Vengeance Rising - Battle 30 - Tomb Kings vs Bretonnia

Well I originally hadn't intended to do up a battle report for this game but with a bit of time up my sleeve I decided I'd create one.

The game was dawn attack with the random deployment, it wasn't too bad for me however it split up my brother's Bretonnian army and really put his hammers into the centre and the Pyramid was going to cause them some problems (hopefully!!).

My list:

Arkhan
High Liche Priest - Level 4, Dispel Scroll, Lore of Nehekhara
2 x 20 Archers - Musician
20 Archers - Standard
3 x 5 Horse Archers
4 Necropolis Knights - Champ, Standard
4 Necropolis Knights - Standard
3 Stalkers
Hierotitan
Casket of Souls
2 x SSC

Bretonnia list:

The Green Knight
Pegasus Lord - Virtue of Heroism
BSB - Virtue of Duty, Sword of Might
Paladin
Damsel - Lore of Life
Damsel - Lore of Beasts
5 KOTR
10 KOTR
20 Bowmen
4 Pegasus Knights
12 Grail Reliaque
2 x Trebuchets

Deployment:

Spells:

Arkhan - Spirit Leech, Caress, Doom & Darkness, Purple Sun, Soulblight
Priest - Cursed Blades, Smiting, Desert Wind, Vengeance
Damsel - Amber Spear, Wildform
Damsel - Earth Blood, Regrowth

Tomb Kings Turn 1

Everything moves forward to gain better positions and to get Arkhan into range next turn. I wasn't planning on moving the unit of archers in the building all game and they had great view on anything coming up to try and take out the beloved casket of souls.

I managed to get off Incantation of Vengeance (3 diced) and Light of Death (6 diced - IF) rips through the enemy army dropping some models here and there.

SSC manages to chip a single wound off a treb whilst the other scatters badly.

Not a bad start.

Bretonnia Turn 1

Some general movement to get units into better positions. Bowmen reform to protect the Treb from the Horse Archers. The Green Knight emerges from the rocky outcrop and looks to charge either the Archers or the Necropolis Knights.

The magic phase sees regrowth heal some damage back from the casket and a failed Amber Spear attempt.

Hierotitan is killed with a rock on his head taking him out in a shattering display of bone.

Tomb Kings Turn 2

Stalkers arrive and move on next to the small block of KOTR. I reform my Knights to face the Green Knight and the second unit to threaten the Pegasus Lord. Arkhan's bunker advances slowly to get into range and the Archer unit near the Green Knight reform into ranks. The Horse archers move to charge the Trebuchet next turn.

Arkhan fails his first casting roll (12 dice phase..and missed out by one, really missed that Hierotitan!) so that was a real piss off. Once again I'm lucky enough to get Vengeance through and this is failed to dispel onto the KOTR bus. I Light of Death the Pegasus Lord but he passes his Ld test.

The Stalkers produce one misfire however they manage to take out the 5 KOTR leaving the paladin alone who with the Grail Vow simply ignores the damage.

One of my stone throwers scatters from the BSB killing some bowmen whilst the second misfires unable to shoot next turn.

(Ignore me moving the GR in this image!)

Bretonnia Turn 2

The Pegasus Lord charges the west SSC making the distance easily. The Green Knight charges into the Knights whilst the Pegasus Knights charge into the Horse archers (more of a wall than a rocky outcrop...)

The lone Paladin turns to face the Stalkers whilst the Damsel leaves the nearby unit who prepare for combat. The Bowmen garrison the nearby tower.

Wildform is cast onto the Pegasus Knights whilst a Regrowth on the nearby Bowmen is cast IF resulting in each of the Damsels taking a wound.

The first Treb scatters whilst the second lands onto the Necropolis Knights killing one immediately and wounding two others.

In combat the Lord and Pegasii combats are over before they begin with the Lord opting to overrun off the table in order to gain some protection from a next turn Knight charge.

The Green Knight opts for his S6 blade and does a few wounds and I lose another wound to crumble. Being Ethereal and with no magic attacks the best I could hope for would be to tarpit him but he was eventually going to break through.

Tomb Kings Turn 3

My Horse archers charge into the Trebuchet and that's it for charges. I figure my Stalkers have a better chance at destroying the Paladin via the gaze than in combat but I should have thought harder about this in regards to the over run it may have given me but not to worry.

Horse archers move up and the Necroknights turn their attention back. Arkhan's unit moves up towards the KOTR 'corridor'.

In the magic phase I attempt a Purple Sun which my opponent scrolls to block his KOTR advancing. He then dispels Vengeance on the KOTR and this allows me to sneak through Doom & Darkness on the Pegasus Knights and Soulblight onto the Green Knight. Finally Light of Death goes through onto the Pegasus Knights doing 4 wounds and causing the unit to run away.

The Horse archers drop a few Battle Pilgrims. Stalkers do nothing to the Paladin. Doh.

In combat the Trebuchet crew manage to drop a single Horse archer before I can take one out and they pass their break tests with the BSB nearby easily.

Bretonnia Turn 3

The Paladin combined with the Battle Pilgrims charge the Stalker easily.

Pegasus Knights continue to flee but don't make it off the board.

The Peg lord returns to the battle sighting Arkhan's unit. The KOTR lance finally flee to curses moves into a position to charge either Arkhan or destroy the Necropolis Knights.

The magic phase is uneventful with Wildform dispelled and Regrowth healing some wounds on the Trebuchet.

In combat the Stalkers are smashed up (Paladin reforms to face Horse Archers, Pilgrims to face TK line) and the single Horse archer drops another crew member however they're hanging around. The Green Knight only manages a single wound this round preventing any crumble damage.

Tomb Kings Turn 4

The Horse archers move into a position to charge the Damsel next turn.

Arkhan unleashes a IF Purple Sun which stops just short of the KOTR not what I was hoping for however it's probably the second best outcome. Arkhan decides not to jump into the Realm of Chaos this time and I lose 1 magic dice. Soulblight gets through onto the Green Knight whilst my attempts at Smiting to heal the wounds on the knights are dispelled.

My Horse archer is finally taken down my plebs. Yay. The Green Knight unmoved by the Soulblight continues to chip away at the Knights leaving me with two models left.

Bretonnia Turn 4

After much though my brother takes the gamble and declares a charge with the KOTR lance through the Purple Sun attempting a swift decisive strike against the armies Hierophant to take down the army. The Knights confident in their ladies blessing level their lances and command there steeds. The make the distance through the swirling vortex however only the unit champion, Damsel and the BSB emerge out the other side. Ouch. (Question - do I gain any power dice/dispel dice for these wounds next turn??)

I did try and convince my brother to charge in his Peg Lord as well into the rear of the unit but he opted to move him into a better position rather than give the Necropolis Knights a shot at him.

Wildform is dispelled on the KOTR.

In combat the BSB declares a challenge and Arkhan accepts both copping a wound. The Damsel is torn from her horse and torn apart whilst Knight champion puts a wound onto the archers and I crumble and fail to reform. 

The Green Knight finally destroys the Necropolis Knights.




Tomb Kings Turn 5

My archers charge the flank of the Green Knight to tie him up again but it would be for a lot less but I couldn't let him into Arkhan. The Horse archers charge the Damsel (don't know why he didn't flee - Bretonnian Pride I think).

In the magic phase I throw a Doom and Darkness onto the Bretonnian Lord and then a 6 dice casket goes IF onto the Pegasus Lord again taking him out of the game. Without the Damsels my brother is pretty powerless to stop any of the magic.

The remaining catapult hits true onto the Paladin and turns him into paste.

In combat I kill the champion however the BSB and Arkhan fail to make any scratches on one another.

The Green Knight minces a few skeletons however I reform into ranks.

Bretonnia Turn 5

The Peg knights move to take out the Horse Archers next turn.

In the shooting phase the Trebuchet takes a few more wounds on the remaining Knights unit whilst the Bowmen take out 2 Horse Archers.

Finally Arkhan drops the BSB and I reform the unit into a single file facing the Green Knight whilst he destroys the remaining block of Archers and reforms to face Arkhan.

Tomb Kings Turn 6

Arkhan jumps into the nearby tower and leaves the archers to their doom.

Magic phase is uneventful with some wounds healing here and there.

Shooting takes out the Battle Pilgrims.

Bretonnia Turn 6

Green Knight charges the remaining Archers. Pegasus fail to charge the Horse archers but shooting takes care of them.

In combat the knight wrecks house and crumbles the rest of the archers.

Result - Tomb Kings Victory

Conclusion:

As I stated in the army list section I'm really not sure about this list. Perhaps I didn’t use my Knights as aggressively as I should have? Firstly Arkhan is a beast with Death Lore there is no doubting that but it certainly requires you to get close to the enemy and also keep an open channel in order to throw the odd purple sun out. The game winner for me though is Doom & Darkness, that spell is critical in ensuring that further casualties in the magic phase and shooting phase will run away. It's a shame I lost the Hierotitan so early on otherwise I may have been able to use it to Spirit Leech the Green Knight and even get rid of the Lance that turn with D&D and artillery fire.

The level 4 was critical in getting off Vengenace in the opening turns, the ability to really control the movement phase is key however I'm still amazed why people don't run the gambit and just move the unit, especially when my brother had re-growth available. Always thinking about dropping this for a level 2 though.

Core did what it had to as always. I know Veritas wants to see more chariots and I'm thinking about it but that is as far as I've gotten.

In regards to the special choices this probably wasn't a great battle to showcase the knights. I had a single unit purely to catch the Green Knight and feed him wounds whilst the second just absorbed damage from the Trebuchet. The Stalkers were great but they're another unit I'm going get beastly with and make my opponents shudder when they emerge and I'd love to have a second unit of them in the list.

Onto rare choices with the above comment I could drop the Hierotitan and have a second unit of stalkers but then I lose out in the magic department of turning those high rolls into near impossible/bordering on dispel scroll for my opponent.

Will have another game this coming weekend at some stage but would love to hear people's thoughts on lists in regards of what to drop/add.

Vengeance Rising - Battle 29 - High Elves vs Bretonnia

Ok so it was the second game with my brother over the long weekend and I thought I'd give the Tomb Kings a break and try out a list I'd been toying with in my mind for a long time.

The 'Satellite Rain' list was a concept I'd been itching to try for nearly 18 months but had just been immersed with the Tomb Kings and trying to string some victories with them. The concept was simply to smash the opponent with dual comets from the Lore Of Heavens every turn, would it be effective? Probably not but I was determined to have fun with the list and make sure I had some 'hunters' with awesome saves against spells to enter the danger zone when required.



2500 Points - Heavenly Glory

Archmage - Loremasters Cloak, Robes, Jewel
Mage - Seerstaff
BSB - 1+ re-rollable, Sword of Might
30 Archers - FC, Flaming
13 Archers
10 Archers
7 Dragon Princes - FC, BOS, Potion of Strength
20 Swordmasters - FC, Razor Standard, Loec (More of a fluff choice)
20 Phoenix Guard - FC, Banner of Arcane Protection
2 Eagles

2500 Brets

Lord - HKB Peg
Level 4 - Life
Damsel - Icon
BSB
Paladin - On foot
50 Men @ Arms - FC
2 x 10 Bowmen
8 KOTR
2 x 5 Mounted Yeomen
4 Pegasus Knights
4 Grail Knights
2 x Trebuchets

Spells:

Archmage - Comet, Iceshard Blizzard, Harmonic Convergence, Thunderbolt
Mage - Comet, Iceshard Blizzard
Level 4 - Throne, Flesh to Stone, Dwellers, Regrowth
Damsel - Tranformation, Wildform

Deployment:

I won the roll off for sides and picked my chosen side as there was only really a single place my brothe could put down his horde effectively. Straight away I knew where that would go and most of the other units would go to support it. With a tower in my deployment zone I could really force him to come to me if he wanted a victory whilst dodging comets.

High Elves Turn 1

PG run down flank, as do Dragon Princes and Swordmasters. 12 Dice magic phase sees me miscast comet with the level 2 killing 6 archers and doing a wound to the mage. I only lost 1 dice luckily enough and proceeded to cast Harmonic Convergeance on the archers whilst my further attempts at Comet and Icechard Blizzard were dispelled.

Shooting sees me take out the Mounted Yemon however all panic tests are passed. Lastly a single knight is plucked from his steed as a member of the KOTR drops.

Bretonnia Turn 1

Everything screams down the flank whilst the Men at Arms horde reforms to face the oncoming threat of the Dragon Princes.

The Comet smashes down but rather unexcitedly just takes out the Mounted Yeomen, hardly worth the miscast!! Pegs are hit however pass all the saves required.

Throne is cast in the magic phase as is flesh to stone on the KOTR. I was holding my dice for a dwellers or transformation! As usual though my opponent miscasts (doing no damage to his army) and dwellers goes through on my small unit of Archers. 6 Archers dive down to the dwellers and run away and in usual mortal fashion the archers nearby decide to take a hike aswell - consistency is key to victory I've always said!

Bowmen take aim at the Dragon Princes however can't hit much. Treb misfires and the second scatters from the Swordmasters.

High Elves Turn 2

Archers rally to meet their doom. Great Eagles shift to cause some Turn 3 dramas. Left flank get's the push to cause some problems for the horde shortly.

12 Dice magic phase but there was only so many miscasts I could cop! With all the dice though and 2 comet attempts and my opponent matching my roll of 19 for zapping the Peg lord with thunderbolt I could only manage Iceshard Blizzard on the Treb and dispel the Throne of Vines. Very dissapointing! Certainly hoping in further turns I could improve on that!

Shooting drops 7 Bowmen causing no panic. Not a very productive turn unfortunately!

Bretonnia Turn 2

KOTR charge into the unit of Archer who stand and shoot in retaliation but against T5 there was no damage. The volley proved enough to undo the Knights morale who faultered in their charge luckily enough for the now sweating Ulthuan bowmen.

The Damsel activates the prayer icon giving the Men at Arms a ward save.

The winds of magic blow 9 PD to the Ladies representing the magic phase of the Brets with their high gluten snacks. Throne of vines is thrown with a low number so I choose todispel that. Regrowth sees 4 bowmen resurrect from their deaths and re-join the ranks.

Dwellers goes off IF on the swordmasters causing the Level 4 to lose dwellers. 8Swordmasters succumb to the dwellers along with the Archmage. Drats, it was now an uphill battle! Then I promptly remind myself Direct damage spells need to have a valid target in the forward arc and put all my models back. My opponent resolves the spell against the Archers instead.

Shooting drops a stone on the Swordmasters and bowmen drop a few more leaving only 6 remaining. I had whispers in my head about warriors of Chrace right about now. Pass panic test. Also the eagle about to stick the Treb was dropped by sudden accurate Bretonnian fire.

High Elves Turn 3

Dragon princes level their lances and charge into the Trebuchet. The Swordmasters follow suit into the Bowmen who can't hit any of them.

In the magic phase I manage to cast Iceshard Blizzard onto the Men at Arms horde and a single comet. Harmonic is dispelled on the Dragon Princes.

I do a single wound to a Peg knight with the archers.

Dragon Princes skewer the Treb Crew however the Horde passes the panic test. They over run into the Horde. Swordmasters cut up the Bowmen before reforming to face the flank of the horde as well.

Bretonnia Turn 3

KOTR charge into the Archers and the Peg Knights follow suite. Lord and Grail Knights move into the horde combat.

Comet comes down doing a wound on the Peg Lord, nothing on the Treb, 7 casualties on the Men at arms, and finally it drops 2 Grail Knights.

Wildform onto the Men at Arms is dispelled and the next spell attempted by the Ladies is Transformation of Kadon turning the Damsel into a Mountain Chimera.

Treb scatters from the intended target of Swordmasters and hits the Men at Arms and dragon Princes felling one Dragon Prince (and taking the Chimera out of base to base contact!) and dropping a further 3 plebs (9 hits and 6 ward saves made!!).

In combat the archers take down a Peg Knight however 4 are mutilated in return. The Elves flee in panic however the Peg knights fail to run them down running 2" short of the target.

KOTR kill the archers and reform.

My BSB challenges the Bret BSB and cuts him down. 8 men at arms drop to the dragon princes charge. In reply the Men at Arms with Iceshard Blizzard manage a single wound before breaking on 10. The dragon princes pursue easily and reform to face the Lord.

High Elves Turn 4

Dragon Prince charge into Grail Knights. Great Eagle charges into the flank of the Peg Lord but only moves 4", the Swordmasters charge the front of the Peg Lord.

Archers fail to rally and move back to Caledor.

I only manage to get off Iceshard Blizzard on the Grail Knights, I fail to cast comet with the level 2, a further attempt is dispelled on another comet and Harmonic Convergence.

I pop the loec but fail miserably only doing a wound and the Peg lord kills one in return and hangs around. Damn.

Dragon princes destroy the Grail Knights and take no casualties in return cutting them down on the over run and getting to safety.




Bretonnia Turn 4

KOTR charge into eagle. Peg Knights move into centre.

Magic phase of only 3 power dice and one caster. Op attempts a Flesh to Stone on the Peg lord however I manage to dispel this.

Dragon Princes are targetted by the nearby Bowmen however all missiles are deflected. Treb misfires targetting Dragon Princes.

Eagle takes out the champion before going poof in a cloud of feathers. KOTR over run into the nearby Phoenix Guard who keenly observe the Level 4 now in the front rank.

Swordmasters take out the Lord and reform to face the Treb.

High Elves Turn 5

Swordmasters charge into Trebuchet. Dragon Princes charge into Bowmen.

Magic phase sees my attempt at Harmonic Convergence on the Phoenix Guard dispelled however I get two Iceshard Blizzards through onto the KOTR and my attempt at Comet goes off sitting behind the KOTR.

Dragon Princes and Swordmasters both win combats and reform to face the Peg Knights.

Phoenix guard only manage a single wound on the Level 4 but take no casualties and my opponent passes his Ld 6 test!




Bretonnia Turn 5

Peg Knights move to support the KOTR next turn. Comet comes down failing to do any damage to the Knights. The lone lady attempts Throne successfully (fail to dispel) and then 4 dice are thrown at Flesh to stone healing the level 4 of all her damage as well.

In combat the Phoenix Guard drop a single Knight of the Realm but it proves to be enough and they flee 9" with the PG 1" on their tail.



High Elves Turn 6

Phoenix Guard charge KOTR who flee, Swordmasters charge in as well and destroy.

Magic sees Thunderbolt dispelled on Peg Knights however two Comet come down in anticipation of the charge. (Yes I should have spread these out...)

Shooting reduces the Peg Knights to a single model.

Bretonnia Turn 6

Peg Knight does the smart thing and moves away whilst one comet strikes the ground taking out 2 Swordmasters (Loremasters Cloak) and a single Phoenix guard (2+ ward).

Result - High Elves victory.

Conclusion:

So the Heavenly glory list....I'm not sure if I'd use that in a game again unless I was teaching someone how to play.

Firslty after playing Tomb Kings for more than 20+ games and then coming back to High Elves you certainly learn to appreciate a simple to hit roll and that thing called Weapon Skill. It becomes a case of Weapon Skilless with High Elves because most of the time with the re-rolls it makes it sure fire you're going to hit. Not complaining at all, just remembering how good we've got it. 

First and foremost the aim of this game was to take a concept that I'd been toying with, apply it and have fun with it, did I succeed in that regard? Absolutely. Although I would have liked bucket loads more comets coming in for the kill I got a few off with some cool results:

Total Comets Attempted: 10
Total Comets dispelled: 4
Total Comets failed to cast: 2
Total Comet wounds: 18 (3 were High Elves)

So there you have it.

On the army it was mainly for fluff purposes. A High Elves force from Saphery with contigents around the place. The BSB was accompanying the Dragon Princes for a speed element and the champion had the potion of strength for taking out big monsters or mainting high strength attacks in later rounds to support the BSB. Obviously Bretonnia don't have big monsters to deal with, my opponent was equally as frustrated when no big gribblies presented themselves for his HKB lord.

I did have two units that could enter the fray or the comet zone but there wasn't really a requirement. In the last turn I should have seperated the Comets to box the Peg in but it was getting late in the day by that stage. 

I really feel outside of the Dragon Princes and BSB this list would struggle to take out a monster list or anything high toughness. Ogres and Tomb Kings perhaps could prove to be problematic. I think I was pretty lucky to get 6 comets through but if you look at the averages and stats each comet was netting around 3 wounds, hardly worthwhile I think. Anyway I got the list out of the way in my head and I'm glad I visited it and it was very nice to get back to playing with the High Elves and get the dust off them.

Clearly the Men at Arms horde didn't work very well for my brother, it was unlucky for them to break however these things happen and I don't think that the current Bret list is designed to have this as a viable option. I'm certainly helping him out though in regards to finding a list that suits his play style whilst still playing to the advantages of the Brets in the current edition.

Anyway, back to the Tomb for me and perhaps its time to try out some special characters and throw them into the mix?