For our last ASoBH demo AAR click here ... especially if you don't like Elves.
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| the field of Mars |
The Blightkings started on the hill at (A). Doug won the roll off for initiative and charged toward Scott's entrenched position at (B) with two Blightkings while the Lord of Plagues commanded the center of the field and ordered the third Blightking to flank from the south.
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| the live action version |
Scott meanwhile moved his Skeletons into position to trap the eager Nurgle worshippers at the neck between the cliff face and rocky hill. For this game, both Scott and Doug had leaders to wrangle their Q4 minions so getting into position was not a problem for either side. Scott had to work with his Skeletons' Slow trait but was probably content to set up defensively anyhow and meet the rotten onslaught with superior, if creaky, numbers.
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| oh man look at those bonemen go |
Battle first commenced at the bottleneck at (i) on the map above. Frustrated by his Skeletons' inability to cleave through the heavily armored Blightkings, Scott sent in his Skeletal Champion. Because of his Weapons Master trait, the Champion could make an attack with every action once engaged. Unlike in the last demo game, the Blightkings were no longer burdened with the Lumbering trait, ensuring that the Skeletons would not just walk away from them without repercussion. Only the Lord of Plagues had the Tough trait this time, however; the others had to make do with Hard Hide.
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| nyaaaah! |
The Skeletal Champion waded in to great effect, ultimately laying low the dreaded shield-bearing Blightking. The Lord of Plagues, however, took advantage of this distraction to finally join the battle, charging in to threaten the Necromancer. I gave the Necromancer the Standard Bearer trait to help with the morale issue Undead mooks have in ASoBH: namely they crumble to dust if they fail on two or three morale tests. Plus, felling the Necromancer would immediately cause them all to take morale tests.
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| team work! |
The Blightking on the Hill had the Double Strike trait and came down on one of the Skeletons like a ton of bricks - double 5s gave him a result of 12 overall! But Scott ended up with a 7 and then rolled a 6 for Block. As soon as he had initiative again, Scott charged the recoiled Skelly back in and rolled some more 6s, knocking the Blightking prone with one bony minion and then finishing the rotten one off with another. For the second time, Hard Hide was no use to Doug. Had he lost Nurgle's favor? Too many showers the previous week, perhaps?
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| nap time, I guess |
The Champion arrived too late ... to help the Necromancer fell the Blightking with the Huge Weapon. The -1 to C for using that weapon "one-handed" really hurt this guy. The Lord of Plagues meantime found a Skeleton popping up wherever he took a step.
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| and yet he found a way! |
Taking advantage of his comrade's demise, the Lord of Plague finally managed to get into combat with the Necromancer. This was Doug's big chance to pull the ripcord. All he needed to do was cut that frail wizard down ...
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| swarm him, my pretties |
... but instead found himself recoiled by the Necromancer's single spell - Blast - giving the Necromancer enough space to move away and put some bones between them. The wind of Shyish was blowing at gale force now.
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| drag him down into the mud |
The Lord of Plagues quickly found himself surrounded and although he managed to stand back up and fight again and again, the increasingly grouchy skeletons bit and clawed and stabbed and cut and bashed until there was nothing left but the memory of an overripe stench.
Scott rolled his way to victory with 6 after 6 after 6 while Doug struggled to overcome the numerical advantage. He did not take out a single skeleton until the final scrum at point (ii), which lasted for at least five or six turns. By that point, the Necromancer was safely perched on the hill, cackling as his soulless minions tore apart Nurgle's chosen fall guy. Oh that's a pun because he was knocked prone about five times.
We really should have taken the time to come up with a scenario to make the fight more tactical. Even so the Trait make-up of the warbands did give rise to certain tactics which both players immediately understood and took advantage - or tried to take advantage - of. The important thing is, we had yet another game with thrilling moments!