Game 91 - Warriors of Chaos - 2013/12/28

Game 5 - Sam - Warriors of Chaos

Back to our own armies! This time I was honoured to play against a veteran ETC player, Sam, who commanded dreaded Cacophonic Warriors of Chaos army. Here is his army list in detail:

Warriors of Chaos - Army List

Sorceror Lord, mark of slaanesh, level 4, charmed shield, talisman of preservation, arabyan carpet, chaos familiar, scaled skin - 420 - Lore of Slaanesh
Sorceror, level 2, biting blade, enchanted shield, luckstone, ironcurse icon - 170 - Lore of Death

Exalted hero, mark of slaanesh, great weapon, BSB, steed of slaanesh, dragonhelm, dawnstone, other tricksters shard - 224
Exalted hero, mark of slaanesh, halberd, steed of slaanesh, helm of many eyes, dragonbane gem, potion of foohardiness, burning body  - 194

5 chaos warhounds - 30
5 chaos warhounds - 30
24 chaos warriors, mark of slaanesh, full command, great weapons, banner of swiftness - 477
8 marauder horsemen, mark of slaanesh, standard, flails
chimera, regeneration 245
dragon ogre shaggoth, great weapon 227
dragon ogre shaggoth, great weapon 227

Comp score: 13.6

A very fast army with powerful individuals. Each character is capable of either holding against any of my unit or crushing it eventually. So are Shagoths and Chimera. In particular if they combined their efforts and attacked together. It is not easy to prevent them from doing so either. Chimera and sorcerer lord fly, steeds of slaanesh are incredibly fast. Even the warriors are M5 with the banner.

There is also a problem of magic. The ability to land amidst my units and 6-dicing Cacophonic Choir to affect anything in 12" is nothing short of a fantasy version of a nuke. Because of that I had to deploy my units far away so that there was no option to face that danger round 1.

I looked for my chance in the fact that I have more unit and that WoC armies tend to be small. Because of that I could try and separate the elements and try to overwhelm them or at least wound them in the process of their rampage. Shooting and magic have the chance to wound some of the big beasts too so that finishing them in combat is possible.

At the same time I wanted to be prepared for an immediate charge. Also because we played Blood and Glory that allowed Sam to deploy closer to my lines than normal (we totally forgot about that scenario in the course of battle, however! ).

Deployment

Armies arrayed for battle

Forces of Order vs Forces of Evil

Since Chimera hid behind the rock in the middle of the battle field, Dragon Princes with the flaming banner positioned themselves in the centre. Also Sisters tried to cover some angles so that if the beast showed up at any side it could have been targeted too.

Loremaster deployed on the flank to avoid Cacophonic Choir too early and BSB was deployed in the centre to help as many regiments as possible.

BSB of the army of evil deployed on his own but being careful not to present himself as a target to the eagle claw crew. Sorcerer Lord hovered on his carpet just behind the phalanx of warriors. Another hero personally led marauders to battle.

Surprisingly, I won the roll off and got first turn! Wow, what am I going to do with such a gift!  :lol:

Outcasts - Turn 1

Elves do not rush to meet the enemy

Shooting is focused on a Chimera

Elves are in no hurry to meet the enemy as they can first soften them down with some shooting. Chimera becomes the priority target and many units shoot at the beast. It is very badly wounded but not dead yet and limps away to the safety.

Warriors of Chaos - Turn 1

Forces of Chaos move at a double

Shagoths lead the way

Forces of Chaos do not waste their time and move forward as fast as possible. Sorcerer Lord does not want to expose himself yet and casts a single spell that makes proud elven knights move at his will.

Outcasts - Turn 2

Sam's dilemma - which unit to attack first?

Edit -  a mistake, it was Shagoth S2 that was wounded by shooting

Elves kept moving on the flanks to surround the enemy and in the meantime the units in the centre tried to wound rampaging Shagoths. One of the beast was bleeding but it didn't stop its advance.

Warriors of Chaos - Turn 2

Forces of Evil attack

Surprisingly Elves can't hold the line

Chaos Champion charges on his own against Loremaster and his bodyguards. Some of the Swordmasters die and their blades just cannot penetrate the armour of the lone warrior. That breaks their nerve and the flee but were not caught by pursuing enemy.

Shagoths attack too. One charges Dragon Princes who do not suffer many casualties but somehow they too flee despite desperate calls of their BSB. On the other hand, Ellyrians show bravery and hold the line.

Outcasts - Turn 3

1 Shagoth down - 1 to go

Elves try to counter attack

Swordmasters and their Loremaster rally to face Chaos Champion one more time. Dragon Princes destroy blocking warhounds and reform to be able to aid their companions soon. Unfortunately, Ellyrian Reavers this time do not survive the combat and nearby Sisters panic. That is not good as Lions positioned themselves to counter another Shagoth. The wounded beast was targeted by the shooters though and this time it fell down for good.

Warriors of Chaos - Turn 3

Sorcerer Lord joins the attack

Chaos presses forward

Sorcerer Lord joins the attack and he focuses his powers on a single devastating spell. Cacophonic Choir is not stopped and Sisters, Archers and Sea Guard are affected. Sisters die on the spot, Archers cannot withstand the horror and flee while Sea Guard stoically holds the grounds.

Marauders pick the easy target and charge the eagle claw crew but elves miraculously survive and hold. Chaos Champion once more attacks Swordmasters who manage to wound him once and keep fighting. Shagoth furiously storms the flank of White Lions and no elf survives that rampage.

Outcasts - Turn 4

Bracing for impact

Dragon Princes come to the rescue

Elves fought back and Dragon Princes relieved eagle claw crew just in time. Knight reformed to be able to help Swordmasters but unfortunately they could not hold against the Chaos Champion again, this time not being able to flee.

Shagoth was looking hungrily at the Sea Guard and their bows were no match for the tough beast they were about to fight.

Warriors of Chaos - Turn 4

Shagoth charges in while other Chaos champions move to the cover

Shagoth storms in and many elves die but they hold the line bravely. They needed to hold if the cavalry was to help them.

Wounded Chaos Champion raced towards the safety but would have to dodge some missiles from eagle claw soon. Sorcerer Lord was in a better position as he flew on his magic carpet behind his warriors.

Outcasts - Turn 5

Preparing one more trap

Elves surround the warriors

Bob the BSB drunk his magical potion and moved to the first rank. He ignored pleas of his warriors and stepped to the front. He wounded the beast many times but not enough to fell it to the ground. In return he was mercilessly cut down. His warriors kept fighting as they didn't want the Shagoth to escape their revenge.

Warriors of Chaos - Turn 5

Warriors prepare to face the attack

Sorcerer and Champion hide from the elven war machine

Sea guard pushed one more time and finally one of the spears found a weak spot and the lumbering Shagoth was put down for good. In the meantime Warriors moved towards the elven lines preparing for the attack.

Outcasts - Turn 6

Last chance!

It was the last chance for elves to turn the tide of the battle or at least to minimize the margin of defeat. Lions and Swordmasters attacked together but somehow Dragon Princes hesitated and didn't join the combat. That proved to be disastrous as despite heavy casualties, Warriors kept the formation intact enough to hold the line.

Warriors of Chaos - Turn 6

Warriors destroy their attackers

Warriors managed to finish off the Lions and Swordmasters, who also fought without hope for victory, soon broke and fled from the battle field entirely.

With their leaders dead, survivors of the Elven army had to withdraw and admit defeat.

Summary

Turn-by-turn animation summary

After-battle thoughts

Ouch! That hurt! I have made so many mistakes that game  :oops: When I was making that report I simply could not believe I played so poorly.

But let's start with some mistakes in rules we unfortunately made:

1. Scenario

As I have said before we totally forgot it was a scenario and we played as if it were a normal game. Sam broke me when I lost BSB so we should have stopped the game then. From that point of view I lost even more than in the end (4-16 to be precise).

I didn't form the plan to defend myself or attack properly with the scenario rules in mind. Had I broke that warriors unit with bsb, for example, I would have won instead and I didn't even try to do so. Instead, I focused on battling shagoths simply because they were immediate threat. Bad planning, bad results.

2. Challenges

When chaos champion attacked Swordmaster with the Loremaster we didn't issue challenges at all. That champion has to do so. I could have accepted with my bladelord and then the Loremaster himself. Would that change much? I don't know really. It was the fact, however, that I failed 2 ld9 steadfast tests here anyway.

3. Spell effect

Cacophonic choir has an additional effect on the units that makes them moved randomly. We forgot about that with Sea Guard unfortunately.

Ok, now the long list of things I have don wrong:

1. Deployment

While in general it didn't look that bad there were a few things that were simply wrong. Sisters blocked lions simply because once again I didn't deploy them 3 wide. Swordmasters on the left flank were too far away from the BSB. I didn't use the opportunity and I didn't put the pressure on Warriors right from the start so that I could have a chance to destroy that unit in the end.

2. Units positioning

I just could not believe how I moved some units. Dragon Princes opened the gap for the enemy to charge in. Since that hero had flaming attacks they had nothing to fear. Yet I moved them away and even positioned them so that rallied dogs blocked them nicely.

I moved reavers to the back instead of moving them to the side. Thus I was not in position to counter dogs or anything in that matter. I simply threw them away against Shagoth. The fact they held one more turn in the end was probably even worse as that allowed Sam to charge with it in his own turn. The relative positioning of reavers, sisters and lions was horrible.

I wanted lions to be able to help sea guard but that doesn't mean I could not do so with them not exposing the flank. I was considering holding with sisters but unfortunately they fled.

There was a lucky moment when eagle claw crew held against marauders and I managed to make that charge with Dragon Princes. I had a tough decision to make then which way to face. Seeing how the things shaped up I am wondering if that was the right call.

3. Indecisiveness

I simply don't understand why I didn't charge with Dragon Princes against the Warriors in the last turn. First, it was my only chance to get significant amount of points back. Dragon Princes would ensure that Warriors had not steadfast. Instead I wasted 2 more units and made the defeat even bigger. 

4. Ability to roll well

I failed here as well. Very frustrating when I could not pass that ward saves despite quite significant amount of attacks directed at the champion of chaos. I could not get his last wound despite 2 rounds of shooting. I could not get BSB in combat. I could not even get that few 6's after 3 (?) rounds of shooting at Chimera when I sent reavers to do that. I had an opportunity to charge it once with them and I wonder if I should have risked that instead.

I don't mind losing games. But I hate when it happens due to such a huge amount of silly mistakes :( My only hope now is that this report will be a great example on how not to play with MSU army! :)

Thanks for reading anyway!