Necromancer vs sigilist slugfest

By the Gods, we had a bloody battle last night, one of the most violent so far.

The scenario was “loot the cart” from the lich lord expansion, a very cool scenario where most of the treasure is in a broken down cart guarded by four cultists (proxied by witch elves) in the centre of the board. We set it up so that it was a bit difficult to get there.

It started out with my marksman getting shot and killed in the first round by an enemy archer. Then my captain shot and killed a thief in the same round. After that there was some quiet parts as both bands tried to get as close as possible to the loot. At first no one wanted to attack the cultists, both in fear of giving the other a tactical advantage. Eventually my knight got tired of waiting, dashed in and locked swords with one of the fanatics. This triggered a rush from both sides, with greedy warband members grasping at the treasure in the cart or swinging at one of the four guards, who did a remarkable job in defending themselves and the treasure.

At the same time, the wizards tried to cast spells to give their henchmen a tactical advantage. Some fog was cast, bones of the earth locked my infantryman in place just short of a treasure. Bone darts, arrows and bullets swished past or hit their mark with varying results.

The cultists managed to hold us off until the reinforcements came in turn three in the form of four ghouls. But these were less than reliable, three of them targeting a single archer standing on a ruin, the last one wandering a bit on its own, smelling some trees etc. They certainly did nothing to help the cultists which were being cut down one by one in the mayhem going on in the centre. The necromancers archer actually managed to kill all three ghouls on his own.

Eventually, some of those holding treasure were able to break out and move away. My soldiers had grabbed the most of the treasure and tried to inch out forcing the necromancer to become aggressive. He stopped my man at arms with bones of the earth. His barbarian butcher charged my knight and his possessed knight charged my barbarian. My knight was able to push away from the barbarian after winning the combat and continued what would become a very agonizing journey towards the exit. My barbarian trollslayer was able to kill the posessed knight (!) and head towards the trapped man at arms who had dropped his treasure as a relay baton.

My memory is getting fuzzy trying to remember the chaos at this point, but eventually the knight, barbarian, infantryman and my apothecary (!) were holding treasure, running for their lives! The man at arms was killed by either the bone hand holding him or a bone dart. A wall was cast to secure the escape, but this was crumbled by the necromancer.

There was a whole different game going on around the centre, mostly with ranged weapons and a few spells from my apprentice and wizard. My wizard managed to use his push spell on two of my opponents henchmen, sending them diagonally into the air, killing them with the drop. The treasure they were heading for was now up for grabs on top of a ruin and my archer charged in. Suddenly the bridge he was running over crumbled (another cunning spell choice by the necromancers apprentice) and he fell on his face. My captain, seeing this, sweared something like “grrmmbllbm….do it MYSELF THEN” and started angrily marching towards the treasure.

The treasure hauling knight was breathing heavily as he was charged again by the barbarian. Again he was able to fend him off and his vampire blade drank, giving him two wounds back. He continued the journey, but the barbarian was only an inch away and hungry for revenge. The apothecary and my barbarian were well on their way now, and so was my infantryman! “The day is mine”, he thought as an arrow pierced his eye. The enemy ranger had ran all the way up to him and shot him point blank, critical hit. He then picked up the treasure and continued on the same route off the table, whistling a merry tune.

My apprentice was struck dead by the necromancer and my archer was slain by the enemy apprentice so it quickly took a darker turn. The captain was able to grab the treasure and fell to the ground as another crumble spell was cast. This was to my advantage as it was less than 3″ down and he took no damage. The captain’s great escape then began. Enemy apprentice and enemy captain were both after him. The apprentice summoned a zombie to hold back his escape. It didnt attack, just pinned him in place. At the same time, the apprentice and enemy captain started to circle him, looking for a weak spot.

My wizard was effectively struck dead by the necromancer so now it was all up to the captain and the knight. At this point my opponent reached out an olive branch (offering that we take equal parts of the treasure), but I refused to take it. I still believed in the two!

The apprentice summoned an imp, (A proxy was used as we could not find the usual miniature and we were to tired to search; a scary as fuck miniature kewpie doll…yes, I have that in my house, but it is not mine I swear it) and got it into hand to hand with my captain, not attacking. The enemy captain and the apprentice were still circling him…it was some kind of sick perverse tactic by my opponent, further infuriating my captain. The following turns were all about my captain trying to knock away or kill the two creatures while inching towards the edge. Against all odds he was able to slay the two so after a while the enemy captain and apprentice invited themselves to dance and things looked grim.

But the witch hunter captain prevailed, killed them both and escaped! He rolled critical hit three or four times during that long combat! He is not even a very good melee fighter!

It is worth to mention that at some point during this malaise, I asked for that olive branch again, but now the offer was off the table:(

Over to my knight, he was charged by the barbarian again but this time he was getting too tired and too old for this shit. With a final burst of anger he smashed the barbarian, making sure he did not get up again. Then he started inching further with his pathetic 2,5″ move. The necromancer had now moved on him and was trying to blast him with drain life and strike dead. This has to be the most resilient knight ever because he was eventually able to march off the table, spells flying around him, panting heavily with a large treasure chest under his arm.

The aftermath: we both lost some members permanently. He lost the apprentice and a warhound, and there were some close calls and nasty wounds. I lost my man at arms and his banner of courage and two members were badly wounded. but it was not as bad as expected considering the huge number of casualties. Treasure was found (4-2 in my favor), my witch hunter captain now most fittingly has a sword of undead slaying- an appropriate reward for his efforts. Both our wizards increased 4 levels. Spellwise, it was a clear win to the necromancer, I don’t think there has been so many spells actually going off ever. Treasurewise the day was mine.

I must apologize for this somewhat chaotic post, I’m not used to write battle reports. I’m not even sure I like to read other peoples reports, but it is a fine way to recap the battle for those who participated even if what happened when is kind of blurry. Certainly, my opponent will have a different story in his head where my efforts seem less heroic and his own more epic, but for me this is how it turned out and these stories that is formed by your own imagination is whats so great about wargames and tabletop games where there is no DM.