The battle that was not needed

This is part 1 of a battle report worth 1,500 points in our Halpi’s rift campaign. Part 2 will follow soonish.

Was this battle an inevitability? In Jarvis’ eyes, it was definately not. The battle was unnecesary and wastefull, for were his goals and the goals of the Northern Alliance thane not similar? One did not come this close to the Abyss to fight the undead or the clansmen from th enorth, but that’s exactly what happened.

As the vortex started to form and Jarvis set up a defensive perimeter, a sizable force of Northern alliance clansmen arived to contest the Vortex. Jarvis did send an envoy to explain his peaceful intentions (at least to anyone not associated with the Abyss) but the zombie bearing the message was brutally cut down and the letter unread.

The force opposing him was of similar strength, yet Jarvis felt a bit uneasy facing the mass of mucle opposing him. Two massive hordes of clansmen in the center led by a leader on a massive wolf-like beast. On the far flank towered a massive frost giant over a pack of snow trolls. Opposing his own position were two packs of massive wolves that advanced quickly on himself, fangs bared.

Army lists

Below the two army lists facing off. Both armies are exactly 1,500 points without additional Nexus power invested.

Setup, scenario

Jarvis arrived first and chose his battlefield. A hill on the far left created an ideal vantage point for the balefire catapult, only a forest blocked the sight at a part of the enemy battle line. The enemy deployed wide, befuddled by the scrying gem and the presence of Lucienne in the center. Jarvis reacted by deploying center-left, hoping to isolate part of the enemy line from the powerful trolls and giant on the far right.

The enemy Thane reacted by deploying his two fast elements on the far left supported by a strange mounted hero. Jarvis’ deployment made sure that these two wolf packs would not encircle the army on the left, forcing them to meet his forces head-on.

The scenario played was “control”, whomever would be in control of the Vortex at the end of the game is the winner.

Jarvis went first.

Turn one.

While the enemy was still deploying, Jarvis took the initiative. As his forces overpowerd the enemy in ranged firepower, there was no reason to advance too quickly. Better to wait and destroy the enemy with a well-timed counterpunch. First, Lucienne the lich queen channeled the power of the Vortex and mentally irritated the frost giant who took his frustration out on nearby frost trolls, dealing one point of damage.

Only Jarvis and Lucienne advanced enough to be in range of their spells (and Lucien in the eye of the storm) and both wizards and the balefire catapult unloaded their barrage of spells and flaming skulls on the rightmost pack of wolves. Though the damage was limited – not exactly what they had hoped- a few dead wolves showed the effects of lightning and blizard.

The Northen alliance army advanced in mass as a reaction. Only the wolves on the far left kept out of charge ranges, while inching closer themselves. The injured wolfpack could not contain themselves and hid behind the tower from the magical barrage.

Turn 2

“Can we? Can we?” Veritia and the soul reavers were ready for the slaughter, bloodlust barely contained. “No, we wait” was Jarvis’ reaction. As the Northern hordes advanced unto his position, the undead line held. A few units repositioned a bit to turn the front of their units to the advancing enemies and Jarvis himself retraced his steps to hide from the wolves, as did Lucienne in the far right to hide from the advancing thane.

With a loud “crack” both a lightning blast and two flaming skulls crashed into the already wounded wolves, leaving many dead. The remaining wolves fled, tails behind the legs.

Lucien stared at the advancing thane and invoced the powers of ice to blast him from his beast. Apparently, his time in the frozen north made him pay no attention to the blizard as no damage was done.

At the end of Jarvis’ 2nd turn, the battlefield looks like this:

The Nortern alliance army, recovering from the shock of losing the wolves, recovered. On the far left, the wolves ran away to hide from the catapult, not willing to commit fighting a unit of skeletons through a forest. In the center, both hordes of clansmen advanced to claim the Vortex, just outside the undead charge ranges. The far right saw both the giant and the snow trolls advance, the giant with a nifty “at the double”. Suddenly the giant appeared at the far flank.

Jarvis was taken by surprise at the speed in which the giant suddenly appeared on his far flank, now he needed to commit the trolls earlier than expected. One could only hope they would continue to exist long enough for the rest of the army to deal with the other units.

This is the battlefield at the end of the Northern alliance 2nd turn:

To conclude this blog post: a picture from my opponent’s view at the end of turn 2: