Swoffboot - Every Repeater Crossbow has its Thorn

It's All Non-Skype Fight Night Afternoon! 

I had the pleasure of visiting Kraken's home this weekend, and took the opportunity for a couple of Swoffboots (an end times battle Nagash (me) vs the wizard's league (Kraken and Stylus)) and the below Dark Elf vs Warriors battle.

To mirror previous reports, I will be writing normally and Kraken, who also took the photos and made the chronicler maps, will be in italics. 

Hello and good evening. I'm also writing in Times New Roman, because I'm a classically-minded sort of chap. 

Forces 

Kraken had had several games with his warriors, but nothing over 2000 pts; we had an afternoon free from the lesser known spells of Fist and Foot of Freja and so opted for a big game. Kraken could muster up to about 4 or 5k; but we went for something between 3 and 4 so that there were some options. After a few tweaks, the battle lines drawn and the points settled on 3600.

Knowing I could field something approaching the full mass of my foot soldiers was a delight, especially as I knew I could take some hefty characters and wibbly monsters to back them up. There was one in particular I knew I'd field. I don't often get the chance, and his song keeps playing on GWFM at the moment. 

The Dark Elves

Haerelon, Dreadlord - Dark Pegasus, Sword of Anti-heroes, Obsidian Trinket, Cloak of Twilight, Brace of Repeater Handbows, Heavy Armour, Sea Dragon Cloak, Shield - 312
Daeris, Supreme Sorceress (Lvl 4 Shadow) - Talisman of Preservation, Dispel Scroll and dark steed - 310
Tullaris Dreadbringer - 155
Avornor, Master - Sword of Might, Dawnstone and dark steed - 137
Iarel, Death Hag - BSB (with Rampager's banner), Witchbrew and Cauldron of Blood - 385
Tariel, Sorceress (Lvl 2 Life) - Talisman of Endurance and dark steed - 155
Daechir, Assassin - Additional hand weapon, Manbane and Potion of Strength - 132

30 Corsairs - Musician, Standard Bearer (with flaming banner) and Repeater Crossbows - 360
20 Darkshards - Musician and shields - 270
10 Dark Riders - Musician, Repeater Crossbows and Shields - 210
10 Witch Elves -110
21 Black Guard - Full command (with banner of swiftness and Relic Sword) - 370
10 Shades - Great Weapon - 180
2 Repeater Bolt Throwers - 140
8 Doomfire Warlocks - Champion - 210
1 Kharibdyss - 160

3596/3600 

Magic

The shadow wizard rolled Mindrazor, Withering (both awesome in this match), Pit of Shades (hopefully an ogre killer) and a free choice, although just elected for Miasma. 
The life wizard rolled poorly. He did not cast a spell, nor were the ones he had worthwhile. This wizard was an expensive extra channel attempt; and did nothing effective all game. 

The Warriors of Chaos

Archaon, Lord of the End Times (Feat. Dobbin) - 650
Kox, Lvl 2 Chaos Sorceror (Lore of Fire) with Skull of Katam and Obsidian Trinket - 175
Dyx, Exalted Hero BSB with Mark of Tzeentch, Flail, Scaled Skin, Shield, Blasted Standard - 198
Testucles, Exalted Hero with Mark of Nurgle, Filth Mace, Shield, Enchanted Shield, Soul Feeder, Palanquin of Nurgle - 208

31 Marauders - Mark of Tzeentch, Shields, Light Armour, Full Command - 310
15 Marauders - Mark of Nurgle, Light Armour, Great Weapons, Full Command - 180
20 Chaos Warriors - Mark of Tzeentch, Shields, Full Command, Lichebone Pennant - 340
Chaos Chariot - 110
10 Chosen - Mark of Khorne, Shields, Halberds, Full Command, Banner of Swiftness - 295
Warshine - Mark of Tzeentch - 135
Gorebeast Chariot - Mark of Tzeentch - 140
4 Chaos Ogres - Mark of Slaanesh, Champion - 140
Chaos Spawn - Mark of Tzeentch - 70
Chaos Spawn - 50
Dragon Ogre Shaggoth - Extra Hand Weapon - 220
Mutalith Vortex Beast - 240

Helven is a Place on Earth: Warriors of Chaos vs High Elves

It's All Skype Fight Night!

With the temporary addition of General Kasfunatu to the Swedish Woff Contingent, it was time for some LWFB action! 

I'll be writing in normal type, Kasfunatu in Bold. 

Forces

What better time to conclude my Elven Trilogy than with a general who doesn't have any experience of fielding from the 8th Ed list? After learning so much from the first two matches, surely I'd have a hope this time. 

That'd be me then! I don't think I even played High Elves with 7th rules; and their last outing was prior to Woffboot IV. 

I decided on a fairly similar approach to my grand success against the Wood Elves. A decent unit of warriors, a Nurgle sorceror general, disciplinarian BSB and backup Tzeentchian sorceror for shooting. Plus some Nurgle Marauders with great weapons, because if you're going to hit last, you may as well hit hard. For support, a chariot, a warshrine and (making his debut) the Shaggoth. 

Nurgle wizardry ought to scare the elven toughness a bit. And weirdly, Tzeentchian sorcery makes a decent bedfellow to it, specifically to Curse of the Leper. Random strength missiles like lower toughness, and it makes it harder to give your enemy regeneration by mistake. 

Bad For Yer Elf 

Kheyslyme Py, Sorceror Lord - Mark and lore of Nurgle lvl 3, Chaos Familiar, Dispel Scroll, Crown of Command - 330

Wild Billy Tentacles, Sorceror - Mark and Lore of Tzeentch, 3rd Eye of Tzeentch, Charmed Shield, Luckstone - 180

Ordar Urdargh, Exalted Hero - BSB with Banner of Discipline, Shield - 153

15 Chaos Warriors - Full command and shields - 255

15 Chaos Marauders - Full command, light armour, shields, great weapons, mark of Nurgle - 225

Chariot - 110

Warshrine - 130

Shaggoth - additional hand weapon - 220

[Apologies - no army shots right now, we forgot in the thick of things. We played on a timer, the end point being the return of my daughter from a shopping expedition.]

For the elves I wanted to try a phoenix, and so one of those had to be added, you should never leave home without a bolt thrower, and people tell me that Eagles are great redirectors (and despite never quite managing this as successfully as I think I should - I was going to keep trying) - which meant that my rare choices were already full.

I decided that I would take one block of special troops, and then fill my core with archers (some static and some fast cav). The core was made of two small groups of archers, and a small group of reavers to nip behind and annoy. My block was made up of phoenix guard.

Whilst I did worry about not including a lvl 3 or even 4 mage, I wanted to try the new Loremaster and so although I knew I was potentially weaker in the magic phase, the options of all the CRB signatures could prove interesting, Aithlin stepped up to the challenge.

Unlike my usual Ogre/Vamp lists where taking a BSB is costly, it is far easier, and therefore even more worth their points when the hero holding it is that much cheaper - so introducing Bellas the BSB.

With a concern over magic, I opted for a second lvl2 mage; and Cluyn the metal mage joined the fray.

The International Elf Service

Aithlin, Loremaster of Hoeth - Obsidian Amulet - 260

Bellas, Noble - BSB w/banner of discipline - 116

Cluyn, Mage - lvl 2 metal, dispel scroll - 145

10 Archers - Musician - 110

12 Archers - Musician - 130

8 Reavers - Musician, Bows - 162

18 Phoenix Guard - Full command with banner of movement - 315

Frostheart Phoenix - 240

Bolt thrower - 70

Great Eagle - 50

Unbeaten: Chaos Warriors vs Wood Elves

It's All-Skype Fight Night!

Prebattle

After a bit of hashing out how we'd do this, General Stylus and I came to the conclusion the easiest solution was to have the physical battle at one end of the line and the other general acting as Rulebooks Monitor on the other. The general with the table would do all the movement, allowing a bit of leeway for their opponent not being able to measure as precisely as they usually would. And the other guy would check all the rules as needed. Dice throwing taken on honour, with the option of holding a camera up to particularly lucky strikes. 

I chose to set the table up, partly because I'd actually been reduced to painting scenery lately (I hate it, it's very resource heavy, dull and messy) and at least had some to show off for a change. 

What I didn't have was 

• A table
• Any scatter or artillery dice
• Templates

Easily fixed! I wasn't raised by Blue Peter for nothing. Twenty minutes of frantic PVAing, cereal box mutilation and dice defacing yielded this. 

Warhammer Island of Blood, eat your heart out

We also decided on a joint battle report! I shall be writing in standard type, Stylus is in bold type this time. 

Hell yes. Bold and beautiful.

Forces

It was with a sinking heart I started working out how to beat Wood Elves with my Warriors of Chaos army. Superlight MSU archers? Hard-hitting fast cavalry? Why the hell didn't I buy more warhounds and horsemen?

Ah well. After three drafts, including one where I had four screening units of unarmed marauders to act as ablative armour and one with a pair of low-level disc riding sorcerors, I decided on something that would at least rest heavy on my opponent's brow. 

The bulk of my painted forces are heavy infantry. Slow but deadly, and vulnerable to enemy archers. But what if I had a magic phase that could help even the odds a little?

The Bull's Eyes

Bilious Bull, Chaos Sorceror Lord of Nurgle – Lore of Nurgle, lvl 3, Chaos Familiar, Poisonous Slime - 285

Gangrenous George, Exalted Hero BsB - Banner of Swiftness, Ruby Ring of Ruin - 175

1 Chariot - 110

15 Nurgle Marauders - G.weapon, light armour, full command - 210

10 Chaos Warriors - shields, full command,  – 180

Mutalith Vortex Beast – 240

1200

Two bound spells (the ever popular Ruby Ring and the Mutalith's Aura of Mutation) plus four of Nurgle's spells - surely something any low-toughness army would blench at. And I could probably boss the magic phase as well. Heh heh heh.

The Twang! Gang

Glade Captain - Elven Steed, Shield, Asrai Spear. Hail of Doom Arrow.
Spellsinger - Lv 2 Shadows, Elven Steed. Dispel Scroll. Seed of Rebirth.
10 x Glade Guard - Musician, Hagbane Tips
10 x Glade Guard - Musician, Starfire Arrows
5 x Wild Riders - Shields, Full Command
5 x Wild Riders - Shields, Full Command
10 x Waywatchers
1 x Great Eagle

1200

The Great Bear is the mounted general (plus one), the unicorn is an elven steed and the Rohirrim are Wild Riders.
Even my proxies have proxies.

Warriors of Chaos vs Skaven: Ugly Pug

Time to take the training wheels off these Chaos Warriors, I think.

I've been collecting and painting them for a year and a half, and they've never played a single match. This feels frustrating, to say the least.

Thanks to the UK's interminable processing time for any bureaucracy, I wouldn't have been able to get to this year's 'Boot, I was waiting on a new passport. But the original reasons I couldn't make it (money and being in a sitcom) turned out not to be valid come the actual week. I got an unexpectedly large tax return, and the director postponed the filming for three weeks five days before it was due to start.

I'm not a patient man, sadly. I just couldn't wait any longer to unleash a tide of darkness upon the realm of mortals. So I entered into a pact with an entity whose very name is redolant with horror and corruption of the weak, and did something very few reasonable or sane men would contemplate.

I went into the local GW on their late opening night.


General Kraken - The Unbloodied

2000 points of WoC

Chaos Lord - Helm of Discord, additional hand weapon
Sorceror Lord - Lvl 3 Lore of Shadow, barded chaos steed
Sorceror - Lvl 1 Lore of Fire, Scroll of Shielding
15 Chaos Warriors - shields, full command, War Banner
25 Marauders - Mark of Khorne, light armour, flails, full command
25 Marauders - Mark of Tzeentch, light armour, shields, full command
15 Marauders - Mark of Nurgle, light armour, great weapons, full command
1 Chariot
1 Chaos Warshrine

"You can't field that," the store chap says. "It's too many points for the hobby night. Half it, there's a table free soon. These guys are nearly finished."

So before I've even started, I take a truckload of hits with no saves allowed.

General Kraken (revised) - The Unexpectedly Bloodied

1000 points of WoC

Exalted Hero - Additional hand weapon, Helm of Discord
Sorceror - Lvl 1 Lore of Shadow, Barded Chaos Steed
10 Chaos Warriors - shields, full command, Gleaming Pennant
15 Marauders - Mark of Khorne, flails, light armour, full command
15 Marauders - Mark of Tzeentch, shields, full command
Chariot

VS

General Ratbeard - Ratmass

1000 points of Skaven

Warlord - Warpstone armour, not sure what else
Engineer - Dispel scroll
Engineer - Lvl 2, Condenser
30 Clanrats, banner
30 Clanrats, banner
20 Stormvermin with halberds, full command
Poison Wind Mortar
Warp Lightning Cannon