The thief
2K battle report. As this report is port of a campaign, my opponent had 100 extra points.
There was blood splattered across the marble floor. As none of the wardens that were supposed to welcome her had come from the shrine entrance, Leathiel halted at once. She called her scort of dancers, and started a simple enchantment, not wanting to go inside the temple unaware of any possible threat.
This confirmed her worst thoughts, as there was simply no life sources inside. The spellsinger nodded, and the wardancers hurried in.
Minutes afterwards, the dancers came out, carrying the corpse of a small, ratlike creature. Knowing what this might mean, Leathiel turned to the scouts, and ordered them to track any other rodent. When they left, she felt her apprentice's hand on her shoulder: Ylith had turned less talkative in the last winter, but since her sister had apparently vanished, it was something understandable.
Her face was grim, but determined: "I shall find the intruders".
The great eagle soared the sky. It was a cool day, but the worse of winter had passed already, and there were no clouds.
The bird could see the glade of the lost ahead, knowing too well that any sensible invader would stay away from it: she dived, alarming a flock of smaller birds.
This time, they'd be lucky, as Keila had found was she was looking for.
Ylith opened her brown eyes. She said "Vithair's tower. Lots of them".
In minutes, the elven host marched north. The forest awoke at the sound of their footsteps.
In the sky, the great eagle soared.
The army lists
The host of the poplar temple Wood elf army
Thaeris Swifthand, wild rider noble, and general of the army.
Carries the Hail of Doom Arrow, and rides
Ehwu the elven steed.
Leads the wild riders.
Reirrah Owlwing, BSB noble. Wears the Amaranthine Brooch and light armour. Leads the eternal guard.
Leathiel Dawnwind, level 2 spellsinger.
Carries Calaingor's stave and a dispel scroll.
Lore of Athel Loren: Treesinging, Ariel's Blessing.
Starts in the eternal guard
Ylith Blackfeather, level 2 spellsinger
Carries Ranu's Heartstone and a dispel scroll.
Lore of Athel Loren: Tressinging, Fury of the forest.
Starts with the wardancers.
10 glade guards
10 glade guards
8 dryads
5 glade riders, with musician
7 wardancers, first dancer and musician
5 wild riders, with full command and the Warbanner
17 eternal guards, with full command (6x3)
Beechbark the treeman
Keila the great eagle
The seer's scort, skaven army.
Note: I didn't get to see the list afterwards, so it's approximated.
Skreet the Grey, grey seer and general of the army.
Carries the Regeneration crown thing, and a dispel scroll.
Lore of the Horned Rat: Skitterleap, Warplightning, Pestilent breath, Death frenzy.
Leads the stormvermin
Quagget, warlock engineer. Full warlock kit.
Storm daemon and a dispel scroll. Joins the central unit of clan warriors.
Ikkrit the Putrid
Plague priest, with plague censer. No items that I'm aware of.
Leads the plague priests, as one would expect.
Zarsit, eshin assasin. Carries warpstone stars (which are the maquination of evil, I tell you)
20 skaven warriors, with full command. Rattling gun.
20 skaven warriors, with full command. Warpfire thrower.
15 or so stromvermin, with full command. Rattling gun.
4 poisoned wind globadiers.
30something giant rats, in packs.
3 rat swarms.
20 plague priests, with full command and banner of burning hatred.
5 jezzails.
8 plague censers.
Deployment and pre-battle thoughts
So. Woods are places with trees, where wood elves live. They count as infinitely high. Hills are high ground, doesn't hinder movement. The tower counts as impassable terrain.
It is... weird. We placed terrain elements, and rolled to scatter them. Only the hills in the right side moved to almost touch between them.
Which meant that the centre was blocked for my archers. Thus, I chose to place them on the open flank, and shoot away.
Other than that, I just thank Isha because his grey seer got neither plague not vermintide. Sure, skitterleap makes the grey seer harder to pin down and death frenzy makes them immune to psychology, but I can live perfectly with that. Since pestilent breath is terribly short ranged, it makes not horribly difficult to stop his magic phase. Other than that, the engineer's unit is a good target for some Hail of Doom action, and either the great eagle or wild riders can deal with the survivors.
I hope rerollable stubborn tests from eternal guard and treeman can hold the plague monks, while dancers and dryads move to the flanks, and kill them. Hopefully, when my infantry is engaged, the wild riders will be in a position to support them.
I'm not entirely sure on how to deal with the censer bearers, so it is probable that the eagle will have to take one for the team...
Well, as this is a gaming group league game, my opponent had 100 extra points, and may choose first turn. And, quite unsurprisingly, he did. I had my "main" units under cover, anyway.
The battle
TURN 1
Skaven
Movement
As nothing is in charge range, or march interdicted, the army surges forward. Inspired by the banner of hating things, the plague priests move towards the eternal guard.
The assassin keeps sneaking in the woods, seeing the treeman.
Magic
Storm daemon goes off, killing 6 dryads. Luckily, it runs out.
Warplightning from the engineer on the wild riders is stopped thanks to their magical resistance. The grey seer tries to death frenzy the rat swarms, but fails to cast, and an impressive (triple 6) warplightning on the eternal guard is scrolled.
Shooting
The weapon teams have moved, and thus they cannot shoot. Globadiers are out of range by lots.
Jezzails aim at the central archers, killing 2. The assassin shoots his throwing stars at the treeman, hitting three times (not hard) and wounding twice. The treeman saves one, but the other wound is multiplied into 3. Eeks.
Asrai
Movement
The great eagle goes for the globadiers, hoping she can overrun into the engineer and attack the magical rat. The rats stand and shoot, dealing one wound.
The treeman could charge the assassin, but odds are it'll flee, and since the rat is inside a wood, it is just a matter of approaching him and make him pay.
The glade riders march forward, trying to get the ratling gun. The wild riders advance cautiously, as do the eternal guard and wardancer. Ylith leaves the dancers, and joins the 8-elf strong glade guard.
Magic
Concentrated treesinging on the assassin is stopped, but in the end, the spamming strategy works and the ninja rat is taken down.
Shooting
Hail of Doom splits into a far from impressive 6 arrows, that kill 4 of the engineer's unit rats. The glade riders cannot kill the ratling gun, but they're at long range. Which means the ratling cannot shoot them back.
The archers go for the rat swarms, and kill one base and get another wound.
The treeman's strangleroot is out of range.
Close combat
The great eagle kills one of the globadiers, and suffers one wound back. The combat's a draw, and since plague censer bearers are nearby, I think I can kiss the budgie goodbye.
TURN 2
Skaven
Movement
Frenzy brings the censers into combat with the great eagle. The rest of the army keeps advancing, although not wanting to meet my dancers, the huge rat pack just moves a couple inches.
Magic
Again, the engineer fails to warplightning my wild riders, and the seer's attempt on the eternal guard is scrolled.
Shoting
Again, the weapon teams have moved. This time, the jezzails fail to hit or cause damage to themselves.
Close combat
Predictably, the censer bearers slaughter the great eagle. They overrun in front of my dryads.
Asrai
Movement
Not wanting to engage the censer bearers, eternal guard and wild riders mve to the sides, while the dryads move forward, to be killed and give the other units one turn of not being near the censer bearers.
As the rat swarms are coming closer, Ylith leaves the glade guard, going near the wood. Leathiel moves to the other wood.
The treeman goes through the wood, threatening the ratling gun, grey seer's unit and plague monks flank (once they move forward next turn)
The glade riders move towards the characterless clanrats.
Magic
Treesong is best served a lot of times, and the spam strategy claims the warpfire thrower. What was it doing inside the wood, I really don't understand.
Better yet, fury of the forest claim the lives of two censer bearers.
Shoting
Beechbark stragleroots the nearby ratling gun, and the glade riders take the last weapon team. The 8 strong unit of archers go for the rat swarms, and leave just a wounded base. The 10 elf strong go for the jezzails, kill 2 and make them flee in panic.
TURN 3
Skaven
Movement
The censer bearers find only dryads are in charge range, and must do so. Being skirmishers, it must be a straight charge, which won't overrun into wild riders or eternal guard.
The plague monks would probably be better turning to face the treeman, but banner of burning hatred kicks in, and they must advance towards the eternal guard, offering their rear to the treeman. That's not going to end well for them, I think.
Globadiers move closer to the treeman, to globe it. The engineer and his rats move forward, closely followed by the characterless clanrats.
The rat packs move avoiding the wardancers, while the rat swarms try and charge the 8 elf archers, which stand and shoot, getting rid of the swarm before they make contact.
The jezzails fail to rally, and flee the battlefield.
Magic
Warplightning on the riders fail to cast, and the same spell on the treeman is stopped with all my dice. Which leaves free way to death frenzy the stormvermin.
Shooting
The engineer aims at the wild rider with his pistol, but is out of range.
Close combat
Predictably again, censer bearers kill the dryads,losing one of them to the poisoned fumes.
Asrai
Movement
Treeman and eternal guard declare a charge on the plague monks, while the wild riders charge the engineer. He fails to do anything with his stand and shoot, and they fail their fear test, so they'll hit the kindred of the hunter on sixes.
the glade riders could charge the clan rats, but fearing they're in the front arc, I just move to their rear, to threaten them next turn.
Ylith moves inside the wood, as does Leathiel. The glade guards wheel to get the rat packs in sight, and the wardancers advance to threaten the grey seer.
Magic
Ariel's blessing is cast irresistably on the wild riders. There's no point in treesinging, and Fury of the forest on the censer bearers is scrolled.
Shooting
The glade guards are in short range, and the rat packs pay with 5 rats and 2 packmaster. Not enough to force a panic test, as it is really huge.
Close combat
The plague monk champion challenges, and the eternal warden accepts. The rat is swiftly cut down. Two of the eternal guards fall to the censer fumes, as does one of the plague monks. The remaining eternal guards kill 3 monks, while my BSB claims another. The plague priest kills 2 more eternal guards, and the treeman makes his personal party killing four of the monks. Soundly beaten, the Pestilens skaven break from combat, outrunning both elves and forest spirit.
The nearby globadiers panic from this sight, and run across the 12-strong wild riders, and die.
The engineer's champion challenges, and his stomped into the ground by the wild hunter and his steed. The wild riders kill a gazillion of rats, including knocking a wound off the engineer. The rats break, and are run down by the wild riders, which overrun into the last clanrats.
TURN 4
Skaven
Movement
Being frenzied, the stormvermin charge the treeman. the rat packs charge the 10 elf strong archer unit, which stand and shoot, killing the remaining packmasters, and one rat more.
The censer bearers come closer to the unengaged archers, and the plague monks rally.
Magic
Warplightning on the treeman is stopped with dice. The monks are re-frenzied with the aid of the horned rat.
Shooting
With?
Close combat
The rat packs manage to defeat and break the archers, running them down.
The stormvermin fail to wound the treeman, which gets 3 of them, including the captain. Wisely, the grey seer was not engaged himself.
Despite being defeated, the treeman holds. (not that being stubborn and close to the BSB made holding difficult, though)
The wild riders perform as well as the previous round, and trash the clanrats, which break and are run down.
Asrai
Movement
The glade riders and eternal guard charge the plague monks. Wardancers are just too short to the stormvermin, and fail the charge. The wild riders move to the rear of the engaged skaven. The archers turn to get the censer bearers in sight.
The singers are happily inside woods, and there they remain.
Magic
Nothing relevant.
Shoting
One of the censer bearers die, getting half the unit.
Close combat
The stormvermin don't wound the treeman, which kills another couple. Static resolution defeats the forest spirit, which again is too proud to be concerned by such things.
The glade riders kill 2 plague monks, but the eternal guard suffer heavy casualties thanks to the censer and not being able to wound the T4 rats. The BSB manages to kill 2 rats, but the elves are losing combat anyway. Still, the riders hold and the eternal guard, thanks to the BSB reroll, do the same.
TURN 5
Skaven
Movement
The censer bearers charge the archers, which stand and shoot to no avail.
The grey seer leaves the unit, thanks to the skaven proverbial cowardice.
Magic
Warplightning on the treeman is stopped with dice. Skitterleap to flee the combat is cast on a 6 on 2 dice, and thanks to Ranu's, I roll a 6 to stop it. Which means the grey seer is about to be charged by any of my units next turn.
Close combat
The eternal guard stands against the poison fumes much better this time, and kill enough monks to break them again. They overrun into the seer.
The treeman keeps not dying, killing 3 stormvermin, and holding.
At this point, the skaven team has one unit of rat packs which will die if I put my efforts and my wild riders into it and half a unit of censer bearers which cannot charge anything, nor claim or contest table quarters. Since we were running out of time, this is the end of the game.
Outcome of the battle and analysis of the game
With a difference of around 1600 points, victory goes to the forces of Athel Loren. Yay!
It went well. I could get rid of weapon teams before they did anything (my opponent made a BAD mistake leaving the warpfire thrower inside the wood, as I had little shooting power in the centre of the battlefield), and I could cope with enemy magic. I trusted my eternal guard to hold against plague monks, with the treeman as close support, to get the better bang for my BSB buck. After the cavalry and wardancers joined the party, the rats were gone for good. The arrival of glade riders also meant that the loss of my dryads wasn't that bad.
I think I could have used my wardancers to recover my right quarter, but there are some points in the game where excessive violence makes his call, and, well, can you blame me for wanting to roll lots and lots of dice?
What I should have done, is move my second unit of archers to get ready for a charge on the 10-elf unit, to flank charge the rat packs, instead of turning and shooting the censer bearers. I had moved my spellsinger, and my opponent wasn't very happy discovering that weapon teams are US2 so didn't get skirmishing penalizer when being shot at, so I didn't bother. It didn't make any difference, after all, and it's easier to see things
a posteriori
On plague censers... I had no real answer against them. I tried with the Fury of Forest, but I could only mange to get half of them. I was absolutely not going to engage them with my wild riders or eternal guard, and thus I opted to "flee forward".
Finally, I'm giving man of the match to the glade riders, as I usually don't engage anyone with them, but this game they proved the value of long ranged support, especially coupled with stubborn anvils. The treeman made also a good impact on the skaven army, even if terror didn't matter.
Leathiel was tending the wounded, including the great eagle. The bird had suffered a nasty poisoned wound, but with some rest, it would recover.
Once she had been assured her eagle companion would survive, Ylith focused on finding the rests of the skaven scout. Not many weapons could harm Beechbark so badly, so finding the poison was vital to develop an antidote. Three of Loec's warriors joined her as she traced the thicks.
It was almost dusk when one of them found a serrated knife, coated in a glowing green substance. This didn't bode well: Ylith had cast the spell, and she had felt the spirit of trees clawing and hacking at the lone rat. But now, it was...
gone
And that's it. I hope you enjoyed it.
Elhänn
