Warhammer Battle Report [Dwarfs vs. Vampire Counts]

Dwarfs and Dwarf Zombies
2,250 pts Tournament composition lists

Very enjoyable match against Caleb who was using my Vampire Counts at the Club on Thursday, 2250pts using standard Tournament composition rules e.g., PD limits, open lists and minimum core choice requirements.

Dwarf Army
Lord w. Shieldbearers
Thane
Thane
Runesmith
Longbeards x24
Warriors x10
Quarrellers x10
Quarrellers x10
Hammerers x18
Hammerers x18
Bolt-Thrower
Bolt-Thrower
Organ Gun

Vampires
Lord
Vampire
Vampire
Zombies x20
Dwarf Zombies x20
Skeletons x20
Crypt Ghouls x18
Dire Wolves x5
Dire Wolves x5
Corpse Cart
Black Knights x8

Deployment
I won sides and elected to avoid the hill which would have formed a nice trap for Calebs 3 Vampires all of whom could fly and opted for the forested side of the board. Standard deployment with infantry units massed on one flank. Only a unit of Quarrellers and a Bolt-Thrower out on their own, although for some strange reason I put the Runesmith with them as well. Small unit of Warriors went to the rear as a small reserve. Vampires deployed in big mass with fast units out on flanks as expected.

Deployment

Turns 1 - 2
Dwarfs moved first with my only real moves being to advance my battle line slightly. Shooting concentrated on the Dire Wolves killing 3 in one unit and 2 in the other. The Bolt-throwers started by killing a single Black Knight which proved to be their only kill for the next few turns as they were plagued by poor dice rolls. Vampires concentrated on casting Vauls Dance Mabacare to move their line forward. Otherwise Turn 1 was uneventful.

Turn 1

Turn 2 saw the Black Knights march forward toward the exposed Quarrellers but stopped short of charge range [This is one of Calebs favourite tactics, and a good one, rather than charge as soon as he is in range at a missle unit he will advance to a distance that will prevent stand and shoot and then charges next turn]. Vampire infantry rushes forward along with Dire Wolves and my line kind of shuffles forward and then back as I realise I don't have clear strategy in mind for the battle.

Turn 2

Turns 3 - 4
Combat is joined in these turns. I can't get any units in charge range so advance forward angling toward the Vampire General who is stationed behind the main Vampire line among a unit of Zombies. Shooting again proves ineffective and I find that the Organ Gun is badly positioned a tactical problem I am really going to have to resolve as it continues to be consistent problem.

Turn 3

Vampires Turn 3 sees the Skeletons & Ghouls charge my Longbeards, the Black Knights charge and wipe out the Quarrellers, one unit of Dire Wolves fails a charge at one Bolt-Thrower while the other charges successfully only to be wiped out in close combat. The lost of my Quarrellers wouldnt normally be a big deal but with the Runesmith included in them it cost me big. However, the Black Knights overrun exposing their flank to the Bolt-Thrower which successfully repelled the Dire Wolves. In another charge a flying Vampire comes fluttering out of a Zombie unit and charges the Organ Gun, wiping out its crew. Combat between the Longbeards, Ghouls and Skeletons ends in a draw.

Turn 5
Hammerers and Dwarf Lord charge into combat and begin slaughtering Ghouls. Hammerer unit number two though has wheeled to face the flank as the Grave Guard and Black Knights now pose a serious threat to the Longbeards flank. Combat is won by the Dwarfs but only just as the Vampire Generals Helm of Commandment makes the Ghouls extremely tough to hit. The flying Vampire returns to her unit of Zombies as the small Warrior unit advances toward her. On my left Vauls Dance Mabacare (I really am not spelling that right am I) moves the Black Knights, Dire Wolves and Grave Guard are now all nicely positioned to hit encircle the Dwarven infantry in the centre of the field. Bolt-Throwers again fail to score any hits. Close combat sees the Ghouls get wiped out but not the Skeletons so the Longbeards remain locked in combat. The Vampires end Turn 5 with the Black Knights charging the 2nd Hammerer unit, who stubbornly manage to hold on.

Turn 6
[I think I am getting the details right here - Caleb help out if your reading]. So far the battle is a solid draw but a number of events see that change in the final turn. One Bolt-Thrower kills the Corpse Cart that is guarding the Vampire General but the 2nd with a clear shot fails to hit him. The Longbeards continue to chew up Skeletons but are flank charged by the Dancing Grave Guard. The 2nd Hammerer unit is down to 6 or 7 surviving Dwarfs but still holds on against the Black Knights even after the Dire Wolves flank charge it. The small Warrior unit has also joined this combat as has the flying female Vampire from earlier. The end result of all this? The Longbeards lose the combat by 1 I think but are outnumbered by a fear causing enemy, break and run into a unit of Zombies and die when the Grave Guard fail to catch them. The other Hammerer unit holds against the Black Knights, the Warriors kill the Dire Wolves but are wiped out by the flying Vampire.

Final Result - Vampires 950pts / Dwarfs 559pts --> Victory to Vampires

Final Thoughts
An enjoyable battle that I could have won if not for a couple of bad decisions, once again poor deployment cost especially of the Organ Gun and the Runesmith. Having the Longbeards break and flee was a huge blow as the flipped 700pts over to the Vampires. But overall it was the lack of a clear battle plan that cost me as I didn't (unlike Caleb) have a clear idea of what I wanted to do with my army.

Next match 1500pts vs. Orcs and Goblins - will be bringing out my High Elves for that one. After that its te Horned Rat Warhammer tournament next weekend where the Dwarf list will get another chance to prove itself --> as will my new dice the old dice after continually throwing nothing but 1's for the last few weeks have been confined to the scrap heap where they belong GRRRRRRRRRR!!! bad evil bad dice GRRRRRRR!!!

New look High Elves taking shape

Latest additions to High Elf Army
Mounted BSB and Noble with GW

Been working on these guys over last week in between finishing up my new Spear Elf Regiment. Overall the new colour scheme is working really well and I have followed my Dwarf army idea and have given (or will be giving) all of my units standard icons on their banners and shields. I had started that process already with the Elves but it was haphazard to say the least and didn't look that great. Camera work still fuzzy, really need a new one.

Particularly happy with the Battle Standard which came out better than I thought it would. Thanks to my wife for emphasizing the need for flames at the base of the Phoenix. Currently working on his shield which has the same pattern on it as the banner, but that is going to take me a while.

Warmachine Battle Reports [Menoth vs. Mercenaries]

Burn baby burn - Menoth marches again
750 & 350pts

Two battles last Thursday with my Menoth taking on Richard's Mercenary army. In both battles Richard went with a Jack heavy mercenary force to support a non-epic warcaster. I took the usual Menoth infantry dominated lists. Both games were highly enjoyable and I have to admit it was good to get back into Warmachine again after such a long absence. I did have to give myself a severe talking to though as I began to seriously contemplate paint stripping and repainting my entire Menoth collection.... *sigh*... so much to do.

Game 1 - 750pts
Feora came out for this battle, part of my efforts to use the same casters continuously to develop my tactics with them. Can't remember Richard's army list off hand but it contained about 4 light and 4 heavy Warjacks. Up against that I took (from my rusty memory):

Feora (non-epic as I like her feat better)
Heirophant
Devout
Crusader
Crusader
Rhoven + Bodyguard
Zealots (6) + Monolith Bearer
Knights Exemplar (6)
Temple Flameguard (10)
Rupert Cavalo

Basic plan was for the TFG to Shield Wall in front of Feora while the Zealots and Exemplars rushed round either flank. The terrain set up favoured me a fair bit with the middle of the board dominated by two large fences extending from either edge and a small forest off centre. This meant I could safely position my infantry line in the clear ground between the two fences and have the forest to their front. Any Merc forces advancing toward me would have to funnel through narrow gaps on my right or left exposing themselves to the Exemplars or Zealots. Alternatively they could come through the forest which not only blocked LOS to my units, but also made Rupert Cavalo extremely important with his ability to give units Pathfinder. In a slight change I positioned both Crusaders on Feoras left and had them advance ahead of the main battle line.

Initial turns saw both armies advance toward eachother trying to gain the best position. Given my faster movement and the benefit of LOS blocking terrain I ran my entire army forward to occupy the key centre part of the battlefield. The Zealots took up position behind one fence with the Crusaders guarding the left hand gap. The TFGuard took the centre with Rhoven guarding the right hand gap. Only the Exemplars marched right forward attempting to get around the flank of Richards forces. Richards army split in two with the majority of his Jacks heading to my left toward the Zealots and the Crusaders, only a couple of light jacks headed off to my right toward my Exemplars. The initial combats were light some sporadic missle fire from Richard before his Jacks charged my Crusaders and the Exemplars. With his main units locked into combat or stuck behind terrain the remaining Zealots swooped around his right flank. With his caster exposed in the open behind the central forest the TFGuard and Rhoven were now set to advance through it with the aid of Ruperts Pathfinder Song. In the end it was unnecessary, magic from Feora's Hex Hammer spell saw the Mercenary caster take several damage points as he used focus. The Zealots then rushed in after Doc Killingsworth knoced the Merc caster down while healing him and blew him to pieces while he lay helpless on the ground.

VICTORY TO MENOTH

Game 2 - 350 pts
Took my Pop n Drop Kreoss list in this game, up against yet another Jack heavy Mercenary list. Army for 350pts was still pretty big though and contained:

Kreoss
Heirophant
Redeemer
Fire of Salvation
Paladin Order of Wall
Wrack
Wrack
Deliverers (7)
Knights Exemplar (6)

Same terrain set up as before but this time rather than advance I hung back setting up the Deliverers and the Redeemer next to Kreoss just waiting for his units to appear and get knocked down by his feat. Only the Fire of Salavation and the Knights Exemplar marched forward. Some good spell casting from Richard saw both of these units get stuck, with the Exemplars losing 5 of 6 models, but in return they did some serious damage on the Mercenary forces. Paladin Order of the Wall hung around in front of Kreoss blocking any charges in his direction, while the remainder of the Mercenary force swung through the right hand gap heading toward Kreoss and my missle line.

Next few turns saw the Deliverers, the Redeemer and Kreoss pound the crap out of the Mercenary Warjacks but unable to damage his caster. Paladin Order of the Wall charged the Mercenary caster wounding him badly and reducing him to 3 damage points. Kreoss in turn was charged by a Heavy Mercenary Warjack which proceeded to do a modicum damage on him before Kreoss squashed it into a pile of scrap metal. While this was immensely satisfying it turned out to be a mistake as next round the Merc Caster charged Kreoss and using all 7 of his Focus just, and I mean just, managed to kill him. If I had left the severly disabled Merc Warjack in combat with Kreoss it couldnt have damaged him and my other units would have been free to finish off the Merc caster, who would not have had LOS to charge Kreoss. As it was I made the mistake and dispite destroying most of the Merc army for very few losses of my own, the Unit of Exemplars, Paladin and 2 Deliverers the Merc's won with the caster kill.

VICTORY TO THE MERC's

Final Thoughts
Two very enjoyable games, the 350pt one was definately the most fun to play as it involved a lot of tactical movement and came right down to the wire. The Paladin was only a bad dice roll away from killing the Merc caster, who himself used a couple of good dice rolls and some good focus management to kill Kreoss. In the 750pt game the battle was constrained by terrain to some degree, but thats Warmachine, and my superior numbers would have dealt to the Merc's in the end. Both lists worked pretty well too so I think Ill take them as standard from now on.


Warhammer Fantasy at the club this week though my Horned Rat II Dwarf List up against Vampire Counts - Caleb will be borrowing mine for the match. Horned Rat is now two weeks away....

Warhammer Tournament Army List [Dwarfs]

Final army list for HORNED RAT 2 submitted
Notes and thoughts on army selection

Submitted my final army list to the tournament organizers of Horned Rat 2 yesterday. Slight modification of my tournament list for NICON 09 with key changes being the omission of the Gyrocopter and the addition of another Thane and a small unit of Warriors. Final list was:

Lord - 285 pts
w. Shieldbearers, RO Resistance, RO Stone, MR Flight, RO Cleaving, RO Fire, RO Warding, Ro Furnace

Dropped MR Steel and GW with MR Kragg Grimm. Cut point cost down to 285 but still gave me a strong and well protected Lord. MR Flight is an option I decided on after talking with another Dwarf player at NICON.

Runesmith - 137 pts
w. Shield, RO Spellbreaking x2, RO Stone, RO Furnace, RO Fire

Dropped MR Challenge as I haven't figured out how best to use it. RO Furnace needed to provide more protection, and RO Fire gives a modest magic weapon option when needed.

Thane - 140 pts
w. RO Fire, MR Gromil, RO Preservation, RO Resistance, RO Furnace, Battle Standard

Keeping BSB but giving it the MR Grungi which worked extremely well in a couple of test games. Does mean BSB goes in with only a 4+ AS which is piss poor but I don't plan to put him in harms way.

Thane - 127 pts
w. Shield, RO Stone, RO Cleaving, RO Fire, RO Fury, RO Furnace

New addition to NICON list to give me a combat hero in one of my infantry units.

Hammerers x18 - 289pts
w. FC, Shields, RO Stoicism

Hammerers x18 - 304pts
w. FC, Shields, RO Stoicism & RO Sanctuary

Both of these units have remained unchanged. I prefer Hammerers because for 12pts you get a Stubborn WS5 S4 Warrior with a HW or GW who is Immune to Fear and Terror if with a Lord. Yes Ironbreakers have a better save but Ill take Stubborn over that any day, that and similiar armed Longbeards would cost you 13pts per model.

Longbeards x24 - 363 pts
w. FC, Shields, RO Battle & RO Stoicism

Had to lose a model here, and they remain the most expensive unit in my army so will be getting more than 1 Hero assigned to them in all probability. For price I could get 30-40 Warriors but the WS4 S3 just doesn't cut it. With Longbeards I have 3 big strong units all striking at WS5 S4 T4 with L9/10, 2 of those units are Stubborn and 1 immune to panic.

Warriors x10 - 95 pts
w. Shields, Musician

Inserted purely to provide a modicum of tactical flexibility and possibly as a guard unit for the BSB.

Quarrellers x10 - 120pts
w. Shields

Quarrellers x10 - 120 pts
w. Shields

Bolt-Thrower - 85 pts
w. Engineer, RO Penetrating

Bolt-Thrower - 65 pts
w. Engineer, RO Burning

Organ Gun - 120 pts

No real changes to these units except for RO Burning on 2nd Bolt-Thrower, and omission of Gyrocopter which I was finding hard to use. It is a great unit but I need to play test it more.

TOTAL POINTS - 2,250

Modifications aside the army hasn't changed that much as I saw no point in abandoning completely what was a very good army list. What cost me at NICON wasn't my list composition (although the poor score there hurt) but bad decision making. Hopefully that will change at these next few events.

High Elf Phoenix Guard Complete

Finished this unit last night, still have a few little bits to glue back on - Standard, Musicians drum and a couple of Halberds - but its otherwise done. Photos are pretty poor but you get the drift.