A bank holiday afternoon for a WH tussle. We both picked a 2,500 point force, using some of our house-rule mods (we call it 'core-hammer' mods, to force more core unit blocks into the game and reduce the over-powered characters). Here are the lists that resulted (feels more like WH to me).
Dark Elf list:
Dread Lord on Manitcore, with lance, healing potion, full plate armour, shield.
Supreme Sorceress (level 3, Dark Magic - Cursed Word, Word of Pain, Battle Lust), on a dark pegasus with focus familiar and power scroll (model is a proxy, winged-serpent/small wyvern-thing).
Noble on a Cold One, with lance and full plate armour, shield (leading cold one knights, as core)
3 x 10 Repeater Crossbows
32 Spearmen, full command
5 Dark Riders (skirmishers, scouts)
7 Cold One Knights, full command, full plate armour, etc.
2 Cold One Chariots
1 Hydra
1 Kharybdiss
2 Repeater Bolt Throwers
Beastman list:
Warlord with pelt of midnight, axes of khorgor and gnarly hide.
Great Shaman (level 3, Daemonology with Viletide, Daemonic Vessel, Steed of Shadows), with a talisman of protection
Shaman (level 2, Daemonology with Viletide, the Summoning), hagtree fetish (urgh - hate it!).
Warhoof with heavy armour shield, muscled monstrosity (leading Centigor, as core)
2 x 30 Gors, full command
30 Bestigor, great weapons, full command
14 Ungor archers (skirmishers, ambushers)
5 Minotaurs, full command, great weapons
9 Centigors, full command
3 Razorgors
Chaos Giant
After hidden deployment behind a screen, and the big reveal (the exciting bit), we were ready for turn 1.
The beastmen rushed up, of course, why hang around under fire? The Bestigor were flung with 'steed of shadows' spell right at the dark elf line, which responded with a storm of crossbows and bolts and reduce them from 30 to 12, and forced them back in panic. Most others spells failed or were dispelled, except the shamans viletide which wiped out the dark riders in a single hit - ouch!.
The dark elf flanks moved up and the charges were lining up, the Chaos Giant and Hydra singling eachother out. By turn 2, we were charging in, the CO chariot and knights hitting and hammering the Gor block, which still only FBIGO, whilst the Kharybdiss was overwhelmed by frenzied centigors (well drunk) and the razorgors (first game and pretty handy beasts). It killed one pig (nice diner) but was then killed before the dread lord on his manticore, which had spent turn 1 as unruly, could get acros to aid it. The left flank looked weak, even as cheeky Ungor archers turned up behind them and harass them with short bow arrows.
In the centre the Bestigor's charge was, well, rubbish, they rolled terribly and killed just 2 crossbowmen, who held, swords out. Then the second CO chariot hit their flank, maxed its impact hits and broke the unit in the next melee, it fled, chariot chased, and got them... huge points swing as the elite beast infantry died to a man, for 2 elves! The other gor block charged the spear block and a long grind started. Meanwhile, the minotaurs were stuck behind, but a steed of shadows 'fly' move would fix that, except the great shaman was having an off day... and couldn't cast it (or it was dispelled).
On the dark elf (my) right, the monser-bash between the hydra and giant as an epic one, the hydra savaged it first, but failed to kill the giant, which clubbed it back for 3 wounds. Both would fight again next turn. When they did, the faster hydra somehow did 0 wounds! and then the giant got mad (with 'daemonic vigour' aid) and spiked on its rolls to throttle the hydra to death - raargh!. Behind them, the gors continued to die to the cold one knights and chariot (but killed 2 knights on a double 1 armour save by me!), in the end the gors would break and flee the tabletop, and the knights restrained and reformed, turning to charge the gaint and finish it with a lance to the knee. Decisive DE win on that flank.
The centre was also holding well, but one crossbow unit was eliminated by 'the summoning' spell which fried them all (that hagtree fetish needs calming down!). The repeater bolt throwers targeted the minotaurs with big bolts and rolled three 1s to-hit (why!). That should have been good shooting, but wasn't. The cold one chariot careered on into the minotaurs, but was easily dispatched by great weapons after one minotaur died.
The dread lord found himself in deep trouble, his manticore took a liking to razorgors for tea and ate them up, but the frenzied centigor kicked his skinny butt... the warhoof being especially drunk and dangerous. The dread lord drank his healing potion, and that saved him next turn, when he broke and fled from the fight, just avoid the centigor's pursuit by 2", then failing to rally (rolled 11), and flapped off home in the final turn, giving the Beastmen all his victory points.
We added the VPs up and it was very close, the DE just ahead, but by under 100 points, roughly 1600 to 1500. So, we shuck hands on a draw. A fun 3 hours... DEs looked like they had done enough to win it, but the Dread Lords cowardice in the end saved the beastmen a draw... proper Warhammer that!
Pics of the action...
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| The field of battle, Beasts right closest. 6 terrain peices, 2 ruins, a rocky outcrop (impassable), rocky ground, marshy ground and a far-off elf waystone (all units within 12" gain Magic Resistance 1). Not deployed yet (almost forgot them) the scouting dark riders, hidden behind the rocky outcrop. |
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| Dark Elf right flank, CO chariot, CO knights and Hydra, all out attack! Wizards avoid this end of the field due to the waystone. |
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| Facing them, the Beast's left, big Gor block and Chaos Giant. |
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| DE centre, the repeater crossbows and big spear block, backed by Dread Lord on his unruly manticore. Hold the line here. |
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| DE left, Kharybiss, CO chariot and bolt throwers. |
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| Beastmen right, Centigors led by their warhoof, and 3 Razorgors. |
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| The DE right's attack hammers the Gors, in the end, 30 are killed or routed from the field. |
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| Monster-bash... the Hydra doesn't quiet kill the Chaos Giant in 1 turn, and then it rips its heads off! Big dice spike, but it only had 1 wound left aftewards, and died... |
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| The long grind in the centre as a big Gor block meets a big spear block. Both had various magical hexes and enchantments to help, with DE 'Battle Lust' one turn, then Gor 'Daemonic Vigour' the next, but in the end, more spears ground them down, but it cost half of them. |
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| Last of the Bestigor block charges in, but wiffs (2 dead crossbows), and then the arrival of flank charging CO chariot saw them off, breaking and being destroyed in the pursuit. Bad day for them. |
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| The poor Kharybdiss is overwhelmed, by drunken frenzied centigor and razorgors. The dread lord flew in to help, but even though his manticore finished off the razorgors (tastey), the still frenzied centigors and warhoof beat him up badly (1 wound left), and he fled, failed to rally, and flapped off home! Coward! |
Core-Hammer Notes:
We allow: Max 33% on characters (not 50%). No level 4 wizards except for: Slann, any daemons or sorcerer of Tzeentch and 0-1 High Elf high-mage. Level 3 is max instead. 0-1 on all 'lord' level characters (so you can get 1 big bad-ass max).
Minimum of 33% on Core troops, but some Special units can count as core if they have a low level character to directly lead them (like the cold knights with noble, and centigor with warhoof here, they bring these as their troops. as more core points). I like this, as more lower power level characters get used, because they help meet the core requirement, but with better troops... double-win!
These alts makes for more rank and flank and core blocks, and less 'hero-hammering', without banning the use of any unit or character. Magic is also calmed down a bit, but in this game it still had an effect, especially for the Beastmen. (I counted, the Beasts cast 6 spells successfully, the DEs cast 4).
