My 100th Post - Rumble in the Forest

Here's another battle report vs Aaron's rather filthy Warriors of Chaos. after a sound drubbing of my Lizardmen army I decided to change the army I have the most experience with - Wood Elves.

For those who haven't read the previous battle, why not? Here is Aaron's list;

Warriors of Chaos

Filthmaster Cheeserank  

Daemon Prince, Chaos Armor, Mark Of Nurgle, Flight, Level 4 (Lore Of Nurgle), Scaley Skin (5+), Soul Feeder, Charmed Shield

Ech Rottenhand 

Aspiring Champion, BSB, Chaos Armor, Shield, Halberd, Mark Of Nurgle

The Maurauders of the Encrusted Beard 

15x Warriors Of Chaos. Shields, Banner, Mark Of Nurgle

The Stank Of Warriors Past 

14x Warriors Of Chaos. Shields, Banner, Mark Of Nurgle

The Courier Service Of Pain 

Chaos Chariot, Mark Of Khorne

The Bonemashers

3x Skullcrushers, ensorcelled weapons, banner, Mark Of Khorne

My list was like this:

Wood Elves

Killvain the Witty

Glade Lord, Armour of Fortune, Obsidian Amulet, Sword of Anti Heroes, Longbow, Elven Steed, Shield.

Gargamel The Swift

Glade Captain, Battle Standard Bearer, Hail of Doom Arrow, Charmed Shield, Dragonbane Gem, Longbow, Spear, Great Eagle called Swooping Death.

Glitterbane The Fey
Spellsinger, Scroll of Shielding, Talisman of Endurance, Level 2 Lore of Metal

The Kindred of Average Arrows
12 x Glade Guard, Champion, Musician, Standard

The Swift Avengers
8 x Glade Riders, Glade Knight, Musician, Standard Bearer, Hagbane Tips.

Killervain's Bodyguard
6 x Wild Riders, Champion.

The Glade Slayers
5 x Wild Riders, Champion

The Silent Barbs

6 x Waywatchers

Army Composition & Tictacs

 1500 points again so I'm forced into taking a pretty competitive list as there is no room for passengers! I really wanted to take my dragon but if I did there would be bugger all else in the army. All I did know was a static army against Aaron's mobile highly destructive units. I've recently been using 2 units of Wild Riders and they can be highly effective as they can get charge in, cause lots of damage and hopefully break any small unit, as luck would have it this Warriors of Chaos army is nothing but small units. One thing I learned from our last battle is that a model with a 1+ save is very difficult to deal with so I went with Metal magic and a unit of Waywatchers as well. I didn't have enough points to equip the Glade Guard with magic arrows, but I think in a smaller game it's a case of quantity over quality.

Pre Game Jiggery Pokery

I got to pick the table edge so I went with the one with the forest on my right , then placed my free forest to the left of that, hopefully creating a deterrent for the chariot so he/it/they would have to advance around either the swamp or the fences. aaron placed his forces from left to right in the picture below Daemon Prince, Skullcrushers, chaos Warriors with BSB, Chariot then the other unit of Chaos Warriors. My deployment was Wild Riders with my general, Wild Riders, Spellsinger, BSB on eagle and Glade Guard. I placed my Waywatchers approximately 14" from the Chaos Warriors the other side of the swamp. I was going to (hopefully) torment Aaron into attacking them and then play the running away game with them. Killvain the Witty released his Arrow of Kurnous into Filthmaster Cheeserank (doing absolutely no damage) and the game began.

Set Up

Turn One

I won the roll for first turn and it wasn't the spectacular slaughterfest I was hoping for.  I advanced central unit of Wild Riders to within long charge range of the Skullcrushers in the hope of a failed charge making my job easier. The archers, Eagle Rider and mage stayed well out of harms way. Some lackluster magic and shooting left 2 Chaos Warriors on the left dead from fine Waywatcher archery.

Aaron declares (and fails) a charge on the Waywatcher unit who stand and shoot killing naff all. skullcrushers move up towards the wild riders and the DP flies to a more central position. The chaos magic phase sees Curse of The Leper on the BSB unit (augment) and makes a hash of Plague Wind merely casting it on himself, making Plague Wind more like an embarrassing expellation of Daemon gas.

End of Chaos Turn 1

Turn Two

The Wild Riders charge the Skullcrushers who are the ideal unit for them - small and frenzied - so they can't flee. My Glade riders appeared on the right flank ready to shoot and hopefully not get into combat with any highly aggressive Chaos models. I cast Enchanted Blades on the Wild Riders just to give them an even better edge. Shooting was a bit meh. Plinked a few Chaos Warriors. Close was good the Skullcrushers couldn't live with the Wild riders and were routed,caught and slaughtered, nicely taking them out of the DP's charge arc into the bargain.

End of WE turn 2

The Chaos Warriors on the left charged the Waywatchers, failed and took a wound or two to stand and shooting. The other unit marched up towards the elves minding the fence. The Daemon Prince was clearly rattled as his first spell ended up with me gleefully writing down BROKEN CONCENTRATION! With no combats the Chaos Warriors must have been feeling a bit antsy. Good.

Turn Three

No charges for me but I move my units round so that there will be soon! I scoot the Wild Riders covered in Skullcrusher remains to end up very close Cheeserank hoping Aaron will turn round and get stuck in a dangerous combat with them. The Glade Riders & generals unit are circling the slow moving Warriors. The Waywatchers move back, maintaining a healthy distance between them and the Warriors. Enchanted Blades was cast on the BSB, also I cast an irresistible Searing Doom on the Daemon Prince causing 3 wounds on him and a calamitous detonation on the caster. Luckily I failed to wound myself (dice, eh?). Shot the chariot with the Glade Riders and the BSB (using the trusty Hail of doom Arrow) wrecking it and giving me a warm fuzzy feeling inside as well. I would give this turn a 7 or 8 out of 10.

End of WE movement turn 3

Same turn different view

Chaos army sans Chariot

Both units of Chaos Warriors fail charges against their tormentors, losing a few models to arrows and in the case of the swamp trotting Warriors - death by mud into the bargain! The DP flew to the flank of the Glade Riders (I had a nasty feeling about this). Plague Wind was cast killing 3 Glade Riders and a Wild Rider (I used the Scroll of Shielding to save them) and put a wound on my general.

End of chaos Warriors movement turn 3

Turn Four

The Wild Riders charge the rear of the Chaos Warriors losing none in the swamp. I also get a bit gung ho and charge the other Chaos Warriors with both the Glade Guard and BSB, thinking CR will see me through (I had a plan to deal with the Mark of Nurgle). The Glade Riders move around the Daemon Prince and the Waywatchers move round to hopefully get a few shots on him as well. Unfortunately I also move my second unit of wild riders to give the Daemon Prince cover from their stupid faces! A boosted Searing Doom plinks another would off the DP (he should be dead by now). I also cast Enchanted Blades on the Glade Guard (see, I told you I had a plan). Due to my inept postioning of the Wild riders the DP doesn't receive and load of no save arrow death!The Chaos BSB issues a challenge and the Glade Guard champion accepts. By the end of the combat my Eagle rider has taken 2 wounds but the Glade Guard champion hasn't! The combat is drawn. The Wild Riders in the swamp destroy the Chaos Warriors losing one to a failed DT test.

End of WE movement turn 4

Exalted Champion of Chaos bottles challenge with a gimp

The Daemon Prince scoots around the Glade riders so he can catch them with horrible smelly Nurgle magic. He casts Plague Wind irrisiatibly killing the unit without hurting himself. The Chaos BSB kills the Glade Guard champion earning himself another attack from the interfering Gods of Chaos. The combat starts to go a bit pear shaped as the Glade Guard can't get through Chaos armour. My BSB kills one or two Warriors but I get the sinking feeling that even with Enchanted Blades this combat is going to turn into a massive clusterfuck. I lost the combat but stayed around but I was certain it wouldn't be for long!

Turn Five

No pictures this turn (not sure why). I had no charges, just moved units around to shoot the DP and get into combat with the Chaos Warriors. My Mage had been mooching around in the woods all game availing herself of the +1 to cast in from Blessings of the Ancients, sadly a boosted Searing Doom was dispelled (I don't think Aaron is a fan of that spell), but he let me cast Enchanted Blade on herself (she had wandered to far from her preferred targets - the BSB and Glade Guard. Shooting didn't do anything as the DP was miles away (figuratively at least) from the Waywatchers. In combat the BSB dance off ended up with yet another dead elf, and a +1 strength bonus to Ech Rottenhand. The remaining Warriors chopped up my Glade Guard rather well and reformed to face the Wild Riders (oops).

Unsurprisingly the Chaos Warriors charged my Wild Riders, but thankfully by this time they weren't too big a unit for me to hand (or so I hoped anyway). The feebleminded Daemon Prince must have failed his first attempt at casting as in my notes it states NO MAGIC. The only BSB in the village then issued a challenge which my Wild Rider champion accepted, and duly died to. The Eye Opened which meant Rottenhand didn't get any beefier this turn. The Wild Riders lose combat but having a leadership 10 models counts for something now and again, they don't flee.

Turn Six

I moved my units to hopefully kill the DP which after a swift mental calculation should put me in a favourable position points wise as long as Rottenhands doesn't end my general. In the magic phase I finally Searing Doom the slippery Filthmaster Cheeserank to death earning me some nice victory points. In combat Ech challenged Killvain The Witty to duel the night away. Killvain had to accept. The combat was inconclusive - neither could land a telling blow. The grunts in both units also didn't do very much, the combat was drawn. 

As the last remaining chaos unit was in combat Aaron needed to destroy this unit. Sadly for him and happily for me the combat ground on with neither unit sufficiently inflicting enough damage to rout the other. The game ends with Killvain The Witty making two ward saves to get the win.

Just to confuse this picture is taken from the opposite table edge turn 6

Victory to the Wood Elves!

Conclusion

Well that was a tough game. The list is pretty good for my MSU style army. Only the two units of Chaos Warriors have anything like the numbers to tie down my units in combat. My Waywatchers were great this game, taking wounds off the Chaos Warriors without getting into combat themselves, although in fairness the swamp was a big help. My biggest error was when got cocky and charged my BSB and Glade guard into the Chaos Warrior unit with his BSB. With my fragile T3 models combat really isn't an option with them, unless they get buffed. I was happy with my general movement as denying the Daemon Prince targets to charge was very helpful as there really isn't anything in my army that can take it. Was a bit unlucky that it took 3 boosted Searing Doom's to finish him off as the mage could have been put to other duties a turn earlier I reckon with better rolls. All in all an enjoyable game that was challenging tactically. Thanks to Aaron for playing.

Thanks to you for reading.