High Elves vs Empire

Note: This post has lots of pictures

We played a game of High Elves vs Empire, 2100 points (not all painted).

Took a bunch of pictures, but not really for a battle report so I'll just post them all with a basic recap. 

The game was fantastic.

Sorry for the large quantity of deployment pictures.

iPhone Panorama 

Mustering The Elven Host

 My deployment wasn't great, but even worse was how i decided to use my mobile units. I was indecisive (and inexperienced) with how to use the pistoliers.  I deployed them to the far flank, but then wasn't sure if I should ride up the flank and harass the archers and bolt thrower, use them as a decoy, or get them engaged in combat early to use their pistol fusillade.  It didn't help that there was a giant eagle creeping around behind the woods and I was staring at those missile units waiting to shoot the cavalry to pieces. The Knights Panther were originally intended to be small "mobile reserve", but in order to get to 2100 I beefed them up to 8 knights with full command and "Inner Circle" upgrade.  This meant a unit of about 248 points that should have been used as a shock unit.  Final mobile unit mistake was my general on the pegasus.

The Empire artillery was equally effective, though not quite as much as the magic.
The Empire deployment and plan was terrible, and the HE deployment ended up having an eagle deployed on each of the extreme flanks and this paralyzed the Empire movement decisions for the first two turns. I threw out my original plan and then replaced it with no plan at all.

 Sometime around Turn 2 or 3 The Wiz tried to cast a spell but miscast and knocked himself out for two turns.

Doh.

 Most of game dominated by High Elf magic.  Comet landed first turn; i didn't dispel because I thought the spell ended once the comet hit; i didn't realize that it just kept going each turn!

comet lands

comet kills

 The High Elf chariots were incredibly disruptive. They drove the initiative and forced the Empire to react to them the entire battle.  They are very cheap and effective.

 The comet is still there in front of the cannons, this time killing an entire rank of spearmen. Brutal.

Brutal

 I took a hail mary shot at the Giant Eagle that was on the other side of the board with my far cannon. I guessed 52 inches.  BAM! right on the beak!  Yet somehow I only caused one wound on a D6 wounds. Argh!

 By Turn 4 or 5 the artillery was taking a toll on the Elves, and then The Wiz got off an unexpected spell that transported the Empire Spearmen across the board and charged into combat with the unit of HE archers containing the Arch Mage.  They broke the archers in combat and they ran off the board.

 The previous games with Empire were all under 2000 points so I didn't have a lord - I'm used to the hero on the pegasus being an "average" mobile hero on essentially a flying horse. For this game he was the Elector Count Lord character and needed to be in the battle early. Instead, he hung around behind the line waiting for an opportunity to do something which didn't materialize until Turn 4/5 when the HE Prince on the Eagle chased the Mortar crew off the board and returned, then charged the Count on the Pegasus.  The HE Prince drove his lance through the Elector Count's gut, killing him. But after two rounds of combat, the Pegasus killed the Eagle and then killed the Prince (I have no idea how that happened).

Showdown!

In the very last turn the High Elves cast a spell that wiped out the remaining Knights Panther and routed my other unit on the board. That was a huge swing in victory points that basically put the HE from over 200 points down to over 200 points in the lead, however at a 2100pt battle on the Victory Points table, the battle ended in a draw.

Another area of concern for me seems to be the detachments. First problem is that because of their unit size they're stretched out and taking up the entire deployment zone.  Secondly, I seemed totally preoccupied keeping them together with the parent unit, not wanting to disturb the formation. Because of this I basically become paralyzed in the early phase of the game, ceding the initiative to my opponent.