Hello, and welcome to another battle report from my Tomb King adventures in Bretonnia. This time, we were up against those pesky wood elves again, but in fairness I had invaded their territory...
We rolled up Battle for the Pass in this one, which made things interesting. I had decided to drop my tomb guard as they seemed pretty strong when fielded, and finally took the plunge with one of the big monsters - a necrosphinx!
Here's the lists:
Wood Elves
TA - Treeman Ancient, Lvl 4, Lore of Life, Strangleroot
S - Spellweaver, Lvl 2, Lore of Beasts, Elven Steed
GC - Glade Captain, BSB
GG - 14 Glade Guard, standard, musician, hagbane tips
EG - 19 Eternal Guard, full command, shields
D - 15 Dryads
TK - 8 Treekin
SotT - 5 Sisters of the Thorn, FC
W - 5 Wardancers
WR - 5 Wardancers, FC, shields
DS1 - 6 Deepwood Scouts
DS2 - 6 Deepwood Scouts
GE - Great Eagle
T - Treeman
Spells: Dwellers below, Flesh to Stone, Regrowth, Throne of Vines
Wyssan's Wildform, Curse of Anraheir
Tomb Kings
TK - Tomb King, Shield, Sword of Bloodshed
TH - Tomb Herald, BSB
LHP - Liche High Priest, Level 4, Nehekhara, Hierophant
LP1 - Liche Priest, Level 2, Nehekhara
LP2 - Liche Priest, Level 2, Lore of Undeath
N1 - Necrotect
SA - 21 Skeleton Archers, FC
SW1 - 40 Skeleton Warriors, FC, shields, spears
SW2 - 20 Skeleton Warriors, FC, shields
SH1 - 5 Skeleton Horsemen, musician
SH2 - 5 Skeleton Horsemen, musician
SC - 4 Skeleton Chariots, FC, Banner of Eternal Flame
C1 - 3 Carrion
C2 - 3 Carrion
U - 4 Ushabti, great bows
CoS - Casket of Souls
SSC - Screaming Skull Catapult, Skulls of the Foe
N2 - Necrosphinx
Spells: Desert Wind, Smiting, Desiccation, Protection
Cursed blades, Vengeance
Breath of Darkness, Abyssal Swarm
No charges from the Khemri forces, but most things advanced to try and get to grips with the fae elves.
This time the Asrai declared three charges, only to see all three fall short. The dryads had a long way to go, so perhaps not to surprising, but certainly the eagle should have made it in. The treekin also shambled forwards towards my carrion.
Magic was again strong for me, as my casket killed two scouts in the north unit, who also panicked and fled the board. Phew! I put a ward save on the chariots, and then was fortunate enough to get off a boosted desiccation on the treekin, dropping their strength and toughness by 3...
Shooting was again decent - two dryads died to the archers and the catapult scattered a small way, but still hit the treeman ancient. I managed to wound and he failed his save, but I could only cause 2 wounds. Finally the ushabti knocked a wound off the treeman on the hill at the bottom.
Combat, my carrion fighting the eagle caused one wound each, and the eagle held.
The crucial combat came with the treekin, and hampered by the khemri magic they lost 6 treekin, causing only one wound in reply. They managed to outrun the ramaging necrosphinx chasing them though.
Wood Elf Turn 3
Only one charge, with treeman slamming into the remaining skeleton horsemen unit.
The wild riders moved to threaten the centre with cover from the hill, and the dryads marched up to threaten my archer unit.
I dispelled regrowth, but flesh to stone was cast on the glade guard.
Shooting saw the poor necrosphinx poisoned to death by the glade guard and sisters of the thorn. He crashed to the earth, the magical animation controlling his movements lost.
In combat, the treeman destroyed the skeleton horsemen, but somehow I got a wound through as well! The treeman chose to overrun.
My carrion managed to finish off the eagle, and reformed to face the rear of the treeman.
Tomb King Turn 3
I couldn't get the chariots into the treekin because of the building in the centre, and conscious of those glade guard and their poisoned arrows, chose to retreat. The archers swift reformed at the top, with the liche high priest walking out of the unit.
Finally the ushabti and carrion charged into the treeman hoping to finish him off.
A movement spell was cast to heal up wounds on the chariots and move the heirophant into the big skeleton block. Casket went off but all 3 leadership tests were passed.
Shooting saw 2 more dryads die and another direct hit from the catapult on the eternal guard. This time 8 of the elves were slain.
Combat and the ushabti and carrion whiffed badly against the treeman, failing to cause a single wound. He killed the carrion in reply, but thanks to presence of BSB the ushabti clung on.
Wood Elf Turn 4
Finally the dryads charged into the archers who had been plinking them off slowly as the battle wore on. The glade guard moved up to keep shooting the chariots and the sisters of the thorn repositioned.
The treeman ancient regrew some eternal guard and healed himself. Nothing else got through.
Shooting saw a couple of wounds to the chariots.
In combat, the ushabti couldn't wound the treeman again, and lost two more wounds, but were still just about on the battlefield.
Tomb King Turn 4
No charges, and deciding the valour was overrated, the tomb king forces retreated from the threat of the wild riders, treeman ancient and remaining eternal guard.
Magic saw the archers and ushabti regrown a little, along with the chariots. I also got a second boosted desiccation off on the treeman...
Shooting this time was a damp squib, no eternal guard falling to the chariot bows. The catapult scattered on to the sisters of the thorn, but rolled a double 1 to wound the two elf maidens!
Combat saw the ushabti fortunately get three wounds through the treeman save, killing him. At the top, the skeleton archer ranks began to tell and the dryads broke and were cut down as they fled.
Wood Elf Turn 5
It was difficult for the wood elf forces as they were too far away for the most part to reach the tomb kings. However the wild riders did make a long charge into my small warrior block.
In magic, the wood elves wisely put flesh to stone on the wild riders, but dwellers was dispelled again.
Shooting didn't do much, a wound or two on the skeleton chariots.
In combat, the wild riders killed 10 with a display of savagery, and I did no wounds in reply. Thanks to the BSB, the unit was still there though...
Tomb King Turn 5
Not much for my forces to do either, and with time running out we called the game. The big block of warriors charged into the flank of the wild riders and we didn't bother to work out the result.
It finished with the Wood Elves scoring 519 points, and the Tomb Kings 792. Pretty close game, decided by a couple of bits of fortune largely for the tomb kings, but also the battle for the pass didn't really help the Asrai get to grips with units they could kill.
Special mention to the catapult, which never missed in the four turns it fired, including 2 direct hits. I was pretty lucky not to lose the catapult to the scouts, and potentially the casket of souls. Magic was a bit up and down for both of us, but crucially I got two boosted desiccations off on the treekin and the treeman. That was a pretty big shift as it broke the treekin and saw the treeman die.
Enjoyed trying the necrosphinx, and actually got more out of my chariots which was nice. My favourite units were the two carrion though, really versatile and quite handy at redirecting and picking off chaff. They will feature more often I think!
Thanks for reading.
