So despite wanting to get through the whole 6 BRB scenarios without changing lists, there's been a couple of new army books released which have changed the meta of the game in a few ways and, as often happens, we change our lists just to try new things!
As such, i've re-written both my High Elf and Ogre 2400pts lists. I tried the High Elf one out last weekend in a three-way-battle witha couple of friends against (New) Empire and Wood Elves, which resulted in both the elves staking a claim for victory over the seriously battered Empire forces!
I did however want to get a game in with both to "gauge" the lists and so rolled up a scenario - in this case Watchtower to play out! This is an interesting one as i've found this scenario to be rather easy with my Ogres in the past!
Without further ado...
Deployment
The Ogres won the roll off to take control of the watchtower and so set up a unit of 10 Trappers in there. The thinking behind this is that High Elves are expensive and anything wishing to charge them out of the towers will hopefully lose some expensive troops in the process!
So, as you see it, 4 Mournfang Cavalry (MFC) line up on the left. They have HA, Ironfists and the Dragonhide Banner! A Sabertusk keeps them company in order to run interference on the expected eagles that will get sent their way!
The Ironblaster and Ironguts (complete with BSB and Slaughtermaster [SL]) line up just past tehIdol of Gork. The BSB has an Enchanted Shield and Talisman of Protection along with HA and so should be sticking round for a while. The Level 4 (Maw) Slaughtermaster has the ol' faithful Glittering Scales, Fencer's Blades and Rock Eye making him really hard to hit...and with T5...wound!
A Mist Wreathed Swamp and River really mess the deployment up and so a Sabertusk and Thundertusk line up just before the bridge.
The Ogre Bulls line up infront of the bridge ready to move on the watchtower. The Have the L2 Firebelly in their with a GW and Hellheart.
Finishing off the Ogres, are four Leadbelchers and 10 Gnoblars on the left flank.
High Elves
On the far left flank, behind a few Blazing Barricades and Altar of Khaine is an Eagle, ready to lead the MFC where i want them. A unit of 10 Archers occupy a building, not wanting to stray to close to the 6" frenzy bubble!
The (20) Pheonix Guard with Banner of Sorcery, house the BSB behind a barricade. The BSB is tooled up with a Great Weapon, Dragon armour, Enchanted Shield and Talisman of Protection.
An Eagle deploys to their right followed by 21 Swordmaster with the Banner of Swiftness. I'm really loving this banner lately as opponent dont expect it! They also have the Ironcurse Icon.
Behind them on the hill is a 20 strong archer unit with Banner of Eternal Flame and Level 4 Archmage with the Annulian Crystal and Lore of Metal!
To the right of a Grail Chapel are 25 Spearmen with a Beast Mage.
Rounding off the right flank are 2 more Eagles and a unit of 5 Dragon Princes.
Spells:
Level 4 (Maw): Spinemarrow (Stubborn), +1S, +1T and Trollguts (Regen)
Level 2 (Fire): Fireball, Flamecage
Level 4 (Metal): Searing Doom, Enchanted Blades of Aiban, Glittering Robe, Transmutation of Lead.
Level 1 (Beasts): Wyssans Wildform
High Elf - Turn 1
Charges:
Swordmasters charge the Watchtower from the get go, taking 1 casualty to a stand and shoot reaction followed by 3 to the gnoblars traps.
Eagles on left move to ruin charges and on right to protect Dragon Princes from Leadbelcher shooting next turn. Dragon Princes (DP) move to a position to charge next turn. Spears move to protect flank of tower. Pheonix Guard (PG) move closer to IronGuts, but remain wary of being charged by them!
Magic:
7/6 > 9/6 after chanelling and Banner of Sorcery (BoS)
Enchanted Blades cast on archers - allowed through
Glittering Robe failed to cast on SM
Wyssans easily dispelled on Spearmen.
Shooting:
RBT does 3 wounds on IG with volley fire!
AM's archers cause Seven wounds on IG which in turn pass their panic test.
Combat:
SM butcher the Gnoblar Trappers and consolidate into the tower!
Ogre - Turn 1
Charges:
Sabertusk next to MFC fails charge to Eagle. Ironblaster charges Eagle. Ironguts charge Watchtower. Gnoblars fail charge on Eagle.
MFC move to possible flank on PG next turn. Ogres move close to spears. Thundertusk moves towards Dragon Princes. Sabertusk marches to tower to harass Spears. River turns out to be a River of Light and casts Birona's Timewarp on the kitty!
Magic: 9/5 >9/6 after channeling and Annulian Crystal
Toughness buff on IG dispelled. Flame Cage failed to cast. Regen on IG dispell scrolled.
Shooting:
Leaddies kill Eagle. Thundertusk Harpoon guns a Dragon Prince but forgets to fire the launcher! Doh!
Combat:
Swordmasters fail their damn fear test! Only manage 2 wounds on Slaughtermaster and 2 on unit - which is enough to kill a model!
Slaughtermaster eats 3 elves, the BSB smashes 1 and the Irongut kills 2. Ogres win by 2 but Swordmaster hold.
Ironblaster smushes the Eagle with Impact hits alone and careens into the Pheonix Guard!! Bugger!
High Elf - Turn 2
Eagle charge Sabertusk on left flank. Eagle charges Gnoblars on right flank. Dragon Princes charge through river (of light) into Leadbelchers, gaining Biron'a Timewarp but losing a midel in process.
Magic: 6/4 >7/4 after BoS
Enchanted Blades cast on Archers. Searing Doom cast on MFC; 4 wounds caused and model removed.
Shooting:
Archers put wound on MFC
RBT puts another, taking away another model!
Combat:
Eagle does wound on Sabertusk for no loss, breaks the ST and runs it down 10"
Ironblaster does 1 impact wound on PG. BSB makes way and puts 2 wounds on IB. Rhinox and Ogre manage 3 dead PG but combination of ranks and banners win the combat. Ironblaster flees 11", PG only pursue 7".
Eagle kills 2 gnoblars for a wound in return, wins combat and runs em down 8"
Dragon Princes, with the help of Birona's Timewarp put 7 wounds on the Leadies for no loss, break em and run em down for 9"
Ogre - Turn 2
MFC charge flank of PG. IG Charge Watchtower again. Sabertusk and Bulls double charge spears
Thundertusk rotates to shoot the Dragon Princes
Magic: 5/3 > 4/5 after AC
Trollguts easily dispelled.
Shooting:
Thundertusk harpoons a dragon prince but chaintrap misses. Having rallied, the Ironblaster aims at the Archmage. A Look out Sir roll saves the archmage but 2 archers aren't so lucky. Even worse, the cannonball rolls on through and turns the pesky RBT into splinterwood!
Combat:The High Elf BSB makes way and promptly hacks 2 wounds on the MFC. The rest of the PG aren't as fortunate, receiving 8 wounds for no output in a combination of Rhinox, Ogre, Stomp and Dragonbane Banner. The PG hold and reform to better face their foe!
In the watchtower, the Swordmasters put another 2 wounds on the Slaughtermaster, one on the Ogre BSB and one on the unit. In return, they suffer 4 wounds, drawing the combat.
The Spearmen gather together to kill the Firebelly but leave no room for wounds on the unit. In return, they suffer a total of 8 wounds and despite being steadfast, leg it and get chomped and clawed by the Sabertusk. the Bulls reform.
High Elf - Turn 3
Magic:
6/4 > 7/4
Enchanted Blades on Archers. Searing Doom IF'd, doing 3 wounds on IG and 1 on Ogre BSB. Unfortunately, 7 archers and the wizard are sucked into the warp!
Shooting:
Archers combine to put a wound on the Slaughtermaster, the BSB and the Ironguts, killing the Slaughtermaster!
Combat:
The High Elf BSB does 2 wounds on the MFC, killing one, witho no other wounds from either side (god bless 4+ wards!), the remaining MFC breaks from combat, but, being the banner bearer, is removed as the PG reform to face the tower!
Ogre - Turn 3
Ogres charge Watchtower. Ironblaster charges PG.
Shooting:
Thundertusk kill a few archers with stonethrower weapon.
Combat:PG manage a wound on the IB which kills 3 in return but loses combat on res. Hold ground though!
Swordmasters do 11 wounds on Ogres for a loss of 3 to push them back!
High Elf - Turn 4
Eagle into flank of IB. Eagle into rear of Ogres.
Shooting:
Archers kill Sabertusk. Other archers put one wound on IG, taking a model away.
Combat:
BSB Noble puts the only wound on the IB which flees and is cut down. The PG overrun into the IG and BSB.
The Eagle manages a wound on the Ogres, removing a model, but siffers 2 wounds. The ogres hold and reform to face the eagle.
Ogre - Turn 4
PG can't wound Ogre BSB and receive no wounds in return. Ogres hold on a 4 and manage to reform!
High Elf - Turn 5
Ogre - Turn 5
High Elf - Turn 6
Game Called!
High Elf Reflection
Well, once again a bloody affair! This is the second game i've played with this High Elf list and i'm really liking it.
I've wanted to try Metal for a while now but thought it might be "beardy". However, given thought, my main opposing armies are WoC, DoC, WE, Empire, Skaven and Lizzies (and now OnG!). Of them, only WoC would potentially suffer! However it isn't the damage dealing i like from metal the most. Glittering Scales is brilliant at keeping my expensive units alive and combined with the Ironcurse Icon means i can get my swordmasters into battle ASAP! The enchanted Blades is brilliant as it turns our overcosted weak S3 archers into quite a formidable foe! Granting Flaming and Magical attacks are a huge bonus given the new popularity of Vampire Counts and the need for magical weapons!
My biggets worry in this list is that the Swordmaster are the only hammer, but my with 2 anvils in the Spears and PG, i expect the Dragon Princes to be able to flank well!
The limited number of infantry block is made up by a good chunk of shooting and Eagles. When the shooting receives the aforementioned Metal buff, the opponent has to come to you and with 4 Eagles, i can dictate who they go to to some extent!
Ogre Reflection
The trappers did what i expected them to do in that 50 points of them took out 60 points of Swordmasters. In hindsight i shouldn't have put anything in the Watchtower as i allowed the SM to charge on T1 and consolidate in there! Without being able to charge in on T1, i would've given myself a turn to Leadbelcher and Ironblaster them!
I really didn't utilise the Thundertusk as well as i should, but it was the first time i've tried it! I should've parked it next to the watchtower earlier to remove the Elves' re-rells (due to granting ASL) and instead, wasted 250 points on ineffectively trying to neutralise 150pts of Dragon Princes.
I was impressed with the survivability of the BSB and Slaughtermaster and in open combat reckon that unit will still cause some pain. I was also happy with the icreased Bull unit size (previous ran at 5 + Firebelly). The increased size crushed the Spears!
The Ironblaster - i think i finally used this right! I took a valuable shot when i could, taking out the RBT (which was a complete git this game!) and charged when i should've!
The MFC are causing me headaches as thats 2 games in a row now where they've been pretty useless and whilst the first was me charging them into a mangler squig (not knowing what happened in my defense!) i worry their footprint is too large and might try experimenting with Maneaters for the points!
Anyway - hope you enjoyed the report and my radomn post-BatRep mumblings!
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