This is the second part of my report of the recent 8th edition Warhammer Fantasy tournament, Bendigo Besieged. You can find the previous part here.
Game 2 - Dawn Attack
Karl Bonwick - Warriors of Chaos
- Daemon Prince (Level 4, Lore of Metal) of Tzeentch with Chaos Armour, Daemonic Flight, Flaming Breath, Scaled Skin, Soul Feeder, Charmed Shield
- Exalted Hero (BSB) of Tzeentch on Daemonic Mount with Great Weapon, Shield, Burning Body, Third Eye of Tzeentch, Barding, Talisman of Preservation
- 25 Chaos Warriors of Tzeentch with Shields, Full Command, Standard of Discipline
- Chaos Chariot of Tzeentch
- 5 Chaos Warhounds
- 10 Chaos Knights of Tzeentch with Ensorcelled Weapons, Full Command, Banner of Swiftness
- Chimera with Flaming Breath, Regenerating Flesh
- Hellcannon
This was more like the sort of list I was worried about running into, with characters I was going to struggle to deal with. But the Daemon Prince wasn't immune to flaming attacks, so really there was just one plan there - Searing Doom...
Karl's stuff largely landed over on the opposite flank to most of mine...
...With the exception of this poor, lonely Chariot.
Unfortunately I'm missing a photo. Having deployed first, I would have the first turn unless Karl stole it with a 6. Which of course he did. So he moved up, with the Chimera coming quite close to the Dragon Princes on my right flank. The Hellcannon (and I think a low level Searing Doom) knocked off more than a rank of Silver Helms and a couple of Spearmen, but nothing ran away.
The Dragon Princes decided to take their chances and charge the Chimera, and shockingly killed it outright on the charge, thanks to Karl failing all of his regeneration saves. They spun about, outside of the arc of the Chaos Knights. My Silver Helms had also decided to gamble a little and went for a long charge on the Chaos Knights, as it was an opportunity to potentially take them out without interference from the Daemon Prince. Unfortunately we didn't quite make it.
I wasn't interested in wasting a lot of time with the lone Chaos Chariot on my left, so moved multiple targets up into range in the hope of getting things over with.
So this was bad. The Daemon Prince and Chaos Knights both declared a charge. The Prince only needed a 5. The Knights were more like an 8. Unfortunately I was under the impression that if I fled, I'd potentially be off the field. As it happened, that wouldn't have been the case, as we only confirmed how Swiftstride works for fleeing in 8th edition after I decided to hold and hope the Daemon Prince arrived alone. He did not. That was not good.
My Prince was stuck facing the Daemon Prince, whilst the Chaos Knights received an additional boost from Enchanted Blades of Aiban...
The Chariot elected to engage the Swordmasters, so I had what I wanted - no messing around.
The Hellcannon landed another direct hit, this time basically negating the entire Spearman unit as a threat in the game.
The Chariot rolled pretty well, killing 7 Swordmasters and surviving on a single wound.
Yeah, that went really well. We got away, but couldn't rally on anything but double 1s because Karl had cunningly left a single Silver Helm to escort my Prince off the field. They did not rally.
This was all too much for the depleted Spearmen, who fled into the forest to hide from the screaming of the dying Silver Helms.
The Chaos Warriors stepped forward and the Warhounds jumped in the path of the Dragon Princes, but the enemy BSB was being very cagey for someone with almost impenetrable saves. It turned out he had flaming attacks (which I had missed), so wanted nothing to do with the Dragon Princes. The coward.
The Phoenix Guard flanked the Chaos Chariot to ensure that no more Swordmasters would die unnecessarily, and to use it as a springboard to swing across the field. Unfortunately they found a very fast springboard, and launched themselves so quickly that their flank was now exposed to the Chaos Warriors. That was OK though, because the Dragon Princes dealt with the Warhounds and flew at maximum speed into the flank of the Chaos Warriors, pinning them in place and thus saving the Phoenix Guard from an unfortunate fate. That was lucky.
The Daemon Prince and Chaos Warriors moved to get themselves back into the fight. The Hellcannon chose to charge into the flank of the Dragon Princes. This spun the whole combat a bit in order to allow the charge to "close the door" with the BSB in the way (he had moved by this picture). The combat was funny. The Dragon Princes managed to shrug off any damage, which meant they held their own in the combat. The Chaos Warriors were steadfast and the Hellcannon unbreakable, so nobody was going anywhere.
I spent help, then Chaos sent help. Everyone sent help. The arrival of the Daemon Prince was realistically the end of any hope in the combat, and things fell apart at that point.
The Spearmen had stepped out to ensure the Chaos Knights couldn't get involved in the crazy combat nearby, so of course they died hideously.
The Dragon Princes did manage to outpace the Hellcannon (just), so they actually survived the battle. The Phoenix Guard had been less fortunate.
The Phoenix had also escaped, and rallied to face the pursuing enemy army. This was the last chance for the Loremaster to throw a meaningful spell, such as a boosted Searing Doom into the Daemon Prince. Didn't work. Only got one spell off for the battle.
The Chaos Knights and BSB had charged the Swordmasters, and they elected to flee. They then fled... Not very far. Not far enough. The BSB mopped them up, whilst the Knights redirected into the Phoenix. By their combined might, the units did manage to narrowly beat the Phoenix, but it held. In the next round it actually won combat, but nothing fled.
And with that, the battle was over. I had little to show for my efforts - a dead Chimera, Chariot and some Chaos Warhounds. All I had left were the Phoenix and Dragon Princes. It was not an even fight.
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