Battle Report- 1000 points-
Empire Vs Vampire Counts-
Scenario- Pitched Battle
My list- Order of the Cleansing Flame
His list- 2 X big units of skellies
(about 25) [with command]
1 X big unit of zombies
(about 30) [with command]
1 X Banshee
1 X 6 Dire Wolves (with
Doom wolf)
1 X 9 Ghouls (with
Ghast)
1 Stirgoi Thrall -
Infinite Hatred, Iron Sinews (in one unit of skellies)
1 lvl 2 necro- spell
familiar, Invocation of Nehekt, Gaze of Nagash, Curse of Years (hiding
between zombies and skellies)
***Fresh with the flush of victory, the men of Order assembled quickly for battle. These were the monsters each had dedicated his life to destroying. Before the shambling monstrosities could begin to organize themselves into some semblance of an army, the battle had begun.***
I seem to always draw my diagrams with the enemy at the top of the page, so they will be in the north again and you will all be happy with it. Three houses in my deployment zone limited my deployment and I limited myself further by still being in 5th edition mode and not realizing I could deploy all the way to the side edges of the board. A clutter of boulders in the west and some ruins on the east limited space in the centre of the table. From west to east, the undead were, skellies (even with the boulders), zombies, necro, skellies (with vamp), ghouls and banshee (even with western most part of the ruins) and dire wolves (just to east of ruins). My huntsmen hid amoungst the boulders. My crossbows were partly within a house on the west. The Flaggies were in the centre with the Halberds behind them (the Free Company detachment to the west of the Halberds) and the archers to the north east of them. The Free Company was behind these archers and the final archers were further to the east. If this sounds like a dumb set up to you, you be quite right (big mistake on my part, couldn’t decide to go offensive of defensive).
***The reek of the slaughterhouse is almost overpowering, but the men shake it off. Bolts and arrows flight unseen through the darken sky. No rest for the wicked. Men march bravely into the hordes from hell. The emptiness of the void reaches out from the Necromancer’s eyes. A scream rings out, but men’s hearts are firm.***
The Huntsmen run up to stand
beside the western most skellie unit, but out of their charge arc. Everybody
but the x-bows advance. The Free Company detachment first must move west
to east to get around the crossbows and from out behind its parent unit
(stupid deployment on my part as I may have already noted). A whole one
zombie killed by shooting.
Skellies turn to face Huntsmen.
Everything else advances. A Gaze of Nagash (failed dispel) kills 4 Flaggies.
Banshee howls but doesn’t kill any archers.
***More unseen arrows and final rest is granted. The Huntsmen learned well from the elves. The march to hell continues. Archers are scattered in vain.***
Huntsmen run around skellies
to be on the flank again. Flaggies advance a bit (but not into charge range).
Halberds advance as does the archer detachment. Other archers pop out to
shoot Dire Wolves and Free Company turns slightly in advance to be ready
to charge wolves. 3 zombies and 1 skeleton die in shooting.
All units advance. Skellies
in west give up and trying to catch Huntsmen. Dire Wolves charge the archers.
Archers flee but not far enough. Being able to move full charge takes Dire
Wolves out of Free Companies’ charge arc.
***The death bells of Sigmar toll granting final rest. Arrows again fly unseen to their targets who welcome the release. For a moment, the fumes and stench grow too great for any mortal. Fright and the mortal weakness of age strike.***
Flaggies charge zombies, do
6 wounds and win combat by 1. Huntsmen move towards necro. Free Company
detachment moves to protect flank of Free Company who turn to face charge
of ghouls and Wolves. Crossbows have few targets, 1 skellie dies. Halberds
advance.
Vampire led skellies charge
flagellants flank. Vampire kills the prophet of doom. Flagellants suddenly
forget what they are doing. They whiff. 3 ARE KILLED BY ZOMBIES. Banshee
kills one archer. Curse of Years (failed dispel) strikes Halberd unit killing
2.
***“For the glory of Sigmar and the lives we have lost!” ‘Damn, why are we here, I can find nothing to shoot at.’ “Stand firm, we have nothing to fear from these things.” ‘Are you sure about that, sir?’ “Sonny, in my day, aaarrggghhh, me heart.” A piercing scream sounds. “Ah, no worse than a baby’s cry, plus you hit like a girl.” “Destroy them!” ‘Take your shots boys, this is your chance to be heroes.” “We missed, oh-oh, retreat!”***
Halberds charge flank of Vamp
led skellies in big central battle. Crossbowmen have no targets. 3 more
Halberds grow old before their time and Hermann too slows. Archers charge
Banshee. Huntsmen move to get shot at necro. Big battle in centre ends
in a draw, but Hermann is defeated by the Vampire. Archers outnumber banshee
who fails to do anything in HtH so takes a wound. With only 2 power dice
couldn’t dispel CoY.
Ghouls and Dire Wolves charge
both Free Companies, detachment passes fear test, unit led by battle priest
fails (need 6s to hit, great that hatred is really going to come in useful
here). Disaster strikes. 12 Halberds die of heart attacks, strokes, and
the like. The remainder panic and flee. Necro miscasts. I finally dispel
CoY. Flagellants are finally hacked down. Archers outnumber banshee who
fails to do anything in HtH so takes a wound and dies. Wolves and Ghouls
end up losing by one. Ghouls stay. We lap around.
The remnants of the Halberds
rally. Free Companies win combat by 10 and destroy ghouls (fled and run
down) and wolves. In a last ditch attempt to pull out a win, the archers
and Huntsmen fire at nerco- all need 6s to hit. Archers whiff. 5 Huntsmen
score 3 6s. Need 4s to wound. Only one wound. Witch Hunters retreat. Might
have been able to run around for a draw, but couldn’t win, so I saw no
point in continuing.
Lessons learned
1. The Empire still wins and loses
games in the deployment phase, especially if infantry heavy.
2. A wizard with scrolls seems necessary
for defense- how cheesy would it be to field a Priest of Taal (ie Life
Mage) in a witch hunter just to get a couple scrolls or the Seal of Destruction?
Also, why can Battle Priests not take these items?
3. Mr. Miagi from Karate Kid was
right- you do defense, okay, you do offense, okay; you undecided whether
do defense or offense, squish just like grape (paraphrased of course).
4. Flagellants are but pale shadows
of their former selves.
5. Shooting is hard to make effective
on a terrain heavy table (if you can't move and fire), or if you are in
too much of a rush to get into HtH.
6. Patience.
7. Patience.
8. Patience.
*Note- There is an error in the gameplay recorded here- CoY only takes
effect in the caster's magic phases, not in both players' magic phases.
We made an error in play which was not noted until after the game.*