The Elven way: A Tale of Gaming updated 13/10/23 Game 22 v New Twilight Kin

The Elven way: A tale of Gaming

Welcome to my Gaming Blog, here I will look to chronicle my competitive and narrative exploits with Elves in the world of KoW. I will look to include a variety of battle reports some traditional and others more narrative or short form. I will also include some narrative background around my army.

For those interested there is also my complimentary hobby blog which can be found here:

https://www.kowforum.com/t/the-elven-way-a-tale-of-red-era-inspired-hobby/

As a little introduction I’ll give some of my background. I’ve been playing KoW since early 2nd edition mainly with Elves after fleeing the old world as so many other have. I love both narrative and compatible gaming so will try to include a mix of both here. I have a large elf army already painting with most of the Elf lists as options but as painting focused project with a set 2300pts list. I also play online using Universal Battle which gives unlimited options so occasionally I might try an unusual list I’d never get round to painting.

I’m all for interactions so any questions or discussions you wish to bring to this thread are welcome.

Index of Posts:
Game 1: Abyssals v Elves 1500pts Invade :

Game 2: Abyssals v Elves 1500pts Plunder:

Game 3: Abyssals v Elves 2000pts Control:

Game 4: Forces of Nature v Elves 2000pts Pillage:

Game 5: Forces of the Abyss v Elves 2000pts Dominate

Game 6: Trident Kings v Elves 2000pts:

Game 7: Trident Kings v Elves 2000pts:

Game 8: Forces of the Abyss v Elves 2000pts: Push

Game 9: Forces of the Abyss v Elves 2000pts: Invade

Game 10 Forces of the Abyss v Elves 2300pts: Raze

Game 11 Forces of Nature v Elves 2300pts: Invade

Game 12 Forces of Nature v Elves 2300pts: Salt the Earth

Game 13 Forces of Nature v Elves 2300pts: Plunder

Game 14 Trident Realms v Elves 2300pts: Control

Game 15 Trident Realms v Elves 2300pts: Invade

Game 16 Nature v Elves 2300: Loot

Game 17 Trident v Elves 2300: Dominate

Game 18 Trident Realms v Elves 2300: Salt the Earth

Game 19 Trident Realms v Elves 2300: Salt the Earth

Game 20 Forces of Nature v Elves 2300: Control

Game 21 Trident Realms v Elves 2300: Salt the Earth

Game 22 Twilight Kin v Elves 2300: Control

For those wanting to see more of my games some have been covered on YouTube by other gamers.

Dash28:

Round 4 Call to Arms IV vs Trident Realms

Round 5 Call to Arms IV vs Trident Realms

Round 6 Call to Arms IV vs Northern Alliance

Newbie Dice:

UB Tournament game vs Page Neo Basileans:

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Game 1: Abyssals v Elves 1500pts Invade

Narrative intro:

Lord Amarynth, Warden Of Tor Bel-Valdar, swept over the disciplined lines of the elven force on his winged steed Navarel. His heart swelled with pride as the sun glistened off their blood red blades. Only the sternest of hearts could face the rituals required to forge the shard blades. Each blade was tinted by the blood of its bearer and bound with ancient spells cast by the Loremasters of Bel-Valdar.

Landing Amarynth looked out across the plain to see the foul filth threatening to invade his brother’s lands. Earlier that day a portal emerged near his city and now a force of daemonic Abyssals had spewed out polluting the very grass their claws touched.

The situation would have been far more dire had it not been for the mages of the city. Tirelessly working to unravel the spells which formed the portal from the daemonic dimension. Fight as they did against the maelstrom of energy it was not enough to prevent the incursion. Each moment the vile beasts polluted the land the connection to their realm strengthened.

Now Amarynth and his brothers Paweldran and Alenui must lead their forces to drive back this new enemy to weaken the link between the two dimensions and give the city’s mages a chance to destroy the portal. Gripped by urgency the Warden signaled the advance, the elven forces surged forwards to face their foe. Not a time for caution thought Amarynth, though he dearly wished he’d had that luxury…

Game intro & lists:

For my first report I decided to challenge my old friend and regular opponent Ben to a game. He’d been playing in an online 1500pts event and I’ve always enjoyed that points level so we agreed to a practice game using the scenario invade which he’d be playing next round.

I was keen to try out a 1500pts version of the list I’m painting up as a project so took the following:

Drakon Lord (Amarynth): Staying Stone: 175pts

King (Paweldran): Horse, Shard blade, Blade of the Beast slayer: 170pts

Mage (Alenui): Inspiring Talisman, Bane Chant (2), Lightning Bolt (5): 135pts

Palace Guard Horde: Chalice of Wrath: 280pts

Spearmen Horde: Brew of Strength: 270pts

Forest Guard Troop: 105pts

Stormwind Regiment: Potion of the Caterpillar: 235pts

Silverbreeze Troop: 130pts

Meanwhile Ben had been running his forces of the Abyss:

Ba’el: 265pts

Abyssal Warlock: 90pts

Abyssal Fiend: 175pts

Abyssal Horsemen: Jesse’s Boots of Striding: 255pts

Tortured Souls Regiment: Mace of Crushing: 125pts

Tortured Souls Regiment: Healing Brew: 125pts

Flamebearers Regiment: 155pts

Flamebearers Regiment: 155pts

Flamebearers Regiment: 155pts

This should prove to be a tough matchup with lots of shooting and a lot of great value units it will be hard to bring my elves to bear without exposing them to punishing shooting and countercharges.

Deployment

The scenario is invade. The elves won the roll for sides and chose the bottom edge entirely due to not needing to move my army.

The Abyssals put all their shooting in the centre meaning the elves split most of their forces down the flanks. With extra drops the Abyssals were able to place Ba’el and the fiend last.

Elves won the roll for first turn, torn between wasting a turn of Abyssals shooting or pushing forwards the elves decided to go first to push forwards to try and keep the battle on the Abyssals side of the board.

Elf turn 1

The bulk of the force on the left advanced staying just out of range of the fiends fireball and the tortured souls charge. Units vulnerable to a charge by Ba’el we’re supported by other units threatening to flank him in response.

The spears advanced full speed to start threatening the flame bearers on the right. The king decided to switch flanks to have a wider range of targets whilst still being able to go after the shooters in the centre if required.

The Silverbreeze’s bows and Mage’s lightning bolt combined for a single point of damage on the tortured souls.

Abyssals Turn 1

The Abyssals shuffled forwards keen to get into firing range but not much else.

Amused by the poor elven shooting in the previous turn Ba’el failed to do any damage with his lightning bolt mainly due to him cowering behind his own tortured souls unit.

The flame bearers and warlock has no such issues turning the sky red with fire causing 18 wounds! Even at the urging of their King the Palace Guard broke ranks keen to take care of some very urgent repairs to their singed robes.

Elf Turn 2

Vengeance burned in the eyes of the elves having witnessed their shock troops depart the battle at the hands of the vile Abyssals flames. Determined to drive the enemy back (and avoid a similar BBQ’d fate) the elves took the fight to the enemy.

King Paweldran in fit at rage at seeing his honour guard go up in flames struck out at a unit of flamebearers doing 4 wounds and wavering unit. Even the Silverbreeze who’d charged to block the other tortured souls managed 3 wounds.

The knights and Amarynth (Drakon Lord) charged the wounded Tortured Souls sending them back into the abyss from whence they came. The knights backed up allowing Amarynth to threaten Ba’el if he jumped over to charge the exposed flank of the Forest Guard who had been careless in their fury at the death of the Palace Guard.

Abyssal Turn 2

Ba’el spotted the open flank of the Forest Guard and jumped over doing 9 wounds allowing him to reform out of the arc of the Drakon. The Horsemen and tortured souls combined to do 13 wounds and remove the Silverbreeze.

Then disaster struck the Abyssal Fiend managed to waver King Paweldran removing an important piece from my potential retaliation. Shooting landed a single wound on the Spears.

The elves were looking in dire straits indeed!

Elf Turn 3

Things were already turning desperate for the elves bold gambles were required if the day were to be saved. Lord Amarynth (Drakon) had a pair of flanks visible he chose the tortured souls over the flamebearers as he stood a better chance of routing them. Not many other moves were open to the elves who just had to hope the Abyssals suffered a reversal in fortunes next turn.

Alenui (mage) mustered all his arcane skill to unleash a devastating lightning bolt on Ba’el hoping to at least disrupt the monster’s grip in the mortal realm. In his desperation Alenui had summoned more power than he could control and the lightning only glanced Ba’el causing a point of damage as the main force of the Bolt missed him entirely.

Amarynth drove his lance into the tortured souls as Navarel struck out with horn and claw. It was just enough to feel the souls from their binds and they were freed from their imprisonment. The Warden turned to face the Abyssal Horsemen and Ba’el hoping he could still turn the tide of the battle through force of will.

Abyss Turn 3

Ben took the charges available and directed the rest of his efforts into shooting the spears, 7 more damage was added as standing in the woods is apparently beneficial when having fireballs thrown at you.

Combats started well for the Elves with the Stormwind holding firm ready for a desperate attempt at a mage assisted counter charge next turn. The rest of the combats didn’t go so well. The drakon took 12 damage from the Horsemen causing Amarynth and Navarel to head back to the city to come up with some better tactics. King Paweldran also took another 5 damage and decided he’d best confer with his brother back at the city as well.

Elf Turn 4

Whilst all seemed lost the remaining elves were determined to drive back the Abyssal filth wherever they could. The Stormwind countercharged Ba’el knowing sending this monstrosity back home would be a victory in itself. The Spears hoped to banish a warlock before facing another hail of fire.

Alenui focused his energy to gift the Stormwind’s blades strength which would hopefully prove to be the bane of Ba’el. The knight discarded their lances and drew their swords their skill showing as they landed hit after hit (rolled nine 1’s to hit so got my value out of elite) but even with the mage’s spell Ba’el’s leathery hide was only pierced thrice.

The Garrison of Tor Bel-Valdar (spears) having seen their nobles fail thrust their spears banishing the foul Warlock standing in their way.

Abyss 4

Little remained for the Abyssals to vanquish but hungry for the life energy of mortal beings they strove on. Ba’el disinterested in the knights wandered into a nearby wood to investigate why they offered protection from fireballs.

The Abyssal Horsemen seeing an opportunity to charge down a hill took it and finished off the Stormwin Cav. The valiant spears flanking manoeuvre was brought to an end by a hail of fireballs despite the protection provided by the woods.

Before leaving the field to join his brothers Alenui cast one more lightning bolt at Ba’el stunning him briefly allowing Alenui to escape his clutches.

Narrative ending:

The candle flickered in the wind. Looking up from his book Amarynth shivered. The window in the library was still open from the day’s heat. The days were oppressively hot and the nights icy cold since the Abyssal’s arrival. Amarynth put down his book, a military history of one of his great grandfather Tethan’s campaigns.

For days the Warden had sought wisdom and guidance on how to face the Abyssal scourge. After his initial defeat only the powerful defensive spells woven into the city’s walls had kept the growing evil forces at bay. Each hour the bonds between the two realms strengthened. The city’s loremasters worked tirelessly but could only delay the inevitable. Amarynth kneW he must find a way to defeat them on the field of battle.

Conclusions and Recriminations

Well this was a chastising defeat. When reviewing loses I always like to go back to the start: deployment.

I find playing heavy shooting you have to be precise and decisive in your deployment and initial moves. The Stormwind needed to be in a position to threaten the shooting they have the speed, defence and ability to go at the double into terrain. The Palace Guard were poorly suited to operate in the centre of the board. They should have gone in the woods or on the left flank. The Cavalry would have been out of range if Ben had gone first or in cover and ready to charge if I went first.

The infantry on the flanks are able to face most threats head on and can support the initial moves of the fast elements of the army. This is flipping the script on the traditional historical tactics of cavalry on the flanks and infantry in the centre, however, many wargames make cavalry effective against shooting and heavy infantry ineffective which was often the not the case in military history.

Another mistake was the Forest Guard moving up turn 2 both exposing their flank to Ba’el but also not sitting deeper to allow for counter attacks and threatening spaces where Ba’el might jump over into. They should probably have deployed in the centre along with the cavalry using their pathfinder to move into the central marsh. This was a classic example of not using the elements of my army correctly to take advantage of their abilities.

I’m interested if any of you have any further thoughts on what I could have done differently or any queries. Thank you for reading what I hope will be the first of many.

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Hi @paulb800!

Great to see you joining the forum! It is about time your army is introduced to the wider audience :slight_smile: Thanks a lot for the video reports, I watched your game against Ben in Call to Arms and it was really interesting one. Highly recommended to watch. I will do my best to find time to watch other games as well, as I missed them live.

Thanks a lot for basing the name of the king on my name too! Great to be immortalized this way :smiley:

I am already looking forward to any new content you are going to submit in the near future.

Cheers!

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Hi @paulb800!

I finally had a bit of time to read your battle report. Oh boy, that hurt! :frowning:

Smaller size game, and in particular smaller size table, mean that any casualty has more significant consequences. It also limits the room for maneuver, which I think is what Elven armies need in general. While Ben could use it to his advantage, because it was more difficult to stay out of range of his shooters.

Before I read the report, I simply had a quick look at the maps and the deployment. I came to the similar conclusions that having infantry hordes on the flanks and fast elements in the middle, would have been more advantageous. Yes, I am using the full benefit of a hindsight here!

However, I don’t think Ben would have deployed his shooters much different. Simply because there is not enough room on the flanks to focus fire. And this is what was so efficient in this game for him.

So, if you had Stormwind, Silverbreeze, Drakon Lord and the King all in the middle, there would be a possibility to charge with all of them against the enemy shooters. They all would need to move to get into 18" range, which brings them all in charge range of these 4 elements. Even though they don’t hit enough to rout enemy regiment on the charge on their own (with the exception of the knights of course), they can be used to disrupt the enemy.

If the infantry is close to follow, there may be a second wave of the attacks coming the turn after. I think that would force Ben to commit other units and give you a fighting chance to break through them and get to the shooters in relatively good shape.

Perhaps you could have a re-match to test these ideas? :slight_smile:

Cheers!

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Agree with all your points and a rematch is already scheduled.

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Excellent report! Not an ideal result for the elves, but narratives wouldn’t be much fun if only one side won all of the time, right?

I’m new here and a fairly new and slowly learning elf player, so I really appreciated reading your report and analysis.

1 Like

Thank you, glad you enjoyed it. I’m planning to add some more tactical analysis type content so hopefully you’ll find that useful too.

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Battle Report #2

1500pts vs Forces of the Abyss

Narrative Intro:

As first light entered the windows his eyes opened. He had not slept, he knew he would not. He rose walking to the balcony the oppressive heat present since the Abyssal invasion causing him to sweat already. Pushing aside the distractions of the heat he entered the meditative state taught to him long ago.

Slowly his body began to move through a series of slow thoughtful exercises gently stretching tensed muscles. Gradually the movements quickened from what appeared like an intricate dance onwards into leaps & thrusts barely visible to a human eye as more than a blur. Finishing the exercises balanced on the slender rail of the balcony Amarynth’s eyes opened looking out past the city’s walls to the once luscious fields. The peace which usually resulted from the exercises was absent, in its place a cold fury at what had become of his homelands since the Abyssal incursion.

After the chastising defeat which began the war Amarynth Warden of Tor Bel-Valdar must again lead his forces to face the Abyssal menace. Weeks of study and meditation had been spent honing his strategies and tactics learning from his past mistakes. Now he must prove himself equal to the challenge he’d already failed at once before…

Game intro and lists:

This is a rematch of Game 1 against Ben’s Forces of the Abyss with the same lists as last time but this time the scenario is Plunder. Here are the lists again:

Elves:

Drakon Lord (Amarynth): Staying Stone: 175pts

King (Paweldran): Horse, Shard blade, Blade of the Beast slayer: 170pts

Mage (Alenui): Inspiring Talisman, Bane Chant (2), Lightning Bolt (5): 135pts

Palace Guard Horde: Chalice of Wrath: 280pts

Spearmen Horde: Brew of Strength: 270pts

Forest Guard Troop: 105pts

Stormwind Regiment: Potion of the Caterpillar: 235pts

Silverbreeze Troop: 130pts

Ben’s Forces of the Abyss:

Ba’el: 265pts

Abyssal Warlock: 90pts

Abyssal Fiend: 175pts

Abyssal Horsemen: Jesse’s Boots of Striding: 255pts

Tortured Souls Regiment: Mace of Crushing: 125pts

Tortured Souls Regiment: Healing Brew: 125pts

Flamebearers Regiment: 155pts

Flamebearers Regiment: 155pts

Flamebearers Regiment: 155pts

Hopefully I had learned some lessons from last time out.

Deployment and Scenario

Scenario was plunder with the central loot token being worth 2 points.

The map had impassible terrain limiting a lot of movement on the flanks. My plan therefore was to place my infantry in front so that if I got first turn I could jump the faster units past the infantry and move the infantry hordes up in support. If I went second I’d be able to get my infantry right up in Ben’s face whilst my faster units would have a range of options depending on how Ben moved

Ben took advantage of the wood near his deployment zone to offer his Cavalry a screened approach but otherwise deployed fairly central again limited by the impassible. (I’m not convinced two decent sized pieces of impassible on a smaller 4 ft wide board is a good idea especially when they end up blocking both flanks!)

I’m generally a fan of going first to be assertive but on the final deployment I was thinking of going second to remove a turn where the flamebearers could shoot me and to allow me the last turn to hunt down loot tokens. As it was Ben took first turn so I was fairly happy with that.

Abyss Turn 1

Ben moved up quite aggressively, he’s a big fan of using a nimble monster to take tokens turn 1 so his Warlock grabbed the central one worth two points so this was already turning into a key point in the game.

The rest of the Abyssals advanced quite aggressively ready to protect the loot. Ba’el unleashed a lightning bolt at the Silverbreeze cavalry but in avoiding hitting the Palace Guard in front it end ended up going right over their heads.

Elf Turn 1

King Paweldran furious at the damage done to his realm by the Abyssal invaders charged straight for the Abyssal Fiend. The rest of the force pushed up keen to take the fight to the Abyssals before they got shot to pieces.

The Drakon Lord managed to get in a nice position staring down the flank of the Abyssals whilst denying any charges to the enemy using the impassible pyramid (I’m assuming the Abyssals brought this from their realm?).

In combat Paweldran arced his ancestral sword Yahdra down in a furious blow on the Monstrous fiend gouging a deep wound into its shoulder.

Abyss Turn 2

With the battlelines so close together the Abyssals launched a number of charges into the wood including the injured fiend. Meanwhile King Paweldran’s brave (or reckless) charge left him exposed to the Abyssal Horsemen who uses their strider item keen to expose the folly of the Elven arrogance.

Shooting underwhelmed with the Palace Guard weathering most of the shooting well whilst the Stormwind Cavalry lost a couple of pendants reducing their morale.

In combat bitt Tortured Souls units only managed single wounds as the woods got in their way. The abyssal fiend meanwhile comfortably broke the Forest Guard. The Horsemen caused grievous wounds on King Paweldran (11 damage) but remembering his vow in front of the Shrine of Raloris to cleanse the Abyssal filth from his lands Paweldran grit his teeth through the pain fought on (double 1 on the 2nd rout test).

Elf Turn 2

The battle was progressing at a furious pace. The Palace Guard, Drakon Lord and King found tempting targets in Flamebearers units. Meanwhile in the woods the elves counter charged the Abyssals wherever they could.

Alenui (Mage) wove a complex spell to bless the lances of the Stormwind Cavalry a flame engulfed each weapon as they carved into the monstrosity. The Fiend, however, was unconcerned by the damage wrought (low damage double 1s on nerve).

All the remaining engaged units were destroyed except for the tortured souls facing the silverbreeze who took a wound disordering them.

Abyss Turn 3

Amarynth (Drakon Lord) had fatefully miscalculated is position and found an angry Ba’el barrelling into his flank! Quite understandably he was rather stunned (wavered) by this turn of events.

Shooting saw the Flamebearers put a few more wounds on the Palace Guard. The Tortured Souls no longer hindered by tree branches finished off the Silverbreeze whilst the Fiend failed to do much to the Stormwind. The Abyssal Horsemen boldly charging headlong into a horde of spears managed to get 6 damage on them.

Elf Turn 3

After my mistake last turn King Paweldran and Warden Amarynth we’re both now vulnerable to attack from Ba’el. I decided to sacrifice Amarynth to keep Paweldran’s 360 arc charges for going after the loot carrying Warlock. Amarynth withdrew and pivoted to threaten the Warlock whilst also offering the rear to Ba’el forcing Ben to take the charge or risk losing a lot next turn.

King Paweldran charged the Abyssal Horsemen along with the counter charging spears keen to endure the remaining main Abyssal units were destroyed before they could do more damage. The Horsemen learned the hard way about cavalry vs spears and were banished back to the Cavalry Academy for more lessons.

The other combats saw the Stormwind finish off the Fiend and the Palace Guard kill the last Flamebearer unit reforming to threaten Ba’el if he didn’t get far enough away on his overrun next turn.

Abyss Turn 4

The warlock continued to skull away with the previous loot whilst Ba’el finished off Amarynth and the Tortured Souls did a few wounds in the flank of the spears.

Elf Turn 4

The garrison of Tor Bel-Valdar (Spears) steeled themselves and charged the mighty Ba’el. Again and again spears thrust piercing his leathery hide but alas he was unaffected.

The Stormwind cursed as they’d foolishly left themselves completely out of position so we’re left to practice their dressage technique in the forest. Angry at the idiocy of his household knights Paweldran committed himself into the flank of the Tortured Souls doing 4 damage but Ba’el’s menacing aura kept their souls bound to the battlefield.

Alenui attempted to drive the warlock off with lightning but only managed a single point of damage.

Abyss Turn 5

King Paweldran’s admittedly brave charge into the Tortured Souls was shown to be folly as they easily spooked his horse and hit the flank of the spears already engaged with Ba’el breaking their spirits to boot.

Elf Turn 5

The Stormwind keen to get back into the battle charged the Tortured Souls but the life energy they’d absorbed from the King and the Spears meant they just hung on.

The Palace Guard moved round to pick up the token next turn. Whilst Alenui fired another lightning bolt at the Warlock opening the wound that had just regenerated from its evil magic.

Abyss Turn 6

Ba’el and the Tortured Souls charged the Stormwind who keen to atone for their previous failures held firm (double 1).

Elf Turn 6

The Palace Guard picked up the loot whilst the Stormwind grounded Ba’el. All rested on Alenui banishing the foul Warlock he unleashed his full strength adding 3 more damage to the wounded beast. Alas whilst it struggled to stay in the mortal realm it just managed to cling on although it was visibly drained from the effort (wavered).

Time had run out for the Elves as the Forces of the Abyss once more win the day.

Narrative ending:

Alenui, youngest of Tor Bel-Valdar’s Loremasters, sat still eyes closed as he examined the alien device. The swirling green energies filled his mind’s eye. A pattern formed the one he’d been waiting for a flash of fire cut through the green strands and all was black. Alenui has severed the link with the Abyssal Realm. Knowing that these devices helped create links to bring more Abyssals into the lands of Bel-Valdar only made the failure to secure more of them in the recent battle all the more galling. Try as they might the city’s Loremasters could not defeat the Abyssal threat alone it would need to be achieved on the field of battle.

Conclusions and Recriminations:

Well that was a tale or two halves! No need to go back to the deployment phase on this one (although the Stormwind Leader point should have been deployed in the wood to allow them a turn 1 charge is a minor niggle). I usually play online games turn by turn spread out over a few days. This game was going really well on day one and was approaching a farce of ineptitude on day 2.

At the end of the Abyssals turn 2 it looked game over everything was in excellent positions. The avalanche of mistakes started in my turn 2 by mistakenly thinking I was out of Ba’el’s charge range with my Drakon Lord (we’re playin online and text based so often don’t confirm things with your opponent you usually would in person).

Turn 3 I didn’t position my Stormwind to counter anything instead leaving them whistling in the wind at a key moment. What’s worse is I compounded my mistake by not using the Cav to pick up the loot and instead bring my Palace Guard into the centre where they could have been better positioned than the cav could be.

Turn 4 was the real disaster charging the Tortured Souls with the King rather than the Warlock was a huge error in a multitude of ways. I did this favouring the lightning bolt which hits on 4/3s rather than the king who hits on 2/2s. It’s made even worse due to losing the option to bane chant the spears which could have caused Ba’el a lot of trouble.

From there I’d thrown my best opportunities. Only some lucky lightning bolts could have saved the day. I’d managed somehow not kill a single units in the final 3 turns of the game despite having nearly all my force left at the start of turn 4.

Well I hope you all enjoyed my embarrassment I certainly didn’t :man_shrugging::rofl:.

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Good looking and informative battle reports! Great stuff!

1 Like

Thank you glad you enjoyed them.

Battle Report #3

2000pts vs Forces of the Abyss

Narrative Intro:

Paweldran stared out from his balcony,
the Forces of the Abyss continued to ravage his lands. So far their had been no victory even a small one to boost morale.

One Reason for cheer, however, had come in the form of his Cousin Prince Decado who had arrived from the mountain kingdoms along with the fearsome Drakon Knights his household was famed for. With these new troops allied to his existing forces Paweldran knew the tide could begin to turn against the hostile invaders.

Game Intro and Lists:

Well good news for fans of Elves vs Abyssals battle reports, less good news for fans of variety. This time, however, we have a different enemy general and a different set of lists. My opponent this time would be my friend Jeff and we’d be playing 2000 points.

I wanted to change things up list wise for a bit of variety and decided to revisit my regular 2nd edition list. At the start of 3rd I had deliberately moved away from my old list as I’d been playing it for a while in one form or another and wanted to try out the new exciting options thrown up by 3rd edition.

My old list couldn’t directly be recreated so I needed to try and recreate the idea but with the updated list. My core element of the list was a mobile shooting force really maximising the elves manoeuvrability and shooting prowess. This was typified by a horde of Seaguard with nimble (which used to give them steady aim as well) this meant I could advance whilst laying down fire but also have a solid combat unit and a 12 inch pivot on a high Unit Strength unit for late game scenario winning moves.

I loved my seaguard but only ever saw them as effective when they could benefit from the dual boost nimble gave them. Multipurpose units are generally tricky to use effectively to repay the large points outlay. There’s no real comparable option available now so it would be a case of replacing their abilities piecemeal. I didn’t use mages much in 2nd ed but their first class in 3rd so two lightning bolt mages would replace the shooting component the Seaguard brought.

The rest of the list focused on various regiments and a Drakon horde plus lots of individuals. So I put the hordes of Palace Guard away (:flushed: right?) in favour of returning to two regiments of them and a regiment of Forest Guard. I added a second Drakon horde to round out the main combat units. So my list looks like this:

Elf List:

Drakon Lord (Amarynth): 170pts
King (Paweldran): Horse, Shard blade, Blade of the Beast slayer: 170pts
Mage (Alenui): Inspiring Talisman, Bane Chant (2), Lightning Bolt (5): 135pts
Mage (Eldroth): Lightning Bolt (5), Boomstick: 125pts
Prince (Decado): horse, Diadem of Dragonkind: 110pts

Drakon horde: Sir Jesse’s boots of striding: 290pts
Drakon horde: Potion of the Caterpillar: 295pts
Palace Guard regiment: 160pts
Palace Guard regiment: 160pts
Forest Guard regiment: 165pts
Silverbreeze troop: 130pts
Bolt thrower: 90pts

I was interested to see how this list fared as plenty had changed since the new edition and there were lots of differences I’d had to make to the list so I didn’t know if it would still function as it once had.

As for Jeff he’d brought his Abyssals which I’d played against several times but he almost never uses the identical list twice. This time he’d be running the following:

Forces of the Abyss:

Hellequin Blood masque: Blade of Slashing: 90pts
Hellequin Blood masque: Mace of crushing: 90pts
Hellequin Blood masque: Diadem of Dragonkind: 115pts
Abyssal Warlock: Drain Life: 120pts
Abyssal Warlock: Drain Life: 120pts

Abyssal Fiend: 175pts
Abyssal Fiend: 175pts
Tortured Souls Regiment: 120pts
Molloch horde: Sir Jesse’s boots of striding: 245pts
Molloch horde: Potion of the Caterpillar: 240pts
Abyssal Ghoul Horde: 150pts
Abyssal Ghoul Horde: 150pts
Lower Abyssal Horde: Hammer of Measured Force: 210pts

This list looks like a really tough match up for mine. So much regen, healing from drain life and lots of nerve. If that wasn’t a tough enough challenge for my piecemeal shooting to deal with three cheap mounted individuals with defence 5 and regen we’re going to cause a lot of problems for my shooting and flying units as well. I’ve gone away from using sabre toothed cats (Duellist) on my heroes as they never seemed to get much use but I would really love it to have it now.

On the positive side Jeff tends to have far more units than me but this time it’s only one more (12 vs 13). I’m also happy to see to no Gargoyles, Abyssals have so many great support units they won’t be missed too much but they’re still an amazing unit I’m happy not to have to face.

Deployment and Scenario

The scenario was control.

Jeff chose sides deploying at the bottom. He weighted his forces to the left and centre. My approach with this army has been to deploy a bolt thrower and mounted individuals in the centre then try to get my infantry on one flank where some of the enemy troops are already positioned (so in this instance the left). Then I’ll try to get my fast and shooting units on the other flank so hopefully they won’t be facing too big a force to stop them swing round in a devastating flanking manoeuvre.

I won the roll for first turn and took it wanting to start moving round with my faster flank as soon as possible.

Elf Turn 1

On the left my infantry pulled back so that they could have more movement options in the coming turns. On the right my Drakon Lord being the only Drakon left with nimble did the classic 20 inch then turn in on the open flank. The drakons and shooters moved up starting their swing towards the centre.

Bolts, arrows and even lightning rained down on the Abyssal Ghoul horde but they remained unphased.

Abyssal Turn 1

Jeff swung his centre round to face the threat of the Drakons whilst the left moved up to face the elven infantry who had cravenly fallen back. Nothing was in range to shoot so the Abyssals focused their attention on moving into better positions next turn.

Elf Turn 2

The elven infantry keen to take advantage of the swing towards the right pushed up to move towards the remaining Abyssal elements on the left. On the right units shuffled a little to get in better positions.

Shooting saw Prince Decado unleash dragon fire from his ancestral pendant at the foul ghouls but the fire failed to hurt the ghouls who were used to much worse punishments from their masters. The remaining shooting managed to waver the ghouls and the bolt thrower fired a bolt skimming the Abyssal Fiend’s thigh weakening the energy holding it to the mortal realm.

Abyss Turn 2

Jeff continued to advance whilst protecting him from the elves manoeuvres. Shooting added a few wounds to a palace guard regiment and a single wound on the boomstick mage (Eldroth).

Elf Turn 3

On the left my palace guard units had positioned themselves poorly to support each other so rather than invite a flank charge they edged up just out of the horde’s charge range. The King Paweldran went into the Fiend hoping to add a good chunk of damage.

On the right my units continued to shuffle to maximise shooting opportunities. The Ghouls were wavered again as was the Hellequin with Diadem despite only taking 3 damage.

In combat King Paweldran was only able to deliver a few slashes to Fiend pus oozed from the cuts but the Fiend was unconcerned.

Abyss Turn 3

*Forgot to take picture at the time so this is approximately right positions.

The Abyssals were now able to lock horns with the enemy so started to push up aggressively. The non wavered individuals charged the Drakons and Drakon Lord to pin them down. The Fiend ignored the King’s challenge and barrelled down the hill into the Forest Guard who’d found themselves isolated from support (more bad infantry positioning on my part :man_facepalming:t3:).

On the right the Mighty Abyssal Fiend belched forth a spout of flame engulfing the wounded mage Eldroth) ending his role in proceedings. On the left the other Fiend swept his claws through the beleaguered Forest Guard who were frozen in fear at the brutality of the beast (only just wavered due to brutal).

The Hellequin on the flank was a skilled duellist and landed all of his blows on the Drakon Lord Amarynth grounding him. In the woods however, the other daemonic champion was evaded by the Drakons as his sword caught on tree branches instead. This meant both Drakon hordes would be free to charge next turn!

Elf Turn 4

With the Abyssals engaging it was time for a counter attack from the Elves both Drakons went into Molloch hordes each supported by a royal leader.

One Palace Guard unit charged the Abyssal Ghouls whilst the other favoured blocking the Lower Abyssals from getting a flank charge over joining their comrades.

Shooting meanwhile managed to finally finish off the Ghoul horde. The Palace Guard and a Drakon Lord both lashed out with their swords damaging their opponents but little more.

In the crucial centre combats the King and Drakons managed to break their Molloch unit but the Prince and his Drakons fell short leaving them in a precarious position.

Abyss Turn 4

Sensing blood in the water the Abyssals set about taking advantage of the elves failure to break their lines. The tortured souls and a Hellequin charged the Drakon unit which had been successful against the mollochs. The other Drakons got charged by the Fiend in the flank and mollochs in the front.

On the left the infantry hordes engaged the Palace Guard regiments. Whilst in the bottom right corner the Hellequin resumed combat with the Drakon Lord with the Warlock moving up to support.

Shooting saw Drain Life hit the King and Drakon Lord both taking damage. In combat the first Drakon unit went down under the weight of attacks from the mollochs and fiend. Luckily the damage on the second Drakon unit was relatively light.

On the left the Fiend wavered the Forest Guard again but both infantry hordes found the palace guard units resolved to continue the fight.

Elf Turn 5

Things were looking desperate I’d need to hit hard and get some good fortune if I was to have a chance at saving the game. King Paweldran charged the injured Fiend hoping to banish it once and for all. The remaining units counter charged where they could.

Shooting concentrated on the injured Mollochs fire scorched their flesh, arrows reopened freshly healed wounds and lightning cascaded from the skies as the energies binding them to the mortal realms dissipated removing them from the field of battle.

In combat the Palace Guard swept through the Abyssals slaying them left and right but they remained surrounded by the seemingly endless hordes. The Drakon Riders furious at seeing their brethren defeated tore the Tortured Souls to shreds.

King Paweldran facing the gargantuan Abyssal Fiend feigned left and right unbalancing the clumsy beast, having created an opening Paweldran drove his flaming sword Yahdra into the monster’s chest. A piercing scream erupted as the injured Fiend lost its grip in this realm, alas dark magics are no so easily defeated Yahdra had missed the beast’s heart and it clung on to fight again. (I managed my 5 damage out of 5 attacks but only wavered the Fiend).

Abyss Turn 5

The Abyssals were in a strong position so set about turning it into a dominant one. Both Palace Guard regiments went down under weight of attacks from the hordes and King Paweldran was knocked unconscious by the Abyssal Fiend’s hammer.

In the centre a combination of drain life and and an Abyssal Fiend charge broke the remaining Drakon unit in the centre. The Drakon Lord was wavered again by the Hellequin plus drain life combo and the Silverbreeze were wavered by a pair of Hellequins in the top right.

Elf Turn 6

There wasn’t much to do by this point other than kill off what I could and pray for some kind of miraculous turn of events. The Forest Guard were finally free to charge the Fiend landing several wounds but a double 1 saved the unkillable bane of my existence.

The Prince fireballed the badly damaged ghoul horde but could only waver it. The mage wavered a Hellequin with lightning bolt hopefully saving the Silverbreeze unit’s skin.

Abyss Turn 6

Little remained for the Abyssals but to mop up what they could. The Forest Guard were smashed on two sides by Fiends and the Drakon Lord finally has enough of having the life sucked out of him by the Warlock Hellequin combo and fled the battle.

No turn 7 so a comprehensive 3-1 victory for the Abyssals.

Narrative ending:

Paweldran knelt praying in the Shrine of Raloris seeking wisdom from his ancestors and courage from his gods. Everyday the Abyssal menace grew despite their best efforts the Elves were beaten back again and again on the battlefield. Opening his eyes Paweldran saw his brothers Alenui and Amarynth waiting in an alcove of the shrine. It was time for another war council seeking to find a solution to the Abyssal incursion. Rising to join them Paweldran quickly prayed this meeting would be more successful than the last.

Conclusions and Recriminations:

Well that looked pretty devastating by the end. The truth is things could have also swung the other way. Jeff’s nerve rolls were consistently good and mine whilst not awful included a few key rolls where avoiding a low roll could have proved crucial. However, dice are not something within my control so I don’t focus on them. Jeff definitely played better and deserved the win.

There were several positioning mistakes on my part especially with the infantry units on the left. These units just weren’t put in the right positions to support each other a few more thought through pivot moves could have changed a lot on that flank. Jeff is a master of positioning so if I don’t elevate my game in this area he’s bound to exploit it.

The Drakon Lord I’m not sure if he fits in this list but I definitely didn’t use him right. He should either of stayed with the Drakons to join in on frontal charges or perhaps should have committed earlier as a sacrificial move to pull some of Jeff’s units out of position.

List Changes

This was my first time with this list and as discussed it’s an attempt to translate my 2nd ed list into third. Usually the first time I play a list I get a pretty good feel for whether it’s working the way I want just from comparing army lists, deployment etc. This was no different a few things immediately flagged as issues.

Just seeing Jeff’s list contained 3 individuals gave me shivers, facing mounted individuals are definitely a potential weakness in my list so I want to try and get duellist in the list to provide some more mitigation.

Running the three infantry regiments together definitely felt wrong. I needed some variety to complement that grouping ideally something with more speed to allow for greater overlapping support or possibly shooting.

I’ve not been a big fan of the Drakon Lord generally at 2k+ games (he seems good in 1500pts games though) I think he is a bit expensive for what he is so needs to be just the right fit for the list to be worthwhile and I don’t think this list is it. Another king would be superior or maybe a different unit like a Stormwind Troop or just rearrange the points into other things.

Finally I think it’s worth bringing the seaguard back out. Expectations aren’t high for the shooting element, when moving their shooting will be roughly as good as a silverbreeze troop, but that’s not a bad return on 30pts extra over a spearmen horde’s cost (albeit losing 5 combat attacks).

New list

King (Paweldran): Horse, Shard blade, Blade of the Beast slayer, cats (duellist): 180pts
Mage (Alenui): Inspiring Talisman, Bane Chant (2), Lightning Bolt (5): 135pts
Mage (Eldroth): Lightning Bolt (5), Boomstick: 125pts
Prince (Decado): horse, Diadem of Dragonkind: 110pts
Prince (TBD): horse, mace of crushing; 85pts

Drakon horde: Sir Jesse’s boots of striding: 290pts
Stormwind Regiment: Potion of the Caterpillar: 235pts
Palace Guard regiment: 160pts
Palace Guard regiment: 160pts
Seaguard Horde: Chant of Hate: 290pts
Silverbreeze troop: Piercing arrow: 140pts
Bolt thrower: 90pts

The Drakons are swapped out for the equally pointed Seaguard. I then downgraded the Drakon Lord to a mounted Prince In order to upgrade the Forest Guard to a Pathfinder regiment of Stormwind. I also had a few extra points for cats on the king and piercing arrow on the Silverbreeze. There were various other options I considered such as combining the Palace Guard into a horde but didn’t want to change things too drastically when evaluating the changes already made.

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Hi @paulb800 !

I have finally found time to properly read the report from the second game and you have already posted third one! Hopefully I will be able to catch up.

Second game started much better, with solid deployment and no crazy shooting phase (even though PG was in the open again to receive the bolts).

There is usually a reason why in the heat of the battle you choose particular option. And only after the game you realize there may have been other moves to consider. Not always better but something you may not have time to think about earlier. And if it makes you feel better, you are not the only one who wonders about particular moves made during the game, when there were “obviously” better options to choose from :slight_smile:

Speaking of the options, and apart from what you have already discussed, I wonder what do you think about counterchanging tortured souls with the spears instead of attacking Ba’el? They would have better chances of breaking the unit rather than the hero. And in doing so (although I don’t know what was the nerve roll here) they would have reformed to face him and stay in the game longer.

Another element is, of course, keeping the scenario objectives in mind. Something your next opponent, Jeff, is really good at!

Thanks again for another very interesting report, there is always something to learn!

Cheers!

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Hi @paulb800 !

As you can see I could not wait for long and decided to read and comment on your 3rd game! It seems you like to pick the toughest sparring partners available! Fortunately, Jeff is also a fantastic player to learn from, even if the lessons he offers are often quite painful :slight_smile:

The comment you made about the transition from 2nd to 3rd edition made me wonder if many players had to change their armies. Or in other words, if all the factions had to do it in a relatively significant way.

Personally, I had to change it because it was not legal any more. First, some elements were not available (Forest Wardens). Second, some of them stopped unlocking (forest shamblers regiments, war chariots - although chariots can unlock now). Third, the points changed (and I had to replace units with more expensive ones). And fourth, some of the units were not what they used to be (war chariots and nobles in chariots). I have struggled since then to be able to have the same level of confidence and success with my 3rd ed army. However, it is quite possible it is more due to fewer games I have played since the new edition was released.

Ok, let’s go back to your battle!

I was a bit surprised to see a number of non-scoring individuals Jeff had in his army. It is because he used to field armies with an impressive unit strength and pretty much every unit scoring. His nimble heroes and monsters were always a trouble to deal with, especially with the wall of cheap but not so easy to destroy infantry hordes.

Still, there are a lot of elements that look very familiar in his list. I was also curious about this game as your own army list seemed to be completely different in principle. Your army is faster and seems to have advantage in range in terms of shooting as well. Jeff’s army is very resilient, slower but very good at war of attrition.

This time I write comments as I read the report. In your turn 3, was it possible to charge the Fiend with two regiments of PG at the same time? If yes, would you consider this as too risky? If successful, such attack would allow you to reform each regiment against inferior enemy infantry and Forest Guard would be able to help next turn.

With the full benefit of a hindsight, would you consider attacking the Ghouls in turn 4 with both PG regiments at the same time? It seems that in such exchange, there was possibility to defeat at least on of the hordes before the regiments went down?

A pity that the second Drakon horde did not hold against a frontal attack from the Fiend. It looks to me that there were some high nerve rolls involved. However, it is not always possible to avoid that so I wonder if there is anything different to do to, at the very least, minimise the chances further?

Well, I know how it feels to put up a good fight but end up with almost no army left. :slight_smile: That often happens in the games against Jeff, there is that one turn where there is a chain reaction of units being lost. And he still has elements to commit.

Which does not reflect the flow of the battle and does not tell the whole story!

The changes to the army look interesting for sure so I am looking forward to reading about new chapter of the adventures of King Paweldaran and friends. One thing is sure, he seems to be quite a hot headed and reckless warrior! :smiley:

Cheers!

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Glad you enjoyed it.

Palace Guard would have had a Silverbreeze screen if I’d gone first but because I was able to get right in the face of the Flamebearers the Silverbreeze would have just been in the way.

In terms of Ba’el I needed to pin him down because if he jumped over and took the tokens I’d have struggled to kill him. I just had a real brain fail and looked at the kings attacks and lightning bolt as equivalent rather than me not focusing on the tokens.

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No only one could go in, I’d have taken the chance with two as there’s a very good chance to break. I’d have gone in with one if I could have protected it’s flank. This was one of my positioning mistakes I was referring to.

I looked at putting both Palace Guard in that turn problem is your only doing 12-13 wounds on average so it’s a 10 twice on nerve to break so you’d need to seriously over perform (If they weren’t fury it would change this equation a lot). What I did was fairly equivalent in terms of damage trade offs to going all in but made it happen more slowly giving me more time to hopefully bring support back maybe killing the fiend to remove inspire for instance.

The Drakons dying from the front charge I could have supported them more but I was stretched thin trying to get a big enough swing to have the unit advantage to win the game.

Jeff’s list was unusual for him I’ve faced triple Hellequin from him before but never seen him do it to anybody else. Maybe he just wanted to give me a taste of my own medicine!

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Battle Report #4

2000pts vs Forces of Nature Pillage

Narrative Intro:

Amarynth soared over the tree line his riding his steed Navarel & accompanied by a pair of young Griffons from the woods near Tor Bel-Valdar. Navarel was enjoying himself back in his home among the forests and mountains to the north of Tor Bel-Valdar. Amarynth’s was less relaxed his eagle eyed gaze scanned the ground below wary of any sign that the Abyssal scourge had spread this far north.

The plan was a bold one but fraught with danger, Amarynth feared being cut off or surrounded by the Abyssal forces. The risks were, however, necessary he told himself. The idea had come from Eataine the Merchant Prince who had docked in the Bel-Valdar harbour a few short days ago, he and his company of Therennian Seaguard now marched alongside the men of Bel-Valdar. The day before the army had set sail going round the coastline to circle beyond the Abyssals influence. From there they now marched through the forests hoping to surprise the Abyssal forces with a surprise attack.

Amarynth caught a glimpse of unusual movement in the air, then another. Swiftly a Pegasus also came into view. Closer now Amarynth could see the disturbance in the air was in fact an air elemental and it was moments from him. At such speed there was no misreading it’s intentions, it was clear there would be no chance to parley. Pulling on Navarel’s reigns his steed swerved to avoid in the incoming spirit of the sky and broke right to warn the rest of the force, the young griffins distracted the pegasus before following suit. As he turned Amarynth caught glimpses of a unicorn and a pack of centaurs. It was clear the elves had strayed too deep into the forest and would now face the consequences of their desperate actions.

Game Intro and Lists:

Well good news for fans of variety, less good news for fans of Elves vs Abyssals battle reports. I’m playing my friend Jeff again but he fancied running his Forces of Nature list rather than Abyssals.

Elf List:

King (Paweldran): Horse, Shard blade, Blade of the Beast slayer, cats (duellist): 180pts
Mage (Alenui): Inspiring Talisman, Bane Chant (2), Lightning Bolt (5): 135pts
Mage (Eldroth): Lightning Bolt (5), Boomstick: 125pts
Prince (Decado): horse, Diadem of Dragonkind: 110pts
Prince (Eataine): horse, mace of crushing; 85pts

Drakon horde (Amarynth and young Griffons): Sir Jesse’s boots of striding: 290pts
Stormwind Regiment: Potion of the Caterpillar: 235pts
Palace Guard regiment: 160pts
Palace Guard regiment: 160pts
Seaguard Horde: Chant of Hate: 290pts
Silverbreeze troop: Piercing arrow: 140pts
Bolt thrower: 90pts

I’m running the list discussed after last game with the tweaks to a couple of units taken from last games list. I was interested to see how it would fare as Jeff’s really good with his Nature builds.

Forces of Nature list:

Avatar of the Green lady: 150pts
Unicorn: Heal 5: 120pts
Druid: Surge: 75pts
Pegasus: 80pts
Greater Air Elemental: 180pts
Greater Air Elemental: 180pts
Greater Fire Elemental: 175pts
Centaur Bray Striders Reg: Otter: 165pts
Centaur Bray Striders reg : Otter: 165pts
Centaur Bray Striders Reg: Otter: 165pts
Salamander Primes horde: CS2 def 4: 225pts
Naiad Heartpiercers Reg:160pts
Naiad Heartpiercers Reg:160pts

Jeff’s Nature lists are always interesting I’m keen to test myself against his use of surge and shambling as he always seems to pull a trick out of the bag I didn’t see coming.

Deployment and Scenario

The scenario was pillage. The tokens were fairly evenly spread out across the board.

Jeff chose sides deploying at the bottom. He spread his forces fairly evenly. My approach was similar to last time trying to swing the shooting flank round against Jeff’s centre.

I won the roll for first turn and took it wanting to start getting shooting damage on Jeff’s units as fast as possible.

Elf Turn 1

On the right the Elven lines advanced into missile range unleashing a hail of arrows, bolts and lightning on the unprotected salamander horde.

Meanwhile the left side heroically fiddled about a bit.

Nature Turn 1

Jeff pushed up on the right keen to get his shooters into range. On the left he was more cautious backing up behind a wall with the Salamanders. The a Greater Fire Elemental seeing Prince Decado has strayed into range of his fireball unleashed a spout of flame singeing the vain Elven Prince’s carefully arranged hair do, thus denting his moral. The healing energies of the Green Lady restored a few wounded Salamanders to the fray.

Elf Turn 2

Seeing that a few warning shots would not dissuade the Forces of Nature from engaging in hostilities the elven troops prepared to unleash the full force of their abilities. On the left this meant showing off their stealth skills by all hiding behind a hill.

On the right however, with a few protective moves to cover the mages the elves took up positions to be aggressive. Volley after volley of arrows rained down on the Salamanders along with lightning bolts it was all to much for the faint hearted creatures and they broke and ran seeing the error of their ways.

In the centre King Paweldran charged the Air Elemental hoping to build up some damage on him and distract him from the units on the left. His fiery blade struck out causing a few satisfying gusts of breeze as it found its mark.

Nature Turn 2

On the left the steady advance continued with a few long range pot shots finding their mark on a Palace Guard unit. The Air Elemental failed to dent the morale of the Elven King as his hair dropped perfectly back in place following the weak breeze directed at him. Meanwhile the Unicorn healed the damage suffered on the Air Elemental.

Sensing it might not be safe to wait too long the Forces of Nature on the left exploded out of the forest. The Avatar of the Green Lady spread gloom among the elven ranks with her cloak of death. Meanwhile with the help of some over excited otters Prince Decado was force to flee, his skirt hem in tatters. Luckily though having learnt the lessons of the Titanic the mages “2nd hull” Prince Eataine held.

Not all was well for the mages, however, Eldroth’s was engulfed by a fireball from the Fire Elemental and joined Decado in the queue for the tailors rather than fighting on (2nd time Jeff’s done this to me in two games!). Finally the air elemental on the hill managed a couple of wounds on the Seaguard.

Elf Turn 3

On the left the elf units continued to plot an cunning plan whilst admiring the (/hiding behind) the hill.

On the right there was plenty of action unfolding. With the Centaurs threatening the Seaguard’s flank the Drakons swept into the fray but only managed to waver the mythical beasts. The Seaguard meanwhile managed to pierce several holes in the old windbag they were fighting but not enough to deflate it entirely. Finally King Paweldran plunged his blade into the greater fire eternal releasing a hiss of steam.

Nature Turn 3

Jeff further advanced on the left with a few point shots landing their mark. The Air Elemental charged King Paweldran hoping to distract him from the array of targets on the right.

On the right Greater Elementals managed some damage on the various targets but not enough to seriously test their courage. Jeff healed what he could but the wavered Centaurs were looking vulnerable despite falling back.

Elf Turn 4

On the left the trap was sprung and the full extent of the elves behind the hill were revealed. Without leaders to inspire them one of the Heart Piercer units fled from the field rather than face the might of the charging cavalry.

Meanwhile on the right the shaken Centaurs broke as the elven cavalry harried them with bow fire. Faced with a mighty Heating element Alenui wove a spell to aid the Drakons in the coming fight but the magic of the Forest was too strong to overcome and he failed in his attempt. The Bolt thrower denied any open targets launched a bolt into the Centaurs in the forest skewering through one of the beasts and injuring several others.

In combat despite the Drakons being unaided by magic they had no trouble wounding the glorified pilot light. As the Fire Elemental recoiled from the Drakons King Paweldran saw his opportunity and his blade arced down scything the monster asunder. Unable to avoid the Air Elemental getting a surge into the flanks of the Drakons I pivoted to ensure he would have to go into the one nearest to the Seaguard.

The Seaguard and their captain Prince Eataine showed how foolish it was to threaten a seafarer with mere wind and easily drove the Air Elemental away. However, with the Elven units now all in the open what would be mother nature’s response…

Nature Turn 4

On the right the Drakons were swept away by an Air Elemental surging into their flank. The unicorn also routed King Paweldran as the constant fear of death emanating from the Green Lady finally became too much for him.

On the left thing went less well for the Forces of Nature. One unit of Palace Guard were wavered as they struggled to cope with the frenzied otters nipping at their ankles. Both the proud Elven Knights and second unit of Palace Guard, however, were undeterred by the damage done.

Elf Turn 5

The Elves had suffered severe losses but were still in a strong position to strike back. On the hill the Seaguard and Prince Eataine once again destroyed an Greater Air Elemental, spears proving the perfect weapon against an old windbag.

On the left the Palace Guard on the hill keen to get some retribution for the barrage of harpoons charged the Heartpiercers. Sadly the Elves only landed a few blows (only managing 5 damage) and ended up only wavering the fishermen. The cavalry also struggled with their swords against the centaurs again only doing a few points of damage and wavering the already injured unit.

Nature Turn 5

On the right Jeff could do little but fly the Green Lady over to cast cloak of death on the Silverbreeze whilst the unicorn moved up to charge next turn.

On the left the Pegasus charged the flank of the Palace Guard wavering them again, meanwhile the Centaurs finished off the other Palace Guard unit in front of them.

Elf Turn 6

Try as they might the Seaguard could only get into range of one objective this turn so would need a turn 7 for a chance at claiming both. Prince Eataine charged the unicorn hoping to distract it from the Silverbreeze who sought protection behind a wall. Eataine sliced into the unicorns thigh but his blade glanced off the bone doing little damage.

On the left the cavalry finished off the injured Centaurs but in a moment of hot headedness allowed their momentum to get the best of them (I’d mistakenly thought I was within 3 inch of the objective with my flank if I went far enough).

Nature Turn 6

Ever the opportunist Jeff sent his Centaurs into the flank of the cav breaking them whilst also being in range to claim the objective. The Pegasus also flew up and claimed the other objective on the left. The Heartpiercers finished off the Palace Guard.

The score was now 2-2 on objectives but Jeff had one last card up his sleeve. The hindered unicorn charged the Silverbreeze who had now taken 2 damage from the cloak of death. 2 more damage were inflicted as the unicorn’s horn pierced horse flesh. The horses bucked and swerved as the riders sought to control them. Alas, It was all too much for them, and the horses bolted leaving the objective unclaimed.

The score was now 2-1 to Jeff a turn 7 would ensure atleast a draw for the Elves.

It was not be as the battle ended leaving the Forces of Nature victorious!

Narrative ending:

King Paweldran stood by his bed chamber window, his eyes fixed to the north at the Mountains and Forests. It had been two weeks since his party had limped home following their ignoble defeat at the hands of the forest creatures. Those who could have proved an ally in the war against the Abyssal invaders were now a foe. Paweldran only hoped the Abyssals would find it equally hard to advance north and that the Forest Dwellers would pin back the Abyssal Legions on one front.

This was not the only sour news for the Elves. Upon their return Paweldran’s force was greeted with the news that Eataine’s beloved father had passed on to the next world. Grief struck Eataine, but the now King of Therennian refused to return home to his coronation pledging instead to continue his aid in the war against the Abyssals. As a coronation present and a symbol of the kinship between their two houses Paweldran had gifted Eataine the sword Sindarin. Forged at the founding of Bel-Valdar it had been made for Valdar’s champion and healed the bearer whilst in the thick of battle.

Conclusions and Recriminations:

Well that was a really thrilling if ultimately disappointing battle. Jeff took all the right chances to swing things back his way and it paid off for him.

The one clear mistake I made was to overrun with the cavalry I’d thought I could reach the objective, contesting it if I survived, but I failed to double check my measurements. As it was I died anyway and should have just turned to face. Jeff may have then not risked fighting me but guarantee he held the objective in turn 6 opening up the chance for me to kill him on the charge turn 7. Either way it probably wouldn’t have changed things, none the less a definite mistake.

The Seaguard did fantastically well, they’re definitely less effective without nimble but vicious is a nice addition to the unit and they can still perform the same role as before if a little less effectively. I definitely think a lack of inspire and general character support costs me on the Palace Guard flank so I really need to bring some dedicated inspire to that flank.

I’m not hugely convinced Princes work out as better value than Kings in 3rd edition so I’m going to drop both for a king next game. That leaves just enough points to upgrade the Silverbreeze troop to a regiment replacing the shooting lost from the Prince Diadem (and adds unit strength and nerve to help keep my scoring units alive).

I’m a big fan of lifeleech on a King so with points tight I dropped duellist on King Paweldran to buy Hanns Scriptures for the newly crowned King Eataine to wield as the sword Sindarin. An alternative might be to take an army standard bearer or foot king instead of one Prince but I’m keen to try out double mounted Kings for the first time.

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Battle Report #5

2000pts vs Forces of the Abyss: Dominate

Narrative Intro:

The coven of Loremasters stood entranced around the Annulian crystal. Each one of them masters of their craft had fought for weeks to keep the Abyssal forces at bay. Channeling their energies through the crystal they’d blocked the portal between the two realms from growing, allowing only a trickle of energy to pass between the realms. Without their efforts the Abyssal Forces would have grown immeasurably.

Ba’el’s claws closed around the lower abyssal’s waist it’s life energy flowing into him as he crushed it with his grip. It was a just reward for interrupting him. The news it had brought, however, was interesting, a tower hidden close to the Elven city had been identified as the source of the great power which had been restricting the Abyssals since their arrival. Despite defeat after defeat the Elves had still held out against Ba’el’s incursion now he knew how. His wings unfurled as he took to the sky’s, his gathered forces seeing their master’s departure, quickly followed unwilling to risk his wrath.

Game Intro and Lists:

Well it’s back to fighting the Forces of the Abyss once again. This time Ben’s back in control but we’ve bumped things up to 2000pts.

We decided after all the Abyssal victories we should continue the flow of the narrative and play for control of an elven tower as the Abyssals increasingly pushed the elves back deeper into their territory. So we chose dominate as the mission and placed an elven tower at the centre of the board.

Elf List:

King (Paweldran): Horse, Shard blade, Blade of the Beast slayer: 170pts

Mage (Alenui): Inspiring Talisman, Bane Chant (2), Lightning Bolt (5): 135pts

Mage (Eldroth): Lightning Bolt (5), Boomstick: 125pts

King: Horse, Lifeleech (1): 145pts

Drakon horde (Amarynth and young Griffons): Sir Jesse’s boots of striding: 290pts

Stormwind Regiment: Potion of the Caterpillar: 235pts

Palace Guard regiment: 160pts

Palace Guard regiment: 160pts

Seaguard Horde: Chant of Hate: 290pts

Silverbreeze Regiment: 200pts

Bolt thrower: 90pts

I wanted to keep working on the Seaguard based list I‘d run versus Jeff. So with the tweaks added to the list I discussed after last game I was good to go.

Forces of the Abyss list:

Ba’el: 265pts

Abyssal Warlock: 90pts

Seductress: Blade of Slashing: 135pts

Abyssal Fiend: 175pts

Abyssal Fiend: 175pts

Abyssal Horsemen: Pathfinder: 260pts

Mollochs Horde: Healing Brew: 230pts

Tortured Souls Regiment: 120pts

Tortured Souls Regiment: 120pts

Tortured Souls Regiment: 120pts

Flamebearers Regiment: 155pts

Flamebearers Regiment: 155pts

Ben’s list was an extension of his 1500pts list from games 1 & 2. It’s a tough list nearly all of it was scoring most of it fast and the duellist individual could be problematic with my 4 individuals all being tempting targets.

Deployment and Scenario

The scenario was dominate.

Fairly typical approach for me on deployment with a refused centre. With Ben going fairly spread out with his shooting in the centre. I immediately felt better having a king available to work with the palace guard flank as with most of Ben’s heavy hitters facing off with the seaguard flank I’d need the Palace Guard flank to move up to start pressuring the centre.

Ben won the roll for first turn and gave it to me. I was fairly happy with this as I had several targets for shooting and it mean I could push forwards before Ben could take up positions to pressure me.

Elf Turn 1

The Elves taking the initiative pushed forwards rapidly on the right keen to engage the Abyssals shooting. On the left the advance was slower as shooters pulled up when in range.

Most shooting targeted the Abyssal Fiend in the open as it had no regen or life leech. When all the lightning, arrows and bolts has cleared 7 damage had been inflicted on the beast. The Silverbreeze also got a few arrows to hit their target of the Abyssal Horsemen.

Abyss Turn 1

The Seductress was unable to resist the allure of the dashing Elf cavalry and flew straight over to engage them in some casual flirting.

The rest of the army moved cautiously aware of the threat the elves posed. A few pot shots were fired at the Drakons and Seaguard wounding both.

Elf Turn 2

Wanting to block the Abyssal Cavalry from reaching the Silverbreeze King Paweldran charged the Abyssal horsemen. The remaining elf units advanced other than the Seaguard who held their ground to maximise the accuracy of their bowfire. This paid off as a unit of Flamebearers was removed with excess shooting able to target some Tortured Souls in the centre.

Abyss Turn 2

Unfortunately the Elves had failed to spot that the Tortured Souls and Ba’el were both in range to charge the Silverbreeze rendering King Paweldran’s blocking charge rather moot. As the seductress blocked the Drakons the Silverbreeze ran for the hills lacking in leadership with the King far away. To make things worse the king himself decided enough was enough and also bolted.

On the right the advancing Palace Guard found themselves in trouble as the Flamebearers unleashed 8 damage along with 3 from the Abyssal Fiend they wavered in the face of such an onslaught.

Elf Turn 3

The elves had got themselves in a real mess. Unsure what to do they tried to make the best of the situation. The Drakons went back into the Seductress aided by bane chant from the mage. On the right I tried to make thing difficult for Ben setting up various flank charges as counters to moves he might make. Also the king disrupted the Flamers.

Shooting targeted the Abyssal Horsemen but alas little damage was done and the nerve roll came up short. In combat the Seductress was slain as the Drakons didn’t much fancy her.

Abyss Turn 3

Fearful of the Drakons might the flank of the Seaguard was ignored as both Ba’el and the Tortured Souls charge in killing them. The Tortured souls up top killed the bolt thrower whilst on the right they circled round the rear of the palace guard.

Fireball from the Fiend killed the wounded Palace Guard whilst the other Fiend failed to impress the Stormwind Cavalry despite dispatching a few elven knights with its axe.

Elf Turn 4

Things were getting decidedly desperate. I needed a big swing this turn. Unfortunately the first part of my plan required the Abyssal Horsemen to die before they got back into inspiring range. Another poor round of shooting saw them only take a single wound and a high nerve roll was not forthcoming.

In the centre I got what I needed first killing one Abyssal Fiend with a flank and frontal attack from the Elves. Then needing at least a waver King Eataine slew the injured Fiend outright its head swept clean off by his newly gifted blade Sindarin.

Abyss Turn 4

In another error the Elves had exposed one of their mages to a charge from Ba’el. The Dark Lord comfortably broke Eldroth whilst his minions dispatched the Seaguard. The Tortured Souls managed sufficient damage on the Elven knights to break them in a hammer blow to the Elves chances of retaining enough unit strength to keep the battle going.

Elf Turn 5

Eager for revenge the Elven forces tried a few desperate charges and lightning bolts but the Abyssals were undeterred.

Abyss Turn 5

The Abyssals finished off the last Elven scoring unit as the Tortured Souls broke the Palace Guard. At that point we called it.

Narrative ending:

King Paweldran sat morose, sipping his wine, looking out at the ocean. The ocean held his only hope now. Ships had been sent out to every Elf kingdom and province pleading for aid. With the destruction of the Loremasters’ tower and with it the Annulian Crystal waves and waves of Abyssals had poured through the expanding portal and Tor Bel-Valdar was completely under siege.

Conclusions and Recriminations:

This is one of those defeats where you make a silly mistake early on and just can’t manage to recover. Ben’s a good player and he punished my error mercilessly.

Having the Silverbreeze as a regiment really shifted my thinking. No longer were they a chaff unit to be easily deployed early and something to be seen as expendable if required. They ended up deploying second to last or possibly even last. I was tempted to put them on the right flank but couldn’t get them in range for a first turn shot at the Tortured Souls. In hindsight this would have been a good place to go I should simply be more patient. In the wood to add to my first turn of shooting the Abyssal Fiend could also have worked well if risky as I’d be exposed to some retaliation shooting potentially.

Deployed as they were they should have at least held back from shooting first turn avoiding letting the Seductress into my lines (and then missing that I’d left several other of his units in range turn 2).

That whole corner was a mess everything was blocking each other rather than being in positions to support each other with counters to enemy charges. I think this is part of the issue with not having nimble (steady aim) available on the Seaguard any more. You need to get them in the right position when you do move and you need to prioritise moving over hitting on 5’s when you’re not in the right position.

That said I thought Ben’s army and his use of it was superb every unit felt it was doing something to me every turn and I quickly started to feel outnumbered despite my shooting being effective. Having so much inspire is really helpful to him and I contrasted this by screwing up my positioning of inspire leaving key units unprotected.

List Changes

When I lose like this I’m not overly concerned by the idea of list changes. One concern though is the Palace Guard Regiments they haven’t really done much for me so far and I’m struggling to see them as better value than a single horde would be. However, if I do that I’m moving away from what I felt my 2nd ed list was about and I’m not sure I’m that interested in going down that route as I am playing in trying out other lists. I do think Palace Guard Regiments getting a points increase in 3rd was unwarranted (doubly so as they now compete with Palace Guard Hordes) I’m even more of that opinion now that I’ve used them with 3rd ed rules which have shifted to favour hordes (charge measures from anywhere not just leader point etc).

I’ve got a few choices what to do next:

  • I’ve got a Dragon list I ran last year I’ve been continuing to tinker with and trying some Seaguard in that would be interesting.

-I’ve also got the army list for my Red Era army which I’m painting (see painting blog Link in OP).

-I’m pondering if I could do something more combat based without mages (or at least double Lightning Bolt mages) maybe utilising some Stormwind Troops much as Ben uses his Tortured Souls.

-or I carry on with this list either in its current form or combining the Palace Guard units into a horde.

Decisions, decisions…

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I am truly impressed by both, the number of games you play per week and how quickly you write your reports. I’ve been doing it all wrong! Good I stopped so that you can show how its done! :slight_smile:

Well this isn’t normal I’m afraid. I haven’t played for a full year before these games. I hope to get one or two more in then there will be break again.

Battle Report #6

2000pts vs Trudent Realms: Control

Narrative Intro:

Wind swept through Paweldran’s hair as he rode across the front of his troops the blazing sword Yadrha lifted high to raise the spirits of his men. Elven ships bringing reinforcements to fight the Abyssal incursion had been arriving for weeks and the Abyssal horde had been pushed back from around the walls of Tor Bel-Valdar.

This had not, however, come without its own problems. Concerned at the growing elven forces mustered on the coast the Alaitoc Sea’s Trident King had sent forth recon forces who now clashed regularly in skirmishes with the elven troops along the coastline. It was one of these forces Paweldran now sought to repel.

Game Intro and Lists:

This time it’s back to facing Jeff (yes I have other friends than him and Ben and no you can’t have their names as proof) this time running his Trident Realms (I think he was trying to cheer me up by letting me kill a few things with shooting). Much like with his Forces of Nature Jeff likes to take a different approach with Trident Realms and this time was no different.

Elf List:

King (Paweldran): Horse, Shard blade, Blade of the Beast slayer Duellist (Cats): 180pts
Mage (Alenui): Inspiring Talisman, Bane Chant (2), Lightning Bolt (5): 135pts
Mage (Eldroth): Lightning Bolt (5), Boomstick: 125pts
Prince (Decado): Horse, Diadem of Dragonkind: 110pts
Army Standard Bearer: Lute of Insatiable Darkness: 85pts

Drakon horde: Sir Jesse’s boots of striding: 290pts
Stormwind Regiment: Potion of the Caterpillar: 235pts
Palace Guard regiment: Healing Brew 165pts
Palace Guard regiment: Staying Stone: 165pts
Seaguard Horde: Chant of Hate: 290pts
Silverbreeze Troop: 130pts
Bolt thrower: 90pts

I decided to stick with the Seaguard list, I wanted to give the Palace Guard regiments another chance to impress. To give them the best chance possible I gave them a dedicated inspire and bane chant source in the form of an Army Standard Bearer with the Lute. I also dropped the piercing arrow from the Silverbreeze to give a couple of helpful items to try and keep the Palace Guard in the fight a little longer. The list is essentially what I used vs Jeff’s Nature in Game 4 but with the Prince with mace swapped out for the Standard bearer and a minor item tweak.

Trident Realms list:

Thull Mythican: conjurers staff, babe chant:110pts
Thull Mythican: 80pts
Naiad Envoy:Fury Aura, bastion: 90pts
Depth Horror Eternal: Healing Brew: 120pts
Depth Horror Eternal: blade of slashing: 120pts

Thull Regiment: Fire Oil: 165pts
Thull Regiment: 160pts
Thull Regiment: 160pts
Depth Horror Regiment: 130pts
Depth Horror Regiment: 130pts
Depth Horror Horde: 185pts
Depth Horror Horde: 185pts
Placoderm Troop: 105pts
Knucker: 150pts
Knucker: 150pts

Jeff didn’t disappoint with his list being an unconventional one as always (what on earth is a Thull! Never heard of it :rofl:). There were lots of elements I was unused to so it would be an interesting game. Thull Regiments put out 20 attacks on 3+ which could prove quite a challenge as Antique Elven armour is famously terrible at withstanding high numbers of weak attacks.

Deployment and Scenario

The scenario was control.

My deployment should seem fairly familiar by now. Jeff out numbered me by 3 units and with me going first there wasn’t much point overly disguising what I was doing. Clearly fearful of the Elven shooting Jeff deployed most of his army deep incase I got first turn and he could waste a round of my shooting if I went first. This is generally a good ploy as there’s plenty of room to move up at the double turn 1 to make up ground.

I won the roll for first turn and as all the advantages seemed to be in going second I gladly gave Jeff first turn.

Trident Turn 1

To the Elves surprise the Fishy forces seemed uninterested in advancing on the Elven position. Their main focus appeared to be avoiding the Elven archers and mages threat range.

Elf Turn 1

With limited targets the elves generally busied themselves moving into better positions to attack next turn. The shooting phase was limited with the bolt thrower using its long range picking out a depth horror and a glancing blow cut across its fins.

The Seaguard could just reach the Knucker in the wood and a couple of arrows pierced it’s scales. Stunned that an attack could pierce its natural stealth and hidden location the Knucker almost fled but instead chose to wait in the woods until the elves were distracted elsewhere (I rolled a double 6 for nerve, 1 more wound and it would have been toast!).

Trident Turn 2

With the Elven shooting now in threat range the Seafolk began advancing enmass. Although one depth horror horde on the far right dropped back to create a solid line of attack.

Elf Turn 2

With the enemy now in range the game had begun in earnest. Spotting a crucial open flank King Paweldran charged a depth horror regiment supported by the Drakons in the front. A two pronged attack proved too much for the sea creatures who fled rather than get turned into sushi.

The task of thinning the incoming ranks began with the depth horrors on the far left being wavered (reducing from fearless to fury since CoK has been a big loss vs shooty armies). Shooting was spread out on the right with a few wounds on a depth horror horde and the Knucker.

Trident Turn 3

Keen to close the gap to the Elven lines Jeff started getting his troops into more aggressive positions. With the Depth Horror regiments dead or wavered Jeff peeled off two Thull regiments from the centre to reinforce the collapsing left. Clearing the (inexplicably for sea creatures) difficult terrain of a pond most units on the right would be ready to advance full speed next turn.

The Knuckers also pounced on the open ground available to them in the centre surrounding the Seaguard.

Keen to avenge the loss of his regiment the Depth horror eternal slammed into the Drakons before they could fly out of reach and inflicting a few wounds on the mighty beasts.

Elf Turn 3

Things had been going well for the elves so far but they’d only killed one unit and were still badly outnumbered with the Trident Realm’s forces now in close proximity. On the right the elves continued to shuffle positions whilst awaiting the salmon swimming upstream.

King Paweldran faced a tough decision whether to aid the Drakons against the Eternal or the Seaguard against the Knucker. He chose the Drakons as they needed to break the Eternal to get out of Thull charge range whilst the Seaguard could turn and shoot the Knucker whilst protecting their flank from the other.

Shooting saw Fireballs and Lightning Bolts rout the injured Depth Horror Horde as a storm of Elven magic was unleashed. The Seaguard struggled to see the Knucker directly in front of them clearly but the one of the volley of arrows still found its mark. Despite poor shooting from the Elves on the left a single arrow plunged through the eye of a Depth Horror killing it and it’s regiment already shaken fled the battle.

Combat saw the Drakons furiously descended back into the eternal who had just wounded them, badly injuring it before King Paweldran arrived thrusting his sword Yahdra deep into the beast’s back slaying it.

Trident Turn 4

In a crucial turn Jeff began by setting up his right flank to make things as difficult as possible for the Elves if they chose to charge in. Added to this was bastion being cast on the Placaderms giving everything rally.

On the left the Knuckers went into the Seaguard and Drakons respectively inflicting some damage but nothing more. King Paweldran was challenged by the Thull Hero and a bane chanted regiment together they managed to ruffle his hair quite severely requiring all his focus for the next turn (wavered).

Elf Turn 4

The Elves decided it was time to strike. On the left King Paweldran sacrificed himself blocking both Thull regiments from Drakons. The Drakons and Seaguard countercharged the Knuckers wavering one and killing the other.

On the right the elves committed both a Palace Guard unit and the Stormwind into the eternal hoping either they’d break it or shooting would waver the Depth Horror horde waiting to flank them. Shooting fell short of wavering the Horrors and the combined charge couldn’t phase the eternal either.

Trident Turn 5

Things were getting tight, the game could easily swing either way. On the left the Thull hero drove off the Drakons whilst the regiment broke the King. Meanwhile on the right the flanked Palace Guard were easily broken whilst the Cavalry suffered a few wounds from the Eternal.

Elf Turn 5

It was crucial the elves finished off some units to prevent them being overwhelmed. Fortunately shooting on the right cleared off the last depth horror unit and a Palace Guard flank charge on the Eternal finished it off.

Shooting had been so efficient on the right one mage could target the badly wounded Knucker finishing it off as well. Unfortunately the shooters on the left wasted this opportunity only putting one wound on the Thulls. Crucially the Seaguard horde has forgotten the golden rule of prioritising moving over shooting and had left themselves in range for a charge from two Thull heroes and a Thull unit. This could easily be a crucial error on the sailors part.

Trident Turn 6

The Seaguard’s foolishness was punished severely and the Thull’s overwhelmed them in retaliation for the damage done by their shooting. On the right disaster struck as the hindered Thulls managed huge damage on the Palace Guard wavering them. Luckily the Placoderms were unable to damage the Elven knights avoiding a nervous test for them.

Elf Turn 6

The Elves were now scrambling due to their mistakes. Victory was still a possibility as long as the Thulls could be taken out with a single round of shooting. A turn 7 would become very tense, however, with the Palace Guard unlikely to survive any more punishment.

Shooting was effective again with the Thulls comfortably dispatched by the elves’ patented magic and missiles combo. Unfortunately Bane Chant didn’t go off on the Cavalry. They then, however, exceeded expectations by doing 4 damage on the placoderms but failed to break them.

A nervous hush settled over the battlefield as if the game ended now the Elves had won. Sadly I rolled a 6 at the worst time.

Trident Turn 7

On the left the Thull hero tried to get a lucky nerve roll on the Silverbreeze but fell short. On the right the placoderms again failed to land a blow on the proud elven knights. Lady Luck could not save the Palace Guard, however, who needing double 1s fled the battle.

Elf Turn 7

My mages had made a crucial error in their positioning last turn they’d failed to account for a pivot taking the Thulls on the left just out of range of their lightning bolts. As such they had to target the Thulls on the right who had rally and inspire as well as being safe from the bolt thrower.

Astonishingly the elven mages made up for this by hitting with 13 out of 13 lightning bolts wounding the Thulls 11 times! Fortune was just being fickle, however, as the needed 6 on the nerve came up as a 5.

A win was now out of reach but the Elven Cavalry now boosted by bane chant struck out with their swords. 3 more damage was done. With Bastion in play the Elves needed a 6 to break the Placoderms and draw the game. De ja vu struck and a 5 came up again.

Apparently I wasn’t allowed to roll for a turn 8 so Jeff had pulled out a victory once again 2-1 to the Trident Realms.

Narrative ending:

Paweldran sat in his throne room as attendants listed supplies and weapons arrivals and requirements. Shame swept over the king as he contemplated the position he’d found himself in. With casualties and severe injuries endured the forces of Tor Bel-Valdar were no longer in a fit state to take to the battlefield. The other Elven troops from friends and allies now pushed back the Abyssal forces and protected the coast from the Tridebt King’s raids. The proud Paweldran was now limited to overseeing the logistics of the war as his kin claimed the glory.

I’ve decided the end this narrative arc here as short of destroying the city of Bel-Valdar I’m getting into a bit of a dead end of how to explain all these defeats :rofl:

Conclusions and Recriminations:

Defeat, frustrating as it is, is a great teacher as the saying goes. There are lots of little mistakes I might not have realised if not for losing.

There are some obvious mistakes primarily not moving the Seaguard back turn 5. There was no justification to keep still when they were hitting on 6s vs Thulls even when stationary. I’d have had a really great chance to win the game if I’d just backed up. It’s a key lesson with seaguard in 3rd moving is key, shooting is secondary. The same turn I backed up my Palace Guard opening the opportunity for the Placoderms to charge the Cavalry. I should have kept this blocked as the Thulls would have had to charge the Cavalry to stop the Elven Knights flanking them next turn.

Further back there are a number of issues little ones such as mages not being in range turn 7 but also target selections. Turn 4 I double charged the Depth Horror Eternal on the right. He’s unit strength 1 with 5 attacks. My cav should have hit the Depth Horror horde getting damage on them allowing my mages and Prince to target the Thulls behind. Only facing placoderms and an eternal I’d almost certainly have won that corner and the game.

Not having inspiring in the right places also cost me. Either the mage or ASB should be with the seaguard and the other with the Palace Guard as it is I had both with the Palace Guard meaning my Seaguard lacked both bane chant and inspire when it was needed.

List Changes

I’m really happy with this version of the list. I forgot about the 5pts items on the Palace Guard (I pretty much always do) so will swap back to Piercing Arrow on the Silverbreeze as the best magic items are the ones you remember!

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