3000pts Tomb Kings vs Vampire Counts

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Overview
Scenario: Battleline
Date Played: 3rd July 2012

It had been about 3 months since I'd last played a game of WHFB and seeing as I had a few days off work and was stuck at home waiting for Yodel (the worst couriers I have ever had to deal with!) to deliver some new computer components I figured it was a good excuse to invite a friend over for a game. As we had the whole day and I wanted to bring out some of the big stuff from my TK collection we opted for 3000pts a side.

Worth noting that in my games against the VC so far I've noticed a distinct pattern of taking large construct units only to have them tied up all game by those annoying Spirit Hosts. So this army was intended to bring some extra magical missiles/magic shooting to try and deal with them quickly.

Tomb Kings

Lord

[TK] Tomb King, Blade of Antarhak, Shield (223pts)
[LHP] Liche High Priest, Heirophant, Level 4, Talisman of Preservation (255pts)

Hero

[LP] Liche Priest, Level 2, Dispel Scroll (130pts)
[LP] Liche Priest, Level 1, Channelling Staff (85pts)

Core

[SA1] 20 Skeleton Archers, Standard Bearer, Musician (140pts)
[SA2] 10 Skeleton Archers, (60pts)
[SA3] 10 Skeleton Archers, (60pts)
[SHA1] 5 Skeleton Horse Archers, (70pts)
[SHA2] 5 Skeleton Horse Archers, (70pts)
[SC] 6 Skeleton Chariots, Standard Bearer, Banner of Swiftness (350pts)

Special

[TG] 29 Tomb Guard, Halberds, Tomb Captain, Standard Bearer, Musician (407pts)
[NK] 3 Necropolis Knights, Standard Bearer (205pts)
[KW] Khemrian Warsphinx, Fiery Roar (230pts)

Rare

[H] Hierotitan, (175pts)
[N] Necrosphinx, (225pts)
[SSC1] Screaming Skull Catapult (90pts)
[SSC2] Screaming Skull Catapult (90pts)
[CoS] Casket of Souls (135pts)

Total: 3000pts

Vampire Counts

Lord

[VL] Vampire Lord, Level 1, Red Fury, Quickblood, Heavy Armour, Shield, Lance, Barded Nightmare, Talisman of Protection, Dragonhelm, The Book of Arkhan, The Other Tricksters Shard (423pts)
[MN] Master Necromancer, Level 4, Sceptre of Stability (215pts)

Hero

[BSB] Vampire, Level 1, Forbidden Lore (Beasts), Beguile, Glittering Scales, Battle Standard Bearer, Additional Hand Weapon (198pts)
[N] Necromancer, Level 1, Dispel Scroll (90pts)

Core

[CG] 40 Crypt Ghouls, (400pts)
[S] 35 Skeletons, Champion, Standard Bearer, Musician (205pts)
[Z] 20 Zombies, Standard Bearer (65pts)
[DW1] 5 Dire Wolves (40pts)
[DW2] 5 Dire Wolves (40pts)

Special

[BK] 11 Black Knights, Barding, Lances, Champion, Standard Bearer, Musician (316pts)
[CH] 6 Crypt Horrors (228pts)
[FB] 2 Fell Bats (32pts)
[SH1] Spirit Host (45pts)
[SH2] Spirit Host (45pts)
[Vt] 3 Vargheists (138pts)
[CC] Corpse Cart, Unholy Loadstone (120pts)

Rare

[T] Terrorgheist (225pts)
[V] Varghulf (175pts)

Total: 3000pts

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Deployment


Scenery was rolled up randomly as usual using the 2D6 table in the BRB and then each piece was scattered around the board by assigning a number to each 2x2' section (it was a 6x4' board). We ended up with:

• Top, left to right: fences, building, khemrian quicksand, settlement of order (inc wizards tower)
• Bottom, left to right: mysterious forest, arcane ruins, bane stone

Scenery played its usual role in influencing movement, but in particular the wizards tower and arcane ruins - which we decided was impassable - gave the Vampire Counts an interesting choice when they won the roll to pick sides. Do they allow the Tomb Kings access to more spells, or more channelling attempts?

In the end the Vampire Counts picked the top/north edge of the board, giving themselves the wizards tower - which they weren't bothered about using. The Vampire Counts had plenty of chaff units as usual, so the Tomb Kings put down the first significant drops.

The Tomb Guard and Khemrian Warsphinx took up position on the right of the arcane ruins facing off against the Vampire Counts infantry. They were supported by one of the smaller units of Skeletal Archers, a Screaming Skull Catapult and a Hierotitan. The Casket of Souls took up position behind the ruins where it would take the Vampire Counts a few turns to reach.


Over on the left side of the arcane ruins the Tomb Kings deployed the Necropolis Knights, Necrosphinx and Skeletal Chariots which were supported by the remaining two units of Skeletal Archers and the second Screaming Skull Catapult.


One of the Skeletal Archer units clipped the mysterious forest and it turned out to be a blood forest - which could cause problems if the Tomb Kings wanted to augment their Skeletal Archers!

Over on the right flank the two Skeletal Horse Archers deployed normally so that they could use their vanguard option.


The Vampire Counts made use of the only wide open area of their deployment zone to amass the bulk of their troops. The Crypt Ghouls took the lead, flanked on either side by a Varghulf and the Crypt Ghouls, proxied by Rat Ogres as my opponent wanted to try the unit out before committing to buying them, along with some other chaff. The Skeleton Warriors, Zombies and Corpse Cart took up supporting positions further back.


Over on the left flank the Vampire Lord, Black Knights and Terrorgheist, which was proxied by a Chaos Dragon as my opponent forgot to bring the model, formed a significant flanking force to crush the Tomb Kings Skeletal Chariots. They were joined by several chaff units to help slow down the Tomb Kings, or redirect them.


And lastly out on the right flank the Vargheists took up position next to the settlement of order where they were free to fly over the buildings virtually unopposed.


Both armies included units that would use the vanguard rule. The Tomb Kings won the roll off, but neither side was going to do anything that would affect the other's vanguard units. Nice and simply all 4 units moved up!


Spells:
Liche High Priest: Djaf's Incantation of Cursed Blades, Neru's Incantation of Protection, Ptra's Incantation of Righteous Smiting, Usirian's Incantation of Vengeance
Liche Priest [LP1]: Khsar's Incantation of the Desert Wind, Usekhp's Incantation of Desiccation
Liche Priest [LP2]: Shem's Burning Gaze

Vampire Lord: Invocation of Nehek
Master Necromancer: Invocation of Nehek, Vanhel's Dance Macabre, Hellish Vigour, Gaze of Nagash
Vampire [BSB]: Wyssan's Wildform
Necromancer: Invocation of Nehek

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Turn 1 - Vampire Counts


The Vampire Counts won the roll for first turn and started their advance in the centre. The Direwolves who had already made a vanguard move decided not to get too far ahead of the rest of the line.


On the right the Vargheists wasted no time in closing the gap with the Skeletal Horse Archers, not unafraid of any damage the Tomb Kings fast cavalry could inflict through shooting or combat.


Meanwhile on the right the Vampire Counts flanking force moved up the Direwolves as a speed bump for the Tomb Kings Skeletal Chariots with the Black Knights preparing for the counter-charge and the Terrorgheist ready to support when it was close enough to fly behind the Tomb Kings lines.


In the magic phase the Master Necromancer managed to cast Vanhels Dance Macabre with irresistible force and the centre of their line advanced again. However the miscast result saw the Master Necromancer lose a single wizard level and forget the Vanhel's Dance Macabre spell for the rest of the game.


With the Terrorgheist well out of range for any shooting, the Vampire Counts first turn was over.

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Turn 1 - Tomb Kings


So the Tomb Kings had a choice. Hold their positions and allow their magic/shooting to whittle down the Vampire Counts chaff units (mainly the Spirit Hosts that were heading straight for the undead constructs as usual) or push ahead as planned and hope that the magic/shooting can indeed take care of the chaff - but if it didn't then the constructs would end up tied up for the rest of the game.

In the end the Tomb Kings opted to push ahead. The Skeletal Chariots started off by charging into the Direwolves.


In anticipation of the Skeletal Chariots making an overrun move once they had finished with the Direwolves, the Necrosphinx positioned itself ready to pin the Black Knights in place. In doing so it exposed it's flank to an easy charge by a Spirit Host - but the plan was that a Casket of Souls, 2 x Screaming Skull Catapults and 2 x attempts at Shem's Burning Gaze should be able to eliminate the threat.


Not wanting to risk a blood forest moving with the Skeletal Chariots nearby, the larger Skeletal Archer unit repositioned itself to be completely outside the forest - which made casting augment spells on the Skeletal Archers much less risky!


Over on the right of the arcane ruins, the Tomb Guard and Khemrian Warsphinx edged forward slightly - they were happy to hold back and let the Skeletal Archers do their work!


And on the far right flank only one unit of Skeletal Horse Archers could move to be outside of the Vargheists charge arc - so they did! The other unit simply moved up as close to them as possible to keep them as far from the Tomb Kings lines as possible after an overrun.


The magic phase started off somewhat half-heartedly. One of the Liche Priests managed to cast Shem's Burning Gaze on the left most Spirit Host. Even with an extra D6 hits (Lore of Light spells against undead/daemons gain an extra hits), only 4 hits were rolled and only 2 of them managed to wound. But it's OK, the Tomb Kings magic is only just starting!


Next up the Liche High Priest cast the powered up version of Ptra's Incantation of Righteous Smiting to gain multiple shots (x2) on all the Tomb Kings Skeletal Archer units.

Up to now the Vampire Counts had been saving dice to deal with other spells - which pretty much meant that the Tomb Kings couldn't get any further spells through. It's OK, the Tomb Kings still have their Screaming Skull Catapults.

In the shooting phase both the Screaming Skull Catapults scattered off target and did nothing - crap.

Thankfully the Skeletal Archer units did managed to make up for things slightly by killing 2 Black Knights and almost wiping out the unit of Direwolves.


The Skeletal Horse Archers were out of range of Ptra's Incantation of Righteous Smiting so they only had 10 shots (from both units) at the Vargheists. They failed to score any wounds.

In combat the Skeletal Chariots wiped out the Direwolves through impact hits alone. An overrun into the Black Knights was not impossible but it would have needed an 11/12 - and they rolled 4".


Note: the Skeletal Chariots were already within a relatively easy charge range of the Black Knights so although not overrunning with the Skeletal Chariots would probably have been better, the Black Knights would still only need something like a 5+ to make the charge next turn anyway.

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Turn 2 - Vampire Counts


Capitalising on the Tomb Kings poor positioning, the Black Knights accompanied by the Vampire Lord charged into the Skeletal Chariots on the left flank. Meanwhile the two Spirit Hosts 'floated rapidly' into combat with the Necrosphinx and Necropolis Knights, effectively turning both units into impassable terrain for the rest of the game.


Over on the other flank the Terrorgheists easily made their charge into the Skeletal Horse Archers.


Meanwhile the Vampire Counts central units continued their long slog towards the Tomb Guard. The Varghulf saw what the Spirit Hosts were up to and it wanted a piece of the same pie - it moved up to block any charges from the Khemrian Warsphinx towards the Crypt Ghouls.


And the Terrorgheist and Fell Bats back on the left flank moved up to support the various combats that were about to ensue.


In the magic phase the Master Necromancer cast Invocation of Nehek to heal back a single Ghoul and raise some fresh Zombies to his own unit.

Then the Vampire Lord tried to do the same to heal back the 2 Black Knights that had fallen to the Tomb Kings bow fire. The Vampire Lord rolled double 6's, and although he raised the Black Knights back as a result, the miscast killed 2 Black Knights, put 2 wounds on the Tomb Kings Skeletal Chariots and even a wound on himself!


The Terrorgheist used its close proximity to the Necrosphinx to scream at the animated statue, inflicting a single wound.

Then in combat the Vampire Lord ripped through the Skeletal Chariots single-handed. The Black Knights overran towards the board edge.


The Vargheists followed suit and easily ripped through the Skeletal Horse Archers and made their compulsory (frenzied) overrun which left them barely out of range of the bane stone.

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Turn 2 - Tomb Kings


Things weren't looking great on the left flank, but on the plus side it was looking like the Khemrian Warsphinx would get to do some damage this game rather than being stuck in combat with ethereal Spirit Hosts. So the big Khemrian cat charged into the Varghulf directly in front of it.


The rest of the Tomb Kings line shuffled up and realigned themselves to best face against the next anticipated threat in their section of the board. The main point to make is that the Tomb Guard moved to ensure there were no easy flank charges to be made against the Khemrian Warsphinx while it dealt with the Varghulf.


Out on the right flank the remaining Skeletal Horse Archers started harrying the Vargheists from behind.


In the magic phase the Liche High Priest managed to cast Usirian's Incantation of Vengeance on the Crypt Ghouls, reducing their movement by 1 and making them take dangerous terrain tests if they moved next turn.

The Vampire Counts managed to dispel an attempt at Ptra's Incantation of Righteous Smiting along with the Casket of Souls.

In the shooting phase one of the smaller Skeletal Archer blocks finished off the lone surviving Direwolf.

The Screaming Skull Catapults both took aim for the Terrorgheist, but both shots scattered off target - despite the absurdly big base the model has!


Then the larger block of Skeletal Archers killed a single Fell Bat through the blood forest. We realised afterwards that this shouldn't have happened as the Skeletal Archers didn't pass their swift reform test, but as it was only a Fell Bat my opponent wasn't too worried about it.


Even the Skeletal Horse Archers managed to do something this turn and inflicted a wound on the Vargheists.


Then in combat the Spirit Hosts did nothing, and their undead construct opponents had no magical attacks to go back with so the Necrosphinx combat was a tie, and the Necropolis Knights won their combat by 1.

Finally, the Varghulf managed to inflict a single wound on the Khemrian Warsphinx. The enormous animated statue opened it's maw and poured fiery death on the Varghulf - only to roll a couple of hits and then fail to wound! Thankfully the Tomb Guard crew and the Khemrian Warsphinx itself managed to get a single wounds past the Varghulf's regeneration save which, combined with the charging bonus, meant the Khemrian Warsphinx had won the combat by 1.

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Turn 3 - Vampire Counts


Having dealt a severe blow to the left flank, it was time for the Vampire Counts to make their mark on the right. The Vargheists and Crypt Horrors charged into the front of the Tomb Guard.


The Fell Bat on the left charged over the top of the Skeletal Archers and straight into the Screaming Skull Catapult behind them.


In the centre, the Crypt Ghouls decided to move forward despite the hex placed on them by the Tomb Kings. The dice were not kind and 10 of the flesh-eating creatures fell to their (second) death for the sake of moving the unit 3" forwards. However it did allow the Necromancers behind get closer to the Vargheists and Crypt Horrors to support them with magic.


Back on the left flank the Black Knights and Terrorgheist continued to move to threaten what was left of the Tomb Kings forces.


In the magic phase the Vampire Lord attempted once more to restore his cohort of Black Knights to full strength. This time he succeeded and avoided any miscasts.

The Terrorgheist screamed at the Necrosphinx again and rolled high enough to fell the stone statue.


In combat the Varghulf continued to chip away at the Khemrian Warsphinx, while the Tomb Guard crew and the Warsphinx itself failed to do any damage at all. The Varghulf won combat, but thanks to the undead construct rule the Khemrian Warsphinx suffered no wounds from combat resolution.


The Necropolis Knights suffered a wound from the Spirit Host, so they also lost their combat by 1 and more nothing happened

The Fell Bat failed to do any damage to the Screaming Skull Catapult, but thanks to the charging bonus 1 of the warmachine crew fell to combat resolution.


And then we came to the important combat of the turn. The combined attacks of the Vargheists and Crypt Horrors only managed a total of 5 dead Tomb Guard. In return, the high weapon skill granted by the Tomb King helped in the Tomb Kings inflict a total of 6 wounds back on the monstrous infantry. The Vampire Counts forgot about their stomp attacks (and would do for the remainder of this combat), so the Tomb Guard won and both the Vargheists and Crypt Horrors crumbled further.

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Turn 3 - Tomb Kings


If the Tomb Guard and Khemrian Warsphinx could finish off their combats quickly and turn their combined attention to the Vampire Counts infantry there was always a chance of pulling something out of the bag - there were only so many points the Black Knights could pick up on the left flank.

So the Liche Priest in the larger Skeletal Archer unit abandoned his bodyguard to join the smaller unit next to the arcane ruins. The large Skeleton Archer unit itself reformed into a 2-wide conga-line facing the oncoming Black Knights hoping that the reduced number of models attacking them could help then hold out for an extra round of combat.


With everything else in combat, movement ended with the Skeletal Horse Archers closing in on the flanks of the Vampire Counts infantry.


In the magic phase the Tomb Kings focused their attention on the centre-right area of the board. The Heirotitan started by casting Shem's Burning Gaze on the Crypt Ghouls killing 4. The Liche High Priest then followed this up by casting Usirian's Incantation of Vengeance on the Crypt Ghouls again, this time reducing their movement by 3.


The Screaming Skull Catapult that wasn't in combat launched a batch of magical flaming skulls at the Terrorgheist and scored a direct hit, but only managed to inflict 2 wounds.


The few Skeleton Archers on the right that could draw line of sight to the Crypt Ghouls released their arrows and managed to bring down another model.


The lone remaining Fell Bat managed to finish off the Screaming Skull Catapult in combat.


The Tomb Guard weren't as deadly in combat this time round (most likely due to not having Ptra's Incantation of Righteous Smiting in play), however they still inflicted enough damage to win the combat - despite not being able to remove the last wound from the Vargheists.

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Turn 4 - Vampire Counts


With the Vargheists, Crypt Ghouls and Varghulf still in combat on the right - effectively blocking any of the Vampire Counts infantry from joining the combats, all the Vampire Counts could do was continue to mop up the Tomb Kings units on the left flank.

The Black Knights charged the "conga-line" of Skeletal Archers in front of them. And the Spirit Host that had been in combat with the Necrosphinx earlier now joined the other Spirit Host in combat with the Necropolis Knights.


The Terrorgheist flies up to the flank of the Necropolis Knights ready to start screaming at them.


The Vampire Counts infantry held their ground for the most part - the Crypt Ghouls not wanting to risk further dangerous terrain tests for the sake of a 1" move! However the Skeleton Warriors, led by the Vampire BSB did break away from the formation to head towards the Necropolis Knights and Skeletal Archers on the left. The Vampire Counts player had a cunniiiing plaan!


The magic phase was basically a non-event. No spells went through at all for the Vampire Counts.

In the shooting phase the Terrorgheist screamed it's head off at the Necropolis Knights but only managed a single wound.


The Vampire Lord made way during the combat between the Black Knights and the Skeleton Archers. Thanks to red fury, the Vampire Lord basically did the maximum number of wounds possible at which point we realised that the combat was already won. We rolled for the Skeletal Archers attacking back just in case they managed to down a Black Knight, but it wasn't to be. The Black Knights overran but rolled low and failed to make it into the rear of the Necropolis Knights.


The Khemrian Warsphinx and it's crew managed to inflict another wound on the Varghulf and took no wounds in return. However the Varghulf was in range of the Vampire BSB and so didn't take a further wound from combat resolution.


Then the turn came to a close after we resolved the Crypt Ghouls (and Vargheist) vs Tomb Guard combat. The surviving monstrous infantry just couldn't do enough damage to the Tomb Guard, and aided by their Tomb King the elite Nehekharan warriors finished off both of the Vampire Counts units through wounds and combat resolution. The Tomb Guard reformed ready to charge the Crypt Ghouls in the next turn.

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Turn 4 - Tomb Kings


Seeing an opportunity to start clawing back some victory points, the Tomb King and his Tomb Guard bodyguard charged headlong into the horde of Crypt Ghouls, positioning themselves to leave plenty of room for a Khemrian Warsphinx sized base for next turn.


On the right, the Skeleton Horse Archers continued to close in on the flanks of the Vampire Counts infantry, their target was now the Corpse Cart.


In the back of the Tomb Kings lines the Heirotitan and Skeletal Archers begin to form up ready to push forwards to support the Tomb Guard.


And on the left the level 1 Liche Priest left the Skeletal Archer unit and prepared to sacrifice himself to the Vampire Lord and ensure the Black Knights couldn't make it into the Skeletal Archers - which were by this time the only thing protecting the Liche High Priest.


In hindsight the Black Knights may not have been able to wheel around to charge the Skeletal Archers without hitting the Necropolis Knights. But at the time I hadn't spotted this.

During the magic phase, the Liche High Priest cast Djaf's Incantation of Cursed Blades on the Tomb Guard in an attempt to heal some back. A total of 2 elite Tomb Guard were returned to the unit. Next the Liche High Priest cast the powered up version of Ptra's Incantation of Righteous Smiting with irresistible force which healed back wounds to the undead constructs nearby and added another 2 Tomb Guard to the battlefield. The resulting miscast killed 2 of the Skeletal Archers who were obviously standing too close.


In the shooting phase the surviving Screaming Skull Catapult aimed at the Terrorgheist again. The shot scattered, but only by 2" which was still enough for a hit on the large base of the undead monster. Sadly though the shot only scored 2 more wounds. Then the small unit of Skeletal Archers on the left flank had little else to shoot at, so they levelled their bows at the Terrorgheist hoping to nick off another wound. They got lucky and rolled up 2 6's to wound and the Terrorgheist didn't get a regeneration save thanks to the earlier shot by the Screaming Skull Catapult.


To wrap up the shooting phase the Skeletal Horse Archers let lose their bow strings and managed to put 2 wounds on the Corpse Cart!


In combat the Varghulf managed to inflict 2 more wounds on the Khemrian Warsphinx before it was crushed under the huge feet of the stone construct. The Khemrian Warsphinx reformed to face the Crypt Ghouls ready to swing that combat in the Tomb Kings favour.


The turn ended with the Crypt Ghouls and Tomb Kings ripping each other apart. When the dust settled the Tomb Guard had done enough to win the combat, but both sides took heavy losses.

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Turn 5 - Vampire Counts


The Black Knights found themselves with little choice but to charge the Liche Priest who had dared step in front of them. Of course having a nice juicy target in the form of 3 Necropolis Knights in the overrun path was a reasonable prize to claim at the end of it! The Vampire BSB revealed his cunniiing plan and charged into the Skeletal Archers that were protecting the Liche High Priest.


Behind the Tomb Kings lines the lone surviving Fell Bat charged into the remaining Screaming Skull Catapult.


The Vampire Counts infantry in the centre shuffled up to support the Crypt Ghouls with the short range Invocation of Nehek spells. Meanwhile the Skeleton Warriors, having delivered the Vampire BSB into combat, began to turn back to face the Tomb Kings constructs.


During the magic phase the Master Necromancer managed to cast Hellish Vigour on the Crypt Ghouls to give them re-rolls to wound in the upcoming combat. But the Liche High Priest managed to shut down all other spells - in particular Invocation of Nehek to stop the Crypt Ghouls unit from growing in size.


With the Terrorgheist gone, it was straight on to the combat phase.

The Fell Bat failed to inflict any damage to the Screaming Skull Catapult crew who managed to put a wound on the Fell Bat in return. The combat ended as a draw (as there is no "flank" bonus when charging a warmachine).


The Vampire BSB didn't even bother attacking the Liche High Priest himself and instead directed all attacks against the Skeleton Archers. He inflicted enough damage that, combined with charging and BSB bonuses, the remaining Skeleton Archers and Liche High Priest fell to crumbling.


The Black Knights made short work of the Liche Priest (well it was the Vampire Lord again!), and overran into the rear of the Necropolis Knights. In that combat the Vampire Lord once again went crazy and wiped out the Necropolis Knights before they could even attack back. The Black Knights reformed to face the Tomb Kings board edge, hoping to squeeze through the gap behind the arcane ruins.


Then the combat between the Crypt Ghouls and Tomb Guard saw both units reduced to only 4 models thanks to the various augment spells that were in play at the time.


As their heirophant had fallen, the Tomb Kings were forced to take crumbling tests at the end of the phase. The total damage was 2 wounds on the Screaming Skull Catapult and 1 Skeletal Horse Archer.

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Turn 5 - Tomb Kings


The Tomb Kings retaliation wasn't looking quite as solid any more, but there was now a good opportunity to bypass the Skeleton Warriors and go straight for the Necromancer and Master Necromancer in the Zombie bunker. All crumbling tests were passed this turn thanks to the Tomb Kings relatively high leadership.

The Khemrian Warsphinx charged into the Crypt Ghouls to try and guarantee (or as close as you can get to a guarantee in a game of WHFB!) their end.


Meanwhile the Skeletal Horse Archers charged into the flank of the Corpse Cart that they had wounded in the previous turn with their bows.


The remaining unit of Skeletal Archers moved up to keep the surviving Liche Priest as close as possible to the Tomb Guard for magical support. This left them exposed to a charge by the Vampire Counts Skeleton Warriors so the Hierotitan moved up to intercept that charge should it happen.


In the magic phase there wasn't a huge amount to be done as the winds of magic roll was pretty low and the Casket of Souls only contributed a single dice. In the end the Hierotitan just tried to snipe off a Spirit Host using it's Shem's Burning Gaze bound spell, but the Vampire Counts easily dispelled it, and the Casket of Souls own bound spell.

With everything in combat there wasn't much shooting to be done, so it was straight into combat.

The Skeleton Horse Archers easily finished off the Corpse Cart with their attacks. They overran into the flank of the Zombie bunker, hoping they would be joined very shortly by the Khemrian Warsphinx and then in Tomb Kings turn 6 by the surviving Tomb Guard and Tomb King!


The Crypt Ghouls managed to kill 2 more of the Tomb Guard, but it wasn't enough as the Tomb King and remaining Tomb Guard (including the crew of the Khemrian Warsphinx howdah) easily finished off the Crypt Ghouls. The Khemrian Warsphinx rolled for it's overrun, needing a 5 or 6 to make it into the Zombie bunker, but it went and rolled a 4!

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Turn 6 - Vampire Counts


So it was the final turn and the Vampire Counts set out to claim as many easy victory points as they could.

The Vampire Lord charged out of the Black Knights and into the Casket of Souls. This was because the Black Knights were just too wide to fit behind the arcane ruins without a reform - and as this was the final turn there just wasn't time.


And on the other side of the arcane ruins the Skeleton Warriors charged into the Hierotitan figuring that there was no way they could be wiped out, but there was a chance of killing the undead construct with a little luck.


The remaining Vampire Counts units on the left flank ran as far away from the Casket of Souls as possible to avoid the impending explosion - who would have thought it!


In the magic phase both the Master Necromancer and the Necromancer set their attention to raising additional Zombies to hide behind in combat. In total they raised 12 additional brain eating corpses - we didn't bother to find the models.


In combat the Fell Bat once again failed to inflict any damage on the Screaming Skull Catapult, but the skeleton crew also failed to bring the Fell Bat down in return. The combat was a stalemate.


But then the Vampire Lord killed the Casket of Souls. The resulting explosion covered several units on both sides. However only the Screaming Skull Catapult was actually damaged and so it's last wound was removed. On the Vampire Counts side several Skeleton Warriors fell to pieces while the triumphant Fell Bat was also dragged back into the dirt by the unleashed tormented souls!


The Skeleton Warriors failed to inflict any damage on the Hierotitan. But the Tomb Kings death statue only killed 2 Skeleton Warriors in return - rolling only 1 thunderstomp hit, which fails to wound, didn't help matters. In the end the Skeleton Warriors won combat by 3 thanks to their ranks, banner and charging bonuses, so the Tomb Kings construct suffered two wounds.


The Skeletal Horse Archers directed all of their attacks at Zombies in a desperate attempt to score enough combat resolution to keep themselves alive for 1 more round of combat. But they completely fluffed their attacks, and the Zombies put insult to injury and managed to drag the Skeletal Horse Archers to their doom through attacks alone!

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Turn 6 - Tomb Kings


At this point my camera battery died and I ended up having to switch to using my phone - and ironically the photo's turned out a little better!

The Khemrian Warsphinx decided that it was actually going to make it into combat this turn - it was dicey as I risked failing that 1" charge, but you have to take a risk every now and again The Tomb Guard champion and Tomb King both charged into the Zombie unit hoping to kill off the two Necromancers in there. However my opponent pointed out that it would only take 1 slightly lucky attack to kill off my last Tomb Guard and give away 400+ victory points, so I changed my mind and only sent in the Tomb King.


Again with all units either destroyed or in combat, the Liche Priest didn't have much to try in the magic phase. The Liche Priest tried to cast Usekhp's Incantation of Desiccation on the Zombies, but it was dispelled.

In combat the Hierotitan once again fluffed it's attacks and thunderstomp roll. A total of 3 Skeleton Warriors were removed. The Skeleton Warriors inflicted 1 wound in return meaning they had won combat by 2 which saw a 4th wound inflicted on the Hierotitan - meaning it had survived the game with only 1 wound remaining.


And then we closed the game off with the combat between the Tomb King/Khemrian Warsphinx against the Zombies and their Necromancer masters. The level 2 Necromancer issued a challenge in a cunning attempt to move the Tomb King out of base contact with the Master Necromancer (we didn't actually move the models, so the Tomb King should be on the left corner of the combat). In the challenge the Tomb King fluffed his attacks and only managed to inflict a single wound, but suffered none in return. The Khemrian Warsphinx crew killed off a couple of Zombies and the sphinx itself tried it's special thunder smash attack. The template hit something like 20+ zombies, but the roll to wound was pretty abysmal and only 4 Zombies were removed from the board!


The Tomb Kings had won the combat, but had failed to take out the Necromancer and Master Necromancer.

Final Victory Points:
Vampire Counts: 1780
Tomb Kings: 1398

Game over - victory to the Vampire Counts

[tarrym]

Post Battle Thoughts

Tomb Kings
After the first couple of turns I thought this game was pretty much over. I had deployed pretty badly in splitting up my army - not really thinking about the arcane ruins as being impassible. Tomb Kings units don't cope well on their own and need to support each other more. In hindsight I would have been much better putting the Skeletal Chariots on the right flank where they wouldn't have come up against the Black Knights - as Black Knights + Vampire Lord = Black Knights that can't move through buildings! And then leaving the Skeletal Archer units on the left to give the Vampire Counts something they couldn't just ignore.

I'm also still struggling to deal with those Spirit Hosts. Advancing with my constructs generally means 1 turn of shooting/magic which isn't enough time to handle them. But then if I don't move forward it gives my opponent more time to pick his match ups. Maybe shooting/magic isn't the way to go and I should look at ways of getting rid of them through combat? Not sure yet.

On the whole though I was fairly pleased with the amount of victory points I managed to claw back in later turns. I think the Tomb Guard would have been able to do more if I hadn't split my magic either side of the ruins.

I'm toying with dropping the large unit of Skeletal Chariots from the list as they just don't seem to be able to earn their points back regularly enough - particularly if my opponent brings heavy cavalry to a game. Maybe a second Khemrian Warsphinx instead to increase the chances of the infantry getting some support on the charge.

Vampire Counts

...basically I think I just need to be more cautious when charging headlong into tomb guard with a king. If I'd have held back, you would have been forced to come to me, then if I'd been clever you'd have been in range of the bane stone and not me. I also think it was a mistake giving you the side of the table with the arcane ruins, as those extra channeling attempts made a huge difference to the magic phase.

[tarrym]

Battle report finished - shameless bump

[Sexiest_hero]

The VCplayer mad a few errors, you cant regen crumble wounds, and You cant Scream into combat, unless you are involved in that combat.

[m1acca1551]

Nice batrep mate! I love tk vs vc never gets tiring unfortunatly there is very little that tk can do against a combat vamp lord unless you trap him with your tomb guard and king but even then the risk is there that he'll simply take to many of your elites with him. And a good vc general would never let that happen in the first place.

[Sexiest_hero]

The best way to drop a vamp lord is to spam the killing blow spell on his behind!

[tarrym]

The best way to drop a vamp lord is to spam the killing blow spell on his behind!

Agreed, although in the end it's the same equation as m1acca1551 laid out - whatever unit has killing blow most likely needs to absorb a LOT of damage from the Vampire Lord before they even get to try and roll those all important 6's. If you had a unit in position though then it's well worth a try.

The VCplayer mad a few errors, you cant regen crumble wounds, and You cant Scream into combat, unless you are involved in that combat.

Yeah you're right, regen doesn't work on crumbling - it's been a while since we last played WHFB so you'll have to forgive us some minor mistakes.

As for the scream, I believe this is allowed - at least this is how we're playing it until it's clarified by an FAQ. I don't have the VC book to be able to justify this with specific rules and page references - hopefully my opponent will read this and post his own comment. But basically it's something to do with the fact that the scream attack isn't a normal shooting attack - it doesn't roll to hit, and doesn't roll to wound in the normal sense, doesn't use a template, etc. So it's been suggested that the normal restrictions on shooting into combat don't apply. The scream rules themselves do allow for shooting within combat* (i.e. when the 'screamer' itself is in combat) as you said, but we have yet to find a solid rules quote that prevented screaming at units in combat, but not in combat with the 'screamer' - because the scream doesn't quite fit as a shooting attack (beyond the fact that it's done in that phase) so applying the shooting phase rules has holes in the logic**.

* = which in itself is a another pointer towards the scream not being a shooting attack
** = prime example is the Chaos Warshrine which applies it's effect in the shooting phase. It isn't a shooting attack and it can target units in combat - including units not in the same combat as the warshrine itself

I've no doubt that this is a controversial ruling among some players - it has certainly generated a lot of discussion in some forums from what google tells me! But for the time being it's the way we play the scream rules here until GW releases a FAQ to say otherwise.


Thanks for reading guys!