Warhammer Fantasy – Quick Battle Report

As I mentioned earlier in the week I really wanted to play against Vampire Counts to increase my awareness of them and how they operate.  I originally planned to play a game last weekend, but that didn't happen.  Fortunately I was able to play tonight and caught a game against an army I have very little experience playing against.  So how did I fare?  Keep reading to find out!

This is not a full battle report but more of "lessons learned" and amusing incident reports.



We played a standard battleline scenario.  My list appears in my previous post.  My opponents list (what I remember of it) is listed below.



Vampire Lord w\ Level 4, Armor of Fortune, Dark Acolyte
Wight King w\ BSB, Banner of the Barrows
Necromancer w\ Dispel Scroll
2x 40 Zombies
2x 30 Skeleton Warriors w\ Full Command
2 Corpse Cart
30 Grave Guard w/ Full Command
Spirit Host
Terrorgheist
Mortis Engine

What Went Well

• Magic Defense - I mostly neutralized my opponents casting.  Only two Invocations were successfully cast (one on an IF).  My opponent had better luck rolling winds of magic though and usually would sneak one spell by me.  I usually waited to counter Invocation or Curse of Years.
• Warp Lightning Cannons - Holy crap on a cracker the guns were crack shots tonight!  They really helped take care of the herd of undead and also sniped both the Mortis Engine and the Terrorgheist.
• Basic tactics - The basic tactics of the list are really starting to meld in my head.
• Combat - For once my clanrats and slaves are actually better in combat versus something.  Nothing like seeing my opponent take off 5-7 zombies to make a guy ask, "What just happened here?"

What Went Horribly Wrong

• Magic - I couldn't roll winds of magic to save my life.  The highest I rolled was a 7 but even that was on a 6 and 1 so my opponent was able to counter almost everything with ease (minus a couple irresistible force castings).  My spell selection also sucked.
• Terrorgheist - Wow.  His shriek attack is ridiculous.  He charged my HPA and one-shotted him in the shooting phase by doing 8 wounds with the shriek and I failed to save a SINGLE SAVE.  
• Misfires - At one point I finally had a shot with my warpfire thrower against the terrorgheist.  So I tried the shot, misfired, and watched horrified as the warpfire thrower ran around on fire before exploding and taking out himself, the other warpfire thrower poised to fire at the terrorgheist, and the warlock engineer and leaving my entire rear/right flank exposed to a flying bat dragon thing.
• Doomwheel - It rolled well for movement.  It rolled too well for shooting the Spirit host and left itself open to be charged by a horded unit of zombies.  Needless to say, the Doomwheel ran and ultimately kept running.
• Mortis Engine - Ugh, until this thing died it was really frustrating.  It gave nearby units a 6+ Regen save  while proving difficult to destroy.  When it finally did die, it dragged a number of  slaves, clanrats, skeletons, and zombies with it creating carnage for both sides in the center of the swirling melee.

MVPs

• Terrorgheist - Wow.  I had no clue that beastie could do that much damage.  It ATE my HPA in a single round with its shriek attack and then threatened my backfield before being shot by two cannons and finally put down.
• Warp Lightning Cannons - In a single game they accounted for a Mortis Engine, Terrogheist, 10 Skeletons, 25 Grave Guard, and a smattering of zombies.