Dark Elves vs Skaven, 01/22/10 (with pictures!)

Busy busy month, sorry about the long delays for posting (I'm sure no one is crushed though :)).

I played a game vs Frans (from Warhammer and Beyond, though he rarely blogs) on Friday, 2250 pts, my Dark Elves vs his Skaven. I finally took pictures, however this is my first attempt at taking them during a game, so they are not perfect (or even good). I'm trying, and would love advice if anyone has some.

My list:
Dreadlord w/ Heavy Armor, Sea Dragon Cloak, Cold One, Sword of Might, Enchanted Shield, Pendant of Khaeleth, Potion of Strength
Master w/ Ring of Hotek, Crimson Death, Heavy Armor, Sea Dragon Cloak
Sorceress w/ 2 dispel scrolls
Sorceress w/ Seal of Ghrond, Dispel Scroll
5 Dark Riders w/ musician, repeater crossbows
5 Dark Riders w/ musician, repeater crossbows
20 Corsairs w/ Full Command, Sea Serpent Standard, Assassin w/ extra hand weapon, Manbane, Rune of Khaine
10 Crossbowmen w/ Musician, Shields
Cold One Chariot
7 Cold One Knights w/ Full Command, Standard of Slaughter
5 Shades w/ extra hand weapon
Hydra
Hydra

Sorceresses for magic defense, Cold Ones and Corsairs for offensive punch, Hydras and Chariot for support. Pretty basic army.


Frans' List:
Warlord w/ Foul Pendant, Warpstone Armor, Tail Weapon, Sword of Might, War-litter
Plague Priest w/ Shadow Magnet Trinket, Portent of Verminous Doom, Plague Furnace in a unit of 29 Plague Monks w/ Banner of the Under-Empire
Warlock Engineer w/ Warp-Energy Condenser, Doom Rocket
Warlock Engineer w/ 2 Dispel Scrolls
26 Clanrats w/ Full Command
25 Clanrats w/ Standard, Musician
25 Clanrats w/ Standard, Musician
10 Giant Rats w/ 2 Packmasters
8 Jezzails
7 Censer Bearers
7 Censer Bearers
Doomwheel
Hellpit Abomination w/ Warpstone Spikes

I'm sure Frans can tell you what his plan was.

Deployment
We played at the Battle Bunker in Glen Burnie, so one of the red shirts (a new guy) set up our table. The primary feature was a rock formation in one of the deployment zones. Having won the roll to go first, I of course chose the other side.



My deployment was fairly standard. Dark Riders on the flanks, hard hitting center of Hydra/Chariot/Corsairs/Knights/Hydra in order off the center. You can see the rock formation on his side. Frans did not plan for it at all, causing him to put the Plague Furnace WAY out of position.



Since he started his deployment with those Jezzails, followed by Clanrats on the other side, he had no way to use that line of advance. That turned out to be a huge deal, as the Plague Furnace was nowhere near the center where it needed to be.

Frans won the roll for the first turn, and took it.

Turn 1:
Frans moves most of his army forward, aside from the Jezzails. The Hellpit rolls a 15", and moves WAY ahead of his army.



Not what he wanted, but not much he could do.

Magic kills a Cold One Knight, Jezzails wound the closest Hydra twice, and the Doomwheel rolls Strength 10, killing a single shade (yay 1s!).

My turn started with the Hydra and Cold One Knights charging the Hydra, and a very short advance with the combat pieces of my army.

Magic did nothing, shooting causes the giant rats to panic as well as puts a wound on the Doomwheel (go shades!).

In Close Combat, I deal 4 wounds to the Hellpit, and lose 3 Cold One Knights in return. Hellpit holds.



Turn 2:
Giant rats fail to rally and cause the Jezzails to panic too (we did this wrong, but I don't think it would change the game, they would've gone the next turn ;) ).

The Plague Furnace attempts to charge the Dark Riders, who flee 14" (well out of charge range and almost off the board!).

One of the Warlock Engineers tries to cast Warp Lightning and miscasts (from the Ring of Hotek), but rolls a 12, going off with Irresistible Force, killing the Hydra in front of him. I use a scroll on his other attempt to cast Warp Lightning. Doomwheel gets Str 8 shots, killing 3 Shades.

In combat, the Dreadlord drinks the potion, and deals a wound to the Hellpit, who gets 12 attacks and wounds the Hydra twice. The Hellpit then breaks and gets run down by the Cold One Knights, becoming two rat swarms.

On my turn, the Dark Riders rally, the Chariot and Corsairs charge the rat swarms, the dead Hydra's Beast handlers charge the closest Clanrat unit. The free Cold One Knights charge a clanrat unit, and the Hydra moves to line up the last clanrat unit for a breath weapon.



My shooting claims a Censor Bearer, a clanrat, and a wound off the Doomwheel. Powerful stuff.

In combat, the rat swarms are quickly destroyed, causing an overrun into the clanrat unit with the beastmasters. This clanrat units takes 8 wounds from the mass charge, breaking them and causing them to be run down.



The Dreadlord and remaining knights win combat by 1, but the clanrats stick around.

Turn 3:
Doomwheel moves into contact with the Hydra, Plague Furnace turns to start marching towards the center, Jezzails and Giant Rats flee off the board, and the clanrats on my far right charge my last Shade.

Nothing eventful happened until combat, where the Doomwheel wiped out the Hydra, the Shade dies, and the Dreadlord and Cold One Knights tie the clanrat unit.

At the start of my turn 3, we got a notice about the store closing soon (oops!). Trying to rush to finish the turn, I have the chariot charge the Doomwheel, and the Corsairs charge the Clanrat unit in support of the Knights.

We of course didn't finish the turn, but the Chariot did kill the Doomwheel (7 impact hits!), and I was going to take a HEAVY toll out of the clanrat unit (challenging his lord with mine would've nullified his entire offensive output of that unit).

We ended up calling the game, agreeing that it was a minor victory for me. I had killed more at this point, had taken his most expensive unit out of the game, and still had a large chunk of my army (minus the Hydras) intact. It was very very close though (our closest game yet!)

Some pictures of the location of things towards the end of turn three (prior to combat ending).

My left- the Plague Furnace completely taken away from all the action.



My right corner- a unit of Dark Riders leading some Censor Bearers around, keeping them from hitting more important things.



Right corner on the Skaven side- I kill the Doomwheel, Clanrats to follow, then I turn around and start hunting for that last clanrat unit, hopefully.



Final Thoughts:
I will say that the primary reason I would've won this is because of the terrain, and Frans' deployment. My army would've been okay on that side of the board, since I'm more mobile than he is, but he was not prepared for it, and that worked in my favor. The game did end up working almost exactly as I wanted, and yet was still fairly close. Who knows what would've happened in another turn or two. Me and Frans are going to have a rematch at some point (with more balanced terrain, I'm thinking). Hopefully I can duplicate the results!

Well, there you have it. I played a game against Ben's Lizardmen the next day, and will hopefully have a post up tomorrow detailing it (with pictures). I'm trying the whole picture thing, like I said, though obviously it's a work in progress. I'll keep plugging at it though!