WHFB Battle Report: Dark Elves vs. Warriors of Chaos

Hey all.  Getting more playtesting in with my Adepticon list.  This weekend I got to play against a Warriors of Chaos army.  It wasn't the most absolutely cut throat of lists, but it packed some pretty nasty offense, so it wasn't a scrub battleforce list by any means.

I ran my list as shown here, with the Shades making up my last 200 points, if you were wondering.  The Chaos list was as follows...

1 Sorcerer Lord of Tzeentch on disc with 3+ ward save a 1+ armor

1 Exalted Hero BSB on Juggernaut with ASF sword

18 Khorne Warriors with Halberds and Shields

5 Khorne Horsemen with Flails

5 Khorne Horsemen with Flails

5 Slaanesh Knights

15 Chosen of Tzeentch with Favor of the Gods and Terror Banner

2 Warshrines of Tzeentch

It was a rock hard army.  Really good armor saves for the most part.  The Chosen mini-star was insanely hard.  I might have ditched the Knights for a juicy unit of Marauders with great weapons, but that's me.

Pregame stuff.  His Sorcerer rolled Flickering Fire, Baleful, Pandemonium, and Gateway.  I got Miasma, Enfeebling, Withering, and Ockham's.  So essentially, we both got exactly the spells we would have picked if we had the choice to.  We got a pitched battle and set up.

Chaos deployment was as so...

Chaos deployment

Fast cav started on his far left, Knights with BSB in the center, and his right win was the Chosen and Warriors backed up by both Warshrines.  It was his way of countering my Strong Flank by making his opposing flank as strong as possible.  My deployment...

Dark Elves deployment

My strong left flank consisted of my 5 chariots and 2 war hydras.  In the center I had my repeater crossbowmen.  My right flank was my Dark Riders.  You can't see it, but I scout deployed my Shades in the back corner behind his Chosen/Warshrine units.  He had the first Vanguard movement so he moved up his fast cav, thus pinning mine in place.  Onto the game!

End of Chaos Turn 1

On turn 1, Chaos lurched forward.  He brought his fast cavalry more to the center.  His plan was to more or less ignore my fast cavalry, so it seemed.  His magic phase was a whopping 3 dice and achieved nothing.

End of Dark Elves turn 1

On my turn I advanced my Shades forward to take shots at his exposed Sorcerer lord.  I knew the chances of hurting a 1+/3++ character were slim, but even doing one wound would be worth it.  My Hydras marched up to outflank his line, and their threat would force his lord away towards the center.  My Chariots stayed in place, content to let Chaos get close before unleashing a massive multi-charge.  My magic phase was good, and I managed to throw some decent debuffs on his Knights.  -2 Toughness -1 strength.  The toughness debuff helped, as my crossbows managed to kill one of them in shooting.  My Dark Riders, failed to kill anything with their shooting, though.

End of Chaos Turn 2

Turn 2 was very good for the WoC.  His horsemen charged a unit of my Dark Riders.  His Knights charged into a unit of Cross bowmen.  He brought on unit of the horsemen to support his strong flank against mine.  His magic again failed to do much.  He bet everything on a Gateway of a Hydra and got 3 strength 2 hits!  So nothing good there.  

In combat, his Horsemen killed and routed off the table the unit of Dark Riders, but went off the table with them.  The Knights predictably slaughtered the Crossbowmen but did suffer a casualty in return.  They overran the Bowmen and wiped them out, which panicked the other bowmen off the table.  Unfortunately for him, his Knights overran a bit far and wouldn't get a charge off  the next turn.

End of Dark Elves turn

This was the turn where the game swung my way a bit.  4 of my chariots charged his Khorne Warriors along with a Hydra in the flank.  I debuffed the Warrior's toughness in the magic phase and as you might expect... 

...the impact hits killed 16 of the 18 warriors.  BOOM!  The Hydra and one of the chariots overran into the nearby Marauder Horsemen.  One of his Warshrines panicked and fled.  The other warshrine had turned around and was threatening my Shades.  My other Hydra was lined up for a flank charge on the Chosen. If he charged the Chosen into the scrum with the Hydra and Master Chariot, my second Hydra would get a rear charge on the Chosen.  If the Chosen turned to face the Hydra I could play keep away games until the 3 other chariots were turned around ready to go.  I also had another chariot on my left flank as yet uncommitted since he failed his charge.

End of Chaos Turn 3

Turn three was very bad for Chaos.  His Chosen charged into my Master on Chariot to try to bail out his Horsemen.  Unfortunately, he was only able to get 3  Chosen in base to base with my Master Chariot.  His Knights quick reformed and moved into charge position.  His Maurader Horsemen walked back on from off the board edge.  His warshrine charged my Shades, and the other shrine continued to flee, running off the board.  In the magic phase, I dispelled Pandemonium.  But he got off a massive Gateway on my Supreme Sorceress.  7 Strength 10 hits.  Thanks to the Pendant of Kaleth, though, she came out unscathed.  In close combat, my impact hits killed 4 of the 5 Marauder Horsemen, and the Master killed the last one at Initiative 7.  He did 1 wound back to the Master's chariot with the chosen.  He lost, but his Chosen were stubborn and hung in.  His Warshrine killed my Shades and overran right off the board, effectively taking it out of the game.

However, the Horsemen getting annihilated caused his Sorcerer Lord to Panic and he fled!  This meant my next magic phase would be mostly uncontested.

End of Dark Elves Turn 3

My turn 3 my two Hydras charged the Chosen, flank and rear.  My 5th chariot charged the other flank.  My other 3 chariots reformed and readied for action on turn 4.  My magic phase was lowered the toughness of the Chosen from 5 to 3.  Huge.  The other spells was a 3 point boosted Miasma on the Knights unit and I failed to cast Ockham's Razor on the Chariot that charged the Chosen.  My Dark Riders were dancing around his Marauders so they could never charge them, but I would get shots, and if he didn't turn to face me, I would get the charge on him.

In combat, I didn't do quite as much as I had hoped.  Despite 14 normal Hydra attacks, 8 breath weapon hits, and 7 Thunderstomps, plus my Master's swings and the impact his and normal attacks of my charging chariot, I only killed a few of the chosen.  3+ armor save 3+ ward save is pretty damn nice.  Despite losing by 8 or so, he was stubborn and held.  This mean his Knights would get to charge in on his turn 4.

End of Chaos turn 4

His BSB splits off from the Knights and charged my Master, the Knights charging a Hydra.  Then he had a catastrophe, his Sorcerer Lord failed to rally, and flew off the table.  Bad luck for him to have failed his leadership 3 times (twice when he initially panicked thanks to BSB, and when he tried to rally) so no magic phase for him to achieve much.

Combat was blood.  I killed a Knight and 3 Chosen.  He did a wound to my chariot on the left, and 2 to my Master's chariot, and 1 to each Hydra, if memory serves.  I believe he won by 2.  Luckily my BSB was in range and so was my general and her LD9.  So everything held.  After this picture was snapped I successfully reformed to open up space for my 3 remaining chariots to charge in.

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Dark Elf turn 4 I didn't take a picture because it was mop up.  I charged the Chosen with the 3 chariots.  I Miasma'ed the Chosen and lowered their toughness to 1.  I cast Ockham's on my BSB.  So yeah, Strength 9 Impact Hits against toughness 1.  Even with a 3+ ward save, that is dirty business.  Combat he killed my Master's chariot, and I wiped his Chosen and killed a Knight with my Hydra.  His Exalted did not roll snake eyes, and was run down.  Game over.

Final Victory Points....

Dark Elves: 1,920

Warriors of Chaos: 707

It was a bit one sided in the end, but there were some close calls.  Had his Sorcerer Lord rallied, or the Warshrine, it would have been significantly closer both in points and outcomes.  I had two turns of uncontested magic, and he had 2 turns of no magic.  Plus, he was missing a powerful and tough to kill monstrous creature that could have really helped the mega combat with the Chosen.  If the Warshrine had gotten into that before my 3 Chariots did, it may have turned the tide, especially the turn where I lost by 2 and successfully held.  Had I lose by, say, 2 more casualties that the Warshrine could have inflicted, I probably would have broke with most of it and the game would have been far different.  

But as it was, a nice victory for Naggaroth!