For Athel Loren: Runefang Day 1

Day 1 of Runefang is done, and so to continue of habit for writing day 1 tournament reports before day 2 even begins here is my report for Runefang Day 1, enjoy.

Game 1: Neil Wiliamson

Game 1 was the always potentially hilarious Dawn Attack against Neil and his Warriors of Chaos. Frequent readers of this blog, and warhammer players in general, will know that Wood Elves have a bad track record against the mortal servants of chaos. The scenario did me no favors by throwing my Treekin and general on the left flank with very little to do. The deployment rules then proceeded to place Neil's Dragon Ogres, Shaggoth, Chariot, one spawn and a unit of Marauder horse on the right flank facing down a unit of Dryads, the BSB (who in a leave of sanity i decided to not put the Glade guard unit) and a Treeman. The opening turns were indecisive with Galrauch miscasting and hurting himself and ,most notability, Neil charging the Treekin with a Chimera, breaking them and being unable to run them down.

Deployment and opening turns (1-2)

Mid game was when things heated up with the Dragon Ogres, Shaggoth and Chariot all ganging up on a unit of Dryads who had been advancing on the right flank with Treeman support, sadly the Dryads didn't last and were wiped out with the Dragon Ogres over running into the BSB and killing him. The Shaggoth turned to face a on rushing Treeman and the Dragon Ogres joined him. In the Center the other unit of Drayds got eaten by the Hell Cannon which then headed further on into my lines, and the Glade Guard with Lifeweaver were double charged off the board. Galrauch and the "Un-Killible" BSB combo charged and killed the remaining Treeman.

Mid game (3-4)

End game saw a the final stand of the Treekin as they and the Highborn faced off against the BSB and Galrauch, although they held for two turns they were eventually eaten with the BSB winning his "Un-Killible" title as he went 4 rounds of combat against the Highborn without taking a wound.

End game (5-6)

Neil's Army

In the end Neil won 20-0 and despite the score i did enjoy the game and Neil was a excellent opponent who specifically requested i do a good job of writing up the game so hopefully this satisfies him, he was a excellent opponent who was very courteous while stomping all over my poor Wood Elves.

Game 2: Pete Dunn

So as there was one drop out before the event Pete Dunn (who was the event organizer) became the Bybreaker and anyone who played him won 20-0 regardless of how the actual game went. This meant that i got to try out a few tactics that i usually wouldn't (especially in Blood and Glory) due to their risky nature. Pete had the perfect army for B and G, 4 units of 10 Horrors with a Standard in each, a BSB, a General and a Standard on his unit of Plague Drones meant that if he wasn't the Bybreaker then he would have he would have found this a easy round to win (provided he didn't play against Wood Elves, then the round would have been easy regardless of his army list). I deployed my Lifeweaver in a building in my deployment zone, with the Dryads and Treeman manning/womanning the Flanks with the Glade Guard and Treekin/Highborn combo taking the center. The game got off to a excellent start wit the BSB dropping out of the Glade Guard and unleashing the HODA against Pete's Exalted Chariot and getting 18 shots against it, sadly it only resulted in 2 wounds. Everything else advanced warily. In response Pete Infernal Gatewayed (its a verb, really it is) the right flank Dryads and generally responded to my troops advances.

Deployment and Early game (1-2), some photos appear out of order in which they were taken

Mid game saw the Demons leap (or in the case of the Plague Drones, sluggishly hover) into action, with the aforementioned Plague Drones slamming into the Dryads, the Greater Demon of Tzeentch flank charging the Treekin and multiple fly overs of my units by Tzeentch Screamers, oh and a endless magical bombardment from the Tzeentch host. The Drones all but wiped out the Dryads, with the sole survivor fleeing off the board, the right flank Treeman was burned by Tzeentch magics and the Highborn/Treekin were slowly eaten by the Greater Demon of Tzeentch, who is a very good combat monster for a Wizard Demon.  Mid game was wrapped up with the BSB and Lifeweaver being murdered in such a horrifying and mentally scarring way that i have completely forgotten how they died.

Mid Game (3-4)

End game was my turn to go on the attack, what little of an attack i could muster. It comprised of the left flank Treeman/Dryads combo charging a unit of Horrors, the Glade Guard rallying from their flight of panic after seeing the death of the BSB and finished off the Tzeentch Chariot wounded earlier in the game. The game ended with the Treeman being burned inside out and a 3 way charge against the Glade Guard unit that saw said unit being obliterated.

End Game (5-6)

The game was very fun and amusing, with many good moments including Pete rolling 6 6s at once. Pete was a very good player who crushed my fragile Elves whilst being a very kind and decent opponent. As mentioned before it was a 20-0 in my favor because Chaos is fickle.

Game 3: Sam Whitt

One of the many reasons why i like playing Warhammer Fantasy is because the games are, more often than not, closer than games in 40k. Games in WHFB are often won or lost in the mid game, but the best are won or lost in the final turns of the game. I can say with utter certainty that the game i played against Sam was the best game of Warhammer i have played. The scenario was Watch Tower which meant that the key to victory lay not in beating the enemy but in holding the watch tower. I got off to a good start by winning the watch tower and placing in it 15 Dryads. The idea being that the Dryads would hold the tower until the Treekin could relieve them, this was aided by me placing the Treekin directly behind the watch tower. The rest of my forces deployed to keep the Tomb king forces away from the tower.  Sam deployed his large block of skeletons, with all his characters, directly in front of the tower. This was to be his tower storming unit. He went on to deploy all his artillery and casket of souls behind a hill in his deployment zone, his large unit of Necropolis Knights on the left flank (facing down two Treemen and a Dryad/Highborn combo unit), his Chariots on the right and his archers in various locations. The opening turns saw the Dryads repulse a assault by the skeleton block, Sam's chariot unit get peppered with arrows of both a mundane and magical nature and a large combat between the Dryads and both Treeman that carried on through the mid game.

Deployment and Early Game (1-2)

In the Mid game i was treated to a display of Tomb King fire power, sadly it was at the expense of the Treekin who had relieved the Dryads of tower holding duties. Sam, acknowledging that skeletons were unlikely to shift the Treekin hit the tower with two Screaming Skull Catapults. Being both magical and on fire this meant bad news for the Treekin, who lost all but one Treekin (on one wound left) to the first volley and the final Treekin to the second volley. The Treekin in the tower was a sound move, but against magical flaming war machines even the soundest of Wood Elf strategies fail. Unfortunately for him Sam wasn't able to capitalize on the now vacant tower, fortunately i was and i rushed the Glade Guard into the tower. While this was going on the Knights/Forest Spirit combat was decided, with my General and Dryads falling to the knights, but said knights taking a beating from the Treemen. In the end i lost that combat with one Treeman fleeing and the other holding off the knights and the on coming skeleton block, who charged in turn 4 and aided in the felling of the Treeman. At the end of my turn 4 i had a fleeing Treeman and my Glade Guard, Lifeweaver and BSB in the tower. All i needed was a 6 on a d6 to end the game and gain a 11-9 victory, the die was rolled............and the result was a 3, the game would go on.

Mid Game (3-4)

Turn 5. My army was in tatters. I had railed the fleeing Treeman but he, the Glade Guard and my heroes were all had i left. But it all didn't matter, i had played the scenario and held onto the tower at all costs. However after chopping up the Treeman the skeleton block had reformed to face the tower. The Glade Guard had to hold on for one turn of combat, oh and i had to roll a 5+ to end the game. If i did those two things i would have turned defeat into victory and won. Sam opened his turn 5 by charging in with the skeletons and finishing off the remaining Treeman, he also got off a Tomb King spell that gave everyone in his skeleton block a extra attack. Combat came and the Glade Guard did nothing of note, the skeletons and combined might of the Tomb King heroes hit the unit hard and completely wiped out the Glade Guard, but due to some bizarre building assault rules they were unable to kill the Lifeweaver and BSB. At this point it seems relevant to mention the Sam, Pete Dunn (who was also the Umpire for the event), Pete Wiliamson and Mike King (two other players who had finished their games and had taken an interest in the building rules debate) had a 5 minute long debate on whether or not the Skeleton unit could kill the wizard and BSB as they weren't chosen as part of my ten man combat unit. The debate ended when Pete D found the relevant FAQ that stated that Sam couldn't kill my characters (there was more to it but that was the key point). Regardless i passed my stubborn LD 9 re-rollable test. At this point all i had left were these two characters yet they still had the tower. The Glade Guard did their duty and held the tower with their lives, all that i now needed to do to win was roll a 5+ on a d6, something i seem to be good at given how many 5+  Forest Spirit Ward Saves i pass. Once more i rolled the die..........................and got a 2. At this point i conceded rather than have a drawn out combat whose result was a foregone conclusion.

That game was the best game of Warhammer i have played to date. It was close as it could have possibly been and was decided not by skill or who had the better army book, but by the roll of a single die. Sam was a excellent opponent who made the game so much better and i look forward to facing him in the future. 

So that is my wrap up of day one of Runefang, it was a thoroughly enjoyable day of gaming and i hope tomorrow is a repeat of that. Expect the Day 2 report late next week. Before i go i wanted to talk about a leaked image from the digital Wood Elf Army Book that is very important. 

What you are looking at is the digital army list entry for Treekin, its not clear in this image but they dropped a point of strength and 20 points, Treekin are now 45 points (as opposed to 65) and only lost a point of strength. Until next time.
Rex