers and my 6 man Wardancers, which gave him their points + we gave him captured standards for them even though neither unit had Standard Bearers. That gave him about 600 victory points, give or take a handful of points.

Meanwhile, I killed almost 2000 points of his, slew the general, controlled 3 table quarters, captured several unit standards...I won by over 2400 points.

At this point, I am pretty much giving up on the Orcs and Goblins. They are worthless. They cannot win even when they have stronger, tougher warriors against poor (theoretically) hand to hand warriors. My Glade Guard held off and then defeated his toughest, strongest close combat unit. 

Face it, the Orcs stink badly. I really don't know what else Josh could have done. I suppose his trailing 12 Big Uns could have charged my Scouts on the Ziggurat and prevented a few casualties. Maybe. But that would not have turned the battle. I really thought the turn he charged all his hand to hand units in would be the end of the Wood Elf army but instead it crushed the Orcs.

I recommend that when the High Elf army Rick purchased arrive Josh either switch to the Dwarf army or to the Wood Elf army in which case I will go Dwarf. Goblins and Orcs? Done.