Fantasy Battle Rep: Dark Elfs vs Chaos Dwarfs

Dunno why, but this year is turning into one full of gaming, and my investment of the gaming table is finally coming around. Originally my main gaming buddy was to swing over and have a game.. whereby we would have played CDs vs NGs again. In the end, he decided to fly back to Izmir instead of staying in Istanbul for work. I mean.. why go back? And the excuse of "It's my anniversary" just doesn't cut it man.. I mean.. really now.. lame.. :)

Oh well, as it was the guy I am painting up the Dark Elfs popped on by. I guess he wanted a status update and ensure that I was painting his guys or something.. :) Just kidding.. was actually good to have him over what with all the focus on a life changing moment in my real career at the moment.. and was good to be able to talk it out a bit while throwing some dice around.

Onto the game..

Since I had just recently formatted my computer, I did not have the Army Builder anymore, so my buddy had to cobble together an army list from points and armylists found online. Thankfully many people use the same items, and he knew the army points quite well, while I went and used the old tried and true method of pen and paper with the actual codex.

We had agreed upon 2500 pts, no Dreadlords and no K'Daai Destroyers were used in the game. Also I reduced the use of War Machines in the game also since I have had the least amount of luck with them in the games that I have seen them being used.

Game starts like any of the games we have had in the past.. with the Chaos Dwarfs going first!!!

Lists were:
Chaos Dwarf:

• Lvl 4 Prophet
• BSB
• Castellian Hero
• 2x29 Infernal Guard, FC, 1 with Razor Banner
• 3x20 Hobgoblins with Bows
• 6 Bull Centaurs, FC
• Magma Cannon
• Dreadmortar with Ogre Slave

Dark Elfs:

• Lvl 4 Hag
• Cauldron of Blood
• Assassin
• 2x20 Crossbow Elfs, Musician
• 32 Spearelfs, FC
• 33 Executioners, FC
• 7 Cold Ones, FC
• 5 Harpies
• 2x8 Shades
• 10 Wyches

Deployment..

As is normal, we just randomly threw down some pieces of terrain, after rolling for them of course. Terrain included:

• 1 Building and obstacle on the far right ( shown as ruins here )
• Sphynx ( shown as the K'Daai Commission still in the works )
• Arcane Ruins ( black barricades center ) 
• Elven Waystone ( shown as the mounted Elf Hero on fridge magnet )
• Altar of Khaine ( shown as Bloodthirster )
• Normal Hill ( shown as a normal hill on the far left )

At least my battle mat has finally arrived, and so we are moving in the right direction for terrain for gaming at least. I need to buckle down and work on some of them once these comms are finished. Will be more important to me than getting any of my own armies finished I think. 

Chaos Dwarfs Turn 1

I have a good feeling about this game. I had taken all my previous experiences with this army into practice here, and made sure to minimize my chances of foiling it up royally here.

First things I did were to move the archers into the building, and get the rest of my guys moving forward. I left enough space in the middle to be able to have LOS with the 2 War Machines at the bulk of his army.

Magic phase was not as good as I had hoped. I was able to kill 2 Shades from a fireball, Flame Sword of Ruin on the magma cannon, and had cast Flame Cage to the executioners. However that was with a miscast, and thus he took a wound from the result and ended the magic phase.

Shooting was great! For a change the War Machines both worked splendidly!! Magma cannot shot, and landed perfecting on the spearelfs in the middle. With the bonus of the fire spell, they instantly wound ( not sure on this but my opponent told me it is so, so went with it ), and killed 20 of the blighters with 1 shot! The Dreadmortor cannon also landed a great shot on the Executioners also, making the poor buggers both flame caged and quaked! So if they move they would have to take a fire test, and a dangerous ground test! Whoo hoo! The archers in the building shot at the shades but did nothing.

No close combat yet, but was sure that it was forthcoming.

Dark Elfs Turn 1

In response to the first turn, I think my opponent began to think that this was not fun already, and decided to up his game.. just kidding.. he was in good humor for the game and took the lose of 20 spear elfs in stride. Stating quite clearly that I would pay for it later ;)

In the movement phase we saw that his left flank moved forward. Wyches running towards the building, and the shades following suit. Getting just out of sight of the CDs.. damn skirmishers!! Cold one riders also moved forward a bit, but nothing else moved. Harpies also moved forward to block the Bull Centaurs, and redirect their charges into another direction.

Magic was not impressive with no real effects taking place.

Shooting was also not very interesting. 3 Archers in the building died from the repeater crossbow elfs.

Again no close combat as yet.

Chaos Dwarfs Turn 2

Feeling lucky, and that I have the Dark Elfs on the run ( and it was only Turn 1!! ) I begin to get a bit over excited with the game and press forward. Perhaps a bit too far..

Movement sees the right CDs moving forward, and the center CDs attempting to charge the Shades. However I miss this by 1 inch!!! If this had succeeded it would have thrown his battle line into ruins, as I would have easily overrun the Shades with the CDs. Oh well.. but it was foreboding on things to come. Bull Centaurs took the bait, and charged the Harpies, took 1 wound, but destroyed them in the process, but only over ran by 6 or 7 inches. Lining themselves up for a perfect flank charge from the Executioners.

Magic phase was just appalling.. attempting to cast fireball on the damn shades that were not charged, I failed to cast!!!! Needing 10 for the larger version, and only getting 9!!! Meaning that I could not cast the Flame Cage on the Executioners!! Bull Centaurs were going to be in trouble next turn.

Shooting followed the path of magic with BOTH of the war machines misfiring!!! Magma is out for 2 turns, but the Dreadmortor blowing itself up. First and last time he comes out. Archers in the building killed 1 wych, and the other archers killing 2 crossbow elfs on the far left.

Not the best turn, and motivation decreased a lot after this one. Poor Chaos Dwarfs..

Dark Elfs Turn 2

Taking the queue that the game could turn around now, the Dark Elfs move in for the kill in many areas.

Wyches charge the archers in the building, Shades move around the CD units, focusing on the Magma cannon. So much hate towards this poor machine. Executioners, freed from their Flame prison and quake status, charge the Bull Centaurs. Crossbow elfs move out of the way on both sides.

Magic see the Bull Centaurs getting -2 WS and -2 T. Not a good combo when up against Executioners on the flank :(

Shooting sees some Chaos Dwarfs dying, but not enough to matter. The realization that these 2 units of crossbow elfs have been pretty much useless against CDs is becoming quickly apparent.

Close combat sees the Wyches beating down the archers, who flee the building, and the Bull Centaurs lose 3 of their brethren, and then break from combat. Still on the board, but for what, is the question.

Chaos Dwarf Turn 3

Loss of the Bull Centaurs hurt.. but we were not out of it yet.. just a bit confused on what to do now.. too many mistakes in movement in the beginning of this game, that needed to be corrected now.

Movement saw the archers on the right flee off the table, though the left flank rallies! So Bull Centaurs are back in the game! Right CDs reformed, and turned around, to focus on the Cold One unit, and Spearelf unit also. Archers in the center turn to face the shades, and provide some back up to the Magma Cannon.

Magic phase saw yet another appalling display of ineptitude by failing once more to cast Fireball on 3 dice +4 to hit a 10!!.. I mean.. come on now... whats up with this.. Hashut must be angry that I am not using his favored spells during my games or something and is cursing my magic dice this game. I was very sad.. very very sad.. I cannot say how very very very sad I was about this..

So to counter the bad magic, the center archers shot at the shades, killing 2 of them, and making them run towards the table edge. Once again showing that the Hobgoblins can do anything when faced against Shades.. too bad they can't do the same against other units.

No close combat occurred cause everything broke the last turn, and nothing was within range to charge this one.

Dark Elfs Turn 3

With the Chaos Dwarfs on the ropes now, the Dark Elfs began to press on them once more.

Both Crossbow units moved forward, the wyches left the building. Executioners charges the Bull Centaurs, and the center Shades charged the Magma cannon. The other Shades decided that it was foolish to run from lowly Hobgoblins and rallied to come back into the fight.

Magic saw more hexes placed on the Bull Centaurs. Another -2 WS, but a wound taken to the Hag due to casting this with irresistible force.

Shooting saw no one die, which is typical of the Dark Elf crossbows as of late. Just cannot penetrate that Darkforge armor!

Close combat saw the Magma cannon lose 1 crew, but also kill a Shade in return. Losing by 1, but being within range of both Prophet and BSB, they easily stayed put. The big fight between the Executioners and Bull Centaurs played true to the Executioners namesake. Losing 2 of theirs, they then slaughtered all the Centaurs, leaving none in its place. The Hobgoblins nearby stayed without issues. Its only Bull Centaurs afterall!

Chaos Dwarf Turn 4

With my flanks overrun, and my center still surviving, it was time to turn up the heat on these Dark Elfs! Was not going to just lay down without a fight.. and if they thought they were going to be just picking me off, then they had another thing coming.. So with that I moved both CD units up closer to the center, and charged the Shades with my archers.

To add insult to injury, the Prophet calls up to the Hashut to offer his sincere apology for not taking his lore. With this, he is able to cast off a mighty fireball at the spearelf unit.. and focused all the shots ( thank you random dice ) at the Hag! Frying her where she stood.. it is at this point that we are not sure if there was a louder cheer from the Chaos Dwarfs since she is now dead, or from the Spearelfs since she was dead and they could stop being slaughtered at her hand just for more power dice..

The archers, after witnessing the Bull Centaurs dying, take pot shots at the Executioners, seeing 2 of them go down.

Close combat sees the Archers do what they do best.. which is kill Shades. The Shades, of course scared that they are in combat with the Archers, fluff all their attacks, and get completely destroyed. Flame cannon is now in a great position to fry up some more Dark Elfs next turn!!

Dark Elfs Turn 4

With the rage of a drowning cat, the Dark Elfs push on..

Shades move up behind the Magma cannon, both units of crossbow elfs move forward. Spearelfs move towards the main unit of CDs, in what seems to be a friendly manner shouting "Thank you for killing that B***H.. please let us embrace in friendship.. ".. Wyches also wanted to express their thanks for the death of the Hag, but at the last moment realize that we are the enemy still. So instead of going in for a hug, they attempt a charge, but that small mind slip as to what to do makes them fail by 1 inch, and instead just limp forward going DOH! Cold One Riders move back in an attempt to hide since they have done nothing in all their games really, and are just realizing that they are full filling the good looks category in this army today. Executioners also charge the left most archers, taking no damage from the paltry shooting that they attempted.. was worth a shot at least ;)

Magic is no more thanks to no Hag.

Shooting saw the Crossbow Elfs looking towards the Magma cannon, killing 1 of its crew in the exchange! The other unit tried to shoot the remaining center archers, killing 1. 1 died from the hail of 34 shots. Again, these guys need to go back to crossbow academy, and learn how to use those damn things.

Close combat saw the archers get ripped to shreds by the Executioners, and they turned to face the center once more.

Chaos Dwarf Turn 5

With a furious intent, and a bent eyebrow, the Prophet summons his troops to charge forth. Giving the Spearelfs the "Hug" that they asked for..

So with that shout, both CD units charge forth to the SpearElfs unit. It could be said that this is overkill, or you could say that the Chaos Dwarfs wanted to give them a super huge Hug.. you know as they say, treat others as you yourself would like to be treated! The archers stayed still, keeping a watchful eye on the wyches.

Magic was decent in that we got the Flame Cage onto the Cold Ones, killing one in the process.

For shooting, well this was typical shooting actually. The Archers do nothing against the Wyches, cause they are not Shades, so obviously they cannot do anything. Though, the Magma cannon at this point decides that although he has survived this long, and that he will probably survive against the Shades. His best course of action is none other than to blow themselves up! Nothing like free victory points to the enemy!

As far as the hug goes, we see the spearelfs are not as tough as Chaos Dwarfs. So once the dust settles and the "hugging" finishes.. the spear elfs seem to have turned into a fine red dust.. with mangled speartips littering the ground. With this, the units just kind of turn towards the Cold Ones and scream out.. "Hug?" :)

Dark Elfs Turn 5

It is with great regret that I must say that I kind of goaded my opponent into charging me for that overzealous hug. TBH.. he didnt really have a choice though, as his choices were to charge me and get the bonus to the charge or to receive a charge next turn.

So with this in mind, he attempted to charge everything at the center blocks. Cold Ones landed, laying into both units simultaneously. The Wyches smack into the right flank of one unit, but those blasted Crossbow Elfs decides that it might be better to just stay back, and didn't run far enough.

Again no magic, but there was a thunderous "Hurray!" coming from the spirits of the Spear Elfs who died to the hug instead of the Hag's knife!

Shooting sees the Shades killing 3 archers, and the Crossbow elfs killing another. Many curses go up on the Dark Elf side as they are 1 casualty short of making the Archers take a panic test! HA! Once again the Hobgoblins show their true grit against the Shades! Eat it!

Combat sees many Chaos Dwarfs die against the Wyches, with 2 dying in return. The Cold ones take some out, but lose 3 in return. When the arguing between units finished, it seemed that the Dark Elfs lost by 1! Cold Ones stand firm, with help from the Cauldron of Blood, however the Wyches take off in a mighty scream! Panicing the nearby Crossbow Elfs, who also take off leaping over obstacles and even a house! Or at least the ruins of one.

Chaos Dwarf Turn 6

Last chances to try to turn this fight around. So far the Chaos Dwarfs are bunkering down in the middle of the board, while the Dark Elfs run around in all directions.

Movement saw the Archers turn to face the Shades. A last chance to scare them, and run them off the board hopefully.

Magic saw the activation of the Flame Cloak, which in turn killed 2 of the Cold Ones in close combat. The activation of the Flaming Rod of Ruin on the Archers however failed.

Shooting sees another Shade drop, unfortunately not enough to make them run.

Close combat sees the Cold Ones die, and the Chaos Dwarfs turn to face their opponents, backs against each other.

Dark Elfs Turn 6

Final turn to rally forth and destroy the heretic slavers!

Unfortunately it seems that the might of the slavers was too much, with both the Wyches and Crossbow Elfs failing to rally, though not running far enough to run off the table.

Again a "Hurray!" goes up on no magic! No Dark Elf lives had to be spared to cast Hexes.

Shooting sees 10 Archers drop to shades and Crossbow Elfs, however due to the majority of wounds coming from the Shades, they easily pass their Panic tests. Since no one is really scared of Shades.

Finish.. 


It is with this last turn we calculate up the points to see what is what, and where do we stand. Surprisingly we find that the Chaos Dwarfs had eeked out a slight win over the Dark Elfs!!! 1204 to 1062!!!

Game changers being the charging from the Dark Elfs in turn 5, the Warmachines destroying themselves, and giving up almost 400 pts combined!

Note for future games. No more Warmachines. Those crew need to go back to the Academy and learn which lever it is that can make a shot, and which is the auto destruct button! That or retry the Deamonsmith in these armies and have him on standby for Misfires!

For the Dark Elfs, I think the take aways were.. remember that you have an Assassin.. and bring it out sooner before the unit it is in dies. Crossbows are not good against CDs. Shades should not pick fights with Hobgoblins, they just won't win. And Cold Ones are just awful it seems. Could be better maybe, but at the moment, they need some help. Not sure how or with what, but they need help.

Great game once more, better still that it was on the new battle mat. Only complaint I have with the gaming experience was the new GW Tape Measure that I got with the mat. It seems that the end piece is not large enough to keep the tape measure from sliding inside the case itself. So we had to use pliers twice to get it to open and extend once more. Currently a piece of Stickytac is sitting on the tape measure end, until a more permanent solution can be found.

Not sure when the next game is, but I am definitely looking forward to it.

Till Then!