Hobby Update: Undead Revenant Wyrm

Over 5 years ago, my girlfriend (now wife) got me a NIB Mortis Engine for my birthday. I had painted up a handful of skeletons before, and had a small collection of generic undead, so I was not expecting this at all! I started hobbying it up soon thereafter, getting the gist of my conversion put together pretty quickly, but was never quite motivated enough to finish it up. All the recent work on my Undead inspired me to return to this centerpiece model though. This is definitely a counts-as model and I am not sure quite what I want to run it as. We'll get to that later...

Panoramic view, but a little poorly thought out and without the lightbox.

My old headcannon for my Undead were that they branched off from the same ancient empire as my Kingdoms of Men. This unnamed ancient and once-powerful empire of humans was shattered, and the lands of the plucky living humans shrank and shrank until they were but one of many players in Mantica. In conjunction with the shattering of the old empire, the dead arose from the ruins, and then my group turned nomadic, shambling around the lands and adding to their ranks in battle after battle. At the head of this rotting army was a vampire queen using magics and the spirits of her house guard to ride her own mausoleum into battle... 

Going along with that early fluff, my oldest undead go the same Purple and White color treatment as my Kingdoms of Men, which you can see in some of the 2nd Edition battle reports. I've since changed my mind on this, as it is more fun to paint more things more colors. So I have been touching things up and adding more color to the army, as well as adding the fog effect to my older units. 

The flying mausoleum was the core of my conversion here, so we're keeping that concept. The majority of the model (ghostly cavalry and steps) is from the Mortis Engine kit. The cavalry part has been painted and glued to the titanic base for years and years now, getting just an new off-white drybrush to add more of a gradient to the spirits. The building is from the old Garden of Morr WHFB terrain kit, with the railings of the stairs able to fit just in between the indented corner columns of the building. These proved to weak joins. I used super glue and green stuff to connect them, and then a few layers of PVA glue to strengthen things. I didn't have any at the time, but plastic cement probably would have been a better call for a stronger bond.

I used chunks of insulation foam to bulk out the additional ground that was being pulled along beneath the building, and random bone bits to continue the graveyard feel the bottom of the steps had. I don't think many people will look close, but I like the way it all turned out.

The detail on the underside was surprising!

Online, I have seen others have run this model as a very special regiment of cavalry, or as a Vampire on Undead Dragon. In line with the original fluff, I was leaning towards the latter, with these conversions, but there are more neat undead dragons out there these days than there wee a few years ago, so I am actually leaning towards running this as one of the Revenant titan options. 

As a DM for the last decade or so, I really like anti-paladins and death knights and so on. I have a small but growing collection of these evil-doers. Many of these have come from Reaper, with bendy plastic and large stands, but I found a suitable mini for this project in my bits box from an etsy order placed a few years back. He was cleaned and primed at the time, so he was painted up now and attached using PVA glue, just in case I want to change my mind down the road. (I figured the PVA bond would be weak enough to break without breaking the resin mini... we'll see if I ever need to test that.) For now, the new fluff is that pre-death, he was Master of The House or somesuch, duty-bound to guard the queen or her resting place. As it turned out, death was no release from his oath, so as a Revenant, he now guards the mausoleum and it's precious dirt as the nomadic force traverses the world of Pannithor. 

Currently, the Burrowing Wyrm is the cheaper of the two options, so it immediately appeals to me. It's slower, has two extra attacks and Strider. It only hits on a 4+, so Strider should definitely help the combats out. It seems like the better of the two options, but lacks Inspiring, which is a shame. I am not super-familiar with the Undead, but they seem hungry for hero slots (as well as brains), and it would have been nice to get a monster + inspiring combo here.

The flying option is a Revenant King, and gains Inspiring and Flying and Nimble and 3 extra inches of movement at the cost of those two attacks and Strider. Statistically, it should hit just barely harder than my flying General from the Kingdoms of Men. Additionally, it gets Lifeleech1, 2 extra Nerve, Fearless, 1 extra Unit Strength from being a titan. I have frequently discussed these "Heavy Fliers" in the blog; usually they are hard to use well. This one won't hit as hard as a typical heavy flyer, but is around 50 points cheaper than usual while not automatically paying for the breath attack. It could be worth exploring? It at least Inspires so it should be a bit easier to fit into lists...

This just missed an unexpected debut game for my Undead, so I am not sure when or how this will hit the table, but I am happy knowing I was able to finally get this done!

Battle: Invasion!

While breaking in new recruits patrolling the porous border with their dainty elven neighbors, the soldiers of the Regnum Aeternum discover a host of dainty elves stands between them and home. With both sides eager to test their mettle, the parley broke down, and armor was donned in preparation for the coming battle.

As mentioned previously, I had some Mounted Sergeants to test, but aside from them, the bulk of my forces should look pretty familiar: defensive infantry regiments and some support units, though this time most of the Pole-Arm Troops were replaced by Crossbowmen. The plan was to deploy conservatively in a layered defense, and drop most of the cavalry on a flank at the end of my deployment, in an attempt to roll a flank. Classic!

Our battlefield, as viewed from the right-corner of my deployment zone. A quaint little hamlet with some buildings, forests and hills. We decided to treat the weird stone wall as a fence for the short part and a blocking building for the tall part. So.... lots of blocking terrain on this here battlefield.

I won the roll off for deployment, and my conservative battle plan went right out the window. Since we rolled up the Invasion scenario, I figured I needed to be more aggressive. I also figured I’d bump into his army on my way to his side of the field… so I attempted to be sneaky, and try to goad him into committing to that hill in his deployment zone, or to at least spread him out. If he did either I felt I could more easily isolate and overwhelm his units.

Unfortunately, he ignored my deployments entirely, and deployed smartly and compactly.His list was much the same as it has been previously: A Regiment of Archers, two Troops of Stormwind Cavalry, a Troop and a Regiment of Palace Guard, a Dragon Breath (masquerading as a Bolt Thrower), a troop of Hunters of the Wild, and his trusty Wizard with Bane-Chant and Heal (maybe more? I don’t know what the hero comes with; that’s all he cast during the game). Jumping from 1000 to 1500, he only added two units: some Kroxigors (Proxigors! They were standing in for Drakon Riders) and some kind of lordly dragon-riding meanie (Dragon Kindred Lord). Those fliers were going to be hard to deal with… and this was my first foray against any flying baddies.

Deployment! I broke the flag on my usual ASB, and have yet to fix him, so I've been subbing in spare banner men from other regiments for my recent games. I chose poorly this time around. He struggled against gravity all game.

I think my opponent deployed well. Elves are speedy, so he could probably get most of his guys in between the buildings (to anchor his lines, protect his flanks and minimize my combo-charge potential) should he get first turn. It was a pretty compact deployment so things can support one another, and his Archers and fliers are protected and in a good position to support anything.

My deployment, on the other hand, suffered a bit from trying to be tricky and failing. After 4 deployments, I was pretty sure he was marching to the beat of a different drum rather than reacting to any of my drops, so I abandoned my sneaky plans. Fortunately, I still had a lot of drops! I’m pretty spread out, though with the sheer number of units I had, things can still generally support one another.

A lot of my stuff ended up at angles, and that was actually on purpose! After I realized he wasn't reacting to me, I slipped back into a more conservative mindset. I measured it out, and those units were meant to do some "At the Double" movements, to get into more threatening positions and let me fix my lines a little (I was expecting to go second, and be trying to react to speedy elves). Fortunately for me, I won the roll off for first turn, so instead of reacting, I could be the aggressor, and try to box him in and overwhelm him a little. 

Turn 1 (KoM)

On my right, two Troops of Mounted Sergeants and a Regiment of Shield Wall start their march, hoping to flank the elves in the coming turns. Using the center building to protect my units, I set up a kill zone for the Elves, and on my left, the last Troop of Mounted Sergeants and their buddy Knight Troop advance to try and swing around the building on the far left. 

His Hunters of the Wild have Vanguard, and decided to move up into harm's way.

My Crossbowmen Troops unload against the Hunters of the Wild, and the Ballista in the center hits the Archer Regiment, and while a surprising amount of damage is done to both units, they hold. My last Ballista tried to get in on the action, but missed it’s shot against the enemy Dragon Breath machine.

Turn 2 (Elves)

My opponent again proves his cleverness, and sees through my obvious traps, and replies in kind. The Dragon Kindred Lord and the Regiment of Palace Guard swing over to intercept my right flank, and his right flank sets up a kill zone for my ambitious cavalry. His Bane-Chanted Archers roll poorly, and deal a single wound to my Regiment of Foot Guard.

Every report needs at least one blurry shot. Right? ...right?

Turn 3 (KoM)

After some deliberation, I charge my Knights into his Stormwind, and my Sergeants into the Hunters of the Wild. I move the Fancy Hats (the Regiment of Pole-Arms) up a bit, and angle them to the left (not sure why I didn’t angle to the right, or keep up centered; angling to the left proved to be the worst of all possible pivots). Having nothing to shoot at, and this being Invasion.. I move both my Crossbowmen units up (this also proves to be a bit of a mistake). With a few damage already, I figured with average rolls my Sergeants would rout the Hunters of the Wild, and reform. (This didn’t happen; both charges bounced). My center advanced. I think I was getting a little greedy? With the Dragon Kindred Lord and Drakon Riders off elsewhere, I was hoping I could punch through the center of the elvish lines.

I felt outmatched on my right against that Dragon Kindred Lord. Fortunately, I had a ton of units, and I decided to use ‘em. I set up a layered defense against the Dragon. While open to charges from both the Palace Guard Regiment and the Dragon Kindred Lord… the first unit of Mounted Sergeants was their only target. I decided to reinforce the layered defense by pivoting and trotting up my Knight Troop too. If the elves charged, there should be some good counter charges on my turn. If they declined to engage, I had a few charges next turn, or could try to set up the same layered trap again.

I'm guessing it's going to take a lot to take out that dragon-guy. Not to mention the regiment hiding behind that building... 

Turn 4 (Elves)

On the right, my opponent decided to take on my layered defense, and both the Regiment of Palace Guard and the Dragon Kindred Lord descended upon my unfortunate forward Troop of Mounted Sergeants.

All according to plan?

The Sergeants would die, and my opponent would overrun with the Dragon and reform with the Palace Guard, who turned to face my Knights, rather than take the hit in the flank.

On my left, my opponent struck back, punishing my models for their bounced charges.

Ouch! So much hurt for me on my left flank. Though, this pic is a bit of a moral victory for my army, as not a single elvish unit fighting here is modeled wysiwyg. The Hunters don't have a ranged attack, so they should have bows, sir. Huzzah!

Once my opponent figured out his charges against my cavalry on my far left, the Stormwind, previously seen lurking in the background saw a new opening, and charged one of my Crossbowmen units. While they were always intended to be sacrificed as chaff at some point (don’t tell them that though)… it was... too soon.

My, my. What a lovely banner. 

When combat was done, the Sergeants accrued an obscene amount of damage (20+?), and Routed. My Knights though, having previously disordered their elvish counterparts, held, taking only a single wound (his Stormwind cavalry also received a solid heal spell this turn though). The poor Crossbowmen fled the field, and disarray was what I was inheriting for my next turn.

Uff da. Punished for my mistakes...

Turn 5 (KoM)

My Knights charge his Stormwind, and slip some damage through, though I like that fight less now due to the heal, and having 3 units against my 1 now. That's not how MSU is supposed to work... Though, between the Knights and the Sergeants, they’ve tied up twice their points for several turns. While their charges haven’t resolved as planned, they have already done a great job delaying that flank.

The rest of my left flank goes into damage control mode. I decide to double down on my pivoting mistake for my Fancy Hats Pole-Arms Regiment, and they move up so they can step up and delay the elves once my Knights succumb to elvish blades.

The second unit of Crossbowmen charge the second unit of Stormwind, and receive a Bane-Chant 2 from the nearby Wizard. But they are just a stumbling block. A Regiment of Shield Wall pivots to help contain the Stormwind next turn.

My Regiment of Foot Guard is joined by the plucky Troop of Pole Arms as they advance toward the center line of the elves. We were getting towards the middle of the game, and I want to try and draw his yet-uncommitted units into a fight on his side of the table in an effort to play the scenario.

My ASB, after he apparently got into the good stuff. He has yet to inspire, or do much of anything all game. Also pictured; my more sober and more responsible units doing their thing.

On my right, the layered defense somewhere works to contain the Dragon Kindred Lord. The units are of course fighting on the slope of a hill, because that’s how tabletop games unfold, so the angles got a little goofy.

Unfortunately, the only thing that can charge the Dragon Kindred Lord is my last Troop of Mounted Sergeants. Luckily for me, with that resolved, a charge lane opens up for my Shield wall, and they hit the flank of the Palace Guard, with the Knights making a frontal assault. I roll really well for damage.

Then, the Nerve tests. I start with the Lord, and *gasp* my opponent informs me that he is Wavered! Good job Mounted Sergeants! The Palace Guard is routed, and my units reform.

The post-charge, pre-battle pic was blurrier than usual. Almost beyond recognition. But this was the result of the battle. No more Palace guard, and a scared Dragon Kindred Lord.

I continue down the line with my Nerve tests, and to my surprise, I roll up box cars the Stormwind’s test, and they flee the field. 

Turn 6 (Elves)

The Drakon Riders and Hunters of the Wild smush my Knights. Despite starting with just 1 damage… I know this is probably not going to go well (they rout). Still, I’ll take it. Those Knights were great this game.

Lady Luck smiled! for a moment at least. It appears I didn't believe it myself at the time, as I failed to reform my victorious Knights. Oops? They did an admirable job though.

My opponent started out the turn reeling a bit, but is clawing his way back. The Knights will rout, and he successfully casts Bane-chant on his Archers, which after slipping a few more wounds onto my advancing Foot Guard, are routed later in the turn. Curses!

Still, the Dragon Kindred Lord spent the turn sulking, and the Dragon Breath, which finally breathes towards my other Troop of Knights… lands only a paltry number of wounds are dealt. Not having Piercing is rough business against Knights I guess.

Turn 7 (KOM)

My remaining Knights retaliate, and smite the Dragon Breath weapon. They will reform to threaten the flank of his Regiment of Archers next turn. The Mounted Sergeants and Shield Wall swarm the Dragon Rider Lord, and introduce the beast and its master to a number of sharp objects.

Both of my Ballistae had been on a cold streak for a while. The right one scooched forward in the hope of getting in a shot later. The sudden disappearance of my Foot Guard had a tiny upside, in that I now had a clear line of fire for my left Ballistae, and it scores a hit a numerous wounds. At this point I remember my drunk ASB has the War Bow, and he moves, shoots, and manages to slip another point of damage onto the unit. An average roll should see them off… but it is not to be this turn (rolled really low). They were still threatened by the Knights and the Pole-Arms though…

The building protects the view from the heinous acts that occur when woodland folk meet ax-wielding folk. In the foreground, the Wizard tells the Shield wall to man up, and off to the right, the ASB is shown "taking a break" after finally doing something this game.

On my left, my Shield Wall, boosted with Bane Chant, cut through the Troop of Stormwind and the Fancy Hats finally manage to Rout those darned Hunters of the Wild.

As Nerve Checks are rolled, however, my opponent informs me that his Dragon Kindred Lord is a-ok this turn. There exists a chance he misread his stats the previous turn… but other possibility was that this was just probability in motion. I rolled really well (10 or 11) for the test that barely wavered him, and really poorly (4?) for this one. My test fell 1 short of wavering him this time, and I didn't put a lot of wounds on him, despite the better positioning, so I think the rolls were just averaging out. Boo. I really wanted to bag that dragon.

Turn 8 (Elves)

The Dragon Kindred Lord considers his options, and decides to wimp out, flying over the Sergeants to relative safety. Fleeing apparently winded the scaly brute, and the Breath Attack is pretty ineffectual.

Ohmygodohmygodohmygod. Ballista! Righty! Buddy! Get 'em!

Despite my Knights bearing down on them, the Archers act wisely, and pincushion my advancing Troop of Pole Arms, and even manage to Rout them with a high roll. Boo. The Troop of Palace Guard, who have spent the entire game twiddling their slender elven thumbs, decide it’s time to do something, and they start twirling (that’s how elves move, right?) slowly towards my side of the field, wary of my Shield Wall, which stands in their way.

.

The jury is still out on whether they were just being cautious, forgetful or lazy.

The Drakon Riders smash into the Fancy Hats, but roll terribly, and the lads hold their ground, keeping the Riders on their side of the field. Huzzah!

Turn 9 (KoM)

The Ballista on my right, who I don’t think hit anything all game... continues to miss. My left Ballista takes a shot against the Drakon Riders, but also misses.

On my far right, the Shield Wall set up camp in the enemy deployment zone. The Knights charge the Archers in the flank, and finally take them out. The Mounted Sergeants advance at the double, looking to (hopefully) contribute to the fight on my left flank should the game go long.

The Fancy Hats fearlessly charge the Drakon Riders back, and a few of the halberds find fleshy bits.

Turn 10 (Elves)

The Drakon Rider Lord charges my upstart Ballista on my right, and wins effortlessly. He’s out of charge range, but reforms to threaten my last Ballista in the coming turns.

The Troop of Palace Guard advance, trying to make it onto my side of the table for the scenario, while the Drakon Riders are healed, slay the Fancy Hats on the second try, and then reform to protect their slower kindred.

Ew. Sorry. I mean every report needs two blurry pictures? This angle just wasn't working and I wasn't running any QC on my photos the other day.

Turn 11 (KoM)

The dawdling Palace Guard Troop is charged in the front by my Shield Wall. After some consideration, my Knights charge in too, passing through the forest. Even with the hindrance, the elvish troop is eliminated. Both human units reform; the knights pivot to face the Drakon Riders (I assumed they would fly away, but wanted to see if my opponent remembered the scenario we were playing by offering up a tempting target), and the Shield Wall pivot to cower behind the building and hide from the Drakon Riders.

Left behind, my last Ballista pivots to face down the Dragon Kindred Lord (assuming the game goes long).

I never trusted Righty anyways. Lefty! Get 'em!

Turn 12 (Elves)

The Drakon Riders pivot and fly away, using the building as cover… and take their substantial points over to my half of the field. While I mopped up the rest of the army, the Lord and Riders eluded me, and account for almost 500 points.

Meanwhile, I have more units on his side, but they only total to around 300 (Knights, Sergeants, and a Regiment of Shield Wall). My two heroes are short (probably could have moved them over the halfway mark on Turn 11… oops). Fortunately, the game goes long! Yessss.

Turn 13 (KoM)

The end of a certain duel comes to mind... Come back here!

None of my units are able to engage his Riders, so its’s just a scramble for me onto the other side of the field for scenario points. Lefty lines up the last shot… and hits the Drakon Kindred Lord, dishing out a little more damage to the winged powerhouse. The Nerve test is rolled, and the Lord is merely Wavered. Shucks.

Wavered! Moral/useless victory #2!

Turn 14 (Elves)

Nothing of consequence. We started packing up.

In the end, my opponent got 575 points over the line versus my 570. My opponent’s (nearly) 500 points of fliers were bloodied, but survived the battle, and I again only eke out a draw due to extra turns. So... still no actual win for the Regnum Aeternum yet, but I’ll take a draw over a loss! Neither of us had played the scenario before, so it was cool to see what it was all about.

The Sergeants performed better than I expected, but I’ll be talking more about them in their Hobby Update post.

If folks have thoughts on the battle (or notice anything rules-wise we goofed), feel free to sound off! Playing roughly once a month has been a little hard on our rules retention and tactics. In doing the write up it looked like my opponent didn't know that fliers are Nimble by definition; and I forgot that Difficult Terrain (like forests) block line of sight to things behind them (so my rear-charge Turn 10 is iffy; I may not have been able to see those Palace Guard around the trees).

Despite the few rules shortcomings, I think we did pretty good overall. And we both played a good game, which was reflected in the close outcome. Most importantly, we had a good time.

Even though they survived the battle, and weren't as mobile as they probably should have been, I think my first run-in with big nasty fliers went well. I’m looking forward to the next bout!

Battle: Provincial Loot!

May a thousand maladies befall the cowardly troops of this weak provincial garrison. At a mere whisper of elves being nearby, they fled with the utmost haste, managing to not only burn their outpost to the ground, but scatter all their provisions across the countryside as well.

Fortunately, some of the craven deserters happened upon a patrol nearby, who arrived just in time to see the elf host take the field. The pointy-eared thieves follow some ancient, archaic natural law of “finders keepers;” the only recourse for the Regnum Aeternum is to reclaim these provisions before the elves dance away with them…

My opponent and I rolled up the Pillage scenario, which was a new one for both of us. Neither of us placed the tokens with any real strategy, and most ended up nearish to the middle (he had unpacked all his models on one end of the table already… so it seemed like a jerk move to toss a bunch in my deployment zone). Just about every objective could be pretty easily reached.

Circled for your convenience. One is hiding behind a tree... my opponent is very cunning. I didn't actually know it was there until I tried to count the objectives halfway through the game.

We ended up needing all 7 of my new objective markers, and the field ended up looking like this. A few hills with tiered height levels; a few forests; a burnt out impassable building, and some fence obstacles that, being stone, survived the fleeing provincial rabble.

After deployment and my opponent's vanguard move. 

His deployment, left to right in the pic: Troop of Stormwind Cavalry, Regiment of Palace Guard, Troop of Palace Guard, Regiment of Archers on the hill, Wizard with Fireball and Bane Chant supporting them behind the hill, a Ballista, a Troop of Stormwind Cavalry, and a Troop of Hunters of the Wild (Vanguard, Pathfinder, not Elite).

My deployment, left to right: Troop of Pole Arms, Regiment of Eccentric Foot Guard with Shields, Regiment of Shield Wall, ASB, Troop of Foot Guard with greatswords, a ballista, a Regiment of Shield Wall, a Troop of Pole Arms, Ballista… and then on the opposite side of the building, a Troop of Bowmen in front of a Troop of Pole Arms in front of a Troop of Mounted Scouts with Carbines.

I had more drops than my opponent, but didn’t really have much to leverage with that advantage, so I just tried to set up favorable numbers on my flanks; most of my regiments on my left to hopefully overwhelm him with numbers, and Troops on my right to hopefully outmaneuver and win that flank. Beaming with (over) confidence, a Troop of Zeno’s Greatsword Foot Guard took center field, and aimed to march up repeatedly, and sock it to those archers…. My general plan was to advance, hopefully use my MSU list to win a few fights (eliminating a few units of his so he could contest fewer objectives), and then retreat in the final turns for the win. I don’t know what my opponent thought going in, but I’m sure it was sneaky and dastardly.

  

I managed to win the roll off for first turn, and took it.

Turn 1: Forward!

On my right, the parade marched up; the Bowmen scored a wound, along with two from the Carbine Scouts. The Regiment of Shield Wall and Troop of Pole Arms shuffled around.. trying to figure out where they would be needed in a few turns. The Ballista on the right fired, and wavered his Ballista; the one on the left couldn’t see much, and declined to fire. The Troop of Greatsword Foot Guard pompously marched up, and on my right, the Pole Arm Troop shuffled in the forest, and the Regiments of Foot Guard and Shield Wall shuffled a bit to threaten the hill.

Turn 2: The Elves retaliate, I mean, take the bait.

On Turn 2 (I still think in terms of top and bottom of a given turn… I need to break myself of that) his forces on the left of the field advanced to take the hill, menacingly. His Archers were boosted by a very successful Bane Chant, and proceeded to pin cushion my Greatsword Foot Guard and waver them. On the right of the field, his cavalry pivoted towards the middle of the field, and his Hunters of the Wild took the bait, eviscerating my Bowmen and easily Routing them.

Turn 3: Some traps are sprung... and more traps are set.

My left flank bravely... shuffled around Turn 3, offering up the Troop of Pole Arms while the Regiments of Foot Guard and Shield Wall remained out of charge range. Both Ballistae, with clear firing lanes to the Stormwind Cavalry on my right fired, and both missed. Boxed in, the Scouts twiddled their thumbs while my Pole Arms hacked away the Hunters of the Wild, and overran 5 inches, to get out of the charge arc of that lucky Stormwind Troop…

End of Turn 4... I find I've actually lost a fair amount of soldiers...

Turn 4 saw his Stormwind Troop and Palace Guard Regiment combo-charge my Pole Arm Troop, and Rout them easily. His Ballista fired at the foolhardy Troop of Footguard and Routed them. Bane Chant failed to land on the Archers, but they still slipped a few wounds onto my Shield Wall Regiment on my left.  His Stormwind Cavalry nearer to the center-right of the field charged (and Routed) my screening Pole Arm Troop, and overran towards the Shield Wall. Unfortunately, this move put them out of range/arc of my Scouts... (I was hoping to flank charge the Stormwind in my turn.. in conjunction with a front-charge from my Shield Wall, I liked my chances…)

My left isn’t doing as well as I hoped, though I don't think I should have been so aggressive. I was really hoping his Cavalry would arrive first, and I could deal with his stuff one-thing-at-a-time… but my opponent was crafty and I think I moved up too much. I weigh my options, and toy with the idea of individually charging his two Troops with my Regiments… but without Crushing Strength, I don’t particularly like my odds. I instead opt to combo charge his Regiment with mine, hoping the weight of my numbers will win the day, and let me try to weather the attacks of his Troops later. I am lucky, and manage to rout his Regiment, and swivel to accept front charges from his Troops.

On my right.. I get greedy, and move stuff up. I think I would have been better served by taking this turn to reposition, and aim to swing back towards the center and deal with the rest of his army?

In the center, my Shield Wall charges the Stormwind Cavalry, and slips a few wounds through, Disordering them and removing Thunderous Charge. Huzzah! My Ballistae both fire; one against his Ballista, and one against the Archers… and both miss. That is… unfortunate. Untouched, his shooting is free to injure those Troops on my right....

End of Turn 5. The ASB charged in too, though I forgot to roll his attack.

...And they do. Turn 6, the Pole Arms are blasted away. His disorder Stormwing Cavalry charge my Shield Wall, and only slip two wounds through. On the left of the field, his Troops Charge my Regiments. I am liking my odds… but the Elves do a fair amount of damage due to some clutch Elite re-rolls. The Shield Wall waver, and as one, the unit takes a collective step back, and looks over their shoulder at the Army Standard Bearer, who nods sternly. The Shield Wall re-evaluate their situation… and promptly flee the field. (The re-roll forced by Very Inspiring was higher! Argh.) (EDIT: It was pointed out that that's not how inspiring works; rerolls only happen for Rout results.)

End of Turn 6.... Shield Wall! Where are you going?? They were half your number!

Turn 7 my Foot Guard throw themselves at the Stormwind Cavalry, and deal a few wounds. The Army Standard Bearer scrambles to get out of the way. The Shield Wall charge the other unit of Stormwind, and rout them. I decide to gingerly move my Scouts over the obstacle, and into range of the elf Ballista.

The Ballista on the left becomes my favorite, hitting the Palace Guard, dealing a fair amount of wounds, and routing them. The Ballista on my right misses its shot on the enemy Ballista, but the Scouts are able to shoot and rout it.

Turn 7: The Revengening!

Turn 8, his Stormwind Cavalry charge my Eccentric Foot Guard, roll and despite another Very Inspired re-roll, rout them. The Archers shoot at my Scouts, and waver them. Ugh.

End of Turn 8: Well... shucks. 

Turn 9… my biggest conundrum T7, oddly enough, was what to do with the ASB. Should I charge the Stormwind? Pray I hit with my attack and then roll well for the Nerve Check? Do I try to roadblock with them him? They’d be tied up for a turn… or do I charge headlong at the Archers, in an effort to Disorder them? I probably should have done the second option, but I went with the third…

My left Ballista takes a shot at the impending doom that is that Stormwind Cavalry Troop… and missed. The one on the right moved towards the nearest objective. (I think I was hoping for a lucky Ballista shot to deal with the Cavalry; I should have pivoted the Ballista on the right more. I could still move up to claim the objective next turn.. but could have also threatened a final shot at the Cavalry. I should not have assumed Lefty was going to get in good shots back-to-back.)

The Shield Wall measure distances, find can’t claim both objectives, and take the one further away.

Go get 'em Mr. Army Standard Bearer. I won't tell you how dumb this idea is.

Turn 10, the Stormwind Cavalry destroy the Ballista, and the Scouts are put out of their weak-kneed misery.

Turn 11, my last Ballista moves in to redirect while my Shield Wall prepare for a final charge. My maniac of an ASB makes it to the Archers, but fails to hit with his one attack. In his defense, he's still lugging around a huge flag and looking cool.

Turn 11... and it's looking like another loss.

In Turn 12, the last Ballista falls. The Cavalry can claim that objective marker, and the Archers smartly move to claim another instead of messing around with my ASB. My only remaining unit claims a marker, lining me up for a 2-1 loss…

…but the game goes on! I like this "potential extra turn" mechanic... though my opponent definitely outplayed these last few turns.

My Shield Wall charge the Stormwind Cavalry and rout them. The ASB charges, swings mightily and actually hurts the Archers with his single attack. (They shrug it off.) On his last turn, my opponent retaliates with his Archers, wavering my ASB.

End of the bonus turn; end of the game. The cavalry on the hill aren't really there.

So... I luck out, and the game ends in a tie, with the Regiment of Archers claiming one objective for the elves, and the Regiment of Shield wall claiming one for the Kingdoms of Men… the only two things on the field that can still claim objectives...

Battle for the Brew

Rumor has it a company of dwarves were forced to abandon a batch of a particularly potent brew. Securing (and then consuming) it would definitely boost the morale for the soldiers of the Regnum Aeternum, which has been sagging lately. Unfortunately those haughty elves also heard the rumors, and despite their late departure, their fleet feet have carried them to within striking distance of the kegs at the same time as the soldiers of the Regnum Aeternum. Beer is serious business. Let battle be joined.

My opponent arrived before me and graciously set up a table. On my left, two copses of trees sat in either deployment zone. A small column of ruined stone between them. Near the kegs was a small hill - perhaps the dwarves had planned on returning to the rolling landscape to reclaim their concoction? Lastly, on my right, a patch of terribly rocky ground sat in his zone, and a ruined impassable building sat near mine.

Deployment! But what's this? A vanguard move? Oh no!

My deployment left to right was a Troop of Pole Arms, Regiment of Shield Wall, Troop of Foot Guard with two-handed weapons, a Ballista, a Regiment of Shield Wall, Scouts with Carbines behind them, a Regiment of Pikes, an Army Standard Bearer, another Ballista, two more Troops of Pole-Arms, and a Troop of Bowmen wayyy off to the right.

My plan was to swing around with my left flank; my center (stuff between the Ballistas) would move up, and the remaining Troops of Pole Arms and Bowmen on my right would either delay his "heavy hitters" on my right (heavy cav is heavy cav, and the Hunters of the Wild have a crazy amount of attacks.. not something I wanted my De3+ Regiments facing) by taking the charges and dying, or flanking the baddies if they moved into the middle. I was hoping the ruins would mess up his movement a bit.

His deployment, left to right was Ballista, Troop of heavy cavalry (Stormwind Cavalry?), Troop of Palace Guard, Regiment of Palace Guard, a lurking wizard, a Regiment of Archers, and another Troop of heavy cavalry (I'll just call them both Stormwinds) hiding behind a unit of Hunters of the Wild, which apparently have vanguard. Whoops.

And then my opponent rolled and took the first turn. Fortunately, my Bowmen were a little back, so he was slowed down a little bit, and could just charge them.

Turn 1, in it's entirety. Ignore that tree in front of my left-most Pole Arm Troop; it should be by my Foot Guard Troop but I moved it for ease of moving my army.

The hunters of the wild ran up, joined by the Stormwind Cavalry. The center moved up, the Elvish Archers blocked from taking any potshots by the hill. The Elvish Ballista fired and missed! The other Troop of Stormwind Cavalry swung around the forest and hid behind the ruined stone column, apparently eager to engage my left flank.

First is the worst, second is the best! Woooo!! Get some! End of Turn 2.

Eager for a fight, my solders moved all over the place. On my left, a brave troop of Pole arms moved up to bait a charge, expecting to die. A Regiment of Shield Wall and my Troop of Foot Guard moved to double-team the elves once they broke through.

In the center, the Scouts advanced, supported by the Regiments of infantry behind them. I think they and my Ballistae hit the Palace Guard for a few dings of damage.

My right... I wasn't sure about. The Bowmen were soon to be dead, but there was a Pole Arm Troop ready to avenge them, and a second troop aiming to delay the nearby unit of Stormwind Cavalry if they swung to the center, or possibly charge the archers if they took the hill. I was putting a lot of faith in these 70 point troops...

Turn 3, the baits are taken!

On the left, the elvish cavalry charge in, attempting to crush the Troop of Pole Arms, flub a few attacks, and roll 3 for the Nerve check.. and the Pole Arms hold and are unwavered! The Archers gain Bane-Chant via the elf wizard, and land a few wounds on my right Ballista; and his ballista lands a single wound on my Shield Wall behind the Scouts. On the right, the Hunters of the Wild massacre the Bowmen (as expected), and reform to face the center.

Turn 4, some traps are sprung.. others..... not so much. And a mistake is made. Can you spot it?

First the good stuff! On the left, the Foot Guard wind up in the flank of the Knights. the unit leader was about a model's width out of the knight's forward arc. The knights are battered from the saddles and the unit routed! The victorious, plucky Troops reform to face the enemy Ballista.

Then, the bad. Neither of my Pole Arms Troops can charge on my right flank. The reform of the Hunters of the Wild took them about a half inch further than I could charge, and the second Troop of Stormwind Cavalry, having simply reformed, were never really in danger from my Troop. I decide to march both up at the double. Neither will probably survive, but only a D6 overrun will slow the pointy eared jerks down a little. Delay is the name of the game on my right flank.

In the center, I get greedy. I move up, eager to apply some pressure and box in those Palage Guard, but don't check my angles.

End of Turn 5. It was not a good turn for me. I even busted out the rulebook to make sure my Pikes got Ensnare correctly, which saved them from 5 hits!

Turn 5... everything started to fall apart for me. The Pole Arm Troops nobly fell, delaying the those enemy units slightly. the elf Archers, buffed again by Bane Chant, shot at my Scouts, and on the reroll, they actually ended up being just fine, which was unexpected. Unfortunately, I got my angles wrong, and the Regiment of Palace Guard were able to charge my Pikes, getting coverage of about a model wide, not corner to corner, but "clipping" the unit. Ensnare saved me a ton of wounds, but he rolled a 12, and re-rolled and 11, Routing the Pikes and breaking free by a single integer (they would have only been Wavered with 10, allowing my to flank with the Shield Wall on next turn). Ugh. an error, and it's compounded by very good rolling. This isn't good for me.

Turn 6, otherwise known as Damage Control Mode.

On the left, my troops go after that Ballista. They should take it out without any issue, as it only has one round of shooting to defend itself. My left Ballista reforms, as it can't shoot at anything due to issues with my line of sight. With the center in shambles, I decide not to charge with my Shield Wall, as without Crushing Strength, they are unlikely to do anything. Instead, I put my faith in 5+ shooting attacks (with Piercing). The Scouts nimbly pivot around, and shoot into the Regiment of Palace Guard, joined by the Ballista on my right. No damage is done; every single shot missed.

Middle of Movement, Turn 7

The tides have very much turned, turned, and the Elves start mopping me up Turn 7. I have a lot (400ish points) on my left flank, but with my center having caved... it's all way out of position at this point. The elven wizard swings around the hill and casts Heal on the Palace Guard. The Archers shoot and rout my scouts; my Ballista is overrun; and the ever-speedy Stormwind Cavalry with their addition height, are able to see and charge my Shield Wall in conjunction with the Regiment of Palace Guard. My center is now truly gone at this point.

End of Turn 7

The Pole Arm Troop makes it to his Ballista and Routes it.The Foot Guard pivot and start swinging towards the center of the field. My Ballista takes a shot at the Troop of Hunters of the Wild, and surprisingly hits! They take 3 points of damage, but sadly easily remain steady. Mt last Regiment only has one point of Damage, but I don't like their chances of holding against another Palace Guard/Stormwind combined charge. I figure my best chance of salvaging the situation is to charge the cavalry. It's the best of a bunch of bad options. I end up doing a single point of damage to them.. not really enough to do anything.

End of Turn 8. beginning of turn 9. My opponent is seeing how much he can move into the center. Turns out it's a lot.

As you would expect, Turn 9 does not go well for me. Having failed to break out, which, honestly was a long shot anyways, the Palace Guard and the Stormwind Cavalry jointly charge me anyways, with the Palace Guard in the flank now... so a worse situation than what I was originally trying to avoid. As you would also expect, my Shield Wall crumbles. Both elf units reform to face new targets...

End of Turn 9.

So at the end of Turn 9, I'm in a bad spot..I'm down to just 165 points of units to contest the objective. 

Turn 10

Turn 10, I can't make any charges with either of my Troops, so they shuffle around to face the coming carnage. Heal has brought the Palace Guard down to a single point of damage... so it's not even a really viable target. It's well and over at this point, but I try to play out the game. The Army Standard Bearer scrambles out and away out of charge arcs try and Inspire my remaining troops.

Turn 11. Because every BR needs at least one blurry photo.

Turn 11 ends up as you probably expect. The Stormwind Rout my last Ballista, and the Palace Guard chases off my Troop of Foot Guard. The elf wizard flees to safety behind the Hunters of the Wild, lest my Standard bearer get any funny ideas with his 1 attack (admittedly, he was getting funny ideas).

Turn 12 I charge with the Pole Arm Troop, and do not come close to routing the Palace Guard. I concede. 

Alas, the brews had slipped through the clutches of the Regnum Aeternum, and the expedition to retrieve it was in complete disarray. This would definitely not help morale. Worse than a loss though, was a loss to those arrogant, pointy-eared elves.

Still, this was just a skirmish in the borderlands: fortunately, neither side had committed much to the fight. The elves would take their victory, claim their prize and depart. Meanwhile, the Regnum Aeternum would regroup to fight again another day.