Who has the beatdown?

After the drubbing I got in my last game I approached this one with some trepidation. The Dark Elves had the beating of me in the shooting phase, magic phase and movement phase and Gary's deployment foxed me. I didn't help my own cause when I changed my plan halfway through deployment and took the Druchii head on. The fickle nature of magic made itself known when my Sorcerer died while casting his first spell.

My first thoughts were to tweak the list. I decided to drop my Sorcerer back down to a level one. With two Dispel scrolls he was primarily there for magic defense, but he also had a magic missile spell to give me some shooting. A bound magic missile in the Banner of Wrath gave me more firepower. I dropped the Exalted down to an Aspiring Champion, as anything more was just overkill. With the spare points I made my Knights chosen.

My main change though, was one of attitude. I was determined to force the Dark Elves to react to my army, rather than my army react to theirs. To this end, before I had even seen the battlefield, I decided I'd refuse one flank and put my Knights on the end of the other. If I kept my army compact I hoped it would negate the Dark Elf speed advantage.

Much to my consternation Gary had painted up a second unit of Dark Riders. Uh-oh. The good news was that he only had one Sorceress.

Here are the full lists:

Armies 1250 points
My Chaos Undivided mortals:

• Aspiring Champion with Book of Secrets, extra hand weapon (Steed of Shadows spell)
• Lvl 1 Sorcerer with 2 Dispel Scrolls (Dark hand of Death)
• 12 Warriors full command
• 10 Warriors full command Banner of Wrath
  
• 5 Chosen Knights full command
• 6 War hounds
• Chariot
• 8 Furies

The Dark Elves had:

• Noble on Cold One with Sword of strength six
  
• Lvl 2 Sorceress
• War Hydra
• 10 Repeater Crossbows
• 16 Spearelves full command
• 5 Dark Riders
• 5 Dark Riders
• 19 Executioners full command Banner of Murder

Here is a picture of the deployment.


The Druchii started with most of their army inside the bend of the river, daring my army to come at them. Only the two Dark Rider units deployed opposite my army, on the far side of the large wood. I refused the right flank and set up everything on the left.

The game
I won first turn. I marched the Chosen Knights the full fourteen inches forward to threaten the Dark Riders. The War hounds were nearby, but further back. I angled the Chariot to hit anything that broke through my lines. I flew the Furies up on the other side of the wood in case the Dark Riders tried to run away. Thaer, my Aspiring Champion ran up next to them. He could use Steed of Shadows to keep up with the Daemons if necessary. I marched my Warriors up into the centre of the board.

One Dark Rider unit tried to charge the War hounds but was just out of range. The other unit pulled back. The other Dark Elf units formed up in a line along the river. The Repeater Crossbows were perched high up on a hill in the corner.

My Knights charged the first unit of Dark Riders who fled only to be caught. The Chaos cavalry couldn't quite reach the second unit. My War hounds padded up alongside. I brought the Furies up around the wood onto the flank of the Dark Riders. They were totally trapped in the corner now. My Warrior units angled toward the Elf battle line and tossed some speculative magic missiles at the Cold One Noble. I was just in range, while the Elf Sorceress and the Crossbows would be just out of range. Sweet.

Gary pulled the Dark Riders out of the charge arc of the Knights and parked them in front of the hounds. He also realigned his units along the river, pushing the Noble up toward the bridge. Still, his magic and shooting was too far away.

My Furies and Hounds charged the Dark Riders. They failed their Fear test and ran off the board. We weren't sure what would happen to the chargers and in the end moved them their full distance. That left the Furies right on the board edge and the War hounds off the table.

If I was going to charge the Dark Elves I'd have to make my move now.

Instead I targeted the Noble again with magic, removing a wound. I figured I had 200 victory points for two table quarters and I could deny the others from the Druchii. I also had around 200 points for the Dark Riders. If the Elves wanted the win they could come after me.

Both infantry blocks shuffled into the river but it became obvious they would never reach my line. Only the Noble got anywhere near as he came over the bridge but he eventually took a magic missile in the face and died.

I won the game without taking a single casualty.

Result massacre
Chaos 631 vps
DE 0 vps

Thoughts

1. My plan worked better than I could have thought possible. The Dark Elf deployment did affect things, and it would have made things much more interesting if the Elves had deployed more conventionally, but I stuck to my plan and followed it through. Once I realised I had the magic advantage, and I had neutralised the Dark Riders with their speed, I was in total control.
2. We go up to 1500 points shortly and I'm still not sure what to add to the army. Unfortunately this game didn't really enlighten me any further. I'm painting a hero on a Daemonic Mount, so that's about 150 points allocated. I reckon four more War hounds would be sensible, giving me two five dog units. Marauder cavalry could be a good choice too. They'll give me even more mobility to keep up with the sprightly elves.
   

Tackling the beast

Just a quick update to show you my Exalted Champion's Daemonic Mount. It's a really heavy all metal model and I had a devil of a job gluing it together. I couldn't fit the pieces properly and I had to file everything down. Even then there were big gaps which I had to fill with Green Stuff. Left off the rider so I could get into all the nooks and crannies of the mount.


Because the model is so heavy I had to glue it to a large base and then further secure it with copious amounts of blu-tac in order to paint it. I sprayed it Chaos Black and then painted Chaos Black into the crevices to give it a uniform undercoat.


The first thing I painted was the fur because I knew I would drybrush it and that it would be messy. I overbrushed Scorched Brown first, followed by a Snakebite Leather drybrush and a light Bleached Bone drybrush. I then washed the lot with Brown Ink to tie the layers together. Finally I tidied up the edges with Chaos Black.

I'll tackle the chainmail next.

Out with the old, in with the new

My e-bay auctions have finished and there is good news and bad news. The bad news is that only two out of five items sold. The good news is that they brought in over £20. Adding this to my last total and taking out my latest selling fees I have:

Total income from sales (and my penny jar) £60.99
Less selling fees (so far) £4.60
Less models bought £20.00
New model fund £36.39

I'm due to play another game tomorrow night, so following that I'll decide on my next purchases. At the moment I'm thinking about at least 4 new War hounds and Marauder cavalry. That'll hopefully be enough to deal with those bothersome Dark Riders and the extra unit Gary is threatening me with.

Lava base

I finished off the base for my Daemonic mount today. I decided to paint the cracks in between the broken ground as lava. It's the first time I have tried this so I thought I'd post a stage by stage account here. This blog is actually functioning as my painting diary at the moment.

First I painted a rough splodge of Scab Red in the crevices.


Next I painted a slightly thinner line of Red Gore.

Blood Red followed, again in less quantity.

Things brightened up even more with the addition of Blazing Orange.


The final colour, fittingly enough, was Fiery Orange.


With the lava finished I just had to paint those funny barb/thorn things pushing through the ground. I chose green as the colour to provide a contrast to the lava. I painted them Dark Angels Green with stripes of Snot Green and then Snot Green/Fortress Grey tips. I washed them down with an Orc Flesh green ink wash.

The very last thing I needed to do was to touch up the black on the edges of the broken ground.



I'm not sure whether to put static grass and snow on the base. What do you think?

On the workbench

In a desperate ploy to try and stop those pesky Dark Riders from dominating my Chaos army, I came up with a way to field my Furies. I have a unit of eight which I use in my 40k Chaos army and I wanted to adapt them for my fantasy horde. The models themselves are okay but the round bases had to be converted to square ones. My first thought was using a Games Workshop movement tray with circles cut out, but the Furies are skirmishers and needed individual bases.

I went out and bought some plastic covered card and cut it into 25mm squares. I painted them brown and blu-tacked them to the base of the Furies. They looked awful. They were just too thin. You can see them here, along with the modified movement tray for my Warrior unit.

My cunning plan then involved gluing sand to the corners of the bases where they protruded from the round base, to build up the corners. This helped but is still not ideal. I think they need some static grass to add to the vertical. Still, I got a new eight model unit for £2 and about 30 minutes work.

My next project is my Exalted on Daemonic mount. I bought the Archaon model and plan to do some small conversions to make him my own. Anyway, I didn't change the base. Here's how I painted it.

I undercoated it with Chaos Black spray and then overbrushed it with Codex Grey.

Next I drybrushed it with Fortress Grey.

Now I carefully painted the deepest recesses Chaos Black and drybrushed the cracked rocks with Chaos Black.

Next up, I'll paint on the lava.

That's magic! You'll like it...not a lot.

After a two week break, I managed to get another game in with my Chaos Warhammer army. We bumped the points up to 1250 so that I could add my Furies and Gary could fit his Executioners in comfortably. Loads of rules queries came up in this game, so I'll flag them up and see if any of you have an answer. Here are the lists:

Armies 1250 points
I brought my Chaos Undivided mortals:

• Exalted Champion with Book of Secrets, extra hand weapon and shield (Steed of Shadows spell)
• Lvl 2 Sorcerer with 2 Dispel Scroll (Dark hand of Death and Drain Life spells)
• 12 Warriors full command
• 10 Warriors full command Banner of Wrath
  
• 5 Knights full command
• 6 War hounds
• Chariot
• 8 Furies

Gary brought Dark Elves with:

• Lordling on Cold One with Sword of twatting you at strength six
  
• Lvl 2 Sorceress
• Lvl 2 Sorceress
• War Hydra
• 10 Repeater Crossbows
• 16 Spearelves full command
• 5 Dark Riders
• 19 Executioners full command Banner of Murder

The battlefield and deployment

See the picture below for the table layout. It was taken on turn 2.

While the Dark Elves were deploying, I realised they were castling behind the large wood on my right, presumably to bottle me up as I attacked. My first thought was to refuse the bait, place my two hardest units on each flank, and slaughter whatever emerged, hoping that the Elves themselves would trip over each other as they repositioned. If they stayed put, they would simply lose by three table quarters to one.

However, I had waited a long time for a game, and I was Chaos after all, so I didn't want to win in a bloodless battle. I took the bait and charged in.

The Game
The Dark Elves won first turn. The Dark Riders ran 18" forward. His magic was out of range. My units moved toward the Druchii corner. The Banner of Wrath killed two Dark Riders, then the Exalted cast Steed of Shadows to charge and wipe out the rest. They had to hold because a Sorceress was just behind and possibly within range. Excellent. My bogey unit dead on turn 1. Then things started to go downhill.

My Sorcerer tried to cast Dark hand of Death and miscast on a double one. He then rolled a double one on the miscast table and was annihilated, along with three Warriors. Okey dokey.

Dark Elf shooting and magic took a wound of the Exalted. The Cold One Lord and Hydra repositioned next to the wood to charge the Knights if they moved forward. The Sorceress in the rocks moved away from the Exalted and the Furies.

I moved in again, risking the charge with the Knights. I swept the Furies round the left flank to face the Sorceress and the flank of the Executioners. I moved the War hounds back out to the right flank. My Exalted then rolled a double one for Steed of Shadows and had to roll twice on the miscast table. Great. On the upside, he survived but a Knight was killed when the Dark Elves got a bonus spell.

The Cold One Lord went stupid and stumbled out in front of the Knights, blocking the Hydra. Superb timing! The Hydra came around behind the Lord to counter charge the Knights if they took on the Druchii general. The Sorceress pulled back again and killed three Furies with magic.

The Furies charged the Sorceress and forced her to flee. She outran them and survived. Rats. How do you form up the Furies against a lone model? We had them in a conga line of five single file models, which seemed correct according to the rules but looked ridiculous!

The Knights charged the Cold One Lord. She challenged and and killed the Champion. She also passed her break test to remain in combat. The Hydra charged into the Knights.

My Exalted stood in front of the Executioners, a calculated gamble to tempt them out and present a flank to my Warriors. The unit charged him, caused no wounds, he killed two in return but still broke and ran a full twelve inches up behind my Knights. The Executioners successfully held.

The Cold One Lord skewered another Knight and the Hydra bit the head off another. The two survivors fled. The Cold One Lord pursued but failed to catch the Knights. He did hit the Exalted who fled again, this time behind the Warriors and Chariot. Does the Exalted auto-flee again or is he destroyed automatically?

My Furies were reduced to a single model by magic and the Repeater Crossbows. The Hydra and Cold One Lord were now facing off against the Warriors and Chariot. And I had the charge. Bring it on!

The Chariot failed it's terror test and ran. Eeep! My Knights continued to flee. The Warriors were made of sterner stuff and crunched into the many-headed monster. My Exalted rallied and cast Steed of Shadows to charge the Cold One Lord. Can he use Steed of Shadows to charge on the turn he rallied?

My last Fury charged the Sorceress again. Everything went to plan. My Exalted chopped the Cold One Lord into itty bitty pieces, the Warriors broke the Hydra and the Fury ran the Sorceress down. Nice.

The Executioners charged into the Warriors front and my armoured behemoths held. My second unit of Warriors was hemmed in by the rocks so couldn't join in. Instead I shuffled them back into a different table quarter. The Hydra rallied. Can the Hydra use it's breath weapon on the turn it rallies?

The Repeater Crossbows pin-cushioned the Exalted.

My Chariot rallied after the Executioners wiped out the first Warrior unit. As they crashed into the second unit the Chariot hit their flank but it only killed two models. The Executioners held on their break test. Flippity-flip. I would have won the game if they'd broken.

Result Marginal loss
Chaos 800.5 vps
DE 993.5 vps

Thoughts

1. I'm still struggling with the tactics of the movement phase. The problem is that I have a proactive army that needs to be used aggressively and forces my game plan on the enemy but I am usually a much more reactive player. I need to be less sporting and develop my killer instinct. The Chaos Gods demand it!
2. At last I dealt with the Dark Riders easily. My bound spell, magic missile spell, Steed of Shadows and the Furies meant I had a range of answers to them. It helped that Gary moved them into the centre of the table, too.
3. The army is starting to develop the way I had imagined. We're playing with enough points to have a Sorcerer and a general and a range of units. My next model will be an Exalted on a Daemonic Mount which should take me up to about 1500 points. I have no idea what to do to take the army up to 2000 points.
   

Swapping one fantasy world for another

I've listed some more of my old gaming gear on e-bay. There are 5 items this time, all of them related to The Lord of the Rings. Here are the links:

• MERP rulebook
• Mirkwood sourcebook
• Sea-Lords of Gondor sourcebook
• Darker Than Darkness adventure book
• The Wizard's Companion

I'm hoping that these old books (some of them are over twenty years old!) will allow me to purchase some Marauder horsemen for my Chaos army.

My other recent purchase was the Archaon model. I've been gluing the bits and pieces together all morning, including green stuffing the Daemonic mount - the gaps were horrendous and much gnashing of teeth was to be had.

This model will be the focus of much of my attention over the next week or so. I'll be sure to take photos and post them up here.

The Saga of Sigurt Volsung

I was flipping through my copy of The Lost and the Damned for inspiration, and came across the section on Chaos warbands, which recounted their various battles in the form of sagas, inscribed upon monoliths. I decided to write a saga for my Chaos general, Sigurt Volsung. Each four lines recounts a seperate battle.

Sigurt Volsung, the new-crowned king,
marched north to battle the witch kin.
His chieftains united under one banner,
and drove the Druchii before them.

The Dark Elves attacked with magic most foul,
their wicked arrows killed without honour.
Many farmsteads burned under Druchii torches,
and women and children forced into slavery.

Witch kin and Northmen by the fast flowing Teld battled,
the river turned red with the ruin of both armies.
The ford of Arnod lay unclaimed, unmanned,
but still the Dark Elves vomited forth from the Black Ark.

The Druchii marched on, a monster revealed,
but Anger Boda stood fast and showed mastery over the beast.
The Hydra lost it's heads one by one,
and Thaer feasted upon it's still beating heart.

A trio of hags spoke forbidden words from secret books,
but their magick misfired and Thaer on mighty pinions flew.
He hacked a witch into red mist, stealing her dark bible,
and the fey Elves fled the field.

The horde of Chaos marched on to the mouth of the Teld,
the Elvish Black Ark sinister on the horizon.
Executioners spilled forth to fight on the beaches,
and the Volsung were flung back to the valley.

I'll keep adding to it after every battle.

The new model fund grows

A while back I mentioned some of my gear I'd put up for sale on e-bay. Any money I earn will be used to buy new models. All but one of my items sold (who wouldn't want four books from the Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy, I ask you?) so I now have an extra £17.81 to spend on my Hordes of Chaos fantasy army. I still have the Archaon model to paint up as my Exalted Champion, then I may invest in some Marauder horse and some Warhounds to try and cope with those Dark Elf Dark Riders.

Of course, I won't have exactly £17.81 to spend, as I was rudely reminded that e-bay charge a selling fee. I got an invoice for my last lot of sales of £2.01. When I look at all of this together I get...

Total income from sales (any my penny jar) £40.49
Less selling fees (so far) £2.01
Less models bought £20.00
New model fund £18.48

I reckon it will take me a couple of weeks to paint the Archaon model, so I have that long to raise the funds to buy the Marauder horse and two more packs of Warhounds. That would cost £39 in total, so I better get listing!

Flight of the Eisenstein review

I got my paws on a copy of Flight of the Eisenstein fairly early, read it in a week, and I'm posting up the review today. The first part is the synopsis and tells you exactly what happens, so if you don't want to know the plot just skip straight to the review.

Synopsis
A Deathguard flotilla gathers to attack a gargantuan cylinder world of the jorgall. At the last moment, Mortarian, their Primarch, joins them. He brings Amendera Kendel, a Witchseeker leading a deputation of the Silent Sisterhood. The Deathguard invade the xenos ship. Captain Garro must take the hatcheries. After a ferocious battle Garro kills a mutant psychic alien. The Sisters of Silence depart for Luna with the dead mutant.

Kaleb, Garro's servant, discovers Commander Grulgor inducting a Marine into his warrior lodge. Grulgor threatens Kaleb who is defended by Apothecary Voyen. Mortarion honours Garro for his efforts during the battle. Mortarion invites Garro into the lodge. Garro refuses. The Primarch asks Garro to accompany him to a rendevous with the World Eaters, Emperor's Children and the Sons of Horus. Mortarion, Eidolon, Angron and Horus himself meet to plan the assault upon the traitors of Istvaan III. Garro renews his friendship with Saul Tarvitz of the Emperor's Children.

Garro discovers that Voyen has joined the lodge. The Deathguard and Emperor's Children attack an outpost on Istvaan Extremis. The listening post has been transformed into a strange ziggurat. Garro saves Decius' life but is severely wounded by the Warsinger, the enemy leader. Decius rescues Garro. Garro is tended by Fabius, Apothecary to the Emperor's Children, then Apothecary Voyen.

After the battle, Garro has his leg replaced with bionics. Kaleb prays to the Emperor to heal Garro. Garro dreams about The Saint. When Garro recovers he is assigned to the frigate Eisenstein to oversee the main assault on the Choral City. Typhon asks Grulgor to deal with Garro should he defy Horus and Mortarion.

Temeter leads the attack on the Choral city for the Deathguard. Hand picked squads of the World Eaters, Emperor's Children and Sons of Horus participate. Kaleb and Voyen discover Grulgor loading the ship's weapons with virus bombs. Tarvitz flies a Thunderhawk toward the Eisenstein, revealing Horus' betrayal and asking for help. Garro shoots down the chasing craft, allowing Tarvitz to escape to the surface of Istavaan III. Kaleb tells Garro about the virus bombs. Garro challenges Grulgor. Grulgor wounds Kaleb and the virus leaks onto the ship. Kaleb sacrifices himself to lock Grulgor and the traitors into a sealed compartment.

Garro discovers Kaleb's religious beleif in the Emperor. Decius, despite his reservations, helps take control of the ship for Garro. Istvaan III is virus bombed by Horus and the traitors. Temeter, along with many Deathguard, and loyalists of the other Legions, is killed.

Another Thunderhawk approaches the Eisenstein. Garro allows it to come aboard. It is carrying Qruze, a marine from the Sons of Horus, Sinderman the Iterator, Oliton the remembrancer and Keeler The Saint. Maas the communications officer of the Eisenstein informs Typhon that Garro has killed Grulgor and rebelled. Garro kills Maas. The Eisenstein is damaged by Typhon's ship but escapes into the warp.

The Eisenstein is attacked by deamons as well as the re-animated remains of Grulgor and the traitors. Garro kills Kaleb again. Decius loses an arm and becomes infected. The Eisenstein falls back out of the warp and is stranded in the middle of nowhere. The Navigator dies. Voyen wants to kill Decius but Garro refuses. Sinderman, Oliton and Keeler start a church on board. Garro visits Keeler, torn between his rational beliefs and his emerging spiritual feelings.

Garro orders the ship's warp engines be ejected and destroyed, creating a warp flare that will attract a rescue ship. Voyen challenges Garro - if the plan fails they will be stranded. The Imperial Fists, with their Primarch, Rogal Dorn, come to the aid of the Eisenstein. The Fists destroy the Eisenstein. They had been trapped in a warp storm until Garro's warp flare swept it away. Garro tells Dorn of the treachery. Oliton shows her hololithic projections and Keeler helps to convince the Primarch.

Everyone returns to the Sol system. Garro and his followers are taken to the headquarters of the Sisters of Silence on Luna. Decius is overcome by his disease and becomes the Lord of the Flies. He kills several Deathguard. Garro kills him after an epic fight.

Voyen dedicates his life to finding a cure for the disease. Malcador, regent of Terra, asks Garro and his men, as well as Kendel, to become fledgling inquisitors.

Review
I was worried about this book. That's because I reviewed two other James Swallow books (Deus Encarmine and Deus Sanguinius) and gave them rotten appraisals.

The problems that dogged those novels were thankfully not present here. There was a lot of plot for the author to handle, and a lot of interweaving to track between the previous Horus Heresy books, but Swallow handles things well. This is the first book in the series to loop back in time and follow the events of the Heresy from a different perspective. For this reason there is a lot to pack in; starting with the supposedly loyal Deathguard, the revelation of Horus' treachery, the bulk of the Legion declaring for Horus, the virus bombing of Istvaan - and all this before the loyalists even reach the Eisenstein!

Maybe because of the relentless pace of the plot, the author is unable to indulge in the pages of dull and earnest monologues that blighted his earlier works. Despite the plot, Garro and his struggles, both physical and spiritual, are fleshed out well; we get more rounded characters here than in the cardboard cut outs of Galaxy in Flames, for example. The reactions of the supporting cast are more convincing too. The loyalists squabble amongst themselves and when they try to spread word of the heresy they are disbelieved.

This bodes well for the forthcoming books in the series, particularly Fulgrim, penned by Graham MacNeill, which looks at the heresy of the Emperor's Children and their Primarch.

This is a decent addition to the Horus Heresy series.

I can cope with the despair, it's the hope that gets me

I'm whizzing forward through time to bring you this battle report. After writing up my intial battles, this one was played just last week and all reports from now on will be in chronological order. Are you keeping up?

Armies 1000 points
I brought my Chaos Undivided mortals:

• Aspiring Champion with Book of Secrets, extra hand weapon and shield (Steed of Shadows spell)
• Lvl 1 Sorcerer with Dispel Scroll (Steed of Shadows spell)
• 12 Warriors full command
• 10 Warriors full command
• 5 Knights full command
• 6 War hounds
• Chariot

Gary brought Dark Elves with:

• Lvl 2 Sorceress
• War Hydra
• 10 Repeater Crossbows
• 16 Spearelves full command
• 5 Dark Riders
• 19 Executioners full command

The battlefield and deployment
This was the same set up as a previous game. On my half of the table I had a large wood on my left, a smaller wood on my centre right and a hill on my right. The Dark Elves had some rock columns and a hill to my far left and a lake in the centre. From left to right I had 12 Warriors with Sorcerer, 10 Warriors with Asp Champ, Chariot, War hounds and Knights. The Druchii had Spearelves, Crossbows, Sorceress, Executioners, Hydra then Dark Riders.

The Game
The Dark Elves won 1st turn again. The Dark Riders ran forward. I marched the Knights up and faced the Warhounds toward the Dark Riders in case they decided to charge the Knights. The rest of my army marched toward the pointy ears.

The Dark Riders charged the flank of the Knights, killed one, I failed my break check, the Riders caught and killed the Knights then my Warhounds panicked and ran. Righto.

The Hydra moved into the centre, next to the Executioners. I moved my units forward again. The Hounds rallied and turned to face the Dark Riders again. The Riders killed four on the charge and ran the survivors down.

Moving again, I managed to cast Steed of Shadows on my Sorcerer. In a desperate ploy I charged him into the Repeater Crossbows. He failed to do any damage, failed his break test and failed to outrun the Elves. Rats.

The Executioners and Hydra joint charged my Warriors. I lost several men but passed the break test on snake eyes! At last, a glimmer of hope. This allowed my chariot to charge into the flank of the Hydra. With my Aspiring Champion and a Warrior also hacking into the beast I was confident of a kill. Three 6+ saves and a 5+ save later I had caused two wounds. Meh.

Back on the left, My Warriors charged the Spearelves. They broke and I ran them down. My Warriors then contacted the Sorceress who fled off the board. Huzzah!

In the main battle, my Aspiring Champion was bitten in half by the Hydra. The rest of the Warriors were slaughtered and the chariot broke. The Hydra chased it off the table and the game ended.

Result loss
Chaos 718 vps
DE 1187 vps

Thoughts

• Hideous luck. Lost 1st turn, lost the Knights and hounds, failed to hurt the Hydra (again). Shocking.
• Dark Riders are awesome again. The big table and my small number of slower units makes them kings. I just can't get to grips with them.
  

The mastery of beasts

Another chapter in the saga of my Chaos army. I had painted up a Sorcerer model, so I added him as a level 2, put a fifth model in the Knight unit and put the Armour of Damnation on my Aspiring Champion.

Gary spent his 250 points on a War Hydra, and upgraded his magic. Eeep!

Game 4 750pts

Chaos

• Aspiring Champion with Armour of Damnation
  
• Level 2 Sorcerer
  
• 12 Warriors full command
• 5 Knights, champion full command
• 6 Warhounds

Dark Elves

• 10 Repeater crossbows
• 16 Spearelves full command
• 5 Dark Riders spears
• Level 2 Sorceress
• War Hydra

Deployment
There was a hill on my far left, near the centre of the table, and the Dark Elves had another hill further up on their side of the table. There was a large wood in the Dark Elf deployment zone, on my right flank. I put the Warriors, Warhounds, Sorcerer and Aspiring Champ in the centre facing off against the Dark Elf War Hydra and Spearelves. My Knights were on the far left, where the Dark Riders, Sorceress and Repeater Crossbows were.

The Game

I won first turn and moved forward with everything. The Dark Riders parked themselves in front of my Knights. I charged them and they fled. They contacted my Warriors and were destroyed. The Knights then took a couple of turns to manoeuvre back into the battle.

I used my Sorcerer to cast Unseen Lurker on the Warriors to give them an extra march. The War Hydra charged into them. My Warhounds fled due to terror. Over the course of two turns I broke the Hydra and pursued into the Spearelves. My Asp Champ butchered a load and they broke.

Back on the left, my Knights crashed into the Repeater Crossbows and rode down the Sorceress.

A comprehensive victory for my growing Chaos horde.

The battle of the Teld

Here is another battle report describing a game between my Hordes of Chaos and the dastardly Dark Elves.

Game 3 500pts

Chaos

• Aspiring Champion with Shield
• 12 Warriors full command
• 4 Knights, champion and standard
• 6 Warhounds

Dark Elves

• 10 Repeater crossbows
• 16 Spearelves full command
• 5 Dark Riders spears
• Level 1 Sorceress on Cold One

Deployment
I had a river with a bridge on my left and a hill on my right. There was a hill on my opposite left and a small wood on my opposite right. I began with the Knights on the right, the Warriors next to them and the Aspiring Champ between them. I put the War Hounds out on the far left, behind the river. The Dark Elves had their Spearelves and Dark Riders against my main force on the right, with the Sorceress on the far left next to the Reapeter Crossbows.

The Game
My Chaos army moved up the centre and right flank. The Dark Riders baited and fled the Knights but were caught and run down. The Knights slammed into the Spearelves and a protracted combat broke out.

Meanwhile, the Warhounds and Aspiring Champion were shredded by Dark Elf magic and shooting.

My Warriors milled about waiting for the outcome of the Spearelves versus Knight smackdown and played no part in the battle. Eventually, the Knights ground down the Elves then the game ended.

Although the Dark Elves were ahead on kills I had more table quarters and standards, so the result was a draw.

Buy the sky and sell the sky...

After going into battle with e-bay's turbo lister 2 (it's crap!) I finally managed to get some stuff up for sale. The reason for this is because I dropped £20 on the Archaon model and I've wiped out my new model fund. I urgently need some more reinforcements for my Chaos mortals to deal with those pesky Dark Riders, maybe some Marauders on horseback or some daemons.

Anyway, here's what's up for sale:

• Dungeons and Dragons rulebook
• Judge Dredd rpg
• Judge Dredd rpg screen
• FIFA 2006
• LMA manager
• Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy
• The Wasp Factory

I'll be back shortly with some more battle reports.