Dread Elves vs. Cursed Kings

DEPLOYMENT:

- I chose the table edge

- My opponent generated 2 spells from cosmology ( 1 + 1 ) He took spell number 6 as choice, so he had Touch the Heart and Unity in Divergence

- I rolled 3 spells from evocation ( 1 , 2 and 5 ), Spectral Blades, Danse Macabre and Whispers of the Veil

- I chose dread legionaires and Executioners as my secondary objective and my opponent had no choice to take my both archers and necropolish guard

Deployment order was following:

- Blades of Naab + Dread Legionaires + Executioners

- Necropolish Guard

- Rest of the Elves

My opponent won the first turn

NOTE:

- I though that Medusa was character when my oppponent asked could she join the unit, so in this game Medusa joined dread legionaires. It was a mistake

MAGIC: 2+1 + PD + DD

- Unity in Divergence on DL2 (cosmos) 4 PD, failed dispel

SHOOTING:

- No wounds on chariots

MOVEMENT:

- I moved Pharaoh so that Scouts could march and redirected Blades of Nabh

MAGIC: 4+1 + PD

- Whispers of the Veil to DL2 3 PD -> 4 DD failure

- Phateps Curse to Hydra 2 PD (no damage)

- Dance Macabre to SC2 1 PD -> Nat failure

SHOOTING:

- 4 Wounds of Repeaters, passed ld test

- Scouts did one damage to Oracle.

MOVEMENT:

- Blades of Nabh charged Scouts (oracle moved to halt Blades of Nabhs overrun)

- Dread Legion charged Necropolis Knights

MAGIC: 5+1

- Graves call to Casket 5 PD -> Dispelled with 5 PD

- Touch of Hearth to Oracle 1 PD -> passed recovered wound

SHOOTING

- Wound on chariot

MOVEMENT:

- Necropolish Guard charged Executioners

- Battle Sphinx Charged dread legionaire

- Both of my Underground Assault units entered the battle field and neither didn't scatter at all.

MAGIC: 6+1 + DD

- My opponent dispells Whispers 3 PD

- Spectral Blades to Necropolish Guard 2 PD -> pass

- Whispers to Dread Legion II 3 PD

- Phateps Curse to Hydra 2 PD -> Dispelled with 4

SHOOTING:

- Only 2 wound to Repeaters, and no panic

CLOSE COMBAT:

- Necropolish Guard battle first. I decided to save potion of swiftness and challenged his BSB with my champion. He directed two strikes to Pharaoh. His captain easily killed my champion. His Executioners did 2 wounds (1 wound but multiple) to Pharaoh and something like 5 wounds to necropolish guard. Combined attacks with guard and king killed them all and with pursuit they managed to break the BSB and caught them. No panic tests

- Battle Sphinx feared my opponenents models. Sphinx received 2 wounds and used his breath weapon. With all the attacks combined it managed to break steadfast and broke the unit and caught it.

TURN ANALYZE:

- Here happend one really important mistake that my opponent actually forgot that executioners had hatred and sadly I didn't remember it either. Especially since we decided to roll after couple turn would the Pharaoh died and he would have rolled another woudn ( multiple) to the Pharaoh, however pharaoh had that +1 wound armor so he would have survived that battle regardless as there was only 2 eligible models that could strike it. When I did the charge I honestly didn't realize that they were the executioners, I though they were just some simply whiny dread legionaires (totally my mistake) To my luck I rolled really well with my attakcs and punished destroyed them.

- I noticed from the picture that apparently I have pushed the building little bit :D Well this charge was so devastating that even the buildings started to shift.

MAGIC: 5+5 + PD

- Graves Call to Casket 4 PD -> 5 DD

- Unity in Divergence (Chaos) to SA2 4 PD -> lot of them died

MOVEMENT:

- Double charge with chariots to Hydra

MAGIC: 6+3 + PD

- Evocation of Souls to Archers 2 PD ( 5 ) -> Dispelled with 2 DD

- Spectral Blades to Chariots 2 PD -> Dispelled on 4 DD

- Phateps Curse to Oracle 2 PD -> 1 Wound

- Dance Macabre Aura 4 PD -> Healed Battle Sphinx, Archers and chariots (not in range for Guards)

SHOOTING:

- Repeaters were out of LOS

- Archers manged to do 1 wound onf Oracle

CLOSE COMBAT:

- Death by a THOUSAND cuts. This was absolutely awesome fight. First of all 6d6 impact hits! When you can roll that kind of Impact hits and only 3 wounds total were done to the hydra. Then with slashes of million skeletons did only 1 wound! THEN I managed to score single hit and wound with steed and my opponent failed to save it! THOSE HORSEEES! Hydra unleashed breath weapon and his attakcs caused total 8 wounds on Chariot unit 2, so only 1 wound left. So I decided tot use the other unit as Hard Cover so that with some luck my chariot isn't destroyed by repeaters.

MOVEMENT:

- Blades of Nabh charged Tomb Scorpion

- Dark Acolytes charged Casket

MAGIC: 5+2 + 1 PD

- Unity in Divergence to Archers 4 PD, again lot of died

- Touch the Heart (cosmos) to Oracle 3 PD -> Dispelled with 5

SHOOTING:

- Repeaters managed to kill the lone chariot!

CLOSE COMBAT:

- Acolytes destroyed casket and as a result some wounds on archers, one wound on sphinx, 2 wounds on legion and none to Oracle

MOVEMENT:

- Double charge with Sphinx and Guards to legionaires

- Charge to repeaters (1 wound from stand and shoot)

MAGIC: 5+2 + DD + PD

- Evocation of Souls 4 PD (really high roll) -> Healed Archers, Sphinx and Pharaoh (and extra healing with Hierophant special rule)

- Spectral Blades to Guard 2 PD -> Dispelled

- Danse Macabre to Archers 2 PD -> Passed healed to almost maximum strength

SHOOTING:

- Archers destroyed Oracle

CLOSE COMBAT:

- Repeaters were destroyed by chariots

- Sphinx + guard anhilated Legionaire

MAGIC: 1 + 1 + DD

- Breath of Corruption 2 PD -> Dispelled with 2 PD

CLOSE COMBAT:

- My opponnent did rather well, but I decided to direct every possible attack to the champion and killed it! with 6 ws2 str3 attacks killed that bloody 2 w 4+ ward champion. I was still holding.

NEXT turn I charged with Sphinx and Guard, I decided not to risk any miscast mishaps so no casting and used potion of swiftness. I killed 3 acolytes with Pharaoh and the loneone was destroyed. There was no one in blades of nabh charge range.

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THOUGHS:

- Now I have to say that my gåd this is like getting a sport car after driving around with 95 volkswagen polo. Undying Dynasties have got so much love in 9th that I cannot even start to say where. Light troop possibility for chariots YEAH!, marching YEAH!, Unstable (stubborn, steadfast, hold your ground) synergies, YEAH!, more deadlier charaters, harbringer with t5?!? YEAH! Better(ish) healing.. YEAH! Underground assault with clear rules YEAH! possibility to charge from underground ---- yeah? neah? nah?... (I used entombed mostly for speed pump redirection, so this ability naturally is nerf in my book), extra armors, lower point cost, plain statistic increases... YEAH!!!!

- BUT! I think undying dynasties has lost one of its signature features. Sluggish movement made the army in some sense much more interesting and challening. It forced you to plan couple turns ahead what are you going to do and that made the playing with Tomb Kings really rewarding. On the other hand now they seem really viable army for many to play and balance is always welcome.

- First time I think that magic made truly significant difference in the game. This has been one of my major worries that magic has been nerfed too much, well in this game it showed its place. Casket allthough different is still really good pick, seemed like ark mount is really really powerfull upgrade for hierophant. Soul conduit also seem to have its merit atleast it will certainly make magic more reliable and easier to manage.