Today I had my first game of WFB for quite a few years. I used my shiney new Chaos Dwarf army and played against a pure Nurgle Warriors army. We played a 2100(ish) point Pitched Battle. Please bear in mind it was my first game and I have no real clue how to use Chaos Dwarves! My opponent is a reasonably competent player and regularly uses his army. Lists as follows.
Chaos Dwarves
Sorcerer-Prophet lvl 4 w/ Lore of Hashut (got the 1,3,4 and 6 spells)
Charmed Shield, Talisman of Preservation, Great Taurus (the expensive version)
Daemon-Smith lvl 2 w/ Dispell Scroll, Lore of Death (got the 5 and 6 spells)
Infernal Castellan (BSB)
29 Infernal Guard w/ Hand Weapon & Shields, Full Command (6 wide, 5 deep)
29 Infernal Guard w/ Hand Weapon & Shields, Full Command (6 wide, 5 deep)
Magma Cannon
Death Shrieker Rocket
Hellcannon
Warriors of Nurgle
Chaos Lord w/ Ogre Blade, Daemonic Mount (no Ward)
Exalted Hero (BSB)
Sorceror lvl 2, Dispell Scroll (he received the spells which gives regeneration and extra toughness)
30 Nurgle Warriors, Hand Weapons & Shields, Full Command (3x10 formation)
25(?) Nurgle Marauders, Shields, Full Command
5 Nurgle Knights, Magic Weapons, Full Command
2x Hell Cannons.
Everything that could had Mark of Nurgle.
Report coming in a few minutes when I get it written. Takes time on an iPad!
I deployed bunkered down on the right flank, three artillery pieces on the back corner, two infantry blocks in front in an extreme refused flank formation. My lvl 4 deployed on the opposite flank on his own.
My opponent deployed his Hellcannons on (as I see it) the left, with everything else front and centre, typical Chaos Warrior aggressive formation.
Turn 1/2
I won the roll to go first and had a huge movement phase. My level 4 moved 20 inches forwards on the left, just keeping out of the charge arc of a Hellcannon. And that was it. That will be a theme for this army I think. In my magic phase I rolled well for dice and tried to cast Ash Storm on a Hellcannon, which makes them flammable. I irresistibled, and had to use my Charmed Shield, but got the Hex off. I then wanted to do the 2D6 Str6 flaming attacks at it to try and kill it in one go, but I rolled badly and failed to cast. Literally nothing achieved in my magic phase. Shooting didn’t really do much either.
In his first turn he advanced and fired, taking a wound off my Great Taurus, but not doing much else. This is true of turn 2 for both of us too, not a great deal died, I sat at the back, he advanced.
Turn 3/4
My turn three continued the theme of shoot and shoot some more. I thinned his Knights out a little, tried and failed to kill the Hellcannons. My lvl 4 was currently sat near the centre of the board on his board edge.
He charged one of my blocks of infantry with his Knights and tried to debuff then with -D3 toughness, which to scrolled. He failed to cast the Regen spell. In combat his lord whiffed his attacks killing 1 guy, he 3 remaining knights killed 4 guys. I killed 1 in return and held.
In my turn 4 I flanked the Knights with my second infantry block. I moved the lvl 4 around behind the Warrior horde. I fired some artillery and missed mostly. In combat I killed a knight (so 1 left and the Lord) and because of static combat res I won combat and the Lord fled. He stopped right in front of the Warriors, and I reformed back into a neat battle line.
He was disappointed that his Knight failed, but they rallied. Unfortunately for him, his Lord/Knight blocked in the Warriors, so his turn was pretty much a traffic jam. In his magic phase his Sorcerer melted his brain and lost all of his magic levels.
Turn 4/6
In my turn I cast Ash Storm on the Lord (which stops him Marching or Charging). He tried to Scroll it, but we discovered that his Sorcerer dropped it when he melted his brain, so his traffic jam would continue for another turn. Shooting thinned out the Warrior a bit.
Annoyed that I had stopped his game winning charge he shuffled around so he could charge next turn. His Hellcannons fired, but one broke free (misfired) and fled the field. The other got quite a nasty hit on my Dwarves.
In my turn 6 I charged my 2 infantry blocks in the front of his Warriors and the lvl 4 (and Great Taurus) in the rear. I hopped to break it so that I could reform to take the charge from the Lord. If they didn’t break I’d have a Lord in my flank and it would be quite nasty. I cast Ash Storm on the Warriors (which gives -2 to hit) so we were both hitting on 5s. Luckily for me my Magma Cannon killed the last Knight, so I fired the Death Shrieker at the Lord… Doing 4 wounds to him. Battle line secure! :D. In combat I used 2 breath weapons (one from the Tauros, one from the Sorcerer’s weapon) and did just enough to have him test on snake eyes and be killed due to the monster in the rear.
I selected Death for my lvl 2 knowing that I was facing Warriors. This was due to all the hype behind Purple Sun… I got that spell, but didn’t cast it, Initiative 5 made it pointless. I would probably take Fire next time.
I feel that I did quite well with my manoeuvring, despite only moving 1 unit (the flying lvl 4).
The level 4 with Hashut is amazing. I don’t give a damn about the rest of the deck, but Ash Storm which gives Flammable, -2 to hit in combat and CANNOT CHARGE OR MARCH!!! is amazing. I shall be taking that guy every game.
I would like to drop the BSB and take another lvl 2, but I feel that with my line being so close to my artillery there is a good chance that I will need it in future.
Taking this to 2,400 points I will add an extra level 2 (taking 1 with Metal, one with Fire) and a second Magma Cannon.
I am very chuffed to win my first game back in WFB.
I love the flying prophets (check my avatar), you can try the flying carpet version aswell to save some points and loose large target however the bale seems to be really nice.
Great use of the ashstorm! The ashstorm + burning wrath combo is brutal, so far my average wounds from it is 14. I 5 dice ashstorm, then put the rest on tier 2 burning wrath. Remember the Lore Attribute boosts your casting value? After casting it but before your opponents dispel attempt you use the chalice of blood and darkness, as they loose 1-3 powerdice and you gain the lore attribute bonus they’re toast
I have a conversion in mind for a magic carpet Sorcerer-Prophet using a bunk of ground he’s torn up with his mind and is floating around on.
Right up until turn 5 I thought my Magic had failed me, but that Ash Storm on the Lord and Knight definitely won me the game. Right up until turn 6 I thought my Artillery had failed too, but killing the Lord at exactly the right moment might have helped too. I guess it all came together at the right time. I couldn’t tell you how much of that was luck and how much was skill though…
I see how powerful the Chalice of a blood and Darkness is, but where do I fit it? At 100 points it leaves my lvl 4 without any magic items for protection. I could perhaps have 2 lvl 4s, 1 with the Chalice in a block of men and Lore of Metal, 1 on Magic Carpet with Lore of Hashut, Talismen of Preservation and Charmed Shield. That’s probably around 700 points, so slightly more than my Taurus guy, but gains me that item and an extra level 4.
I tried to cast that magic combo a few times, but failed each time. He tended to throw all his dispel dice at it as it was likely to kill his unit each time!
Thanks for the encouragement, I hope to get more games in the cooking weeks!
Great victory. Using a battle line like this is really nasty, especially stubborn blocks of infernal guard.
i think Ash Storm is the best spell in the entire game!
The chalice is only 50 points, so stick it to a normal daemonsmith.
I don’t like the lore of death. For a list like this Fire is the better choice. Fireball has superior range, so the daemonsmith can cast even being back babysitting the war machines. Getting a flame cage of against any unit is nice. Call out a challenge with your champion. If the enemy accepts the champion moves to your champ - entire unit takes a strentgh 4 hit. Challenge declined, the champ moves to the back - entire unit takes a s4 hit.
And combined with ash storm lore of fire can suddently deal massive damage to anything.
