Battle report (8th): 3000pts Empire vs Wood Elves

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LadyLoec
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Armies I play: Wood Elves, Vampire Counts, Empire, Warriors of Chaos, Skaven, Dark Elves, Dwarves
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Battle report (8th): 3000pts Empire vs Wood Elves

Post by LadyLoec »

My army:
Lv4 shadow weaver with Acorn of the Ages
Lv3 treeman ancient with strangleroots
Waystalker with ruby ring
Branchwraith
Glade captain BSB and moonstone
30 wildwood rangers with standard of discipline
20 glade guard with hagbane and eternal flame banner (bane of hellpit abominations the world over)
20 glade guard with arcane bodkins
12 dryads
7 waywatchers
7 wardancers
5 wild riders with banner of swiftness
Treeman with strangelroots
3 tree kin
Eagle

His army:
General
Lv4 light mage with earthing rod
Warrior priest (in unit of knights)
Master engineer
Luminark of Heysh
Mortar
Cannon
Helblaster volley gun
50 halberdiers
20 knightly orders
6 demigryphs
6 pistoliers
30 flagellants

Scenario and Deployment
We rolled Battle for the Pass. 7 pieces of scenery. An acropolis of heroes bottom left, haunted mansion top right, hill in the middle, ghost fence centre bottom, khemrian quicksand centre top, forests top left and bottom right.

Acorn nets me an additional 3 forests (clearly, I'm packing miracle gro), plus my free wood. I choose an Abyssal Wood for my free forest (to give my WWRs bonus attacks).

Magic
Branchwraith gets awakening the wood. TMA gets throne, regrowth and dwellers. Shadow weaver gets miasma, enfeebling, pendulum and okkams.

Light mage gets shems burning gaze, net, banishment, light of battle.

Deployment
I deploy the ancient behind the acropolis of heroes. Treeman, dryads (with branchwraith) and wild riders on my right flank. WWRs with BSB in my free forest. Tree kin and wardancers on my left flank. Bodkin archers behind the wardancers with the shadow mage in them. Hagbane archers centre-right. Waywatchers behind the haunted mansion.

He puts the luminark, mortar, engineer and helblaster on his left flank with the flagellants. Pistoliers and knightly orders on his right flank with the cannon. Halberdiers in the centre. Demigryphs ended up behind the knightly orders due to narrow deployment zones and the khemrian quicksand.

Wild riders and pistoliers both vanguard. He uses this to turn the pistoliers around after the waywatchers. He gets first turn.

Forests are revealed as a blood forest (bottom left), abyssal wood (top left), fungus forest (top centre) and wildwood (centre right).

Empire turn one
Movement: No charges. Halberdiers, knightly orders, demigryphs and flagellants all move up.
Magic: I dispel the luminark's strength 8 flaming slot at my treeman. He gets net on my hagbane archer unit.
Shooting: Pistoliers try to shoot the waywatchers but wound some unfortunate nearby pigeons instead. Cannon aims 6" in front of the tree kin, but rolls 2's for overshoot and plough. Mortar scatters off and only kills one dryad. Helblaster is out of range.
No combat.

Wood Elves turn one
Movement: My eagle sallies forth to redirect the knightly orders. Tree kin and wardancers move up to try and tempt further charges across the quicksand. Treeman and wild riders move up (wild riders reform into 3 across to get past the fence. WWRs teleport with moonstone to the forest behind his war machines, which turns out to be a normal forest. Ancient cowers behind the acropolis until the nasty kaboom machines are gone.
Magic: Throne of vines is dispelled. The woods want a lie in and I fail to cast awakening.
Shooting: Waywatchers take out all but one of the pistoliers, remaning one flees. I pop off two knights with the bodkin archers. I choose not to risk the net and don't shoot with the hagbane archers.
No combat

Empire turn two
Movement: No charges. Fleeing pistolier hits terrain and dies. Flagellants move up to the fence. Halberdiers keep moving. Demigryphs head diagonally across towards the emerging fight on the other side of the board. Knights stare blankly at the eagle.
Magic: I dispel net on the hagbane archers, lose a wild rider to the luminark.
Shooting: Cannon takes 4 wounds off the tree kin. Mortar scatters off the dryads and kills 2 glade guard instead. Helblaster guns down 4 WWRs. Engineer kills another unfortunate pigeon with his hochland long rifle.
No combat

Wood Elves turn two
Movement: Wild riders charge the luminark. WWRs charge the helblaster. Eagle hovers between the flanks of the demigryphs and knightly orders whilst squawking irksomely. Wardancers move up so they can flank charge the knights if the tree kin hold. Tree kin lurk menacingly/lazily in the forest. Waywatchers move up to take potshots at the cannon. Ancient is still cowering like a fraidy cat.
Magic: Ancient successfully casts throne of vines and then regrowth on the glade guard. Fireball kills the engineer. Think I failed a one-dice shot at miasma on the knights.
Shooting: Waywatchers kill the cannon. Knights shrug off all but one shot from the bodkin archers. Hagbane archers can't see past the horde of halberdiers to shoot the demigryphs, so settle for killing 5 halberdiers.
Combat: Wild riders kill the luminark and overrun into the mortar. WWR's are obviously disoriented from the teleport and only do 2 wounds to the helblaster. We've not played for a while and screw up war machine combat res, thinking the panic rule where they never abandon the war machine applies to combat (won't be making that mistake twice!).

Empire turn three
Movement: Knights charge the tree kin (clipping both marsh and forest, but only losing one to dangerous terrain). Halberdiers have an asthma attack halfway to the hagbane archers, losing a few more to a stand and shoot. Flagellants turn around to face the flank of the wild riders. Demigryphs carry on over towards my right flank. Engineer tries to nonchalantly skulk off.
Magic: I fail to dispel (another) net on the hagbane archers. I let him get soulfire off on the knights, thinking the tree kin are doomed regardless. Shem's burning gaze fails to cast.
Shooting: Everything that can shoot is either dead or in combat.
Combat: Wild riders do 2 wounds on the mortar, WWR's fail to wound the helblaster (we still haven't clocked that those war machines should be toast). Knights make mulch of the tree kin, restrain and reform from victory to face the wardancers.

Wood Elves turn three
Movement: Treeman moves up towards the rear of the flagellants. Ancient comes out of hiding and moves up behind the hagbane archers. Waywatchers keep moving towards the demigryphs. Eagle plonks himself in front of the demigryphs and sticks his tongue out (trying to tempt an overrun over the fence). Everything else stays put.
Magic: I roll painfully low for the winds and try for awakening and pendulum (at the knights), but everything fails to cast or gets dispelled.
Shooting: Hagbane archers are stuck in the net, but don't get wounded. Bodkin archers pop off 2 more knights. Waywatchers do 2 wounds to the demigryphs. Treeman's strangleroot was armoured saved by the demigryphs.
Combat: Wild riders kill the mortar and overrun, stopping 1" from the flank of my WWRs. It's now we work out our mistake with the war machines and remove the helblaster after a failed leadership test.

Empire turn four
Movement: Flagellants charge the flank of the wild riders. Halberdiers charge the glade guard and make it this time (still netted, so stand and shoot actually kills 3 of my guys and none of his). Knightly orders charge the wardancers. Demigryphs decide they're fed up with the eagle and charge.
Magic: I let net off on the archer unit in combat (they're not exactly going to do much damage), and dispel a warrior priest bound spell on the knights which would give them a 5+ ward.
Combat: Flagellants kill the wild riders and overrun into the forest. Killing blow dance from the wardancers kills a couple of knights, but they get minced in return - knights fail to restrain and overrun, stopping 1" from the board edge because it's impassable terrain in this scenario. Eagle miraculously does 2 wounds to the demigryphs, one unsaved, but gets his comeuppance. Demigryphs restrain from overrunning over the fence and turn to face the dryads. Glade guard lose 8, but stay put with insane courage.

Wood Elves turn four
Movement: Treeman walks up alongside the flagellants. WWR's move into the wildwood and teleport back to the abyssal wood the other side of the hill, facing the halberdiers. Waywatchers keep chasing the demigryphs.
Magic: He dispels regrowth on the WWRs and a miasma on the knights.
Shooting: Bodkin unit kills four knights, they panic and flee into the board edge and are destroyed! Waywatchers knock 2 more wounds off the demigryphs. Treeman strangleroot kills a few flagellants
Combat: Halberdiers finish off the glade guard and overrun into the TMA.

Empire turn five
Movement: Demigryphs charge the dryads, clipping the forest but passing their dangerous terrain. Flagellants charge the treeman.
Magic: He casts light of battle on the demigryphs so they can't fail if he chooses not to chase the dryads later. I dispel another net.
Combat: Branchwraith challenges to try and draw some attacks, but it's not enough, he does 8 wounds, the dryads run into the board edge, leaving the demigryphs to reform to face the WWRs. Ancient doesn't take any wounds, kills 3 halberdiers, stays put.

Wood elves turn five
Movement: Waywatchers head towards my deployment zone. Bodkin archers angle to face the demigryphs. WWRs pass their strength test and head towards the demigryphs.
Magic: He dispels a regrowth on the WWRs and a miasma on the halberdiers.
Shooting: Fluffed the shooting phase completely - no wounds on the demigryphs (waywatchers didn't wound, and he saved a few from the bodkin archers).
Combat: Ancient takes 3 wounds, doles out 5 in return. Loses combat but stays put.

Empire turn six
Movement: Demigryphs charge the WWRs
Magic: Dispels throne of vines and casts net on the WWRs with irresistable force. Using earthing rod to prevent losing levels and instead kills 4 halberdiers in base contact.
Combat: Halberdiers and the ancient continue to stand off. He does no wounds, I do 2 I think. WWRs pass their strength test, and take the remaining wound off one demigryph. He does 3 or 4 wounds to me. WWRs pass their leadership test on the BSB reroll, needing a six.

Wood elves turn six
Movement: Treeman starts trekking back towards the action. Waywatchers move into the forest
Magic: He dispels another regrowth. I cast okkams on the WWRs (take that, strength tests!). I use the lore attribute to swap places with the waystalker in case we play on to turn 7, so that enfeebling is in range.
Shooting: Everything's in combat. Archers twiddle their thumbs.
Combat: Strength 10 rangers decimate the demigryph knights and reform to face the halberdiers. Halberdiers finally break the Ancient and pursue him off the board


Wood elf victory :D

Reflections:
- I really thought I had enough anti-armour in this army, but I struggled against that many 1+ saves.
- It was lucky that his knights ran off, but I had him pinned so he'd have to charge through 2 forests to get to me, so between that and the stand and shoot I might've still had him even if he didn't.
- I'll never make the mistake of taking my opponent's word for it on war machines again (even if that opponent is my husband!!).
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Forgotmytea
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Re: Battle report (8th): 3000pts Empire vs Wood Elves

Post by Forgotmytea »

Great battle report, sounds like a good game! :)
'The urge to escape, the longing to transcend themselves if only for a few moments, is and always has been one of the principal appetites of the soul' – Aldous Huxley
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Mollesvinet
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Re: Battle report (8th): 3000pts Empire vs Wood Elves

Post by Mollesvinet »

Sorry for the late reply. A few comments for debate:

What did the waystalker achieve? He did kill the engineer with the fireball.

Was it worth it to teleport your biggest combat unit all the way across the battlefield only to fight against a warmachine? They did get stuck on the warmachine, but it meant that they didn't see any fight until turn 6 and then possibly only because your husband charged them. And speaking of which, it seems very unlikely that they couldn't kill it in two whole turns. Did you per chance use the warmachines toughness 7 in close combat? Should have used the toughness of the crew.

About mindrazor, leadership is only used for attacks so it wouldn't help with net.

The knights did not need to test for restraining overrun. You only have to test to restrain pursues. That is, unless you forgot to mention some of the wardancers survived and got run down. The exception of course is frenzied units that are forced to overrun.

Flaming banner does not work with magical arrows. It goes well with wild riders though, as they will blast through most regenerating monsters. Especially with mindrazor on top, I had my wild riders singlehandedly destroy a unit of 8 trolls, trogg and a BSB mounted on daemonic steed.

So many forests! That worked out really well. While they do increase the strength of strangleroot, I am not sure the upgrade is worth it on ancient with only BS4.

Naked BSB in a combat unit is very risky! Your husband should have put some attacks into him when charging with the demigryphs and you wouldn't have had the reroll.

How did Light magic work out for your husband without a council? Would there be other lores you fear more?

Finally, and this is not for debate, thank you for writing the report!
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LadyLoec
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Armies I play: Wood Elves, Vampire Counts, Empire, Warriors of Chaos, Skaven, Dark Elves, Dwarves
Location: Peterborough

Re: Battle report (8th): 3000pts Empire vs Wood Elves

Post by LadyLoec »

1. Waystalker achieved (and generally achieves) very little more than a waywatcher. My purpose for him is the shadow magic attribute: I use it sometimes to get my lv4 out of the line of fire, or to a more useful position once the shooting threats have been taken care of, so essentially an escape route with a fireball. Doesn't come into play every game, but I find it handy to have around.
2. As I said at the bottom, we played that very wrong. It was our second game getting back into playing after over a year (first with war machines), and we were going on the war machine's toughness. They were supposed to sweep through his rear line, and get into the forest to teleport back into the fray after that, but obviously didn't because of how wrong we got the war machine rules.
3. Duly noted
4. Again, we realised that shortly after. Lesson learned for next time.
5. Flaming banner is there in case the nasty gets into combat with the unit. I've had this work nicely against a unit of trolls before - there were 8 when the game started, 2 when they charged, and 1 made it to the glade guard, who managed to finish him off with the flaming CC attacks. Basically flaming, high WS, with ASF means that if a wounded big nasty makes it Ito them, they might not lose any bods for next shooting phase. Has come in handy against a one-wound hellpit that made it over after the storm banner needed my shooting too.
6. Strangleroot is quite good IMO, and not too expensive. Not game-changing by any means, but for 20pts it's at least 2 S5 shots. I'll take that
7. Woops, forgot to mention BSB has the dragonhelm, shield and light armour. Wouldn't do much against the demigryphs admittedly. He definitely should have allocated onto the BSB, but all generals make mistakes.
8. My hubby loves lore of metal, but I have finally convinced him to try something new, so this was his first outing with light. Considering he basically had me in a net most of the game, I think he will be taking it again. He was mostly taking it for the non-damage spells, so don't think he considered a council. May do in future though.

Thanks for reading - didn't realise about mindrazor only affecting CC, but it's not a situation that's cropped up before! Will certainly learn from that.
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Mollesvinet
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Re: Battle report (8th): 3000pts Empire vs Wood Elves

Post by Mollesvinet »

Yeah everyone makes mistakes. I even took an illegal list to my last tournament of 9th!

Looking forward for more games from you.
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