“Gyorgy, what blood do you sense?”
The creature sniffed at the air and turned its bestial head uncertainly to and fro.
Vaszoly bared his teeth, all sharpened to match his canines. “We cannot march further now, brother of my hearth. Although Tengri’s bright face is veiled by the clouds in this land of mist, Angya’s golden hair will burn us still.”
Hooked claws dragging on the boggy earth, the Varghulf turned to follow into the stone cave where they sought solace from the sun. Skeletal servants marched behind, stepping mindlessly over the squig lures set into the ground and sending up a spray of spores.
Da Head Squiq Wrangla waved a hunk of rotten flesh in front of the frenzied herd. Live or dead, no different – squigs’ll ‘ave a go at it.
Gyorgy sniffed again…green blood. His already poor vision went red as he hurled toward the tree-line, taken over by The Beast.
After rolling a result to Fear Night Goblins at the end of last game, I of course ended up playing Night Goblins again. The terrifying aura of the undead would carry no advantage here – however many of the enemy were already Immune to Psychology via various vectors.
My list for this battle is buoyed by 100pts of experience earned from the campaign, as well as again accounting for a few extra points of price drops as yet unrecognized in Battlescribe:
++ Standard (Vampire Counts) [1,109pts] ++ + Heroes + Vaszoly - Vampire [187pts] . Blood Dragon Vampire: General, Hand Weapon, Shield . . Magic Items & Vampiric Powers: Blademaster, Dragonhelm, Honour or Death . . Wizard Level 1 . . . Lore of Necromancy VC 1: 1. Vanhel's Danse Macabre + Core + Bat Swarms [120pts]: 4x Bat Swarm Hunchbacked Servants - Crypt Ghouls [60pts] . 10x Crypt Ghoul: 10x Skirmishers Dire Wolves [60pts]: 10x Dire Wolf Fell Bats [42pts]: 3x Fell Bat Skeleton Warriors [160pts]: Musician, Skeleton Champion, Standard Bearer . 27x Skeleton Warrior: 27x Hand Weapon, 27x Light Armour, 27x Shield Skeleton Warriors [150pts]: Musician, Skeleton Champion, Standard Bearer . 25x Skeleton Warrior: 25x Hand Weapon, 25x Light Armour, 25x Shield The Drakenhof Deadshots - Skeleton Warriors (Ranged) [70pts] . 10x Skeleton Warrior: 10x Crossbow, 10x Hand Weapon Zombies [60pts]: 20x Zombie + Rare + Gyorgy - Varghulf [200pts]
I had the goal to keep the three characters themed somewhat distinctly at these early stages (eventually everything I own will be in the list). Vaszoly, with his origin story as a duellist, has been outfitted with suitable Bloodline Powers. His childhood friend Gyorgy accompanies him, although Gyorgy has long since succumbed to the beast within. The Skeleton Crossbowmen are ancient plastic models that I had to dust off with a toothbrush, and fielded entirely for comedic effect.
This opponent took an alternative tack with the theme, investing heavily in squigs and squig accessories. Herds, hoppers and manglers made an appearances, and some horrible little spidery Skulkers scouting the field.
Turn 1:
The Nasty Skulkers scuttled from the trees, scouting in front of the undead lines and ready to sling some sharp stuff.
Slavering for battle, the Dire Wolves, Bats, Wolf Riders and Squig Hoppers all Vanguarded out into the fray.
Face to face with the fearful fiends, the Wolf Riders failed their Animosity check and fell to fighting their friends.
The Squig Hoppers flew out in front with a boing of 17″. Flat-footed, the Mangler Squig failed to follow.
Gleaming with a green glow from the gobs of gathered Goblins, Da Wrangla blasted off a Great Green Spite at the Dire Wolves, flaying fur and flesh from their feral forms. Bolstered by his success, he attempted to fix a Vindictive Glare on the foe but the Winds of Magic got some grit in his third eye.
Vaszoly’s Hunchbacked Huns decided to show the Skulkers how scuttling was done, killing five to three and sending them scurrying.
Gyorgy the Varghulf launched across the field and into the Squig Hoppers, tearing them apart and continuing into the herd. Fanatics flung from the Shaman’s mob stopped short of connecting.
Slow and steady, the Skeleton Crossbowmen skewered 2 squigs.
Turn 2:
Settling their differences, the Wolf Riders returned to make a nuisance of themselves and the Skulkers rallied and reverted to what they do best (skulking).
Da Head Squig Wrangla had something wrong with his head, forgetting the words and most of the dance steps needed to cast the Great Green something something. He did however have a pocket full of Squig Lures to hand out. Dangling his Double-doin’ Doodahs, he dabbled in a double cast with his special shroom die. It proved to be a spicy one, starting a stomach-ache to supplement his migraine.
Slicing at Gyorgy’s side, the Skulkers managed to find a soft spot. Enraged, Gyorgy stomped six squigs, and set off in pursuit when they headed for the hills.
Vaszoly doesn’t know much magic but he knows a good xylophone tune, and Vanhel’s Danse Macabre ushered some Skeletons into the Skulkers, finishing them off. The Zombies sat on top of the Mangler Squig, losing the maximum amount of casualties. It didn’t matter.
Turn 3:
It was Wolf vs Bat as the chaff clashed and the Squigs turned around for a second chance at chow.
Despite Gyorgy’s violent blows, he couldn’t find any viable blood to replenish his vigour, and was covered by a carpet of ferocious fungus. Continuing their campaign, the Squigs careened into some Skeletons, chomping enough of them to cause a complete crumble.
Turn 4:
The newly replenished Zombies lurched into the main Goblin horde alongside the Bat Swarms and despite being cut down to two remaining, they were able to scoop out what was left of the Shaman’s brains.
Almost all of Vaszoly’s osseic entourage were crunched up by the hungry Squigs as he was out of position to participate in the fight.
Turning to fight, Vaszoly valiantly vanquished several Squigs and Squig-fanciers, but suffered too severe a defeat due to the deaths of his Skeletons and was himself chased down by the Squigs.
Turn 5/6:
Having finally reloaded, the Skeleton Crossbows shot down the remaining Wolf Riders.
Nothing was left to reach the Crossbows and they somehow failed to crumble while failing to kill anything else, leaving them the only survivors for the Vampires.
Vaszoly tore the biting beasts from Gyorgy’s hide and dragged him snarling towards the cave. The Goblins had won the night, but were hesitant to complete the rout while their leader was injured.
“Come Gyorgy, you can fight no more, there is no time – you are a bat out of hell and must be gone when the morning comes…we need your senses to lead us through the darkness.”
The result was a massacre of the Vampire Counts. Being the second game of the season however, no roll on the injury table was required according to our rule pack – instead we each got a spin on the Spoils of War table at -1 modifier and both rolled a Regiment of Renown. My opponent bestowed the fearsome Squig Herd unit with Always Strikes First.
After much deliberation, I decided to be sensible and award my Regiment of Renown to Gyorgy the Varghulf (so that I wasn’t locked in to taking the Crossbowmen every game), adding Armour Piercing (1) to his stat-line. Impressed with their performance relative to my expectations though, the Skeleton Crossbows were informally upgraded to the Drakenhof Deadshots, and rewarded with a command group and a custom banner.
Please join me for the next game in the series as King Lwyd of the Barrows embarks to reclaim his homeland and find his final resting place.
