Hey guys, took a little bit of a break from WotR b/c of a 40k tournament and some other things, but I'm back with that batrep for ya'll to take a gander at. Well, what's left of it. I forgot a lot of what happened. :/
Hopefully some more mussing/playing sometime soon and I'll take better notes/put it up sooner next time. And get to work on some things in this rules set too. Anyhow.
Game was Angmar (surprise!) v. Elves (surprise!), 1000pts. We rolled Maelstrom (I swear it's all I play outside 'Ard Boyz), Field of Swords.
My list:
Epic Hero: Spiritseer of Rhudaur
Common: Carn Dum Barbarians (4 companies, Hornblower, and Witch)
Common: Carn Dum Barbarians (4 companies, Hornblower, and Witch)
Rare: Court of Fallen Kings (2 companies)
Rare: Gaurwaith (3 companies)
Illegal (oops) Rare: ShadeI kind of threw it together quickly when I got to the store. This may be observed in the fact of the illegal composition.... err, oh well. I was mostly trying to take stuff that would allow me to gauge the effectiveness of the new elves: Carn Dum being slightly cheaper in points with Berserk and Shields, Elves should show a slight combat advantage (increased by charging and negating Berserk); Gaurwaith because the would strike before Elves on the charge. Shade to level the Fight playing field for my inferior troops and wights. Spiritseer just to try him out with the wights.
His List (to my recollection):
Epic Hero: Celeborn
Epic Hero: Cirdan
Common: Galadhrim Archers (4 companies, Stormcaller)
Common: Galadhrim Warriors (6 companies, Shields, Captain)
Common: Galadhrim Warriors (6 companies, Shields, Captain)I think that's about right.
I won Priority for the first turn, and let him come on first. Archers and Cirdan's formation of galadhrim came on in one corner and Celeborn stayed off. That's it.
Then I came on mostly along the same board edge, but further along it, with pretty much everyone except the Gaurwaith showing up right away.
For you viewing pleasure:
http://www.box.net/s/xzi4qha02gs6vktb22uzTurn 2, Celeborn showed up behind Cirdan. There was a bit of pathetic attempts at casting on both our parts, and then the Elf Archers shot the Shade in the face. Still, basically just moving and shifting around.
Illegal Shade Caught in the Act:
http://www.box.net/s/q9veoq826eppfocd0npdIn other news, I'm looking forward to a better H2K table.
Turn 3 was pretty uneventful according to my notes. :/ Cirdan lit up a wight, and I think I transfixed the archers. Maybe they killed a Wight too. Nothing spectacular. I was having trouble getting in charge range because my Carn Dum were refusing to pass AtD tests. Gaurwaith still hadn't shown up and I was beginning to wonder if they would show up at all or if maybe Maelstrom was just going to [word deleted] on my plans again.
Of course, then
turn 4 rolls around. I got priority, so he went first. Set himself up to receive all my charges, and hopefull shoot the Devlan Mud out of me. He did really well with his Magic and managed to kill 7 Wights(!) with Light of the Valar. I hate that spell. My turn, I set up to make all those charges (sort of), and then the werewolves show up in his rear, right next to the Archers! Fun times. Maelstrom redeemed (not really).
Sneaky Wolfses:
http://www.box.net/s/e1us1hjde2s2bmyyml9tThe ensuing combats were a mixed bag. His archers took a pounding in the rear (heh, heh), losing 13, but toughed it out anyhow. On the other side, the Spiritseer tried to call a Duel he knew he couldn't avoid anyhow, rolled a 1, and got pasted, along with a bunch of wights, before the fighting really even began. Kind of makes me rethink the cool-factor of a Wight Hero. Even old-man-Cir-dan was Fighty enough to beat the Devlan Mud out of this ghost. And most of his buddies. Wights rolled Steadfast with 2 left and killed a few elves in return.
Ghosts suck at dueling:
http://www.box.net/s/zcrs3frs6ngcdg4xpxv5Turn 5: Archers were disordered. Other elves got Heroic Charges off on all my Barbarians, negating Berserk. In combat, a wight died, and barbarians trade blows with elves, not too uneven all things considered. Shields helped a lot there, but once Cirdan woke up and started making his saves, I was in trouble (he had been failing spectacularly earlier in the game, even though his ability was now twice as good!). With the Cirdan saves and no Berserk, I was not putting out much offense. Still, all my formations were Steadfast "like a mother-f*cker." (I guess that doesn't make any sense. Oh well.) I am pretty good at those rolls. Gaurwaith actually failed to charge and stood around drooling, IIRC.
Sh*t Got Ugly:
http://www.box.net/s/v1y4y7cgun68bxrqyv2iUnfortunately I don't have any more pictures, and I stopped taking notes turn 4. Wasn't really paying attention that day. The rest of the game is the Gaurwaith devouring the Archers, hitting Cirdan's formation in the rear, and staring dumbfounded (rolling 1's for all their charge bonuses) as Cirdan made saves in spectacular fashion. The Elves continued to whittle away the barbarians with their combined Initiative and Fight advantages outweighing the Shields. Another big factor was me not having might left for Heroic Charges, thus negating Berserk for the rest of the game.
I could have made a better list, admittedly, but all in all things were pretty close and the honest reason the Elves controlled the combats so well with my barbarians was b/c of my lack of Might, and the loss of the Shade especially. I'm definitely happy with where the elves are now, as compared to the "actual" rules.
That's about it right now. Gotta see if I can get in a game or two this week for more messing around, and we'll see what happens.
Also, I added in a new H2K table as per Draugluin's suggestion. The Contents section page numbers might be a bit off now but I'll deal with that later.