battle report 2 - 500 point warband vs. high elves (again!)

Last minute change of opponent left me facing high elves again this week.  Both armies had undergone changes following the ogre-led massacre last friday - here are the armies:

Ogres

1 rhinox rider thunderlord+ha+if+bull rhinox (commander)
1 unit of 2 bulls (naked) + butcher
1 unit of 3 bulls (naked)
1 unit of 5 gnoblar fighters

= 500 points total

High Elves

5 silver helms+ha (including unit champion as commander)
1 mage (level 2)
10 seaguard
1 bolt thrower

= 498 points

With both lists having mages and shooters this week, things looked to be less straightforward than before

she rolls for her spells and gets flames of the phoenix and fire of khaine (I think it's called - both were fire spells) (gulp!)

battlefield and deployment:

A low, wide hill in the corner of the high elf deployment zone was the perfect place for the bolt thrower, and she duly took advantage of it.

a hill in the middle again broke up the board nicely and a couple of houses with walls and hedges made for some interesting paths and channels

elves (from my left to right deployed as follows)
 ...................................................................................bolt thrower
 ......................................................................................... hill
.........mage....................seaguard....................silver helms

 ..................................................... hill

 ...................... gnoblars
...butchers bull unit................bulls.................rhinox rider

the hill in the middle and the walls would come into play a little, but channels were wide enough for charging on both sides.

I used my gnoblars as a screen for the butcher unit and just lined everything else up to charge.

dice roll to start - I was going to be going second (damn!)

turn 1 - high elves

she moves her silver helms up, but not far enough to block LoS from the bolt thrower.

her mage tries a fire spell on the bull unit - gets it off, and I miss the dispel roll - but she come up 1/2" short (phew!)  She had her mage not quite as far forward as her seaguard, another centimetre and.....

shooting next and the seaguard loose a volley at the same bull unit - 5 shots, 3 get wounds.
bolt thower goes for the rhinox rider, doing 1 wound.

with no close combat, she passes the turn.

turn 1 - ogres

gnoblars aren't bickering, so every moves up full distance, the butcher unit turning slightly to face the mage and seaguard.  the bull unit will be in charge range next turn, the rhinox rider moves closer and angles to get the silver helms between it and the bolt thrower.  Its puts him within the charge range of the silver helms - but hey-ho.

butcher tries for a bonecracker - it gets dispelled, tries for a trollguts and fails to cast, tries for a toothcracker on its own unit - succeeds but bucher takes a wound

gnoblars still out of range, so no shooting - and no close combat either - I pass the turn.

turn 2 - high elves

the silver helms charge the rhinox rider, nothing else moves - the helms pass their terror check and move up.

mage goes for a fire spell at the bull unit, but doesn't make the roll (by 1 point) - tries the other and also fails.

seaguard shoot at the bulls, 10 shots this time, putting on 2 more wounds

bolt thrower is blocked by the silver helms, so nothing from that this turn.

finally - into the close combat! YAY!

the silver helms charge fails to do a singe wound with either riders or horses, but I gasp in disbelief as the rhinox and its rider also miss everything.  With no wounds done, and no other modifiers - its down to unit strength - their 5 against my 6.  As I have terror, they autobreak and get themselves run down - putting the rhinox in range for the seaguard unit next turn.

looking glum, she passes the turn.

turn 2 - ogres

no bickering from the well-behaved gnoblars

the bull unit slams into the front of the seaguard while the rhinox rider slams into its flank - this is NOT going to be pretty for the pointy-eared ones!

the butcher unit and gnoblar unit both move up.

the seaguard fail a terror check from the rhinox and flee - getting chased by the ogres, but run down by the rhinox (who moves off the board due to the number rolled - not sure about that one, but I just went with the flow of the game).

This left the poor mage surrounded by my entire army and the bolt thrower looking lonely on its hill way over the other side of the field.

in the magic phase I go for the bonecraker on the mage - get it off with a 6 and she fails to dispel with 3 dice (gets a 4 total!).  The mage takes 2 wounds and collapses into a pile of broken bones and mush - ready to be picked up by the butcher for a snack later.

shooting phase - nothing in range, gnoblars look glum
close combat - nothing left to hit (sniff!)

I pass the turn.

turn 3 - high elves

the bolt thrower crew decides to go down firing and turns to shoot at the bull unit, but doing no wounds (lucky escape)

turn passes back.

turn 3 - ogres

no bickering
rhinox rider comes back on, bull unit moves behind a hill, everyone else moves up, rhinox rider thunders towards the war machine and its brave crew

pass turn

turn 4 - high elves

shoot at the rider, doing 1 more wound

turn 4 - rhinox rider

no bickering
still not in charge range - moves closer, butcher decides to use bloodgruel and heals himself up.

turn 5 - high elves

bolt thrower shoots at rider and misses

turn 5 - ogres

still no bickering
rider charges and mashes the crew to a bloody pulp.

This game was over by the end of my second turn, and really when her silver helms got destroyed without inflicting a single wound.  Her mage went the same way - I know I got lucky, but again it was another handful of her points that did squat to hurt me.

final score - ogres 500 points, high elves - 0 points

I didn't lose a single model - total massacre of her forces.

gnoblars really didn't do anything, but maybe next time......

Could have sworn that cavalry have a unit strength of 2...so it would have been 10 against your 6 for the Rhinox Rider...unless I'm mistaken

my opponent added them up and the ref didn't bat an eyelid at it - I hope she wasn't wrong

.....I'd hate to have won like that.....

Since this was my second game ever, I'm really not sure myself....

...can anyone else shed light on this

edit - checked BRB, the cavalry should have whipped my rhinox's arse  I wonder how my opponent and the ref could have missed it - they've both been collecting/playing their armies for several years now.  Ah well, just one of those things I guess - better rename this the "hand of god" battle

Man that rhinox rider is brutal. I've never tried a game at this level, only 1000-2000 but sounds like a lot of fun, very strategic. Poor poor silver helms, i tihnk if they would have stayed they may have inflicted a couple more wounds, but not enough to do any major damage. I dont know. sounds lieka  good game and yes Calvary have a unit strength 2.

-VAPORgun

I love this list. A Bull Rhinox at 500pts!! Good job and yes they made a mistake. Calv has a unit strength of 2 each as for how they could make this mistake, they probly weren't thinking. A Brain fart happens to the best of us.

thanks for the feedback guys, I'll be using the above list for warbands from now on, it seems to be steady and have a lot of features.

I'll be using it as the base for my goldguts tribe army (currently under construction).  I've got lots of models, but most are still on the sprue/in boxes.

I've been going over the above game, and through the BRB over the weekend, and I think I've spotted another brainfart.  I think my opponent was only having her bolt thrower do 1 wound, rather than rolling D3 for each hit.....

....guess I'll have to point that one out to her for next time.

ah well, I guess I'm learning

I like the rhinox model and thinking about getting 3 of them. I talked to some GW staff and they believe that the rhinox will not get the stampe of approval because they are unbalanced and too strong like many forge world models. I don't use them in campaigns or warbans. If it's for fun and my opponent gives his concent then let the fun begin. But I think that people that want to play in tournaments specially the new gamers should stick to the OK army book.

I don't particulaly want to play in tournaments - I'm mainly in this hobby for the painting.  As for being a new gamer - not me either.  Maybe new to WHFB, but it's a simple game (I find) and with 20+ years behind the dice, I'm not new to gaming at all

I'm not sure I agree that rhinoxen are too unbalanced for the point cost.  If my opponent had done a better job on her own army's rules then it could have easily been toast from either the bolt thrower or the cavalry charge.

remember, the point cost for a full unit, with upgrades, is well over 500 points as well as a rare and a special slot - and you should expect some bang for that kind of buck.

I think wildcard is right they are powerful but you pay for it dearly and a good player can get around them. They can get out numbered, Stuck with a undbreakable unit and flanked, shot buy Cannons, Catapults Bolt throws, and anything that shoots, Magic!! I had two screaming catapulst take out my Rhinox Riders in the first round. Diffeclt terrain slows them down just like any other unit. And don't for get any of the nasty Lords out their! You might say that if their fixing the attention on one unit that the rest of the army can march right up to the front line, well then your facing a 500 pt differance and going 1500 against 2000.