HORDES OF CHAOS versus Dark Elves

The Fickle Winds of Magic

Game: Warhammer Fantasy Battle 7th edition
Opponent: Gary

Following my frantic painting efforts I managed to get my Warriors onto the tabletop. I hadn't played for three weeks so I was really up for a game, especially now that we had enough models for a 1000 point battle on a 6' by 4' table.

Armies: 1000 points
I brought my Chaos Undivided mortals:

• Aspiring Champion with Armour of Damnation and 6+ ward save
• Lvl 1 Sorcerer with Dispel Scroll (Steed of Shadows spell)
• 12 Warriors full command
• 10 Warriors full command
• 5 Knights full command
• 6 War hounds
• Chariot

Gary brought Dark Elves with:

• 3 lvl 2 Sorceresses
• War Hydra
• 10 Repeater Crossbows
• 16 Spearelves full command
• 5 Dark Riders

Terrain and deployment
On my half of the table I had a large wood on my left, a smaller wood on my centre right and a hill on my right. Gary had some rock columns and a hill to my far left and a lake in the centre. My plan was to use the large wood to protect my flanks so I put the Chariot and Knights on my far left and the two Warrior units in the centre on the other side of the wood. My Aspiring Champ and the Sorcerer started in the larger Warrior unit. I put the Hounds on my right. Gary deployed all his units bar the Dark Riders opposite my left flank.

Turn 1
Gary won first turn and pushed his riders right down my throat, near the Warriors but out of their line of sight. He shuffled the rest of his units about a bit and ran a sorceress into the rocks to threaten my Knights and Chariot. I used my Dispel Scroll.

I moved both the Chariot and Knights forward, ignoring the sorceress. Both Warrior units marched forward (they were just over 8" from the Dark Riders). My hounds got in the faces of the Riders.

Turn 2
Gary charged and killed the hounds with his Dark Riders. I was hoping for a long overrun but they only went 7". The Hydra moved back a bit. His sorceress in the rocks miscast, took a wound and ended the magic phase. Result!

I could only move my 10 man Warrior unit 4" due to the Dark Riders but my larger unit marched a full 8". I charged the Chariot and Knights at the Hydra but was just out with both.

Turn 3
The Hydra charged the Chariot, caused two wounds and broke it. The Dark Riders came up behind my Warriors to march block both units. The Dark Elves magic and shooting were better this turn and killed three of the 12 Warrior unit.

My knights slammed into the Hydra but caused no wounds. Drat! The combat continued. Fortunately the Chariot rallied. In the centre my units tramped another 4" to the opposite board edge.

Turn 4
Gary shuffled his Spearelves back 2.5" and brought his sorceress out of the rocks to see the Warriors who were now coming just beyond the large wood. Combined magic and shooting killed six more Warriors out of my now not so large unit. The Hydra took a wound from my Knights and a handler was killed.

I charged the Chariot into the Hydra but only inflicted a single wound. Shit. The Knights killed another handler and put a wound on the beast. Rolling on the reaction chart, the Hydra became unbreakable. Fan-bloody-tastic. Now I'd have to take every single wound off the animal one by one. At this rate it would take until turn 21! I turned to face the Dark Riders with my Warriors.

Turn 5
The Dark Riders moved out of line of sight but still managed to march block both units. The rest of his units moved back toward his own board edge. A sorceress cast a spell on the Warriors to prevent them from moving for a turn. It was now looking very unlikely that any of my Warriors would reach them. On my left it wasn't much better as my two hardest hitting units were trying to bring the Hydra to heel. Everything changed within a few dice rolls. A sorceress miscast allowing my own sorcerer to auto cast Steed of Shadows on my Aspiring Champion. Gary used five power dice to dispel the spell but he got a double 1 and the spell went off. My Champ zoomed into the nearest sorceress and chopped her to pieces. My Knights and Chariot took the last three wounds off the Hydra in sudden burst of energy.

My Aspiring Champion charged the Crossbow Elves who fled. The Champ caught them and hacked them to itty bitty pieces. The Chariot and Knights manoeuvred to face the hill around which the Dark Elves were trying to mount a defense.

Turn 6
After a sudden reversal of fortune the Dark Elves had to chase the game. A sorceress prevented my Champ from moving, effectively putting him out of the game. The Dark Riders stopped dancing around and charged into the rear of my three surviving Warriors. All the attacks bounced off and I killed two in return. The Elves held. The Spearelves moved away behind the hill out of sight of the Knights.

My Warriors killed two more Riders but the last Elf passed his break test. My Knights failed to contact the Spearelves. My Chariot charged a sorceress who also fled, this time straight off the board.

Result: I ended up with an unlikely solid victory (638.5 victory points to 256).

Honours

• Chaos - the Sorcerer as he allowed me to cast that free steed of shadows spell
• Dark Elves - the Dark Riders for holding up my main advance
  

Thoughts

• This game revolved around a single miscast and a fumbled dispel. Without that big slice of luck I would have undoubtedly lost. Serves those dishonourable spellcasting bitches right!
• Those Dark Riders were as annoying as feck! How the devil do I deal with them? A unit of Marauder cavalry? An Aspiring Champion hanging around the rear? More hounds?
• The other development I have noticed in my last few games is the 'Dark Elf shuffle.' I either need more speed to threaten the Elves back line or some shooting to force them to come to me. Perhaps the Beast book would help or maybe a Hellcannon could shift the balance?