2500pts Tomb Kings vs Vampire Counts

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Overview
Scenario: Blood and Glory
Date Played: 12th February 2012

Well after the TK's last outing it was time for a rematch to allow the VC to try and regain some dignity. In case you're interested here is the last battle between these two players.

The VC player basically trimmed down his 3000pts list from the previous game while the TK started a new list from scratch with the goal of fielding two Necrolith Colossus (or is that Colossi?) - in an attempt to see what happens when these things dual charge!


Tomb Kings

Lord

[TK] Tomb King, Destroyer of Eternities, Enchanted Shield, Dragonbane Gem, Potion of Speed (265pts)
[LHP] Liche High Priest, Heirophant, Level 4, Earthing Rod, Healing Potion (270pts)

Hero

[LP] Liche Priest, Level 2, Dispel Scroll (130pts)

Core

[SA1] 20 Skeleton Archers, Musician (130pts)
[SA2] 20 Skeleton Archers, Musician (130pts)
[SC] 6 Skeleton Chariots, Standard Bearer, Musician, Banner of Eternal Flame (360pts)

Special

[TG] 29 Tomb Guard, Halberds, Tomb Captain, Standard Bearer, Musician (407pts)
[NK] 3 Necropolis Knights, Necropolis Captain, Standard Bearer, Musician (225pts)

Rare

[NC1] Necrolith Colossus, Additional Hand Weapon (175pts)
[NC2] Necrolith Colossus, Additional Hand Weapon (175pts)
[SSC] Screaming Skull Catapult (90pts)
[CoS] Casket of Souls (135pts)

Total: 2497pts

Vampire Counts

Lord

[VL] Vampire Lord, Level 1, ??? (???pts)
[MN] Master Necromancer, Level 4, Master of the Dead, ??? (???pts)

Hero

[N] Vampire, Level 2, Dispel Scroll, ??? (???pts)

Core

[CG] 40 Crypt Ghouls, (400pts)
[S] 25 Skeletons, Standard Bearer, Musician (130pts)
[Z] 22 Zombies (??pts)
[DW] 5 Dire Wolves (???pts)

Special

[GG] 30 Grave Guard , Great Weapons, Champion, Standard Bearer, Musician, Banner of the Barrows (???pts)
[FB1] 2 Fell Bats (32pts)
[FB2] 2 Fell Bats (32pts)
[SH1] Spirit Host (??pts)
[SH2] Spirit Host (??pts)
[Vt] 3 Vargheists (138pts)
[CC] Corpse Cart, Unholy Loadstone, Spear (121pts)

Rare

[ME] Mortis Engine (???pts)

Total: ~2500pts

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Deployment


We rolled up the Blood and Glory scenario - which wasn't really ideal for either army. The breaking point was 3, and the Tomb Kings started with a fortitude of 5 (general + 3 banners) while the Vampire Counts started on 4 (general + 2 banners).

The Tomb Kings won the roll to deploy first and opted to take the side with the hill for the sake of maximising their firepower. As with the previous encounter the Vampire Counts had plenty of "chaff" units to put down before committing any serious units so the Tomb Kings pretty much had to hope for the best!

The Necropolis Knights and two Necrolith Colossus defended the right flank of the Tomb Kings line - which was actually in the centre of the board. Behind these were a unit of Skeleton Archers, joined by the Liche Priest, and the Casket of Souls.


On the left flank the Tomb Guard and Skeleton Chariots took up positions to hold up and hit the flanks of the Vampire Counts lines. The other unit of Skeleton Archers, joined by the Liche High Priest, and the Screaming Skull Catapult set up on the hill.


Note: the chariots are slightly forward of the usual 15" deployment zone. We agreed this was OK and that in turn 1 the Skeleton Chariots and Skeleton Archers would move forwards anyway so we took that into account.

The Vampire Counts were wary of the Skeleton Chariots and Tomb Guard and deployed further over to the right of the board (from the Tomb Kings perspective). On the far left the only units were the Dire Wolves and a single Spirit Host.


The Vampire Counts infantry formed a solid mass around the Mortis Engine with another Spirit Host and a unit of Fell Bats ready to help redirect the Tomb Kings if needed.


Finally the Vargheists set up on the far right of the board, not wanting a repeat performance against the Tomb Kings Skeletal Chariots.

Before turn 1 the Direwolves used their vanguard move to close the gap to the Skeletal Chariots on the left flank.


Spells:
Liche High Priest: Djaf's Incantation of Cursed Blades, Neru's Incantation of Protection, Ptra's Incantation of Righteous Smiting, Usekhep's Incantation of Desiccation
Liche Priest: Pha's Protection, Birona's Timewarp

Note: The Tomb Kings opted to take the Lore of Light on their Liche Priest hoping to augment the Necrolith Colossus up to WS10 and also wanting to try out not having both casters use the Lore of Nehekhara.

Master Necromancer: Invocation of Nehek, Vanhel's Dance Macabre, Hellish Vigour, Gaze of Nagash
Necromancer: Invocation of Nehek, Curse of Years
Vampire Lord: Invocation of Nehek

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Turn 1 - Vampire Counts


The Vampire Counts won the roll to decide who gets first turn, and they eagerly took it.

On the left flank the Dire Wolves moved up their full 9" to get out of the charge arc of the Skeletal Chariots. Meanwhile the Spirit Host on the left moved sideways, not quite wanting to get any closer than needs be.


In the centre the other Spirit Host moved into the mysterious forest to discover what it was - and it turned out to be a blood forest, which was going to cause the Master Necromancer some issues later on!


On the right flank the Skeletons accompanying the Vampire Lord began their march around the newly discovered blood forest. Meanwhile all three of the Vampire Counts flying units took to the skies and swung around on the flank to start encircling the Tomb Kings position.


In the magic phase the Vampire Lord and Necromancers didn't have a huge amount to do as the army hadn't taken any wounds, and their damage spells were out of range of anything. The Master Necromancer started by casting the large version of Vanhel's Dance Macabre to move the army again - the Spirit Host in the blood forest being just out of range!


Next the Master Necromancer cast Hellish Vigour on the Crypt Ghouls.


Next up the Master Necromancer tried to cast the 12" version of Invocation of Nehek to raise more Zombies and Skeletons. The Liche High Priest dispelled this.

So lastly the Necromancer cast Invocation of Nehek and raised several more Zombies to add to their bunker.


With the Mortis Engine way out of range to use it's banshee wail, and no combat to fight it was on to Tomb Kings turn 1.

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Turn 1 - Tomb Kings


Realising that a few mistakes might have been made during deployment, the Tomb Kings went on the defensive. Hoping to consolidate for now and then wait for the opportunity to punch through a weak point in the Vampire Count lines as they advanced.

To that effect the constructs shuffled about to improve their facing and positions. While the one archer unit moved up to bring their bows into range.


On the left flank the Skeletal Chariots swift reformed to face the Dire Wolves and prevent them from making a charge into the Skeletal Archers that were guarding the Liche High Priest.


In the magic phase the Liche High Priest started by hexing the Grave Guard with Usekhp's Incantation of Desiccation.


In an attempt to draw out some dispel dice, the Liche High Priest then cast Ptra's Incantation of Righteous Smiting at it's higher level to grant the entire Tomb Kings army (yes they were all within range!) +1A and multi-shot (x2). Sadly the Vampire Counts let this one through and saved most of their dice - I think they had 6 in total and threw 2 to dispel this in the hope of getting a double 6. At this point the Tomb Kings only had 3 dice left to cast the Casket's bound spell so it would be 3D6 vs 4D6 + 4, so it was fair enough to try for a double 6


Finally the Casket of Souls tried to unleash the souls trapped within, but the Master Necromancer easily dispelled it.

In the shooting phase, despite having multi-shot (x2) it still took the combined firepower of the Skeletal Chariots AND the Skeletal Archers - that's 64 bows - to bring down the Dire Wolves. From memory there was about an average number of hits, but out of the 20-odd hits only 5 wounded (on 4+).


The Screaming Skull Catapult then tried to shoot at the Spirit Host in the centre of the Vampire Counts lines, but it veered off target by 10" and landed in the middle of no-man's land.

Finally, the other unit of Skeletal Archers unleashed their multi-shot bow fire and killed 4 Grave Guard.

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Turn 2 - Vampire Counts


The Vampire Counts started by declaring a charge with the Spirit Host in the centre of their lines at one of the Necrolith Colossi, but it failed to roll high enough and simple "stuttered" forwards 2" (like the little girl from The Ring).


The other Spirit Host then moved to the edge of the left-most forest to find out that it was a venom thicket. The Spirit Host itself was obviously unharmed, however this would pose a problem for the Crypt Ghouls who were hoping to move through it this turn. Instead the Vampire Counts central units moved up a few inches.


On the right the flyers continued their advance along the flank. The Fell Bats both made it out of the Necropolis Knights charge arc, while the Vargheists were still visible but made sure they had plenty of distance to the serpents.


The Corpse Cart moved into the Blood Forest this turn, hoping to join the Vampire Counts central block of troops. It didn't take any damage from dangerous terrain.

In the magic phase however the Master Necromancer cast Invocation of Nehek (6") which restored the Grave Guard to full strength, raised some new Zombies and triggered the Corpse Carts innate ability. As the Corpse Cart was inside the blood forest this meant the trees got a little annoyed! The Corpse Cart took a wound from the forest, and the forest then moved so that it was contacting both the Mortis Engine and the Zombie unit.


Not too bothered by his recent experience, the Master Necromancer than proceeded to cast Gaze of Nagash on one of the Necrolith Colossi. Cast with irresistible force, the Tomb Kings just watched while still holding all of their dispel dice! Luckily the spell only rolled 4 hits, and none of these scored a wound. The resulting miscast killed a few Zombies and put a wound on the Master Necromancer. And of course as the Zombies were inside the blood forest it killed a few more Zombies and then moved along the back of the Vampire Counts lines.

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Turn 2 - Tomb Kings


Turn 2 started with a bit of a blunder. The Skeletal Chariots moved up the flank, seeing that they could fit between the venom thicket and the wall they saw this as a good opportunity to push up the flanks. However I'd been a bit of a muppet (of a man!) and not checked the distance to the Crypt Ghouls through the forest...


The remainder of the Tomb Kings repositioned themselves to face the Grave Guard and try and take that banner out (which would win the game) before they lost any of their own.


On the right, the Necropolis Knights and Necrolith Colossi took up guarding positions around the Casket of Souls to hinder the Fell Bats from reaching their target. It's worth noting that at this point both units of Fell Bats are facing to the left and are 1 file deep - so they couldn't fit anywhere if they charged any of the units in the picture.


The magic phase was a bust. I think the total power dice pool was about 7 dice (including the Casket of Souls bonus dice) but between the Master Necromancer dispelling and the Necromancer using a scroll everything was stopped.

In the shooting phase the Screaming Skull Catapult continued it's impression of my Skaven Warp Lightning Cannon and rolled a misfire when targeting the Mortis Engine. It didn't blow up, but couldn't fire this turn or next.


To end the turn, the Skeletal Chariots shot their bows into the Crypt Ghouls but only managed a single kill. The two Skeletal Archer units (aided by a nice cuppa!) both targetted the Grave Guard and managed to kill the same 4 Grave Guard that had been slain in the previous turn!

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Turn 3 - Vampire Counts


To start the Vampire Counts turn 3, the Vargheists failed their Frenzy test and attempted a charge on the Necropolis Knights who were 21" away! Guess what...

...yeah they made it!

The Spirit Host in the centre attempted another charge on one of the Necrolith Colossi, but failed to make it (again only moving 2" due to the failed charge).


Then the Crypt Ghouls capitalised on the Tomb Kings mistake on the left flank and charged through the venom thicket at the Skeletal Chariots. They only needed 7 to make it, and rolled exactly that. 9 Crypt Ghouls died to the dangerous terrain on the way in.


In the centre the Vampire Counts continued to advance, but they were taking their time. The Grave Guard made sure they were 12" away from the Tomb Guard.


And lastly, the Fell Bats continued to be a nuisance around the flank, trying to set themselves up for future charges.


I don't have any pictures of the magic phase. But from what I can remember it went similarly to the Tomb Kings previous turn - a bust! However the Liche Priest also had to use his scroll to make sure the Vampire Counts didn't get an important spell off - it was so important that I can't remember what spell it was though!

In combat the Vargheists struck first and inflicted 4 wounds on the Necropolis Knights - their 3+ armour save coming in handy to keep the units standard bearer alive! The Necropolis Knights inflicted 3 wounds in return. The Vargheists won combat, but only by 1 thanks to the Necropolis Knight carrying his standard! So the Tomb Kings heavy cavalry remained where they were.


Out on the other flank however the Crypt Ghouls rolled an uncanny number of 6's and put a total of 10 wounds on the Skeletal Chariots before they could even strike back. The Skeleton Charioteer crew did inflict some wounds, but it wasn't enough to prevent the entire unit crumbling to combat resolution. The Crypt Ghouls overran and made it out of the charge arc of the Tomb Guard (not actually shown on the map sorry!).

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Turn 3 - Tomb Kings


With the Skeletal Chariots down both armies now had a fortitude of 4 meaning the next player to lose a banner would lose the game. This meant for a dubious start to the Tomb Kings turn 4 as the Necropolis Knights were in combat and their standard banner only had 2 wounds left!

However there was a glimmer of hope as the Tomb Guard declared a charge on the Grave Guard, and one of the Necrolith Colossi declared a charge in as well to support them. The Tomb Guard needed 8, but rolled 5. While the Necrolith Colossi needed a 9, and got it!


The other Necrolith Colossi would need a much higher roll to make it into the Grave Guard, so rather than risking wasting the turn completely he declared a charge on the Fell Bats that had previously flown almost right in front of him.


The Liche High Priest left the archers on the flank, realising that he was too far to support the centre of the army and that those Skeletal Archers were pretty doomed now anyway with a horde of Crypt Ghouls heading straight for them. The Skeletal Archer units themselves moved/swift-reformed to maximise their firing potential - as limited as it was.


In the magic phase the Tomb Kings needed lots of dice - but rolled 4. Then the Casket of Souls added 1 more, and neither the Liche High Priest nor the Liche Priest managed to channel. Bugger

So the Liche Priest cast Pha's Protection on the Necrolith Colossi that had just solo-charged the Grave Guard.


He then attempted to cast Birona's Time Warp on the Necropolis Knights, but this was dispelled. There were no dice left for the Casket of Souls to even attempt to cast it's spell, and in fairness it wouldn't have achieved much if it was cast - with most of the Vampire Counts unit being within 12" of their Vampire Lord, or more than 6" apart from each other.

In the shooting phase the Skeletal Archers on the left realised they were out of range of any of the units in the Vampire Counts central formation. So they simply targetted the Crypt Ghouls instead and killed a couple more.


The Skeletal Archers in the centre tried their luck at putting some wounds on the Mortis Engine, but failed to inflict a single wound with their 20 bows.

In combat the Necropolis Knights pulled one out of the bag. The Vargheists fluffed their attacks a little and only managed to put a single wound on the standard bearer. Attacking back, the Necropolis Knights killed one of the Vargheists and put a wound on the lone survivor. Combat resolution was enough to wipe out the flying vampires.

Then the Necrolith Colossi nearby easily wiped out the Fell Bats for no wounds in return. He opted not to overrun in favour of trying to guard the Necropolis Knights against the Skeleton Warriors being led by the Vampire Lord.


Perhaps foolishly, I never even considered reforming the Necrolith Colossi or the Necropolis Knights...doh!

Then to round the turn off, the other Necrolith Colossi went on a bit of a rampage. Between his unstoppable assault, thunderstomp attacks (which I know aren't affected by unstoppable assault in case you're wondering) and combat resolution he managed to kill a total of 11 Grave Guard while only taking a single wound in return.

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Turn 4 - Vampire Counts


This was the turn where pretty much everything charged! So I'll try and make it as clear as possible...

The remaining Fell Bats and the Skeleton Warriors charged the Necropolis Knights. The Spirit Host in the centre charged the Necrolith Colossi that had just wiped out the Fell Bats.


The Mortis Engine charged the Skeleton Archers.


The Crypt Ghouls attempted to charge the other Skeleton Archers, but failed to roll high enough.


And finally the Spirit Host on the left flank charged the flank of the Tomb Guard.


The only two units not to charge anything were the Zombies and the Corpse Cart, who both simply moved up to within 6" of the Grave Guard.


The magic phase saw the Master Necromancer and Necromancer raise up plenty of new Grave Guard. The Tomb Kings saved their dice to dispel any attempts at Vanhel's Dance Macabre or Hellish Vigour.


In the shooting phase the Mortis Engine attempted to wail at the Skeletal Archers, but only rolled 8 - as they were within 12" of the Tomb King (Ld10) nothing happened.

In combat the Mortis Engine started by killing 4 Skeletal Archers through impact hits and normal attacks. The Skeletal Archers failed to do anything back, but thankfully still had a rank bonus so they only lost combat by 4.


Then the Vampire Counts elected to resolve the Necropolis Knights combat next. The Vampire Lord went to town with his attacks, but as he was only in base to base contact with the Necropolis Captain (unit champion) he could not harm the standard bearer directly. However his extra attacks from red fury could then be allocated against the standard bearer who only had 1 wound remaining - and it was a pretty easy win for the Vampire Counts!

Game over - victory to the Vampire Counts

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Post Battle Thoughts

Tomb Kings
Although my list had a reasonable fortitude score for this size game, I can't help thinking the standards were in the wrong units - and I didn't exactly use those units as well as I could have which compounded the issue. They needed to be more aggressive along the flanks. And I still haven't learned to not worry about dangerous terrain so much with the Skeletal Chariots.

I think the overall lesson learned from this game for me was to come up with a solid plan before deploying any units. I deployed with a very vague idea in my mind, then realised it wasn't going to work. Lastly I realised that I had 2 units which were key to my opponents victory out on my flanks with nowhere to go Silly mistakes.

On a slightly brighter note, both the Necropolis Knights and one of the Necrolith Colossi performed really well. If only my Tomb Guard had made that charge against the Grave Guard I think I stood a good chance of grabbing a sneaky victory.

I still have a soft spot for the Necrolith Colossi (and yes every time I type that I have to fight the urge to put Bone Giant!), and I think two of them working in tandem has potential - although perhaps not as much as 2 Khemrian Warsphinx's! I'd like to give this list another try though.

Oh well, onto the next game...

Vampire Counts
...

[Sexiest_hero]

IDK T-dog, your list seems out gunned and out manned, I hoe you didn't fall into the trap of tomb guard vs grave guard. Good luck!

[tarrym]

IDK T-dog, your list seems out gunned and out manned, I hoe you didn't fall into the trap of tomb guard vs grave guard. Good luck!

I was a little outnumbered. But then against VC I think TK are always going to be outnumbered - and if you have more Skeletons than VC then you should be even more worried as that's not going to win you a game

It's an interesting point with TG vs GG. Since the VC don't have the Helm of Commandment anymore, 30 Tomb Guard with Halberds should, on average, beat 30 Grave Guard with Great Weapons in a straight out slog.

Assuming both units are in horde formation, and ignoring Killing Blow (which only alters the figures fractionally)...

30 TG attacks, hitting on 4's, 15 hits, wounding on 3's, 10 wounds, S5 so -2 to AS and 10 dead GG.
20 GG attacks back, hitting on 4's, 10 hits, wounding on 2's, 8-9 wounds, S6 so -3 to AS and 8-9 dead TG + 1-2 more from combat resolution.

It starts off with a minor difference, but of course in the next and subsequent rounds the difference between the number of attacks coming from both units grows (in the Tomb Guards favour). Over 2-3 turns the Grave Guard would be wiped out.

Now of course that combat isn't realistic as there's going to be characters around, and plenty of magic to influence both sides. But even something like 30 TG + Tomb Prince vs 30 GG + Wight King the TG still come out on top - and even more so thanks to WS5 from My Will Be Done. Grave Guard just aren't the steam-rolling unit of "auto-win" they used to be