Lexalopolis Posted December 20, 2017 Share Posted December 20, 2017 Hello all, I wrote up my first ever battle report for a recent game and couldn't figure out exactly where to post it, so I figured here was as good as anywhere since I took a Darkling Covens army. Hope you enjoy it, and feel free to leave feedback! Myself (A) and two friends (C and K) were introducing a third to the game (D), and all took experimental lists to try out different things. C lent D an army and accidentally gave her a hard counter to his own. Fun was had by all, and D is definitely interested in Warhammer now. Narrative The Aelves of House Van’keir, in their efforts to secure their newly reacquired ancestral holdings in the Mortal Realms, have made more than a few rivals among the other growing powers. Not the least of these is a splinter force belonging to Arkhan the Black, Mortarch of Sacrament, whose skeletal legions have battled both against and alongside the Aelf warhosts. Today the undead horde threatens a vital supply line for fledgling Van’keir settlements, leading to the deployment of two sorceresses at the head of a thrall warhost to hold the chaotic front. Both sides have hired Greenskin mercenaries from the zealous warboss Gorkaon, hoping the extra bodies will help win the day. Gorkaon’s queries about whether either side have “accepted Gork into their lives” go unanswered. Battleplan Changing Priorities, Coalition of Death rules. Forces - Note that some artefact/command trait info is missing A/C Team: Darkling Covens / Spiderfang Grots (Warlord) Allegiance: Darkling Covens Leaders Sorceress (80) - General - Command Trait : Master of the Sorcerous Arts - Artefact : Decanter of Egos Sorceress (80) - Artefact : Anklet of Epiphany Units 10 x Black Guard (160) 10 x Executioners (180) 10 x Dreadspears (100) 10 x Darkshards (100) 10 x Darkshards (100) Battalions Thrall Warhost (180) Total: 980 Allegiance: Spiderfang Leaders Grot Big Boss On Gigantic Spider (100) - General Arachnarok Spider With Grot Shaman (280) Arachnarok Spider With Grot Shaman (280) Units 5 x Grot Spider Riders (100) 10 x Grot Spider Riders (200) Total: 960 D/K Team: Bonesplitterz / Deathrattle (Warlord) Allegiance: Bonesplitterz Leaders Maniak Weirdnob (120) - General - Command Trait : Squirmy Warpaint - Artefact : Big Wurrgog Mask Units 4 x Savage Big Stabbas (200) 4 x Savage Big Stabbas (200) 20 x Savage Orruk Arrowboys (240) 20 x Savage Orruk Arrowboys (240) Total: 1000 Allegiance: Deathrattle Leaders Wight King with Baleful Tomb Blade (120) - General - Command Trait: Master of the Black Arts Necromancer (110) - Allies Cairn Wraith (60) - Allies - Artefact: Cursed Book Units 30 x Grave Guard (420) -Wight Blades & Crypt Shields 40 x Skeleton Warriors (280) -Ancient Blade & Shield Total: 990 Deployment A/C win the deployment roll and A sets up the entire thrall warhost on the left flank, with a unit of 5 spider riders for support. C deploys the arachnaroks, big boss, and 10 spider riders on the right flank. K deploys 30 graveguard and the wight king to the left flank along with a unit of D’s arrowboys in the center. D deploys 20 more arrowboys, the weirdnob, and both units of big stabbas to the right flank, with a screen of 40 skeletons. K places his Cairn Wraith in the reinforcement pool for summoning later. C recalls that big stabbas do additional damage to monsters and regrets his choices. Battle Objective deploys on both left flanks. A decides to attempt a turn 1 charge, pulls it off, and knocks out half the graveguard between his blackguard and darkshards, although he realizes next turn that he mistakenly fired with some models that should have been out of range. The graveguard wipe out the blackguard with their counterattack. A attempts to put his sorceresses in good positions for spells, setting up the anklet sorceress in a center forest and his general with the bulk of the troops, but unfortunately A and C are competing for the same spells and D/K wind up unbinding several throughout the battle. D cautiously advances her arrowboys forward throughout the battle, leading to constant hails of arrows on the frontline. A/C make the mistake of never wounding the arrowboys to reduce their attacks, partly out of forgetfulness and partly out of good maneuvering on D/K’s part. When the objective shifts to the right flank C attempts an advance with his spiders, but is met by a unit of big stabbas that mauls an arachnarok and the spider riders. The stabbas are eliminated, but do plenty of work first. A moves the executioners to the right flank to assist, but this puts them out of range of their general on the left flank, making her best command abilities and battalion ability useless. The darkshards and dreadspears attempt to hold the line, but are shot down by arrows and cut down by graveguard after their spider rider reinforcements are eliminated. A has learned a valuable lesson (again) about charging enemy strongpoints without sufficient support. C is engaged in a fighting retreat against the advancing greenskin and undead hordes, which is not helped when the executioners fail a short range charge meant to relieve him. Gradually the arachnaroks fall, then his general (who served as the warlord), giving bonus victory points to D/K. C is effectively eliminated by the middle rounds, and tabled later. A’s forces attempt to converge in the middle, but he is eventually left with only his sorceresses. One attempts to make a mad dash for an open enemy objective to claim some points, but it shifts before she can reach it. K finally manages to summon his Cairn Wraith in round 4 or 5, where it accomplishes looking pretty on the field. Outcome Major loss for A/C, major victory for D/K, who lead by 3+ victory points. Tactical Analysis Looking at both armies, there were a few disadvantages for A/C from the get-go. D/K’s army, while less mobile and with worse saves, has more wounds on the table, better shooting, equivalent or better combat ability, and regeneration. A/C have more mortal wound output, but all at close range and dice-dependent. With some more careful play it may have been a closer game, but there were plenty of missteps that accentuated D/K’s advantage, and their objective tended to spawn knee-deep in arrowboys or graveguard, making a breakthrough nearly impossible. The Turn 1 charge was a good learning experience, but a poor tactical choice. 10 blackguard without mystic shield or word of pain won’t be able to stand up to 30 graveguard, especially not with death saves and the benefits of their general’s totem and command ability. The early loss of the blackguard, and mismanaging the general’s positioning relative to the executioners, severely blunted the ability of Darkling Covens to do effective damage and essentially invalidated the points spent on the battalion. It would have been better to hold back, use the dreadspears and darkshards as chaff, and tempt the graveguard into a charge for the objective. Then the blackguard and executioners could have flanked, combined their forces, and made use of all the support abilities the army had to offer. If the graveguard chose not to advance, the general and elites could have moved to support C, while the chaff stayed behind to slow K down. C had a tough matchup against D: big stabbas are strong and even better against a monster heavy army, not to mention that Spiderfang Grots aren’t the best army on the field these days. But with pressure on the left flank relatively low, D was able to focus almost all her firepower into C’s arachnaroks, earning her team some much needed bonus points. Plus, she rolled well for Hand of Gork (or Mork) flying units around, scoring doubles a couple of times to triple the movement of her selected unit. Flying big stabbas are very scary, and I was happy not to reprise the time a unit of them wiped out my executioners in one charge. The 40 skeletons got into the mix too, doing a fair amount of damage and generally clogging up the place. Word of pain was very useful for reducing the effectiveness of the arrowboys, but was partly countered by the terrain. Both sides had mystical terrain in their starting area, but only one unit was befuddled throughout the entire game, leading to arrowboys with rerollable wound rolls. Mystical terrain was very helpful for D/K, who had the buffs from it in almost all shooting/combat phases. 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