Good call on the crumble. You indeed win combat by one (as opposed to just win)
The lions indeed play a central role (for such a small unit). If you charge them you need to be sure to go through them in one turn, otherwise the helms, phoenix and eltharion can charge in. However, if you do go through them then you end up in no-mans land (the lions are angled in such a way that an overrun would take you past the PG. Which would effectively take the warsphinx out of the battle for one or two crucial turns.
Settra can't close the door stuck between the skeletons and tomb guard. Which means lining up the reavers instead. It was part of the reason I placed the reavers where I did. The TK line is really bunched together. And this way they all get in each others way. The way they are positioned means they can only really move forwards easily. Any wheel / pivot attempts has units running into each other. And it's only made worse with the low movement speed of the TK army (I think you need more then a full move to wheel the big skeleton unit 90 degrees for instance). And with the reavers there I delay a very big part of the army.
SpellArcher wrote:
The no-charging thing is indeed big and getting the unit where it wants to go takes several dice rolls, which is rarely a good idea.
This is why I'm not much of a fan of the entombed rules. It's too random and limiting to really be strong, unless you bring multiple units to even out the randomness a bit. But you already don't want to try and surface within 6'' of a board edge, since you have a decent chance to simply scatter off. And then you can't rely on them too much since you don't know when they'll surface. And at best they only really start doing stuff after a turn (or more likely two).
On to turn 3
Tomb King Turn 3Charges:
The warsphinx goes for the White Lions. I hold because both possible outcomes are better for me then for him. And also, I don't want to give him the redirect into the SH unit (part of the reason he can't do that now is that it would mean taking a WL unit in the flank, but that's not the case if they flee).
Settra and the big skeleton unit go for the reavers. This takes a bit of finagling, but both fit in there. And crucially (and overlooked by me at least), it offers the fastest way for the skeleton unit to get in a place where it can participate in the battle. After all, you get a 90 degree wheel and unlimited movement while charging, whereas a normal move would have left the stuck somewhere in the middle of the field.
In other movement, the necro knights show up, about equal distance from the reavers, white lions and phoenix guard.
The Tomb Guard reform to face the right flank
Magic:
Again gives an average phase. I scroll the movement spell on the phoenix guard and dispell the rest.
Shooting: no shooting with everything in combat
Combat:
The archers finally get their act together vs the horse archers. They again deal 3 wounds, but now my opponent fails his 6+ armour save. In return he kills one archer. The remaining horse archers crumble and the archers reform to face the centre of the battlefield.
Settra and the skeletons kill all the reavers for no wounds in return. They reform and both now face the right flank (it's starting to look like we're playing battle for the pass...).
In the warsphinx combat my opponent recognizes that he needs to go through the WL in a single turn, so he adds in the breathweapon. He manages to (just) kill all the WL, for no wounds in return and he overruns through the forest to next to the PG unit.
High Elf Turn 3Charges: The SH, Phoenix and Eltharion charge the Tomb Guard unit.
The PG charge the necro knights.
Other movement: The archers walk towards the big skeleton block (so they can still shoot later on).
Magic:
5-2 phase. I draw out my opponents scroll and as a result don't get anything cast. But at least a 5 is something the phoenix can work with.
Shooting: the archers take a couple of wounds off the skeleton unit.
Combat:
The Phoenix Guard show their worth. They deal 5 wounds to the necro knights and take 2 in return. With 2 ranks and a banner I win combat by 5, which is enough to crumble the rest of the knights. The PG reform slightly to keep everything in front.
In the big combat, 3 SH bite the dust as well as a lot of Tomb Guard. Once the dust settles, 8 Tomb Guard and Ramhotep remain.
This gives

As mentioned at the start, we decide to call it here. Time's up, unfortunately.
We don't add up any points, it feels a bit silly to try to determine a winner at what feels like the middle of the battle. We both agree that I'm probably in a better position. The tomb guard will disappear over the next turn. But until they do so they prevent Settra from doing a lot since he can't really get around them. The warsphinx is also out of the battle for at least a turn but probably 2, since the PG prevent him from effectively wheeling around to get back into the action.
At the same time, I only lost the WL and reavers and I'm in a good position to deal with Settra and have enough lined up to do some serious damage to the skeletons (though getting through them will take a long time). Especially being able to deny Settra his impact hits is pretty big I think.
All in all, a fun battle.
Rod
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