Dark Elf Detachment vs. The Goblin Horde - 1k points

[Reuptake]

Quick battle report: 1000 pts
A quick and dirty army overview is as follows:

Dark Elves
1 Reaper Bolt Thrower
24 Spearmen w/banner + soreceress w/dagger + scroll
17 corsairs w/banner + sorceress w/familiar + scroll
12 repeater xbowmen
5 harpies

Greenskins
3 units of 25 goblin spearmen w/standard & champions
2 goblin shaman
1 orc shaman
1 doom diver
9ish fanatics (give or take)

The person I was playing against is an anomoly, in that he likes to use only goblins in his army if possible. A definite theme army, but then again, this is only my fifth game of Warhammer ever. I made some horrible mistakes, as did he, and that's reflected in the results.

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Vasilexis, the sorceress, stood firm in her unit of corsairs. To her left stood the army's general, and her superior, leading a detachment of spearmen. A cold wind blew across the open valley before her, and the tiny silhouettes of the goblin horde stretched out before the horizon. Immediately in front of her were two units of goblins armed with spears, and to the northwest, a third unit angled for position.

This hadn't been part of the plan; oh no. The human settlements were what this detachment was after, but they had unwittingly stumbled across this filthy mass of disgusting creatures - and since the goblin horde was in their way, there was only one option.

The orders were given, and the spearman unit advanced with the corsairs by their side. Crackles of energy shot outward from the field before them as two goblin and one orc mage attempted to cast their foul spells, all of which were repulsed by the superiour Dark Elf magic. A shrill whine was heard from above as a goblin doom diver rocketed across the field, splattering itself harmlessly on the grass.

Vasilexis tried in vain to cast, but her attempts were thwarted by the greenskin mass, as were the attempts by the general in the spear unit. The detachment's reaper bolt thrower swung into action, launching a volley of bolts that cut into one of the advancing pair of goblin spearmen, while the cries of harpies pierced the ears of all sides as they swept to the flank of the eastern-most goblin spearmen, triggering two fanatics that flung themselves into the air - one of the demented goblens hitting the mark, destroying three harpies, causing them to flee. Finally, a volley of shots from the repeater crossbow unit tore into the green flesh of the easternmost goblin unit - though it was not enough to crack what little resolve there was in the horde.

Bolts were thrown, shots were fired, and spells were cast with limited effect on both sides - and finally the moment was right -- the spearmen unit charged the center-most goblin unit, crashing into them with a fury of steel and venom. Blood was drawn on both sides, and both units held fast, their banners waving in the wind as the cries of both elf and goblin filled the valley while the corsairs attempted to angle for a flank charge.

The battle between the two spear units was bloody and desperate, but to the surprise and anger of Vasilexis, the Dark Elf spear unit broke - and just barely, with the goblin horde running them down mercilessly. She gritted her teeth and cursed - with the main block overrun, the general slain, it was up to her to pick up the mantle and lead the detachment to victory.

The reaper bolt thrower pivoted as the overrunning goblin unit was dangerously close, and let loose a volley of bolts that shredded its ranks, sending the goblin spearmen into a panic as Vasilexis charged with her corsairs. She was in a very bad situation -- fanatics were behind her, and, as she correctly suspected, in the unit in front of her, but she had very little choice at this moment, and led the corsairs toward the goblin ranks, intercepting the orc shaman who was, for some unknown reason, between her unit and the next unit of goblins. The corsairs quickly cut him down, but their victory would prove to be short-lived.

Another doom diver flew wide, leaving an impact crater in the turf, and more spells were cast and dispelled. It was almost as if the mages on both sides should have stayed in bed today. Two goblin units lost the initiative and ended up squabbling with each other, buying the superior elves more time, though the overrunning goblin unit swung about, preparing to charge the bolt thrower on the next turn.

The bolt thrower crew frantically loaded the sleek machine, firing a full volly into their ranks, breaking their resolve and sending them fleeing back toward their own lines as the harpies managed to rally at the very last moment before leaving the battlefield. Vasilexis was almost literally stuck between a rock and a hard place, with a fanatic behind her unit, and doubtlessly more in the unit directly in front of hers. She spoke a prayer to the bloody handed god and charged, knowing full well what she faced.

Three fanatics sprung out of the spear unit, two tearing into the corsairs, doing untold damage, absolutely decimating the unit - killing them down to a man, leaving only Vasilexis left, and with one wound. As she knelt on one knee, clutching her staff, she eyed the ranks of spear goblins, blood clouding her vision - but it would appear that the bloody handed god works in mysterious ways, for just as she was sure that she would meet her death at their spears, the goblins suddenly started to argue with each other - poking and prodding and squabbling. She quickly stood and spread her arms, and summoned forth a reserve of dark energy, her fingers spreading as she unleashed a storm of blades upon the unit, tearing them asunder, sending them into a panic. She had been spared.

The unit of crossbowmen turned their attention from the final ever-advancing unit of spear goblins, and fired at an exposed shaman. They had had enough of the greenskin's magic - their bolts tearing into the weak, green flesh of the caster, sending him to the ground -- two down, one to go. Unfortunately, that final unit of goblins was so close to the crossbowmen that when it charged, they didn't have enough time to let off a volley and were forced to stand their ground - the took the charge, fighting to a desperate draw as the bolt thrower exchanged shots with the doom diver catapult, with neither side coming out on top.

The remaining fanatics bounced about the landscape, most destroying themselves against the jagged cliffs nearby, but Vasilexis pushed onward, alone - firing deadly bolts of energy into the nearby fleeing units, determined to win back her pride if not the battle. The rallied harpies swept across the field, diving down upon the catapult crew, shredding two of them with their deadly talons, the third fleeing in terror. An odd symmetry was appearing on the field - for at that moment the crossbow elves broke in combat, and ran, being overrun by the final unit of goblins that were at half strength - causing the bolt thrower crew to flee in panic as well.

Vasilexis was not to be deterred - she summoned forth another flurry of blades, causing 13 casualties to one of the fleeing regiments, cutting them down to a man -- when all of a sudden a crack rang out in the nearby forest as the remaining goblin shaman's head exploded in a multi-colored display of goo that lay waste to the forest he was hiding in. Greenskin magic. Pah!

She stopped in her tracks, and surveyed the field of battle - all the goblin units, save for one below half strength were fleeing - all of its mages were dead. She leaned on her staff and praised the bloody handed god for her survival - for out of the original detachment, only herself, and two harpies remained. The battle was a closely fought draw, but in her mind it proved yet again the superiority of her race to all others.
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Lessons Learned:

#1 - Target his magic users faster -- not just because they can cast dangerous spells, but also because their dispell dice keep my magic phase from doing as much damage as it could - I had some bad rolls, and he had some good rolls in the magic phase, but I could have done better.

#2 - At a 1k game such as this, I'd probably be better off keeping the mages outside of units, especially since he had no shooting aside from the doom diver.

#3 - Spearmen aren't supposed to charge, but then again, I didn't have much of a choice as I only had 2 dedicated melee units.

#4 - Battles that end up leaving only 3 friendly models on the field, and 1 half-strength enemy unit, are freakin' awesome.

#5 - Play more games! This was only my fifth game, I'm a very green player who makes a lot of mistakes, but man, I love this hobby.

[DavidWC09]

Very cool! And well written to boot. Thanks for taking time to share.

[Ranu]

Fantastic love the new dark elves so that was great! thnks for sharing was very cool!

[And]

well written and very interesting thank you and congratz on the part victory you canbe proud of your sorceress - i would

btw, how did the familiar/dagger work? i know one of the sorceresses died, but please let me know if you experienced anything

[Reuptake]

Hah, it's funny that you ask that -- I honestly didn't really get a chance to use the items that much. The sorc with the familiar was in the spear unit, and she didn't need the range/LOS bonus in the first few turns, and was completely destroyed with the unit shortly thereafter. I used the dagger a few times and it helped, but again, I lost the corsair unit so quickly that I didn't get to use it to its full potential.

I'm doing a lot of warband stuff now because of a league my game store is starting, but I'll let you know my thoughts on the dagger when I get the opportunity to play more large games.

[Hondor]

heads up for you, when playing goblins, lone casters BAD idea, they have foot of gork, D6 Str 6 wounds does not require LoS. very bad for lone casters.

[Reuptake]

Good point - I was thinking about that myself, actually over the past week or two.

[xanaq]

I think you should add this...

6. Dont ever again charge into a Night Goblin unit i`m sure contains fanatics.

You were very lucky to get out of that with anything alive, and fortunate that she had the magic to make her useful on her own.

[Reuptake]

Originally Posted by xanaq

I think you should add this...

6. Dont ever again charge into a Night Goblin unit i`m sure contains fanatics.

You were very lucky to get out of that with anything alive, and fortunate that she had the magic to make her useful on her own.

Yeah, I know, but the mistake wasn't in charging, it was in allowing myself to be in the position where I had to charge. At that point it was really my only viable option, because they would have charged me on the following turn, hit me with the fanatics, and struck first if there were any survivors.

[forumjayz]

Reuptake yet again a very well writen report. I really like your style of writing the reports. the fact you tell it as some what of a warriors tale of conquest. the fact you pick out one of the models as the centre of the story makes for plesant reading!

Keep up the good work and when you get a chance toplay more games I think I can speak for us all we would love to be enchanted by another one of these great reports!

Cheers Jayz