This was the Legion of the Bronze Scarab's third outing against the elven kin, but the first against their dark brethren. Lahmizzash resisted the urge to smirk after sending his second-born son Shotek out in his chariot, especially as he caught sight of no less than 4 bolt throwers in the druchii force. The perks of being the king, I suppose.
Welcome to another Warhammer 8th edition campaign battle report. This affair was a Blood and Glory scenario against a dark elf list complete with a big chunky unit of witch elves. Wasn't sure what I was going to do about them..
We were playing 2,400 points, so had a break point of three. The tomb kings had 6 banners/general whilst the dark elves had 5. We both had some tasty looking units, with Black Guard featuring for the elves and Tomb Guard for my forces.
The lists!
Dark Elves
SS: Supreme Sorceress: Lvl 4, Dark magic
S1: Sorceress: Lvl 2, Shadow, dark steed
DH: Death Hag: BSB, Cauldron of Blood, Witch Brew
DR: 5 Dark Riders, musician, repeater xbows
WE: 32 Witch Elves, full command
D: 20 Dark Shards, musician
RBT: Reaper Bolt Thrower
RBT: Reaper Bolt Thrower
RBT: Reaper Bolt Thrower
RBT: Reaper Bolt Thrower
S2: 5 Shades
H: 5 Harpies
BGo: 24 Black Guard of Naggarond, full command
Tomb Kings
TK: Tomb King, shield
LHP: Liche High Priest: Lvl 4, Heirophant, Nehekhara
LHP: Liche High Priest: Lvl 4, Death
N: Necrotect
TP: Tomb Prince, Grt Weapon, Chariot
SA: 20 Skeleton Archers, musician, standard
S: 35 Skeleton Warriors, full command, shields
SH1: 5 Skeleton horsemen, musician
SH2: 5 Skeleton horsemen, musician
SC: 3 Skeleton chariots, full command
C: 4 Carrion
TG: 34 Tomb Guard, full command, halberds, shields
CoS: Casket of Souls
SSC: Screaming Skull Catapult, skulls of the foe
Fred won the roll off and decided to take the first turn! After vanguards, there was only a bit of movement as the dark elves played defensively and looked to make use of those bolt throwers.
Dark Elf Turn 1
The Doomfire Warlocks moved to threaten my flank, whilst the shades went to deal with the screaming skull catapult. On my right, the dark riders zoomed forwards to deal with my chaff.
Magic saw only 3 dice for the dark elves, and after I channelled they were unable to get any spells through.
Shooting saw the bolt throwers wipe out my skeleton horsemen on the right flank, and kill off one of the chariots.
Tomb King Turn 1
Both the carrion and remaining horsemen ventured forwards to try and get in the way of those witch elves. My tomb guard shuffled forwards and the archers, facing the prospect of a hail of bolts and with a heirophant to protect, moved into the building.
Magic saw me get 12 dice. Fred wisely dispelled my movement spell, but I did get the double shot off on the archers. A doom and darkness was also cast on the second from right bolt thrower. The casket failed to get its spell off though, leaving that bolt thrower unscathed.
Magic saw me get 12 dice. Fred wisely dispelled my movement spell, but I did get the double shot off on the archers. A doom and darkness was also cast on the second from right bolt thrower. The casket failed to get its spell off though, leaving that bolt thrower unscathed.
The double shot archers quickly shot off the shades. One threat dealt with! My chariots also killed a single dark rider. The catapult - I guessed 40" which was the back of the witch elf unit, it scattered a small amount and hit the cauldron dead on. Wound roll - 4. Wounds? 1. Curses :)
Dark Elf Turn 2
In went the harpies, charging into my skull catapult over the skeleton warriors. I think the witch elves decided not to restrain their possible charge on the carrion, but only shuffled forwards 4". The doomfire warlocks moved to threaten my big skeleton block flank and the dark riders made a nuisance of themselves.
Magic was better for the dark elves, and they wasted no time in throwing 4 dice at a pendulum on my chariots, getting irrestible force. One chariot died, before the shot stopped - fortunate for me. The miscast wounded the lvl 2 sorceress, lvl 4 and killed a doomfire warlock. Ouch! 6 Dice were also lost, ending the magic phase.
Shooting saw one chariot remaining on a wound and two carrion were shot down by the Dark Shards.
In combat, the harpies passed their fear check and killed two of the catapult crew. My skellie minion could not reply, and I crumbled to dust. The harpies overran into the building, tieing up the archers.
Tomb King Turn 2
I had potential long charges with the carrion or remaining horsemen, but they would likely die to the Dark Shards or witch elves so I decided to hold put, just moving the carrion slightly to force the witch elves to make a decision.
My remaining chariots turned to face the dark riders, and the skeleton warriors reformed to face the Doomfire Warlocks. My tomb guard advanced on the distant dark elf forces. My tomb scorpion, who was primed to appear near the hill in the top right, did not appear this turn!
Magic was fairly non eventful, I attempted a boosted Caress of Laniph on the Death Hag, but failed to cause any wounds. I did get a soulblight through on the harpies though.
One dark rider was shot down by another charioteer arrow, but not enough to cause panic.
In the combat, this time the harpies failed fear and could only cause one kill, the skeleton archers cut them down in return.
Dark Elf Turn 3
Again the witch elves attempted to charge the carrion, and were just short. Needing a 9 on the dice, they could only muster an 8, so they moved forwards 4" and left their flank exposed.
The dark riders moved away from my remaining chariots and the doomfire warlocks moved into the centre to threaten my tomb guard.
Magic again wasn't great as although I only had 1 dispel dice, the doomfire warlocks failed to cast doombolt. Power of darkness was cast, but cost the supreme sorceress her second wound.
Shooting saw my remaning horsemen shot to pieces, and the skeleton chariot destroyed. Somehow 3 bolt throwers failed to deal with the tomb prince or his chariot, and Fred killed 2 tomb guard to finish off the turn.
Tomb King Turn 3
Lowering his khopesh, Lahmizzash led the tomb guard into the flank of the witch elves, barely getting in with a roll of 5 on the dice.
The carrion moved up to be a nuisance for bolt throwers, the skeleton archers left the building, the warriors reformed and moved up and my chariot pivoted around without much of a hope of getting to grips with the slippery dark elves.
Once again the scorpion failed to show!
Magic saw 9 dice after the casket. An early casket spell killed one dark rider, with them passing panic. I attempted to give the tomb guard an extra attack and a ward save, with Fred wisely dispelling both, but he couldn't stop a doom and darkness on the witch elf unit...
Shooting saw one doomfire warlock die to the archers.
So to the key combat. The witch elves obviously went first, and although they had 4 attacks, rerolling hits and wounds of a 1 with poison attacks, they were up against WS6 tomb guard and could only kill 4. The tomb guard dropped 10 witch elves in return, and with a charge, flank, 3 ranks and a banner, it left the witch elves needing snake eyes to hold. They could not manage it, and due to blood and glory rules, that meant the dark elves hit their breaking point and the field belonged to the tomb kings!
Blood and glory is a funny one. I was keen in the campaign for games not to just be pitched battles, but it's a tricky one unless you keep it in mind needing standards. I couldn't deal with the Black Guard or the Witch Elves face to face, so knew I'd need a flank charge. The carrion were the key, forcing the dark elves to take a leadership test or charge, and opening the witch elves to the crucial flank charge.
Fred's dice were pretty poor most of the game. The 4 bolt throwers were hitting 1 or 2 shots with each salvo, and couldn't roll 4s to wound my chariots. Magic really didn't help him either with low rolls for 2 of the 3 turns played.
Would have been very interesting if a different scenario as although I'd broken the witch elves and BSB, that left my tomb guard exposed to a flank charge of their own from the Black Guard. Suspect I would have lost that unit in response, which would also be a lot of points.
Screaming skull catapult dropped on the witch elf unit as I'd hoped but I left it exposed to the harpies and it never got another chance. Chariots did nothing again - find it hard to get them involved as T4 doesn't last long.
Think that will be last game for a while for the tomb guard - lot of points and difficult for armies in the campaign to deal with. I may have to bring out the necrosphinx instead!
Cheers for reading.
