Introduction

This was an historic occasion, my first Warhammer game. After circa five years building up my Undead army, I finally got to use it for the first time. I played one of the store staff, to give me an introduction to the game. It goes without saying that the army was slaughtered.

What was most demoralising, though, was seeing another player’s Vampire Counts army. His army looked much better than mine, even though not built with such loving care. It was also built to a much stronger list, if predictable.

The Armies

We played 1500 points. My list was “Morgul’s Apprentice”, my 1500 points version of the full 2000 points “Children of Morgul” army. I think the result would have been the same if I had played with my 2000 points army, because the differences would not have tipped the balance in my favour.

My opponent played Beastmen, roughly as follows:

• Unit of c. 8 Minotaurs, led by a Champion
• 2 scythed chariots, pulled by Tuskgors
• Large unit of Beastmen (c.40 models), with two-handed weapons
• Shaman
• 2 units of Ungor, one as skirmishers, the other formed up into a regiment

The Terrain and The Scenario

The table was quite small (4’ x 4’), but proved adequate because there was little terrain. There was just a gentle hill and an open wood that I remember. The terrain was in fact themed to the Beastman army, so I felt like the interlopers from the start.

The scenario was, as far as I could tell, just the standard meeting engagement of the sort that will be used for the Conflict Tournament. Units were placed on the table alternately, which seemed to be very significant.

Magic

One of the first things we had to do was roll for spells. I ended up with “Invocation of Nehek” for both wizards, and “Gaze of Nagash” as the second spell for my Necromancer. Even at this stage there were key decisions to make. Was I right to trade other spells for “Invocation”? As it happens, I never managed to raise any units with this spell. It is easy to cast, but was usually dispelled. Note the Beastmen had 2 Dispel Scrolls in addition to their normal dispel dice.

The Game

The start positions were something like this:

I got to move first. What to do? My rough plan was as follows:

1. Avoid the Minotaurs unit if possible, at least try to hold it up with an inexpensive unit.
2. Try to use my fast units (wolves and bats) to manoeuvre around him and attack vulnerable units or units from the flank or rear.
3. Concentrate my Black Knights against his medium-strength units and roll them up.
4. Use my skeleton units defensively.

However, that was the plan before deployment! What had I got to hold up his Minotaurs? What “vulnerable” units did he have?

Also, remember this was my first Warhammer game, so I was naturally hesitant. Anyway, this is what I did:

1. The Bats flew over the wood, but outside of the Minotaurs charge range.
2. The Wolves withdrew to move over to the centre or left of battlefield.
3. The Skeletons inched forward.
4. The Spirit Host inched forward and the Black Knights manoeuvred around to the left of the terrain piece they were behind.

In the magic phase I managed to use “Gaze of Nagash” to inflict a Wound on the Minotaurs. I was pleased, but at 3 Wounds apiece and 8 Minotaurs, this was a big deal.

In his turn, my opponent just advanced all his units. His units opposite my Black Knights manoeuvred nervously. With hindsight, I should have charged his Ungor as quickly as possible, to get around his rear.

In the next turn, things started happening. I charged my Fell Bats over the top of the Minotaurs and onto the flank of the large Beastman unit. The Shaman moved out of the Beastman unit to become a single character, to avoid combat (coward!). I should have taken the hint and done the same with my Necromancer. His Chariot 2 tried to charge me, but failed his Leadership test (Fear does work! Incidentally, the Minotaurs themselves cause Fear so are therefore not subject to its effects from my side).

The Spirit Host charged the Ungors, whom I knew could not fight back against their Ethereal enemy. The Black Knights overcautiously tried to stay out of charge range of Chariot 1, afraid of the damage its impact hits would do.

The position was now something like this:

Very soon, I forget the exact order of things, the Minotaurs charged my skeleton spearmen (at least I would count two ranks for spears) and I charged my skeletons with hand weapons against the Beastman unit. Better to charge than be charged.

By that stage my bats had been destroyed. It transpires that flank attacks only get this benefit if they are of size 5 or more, and I only had 4 bats in the unit. So the Beastmen counted all their ranks, banner and outnumbering, and consequently in the Combat Resolution stage killed all the bats.

This same pattern was to be repeated everywhere. Undead don’t run from combat, instead they lose models according to how many points they lost the combat by. Against units with banner, lots of ranks, outnumbering and causing more Wounds, they are quickly destroyed.

My Spirit Host could not be hit during combat, but lost 4 or 5 Wounds as a result of Combat Resolution. In two turns they were destroyed.

The Minotaurs killed everyone in the front rank of my skeletons (in Warhammer chargers always strike first) and a couple from the second rank, leaving only 2 skeletons with spear to fight back. Of course, what can skeletons do with WS 2 and S 3 against tough opponents? The front rank of course included my Necromancer and Wight Lord. In two turns the unit was destroyed.

The skeletons with hand weapons didn’t do much better. The Wight Lord consistently did a Wound each turn, including killing the Beastman champion, but this was not enough. In two or three turns, this unit had also turned to dust.

The one unit in my army that could make a difference was my Black Knights. I didn’t handle these well. I decided to charge the chariot opposite me, but it proved too far so the charge failed short. The chariot counter-charged and I took the brunt of the impact hits (D6 +1 for scythes). I came to appreciate that even an armour save of 2+ doesn’t count for much against high Strength attacks. I lost 2 Knights and did no Wounds in return! However, this time the Combat Resolution worked in my favour (the balance was tipped by my War Banner) and despite the poor performance the Knights actually won the combat and the chariot fled! It subsequently fled the table and gave me my only victory conditions.

The table looked something like this:

The Ungor skirmishers and the Minotaurs charged the Dire Wolves. Needless to say, they were destroyed.

This left the Black Knights, led by my Vampire, as the only Undead unit on the battlefield. Erm, I think I lost.

Lessons Learnt

1.      Don’t put my Necromancer into combat.

2.      I need at least 5 Fell Bats for them to be useful for making flanking attacks.

3.      Is it useful having two units of Dire Wolves as well as Fell Bats (in my 2000 points army)? Their massive march range is only possible within 12” of my general.

4.      I need to be much more aggressive and decisive with my Black Knights.

5.      Give my Necrarch Vampire as many magic upgrades as possible.

6.      Avoid attacking large blocks of enemy troops with any Undead. Even Ethereal will vanish after resolving Combat Resolution.

7.      The army looks like it has too many “bitty” units of very limited combat effectiveness. Even the main units (the skeletons) are feeble in combat. Wight Lords are not enough to make a difference.

Features of the other Vampire Counts army I saw on the night:

1.      Led by a tooled up Blood Dragon Vampire with a size 10 unit of Black Knights.

2.      Mounted Wraith to cause Terror (in case Fear isn’t enough!).

3.      Mounted Wight Lord as Battle Standard Bearer to give even more potency to the Black Knights, making them all but invincible.

4.      2 units of 20 skeletons and a Necromancer on foot, similar to my army.

5.      2 units of Dire Wolves and a unit of Fell Bats, similar to my army but the units were larger.

6.      Vampire and Necromancer have extra magic levels like my army, so the number of magic dice is the same as me (what is the advantage of a Necrarch Vampire to offset the awesome combat advantage of a Blood Dragon Vampire?).

7.      Magic ability further enhanced with a Bound Spell “Hellish Vigour”.

Overall, this army seems similar to mine but apparently better in every area! What it lacks is my Banshee and Spirit Host.

© 2004 Mike Adams
www.smallbattles.co.uk