Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Going Commando

I'm going commando for this battle - that's right, no movement trays! Takes me right back to my earliest fun with Warhammer. I was inspired by reading the old White Dwarf battle reports on http://realmofchaos80s.blogspot.com/ to run a battle a little bigger than my recent ones, so here's a 2000 point battle between the High Elves and my trusty Undead. I don't have enough figures to do 3000 points.

Archers on the Hill, Blue Spearmen, Swordmasters, Telor on Griffon, Green Spearmen

High Elf List: Telor, Level 25 hero on his Griffon. Armed with a Freeze Sword, an extremely deadly weapon. Lomsec the mage, level 15. Fourteen warrior kindred armed with spears with champion (blue spearmen), Fourteen warrior kindred armed with spears and  champion (the green spearmen, twins of the blue), 10 warrior kindred armed with double handed weapons and champion (the swordmasters) and finally 12 archers with a champion. I can't remember what level the champions were, but they were all the same. 54 figures.

20 Zombies, 20 Zombies, Vlad on Dragon, 21 sword skeletons,
21 spear skeletons, 20 ghouls.

The Undead: Vlad on his dragon, level 20 vampire and level 1 dragon. Two skeleton units of 21 figures each, each led by a level 5 hero. Two units of 20 zombie and one of 20 ghouls, each led by a level 5 undead hero. Nobody had any magic items. 108 figures.

The Battle: Turn 1: The deathless legions advanced en masse, all along the line. Vlad bravely flew his dragon directly into the swordmasters. Many died from desicating dragon breath (an appropriate breath weapon for a dragon ridden by a vampire). However in the ensuing combat the swordmasters managed a draw. Telor atop his griffon then charged into Vlad and attacked him with his mighty Freeze sword - instant kill! The dragon then routed off the table. First turn and the undeads greatest asset was destroyed.
Turn 2: The Elves sounded the advance and all units except the green spearmen charged (the green spearmen never saw any action all battle). The blue spearmen pushed back their skeletal enemies, while the swordmasters were pushed back by their bony foes. Telor and his griffon routed a zombie unit, and in the free hacks totally wiped them out. This panicked the other zombies who routed and fled off the table. Mighty Telor had destroyed half the undead army in two turns, a hero whose glory will surely never fade.
Turn 3: The ghouls charged into the archers, but were quickly routed. The other combats continued with no clear winners.
Turn 4: One unit of skeletons was finally destroyed by the blue spears. The other was charged in the rear by Telor, and caught between him and the swordmaster elves. 
The Aftermath: At this point only one skeleton and one level 5 undead hero remained. The elvish army was almost completely intact, except for the swordmasters who had nearly been destroyed by Vlad, but managed to hold on against their skeleton enemies.

So that's it! I enjoy the rules, playing without movement trays was very fun and old school, and a good time was had by all (i.e. me). You'd think it'd bother me that some armies seem to always win, but in all 5 of the versions of warhammer I've played that has always been the case. I love my Undead so much I'll play them anytime, win, lose, or embarassing slaughter.