Sylvaneth vs IronJaws
Entry posted by Stevewren
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I played my first game with the Sylvaneth recently against my friends Iron Jaws. I only took painted models for this game, so I was a little limited, but I could easily do the 2000 points we had decided on. We also played the comet scenario from the Generals Handbook.
My list consisted of:
- Tree lord Ancient (Oaken Armor, an extra spell)
- Drycha (the spell that generates woods)
- Branchwych (regrowth)
- Branch wraith (Acorn of Ages, The Reaping Spell)
- Spirit of Durthu
- 3 x 10 Dryads
- 2 x 6 Kurnoth Hunters (Great Bows)
Firstly the army felt small, although my opponents Ironjaws looked similar. He had:
- Godrak
- Mega Boss
- Orc Shaman
- Warchanter
- 2 x 5 Brutes
- 2 x 10 Ardboyz
- 3 x Goregruntas
Deployment:
Turn 1
Pete went first and roared across the table. The move in the Hero phase that Destruction units get made the army super fast. Everything moved up and allowed Gordrak to attempt to charge, but he failed. In my turn I popped out a couple of woods and fired a few arcane bolts doing minimal damage. I ran Drycha up to attempt a turn one charge (which she failed - this was an error as you'll find out later). I moved the Kurnoth Hunters to allow them to shoot the Ardboyz on the right flank and the Spirit of Durthu moved into the Acorn of Ages Wood ready to charge Godrak. I thought that this was my chance to get him off with Durthus mighty sword. However I failed the charge (its important to note I also forgot the Spirit Paths rule that could have allowed Durthu to move and charge on the roll of a six). Still, there was the chance of the double turn....
...which I didn't get 
Turn 2
When Pete measured for his spells Drycha was in range for Foot of Gork, which Pete got off due to the proximity of being near orcs and some arcane scenery. He promptly stomped Drycha three times and killed her dead. Gordrak tore into the son of Durthu, bellowed at him for 5 wounds, and then killed him easily with the attacks that multiply out to D3 on a 6 vs monsters, heroes and wizards. He also charged the Kurnoth Hunters. The comet came down in the square on my right flank which was good as it was uncontested, meaning I had a shot to get it with the dryads or the hunters if they could finish off the units they were fighting. He also charged my ancient who killed a Brute whilst taking two wounds in return.
In my turn I found that I couldn't escape from the Brutes with the Ancient due to the rule of being 9" away from models. This has been an issue in all my games with the Sylvaneth since AoS dropped - its really hard to move around if your opponent pops a model or two in the middle of a wood. The new rules allowing up to three woods to count will help, but then it becomes very difficult to place them. Anyhow, I'm digressing from the game, which was spiralling out of control fast! The Treelord missed with all his attacks (standard fare), and the Kurnoth Hunters did minimal damage with the bows. The Dryads failed their mystical terrain test for the second turn in a row and got wiped out. The unit in the centre stood and moved to contest the comet the had landed in the middle of my lines. The Branch wraith and Branchwych took up station to try and stop Godrak charging the ancient, knowing full well they were being sacrificed for the greater good!
Turn 3
I lost the dice roll for turn three, but we were still drawing at this stage. The orcs continued to pour forwards. Gordrak went into the Branchwych, killed her and then charged again into the Branchwraith and killed her too. I was pretty sure Pete could have got into the Ancient, but I think at this point he was easing off the gas and didn't do it. This didn't matter as the Ancient went down to the two units of Brutes. I had successfully failed 12 3+ armour saves over 4 rounds of combat. This is a solid effort, even by my standards. The gore gruntas finally removed one unit of Kurnoth Hunters, and the Megaboss got into combat with the others to help out the Ardboyz. The Hunters had proved to be surprisingly resilient with the preroll on the saves, which made up for the fact they couldn't hit a barn door with their shooting!
Turn 4
Turn 4 I lost the roll off again and the Gore Gruntas claimed the objective on Petes side of the board. Gordrak smashed my Dryads in the centre allowing him to claim that too. With only a Kurnoth Hunter and 10 Dryads left we called the game. The Ironjaws had been victorious!
Conclusions
1. Man, I could not roll dice today! However I also forgot a lot of rules and I'm not sure I considered my army combos well enough. By my own admission I've spent a lot more time painting than I have reading the rules!
2. Kurnoth Hunters were very resilient, and would have been better with hand weapons in this game. Saying that I think that the bows are still a good option.
3. I'm not sure what I could have done against Gordrak other than run away and arcane bolt him. He was horrendously destructive. The fight with Durthu would have been better if I had remembered the rules and I think there may be ways to get him closer and make the charge more viable. I also played Drycha wrong. She would have been better being held back, although I didn't realise the potential of Foot of Gork. This meant I had lost my two best combat pieces before my second turn which really left me on the back foot.
Overall there are a lot of things I learnt. Hopefully we'll get a game in next week and I can try out a few more things.
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