Warriors of Chaos vs. Dark Elves

Overview

Location: Bedford Gladiators
Date played: 29 June 2009

Warriors of Chaos

General: John
• Sor Hero, Sorcerer
2x Dispel Scrolls
• MH1 5 Marauder Horsemen
Musician, Throwing Spears & Shields
• MH2 5 Marauder Horsemen
Musician, Throwing Spears & Shields
• MHF 5 Marauder Horsemen, Flail Horsemen
Musician, Standard, Mark of Khorne, Flails & Light Armour
• CK1 5 Chaos Knights
Banner, Musician & Warbanner
• CK2 5 Chaos Knights
• W1 5 Warhounds
• W2 5 Warhounds
• Gi Giant
• Tr 4 Trolls
• EH Exalted Hero
Shield, Collar of Khorne, Armour of Zharakk, Favour of the Gods

Dark Elves

General: Mark
• H1 Hag
BSB
• Co 10 Corsairs
Hand Bows
• N Noble
• Ex 14 Executioners
Champion, Banner
• BG 14 Black Guard
Champion, Standard
• WE 14 Witch Elves
• RC1 10 Repeater Crossbowmen
• RC2 10 Repeater Crossbowmen
• H2 5 Harpies
• H3 5 Harpies
• CoB Cauldron of Blood

Deployment

Turn 1 – Dark Elves

The two Harpy units advanced from behind the forest, positioning to control the advance of my Horsemen and Hounds. The Repeater Crossbowmen in the centre advanced and wheeled slightly to bring themselves into shooting range and the unit on the right advanced into the house, from where they shot at the Chaos Knights (CK1).
I was surprised to find a unit that moves into a building can still shoot, and does so from the nearest point of the building. This meant that the Crossbowmen were able to move 5″, count as shooting from the closest point on the building 5″ closer still. This is something I will remember for future reference for situations where it may be more important.

Turn 1 – Warriors of Chaos

The Harpies were just too far from my Horsemen for me to move up and shoot them. I advanced my left flank of Hounds and Horsemen, positioning them as near to the harpies as possible while leaving sufficient distance to flee if charged. I advanced the Knights (CK2) up the right flank with the Flail Horsemen behind them (this was a mistake, Mark exploited me exposing this fragile unit to the unit in the building). The Troll advanced into position to charge the building. The centre Knight unit (CK1) advanced forwards and the Giant advanced behind them.
In the magic phase my Sorcerer attempted to cast Flaming Sword of Rhuin, I was expecting Mark to have the Ring of Hotek but even then the chance of miscast was only 1/6. Suffice to say I rolled double 4 and miscast. During the shooting phase my Sorcerer claimed a Crossbowman in the building with his Bloodcurdling Roar.

Turn 2 – Dark Elves

The Dark Elves repositioned there main line backwards, intending to gain another round of shooting before combat. The Repeater Crossbowmen chose to shoot at the Flail Horsemen and killed 4. The other unit of Repeater Crossbowmen shot at the Giant causing a single wound.

Turn 2 – Warriors of Chaos

On the right flank the Trolls charged the building, the Repeater Crossbowmen inflicted 2 wounds and the Trolls fluffed their attacks. This meant the Trolls were pushed back 1″ away from the building. The Chaos Knights and remaining Flail Horsemen advanced around the building. In the centre the Chaos Knight unit advanced to ensure it was in charge range (with hindsight I advanced too far, which gave Mark full control of my charge options) and the Giant positioned beside them. On the left flank a unit of Horsemen charged at one of the Harpy groups who promptly fled. The other unit of Horsemen (MH1) turned and through spears at the other Harpy unit killing 1.
In the magic phase my Sorcerer attempted to cast Flaming Sword of Rhuin again, this time I miscast on double 1. Somehow the Sorcerer was not wounded by the strength 8 hit the miscast caused.

Turn 3 – Dark Elves

The Harpies on the left flank charged after a unit of Hounds (W2) who fled into the forest and the other unit of Harpies rallied. The Dark Elf centre line repositioned again with the Corsairs advancing to block the Warriors other charge options. Both units of Repeater Crossbowmen and the Corsairs put all their fire into the Giant which left it with 1 wound.

Turn 3 – Warriors of Chaos

On the left flank the Horsemen unit (MH2) declared a charge on the Repeater Crossbowmen unit (RC2). This was a mistake as the flee move cleared the way for the Witch Elves to charge my Knights in their turn. The other Horsemen unit positioned to throw spears at the Harpies again with little effect. The Trolls charged the building again and again the Crossbowmen managed to inflict more wounds than the Trolls forcing them back. The Chaos Knight unit (CK2) on the right flank charged into the Executioners, the Knights fluffed their attacks and only killed 3 Executioners and the Executioners killed 3 Knights in return.
In the centre, the Giant was killed by the Corsairs stand and shoot attacks, but the Chaos Knights (CK1) and remaining Flail Horsemen made short work of the Corsairs and over ran into new units.

Turn 4 – Dark Elves

The Blackguard used the combination of ASF (from the Hag BSB) and Killing Blow (from the Cauldron) to Killing Blow all 5 Chaos Knights before they could strike. The Exalted Hero massacred the unit Champion but it was not enough to stop him and the Sorcerer fleeing. The Chaos Knights (CK2) had more success against the Executioners but the stubborn Executioners held.

Turn 4 – Warriors of Chaos

At the beginning of the turn I attempted to rally my Sorcerer, who failed and was destroyed fleeing. Straight after I attempted to rally my Exalted Hero who failed and was destroyed fleeing.
The Trolls yet again charged the building but in yet another display of incompetence managed to be repulsed by the Crossbowmen once again. The Chaos Knights (CK2) killed yet more Executioners but still could not break them (the Executioners had US5 meaning they could ignore the fear from the US4 Knights!).

Turn 5 – Dark Elves

The Blackguard charged into the melee in the right corner of the table, the extra numbers was enough to finished off the remaining Knights and Flail Horsemen.

Turn 5 – Warriors of Chaos

The Troll unit made its 4th attack on the Repeater Crossbowmen in the building and were finally victorious. We weren’t sure at the time whether this was turn 5 or 6, but given the situation decided to call the game as a decisive Dark Elf victory.
Mark played a solid game, he deployed well and used prioritised his shooting well. I made a number of mistakes, the majority of which came from not considering choices in the context of my own game plan. These factors, combined with what I can only call astonishingly poor dice throughout the game (the 3 failed Troll charges, the characters failed rally tests, the Knights fluffing the Executioner charge, the sorcerers 2 casts both being miscasts, killing 1 Harpy with 23 throwing spear attacks etc). Although the dice were frustrating at the time, the fact that I feel Mark played the better game made the loss easy to accept. Now I just need to ensure I don’t make the same kinds of mistakes in future!

Warriors of Chaos vs. Empire

Overview

Location: Bedford Gladiators

Date played: 22 June 2009

Warriors of Chaos

General: John

• E Exalted Hero
  Mark of Tzeentch, Barded Steed, Shield, Book of Secrets & Dispel Scroll
  191 points
• S Sorcerer
  Level 2, Mark of Tzeentch, Barded Steed & Rod of Torment
  201 points
• M1 5 Marauder Horsemen
  Musician, Throwing Spears & Shields
  81 points
• F 5 Marauder Horsemen, Flail Horsemen
  Musician, Mark of Khorne, Flails & Light Armour
  116 point
• C1 5 Chaos Knights
  Banner, Musician & Warbanner
  255 points
• W1 5 Warhounds
  30 points
• W2 5 Warhounds
  30 points
• C2 20 Chaos Marauders
  Command, Shields
  120 points
• M2 5 Marauder Horsemen
  Musician, Throwing Spears & Shields
  81 points
• C3 18 Chaos Warriors
  Command, Shields & Banner of Wrath
  363 points
• Total: 1468 points

Empire

General: Terry

• W1 Warrior Priest
  Barded Steed, Enchanted Shield & Sword of Might
• W2 Warrior Priest
  Great Weapon & Doomfire Ring
• B Battle Wizard
  Level 2, Ring of Volans & Dispel Scroll
• H 10 Handgunners
  Marksman with Hochland Long Rifle
• S1 20 Spearmen
  Command
• K 6 Knightly Order
  Command
• S2 Steam Tank
• C Cannon
• M Mortar
• F 21 Flaggellant Warband
  Prophet of Doom

Deployment

I won the roll for choice of sides and decided immiedatly to deny the Empire the hill. My deployment was intended to use my Infantry blocks to secure the centre, forcing Terry to use his resources to counter them, while my Cavalry advanced on both flanks. When deployment was complete I thought I had a strong position to build from.

Turn 1 – Warriors of Chaos

I advanced my infantry forwards hoping that I could get my magic within range of his Handgunners. On the left flank my Flail Horsemen and Chaos Knights positioned behind the hill, the Flail Horsemen had a good angle around the side on the Empire Knights who would need to reposition to stay safe.

In the magic phase I managed to draw some of Terry’s dispel dice out on a 18″ magic missile which was out of range, if I had cast anything else before it he would of known. My Exalted Hero successfully cast Burning Gaze on the Handgunners and killed 7. My Sorcerer then miscast attempting to cast Treason of Tzeentch and wounded himself.

Turn 1 – Empire

The Empire Knights advanced onto the hill, which I feel was a mistake as it ensured I could double charge them and if they fled continue into the Steam Tank. The Steam Tank positioned to fire its cannon and the Flagellants advanced.

In the magic phase the Warrior Priest in the Spearmen attempted to Hammer of Sigmar on the Hochland armed Marksman which I dispelled. I used my dispel scroll to stop the Fiery Conflaguration cast from the Ring of Volans. The Battle Wizard attempted to cast Burning Gaze and failed then cast Fiery Blast and failed to harm any Chaos Warriors. Finally Terry used the Warrior Priest in the Knight unit to cast Unbending Righteousness on himself which I failed to dispel with my final dice, this meant the unit was now unbreakable.

In the shooting phase the Mortar targetted my Marauders, the shot initially missed but scattered onto the centre of the unit. The 16 hits and 4 partials led to 12 of the Marauders dieing! The cannon and steam tank both fired at my Chaos Warriors in such a way that they could hit my Exalted Hero, both shots hit the unit and the Hero failed the look out sir! roll for the cannon. Fortunately for me the cannon ball did not wound my Hero, but the two shots did manage to kill 6 more Warriors.

Turn 2 – Warriors of Chaos

I took the opportunity to double charge the Empire Knights with my Chaos Knights and Flail Horsemen. They killed 4 of the Empire Knights who held due to combat resolution.

In The centre I moved my Horsemen up hoping to tempt a charge from the Steam Tank or Spearmen (which I would flee from). My other Horsemen unit moved into position to force the Flagellants to charge at them towards the forest. The Warriors unit moved up the centre towards the Handgunners and Spearmen.

Turn 2 – Empire

The Flagellants charged at my Horsemen who fled, unfortunately the failed charge didn’t take them far enough to set up a flank charge with my Marauders. Terry wisely ignored the temptation to chase the other horsemen unit and instead used the cannons grapeshot and steam tanks steam gun to kill them.

During the magic phase the Warrior Priest gave up his unbreakable prayer in the hope of using Soulfire to badly damage my Knights but it was dispelled. Somehow my Chaos Knights managed to cause no damage during the combat phase, but the Empire troops also failed to hit home. I won on combat res due to outnumber and warbanner, and as my fear causing chaos knights outnumbered the Empire troops they needed to roll insane courage not to flee, which they did not. My two units did not manage to catch the fleeing Knights, but my Chaos Knights did impact into the Steam Tank.

Turn 3 – Warriors of Chaos

The first mistake I made this round was to charge the Flail Horsemen into the fleeing Knights rather than the cannon (or potentially both at once), although it still ensured that the Knights and Warrior Priest left the table before they could rally. Also on the left flank, my Chaos Knights succeeded in causing two wounds on the Steam Tank, this was actually better than ‘average’ but likely wouldn’t be enough to survives its grinding next turn. My Exalted Hero took his chance and charged into the Mortar, he fluffed his attacks and only killed 2 and the remaining crewman held. The Warrior unit he left continued forwards. On the right my Horsemen rallied and immiedatly repositioned to draw the Flagellants further off course.

Turn 3 – Empire

On the right, the Flagellants again charged after the Horsemen, who yet again fled from their reach. In the centre the final Mortar crewman was felled by my Hero, and on the right the Empire secured the upper hand. The Steam Tank risked generating 4 dice, this gave it a 1/3 chance of damaging itself but virtually ensured that it would win convincingly otherwise, putting all that Steam into grinding generated 8 hits and removed 4 of the Knights. The lone survivor was unable to cause it extra harm and promptly fled. The Cannon pivoted on the spot and again used its grapeshot to rake one of my units, this time it was my Flail Horsemen of whom only 2 survived.

Turn 4 – Warriors of Chaos

Hoping to earn some victory points, I threw what was left of the Marauders into the flank of the Flagellant unit. The combination of martyring and casualties was likely to remove 4-6 a turn which was sufficient to remove it by the end of the game. In the centre positioned my units to charge the Spearmen, except the hounds who positioned to finish off the handgunners. Here was another costly mistake, instead of moving my Hero back into the protection of the unit I positioned him to the Spearmen’s side.

Turn 4 – Empire

The Spearmen charged into the front of the Chaos Warriors unit. In the melee the Warrior Priest succeeded in slaying the Warriors Champion, and the Warriors killed 3 Spearmen and wounded the Wizard. The Spearmen won the combat by 1 combat res and the Warriors passed the break test. The Steam Tank wheeled upon the spot.

It was the shooting that exploited my error last turn, Terry aimed his Cannon at my Hero (who had already been wounded by my Wizard’s miscasts) and grapeshot him. I failed the 3+ armour save and he was killed.

Turn 5 – Warriors of Chaos

The position at the beginning of turn 5 was a difficult one for me, but I knew if I could break the Empire Spearmen block it would give me a good chance of taking a draw. I charged the Flail Horsemen into the Cannon, they wiped out the crew and continued onto the Steam Tank as intended (I thought it was worth sacrificing them to ensure the Steam Tank could not affect the Spearmen combat for 3 rounds of combat. The Marauder Horsemen positioned to charge the rear of the remaining Flagellants, hoping to ensure I could finish them and claim the full VPs.

My Warhounds charged the Handgunners and killed them both, they then continued into the side of the Empire Spearmen which I hoped would be enough to ensure victory. Somehow, even though I had the flank, the Spearmen gained no ranks and I had 6 Chaos Warriors attacking a Spearmen unit I failed to win the combat. I again lost by 1CR and this time failed my break tests. The Spearmen pursued and ran down the Chaos Warriors, and ended up positioned to charge into the Horsemen behind the Flagellants. This combat was the point where the Empire victory was ensured.

Turn 5 – Empire

The Steam Tank generated 2 steam points and ground the two Flail Horsemen to death. The Spearmen charged the Horsemen who could not flee without being destroyed and wiped them out. The Spearmen then overran into the Chaos Marauders and between them and the Flagellants killed them all.

Turn 6 – Warriors of Chaos

My fleeing Hounds failed to rally. I positioned my other hound unit safely behind the hill.

The final victory point tally was Empire 1750 – 750 Warriors of Chaos.

The game was enjoyable and interesting to play. Although the magic and infantry I fielded probably detracted a little from the effectiveness of the list, I still had ample resources to face my opponent. Even the poor luck with the magic, which cost me my 200pt Sorcerer and a wound on my 200pt Exalted Hero in the first two turns alone didn’t cost me the game. I made too many mistakes with positioning units and Terry spotted them and took advantage. These errors weren’t enough to cost me the win, but they were enough to turn a draw into a loss.

Ultimately the game was most useful for reminding me that a good army isn’t one with a couple of tricks (Infernal Gateway spamming, Deathstar Units etc). A good army gives a good general the ability to win or draw even when luck goes against them. A good army used well can ‘degrade with style’ to borrow a web design phrase. This means that even when some units die or fail to achieve their job the rest of the army can still perform effectively without them.

Date played: 21 June 2009

Chris is taking his Orcs & Goblins in our club’s warhammer league. I have written a new Warriors of Chaos list including which includes a couple of block infantry units. This takes the edge off of my normal all cavalry army and also gives him a couple of slower moving units to build a strategy against.

The game was played in our local GW, the two towers on the map actually represent the new Chaos terrain feature (A ruined temple of skulls) that we treated as impassible. The large forest on the left was a result of us having nowhere to remove the large number of trees from. I won the roll for deployment and decided to claim the side with the hill.

Warriors of Chaos

General: John

• T1 Hero, Throgg
• S Hero, Sorcerer
• M 5 Marauder Horsemen
  Musician, Throwing Spears & Shields
• F 5 Marauder Horsemen, Flail Horsemen
  Musician, Mark of Khorne, Flails & Light Armour
• C1 5 Chaos Knights
  Banner, Musician & Warbanner
• W1 5 Warhounds
• W2 5 Warhounds
• C2 20 Chaos Marauders
• T2 4 Trolls
• C3 12 Chosen Warriors
  Great Weapons, Shields, Banner, Musician, Banner of Rage

Orcs & Goblins

General: Chris

• O1 Orc Big Boss
  Great Weapon, Amulet of Protectyness
• N1 Night Goblin Big Boss
  Wollopas One Hit Wunda
• O2 Orc Shaman
• A 30 Arrer Boyz
  Bows, Choppas, Full Command
• O3 30 Orc Boyz
  Extra Choppas, Command
• O4 30 Orc Boyz
  Extra Choppas, Full Command
• N2 35 Night Goblins
  Short Bows, Full Command, 3 Fanatics
• F1 Fanatic
• F2 Fanatic
• F3 Fanatic
• S1 5 Spider Riders
  Musician
• B1 Bolt Thrower
• B2 Bolt Thrower
• D Doom Diver
• B3 Boar Chariot
• S2 2 Snotlings
• S3 2 Snotlings

Deployment

I knew Chris was fielding a unit of Spider Riders, given the amount of forest I knew this could potentially cause me problems during my advance by march blocking a flank. Chris deployed on the assumption that I would advance, a good assumption given the shooting advantage he had.

Turn 1 – Warriors of Chaos

I won the roll for choice of turn. With a full advance I knew I could limit the O&G shooting, giving the O&G the first turn would allow the Spider Riders to advance to march block me and also allow his warmachines another round of shooting before I engaged in combat.

On the right flank I positioned the Horsemen with Flails to either tempt a charge from the Spider Riders or hope for a charge angle if he moved nearer the forest. In the centre I moved my Trolls and Horsemen up quickly, the Chosen Warriors and Marauders advanced as quickly as infantry could. On the left flank I made the mistake of moving my Chaos Knights up in front of my Warhounds. I had forgotten that the Warhounds were placed there to draw any potential Fanatics from the Night Goblins.

Turn 1 – Orcs & Goblins

In the first of a number of unfortunate rolls for Chris his Spider Riders rolled 1 for animosity and squabbled, leaving them unable to move. On the left the Night Goblins advanced to ensure I could not advoid them with my Knights. The centre line held its position and only the Snotlings repositioned. One of the Snotling units moved left to block any chance of the Horsemen charging the Doom Diver, the other to position for redirecting.

The O&G shooting was large ineffectual. The Doom Diver misfired stopping it shooting for the turn, the Bolt Throwers fired at the Trolls but with no success.

Turn 2 – Warriors of Chaos

On the left flank I was forced to hold my Knights back due to fear of Fanatics, to make up for my earlier error with the Warhounds I moved my Hosemen across from the centre to force out any Fanatics. Chris positioned two of the released Fanatics to further threaten my Knights and the other to dissuade my Horsemen from charging the Bolt Thrower. In the centre I made the decision to force my Trolls forwards even though this left them without support. Both food infantry units also advanced but were now some way behind the Trolls. On the right flank my frenzied horsemen charged the unfortunate Spider Riders and smashed them apart with their flails.

Turn 2 – Orcs & Goblins

Chris called his Waagh hoping to double charge his main Orc unit with general and the Snotlings into my Trolls. The Orcs failed their fear test leaving the Snotlings to charge on their own, in combat they suffered 2 wounds, lost and fled. The Boar Chariot charged the Marauder Horsemen, if they fled they’d hit the ruins and be destroyed so they held and were destroyed.

In the shooting phase the Bolt Thrower on the left claimed one Chaos Knight and the Night Goblins took another with their short bows.

Turn 3 – Warriors of Chaos

The loss of two Chaos Knights actually helped advance them up to face the Night Goblins. My Trolls failed their stupidity test, but due to the close proximity of the Orcs they ending up charging the unit with their half movement. The Chosen Warriors positioned to retaliate if the Arrer Boyz flank charged my Trolls. The flail Horsemen charged and decimated the Bolt Thrower.

Turn 3 – Orcs & Goblins

This turn was crucial for Chris, if my Trolls survived the flank charge then the Chaos Warriors would finish the game. The Arrer Boyz rolled 6 for animosity and slammed into the Trolls (saving them a risky fear test). Throgg killed his second Champion in combat with 2 overkill, the Orcs failed to wound in retaliation giving me the opportunity to target his general with my Trolls before he struck with his Great Weapon. The Trolls took down the general and a single Orc meaning I lost the combat due to his musician. I failed my break test but passed the reroll due to Throgg.

Turn 4 – Warriors of Chaos

The Chosen Warriors charged into the Arrer Boyz flank, the combination of 3 attacks each and great weapons led to them killing 12 Orcs, then Throgg and the Trolls accounts for another 6. Chris was looking for insane bravery on both units, both units fled and were run down by the Trolls. The Chaos Knight charged the Night Goblins, they were unable to match the Night Goblins static combat res but passed their break test and held.

It was at this point that we agreed to finish the game. The loss of his general and two infantry blocks, and the fact his other two blocks were likely to fall in the next turn left little hope for Chris.

The images showing each turn were produced in ‘Battle Chronicler’. I haven’t used it before but think they are quite good, please give any feedback, especially if you think it will enhance the reports.

Army Lists

Warriors of Chaos

I made a few changes to my previous list, adding in Throgg instead of a Exalted Hero, and Wulfrik + Marauders instead of a Giant. I added Wulfrik and his Marauders because nothing in my old list could even attack buildings, let alone win when trying. Two units of Chaos Knights provide capable Anvils, 2 units of frenzied flail Horsemen are excellent hammer units and the 2 other Horsemen units and 2 Warhound units provide charge diverting, warmachine hunting and march blocking.

General: John

• T Hero, Throgg
• S Hero, Sorcerer
• W1 Hero, Wulfrik
• M1 5 Marauder Horsemen
  Musician, Throwing Spears & Shields
• M2 5 Marauder Horsemen
  Musician, Throwing Spears & Shields
• F1 5 Marauder Horsemen, Flail Horsemen
  Musician, Mark of Khorne, Flails & Light Armour
• F2 5 Marauder Horsemen, Flail Horsemen
  Musician, Standard, Mark of Khorne, Flails & Light Armour
• C1 5 Chaos Knights
  Banner, Musician & Warbanner
• C2 5 Chaos Knights
• W2 5 Warhounds
• W3 5 Warhounds
• C3 13 Chaos Marauders

High Elves

General: Mike

• M1 lvl 1 Mage
• M2 lvl 2 Mage
• N Noble
  
• A 11 Archers
• D1 5 Dragon Princes
  Banner
• D2 5 Dragon Princes
  Banner
• S 8 Silver Helms
• R 5 Reavers
  Spears & Bows
• B1 Bolt Thrower
• B2 Bolt Thrower

Deployment

Mike got choice of table side and went for the building. Although a building is tough for Warriors of deal with, it benefited me by splitting my opponents army into two halves. My game plan was to use the forest on the right flank to protect the flank of a cautious advance, while moving forward quickly on the left and then moving across the Elf line. I was entirely reliant on Wulfrik and his Marauders to assault the building.

Turn 1 – Warriors of Chaos

On the right flank I positioned a unit of Flail armed Marauder Horsemen (F1) to hold the Reavers back. A unit of Marauder horsemen (M1) positioned to tempt the Silver Helms or Dragon Princes into making a charge, due to distance and angle I could either hold potentially setting up a flank charge with Knights or flee setting up a normal charge with Knights (C1). On the left flank I held the Marauder Horsemen back to protect them from shooting, the warhounds advanced to tempt the Dragon Princes into charging. My main unit advanced (C2,T & S) expecting to take the brunt of the shooting. I made a big mistake positioning the Marauder Horsemen with Flails (F2), they were positioned to close to the Knight unit meaning they could not charge round it, I should of moved them 2″ to the right and angled to threaten the Silverhelms and right Dragon Prince unit.

Turn 1 – High Elves

Mike charged the Reavers (R) into my Flail Horsemen, charged his Silver Helms at my Horsemen who chose to flee and then paniced my Knights who rolled 12 then 11 on the re-roll. On the left flank he ignored the bait Warhound unit and wheeled his Dragon Princes forwards and on the right he advanced his Dragon Princes to threaten the other side of my Knight unit (I expect he hoped to combine charges of force a flank). In his shooting phase he killed my Warhound unit, 1 Knight and 2 Flail Horsemen (this actually made it possible for them to charge past the Knight unit).

Turn 2 – Warriors of Chaos

Wulfrik turned up this turn, a big bonus for me as it threatened the Bolt Thrower and unit + characters in the building. My only charge was the centre Flails (F2) on the Silverhelms, who fled succesfully. My Knights (C1) rallied, but the Marauders kept going and almost reached the edge. On the left I positioned a unit of Horsemen behind the Dragon Princes and advanced the Knight unit (C2) so that Throgg could vomit on the Princes (killing 2) and to force the charge (while the other Dragon Prince unit wasn’t close enough to support). I moved my other Flail Horsemen unit so that they would destroy the Silverhelms if they didn’t rally and charge them if they did.

Turn 2 – High Elves

Mike did what he had to and charged his Dragon princes (D1) into my Knights, they failed to cause any wounds and were wiped out by return attacks. His other Dragon Prince unit (D2) charged my Flail Horsemen who couldn’t flee due to freny, killed them to a man and overran to try and reach safety. The Silverhelms rallied. All shooting was directed at my Marauders who were knocked down to 5 models.

Turn 3 – Warriors of Chaos

By this point I felt confident that I could secure victory by playing this turn correctly. The Flail Horsemen in the top right charged the Silverhelms, all but one died and they inflicted no wounds but the last man made his LD3 break test and held. Wulfrik and his Marauders charged the Bolt Thrower, wiped it and over-ran next to the house. Throgg left his Knights and positioned with two units of Marauder Horsemen ready to decimate the second Dragon Prince unit. The left Knight unit (C2) made its intention to charge the second Bolt Thrower clear.

Turn 3 – High Elves

The Silverhelms failed to kill the Flail Horseman, but he broke and was run down. The Archers shot at the Marauders leaving only Wulfrik at the door to the building. The Bolt Thrower killed one Knight and the Dragon Princes turned to face the multitude of foes.

Turn 4 – Warriors of Chaos

Throgg and a unit of Marauder Horsemen charged the Dragon Princes, Throggs vomit killed 4 and the final 1 was run down by the Horsemen. Wulfrik charged the building, forced the Noble to accept a challenge (the Noble was his target meaning he got 4 WS 8 re-roll misses str 7 attacks vs him). The Noble attacked first but couldn’t harm the fell Warrior who proceeded to cause 4 wounds. Wulfrik won the combat but as the Archers passed the Break test was repelled. The Knights (C2) charged the Bolt Thrower and wiped it.

It was at this point that Mike conceeded the game, a very reasonable decision given he had only two units including one in a corner facing the edge.

Post game report

Had the game been finished I would anticipate a 1200VP victory to the Warriors, the only question was whether Wulfrik would survive Archer shooting before charging the building and killing off more characters. Below are some key points:

• The High Elf deployment of the Bolt Thrower next to the building set up a very obvious route for Wulfrik. Deploying both bolt throwers away from the building would of limited the damage he could do.
• The Reavers would probably have had more luck shooting at the Flail horsemen, and then standing and shooting them. In return for 10 shots all they would of lost would of been +1 str (spears) and Horses hitting first.
• Drawing Archer fire onto Chaos Knights by making them threatening stopped Mike using it to remove fast cavalry units. In the first game Mike used his shooting to decimate my small units making it harder for me to control his movement. This was probably the biggest change between games.
• Even heavy cavalry can’t be confident about breaking Chaos Knights on the charge. 5 Dragon Princes are only likely to kill 1, while 4 remaining Chaos Knights should kill 2 Dragon Princes.

Multi-laser / Lascannon

I will admit to a bit of a ‘cheat’ here. I have built my Valk to swap between a multi-laser and twin-linked lascannon. This was because I have also built my Valkyrie so it can be used as a Vendetta Gunship. It would be trivial to use this method to produce a single Lascannon variant.

Step 1: First choose which side of the cockpit you want the weapon to be on. The right side is a natural choice as the multi-laser part is already made for this side.

Step 2: Cut out space for the magnets to connect within the frame (visible in left image below).

Step 3: Glue magnets onto back of gun (images below middle & right).

Step 4: Position gun correctly inside frame, & use green stuff (or plasticard which I probably should have used) to position the second magnet inside the frame (image below left).

Step 5: Leave the gun inside the frame for some time to allow the glue to set.

Step 6: Attach the frame piece to the side of the cockpit (as shown below).

Wing Hardpoints

Step 1: Cut down hardpoint on wing (image below).

Step 2: Cut out space for the magnet and glue it in place on hardpoint (images below).

Step 3: Drill a hole into Rocket pod and missile and glue a metal rod into them (images below).

Step 4: Drill into the hardpoint (above the magnet) and cut the rod on the weapons to fit that space.

What’s next

As mentioned earlier, I have built my Valkyrie so that it can also be used as a Vendetta. I will post a follow up article showing how to make the TL Lascannon wing weapons, and also how to make Heavy Bolters (inc gunners) removable.

I realise that this article is a little rushed, but I’m pretty busy at the moment and thought it’d be better to get something up rather than waiting weeks/months to do it properly. If you have any feedback or questions please contact me.

John

I would like to make a FoI request for the information (specifically including the IP addresses) regarding the computers that comprised the Botnet used by the BBC Click researchers (Your story: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/click_online/7932816.stm). If you believe you would be unable to share the complete IP address, then I would accept the IP addresses in the human readable form with the last section ommited (eg. 208.77.188.166 would become 208.77.188.xxx or 208.77.188).

Although I hope that they will agree to share at least the limited IP information, the FoI process can take a while and I have my doubts that they will give me anything. I am expecting to get a polite refusal either on the grounds that the information hasn’t been retained (convenient) or that it is private information that they cannot share due to the Data Protection Act (In which case the irony will be that if they cannot share it due to the DPA then they also weren’t entitled to collect the information without permission in the first place).

I expect this will probably be my last post regarding this subject until I get a response or some other source is able to get more information out of the BBC who are currently stonewalling by refusing to discuss the legalality of the issue beyond siting “strong public interest” (something that is irrelevant to the Computer Misuse Act). At some date in the future I will write up the information collected as a single page source so people can use it as a stable resource.

If anyone has some new information, or wants to point me in the direction of a news or opinion source I haven’t read/mentioned I’d love to hear about it.

In this story it is stated that you acquired and used a botnet. Although the target of the DDoS and spam had consented to this, the article makes clear that the computers that made up the botnet belonged to owners who were not aware you had access.

Can you please respond regarding your position on the legality of your teams actions, especially with regards to the Computer Misuse Act 1990.

I received an email response to this question yesterday at 19:36 (AIM mail had spam filtered it, thus the delay in posting it).

Dear John Graham

I apologise for the delay in responding to your query but the person who was dealing with this was taken ill.

We would answer your point by saying.

It was not our intention to break the law. At no stage was any other data other than the IP address used. There is a powerful public interest in demonstrating the ease with which such malware can be obtained and used; how it can be deployed on thousands of PCs without the owners even knowing it is there; and its power to send spam e mail or attack other websites undetected . This will help computer users realise the importance and value of using basic security techniques to defend their PCs from such attacks. The BBC has strict editorial guidelines for this type of investigation which were followed to the letter.

Although I accept the point that they were covering an important issue, I don’t feel this answer really responds to the question I asked. Hopefully some other, larger, news sources can get a more detailed explanation from the BBC as to why they believe what they did was legal. I find his assertion that no details other than IPs were used strange, especially given the fact that they altered users background images…

1. 66.3% Firefox 3
2. 6.7% Internet Explorer 7
3. 4.5% Internet Explorer 6
4. 4.5% Google Chrome
5. 4.3% Firefox 2
6. 4% Opera
7. 3.9% Safari
8. 2.1% Iceweasel
9. 0.9% Internet Explorer 4
10. 0.7% Konqueror
11. 0.7% Seamonkey
12. 0.5% Generic Gecko
13. 0.2% Mozilla Minefield
14. 0.2% Mozilla Minefield

Credit also goes to the single visitor was using Solaris OS.

I don’t intend to imply anything from the above results, partly to ensure I avoid any risk of flaming from browser zealots. Though I admit I was suprised to see FF3 used so widely given that from my experience many Slashdotters browse at work, and many workplaces are IE only (so congratulations Mozilla).

Whether the BBC’s action was legal has been the focus of a lot of discussion so far, but in this post I want to discuss whether it was moral. A lot of people are taking the position that the BBC should be thanked for this piece of journalism, as it will raise awareness of the issue and they also destroyed the Botnet. However my own opinion is that what the BBC did completely unacceptable for a number of reasons:

Did they fund crime?

The BBC acquired a Botnet, and although they haven’t entirely explained how it is implied that they bought it. If this is the case then the BBC has knowingly paid a criminal for access to his services. This more than negates any good they can claim by having then disposed of the Botnet.

When the BBC bought that Botnet they helped ensure creating Botnets was profitable which encourages criminals to create more. That is the exact same reason why having the police buy Heroin and Guns from dealers isn’t the solution to gun and drug crime.

Where were the computers?

The BBC Botnet had 22,000 computers in it. The BBC hasn’t said anything about where these computers were, or if it even knew. As Botnets aren’t designed to stay within one geographical region it is unlikely that these 22,000 machines were all within the United Kingdom. It is in fact likely that it will contain 1000s of foriegn PCs, and perfectly possible that it will include machines on military networks either inside or outside of the United Kingdom.

Maybe it’s just me but if I found out that China State Central television (Chinese State broadcaster) had bought access to a Botnet that my PC had been compromised by and used my PC without authorisation, changed my background and then ‘deleted’ the exploit I wouldn’t be overly impressed.

And then there is the question of legal jurisdictions. As Gary McKinnon is finding out at the moment, being in the UK when you access resources in another Country doesn’t protect you from the laws of that Country. If the BBC Botnet included an American PC are they sure their action wasn’t illegal under US or State Law?

Do we want vigilantism?

The debate over whether it is acceptable to produce programs that work like Malware etc but for the purpose of good has been going on for years. Should it be acceptable to write a program that searches for PCs with a security flaw and install an application on them that removes all viruses, checks and reports the user for any illegal pornography, checks and reports the user for any pirated content and then fixes the security flaw? I would hope most people would say no to this extreme example, but what needs to be considered is that it can be justified on the same grounds as the BBC’s action.

However what is less clear is whether the BBC’s use of compromised PCs (the Botnet) whose owners had not given permission was legal under the Computer Misuse Act 1990. Although I initially thought the BBCs actions would of clearly crossed the line, I am beginning to think that they can claim their actions were within the law.

Offence 1:Unauthorised access to computer material

A person is guilty of an offence if—

(a) he causes a computer to perform any function with intent to secure access to any program or data held in any computer;

(b) the access he intends to secure is unauthorised; and

(c) he knows at the time when he causes the computer to perform the function that that is the case

If the BBC broke the law it is likely to be this law. The BBC’s action was clearly intentional (c) and unauthorised (b) so the only question is whether the BBCs instructions to the Botnet to DDoS and Spam are covered by (a) “causes a computer to perform any function with intent to secure access to any program or data”. Given that a computer that is part of a Botnet is running the program that is exploiting it this seems likely to be the case.

Offence 2:Unauthorised modification of computer material

(1) A person is guilty of an offence if—

(a) he does any act which causes an unauthorised modification of the contents of any computer; and

(b) at the time when he does the act he has the requisite intent and the requisite knowledge.

This is the crime that Sophos have chosen to focus on, and in my opinion the BBC are safe on this charge. When the BBC installed a new wallpaper on the people’s computers informing them that they had been compromised it clearly performed “the unauthorised modification of the contents of any computer”. However it is the requirement (b) “has the requisite intent” that the BBC can claim means they did not commit a crime.

For the purposes of subsection (1)(b) above the requisite intent is an intent to cause a modification of the contents of any computer and by so doing—

(a) to impair the operation of any computer;

(b) to prevent or hinder access to any program or data held in any computer; or

(c) to impair the operation of any such program or the reliability of any such data.

What the BBC did probably doesn’t meet this criteria for requisite intent. Do any of you have a different opinion on the matter?

update 13th March 17:30:

David Harley left a comment on this topic including a link to his own article on this subject, I found it extremely informative and interesting to read and suggest it strongly to anyone interested in this story.