3000 Pt SoM HE v O&Gs

[Chacim]

3k SoM HEs vs O&Gs

Hello, I will give you the lists (to the best of my knowledge) first and then a rough description of terrain and deployment. Then into the action!

My List (High Elves)

LORDS

Prince (242pts)
+Armour of Caledor
+Vambraces of Defense
+Mundane Great Weapon

Archmage (520pts)
+lvl 4
+Silver wand
+Arabyan Puzzlebox (This game is apart of a Campaign so I didn't use my silver wand in this particular game so for you rule nuts I didnt break the you can only have 1 arcane item rule)

HEROES

Noble (128pts)
+BSB
+Heavy Armour
+Halberd
+Banner of Eternal Flame

1st Scroll of Binding
Fimir Balefiend (215pts)
+lvl 3
+Lore of Fire

2nd Scroll of Binding
Cockatrice (175 pts)
No upgrades (Just as a flyer hunter, I wasnt sure what my opponent would bring.)

3rd Scroll of Binding
3 Trolls (105pts)
+No upgrades

CORE

30 Archers (335 pts)
+Musician

30 Lothern Sea Guard (415pts)
+Full command
+Shields
SPECIAL

30 Phoenix Guard (480 pts)
+Full command

30 White Lions (480pts)
+Full Command

10 Dragon Princes of Caledor (365)
+Full Command
+Banner of Ellyrion

5 Shadow Warriors (80pts)
No Upgrades

RARE

2 Repeater Bolt Throwers (200pts)

Puts me at 3740 out of 3750 total points.

[Chacim]

Orcs and Goblins (Not sure about everything, apologies. Will give a pretty good idea though of what his list was)

Lords
Black Orc Warboss
+Boar
+Enchanter Shield
+Heavy Armour
+Crown of Command
+Dawnstar Sword

Night Goblin Great Shaman
+Black Book of Ibn Naggazar
+Dispell scroll
+Not sure

Night Goblin Great Shaman
+Feedback Scroll
+Not sure

HEROES

Savage Orc Shaman
+Lucky Shrunken Head

Goblin Big Boss
+BSB (+1 Ld banner)
+Giant Spider
+Not sure

1st Scroll of Binding
10 Trolls

2nd Scroll of Binding
1 Gigantic Spider

CORE

50-55 Savage orcs
+Full Command
+Additional Hand Weapon

64 Night Goblins
+Nets
+3 Fanatics
+Full Command

40 Night Goblins
+Nets
+3 Fanatics
+Full Command
+Short Bows

14 Spider Riders
+Unknown upgrades

14 spider Riders
+Unknown upgrades

SPECIAL

2 Spear Chukka
+Orc Bully

1 Goblin Wolf Chariot

RARE

2 Goblin Rock Lobbers
+Orc Bully

1 Doom Driver

1 Arachnarok

(Im assuming he has about 100-150 pts on his shamans but aside from the SoM black book I dont really think those items came into effect, I know he took exactly 750 pts of SoM gear so im assuimg our 2 lists were within 10 pts of each other)

[Chacim]

Pre-Turn 1

The Battlefield

The tile we were fighting over was marshland so we placed 3 marshland terrain in the middle and on my left flank. With hills in the middle and on the right. My side had a wall on the 12 inch line in the center. (I won roll off and wanted the walls) we alternated on Fulcrums and really no big surprises, each one was placed about the center of its square. My right one was on a hill and my left one was in a marsh. I put my Lore of Life HE on the right one and my Balefiend on the left. Both of his Goblin Shamans went on his, with the shadow and death book holder facing my life wizard (so his left flank).

Deployment

He won and deployed (to avoid a lot of back and forth I will just do his side then my side.) He placed his spear chukka facing my left flank with a Doom Driver hiding in the back behind a forest. He had a 14 man spider rider unit in between his spear chukka. He placed the Arachnarok behind his fulcrum facing his spear chukka. The his center (from my left to right) went his 50 man block of savage orcs (horde), 64 man block of Night Goblins (Horde), 10 man block of trolls (5 wide, 2 deep). That basically connected to his left fulcrum. Finally facing my right flank went another 14 man unit of spider riders, a gigantic spider and the 40 man unit of Night Goblins with bows. His Black orc Warboss went in with the savage orcs along with his BSB and Savage orc shaman.

My left flank had the Dragon Princes and a repeater bolt thrower. Then a Fulcrum with my Lore of Fire balefiend. On the right side of the fulcrum went my second repeater bolt thrower. Then my White Lions deployed about 4-5 inches behind the 12 inch line (same with the rest of my army for that matter), then to their right went the 30 man archer unit. With the Lothern Sea Guard on their right. I had the Pheonix Guard behind the archers and to the right of the Lothern Sea Guard was my 3 trolls and my cockatrice. Then my Right fulcrum with my lore of life mage. Finally I placed my Shadow warriors 12 inches away from his 40 man block (in hopes of going first and forcing him to release the fanatics.

As luck would have it, he rolled a 6 and I rolled a 2... Boo.

[Chacim]

Turn 1 (Orcs and Goblins)

Animosity triggered on his right unit of Spider Riders, which really wasn't to bad for him and I think the only animosity he rolled the whole game.

Charges
I did a stand and shoot against his Gigantic Spider (big shocker...) I caused no wounds.

Movement.
He decided he didn't want to march his 50 man block through the marshes so his entire center turned 25 degrees to my right and then marched as far forward as possible. Still got a few in the marsh which ate 1 I believe. (just 49 more to go!) The spider riders on my right flank ended up moving forward 14 inches along with the Goblin wolf chariot moving in front of his left fulcrum.

Magic.
He got 13 and I got 10 dispel dice (basically how all his magic phases went.) He got off the upgraded version of Night shroud and was able to cover 2/3s of his entire army aside from the trolls on over. He also cast sneaky stabbin on his orcs and upgraded brain bursta on my bsb which caused a wound. Everything else was dispelled or didn't do anything.

Shooting.
Some impressive scatter rolls that killed a white lion, but aside from that not to much as everything that was in range pretty much missed.

Close Combat
He killed 2 shadow warriors and I inflicted a wound, I made my break test and fought on!

[Chacim]

My turn 1
No charges and I made a huge mistake in movement. I flew my Chimera over to try and use it's gaze on the trolls and sadly I didn't move him far enough over to avoid the troll charge. I also moved my Dragon princes to set up a turn 2 charge with my white lions in the front and my dragon princes in the flank of his 50 man horde of Savage Orcs.

Magic.
My first turn magic was pretty much shut down as he gained the advantage with a dispel scroll and a feedback scroll. At this point he had more dispel dice then me and he just crushed my magic phase. Though I did roll doubles and my HE wizard had all his characteristics increase by 1 and I did get off flesh to stone on him as I feared a charge and a goblin spider rider taking his head...

Shooting
I killed 5 Orcs and and killed the wounded troll, aside from that it was mostly silly.

Close Combat I inflicted another wound on the gigantic spider and he only killed 1 so a draw.

[Chacim]

His turn 2
Trolls declare a charge into the Cockatrice, I did a stand and shoot. Which was stupid. His Goblin wolf chariot charged into my 3 remaining Shadow warriors as I think he feared his spider being beaten down.

Movement
He failed his leadership test with the spiders and so couldn't march them, so he just walked em forward their max distance. The 64 goblin horde got within 8 ½ inches (so as to not be forced to fire out his fanatics) and his orcs came up beside them. The aracknarok came up behind them to try and protect their flanks from the fast approaching dragon princes but sadly couldn't quite get into position to actually prevent the dragon princes from a flank charge. His right flank spider riders move into position to next turn charge my bolt throwers.

Magic.
He didn't really get anything off that was earth shattering. He did put a -1 strength spell on my white lions and the Gork'll Fix it spell on them. He also got a -2ws and -2 init off on my Lothern Sea Guard.

Shooting.
Really not a lot but a lucky flank shot with a spear chukka took down 2 dragon princes which was a sad day since I needed all of them in order to turn flanks... But aside from that, everything else misfired so it could have been worse! He took some pot shots with the spider riders and didn't do anything.

Close Combat
His chariot's impact hits killed the shadow warriors. The cockatrice did nothing and was utterly destroyed as 6 trolls took a swing at it. The trolls overran straight into both of my Archers and Lothern Sea Guard. Clearly the Cockatrice was working against me, not for me.

[Chacim]

My Turn 2.
I charged the white lions and the dragon princes in! It was time to try and fight my way out of this disaster. Both made the charge though I forgot about my banner on my cav and rolled 4 1s on the dangerous terrain and lost 4 dragon princes... Argh stupid forgetfulness! Oh well I still had 4 in the flank and an almost full unit of white lions. His fanatics released and I ended up on 2 fanatics but I got lucky and he only killed 3. (huge for me! 4D6 str 5 hits he rolls a 6 on 4d6 and then 3 1s! Huge!)

Movement
I didn't move, my phoenix guard with my lord was going to sit back and hold the line after the trolls were done feasting. My trolls failed their stupidity and aimlessly walked forward 3 ½ inches.

Magic
I rolled doubles again on the winds and further increased my characteristics by 2 this time (so my life mage is now basically a Greater daemon of Tzeentch with the lore of life...)
The game changer. Irresistable/miscast Withering Heat. (My white lions had the flaming banner, hope was with me once again!) The miscast was the large blast template that eats D6 dice and only hurts guys next to the wizard. I rolled a 1 and lost a power dice, shoo. The fulcrum miscast was an 11 and I gained 11 more power dice and he gained 5 or 6... I then Fireball Barraged the Spider riders that were about to kill my artillery and wiped them out. I dwellar's Belowed his 64 man of Night goblins. I also regenerated my 4 white lions back and I think that was it. He dispelled the flesh to stone and the Shield of thorns.

Shooting
I got lucky and a bolt thrower nailed the aracknarok and did 3 wounds.

Close Combat
Well the combat didnt go my way at all, his champion issued a challenge, my champion accepted. I killed his champion. I inflicted I think 30 wounds all together and he made 15 5+ ward saves. He turned around and with the dawnstar sword and his 30ish remaining boys kill 19 white lions and a dragon prince. I forgot my white lions are stubborn and so I thought I needed double 1s to stay so I ended up fleeing both units and him running down the white lions. The battle with the trolls was equally frustrating as he kill 15 white lions and 9 archers, I inflicted 11 wounds and he made 8 out of the 11 regen saves. The Lothern Sea Guard broke and ran but the archers stayed put, I wonder what was in the water? Luck would have it that the Sea Guard only ran 4 inches and so was still on the table.
At this point I am hands down getting my face rolled. Unstoppable trolls and a very scary horde of Savage Orcs with just my Pheonix guard left and an archer unit thats about to get destroyed. Morale was low in deed, where were the dice gods? Why had they forsaken me!?

[Chacim]

His turn 3.
All hope of melee killing my life mage had disappeared and so now was just a huge charge blocker. So his spiders moved around and behind my fulcrum. His savage orcs marched forward and ended about 10 inches away from the Pheonix Guard. His aracknarok charged the Balefiend's fulcrum but failed.

His now 30ish man of goblins turns and faces the trolls (he later regrets not changing formation into a 5 wide 6 deep) the 40 man night goblin horde also moves forward. He's keeping them back trying to maximize his fanatics or at least not releasing fanatics that will kill his own guys. So they just hang out really.

Magic
Honestly his magic is and has been hosed as most of his magic tops out at 24 inches, and I deployed about 5 inches behind the line after that so he really couldn't do much. Plus I rolled pretty good on dispel so I pretty much stopped his magic phase.

Shooting
He forgot to shoot his war machines (not really a big deal since everyone was fighting but maybe he would have gotten lucky hitting my life mage on the fulcrum?) He did fire 40 shot bow shots into the life mage and did a wound.

Close Combat
Archers killed another troll so I think at this point he's at 7. My arches do a lot of dying but not so much as they have a few left with insane courage!

[Chacim]

My Turn 3
Shockingly I made my troll's stupidity and charged the 30ish man unit of Night goblins. Everyone else was fighting. Also I was able to rally the Lothern Sea Guard and turn them around with a 5 wide 3 deep formation.

Magic.
I got 15 and he got 10. I had to kill those Savage Orcs. Dweller's Below Irresistable, followed by Fireball Barrage also irresistable. Left him with his musician and standard bearer, his warboss and BSB. I again got the miscast that gave me more power and dispel dice though I did have my balefield almost bite it with a roll of a 4 on the normal miscast table. Warded the wound. I think he dispelled the rest.

Shooting
I fired 12 str 4 shoots into the remaining orcs and he made his saves like a boss.

Close Combat
The Night goblins cast their nets on my trolls and shockingly inflicts 10 wounds, I make 5 saves and so I lose a troll, I miss with the majority of my attacks and my 2 stomps killed 1 as the rolls of 1s that combat on my side were impressive. So the trolls book it and the 30 man goblin unit chases a surprising 4 inches. The archers are killed to the man and the over run catches my Lothern Sea Guard and my Pheonix Guard.

[Chacim]

His Turn 4
His Savage Orcs declare a charge but fails the 10 inch charge! WHOO! Game changer, big one. The Aracknarok makes his charge into the Balefiend. The 30 man Night Goblins charge the fleeing trolls which forces the trolls off the board but puts the Night Goblins just behind my fulcrum. Which lucks out for me as it also cuts off that large spider force. So a little spider force movement but nothing serious.

Magic
Again does nothing for him as Im mostly out of range.

Shooting
Trys to drop a rock on the life mage but misfires or scatters away. A bolt thrower causes a wound on one of my bolt throwers.

Close Combat.
My Pheonix Guard inflict 12 wounds and he makes 6 saves (his worst regen save rolls as of yet) and his 15 attacks go into the Pheonix Guard. 7 miss and he makes all his wounds. The dice gods heard my pleas and I delivered a crushing 8 out of 8 4+ saves! My opponent is now demoralized and doesnt throw his stomp attacks and I over run his trolls and reform my Lothern Sea Guard for a flank charge into the 30 Man Night Goblins. My Pheonix Guard actually stops an inch away from the 4 orcs just in time for my turn 4. The aracknarok continues to disappoint, 16 attacks against a WS4 T4 model ultimately causes A wound. Leaving the Balefiend with just 1 wound left. The balefiend doesnt do anything back but with Cold Blooded Ld 8 he wasn't running. 300 pts of fail. I hate the aracknarok.

[Chacim]

My Turn 4
Pheonix Guard Charges into the remaining Orcs. The Sea Guard into the Flank of the 30 man Night Goblins. No movement as nothing can move.

Magic.
I got off dweller's below irresistable on his 40 man N. Goblins which causes panic and they flee, killing the fanatics inside. The Fireball barrage kills the aracknarok. My opponent effectively concedes at this point but we finish out the combat phase.

Close Combat
My pheonix guard kills his orcs but my Prince and His warboss are in a challenge (hey, to melee lords in CC, yes I do believe they must fight each other!) I cause 3 str 6 wounds but he makes all his saves and I armour saved 6 of the 8 and flubbed the 2 so was reduced to 2 wounds. The orcs and the BSB wounds + ranks I won but his warboss was stubborn but a roll of an 11 was the exact opposite of what he was hoping and I ran down his lord. At this point my opponent concedes.

[Chacim]

After game thoughts.
Grueling slug match. The Close Combat gods seriously favored him, his trolls were almost unstoppable with a near 85% save rate on his wounds, and the 50% 5+ ward saves on his Orcs in the main battle was just so huge. Now granted I messed up pretty big on forgetting some rules but really I was losing the game in all aspects except for magic. I did have some insane magic rolls. All the belly aching I did in close combat is how much he did in magic. So belly aching equalled out. The battle was exhausting, I mean a true nail biter the whole time. Screwing up with the cockatrice so early on was big, and I just couldn't recover until he had almost destroyed 925 pts with a 350pt troll unit. My 10 dragon princes were a huge waste of points as well. My magic phases were so big that I was able to win a game with a 1300 point deficit. Honestly we each had about 1000pts left on the field at the end and so we had each destroyed about 2750pts worth of stuff in just 4 turns. Just a complete blood bath.

[illuminaughty]

Here is my army list from this battle:

Black Orc Warboss on Warboar
Dawnstar Sword, Enchanted Shield, Talisman of Preservation, Crown of Command

Goblin Big Boss on Giant Spider
Standard of Discipline

Night Goblin Great Shaman
Level 4, Feedback Scroll, Opal Amulet, Ruby Ring of Ruin

Savage Orc Shaman
Level 2, Lucky Shrunken Head

Night Goblin Shaman
Level 1, Dispel Scroll, Black Book of Ibn Naggazar

Night Goblins w/ Spears (66)
Full Command, 3 x Fanatics, Nets

Savage Orc Boyz (50)
Full Command

Night Goblins w/ Bows (40)
Musician, Fanatics x 3

Spider Rider Mob (14)
Bows

Spider Rider Mob (14)
Bows

Arachnarok Spider

Goblin Doom Diver Catapult

Goblin Spear Chukka w/ Orc Bully

Goblin Spear Chukka w/ Orc Bully

Goblin Rock Lobba w/ Orc Bully

Goblin Rock Lobba w/Orc Bully

SoM Bound Monsters:

10 x Trolls

1 x Gigantic Spider


I TOTALLY used the black book wrong. It was supposed to remove models. I was not only unfamiliar with Storm of Magic's items, but the deployment. I expected the shaman to be in a unit not alone on a tower when I first picked the item ahead of time. When game time rolled around I completely forgot about the downside of that item. The shaman would have destroyed himself the first time he used the book.

I am not a huge fan of storm of magic after that game. First, it adds way too many new rules and was overwhelming. Second, I was never a big fan of the magic aspect of the game (which is why my first real army was dwarves) and storm of magic blows it even further out of whack. Life magic sucks especially hard. It was still a fun game but frustrating to be winning well and have every turn of your opponent's magic decimate your 3,750 army. Admittedly, as the op had posted, my regen saves were a bit ridiculous. Until the final charge against the Phoenix Guard my trolls refused to take more than a wound or two. I saved 8 of 10 wounds one round alone.

A few mistakes on my part, I should have gotten the Arachnarok into battle with the Phoenix Guard to support the trolls. I should not have marched my spiders along the outer edge where they were march interdicted by the life magic. Leadership 6 is no bueno for that. I also should have deployed better out of the gate. The swamps got in my way and slowed me down big time.

Again, overall a fun game. We each griped about about an aspect of the opponent's dice that were going far too well, but the carnage was relentless and exciting. The orcs & goblins shall have their revenge.


Forgot to declare my WAAAGH! Also, failed to remember that the Black Book should have been eating models, and since said shaman was on a fulcrum, the book should have eaten him the first time he tried to cast from it. Everything mentioned by the OP is pretty much how I recall it occurring. Good game. Not a fan of Storm of Magic, but that was 3,750 points of brutal.

[meowser]

Great to see a SoM battle report! Sounds like a really fun match. Your tactical choices aside, what did you think of the Cockatrice and the super-powered magic items?

[Chacim]

Honestly I like the cockatrice, just wish I hadn't played so badly with it. Its fast, cheap, 6 attacks with a potentially game changing sniper range attack. The Puzzlebox turned my life mage into The Incredible Hulk and that +3 to cast was nice.

MVP award goes to the Balefiend. With the lvl 3 upgrade and lore of Fire, he was... Absolutely the best pick from the SoM. Withering heat followed by Fireball barrage is massive. You can pretty much kill anything with that.

His Dawnstar sword was nasty and with it being on a Black Orc with the Choppa special rule, surprisingly super effective. Basically every combat phase he had +8 to resolution.