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Warhammer

A Chronicle of Undeath IV: 12-3-16 Tournament

*I wrote this up (from best I could remember) for vampirecounts.net and thus don’t call out people by name. The opponents of the Faceless shall remain nameless! Nice work by @Jimkellsworth running the awesome event!

I ran Undead w/Night-Stalker allies (apologies for some blurry pics):
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Revenants horde, two-handed, blessing of the gods, (Touch of Darkness)
Zombie regiment
Zombie regiment
Zombie regiment
Zombie Troll horde
Zombie Troll horde
Werewolves horde, dwarven ale
Necromancer, +bane chant
Lykanis, blade of slashing
Morgoth the Faceless, touch of darkness
Spectres regiment
Shadowhounds troop
Screamer

Pregame thoughts:
I am shaking off seven months of rust as last time I played was my club’s GT earlier in the year. In the interim I had finished a few new units and wanted to try them out. The first is the mostly banshee unit in the upper left corner of above pic that counts as spectres. I figured the firebolts piercing(1) would give the undead some much needed ranged attacks. I lack skeleton archer models, and they don’t seem impressive rules wise. I have two catapults but don’t really like hitting only 1/3 of the time. For more punch I am using a screamer that provides lightning bolt (5) with height2, which is a great combination. Rounding out the NS I am dusting off some direwolves models to use as shadowhounds. I envisioned these would make a great screening/escort unit for the werewolves horde.

And finally, the FACELESS! I was tired of running the Liche King and this guy also packs more ranged spells to go along with heal and surge. I am also using the Lykanis for the first time to bolster my fast attack subgroup. Limited inspiring was a concern, however a combination of the very inspiring on an individual with speed 10 and nearly 25% of points in night-stalkers didn’t turn out too bad. I couldn’t find the points for the inspiring talisman for the necromancer. I was iffy on the necromancer, but this guy really turned out to be clutch as he provided the bane chants and the surges so Mhorgoth could focus on fireballing units once the battle lines met.

GAME 1: Invade
Opponent: Undead

Undead civil war! The opponent’s list is the following:

Ghouls Troop
Ghouls Troop
Revenant Horde, brew of courage
Wraiths Troop
Zombie Trolls Horde, brew of sharpness
Werewolves Horde, brew of strength
Soul Reaver Cavalry Regiment, potion of caterpillar
Vampire Lord, heal(2), mounted on undead horse
Vampire Lord on Undead Pegasus, heal(2), ensorcelled armor
Lykanis, blade of the beast slayer

I setup all my forces on the left flank. His soul reavers, werewolves, and Lykanis are on the right side. I decide not to counter with my fast units and instead put them on the extreme left flank, hoping to sweep around the building and come up from the back. I make mental notes to watch out for Vampire on Pegasus getting behind my lines as well as to know where those soul reavers can go at all times.
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I place the screamer in the woods with trolls. Zombie meat shield protects the revenants while the spectres hold the right flank, and are going to be sacrificed.
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Opponent’s wraiths, ghouls, vampire on peg, soul reavers, lykanis, and werewolves advancing unopposed on the right flank.
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View from the left edge. Werewolves plan to go around the barn.
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Wraiths fight my zombies while wolves fight the spectres as enemy lykanis looks on. I plan to turn the trolls to face the werewolves, while I hope to absorb the incoming soul reavers (top of above pic) with zombies.
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Here is another view of the soul reavers galloping towards my line. I am hoping I made the right decision by not countering these guys with the wolves. Only time will tell.
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The fast attack force is now within striking distance. The mounted vampire lord is sent in to stall the wolves. The wolves and the hounds combo the vampire and bring it down. The wraiths and enemy wolves grind out the zombies and spectres as expected, but take a few turns to do so. The vampire on pegasus charges over the zombies into the revenant horde. The horde ends up killing it with a spectacular to hit roll including 4 of 5 ones converting to hits with blessing. The enemy revenants (on hill in above pic) crush middle zombies. In the end, more points in the opposing half nets me 17-3 win. If i recall, I lost only the spectres and the three zombie units.

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Fortunately my camera seems to get somewhat back in focus as the day went on. Not sure why I couldn’t take an in-focus picture to save my life in the morning. Also, the next two games run late (likely due to over-measuring and indecisiveness on my part!) and as a result I didn’t get quite as many pictures as i’d have liked, but there are enough to get a feel for how things went down.
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Game 2 is Pillage against Salamanders:

Primes Horde, Orcsbain’s amulet of thorns
Primes Horde, two-handed weapons, brew of sharpness
Ancients on Rhinosaurs Horde, Maccwar’s potion of the caterpillar
Lekelidon
Lekelidon
Lekelidon
Clan Lord on Fire Drake w/wings
Clan Lord on Fire Drake w/wings, fire-oil
Clan Lord on Fire Drake w/wings, ensorcelled armor

We roll for seven objectives and they end up being placed in a skewed diamond shape in the middle of the table (not favoring either side). I deploy the main line to the right of center, with the fast attack units on the right flank. All three fire drakes deploy opposite the right flank. The salamander prime hordes deploy in the center.
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I win the first turn and advance the shadowhounds and werewolves up the grey hill on the right flank just out of charge range of the fire drake that is next to the building in the corner. Mhorgoth and the screamer send their lightning bolts into the fire drake where I proceed to waiver it with a double six.

The prime hordes and ancients advance on the zombies, with the other two drakes breathing into the revenant horde from behind once they are in range. I manager to waiver the same drake again after more lighting bolts. My line maintains position.
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The prime hordes charge the zombie regiments and the ancients charge the spectres. Once the zombies collapse the zombie trolls charge the primes and after several rounds of fighting are able to finish them off. The lekelidons target the screamer with breath attacks and eventually kill it after two rounds of shooting(I forget about the stealthy). The revenant horde eats several rounds of breath attacks from two drakes. I roll below average on my regeneration roll (only two of 15 damage is healed) and this unit disappears without seeing combat. Considering it drew the attention of both drakes for several turns, I consider this a fair result given the amount of points involved.
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I finally take action with the Lykanis and shadowhounds, sending them in against the drake that I had managed to waiver each turn of the game. They are able to combo charge and finish it. I turn the werewolves to face the ancients on rhinosaurs that had beat the spectres, carelessly exposing their flank to a fire drake which charges in and destroys them in the subsequent turn.

The battle ends as a 17-3 loss. I think I waited too long to commit the fast attack units (shadowhounds, werewolves, lykanis) to fightening and gave the shooting too many turns to take pot shots (breath/firebolts) at my units. With three fire drakes in the same area of the board, I was very cautious to move and give up flanks. In the end I inadvertently did so with the wolves anyway. During this game I had wished I had a troop of wraiths or flying pharaoh to charge the drakes and disrupt them to take away the breath(16). I am pleased with how the lightning bolts worked.

Game 3 Dominate against The Herd:

Spirit Walkers Regiment, fire-oil
Spirit Walkers Horde, brew of strength
Tribal Hunters Troop, bows
Harpies Troop
Harpies Troop
Guardian Brutes Horde, Maccwar’s potion of the caterpillar
Lycans Horde, pipes of terror
Centaur Longmanes Regiment, helm of confidence
Tribal Chariots Regiment
Brutox
Shaman, +heal(5)
Shaman, +heal(5), Myrddin’s amulet of the fire-heart

My main line deploys in the center near the scoring zone. The fast attack units to the right flank. Enemy lines up as shown. For reference in the below pics, the metal minotaurs are Guardian brutes, the giant is the brutox, spirit walkers beastmen, and plastic minotaurs Lycans.
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I win first turn and move up the hounds to be just out of site of the harpy unit behind the building.
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The lykanis moves up and pivots to face the center. Lycans and chariots come up the left flank, threatening the screamer.
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Centaurs charge trolls and chariots execute a hindered charge on the screamer.
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Mhorgoth unleashes a fireball on the lycans but forgets about nimble. He therefore eats a charge from the lycans, but fortunately only takes one damage in the process.
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Since he cannot cast due to disorder, he makes a non fly move toward the center of the line to provide some inspiring to the units in combat. The spirit walkers crash into the zombies. The brutox charges the rightmost zombies after the spectres do a few points of damage with firebolts.
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Hounds and werewolves move around the building on the right flank. The harpies surround the lykanis near the obstacle and he fights off one of the units.
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The two zombie regiments fighting the spirit walker horde and regiment are defeated. The revenant horde enters combat against centaurs and lycans.
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A time runs down no more pictures but the werewolves come around the building and charge in against the guardian brutes. They are then charged in the flank by spirit walkers, absorbing 27 points of damage. Things look grim from my side of the table. The first nerve roll routes them, the reroll due to inspiring nets the double one! A crowd had gathered around at this point, and this moment was pivotal for the undead, as it now mean the zombie trolls could execute a rear charge and the werewolves could get another round fighting the guardian brutes. Even the lykanis joins the fray. This combat results in two herd units being defeated in the scoring zone. The game results in a 13-7 win to the undead. Without the double one roll it was a guaranteed loss, as units would have refaced and I wouldn’t have been able to do nearly as much damage. In retrospect I made a few blunders but fortunately they did not take me out of the game. This was a really fun game against a great opponent and another well run event. I think I finished 4th or 5th in terms of battle points but points for painting put me 3rd over all.

The biggest thing I’d change for next time is not to spend so many turns trying to get the werewolves behind the enemy. Also, I’m still sure Mhorgoth is suboptimal from a points perspective, but it sure was fun using the model because his spell selection meant he had the tool for the job assuming he wasn’t wavered.