Here's another picture based battle report from a game I played on Wednesday. I was playing Waiqar and my friend Latari.
Latari Army
Waiqar Army
The field of battle
SETUP
It’s an interesting setup, with lots of single-tray units spread across the battlefield. I set Ardus to take advantage of the ridge points and put my fighting Maru in the center of the play area in order to support with ranged attacks. My friend covered his archers with his Scions and re-positioned his Leonx riders to the right side of the board after deployment.
TURN 1
Maru headed up the center of the board, moving with the two Carrion Lancers. The Death Knights charged ahead while their Carrion Lancer re-positioned to follow. Meagan stayed in position, waiting for the board to develop, while Aliana charged forwards into the Ruined Temple, scoring an inspiration token (not pictured).
Ardus stalked up the winding trail to the top of the ridge, his eyeless sockets taking in the landscape before him. The scouts had brought him no useful information on the surrounding terrain. Most had failed to return at all and the ones who had soon wished they hadn’t.
Below him, at the bottom of the ridge, the necromancer Maru was picking his way through the underbrush, flanked by his wurm bodyguards. They failed to notice the white flash of albino fur in the ruins of the temple to the west.
Turn 2 Runes
This is where things started to go bad. I forgot that the Scions get movement based on green runes. With initiative they took an early charge and caught my Death Knights flat-footed. The lack of orange runes also meant Maru had nothing to do.
TURN 2
My Carrion Lancers pushed forwards, hoping to catch the Deepwood Archers. My friend’s Leonx charged thinking the Carrion Lancer would move, but wound up getting panicked. My Death Knights get pummeled by the Scions.
An angry roar echoes up the ridge as the dark armored knights see movement on the other side of the valley. Archers! They charge forward, but as they do the horses begin to fall. Having dismissed the surrounding deadfall as nothing more than harmless wood they are entangled by smashing branches and strangling roots, half the knights falling before they even have a change to retaliate.
Maru sends his wurm guards to help, while behind him, Aliana stalks her prey.
TURN 3
Another bad turn for me as Maru still has no orange runes. I turned him, hoping to weather a flank attack in the hopes of a shot the following turn. The one blessing is that the Deepwood Archers have no shot on my Death Knights as their line of sight is blocked by Scions.
Ardus turns at the sound of a thunderclap. The day is overcast, but he does not sense a storm. He sees one of his wurms struck by a lightning bolt as it charges towards the archers on the far side of the valley, the work of a mage hidden in the trees. The archers themselves are in the perfect position to fire down on his knights, but they dare not make the shot for fear of hitting their own Scions. In the distance he sees another wurm engaged with four Leonx riders, the battle cats leaping and snarling.
Then below there is a terrifying roar as Aliana’s enormous albino Leonx leaps at the unsuspecting Maru.
TURN 4
Maru finally gets four orange runes and promptly dies before he even gets one shot off. The Death Knights die and the Deepwood Archers perform a beautiful little rotation to avoid my charging lancer. I realize that although I’m getting points from Ardus, I really need to get him in the battle as the Scions are just not giving up.
My Carrion Lancer successfully holds off the Leonx (who used their “moment of inspiration” on their first attack) and manages to take out a tray, the only good news on a bad turn.
The last knight falls, his vampiric horse screaming in agony as it is crushed by the straining roots. Ardus sees Maru die, ripped to pieces by the vicious Leonx. The wurm charges over the ridge to discover that the archers it was pursuing are nowhere to be seen. It wheels about in confusion, trying to figure out where they could have gone.
TURN 5
These pictures are dramatic re-enactments, so my Carrion Lancer movement made a lot more sense on the night. I was trying to get out of the Deepwood Archer’s arc. I still failed, but it was a lot closer than these pictures make it look. The good news is that I’ve completely occupied six trays of archers for two turns now. My other Carrion Lancer is also doing awesome. With only one wound remaining he survives and takes out another Leonx.
Ardus stalked down the ridge, fury burning in his bones. This was supposed to be a quick scouting trip. He swung with his axes, ripping a Scion in half. He didn’t have time for an engagement. What a waste of time.
TURN 6
Lots of dancing around this turn. Ardus backs up, clearing the way for a Carrion Lancer charge. My Carrion Lancer blights the archers and moves in afterwards (no charge, just an engagement). Aliana kills a Carrion Lancer.
The wurm at the top of the ridge, already riddled with arrows, turns around just in time to take another volley as the archers emerge from the underbrush. It’s rider stares a second death in the face and smiles a skeletal smile as it sees a second wurm climbing the ridge behind the archers.
TURN 7
Lots of death this turn. My Carrion Lancer takes out a large chunk of archers and is promptly dropped by Aliana. Ardus takes out the wounded Scion. The archers finish off the ambushed Carrion Lancer.
The archers are charged from both directions at the same time. They let their arrows fly and the wurm in from of them crashes to the ground, but there are screams from the back ranks as elves are crushed by the enormous segmented body of the second wurm. For a moment all seems lost, but the next instant there is a flash of metal and a blur of white fur…
TURN 8
Well… it’s all over. Ardus is facing down two hero units by himself and the Carrion Lancer has no chance of getting back to the action. Ardus did manage to pick up six tokens during the game, but it is not enough to save the game and the Latari win easily.
Ardus stepped over the splintered wood and bloody corpses scattered along the hillside. Before him, Meagan rider her battle moose down the hill. This was the mage then. Ardus’ expressionless bone face seems almost eager somehow, and he grips his battle axes, shifting his weight.
Behind him there is a low growl…
Truly an Ambush Predator!
Edited by Hepitude
