2000 Points v. Undead Necromancer
Necromancer - As many of you may know, WD235 featured a special "Necromancer Army List". This uses the Vampire Counts List, but no vampires are allowed. Rather, the army is led by a necromancer. Because Vampires make up an important part of that army's balance, the point values of all basic troops have been reduced by 20-25%. This means I'm basically fighting a 2,500 point Vampire Count Army... sans Vampires!
Battle Notes - The game uses a generic tourney scenario. The game is 5 turns long. VPs are rewarded as normal.
Terrain - The terrain was unusually placed. Almost all of it was placed in a straight line between the center of her deployment zone towards the center of mine. This had the basic effect of turning the battlefield into two seperate, small fields with two woods and a hill between them. For simplicity, these battlefields are referred to as the "left" and "right" fields from my point of view. Oh, there was a building off to the left side of the left field as well.
Army List - I had the following:
1 General with Hail of Doom Arrow
4 units of 8 Scouts
2 units of 9 glade riders
6 units of 8 longbows
1 unit of 7 longbows
2 Pegasi
She (yes, a she!) had:
3 units of 20-25 skeletons, each led by a wraith champion.
1 unit of 20 Dire Wolves, led by a Doom Wolf
1 Necromancer Lord, with the Potion of Knowledge, and some Sword (75 points) that allowed her to cast spells for free. Had more items too, but they never came into play.
1 Banshee (ack, an etherial critter!)
1 Zombie Dragon (AAAAGGGGHHH!!!)
My Setup - We deployed in an alternating fashion, with me going first because I had more units. On the left side of the battlefield I had 4 of my 7 archer units, 1 scout unit (in the building), my general, and a unit of glade riders. On the right side I had 3 archer units, another glade rider unit, and 3 scout units. My pegasus were placed in the center of my line. Except for the scouts, all of my troops were placed near the back of my deployment zone. (Note: If you read my big tactics article, you'll recognize this as similar to my Orion's Spear formation. Instead of the scouts being placed up in the corner of the field though, they were kept defensively down on the edge of my setup zone. This was because I didn't want the zombie dragon routing all three off the field).
Her Setup - Divided by the forests, she deployed two skeletal units on the left side, and the other skeleton unit and the dire wolves on the right flank. The banshee and necromancer were placed on the right flank, and the zombie dragon on the left.
My strategy: Undead is a dangerous army for my army to play against. On one hand, they're slow. On the other, they can magically be sped up to they're moving 3x their M rate in a turn, rather than a normal army's march of 2x. Since I didn't have much magic, I anticipated them coming at me fast.
So my strategy was to concentrate my fire as much as elvenly possible on a single unit on each side, and get the victory points for them. I thought I'd just have to endure the Zombie Dragon's attacks, as I didn't see much in my army that could hurt it. If her Necromancer's unit came out into the open, I'd start firing at it with all possible speed. At T4, that necromancer is NOT invulnerable to being shot to death if the surrounding unit dies first.
I thought I should use the Hail of Doom Arrow on the banshees, but was worried that if I didn't kill a wraith I wouldn't get any VP's for that unit. Too many etherial targets, and only one arrow to destroy one with. Dang! I was worried...
Her Strategy - I didn't know it at the time, but her skeletal units were just bodyguards to see the Necromancer didn't get killed. She planned on using magic to win the game, along with the might of her Zombie Dragon. Of course, since my army isn't designed for h-to-h combat, she could easily win any of those as well. Hmm!
Spells: I didn't have any. She picked Vanhel's Danse Macabre (of course), a summon skeletons spell (2d6? 1d6? can't remember), Curse of Years, and another spell I can't remember.
Game:
I had first turn, and began by showering her with arrows. I decided the banshee was a higher priority than any of the wraiths, so I immediately killed it with the Hail of Doom Arrow. I fired into the lesser of the two skeletal units on the left flank (hoping to make her flinch and not advance it, bringing the necromancer towards me instead). A number of them died, making her realize just how potent all the arrows were. On the right flank we concentrated fire on the Dire Wolves, killing 15 of them. It was obvious they'd die quickly in turn two. I did not move my pegasi (knowing their Ld5 won't keep them from running away from undead). My glade riders advanced on the right, shooting as they moved.
She responded by moving up her troops as much as possible, with the zombie dragon heading toward the scouts on my right flank. She breathed on them, killing two (and a glade rider) and causing the scouts to take a panic test. They passed easily to her disappointment. Magically, she used the sword to summon more skeletons onto her diminshed unit. She was disappointed to see the sword stop working. She used her power cards to Danse Macabre the small skeleton unit on the left flank, and her skeleton unit on the right flank towards my line.
On turn two, we passed our terror tests on the right flank. I launched another round of fire. the Dire wolves were killed, and the skeletal unit on the right lost another 8 or so skeletons. It was still way away from my line, and it was apparently that very little was going to survive to reach me.
On the right, I show into the weaker skeletal unit, killing a whole mess of them. The left glade riders advanced again slightly.
She responded by moving toward me again. The Zombie dragon shifted slightly, and fired across my glade riders. She killed two, but we passed the panic test. She fumed slightly, wondering if her zombie dragon was going to do her any good. Magically she decided against Vanhel'ing, instead summoning skeletons to replenish her two battered units. She used the Potion of Knowledge to cast Curse of Years on my general, who fortunately survived. (But it was in play - ack!)
Turn three, we passed a new terror test or two, and promptly fired again at the skeletal unit on the right. This time she was left with four skeletons and the wraith on the right flank. We didn't shoot at her weakened unit on the keft flank, as it was starting to get uncomfortable close to my line. Instead, we took a few shots on her Necromancer's unit (knocking it down to 18 skeletons or so), and charged the left weakened skeletal unit with the glade riders. My intention was to use the glade riders to buy time, hopefully fighting and feigning flight in the next turn.
Combatwise we killed three skeletons, and she killed a glade rider. The CR came to two, so an additional two skeletons died. Magically, we managed to dispel Curse of Years.
On her turn, she promptly moved the wraith into combat with my glade riders. Her Necromancer's unit didn't move at all (it was 30" or so away from us, and she didn't want to get anywhere near short range with my bows). Her skeletal unit on the right flank, facing imminent troubles, continnued to advance. Her Zombie Dragon flew toward the center of my line, and fired across several archer units, panicking none. She was pretty unhappy with it by this point.
My glade riders feigned flight, and zoomed toward the left table edge. We escaped her pursuit, and were safe. A perfectly executed tactic. She had effectively lost a turn of movement for that unit, and would require more time in the next phase to "left face" and advance toward my line again.
Magically, the winds of magic were low. She used Vanhel's to charge her skeletal unit into combat with my glade riders. Curses! My perfectly executed tactic had failed - I had forgotton that with that damned spell, they could charge out of sequence. Oh well, now we were in serious trouble. They'd get +4 rank bonus, and the wraith could fight. I couldn't feign flight well either, since I was 1" away from the board edge. (I was playing as if troops that feign flight off the board were gone for good). She threw Curse of Years again on my general, but I dispelled it.
In turn four, we shot as much as we could at her general's unit, knocking it down to 12 guys or so. (Some of my guys were out of range). On the right flank, I charged her 5-skeleton and two scout units. One failed it's fear test, so it couldn't move. But the other did. They wrapped around the unit, thereby getting both flank and rear charge bonuses on it. One pegasus in the center failed it's terror test and fled off the board. (Damn Ld5).
(Note: I could have easily shot those 4 skeletons to shreds, but then the wraith would have been left. I wasn't certian about VPs in that case, and I knew my bows wouldn't do anything to it. Instead, I decided to take a gamble...)
In the combatphase, her skeletal unit on the left flank easily dispatched my glade riders, sending us running off the table. My flank attack with the glade riders had slowed down her army somewhat, but at the cost of killing my glade rider unit. Oops!
The combat on the right flank worked better. We killed three skeletons, and she killed one of us in return. This meant we had a 6CR (3killed + 1 flanking + 2 rear attack) and she had a 2CR (1 killed + 1 standard). Meaning she took another four wounds... and the surviving skeleton and the wraith instantly vanished in a puff of smoke.
"Victory" on the right flank - her army there was completely destroyed.
She was quite nervous on turn 4. She was clearly losing, although it was hard to tell by how any points. She flew her Zombie Dragon high (obviously intended to charge my general in the last turn), and began the battered skeletal unit on the left flank moving toward me again. Magically, she sent Curse of Years toward my general (dispelled), and summoned a pile of skeletons onto her battered unit to make sure that it wouldn't be destroyed in my next shooting phase.
Turn five - at this point I was extremely nervous. I realized my general was too far away from the nearest grove of trees (the only safe place from a zombie dragon!). So I tried a different tactic. I reformed a few nearby units, and created a "shield" of units around my general. By making it so that there was literally no way the Zombie Dragon could charge my general, I hope to keep him safe. I also moved my left scout unit out of the building up into her terrain quarter. Skirmisher's can't take terrain, but they can contest it.
Shootingwise, there wasn't much. We shot at the weakened skeletal unit on the left flank, but it was clear we couldn't destroy it in a single phase (especially since I was reforming several of my archer units). And there was nothing to shoot at on the right.
On her turn five, she charged one of my archer units with the dragon. She broke the archer unit, but the ensuing panic tests in the area didn't send the general running.
Magically, she launched Curse of Years at my general. I dispelled it. She recast it with the accursed Potion of Knowledge, and it went through.
With anxious breaths she rolled the die... a 5! The general had perished. Arrrgh!
The ensuing panic sent two scout units, a pegasus, and another archer unit running. My possible victory had vanished, leading to my defeat.
Final tally: Me: 641 Her: 1067. She won on a roll of 5+. Dang!
Comments: She was breathing one helluva sigh of relief at the end. Doing the math, I found I had been up 300 points before she rolled that die. So I wouldn't have won (less than 350 is considered a draw). But I wound up being down 400. Major bummer.
I'm not sure what I could have done. It would have taken a seriously powerful set of magical defenses to protect my general against a Necromancer Lord with the Potion of Knowledge and that magic spell-casting sword. Few wizards in the game could fight such an onslought of magic. And had I taken that wizard, my army would have been completely different. No level 1 or 2 wizard could have fought that Necromancer Lord.
So in retrospect, I thought I played well with a few minor errors. If I played it again, I would have done the following:
- I should never have sent my glade rider unit into the flank of her unit. I had forgotton about that Vanhel's spell. I should have shot them with tons o' archery instead, hoping to make her flinch. At the very least, the unit would have been severely weakened and lost part of it's rank bonus.
- I should have kept my general closer to the woods in the center of the field. I knew she had a powerful flyer. There was no excuse for not having my general near cover.
- I should have kept the pegasi near my general. Staying within 12" would have upped their Ld to 10. It might have kept the first one from panicking. (The second was testing on Ld5, the general was dead, so it didn't matter). Pegasi aren't very useful against such an army as hers. They couldn't get near her units without having to take terror tests, which would almost assuredly send 'em running.
That's about all. Nothing there would have protected me from magic, but then again, she couldn't protect herself from my archer fire. We both choose our strengths and weaknesses. She got lucky this time, but it was almost me that claimed the day.
End Result: Loss.
Next Game: Lizardmen!