#4 Dwarven Holds vs. Highborn Elves 1

Hi all,

It's time for a dedicated battle report with pictures and all!

Lucky-Sixes has recently been trying out his 'Fire Elves' list for Highborn Elves and I was about to begin my rotation through some Dwarven Holds lists.  The stage was set - The War Of The Beard lives on!

This was a 3,000 point battle and although most of my Dwarfs were not the exact units they looked like this probably gets around an 8/10 for proxy due to Lucky-Sixes' 100% non-proxy rating.

As a side note, this could potentially be our last 9th Age version 1.1 battle before we move on to 9th Age version 2.0 (Beta).  Very exciting!

Dwarven Holds (Hyper-G)
Master Engineer (Grum Burlaksson) (Rune of Dragon's Breath, Rune of Shielding, Rune of the Forge, Shield, Forge Repeater)
Master Engineer (Ulfred Spanglehelm) (Rune of Dragon's Breath, Shield, Wyrm-Slayer Rocket)
Thane (Thor Stonebeard) (BSB, Rune of Dragon's Breath, 2x Runes Of Shielding, Shield)
Thane (Durden Drave) (Holdstone, Rune of Steel, 2x Runes Of Iron, Rune of Shielding, Shield)
Thane (Harding Grim) (Rune of Dragon's Breath, Rune of Kinship, Rune of the Forge, Shield, Pistol)
Runic Smith (Torgen Ninefingers) Rune of Dragon's Breath, Rune of Kinship, Shield, Rune of Resolve)
10x Greybeards (Vanguard, Shields, Throwing Weapons)
10x Greybeards (Shields, Throwing Weapons)
12x Clan Marksmen (Handguns, Great Weapons)
16x Clan Marksmen
12x Clan Marksmen (Guild-Crafted Handguns)
10x Deep Watch (Musician, Standard Bearer, Runic Standard of Dismay)
11x Forge Wardens
11x Forge Wardens
10x Forge Wardens
Steam Copter
Attack Copter
10x Miners (Throwing Weapons, Standard Bearer)
20x Rangers (Throwing Weapons, Great Weapons, Standard Bearer)
Anvil of Power (Rune of Storms, Rune of Shattering, Rune of Oaths)

As can be seen my list is quite a MSU (many small units) list and it also has a fair amount of shooting too.  It's unlike any list for Dwarfs that I've ever played going back as far as 7th Edition Warhammer so it's a completely new idea for me to take on.  With 5 characters sporting Breath Weapons it's packing some secret nastiness and I'm interested to see how this is going to turn out... especially when I saw Lucky-Sixes' list...

Highborn Elves (Lucky-Sixes)
High Prince (Ramzha) (Royal Huntsman, Lion Chariot, Great Weapon, Heavy Armour, Lion's Fur, Bluffer's Helm, Talisman of Greater Shielding, Divine Icon)
Archmage (Tai) (Lv.3 Fire, Order of the Fiery Heart, Young Dragon (Saphira), Dragonforged Armour, Hardened Shield, Talisman Of Supreme Shielding, Wand Of Stability)
Commander (Zion) (BSB, High Warden of the Flame, Flame Phoenix (Flareon), Flaming Lance, Potion of Strength, War Standard, Lucky Shield)
Commander (Farryn) (Queen's Companion, Great Bow of Elu)
Commander (Blaze) (Heavy Armour, Shield, Spear of the Blazing Dawn, Daemon Hunter's Helm, Potion of Swiftness)
5x Reavers (Bows)
35x Citizen Spears (Full Command, Flaming Banner)
17x Citizen Archers (Champion, Musician)
17x Citizen Archers (Champion, Musician)
6x Knights of Ryma (Devastating Charge, Champion, Standard)
14x Queen's Guard (Longbows, Standard, Banner of Speed)
3x Sea Guard Reapers (Repeating Bolts)
Great Eagle

The fire theme is quite prevalent and there's also some important Fireborn hanging around on two of Lucky-Sixes big nasty characters so immediately my Flaming Forge Warden shots and Flaming Breath Weapons look less useful (but not useless I'll add!)  The Highborns also have an abundance of shooting meaning that this could quickly turn into a ranged battle but whilst Lucky-Sixes' Elves have the edge in distance he can shoot, the Dwarfs' shots will pack a bit more of a punch.

The Ridden Monster & Monstrous Beast (Phoenix & Dragon) will be important as the Dwarfs may not be able to deal with them especially in their low numbers but with their shooting capabilities they at least don't have to rely on triple marching to get close to their enemies in combat.

I'm really liking the Shield Wall special rule for Dwarfs in 1.1 9th Age and think it could really be a useful addition to make Great Weapon Dwarfs less of an automatic choice.

Lucky-Sixes says...

My Fire Elf list is one I have been trying for 2/3 games now and in each of the previous battles I have made several mistakes, mainly due to not really knowing the army and what I should be doing with anything.

It's a fun list though, and is trying to be a jack of all trades list. Essentially the goal is to use my shooting and offensive magic to whittle away the enemy units enough that I can hit them hard with my hammer units (General chariot and Knights of Ryma mainly), while giving them support with Fire Phoenix, Dragon and Spears. This is obviously in an ideal world and with best intentions of a less than optimal general so not guaranteed to happen by any means, haha!

For the most part, I consider this a good match up for me. Toughness 4 across the board will be tough to deal with, but I can out-range most of his shooting units and have good mobility to get behind him (as he has to move forward to engage me with his shooting/combat units) and for charges. My main issue is that he is Fireborn with his big 3 units and my main shooting/magic that would normally target these units are flaming. So in some respects I will have to change up my targets so that my archers/bolt throwers go for his rare dwarfs while my Queen's Guard and Dragon concentrate on his chaff.

Either way it looks like a very interesting match up and hopefully I can bring in a win for the Highborn! Raise thy Bows... and all that jazz!

Including scouting Rangers, vanguarding Greybeards & Reavers this is how we lined up.  Most of the Dwarfs were set alongside one another ready to move forward and shoot whilst the Elves hugged the hill in the middle that their Bolt Throwers huddled on, monsters looming nearby and Spearmen facing off with the Rangers.

Deployment saw some interesting decisions, or rather just the one as far as I was concerned as Lucky-Sixes placed his Lion Chariot character behind his archers! Happy days for me although I did my best to keep very quiet about this at the time.

I'd tried to be quite coy with my deployment order and choices but Lucky-Sixes seized the initiative dropping his units before I did and getting the first turn.  Our secondary objective was to hold the centre with neither of us sporting a huge amount of standards.

The hail of shots began as my ranged opponent targeted the Crossbow Clan Marksmen shrewdly knowing that they had enough range to shoot back without moving first.

2 Rangers and 2 Forge Wardens also went down in the phase but it was the crossbows that really felt it.  Only 5 remained - that's called bullying!

With this unit depleted there wasn't much I could do in retaliation other than move up my Greybeards to bait a charge and advance with the shooters to get into range.  A few Elves were killed by disgruntled Crossbow Dwarfs avenging their fallen comrades too.

Greybeards moved up to bait the Elves into attacking and I managed to magically buff them with Stubborn too.

With the BSB nearby to provide a re-roll the Greybeards stuck around although the Eagle had prevented help from the Rangers in my next turn.

On the other side Lucky-Sixes' Reavers blocked my advancing Dwarfs whilst threatening Knights of Ryma planned their assault.

Need I mention that more Dwarfs were taken down to arrow shots and the observant amongst you will notice that the Lion Chariot had pushed its way between the Queen's Guard and Archers to also give me concern.

My Ambushing Miners didn't appear for turn 2 but I went on the offensive anyway as I now had some Elven targets in my Forge Warden's sights!

The Dwarfs shoot back killing the Queen's Guard and nearly the Queen's Companion character too.  A ghoulish-looking Steam Copter is also threatening the other Archers near the bolt thrower and the Flame Phoenix (that looks like a Frost Phoenix) has taken a couple of wounds from shooting handguns, hazaar!

Bad Birdy!

Stubborn Greybeards no longer as Lucky-Sixes assesses his turn 3 charge(s)

Reavers didn't stand a chance and the Greybeard unit on the right had Stubborn cast on it to assist in its overrunning fate, which took them well past the Knights of Ryma's front!

For Helves Turn 3 Lucky-Sixes had some decisions to make.  As is usually the case he went with 'charge' as most of the conclusion to his decisions!  The Knights of Ryma charged into Handgun Dwarfs left behind after killing the Reavers without taking any losses, the Lion Chariot general sneaked past his unit of Archers to confront the Greybeards that had overrun a long way whilst the Spearmen and Flame Phoenix kept together to charge the other unit of Handgun Dwarfs.

Shooting for the Elves was not as prevalent as less arrows and harder targets meant that only 2 Forge Wardens and 2 Deep Watch were plucked off the board although a combination of 3 Bolt Throwers finally killed off the nearby Steam Copter with much frustration for Lucky-Sixes that it took all 3 to do so when only one of them actually did the damage!

That's why he's so scary, although the stubborn remaining Dwarf stands firm.

A much more convincing performance from the Spears & Phoenix this time around.

Ryma Knights leave no prisoners either as another Dwarf core unit is decimated.

All the charges were devastating and most of the Dwarf core was now in the dead pile.  But in all honesty this wasn't a huge surprise as they'd all been charged by much better combat units than they were.  But there was plenty of firepower still left in the Stunties!

The Spearmen turned towards a unit of Forge Wardens as Dwarf numbers were depleted everywhere.

Dwarf turn 3 was boosted tremendously by the arrival of the Miners who came on behind the Archers near the building.  The Forge Wardens on the left of the picture above reformed to face the Spearmen wondering if they'd charge them and were joined by the Dwarf general as well who abandoned the smallest Forge Warden unit in doing so.  Meanwhile the Rangers tried desperately to get back in the fight and were aided by a timely magical movement spell.

Between Dwarf shooting and some surprisingly strong magic missiles many Elven Archers met their doom, including the Queen's Companion finally.

More decisions presented themselves for Lucky-Sixes in his turn 4 and having seen off the last Greybeard it was the Lion Chariot general that had the frustrating task of having to go and deal with the Miners.  The bolt throwers were under threat from them without doubt but I personally was delighted in seeing the Helf leader going backwards away from my Forge Wardens and Rangers.

Lucky-Sixes says...
I must admit I debated completely ignoring this unit and sending my lord into his forge wardens. But this was a much farther charge if I did go for that, and the Dwarfs would get a stand and shoot reaction as well as being able to challenge him out and stick around so I wasn't sure whether it was the best thing or not. In the end, I choose to defend my back lines and mop up the minors. This basically meant I would get some points and save my general and potentially my remaining bolt throwers as well, so a much more defensive option - which is unlike me I must say! 

What was left of the Elf shooting finished off the middle Forge Warden unit and also in the picture you'll see that the Spearmen indeed charged the other Forge Wardens whilst the Phoenix reformed.

The Dragon-Mage, who had been fairly quiet, charged this Vargheist-like Steam Copter but killed it with magic before the combat so reformed instead

In my turn I'd moved the Thane with the Holdstone out of the Deep Watch to block the Knights of Ryma.  If he could survive their charge (challenging out their champion) then he could potentially hold them all game... he survived their charge without even a scratch!

Using only one of the two breath weapons the Forge Wardens proved themselves to not just be a shooting unit and churned through the Spearmen.

The Thane with the Miners took a noble decision to sacrifice himself for his fellows and it assisted them to hold secure and annoy Lucky-Sixes' general.

The remaining Miners reformed to face the Lion Chariot although it was doubtful how much that would make a difference.  Due to timings we had to pause the battle at this stage and so I'll end this post with a picture of how things stood overall and also our thoughts on how things were going and would pan out.

Most of how this looks has been covered but to also add there are two remaining Crossbow Dwarfs who somehow survived after the first turn attention they had.  Also, one Deep Watch remains - all huddled near to the Anvil on the right of the river towards the top of the picture.

Even though my dead pile was full of core Dwarfs, a Forge Warden unit, 2 Steam Copters and most of the Deep Watch I was feeling surprisingly okay.  It had so far been a slog of a battle with a lot dying and I was happy with my remaining Forge Wardens and Rangers, with their characters accompanying.  I hoped the Thane with re-rollable armour could keep the Ryma Knights busy for a while and the Anvil magic was proving to be very powerful... strange for Dwarfs really...

Also, I wasn't entirely sure how much thought Lucky-Sixes was giving to the secondary objective to claim the centre...

Lucky-Sixes says...
This was a really tight affair, and a very enjoyable one to boot - even though there was a lot of serious thought and decision making that meant I was actually quite happy for a break on this one. The battle could literally go either way, and as Hyper-G had pointed out, I had really not taken the objective into enough consideration and would now be looking to stop him from getting it rather than win it for myself. The trouble was how? My Dragon mage was the closest contender, but flaming attacks and flaming breath weapon meant his damage output was limited against the forge wardens and there was still some 1-2 model units floating around the Anvil that needed to be taken care of - especially now the Knights of Ryma were now locked in a seemingly eternal grind with a Dwarven Hero... not a character you want to be grinding with to be honest. My Flame Phoenix had taken some wounds but with minimal shooting coming his way and magic resistance (+ ward save) he was looking like the best option to clear the Anvil and units, but that would basically seal the Spearmen's fate as without any help, it wasn't looking good for them - even with a very good spear character aiding their cause. My backfield too was looking vulnerable, with that massive unit of Rangers so I had a lot to ponder at the half way (nearly) stage.

Thanks for reading folks,
Hyper-G