Hey all. So I gamed at my local gaming store last night and played another game against a High Elf player. He was a very friendly guy, we talked a bit about modeling/collecting and about the nature of the game. I finally bought the WHFB rulebook and Empire book so I wasn't borrowing the store copy, but was still using models by proxy. I haven't figured out how to use the battle report generator as I'm finding it frustratingly buggy.
My list has been posted before but here it is:
Engineering Experimental Cavalry Division:
Archlector: 286 pts.
+Great Weapon
+War Altar
+Armor of Meteoric Iron
+Van Horstmann's Speculum
Warrior Priest: 142 pts
+Warhorse
+Barding
+Heavy Armor
+Great Weapon
+Doomfire Ring,
Battle Wizard: 160 pts
+Aldred's Casket of Sorcery
+Warhorse
+Level 2 Upgrade:
+Sigil of Sigmar:
Battle Wizard: 140 pts
+Rod of Power
+Warhorse
+Level 2 Upgrade:
Knights: 8 Knights: 264 pts
+1 Preceptor
+Standard Bearer
+War Banner
+Musician
Knights: 5 Knights: 123 pts
+Musician
Knights: 5 Knights: 123 pts
+Musician
Outriders: 6 Outriders 176 pts
+1 Champion with Hochland Long Rifle, Musician
Outriders: 6 Outriders 176 pts
+1 Champion with Hochland Long Rifle, Musician
Outriders: 6 Outriders 176 pts
+1 Champion with Hochland Long Rifle, Musician
Pistoliers: 8 Pistoliers : 186 pts
+Musician
+1 Outrider with Repeater Pistol&Pistol
Steam Tank: 300 points
I attached the Warrior Priest to the 9-knight squad, and the Casket Wizard to the 9-pistolier squad.
Total points: 2252
His list contained this approximately (I may have done some math wrong):
Tyrion: 400 pts.
Level 1 Mage with Annulian Crystal: 140 pts
Level 1 Mage with 2 Dispel Scrolls: 150 pts
Noble BSB with Battle Banner, Heavy Armor, and Great Weapon: 204 pts.
14 Spearmen with Full Command: 151 pts
14 Spearmen with Full Command: 151 pts
7 Dragon Princes of Caledor with full command: 260 pts
14 Swordmasters of Hoeth with Full Command: 240 pts
15 White Lions of Chrace: 255 pts
3 Repeater Bolt Throwers: 300 pts.
He attached the mages to the spear units, Tyrion to the Dragon Princes, and the BSB to the Swordmasters.
The map:
When I say "the map", I view everything from my point of view, assuming I occupy the far south of the map. The map contained a piece of forest in the middle of the map, a forest to the right edge of the map, and some occasional fence...aside from that the map was completely clear, and he had excellent firing routes for his Repeater Bolt Throwers.
Deployment and Magic: He rolls up so I have to deploy first.
On the right flank, I had my 10-strong unit of knights and 5-strong unit of knights side to side with each other. Hidden behind the knights were my Outriders. The pistoliers hid behind the ruined building. The Steam Tank hid behind the forest as did the War Altar. On the far left flank, I had 2 units of Outriders and my other small unit of knights to the left of them; behind the knights but not actually in the unit was one of my wizards. I had more drops than he did.
He deployed 2 repeater bolt throwers on the left where they would threaten my outriders, in the gaps between a unit of spears and his Swordmasters. In the center behind the forest, he has his white lions. To the right of those is his other bolt thrower, and to the right of that is his Dragon Princes. To the right of that are his Spearmen. The spearmen on the left has his Annulian Crystal mage, the ones on the right his Scroll caddy.
Magic rolling:
He rolls. The scroll mage on the far right rolls up Shield of Saphery. The one on the far left (Annulian Crystal) rolls up Curse of Arrow Attraction. My Pistolier Wizard rolls up Transmutation of Lead and Spirit of the Forge, which he swaps out for Rule of Burning Iron. My independent Wizard rolls up Commandment of Brass and Transmuation of Lead, which I swap out for Rule of Burning Iron.
High Elf Turn 1:
He rolls a 6, which I cannot beat due to having more drops than he does. So he goes first. He advances his army in a solid battleline the full 10" foward, his cavalry and infantry in close support of each other. He's obviously planning to steamroll me. In his magic phase, I get lucky and he rolls a miscast, instantly ending his magic phase. His shooting phase ended up being a mess, with him killing 4 outriders in one unit, and 2 in another. I pass both panic checks.
Empire Turn 1:
Immediately, my left flank looked in danger of collapsing, so I moved my other unit of Outriders from behind my Knights to reinforce it; they deployed behind my other two units so it almost looks like two units of OUtriders one behind the other. At the same time, I wheel and move my Knights from the left of my Outriders, to block the line of fire from one of his Bolt Throwers to my Outriders; I also attached my Wizard to this unit. My center knights moved foward somewhat" into the field, so they would not be in charge range of his Dragon Princes, but still able to pop a shot at his White Lions. I use 4 steam points and move the steam tank into an area-denial zone. Finally, I moved my Pistoliers to in front of one of his Spear Units. Aldred's Casket of Sorcery successfully steals the Shield of Saphery from this unit.
I immediately cast Shield of Saphery on my Pistoliers, and he dispels it with 2 dice. After this, I used the Doomfire Ring to cast Burning Head. He dispels this on a die. I use the Golden Griffon to cast Burning Gaze on his spears, and they take 3 dead. I use a Prayer of Sigmar from the Warrior Priest on my Pistolier Champ, and he dispels this again with 1 die, before finally casting it again on one of my Outrider champs on the left...he rolls a 1. I cast Rule of Burning Iron with the Wizard on my right using 2 power dice, and kill his White Lion champion, and I cast Commandment of Brass on one of his Repeater Bolt Throwers.
The shooting phase got nasty here. I killed off about 4 Spearmen with concentrated fire, but I got lucky with my Outrider champs and managed to kill his Annulian Crystal mage. Opening up with my Pistoliers on his unit of Dragon Princes, I kill 5 Dragon Princes, but they pass their panic check. This is my phase.
High Elves 2: My opponent charges my Pistoliers with his rightmost spear unit, hoping to angle them that they flee into my knights and force a panic check. My knights pass the panic check. He also charged my leftmost knight unit with his Swordmasters of Hoeth, which flees as its reaction.
Magic-wise, he tries to cast Drain Magic. This is dispelled; this would continue to be dispelled each turn as it was the only spell he was eligible to cast.
Aside from this, he moves his White Lions through the forest and his Swordmasters around the edge of it as well as advancing his (now mageless) spear block along the left. His repeater bolt throwers kill...nothing.
Empire Turn 2: This kind of sucked for me. As everything is within range of the War Altar, I rally on leadership 10 and pass both times. My Knights reform to face the direction of the Swordmasters, while my Pistoliers move up to continue harassing the enemy Spear block. So I charge his White Lion unit with my Steam Tank (which I took a risk and used 5 steam points with) and War Altar, hoping to kill enough of the unit to force a break; the Steam Tank is to the right of my War Altar, who is screening it in the advent of the Swordmasters deciding to come that way. My last charge was to charge the 2 Dragon Princes and Tyrion with my unit of 9 Knights, and Warrior Priest. I move my two weakened Outrider units, running the 3-strong unit into the woods, and the 5-strong unit to the left of my War Altar.
In the magic phase, I manage to kill the Swordmaster's champion with Rule of Burning Iron; he burned 1 dice to dispel the Golden Griffon casting Cleansing Flare, and he produced a dispel scroll for me casting Soulfire on his White Lions. He used his last die to prevent me from casting Hammer of Sigmar on my Pistolier champion. I cast the Doomfire Ring through the empty space next to Tyrion's unit and manage to kill a crewmember from the rightmost Repeater Bolt Thrower member; it rolls an 12 for leadership, and an 11 to flee, taking it right to the edge of the map.
In the shooting phase, I take out...nothing with my pistoliers (hideous luck). My sole long rifle that did NOT move and shoot pops the Spearman champion on the left, and the outriders take out 4 Swordmasters.
In combat, I manage to by impact hits kill 13 out of the 14 remaining White Lions (who cannot challenge due to their champion being sniped out of the unit), and I fluff my Arch Lector's and mounts attacks. He rolls insane courage for the one last White Lion (wtf?). In the Tyrion combat, I kill a Dragon Prince, and he kills two of my knights. I win by combat res (the War banner), and he passes his leadership check.
High Elf turn 3: Here is where I learn about 45* angles...his spearmen can see just around the edge to charge the Warrior-priest's knight unit, which they do. Meanwhile, his swordmasters charge around the forest into my 5-strong unit of Outriders, who elect to Stand and Shoot. Short range means they hit on 5+. His left block of spearmen turns to try to position themselves for a charge against my knights.
This turn sucked a lot...I learned Tyrion had that flamer-ability built in and he killed 1 knight and 4 Pistoliers through it. Concentrated Repeater Bolt Thrower killed another 4 and put a wound on my Wizard. They pass their panic check.
Standing and shooting, I manage to kill 6 Swordmasters with my outriders. They subsequently are killed and my opponent Overruns into the War Altar.
In the Knights vs. Spearmen and Dragon Princes, Tyrion kills 2 and his spearmen kill none...I manage to kill a Dragon Prince with my Warrior-priest. I lose combat, and flee from his spearmen...his spearmen pursue, rolling a 5, while my knights rolled a 3...(3d6...all 1s...seriously).
Empire Turn 3:
So...yeah. I had a bit of a situation popping up. I charge the flank of his spear unit with my rightmost 5-knight unit. He passes the panic check. I march-move the ones on my left, running past his spearmen and marchblocking them. I move my Pistoliers behind the Knights that charged the spearmen, as to shield them from Repeater Bolt Throwers.
My magic phase went pretty decent. I managed to disable one of his War Machines, and I cast Transmuation of Lead on his Spearmen. Again, he produced a dispel scroll for Cleansing Flare, and dispels me casting Soulfire with the Arch Lector. He fails to dispel me casting Commandment of Brass on his leftmost War machine.
From shooting, both my remaining outrider
units (the one in the forest, and the one in the firing lines), I manage to kill off another 7 Spearelves on my left flank.
I aim the steam cannon at Tyrion, falling short but killing 4 of the spear-elves.
In combat, I challenge his Noble and we swap stats; here was where my opponent was upset. If he refused challenges, he couldn't use his Battle Banner, and he would lose combat to being outnumbered, since I had killed the unit champion earlier. So he accepts...he takes a wound, I inflict a wound...he's still in the combat. My War Altar is unbreakable so the whole CR phase was a bit moot. Meanwhile, my Steam tank kills the white Lion. Yay.
Against the Spearmen on the right, I manage to kill...1 Elf.He killed none (needing 5s to hit and 5s to wound isn't exactly threatening). I win combat by flanking and outnumbering but he holds.
High Elf turn 4:
He moves his Spears towards my full-strength outrider unit, being out of charge range and march-blocked. Hoping to bail out his units, he sends Tyrion against my engaged unit of Knights.
He only has one eligible unit for shooting, and that's his Repeater Bolt Thrower. He shoots my Knights (the only eligible target), and I pass all my saves...my lowest rolls were 3s...I love 1+ armor save.
In the Swordmasters vs. Archlector close combat, I enter another Challenge. I kill his BSB. In the Knights vs Spearmen and Tyrion, Tyrion kills 2 knights. I lose but pass the leadership check.
Empire Turn 4:
This did it for my opponent. I march against his warmachines with my left-most knights, and build up 4 steam points with the Steam Tank and charge his Spear-elves (of which there were 7 left I believe. Aside from this, this was a pretty static turn for me.
My goal for this magic phase was to debuff Tyrion. I cast Soulfire, and Healing Hand with my Archlector, both dispelled. I cast Blinding Light on Tyrion and he fluffed his roll. I attempted to cast Transmutation of Lead on Tyrion, and Commandment of Brass on a Repeater Bolt Thrower...alas I failed both rolls.
In the shooting phase, I manage to fire enough handgun fire to reduce his leftmost spear-elf unit to 4 models. He fluffs the panic check.
In the close combat phase, my Steam Tank kills all the Spearmen, and Tyrion kills 1 Knight. Tyron loses combat by a lot, fails insane courage, and flees. Against my Arch Lector, I kill a Swordmaster, while he inflicts a wound on my Arch Lector.
High Elf Turn 5:
My opponent rallies Tyrion, but that's all he can do really. He attempts to shoot my knights that are bearing down on his Repeater Bolt Throwers...they kill...1 knight...after this, he folds.
Victory Points:
I killed both his mages and his BSB, netting me 494 points there. I wiped out 2 spear units and a White Lion netting me 557 (151+151+255) points there. Killing the Dragon Princes netted me another 260 points, while reducing the Swordmasters to below half-strength netted me 120 pts. I captured 2 standards, for 100 pts, and took out another Warmachine crew for 100 points.
He managed to reduce an Outrider and Pistolier unit to below half strength, killed my Knights and Warrior Priest, captured their standard, and reduced a unit of knights to half-strength...Overall, a solid victory.
