The Wild Hunt, War Herd of the Drakwald vs. The Champions of Ulthuan

This Wednesday I took on my friend Tom's High Elven army.  I really wish I had taken better pictures, especially since Tom did a really excellent job painting the entire army.  Next week he's taking on Ogres so I'll be sure to take snapshots of his army to provide an Army Showcase.

This was one of Tom's first real games of 8th edition and in preparation for the team tournament we are engaging in in June, he wanted to take on my Beastmen to test out his list.  Tom has a really nicely painted army and a really cool themed list.  Nothing in his list is overly powerful, it's a nice mix of fun units and a balanced army.
We played Mission 5 - Meeting Engagement and I managed to roll a 6 after we had deployed and stole the first turn.

We only played 3 full turns due to time constraints but I have a feeling that once Tom get's his mojo down that High elf army is going to be a royal pain in his opponents ass.   I will be brief in my reports since it is late and I want to ensure I get the full amount of detail in each turn.
Tom's List:
Level 4 Wizard with High Magic Lore - General
Noble BSB w/ 2+ Armor save and Sword of Battle
20 Phoenix Guards
20 Lothran Sea Guard
20 Lothran Sea Guard
1 Great Eagle
6 Silver Helms
5 Reavers
1 Bolt Thrower
10 Swordmasters

My List (I dropped the Terror Mask and put the Stone of Spite on my Doombull)

Deployment:

As you can see I set up a strong front while Tom decided wisely to set his units further back in order to get 1 to 2 rounds of shooting before close combat was joined.









Turn 1 Beastmen

As you can see the Beastmen first turn was rather uneventful.  I moved forward, attempted to use my Stone of Spite to blow up his Wizard but that was dispelled.  I tried to Amber Spear his Archer, that was also dispelled.  Finally I tried to Wildform my minotaurs and that also failed.  Fun!






Turn 1 High Elves

Turn 1 for High Elves didn't go as well as Tom has hoped.  He managed to charge my Gor Horde which resulted in the death of his Silver Helms.  He also tried to shoot up my Ghorgon and Minotaurs and managed to do a wound to one of my Minotaurs.  I was able to dispel his attempts at casting - which I might add I'm rather pleased with.





Turn 2 Beastmen

Turn 2 started out badly for the High Elves.  I charged my Gors into his Seaguard losing 3 due to his Stand and Shoot.  The result of this combat was his Seaguard fleeing and my Gor horde repositioning itself to receive a charge from his Phoenix guard.  The Ghorgon charges the Bolt Thrower and kills the warmachine.  The Minotaurs charge the Swordmasters, killing 1 to impact hits. The Swordmasters kill THREE minotaurs to which my reaction is ...fuuuuuuu..   My bray shaman attempts to cast wild form on the minotaurs and gets irresistible force and a miscast.  Result = he loses a level and ends his magic phase.  Minotaurs kill the swordmasters and overrun past the Seaguard and Wizard.  The 2nd Chariot failed it
s charge and was left out of position for Turn 2 for High Elves.

Turn 2 High Elves

Turn 2 for the High Elves started out pretty well.  Tom charged my chariot with his Great Eagle and Reavers.  The Phoenix Guard charge my Gors and the tarpitting begins.  The Wizard gets a miscast casting Flames of the Phoenix and loses 9 models in his unit and does a wound to my chariot.  The Bestigors take 8 wounds and flee towards the table edge.  The chariot dies in combat with the Seaguard while the other chariot stands firm against the eagle and reavers.  Oh and the other Seaguard unit rallied.

Turn 3 Beastmen

The Minotars and Ghorgon seek to turn around to kill more stuff - yay for losing a turn of killing with them.  The Bestigors dispel the flames of the Phoenix and fail their rally check and continue to flee.  The Gors hold firm and  shell out more casualties against the Phoenix guard while the reavers and eagle finally slay the chariot and get into charge range of the Gors.




Turn 3 High Elves

This was the final turn for our game.  Tom charges with 3 units into my Gor herd.  Now here is where I messed up - Tom was going to cast Flames of the Phoenix into the Gor herd unit but I said that it was a direct damage spell and couldn't be cast.  I was incorrect, it totally could have been cast into that unit.  That was a major mess up on my part and that probably would have given him a win for that final round of fighting - sorry Tom!  Anyway - the final round of combat ensued and the reavers died and  the Gors won the combat by 4 due to the sheer amount of casualties I inflicted on his units.  Totem of rust is STILL one of the best items ever.  Now keep in mind I managed to dispel all Tom's attempts to cast Vaul's Unmaking which would have had a SERIOUS effect on our game.

In the end I pulled out a win by a few hundred Victory Points - It was a great game.  I hope this game also provided Tom with some good ideas for synergy in future games.  My army was designed to smash your face and was pretty brutal, against other armies I think Tom's High Elves will do very well since they will be able to  counteract a lot of the special stuff that those armies do.

Final thoughts:
1. Bloodgreed = wasn't a big deal this game.  Had we had a 4th turn it would have since the Ghorgon and Minotaurs would have been in charge range.
2. Primal Fury = this won the game for me.  Hatred with a Gor Horde is ridiculous.
3. Totem of Rust = yet another perfect synergy for my Gor unit.
4. Bestigors = for the 4th straight game they have done nothing but die.  Awesome use of 250+ points.

Thanks for the game Tom!