With an upcoming 2400 tournament I was keen to attend I had to get some ‘training’ in ASAP. A friend was keen to attend and he put together a tough Dark Elves list with all the usual tricks that promised to bring the hurt to me. Special Characters are permitted at the tournament and although I was super keen to try Arkhan I ended up deciding against it purely because I won’t have enough games under my belt with him and I’d much rather stick to what I know. With that said I created the following list:
Hierophant - Scroll
HLP - Light
20 Archers - Std, Mus
20 Archers - Std
25 Archers - Std
3 x 5 Horse Archers
2 x 5 Necropolis Knights - Champion, Std
Stalkers
Hierotitan
Casket of Souls
2 x SSCs
Dark Elves
Unkillable Lord on Peg, 1+, Rev ward, Stubbron hat, +1 S, dragonhelm
Level 4 - dagger, shadow
Level 1 - fire, scroll
BSB – Cauldron
15 Xbowmen
12 Xbowmen
15 Warriors
10 Cold One Knights – FC, Hydra Banner
2 x 5 Dark Riders
2 x Hydras
My opponent had 4 key threats that need to be address, firstly his lord with the usual build, great at holding up a big and nasty unit. Initially I thought my best shot at getting rid of him was with my Stalkers but then this would let the Cold One Knights get to my lines intact. The second option that jumped in my head was to tie the lord up with a unit of Snakes however that would take away nearly 50% of my combat ability. It was going to be tough!
Hydras I could hopefully call upon my SSC to take care of at least one before it got into combat and no doubt the Knights would be zooming down a flank nearby to assist the big beasts. I’d have to be very considerate about timing and use the terrain to my advantage and attempt to split his forces up and deal with them as best I could. Also it played in my mind that I should possibly play for a draw rather than a win.
Spells:
High Light Priest - Banishment, Bironas, Net, Gaze
Hierophant - Smiting, Desiccation, Veng, Cursed Blades
Level 4 – Pit of shades, Pendulum, Mindrazor, Miasma
Fire - Fireball
Deployment:
Dark Elves won the roll off even as I had the +1.
DE1
The Cauldron buffs the Cold One Knights with a 5+ ward.
Magic - Power of Darkness goes through adding 4 dice to the pool, Miasma boosted onto the East Necro Knights drops their stats by 3. Fireball fails to go off. Finally the one I’ve been waiting for, Pit of Shades is dispelled.
Shooting - Dark riders shoot at the East Horse Archers only managing to kill one. The Shades aim at the Horse Archers as well dropping another. Xbowmen drop 2 archers from a volley of bolts whilst the Dark Riders on the West fire into the Knights resulting in no damage.
TK1
West NK charge Dark riders who flee, fail to catch, I misinformed myself here and should have re-directed into the Peg Lord however my synapses just weren’t firing on all cylinders. Archer block charge into the Lord as the plan was to hold him up for a turn until I could charge in with the flanking knights.
Magic sees me get Cursed Blades off on the archers in combat. Smiting on the East archers goes through healing the 2 wounds I lost in the previous turn.
The moment of truth comes and I launch the first volley of screaming skulls into the air towards the Eastern Hydra, staying true to their training in undeath the crew produce the best possible result with the Hydra getting torn apart under the flaming and magical explosions. That really made the right flank go from rock hard to tough.
The smited Archers kill 4 Dark Riders causing the last to panic and run 5". The centre Horse archers drop 3 Warriors. My opponent was expecting me to fire into his shades and if they were destroyed giving him the opportunity for his Cold One Knights to charge into my Knights.
In combat DE Lord does 7 wounds and I crumble a further 4.
DE2
The Harpies charge into the Casket of Souls. The Hydra charges into the Horse Archers.
Magic phase sees an 8 vs 6 round with my opponent throwing 2 dice at power of darkness which I dispel with the same amount. Miasma is cast on the snakes taking them to -1 stats. Lastly Pit of shades is cast on the large version and the op kills 3 warriors with the sacrificial dagger in order to power this up to a 33 to cast! I end up burning my scroll to stop it with only 4 dispel dice remaining. The remaining Warriors pass their panic test on a re-roll.
The shades drop the Horse Archers easily. Xbowmen put a single wound on the Knights. The West Dark Riders fire into the Knights dropping a single Knight.
In combat the Hydra only manage to kill 4 horse archers crumbling the remaining Horse Archer only allowing a reform. That really played into my favour. In combat with the Lord he rolls his attacks and comes up with 4 x 1’s and the Pegasus fails to wound. I roll my attacks and to wound rolls and up come box cars (triggering Killing Blow due to to Cursed Blades)! My opponent rolls his saves however one of the mysteriously guided undead hand weapons pierces his juggler vein dropping him into arid lands to be consumed by the skittling bugs nearby. Wow, neither of us were expecting that! All of a sudden the right flank was looking very weak for the Dark Elves.
The Harpies do a single wound to the casket and I reply dropping 3 of their number, they break and fly away 7".
TK2
I charge the Necropolis Knights into Cold Ones. The West Horse archers charge into harpies causing them to flee and I redirect into Xbowmen (who passed the panic test). Finally the knights join the charge and take no damage from a stand & shoot reaction.
I re-arrange my archer line to fire on warrior bunker and ensure they’re all in range.
Spirit Leech is dispelled on the Level 4, LOD is dispelled as well. Burning Gaze torches 3 warriors. Finally banishment on the warriors is scrolled targeting the warriors.
Once again the SSC claims the second Hydra in an accurate display of war machine fire. The second SSC misfires. The Archers leave 2 warriors remaining and wound the level 4 after darkening the sky with arrows.
I declare a challenge with my Knight champion who kills the COK champ. I lose the combat however take no crumble damage and we reform to increase the frontage.
The Knights and Horse Archers kill 6 Xbowmen and wound the sorceress causing them to break however my Horse Archers fail to catch. Dark Riders flee off the table after seeing their kin get dismantled nearby.
DE3
The Shades charge into the flank of the Knights to support the Cold One Knights.
Remaining Dark Rider fails to rally and continues to flee towards the table edge. The Xbowmen and the level 1 rally to face their impending doom. Finally the harpies continue to flee.
In the magic phase Power of darkness goes through recovering the casting dice only. Pit goes off taking out the SSC and 3 archers after scattering so a result I can wear. No more warriors left however the Supreme Sorceress passes her panic test. Finally Miasma on the Knights is attempted but dispelled.
Shooting drops 5 archers from the Light Priests bunker.
Shades break from Combat, NK take 2 wounds, and the undead forces manage to kill 3 shades and 3 knights.
TK 3
NK charge into the Xbowmen.
Stalkers finally arrive behind the East Xbowmen. I move my archers up into range of the lone level 4.
Magic sees me get Bironas, Smiting and Cursed Blades off onto the Knights, Light of Death is dispelled targeting the Cauldron and finally Banishment goes off and kills the level 4 as searing bolts tear her apart.
I shoot at the cauldron producing no damage. The Stalkers drop 3 Xbowmen whilst taking a wound to themselves.
The East Knights clean up the remaining Xbowmen. The Buffed Knights kill the remaining Cold one knights.
My opponent concedes
Result – TK Massacre
Conclusion:
My last game my dice really abandoned me however this game was the complete opposite, they really came back to support the army and it was obvious with some game changing rolls sneaking through, 2 killing blows on the Pegasus Lord, 2 x 6’s to wound with both Hydras and of course the relentless magic phase in the last turn really rubbed salt into the wound. My opponent actually wanted to concede at the end of his turn but I insisted I get another turn and he was good enough to oblige.
The plan was simple, to divide his forces and deal with them piecemeal. I think I did a pretty damn good job of this and the only error of my ways is not redirecting my knights into the Lord however that could have been a blessing judging by the result. The spells I’d normally look to however (Net/Vengeance/Desiccation) didn’t even get a cast unfortunately purely because of my low magic phases.
Army breakdown:
Lords
On the magic phases the last turn I managed an 11 vs 4 phase, the rest of the phases weren’t above 7 dice so although magic wasn’t at an all time high like it normally is it still forms a critical part of my game plan. The pit luckily scattered away from my characters saving their sunburnt hides.
Core
Archers are great, and really shine against T3 Dark Elves. Horse archers again managed to do their thing well and I was happy with the result.
Special
I went into this game a little concerned with running 5 strong Knights but it seems like a good mix of flexibility and hitting power. My all time favourite unit in the game I think.
Rare
Casket was great and even managed to slot some harpies. Although only in the last turn did I roll a +3 power dice with the remaining being +1 which was getting a little frustrating. I failed to channel the entire game as well for a bit more trivia! Hierotitan was great for booting spells through and actually ensured I got the last turn banishment through.
I think the unit of the match would have to go to the Skeleton Archers purely for taking down the ‘Unkillable’ Pegasus Lord. It’s always a defining moment in Warhammer when a 6 point model takes out a scary purpose built character and it’s something that I’ll always laugh about in the years to come!
Look forward to thoughts and comments however I’m pretty happy with the 2400 adaptation of the list.
