Hello there!
Lucky-Sixes here for our second battle report!
So the Warhammer World trip was brilliant, and after our arranged battle between ourselves – and meeting John who was chatting to us all day, I decided to give him a quick match with my other army that I brought (and the main army that I collect!) – The High Elves!
It was a battle against John’s Chaos Warriors, and again, in an ironic gesture to our group name it was with all painted models that represented themselves – giving it a non-proxy rating of 10 / 10.
2,500pts of non-proxied goodness!
John looking very excited to smash some squishy Elves!
Unlike the last battle report, we didn’t write
anything down for this, so there won’t be exact details and most of the report
is written from memory. I apologise if any of it seems hazy, and to John if any
of this is incorrect but I will do my best to get the main gist of what went on
in the battle. Another disclaimer is that this is the first ever report that
I’ve written; so please leave comments below and let me know how I can improve!
Anyway down to business. Army Lists were as
follows:
High Elves – Commanded by Lucky-Sixes (Total 2,498
points)
Lords
& Heroes – 865 points
**GENERAL** Prince on Moon Dragon (Bellerephon
& Vritra)[Dragon Armour, Talisman of Preservation, Ogre Blade, Charmed Shield]
**BSB** Noble on Barded Elven Steed (Cloud &
Swiftwind)
[Dragon Armour, Enchanted Shield, Sword of Might,
Dawnstone]
Level 2 Mage (Thiro) [+ Dispel Scroll]
Core –
666 points
48x Spearmen [+ Full Command]8x Silver Helms [+ Standard & Musician]
Special
& Rare – 967 points
Lion ChariotLion Chariot
20x White Lions of Chrace [+Full Command & Banner of the World Dragon]
14x Swordmasters of Hoeth [+ Full Command]
Eagle Claw Bolt Thrower
Great Eagle
Great Eagle [+ Shredding Talons upgrade]
Lucky-Sixes says... I picked this list, again, using the models that I had already painted at my disposal. Unlike the Vampire list that I'd picked, I had a bit more choice for the high elves because I have a lot of models (around 4,500pts!) already painted. My personal opinion is that Dragons are AWESOME! So my list really works around having a 550pt general kicking ass all over the place, although pitting him against Warriors Of Chaos lords could pose a problem. I don’t normally use Swordmasters but I love them, and so the trend continued. Therefore, the rest of my list is centred on picking things that I like to use (2x Lion Chariots, Silver Helms in bus rather than ranks, Great Eagles). Adding to that the White Lion tank of a unit and 48 Spearmen, I was eager to see how the list played out. The general aim would be to have the Spearmen / White Lions be an anchor in the center, with Eagles holding up the main opposition units and to get rid of the chaff, and flank other units with my Chariots, Silver Helms (with BSB) & Swordmasters. Well that’s the plan anyway…
John says... I was moderately concerned by the Dragon and his rider but fairly certain that I would be alright against it. The question for me was, where is the Banner of the World Dragon! I hadn't played against the new Helves but I was aware of the broken nature of its effects against magical weapons. Because I have tooled my list to cope with ethereals and Daemons a large proportion of my "killy" units have magical weapons. So I thought the most likely unit was the Silver Helms or the BSB (who I assumed was attached).
I knew that he would be striking first with virtually everything except against my BSB but other than the White Lions there were no non-starters. It was going to be a fun, tough hame.
Warriors of Chaos – Commanded by John (Total 2,496 points)
Lords & Heroes – 965 points
**GENERAL** Khorne Lord on Barded Daemonic Mount
[Glittering Scales, Shield, Scaled Skin, Talisman of Preservation, Other Trickster's Shard, Sword of Striking, Soul Feeder, Poisonous Slime]
**BSB** Slaanesh Exalted Hero on Steed of Slaanesh
[Chaos Armour, Shield, Dragonhelm, Luckstone, Burning Body, Sword of Swift Slaying]
Core – 625 points
5x Vanguarding Warhounds
5x Vanguarding Warhounds
5x Khorne Marauder Horsemen [+Shields, Throwing Axes, Flails, Musician and Standard]
8x Slaanesh Marauder Horsemen [+Shields, Throwing Spears, Flails, and Musician]
Khorne Chariot
Slaanesh Chariot
Special & Rare – 906 points
4 Khorne Ogres [+Heavy Armour, Standard, Great Weapons]
5x Khorne Chaos Knights [+Standard + Banner of Rage]
5x Tzeentch Chaos kinghts [+Standard + Blasted Standard]
5x Nurgle Chaos Kinghts [+Standard + Gleaming Pennant]
Hellcannon
John says... The BSB usually (LOL, I haven't played for over a year - usually) accompanies the Slaanesh Marauder Horse for some 1st / 2nd turn slappage.
The Boss and the Knights pile forward in the hope that someone fancies having a dig at the vanguarding Dogs. The Chariots lumber up behind the Knights in case some fliers think it's funny to fly behind my lines.
The Ogres are in case a TO (tournament organiser) thinks Watchtower is a fun scenario and not, in fact, a magazine for Jehovah's Witnesses! Getting 4 frenzied Ogres with 4 Str6 attacks each out of a building is not the easiest but they can be taunted out. So in the first turn they tend to leave the building and sit behind it. If it looks like an enemy unit might occupy it, then they simply pop back in. However, there tend not to be many enemy units left at that stage.
I have found that not having magic is not a massive non-starter. Firstly, I can weather most spells, even the big ones, and it is more than compensated for by having so many unpleasant units on the table. Those photos after set up showing a horde of Chaos - and not just naked marauders, but lots of Knights, Ogres and Chariots can freak out some opponents. Plus the Boss and BSB on their own are unpleasant.
With regards to terrain, there was a forest each side, some fences in front of the Chaos lines, a hill in my right corner (for my Bolt Thrower, yay!), and a building on the High Elves left flank. The only one to make a note of was the forest on the High Elf side. This turned out to be a magical forest, which would cause wounds and move around when spells were cast around it.
Hyper-G says... Stat-Rat and myself were busy tidying up after the Vampire Counts & Lizardmen battle for much of the deployment stage of this game but we re-joined to watch just as things were about to kick off! John’s Chaos army was like nothing we’d ever seen Lucky-Sixes use before even though he too had a Warriors army so we were very excited to see how John played it.
The High Elf army on the other hand was one that I’d fought against on many occasions, usually unsuccessfully, and I was well aware that the High Elf Prince on the Dragon was going to be a big feature in Lucky-Sixes’ tactics. With not much shooting on the table and only one side using magic it was set to be a real slugging match with brutal combats guaranteed! I love seeing High Elves get slaughtered so come on John!!! Glory to Chaos! Hehehehe! (Don’t tell my Lizardmen I said that!)
The only model not to move forward with much aggression was the Hellcannon – after passing a leadership test to contain its rage – and with no magic it chose to use its shooting capabilities on the Spearmen, taking out about 15 and seriously depleting them. A few more shots like that and that big block in the middle would be gone! Other shooting killed off an Eagle and did a wound to a Lion Chariot. The turn was short due to no magic, but it was menacing all the same…
John says... I was slightly threaders with the 2 dead Marauder Horse, but is is a game of dice and in the overall scheme of things all was well.
So, onto High Elf Turn 1. With the approaching Warriors coming up so fast, and my right flank completely out-maneuvered, the High Elves decided to take the bait and charge! On the left flank, the Swordmasters charged the Dogs (needing an average roll) and the BSB + Silver Helms charged the Ogres (needing a 9 or 10 I think). In the middle, the Spearmen charged the Khorne Knights, while the White Lions (who were in the forest) charged the Nurgle Knights with one of their fellow Lion Chariots – needing around an 8 or 9 for both to get in. The other wounded Lion Chariot on the right flank charged the Tzeentch Knights, just with the hope to get some impact hits off and keep them pinned in. All but the Spearmen were successful, and their failed charge left them slightly in the magic forest (with my magic caster). As the Dragon could not see anyone (after deploying behind the house in cover from the Hellcannon), it moved up to set up a charge on the Chaos Lord and the remaining Eagle went to re-direct the Khorne Knights whom the High Elf Spearmen failed to engage.
Hyper-G says… Lucky-Sixes may have under-stated a few matters in what he’s said above and I’m sure John may agree with this… Although most of the charges for the High Elves were not overly long (7’s, 8’s and 9’s) and some were with swiftstride you wouldn’t necessarily expect them to make every single one! Except this was Lucky-Sixes we’re talking about!!! What we witnessed, and what John could do nothing about, was that Lucky-Sixes only rolled less than an 11 in one of those charge attempts… which was the Spearmen that he wasn’t too fussed about charging anyway! Lucky-Sixes has clearly brushed it off as normal behaviour (he’s used to it after all) but I for one was feeling somewhat embarrassed at witnessing such a display of ‘unsporting’ behaviour from the High Elf general!!! John took it admirably it has to be said – little did he know that Lucky-Sixes doesn’t stop rolling well once he’s started… and he’d clearly just been warming up with his Vampire Counts earlier in the day!
Nothing happened in shooting, but combat was a different story entirely! The BSB + Silver Helms unit on the left killed 3 Ogres before they could retaliate, and when they did, I kept rolling the 6's that I needed to stay alive. It meant for an insane courage test that the Ogres did not cooperate with, and they duly turned around and ran – with the Silver Helms choosing not to pursue and to reform to face the centre of the field, as the enemy were rallying on double 1s and were quite close to the edge anyway. If I forget to mention the Ogres again in the battle, it's because they do end up continuing their flee off the board and back to the comfort of their Chaos beds! The Swordmasters wiped out the Dogs as expected and overran towards the Chaos Chariot behind them. From what I remember, they just ran up short and there was an inch between them after all was said and done – which was a shame, as it meant the Chariot was going to get its impact hits, but at least they would be in combat.
John says... I was fully expecting the flank to fold. I had hoped that the Ogres would stick around longer but hey ho. At least the Chariot would do some impact hits. I wanted my army in melee. It prevents direct damage, magic missiles and shooting being employed against me. The right flank was purely to occupy the Spears, Swordmasters and hopefully the White Lions too. It wasn't really working. Lucky-Sixes (and OMG how apt that nickname is!) was staying focussed on his plan.
In the centre, we were attacking at the same time as the great weapons on the White Lions cancelled out their ‘Always Strike First’ rule, but a combination of impact hits, White Lion Strength 6 hits and the fact that the Banner of the World Dragon gave a 2+ ward save to the ensorcelled weapons of the Knights meant that it was an uphill battle for Chaos at the best of times, never mind the rich vein of form my dice rolling had given me! With that in mind, the Elves killed the Knights and overran straight forward – the Lions going towards the Hellcannon, and the Lion Chariot going into the Chaos Chariot alongside it.
Chaos turn 2, and it was their turn to bring the charges! On the Warrior left flank, the BSB and the 3 remaining Marauder Horsemen charged the Bolt Thrower – with an air of confidence about them, it had to be said. In the centre, the Hellcannon charged the White Lions, the Chariot charged the Lion Chariot and the 3 remaining Khorne Knights charged the Eagle; while over on the right flank the Chariot facing the Swordmasters charged them and I think (I can’t remember exactly as my memory is quite vague) shouted “BRING IT ON!!!!!!!!” whilst doing so… I think. In the remaining moves phase, the left flanking units moved around to encircle the Spearmen unit and the Dogs in the middle turned to face the White Lion combat.
Again, no magic meant the turns were short and we went straight on to combat. Unfortunately, at this point we realised that there was only about half hour before the PTG-ers had to leave, so we started to speed up and the pictures become less frequent. Anyway, combat.
The Hellcannon was undone by its magical attacks vs the White Lions banner, but still managed to force through 2 wounds. I think the White Lions did 3 or 4 in response and won the combat, but we all stuck around due to the unbreakable Hellcannon.
On the warriors right flank, the chariot came in and I think did only 1 wound on impact hits and 3 more through all its attacks before surviving the attacks back, which led to a draw and again another combat would continue in the High Elf turn.
John says... The Chaos Chariots have proved massively successful in the past vs. Swordmasters (generally because they are fielded in small units) and Witch Elves et all. It was a huge disaapointment not to do more.
More astoundingly, the best combat for the High Elves (or the worst for the Warriors) was the Knights vs. the Eagle. It turned out that the HE Eagle was superfast and dodged all but 3 of the attacks from riders and mounts, taking only 2 wounds and surviving to attack back! It didn’t do any wounds in return, but the bird passed its leadership test, held up the Knights bravely and put its name forward for man of the match!
John says... This became a feature of my games in Warhammer World over the month I was up there. 3-5 Chaos Kerniggets being held up by a solitary Eagle. In fairness, this was super-tiresome. A minimum of 8 Str 5 attacks plus Str 4 horses should blow through an Eagle. Still c'est la guerre. The battle was still very much anybody's game. I knew how important it was to dictate the combat with the White Lions now I knew they had the Banner of the World Dragon and it was looking likely that they would rampage through the Knights. It was likely to be a different story with the characters though...
Meanwhile, the brave Eagle cannot avoid his impending doom! But he did his job, an honourable sacrifice…
In the High Elf turn, it was all about counter charges. The White Lions charged the Warhounds in the Dragons rear and the Swordmasters charged the Khorne Knights in with the BSB; while the Spearmen charged the 2 Tzeentch Knights at the top of the board in an attempt to get out of the line of sight of the Chaos BSB and accompanying Slaanesh Marauders that had caused so much havoc in the High Elf lines!
This ended up getting them out of the line of sight of the other cavalry for the moment. The hope was to beat them and overrun off the table and out of trouble, and they duly delivered. I think John ended up failing a few of his 1+ armour saves and ran off the board, to which a relieved Spearmen unit chased them and did indeed end up off the board and out of harm’s way.
Whether by luck or judgement, thankfully for the High Elves these combats all went to plan. The Swordmasters helped to finish off the depleted Knight unit before they could even strike.
John says... All expected at this point, thanks to Eagles and whiffy dice but at this stage I was more than happy with an escaping Lord. It would have been my turn next with the left flank (and more importantly the BSB) finally in an advantageous position. I saw no reason why the Lord wouldn't rally with the BSB in the vicinity. Timing was still going to be important. I didn't want to send the BSB in alone against the Dragon, but I was more than happy to send him in against another unit. I was trying (unnecessarily) to do some quick maths as to his survivability vs. the Dragon in the flank until the Lord could join him (presumably on Turn 5). It would have been messy as the BSB was 1+ armour save but only a 2+++ ward vs. fire. The luckstone was going to be essential!
Unfortunately, we would never find out, and we ended up stopping there; which was a shame because things were hotting up and we honestly felt it could have gone either way. The High Elves had killed the most in terms of points (and a lot of that was down to how well I rolled I must admit), but the two main killing units for the Warriors – the lord and the BSB – were still alive and kicking.
Before I finish I just wanted to put up some close ups of the Chaos army, as they had a brilliant blood themed painting scheme to them. Check these out...
Anyway, thanks for supporting us and hope you enjoyed!
Proxy Table Gamer - Lucky-Sixes
Lords & Heroes – 965 points
**GENERAL** Khorne Lord on Barded Daemonic Mount
[Glittering Scales, Shield, Scaled Skin, Talisman of Preservation, Other Trickster's Shard, Sword of Striking, Soul Feeder, Poisonous Slime]
**BSB** Slaanesh Exalted Hero on Steed of Slaanesh
[Chaos Armour, Shield, Dragonhelm, Luckstone, Burning Body, Sword of Swift Slaying]
Core – 625 points
5x Vanguarding Warhounds
5x Vanguarding Warhounds
5x Khorne Marauder Horsemen [+Shields, Throwing Axes, Flails, Musician and Standard]
8x Slaanesh Marauder Horsemen [+Shields, Throwing Spears, Flails, and Musician]
Khorne Chariot
Slaanesh Chariot
Special & Rare – 906 points
4 Khorne Ogres [+Heavy Armour, Standard, Great Weapons]
5x Khorne Chaos Knights [+Standard + Banner of Rage]
5x Tzeentch Chaos kinghts [+Standard + Blasted Standard]
5x Nurgle Chaos Kinghts [+Standard + Gleaming Pennant]
Hellcannon
John says... The BSB usually (LOL, I haven't played for over a year - usually) accompanies the Slaanesh Marauder Horse for some 1st / 2nd turn slappage.
The Boss and the Knights pile forward in the hope that someone fancies having a dig at the vanguarding Dogs. The Chariots lumber up behind the Knights in case some fliers think it's funny to fly behind my lines.
The Ogres are in case a TO (tournament organiser) thinks Watchtower is a fun scenario and not, in fact, a magazine for Jehovah's Witnesses! Getting 4 frenzied Ogres with 4 Str6 attacks each out of a building is not the easiest but they can be taunted out. So in the first turn they tend to leave the building and sit behind it. If it looks like an enemy unit might occupy it, then they simply pop back in. However, there tend not to be many enemy units left at that stage.
I have found that not having magic is not a massive non-starter. Firstly, I can weather most spells, even the big ones, and it is more than compensated for by having so many unpleasant units on the table. Those photos after set up showing a horde of Chaos - and not just naked marauders, but lots of Knights, Ogres and Chariots can freak out some opponents. Plus the Boss and BSB on their own are unpleasant.
Lucky-Sixes says... I am a Warriors Player too, so I was anxious to
know what a fellow Warrior general would pick as an army and I was surprised
(and excited) to see a MSU (many small units) cavalry army against me. In all honesty I had no
real experience playing (or commanding) an army like this, and I love cavalry and
chariots, so I was excited to see how it would perform!
The battle lines are drawn!!!
With regards to terrain, there was a forest each side, some fences in front of the Chaos lines, a hill in my right corner (for my Bolt Thrower, yay!), and a building on the High Elves left flank. The only one to make a note of was the forest on the High Elf side. This turned out to be a magical forest, which would cause wounds and move around when spells were cast around it.
Moving onto Magic John’s Warriors had none
whatsoever! Not only did this make it easy for me to remember during the write
up it meant that Thiro, my lowly level 2 – who rolled offensive and got Soul Quench
& Fiery Convocation – was dominating the magic phase, hoorah! Although on
the other hand, it meant the Warriors packed a lot more points into their punch
so would have some attacking options to think about.
Vanguarded dogs move up on the left
towards the Swordmasters / BSB’s unit; while the Marauder Horsemen and Dogs
move up on the left to close the door on my Lion Chariots and Bolt Thrower (eek!)…The onslaught begins…
Hyper-G says... Stat-Rat and myself were busy tidying up after the Vampire Counts & Lizardmen battle for much of the deployment stage of this game but we re-joined to watch just as things were about to kick off! John’s Chaos army was like nothing we’d ever seen Lucky-Sixes use before even though he too had a Warriors army so we were very excited to see how John played it.
The High Elf army on the other hand was one that I’d fought against on many occasions, usually unsuccessfully, and I was well aware that the High Elf Prince on the Dragon was going to be a big feature in Lucky-Sixes’ tactics. With not much shooting on the table and only one side using magic it was set to be a real slugging match with brutal combats guaranteed! I love seeing High Elves get slaughtered so come on John!!! Glory to Chaos! Hehehehe! (Don’t tell my Lizardmen I said that!)
Stat-Rat says… It was a real treat to see John’s Chaos Warrior Army. It
had obviously been put together over a long period of time and with some lovely
details. I think Warriors are one of the most spectaular armies anyway, and
Lucky-Sixes High Elves always look good (particularly the Eagles!). John mentioned to me that he was yet to face a High Elf army from the
most recent book, and I know Lucky-Sixes hadn’t faced a Chaos Warriors list
like this before, so I was really looking forward to this. Looking at how mobile both armies were, and taking into consideration
that there was such limited magic, I was expecitng a bloodbath in double quick
time!
As expected the Warriors marched forwards. With the Marauders' high movement and fast cav abilities, they were easily able to
move out of charge arcs and line of sight on the High Elves right flank,
looking to set up a later charge on the Bolt Thrower, and take some shots at
the Lion Chariots and Eagle positioned nearby. Although in doing so, the small
unit of 5 Marauder Horsemen had to march over the fences; to which 2 of the
horses lost their footing and died – well, every little helps! The multiple Knight units moved up to provide some back up and just generally look
menacing, while the Chaos Chariots looked to set up some counter-charges. The Ogres
on the near side (Warriors’ right flank) also moved up, but not too hastily,
bearing in mind that the BSB’s unit and Swordmasters were lurking.
The Warrior’s march continues, and I
swear I can hear them chanting some evil taunts along with a montage of “we’re
coming to get ya…”
The only model not to move forward with much aggression was the Hellcannon – after passing a leadership test to contain its rage – and with no magic it chose to use its shooting capabilities on the Spearmen, taking out about 15 and seriously depleting them. A few more shots like that and that big block in the middle would be gone! Other shooting killed off an Eagle and did a wound to a Lion Chariot. The turn was short due to no magic, but it was menacing all the same…
An Eagle goes down to some javelins, while
a huge rock squishes some poncy elves!!
Meanwhile, the Chariot loses a wheel to
some axes by the terrain-stricken Marauders
John says... I was slightly threaders with the 2 dead Marauder Horse, but is is a game of dice and in the overall scheme of things all was well.
So, onto High Elf Turn 1. With the approaching Warriors coming up so fast, and my right flank completely out-maneuvered, the High Elves decided to take the bait and charge! On the left flank, the Swordmasters charged the Dogs (needing an average roll) and the BSB + Silver Helms charged the Ogres (needing a 9 or 10 I think). In the middle, the Spearmen charged the Khorne Knights, while the White Lions (who were in the forest) charged the Nurgle Knights with one of their fellow Lion Chariots – needing around an 8 or 9 for both to get in. The other wounded Lion Chariot on the right flank charged the Tzeentch Knights, just with the hope to get some impact hits off and keep them pinned in. All but the Spearmen were successful, and their failed charge left them slightly in the magic forest (with my magic caster). As the Dragon could not see anyone (after deploying behind the house in cover from the Hellcannon), it moved up to set up a charge on the Chaos Lord and the remaining Eagle went to re-direct the Khorne Knights whom the High Elf Spearmen failed to engage.
The High Elves seize the initiative and
charge on turn 1. Oh yes… there will be blood in this battle!
‘Gulp’ – well at least we got the charge
boys!
Meanwhile, the Spearmen bide their time… “Oh is that a magical forest
there, ah don’t worry about it”
Hyper-G says… Lucky-Sixes may have under-stated a few matters in what he’s said above and I’m sure John may agree with this… Although most of the charges for the High Elves were not overly long (7’s, 8’s and 9’s) and some were with swiftstride you wouldn’t necessarily expect them to make every single one! Except this was Lucky-Sixes we’re talking about!!! What we witnessed, and what John could do nothing about, was that Lucky-Sixes only rolled less than an 11 in one of those charge attempts… which was the Spearmen that he wasn’t too fussed about charging anyway! Lucky-Sixes has clearly brushed it off as normal behaviour (he’s used to it after all) but I for one was feeling somewhat embarrassed at witnessing such a display of ‘unsporting’ behaviour from the High Elf general!!! John took it admirably it has to be said – little did he know that Lucky-Sixes doesn’t stop rolling well once he’s started… and he’d clearly just been warming up with his Vampire Counts earlier in the day!
In magic, the Mage
Thiro decided to throw all of his dice at Soul Quench, aimed at the Knights that they
failed to charge. From what I remember, the Elf Mage managed to get the
spell off, giving the unit a 6+ ward save due to the lore attribute and, more
amazingly, causing 2 casualties against a low dice rolling Chaos general. To be
honest that was more than I was expecting as I didn’t get many wounds through
(I think I got 5 or 6), and John was very unlucky to have lost 2 Knights on a 3+
armour save from that – although it did stop the Eagle from becoming the
obstacle it was intended for. The big news, however, which granted may be an
exaggeration of the use of the word ‘big’, was that the forest in all its
majesty got overexcited with the spell and in its eagerness to get involved in
the battle, zoomed off 10 inches or so towards the right flank. It caused a few
wounds to the unit beforehand – which again should have been more, but I was
starting (insert Hyper-G cough cough ‘STARTING!?’) to live up to my ‘Lucky-Sixes’ nickname and rolled 3 / 5 6's to save some men. It was all very exciting. Despite the
forests enthusiasm, this ended up being its last involvement in the game, as I
don’t think any more magic was cast in the entire battle. Short lived fun, but
a quirky moment none the less.
Zzzzappp! Haha, take that!
Casualties of the wood! Whoever would have thought magical flaying
branches could do so much damage!
Nothing happened in shooting, but combat was a different story entirely! The BSB + Silver Helms unit on the left killed 3 Ogres before they could retaliate, and when they did, I kept rolling the 6's that I needed to stay alive. It meant for an insane courage test that the Ogres did not cooperate with, and they duly turned around and ran – with the Silver Helms choosing not to pursue and to reform to face the centre of the field, as the enemy were rallying on double 1s and were quite close to the edge anyway. If I forget to mention the Ogres again in the battle, it's because they do end up continuing their flee off the board and back to the comfort of their Chaos beds! The Swordmasters wiped out the Dogs as expected and overran towards the Chaos Chariot behind them. From what I remember, they just ran up short and there was an inch between them after all was said and done – which was a shame, as it meant the Chariot was going to get its impact hits, but at least they would be in combat.
John says... I was fully expecting the flank to fold. I had hoped that the Ogres would stick around longer but hey ho. At least the Chariot would do some impact hits. I wanted my army in melee. It prevents direct damage, magic missiles and shooting being employed against me. The right flank was purely to occupy the Spears, Swordmasters and hopefully the White Lions too. It wasn't really working. Lucky-Sixes (and OMG how apt that nickname is!) was staying focussed on his plan.
The Silver Helms chase off the Ogres, and Swordmasters run straight for a beastly looking Chariot.
The High Elf left flank is looking
strong…
In the centre, we were attacking at the same time as the great weapons on the White Lions cancelled out their ‘Always Strike First’ rule, but a combination of impact hits, White Lion Strength 6 hits and the fact that the Banner of the World Dragon gave a 2+ ward save to the ensorcelled weapons of the Knights meant that it was an uphill battle for Chaos at the best of times, never mind the rich vein of form my dice rolling had given me! With that in mind, the Elves killed the Knights and overran straight forward – the Lions going towards the Hellcannon, and the Lion Chariot going into the Chaos Chariot alongside it.
The White Lions push on with a rampage of
their own!
On the right flank,
the wounded Lion Chariot had had little success. Despite killing off one of the
Tzeentch Knights through impact hits, the rest of its attacks failed to get
past the defence of the Warriors, and got mauled by the returning attacks.
Death by horse and rider! Maybe the High
Elves got caught up in the moment and charged one too many Knight units…
Overall, it was quite a positive, start for the High Elves. The left
flank and centre seemed to be going their way, although the right flank was
being completely dominated by the speedy Marauder and hardy Tzeentch Knights. Plus they still had their general and BSB to contend with so there was
plenty more to get on with.
The Chaos death pile at the end of turn
1… a Spawn has crept in! Can you spot him?
Chaos turn 2, and it was their turn to bring the charges! On the Warrior left flank, the BSB and the 3 remaining Marauder Horsemen charged the Bolt Thrower – with an air of confidence about them, it had to be said. In the centre, the Hellcannon charged the White Lions, the Chariot charged the Lion Chariot and the 3 remaining Khorne Knights charged the Eagle; while over on the right flank the Chariot facing the Swordmasters charged them and I think (I can’t remember exactly as my memory is quite vague) shouted “BRING IT ON!!!!!!!!” whilst doing so… I think. In the remaining moves phase, the left flanking units moved around to encircle the Spearmen unit and the Dogs in the middle turned to face the White Lion combat.
“It’s our turn now!” Chaos don’t miss an
opportunity to charge…
The rest of the army forms up to cause
some problems
Again, no magic meant the turns were short and we went straight on to combat. Unfortunately, at this point we realised that there was only about half hour before the PTG-ers had to leave, so we started to speed up and the pictures become less frequent. Anyway, combat.
As expected the Bolt Thrower got beat up bad by the
Chaos BSB, and the two chargers turned to face centre. The Chariot v Lion Chariot
combat went the way of Chaos too. 3 wounds were done to the Lion Chariot, with
none in reply (and I think I was again throwing some 'Lucky-Sixes' to keep him
alive!). The Lion Chariot lost combat, failed a non-re-rollable stubborn 10 break test and fled far enough into the woods to escape the chasing Chaos Chariot.
A broken Lion Chariot runs back to the
safety of the forest!
The Hellcannon was undone by its magical attacks vs the White Lions banner, but still managed to force through 2 wounds. I think the White Lions did 3 or 4 in response and won the combat, but we all stuck around due to the unbreakable Hellcannon.
Big beasty gets quelled by that magical
banner!
On the warriors right flank, the chariot came in and I think did only 1 wound on impact hits and 3 more through all its attacks before surviving the attacks back, which led to a draw and again another combat would continue in the High Elf turn.
Chaos Chariot brings blurry death to the Swordmasters unit, but they stick around to fight on
John says... The Chaos Chariots have proved massively successful in the past vs. Swordmasters (generally because they are fielded in small units) and Witch Elves et all. It was a huge disaapointment not to do more.
More astoundingly, the best combat for the High Elves (or the worst for the Warriors) was the Knights vs. the Eagle. It turned out that the HE Eagle was superfast and dodged all but 3 of the attacks from riders and mounts, taking only 2 wounds and surviving to attack back! It didn’t do any wounds in return, but the bird passed its leadership test, held up the Knights bravely and put its name forward for man of the match!
"Tsch... No mere Chaos Knights of Khorne
can defeat me!!!” – that’s one tough birdy!
John says... This became a feature of my games in Warhammer World over the month I was up there. 3-5 Chaos Kerniggets being held up by a solitary Eagle. In fairness, this was super-tiresome. A minimum of 8 Str 5 attacks plus Str 4 horses should blow through an Eagle. Still c'est la guerre. The battle was still very much anybody's game. I knew how important it was to dictate the combat with the White Lions now I knew they had the Banner of the World Dragon and it was looking likely that they would rampage through the Knights. It was likely to be a different story with the characters though...
The Dragon charged the Chariot that was chasing the Lion Chariot in the middle of the table, and positioned itself to overrun into
the Chaos lord on Daemonic mount. The Dragon and rider struck down the Chariot
with relative ease and went into the lord as expected and even ended up in a
position where it couldn’t be counter charged; which was nice! This would set
up the big fight of the battle that everyone had been waiting to see.
It’s hidden, but there is a Chaos lord
behind that chariot! Where are you Chaos lord!?
Hyper-G says… It doesn’t get much better than a
duel between a Chaos Lord and a High Elf Prince one-on-one. Admittedly the High Elf had brought a Dragon
with him – like that wasn’t fair, right Lucky-Sixes?
The Silver Helms on the High Elf left flank tried a
long charge into the Knights to help the Eagle out but didn’t quite get there. This
left the Eagle on his own and it unfortunately for him; he could not survive
another bought of Chaos hurt! In other news, the Lion Chariot in the forest rallied
and turned to face the Chaos cavalry on the flank, while the Hellcannon was felled
by the White Lions and the Swordmasters killed the Chariot on the High Elves
left flank.
The Silver Helms fail to get in, while
the Chariot and Spearmen turn to face the cavalry… although I didn’t know Lion
Chariots could climb trees!
The Elves finish off what they started to
free themselves up for future fights!
Meanwhile, the brave Eagle cannot avoid his impending doom! But he did his job, an honourable sacrifice…
So, with the Elves having one of their better
turns, the Chaos Warriors decided to strike back. The Warhounds in the middle
charged the rear of the Dragon to add some combat res, whilst the Khorne Knights
that had just finished off the eagle went for more blood and charged the
Silver Helms + BSB. The large Slaanesh Marauderer Horsemen charged the (1 wound
remaining) Lion Chariot – which *Spoiler Alert* didn’t go well for the wheeled one – and the
cavalry around that moved up to help threaten the Spearmen.
3 charges, 1 dead Lion Chariot!
In the lord v lord combat, the Chaos Warriors general declared a
challenge so as to protect the Warhounds and make sure they added +3 to the
combat to hopefully swing it in their favour. The High Elf Lord did 1 wound to
the Chaos general, suffering 2 in return. It had been a bit of a whiff, but Chaos won the combat outright, only to have the Dragon lord pass a stubborn
leadership 10 roll (due to the Banner of the World Dragon giving all Dragons
stubborn if they are within 12” – a very good banner!).
John says... Just for once, the Soul Feeder pulled a blinder returning a wound on my General. I was feeling confident on the Prince combat. However, I needed support and I needed it fast. My left flank was suffering from its usual problem. Having been so successful initially, they were too far away at the end of turn 2. Giddyup, Slaanesh Steeds!
John says... Just for once, the Soul Feeder pulled a blinder returning a wound on my General. I was feeling confident on the Prince combat. However, I needed support and I needed it fast. My left flank was suffering from its usual problem. Having been so successful initially, they were too far away at the end of turn 2. Giddyup, Slaanesh Steeds!
A blurry, but fierce battle continues…
In the Cavalry v Cavalry combat the 'Lucky-Sixes' nickname really came to
fruition! My hero BSB managed to fell one of the Knights at strength 5, while
the strength 3 Silver Helms managed to follow up and do another! A really bad
turn of luck for John’s Knights who only managed to do 1 wound in return and
consequently lost combat! WTF! As mentioned the Lion Chariot fell victim to the
Marauders, who flew forward into the face of the Spearmen…
John says... WTF indeed!
John says... WTF indeed!
Silver Helms luck out and suffer minimal
casualties!
In the High Elf turn, it was all about counter charges. The White Lions charged the Warhounds in the Dragons rear and the Swordmasters charged the Khorne Knights in with the BSB; while the Spearmen charged the 2 Tzeentch Knights at the top of the board in an attempt to get out of the line of sight of the Chaos BSB and accompanying Slaanesh Marauders that had caused so much havoc in the High Elf lines!
This ended up getting them out of the line of sight of the other cavalry for the moment. The hope was to beat them and overrun off the table and out of trouble, and they duly delivered. I think John ended up failing a few of his 1+ armour saves and ran off the board, to which a relieved Spearmen unit chased them and did indeed end up off the board and out of harm’s way.
The High Elves go all in!
The Board after charges…
Whether by luck or judgement, thankfully for the High Elves these combats all went to plan. The Swordmasters helped to finish off the depleted Knight unit before they could even strike.
The Silver Helms, Swordmasters and BSB
finish off the Khorne Knights, and the Spearmen have plenty of space to run
away after forcing a flee from the Tzeentch Knights. The 6 on the dice
represents even more luck on my part where the Khorne Knights forced through a
wound past my re-rollable armour and I saved it on my 6+ ward save from the
dragon armour. Lucky-Sixes strikes again…
In the general’s combat, the White Lions plucked
off the Warhounds to wrap up +8 combat res for the Elves (Charge, flank, rank,
5 wounds). With this in mind, the Chaos Warrior went for the throat of the High Elf lord and struck him down for his remaining wound (after taking another
wound to the Dragon) then failed his leadership test (losing 9-1) and fled. He
got away, and achieved the morale victory for killing the Prince, but at what
cost?
The Chaos Lord gets away from a hungry,
hungry Dragon!
State of play at the end of the game,
with a dead Prince lying face-down in the middle of the battlefield…
John says... All expected at this point, thanks to Eagles and whiffy dice but at this stage I was more than happy with an escaping Lord. It would have been my turn next with the left flank (and more importantly the BSB) finally in an advantageous position. I saw no reason why the Lord wouldn't rally with the BSB in the vicinity. Timing was still going to be important. I didn't want to send the BSB in alone against the Dragon, but I was more than happy to send him in against another unit. I was trying (unnecessarily) to do some quick maths as to his survivability vs. the Dragon in the flank until the Lord could join him (presumably on Turn 5). It would have been messy as the BSB was 1+ armour save but only a 2+++ ward vs. fire. The luckstone was going to be essential!
Unfortunately, we would never find out, and we ended up stopping there; which was a shame because things were hotting up and we honestly felt it could have gone either way. The High Elves had killed the most in terms of points (and a lot of that was down to how well I rolled I must admit), but the two main killing units for the Warriors – the lord and the BSB – were still alive and kicking.
Final thoughts…
Lucky Sixes says… Another great battle using the
Games workshop boards, and John was great to play against. I had a lot of fun
playing against his army and enjoyed chatting with him throughout. It was a
shame we didn’t have another hour or so to finish off the battle properly, but I
really enjoyed the turns we did have. Both armies seemed aggressive – and his
was superfast, very hard to deal with.
I was pleased with my deployment in the end, and chose to go with a heavy left flank and take that before moving into the centre. I hadn’t used the Silver Helms in a 'Bretonnia' formation before but that seemed to work quite well, with my BSB in there. The Swordmasters played their part but it was important to get the charge on the Chariot and I didn’t. On another day they could have been wiped out by the impact hits so while they were (and always are!) fun, I feel they are one of the most squishy units I fielded. The two Chariots did well to occupy the cavalry on the right flank, but were a bit overwhelmed in the end.
The big White Lion unit was very good and I think, with a little bit more time in the battle, probably would’ve been the key to me winning. That banner is incredible, and fortunately for me I got the match ups that allowed the 2+ ward save, so meant they were pretty unkillable with a large damage output.
I have always liked the ideas of a Dragon and I think I always will, so even though my guy died, I think I would probably keep up with that as a trend for my High Elf armies in future.
My most useless unit was probably the Bolt Thrower. I don’t really rate it to be honest, but it’s always nice to have a shooting option. I think if I was going to take this again, I’d take another 1 or 2 to go with it, just to make them have more of an impact.
Anyway, I had a really fun time, with a top guy playing against me, so a great battle to finish the day for me. Thanks John, and I hope we can play again sometime! I feel we need a rematch to settle this one! Haha!
John says... By the Gods! All to play for. So frustrating not to finish the game, especially against such an engaging opponent. In truth, I was worried about sitting around in the hall and getting chump bashed by a 12 year old with 2 Nurgle Daemon Princes. So it was a relief to face a really nice guy with a beautiful balanced army.
I was generally happy with my lads - Knights with rubber swords happen - bloody squires! So I was happy to keep them but I didn't like the Tzeentch Knights - they don't fit with my Khorne / Slaanesh army. Everything else has a tried and tested rol.
What has changed in my list as a result:
**GENERAL** Khorne Lord on Barded Daemonic Mount
[Glittering Scale, Shield, Scaled Skin, Talisman of Preservation, Other Trickster's Shard, Sword of Striking, Soul Feeder]
I was pleased with my deployment in the end, and chose to go with a heavy left flank and take that before moving into the centre. I hadn’t used the Silver Helms in a 'Bretonnia' formation before but that seemed to work quite well, with my BSB in there. The Swordmasters played their part but it was important to get the charge on the Chariot and I didn’t. On another day they could have been wiped out by the impact hits so while they were (and always are!) fun, I feel they are one of the most squishy units I fielded. The two Chariots did well to occupy the cavalry on the right flank, but were a bit overwhelmed in the end.
The big White Lion unit was very good and I think, with a little bit more time in the battle, probably would’ve been the key to me winning. That banner is incredible, and fortunately for me I got the match ups that allowed the 2+ ward save, so meant they were pretty unkillable with a large damage output.
I have always liked the ideas of a Dragon and I think I always will, so even though my guy died, I think I would probably keep up with that as a trend for my High Elf armies in future.
My most useless unit was probably the Bolt Thrower. I don’t really rate it to be honest, but it’s always nice to have a shooting option. I think if I was going to take this again, I’d take another 1 or 2 to go with it, just to make them have more of an impact.
Anyway, I had a really fun time, with a top guy playing against me, so a great battle to finish the day for me. Thanks John, and I hope we can play again sometime! I feel we need a rematch to settle this one! Haha!
John says... By the Gods! All to play for. So frustrating not to finish the game, especially against such an engaging opponent. In truth, I was worried about sitting around in the hall and getting chump bashed by a 12 year old with 2 Nurgle Daemon Princes. So it was a relief to face a really nice guy with a beautiful balanced army.
I was generally happy with my lads - Knights with rubber swords happen - bloody squires! So I was happy to keep them but I didn't like the Tzeentch Knights - they don't fit with my Khorne / Slaanesh army. Everything else has a tried and tested rol.
What has changed in my list as a result:
**GENERAL** Khorne Lord on Barded Daemonic Mount
[Glittering Scale, Shield, Scaled Skin, Talisman of Preservation, Other Trickster's Shard, Sword of Striking, Soul Feeder]
The poison has gone. Partly because I kept forgetting it. Partly because I wanted it on the BSB because
of the newly altered model.
**BSB** Slaanesh Exalted Hero on Barded Daemonic Mount
[Chaos Armour, Charmed Shield, Dragonbane Gem, Poisonous
Slime, Sword of Swift Slaying]
The
steed has been massively upgraded because having a Tgh 5 hero with 3 wounds is,
frankly, hilarious. Depending on your
view point. The Burning Body has gone
because, similarly it just didn’t fit with the model and poisoned attacks do –
reflected in conversion and paintwork.
This is one tasty BSB in combat.
The core has
remained the same albeit that I make it 602 pts instead of 625. Hmm.
Maths check!
Special & Rare
– 906 points
4 Khorne Ogres
[+Heavy Armour, Standard, Great Weapons]
4 Slaanesh Ogres [+Heavy Armour, Standard, Additional
Hand Weapons]
5x Khorne Chaos
Knights [+Standard + Banner of Rage]
5x Slaanesh Chaos Knights [+Standard +
Gleaming Pennant + Musician]
The Nurgle and
Tzeentch Knights just are not cutting the mustard or fitting my dream. But the addition of the Slaanesh Ogres –
both units putting out Impact hits and 16 attacks at Str 4-6 – is right in my
head. Gives me another unit in case some
crackhead wants to play Watchtower.
Hellcannon stays in there for giggles.
Thanks guys. Hope we can play again in the future.
Before I finish I just wanted to put up some close ups of the Chaos army, as they had a brilliant blood themed painting scheme to them. Check these out...
Anyway, thanks for supporting us and hope you enjoyed!
Proxy Table Gamer - Lucky-Sixes
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