The Hounds of Brenin-Armon: An Army Blog

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Beithir Seun
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The Hounds of Brenin-Armon: An Army Blog

Post by Beithir Seun »

Following in the vein of Tethlis' extremely popular Army Blog thread, I thought I'd jump on his bandwagon and start up my own thread (although mine won't be nearly as active and insightful :smirk:)

So without further ado, I'll present the starting list I've come up with:

Spellweaver ~ 320pts
- Lv.4, Book of Ashur, Talisman of Endurance

Glade Captain ~ 154pts
- Great Weapon, Armour of Destiny, Battle Standard Bearer

29 Eternal Guard ~ 393pts
- Full Command, Shields, Banner of Discipline

10 Glade Guard ~ 160pts
- Musician, Trueflight Arrows

10 Glade Guard ~ 160pts
- Musician, Trueflight Arrows

5 Glade Riders ~ 120pts
- Musician, Trueflight Arrows

5 Glade Riders ~ 120pts
- Musician, Trueflight Arrows

5 Deepwood Scouts ~ 85pts
- Swiftshiver Shards

7 Wild Riders ~ 226pts
- Full Command, Shields

Great Eagle ~ 50pts

Great Eagle ~ 50pts

8 Waywatchers ~ 160pts

Total ~ 1998pts

I made good use of Eternal Guard in my tournament list from last year, so wanted to continue with those (especially with the new rule changes). Wild Riders have replaced Treekin as my hammer, and Waywatchers have returned to the list in place of the big Glade Guard unit I had been using. I'm curious about the utility of Glade Riders, so included a couple of units to see how they'd fare.

I had my first game with this list last night, so I will write up a quick BatRep in the next post.
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Re: The Hounds of Brenin-Armon: An Army Blog

Post by frogboy »

Where's the Dragon ?
Its been too long since we burned a heretic, witch hunt anyone !??
sentinalofthewoods wrote:yes, unicorn riders that shoot rainbows..hell yeah
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Re: The Hounds of Brenin-Armon: An Army Blog

Post by Beithir Seun »

Game #1: vs. Tomb Kings

Probably not the hardest match up for the new book, especially as I knew my opponent wouldn't be bringing a really tough list (although I didn't know he was bringing Tomb Kings specifically). As such, I knew going in that any "findings" would have to be taken with a pinch of salt, as I didn't expect it to be a hard game from the beginning.

My opponent's list looked a little something like this:

Tomb King on Chariot with Ogre Blade
Lv.4 Hierophant Liche High Priest
Lv.2 Liche Priest on Steed
5 Chariots with Full Command and Banner of Swiftness
41 Archers with Full Command
15 Horsemen with Full Command
3 Ushabti
5 Carrion
6 Horse Archers
6 Horse Archers
Tomb Scorpion

***Disclaimer: I'm a Battle Chronicler virgin, so the following images may be a little rough around the edges. I'll get better, promise...***

Terrain

Due to time constraints, I simply rolled for the number of terrain pieces and left my opponent to place them. We got six pieces of terrain, and somewhat unsurprisingly there was not a forest among them. I placed my free wood (Venom Thicket) just outside my deployment zone in a gap between two hills, just offset from the big hill where I expected to see the huge Archer unit...

Image

Deployment

Naturally, I centred my deployment around the free wood while my opponent deployed mainly around the big hill, where he placed his Archers as predicted. The Chariots were placed far out on my weak flank, which I promptly Vanguarded my Wild Riders to partially cover. The Scouting Horse Archers were a slight pain, and I was careless in not checking that the flanking Glade Guard were close enough to the table edge to close off that placement option. The Waywatchers were flung out on my opponent's flank to counter the Carrion and Ushabti, but were foiled by the second Horse Archer unit...

Image

We both had the same number of drops, and I lost the roll off for first turn which meant my opponent moved first

Tomb Kings T1

Basically, everything moved as far forward as it could, while both Horse Archers moved closer to their respective targets. Magic saw the Archers, Chariots and Horsemen magically moved again (careless positioning meant the Ushabti were out of range), but on the plus side the Liche Priest managed to blow himself up with a Dimensional Cascade whilst doing so. First blood to the Wood Elves!

Shooting saw me lose 2 Waywatchers (damn those Asp Arrows!) and 5 Glade Guard from my central unit. Panics were passed.

***NOTE: The lone model left of the Carrion is the Hierophant. He should be in the Archers. First Battle Chronicler fail!***

Image

Wood Elves T1

Forced to choose between the Horsemen and Chariots, the Wild Riders ploughed in the Horsemen. The two Eagles moved to annoy the Carrion and Ushabti/Archers respectively, while the right-hand Glade Guard swift-reformed to face both the Horse Archers and the Chariots. The Eternal Guard took up position in their Venom Thicket, while the Spellweaver joined the Scouts.

Magic saw me fail to cast my first spell, attempting to Wither the Horsemen. Shooting was rather a waste of time - the Waywatchers killed just two Horse Archers, the central Glade Guard killed two Archers and the right-hand Glade Guard knocked the other Horse Archers down to two (not the four shown - second BC fail!) Combat was much more respectable, with the Wild Riders demolishing the Horsemen (without the aid of their Steeds, for once!) and running over them into the flank of the Archers!

Image

Tomb Kings T2

Crunch time, as the Chariots ploughed into the Glade Guard (although they managed to inflict a single Wound before dying...). The Ushabti charged the Eagle, who fled out of the way and allowed the Ushabti to redirect into the Eternal Guard (as planned, mwuhahaha!) The Carrion charged the other Eagle who held. Shooting saw the Horse Archers kill another couple of Waywatchers (which I forgot to remove on the map...) The other Horse Archers had no target, so simply moved forward.

Combat predictably saw the Chariots run the Glade Guard over in short order and overrun behind the hill, while the Wild Riders reduced the massive Archer unit to just 10 models (including the Hierophant). The Carrion made short work of the Eagle, and reformed to face the Wild Riders. The Ushabti got thoroughly hammered by the Eternal Guard, who lost a single model in return before the last Ushabti crumbled.

Image

Wood Elves T2

In a desperate bid to avoid ignominy, the Waywatchers decided to beat the Skeletons to death with their bows rather than shoot them, and charged in. The Eagle rallied (on the spot, contrary to what the map shows...) and the Glade Guard moved to get a shot at the Carrion.

Magic reduced the Archers down to T1, and two Carrion fell into the Pit of Shades. The Glade Guard took another wound off the Carrion, while the Wild Riders finished off the Archers and reformed to face the incoming Chariots. The Waywatchers managed to only draw the combat with the Horse Archers, but were saved by the crumbling of the Hierophant and the destruction of the rest of the Horse Archer unit. The Carrion popped as well, leaving just the Tomb King and his Chariots on the table...

Image

Tomb King T3

The Tomb Scorpion finally showed up right behind the Wild Riders, while the Chariots could do nothing more than prepare for a Wild Rider charge.

Image

Wood Elves T3

Both Glade Rider units turned up (which it looks like I forgot on the maps...d'oh!) and the Wild Riders flew headlong into the Chariots. Magic saw the Enfeebling dispelled, but Withering reduced the Chariots to T1 and the Wild Riders were Mindrazor'd up to S9 :sexy: All the Chariots were reduced in short order, which left the Tomb King to strike back with this Ogre Blade. Two Wild Riders died, the Tomb King crumbled and then another four Wild Riders died to The Curse, leaving just the Wild Hunter standing. Ouch!

Image

All that was left to do was for the Tomb Scorpion to crumble at the start of the Tomb King T4, which meant game over.

I'd lost:

10 Glade Guard
1/2 of the second Glade Guard
Eagle
1/2 Waywatchers
1/2 Wild Riders

= 483pts

He'd lost:

Everything!

~~~

Tabled in effectively three turns - I can't say that's happened too often with my Wood Elves before. So what did I learn?

1. Firstly, I really have to stop placing my Glade Guard on the edge of my deployment zone. Especially as I had Trueflight Arrows and was ignoring all To Hit modifiers for long range, movement and the like! Stupid mistake, and it lead to one unit getting shot up and the other getting a second turn charge...

2. Wild Riders hit HARD!!! (!!!) They're still fragile, as nearly getting done over by the Tomb King showed, but that won't matter when they're destroying most stuff in one round of combat...

3. Eternal Guard are pretty awesome in a Venom Thicket. Charging straight in with just three Ushabti certainly played into their hands, but I was still pleasantly surprised by just how deadly they were.

4. If games are going to be over this early, I'm really unsure what place Glade Riders have in the list. They only just showed up in time, and didn't have any impact when they did show up (although the Tomb Scorpion was their only possible target by that point...)

5. I really cocked up with the Waywatchers, and probably should have had them ready to ping off the Chariots rather than sticking them out in a corner where they were completely nullified by a unit worth half their points. Add in the fact that Tomb Kings always hit on 5+, and the Waywatchers ended up suffering more casualties that they caused...

~ ~ ~

Anyway, that's one victory under my belt with the new book at least. Things I want to try for the future:

1. Wildwood Rangers: I can see these being quite a staple of my list, as I quite often face Undead armies and/or armies with big nasties.
2. Treemen: Cannons are not a worry for me, as I only ever have to face one Hellcannon plus the occasional Bolt Thrower (no Dwarfs or Empire in my club!) I love the models, want at least two, so a two-or-three Tree list is intriguing.
3. Warhawks: I have six of them knocking around, and they've never seen the tabletop. They seem a lot better in the new book, so I want to give them a run out.
4. More Waywatchers: They clearly have the potential to be awesome, and I know I used them badly in this game. More games (and more Waywatchers) will give me a better impression of their abilities


Any thoughts, advice and suggestions welcome!
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Re: The Hounds of Brenin-Armon: An Army Blog

Post by Beithir Seun »

frogboy wrote:Where's the Dragon ?

Still sitting on the painting table, waiting for his turn :D
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Re: The Hounds of Brenin-Armon: An Army Blog

Post by Eye-Thief »

Good show Beithir!

It's great to see what the Wild Riders are capable of with the new book! As to your points:

1. While placing the Glade Guard so close to your opponent despite the fact they were ignoring all To Hit penalties may not seem like the wisest decision to make their points back, it did draw his Chariots straight into them, leaving your Wild Riders free to wreak havoc in the centre of his line.

2. Needless to say, the Wild Riders really shone in your battle report.

3. Like a lot of people, as has been especially noted in Tethlis' blog, I have been debating the decision between EG and GG, and it's good to once more hear that the Eternal Guard can hold their own in the right situations.

4. To be honest, I've played 5 games with the new book so far, and I've only managed to table my opponent as early as Turn 3 or 4 once. Granted, I'm far from as experienced with the army as yourself or Tethlis, but I consider myself somewhat competent :P
What really sealed the deal was his placement of the horsemen in relation to his Hierophant's bunker, which let the Wild Rider's really shine after they scattered the horsemen on the charge. A great move on your behalf to take advantage of that. If his army had have been more war-machine heavy or had have held back longer, you may have seen the Glade Riders pull their weight.

5. You made good use of their scout move, which is the first time I've seen anyone do that, which was pretty cool. If they had have taken out the horse archers with their shooting they could have then gone to work on the Ushabti or Carrions, so it was a good plan.

Anyway, that's my 2 cents. Good job bud! And nice first-job with Battle Chronicler, better than I could probably do :P
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Re: The Hounds of Brenin-Armon: An Army Blog

Post by pip »

MOAR BATTLE REPORTS!!!

Eternal Guard in a forest is certainly a scary thing. It was a little sad your waywatchers were struggling with horse archers, but it is a dice game. The terrain was certainly anti-wood elf so I'm glad you managed to get so much use out of the forest you placed. Here it is almost a given that every table will have 6 pieces of terrain and at minimum 1 will be a forest. The maximum is 2, but 2 is seen probably 95% of the time. A good thing you weren't using moonstone though!

I just started using Battle Chronicler myself, and from what I could tell I feel its better to leave the size of a unit the same until the next turn even if it takes dmg. For Example Wood Elf Turn 3 it took me a moment to realize that the wild riders were in against the chariot unit. It was the only thing that made sense but with the unit being reduced to 1 they weren't as easy to find.
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Re: The Hounds of Brenin-Armon: An Army Blog

Post by Beithir Seun »

Thanks for the input so far :)
1. While placing the Glade Guard so close to your opponent despite the fact they were ignoring all To Hit penalties may not seem like the wisest decision to make their points back, it did draw his Chariots straight into them, leaving your Wild Riders free to wreak havoc in the centre of his line.
That is a good point, although I hadn't considered it myself. It gave both the Horsemen and Chariots an easy target, and kept that annoying unit of Horse Archers occupied and out of the Wild Riders' way, so definitely a silver lining.
4. To be honest, I've played 5 games with the new book so far, and I've only managed to table my opponent as early as Turn 3 or 4 once. Granted, I'm far from as experienced with the army as yourself or Tethlis, but I consider myself somewhat competent :P
What really sealed the deal was his placement of the horsemen in relation to his Hierophant's bunker, which let the Wild Rider's really shine after they scattered the horsemen on the charge. A great move on your behalf to take advantage of that. If his army had have been more war-machine heavy or had have held back longer, you may have seen the Glade Riders pull their weight.
That's somewhat reassuring to hear, although I really shouldn't be complaining about winning quickly :D The Wild Riders overrunning into the Archers was a careless mistake from my opponent, and stems from the fact that he's a very infrequent Fantasy player and also terrible with remembering rules (which, combined, probably meant he hadn't even considered the possibility of an overrun...) That's mostly why I'm not reading too much into my "findings" from this battle, as I never really expected a difficult game (although that sounds arrogant on the face of it, I *do* have a lot more practice and am far more familiar with the rules and my army, even if it's a new army book!)
pip wrote:Eternal Guard in a forest is certainly a scary thing. It was a little sad your waywatchers were struggling with horse archers, but it is a dice game. The terrain was certainly anti-wood elf so I'm glad you managed to get so much use out of the forest you placed. Here it is almost a given that every table will have 6 pieces of terrain and at minimum 1 will be a forest. The maximum is 2, but 2 is seen probably 95% of the time. A good thing you weren't using moonstone though!
Yes, the Waywatchers definitely didn't show to their full potential, but I'm fully confident that future battles will demonstrate their skills better! As for the terrain, it was an unusual method, as normally we will roll on the Random Terrain Generator in the BRB. This time, my opponent knew he was facing Wood Elves so deliberately picked six terrain pieces that weren't woods :smirk: I can't say I blame him!

Thanks for the advice on Battle Chronicler as well. I might have to tap Tethlis for some tips :smirk:
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Re: The Hounds of Brenin-Armon: An Army Blog

Post by Trooper »

Your battle report has helped make up my mind on what to do with the two boxes of Eternal Guard that I purchased, today. :nod:
They will become EG instead of Wildwood Rangers.
Rangers will have to wait.

Thanks!
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Re: The Hounds of Brenin-Armon: An Army Blog

Post by Polycotton »

Thanks for the battle report.

Definitely try out Warhawks. As was pointed out in another thread recently they are a slightly more expensive but harder hitting and more resilient Glade Rider unit that start on the table. I think I will be picking up at least three new Gamezone Warhawks, however I've still got my old 5th edition Warhawks lying round in a box somewhere; they look so dicky with their legs around the Hawks necks though.
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Re: The Hounds of Brenin-Armon: An Army Blog

Post by Mist Walker »

There are skirmishing cavalry now? I've been away from the game for too long.

1. With Trueflight arrows, I wonder if playing a full refused flank might work. Shooting should be able to demolish a couple of units on your opponents flank while moving up closer, and then turning should be easy enough (do swift reforms preclude shooting? I can't remember)

2. That seems to be a theme across all the reports I've read. It feels a bit like 7th where it was possible to kill the whole rank you're fighting. Except now it's most of the unit...

3. What about wardancers in a venom thicket then? They don't have the same numbers, but they're rerolling misses against more opponents and can either go for extra attacks and inflict a lot of damage or remove ranks at the same time as the opponent losing steadfast from the forest. I'm not sure that it can be relied upon though, it seems to easy to just leave forests alone. I'll be interested to see how eternal guard perform out in the open.

4. Not much to say on glade riders at the moment except that it's a shame they have to ambush all the time.

5. Agreed, but there's only so much you can do against scouts. And the always hitting on 5+ isn't the same inconvenience for waywatchers that it used to be. It's interesting seeing waywatchers against armies without lots of armour, unless they already have a modifier going there's not actually any statistical advantage to the multi-shot.

It might have turned out a bit differently if they hadn't taken on the eternal guard with just the ushabti. A turn of waiting would have given the chariots a chance at joining in if they were willing to risk the dangerous terrain (although, maybe they were prohibitively far away).

What did you make of your scouts?
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Re: The Hounds of Brenin-Armon: An Army Blog

Post by Sunshine coconut »

Beithir Seun wrote:
frogboy wrote:Where's the Dragon ?

Still sitting on the painting table, waiting for his turn :D
Is this the same one that we bought together with the sisters?
I decided there was no way I'd build a 4th eagle, so gave it to a mate to convert/put together. Hopefully getting it on Friday this week to be played in a tourney that weekend!!!

I like the battle chronicler. Do you guys know if you could do the same thing with UB?
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Re: The Hounds of Brenin-Armon: An Army Blog

Post by Beithir Seun »

Sunshine coconut wrote:
Beithir Seun wrote:
frogboy wrote:Where's the Dragon ?

Still sitting on the painting table, waiting for his turn :D
Is this the same one that we bought together with the sisters?
Yep :smirk: Bet you're glad the Sisters are still in the book after they traveled all the way to Australia for you :D
I like the battle chronicler. Do you guys know if you could do the same thing with UB?
I have no idea, but I should think so. I have no experience with using UB either, but you should be able to construct the images in the same way as you can on Battle Chronicler...
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Re: The Hounds of Brenin-Armon: An Army Blog

Post by Beithir Seun »

OK, it's taken a while, but I've finally got my second game with the new book scheduled for tomorrow, against Skaven.

This is the list I'm thinking of taking:
Spellweaver ~ 235pts
- Lv.4, Scroll of Shielding

Spellsinger ~ 140pts
- Lv.2, Dispel Scroll

Eternal Guard (25) ~ 330pts
- Full Command, Shields

Eternal Guard (25) ~ 330pts
- Full Command, Shields

Wild Riders (7) ~ 226pts
- Shields, Full Command

Wild Riders (7) ~ 226pts
- Shields, Full Command

Deepwood Scouts (10) ~ 160pts
- Hagbane Tips

Deepwood Scouts (10) ~ 160pts
- Hagbane Tips

Treeman ~ 245pts
- Strangleroots

Treeman ~ 245pts
- Strangleroots

Great Eagle ~ 50pts

Great Eagle ~ 50pts

= 2397pts

I've included two Wild Riders units, because I was so impressed with one unit in my first game that I thought I'd double up :D The two Treeman are in because I have two new Treemen models to christen on the tabletop! Possibly a liability if a Warp-lightning Cannon or two show up, but heyho. Unfortunately, I haven't built my unit of Wildwood Rangers yet, so I left them out (although I could always proxy, I suppose...)

Anyway, I'm still open to suggestions, and I'm happy to try out what people want to see!
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Re: The Hounds of Brenin-Armon: An Army Blog

Post by hamicron »

I'm surprised by the lack of a BSB with all the stubborn CC in that list. Certainly when I have taken melee units but not brought a BSB I end up regretting it every time. Not sure what you could cut to fit one in though?
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Re: The Hounds of Brenin-Armon: An Army Blog

Post by Yuri »

hamicron wrote:I'm surprised by the lack of a BSB with all the stubborn CC in that list. Certainly when I have taken melee units but not brought a BSB I end up regretting it every time. Not sure what you could cut to fit one in though?
Eternals by 5 in each unit and a lil bit of scouts.

@ Mr. Beithir
Spellcasters on foot? And... what lore you're going to use?
By the way, mr. Beithir, you cant name your topic "The Hounds of Brenin-Armon" and post absolutely 0 fluff! A-A. Big no, no. <.< :D
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Re: The Hounds of Brenin-Armon: An Army Blog

Post by Beithir Seun »

Yuri wrote:@ Mr. Beithir
Spellcasters on foot? And... what lore you're going to use?
By the way, mr. Beithir, you cant name your topic "The Hounds of Brenin-Armon" and post absolutely 0 fluff! A-A. Big no, no. <.< :D
Yep, spellcasters on foot. Mostly because I've not got any mounted spellcaster models! Otherwise, I would definitely consider mounting them for added mobility.

I ended up using a Highweaver and Shadow-singer. I'll give more details and comments when I've written the battle report up!

I don't actually have the background for the army itself written up into legible fluff (it's all in notes), but if you want fluff to read based on the army fluff you can always read this: http://www.asrai.org/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=5495 :D
hamicron wrote:I'm surprised by the lack of a BSB with all the stubborn CC in that list
Normally (i.e. with the previous book) I'd always take a BSB. With EG being Stubborn on their own now, I don't think it's *as* crucial (although still recommended). I wanted to see how things went without one for a change :smirk:

Anyway, I will get a battle report written up soon and go into more details then!
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Re: The Hounds of Brenin-Armon: An Army Blog

Post by Yuri »

Beithir Seun wrote:
Yuri wrote:@ Mr. Beithir
Spellcasters on foot? And... what lore you're going to use?
By the way, mr. Beithir, you cant name your topic "The Hounds of Brenin-Armon" and post absolutely 0 fluff! A-A. Big no, no. <.< :D
Yep, spellcasters on foot. Mostly because I've not got any mounted spellcaster models! Otherwise, I would definitely consider mounting them for added mobility.

I ended up using a Highweaver and Shadow-singer. I'll give more details and comments when I've written the battle report up!

I don't actually have the background for the army itself written up into legible fluff (it's all in notes), but if you want fluff to read based on the army fluff you can always read this: http://www.asrai.org/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=5495 :D
I'm really curious about that setup (highweaver + shadowsinger) coz I have the same and only one game with it under my belt. Looking forward to read about that. Thanks for the link! :sexy:
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Re: The Hounds of Brenin-Armon: An Army Blog

Post by Beithir Seun »

Game #2 - vs. Skaven, 2400pts

The Skaven list perhaps wasn't optimised, as my opponent was limited in terms of figures available (as he didn't have access to his full collection).

Grey Seer on Screaming Bell
- Book of Ashur, Skalm

40 Clanrats, Full Command, S&S, Doom-flayer
30 Clanrats, Full Command, S&S, PW Mortar
30 Clanrats, Full Command, S&S, Warpfire Thrower
6 Rat Ogres
6 Rat Ogres
10 PW Globadiers, PW Mortar, Bombadier with Death Globe
Doomwheel
Hell Pit Abomination

I used High magic on my Weaver, to see how it would work. I ended up with Soul Quench, Apotheosis, Hand of Glory and Tempest. My Lv.2 ran the Lore of Shadow, and I got Miasma and The Withering. The Seer ended up with Warp-Lightning, Pestilent Breath, Scorch and Howling Warpgale.

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Terrain was pretty busy, with nine pieces rolled before adding my free wood into the mix. The free Venom Thicket is the right-hand wood, which gave me two nice choke-points for the big Skaven units...

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Deployment was relatively straightforward. The two EG units deployed opposite the bulk of the Skaven forces, flanked on either side by Treemen. The fast units (Eagles and Wild Riders) deployed on the left flank to make the most of the gap there, although the HPA was worrying. I wasn't sure how the Wild Riders would fare there...

WE Turn 1

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I completely forgot about Vanguard, but I don't think I'd have used it anyway. I won the roll-off for first turn and took it. Both Eagles moved up to tempt the Frenzied Rat Ogres. The Eternal Guard edged forwards to take up position in the choke-point, while the Wild Riders moved enough to set up charges through the gap in between the two woods. Both Treeman moved up in support, one in to the central wood and the other between the Venom Thicket and the ruins. The Weaver joined the Treeman in the central wood, aiming for the +1 to cast. Magic was largely uneventful however, due to the fact that the forest I'd moved my Weaver into turned out to be a Blood Forest, and I didn't want it rampaging around the board and messing up my plans! That meant I was limited to attempting to cast The Withering on the Bell unit, which was easily dispelled. Shooting was fairly average, with the right-hand Scouts killing two Packmasters and taking a wound from a Rat Ogre in the right-hand unit, while the left-hand Scouts shot down one of the Globadiers.

Skaven Turn 1

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Skaven turn, and we began with both Rat Ogre units failing their Ld tests and were forced to charge the two Eagles. The right-hand ROgres ended up blocking the Bell unit, which was good, but the left-hand Ogres didn't roll high enough to get in the way of the HPA, unfortunately. Worse still, both Eagles ended up right in front of one of the Wild Riders units - poor planning on my part. With the Rat Ogres in the way, the left-hand Clanrats had to take the long route around the left-hand wood. The HPA shambled forward, with the Globadiers taking up position next to it in order to lob nasty globes at the Treeman. The Doomwheel rolled to the side of the hill and zapped three of the Scouts (who passed their Panic check), while the two Mortars attempted to drop things on my elves but scattered harmlessly wide. The Seer attempted to cast every spell he'd got but nothing of consequence worked out.

WE Turn 2

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On to Turn 2, and it began with a rather unwanted failed Ld test from the left-hand Wild Riders, who were subsequently forced to charge the HPA. That wasn't what I wanted, and I feared I'd soon have a HPA rambling through my lines and munching down on everything in it's path. The Treeman charged out of the Blood Forest into the Globadiers to avoid having stuff lobbed at him again. The Eternal Guard units moved up to force the issue on the right flank, while the Eagles both rallied and forced the Wild Riders to move around them to the edge of the left-hand wood. The Weaver moved out of the Blood Forest so she could cast spells safely! Magic didn't achieve much, with the very first spell (Hand of Glory on the Treeman, to increase I) IFed and subsequently wounding the both the Singer and Weaver, and losing me the rest of my power dice. Shooting was relatively uneventful as well, although the Scouts in the Venom Thicket managed to score two Poisoned wounds on the Doomwheel (although it didn't go out of control...)

Combat was a lot more impressive, as the Treeman easily cut down the Globadiers and pursued the remnants into the flank of the nearest Clanrat unit. The Wild Riders managed to score three wounds on the HPA, but suffered three in return. The HPA failed it's Stubborn Break test, however, but ran slightly too far for the Wild Riders to catch it.

Skaven Turn 2

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The Skaven turn began with both Rat Ogres units making successful charges, one against the EG on the ruins and the other unexpectedly making the long charge needed to charge the intact Wild Rider unit on the edge of the left-hand wood, which turned out to be a Fungus Forest. The Doomwheel attempted to flank the EG as well, but couldn't roll high enough. It nearly worked out well in the end, as the Doomwheel went Out of Control after misfiring with it's lightning attack and ended up charging straight into the Treeman. Unfortunately, the combats didn't go as well as my opponent hoped, as the Rat Ogres against the Wild Riders ended up with the Ogres running and the Wild Riders pursuing into the flank of the nearby Clanrats. The Doomwheel managed to reduce the Treeman to a single wound before being reduced to tinder in return. The other Treeman made a dent in the Clanrats, but they held thanks to Steadfast.

WE Turn 3

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Time for more charges! The Wild Riders re-charged the HPA, the unengaged EG flank-charged the remaining Rat Ogres, while the Eagles moved up to generally get in the way again. Magic ended abruptly again - Tempest managed to kill six Clanrats in the Bell unit, before an attempted Withering IFed (on three dice!) and killed my Singer, while the Weaver was saved by her newly acquired protection counter. There was very little to do with shooting, but I did pick off the one PWM I could see with the left-hand Scouts.

Combat was decisive, as the two Eternal Guard thrashed the Rat Ogres and ran them down (I think I've gone a bit wrong here, as the EG units appear to have reformed to face the Bell unit - obviously, they couldn't have done this after pursuing). The big Wild Rider unit easily defeated the Clanrats, who failed their Break test and were run down off table. The other Wild Riders managed another wound on the HPA, but lost two in return. This time the HPA passed it's Break test. The Treeman again clobbered the Clanrats, but they refused to run.


Skaven Turn 3

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Lacking the opportunity to charge the EG, the Bell unit crashed into the Eagle (who had to hold, otherwise we'd have lots of dead EG...) The Doom-flayer also declared a charge against my Weaver, who I'd carelessly left exposed. Naturally, she fled out of reach. Magic was uneventful - despite the Seer having an almost unopposed casting phase, none of his spells managed any damage! Combat saw the HPA finally get the better of the Wild Riders, killing off the last two, while the Bell unit easily wiped out the Eagle and reformed to face the Eternal Guard.

WE Turn 4

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I think I've got more details confused here - contrary to what the map shows, the EG didn't charge the Bell unit; they reformed to face them. The Treeman and Scouts moved up on the flanks, while the Wild Riders legged it back onto the battlefield. The last Eagle charged the last PWM, forcing it to flee, while the Weaver rallied right in the middle of the Blood Forest. The Scouts managed to make their points back in one fell swoop by taking the last two wounds off the HPA in a single round of shooting. It spawned a single Rat Swarm in response...

Skaven Turn 4

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This must have been the turn where the Bell unit charged the bigger EG unit! The Rat Swarm charged into the flank of the Treeman, while the Doom-flayer again forced the Weaver to flee. The Grey Seer finally got his magic working, with Warp-Lightning taking the last wound off the Treeman, and Scorching another three Scouts. The other Treeman finally killed off the Clanrats, but had the Rat Swarm still to tackle. The Bell unit killed some Eternal Guard, and suffered casualties in return. Everything held.

WE Turn 5

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The Wild Riders charged into the flank of the Bell unit, the other EG unit charged into the combat as well, and the Eagle charged the PWM which fled out of reach again. The Scouts quickly took it down though. The Treeman easily killed the Rat Swarm, while the Wild Riders put two wounds on the Bell and the Eternal Guard knocked the Clanrats down to just six models.

Skaven Turn 5

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Not a lot left to do for the Skaven, except kill as much as possible before dying! Unfortunately for them, the EG managed to wipe out the Clanrats, leaving just the Bell. Bereft of their charging bonuses, the Wild Riders couldn't do much to hurt the Bell though.

WE Turn 6

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The Eagle charged into the rear of the Bell, the Treeman moved up in support just for kicks. The Scouts killed the Doom-flayer, but the Bell survived another round of combat.

Skaven Turn 6

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Nothing left to happen, except a few spell attempts and another round of combat. The Bell survives again, and the game ends.

Wood Elves 1717VPs vs. Skaven 1062VPs - Solid Victory!

~ ~ ~

So, not the best battle report as it turns out. Funny how my memory can go so fuzzy just two days after the event! I've got a few details mixed up, but the key facts are there I think :D

I was unsure how the Wild Riders would fare against the HPA, and in the end they didn't survive the encounter. It's reinforced the opinion that they hit hard, but are extremely vulnerable to return attacks. The HPA proved it was too tough, and carried enough punch to take the WR out with relative ease. That said, I was pretty impressed with how easily the other Wild Riders chomped through the lesser units of Clanrats and Rat Ogres. I'll definitely be trying to run two units again.

Eternal Guard are still solid and dependable; even without a BSB, they were never in a situation where they looked like running. Granted, they took a hefty number of casualties (one unit was reduced to 9, the other down to 13) but that's pretty much a feature of the Wood Elf army as a whole, and lesser units would have run long before.

I'm not convinced about running a Singer, at least not with Shadows. I like Shadows as a lore, but having just two spells to work with, with limited application, meant I didn't get much use out of the Singer.

The Weaver with High I'm willing to try again - High seems like a nice "jack-of-all-trades" lore. In all honesty, I didn't get a lot of use out of *any* magic in the game, due to fleeing for two turns, and IFing and ending the magic phase early twice. Truth be told, I'd prefer to run two Lv.4's rather than a Lv.4 and Lv.2, or even just a single Lv.4 as in the first game.
Carrot and Stick ~ Beithir's Blog
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