Post: #1

Baron Havelock's Heroic Resistance


* - before you say anything, I know. I was expecting High Elves. There is another build for him in the works, but it involves having my Grave Guard with double-handed weapons back...

The Oppressive Forces of a Tyrannical Regime



The Field of Battle

A circular ruined temple lay near the middle of the field, with a stone circle some distance off to the west. A hill to its immediate south and another to the far north-west. Small knots of trees to the south- and north-east.


The Order of March

Mannfred rode into place to the north-east of the temple, attended on only by his Blood Knights and, farther east, a monstrous Varghulf. The western side of the temple was held by a line of undead infantry: Skeletons led by one of Mannfred's thralls, Ghouls marshalled by another and Zombies left to shamble peacefully along in their own style, followed by a Corpse Cart.

Havelock's skeleton infantry took the hill, with the Ghouls loitering around the base.Fell Bats circled behind the hill, Dire Wolves amassed to the east facing the Blood Knights and a dozen of the finest Knights of the Black Cross squared off against Mannfred's infantry.

The Ghouls scurried forward at an angle, defending the flank of the two Skeleton regiments from anything that might see fit to engage them.

Round One: Jostling for Position

Mannfred's army took the initiative: the Blood Knights powered over the field and, compelled onward by Vanhel's Danse, charged Havelock's Ghouls, obliterating all but one of them in what might be termed a green mess. The Varghulf bounded forward too, angling itself to pounce into the gap opened up by the Ghouls' untimely demise, while the rest of Mannfred's army advanced around the ruined temple.

Unfortunately for the Blood Knights, they'd done exactly what I'd hoped they do by charging into the Ghouls: expose their flank to Varney and the Skeleton Spears, who promptly charged off the hill into one unfortunate Blood Knight who Varney whacked into dust with his army standard. The rest, borne down by sheer weight of combat resolution, crumbled and fell. My Fell Bats took the ruin, while the Dire Wolves shuffled out to face down Mannfred: the assorted Creatures of the Night were all in a position to charge him next turn. My Knights cantered forward, the Skeleton Swords close behind, and Havelock raised two Fell Bats into the unit and a couple of small Zombie units at an angle to either side of them, inviting a breaking of the battleline on Mannfred's part.


Round Two: I believe it's what we call a Pile-Up

Offended by the swift demise of the Blood Knights, the Varghulf pounced the surviving Ghoul, ate him whole and proceeded to plough on into Havelock (curses!). Mannfred fell back around the ruin, while his Skeletons charged the Zombies I'd raised near them, pulverised them and overran into a Fell Bat. The rest of his infantry moved forward and close together, making it quite clear that the Black Knights would have to tackle both. His magic phase was a triumph, but sadly it was a triumph for Baron Havelock, who managed to dispel more or less everything the supposed master of the black art threw out. Said Baron continued to prove his valour by carving a substantial hole in the Varghulf (two wounds) and taking next to nothing back.

The Skeleton Swordsmen countered the charge from Mannfred's Skeletons, while the Black Knights and spare Zombie unit charged his Zombies and Ghouls. The Dire Wolves continued to chase Mannfred around the central ruin. The magic phase saw nineteen Zombies emerge near the pile-up, as well as the triumphant rise of yet more Fell Bats. The pile-up in the middle was inconclusive to say the least thanks to the addition of more ranks and another Vampire to counteract Mannfred's, while the Black Knights beat substantial chunks out of both the units facing them, outperforming their steeds for the first time in forever. Havelock and the Varghulf continued to wail on one another to some effect, battering one another down to single wounds.


Round Three: "DAGNABBIT."

While there was a desultory effort at spellcasting (raising some Ghouls back, casting Vanhel's Danse on the pile-up), a bizarre turn of events as the Ghouls pulled down a Black Knight after losing their Vampire to a Killing Blow and a further mass of beatings in the middle, the greatest sadness of this turn came when the Varghulf ate Havelock. I was not amused. The crumbling tests claimed the lives of most of the Dire Wolves, a couple of Fell Bats, a Black Knight and a smattering of Skeleton Swords. It was a short turn - Mannfred was the only thing left unengaged in his entire army.

The next round of crumbling tests obliterated another Black Knight, seven or so zombies, a few more Skeletons and the very last Dire Wolf. Apart from the general-shaped hole in my army, though, I wasn't doing too badly. The Skeleton Spearmen wheeled around to face the big combat in the middle, foreseeing the passing of the Fell Bats, while the Zombies piled into the flank of the solitary enemy unit in there. My surviving Vampires raised more Zombies into the leaderless unit, and that was about it for magic. One thing I had remembered to do was barge Carmilla into contact with the Skeletons, and she issued a challenge to the enemy Vampire, intending to try for a Beguilement and a Killing Blow. She scored a wound, and saved the one that came her way, but no Killing Blow today. The combats... went on. Things died. Nothing of great importance occurred.


Rounds Four and Five: This Becomes Tedious

I'll summarise these two rounds: magic was largely ineffectual, limited to the raising of new models into damaged units. The Varghulf charged my Skeleton Swordsmen in the back and bounced off, dying a nasty, painful death from my collected combat resolution once it had eaten four Skeletons. Carmilla died in the second round of her challenge, Mannfred's Skeletons were slowly ground down to their Vampire and the Fell Bats were finally finished off, promptly replaced by the Skeleton Spearmen and Varney. And, eventually, after so much raising back and forth, the Black Knights finished off everything they were facing and started eyeing up the Corpse Cart.


Round Six: We Live In Interesting Times

With only Mannfred and the Corpse Cart left, the Count of Sylvania was somewhat stuck for things to do. The Corpse Cart charged the Black Knights - better that than the alternative - while Mannfred himself charged the Skeleton Spearmen (intending to wallop Varney, apparently) and tried to Summon an Undead Horde behind them, only to be denied by some deft Dispelling. He did end up with Vanhel's Danse on himself - bless - and I issued a challenge with the Skeleton Champion, knowing one of the vampires had to accept. The regular one accepted, beat down on the Skeleton and scored himself an Overkill wound, while Mannfred discovered why the Flayed Hauberk is rather hard to penetrate. He died. He died rather unpleasantly. The Corpse Cart did not last, needless to say.

In my turn, all I really had to do was summon models back into the units that had been crumbled below half strength and heal wounds on surviving characters, and that was pretty much it. Massacre in my favour, both generals dead and Mannfred put back in his place.


I hope that proved at least vaguely informative. I tend to ramble on and turn a bit narrative in places, but the whole point of battle reports is that someone, somewhere learns something from them.

Here's what I learned.

Seven dispel dice mean you're not going to need Scrolls that often, provided you use them judiciously. I don't think I ever felt like I was strained in the defensive magic phase.
Four vampires is one too many. It's awesome to try out, but you'll find yourself bereft of the Ethereal troops, flyers and other helpful stuff that you need to carry a Vampire Counts army: you're reduced to playing like bad Chaos, piling in and hoping for the best, bringing a big club instead of your toolbox.
On a similar note, a Vampire in that Black Knight unit was superfluous. They didn't need him to whittle down what they hit, he didn't especially help them survive the incoming hits: they're in that list to be a block that powers through terrain, hits somewhere the opponent doesn't want a wedge of T4 2+ saves, and eventually grinds through everything in front of it.

Post: #2

Good Report!
And beat down on those upstart undead!:P

Post: #3

The Blood Knights should kill some 20 Ghouls on average, he had really bad luck. Kudos for the report.

Post: #4

Very nice report, was a good read ! More to come?

Post: #5

N.I.B. Wrote:The Blood Knights should kill some 20 Ghouls on average, he had really bad luck. Kudos for the report.

Which should tell all and sundry something about banking on these spurious 'averages'.

Post: #6

Quote:Lord: Baron Havelock von Eberbach: Vampire Lord: Dark Acolyte, Infinite Hatred, Summon Creatures of the Night; Sword of Battle, Armour of Night, Wristbands of Black Gold*; Raise Dead,

illegal list.

you cannot buy magical armour without avatar of death or dread knight vampiric powers.

I'm seeing this a lot here in the vampiric community....

[/quote]

Post: #7

Astragoth Wrote:

Quote:Lord: Baron Havelock von Eberbach: Vampire Lord: Dark Acolyte, Infinite Hatred, Summon Creatures of the Night; Sword of Battle, Armour of Night, Wristbands of Black Gold*; Raise Dead,

illegal list.

you cannot buy magical armour without avatar of death or dread knight vampiric powers.

I'm seeing this a lot here in the vampiric community....

[/quote]

Actually no, there is a part n the new codex saying that you can take magical armor withount taking avatar of death and dread knight.

Post: #8

well please enlighten me....

I think you are reffering to page 85, where it states that vampires can be given magic armour.

the next line states that it replaces mundane armour from either vampiric power though.....


the vampires hear seem to have a collective mindblank when it comes to that rule...

Post: #9

The above statement regarding magical armour may not be correct, please see this thread for more discussion on vampires wearing magical armour - http://www.vampirecounts.net/showthread.php?tid=1378

Post: #10

"All Vampires may be given magic armour, including the Enchanted Shield."
-- that much-vaunted Page 85. Emphasis is mine.

Seems pretty clear to me, especially in the absence of any reminder text in the Dread Knight or Avatar of Death entries. I suspect even GW would have seen fit to remind us that we needed to pay twenty points over the odds for all our magic armour, ne?

Actually, given the controversy over Vanhel's Danse and casting into combat, I can believe they genuinely didn't think it would be noticed... seems like they developed this one more or less entirely in isolation from the Big Red Book. Where do you stand on Vanhel's Danse, Astragoth?