I haven't lost a game to Delves, while playing Dark Elves myself. Until I played Jankiel, that is. Two games with equally matched armies resulted in my heavy defeats. (3-17 and 2-18) In each game my forces were gradually more and more disorganized, while his - more and more coordinated. So upon learning he was coming to the final tourney of the WFB season, a WPS comped 2300 two-day in Warsaw, I challenged him to a duel with a borrowed High Elves army.
The opponents...
As always I was confident of winning. I mean - just look at his picture... Who wouldn't?
Well... perhaps anyone who has seen my picture....
The armies...
Secret rosters, but the banner pretty obvious.
2300 DE
Highborn, GW, HA, SDC, Shield
Noble GW, horse, HA, SDC, Shield
BSB, HA, SDC
3x 17 warriors FCG
2x 10 crossbows, shields
2x 5 DR rxb
5 DR Standard
20 Executioners FCG banner of murder
2 Chariots
10 Witch Elves
5 harpies
2 RBT
This got him 79\80 Comp points
2300 HE
Prince, pure, GW, Armour of the Gods, Vambraces
BSB on horse, Lion Guard
6 SH FCG - Ellyrion
2x10 archers
2x19 Spear FCG
16 Swordmasters FCG
16 White Lions, Lion Standard
5 Shadow
2 Chariots
2 RBT
Eagle.
Only 69 out of 80 comp points.
Photos courtesy of Swingu.
Comments mine only, as Jankiel says he never knows what he is doing anyway... Who am I to dispute his words?
Memory fails me after four weeks.
Since we were dealt out some stupid scenario cards, I asked Jankiel;
"
Are we playing with those cards? I don't mind - you choose"
"I don't need scenario cards to beat you" - came the typical DE reply... Which I interpreted to mean - we're not playing with cards, and showed them aside...
Mark this dialogue down...
Oh well, time to deploy...
After losing the roll (got the prince as general though) and Jankiel choosing to start I had a first tough decision to make. I chose the side with the hill - not so much to put RBT on it - but to force DE to crowd in a deployment zone full of woods, obelisks, walls and other terrain, hoping to make their coordination difficult.
Another decision was to refuse a flank - 10 archers and an Eagle were dispatched to fight a rearguard action on the right half the table, which they did for three rounds. I didn't want to engage in maneuvering against 15 DR and a force superior in numbers to mine.
Frightened by his Executors (with suspected Banner of Murder) I immediately put my White Lions against them, which put my General slightly out of action. They should have been in front of the house.
He put his general on the left, where his LD, coupled with the BSB re-rolls proved crucial.
General peppering - When not otherwise noted my shooting was directed at his DR and upper crossbows, his - general peppering of WL and SM...
I
He set up some traps in the center, surged on the right, blocked the left flank. Largely ineffective shooting brought one of my chariots down to the last wound.
I set up my chariots for the suicide charge on his general's unit - he would have to pursue and....
II
That the chariot on the last wound got killed, was to be expected...
The repeater crossbows inflicted 6 wounds on the other chariot, I saved 2... Statistics...
5 DR with rxb killed of the crew of a RBT... Shooting sideways, well protected by the house.
Prepared for his charges, set up mine.
III
My left flank was holding as well as could be expected...
In the center 5 DR somehow not slowed by my Shadow Warriors
jumped to shoot down the other RBT... But thankfully failed this time...
The rest of his army advanced carefully.
Charge!
Stubborn SH with BSB together with the Spear Unit charged the Warriors unit near the edge of the table. The General's unit was drawn into combat as expected, But my other Spear unit started angling up on its side.
WL protected the hill from DR, SM taunted a chariot...
The DR got wiped out by RBT and Shadow Warriors, The DE regiments held easily on LD 10, without recourse to re-rolls.
IV
Photo 6
I refused him permission to cross chariot charges on my SM, but agreed for him to declare only one, and not fail the other.
He rolled 1 impact hit, was broken and caught, leaving the Executors at my mercy....
His General's unit broke my spear and run it down...
Look at photo 6...
I was so fascinated by the threat of a WE charge to the SIDE of my Trapping Spear unit, that by some ..... attack of.... I ended up by angling it in such a way, that after the compulsory pursuit, his general's unit was out of LOS
.... I Swear it was at first...
My army stopped pretending it had a right flank...
The decider
I charged his Executors with my Swordmasters...
And to my surprise he held...
And started to look at his scenario cards...
Hey - I shouted - we were supposed to play without this poop... So you said...
- Nope... I just said I don't need scenarios to beat you...
Unnerved I had to make a crucial decision...
Photo 3
Assuming that by some miracle the Execs would hold, the only way to Save my SM from a flank charge of the Warriors would be to put my WL in between them. I did just that.
Then I started counting.
3 Ranks, side, outnumber were not a problem (Stubborn). The problem was that with a chariot charge, 3 harpies, 3 DR and a GW Noble, were very likely indeed to see off the 11 WL permanently...
The SM are going to break the Execs, I decided not to sacrifice the general... And took back the WL ... Swingu took a photo at this precise moment...
The SM killed 5 Execs...
One return kill (I charged like a gentleman I am... ) and outnumber later I won by 3....
Jankiel took out his first card...
"My unit can use the General's LD even if not in range..."I gritted my teeth...
He rolled a 10....
I smiled in tiumph...
Jankiel took out a second card...
"My unit can use the BSB re-roll even if not in range..."A six was enough...
That's what scenarios do to a game...
OK., he would have fled without those silly cards...
Turns 5 and six were hectic affairs with referees telling us to hurry up...
My army retreated in a disorganized way, I didn't catch his general's unit... Killed the BSB (no proximity), didn't kill the general (no proximity, but a lot of 1 to wound...)
We didn't finish turn six...
I lost heavily 16-4.
As always..
Of course Jankiel didn't know what he was doing, but he still did it better than me ...
As always...
But how? HOW? 
Tell me...
