Blog of Battle

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AegonTheConqueror
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Blog of Battle

Post by AegonTheConqueror »

Every so often I'm going to write up a report (and hopefully figure out how to use Chronicler or Herald!), and learn from my mistakes. This was a pitched battle, at 2000 points.

My List:
Spellweaver
-lvl4
-Wand of wych elm

Noble
-BSB
-Asyendi’s bane
-Hail of Doom Arrow

Noble
-Eagle
-Light armour, shield, great weapon
-Dragon Helm
-Aramanthine Brooch
-Potion of Foolhardiness

Glade Guard x20
-banner of eternal flame
-musician

[3] Glade guard x10
-musician

[2] Dryads x8

Treekin x6
Wild Riders x5

Treeman
Eagle

His List:
Slann
Scar Veteran on Cold one
Skink Priest

40 ish saurus warriors
25 ish temple guard
Block of skinks
8-10 Cold One Knights
Stegadon
Salamander

LizardMenTurn 1: He goes first and moves his stegadon forward out of the charge arc of my vanguarded wild riders. Moves his saurus and temple guard up, his cold ones move up on the right flank. Gets off a flaming spell on my treeman, but fails to wound. It is remains in play however, so I will need to dispel it in my next turn. Stegadon kills a wild rider with shooting.

Wood Elves Turn 1: I charge his salamander with my wild riders, and my eagle noble very confidently charges the cold one knights, forgetting to drink his potion. I use all my dice to dispel the remains in play flaming spell on my treeman, which has a casting value of 19. I pretty much get no magic off the entire game. I shoot at the stegadon, but don’t wound it. Wild riders don’t break the salamander. The Scar Veteran with the cold ones challenges my eagle noble, who has to accept I believe. He gets a wound on my noble, who doesn’t do anything back.

Lizardmen Turn 2: Stegadon fails charge against treekin, Saurus charge the dryads who are in a forest, and more things move up. Skann casts a spell from the lore of metal on my Treeman with irresistible force, and does 5 wounds to him. In combat, wild riders destroy the salamander and reform to face the temple guard flank. The eagle noble breaks from combat and is run down. The dryads are stubborn but fail their leadership test and are hacked to bits while running away.

Wood Elves Turn 2: Treeman and dryads charge the stegadon. Wild riders charge the flank of the temple guard, hoping to hold them up for a little while. Bowmen units swift reform to face the saurus block that is in the middle of my lines on the left flank. They each move up to get into close range, and kill about 5 saurus. BSB fires his hail of doom arrow and kills another 3. They fail their panic test (had taken a few casualties from the dryads) and run through one of my glade guard units, losing another 4 or 5 to dangerous terrain tests. Other bowmen take shots at the cold ones, and luckily kill one.

Lizardmen Turn 3: He rallies his saurus and turns them around to face my lines. Cold one knights turn to face the glade guard. In combat, the wild riders win but the temple guard do not budge. The dryads are wiped out, but the treeman finishes off the Stegadon and now only has to step on a few skinks in the next turn.

Wood Elves turn 3: I angle my bowmen unit in front of the saurus warriors in a wonky way to try and get them to overrun and expose a flank. My treekin turn to face the saurus warriors and move in. The bowmen near the cold one knights also try to put themselves on a weird angle to slow down the enemy. I don’t think I got any magic off this game. The wild riders are obliterated in combat, and the temple guard turn to face the rest of my army. The treeman steps on some skinks and turns to face the temple guard.

Lizardmen turn 4: Saurus charged the bowmen who tried to flee, but were caught. The other bowmen unit was charged by the cold ones, but held and were destroyed. Magic finishes off the treeman.

Wood elves turn 4: Treekin charge the flank of the saurus unit, and win combat. The saurus warriors break from combat and the treekin run them down. The spellweaver jumps out of the glade guard block, while the glade guard reform to face the cold one knights.

Lizardmen turn 5: Slann annihilates my spellweaver with irresistible force.

The rest: Glade guard units are destroyed, Treekin charge the templeguard and lose combat, but hold. At this point the game is done, and it is a solid victory for the Lizardmen.

Thoughts:
-It is really hard to get magic off against the Lizardmen. He was usually getting at least 2 extra dispel dice through channeling. He had his slann who channeled on a 5+ with three or four dice, and then his skink priest as well. I literally did not get off a spell this game that I can remember. I didn't get to see whether or not the Wand of Wych Elm is worthwhile or not, because he cast with irresistible force so often. It really seems to depend on how many power dice vs how many dispel dice are rolled.

-Charging the Eagle Noble into the cold one knights was a mistake, I underestimated them, not knowing that they all had a 2+ armor save. The character with a 0 save (I think the best you can have is a 1+, so my opponent may have been mistaken) was just able to challenge my eagle noble and nullify him completely.

-This was the first time I've taken a block of 6 treekin, and I am really impressed. They are a powerful little unit, and I imagine if I was able to cast wyssans on them, they'd be fantastic.
-I like the wild riders, but I think I should have been smarter with them. After taking out the salamander, I should have taken another turn or two to charge his skink block with skink priest. Charging the temple guard unit was a waste. Alternatively I could have brought them back down to deal with the cold ones. But its nice to have a really mobile unit that can also hit relatively hard.

-Deployment is a weakness of mine at the moment, I need to figure out how to place my troops so that everything can shoot, but its not simply "Bows on this side, all else on this side". I feel like I should keep treekin and treeman and at least a unit of dryads together. But if they're placed in between glade guard units then Its difficult to focus fire with the glade guard.
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Billthesurly
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Armies I play: Wood Elves, Orcs and Amazons
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Re: Blog of Battle

Post by Billthesurly »

Nice report Aegon. Thanks for sharing.

I have found that when you are up against a really hard magic target like Lizards or Dwarves, try to hang a really hard hitting spell like Amber Spear or Dwellers and then throw 6 dice at it every time. The only way you will get a spell off is if you "IF" it and if you loose your wizard (it's harder than most people think), well the lazy git wasn't doing you any good anyway was he? If your opponent complains that you're "spamming" a spell? Well he shouldn't have made it near impossible for you to get one off should he? The point is to make the spell pretty devastating. If you're going to run the risk of losing the wizard to cast it - it has to be a spell that is going to HURT BAD when you get it off.

Forgot to drink your potion? Welcome to my world. Put a red chit on the figure. Be obvious about it if you have to. DRINK ME! works pretty well. Better to forewarn your opponent than to loose the +3 S due to forgetfulness.

IMHO Treekin are one of the most overlooked and under-used units in our arsenal. Get an augment off on them and they become a unit of TreeMEN! I think many folks don't use them because they are so expensive. I see many trying to play this army with just Battalion box stuff with some odds and ends thrown in. Bust up some lolly and get those Wildriders in bulk and some Treekin. You will be happy with the results.

If you play a pretty well mixed army your GG should be softening targets up for your WR and/or TK and TM. Shoot off a rank or two and then hit them with your heavies. And don't forget that the TM can shoot pretty damn well. He can be like a HoDA lite at close range. Just my opinion - don't waste GG shots on Stagadons. GG can do a number on Saurus at close range.

Bonne chance.
So it's no longer the BRB, now it's the DERB. (Digital Edition Rule Book) I am all in for 9th Age.
AegonTheConqueror
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Re: Blog of Battle

Post by AegonTheConqueror »

Hey Surly, thanks for the tips. I think the 6 dicing is a good idea i'll try that next time I'm against a tough magic defense. I had a team game against dwarves on Thursday, and it was a similar situation in regards to magic. I wasn't six dicing though, but I should have.

How many wild riders do you normally field?
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godswearhats
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Armies I play: Wood Elves
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Re: Blog of Battle

Post by godswearhats »

Wild riders can be fielded in pretty much any number, but the different size units have different functions. 5 is for war machine and chaff hunting. 10-12 becomes an effective hammer unit, especially with a character in there. Bigger than that and you get into "bus" territory, where you sink a lot of points into a mega unit and hope to just trounce every enemy unit in one turn of combat ...
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AegonTheConqueror
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Re: Blog of Battle

Post by AegonTheConqueror »

I'll probably keep playing them in a unit of 5-6 for now, I only have that many wild rider models anyway.

I have a 2500 point game on Thursday against a High Elf friend, and we've both agreed to take dragons. I've been really wanting to field one, there's just nothing in my opinion that screams fantasy more than a fire breathing dragon. He'll be taking a Prince on Star Dragon.
I'll write up a report for this one, and maybe for my team game I'm playing afterwards as well, depending on how lazy I am. Woodelves + Ogres vs Empire + Vampires, 3000 points per side.

My list
Highborn
-Dragon
-light armor, shield, great weapon
-dragon helm
-the other trickster's shard
-stone of the crystal mere

Noble BSB
-Asyendi's Bane
-Hail of Doom Arrow

Spellsinger
-lvl2
-dispel scroll

Glade Guard x20
-standard, musician
-banner of eternal flame

[3] Glade guard x10
-musician

[2] dryads x8

Treekin x6
Wild Riders x5

Treeman
Eagle

Expected High Elf list
Prince on Star Dragon
Level 2 caster

Block of Spear-men x2-3
Small unit of archers
Bolt throwers x2-3
Swordmasters x15 (7 wide)
White Lions x20-25
Lion Chariot
Tiranoc chariot
Medium size unit of pheonix guard
Dragon Princes x7-8
Eagle x1 or 2
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Billthesurly
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Armies I play: Wood Elves, Orcs and Amazons
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Re: Blog of Battle

Post by Billthesurly »

If you want a fire breathing dragon you're out of luck. Ours only has a real bad case of indigestion and belches foul gas. :wink:
So it's no longer the BRB, now it's the DERB. (Digital Edition Rule Book) I am all in for 9th Age.
AegonTheConqueror
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Re: Blog of Battle

Post by AegonTheConqueror »

hahaha close enough I guess. I'm probably going to refer to the breath attack as indigestion now when I'm playing the game.
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