I wrote up a battle report for our local elves vs undead battle last week. It's a translation of my original German, and if you want to see a few more pictures, you can find them in the article on my site . I hope you enjoy it.
Ardus Ix’Erebus carefully surveyed the battle field he had chosen. His troops – Waiqar the Undying’s Pale Legion – was arrayed in full width, while the terrain forced the hastily assembled defenders of the Aymhelin forest – Latari elves all of them – to bunch up closer together. If his plan came together, this would prevent the elves from using their feared mobility and merciless flank attacks to their full effectiveness.
A thick patch of roots and thorns on the right side of the field would make good cover for some reanimate archers, while the ruined walls of an old temple where – hopefully – too far away to be much of a threat. If the elves occupied it, the Pale Legion would simply keep far enough away.
More worrying was a clear fountain almost in the center of the battle field. The water almost stank of goodness and elven magic and would most likely be more useful to the enemy than to his own skeletal troops. Ardus didn’t believe for a moment that the enemy commander would not use it to his full advantage.
Setup
On this cold spring evening the armies of Waiqar the Undying (The Pale Legion – 200 points) and the Latari Elves (Aliana and Maegan – 197 points) faced each other. My opponent David was playing the elves and chose to be start player to select the Demoralized their Forces objective, hoping to leverage his greater maneuverability to into lots of flank charges. I tried to counteract this by going for the Hammer and Anvil deployment and choosing the wider (blue) setup area.
From the available terrain cards I first chose the Wildroot Patch, which seemed perfect to house one my reanimate archer units. In turn David placed the Sacred Font close to his side. The final piece was the Ruined Temple. It would have barely fitted between the two previous terrains, but that would have seriously hindered my two 3x2 Reanimate units, so I placed it off to the side, where it wouldn’t play much of a role.
As the start player David began to place units, but since he had a unit more than I AND Aliana allowed to redeploy his Leonx, we was still very flexible in deployment. Therefore, I placed my troops very conservatively, i.e. close together, with reanimates and archers in the center, and Ardus and the lone carrion lancer on the right flank facing Aliana. With some luck they might be able to prevent her from doing too many flank charges. On the other flank David deployed his Leonx riders, but I saw no way to effectively prevent them from flanking without pulling my army apart in the center. So I decided to take that risk with open eyes.
Ardus Ix’Erebus raised his axe and without cry, shout or word the Pale Legion started to move forward – slow, shuffling, but determined and without hesitation. A thin white mist started to rise from the ground and stream from the still white banners held aloft by skeletal hands. The blight crept towards the defenders of the Aymhelin forest.
Round 1 (Magic: 2x stable, 2x unstable, 0x natural)
The battle starts with the usual maneuvering of the first round. On the elven side the leonx riders occupy the Temple Ruin and an Aymhelin scion wraps its roots around the sacred font. One of my archer units moves into the Wildroot patch as planned. The support carrion lancers spit out the first blight unto the elves, and the second scion kills the first two figures of the game: two reanimates. Due to lack of natural runes they won’t even regenerate. My second archer units targets the scion at the font, but with defense modifier dialed in, two stable runes and the protection of the font, it is at a solid 5 defense. At least it receives a blight token.
Round 2 (Magic: 1x stable, 0x unstable, 2x natural)
Round 2 sees the first melee contacts. The scion at the font falls to a combination of reanimate archery (just barely reaching it past the reanimates) and charge by the reanimates. The leonx sneak out of the temple ruin and line themselves up for a charge next turn. In the center of the battle, Maegan Cyndewin crashes into the other reanimates and does some hefty damage, which spills over to the reanimate archers in the Wildroot patch. Together with a salvo by the Deepwood Archers this reduces the undead unit to two measly figures.
Only the right flank remains quiet for now. Aliana and her leonx hide in the high grass, while Ardus and the carrion lancer march forward, but keep a nervous eye on the elven hero.
Round 3 (Magic: 1x stable, 2x unstable, 2x natural)
Unable to free itself quickly from the sacred font and threatened on both sides, my reanimate archers don’t have much choice but prepare a counterattack and hope for the best. Two flank charges by the leonx riders and the remaining scion earn the elves two objective tokens and 40 victory points, and lock the undead in place. Luckily the Vexilium standard bearer takes a little bit of sting out of the attacks and the counterattack kills two leonx riders bringing their threat down to one in the process.
Maegan struggles against the reanimates in the center and takes two wounds. While she destroys the back rank of the skeletons and kills the remaining archers in the Wildroot patch, the reanimates are still at threat 3 and are likely to kill her next round. Ardus rushes forward, deciding to leave Aliana in the dust and look for juicier targets. The carrion lancer does a surprise late move (no charge though) and binds the Deepwood archers in melee.
Round 4 (Magic: 1x stable, 2x unstable, 2x natural)
Luck is certainly with the Pale Legion this round, but is it enough to carry the day? The leonx riders don’t do any damage at all, while the counterattack’s perfect roll wipes them out. The scion manages to destroy the second rank of the skeletons, but takes a wound from the reanimate archers salvo.
The center does not look any better for the elves, as Maegan is killed by the reanimates. before she can get off her own attack. Seeing that he is not needed to face an elven champion, Ardus turns towards the unengaged Deepwood archers. The carrion lancer kills a couple archers, but also takes a wound in return. Since Aliana is now sneaking up on it from behind, I don’t expect it to last the next round.
Round 5 (Magic: 1x stable, 0x unstable, 3x natural)
On the right flank Aliana does her expected charge into the back of the carrion lancer, killing it easily and netting another objective token (the elves are at 60:0 victory points in terms of tokens now). But she now sits right in front of the advancing reanimates, showing them their flank. Will she be able to escape in time?
Ardus moves into melee with the Deepwood archers, but takes a wound in the process. The reanimates at the sacred font now rally to get rid of their huge pile of bad tokens. The archers manage to kill the remaining scion on the reanimates flank due to its low defense this round.
Round 6 (Magic: 1x stable, 0x unstable, 2x natural)
No one is more surprised than the reanimates themselves when they manage to connect with Alianna in their wheeling charge and bag an objective token (60:20 now). It’s no surprise then that the attack completely whiffs.
While Ardus now starts to quickly cut down the Deepwood archers he’s facing, the rest of his army slowly tries to extract itself from the Sacred Font respectively advance towards the fighting.
Round 7 (Magic: 1x stable, 2x unstable, 2x natural)
The remaining battle is now fought on the right flank, because after killing the rest of the Deepwood archers Ardus will not be able to engage another unit, nor will anyone from my original left wing.
Aliana and the second Deepwood archer unit put some heavy damage on the reanimates, killing the support carrion lance. But the elven heroine takes a wound as well, making her potentially vulnerable in the last round.
Round 8 (Magic: 2x stable, 2x unstable, 0x natural)
In the last, fateful melee Aliana struggles against the reanimates … and loses. She takes two more wounds and dies, while the Reanimates survive the round. It is time to tally up the points!
Latari
1x Deepwood Archers (2×1) with wind rune: 23
3x Objective Token: 60
Total: 83 points
Waiqar
Ardus Ix’Erebus with Ancient Technique: 39
1x Reanimate Archers (2×1) with Combat Ingenuity: 24
1x Reanimates (3×1) with Support Carrion Lancer and Lingering Dead Tod: 25
1x Reanimates (2×1) with Lingering Dead: 19
1x Objective Token: 20
Total: 127 points
That makes Ardus Ix’Erebus and the Pale Legion victorious and lord of the battle field. Waiqar forever!
