Edge of the Abyss

"Pack of elves found nipping at our heels, bloodied them near lake, won't be returning soon"

Grotti-Khan rolled up the scrawled missive and handed it to a messenger on a fleabag. He had left much out of his report, but King Smack-Git didn't need to know the extent of their losses. Goblins were easily replaced, and while they had lost some ground, there were more than enough trees in the forest to harvest. Still, with that mage still alive, the elves would likely be back with reinforcements.

As he contemplated the problem, Grotti's hand began idly rubbing the burn marks on his chest (a present from that damned elf mage) and his mouth curved into an unconscious snarl.

For our first game in the summer campaign, we went with the Opportunity knocks scenario from the Edge of the Abyss book. This is essentially Secure from the Clash of Kings supplement, except that the Evil side automatically goes first. Since my opponent is still working on his army, we played a small 800 points game, the lists have been uploaded but it should be pretty clear what we have.

I had my army deployed in two wings with infantry on my left and cavalry on my right and a source of inspiring for each. The Elves deployed in a closer formation, staying within 6" of the Prince and his Inspiring Talisman.

It's difficult to see from this angle but the goblins have a big rocks thrower in the central forest.

The infantry moved forward slightly while the cavalry advanced onto the hill, with the fleabag sniffs in front.

Goblin shooting was not very effective this turn, with only minor hits on a couple of units.

The elves all moved up as shown, with the spearmen and mage moving between the two forests, and the archers holding position.

The elf arrows put a couple of wounds onto the Goblins Spitters, while the mage only managed to cause a single wound on the fleabag sniff troop with his lightning bolt.

While the rabble moved up the centre, with the war trombone behind it, the sharpsticks kept trying to sneak up the flank. The Sniffs moved directly in front of both elf spearman units, with the Fleabag regiment ready behind them.

In the shooting phase, the sniffs kept piling on hits to the spear unit on their right, while the spitters continued their exchange with the elf archers, doing little damage in both cases.

The Elf Kindred Tallspear regiments double charged the sniffs, the mage moving back to make room. One of the archer troops moved to get an angle on the sharpsticks moving up the flank.

The Elven shooting was enough to remove the goblin Spitters this turn, which was probably inevitable.
The Mage cast heal on the spear regiment which had taken damage from shooting.

The Elf Fight phase was equally successful, as the Spearmen routed the Fleabag Sniffs.

The Fleabag regiment and the biggit charged into one of the spear regiments (no yellow bellied problems at least) while the rabble moved up in support. The sharpsticks had taken a little damage, so hid near a barracade to escape the elf arrows.

Shooting continued to be ineffective for the goblins, with the Big Rocks Thrower keeping it's miss streak. The War Trombone only managed a single point of damage on the unengaged Spear regiment.

The goblin charge did some damage to the elves, but it wasn't enough to break their formation.

The two spear regiments charged the goblin cavalry, whilst the archers positioned themselves to fire on the Sharpsticks hiding behind the barracade.

The Elven Prince pointed his saber toothed kitty at the goblin Biggit on fleabag and it ran through the legs of the spearmen to get to him. The surprisingly vicious tabby only managed to put two damage on the goblin. The Mage followed up with a lightning bolt, but only managed to add another point of damage to the Biggit. This was enough to waver him however.
The Elven Archers managed a strong volley against the sharpsticks, wavering the unit.

The combined phalanx of the two Kindred Tallspear regiments made short work of the Fleabag Riders.

The Rabble moved into the forest, hoping to survive the hindered charge from the spearmen. The Sharpsticks wavered behind the barricade. The Biggit attempted to hide behind the forest to escape the wizards lightning bolts, not to mention the elven phalanx.

The Rocks Thrower missed (again) and the War Trombone managed to get some good hits on the Tallspears regiment to it's right.

The Kindred Tallspears and The Elven Prince double charged the Goblin Rabble. The other spear regiment moved forward towards the center of the table.

The unengaged Tallspears regiment used their sparkstone artifact to disorder the War Trombone, causing the goblin commander to sigh heavily. The archers meanwhile once again wavered the Sharpstick regiment.

The combined charge of the Tallspears and the Prince only managed to cause three damage to the Rabble, but a lucky nerve roll wavered them.

The wavered Rabble regiment used their artifact, the Healing Brew, and managed to heal a point of damage. The War Trombone moved into the pond in order to get some cover. The Biggit continued to hide behind the forest.

The Big Rocks Thrower finally managed to hit something, and finished off the already damaged Kindred Tallspears regiment.

The Kindred Tallspears and the Prince once again charged the Rabble Regiment, while the mage moved to get a shot on the War Trombone.

The Archers finished off the Sharpsticks this turn, and the Mage cast lightning bolt on the War Trombone, causing a couple of damage points but failing to stop it firing next turn.

The Spearmen and the Prince had a much more successful round of combat, managing to rout the cowardly greenskins.

With very few options available to them, the Goblins decided to do as much damage as they possibly could to the Elves. The only movement was the Biggit moving around the back of the forest to get a bead on the Archers.

The combined firepower of the War Trombone, The Big Rocks Thrower and the War-Bow of Kaba equipped Flaggit managed to rout the Kindred Tallspears, while the biggit managed to put some wounds onto one of the Archer troops.

In vangeance for his blasted brethren, the Elven Prince charged the Flaggit, hoping to overrun into the War Trombone. One of the Archer troops turned around to target the Goblin Biggit, while the other sized up the War Trombone.

The War Trombone took some damage from the Arrows and lightning Bolts heading it's way, but was otherwise unaffected. The Archers found hitting the Biggit more difficult than expected.

In a twist no one expected, the Elven Prince failed to do any damage to the Flaggit!

With turn 6 over, a dice was rolled for a possible turn 7, and another turn was to be had.

In a surprising show of bravery, the Goblin Flaggit countercharged the Prince. The War Trombone turned to face the Archers.

The War Trombones firepower devastated the archer troop, routing it. The Biggit Fired on the other troop, causing little damage.

The Flaggit was as ineffectual as can be expected.

The Prince counter-charged the tenacious Flaggit whilst the Archers and Mage held their position.

The combined arrows and lightning bolts put the Biggit up to seven damage, but the nerve roll only managed to waver the goblin.

The Prince finally managed to do some damage (three) but failed to rout his foe.

Whilst both sides had taken heavy losses, the Elf force controlled the only scoring unit left on the table, meaning that with the two points earned by the troop of Archers controlling the forest, the Elves had won.