Kings of war again at the Wakefield Warriors Club with Steve and his Empire of the Dust.
This one was probably our most intense game and was full of tactical challenges for us both. Lots of head scratching and beard stroking (odd seeing that neither of us sport a beard at the moment).
Deployment
The Herd: Beastmen
20 Tribal Berserkers
20 Tribal Berserkers
40 Tribal warriors
20 Tribal Longhorns
6 Brutes
10 Centaur Braves
6 Stampede
Brutox
Chimera
Shaman, with Heal 5
Tribal Totem Bearer
Guardian Champion
Empire of Dust: Tomb Kings
40 Skeleton Archers
40 Skeleton Spearmen
10 Skeleton Cavalry
20 Revenants
Bone Giant
3 Skeleton Chariots
3 Revenant Worm Riders
6 Enslaved Guardians
Reanimated Behemoth
Ahumanite Pharaoh
I High Priest
1 High Priest
1 High Priest
Both armies shuffled forward for the first couple of turns, neither of us sure what to do exactly.
A bit of shooting wounded a few units and some wounds were healed with magic.
I waas trying hard to keep the stampede away from the skeleton spear men, but then so was Steve.
Battle was finally joined on the left flank, proving to be a damp squib on my part.
This picture precedes a tactical move out of combat by the berserkers attacking the skeleton horse, so that made room for the centaurs to charge in and defeat the skeleton horse, but it left me exposed.
Here the berserkers look to be in a good position poised to help the stampede, if they survive the chariots charge. But look at the dreaded spearmen in the top of the picture. Steve's high priests can surge units by D10 needing 4+ to move an inch each time. He used 2 priests to move them into combat. Very clever.
On the right flank the longhorns, chimera and guardian champ remove the worm riders. Here Steve had cleverly moved the bone giant over towards the main fray using surge again.
However I did take the opportunity to take out one of his priests, but really a little too late.
The skeleton spears hit the berserkers in the side, not good. They only hit on 5+ but they get double attacks for the side charge making it 60 dice. Nothing good is going to come of that, herd wise anyway.
The revenants also charged in to seal the fate of the stampede, 24 attacks in the side. Good tactical play, using a combo of magic and movement. Just what you want in a fantasy battle game.
The herd are really getting the thick end of the stick here, as the bone giant and the guardians charge the horde of tribal warriors.
This picture shows how badly those 2 turns went for the herd, my my my!
A massive hole in the centre, not good, not clever.
The Empire have the upper hand.
The right flank units shuffle to get into position.
The left flank is about to witness the demise of the behemoth.
Some of Steve's beautifully painted models I just couldn't resist.
You could look at this and say, well the herd have the empire surrounded, but it didn't feel that way.
More energetic charges from the empire, while the brutox and the centaurs charge the spears, not my first choice of combatants.
But they do win, what a shocker!
Epilogue
Now the pictures stop at this point, but if I remember correctly:
Chariots charge the berserkers at the bottom of this shot, next turn the chariots are destroyed.
The brutox and centaurs remove the skeleton spears, much to my surprise.
All you see here remain as they are, although if we had had two more turns I recon the herd would have been completely done for.
As it was, it was a very close victory for the Empire of the Dust, by about 250 points in the end.
A very enjoyable game, well done Steve.
We both said that we were seeing more and more tactical challenges in KOW, the more we play.
Reminds me of 5th or 6th edition perhaps when magic was not so devistating and movement really counted a lot.
