Edge of the Abyss

Here’s a report of our second clash between the Undead and the Twilight Kin.

One of the big benefits with Kings of War is the speed with which even me and Mr. Easter, recently called Mr.Twilight Savings, can get a came through. Mr. Easter suggest it is the you go I go system they have taken to the limit for one (you don’t do anything except som tactical praying and cheering/jeering). Which is true, even though the fact that the fate of your army is fully in the hands of the enemy is something to get used to. Considering there are no saves to do, or attacks to allocate, here a lot of time is saved too.

For this game we decided to just jumble up the terrain, and still go for the Invade! (Put enemy units into the enemy half of the table.) I didn’t change a thing, even though feeling the pain from the necromancer not being to do a whole late in the game. Mr. Easter wanted to try out something different, as he felt too much points were sunk into his Buccaneer regiment.

Undead army – 1000 points
As before (see eg. https://poisontail.wordpress.com/2017/09/03/with-twilight-comes-death-12-a-kings-of-war-undead-vs-twilight-kin-batrep/)

Mr. Easter shook things up a bit:
Twilight Kin army – 1000 points
A Sorceress with Inspiring Talisman (Bane chant being the key word)
A Horde of Crossbowmen
A Regiment of Reaper Guard
A Troop of Dark Knights
A Troop of Blade Dancers
A Hydra

↑ The terrain set up. Again, this time we decide not to go after Epic Dwarfs generated scenery as we were playing on a 4′ by 4′ table.

↑ The Twilight Kin deploys in a castle formation, hunkered up as ghasts and spirits howl over the lush green glades in the gloomy night.

↑ The flank is protected by the Dark Knights…

↑ As the Undead gather opposed. Soul reavers (GW Black Knights) hold the left flank, while the centre is anchored by a horde of zombies fighting under the banner of von Rosentod.

↑ The right undead flank. The zombies are supported by some ghouls, that actually try to hide among their number, still brave enough to tear the flesh from the outnumbered elves’ warm bodies. Skeletons, the wraiths and the Revenant cavalry are deployed opposite of the twilight kin.

↑ Deployment overhead.

↑ & ↑↑ Twilight kin Turn 1. Its a careful redeployment, from the elves. Dark Knights and the Hydra being most forward. The Blade Dancers also are eager to be unleashed upon the dead. A volley of shard bolts are fired into the Wraiths but those that are not stopped by the thicket hit thin air.

↑ Undead Turn 1. The undead shamble forward. The Revenants are held out of charge range from the Blade Dancers, as are the wraiths. The Twilight kin moving up enough to either force a disordered charge or face a death by a thousand cuts. Wanting to make sure pressure is on, and no action needed in my own half of the table (the name of the game being to get across) I chose to pick the charges. I also wanted to engage those crossbowmen sooner rather than later.

↑ Undead Turn 1. On the right flank, the zombies shamble forward as fast as they can.(Moomin would be faster, though.) Having the benefit of movement I put some pressure on the Dark Knights by moving into charge range of them – still out of range from them.

↑ Twilight Kin Turn 2. Another hail of bolts. Out of the woods and Bane Chanted, they threat to hurt. But they hurt only the ghouls, who scatter at the scent of danger. Well, those few who lived anyway…

↑ Undead Turn 2. The zombies shamble on now threatening to charge the cavalry. The Soul Reaver Cavalry stand to the left of the image.

A note to fellow beginners: Here came a tricky situation where my banner, of course as close as possible to the zombies to inspire them, also needed to move into charge range from the Dark Knights (angled ever so slightly towards the left flank). While the zombies are between, as they shamble forward they threaten to open up a charge to the Standard bearer even though the actual charge move is close to 50% longer than the distance between both. The standard is visible due to the Knights being a) cavalry and b) on a hill. A short mess later, I think I got him safe.

↑ Twilight Kin Turn 3. The Dark Knights charge the zombies and deal some damage, but unsurprisingly they hold.

↑ Twilight Kin Turn 3. The Revenant Cavalry get charged by both the Hydra and the Blade Dancers. They hold. The wraiths are charged by the crossbowmen horde to little effect, and the Reaver guard move to possibly flank the Undead line.

↑ Undead Turn 3. The skeleton warriors reach the dark elven line, but wading disorderly through the pond their charge is easily withstood by the elite elves. The Revenant Cavalry get lucky and destroy the Blade Dancers.

↑ Undead Turn 3. And on the left flank, the combined charge of the zombie horde and the flanking Soul Reaver Cavalry can route the Dark Knights.

↑ Twilight Kin Turn 4 & Undead Turn 5. The hydra chews up the Revenant Cavalry with little effort and turn to the main fray. Meanwhile, the wraiths and the crossbowmen struggle in a prolonged melee. The tower guard counter charge the skeletons, but the dead give no respite and soon the Soul Reavers hit their flank.

↑ Undead Turn 4. The Reaper Guard is destroyed.

↑ Twilight Kin Turn 5. The crossbowmen and the hydra manage to together scatter the evil spirits who have been sewing dismay in their lines throughout the battle. Two new battle lines form.

↑ Undead 5. The skeletons and the Soul Reavers combine their might to take out the crossbowmen. The zombies being too cumbersome in both flesh and formation do a miserable effort to reach the hydra.

↑ Turn 6. Soon the crossbowmen are routed, as well. But a mean angry hydra is rampaging in their line.

↑ Turn 6&7. The skeletons are scattered over the fields of war, and the Soul Reavers prepare for a final charge.

↑ Endgame. And the Hydra is slain by their charge.

Another interesting game. We were both pleasantly surprised by a rather different set of battle plans for both armies. While my cavalry were both doing flanking action again, they no longer acted together balancing out the flanks. The crossbowmen horde were intimidating to face. Lucky for me their first volley hit after moving (-1), and through the cover of the woods (-1) on my Def 6 Wraiths the first turn so little damage was done. Next hit were my ghouls being a meat shield (and doing their job).

In the end I was able to overwhelm the Knights (maybe Mr. Easter should have pulled back a turn to keep me potentially locked for another turn?). It did not help that I got lucky with my nerve check after being hit by both the Hydra and the Blade dancers – I feel there was some whiffing going on as well on the Twilight side.

Having the Potion of the Caterpillar on my Revenant Cavalry seems like something I will try soon. I also have a whole bunch of LotR goblins that will need refitting for chaff duty. With them, Jarvis and the Wights I should be able to get a bit larger games going….

This battlereport was originally published on my blog (link below), it seems quite some quality of the images has been lost during transfer. Take a look here for better quality images.

https://poisontail.wordpress.com/2017/09/04/with-twilight-comes-death-22-a-kings-of-war-undead-vs-twilight-kin-batrep/