ET: Khaine - Phoenix King vs Da Green Kingdom

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NonnoSte
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ET: Khaine - Phoenix King vs Da Green Kingdom

Post by NonnoSte »

End of Time Campaign: Khaine

After the Nagash chapter and the Glottkin chapter the third chapter of the End of Time Campaign at our local club has finally started and it’s obviously centered on the Khaine book.

I am still a match behind on the Glottkin Reports thread, so I’ll end it first, then I’ll post here some of the match I’m going to play in these days for this third chapter.
Now I’m going just to introduce the general rules and the list I chose to play for these games.

Since there are a lot of supplements in the Khaine book compared to the other two, we just took out the rule of the Fulcri Arcani and we otherwise copypasted all the other rules, with some small addictions.
First of all, we decided that since there are already 3 bigger “factions” by now, we could match and regroup the remaining armies in factions and alliances too.
So we had introduced the following:

The Great Alliance composed by Empire, Dwarves and Bretonnia, where all the cavalries can use the Lance formation, Bretonnians have the blessing without praying and Engineers both from empire and from dwarves can work on any warmachine. Thankfully, they have a cap at 5 warmachines and no more than 3 per type (with the Steam Tank counting as a Cannon).

Da Big Tribe composed by Ogre, Orcs and Goblins. Ogres become subject to animosity if there are Orc and Goblin models in the army, but they can benefit from the Whaag! And they count as Orcs for the purposes of spells and lore attribute of the Big Whaag!, while gnoblars count as Goblins. The Size Matters special rule is extended to Ogre and Gnoblars in social scale where Ogre are above Orcs and Gnoblars beneath Goblins. Ogre characters can choose to ride Mournfangs for 55 pts or Rhinox for 90 (yes, we included them as a rare choice too with Forgeworld rules). Same cap of 5 warmachines for them (goblin spear chukka counting as a half each).

The Sacred Host composed by Lizardmen and units from the High Elves book (not characters).

The Accursed Swarm composed by Skaven and Nurgle Legions of Chaos. (There can’t be at the same time Skaven casters and Legion of Chaos casters in a single army).

The Raging Legion composed by Chaos Dwarves and Khorne Legions of Chaos. Cap at 4 warmachines for them.

Legion of Chaos can’t have units worshipping more than 2 Gods simultaneously and never the opposing ones (Khorne-Slaanesh or Nurgle-Tzeentch). Elves must choose either the Host of The Phoenix King or the Host of the Aestyrion, with the Host of the Eternity King left out for balance reasons.

The interesting part in this chapter is the introduction of new magic items and Stratagems, both available according to Campaign Points. They are part of the list building, so you have to choose them before the match and they’re both treated like Magic Items, so you have to declare them once they actually influence the game.
Any Campaign Point can be converted in either 25 pts of “special” magic items or a Stratagem point.
Each army started with 5 Campaign Points and they can be gathered winning matches. 20-0 grants 3-0 Campaign points, 15-5 is 2-1, 10-10 is 1-1.
They can be accumulated, so once you buy special items or statagems, you keep them the whole Campaign and you go on adding them along the ones you already have.
Lastly we’ll be allowed to change part of the army during the campaign, up to 1000 pts. The more you lose, the more percantage becomes variable.

For the start of the Campaign I decided to go with the following list:

Alarielle, Avatar of Isha
Darkweaver L4, Fencer’s Blade, Obsidian Lodenstone, Power Stone
Master BSB heavy armour, sea dragon cloak, great weapon, Ring of Hotek
Shadowdancer Potion of Strength, Dragonbane Gem. Antidote Vials

30 Eternal Guards, shields, fcg, Banner of Protection
2 x 5 Ellyron Reavers, bows and spears, mus
20 Black Guards, fcg, Razor Standard
5 Sisters of the Thorn, mus
Frostheart Phoenix
7 Waywatchers

Stratagems: Genius of Tactica – 3 pts.

Antidote Vials and the Banner of Protection are two of our Special Items:

Antidote Vials – 25 pts
The carrier of the Vials and his unit are immune from Poison. Poisoned attacks must roll to wound as they were normal attacks against them.
The whole Army is immune to Magical Venom and Enfeebling Poison stratagems (Magical Venom is a 2 pts stratagem, which at the beginning of the match forces a T test for each unit of the opponent, causing D3 wounds with no armour save if failed. Warmachines fail with a 5+ roll. Enfeebling Poison is a 3 pts stratagem which gives -1T to the whole enemy army. This reduction wears off during the match, rolling a D6 at the beginning of each turn. A roll lower than the turn number stops the effect immediatly.)

Banner of Protection – 25 pts
Each time the bearer of the banner or his unit suffer an unsaved wound, add a counter to the banner and treat the wound as if it were saved. Once there are 6 or more counters on the banner, destroy the banner (removing the standard bearer from the unit) and the unit suffers D6 Str6 hits distributed like a shooting attack.

The Genius of Tactica stratagem allows to take up to 3 points of Stratagems amongst those of cost 1 or 2, choosing them at the beginning of the match instead of during the list writing.
Last edited by NonnoSte on 09 Jun 2015, 18:11, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: ET: Khaine - Phoenix King vs Aestyrion

Post by NonnoSte »

Lately I'm struggling to find time to put my hands on a PC, so I have to make good use of the little I can scratch here and there.
I finally managed to finish a couple of reports and I have one more in progress. The conclusive of the Glottkin Campaign is up now and I hope to find time to post some final consideration about the campaign itself at some points.

I wish I had more time to dedicate to reports (or games themselves, to be honest), but big changes in the working life plus some general disorganisation due to children and weird time schedules make sure that I'm barely able to read something here and there on my phone lately.

Lastly, I'm preparing for my first "big" tournament with an army that's not mine and between test games and the games of this campaign, the hobby time is pretty much over.

Anyway, here's the first match of the End of Time Khaine Campaign and in a couple of days I should be able to post the second one.

Host of the Aestyrion

The Khaine campaign opened with a fratricide battle, with my Host of the Phoenix King opposed to the Host of the Aestyrion led by my usual Chaos opponent who borrowed the army for this specific occasion (he's my mate for the Battle Brother tournament, guess whose models he’s using?), so I knew the match was going to be bloody no matter what.
We played at his home on an awesome icy battlefield he built in the last days, so I didn't knew its existence or else I'd have taken a camera to take some shots. Next time I'll play there I'll make sure to do it too.
The army he chose to bring to this tournament was roughly the following:

Death Hag on Cauldron of Blood (general), Witchbrew.
Sorceress L1 (Life), Dispel Scroll.
Sorceress L1 (Metal), Dark Steed, Power Stone.
Khainite Assassin, Manbane, Obsidian Blade, Potion of Fury.

35 Witch Elves, full command, Banner of Swiftness.
2 x 5 Dark Riders, shields and RXB.
24 Executioners, full command, Banner of the Infinite Rage
2 x 10 Shades, great weapons
3 x Reaper Bolt Throwers
Kharibdis
5 Warlocks

Special Items

Potion of Fury – 50 pts:
One use only. Declare the use at the beginning of the turn. The character who drinks the potion doubles the number of attacks on his/her profile until the end of the turn, but suffers a penalty of -1 to hit in close combat.

Banner of the Infinite Rage – 25 pts:
The bearer of the banner and his unit gain the Frenzy special rule. If they lose this special rule for any reason, they can regain it at the beginning of any turn on a roll of 4+.

Stratagems:

Espionage – 1 pt:
At the beginning of the game the opponent reveals any Magic Item, Special Item or Stratagem in his army list. On a roll of 4+ he also has to reveal the bearer of such items.

First Strike – 1 pt:
The army has an additional +1 on the roll to determine which player starts the match.

Before the game started I had the opportunity to choose my Stratagems for the Genius of the Tactica.
I took First Strike as well (without knowing he had it) because I expected that going first would have mattered a lot in this match and Preventive Move:
Preventive Move – 2 pts:
Up to one unit can perform a Vanguard Move in the Vanguard Movement Phase.


We rolled for scenarios and we got a simple Battle for the Pass, in a very crowded battlefield:

Deployment
Image

The two areas on the left-center were dangerous terrains which granted soft cover, while the ruins were impassible terrains conferring hard cover. He had to choose the side of the table and took the one with the hill in the middle for his RBTs.
He started spreading out his fast cavs, while I clustered behind the ruins to benefit from some cover to stand all that fire.
His main blocks stayed back to avoid my Waywatchers sneaked behind his lines and I used the Frostie to cover the backfield against his Shades. I realized too late that I had a completely blind spot on my left flank between the two hills, where he could have scouted both Shades unit to pepper my unarmoured elves.

Scout and Vanguard
Image

Fortunately I won the roll for Scouts and I immediately placed Waywatchers behind the central hill, ready to jump in the wood on top of it and clear the flank, while protecting the area from his scouts.
In response he decided to place both his Shades units directly in front of my fast cavs, in the dangerous terrains to gain cover and discourage early charges.
To even the score, he won the Vanguard roll and started moving up his northern Dark Riders (DR2) to block my own Vanguards. My sisters then jump in front of his Riders, then Warlocks controlled the centre, behind the ruins and since his last Dark Riders unit didn’t move, I could end my Vanguards, moving back Reavers and jumping ahead with Eternal Guards thanks to the stratagem (not as much as I would have wanted because of Warlocks).
Lastly, we rolled for the first turn. I rolled a 4, so I was confident I made it with my +2, but he revealed his own First Strike Stratagem once he rolled the needed 6 and I saw my plans crumble under his absurd firepower.

He then revealed his Espionage Stratagem, but failed to roll the 4+, so I just had to reveal randomly my magic items, still, he knew I would have had a 2++ vs magic on both infantry blocks.

At this point we had already consumed an hour and a half as well as a litre and a half of a tasty Belgian strong beer.
The match was going to turn out pretty hard.


Turn 1 – Host of the Aestyrion
Image

He started Moving his Warlocks in range for Doombolts on my Waywatchers, the Metal Sorc fled with Dark Riders. The other Riders shuffled in the middle, while the two blocks sprinted down mid-table.
We started the crazy End of Times magic with something like 18 Power Dice against a dozen Dispel Dice. I let him have Flesh to Stone on Witches, then he spammed Doombolts on Waywatchers until he took them out eventually (one almost survived, but we were both forgetting the Lore attribute. Those 2D6 S1 hits dealt exactly that last wound).
His batteries opened fire on the infantry blocks. 3 RBTs and Dark Riders focused on Eternal Guard killing enough of them to pop the Protection Banner and adding some other wounds too, while 20 Shades litteraly melt down Black Guards, despite their 5+/5++. Thankfully they’re ItP.


Turn 1 – Host of the Phoenix King
Image

Eternal Guards charged the Warlocks, he thought a lot about it and in the end he decided to flee, jumping behind his lines and almost on the table edge.
Frostie hid behind the hill, and my fast troops on the flank started to encircle his army, while a unit of Reavers moved to protect the exposed Eternal Guards and eventually divert his units.
In the magic phase I failed to cast a Flock of Doom on two dice towards the RBTs, then I managed to miscast with a two diced Soul Quench on the nearest shades, as well as on a two diced Hand of Glory to boost Black Guards movement and I pretty much ended the phase like that: a nice 3++ on the decimated Eternal Guard.
With Shooting I decided to delete a problem at a time, focusing fire on the depleted unit of Shades, killing all of them in the end. All the Panic check passed with ease.


Turn 2 – Host of the Aestyrion
Image

He passed the Frenzy check both on Executioners and on Witches despite Ld6 and decided not to declare any charge.
His Warlocks instead, didn’t rolled below the required 9 and fled from the battle.
The big blocks sprint up full speed in a “charge or get charge” tactica. The Kharibdis alone moved on the flank to block Black Guards, stopping right in front of them.
Magic is completely ineffective (probably another Flesh to stone on Witches) since the random dice makes the magic level really matter in dispelling.
This time shooting is disturbed by cover and I lose a couple of models here and there, with him unable to kill the Reavers in front of Witches.


Turn 2 – Host of the Phoenix King
Image

I made a mistake here in not charging the Kharibdis myself. Instead, I move back reforming deep with Black Guards as well as with Eternal Guards. Reavers move to divert Witches and the other two fast cavs go down the flank to threaten RBTs. Frostie moved to support the incoming combats.
In a huge magic I start zooming Reavers around the battlefield gaining again a nice 3++ on Eternal Guards and I give +2 WS to Black Guards (you wouldn’t say, but Kharibdis are WS5 as well).
Once he ended his dice and burned the scroll on Soul Stealers and Shems I go for the Curse of Anraheir on the Witches, but the accursed 1 for the number of PD showed up. Damn it! I ended regrowing some Black Guards.
Shooting was ineffective on the RBTs.

Turn 3 – Host of the Aestyrion
Image

The Kharibdis leapt on Black Guards and I was pretty ok with it since I would have wounded it on 5s. Witches ate the Reavers after failing the Frenzy test. Executioners restrained and prepared to countercharge the Phoenix. All his shooters surrounded my fast cavs.
With magic he melt some Reavers with a Searing Doom and I dispelled any of his attempt at making Witches T5, but then he IF’ed Flesh to Stone on... the Kharibdis!!
40 Crossbow shots and 12 bolts from the RBTs deleted both fast cavs, so I lost the opportunity to take them out easily.
In the Kharibdis fight I danced for the +1 attack with the Dancer, but 20 rerollable attacks at Str4 and 3 attacks at Str6 from the Master were not enough to kill the beast. In return it slaughtered my BSB and stomped a Black Guard. I still won the fight thanks to rank and banner and it fled away from me.


Turn 3 – Host of the Phoenix King
Image

He declared the Assassin in Witches and made him drunk the Potion of Fury.
Eternal Guards hit the flank of Witches nonetheless and the Phoenix slammed in the front, facing 22 poisoned attacks (no rerolls at least).
On the other flank, instead of catching the Kharibdis I decided to Charge the flank of Shades (mistaken position on the previous diagram) who hold.
Black Guards marched towards the RBTs.
With magic I cast a Tempest and a Soul Stealer on Executioners, hitting with both and killing the Life Sorc. He dispelled a Dwellers on Executioners and I was left with two spare dice at the end of the phase. At this point I started the Power of Darkness carousel. I just pumped Eternal Guards to Str5 and got 3 dice back in the end, losing the wound gained with the Darkweaver. Those three dice sent Black Guards in the mouth of RBTs with a Walk Between Worlds which also ensured a 3++ on Eternal Guards. (Probably I also had an Hand of Glory on the EG Initiative, since I remember I rerolled attacks against witches)
A lot of the Daughters of Khaine fell under the Asrai spears and the Phoenix attacks, killing just 3 or 4 models among the elves (which they hate, so maintained their rerolls) and causing other 3 wounds on the Phoenix.
Unfortunately I failed to kill the Assassin (sloppy attack allocation on my part and a single wound by the special Alarielle’s attack) and he scored 3 KB(!!) on the Everqueen which I failed to save.
So much for my laziness!
In the end Witches lost enough models not to be steadfast anymore and I run them down with Frostie.
On the far north, the Shadowdancer killed a couple of Shades and received no harm back. The dark scouts run off the table and I failed to restrain.


Turn 4 – Host of the Aestyrion
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Executioners charged the Phoenix, who fled, and redirected on Eternal Guards (not the savviest of the moves).
Dark Riders moved to shield the warmachines and the Metal Sorceress run out on her own with little to do from here on. Kharibdis went on running for the hills.
Shooting made a mess of the Black Guards and once the dust settled just three were standing.
Predictably, the boosted Eternal Guards (Str 5, and 5++ were still up) killed the Khaine soldiers before they could even lower their Draichs.


Turn 4 – Host of the Phoenix King
Image

Frostie rallied, while Black Guards didn’t know what to do alone in the open field. Eternal Guards marched towards the RBTs, as well as the Shadowdancer.
I start to cast anything that can harm Riders, RBTs or the Sorceress and I finally killed the latter.


Turn 5 – Host of the Aestyrion
Image

The Kharibdis looked interested in running from the battle and went on towards the table edge.
Dark Riders shooting was enough to take out the last Black Guards and the Shadowdancer, so the RBTs focused on Eternal Guards, killing almost a dozen of them. Just 3 and the Darkweaver were left standing.

Turn 5 – Host of the Phoenix King
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The Darkweaer marched out from the almost unexhistant Eternal Guard unit and sought the power of the woods nearby, as well as their shelter. Frostie flew in front of the last brave elves standing in front of the Dark batteries, ready to charge them. I hoped to roll at least a 6 for the winds of magic to boost the Phoenix ward save to 4++ and indeed it happened.
My magic achieved just a couple of wounds through a Doombolt on a unit of Dark Riders.


Turn 6 – Host of the Aestyrion
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The Kharibdis was like 7” from the edge and it fled of exactly 6”, so just half VP for it.
Dark Riders, scared by other magic missiles run to safety, placing themselves 34,5” away from the Darkweaver.
The three bolt throwers tempted the luck. All the three of them hit on 3+, two wounded an 4+ and I failed a ward save. Obviously he rolled 3 for Multiple Wounds, just enough to kill Frostie on the spot.


Turn 6 – Host of the Phoenix King
Image

With no much else to do, the Darkweaver run towards the Warmchines and with Dommbolts, Chillwinds, Bladewinds and whatever, she could do nothing. In the end I remembered at the last minute of my Power Stone and I used it to cast a Black Horror which moved up just enough to touch the first Bolt Thrower and destroy it.


Aftermatch Thoughts

I ended with 4 models on the table, which were worth slightly more than 500 VP and he had 2 war machines, 2 fast cavs and a fleeing Kharibdis for roughly the same points, but he had the 100 VP for the BSB.
In the end we were at 2080 to 2100 VP so it was a total massacre ending in a rightful draw, since no side could really have the upper end on this fight.
I made some mistake with Black Guards not charging the Kharibdis Turn 2 and in the following turn not hiding them simply behind the ruins.
The mistake with the Assassin was quite bad too, since Alarielle is the one key piece of this army.
3 RBTs are really dangerous for T3 troops if you can’t rely on a real save (either 2+ or at least 5++), but overall I liked the match.
In particular I found Magic interesting and probably more balanced the the actual system since you can’t really hope for the resolving 6 diced spell and you are forced to think about synergies and combinations, relying more on small buffs/magic missiles than big game-breaking solutions.

If I had to change something in the list is probably the Darkweaver, because honestly, the Power of Darknes trick is a bit too gamey and I took her specifically to try it out. Probably Beast magic could almost work the same, being a bit more balanced.
Last edited by NonnoSte on 13 May 2015, 14:19, edited 2 times in total.
Aezeal
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Re: ET: Khaine - Phoenix King vs Aestyrion

Post by Aezeal »

First: nice game seems like it would have been fun to play it.

Then: How do you feel about your ability to kill warmachines with this list (and.. considering 3 RBT where left at the start of your last turn I obviuolsy mean your inability to deal with them). I personally am very unhappy if I haven't killed 1-2 warmachines by my turn 2. You had to accept TONS of the heavy bolts. Don't you think the lists needs something to deal with warmachines? Against a list with 2-3 cannons you could well loose all your characters and the phoenix if they remain on the table for 5-6 turns.

PS it's not entirely clear to me if this was a comped game or not.
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Re: ET: Khaine - Phoenix King vs Aestyrion

Post by Mollesvinet »

Thanks for the game.

I have zero experience with HOTEK lists, so I can't help too much.

One thing I noticed was that your phoenix was next to useless. Maybe you should have pushed it forward along with the blocks? This way at least he had to decide what to shoot, instead of now where he could first shoot infantry and then have the phoenix served later on.

Best wishes!
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Re: ET: Khaine - Phoenix King vs Aestyrion

Post by NonnoSte »

Aezeal, you're right. War machines have been a pain and I was completely unable to deal with them.
What's more I made the same mistake in the game I played last night against Ogre, Orcs and Goblins.
The point is that I have almost just the Sisters to take them out and that's not good.
Last night I lost with a pretty bad 0-20 (WIP about the report) so I have now the chance to change up to 1000 pts on the list.
I think that fist thing will be to add some HBT Scouts or a second Sisters unit.

Mollesvinet, you're probably right too, but I wonder if exposing the phoenix more wouldn't have meant a dead phoenix earlier, as it just happened in the second match (4 Spear chukka and a Flying Tyrant. Apparently they're enough)
We played at his home on an awesome icy battlefield he built in the last days, so I didn't knew its existence or else I'd have taken a camera to take some shots. Next time I'll play there I'll make sure to do it too.
It looks like he took some shots with his phone during the match:

Image
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Re: ET: Khaine - Phoenix King vs Aestyrion

Post by Mollesvinet »

Wow, beautiful setup!
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Re: ET: Khaine - Phoenix King vs Aestyrion

Post by NonnoSte »

Yeah, recently he decided to work on terrain elements and tables (he already has something like 10/12k points of Daemons painted, 3k of Warriors and the spare Beastmen and Chaos Dwarves he took since the release of ET, so no real need of new models).
The other table he created is maybe even more detailed and realistic, including a spectacular River that he lent to the gaming club for these campaigns (the River Scenario was inspired by it).
Theroblem is that this second table has some fragile element which he's unwilling to use that often (for example you can see that the woods in this icy landscape are magnetised to the base and can be removed to leave room for units if needed, in the other he created them with iron wire and generic bush and fixed them, so they tend to break quite easily).
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Re: ET: Khaine - Phoenix King vs Aestyrion

Post by Aezeal »

NonnoSte wrote:Aezeal, you're right. War machines have been a pain and I was completely unable to deal with them.
What's more I made the same mistake in the game I played last night against Ogre, Orcs and Goblins.
The point is that I have almost just the Sisters to take them out and that's not good.
Last night I lost with a pretty bad 0-20 (WIP about the report) so I have now the chance to change up to 1000 pts on the list.
I think that fist thing will be to add some HBT Scouts or a second Sisters unit.

Mollesvinet, you're probably right too, but I wonder if exposing the phoenix more wouldn't have meant a dead phoenix earlier, as it just happened in the second match (4 Spear chukka and a Flying Tyrant. Apparently they're enough)
We played at his home on an awesome icy battlefield he built in the last days, so I didn't knew its existence or else I'd have taken a camera to take some shots. Next time I'll play there I'll make sure to do it too.
It looks like he took some shots with his phone during the match:

Image

Well it might be just my opinion.. but I don't think sisters are the way to go to kill warmachines. They have a very limited ranged attack which means they will usually need to be inside the enemy line to shoot at warmachines. Not to mention you get less poison shots compared to scouts. Even with the ward save they still die about as fast (in total so 2-1) as the scouts too. Not to mention scouts have skirmish to help deal a bit with shooting attacks.

IMHO going sisters to deal with warmachines is an expensive and sub optimal choice. Warmachines should generally be dealt with by scouts. If you have good reasons you could replace scouts with warhawks.
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Re: ET: Khaine - Phoenix King vs Aestyrion

Post by NonnoSte »

Well, the main point about Sisters in End of Time is spammable Flock of Doom. Multiple cast of a 2D6 magic missile with 48" range are pretty effective against all the "normal" war machines (ie not Skullcannons, Hellcannons and Ironblasters).
What's more, being fast cav they can reach the back lines pretty quick. If the opponent can't deal with them Turn1 you're probably charging his war machines Turn2 or at worst Turn3.
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Re: ET: Khaine - Phoenix King vs Aestyrion

Post by Aezeal »

NonnoSte wrote:Well, the main point about Sisters in End of Time is spammable Flock of Doom. Multiple cast of a 2D6 magic missile with 48" range are pretty effective against all the "normal" war machines (ie not Skullcannons, Hellcannons and Ironblasters).
What's more, being fast cav they can reach the back lines pretty quick. If the opponent can't deal with them Turn1 you're probably charging his war machines Turn2 or at worst Turn3.
Not sure I entirely agree (though I've not tried it so correct me if I'm wrong).
1. S2 missiles stil have a hard time hurting all the high T warmachines right? More so if it has an AS.
2. Not to mention I prefer having a "sure" way to deal with the machines (not dispellable, not dependant on the powerdice I roll)
3. I prefer to use my powerdice to target approaching units (though depending on the army you put on the table that can be less important.
4. I'm not sure the sisters reaching the warmachines is that easy. My hawks (obviously more mobile) often have a hard time getting there if the enemy is deployed around the machines and then marching toward our lines. Sisters need a gap between enemy units, the enemy units have a charge arc which you need to stay out of etc etc.
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Re: ET: Khaine - Phoenix King vs Aestyrion

Post by NonnoSte »

Against T7 a missile with Str2 is worth the same as one with Str5.
The good news about Flock is the incredible range. You can have Sisters across the board and score those two or three 6s (quite possible on 2D6, aren't they?).
War machine crews aren't that armoured either usually.
Flock is extremely easy to cast too at 5+.
I used to rely on it with the previous book to deal with war machines.
We agree that HBT scouts are easier to put at good use.
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Re: ET: Khaine - Phoenix King vs Aestyrion

Post by razorfate »

Sisters can also cast amber spear to the cannons i suppose?
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Re: ET: Khaine - Phoenix King vs Aestyrion

Post by Aezeal »

NonnoSte wrote:Against T7 a missile with Str2 is worth the same as one with Str5.
The good news about Flock is the incredible range. You can have Sisters across the board and score those two or three 6s (quite possible on 2D6, aren't they?).
War machine crews aren't that armoured either usually.
Flock is extremely easy to cast too at 5+.
I used to rely on it with the previous book to deal with war machines.
We agree that HBT scouts are easier to put at good use.
2 would be a bit above average really.
I don't think sisters get other spells in the end times.
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Re: ET: Khaine - Phoenix King vs Aestyrion

Post by Swordmaster of Hoeth »

Hi NonnoSte,

First of all thanks again for your dedication to providing the reports based on the campaign. I imagine it is already a lot of work involved into organizing games and as you said, real life always interferes with the hobby. I am truly amazed by the creativity your gaming group presents. And I admire the fact that instead of endlessly debating how ET rules may affect the game you simply play it.

I think it is also nicely reflected in the army lists you (i.e. you and your opponents) take. I wanted to ask about other players here, when did thy start playing? Are you relatively new group or do you have people who have been playing since early editions? I am simply curious if it matters how long one has been playing in accepting dramatic changes such as ET. For example, personally, I would find it hard to combine forces from all 3 Elven books simply because I have been always playing pure HE and I started with early 4th edition.

It is intriguing to notice that somehow your force is the one that uses the new opportunity to high level as you included units from all Elven books while your opponent stayed true to DE even if they are based on the Host of Aestyrion army list.

I hope it is known but just in case I wanted to highlight that my comments above are due to pure curiosity and I had no intention to criticize anyone!

I must also say I am intrigued by the amount of extra rules you apply to your games, such as Stratagems. They add another dimension to the games even if it also means that the number of variables one need to control can be huge. I admire the creativity and again I am interested about their impact on your games and campaigns.

The ability to vanguard and scout some regiments was great for both armies. I am really jealous :) I think it is a trademark of WE now that they place vanguarding units then wait for the enemy and compensate with scouts and vanguard moves keeping +1 to roll off to start! I have seen it used to a great advantage.

It also shows the flexibility where you can make up for the mistakes in the deployment as you did yourself here. Even more jealous :) I like it a lot how you both tried to use the opportunities presented at this stage and at the same time block your enemy. No wonder it took you so long to complete this phase. In fact, I keep wondering about deployment, vanguards and scouts in this particular game and how would I place them if I were any of the opponents.

Reading about the magic/shooting in turn 1 I wonder if you came to the conclusion that being able to start was even more crucial under ET rules? Also, knowing it might be the case did you consider deploying further back in your deployment zone?

It looks to me that your opponent made two mistakes. First, he exposed Warlocks. He could have kept them as a rear guard instead and still be able to cast doombolts when needed. Instead, he moved to far, decided to flee and unlucky rally test meant they were gone. At least he should have positioned them in a way that allows fleeing towards the rear edge.

Second, he committed his main block too early when he had shooting superiority. He could have waited longer to inflict more damage.

The combat between his main unit and EG was crucial because Mr. Frosty charged there too. It was risky but his presence was priceless. Making DE to strike after EG (even with re-rolls) was important (and indeed a shame you didn't allocate the attacks against assassin better). But it also prevented combat reform. Which allowed your EG to do their job. It was great to see big blocks of infantry in combat though.

I am very interested in the comment about the magic. Could you elaborate more since many players complain about randomness and inability to plan ahead?

The table looks amazing so well done to your friend for making one!

Once again, thanks a lot for fantastic reports and apologies for not replying earlier.

Cheers!
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NonnoSte
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Re: ET: Khaine - Phoenix King vs Aestyrion

Post by NonnoSte »

@razorfate and Aezeal:

Well, it looks like my math was a bit generous.
Doing it correctly, it results around a 70% of chance to cause one wound and around 30% to cause two, down to 8% to cause the whole three wounds with a succesful flock of doom.
Under Khaine magic Sisters of the Thorn know all the Beast spells, so Amber Spear is definitely an option. The problem in using it to deal with warmachines is the short range (24” is not really good to be out of harm) and the higher casting value.
Flock at 48” is cast at 8+, while the Spear is 9+ for the unboosted version which has respectively 33%, 22% and 11% to cause 1, 2 or 3 wounds. The boosted version is completely another story, but you’re looking to invest 3 or 4 Power Dice, where Flock could go off with the single spare one.

In the end, I have to agree with Aezeal, in saying it’s not a reliable way to deal with war machines.
For this reason in recent games I added some Scouts but, ironically, I did not faced classic warmachines yet.
Anyway a small unit of 5 Sisters dealt greatly with an Ironblaster.
I guess redudancy is as usual the best tool.

@Swordmaster:

It’s good to hear from you again.
I hope you’ll be active again very soon on your blog on Ulthuan too, since it’s been (and still is) of great inspiration, both for the approach to the game and for the analisys after your matches.

About our gaming group, we can say we’re all relatively new to the game.
Consider that me and my wife, starting two years ago, are amongst those who has been playing the most (although some of us played a dozen of years ago, switched to 40k and got back in the last year or two).
There are just a couple of players who are in the hobby from longer. One of them plays exclusively Skaven while the other collected all the destruction forces in the years, but likes to play mostly Undead. End of times didn’t bothered them much, since Skaven are almost untouched, while Undead basically went back to where they started.
For the others the game has changed drastically since they last played or is completely new. So it’s no big deal to try some mixed armies or accept some background twist, even if they’re so dramatic.
Still, I’m glad our group likes to try out new things (most of them were starting to be bored anyway by classic matches with little to no fluff involved). We were all thrilled about new GW releases because the models are great and we all had a decent amount of curiosity in respect of changes brought by the new rules, so we decided to use them as a pretext to start something a bit different.

New house rules were introduced mostly as a test for a future campaign held by the club as soon as we’ll be done with the End of Time thing.
New scenarios, changable lists, Special Items, Stratagems. They’re all features which will be included in that camapign and I have to say I’m liking them quite more than a bit.
In particulare this Stratagems thing is really interesting. They can be seen as army-wide magic items and the level of randomness they bring is really challenging. I hope to find time to translate all of them and make a post where I can discuss them a bit.

About our armies and this game in particular, you have to consider that my opponent is mainly a Daemons player, so he’s not really used to deal with panic, break or rally test. In general the Ld test are something he hardly takes in account (this has been crucial in the recent Battle Brother tournament we attended together). Another thing his gamestyle doesn’t take in account is shooting. He’s used to have cannons or Flame Throwers, so he doesnt usually wait for the opponent to come towards his lines, but he likes to rush his combat units forward. Here he simply did the same.
He wanted to try out Dark Elves because they fit well in the new background imposed by End of Time (Khaine in particular), other than trying them out before our tournament. He’s a bit anxious about his games, so he wanted to know them a bit before teaming up with them for a tournament.

The Scout/Vanguard phase here has been very important, since allowed a lot of countermeasures from both sides and more than ET rules I’d imputate to this phase the event of the first turn.
It’s a wierd aspect of the game, because a lot of whatyou do is uneffected by the rest of the armies, but affects them so much that can be crucial for the whole game. For example, if he had the opportunity to scout his shades on my flank I would have been forced to split my army to deal with them (10 shades are starting to be a real threat for other elves or unarmoured T3 troops). Similarly, his vanguard with Warlocks clogged the center of the battlefield, allowing him to be in good position for his magic missiles from turn 1 in the meanwhile.
This sort of control before the match even starts is unvaluable IMO and it’s one of the reasons because I lk to play elves and Wood Elves in particular. We have the opportunity to deploy our entire force casually and then start the game in completely different situation. I mean, WOW!

Lastly, about Khaine magic, I have to say I’m liking it. It’s harder to make it work, it’s a lot more dicey and there are some armies who will work really worse without some magical reliability.
But it gives much more value to some magic items (like the Power Stone) or some particular abilities (like Night Goblin Mushrooms or Skaven Warp Tokens) and it really puts magic iun the role it should have. Support feature instead of game-changer.
The D6 power/dispel dice per spell, combined with the ability to cast the same spell multiple times push players to plan their strategies without magic and use it as a way to secure the results.
I think this way is much more fun and much more challenge than 6-dicing a Dwellers, a Purple Sun, an Infernal Gateway or a Doombolt per turn.
What I really don’t like are the 4D6 Winds of Magic. They generate endless magic phase and I personally dislike to waste a lot of time into a single aspect of the game (that’s also why I don’t like to play bowlines or pure avoidance).
The fact that any mage knows all the spells of their lores is a bit meh too. It takes away part of the importance of the magic levels and makes some unit and characters really powerful. Althought I’m using them and finding them very effective, I think both Sisters of the Thorn and Alarielle are really too much powerful. I can just imagine what would it mean to face Teclis alone or even Morathi supported by Doomfire Warlocks.
In all, I hope the D6 PD/DD per spell and the possibility tpo cast them multiple tines will remain in the next edition, but with “normal” 2D6 magic phases and with limited spells for casters.

I hope I’ll be able to add other matches, as well as my Battle Brother tournament soon, but I’m having troubles with my PC internet connection and these things are definitely not possible to be done on the phone.
Thanks to anyone for the interest and the patience shown in following these unusual campaign reports for now.
Swordmaster of Hoeth
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Re: ET: Khaine - Phoenix King vs Aestyrion

Post by Swordmaster of Hoeth »

HI NonnoSte,

Thanks a lot for taking time to reply in such a detailed manner, I am very grateful for that! It is fantastic you have such an active group of players and I hope your enthusiasm will keep burning hot! :)

I keep fingers crossed that you can solve the PC issue and we will be able to enjoy more of your fantastic reports soon! I intend to re-activate my blog on Ulthuan after some motivation loss and general chaos in real life. Thanks a lot for your kind words! :)

Cheers!
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NonnoSte
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Re: ET: Khaine - Phoenix King vs Da Big Tribe

Post by NonnoSte »

Da Big Tribe

Goblin Great Shaman, L4 (Little Whaag!), Book of Ashur, Obsidian Amulet Lucky Box.
Tyrant
, additional hand weapon, heavy armour, Talisman of Preservation, Charmed Shield, Arabyan Carpet
Black Orc BSB, Armour of Destiny
Savage Orc Shaman L1 (Big Whaag!), Shrunken Head
Night Goblin Shaman L2 (Undead), Scroll
2x Wolf Bosses, shield, light armour, spear

2 x 9 Wolf Riders, shields, bows, spears, musician
29 Savage Orcs Big’Uns, command
6 Meneaters, command, 6 brace of pistols, Swiftstride, Poison, Banner of Swiftness
4 Spear Chukka
2 Doom Divers
Rock Lobba


Lucky Box – 100 pts:
At the beginning of the game the bearer of the Lucky Box opens it to gain D6 rerollable dice during the game. These dice can be used at any time, except for reroll of artillery dice or dice already rerolled.

Deloyment, Scout and Vanguard

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I played the match on the same table of the previous match, but this time we rolled a normal Battle Liine Scenario.
He had to choose side and took the one with the big hill in the centre, leaving me with the big forest to deploy my elves in.
He started with Savage Orcs on a side of the hill and I placed Reavers a bit casually, then he followed immediatly with the Ironguts on the other side, so I knew where to place my combat units. Black Guard went on the Iron gut side and Eternal Guards in the woods ready to run towards Savage Orcs.
His Wolf Riders protected the flanks and I drop the Frostheart behind my lines, once I knew where his warmachines were, I deployed Sisters to have a free path towards Doom Divers.
I was a bit surprised both by the Lone Tyrant and from the Savage “deathstar”, but I wasn’t aware of the various equipment yet.
I decided to place the casters into Black Guards, since I needed them to tackle Ironguts, so I wanted the protection of the Shield of Sapherey for them.

I revealed my Stratagems, which were First Strike (+1 to start) and Preventive Move (Vanguard for a single unit) again for the Genius of the Tactica, to which I added the Espionage, thanks to the draw in the last match.
Apparently he had First Strike too.

I placed Waywatchers down his left flank, hoping to attraact some of his attention from my main units.
I won the roll for Vanguard and my Sisters jumped towards Doom Divers, he then shifted the rightmost unit of Wolf Riders in front of his Savage Orcs block. I advanced on the other side with Reavers too, mainly to limit his vanguard on that side and he moved the fast cav in front of his combat block again. I decided to put some pressure and I advanced with the second unit of Reavers in front of his Wolf Riders and with Black Guards behind the central ruins.

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We then rolled to start, but with the +1 for ending deployment first (both of us had First Strike Stratagem, so they simply canceled each other), he took the initiative.


Turn 1 – Da Big Tribe

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Waywatchers attracetd a lot of attention indeed, as he moved half of his army to stop them from getting to warmachines.
On the other side, a unit of Wolf Riders moved to slow down Sisters and Orcs simply advanced near the hill.
The magic phase was underwhelming, with something like 9 vs 6 dice. Almost a normal one.
Except for the fact that I dispelled 3 times the evocation of a Carn Wraith, just to see it popping out on the fourth attempt in front of my Waywartchers. He made sure I couldn’t move them without receiving a charge from the Ghost.
Shooting concentrated on my fast cavs and between Wolf Riders bows and a Doom Divers Catapult my Sisters all died. The four Spear Chukka and the other Doom Divers Catapult almost killed Reavers too. The Rock Lobba, while aiming at my Black Guard, landed its shot in the middle of nothing at least.

Turn 1 – Host of the Phoenix King

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With no way to take out warmachines form range, I decided to rush everything ahead, with the lone Reaver sacrificing bravely his life to block Savage Orcs advance.
Just Waywatchers remained still to avoid the Wraith charge.
Magic was completely uneffective again, if not for a +1M on Eternal Guards and +2M on Black Guards which I cast mainly for the Shield, but also to help me with the next turn charges. He let them through at the beginning of the phase because he didn’t thought about the lore attribute and didn’t see the immediate effect of the spell.
Waywatchers with a bit of luck almost destroyed Wolf Riders hitting on 3+ with their fast shots.
The general short behind helped with the panic check.

Turn 2 – Da Big Tribe

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Now things turned bad. Really bad.
Savage Orcs restrained from charging the Reaver and moved back.
The Cairn Wraith positioned to force Waywatchers out of their corner and the other units on that flank turned back to the center of the battlefield, helped by the mighty Hand of Gork.
The Magic Phase also saw Wolf Riders gaining poison on 5+, the lone Reaver burned by a Goblin Spell and a Banshee raised in front of Black Guard, as well as a pack of 3 Vargheists on their flank. It was aweful. Any spell I attempted to dispel I could do it with at least one die less then the number need to have some real chance and he rolled absurdly high. The worst was the last unit of Vargheists, which he raised using his last 2 dice plus the mushroom (rerolled tanks to the Lucky Box) scoring a perfect 16, while I had a single dice for the dipel attempt. The magic phase ended and I still had dice left in the dispel pool.
Well, at least Shooting should have been softer, right?
Wrong.
Perfect hit from the Rock Lobba on Black Guards, two Doom Divers on them, a failed save and a Spear Chukka wounded the Phoenix (another reroll to wound it with the Lucky Box). Even Wolf Riders wounded the bird twice.

Turn 2 – Host of the Phoenix King

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Frostheart charged the Tyrant mainly to tie him up and avoid some shooting.
The characters jumped from Black Guards to Eternal Guards and both units remained still, since the Black Guards were forbid even to wheel.
Waywatchers closed to the heat of the battle and Reavers moved to discourage Wolf Riders from charging the flank of Eternal Guards.
In the magic phase I cast a couple of Shem Burning Gazes on the Undead units which he gladly let go, a Throne of Vines just recoverd a Wound form the Phoenix, then a Soul Quench killed the remnants of te Wolf Rider unit. Everything else was dispelled. I hoped to sneak an Apotheosis on the Phoenix, but again, first attempt dispelled thanks to the Lucky Box, second attempt, 1 die, failed.
Shooting almost killed Vargheists and took a couple of Wolf Riders down from their saddles.

Turn 3 – Da Big Tribe

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The Vargheist charged the phoenix in the flank, while the other regiments surrounded my units.
The Wolf Boss moved out from his unit to delay my Eternal Guard.
This time magic “just” conferred poison on 5+ to the Tyrant and rised 16 Skeleton Archers in front of Waywatchers..
Shooting took its toll again, almost wiping out Black Guards and wearing off the Protection Banner from the Eternal Guards. They took 5 casualties from the banner. Skeleton Archers failed to do kill any Waywatcher.
The phoenix failed to do any wound and, despite the ward save increased to 4++, died to the Tyrant attacks.

Turn 3 – Host of the Phoenix King

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Being far behind in points, I decided it was time to push a bit and I saw a good opportunity to charge his Deathstar and break through it. I declared the charge with the few Black Guards survivors to his Savage Orcs and I sent Eternal Guards against the Wolf Boss.
Doing some math I also decided it was pretty safe to charge Skeleton Archers with Waywatchers to take them out of their corner.
Reavers just prepared to chase Savage Orcs survivors.
At this moment all I needed was a bit of magic support to munch through his main unit.
Obviously I failed to cast ANYTHING, bar a Black Horror towards his Doom Divers Catapults, which killed one of the machines. 1 die to cast Power of darkness, failed on the first attempt, Hand of Glory repeatedly dispelled, flesh failed on 2 dice, Pha’s Protection the same. Very, very disheartening. I was facing his Savage Orcs with a simple 5+/5++ save.
At least the odds were in my favour despite the magic buffs/debuffs.
The combat phase was equally dissatisfying.
Waywatchers failed the fear test, so instead of melting archers down, they managed to lose the combat due to musician, but at least they hold.
Eternal Guards and Black Guards killed a bunch of Orcs, including the Shrunken Head Bearer. They were left with two complete ranks of 6 and a third consisting of just 5 models.
At this point, they fought back, killing all the Black Guards and enough Eternal Guards to take out that crucial third rank. We argued a lot about wheter or not he would have maintained Steadfast without the last rank complete. Since we couldn’t get to a conclusion, nor found the reference on the BRB, in the end we rolled a die and it resulted in his favour (now I know he was right indeed).
He hold and I knew I was doomed.

Turn 4 – Da Big Tribe

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The Cairn Wraith charged the back of the Waywatchers and all the Ogres closed on the two flanks of the Eternal Guards, both rolling 10+ thanks to swiftstride.
Shooting took care of the Reavers and the two combats just ended as expected.


After-match thoughts

I don’t like to blame luck on my losses, but this time all the magic phases were undoubtedly in his favour.
He never failed a single cast or dispel attempt, always rolling the needed dice to cast anything he wanted (I still think Lore of Undeath on Night Goblins Shaman is OP, even more with Khaine rules for magic). On my part I failed a lot of 3+ on 2 dice or I got just a single die to cast the crucial spell.

I don’t have much else to add, since I don’t think I made really bad choices. He, on his side, played very well and never fell in any trap. Probably in turn 2 he exposed the Tyrant on purpose and I was a bit too rush to charge the Frostheart in. I was a bit afraid of his warmachines tough, so I was eager to get in combat as soon as possible and the combat was quite in my favour with his Tyrant at “just” Str4 and with possible buffs on the Phoenix (with 4 power dice, I almost always got +1 Str or +1 ward).

Despite the aweful luck with magic, I still think the Khaine System is much better than the classic one, since you can’t really plan on changing the sorts of a battle with just a double 6 or a scroll.
The real game-breaking feature of these campaigns IMO are the combined armies. Being able to take the most from 2 or 3 different army books is huge and can pull out a lot of interesting and curious combinations.
This list of Orcs and Goblins for instance, was pretty standard (he opted for bigger Wolf Riders units instead of the classic 20 Night Goblins unit, because he lacked the models) but both the mobile Ld9 General and the non-stupid block of tough troops were pretty effective. Meneaters, in particular added a lot to the O’n’G army and also synergised greatly with the Goblin magic. They basically worked like Trolls with greater discipline and some shooting added in the mix.
With this setup he’s able to protect to great effect his warmachines with them when needed, but he can throw them forward along Savage Orcs too when he wants to push.
Swiftstride is the best of their possible special rules and poison (as we all know) is good when combined to good shooters. If he decided to go for a slightly bigger unit I would have also liked scout/vanguard and stubborn, but it probably would have asked a completely different approach in the Greenskin section.
NonnoSte
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Re: ET: Khaine - Phoenix King vs Da Green Kingdom

Post by NonnoSte »

Ok, after all the work and time spent for the Battle Brother tournament, it’s time to keep up with the End of Time Campaign of our local gaming club.
It’s been a couple of weeks since I actually played this game and my notes were lost, found again in a pocket of my jeans just before the washing machine could claim them and then lost again.
Thankfully I had the BC diagrams already done so the report preparation it’s been just down to a mnemonic effort.

Last battle was a crushing defeat against an Orcs and Goblin army availing itself of the help of an Iron Gut block and hordes of undead called by extremely annoying Undeath Nigt Shaman.
The bad loss did not grant me any bonus feature (according to scores the winners can add Special Items or Stratagems to their lists), but allowed me to change up to 1000 pts in the list instead.

Knowing my greatest problem was with enemy warmachines, I decided to include some scouts. Furthermore, I was getting tired with the one trick pony my Darkweaver in Eternal Guard was and I wanted to field the Peg Master I prepared for the tournament in the campaign too. With spare points I added a second unit of sisters and upgraded the Shadowdancer to L1 Shadow mage (pretty strong with Khaine magic, actually)

So this was the shape of my new, hopefully improved, army:

Alarielle
Master
, Dark Pegasus, lance, heavy armour, sea dragon cloak, shield, Cloak of Twilight.
Master BSB, great weapon, heavy armour, sea dragon cloak, Ring of Hotek.
Shadowdancer L1 (Shadow), Dispel Scroll, Antidote Vials.
30 Eternal Guards, full command, Protection Banner.
2 x 5 Ellyron Reavers, musicians.
2 x 5 Sisters of the Thorn, banners, musicians.
2 x 9 Deepwood Scouts, Starfire Shaft
Frostheart Phoenix
7 Waywatchers


Stratagems: Genius of the Tactica, Espionage.


After the last bad encounter with Greenskins, it was with great (dis)pleasure I knew I would have faced my Ogre buddy (the one with I started to collect Ogre some months ago), who decided, in turn, to take advantage of the Greenskin alliance.
Fortunately it was just in little measure.


Da Green Kingdom – Dawn Attack


Tyrant, Sword of Antiheroes, Talisman of Preservation, Enchanted Shield, Other Trickster Shard, Antidote Vials.
Slaughtermaster L3 (Maw)
, great weapon, Armour of Silvered Steel, Dawnstone, Dispel Scroll, Ironcurse Icon.
Savage Orc Great Shaman L3 (Big Whaag!), Lucky Shrunken Head, Obsidian Lodenstone.
Bruiser BSB, great weapon, Armour of Destiny

8 Iron Guts, full command.
23 Savage Orcs, full command.
7 Trolls
4 Leadbelchers
, musician.
Ironblaster.
Scrapelauncher.


Stratagems: Genius of the Tactica, Espionage.


He hadn’t had much fortune until our match, gathering just two minor losses, who saw his army go through some little changes and no bonus features added since the start of the campaign.
For our match he had his usual character setup plus a Savage Great Shaman with the mandatory Shrunken Head and the Lodenstone for a 2++ against spells.
To this he added a Savage Block along the Gutstar and a Block of Trolls who could also be used to carry around the dangerous Ogre characters.
Scrapelauncher was an addition of the last time, since he expected to face many elves in the Khaine Campaign (he was obviously right)

We rolled for scenarios and it was a Dawn Attack, with me winnin the right to start deploying first.
We declared our stratagems and for his Genius of Tactics he decided to took the Preventive Move (Vanguard for a unit) and the Act of Heroism (1 pt stratagem: the army can re roll a single failed Ld test during the match, most important, with unmodified Ld).
On my part I decided not to take my usual Preventive Move, but I still took First Strike (+1 to start, which in this scenario meant 5+ to seize the initiative) along the Tactical Manoeuvre (2 pts stratagem: a free reform of a unit, once per game. If the unit passes a Ld test, it can even charge or march afterwards).
Both of us rolled 4+ for our Espionage statagems, so we both played wiyh open lists.


Deployment, Scouts and Vanguard

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Terrains were three forest scattered centrally, some large ruins on the right and a big building on the left. In the top-left corner there was a hill with some ruins on top and in the opposite one an high tower. A wall and a fence opposed each other on the left and an impassable rock right in the middle completed a crowded and nice field.
I decided todeploy south to benefit from forests cover and started with the Eternal Bus, since I needed everything else around it to benefit from Alarielle’s ward. It ended central and I decided to hide it behind the rightmost forest to lure its main units on that more exposed flank and to have them somewhat central to extend better the save.
All the other units ended up central too bar a unit of Sisters on the left. I hid the Phoenix behind the wall and everything else stayed within 12” from Alarielle.
He had everything central too, bar Leadbelchers on the right. His Trolls hid in the forest in case I took first turn. Savage Orcs went on the flank to protect the two Chariots and to flank me if I advanced Iron Guts stayed behind Trolls to benefit from their cover against my arrows.

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M scouts took control of the two woods in my half of the table (still within 12” from Alarielle) and behind the ruins, in cover from Leadbelchers.
He won the roll for vanguard and advanced straight forward his Leadbelchers. I responded defensively with Reavers to use them later to delay his blocks, while Sisters started to run down his left flank.

Now all I had to do was to roll 5+ to seize the initiative, but I obviously failed.

Green Kingdom – Turn 1

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He predictably rushed everything forward, with the Leadbelchers getting on close range for my Peg Master.
Magic focused in making Trolls tougher and giving Regen to Iron Guts.
Leadbelchers fired a load of bullets into the Peg Masters, but none got through his 1+/3++. Scrapelauncher misfired and took a wound, remaining inactive for the next turn too, while the Ironblaster decided to aim at the Phoenix. I remainded him that the wall would have stoppe the cannonbal bounce. He said he was ok and proceeded to landing a perfect hit on the bird, I failed my 5++ and he showed me how to roll a 5 when he had to roll for the multiple wounds. Good Start.


Host of the Pheonix King – Turn 1

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The Peg Master charged Leadbelchers and he decided to hold, in fear I rolled high. On the other flank, without the Frostie, I had no way to tie down Savage Orcs, so I simply decided to leave them alone and I advanced my Sisters, hiding behind the ruins (don’t ask me in fear of what, cause I honestly don’t know). Reavers leapt to double flee the Trolls and Eternal Guard moved back a bit.
With magic I made him waste Dispel Dice on Shems against Trolls, just to enhance my shooting with Waywatchers and Scouts through Hands of Glory, also hitting a nice 3++ on my bus thanks to the Shield of Sapherey.
18 Scouts, 7 Waywatchers multi-shots and 10 Reavers dropped just two Trolls since I forgot they were at T5 and a Sisters javelin sneaked a poisoned wound on the Scrapelauncher.
The Peg Master killed two Ogre on the spot and received no harm back, the monstrous shooters broke and fled, but apparently my Master’s armour was too heavy to let him reach those giants.


Green Kingdom – Turn 2

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Savage Orcs failed animosity and run towards Waywatchers, charging them. Since I did not want to take the risk of them reaching my expensive unit, I fled and they stumbled untidily.
Trolls also charged the two fast units just to receive a double flee reaction and move forward of few inches. Ironguts behind manouver clumsily to find room to run towards me. Leadbelchers rally. On the north-west, the two chariots, with no sensible targets, turn to face and try to pin down my Sisters. The grapeshot will revale useless against them tough.
This time I dispelled all the buff (lesson learnt form the previous turn) and let some magic missle to whittle my closest Scouts. Panic is a non issue thanks to rerollable Ld 10.


Host of the Pheonix King – Turn 2

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Everything rallied with ease while the Peg Master chased off the last Leadblechers. Sisters sneaked between the two chariots to be able to charge the Ironblaster next turn.
Alarielle couldn’t push a single spell through bar a Walk between Worlds on Waywatchers, but the Sisters placed an Amber Spear in the mechanism of the Ironblaster, almost wrecking it.
All the shooting on Trolls made another beast falling.


Green Kingdom – Turn 3

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Savage Orcs failed animosity once again, but this time had to charge the Waywatchers without closing up first, so I didn’t flee and they failed nonetheless their charge.
Trolls charged the Scouts in fron of them, who fled, and redirected onto the Eternal Guard, but failed badly. Iron Guts attempted a long charge on the other Scouts (16” at least, I believe) and I decided to stand and shoot, since outside the BSB range there was an high chance I wouldn’t have been to rally, furthermore they would have also been drawn away from the Trolls, splitting his forces (and the charge was quite unlikely anyway). He roolled boxcar for charge distance.
In the magic phase I let him have anything he wanted to buff his Trolls to be able to dispel the unavoidable Foot of Gork now that the Shaman was closer to my lines. In the end his Trolls had Str 6 and T 6, but at least they were not Stubborn. I also lost a Scout form a magic missile.
Scrapelauncher and Ironblaster missed their targets, but the combat power of Ogress was much more reliable. Scouts were wiped out and he reformed toward the forest where I was going to engage his Trolls.


Host of the Pheonix King – Turn 3

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I had a plan for the Trolls, so I charged them with both the Eternal Guards and the Reavers on the flank. On the north a unit of Sisters charged the rear of the Ironblaster, while the other moved to target the Scrapelauncher with shooting and magic.The Peg Master closed back, the other unit of reaver moved to divert the Ironguts and Waywatchers run away from Savage Orcs, peppering them from distance. Scouts never rallied and fled the battlefield.
My plan for the Trolls was simply to use Drain Magic to return them to normality. I forgot that my opponent usually plays Lizarman, so he knows the ins and outs of High Magic. Once I understood he wasn’t going to take the bait (Pha’s went off on Reavers, Hand on Eternal Guards for WS8, and Aptheosis on the BSB just because) I started to spam Drain Magics on two dice until he wore off all his Dispel Dice and I was left with the last two.
I rolled for the number of dice. 1 die. I roll. 2.
Staff of the Avelorn was going to save the match, as I could attempt to cast Drain Magic again with my last die.
I rolled. 4.
I was so excited that I didn’t even noticed the grin widening on my buddy’s face before he spoke. With all the peace of the world he crossed his arms and said quietly: “Dispel Scroll”.
I started to sweat. At least I was going to be hit on 5 and I had the 3++, but it was unlikely I could have pushed some wound through their insane toughness and annoying Regen save. What’s more, Reavers would have been free CR.
Ogre BSB made way to intercept Reavers attacks (T7, 5+/4++) and he took down two of them thanks to his mighty stregth. The rest of the unit could achieve nothing on the Eternal Guards (Trolls used the vomit since it’s auto-hit, but I saved them all) and each one of my Characters landed a wound on their targets. BSB wounded their bearer, Alarielle could wound a troll, but I rolled just 1 multiple wound and the Shadowdancer choosing the AP dance pierced the rerollable 3+ of the Slaughtermaster.
In the end I actually won combat big, thanks to ranks and those 3 wounds. He broke and fled, losing the BSB, I chose to pursue just with the Reaevers (I thought Swiftstride would have sealed the deal and Eternal Guard had to face the flanking threat) and I obviously rolled 1” less than him. Damn!
At least Sisters destroyed the cannon.


Green Kingdom – Turn 4

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Trolls rallied with the help of the Act of Heroism stratagem (he couldn’t use it before, because the BSB rerolls had precedence on the stratagem) and turned to face menacingly my Reavers, who wer almost all took down from the saddle by an Orc spell. Scrapelauncher positioned to shoot at my Waywatchers and Savage Orcs hid in the forest to avoid some arrows.
Iron Guts charged the offered unit of Reavers and wiped them out with ease. At this point my opponent was in a tough position. If he tried to overrun, he would have needed 10” to get out of the charge arc of the Eternal Guards, otherwise he would have offered them the flank with the Peg Master on his back. If he tried to reform there were no possible solutions to have both units on the front, but his Antiheroes Tyrant, protected by a 3+/4++ could have killed easily the Peg Master with 9 Str 9 attacks.
In the end, scared by the chance of fluffing his save and have the Tyrant killed by the Cloak of Twilight, he decided to run. Basically all the game was down to a 10+ on 2D6 and.... he rolled boxcar once again!


Host of the Pheonix King – Turn 4

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Big mistake here, as I forgot about my Tactical Manoeuvre stratagem, or else I could have reformed Eternal Guards towards his Iron Guts and Charge them with both the Peg Master and the bus and end the match straight away. Too bad.
Instead I closed around them with my units. OI left back just a pack of Sisters to deal with the Scrapelauncher and the lone Reaver to redirect the Trolls.
Magic and Shooting went all onto the Iron Guts and in particular I got an IF on a Pit of Shades, which landed perfectly on them. At the end of the turn just 3 were standing around their general.


Green Kingdom – Turn 5

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(EDIT: from here on, the positions of EG, IG and PM are not 100% accurate, so that some situation can appear on the diagram slightly different fromn how they really were)

Savage Orcs failed the anomosity once again and charged the rear of the lone Reavers, at this point, Trolls charged in too, so that they could stop Orc’s overrun.
The last Ogre with their leader withdrew further back, to try and avoid the incoming charge.
The magic phase saw a boosted Foot of Gork descending on Eternal Guards with a perfect hit. Thanks the 2++ vs spells and the Protection Banner (not popped yet) though, they suffered no harm, but Gork decided to jump elsewhere, exactly on the Tyrant and the Ironguts, killing one.
Scrapelauncher aimed unsuccesfully at my Waywatchers and the Reaver was simply slained.


Host of the Pheonix King – Turn 5

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I did not charged, because the Eternal Guards were actually at 15-16” and the odd wasn’t much favourable. If I had failed the charge, I would have been charged and tied down by Trolls and all my chances to gather some last points woul have vanished.
I moved everything closer to the almost non-existant unit of Iron Guts bar Sisters. One unit was left to deal with the Scrapelauncher and the othe placed itself on the flank of the Troll unit.
I tried everything in the magic phase, but he allowed me to have a Walk to move the Eternal Guards in a better position (out of charge from Trolls), an Amber Spear on the Scrapelauncher which destroyed it and another on the Troll’s unit, but after the first Troll, the Spear was saved and stopped. Anyhting I tried to cast on the Iron Guts was dispelled with absolute precision.
Waywatchers, at least, managed to drop one of the monstrous warriors.


Green Kingdom – Turn 6

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In the last turn he moved his units to get closer to Iron Guts and after a bit of baits in the magic phase I understood his intentions too late. When I was left with a couple of Didpel Dice, He cast a boosted Hand of Gork on his General and teleported him and the regular Trooper inside the ruins, out of harm from everything.


Host of the Pheonix King – Turn 6

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With nothing much else to do, I surrounded the Trolls unit and tried to shoot it down to the last beast.
Magic focused on them too, but all Shems, Soul Quenches, Pits, Spears and Flocks were stopped.
In the end Waywatchers once again dropped a Troll, but it was not enough to claim points for the unit, as one was still standing.


After match thoughts

The game devoleped quite smoothly, there were no real big swing and overall, my plans worked almost well. Except I wasn’t able to catch a single fleeing unit.
The final result was a slight 12-8 in my favour, but a single Troll was keeping 120+ VP and a single Irongut secured other 150+ VP.
I was glad Savage Orcs had been taken out of the game the whole match by a single unit of Waywatchers and I was really impressed how good Sisters did. Yeas, the whole lore of Beast on a fast cavalry is really strong, but I think that two units, between poisoned javelins and combo charges could have taken out the two chariots anyway, while contributing to the magic pahase even with just the Curse of Anraheir (which Ironically, I’ve never been able to place on Savage Orcs).
The whole game actually was decided by two events. The long flight of Trolls which I wasn’t able to catch with Reavers left the Slaughtermaster alive until the end of the game and the Ironguts overrun that brought them out of charge arc from Eternal Guards put the Tyrant into safety.

What could I have done better?

Well, for example, I have to stop basing my calculations on avarages, but always take in account the worst possibility.
Remembering special rules could have helped too, but if in first place I reformed Eternal Guards in such a way that Iron Guts couldn’t have possibly overrun out of my charge arc, the match would have ended there, on turn 4.
Another thing, could be to avoid going for for overkill solutions. With Hindsight, a single unit of Sisters, played well, could have managed to deal with both Ironblaster and Scrapelauncher, while the other could have just helped the rest of the army.
Scouts also died in unnecessary ways, just because I wanted to deploy them too close to the enemy. Thus offering possible dangerous charges. At 153 pts, they’re not cheap enought to be sacrificed either.
In all I think this was a success and I liked the new shape of the army. A bit less magic was also more manageable, while the added value of scouts and another unit of sisters, really pulled their weight even if I didn’t used them at best.

For the next round of the Campaign, I added to my list another 1 pt stratagem. Since I found myself always taking it, I added the First Strike stratagem (+1 to start).

Comments, suggestions and questions are more than welcome, as usual.
Aezeal
Wild Hunter
Wild Hunter
Posts: 1502
Joined: 22 Aug 2014, 13:54

Re: ET: Khaine - Phoenix King vs Da Green Kingdom

Post by Aezeal »

Do you think 2 units of warhawks would have made for better warmachine hunters?

I don't know the ironblaster rules but would your Phoenix have been saver behind the tower? Cannonballs hitting the tower would probably not penetrate right?
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