Saturday 8th July Part I

Game 1 : Undead (Dave) versus Twilight Kin (James), 2000 points, Scour

Introduction

My name is Dave, and this is my first battle report. Learning how to put this together has been a fun experience, but taken longer than expected. I must acknowledge my big thanks to Swordmaster's Battle Reports which have been very much the inspiration for these reports.

Also thank you to my fellow gamers James and Paul who with me played a minute tourney at York Garrison Wargaming Club on Saturday 8th July. They were also very patient while I kept pausing their games for photos. Our three battles provided the meat for these forthcoming battle reports.

Now to get started. Game 1 was my Undead against James' Twilight Kin. James is one of our club's best Kings of War players, but at yet he hasn't been able to duplicate a similar success in tournaments away from home. James is a good sport, but as an enemy general a cold-blooded opponent, also he's won the great majority of our games together.

Dave's (my) Undead Army
2 Skeleton Spearmen Troops - 150
Revenants Horde. Undead Giant Rats, Hammer of Measured Force - 230
3 Wraiths Troops, Fire-Oil, Blade of Slashing, Mace of Crushing - 435
2 Werewolves Hordes, Brew of Strength, Helm of the Ram - 535
Soul Reaver Cavalry Regiment, Wine of Elvenkind - 340
Revenant King on Horse, Banner of the Griffin - 160
"Bone-head" Necromancer on Horse, Soul Drain, Inspiring Talisman - 150

James' Twilight Kin Army
Spearmen Horde, Hammer of Measured Force - 250
2 Reaper Guards Regiments, Brew of Courage, Orcsbain's Amulet of Thorns - 350
Dark Knights Regiment, Maccwar's Potion of the Caterpillar - 230
Crossbowmen Regiment, Fire-Oil - 155
2 Twilight Bolt Throwers - 180
ASB on Horse, Banner of the Griffin - 85
Dark Lord on Black Dragon, The Fog - 345
Archfiend of the Abyss, Lightning Bolt (5), Healing Brew - 280
High Priestess of the Abyss, Bane-chant (2), Soul Drain, Myrddin's Amulet of the Fire-heart - 125

Scenario & Terrain

Terrain & Objective Markers

The scenario rolled was Scour from the Clash of Kings 2017 Supplement with six objective tokens.







Deployment

Deployment

I won deployment and decided to deploy my life-sucking Undead on the bottom edge.

Twilight Kin Turn 1

Turn 1 Twilight Kin

James going first suited me. I didn't believe he had the capability to hurt me too badly this early. Also I wanted to see his game plan before I made my first move and with the scenario being Scour it wouldn't hurt to have the last turn.

Ironically in the shooting phase my Skeleton Spearmen troop was turned to dust despite only taking two damage from the High Priestess of the Abyss. Not even a Nerve re-roll could save them. For James this was only poetic justice for his other shooting; Bolt Throwers, Black Dragon, Crossbowmen and Archfiend of the Abyss all whiffed.

 'Your feeble skills are no match for the power of the Dark Side!'

Undead Turn 1

Turn 1 Undead - the strong right flank pushes forward

Twilight Kin Turn 2

Turn 2 Twilight Kin - the Wraiths(Wr2) dissolve in a hail of TK fire

Undead Turn 2

Turn 2 Undead

My left flank withdraws, while my strong right flank executes it's charge. James' Crossbowmen regiment and two Bolt Throwers were annihilated.

Before...

... and after

Twilight Kin Turn 3

Turn 3 Twilight Kin - counterattack!

The goddess of luck shines favouring James as one point of damage and a 11 roll routs another one of my Wraiths(Wr1). The Werewolves(W1) and Wraiths(Wr3) also take trifling damage from spell attacks.

Undead Kin Turn 3

Turn 3 Undead

All In! - but the Twilight Spearmen refuse to break! Victory for the Undead feels a real possibility as this point.

Twilight Kin Turn 4

Turn 4 Twilight Kin

The Twilight Kin rout the Skeleton Spearmen Troop (SS1), Soul Reaver Cavalry, and the Werewolves Horde (W1).

Undead Turn 4

Turn 4 Undead

The Twilight Spearmen and Dark Knights remained steady. The remaining Wraiths being surged into the rear of the Dark Knights was not enough to break them. The Reaper Guard Regiment 1 (RG1) however are routed.

Twilight Kin Turn 5

Turn 5 Twilight Kin

This and the previous Twilight turn was where James won the battle, he had killed too many of my units for me to mount a credible fight or grab enough objectives.

How much damage! - 'Give me back my legions!'

 

























Undead Turn 5

Turn 5 Undead

The forlorn attack by the Reverant King fails to break the Twilight Kin's Spearmen Horde.

Twilight Kin Turn 6

Turn 6 Twilight Kin

The death of Bonehead

Revenant King is wavered

Undead Turn 6

Turn 6 Undead & End

The Reaper Guard dies, giving me 1 VP, but James claims 2 VP. We called it here, as any possible turn 7 would only favour James, and he had already won 2-1.

Twilight Kin Victory!

After the Battle
We both had a great game. I felt very pleased with myself, with how both I and my army performed. This was my best loss against James to date. Congratulations to James, he played at his usual high standard and wholly deserved his win.

Against an army with a moderately strong shooting capability, 40+ ranged attacks, my troops seem at risk of being destroyed with ease. Maybe the Skeleton Spearmen Troops with De 4+ and Ne -/12 are too vulnerable to ranged attacks, and those points should be allocated better elsewhere.

My battle plan seemed to work. But, an additional sacrificial individual to block enemy charges, such as when the Dark Knights charges into the Werewolves(W1) would of been useful. Also more capability to heal critical units, like the Soul Reaver Cavalry would of helped. Soul Drain is a fantastic spell, but sometimes the circumstances for it's casting aren't met, and the Heal spell as a back up would of been useful.

Thanks a lot for reading!