The Chattering Horde: Skaven v. Empire and High Elves Early Game Report

*Squeek*

Here is some turn-by-turn commentary on my recent battle. I'll put some photos under each section.

Deployment: (For full army lists, please see my previous post)

2,500 points per side meant lots to put down! I started off with my Giant Rat darts to see what my opponents might put down so I could get a sense of their priorities. Naturally, Dwarf war machines went on the hill (Center Right above), with Quarrelers on the same hill - quite a firebase!

The anvil and dwarf infantry went next to them (top right, above), while the Empire flanked the hill with their infantry. The Dwarf miners didn't actually come on yet (center bottom above.)

Skaven took the chance to put WLC on a hill (bottom left) with the Doomwheel lined up for a run against the Demigryph Knights. Doombell went center of the battlefield. One block of Skaven Slaves and Clanrats faced off against the Empire, while the Plague Monks and other slaves faced off against the Dwarves.

I put down x1 unit of Gutter Runners as Scouts and held the other as "Sneaky Infiltrators" - hoping to bring them on later behind the gunline to take out a cannon.

Magic-wise, Grey Seer rolled-up Plague, Howling Warpgale, Skitterleap, Death Frenzy. Plague Priest rolled Pestilent Breath and Cloud of Pestilence.

Turn 1: Dwarves and Empire

Not much movement, and not much magic that I remember (aside from the Anvil putting a couple of attacks down on my Hell Pit Abomination, which regen'd a wound) but as would be the case through most of the game, lots of shooting.

I immediately learned the hard way to fear Dwarf artillery. Why?

Cannon: Destroyed my Warplightning Cannon with one shot - multiple wounds done. Blam!

Dwarf Organ Gun. Anything within 24 Inches is auto-hit, regardless of line of sight. First shot from this thing took out my unit of Gutter Runners, who fled off the board. Being behind a forest made no difference!

(Note: my thanks to my opponents for the offer and decision to modify the Organ Gun rules! We decided to mod the rules a bit where a unit is behind something like a forest or a building so it wouldn't be auto-hit, which seems to make sense to me!)

Quarrelers: Took some long shots and took down a couple of Clanrats pushing the bell.

Anyway, a good turn for Dwarf Shooting!

Lesson(s) Learned: Watch out for those Dwarf Organ Guns and stay out of their 24 inch range at setup!

The Anvil and Dwarf infantry

Dwarves move forward

Gutter Runners (before their destruction!)

Dwarf gunline, with Organ Gun at right and Quarrelers at left.

Here comes the Empire! Doomwheel just out of shot to the left here.

Wrecked WLC - boo hoo!

Turn 1: Skaven

Skaven moved forward, but no charges yet. In the magic phase I rang the Screaming Bell, but got "Emboldened", which wouldn't really help this turn...
Likewise, the Doomwheel moves forward, hoping to get close enough to the Demigriff Knights and give them some Zzap love. Unfortunately though the DW didn't get very far, (as the rats weren't feeling particularly energetic) so only manages to zap a couple of Clanrats.

...on the other hand, the Grey Seer managed to Skitterleap the Warplock Engineer with Doomrocket right into the enemy back field.
BOOM! The Doomrocket sails right down the enemy backline and explodes on top of the Quarrelers, managing to take out almost half of them.
AND, one of the Plague Wind Mortars manages to get a hit on the Empire infantry, managing to take out a few infantry.

Lessons Learned: Yeah, Skitterleaping a naked Warplock Engineer with a Doomrocket is a lot of fun! However, wouldn't this only work once against a regular opponent? (They would stagger their lines of deployment to avoid this in the future...)