Edge of the Abyss

Clan lord Tecuani sipped anxiously from his tea, and looked once again over his gathered mages, and then towards the towering fire elementals complementing his troops, then sighed. Some things were hard to say diplomatically.
"Your effort in summoning new allies is appreciated, of course, but in light of the recent dry weather it seems somewhat.. unwise... to unleash such volatile creatures in the middle of the forest we are supposed to be.."

He was interrupted by a sharp crack and the feel of hot tea splashing over his chest as the cup disintegrated. For long minutes he could only stare in horrified shock at the distinctive black bolt impaling the table, surrounded by the remnants of his best teapot. Only the Twilight Kin could do something this uncivilised...

"Clan lord?" The nervous query snapped him out of his reverie, his anger rapidly congealing into something sharp and decisive.
"Burn them all!"

Returning to the forest of Galahir for what would be the final game of my campaign, I saved points by downgrading my heavy infantry to primes, switched the single ankylodon for a pair of greater fire elementals, and my tyrants for fire elementals with a brew of speed for a fast unit. The bulk of this force was deployed on my left, shielded from the Twilight kin bolt throwers, but head on opposite their hardest hitters. Skulking in my right hand corner, a lone troop of Ghekkotah hunters seeks to secure an objective or two uncontested, and maybe sneak up on the bolt throwers.

Taking the first turn, the Twilight kin manouvre cautiously and pick at the salamanders with missile fire, but having mooved and lacking good lines of sight have little effect. Lacking any shooting above a 12" range, the salamander turn is shorter and even less effective

The circling and minor ranged attrition continues, save for the whispering scales making the first melee assault on the twilight kin crossbows.

The Twilight Kin attack across the board, with only the dragon staying as reserve. Lucky dice rolls see multiple salamander units destroyed or wavered, while in return concentrated missile fire wavers the Abyssal Fiend, the knights take heavy damage from a Surge-assisted flank charge by a greater fire elemental, and the elemental horde unceremoniously flattens the lone infantry regiment facing it.

The Twilight kin keep up their momentum with the lord destroying the fire elemental horde and spearmen finishing off their shared opponents, but turning to face the remaining primes on their flank proves a costly mistake when the lurking greater elemental shuffles sideways and Surges into their flank. Without the momentum of their charge, the knights lack the punch to fell the greater elemental and leave their flank exposed, while the salamander leaders finish off the abyssal fiend, and the herald wavers the high priestess with his breath attack.

Low on units and with their luck deserting them, the Twilight kin falter, with both the dragon and spearmen failing to destroy their opponents and leaving vulnerable flanks exposed. The hydra seeks to capitalise on some poor positioning with an assault on Artakl, but with only five attacks fails to enough damage-disordered, Artakl charges into assist a prime troop in disposing of the twilight kin battle standard, but with a short overrun blocks the unit overrunning into the hydra's flank, so they instead turn to face the crossbows which have just finished dealing with the greater fire elemental.

Surrounded on both sides, the crossbows seek to fight their way out, but fail and are sandwiched between angry primes just ass Artakl sneaks round and finishes off the high priestess. The hydra kills one troop of primes and survives multiple missiles, but is too far from any terrain to claim anything, whilst on the other side of the battlefield the ghekkotah hunters finally come out of hiding and shoot down one bolt thrower, leaving only one bolt thrower and the injured hydra surviving for an overwhelming Salamander victory.

The centaur faced Tecuani in a silent, accusing glare, eyes glowing brightly as they reflected the light from the blazing trees, waiting patiently for an explanation that the Salamander leader was struggling to think of.

"Well, we did get rid of those Twilight Kin for you, right?"
It was, perhaps, fortunate that the confrontation was interrupted by the dimunitive but fierce ghekkotah hunter that had been accompanying Tecuani's forces, with the attention of both leaders switching quickly to the massive hydra trailing after him.

"It followed me home. Can we keep it?"