WaaaghPaca 2014: Round #4 (The Failed Charges)

For Round 4, I played Eric West and his Beastmen army. Eric was rocking a solid army build designed to protect his points while maximizing his combat efficiency. For a Beastman build, it was pretty interesting. His army included: two units of harpies, two regular chariots, two razorgor chariots, a big horde block of Bestigor, a huge block of Gor with two hand weapons, a tricked out lord, BSB with the Beast Banner (so strength 4 gor), and two level 2s with Lore of Beasts.

Before deployment, Eric rolled his spells and picked up Flock of Doom, Amber Spear (yikes!), and two (two!) Wyssan's Wildforms. These were all spells that I needed to stop if I was going to be able to take Eric's big units down.

Deployment:
Eric deployed his army in a center position with the chariots flanking his units, the harpies right up front, and both big blocks in the center of his line. This deployment allowed Eric to protect his flanks with the chariots while slowly moving his whole army forward for late game combats.

A very strong center!

For my deployment, I opted for a more spread out approach. I placed fast cavalry and warlocks on both flanks to hopefully draw out the chariots and harpies. My monsters and characters all deployed in the center across from Eric's blocks so that (hopefully) I would be able to dictate combats. I knew that with the number of high strength attacks I would need at least two monsters to make it into combat to guarantee holding up the units so I needed to be careful with not declaring early long range charges.

Now that is a battle line!

After initial vanguards (hard on the right flank, careful on the left), the battlefield looked like this going into Eric's first turn.

The unimpeded right flank would play very well for the Dark Elves this game.

Turn #1: Beastmen
Eric moved up cautiously. The chariots moved slightly with one moving towards the right flank. The harpies also dropped behind his units. I think he was hoping to have several turns to use Flock of Doom and Amber Spear on my monsters. However, I think a better plan would have been to advance forward faster using the chariots impact hits threat as a way to keep me from moving my monsters too far forward. I would have also kept the harpies in front of the large units or fly them up to make tempting targets for the monsters to draw them out one by one.

The Beastmen rearrange their battleline.

In the magic phase, Eric started with a boosted Amber Spear at my Kharydbis. The spell was cast with Irresistible Force, but luckily for the sea monster, Eric rolled a "1" for wounds and the beast was still standing. The miscast also put a wound on both of Eric's wizards. (I don't know what it was, but the Beastmen players were not having a good first turn of magic at WaaaghPaca).

Turn #1: Dark Elves
The Dark Elves, still wary of the chariots, advanced to the river line, hoping to soften up the chariots before making it into combat. The only strong moves were on the right flank where the warlocks and fast cavalry surged to see Eric's flank. The medusa also moved forward to try and tempt out the razorgor chariot away from Eric's battleline.

Shifting to the right, and bringing the monsters to bear.

In the magic phase, the warlocks on the left flank successfully cast a bubbled-Soulblight, but all other spell attempts failed.

As the dark elves were looking at a decent shooting phase, the Beastman shaman used his Dark Chalice causing the dark elves to miss almost all their targets. The elves could only muster a single wound on the center razorgor chariot.

Turn #2: Beastmen
Not tempted by my crafty placement of tantalizing targets, Eric forgoes the long charges with his chariots and moves around to prevent me from racing around his flanks. On the left, both chariots move up to see my fast cavalry and a hydra. On the right, one chariot moves towards the fast cavalry as the razorgor chariot moves up slightly to allow the Bestigor herd to catch up to the gor herd.

Chariots, ho!

Eric rolls low for winds of magic and Flock of Doom at the Kharybdis is easily dispelled.

Turn #2: Dark Elves
Sensing an opportunity for mayhem on the left flank, the Dark Elves charge forward. One unit of Dark Riders charges the normal chariot while the warlock unit charges the razorgor chariot. The other unit of dark riders swings around the combats to see the harpies in the backfield. On the right flank, all the fast cavalry swings around to be able to see the normal chariot, but not provide it any good charge opportunities as the warlocks stay at just within 18 inches. Finally, in the center, all the monsters rush forward and out of the razorgor chariots line of sight. I tried to be good about lining all the monsters together to provide a solid battlefront.

Pincer move in effect.

The warlocks on the left try for a bubbled-Soulblight, but their attempt is rebuffed.

In the shooting phase, the Dark Elves begin to tick away at the chariots. On the right flank, the dark rider units put two wounds on the normal chariot. While in the center, the medusa causes a wound on the razorgor chariot.

In combat, the warlocks cause two wounds on the razorgor chariot, but take two wounds in return. The chariot then passes its break test, locking the warlocks in combat. Luckily, the dark riders destroy the normal chariot before it has a chance to swing and turn to face the razorgor chariot.

Turn #3: Beastmen
Apparently I was not as careful with my monster placement as I had left more than 1" of space between the left-most hydra and the other monsters allowing Eric to declare a charge against the hydra with just the gor herd. Seeing the monsters split, Eric also charged with the bestigor into the other two monsters hoping to kill them with all the great weapon attacks. Finally, the razorgor chariot in the center charged the medusa who left the chariot with only a single wound after its stand and shoot reaction.

And the Beastmen cometh!

Unfortunately for Eric, both the gor herd and the Bestigors failed their charges (both only needing a "5" and both only rolling a "4" on two dice)!!! This was huge, and would allow the Dark Elves to maintain the momentum for the entire rest of the game.

In combat, the charging chariot destroyed the medusa before it had a chance to strike and reformed to face the monsters. On the left flank, the warlocks whiffed and were, in turn, wiped out by the razorgor chariot! The nearby dark riders cared not for their brethren's death, however.

Turn #3: Dark Elves
The Dark Elves counter-charge the Bestigor herd with everything in their arsenal. One hydra (one failed), the Kharybdis, the BSB, and even the manticore rider and remaining unit of warlocks (both with long swiftstride charges) make it into combat.

That's going to be one nasty combat!

The right-most dark riders also charge the last normal chariot while the left-most dark riders charge the harpies in the backfield. The remaining dark riders move around to see the razorgor chariots.

Dark Elf counter charge!

Dark Elf shooting from the dark riders takes the last wound off the center razorgor chariot.

In combat, both dark rider units destroy their opponents (harpies and normal chariot, respectively). In the center, the Dark Elf monsters utterly destroy the bestigor leaving not even a single model left in the unit. The harpies in the back panic and flee off the board. Several Dark Elf units overrun, but the Kharybdis rolls poorly and doesn't make it out of the gor herd's line of sight.

Turn #4:

Eric takes the only charge he has against the Kharybdis and I chose to flee to move the gor herd away from my army. I roll poorly and the gor herd runs the monster down. I spend the next turn killing the last chariot and moving standards into table corners. Eric recognizes that he can't get into another combat as all my units have moved past him and we end the game with another win for the Dark Elves including the bonus point for table quarters.

This game really came down to whether Eric would have made those charges or not. I knew that I could destroy the bestigor horde as they had great weapons, but if the gor herd was able to make it into combat it would have killed the hydra before it had a chance to do anything and would have allowed the gor herd to reform to face more of my units for the ensuing turns. The double failed charges was the reason I walked away with the "w" on this game.