Vampire Counts vs Dogs of War Part 3

Turn 3 – Dogs of War

This time Aido is more aggressive with his charges. He can’t have me breaking through before he has time to re-order his lines. That Banshee scream was dynamite.


The Maneater at the lip of the woods on his right declares a charge on the zombies, hoping for the light cav to continue fleeing to allow him to charge. The Maneater opposite my general’s unit charges in.

On my right, the heavy cav charge into the flank of the zombies, but end up being out of range by 1”. My moving the Fell Bats up to keep them from marching in their turn 2 was a good move. Next to them, the pegasus rider who’s not fleeing charges the ghouls behind the lucky zombie unit.

At Aido’s rear, the Rhinox Riders flee the field, while the pegasus rider and crossbows both rally. In the centre the light cav rally too, blocking the Maneater’s charge. My second unit of zombies has avoided being charged again.


The Magic Phase is uneventful, with the Wizard Lord healing back the wound he lost in his miscast, and trying to cast Burning Gaze on a Banshee but being dispelled.

The holding crossbow unit changes targets from the now-engaged Grave Guard to the terror-causing zombies, killing three. The duellists also have a good round of shooting, killing two Fell Bats.

In Combat, the pegasus rider and his mount fail to kill even a single ghoul, rolling two 1s to wound. The ghouls deal two wounds to the pegasus in reply, break and run down the luckless hero.

Next to this combat, the Maneater kills two zombies and holds.

Against the Grave Guard unit the Maneater chooses to kill the Necromancer with the Cursed Book. He rolls three hits…. and two 1s to wound. The Vampire Lord deals two wounds to the Maneater, and the Grave Guard deal the final wound, fitting with a roll of a 6.

The Black Knights lose another of their number, against failing to wound the Maneater.



Turn 3 – Vampire Counts

At the start of my third turn my units are either locked in combat or out of position for a suitable charge. I declare two charges, neither really suitable, putting the remainder of the Fell Bats into the untouched unit of crossbows, and the zombies with their Necromancer towards the newly rallied light cav.


The Grave Guard move up, but not far enough to expose their flank to either of the waiting heavy cavalry units. The banshees move towards the centre of the battlefield, the better to threaten more units, while the ghouls move towards the wood.

And now for a Magic Phase more fitting of my 700+ points expenditure. Vanhels – stopped by a dispel scroll. Vanhels again – dispelled. The Book of Arkhan – also dispelled. Drain Life – roll of 1,1,5. I use Unholy Cynosure to re-roll a 1, changing it to a 2, which saves me from the miscast, but the spell does not get cast. I demand a refund!

The Banshees act more magical this Phase. By which I mean neither of them had any effect on the light cavalry with their screams.

In combat the Maneater kills a pair of zombies and passes his stubborn test. The Fell Bats kill a single crossbow, losing that combat and being reduced to just two models. The Black Knights continue to be a waste of their 300 points, again failing to wound the Maneater fighting them, but at least they didn’t lose any of their number this time.

The necromancer in the charging zombie unit fails to wound the rider in front of him and is cut down, losing me my only Dispel Scroll and the Book of Arkhan. That really wasn’t a smart charge. The light cav break, though the zombies fail to catch them.

I should stick to fighting my combats in Aido’s turn.

Turn 4 – Dogs of War

Another turn, another round of charge declarations from Aido. The Maneater who was previously stuck behind the fast cav charges the closest Banshee to him, no problems there.

The unengaged crossbows charge the Fell Bats in support of their fellows, again no problem.

The Paymaster’s unit declares a charge on the Grave Guard, but fails it’s fear test – problem.

The heavy cav unit, now certainly in range of the zombies, also tries to charge, and also fails its fear test. Another problem.


The fast cavalry rally, holding high the head of the slain necromancer.

In the magic phase Burning Gaze is cast at the unengaged Banshee but dispelled, then Cleansing Flare kills the remaining Fell Bats. This leaves the crossbow unit that didn’t charge unengaged at the start of the Shooting Phase, and, since they didn’t move this turn, able to shoot.

And shoot they do, killing a pair of my precious Grave Guard.

Due to failed charges, combat ending spells and such, there is little action in the Combat Phase this turn.

The Maneater kills just a single zombie, but still holds. The Banshee fails to wound the Maneater she is fighting and so takes a wound due to being outnumbered. The Black Knights finally kill the Maneater. Well done guys, you just dealt with 85 points of Ogre.

Turn 4 – Vampire Counts

With their way now clear, the Black Knights charge the Maneater fighting the Banshee, in an effort to save her. In the centre, the zombies charge the light cavalry. The Grave Guard unit charge the Paymaster’s Unit who choose to flee. Their line takes them through a unit of crossbows, who pass their panic test.


Ghouls and the unengaged Banshee move towards the table centre once more.

With his charging target out of range, my general is finally able to successfully cast Drain Life. That 18” range thanks to Master of the Black Arts is quite powerful. The spell causes damage to several Dogs of War units:
1 wound to the remaining pegasus rider
1 dead light cavalryman
1 wound to the Maneater fighting those zombies (his first suffered!)
1 dead crossbow
2 dead heavy cav on the flank
1 dead duellist

It could have been a lot worse, as my hits rolled against those units was always 1,2 or 3.

The remaining Necromancer cast Gaze of Nagash at the nearest crossbow unit to him, killing three.

In the Shooting Phase the only banshee with a target screams at the light cavalry, killing one.

The Combat Phase resolves every fight taking place. The Maneater kills three zombies, and finally fails his stubborn test, fleeing 10”. The zombies pursue 9”. The other zombie unit breaks the light cavalry despite not killing any, but also fails to catch. The Black Knights kill the Maneater on the charge (who would have thought) but are denied a significant overrun as the Banshee is blocking their path.


It’s looking quite good for the Vampire Counts.