In the
clearing, the Prince reclined on his hunting throne. He waited. Never punctual… Ever… The area was lit by mage lights and the
stars, just flickering enough for his sensitive eyes to make of the grim faces
of his troops. Something was amiss, they had been summoned by messenger from their caverns,
to meet in neutral ground, which in this case was this wood beside the roots of the mountains that contained their caverns. Elves in woods was fine, if you were a flower wearing Wood Elf, but
for Dark Elves, it was uncomfortable, prickly and draughty! He had brought a hunting party, he might as well have some fun while on the surface, a few crossbows, some spears, a few raiders and a conclave of mages. That should round up a few prizes...
He sensed it
before he saw it, the sky was blacker than before, the odd constellations
blotted out. A downdraft was followed by a thump, almost upsetting the
decanter, and a shiver ran down his spine. Lit by firelight, the reflection of the yellow eyes were the only visual clue
that it had arrived, the black scales absorbing light, almost imperceptibly, apart from the shake in the
ground.
His guard
snapped to attention. ‘Nice gesture, shows respect, also hides their fear.’ He
mused. The huge black dragon slowly turned towards him, the light still being absorbed
inwards, oozing chill. These dragons usually kept themselves to themselves, whereas
other dragons took an active role in ruling their lands as living gods, but not these. They
accepted that some areas of Dark Elf society worshipped them, but actual
contact was rare.
“I am bored
of these tunnelling parasites. I propose a deal.” The voice hissed through his
mind. He was not sure whether it was spoken, thought or a feeling. Languidly,
he reached for a glass of wine, this could be interesting…
“They have
tried to raid my lair; don’t deny they have encroached into your caves too. We
should deal with them. They have an exit to the outside world that they are
using to try to cart my treasures from, we find it, seal it and destroy them.” This
was unusual, one of their type being blunt and to the point, “What you kill,
you keep.” No threats, even more unusual, it must really be annoyed. He drew
the delicate glass away from his lips, with a black dragon on side, his hunting
party would have a fine day chasing Dwarves.
Dark Elf List (all Pendraken)
Warlord D6+2
Warlocks D6+1
2 x Crossbows with Powerful
2 x Warriors with Fierce and Impetuous
2 x Warriors with Formed
Black Dragon - just because...
Dwarf List
General D6+2 with Shieldwall
Mage D6
Honour Guard Fear, Resolute, Formed
3 x Warriors with Shieldwall
2 x Noble Riders (one with hero)
Rangers (one with hero, that he shouldn't have had, hey ho, or should that be Hi-Hoooo)!
John had finally finished his Dwarves, so fielded an all Dwarf force, unusual for him, as he likes hard hitting monsters.
Last time I used a dragon, it did not end well for it.
The inevitable terrain shot. John picked two large terrain pieces, I went for four small. One didn't arrive, the rest were evenly spread out. Each terrain piece has a marker (black glass bead) to represent a possible cavern location. The race was on to secure the location.
My general, mages and dragon, holding the open centre. Fierce warriors and crossbows tasked with finding and checking locations.
John started with a hill in his deployment area, but it held no interesting entrances! The rangers and ponies trudge on, disappointed ("I'm sure it was here somewhere!")
John's main battle line, drawn up to storm across the field and claim the booty. He had detached a pony rider unit to check the swamp for an entrance ("Perhaps it flooded?")
So I raced ahead with my foot, and since the dragon has a motivation of 3d6, and a move of 4bw (a BW is 10cm) he has a potential range of 120cm, I was confident he could identify at least one objective a turn.
Unless he fails all three motivation rolls!!!
With some not-to-subtle prompting, the dragon flew off.
My line, boosted by the Prince, advanced quickly, even with the terrain and scouted the first objective in the rocky ground.
'CLICK!'
"Boss, found it!" Turn 1, woohoo! The objective does not go 'live' until turn 4. If I have a unit in 1BW and John has none, I win.
John decided his best course of action was to get across the table as quickly as his stumpy little legs would carry him!
Except, this being John, his motivation dive were awful! After 5 rolls, the group moved, 1BW! (You have a 50/50 chance each throw of passing a test).
This was John's pose for most of the night, the green dice were retired shortly after!
What did break out was a duel of magic missiles between respective mages. At extreme range, John hit my general, and I missed his mage!
My general, failing to save from the hits. That had to be boosted and quickly!
Turn 2, and John casts his really useful protection spell, meaning all units with 3VM are resilient and gain an extra save die (if stationary, that puts John on 5D6, and very hard nut to crack indeed)!
My dragon spots a tasty snack, and flies in low behind the ponies unleashing its flame breath. My line adjusts to try and deal with John's strength in numbers.
Toasted pony anyone?
Turn 3, and John took the initiative (it had taken him 14 dice to cross the central plains, a distance of 4 BW to my advancing forces). His ponies decided to charge my warlocks, hoping for a quick kill.
I reacted to this with a flank charge form my left-most warriors who had been treasure hunting in the marshes, as they spotted an opportunity, the right time, and had motivation (unlike John's army)! The charging riders did a massive 4 hits out of three (due to my mage having no fall back room, so take an automatic hit). I had done two on them, but being a) resolute and b) trapped fighting in two directions, they could not fall back!
My two crossbow units (one off camera, right) skewered many dwarves with crossbow bolts, it was good hunting here! Resolute stops the left hand of the two units retreating, it was now turn 4, and this stopped John losing the game then and there!
My warlocks, HEAVILY boosted by his nibs, save 3 out of four hits!
Situation at turn end. That's a lot of metal clad dwarves coming this way!
John, trying to return the unit that had fallen back, refuse to move due to weight of crossbow bolts in their shields. The blue dice did not last much longer!
The general situation as I realise that although I was evening up the forces, John was piling in, it was touch and go.
Glory shot of the dragon having a hack.
The amount of hits we can put into one general! Four from my warriors convert two, and my dragon (boosted by the CinC) only causes one out of 5! Not so hotso! (3 out of 8, yurk)
I was getting the hits in and forcing John back, I was not converting these to wounds thanks to John's dwarf's massive amount of armour!
And the results of the melee, many dwarves and elves pushed back, including his general; but enough dwarves remain within range of the cavern entrance to keep the game going, just!
The results also see the first rout of the game as one of my warriors break from John's general, my warlocks are pushed back, and my CinC realises that taking on the honour guard (who cause fear, have permanent resilience and have 6 morale points, wow) was not the best plan he ever made!
On the right, after pushing the rangers back, the warriors clash with each other, and my Dragon, seeing an tasty target, swoops in on the Dwarf skirmishers, only being caught from behind by the heroic pony riders!
Meanwhile, my crossbows pour in a powerful hit on John's charging warriors.
Grim grim grim! We had broken the left hand riders, but things were fraught, my Mage, having missed with every offensive spell he had, decided to go head hunting himself and piled into the flank of those warriors. The broken warriors means John's general was now free to wreck havoc on the rest of my line. One unit of crossbows was all that was stopping John from snatching this, and once his dwarves were in and pushing me back, they did not need to roll motivation to get back in! Drat!
My general had enough points into the routing warriors to rally them (phew), but my crossbows were forced back in the choss and were being ground down. John now had possession of the hidden horde!
Warrior vs warrior - his were better armoured than mine, and it was telling.
On the right, the dragon forces the rangers back, but not enough to break them, Warriors vs warriors again show how useful armour and shieldwall is.
Again, dwarves are forced back, but not enough, not in time. John has pushed through on both my general and crossbows, further securing the objective.
Too many of my units on too few morale, after a great start, John is cutting through me!
My dragon accounts for the rangers and the riders, but it is too little and way too late, as my centre collapses!
Oh well, it was worth the effort!
John, despite atrocious motivation rolls, was able to chop right through me, as my general fled I was turning a victory into an utter rout! I got both riders and the rangers. John broke my general, my mage, two warriors and a crossbows, well over half my force and he retained the objective.
What was normally a quick game, lasted three and a half hours, and four sets of John's dice!!! WE were both mentally drained by the end of it, fantastic!
Improvements: Not getting the dragon pinned by two comparatively weak units, but it enjoyed munching on ponies!
Not letting my general try and take on the monstrous honour guard, those guys are incredible.
My mage was not great at spellcasting, but did a decent job in combat!
The Prince awoke, his head spinning, his clothes torn, his armour rent. He struggled to his feet to look at the remains of his force staggering back towards him. One wounded warlock handed him a note.
"From the dragon, your highness!"
Wow, what a game! No wonder you were bith drained by the end. Great 'photos as well:)
ReplyDeleteSounds like a lot of fun!
ReplyDeleteThis game was a real struggle for my dwarves. I just couldn’t get them to move and really only got them moving once they were in combat and automatically following up pushed back units.
ReplyDeleteThis game really put the pyrrhic in to victory. My elven warband is led by Perrivale ‘the Inert’, renowned for not being motivated, but 5 dice to move 10cm.... oh the sagas that will be sung!
Will had to contend with, an at times (every motivation round) very sad opponent. I think my next army need to be impetuous😉