The first of a few inevitable games played with my cousin. After deciding to play smaller point games, I thought it was about time to roll out my small collection of Warriors of Chaos to test out instead of the old High Elves. The first of which, 1000pts vs Wood Elves.
Well this is the first battle report to be posted on the blog, so please feel free to pick apart and suggest any improvement, feedback is more than welcome!
With my opponents list for our next game tonight being written adjacent to his list for this game, I am unable to get my hands upon it, and thus will have to update this post with the list later on.
As for my corner, I decided the first list to be both reckless and experimental, with little focus on victory and more focus on testing a few units of the force.
The list is as follows:
(All units are shown with upgraded extras, not all attached items/weapons etc..)
Hero – Exalted Hero
- Barded Chaos Steed
- Shield
- Mark of Nurgle
- Rending Sword
- Favour of the Gods
Core
20 Marauders
- Full Command
- Shields + Light Armour
- Mark of Nurgle
2 Units of 5 Chaos Warhounds
12 Chaos Warriors
- Shields
- Full Command
- Mark of Nurgle
5 Marauder Horsemen
- Light Armour
- Throwing Spears
Special
5 Knights of Chaos
- Standard Bearer
- Mark of Nurgle
It Begins
The choices were made crudely with unknown expectation, hounds for harassment joined with the marauders, main block of warriors, marauders and knights, all blessed with Mark of Nurgle to provide a -1 to hit from shooting and a -1 WS to those pesky Wood Elves.
Deployment was simple, and fairly quick with a lack of troops on my part, and the first turn went to the Wood Elves. The traditional Wood Elf approach followed throughout, with myself marching through hails of arrows to reach combat range, with 2-5 tough warriors being slain each turn for the beginning few. Magic for the start of the game was fairly ineffective with myself having none and my opponent miscasting (but luckily surviving!).
It wasnt long however until my hounds, and fast cavalry reached either flanks and began to charge, and the true colours of these units began to shine through. The hounds went from barking to yelping and even fleeing after seeing most of their pack being slaughtered, however the marauder horseman fared better, managing to break a unit of Glade riders, and trampling them in the aftermath. They were unfortunately overwhelmed, and it became clear that additional support would be needed for them in the future.
(Please excuse the empty bases and colourful units, but due to limited packing space I needed to beg/borrow what was not brought!)
Just as soon as my bulk was approaching the front line, the fury of the Wood Elves hit, and boy they hit hard. A unit of 12 Wardancers charged into my 20 strong marauder block, slaying 12 in the first turn, and with only my champion able to fight back,the result was clear and my crazed warriors broke and fled, luckily without the Wardancers being able to overrun.
My Chaos warriors now in range charged a stunned block of 10 Archers, slaying 4 and holding fast. In response a unit of Glade riders charge the rear of the unit killing another 2 warriors, leaving just the unit champion.
Elsewhere my Chaos Knights, along with the joined Hero charged the nearest unit of Glade riders, destroying them all in the first turn! In response to the massacre a nearby Wood Elf Noble failed a panic test and fled 1″ away from the table edge before rallying, blocking myself of valuable victory points.
After drenching themselves in the blood of the Glade Riders, the Knights turned to the deadly Wardancers as they hunted down the few surviving marauders, charging and once again slaying all in just two turns, in return 2 of the Knights fell to the swirling blades. As another counter movement, the Knights and Hero are swiftly flank charged by a unit of Eternal Guard, slaying yet another knight.
Back on the other side of the field, the lone surrounded champion fended off attacks of the archers and riders, and in return laid waste to another 3.
The previously fleeing marauders had now managed to rally, subsequently turning around in a rage and counter charging the eternal guard. Unfortunately this is where the dice rolls by the Wood Elves had grown very unlucky. The eternal guard failing their leadership test broke from combat, rolling then a double 1 for distance, the only roll that would have prevented them from breaking! Needless to say they were overrun and slaughtered.
As the mist of blood started to dissipate, we began to count up the all important Victory Points, to which we were both surprised.
DRAW
- 570VP to Chaos
- 506VP to Wood Elves
Conclusions
Overall it is clear to see that Chaos, if I can continue to play in the future, will be a very slow, deadly yet fun force to use. Against the Wood Elves in particular I have learnt that Warhounds seem to be a complete waste of time, however the harassment from the Horsemen was very effective, and will be something I will try to improve. As far as bulk troops I have to agree that Chaos Knights are some of the most deadly units in the game, however I was greatly caught out by the skill of the Wardancers.
Bring on the next game!
Really nice write up there, mate. Very atmospheric!
Was this a game under 8th Edition rules for Warhammer? I’ve not played (or even seen) a game under the new rules yet so I can’t really comment on that but the game certainly looked to be a close one. I was also surprised at the final count!
I played Chaos (very briefly!) under the previous rules and you’re right about them being a small army. They can be deadly and aren’t the most forgiving of armies!
I’m looking forward to the next report
And I wouldn’t worry about empty bases and brightly coloured proxies – it’s all part of the hobby!
Nick
Thanks again for the positive feedback!
Im afraid this was 7th Edition, neither of us have the new rules, and probably wont (at least not myself for a while).