Who has the beatdown?

After the drubbing I got in my last game I approached this one with some trepidation. The Dark Elves had the beating of me in the shooting phase, magic phase and movement phase and Gary's deployment foxed me. I didn't help my own cause when I changed my plan halfway through deployment and took the Druchii head on. The fickle nature of magic made itself known when my Sorcerer died while casting his first spell.

My first thoughts were to tweak the list. I decided to drop my Sorcerer back down to a level one. With two Dispel scrolls he was primarily there for magic defense, but he also had a magic missile spell to give me some shooting. A bound magic missile in the Banner of Wrath gave me more firepower. I dropped the Exalted down to an Aspiring Champion, as anything more was just overkill. With the spare points I made my Knights chosen.

My main change though, was one of attitude. I was determined to force the Dark Elves to react to my army, rather than my army react to theirs. To this end, before I had even seen the battlefield, I decided I'd refuse one flank and put my Knights on the end of the other. If I kept my army compact I hoped it would negate the Dark Elf speed advantage.

Much to my consternation Gary had painted up a second unit of Dark Riders. Uh-oh. The good news was that he only had one Sorceress.

Here are the full lists:

Armies 1250 points
My Chaos Undivided mortals:

• Aspiring Champion with Book of Secrets, extra hand weapon (Steed of Shadows spell)
• Lvl 1 Sorcerer with 2 Dispel Scrolls (Dark hand of Death)
• 12 Warriors full command
• 10 Warriors full command Banner of Wrath
  
• 5 Chosen Knights full command
• 6 War hounds
• Chariot
• 8 Furies

The Dark Elves had:

• Noble on Cold One with Sword of strength six
  
• Lvl 2 Sorceress
• War Hydra
• 10 Repeater Crossbows
• 16 Spearelves full command
• 5 Dark Riders
• 5 Dark Riders
• 19 Executioners full command Banner of Murder

Here is a picture of the deployment.


The Druchii started with most of their army inside the bend of the river, daring my army to come at them. Only the two Dark Rider units deployed opposite my army, on the far side of the large wood. I refused the right flank and set up everything on the left.

The game
I won first turn. I marched the Chosen Knights the full fourteen inches forward to threaten the Dark Riders. The War hounds were nearby, but further back. I angled the Chariot to hit anything that broke through my lines. I flew the Furies up on the other side of the wood in case the Dark Riders tried to run away. Thaer, my Aspiring Champion ran up next to them. He could use Steed of Shadows to keep up with the Daemons if necessary. I marched my Warriors up into the centre of the board.

One Dark Rider unit tried to charge the War hounds but was just out of range. The other unit pulled back. The other Dark Elf units formed up in a line along the river. The Repeater Crossbows were perched high up on a hill in the corner.

My Knights charged the first unit of Dark Riders who fled only to be caught. The Chaos cavalry couldn't quite reach the second unit. My War hounds padded up alongside. I brought the Furies up around the wood onto the flank of the Dark Riders. They were totally trapped in the corner now. My Warrior units angled toward the Elf battle line and tossed some speculative magic missiles at the Cold One Noble. I was just in range, while the Elf Sorceress and the Crossbows would be just out of range. Sweet.

Gary pulled the Dark Riders out of the charge arc of the Knights and parked them in front of the hounds. He also realigned his units along the river, pushing the Noble up toward the bridge. Still, his magic and shooting was too far away.

My Furies and Hounds charged the Dark Riders. They failed their Fear test and ran off the board. We weren't sure what would happen to the chargers and in the end moved them their full distance. That left the Furies right on the board edge and the War hounds off the table.

If I was going to charge the Dark Elves I'd have to make my move now.

Instead I targeted the Noble again with magic, removing a wound. I figured I had 200 victory points for two table quarters and I could deny the others from the Druchii. I also had around 200 points for the Dark Riders. If the Elves wanted the win they could come after me.

Both infantry blocks shuffled into the river but it became obvious they would never reach my line. Only the Noble got anywhere near as he came over the bridge but he eventually took a magic missile in the face and died.

I won the game without taking a single casualty.

Result massacre
Chaos 631 vps
DE 0 vps

Thoughts

1. My plan worked better than I could have thought possible. The Dark Elf deployment did affect things, and it would have made things much more interesting if the Elves had deployed more conventionally, but I stuck to my plan and followed it through. Once I realised I had the magic advantage, and I had neutralised the Dark Riders with their speed, I was in total control.
2. We go up to 1500 points shortly and I'm still not sure what to add to the army. Unfortunately this game didn't really enlighten me any further. I'm painting a hero on a Daemonic Mount, so that's about 150 points allocated. I reckon four more War hounds would be sensible, giving me two five dog units. Marauder cavalry could be a good choice too. They'll give me even more mobility to keep up with the sprightly elves.