Where there's a Will...

Righty,

So headcold induced day off work = time to write up an epic day's gaming at Will's house. I can't think of a cool name for it (Willcon? Willfest?) but what ever it was, it "was".

Ryan, Will, and I all ran 1200pt lists so we could get 3 games in.

My list:
Noble: Radiant Gem of Hoeth (death), Dragon Armour, Great Weapon
BSB: Armour of Caledor, Luck stone, Great Weapon
10 Archers: Musician
19 Spears: Musician, Standard
20 Whitelions: Full Command-amulet of light
5 Dragon Princes: Musician
2 Eagles

Ryan decided to listen to my trollol advice and brought 101 Dalmatians Zombies
lvl3 Necro
2 Wraiths
4x20 Zombies
21 Zombies: standard
corpsecart
6 Vargiests
Terrorgiest

Will has decided to see what the Brets have to offer:
Lord level guy: Ogre blade and probably something else
BSB: Charmed shield and probably other stuff
14 Archers wearing bras
6 Knights Errants: FC
7 Knights of the Realm: FC-get and extra D6 distance first charge
9 Knights of the Realm: FC
4 Grail Knights
Trebuchet

GAME ONE: High Elves vs Brets-Battleline

We deployed:

Rather standard stuff from the Brets. I was going for an entrapment style deep deployment-hoping to pull some s neasky shenagians with the building.

TURN 1
I got the first turn (religious Brets)

The Whitelions are angled like that because the Lance without the characters had a (long range) flank charge on the eagle and I wanted to be able to take advantage of it. Spirit leech is dispelled.

The Brets get their first chance to do something. The errants charge an eagle (flees) and the Realm takes the bait and fails the charge. For some reason only known to Will the Grail knights run up (my) left flank. To make up for the failed charges the Treb gets a direct hit on the Whitelions and squashes 7 :(

TURN 2
Dragon Princes declare a long range charge on the Errants who are not taking any chances and flee. Realising the dumb move and the high risk of fleeing given the eagle, the Grail knights hold a charge from the spears + the General. My Eagle continues to flee.

My archers probably take some token shots at something. In the combat My General strikes 3 times and slays 3 Knights. The Spears put on a good show of looking like they are doing something. Big win to the Elves only to result in...

The character bus then decides that the best course of action is to charge the Whitelions + BSB. The Realm bus fails charge on the eagle (fled) and then fails redirect onto Dragon Princes, The errants rally.

Naturally the Treb hits (again) squashing a single Dragon Prince. The archers then pick 2 wounds off the fleeing eagle. The combat is a win to the Bus, but the whitelions hold. Will, checking the armybook, then notices that all Grail knights can offer and accept challenges = in challenge with General. The blessing works this time and some very scary rolling later the grail knight fails to hurt my general. THIS TIME the grail knights breaks and is run down.

TURN 3
The archers come flying into the flank of the bus. If they cannot kill stuff with arrows, they can kill stuff with combat res! The Dragon Princes fail a long range flank charge attempt on the Realm and there are lots of failed ldship tests (spears fail swift reform and both eagles continue to flee...)

The combat is swift and brutal, however the bus breaks and flees (dead BSB and standard) 12 inches to safety :(

Rightly. The Realm charge into the flank of the Archers. Perfect for me as this sets the Realm up for spears + whitelions + 2 nobles + also potentially Dragon Princes combo charge. The ex-bus rallys and the Errants fail a charge on the Dragon Princes.

 The archers pick the last wound off the fleeing eagle and another Dragon Princes is squashed. (stupid accurate trebs!) The archers lose, break and are run down.

TURN 4
The whitelions have a look at the options and charge the Realm who flee. The Dragon Princes have a go and push the Realm Knights almost off the board (almost...). The Dragon Princes then re-direct into the Errants and FINALLY make a successful charge! The Whitelions re-direct into the bus who flee. A wee bit of de-ja vu here from a couple of games ago when I was in a similar situation where rolling 10 or less = safe and 11 or 12 = of the board....yup off the board.

In other news my remaining Eagle finally Rallys and the General + Spears enter the building. I decide to try Spirit leech the ldship 6 Treb. IF it (of course) and take 1 wound from the Treb and lose a wound. Very Full Metal Alchemist "equivilent trade" right there. The combat is interesting. The 3 remaining dragon princes kill an errant who promptly fail their steadfast test and flee off the board with the Dragon Princes in hot pursuit.

The Realm knights then rally and the Treb (surprise, surprise) kills another Dragon Prince. The archers also pick of a whitelion. 

TURN 5

Nothing very exciting from me. The whitelions move backwards and the Dragon Princes move within Treb minimum distance ready for the kill. 

The Realm knights reform to counter the Dragon princes.

 The archers and Treb hammer the Whitelions. Direct hit (wow-didnt see that coming)...BSB fails Look out Sir! (typical) and dies (sigh). Whitelions down to 2 models promptly flee.

TURN 6
Dragon Princes charge (with tactical wheel) the treb. Kill it and run off board. In a piece of tactical genius the Whitelions fail their snake eyes rally and run move out of the 34 inch archer "threat" range to safety!

RESULT:
A nice victory to the High Elves. A little dumb the BSB died, but can't win 'em all. Will has yet to come up with a convincing reason as to why the grail knights moved up so agressively turn 1.


GAME TWO: Brets vs  Vampires - Battleline

Out of the mist came a groan. The boarder watchmen could not believe their eyes as the remains of those long dead stumbled across the field accompanied by the Lord's evil half step twice removed long lost brother who was banished from the kingdom for dabbling in the black arts. Pity is all that can be had for his twisted, blackened soul. Damaged beyond recognition or redemption in an unholy quest to bring life to the dead...the scent and lust for power is overbearing for the evil creatures of the night who as we [read Joel's really bad fan fic] are now swooping down to take part in the slaughter that is to come...

Deployment:

A typical affair for the Zombie hordes. The Brets have gone for a slightly more unorthadox deployment in an attempt to counter the fast flanks.

TURN 1
The zombie hordes shamble up while the flanks move quick.

Ryan clearly didnt think he had enough zombies on the board so IF's bubble invocate...deploys all his spare (30 odd) zombies before killing 13 with a large blast explosion. Necro dodges the pit.

The brets respond with the Character bus and the Errants smashing into the solo wraiths.

The treb (having finished squashing elves) decides to remember how to missfire. In the combats Wraith vs Errants = wraith needs to do 1 wound to not crumble...fails to pedo-touch and crumbles. Lord character with Ogre blade vs wraith = dead wraith!

TURN 2
Vargiests are overcome with frenzy and charge the grail knights. The Terrorgiest moves in kind to scream at the grail knights as well. Zombies kinda shuffle a bit to get into optimum "tie up the knights" positions.

Scream kills 1 grail knight and the vargiests finish them off with theri bazillion attacks and overrun into the archers.

Errants and the bus charge the zombies while the Realm decide to hang back.

After movement had been completed I suggested that the realm knights should have charged the next zombie block along and gone for a double collapsing flank move. Treb hits Terrorgiest...who regens
In the combats vargiests have fun and overrun into treb. knights crumble the zombies to 4 models.

TURN 3
ZOMBIE CHARGE..well not quite as exciting as that, but zombies flank the errants and the Terrorgiest turns to have a look at the Realm knights.

Curse of Years takes a wound off the BSB. My notes now just state "GATEWAY!" which I think means the Terrorgiest screams off the Realm knights (ouch).

The treb was never going to win the combat vs the vargiests, however the knights win and reform to face the zombies!
Curse is dispelled. Errants fluff and win combat by 1, Character bus wins by 3 (lord cant hit to save himself!)

TURN 4
The corpsecart comes into the errant knights to help swing the combat and grants...ASF ZOMBIES!

Scream kills 2 knights from the bus and the BSB is pulled down to his death by the super fast (killer) zombies! However, the bus still wins the combat by 3. Corpsecart kills 1 errant with impact hits and the re-rolling to wound undead bits hanging off the corpsecart also get a kill. However the zombies STILL lose the combat.
The combats continue and this time the Errants manage to crumble the corpsecart ha! The bus continues to wade through zombies.

TURN 5
Terrorgiest rear charges the Errants and vargiests flank the bus.

The Terrorgiest out does itself again and "gateways" the errants with screaming. The Bus finally dies from around the general who breaks away and does a runner

And then rallies to face what is coming...

TURN 6

...and what is coming is terrorgiest screaming. 4 wounds....2 saves = final 2 wounds lost and the Brets are wiped (screamed?) out.

WIN TO THE ZOMBIES

GAME THREE: High Elves vs Zombies Blood and Glory.

Rolled up a mission this time to mix it up. I have fortitude of 5 (General, BSB, 2 banners), Ryan had a fortitude of 3 (General, banner). Breaking point was 2.

We deploy:

Ryan went for the "rambling hordes" tactic with a fast flank. I went for the "on the board edge-aint going to escape the whitelions or get a turn 1 scream" tactic

TURN 1
Stuff moves up and there are "more" zombies.

I then move the spears + general to within leech range on the Terrorgiest. I get greedy with the Dragon Princes and fail a charge on the vargiests. The archers also march up and the eagles fly fast up the (my) left flank. Magic phase = IF leech (naturally) 9 wounds on Terrorgiest later = no Terrorgiest. However I also kill 9 spearelves and lose my General down a hole, putting me on the back foot a wee bit too early in the game for my liking!

TURN 2
To make matters worse the Vargiests charge the Dragon Princes and the 2 (my) left zombie units move up agressively.

For some reason Ryan curses an eagle (nothing happens-not even an IF to make me feel better) and the vargiests make quick work of the dragon princes-pursuing them off the board.

In reponse I charge both eagles into the corpse cart ha! take that! I win by 1. The whitelions turn to trap the vargiests when then return to the board. The Archers and spears move back out of Zombie charge range.

TURN 3
Now my Spears were out of zombie charge range...but I forgot that wraiths have movement 6. 17 inch charge later and the wraith has the spear's flank...and my game winning prospects held in the balance of the dice.  The vargiests come back on and move away from the battle-as intended.

The Corpsecart gains asf, but still crumbles to nothing. Spears hold and reform to face the wraith...fluffed attacks and SCres are my only hope!

Well, I have the  archers and a free eagles...The archers move up to block zombies with a wraith. 1 eagle moves to block the other unit, while the 2nd eagle moves to shadow the necromancer.
Spears hold again and the whitelions fail a charge on the Vargiests.

TURN 4
Zombie charge! and vargiests charge whitelions #YOLO

Eagle loses and flees (to safety). Archers win combat by 3 BOOM! Whitelions and BSB vs Vargiests was never a good idea and the Vargiests get "whalloped".

IN my turn the whitelions move to give BSB coverage, eagle rallys, spears hold (prayin' on dice fluffs!) and the archers get 10 hits!...for 1 wound gar! They hold.

TURN 5
The necro (and standard) bunker march up to join the fight. The Zombies that fought the eagle move to block the whitelions.

This of course sets up a perfect 1-2 combo of eagles on necro for a sneaky game win for me...foiled by IF gaze on an eagle :( Archers win combat by 1...AND SO DO THE SPEARS. 1 wound left on wraith...tense times!

Eagle charges Necro bunker flank, whitelions charge the zombie blockers.

Whitelions go zombie chopping and crumble them down to an annoying 3. Then, coming out of nowhere, the "now almost dead" zombie unit wipes out the archers! Spears hold (booya!)

...and the eagle fails fear (naturally) but still manages 1 wound on the necro. Drawn combat.

TURN 6
Supporting zombie flank charge on Eagle fails...but the 2nd wraith, now free of the archers, charges into help finish off the last 3 remaining spears. 13 zombies are raised back to help hold up the whitelions....nope-reforms to face the wraiths who finish off the spearelves :( Eagle vs Necro fluffs re-rolling fear but holds.

My whitelions charge in to kill a wraith (magic attacks)

While the heroic eagle finally breaks and is run down.

Result:
Win to the Zombies...just. on VPs I lost by 70ish (including the extra 100VPs for general). Not bad for losing General turn 1.