Albanyadriel and I got together for a rematch last Wednesday, after postponing for me getting the flu and then again next week when the snowpocalypse happened around our part of the world. Anyway, we threw down with slightly revised lists!
BLOODFIRE GAME 2: 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
Clan Lord on Fire Drake - Blessing of the Gods
Healing Herald became Raptor Herald #2 (Chompy), Mage-Priest learned Heal but isnt inspiring any longer, and CLOFD got elite (and my only magic item!) in hopes of being more useful.
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 - Breath Attak, Vicious, Mount
Cursed High Priest - Breath Attak, Vicious, Mount
Scorpion returned to the sands, replaced by Skeleton Cavalry, a unit that I had no respect for, going by stats and what they did in WHFB (i.e. very rarely see the table) Also COK items up in this!
We chose to play Control (= table quarters, right?), again using COK unit strength. Pretty certain the EOD went first. (The photos + text worked pretty well for me last report, I think Ill keep that up. Lack of notes makes turn-by-turn rough :X)
BATTLE
Battlelines form! Significantly more skeletons have risen from the sands since last game ;D
Undead shooters struggle with the amount of cover present, even if the fire dudes appear to be busily deforesting their half of the table 😛 Meanwhile the Swarm goes aggro and charges a GFE, in hopes of holding him and his derpy 8 attaks up.
Swarms are smooshed by CLOFD + GFE team up, and the rest of the red army advances into Tough, Smashy Crescent formation. The EOD move up to tempt charges across the line, while on the right Cavalry + Scavengers envelope their flank, and on the left the other Scavengers go ham into an Elemental flank. They land a wound of disrespect. Shooting hammers down on the central GFE and removes him!
Elementals flame up and charge in: GFE into rear of left Scavengers, Fire horde into Worm Riders, Fire horde into Spearmen, Sprites into other Spears (for victory, but mostly to get out of the way), Fire horde into Bone Giant, and final Fire horde reforms and is surged into the right Scavengers lurking in the Sally zone.
Big red dice roll cold: while the Scavengers were both obliterated, the Worm Riders and Bone Giant were barely scathed, and the Spearmen survived the sweet caresses of their horde despite all expectations (horrible hits and/or junk rout test). As for the Sprites vs Spearmen, maybe a Skeleton was wounded
Reprisal is swift on the right, with Bone Giant + surged Cavalry (to avoid behind hindered on the wall) eviscerating their Fire horde. Sprites also got poked to death (Rest In Pepperonis, lil dudes). On the left, the Worm Riders and Spearmen counter-charge, doing quite a bit of damage in the Worms case (and a token wound by the Spears). Shooting rips a few wounds into the rampaging CLOFD, but thankfully the Guardian Archers had to pivot to reorient on the action and couldnt lend their weight.
Vibrating with fury (sorry about the pic), the Elemental line strikes back: GFE + Fire horde into the Worm Riders, Fire horde back into the Spearmen, and right Fire horde into the Cavalry (hindered sadly). The CLOFD contemplates charging into the Crossbows to shut them up, knowing their existence likely means his death
but decides that being reared by the right Spearmen would be a bad thing (ED: I actually think he could have taken it, 45 @ 5+ @ 5+ is not great, even with AAs crazy good dice, and the CLOFD wouldnt have been shot at all in that case). CLOFD and Ember Sprites load the Crossbowmen up with breath wounds but cant reach their -/23 nerve.
Combat sees the Spearmen vaporized by the Fire horde, but everything else sucks. The GFE + horde combo on the Worms is a flopfest, only surpassed by the other Fire horde doing a couple wounds to the Cavalry. Bad times ahead.
The Worm Riders plow into the Fire horde that has been cuddling them, and shatters them handily. The CLOFD takes the full force of the EOD shooting, including a Cursed Priest breath attak, and is vaporized.
On the right, the Bone Giant and the disordered, hindered Cavalry go into their Fire Elementals, but can only manage a few wounds.
The Worm Riders are atomized (lets admit: those two hindered Ember Sprites are what turned the tables).
Meanwhile, the right Fire horde is healed up and heads into the Bone Giant, but sucks it up. Oh, and the cheeky backfield Sprites flank the Crossbows and pull off the single wound they wanted 
Turn 6 has arrived for the Empire of Dust. Spears back up, Crossbows counter-charge Sprites (for 1 sweet wound), Bone Giant and, after some surge to avoid the obstacle, the Calvary head back into the right Fire Elementals. Shooting removes the penultimate Fire horde, moments before the Giant and Cav beat up the last Fire Elementals but leave them clinging.
Turn 6 Sallies sees the GFE and two Sprite regiments on the left back up to consolidate their positions (a mistake, as unhurt GFE wasnt in danger of dying, but could easily have made a Turn 7 charge into the Crossbows and ended them, along with their unit strength 3 in his quarter). The third Ember Sprites bop the Crossbowmen for another wound. On the right, the Fire Elementals slam the Bone Giant one last time, finally bash him within easy break range (16 wounds)
and roll snake eyes. Ugggggh. Their raptor Herald flings himself into the Cavalry to disorder them, but cant roll 5+ to hit.
Turn 7 happens! Crossbows mess with their Sprites, Spearmen prepare to surge into the SW quarter but fall 1-2 short, and Im not sure if we even rolled out the combat in the SE quarter, as EOD had 2 quarters with no way to lose them, vs the Sallies 1. Regardless, I extended the hand rather than take my turn, whatever was left for it.
BLOODFIRE LOSS
BLOODFIRE 