So. I tried a list with no war machines, and no warrior priests. Figured I'd post a brief report just to share my experiences. This is in no way intended as a proper report, so don't read it as one.
So, I took the list during a friendly 4-player event last weekend. We played 2k points.
-------------
LvL3, lore of light, power stone
LvL3, lore of fire, power scroll
Captain on warhorse, lance & shield, talisman of preservation
Captain BSB w. enchanted sheild, warrior bane
LvL2, Shadow, dispell scroll.
Witch Hunter
38 Halberdiers, Banner & muscisian
20 Spearmen, banner & musiscian
14 Knights, lance & shield, banner
3 Demigriffons
10 Huntsmen
Celestial Hurricanum
Luminark of hryysys
Game 1, Watchtowe vs DE
1 Sorceress
1 BSB
~30 executioners
~30 spearmen
~16 Rep. Crossbows
1 warhydra
1 kharidrysss
10 Warlocks
2 Bolt throwers
My spearmen occupied the tower, knights took on warlocks, and brought them down to one. However they got flanked by the warhydra and broke.
The Huntsmen Killed off the last warlock, and panicked the hydra.
Demigriffons broke, and ran down Karindrysysss, overran inte sorceress unit.
His executioners were held by fulminating flame cage most of the game. I managed to evacuate my spearmen and insert halberds. My knights, with general, rallied and charged his spearmen to hold them up, but were eventually defeated.
Game ended by turn 4.
Losing knights and captain general had cost me. VP-wise i had an advantage with 11-9, and got 5 additional pts for the watchtower.
16-9, to me
Game 2, Battleline versus O&G
Orc shaman, lvl?
Some bsb i think
Goblin shaman lvl1
34-48(?) Savage orcs
40ish Nightgoblins
20-25 Black Orcs
2 Spearchukkas
1 Mangler Squig
1 Arachnarok
This was going to be tough, but I outdeployed him.
On my left flank my demis & huntsmen faced down the mangler squig and the boltthrowers. In the middle his savage orcs were only facing my 20 spearmen with my 2 wizard lords and witchhunter.
I had the rest of my amy in the right hand corner facing the blackorcs, the big spider. The night gobbos were in between, sort of stuck behing some impassable terrain.
On the right hand flank my huntsmen sacrificed themselves to remove the mangler. My demis, took a hit from one of the chukkas, but then killed them both off. The savage orcs never saw combat, I kept them in check with net of amyntok and flame cage.
On the right flank my luminark managed to blast 6 wounds off the spider over 2 turns, a foot of gork stomped the black orcs (AFTER killing 5 spearmen & the witchhunter), but things looked positive there after my Knights took one additional wound off the Arachnarok which was now down to 1 wound.
I think my halberds were stomped by gork at some point.
Now things went south. The rachnarok managed to pass 5 straight 4+ Armor Saves, and 3 6+ breaktests. I just could not get rid of it. The black orcs charged my knights in the flank, but my halberds rushed to their aid. Together with the luminark we chased them off. They rallied however.
The halberds were charged by the nightgoblins, but I was sure to win the combat. Somehow I fluffed all my attacks, and lost by a marigin on 1. But with the BSB in the unit, a re-rollabe 7+ wasn't all that bad. I failed, and fled 3" just to be run down by gobbos. My knights FINALLY killed the spider in turn 5. Charged, and broke, the newly rallied black orcs in turn 6. Sadly they ran 9", and I rolled abysmally 6") for my swiftstride pursuit, had no time to chase them off the table, and lost the game:
14-6
This was a shame. Tactically I think everything went perfect, but a few key rolls went the wrong way. I was satisfied with the result, but not happy.
Game 3, dawn attack, Vampire counts
1 Blender lord (Quickblood, red fury S7), on horse with black periapt
1 master necromancer
1 baby vampire
9 black knights
30+ ghouls
6 crypt horros
20ish zombies
20ish zombies
1 terrorgheist
I wasn't quite sure how to handle the gheist, but was hoping to get lucky with the luminark.
Deployment saw everything but the ghouls & huntsmen (right flank) clustered to the left flank and centre.
1
Vampires took the first turn, and they aproached fast. My huntsmen annoyed the ghould for most of the game far to the right.
Next turn I was likely to face a charge from the knights on my knights, som they backed off leaving him only to charge the halberds. My demis charged his crypt horrors, and the witchhunter left the halberds to shoot the vampire lord (missed).
I got off flamin sword of rhuin on the demis, and they savaged the crypt horrors, leaving one of them on 1 wound after cumble.
Turn 2
On his turn the terror gheist screamed at my demis, doing 2, woudns, finishing of 1 of them (I lost 1 wound to dangerous terrain). His black knights charged the witchhunter, who took a final shot at the Vampire count before being cut to pieces. They then overran into my Halberds. The demi griffons killed the last crypt horror, and reformed to charge the terrorgheist. A unit of zombies was in between, but I was sure to be able to charge around them.
In my turn the demigriffons charged, and shaved a few wounds off the terorrgheist. My knights moved up to flank his black knights. The halberds were savaged by the back knights, but were steadfast. For some reason my BSB was never attacked. So the halberds remained.
Turn 3
The terrorgheist screamed at the demis, but rolled poorly, and did 0 wounds. He killed more halberds, and resurrected some black knights. Healed a wounds on the terrorgheist.
I had the choice to charge the terrorgheist OR his black knights. I took a chance and charged his black knights, hoping to be able to buff my knights enough to carry the day. In my magic phase I managed to land, Speed of light on my knights, Phas protection bubbled on both the knights AND the halberds, and miasm on the black knights. With no re-rolls from his quickblood, my knights hitting on 2+ from the hurricanum, and him able to rack up CR from the halberds I managed to crumble the entire unit. The terrorgheist took 6 wounds as he lost his general, and the game was essentially over.
It was late so we called it as is.
I won 18-2. (Had we continied I'd have gotten 20-0, but it didn't matter)'
All in all I was happy. Landed 2nd out of 4 with an Empire list with no warmachines, and no WP. O&G won. Not surprisingly. That list was hard.
------------
I enjoyed the experience with no wm's. You do get magic dependent, but rather versatile as well. With good magic phases you become a force to be reckoned with.
