This is part 4 of my report of a recent tournament. You can find the previous part here, or go back to the start here.
Game 4 - Dawn Attack
Lachlan Hutchinson - High Elves
- Prince with Light Armour, Lion Cloak, Shield, Great Weapon, Blade of Leaping Gold, Talisman of Endurance
- Handmaiden of the Everqueen with Light Armour, Spear, Bow of Avelorn, Sword of Striking
- Mage (Level 2, Lore of Beasts)
- Mage (Level 2, High Magic)
- 30 Spearmen with Spears, Shields, Light Armour, Full Command
- 30 Spearmen with Spears, Shields, Light Armour, Full Command
- 20 Archers with Longbows, Musician
- 20 Archers with Longbows, Musician
- 25 White Lions of Chrace with Great Weapons, Heavy Armour, Lion Cloaks, Full Command
- 20 Sisters of Avelorn with Light Armour, Bows of Avelorn
- Eagle Claw Bolt Thrower
- Eagle Claw Bolt Thrower
Right, so first off, this is the strangest High Elf list I've ever seen. It must have been about a 7 for comp, but frankly it deserved more. The list put out a lot of shooting, but that was probably its main redeeming feature. It had none of the elements you'd normally expect to find, toughening up the combat potential of the army. The Prince lacked punch, the Mages had no items at all. The army had no BSB, cavalry, or monsters. It did feel like a proper citizen levy-based High Elf army. But it also felt under-powered, even against my 11 comp Wood Elves.
At this point I had lost 2 of my 3 games, although my battle points were not looking too bad because I'd managed to avoid big losses. I believe the match-ups were being done simply on wins and losses, so presumably Lachlan was also on a single win up until this point.
Lachlan's army was an interesting mix of Citadel models and 3D prints that he had actually designed himself. The Spearmen and Archers (by far the bulk of his army) were all his doing. I was very impressed.
These Spearmen could do with some shields and paint, but they do look the part.
These ones look a bit more complete. The Bolt Thrower crew were also his digital handiwork.
The Archers were his doing too, although the Mage is a digital kitbash based on a Last Sword model.
It was Dawn Attack again, so we were rolling to see where our units went. Nothing too dramatic happened there. Lachlan ended up with a Spearmen unit by itself on the flank, and my Dryads were across from them (the Waywatchers appeared there later, when I couldn't find a good place to deploy them near the High Elf lines).
My Treekin and Lord managed to set themselves up in my BYO forest. Warhawks on the flank seemed good, but there was an awful lot of shooting waiting for them, and they don't do armour...
I had deployed first, so Lachlan needed to roll a 6 if he was to steal the first turn from me. He failed to do so, and we advanced on the flank as much as we dared. The Warhawks landed in the forest to take advantage of the cover. The Treeman tried not to think about what the flaming shots from the Sisters might do to his complexion.
The Eagle tried to make use of the massive piece of cover in the centre of the field, and the Wardancers and Dryads moved up at a sensible speed.
For possibly the first time in the tournament, I was able to make proper use of the Moonstone and teleported the Treekin into the middle of the High Elf lines. The Spearmen on either side couldn't see them. It was the perfect crime!
The magic and shooting phase went quite well for me. Hand of Glory managed to boost my Glade Guard to BS7, and then they set about showing the Sisters of Avelorn what true bow mastery looked like. We shot 16 of them, meaning the rather worrying threat of the unit was pretty much entirely negated. Then the Treeman celebrated his newfound confidence with Walk Between Worlds, and sidled right up in front of the Archers, outside the arc of the Prince and his White Lions.
Keen to show that he too could control the winds of magic, one of the High Elf mages cast (I assume it was Soulquench) on my Treeman, knocking off a wound. Unfortunately the "control" side of things was not really there, and the entirety of the back 2 ranks of Archers were obliterated in the resulting explosion from the miscast.
Perhaps deciding that his missile troops were a lost cause given how things were going thus far, the Prince and his entourage marched at best speed toward my lines, ignoring the Treeman and Warhawks bearing down on his other troops.
The Spearmen on the flank actually tried an optimistic charge on the Dryads, but it proved too far for the dice. The other unit turned in response to the sudden appearance of the Treekin, and the crew of the Bolt Thrower hastily picked up their stuff and moved out of the way. The Archers wheeled a bit and knocked down several Dryads with a volley.
The Treeman actually declared a charge on the Sisters on the hill, but as you can see, they're not there. They failed their Terror test and fled clean off the field, leaving him free to redirect into what was left of the Archers alongside the Warhawks.
The Lord and his Treekin charged straight into the waiting Spearmen. I have a feeling they failed their Fear test, because the combat did not go well for them. I'm pretty sure they narrowly lost Steadfast due to heavy casualties.
Having rather efficiently silenced the enemy shooting on my left, I was free to focus on the advancing White Lions. The Wardancers turned back that way to assist with magic and potentially the BSB's Hail of Doom Arrow.
The Spearmen broke and were run down, and the Treekin pursued far enough to make it into the Archers.
Hand of Glory was less impressive this turn, but it still helped a bit as the Glade Guard started pouring fire into the White Lions. The Archers on the left were wiped out, leaving my units free to reform. It was not going well for Lachlan's forces.
Rather than trying a long charge on the Glade Guard and inviting an extra round of shooting, the White Lions swung around to head toward the Wardancers.
The remaining Spearmen tried their luck charging the Dryads again, and this time they made it.
Thus began a long and very even combat between the two units.
Look, it feels like a jerk move to step the Wardancers out of the arc of the White Lions, but it would have been stupid not to. As the units behind them closed in, we set about hitting them as hard as possible with magic and shooting.
The Eagle had taken 2 wounds from the Bolt Thrower the previous turn, but I decided it was worth the gamble to send him into the flank of the Spearmen. The combat was close enough that he might make the difference.
The Archers met a similar fate to the Spearmen, and the Bolt Thrower was next in line.
The White Lions were becoming a little less numerous.
The heroics of the Eagle were for naught - one of the Spearmen must have seen him coming and finished him off before he could attack. Poor guy. Anyway, the Dryads were still there. At one point they lost badly enough to be testing on Ld 7 and held. That might have been this round.
The White Lions turned back to face the Wardancers again, and I decided that just avoiding and shooting them again would be no fun for anyone. So instead I charged them... With everything. We brought enough muscle that we were able to wipe out the White Lions, whilst the Spellweaver distracted the Prince in a challenge (she had the ability to negate up to 4 wounds thanks to the High Magic lore attribute, so wasn't worried). In the end the Prince was alone, had lost by an impressive number, and broke. He was run down unceremoniously.
In keeping with how the game had gone for the High Elves, the Spearmen failed their Fear test, lost combat and eventually broke. The Dryads ran them down gleefully, knowing how close they had come to it being the other way around. The Waywatchers had been working their way toward the remaining Bolt Thrower to try to shoot it to death, but in the end the Treekin got to it first. And with that, the High Elves were all gone.
Lachlan's list might have been able to cause me some trouble with its shooting, but I did feel like I came into the game with an advantage, and things did not go well for him in the end. I felt a bit bad, but he took it well. In the final tally, all I had lost was my Eagle. It was a big win.
Result: 20-0 Win
You can find the final part of my report here.
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