The Wood Elves Return! CTA 2014 Day 1

CTA 2014 has come and gone and it was a bitter sweet event for me. On one hand I didn't achieve my goal of getting mid of the group in overall placing but on the positive side I learnt a lot about my army, how to play it and the direction I want to take the Wood Elves in future games. Before I begin I want to say that across all 5 games my opponents were excellent sports and opponents, they all were provided genuinely enjoyable games and were joys to play against.

Game 1: Dawn Attack

Game one was against the one and only Nicholas Jebson and his Dark Elf hordes and the scenario was dawn attack. Deployment wise neither of us were badly affected by random deployment with most of our troops landing in the centre, that and both of our forces were mobile enough to reposition themselves if the need arose. I got first turn and began the shooting bombardment, killing a few Dark Elves here and there; the most notable was killing the Chariot that Nick general was riding in (said general succeed into the nearby corsairs). Nick’s opening turns saw him gun his forces towards my lines and generally weathering the Wood Elf firepower, he did charge a reduced shade unit into the some scouts with little effect on either side. The most important event in the early turns was my general killing himself by miscasting, rolling Dimensional cascade and failing the 4+ to not die roll (as it turns out he was foreshadowing events to come), I can’t even remember the spell he cast but I do recall making some vague statement along the lines of “Surly he can’t die now” or some equally dice tempting phase. 

Images from the early game (Turns 1 and 2)

A general example of my excellent dice rolling (mine are the red and black) in this image i fail to dispel a spell

The Midgame saw the shades win the scout combat started early on and run them down. It also saw my Waystalker and his unit try desperately to kill Nick’s general (to no effect) while dancing around the unit the general had chosen to hide in and it saw the Hydra line advance steadily towards my lines. With me mage and general out of the picture Nick’s BSB was free to roam where he wished and did so, he charged the Eternal Guard and had a lovely drawn out combat with them were nothing happened for about 3 turns worth of combat. My shooting was able to reduce almost all of Nick’s chaff and magicwise I continued to roll poorly in just about every phase for both casting and dispelling. 

Images from the Midgame (Turns 3-4)

Lategame was when the damage was done, I lost all but a single glade guard, the remaining Waywatchers, the Waystalker, the last of the scouts and the Level 2 death mage. Nick lost 2 Hydras, the level 4 light mage, a Dark Rider unit and his last Scourge Runner Chariot. The Treekin pulled mount all the stops in the last turns, they were responsible for the deaths of both the Hydras and didn’t give up their points. All in all the game ended in Nick’s favour 15-5. 

Images from the Late game (Turns 5-6)

 
Game 2: Meeting Engagement

Game two was against Michael Stuart and his Empire Horde list and it was they wacky fun diagonal deployment scenario. I once more chose the side with the forest and formed another super wood. I also paid for a deployment mistake when I placed the Treekin hard up against the deployment line and the got crashed turn 1 by Michael’s Knights, General and angry mounted warrior priest. I fought back and managed to shoot off a cannon and snipe out a mage with a dispels scroll before he could even use it! Elsewhere on the battlefield the Empire blocks (a unit of 50 spears and 40 greatswords) advanced on my lines while the elves shuffled their feet…. 

Images from the Early Game (Turns 1 and 2)

Midagme saw the Elves dance (I had finally figured out how to move skirmishers utilised their endless free reforms to their full advantage) and the Empire charge. The Greatswords went up against the Eternal Guard (and won but were unable to chase down the Eternal Guard) and the Knight’s fresh from their Treekin killing spree wheeled around to face the elves once more. Elsewhere my scouts danced around the Crossbows until they were all dead from arrow related injuries. The second cannon was removed from play and the Eternal Guard rallied and where Walked Between Hostile Targets so that their backs were facing their Greatsword’s backs. 

Images from the Mid Game (Turns 3-4)

Endgame was the points grab for me. I had burned, hacked and shot the Greatswords to pieces before now and I finally surrounded the unit and filled it full of arrows until only the warrior priest was left. Likewise the knight unit had been shot at and fallen foul of dangerous terrain for the whole game and was finally removed from play. I didn’t come out damage free and lost a few more glade guard but by then Michael only had has Spearmen, BSB and 2 warrior priest left. Game 2 was a win for me by 12-8. 

Images from the Late Game (Turns 5-6)

Game 3: Watchtower

There was only one Warriors of Chaos list (played by Ryan Lister) in the whole event and I ended up facing it for game 3. Ryan won control of the Watch Tower and decided against putting a unit in it. I decided that an early grab for the watch tower may pay off and in my first turn magicked the Eternal Guard with Shadowdancer into it. I also killed a Skullcrusher with the first volley of shots from the Waywatchers (Yaaay) but failed to do anything else to them for the whole game. Ryan’s Turn 1 was quite, with the Warriors of Chaos unit failing to get to the Watcher Tower. His turn 2 however was far more charged, with everything declaring a charge and most of them making it in (although the Warriors failed to do so again). By the end of Ryan’s Turn 2 most of my lines had gone, the Treekin were running away and my BSB and Shadowdancer (he got death sniped) were dead. However I did manage to get my Mage general and Waywatchers/Stalker out of harm’s way. 

Images from the early game (Turns 1-2)

 
Mid(and End)game saw Ryan’s Warriors finally make it into the tower and clear it out of Eternal Guard by the end of Turn 4. He also managed to mop up the Treekin and everything else that wasn’t a Waywatcher or mounted mage. Unlike my last game of Watchtower this one ended on Turn 4 giving Ryan a comfortable win of 17-3. 

Images from the Mid/Late Game (Turns 5-6)

So that concludes Day one of CTA 2014. Despite the two loses I did learn some very import lessons (figuring out the Skirmisher move technique was the most important), and things weren’t looking too bad going into Day 2. However as that post will reveal no matter how well I planned my turns and used my units it would be the Dice that would decide those games. Until next time.

Rex