With time to burn, Albanyadriel and I re-racked after the last match and headed back in!
BLOODFIRE GAME 3: EMPIRE OF DUST
Salamanders 2000
Fire Elemental Horde
Fire Elemental Horde
Fire Elemental Horde
Fire Elemental Horde
Ember Sprites Regiment
Ember Sprites Regiment
Ember Sprites Regiment
Ember Sprites Regiment
Greater Fire Elemental
Greater Fire Elemental
Herald on Raptor
Herald on Raptor
Mage-Priest – Heal, Surge, Banner of the Griffin
Clan Lord on Fire Drake – Healing Brew
While elite on the CLOFD sort of helped him get work done, the heart of the army is all these -/17 hordes and -/18 monsters, which the Mage-Priest is babysitting anyway. So may as well get some synergy going on with Rally (1).
Empire of Dust 2000
Skeleton Spearmen Regiment
Skeleton Spearmen Regiment
Skeleton Crossbowmen Horde – Blood of the Old King
Enslaved Guardian Archer Horde – Chant of Hate
Swarm Regiment
Scavenger Regiment
Scavenger Regiment
Skeleton Cavalry Regiment – Casket of the Damned
Revenant Worm Riders – Dragonshard Shield
Balefire Catapult
Balefire Catapult
Bone Giant
Cursed High Priest – Fireball, Vicious, Mount
Cursed High Priest – Fireball, Vicious, Mount
No change from last game, in which BOTOK was pretty neat when it came time for the Crossbows to go ham, vicious Guardians was ok, and the Dragonshard wasnt used.
We chose to play another unit strength scenario, this time Dominate. Once again the EOD took first turn.
BATTLE
Lines are drawn! Swarm vanguards! Ominous killing field in the center is ominous!
EOD rolls out, and realizes how limited their shooting is at the moment, thanks to range and LOS blockers
which doesnt stop a Catapult from pulping the leftmost Ember Sprites, and Guardian Archers from rolling out of their mind and putting 6 wounds on the left Fire Elementals. Also that Dineen photobomb 😐
Fire Elementals go aggro, as is their wont, jumping on the Swarm as well as some Scavengers that thought they were safe from the right GFE (which they would have been if the GFE had to wheel to clear the tower
but this is KOW, so he just pivoted in place and zipped into them). The Swarm explodes, however the other GFE fluffs hard against the Scavengers, just doing a couple wounds. He is in A Bad Place.
[No Photo]
EOD prepare for charges next turn – Bone Giant and Spearmen shuffling up, Cavalry moving to the right GFEs flank – but largely just shoot all the things. Guardian Archers remove the wounded left Fire horde, Crossbows + Catapults pummel the central GFE (9 wounds).
Whether or not it was bait (the EOD may have been pulling the fire dudes frontage out of the woods and/or trying to garner a flank), the Fire Elementals and left GFE hammer the left Spearmen into ashes. The other GFE manages to finish his Scavengers, but cant quite scoot far enough into the woods to hinder the pain thats headed his way (needed 3+ got 2). In shooting, the CLOFD and some Sprites combine to put a lot of hurt on the right Spearmen, however rolling a 5-7 rout is really difficult.
Post consolidation shot!
The Bone Giant ignores the wall of red in front of him and long bombs the (now) leftmost Sprites, while the Spearmen charge the right GFE in the front and Cavalry surge-charge his flank, happily unhindered. Shooting ends the left GFE and wavers the central Sprites. In combat, the Bone Giant manages to waver his Sprites as well, and the remaining GFE absorbs a lot of damage (11) but holds.
Finally, the left Fire horde makes it into the Guardian Archers for some sweet, sweet vengeance. Also the GFE counter-charges his Cavalry oppressors, leaving it to the CLOFD to end the Skeleton Spearmen. Spoiler: they get vomited off the table. Oh, and Snappy the Herald launches himself into a Cursed Priest – the other Herald has been babysitting that beleaguered GFE on the right. Combat is not great, with the GFE barely touching the Cav, Snappy failing to hit the Priest (5+ is legit hard), and worst of all, the left Fire horde doing so very little to the Guardians.
Having been patiently waiting, the left (and remaining) Scavengers flank the Guardians Fire Elementals, along with the Guardians counter-charging them; the Bone Giant charges back into the Sprites, and the Cavalry, who I really hope were at least disordered but I cant promise that, head into the GFE. Shooting tries to put down a central Fire horde but Sprite screen is too stronk, although Snappy the Herald cops a couple wounds from Priest breath/fireball. In combat, the Fire horde takes a worrying amount of damage for dudes with no inspiring (Snappy was 7 away, as a calculated risk because I assumed Guardian death), but survives the rout. Unlike the Sprites or GFE (!), both of which are snuffed out.
Those leftmost Fire Elementals assault the Guardians again, bereft as they are with the stink of desperation. But Snappy is with them. Chompy, on the other hand, has no more purpose in life, so charges into the other Cursed Priest in the hopes of shutting down his nonsense. After pausing to have the Sprites vomit all over the Worm Riders (to no effect), Chompy misses his 5+ vs the Priest, and the Fire horde somehow manages to put good wounds on the Guardians. They need a 4 with no reroll to end these *******s and turn around. I roll a 3 and lose my cool, in a its been a long day, this is game two, dice have been continually bad, and Im very tired sort of way.
The Bone Giant rears those unlucky Fire Elementals, and they are as dead as you think they are (27 CS3 red hot dice will do that). Also the Worm Riders finally sally forth into the red phalanx in the center, sensing the end of the game is looming. They charge some Ember Sprites, get them up to 13 wounds, and roll snake eyes! Which also helps lock out the Cavalry lurking to the right, as their charge space is fairly limited with Sprites gumming things up.
Last shot of the game! Sally Turn 5 sees the token surge play of the game for me, as a Fire horde spins and is nudged into the Scavengers back there, obliterating them, but otherwise is tightening the phalanx and coating the Worm Riders in breath attak. Also Snappy finally made it into a Catapult! And whiffed 3 times! Brutal!
EOD Turn 6 had all the deadites collapse towards the table center, along with a lot of Ember Sprite death. However at that point he wasnt going to be able to touch my 7 unit strength in Fire hordes + CLOFD, and couldnt get enough of his own US in there. With 1 min left before the store closed, I passed my turn without doing anything. We rolled for Turn 7 anyway and didnt get one.
BLOODFIRE VICTORY
BLOODFIRE 