0 Warlord Skabsis and His Fell Blade

I got to play my first game in months. My buddy Steve and I decided on 4000 points, Skaven vs. Empire. At that size, a Steam Tank was inevitable, and I needed to make sure I had something to deal with it.

Jezzails have a 50% chance of wounding it but they're notoriously inaccurate and, even though I have 30 of them, getting them all aligned against a single target can prove difficult on a board with dense terrain.

The Warp Lightning Cannons and Doom Wheels can potentially throw out Strength 10 shots that inflict multiple wounds. But they have just as much chance to fire at Strength 2 or misfire and explode.

Enter: The Fell Blade. This magic sword makes the wielder strike at Strength 10, which is strong enough to allow no armor save, and each wound inflicted multiplies into D6 wounds. I didn't want my general going anywhere near a Steam Tank so, the night before the battle, I painted the Spinetail miniature. He's the first model out of my Skaven project queue: The Clan Pestilens Warlord Skabsis.

 

 

The battle was fought at Steve's house, on his Empire-themed battlefield. His army, The Roving Province of Sigmarheim squared off against the Lightning Engineer Cult. (This battle is outside the campaign we're involved in, which is still underway. I'll have an update in the near future.) I wasn't about to do a full, in-depth battle report. The time required to document everything turn-by-turn is just too much and Steve and I just wanted to get together, push models around and throw some dice. Here are some highlights from our game:

We fought a standard pitched battle. His Steam Tank was on my right flank (at the far end of the table in this shot) and his battery of artillery was on my left (at the closer end of the table). I made sure to deploy Lord Skabsis in a unit of Clanrats opposite the Steam Tank. So far, my plan was working perfectly.

 

 

Steve took the first turn, moved his battle line forward, and began measuring for his spells and shooting.

 

Here is Steve's Grey Wizard, moments before a miscast sent him screaming into the realm of Chaos. (I told him to say 'hi' to Marduk for me.)

 

His cannon fire eliminated one of my Doom Wheels before I even had a chance to move it. I brought my forces forward, in an effort to get the Rat Ogres into combat before they could absorb too many cannonballs.

 

Steve obliged me by charging with his knights and Free Company. Skweel Gnawtooth didn't survive the first round of combat, but the Ogres themselves held.

 

Over on the right flank, the Steam Tank was engaged with my rat swarms. I didn't have room to fit Warlord Skabsis in the fight, so I needed to wait before charging him in. Steve's Death Wizard cast Purple Sun of Xereus, which ripped through my rat swarms. The spell dissipated once my assassin, hidden behind the building, put a few Warp Stone Throwing Stars in the wizard's back.

 

The battle with the Rat Ogres was grinding away at them, and once Steve's Greatswords joined the fight it looked like I'd lost. But the Rat Ogres, with the aid of Warlord Skreekits' inspiring presence and the army's battle flag, continued to hold their ground.

 

Once the rat swarms were finished, I had my opportunity– Skabsis charged out of his unit and swung the fell blade at the Steam Tank. He landed two hits which multiplied into 11 wounds! The vehicle exploded spectacularly... and Skabsis was promptly shot to pieces by Steve's Handgunners. A weapon that powerful doesn't leave any room for magical armor or protective talismans. It was worth it for the look on Steve's face when the warlord cut his tank in half, even though Skabsis didn't survive the battle. I'm sure the Master Moulders can piece him back together.

 

At about this time, my Doom Wheel had gotten close enough to start zapping Steve's artillery. I took out his cannon and Helblaster and (because the Doom Wheel's warp lightning doesn't distinguish between friend and foe) one of my own Warlock Engineers in the process!

I brought a unit of Clanrats in to help the The Rat Ogres, but the combat was lost anyway. The remaining Ogres and Clanrats broke.

 

 

My Stormvermin, led by Warlord Skreekits received the knights' charge, and managed to drive them off.

 

I had broken through Steve's line, but suffered some serious casualties in the process. The game had gone so long and we still had the dreaded cleanup ahead of us, so we didn't bother counting up victory points. We were content to call it a draw.

 

My plan with the Fell Blade worked beautifully. I just need to figure out a way to keep Skabsis alive once he's delivered his killing blow. And maybe I'll have the Hell Pit Abomination finished for the next game.

'Til next time!

Detail: Warlord Skabsis and His Fell Blade

0 Geheimnisnacht Battle Report: Part 3

Dark Magic crackles in the night air. Through an endless barrage of cannon and handgun fire, wolves and giant bats tear across the field to rend man and machine alike. Undead warriors, their skulls glowing with balefire, clash with soldiers of the Empire, Sigmar's faithful making a desperate stand to curtail the spread of undeath on this Night of Mysteries.

This battle report is broken into three parts:

Part 1: Intro, Army Lists, Deployment

Part 2: The Battle, Turns 1-3

Part 3: Turn 4-6, Conclusion

The game was played at my friend Steve Stiefel's house on his beautiful terrain. You can see more of his finished Empire Army and works-in-progress over on the Warhammer-Empire.com forum.

Moving into the 4th turn, Steve and I have both suffered catastrophic miscasts that injured a majority of our spell casters, and we've each lost a Lord-level character. My dire wolves have absorbed most of Steve's cannonfire, sparing my larger blocks of troops. A few wolves and a varghulf have devastated the missile troops on the left flank, but my black knights have been all but completely ground away in combat.
 

 

Turn 4: Vampire Counts

 

All that remained of my Hellfire Knights was a single unit champion. He valiantly charged into the Helblaster crew. With luck, I'd be able to resurrect a few more in the magic phase. Speaking of magic, the black coach had siphoned enough dice to max out its Evovation of Death abilities. It was now ethereal, and could fly. (Those wings aren't just for show!) I threw it into the Obsidian Order of Sigmar, hoping to crush some of those Inner Circle knights. If the coach couldn't break the unit, it would be flanked by Steve's flagellants.

The Crimson Reapers charged into the Helblaster volley gun. I attempted to charge with both the grave guard and the Red Guard skeletons just behind them. Unfortunately, the skeletons couldn't fit through the gap between the clock tower and the grave guard; their charge failed, and they inched their way forward instead. My grave guard were now in danger of being engaged by the swordsmen during Steve's turn.

 

 

The rest of my line moved forward, and the varghulf that has chased the swordsmen off the field last turn, returned and moved into position.

 

 

After dispelling the Cascading Fire-Cloak cast on the Greatswords last turn, the rest of my magic phase was no help; every spell attempt was either a failure or dispelled by Steve's wizards. I did, however get to participate in my first shooting phase of the game– The zombie dragon, which could not move thanks to the monster reaction requiring it to stand guard over its fallen rider, fired its breath weapon at the now unengaged free company. The pestilential breath killed a few of them.

In the combat phase, the dire wolves and black knight that were fighting Steve's war machines both broke and destroyed their opponents. The Crimson Reaper skeletons also crushed the Helblaster they were fighting and overran into the cannon beyond. The nearby destruction caused the handgunner and crossbowmen units to panic.

The Greatswords held against the grave guard. Both units, swinging their cumbersome great weapons, blew out a rank of troops from each other. I directed a few attacks toward the Erlich Karlz the Fire wizard lord and took him out.

 

 

The witch hunter swung his sword into the cloud of bats swirling around him and every blow connected. The combat result was enough to significantly weakened the swarm, but not finish it completely.

As the black coach thundered into Steve's knights I rolled for its impact hits. Including the bonus from it scythed wheels, the coach struck 3 hits. Pitiful. The attacks from the wraith driver and the steeds didn't fare any better and I's only killed one knight. None of the characters in the unit had any magic weapons, so they couldn't physically hurt the ethereal coach, but Steve's unit won the combat thanks to his War Banner and army standard bonuses. The coach suffered a wound. The flagellants would most certainly be charging it next turn, and that would be the end of that.
 

 

Turn 4: Empire

 

At the start of the turn Steve generated the steam points for his tanks. Steam tank Weltuntergang, its structural integrity having been weakened from fighting the black knights, could not contain the steam pressure and exploded!

 

 

The crazed flagellants surged into the side of the black coach, and Albrecht Hexenjaeger charged his War Altar into the side of the Crimson Reaper skeletons. 

 

 

In the center of the field, the swordsmen charged into the Greatsword/ grave guard combat. There wasn't enough room for the unit to wheel into position between the clock tower and my unit, so we settled for a frontal, corner-to-corner charge. 

 

 

Behind Steve's line, the crossbowmen fled the battlefield, but the handgunners rallied. The Celestial Hurricanum repositioned itself to face the lone black knight.

By this time, both of Steve's Fire Wizards were gone, as were a significant chunk of his warrior priests. He was able to augment the War Altar and blast a few zombies with Shem's Burning Gaze.

Most of the war machines were gone or engaged in combat, but the remaining Helblaster volley gun was able to pick a few zombies off of the hill. The steam tank aimed its cannon at the vargulf, and basted it apart.

The combat phase went very well for the Empire– as expected, the flagellants turned the tide of the fight with the black coach. With no more impact hits available, the coach could only rely on the wraith and steeds for attacks. It directed everything into the knights hoping to significantly weaken the unit, but all the attacks either missed or were deflected by the knights' armor. The combat resolution finished the coach and the flagellants overran while the knights reformed to face the center.

The Knights of the White Wolf, who had been fighting since turn one continued to hold against the Red Guard skeletons.

The Crimson Reapers were crushed under the wheels of Hexenjaeger's War Altar. The remaining skeletons, in turn, failed to finish off the cannon crew and then suffered even more casualties from the combat resolution. The fight between Steve's infantry and grave guard also saw the undead taking heavy casualties; what were 30 models at the start of this turn were reduced to 12!

Joachim Schadel the witch hunter stood triumphant, having finally finished off the last of the swarming bats!

 

 

 

Turn 5: Vampire Counts

 

My engaged units were in serious trouble and I needed to get the rest of my army up fast. The grave guard on the left flank charged Steve's witch hunter and the lone black knight stormed the hangunner line. He was too close for them to stand and shoot, otherwise he might not have made it.

The Red Guard skeletons reformed 5-wide so they could fit through the gap and into combat on the following turn. My general Dimitri Von Koss joined them to add some fighting prowess. Marduk the Ghoul King moved forward with the skeletons and ghouls.

In the magic phase, things went from bad to worse– With a high roll for the Winds of Magic and lots of power dice, I started off with Marduk casting Gaze of Nagash at the Celestial Hurricanum. The spell was cast with irresistible force and the Hurricanum took a couple wounds. But when I rolled for the miscast the result came up as a Dimensional Cascade! The explosive energies blew apart skeletons and ghouls, and Marduk himself was pulled into Realm of Chaos! Noooo! 

 

 

At least the miscast didn't cause me to lose any power dice. Dimitri attempted to cast Curse of Years on the swordsmen, which Steve promptly dispelled. Between Dimitri and the necromancer Samus Garz, they were able to resurrect a couple black knights and a few grave guard, and some zombies. The general also augmented the unit with Hellish Vigor so they could re-roll to wound in close combat. The lore attribute enabled me to recover a few wounds my characters had suffered earlier in the game.

The combats were stagnant– My units, though outmatched, held fast. The Crimson Reapers dwindled to three men (including the wraith Korak the Grim). Thanks to the resurrected grave guard, their unit was not eliminated and managed to whittle away more Greatswords. The knights, now three models strong with a full command, fought against the handgunners, who refused to break.

The charging grave guard blew through the witch hunter and overran onto the flank of the swordsmen.

 

 

 

Turn 5: Empire

 

The Obsidian Order of Sigmar charged into the flank of the grave guard. Steve also sent the Celestial Hurricanum after my black knights.

 

 

The Light wizards cleared out more zombies with their Burning Gaze and the Helblaster nearly finished of the unit. The skeletons were still reeling from Marduk's implosion when the steam tank turned its cannon on them and killed a few more.

 

In combat, the Hurricanum failed to take out any of the black knights. A few handgunners were killed, resulting in a minor victory for the knights. The Imperial troops held their ground.

The charge of the Inner Circle knights turned the tide of the battle, but not enough to eliminate the grave guard. The unit had been reduced to a single rank through casualties and combat resolution. Korak and The Crimson Reapers held their own against the War Altar and only lost a single model.

The Knights of the White Wolf, weary from the longest battle they'd ever seen, finally fell to the skeletons' rusty swords. His unit dead, the warrior priest of Ulric's resolve finally broke. His war-wearied steed carried him beyond the reach of the pursuing skeletons, but only just.

 

 

 

Turn 6: Vampire Counts

 

"Comes the dawn." (Literally.) Steve and I had been playing all night, and daylight was just starting to creep through the windows as we moved into the final turn.

The skeletons, hot on the heels of that warrior priest, charged ahead, forcing him to flee further. They caught him just short of the wizards, whereupon Hieronymous Bosch panicked and ran. Dimitri and his skeletons charged into combat with the swordsmen. Likely, this combat would decide the game.

The Ghouls engaged the steam tank, and the remaining dire wolf charged the Celestial Hurricanum. The only other move was for the necromancer Nieman Kimmel to extricate himself from the zombies which reformed into a horde formation to deal with the approaching flagellants.

The magic phase was uneventful. (Thankfully!) That just left the combat phase. Korak finally killed the remaining members of the cannon crew, and was the lone survivor of the combat, still engaged with Steve's general and the War Altar.

The dire wolf and black knights inflicted the final wound on the Hurricanum and broke the handgunners.

In the central engagement, Dimitri and the skeletons, with the flanking grave guard unit handily won the fight. The last of the Greatswords were eliminated, and with a combat result of 21 to 8, the swordsmen and knights broke. My units pursued and caught them all. 

 

 

 

Turn 6 Empire

 

The free company and flagellants both charged into the fray. At the edge of the battlefield, the wizard lord Hieronymous Bosch found his nerve and turned to continue fighting.

 

 

The Light wizards each made an attempt to finish off the remaining grave guard with Shem's Burning Gaze, but the necromancers dispelled both. Albrecht Hexenjaeger, however, was able to incinerate Korak the Grim with Soul Fire.

The Helblaster picked off two more zombies and the steam tank ground away nearly half of the ghoul unit. Steve's other units hacked away, but their efforts were not enough to eliminate either the zombie horde or the remaining skeletons.
 

 

Conclusion

As the sun creeps above the horizon, the legions of undead skulk back to the shadows, leaving a broken and battered Empire battle line in their wake. The cost to Albrecht Hexenjaeger's forces was high, but they've all sworn oaths to die in the service of Sigmar. Their sacrifice on this Geheimnisnacht spared the citizens of the surrounding townships untold devastation.

 

After counting up the victory points, the Empire Army scored 3155 points including 3 captured standards. Including 6 captured banners and the army standard, and 50 points for an underdog challenge (the witch hunter had challenged the champion of the grave guard unit and lost), the Vampire Counts scored 4954 points– a solid victory for The Legion of the Infernal Skull!

 

 

Steve:

"I should have been more aggressive early in the battle. I fought a defensive line for the first few turns for fear his Hellfire Knights would cut me to shreds. Rob’s chaff units did what they were supposed to by diverting attention away from his blocks of troops. My large units did perform well once the bulk of our armies met center field, but having to kill his units multiple times while I kept taking casualties is typically what you’d expect fighting the Undead, and I simply didn’t have the manpower to hold out any longer than I did.

"My knights however, performed brilliantly, especially the White Wolves. Funny thing is I normally never take knights! This is something that’s going to change, and there’s already more knights in my painting queue. My war machines did their jobs quite wonderfully as well, with my cannons sniping Rob’s bigger models and the Helblasters sticking around without any malfunctions. This was one of the first games in a while where I’d taken multiple Engineers, and they certainly helped out by allowing re-rolls of artillery dice or lending their higher ballistic skill.

"On the subject of characters, I’d hoped my two Captains would have paid their points a bit more, it just happened that the units they were in didn’t see much combat. Playing with the added dice from the Winds of Magic actually allowed me to buff a few units, but as any of my opponents know, a degree from the Imperial College of Magic will never hang on my castle’s wall. The Warrior Priests-now they were my workhorses, as they should be in any Sigmarite driven list. Fighting prowess, battle prayers, and even the extra pip of leadership proved crucial in the fight, and yes, there’s more of them on my wishlist to Santa.

"Overall, my plan mostly worked. Par for course, things went pear-shaped by turn five, as there’s really no way to win a war of attrition against Vampire Counts. This was a bear of a game; FIFTEEN solid hours of dice rolling, Rolling Rocks, two pots of coffee, and pizza. That’s not even including set-up and cleanup. We really did battle all night until dawn, and had a hell of a lot of laughs while we did it too. From playing Ride of the Valkyries for pigeon attacks that failed miserably, to producing a skeleton out of nowhere to represent Seth’s sizzling carcass…and even our buddy Lou who was there as a spectator and occasional rules lawyer, by providing an ever changing soundtrack and tales of Soft Billy. Really, it was a total blast. What are you doing next weekend, Rob?"

Rob:

I'll echo Steve's sentiments about the game. It was a lot of fun, even if it was absolutely exhausting. (Steve's "fifteen hours" doesn't take into account the setup and teardown; deployment practically took as long as a regular game of Warhammer!)

It was a great change of pace to field some elements that I don't normally use like the zombie dragon. Next time I'll definitely need to give the rider a ward save. My plan to use the bat swarms to allow my units first strike didn't quite work out as I'd hoped. I couldn't seem to coordinate the charges well enough to get the bats into combat alongside any of my units. But they drew fire and one of them killed a wizard lord, so I've got no complaints.

I'm always pleased with how these large-scale events turn out story-wise for my army. The Vampires all suffered from miscasting– Dimitri brought about the initial miscast that killed Seth, and then Marduk was dragged, screaming to hell. The good thing about the undead is that you can't keep them down for long. "Death" is just another term for a temporary loss of power. Marduk being trapped in the Realm of Chaos could prove problematic, but if anyone is tough enough to survive in hell, he is. Nieman Kimmel's wish to be back in command of The Legion of the Infernal Skull may just come true. He'll first need to reconstitute the wraith Korak the Grim, of course...

Thanks for following Steve and me on this epic adventure!

This last batch of maps is just to have the complete battle, in order, so it can be cycled through in the preview pane like a turn-by-turn animation.

'Til next time! 

 

 

Detail: Geheimnisnacht Battle Report: Part 3

0 Geheimnisnacht Battle Report: Part 2

As darkness falls, the citizens of the Empire shutter their doors and windows. An eerie mist begins to roll in from the east. Albrecht Hexenjaeger steps to the top of his War Altar. Chains go taught as zealots, invigorated by their holy fervor, pull the machine past lines of soldiers. The Arch Lector stares out into the gloom where flickering balefires, like rows of candles marching ever closer, begin to appear through the haze. A fluttering, screeching din fills the sky, as clouds of fell creatures descend upon the battlefield...

 

This battle report is broken into three parts:

Part 1: Intro, Army Lists, Deployment

Part 2: The Battle, Turns 1-3

Part 3: Turn 4-6, Conclusion

 

The game was played at my friend Steve Stiefel's house on his beautiful terrain. You can see more of his finished Empire Army and works-in-progress over on the Warhammer-Empire.com forum.

 

 

The Battle

With our armies deployed, Steve and I rolled-off for first turn. He won, but elected to let me move first.

 

 

I sent my lines of dire wolves forward. They would not be able to charge in the first turn, but they would give the Imperial artillery something to think about. 

 

 

 

Turn 1: Vampire Counts

 

My battle line advanced forward. My General Dimitri Von Koss was positioned to allow the black knights on the right flank their full march move. I then shifted him to the left do allow the center to catch up in the following turn. The wolves and varghulfs were poised to charge in the following turn if they could survive the Empire shooting phase.

 

 

Using the Storm of Magic rules, I generated 13 power dice. The black coach had a chance to siphon some of them for its Evocation of Death ability, I rolled all 13 dice, hoping for 6's, and it got exactly zero. Take that, mathematical probability! The magic phase was otherwise uneventful; My only offensive spells were Marduk's Gaze of Nagash, and Dimitri's Curse of Years, both well out of range. With literally all of my skeletons and zombies on the table, I didn't have any spare models to raise, so it was on to Steve's turn.

 

 

 

Turn 1: Empire

 

I wasn't expecting Steve to move out of his battle line so early, but he surprised me with two charges: The halberdiers and Knights of the White Wolf surged forward to engage my wolves in the center.

 

 

In the magic phase, The War Altar used Banishment to obliterate one of my dire wolf units. Hieronymous Bosch augmented the White Wolves using Birona's Time Warp, but rolled double sixes! There was no chance for me to stop the spell, but the resulting miscast resulted in a magical feedback which wounded nearly all of his wizards and warrior priests!

 

 

That was a bit of luck for me, but in the shooting phase I could only sit and watch as his artillery line blasted my wolves to bits. His steam tank on my right flank misfired, but the a cannon in the center bounced a cannonball right through Seth and his zombie dragon. They each took two wounds. On the left flank another cannon nearly killed one of my varghulfs.

 

 

As expected, Steve's units eliminated both dire wolf units in combat. The Halberdiers held their ground, but the knights overran, right into the flank of my black knights.

 

 

 

Turn 2: Vampire Counts

 

Those Knights of the White Wolf were right in front of my Red Guard skeleton unit, so they charged into the knights' flank. There was no room for Seth's dragon to fit in the fight, so I shifted him behind a building for some cover. The black knights on my right galloped into the steam tank. 

 

 

The remaining wolf unit, varghulf and the fell bats engaged some of Steve's missile troops on the left flank. I attempted a charge with the Crimson Reaper skeletons in the center, followed up with a bat swarm, but the skeletons fell short, leaving the bats high and dry.

 

 

As the rest of my battle line shambled forward, the wounded varghulf fell back into range of my necromancers. In the magic phase, I was able to heal one of its wounds as well as a few bats and skeletons. The black coach siphoned 4 dice toward it's Evocation. It would now hit a little harder in combat. 

 

 

In combat, the varghulf slaughtered Steve's cannon crew, and overran into the flank of his swordsman unit. The dire wolves, on the other hand, were unable to break the line of handgunners.

 

 

The fell bats were wiped out by the Outriders on the hill, but they managed to take one down with them. The lone bat swarm, on the other hand managed to hang on; no blows were struck by either side, so the halberdiers won on combat resolution alone. That wasn't enough to break the swarm, however.

The main fight was the one between the skeletons and knights. The skeletons were unable to penetrate the White Wolves' armor, but the black knights manages to kill two. The White Wolves brought down two of my knights in return and, despite losing the combat, held fast.

 

 

Against the steam tank, my other unit of black knights only inflicted two wounds. The unbreakable tank kept them locked in place. I should have known better than to assume I'd be able to crash right through a steel behemoth with 10 wounds and a 1+ armor save.

 

 

Turn 2: Empire

 

Steve had pretty effectively stalled my advance; both of my large units of knights were locked in combat, and my screen of wolves was all but gone.

 

 

He decided to press his advantage by having his Inner Circle knights, The Obsidian Order of Sigmar, charge the black knights in the center. They fell short, which meant the White Wolves would have to fend for themselves against the overwhelming odds. The free company pressed forward into my Hellfire Knights engaged with the steam tank. Their ranks and banner could turn the tide of that fight.

The warrior priest with the free company was able to bestow them with a 5+ ward save, but the rest of the magic phase was uneventful. Likely his wizards were still reeling from last turn's disastrous miscast.

 

 

In the shooting phase, the Helblaster volley guns and Outriders did a number on my troops. The smaller unit of black knights had their number cut in half! Then steve pulled out his laptop, pressed play, and The Ride of the Valkyries began to fill the air. His Engineer had unleashed a pigeon bomb, dozens of the tiny birds soared through the air toward my battle line. As Steve rolled the artillery dice to determine the airborne attack's result, a "misfire" came up. The birds, likely diverted by the swarms of bats and flies in the sky, arced back on their master and detonated their deadly payload. The Engineer survived, but a few crossbowmen and an artillery crew member were killed.

Cannonballs flew toward my still-wounded varghulf, but missed or bounced harmlessly off his regenerative hide.

 

 

In combat, the lone bat swarm finally crumbled, but the White Wolves held fast. With the free company, the warrior priest's blessing didn't prevent him from being cut down by a black knight's killing blow. 

 

 

Over on the left flank, the vargulf finished off another warrior priest, but the unit of swordsmen held fast, thanks to the resolve of their captain. The handgunners engaged with the dire wolves also held, and reformed to face them.

 

 

Turn 3: Vampire Counts

 

The Crimson Reapers and the corpse cart charged the halberdiers on the hill. I tried to get the bat swarm to their right into the fight as well, but they didn't make it.

 

 

On the left flank, however, the charging bat swarm rolled high enough to reach the fire wizard lord Argyle Von Flamme.

 

 

My general continued his move to the left, which would allow the infantry to march next turn.

 

 

In the magic phase, Marduk the Ghoul King cast Gaze of Nagash on the Outriders, killing six of them! The unit tested for panic, but held fast. Dimitri cast Curse of Years on a unit of handgunners. The spell came off with irresistible force (I would get to use my new counter after all!) but the spell also miscast. I rolled the same result Steve got in the first turn and all of my wizards, save Marduk, were injured by the magical feedback! Unfortunately, this was the final wound for Seth Von Koss, who fell from his mount in a smouldering husk! The dragon stood fast over his fallen master...

 

 

The combat phase went a little better for me– The varghulf broke the unit of swordsmen and chased them right off the battlefield. Similarly, the dire wolves broke the unit of handgunners, and persued right into the cannon behind them. As Steve's left flank crumbed, the nearby Outriders panicked and fled.

 

 

Overpowered by the bat swarm, and weakened from his feedback injury, Argyle Von Flamme fell. The bats surged past and into the Witch Hunter Joachim Schadel.

The skeletons and corpse cart also broke the halberdiers, pursued and caught them, stopping only inches from Steve's main line.

 

 

 

Turn 3: Empire

 

Steve's Inner Circle knights were finally able to connect with my black knights. The crazed flagellants also charged the bat swarm. The Cursed handgunner unit were also ordered forward to engage the approaching grave guard horde. Behind them, the broken Outriders fled the field and Steve reformed his main battle line.

 

 

The remaining Fire wizard Erlich Karlz cast Cascading Fire-Cloak on the himself and the Greatsword unit he'd joined. This would damage my grave guard unit if I engaged them next turn if I could not dispel it. His Light wizards also shut down my Curse of Years and bolstered the free company with Binona's Time Warp and Speed of Light.

I'd done a number on Steve's gun line, but the remaining volley guns and cannons blew away my corpse cart and killed the wounded varghulf. They also reduced the black knight unit on the left flank to a single wight. 

 

 

In the combat between the grave guard and the handgunners, wight king Oren Koth, my battle standard bearer, killed the warrior priest, and the rest of the grave guard killed the handgunners to a man.

 

 

The witch hunter held the bat swarm at a draw, while the dire wolves killed the cannon crew and overran into the other cannon.

 

 

The Obsidian Order of Sigmar was able to finally crush the black knights fighting the White Wolves. They reformed alongside the victorious flagellants. The Knights of the White Wolves, themselves, used a combat reform to face the skeletons they were fighting.

 

 

Similarly, the steam tank and free company ground down the last of the Hellfire Knights on the right flank.

 

 

At the halfway mark Steve and I were both in high spirits and it could still be anybody's game.

My 40 Hellfire Knights have been reduced to a single man, I have a now-useless zombie dragon standing guard over my dead vampire lord, and the only thing holding up my right flank is a well-invigorated black coach. I've also lost one of my varghulfs, but the other one, along with a few dire wolves, has wreaked havoc on the left flank. The bulk of my infantry has yet to reach the fight, and Steve still has both steam tanks and a couple Helblasters to whittle them down.

The fight in the center could go either way, but I have no idea how I'm going to stop those Inner Circle knights. Maybe the black coach can tie them up for a few turns...

 

Part three, featuring the exciting conclusion, is up now!

Part 1: Intro, Army Lists, Deployment

Part 2: The Battle, Turns 1-3

Part 3: Turn 4-6, Conclusion

'Til next time!

Detail: Geheimnisnacht Battle Report: Part 2