Round 3: High Elves

Round 3 was against my friend, and multiple-time former roommate, Kris. He is a great guy and is just now getting into Warhammer. Something about painting little figures detracted him from the hobby during his twenties. 

This was his second tournament, and eighth game total. His last tournament was three rounds at 1250 points, before which we had two practice games to get the basic rules down. This tournament he jumped up to 1750 points and managed to pull off an amazing win against his Round 2 Ogre opponent. I watched the end of that game and noticed that there was not a single Ogre left on the board at the end. Way to go Kris!

This is Kris. Yes, he really is that ugly.

And this was Kris' list:

Archmage

• General, Level 4, Lore of Fire, Book of Hoeth!!!

Korhil (yes, the awesome High Elf special character)
Mage

• Level 2, Lore of Shadow, Annulian Crystal

Archers (35 of them, full command)

White Lions (10, full command, Banner of Sorcery, champion was given the Sword of Battle)

Sword Masters of Hoeth (20 full command, champion was given Enchanted Shield)

Pretty straightforward list. The White Lions and Sword Masters do the heavy combat lifting while the BIG ASS archer unit is shoots and kills whatever gets close enough to threaten the level 4 mage that is always bunkered in the unit. Oh, and there is the Book of Hoeth to deal with. Overall, its a tough, but manageable High Elf list. My priorities for this round were:

1. Kill the Sword Masters.
2. Get into combat with the archers and kill the Level 4 (even if it cost several units).
3. Kill the Shadow Mage.
4. Kill the archers.
5. Stay away from, or kill the White Lions. (As they have a 3+ save to shooting I wasn't expecting to kill that many of these guys outside of magic)

For this round, Kris and I would be playing Clash of Heroes. Clash of Heroes is the standard scenario with 12" deployment zones. The winner is determined solely by victory points with the difference in victory points determining the type of victory: 0-99 points is a draw, 100+ is a minor victory, 300+ is a solid victory, and 600+ is a massacre.

Bonus points are awarded as follows:

• +1 for killing more enemy characters and champions
• +1 for having more units in your opponent's deployment zone
• +1 for destroying your opponent's most expensive unit, excluding characters

I rolled for spells and got Wyssan's Wildform, Flock of Doom, Amber Spear, and Curse of Anraheir. Kris rolled and got a bunch of different spells; the most important being Flame Cage and Fireball.

Deployment for this scenario was rather straightforward.

Kris deployed in the center of the board with his archer unit (and Level 4) sitting on the back edge of the table, partially obscured by a forest. His Sword Masters were placed to the left of the archers while the White Lions, with the Shadow mage, were deployed in front of the archers.

I deployed in a long line. My faster units, an eagle and the Glade Riders, were deployed on my right flank. My center was held by the large archer unit. Next to them I placed all three Dryad units who were to move towards the opposing archer unit at top speed. Behind the Dryads I placed the two ten-man archer units. Finally, I deployed the Waywatchers behind the obstacle in the center of the board to tempt the White Lions.  My last eagle hung back behind my lines to go where needed.

The High Elves won the roll off to go first and both the Sword Masters and White Lions marched 10" toward the Wood Elf lines. In the magic phase, the Level 4 successfully cast a Flame Cage on one of the Glade Rider units, but managed to kill only a single elf. As the archer unit had not moved, they were out of range of everything but the Waywatchers. They took aim, but failed to hit as they needed 8's: -1 for long range, -2 for shooting through the White Lions, -1 for skirmishers, and -1 for Waywatchers.

Wood Elf Turn 1 saw all three Dryad units surge forward 10". The archers all wheeled to face the Sword Masters while the Waywatchers moved away from the obstacle making sure to keep the White Lions in short range. With one unit on the right flank stalled by the Flame Cage, the entire flank decided to take the turn off and stand around.

My Level 4 cursed the White Lions with irresistible force which, in turn, wounded the mage and killed five archers from the large unit. But, at least the mage didn't get sucked into the void!

In the shooting phase, two White Lions dropped with arrows through their eyes due to the Waywatcher's Lethal Shot. In the center of the field the combined archer shooting killed 5 Sword Masters.

High Elf Turn 2 began with the cursed White Lions charging the closest unit of Dryads while the Sword Masters continued moving towards the archers. The White Lions successfully made contact with the Dryads, but three of their number died to dangerous terrain.

In the High Elf magic phase, the Level 4 irresistibly cast (thanks to the book) a maximum level Fireball at the Waywatchers vaporizing the whole unit.

In the White Lion/Dryad combat, the Dryads are killed outright by the White Lion's superhuman speed. Six Dryads died to the combined attacks of Korhil and the unit champion who both had magical attacks. The remaining two Dryads could not withstand the salvo of High Elf axes and died. The White Lions, in their zeal, then decided to overrun and ran into the flank of one of the ten-man archer units that had previously wheeled to face the Sword Masters. However, the overran cost the White Lions another 2 models as well as wounding the Shadow mage.

Wood Elf Turn 2 was all about shooting. The two remaining Dryad units and the Glade Rider units on the right flank continued their advance towards the High Elf archers. The unengaged archers moved towards the Sword Masters and away from the White Lions that were now in my deployment zone. The second eagle flew over to protect my rear in case the White Lions wiped out the archers.

In the shooting phase, the Wood Elf archers killed 13 more Sword Masters leaving only 2 left in the unit.

The combat phase saw the White Lions decimate the archer unit, causing them to break. The archers were then rundown by the White Lions who pursued the archers deeper into the Wood Elf lines.

High Elf Turn 3 saw the last two Sword Masters killed by a stand-and-shoot reaction from the large archer unit as they foolishly charged the larger unit. The White Lions reformed to face the rear of the nearest archer unit. And the bunker unit of archers stared ahead as the Dryad units finally came into range.

The High Elf mage again showed why the High Elves are the masters of magic as he again cast the large Fireball with irresistible force. This time it was directed at one of the Dryad units in front of the archers leaving only a single Dryad left to stare down the archer unit. The archers, in turn, fired at the other Dryad unit killing 4 of them.

My Turn 3 saw the Wood Elves take complete control of the battle. The lone Dryad declared a charge at the High Elf archer unit to draw out the stand-and-shoot reaction. But after all the archer shooting, the Dryad emerged unscathed and made it into direct base contact with the Level 4. The full strength Glade Rider unit charged the archers in the flank and also made it into base contact with the Level 4. The eagle I had moved the previous turn towards the White Lions charged the unit in the flank where the wounded Shadow mage was looking very forlorn. Finally, the rest of the army moved away from the White Lions in case the eagle failed to hold the unit in place. Wood Elf magic and shooting phases were skipped to get to the important combats.

In the main archer combat, the High Elves struck first and failed to cause a single wound. In return, the might of the lone Dryad and Glade Riders managed to kill the Level 4. The High Elves lost the combat, but held their ground for another turn as they were steadfast.





In the White Lion combat, the Shadow mage struck first and failed to wound the eagle. The eagle then killed the mage, but the White Lions held. Korhil then took the mage's place, eyes fuming at the eagle's treacherous act.

For High Elf Turn 4, we moved straight to combat. Korhil easily killed the eagle. In the archer combat, the High Elves failed to cause a single wound and suffered 5 in return. The archers then failed their steadfast leadership test and were run down by the lone Dryad. Go go amazing Dryad!

As Wood Elf Turn 4 began with only a single High Elf unit on the board, I moved all units with shooting attacks toward the White Lions. The combined force of Wood Elf magic and shooting killed the remaining White Lions, thereby wiping every last dirty High Elf from the battlefield, including the illustrious Korhil. Slaughter to the Wood Elves.

At the end of Turn 4 I had managed to wipe out the High Elf force for a full 1850 points and managed to only lose 440 victory points in return (one ten-man archer unit, a Dryad unit, an eagle, and the Waywatchers). That gave me a massacre and 17 battle points, plus all 3 bonus points for (1) killing more characters as I lost none, (2) ending the game with two units in his deployment zone, and (3) destroying the enemy's most expensive unit (the High Elf archers). Perfect game!

At the end of the tournament I had finished with 53 out of a possible 60 battle points and won Best Overall. A good three games and a good tournament. Next month we will be up to 2000 points so I will be practicing with the list I expect to bring to WaaghPaca! in January.