Introduction

This was the third game of three played at the “Conflict” Regional Tournament, and my fourth game of Warhammer ever.

My opponent (Tim, I believe) was an experienced player, but I actually felt confident because I thought Bretonnians would be particularly vulnerable to Fear and Terror, and that I could counter his Knights with my own Knights.

I was quite pleased to think that some of my Black Knights were former Bretonnians when they were alive and hoped this might unnerve them!

The Armies

Armies were to 2000 points. My army was “Captains of Morgul”. In summary, this was as follows:

• Necrarch Vampire Count, with “Nehekara’s Noble Blood” (mounted)
• Necrarch Vampire Thrall, with “Nehekara’s Noble Blood”
• Necromancer, with bound spell and Dispell Scroll
• Wraith
• Black Knights
• Grave Guard with halberds and shield
• Skeletons with spear and shield
• 2 small units of Dire Wolves
• Fell Bats
• Spirit Host

My opponent’s army was as follows:

• Duke on a Hippogriff
• Damsel (level 2) with 2 Dispell Scrolls
• Battle Standard Bearer
• Grail Knights
• Knights of the Realm
• Men-at-arms with halberd and shield
• Men-at-arms with spear and shield
• Longbowmen
• Foresters, inc. Gamekeeper
• 2 units of mounted Squires, with spear, bow and shield

The Terrain and The Scenario

No graveyard this time! Just a couple of hills and a piece of difficult terrain.

The scenario was a standard meeting engagement, with units placed alternately on the table and dicing for the choice of first turn.

Magic

I ended up with the following spells:

Thrall

1. Hellish Vigour (hand-to-hand combat spell)

Necromancer

1. Invocation of Nehek (raise Undead)
2. Vanhel’s Dance Macabre (free movement)

Count

1. Invocation of Nehek
2. Vanhel’s Dance Macabre (free movement)
3. Curse of Years (see below)

I was pleased to get ”Curse of Years” because I thought I would have the power to cast it and this spell can be very nasty. It rapidly ages a target unit and stays in play until dispelled. It would be very hard to dispel because of its high casting value. On a D6 score of 6 per model, the model takes a wound with no save. Ouch.

I managed to cast “Curse of Years” against my opponent’s Grail Knights, his most expensive unit. However, that turn I didn’t managed to roll a 6 and this was the last turn before we had to call a halt to the game.

Although I had magical superiority, my best spells were countered with the Damsel’s two Dispell Scrolls.

Unfortunately for me, at the beginning of the game the Damsel managed to cast a spell which gave all friendly units within 12” immunity to Fear and Terror. Not only that, but this spell stayed in play and would have been difficult to dispell because it was cast with a lucky high throw on the Bretonnians’ three Power Dice, something like 14.

The Game

At the start, the table looked something like this:

Once again we were rushed for time, so my plan was not fully thought through. I hoped my Wolves could close the distance with the archers on the flanks, otherwise at least divert fire from more expensive units. I wanted to clear the Squires and/or Men-at-Arms with my Black Knights. I wanted to avoid a head-on clash with the Bretonnian Knights, but try to catch them at a disadvantage. All the time I was concerned that the Duke was trying to fly to my rear, but couldn’t think of a plan to counter it. I held back my Fell Bats at the start. I can’t remember what I intended doing with the Spirit Host, apart from trying to screen my Black Knights from missile fire on turn one.

Anyway, this is what happened…

The Wolves on the flanks got shot to pieces. I was amazed how effective was the shooting of just a few bowmen.

Quite early on in the game, the Damsel managed to cast a magic missile at my Black Knights and I lost 2 models to that. This was particularly painful, because I was supposed to have magic superiority and my Knights were my most precious resource.

I was pleased, however, that I managed to charge my Black Knights into one of the Squires units, destroy it and run onto the flank of the Knights of the Realm, without myself getting charged in the flank. This was despite my opponent recommending a different course of action (from his greater experience of the game!).

The table looked something like this:

Unfortunately, it transpires that Knights in “Lance” formation do not count flanks, so my attack did not count as a flank attack. However, with my Black Knights and my Skeletons unit fighting the Bretonnian Knights, I was eventually victorious and they fled the field.

However, meanwhile the Duke had worked his way to my rear. The Grail Knights and Duke hit together, which is a powerful combination. My Grave Guard received the charge quite well, but would eventually succumb. My Bats made little difference. It was at this point that I managed to cast “Curse of Years” on the Grail Knights. I was looking forward to watching them age and die. But unfortunately, again the game was cut short through lack of time, so we will never know how it finished up.

Victory or Defeat?

The result was exactly the same as in the previous two games, i.e. I had more victory points but only by a small margin, so the result was a DRAW. All in all, for a novice Warhammer player, I thought three draws was quite good.

Lessons Learnt

Once again my Black Knights suffered from magic missiles. I wonder whether they would be better off without barding, for that valuable extra movement, but accompanied by a Battle Standard Bearer with the “Banner of Doom” (5+ Ward save against magical and missile attacks). I wouldn’t want to give up my “War Banner”. And once again I may have been better served to get my own magic missile from the Lore of Death to use against the Duke. I hope I would have made better decisions if the game had not been under such time pressure, but I am generally pleased with my performance and the performance of my troops.

© 2004 Mike Adams
www.smallbattles.co.uk