Despite an insanely busy weekend I managed to snatch two games from the jaws of no hobby time: take that adult life. One I did not do a write-up for as it was again versus Warriors of Chaos, and it was the players second game. While he learned a lot and we had a lot of fun, the game was pretty one-sided as the army was quite elite and just get gobbled up with multi-Charges.
This time I'm against Ben, a veteran of our previous 6th Edition Campaign and who is making the transition into The Old World. Eschewing his normal High Elves, this time he's gone with Dark Elves as a new project, and I was excited to play them. I decided to play one of my new-ish army lists as I'd just built some Ogres the night before and wanted to see how they'd perform.
Finally, I'll make a comment about how I'll be doing these Battle Reports moving forward. Normally I try not to comment much on my opponent's side of things because I'm not in their head and that's unfair. However, I will comment on our two army lists matching up, from now on, because that's an easier evaluation. My last few games I've gotten comments about my opponent having a "weaker" army than me, which I was aware of, so I don't want to just leave that unsaid or unexplained. Hopefully that is a happy middle ground.
Beastmen
Beastlord (General) w/ Shield, Heavy Armor, Talisman of Protection, Slug-skin, Bedazzling Helm
Great Bray-Shaman w/ Lvl 4, Lore Familiar (Demonology)
Wargor w/ Shield, Heavy Armor, Charmed Shield, Gnarled Hide
30 Gors w/ AHW, Standard, Champion
30 Gors w/ AHW, Standard, Champion
Tuskgor Chariot
Tuskgor Chariot
10 Ungors w/ Short Bows
10 Ungors w/ Short Bows
10 Ungors w/ Short Bows
4 Chaos Ogres w/ Great Weapons, Mark of Khorne, Standard, Champion
5 Harpies
5 Harpies
3 Dragon Ogres w/ Heavy Armor, Great Weapons
3 Dragon Ogres w/ Heavy Armor, Great Weapons
Dark Elves
Dreadlord (General) w/ Great Weapon, Blood Armor, Lifetaker, Talisman of Protection, Cold One Chariot
Sorceress w/ Lvl 2, Focus Familiar (Demonology)
Sorceress w/ Lvl 2, Focus Familiar (Dark Magic)
5 Dark Riders w/ Fire & Flee, Shields, Repeater Crossbow
16 Black Ark Corsairs w/ Repeater Handbows, Full Command
10 Crossbowmen w/ Standard, Champion
10 Crossbowmen w/ Standard, Champion
10 Cold One Knights w/ Full Command, Cold-Blooded Banner
5 Harpies
Reaper Bolt Thrower
18 Sisters of Slaughter w/ Full Command, Banner of Har Ganeth
Matchup Comparison
Ben is putting down a lot of what I have built to deal with: durable units with reasonable hitting power. Both the Dreadlord and Cold One Knights are serious anvils, whereas the Sisters of Slaughter can still take a charge just fine thanks to their eye-watering Initiative 6, 7 in the first round of combat. On the other hand I have three units with beefy Great Weapons, throwing a lot of attacks, and may be able to prevent the Dreadlord's rampage by getting him in a Challenge with my Beastlord.
The rest of the Dark Elf army is stuff I feel like I can deal with. The Dark Riders will run around all game and do some shooting but there's not much they can charge of mine and deal with other than Ungors. The Crossbowmen should struggle to get through my Ungor screens while my own Harpies hunt them. Lastly, the Reaper has no great targets in my army and the opposing Harpies can only really escort the Chaos Ogres around, which just means I have to have a plan to protect from them that.
Overall I feel like my army has the tools to deal with Ben's army but things could easily go sideways. The Cold One Knights and Chariot are both able to smash my Monstrous units and either out-threat or even-threat them when it comes to charge range. I was also curious how my Lvl 4 would do against a pair of Lvl 2s, I've written about this at some length so it's time to put my money where my mouth is.
Setup & Deployment
Rolling off for Terrain, I placed the first piece: the Wizard's Tower (Impassable), the ruined building (Impassable), and the Forest (Difficult). Ben placed a Hill, another Forest (Difficult) and a building in the far corner (Impassable). This would lead to a pretty open battlefield but the more central pieces could still play a big role.
Next, I also won the roll for Table Side and chose the one with the Hill. My hope was the building would split Ben up a bit, denying the Hill would hurt his shooting, and I could still use the Forest/Tower to hide behind. Moving to Spells, I chose Steed of Shadows, Gathering Darkness, Demonic Vessel, and Demonic Vigor. Ben rolled Infernal Gateway and Phantasmagoria, dropping the former for Doombolt, and Steed of Shadows with Demonic Vigor, again dropping the former for The Summoning.
Marching order went as follows:
- Crossbowmen
- Ungors
- Crossbowmen
- Ungors
- Corsairs
- Ungors
- Dark Riders
- Gors
- Reaper Bolt Thrower
- Tuskgor Chariot
- Cold One Knights
- Tuskgor Chariot
- Harpies (Non-Scouting)
- Dragon Ogres
- Sisters of Slaughter
- Gors
- Characters (Dark Magic on the right, Demonology on the left, joined to Crossbowmen)
- Dragon Ogres
- Chaos Ogres
- Characters (General/BSB in one Gor unit, Shaman in the other)
- Harpies (Scouting)
- Harpies (Scouting)
I've found first Turn matters MUCH less in TOW than previous Editions, because of how weak shooting is and the limited range of most offensive spells, so I prefer to set up good fights for myself. Here my hope was that the Cold One Knights would struggle to re-deploy and either charge the Dragon Ogres, or fiddle around until I could force them into my General's unit. Having the Chaos Ogres over there was my hedge against the Dreadlord. Via Steed of Shadows and controlling the Dispel Range I'd likely be able to get my second Gor Herd into some weird places, and the Dragon Ogres on the right are in case of some extreme re-deployment or just to keep the Dark Riders at bay while threatening the Corsairs and other small units on the right.
Ben indeed ran out of space in some respects, with the Sisters of Slaughter being pushed into an awkward position and behind the Harpies. I might be able to trigger their Impetuous and force a big wheel with my own Harpies, depending on what they do. I was also able to heavily reduce the effectiveness of the Repeater Crossbows/Handbows by either giving them Ungors to shoot, Full Cover, or Dragon Ogres who they'll barely scratch on average. Ben won our final roll-off and took Turn 1, time to play!
Dark Elves Turn 1
To start, Ben passed his Stupidity Tests and attempted to cast Demonic Vigor on the Cold One Knights but failed to do so. The enemy Harpies then declared a Charge on my Harpies, on the left flank, but failed badly rolling a 1 and 2, and a 2 for Swiftstride. With no other Charges to declare, the elves got busy moving.
Marching less than their full distance, the Cold One Knights and Dreadlord pushed up but well out of range of any of my Chariots, after all the Dark Elves have the shooting advantage so I can't hang around forever. The failed charge badly hurt the Sisters of Slaughter, who could only move a few inches up, which played a large role in my decision to Hold instead of Flee (the charge was a bit better than 50/50 for Ben but if I Flee he goes his full distance).
Everything else moved with both Sorceresses wanting to get into range for the future, not caring much about the penalty to shooting for now. Both the Dark Riders and Corsairs minced forward a bit, the former doing just enough to shoot my Harpies.
Shots began to rain down on me, but my positioning helped. Between the Reaper Bolt Thrower and rightmost unit of Crossbowmen I only lost a single Ungor, Partial Cover and Skirmishers did a lot of work especially with Multiple Shot units.
On the left, Ben cracked a Focus Familiar to try and get The Summoning off on my Harpies, which he did. This killed four of them on a total of 5 Hits, I failed my Panic Test and would need double 1's to Rally, bye Harpie. The remaining Crossbowmen were less effective, doing nothing. The Dreadlord loaded up Lifetaker and show down three Ungors, improving his Armor Save to a 2+ for the remainder of the game.
Lastly, the Dark Riders whiffed into my Harpies as some of them were giving Partial Cover, Skirmishers, Moved, and Multiple Shots. With that, the turn passes to Beastmen.
Beastmen Turn 1
This seemed like a game to go for Gaze of the Gods, so I rolled for both my Beastlord and Wargor, getting Apotheosis and Dark Fury, respectively. Next, I tried to cast Demonic Vigor on my General's unit, but failed. Lastly, the single Harpy failed to Rally as expected and continued to flee.
In my Movement I reasoned that I needed to give Ben some chaff to kill and then position to counter-attack. If he doesn't take the bait he can keep on ineffectively shooting while I work on the right flank alone, so that'd be fine too. To that end everything Marched, my Ungors getting right in the face of the Cold One Knights and Dreadlord. I then positioned several units: Dragon Ogres, Chaos Ogres, and a Chariot of my own, to counter-charge and avoid even a spiked Overrun. This was tricky because if I stay 12.1" away I'm just out of my own Charge range, plus the Knights have Swiftstide anyways, so some risk would need to be taken.
On the right I was more aggressive because there's no combat threat for me to worry about. My Dragon Ogres went to keep the Dark Riders in arc for now, Ben could easily fix this but then they'd have to do a long loop around and that was fine with me. This did put the Forest in my way, but I didn't have much of a choice and my Deployment Zone was already packed. My Tuskgor Chariot and Gor Herds also moved up, although I failed to cast Steed of Shadows on the Wizard's unit, keeping them stuck behind the Chariot.
Nothing left to do now but let the Ungors die and see where things end up, so I passed the turn.
Dark Elves Turn 2
Passing both Stupidity Tests yet again, Ben tried to cast Demonic Vigor on the Cold Ones but failed, I don't think they needed it against Ungors anyways. Moving to Charges, the obvious ones went out as the Dreadlord and Knights each chose a unit to execute, both Held after passing my Fear Test for the Knights.
Remaining Moves were simpler as the Dark Riders swept around and out of my arc, as expected. If I can just keep them moving and searching for a good target, they'll do almost nothing all game. The right Sorceress left her unit to try and deal with the Harpies, they also performed a full Turn to try and contribute some bolts.
Needing to get the Sisters of Slaughter going, the Harpies Marched behind my Chaos Ogres, which was fine with me since they'll bounce off and die for their trouble if they try a charge. This did free up the whip girls to March but they opted to go around the Tower, being otherwise blocked by the Dreadlord and Knights.
Shooting was much the same, I may have lost a Gor or two in total but the Combats blocked a fair bit of LoS. In a moment of success the Sorceress got Doombolt off, despite my Dispel attempt, and killed 3 Harpies but they passed their Panic, intent on doing their duty.
Finally, Combats were quick and easy with both Ungor blocks being obliterated. Looking at my setup, the Dreadlord needed a massive Overrun to clear the Chaos Ogres, and a 12 to get to the Dragon Ogres, making a normal result a disaster for him. Instead he Reformed and stayed still, while the Knights did Overrun (voluntarily) but came up short of the Dragon Ogres. The trap is sprung!
Beastmen Turn 2
Rolling for Gaze of the Gods again I got Murderous Mutation on the Beastlord and Apotheosis on the Wargor, this is almost perfect. Now the Beastlord is WS 7, same as the Dreadlord, so he'll hit me on 6's if I can get him stuck in a Challenge, a viable counter. Being out of range of my Hex, and not foreseeing either of the Gors getting into combat, I declined to cast my Enchantments as well. Predictably, the fleeing Harpy didn't come back and scooted off the table.
Charge! Starting on the right, my Tuskgor Chariot declared into the Corsairs along with the Dragon Ogres, they replied by Standing and Shooting the Chariot, doing a Wound. The Dragon Ogres failed due to the Forest and stumbled forward. My two remaining Harpies charged the Sorceress, who declared a Flee, but rolled low and was caught. Fortunately, the nearby Crossbowmen passed their Panic Test.
On the left, I put my Dragon Ogres and other Chariot (Flank) into the Cold One Knights and the Chaos Ogres into the Dreadlord. All the Charges were made, with the Dreadlord declaring Stand & Shoot, dealing 2 Wounds to an Ogre. Ow.
Moving around what didn't Charge, I maneuvered the remaining Ungors to get some shots on the Crossbowmen to my right. Both Gor Herds intended to make their presence known as I finally got Steed of Shadows off, flying up and over to land in the face of the remaining Sorceress. My General's Herd Marched up to get the Dreadlord in arc as best it could, but things were tight.
Shooting was predictably pathetic, I didn't manage to wound the Crossbowmen. Next was Combat, which proved to be quite complex. I went with the simple fight first: my Tuskgor Chariot into the Corsairs. 5 died from Impact Hits as a nice start, and then I killed another 1-2 with normal attacks. In reply the unit broke and fled, being run down by the Chariot who then failed to Reform, denying me a charge into the Bolt Thrower next turn.
Next, I make a series of horrible blunders. First, I choose the Dreadlord's combat because I expect it to be semi-even, but I forgot that the Dreadlord is WS 7! This means I hit on 5's, and am hit on 2's by the Character, who is also faster than me. This goes disastrously as I do a Wound and lose two Ogres plus a Wound back, Falling Back in Good Order. Except, oops, this allows the Dreadlord to Pursue into my Tuskgor Chariot, and a combat that hasn't been fought yet. Stupid.
Moving on to that combat, the Dreadlord predictably shattered my own Chariot but not before I got my own Impact Hits, killing a few. Ultimately the Knights rolled poorly and only did a Wound to my Dragon Ogres and lost 5 of their own between my Impact Hits and attacks. Unfortunately I still lost the combat but only Gave Ground, while the Knights successfully restrained and readied to use their lances next time. The Dreadlord also reformed, facing the flank of my Wizard's unit.
Dark Elves Turn 3
Well I've got myself in a fine situation but I think I can still claw things back. Ben begins by passing Stupidity and declining Demonic Vigor, he doesn't have a decent target. Charges again ring out, with the Dreadlord crashing into my Gor Herd's flank and the Knights pulling out their lances in the direct of the Dragon Ogres. Both make it in without even needing to roll. The Harpies feel frisky and also charge, into my Chaos Ogres.
Desperate to get the Sisters of Slaughter to do something, they make a 180 Turn and shuffle forward a bit, still blocked by the Crossbowmen. Dark Riders ride behind my army but have nothing that I care about for them to charge so that's fine. Finally, the Crossbowmen on my right Turn again, this time to face the Harpies who cut down their Sorceress.
Shooting saw the last of my Harpies downed by the Crossbowmen, the ones on the left lacked a target. Once again the Repeater tried to shoot my Dragon Ogres but didn't do anything if I recall, although the Dark Riders managed a Wound. The Summoning was Dispelled or failed to cast, I forget which.
Combats were yet again interesting. I decided to Hold with my Gors, knowing that I could Challenge the Dreadlord and his whole Chariot: Impact Hits and all. I did just that, my Champion being obliterated for five Overkill. This let the Dreadlord win the combat (7 CR to my 1 CR) but I only FBIGO, reforming to face the deadly Chariot. Ben pursued but only went 3", exposing his flank to my own General.
Moving on, the Cold One Knights do a good few Wounds, finishing a Dragon Ogre who had previously been wounded and dealing another on top. I put four Saves into the unit but Ben passed them all on a 4+, so I lose yet again and am out of range for my BSB. Fortunately the big boys only Give Ground, which Ben Follows Up on to deny me a charge and strike before the Cold Ones.
On the same side, the Harpies bounce off my Chaos Ogres and lose one of their own, also Giving Ground. This allowed the Ogres to reform and help out with the Knights in my turn, instead of wasting time on the Harpies and their 55pts.
Beastmen Turn 3
I forgot to take big pictures of the table, apologies, but bear with me. I managed to weather the storm of Ben's Turn with everything intact thanks to my heroic True-Horn. Gaze of the Gods went out again, rewarding my Beastlord with another Apotheosis and the Wargor with Dark Fury. I also cast Demonic Vigor on the Beastlord's unit, just for the Toughness on my General, and failing to cast Gathering Darkness.
Charges were to the point: Beastlord's unit into the Dreadlord who Held, Chaos Ogres into the rear arc of the Knights. All were made with ease, crucially allowing me my Ogres to go at the same time as the Cold One Knights thanks to the +4 Initiative from a Flank/Rear charge. Lastly, my Wizard's Gor Herd charges the Crossbowmen and Sorceress, who Flee, ending up popping through the Sisters of Slaughter as they pass their Panic Test. I opt to redirect, successfully, into the Dreadlord.
With little else to move I pivoted the un-engaged Gor Herd as best I could, failing to cast Steed of Shadows, and moved the Ungors a bit. My Dragon Ogres on the right just Marched through the Forest, tired of it delaying them. Lastly, the Tuskgor Chariot turns to face the Repeater Bolt Thrower.
My shooting was minimal, doing nothing to the opposing Crossbowmen yet again. Onto combats, my Beastlord declares a Challenge which the Dreadlord again must accept. He rolls extremely well, getting two hits and two Wounds through my Armor and Ward, although the remaining crew do nothing. This wins me the combat thanks to all my Ranks and so on, but the Dreadlord only Gives Ground and the Gors Follow Up while the Wizard's Gors Restrain successfully to face the Sisters of Slaughter.
Down in my deployment zone, my Chaos Ogres roll hot and kill 3 Knights, 1 with Impact Hits thanks to Armor Bane. The Knights wound my Dragon Ogres again but then are cut down to the man. My Ogres successfully reform to face literally anything, and the Dragon Ogres Pursue into their rear, at least having some arcs out to charge if an opportunity presents itself. The Harpies were just out of Panic Test range, curses.
Dark Elves Turn 4
A bit on the backfoot with the loss of the Knights, Ben needs to bet on killing my General over the next two turns. Demonic Vigor is tried on the Sisters of Slaughter but fails to cast. Once again the Harpies charge my Ogres, hoping to have them fail their Restraint Test and move somewhere useless for the rest of the game. The Crossbowmen on my right also charge the Ungors, losing 2 from Stand & Shoot. Lastly, the Sisters of Slaughter charge my free Gor Herd but come up a few inches short, stumbling forward. At least the Crossbowmen Rallied.
With nothing else to do but shuffle the Dark Riders a bit, Ben does some shooting. For once, the Bolt Thrower earns its keep and fires a big bolt into the Dragon Ogres, doing 6 Wounds, but the Dark Riders find no purchase with their own salvo.
Combat is extremely tense in the big fight. Once again, the Dreadlord hits twice (on 6's!) and wounds twice. I pass one Armor Save, and then pass the Ward Save, barely keeping my advantage state. To make matters worse, I do 2 Wounds back, and the Dreadlord breaks due to being outnumbered so badly. At least it ran away through the Sisters of Slaughter, who once again care not for Panic, I had declared to Restrain and did since it was likely the Chariot would make it to that unit, and if it didn't I'll just Charge it in my Turn and force another Flee move.
Wrapping up the turn, I kill a few Harpies who again FBIGO, but once again I'm able to Restrain, turning to face them since I no longer expect to need the Ogres elsewhere. I also kill a few Crossbowmen and lose 1 back, but the elves only Give Ground.
Beastmen Turn 4
This can be a nail in the coffin Turn, so I begin with Gaze of the Gods. My Beastlord is struck with Stupidity while the Wargor picks up yet another Attack. Weaving spells, the Bray-Shaman casts both Demonic Vigor and Demonic Vessel on his own unit, giving them +1 to nearly every single attribute. I get a Miscast when trying to put Gathering Darkness on the Sisters, losing 4 Gors from the 3" Template and it's Strength 6 Hits. Put your Wizards on the corner, it saves lives. Lastly, I pass Stupidity.
The souped up, demonic Gor Herd charges the Sisters of Slaughter, who Hold. I also charge with the other Herd, but can't get both in when I inspect the angles and opt for the much better overall unit so the Beastlord stays out. At last, the Dragon Ogres on my right reach combat in the flank of the Crossbowmen there, and my Chariot smashes into the Bolt Thrower.
With no shooting its pure melee. The Crossbowmen are butchered for no loss, with both the Ungors and Dragon Ogres Overrunning, getting the Dragon Ogres to the left where the action is. The Bolt Thrower dies to Impact Hits, and the Chariot Overruns after failing a Restraint Test, playing no further part in the game.
In our big fight, my Wizard declares a Challenge which is accepted by the Champion of the Sisters. I pass Primal Fury and choose to use the Bray-Shaman's staff as a Great Weapon. The Sisters are utterly powerless against my Toughness 5 Gors, losing the Champion and 6 more. This leads to an easy FBIGO, which turns to a Flee due to my numbers, and the unit is caught and cut down.
With this, Ben calls the game. He has a Fleeing General, who will probably Rally but then just has to deal with my Beastlord again and maybe stops rolling so many 6's. Otherwise there's some Dark Riders who I'll never catch, but who will also do nothing, a Crossbow unit that will get charged in my Turn and die, and a couple Harpies. As I've only lost a Tuskgor Chariot and some chaff, this results in a Crushing Victory for the Beastmen.
Post-Game
This was a game where despite some major blunders, my army impressed me with its resilience. I'd say I won through army composition, and deployment, more than any genius mid-game decisions. Let's rewind to the beginning: basically all the combats wound up going how I expected, except where I simply forgot the Chaos Ogres would hit on 5's and be hit on 2's. I should have sent them into the Cold One Knights, and then sacrificed the Tuskgor Chariot to stop the big guy for a Turn by altering his Charge angle, maybe even getting him out of the game for awhile.
Having a lot of units that don't matter, or who can move around easily (Ungors, Tuskgor Chariots) allowed me to get a major leg up on deployment. This is one of the reasons I find elite factions, and armies, to run into some issues because your opponent will dictate what they can fight. While the Cold One Knights got their preferred combat, it was often at the expense of charging so they did little damage. Yes, the Knights can and should likely be run in a wider frontage, but space was tight this match. They should have expanded their ranks the Turn they Restrained, even just a few more attacks could have changed things.
Magic went exactly as I predicted and I feel vindication that anything but a Lvl 4 Wizard (except for Undead Players) is a complete waste. This combination was more expensive than a single Lvl 4, and they constantly failed to cast Spells while also failing to Dispel mine. The damage they did manage to do felt very lucky and also came about because of me being out of range on Turn 1 combined with a Focus Familiar. There was zero opportunity to put one of the Wizards on an extreme flank, and if they did it ruins a Crossbowmen unit too or the model simply dies to my Harpies. This is a weakness of TOW because Magic has zero decisions from a list-building perspective, but it is what it is.
For my money, I really liked Ben's army and think it would benefit from only minor changes. Lvl 4 Wizard, split the Cold One Knights or run them as a unit of ~7, and try to get another lesser threat like a Cold One Chariot. This army had three big threats but one of them got bogged down in deployment, Corsairs are just fine but they don't want to fight anything of substance. If I were a Dark Elf player, I'd go all in on Dark Riders for Core as everything else seems to have severe limitations. Ballistic Skill shooting continues to be awful because of Cover: nearly every army has some throw-away unit that can screen for the things that matter and then get out of the way.
Where the game was decided for me in some respects was the frontages the Dark Elves had to use. Half the Crossbowmen were useless all game because they lack Volley Fire. Half the Cold One Knights were just wounds. The Sisters of Slaughter were similar as well: all these units want wide fronts but that will ruin deployment even without the presence of Terrain. This is why I love iteration in list design, what looks good on New Recruit may struggle on a real 6x4' table.
Besides my super-blunder, my other mistake was with the Dragon Ogres on the right. That Forest hampered them for half the game and I really needed no help on the flank. I should have put them on the far-left, either dealing with the Sisters of Slaughter or quickly getting around the Tower and threatening all kinds of things by Turn 2. S3 elves do not want to fight Dragon Ogres. I also could have entrapped the Dreadlord and Knights slightly better, but it was a fine gambit overall.
Until I get a few more games with the Chaos Ogres I'm happy with this version of my army. They were unimpressive but I also used them terribly, so that's not on the unit. I don't own any Razorgors and probably won't for awhile, so this is what I have. My focus is shifting to my Vampire Count army, which should be table-worthy soon.....
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