Prince Arthadan Silverhelm cursed, as the Ratkin mob skittered away from the Glade Guardian Treelord's thunderous charge, the Sacred Mole still in their furry-pawed grasp. His warriors halted exhausted around him, ornate armour and Elven blades drenched in the foul gore from untold scores of slaughtered Ratkin. Their bleeding corpses carpeted the ground of Ukkert Plain, their stinking blood already soaking into the grassy earth. Behind them, the remnants of the chittering horde melted away, their grevious losses meaning that it would be many a day before they raided the forest realm again. Volleys of arrows from the Elven archers encouraged them on their way.
The Treelord stomped ferociously onward, chasing the fleeing mob, raising its head and emitting an unearthly howling cry... Arthadan allowed himself an exhausted smile. The fleeing Ratkin would have no chance; the call of the Treelord would rouse the forest sprites, the dryads... Aye, it would even rouse the great eagles of Dynnar's Peak. The Mole would be returned...
But not this day...
Fantastic game of Dragon Rampant with my good friend Andy MacTaggart yesterday at the club. It was my first game with the Wood Elves against Andy's Skaven horde. He had taken 10 units, many of which were low points cost (you get a lot of cheap Ratkin for 36pts!!) against my tiny 5 unit force of Elves!
Anyway, the game was a belter! Andy was trying to overcome me with sheer numbers, tying down my best units while his scouts sneaked the Sacred Mole off the table. However, the sheer number of his units meant that he rarely managed to move them all and my plan to force the action and cut off the scurrying scouts did work...almost!!!! They evaded the last charge of my Treeman and left the table about 20 inches short of their objective, at which point the game ended as neither of us could achieve the primary objective. I won by 2VPs to 1, only because I achieved a 2pt quest and didn't achieve my other one! I lost one unit - the spearmen, but took out over half the Skaven in some epic combats. Again, the sheer number of Skaven units meant that retreating units got caught up and, being unable to retreat properly lost more models...
We had a lot of discussion about the best way to represent Skaven. We reckoned it would be best for standard Rat warriors to be Bellicose foot - fleet-footed, fast and brutal in attack, but weak in defence. Anyway, we're going to play again in a couple of weeks...
I took some pics, but not many, and poor lighting meant that most weren't useable. Here are the few that are ok...
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| Shortly after the start of the game... |
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| Shiny, redoubtable Elf battle line - discipline, that's what this is!!! |
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| Just over half of the furry, chittering Ratkin horde... |
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| Prince Arthadan's warriors have cut off the escape route...combat is imminent! |
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| Jolly nice unit of Stormvermin Andy has painted there! They're going to die! |
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| Treelord vs Skaven Master Assassin (with 'Venomous' - Yikes!!!) After several charges and countercharges, the Treelord triumphed!! |
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| After much slaughter, the Ratkin scouts run desperately for the objective...see the Treelord's base top right of pic... He's coming for you, little furry ones.... |
