Yet another battle report brought to you by Shadowwolf!
But this time it's something special!
A few weeks ago, Mathi Alfblut left a comment on me studying on Chalmers University of Technology. This made me suspect he was from the neighborhood.
So while I was studying Mechanics for the big exam, I decided to track him down. Now this ma seem hard, but remember we Swedes live in the second worst contry when it comes to personal integrity.
Said and done, I did some research on our fella Mathi Alfblut, and quickly connected him to the alias Ramsesis on a few other warhammer related forums. From profile and post information I got to know he was around 30, archeologist, etc. On a swedish gaming support forum, I made a breakthrough! I encountered Mathi's real name.
As it was pretty unique, I simply tapped into the adress registry, ending up with his phone numbers, birth date, wife, e-mail, adress, car registry and so on... Shows up he only lives a few miles from me... Did I feel like a stalker!
And all this in half an hour of work. Scary.
Anyway, I sent a text message to his mobile phone, eagerly awaiting his answer, signing the message Shadowwolf. An hour later I recieve a vague answer, but soon we are both eager to meet and battle each other, putting the might of the Empire against the Mournsinger Wood elves of Mathi!
So how do you prepare for an encounter like this? I had some experience from the Eurobash 2008, but still felt anxious and couldn't really believe I was going to meet this forum legend as I pulled up on his driveway!
Straight to things, we had some trouble with gaming are as his mother was visiting and taking up the space usually occupied by the gaming table of what I could gather in the storm of new impressions. We set up on the kitchen table, a little small but still useful even though it missed the corners.
THE BATTLE
Our armies:
SHADOWWOLF (From rear to front)
5 'nilla knights - Placed to block off lone of sight from enemy scouts and countercharge anything which might emerge from the farm.
Great cannon - One of two, one on each flank
Rocket Battery - Didn't expect to much from it versus wood elves, but kept it because it's so much fun to fire!
10 Crossbowmen - Threw these in to counter the large amounts of fast cavalry I expected. I usually don't field any normal shooting except outriders.
Captasus - With Doomfire ring and Sword of Battle! Ready to charege down any troublesome Toughness 3 skirmishers!
6 Outriders - Mmm, firepower! They usually get Hail of Doom arrowed second turn VS the treehuggers, though...
2 Level 2 mages - Rod and scrolls, ready for versatile magic phase! I rolled the best possible spells I could; Master of Stone, Rain Lord, Forked Lightning and Second Sign!
24 Swordsmen - With detachments of 9 halberdiers and 7 archers. The screens would soak up enemy bowfire, preserving detachments and main units for the nastier elves.
28 Spearmen - Same as swordsmen
The Headmaster - Archlector with VHS and Mace of Helstrum, ready to pray, smite and generally generate overkill in challenges!
2nd Cannon - See above
4 Ironguts - Wildcard and adders of 242 points to make my list 2250
With greatweapons and fear, they can put a serious dent in the more troublesome forest spirits!
5 'nilla knightsMATHI ALFBLUT (From rear to front, starting in the houses and finishing in the forest at the bottom of the picture)
6 Waywatchers - Deployed in the farm at the rear of the picture
Scout noble - NOT with hail of doom, but with Arcane bodkins and pageant of shrikes.
6 Wardancers
8 Dryads
5 Wild Riders - In the forest.
10 Archers - setting up with the weak middle concept
Spellsinger - With Treesinging as only spell, carrying dispel scrolls
10 Archers - See above
5 Glade Riders8 Dryads - With Branch wraith
Branch wraith - Cluster of radiants and level 1 wizard, knowing Fury of the Forest
10 Eternal Guard - Working like a wood elf detachment
19 Eternal guard - With full command and Highborn
Highborn - Great weapon, amber pedant, oaken armour
6 Waywatchers - In the forest at the bottom of the picture, next to my Knights.
A better view of the right wood elf flank, full of good hitters
Analysis:
The battlefield is pretty littered with Forests, to the advantage of the Wood elves. The farmstead, allowing both the scout noble and the way watchers cover and deployment, didnt make things better either. But I realized I was in magic superiority, which might acually allow me to get some spells and prayers off! The guys near the houses were suspicable to get pummeled by the Master of Stone! Adding forked lightning and 2nd sign to the mix was certainly not to be underestimated!
I doubted Mathi's deployment of his main fighting block, going at the outside of the hill with the impassible side facing me. He would have to spend many turns moving around that hill in order to maybe get a flanking maneuver.
And then the game was on!
Even though the Empire deployed quickly, the Wood elves won the first turn, making their moves carefully and advancing on the enemy. Shooting did little agains the main blocks, but the waywatchers and the scout noble managed to panic the knights at my extreme left, running them off the board. The archers did the same to my crossbowmen, which I had hoped would be able to kill a few elves in return fire. The both fled through the left great cannon, but the stalwart crew held fast as the bigger troops ran past.
The wood elves advanced, the right flank taking the hill, even though they would not be able to advance further due to the impassible slope on my side of the hill.
In my turn, my Captasus was not late to take vengance upon the wussy elves which had killed his cowardly soldiers! Charging in, his faithful steed takes two wounds from stand and shoot, but the captain hits home, killing two in the ensuing melee. The rest of the Imperial army advances, save for the outriders, well behind the soft cover hedge which preotects them from the enemy archers. Cannons and mortars wildly overshoot. I blame this on the table messing with my aim as the rocket battery hits not the hill, but the Eternal guard main block behind it. Ooops. But only a single eternal guard falls, as the shot scatters off.
This picture is taken in the Wood elf movement phase, in turn 2. At the left, the Captasus can be seen exchanging blows with the waywatchers and the scout noble. Behind them the war dancers are waiting in the farm yard for an opportunity to charge in. The wild riders have just failed a charge against the archer screen of the swordme, due to being fear causing on the charge. Blast, says Mathi. The Spellsinger in the tiny forest Irresistibly moves her forest forward, one inch at the time. On the right, the glade riders are about to ride around the Irongust at the base of the hill. They fail in this and instead traps the Ironguts, leaving a corner jutting out in the charge arc of the Ogres.
In the following turn, the Wild riders are severely punished for their impudence and one great cannon kills two while the Outriders mow down the rest twice again, in spite of whatever statistics have to say about the results of many dice. Things are starting to look bad for the wood elves...
The Ogres charged the Glade riders in my next turn, the 7th edition BRB allowing them to slide in for maximum of attacks. The litterally beat the crap out of the elven riders and overrun into the Branchwraith's unit behind. The Eternal guard march on, the smaller detachment having been hit directly by a mortar. Just out of the camera view, the archer screen is doin what they do bet, protecting their parent units by dying.
The waywatchers in the forest in my deployment zone get charged down by the heavy cavalry of the empire, four elves escaping the board alive, while the Knights halt at the edge of the forest.
After losing his pegasus to the elven noble, the Empire captain beats the last of the leves, running them into a house wall. Chosing between charging the war dancers alone or running away, he suddenly comes up with a devious plan. Apparently going a bit Don Quijote, he enters the middlemost house in search of a new steed.
A few turns later, the battlefield is littered with elven corpses. The dryads, having lost many of their numbers to the Imperial wizards and outriders decide to charge the flank of the swordsmen in a death or glory attempt. They do well at the start, but soon courage fails them and they are overcome by the might of the ranked men. The wardancers, only a single one remaining after the same treatment the dryads had, were tricked into teh trap. Naturally, they charged the captain in the building, expecting him to die after taking a few of them with them. Instead, he flees, leaving the war dancers alone inside an empty house. An empty house with house rules: Toughness 7 and 5 wounds. Two cannons aim for the house, and if they take it down, every one inside suffer a str 5 hit. One of the cannons roll a 1 to wound, however. And as the heavens wizard has proven completely inadept in casting higher than 3 on two dice, they have no re-rolls to change the result with.
The captain is punished by a hail of bowfire, having emerged right in front of the elven archers.
The last war dancer champion decides to join the fate of the dryads and charge the swordsmen as well, killing two but run away an amazing 12" after losing combat. He is then Master of Stoned to deth by 6 str 6 hits by the Life wizard. The swordsmen pursue and ensure the death of the archers as they are run down when fleeing from the spearmen charge.
The other archer unit was taken down by the Headmaster and the sole survivor of the archer screen. The headmaster then went after the spellsinger in the woods, using his mace to take 5 wounds from her, killing instantly.
The remaining eternal guard were hit squarely by the rocket battery and are themselves lured into a trap. The Ironguts, having made paste of the dryads and branch wraith wait just outside their charge arc and the knights responible for the disposal of the waywatchers threaten their front. In a desperate attempt to avoid the trap, they charge both the knights and the ogres, the later being targeted by the five ef detachment of eternal guard. The ogres fight them back, however and slaughter them to a man while the knights flee the charge, unfortunately taking an artiller crew with them.
The Eternal guard, the last remaining elves on the battle field, are then put in a hard vice and fight desperately. But now the Highborn gets to shine, striking out with his great weapon before anyone else, hewing ogre flesh to the left and right. The knights charge in to help, but as the sun settle the Highborn and the two remaining eternal guard make a hasty retreat to the forest without being killed.
CONCLUTION: Failure - 7 elves escaped the board.
Just kidding!
Massive win to the Empire! We did not even bother calculating!
Mathi Alfblut may win any word war on the Forum, but on the battle field, it seems Shadowwolf is his better!
...until next time, Mathi!
Shadowwolf
