The Seer's tale.
2K Battle report, vs Empire. (actually, this game is part of a campaign, and I had 100 extra points)
(This report is the next part of
this. It's been a fairly long time, so I'm just linking this in case you're remotely interested in the story)
Expelled from the clan, I could not help but wonder what role I was going to play in the Seer's plan.
Anyway, after saving me from the wild hunter's wrath, the seer said almost nothing. We left the Wolf hall, aiming for the Grey Mountains.
Naieth always evaded conflict: we found two small bands of beastmen, and the seer always prevented me from attacking them. Sometimes she left me, and in minutes I could hear hunting horns everywhere. I assume she alerted other kindreds, but I won't say I ever understood Naieth.
I was angry at her. As an asrai, I had sworn to deffend the sacred glades, and Naieth wasn't allowing me to do that.
One night, the seer came by our bonfire, and spoke to me.
"I know what you feel. But I have seen how your future can develop, adn there are things you must understand. Things I can show you." She handed me a glass with a dark green, mint smelling liquid.
"Now, drink and see what I've seen"
The army lists
Asrai army: the defenders of the Wintergate
Naieth the Seer , level 3 spellweaver and general of the army
Carries the Wand of Wych elm and is scorted by the Lamentation of despairs.
Lore of Athel Loren: Treesinging, Hidden Path, Ariel's blessing
Lithanas, level 2 spellsinger
Carries Calaingor's staff and a dispel scroll.
Lore of Athel Loren: Treesinging, the Call of the Hunt.
Kirall Greywolf, wild rider noble.
Carries the Dawnspear and rides an elven steed. Leads the wild riders
Kair-Vennu, alter noble
Wears light armour and the Helm of the hunt. Carries a shield, great wepon and the Hail of Doom Arrow.
10 glade guards
10 glade guards
5 glade riders, musician
8 dryads
8 dryads
5 wild riders, with full command and the warbanner
7 wardancers, with first dancer and musician
Treeman
5 waywatchers
Empire Army
Klaus Vanhayreen empire general (and general of the army)
Wears full plate armour and carries a shield and a Runefang
Rides a griffon
Johan Strausse, empire captain.
Wear full plate, and carries the enchanted shield and probably other things.
Rides a pegasus
Brother Domenic, sigmar priest.
Wears heavy armour, carries a shield and the sword of heroes.
Rides a barded warhorse, and leads the knights.
Brother Wolfgang, sigmar priest
Wears the armour of meteoric iron, and carries a greatweapon
Leads the spearmen.
25 spearmen, with full command and shields
Detachments: 8 handgunners and 8 crossbowmen
25 swordsmen, with full command.
Detachments: 8 handgunners and 8 crossbowmen
10 empire knights, with full command.
Empire greatcannon
Mortar
Helblaster.
Deployment and battle thoughts
Terrain is self explanatory: Hills count as high ground, not difficult terrain.
Woods are what our opponents fear most when fighting wood elves.
And lakes are something you don't see often. Difficult ground, doesn't block LoS.
As usual, left and right references are from my point of view.
Note: This is a friendly league match, and due to the league rules, I had an extra 100 points at my disposal, and I can choose who has first turn. My opponent's list wasn't precisely optimal, but it has three fast units that can threaten mine.
Griffons cannot enter woods flying, which gives me a good advantage: I can use my HODA to test the empire general's armour and hopefuly knock a couple of wounds form the griffon.
The pegasus is somewhat less worrying, as there is a stepped threat for him: If he doesn't move forward, I can use my waywatchers, next come wardancers to deny him safe landing places, and finally my archers can get rid of the pegasus with little effort.
Finally, the knights are too large for my taste (I'd have used two units myself). I think the better way to get rid of them is by baiting with the glade riders, and counterattacking with the wild riders. I can use the wood so if he doesn't want to fall for my oh so cunning trap (:D), he won't be able to advance at all.
My waywatchers will also be used to get rid of the great cannon, and since I outrange the helblaster, I think I can divert him with my left unit of dryads. I can try Hidden path to shield them, but even if it fails, it is just 96 points, and if they reach the warmachine, odds say it is dead. Perhaps it even blows itself up when trying to shoot the forest spirits.
As I said, I could choose who went first, and if you guessed I would take first turn, you were right. Here we go!
The battle
TURN 1
Asrai
Movement
The waywatchers leave the woods, placing themselves in position to charge the great cannon, and still shoot the knights this one.
The treeman marches into the central wood, while the alter moves forward to the rightmost one, folowed by the dryads.
The glade riders move forward, and the wild riders move towards the centre, still facing the left edge of the battlefield, ready to countercharge the knights, should they attack the glade riders.
Wardancers and the left unit of dryads march forward.
Magic
The treeman sings his wood forward, as does the spellweaver, advancing 10 good inches.
Naieth also tries to confer the dryads ethereality, but she is stopped by the empire priests.
Lithanas sings the leftmost wood to block the knights, his first attempt stopped with the last dispel die, the second successful
With no dice left, and no scrolls available, the Lamentation of despairs target the mounted priest, who fails the leadership test and is slain.
Shooting
Waywatchers and riders target the knight unit, getting two of them.
The leftmost archers go for the crossbowmen detachment, and kill half of them. The weaver unit go for the rightmost handgunners (as going for the other one would give the mortar LoS) and kill two of them. Both units pass their panic tests.
Kair-Vennu looses the HoDA on the griffon. After 9 hits, he gets 2 wounds on the griffon, and one on the elector.
All in all, a good start.
Empire
Movement
Seeing my obvious trap, no charges are declared.
The infantry units advance, the spearmen trying to move further than the wood before it is too late.
The griffon flies between the woods, to charge my weaver next turn, IF he can survive my dryad attack, while the pegasus rider is unable to land without being charged by either wild riders or wardancers, so he just flies to be able to charge the waywatchers.
The knights advance cautiously.
Magic
He only has a bound spell against my five rerollable dice. It's not working.
And it didn't work the whole game, so I'm skipping this phase from now on.
Shooting
The cannon grapeshots the waywatchers, but only kills one.
The damaged crossbowmen go for the wardancers, but they can't even hit. Same goes for the rightmost ones, as dryads inside cover from long range prove too hard to hit.
The mortar scatters doing nothing, and between the helblaster and handgunners, two of the other dryads die.
TURN 2
Asrai.
Movement
Charge! The waywatchers decide to take it close and personal against the great cannon, and the rightmost dryads decide the griffon is as good a target as any other. Both cannon and elector count hold.
The glade riders keep diverting the knights, while the wild riders move to the flank.
The unengaged dryads keep advancing, and the wardancers move forward, so Lithanas has range for a Call of the Hunt on the forest spirits.
Kair-Vennu sprints, and positions himself on the flank of the crossbowmen, ready to get them from the flank.
The rightmost archers move to the left, so they can flee from the grifon easier if the need arises; while the others advance slightly to get the swordsmen in short range.
Magic
The treeman sings his wood slightly to the right, so he will be in the empire general's path, should the human break from combat.
Lithanas tries to invoke the spirit of Kurnous on the unengaged dryads, but he miscasts. Luckily, it's just a S2 hit which doesn't wound, and he won't be able to do anything else this phase. Not that he was going to, anyway.
Naieth tries with a kinder spirit, and confers Ariel's blessing on the engaged dryads. She succeds.
Shooting
The knight armour proves too tough for the glade rider arrows. Swordsmen are not that tough, and 6 of them die to the glade guard arrows.
Close combat
The waywatchers cut down the cannon crew, overrunning out of the board to avoid being charged by the pegasus rider.
The dryads direct all 8 attacks on the griffon, dealing enough wounds to kill it. The general hits twice, and thanks to his runefang, wounds both dryads. Ariel's blessing saves one of them. Outnumbered by fear causing enemies, the general breaks from combat, and runs into the treeman, dying. The dryads restrain pursuit, as pursuing would take them close to the block of spearmen.
Empire
Movement
The knights charge the glade riders, which flee. Unfortunately, they can't flee far enough and are run down. Even worse, the knights charge touches slightly my last wild riders, which allows them to overrun into my cavalry.
The pegasus rider, flies forward now the wild riders are in a bad position, threatening my archers.
The spearmen move to the centre of the battlefield, while the sowrdsmen wheel slightly so they're not opening a flank to the wardancers.
Shooting
The mortar lands on the wardancers, killing 3.
Crossbowmen do nothing, but between the handgunners and he helblaster, the suicide dryad squad is vaporized. The helblaster misfires on its third barrel, so it won't be able to shoot next turn.
Close combat
Kirall chalenges,and the knight champion accepts. The champions manaes to wound once, and he is Killed in return.
The rest of the knights suffer rubber lance, and I manage to suffer just one more wound. The wild riders cannot go through armour, losing combat. They hold.
TURN 3
Asrai
Movement
The alter charges the crossbowmen detachment, which flee.
The knights are too far away from my wardancers, so it's probably better to leae them alone. Lithanas has found a safe place inside the wood, and he leaves the wardancers. They move to the flank of the swordsmen.
My remaining dryads move to the lake, threatening the spearmen flank.
The treeman leaves the wood, to charge the handgunners or warmachines next turn, now he doesn't have to worry about the helblaster.
Waywatchers enter the board again. Naieth's archers move to keep shooting thw swordsmen, while the others wheel to shoot the pegasus.
Magic
Lithanas casts call of the hunt on the wild riders. They DO need help against the knights, and this is as good as it gets.
Naieth casts hidden path on the treeman, but she is stopped. Without oposition, the treeman sings the wood forward, to block the spearmen.
Shooting
Watchers go for the mortar, but it does nothing.
Naieth's archers shoot the swordsmen, killing 4.
The treeman stranglerots the spearmen, getting 6 of them, but not enough to force a panic test.
The archers arrows strike true, and the pegasus is slain. The rider's armour is too much, though.
Close combat
The wild riders count with the favour of their patron god, and they kill three of the knights. As one of them is killed by Kirall's dawnspear, the knights cannot hit my wild riders, and break after losing combat. They are caught by the children of the hunter, their banner captured.
Empire
Movement
The former pegasus rider charges my archers, but he is too far, and fails. His armour is still too thick, and the stand and shoot reaction does nothing.
Now that the wardancers cannot claim a flank bonus, the swordsmen move to my archer line, to help the lone hero.
The spearmen and everything else pass their terror test, and the block reforms to see the treeman.
Fleeing crossbowmen rally.
Shooting
The mortar scatters again, and fails to hit either watchers or dancers.
The handguns cannot hurt the treeman.
TURN 4
Asrai
Movement
The treeman charges the leftmost handgunners, which flee opening an enemy on the way charge on the mortar, which also flees.
The waywatchers charge the crossbowmen, which also flee.
Finally, the alter charges the handgunners flank, and seeing that fleeing would lead the alter to the helblaster, they decide to hold.
The dryads move to the spearmen's rear, closing on the crossbowmen. With no ranged threat on them, Naieth's archers move forward to shoot at the spearmen. The others move backwards, to get another stand and shoot against the captain if he decides to charge them.
Wardancers move to the flank of the swordsmen, while the wild riders move to threaten their front, and avoid the captain's charge. Just in case.
Magic
I could cast something, but I don't think Ariel's blessing is in range.
I don't bother risking a miscast.
Shooting
Again, the captain is saved by his armour. Naieth's unit kill a couple of spearmen.
Close combat
Kair-Vennu kills three handgunners, but they hold.
Empire
Movement
The captain charges my archers, and the stand and shoot does nothing.
The spearmen try to charge my treeman's rear, but they're stopped by fear.
The crossbowmen wheel to shoot the alter if he fails to end the handgunners this turn.
Every fleing unit rallies.
Close combat
The empire captain manages to kill just one archer. As the archers outnumber, it's a draw.
Impressed by this performance of uselessness, my alter decides to kill just one handgunner, also drawing combat.
TURN 5
Asrai
Movement
Wardancers and wild riders charge the swordsmen. In a funny turn of events, the dancers are on the flank, while the rides will be on the front.
The watchers charge the mortar crew.
The treeman moves to present his front to the spearmen, now that it is unavoidable to get charged by them, while the dryads move to threaten both spearmen and crossbowmen. Naieth decides she has had enough with the achers, and moves to the left.
Magic
Just for giggles, I cast call of the hunt on the archers, and I get an irresistable force. Naieth tries Ariel's blessing to make them the unstoppable archer unit of doom, but she is stopped.
Shooting
The archers make short work of the nearby crossbowmen.
The treeman strangleroots the helblaster, getting two of the crew and one wound from the machine itself.
Close combat
Waywatchers slaughter the poor crewmembers.
The alter finally cuts down the last handgunners, but now he can be shot by the crossbowmen.
And if you thought the waywatchers were good, the wild riders get four of the swordsmen, and the wardancers, dancing storm of swords, leave the unit at 6. Soundly beaten, the swordsmen break and are run down by the wildriders, who claim yet anotehr banner.
On my right flank, the archers manage to wound the captain successfully. He kills one archer in return, and holds
Empire
Movement
The spearmen declare charge on the treeman, but again fear stops them. Since he is mostly on their flank, and I've got dryads and wild riders ready for them, things look dire for the priest and his buddies.
Shooting
The helblaster decides to go out taking the treeman with him, but it misfires on the second barrel, getting just 4 shots. The treeman looks fairly unimpressed by this.
The crossbowmen aim at the alter, which suffers one wound.
Close combat
Achers cannot get the captain's final wound. The captain fails with his attacks, and breaks, outrunning my archers by a single inch. (the picture is wrong,as the captain broke this turn, not the one before. Sorry)
TURN 6
Asrai
Movement
Smelling blood in the air, wild rider, treeman and dryads charge the spearmen and priest.
The alter goes for the crossbowmen, while the spellsinger joins the waywatchers, to give them Us5 and claim the quarter.
The triumphant archers charge the fleeing captain, which again flees successfully.
The other archers move forward, while the wardancers dance the happy dance of "We're done here, guys"
Magic
Nothing I can do to change things, so both mages are happy without casting.
Shooting
As the helblaster is fairly blocked by the massive combat, my archers go for the last handgunners, and remove them from the game.
Close combat
As expected, there's an orgy of destruction and pain, and when the dust settles, the empire unit decides things are not for them to solve, and flee like rats. Sadly for them, my wild riders want to please Kurnous, and run them down.
Terrified by this, the last helblaster crewman flees in panic.
The alter kills three empire soldiers, but they're braver than the spearmen, and hold.
Empire
Movement
The captain rallies, and that's pretty much it.
Close combat
Attacking last due to the greatweapon, the alter is slain before he can attack.
Outcome of the battle
With a difference of more than 2000 points, it's a massacre for the wood elves.
If you're expecting a tactical analysis, forget about it. Once the griffon bit it, and the knights were stopped, the game was over. I was worried about my almost 300 point pretty elf with a skirt and a funny stick if the griffon came too close, and that's why I placed my dryads ready to threaten its landing point. If the HoDA worked (and it did), I
would have reduced one of the two main targets I had. With the knights slowed by the glade riders and ultimately defeated by the wild riders, it was a matter of time to circle the infantry blocks and get rid of them.
Two details: I rolled nice spells (yes, I hate the Hidden Path, but against a helblaster and several handgunners, it's good), and still, I think that choosing Athel Loren with my level 3 was not the best decision. Since the lamentation got rid of the priest in the first turn, there was no need to use the wand of wych elm. A pretty elf with skirt, I told you.
Which leads me to the lamentation. I don't like this item. Almost never works, and when it does, it feels cheap to kill an enemy hero on a 3+, for 25 points. Removing hatred from the knights probably saved my wild riders (allowing the knights to charge them was a huge mistake on my part, though), so I won't complain too much.
I woke up three days later. I can't understand how you singers can stand it, but I'm not ashamed to say that I couldn't.
When I finally regained consciousness, the Seer wasn't there. Her owl looked at me from a nearby tree branch, and hooted lowly when I tried to get up. I was still too weak from the trance, though, and I fell to my knees again.
Minutes later, the owl flew, and I could hear footsteps behind me. When they became too close, I drew my sword, and turned to face the treat, but there was no foe stalking me. Naieth spoke.
"Kair-Vennu, this is just one of the things that could happen to you. You don't like to be always turned down by the Greywolf. You don't like to be rejected by your kindred. You want something else, and I can give it to you, because I have seen what you'll be able to do with it.
Rest now, Kair-Vennu, as I have found what I was looking for, and you must help me recover it"
And that's it, for now. Hope you enjoyed it
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