In this report I helped push the forces of my arch nemesis’s High Elves against two friends trying out the Beastmen Brayherds for the first time. Read on if you want to see how it went!
Beastmen Army List
Doombull with The Axes of Khorgor, Gnarled Hide, Muscular Monstrosity, Heavy Chaos Armor 330 points
Great Bray Shaman with Heavy Chaos Armor, Blood of the Shadowgrave 245 points
Wargor Battle Standard Bearer, Heavy Chaos Armor 112 points
Gor Herd with full command 97 points
Tuskgor Chariot 85 points
Tuskgor Chariot 85 points
5 Harpies 55 points
13 Bestigors with full command 189 points
5 Minotaurs with full command 278 points
5 Minotaurs with full command 278 points
Ghorgon 245 points
High Elves Army List
Prince, Great Weapon, Light armor, shield, Pure of Heart, Star Dragon, Armor of Caledor, Seed of Rebirth 481 points
Archmage, Warden of Saphery, Level 3 Wizard, Battle Magic, Sword of Hoeth 165 points
Noble Battle Standard Bearer, lance, full plate armor, Pure of Heart, Griffon, Seed of Rebirth, Talisman of Protection 287 points
15 Elven Spearmen, full command 140 points
15 Elven Spearmen, full command 140 points
20 Lothern Sea Guard, shield, full command 257 points
14 Swordmasters of Hoeth, Drilled, Full command, Ring of Fury 253 points
Great Eagle 60 points
5 Sisters of Averlorn, High Sister, Bow of the Seafarer 132 points
5 Sisters of Averlorn, High Sister 82 points
Note: The Sea Guard were accidentally left at home so they were represented by archers and mixture of other elven infantry during this battle.
We decided to randomly roll up the amount of objectives and came up with two objective markers on the table, one in the middloe of each deployment zone. With that it was time to roll off to see who went first and with the High Elves winning the roll they took the first turn.
The High Elves advanced slightly to straiten their lines with their monster riding lords swooping into the middle of the board to pounce in the next turn. They certainly didn’t want to be anywhere near that Ghorgon with it’s Monstrous Killing Blow!
In their turn the Beastmen started a general advance, with the exception of the Bestigors which fell back with their Shaman and Battle Standard Bearer to avoid the attention of the Elven monsters.
With Earthen Ramparts cast on the Minotaur’s in front of Dragon and Griffon the two nobles diverted their attention to softer targets. The Dragon charged the Bestigors just making it into combat.
Meanwhile the Griffon swooped to the middle of the Beastmen lines to set up a charge on whichever target it chose next turn.
The Sisters of Averlorn found the range of the Minotaur’s but in a flurry of dismal rolls barely scratched the blood crazed monsters! Still, with the assistance of the Elven Archmage one of the beasts went down screaming!
The Seaguard were able to put a single wound on the Tuskgor Chariot which was already in a bad spot with the Griffon facing it down. Meanwhile the Bestigor Champion issued a challenge and while he was cut down by the Elven Prince the dragon wasn’t able to attack so with static combat resolution the Bestigors won the combat forcing the Dragon back. The Bestigors wisely decided discretion was the better part of valor and did not follow up.
In the Beastmen turn the Bray Shaman attempted to throw up Earthen Ramparts on his own unit in an attempt to stay the Dragon’s rage but failed.
The rest of the Beastmen continued the advance in an attempt to get to grips with the High Elves. The characters in the Bestigor unit took the reprieve and took the opportunity to jump out of their unit, leaving their bodyguards to their fate against the Dragon!
In the High Elf turn the Battle Standard Bearer urged his Griffon mount to charge one of the Tuskgor chariots, while the Noble and his dragon mounted another charge against the Bestigors.
Deciding it better to charge than be charged the Elven Spear elves and the Eagle charged the other Tuskor Chariot hoping the Swordmasters would be able to protect the flank and that some miracle would save them from the rampaging Doombull.
Having nothing else to charge he Noble and his dragon charged the Pestigors.
As the Tuskgor Chariot opted to flee the Noble steeled his resolve and redirected his mount into the rear of the Minotaur’s!
After another round of of shooting the Lothern Sea Guard and the Sisters of Averlorn were able to kill another Minotaur and put a wound on another. The rolling was very low and things were looking to be really bad for the Sea Guard…
until the Archmage fried another one of the beasts with a Fireball!
In close combat the Dragon did what it wish it could have done a turn earlier and killed off every Pestigor except the banner bearer. Sensing better targets the Noble elf reigned his loyal steed around and turned to face the center of the table as the Standard Bearer started his not to long run off the board.
To no ones surprise the ranked up elven block and their avian ally defeated the Tuskgor chariot. The Eagle was able to run the rickety contraption down, destroying it while the elves bravely (or blindly, it was too early to say at this time) overran into the Doombull. In the center of the table the Griffon challenged the Minotaur champion which wisely declined. (By declining the challenge the unit got more attacks on the Noble and his Griffon.) The Griffon was able to kill a minotaur for a wound to himself but with his rear charge and banner he forced the unit to retreat in good order.
This retreat worked out in the favor of the Beastmen because while they ran through multiple elven units losing an extra Minotaur in the process the unit was able to turn and face the Swordmasters setting up a rear charge, just as the Ghorgon was ready to charge them in the front! This was a wacky feature of the fall back in good order result where the unit lost but ended up in a much better position because of it! The Noble spurred his feathered steed into the rear of the rampaging Doombull in an attempt to rescue the Spear Elves from their overrun.
In the Beastmen turn four he remaining two Minotaurs charged the Lothern Seaguard while the Ghorgon and the Minotaurs who Fell Back in Good Order charged the Swordmasters. The Gor Ambushers finally showed up having failed to do so in the previous two turns.
Note: Due to balance issues most of the models on this hill were actually forward about an inch and a half.
Also Note: The Minotaur’s arm was broken accidentally, we don’t chip off pieces when something takes wounds!
The Bray Shaman reached into his bag of totems and cast Vile Tide on the Noble and his Dragon. This spell does 5D6 S1 hits with no armor save. Nothing to scoff at when the player rolls 24 hits…
getting three wounds through the ward and regeneration saves!
The sandwhiched Swordmasters were able to put two wounds on the Ghorgon, four on the Minotaurs, and with a re-roll on the break test due to the Battle Standard Bearer being near by managed to hold their ground with a roll of snake eyes!
The small unit of Minotaurs didn’t have much luck. The Elven armor deflected two of the wounds from the Blood Frenzied beasts and the Elves managed to kill a Minotaur so despite taking five wounds static combat resolution saved the day forcing the remaining Minotaur back.
The Sea Guard were able to hold from following up hoping their bows would finish the beast off.
In the combat against the Doombull the Spearman chamption stepped up and challanged the blood crazed monster and was promptly cut down for his efforts.
In the High Elf turn the wounded dragon joined the fray against the Doombull hoping to add it’s weight to the fight.
Note: The Minotaur should have been on a bigger base which would have allowed the Dragon to hit corner to corner. Based on the angle the Dragon came in though it was a disordered charge.
The second unit of Spear Elves turned to face the Harpies and Tuskgor chariot with the help of a magical move. The Archmage thought better of wandering around on his own and joined the Spearmen.
The elves had high hopes for their shooting phase but with a flury of 1’s and 2’s from the Sisters of Averlorn the Sea Guard had to settle for using their shots to kill the remaining Minotaur instead of trying to kill the Harpies or the remaining Chariot!
In combat the Ghorgon and the Minotaurs killed off the remaining Swordmasters, but not before the Minotaur unit was reduced to one model!
In the melee versus the Doombull the elves broke the beast and the Battle Standard Bearer on his Griffon ran the monster down killing him as he ran! The Spearmen could go no further so opted to turn and face the remaining Minotaur from the unit that hacked down the Swordmasters and the Dragon opted to not pursue as it had other targets to face! The loss of the Doombull caused the solo Minotaur to panic and run!
With troops in short supply the Beastmen launched the charges they could make, with the Gors charging the flank of the Lothern Sea Guard and the Tuskgor Chariot charging the Great Eagle. Just off camera another casting of the Viletide caused another wound on the Dragon with another high amount of hits. This time the Elf managed to save two of the wounds with his regeneration and ward saves!
The Spearelves stare down the Minotaur and warily eye the Ghorgon.
After an ineffective round of combat the chariot only put a single wound on the eagle (without charging more than three inches it didn’t get the benefit of impact hits) and the eagle fell back 2″ with the chariot following up. The Gors swung on the Sea Guard but only took out one of the elves due to Elven armor, while the Elves managed to strike down the Gor champion. With combat a draw the two enemies stayed locked in combat.
In the Elven turn the Elves launched charges across the center. The Spear Elves in the center of the table charged the harpies and the Prince charged the Gors on the flank of the Seaguard. Off camera the Spear Elves facing the Minotaur decided to not pursue the fleeing Minotaur for fear of failing the charge so they simply marched right past the Ghorgon out of it’s charge arc!
The Noble on Griffon swooped down to try and get a charge off on the Beastmen characters next turn which had been cowering on the back of the table since early in the game.
The Dragon quickly tore the Gors apart and overran the survivors catching and killing them all while the Sea Guard followed their Prince.
We worked out the combat for the Spearmen versus the Harpies which not surprisingly didn’t go well for the Harpies and they all died allowing the Spearmen to overrun into the flank of the chariot that was fighting the eagle. The chariot lost the combat due to static resolution and was promptly run down by the victorious elves.
In the Beastmen turn the characters at the back of the board were able to march away from the vengeful Griffon. Guess I should have landed him a few more inches away! The Minotaur continued to flee from the Spearmen and the Ghorgon proved just out of range of the Dragon. With that we decided to pack up rather than play turn 6 as the Ghorgon was going to be unable to get into combat and the Beastmen characters were going to be unable to do much damage without facing the fury of the Noble on his Griffon.
This was a bloody battle with the ebb and flow of lady luck helping and hindering both sides. In the early turns the Beastman Bray Shaman could not cast to save his life, but was dispelling the Elven magic like an old master. Once he learned how to cast he put a hurt on the Prince and his Dragon. The Elven shooting was fairly ineffective, hitting well below average allowing more Minotaurs to get into combat than should have, but lady luck made up for it by allowing the Elves to make a few saves and the Minotaurs to hit less than they should have!
The Beastmen picked up 120 VP’s from the objective markers while the High Elves only picked up 60 after wandering away from their objective and allowing the Beastmen to claim theirs with the ambushers!
With these bonus points the total VP’s were as follows:
High Elves 1,707 points
Beastmen 663.5
With a 1,043.5 point difference the High Elves won a Resounding Victory!
I hope you all enjoyed reading this Battle Report, if you have any questions or comments leave a comment!
-Wachtmeister
The Wachtmeister's Patrol 