Charge of the Wild Brigade

Candaletha the Dark sat upon Griefclop her unicorn ally. From her vantage point she could see a large force of the lackeys of the ruinous powers in the valley below. The area was known as Vaul's Twins referring to the magic fires eternally burning on two hills within the valley. That the Chaos army knew about this secret place was troubling. She knew that if both hills were desecrated by them then evil things would flock here and this place would be cursed. Such a thing could not be allowed to happen. With her army arrayed behind her she gave the hand signal to form a battle line without uttering a sound. As they deployed to meet the enemy an arrow struck the Chaos general in the chest giving the wood Elf host the order to attack! 

Greetings, once again I have played a game of not 40K. Hot on the heels of my game at Neil's gaff is the rematch. Due to the summer holiday season and shift work a game of dayhammer was on the menu. Some work was done to the force (Waywatchers completed and a couple of skirmish trays were prettied up) meaning Wood Elves were ready and Neil's forces of chaos were thirsting of vengeance. Would they get it? Read on....

The Armies

Lords;

Chaos Lord Elon “Soporific Musk” D’Eltoyd: Mark of Slaanesh. Chaos Mutations & Powers: Allure of Slaanesh. Magic Items: BRB - Biting Blade, BRB - Talisman of Endurance

Heroes;

Chaos Sorcerer Y'mca: Lore of Death, Mark of Nurgle, Wizard Level 2. Chaos Mutations & Powers: Nurgle's Rot. Magic Items: WoC - Skull of Katam

Core;

Chaos Warriors: 13x Chaos Warrior. Champion. Musician. Standard Bearer: BRB - Gleaming Pennant

Chaos Warriors. Champion. 19x Chaos Warrior: Halberds, 1Shields. Standard Bearer: - Standard of Discipline

Special

Chaos Knights . Champion. 6x Chaos Knight:  Lances, Mark of Khorne. Standard Bearer: BRB - Ranger's Standard

Flesh Hounds of Khorne . 5x Flesh Hound of Khorne

Minotaurs . 6x Minotaur:Mark of Slaanesh

Nurglings : 3x Nurglings

So Neil's list is pretty hard hitting with some daemonic support. Ambushers and infesters means I have to be wary about leaving my rear exposed (ooh-er). The hardest to deal with units are probably the Knights (1+ save and the big block of Warriors) my best units for dealing with both would probably be Waywatchers and Wild Riders. 

Lords;Spellweaver Candaeltha the Dark:  Sivejir's Hex Scroll,  Talisman of Endurance, Dark Magic, Blade Wind, Power of Darkness, Doombolt, Word of Pain. Wizard Level 4.Unicorn

Heroes;

Branchwraith Thistledoom; Dwellers Below

Glade Captain Gardech the Solemn,Charmed Shield, Asrai Spear, Battle Standard, Shield. Elven Steed

Shadowdancer Sarchistii the Frivolus: Glittering Scales

Core;

Dryads : 10x Dryads

Glade Guard: Champion, Musician, Standard Bearer. 10x Glade Guard: 10x Hagbane Tips

Glade Riders ]: Glade Knight, Musician, Standard Bearer. 5x Glade Riders: 5x Trueflight Arrows

Special;

Sisters of the Thorn : Musician, 5x Sisters of the Thorn

Wardancers. Bladesinger, Musician, 10x Wardancer

Warhawk Riders : 3x Warhawk Riders

Wild Riders : Champion, Musician, Standard Bearer, 8x Wild Riders

Rare;

Waywatchers : Champion, 10x Waywatchers

 Last game I had used shadow magic and that worked well against the ruinous powers but for this game I fancied a change. I decided to go for Dark magic as it has good damage output and the ability to cause extra hits using the lore trait. I also picked up  Sivejir's Hex Scroll as I like to use it and thought due to Neil's kamikaze attitude to the Skull of Katam there might be some entertainment in trying to turn Y'mca into a toad. From a tactical point of view my plan would be similar to our last one, dance around the chaos dillholes, shooting with wild abandon, until they look weak enough for an aggressive Wood Elf going over.   

Mission and Mystical Objects on the Battlefield

We had decided that a 2000 point game would be doable. The mission was battle for the pass, which I have some experience with, albeit several years ago. This kind of upset my plan of avoidance as when you play on a 24" wide table there is less flanking opportunities. The terrain was rolled up and there were two hills (both Anvils of Vaul surprisingly) a building (the inn) a Wyrding Well on what was to become my right flank, and an Earthblood Mere on the opposite side of the table. There was also a ordinary fence and an Acropolis of Heroes. 

Neil's deployment was two units either side of the inn and a unit of Flesh Hounds wandering around the back garden of my deployment zone. I placed my Wild Riders and archers to face Neil strong flank with the Waywatchers suddenly appearing there too (much to the Knight's surprise). I put the sisters by the Wyrding Well and Wardancers, Hawks and spells inger on the right. The Dryads deployed centrally. My Warhawks vanguarded to be within the range of the Acropolis and we rolled for who went first. It was Neil.

My hawks do a spot of vanguarding.

Archers of the left flank, with Wild Riders, Dryads, Unicorn and Wardancers more central. Sisters of the Thorn are on the right to hold back Y'mca's unit. Glade Riders are off frolicking through the glades.

"Hate to see them leaving, love to watch them walk away" Slaanesh Lord Elon “Soporific Musk” D’Eltoyd

The chaos lines, left flank Knights and a large slab of Warriors, Nurglings have infested the pub and Slaaneshi Minotaurs with Y'mca on the right. Fleshhounds are waiting in the wings somewhere.

The Game

Neil went first and his turn involved some shuffling forward and casting a spell on my Warhawks giving them -1 strength. I then pulled my hex scroll and turned Y'mca into a toad. Now all I had to do was swoop in with my weakened Warhawk riders and bye bye chaos wizard!

I spy with my little eye, a Chaos sorcerer turned into a frog!

And here he is in soft focus! 

In my first turn I charged the toad-wizard getting two models in base to base with him, surely that would be enough? The Dryads charged into the pub to rescue some of the timbers that looked like some of their long lost relations. Both Neil and Stuart (an impartial spectator) were surprised to find out how nasty Waywatchers can be when they take aimed shots at chaos Knights (they killed three). A couple of Dark spells killed a Minotaur and took a wound from another. Now all I needed to do was kill the pesky toad-wiz and the game would be a cake walk. This wasn't as easy as I thought as both Warhawks and riders fluffed their attacks. The other one caused a couple of wounds on the warriors. In the returning attacks quite a lot of wounds were caused but the Acropolis of Heroes meant my unit was stubborn, so I might get another stab at Y'mca the Slippery. The Dryads gave the Nurglings a bit of a hiding but not enough to evict them, leaving them standing outside the pub like unruly chavs on a Saturday night.

A swift assassination attempt!

Wardancers in the wood.

Three dead Knights courtesy of some Waywatcher sharpshooting.

Neil's turn two was pretty eventful. Firstly the Knights charged the Waywatchers and due to the Ranger standard didn't have to take dangerous terrain tests over the fence. To his horror the Waywatchers once again proved their outrageous shooting skills by killing all three before they could shout something about the blood god with exclamation marks at the end. Neil also declared a charge of my wardancers in the wood but miscalculated and couldn't get past the Warhawks, I told him he could redirect if he wanted to but chose not to (probably because it wouldn't achieve very much as the warhawks were doing a piss poor attempt at killing Y'mca. The flesh hound dragon mash ups arrived to the rear of the Glade Guard. To my disappointment  the hex scrolls power  faded and Y'mca was ready to twat some birds. The hawks were duly twatted leaving room next turn for some pervy minotaurs to get slobbering over my Wardancers.

What's that coming over the hill? Is it a monster? Or five?

Out in the Chaos wastes these Flesh Hounds have taken the image of Mighty Empires™ dragons. You just can't trust the minions of the ruinous powers!

I was expecting this picture to have a couple of chaos Knights in it, sadly for them a 1+ save doesn't do much with some Waywatcher's stand and shoot even at -3 to hit!

In my turn the large unit of warriors were charged by the Wild Riders. The Dryads took a second crack at the Nurglings. The Glade riders returned from the glades and appeared a short distance from Flesh Hounds. so close it was amazing they hadn't seen each other a few minutes previously. All available missile troops turned to face the daemon dogs except for the Waywatchers who couldn't draw a bead on them, so they just stood about drinking cold herbal infusions whilst there wasn't anyone to target,

The Wild Riders crash into the Warriors, and the Dryads enter the inn to evict the Nurglings and possibly have a couple of sneaky pints into the bargain.

Confusion reigns by the pub, Neil make a miscalculation regarding getting round the weakened Warhawks.

The Glade Riders have returned from the glades just in time to shoot up some Flesh Hounds.

Shooting and magic were fairly quiet a few spells; Word of Pain, Blade Wind, Power of Darkness  were attempted (most magic phases I tried these as there is great fun reducing Warriors WS then making them make a test against it). Two Flesh Hounds died to various pointed projectiles aimed at them. Then came the hand to hand phase, the Dryads unsurprisingly wiped out the Nurglings. The main event though was the Warriors of Chaos vs Wild Riders, Neil issued a challenge and the wild Rider champion accepted. That's when I found out just how lethal the Slaanesh Lord was (very). He killed the champion and ended up with a +5 overkill combat res! So it was up to the rest of the wild bunch and BSB to even things up, which they did 13 dead Chaos Warriors, with the return attacks I was down to a Wild Rider standard bearer and BSB. I had won by 1! Neil very sportingly failed the break test and  the lone Wild rider pursued and killed the rest. The right flank was cleared of it's main threat. Except for some troublesome Flesh Hounds round the back.

After annihilating the Warriors a lone Wild Rider make the jump over the fence, much to my relief. 😓 The BSB isn't so reckless and decided to take the safer route to the enemy.

Neil had lost a big portion of his army in the apocalyptic scrap on the left but still had plenty of other nastiness to inflict on me still. He declared charges on my Wardancers with the Minotaurs and the Flesh Hounds charged the Glade Guard. A Dryad was magicked to death by Y'mca. Close combat was surprising. The flesh hounds didn't beat the Glade Guard in fact they lost and went down to two daemon canines. The Minotaurs also bounced off the Wardancers due to the shadow's coil  and the Wardancers rolling very well. In my turn ASF helped the Wardancers defeat and then rout the Minotaurs. The Dryads left the building and the lone wild Rider sauntered round the building ready to do a bit of flank charging imminently.

Fleeing Minotaurs very nearly scupper my plans!

The Minotuars were fleeing and the flesh Hounds were held up by Glade Guard so all I really needed to do was get rid of the Y'mca's unit and victory was mine. So a series of charges into his unit should be enough, firstly a charge at the minotaurs to keep them running and a swift redirect from the Dryads who had left the building last turn, then charges from the Wild Rider, Wardancers and BSB should finish the job. The Glade guard killed off the Flesh hounds. The decisive final strike  didn't go as well as I had hoped and protracted scrum eventually led to defeat of the Chaos Warriors and therefore peace would return to the forest. What of the Minotaurs? Legend says they are still running!

End Credits

Well that was a fun game that pretty much went exactly how I wanted it to. The pivotal clash was the Wild Riders charge that I very nearly didn't win. I am so used to them steamrollering whomever they get a charge off against that I was perhaps a little over confident going in. To win by 1 and then for a Chaos Lord to cack his pants and run was a spectacular bit of luck. Unfortunately, the good times may well be over as Neil has very nearly finished a BSB so some leadership rerolls may soon be coming to spoil my fun. The Waywatchers and Wardancers did exactly what I wanted (kill the Knights and defeat the minotaurs in the wood respectively). Special mention to the Glade guard who actually withstood a charge from Flesh hounds and then actually destroyed them! Thumbs down to both the Glade Riders and sisters of the Thorn who get barely a mention due to their minor contribution.  

Neil's attitude to the game and more so his reluctance to use an unpainted BSB is exactly what the hobby is about, with said character he probably would have stayed there and killed both my BSB and wild rider next turn. Perhaps the Waywatchers would have removed them next turn but it's debatable. Neil's minotaurs had been weakened by shooting and spells enabling the Wardancers to get the upper hand in the woods. Speaking of magic, transforming Y'mca into a toad and then totally fouling up his assassination was pretty hilarious. Just one of those events that make WFB such a good game I suppose.

Going forward I think putting the Dark Mage in the unit of Wild riders might have some value and I am struggling to find a reason for taking Glade Riders. Maybe instead a unit of armour piercing Glade Guard might fill an anti armour slot as my Waywatchers can't cover everything. So to wrap up, thanks to Neil for another brilliant game and I hope you found this report amusing. 

Thanks for reading.   

End Credit Scene

Candaletha's blood lust was waning. From her perch upon Griefclop she could see the piles of dead, friend and enemy. Many brave asrai had died defending the pass at a high cost but the foul foes had been wiped out. Funeral cairns were being prepared for the honoured dead and the enemy would have their bodies purified, not out of ant respect but to prevent disease, also she thought, the souls of the foes might not be able to return to their own horrific version of paradise if they bear no taint of chaos. Once all the rites were complete the signal was given to leave the valley. No doubt, there would be more enemies trying to  infiltrate the Forest of Loren, so there was little time for dallying.

Second End Credit Scene

As the Wood elf host left the valley there was a faint tremor under the cairn of Chaos dead, several stones rolled away to see a rancid arm claw it's way out of the stones. Painfully, Y'mca  dragged himself from his tomb and crawled away. Through the fog of pain and rage one clear thought repeated itself inside his head, "REVENGE!"...........