Queen Kalidha has decided to lead an expedition North to reclaim the long lost tablets of construction that continued the methods for stone shaping Warsphinxes. These tablets were chiseled by Grand Necrotect Iago. It is believed that the High Elves of ShoeLand traded a dragon egg to some Border Prince of little note for these tablets. Khalidha has sent Prince Jafar and Priest Razoul to recover the tablets.
They take with them a grand host of skeleton warriors and animated constructs from ages past. Their vanguard is composed of
Lords
Liche High Priest
Liche High Priest
Heroes
Tomb Prince
Skeleton Chariot
Spear
Enchanted Shield
Ironcurse Icon
Talisman of Endurance
Core
Special
Khemrian Warsphinx
Khemrian Warsphinx
8 Ushabti
Champion
Musician
Standard Bearer
Rare
Casket of Souls
Screaming Skull Catapult
The pesky Shoeland elves were first encountered on the edges of their realm on a field dotted with a few stands of trees, a couple of hills, and a ruin of some sort (Pesky elves can’t build anything to last, they should come look at our pyramid cities!). In Queen Khalida's haste to send forth Prince Jafar and Priest Razoul she neglected to allow for time to assemble the Horse Archer Scouts from their fields where they feed on dust and dried reeds. This would prove to be a costly mistake in the first battle.
Arrayed against them was what appeared to be a High Elf Border Patrol. Jafar could see at least two giant eagles, and two small groups of knights. The elves also appeared to have a number of those infernal bolt thrower machines along with archers and a core of elite infantry. Razoul should see the magic emitting from two points in the main elf column, they had brought wizards with them as well.
As the leaders of the Tomb King expedition looked across the field they realized the Elves were starting to deploy to the flanks of the Tomb King column, Prince Jafar quickly ordered the two Warshpinxes to secure each flank and protect the center of the Tomb King Line. Meanwhile, the the skeleton archers took up firing positions at the center of the line. As Prince Jafar’s chariots rolled onto the field the High Elf archers took up position opposing them on the far hills. The Ushabti took up positions on the other side of the archers. As the casket of souls and catapults were drug into place the high elf infantry formed up opposite the Ushabti. As Jafar surveyed his lines the high elfs drug their bolt throwers onto hills across the width of the field.
As the Elven horse started to probe the flanks and their infantry started to move forward there was little time to take further stock of what was happening. The battle had begun. The Elves seemed to be probing the Tomb Kings lines while the bolt throwers, archers, and mages hurled bolts, shafts, and spells towards the Khemerians. Jafar knew his troops wouldn’t last long out in the open, taking this much fire. He ordered the Warsphinxs to engage the Elven horse and sent his chariots and Ushabti towards the Elf lines. Meanwhile, Priest Razoul ordered the catapults to begin firing resulting in one immediately cracking under the strain of the payload and being taken out of action for the day. The casket managed to unleash its tormented souls but was unable to cause significant damage on the enemy lines.
Things were not going much better for the Khmerian melee troops, the Warsphinxs were unable to catch the Elven horse as they kept retreating. The chariots had found a weak spot of ground and were practically stuck in place. They tried over and over to charge the Elven archers without success, and without much movement. On the other side of the battle, the Ushabti were engaged with Elven infantry wearing the hides of lions and wielding great axes. Priest Razoul and Priest Iago were unable to aid them in combat with any spells, the Elven mages were countering anything the winds were willing to give the Tomb Kings. Meanwhile, the Elves were being favored by the winds of magic and their troops fought like lions.
Under hails of bolts and shafts, the chariots were soon almost all gone. The lion elves made short work of the Ushabti and soon caught Priest Razoul by surprise, destroying his unit and wounding him to the point of unconsciousness. The Tomb King archers were able to deal a smattering of wounds to the Elves but not enough to cause any of their units to rout. One eagle became quite brave and as it closed the distance to the archers, was cut down by arrows. One Warsphinx was able to catch a group of fleeing Elven horse and crushed the squirming bodies under its jade stone paws. However, the bolt throwers and archers soon found the weak points in the constructs and shattered them on the field.
Prince Jafar looked around the battlefield in dismay, the elves had suffered minimal casualties while most of his host was scattered among the dirt of the field. His chariot was still stuck in the mud and as he turned back towards the Elf lines he saw a bolt coming straight at him. With his last breath he cursed the damn machine and the pointy eared bastards crewing it. As the bolt took off his legs and crushed his chariot he had the satisfaction of seeing the bolt thrower enveloped in a swarm of beetles. With the collapse of their generals chariot the few remaining skeleton archers crumbled to dust as the elves closed in.
It was dark when Razoul came too. He had to lay amongest the dried bones of skeleton archers while he concentrated on spells learned long ago to restore his health. Once he was able to stand he slowly picked his way over the battlefield. He walked past the corpse of a giant eagle towards what remained of the chariots. Not much was left of Prince Jafar's chariot, but once he looked under it Razoul realized most of Jafar was still intact. He would have to re-construct his legs but Razoul knew he would be able to wake the Prince once more. As he set to the task he thought to himself, "it was almost as though the Elves had read the tablets and knew the weak points in our constructs. The bolts and shafts made such quick work of the Sphinxs, that must be it!" Razoul knew the tablets were in the possesion of the Elves, they had to be!
Things I Learned from this game
- I had 7 drops to Aaron’s 9 or more drops. This made it really hard to put combat blocks where they needed to be. I really needed redirectors and if I took this list again, would drop the Prince and split the chariots into two units of 3 for this purpose.
-I think I took an extra catapult, but it blew up on turn one so it didn’t really matter.
-Elves didn't fail a terror or leadership test all game except for the first casket test. Even with it failed, they have a high enough leadership that it didn’t do many wounds.
-Aaron did a good job of spacing his units so the casket spell couldn’t jump to war machines.
-The Ushabti combat was silly on my part, but if I hadn’t charged they probably would have been charged the next turn. I should have cast Net of Amorek (sp?) on one of his combat blocks a lot earlier than I did.
-Chariots failed a ton of charges with really low roles meaning they never got into combat. I probably should have just moved them the second turn and then tried to charge.
-If I was to take this list again, I would either take the chariots as smaller units to hunt chaff or take skeleton horse archers (2 or 3 units of 5) and then a block of skeleton warriors with a prince in it. I would also put a necrotect in to give one of the animated constructs a 5+ ward and give something hatred.
-High Elf shooting hurts a lot more than I thought.
-High Elf magic is pretty good too.
