Mizzard Wodel Strikes Back!

Time for another Age of Sigmar battle report. This time it's between my Wood Elf force against a similar number of Donal's Empire army. As my last threesome took ages we had decided that a 75 wound battle would be sufficient to get through fairly swifly with a possibility of a game of *something else for dessert. In the red corner - Donal's destroyers, an Empire army consisting of: An Empire general, 5 Outriders, Celestial Hurricanum, 20 Halberdiers, 10 Handgunners, an Empire Artillery Bloke, a Great Cannon and Hellstorm rocket battery. In the blue corner - Jason's Juxtapositioners, Minty (forest dragon with an Elf hero on his back), Mizzard Wodel Wood Elf Spellweaver of previous battle report fame, A Treeman, 10 Wild Riders, 5 sisters of the Thorn, 8 Waywatchers, and **Squawkie II. Scenery wise (***) in the picture below the woods are all Sylvaneth forest type things and the two rock formations on either end were inspiring, whereas the central rock formation was sinister. We didn't actually roll for the amount of scenery just placed it so it looked aesthetically pleasing.

A view of the battlefield after set up

A Cunning Plan.....

Well generally I don't have a generally solid battle plan but I was looking at the Shadowdancer battlescroll and saw he has a rather nifty spell that can double the movement of any unit. couple with the Wild riders ability to run & charge in the same turn I figured I could, (Dizan willing) get into the face of Donal's artillery in turn one, hopefully wrecking it, leaving Minty and the Treeman carte blanche to curbstomp any feeble humans that came their way. Most of my force was pretty mobile so I was hoping a lot of magical movement mayhem would be Donal's undoing. 

Wild Riders were a major part of my dastardly plan!

The Empire army - are they doomed? Hopefully.

My valiant Woodies!

Turn One

After listening to Heelanhammer's podcast regarding the benefits of going second I won the initiative roll and elected to go second, the reason for this was twofold, firstly it would hopefully get the puny humans nearer to me and gave the me the possibility of a double turn which seems like a fun thing for me! In the hero phase Mystic Shield was cast on the Outriders. Donal advanced his models forward with his aforementioned Outriders outriding out on my left flank. Annoying as I intended on sending Squawkie II, Mizzard and the Sisters round that way to do stuff. The Empire shooting phase was unpleasant. The Riders of Out shoot two wounds of Squawkie II. The Hellstorm Rocket blows a 5 wound hole out of Minty and the Cannon  kills two Wild Riders. At the end of the first turn Donal had severely compromised my dragon!

The Empire goes forth

In the Elf hero phase the magic users got busy! Bridge of Shadows was cast on the Wild Riders, 3 Halberdiers were Arcane Bolted and 1 wound was similarly taken off an Outrider. I move the wild riders up 27" including running but I wasn't convinced I could get them into the artillery (mainly because I hadn't deployed them centrally and as far forward as possible). In the shooting phase (again due to bad deployment) my Waywatchers couldn't target anyone ****properly. In the combat phase the wild Riders charged the Handgunners, Mizzard and Squawkie II charged the Outriders. The Wild Riders killed 5 Handgunners then the Ourriders splatted Squawkie II, Mizzard Wodel did absolutely nothing (probably had feathers in his eyes) and a further 2 Handgunners flee from BATTLESHOCK™.

The Elves go second

The view from the other flank

Turn Two

Donal wins the initiative roll off. Comet of Cassandora gets dispelled by Mizzard Wodel using his blessings of the ancients for two reasons (a) because it sounded like there would be mortal wounds involved and (b) because he was rolling abysmally in combat and I didn't trust him to survive for that much longer. The only movement was by the Halberdiers (towards the Treeman), the General (towards the Treeman but also using the Halberdiers as a shield) and the Hurricanum which sort of span around to shoot magical death at my Wild riders. The Hellstorm Rocket hits Minty again - for 5 wounds again! The cannon kills a Waywatcher and then Storm of Shemtek takes 9 wounds from the Wild Riders! Apologies for the exclamation marks but Donal's wound rolling was hideous (for me). Mizzard manages to survive combat with the Outriders mainly because the goat Donal sacrificed for luck was good for one phase only. Phew! The much depleted Wild Riders killed a few more Handgunners for no loss leaving one handgunner not in contact with the wild riders.

Some foliage.

In the Wood Elf hero phase 6 mortal wounds are Arcane Bolted from the Outriders as Mizzard was proving to not be up to the task, a pity really as Spellweavers are really pretty tasty to be honest. My Shadowdancer failed to cast his bridge of shadows spell on Minty. The Sisters shoot a wound of the skulky general and my Treeman who moved towards the Halberdiers strangleroots another wound off him. The Waywatchers shoot dead the last handgunner leaving a clear route to the Hurricanum, which the grateful Wild Riders took. Minty charges into the artillery. The Treeman and sisters do likewise to the Halberdiers. in the assault phase (close combat, nuggie, tickle fight, whatever) it seems to go well. The Treeman absolutely does one on the Halberdiers causing 12 wounds,  Mizzard kills the last two Outriders. The Hurricanum manages 0 wounds on the Wild Riders, the Dragon gets the cannon down to one wound (regret that later I bet), the Wild Riders cause 3 wounds on the Hurricanum. the Sisters kill another Halberdier and the small number left evaporate in the BATTLESHOCK™ mist.

Age of Sigmar hasn't stopped big monsters hiding from cannons.

Who said AoS isn't all about a big scrum in the middle?

Dragon vs Artillery - should be a piece of cake.

Mizzard Woddle struggles against some Outriders

Turn Three

Donal wins initiative again (yawn). Minty is blown away by the cannon. The general attacks the Sisters. Close combat and the Hurricanum kills the last two Wild Riders. The General kills a couple of Sisters and the rest flee due to BATTLESHOCK™.

How Nigh is the end?

After some quick botany Mizzard Wodel  Rides again!

I think Arcane bolt from the Shadowdancer takes a wound off the general. Mizzard is out of range.I advance what little force I have left up towards the centre. The Waywatchers shoot 6 wounds from the Hellstorm and the Treeman kills the cannon with strangleroots. In the attcking people with weapons at close range phase the Shadowdancer kills the enemy general. The now semi wrecked Hurricanum gets pulverised by the Treeman (really must name him).

End of Turn three

Turn Four

Something wonderful happens! I win initative! I cast Mystic Shield  (Mizzard actually - I just rolled the dice) .In the movement phase everything advances to within the Hellstorms minimum range. Waywatchers and the Strangleroots kill the Engineer. Both the Treeman and Mizzard get into combat with the now defenseless Hellstorm. Mizzard performs the Warhammer equivalent of punching a puppy in the face and the game is over. The empire force is wiped out but without much left of my own force. 

So thanks to Donal for the game and being a good sport, and on the the post match analysis;

Waywatchers laugh in the face of cover!

Not looking good for the Empire

Mizzard stands on his trophy

Conclusion

The star of the game for me was the Treeman, closely followed by the Shadowdancer. If I had had a bit more conviction in my own cunning plan I would have deployed the wild Riders on the edge of their deployment zone to the centre where I may have got them wrecking artillery in turn one, as it was I had to settle for Handgunners. As our own house rule about shooting into combat is a nono I don't see any point whatsoever in taking Glade Guard. Pity, as for me they were the backbone of the Wood Elf army. I'm beginning to think the missile troops are only worth taking if they are allowed to shoot into (and out of) combat as their woefully unlethal weapons (Glade blades ffs) make them a liability. I think my next AoS Odyssey will involve a Sylvaneth host or I may even dig out my Skaven for a change. 

Thanks for reading.

The End of Game congratulatory picture.

*Something else was a game of infinity.
** Squawkie I's demise is documented here.
*** We both pretty much forgot all game that the scenery had special powers so in actual fact it was pretty mundane scenery instead.
**** Damn you Games workshop and your 20" shooting range!