A win in a GW store

Rare indeed; thanks to my council still giving staff an extra day off after bank holidays (I know, shocking isn't it; I'm glad I don't pay council tax to who I work for!) I was able to squeeze a game in against some random whippersnapper in my local GW store.

I'd took along my Vampire Counts on the off chance of a game, and ended up facing a 1500 point High elf force, from memory something like this:

Foot General without anything fancy

2 Level two mages

20 or so Sea Guard with Bows and Spears

2 units of a dozen bows

2 Chariots

2 Bolt throwers

Myself I had to assemble a scratch force, thinking that Vampires didn't suit smaller games. I ended up with the following; and a deep sense of foreboding:

Lahmian Vampire Thrall with asp bow and quickblood

Level 2 Necromancer

Mounted Wight Lord

23 Skeleton spearmen with Thrall

23 Skeleton swordsmen with Necromancer

5 Black knights with a magic banner with wight lord

18 Grave Guard

9 Ghouls

2 swarms of bats in a single unit

As it happened I need not have worried; I quickly assumed I would be hammered by magic, but the elven mages did sterling work in taking themselves out the fight. One blew up early on, and the other allowed himself to be chased away by my bats. In fairness my mage was not a lot of help, only casting successfully 3 times in eight or so turns.

The Elves deployed in a classic firing line well back on the table; for my part I used terrain, ghouls and the black knights to cover my infantry force. The advance saw relatively few casualties on my troops and fear reduced the impact of the enemy charges. My opponent was also not aware that the undead don't run, so made several mistakes in rash charges which allowed me to tie-up, envelop and then destroy his army piece by piece.

At the end I had the Wight lord, Necromancer, two units of Skeletons, a few Grave Guards and a swarm of bats left. My enemy was eliminated. Funnily enough to me; some of my figures were older than my opponent!

A pleasant way to spend a couple of hours.