Procrastination by Numbers

[Dave]

And I don't wish to blow my own trumpet, but I think the command group look a little bit here than they did previously?!

A truer word was never spoken, they definitely do look a bit here compared to previously, and not just a little bit...

Utterly fantastic I really love the fact your army has such massive blocks of elves, it looks fantastic.

Is that all you've got left to do - chariot, bolt thrower, bsb and lions?  If so it must be tantilisingly close to completion.

[fatolaf]

Single best product for stripping metal models, no matter how old and how many layers, is Nitro Mors.
You get it from B&Q or other stores like it.
Leave them in a (non plastic) container covered in the stuff overnight and most of the paint will be floating on the top by morning, the rest can be taken off by an old toothbrush, with very little effort. Much much better than nail varnish remover.

However, Nitro Mors is extremely toxic,,so you must leave the container outside or on a window ledge, when stripping, and use gloves when ringing off the minis.
Don't breath this stuff in basically, it will not be good for you.
However used sensibly, it is amazing for this purpose...

[DarkStalker]

I've had good stripping experiences with Dettol and Mr Muscle oven spray too (on separate occasions!!! god know what mixing these things does ).... Also recently picked up a can of industrial strength acetone from dubious sources and will be testing it out next time I wander onto eBay.

[cunningmatt]

Utterly fantastic I really love the fact your army has such massive blocks of elves, it looks fantastic.

Is that all you've got left to do - chariot, bolt thrower, bsb and lions?  If so it must be tantilisingly close to completion.

I think any child of Warhammer 4th Edition, imagines the perfect High Elf army to be filled with ranks and ranks of Spearmen and Archers, just as they imagine Orc armies to have ranks of Goblin Spearmen and Night Goblim Archers - just how it should be!! And yeah I do think blocks of infantry are what Elves are all about. Cheers for the compliments, what do you think of the Dragon Prince banner? Still undecided.

Yeah that's pretty much it, there's two mages and a prince in that tray (made up the 2x High Plastic character sets), plus the Dragon Mage (Mage done, Dragon can just be seen in that photo behind the tray). And then only movement trays to go. So close, so close! Frustrating I'm away next week and can't get stuck in!!

Cheers for all the stripping tips, knew there'd be better tips out there. And well done for being grown up and not commenting on the nudity - you've all done very well!!!

[cunningmatt]

Update 75 – Friday 13th July 2012: A Little Bitesize Cheeky Friday Update

Apologies for the lack of updates, I have been so unbelievably busy, it is well quite unbelievable. "What have you been busy doing?" I hear you cry, or perhaps that's the voices in my head? Either way, I have been busy working on. Well if you haven't noticed there's a bit of a competition going on in the OG community, as a number of us have all taken home Games Workshop craters (generously provided by Ol), to convert to be the best piece of terrain we can possibly think of.

For details, and some work in progress pictures of other entries, check out here:

http://ogforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=3078.msg46189#new

I can now exclusively unveil some work in progress photos of how I'm getting on:





As you can see I have cleverly mounted the crater on a deep blue carpet, and then sprayed it Codex Grey, I think you'll agree it's coming on nicely.*

*Actually I've done nothing, I better head back to painting corner and get a move on. Oops! More next week...

[Dave]

Wow, unique and impressive.  Of the ones I've seen so far this is most likely to get my vote...  GET TO WORK YOU SLACKER

[maelzch]

Urrk, need to get my crater sorted!

[cunningmatt]

Update 76 – Monday 16th July 2012: And Final-Lee!

As you can't fail to have noticed veteran OG Games player and regular opponent of mine, Lee has finally left for pastures anew, or Bristol as it's known, for a better life. Why he can't just put up with his miserable life in London and make do like the rest of us, is anyone's guess?! But in order to mark this moment myself and Lee agreed to have one final battle on an OG Games' night.

It seemed fitting that we should do something a bit different, and we agreed to do a battle report for this very blog you are reading, in fact this very entry. See it's all making sense now!! With my battle reports taking a classic White Dwarf style, and with us using High Elves and Chaos Dwarfs as the two armies, we decided to recreate a classic White Dwarf fight. We picked up White Dwarf 164 (released in August 1993) – disturbingly it's possible that members of our club could have been born since this edition was released (which makes me want to kill myself):



In amongst release notes for Plaguefleet the classic supplement to the classic game, loved by classic players, Man O'War (the word "classic" can equally be replaced with the word "old") the magazine also features The Battle of Anurell's Tomb. A battle report featuring High Elves vs Chaos Dwarfs.





The background for the battle is that the High Elves are trying to defend an ancient tomb against a marauding Chaos Dwarf army, which given I had a High Elf monument model to hand seemed like a good idea to replicate. Sadly I forgot said model on the actual day, so we had to use a Storm of Magic staircase instead. Oops.

The special rules for the scenario were a little vague (determined by terrain positions on their specific board), but we replicated them reasonably faithfully, and here are the rules for our game:



The High Elf player may deploy up to one infantry unit (with no characters) within 6" of Anurell's Tomb (on the west side of the board). The Chaos Dwarfs deploy anywhere to the east half of the board up to 18" deep from their table edge. The remaining High Elves begin off the board and enter the board on Turn 1 to the east of the forest on the baseline. The High Elves automatically gain the first turn. Victory points are awarded as normal, in addition if either side has an uncontested unit within 6" of the Tomb at the end of the game they score an additional 750 Victory Points (no points are scored if both or neither side have units within 6").

With all that gubbins out the way it's time to get down to the grisly business of choosing armies, I'll leave you in the capable hands of Lee:

Lee: As this was my first game with the new Tamurkhan Chaos Dwarf list, I wanted to get a good variety of things into my list for this game, whilst not taking anything too obscene (Kdaii or Iron Daemons!). I also want to make sure the army looked like a Chaos Dwarf army and not just a Dwarf army on Lava bases.

First up was a good core of Dwarfs for the army, 19 Infernal Guard with great weapons (normal Chaos Dwarf Warriors), 20 Hobgoblins, 10 Infernal Guard with blunderbusses and 15 Infernal Ironsworn (special choice Chaos Dwarfs).

Next, these guys needed some leaders! I went straight for the only lord choice in the list, Maelzch the Sorcerer Prophet. This guy is both a combat lord and a wizard. I upgraded mine to a level 4 on the Lore of Hashut and mounted him on Daisy the Great Taurus, as every Chaos Dwarf player should be able to moo while charging!

Maelzch was joined by K'rahn an Infernal Castellan (Hero on foot) with the battle standard and Khas'trax a Bull Centaur hero. Strictly you can't take a Bull Centaur hero without a unit of them, but I thought this would be fine for this game.

So that's the troops and characters sorted, it's time to add the funky toys! I started with Skalbuzar, a Chaos Siege Giant, cause he's fun! He was joined by a Hellcannon and a Deathshrieker Rocket Battery (complicated stone thrower-esque shooting).

This left 62 points spare in my list, so I squeezed in 5 Hobgoblin Wolf Riders, and done!



As a quick aside, for those of you unfamiliar with the Chaos Dwarf army list, here's a quick summary of equipment, magic items and spells used in this game:
Equipment:
•   Ensorcelled Weapons: +1 Strength, counts as Magical Attack
•   Blackshard Armour: 4+ Armour Save, 5+ Ward Save against Flaming Attacks
•   Hailshot Blunderbusses: 12" Range, D3 Shots, Strength 3, Armour Piercing
Magic Items:
•   Black Hammer of Hashut: +2 Strength, any wound against a Flammable target automatically kills the target
Spells (Lore of Hashut):
•   Breath of Hatred (Signature Spell): 6+ to Cast, Augment, Remains in Play. Range: 12" – target unit gains hatred of all enemies (can be cast to give all units within 12" hatred on a 15+).
•   Dark Subjugation: 8+ to Cast, Hex. Range: 24" – Target unit must pass a Leadership test at -3 Ld or suffers a permanent -1 Ld penalty.
•   Curse of Hashut: 10+ to Cast, Direct Damage. Range: 18" – single target model suffers 2D6 hits less its Toughness. All hits wound on  4+ with no armour save allowed.
•   Ash Storm: 12+ to Cast, Hex. Range: 24" – target unit suffers the following penalties until the start of the caster's next magic phase: -1 to hit in combat, -2 to hit in shooting, may not charge, march or fly, all terrain counts as dangerous terrain, affected wizards may not cast spells, target counts as Flammable.

Matt: Time to select some High Elves, initially I was tempted to select an army based on the selection chosen in White Dwarf 164, but on closer inspection I realised it featured a Noble on Great Eagle and a Battle Standard Bearer on Tiranoc Chariot – two models even I don't have in my collection! Plus it featured a Mage on Unicorn, no longer allowed for High Elves! That and it generally seemed rubbish, Silver Helms as shock troops – even I am not that stupid!



So it was time to pick my own High Elf army, I started with a poke in the core section. I find High Elf core selection a bit tricky, there's no real cheap choices like chariots, skirmishers or fast cavalry to push you across that minimum threshold if you fall a bit short (90 points is your minimum spend, and who wants just 10 Spearmen?). Plus if like me you like to field your units in the size you painted them, you can find yourself going way over the 25% threshold. Fortunately it turned out that a unit of High Elf Archers and my new unit of Spearmen came to just over 600 points. So that was my selection decided. Full command for all units, obviously, anything else is the sign of a deranged mind. Plus the Banner of Arcane Protection for the Spearmen to just push me over that threshold.

Next up were the special choices, I was allowed one infantry unit to defend the Tomb, so I plumped for a unit of Phoenix Guard – the most resilient High Elf unit, plus the clue as to who should guard the Tomb is in the unit name isn't it?! To that I added a unit of White Lions, mainly because they my models were newish and hadn't had much time on the battlefield, plus I love nothing better than getting them out of an army case and having to glue all their stupid axes back on!!!

The army was rounded out by the ever-reliable (except in my case – I seem to have purchased a cursed one) Repeater Bolt Thrower, and two Great Eagles to redirect charges and block Lee's units approaching the Tomb.

Characters of course were going to be important, I strongly suspected at least one flier to be joining the Chaos Dwarfs in the shape of a Lammasu or Taurus. I toyed with taking my Prince on Dragon, but he's not very portable!! So in the end settled for the Prince on Griffon tooled up with a nasty set of magic items perfect to take out heroes. I then plucked for two Level 2 Mages one with Lore of Heavens – as I enjoy the mix of destructive and augmentative spells, and one with Lore of Metal – as I haven't tried it before and figured heavily armoured Chaos Dwarfs would be the perfect target. After plucking a smattering of magic items to both augment my magic and counteract Lee's attempts (the thought of lava based magic scares my Toughness 3 Elves), I was left with 85 points – which is exactly the cost of a Tiranoc Chariot. I'd been looking at the model pleased with the paint job I'd done on it earlier in the week, so figured that was the perfect excuse to field it.

Finally the plan, yes I need one of those, basically the bulk of the High Elf army would head as quickly as possible to reinforce the Phoenix Guard, the Great Eagles would distract any advancing Chaos Dwarfs and the Archers and Bolt Thrower would stay put to draw away some of Lee's army. What could go wrong?



With the armies decided it was onto the battlefield!

DEPLOYMENT



First up both sides rolled for spells with the Sorcerer Prophet taking the following spells from the Lore of Hashut: Breath of Hatred, Dark Subjugation, Curse of Hashut and Ash Storm (see notes on Chaos Dwarf rules earlier). The High Elf Mage with the Lore of Heavens took Chain Lightning, Harmonic Convergence and Comet of Casandora, whilst the other Mage rolled Glittering Robe and Final Transmutation from the Lore of Metal.

Matt started off by deploying his Phoenix Guard at the foot of the Tomb, Lee responded by deploying his Chaos Dwarf artillery on the hill, the Hobgoblins took up the eastern flank with the Chaos Dwarfs on the west. The remainder of the High Elves were poised to enter the battlefield next turn.


The Phoenix Guard deploy at the foot of a suspicious looking High Elf Waystone.


The Chaos Dwarf force sets up on the hill.

HIGH ELF TURN 1



Victory Points at start of turn:
High Elves: 0
Chaos Dwarfs: 0

The High Elf army stormed onto the battlefield to rescue the Phoenix Guard, the Archers and Bolt Thrower crew took to the high ground, while the infantry all moved as fast as it could towards the Tomb. The Prince landed his Griffon behind some trees out of sight of the dreaded Chaos Dwarf artillery, and the Great Eagles got ready to harass the Chaos Dwarf lines.


The High Elves advance onto the rather cluttered battlefield – it's like a student's bedroom!

The arrival of the Elven spellcasters bought with it a surge in the Winds of Magic as Matt rolled a 10, with the remaining two power dice generated by the Banner of Sorcery. First up the Heavens Mage cast Harmonic Convergence on the Archers, improving the chances of them wounding with the first volley. Lee held onto his dispel dice. The Heavens Mage then threw four power dice at Chain Lightning but failed to meet the casting value. This left the Metal Mage to throw five dice at Final Transmutation targeting the Chaos Dwarf Warriors, Lee threw all his dispel dice in and managed to equal the 20 rolled dissipating the spell.

With the Bolt Thrower unable to shoot this turn, the Archers were the only shooters firing at the Blunderbuss armed Chaos Dwarfs. With Harmonic Convergence guiding their arrows home, the Archers score ten hits and five wounds, but the tough Blackshard armour saved all but two of the Chaos Dwarfs.

CHAOS DWARF TURN 1



Victory Points at start of turn:
High Elves: 0
Chaos Dwarfs: 0

The Chaos Dwarf lines advanced as one towards the High Elf army, with the exception of the Giant and Sorcerer on his mighty Taurus who both swept towards the Tomb.

The Winds of Magic died down scoring only a paltry six dice with channels, however this didn't stop Lee from blasting the nearest Great Eagle with Curse of Hashut doing two wounds.


The Eagle suffers the terrible curse of the Dice of 2.

The Sorcerer Prophet turned his attention to the Spearmen, casting Dark Subjugation on them, Matt felt confident his Spearmen could pass a leadership test on the Prince's Leadership – despite the -3 modifier. However they didn't, and would suffer a -1 Leadership penalty for the rest of the game. Matt then threw all his dispel dice in to stop Ash Storm engulfing the Tiranoc Chariot, but was unable to stop it.


The Spearmen and Chariot are engulfed by foul Chaos Dwarf magics, here you can see them before...


...And thanks to an impressive special effects budget here's what they probably look like.

With the Blunderbusses out of range, it was up to the battery of artillery on the hillside. The Hellcannon overshot the Spearmen. The Deathshrieker Rocket scattered wildly from its intended target of the Tiranoc Chariot - if the final position of a Deathshrieker Rocket isn't a unit the rocket "locks" onto the nearest target and moves a further artillery dice towards them. Sadly for Lee the rocket scattered so far this was now the Infernal Guard, fortunately the dice came up with a Misfire and so the rocket scattered no further.

HIGH ELF TURN 2



Victory Points at start of turn:
High Elves: 0
Chaos Dwarfs: 0

The High Elf turn began dramatically as the Elven Prince gripped his Star Lance, and dug his spurs into the Griffon. The beast charged out from the woods ploughing into the Taurus. The Great Eagles moved to lock the movement of the Giant and Ironsworn just in case they tried to aid their master in subsequent turns. The High Elf infantry continued its march towards the Tomb, while the Chariot remained immobilised by the Ash Storm.


The Elven Prince sits ready to strike out against the Sorcerer, safe in the trees from the Chaos Dwarf artillery.

Again the Winds of Magic favoured the Elven mages giving them a full 12 dice. The Metal Mage successfully cast Glittering Robe providing all units within 12" with a Scaly Skin 5+ save, including the Prince's Griffon. The Heavens Mage then tried to repeat Harmonic Convergence on the Prince, Lee wisely dispelled this. The Heavens Mage then threw five dice into casting Chain Lightning on the Giant, again he scored 20, but despite Lee throwing all his remaining dice in he rolled low and was unable to stop the spell. The heavens opened as a massive lightning bolt struck the Giant, Matt rolled a 6 for the number of hits caused, promptly doing four wounds on the towering monster. The lightning then jumped onto the Sorcerer and Taurus, Lee looked on in disbelief as Matt rolled a further 6 for the number of hits! While the Sorcerer shrugged off the attack, Matt rolled three 6s and two 5s for the hits on the Taurus killing the beast outright without the need for the bonus hits Lore of Heaven spells do to flying creatures. The Chain Lightning then leapt onto the Ironsworn, fortunately for Lee, Matt only rolled a 1 for hits this time as a single Dwarf was electrocuted and the spell finally earthed after generating havoc down the Chaos Dwarf line.

The shooting phase was less eventful with the Bolt Thrower only managing to score one hit on the Hobgoblin Wolf Riders, which wounded. The Archers targeted the same unit scoring ten hits, but only one of these managed to wound leaving the eastern flank bearing down on the missile armed Elves.


The Hobgoblins are largely unaffected by the appalling Elven shooting.

In combat the Sorcerer was suddenly looking a lot smaller without his Taurus. The Elven Prince struck his Star Lance into the Sorcerer four times causing three wounds, whilst his armour was no use against the attack, the Talisman of Protection absorbed two wounds. The Griffon then caused a further wound on the Sorcerer, who attempted to strike back, but with The Black Hammer of Hashut rendered useless by the Talisman of Saphery he couldn't do any wounds. Finally the Griffon stomped the Sorcerer's body into the ground, crushing his spine and ending the threat of Chaos Dwarf magic for good. Pleased the Prince overran with his Griffon avoiding any retribution from the rest of the Chaos Dwarf line.


The High Elf Prince dispatches the recently dismounted Sorcerer overrunning behind the Chaos Dwarf line.

CHAOS DWARF TURN 2



Victory Points at start of turn:
High Elves: 630
Chaos Dwarfs: 0

Determined to avenge the death of his general Lee declared a raft of charges, the Giant charging a Great Eagle who holds. The Ironsworn charges the second Eagle which flees landing just in front of the White Lions, the Ironsworn successfully redirect crashing into the ranks of Elven Spearmen. The Infernal Guard charge towards the Tiranoc Chariot, whose attempt to stand and shoot is ruined by the on-going Ash Storm, however rolling only a three for their charge means the Infernal Guard fall way short of the chariot.


No matter how many times Lee measures the distance to the chariot, 3 inches is just not long enough!

With no magic the shooting phase again opens up with a roar of artillery from the hilltop, both war machines targeting the exposed Elven General. The Hellcannon scatters away but the Deathshrieker scores a direct hit, reducing the Griffon to a pile of pulped flesh and feathers doing six wounds, the dazed Elven Prince dismounts his fallen beast, himself reduced to a single wound. The Blunderbusses open up on the chariot scoring an impressive twelve wounds shredding chariot, crew and steeds with ease.

The Great Eagle attempts to rip the Giant's flesh open, scoring two hits but it's unable to wound. It is swift enough to dodge the Giant's club leaving the two creatures locked in combat. The Ironsworn are greeted by a wall of Elven Spears, the Bull Centaur manages to save the only wound inflicted upon it by the Spearmen, but embarrassingly for Lee, it is wounded by the Mage! The Spearmen manage six wounds on the remainder of the unit, but the tough Blackshard armour saves four of them, however the Spearmen champion kills his Chaos Dwarf counterpart in a challenge. Despite the presence of the Glittering Robe, three Spearmen fall to the axes of the Ironguard, though the Bull Centaur is unable to wound the Mage. Thanks to their ranks the Elves win the combat by one, but the stubborn Chaos Dwarfs refuse to budge.


The Ironsworn are greeted by a wall of Elven Spears. Almost as friendly a greeting as one receives in the Post Office.

HIGH ELF TURN 3



Victory Points at start of turn:
High Elves: 630
Chaos Dwarfs: 85

The now dismounted Prince decides he doesn't want to hang around in the open battlefield anymore and so charges the Giant. The fleeing Great Eagle rallies. The only other movement from the High Elf army is that the White Lions reform to face the flank of the Ironsworn hoping to assist the Spearmen next turn.

Again the Winds of Magic favour the Elven mages giving another full 12 power dice. The Heavens Mage tries to help out the Spearmen by casting Harmonic Convergence on his own unit but this is quickly dispelled, as is the Metal Mage's attempt to cast Final Transmutation on the Infernal Guard. However the Heavens Mage is able to summon a Comet of Casandora - a dark shadow falls across the Chaos Dwarf artillery.

The Bolt Thrower continues its less than impressive artillery display skewering a single Hobgoblin Wolf Rider, however it is enough to panic the cowardly greenskins who run back to the Chaos Dwarf lines. The Archers follow suit killing five of the regular Hobgoblins also panicking that unit, who follow their mounted brethren towards the hills.


The Hobgoblins Wolfriders close in on the Bolt Thrower...


...but soon they are running for their lives!

In combat the Prince's inability to use his Star Lance means he's unable to score a wound on the Giant, the Eagle misses his target altogether, while the Giant head butts the Eagle inflicting a single wound. The Giant then lifts his foot and brings it down upon the Prince crushing the Elven noble. Seeing the death of his general is too much for the Eagle who flees hotly pursued by the Giant who catches and dismembers the bird. The Spearmen struggle against the Ironsworn's Blackshard Armour, despite inflicting 8 wounds they only kill 2 Chaos Dwarfs, in return for many casualties. However the Bull Centaur again misses the Mage, frustrating Lee! The Elven Spearmen remain stubborn, but just to be sure Matt rolls a double one for their break test.

CHAOS DWARF TURN 3



Victory Points at start of turn:
High Elves: 630
Chaos Dwarfs: 685

The Chaos Dwarf army continues its advance as the Blunderbusses and Infernal Guard march towards the Elves. The Hobgoblin infantry rally, but the Wolf Riders continue to flee towards the Hellcannon. The Giant nips behind the Tomb denying the Phoenix Guard's claim on the ancient Elven monument.


The Siege Giant arrives behind the Phoenix Guard casting the special spell "Out of Focus" on them.

Again there's no magic for the Chaos Dwarf army, though the Comet hurtling towards the hilltop grows bigger in the sky. The Hellcannon and Deathshrieker's payloads both scatter widely from the Phoenix Guard, the Deathshrieker rocket "locking" in on the Giant, fortunately another misfire roll from Lee sees it impact the ground harmlessly.

In combat the Spearmen manage to find a chink in the Dwarfen army killing four Ironsword in return for only three losses, though again they can't wound the Bull Centaur, who finally manages a single wound on the Heavens Mage! With the combat tied no side is prepared to give ground.

HIGH ELF TURN 4



Victory Points at start of turn:
High Elves: 630
Chaos Dwarfs: 685


Pantomime season comes to the Warhammer World early as the Phoenix Guard realise where the giant is!

With the Infernal Guard approaching the Spearmen's flank, Matt was all poised to begin a rescue mission with his White Lions. However to his horror Matt realised he hadn't left quite enough room for the White Lions to sneak in between the Eagle and Spearmen. With the Giant having moved the Eagle couldn't even charge out of the way and so frustrated Matt got the White Lions to return to their primary objective and marched them towards the Tomb. The Eagle and Phoenix Guard moved to get the elusive Giant in their sights.

Finally the Winds of Magic deserted the Elves as they only gained 5 power dice, though this was bumped up to 8 by the Banner of Sorcery. But before any spells the Comet hurtled into the hilltop, the resulting apocalyptic explosion left the Deathshrieker destroyed and the Hellcannon limping after it suffered two wounds. Sensing the danger the Spearmen were about to be in the Heavens Mage tried to buff them with Harmonic Convergence, but the Chaos Dwarfs dispelled it, however they were unable to stop the Metal Mage casting Glittering Robe on the unit improving their save to 3+. The Mage was less successful when he tried to cast Final Transmutation on the Giant, in a desperate bid to inflict another wound, as he failed to make the casting value.


Time is running out for the flank of the Elven Spearmen.


The Elven missile troops were torn between saving themselves from the approaching Blunderbusses or whittling down the Infernal Guard approaching the Spearmen's flank. The Bolt Thrower targeted the Blunderbusses and improved its fortunes inflicting four wounds, though one was stopped by Blackshard Armour. The Archers were less lucky as they only managed to get a single shot passed the armour of the Infernal Guard.

In combat the Heavens Mage continued his impressive run inflicting another unsaved wound on the Bull Centaur, however he finally answered back striking the mage down. The Spearmen did an impressive eight wounds on the Ironsworn, but only three made it through their Blackshard Armour leaving just two Ironsworn left alive. Despite this the Chaos Dwarfs held, meaning that the Spearmen would have to face the charge of the Infernal Guard.

CHAOS DWARF TURN 4



Victory Points at start of turn:
High Elves: 730
Chaos Dwarfs: 870

The turn began with the Infernal Guard ploughing into the flank of the Elven Spearmen. The Hobgoblin Wolfriders continued fleeing, while the Giant again moved out of the charge range of the Phoenix Guard.


The Infernal Guard arrive just in time to save the one remaining Ironsworn.

The Hellcannon scored a glancing hit on the White Lions killing two of them despite their Lion cloaks. In combat the Spearmen rolled appalling and only manage to kill one of the two remaining Ironsworn, the Ironsworn and Bull Centaur failed to cause any wounds. However the Infernal Guard killed four Spearmen, with a whole raft of combat bonuses going against them the Spearmen fled outpacing their Dwarfen pursuers.


The Spearmen flee through the forest pursued by the Chaos Dwarfs.

HIGH ELF TURN 5



Victory Points at start of turn:
High Elves: 730
Chaos Dwarfs: 895

The Spearmen failed to rally and continued fleeing through the forest, while the White Lions, Phoenix Guard and Eagle all tried to pin down the Siege Giant. With no useful spells to cast, we passed straight on to the shooting phase. The Bolt Thrower and the Archers opened fire on the Blunderbusses between them felling four, the one remaining Blunderbuss passed his panic check.


The Chaos Dwarfs and Hobgoblins come under continued fire from the Elves.

CHAOS DWARF TURN 5



Victory Points at start of turn:
High Elves: 730
Chaos Dwarfs: 895

The one remaining Ironsworn and the Bull Centaur charge the Spearmen, forcing them to flee. Fortunately Matt only rolled 4" enough to get them away from the chargers, but just keeping them on the very edge of the board. The Hobgoblins attempt to charge the Bolt Thrower but fall short.


The Spearmen continue to flee through the forest.

Meanwhile the Hobgoblin Wolfriders flee the table, which obviously distracts the Hellcannon, as it rampages down the board towards the High Elf Archers. The Giant continues to evade the Elven infantry.

The one remaining Blunderbuss finally opens fires on the Archers killing a single Elf, ending the brief turn.

HIGH ELF TURN 6



Victory Points at start of turn:
High Elves: 790
Chaos Dwarfs: 895

The Spearmen failed their last opportunity to rally and fled the board. With the High Elves still unable to get to grip with the Giant the Metal Mage had one last attempt at casting Final Transmutation on the Siege Giant, but this was dispelled.

With two Chaos Dwarf units on the board reduced to a single model, Matt ideally wanted to split his shooting but the Bolt Thrower failed to wound the last Blunderbuss armed Infernal Guard. The Archers targeted the same unit, causing two wounds, one of which was saved just killing the Blunderbusses but leaving the final Ironsworn unscathed.


The High Elf Archers have one final turn to whittle down the Blunderbusses.

CHAOS DWARF TURN 6



Victory Points at start of turn:
High Elves: 980
Chaos Dwarfs: 1,260

Despite the lack of nearby Chaos Dwarfs, the Hobgoblins pass their animosity test and charge the Bolt Thrower. To add insult to injury the Siege Giant nips past the Phoenix Guard to get closest to the Tomb.

The Hellcannon finally scores a direct hit, blowing a huge chunk out of the White Lions, ten are killed and the unit flees in panic.

In the final combat phase the Bolt Thrower crew are unable to kill a single Hobgoblin, the Hobgoblins kill one crewman, and with combat resolution the final Elf flees only to be caught by the mob of greenskins.


The Hobgoblins overrun the Bolt Thrower.

With no side in overall control of the Tomb, the scores at the end of the final turn were:

Final Victory Points:
High Elves: 980
Chaos Dwarfs: 1,360

Meaning a win for the Chaos Dwarfs!!


The Siege Giant continues to outfox the Phoenix Guard!

CONCLUSION

Matt: Bloody Siege Giant! Bloody Siege Giant! No matter what I did I just couldn't pin it down. It would be easy for me to blame luck here, if my Spearmen had just been able to rally at some point, or if I'd just killed that one remaining Infernal Guard... both of which would have closed the victory point difference down to less than 100. However blaming luck would be ignoring the good luck I had, always having a bucket full of power dice and blasting both Siege Giant and Taurus with Chain Lightning.

In utter fairness this game was mine to throw away, and I did. Ironically it was my moment of fortune in Turn 2, when Chain Lightning struck and my Prince assassinated Lee's general, which lead to my momentary overconfidence. Because in Turn 3 I through the game away, as I considered the Giant good as dead and figured I'd blunted Lee's main attempt on the Tomb. Without these models I reasoned it would be a real fight for Lee to get the Tomb back. Instead the Giant went on to outmanoeuvre my units, and with my Heavens Lore Mage tied up in combat and all my shooting too far away to target the Giant, I was denied the 750 points for holding the Tomb.

With hindsight I was foolish to charge my wounded Prince into the Giant, I considered the Giant no longer to be a threat, and wanted to get my Prince away from those devastating Chaos Dwarf war machines. I also had completely forgotten about Thunderstomp! Instead I should have sent the Phoenix Guard in who could have dealt with the Giant and possibly even rescued the Prince. I was so intent on concentrating on the objective (something veteran players often forget, getting carried away chopping up your army), that I refused to budge the Phoenix Guard, even though they could have probably dealt with the Giant and returned to the Tomb before any Chaos Dwarfs got there even if the Spearmen had faltered early on.

The other mistake was of course my White Lions, really poor sloppy positioning on my part allowed them to get bogged down trying to get the Ironsworn in the flank. Annoyingly had that Eagle rolled either 1" more or less it would have been out of the way. Oh well!

What went right? Well the Spearmen did a good job, ok they bit it in the end, but they held up a far more elite unit for a long time, nearly killing them all – despite needing a 5 to wound and facing a 3+ save. Never underestimate the barrage of attacks High Elf Spearmen can dish out. Heavens magic again proved its worth, and flexibility, with attacks and buffs in equal measure. I was pleased with my General's surgical strike on the Supreme Prophet, I'd like to think it would have gone well even if the Taurus had been alive!

Anyway I'll conclude by saying "Next time Lee... next time. Oh wait, what do you mean there won't be a next time?!"

Sadly at the time of writing Lee, is busy packing boxes and moving house with all the hellish inconvenience that, that entails. So in his absence I'll write something on his behalf.

Matt (on behalf of Lee): I'm pretty sure Lee would want to say how he was extremely lucky to have won this game, and that really Matt should have won this game and in fact won every game that we've ever played. Indeed it was very cowardly of me to use my Giant in this way, and I should feel ashamed of myself, I should have charged in to those Phoenix Guard and died with honour.

On a serious note I know Lee regretting fixating so much on the Tiranoc Chariot at the beginning, and with hindsight would have immobilised the Prince on Griffon with Ash Storm rather than the Chariot. The Bull Centaur hero proved to be somewhat of a disappointment, constantly vexed by the Mage though he eventually did kill him. The Deathshrieker Rocket was a big success, worth it just for that one hit on the Griffon.

I'm sure Lee probably has something far more sensible, useful and insightful to say, and hopefully he will reply when he gets a chance to get online.

Overall it was, as always, an enjoyable experience battling Lee, and fun to play a different kind of game. I know this is the kind of phrase White Dwarf churn out all the time, but having either a background or special reason for fighting a battle (regardless of special rules) really helps bring it to life. Thanks to Lee for putting up with incessant note taking and for snapping pictures of the game on the way. I look forward to our next meeting.

[Dave]

Nice report, of course if it were a WD report no way that giant would have cowardly gone and stood behind the toom and played at running circles around the phoenix guard, he'd have gone straight for combat with the intent of stomping them into the ground (though probably have been killed before getting a single attack in).

[Meals]

Yup, there was also a substantial lack of blatant advertising. Thats not the good White Dwarf quality we all know and love! Don't get me wrong, I still very much enjoyed it, but it wasn't quite the same...




Oh and as its OG, it would be remiss of me not to:

3 inches is just not long enough!

Do you hear that often?  HEY-O!