Edge of the Abyss

The skeletons are out of the closet again, as I and Mr. Easter dive deeper into Kings of War.

Only a few days after rocking Kings of War with Keef Ditchards, also known as Chaos Beakie, Mr. Easter, also known as Mr. Twilight Savings, gets a turn of dying. Having played a few demi-mirror matches with my Elves against his Elf-misfits, we figured it would be interesting to see how the gloamers would do against some different enemies. Plus, I was getting dead-peppy about my undeadlies again.

The scenario is Invade (get cross the centre line with as many points of troops as possible). The Undead get to choose who gets the first turn, and promptly takes it for themselves.

↑ After the Undead movement phase. With the Soul reaver cavalry having a point more of movement than the opposing Dark Knights I have the luxury of putting that charge pressure more over on the Twilight kin side of the board – on the other hand I have no ranged support so I need to get over there. Luckily that’s playing towards the scenario. They are supported by another fast unit – the Revenant Cavalry. The Blade Dancers are another unit able to deal out a lot of damage quickly, so it can get dirty quickly.

The zombies I put in the middle to anchor my line (when in doubt, fire photon torpedoes). The ghouls provide a distraction or charge blocking as necessary, let’s see how that goes. Finally, there are the Skeletons and Wraiths to protect my right flank.

↑ The skeletons get a little Surge to keep up with the wraiths.

↑ Wall crawlers.

↑ The twilight kin forwards the Knights, and the Shadows and try to bait out a charge from the Undead. The Blade Dancers are ready to counter charge. The Soul Reavers surprise and cause the Dark Knights to rout. The Revenant Cavalry destroy the Shadows, and ‘overrun’ . A volley from the buccaneers damage the Wraiths, but they are able to charge the regiment. The rest of the undead battle line shamble forward, the zombies getting some extra vigour from the necromancer.

↑ Along the twilight kin battle line.

↑ The revenant cavalry is then counter charged by the Blade Dancers and the Reaper Guard. The rest of the ‘elven’ effort is put into trying to destroy the wraiths.

↑ Yup. That’s enough for a probable route.

↑ Some breathing room for the Twilight Kin, for a moment.

↑ Then the Undead forces hit again, now with almost its full weight. The Soul Reaver cavalry into the Blade dancers, the zombie horde and Ghouls into the Reaper Guard. And the Wraiths once more into the buccaneers.

↑ The Soul Reavers destroy the Blade Dancers, but the rest of the gloaming line holds steadfast.

↑ The elves destroy the Ghouls – little is needed to drive the dregs from the battlefield – while the surrounding melee continues.

↑ Then the Reaper Guard breaks, and it is looking grimmer and grimmer by the minute for the elves.

↑ The lord attempts an heroic charge. hoping the buccaneers to finally do their job.

↑ And with the help of some foul sorcery they do. The skeletons, however, do not loose their nerve.

↑ Then the undead battle line strikes yet again.

↑ And it is enough to break the last fighters of the Twilight Kin.

That got pretty brutal, fast. I managed to overwhelm the left flank by sheer, brutal speed. The wraiths also proved to be a nasty unit, and hard to counter (at least partly due to Mr. Easter having forgotten to sacrifice a lottery ticket to the Gods of Random).

What did we learn? I planned to do some chaffing with the ghouls – not sure that worked out here. We took a taste of the baiting game. That was interesting. Also, that puddle I waded through made me disordered, which was rather painful for the skellies that hit only on 5+ to begin with. (We might have missed out something like this with the Revenant Cavalry, though?) So the rules are sinking in, slowly, but were are still working on the technicalities.

We also managed to be so quick there was time for another game. I hope to have that battle report done quickly. Stay tuned!

*****

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