High Elves Turn 4Well, first off, I obviously couldn't charge the saurus any more. They were going to be T8 for the next two combat phases so, if I took the charge, I'd have 3 expensive combat units getting tarpitted by one, and it would allow plenty of time for the stegadon, saurus cavalry, temple guard and skink cohort to move in together and crush my isolated spears, archers and archmage. If I put my helms into them, on the other hand, they'd eventually be ground out and the characters would be stuck there. The High Elves needed a Plan B.
I was proud of my eagle and everything but, honestly, he was now a bit of a pain. The easiest next plan would have been to back the cavalry off and redirect my swords into the saurus cavalry – there was still plenty of room passed the skinks – but now the bird was blocking this path. I still had the spearelves and white lions, however. With my heroes fighting alongside, they might have the muscle to break through on the right and, with my swordmasters and knights playing hold-up on the left, cut their way through to the Slann and end this thing. With only 3 turns to go, though, could it be done in time?
The chariot kicked things off by charging the terradons, running them down and (mistakenly) overrunning into the saurus cavalry (for future reference- if you hit fleeing foes, you stop and test to reform).
On the left, the moment he felt a flood of power fill the air and saw his foes turning stony grey before his eyes, Seredain let out an enormous shout and the bellowing of warhorns brought the elven knights to a shuddering halt. He left his brave silver helms with simple orders –
hold them for as long as you can - and galloped, his standard bearer alongside him, toward the centre of the field. The Lizardmen were living by the Slann, they would have to die by him too. As the silver helms formed a last-ditch angled road-block against the saurus horde the swordmasters, with nowhere else to manoeuvre, moved up into the teeth of the cohort and prepared to hold their ground to buy their leaders time to lead the new attack. The spearelves, hearing the cries of their lord, surged forward in the wake of the chariot while, to their right, the white lions, axes gleaming with unnatural fire, assaulted the skinks in the building- only one falling to the hail of darts which greeted them. The dragon princes, meanwhile, backed off to buy some room against the saurus horde.
In the magic phase, another looming disaster struck: the comet slammed into the ground by the green archers and erupted over an enormous 10” to hit them, the swordmasters and, running as a pair, my two fighting heroes. The characters managed to shrug off the shockwave but 5 swordmasters collapsed, blood streaming from beneath their armour, and fully 10 archers were shattered by the blast, leaving their brothers reeling from the shock. Lecalion, calling out amidst the commotion, barely held his remaining troops together.
Perhaps unable to concentrate as his citizen guards fell dying in droves, the archmage again suffered from a lack of power, but he had just enough to dispel the Slann's throne and to force up
Flesh to Stone on the now desperate swordmasters, turning them from glass hammer to much-needed anvil. The repeater, with little else to do, thudded a few bolts into the temple guard but couldn't get passed the engine's shield.
Even as the spearelves rush into the breach, urged on by their heroes, the elven left begins to bow under the weight of enemy magic.In the combat phase, the lusty chariot crushed two saurus cavalry and was wounded once in return. Stubbornly (but fairly), the lizards held. To the right, the white lions (now re-rolling misses
and wounds because of their flaming attacks), killed every single skink and occupied the ruins. The eagle, although struggling on, now couldn't stand against the scar veteran who struck furiously and tore his enemy to pieces.
Lizardmen Turn 4The High Elves were being hammered hard but they weren't out of it yet. Indeed, the truth was that, with the white lions and elven spears rushing on toward the lizards' left flank alongside their lord and standard bearer, the Slann was now in great danger. His infantry had to get stuck in fast. The skink/kroxigor cohort charged the swordmasters, already swinging their great swords and now laughing grimly at the prospect of battle. The scar veteran, to prevent me joining fighting muscle with ranks, charged the spearelves while the stegadon rumbled into the chariot to aid the saurus cavalry. On my left, the saurus horde took the charge against the silver helms, who stood their ground and bravely prepared for death or glory.
The noble silver helms stand against overwhelming odds.Magic. Another 10 power dice flooded the battlefield, but at least I had 6 dispel dice to play with. The skink priest couldn't repeat his earlier glory and failed to cast the comet. Lecalion then easily dispelled throne of vines but found that, again, flesh to stone was cast irresistibly, this time on the cohort crashing into the swordmasters. The slann tapped his cupped hands to avoid the miscast but, fortunately, Lecalion was covered from sight by the swordmasters and so stood unaffected. At some stage the Slann used a couple of dice to bring down Lecalion's throne of vines.
Combat now raged across the field. The saurus shouldered their way into the silver helms and, since the knights couldn't make a single armour save (four 1's!), cut them all down and reformed to face the retreating dragon princes. In the centre, the swordmasters did poorly against the toughness 5 skinks, killing only four, and were then pummelled heavily by the kroxigor, who made
all of their six attacks hit and then, wounding on a 5+, scored two wounds. With their prince and BSB nearby, the swords stuck with it but, with dice like this, they wouldn't last long without their magical toughness. On the right, the chariot was smashed to pieces by the ancient stegadon, which effectively just sat on it. The scar veteran, however, struggled to hack his way through the massed spear points of the elven citizens and could only slay one of them. The spears couldn't get passed his armour, however, and he held his ground despite the odds, delaying my troops by another valuable turn.
As the battle hangs in the balance, Seredain finally catches sight of his target.High Elves Turn 5There was no time to wait for the troops, then: Seredain and Caradath sang their battle cries and crashed into the vulnerable saurus cavalry on their way to the Lizardman general. The white lions followed the sound and, upon gathering outside of the ruin, advanced a little and wheeled left to face the flank of the temple guard. The green archers, to buy their lord more time, marched toward the saurus horde to offer them another expensive sacrifice while the princes, unable to achieve anything at this end of the field, swung round and retreated toward my backline. Lecalion marched back toward the blue archers who, with nothing to shoot, had shuffled around the repeater and were now moving up to receive him.
The magic phase, which I needed to be strong for the sake of the swordmasters at least, finally saw Lecalion draw on a huge amount of power- the Banner making all the difference to give me 11 dice against the lizards' 5 dispel dice. I began by trying Throne, but saw it dispelled on 2 dice. Flesh to Stone then went up on the swordmasters to give them T5. They badly needed it, but Mallas let it through as he had to take a shot at dispelling what was inevitably coming... In the end, however, the slann was powerless to stop my 6-dice Dwellers and half of his bodyguard crashed into the ground. Where his Str4 guard fell, though, the curs'ed slann managed to survive.
Shooting saw the death of one more temple guard from the far-off repeater bolt thrower. They were now looking very fragile indeed.
In combat, Seredain and Caradath just dominated their enemy. Their flashing swords rose and fell with incredible speed and, within moments, they were charging through the gory ruin of the saurus cavalry and smashing headlong into the few remaining temple guard. Even as they saw their leaders strike right into the heart of the enemy, the spears pushed hard against the heroic scar veteran but, despite making a huge number of hits, still couldn't get passed his armour and, infuriatingly, he again held his ground. The swordmasters, toughened if not revitalised, struggled on and brought down a few enemy before, once again, they were pounded by the kroxigor, who made five hits and three wounds! Only 4 swordmasters remained, but they were in it for their prince and, with their army standard still standing tall, they weren't going anywhere.
Lizardmen Turn 5The only charge available to the saurus horde was against the green archers, and they took it. Everything else was engaged in holding action. The skink cohort was still stuck against T5 swordmasters, so the only unit able to save the temple guard from the white lions' flank charge was the stegadon. He didn't have a charge on, but found the time to shuffle through the gap between his master and the lions, offering the elves a flank but nonetheless providing a steadfast, T6 roadblock. A good move.
In the magic phase, the slann finally got only average dice but still managed to make a bunch of casts to defend his guardians! Throne of vines and shield of thorns went up on the temple guard, both with big rolls, but I dispelled regrowth with all my dice and, finally, burned the scroll to stop the inevitable flesh to stone. My heavily-armoured heroes weren't worried about thorns and shrugged them off with ease. Fortunately for me, Mallas then forgot to buzz his engine of the gods. It wouldn't have killed the heroes (fighting as a single unit for safety), but they and the white lions were certainly grateful nonetheless!
As the battle rages on, the fate of both armies rests on the shoulders of their mighty heroes...In combat, on the left flank, the saurus continued to gobble up victory points and easily killed the few archers blocking their path, but they were now stranded in the open and unable to halt my attack. Although I'd lost the silver helms and archers, their impromptu holding action on the left had done its work. In the centre, though, the swordmasters seemed cursed. They rolled terribly to wound against the skinks and, a few moments later,
all four of them were killed by the kroxigor, who made a disgusting number of hits and wounds and absolutely smashed them to pulp. Ugh. The cohort reformed to face my right-hand side.
The biggest combat of all saw the elven heroes smash into the temple guard. To preserve them for as long as possible (and stay stubborn), the slann issued a challenge and I accepted with my BSB (I think the slann had a 3+ ward, for one and, for two, I wanted more attacks going into the guard to get rid of them as quickly as possible). In the ensuing combat, both my heroes excelled. Caradath bypassed the slann's ward completely and scored two wounds, while Seredain swung his mighty blade and cleaved four temple guard. The result was an easy victory for the elves but, naturally, the elite saurus held. I then reformed my unit and this posed a problem. In the end, we kept the BSB in contact with the slann and moved the prince over to keep the unit of 2 elves together (and maintain contact with the same number of models). I'm not sure what the protocol is for that- do you separate a unit into individual models so that one can continue to fight a challenge, or do you move one over to keep them together as a unit, even where that involves 'sliding'? Answers on a postcard please!
Lastly, on the right, the spearelves pushed hard against the scar veteran and, although unable to score any wounds, finally forced him into flight, charging after him full pelt and bringing him down. This was a big deal: a large chunk of points and the last barrier between them and the struggling temple guard was gone. Further, in their rush to kill the scar veteran they had stormed forward into easy charging distance. A killing strike was within my reach...
The massed lizardman infantry finally forces its way through, but is nonetheless unable to prevent the high elven assault on their left flank.High Elves Turn 6
Charge!Elven warhorns were met with an enormous shout as the spearelves and white lions rushed to the aid of their lord: the lions wildly assaulting the flank of the enormous stegadon and the spears crashing into the few remaining temple guard. As these charges surged hit home, Lecalion, working hard with what little the winds had given him (5 power dice, including the banner), nonetheless managed to cast Flesh to Stone (though Throne of Vines was dispelled) to bolster the small cohort of lions attacking the stegadon.
The skink priest perhaps should have challenged, though maybe he was hoping his mount would tread all over the small unit of elves and win the day. This was not to be, however. Their attack on the house had given the elite hunters a taste for violence and, having shrugged off their fear of the beast with the aid of the gem of Courage, they hacked into the stegadon with their mighty axes, killing it stone dead in one round of combat. Boom! This was more like it. Of course, Mallas had the last laugh though, as the little skink priest simply refused to give ground and rolled insane courage. Cheeky bastard!
The white lions kill the mightiest of beasts but then find themselves stumped by a little skink who simply refuses to run away. Huh.The white lions had been stopped in their tracks, but the slann was doomed. Even before I rolled for the spearelves, Seredain carved up the last three temple guard with ease. Caradath cut another wound out of the slann and the toad was left helpless. The spears had actually been cut out of combat but, with the heroes stacking up 5 points of combat res and the banner of discipline destroyed, the slann couldn't stand, tried to shuffle to safety but was easily ridden down. With his general dead, the skink priest doomed and no charges on next turn, Mallas called game and we finished it there. A bloody tense, nerve-wracking game had, at the last, gone my way. As his archers and remaining knights harassed the retreating saurus off the field, an exhausted elf prince slipped from his horse, sat on the slann's nearby plinth, cracked open a flagon of wine and started drinking.
Victory to the High Elves!
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