Battle Report: Sylvania vs Ulric (5000) Part 3 (final)

Turn 3 – Vampire Counts

The game seemed set now. It was time for Mannfred to do or die all over again. I made few moves, as there was little I could do to alter the battlefield situation.

One thing I did was charge the Spirit Host through the difficult terrain and into the flank of a unit of knights that was patiently waiting for the Hunting Hounds to destroy the bats and wolves.

I got Curse of Years off on the Teutogen Guard unit, killing 5, otherwise magic was uneventful.

In the shooting phase, the Banshees directed their screams at the Teutogen Guard unit, killing 5. That’s was half the unit gone in two phases, but it all seemed academic now.



The combat phase of this turn defined the game for both Aido and myself. First the less important stuff. The Spirit Host charged the knights but lost combat one discovering the knights both outnumbered them, and held the War Banner. The Giant yelled and bawled into its combat, ending proceedings.

In the big combat Aido simply said. “Where’s that Wraith?” and directed the Grandmaster’s attacks into the Wraith with the Cursed Book, killing it. The other attacks from the chargers actually did very little, and soon it was my turn to strike back.

“My Wight Lord battle standard will strike at your general,” I said.

“What? What Wight Lord? Where? You never mentioned him.”

“You asked where the Wraith was, I figured you didn’t care about anything else.”

“I care about that. Go on then, roll to hit.”

“3s to hit thanks to the Banner of the Barrows.”

2 hits.

“Go on then, roll a 6 to kill.”

“Er, 5 actually, since I have the Sword of Kings.”

“Of course you do. Go on then.”

I rolled the 5.

This was good and bad. Good since I had saved the combat, and bad, since I would now have to face the full force of Aido’s withering sarcasm for the next hour or so for not fully revealing my front rank characters.

The unit broke from the combat, which I thought was pretty good considering they had charged me. I pursued and destroyed it. Mannfred was now in contact with the Ar-Ulric’s unit and the boot was on the other foot.

While Aido had destroyed my Black Coaches with ease in the previous turn, he had now lost his general and his main spellcaster and dispeller was in serious danger. My plan to go hard through the right, and then turn to the centre was looking dented, but still possible, albeit only with Mannfred’s unit now. I still had the face Wolf Kin, Iron Guts, and a unit of Warriors of Ulric on the right.


Turn 3 – Ulric

The Ulric magic and shooting phases were uneventful this turn, either failing to hit or being dispelled.

The main result of the turn for Ulric came on the right, where the Ironguts and Warriors of Ulric charged the Sylvanian Militia skeletons, inflicting 20 casualties, including extra killed by combat factors.

The Giant and knights in the centre killed a few zombies, but that unit was growing larger, not smaller, with time.

On the left, the hunting hounds finished off the bats. Only a small levy unit stood in the way of them doing their own version of my plan. I was glad I had charged the Spirit Host in to delay the knights.

On the right, Aido got his revenge by killing the Wight Lord in Mannfred’s unit. The Ar-Ulric survived, but broke. Mannfred’s unit was unable to catch them.


Turn 4 – Vampire Counts

Mannfred decided to charge the remains of the Ar-Ulric’s unit rather than the Wolf Kin. The White Wolves fled from the table, and though the flank of the Black Knights was exposed to the Wolf Kin, I didn’t see that as a problem.



The banshees concentrated on reducing the Teutogen Guard unit still further with their screams.

In the magic phase I raised 21 zombies and 14 skeletons, all added to existing units. Gaze of Nagash managed to kill a single Norse Marauder.

In the combat phase the zombies actually won due to very poor rolling from the knights and Giant. Both units held. I had declined to support the zombies with a charge from the Grave Guard, on the basis that dead zombies would translate too easily into dead wights. That looked overly cautious now. The Militia unit lost all the skeletons I had just raised.




Turn 4 – Ulric

The Wolf Kin charged into the flank of Mannfred’s unit. Also the second unit of Hunting Hounds (which you may remember from turn 2 and the charge I shouldn’t have made with the Black Coach) charged into the closest Banshee, content to let combat resolution do their work. Aido also charged the Norse Marauders into the second Sylvanina Levy unit in the centre

The Ulric shooting phase was devoted to taking shots at a lone Vampire Count, however all 20 shots failed to hit.

In combat the Banshee killed a hound to draw the combat, making me smile. That smile was removed a few moments later when attacks from the Wolf Kin killed half the Black Knights in Mannfred’s unit. That unit was seriously depleted, and my plan to swing around into the rear of the Ulric army was looking lost. Aido was back in the game.

The Norse Marauders wiped out well over a dozen zombies, but it was nowhere near enough to deplete the unit. The giant and knights rolled poorly again, this time the knights fled though the giant held firm. If only I had charged the Grave Guard in there…




Turn 5 – Vampire Counts

This time I charged the Grave Guard…into the Teutogen Guard unit, now just two models strong.

Mannfred and the unit champion moved to the side of the unit in order to fight back against those deadly Wolf Kin.

The banshee in combat with the Hunting Hound unit, caused it to flee by screaming at it. The other two banshees moved over to the right, directing their screams into the Warriors of Ulric unit, taking out almost half the unit’s strength.

The Giant yelled and bawled again, while the Ironguts and warriors destroyed the Militia unit. The remainder of Mannfred’s unit was now my sole presence on the right flank.

Mannfred broke and ran down the Wolf Kin, but was now faced with Ironguts and Warriors, fresh from their demolition of the Militia.

The Levy unit broke the Norse Marauders in the second round of combat, thanks to their overwhelming numbers


Turn 5 – Ulric

Aido charged into the Spirit Host with a unit of Warriors of Ulric to end that combat faster, and also. He elected not to charge Mannfred, figuring it was a combat he could not win. The unit of Warriors on the left tried to charge the small Levy unit but failed their fear test.

The archers excelled themselves in this turn, wounding the lone Vampire Count twice.

The Spirit Host was predicably destroyed, netting Aido a fair chunk of points. Less predicable was the combat between the Warriors and Levy. The Warriors failed to wound and promptly broke and were run down. A lesson in the power of zombies when they have a 4+ save, plus another standard for me!



Turn 6 – Vampire Counts

The game was over for me. In this turn I simply concentrated on trying not to lose any more points this turn or next.

Manfred turned to face the Ironguts and Marauders. Two of the banshees moved up in support, and screamed the Ironguts to death. Threat removed.

The wounded Vampire Count healed his two wounds back. I was unable to press my magical advantage to collect any more points though.

The Grave Guard unit finally charged the remains of the Teutogen Guard unit, now reduced to just two models through magic and banshee screams. Nothing happened since only a single Wight was able to fight, and the Guard were stubborn.





Turn 6 - Ulric

As I had the turn before, Aido looked for any opportunities to gain or conserve victory points in his final turn.

On the left, the knights charged into the flank of the victorious levy unit. In the centre, he did nothing, since there was nothing for him to do. On the right, the Warriors of Ulric decided the charge Mannfred’s unit.

The combats this turn were disappointing for Aido. He knights reduced the levy unit to 11 models, one more model nad he would have earned half points for that unit. In the cnetre the Giant continued to disappoint. On the right, the Warriors didn’t break, but they didn’t kill any Black Knights either.





Summary

The Vampire Counts had won, by 1621 points.

A solid victory, but not an overwhelming one. Checking back I see the winning margin was only 6 points higher than the margin I achieved against the Dogs of War in the last battle report on this site. Note that report was for a 2250 point game of Warhammer.

The 5,000 points battle had gone quite smoothly, the larger than usual forces had not gotten bogged down or in one another’s way. My plan was rendered null and void by the early loss of both Black Coaches, but Mannfred had excelled himself, even in the face of that devastating charge from the Wolf Kin. I also prevented the Ulric forces from breaking through anywhere.

I didn’t use the trio of Vampire Counts particularly well, the magic phase was the only one in which they made any real contribution.
The Giant was something of a bust, I had expected him to be more of a threat, but he repeatedly failed to win combat against the zombies, or else had to Yell and Bawl in order to do so. With so many Grave Markers on the table it was trivial to cope with losses.

The Sylvanian army had done itself proud. In particular the Sylvanian Levy were fantastic showing just how exponentially better a zombie with a 4+ save is over a zombie with no save at all. I would have liked to have had ghouls and more than one unit of Black Knights as an option, but you can’t have everything in a list.

While I will probably go back to the Necrarchs for a while, there is a 3,000 point tournament coming up in the middle of this year that Sylvania may just make an appearance at…

As far as our campaign was concerned, the Ulric forces were forced to retreat and recover from the devastating loss of their Ar-Ulric and the Grandmaster of the White Wolves.

Mannfred and his cadre of Vampire Counts had all survived the battle unscathed, and now set about establishing a Greater Sylvania in the lands they had won.