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.
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