Edge of the Abyss

The battle was our preparation for the International campaign day, so we both fielded armies for 1000 points plus a special living legend created using up to 3 magic items for a total cost of up to 200 points. My hero was a priest with surge (10) and heal (4) and magic items providing heal(+2), rallying(1) and Myrddin’s Amulet of the Fire-heart (2 spells in one round). The elves were led by a mage on a horse with bane chant (2), lighting bolt (5) and a magic item combining healing brew, inspiring and lighting bolt (+2). We both also increased the defense of our heroes to 5+.

We made a mistake and played the game at a regular 6'x4' board instead of the 4'x4' one. The scenario is to control pieces of terrain with the evil side starting the round. The forest of Galahir was covered by snow that matched the colors of the elves army that used it well to their advantage.

My deployment from top/left to bottom/right: archers troop, horde of worm riders with a revenant champion behind them, horde of revenants followed by restless souls of the Raia, priest and bone giant.

As the troop of archers is very vulnerable to opponent's shooting I have considered to hide it behind a rock at the far right of the table to secure the terrain piece and maybe advance later on in the game. On the other hand, I wanted to lure my opponent mages and part of the elves army to the left side of the battlefield as I wanted to have an easier ride in the center with a perspective to secure terrain pieces on the right/bottom side of the table as there were more of them there to contest. In retrospective, I am not quite sure if it was a right strategy but in a way it worked for a good part of the game.

Elves deployment from top to bottom: stormwind cavalry with a prince on horse, palace guard accompanying the chief hero-mage on horse and a standard mage, kindred archers placed within some ancient ruins, standard bearer and another palace guard.

Empire of Dust
I just advance with my force keeping the restless souls and bone giant behind a hill. The revenants are helped a bit with a surge.

Elves
The elven cavalry gets into a position to threaten the flank of the worm riders. As I feared and anticipated the troop of archers is shot to death by the eleven mages and the archers put 3 damage on the revenants.

Empire of Dust
The worm riders made a sidestep to disappear from a view of the elves cavalry behind a forest. The revenant horde and restless souls kept advancing in the center with a priest healing all the damage on the revenants. The bone giant turned and moved to counter a threat posed by the stormwind cavalry.

Elves
The cavalry barely enters the central forest outside the view of the worm riders and out of reach of the bone giant. However, it is in the charge range of the revenant champion. The opponent's shooting is mostly ineffective scoring just a two or three wounds on the revenants.

Empire of Dust
The revenant champion takes his chance and charges the cavalry in the forest while the worm riders turn to step in the next round. The bone giant also advances to face the cavalry threatening to attack their side. At this point I made a mistake surging the giant further than needed which the elves utilized in their turn. The revenants finally got into a position to threaten the archers, but they were also in a charge range of the right/bottom palace guard anticipating that such attack would be hindered by the obstacle the revenants stepped on. Despite hindered, the revenant champion scores two damage on the cavalry stripping them of their thunderous charge ability.

Elves
A nasty surprise for me as the stormwid cavalry that was seemingly blocked by the revenant champion could turn and make a cork screw charge into the flank of the bone giant. Bump! I simply did not think about this option as it looked almost impossible and it would not be possible if the giant was not surged ahead or if the surge was just 1" shorter. There was just some 2-3 mm contact there where the cavalry hit the base of the giant. Fortunately for me, both elven mages were not able to get their bane chants through and the lucky flank-charged giant suffered just 4 wounds. The elven prince charged the worm riders and manage to put 1 wound on them. One palace guard moved to block the path of the revenants to the archers inviting the revenants to make a hindered charge. The other palace guard just moved a bit to get a flank charge on the revenants if they obeyed. The revenants took some additional damage from the elves shooting.

Empire of Dust
The bone giant counter charged the cavalry scoring 7 wounds on them, though the foe have not been even wavered. The revenant champion moved into position and released a breath attack from his dragon-kind diadem that scored 3 damage on the elven chief-mage and wavered him! The revenants did not take the bait and just stepped back slightly to be in charging range of only the nearer of the palace guards. Restless souls just repositioned behind the revenants and the priest stepped into the open to inspire the revenants and keep reasonably far from the giant in case it needed some help in a future. Finally, the worm rider counter-charged and killed the prince and turned to face the central palace guard.

Elves
The cavalry counter-charged the giant, got bane-chanted (their backs were barely in the forest, so they could be seen by the mage that was not wavered), rode their luck to score 7 wounds and then the opponent rolled 9 on the nerve test to kill the giant off. The kindred archers turned also into heroes and put 6 wounds on my chief priest but he survived. The wavered chief-mage just hided himself behind the central palace guard that moved few inches ahead to threaten the revenants.

Empire of Dust
The restless souls moved in the direction of the stormwind cavalry and got them just in range of the thrown weapons. The revenant champion also turned on the elven cavalry, barely managed to block their charging path on the souls and released his breath artifact on them. The combined shooting of the restless souls and the champion put the cavalry on 10 wounds and wavered them. The revenants finally charged (hindered by an obstacle) the nearer regiment of palace guard and scored 5 wounds on them. The worm riders went after the other palace guard and put 7 wounds on them, but not wavering them. The priest healed the revenants.

Elves
I thought I was winning the game at this place. What I have not realized was that the palace guard in front of the revenants had a view on a side of the worm riders. It was just 2-3 mm but we agreed that another nasty cork screw charge was possible. Once again, the charging regiment had the worm riders just barely in its view and just barely (maybe 4-5 mm) managed to hit the worms flank. The double charge put the worm riders into a quick death. The wavered cavalry just stayed at their place and lightnings from one elven mage put another wound on my priest while the second mage bane chanted the flanking guard.

Empire of Dust

The revenants side-stepped to occupy an obstacle and a blocking terrain nearby. The restless souls released their rage on the nearer palace guard shooting at them and killing them after being surged into their flank. As my opponent pointed o me after the game I made a serious mistake here as I should have shot on the other guards most likely at least wavering them and then still killing the guard the souls were surged into. My fault I have not realized this. To make the things even worse the revenant champion failed completely with his attempt to kill the stormwind cavalry with another round of breath attack. No damage, no nerve roll there ...

Elves
The (so far unwounded) restless souls were double charged by the regiments of palace guard and the archers and just killed. The stormwind cavalry stepped back to capture a forest on my side. The mounted mage move there to provide inspiring to the unit.

Empire of Dust
Another round of breath attack from the revenant on the cavalry, another round of no damage on them.

Elves
The stormwind cavalry charges and kills the revenant champion.

Result
Elves get 10 points for the captured terrain, Empire of Dust 6 points. The elves also win comfortably in terms of the attrition points.

Well, what to say. I have made several mistakes but for most of the game I felt I was winning. The two cork screw charges were unexpected and punished my carelessness severely. Still, if I managed to put at least one more wound on the stormwind cavalry in the last two rounds, I would have a good chance of killing the unit and drawing the game. I felt my luck completely deserted me in the last rounds of the game.

Thanks go to my opponent for taking the pictures and for an interesting game.