The Old World is upon us, although in some parts of the world we can't yet get our hands on the books. Nevertheless the local community is abuzz with the new rules and what the game is going to be like. This the was the rather strange backdrop for what may yet be my last ever 6th edition Warhammer fantasy tournament. Of course, I probably thought that 18 years ago when 7th edition arrived. Time moves in mysterious ways...
I initially submitted a Drycha list that included 2 Treemen. That's tough, but without a BSB to help them hold their ground, and a list with not a lot of other options, I had assumed it would be OK. The organisers disagreed however, and asked me to remove one of them. So then I found myself with a list containing more Treekin and Wild Riders than I expected. I was rather concerned about how it might hold up, given a lack of real spine. Dryads are very solid, but with no ranks or real bulk, the Dryads were meant to be my staying power. Oh well, trees are trees, right?
- Drycha (Level 2, Lore of Athel Loren)
- Glamourweave Spellsinger (Level 2, Lore of Athel Loren) on Elf Steed with Dispel Scroll
- 12 Dryads with Branch Nymph
- 12 Dryads with Branch Nymph
- 8 Dryads
- 8 Dryads
- 3 Treekin
- 3 Treekin
- 5 Wild Riders with Musician, Standard
- 5 Wild Riders with Musician, Standard
- Treeman
Full disclosure, I actually won Cancon maybe 19 years ago with a list a bit like this one - a Treeman Ancient instead of Drycha, no Wild Riders and even more Dryads. The army book was new and I was excited to finally be able to make an all-tree army. I didn't realise quite how tough the list would prove to be. I then won another tournament a few months later, which proved it was no fluke. I decided the army was clearly easy mode and retired it from events for a number of years. I went back to losing with things like Ogres and Orcs. As a result of all this, I knew the army would perform OK this time around. The list is a bit different with Drycha at the helm, but an army that's entirely immune to psychology was always a leg up in 6th edition - there's just so much less that can go wrong.
Game 1 - Slay Your Rivals
Tom Murphy - Dark Elves
- Noble on Cold One Chariot with Heavy Armour, Sea Dragon Cloak, Shield, Blade of Ruin
- Sorceress (Level 2, Dark Magic) with Darkstar Cloak, Dispel Scroll
- 20 Corsairs with Reaver, Standard
- 10 Warriors with Repeater Crossbows
- 5 Dark Riders with Musician, Repeater Crossbows, Spears
- 10 Cold One Knights with Full Command, Banner of Murder
- 20 Executioners with Full Command
- 10 Witch Elves
- Repeater Bolt Thrower
- War Hydra
Lists and match-ups were published leading up to the event, and I admit when I looked at Tom's list I figured this was going to be a one-sided game. No lord choice, little magic or magic defence, only modest shooting and no real party tricks. It turned out Tom had only played 1 game before, so it all made a lot more sense. I resolved to keep a lid on some of Drycha's stunts like reserve deployment and teleporting between forests, and focused on trying to make sure the game was comprehensible.
The scenarios were all a bit of a twist on more familiar ones. This one was about winning more challenges than your opponent and, ideally, killing the enemy general in one. All games used the 20-0 scale, but had up to 5 bonus points available on top of that.
The table with deployment complete and my bonus forest in place.
The Cold One Knights on the flank were one of the things most likely to cause me grief.
The Wild Riders wanted to get to the Bolt Thrower, but the Cold Ones were an issue.
The Crossbowmen and Sorceress took the hill, with a Hydra to keep them company.
The Dark Elves got the first turn and advanced carefully. The Bolt Thrower picked off one of the Wild Riders on the left, and the Crossbows got a couple of Dryads right across from them.
In my turn the Treeman did his customary thing of jumping into his BYO forest and then surfing toward the enemy using Treesinging. Executioners and Witch Elves were there waiting for him.
I moved the Dryads on the flank up behind the house, but was a bit careless about hiding them from the Cold One Knights. They could still be seen, provided they made the distance. The Wild Riders sat back a bit, intending to use the Dryads as bait.
On the other flank the Wild Riders made a point of getting out of the arcs of the enemy, whilst the Dryads sat back to reinforce the Treekin rather than getting charged.
The Cold One Knights rolled a 6 for the Banner of Murder, so charged the skulking Dryads easily. The Dark Riders also charged, which they probably shouldn't have done...
The Treeman made lots of new friends, charged by both the Witch Elves and the Executioners.
On the other flank, the Hydra accepted the invitation to charge the Treekin. I wasn't entirely sure how this one would go - I just hoped to hold.
The Sorceress decided to embrace the relative cover of the Corsair regiment, given my Spellsinger had Fury of the Forest, which would kill her pretty quickly.
So it turns out, Treekin are more than a match for Hydra that can't roll dice. They took a single wound, did a lot more in return, and ran it down when it turned to flee. Well that was easy.
The other flank was less smooth sailing. The green Dryads obliterated the Dark Riders, but the other unit only managed to drag down a single Cold One Knight before breaking and being run down. The green unit was caught by the pursuit and another combat erupted.
The combat between the Treeman and the Witch Elves and Executioners went nowhere fast. The Treeman took a wound and dropped maybe 2 Executioners in return. Obviously the Treeman was beaten, but held his ground with Stubborn. That was OK, help was on the way...
After doing such a good job on the first Dryad unit, the Cold One Knights found the second, larger unit much tougher going. The two unit champions drew each other into a challenge (why not, that was what the scenario was about), the Dryads shrugged off the couple of hits they received, and 3 knights perished in return because Tom was a gentleman and didn't pass armour saves.
The Treeman's holding action was brief. Wild Riders charged the Witch Elves, and Treekin hit the Executioners. This really should have been enough, but the Witch Elves basically gave as good as they received, and the Treeman was showing all the combat prowess of a slightly irate potato. The combat was a draw.
On the other flank, the Wild Riders narrowly defeated the Crossbowmen who had turned to face them and shot one of them on the way in. We lapped around to continue the fight.
The Dark Elves showed admirable aggression, with the Noble leading the way by charging his chariot into the Treekin. The Corsairs engaged Drycha's unit of Dryads, despite the danger to the Sorceress.
So... How do I explain this mess? Drycha and her friends embarrassed themselves, largely because the Corsairs did far more damage than they probably should have. Drycha murdered pretty much a whole rank by herself, but it wasn't enough to win combat. My unit broke and fled, but thankfully they outpaced their pursuers, thereby saving me about 600 victory points... The Treekin were also fleeing, having decided that rescuing the Treeman was not worth their time. The Wild Riders were dead. The Treeman was back to fighting by himself (but still fighting badly). At least he didn't run like everyone else...
The Cold Ones were being dragged down steadily by my Dryads. We won the challenge and Tom continued to fail armour saves. We were also enveloping the unit at this point, absolutely hammering it with attacks. They didn't want to run away, however.
I feel like I'm missing a couple of photos here. The Wild Riders broke the Crossbowmen on the hill on the second attempt and ran them down. The Noble's Chariot completely embarrassed itself against the Treekin, not even making them take a save. The hero himself did wound one on the second attempt, but by that point they had splintered the Chariot and ran him down as he fled.
Drycha and the Treekin both rallied, but then the Corsairs arrived again. The combat was pretty much a draw, but the same could not be said for the Treeman. He kept losing until he eventually fled and was run down. The Executioners carried through into the rallied Treekin, but they would not get a chance to swing before those Wild Riders up the back arrived...
This was the last action of the game. The green Dryads had finally wiped out the Cold One Knights, and charged in to claim the last member of the Witch Elf unit. The Wild Riders hit the Executioners in the rear, and another unit of Dryads lunged into to assist Drycha. Only one of them could reach, but I really just wanted the rear charge and unit strength. That was good, because I think the Corsairs actually did 2 wounds fighting to their rear. It didn't really matter. Drycha and her unit fired up properly, and put the matter to rest. What remained of both the Corsairs and the Executioners broke and were run down.
In the end, the only thing Tom had left was the Bolt Thrower that had been shuffling around trying to line of fire between the terrain. The result looked comprehensive, but it had actually been a struggle due to a couple of key combats not going as I'd hoped. Drycha getting away when she fled was a stroke of luck. I'm not sure if I would actually have lost the whole game if she got caught, but it would certainly not have ended up like it did.
Result: 23-2 (19-1 before bonuses)
You can find the next part of my report here.
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