IN THE DARKNESS OF THE NIGHT: TURN ONE!

And so it was that on ANZAC day, Thursday the 18th of April, two generals did once again clash in an epic game of their own devising. Herman "the horrible" Van Kradenburg led a detachment of Dark Elves in an attempt to sneak attack an Empire town defended by the (almost oblivious) troops of Nicholas (new dice needed) Jebson. going in i had hoped i had got the balance just right on the game, and felt both sides, though the Empire was at a pretty obvious disadvantage in the first round (i posted lasted week on the rules that we would be playing) had a strong chance of coming out on top. the lists went as follows:

HERMAN THE HORRIBLE'S 2000 POINTS OF DARK ELVES

Crone Helebron (oh yes, i did not realize till too late but it was she)

Noble BSB with crimson death and 2+ armour save item

Sorcerous lvl 2 with shadow and the tome of furion

Sorcerous lvl 2 with shadow and the cloak of extra dice

30 odd Corsairs with repeater hand bows and the frenzy banner

25 odd witch elves

15 repeater crossbowmen

5 shades

5 shades

repeater bolt thrower

a very small force but packing a few surprises

NICHOLAS THE UNLUCKY'S 2000 POINTS OF EMPIRE

General of the empire with sword of might, shield, full plate, 4+ ward and crown of command

Captain BSB with full plate, shield, lance and barded steed

Warrior priest with heavy armour and great weapon

Amber wizard lvl 2 with a dispel scroll

Bright wizard lvl 1

30 Halbardiers with 5 archers

24 Free company

21 Free company

20 Archers

25 Flagellants

9 Inner circle knights of the white wolf

Hellblaster volley gun

also because of a cock up in sending my list to Herman to get the miniatures ready the page with the archers and flagellants never turned up, so some crossbowmen and executioners went rogue to make up numbers

THE BATTLE FIELD

with the Volley gun minus its crew and the archers in the tower, the empire were as ready as they were ever going to be so, roll on the start of the game

"good luck mate"

TURN 1

The Dark Elves came sweeping onto the field, all units (even the artillery) pushing up the beachhead in order to exploit the lack of Empire soldiery to oppose them. and with magical superiority the Dark Elves rolled a 10 for the winds of magic, this was going to hurt.

the elves arive on the beachhead...

while the shades slip silently out of the woods

by the end of the phase however, the archers had only lost 3 men (thanks to the templates on buildings rule) and had been reduced to WS, BS, and Int of 1. however the cost was high as a miscast cost both sorcerous's a wound. roll on the shooting phase and 18 corsairs level their crossbows at the archers and...

do absolutely nothing

the empire then retaliates and, with only the archers on the field, can do very little. however 17 shots at BS 1 still manage to kill 2 of the corsairs even with their sea dragon cloaks

TURN 2

the corsairs charged the building, knowing that their sheers weight of attacks should slaughter the pathetic archers opposing them. the shades also charge the unmanned artilery hoping to take it out before it can be used, but fails the charge by 1".

close, but so far away

 the bolt thrower set up and the crossbowmen and witch elves push up once again to the border of the town. the magic phase rolled around and Herman utters the "oh god!" as the pit is cast once again on a miscast, killing one of the archers. disastrously for the dark elves an 8 is rolled for the second time and with no way to save it both sorcerous's are killed by the murderous backlash, leaving the Dark Elves with no magical support just as the empire are set to arrive

bye bye sorcerous's, better luck next time

however with no one to shoot at the combat phase was short and brutal, with 15 of the 17 archers being slaughtered by the corsairs, who then lost 2 men to the 2 remaining attacks (go team). however even with the stubborn granted by occupying a building the archers still fled and, as a more thematic than actual legal move that we agreed to for the sake of the game, the corsairs went swarming over the building to hack down the fleeing archers. (yes we know but their not their for the tower, their there for the population)

 how will the empire cope, tune in for the second exciting installment... well pretty much immedietly.