Snake Eyes 2026 - Part 1

Another tournament is done and dusted. This time it's the second running of Snake Eyes, a team event with 4 players per team. Last year it was 3. Goodness knows what it will look like next year.

Army selection was a bit different from normal. The previous year there had been a cap on magic levels across the whole team. That was gone this time, but in addition to using the Grand Melee and Combined Arms limits, the following rules applied:

• Each player must use a different race
• All magic items (including extremely common) are unique and may not be taken
• more than once across the entire team
• Characters capped at 33%
• Flying and Ethereal units combined capped at 33%
• Undead cannot take Battle Standard Bearers
• No more than 2 of the same war machine from Special, and no duplicates from Rare
• No duplicate Behemoths (not counting mounts)

This all added up to make the army and list selection slightly headache-inducing, but eventually I decided I could field a semi-capable Wood Elf army with a couple of levers to pull, depending on what I found myself facing. 

Wood Elf Grand Army (2000 points)
Glade Lord (General) on Great Stag with Light armour, Shield, Orion's Favour, Dragon Slaying Sword, Sword of Might, An Annoyance of Netlings, Wild Rider Kindred
Spellweaver (Level 4, Lore of the Wilds) on Unicorn with Heartwood Pendant, Oaken Stave, Potion of Foolhardiness, Glamour Weave Kindred
23 Glade Guard with Fire & Flee, Swiftshiver Shards, Full Command, Razor Standard
12 Dryads with Nymph
10 Deepwood Scouts with Arcane Bodkins
5 Sisters of the Thorn with Handmaiden of the Thorn, Standard bearer
5 Wild Riders with Hunting spears, Light armour, Shields, Full Command
4 Warhawk Riders with Trueflight Arrows
Treeman with A Befuddlement of Mischiefs

No doubt this is far from the perfect Wood Elf army I could have chosen, but it included a few elements that amused me. Firstly, I liked the look of the Spellweaver. The Oaken Stave gave me some serious anti-magic ability, but her main party trick was going to be getting Dhurthu's Wrath and wailing on unsuspecting units that tried to get past her forest. That was the plan, anyway. Maybe not a perfect plan...

My general was also a bit of a question mark. I decided I needed the ability to kill something hard like a dragon, and he was my only hope. Of course, he was frenzied with 360 degree vision, so trying to steer him in the right direction could be a problem. I'd deal with that when it came up.

The heart of the army was the Glade Guard with multiple shots and the Razor Standard. They'd be rolling a ton of dice, and could potentially put a lot of hurt on something. That was exciting. The Scouts offered a little backup in terms of firepower, but it was going to be mainly about the Glade Guard.

Overall, I was a bit concerned that this army might end up needing a bit of finesse to use properly, and I really didn't have much in the way of practice with it. This was not a great combination, but it was the situation I had put myself in.

Each round, our team of 4 would be lined up against one of the other teams of 4. Then an some sort of intricate mating dance would take place in order to determine which army was facing which. Only 2 of the 4 tables had a scenario and objectives in play - the others were just playing Upon the Field of Glory. 

Game 1 - The Order of Questionable Chivalry
Matthew Soltys-Klein - High Elves
Upon the Field of Glory
Prince (General) on Star Dragon with Full plate armour, Shield, Opal Amulet, Seed of Rebirth, Sword of Might, Blood of Caledor
Archmage (Level 3 Battle Magic) with Silvery Wand, Sea Guard
6 Silver Helms with Lances, Heavy armour, Barding, Shields, Full Command, Ring of Fury
6 Elven Archers with Longbows
21 Lothern Sea Guard with Thrusting spears, Warbows, Light armour, Shields, Full Command
8 Dragon Princes with Lances, Full plate armour, Shields, Barding, Full Command, The Loremaster's Cloak
9 Sisters of Avelorn with Bows of Avelorn, Light armour, High Sister, Ruby Ring of Ruin
10 Sisters of Avelorn with Bows of Avelorn, Light armour, High Sister, Bow of the Seafarer
Lothern Skycutter with Cavalry spears, Shortbows
Too much of my attention during deployment was spent on trying to work out how to address the threat of the Sisters of Avelorn. I had to finish deployment before my opponent, and made the mistake of putting my Glade Lord pretty hard on the right flank. Naturally Matthew then placed his Star Dragon far, far away. I would get the first turn, but my ability to threaten the Star Dragon would be very limited. 
There he is, hiding behind the rock. Coward! Let's face it, this was my fault. Put it down to a rookie mistake in using my list. 
I had to decide whether I was actually going to try to get to the Sisters, or leave them be. They brought a lot of firepower with them, and I wasn't going to be able to bring them down with shooting, as they brought all of the advantages with them. I decided to gamble with both cavalry units on the flank, with the Sisters shielding the more delicate Wild Riders.
I got the first turn and commenced my rush operation.
My shooting fired at the Silver Helms, and somehow was not enough to fell a single one.
I advanced pretty aggressively on the left flank, given that was where I had effectively stranded my Glade Lord.
I thought I had checked that the Warhawks were out of charge range of the Skycutter, but apparently I was wrong. So I fled, hoping to use feigned flight in my turn.
The Sisters of Avelorn largely held their ground and opened fire on the Sisters of the Thorn. As hoped, I only lost a couple of models. Unfortunately, my unit also panicked and fell back behind the Wild Riders. There was now no way they would be able to charge, and I was down to one flimsy unit within reach.
To compound my concerns over on the right, the Star Dragon had poked its nose into the forest to keep an eye on what I was doing. This was not necessarily a bad thing, if it meant half of Matthew's army was over there focusing on one or two of my units, but it didn't bode well for my chances of actually achieving anything over there.
Not to be deterred, I gave it a crack in my turn. I figured if I could punch through one unit and carry off the field, I could be a bit of a headache. The Wild Riders charged, and the Sisters of Avelorn shot off 2 of them. That wasn't great, but there was still hope. Meanwhile, the Sisters of the Thorn decided to abandon the poisonous dream of the flanking manoeuvre, and headed back toward the centre, using the cover.
So... This did not go at all to plan. Sisters of Avelorn have Strikes First, and of course used that to cull my unit before I could attack. My sole achievement was killing the unit champion with my own. I lost combat, got shoved back, and waited for the arrows to finish the job.

It would appear that I missed a photo of the Skycutter Chariot, which was flanked by my Glade Lord and charged in the front by the Warhawks. We made hard work of it, but did kill it on the charge. Both of my units overran - the Stag went into the forest, and the Warhawks went a short distance forward before bumping into the rock.
The Treeman had chosen to step up right in front of the Dragon Princes in order to block their path to anything delicate. The Dryads stepped back behind the central forest, but they were really hiding from the Silver Helms who suffered far more from my shooting than they had on the first effort.
With the threat to the flank gone, the Star Dragon corrected its course and headed for my archer units.
With no other choice of target, the Dragon Princes used Drilled to redress the ranks and charged the Treeman.
The Treeman struggled a little to penetrate the enemy's armour, but still managed to drag down 2 of the Dragon Princes. This was not enough to win combat, so he fell back thanks to Stubborn.
The Silver Helms had at this point abandoned any real hope of survival, and rode straight for my lines. Maybe they thought everyone would be looking at the Star Dragon. It's worth noting that my efforts to hide the Sisters of the Thorn had not been enough, and the Sisters of Averlorn stepped around the edge of the forest and took them off.
Lots of us were looking at the Dragon, but not all of us. The Dryads decided a flank charge was too good an opportunity to miss. I think the champion challenged and died. Certainly he died. But the standard bearer remained and gave ground grudgingly. My Scouts and Glade Guard fired on the Star Dragon. I think they managed a wound, but it wasn't likely to change much.
I really wanted to support the Treeman, but he's a big boy and should be able to look after himself. So instead I went the crazy option and sent my silly Stag-mounted Glade Lord right into the Sea Guard. I admit I forgot that they would reform into a deeper formation after shooting me. But that's OK, I countered that by also forgetting that I had First Charge... I'm an idiot. I ended up losing the combat by 1 or something, when I should have won and forced them to take a test.
Being an ungentlemanly sort, the Prince on his Star Dragon declined the more worthy target of the Glade Guard (who would probably have won a round of combat), and instead decided to feast upon the Scouts.
So now I have Dragon Princes in my rear. How did this happen, you might ask? Well, it comes down to the Treeman being a useless potato and losing combat again (thanks to only killing 1 and failing to knock off their Close Order bonus). They shoved him away, spun around and charged my heroic Glade Lord. It was most unsporting.
So yeah, with all those ranks and stuff, it didn't go well for me. I broke and was run down in very short order.
The Scouts also died very quickly, as you might expect. They're still in this picture - only now they're inside the Dragon. Note that the Silver Helm is still there. That's because I couldn't kill him. He kept passing armour saves.
So the Dragon Princes... Yeah. They got charged by both the Treeman and the Warhawks, and decided to try and run. Unfortunately they didn't get that far, and the Warhawks got them easily. The Treeman redirected into the Sea Guard, sensing a chance for some revenge.
The Silver Helm eventually died as the Glade Guard reformed into a properly defensive formation in the face of the Dragon.
But the Dragon was a coward and again went for the easy target - the Dryads who can't even choose to flee in response. They died.

So what's missing here? Oh, the Treeman and the Warhawks. That's because they're all dead, on account of dice, really. The Treeman failed to beat the Sea Guard, broke and died. The Warhawks then got shot to death rather brutally.

By the end I think the Glade Guard were the only thing I had left. Even my Spellweaver had been picked off by shooting and magic, as I failed to deal with the units I was trying to engage. In return I had killed the Silver Helms, Dragon Princes, Archmage (my Glade Lord cut him down as he fell) and the Skycutter. I could so easily have had more to show for my efforts - the Sea Guard were very lucky, and did a lot of damage as soon as they were let off the hook. At times I had felt like there were some pretty clear windows to try to get back into the game, but they were repeatedly slammed shut on me.

Result: 5-15 Loss

Elsewhere, Nick's Beastmen were somehow wiped spectacularly off the table 20-0 in something like half an hour, and Ben went down 5-15 in a Vampire Count civil war. Pete's Chaos Warriors did manage to triumph 19-1 against Erranty Crusade Bretonnians, but as a team we had been soundly thumped. The system caps a big win or loss as a 50-30 overall, so that's how we now had 30 points. An ignominious start, perhaps. But plenty more games to come.