This is my first attempt at writting a battle report with the hope that it gives some people a good read and the chance for people to point out the mistakes I have made! When is use east and west I always mean from my view Firstly this was against a good local player from our club. There are three of us going to an event in the next week and we wanted to trial our lists. My opposite number does run Dark Elves but not the normal internet lists and has had some really good results at large events with these. Basically his army was: Dreadlord, un-killable combo of armour and pendent, whip of agony and crown of command, Level 4 on shadow with the life-taker, ruby ring not sure what else Cauldron Bsb Hero on pegasus with 1+ re-roll save A lot of characters and more than he would normally run. Worried about the pegasus hero as this can sometimes have a nasty combo, and of course the Pit-weilding Level 4. Bunker of approx 20 spearmen 2 units of crossbows, 14s each 5 Harpies 5 Shades 18 Witches 29 Corsairs 20 Black guard No hydra which was nice but instead was the 18 witches runnign about on their own. In the army I am running I would rather he had the Hydra! My army was: http://www.lustria-online.com/threads/second-attempt-at-thunderous-charge-list.9041/ The battlefield had two buildings, one out east and one just outside his deployment zone towards the middle. Two woods which did nothing really and two hills. We both spanned the whole table on our respective sides as we were both worried about our scouts getting behind. I have skinks and a stegadon on the east, ancient stegadon, saurus with lord and ancient stegadon with bsb in the centre, two lots of skinks each beside a stegadon on the west, the chameleons deployed in the centre in the wood. I was facing Unit of cross bows and harpies on the east, blackguard, corsairs with lord and bunker with level 4 in the centre, witches, crossbows and cauldron on the west using the building to break up the line, the pegasus hero beside the building his shades deployed on my far west MAGIC Thunderbolt and Comet for me Withering, enfeebling, miasma and mind razor for him TURN 1 I took first turn and we were off. I have been to slow with this army in the past I think, more worried about using giant bows etc than just getting over. As a result all units match with the exception of one stegadon on the west to have a shot at the pegasus hero to see if he was holding the pendent. Chameleons stay still asI did not want to give them away early. Magic phase gives me the 6 dice I need for the comet and sure enough a double 6 comes up! The comet is right in the middle of his main units near the building. Miscast........and just to balance the double 6 here comes the double 1! Mage survives but most his skink bodyguards do not. Still I am happym enough with that. On to shooting, all I can use is the one giant bow I did not march....a 6!, d3 wounds....a 5!,does he have the pendent, eh no. One dead hero, I will never ever say again giant bows are totally useless. No panic from his units as you would expect and its over to the elves. Cauldron puts the ward on the corsairs Shades declare a charge on the blowpipe skinks on the west, stand and shoot, and theres three 6s..shades fail panic and go nowhere. Harpies declare charge on the javelin skinks on the east, stand and shoot, and theres three 6s..harpies fail panic and go nowhere Some movement to try and get out the range of the comet forcing the corsairs forward to a stegadon in the centre. Magic phase next and no comet yet. The winds are poor and I use my dice to stop power of darkness thinking that it would effectively end the phase but he pulls out the ruby ring and fries the chameleons in the woods. Shooting puts the skink priests unit down to just him and one skink. TURN 2 Time to go for it. As the comet has forced him a bit forward I try and get some longish charges off. Stegadon on the east charges the crossbows, stand and shoot, 2 skinks go down and one wound on the beast. Skinks beside them move to threaten the harpies behind the crossbows. Stegadon near the centre towards the west tries a long one on the lords unit of corsairs and makes it, this was to cause damage before the saurus get there. Ancients only walk this time to make use of their blowpipes on the blackguard and saurus march catching them up. Skinks on the west get to short range on the shades and the dead-eye stegadon moves closer to the witches. The priest bails and flees towards my board edge to get out of range of the crossbows and the ruby ring. Magic phase, the comet arrives,,,,and with a bang! When the dust has cleared the blackguard are down 12 elves, the bunker unit lose 8 and the corsairs lose 7. The blast did not reach the stegadon in their front. The cauldron takes two wounds.....NICE Priest tries for another one but does not get the double 6 and the scroll is played. In shooting the blowpipe skinks on the west fail to fell a single shade. The giant blowpipes take some more from the blackguard leaving them on 5 The stegadon in the corsairs kills 7 all in and due to the dreadlords set up only loses two crew in return. The crossbow elves on the east are slaughtered and flee off the board taking the harpies with them as they flee also. Cauldron gives ward save to the corsairs Shades charge the blowpipe skinks on the west. The blackguard back right up towards the table edge, The west crossbows enter the building with the level 4, this puts her within range of the priest...doh. Witches advance slightly. Magic phase is again poor and again I stop the power of darkness. The stegadon in the corsairs is enfeebled. Shooting and life-take fells the priest. In combat the stegadon takes out a few more corsairs and loses a couple of crew, standing on steadfast. The shades butcher the skinks and run them down after no hits with 7 attacks from the skinks! TURN 3 The west stegadon fails a charge on the witches. The bsb ancient gives a tempting flank to the two remaining blackguard if they fancy the job of assasinating the bsb. The saurus turn with the other ancient now the blackguard pose not threat. The east stegadon and skinks turn to rejoin the battle. Magic and all I can do is cancel the enfeebling on the corsair stegadon. Shooting and the east stegadon spies a tasty flank at the remaining blackguard....hit! The blackguard are now down to the champion and the standard. No other shooting causes damage. In combat the stegadon takes a couple more corsairs for a couple of crew in return and stands in combat...really out doing himself! Cauldron places extra attack on corsairs Witches charge the stegadon that failed to do the same. The blackguard charge the bsb flank and the shades chase the one remaining skink form the priests unit for the points. Magic and finally a good haul...for him not me! Mind razor on the corsairs.....oh dear. Its a double 6 so the miscast kills a few elves and loses the remaining dice. Not any really damage form the shooting Combat and the stegadon in the centre finally goes down to the razored corsairs who in turn turn to face the bsb and saurus The blackguard champion takes on the bsb in a challange and despite his 2+ re-roll save he takes a wound and kill the champion in return. The stegadon holds and turns to face the standard bearer and the last guardian of the blackguard points. The witches win the combat on the west but the stegadon holds. TURN 4 The bsb stegadon is causing a blockage now an the saurus turns to face the remaining corsairs with the dreadlord. The other ancient turns to face the corsairs also. The stegadon on the east rushes to join the fray again with the remaining skinks turning towards the centre of the board. Magic no just involves be cancelling any remains in play spells from now on. The ancient stegadon takes down two more corsairs and no more shooting remains out of combat and in range. In combat the blackguard standard bearer goes down without killing the bsb and turns to also face the remaining corsairs and dreadlord. The witches get 7 poison wounds on the stegadon and he fails to save 5 so crashes to the ground. Cauldron gives extra attack to dreadlord The dreadlord charges out of his unit with his eyes set on the wounded bsb, any over run of 6 or more would take him slap bang into the saurus block. Everything else backs up and the corsairs enter the building The witches round and move towards the centre of the board Magic and 6 dice withering against 6 dispel which stops it on the bsb ancient stegadon. The ruby ring fries some of the skinks rejoining the battle from the east. Shooting fails to kill any further skinks with the exception of lifetaker which kills 2. The dreadlord only kills the bsb for 2 after saves but suffers no damage back from the ancient stegadon due to the pendent. The bsb-less ancient stegadon holds. TURN 5 The saurus block moved up hoping that the over run of the dreadlord would take him into them with the ancient stegadon facing his side incase he fells the bsbs stegadon and holds. The skinks move up trying to draw the frenzied witches to the saurus. Magic does nothing. Giant blowpipes try to take the two remaining corsairs from the building but fail. In combat the lord takes out skink crew for no damage back and the ancient stegadon breaks. The lord has to decide to risk over running and hitting the saurus of hold and take the charge in the final turn from the ancient stegadon eyeing his side. The dreadlord fails to catch the fleeing ancient stegadon and it passes through the saurus block. He overruns and stops 1/2 and inch from the saurus and just out the arc of the ancient.....doh. The dreadlord makes sure he cannot be charged in the last turn and the corsairs hide behind the building The witches pass the frenzy test and withdraw form the might of the remaining skink. Magic is cancelled out with dispel dice, the elves failing to take the toughness from the ancient stegadon. Shooting causes no real damage and its over to the final turn. TURN 6 The skink charges the witches knowing they must overrun and the saurus move up within 9 inches, a long way but as close as they could get. The ancient stegadon turns his pipes on the dreadlord and the bsbs ancient stegadon rallys. Magic again does nothing with the priest gone Shooting and the last chance to get the dreadlord. When the dust settles he has taken 2 wounds..so close. The remaining stegadons giant bow failing to hit. The skinks dies and the overrun is only 6, stopping short of the saurus The dark elves do nothing in their last turn with no units in combat and no Pit the magic cannot cause any damage. So ends the game. A win to the Dark elves 1100ish to 750ish. Losing the bsb cost me and not getting the movement right on the saurus meant they caused no damage, but I suppose kept their points. They would have slammed into the blackguard but could not have seen the comet doing that for them. Not getting the priest to safety was stupid and again losing him cheaply when he could have just been a pain for the whole game otherwise. Other than that not really sure what else I could have done. In general movement let me down which was a shame and little mistakes end up costing me. The stegadons did ok, one taking out one flank, one causing massive damage to the corsairs and one failing badly against witches. Chameleons were given away for nothing which again was poor. Maybe try and get the ruby ring in to keep some sort of magic phase when the priest dies? Not really the army to judge against but still would not rather have had the EotG Anyway thats the first one written up. Any comments welcome