Unas' battle reports

[Unas the slayer]

Following the example of Alabaster, I have decided that it's better to keep in a single thread my casual BatReps.
For grand tournament, we'll see.

List of BatReps:

GHB 2016:

Death vs Beastclaw riders, 1500 pts (the one in the following post)
Death vs Slaves to Darkness, 1000 pts
Death vs Dispossessed, 2000 pts
Soulblight allegiance, 4 armies clash
Soulblight allegiance vs Fyreslayers, 1000 pts
Death allegiance, 3 armies clash
Death allegiance vs Dispossessed, 1000 pts

GHB 2017:

Tomb Kings: tournament vs Blades of Khorne, Ironjawz, Fyreslayers
Tomb Kings (Khalida) vs Fyreslayers, 1000 pts - game 1
Tomb Kings (Khalida) vs Fyreslayers, 1000 pts - game 2

GHB 2018

Nighthaunt cav. + Khorne vs Order (1000+1000 vs 2000)
Seraphon vs FEC (1000 pts)
Nighthaunt vs Nurgle (2000 pts)

AoS 3.0

Nighthaunts vs Ironjawz (2000 pts)
Nighthaunts vs Kharadron Overlords (1000 pts)
Soulblight Gravelords vs Ironjawz (2000 pts)
Nighthaunts vs Lumineth & Teclis (2000 pts)

 

[Unas the slayer]

Battle: 1500 pts

Death "flee before me" vs Beastclaw riders​

Scenario: border war (one objective in each territory, 2 in the middle ground)



My army: "Flee Before me!"

Vampire Lord - general (ruler of the night)
Ghoul King on terrorgheist (cursed book)
3 x Banshee
1 x Screaming Skull Catapult
2 x 10 skeleton warriors
1 x 5 Skeleton horsemen
1 x 5 Hexwraiths
1 x 5 dire wolves
reserve pool: 80 pts

Bestclaw riders:

Frostlord on Thundertusk (general)
Huskard on Thundertusk
4 x Mournfangs
6 x yethees
2 x saber tusks


Set-up

I fear the 6 ranged mortal wounds of the tusks, that could kill my banshees, so i decide to keep them in cover, even if this means that they could stay behind when I'll move forward.

I deploy a massive left wing: the terrorgheist, the vampire lord, the horsemen, 2 banshees, the catapult and 10 skellies.
a unit of 10 skellies control the objective at my center.
The wolves and the Hexwraiths are on my right, with the third banshee

BR answer with units kept nearer: Yethees, mournfangs and huskard on my left, tigers on their own objective, frostlord on my right.

FIRST ROUND

BR decide to go first. Not sure why.

The vultures kill one crew of SSC, all the army run forward... and the yethees are ready to charge (they can run and charge tnx to the huskard).
the picture is taken before the charge: the yethees impact on the horsemen and the warriors, killing 2 horsies and 7 warriors (that don't fail battleshock and stand their ground)

3 victory points for Beastclaw

My turn.

right wing
I move the wolves to take the objective and rush forward with the hexwraiths to threaten a charge on the objective in my opponent's territory. Basically, I'm using them as threat / bait to force the enemy's big hitters to take care of them.
The banshee stays behind, granting a minimal cover

left wing.
terrorgheist flies over the yethees.
SSC shoot yethees, reducing their bravery to 4.
Banshees and terror scream at yethees, for 11, 9 and 10!
terror charges mournfangs, Vampire charges yethees.
After the combat, Yethees are no more and 2 mournfangs have been killed.

3 victory points for me

SECOND ROUND

BR win

Vultures fail to kill the crew of the SSC
The combined shooting of the thundertusks, with 12 mortal wounds, wipes away the hexwraiths.
the frostlord on thundertusk charges the wolves, but tnx to the save 6+ granted by the banshee, a single wolf survives!
The mournfangs do little against the terrorgheist, which fails to kill anyone, just taking a mournfang near death.

3 victory points for Beastclaw (total: 6)

My turn.

I summon a banshee near the mournfangs
I disengage the terrorgheist and the wolves.
SSC and summoned banshee shoot at mournfangs, then the charge of the healed knights finishes them off.
left banshees run forward, right banshee goes back

5 victory points for me. (total: 8)


THIRD ROUND

No pictures here.
i win the roll.

SSC, terrorgheist and banshee shoot at the huskard on thundertusk
terrorgheist charges Huskard, finishing it
horsemen charge the tigers, Killing them and taking the objective.

I control all objectives, 9 victory points for me (total: 17)

BR turn:
with only 6 victory points and just one thundertusk still alive, my opponent concedes.




Analysis of the match:

My opponent was unsatisfied by tusks' performance ("they are much weaker than Stonehorns!")

IN CC they are surely weaker. IMO his mistake was to use his army as if thundertusks were Stonehorns. You move and charge forward with SH, but the tusks are made for a cat vs mouse play. You move slowly, and blast with shooting, keeping ready mournfangs and yethees for charges on weakened targets. Basically the opposite of what has been done here.

But hey, Nagash likes victories, and I've got no pity for a potentially overpowered army as Beastclaw Riders! :vampire3:

 

[Unas the slayer]

Battle: 1000 pts

Death "flee before me" vs Warrior of Chaos​

Scenario: blood and Glory (four objectives at the 4 corners, you win by taking them all or counting them at the end of the 5th turn)



My army: "Flee Before me!"
I wanted to try its very basic version at 1000 pts, and see if it can work

Vampire Lord - general (ruler of the night)
Ghoul King on terrorgheist (cursed book)
2 x Banshee
1 x Screaming Skull Catapult
1 x 10 skeleton warriors
1 x 10 zombies


Warrior of Chaos, aka Slaves to Darkness:

Chaos sorcerer lord (general)
1 x Chaos Chariot
5 x Chaos Knights
5 x Chaos knights
10 x Chaos warriors (proxied by some orcs models)
10 x Chaos warriors


Set-up


I am slow, and I want to see how my opponent places his units, so I deploy firstly my battlelines.
In the end, we've got:
the unit of zombies upon my right objective, acting mostly as bait, facing 10 warriors and 5 Knights (those units are not visible in the picture, except for the 10 warriors)
My whole army (the terrorgheist, the vampire lord, 2 banshees, the catapult and 10 skellies) is on the left, facing the sorcerer, the chariot, 5 warriors and 5 knights

FIRST ROUND

My opponent lets me go first.

The zombies await for their doom, i move my whole package of heroes toward the small building into no man's land. The Vampire got a mystic shield but terrorgheist fails to cast its own save 5+. SSC fails to hit the chariot

Chaos turn.
My opponent is crazily confident in his units. with minimal magic support, the chariot charges the terrorgheist, the knights would like to do the same to my Vampire but needed a 11 and fail.
IN the combat phase, the chariot will be simply chomped away.

SECOND ROUND

I win the roll

my heroes converge upon the knights. SSC hits them (no wound, but who cares?).
After the screaming of the terrorgheist and the banshees, 2 knights are killed, and I charge the survivors...

Chaos turn.

The warriors go desperately in combat with the terrorgheist. Previously I failed to give mystic shield to it, but this turn it got its own save, plus 2 ward saves at 5+ and imposes -1 to hit.




THIRD ROUND

Chaos wins the roll.

the knights finally charge the zombies on the left, slaughtering them and taking that objective, the 10 warriors run toward my left, but without any real hope to change the tide.


In my turn, my general charges the sorcerer. (see picture).
At the end of the combat phase, My army is at full force (just losed 10 zombies), the chaos got only 10 warriors and the knights, and concedes.

Analysis of the match:

My army was superior to the chaos one (despite the fact that chaos knights are really tough!), but my opponent didn't play my main weakness.
with just 1000 points, I lose my 3 fast supports: the wolves, the knights and the hexwraiths: I am pathetically slow, and my shooting is limited in range (unless you're really lucky, SSC is there just for the malus to bravery), so he should have used his superior mobility to keep me at a distance and taking objectives, dealing with my other units and threatening the catapult.
Instead, he used his forces in single attacks, without coordination, going directly against a combo that was clearly superior: with this setting, the terrorgheist gives malus to to hit and can have a double ward save at 5+, and heals itself (it's basically a more costly version of a mourngul).

Played in this way, Chaos simply stood no chance.

 

[Unas the slayer]

Time for another one...


Battle: 2000 pts

Death vs Dwarfs​

Premise: I wanted to play again once with my "scream for me" list. My friend proposed a 2000 pts list, and he wanted to give some magical support to his army, with an ally wizard.... Teclis, nonetheless!
(truly strong, for 200 pts, you have a wizard of third level, can cast and unbind 3 times each turn, with a +2 to cast / unbind, when he beats by 3 (by 1, given that he got a +2) the difficulty of the spell, he doubles the range of said spell!). His own spell delivers 1 mortal wound to the units, halving all the kind of movements for said units 'til Teclis' next turn). I've tried Teclis in a mixed elven / Empire army, and it absolutely rocks.

To me it was fine, I wanted to test a special character too, so i thought it would have been nice to field two great armys with famous leaders.




Scenario: border war (one objective in each territory, 2 in the middle ground)



My army: "Flee Before me!"

Vlad Von Carstein - general
Vampire Lord
Ghoul King on terrorgheist (cursed book)
3 x Banshee
1 x Screaming Skull Catapult
2 x 10 skeleton warriors
1 x 5 Black knights (my opponent lets me used them as battleline, instead of skeleton horsemen)
1 x 5 Hexwraiths
1 x 5 dire wolves
6 x Spirit hosts
reserve pool: 80 pts

(note: it is basically my standard 1500 screaming lists, adding 480 pts by Vlad and Spirit hosts. Vlad's command ability is perfect with spirit hosts and still a strong boost for ghoul king)



Dwarfs:

Warden King (general)
Teclis
Grimm Burloksson
1 x Runelord
1 x Magmadroth (proxied using a carnosaur)
10 x longbeards
10 x warriors
10 x warriors
30 x Thunderers (shoot at 22" tnx to Grimm)
10 x Irondrakes
2 x cannons
1 x gyrobomber


As expected, it's a strong shooting list. Coupled wth Teclis, it can shred to pieces anything that approaches his line.




Set-up

me:
left wing: 10 skellies, 3 banshees, vampire lord, SSC and hexwraiths
centre: the terrorgheist
right wing: Vlad, spirit hosts, black knights, 10 skellies, 5 dire wolves

dwarfs:
on my left: 10 warriors, gyrobomber, 2 cannons w Grimm, Runelord
center: 30 thunderers, warden king, longbeards
my right: magmadroth, irondrakes, 10 warriors

I know I could hardly win a frontal assault, as I need a double turn to approach his line, and given that i finished early to deploy, I gave dwarfs the turn.
My plan (that i developed during the set-up), is to form two stron wings, capturing the side objectives and win by points, even if he shred me to pieces.
I fear that he could advance the warriors by march, thus forcing me to battle for the conquer of the objectives, but i an confident that he will be cautious with his 2 battlelines that are supposed fo shield his strong centre.
the gyrobomber could be annoying, but i fear the magmadroth, the only thing with fast move and that can hit hard, threatening any unit I will place upon objectives.
I want to play on objective ponts, after all.

 

[Unas the slayer]

FIRST ROUND.

I'm out of range, so the dwarfs can do little; even Teclis can just slow my skeleton warriors., He decided to don't move the warriors (the ones on my right enter the house). The bomber advance and the magmadroth moves a little.

my turn: I want to play aggressively, to obtain immediately the objective points. I move forward with all, except the SSC, and I hope to win the roll for the next turn.

victory points: 5-1 for Death.

SECOND ROUND.

How it is said? Fortune favours the bold... and I win the roll

My turn
SSC shoot the magmadroth (doesn't hit, but who cares?)
I consolidate my hold on the side objective and advance with banshees and Spirit Hosts.
the Hexwraiths charge the bomber and the Terrorgheist (buffed by mystic shield and unholy vitality) charge the magmadroth (previously weakened by terror's screaming for 5 mortal wounds). I place the terrorgheist in range of the warrior within the house and in a way that longbeards will be sucked into combat by pile-in, but with just one model that can attack.
Terrorgheist kills the magmadroth (which was my objective in this suicidal assault), but the claws of the terrorgheist manage to kill only 2 warriors. Oh, well.

The bomber stays alive with one wound.

Dwarfs turn:
i manage to dispel Teclis signature spell, then, as expected, all the firing power of dwarfs concentrates on the terrorgheist, and they kill it. They still have one cannon, that kills a couple of Black Knights
on my left, warriors charge the hexwraiths, kiling one. The bomber succeeds in doing 3 saves at 6 and stays alive!

nice dwarven turn, but victory points are 10-2 for Death! my plan is working.

THIRD ROUND:


I win again.
I summon a couple of bat swarms on the flank of the group "cannons + thunderers", and buff with mystic shield the spirit hosts (which are also the target of my command ability!)
the combined shooting of SSC and banshees kills the warriors.
Hexwraiths kill the bomber, and the Spirits charge the longbeards and the warriors, placing themselves to force teclis to pile in.
Longbeards are blasted away, and just three warriors remain after battleshock. despite the pile in of the warden king, just one wound is delivered to my hosts.

Dwarfs turn:
cannons and thinderers move away from the bats, and shoot with all they have on the hosts, but only 3 of them are killed (save at 3 with no rend is huge); in the combat phase Teclis is killed.

victory points: 15-3 for Death.

My opponent wins the roll for the 4th turn, and he's almost sure to wipe away the spirit hosts, but realizes that the battle has been lost by victory points, and concedes.

Vlad von Carstein's masterful plan, worked perfectly!
:vampire3:

 

[Unas the slayer]

Battle: 1000 pts (more or less....)

Death: Soulblight Allegiance!​

at the game shop we were 4 players, so we decided to play one of the scenarios "triumph and treachery"
the chosen one was "fog of war", it's 2 vs 2, but the allegiance between the armies will be decided randomly after the set-up, which can be dangerous.

VIctory points are taken by having models near the central objective, or by killing enemy's heroes, or by inflicting the greatest number of wounds each round.


We have the following armies:
Death - soulblight Allegiance (mine)
Beastclaw riders
Greenskinz
Tomb Kings (a part of my army, that I gave to this guy that is trying different armies to see which one to collect)


Logically, it should be Death vs Destruction, but who knows? the fog of war may offer some surprise, and we could have Death rulers that fight between themselves, using living, expendables mercs...




My army: "Count Varg's pride"

Vampire Lord on zombie dragon - general (ruler of the night, cursed book)
5 x Blood Knights
5 x Blood Knights
2 x Bat swarms

(I wanted to try that, proxying my black knights as blood knights, because I'm intrigued by those heavy battlelines. The bats take me over 1000 pts, but the other players were fine with that))


Bestclaw riders:

Huskard on Stonehorn (don't recall the stuff)
2 x Mournfangs
2 x Mournfangs
2 x Mournfangs


Greenskinz / Bonesplitterz (not sure of the list)

Orruk warboss on Boar (general)
Orruk Shaman
10 x Boarboyz
10 x arrowboyz
10 x savage orruks
10 x Orruks
1 x Mangler squigs


Tomb Kings (list made by me)

Tomb Kings on Royal Warsphinx (master of black arts, sepulchral blade)
Khemrian Warsphinx
Liche priest
10 x sk. warriors
20 x sk. warriors

(the idea behind this list is that the 2 sphinxes should be nearly immortal, being able to be cured, mysticshielded and so on; the command ability of the TK works upon the khemrian warsphinx, and even those 20 warriors could be dangerous... if properly buffed, they will deliver 41 attacks at 3+/3+, generating additional attacks with righteous smiting for each 5+ to hit)


Set-up

I'm the first, and deploy at a corner.
Tomb Kings places themselves at the corner near me
orcs are set at my opposite corner
Beastclaw are aggressive, and pick one of the middle squares. They will be already in control of the central objective, and have many possibilities: if they will be allied with me, we will have a truly strong set-up, and if they are against me... it's a matter of who will go first.

And now, it's time to determine randomly the allegiances... what are your guess?

(BatRep will follow)

 

[Unas the slayer]

the rolls for the allegiances:

Soulblight & Orcs
vs
Tomb Kings & Beastclaw riders!


Ouch, I'm caught between two really strong armies, and my ally is probably the weakest of all the bunch.
the roll for the turn could decide the outcome of the battle... and I WIN!


FIRST ROUND.

I cannot afford a charge by beastclaw, and I've got the advantage that TK are slow.... i must deal with BR immediately.

Shield on the general, command ability on a unit of blood knights, and charge!
Blood K impact on a unit of mournfangs, the same I attack with the general, placing it in a way to draw into combat the stonehorn (to avoid its charge)

with an incredible move phase, also the Mangler of my ally charges one unit of mournfangs!

The BK are absolute beasts, and the 2 mournfangs explode in a mess of blood.
The fight between the vampire and the Huskard ends with me taking 3 wounds, and the huskard 7!
the mangler manages to kill one 'fang, taking some wounds in exchange

in the round of our opponents, the TK run toward us, but as predicted, cannot join the fight.

the beastclaw do what they can.
the survived fang kills the mangler, the last unit of 2 fangs charges my knights, Killing one and 2 wounds on another one, and another wound to my general.
my Lord and two knights take the stonehorn to one single wound.

Points scored so far: 3 for beastclaw riders (objective) and 2 for me (inflicted wounds)


SECOND ROUND.


My enemies hope to win this one, but it's me again!

with a bolt i kill the huskard, then i fly to charge the lonemournfang, but my breath take it down before charge.
I raise one knight and kill the fangs.
The whole army of beastclaw has been wiped away in two turns!!!

My foolish ally goes WAAAAGH and the savage orruks (instead of acting as screen), charge the sphinxes... being obliterated.
The orruks cannot kill 10 skellies.

in TK turn, the sphinxes charge the arrowboys and the warboss that were near the objective.
The arrowboys are wiped away, but the warboss survives and inflicts a couple of wounds to the khemrian warsphinx

Points in this round: 5 for Tomb Kings (wounds and objective) and 3 for me (hero killed)

total points: 8 vs 5 for the enemy Allegiance, but it's just an illusion...

THIRD ROUND.

TK win the roll.
The sphinxes are stuck in combat with the warboss and they kill it. Shield on the royal warsphinx, heal to the khemrian one.
10 skellies finally die against the orruks and the 20 skellies run to give some support.


Our turn:
one unit of BK charges the 20 skellies.
the other unit of BK and the Vampire lord attack the khemrian warsphinx. (the lord in range also for the liche priest)
Bats eat some mosquito just to do something.
Boarboyz finally come to see what's happening.

at the end of the combat phase, the skellies, the priest and the khemrian warsphinx are no more.

I score 8 points vs 3, and only the royal warsphinx is still "alive".

a crushing victory... and man, those blood knights as battleline are devastating! :vampire3:

 

[Unas the slayer]

Battle: 1000 pts (more or less....)

Death: Soulblight Allegiance​

a fried of mine (the one who plays dwarfs) ordered the start collecting Fyreslayers but he cannot wait, so he asked me to play a battle with his HEAVILY PROXIED army.


We rolled the scenario "Gifts from heavens"


My army: "Count Varg's pride" (1040 pts)

Vampire Lord on zombie dragon - general (ruler of the night, cursed book)
5 x Blood Knights
5 x Blood Knights
2 x Bat swarms


Fyreslayers (1020 pts)
auric runefather (or something similar) on Magmadroth
15 x vulkite berserker
15 x vulkite berserker
1 x Battlesmith
1 x "hero that i don't recall the name but can set underground a unit with him"
15 x auric hearthguard (with shooting, when they hit a monster, halve its move and impose a -1 to hit)


M opponent is pretty confident in his list: due to synergies (i know only a couple, the rest i didn't check) his units will have rerollable saves, re-rolling also nat. 1s, and then will have a ward save 5+ (for units with 10+ models)
I don't know, looking at the lists i believe it will be a cakewalk for me.





Set-up
Hearthguard with the hero are set underground.
The rest ofthe armies are placed in a very simple way: two central blocks looking at each other.

i give the first turn to fyreslayers

FIRST ROUND.

Basically, nothing happens.
mad dwarfs move toward me, i stand my ground.


SECOND ROUND

F. win the roll and go first. The comet lands at the center of their battlefield, and they move again toward me

My turn: the comet lands nearmy my general (picture at the beginnning of my hero phase)

My choice is easy: i buff a unit of blood knigts and charge the magmadroth and a unit of vulkite, alongside with my vamp. lord.
bats and 2nd BK unit secure my comet.

The magmadroth is incredibly lucky, a land just few wounds... but at the end of my combat phase, the left unit of berserkers is no more.
One dead knight




THIRD ROUND

I win the roll. lol.

I raise the dead knight and the whole unit pile-in the magmadroth.
My vamp. lord flies in the back, ready to charge and to deal with the battlesmith that is sitting on the comet

After che charge and during the combat phase, with just the attacks of the knights, we have this situation:

My opponent concedes.

As said, a cakewalk...

 

[Unas the slayer]

Battle: a little more than 1500 pts

Death: Arkhan the Black​

this will be a BatRep with some teaching!


we were three player, with armies a little more than 1500 pts each, so we decided to play a match with no objective, just open battle to conquer the territory.

I wanted to try a list with Arkhan the Black... given his past with Tomb Kings, i like to imagine that he likes to command his old armies, so I thougth at this list:

Arkhan on Mortarch
liche priest
necromancer
wight king
1 x Kh. warsphinx
1 x kh. warsphinx
10 x skellies
30 x skellies

The other lists:

Chaos - slaves to darkness (almost all were proxied models...

)

a priest that I don't recall
10 x chaos warriors
20 x chaos warriors
5 x knights
5 x knights
1 x chariot
2 x skull cannons


Orcs

orc warboss on boar
BSB
orc shaman
1 x catapult (doom diver)
10 x boarboyz
10 x savage orcs
10 x orruks
10 x orruks
3 x trolls
1 x mangler squid


set up:

FIRST ROUND:

My powerful barrage of increased ranged magic acts poorly (and it will be the same in all the match. this list works wee to buff, but for damage is almost ineffectual)
shooting by enemies warmachines is even poorer than my magic
the chariot of chaos charges my skellies, but they resist and my sphinx is drawn into combat.
The orc player says something as "30 skellies buffed by 2 casters and the king? I think I'll go toward chaos". And boarboyz+warboss+mangler run like hell in that direction.

SECOND ROUND:

another round with poor shooting from warmachines.
I deal with the chariot and kill it
Boarboyz charge the chaos warriors and Mangler charges the skull cannons.
I foresee bad news for chaos...

THIRD ROUND:


the massacre of chaos continues, and I happlily join it with a small amount of my forces...

...while the rest of my army starts moving toward the orc army on the right.

FOURTH ROUND:
the massacre approaches its end:
All Chaos army is killed.
the catapult of the goblins kills my wight King and is finally killed by Arkhan's magic
My warsphinx charges and kills the Mangler.
The remaining orcs keep a wide security distance from my right strong wing.

Now, the funny part.

I was pondering that the victory was clearly mine: with just one turn to play, Chaos has been wiped away, Orcs losed the mangler and the warmachine, I losed only the wight king.
I clearly control the battlefield, with more points.
At that point, the orc player said "no, wait, the winner it's me. I've killed more than 1000 points, you killed just 600. I charged caos for this reason, to conquer more Killing points than you".


this is the teaching: even when you play for fun, always define the victory conditions before playing.

we planned our tactics with different objectives in mind, because we didn't talk.

We had a laugh, and we decided that the game was a tie... unless something exceptional was going to happen in the last round.


FIFTH ROUND:

My lone warsphinx (buffed by my distant casters) charges the boarboyz. and then is swarmed by said boyz and by the (finally arrived) orruks.

and the end of the turn, I manage to kill 5 boarboyz, receiving 4 wounds. without any unit killing, we decided to confirm the tie.

 

[Unas the slayer]

this will be my last BatRep before the incoming GHBII

Arkhan's Army vs Dwarfs​

My friend with dwarfs wanted to try his new list at 1000 pts.
I tried the list with Arkhan the Black... how much should i trim it to have 1000 pts? how well could it work?
Let's see:
Arkhan on Mortarch
liche priest
necromancer
1 x Kh. warsphinx
10 x skellies
10 x skellies
It's a dangerous list. I've got basically no troops, as those skellies will not survive any serious combat.
Sure, the sphinx is hard to take down and can be super-buffed, but that's it.
The good thing is that at 1000 pts, I'm going to dominate the magic phase against almost everything...
Dwarfs
Grimm Burloksson
10 x dw. warriors
10 x dw. warriors
20 x thunderers (that shoot at 22", tnx to Grimm)
20 x Irondrakes

Ouch, that list shoots HARD.
The good thing is: few mobility and no Runelord (a hero that IMO is mandatory in any dwarfs army).

BatRep will follow shortly

 

[Unas the slayer]

SCENARIO:
border war (1 objective in each battlefield and 2 at the borders)

SET-UP

I've got a plan. I start placing my skellies at the center and at my right, supported by the Liche Priest.
My opponent takes the bait and castles up at the center and in front of my right, so i can place the sphinx and the necromancer at the left, where I want to push.

FIRST ROUND:

Dwarfs go first, and they move toward their left objective, without reachin it.

I place one warriors unit in cover to control my objective, then move all the casters and the sphinx on my left and run with the other warriors (now left alone) on my right, taking temporarily also that objective

Points: 5-1 for TK!

SECOND ROUND:

I win the turn.

I snipe some dwarfs warriors with magic (killing 3)
I could leave my right warriors on the objective, gaining 10 points, but I want to use them as threat and keep some dwarfs at a distance from my left wing, so I backpedal with those skellies, putting them out of thunderers' shooting.
I cautiously advance with the sphinx.


Dwarfs: the thunderers come out, the wounded unit of warriors takes objective on my right, the 2nd unit of warriors and the irondrakes form a line toward my left.

Points: 8-4 for TK

THIRD ROUND

My right skellies fail to run to take the right objective, but will serve as distraction for the thunderers, because they cannot afford to have 7 dwarfs vs 10 ressable skeleton onthat objective.
My buffed shpinx (shield and Vanhel) is at 7" to charge, but I roll a 5.

Dwarfs' shooting kills the right skeletons, but the concentrated fire of the 20 irondrakes inflict just 1 wounds on the sphinx.

Points: 11-7 for TK


FOURTH ROUND:

Another volley of fire from the dwarfs deals 3 wounds to the sphinx.

I heal the statue for those 3 wounds and, buffed by shield and Vanhel, attack.
The 10 warriors are wiped away, the irondrakes must pile in, and they suffer the second round of attacks.

Huge round for TK, and points: 14-10 for TK

FIFTH ROUND

The combined efforts of the dwarfs take the sphinx down to 5 wounds.

Then Arkhan conquer the dwarfs' main objective.

Final points: 21-13 for TK

Here we are, this was the last battle of TK before the nerf with the "updated" compendium, and at least it has been a crushing victory.

WE RULE!

 

[Unas the slayer]

A Tomb Kings Tournament​

our game shop hosted a mini-tournament, 1500 pts, so I've said: "hell, why not?" Let's bring my old, unsupported TK, and let's see what happens.
it's 1500 pts, 2 battlelines as iuf we were playing 1000.
3 matches to play

My list:

TK on exalted chariot (aka Settra) 460 - as artefact I've picked the book to make him a wizard
TK afoot 100
Liche Priest on horse 120
3 chariots 140
10 x sk legionnaires 80
6 Necroknights 480
horse archers 120


The enemies that will dare to contest my righteous leadership:
Khorne
Fyreslayers
Tzeentch
Ironjawz
Stormcast



we have short time for each game, so I'll try to summarize the games, but the pictures are.... limited. Forgive me, I hope it will be clear enough.

 

[Unas the slayer]

FIRST GAME​

Tomb Kings vs BLADES OF KHORNE

Khorne list:

Bloodthirster
Slaughterpriest
a herald (Bloodmaster?)
2 x 10 Bloodreavers
2 x 3 juggernauts (Bloodcrushers)
2 x skullcannons
1 x skullcannon

with the formation that let the skullcannons fire for free also in the hero phase


SET-UP

the scenario is the one with 6 objectives, 3 on each side. If you control an objective in the enemy's territory you can destroy it for 3 victory points.


left side of the battlefield:
Settra
chariots
liche priest
6 NK

opposed to them:
Bloodthirster
slaughterpriest
herald
all the cannons (placed behind a terrain)
3 Bloodchrushers


in the middle:
10 skellies
Tomb King

opposed to them:
10 Bloodreavers


Right side:
5 horse archers

opposed to them:
10 bloodreavers
3 Bloodchrushers


FIRST ROUND

I was fearing a deployment "en masse" of khorne formation, with them seizing the initiative, but my opponent delayed to see my placement... so I ended first and decided to take the first turn.
Even with Settra's ability is a long shot, but i don't want to let Khorne attack me.

Right side:

Settra and the TK buff the NK; I fail to mystic shield, but give Righteous smite to snakes.
I move forward, but I still need a 7 to charge, and I roll 8. Yeah!
tnx to the fact that the snakes are flying, i manage to bypass the terrain and impact against the 2 units of cannons and the bloodcrushers, losing only the attack of a single snake, that was forced to stay back to mantain cohesion of the unit.
The result is staggering: the 3 cannons are wiped away, and also a Bloodcrusher dies!
I take the objective and burn it, collecting 5 points

Left side:

the archers move and kill 3 bloodreavers. tnx to battleshock, only 5 remain.

Khorne turn:

ON the left, the Bloodchrushers fail to charge my archers (see picture above).

On the right, the bloodthirster, the slaughterpriest and the 2 bloodchrushers punish the snakes, killing 3 of them and taking one to 1 wound.

Khorne takes 2 points.



SECOND ROUND.

Khorne wins double turn:

the bloodcrushers fails to annihilate the snakes, leaving one alive
The Bloodthirster tries to charge Settra but doesn't make it, so it goes for my chariots, but one of them survives.

On the left, bloodcrshers charge the horse archers, but incredibly one of them survives with 1 wound. Bloodcrushers take my objective but don't destroy it.

Khorne scores 3 VPs (we're 5-5 now)


My turn:
the archer heals and flee
Chariot heals and flee
Snakes heal and take down a bloodcrusher
Settra charges the Bloodthirster and teaches it to don't mess with us.

VPs: 7-5 for TK

THIRD ROUND

I win the roll.

The chariots are back to full health and so also the horse archers. NK come back to 3.
ON the right, i finish to deal with the slaughterpriest and with the bloodcrushers, and the chariots overrun the herald. No one remains here.
On the left, the horse archers shoot the 5 remaining bloodreavers and charge them, Killing them and taking the objective.

10-5 VPs fo TK.

All my army is still active and Khorne is left with 10 bloodreavers and 3 bloodchrushers. Time ends here, with a Chrushing Victory for me!

 

[Unas the slayer]

SECOND GAME​

Tomb Kings vs IRONJAWZ

jawz list:

Megaboss on maw crusha
Megaboss afoot
Shaman
Warchanter
1 x 3 Gore Gruntas (the heavy cavalry)
1 x 10 HardBoyz
1 x 5 Brutes


SET-UP

the scenario is the one with 4 objectives, 2in the middle, plus one on each side. the central ones are Worth 2 points, the one in the opponent's field is worth 4.


My Whole army is basically at the center (toward right), with just the horse archers on the left and the chariots on the right.

My opponent got the Brutes w Megaboss at my left, the Mawcrusha + warchanter at the center, the shaman w hardboyz and gore gruntas at my right

FIRST ROUND

My opponent decides to go first and moves with all, seizing the central objectives and leaving the warchanter slightly in the back, near the objective.
On my right, he needed a 12" charge and fails it.
He takes 5 points but he placed his army in a very bad position.

I gladly take the opportunity that was given to me on a silver plate.
My archers keep a safe distance from the brutes and I apply my main tactic: buff with all the snakes and charge on my right. The NK impact on the gracious line formed by the hardboyz + gruntas.

The picture is taken at the very beginning of my attacks... at the end, only 2 hardboys remain alive. :cool:

3 points for me

SECOND TURN:

my opponent wins the roll; the brutes advance, the Mawcrusha (kept too much in the rear) fails its 9" charge the snakes. The last hardboyz die.

In my turn, rinse & repeat. The buffed snakes charge the Maw Crusha.
In the following picture you can enjoy the last moment of life of the enemy general (the shaman has already been killed).

THIRD TURN:

I win the roll. the snakes kill the warchanter and conquer the far objective.

I've got 13 pts and my whole army intact.
My opponent, with just the megaboss and 5 Brutes still alive and 8 victory pts, concedes.


Easy wipeout for my TK, in a large part tnx to a bad tactic mixed from overconfidence from my opponent.

 

[Unas the slayer]

THIRD GAME - the last of the tournament​

After 2 crushing victories, I am holding the first place, but it's a tie with the Tzeentch army (2 crushing victories also for it).
The last turn will be decisive; I go against Fyreslayers, while Tzeentch faces SCE.


Tomb Kings vs FYRESLAYERS


we were short on time, so i didn't took any picture and I don't recall the army.
It included something as:

Runesmither on Magmadroth
Runefather on Magmadroth
Battlesmith
2 x units of Vulkite Berzerkers
1 x 10 auric hearthguards

a formation that I dont remember

THe Hearthguards go down in a tunnel and they can appear everywhere on the battlefield at more than 9" from my units.


The scenario is the one with just 2 objecties on the opposit corners of the battlefield. You must control both of them to gain a crushing victory.


Long story short.

I keep in the rear the TK, the skellies and the hortse archers to defend my objective, and rush forward with the snakes , Settra, liche priest and chariots, then proceed to demolish the defensive line of the ugly dwarfs.

The hearthguards with a hero pop in my backline, but my skellies and my horsemen are able to screen my objective, while I take their.
Crushing victory for TK


On the other table, Tzeentch fears SCE and play it safe, doing its defensive bubble and moving slowly (no tzaangor on disks), depleting with mortal wounds the SCE list, losing some wizards tnx to the long distance shooting.
After the third turn, Tzeentch army start to move, but it's too late.
At the end of the 5th turn, Tzeentch got still around 2/3 of the army, and SCE remain with ONLY 3 liberators, but they hold their objective.

Minor victory for Tzeentch.

Tomb Kings WIN THE TOURNAMENT :D

​

 

[Unas the slayer]

Final considerations.


With the GHB 2017, TK have been beaten with the nerf hammer pretty hard, but even against newly buffed armies, TK can still be competitive and win. Very satisfying! :cool:

Sadly, IMO TK's options and playstyles are now fairly reduced: the most effective army includes Settra (yeah, yeah, TK on exalted chariots), possibly with wizard powers, and a strong unit of Necroknights.
The increased cost of TK on warkitty and its reduced abilities, makes our old favorite general no more an available choice.
The rest of the army may vary, but the main core is probably that one, which makes TK almost a one trick pony, with some variants... at least it's a fast pony, which is not a small thing.

This victory was also due to the fact that my opponents weren't used to this approach, but a wise adversary with disposable screen units, or long ranged shooters, can (more or less easily) counter TK's new main tactic, which is bad.
The good (?) thing is that TK lists will see the battlefields more and more rarely, so it will be easier to caught by surprise newly opponents, not used to face TK.


Opinions?

 

[Alabaster427]

Final considerations.


With the GHB 2017, TK have been beaten with the nerf hammer pretty hard, but even against newly buffed armies, TK can still be competitive and win. Very satisfying! :cool:

Sadly, IMO TK's options and playstyles are now fairly reduced: the most effective army includes Settra (yeah, yeah, TK on exalted chariots), possibly with wizard powers, and a strong unit of Necroknights.
The increased cost of TK on warkitty and its reduced abilities, makes our old favorite general no more an available choice.
The rest of the army may vary, but the main core is probably that one, which makes TK almost a one trick pony, with some variants... at least it's a fast pony, which is not a small thing.

This victory was also due to the fact that my opponents weren't used to this approach, but a wise adversary with disposable screen units, or long ranged shooters, can (more or less easily) counter TK's new main tactic, which is bad.
The good (?) thing is that TK lists will see the battlefields more and more rarely, so it will be easier to caught by surprise newly opponents, not used to face TK.


Opinions?

I agree about the one-trick pony. Even worse, I think TK might be exclusively viable at 1500 points with only 2 battleline. Any other scenario and it's a steep uphill battle.

 

[Unas the slayer]

With the incoming battletome "Legions of Nagash", Tomb Kings will be put even more aside in AoS.

Waiting for that and given that I cannot wait to try new tactics with Death / vampire counts, knowing that in the future months I won't touch "real" Tomb Kings, I did a couple of games with TK led by Khalida, now named "Tomb Queen".

Khalida's army vs Fyreslayers_game 1​

1000 pts, so very little room to play


Tomb Kings:

Tomb Queen (master of black arts, ring of immortality)
liche priest on horse
necrotect
1 x Warsphinx
10 x skellies
30 x skellies archers

those 30 archers, tnx to the buff granted by Khalida, will shoot 60 arrows at 4+/4+
Cast Righteous Smite on them and you'll have additional attacks for each 5+ to hit.
Basically, on average you are going to hit with 30 arrows, generating 20 additional attacks for another 10 successful hits. 40 hits, 20 successful "to wound". A round of fire by those archers will force 20 saves. (plus the shooting by the staff of the Queen)


Fyreslayers:

Runefather on magmadroth
Runesmither on magmadroth
Battlesmith
3 x 10 Vulkite Berserker
(with a formation with a name that I don't recall)


We used the cards for objectives and contingencies... we took the battle where you count the number of wounds of killed models, heroes and monsters killed are counted twice.
Not so good, I'm plenty of frail skeletons that die easily.
we must divide our armies in 3 contingents, deploying one of them each turn


set up:

I'm fielding Khalida, the LP and 30 archers.
In front of me the general on magmadroth and 2 units of berserkers

FIRST ROUND:

I go first, RIghteous smite on the archers and proceed to rain death on the 2 units of vulkite. Khalida shooting fails.
Those sturdy naked dwarfs are hard to kill, despite the 60 shots with additional Attacks on 5+, I manage to reduce one unit to 3 but the ones with double axes still stand with 5 berserkers.

Their general uses the rune of speed, giving the survivors +4 to move, and also tnx to the fact that they can roll 3 dice, picking the highest ones for the charge (command ability?), 5 vulkite and the magmadroth clash into my poor archers, killing 15 after the battleshock.

SECOND ROUND:

Luckily I win the roll.
I deploy my sphinx with the necrotect, but fail the charge. I manage to kill the remaining vulkite that were in melee, and inflict EIGHT wounds to the magmadroth, tnx to a lucky roll of khalida, that wasn't saved and I rolled 6 dam.

Fyreslayers' turn: the second magmadroth arrives, along with 10 vulkite...

the vulkites charge the sphinx, inflicting 5 damages (hint: my sphinx won't make a single save during the battle).
In cc, Khalida scores another successful hit on the Fyreslayers' general, killing it!!!

THIRD ROUND:


I win again, so it's my turn!
the 10 warriors arrive.
My plan is to wipe away the berserkers in melee with the sphinx and charge with it. Which was a big mistake, the correct move would have been to retreat the sphinx, that (being a monster) would cost me 24 victory points if killed... which would be almost sure, if I use it again in combat. I even fail to cast mystic shield on it.
With the shooting i kill many vulkite, but 3 are still alive, and so i spend the melee of the (wounded) sphinx to erase them from the battlefield.

Fyreslayers turn: the battlesmith arrives, the magmadroth charges the shpinx, that stands with just one wound.

FOURTH ROUND:


Fyreslayers win the turn.
THe breath of the magmadroth inflicts heavy damage on skellies, but the shooting of the hero fails to finish the sphinx! (phew..)
He must spend the combat phase to kill the sphinx.
Actually the Fyreslayers are winning, as we are at a tie monsters-vs-monsters killed, but they have already killed a little more than 30 skellies

I fire all I have against the magmadroth (arcane bolt, shooting with khalida and archers with Righteous smite), but it's not enough...



FIFTH ROUND:

If Fyreslayers win it's over, as the magmadroth would charge the archers.
For the turn, Fyreslayers roll a 5... I roll a 6!

I shoot with all I have, again, and the beast finally falls!


VICTORY FOR KHALIDA!!!


Some brief considerations:
leaving aside my mistakes with the sphinx, that could have costed me the victory, I'm perplexed.
I was hoping to test the list with khalida + warkitty, but due to the rule of the cards, the deployment was weird... to field the sphinx in the second turn, at the end of the movement (so without the possibility to move it with the huge bonus granted by the necrotect), is kinda crippling.
So, I'm still without an answer about how well this list can perform in a standard scenario


At least, I know TK can still win even at 1000 pts, a tier of play where it's not possible to field Settra.

 

[Alabaster427]

Their general uses the rune of speed, giving the survivors +4 to move, and also tnx to the fact that they can roll 3 dice, picking the highest ones for the charge (command ability?), 5 vulkite and the magmadroth clash into my poor archers, killing 15 after the battleshock.

The Fyreslayers have 5-6 runes that each do something different. One is extra move, one is extra shots, one is extra rend, etc. You can only use one per turn, but each time you use one, you roll a D6. On a 1-5, you get the normal bonus; on a 6, you get an extra bonus that is related to the normal one, which is what gave the extra D6 on the charge. On top of that, the berzerkers get to reroll one charge dice if they have a musician.

But congrats on the W. I think TK is usable up to 1500 points. Since the Death traits are in GHB 2017, you'll still get those bonuses even after Legions of Nagash.

 

[Unas the slayer]

The Fyreslayers have 5-6 runes that each do something different. One is extra move, one is extra shots, one is extra rend, etc. You can only use one per turn, but each time you use one, you roll a D6. On a 1-5, you get the normal bonus; on a 6, you get an extra bonus that is related to the normal one,

Yep, I know thay work that way, it's just that I don't know / remember what they effectively do. ;)
I'm not into Fyreslayers (aka the Ugly Dwarfs)


anyway...


I played against Fyreslayers twice in a row, and we both adjusted our lists, to test different combinations

Khalida's army vs Fyreslayers_Game 2​

1000 pts again


Tomb Kings:

Tomb Queen (master of black arts, ring of immortality)
liche priest on horse
necrotect
3 x Necropolis Knights
5 x skeleton horsemen
30 x skellies archers


Fyreslayers:

Runefather on magmadroth
Battlesmith
2 x 10 Vulkite Berserker
1 x 20 Vulkite Berserker (10 of them are proxi)
5 x Hearthguard Berzerkers
(again, with a formation)


We used (again) the cards for objectives and contingencies...
the battlefield is divided by the diagonal (good for me), and we must place 2 objective each. You collect 1 VP for each objective you control at the end of each turn, you mantain control of an objective if you move in the following turn.
The rules for this scenario give +2 to move and +1 to run and charges (bad for me)


set up:

My opponent (that wants to decide who goes first) fields all his formation. He distributes his forces to threaten a big portion of the battlefield.... but in this way his right wing is far away from the objectives in my part of the battlefield.
I concentrate my units to threaten his left flank. My archers are at 24" from his vulkite and, with +2 to move, if I have the first turn I could immediately shoot.

FIRST ROUND:

My psycological trick works, and my opponent decides to go first (imo a bad move).
with the rune of movement and the running, he moves his forces forward for, like, 16" (!).
The objectives are marked by the d20 dices

My turn.
I know perfectly what to do.
Necrotect buffs the Snakes. I move my archers to pick an objective and let a passage for the NK, and move the snakes to meet the first line of Vulkites. The priest (having failed to cast righteous smite), moves to secure an objective.
My horsemen runs on the right.
Archers shoot, eliminating the 5 Hearthguards in the rear and Killing one vulkite. The Snakes charge the Vulkite (3 snakes without buffs are not so great... 4 vulkites are still alive)

SECOND ROUND:

Fyreslayers win the turn.
he moves forward. the shooting and the remaining vulkites kill one snake (who cares?) and wound another one. I kill the remaining Vulkite that were in melee with the snakes.

My turn.
Easy call.
the priest casts Righteous Smite on the archers, Khalida fails the mystic Shield, the necrotect buffs the NK.
I move the snakes toward the block of 20 Berserkers, while the horsemen run in a zone free from enemies.
The shooting of the archers kill "only" 9 Vulkites (save 5+ rerollable, ward save 4+), Khalida only one of them.
Then i charge with the NK.

I kill some other Vulkite and the rest flee for battleshock, leaving me free room.


THIRD ROUND:

lol... I win the roll, so its double turn for me.
My blitzkrieg was so good that my archers are left behind!
I fail (again) to shield the NK, but the LP casts Righeous Smite on them.
THe hormemen run and enter the ruined building, claiming one of the enemy's objectives
The snakes charge the last unit of Vulkites.

I kill 8 Berserkers (the other ones flee).
The pile-in of the Magmadroth kills 2 snakes.

In the Fyreslayers' turn the magmadroth kills the last snake, but with just 2 turns to play, my opponent has only 2 models and controls just one objective. Knowing he got no hopes, he surrenders.


VICTORY FOR KHALIDA!




Some brief considerations:
Despite the crushing victory, this Fyreslayers' list was imo stronger than the first one... more bodies and good melee power, and also a solid potential of throwing axes (especially tnx to the rune that let them shoot at 16"). The unit of 20 vulkite is really strong... he needs 3 units for the formation, but I don't know, i would rather field a unit of 30 berserkers
the mistakes of my opponent don't let me judge the effective strenght of my list, but all i all I see that at 1000 pts, Khalida with 30 archers and Righteous Smite are a pain in the ass.... as long as you have something durable for melee. 3 snakes with no buffs on to hit and to wound (just with the reroll of 1s granted by the necrotect) are still good, but nothing more. You certainly use them under their potential.

 

[Unas the slayer]

ime to really test LoN, with real battles.

We started a Firestorm Campaign.
Basically, you have a deck with certain number of cards, each one with different power-ups.
Each game you draw a certain number of cards that define the points of the army and the number of rerolls you have during the game.
When you conquer territories you gain VPs and Construction points that let you acquire more powerful cards.
The more you proceed, the more powerful your deck becomes... obviously if you lose you end facing more powerful armies... but at that point, you have different advantages to balance a little the gap.
Plus, each player got Secret Objectives that gives additional VPs (when a secret ob. is achieved, you randomly pick another one)


In this campaign, I'm going to use Grand Host of Nagash

IN the first two games, i didn't took pictures, so the batrep will be short.
In the future, I'l try to do a more complete work.

Host of Nagash vs Sylvaneth_game 1​

I was stuck with 960 pts against 1040.
The game was never in doubt, my opponent's list was something as:
Treelord ancient
1x 6 Kurnoth
2x10 dryads
branchwych

Double Death scenario

My opponent placed a wyldwood on an objective, then he went first, creating a wyldwood on the other one, then he teleported the kurnoth and the dryads, then running with the heroes.
Between ridiculous saves with rerolls of Sylvaneth and my bad luck (10 knights charging into the woods, rolling four "1", and a Vampire Lord able to kill just one dryad in 3 combat rounds), I was simply unable to take the objectives from the wooden hands of my enemy.

Host of Nagash vs Ironjawz_game 2​

I have 1280 pts; Ironjawz have 1520 pts. A 240 pts difference is no joke, and it's too "small" to give me bonuses.

Host of Nagash:
Vampire Lord (terrorgheist cloak)
Vampire lord
Necromancer
1 Terrorgheist
10 Black Knights
40 sk. warriors
5 dire wolves

Ironjawz
Gordrakk (!!!)
2 x 3 Gore gruntas
2 x 10 Ardboyz
2 Weirdnob shaman

Scenario: the fifth of the GHB2017 (the ones with the falling stars)


FIRST ROUND:

Ironjawz' setup is specular:
shaman, 10 arboys and 3 Gruntas on the left,
Goddrakk at the centre,
shaman, 10 arboys and 3 Gruntas on the left

I place 2 gravesites at the center and one on each side.
vampires on the sides and the necromancer at the center, this one with 40 skellies and the TG.
Knights and wolves in the graves


Ironjawz go first, move forward with the gruntas and buff Goddrakk.
The monsters move 6" in the hero phase, then move normally and then charges with 3d6 tnx to its command ability, and reaches the TG, which dies horribly, delivering just 1 wound to Goddrakk.

Horrible beginning...

My turn...
I cast arcane bolt and an increased Translocation to Goddrakk. 3d3 mortal wounds.... 3 damages.
It's melee time: I buff the skellies and summon the knights, but only the skellies can attack the Huge enemy general, but i manage to put all of my units in combat range (tnx, square bases).
each skeleton delivers 5 Attacks (6 the champion), for a grand total of 201 Attacks, that force 85 saves with no rend.
Even with save 2+ and further save at 6+, Goddrakk dies.


SECOND-THIRD ROUND:
Actually, our armies have (more or less) the same points, but there's no more history.

I win the roll, and the 3 gruntas are no match for 10 charging knights buffed by the VL (command ability + nagashizzar) and by Dance Macabre.

all the stars fall on the side of the battlefield where I have the knights and the VL general. I suffer a solid Foot of Gork that deals 8 mortal wounds to the knights, killig 4 of them, but then I raise 2 and wipe the side, while my 40 skellies hold without any problem the Jawz' reinforcements that are arriving from the opposite side of the battlefield.



I WIN the second game, and score 4 Victory Points (1 for the victory, and 3 for my secret objective, to win a battle against an army with more points). Pretty good.

 

[Unas the slayer]

Host of Nagash vs Rest of the World​

Sadly, I've never updated the Reps of this campaign.
In the End, with just one game to be played, my Host of Nagash won the campaign hands down, with more than the double of points than the second player (Tzeentch army).

All in all, it seems that to drown the enemy in a tide of buffed bonuses, is not only a viable tactic, but it's also a very effective one.
In the last games, i was used to field 2 units of 40 skeletons each, and a unit of 15 black knights, supported by a VL, a WK and a couple of necromancers, plus a naked Terrorgheist and possibly a bunck of dire wolves. Great field control.
I only losed (by one point) a game to Knorne (also due to some bad luck), but I won against beastclaw, SCE, Sylvaneth, Kharadron and Fyreslayers.

Deathrattle are all about sheer numbers, stacked buffs and raise dead.
Now I should try to play some heavy magic variant with Arkhan...

 

[Unas the slayer]

A long time has passed since my last BatRep.

Up til now, I've never had any chance to play my beloved Nighthaunts.
From a certain pov, i would like to field all the new models introduced with Soul War… on the other side, i've already seen too much lists filled with hordes of chainrasps and similar, so, while i want to try the battletome, i would like to play something different from the actual meta.

So i took the decision: A CAVALRY LIST.


a friend of mine (who's totally into 40k and a hardcore khorne player), is entering into AoS, obviously with his khorne army, and wanted to test a 1000 pts list.

Another guy that plays in our gaming group wanted to play a game, but with a larger army (2000 pts). Order.

obviously, we decided that we would have played an allegiance Daemons + Undead vs that abomination that is the Order.

Nighthaunt cavalry + Khorne vs Order​

1000+1000 pts Vs 2000pts


Nighthaunt (Ulgu):

Knight of Shroud (ruler of the spirit hosts, sword of judgement)
Deathriders battalion:
- 1 Dreadblade harrow (Midnight tome)
- Black coach
- 2 x 5 Hexwraith

endless spell: prismatic palisade


Blades of Khorne:

1 bloodthirster of knorne (general)
2 x 10 Bloodreavers (proxied by bloodletters w square base)
30 bloodletters (round base)
2 x 5 Flesh hounds


__________________________

Order:

(As far as i can remember)

Warden king (general)
Runesmither
Gunmaster
Lord ordinator
2 x 10 Longbeards
30 x Vulkite Berserker
20 irondrakes
1 organ gun
1 cannon
1 steam tank
5 x Hearthguard Berzerkers



Battleplan: Scorched earth (1 pt for each obj, you can "burn" one in the enemy's territory for d3 pts)



set up:

Khorne occupies the left and the central part.
I place the coach, the dreadblade and a unit of hexwraiths on the right (alongside a unit of hounds). The Knight of shrouds and the 2nd unit of hex stay in the underworld. I face 10 longbeards and the steam tank.




we end first the set-up, and we decide to leave the first turn to our opponent.


soon to come: THE BATTLE

 

[Unas the slayer]

here we go

FIRST ROUND:

ORDER

as expected, the Order line moves forward, but the 20 irondrakes are out of range.
The shooting from the steam tank deals no damage to me, while the cannons are able to inflict some casualties to my ally.
All in all, nothing impressive.
Order collects 3 VP.




NIGHTHAUNT + Khorne

Khorne places the hounds and a unit of bloodreavers upon our 3 objectives. Its main force advances to meet the order.

I decide to crush asap the opponent on my side, to threaten the flank.
I move forward the dreadblade and the hexwraiths, and I appear with the Knight of shrouds and the other hexwraiths at the upper corner, thus totally bypassing the longbeards' screen.
Then I use Spectral summon to move the black coach near my deepstriking force.

as you can see I've made a huge MISTAKE.
I appear from the underworld at the end of my move phase, while spectral summon can be used at the beginning of the move phase ( i thought it was at the end of the move phase too).
So, the move was illegal. Luckily, it will have no impact on the game, as you will see.




at that point, we do the charges.
my hexwraiths that were already on the battlefield make the charge on the longbeards.
the group w the knights of shroud, the other wraiths and the coach, failed all the charges, even with a +1 and even the one re-rolled with the use of a CP.
6 longbeards are killed.




we collect 3 VP

Score: 3-3


SECOND ROUND


ORDER wins the roll

on my side, the surviving longbeards regroup around the objective, while the steam tank moves toward the irondrakes to find some support. Its shooting cannot harm my incorporeal troops (also tnx to Shade Mist). and I've placed my cav out of the threat range of the drakes
Order is much more effective against Khorne.
The 30 berzerkers and the runesmither appear in our lower left corner.
the shooting of the drakes and the 2 cannons literally decimates the 30 bloodletters… only a pityful bunch survives



then the berzerkers charge the hounds that stand near the left objective, wiping them away and taking the obj, which proceed to burn for 2 additional points, and a grand total of 5 in this round

Order VPs: 8


NIGHTHAUNT + Khorne.

I cast the palisade behind the Tank, so my troops will be totally protected against the shooting by the distant cannons and by the drakes.
Then i proceed to move, Flying upon the longbeards with the wraiths and charging both the tank and the longbeards.
THe Black coach (which should have arrived in this round, if i would have used correctly the Spectral summon), makes a nat 11 on the charge, so it would have succeed anyway.
at the end of my combat phase, the longbeards and the tank are no more.

Khorne sacrifices the last 6 bloodletters against the berzerkers for no reason, but the bloodthirster devastates the irondrakes. Only 4 survive!





i don't burn the obj i just took, but the bloodthirster burns the middel one it just conquered (1 pt), so we take 4 points

Actual Score: 8-7 for Order


THIRD ROUND


ORDER wins again the roll

the general and the longbeards charge the bloodthirster, which is also targeted by the cannons and is obviously killed. Khorne's army now consists of 10 bloodreavers and 5 hounds.
Order collects a single VP, the one controlled by the artillery nest, for a grand total of 9 VPs



NIGHTHAUNT + Khorne.

Khorne just look at me.
my still intact force charges the longbeards + general and slays 'em all.




The dreadblade remains behind and burns the objective i took the previous turn for 2 pts, plus 2 other points tnx to the 2 troops of khorne sitting upon the 2 obj in our deployment zone. 4 VPs this round



Actual Score: 11-9 for NIGHTHAUNTS / Khorne.


FOURTH ROUND

Order concedes.

:ghost: !!!VICTORY FOR NIGHTHAUNTS!!! :ghost:

​

OK, a fun game, in which i skillfully let my ally take the Order's fire and I ruled the battlefield in the end. Nagash approves, and so Lady Olinder.

The Black coach is an absolute beast and the nighthaunts are fun to play, still very effective even with a suboptimal list as this one.

negative points: at 1000 pts, it's clear that the deathrider battalion (while extremely useful) takes too much points, and if i were by myself, i would have serious difficulties in holding the objectives if i want my army to do something else…






Comments are welcome.

 

[Unas the slayer]

PREMISE


We are playing a campaign, the idea is a confrontatins between coalitions of the Great allegiances, to control a certain number of artefacts that will let the winner seize control of the Purple Sun.
the first game would have been a skirmish at 300 pts, then armies at 750, 1000... growing up to 2500 and then a final mega-battle "apocalypse - style".


we are 12 players and i wanted to use Nighthaunts.

however, we were divided in this way

5 Order
2 Death (me and the new FEC)
3 Chaos
2 Destruction

no matter how you turn it, no way to have a 6 vs 6 combination.
the solution was obvious, someone had to change his army. Leaving aside the ones that don't have a second army, we randomly choose… and the "lucky" one was me.

So, i had to leave home my nighthaunt, to play the 6th order army. I opted for Seraphon.


Of course, I'm not going to BatRep the various games of Seraphon, but the one against FEC was pretty interesting, so worth sharing.



enjoy!

SERAPHON vs FEC - 1000 pts​

Battleplan

Shifting Objectives

It's the one with 3 objectives in the middle line of the battlefield, at the beginning of each round you see what's the one Worth 3 VPs; the other ones are just 1 each.


Army Lists

SERAPHON (mortal real: Ghur)
- Slann (general, Great Rememberer, Gryph-feather Charm)
- 10 Skinks (boltsplitters)
- 10 Skinks (Boltsplitters)
- 4 salamanders
- Engine of the Gods (fully painted)
- Engine of the Gods (partially assembled)
(Endless spell: soulsnare shakles)

The reasoning behind the list.
I'm going to face a melee focused list.
I intend to snipe the heroes that raise, then crush the troops with magic, heavy shooting from sallies and summoned skinks.
But my opponent is one of the strongest players in our zone.

FEC (mortal real: Ghur)
- Abhorrant on terrorgheist (Mount trait: Gruesome bite, Gryph-feather Charm; Spell: monstrous vigor)
- Infernal Courtier (general, Dark Acolyte, Spell: spectral host)
- 6 Flayers
- 10 ghouls
(endless spell: cadaverous barricate, it halves the move of nearby non-Death units)
Illusion: the feast day


SO, this list is NASTY.
The abhorrant can summon units with the use of command points. It heals. I've got -1 or -2 to hit it. Re-roll hit rolls with the Terrorgheist's Fanged Maw.
His army, thanks to The Feast Day, can use the Feeding Frenzy command ability without spending a command point once per TURN
We're in the crazy realm of crazyness. A unit near a hero or a hero, simply attack twice each turn for free.


Set-Up

With more units than my opponent i will be the last one, but at least i can see where he places his army
Abhorrant on my left, ghouls in the middle, Courtier + Flayers on my right.

I place skinks on the "wings", ready to run for objectives, then sallies and the block of Slann+EotGs on the right, to stay far from the abhorrant and to point at the flayers/general



we roll and the 3 pts obj is the one on my left

My opponent is uncertain, but to start with 5 points is too good to let it pass, and takes the first turn.

Let's go!