To start with, a quick recap of the list I was using:
2500 Vampire Counts
Vampire Lord: Charmed Shield; Talisman Of Preservation; Potion Of Strength; Quickblood; Level 2 Wizard, Lore of the Vampires; Zombie Dragon; lance; heavy armour. 616
Vampire: Enchanted Shield; Book of Arkhan; Dragonbane Gem; Level 1 Wizard, Lore of Death; Hellsteed; lance; heavy armour; Battle Standard. 207
Vampire: Sword Of Anti Heroes; Dragonhelm; Luckstone; Potion Of Foolhardiness; Quickblood; Dread Knight; Level 1 Wizard, Lore of Death; Hellsteed; shield; heavy armour. 231
Necromancer: Level 1 Wizard, Lore of the Vampires; Dispel Scroll. 90
36 Crypt Ghouls 360
15 Dire Wolves 120
5 Dire Wolves 40
5 Dire Wolves 40
20 Zombies: musician; standard bearer. 70
5 Hexwraiths 1505 Dire Wolves 40
5 Dire Wolves 40
20 Zombies: musician; standard bearer. 70
Terrorgheist 225
Varghulf 175
Varghulf 175
My opponent had brought High Elves, and for the second straight game I was also facing off against a Dragon! This time though, as it was a club game, he was proxying some things in his list. I have no problem with this at the club (after all, what better time to try things out!) though when it comes to events I'd rather have an easier time of identifying what's what. From memory, his list contained the following:
Prince on Dragon
Noble BSB on Steed
Noble on Steed
Mage: Lvl 2 Fire
2 x 15 Archers
25 Spearmen
2 x 5 Reavers
14 Dragon Princes
2 Skycutter Chariots
2 Eagles
Unfortunately, when I had finally made it to the club, all of the good scenery had been pinched by other tables! We were left with 3 hills and a marsh, so we spread them out as best we could and got on with deployment.
My deployment
High Elf deployment
In terms of magic, his Fire mage rolled Fireball and Burning Head. My Lord got Hellish Vigour and Invocation, and the Necromancer took Invocation too. The BSB rolled Soulblight and kept it, and the other Vamp rolled a 1 so automatically took Spirit Leech. We did our Vanguard moves and I won the roll for the first turn.
Turn 1, after my movement phase.
The main moves this turn involved pushing the Terrorgheist up to scream at the Reavers and everything else trying to stay within 12" of the Dragon to keep in march range. The Varghulfs (is that the plural? Varghulfii?) started running around the flank, trying to limit where the eagle could go. The Hexwraiths were not close enough to hit anything with their movement attack, so stayed back a bit. Magic was quite good, an Invocation giving me more Zombies and a boosted Spirit Leech taking 3 wounds off the nearest Skycutter. The Terrorgheist screamed at the Reavers, killing 4.
Turn 1, after High Elf movement
The High Elves responded by retreating into the corner. Skirt wearing pansies! :D The remaining Reaver charged the BSB's unit, hoping to put a cheeky wound on her, and the Skycutter charged the wolves. On the other flank, the Reavers charged the other small wolf unit. Simon had spotted that I'd left him an over-run into my Vampire, which I had completely missed. Magic saw me burn my Scroll protecting the Hexwraiths from a big casting value on a Fireball, and his shooting killed some Ghouls.
In combat, the lone Reaver failed his mission and was predictably killed. The other Reavers killed the wolves, and decided to overrun to avoid a potential Ghoul charge. I knew they'd either be stuck there and potentially charged, or overrun and be out of my way for a turn, so I wasn't too unhappy with that. The other wolves though died to the Skycutter without doing the last wound, and the chariot managed to get the overrun into my Vampire.
Turn 2, after VC movement
A Varghulf charged the Skycutter to try and help out the Vampire, but that was the only charge. The Terrorgheist again went up to scream at something, this time the eagle. Problem was it couldn't go far enough to get out of the charge arc of the Dragon Princes. I pushed the Hexwraiths up to help redirect the Princes if I managed to get Vanhels off, as they were just short again with their movement. The Ghouls moved up to threaten the infantry, and maybe tempt the Dragon into charging. Magic saw my first spell miscast, putting Soulblight on the cavalry to maybe make them think twice about charging the Terrorgheist. Fortunately the miscast did nothing major, but it meant the rest of the phase was a wash. The Terrorgheist again managed to not kill it's target, putting a wound on the eagle. In combat, the Skycutter ran over the Vampire purely with Impact Hits, but the Varghulf avenged it.
Turn 2, after High Elf movement.
Then Simon did something I wasn't expecting and charged the Hexwraiths with the cavalry. Everything else backed off again, except the eagle assigned speedbump duty in front of my Dragon. I sensed a theme emerging... ;-) Magic saw an Irresistible Fireball strip the Charmed Shield off the Lord and put a wound on the Dragon, and put a wound on his mage whilst killing a few archers. In combat the cavalry predictably went through the Hexwraiths on combat res, and with their flame-proof armour I couldn't even kill the unit champ. They overran, but not enough to hit the Varghulf behind.
Turn 3, after many many charges!
Here I had a choice. I had hoped to split up the cavalry and the dragon so that I didn't have to fight them both at once, and that had happened. I just needed to figure out how to make the most of it. The options were to redirect the bus for a turn or two with the Varghulfs and go for the dragon, but my own Ghouls were in the way. They charged the eagle, as did the BSB. It fled from that, and the Ghouls redirected towards the archers. They were further away, but I thought they would be less likely to flee. Flee they did though, and Plan Kill The Dragon was scuppered. So I went for the Dragon Princes. Both Varghulfs went in, and the Dragon went to run over the Eagle. The Dire Wolf unit went in too - I was hoping that the Lord would fail to kill the eagle and it would flee, meaning the wolves could make it in too (a long shot, but worth the risk I thought). Magic gave me a double 1, and a channel let me power through a Soulblight on the Princes. The Terrorgheist screamed and killed 5 Princes, then in combat I did very little. The Lord was stuck in a challenge with the Unit Champ, killing it, and the varghulfs both did a couple of wounds whilst taking a couple in return. The Elf BSB turned out to have the Crown of Command, so they went nowhere.
Elf turn 3. My photography failed me here... ;-)
The Lord popped her Potion of Strength, hoping to cut through the Dragon Princes this turn. The Elf Dragon charged my BSB and everything else moved out of the way again. The mage killed himself with another Irresistible Fireball, this time putting 3 wounds on the Terrorgheist. The Elf Lord predictably killed the BSB, and reformed so the Zombies weren't in his flank but he could still see my Dragon. Even with Strength 8, the Lord couldn't kill enough Dragon Princes. The Varghulfs went for the characters, and the Dragon used it's breath weapon, but at the end both Nobles were on a wound and there were 2 Princes left. The Crown again saw them stick about.
The end of my Turn 4. Spoiler alert!
This turn went a little better. The Zombies charged the Elf Dragon, sacrificing the Necromancer in a challenge to pin it in place. The Ghouls went for the Archers on the hill, making their charge and killing enough to drive them away - unfortunately they didn't catch them. The Terrorgheist flew over to scream at the Elf Dragon, putting a wound on the Prince, but I forgot about the Skycutter, leaving it easily within charge range for next turn. Magic saw an Invocation put wounds back on all the important stuff, but no Hellish Vigour. In combat, the Elf Dragon ate the Necromancer, but held from the resulting break test. In the important combat, the Lord and the Varghulfs finally killed off the Princes and the two heroes. A little late though, as all I could do was hope the Zombies held another round...
In the High Elf Turn 4, the Reavers charged the flank of the Zombies, and the Skycutter charged the Terrorgheist. Simon positioned it so it needed a 9 to overrun into my Dragon, and the Reavers needed an 8. He was hoping to get one of them so that I would be unable to charge his Dragon in my turn, and the odds looked good for him. On the other side of the field, the Archers rallied and turned to face the Ghouls, and the Spearmen charged and killed the Dire Wolves.
With no magic and no real shooting, combat saw the Skycutter roll a 1 for it's impact hits. Together with the ineptitude of the Terrorgheist fluffing all its attacks, this combat ended with the Terrorgheist still alive on 1 wound. With the combined attacks of the Reavers, Lord, Dragon and it's breath weapon, the Zombies evaporated. Crucially, the Reavers then made their Overrun into my Dragon, pinning it in place.
The only things I had left to move in my turn were the Varghulfs and the Ghouls. The Ghouls went into the remnants of the Archers, easily killing most and running the survivors off the board. One of the Varghulfs was stuck behind the Dragon, so it moved out to help if there was a next turn (at this point we were running short of time). The other charged into the Spearmen, hoping to Regen and a high toughness to keep him kicking. Magic was again very useful to me, with Invocation giving two wounds back to the Terrorgheist and healing the Dragon, but Hellish Vigour was again stopped. The Terrorgheist, even wounded and with the Prince nearby, put three wounds on the Skycutter with it's scream.
In combat the Varghulf killed plenty of Spears, but they were Steadfast and held. The Skycutter and Terrorgheist continued their stalemate with a scoreless draw, and the Lord and Dragon combined to kill only three Reavers. With their General nearby they held, giving his Dragon an easy charge into mine.
With no magic and no real shooting, combat saw the Skycutter roll a 1 for it's impact hits. Together with the ineptitude of the Terrorgheist fluffing all its attacks, this combat ended with the Terrorgheist still alive on 1 wound. With the combined attacks of the Reavers, Lord, Dragon and it's breath weapon, the Zombies evaporated. Crucially, the Reavers then made their Overrun into my Dragon, pinning it in place.
Vampire Turn 5
The only things I had left to move in my turn were the Varghulfs and the Ghouls. The Ghouls went into the remnants of the Archers, easily killing most and running the survivors off the board. One of the Varghulfs was stuck behind the Dragon, so it moved out to help if there was a next turn (at this point we were running short of time). The other charged into the Spearmen, hoping to Regen and a high toughness to keep him kicking. Magic was again very useful to me, with Invocation giving two wounds back to the Terrorgheist and healing the Dragon, but Hellish Vigour was again stopped. The Terrorgheist, even wounded and with the Prince nearby, put three wounds on the Skycutter with it's scream.
In combat the Varghulf killed plenty of Spears, but they were Steadfast and held. The Skycutter and Terrorgheist continued their stalemate with a scoreless draw, and the Lord and Dragon combined to kill only three Reavers. With their General nearby they held, giving his Dragon an easy charge into mine.
High Elf Turn 5
Time was short, so we made this the last turn. The Dragon, as expected, charged in and the rest of the Elf army kept itself out of the way. In combat, the Varghulf continued to kill Spears, but left 6 alive so they were again Steadfast and did not break. The Terrorgheist took a wound, but remembered what do do in combat and finally killed the chariot.
Now for the important clash. I challenged to keep the Reavers from adding a cheeky wound, and failed to get through the Princes Armour and Ward with the Vampire. Going back, the combined attacks of the Prince and Dragon put 4 wounds on the Lord, and I saved 1 with my Ward. Dead Vampire Lord. All I could hope for was for the Dragon to hold on to save some points, but it fluffed it's attacks and took 4 wounds from combat res. With the last act of the game being crumble tests, I needed to be lucky to hang on. The Terrorgheist failed by 1, leaving it on 1 wound, but the Dragon failed by 2 to give all it's points to Simon.
With that, we called it a game and totted up the points.
Vampires: 1527
High Elves: 1789
Result: 9-11 Loss
Summary
Well I must say that when the Lord died I had assumed I had lost, but it turned out it was a lot closer than I thought! I'm pretty sure if we had played Turn 6 the Terrorgheist would have died to crumbling, but the Varghulfs (who are immune to that) would have probably got the Reavers and the Spearmen, keeping things pretty even. Given the two mistakes I made costing me very useful units, I'm happy to keep it that close! It was also a lot closer that the last time we played, as then I wasted the Ghouls and didn't manage to kill the bus either.
Looking at my list, I can see straight away that this version is better. The Death magic adds a lot of ranged threat, and even having the extra spell on the Lord is a big difference. I think that the threat of the Hexwraiths was more useful than the Vargheists were in the last game, but I'm still not sure I'm using them correctly. I want to keep them close to the Lord to give them the 16" movement, but they never really had a good target within that range to go after. I also didn't use the Book of Arkhan in this game, but I'll keep it for now to see how useful it is in other situations.
I think that there will not be many changes to the list before my next game, as I want to see how it does without the positioning mistakes and against something different. I have another game at the club booked in for the Monday before the list deadline, so if there are any changes to make I will post them after that game.
Finally, please let me know if you this report was interesting. It was quite fun to do, but taking the photos put a bit of a strain on the game as I was trying to remember to do that as well as play. Simon was fine with it, as he usually does the same thing, but I'm not sure if every opponent would be so accommodating.
Until next time!
Well that makes a change, to read a battle report about one of my games from the other side.
ReplyDeleteIn my first turn the main reason I charged the last Reaver in the unit at the block with the BSB in was more to see if what combat kit he'd got, especially if he had the Charmed Shield. With the Skycutter charge, had it not been on its last wound I probably wouldn't have gone for the charge into the Direwolves and aimed for the overrun. However, as I figured it looked like it was about to die I felt it should at least go down in a blaze of glory, which I think it's fair to say it did (and also usefully getting rid of the threat of Spirit Leech).
I must admit that I didn't even consider the Terrorgheist as a charge target in turn two, although after I charged the Hexwraiths with the Dragon Princes I was wondering if I should have just sent in the Noble from the unit rather than all of them. The Eagle moving up to the flank of where I expected the Dragon Princes to be after fighting the Hexwraiths was a bit of a waste - not only did I get the angle wrong, as well as giving the Direwolf block the possible charge - but I think you could have flank charged the Dragon Princes anyway with the flying movement and made contact in the flank behind the Eagle rather than in front.
I wasn't expecting your BSB to charge the other Eagle, in fact I was planning on the Eagle keeping the Ghouls in the way of the BSB charging the Dragon to give me time to get the remaining Skycutter forward and the Dragon behind the Ghouls (but out of arc of the Zombies) but with the BSB falling his charge and being in easy charge range of the dragon I decided to go for it, something I was regretting somewhat when I realised my Lord was going to get the Zombies in the face with no BSB of his own nearby.
The Skycutter charge on the Terrorgheist managed to restore my usual luck with rolling for impact hits but fortunately my plan to maximise combat res in the combat between the Prince and Zombies by putting the Reavers in the flank paid off and I got the overrun into the Vamp Lord as a bonus.
Although with my usual standard of dice rolling for my characters I had a hunch that in order to get a result from the game the Prince was going to have to fight the Vamp Lord. Annoyingly I forgot to pop the Potion of Foolhardiness which would have given him an extra attack but I got lucky both with the Prince surviving the Vampire's and Zombie Dragon's attacks and the Moon Dragon managing to do the business and finish off the Vamp Lord.
Needless to say I was pleased with the win which now puts our head to head results at 3-2 to you. I had to make a few list changes for this game to bring my list into line with the comp, which meant dropping a Dragon Prince and the terror banner from that unit. I decided to swap out the Lion Chariots I'd run previously for the Skycutters, which gave me some change to splash around elsewhere, mostly on kitting out the second Noble who replaced the second Mage I ran the last time we played.
For my part I'm still not sure if the Skycutters make the grade in the list, although I've only run them in two games. (I'm actually kind of hoping not to get to like them as I can't afford to buy the actual models at the moment). I think I did miss that extra hitting power the higher strength attacks from the Lion Chariot give and I don't think I made best use of the manoeuvrability of the surviving Skycutter. Overall I'm also finding myself conscious that the Dragon Princes are my only real combat block (whereas I'm used to running two or three blocks of great weapon equipped infantry normally) and I can't honestly say I'm using them particularly well just yet.
If I were to make any changes to the list as run I'd probably look at squeezing a second Mage back in as I was always conscious of how little magic defence I'd got as well as not getting the greatest choice of spells. I was lucky I wasn't up against Dwellers Below being six-diced at me every turn.