*************************************************

Abyss Vs Nature with Elf Allies – Pillage

28 July, 2016

Initial Thoughts:

My first Batrep for the month actually occurred on 28 July, but I didn’t get around to writing it up until now. The Game was a tournament (Universal Battles Tournament organized by Devean.) I may end up fighting this list again very soon. The game was against Snedwos and his very thematic Forces of Nature with Elf allies list. The army represents the Desert Kin, and he has done a really good job representing the theme on the interface.

Having seen the list in advance of the tournament, I was very curious to see how it plays. Thus, when given the opportunity, I jumped on it. The first thing to notice about this list is that it has a lot of shooting, and some very fast units. He has only one unit that moves 5 inches, and that is a druid on foot. Everything else is Sp7 or better. Much of it is also nimble. This makes it a very mobile gun line, so to speak. The list is not intimidating in power, but because of its mobility, I foresee an avoidance game as much as possible. Means to catch these guys I have to stay on my toes.

The terrain is also interesting. Devean put this map together and it seems very suited for the Desert Kin. That means that I am the aggressor in his territory. The huts with walls on the left side of the screen make that a more favorable position for a defensive set, and thus also a strong position for shooting, as any charger without Strider will be hindered on that flank. With that in mind, I plan on setting the majority of my forces on the right side, but that could change once the objectives are set. If 3 or more objectives are set right and/or center, then I will focus all forces on the right.

Set Up:

We roll for objectives and they get set fairly evenly across the board; 3 on each deployment side, but off set enough where we will have to move to grab them. With only 6 markers, this makes playing for a draw a sensible idea, but I think I will instead play to win. Normally, for a pillage, I will actually try to hold my chaff units in reserve to grab objectives at the end of the fight, but with his speed and mobility I am going to need gargoyles and hell hounds for interdiction. We roll for sides, and I choose top because of the cover provided on turn 1 at least by the hill in the middle and the sphinx on the right.

As I stated earlier, the right flank is where I am going to try to dominate, so my first drop is a troop of gargoyles there. Fortunately, he doesn’t have the scrying gem so I won’t have to give up the whole plan at the start of deployment, and we both have the same amount of drops. Thus my army, from left to right: there is a lone troop of gargoyles on the far left, set to bait some of his forces as my second drop. Then we have the two regiments of succubi, one with dwarven ale, and Shari the Temptress between them. Next we have the horsemen and Lord of Lies behind the hill. Huddled around the sphinx we have the hell hounds followed by the tortured souls with brew of haste, Darvine the harbinger with boom stick, the other gargoyle troop and of course Sophie the arch fiend with all of her kit.

Snedwos positions all of his forces into two combat teams as well. His left flank is the heavier side with a beast of nature with breath 10 and vicious, a horde of fire elementals with Brew of Haste, the druid on foot with bane chant and surge, and two regiments of elf chariots followed by an elf standard bearer on a horse. The second combat team is on the right with a horde of talon riders with blessing of the gods, another beast of nature, this time with lightning and vicious, a winged unicorn with bane chant and lightning, and another horde of talon riders, but with brew of keen eyed this time. Wow, if I’m not careful, I’m going to get shot (back) to hell.

Turn 1:

Snedwos wins the roll for firsties, and opts to take it. Theoretically, this gives him the advantage of an additional shooting turn. Both chariot regiments crest the hill to give them better, unhindered fields of fire, however, when they shoot at the succubi, the combination of moving and stealthy means they fail to cause even a single wound on the girls. Wow, bad shooting to start with. The talon riders to the left open fire on the hell hounds and waver them, then the unicorn (Alicorn?) bane chants the ones on the right who score 5 wounds on my Defense 6 Sophie (Ouch!)

It’s time for me to move and move fast. While the chariots did nothing, I am feeling some pain from the other side. Fortunately I am just in range for the tortured souls to reach the elite talon riders, and they are joined by the LoL. The horsemen and girls move into positions on and around the hill, inviting a charge from the chariots. who will otherwise be charged themselves if they opt to shoot instead. The far left gargoyles just adjust a bit, but stay where they are, as do the right side gars. Thus, with no shooting this turn, we move to the single combat, resulting in the untimely demise of the elite talon riders. The LoL turns to face the chariots on the hill, and the souls face full on to the beast and unicorn. Well, I didn’t negate his follow on shooting, but I put him in a position where he needs to rethink whether he will shoot or not, especially on the left. On the right he can shoot the souls, but could easily suffer more combat losses by doing so.

Turn 2:

This turn, the rest of the left flank advances. The fire elementals take aim at the gargoyles, and the wyrm riders sit down on the objective. The chariots opt to hold their ground and shoot, which produces 5 wounds on the regular succubi and a waver. The Talon riders move up as well, to where they can shoot the horsemen on the hill, but fail to waver them. They will be fighting next turn. The druid surges the elementals forward another 3 inches towards my gars. For combat the nature beast charges the souls, but falls short on breaking them.

It’s time to break some dune glider chariots. The horsemen happily charge the further right chariots, and the souls counter charge the beast. The LoL decides the horsemen can handle their quarry, and instead re-positions to zap the talon riders. Darvine and Sophie emerge from behind the sphinx to also send some lightning towards the talon riders. I have a good turn of shooting with the lightning and waver the talon riders. Combat sees a regiment of chariots vanish into obscurity, and the beast gets hurt as well, but holds.

Turn 3:

The nature beast has another go at the souls, and the unicorn decides to take on the LoL. The wavered talon riders back up so that a charge on them would be hindered. The left flank gets a little more cluttered. The chariots charge the horsemen while the fire elementals advance towards the objective in the pond instead of charging the gargoyles. The Wyrm riders move and pivot to support the chariots, and the other beast moves into breath weapon range of the gars. The beast does 2 wounds on the gars, but they hold. Astounding! In combat the chariots do 3 wounds to the horsemen, but they hold as well. Over on the right, it is pretty much the same story. Despite injuries caused, neither the souls nor the LoL is wavered or broken. Wow, it is the bottom of the third, and I still have both gar troops and the hounds alive. That is shocking. I also have the potential to completely cleanse the right combat team, and destroy the other chariots. Always remember kiddies, there is no such thing as over kill in this game.

The horsemen, and both succubi regiments triple charge the chariots. There is a method to my madness here in that this leaves only the regular succubi in charge arc of the wyrm riders, and if I position right, they will only be able to charge me across the wall. Hindered + Ensnare = good times for the girls. Sophie joins the souls in the nature beast’s flank. The gargoyles tackle the talon riders while the LoL counter charges the unicorn as well. The hounds move off into the woods to claim the objective at the base of the hill. Finally, those uncharged gargoyles regenerate both wounds and decide they might be able to do some damage to the wyrm riders if they flank attack. Shari fails her attempt to bane chant the flanking girls, and Darvine has no one to shoot at all. Combat sees the death of the chariots and nature beast. The right side gars roll snake eyes for the talon riders after doing 3 wounds, and the other gars injure , but not seriously, the wyrm riders.

Turn 4:

Well, it appears I celebrated the living of my gargoyles just a bit too soon. The talon riders counter charge the right gars, and the wyrm riders ignore the left, and go after the girls instead. They haven’t been forgotten though, as the nature beast slams them in the rear. The fire elementals move on to claim the objective in the puddle. With no shooting options left, Nature moves into combat, and, tragically, both gargoyle troops die. Despite being hindered and ensnared, the wyrm riders took down the girls, but would face a dual charge from the drunk bitches and horsemen. The unicorn managed another wound on the LoL, but she was just fine.

Sophie bounces off to claim the objective by the rock formation while the hell hounds claim the one in the woods. Obvious charges also had to happen, with both the horsemen and drunk bitches taking on the wyrm riders, and the souls taking on the talon riders. The LoL also wanted to continue her fight with the unicorn. Shari blesses the drunk girls, and they and the horsemen go on to batter the wyrm riders, but that damned snake eyes turns up for the nerve roll, and the riders will be able to regenerate and counter charge. The souls slaughter the talon riders, and turn to face the unicorn’s rear, and the LoL manages to scratch out just one wound again on the unicorn. Man this is really a pillow fight.

Turn 5:

The nature beast and wyrm riders double up on the horsemen, while the unicorn tries again on the LoL. You know what? Double 1s are a bitch. The horsemen miraculously hold. The unicorn fails to wound the LoL, so she can flutter away if she likes.

The LoL turns her back on the unicorn as the souls hit it in the rear. The Drunk girls charge the riders, and the horsemen charge the beast. Both Sophie and the LoL fly worward to assist the severely injured horsemen while the hounds move out of the woods towards the objective previously held by Sophie. Darvine also moves over to inspire the horsemen. The souls gobble up the unicorn, and back away to control the objective in the pond. Shari fails to bane chant the girls, but they succeed in killing off the wyrm riders anyways. The horsemen waver the nature beast, they just might live through this.

Turn 6:

The lone elvish standard bearer, sitting astride the wall gets brave, and charges the horsemen. His 1 hindered attack, hitting on a 6 succeeds, and then he rolls a 5 to wound. The horsemen are broken. The standard bearer backs up an inch to protect the nature beast’s flank from the girls.

Sohpie does a flying charge on the beast, and the girls flank charge the standard bearer. The LoL shifts up to claim the objective in the woods making it 3 to 1 with 1 contested. Shari does succeed in bane chathing the girls this time, and they rip through the standard bearer and into the flank of the beast. Between them and Sophie, the beast is gutted and butchered in preparation for the victory feast. The die is tossed, and the battle ends there. Solid victory for the Abyss; 4 to 1.

Aftermath:

Well, I wanted to see how it played, and I found out. The pair of snake eyes back to back made for a bit more tension on the left, while the gars getting snakes against the talon riders was just unfair. My poor gars rarely live, but just this once I thought they’d make it through. Over all a very fun game, and a good warm up for the tournament for both armies. Snedwos was just a touch too bold with his opening move which allowed me to get into contact with his shooters on a turn 1 charge. It set the tone for the entire battle. Oddly enough where he was overly bold with the right combat team, he held back on the left, and kept his wyrm riders out of the fray until the chariots were on the ropes. any time an opponent does a piece meal attack on me, especially against the girls, I find I have a strong advantage. The long and short of it, boys and girls, don’t attack succubi un-supported, you’ll lose.