New list, at 2k
Lord:
Spellweaver: lvl 4 wizard (life) 313pts
Dispel scroll
Glamourwave Kindred
Elven steed
Core:
10 glade guard: banner of eternal flame 142pts
10 glade guard 120
10 glade guard 120
10 glade guard 120
Special:
7 Treekin, 455pts
6 Treekin, 390pts
Rare:
Treeman 285pts
Great Eagle 50pts
Total: 1995pts
Thoughts: This drops the VERY expensive magic protection of the rhymers harp + unicorn combo to add another unit of treekin at the cost of dryads, 2 unit champions, an eagle and the magic protection..
It does mean that I have two hard units, and that with regrowth and lifebloom I have a good chance of making them stick..
It does mean that I am super vulnerable to warmachines, engineered flame runed cannons for example.. I do have 1 eagle to hunt warmachines and can force some hard choices.. against empire it's not soo bad as i get my 5+ ward which can stop a cannonball straight.. and regrowth again is great..
I do lose look out sir, cos I'm not the same sized base at the rest of the unit.. (need to look that up) if the spellweaver is on a horse and is in the treekin..
Deamons.. how bad the deamon match up I'm talking horror hordes with firestorms, flickering fires and miscelaneous flaming death galores is remains to be seen.. I have a lvl 4 with a dispel scroll whihc hopefully can keep my units intact till we make it to combat at which point it's not so bad.. Bloodthirster with flaming axe.. err yeah I guess I try and redirect with the eagle and if I had to engage do it with a toughness 8/10 treeman.. it's generally not good.
warriors of chaos.. treekin pre buff can take chaos warriors on a fair match up, as long as I don't go against 30 chaos warriors with flaming halberds.. umm yeah again = awkward.
watchtower: with no starting troops that I particularly want to start in the watch tower.. I have to garrison with glade guard until I can get the treekin in.. not necessarily a problem but could be awkward. As it puts me on a back foot from the start.. not sure if reforming with 7 treekin is enough to get 12 inches.. somehow I doubt it..
Well it performed well in the test game today, beating a 2 stone horn, and 3 units of morgfang cavalry ogre list, but it was true he had no wizard.. so I was dwellering his 20 man ogre unit and flesh to stoning treekin/treemen left right and centre.. Looking forward to next monday.. where a new report is due and i'l get round to putting the dwarf one up some time as well..
Tuesday, 8 November 2011
Monday, 7 November 2011
2000pts Skaven vs. Wood Elves
Right army lists:
Spellweaver: lvl 4 wizard (Life)
dispel scroll
rhymer's harp
glamourweave kindred
unicorn
10 glade guard
10 glade guard
10 glade guard
10 glade guard, banner of eternal flame
13 dryads
8 treekin, tree kin elder
treeman
Skaven List: His army list was neatly written in half it included the slaves, hellpit, doom wheel and grey seer (all the exciting stuff) he presumably lost interest.. at this point and the rest of his army is represented by a bunch of numbers and I am left guessing as to what is what.. the good news, his grey seer was named (Skeek Lord Of Terror), so we will let him off.. (this is what I think it means..)
Grey seer, talisman of preservation, warlock weapons 330pts
Battle standard: great weapon... some 50pt magic item/magic banner he never revealed what it did and was
represented by a 50 in his sheet.. 124pts
Assassin with a -1 to hit item *shrugs* and the mystery PoS whatever that means.. 170pts
Core: 100 slaves, shields 250pts
35 clan rats 169pts
warpfire thrower 75pts
special: 15 gutter runners, slings and poison + champion with smoke bombs 295pts
Rare: hellpit abomination with warpstone spikes 300pts
doom wheel 150pts
OKAY: after translating his list that is what it comes out as.. equally, his core comes out at 494pts, and his total is 1863.. so I'm going to guess that the unit he crossed out when he thought he had too many models was supposed to be in the list.. so there should have been 20 clan rats more.. *shrugs* maybe he was just feeling sorry for me.
To anyone who read my previous comments, I was happy to see a lack of warp lightning cannons.. So where's the flaming attacks he asks, "What flaming attacks I ask innocently.." - "There's always flaming attacks in an army.. he replies." I try and look innocent and resist the temptation to say something like you see the unit with a banner which has flames painted on it and hoped..
Spells:
He got Plague / -1 toughness spell / the Dreaded 13th and something else
I got Double Awakening of the Wood, throne of vines and shield of thorns.. I chose at a tough call dweller's below over regrowth and flesh to stone.
Deployment:
Deployment was interesting, I mirrored the doom wheel with the treeman, a risky choice but it stopped the wheel going through my lines..the dryads mirrored the gutter runners, and the treekin held the centre with the glade guard behind them. Both eagles sheltered behing the huts. Both the grey seer and the battle standard are in the unit of clan rats with my spell weaver being in the treekin.
Skaven Turn 1:
Combat: none
Treekin failed to charge the slaves.. it's not like they needed a 6 or anything. I should have charged the treeman at the wheel or kept him back, as it was I accepted he'd charge me by letting go with the initiative.. I should have atleast charged with the long shot and hoped for a 9+ or moved back to counter charge away from the 12 inch lightning and get the charge by luring the wheel.. hmm.
Eagle moved to support the dryads, in the hope that he couldn't sling down both..
Rest of the glade guard turned to deal with their old buddies.
Magic: 2/1 aside from wishing I had warpstone tokens.. I did manage to channel, I 2 diced thrown of vines which he let through before casting shield of thorns which he dispelled.
Shooting: shot the clan rats to bits.. Treeman got an 8 for hits, which failed to wound.
Close combat: none
Skaven Turn 2
Movement:
His slaves charged the treekin, the wheel charged treeman. Gutter runners failed their ld test and moved 6 inch back unable to march. The hell pit and clan rats moved to support.
Magic: 6/3, he 3 dices poison on the 50 man slave unit, I four dice dispel it, he attempts to reduce the toughness of the treekin which I dispel scroll, he tries to plague the far left glade guard which I manage to dispel with two dice.
Shooting: he get's the str 8 hits on the treeman, but fortunately only 1 wounds doing 2 wounds on the D6.
His gutter runners kill 5 dryads with some good rolling.
Combat: the spellweaver takes a wound as does the treekin before the treekin kill 15 between them.. he passes his steadfast save.
The treeman takes 3 wounds to impact hits.. and I watch in disgust as the 2d6 attacks hitting on 5's wounding on 6's take him down.. SIGH
Wood Elves Turn 2
Eagle wounds the battle standard before running away, leading the clan rats into the treekin and blocking the hellpit abomination.
Movement: hellpit shambles forwards, and doom wheel moves towards archers rest is locked in combat.
Magic: 5/4, he got off the -1 toughness spell on the treekin I dispelled the other spells cast.. He didn't dispel shield of thorns which inflicted a load more hits.
Shooting: not in range
Combat: eagle dies to assassin
Spellweaver challenges skaven, the battlestandard accepts finding out to his surprise I don't have annoyance of nettling, unicorn fails to gut him, but after taking a wound kills him with the stomp attack!!
Treekin batter skaven slaves going down to 1 wound on a treekin. Both units hold in combat. Treekin failed to hurt the Grey Seer :( he passed his 4+ ward.
Wood Elf Turn 3
I charged the glade guard into the side of the clan rats, it's so rare I get ranks, I thought you only needed 1 rank to negate ranks.. oh well.
Magic: 6/6: dwellers 6 dice.. no double 6.. he double 6 dispels.. Spellweaver takes the doom wheel out with awakening of the wood, and renews both remain in play to heal the unit to full health.
Shooting: doom wheels dead so no shooting:
Combat: Grey seer wounds spellweaver in exchange for a wound taken from the unicorn.. the unicorn wounds with stomp.. but he passes save. Lose 4 glade guard in exchange for 1 rat.. treekin make up for the abysmal show with another 14-16 dead. Clan rats, fail a ld 10 test and flee 11, the glade guard pursue 4.. well I didn't expect that.. but it does clear things up for him..
Skaven Turn 4
Shooting: kill the warpfire thrower.
Wood Elves: 724
Spellweaver: lvl 4 wizard (Life)
dispel scroll
rhymer's harp
glamourweave kindred
unicorn
10 glade guard
10 glade guard
10 glade guard
10 glade guard, banner of eternal flame
13 dryads
8 treekin, tree kin elder
treeman
Skaven List: His army list was neatly written in half it included the slaves, hellpit, doom wheel and grey seer (all the exciting stuff) he presumably lost interest.. at this point and the rest of his army is represented by a bunch of numbers and I am left guessing as to what is what.. the good news, his grey seer was named (Skeek Lord Of Terror), so we will let him off.. (this is what I think it means..)
Grey seer, talisman of preservation, warlock weapons 330pts
Battle standard: great weapon... some 50pt magic item/magic banner he never revealed what it did and was
represented by a 50 in his sheet.. 124pts
Assassin with a -1 to hit item *shrugs* and the mystery PoS whatever that means.. 170pts
Core: 100 slaves, shields 250pts
35 clan rats 169pts
warpfire thrower 75pts
special: 15 gutter runners, slings and poison + champion with smoke bombs 295pts
Rare: hellpit abomination with warpstone spikes 300pts
doom wheel 150pts
OKAY: after translating his list that is what it comes out as.. equally, his core comes out at 494pts, and his total is 1863.. so I'm going to guess that the unit he crossed out when he thought he had too many models was supposed to be in the list.. so there should have been 20 clan rats more.. *shrugs* maybe he was just feeling sorry for me.
To anyone who read my previous comments, I was happy to see a lack of warp lightning cannons.. So where's the flaming attacks he asks, "What flaming attacks I ask innocently.." - "There's always flaming attacks in an army.. he replies." I try and look innocent and resist the temptation to say something like you see the unit with a banner which has flames painted on it and hoped..
Spells:
He got Plague / -1 toughness spell / the Dreaded 13th and something else
I got Double Awakening of the Wood, throne of vines and shield of thorns.. I chose at a tough call dweller's below over regrowth and flesh to stone.
Deployment:
Skaven Turn 1:
Movement: Doom wheel was irritatingly slow as was the hell pit, the rest moved forwards nothing too surprising.
Magic: 3/1, he spends two of his three warpstone tokens to 6 dice the Dreaded 13th.. oh surprise surprise he got a double 6.. I scoop a unit of glade guard off the board irritatingly the one with the banner so I have nothing to deal with the hell pit..
Shooting: long range poisoned shots at the dryad drop 2.
Combat: none
Wood Elf Turn 1.
Treekin failed to charge the slaves.. it's not like they needed a 6 or anything. I should have charged the treeman at the wheel or kept him back, as it was I accepted he'd charge me by letting go with the initiative.. I should have atleast charged with the long shot and hoped for a 9+ or moved back to counter charge away from the 12 inch lightning and get the charge by luring the wheel.. hmm.
Eagle moved to support the dryads, in the hope that he couldn't sling down both..
Rest of the glade guard turned to deal with their old buddies.
Magic: 2/1 aside from wishing I had warpstone tokens.. I did manage to channel, I 2 diced thrown of vines which he let through before casting shield of thorns which he dispelled.
Shooting: shot the clan rats to bits.. Treeman got an 8 for hits, which failed to wound.
Close combat: none
Skaven Turn 2
Movement:
His slaves charged the treekin, the wheel charged treeman. Gutter runners failed their ld test and moved 6 inch back unable to march. The hell pit and clan rats moved to support.
Magic: 6/3, he 3 dices poison on the 50 man slave unit, I four dice dispel it, he attempts to reduce the toughness of the treekin which I dispel scroll, he tries to plague the far left glade guard which I manage to dispel with two dice.
Shooting: he get's the str 8 hits on the treeman, but fortunately only 1 wounds doing 2 wounds on the D6.
His gutter runners kill 5 dryads with some good rolling.
Combat: the spellweaver takes a wound as does the treekin before the treekin kill 15 between them.. he passes his steadfast save.
The treeman takes 3 wounds to impact hits.. and I watch in disgust as the 2d6 attacks hitting on 5's wounding on 6's take him down.. SIGH
Wood Elves Turn 2
Movement: Dryads charge, going down to 3 from stand and shoot, eagle charges in to support.. other eagle charges clan rats.. glade guard dither aimlessly (I think they turned to face the hellpit.. not on map)
Magic: 6/5, six diced dwellers on the slaves.. obviously didn't get a double 6 and he got a double 6 on his dispel attempt SIGH. Still, using the 5 dice left, I 3 diced awakening of the wood taking 3 wounds off the doom wheel which promtly ran around into the hill taking another wound. And 2 dicing shield of thorns on the treekin. killing 6 more..
Shooting: took a wound off the hellpit.
Combat, spell weaver who had been healed to full wounds was avoided in combat, the slaves failing to wound, the treekin which had also been healed took a wound before killing 18 or so more slaves..
Eagle wounds the battle standard before running away, leading the clan rats into the treekin and blocking the hellpit abomination.
3 dryads kill 3 before drying, the eagle survived the assassin jumping out and failed to do anything... Drawn combat.. sigh YOU HAD TO WOUND WITH YOUR STOMP STUPID BIRD (rant over..)
Movement: hellpit shambles forwards, and doom wheel moves towards archers rest is locked in combat.
Magic: 5/4, he got off the -1 toughness spell on the treekin I dispelled the other spells cast.. He didn't dispel shield of thorns which inflicted a load more hits.
Shooting: not in range
Combat: eagle dies to assassin
Spellweaver challenges skaven, the battlestandard accepts finding out to his surprise I don't have annoyance of nettling, unicorn fails to gut him, but after taking a wound kills him with the stomp attack!!
Treekin batter skaven slaves going down to 1 wound on a treekin. Both units hold in combat. Treekin failed to hurt the Grey Seer :( he passed his 4+ ward.
Wood Elf Turn 3
I charged the glade guard into the side of the clan rats, it's so rare I get ranks, I thought you only needed 1 rank to negate ranks.. oh well.
Magic: 6/6: dwellers 6 dice.. no double 6.. he double 6 dispels.. Spellweaver takes the doom wheel out with awakening of the wood, and renews both remain in play to heal the unit to full health.
Shooting: doom wheels dead so no shooting:
Combat: Grey seer wounds spellweaver in exchange for a wound taken from the unicorn.. the unicorn wounds with stomp.. but he passes save. Lose 4 glade guard in exchange for 1 rat.. treekin make up for the abysmal show with another 14-16 dead. Clan rats, fail a ld 10 test and flee 11, the glade guard pursue 4.. well I didn't expect that.. but it does clear things up for him..
Skaven Turn 4
Movement; hellpit charged glade guard in flank.. seer rallied. The warp thrower which has not existed on the map came through the gap..
Magic: 5/2 managed to dispel the toughness debuff preventing me from going down to 3.. but had to let the poison through.
Shooting.. lost 8 glade guard to the warpfire thrower and 1 in the second unit.
Combat: I overestimated the slave casualties so will ignore that combat for a turn to make it balance for next turn..
Hellpit did 3d6 str 5 atks wiping the glade guard down to 1.. which took 5 thunderstomps.. poor chap. Overun connected with his skaven before it connected with my flank.. after consulting the rule book we realised that he stops.. to the spellweavers relief.
Wood Elf Turn 4
Movement: Eagle prepares for another suicide run.. but the seer flee's, the bird stops an inch from the hell pit.
Magic: 5/3: 2 dice awakening of the wood taking 2 wounds off the hellpit, 6 dice dwellers on the seer's unit fails to cast.. he dispels thrown of vines and shield of thorns end of turn.
Shooting: kill the warpfire thrower.
Combat: wipe out the slaves *YAY* I reform to face hell pit
Time end's, and we are being kicked out... so victory points:
Skaven: 753
Treeman 285
13 dryads 156
10 glade guard 120
10 glade guard, banner of eternal flame 142
Eagle 50
Wood Elves: 724
slaves 250
Battle standard 224
Doom wheel 150
standard from clan rats 25
warp thrower 75
Result DRAW..
Thoughts:..
- Well we both agreed it was a weird game, and both felt a bit cheated.. while I had an incredible magic winds rolling with 12 followed by 11 failing to get dwellers off with 3 turns of trying and he had no scroll... if i'd halved that unit at any point.. it would have been very different.
- I'm not too upset about the treeman as It was a risky move putting it there, and I wouldn't have complained had it paid off, I was hoping he'd get str 2/4/misfire not 8 as it was i was lucky he had to kill me in combat, it was just embarrassing to die to 2d6 str 2 attacks or whatever that thing has.. (Note opponent looked up his rules feeling sorry for the tree..)
- I underestimated the gutter runners, I feel a tad hard done by, as if the eagle had wounded once with 2 attacks hitting on 3's wounding on 3's with a stomp included.. I would have won combat and with their poor ld had a good chance of running them down. I'm not sure what I'd have done differently, except ignore them, I should have moved the dryads towards the middle to threaten charging hte slaves to add an extra x attacks speeding the rate of killing them. and he'd have been stranded with a 400pt unit.. as it was, I fed him victory points.. suicide run with eagle, as it was the wounding hte battle standard was critical as it meant the unicorn finished him off, I was struggling to play the misdirect game in this one due to the speed of combat starting and me actually wanting to be in the one combat that happened.. I should have concerned about the assassin and conserved VP however.
- Lore of life.. i'm sorry I ever doubted you.. will you take me back.. you will... okay. in all seriousness while the weaver was a fortune she single handedly drew me the game regenerating the treekin killing the battle standard adn the doom wheel and killing a ton of slaves and clan rats.. Lore of life is much more effective when you want to get into combat with your units..
- I made a mistake of getting into combat with the slaves.. I was too eager to actually use my 24 str 5 attacks that I didn't realise that is exactly what the 100 slaves are there to soak up.. Ideally, I'd have used the treeman to block the slaves being stubborn and sent the treekin hunting the seer.
- He was playing 100pts down.. I can't see it having made a huge amount of difference, the difference was a unit of clan rats with crew, If anything it would have given me something for the glade guard to deal with and the treekin would have more than welcomed a double flank charge.
- Critical points: hellpit avoiding combat.. enough said
- dreaded 13th taking away flaming.. one turn of coordinated shooting on the hell pit and I'd have probably taken it down to within 2-3 wounds making it easily dealt with later with no chance of coming back.. and I' wouldn't have to turn to kill 10 rats I don't get VP for...
- Dryads and eagle not doing 1 more wound, as I say eagle fluffed spectacularly, and if I'd won combat he'd have been ld 6.. while that combat went badly,like the treeman I don't think it was a necessarily bad decision it just didn't pay off, and losing 10 to shooting was below the par. that said, was the eagle the right choice to send in.. no, not just cos it fluffed it, but if the dryads were to make it to combat they should have been able to deal with gutter runners (Who failed their fear test.. as it was he killed the same amount as me.. SIGH)
List tweaking definately to follow, and thanks for reading.
As ever any feedback is always welcome.
Hello All,
It's been ages since a last post, damn lack of fantasy players at the club on Thursday...
Anyway, I digress, but don't worry I have not forgotten my promise to put the dwarf battle report up will happen soon complete with actual photo's..
Anyway,
I have a game booked for tonight, 2K vs. Skaven apparently, and while I wait for my train I thought I'd put some pre game thoughts up.
My list:
Spell Weaver: lvl 4 (Beasts), rhymer's harp, dispel scroll, glamourweave kindred: unicorn 415pts..
Core: 10 glade guard, banner of fire 142pts
10 glade guard, 120pts
10 glade guard 120pts
10 glade guard 120pts
13 dryads, 156pts
Special: 8 treekin, treekin elder 540pts
Rare: 2 eagles 100pts
Treeman 285pts
This works out to near 2k.. my only problem is how horribly pricy the spell weaver is :S,
however treekin are ridiculously tough, str 5, toughness 5 monstrous infantry pre buffs.. there weakness is flamable.. what uses fire:
Deamons.. Okay, most of it is str 4-5 so the T5 with a 4+ armour will keep them alive.. atleast till combat, a blood thirster with the axe will just be awkard and upon conferring my handy deamon codex.. is within 500pts.. well just hope we don't play against one.
Lore of fire.. all str 4, 5+ armour and T5 should keep me alive.
Magic weapons.. not much I can do about it..
Banner of fire.. if it's a small unit shoot them.
I'm running the Rhymers harp with a unicorn in the unit, A. It gives my wizard a safe place to hide, if anything the skaven game tought me is my spell weaver is very vulnerable in a ten man glade guard unit, as they cannot physically join dryads.. only way to be a forest spirit is to have a mount and cav can't join skirmishers the only source of a bodyguard is treekin. While a obsidian lodestone would be more efficient, I ummed over a battle standard with one in the unit, but this was EVEN more points 35pts to be a wild rider kindred alone + steed or stag.. I decided to make do with MR 2 for a 3+ ward against the everasting tirade of magic abuse they will be bound to take..
Dweller's below is fine.. not too scared about that, pit of shades is only a 1/2 chance so not TOO bad.. for 65pt models with a large base, purple sun is worse as it will hit more.. but that is what the dispel scroll is for.. and Eagle assassination is always an option..
Still my metagaming self wonders what to expect from 2k of skaven.. I get a healthy save vs. Warp Lightning and other abuse that comes my way.. I might have to avoid being chumped by slaves the key is going to be hunting the grey seer/s that will inevitably be power scrolling 13th's spells around.. cos it would be rude not too. I'l be watching out for doom rockets this time...
I'm intrigued as to the rare choice of the skaven player.. Doom wheels are really bad as they cannot be fled from, however I have two units that can take them +amber spear, take D6 wounds at str 10! Hellpit abomination I have the trusty flaming arrow unit, so could be a pain if they get first turn 13th'd or something.. I lose the fire arrows.. and that thing get's up a billion times.. but not too worried. Finally the warp lightning cannon.. while I reasure myself with probability it's more likely to be str misfire-4 and do nothing.. but I dare to fear the turn 1 where both cannons expode right in the middle of the treekin doing d6 wounds each with str 10... (although 8 would do it..) I just hope my eagles can get there first..
Beasts / Life
Beast's I like for Amber' spear (the only reliable way of dealing with monsters for WE), curse of anraheir is really good in a match up against ws4 great weaponed units.. taking them down to hitting on 5s will really ruin their day, and it could be critical in a match up vs. chaos warriors etc. Savage beast or horro's and transformation are poor, I would switch out transformation as that one is unusable and savage beast can turn a self respecting spell weaver into a monster.. the pann's pelt is just even worse as I have 1 hero.. that said, the signature spell is amazing..
Life: First, the lore attribute in a unit of treekin screams USE ME USE ME..and even sitting here writing this, it does look even more appealing, combined with regrowth in one turn you can heal up to full strength in the case of a tough fight or heavy shooting, awakening of the wood is marginally better than flock of doom.. shield of thorns actually becomes useful with a foot print as massive as it is, and against steadfast enemies the ability to cut through them faster becomes an issue.. You have dwellers which put me in the running against the last time Iplayed skaven.. I got lucky but I noticed that I was one of the few people running a dispel scroll.. earth blood also becomes considerable but there's not much I'd exchange it for as I already have a 5+ ward.. so it only becomes of use if they are letting me have vines... T7 treeking does seem fun and would make a major difference vs. great weaponed psychoes of choice so as good as str 5/t5 dryads is.. I have persuaded myself in this rant that regrowth & lifebloom are the way to go.. and it means I can keep using my stone treeman model as a token..
That said.. at 2.4k when I get weaver and ancient.. I look forward to savage baest of horro's him.. for a health 8 str 9 atks with d6 str 9 hits... after seems okay.
Will let you know how I do.. :S (Damn Skaven)
It's been ages since a last post, damn lack of fantasy players at the club on Thursday...
Anyway, I digress, but don't worry I have not forgotten my promise to put the dwarf battle report up will happen soon complete with actual photo's..
Anyway,
I have a game booked for tonight, 2K vs. Skaven apparently, and while I wait for my train I thought I'd put some pre game thoughts up.
My list:
Spell Weaver: lvl 4 (Beasts), rhymer's harp, dispel scroll, glamourweave kindred: unicorn 415pts..
Core: 10 glade guard, banner of fire 142pts
10 glade guard, 120pts
10 glade guard 120pts
10 glade guard 120pts
13 dryads, 156pts
Special: 8 treekin, treekin elder 540pts
Rare: 2 eagles 100pts
Treeman 285pts
This works out to near 2k.. my only problem is how horribly pricy the spell weaver is :S,
however treekin are ridiculously tough, str 5, toughness 5 monstrous infantry pre buffs.. there weakness is flamable.. what uses fire:
Deamons.. Okay, most of it is str 4-5 so the T5 with a 4+ armour will keep them alive.. atleast till combat, a blood thirster with the axe will just be awkard and upon conferring my handy deamon codex.. is within 500pts.. well just hope we don't play against one.
Lore of fire.. all str 4, 5+ armour and T5 should keep me alive.
Magic weapons.. not much I can do about it..
Banner of fire.. if it's a small unit shoot them.
I'm running the Rhymers harp with a unicorn in the unit, A. It gives my wizard a safe place to hide, if anything the skaven game tought me is my spell weaver is very vulnerable in a ten man glade guard unit, as they cannot physically join dryads.. only way to be a forest spirit is to have a mount and cav can't join skirmishers the only source of a bodyguard is treekin. While a obsidian lodestone would be more efficient, I ummed over a battle standard with one in the unit, but this was EVEN more points 35pts to be a wild rider kindred alone + steed or stag.. I decided to make do with MR 2 for a 3+ ward against the everasting tirade of magic abuse they will be bound to take..
Dweller's below is fine.. not too scared about that, pit of shades is only a 1/2 chance so not TOO bad.. for 65pt models with a large base, purple sun is worse as it will hit more.. but that is what the dispel scroll is for.. and Eagle assassination is always an option..
Still my metagaming self wonders what to expect from 2k of skaven.. I get a healthy save vs. Warp Lightning and other abuse that comes my way.. I might have to avoid being chumped by slaves the key is going to be hunting the grey seer/s that will inevitably be power scrolling 13th's spells around.. cos it would be rude not too. I'l be watching out for doom rockets this time...
I'm intrigued as to the rare choice of the skaven player.. Doom wheels are really bad as they cannot be fled from, however I have two units that can take them +amber spear, take D6 wounds at str 10! Hellpit abomination I have the trusty flaming arrow unit, so could be a pain if they get first turn 13th'd or something.. I lose the fire arrows.. and that thing get's up a billion times.. but not too worried. Finally the warp lightning cannon.. while I reasure myself with probability it's more likely to be str misfire-4 and do nothing.. but I dare to fear the turn 1 where both cannons expode right in the middle of the treekin doing d6 wounds each with str 10... (although 8 would do it..) I just hope my eagles can get there first..
Beasts / Life
Beast's I like for Amber' spear (the only reliable way of dealing with monsters for WE), curse of anraheir is really good in a match up against ws4 great weaponed units.. taking them down to hitting on 5s will really ruin their day, and it could be critical in a match up vs. chaos warriors etc. Savage beast or horro's and transformation are poor, I would switch out transformation as that one is unusable and savage beast can turn a self respecting spell weaver into a monster.. the pann's pelt is just even worse as I have 1 hero.. that said, the signature spell is amazing..
Life: First, the lore attribute in a unit of treekin screams USE ME USE ME..and even sitting here writing this, it does look even more appealing, combined with regrowth in one turn you can heal up to full strength in the case of a tough fight or heavy shooting, awakening of the wood is marginally better than flock of doom.. shield of thorns actually becomes useful with a foot print as massive as it is, and against steadfast enemies the ability to cut through them faster becomes an issue.. You have dwellers which put me in the running against the last time Iplayed skaven.. I got lucky but I noticed that I was one of the few people running a dispel scroll.. earth blood also becomes considerable but there's not much I'd exchange it for as I already have a 5+ ward.. so it only becomes of use if they are letting me have vines... T7 treeking does seem fun and would make a major difference vs. great weaponed psychoes of choice so as good as str 5/t5 dryads is.. I have persuaded myself in this rant that regrowth & lifebloom are the way to go.. and it means I can keep using my stone treeman model as a token..
That said.. at 2.4k when I get weaver and ancient.. I look forward to savage baest of horro's him.. for a health 8 str 9 atks with d6 str 9 hits... after seems okay.
Will let you know how I do.. :S (Damn Skaven)
Tuesday, 1 November 2011
Twigs and tweaks..
Right,
In the aftermath of the tournament and such I have come to some observations of the list as well as play in general..
My army:
60 glade guard can devastate armies.. (Good)
Flesh to stone supplemented with an occassional dwellers is great (Good)
A level 4 is enough to guard against most agressive magic armies, though the dispel scroll is crucial was worried about not being able to stop some magic phases. (Good)
Monsters or multi wound models that have T6 or more are bad... cos even at close range my shots are wounding on 6's I do have the shots to pour out and you only need 5-6 6's. However, if they have an armour save this gets a lot worse.. The flaming banner is a godsend for the inevitable Hellpit abomination/hydras/regenerating frothy monster of choice..
The doom wheel is a particularly bad monster to fight cos. A. it's only 150pts so theres 2 of them, but critically it moves in the remaining moves phase so I cannot flee from it.. I have to confess to feeling a bit miffed at HAVING to stand there with no running away.. I was playing a game against ogres today and I found myself fleeing 5-6 times in one game... the inability to run away is devastating..
HOWEVER
Conclusion: I need to have something that can combat the monsters.. The treeman is a solid choice as he outstats most monsters with a ward save and a solid 3+ armour and as shown he was more than man enough for the job to take out one wheel... So the obvious consideration would be to take a treeman ancient.. I am having to build a 2000pt list for the GT's and a consideration is to drop the spell weaver in exchange for 2 lvl 2's with a dispel scroll and a staff of sorcery. Thus giving me an effective lvl 3 dispeller but no lords choice lost. I have aeriels blessing which grants regeneration which is a solid buff, as well as call of the hunt which is one of the few spells in the game that lets me charge into combat! +1 attack as the secondly use of call of the hunt creates 3 attack dryads.. Fear the humble spellsinger.. I ramble back to the point..
The second option for anti monster is the humble spirit sword.. for anyone who doesn't know it's a 55 pt magic weapon that auto wounds (doesn't ignore saves sadly) but for each wound it does, we both make a roll and add our ld (his is 10) loser loses that many wounds..
Thoughts:
TO THE PLAY TEST TABLE:
If I was to go against the skaven again.. I'd have him on one flank with the treeman on the other to defend against the wheels.. do a quick bit of maths.. after impact hits and magical death.. all resolved on the glade guard unit.. highborn goes first 4 attacks. 2.6 hits all auto wounding.. he gets a 5+ save so a probable 2 wounds getting through. with a 3 ld advantage 'on average' the wheel goes down.. or as On average as you can with a spirit sword..
In the aftermath of the tournament and such I have come to some observations of the list as well as play in general..
My army:
60 glade guard can devastate armies.. (Good)
Flesh to stone supplemented with an occassional dwellers is great (Good)
A level 4 is enough to guard against most agressive magic armies, though the dispel scroll is crucial was worried about not being able to stop some magic phases. (Good)
Monsters or multi wound models that have T6 or more are bad... cos even at close range my shots are wounding on 6's I do have the shots to pour out and you only need 5-6 6's. However, if they have an armour save this gets a lot worse.. The flaming banner is a godsend for the inevitable Hellpit abomination/hydras/regenerating frothy monster of choice..
The doom wheel is a particularly bad monster to fight cos. A. it's only 150pts so theres 2 of them, but critically it moves in the remaining moves phase so I cannot flee from it.. I have to confess to feeling a bit miffed at HAVING to stand there with no running away.. I was playing a game against ogres today and I found myself fleeing 5-6 times in one game... the inability to run away is devastating..
HOWEVER
Conclusion: I need to have something that can combat the monsters.. The treeman is a solid choice as he outstats most monsters with a ward save and a solid 3+ armour and as shown he was more than man enough for the job to take out one wheel... So the obvious consideration would be to take a treeman ancient.. I am having to build a 2000pt list for the GT's and a consideration is to drop the spell weaver in exchange for 2 lvl 2's with a dispel scroll and a staff of sorcery. Thus giving me an effective lvl 3 dispeller but no lords choice lost. I have aeriels blessing which grants regeneration which is a solid buff, as well as call of the hunt which is one of the few spells in the game that lets me charge into combat! +1 attack as the secondly use of call of the hunt creates 3 attack dryads.. Fear the humble spellsinger.. I ramble back to the point..
The second option for anti monster is the humble spirit sword.. for anyone who doesn't know it's a 55 pt magic weapon that auto wounds (doesn't ignore saves sadly) but for each wound it does, we both make a roll and add our ld (his is 10) loser loses that many wounds..
Thoughts:
- Give him long enough HE WILL KILL HIMSELF
- Auto wounding is GREAT as the main problem with monsters is their T6+
- most things arn't ld 10.. and they use their unmodified ld.. lets do a quick check
- Aracknarock: 5 Steamtank: 10 Doomwheel: 7 Hydra:6 hellpit abomination: 8 dragon: 7-9 Daemon Prince: 8 greater Daemon: 9, stegadon 5
- Okay.. so it's looking pretty encouraging, not liking the steam tank.. but I'm always going to struggle with that one so we'll ignore it for a minute.
Now.. I can fit a spirit lord AND a lvl 4 into 2k..
Idea's.. do I have him in a unit.. I can't have him in a dryad unit as the only way to make him a forest spirit gives him a mount.. so he'd have to be in either a treekin unit.. or a glade guard unit.
Eagle? or Alter Kindred.. I'm inclined towards alter kindred as the extra attack is useful however more critically do I want him to be my general.. he's probably going to die sooner or later so I don't want to give up the 100pts.. but saying no to ld 10 is silly especially when playing the stubborn treeman game.. I'm inclined to keep the spellweaver as the general at ld 9 and save myself some pts 25 in fact..
Dragonflame gem or dragon helm.. 5 pts for a 2+ ward vs. flaming attacks, if I have to face a deamon prince or bloodthirster with flaming axe will be worth it.. it also limits the offensive magic in the deamon match up.. as well as anyone who takes fire.. not always useful but for 5pts I'm inclined to like it..
So 500pts to spend
Spellweaver: lvl 4, + dispel scroll 275pts
Highborn: spirit sword, alter kindred, 225pts..
hmm that doesn't leave him very much.. and he's sitting there with no saves and open to everything and their mum to shoot him..
Right, so let's drop alter kindred and stick him on foot in a unit with 25pts to play with.. dragonhelm, light armour and a shield later.. he has a 4+ armour save... wow that is just depressing.. can't really afford any of the 3+ ward items.. hmm but if I dropped the dispel scroll for another arcane item i could afford the 3+ ward that breaks.. or the one that doesnt' work vs. magic.. hmm
We will come back to that one!!
TO THE PLAY TEST TABLE:
Game vs. Ogres.. sadly his monsters were both giants so I didn't really want to go near them as giants are ld 10 :(.. however he did kill his way through 2 gorgors which was 180pts back for a 225pt unit.. his ld 10 bolstering my lines was a godsend.. NEEDS more playtesting..
If I was to go against the skaven again.. I'd have him on one flank with the treeman on the other to defend against the wheels.. do a quick bit of maths.. after impact hits and magical death.. all resolved on the glade guard unit.. highborn goes first 4 attacks. 2.6 hits all auto wounding.. he gets a 5+ save so a probable 2 wounds getting through. with a 3 ld advantage 'on average' the wheel goes down.. or as On average as you can with a spirit sword..
Against a lizardmen stegadon army the sword is invaluable as I doubt my army would be able to stop 2, 1 would be pushing it.. I can flee then counter charge possibly overrunning into another lizard dropping 2..
------
Right.. other considerations I have been thinking is I want to playtest the twilight sisters.. without opening the can of worms of whether their eagle is a monster or a monstrous creature.. (i will contact tournament organisers before hand in this case) the ability that intrigues me the most is that on a hit (with bs 6) that unit has to take a str test or cannot move.. if they are using a screening unit of gnoblars I can paralyse the str 2 blockers so they can't get out of the way.. against most units it's a 1/2 chance of stopping it and even against a block of chaos warriors having a 1/3 chance of stopping them is great..
Being able to place a small blast on a 2+ even at str 3 is cool too at maximum against small base models it's a 21 hit.. so 10.5 wounds on t3 would have helped in the horde match up incredibly..
Would be fun to have vs. the 200 marauder outflanking army too as they are only str 3 being able to paralyse them would be useful..
Other thought is that they cannot be killed unless both are killed in a phase.. meaning they are quite good at holding units up especially against a monster with 5 attacks.. sadly I have to worry about things like ld tests.. but it would be a good option to hold up the scary stuff.. again it depends if the eagle is a monstrous cav making them 3 wounds each.. having to take 6 wounds of them would be tricky.. Then again I am getting 9 str 4 attacks too which allows me to at-least contest combat
The twins are something that look okay on paper, and I think can massively change the way the game is played.. cos no-one will use them, people will have certainly not playtested against the twilight twins so will have to think on the spot which is good.. my problem is if you get a bit unlucky with a few rolls the 325 pts you spent on them to stop a few units moving won't happen if he passes all his str tests.. and you get to the point where your very luck reliant ;(
order of lord choices at the moment:
Spellweaver + spirit sword
Treeman Ancient + 1 dispel dice and possibly nettlings
Twins
both the bottom two would have a lvl 2 singer with staff of sorcery for magic defense..
stay tuned for more mindless ramblings on lore of beasts vs. lore of life and of course the dwarf battle report with colour photo's!!
As ever, subscribe and comment :D
Ben
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