Saturday, my friend Buck found himself with a few hours to kill in the morning while he was up in my area, so we made some last minute arrangements with Rob and Greg to throw together a four-player "Song of Blades and Heroes" battle. I hosted, and set up a table featuring a crossroads with a couple farm buildings and a ruined chapel and accompanying ruined graveyard.
For my warband I selected a typical multi-race adventuring party. Buck was teamed with me, and he borrowed the same Human warband from Rob with which Rob had won a couple games against me in the past. Rob selected an Undead themed warband, and Greg, who ended up being paired with Rob, had conveniently brought some of his own Undead figures to use. We chose to just have a standard kill-the-enemy type battle.
 |
| My warband, left to right: Human Leader, Dwarf Warrior, Human Magic User, Hafling Thief, Lizardman Warrior, Dwarf Elite Crossbow, Elf Archer |
As Rob and Greg slogged forward with their less than ambitious zombies and skeletons; Buck and I, without prior discussion, both decided to make our way to the center of town; and a bit of a traffic jam formed on the road leading into town as we both maneuvered down the narrow street. Buck's female magic user, Juliette, recruited two willing bodyguards, and headed out first to meet Rob's approaching Undead horde.
 |
| Juliette and her bodyguard advance as my guys watch from the safety of the wall. |
Meanwhile, I tried to move my team around the ruined chapel to take advantage of it's cover while placing my force on Rob's flank. As usual, I was plagued with bad activation dice.
 |
| An overview of the table |
Soon, Rob's first skeleton warriors were moving into contact, as Juliette attempted to transfix them. Her warrior bodyguards found them easy to deal with.
 |
| First contact, as two of Rob's skeletons move into contact. |
About this time I had a series of unfortunate event's befall my team. First, my Halfling thief, who was moving around the chapel, suddenly found himself face to face with Greg's Wraith who had a burst of successful activations combined with his Flying skill. The thief, with his Combat skill of 1, was no match for the Wraith's skill of 4 and my bad die rolling, and was quickly dispatched by a Gruesome kill. This was too much for my human magic user, Julia (Juliette's twin sister), and she promptly fled the field.
 |
| I attempt to move around the ruined chapel with some of my force, as my leader charges forth into contact with a skeleton. Greg's wraith can be seen in the upper center of the shot, ready to pounce on my poor Halfling, who is hidden from the camera by the far corner of the chapel. |
At this same time, my human leader moved forward to help Buck battle Rob skeleton's. No sooner had me moved into contact with the closest skellie, than Rob charged me with his Spectre and his Terror ability. This caused my Leader to panic and run, allowing the skeleton he was in contact with to get a free hack. The skeleton was successful, and killed my leader.
Rob's Spectre now moved to to charge Buck's magic user, Julliette, and though she was brave enough to stand her ground, her 1 Combat rating left her dead on the field.
 |
| Juliette attmepts to karate chop the Spectre only to be struck down by his mighty sword. |
It now looked as if Rob's Spectre was going to cut an unstoppable path of destruction through our ranks. We truly need a miracle, ...and got one. In a true Lord of the Rings "I am no Man!" moment, my female Elf archer attempted a desperate long range shot at the Spectre, and rolled a 6! Rob rolled a 1, and his Spectre fell and disintegrated into a cloud of black smoke. This caused Rob's force to drop below 50% and his remaining zombie warriors melted into piles of dust. Only one of his skeletons stayed on the table and he was soon reduced to a pile of bones by Buck's barbarian.
 |
| "I am no man!" My female elf archer takes aim at Rob's Spectre. |
We now turned to Greg's force, and the remnants of our forces desperately battled his skeletons and zombies. My Dwarf warrior was knocked down, and before he could stand up, Greg's twitcher (christened "The Head", as he was a skeleton model of just a head, shoulders, and arms ) raced over and used his Opportunistic skill to kill the fallen dwarf.
Eventually, we were able to wear Greg's force down to it's below 50% level, and the majority of his zombies, like Rob's turned to dust and blew away. At that point we called it a day.
 |
| As Buck sends his archers and remaining warrior into battle two of Greg's zombie, another zombie pushes my Dwarf down as "The Head" moves up to break his neck. |
It was a really fun game for a spur-of-the-moment event and we all had a good time. It stayed exciting until near the end, as fortunes swung back and forth. And best of all, some of my Bones figures got to get on the table and take part in a game.
For Buck's report on the battle, see here:
Song of Blades and Heroes
No comments:
Post a Comment