BAO 2013: Round #3 - Wood Elves

For Round 3 of BAO, I played Troy Perez and his Wood Elf army.


Troy (this guy on the left) was playing a very different Wood Elf build from mine. He was playing the Eternal Guard and Treekin-bus army which is a good army against heavy troop lists (especially Skaven), but was going to have a tough time handling my cavalry and small unit list.

Having played many Wood Elf versus Wood Elf games, I have found that the player with more shooting comes out on top, and this game was no different.


Troy's tournament list was:
Highborn

• General, Dawnspear, Wraithstone

Spellweaver

• Level 4, Lore of Beasts, Stone of the Crystal Mere

Branchwraith

• Cluster of Radiants

Noble

•  Battle Standard Bearer, Great Eagle, The Callach's Claw, Dragonhelm

Eternal Guard (29 models, full command, Banner of Swiftness)
Dryads (10 models)
Dryads (10 models)
Dryads (10 models)
Dryads (10 models)
Tree Kin (10 models with champion)
Great Eagle
Waywatchers (5 models)

We rolled for spells and Troy's Spellweaver got Wyssan's Wildform, Savage Beast of Horrors, Curse of Anraheir, and Transformation of Khadon. My Beastweaver managed to get Wyssan's Wildform, Amber Spear, and Curse of Anraheir while my Lifeweaver got the magic missile spell, Throne of Vines, Shield of Thorns, and Flesh to Stone.

Deployment:
Troy deployed his army in two halves with the half on my left flank containing the Eternal Guard, several Dryad units, and his characters.
On my right flank, Troy deployed his remaining Dryad units and his big Treekin unit.












For my deployment, I chose to line up so that I was across from Troy's strong flank of Dryads and Treeking (whom I was hoping I could shoot and missile to death) and away from the Eternal Guard.


My Treekin were split onto the two flanks with the Glade Riders and Wild Riders ready to move to either direction to eliminate units of Drayds.










Turn #1:
Troy won the roll off and advanced towards my lines. I was able to stop his magic except for a curse on one of the units of Glade Riders (no marching for me). His shooting with the Waywatchers was ineffective and failed to kill a Dryad.

Troy's first turn moves. All ahead full steam!













For my Turn 1, I also moved full steam, but in a more focused approach on the right flank in order to maximize the number of units I had to pressure Troy's Dryads and Treekin. My Treeman marched straight towards the nearest unit of Dryads hoping for a good strangleroot roll.

In the magic phase I was able to cast Throne of Vines, but all my everything else was dispelled. The few archers I had took aim and put a flaming, magical wound on the Treekin (counting as two, woohoo!). Finally, the Treeman killed six (6) Dryads with his strangleroot.

Turn #2:
Facing the Treeman with two units of Dryads, Troy decided to charge with both units.

However, a decent stand-and-shoot roll by the Treeman's strangleroot on the larger unit accounted for another six (6) Dryads. This left both units at only four (4) models each, well below fighting strength to take on the behemoth that is the Treeman.








The rest of Troy's movement involves trying to swing his left flank closer to the battle and getting his Waywatchers and mage closer to my Glade Riders (but putting them within maximum charge range of the Treeman). Troy attempts to cast Wildform on one of the units of Dryads, but I dispel the attempt. In combat, the Treeman then kills all eight Dryads between his attacks and Thunderstomp, turning to face Troy's Waywatchers with the Spellweaver.

My Turn 2 began with a series of charges.
First, I charged the Treeman into the Waywatchers who fled. The Treeman then rolled double 1s to fail his charge (drat!).











I then charged the right most unit of Treekin into the rightmost unit of Dryads . . .












and made the relatively short charge. Time to get some more Dryads out of the way.













Then, I charged the second unit of Treeking into the final unit of Dryads coming in from Troy's left flank . . .

and also managed to make that larger charge. This lucky charge split Troy's army leaving only the fleeing Waywatchers and the Treekin on the right flank while the rest of his army would have to move up and around to reach my lines, while skirting a possible flank charge by the Treekin if they could wipe out the Dryads in only a few rounds of combat.






In the magic phase, I started off my killing Troy's eagle with Awakening of the Woods, eliminating more of Troy's maneuverability. I then attempted, but failed to cast Shield of Thorns on the left most Treekin to guarantee a win in the combat phase. Finally, Troy dispelled my attempt at Curse of Anraheir on the Eternal Guard. With my flaming, magical shooting unit, I managed to do another two (turned into four wounds) and start dropping models from the unit.

In combat, the right flank Treekin kill six (6) Dryads for only a single wound in return. The Dryads then break from combat, but are caught and run down. On the left flank, the Treekin kill five (5) Dryads, but the Dryads manage to bring one Treekin down with them, and pass their break test.

Post combat on the left flank.













Turn #3:
Troy starts of his turn by rallying the Waywatchers still within an easy charge of the Treeman. Next, his BSB on the eagle charges the Treekin on the left flank, hoping to add his weight to the Dryad combat. Finally, Troy moves his Eternal Guard and Treekin forward trying to get into combat.
The BSB on eagle, all ready to kick some Treekin butt. However, it was not to be. In combat, both the BSB and Dryads fail to wound and the Treekin kill all the Dryads. Luckily, the BSB passed his break test to stay in the combat.








My Turn 3 saw my army continue to maneuver for better positioning. The unit of Glade Riders with magical, flaming attacks continued to move around the Treekin, looking to continue whittling away at the unit while the other unit moved within short range of the Waywatchers. The remaining units moved away from the Eternal Guard and Treekin and towards Troy's Waywatchers to increase the pressure on that unit. Finally, the Treeman moved closer to the unit to get within range of a strangleroot attack.

Magic was uneventful, and shooting failed to do a wound to the Treekin. However, between the Treeman and the Glade Riders, I killed all the Waywatchers guarding Troy's Spellweaver. In combat, the Treekin make short work of the BSB.

Turn #4:
Troy doesn't move his Spellweaver, but goes straight to magic.
In which he turns his mage into a Mountain Chimera staring straight at my Treeman, daring him to charge on my turn.











Which he does! I then throw all my magic dice at dispelling Troy's remains in play spell and succeed. Thereby leaving the poor mage against the might of the Treeman who quickly squashes the little elf. Troy then concedes the game, recognizing that his remaining two units will never see combat, and that I have over 1200 points without having lost a single unit. This leaves me 1 - 2 for the day, and at only 300 battle points (well out of the running for reclaiming my second place finish from last year).

Post-squashing of the spellweaver.