To War!
Here, at last, the great battle of our time... Well, not quite but Adam and I have finished painting our respective forces and are finally ready to do battle.
Adam: So my cunning plan to beat Andy is quite simple. Distract the Sea Guard with Rat Ogres and a unit of Clanrats while I magic and shoot the Swordmasters to death before they can chop up my Ratmen. The Doomrocket has the potential to kill an entire unit and if all goes well I'll have one less unit of Swordmasters to deal with (they're very scary!). I just hope I can keep my weapon teams protected long enough for them to do some damage. Oh, and if I ignore the Prince on the Griffon, maybe it won't really exist...
Andy: Shoot the Weapon Teams and chop up everything else. Yup, that about sums up my battle plan. I'm fairly confident that I can match Adam in the Magic phase and that between my two units of Swordmasters and the Prince on Griffon that I'll be able to best his units in close combat, but those pesky Weapon Teams could prove my undoing. To that end I'll form a battleline and advance as fast as I can, while my Sea Guard and Reavers do their best to take out the Weapon Teams and if they can knock a couple of wounds off the Rat Ogres so much the better.
We rolled for scenario and got Battleline, and there'd be eight pieces of terrain on the table including a Sorcerous Portal and Acropolis of Heroes. Adam won the roll-off and chose to set up on the opposite side of the Sorcerous Portal. Knowing that it only affects the closest unit, I deployed my Sea Guard with the Banner of Arcane Protection (grants Magic Resistance 2) next to it, and filled my battle line out to their right.
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Deployed and ready for battle, Adam does his best rat impression. If you click on the image you'll see how we've both deployed. My plan was to advance to the right with my combat units while the Sea Guard held the left. Adam planned on hanging back for a bit and blasting me with Warp Lightning and his Weapon Teams.
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In his first turn Adam, had a change of plan and advanced with his Rat Ogres and Clanrats and unleashed his Weapon Teams on my Sea Guard. If you click on the image you'll see the damage they inflicted. I had a great first turn, casting Fireball twice (with irresistible force) and killing both mortar teams. The Sea Guard even managed to wound both Master Moulders.
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Adam was less than happy at losing his ranged weapons and charged his Rat Ogres into my Swordmasters and his other unit of them into my Ellyrian Reavers in Turn 2. I fled with both units. In my second turn, I charge my Prince into the Rat Ogres on the right flank and killed the unit on the left flank using magic and shooting.
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The combat with the Griffon and Rat Ogres was brutal. The Prince and killed the Master Moulder and inflicted 2 wounds on the Rat Ogres, while his mount missed completely. In return, the Rat Ogres inflicted three wounds on the Griffon. Having won the combat, and fearful of the nearby Clanrats, the Prince pursued.
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Adam held fast in Turn 4 and hoped for a good Magic phase. Alas, it wasn't to be and I dispelled everything he threw at me - the Annulian Crystal was worth every one of its 40 points. In my fourth turn the Swordmasters continued to chop up Clanrats and my Mage's unleashed a couple of fireballs and whittled down Adam's other units.
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In turn five, Adam used his Clanrats to block the charge of my Swordmasters, likely saving his Warlord's unit from destruction. In response I charge the Swordmasters into the blocking unit and the Prince into the Warlord's unit (a bold move, which saw him cut down by the Skaven Warlord). Oh, and my Mage unleashed a maximum-level Fireball and removed a Clanrat unit from the battlefield.
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In the final turn, Adam tried to kill my Mage using Scorch but I threw all of my dispel dice and dispelled it. He then cast Warp Lightning on the Mage and his Sea Guard unit, killing two of the Sea Guard. In response, my Swordmasters finished chopping up his Battle Standard Bearer's unit.
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As the clatter of dice died away, it was obvious the High Elves were victorious. With 1079 victory points to Adam's 658, I'd soundly beaten him. Below you'll find our thoughts on the battle and the 'Blog of two Gamers' series.
Adam: So, my fiendish plan fell apart quite swiftly when the Doomrocket failed miserably to hit anything, and Andy's Mages unleashed two irresistible Fireballs in one turn and destroyed both Poisoned Wind Mortar teams. I couldn't deal with the Swordmasters quickly enough so one unit got to my lines almost unscathed and ripped a big old hole. The Griffon and Prince actually caused me very few problems (zapping him with Warp Lightning was a good move), though it was great for our two Generals to face off in single combat, which resulted in probably my only real victory of the game! In hindsight, I should have advanced quickly on the Sea Guard and used the Rat Ogres to divert the Swordmasters and keep them at bay for a little while. I should have also protected the Poisoned Wind Mortar teams better by screening them with my Clanrats and firing them indirectly. Andy's promised me a rematch and hopefully next time the outcome will be different.
Well, this is the end of the 'Blog of Two Gamers' and I'm really glad I took part. I have almost 100 Skaven models painted because of it, which has spurred me on to paint even more and build a whole army. You may even see some of it in future blogs.
And it's been great to get feedback from people on how much they've enjoyed the posts, it's always nice to know that what you're doing is being well received. So thanks to everyone who has read the blog and I hope I've inspired some of you to follow in my pawsteps and try and conquer the world with a verminous horde!
Andy: That went pretty much to plan - my Sea Guard and Mages done a great job of removing the weapon teams and the Swordmasters hacked their way through a mass of fur. The only thorn in the ointment was my Prince who got himself slain by Adam's Warlord - stupid Elf, what sort of example is that to set for the rest of the force? I had some great luck in the Magic phase, casting several spell with irresistible force, though I did nuke a bunch of my own warriors, and I was very lucky that Adam's Doomrocket missed. That said, Adam made so many parry saves that I reckon his Clanrats have been trained by Clan Eshin. And with that we're done. I've really enjoyed collecting and painting High Elves over the last month or two and intend to stick with the army until I've painted at least one of each unit. I've promised Adam a rematch (without incentives I never finish painting anything!) and if he agrees to it, I'd love to play 3000 points or more - any excuse to paint a Dragon or two.
As you'll no doubt have read in the main 'What's New Today' post, I've succumbed to the lure of the Black Library and will shortly be leaving the games-workshop.com team. It's been over a year since I began talking to you daily about the hobby, and I hope you've enjoyed the posts as much as I've enjoyed writing them. Should I survive the Black Library's hallowed halls, perhaps I'll see you again sometime.
Happy Gaming.
-Andy
