AFGVW R3 M2 – Stongard's Legions of Bearded Calamity vs The Host of Ellinil

[ArchonFarseerGuy]

The Map:

Top Deployment: The Host of Ellinil
First Turn: The Host of Ellinil
The Enemy:
Stongard's Legions of Bearded Calamity


2250


Runelord Stongard the Faintly Amused
with anvil
315


Master Engineer
Dwarf Handgun
80


Master Engineer
Dwarf Handgun
80


Quarrellers x10
+shields
120


Quarrellers x10
+shields
120


Quarrellers x10
+shields
120


Quarrellers x10
+shields
120


Thunderers x10
140


Thunderers x10
140


Thunderers x10
140


Grudgethrower
Engineer
Brace of Pistols
Rune of Accuracy
Rune of Reloading
135


Grudgethrower
Engineer
Brace of Pistols
Rune of Accuracy
Rune of Penetrating
150


Bolt Thrower
Engineer
Brace of Pistols
Rune of Penetrating
90


Bolt Thrower
Engineer
Brace of Pistols
Rune of Penetrating
90


Bolt Thrower
Engineer
Brace of Pistols
65


Bolt Thrower
Engineer
Brace of Pistols
65


Flame Cannon
140


Flame Cannon
140

Deployment:

It can't be helped, I wasn't terribly thrilled with deploying on a map with nasty hills in the middle of the field, though at least I'm up against a mobile gunline, one where the majority of the forces are probably better off not getting in close combat with dwarven armour, though obviously that's up to everyone else to decide.

Basically, it is of my opinion that I cannot, and should not, spread out my forces, given how the Dark Elves, while not having the firepower, certainly have the mobility to concentrate it on weak points.

So, I'm going to gamble with a refused flank. And probably even more shockingly, I'm going to gamble by keeping the majority of my units in 3x3+1 formations. Yes, there won't be rank bonuses, but I'm presuming that the tighter I keep my forces, the less likely the dark elves can shred open a flank to take advantage of.

I'll anchor my Anvil right in the bottom right corner, with units surrounding him. On the frontline, facing the hill, the three thunderers, ready to open up on anyone coming over it, with the two flame cannons on their left, certain to give anyone getting too close a panic check or two.

Angling down to the back of the line, the longer ranged bolt throwers, (entrenched) grudgethrowers with attached master engineers (They might as well permanently stay with them, eh?), and quarrelers, alternating as necessary though, really, I suppose it doesn't matter how I arrange them.

All we really need to know is that I'm hugging the bottom right corner, with the short range units covering the hill, and the rest of the units covering the rest of the field.

Tactics:

Sadly, I'm going to have to be fairly reactionary here. My opponent is just so mobile.

Naturally the biggest, and dare I say, only, threats would be from the dragon, and the black guard. Likewise, the threat they face would be a concentrated volley in their faces, so I'm musing that they would not be so keen to charge head first on the front of my line.

Of couse, given how both of my flanks are secured to the board by castling up in the corner, charging head first is basically all he can do, as I'm certain that gunline versus gunline, I'd just paste him. Naturally the anvil will be focus on slowing down the dragon, afterwards the black guard, one at a time, nothing too fancy.

Really though, I can't say much for tactics in this. If he's cautious, and hangs his forces back, I'd shoot what I can see. If he's reckless and charges his cc units, I'm wagering that if they can't attack a flank, they simply will get peppered on a hill or in the open before bouncing off fruitlessly on my tough dwarfs.

The Host of Ellinill


Dreadlord
-Black Dragon
-Armour of Darkness
-Pendant of Khaeleth
-Soulrender 535pts


Lv1 Sorceress
-Dispel Scroll 125pts


Lv1 Sorceress
-Dispel Scroll 125pts


Core:


10 Repeater Xbows


5 Dark Riders
-Repeater Xbows
-Musician


5 Dark Riders
-Repeater Xbows
-Musician


5 Dark Riders
-Repeater Xbows
-Musician


5 Dark Riders
-Repeater Xbows
-Musician


5 Dark Riders
-Repeater Xbows
-Musician


5 Harpies


5 Harpies


Special:


14 Black Guard
-Standard, Champion
-Standard of Hag Graef
-Ring of Hotek 270pts


Rare:


Repeater Bolt Thrower


Repeater Bolt Thrower


Repeater Bolt Thrower


Repeater Bolt Thrower


Total:2250pts

Firstly I was not looking forward to face this army though with first turn on a semi-favourable map (not one of the plain open ones) I think I have a fair chance.

Deployment- Firstly the 4 RBT will go in the middle where the ruins are and they can see the most of the board. The rest of the army will make use of the hills, since the dwarves need to deploy wide to make the most of thier guns chances are they won't be bunkering. The left central hill will be important as it can block a lot of their los so i will deploy my dark riders behind it in my deployment zone as well as the harpies, by now I will see the dwarven units and If they have deployed on the left or right of the battle field. The Dragon will deploy opposite the anvil or wherever the majority of his unit are. The Black Guard will deploy inbetween the dark riders with the rxb's in front of them.

Tactics- With the first turn I will move the Dark Riders to the the side of the hill that avoids thier guns planning to move to thier flanks out of thier firing arc, any units that a placed to cover this will be shot at first, since it's one thing I have going for me, their guns are move or shoot. Now the Dragon is going to be played aggresivley since if not he will be easy prey for the dwarves and thier anvil, the plan is to fly him forward and place him so that he is out of the arcs of as many of thier missile units as possible and as close to them as possible as I presume the anvil will be wrath and ruining so I want so cuase some terror which on Ld9 (no dwarf lord) there is a chance of a fail and if he doesn't wrath and ruin my dragon is flying! Also the dragon has a nasty breath attack to use and possibly cause panic. With no longbeards, no lord and small units these dwarves can be very suspect to panic. With the rest of the army only focused fire will do damage so I will need to focus on what will be immediate threats to my dragon and my flanking force and fire at it with the RBT firebase. The Black Guard will make their way to the dwarves with a screen of rxb's and harpies unless the harpies are needed to screen the flanking dark riders. This game will be bloody regardless of the result.

Summary (for those too lazy to read my block of text)
I win by expoiting the fragile nature of this dwarf army (small units, no lord for ld10, no longbeards for the immune to panic?) and using my mobility and terrain to reduce the effectivness of thier shooting. My army also happens to be full of units that could be considered warmachine hunters.

-AFG//

[kroxigor01]

Several hundred points wasted in a dragon that will not be moving (anvil'ed), defensive sorceresses and a unit of Black Guard that will achieve nothing leaves the Dwarfs with a large advantage in firepower.

My vote is for the Dwarfs.

[Psyan]

And the sky goes dark with missile fire... this time coming from both directions!!

This is an interesting battle and I don't think that I'd enjoy facing either of this lists with any list that I've ever written. The Dwarves enjoy a rather significant advantage in firepower, but the Elves still have plenty, plus are more dangerous in hand to hand and have a vast advantage in manueverability.

I'd expect that the Dragon will get anviled after his first move and end up crawling the rest of the way to the fight, unless someone takes out the Anvil. I'm thinking that if he doesn't die to concentrated fire at the end of the first turn, he may very well make it into the fight and cause quite a bit of havoc.

The terrain favors the Elves, since their deployment zone has a bit of cover for their RBTs. It's even more significant because the Dwarves don't have any cover in the deployment zone. The hills in the center and on the left side of the table will help the Elves protect themselves from Dwarvish gunnery, emerging to focus fire on one or two units and possibly destroying them.

On an open field, I'd still favor the Dwarves for their vast firepower, but with some terrain for cover and the ability to choose who to engage and when, I'm going to call this one for the Host of Ellinil.

[no1cafc]

Several hundred points wasted in a dragon that will not be moving (anvil'ed)

The dragon will not be flying after one initial fly move leaving it using it's not too shabby M6 and march or charge 12.

[Rising Leviathan]

In an open field I'd be in no doubt at all, but seeing the terrain like this and the massive manouvrability og the DE, I can see this going off as a minor victory to The Host of Ellinil though only by margine.

Regards,

[Esco Thomson]

The dragon will not be flying after one initial fly move leaving it using it's not too shabby M6 and march or charge 12.

Yeah, seeing as his normal movement is still on par with Dwarves marching...I can see it still being able to easily maneuver into the fray. I hate to be a repeating llama in the group, however, the terrain setup and mobility here clearly favor the Dark Elves, and that will be enough to tip the scales of battle in their favor here.

[ArchonFarseerGuy]

Hmmm.

Interesting match, this.

Personally, I like the idea of the refused flank. The Dark Elves will have to concentrate their forces into the one point, where they will face a ton of archery, where there own has little impact. With adequate shooting and half-decent dice, I can see Stongard's Legions of Bearded Calamity pulling the win. Even if they just manage to kill a few from each unit, that will force a ton of panic checks, and the DRiders will be reduced into more manageable sizes.

From the Artillery front, looks like the (probably Anvilled) Dragon will be taking bolt after bolt, and the Grudge Throwers can contribute to the initial volleys directed at the small warmachine hunters, or start bombing the BG. As for the Flame Cannons... (now if they were Organ Guns, that would be insanely powerful)

[NecroNid]

I think with all the focus on the DE dragon we are forgetting that the DE have 4 Bolt Throwers of their own. All the dwarves clustered in that corner will make nice targets. That being said I think that the only real threat to the dwarf bunker is the Dragon. With concentrated shooting the Dreadlord will be walking by turn 2. BG are nice but I think that the dwarves can take them on as they will be the only real threat left. Dark Riders shooting will not be very effective and I think they will have to resort to charging to try and thin the dwarf ranks. In the end I don't think the DE will be able to take out enough points to make up for the loss of the dragon and BG. Victory to Stongard's Legions of Bearded Calamity.

[DavidWC09]

DEs will die more easily to missile fire. The dragon is a major issue, but not enough of one. Once it peeks around a hill, it's a major target for bolt throwers.

Dwarfs.

[andre]

Ugh, this dwarf list is incredibly difficult to vote against. Its just so difficult to see anything making it across the board agaist this much shooting. Once important units make it, they are slowed down by the anvil of doom an shot some more.
The dragon will have a very tough time staying alive long enough to make it to combat. The dark riders will really struggle to make an impact, being out shot and out fought. The black guard will not make combat. The harpies are not strong enouhg to take out strong dwarf war machine crew with attached characters.
Dwarves, by a good margin.