Battle Report - 3000 pts Dark Elves vs. Tomb Kings

Finally got to play a game with my Dark Elves using the new book, and it was a big'un. 3000 points. I played Mike, who runs the local Games Workshop store. I had a Monster Mash list I have wanted to try out.

So here was my list:

Characters
Malus Darkblade: General (in CoKs)
Supreme Sorceress: lvl 4, Ring of Hotek, Dark Magic (in Corsairs)
Sorceress: lvl 2, Cold One, Dispel scroll, Shadow Magic (in CoKs)
Death Hag: BSB, Witch Brew (in Corsairs)

2x 5 Dark Riders: Musician, Repeating Crossbows, Shields
10 Cold One Knights: Banner of Swiftness, Full command
2x Reaper Bolt Throwers
2x Kharibdyss
2x War Hydra
44 Corsairs: Additional Hand weapon, Full Command
Bloodwrack Shrine (in Corsairs)

For spells, my Supreme got Power of Darkness (dropped Word of Pain for this), Bladewind, Soul Stealer, and Black Horror. My lvl 2 got Miasma and Mindrazor.

My opponent's list:

Liche Priest: lvl 4, dispel scroll
High Queen Khalida (in archers)
2x Necrotects (one in each warrior unit)
Tomb King: Destroyer of Eternities, Charmed Shield (in Tomb Guard)

2x 50 Warriors: spears & shields
50 archers
30 Tomb Guard: Standard of the Undying Legion
2x Screaming Skull Catapults
Casket of Souls
War Sphinx
4 Sepulchral Stalkers
3 Sepulchral Stalkers

He had the usual Nehekaran spells.

Deployment looked like this:

I got first turn, so off we go!

Turn 1 - Dark Elves

After Vanguarding, my Dark Riders on the right marched all the way up to the back right flank to start harassing. The left flank DR marched up in front of the war machines. Everything else marched forward to get into position.

The magic phase was lackluster, only getting 3 dice. But I did get a channel and Power of Darkness gave me 2 more dice. Bladewind was cast on the archer unit but got scrolled. Good to get that out of the way early. Tried to cast Soul Stealer, but came up short.

The left Dark Riders fired and took a would off the left Skullpult and the right flank DR managed to take out a Tomb Guard. The Bolt Throwers tried single shots on the Sphinx, one hit, but failed to wound.

Turn 1 - Tomb Kings

He backed his archers up. The Sphinx moved forward, not feeling a charge was possible. The left Warrior unit reformed to face the Dark Riders, while the Tomb Guard reformed to also face the Dark Riders. The other unit of Warriors moved up.

The Casket of Souls killed off two Dark Riders but they passed their Panic test. The archers unloaded on the central Kharibdyss causing 5 wounds of which I only saved one. That was some bad rolling, but the K-beast was still up.

Turn 2 - Dark Elves

Turn 2 is when things started getting interesting. The left DR charge the Casket, and in hind sight I should have gone after a Skullpult. Ah well. The Corsairs and Cold One Knights charge the Warriors, but the Corsairs fail the charge, stumbling forward 5". The right DR march past the Tomb Guard to plant themselves behind the enemy line. The right K-beast marches up ready to hit the Warrior flank if the fight lingers. The central K-beast and Hydra move up. I moved the Hydra up to give the Sphinx a target, knowing it was going to die most likely. The left Hydra moved up to the fence line.

I managed to cast Miasma on the Warrior unit dropping their WS by 2, so they were now WS 1. Bladewind got off on the archers and out of 23 failed tests, 12 die. Black Horror goes off and hits both the Warriors' flank and the archers. The Queen makes her Look Out Sir! roll and 2 archers and 3 warriors die. (again, I suppose)

In the shooting phase, the Dark Riders manage to pick off 1 archer, and the Reapers, using multi-shot, take out 3 more.

In combat, the Dark Riders manage two wounds on the Casket, but the great weapon wielding guard wipe the unit. Malus directs his attacks against the Necrotect and kills it, and the Knights and mounts kill off 13, losing 1. They win by 14 which hurts the Warriors.

Turn 2 - Tomb Kings

The Tomb Guard reform to face the Kharibdyss, while the left flank Warriors reform to face the Hydra. He makes his reserve roll and rolls a Hit on the scatter die and the Stalkers pop up right behind the Hydra. The Sphinx charges the Hydra.

A good roll for the magic phase saw my opponent sitting on a lot of dice. The casket is dispelled. I was planning on using my scroll for the forthcoming Smiting, but an expanded Righteous Smiting is cast with Irresistible Force. He rolls a 2 on the miscast and is sucked into the warp after blowing up and taking 4 archers with him (and a wound on the Queen). The resulting Crumble sees one Skullpult dead and 4 wounds on the Sphinx after rolling a 12 on the Leadership test.

The surviving Skullpult fires at the K-beast with 1 wound and scatters, so the archers finish it off. The Stalkers use their Gaze at the Hydra, but roll 2 misfires resulting in 4 wounds and one dead Stalker. 8 total hits cause no wounds to the Hydra.

In combat, the Sphinx's crew manages a few wounds on the Hydra, and in the simultaneous combat between the two, they kill each other. The Crumbling, and that 12 on the Ld test, really helped me there. The Knights take out 9 warriors and lose none and the unit crumbles on Resolution. The Knights reform to face the Tomb Guard.

Turn 3 - Dark Elves

The Hydra charges the Warriors, the Shrine unit charges the Archers with the Dark Riders providing flank support. Finally the Knights and the Kharibdyss charge the Tomb Guard, with the Knights hitting it in the flank.

In the magic phase, I get off PoD getting 3 more dice and make my MR save against the ensuing wound. More importantly, it gave my Corsairs +1 strength in the ensuing combat. Miasma on the Tomb Guard is dispelled, and Mindrazor falls just short.

One of the Reapers was in range of the Stalkers. It hits, but I roll a 1 to wound.

In the Corsair fight, 5 impact hits kill 2, Avert Your Gaze kills another 2. The Queen challenges and I accept with my Death Hag... and I get blindsided by the fact that the Queen has I 9! Whoops. With 2x attacks from Righteous Smiting, the Queen slaughters the Death Hag. However, the Corsairs and Dark Riders wipe the unit and the Queen goes away from Combat Resolution.  I try to restrain both units, but only succeed with the Dark Riders. The Knights kill off 8 Guard. The K-Beast attacks the Tomb King only causing 1 wound which is saved by the Charmed Shield. The King proceeds to Heroic Killing Blow the Kharibdyss. The combat is still won by me and the Guard lose a few.They try to reform but fail the Ld test to make it.

On the bright side, the Hydra gets it's two lost wounds back.

Turn 3 - Tomb Kings

The Stalkers charge the Hydra in the rear. The second unit of Stalkers enters the fray, rolling a hit on it's scatter and coming up right by the Dark Riders and Knights.

In magic, the Casket is dispelled and the Regen Standard is IF'd and crumbles.

The Skullpult rolls a hit on the Shrine, but wound roll comes up a 1. It still takes out 4 corsairs though. The Stalkers roll no misfires this time and get 20 hits on the DR. Enough sixes were rolled and armor saves failed that the unit is wiped out.

The Hydra kills off 5 warriors and takes 3 wounds in return. Losing combat it runs but isn't caught. The Knights whittle down the Guard more, killing 9 and losing 1 in return to a Killing Blow. They win combat 11-3, making the Guard lose 8 more. They fail their combat reform Ld test again.

Turn 4 - Dark Elves

The Hydra fails it's Ld test and runs right to the edge of the table.

Miasma gets IF'd on 2 dice! I roll a 5 on the Miscast table, taking out 3 Knights and putting a wound on both the Sorceress and Malus. Ouch! I then cast Black Horror... which also is IF'd! I roll a 7 and get the one that affects the models in base-to-base with the wizard, killing 3 Corsairs. The resulting spell does nothing to the Stalkers.

The Reapers fire at the Stalkers causing a total of 5 wounds, killing one. The Medusa then uses her gaze attack, hitting all 4 times and getting 4 wounds, wiping the unit.

Malus decides to release T'zarkan and directs his attacks at the Tomb King causing 2 wounds. The Knights kill one more guard and win combat by 2.

Turn 4 - Tomb Kings

The Stalkers charge the Hydra and make it so it flees off the table. The Warriors turn to face the surviving Dark Elves.

The Casket goes off, but I scroll it. The Skullpult fires at the Shrine but harmlessly scatters 10 inches.

Malus finally kills off the Tomb King, taking a wound on the Curse. The Knights kill 1 and the Guard kills off the Sorceress. The unit wipes on Resolution.

Crumbling kills off the last Skullpult.

At this point it was late and the store needed to close so we called it here. My opponent said he felt it was time to concede anyway. My thoughts on what to take away from this: This was an experimantal list on my part. I wanted to try out a list heavy on monsters. Against an Undead army it's not as effective in terms of all the Fear and Terror the army causes, but it helps in the ensuing combats since they don't suffer from the same so no Fear tests to possibly fail. I probably could have done my Deployment better. The Beasts became fodder that allowed the Shrinestar and Knights to get into combat but they could have been useful to combo charge more. Charging the Hydra at the Sphinx was a bad idea and I lucked out on the Crumbling causing 4 wounds to the Sphinx. It likely could have been a much different game had the Liche Priest not blow'd up on turn 2. However, with the ensuing Corsair unit wiping the archer unit he was in, it wouldn't have been much longer before the crumbling started.

All in all a fun game. I will have to experiment with this list some more.