Game was a 1350 point pitched battle (one guy didn’t show up, so instead of 2 Empire 1000 point armies vs 1000 Daemons, and 1000 Chaos Warriors, I ended up fielding every model that I had brought, and expensive [as expensive as Empire characters can be] characters to make as many points as possible).
Empire Army
25 Halberdiers [full command]
detachments of
10 Free Company
8 Free Company
25 Free Company [full command]
10 Crossbows
10 Archers
Great Cannon
5 Huntsmen
22 Flagellants (Prophet)
Halfling Hot Pot (DoW; allowed by
opponents)
Bright Wizard, Lvl 2, Doomfire Ring-
Spells rolled- Fireball and Wall of Fire
Battle Priest, AoMI, Great Weapon
Battle Priest [General], Icon of
Magnus, Heavy Armour, Shield
Chaos Army
6 Knights
14 Warriors (about)
Aspiring Champion on steed
Death Wizard Lvl 2- Spells rolled-
Dark Hand of Death, and Steal Soul
15 Bloodletters
5 Fleshhounds
Exalted Daemon (mark of Nurgle)
[Again, a points consideration).
Assuming Chaos was in the north,
there was a two tiered hill in the north east, the lower tier of this hill
covered basically the entire eastern third of the board with a small spur
jutting out to about the midway point of the board just in front of the
Chaos deployment zone. A second hill, one tier, was just in front of the
Empire deployment zone of the west, and across from this, on the Chaos
side (beside the hill spur) was a group of crags. The Chaos army deployed
its knights of the highest tier, the hero just below them, and the Warriors
with the mage beside him (but still on the first tier of the hill). The
Daemon was at the base of the hill. The Bloodletters went front and centre,
and the Flesh Hounds, hid behind the crags on west flank.
Across the field, the Empire
had the Free Company on the extreme eastern flank (across from the Chaos
knights), beside them (in order) on the hill were the archers, the crossbows,
the wizard, the cannon, and the hotpot. At the foot of the hill, in front
of the artillery, were the flagellants, and beside them were the halberds
with their detachments. The lack of any real terrain limited the Huntsmen,
and they could only deploy a bit ahead of the Empire lines.
A great cry arose in the north. Blasphemous words of death were silence before they could take shape, as the ground rumbled ‘neath hooves shod in iron and blood. Cannons roared and shafts darkened the sky, but the wave of steel could not be stopped.
Unsurprisingly, everything
in the Chaos army advanced as they got to go first. The Champion joined
the Knights, and both they and the Warriors advanced across the hill. The
Bloodletters moved over the spur of the hill and the Flesh Hounds raced
up the flank and onto the hill overlooking the Huntsmen. Dark of Hand of
Death was dispelled (though I had to use all 5 dispel dice- and still only
rolled about 12).
The Flagellants assumed the
Halberds could defeat the Bloodletters and moved to intercept the Chaos
Warriors. The Free Company prepared themselves to face the Chaos knights.
The Halberds and their detachments advanced. The Huntsmen raced across
the hill to sit on the Flesh Hounds flank. Magic amounted to nothing as
with 3 dice, I never seem to be able to cast WoF, and so he had dice to
dispel Fireball, and both priest spells (because of the extra dispel dice
from the Flesh Hounds), and the Doomfire ring failed to even wound any
of the knights. A cannon shot killed two knights, but the Hot Pot fell
just short (my guessing was always a couple inches off and the thing never
scattered- I rolled 3 straight hits and never hit anything- don’t use it
often enough I guess). None of the archers nor crossbows could get through
the knights’ armour and the knights passed their panic test.
Bloodthirsty screams sounded as the wave of steel crashed against the militia. Again Sigmar shielded his followers from the dark magic. Revenge was expected in the centre as the Halberds and the militia surged forward, but the daemons reveal in the thought of slaughter.
This was the round that effectively
decided the game. The Chaos Knights charged the Free Company. The Battle
Priest and Chaos Lord entered a challenge, and the Priest died after managing
to fail 3 of 3, 3+ armour saves. A slew of Free Company were killed and
they lost combat by 2- a six on the break test and they ran (you do the
math if the priest had rolled averagely). The knights pursue them off the
board. Dark Hand of Death was again dispelled (his 3 dice gave a total
of 12, my 5 dice gave me 13). Everything else advanced, and no one
panicked from the Free Company’s demise.
The Halberds and the larger
detachment of Free Company charged the Bloodletters (the FCd hitting in
the flank). Magic again proves to be a no go. The Hot Pot misses the Warriors,
and the cannon misfires (losing this turn and the next’s shooting). The
crossbows and archers kill 3 warriors. Flagellants continue move to intercept
warriors. In the big battle, the Halberd champ is cut down by the Bloodletter
champ. A couple Bloodletters and some Empire guys die. With ranks, flank,
etc., the Empire wins by 6, but the Bloodletters stay (4 on the break test).
The knights of blood and steel return to seek more prey. The Daemons seem to grow in size and strength as the blood swirls around them. Fire erupts. Huntsmen scatter. Cries of “Sigmar save me” and “The End is Near” echo.
The knights come back as the
warriors turn to face the Flagellants. The Hounds charge the Huntsmen,
who fail their fear test and flee, and are run down. This leaves the hounds
back between the crags and the hill on the Chaos side of the field. The
exalted daemon charges the Free Company detachment in combat with the Bloodletters.
Magic again is a non-issue. In combat, many humans die and the Free Company
flees (just escaping the daemon) while the Halberds hold (on a 6).
Free Company rally. After
much hemming and hawing, the Flagellants charge the warriors (and make
it in by about 1/2 an inch- this is after my opponent basically challenged
or dared me to charge because he though they were short and so did I, but
he measured so...). The Crossbows have no target’s and decide to move towards
the warriors flank in case they don’t break. The archers position themselves
to protect the artillery. Mage raises a Wall of Fire and kills one Chaos
Knight, and decides to leave the wall up, hoping for one more when they
move and the panic test. Bloodletters kill many more Halberds who break
and are run down (though no one panics). The Flagellants crash in and break
the warriors though they did not inflict many wounds (WS 2 really hurts
them, I think I may have mentioned this before). The warriors and the wizard
are run down.
The knights charge through
the Wall of Fire, no knights die, but the Champion takes one wound (damn,
not that a wound was expected, but this was just annoying). They destroy
the archers and pursue far enough to reach the cannons and at this point
we called the game, as he could then easily destroy the Hot Pot, while
the Bloodletters and Daemon general would kill the Free Company detachments,
and that would have left me my Flagellants (way out in the middle of nowhere),
the wizard, and the crossbows.
Final was a solid victory for the
forces of Chaos. Not a bad game, and no major mistakes. A bit of luck (the
daemons making the -6 break test, and my priest dieing then his unit failing
the break test by 1) were the difference. Of course, better guessing with
my artillery could have helped as the no armour save from the Hot Pot would
excel against Chaos Knights (sure 5+ to wound, but getting rid of the 1+
save is well worth it).
Additionally, though my Bright Mage
is painted, he will probably get dropped as this is the second battle in
a row he got Wall of Fire, and both it and Conflagaration of Doom are powerful,
but too much to cast. I will go with probably a Light Mage, or a Life Mage
[Priest of Taal] instead.