LARGE warhammer Game

Hi, Don and I played a while ago and had a great all day game. We played 6000 points of Demons vs empire. Don has a beautiful army and that is probably why they won.
It was pretty even throughout. But my right flank got killed by the blood crushers. I also had some crappy misfires with my cannons.
the left side was a bit better- my two units  of knights did alright, my captain on pegasus went through some fliers and eventually got in with the demon lvl 4 caster.

the middle combats were really sticky. huge units, lots of killing, but the prayers and a spell or two kept my  guys from running- right until the end when I got killed altogether.

Link to photobucket with lots of pictures ..
http://s1086.photobucket.com/albums/j459/ddodge1/

Hey all,

Had small game of 1500pts last night with Sylvain.  He has a large Wood Elf army that is well painted.  We chose a 1500pt battle since Sylvain is still relatively new to 8th edition.

Between Rune-wielding characters, reliable artillery, and top quality troops 1500pts does not leave a lot to go around for Dwarfs.  So I ended up 3 units of Dwarf infantry and 2 stone throwers versus 3 large archer units, 2 Dryad orchards (Sylvain's unit name for units of dryads - very cool), a unit of Wardancers, and a unit Glade Riders.  We had the makings of a skirmish on the outskirts of Athel Loren.
 
I chose to hunker my Dwarfs down in a corner of the battlefield (see Image 1 below) and hoped that I could hold my own in the shooting phase and then win the match through close combat.  Sylvain chose to advance his Wood Elves shooting all the way (thanks to their special rule of being able to move and shoot with no penalty) and slowly enveloped the Dwarf position.  The Dwarf stone throwers and crossbowmen managed to whittle one archer unit down to just a few models.  As well, some fortunate scattering of rocks had also reduced one Dryad orchard to just 2 models.  In return the Wood Elves made the Dwarf Quarrellers pay dearly wiping away 3/4 of their numbers.

Things really heated up on the 4th turn (Image 2) when the second Dryad orchard (still at full strength) and the Wardancers were found to be within charging range of the Dwarf warriors and Hammerers.  With two successful rolls of the dice the forces were now joined in melee.  The Wardancers didn't fair very well and could not score enough wounds to hold up the doughty warriors.  They broke and stumbled away only to be run down and trampled under short, stubby legs (wearing steel-toed boots - safety first!).  Flush from their victory the warriors moved on to threaten the third unit of elf archers.  Meanwhile, the Dryads proved more resilient and passed their break test.  This allowed the vestiges of the first orchard to flank charge the Hammerers.  However, in the end it was not to be as there were just too many tough elite fighters with great weapons and both orchards were destroyed.  All the remained was for the Hammerers to track down the Dryad hero and send her to the same kindling pile as her sisters.

However, the success of the Dwarf in these two combats proved to be a double edged sword.  In charging out to meet the sylvans the Dwarf's flank was no longer protected and the Elf general saw his opening (Image 3).  Quickly he led his Glade Riders through the gap and charged into the Dwarf's artillery battery.  After successfully eliminating both stone throwers, the horsemen turned and threatened the weakened Dwarf crossbowmen.  The crossbowmen had only just managed to wipe away the last elf in the depleted archer unit when they heard the pounding of hoof beats at their back.  In a panic they realized that maybe, just maybe they may be able to outrun their impending doom.  Alas, never enter a dwarf in a horse race.

And so the game ended.  After adding up all the points the result was a 180 point advantage to the Dwarfs, so victory was claimed by only 81 points!  When Sylvain and I analyzed the game we made the following observations:

• Each of us made two big mistakes.  
  • Sylvain's was not retreating his badly mauled unit of archers to try and preserve those victory points.
  • My mistake was in how I deployed my stone throwers.  I had them set up in a way that Sylvain was able steamroll from one and into the second one.  I needed to offset their positions so that it would take an extra turn to eliminate both.
• Another mistake (though not a huge one) was made by Sylvain when he got too close with his Dryad's and Wardancers allowing me to charge.  However, had he not done so it's questionable if he would have been able to run down my artillery and quarrellers with his cavalry.  So maybe the mistake was actually mine in choosing to charge out and abandon my line.  Hmmm....

Overall, a very enjoyable game one that easily could have ended in a tie or even a Wood Elf win.  The Wood Elf archers are definitely a powerful force not to be taken lightly.  The next time the Dwarfs go looking for firewood they definitely need to bring a few more axes - and the hands that wield them.

EDIT: Had the points wrong.  Not 118 but 180 difference. Also added the attached pictures.

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These are alwatys interesting reads. Thanks for posting the battle reports. I continue to resist getting involved in Warhammer, but it is cool to read about the matches.

To add to what Dean wrote (this is Don), 12,000 points of figs looks pretty cool on the table.  His Inner circle Knights destroyed my Lord of Change and his hero on Pegasus bravely fought a Daemon Prince for a few nail-biting rounds.  I found that a large unit of Bloodcrushers is amazing, contrary to internet theory hammer and that Empire Flagellants are a pretty cool, tough unit.  If his War Altar had help up better, I think the battle could have been different.

These are alwatys interesting reads. Thanks for posting the battle reports. I continue to resist getting involved in Warhammer, but it is cool to read about the matches.

  "Luke.  Join meeee, it is your destiny."

  Why would you avoid playing an awesome game?

Sylvain took some pictures during our game.  I've posted 3 of them now with my original post.  They do a good job of showing the pivotal moments of the game.