As advertised, today was another tournament prep game with the Knights of the Blood Rose and their erstwhile allies, the Army of the Dead. We have been debating quite hotly not just their purpose on the table, but if they are even worthwhile. They seem to be less effective with each game.
Of course, they would have an easier time if they got priority once in a while! :-) In this game, the evil side (orcs led by the Undying), had priority for 8 of the 12 turns. Since the King of the Dead has no might, you have no way to mitigate those unfortunate priority rolls.
I had priority the first 2 turns, which was hilarious. Here is what came onto the board for the entirety of turn one:
Yes, that's right, not a single warband showed up! Not much good having priority, which I got again on the second turn. In contrast, all units on both sides showed up fashionably late in this turn.
Turn 3 was all about moving. Knowing that getting stuff off the board was the easiest way to get the VP's, I headed most of my right flank towards the enemy deployment zone.
Most of Rich's guys headed straight at my warbands of elves and AotD on my left side. My plan was to use them as a holding force, keeping him occupied, dying slowly enough to let my other group get off the board just as the 25% casualty limit hit.
This was part of a 4 turn priority run for the Evil side...
Rich moved most of his forces in unison towards me. I tried to hide the stormcaller behind a building from the Undying, while a few of my archers on the right peeled off to take pot shots at the wargs. The second stormcaller was with them as well.
Here's my group in the amongst the buildings. The King and some archers poked their heads out a bit so see what spells they might draw from the Undying. Had to make him use up those 20 will points somehow!!
Here you are seeing some of the first action. The charges went badly for the elf cavalry, with Seregond the Captain being unhorsed. All archery fire was useless the entire game, barely hitting much less wounding.. I had taken away one AotD to get enough points to add an archer and a swordsman. I question that a bit now...
Rich's troll and a few wargs headed towards the middle of the table towards the stormcaller and the archers..
Here was another charge that ended a little less badly for the elf cavalry against the wargs...
Feeling like I had to make something happen, I decided to go for broke with both stormcallers. Each of them did their nature's Wrath or whatever it is, knocking down lots of orcs, wargs, and even the troll!
Unfortunately, I was not really set up to take advantage of that situation in terms of jumping on the downed troops and killing them. However, it was all about buying time, and I kind of forgot about that. I tried to kill off some of the downed orcs, and that caused problems in subsequent turns. Instead of backing away, I mostly charged in. Without priority, everything on that side was eventually surrounded (you will see this play out in part Two tomorrow!)
Meanwhile, my group of elves was working its way to the orc deployment zone board edge. They would wait there until just the right time to "step off" so to speak. The pesky wargs and riders took longer to kill than fight skill five should have allowed...
Well, after a very eventful mid game turn, It was time to eat some chow! No elven bread, for sure! Rich kindly brought meatball, sauce, and noodles.
Cathy worked her magic with the food, and we all took healthy swigs from the jug of ale! After a while, it would be time to get back down to business!!
Stay tuned for the exciting conclusion of the Great Skedaddle scenario!!
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