Greetings fello Chronophiles! Dec. 29th saw the 4-State Militia's last battle for 2007. This was to be a whopper of a battle. First off, Canonball designed a sweet looking Stygian pyramid to go along with the army I sold him. Also, this game was special in that all of us were playing brand new armies! Although there ended up being a few hitches, it was great fun. So here goes!
Rise of the Serpentmen This is to be a 2 part battle. The first takes place in fornt of the Stygian pyramid, and then was to move inside for the final show down.
Motives: A new Stygian pyramid has just risen on the edge of lands belonging to Tribe of the Dawn and the Blackblood Empire. Not wanting to wait for the Stygians to get into full swing a joint venture for the destruction of this mutual threat ensues.
# of Players: 3 Players. Canonball (Stygian Horde), Troy-the-just (Tibe of Dawn), and your truly, DogOWar (Blackbloods).
Points: Both Sok and Blackbloods start with 1000 points to last the game. Stygian gets 1200 points to deploy outside pyramid, and a further 600 to use inside.
Victory Conditions: The Sok and BB forces must destroy the Stygian outside the pyramid then move to the inside to finsh them off. Stygians foght to the death!!
Set-up: The pyramid is placed on one end of warboard, the Sok & BB on the other. Stygian player has control of placement of terrain. The Stygian on the outside of the pyramid may not enter pyramid and must fight to the end! Stygian on inside of pyramid may not leave pyramid and must fight to the end!
Deployment: Stygian start with models seen. Sok & BB alliance start with cards, but as soon as unit is activated modesl are placed on warboard.
Forces O War-Stygian- 3 warbands of mixed Stygian Warriors, 1 Guardian, I Tenebrous Crawler, 1 Priestess (Quicksand, greater Desert wyrm, sandstorm).
Tribe O Dawn- 3 3-man Tribal Warbands, 2 3-man Hearthguard warbands, 1 flight Warhawks, 1 Wyrd (spear O llyr), 2 Repulsar Marksman, 1 Repulsar Knight, 1 Hunter.
Blackbloods- 1 Alchemist ( Ali Khazam), 1Troll Deathseeker, 1 Net fling'n Troll, 3 Ogre Elite, 5 Orc Assault, 6 Orc Swardsmen, 8 Goblin Swordmasters.
.................and so it begins!!! Pre-battle pic Turn 1- Sok & BB win Initative. TW and HG move toward trees and arch. Warhawks(WH) take flight and head for wall in a mad dash toward Priestess. A Repulsar Marksman(RM) lines up a shot and wounds the Guardian by the arch. Wyrd moves up to get good LOS thru arch, chomp'n at the bit to bust out a spear O llyr. On the BB side of the warboard, I send the bait.....er, I mean the Goblin Swordmasters(GS) toward the arch to draw Priestess out. GS get Quicksanded and 2 get stuck, but get saved. Orc Assaault move to cover arch and go on wait. Orc Swordsmen(OS) move forward and go on wait. Ogre Elite Guard(OEG), Troll(T), and Deathseeker Troll(DST), and Alchemist(A) move toward woods and out of line of sight of Priestess. the Stygians begin by having the Tenebrous Crawler(TC), which is proxied by a organd caterpillar thingy, tunnels thru arch waitng on prey to tample. Stygian Warbands(SW) shuffle around and wait.
End Turn 1 PicTurn 2- SoK and BB win initiative. Warhawks swoop in and tear Priestess apart, but snakes kill 1 or 2 WH. SW move in and finish off WH. GS move toward the arch waiting on death. TC tunnels up and tramples TW, then tunnels back down. Most of the rest of turn 2 was jockeying for position, with SoK making it to edge of woods and wall. BB's continue to skirt area where TC is prowling and head toward woods. OA are jsut praying for a target.
End of Turn 2 PicTurn 3- Stygians win Initiative. The TC attempts to come up and trample GS, but deviates and crushes another TW instead. The Guardian(G) moves to other side of arch and goes on wait. On the SoK side the TW and HG engage SW and kill 5. RM shoots 2 stygian. More TW move thru woods and arch, followed by Repulsar Knight. The Forces of the Bloodthrone begin the great push to the arch. GS move over TC to force it to move out of way of arch. OA move forward and wait, everybody else keeps heading for trees, except for DST which moves into cover of the arch.
End of Turn 3 PicTurn 4- The action really starts to heat up!! The G moves to attack DST which comes off wait and splits it from tead to tail with a mighty blow! TW and Wyrd hurl spears to no effect. Dst moves to secure pyramid entrance. The TC comes up by GS and tramples 2, the rest of the GS hack into TC, actually inflicting 2 wounds! SW attacks TW and kill 2. OA shoot thru arch at SW which incredably make all saves.....drat. OS move toward arch and the rest of the BB make it thru woods.
End of Turn 4 Pic Turn 5- SoK and BB win initiative. The Wyrd opens the turn with Spear O Llyr, killing 2 SW. TC tramples 2 OS. OS(later in turn) move to arch. RM shoots a couple of SW, OEG and T move out of woods toward rear of SW. OA aim and put 2 wounds on TC . GSM attack SW to no avail and SW kill 2 gobos. RM puts another arrow into TC and it dies. The Fat lady begins to sing for the Stygian Horde.
End of Turn 5 Pic Turn 6- Stygian win initiative. Sw moves to the attcack, killing 2 GS and a OS. GS break, fleeing thru arch. OS attack kill 1 SW. The Wyrd unleashs the spear o llyr killing 3 SW and RM shoots 2 more. OA shoot 3 more SW and at this point Canonball concedes.
Afterthoughts We never played the next battle as the Sok and BB alliance still had 1600 points on board and Canonball didn't think he stood a chance, thereby conceding the rest of the match, even though we tried to give him more points to continue. We set around awhile discussing various things about our armies when I saw that Canonball had actually used the poiont costs in the book as opposed to the ones I sent over to him that I got off the FAQ. He effectively cheated himself out of a couple hundred points! I believe this would have changed things quite alot, and was very frustrated by this turn of events.
All in all Troy's and my strategy worked well. Its hard to husband units back and still fight well. I took the Alchemist with mending our more expensive models for the show down in the pyramid, and consequently he did nothing at all, what a waste. I wish we could have turned back the clock and had a muligan.
We ended up playing a deathmatch game afterwards that was the best we have ever had. A very even fight, and nail bitingright up to the end. When the dust setled all that was left standing was my OEG with 1 wound left! All in all a very good game day for myself.