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So, after the drubbing at the hands of Jesse's VC, the locals were filtering in to play their escalation league. One of them had a no-show for opponent, but wanted to play anyhow. Their points level was 750, but he had enough to make 1000 so that's what we went at.

I whipped a list together out of what I had brought-

I had:

20 Warriors, HW&Shield, Full command
25 Warriors, HW&Shield, Full command
10 Thunderers w/shields
Thane, BSB, Rune of Cleaving, MR of Flight, Rune of Stone
Thane, GW, MR of Gromril, MR of Challenge
Organ gun

It was probably a little to heavily weighted towards taking out Wood Elves, but I thought I'd have some fun with it.

JR's list was something like...

10 Glade guard
5-8 Scouts
5 Wild Riders (full command)
10-ish Dryads w/champ
8-ish Waywatchers w/champ
Branchwraith with extra attack sprites
Waywaytcher noble with hail of doom arrow

I dropped the thunderers in two ranks on a hill, and they drew the glad guard across from them, with scouts in woods slightly closer. In my center went my 20 and 25 strong units of Dwarfs with the thane in with the 20 strong. My BSB deployed attached to the organ gun, next to a woods in my deployment zone, where I was expecting the waywatchers to land.

And land there they did. To the front, the dryads and wild riders headed around/through the woods to give my blocks something to think about.

The wood elves won first turn and we were off.

Turn One

The archers on my left unleashed long range shooting at my thunderers. They happened to be some 28" away, which meant that they were already in the "sweet spot" for shooting me without getting hit in return. Two casualties resulted. On the right, waywatchers managed to kill a single crew member of the organ gun.

In my turn, the thunderers decided this was a bad deal, and turned around to start heading off the hill. Meanwhile, my thane with great weapon started hopping over towards the way watchers to bust out his Master Rune of Challenge (given that it was useless against Wild Riders and Dryads). The organ gun decided to open up on the wild riders, knocking them down to just the standard bearer using 6 hits and the BSB's thrown weapon attack.

Turn Two
The wild rider standard bearer charges my organ gun and BSB, while the waywatchers position to shoot my 25 strong block. Another round of shooting at the thunderers fails to inflict any casualties. Five dwarfs are killed, not forcing a panic check. The wild rider fails to inflict any casualties and is easily dispatched by the BSB.

In my turn, the organ gun turns to face the way watchers, and the thunderers march to safety off the back of the hill. Both blocks position to bracket in the dryads. Organ gun scores 8 hits, panicking the waywatchers and attached noble off the board.

Turn Three
The close out. Dryads charge the 20 strong block at long range, and I flee, rallying next turn. The eventual combat between my general and his dryads (weakened by 10(!) hits from the organ gun) results in a wipe out, and Wood Elves concede in Turn 4.

Conclusion:
I probably gamed this a little too much. The organ gun and MR of Flight were outstanding at low points, and especially against WE. On the other hand, a first turn misfire with the OG would have swung this in the opposite direction.

Not much to say other than my opponent wasn't as familiar with Dwarves (and the organ gun) as you might expect, and it cost him. If he'd hail of doomed the crew, he might have avoided the pounding, and then refused to engage, just shooting me to death.

Regardless, it was nice to pick up a win after four straight (massacre) losses. Onward and upwards!

RZ

Ughhhh...... as a "blossoming" wood elf player, this was a discouraging bat rep. Should he have configured his list differently, too, if he had the models? You mopped the floor with him!

Think of it this way- valuable lesson learned: Deal with the organ gun. I think he should have fired the hail of doom with the first round of shooting. Even one more dead crewman would have put me at every other turn shots. I'd put the BSB there to try to randomize shots on to a tougher target and make it a harder sell to charge. I think it would have even been worth it to charge with the waywatchers to wipe the crew out.

Nothing else in my army had any kind of realistic shot at hitting him, so with the organ gun destroyed or avoided, he could have whittled down a block until he was ready for a turn 5 or 6 combo charge.

RZ

Well, thanks for that . I will certainly remember it if I play against a dwarf army...

I was torn with this report, since I play both. I am sure the victory was due to your excellent deployment and superior leadership, Zeke. And only a little to his inexperience.

@ RiTides. Zeke is right about prioritizing your targets. I probably would have left the thunderers out of range most of the game. and let my scouts and glade guard take out the organ gun and BSB, even the waywatchers if necessary. I would have set up my dryads to be punch #1 and wild riders punch #2 on one of the blocks of warriors. That would have been turn 2 so I would have had another whole turn to empty all my shooting into it before the charges, which at least one should be a flank. With 25 or so shots and 2 units charging, I think one block would have been decimated, with a possible overrun into the flank of the other unit. I think Zeke is right, if he would have lost that organ gun early, the wood elves could have danced around and whittled him down.

Glad you won Zeke.

I'm itching to try out this 1000 point wood elf list:

Spellsinger, Level 2, Calaignor's Stave, Scroll
3 x 10 Dryads
2 x 6 Wild Riders w/ Mus, Std
6 Wardancers w/ Mus

I wonder how it would fare against your list? Would you eat it for breakfast... or would it be a challenge (in your opinion)? I know a lot would depend on tactics and how the game was played, but like I said I'm itching to try it out, and I'm curious

First off, if you are going against dwarfs, then drop the scroll. Also he is going to have the same number of DD to your PD, so your spellsinger might not do much the whole game. He might have just enough shooting to wipe out a unit of wild riders before they get to him. His blocks are big enough they could withstand a charge and then win combat because of combat resolution, granted you should be fast enough to get flank charges on them which would negate his bonuses. I think it would be a close fight, with some key moves and rolls deciding it.

Good point, it's only in there since it was an all-comers list (not tailored to fight the dwarves). I was just curious how it might do

I'd at the very least enjoy the game, because I'd know we were going to actually get to fight. With no shooting, you'd have to enter hand to win. You'd either need to put wild riders in the flank of a block (preferably on a side without a character) or hit with multiple skirmishing units to get the combat res high enough.

As the Dwarfs, I'd be putting priority on the wild riders since they're relatively soft and are the only things that can break my ranks in this army. Next wardancers, and finally dryads (since their toughness 4 and ward save would limit damage from shooting).

Too bad we can't rumble!

RZ

Just for future use. Those wild riders have the ward save too.

Yes, but they're only toughness 3. As rank breakers, they remain the top target priority.

I think that's a very smart prioritizing of targets. Can treeman negates ranks as well (since I believe they're Unit Strength 6?)? Perhaps not. Being new to fantasy, I didn't even realize those were my only two units that can negate ranks!

My last opponent did target them when I brought them out... which made me hide them behind the dryads for the rest of the time. I'd have to be extra careful with them against you... maybe get lucky using some treesinging to block LOS and keep them safe.

Thanks for the input... it helps me imagine what a smart opponent is going to try to do to me