Battle Report: Sylvania vs Ulric (5000) Part 1

I've been tardy in putting this up, for which I apologise. I hope you find the report worth it.

This 5000 point Warhammer Fantasy battle is the culmination of a campaign that has gone on for just over a year. So far, the Vampire Counts are ahead, having pushed back Ulric in a 3000 point battle, and defeating a reliff army of Kislev and Dogs of War in a follow-up 4000 point battle. Now for the culminating clash. Will the forces of Sylvania be able to consolidate their gains, or will they be pushed back to their own borders?

The Armies

I'm not going to post army lists, since they are so long. At this points value it doesn't really add a lot.

The Sylvanian army featured Mannfred Von Carstein as its general. This was really called for by the campaign, as Mannfred hadn't featured yet, so who better to star in the great clash? I accompanied him with three Vampire Counts, partly to represent the three surviving vampires from the previous battles, but also to get those additional grave markers.

Other characters included a Wight Lord BSB carrying the Sword of Kings, a Mounted Wraith with the Cursed book, and a Wraith on foot with the Rod of Flaming Death.

The core was made up of two large Sylvanian Levy units, 36 -strong, and a unit of 30 Sylvanian Militia. A smaller Levy unit made up the difference. No Dire Wolves were included, since the combination of the Drakenhof standard and Summon Wolves meant that I could in theory summon 24 Dire Wolves at the start of the battle. This is as many as I own.

Specials included a Spirit Host, Fell Bats, and a unit of Grave Guard to be a strong point in the infantry line. I alos included a pair of Black Coaches, as allowed in the Sylvania list.

Three banshees is all I have models for, so that is what I took. Drakenhof Templars (Black Knights) were the other rare choice I used, to house Mannfred and the other mounted characters.

Facing this was a Ulric list that made full use of its cheap warriors. Made thourgh combining Marauders and hairy heads, these made up a strong presence. Knights of the White Wolf, Wolf Kin, and Hunting Hounds were also presence. The notable addition was a Giant. The Grandmaster of the White Wolves and Ar-Ulric were both present. Ulric was sparing no power to drive back the threat of the undead.

Set up and plan

The battlefield was neatly divided into three zones, thanks to the placement of difficult terrain at two points.

Seeing the terrain I decided to place my faster units on the right and the two large units of Sylvanian Levy (zombies) in the centre. My plan was to go in hard and fast on the right, then swing around the difficult terrain on that side and hit any Ulric units in the centre from behind. The left would be virtually uncontested. A few units were placed there to give me time to react if Ulric came hard down that flank.

On the left I deployed the Fell Bats, and smaller unit of Sylvanian Levy. These units were there mainly to slow down any Ulric units attempting to come down that flank. The Spirit Host were placed directly in front of the difficult terrain. As they can move through it with no penalty, they would have the flexibility to help out on the left or in the centre, as need dictated.


In the centre were the holding units, two large units of Sylvanian Levy, standing either side of the Grave Guard. Placed to assist these units were my three Vampire Counts and a Wraith with the Rod of Flaming Death. The majority of Grave Markers were located in this area to keep the two levy units strong.


On my right was my single unit of Black Knights, packed with characters. Mannfred Von Carstein, a Wraith with the Cursed Book, and a Wight Lord with the Sword of Kings and Battle Standard were all located here. The two Black Coaches were set up, one on either side of the knights. My unit of Sylvanian Militia (skeletons) was set up here also, to provide full ranks and outnumber if needed.


The Ulric army was set up with the majority of its strength in the centre. Protecting them from summoned Dire Wolves was a unit of Wolf Kin stretched out in a line.

Significant power was present on the two flanks, especially the right, where the general and Ar-Ulric faced off against Mannfred and the two black coaches.





As Ulric had far more deployments than the Vampire Counts, I won the roll off and opted to go first.