Game 39 - Skaven - 2012/10/21

Greetings!

The first game I played over the weekend was against wardancer/eastern barbarian and his vile Skaven. However, unlike some time ago, a few of usual suspects were missing. Wardancer decided to build an army with special characters but more importantly, the one that could score a little higher than usual in the more and more famous Swedish Comp system.

Pre-battle considerations and Army lists

Skaven are one of these armies where you can have multitude of choices and still come up with a dangerous army. It was hard to anticipate what this one might have but wardancer showed his first draft early enough for me to start thinking about counters to his force. In the end he made some changes to the list he intended to use in the first place but the main idea remained the same. Here are the details:

Skaven - Army List

Queek the Headtaker
Warlord on bonebreaker, poison, halberd, pistol, Potion of Strength

Warlock level 2, condenser, Ironcurse icon - Lore of Ruin
Warlock level 1, Dispel scroll - Lore of Ruin
BSB , shield, Storm banner

30 Stormvermin (queek bodyguard), FC, shields, ratling gun, Banner of discipline
2 x 5 giant rats with packmaster
40 slaves, musician
41  slaves,musician

7 Rat ogres, 2 packmasters, master bred rat ogre, Skweel Gnawtooth
2 x 6 Gutterrunners, slings, poison

2 x Plagueclaw catapult
Warplightning cannon
Domwheel

Game 38 - Dark Elves - 2012/10/14

Greetings!

GuessRange, a frequent visitor to the warhammerau forum, was kind enough to offer me a game with his evil Dark Elves. Yet another game on the UB due to the fact it is far easier to have one online than to travel to another city, even in the same country. :) I was very happy to play against him as he often had very interesting comment on my own battles and I knew I would face a very good opponent. And I haven't played against vile Druchii in ages so it would be an interesting match up too!

GuessRange have already finished his account of that battle so if you are interested in how it looked from the point of view of the evil ones check out his great blog (the report is very good and it is a rare occasion when you can have two from one game so if I were you I would not think twice :)): 

GuessRange Gaming 

Pre-battle considerations and Army Lists

GR told me he didn't play much in 8th edition but I was not fooled by his "inexperience". His comments always showed great insight and very good understanding of the game so I expected tough game (in a very positive sense! :)). On top of that Dark Elves are very versatile army and despite the fact many armies tend to look the same they have many other good builds. However, GR told me he wanted to play with miniatures he has in his collection and which come mainly from 4th and 5th edition. That suggested that I might face more old school Druchii rather than some horde corsairs/crossbows, double hydras and pendant dreadlord. Not that it would made things anything different :) And to an extend I was correct as this is how his army list looked like in details:

Dark Elves - Army List

High Sorceress Melith, Level 4, General, Darkstar Cloak, Crystal of Midnight - Dark Magic
Master Horkrim, BSB, Heavy Armour, Great Weapon
Assassin Kalil, Rune of Khaine
Assassin Sharik, Rune of Khaine

19 Corsairs, Full Command, extra Hand Weapon
19 Corsairs, Full Command, extra Hand Weapon
16 Repeater Crossbowmen, Musician
8 Dark Riders, Musician, Repeater Crossbows
5 Harpies

19 Black Guard, Full Command, Banner of Hag Graef with Kouran, Crimson Death, Armour of Grief

5 Cold One Knights, Full Command, Gleaming Pennant
8 Shades, extra Hand Weapon

3 Reaper Bolt Throwers

Game 37 - High Elves - 2012/10/04

Greetings!

I must admit it is a great thing to be able to play with more and more members from the forums I read. I am also aware it is only possible in XXI century with all the benefits of the internet. This time I had a pleasure to play against Elessehta of Yvresse from Ulthuan! Ele has his own unique approach to High Elves with his Yvresii theme. He is also a great story teller and I am very glad that he agreed to write a little as a prologue and epilogue for our game.

Prologue

Elessehta rested in his tent, the encounter with the Asrai had been brief, bloody, and totally unexpected. He had left the others with his troops to get some peace, he needed to meditate. After the shocking loss against a small contingent of men, and then again losing to some Eatainii sailor on a Great Eagle... how he wished his mighty Griffon could have come with them on this journey.

He needed to remember the lessons taught to him at the Armis Kormalin, he'd studied the Way of the Owl with Grand Master Thoronthol himself. Why had he deviated from it so much? Meditation would help.

He still saw the wild elves who had ridden through him and his entourage of mighty Storm Knights. He chuckled thinking that those savages had come upon them like lightning from Mathlann himself. The Paladin Ainmiru took it as a sign that they’d angered their god somehow. Ele had given them permission to return to the sea to try and contact the mighty storm god, but Ainmiru was his cousin, and wouldn’t leave him while he was injured.

His meditation was interrupted by a voice in his head,“Lord Silverbough, a message has come from Tor Yvresse. You had best come quickly”. Maethor, employing an old trick that came with his blood. Ohta’relen, Daggro, and he could all communicate telepathically, without the use of the stones. This is why they were concerned about Daggro, neither of them could reach him, this worried them.

Elessehta signalled to the horn bearer, who blew a note. The small force assembled and they moved quietly through the trees back toward the coast.
A message that Maethor didn't want to relay through the thought-speech, that sounded ominous.

Upon arriving back at camp Elessehta sought out Maethor, finding him in the command tent. He asked for the message, sat down and opened the letter. An incredulous look showed on his face as he read the flowing script on the page.
Turning to his weather mage he said"Prepare the soldiers, our Lord Eltharion will be testing us soon though a magic spell of the Arhain aspect of Qhaysh. A simulated battle against one of the great generals of the People. He wants to know how far I've come in my training in the Way of the Owl"
"My lord, who will be fighting this battle?" Maethor asked.
"Everyone except Vanyion, who will anchor the spell on this side" was the reply.
"Everyone? That's going to be a large battle, who is the General we'll be facing?" Maethor, full of questions as usual.
"A Sapherian Archmage, who many think has gone rogue. He is a brilliant general from all accounts, who likes to flood the battlefield with small units of hand picked warriors."
"We will be fighting this Mage for real in the aether?"

"No, they are using Arhain to project a likeness of him here."
Maethor laughed "We're fighting ghosts? HaHa~ This will be fun."

Army Lists and pre-battle considerations

It was a great honor that it was Eltharion himself who picked the army of outcasts and misfits to test Elessehta's generalship. He is by far my most favorite character :)

I knew that Ele uses Yvresii theme and that meant I could expect Sea Guard, Rangers, Eagle Claws and quite few characters. He was also very kind to send me his army list before the game as well as a photo of assembled army so that there is no doubt we could play the same game in real life if there was an opportunity to do so.

Yvresii High Elves - Army List

Elessehta Silverbough, Barded Elven Steed, Dragon Armour, Ogre Blade, Charmed Shield, Vambraces of Defense
Evelo Maethor of the Mists, Level 4, Jewel of the Dusk, Folariath's Robe - Lore of Heavens
Evelo Ohta'relen, Hand Weapon, Dragon Armour, Shield, Battle Standard, Reaver Bow, Mask of the Merlord
Elithmar of Ar Ninglor, Extra Hand Weapon, Longbow, Shadow Armour, Dragonbane Gem, Potion of Foolhardiness.

47 Sea Guard, Full Command, with Shields.

7x Sword Masters, Musician.
7x Sword Masters, Musician.
5x Yvressii Rangers.
5x Shore Riders, Musician, Bows.
8x Dragon Princes, Full Command, Potion of Strength, Razor Standard

1x Eagle Claw Bolt Thrower.
1x Eagle Claw Bolt Thrower.

Game 36 - Vampire Counts - 2012/09/23

Greetings!

Some time ago Gatti came up with an idea of a super fast Vampire army. I saw it in action and I must say it is a sight to behold. It would be a great challenge for me to play against it. What is more I owned Gatti a rematch and we finally met on the UB-battlefield again.

Army lists and pre-battle considerations

Gatti decided to theme his army on Blood Dragons and I am really looking forward to seeing some of his conversion ideas taking shape. Other than that it is a flying circus army that hits like tone of bricks. It also shows how varied VC armies can be.

Vampire Counts - Army List

Vampire Lord, Zombie Dragon, Heavy Armor, Shield, Red Fury, Quick Blood, The Other Trickster Shard, Dragonhelm, Talisman of Preservation, Level 1 - The Lore of the Vampires
Vampire, BSB, Hellsteed, Heavy Armor, Red Fury, Sword of Striking, Dawnstone, Enchanted Shield, Potion of Foolhardiness, Level 2 - The Lore of the Vampires
Necromancer - Dispel Scroll, Level 2 - The Lore of the Vampires

50 Zombies
50 Zombies
39 Zombies
5 Dire Wolves
5 Dire Wolves
5 Dire Wolves
5 Dire Wolves
5 Dire Wolves

4 Vargheists, Vargoyle
4 Vargheists, Vargoyle

Terrorgheist
Terrorgheist

Game 35 - Bretonnia - 2012/09/17

Greetings!

This time I had a great opportunity to play a game against Lord Anathir (ShadowMage for UB players). He mentioned long time ago that he would like to provide a proper test for my MSU army and finally we met at the battlefield. He also gave me a choice between his Dwarves or Bretonnians. Since I am at the moment still healing after the beating I got while assaulting a Dwarven castle I picked Brets. I knew roughly what his army is going to have and it was a different kind of challenge. Flying Circus! :)

Army Lists and pre-battle considerations

Bretonnia in general is tough opponent. With high armor save, ward save all around and fast troops it is hard to inflict significant damage and picking up fights is not easy either. We also played ETC rules as LA plans to attend that event next year but I thought we are using only rules for terrain and such. As it turned out, LA brought his 2400 and I had my usual 2500, which luckily for me fits the current rules pack too. I still feel embarrassed though that we didn't check that out before the game  :oops:

Brets might look like one dimensional army and it is true that they don't have that many options as other armies but I think they are still doing great despite having one of the oldest army books out there. As I have mentioned earlier, LA brought flying circus and here are the details:

Bretonnia - Army List

Lord, Pegasus, Asf sword, Hkb, Dawnstone, Dragonhelm
Lvl4, warhorse, Falconhorn, Dispel scroll - Lore of Heavens
Bsb, barded horse, questing vow, great weapon, morning star, Gromril great helm, Mantle of damsel elena
Paladin, barded steed, virtue of duty, morning star, Enchanted shield

12 Knights of the Realm, fc, Gleaming pennant
12 Knights Errants, fc, Warbanner
3 Pegasus Knights, champ
3 Pegasus Knights, champ
3 Pegasus Knights, champ
5 yeomen
2 x trebuchet
5 Grail Knights, standard, Banner of Eternal Flame

Game 34 - Dwarves - 2012/09/09

Greetings!

After longer than expected break in gaming I had a chance for a rematch against Dwarven castle led by Targ Ironfist. I had a new plan how to storm it and I was very keen to test it. I also made an adjustment in my army list.

Army Lists and pre-battle considerations
I knew I have to do something about Organ Guns before I approached the lines of the enemy. Since he had protective banner against shooting his other troops were much better protected with combination of more wounds to inflict, armor and ward save. Despite the fact I had to roll 6's to wound I believed I had a chance to destroy them faster than 10 quarrelers. However, I didn't know how exactly his castle is going to look like this time and that is why I decided to deploy my elites in the middle first so that I could shuffle to the flank I wanted to while be able to position my shooters where I needed them the most. I also thought that this would help me to be out of range and sight of some of Dwarven missile troops so I could bear more numbers to the shooting duel. If I had some woods to offer additional protection it would be great.

The other part of the army were to maneuver carefully to be able to move all at once so that Organ Gun on the other side could not kill them all. I also wanted to use White Lions to protect Swordmasters from missile fire so I was looking for chances to deploy my elites in 2 thin lines to minimize casualties from cannons. Ok, army lists:

Dwarves - Army List

King with Shield Bearers
Runesmith, Master Rune of Balance, Rune of Spellbreaking
Battle Standard Bearer, Master Rune of Challenge

30 Warriorrs, Great Weapons, Full Command
33 Hammerers, Full Command, Master Rune of Grungni
10 Quarrelers, Shields
16 Quarrelers, Great Weapons
10 Slayers

2 x Organ Gun
Cannon, Rune of Forging, Rune of Burning
Cannon, Rune of Forging

Gyrocopter

Game 33 - Empire - 2012/07/04

Greetings!

It seemed that we haven't played against each other for some time so when Eastern Barbarian aka wardancer told me he wants to put his highly experimental MSU Empire army to the test I was more than happy to accept the challenge!

Army List and pre-battle considerations

I haven't had many chances to play against Empire so far but the most recent game at Wintercon proved it can be a tough army. Sheer amount of 1+ armor save is already difficult to deal with while addition of a nasty artillery makes it even more troublesome. However, I know EB often picks completely different units and armies for his forces so I was curious as what he is going to test this time. It was an experimental force since he has not played with new book yet and also because he got hooked by MSU concept and all he does now is this approach.

Empire - Army List

Wizard Lord on barded Warhorse, Level 4 - Lore of Heavens
Warrior Priest on barded Warhorse
BSB on barded Warhorse
Engineer
Captain on Pegasus
Captain on Pegasus

10 Inner Circle Knights, Full Command, Steel Banner
5 Knights, Musician
5 Knights, Musician
10 Huntsmen

5 Reiksguard, Musician
5 Outriders, Musician
5 Outriders, Musician
3 Demigryphs, Musician
Cannon
Cannon

Steamtank