The last game of the tournament and before the game I'm leading by 1 point. The field is very tight though (largely due to a 16-4 cap we are house-ruling so no-one can pull away too much) and 2 players trail me by 1 point. One of them I get to face on table 1, the other plays on table 2. Our table features my Coven of Light vs Warriors of Chaos and on table 2 we have an all-out balls-to-the wall HE list that's performed well all weekend with double Frosthearts, Helmbus w/BSB and Eltharion. An all-in list that's gotten T1 most games and survived most punch being thrown at him that one turn before his charge crashes home. Now what happened was that before we were done with T1 on our table, table 2 was over: HE got T1 again, sent everything up and the Dwarf T1 did absolutely nothing as the HE general rolled ward saves as though he were a DoC player. Thus, I had to cap my opponent to win the tournament.
.::. Battle Report - Crusade #5 - vs Warriors of Chaos .::.
Lister:
Loremaster of Hoeth: General, Book of Hoeth, Shield of the Merwyrm, Sword of Anti-Heroes, 330
Archmage: Level 4, Lore of Light, Power Stone, Ironcurse Icon, Golden Crown of Atrazar, 255
Mage: Lore of Light, Dispel Scroll, 110
Lothern Sea Helm: BSB, Standard of Discipline, 140
27 Archers: FCG, 300
5 Ellyrian Reavers: 80
5 Ellyrian Reavers: Bows (swap), 85
5 Silver Helms: Shields, Champion, Standard Bearer, 135
28 White Lions: FCG, Banner of the World Dragon, 444
4x 1 Eagle Claw Bolt Thrower: 4x 70
Frostheart Phoenix: 240
Army Total: 2399
Chaos Lord: Disc, Flaming Breath, Great Weapon, 3++ (3+ AS combat), Crown of Command
Daemon Prince: L5 Slaanesh, Charmed, Dragonbane Gem, Soul Feeder
BSB: Daemonic, GW, 4++ (2+ AS combat)
18 Warriors of TZ: Halberd, +1M
2x 1 Slaanesh Wagon
1 Chimera: Breath, Regen
4 Crushers: Banner, Muso, Discipline, Ensorcelled
Pre-Battle Thoughts
There are relatively few threats here. Deployment sees him commit quickly and I should be able to handle one threat at a time seeing as he has few/no answers to chaff. RBTs zone well and in addition the map is pretty open. The scenario is Battleline so I feel I have a very good starting point.
Crushers on my strong flank, Warriors opposite (which I chose because I wanted time to deal with the other elements before the Warriors could reach anything important). DP + Lord in cover with the Chimera. WoC get T1.
Frenzy check passed. Magic does nothing.
I send WL and mages within 24" of his Lord. Both Searing Doom and Banishment are interesting here. I can't see the DP regardless of what I do. The magic phase is tricky, 7v6, and I opt for Miasma - Timewarp - Banishment (remember, I have to basically table him). Does he dare letting timewarp go? He has no scroll so that's a big deal. Timewarp goes off on IF however and the result is a Dimensional Cascade... Luckily I survive! Miasma had taken off 3M from the Warriors. Perfect start although my shooting is ineffective T1.
Chimera commits alone. Crushers try and dance around with the Frost. Characters in cover. Warriors inch ahead. Wagon fails charge on WL. Breath Weapon takes out a handful of WL. I scroll Aquiescence. The plan was to run up and Banish the DP next round.
So I decide to do so. I hope 4 bolters and 27 Archers is enough to deal with the Chimera.
The magic phase opens and it's not a good split: He gets 5 dice. I open with Spirit Leech on the DP which I win big and the DP takes 3W after saves (!). Taking out the DP is absolutely crucial because another round of random movement can really ruin my day. The ensuing 5d6 Banishment is a real nailbiter as we have to count casting and dispelling total twice to be sure - he barely made it, much to my dismay. I finish off with a desperate Iceshard Blizzard on the DP... Which somehow puts 2W through his armour!! Having played DoC extensively however my opponent makes both the 5++ required to keep him alive. Needless to say, that was one insane magic phase!
When all my shooting does but a single wound to the Chimera I can see things unraveling real fast.
2 wagons, the Chaos Lord, the Warriors and the BSB move in towards the White Lions. Reavers and Frost are out of position. Eh... Daemon Prince runs away and gets off IF Aquiescence on White Lions. For his problems he dies to the resulting S10 miscast, but I fear it's too late. Archers do 1W to the Chimera in combat and break despite being steadfast, LD8 after all is not all that. Chimera overruns into Bolter.
I set up Reavers so I can flee from the Lord's charge. I was sure the chimera was frenzied and had to overrun off the table: Thus the WL could've fled the Lord, slingshot around the Reavers and rally behind. Seeing as the Chimera isn't frenzy however, this doesn't work because it can eat the fleeing WL easily.
The magic phase is at least doable and the power stone ensures that I throw a number of spells which he just *has* to stop. This allows me to get off Ryze which I use to summon TK Warriors to block out Warriors + chariot (phew!). This allows the WL to face just the Lord and one Chariot for the first round and perhaps my frost can even make it in time. Hopefully this can work. Helms also run up to support and I move the Reavers in for support.
The shooting phase is really exciting: I pump 4 single bolts onto the Lord... One sneaks past his ward and again we have a monumental roll. It comes up a '1' however and the game is still very much alive.
Skellywarriors get charged and hold. Lord into WL which I have to hold - at least I have Speed of Light. Wagon into WL as well. Naval Discipline allows me to setup perfectly, I maximise attacks on the wagon and try my best to keep characters safe. My idea is to feed the Chaos Lord a champ, then an L1 etc until I get off Wyssans at which point I'll maximise WL on him (remember, a bolter took a wound off of him). Chimera into Reavers who run.
As combat begins, I catch a lucky break: The Lord kills the Champ but the Wagon fluffs completely and I kill it. This, combined with Naval Discipline turning rear => front and giving me ranks, ensures that I actually win combat. The Chaos Lord
fails his LD9 re-roll break test and to add insult to injury I catch him -and- I am in a perfect spot to charge his BSB + Warriors!
I choose to not go into Warriors because my position forces me to allocate a lot to his BSB. This means risking a lot of my characters. I'd rather kill Warriors (which die in droves to magically-assisted White Lions) so instead I hold and bide my time. Banishment kills 6 Warriors and the Frost blocks the last wagon. Prior to Banishment I did get a few buffs off though so if he charges Naval Discipline ensures that WL will totally destroy his Warriors.
My opponent feels he has nothing to lose and goes for the WL anyway. The Crushers make their box cars charge on the Frostheart as well but to no avail: The Frost is too strong and holds due to LD10 re-roll. Naval Discipline lets me optimize attacks on Warriors and they all die. BSB needs to take a break test on snake eyes which he fails. I reform vs Crushers.
WL and SH into the last combat and I win big. Both WoC units break: Both are caught!
Chimera is left T6 with 1W but it doesn't matter: I've wiped everything else as well as various bonuses and in return my losses are negligible.
20-0 to High Elves!
// Evaluation //
Wow! My first single tournaments win! I must admit I'm very happy with this as this has been one of my main goal for years. Furthermore I view Crusade as one of our best tournaments so taking this one home feels extra good (for those of you who've followed me for a long time might remember, Crusade 2012 was my first major tournament).
Onto the game: I started off extremely well. I had absolute control of the game and tempo, but T2 I made a gamble due to the situation on the table beneath us. In hindsight I believe this was an unnecessary and poor gamble due to a number of reasons. Most importantly the decision to go for the DP was flawed because by holding my ground I could've killed the Chimera (LD5 was Spirit Leech as well as my missiles) and spent more time setting up the Frost etc. Thus, wasting the scroll this early was questionable at best.
True, I had a number of follow-up points that could've turned the game such as the single bolt hitting the Lord, but remember also that the DP took 4 wounds from Spirit Leech, Iceshard Blizzard and a single miscast. That's a lot. Part of why I made the gamble is also because I failed to assess how much power he could bring to bear against the aggressive WL. The Breath weapon from the lord (which I was sure was magical) and the Breath weapon from the chimera took out significant amounts of WL and this changes the odds a lot. Full-sized WL with my magic will just munch just about everything WoC can throw at me (as a later report will demonstrate) but half-size is a totally different story.
In the end I feel 2 things took this home for me: Deployment and magic priorities. Despite going super-aggressive T2 my deployment ensured that I had some support when I needed it and the rest of the army continued to contribute throughout the game. Furthermore the chimera going into my backlines ended up getting too far away from the action: Had it moved towards the WL with the Lord I would've been tabled. Likewise magic priorities gave me some really crucial effects, most notable the Ryze which blocked out his devastating assault and allowed me to single out the lord.
Lastly Naval Discipline was absolutely brutal here. It is such a game changing ability I don't see myself ever leaving home without a Lothern Sea Helm again in a setting where I'm playing a WL-star.
Tournament evaluation coming!