WoC Experiences in Battle

[sdefreit]

Hey guys

I just played my first 8th edition game today and it was a blast. I played against HE and these were the lists (2500 pts):

Me:


Level 4 Sorcerer - 325
-Level 4, Shadow, Blood, Collar of Khorne
Exalted BSB - 199
-MoT, Talisman of Preservation, Ironcurse Icon, Halberd
Disk Rider- 194
-MoT, Disk, Shield, Golden Eye, Biting Blade, Dragonhelm Potion of Foolhardiness


18 Warriors - 358
-MoT, HW, Shield, Full Command, Rapturous Standard
18 Warriors -369
-MoK, HW, Shield, Halberd, Standard, Musician, Banner of Swiftness
18 Chosen - 470
-MoT, HW, Shield, Halberd, Full Command, Favor, Banner of Rage
6 Knights - 270
-MoK

3 x 5 Dogs -
1 x Spawn -
1 x Warshrine - 150
-MoT

Him (roughly)

2 units 20 seaguard
2 units of 10 swordmasters
2 bolt throwers
9 man knight unit

Combat character (GW guy that hit hard. Went with knights)
Level four fire wizard
Level two HE lore mage
BSB with the D6 combat res banner (went with a sword unit)

I lost by about 400 VP but it was a good and fun game. Some of my notes and reactions from the game:

-The magic phase is very different and I now fully understand it. I did not know that dispelling a spell shut out a wizard for that turn. I thought only failing to reach a spells casting value shut them out. Learning this really made me enjoy magic a lot less and has me debating how to continue. Blood is definitely not as good as Puppet but I am also considering taking a scroll. My magic phase just never impressed me. To be honest magic in general didn't do much this game so I am very up in the air about it right now.

-The spawn is a wacky choice but I have a cool conversion idea I want to do with it. I positioned it on a far flank and it just never really became relevant. I need to get him more in the middle so he can reach the enemy but nonetheless he is slow. I may upgrade him to the special spawn so he becomes functional. Basically I need more testing since my deployment was bad on him.

-Dogs are great. They helped out with some light cover saves for my knights and warriors. One unit took out a repeater thrower which was great. Another unit ran up and sat in front of his centered knight unit and made them enter combat a turn later than he wanted to. He basically sat on the end of the table and close combat didn't really start with my foot blocks til turn 4 (turn 5 for one that failed a charge). Do not leave home without some puppies because they are so cheap and so versatile.

-The knights did not do well. This might of been my fault though. The knights moved up the left flank with a dog screen (right flank I shut down with terrain drops). They just did not have much Umph to them. They bounced off of a unit of swordsman but the D6 combat res banner was there and I just made the mistake of entering a combat where they were outmatched. I may lower my magic to a single level 2 for defense and put a combat character with the knights for more power. I do also like a cheap unit of knights though because people are just very scared of them and focus on them a lot. Having the enemy worry a lot about a unit that is far from my best is a nice psychological advantage.

-The chosen are dirty. They ran around with +1 attack and +1 toughness from the shrine. They don't die and they kill everything. Swordmasters and seaguards just imploded on impact. I am still debating if the terror banner is too over the top for what I want. MoT and Rage banner were a nice combo though. Although frenzy made me overrun off the table which really stalled what they were able to do.

-My MoT character anvil unit is designed to not move. The BSB is tough as you all know and the unit is just built to take damage. And rapturous is great. The gods weren't looking at them tho. The game changing point was when they got charged by his knight unit on the bottom of turn 5. Talk about whiffing everything. Failed saves and nearly no damage back led to me needing insane courage to stick around. Good thing rapturous failed me and I got cut down losing two characters and the remainder of my unit. It was funny watching the game end with his knights staring at my nearly full chosen unit on turn 6. Big shocker that he decided to not charge into them on the bottom of the 6th lol.

-Only noobs put a movement speed banner on their warriors and forget to march 10 instead of 8 inches right? Ya about that...

-The shrine was great. Nice for getting in the way and being a nice utility guy that obviously zaps the chosen. Plus this will be my centerpiece conversion once I get my rank and files completely painted.


I played well but the dice were definitely favoring him today. I really do not like the new magic though. I think I'd rather find a way to mitigate his magic rather than make mine offensive. If I could get a puppet, spell familiar and scroll on a level two mage I would be so happy. So time to figure out what I wan to do.

[Blackheart]

I did not know that dispelling a spell shut out a wizard for that turn. I thought only failing to reach a spells casting value shut them out.

Really? I've never played that way ... where in the BRB does it say that? I read the dispel pages about four times after reading this ...

I may upgrade him to the special spawn so he becomes functional.

lol, I've used him. He's fun but he's not exactly an Abom.

They ran around with +1 attack and +1 toughness from the shrine.

A shrine can only give one gift per unit though ... you can replace a gift but you can only keep one at a time.

Disk Rider- 194
-MoT, Disk, Shield, Halberd, Golden Eye, Biting Blade, Dragonhelm Potion of Foolhardiness

How does he have a halberd and the biting blade? I mean you can take them both if you want to but you can only use one for the game.

[sdefreit]

Really? I've never played that way ... where in the BRB does it say that? I read the dispel pages about four times after reading this ...



lol, I've used him. He's fun but he's not exactly an Abom.



A shrine can only give one gift per unit though ... you can replace a gift but you can only keep one at a time.



How does he have a halberd and the biting blade? I mean you can take them both if you want to but you can only use one for the game.

1) They may be wrong but our store owner even agreed with him. I just remember trying to open up with a small miasma on turn one and he dispelled and when I tried another spell he said I couldn't because that caster had failed to cast and I needed another wizard to continue casting. Maybe they are wrong. I am not sure but I am definitely not a rule authority at this point in time. If they are wrong they didn't do it to be a mean though. It was a friendly game.

2) I am not really expecting the big spawn to be amazing. I just think he will be fun. I don't play this game to min/max. I'll leave my video games for that mindset. I'll try him for my next game this upcoming week.

3) +1 attack was from the before the game EotG roll. The shrine gave +1 toughness

4) Just a typo.



I may try this wizard my next game:


Level 4 Sorcerer - 385
-Level 4, MoT, Disk, Puppet, Golden Eye, Charmed Shield, Roar

I like the way shadow looks but it compliments our combat skills that we already excel at. Playing against an army that avoided combat like the plague made this lore seem lacking, especially since I didn't get pit of shadows (I got miasma, str modifier, toughness modifier and the LD to str bomb spell). So maybe just bad luck.

I will say that even with a more fair shot I don't think I am going to stick with shadow. The disk mage is mobile and with the way magic seems to be it seems like magic phases struggle to get more than 2 spells off. Pandemonium and Gateway/Treason are all you need and they are effective at killing and magic defense. Plus the ability to point deny your opponent your lord is something I used to love and missed so much this game. When my MoT anvil bunker got cut down I just died inside. Said goodbye to my general in one swoop.

Plus wow do miscasts suck now. Putting a sorcerer lord in a warrior unit just seems crazy. Wizards like to blow up a lot.

Basically my idea for this lord is he can do whatever I want. If the enemy shoots a lot I can hide, get a +4 on dispels and point deny while possibly getting pandemonium off and picking off some stray units safely. If there isn't a lot of shooting he can go offensive with gateway/treason and shout and do some dmg with massive maneuverability.

[AshBorn]

Dispelling an enemy wizard does not shut him down.

The only way a wizard shuts down is if that wizard rolls a natural 1 or 2 when casting a spell, they then get "Broken Concentration" which is a rule in the BRB, or if they fail to meet the minimum casting requirement on a spell. Any modifiers (wizard level, MoT etc.) to the casting value do not matter if they roll a 1 or 2. But they can however help them equal a minimum casting value which will allow them to not break concentration assuming they did not roll a snake eyes or a 1/2 on 1D6.

If a wizard fails to dispel another wizard, that wizard who failed is shut down and cannot attempt to further dispel.

*Advice on your army list -

Chosen need the Wailing Banner to be worth the points. With that and favour of the gods coupled w/ a warshrine, you are almos guaranteed the 4+ ward save and stubborn (modified to 3+ with MoT). You are guaranteed the wardsave if you have two warshrines I believe... But anyway the banner allows them re roll fear / terror results plus gives them terror!

Blasted standard is always a great choice on warriors, especially against a shooty army. I'd consider that before swiftness or rapturous. Also, the banner of rage is great to put on a MoN unit or a MoT unit (nurgle unit would be better) which would make the unit frenzied while still allowing other mark benefits! (which you did, but you did it on the Chosen which is a no no! )

[sdefreit]

Thanks for confirming the shut down rule ashe. I will have to bring that up next time I go into the shop. I have tweaked my list around and have a mirror match lined up for this Wednesday or Thursday. Since I am planning on getting 1-2 games a week I think I am going to fire up a battle report thread and start working on writing up better turn by turn reports.

I am going to be sporting some wailing chosen since everyone keeps telling me to lol. I am really curious if this unit will ever lose a combat. Being able to consistently get 4+/3++ with either 2 Str 6 or 3 Str 5 attacks, stubborn, terror and their silly stat line is such a powerhouse. These guys are the epitome of walking death machines and I have to imagine single-handedly counter death stars lol.

[whatfruit]

Hey people hope you followers of the Dark God are well.

I played a few 750pts games today with my friend who has just started playing Orcs and Goblins. We had two battleline games today with some pretty straight foward lists with a small amount of terrain. (this was mainly due to the fact I do not own much)

The lists I used in both games were.

Chaos Sourcer MoT, Spell Familiar

20 Mauarders of Slannesh, Shields full command 4x5

18 Chaos Warriors, Mok, Halberds, Musican, Standard 3x6

Spawn

Spawn

5 doggies.

He used

Orc Big Boss, Talisman of Protection, Sword of might

Goblin Big Boss, Great Weapon, BSB

Lvl 2 Night Goblin Shaman

30 Night Goblins, Bows, full command 3x10

30 Orc Big'uns Shields, Full Command 3x10

3 Trolls

He was slightly over 750 points by about half the shaman but I was ok with it because it was about learning and having fun. The board from my side of the board was a marsh to the left of my deployment zone, a tower, and a wall. Just out side his depolyment zone from my left to right was a hill and a larger marsh on the right hand side. We played 2 battles

1st battle deployment

I set up from my left to right Marsh--Spawn--tower--Chaos Warriors/W Sourcer--Mauarders--Spawn---Hounds
From My left to right he depolyed Trolls-hill-Orc Big uns---Goblins behind the marsh

Turns 1

Both of us march foward. The left spawn goes around the tower towards the trolls. The Chaos Warrios protect their flanks using the right side of the the tower, the Maurders advance keeping line with the warriors. His goblins advance into the marsh. He hits me with a spell on my warrios which reduces movement to 1 preventing me from moving across the board and detering me from making a long charge. My wizard is useless getting dispelled(he did not get a spell of the entire game)

On turn 2 my dogs unleash the fanatics into the path of my main combat units, wizard is again useless.

His turn 2 The fanatcs move about, one sits right in front of the chaos warriors the other goes throgh the mauraders and kills the right hand spawn. His goblins blast my dogs with their short bows. his trolls get ready to flank my warriors if they do decide to move or try a very long charge on his orcs. In the magic phase he hits me again with the movement nerfing spel..

Turn 3.
The left hand spawn moves about trying to get to the trolls but falls short and finds himself in their charge arc. The mauraders felling like something needs to be done decide to charge the goblins in the marsh. The wizard is again useless. In the combat the goblins and mauraders fight to a stalemate.

Orc turn 3.
Both the fanatics kill themselvs one by going into a wall the other by roll of a double.
The Orc big uns make a Flank charge on the Mauraders fighting the goblins in the marsh. The trolls charge the spawn. The orcs slaughter the mauraders but restarin and reform to face the chaos warriors. The goblins pursue and catch the Mauraders.

Turn 4
The chaos Warrios charge the Orc unit. The wizard tries to cast Call to Glory but is irresitably dispelled. The big boss tears my sourcers apart in the challenge but my Chaos warriors do amazingly well with the dice rolling and manage to kill 17 orcs to only 5 losses. He loses his steadfast and I run him down like the dogs they are.

Orcs turn 4
His goblins swift reform and move back into the marsh. The shoot arrows at the chaos warriors killing a few. The trolls outside of the leadership bubble stumble around

Turn 5
My warrios swift reform and face the goblin horde and marcgh towards them.

Orc turn 5
The trolls continue to stumble around the goblins pour more arrows into the warrios killing 1 more.

Turn 6
The chaos warrios charge the goblins who stand and shoot. Killing another 2. The warriors tear the goblins apart with one of the warriors killing the big boss BSB. They win combat and the goblins flee, the warrios catch them.

Orc turn 6
The trolls stumble around.

Yet again Mark of Khorne Halberd warriors save the day ripping everything around them into shreds. I would have like to have seen the Spawn do more but the left one did keep the trolls busy enough to get my warriors into combat with the big orc mob. Overall I think my friend played quite well and if he had not had such bad rolling in the big turn 4 melee I think he could have won.

If anyone has any comments for my friends list please give them and I will pass them on.

[Kaleb Daark]

The main army marched several days back from where the advanced scouts had made camp.
The spring snows had just fallen, the omens all pointed to a snowdrift summer... ideal fighting weather. The bitter wind tore at the faces of the northmen, the marauder horsemen splayed their nostrils as they breathed in deeply, savouring its icy touch on their rugged faces. Their hounds, forty strong held their heads to the wind – they could smell the charnel smell of battle, the carrion of impending bloodshed.

Cobalt Stargazer picked up his staff. As his gauntleted hand closed around it, flames began to burn and writhe along it’s handle, the dark material turned to the blood red hue of a midnight sun as the brass eyelid slowly opened revealing an eye of raging flame. His face burned under his iron mask, the flames which had given him his gift, the wounds unhealing proof of the sacrifice he had made in return for power, knowledge – reward for his hatred and the scarring of his faith.

The clamour of arms could be heard in the distance, the glint of pennons and banners discernable on the horizon in the low lands over the brow of the hill. He could smell their magic, he felt the air ripple around him, he saw iridescent colours and shifting hues.
His band had marched for weeks without a fight to test their mettle. They were hungry for blood, slaughter and opportunity to prove worthy to their ruinous powers. As if ordered by a silent voice, the horsemen unshackled their flails. The dogs padded forward, and the anointed, Stargazers’ personal guard raised their banner, lifted their shields and took up their halberds... forward they marched.
Looking out onto the lowlands the horsemen reported back not one but two armies, advanced forces by the look of them.

The gleaming pennons and standards were from a high elf contingent, directly ahead. To the left however advanced a greenskin warband. The high elves had three units of seaguard together with several units of archers. The orcish warband had a mixture of savage and black orcs... and trolls. They were going to be a problem. The chaos host had the element of initiative – and it became apparent both greenskin and elves were going to make getting rid of them their first priority.

The marauder horsemen advanced, the horselords covered valuable ground, warhounds bounding behind them. The formed a protective ring around the warriors and their sorcerer. The horselords were tasked with taking out the elven bolt thrower crews on the orcish side of the field, the other horsemen to take out the bolt thrower on the upper field – directly in front of the chaos host.

Cobalt Stargazer concentrated, the eye of his staff burned with unnatural flame, as it did so, the elven wizard lord and the orc shaman felt their minds sear as the sorcerer exposed their magic; what rich pickings, they had both sent their most powerful mages onto the field, and the winds of magic blew in his favour.
Sensing the threat, both enemy mages channelled their energies into countering his magics.

The elves stayed their position, choosing to shoot, arrow fire killed a brace of warhounds, and the bolt thrower took out some of the horsemen. Two however remained stalewart. The remaining bolt thrower trained its sights on the black orcs. Their thick hides and heavy armour protected them, only a couple falling. The sorcerer felt the air rippling around him, he felt the elven magic attacking him, but managed to channel his energies to defend against the attack.
The orcs were less cordial, their trolls charged forward, intent on smashing the chaos warriors and killing the sorcerer, yet they had no choice but to remove the warhounds blocking their path first – they slaughtered them with ease, and overran into the warhound unit behind them.

The chaos warband seized its moment, the marauders wheeled around and rode into the rear of the trolls, their flails smashing into them, all striking, all claiming blood for the blood god. The trolls managed to heal half the wounds, but could not turn around, intent on destroying the warhounds in front of them. The winds of magic blew strong once again, and from his hilltop vantage point, Cobalt stargazer tore into the orc shaman’s mind and cast Foot of Gork upon the elven seaguard units. A direct hit, wiping out ten elves in one blow. Another direct hit, another unit wiped out. By the foot dissipated, a lone elf archer was left from the third destroyed unit.

As the evening drew to a close the greenskin and elves retreated -this battle would be revisited – with stronger and more determined armies. Cobalt Stargazer harvested the heads of the fallen, soon the main force would rejoin them, they had been delayed – the chaos dwarves of the great forge had prepared a gift for them in return trade for a wealthy slave harvest.

I hope you’ve enjoyed the battle report it lasted 3 rounds and was a three way battle - I fielded the following:
L2 sorcorer; Mark of tzeentch; Third eye and infernal puppet with biting blade.
10 marauder horsemen 5 with Mark of Khorne, 5 with mark of slaanesh, both with flails.
40 warhounds
17 chaos warriors – Mark of Khorne, Halberds, shield and blasted standard – bunkering the sorcerer.

[alfyb623]

OK I don't have the entire list with me so I can't put up every detail but here's what I hadfor a 2k list:

Lord on Juggy
-Preservation
-MoK
-Halberd
-Helm of Command

Sorc
-Level 2 Death
-Puppet
-Charmed Shield

Hero
-BSB
-Halberd
-MoK
-Protection

20 Warriors
-Std
-Musc
-Halberds
-Magic banner (the one from our list that helps avoid missile fire)
-BSB in here

40 Marauders
-F.C.
-MoK
-GWs
-Sorc in here

5 Hounds

5 Hounds

5 Knight
-MoK

5 Knight
-MoK

Warshrine


VS

Dark Elf Army (I can not for the life of me remember every piece of magic gear he had cuz he decked out his Heroes like crazy)

Master Assasin

Lvl 2 Sorc w/ book for extra spell (Oh and he took Lore of Metal...convienently!)

Witch Elf Hero (whatever her name is)

9 Witch Elves

19 X-Bows

10 Eternal Guard

15 Corsairs

5 Cold one riders

Hydra

Bolt Thrower



Consensus: i got WHOMPED.


Sacrifical dagger on his sorc meant no matter what he could get his spells off cuz even if he rolls a natural 1 or 2, the rules of the dagger let him roll another die and add it to what he has. And of course being Lore of Metal, he loved it.
My lord on Juggy got the EoTG roll for a MR(3) making him a tank. However, Lore of Metal took away my awesome armor save and I rolled nothing but 1s on my Magic resistance save. General dead after turn 2, never saw combat.
Sorceror got bad spells for the game so he didnt do much except dispel and eventually blow up from a wonderful Ring of Hotek on the unit I cast 1 spell at. (ANY doubles rolled causes miscast) Sorc dead at start of turn 3.
Master assassin was exposed at turn 2 in my warrior unit with the BSB. Thanks to our lovely rule of declaring challenges, my BSB got eaten alive by his assasin since he was ASF. BSB dead in turn 2.
Marauders got chewed alive by the x-bows and a lovely boiling river that went vertical across the battlefield. Since you can't march move through mysterious rivers, he was more than happy to knock off 30 of them before the river, and the river did the rest.
Warriors were held up by the assassin for 3 whole turns (game lasting 6 turns). By the time they got halfway across the table to reach the crossing point of the river, it was bottom of turn 5 and none of his units were in range to charge (he purposely kept everything at the back of the table).
By the time anything reached him, it was too late for victory as the game was decided by victory points and he had pretty much all of them for the game.

Needless to say, I don't like the Dark Elves for their Magic Items (which they honestly need unfortunately) and their repeating x-bows.

Thinking of making a Nurgle themed army to go at him next time with Wulfrik...any thoughts on this game?

[Commisarlestat]

Sounds like you had a lot of bad luck. Plus he tailored by taking lore of metal. Try things like the feedback scroll to hurt his sorceror. Nurgle will help against the missile fire but tzeentch would give you a decent chance at saves on characters. Id go for marauders aplenty lore of metal well it's now really not as good. Wild rock could be good but you still have to get I the board which could be a problem. Perhaps take a disc rider with a decent save and a breath weapon. Rock up to the sorcerors unit and cause havoc.

Even third eye can be good as you can take down his cold one knights easily with lore of metal. Also it can be used to whittle down his units. Any spells that force toughness tests are good. Perhaps a nurgle unit with the toughness test banner.

The deployment of a river across the battlefield gave him a major advantage so perhaps don't have a river next time or have a lot more crossing points.

Hope that helps

A

[alfyb623]

Yeah. I typically use Tzeentch but I thought I would make a Khorne themed army (minus the Sorc) and give it a whirl because I got tired of the same ol list.

All the terrain was placed by a third party person who didnt know terrain rules so it was unbiased for the two armies (to him).

Im definitely changing the list around for our next fight and am definitely considering you thoughts with nurgle and toughness banner.