Battle Report 38- 2000 pts Vampire Counts vs Empire

This week's report features the first Warhammer Fantasy battle report that I have featured on the blog. My Vampire Counts army were awoken from their slumber of over 18 months to face their ancient enemy, the Empire, commanded by David.
 

I was looking forward to this game, as I had not played fantasy in a long time and was keen to get back into the universe. We were playing a standard 2000pts game of 8th edition at the Dundee Wargames Club.


Since the blog and my battle reports are primarily focussed on 40k, I'm not too sure how much of an overlap there is between 40k and fantasy players these days. Throughout the report, I will try and explain some of the aspects of fantasy for those unfamiliar with it. Apologies to anyone who is well aware of the rules of fantasy (probably much more so than I am), you can skip the explanations and get on with the action.

 

My army consisted of:

Vampire Lord- Armour of Destiny, Ogre Blade, Quickblood, Red Fury, Shield, Level 3 wizard. (with Z)

Necromancer- Master of the Dead, Level 2 wizard, Dispel Scroll (with SW1)

Necromancer- Level 2 wizard, Book of Arkhan (with SW2)

 

25 Skeleton warriors- Spears, Shields, Full Command (SW1)

25 Skeleton warriors- Hand Weapons, Shields, Full Command (SW2)

40 Zombies- Standard Bearer (Z)

5 Dire Wolves (DW1)

5 Dire Wolves (DW2)

10 Black Knights- Heavy Armour, Shield, Barding, Lances, Full Command (BK)

3 Crypt Horrors (CH)

3 Spirit Host (SH)

Corpse Cart- Unholy Lodestone (CC)

Terrorgheist (T)

First up, my army is led by a Vampire Lord. This is a very tough combat character, as well as being a magic user, not very common in fantasy armies. He is armed with a shield and the Armour of Destiny, giving him a 4+ armour save and 4+ ward save. What is different in fantasy is that a ward save is an invulnerable save that can be taken in addition to an armour save, adding to his durability. He is also armed with an Ogre Blade, giving him +2S. He also has the vampiric upgrades of Quickblood and Red Fury, allowing him to always strike first in combat and get additional attacks for every wound he makes in combat. I also upgraded him to a level 3 wizard. He is a very tough character who provides valuable buffs to a Vampire Counts army.

I like a lot of magic in my army, it is pretty much essential in an Undead army as it provides serious bonuses to them. I took two level 2 Necromancers. One has the master of the dead upgrade, allowing you to raise skeleton units above their starting level and a dispel scroll, allowing you to counter your opponent's magic phase. The second Necromancer took the Book of Arkhan, a magic item that allows me to cast Vanhel's Danse Macabre (I will come to this below).

For my core units, I took two units of skeleton warriors, one with spears and one with hand weapons. They had 5 ranks and a full command squad; champion, musician and standard bearer. Ranks and standards are very important for combat in fantasy, giving you bonus points in addition to any casualties caused. I also took a unit of 40 zombies in a Horde formation with a standard bearer. Horde formations give you bonus attacks in combat but have to be 10 models wide, making them a bit less manoeuvrable. I also took 2 units of Dire Wolves- fast, attack wolves that are useful for taking out cannon crews (why I took them).

I then took 10 Black Knights with full command. These are some heavily armoured cavalry, who hit quite hard on the charge. They were backed up by a unit of Crypt Horrors (large Ghouls with regeneration) and a unit of Spirit Hosts. The spirit hosts are ethereal, meaning they can only be harmed directly by magic or magic weapons and are great for advancing on missile troops or artillery, who are generally unable to harm them.

A corpse cart was then added. This is a great choice for the Vampire Counts as it gives units nearby Always Strike First in combat when certain conditions are met. This is a huge bonus as most undead units will generally be striking last in combat (due to their low initiative).

Finally, I took a Terrorgheist. This is a fast moving, tough monster who has the brilliant Death Shriek ability. This is a shooting attack that Ignores armour saves, great for taking on the heavily armoured knights of the Empire army.

The Vampire Counts are a very tough army. They all cause Fear, are immune to psychology and will not break from combat. However, if they are beaten in combat, they will lose additional wounds equal to the result that they lost the combat by. This means that a bad round of combat can seriously decimate a unit, hence the abundance of summoning spells I have in my army.

For my spells, I got:

Vampire Lord- Invocation of Nehek, Gaze of Nagash, Vanhel's Danse Macabre

Necromancer (Master of the Dead)- Invocation of Nehek, Curse of Years

Necromancer- Invocation of Nehek, Raise Dead

All of my magic users took Invocation of Nehek. This is the signature spell of the Lore of the Vampires (similar to the Primaris power in 40k), allowing the magic users to raise new troops to units that have taken damage. The Vampire Lord also took Gaze of Nagash (a magic missile attack) and the very useful Vanhel's Danse Macabre. This is a spell which gives the Vampire Counts re-rolls to hit in combat or gives them additional movement in the magic phase. This is great as Vampire Counts can be quite slow on the table (for instance, they cannot normally march if not within 12" of the general). Movement is a huge part of fantasy, sometimes even more so than in 40k, so any bonus to manoeuvring your troops is great.

The Necromancer also gets Curse of Years, a great hex spell that ignores armour and gets worse for your opponent the longer it remains in play. The second Necromancer got Raise Dead, allowing me to raise additional units to help my army in battle.

Some spells are very important of the Vampire Counts army. With a general lack of shooting attacks and slow movement on the battlefield, the Invocation of Nehek allows them to replace losses before they get to the enemy, with several other spells that buff them when they get there.

David's army consisted of:
Empire General- Warhorse, Barding, Armour of Destiny, Shield, Ogre Blade (With K)
Battle Standard Bearer (with H)
Wizard- Level 2 wizard, Dispel Scroll (with H)
15 Empire Knights- Barding, heavy armour, shields, lances, full command (K)
40 Halberdier- Full command (H)
40 Spearmen- Full command (Sp)
20 Swordsmen- Full command (Sw)
Cannon (C1)
Cannon (C2)
Mortar (M)

The Empire Wizard rolled on the Lore of Light, getting Speed of Light and Shem's Burning Gaze. Speed of Light is a great spell, giving all units within 12" WS and I 10. Shem's Burning Gaze is a magic missile at S4 that can be boosted to S6. The Lore of Light is particularly nasty for the Vampire Counts as any attacks get to roll an additional dice for the number of hits, making the Burning Gaze even more dangerous.

I won the roll for deployment and chose to go second. In fantasy, units are deployed one a time in an alternating fashion and the player that finishes deploying first get a bonus to having the first turn. I had 11 units to deploy to David's 7, so let him go first as he would finish deploying first regardless and get the bonus. This would allow me to counter his units more effectively.
 

David set up centrally, with his horde unit of halberdiers and spearmen set up in the middle of his deployment zone and on his left, with the knights between them. The swordsmen went to the right, with the two cannons on the hill and the mortar beside them.

The Empire general joined the Knights, while the battle standard bearer and Wizard went in the large unit of Halberdiers.

I set up with my zombie horde and a unit of skeletons in the centre. The Terrorgheist and knights went on my right flank, far away from the cannons. The Dire Wolves, Spirit hosts and a unit of skeletons deployed opposite the artillery, ready to take them out. The crypt horrors went near the centre to take on the weaker unit of swordsmen.

The Vampire Lord went in a central position with the Zombies to allow much of the army to march. The Master of the Dead went next to him in the unit of skeletons with the other Necromancer in the other unit of skeletons to provide Vanhel's buffs to the spirit host if required.

Deployment. The grey arrow shows Vanguard moves.

My Dire Wolves used their Vanguard move (similar to Scout) to advance on the cannons as fast as possible.

I then won the roll off for first turn and chose to take it.

TURN 1- VAMPIRE COUNTS

There was not much to do for the Vampire Lord, except to urge his army towards the Empire lines as fast as possible. The Dire Wolves were practically on top of the cannons, but unfortunately could not charge on the first turn.

The Skeletons and spirit hosts advance.

The Dire Wolves salivate at the prospect of charging the cannons.

In the magic phase, the winds of magic were a bit stronger than normal (I rolled an 8 on 2D6 for the power dice). In fantasy, each spell has a casting value. You have to equal or beat the casting value on your dice rolls for the spell to work (each wizard gets to add their wizard level to the roll). Your opponent then can attempt to dispel the spell by equalling or beating your dice total in return.

I started by rolling 2 dice on Invocation with my Necromancer. He cast the spell and added 5 zombies to the unit and 6 skeletons to his own unit. I then cast Vanhel's using the Book of Arkhan to try and move the Spirit Hosts, but this was dispelled by the Empire Wizard. The Vampire Lord then cast Vanhel's on all units within 12", allowing them to move as fast as possible towards the enemy. Finally, the Necromancer cast Curse of Years on the Empire Knights. This could wreak havoc with the elite warriors as it would ignore their tough armour, so the Empire Wizard was forced to use his dispel scroll to ensure it was stopped.

With that, the Vampire Counts turn was over and they waited to see the Empire reply.

TURN 1- EMPIRE

There was very little movement in the Empire ranks. They had no wish to engage the enemy quicker than necessary. Only the spearmen on the left flank wheeled round slightly to face the Terrorgheist and Black Knights advancing on them.

The winds of magic had abated slightly, giving a 4 on the 2D6 roll. The Wizard attempted to cast Shem's Burning Gaze on the Terrorgheist and managed to cast it with Irresistible Force (when 2 or more 6's are rolled on casting, the spell is cast and cannot be dispelled, but the wizard suffers a miscast). The magic missile slammed into the undead creature, wounding it 4 times and leaving it on only 2 wounds. The feedback from the spell also wounded the Empire Wizard.

In the shooting phase, the cannon fired a Grapeshot at the Dire Wolves in front of them, killing three of them. The other cannon fired at the corpse cart, hitting the construct three times but only wounding it once.

 

The mortar fired at the zombie horde. The shot was on target, hitting the unit 23 times and killing 9 of the undead warriors.

The Empire had struck hard on the Vampire's lines, but many of the faster units were in range to attack.

TURN 2- VAMPIRE COUNTS

The faster moving elements of the Vampire Counts army launched their attacks. One unit of Dire Wolves charged the cannon on the hill, while the other assaulted the Mortar crew. The Crypt Horrors crashed into the ranks of the nearby Swordsmen.

 

On the other flank, the Terrorgheist charged the Spearmen. The Black Knights moved to support the mighty beast, but the distance was too far for them to reach (I failed a 16" charge by failing to roll an 8 or more on 2D6).

The rest of the Undead horde moved towards the Empire as fast as possible to support the engaged troops.

In the magic phase, the Winds of magic were a bit more subdued, giving me 6 power dice and David 5 dispel dice. The Master of the Dead cast a boosted level of Invocation, giving the Terrorgheist and Corpse cart back a wound, while raising 4 skeletons and 9 new zombies. He also used his lore trait to give the Terrorgheist another wound, taking it up to 4 (the Lore of the Vampires allows the caster to restore a wound to himself or another model in range for each successful spell cast, a very useful ability).

The other Necromancer used Vanhel's to move his unit further towards the swordsmen, while the Lord of the Dead attempted to cast Curse of Years on the Empire Knights, but failed to reach the casting level of 12 (I could not roll a 10 or more on 3D6).

In the shooting phase, the Terrorgheist used its Shriek on the nearby Knights. The unholy noise was powerful and 5 Knights fell dead from the saddle.

With the little shooting done, it was on to the combat phase.

On the right flank, the Terrorgheist struck at the Spearmen, but only hit once with its 4 attacks (despite needing a 4+ to hit) and one died. Its thunderstomp attack killed another two spearmen. The Empire troops struck back, but could not pierce the tough hide of the Undead beast. The combat was drawn, but the Spearmen won thanks to their musician and the Terrorgheist took another wound. In fantasy, units get to add their rank bonus to the result (up to a total of 3) and get a bonus for having a standard bearer. In the event of a drawn combat, if one side has a musician, they win the combat by 1. This can be one of the drawbacks of charging a full unit with a Monster, as even though they could not harm the Terrorgheist, they could still beat it in combat thanks to their ranks and command group.

The combat between the Crypt Horrors and Swordsmen was next. The Swordsmen attacked the Crypt Horrors, hitting them 8 times. Despite needing 6's to wound, David scored 5 wounds on the Horrors, but fortunately, I managed to save 3 of them. The Crypt Horrors killed four of the swordsmen in return. Once again, the combat was drawn and the Empire troops won thanks to their musician. The extra wound caused one of the Crypt Horrors to be removed.

The Swordsmen strike the Crypt Horrors hard!

The charge of the monsters had little effect on the Empire lines.

Both the Cannon crew and Mortar crew failed their Fear test, making it more difficult for them to hit the undead troops.

The Dire Wolves struck at the mortar crew, killing two of them for no loss in return. The other unit of wolves killed one of the cannon crew for no loss in return. Amazingly, both units passed their break tests on Ld3 and Ld4, respectively.

My big charges on turn 2 fail to cause the kind of damage I was hoping for. Both the Crypt Horrors and Terrorgheist had lost their combats against the ranked Empire troops. Even the combats I won did no go my way, as the artillery crew did not flee despite the odds being against them.

TURN 2- EMPIRE

Seeing the Vampire Counts units advance on them, the Halberdiers charged forwards into the Zombie horde, crashing into their shambling lines. The Knights held firm, waiting for the Undead to advance further.

The magic phase came up a 9 for the Empire. The Wizard cast Speed of Light with Irresistible Force (yet again), giving all units within 12" WS10 and I10 for the following combats, providing a huge boost for the Empire troops. His miscast caused the death of two zombies and two Halberdiers, but the wizard remained unharmed.

In the shooting phase, the Cannon grape shot the skeleton units in front of them, but the shot misfired and the crew worked hard to remove the blockage for the next shot.

On their right flank, the Mortar crew failed their Fear test and the Dire Wolves ripped the rest of the crew apart in a flurry of teeth and claws. They reformed to face the remaining cannon on the hill.

The other unit of Dire Wolves failed to harm the cannon crew and lost one in return. The last remaining wolf was destroyed as the Necromantic magic holding it together fell apart.

The Swordsmen struck at the Crypt Horrors, wounding them once. The Horrors could not damage the Swordsmen in return thanks to the magic boosting them and lost the combat by 3, resulting in the death of another Crypt Horror.

The Terrorgheist struck at the Spearmen, but only hit once for the second turn in a row and killed one of the Empire troops. Its Thunderstomp attack made up for this and killed 4 of the Spearmen. The Spearmen struck back at the monster before them, wounding it 6 times! Fortunately, I was able to save 4 of the attacks and lost only 2 wounds, leaving it on one. Once again, I lost combat by one and the final wound of the Terrorgheist was gone and the monster crumbled to dust once again.

The Terrorgheist is slain.

In the main combat in the centre of the battlefield, the Undead horde attacked. Thanks to the corpse cart, the Vampire and Zombies had Always Strike First. The Vampire Lord struck at the Halberdiers. Despite needing a 4+ to hit, he only hit with 2 of the 5 attacks. He then needed 2's to wound thanks to the Ogre Blade, and I think you know where this is going- double 1 to wound! The zombies then struck, killing three of the empire troops. The Halberdiers struck back, killing 13 of the zombies. The undead troops lost combat by 12, so another dozen zombies were returned to the grave. The attack of the Halberdier had cut the zombie unit in half, they would be in big trouble without some support.

The Zombie horde suffers at the hands of the Halberdiers.

 

TURN 3- VAMPIRE COUNTS

The Black Knights attempted to charge the Spearmen, but once again failed the charge (by failing to roll a 7 or more on 2D6).

The Black Knights fail a charge once again.

 

The Dire Wolves charged one cannon crew on the hill, while the spirit hosts charged the other cannon crew. Besides them, the skeleton warriors charged the Empire Swordsmen to help the Crypt Horrors.

 

The other unit of skeletons charged the flank of the Halberdiers to help the embattled zombie horde. This was a risky move, if I did not defeat the Halberdiers and make them flee, the skeleton warriors would be primed for a flank charge by the Empire Knights.

In the magic phase, I rolled a 7 for the winds of magic and managed to channel 2 additional power dice (each wizard rolls a D6, if they roll a 6, they get to channel an additional power die to add to their total).

 

The Vampire Lord cast Invocation on 2 dice, but the Empire Wizard managed to dispel it. The Necromancer then cast Invocation, but once again, the Empire Wizard unravelled the spell before it could take effect. The Vampire Lord was then able to cast Vanhel's Danse Macabre on the nearby units, ensuring the unit would be striking first (thanks to the corpse cart) and getting re-rolls in combat.

The other Necromancer cast Invocation on the nearby undead troops, bringing one of the Crypt Horrors back to un-life.

 

That was a tough magic phase. I really needed invocation to go off on the central units in order to bring the zombies back up to strength. If the Halberdiers had a successful round, I could lose my Vampire general. I should have used more dice to ensure that I cast it successfully, but I wanted to use a lot of magic this turn and it turned out that David's dispel rolling was just on fire this turn.

 

On the hill, the Spirit Host and Dire Wolves destroyed the last of the artillery crew, both units reforming to face the flank of the Empire Swordsmen.

 

The Swordsmen struck at the Skeleton warriors, killing two of them. In return, the Crypt Horrors killed two swordsmen, while the Skeleton warriors killed another 2. I won the combat, but the Swordsmen passed their break test and held firm.

 

In the central combat, the poor fortune of the Vampire Lord continued. He only hit twice (despite needing a 4+ and having re-rolls) and killed one Halberdier. Another of the Empire soldiers died thanks to the Red Fury attacks on the Vampire.

The Zombies then struck at the enemy troops. With 18 attacks in total, the zombies managed one whole wound against the Halberdiers. The Skeleton Warriors then struck, killing another one of the empire warriors. The Empire soldiers then attacked, killing 7 of the zombie horde. I won the combat by one, but the Halberdiers held their resolve thanks to the general's inspiring presence.

That did not go as well as expected. Thanks to some horrendous rolling, I caused very few casualties on the empire unit and only won thanks to my rank bonuses and the flank charge.

 

TURN 3- EMPIRE

Seeing the undead hordes falter, the Empire General ordered the charge and the Knights charged into the flank of the Skeleton Warriors.

 

On the left flank, the spearmen moved up the hill to await the charge of the Black Knights.

 

In the magic phase, the Empire Wizard cast Speed of Light on the Empire units. This was the first time he had not cast with Irresistible Force, so I was able to use my Dispel Scroll to block the casting.

 

In the combat phase, the Swordsmen struck at the skeletons, killing three of them. The Skeletons and Crypt Horrors struck back, killing 7 of the empire soldiers. The Swordsmen failed their break test and fled from the combat. The two units reformed to face the centre of the battlefield.

The Swordsmen finally flee.

The units reform to face the centre combat.

In the centre of the battlefield, the Empire General issued a challenge. With a thought, the Necromancer sent his undead minion forward to accept it.
 

The Vampire Lord struck with renewed fury, killing 7 of the Halberdiers facing him (I swapped to red dice for his To Hit rolls. He seemed to respond to the blood red dice and hit with all his attacks). The Zombies and Skeleton struck at the Halberdiers, killing another 7 of the warriors. They skeletons on the flank struck at the Knights, but could not get past their armour.

 

The Empire General threw himself at the Skeleton Champion, but missed with all his attacks. The remaining halberdiers struck at the zombies killing four of them, while the charge of the Knights reduced 6 skeletons to dust with the force of their lances. After totalling up the results, I lost combat by one and a further zombie and skeleton fell to the ground.

The Zombies continue to suffer at the Empire hands.

Even though David had won the combat, the charge of the Knights was not as devastating as I was expecting and the two units survived relatively unscathed.

 

TURN 4- VAMPIRE COUNTS

The Black Knights were finally able to charge up the hill into the Spearmen. The Skeleton warriors and Crypt Horrors on the left flank crashed into the combat in the centre of the battlefield.

The Black Knights finally make their charge (the hill prevented us from putting the units in contact though).

 

The Empire units quickly find themselves surrounded.

In the magic phase, the Vampire Lord cast Invocation on his nearby units, but the Empire Wizard was able to dispel it. The Necromancer on the left then cast Invocation (barely!) and raised up 4 skeletons and a Crypt Horror.

The other Necromancer cast Vanhels on the nearby units to boost them in the combat, then cast Invocation to raise 4 skeletons and 5 zombies.

 

The Black Knights crashed into the Spearmen on the hill. They struck with 11 attacks, needing 4's to hit, aaaaaand........... 2 hits! Two of the Spearmen died. The Spearmen struck back, killing one of the Knights which resulted in a drawn combat.

 

In the main combat, the Vampire Lord struck, killing 8 of the Halberdiers (those red dice were really working!). The Zombies and two units of Skeletons also struck at the Halberdiers, killing the rest of the unit and Empire Wizard, leaving the battle standard bearer alone. The Crypt Horrors struck at the Empire Knights, but failed to get through their armour.

 

The Empire troops struck back, killing 2 zombies and 3 skeletons. I won the combat by 13, the Empire units would need a double 1 to hold. Unsurprisingly, both units broke and fled, and were run down by the Undead troops.

 

With only one unit remaining and plenty of Undead troops left, we decided to end the game there.

End of the Game.

VICTORY POINTS:

Vampire Counts- ~1780 pts

Empire- ~340 pts

 

AFTER-BATTLE THOUGHTS

Thanks to David for a great game, it was really good to dust off the Vampire Counts after their long break (almost 2 years!).

 

I am very surprised how much of a victory it was for the Undead legions given the horrendous luck I was having during the game and how well David was rolling for some of it.

 

I really thought that I was in for a rough game after my charges on turn 2. The Crypt Horrors and Terrorgheist both lost their combats despite causing more damage, thanks to the musicians in both units. I don't know what beat they were drumming, but it must have been pretty powerful. The two combats I did win were stalled after some amazing break tests from the artillery crew (both managed to roll a 3 on 2D6 to hold!).

In addition, the Empire Wizard was really successful. Despite being outnumbered 3 to 1, he was frequently able to dispel many of my casting attempts of crucial spells. In addition, he was able to cast his own spells with irresistible force twice in the game and only took a single wound in the process. For those that don't play fantasy, this is quite a feat; the miscast table in fantasy is a lot harsher than the Perils table in 40k.

 

Despite the ability of the Empire Wizard, I think that magic was the key to my victory in this game. Without Invocation to bring back my substantial losses in combat and Vanhels to boost my units in combat, I would have suffered a lot more in this game. I think that next time we play, David will come tooled up for some more magic defence to stop me recovering so many of my troops.

 

I also thought that the inability to finish off the Halberdiers in turn 3 would be my undoing. The flank of the Skeletons was primed for a charge by the Empire Knights and I really thought they would do much more damage than they did in combat.

 

The Vampire Lord was brutal in combat (when he eventually decided to start hitting things!) and in the final turns he was wracking up a casualty list equal to the 3 other units combined.

 

Even though my plan worked well, there are still a few things that I would have changed:

• I would have swapped the Spirit Hosts and Crypt Horrors on deployment. I send the Hosts after the cannons as they could not be harmed by them and charged the Horrors into the swordsmen. The Horrors were not actually that great in combat and struggled to cause a lot of damage to the unit. The Spirit host have an extra attack each, so may have been more successful in harming them, as well as being immune to their attacks.
• I should have waited an extra turn to charge the Terrorgheist and Black Knights into the Spearmen together. Without the support of the Knights, the Terrorgheist died quite quickly in combat thanks to the rank bonus and command models of the Spearmen. Even though it has a high toughness, the Terrorgheist has no armour save and only a 6+ regeneration save, meaning that lots of attacks actually have a good shot of killing it.

There were also a few things that David might have done to secure victory:

• The positioning of the cannons was an error (which David admitted during the game). The way they were deployed limited their choice of targets in the game to my units on my left flank. The cannons would have made a mess of the Terrorgheist and Black Knights if one was facing them. We know this for a fact, as David fired the cannon at them in the 2nd turn, killing the Terrorgheist and half of the Black Knights before we realised that they were not in the cannon's firing arc. Had the Terrorgheist and Knights been dealt with quickly, the Spearmen could have got a flank or rear charge on the Skeleton warriors, which could have decimated the unit.
• I would have maybe have sent the Knights after the Terrorgheist and Black Knights. If they got the charge off, the Empire Knights would have likely won both combats and destroyed my right flank. This would have allowed the Spearmen to take on the skeleton warriors beside the zombies and either destroy them or hold them up long enough for the Halberdiers to finish off the zombies (without the intervention of the skeletons in turn 3, I imagine the Halberdiers would have destroyed the zombies and Vampire Lord).
• Alternatively, he could have charged the Knights into the skeletons in turn 3. I have no idea why he did not do this. I was certain they would do it when in range. My unit would have struggled to get past the 1+ armour of the knights and I would most likely have lost both the skeleton combat and the zombie combat, taking out a good chunk of my army in the process.

In the end, the resilience of the Undead proved too much for the Empire troops and they were defeated. It's nice to take a wee break from 40k from time to time and I look forward to a re-match with David in the future.