Daemons vs Empire

Hi all, Wil here again with another battle report for my daemons. This time I took on Adam and his Empire in a 2.4k game.

Here's the lists (as best as I can recall)

Whisperflense's Daemonic Coven

KoS - Keeper of Secrets: Lvl 4, Greater (no armour save sword), Lesser (multi wounds 2), Lesser (breath weapon), SLAANESH
Lash, Slicing Shards, Phantasmagoria, Cacophonic Choir

HoT - Herald of Tzeentch: Lvl 2, METAL
Searing Doom, Blades

HoN - Herald of Nurgle: BSB, Great Locus of Fecundity, Lesser (ASF)

P - 29 Plaguebearers: Standard, Musician, Banner of Discipline
D - 18 Daemonettes: FC, Lichebone Pennant
H - 10 Horrors: Standard
Blue Fire

BoN - Beast of Nurgle
BoN - Beast of Nurgle
BoN - Beast of Nurgle
SC - Seeker Chariot
S1 - 3 Screamers

S2 - Soulgrinder: Mark of Nurgle, Phlegm Bombardment


Empire

A - Archlector: War Altar, Grt Wpn, Charmed Shield, Talisman of Endurance

WL - Wizard Lord: Lvl 4, Talisman of Preservation, Sceptre of Stability, Van Horstman’s Speculum, DEATH
Soulblight, Caress, Purple Sun, Spirit Leech

BW1 - Battle Wizard: Lvl 1, LIGHT
Banishment

BW2 - Battle Wizard: Lvl 1, Dispel Scroll, LIGHT
Shem’s Burning Gaze

C - Captain: BSB, Pegasus, Potion of Foolhardiness, ?

H - 38 Halberdiers: FC
AC1 - 9 Archer Detachment
AC2 - 9 Archer Detachment
K1 - 5 Knights: Musician
K2 - 5 Knights: Musician
DK - 5 Demigryph Knights: Musician
GC - Great Cannon

CH - Celestial Hurricanum
ST - Steam Tank


Deployment

My initial thoughts were “uh oh” to be honest.

Lots of 1+ armour, an altar, hurricanum and light council with banishment. I felt it was going to be a tough game indeed.

After my first game I decided to put the nurgle block and soulgrinder as one, and the daemonettes and chariot as another ‘front’ to work together. Seemed to work ok as it turned out.

This time with 2 cannons and banishment I couldn’t afford to sit back, so resolved to pile straight in. Liberating!

Opponent had the +1 and won the roll off.


Empire Turn 1

The steam tank easily generates three steam points and trundles forwards.

The rest of the Empire battle line doesn’t move much. On my right, a unit of knights joins the steam tank on a hill. The other knights and demigryphs saunter forwards.

On my left, the archer detachment with light wizard without banishment moves into a building.

Magic: Ouch. Adam throws six dice at a boosted banishment at the Keeper, and gets irresistible. Whisperflense is killed.

The miscast kills 3 archers, who pass panic, and wounds the wizard.

Shooting: The Great Cannon blows up – hurray! The steam tank lines up a shot at the chariot, but the cannonball squishes into the turf.

Combat: None

Daemon Turn 1

The daemon line piles forwards. On my left a beast gribbles around a wood to threaten the unit in the building.

The plaguebearers and soulgrinder move forwards, flanked by the daemonettes and seeker chariot.

Another beast of Nurgle zooms forwards towards the knights. The other moves around a wood on my right. The horrors move up behind said wood. The screamers zip up the right flank to threaten the Empire lines.

Magic: Slaanesh shows up, a couple of sixes are rolled including the archlector, but he rolls a 5 on 3D6. A six dice searing doom on the steam tank is dispelled with the help of the Sceptre of Stability.

I cast blue fire, but it does no wounds to the knights.

Shooting: The soulgrinder scatters wide.

Combat: None


Empire Turn 2

 The right-hand unit of knights charges through the woods into the horrors. The steam tank generates another three steam points.

The other knight unit charges my central beast of nurgle.

Magic: This is where we discover Adam rolled four dice for the hits for his first banishment.  dry.gif

He rerolls the first one, which this time leaves Whisperflense still on the board with 2 wounds. But he irresistibles the spell again, and gets 15 hits this time, so he dies again.

This time the miscast kills the light wizard, wounds the lvl 4 and the other light wizard without banishment, but the archlector passes his ward. 6 dice drained from the pool so no other magic.

Shooting: The steam tank fires at the Soulgrinder, and causes 4 wounds. sad.gif

Combat: Adam’s right-hand knights kill a single horror, and I manage to drag one of them down. I win by one and the knights break, but flee clear and pop through the demigryphs who pass panic.

In the centre, the knights are unable to hurt my beast, who kills 1 of the horsemen. Adam wins by the musician, but I pass the break test.


Daemon Turn 2

The left-hand beast declares a charge at Adam’s halberdiers, but falls short.

My daemonettes charge into the knights, making it in.

The plaguebearers and soulgrinder advance. The horrors move into the woods and the beast joins them. The seeker chariot advances towards the centre and the screamers fly near the demigryphs.

Magic: Slaanesh shows up again, this time killing 3 archers who pass panic. The demigryphs also roll a 6, but an 8 on 3D6  unsure.gif

I throw another 6 dice at Searing Doom on the Steam Tank and get an irresistible. But I only cause 3 wounds.

The miscast sees me lose a level and the spell. I attempt to Blades the beast of nurgle, but it is dispelled.

Shooting: The soulgrinder misses again

Combat: No wounds are caused in the daemonette/beast vs knight combat, but the knights lose by 4 and break, fleeing clear of my beast. The daemonettes reform to face the demigryph knights.


Empire Turn 3

 

 The demigryph knights charge the daemonettes, although my opponent forgot initially.

The steam tank makes 2 steam points no problems. The level 4 and non banishment wizard ditch the halberdiers and join the archer detachment lurking behind the building.

The BSB flies over to the left flank, eyeing up the soulgrinder.

Both knight units rally.

Magic: Adam attempts to spirit leech my nurgle herald, but I’m having none of it. He then gets off soulblights the plaguebearers which I can’t dispel.

Shooting: No target for the steam tank, but the engineer misses with his pistol shots.

Combat: I lose 7 daemonettes, but am steadfast and pass leadership without causing a wound.


Daemon Turn 3

Mega charge time! The soulgrinder goes into the front of the demigryphs, beast into their flank and Seeker Chariot into the other (passing difficult terrain).

The screamers charge the flank of the now 2-strong detachment, who flee through the hurricanum, panicking it off the board as the BSB has moved out of range! They redirect into the flank of the knights.

The red beast charges the rear of the steam tank.

On my left, the beast charges the archlector and the plaguebearers pile into the halberdiers.

The horrors advance to threaten the unengaged knights.

Magic: Tzeentch shows up this time, but does no damage.

My attempt to Blades the soulgrinder fails, but a blue fire kills a knight and earns me a new horror!

Shooting: None

Combat: I cause just 2 wounds on the demigryphs, who deal a bunch back to the daemonettes but only 1 to the soulgrinder. He holds.

I chip a wound off the steam tank!

On the left, I challenge with the herald of nurgle and gut the champion. I lose 2, but batter the halberdiers. They are steadfast though and hold.

The beast challenges the archlector, and I lose a wound but the combat is a draw due to me charging.

The screamers kill a knight, but they hold.


Empire Turn 4

The archer detachment with wizards in moves around.

The BSB charges the flank of the soulgrinder and makes it in.

The knights on the right move up towards the horrors.

Magic: Lowish roll I think. I dispel soulblight on the plaguebearers and my opponent fails to cast something else.

Shooting: None

Combat: Adam smashes up the daemonettes some more, but can’t kill the soulgrinder. I kill a demigryph, but have lost the combat by three. The soulgrinder and daemonettes disappear back into the warp, but the seeker chariot has 2 wounds left as does the beast, pinning the demigryphs.

The BSB reforms towards the middle.

The central knights fail to cause any damage, as do I and they pass their break test and reform test to face me.

The halberdiers are smashed up again and break clear. I let them run, and reform to face his BSB.

The steam tank vs beast is a draw.

The arch lector causes a wound, but I sneak one through his armour and ward. Another draw.


Daemon Turn 4

 The herald of Tzeentch charges solo out of the horrors into the flank of the demigryphs for that extra plus one.

I charge the BSB with the plaguebearers, who wisely flees over the demigryph combat.

Magic: Slaanesh shows up again, clearly annoyed at the loss of the Keeper, but no one is affected.

Shooting: None

Combat: Adam directs attacks at the herald of Tzeentch, but can’t kill him. I sneak a wound through somewhere, but he is steadfast and passes.

The beast vs steam tank is another stalemate.

The screamers kill another knight, they break and I catch them as they run.

My beast in a challenge with the archlector loses 2 wounds, but passes with the BSB nearby.


Empire Turn 5

The knights charge the horrors in the woods, passing their difficult terrain test.

The BSB rallies. Nothing else moves.

Magic: Spirit leech targets my BSB, and goes off irresistibly sucking the wizard down a hole. Then I roll a 6 smile.gif

Shooting: None

Combat: The knights kill a horror, but I win with a rank and banner and the knights flee clear as I pursue.

The steam tank does 2 wounds to the beast, and I can’t hurt it. I don’t care. (rear charge)

Finally I win the combat against the demigryphs but with the BSB nearby they are not going anywhere. My seeker chariot is passing a lot of ward saves at this point.

The challenge is another draw between the archlector and the beast.


Daemon Turn 5

The screamers charge the flank of the arch lector, hoping for some lamprey’s bite fun.

The horrors charge the knights again, who flee off the board.

Magic: I roll a 3, with the random displeasure targeting my Tzeentch herald. Fortunately I pass the leadership test. No magic gets through.

Shooting: None

Combat: Nothing doing in the steam tank vs beast combat.

In the centre, I finally break the demigryphs and send my seeker chariot to run them down. The beast reforms to face the steam tank and BSB.

On the left, the screamers cause 3 wounds to the war altar, but the beast can’t get any more and loses his third wound in the challenge. The archlector is stubborn and holds.


Empire Turn 6

The archer detachment moves back into the building with the wizards. Nothing else happens.

Magic: I dispel Shem’s.

Shooting: None

Combat: Again no wounds in the steam tank vs beast combat.

The screamers can’t hurt the war altar and neither can the beast. Fortunately, the archlector misses!


Daemon Turn 6

If we can get that archlector we might be able to bag a win here I think!

Plaguebearers charge the BSB, who flees clear. Beast charges front of steam tank.

Seeker chariot charges flank of war altar.

Magic: I roll a 4 = -1 ward save for my daemons! I don’t have any targets for magic.

Shooting: None

Combat: Neither beast can damage the steam tank.

The war altar is destroyed, and I get another wound through on the arch lector, he kills my beast, but he rolls a 3 for his break test and holds!


Game over!


VPs
Daemons: 1243
Empire: 1438


Really fun game, despite the early loss of the Keeper of Secrets. To be honest, he would have had 2 banishments and 2 cannons at him so would have been lucky to survive.

I just could not get through the 1+ armour. Daemonettes failed to cause a single wound, and my opponent was passing armour saves whether they were 2+, 3+ or 4+ with those pesky demigryphs.

If I could have got them a phase or two earlier, I think I could have got a small win out of a list that is pretty difficult for daemons to beat.

Man of the match for me were the screamers, although the beasts were superb again. Screamers caused hurricanum to flee the board, killed a unit of knights and smashed the war altar to pieces. Skills.

Beasts held up archlector for 4 turns, leaving him on a wound, held up the steam tank for ever and helped kill the demigryphs (eventually).

Loss of the keeper was hard though, just one of his spells would have been handy to help me pick fights. I needed to keep the demigryphs away for just one more turn, but didn’t have the bodies to be able to do so.

Still, fun game which was pretty close despite the bad matchup for daemons. That banishment is a bit tasty against my poor daemons... thanks for reading.

A change of pace.

Hi there,

Another Pigeon Bomb missive from the gorgeous Jamie.

I have a tournament this weekend.  In fact quite a few of the Stevenage Wargamer massive do.
Bunker Brawl 20th October.
http://warhammer.org.uk/phpBB/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=114722 

A small 2000 pt uncomped 1 dayer in Chelmsford.  I have decided to crack open the Empire and it will be my first tournament using them.  As a consequence of this tournament based activity I have had to do a spot of hardcore army painting.  Hellcannons unfortunately have to wait.  :(

I should make the deadline with, what I believe, is a decent standard of painting.  Definitely a cut above your average speedpaint.  I even have some kitbashing and minor conversion work to add a bit of spice.  The army as a whole doesnt really have a theme, it is more about achieving a consistent painting standard and colour scheme.  If I was pressed to say where my inspiration came from for the army then I would have to say a religious Sigmar based force.  Veteran Crusaders if you will.  I believe this is pretty much one of the only obvious concrete themes that can be done with the Empire.  I wish the book had more in the way of non-generic choices to back it up but the units by their very nature do not unfortunately.  Correct me if I am wrong but I just dont see it. 

I am not going to display the whole army on here yet.  For now, here is a Steam Tank, the idea was to go for Liberachian over the top detail.  I apologise for more snow basing but it seems to be my current 'thing'. 

The Steam Tank is particularly interesting as I have attempted to create some Sigmar based gold murals to the sides.  I originally planned to freehand paint these and try and blend into the modelled adornments that come with the kit.  I wasnt too sure how this would gel together so I opted instead to try and raid the bits box and go for something more 3d.

On one side we have the light of Sigmar burning away the Undead.  The other has a large comet/fireball as the central motif.  To achieve both of these it mainly involved slicing in half seperate elements from various sprues.  The skeleton in particular was quite fiddly.  The tiny nicks on the tips of my thumbs will testify.  :(  The paintjob blends it all together. 

If I get my shit together the next post will be a battle report.  Showing off some glimpses of the rest of the army and how it fared in my games.

Till then I best get back to painting.  :/

INSPIRATION CORNER.

http://grzegorzgwiazda.blogspot.co.uk/

A sculptor.  Not miniature based but by golly is that some impressive and expressive work.   Fantastic reference as well for Object Sourced Lighting and musculature.  Awesome stuff.  :)

Till next time.

Daemons vs Lizardmen Battle Report

Greetings all!

Will Longbottom here.

After 9+ months of painting, this was my eagerly awaited first game with my daemon army. Much of my thoughts on the army, list etc are contained in my blog at the Daemonic Legion, so check that out if you're interested in more.

The list was chosen with a few things in mind. I wanted to paint up a fairly large chunk of core models, so I would have them done for future games and a solid base to work with. I also wanted a mixture of units that I liked the look of, not fussed how good they are on the tabletop. It's also part of the Bad Dice Hobby Challenge, which needs to be completed by the end of November.

So, here is my first game, Steve kindly stepped in to play me after Jamie contracted the plague. Let's start with the lists (as far as I could tell):

Whisperflense's Daemonic Coven

KOS: Whisperflense (Keeper of Secrets)
Lvl 4, Greater (+2 attacks), Lesser (2+ ward), Lesser (ASF sword), Lore of Slaanesh
Acquiescence, Pavane of Slaanesh, Slicing Shards, Cacophonic Choir

HoT: Herald of Tzeentch
Lvl 2, Lore of Metal
Searing Doom, Plague of Rust

HoN: Herald of Nurgle
BSB, Greater Locus of Fecundity, Lesser (2+ ward)

P: 30 Plaguebearers: FC, Banner of Swiftness
D: 18 Daemonettes: FC
H: 10 Horrors
Blue Fire

BoN: Beast of Nurgle
BoN: Beast of Nurgle
BoN: Beast of Nurgle
SC: Seeker Chariot of Slaanesh
S1: 3 Screamers of Tzeentch

S2: Soulgrinder: Mark of Nurgle, Phlegm Bombardment


Lizardmen

SMP: Slann Mage Priest: Becalming Cogitations, BSB, Lore of Beasts
Curse of Anraheir, Wyssan’s Wildform, Amber Spear, Savage Beast of Horrors

SP1: Skink Priest: Lvl 2, Lore of Beasts
Flock of Doom, Transformation of Kadon

SP2: Skink Priest: Lvl 1, Dispel Scroll, Lore of Beasts
Wildform

SV1: Scar Veteran: Enchanted Shield, Light Armour, Sword of Striking
SV2: Scar Veteran: Light Armour, Great Wpn

SW1: 24 Saurus: FC
SW2: 24 Saurus: FC
SS: 10 Skink Skirmishers
SC: 21 Skink Cohort: Musician
CS: 5 Chameleon Skinks
JS: 2 Jungle Swarms
S: Stegadon
T: 3 Terradons
SHP: 2 Salamanders
AS: Ancient Stegadon


I won roll for sides, Steve won roll for first turn.

Terradons vanguarded forwards, but not far enough to be able to drop rocks on Seeker Chariot if they got first turn.

Deployment 

Turn 1 Lizards

General advance, but not too far forwards for the lizards. Ancient on to hill, salamanders and skirmishers on left, chameleons central and swarms/terradons right.

Magic: Flock of doom is let through, kills a single daemonette. Boosted amber spear on the Soulgrinder fails to cast.

Shooting: Stegadon shoots Seeker Chariot, but I make a ward save!

Combat: None


Turn 1 Daemons

Beast charges chameleons, who flee clear through the Ancient. Second beast charges swarm but fails the charge.

Seeker chariot charges the terradons, needing an 11, and makes it in   . Stand and shoot causes a single wound.

Screamers fly to flank of salamanders. Daemonettes, plaguebearers, keeper and remaining beast move up. Horrors enter building.

Magic: 5 + 1. Papa Nurgle spits on the salamanders, killing a crewman and causing two wounds to one of the beasts. He then gobs on the jungle swarms, killing one base!

Shooting: Soulgrinder misses the left-hand saurus.

Combat: Impact hits and attacks from daemonettes and seekers causes five wounds for no reply. Terradons break, but flee clear.


Turn 2 Lizards

Terradons fail to rally and run off board edge.

No charges. Stegadon pivot to face Seeker chariot flank, remaining swarm moves up behind it.

Salamanders pivot and back up to shoot screamers. Skink skirmishers advance to shoot soulgrinder. Priest leaves unit and joins the rallied chameleons. Nothing else moves.

Magic: Boosted amber spear at the soulgrinder is dispelled. Transformation goes off with irresistible force on the skink priest behind the ancient stegadon, and he becomes a mountain chimaera.

Miscast is an 8, wounding both the Slann and now mountain chimaera.

Shooting: Skirmishers miss soulgrinder. Stegadon misses Seeker chariot. Salamanders kill 1 screamer.


Turn 2 Daemons

Daemonettes charge skink skirmishers, who flee, and redirect into the salamanders. Screamers fly behind them if they flee.

Beast on right fails charge against the swarm. Central beast tries to charge the ancient, but fails.

Seeker chariot pivots and moves away from the stegadon. Soulgrinder and plaguebearers back off the mountain chimaera, Keeper moves up for some fun.

Magic: 5+1 again. Papa Nurgle kills the swarm. No magic goes off, he dispels an acquiescence attempt, and searing doom and cacophonic choir.

Shooting: Soulgrinder scatters wide again.

Combat: Daemonettes cause four wounds, lose 2 but salamanders break and flee clear through the screamers, failing a dangerous terrain test and dying.


Turn 3 Lizards

Stegadon charges rear of Seeker chariot. Mountain chimera charges the plaguebearers.

Ancient pivots and moves towards the daemonettes. Skink skirmishers rally, chameleon skinks move round right-hand saurus block to prevent beast getting in.

Skink cohort with Slann swift reforms to face screamers/daemonettes.

Magic: Curse of Anraheir is let through on the plaguebearers. Skink skirmishers are wildformed. Amber spear is let through at daemonettes, kills one.

I use all my dice to dispel Transformation of Kadon.

Shooting: Skinks leave 1 screamer with 1 wound.

Combat: Stegadon kills chariot with impact hits. Skink priest is killed by the Herald of Nurgle in a challenge.


Turn 3 Daemons

Right-hand beast charges chameleons, who flee and I fail to redirect. Next beast charges right-hand saurus, makes it, third fails, Keeper fails.

Screamer flies over wildformed skinks, and kills one with a slash to the face. Daemonettes face up to the ancient. Plaguebearers move up to charge the left-hand saurus.

Magic: 7, nothing happens. Acquiescence is dispelled, blue fire gets through but gets 2 s6 hits and kills one chameleon – no horror raised though. Cacophonic on the ancient scrolled.

Shooting: Soulgrinder misses again.

Combat: Beast challenges, causes a single wound, but pops due to a roll of 11 for the break test.


Turn 4 Lizards

Ancient charges the daemonettes. Stegadon charges right-hand beast.

Skink skirmishers and cohort move to pepper the screamer. Chameleons rally.

Magic: Curse is let through against the Keeper. Amber spear is dispelled.

Shooting: Screamer dies.

Combat: Stegadon whiffs, I cause a wound. Draw.

Ancient smashes the daemonettes and skinks cause several wounds. I fade back to the warp.


Turn 4 Daemons

Plaguebearers charge left-hand saurus. Keeper and beast charge right-hand saurus.

Magic: 8, Slaanesh time! Played it lizard units roll 4 dice, didn’t matter as he rolled three 1s on skirmishers.

Acquiescence is let off on right-hand saurus. Plague of rust on stegadon. Cacophonic dispelled on ancient.

Shooting: Soulgrinder misfires.

Combat: Beast challenges, scar veteran accepts. I cause a wound, so does he. Keeper kills 4, but takes 2 wounds. Thunder stomp wins the combat, but saurus steadfast and not going anywhere.

Plaguebearers roll poorly, although herald challenges and wounds scar veteran. I lose by 3, but pass break test with a 5.

I wound stegadon, he can’t wound me, he passes break test.


Turn 5 Lizards

Ancient charges plaguebearers. Rest move about a bit.

Magic: Low-ish roll. Curse on plaguebearers goes off, can’t dispel on 5 dice.

Shooting: None

Combat: Ancient causes 7 impact hits, killing 4 plaguebearers. Herald kills scar veteran, and plaguebearers kill a few more, but he passes 5 parry tests. I lose by 3 again, and again roll a 5 on the break test.

Beast causes 2 wounds to the stegadon, it fails stubborn check, and is caught as it runs. Beast overruns into right-hand saurus flank.

Challenge Beast kills scar veteran, keeper kills another 3 or 4, flank beast kills 1, thunder stomp kills more but they are still steadfast and hold with Slann nearby.


Turn 5 Daemons

Herald of Tzeentch moves out of building to target ancient. Soulgrinder advances to shoot the Slann unit.

Magic: Khorne makes an appearance, but I roll no 6s. Acquiescence goes off again on the right-hand saurus. Plague of rust on same unit. Cacophonic on the ancient is dispelled.

Shooting: Soulgrinder misses the Slann unit.

Combat: Keeper and two beasts leave 5 saurus alive. They pass break test with a rerolled double 1.

Plaguebearers kill more, but lose more to ancient, and pass break test.


We ran out of time, so game over!

Was an intriguing game. I was pretty rusty, and think I was too hesitant with the Keeper – he needed to get stuck in early, preferably against that poxy Ancient!

Some of my units did well, some not so much, but I’ll be sticking with the list for a while (as I have nothing else painted!).

Saurus armour saves and parries were a real bane for me, and my plaguebearer regen rolls were terrible!

Beasts did very well for me though, but I found it hard to contain the Slann with his reroll on first failed dispel and I was having to let things like Curse of Anraheir get through which made me struggle.


Result was:
Daemons – 737
Lizards – 543

Small win for the daemons! Thanks for reading.

TOI2

TOI 2

Hi it's Adam with another tale of a far from masterfully played game of Warhammer, this time its a bit unusual as I won, well sort of...

My opponent was Pat, I was due to be playing someone else but when Pat's game fell through I decided to give Pat a game. I always enjoy playing he's a great laugh he doesn't take the game too seriously and neither do I so the games are always fun, that's the point of playing warhammer right?

As usual Pat turned up with a list that was wrong and needed to rewrite it.


It's called quartermaster!

When Pat finally settled on a list he had:

Alith Anar (warhammer batman)
lvl 4 on beasts
level 2 (I think) on beasts
level 1 on shadow
Handmaiden with the reaver bow? The one that shoots 3 times at +1 strength, it's high elves...
BSB with a banner.
2 units of silver helms with musicians
1 unit of archers
1 unit of spears
A large(ish) unit of White Lions I started singing White Lines when he put these down and he said he bought that when it came out, the old bugger! 
1 unit of Sisters of Averlorn.
2 bolt throwers
2 eagles

My army was:

Archie Lector He had Van Hostman's Speculum and The White Cloak of Ulric
1 level 4 on Shadow
1 level 4 on Death Magic
1 level 1 on Death Magic with a scroll
'master' engineer (more like YTS trainee engineer)
BSB with a standard of discipline

we played this all game as though this buffed the Arch lectors leadership for the purposes of Spirit Leeching things. Turns out it doesn't work that way... Pat immediately claimed a moral victory, bless. In practice I don't think it made a massive difference.

two units of 35 Halberdiers with 2 detachments of 5 free company each
5 Demigrif Knights with full command and a glittering standard (the one that lets you reroll the first panic test.)
2 Cannons
Steam Tank
Hurricanum

On to the game

I deployed fairly centrally with my all my characters apart from the level 4 on shadow going in one of the halberdier blocks with the four free company screening them. The cannons were on a hill behind them and the steam tank was on my left side guarding the cannons and my demigrifs were behind a wood...

part of my deployment

I response Pat spread out pretty wide with his Silver helms  and eagles on each flank, his infantry units in the middle and his bolt throwers fairly central.

 

 

Turn 1

 

I won first turn and rolled for my steam tank to generate 3 steam points, it behaved itself. There were no charges. The Steamtank rumbled up, Demigrifs walked carefully into the wood and all the infantry units moved up.

In the magic phase I tried to put Doom and Darkness on the White Lions block but this was dispelled I also put miasma on the unit with Alith Anar in.

My cannons cut loose in my shooting phase sweeping off both of Pat's bolt throwers and the cannon from the Steam Tank put a wound on an eagle.

In Pat's turn he charged his silver helms on an 11" charge into a unit of free company on my right hand side, hoping to overrun into my unit of halberdiers and assassinate my shadow wizard.

Pat moved his eagle up out of line of sight and pushed his silver helms on the left behind the building on the left.

budgy hiding from cannonballs behind a rock

Pat's magic phase went by relatively uneventfully I managed to dispel an amber spear flung in the direction of my steam tank.
Pat shot at all my free company and annoyingly for him reduced both of them to one model, they both passed their panic tests and so I had 2 single models ideal for redirecting and being generally annoying.

Pat wiped out the free company in the close combat phase and they overrun but not far enough to get into combat with the halberdiers.

Turn 2

In my second turn I charged at the eagle on the right hand side that had came forward to redirect them. I took a wound from dangerous terrain. I redirected to charge after the Sisters of Averlorn but didn't make the charge.

 

The Steam Tank rumbled over towards the centre I repositioned the halberdier block so that Pat's eagle was in their front arc for spirit leeches.

 

In my magic phase I rolled low but managed to kill of the wounded eagle with a spirit leech.

 

In my shooting phase I managed to roll 3 misfire results in a row and my canons did nothing! Thankfully neither of them blew themselves up.

 

 

In Pats turn he rallied both his fleeing units and pushed forward with the remains of his army in the centre. He swift reformed his Silverhelms and moved back around towards the cannons around the left hand side of the building.

 

Pat's magic phase saw me use my dispel scroll to stop a strength ten amber spear from hitting my steam tank.

 

Pat had a little success with his shooting however and put a couple of wounds on the steam tank with a the combined bowfire of a couple of units and Alith Anar.

Turn 3

At the start of my turn my steam tank failed its engine test and this meant it couldn't do anything this turn. My Demigrifs charged the silverhelms in front of them, they fled again and they took a couple of wounds from dangerous terrain, annoyingly the failed charge did not even take them clear of the woods they were in.

 

With my halberdier block stuck behind the temporarily disabled steam tank I reshuffled my characters around so that the wizards were safe in case Pat decided to come in on an assassination run.

 

halberdiers stuck behind the steam tank

 

In my magic phase I failed to cast doom and darkness on the white lions.

 

My single working canon finally shot off Pat's last remaining eagle and that was it for my turn 3.

 

In Pat's turn he didn't charge anything but pushed forwards with the silver helms towards the cannons on my left.

 

In Pat's magic phase he 6 diced an amber spear at my steam tank and sent a strength 10 spear at it. Taking off a few wounds, the miscast result saw him losing the spell and one magic level. Then in his shooting phase he took of a couple more with the combined shooting of Alith Anar, the Sisters and the handmaiden.

 

Turn 4









 At the start of my turn I rolled for my steam tank generating 2 points for it, as this guarantees it cant kill itself at least! Predictably I failed the test and had to roll on the engine chart for the steam tank but this time the roll meant I could move the tank.

 

Knowing I had to stop the silverhelms from getting to my cannons I charged out my arch lector at his silver helms, I planned to support him with my steamtank, thinking about it I thought he had a fairly good chance with all the kit on him pat would need 5's to hit him and 5's to wound and I'd be getting a 4+ armour save and a 5+ ward I also had a cunning plan to lure Alith Anar out of his unit give him one shot at my arch lector then try to get him with death snipes, I was pretty sure the unit he was in had the banner of the world dragon.

 

That was unnecessary though as I rolled high enough on the random move to put the steam tank into the silverhelms.

 

In my magic phase I didn't manage to get anything of note off.

 

Then in my shooting phase I fired both cannons at Pat's level 4 hoping to get lucky but he passed both look out sirs and so I had to settle for killing a handful of white lions.

 

Finally in my combat phase the steam tank crushed the silverhelms before anyone got to take a swing.

 

In Pats turn he moved Alith Anar out of his unit to take a shot at my arch lector and moved up the white lions.

 

In his magic phase pat supercharged his handmaiden with savage beasts and killed a demi grif knight with her in the shooting phase.

 

Alith took as shot at my arch lector hit him but rolled the one and failed to wound.

 



Turn 5



My Demigrif knights continued their now traditional round of charging at the silver helms who fled and then redirecting at the sisters of averlorn but not making it.

 

I then pushed one of the single model free company units in front of pats white lions and moved the halberdiers up before rejoining them with the arch lector.

 

 I was up at this point having taken off a lot of the easy points from Pat's army and having lost nearly nothing myself however I knew the steam tank would probably go and I thought that one of the the halberdier blocks would also likely die when Pat's army finally made it over. So in my magic phase I decided to start trying to pick off Pat's characters with death snipes (I thought I was LD 10 when in fact I was ld 9) Despite rolling low for magic I still managed to get a spirit leech off and rolled high for the dice off and Pat's handmaiden fell over.

 

Then in my shooting phase my engineer again failed me and one of the cannons blew itself up panicking the engineer who ran through the next cannon which luckily held it's nerve.

 

In my turn Pat charged the single free company militia man and moved up with everything else, I decided to hold. Pat got a Wyssan's off on the white lions to make them strength 7 and toughness 4 in combat!

 

He shot at my demi grifs with his sisters unit but did nothing.

 

I just removed the single free company militia to save time and Pat decided to overrun, the overrun taking him into my halberdier unit. Pat thought this meant he could then fight another round of combat but unfortunately on page 58 of the rulebook it states that 

 

'if a unit has been charged as a result of pursuit was not engaged in combat from the beginning of this combat phase, or it was but the combat has already been resolved in this combat phase, the combat is not resolved straight away, but in the combat phase of the following turn.'

 

This misunderstanding of the rules would cost Pat dearly...

 

 

Turn 6



At the start of my turn I rolled for my steam tank and the engine chart was again kind, allowing me to move as normal.

I charged my second halberdier block into the flank of the White lions. Finally charged my demi grifs into the sisters and moved the steam tank into the white lions other flank and moved the hurricanum over so that it's bubble would effect all my units involved.

My master engineer rallied

Then in my magic phase Pat failed to dispel doom and darkness and so I was able to cast that and a The Withering on the poor white lions.

The result of all that was carnage!

I cut done nearly all the white lions in combat, they managed to take the last couple of wound off the steam tank and finally put it out of action. Pat failed his break test on the white lions who ran but not far enough to escape from the vicious halberdiers who ran them down.

The sisters of averlorn likewise were destroyed by the demigrifs.

The overrun of the halberdier unit took them into combat with Pats spearmen with his bsb and Alith Anar in. and in Pat's turn they exacted revenge by breaking the halberdiers and running them down.

Alith and the elven spearmen then overran into my remaining halberdiers with all the characters in.

We kept playing to see what would happen over the next few combats and eventually the halberdiers ground down the elves and broke them and wiped out the remains of Pat's army!

To the bitter end!



We never worked out the points but the result would have been a win to me. Although Pat did have the moral high ground.

 

There were a couple of things I think I would have done differently. Firstly I think I wasted the demigrifs chasing after the sisters all game and they could have come into the spearmen block and done a number on them. I should have fought the combats in a different order with the white lions, because I did the horde combat first it meant that I missed out on potential kills from the second unit.

 

 

Thanks for reading!

 

Adam