Bloodbeard:
That’s a crazy list! Holy smokes. The amount of work and detail put into this. Excellent Malorn. Excellent.
Admiral:
Megalomaniac list, and kudos for naming all the units! That’s something me and my brother has always done, ranging from the serious down to “The Pharaoh’s Taxi”.
This will be a battle to remember. Pictures or we riot. 
Malorndk:
Thanks Bloodbeard
As the hour draws near I find my time more and more limited to produce quality content, so the last two weeks might be somewhat rambling on my side. Thats justs means I’m painting more than sleeping :hat off
And pictures will be taken, and made into a battle report for you pleasure Admiral. From now on, Settras Chariot unit is called the Pharaohs Taxi <3
Malorndk:
[size=xx-large]Estimate of what Team Undead will field[/size]
This post will be updated with the actual army list after the game, but for now it will be our estimate. I will not begin to guess point values, magic items, equipment or even unitsizes. This is most of their models, and while the can’t field all of them, they sure can field most of them.
Special Characters
Nagash, Supreme Lord of the Undead
Arkhan the Black, Mortarch of Sacrament
Neferata, Mortarch of Blood
Mannfred von Carstein, Mortarch of Night
Vlad von Carstein, Mortarch of Shadow
Settra II, Mortarch of Eternity
Krell, Mortarch of Despair
High Queen Khalida
[/size][/color]
Some Necromancers with invocation
A Light Council of Liche Priests
2 Necrotects
1 mounted Wight King joins the Black Knights
Some infantry Vampires and Tomb Princes. Might be Lords and Kings and fully geared.
[/size][/color]
The ethereal Rank and File unit: [/size]
We expect a zombie or spear skeleton bus of at least 40 models, with the entire front rank made of Cairn Wraiths, and some Tomb Banshees in the second rank.
12 Chariots. [/size]
Probably in 2 units of 6. Settra II might join one of them. We might encounter a Tomb King in a chariot unit as well.
The Ashp Legion[/size]
30-60 Skeletons with bows and Khalida in horde formation
Skeleton hordes and busses[/size]
100-150 skeletons with spears or hand weapon shield
15 Horse Archers. [/size]
Probably in 1 unit as the board will be packed which reduce movability units results
[/size]Special & Rare[/size][/size][/b]
Probably in two units of about 20.
[/size]
These might be used as unit fillers instead.
9 Spirit Hosts[/size]
Probably in small units
3-4 Vargheists
12 Black Knight
5 Hexwraiths
6ish Fellbats
3 Necroknights
7 Blood Knights
2-5 Tomb Scorpions
4 Screaming Skull Catapults
1-2 Vargulfs
1-2 Casket of Souls
1 Corpse Cart
1 Warsphynx
1 Black Coach
1 Mortis Engine
1 Terrorgheist
1 Hierotitan
Malorndk:
Super final done with the board (No more board spam!)
I finally got it all finished. I spent my birthday driving it to the destination of the Legendary battle and our Chaos player even sent me some pics of the combined tables (in potato quality sadly. He says it looks great IRL.
No more posts about terrain and objectives. Now this thread is dedicated to tactics, strats and preparations. 9 days until deployment! 13 Days until game time is up!!!
tjub:
Oh, what will be so sweet! A bit envious…
Carcearion:
Really exellent turnout on the board! with a convicing transition point even after your set back. I couldnt help but notice when all is said and done you’ll have a rock-waste and a dessert board left over to choose from for normal games as well good deal!
Bloodbeard:
Nice work on the boards. Where will you be playing the game? Who’s got room for you guys.
Malorndk:
@tjub: A small portion of envy can be a good motivation sometimes. I have kept my drive up many times by thinking of all the cool stuff you, Skink and Fuggit has to play around with 
@Carcearion: The Rock board was made at the start of our campaign to symbolise Naggaroth, the Dark Lands and a pass in the World Edge mountains. The dessert board was made for game 5 in the campaign where Nagash has arrived in Nehekhara and used Neferata to bait out High Queen Khalida to Runed Lahmia to divert her attention from Nagashs schemes. All of this in around page 5 in my army blog.
@Bloodbeard: Our Chaos player bought an old house in Rødovre when he and his girlfriend got their daughter. It’s big, old and expensive, but it has a big basement, with room for big games (And a bar 
)
Abecedar:
Great work, you yourself have added to the inspiration and motivationcache.
Malorndk:
Preparing for take off
5 days until deployment. Spent the day counting models, cross-referencing army list, ranking up models and finished the last movement trays. I used to transport models in GW cases, but I have adopted the open tray strategy, with units ready to play from the get go. This requires a car and driver, as well as some serious concentration during the drive. It is a little risky but I absolute love it.
Admiral:
That approach sure has its advantages, yet how about going nuts with magnets? I am quite sure I’ve seen people succesfully put in metal sheets in such boxes (some with foam walls and perhaps lids?) and then magnetize the movement trays and monster bases. The infantry and cavalry models were of course magnetized to their unit trays. Just a thought, and certainly not in time to be useful for the massive battle. But still.
At least that cargo will make you a very safe driver. 
Malorndk:
Magnetized bases is not an option as my resin bases are not hollow thus allowing no room for actual magnets. I could resort to magnetic sheet under the bases which should work in theory. I won’t say this won’t happen at some point, but not a legitimate enough problem to justify the investment in both time and money the procedure would required. All my CD are heavy metal from the 90’s. Their weight and shape (short/fat) makes them very unwobbly. If was transporting 20 metal wardancers on a skirmish tray i would, ofc, use magnets
Admiral:
Very true. There is a powerful reason for why Dwarfs are the ultimate creatures!
Abecedar:
Its great seeing an army all close together.
I’ve only invested in Rare earth magnets this year for my Saga mini’s, drilling out holes in solid bases isn’t that difficult.
I wouldn’t bother with magnetic sheet. It doesnt safely hold a single mini in place unless kept dead flat.
I tried it on my MoW ships made out of MDF. They are very light and if the container got uneven or jolted they’d often dislodge.
TheHoodedMan:
The army looks superb. That will be a great gaming experience (it is already an awesome hobby experience :-)). Good luck for your game!!
Malorndk:
[size=xx-large]Tactics, Stratagem and other fancy words of how Team Chaos intends to win.
[/size]
In 32 hours, we will present our armies, set terrain, roll spells and deploy, then go home with our minds filled with dreams of glory soon to come. I have been hard at work with my teammate: Dennis, who will bring The Grand Legion of the Everchosen to new highs alongside my Dawi Zharr. I will share our conclusions, as I think it will be funny to see what we can anticipate and prepare for accordingly. Once the battle is done, this will be a good read for me
Overall strategy
We have a lot of armour, Attacks, Strength & Toughness. Our leadership is decent and we have many stubborn or unbreakable units. We win if we can march forward 2-3 turns and then get into combat with the weaker undead troops. We lose if we cannot get into close combat, if we can�?Tt survive the magical onslaught and if our most expensive units gets combo charged by multiple big threats.
Movement Phase: [/b]Both armies are kind of lacking in the movement. Undead has a restrain on march moves outside the Generals range and Chaos Warriors and Dwarfs are both rather slow. That being said, both armies has flyers, cavalry, monstrous troops and monsters, all with a movement of 6-9. Our main job is to hit the centre and split the enemy army in two. I believe we win the movement slightly, but will still get outmaneuvered due to Nagash�?Ts ability to summon expensive units anywhere within 36�?�.
[/b]The undead will dominate the magic phase with synergies, bonuses, summonings, Light Council and the sheer amount of wizards on the board. We expect to lose a lot of advantages every enemy magic phase, but we can reduce the onslaught if we can cast Ashstorm on Nagash. Our own magic phase is in no way bad. We have the entire lore of Death, Shadow and Hashut, as well as four levels in Lore of Nurgle and 2 in Lore of Fire.
[/b]We are up against 4 Screaming Skulls, 15 Horse Archers and the dreaded Khalida Horde which always hits on 4�?Ts and has poisoned attacks. We have 7 above average warmachines and should win this phase, even though our hobgoblins with bows and even Infernal Guards with Fireglaives won�?Tt be as potentially deadly as the Khalida Horde.
[/b]We have Warriors of Chaos! I still can�?Tt fathom how anyone consider a marked and armed Warrior as a balanced core unit, but I guess that is just me being an incompetent general. We win close combat!
[/b]While not a phase, I should mention that we are at a disadvantage when it comes to psycology. Many of our expensive troops can and propably will flee from situations. We cannot have multiple Generals or Inspiring Presence, so slaves, beasts and ogres are not as resilient as we expect them to be from normal 8th edition battles. Our opponent on the other hand will never run from anything.
Concerns & Solutions
Nagash: [/b]We must try to deal with him. His utility in the magic phase is too good and we have to even the field.
[/b]Warmachines and magic is the solution, but it will not be an easy task.
[/b]While we have a lot of magic weapons, some models will be stuck forever on a 45 points Spirit Host, this could be the Kdaii Destroyer, the Bullcentaurs or even worse: The Glottkin!
[/b]Get magic weapons next to important units, that doesn�?Tt have any.
[/b] We can easily anticipate the average damage from one charge. But in such a big game, we could find a key unit combo charged by Neferata, Arkhan, a War Sphynx and 2 Tomb Scorpions. That is out of our comfort zone and something we will hard to avoid happening.
[/b] Positioning during movement phase, eliminate some of the threads with magic and/or shooting.
[/b]We can try to reduce their BS with duo Miasma to eliminate the poison shots, but against unarmoured, high Toughness troops like the Destroyer, this will be a pure menace.
[/b]Hit �?~em fast and hard. Bring your armour plates and shields boys!
[/b]A Strength 8 Banishment will hit like a brick against our expensive characters and monsters. Must be dealt with.
[/b]Snipe spells from Lore of Death+Hashut against the one wizard with the Banishment!
[/b]The damned undead has assaulted the Obsidian Wall and taken the outer fortress. Warhammer rules will only allow 1 unit to assault the building at a time, and the enemy can chose not to send their characters forth. If we do not kill them, our unit stands 1�?� from the building and can try to assault again next charge phase. The building is huge and hard to manoeuvre around.
The real problem is that the Khalida Horde, with the light council in it, could garrison the building, get 30 shots a turn, Have 360 vision and enhanced spell range. It is close enough to the centre board to have some juicy targets. If we get in close combat, we can not kill neither Khalida or the Liches and even if we win, we will not garrison the building unless the undead are utterly destroyed. We will most likely stand 1�?� away and give them another turn worth of shooting and magic.
[/b] 17 Khorne warriors with add. Handweapons and Khalida. Lots of armour, many attacks.
Priority Targets
[/b]Our priority targets are units, which poses great threats and fall into a unit type category that requires huge casting rolls from Nagash to summon back. The 7 Blood Knights are a huge threat, but Nagash can summon them again easily in one spell, so our best shot here would be to kill 2-4 to reduce their treat but them ignore them afterwards. The Terrorgheist is also a huge threat, and killing it would force Nagash into a 23 casting value to bring it back, thus risking a miscast, and at the very least spending his power pool. Our High priority will therefore be characters, monsters, chariots and warmachine, while we will not focus Infantry and cavalry much. All of this changes, if we can kill the Great Necromancer.
1. Nagahs
2. Mannfred & Neferata
3. Terrorgheist, Hierotitan & Hexwraiths
4. Screaming Skull Catapults, War Sphynx & Black Coach
5. Vargulf, Mortis Engine & remaining Mortarchs
6. Tomb Scorpions, Blood Knights, Necropolis Knights, Black Knights, Vargheists, Chariots, Grave/Tomb Guards & Ushabties.
The top of the priority list all fits the criteria about being dangerous and hard summon except the Hexwraiths. These bad boys has to be kept in check due to their disruptive placements possibilities, while they deal consistens S5 no armour save hits to expensive Chaos Warriors. We cannot allow them to run wild.
Two honourable mentions does not fit in to the above list, as their use is extremely situational. That is the Corpse Cart and the Spirit Hosts. These can both play a tremendous role in our downfall but we have to see their placements and synergies within the opponents�?T strategy before we can reasonably judge how we should prioritize them.
The Magic Phase[/b]
Our Magic Phase has several comboes made possible by the scenario rule that allows 4 Wind of Magic dice each magic phase. This should make some spells get through, and allow for some disgusting stat reducing comboes such as:
[/b]1-2 Miasmas reducing key targets initiative, Finish with a Purple Sun and possible a Pit of Shades.
[/b]Cast the Withering (-D3 T), Soul Blight (-1 T & S) and Curse of the Leper (-D3 T) on a big based key target like Nagash or a unit. Some of them will get dispelled, but if one or two gets through you can bring the killers: Flames of Azgorh (Template scater D6, model under hole = Toughness test at -2 or slain outright), Fate of Bjuna & Curse of Hashut (Snipe spells: 2D6 �?"T hits, that wound on 4+ with No armour saves). If it is not a single target, Lore of Nurgle has additional spells that goes extra ham if the unit fails Toughness tests. A reduced Toughness also makes the following shooting phase a living hell.
Aside from the comboes we have a lot of insanely good spells. Ashstorm will blast at Nagash every phase. Mind Razor will swing a combat. As will the Nurgle buffs. Even Breath of Hatred will be good on Warriors with 2-4 attacks apiece. Death Snipes from the Lammasu rider can try to remove Khalida and thereby her horde�?Ts damage potential or the Light Council member with Banishment. Depending on how deployment turns out, I think we our magic phase with an average of 14 dice will look somewhat like this:
�?� Withering (Archaon: 3 dice)
�?� Miasma (Archaon: 1 dice)
�?� Flames of Azgorh (Drazhoath: 4 dice)
�?� Ashstorm (Bale Taurus Rider: 6 dice)
And if we have some extra dice from a good Winds of Magic we will add:
�?� Miasma (Lammasu: 1-2 dice)
�?� Purple Sun (Lammasu Rider: 4 dice)
�?� Curse of the Leper (Glottkin: 3 dice)
We would of course do it in the right order for maximizing the comboes and always save 6 dice for Ashstorm on Nagash with Chalice activation after we roll. This magic phase example spreads the casting over multiple wizards, so that broken concentration should not a problem. Once Nagash is destroyed I imagine the snipe spells against Khalida and the Light Council will come into play, as well as an emphasize on Purple Sun through the armys flank, hitting multiple blocks.
Deployment
[/b]I will not go into how we micromanage the deployment, but all the above consideration will be kept in mind, as well as a practical decision about how to make room for all our quite big units. Our Deployment rules are alternative to the normal game to speed up the process
Conclusion
Malorndk:
Deployment Finished
We deployed yesterday evening from around 19 until 3:30 this morning. I will have some quick, dark and dirty pictures coming up �?osoon TM.�?� But in words it was epic, cosy and a lot of fun. The boards with terrain and objectives are right on. Looked splendid. I had made a pretty accurate estimation of what Team Undead would bring. Some surprises where, that the 12 Chariot came in 1 unit. The 6 Blood Knights has a blender lord (Mounted Vampire Lord with Quickblood and Red Fury and most likely 4++, +2 Strength and enemies reroll succesfull ward saves). The skipped the Black Coach for a second Vargulf and the even brought a newly painted BSB with some above average freehand on the banner. Not too many surprises, but the Blender Lord will be a first in our gaming group.
Everyone got the spells they wanted (easy enough with 4+ Level 4 casters on both sides) so we have all the aforementioned combos available, while Team Undead rocks the Entire lore of Undeath, Light, Death and Vampires, with an emphasis on multiple Invocations across the board and a good amount of Ryze (Lore of Undeath Signature, that summons 50-150 points within 12�?� of Infantry or Monstrous infantry depending on the cast requirements.)
The deployment itself went acceptable for us, but rather decent for our opponents. We had the disadvantage of placing 1/3 of our army first, where we committed our softer troops in great numbers in the small deploymentzone we had on the desert board. Close to the middle of the board (but on the dessert board, we had to place the Infernal guard BSB unit. Team Undead then placed a lot of weak infantry led by Arkhan opposite us, as well as the insanely huge 12 chariot unit next to Settra II opposite the dwarfs. In our second drop we stuck to the plan and loaded the centre board with the monstrous hardhitters, Archaon and Glottkin, while the Bullcentaurs went up next to the Obsidian Watchtower.
Now the real twist came into play from Team Undead. With a surgeons precision they had mapped out the rather small deployment zone on the rocky board to optimize the amount of comboes, synergies an units they could pack in there. With the Obsidian Fortress acting as an impassable brick they used the terrain to maximum efficiency and packed the small space with everything worth points and which had some serious fire power. We tried to counter the best we could, but had already committed so much on the middle board and dessert board, that the sheer amount of monsters, characters and magic in the small space between the Obsidian Wall and Fortress has put us on our back foot. Their deployment strategy is basically a very �?oundeadesque�?� Refused Flank, where they place enough rabble on the dessert board to make us spread our focus, and then place all the jazz in the opposite end of the field, thereby sacrificing a lot of skellies and zombies, but probably gaining such a big advantage elsewhere on the board, the chaos does not automatically wins the Close Combat phase. In hindsight it was rather well played, and while I still have faith in Team Chaos�?T game plan, we certainly have to play the rocky board smart if we are to win this. They basically out deployed at least The Infernal Guards, Glottkin, the Troll unit and the Kdaii Destroyer which is a lot of muscle we will need come turn 3.
Pictures will come later. All taken in the badly lit room at early hours, but once we finally play all Saturday and Sunday, some awesome pictures should emerge, which better shows the picture I tried painting with words here.
TheHoodedMan:
Very good description, thank you. Good luck for the next steps!
Carcearion:
Ooh man I’m excited to see the up coming truly epic battle report.
Also I hope Negash and friends don’t have a spy here on the forum. Are your foes very familiar with battling the Dawi Zharr? I have heard before that our rare and mysterious army often catches people off guard since few people have any exspiriance playing against us.