Well, this post comprises a couple of firsts. The first time I played Demons and the first time I'll try my hand at writing a battle report.
Mike and I got together Thursday night for a little pre-long weekend Warhammer. We chose 1500 points as it's not too long of a game and neither of us has played as much recently as we would like.
The combatants:
High Elves
Archmage - Jewel of Dusk (+1 power die), Talisman of Preservation (4+ ward), Lore of Life
Noble - BSB, Armour of Caledor (2+ save), Guardian Phoenix (5+ ward)
38 Spearmen - Full Command
20 White Lions - Full Command, Banner of Sorcery
10 Sword Masters
2 Great Eagles
TOTAL: 1500 points
Daemons
Herald of Nurgle, BSB, Stream of bile.
Juggernaut of Khorne, Armour of Khorne
17- Plague Bearers, full command, standard of Decay
10- Horrors of Tzc, full command,
10- Horrors of Tzc,
5- Chaos Furies
5- Chaos Furies
6 - Flesh of hounds
6 - Flesh of hounds
Fiends of Slaanesh
We usually play a pitched battle, so we decided to roll for a scenario. It turned out to be Battle for the Pass. With my small amount of units, this really helped me out.
1. I decided my best bet was to rush forward and try and chop up as much as I could, as soon as I could, so the Sword Masters (SM) and White Lions (WL) marched straight forward. The Spearmen (S) quick reformed in order to stick the mage in the second row then walked forward. Maybe cheesy, but Mike didn't have a problem with it. The Eagles moved forward to make trouble. I got magic off on 4 dice, but failed Flesh to Stone.
Mike charged his furies at one eagle which held and he charged the other one which fled to fight another day. Then he cast Flickering Fire on my SM. As you can see he rolled sixes for both strength and number of wounds. OUCH! The furies ended up killing my eagle.
2. I kept moving forward. I charged the furies with my SM. He dispelled Flesh to Stone and I regrew 3 SM and put Earthblood on the WL. It turns out that I forgot the +1 on that spell. The SM toasted the fiends.
Mike moved some more. For magic he used most of his dice to dispel Throne of Vines and then flubbed the rolls for Flickering Fire.
3. This is where it hit the fan. I charged the the WL into the Plague Bearers, the SM into the Horrors and the S into the Fiend. Also, I put my last eagle in front of the Flesh Hounds so they wouldn't get into the rear of my WL. The SM took care of the Horrors in short order and then reformed. The S took care of the Fiend. The TSN Turning Point came in the WL combat. He challenged with his champion and mine met him and they did a whole lot of nothing. Then I directed all of my Noble's attacks on his BSB and wounded him twice by he saved one. The WL had 10 attacks at strength 6 and only wounded twice, both of which he saved with his regen roll.
Mike charged his Flesh Hounds into my S and the other unit into the eagle. He also managed to get his hero into the flank of my WL by the skin of his teeth. The Horrors miscast and didn't do any wounds to me, only to themselves. Mike kept rolling high, regardless of what it was for. The WL managed 5 wounds this time, but took 6 and lost the combat by three. They failed their leadership check twice and ran and were overrun. The eagle took a wound, but hung around. The S killed one of the Flesh Hounds and took 6 wounds, but hung in there as well.
4. SM charged into the Plague Bearers. Mike dispelled Throne again (mostly because I rolled 7 on 4 dice!), and I failed Flesh to stone by 1. The SM killed a fair few Plague Bearers, but lost 5 and ran. The eagle finally bit it and it was down to the S. I did well to hit a fair few times, and had to roll 5's to wound. My dice continued to be MIA as you can see to the side.
In Mike's turn my S managed to do 3 more wounds and won combat which did another 4 wounds on the Flesh Hounds and then they went away.
5. I was hanging on by my fingernails here! The SM ran off the table. In the magic phase, Mike dispelled another week roll for Throne and then I miscast on 3 dice trying to cast Flesh to Stone. I rolled a 3 on the dispel table. The big template would have done in the S, so we called it a game.
It was a fun game even with my tragic dice. We made some mistakes. I forgot that the WL were stubborn, which probably would have made a big difference and Mike forgot his hero had a breath weapon.
In the end it was good to finally have a chance to play daemons and find out what they are about. I'm not sure I could have done much different (other than roll better and remember how my army works).
Comments are welcome. This is my first battle report. Personally, I never read battle reports as I find them quite tedious. I found this one a bit tedious to do as well. So, if you like them, or like them different let me know.
