Battle report of the Desperate Alliance

This battlerep is long overdue (so memory's sketchy too) and is badly done. However, I learnt a lot from this game and would like to share my thoughts and also yours. My thoughts will be in italics (army lists not provided in detail due to lazy fingers lol).

The Battle of the Desperate Alliance
Daniel (1k Ogres) and DeFeng (Jaeroler's 2250 Dark Elves)
VS
Crazyrat's (1k Skaven) and me (2250 pansy High Elves)

Deployment (from left to right)
Giant, Leadbelchers (Bucher), Bulls (Tyrant), RBT, 25(?)Blackguards, 5 Drak Riders, 5 Harpies, 5 Cold One Knights (COK), 1 Cold One Chariot, 5 Harpies, RBT,40(?) Spearelves (Lv4 Sorceress, Lore of Metal), Chariot, 5 COKs, 5 Dark Riders

5 Dragon Princes (DP1), Tiranoc Chariot (TC1), TC2, TC3, 40(?)Clanrats (Fire thower), 20 spearelves (LV4 Archmage with Cheese Book, Lore of Shadow), 40 Plague Monks with Furnace (Priest, lv1), 20 Spearelves, 40(?)Clanrats (fire thrower), 4 X 1 Great Eagles, DP2, 15 Archers (Flaming), TC4, TC5, DP3, DP4 (5 Shadow Warriors in Building)

Turn 1 (Ogres and Dark Elves starts)

1. Everyone moved up.
2. Both Harpy units charged Shadow warriors in building (which was not allowed! Need to read rules again!). Shadow Warriors stand and shoot, and wiped out Harpy unit 1.
3. Dark Riders on right flank moved after vanguard move to shoot DP4. I rolled wonderfully so 2 died and the unit fled.
3. DP1 failed charge against Leadbelchers. Other failed charges too.
4. Magic saw Pendulum cast on Bulls, which failed to wound.
5. TC1 charged Giant (dealt 1 impact wound) and no thunderstorm means they danced cha cha for 3 turns =)

The ability of Shadow warriors or other scouts to take buildings should not be underestimated. Just look at how well they did against the harpies and the rules that protected them (only one assault per turn). Chariots are good against Giants, negating their thunderstorm!

Turn 2-3 (from left to right)
1.Bulls (Tyrant) charged the Clanrats who held on due to steadfast.
2. TC 2 dealt 1 impact wound against Butcher and they danced Cha Cha for 2 turns.
3. Blackguards charged into Furnace aka Green Bulldozer and got more than they bargained for. I think at least 15 died in the first round of combat.
4. Clanrats 2 charged into Harpy unit and overrun into COK(?).
5. RBT killed 1 eagle so 2 eagles charged and stomped it into matchsticks.
6. Last eagle moved to block the chariot.
7. My luck turned for the better when DP 3 (on the right) charged Riders (fled) and redirected to the COK. They then killed one, failed all armour saves and got wiped out by COKs' S4 handweapons.

Steadfast works wonder here to hold units until the 'hammer' drops on them. Hammer and Anvil ya. Great Eagles did their job, giving Dark Elves only one shooting turn. I couldn't go after the other RBT because of the lack of space (too many units). In a one-to-one game, I am confident that 4 eagles will wipe out any artillery least by 2 turns. Made a mistake of not charging Shadow Warriors out into the left RBT. Plague Furnace is unbreakable and stinks of more cheese than my book. As Raymond pointed, magic and RBTs (and maybe Eagles) rather than committing any unit to its doom. Dumb of me on hindsight not to send one eagle to assassinate the DE sorceress too (whose unit moved up)!

Turn 4-6 (okay, battlerep's really imprecise lol)
1. Green Bulldozer (Plague unit) steamrolled Blackguards and moved into better position to charge Bulls, which they did.

2. Giant finally wrecked Chariot and charged into Plague unit's flank. These 3 units survived the game!

3. Spearelves with Archmage turned to cast Mindrazor on Archers which was charged by a Cold One chariot (failed charge), Dark Riders (Stand and Shoot then mauled them to death with S8 close combat attacks). COK dare not commit due to S8 Archers (using the spell defensively).

4. High Elf Spearelves charged into Chariot (wrecked it with Mindrazor) and overrun into Dark Spearelves with Sorceress and killing her in the next turn.

5. Crazyrat's on a crazy (if I may say) roll as the Warpfire(?) unit on the right throws the appropriate Artillery distance and flames a lot of Dark Spearelves, COKs and the chariot over a few turns. Finally it killed itself on the last tun (Misfire). A fitting end for a rat indeed lol.

6. Island of Blood Alliance (Rats and High Elves) won mostly because Plague-Green Bulldozer is a huge point denial, and Dark Elves lost his general, Blackguard unit, banners and a couple of expensive MSUs (COK and Chariots).

Magic did not do much for me because I rolled 1 and 1 and 2 and 1 in two turns. I guess I would require the Banner of Sorcery and a slow and more defensive Phoenix Guard unit (less paper armour Dragon Princes and Chariots I guess). I hope this game showed at least one thing that is needed for Calvary (and MSUs) to perform-Maneuvering space. What was not reported was Dragon Princes' immune to flaming attacks ability that protected them from Searing Doom and its ability (with the chariots) to lead opponents to redeploy backwards, thus giving me more time to outshoot and outmagic my opponents. Still they faced an uphill task against huge blocks of infantry like DF's 40 Spearelves (e.g., steadfast). I did not get the chance to do my Calvary and Chariot combo too because of the lack of space but I am sure it would have helped alot.

Any suggestions, comments or criticisms (in terms of strategy, and not my horrible battlerep haha)?