Cheers
Game 1 – Chris – High Elves
Chris was a great guy to play against. His army was also well painted, and it was a very fun game. He ran a magic heavy army, with a Level 4, 3 Level 2’s, 2 Eagles, a unit of White Lions, a big block of Swordsmen, a huge block of Spearmen, a block of Archers, a unit of Shadow Warriors and 2 Bolt Throwers. The scenario was a simple one, in that it just gave you extra BPs to kill the enemy general, and also gave the unit that killed him a +1 CR for the rest of the game. The terrain was pretty standard, but had a hill on his side and some impassible in the middle which caused some problems. He set one Bolt Thrower on a hill with his Archers and the other on his left flank. I placed my Wraiths and Bats on one flank across from his hill, with my Blood Knights on my other flank. The first couple of turns were not too eventful. He threw his magic at me, which was a lot since he also had a couple of bounds and the banner that gives him D3 magic dice (I think he generated 14 PD on his first turn). Thankfully though on his second turn he miscast and rolled the event that ends the magic phase. Our infantry were set up across from each other and so they just kind of marched ahead. My next turn I sent some raised Zombies into his Archers and my Bats into his Bolt Thrower. I positioned my BKnights to try and get a flank on his Swordmasters, and just screened his other Bolt Thrower with some Wolves. On his turn he magicked the Wraiths a bit and some of my infantry. He also managed to get a charge with one of his Eagles on my Corpse Cart, killing the Necro on top. His Swordmasters charged my skeleton block, wiping it out along with my BSB. He also sent his SWarriors to take a charge from the BKnights, which I think he hoped would overrun into the front of his SMs. My turn came again and I VH’d my Lord unit into his Spearmen block. It had a ton of CR (7 static I think), but I thought I could take it. My Ghoul unit also charged his SWarriors, which prevented my BKnights from being able to charge, saving them this turn at least. My Wraiths also charged his Archers on the hill. The Spearmen combat saw my Lord do 8 wounds, with him doing 4 to the Grave Guard, but he still won combat so I lost 1 more. The Ghouls broke the SWarriors, and they fled in front of his White Lions, with me pursuing. The Wraiths wiped out the Archers and overran into the Bolt Thrower. The next turn he got some good magic off, and knocked the BKnights down to 2. Also, since the SWarriors broke, the SMs were in the charge arc of my BKnights. He charged both of his Eagles into my Corpse Cart, killing it. He didn’t roll as well this time with the Spearmen, and I won combat, he broke and I caught him. The SWarriors fled farther, and ran into my Lord unit, wiping them out. The Wraiths also took care of the Bolt Thrower on the hill. My turn came and my BKnights were forced to charge the SMs, and they smoked ‘em. I also charged the White Lions with my Ghouls and Vamp, and they broke, with me chasing them down. The game ended here as we were out of time, and it ended in a draw (he beat me by 119 VPs). I might have gotten his General with my Wraiths and Lord in the next turn, but such is life.
Game 2 – John – Lizardmen
John was a little late for the game, and he was pretty unfamiliar with the army and with the game in general. Good guy though. He had a Slaan in Temple Guard, 3 Skink Priests, Engine of the Gods on Steg, 3 Jungle Swarms, 3 Terradons, 2 Salamanders, a Skink unit with a Kroxigor, and another basic Skink unit. He deployed strange, hiding his Terradons and Salamanders behind buildings on his side. I set up my BKnights across from his Temple Guard and my Wraiths across from his Steg, with the rest of my infantry centered on the table. He had the ‘D3 free move’ item though, and so re-deployed his Slaan to the exact opposite side of my BKnights. The turns were extremely slow. John wasn’t familiar with his spell lists (he had heavens and light), and took a very long time to decide what to cast on each phase. We only got through Turn 4 because of this, but it was still a pretty fun game. The big events were my Bats charging his Salamanders, where he chose to flee, and rolled high sending him off the table. He also chose strange targets with his magic, wiping out my Wolves and Zombies – good job, you got 200 VPs in 4 units. I tied up his Steg with my Wraiths for 2 turns, which allowed the BKnights to get across the table into it on my last turn. I also got a charge on his Slaan unit with my Grave Guard, which had my Lord and BSB in it. They wiped the Temple Guard in 2 turns, and with me (and him) not understanding the rules correctly (his Slaan doesn’t get ITP after the TG are gone), his Slaan stuck around with his crazy ward save. That’s about it for the game, I got a win out of it, which put me at a decent standing going into the last round.
Game 3 – Ben – Dark Elves
Ben is from Durham, and part of the SFG crew. He brought a pretty tough list, but he is also a very good player. I played him once before at the SFG tournament in July, and he wiped me pretty early. His list was Lord on Dragon, Level 1 Mage, Master BSB, 3 units of Dark Riders, 2 RBTs, a Hydra, 2 Cold One Chariots, and 20 Black Guard. It was a pretty embarrassing game, again. He got into my Wraiths early with his Dragon, wiping them out. He also managed to get both of his RBTs on a hill, which gave him free shots on my BKnights, and he shot them all to death by turn 2. His fast cav shooting wiped out almost all of my support units, killing both of the Wolves, the Bats, and some Zombies. He charged my Lord unit (with BSB) with his Dragon, and so started the combat. The first round I accepted his challenge with my champion, and he killed it and did the 5 wounds of overkill (giving him a total of 6). He still lost CR by 1, but passed his test. The next round of combat he challenged again, and I accepted with my BSB. He got 3 wounds through, I saved one with armor, but failed to roll a 6 on the last 2 for my ward save, so the BSB died. I managed to do 2 wounds on his dragon though, and so was CR by 3, but he still passed. My next turn I raised back my champion, accepted his challenge with it, but without my BSB he ended up winning CR by 1. I accepted with my Lord next, which did 2 more wounds to the Dragon, allowing me to win CR in the end by 2, but he passed again. On my turn he killed my Lord, and got one of his Chariots and the Black Guard into the unit, wiping it out anyway. He tabled me in the end, and got full BPs. Like I said before, embarrassing, but he’s a good player and helped me out with some tips afterwards. I think I’m going to have to bring some nastier stuff to beat that army, and maybe lose the BKnights if I play him again, as he’s just too fast for me to do anything with them.
