Last night I had two friends over to get a game of
Warhammer with my Wood Elves. I brought
my list I posted the other day here and Brock brought the following:
The Warriors of Chaos army list is roughly:
Daemon Prince, Level 4 Nurgle
20 Nurgle Warriors with Halberds and BSB
2 Nurgle Chariots
1 Nurgle Gorebeast Chariot
3 Skullcrushers
9 Marauder Horsemen w/ L2 Shadow
Warshrine of Nurgle
Chimera
5 Nurgle Chaos Knights
Deployment:
During deployment I showed my hand too soon and deployed
my Glade Guard too early. This and the
fact that my opponent knows all my deployment tricks (where as I will deploy on
one side of the field with my fast moving units then in the next movement phase
zip over to the other side of the battlefield to engage a flank) made it
difficult to pull off my normal chicanery.
Brock was smart in that he deployed his chariots and knights on the far
right flank hoping that I would take the bait and deploy the Waywatchers near
the Knights so that his Skullcrushers had full access to the Glade Guard on the
left side. Fortunately I was patient
and after noting my Glade Guard deployment mistake, I continued with my
pre-game plan and thus we have our deployment.
I chose to make the mysterious forest a Venom Thicket.
Turn 1
The Arrow of Kurnous hit the Daemon Prince in the face
doing a wound which he then failed to save!
First Blood to the Wood Elves!
The Wood elves got the first turn which was the classic
switch to the other side of the board to do battle routine. The Glade Guard and Waywatchers stayed static
however which benefited them greatly as they were able to do six wounds (4 were
no armor saves) to the Skullcrushers and reduced them down to 1 model (I was
very, very pleased with this turnabout).
The magic phase was uneventful as the Daemon Prince was able to block my
spell casting with an irresistible force dispel and a subsequent matching when
I attempted to cast Miasma.
The Warriors of Chaos also had a good turn where the
entire army shifted hard to the right and I wasn’t able to stop them. The Spellweaver blocked Stream of Corruption
but could not stop Curse of the Leper being cast upon the Daemon Prince. The Daemon Prince failed to cast Rancid
Visitations on the Wildwood Rangers. (phew)
Turn 2
The Treekin charged the Daemon Prince while the Dryads
and Treeman moved into position (I had no choice really because the chariots
were coming next turn). The magic phase
was a huge success as not only did a Pit of Shades veer off target and nail the
Warshrine (destroying it) but also I was able to get Okkam’s Mind Razor
off on the unit of Treekin. The Shooting phase was a huge success also; I
was able to Sniper the Level 2 to death via Waystalker (fast becoming my
favorite character) and the Waywatchers/Glade Guard batted clean up on the
remaining 9 Marauder Horsemen. The
Treekin took 2 wounds from the Daemon Prince (saving 2 others on their 6+) and
dealt 2 more wounds to the already wounded Daemon Prince. The resulting combat was a tie and both units
stuck in there. I was disappointed as I
was hoping that I would blow through the Daemon Prince and smash into the
chariots.
Sadly I knew then that I would be taking those on the
chin.
Over all, turn 2 was a pretty big success as I was able
to delete an entire unit via archery, another by magic and tied up his most
destructive character with my heavy infantry.
The Warriors of Chaos decided that they had had enough of
my tomfoolery and charged, a lot. The
Daemon Prince attempted to cast Curse of the Leper which was blocked and failed
to cast the bigger version of Fleshy Abundance.
Brock cursed as I breathed a sigh of relief. The impact hits from the chariots did 3
wounds to the Treekin and the Daemon prince and the Chariot Warriors did an additional
3 (I rolled 3 6’s to save). The Treekin
attacked back almost pulping the Daemon Prince with their strength of 8 attacks
but he made his ward save but they did an additional 2 wounds each to the
chariots but sadly their luck had run out and they were overran by the chariots
which ended up slamming into the Treeman.
The Chaos Knights and Dryads fought and the Knights lost one of their
own as they trampled the Dryads and smashed into an Eagle.
Turn 3
Turn 3 was a fairly brutal phase for the Wood Elves. The Wild Riders slammed into the Chaos
Knights that were engaged with the Great Eagle.
Meanwhile the rest of the army moved forward to get into position for a
multicharge or receive one next turn.
The Daemon Prince blocked the Pit of Shades but was unable to halt the
Miasma that tagged his Chaos Warriors or the Mindrazor on the Wild Riders. The Glade Guard had marched but the
Waywatchers began their reign of terror on the Warriors removing 5 guys in one
salvo. Close combat was pretty wild as
the Wild Riders killed all but 2 Knights who in turn pulped the Great Eagle
before being overrun. The Wild Riders
then slammed into the Chaos Chariot while the Treeman made short work of the
already damaged chaos chariot but in turn taking 4 wounds.
The Warriors Turn 3 was just ugly. The other chariot crashed into the Wild
Riders while the Warriors of Chaos charged the Wildwood Rangers. The Daemon Prince wiped out a unit of Glade
Guard by dealing 15 Strength 5 wounds because the unit failed 4 toughness
tests. The Chimera used its breath
weapon on the Treeman and killed it. In
close combat the Wild Riders were reduced down to 2 due to Impact hits but were
able to kill one of the chariots before being wiped out totally. The Warriors of Chaos and the Wildwood
Rangers fought to a standstill, both of the units suffering casualties (the BSB
died to my general in a challenge) but ultimately ending in a push.
Turn 4
Turn 4 for the Wood Elves was a do or die as the Daemon
Prince was in my flank and I would give up a ton of points if he survived and
charged me. So I decided to go for
broke. I charged the Warriors with my
Eternal Guard, flew my Eagle behind the Daemon Prince in case he charged the
archers and I also moved my archers to face the Daemon Prince. The Spellweaver attempted to cast Mindrazor
but even with her +5 she failed. The
Daemon Prince died when the Waystalker and his Waywatchers downed him with a
flurry of arrows that ignored armor saves.
The Wildwood Rangers and my General died but the Eternal Guard were able
to run down the Warriors after combat.
Brock decided to go for broke and charged and obliterated
my last Great Eagle while his Skullcrusher, not wanting to be shot up by
Waywatchers the next turn rearcharged the Eternal Guard. The Eternal Guard lost combat and only were
saved by the Stubborn LD9 reroll thanks to the BSB. The Eternal Guard then failed to combat
reform on LD6.
Turn 5
The phase was rather eventful as the Chimera was
destroyed by a Pit of Shades while the Nurgle Chariot fell to massed arrow fire. The Eternal Guard and BSB died to the
Skullcrusher (WTF?)
The lone Skullcrusher, the last bastion of Chaos and the
only survivor from the turn 1 onslaught charges the Waywatchers and beats them
in combat. He rolls a 6 when he needed a
7 to crash into the Glade Guard. He
still catches the Waywatchers who rolled a 5 on their flee distance. The Glade Guard pass their panic test and
settle in for the final turn.
Turn 6
The Wood Elves pivot and first reduce the initiative on
the Skullcrusher by 3 then the spellweaver manages to land Withering on the
Skullcrusher reducing his toughness to 2.
The Glade Guard then unloaded into the Skullcrusher doing 11 wounds of
which he failed enough to die!
Wood Elves win.
What was learned:
This game was an excellent game to test out the new army
with. I made some deployment errors and
despite not being able to fully utilize the Shadowweaver, it was totally worth
it taking Lore of Shadow. The Forest Spirits
have definitely taken a hit in their offensive capabilities but I think
synergizing spells like Withering or Mind Razor will help counteract that loss
of Strength.
The Wildwood Rangers are not an anvil unit, I should have
positioned them nearer to the Treekin. I
did not wish to charge the Daemon Prince solo but due to deployment and where
he ended up, I did not really have a choice.
The Wildwood Rangers however did very, very well with their WS5 and Str5
against the Warriors. They reduced their
saves to a 6+ and despite the Mark of Nurgle, and killed well.
I should have pursued the Skullcrusher right off the bat,
as I would probably had more units left at the end of the game. I am glad that I managed to kill the
Warshrine by accident as I was concerned about extra buffs. During our game fortunately nothing spectacular
came out of the challenges other than models dying.
I will need to wither any unit I am going to engage with
the elves, that or get mindrazored. Even
with a great weapon and Init 8, my general was hard pressed to do enough damage
before return attacks hit him back. Wildriders
are absolutely great, they are just perfect for what you need to do with that
unit – full offense.
Archery is not as great as it used to be, the loss of the
no-movement penalties hurts in that less hits were being scored than I was used
to. Fortunately I roll a lot of 6’s so
Poisoned attacks helps a lot. I may try
a game or two with Trueflight after his list has survived another five or six
match ups. I think the terrain in this game also saved the Warriors bacon a lot
as I did not have many shooting opportunities due to the manor house and fence
in the middle of the table.
Brock had a good time and was pleased that he almost
tabled me. There are definitely some
growing pains with this new army set up but I think that I’ll be successful
with it.
Closing Thoughts:
1.
I need to make sure I stick to my game plan on
how I want the attack talons to work.
Due to poor deployment I had to break off the Eagles to give “easy
points” targets to my opponents or make them stress the +3 rear + charge
resolution they provide in combat.
2.
I need to position my archers a lot better. Now that they will be fairly more static, I
need to ensure my deployment doesn't block line of sight or prevent them from being shot due to close combat.
3.
The Eternal Guard and Wildwood Rangers are great
if used in tandem. If used by
themselves, you need to rely heavily on luck.
4.
Lore of Shadow is an excellent choice for the
Wood Elves. It helps counteract the lack
of high strength in the army.
5.
The Waystalker is a holy terror. Brock remarked that had he been smarter he
would have tried to nail the Waywatchers and Waystalker with Rancid Visitations
early on in the game.
6.
Impact hits annihilate this army. This hasn't really changed from the last book
but due to the increase in offensive might on units like Wild Riders, they
really need to get the charge off and prevent units that can do impact hits
from doing so.
7.
Always Strike First is incredible as it
increased the offensive effectiveness of the army in close combat.
8.
Nurgle is a douche and I hate that army.
As I continue using the newer units and learning how the
army has changed, I will post up more reports.
That’s it for now.
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