home

Author Topic: The Battle for Scharmbeck - 8000pts Completed multi army battle! & aftermath  (Read 4067 times)

Offline Siberius

  • Members
  • Posts: 6831
  • The Minotaur Cat
Jan Kesslereich had kept his forces holed up in the small town of Scharmbeck all winter. The local folk were sympathetic to the Solland cause, and Kesslereich was a man whom people obeyed. Spring was beginning to show its face though and the time for action was at hand. Or so he had thought. That morning, a small band of Dwarven scouts had shown up and demanded to speak with him. What they told him had brought his legendary fury to the surface. A large force of Dark Elf raiders were moving down the River Sol and were headed right for the village. The dwarfs did bring some welcome news though; their commander, Angrilia Linecleaver was willing to fight alongside the humans.

Kesslereich was reluctant to trust such open and easy help, it usually came with a price. The dwarfs spoke on and there was indeed a condition to their offer. Apparently, the elven fleet had enlisted the help of a dangerous Vampire Lord, Wvolthe von Carstein. What evil plan they had concocted was unclear, but a grudge had recently formed between Wvolthe and Angrilia's older brother Grelik Craghammer. She demanded that she be allowed to slay the Vampire with her own hand, that the grudge might be settled. Kesslereich cared not one iota about this Vampire and accepted the alliance with the Dwarfs, asking that they return to Linecleaver and ask her to deploy her forces at the edge of the town where they would fight together.

---------

Vaskel and Wvolthe eyed each other warily. The huge Vampire was taller even than the willowy elf, his head shrouded by his riding cloak.

"I have agreed to meet you only to satisfy my curiosity" Vaskel stated flatly. "Why would we ally ourselves with you?"

"I care not for your raids, it is true, but there is something I do care about. Did you know there are dwarfs in these mountains, close by?"

The elf nodded. "Of course, our scouts have already noted them near the town."

"I have an enemy amongst these dwarfs, their leader. I seek the pleasure of ending his all too long life. And if not him, I will settle for his kin. One way or another, he will suffer."

A bitter smile played on the elf's lips. "Now that I understand. But you understand we want to take as many of these humans alive as we can? I know what you Vampires do."

"A fair question. If you let me, I will concentrate my forces against the Dwarfs whilst you can deal with the humans. You take the living, I will take the dead. A reasonable deal?"

"Reasonable indeed," the elf nodded, turning to pick up his drink. "I will see you on the field of battle"... but when he turned back, the Vampire was already gone...








More to follow...!
« Last Edit: March 26, 2015, 03:48:26 AM by Siberius »
Quote from: PhillyT
Magic does not have nearly the same problems with power levels as magic. 

Offline undivided.capital

  • Members
  • Posts: 151
Re: The Battle for Scharmbeck - 8000pts multi army battle!
« Reply #1 on: March 21, 2015, 01:54:35 AM »
Love the story so far! It sure is a challenge to explain the alliances. I like how you have done it!  :::cheers:::
Thanks,

Sam Taylor

Offline Siberius

  • Members
  • Posts: 6831
  • The Minotaur Cat
Re: The Battle for Scharmbeck - 8000pts multi army battle!
« Reply #2 on: March 22, 2015, 02:15:44 AM »
Thanks! I'm hoping to actually get the report going tomorrow. Finally got all my maps done, it wasn't easy! Here's a little look at the start of the battle...

The map...



And a couple of shots of the set-up process...



Quote from: PhillyT
Magic does not have nearly the same problems with power levels as magic. 

Offline Siberius

  • Members
  • Posts: 6831
  • The Minotaur Cat
Re: The Battle for Scharmbeck - 8000pts multi army battle!
« Reply #3 on: March 24, 2015, 02:38:55 AM »
(I'll come back later and pop the army lists into the initial post I think. For now here is some report!)


Good Turn 1

Kesselreich lined up with his halberdiers, allowing Rex Niathi to take command of the Solland forces from atop his griffon. Maybe the elves felt themselves cunning, but with the Dwarven warning, the Imperial troops had got into position first and were already marching on their attackers. Niathi urged the line to advance cautiously, sending the light cavalry ranging ahead to attempt to disrupt the Elven line. The heavy artillery let forth a battery of fire, but as the smoke cleared, alas not a one of the Elven monsters had fallen to it.



To the east, the Dwarfs were steadily marching forward, their copters skimming above the ground. The gyrobomber swooped over the shades, releasing a deadly payload killing half of their number whilst the gyrocopter passed over the dark riders to threaten the darkshards behind.







Evil Turn 1

So, somehow they had been ready? Vaskel shrugged and ordered a full blooded assault on the human town. Their resistance was noble, but ultimately just an annoyance. The cold one knights seemed to either lose control of their mounts or just decided they had something to prove as they stampeded headlong through the large pistolier unit which tried to turn and flee, with no such luck. The elven line cheered but Vaskel noticed the large steam tank was positioned dangerously to their flank now…







To the east flank, the undead army shambled forward, Wvolthe and his black knights trotting towards the centre of the battlefield, evidently eager to start the bloodshed. A unit of scouting dark riders to the far east charged and broke a unit of pistoliers, the lone horseman outpacing his pursuers, whilst the darkshards took the initiative and charged at the gyrocopter which was able to weather their assault.






Quote from: PhillyT
Magic does not have nearly the same problems with power levels as magic. 

Offline Siberius

  • Members
  • Posts: 6831
  • The Minotaur Cat
Re: The Battle for Scharmbeck - 8000pts multi army battle!
« Reply #4 on: March 24, 2015, 02:46:40 AM »
Good Turn 2

The steam tank rumbled into action, as it’s engineer dipped below the hatch and drove it straight into the marsh in which the cold one knights had become stuck in. A swordsmen detachment joined the charge but stood back for the most part as the plough like front of the tank destroyed elves left and right. When it’s momentum gave out, only 3 knights were standing, including the elven battle standard bearer.



The halberdiers close by were heartened by the victory and began to charge at the harpies who goaded them nearby, but the harpies took to the air and flapped away. The Imperials sheepishly slowed their charge almost before it had begun. To make them feel a little better though, one of the cannons let loose a cannonball that felled the kharibdyss before it could see combat.



Dwarf and human nodded at each other in the centre where knights and longbeards charged into Wvolthe and his black knights. The combat was bloody on both sides with half of the undead warriors falling, but Wvolthe himself moved with startling speed, cutting down swathes of his enemy.

The hammerers saw the fell bats swooping low across the field and jogged forward to hack them apart leaving themselves worryingly near the rest of the undead infantry.








Evil Turn 2

This was the moment. Vaskel saw the Imperial army begin to segment and ordered his elite units to make their move. He urged his dragon into the air and moments later was diving into the eastmost halberdiers, the dragon spurting black fire across them as he swung his blade left and right. Imperial discipline held firm and the humans held their ground, but how long they could take this brutal assault was questionable.

Beside him, the Black Guard snuck into the flank of the other halberdier block, killing ranks at a time, though again the humans bravely fought back enough to hold their line and turn to face Vaskel’s personal bodyguard.



The steam tank had come to something of a standstill in the bog though the knight’s attempts to beat at its hull were fruitless. The elven bsb saw the wasted effort and instead struck down the last of the swordsmen pestering his flank.

In the centre, the huge dreadspear block easily caught and destroyed an archer unit and rather than push on into the greatswords they instead reformed their ranks, lowered their spears and awaited the charge.

Alongside them the witch elves tried desperately to engage the spearmen block but at the sight of the Cauldron of Blood, atop which the hag was sacrificing some unfortunate dwarven scouts the spearmen thought better of taking them on alone and fell back further into the town.



Wvolthe’s knights were in danger of crumbling to the combined power of the empire knights and stout dwarfs. Seeing this, the elves rushed in to help turn the tide. The corsairs, executioners and chariot crashed into the combat and the momentum swung decidedly. The knights could not take the flank attack and broke from combat, corsairs swarming them and capturing new slaves, though the dwarfs held firm, Angrilia herself daring each of them to try and run with  her stare alone.



Things were not faring much better for the hammerers who, finding themselves stranded infront of the undead horde were charged by the shambling masses. The master necromancer guiding their mindless advance attempted to boost their numbers with an invocation but something went terribly wrong and a booming explosion was followed by a swirling purple fissure in the sky above him. Moments later he was sucked forcibly through it and it folded in on itself. When the dwarfs dusted themselves off they found themselves in a sizable crater, over half their number a bloody pile. The undead forces seemed unperturbed by events and the dwarven survivors found themselves pressed back with barely time to contemplate what had just happened.



« Last Edit: March 24, 2015, 02:51:46 AM by Siberius »
Quote from: PhillyT
Magic does not have nearly the same problems with power levels as magic. 

Offline rufus sparkfire

  • The Old Ones
  • Members
  • Posts: 33360
Re: The Battle for Scharmbeck - 8000pts multi army battle! Turns 1&2 up!
« Reply #5 on: March 24, 2015, 11:06:09 AM »
This is amazing! I'm looking forward to seeing the rest.

Do you enjoy playing games of such epic size? I always think they're nice to look at, but take far too long.



p.s. Gosh, that elf fleet is a long way inland!  :icon_razz:
Hey, I could still beat up a woman!
If I wanted to.

Offline Siberius

  • Members
  • Posts: 6831
  • The Minotaur Cat
Re: The Battle for Scharmbeck - 8000pts multi army battle! Turns 1&2 up!
« Reply #6 on: March 25, 2015, 03:07:24 AM »
This is amazing! I'm looking forward to seeing the rest.

Do you enjoy playing games of such epic size? I always think they're nice to look at, but take far too long.

I do indeed, sometimes. It does present some issues such as our dwarf player having to leave early and our vampire player deciding she wanted to go to bed. Thankfully, me and my imperial enemy (my brother) had to see it through as it was way too in the balance so we took over the whole board!

Keep reading, it keeps interesting! Honestly I probably wouldn't be doing a report if it had just gone disastrously for one side or the other. Too much work!

p.s. Gosh, that elf fleet is a long way inland!  :icon_razz:

They got off the black arc and made some canoes!


Alright, things are about to get messy...!
Quote from: PhillyT
Magic does not have nearly the same problems with power levels as magic. 

Offline Siberius

  • Members
  • Posts: 6831
  • The Minotaur Cat
Re: The Battle for Scharmbeck - 8000pts multi army battle! Turns 1&2 up!
« Reply #7 on: March 25, 2015, 03:19:40 AM »
Good Turn 3

Niathi felt the sting of the elven pincers and bellowed at his army to react accordingly. Seeing fear in their faces he kicked his spurs into the griffons sides and it launched up into the air. Spying Vaskel’s brutal assault on the halberdiers he dove down at the elven general shouting a challenge as he did so. Vaskel was fast and snuck a wound through Niathi’s plate armour but left himself open to the joint assault from griffon and man combined. The elven general fell from his saddle. His dragon was enraged and furiously struck back at the Imperial griffon whilst stepping over the elf to guard him from further attack.



As the dragon’s furious blows died down, the halberdiers stepped forward and drove it back, eventually it picked up Vaskel’s limp body and flapped away, hotly pursued by the griffon.



Emboldened by the slaying of the elf general, the greatswords and inner core knights, led by Grand Master Wilhelm der Scheublich charged into the large dreadspear block. Casualties piled up on both sides but der Scheublich’s magical blade seemed to chop through armour like it was butter and the elves resistence faltered. They broke from combat and were easily trampled by the knights who charted headlong into the elven sorceress who had been hiding behind the seemingly solid spear elves!



Seeing the undisturbed advance of the witch elves towards the heart of the town, the spearmen fell back from the battlefield altogether, to act as a last resort readguard. (Or so they claimed…)

Angrilia called out a challenge to Wvolthe, the two generals approaching each other. Sadly for the dwarf, though a competent enough fighter by other standards, she was no match for Wvolthe who continued his horrendous barrage of blows with a detached mania. She fell to his whirling blade and the black knights were able to mop up the rest of her unit.



The corsairs had managed to make it to one of the houses and were embroiled in a tricky struggle with the dwarf thunderers within, the dwarfs refusing to give up the building and pushing the raiders back.

The remaining longbeard unit charged in to try and help the last few hammerers but were too late and found themselves facing the skeletons alone. Two cairn wraiths floated in the front rank of the undead warriors, unharmed by the dwarf axes, their scythes swinging to and fro.







Evil Turn 3

With their general gone, the elves looked to rally themselves and get the upper hand back. Unfortunately, the steam tank had seen to their battle standard bearer too, crushing the tired elf beneath it’s steel wheels.

Elven raiders were used to working without command though and the light cavalry was certainly doing their job, sweeping around the watch tower and into the Imperial gun emplacements. The warlocks dispatched the crew of one cannon contemptuously before pursuing into the next whilst the dark riders and sub-commander Kirealeith on his dark Pegasus slammed into the handgunners who somehow held their ground.

The black guard, though few in number now were joined by the sisters of slaughter who had finally managed to work their way into the halberdier’s flank. The martial discipline of the guard coupled with the gladiatorial prowess of the sisters was too much for the halberdiers who fled from the combat. The black guard chased them down and ran headlong into the other halberdier block, ready to enact vengeance for their commander.



Der Scheublick himself slew the elven sorceress, her magics unable to protect her from his magical sword strokes.



Nearby the witch elves finally were able to find an opponent and they charged into the greatswords. The combat that followed was a bloody mess on both sides, elven poison slaying humans at every nick and imperial blades easily felling the unarmoured elves. It was the humans that took the largest number of casualties, but these men were hardened through years of battle and stood their ground, swearing not to let the witches past them and into the town.



The longbeards to the east were able to get the upper hand on the skeletons, but just as they thought the tide was turning in their favour, the crypt ghouls crept into their flank, evening up the fight. Wvolthe and his knights turned towards them, ready to charge in too.


Quote from: PhillyT
Magic does not have nearly the same problems with power levels as magic. 

Offline Siberius

  • Members
  • Posts: 6831
  • The Minotaur Cat
Good Turn 4

Niathi and his griffon finally chased the black dragon from the battlefield, but the Imperial general found himself facing a slew of elven bolt throwers.

Der Scheublich’s knights turned to charge into the flank of the witch elves, who were still pinned in bitter combat with the greatswords. The fight continued to be bloody but neither side would give up.



In the centre field, the executioners had been closing in to help the corsairs clear the houses of the barricaded missile troops but a combination of those very crossbowmen, handgunners and nearby dwarven organ gun was enough to kill every last elf before they could even reach the first house.

Across the field, the Irondrakes shouldered their guns and rushed in to help the longbeards. Between them, the crypt ghouls and skeletons were almost destroyed but of course the undead soldiers fought on, unknowing of their peril.



The eastmost knights who had rushed in to help the gyrocopter against the elven darkshards had done their job, the elves finally breaking and fleeing the battle. The knights and copter both turned to face the main battle again.





Evil Turn 4

Kirealeith, now marshalling the elven forces since Vaskels’s demise attempted to salvage a battle line from the micro battles spread across the town’s border. He steered his dark pegasus into a swordsmen detachment and whilst their training was no match for his skills, their discipline was impressive and they refused to flee.

Nearby, the sisters of slaughter, fresh from their decisive roll in taking down one halberdier regiment strode into the combat between the black guard and second halberdier regiment. Though they would never flee, the black guard were finally dispatched by the gritty state troops. The sisters were still fresh though and moved with lightning speed, dodging near every blow whilst delivering their own precisely. The exhausted halberdiers had given their all and this new threat was too much. They turned, against Kesselreich’s furious demands, and tried to flee and were cut down as the sisters sprang amongst them gleefully.



The witch elves in the centre had got their act together too, finishing the greatswords to a man and shrugging off the flank attack of the inner core knights, who turned and beat a hasty retreat from the fanatical elves.



The beastmaster on his scourgerunner chariot leveled his harpoon and let loose at the nearby griffon. The barb stuck in the beast’s flesh and it was dragged closer to the bolt throwers which let loose volleys of their own. One of the huge bolts slammed into Niathi and he was thrown from the saddle forcibly leaving only one of the four generals still standing!

Wvolthe’s black knights and war hydra slammed into the longbeards and irondrakes, intent on turning the tide further towards the evil forces. Whilst they were too late to aid the skeletons, the hydra trampled the remaining longbeards whilst Wvolthe tore into the irondrakes whose armour and steadfast determination was the only thing stopping a total rout.



Wvolthe’s necromantic powers eminated out, restoring some of the crypt ghouls and his knights whilst zombies were rising in droves behind the combat, seeking out new prey.





Good Turn 5


Having outpaced the witch elves, Der Scheublich reigned his knights in and turned once more to face them whilst a nearby militia regiment charged into the witch’s flank, doing as much damage as they received and very nearly breaking the surprised witches.

The steam tank remained half sunk into the bog, but managed to get it’s cannon working again, well enough to dispatch one of the reapers that had been such a thorn in the empire’s side. The griffon turned to face the other one, ready to swoop in.

The hurricanum had mostly trundled along behind the Imperial line but seeing the harpies once more flitting across towards the town, the acolytes made the brave decision to charge in to lend their help. Whilst their combat prowess was embarrassing, they were able to use the momentum and bulk of the wagon to drive the harpies once more from the field.



Argyle Stoneburner, the dwarven demon slayer had suffered a frustrating battle to this point. Though he had charged impressively here and there to try and lend his support, by the time he reached where he had planned to go, the tide of battle had moved on. Now was his moment though. The hydra, fresh from it’s victory over the longbeards was busy munching on their corpses. He raised his axes, bellowed a warcry and charged the beast, his loincloth flapping disturbingly in the wind. The hydra looked round as he neared and turned to face him, but this was the kind of battle he had won countless times and the dwarf had cut two of it’s heads off before it knew what had happened. It fled pitifully from him and the gyrocopter swooped in as it ran, gunning it down.



Behind this heroic scene the knights were performing feats of their own, charging into the unholy corpse cart and hacking through the zombies pulling it before dispatching it’s driver.

A lone warrior priest, sole survivor of the massacre of the longbeards had rallied his courage and his faith. He gripped resolutely onto his warhammer, made a prayer to his god and yelled a challenge to Wvolthe von Carstein and charged in, ready to smite the monstrous evil. The vampire only had time to smirk as his sword whipped around and decapitated the poor priest whose head flew ten feet through the air, coming to a rest staring up at the sky.








Evil Turn 5

Kirealeith had combined with the warlocks to finish up the swordsmen detachment who had sold their lives dearly to hold him up. Flushed with victory he glided on towards the dwarf organ gun.

The beastmaster once more took aim with his harpoon and the hooked bolt sliced into the griffon’s neck as a bolt from the reaper took it in the chest. The magnificent beast was slain at last.

The witch elves had recovered from the surprise attack from the militia and had turned to face them now. As if that were not bad enough for the free company, the sisters of slaughter had made their way there too and the combined attack  destroyed the unit utterly.



Wvolthe was making some headway into the irondrakes but these were the finest warriors the dwarfs had to offer and they did not give their lives cheaply. The cold one chariot was freed up and sped into the dwarfs, scythed wheels cutting through the thick armour.

Behind all this, the overzealous gyrocopter pilot had steered his machine too close to the crypt horrors who swatted it from the sky. It crashed just infront of the zombies who were slowly turning to face the knights.






« Last Edit: March 26, 2015, 03:37:33 AM by Siberius »
Quote from: PhillyT
Magic does not have nearly the same problems with power levels as magic. 

Offline Siberius

  • Members
  • Posts: 6831
  • The Minotaur Cat
Good Turn 6

Der Scheublich was angered at the devastation the small band of sisters were doing to his army and seeing them still finishing off the militia took the chance, his knights steaming into the rear of the seemingly unstoppable gladiators. Even his best knights and magical blade were unable to fell the elves though and they responded with unnatural speed, turning and finding chinks in the knights armour.



The imperial mortars had been firing shells for the entire battle with little effect. But that was all about to change. The witch elves, fresh from their victory over the militia found themselves stranded right on the edge of the town. Handguns and crossbows fired from every window and every last witch elf fell. Only the cauldron of blood and the death hag upon it remained, guarded by magical energies. A mortar shell went up and what seemed an eternity later fell from the sky right onto the cauldron with an almighty explosion. As man and elf picked themselves up to see what had happened, the smoke cleared and the cauldron was smashed apart, the death hag now just a bloody pulp smeared across it’s marble chunks!



Filled with a new fervor, the knights lowered their lances and ploughed into the zombies who fell easily to the disciplined horsemen. Unfortunately for the imperials, though the zombies could not dent their armor, their sheer numbers would not budge and the impetus of the charge became bogged down in corpses, both dead and alive.







Evil Turn 6

Kirealeith looked around. So few troops were left standing. It was time for one final push to try and break the empire lines and push on into the town. He swooped down on the organ gun but once more, the line held and whilst he was able to slay two of the crew, the last one stood his ground and would not give up his machine.



The corsairs had been embroiled in combat with the thunderers who had steadfastly refused to give up the house despite being outnumbered three to one but at last the elves were able to kill them all and stormed victoriously into the building, claiming it for the elves.



Der Scheublich could see that whilst the town was still holding out for the most part, there was little to be gained by fighting the supernatural seeming sisters of slaughter who had felled the last of his own inner core knights. He called the retreat and was barely were able to turn and outpace the elves as they chased willingly.



Across the field, the last few remaining ironbreakers could sense that a regroup back in the town was the best course of action too and narrowly managed to outrun the pursuing undead forces. Wvolthe howled in frustration as they reached the cover of the buildings.



Only the knights were left in combat, attempting to disengage from the clawing zombies, in danger of becoming a part of the undead host themselves…








Kirealeith stepped down from his Pegasus, absentmindedly patting it’s neck. What was left of the dark elf raiders had fallen back to the treeline, though the corsairs had ignored the command, no doubt looting the house they had fought for. So few of the elven army remained. Vaskel lay against an old tree, breathing heavily, a nasty wound in his abdomen still leaking blood.

There was no doubt about it, the vampire was the one who had really benefitted from this battle. Speak of the devil, here he came now. The air seemed to grow colder as Wvolthe and his silent knights trotted into the clearing.

“My task here is done, I consider our agreement honored, though Craghammer himself still remains alive, somewhere. Does your commander live still?”

“Barely” Kirealeith scowled.

“Pity,” Wvolthe smiled, “He would have made a good captain for my own guard.”

With that, he gave the elf a nod and turned, his knights following him, needing no verbal command. He was swallowed by the darkness.




Der Scheublich rode into the town centre, finding the remnants of the Imperial and Dwarf armies, mostly reserves who had been set to guard the townsfolk. What had become of Kesselreich or Niathi no one could say for sure. Some said they had seen them die, others thought they had been able to crawl away, but survivors were still making their way back to town. For now, he was in charge.

He commanded a watch to be set at the houses on the perimeter of the town. He sighed and called to his knights, they would have to take care of the elves who had managed to capture the one house. He would burn it down if need be.

From what he could tell, the elven army was too battered to attempt another assault, but the vampire was another matter entirely. He just hoped they could hold out through the night. There were far too many dead on that field and if the necromantic magic could raise even a quarter of them back to unlife, Scharmbeck was doomed…

Quote from: PhillyT
Magic does not have nearly the same problems with power levels as magic. 

Offline Siberius

  • Members
  • Posts: 6831
  • The Minotaur Cat
When the battle was done, it was so late that my brother and I made a note of what was left on the field and parted ways, content to find out the final result in the morning. We did discover that all the mini objectives we had put in (banners in board sections, building objectives, challenge wins etc) had added up to an exact draw! Outside that, the casualties were so severe we had no idea if anyone had snuck the win.

On spending some time the next day going through points tallied up, this was what each player lost:

Empire: 3759
Dwarfs: 1513
Dark Elves: 5206
Vampires: 1040

The fact that my wife's vampires had managed to be the only one that had not lost BSB or General meant that we got 200pts more leaving the margin of victory at 774... to the good guys! The town was safe! For now... from the state of the battle at the end, things were not looking to healthy for the Empire. The dwarfs were decimated and whilst the dark elves were likewise, the Vampires still seemed to have a lot to give. Wvolthe had been on fire the entire game and was able to spend the last few turns making sure the undead units that remained were growing again steadily.

It was a pretty amazing fight, thoroughly enjoyable and full of twists. For a couple of turns there I was sure we had it in the bag. I knew my dark elves were dying horribly but there seemed so little left of the good guys. The mortar shot taking out the cauldron was a fearsome nail in our coffin, as was being unable to catch that grand master.

I'll come back tomorrow and mention a couple of things that stood out for me from the encounter as well as what I might change slightly if we were to do a similar thing in the future, which everybody agreed (thankfully) afterwards would be fun! Thanks for reading. Feel free to comment on stuff. Sorry I missed out so much info and fudged a few things in the report. It gets highly complicated, especially when only working from memory and photos!
Quote from: PhillyT
Magic does not have nearly the same problems with power levels as magic. 

Offline Naitsabes

  • Members
  • Posts: 779
  • Never slid
Awesome! warhammer at its finest.

I'd be interested in details on the 'mini objectives'; if you changed any rules, e.g. dice per magic phase; and if there is anything you would now do differently in terms of playing a big game like this.

Thanks for putting the time in to produce the report as well.
The Empire Road to Volganof Last update 18Mar2023 - Pistoliers & Baggage train)

Offline Siberius

  • Members
  • Posts: 6831
  • The Minotaur Cat
I can indeed. I did make some house rules in attempt to make for as fun a game as I could. They were...

-The board was split into 2 sections down the middle. Anything that crossed the centre line would fall under control of your fellow player till it came back again. This way you could lend support to them if things were going worse there and you could spare the troops.

-Magic phase was split likewise with effectively 2 magic phases running simultaneously. Though you could target someone on the other side, only the person opposite you could dispel things. This was to try and give everyone a good chance to do magic but not allow sneak attacks from one side to the other who might not have rolled as many dice.

-There could be no more than 2 characters in a unit at any one time. An attempt to somewhat limit silly deathstars.

-For each player, you could spend 100pts on magic items/powers for one character only. Other characters were limited to 50pts. A further attempt to limit people just putting stupid amounts of points into crazy killing machines/tanks.

- You could irresistibly dispel an irresistible spell, both wizards suffering a miscast.

-Everything had to be painted.


I think that is about it. On the whole I think it worked out as I hoped. Magic actually played not as huge a role as I worried it might, Hopefully the limit into semi normal magic phases helped. Characters could be pretty mean without going all out blender lord or dwarf tank. My wife's vampire lord for instance could not fit red fury and had to downgrade to blade of might. Still very nasty but could not just outright dominate combats by itself.

I enjoyed the lack of deathstars too. There were a couple of units with 2 characters I think but that was plenty and it meant they got spread around the whole board. I really didn't want to see either one huge unit dominating the board and being invincible or indeed getting panicked on the first turn and running 1000pts + straight off!




In terms of objectives we had:

- Board split into 10 2x2s, whoever had the most banners in each section would get 100VPS.
- Each of the 3 town houses was worth 200VPs to whoever claimed them at battle's end.
- There was a graveyard and a temple. Each worth another 200VPs to whoever claimed them at battle end.
- Each character on character challenge kill was worth I think 25VPs, maybe 50.

They were mainly to try and drive story arc and encourage engagement. I think us evil guys actually lost sight of the centre houses a bit. It was only late on that I even managed to get to one. We got separated to our indivdual sides. The vampire did a whole slew of challenge wins and I think at the end between all of us only maybe 4 banners total even remained on the field!


I plan to maybe write a post in the main electors forum about what I learned about big battles like this and what I'd try and emulate and avoid maybe in the next couple of days. Thanks for reading. Though I enjoy writing these up for my own pleasure, it's always nice to know people are enjoying it!
Quote from: PhillyT
Magic does not have nearly the same problems with power levels as magic.