RTT Batrep: Wood Elves
Prelude:
We had a carload of folks going to the Dragon Caves in Chattanooga. Seriously, we had a total of five players from our little Warhammer group going down to play. A sixth had cancelled out earlier in the week. None of us were playing the same armies; we had Chaos, Bretts, Lizardmen, Orcs, and my Wood Elves.
A little about the Dragon Caves; it is an excellent game shop. The staff is friendly and knowledgeable and the store is nice. The only complaints I have are the terrain intensive tables, which give certain army types a lot of trouble.
My army List:
Before you scream “CHEESE” understand that the Dragon Caves is not a place where you bring your “normal” army. Most armies there are dead hard and you need to understand that before you respond. The last time I played there, I finished second with a mostly knights and shooting PLUS a Steamtank (it was one of the THREE present).
Archmage, Level 4, Dispel magic scroll, Wand of Jet, Potion of Knowledge
Life Mage, Level 2, Dispel Magic Scroll
Life Mage, Level 2, Dispel Magic Scroll
Guardian, two hand weapons, Light Armor, Hail of Doom Arrow
Character Points: 699
Core:
5 Archers + Deadeye
5 Archers
5 Archers
5 Archers
6 Glade Riders, Full Command with War Banner
Core: 461
Special Troops:
10 Dryads
10 Dryads
2 Great Eagles
8 War Dancers
Special: 620
Rare Troops:
Treeman
6 Waywatchers
Rare: 370
Total Points: 2150 on the dot!
Game One: Jeff Shea (Beastmen-Minotaur and magic heavy)
Terrain: This was the best table for me to draw and the worst for everyone else. It was heavily wooded, and had an impassable river with only two fords. On top of that we there as a couple of stonewalls defending the river fords, which made it even better for Wood Elves.
Jeff had a mostly Minotaur army. He had three small units of Minotaurs with two hand weapons that he deployed at the right ford. Also at the right ford, he deployed a fairly large herd backed by two Bray Shamans both with the Mark of Nurgle. Against him I deployed one of my Dryad units, my Glade Riders, the Waywatchers, and one of my Eagles. In the middle I deployed all of my archer units. On the left hand ford, Jeff deployed his large Minotaur unit, a unit of Dragon Ogres, yet another small unit of Minotaurs and a Beast Herd. Against that I deployed one Great Eagle, a unit of Dryads, and my Wardancers.
Jeff rushed all three small Minotaur units across the ford. I launched a barrage of Mistress of the Marsh spells to slow him down. I made a mistake and place my Glade Riders too close to a Minotaur unit and lost them and my Eagle (from Panic). The rest of the game I used magic and shooting to reduce the three units of Minotaurs to just a single unit. The break of the game came when my Hail of Doom Arrow targeted his Beast Herd with two Shamans. The unit was totally destroyed by the arrow, and the Shamans fled, never to rally taking most all of his magic defense.
On the left he rushed a Minotaur unit into the ford that the Dryads turned back. His Dragon Ogres later destroyed the Dryads on the last turn. His army was landlocked by the ford, the heavily wooded terrain and the marchblocking Great Eagle. My shooting and magic destroyed his other herd, as well as, his last Shaman.
His chance to gain a draw came when his Doombull charged out of his unit and ran into my Treeman. I didn’t know it until turn 6 but he had the Hellfire Sword! He caused no wounds on the turn he charged and I failed to hit with my “tree whack”. Because I outnumbered him he should have autobroken. Feeling like I had the game in the bag I declined to argue. It was the next turn when he HIT with the Hellfire Sword that I found out that he had it! I probably would have argued if I knew that fact. In the end it didn’t matter.
Win to the Wood Elves.
Summary:
The mistake with my Glade Riders was just a Wood Elf rookie mistake. I am so used to rushing forward with my cavalry and I just didn’t realize my error until my later games. It also took my Great Eagle with them, so it was a doubly bad mistake.
Jeff did nothing wrong, he just played me on the worst possible terrain. I don’t know if he had ever played against Wood Elves before either. He had plenty of magic on his own with three level two Shamans and a Power Familiar. That was holding pretty well until my Hail of Doom arrow rolled 15 attacks, which I hit with all of them, and killed off 10+ Beastmen.
Kudos to the tacticas on the Battle Glade that I read the night before, they really helped me in this tournament.
Game Two: Jeff Phillips (Slaanesh Mortals and Demons)
Terrain:
This table was pretty open except for some woods. However I the exact center of the table there was a HUGE wood. In the corners of the deployment zones were some ruins and a couple of hills. Great Wood Elf table.
Opposition:
His army was mostly Slaanesh demons. Three units of Demonettes, two units of demonette cavalry, a demon of some sort, a mage, some furies, two chariots, a hero on a booby worm, and a sorcerer on a booby worm. A FAST army!
The Game:
I deployed my archers in the open on the right hand side of the table. The entire game they shot at Demonettes, totally destroying one unit. My Glade Guardian destroyed all but two of his Furies with his Hail of Doom Arrow.
Jeff has not been playing much and made a couple of mistakes such as deploying his demon in a woods where it couldn’t fly out. At my first RTT Jeff destroyed my Empire army with his 19 dice Tzeentch list.
On my left were the Waywatchers, that failed a terror test late in the game, but rallied. They didn’t do too much except put a wound on the Exalted Booby Worm rider.
It was the big forest where all the battle happened. I used my superior woodland movement to draw his army in and destroy it one unit at a time. My magic destroyed all of his characters and his big demon as they felt the full brunt of the Master of the Woods spell. Jeff conceded on turn four.
Win to the Wood Elves
Summary:
I thought I was in trouble against his speed, but the combination of Howler Wind, Mistress of the Marsh and the large wood totally negated his speed advantage. Also Jeff was rusty and had not played in awhile.
Game Three: Bob Shipee (Savage Orcs)
Terrain:
I think at the request of everyone in the place they put me on a table with no woods this time. It didn’t bother me because it did have a bunch of impassable terrain that funneled whatever army into two little corridors. Again, perfect Wood Elf terrain.
Game Three:
On my right, I sent my Glade Riders to kill some Goblin Wolf Riders. The Wolf Riders with some great dice rolling kept them pinned in place until the Glade Riders were destroyed by a Pump Wagon, which in turn was destroyed by a unit of Dryads. On this flank he had deployed a unit of Savage Orcs, some Savage Orc Boarboyz and a large unit of Savage Orc archers. Against this I deployed a unit of Dryads, the Glade Riders, an archer unit, and the Glade Guardian. With my magic superiority and with some traps and such I was able to totally destroy this entire flank for the loss of my Glade Riders.
Since the middle was a large group of rocks, all I did there was hiding my mages.
The left was where the battle developed. He had a large unit of Savage Orc Boarboyz that I shot and magicked down to two models (that survived the game). They even survived a charge from a unit of Wardancers. On turn six there was a huge scrum between my Dryads and Treeman plus his General and BSB’s unit. My Dryads broke on the last turn and gave him the victory points. My Treeman had to test at –1 and passed easily. I did get half the VPs for his General and I killed the Traitor with a good round of melee. Truly my dice went very flat this melee or the game would have been over a turn earlier.
Win to the Wood Elves!
Summary:
Bob Shippee is one of the nicest persons you can ever play. He won Best Player at Baltimore his year. The last time I played him he mopped the floor with me using a Beastmen army. He didn’t lose his cool one time, even when his Boarboyz failed a critical animosity check right in front of all of my archers-truly a class act.
End Game:
We sat around at the end of the tourney chewing the fat. The two players I suspected would win the tournament, had a couple of bad games and I knew it was going to be close. The one guy that I thought would win won Best Army and that is when I knew I had won. Finally the monkey is off my back.
Did I wish I had won with my beloved Empire? Sure I do, but the tables at the Dragon Caves make that very hard. I was also using an army that I had only played three times in my life, but I was well read on their tactics. Except for a couple of mistakes with my Glade Riders the games went pretty much my way. Thanks to my opponents, thanks to Brad Grinstead for helping me finish my army at midnight the night before, and finally thanks to the Dragon Caves for caring enough to run this tournament.