Dwarfs Vs. Skaven
Evening guys, me and my Skaven buddy have played many, many games against each other. The tally before this game stood at 113 games. The score for me (W/D/L) was 51/9/53. This will be our first game since the new Skaven army book has been released, so I hope you guys enjoy it as much as I did.
The game itself was played at 1,500 Points like all our other games, we prefer to play without a Lord choice, though we'll probably move up at some point.
My army was:
Heroes:
Thane, armed with a Great Weapon & Gromril Armour with a Master Rune of Gromril. 94Points
Thane, equipped with the Battle Standard, inscribed with a Rune of Battle. 115Points
Runesmith, armed with a Great Weapon, runic ring inscribed with a Master Rune of Balance, and a Rune of Spellbreaking. 149Points
Core:
20 Dwarf Warriors, equipped with Shields & Full Command. 205Points
11 Thunderers, Shields. 165Points
11 Thunderers, Shields. 165Points
Special:
2x Bolt Throwers, both inscribed with a Rune of Penetrating and one with a Rune of Burning, one Engineer. 160Points
Grudge Thrower, Rune of Accuracy, Rune of Reloading & Rune of Burning. 120Points
19 Ironbreakers, Full Command, Rune of Determination & a Rune of Courage. 327Points
Total: 1,500 Points
His army was:
1,500 Points Skaven Army
Heroes:
Plague Priest, level 2 Wizard, Dwarfbane, mounted on a Plague Furnace. 310Points
Warlock Engineer, level 2 Wizard. 100Points
Warlock Engineer, level 2 Wizard. 100Points
Core:
30 Clanrats, Spears & Shields + Full Command. 170Points
30 Clanrats, Spears & Shields + Full Command. 170Points
20 Slaves. 40Points
20 Slaves. 40Points
Special:
21 Plague Monks, Full Command & Storm Banner. 222Points
7 Plague Censer Bearers. 112Points
Rare:
Hell Pit Abomination. 235Points
Total: 1,499 Points
I can remember feeling the dread as he unpacked his case and I saw a lot of models I didn't want to. Several Plague Furnaces, a Hell Pit Abomination, a Doomwheel and a lot of other wacky crap I despise.
The battlefield was set up as follows (stole this idea from another thread, sorry I can't remember where from!) Please note this is not a completely accurate representation of the battlefield and some things may be slightly off.
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B.Thrower----------------G.Thrower-------------Thunderers[On a hill]-----------------B.Thrower
-------------Thunderers
----D.Warriors[R.Smith & BSB]---------------------------------------------Ironbreakers[Thane with G.Weapon]
------Graveyard[DT]--------------------------------------------------------------------[Small House]
--------------------------------[Small Forest, DT]
P.Monks[Furnace & Censers]----------------------------CR[WL]-----SL-------CR[WL]---SL---HPA.
------------------------[Small Hill]
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Key: CR = Clanrats
WL = Warlock
SL = Slaves
HPA = Hell Pit Abomination
DT = Difficult Terrain
Just the ones that weren't entirely obvious.
I was feeling pretty discouraged to see so many powerful units in his army and he took full advantage of the terrain to obscure his units from fire (as much as possible anyway). Luckily my B.Thrower with the Rune of Burning was on the side of his HPA to prevent Regeneration.
The game was played on a 6x4 Board, Pitched Battle with a decent amount of terrain.
For Magic he rolled:
Cloud of Corruption & Wither with his Plague Priest.
Warp Lightning & Death Frenzy with his first Engineer.
Scorch & Death Frenzy with his second Engineer.
We rolled off and I won the roll to go first. It was fairly obvious he'd have a Storm Banner so I elected to take the first turn, in the hopes that it would burn itself out fast.
Turn One: I go first, he decides to activate the Storm Banner to limit my firepower. I move my Dwarf Warriors nearer to the Graveyard so I can use it to protect my flank from the Clanrats and Slaves on the other side of the field. I only slightly move my Ironbreakers in the hopes they will remain out of range of his Magic.
In the shooting phase, my G.Thrower rolls the necessary 4+ in order to shoot. I'm unable to draw LoS on the P.Monks yet. So I aim at the nearer units of Clanrats with the first Warlock in them. I guess accurately on the back of the unit. Unfortunately it scatters away 10", however I use the Rune of Accuracy and instead score a direct hit. I kill 6 Clanrats, not enough to cause a panic test.
My leftmost B.Thrower fires a shot at the Monks however with the Storm Banner penalty I fail to hit. My other B.Thrower scores a hit against the HPA... then fails to wound !*&^!!!!
My Thunderers are naturally out of range so I hand it over to my opponent.
The Storm Banner holds for this turn, meaning I'll probably have another turn of abysmal shooting next turn. The Monks & Censers push their way up towards my right flank clearly meaning to attempt a flank charge with the Censers and a front charge with the Monks. The rest of his army advances in a relatively straight line with nothing untoward happening. The HPA rolls a 9 for its movement (not on a triple), not too bad for me.
In his Magic phase he has 7 Power Dice (1 removed by the MroBalance) and I have 6 Dispel Dice. His Plague Priests spells are of course, out of range at this point. His first Engineer uses 3 dice and casts Warp Lightning with a good roll of 12 (thank God it wasn't 13). I use 3 of my own dice and manage to dispel it. He attempts Scorch on my Ironbreakers and fails to cast it. He has no shooting so it's my turn again.
Turn Two: The Storm Banner wears itself out (thank God) clearing the battlefield for what I hope will be a decent round of shooting. My army mostly stays still with only minor movement from the Ironbreakers to cover their previously exposed flank to the HPA.
I fare much better in the shooting phase this turn. I fire my G.Thrower at the same unit again, scoring another direct hit and killing 5 more rats. Still not enough to cause a panic test, but the unit is beginning to fray and wear thin now. I fire both Bolt Throwers at the HPA (the leftmost one is in long range).
I score two hits and wound twice thanks to the increased strength. My Burning BT deals only a single wound, however the other one does three! The HPA then laughs in my face as it Regenerates them all. My Thunderers on the hill hit the already damaged units of Clanrats killing another 5, they fail their panic test and flee a massive 10. The nearby Slaves pass their panic test however.
My other unit of Thunderers don't fare so well and mostly miss against the P.Monks. What they hit they failed to wound, I'm really starting to sweat at this point. I only have one more decent round of shooting before I get charged by the HPA and Monks.
With that I give it over to the Skaven player. Again everything moves forward, my heart nearly jumps out of my chest as he rolls an 18 with the HPA. However he rolls a 1 on the Berserk Abomination Chart causing it to stay still this turn, thank Grungni. His Clanrats manage to rally with an impressive double 1. They turn about and get ready to make another march towards the Dwarf lines.
In his Magic phase he attempts to cast wither on my Dwarf Warriors with 3 Dice, rolling a 15, what the hell is it with this guy and high rolls? I pull out my only rune of Spellbreaking in the hopes he won't get that lucky again. He attempts to Scorch my Ironbreakers but I dispel it. He probably spent a lot of points on Magic and it hasn't done anything thus far. He has no shooting so it's back to me again.
Turn Three: This will be my last turn of shooting before the inevitable charge, a lucky roll on the HPA will see a charge into my Ironbreakers, though thankfully they are Immune to Terror. My Warriors turn and prepare to receive a front charge from the Furnace and in another turns time a flank charge from the Censers. They're almost definitely doomed but with the BSB I'm hoping they'll hang on long enough for my Ironbreakers to break the other half of the Skaven army.
I proceed to my last Shooting phase in the hopes I can pull off some bizarre luck. My Grudge Thrower fires at the Furnace, scoring a direct hit and causing 5 wounds! This thing is now worth its weight in solid gold. I fire both B.Throwers at the Abomination. Both hit, both wound. The ordinary one does 3 wounds yet again and the flaming deals 2 wounds. Enough to kill it, however it passes one Regeneration save and remains on one wound, with a combat next turn, it isn't going to be pretty.
My Thunderers fire at the Plague Furnace and leftmost unit of Slaves respectively, as that unit is making its way towards the hill and my artillery. The Thunderers are in long range but hit on 3+ because of the Large Target status and Dwarf Handgun rule. I manage to score a single wound and destroy the Plague Furnace! Incredibly lucky I must admit.
The other unit of Thunderers kill 8 Slaves and they pass their panic test (to both our amazements). I tighten my belt and await the inevitable charge.
In his turn he is quite disgruntled at having his Furnace and HPA all but ruined. He declares a charge with his Slaves on my Hill-Thunderers, I stand-and-shoot. He also declares a charge on my Warriors with his Monks and against my Ironbreakers with his undamaged units of Clanrats. I decide to hold, there's nowhere to run. His HPA rolls high enough to get into combat with my Ironbreakers, they brace themselves for this onslaught, for all the good it'll do them...
His other units move in closer, the Censers move through the Graveyard ready to flank charge next turn against my Warriors. The now-regrouped unit of Clanrats march up, ready to charge next turn if the other unit of Clanrats or the HPA is broken. His other unit of Slaves move around the back of the house, ready to rear charge the Ironbreakers in a few turns time or move up towards the artillery bunker.
My Thunderers decimate his Slaves, they fail their panic test never to return.
His Magic phase is interesting. He casts Death Frenzy on his engaged unit of Clanrats with Irresistible Force, finally getting some luck on his part. He can't really do anything else so we proceed to combat.
His HPA gets a single impact hit that fails to wound (praise Grungni). It then rolls a 4 (Flailing Fists) and rolls 10 attacks. He hits 4 times and wounds 4 times. Two Ironbreakers go down under the avalanche of attacks. The Clanrats then attack with a ridiculous number of attacks due to their Death Frenzy and kill 2 more Ironbreakers. My Thane strikes back and hits the HPA twice and wounds it twice, he fails a Regeneration save and the foul monstrosity finally dies, no Too Horrible to Die roll is possible since it lost some of its wounds to Flaming attacks. My Champion fails to hit any of the Clanrats. I lose the combat by 4 and use the Rune of Determination to roll 1D6 for my break test and obviously pass it since I can't fail.
Things don't go so well for the Warriors and 7 of them go down under a blizzard of attacks from the Monks. My Runesmith kills two, my Champion kills one and my BSB kills 2. Combat is drawn thanks to the Rune of Battle and we remain locked since both sides have a Musician.
The Clanrats lose 2 more members to the Death Frenzy spell.
Turn Four: Most of my units are locked in combat or unable to do anything I get ready to blow his Slaves to tatters. In my shooting phase I annihilate his Slaves, they fail their panic test and also never rally. So it's just his Monks, Censers and two Clanrat units left.
We proceed to combat and his Clanrats kill 3 Ironbreakers (I rolled dreadful saves) and I kill 5 in return, winning the combat, however he still fails to flee, rolling miraculously good break tests.
Theres no nice way to say it, my Warriors are obliterated by the Monks and quickly run down. However he is dangerously exposed now to all my shooting and you can be sure my Warriors will be avenged.
In his turn his Censers move up behind the Monks, ready for the inevitable deathstorm in my following turn. The rest of his units are fleeing or trapped in combat. Even with my Runesmith gone his Magic is bust and he's getting extremely angry now, not that I blame him.
Close combat doesn't fare too well for him, one Clanrat unit has very few members left and will be unable to rally if they break. They fail to kill any Ironbreakers and I kill 7 Clanrats, thanks to my Thane. Both units break and I run down the larger one, with the smaller one also being removed due to its inability to rally.
Turn Five: I turn my Ironbreakers and begin to march toward my gunline, knowing that I'll probably never make it. My Thunderers on the hill angle to get LoS to the Monks and get ready to shoot them to pieces next turn.
My shooting goes well enough, my Grudge Thrower scores a perfect hit against the Plague Monks, however it Scatters 8" behind them, right on top of the Censer Bearers, I decide not to re-roll the Scatter Dice knowing that I could potentially hit my Thunderers. I manage to kill three Censers.
My Thunderers kill 6 Plague Monks, reducing the unit severely, I only manage to kill a single Monk, even with two Bolt Thrower shots, I get ready to weather the inevitable charge.
He charges my Thunderers with his Monks, I stand-and-shoot ready to kill a reasonable number of them before my unit gets pulverized. The Censers move towards my Bolt Thrower, it'll be dead next turn for sure. Most of my Thunderer shots miss unfortunately.
In combat my Thunderers are destroyed and run down easily, not only that because of the angle they were facing at he overruns into my Grudge Thrower!
Turn Six: My Ironbreakers march again towards the Monks, but they won't reach in time, not even close. I turn my Thunderers so they can get a stand-and-shoot when the Grudge Thrower crew is massacred, I fire my B.Thrower at the Censers, killing one.
In combat he wipes out my G.Thrower crew with ease and since the machine is uncrewed at the end of a combat it too is destroyed and he overruns into my waiting Thunderers. I stand-and-shoot and manage to kill off 4 Monks. There are still 6 of the monsters with my Battle-standard and my warrior standard.
In my combat phase he of course wipes out the B.Thrower crew and destroys the machine, overrunning almost off the table. He doesn't deal as much damage to this Thunderer unit due to his depleted numbers he only wins the combat by one, and my unit holds.
In his phase his Censers move towards my other units, but they are much too far away to make anything even resembling a difference. The Monks break the Thunderers but fail to run them down. The Bolt Thrower passes its panic test. He was actually quite fortunate this was the last turn, my Ironbreakers were poised for a flank charge in his next turn. But that's the end of this game.
Result;
Post Game Thoughts: Well that was certainly one of the most interesting games I've ever played, I consider myself very, very lucky that I managed to destroy his Plague Furnace and HPA with relative ease, and also that his Magic did almost nothing through the entire game. He almost won the entire game with a unit of six Plague Monks who just tore through absolutely everything, I will not underestimate them again. Overall though I had a great game, it was really fun. Also a Frenzied Plague Priest with Dwarfbane is my worst nightmare.
In honour of the new Skaven army book we have decided to start a new tally which currently sits at 0/1/0 (W/D/L). Please let me know if you enjoyed this BR or didn't & why. If you did I'll post some more when I get the chance.
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Malorian
Originally Posted by KayazyAssassin
. Apparently it has a 4+ Ward Save against everything anyway. I fire my Quarrellers at his Knights and my Rangers at his War Altar. I wound his Knights 5 times but fail to kill any. My Rangers then wound the Arch Lector twice, he simply raises his eyebrow after this happens, making it obvious he's going to pour Healing Hand spells onto him until he's back to full.