Alex was playing a fairly standard Empire mounted build which included a solid foot-troop unit as a mage bunker and several hard-hitting mounted units. His list for the tournament was:
General of the Empire
- General, Imperial Griffon, Runefang, Charmed Shield, Luckstone, Potion of Speed, Full Plate Armor
- Battle Standard Bearer, Sword of Might, Enchanted Shield, Imperial Pegasus, Full Plate Armor, Other Trickster's Shard
- Level 2, Lore of Heavens, Dispel Scroll
Swordsmen (29 models with standard bearer)
Inner Circle Knights (12 models, standard bearer, Gleaming Pennant)
Steam Tank
Celestial Hurricanum
Demigryph Knights (4 models)
Helblaster Volley Gun
This army is not the most dangerous mounted build that a person can make with 2000 points, but it is a very hard-hitting list. The major combat units are the Inner Circle Knights, the Steam Tank, the Captain of the Empire, the General of the Empire, and the Demigryph Knights. Combined with the Lore of Heavens which grants an ability to re-roll failed armor saves of a 1, it is extremely difficult to kill all of those units with a 1+ armor save! This is a tough list to play against as Wood Elves because the enemy units are on top of the archers before they really have a chance to shoot.
Pre-Game:
For this round, Alex and I were playing a standard Battleline scenario.
The "Man of Intrigue's" special rules were as follows:
- The "Man of Intrigue" is "the chosen one." The "Man of Intrigue's" unit gains the River Strider special rule and counts all water features as open ground for movement purposes.
- 3 battle points awarded for winning the game by more than 100 victory points.
- 2 battle points awarded for winning or losing the game by less than 100 victory points.
- 1 battle point is awarded for losing the game by less than 300 victory points.
- 0 battle points are awarded for losing the game by more than 300 victory points.
- An additional 1 battle point is earned if your opponent's "Man of Intrigue" is destroyed or has fled of the board at the end of the game.
Deployment:
Alex deployed his whole army in a straight battleline. From the left to right, he deployed his general on Griffon, his BSB on Pegasus, the swordsmen with Level 2, the Helblaster Volley Gun with Engineer, the Demigryph Knights (Alex's Man of Intrigue unit), and then the Inner Circle Knights. His Steam Tank took the right flank and his Celestial Hurricanum deployed behind his two main combat units.
As you can see from this picture, that is one solid (and fast) battleline.I deployed my army hoping to protect my Man of Intrigue unit. I played a semi-refused flank with all four units of Dryads facing off against Alex's mounted and flying units. Then to the right of the Dryads, I deployed my archers placing my most important units (the ones with the characters) further to the right. I used my eagles to allow for late game blocking maneuvers. Finally, I deployed my Man of Intrigue in the archer unit behind a copse of trees on my right flank, protected by other units in front and on the sides.
A heavy shooting line is deployed to the right side. My thought during deployment was that I needed to protect my Man of Intrigue unit and so placed it as far away as possible while still being able to shoot. I planned on using my Dryads as turn roadblocks, moving into the woods and taking charges from the mounted units. This would hopefully allow me to take apart the supporting units like the Steam Tank and the Celestial Hurricanum before the rest of the army got into combat with the archers.Looking at all of the units Alex deployed across from me, I really wanted to go first so that I could at least put a couple of wounds on some of the units, but alas, it was not to be. Alex won the dice roll and (wisely) chose to go first.
Turn #1:
Alex started the game and moved everything in his army forward, including the Helblaster which was roughly 30" away from anything in my army. His Steam Tank seemed to be in a hurry as it stormed across the board covering half the distance between us in a single movement phase.
As you can see from the picture, Alex's mounted units marched forward to be within charge range on his turn 2. Also note in the bottom of the picture the Steam Tank. Alex generated maximum steam points this turn and used most of them for movement. It was a good call as the Steam Tank surged almost 30" forward and is now starting down a good portion of my army.Not shown in this picture is the Empire General and BSB who flew a full 20" forward to see multiple units on Turn 2.
Seeing an opportunity to possibly negate one of Alex's fast movers, I began my turn 1 by charging a unit of Dryads into his BSB. The rest of my army moved around to try and restrict Alex's choices in the following turn. I staggered my Dryad units - putting one in front of the Empire General, another in the woods in front of the two knight units, and the last unit behind that one to hopefully provide another roadblock in the following turns. The archer units moved away from the left flank and away from the Steam Tank as best as possible.
In my Magic Phase, Alex allows Savage Beast of Horrors to be cast on my Highborn, but dispels my attempt at a boosted Amber Spear at the Steam Tank. Finally, I failed to cast a boosted Wyssan's Wildform on the Dryads in combat.
In my shooting phase, everything targets the Inner Circle Knights. After a decent number of hits and wounds, six knights fell from their saddles (the Highborn himself accounted for four of their number). This dropped the knight unit in half in a single round of shooting. I thought that if I could keep this up, I might have a chance in this game.
My chances rapidly dwindled, however, in the BSB versus Dryads combat. After a combination of poor dice rolling to hit and wound - and the BSB's high armor - I failed to do a single wound. The BSB did three wounds in return. The Dryads, obviously afraid of a flying horse, proceeded to fail their break test and were run down by the faster creature. 96 points down, and I didn't even manage to put a single wound on the BSB. Drat!
Turn #2:
Alex began his turn 2 with a series of charges.
His BSB and General charged the unit of Dryads that I had moved in front of the general. Had the BSB rolled another couple of inches in pursuing the other Dryads he would have been unable to charge (oh well).
Alex also charged both the Demigryph Knights and the Inner Circle Knights into the Dryads in the forest. Alex chose to charge both units in the hopes that he would kill all of the Dryads and prevent me from being Stubborn and holding him up for another turn.The rest of Alex's army continued its implacable advance towards the Wood Elf line. Even his Helblaster and Hurricanum moved closer. In another spectacular roll, his Steam Tank surged forwards once again, moving 29" into my large archer unit with both the Banner of Eternal Flame and my Level 4 Spellweaver. It looked like things were going to go very badly for the Wood Elves this turn.
In his magic phase, Alex successfully cast Harmonic Convergence on his Inner Circle Knights as the Spellweaver chose to dispel the Hurricanum's bound spell.
In combat, the BSB and Empire General made short work of the small Dryad unit they had charged, killing the Dryads to a man thanks to their magical attacks. Luckily, the Dryads got to strike before they were wiped out. I, wisely, chose to direct all available attacks at the Griffon and wounded it several times, leaving the Griffon with only a single wound left. Alex then chose to overrun with both units.
In the center knight combat, thanks to some abysmal rolling on Alex's part (and me actually making a few 5+ ward saves), I survived the combat with three Dryads remaining in the unit. The Dryads failed to cause a single wound, but thanks to being in the forest they were stubborn and passed their Leadership 8 break test.In the Steam Tank combat, the giant machine only managed to crush eleven archers. As the Spellweaver was also in the unit, this gave me a single rank of five models which meant the unit was Steadfast. The archer unit then looked defiantly at the Steam Tank and held their ground, wondering how they were going to destroy such a contraption.
With combat ending, I began my turn 2. Recognizing that I was going to lose my large archer unit and my only spell caster, I made several risky charges. On the right flank I charged both the Highborn's archer unit and the BSB into the Steam Tank.
Charges ho! My hope here was to get the boosted Savage Beast of Horrors off and kill the Steam Tank in a single turn. This was a tactical failure on my part as I should have charged the BSB's whole unit into the Steam Tank and not just the BSB, but I was worried because that was my Man of Intrigue unit. Looking back, charging with the full unit was the smarter tactic.The rest of the Wood Elf army continued to move around and away from Alex's combat units. I flew an eagle in front of the Demigryph Knights to prevent them from running wild. I also moved the other Dryad unit into the trees to act as another Stubborn roadblock.
This is what my left flank looked like after my movement phase. There are not many units left to protect my archers. I did Swift Reform a single unit of archers to see the Empire General in the hopes that I could take the last wound off of the Griffon and drop the Empire General to a foot model that would be much easier to kill.In my magic phase, I successfully cast Wyssan's Wildform on the Highborn and his archer unit. Alex did not try and dispel, hoping to stop the obvious boosted Savage Beast of Horrors. However, he would not get his chance as the Spellweaver cast the spell with irresistible force. The resultant miscast failed to do any damage as I rolled a 1 to wound the spell caster.
The Wood Elf shooting phase was rather uneventful as several units were in close combat. On the left flank, the unit of archers that had Swift Reformed took aim at the Empire General, but failed to kill the Griffon.
In the center combat, the two knight units killed the last three Dryads with both the Demigyphs and the knights turning to face several units.
Back at the Steam Tank combat, my now monstrous characters let loose on the Empire contraption. (At this point the Spellweaver had four strength 6 attacks, the BSB had six strength 7 attacks, and the Highborn with his great weapon and Wyssan's Wildform had seven strength 10 attacks - Woohoo!) The Steam Tank took eight wounds in a single round of combat (there were some pretty poor dice rolls on my side to wound), but as it was unbreakable, it would stay through Alex's turn and get a chance to grind into a unit (hence my earlier statement about charging with the Man of Intrigue unit).
Take that Steam Tank!Turn #3:
Alex began his turn by charging the Inner Circle Knights into a unit of archers (at long range) who chose to flee. The Inner Circle Knights redirected into the Dryads in the woods. The Demigryph Knights joined the charge hoping a few better combat rolls would see the Dryads destroyed outright.
Recognizing the danger his general was in, Alex flew the Griffon mounted character 20" away from the Wood Elf lines and the archer units. Meanwhile, his BSB flew towards the closest archer unit (careful to stay more than 15" away), preparing to charge the archers the following turn. The Steam Tank generated several steam points, but suffered a misfire. Unfortunately for the Wood Elves, the misfire result was only the loss of the steam cannon.
In combat, the Dryads managed to kill a single Inner Circle Knight and wound a Demigryph. The two knight units then butchered the Dryads.
The Demigryphs then chose to overrun into the closest eagle. The Inner Circle Knights, however, were free to reform and face my archer units.In the Steam Tank combat, the tank used all of its generated steam points to grind into the BSB (who was a viable target as he was not part of a unit) killing him outright. It was at this point that I knew I would have been wiser charging with the Man of Intrigue unit at the same time because the BSB would have survived. In turn, my still boosted remaining characters destroyed the metal machine.
Look ma, no Steam Tank! But also no BSB.In my turn 3, I moved the various archer units away from Alex's hard-hitting units and staggered them so that I could flee from his charges if necessary. My magic phase was ineffective as I failed to cast Savage Beast of Horrors on my Highborn.
In the shooting phase, every unit able to target the Inner Circle Knights let loose with their arrows. After the arrows fell, four more knights sat slumped dead in their saddles leaving on the unit standard staring down the closest archer units.
As expected, the eagle was killed by the Demigryph Knights who reformed to face my right flank.
Turn #4:
The Inner Circle Knight began the turn by charging the closet unit of archers. I chose to flee and easily bounded away. The knight redirected into another archer unit that chose to stand-and-shoot the remaining warrior, but they failed to cause a single wound.
Personally, I think the first charge was a mistake because it was against the only unit within maximum charge range of the Demigryphs. By charging with the knight, Alex deprived himself of the opportunity to cause three units to flee. Perhaps he was thinking that he would just be able to march the Demigryphs to guarantee a Turn 5 charge without worrying about failing the charge.Alex then moved his remaining units towards my lines. The BSB flew next to the fleeing archers, the Demigryphs marched closer, and both the Helblaster and Hurricanum continued moving closer as neither unit had been relevant to the game so far. The swordsmen also continued their ordered march closer to the Wood Elves.
Alex's backfield, still awaiting relevance.
In combat, the lone knight killed two archers. The archers then passed their Leadership 10 Steadfast break test (Highborn was within 12").In my turn, I rallied the fleeing archers and moved the rest of the army to face the Demigryph Knights. At this point, I really didn't have much left on the board except for the archer units and a single eagle that was waiting for its chance to die horribly to something nasty.
Turn 4 saw another huge magic phase for the Wood Elves as I rolled 11 power dice. I started with a Wyssan's Wildform on the archer unit in combat which Alex chose not to dispel. The Spellweaver then attempted Savage Beast of Horrors on the Highborn who was looking to kill the BSB, but Alex wisely dispelled using all of his dice (saving his Dispel Scroll as a threat for any remaining spells). I then grabbed my remaining six dice, threw caution to the wind, and cast a boosted Amber Spear down the flank of the Demigryph Knights with irresistible force. The resulting miscast caused a wound on the Spellweaver, but the spell accounted for all four Demigryph Knights (and netting me Alex's Man of Intrigue unit)!!!
In the shooting phase, the Highborn fired his four no armor save shots at the BSB, hitting three times, followed by three wounds (I rolled two 5s and a 6). The Pegasus and BSB fell out of the sky, landing next to the now less worried archers. Finally, the remaining archer units that could, targeted the Hurricanum pushing through a single wound.
In combat, the now wildformed archers pulled the last Inner Circle Knight from his horse and pummeled him into the ground.In the span of this single turn, I went from a staggering 700 point loss, to being right back in the game by killing four of Alex's hardest hitting units (two of them with complete magic luck). This is one of the reasons I love Warhammer is because sometimes the dice just fall in your favor and what looks like a crushing can quickly turn around.Turn #5:
Having just watched a good portion of his army die, Alex still stayed in good humor and sauntered on. He moved his Hurricanum to be able to charge on his last turn and kept moving the swordsmen forward in an attempt to possibly charge as well.
For the first time this game, the Helblaster was able to fire and took aim at the unit of archers with the Banner of Eternal Flame and Spellweaver (which had moved closer so as to be in the Demigryph's flank). Even with a middling roll, Alex managed to kill all of the archers and put another wound on the Spellweaver, leaving him with a single wound remaining.
Not wanting to be caught out in the open by himself, the Spellweaver turned and jumped into the nearest archer unit at the start of my turn 5. My last eagle valiantly flew in front of the Hurricanum to protected the archer units from a last turn charge. Finally, I moved all of my remaining units out of the swordsmen's charge range.
I chose not to cast any spells in my magic phase, fearful that I would cause the last wound needed to kill my Spellweaver and with shooting, I managed to put another wound on the Hurricanum.
Turn #6:
In Alex's last turn, he took the available charge and charged the Hurricanum into the eagle who opted to stand rather than flee (and open up another charge on an archer unit). The Hurricanum made short work of the eagle who died to the chariot's impact hits.
In my last turn, I turned and fired my Highborn at the Hurricanum which only had three wounds left. The Highborn hit with all four shots and promptly rolled three 6s on the 'to wound' roll to kill the chariot (Huzzah!). And with that last unit destroyed the game ended.
Alex and I totaled up the points and what once looked like a complete Empire victory turned into a draw in my favor. I also managed to get the point for killing Alex's Man of Intrigue unit giving me 3 battle points for this game, and 17 total for the tournament. Not a bad way to spend a weekend.
I must point out that Alex was a great sport throughout this game and took Turn 4 extremely well. He recognized just how lucky my rolls were and shrugged it off as all good tournament players should when the dice don't fall their way. I look forward to playing Alex when the dice are a little less one-sided.
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