Unlikely Alliance (4 Player 6th Ed. Battle Report)

[Augrimm]

4 of us had gathered to play some Warhammer and , as is often the case, we decided to do a team game. My Tzeentch Rodeo army and the Lizardmen, against the 2 Undead players.

Lord Tammil Augrimm, the Chosen of Tzeentch, sat enthroned upon his flying battle platform, high above the soon to be battlefield. Before his gaze a massive horde of the grave born advanced from out of the southern marsh, challenging him and his war band. The Tzeentchian champion cursed softly at coming to this meeting with only his personal retinue and a few trusted commanders, but the mutated lizards would have taken the appearance of his full horde as a sign of aggression and the alliance talks would have quickly devolved into a raging battle. Ironic that one was to occur anyways, no more than an hour hence.

The western flank was literally carpeted with the walking corpses of animated zombies. The necromancers leading them must have raised every fallen warrior within hundreds of miles to obtain such a number. They were like a rotting sea, stretching out without end. The more powerful wights and undead hounds advanced along the east while rabid ghouls held the center where the marsh still held its sway. Tasting the winds of magic, Tammil felt powerful sorcery at work, powerful enough perhaps to challenge his own….

Sighing at the inevitability of it all, Lord Augrimm began to shout commands down to the troops forming down below. The lizard commander had deferred to the Chosen’s command. He had been given little choice in the matter. As the lines began to form up, Tammil began to formulate his battle plan. It would require cunning, speed, and powerful spell craft, something that his fellow followers of the Changer could easily provide. It was what they excelled at after all. The lizard’s role would be simple. Delay the walking sea of death until the Vampire and his necromancer lackeys had been dealt with…
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The Undead Alliance

Army of Blood (Blood dragon vampire counts)

Blood Dragon vampire count - lev. 2 upgrade, sword of might, enchanted shield, ring of the night, master strike, full plate armor, barded nightmare. Over general, leads the black knights.

Wraith - talon of death, great weapon, barded nightmare. Joins the black knights

Wight Lord - heavy armor, cursed shield, sword of kings. Joins grave guard.

Necromancer - lev. 2 upgrade, 2 dispel scrolls. Cowers in allied zombies #5.

10 ghouls - ghast

10 dire wolves - doom wolf

Bat swarm - 1 base

11 black knights - barding, full command, and banner of doom

19 grave guard - full command, banner of the barrows

4 fell bats

Black coach

Banshee

The Shamblin' Horde (Necromancer army)

Master Necromancer - lev 4 upgrade, power familiar, black periapt, wristbands of black gold. Leads zombies #1

Necromancer - lev 2 upgrade, book of archon, dispel scroll. Cowers in zombies #2

Necromancer - lev 2 upgrade, staff of damnation. Cowers in zombies #3

Necromancer - lev 2 upgrade, rod of flaming death. Cowers in zombies #4

5 units of 39 zombies - standard bearer and musician


The Unlikely Alliance

The Hellfires of Tzeentch (Tzeentch Rodeo army)

Lord of Tzeentch - Disc of Tzeentch, great weapon, shield, Gaze of the Gods, Staff of Change. Over general

Exalted Champion of Tzeentch - barded steed, Armor of Damnation, sword of might, shield. Leads knights

Exalted Champion of Tzeentch - flail, shield, Golden Eye of Tzeentch. Rides in chariot

6 Chosen knights of Tzeentch - full command, war banner

5 marauder horse- flails, musician

5 marauder horse - flails, musician

2 chariots of Tzeentch

4 screamers

8 furies

Cold-blooded Fury (Lizardman army)

Oldblood on Carnosaur - Blessed spawnings (+1 armor save, +1 attack on the charge, able to ride), aura of Quetzl, blade of revered Tzunki, light armor, shield

Skink priest - lev. 2 upgrade, 2 dispel scrolls

Skink priest - lev 2 upgrade, cube of darkness

15 skinks - blowpipes, champion

13 skinks - blowpipes

Jungle swarm - 4 bases

20 saurus warriors - spears, full command

4 kroxigors - champion

Stegadon


Terrain: Our side of the battlefield contained a gnarled wood near the far left side of our deployment zone and a rough plateau (hill + difficult ground) near the far right, a few inches in front of our zone.

On the other side of the battlefield, there was another rough plateau on the left side (from our perspective) about 18-20 inches in from their board edge. A marsh was in the middle, mostly in front of their deployment zone.

Deployment (from my perspective, left to right)

Undead: Zombies (with fellbats behind), zombies (with allied necromancer), bat swarm, zombies, zombies, and yet more zombies (with master necromancer), banshee and ghouls (both behind the marsh), black coach (by edge of marsh), black knights, dire wolves, grave guard (by now they're 6" or so away from their right boarder).

Alliance: Screamers, stegadon, skinks#1 in front of kroxigors, oldblood on carnosaur, mounted marauders #1 with jungle swarm behind , chaos chariot, chosen knights(across from the black knights) with saurus block behind, mounted marauders #2 with skinks #2 behind, furies behind the rough plateau with the skink shamans behind them, and lastly the chariot champion on the far right(not an ideal deployment for him, but he really had no where else to go, as he'd be wasting his potential on the zombies and quite likely get swarmed under).

T1

Alliance

Winning the roll, we naturally decided to take the first turn. With the enemy having 6 invocations of Nehek and 4 Vanhel's dance macabre (plus the book of archon), we needed to take the initiative. Our advance was cautious, only the screamers truly moved significantly forward, landing near the edge of the rough plateau on the enemies' side of the battlefield, ready to engage in some necromancer hunting later on in the game, even if it meant a suicide charge. The mounted marauders #2 swung back around the plateau to provide support for my chariot champion as furies flew up a few inches perching on the edges of the rough plateau in front of them, close enough to threaten the dire wolves or fly behind the enemy and harass them if they advanced to far. The saurus infantry moved up to plug the hole left by the marauders #2. Marauders #1 moved up to the edge of the marsh, angling to threaten the flank of the black knights should they advance more than a few inches, while being careful to keep the ghouls in their frontal arc, the jungle swarm advancing to their left. My lord willed his disc into flight, landing behind the horsemen, ready to charge the black coach in the next turn, but safe from being charged himself because of the marsh.

In the magic phase, a deadly barrage of Red Fire and magical lightning was hurled towards the black knights and dire wolves, aided by 2 re-rolls from a casting of 2nd sign. The enemy anti-magic was powerful however, and only a single wight fell to the barrage. Everything else was either saved or dispelled.

Undead

The fellbats and bat swarm declared charges against the screamers, the bat swarm being an inch or so short, leaving the bats to face the screamers on their own. The zombie horde proved to be outside of the command range of the vampire general, save for the last unit(containing the master necro.) which was partly behind the marsh, so were forced to shamble forward at a slow 4 inches. The ghouls and banshee entered the marsh, advancing near the marauders, the banshee seeking shelter behind the ghouls, preparing her scream. Threatened by the surrounding chaos troops, the black knights and coach advanced only a few inches forward, the dire wolves keeping pace, while the grave guard wheeled and began advancing slowly towards the main battle zone.

In the magic phase, the Master Necromancer attempted to unleash the gaze of nagash against the mounted marauders #1, but miscast and ended the magic phase.

In the shooting phase, the banshee let lose her howl at the mounted marauders #1. The steadying presence of Lord Augrimm kept them from harm (he rolled a total of 9 on 2d6+2).

In combat, a pair of fell bats caught a screamer in their vicious jaws and tore the daemon in twain (2 wounds). The screamers struck back, slashing with their barbed tails and tusks, felling a bat in return (3 wounds), and another crumbling do to combat resolution.

T2

Alliance

The furies charged into the dire wolves, their sharp claws ready to rend and tear. Lord Augrimm charged into the front of the black coach, but his horsemen failed their fear test to charge the ghouls. The jungle swarms advanced to partially block off the horsemen should the ghouls decide to charge them. The chosen, unsure of the distance between themselves and the black knights inched back to prevent the wights from possibly charging them in the undead turn. The saurus moved up next to them, created a formidable wall of warriors, their flank protected by the plateau. The skink shamans moved behind the saurus for protection, though the threat of the dire wolves and bats was all but gone. The other marauders advanced to threaten the right flank of the grave guard, while the chariot champion advanced into charge range of their front. The skinks #2 advanced to the left, ready to move to engage either the banshee or dash forwards to help engage the zombies. The oldblood abandoned the zombies in search of greater prey and advanced to the right, nearing the marsh, but behind the marauder horsemen, the unmounted chariot moving up next to him in support. The rest of the lizardmen advanced a normal move towards the zombies, the skinks preparing their blowguns, while those in the stegadon's howdah readied their giant bow.

In the magic phase, the 2nd sign was cast successfully, granting 3 re-rolls! The barrage of spell fire was reduced somewhat due to Lord Augrimm being in combat and was mostly dispelled, most notably the lightning spells directed towards the banshee. No other spell caused appreciable damage (the one successful red fire inflicted paltry S2 hits, resulting in a single, saved wound). While Tammil's attempted orange fire was dispelled.

In the shooting phase a barrage of poisoned darts cut down 3 zombies from one unit, while the giant bow skewered 2 from another.

In combat, the screamers slashed apart the last two fell bats, which were unable to damage the daemonic sky-sharks. Guided by 2 of the 2nd sign re-rolls, Lord Augrimm was easily able to smash apart the black coach, inflicting 4 wounds with his great weapon and overrunning a disappointing 7 inches through the explosion of splinters that resulted. The nearby ghouls passed the resultant panic test due to the threatening presence of the Vampire Count. The furies tore down 3 of the dire wolves with their vicious fangs and talons, the remaining wolves unable to injure the darting daemons(I saved the one wound inflicted), and 2 more crumbled due to CR.

Undead

The black knights attempted to avenge the destroyed coach by charging the marauders who had stalled in front of them, hoping to kill them and overrun into another target. The horsemen passed their terror check, but chose to turned their mounts and flee from the charging wights and their vampire master, easily outdistancing them and leaving them to fail their charge as there was no target to redirect into. The ghouls turned and pounced upon the rear of Lord Augrimm and his disc. Surprised at their boldness, the chaos lord turned to face them. The grave guard contemplated charging in to aid the dire wolves in their fight against the furies, but doing so would have meant giving the chariot champion their flank and horsemen their rear. They thought better of it and reformed on the spot to bring both back into their frontal arc. The zombies again shuffled forward, the necromancers abandoning their units as combat loomed, except for the on the far left. The bat swarm advanced forward away from the screamers as alone they stood little chance against the flying daemons. The banshee marched up towards the oldblood's flank, out of his line of sight and prepared to scream once more.

In the magic phase the master necromancer, in an attempt to let the black knights charge the oldblood and chariot, cast Vanhel's and promptly miscast again, resulting in him being unable to cast any more spells this turn. The necromancer near him attempted to cast the same spell, but one of the skink shamans activated his cube of darkness, dispelling the enchantment and ending the magic phase.

In the shooting phase the banshee once more let loose her unearthly howl, removing a wound from both the oldblood his carnosaur mount.

In combat, the deadly claws of the ghouls were unable to penetrate Tammil's defenses (saved the 1 poison caused wound with his ward save). In return Tammil raised his great weapon and cut down 2 of the cannibals. Still, the ghoul's numbers and the surprise of their rear attack gave them the edge and the 8 survivors began to surround the mighty lord. The furies, striking first, were able to cut down 4 of the dire wolves, leaving only the doom wolf to strike back, which failed to even hit the daemons and so crumbled.

T3

Alliance

The furies charged into the flank of the ghouls, forcing them to reform. The oldblood charged into the black knights, the chariot overcoming its fear to support him. The kroxigors charged through their skink screen to impact upon 2 of the zombie units(the skinks failed their leadership test and would not be able to move) while the stegadon charge the left-most zombie unit still housing a necromancer. The other skinks overcame their fear and charged in to engage the banshee, hoping to win out with shear numbers. The fleeing marauders rallied and moved up to the marsh again, ready to support the other units in the following turns. The other horsemen wheeled their mounts behind the grave guard while the chariot champion moved to threaten both the front of this unit and the flank of the black knights should the fight last until the next turn. The chosen, unable to charge, moved up in the hope of stopping the black knights should they prove victorious, the saurus marching nearby in support. The jungle swarm, comfortable in its marsh didn't really move about much. The screamers lifted from their plateau perch and flew over the zombie combats in a shrieking wave, their deadly tails slashing apart the vampire's necromancer as they passed, landing behind the zombies with line of sight on most of the other necromancers, ready to charge and tear them down in the next turn or perform another slashing attack if necessary.

In the magic phase, the powers of chaos really shone upon us. Though 2nd sign was dispelled with dice, the enemy’s magical defenses had been weakened over the last 2 turns and with the death of one of their necromancers. A pair of irresistible force lightning spells (forked lightning and Uranon's thunderbolt) claimed the unlife of another necromancer. The unengaged chaos champions chanted and blasted a full rank (5 models) off of the grave guard with red fire. Lastly, Tammil called upon the blessings of Orange fire and surrounded himself with its guiding aura.

In the shooting phase the unengaged skinks blew down the bat swarm with an accurate volley of blowgun darts. As the rest of our shooting was engaged, that was that.

In combat, the furies were unable to damage the ghouls, who in return slew one of the flying daemons with their envenomed claws. Directing their remaining 8 attacks against the disc, the ghouls were foiled by its daemonic aura save (saved the one poison wound caused). With my lord guided by the prophetic flames of Tzeentch, the ghouls stood little chance against Lord Augrimm's return attacks. 6 ghouls fell to the attacks of the mighty chaos lord and his disc, the survivors fleeing 6 inches. The furies restrained their pursuit, but Tammil was unable to restrain himself from punishing these wretched creatures and pursued a mere 5" on 3 dice, failing to catch them(immaterial as they couldn't rally), luckily failing to impact with the nearby zombies by a couple of inches. The stegadon's impact crushed 4 zombies beneath its massive bulk. The skinks riding it hurled javelins down into the fray from atop their howdah and wounded the necromancer leading them, knocking him from his feet. The unfortunate wizard was then snatched up in the stegadon's deadly beak and torn limb from limb. Another zombie crumbled due to the combat.

Moving on to the main fight we decided to leave the challenge between the oldblood and vampire until last. The chariot smashed one knight from his saddle, the halberds of the crew accounting for another. The wraith struck back with his scythe, but was unable to damage to armored bulk of the chariot. On to the title fight then. The charging oldblood struck first, with 6 S6 attacks, ignoring armor saves resulting in 2 wounds. The carnosaur, needing 5's to hit, caused a single wound. With a basic 0+ armor save and 5+ ward save, everyone was surprised when the wound leaked through and the mighty blood dragon was brought low, his broken body tossed aside by the raging and now blood-frenzied carnosaur...



At this time the vampire player surrendered and I can't say I really blamed him. It would have been nice to finish the battle, especially as my army was now poised to inflict some rather decisive damage, but with the general dead, the zombies would be crumbling at a fearsome rate and with the loss of 4 wizards this turn, the undead would be unable to cope with the losses or with our magic phase. With my screamers, furies, and chaos lord behind his lines there really was no place for his surviving necromancers to hide and it was only a matter of time before I hunted them down.
The grave guard were hopelessly outmaneuvered and unlikely to accomplish much before we either magiced them to death or charged them from all directions. The Black knights were now also in a bad position as with the loss of 2 more models from CR (not to mention any crumbling casualties), they were now very unlikely to win combat, with no ranks and the growing threat of becoming outnumbered in the subsequent turns. A well played battle on our part, but the undead did suffer from some atrocious luck in their magic phase and that last saving throw on behalf of their general. Had he survived the oldblood could very well have been cut down in this turn or the next, resulting in the chariot and probably the carnosaur fleeing, leaving the undead rampaging into my chosen and if they had won that fight, that would have represented a large amount of VPs. Still, the gods once again favored the alliance of chaos and lizardmen (someone should remind them that this pairing is blasphemy of the highest order) and victory was ours, with the loss of only one screamer and one fury, though had we played out the battle a number of skinks were soon to join them at the least.

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Nothraptor cursed to himself as he took quick stock of the battle. Most of his apprentices were dead, slain by daemons, monsters and powerful sorcery. With the vampire lord dead, his broken form crushed under several tons of now blood-mad carnosaur, the zombie horde he, Nothraptor, and his acolytes had raised was coming undone, the necromantic energies which animated them unraveling at a frightful pace. That, combined with the savage attacks of the lizardmen meant that they wouldn’t last out the hour. The necromancer simply lacked the resources to keep them replenished.

The wights were either being crushed by the chaos warriors and that monster riding mutant saurus, or being slowly overwhelmed by the magic of the circling chaos sorcerers that they were powerless to engage. To make matters even worse, the Disc riding enemy commander and his daemons had broken through the lines and his sole surviving apprentice and he had nowhere to hide…

Once again the master necromancer cursed, this time directing his vehemence at the fallen vampire. Nothraptor should never have joined up with the mad creature and been lured to this desolate place or its quest of vengeance against the Tzeentchian lord and his retinue. What matter to him if the chaos worshippers had destroyed several of the vampire’s brethren? No, this battle was lost and it was time to engineer his escape.

Pooling the last of their strength, Nothraptor and his apprentice raised a small mob of zombies and magically propelled them into combat with the daemonic sky-mantas. The zombies wouldn’t hold them for long, but hopefully they would delay the deadly daemons long enough for the two necromancers to escape. As they ran, the ominous stink of ozone began to gather in the air around them. Nothraptor drained his apprentice’s strength dry to shield himself from the deadly bolts of lightning, leaving the smoldering corpse of his former student in his wake. The master necromancer hiked his robes up around his ankles and bolted southwards to questionable safety, leaving the remains of the undead horde to its inevitable fate.

[Just Tony]

Solid reporting! Could use some pictures or maps, but that's a minor nitpick on my end. Welcome to the boards, by the way...

[Augrimm]

Thanks!

I used to be a Mod on the COTEC(Chamber of the Everchosen) forums back in the day, and it's nice to find another message board to read and comment at.

6th is my favorite edition of Warhammer (it was a tragedy on how quickly they screwed up 7th). Pretty decent army balancing (except maybe Brets and certain builds like SAD Skaven), heroes were put back in their place rather than ruling the battlefield like in 5th, and a pretty easy to use and fairly intuative magic system without spells being overpowering.

As for photos.... my mates are pretty good with me jotting down some quick notes during play, but no one really wants to stand around while I snap photos (and I suck at photography anyways). Plus, we allow a lot of experimentation so there is a good deal of proxying and unpainted/poorly painted models on the field.

[Just Tony]

You could set up a camera to record it and take stills from the video, perhaps. They might be okay with that, especially if you blur faces...