#62 Battle IX - Return of the King
1000 points Feral Foray battleplan
Another great game with Owen (grave.walkers) but poor photos are all my responsibility. Indoors to shelter from the heat - and his attack chickens! First time using (some of) the rules in the 2021 General's Handbook. Really enjoyed the Grand Strategies and Battle Tactics, although it was a lot to think about on a hot day!
Lady Beauvoir shielded her eyes from the inclement sunshine as she gazed across the muddy grassland. She had brought the King of Thorns here, to the Weirdstone of Barfun Moor, in the hope that he might unravel more of the history of the Cinquefoil. But for some reason the Anvils of the Heldenhammer had apparently sent an exploratory force to exactly the same location. Furthermore, the Gravewalkers were accompanied by a Lord-Exorcist. She had come across such Stormcast before and knew the danger they posed to the servants of Nagash.
Turning to the King of Thorns to point out the danger, Beauvoir was shocked to see that he appeared transfixed, staring unmoving across the moorland at the Lord-Exorcist. Even more surprisingly, she could see that the Gravewalker officer appeared to be staring back. Only by her preternatural senses could she hear the wight's cold breath faintly whispering something that sounded like, "Calyx".
For a brief moment, the two forces paused. Battle was about to begin...
Suddenly, with flashes of lightening, three groups of Stormcast appeared from the heavens behind the Soulblight lines. Without hesitation, both Vanguard-Hunter squads charged the two units of deathrattle skeletons while the third, a band of Evocators ploughed into the King of Thorns himself. Still distracted by the figure across the moor, he fell instantly.
Beauvoir sighed. The wight's explanation for his strange behaviour would have to wait until she had raised him again. In the meantime, these grave-robbers needed to be dealt with. The skeletons of the Lost Thorns were doing well holding their territory, Viktor Bract raising them as they fell, even as he cowered in the corner of a grave garden. Anya and Paule were boldly facing down the Evocators, although Lady Beauvoir knew her loyal handmaidens were no match for the elite Stormcast.
She needed reinforcements. Casting her authority into the very earth she summoned more undead through the gravesites scattered over the moor. Up rose the Guardians of the Barrow, the King of Thorns' own grave guard, ready to avenge his fall. Likewise, a band of his ancient knights arose and, along with the grave guard charged the Knight-Venator and the Lord-Aquilor who commanded the enemy force.
Across the field, grave guard and black knights charged through a storm of missiles to take down their targets. The Lord-Aquilor general disappeared in a flurry of great wight blades, while the Knight-Venator was ridden into the mud by the charging Knights of the Thorn.
We managed three battle rounds before time was up (one more than last time!). Result: 17:12 to the Lost Thorns. With four battleline units that wouldn't stay dead, my choice of Hold the Line grand strategy was a good one. Owen bravely chose Vendetta: he made short work of my general but unfortunately his own Lord-Aquilor Taralus Bladestorm suffered a similar ignominy when 7 bonus mortal wounds from the grave guard's great wight blades did for him!
Lady Beauvoir leaned against the Weirdstone of Barfun Moor in the silence after the battle. The Legion of Blood had won the day, but the King of Thorns' return to Barfunwletz had not proved as triumphant as she might have hoped. What was this strange connection between the Wight and the Lord-Exorcist? She needed to know more, and she would find out.
Comments
Post a Comment