Edge of the Abyss

Grotti-Khan blinked uncomfortably. The light coming through the branches was unnaturally bright, and the whole place had a funny smell which put the fleabags on edge. Grotti was pretty sure that some of the glowing bugs were whispering something, and found it mildly satisfying when his mount would snap at them.

Under normal circumstances Grotti would never come to this part of the forest. But his scouts had tracked the Elves to this sickening place, and nothing would stop him from hunting them down. He had picked out a select group of his best gits to ride fleabags and chariots, along with with 3 Trolls and a tamed basalisk, with the intent of finally ridding himself of the Elf wizard and his pointy eared brethren.

A scout rode into view from behind a copse, his red top knot flailing as he came to a stop in front of Grotti.

"They're up ahead. I think they're expecting us." The goblin gestured vaguely behind him.

Grotti suddenly became convinced of his earlier suspicions. He smiled cruelly.

"No Stilbik, they won't be expecting this".

~

This time we decided to play a different scenario and rolled up Dominate!
Our army lists are included to the side. Deployment was as shown in the above pictures, with the elves making a strong centre, and the goblins setting up their Fleabag Sniffs and Chariots opposite the the archer troops and the Trolls and Slasher opposite the Kindred Tallspears, with the Fleabag regiment to their right.

My plan for this game was to fire on the archers with the Chariots and Sniffs, being ready to charge them if neccessary, while the Trolls, Slasher and Fleabag regiment moved to control the centre.

In accordance with my plan, Grotti Khan's wing moved into shooting range of the archers, with the chariots moving into charge range. On the other end, the Fleabag regiment began moving through the woods to flank the Tallspears.

Shooting was a non event, with no damage caused largely due to the elves cover.

The Elf Tallspears moved forward slightly, while the archers held their position. The Mage advanced into range to use Wind Blast on the Fleabag Chariots while the Prince prepared to use his kitty on the Sniffs.

The Elves had a much better shooting phase than their foes, although that's not saying much. The archers managed to put 3 damage on the Chariots, which they ignored while the elven kitty only managed 1 damage on the Sniffs, which didn't affect them. The Mage however managed to wind blast the Chariots out of charge range.

After weighing up the options, I decided to move the Chariots back into charge range with the Archers, sacrificing accuracy for the ability to charge next turn. They took the opportunity to use the Healing Brew, getting back 2 damage. On the other side, the Fleabags moved to flank the Tallspears, threatening a charge if they didn't react.

The Slasher missed yet again, while my contingent of mounted archery focused on the troop to their left, putting 3 damage on them and managing to waver the elves.

The Kindred Tallspears moved out of the woods, positioning themselves to deny the Fleabags a flank charge. The Elven Prince charged the Sniff troop in the forest as the wavered Archers turned slightly so they were touching the barrier and used their own Healing Brew to restore 2 damage.

One of the Tallspear regiments used their Sparkstone to disorder the Slasher with ballista. The Mage threw his Fireball (10) spell at the Grotti Khan, dealing 5 damage and wavering him. The Archers that weren't wavered fired on the Chariots dealing a single point of damage.

Prince Ingemon put 3 damage on the Fleabag Sniffs and routed them.

The Fleabag regiment moved back into the flank of the Tallspears, while the disordered Slasher moved into charge range and the Trolls moved into the Dominate zone, supported by the Flaggit.

On the other end, I decided the chariots were unlikely to withstand two troops of Archers firing on them and charged the nearest troop. Grotti did some individual shenanigans to keep within Inspiring range.

The Chariots performed surprisingly well against the Archers, routing them in spite of being Hindered.
They changed facing to threaten the next troops flank.

The elves were in a tricky spot this turn, with Fleabag Chariots moving into their right flank, and the Kindred Tallspears being surrounded by Fleabags and monsters. They began to make hasty reforms to meet the threats.

The Tallspears nearest the Fleabag regiment moved to 1 inch away from their front, making it more difficult for them to turn and escape. The Mage moved into range to Wind Blast the Slasher that was now in the regiments flank. The Prince charged the Wavering Biggit.

The Archers put another damage point onto the chariots but the main show was the Mage's Wind Blast spell. After measuring the distances, it was clear that he needed only one success to put it out of charge range. Realizing this, it was clear to me that my battle plan was in danger, as the elves had one more turn to get ready for my inevitable charge. After all, with 5 dice and elite it was inevitable that he would get at least one success.

So of course he rolled nothing but 2's and 3's.

I'm afraid there were no pictures of the moment where my opponents heart split in two, but I'm sure you can conjure an image that fits.

The elves won a little honor back when the Prince routed the Biggit, sending Grotti fleeing.

Once my opponent had recovered his senses, I performed the obvious double-charge on the Kindred Tallspears regiment pictured above. The tip of my finger also makes a cameo appearance, presumably to sitcom-like applause.

On the other end, my chariots performed another hindered charge into the flank of the Archers. The Trolls also moved forward out of shot.

This time the chariots were much less successful, doing only 2 damage, where as my Fleabags and Slasher crushed the Tallspears, routing them and turning to face the next regiment.

In response to Goblin aggression, the remaining Tallspears turned to face the new threats, and the Archers Counter-Charged the Chariots. The Prince rushed back to the Tallspears to give Inspiring.

The Elf Mage managed to cast Weakness on the Fleabag Regiment, making their charge less effective.

In the Combat phase, the Archers put one damage on the Chariots, who held firm.

In the Goblin turn, the Fleabags and the Slasher charged the spear elves and the Chariots Counter-Charged the Archer troop. The Trolls continued to advance into charge range.

The Chariots continued to fail in their combat, where as the Kindred Tallspears were Wavered.

The Tallspears responded by moving backwards, allowing the Prince to charge the Slasher, while the Archers Counter-Charged again.

The Mage cast Wind Blast on the Trolls, but only scored 2 out of the 3 successes needed to keep them out of range.

In some good news for the Elves the Archers routed the Chariots and turned to face the Trolls. The Prince however only managed to put 2 damage on the Slasher.

With a clear target ahead of me, I charged the Trolls and Fleabags into the Tallspears, and Counter-Charged the Prince with the Slasher.

In the combat phase, the Slasher wavered the noble Prince and the combined Trolls and Fleabags destroyed the Spear Elves.

The Elf Turn 6 consisted of the Mage and Fire-Oil equipped Archers shooting at the Trolls. Even with the Fire-Oil, the Trolls stood firm.

With no turn 7, the game ended in a clear victory for the little green guys.

Obviously there was no dice based luck in my favour. My win was purely owed to my tactical acumen and strategic expertise.

In all seriousness, my opponent did the best he could with some awful luck, and if that particular Wind Blast roll hadn't failed so hilariously, well, we can only speculate.