The great thing about being the TO is none of my opponent's lists are from memory. Behold! Phil had:
Elf Prince - Sword of Might, Armour of Caledor, Vambraces of Defence, Crutch (Star Dragon)
Mage - L2, Seerstaff of Saphery, Scroll
Mage - L2, Silver Wand, Ring of Fury
15 Spearmen - muso, standard, Warbanner
10 Archers
10 Archers
6 Dragon Princes - full command, Banner of Sorcery
5 Swordmasters
5 Swordmasters
Tiranoc Chariot
Tiranoc Chariot
Repeater Bolt Thrower
Repeater Bolt Thrower
It's a visually stunning army - a real treat to see on the battlefield.
Having played High Elves only twice previously (once with Dwarfs and somewhat fortuitously the weekend before with Lizards ) I figured I might be up against it. Wasn't hard to seperate the chaff from the dangerous stuff.
The table had a forest in the middle on my left, a small forest in the middle (just enough room for the scouting Skinks), a big impassable piece on my right towards the centre, big hill to me left in my zone, little hill on Phil's leftin his zone and a hedgerow in the centre of his zone. I placed the Saurus block in the centre with the Frog, surrounded him with Skinks, and towards the left placed the Steg, both Krox units and a trail of Skinks. The Sallies snuck in a gap right in the middle ready to scurry ASAP into the central forest. The scouts went into said forest as previously mentioned.Phil's Dragon Princes went on my far right (hidden behind the large forest and clearly aiming to sweep into my flank in turn 2), they were joined by 5 Swordmasters (I know enough about these guys to really respect what a mere 5 models could do to me), two chariots and the eagle (just in front of both), archers in the centre with a mage, boltie and the spear block with the other mage, more archers and then on the little hill to Phil's left the last boltie and the other 5 Swordmasters next to them on his extreme right. The Dragon (which I almost forgot to mention!) was right in the centre.
The Priest rolled Portent and Forked Lightning. The Slann rolled Doom and Darkness (and there was much rejoicing), Dark Hand, Wind of Death, Drain Life and Steed. Phil went for Beasts with the Seerstaff mage taking Beast Cowers (to stop the Steg) and Wolf Hunts (to move his Dragon - erk!). The other chap took something that ended up being of little consequence.I won the roll for first turn and took it.
LUCKY DAVE - TURN 1
Much shuffling around from all and sundry except the Sallies who legged it into the forest and and scouting Skinks who flew out into Jav range of the Archers with Mage buddy. Magic Steed of Shadowed the Jag into the Great Eagle (praying for one turn kill and overrun into a chariot - wishful thinking I know but at least it pinned the flying turkey in place - I hate Great Eagles). Magic missiles nabbed a few Archers (no panic) and Skink shooting got a few more (no panic - curses). The Priest stored two dice in the Diadem in preparation for the HE magic phase. In combat the Eagle took a wound.
PHILFY TURN 1
Phil moved the Princes up, turned the Swordmasters on his right towards the Jag-Vet, scooted the chariots around the Eagle/Jag combat (which was a draw - wound on the eagle, eagle outnumbers). The Dragon leapt towards the Krox and Skinks on my left. The Spear block charged the scouting Skinks and much to Phil's surprise they decided to hold. Shooting went into the Slann (no wounds) as the Steg was hiding behind the central forest and the remaining Archers with Mage shot at some Skinks killing one. In the magic phase Phil tried to Wolf Hunts the Dragon into some Skinks but failed to cast and there was no other magic of great effect. In combat the Skinks were smashed, fled and were run down, taking a couple of Spearmen with them. The overrun took the Spears up to the Salamanders but unfortunately for Phil not quite into them. The Lizard vs Budgie fight continued.
LUCKY DAVE TURN 2
Passing all my Terror checks with flying colours I struggled with what I could do to stop the damned Star Dragon. Not only that but the Dragon Princes and chariots were going to join the fun next turn too. Pain time. Hopelessly optimistic I moved 2 units of Skinks towards the Dragon to poison it to death (I know I know... statistical improbability yadda yadda yadda) but in doing so the Skinks also go right in the way of a chariot and the Dragon Princes for some sacrificial action. the Steg and block manouevered to bring the Dragon to their front. The Salamanders licked their chops and got ready to fry the Spears and a unit of Skinks leapt to the flank of the Spear block to throw some poisoned nastiness their way too. In the magic phase the Slann Doom and Darknessed the Spears (excellent). All the shooting at the Dragon did jack squat but the Salamanders char-grilled a bunch of Spearmen who decided they couldn't care less. In another show of hopeless optimism the Steg missed the Dragon completely with it's bow. The Jag-vet killed the Eagle and stood there stupidly as the Swordmasters prepared to charge him.
PHILFY TURN 2
The Dragon, clearly shaken by the ineptitude of the Steg crew charged into the front of the Steg. One of the chariots charged some Skinks (fled) and redirected into some Krox and the Dragon Princes charged the other Skinks (who took the charge - again much to Phil's surprise). The Swordmasters on Phil's right Charged the now unengaged Jag-Vet who fled but stopped in front of the Elf mage (it turns out shortly this was a VERY bad place to stop). The remaining Spearmen tried to charged the Salamanders but after failing to shake Doom and Darkness they then fluffed their Fear check, obviously preferring to take a charge or get shot by them again in the next turn. Shooting once again went into the Slann (no wounds) and magic was stopped dead. In combat the Princes annihilated the Skinks and overran into the unengaged Krox. The chariot got bashed by the Krox who suddenly had a next turn option of charging the other chariot which Phil had lined up to try and Wolf Hunts into the same combat in his magic phase. In the combat that really mattered the Elf General and Dragon fluffed BIG TIME against the Steg who took a measly two wounds and laughed hard as he passed a break check on 7s with the Slann's leadership and BSB reroll. With the Saurus block on the Dragon's flank it was going to get VERY nasty VERY shortly.
LUCKY DAVE TURN 3
This was it - either everything worked brilliantly this turn or it was all over bar the stabbing. The Sallies and Skinks went into the Spear block who held. The Saurus block passed their Fear check to charge the Dragon (not Terror - sorry, forgot to mention the Cold One was in here too - very useful for mitigating Terror/Fear) and went into it's flank. The Jag-Vet rallied just in time to get run down by the remaining Tiranoc chariot who fled the charge of the Kroxigor. Before the chariot could clean bits of Lizard from it's wheels they also ran over the remaining archers who all died a messy death. The chariot then hit the hedge (missing the Mage by less than an inch) and exploded from the self-inflicted impact hits that Phil rather impressively managed to roll up (having rolled 1 against the Krox he now rolled 5 to kill his own chariot). In the magic phase Phil stopped Doom and Darkness on the Elf General (curses!) and there was no other magic of interest. In combat the Sallies and Skinks beat the crap out of the Spears, breaking them but virtue of outnumber with Fear-causers (the Salamanders). The Skinks chased them down and netted the Warbanner they were ineffectually waving around. the Sallies pursued about 3 inches which was quite frankly not great. The Dragon Princes hitting the Krox from the overrun in the previous turn managed to dispatch one but they struck back ferociously and slew 2 of the brave Elves. The Krox lost but held. In the decisive combat Phil quickly called a challenge. "Mr -1 save Cold One Scar-Vet" was happy to oblige. The Scar-vet missed with eveything but Phil practically did too (again!) and the Vet saved what wounds were dished out (3+ save vs str7 being FRIGGIN AWESOME!!!!) or might have taken one, not quite sure. Testing at something huge (hang on - flank, 3 ranks, banner, BSB, outnumber... must have been 6 and he must have wounded the Scar-Vet) the Prince failed. He fled just to precisely where the now rallied Skinks (who had earlier fled the charge of the Chariot) had rallied and just like that.
Bam. Splat. No more Dragon.Wow. Nice. We both sat there looking a little stunned. Madness.
PHILFY TURN 3
Phil was understandably a little miffed at the sudden turn of events. I mean, you just can't plan for the loss of something like the Dragon from not one but TWO consecutive rounds of absolutely appalling dice rolls. Nevertheless he set about avenging the death of the general with the resources he had remaining. The surviving Mage (one was run down with the Spear block) joined the 5 Swordmasters on Phil's right and the other 5 Swordmasters (on his left) moved around to get at the Salamanders. The Archers also wheeled to have a crack at the Sallies next turn. The Mage Beast Cowered the Salamanders so they couldn't move (or shoot! Argh!). All the shooting he could must went into the Salamanders too but they shrugged most of it off. In combat the unfortunate Dragon Princes struck out agains the Krox (being pretty crap when they aren't charging), the survivor of the Krox's return attacks auto-broke from the Fear-causing badasses and was run down, the Krox capturing the accursed Banner of Sorcery and getting themselves a bit closer to the Swordmasters and their new Mage mate.
LUCKY DAVE TURN 4
The Skinks with the captured Warbanner charged a bolt thrower and the Krox with the Banner of Sorcery charged but failed abysmally to reach the Swordmasters. The Krox in the middle got the hell away from the other bolt thrower, hiding behind the forest in the centre of the board. The Steg moved around to charge the other Swordmasters next turn and the Saurus reformed and took a coffee break. The Slann then went to work on the Swordmasters on my left with magic missiles, leaving none alive. In combat the Skinks drew against the bolt thrower crew and the Salamanders whimpered about the imminent charge of the other Swordmaster unit.
PHILFY TURN 4
The Swordmasters passed their Fear check to charge the Sallies but the clever Lizards fled the charge. Shooting however once again went into the much hated (and already fleeing) Salamanders, picking off a couple more) and the weakened Krox unit, taking them to half strength. The damned Mage Beast Cowered the Steg (noooo!). The Skink in combat with the bolt thrower crew beat their opponents and ran them down.
LUCKY DAVE TURN 5
The Salamanders rallied within range of the Slann. The Krox charged the Mage who took the charge (would have fled off the board regardless) and also repeatedly took a Great Weapon to the head. The Krox overran off the board to safety. In the magicfest phase the Slann vapourised the remaining Swordmaster unit and started on the Archers.
PHILFY TURN 5
With 4 Archers and a bolt thrower remaining Phil called the game.
With all of Phil's army except a boltie and some Archers, 4 quarters, the Elf general and 2 standards I ended up with something in the vicinity on 2850VPs.
Phil had taken care of:
1/2 unit of Krox (116)
Scouting Skinks (70)
1 unit of standard Skinks (60)
The Jag-Vet thanks to that Chariot - call it a fair trade (113)
1/2 the Cold One Vet - 1/2 wounds (83)
Result?A 20-0 win to Lucky Dave and the end of the ADC and Dave-had Scalp Hunt before it had even really begun.
Phil went on to win Best Sports and Best Presentation, both of which I feel he fully deserved. He had a hell of a tournament (as his battle reports will attest) with another rough game in the next round. His dice in this game were absolutely bloody awful. I don't think the Dragon was used paticularly well - not sure why he didn't go for the Krox with that charge as they were an option - but with the Slann/BSB near most of the army who can say if it would have been any easier. If he'd gone into the Krox and they had held he would have taken the Steg in the flank in the next round anyway. In the end, being in a position to get charged by the only unit I had that had any static res, worse - in the flank, was really most unfortunate. It as the only way I could take the Dragon out barring requiring ridiculous luck (which admittedly I had a lot of anyway vis a vis the Dragon not killing the Steg - it probably should have).
Hey - I'm not called Lucky Dave for nothing.
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