1500pts Clan Skrit vs. Wood Elves

[tarrym]

Overview
Scenario: Battleline
Date Played: 23rd January 2011

One of my regular opponents took a break from Vampire Counts this time and brought along his Wood Elves. His list was pretty much the same one he had built up in 7th edition, but as you'll see it still worked pretty well.

Clan Skrit

Lord

[WLR] Warlord, Warlitter, Warlock Augmented Weapon, Enchanted Shield, Fould Pendant (210pts)

Hero

[WE] Warlock Engineer, Level 2, Warp Energy Condenser, Doom Rocket (150pts)
[BSB] Chieftain, Battle Standard Bearer, Halberd (72pts)

Core

[SV] 36 Stormvermin, Fangleader, Standard Bearer, Musician (277pts)*
[WFT] Warpfire Thrower, (70pts)
[CR2] 30 Clanrats, Clawleader, Standard Bearer, Musician, Shields (155pts)
[PWM] Poisoned Wind Mortar, (65pts)
[SS1] 40 Skaven Slaves, (80pts)
[SS2] 40 Skaven Slaves, (80pts)

Rare

[WLC] Warp Lightning Cannon, (90pts)
[HPA] Hellpit Abomination, (235pts)

Total: 1484pts*

* = looking at my list now I'd paid 15pts for "equipment" on the SV Fangleader without actually choosing any. Hence the overall list being slightly down.

Wood Elves - The Shield of Idril Veneanar

Lord

[SW] Spell Weaver** - Idril Veneanar, Channelling Staff, Hail of Doom Arrow (260pts)

Core

[GG1] 10 Glade Guard, Musician (126pts)
[GG2] 10 Glade Guard, Musician (126pts)
[GG3] 10 Glade Guard, Musician (126pts)
[GG4] 10 Glade Guard, Musician (126pts)
[D1] 8 Dryads, (96pts)
[D2] 8 Dryads, (96pts)
[GR1] 5 Glade Riders, Musician (129pts)
[GR2] 5 Glade Riders, Musician (129pts)

Rare

[T] Treeman (285pts)

Total: 1499pts

** = Hopefully I got the right name for the WE Lord level caster!

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Deployment


We rolled for the number of pieces of terrain and then alternated to place pieces down. The tower on the left (looking at the map) was an Altar of Khaine, while the building in the centre was a Sigmarite Shrine. The marshes in the Skaven deployment zone were a mist-wreathed swamp, while the hill in was an Anvil of Vaul.

The Skaven won the roll to chose sides and quickly picked the side with the hill that made their (already magical) shooting also count as flaming. This was both to deny the Wood Elves any flaming shots at the HPA, and also to gain an advantage at killing the Treeman! Read on to find out how that worked out.


The Wood Elves on the opposite side spread themselves out over the whole length of the board.


Spells:
Spell Weaver: Flock of Doom, Amber Spear, Wyssan's Wildform
Warlock Engineer: Death Frenzy, Warp Lightning

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Turn 1 - Clan Skrit


The Skaven of Clan Skrit began by marching forwards at full pace. The Hell Pit Abomination moved for the left flank to prevent the Glade Riders from becoming a real nuisance.

In the centre the weapon teams tried to get into reasonable positions. But in hindsight their location would prove to be less than idea next turn.


In the magic phase the Wood Elves managed to dispel the Skaven's attempt to cast Warp Lightning on one of the Glade Guard units. The Skaven chose not to cast Death Frenzy this turn - figuring the casualties it would inflict would outweigh any combat bonuses they would get in turn 2.

This was the first game for my new Warp Lightning Cannon model. And in true Skaven style it introduced itself by misfiring, and (luckily) rolling a 6! This proved to be a bigger issue than it may sound, as it was one of the few times the Treeman would be exposed to the cannon - magical, flaming attacks doing D6 wounds would have made a real mess of the giant tree!


The Poisoned Wind Mortar slightly improved the situation by killing 3 Dryads.

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Turn 1 - Wood Elves


The Wood Elves moved forwards rapidly on the flanks, trying to threaten the Warp Lightning Cannon and get some shots off on the Hellpit Abomination. The Glade Guard units moved forwards as little as they needed to to bring themselves within short range of their targets. The Dryad units moved to take up positions for combat next turn.

In the magic phase the Hellpit Abomination had a narrow escape. The Wood Elves tried to cast the Amber Spear, but it was dispelled. This was followed by casting the Flock of Doom on the monster, which despite it's low strength still managed to inflict a wound on the Abomination.

In the shooting phase the Treeman added another wound to the Hellpit Abomination with it's strangle root attack.


In the centre the Glade Guard units killed a total of 5 Storm Vermin.


With no combat yet it was on to turn 2.

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Turn 2 - Clan Skrit


The Skaven took the plunge and sent the Stormvermin after the depleted unit of Dryads behind the building. On the left flank the Hellpit Abomination turned towards the Glade Riders and shambled right over them.


In the centre the weapon teams placement proved to be an issue for the Clanrats who wanted to move up behind the Stormvermin. In the end the Warpfire Thrower was moved into the building - hoping for a shot next turn at the Treeman, while the Mortar moved to get a shot on the Glade Riders on the right flank.

The Slaves guarding the Warlock Engineer moved up and angled to give their charge line of sight to the Glade Guard on the right. While the Slaves, unsure where to go, reformed to move around the building that was now occupied by the Warpfire Thrower.


In the magic phase the Warlock Engineer cast Death Frenzy on the Stormvermin with Irresistable Force. The resulting miscast put a large template on the unit of Slaves, but miraculously none were killed!

In the shooting phase the Warp Lightning cannon couldn't see the Treeman, so instead aimed for the Glade Riders bearing down on it from the right flank. Guess what - another misfire. This time it shot randomly towards the Skaven lines, but fell short.

The Poisoned Wind Mortar yet again made up for things by actually hitting and killing 3 of the Glade Riders, who promptly fled.

Finally the Warlock Engineer fired his Doom Rocket off at the Glade Guard on the right. Hitting them perfectly, 5 of the Elves died.


In the combat phase the Stormvermin and Warlord easily wiped out the Dryads. Their overrun move took them into contact with one of the units of Glade Guard.

At the end of the turn Death Frenzy killed 6 of the Stormvermin.

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Turn 2 - Wood Elves


There was unusually little movement from the Elves this turn. The Treeman moved along the back of the Sigmarite Shrine, towards the Clanrats but facing the Stormvermin. The Wood Elf Spell Weaver moved into the Altar of Khaine.

The remaining Glade Riders rallied and turned to face the Warp Lightning Cannon again.

In the magic phase the Wood Elves tried again to cast the Amber Spear at the Hell Pit Abomination but failed.

In the centre the unengaged Glade Guard shot at the Clanrats, but only managed to kill a few of the rats.


The Treeman used his strangle-root attack to kill the Warpfire Thrower. Funnily enough he actually rolled 10 hits (we had to roll to check for a mis-fire), but then only managed 4 hits when we rolled a D6 for the number of hits suffered whilst in a building.

The combat between the Stormvermin and the Glade Guard went rather predictably - in fact the Wood Elf player volunteered to remove his unit without rolling any dice!

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Turn 3 - Clan Skrit


Having broken a whole in the Wood Elf line, the Skaven now had to make sure the Elves didn't slip away like the sneaky (ahem pansies) they are!

The wounded Hellpit Abomination and Slaves on the right moved to plug the gap between the two buildings.


The Clanrats moved further along the centre, ready to take on the remaining Dryads, while the Slaves on the right moved forwards to put the pressure on the Elves to make a move.

In the magic phase the Warlock Engineer cast Death Frenzy on his own unit of Slaves, preparing them to potentially face the Dryads.


The Warp Lightning Cannon had a second (and final) opportunity to shoot the Treeman this turn. But, what a surprise, it misfired again!!! The random shot once went off the edge of the board.

The Poisoned Wind Mortar aimed for the Dryads, but only managed to kill one of the little tree-things.


Both the Stormvermin and Slaves lost 6 and 5 models respectively to Death Frenzy.

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Turn 3 - Wood Elves


The Wood Elves elected not to charge the Stormvermin with the Treeman, instead opting to inflict as much shooting damage as they could.

In the centre the Dryads charged the Clanrats, making the most of the forest to make themselves Steadfast.


In the magic phase the Wood Elf Spell Weaver managed to cast Amber Spear on the Hellpit Abomination with Irresistable Force. The Hellpit survived with only 1 wound remaining.


The combined shooting attacks of the Treeman and 2 units of Glade Guard took a heavy toll on the Stormvermin.

In combat the Dryads pretty much bounced off the Clanrats shields and suffered a wound in return. They passed their steadfast 8 test.


Note: we actually played the rules for this wrongly. We thought the Clanrats didn't get any rank bonuses (or SiN) while in the forest. It didn't make a difference this turn, but later it became an important mistake.

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Turn 4 - Clan Skrit


With little other choice, the Stormvermin charged the Treeman in front of them.

On the left flank the Hellpit Abomination charged the Spell Weaver in the tower. Whilst on the right the Slaves charged (and wiped out) the Glade Guard.

In the magic phase the Warlock Engineer had nothing to do as there was nothing within his LoS and he was already doing plenty of damage with 2 units suffering from Death Frenzy!

The shooting phase saw very little. The Warp Lightning Cannon finally got a shot off, this time towards the Glade Riders. However it fell short Then the Poisoned Wind Mortar shot at the same target, but it scattered off target.

In combat the Clanrats once again won, but the surviving Dryads held their ground. The Stormvermin and Warlord didn't fair so well. Despite the sheer number of attacks they were dishing out, they only managed one wound on the Treeman who wiped out the remaining Stormvermin in return. The Warlord failed his break test and ran for the board edge.


On the left flank the Hellpit Abomination survived the Spell Weavers frenzied attacks (from the Altar of Khaine). However it failed to wound the Spell Weaver in return - only rolling 4 for the number of "flailing fists" attacks.


We forgot to roll for thunderstomp, but then we also forgot to move the Hellpit Abomination 1" away for failing to win the assault - so the Spell Weaver died in the WE turn instead of this one.

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Turn 4 - Wood Elves


The Treeman made the obvious charge at the fleeing Skaven Warlord, taking both models off the table.

The Glade Riders also finally made a successful charge into the Warp Lightning Cannon.


In the centre the Glade Guard nearest the Skaven Slaves made a long march to get out of their (reasonable) charge range, whilst the other remaining Glade Guard unit turned to get some shots off on the Slaves.


Nothing of note happened in the magic phase. And even in the shooting phase only a couple of Skaven Slaves fell to bow fire.

In combat the Hellpit Abomination killed the Spell Weaver (see note from previous turn - I now realise this shouldn't have happened quite this way). On a more positive note for the Wood Elves the Glade Riders finally got rid of their target and overran past the remains of the Warp Lightning Cannon.

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Turn 5 - Clan Skrit


Realising their position was falling apart fairly quickly, the Skaven moved the Hellpit Abomination back behind the building to reduce the amount of bow fire aimed at it as possible - and maximise it's chance of keeping it's last wound!


The Skaven Slaves on the left marched up towards the Glade Guard, while the Slaves on the right reformed to face the Elves but were too far away for the Engineer to do anything this turn.

The Poisoned Wind Mortar aimed for the Glade Riders again, hoping to prevent them from reaching the Hellpit Abomination, but it scattered off target.

In combat the Dryads once again lost to the Clanrats, but once again past their steadfast test. There were only 2 models left at this point. But the Skaven BSB had been lost in the slow grind.

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Turn 5 - Wood Elves


The Glade Riders moved up as close as they dared to the Hellpit Abomination, hoping to get some shots off.

The Treeman came back on the board, and formed a mini battle line with the 2 remaining Glade Guard units, ready to take on the remaining Slaves and (possibly) the Clanrats.


Shooting saw a couple of Slaves fall to Elven arrows, but nothing significant.

In combat the remaining 2 Dryads well all out and managed to inflict wounds with all 4 of their attacks. This combined with our mis-understanding of the rules (see above) meant the Clanrats lost combat. Without their general or bsb, the Clanrats failed their break test and were ran down by the lone surviving Dryad. This also caused the Poisoned Wind Mortar to panic.


At that point the Skaven resigned, not fancying their chances at defeating a Treeman with just a couple of units of Slaves.

Game over - victory to the Wood Elves

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Post Battle Thoughts

Clan Skrit
Looking back at it now I could have carried on with the game. But at the time it wasn't looking very good, and we had people waiting for us to go for a pub sunday roast!

A few thoughts I had:

• Death Frenzy is fantastic, but in this game it was probably OTT. I should probably have kept the other spell I rolled (can't remember which) and swapped Death Frenzy for Warp Lightning. I think the Stormvermin rolled 5 or 6 every time for the number of casualties they suffered from this spell, and they didn't really need the extra attacks.
• Stormvermin don't really seem to be as good as Plague Monks (with Plague Banner, but not inc. Furnace) - considering they are roughly the same pts cost. Need to think of alternative ways to field them.
• Why, oh why can't my Warp Lightning Cannon shoot at things! Three misfires in a row, followed by a shot that fell really short (guessing 8" short and rolling a 2 twice on the artillery dice). It's down to bad luck, but I was relying on this machine to take out the Treeman.
• I still struggle to get anything out of the Warpfire Thrower. Really, really, like the idea of this weapon team, but it suffers from move-OR-fire.

Wood Elves
Yet to come.

[Malorian]

When I saw the lists it reminding me of a game I recently had (where my WE crushed some skaven) so I kinda thought the woodies would win from the start.

Things really change in larger games as your magic fries them and you have the points to spend on large slave units to spread out and swamp them.

The flame thrower should camp out behind some slaves. Just tie up the enemy (move so they are forced to charge you) and fry them once they are stuck in. WE is not a good army for that weapon however...

Thanks for the report.

[Boss_Salvage]

I'm guessing your opponent didn't really know how hellpits operate, did he? The glade guard nestling right up to its flank was a dead give away. And then losing his spellweaver to it? Yowch.

All the same, thanks for the report. A bit of a rules thing, I'm not sure that Vaul's Whatever would have made your magical shooting flaming - the third paragraph of the flaming section says something about magical weapons not being able to be made flaming by another source (hence why the flame banner doesn't work on ensorceled chaos knights). As it turned out, the point was moot

- Salvage

[tarrym]

I'm guessing your opponent didn't really know how hellpits operate, did he? The glade guard nestling right up to its flank was a dead give away. And then losing his spellweaver to it? Yowch.

The Glade Riders was intentional as it was to tempt me into moving my HPA away from the WE line - delaying it for at least 1 extra turn, to allow the shooting attacks to whittle it down. It very nearly worked.

All the same, thanks for the report. A bit of a rules thing, I'm not sure that Vaul's Whatever would have made your magical shooting flaming - the third paragraph of the flaming section says something about magical weapons not being able to be made flaming by another source (hence why the flame banner doesn't work on ensorceled chaos knights). As it turned out, the point was moot

Just checked my BRB now. I can't see anything under Flaming Attacks which prevents magical weapons from benefiting from flaming. The third paragraph is all about the re-rolls when assaulting a building.

I checked in a few other places, but can't find this rule. If someone knows where it is can they let me know a page number please?

[Boss_Salvage]

I meant the last paragraph of Flaming Attaks, not sure why I was thinking the third one. Here's the last paragraph in full:

"Unless otherwise stated, a model with this special rule has both Flaming shooting and close combat attaks (though any spells cast by the model are unaffected, as are any attaks made with magic weapons they might be wielding)."

Now is where someone would try to say that "warpstone weapons" are not "magic weapons" ... but I think that's splitting some hairs that don't deserve splitting. For my purposes, I never use the inane terrain from the BRB, for a number or reasons, the Anvil of Vaul being one of the offenders :P

----

Nice on distracting the HPA then, I did notice it worked nicely. Still curious that the spellweaver was eaten by the hellpit too, pretty easy to put a building between it and you ...

- Salvage

[SevenSins]

nice rep nice for the trehuggers to win, though I thought Clan Skrit would bag this one

[andyg2006]

We forgot to roll for thunderstomp, but then we also forgot to move the Hellpit Abomination 1" away for failing to win the assault - so the Spell Weaver died in the WE turn instead of this one.

Great battle report.
I thought it only moved 1 away if it accidentally hits a friendly unit with it's movement?

[selone]

Nice report, thanks, pretty well formatted