Battle Report,: Beastmen vs. Bretonnians, 2500 Points

I had the pleasure of playing a game against my friend Erik last weekend, and he went on to write a great battle report on the Brohammer Forums.  I've copied it below:

I played a game with my Brets this past weekend! My friend Ben came over and he brought his beastmen army with him. We played a 2500 game and decided to just play straight battleline.

My Army:
1 Bretonnian Lord
General, Heavy Armour; Knightly Vow,Virtue of Heroism (1st) [40.0],Dragonbane Gem [5.0]
Sword of Swift Slaying [25],Enchanted Shield [10.0]
1 Hippogryph @ [200.0] Pts

1 Prophetess level 3 Lore of Heavens
Crown of Command,
1 Warhorse

1 Paladin Battle Standard Bearer
Heavy Armour; Battle Standard Bearer; Knightly Vow
Warrior Bane [5.0],Gromril Great Helm [30.0]
1 Warhorse

1 Damsel of the Lady @ 110.0 Pts
Lore of Beasts
Silver Mirror [40.0]
1 Warhorse @ [0.0] Pts

1 Damsel of the Lady @ 155.0 Pts
Magic Level 2; Lore of Beasts
Ruby Ring of Ruin [25.0],Chalice [15]
1 Warhorse @ [0.0] Pts

CORE
10 Knights of the Realm (Lvl3+ BSB go here)
W/FC+ Standard of Discipline
8 Knights of the Realm w/FC
5 Grail Knights
Standard; Musician, Banner of the Eternal Flame [10.0]
17 Peasant Bowmen +Std, Mus, Braizers
20 Peasant Bowmen + FC; Braizers

4 Pegasus Knights +FC
2x Field Trebs

His List (approximate)
1-Beast lord with magic weapon and magic wardsave+ Crown of Command
1-BSB Wargor with beast banner (unit gets +1 Str)
1-Level 4 Great Bray with Lore of Death
2x Lvl1 bray Shaman lore of shadow
1- Lvl1 Shaman lore of beasts

45 Gor extra hand weapon (BSB and General in this one
2x 24 Bestigors (Lvl 4 in one of these)
1x 25 Ungor (all three lvl1¡¦s go here next to the shard of the herdstone (all wiz within ¡§6 gain +1 power die)
1x beast chariot
2x Razorgor
So he had a huge unit of gors with General and BSB in it. That unit was +! Str and the general had crown of Command, it wasn¡¦t going anywhere!

Here is a picture that will show my deployment and after the Beasts move up on T1:


It is blurry but you can see where things are I think. From my right flank I have a unit of 20 bowman on the hill (had to use goblins, hahah not finished with my brets yet!) and right behind them you can see the General on Hippo). Next to them are the 8 realms with the lvl1 beast mage. Next are the 10 realms with the BSB and Lvl3. A unit of 17 bowmen with the lvl2 beast mage is next. The Peg knights vanguarded forwards and behind them, on the extreme left flank you can see my small unit of grails deployed in a line. My trebs are well back in my backfield and spaced roughly equal distance across the back.

The hills were all normal. The forest in the middle ended up being a fungus forest, but it didn¡¦t make a difference. There was an Elven waystone on the right flank near to his side, but it also did not come into play. The river is normal but no one ever got in it The piece of terrain that was the most important was the ruins on his side next to his ungors and the wizards. That granted frenzy to any unit within 6¡¨. That meant that I couldn¡¦t panic him off the board with a treb shot. Drats!
His deployment was (starting from my right flank again) Razorgor, chariot, unit of 24 Bestigors with Lvl4 death Shaman, huge unit of gor with Gen and BSB, herdstone shard there is the terrain piece and right beside that is the unit of 25 ungor with the 3x lvl1 shaman. Right in front of them is the second unit of Bestigor. You can¡¦t see it, but he has his second razorgor on the extreme left flank (at the top out of the picture.

T1-I of course prayed! So Beasts get to go first. I van-guard moved my Peg knights straight forward up the left flank. He basically moves everything up, keeps his chariot slightly back (alongside the bestigor block). He debuffed my peg knights with Shadow which I let go since I didn¡¦t plan to charge with them next turn. I dispelled his hex on the large knight block (he was trying to lower Int to throw a purple sun through there!) and when he casts purple sun I dispel with the silver mirror, causing a wound on the Lvl4.

A Bret's eye view of the advancing horde!


T1-Brets- I move my peg knights forward 20¡¨ and face the flank of his ungors while staying out of the charge arc of any of his units. I move my grails up on the left flank to protect the treb and threaten the advancing bestigors on the left flank. I fly the Hippo Lord out to the right flank to make it uncomfortable for him to advance. The other knight units backup some because I don¡¦t want to rush that large combat coming my way! Magic is decent with some buffs, but nothing major gets through. The lvl2 on foot fails to cast transformation :> I had chain lighting, 1st hex spell (-1 to hit and ld), and Uranon¡¦s thunderbolt on the Lvl3.

Shooting was a whole different matter! Both trebs landed direct hits on the right Bestigor unit. I killed around 15 or so. **We did the template wrong, we used a direct hit only touching 9 models. It should have been 15 models on 25mm bases touched on a direct hit. Even still, it was devastating! Trebs are nasty like the devil in 8th!

T2-Beasts: Time for revenge. He moves up with just about everything. The right razorgor charges the small Realms. He took some wounds the turn before from the bowmen and he takes another on the way in. They finish him in combat so I won¡¦t talk about that one again. He reforms the ungors to face the peg knights. He moves the left razorgor to face the rear of the peg knights.


His magic is powerful! He gets off fate of Bhjuna IF on hippo lord. He rolls like a gangbuster and gets 6 hits. Three of them wound. I need to make a single 6+ ward to stay alive. I don¡¦t and the gen dies on top of T2! The Hippo passes his reaction test and holds fast. He rolls up a 4 on the miscast table and proceeds to kill even more of the bestigor unit while sucking himself into the warp. I¡¦ll take that trade!
Here you can see the depleted Bestigor unit and the hippo looking at them hungrily before my turn!


T2-Brets: I charge the peg knights into the rear of the left Bestigors. I should have waited and been patient, but I felt like I could seize a big advantage if the Grails could roll well enough to get a supporting charge in on the flank of the same unit. The grails also charged. They needed a ten and had to go through a forest, but it was doable. The pegs made it but the grails failed. Rut-roh. :> I charged the Hippo into the remains of the other bestigor unit. They held. I then moved my lvl2 on foot out of the bowmen unit and to safety while I moved the bowmen unit in front of the huge gor unit as a sacrifice to buy me some time. The magic phase is uniteresting again but I do manage to get off a hex on the Gor unit (didn¡¦t make much difference). Shooting sees one treb misfire and can¡¦t shoot for this turn or the next. The next one lands a partial on the ungors and kills about 10 or so, but they are still stubborn so no panic test.

In combat the Hippo takes 2 wounds while eating the bestigor unit. I restrain overrun. The pegs do well and kill several bestigor and only take 2 wounds back. They win combat handily with the carge+ rear bonus, but the bestigor are stubborn on a reroll and they easily hold. They reform to face the Pegs¡K this is bad.

T3-Beasts- The huge Gor unit charges my sacrificial bowmen unit. The chariot charges my bowmen on the hill. His razorgor on the left flank moves up to threaten the grails. Magic is easier to defend now that his Lvl4 is gone, but that herd stone is kicking my butt by giving him +3 extra dice per turn. He gets some buffs on his gor herd. They burn right through the bowmen of course :> They decide to combat reform to take my lances head-on next turn. The bestigors are now getting supporting attacks and the peg knights didn¡¦t charge. They also got hexed by his magic. I knew they were going to die so I let that go in order to stop some other spells. Predictably, the bestigor tee off on the defenseless peg knights and slughter the unit down to 1 Peg. I break and he doesn¡¦t pursue,(knowing that a single knight from 4 can¡¦t rally) and opts for a combat reform to face my knights (offering the grails a flank charge.) The chariot gets nowhere with the bowmen on the hill and stays in combat.

T3-Brets. I have nowhere else left to retreat so I sound the charge with the large Realms with BSB. I move my other realm knights around to a flanking position on the huge gor unit (I don¡¦t know that his lord has the Crown yet). The grails take the offered flank and make it this time. I did lose one knight on the way in to dangerous terrain though. So 4 grails into the flank of about 17 bestigor. I move the Hippo to the hill in his deployment zone, but facing the rear of his units. (I think this is a mistake looking back. I should have moved to threaten the ungor unit and the wizards. I didn¡¦t know that the general had the crown at that point and I figured I would need all the help I could get in wittling that huge unit down to break steadfast.) I get off Iceshards on the Gor unit this turn which is nice. The treb that can shoot tries to hit the ungors in the back but misses.

Combat sees the grails do what grail knights do, kill a lot of stuff on the charge. I take no wounds back and win by a large amount. Doesn¡¦t matter though, he is still stub on a 9 from the general and he passes the test. He also passes the test to reform and now is facing me Drat! Supporting attacks are coming next turn along with a rear charge by pumba! It ain¡¦t looking good for the home team! I slam his unit of gors with the big lance and do a lot of wounds. My BSB kills his BSB which is a huge bonus! He decides not to make way with his general this turn (I guess because he doesn¡¦t want charging brets to attack him-probably smart). I lose no knights back! I am on fire with armor saves so far tonight. I win the combat by a huge margin, but doesn¡¦t matter as he passes his stub 8(because of the hex) check easily. Darn!
No more pictures. ƒ¼ Sorry, I forgot after this turn, but I think you know where everything is now.

T4 Beasts: He charges the rear of the grails with razorgor and makes the charge. Don¡¦t remember what magic did. Not much. The grails directed all their attacks at the razorgor. They did manage to do three wounds and kill it (thereby eliminating at LEAST +3 combat res) but bestigors with GW¡¦s and primal fury made sure that there were no grails left to savor the good fortune. The bestigors reform to go around the large gor unit and take on the lance of unengaged knights. Even with his general making way this turn, I win combat again against the big Gor unit. He makes another Stub 8 check and we move to

Bret T4: I STILL don¡¦t know he has the crown on the beastlord yet since he has been steadfast up until this point. I charge the realm knights into the Gors. This turn I should get them below steadfast! I move the Hippo to threaten the ungors. The trebs shoot at the bestigor unit. Both miss.
Magic: I get the hex off on his unit of gors. The realms are +1 St +1 t also. The combat goes exactly how it should. I kill a ton of gors and win by a large amount. The general does take out 2 of my Realms knights from the BSB¡¦s unit, but it isn¡¦t enough. Alright! He no longer has more ranks than I do and I won combat. That is when he tells me he has the crown, hahaha I should have totally known it of course, but I didn¡¦t. He makes another stub 8 check and we move on.

T5 Beats: He charges the flank of the smaller Knights with his bestigors. He moves his wizards out of the ungor unit (that will be eaten by the Hippo) and also manages to keep all 3 out of LOS of the Hippo-smart move! The game is set now. It all depends on this combat. I kill a decent amount of gor again and he kills a few knights. I got lucky because the flanking unit of Bestigors failed its PF test, that made a HUGE difference. I lose combat, but pass my tests.

T5 Brets: I charge the ungors with the Hippo, they die. I shoot both trebs at the wizards (they are all huddled up :>) and get one direct hit. Kill one of ¡¥em and wound the other 2. Sweet! I get a good round of magic and I have extra dice left after I cast all the spells I wanted to. I decide to cast chain lightning on the wizards. I use 4 dice and of course it comes up IR. I get no wounds on the wizards with my dice (horrible rolls) and then I roll up a 4 for miscast. Kill 5 knights and suck the Lvl3 into the warp GAHH!! Oh well, it happens :> The combat is now on the beast¡¦s terms. I am no longer stubborn either, now that the Lvl3 is dead. He wins combat and my BSB¡¦s unit breaks, but my other realm unit holds on a 3! The BSB is dead and that unit flees off the table. The game is now firmly in his grasp.

T6-Beasts: nothing of note other than my realm knights finally break, but get away, denying him VP.

T6 Brets Game over. The beasts have won the day. Even though I have very few units on the board there was only a difference of around 300 VP total. The hippo was still alive (and thus no VP for Gen other than the +100 VP for killing him), the realm knights were still there with a lvl1. Both trebs and a bowman unit still around.

My thoughts:

I enjoyed playing the Brets! The beasts are a good matchup for my army. In this particular battle I should have known that the Beast lord had the stubborn crown. I have to think it is in just about every army (except VC, TK, DoC) and that is where it should have been. I made several very big tactical mistakes during the game. I should have pressured the ungors with wizards right away with the hippo (after I ate the depleted Bestigors of course). Instead, I wasted a turn with useless manuvering. I think being more patient with the peg knights would have paid off big dividends. Getting a combo charge is crucial to locking units down with smaller flanking units. Otherwise you win-they don't care- they reform and beat you to death in round 2!

Miscasts inside of knight units can be HORRIBLE! I think the dominant market strategy will be Lvl4 with life (for vines) as miscast protection. I was using a strange combo for my lord choices because I wanted to use the HippoLord. Lvl3 of life isn't good enough, I don't like Life with anything less than a Lvl4. There may even be some options of running 2 Lvl4's (life and heavens) at 2500+ pts. Probably it would be more efficient to use a Lvl4 and 2 Lvl2's instead though. I'll have to look at it. I know that Wyssan's Wildform is an awesome spell that really works well with our army. You should probably have at least one of those in each list!

I didn't miss the General's leadership in the middle of the table really. The BSB is extremely durable and with his re-rolls, Ld 8 (or 9 even with a Banner of Disc) is good for most everything. The HippoGryph is not an optimal choice in 8ed. i think everyone knows that. Not that it can't do well for you, it can! It is just not the most efficient use of points imo. The blessing save extending to the mount really shines in this application. Otherwise it would be ultra vunerable and almost not worth even considering.

There are sooo many combos available for heros/lords. I have only begun to stratch the surface. I look forward to exploring all the various builds! I really want to do a RAF styled army, but I am having trouble visualizing how it will work on the battlefield in this ed. I may still do one since I love the models (and have them painted!)

I haven't even started thinking about peasant heavy builds. Without them we surely struggle with watchtower scenario.

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