Rick
and I were the top dark elf players, but there was one of table 5, so one of us
needed a big win still to ensure that we kept our top of race prize. To not get a big win would be to allow
Mike to jump us should he win.
Terrain: All forests are mysterious.
Due
to the not full point win I find myself again on table 4, with that stupid
terrain piece. Rick and I talk and
come to the same conclusion as my last game – move through but not stop on
pillars.
Deployment: Battleline
Bonus
Points
+3 for
having the most fortitude within 12” of the center of the table
(Plus 3 Points for Terrain)
The
List
Dreadlord,
repeater crossbow, heavy armor, sea dragon cloak, shield, dark steed, ogre
blade, talisman of preservation, other trickster’s shard
Supreme
Sorceress, level 4, lore of dark magic, dark steed, dispel scroll, talisman of
endurance
Master,
BSB, lance, repeater crossbow, sea dragon cloak, shield, dark Pegasus, cloak of
twilight
Death
Hag, sword of anti-heroes
12
Witch Elves, musician banner, banner of eternal flame
5
Dark Riders, musician, repeater crossbows, shield
5
Dark Riders, musician, repeater crossbows, shield
10
Dark Riders, full command, repeater crossbows, shield
24
Executioners, full command, gleaming pennant
Reaper
Bolt Thrower
Reaper
Bolt Thrower
Reaper
Bolt Thrower
Reaper
Bolt Thrower
5
Doomfire Warlocks
5
Doomfire Warlocks
This
is a beastly list. 4 bolt throwers
and 20 dark riders made for a good chance of matching my shooting (3 bolt
throwers and 24 dark riders). In
addition, my fighty characters couldn’t be relied upon to take out the
executioners with their killing blow.
Magic
I
rolled caress and spirit leech along with searing doom.
Rick
took Power of Darkness, Word of Pain, Bladewind and Black Horror on his dark caster.
Deployment
With
the exception a single unit of dark riders on the right flank, Rick put his
entire army in the left corner, with the blocks more towards center. He put the bolt throwers across the
back edge, many behind the hill.
There was one that I thought couldn’t see and I couldn’t get Rick to
actually get down and look, true line of sight style. Eventually I had to go around and check myself to get it
done. Based on the cross bar it
shouldn’t have been able to shoot over the hill, but I just made him give hard
cover.
I
spread out on the right flank, so that I could make him spread his blocks
apart. I left my fighty bunker on
the left side to give him something to think about as the bulk of my army came
through his deployment zone.
I
vanguarded strong, limiting his options.
I put my bunker behind the hill for protection, took the left edge and
swarmed the right side of the board.
He squeaked up on the right and held on the left.
I
got the first turn, which I think was critical as it would give me first strike
against his shooting.
Turn
1 – Dark Elves (Me)
With
everything vanguarding, I didn’t have any charges to make. Having an entire army that vanguards is
awesome by the way.
I
moved on the right to claim the half of the table.
My
magic didn’t start out well with an 8/9 magic phase. I got a 3D irresistible soul blight on some dark
riders. A 2D soul blight went on a
warlock unit and a 3D caress was dispelled.
With
my magic having set up for a good shooting, I opened fire but only managed to
kill 3 dark riders and 1 warlock for a very disappointing shooting phase that
basically negated my advantage.
Turn
1 – Dark Elves (Rick)
Rick
moved to try to counter me with his shooting.
A
6/4 magic phase had me dispelling a 2D word of pain on my bunker. A 2D soulblight goes on my bunker and a
1D PoD to pick up more dice fails.
He
then opens fire and kills dark riders off each unit. I fail 1 panic test.
I lose 1 doom fire warlock on the bunker unit.
Turn
2 – Dark Elves (Me)
I
charge the bolt thrower on the right.
The dark rider unit gets a flank charge on a unit of warlocks, which I
don’t think Rick saw me doing.
A
7/5 magic phase starts with Rick dispelling a 2D caress at a bolt thrower. A 2D spirit leech kills a bolt
thrower. A 3D doom bold fails.
I
kill the last of the right flank dark riders and a witch.
I
kill the bolt thrower in combat, leaving him with 2. My dark riders kill 3 locks and lose 1 and I clean up the
unit and move past the counter charge.
Turn
2 – Dark Elves (Rick)
Witches
charge a unit of dark riders, which don’t do anything on the stand and shoot.
A
7/4 magic phase starts with a fail 3D doom bolt. A 2D Word of Pain onto the dark rides in combat is allowed,
making them WS1. I dispel the 2D
power of darkness.
Turn
3 – Dark Elves (Me)
My
bunker unit rears the witch unit.
A
6/6 magic phase has me failing to cast a large doom bolt.
My
bolt throwers kill his solo BSB and 3 warlocks. I also kill a dark rider.
I
kill the witches but only lose 2 dark riders preventing the warlock bunker from
over running out of range of the executioners.
Turn
3 – Dark Elves (Rick)
The
executioners counter charge the bunker.
They lose 3 to the stand and shoot and make it in.
A
5/4 magic phase contains an irresistible word of pain, on my bunker, but I get
lucky and it only drops WS/BS/S/I by 1.
Nothing comes from the miscast though.
Shooting
kills dark riders. The Hag and my
extra dread lord go into combat and kill each other off. I kill 8 executioners and he passes his
steadfast.
Turn
4 – Dark Elves (Me)
My
warlocks charge the bolt thrower.
A
6/4 magic phase has me trying to snipe the last bolt thrower from my first
combat but the first spell is dispelled and I draw the scroll.
I
kill the bolt thrower and run off the table. I lose 2 warlocks and kill 7 executioners which then break
and get run down.
Turn
4 – Dark Elves (Rick)
Moving
to counter only.
An
8/6 magic phase magic phase has a 2D word of pain on the fighting bunker for -2
WS/BS being allowed. I then dispel
a 2D soul blight on same. A 3D
doom bolt fails. My dispel scroll
was off the table, so I got lucky.
Shooting
kills 2 doom fire warlocks.
Game
could have ended right here. I
would have had a win with full points.
It continued.
Turn
5 – Dark Elves (Me)
Caster
bunker comes back on and moves to try to take out last bolt thrower.
A
9/6 magic phase has me casting 3 spells with 3D each. Caress at the BT is dispelled, doom bolt at the warlocks is
dispelled. Spirit leech on the
bolt thrower only does 1 wound (which is lucky as he was 2LD higher than me).
My
shooting is ineffective. In my
movement I have hidden my last fortitude in the center area which limits my
shooting and abandons my casters in case the game ends.
Turn
5 – Dark Elves (Rick)
Moves
to try to catch the caster bunker.
A
5/3 magic phase has a 4D irresistible soul blight on the wizard bunker. He loses 1 doom fire warlock. A 1D power of darkness fails.
Again,
at this point I’m winning at full points but the game doesn’t end.
Turn
6 – Dark Elves (Me)
I
still can’t move, but try to take out that bolt thrower. He had blocked my ability to charge it.
A
7/6 magic phase has a 4D soulblight going on the dark riders and him dispelling
the caress at the bolt thrower.
In
shooting I put a wound on his wizard.
Turn
6 – Dark Elves (Rick)
He
leaps his bunker over to the center.
Theoretically this is the right play, as if he can panic one of my units
he can claim the bonus points. The
3 model dark rider unit was at long range and -2 for hard cover. The general’s bunker had enough 1+
armor saves to make enough to even cause a panic test unlikely. Even then I would be at leadership 10.
A
5/5 magic phase had a 2D soulblight dispelled. A 2D word of pain is likewise dispelled and the last 1D
power of darkness is scrolled.
The
bolt thrower kills my wizard.
The
game automatically ends on turn 6 with a draw and no one getting the bonus
points. Very disappointing as
killing that bolt thrower would have either saved my wizard or saved the three
bonus points as the dark riders would have had to choose who to deal with. If he hadn’t killed the wizard I would
have picked up the win as well.
Just a few turns of disappointing dice. Rick played a good game, and I think I did as well.
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