Disciples of Arkhan in RttOW's campaign

[Sception]

One of the smaller Old World youtubers I follow is trying to run a sort of narrative campaign. Nothing too fancy or detailed, but it's an excuse to get some games in, provided I can either talk my room mate into it or find someone down to play a round at the local store.

First round theme is 'scouting parties', 1k points, no unique heroes, no 'lord level' characters (ie, no level 3/4 wizards, no heroes restricted per 1000 points, basically nothing that would have been a 'lord' back in WHFB). Though it's not a stated rule of the round, I'm also self-imposing a 'no behemoths' restriction.

Based on comment section, someone else will already be submitting results for vampire counts, so I'm leaning towards tomb kings instead, specifically 'Disciples of Arkhan' - exiled Nagash worshipers using the Mortuary Cult rules. Here's my current take on a fluffy 1k scouting party:

• Mortuary Priest, General/Heirophant, lv2, necromancy, skeletal steed, talisman of protection, scarab brooch
• Mortuary Priest, Battle Standard Bearer, lv2, necromancy, skeletal steed, warding splint
• 5 Skeleton Horse Archers, light armor, chariot runners, champion
• 5 Skeleton Horse Archers, light armor, chariot runners, champion
• 2 Tomb Swarms, ambushers
• 3 Necroserpents, ambushers, terrors from below
• Tomb Scorpion, ambushers, terrors from below
• Tomb Scorpion, ambushers, terrors from below
• 3 chariots, full command
• 2 carrion

Total: 999 points.

Typically for any mortuary cult list Id run some ushabti, a casket, and a necrosphinx, but for a scouting party it felt more appropriate to stick exclusively to faster or ambushing/summoned stuff. The sphinx of course would be fast enough, but from experience is a big feels bad unit at 1,000 points. As mentioned above, I'm avoiding behemoths for that reason even if they're technically allowed. If I were running generic Tomb Kings I might throw a warsphinx in, they're not too bad, but that's not an option for mortuary cult. To get the Arkhan/Nagash flavor in, I'm going with necromancy on the casters, even though illusion or elementalism would probably be better for this list due to the lack of terror & no skull catapults.

Catapults feel out of place for the 'scouting party' narrative, but I would like to get the terror mask in on the chariot champion. Not sure what I'd drop though? The light armor, chariot runners, and arguably the champions on the horse archers are all superfluous burned points, but I needed them to hit the increased core minimum for mortuary cult (1/3 instead of 1/4), so while I could move those points to something else in core (I'd like to run 2x6 naked horse archers instead of 2x5 with upgrades, but I only have the 10 models), I can't shift it into the chariots, which are special for the mortuary cult. I could drop the bsb, or one of the 5+ ward items off the wizards, but that feels like a mistake to me.

Game plan is to put the priests in the horse archer units and use their reserve move to try to set up advantageous casting/healing/summoning positions while avoiding charge arcs at all cost. Summon up the tomb swarms as charge blockers / casting bonus fodder. The carrion also are there to sacrifice either to tie up a shooty unit or block a charge on the wizards. The necroserpents and scorpions get summoned up to do damage with terrors below (assuming my opponent has any valid targets). After that the necroserpents also become chaff, while the scorpions become my main / only real damage threat, trying to position just one good combi charge with the chariots.

Not really aiming to win here, more aiming to role play. Will make the best game of it I can, but when things start looking south, either because the charriot/scorpion charge doesn't come together or because one of the priests/cav units gets tagged, then any remaining priests and their retinues will book it for the nearest board edge, sacrificing their points in this game to carry news of the encounter back to the main force.

 

[Sception]

The room mate is in a holding pattern on old world until High Elves get their Arcane Journal. I might be able to get him to play a game, or I might be able to find another opponent, but failing that I might just have to play myself, in which case I need a suitable 'scouting party' for vampire counts. Here's a draft list:

• Vampire Thrall, general, wizard level 1, necromancy, nightmare, biting blade, flayed hauberk, master of the black arts (wizard level 2), supernatural horror
• Wight Lord, battle standard bearer, skeletal steed, heavy armor, shield, burning blade
• 5 Dire Wolves, doom wolf
• 5 Dire Wolves, doom wolf
• 5 Black Knights (core), full command, lances, heavy armor, shield, barding
• 5 Black Knights (special), full command, lances, heavy armor, shield, barding
• 3 Fell Bats
• 5 Blood Knights, champion, standard, lances, shields, full plate,

994 points, again mostly sticking to faster mounted, flying, or beast units for the theme. Very light on healing for a vamp counts list - I'd probably be better off trading the vampire for a cheaper necromancer, but this feels better aesthetically.

I actually have the black knights - bought them the last time they were in stock for 5 minutes (the GW email alert actually worked for once) with the intention of converting them into mounted archers for my tomb kings, since I don't like the tk skeleton cav models. But that conversion was starting to look like a pain - the metal barding looked harder to remove from the black knight's legs than I imagined, while the hexwraith's legs are covered in little flames that look equally if not more painful to remove, so I decided to go third party for those and just keep some spare wonky old tk cav around on the off chance I ever play old world at a gw store.

 

[Sception]

Sadly it turns out priests cannot actually join skeleton horse archers! Horse archers are 'light cavalry', while regular skeleton horsemen and characters mounted on skeletal horses are 'heavy cavalry' (probably specifically to prevent heroes from joining horse archers, as otherwise there's nothing 'heavy' about skeleton horsemen), and a character can only join a skirmishing unit if they are exactly the same unit type.

The liches can still run inependently ~near~ the horse archers for look out sir, though I'll need to pull off the signature spell for reserve move. Would it really have been so broken to just let them join horse archers?

well, yeah, probably actually, but it's still awkward this way. I guess I could run regular horsemen so they could joint those, but, uh, I'm not gonna do that. :p

 

[Sception]

Got the game in, did have to play against my own boys - piloted by my bro, but he doesn't play warhammer so it was more or less playing against myself. No pictures - nothing was painted and some things were bare bases anyway, so not much to see.

Disciples of Arkhan (tomb kings mortuary cult, me)

++ Characters [304 pts] ++
Mortuary Priest [147 pts] (Hand weapon, Level 2 Wizard, General, Skeletal Steed, Talisman of Protection, Scarab Brooch, Necromancy)
Mortuary Priest [157 pts] (Hand weapon, Level 2 Wizard, Battle Standard Bearer, Skeletal Steed, Warding Splint, Necromancy)

++ Core Units [340 pts] ++
5 Skeleton Horse Archers [71 pts] (Hand weapons, Warbows, Light armour, Chariot Runners, Master of Horse (champion))
5 Skeleton Horse Archers [71 pts] (Hand weapons, Warbows, Light armour, Chariot Runners, Master of Horse (champion))
2 Tomb Swarms [78 pts] (Hand weapons (Venomous bites and stings), Ambushers)
3 Necroserpents [120 pts] (Lashing tails and venomous fangs (Hand weapons), The Terrors Below)

++ Special Units [355 pts] ++
Tomb Scorpion [77 pts] (Decapitating claws, Envenomed sting, Heavy armour (Bone carapace), Ambushers, The Terrors Below)
Tomb Scorpion [77 pts] (Decapitating claws, Envenomed sting, Heavy armour (Bone carapace), Ambushers, The Terrors Below)
3 Skeleton Chariots [147 pts] (Hand weapons, Cavalry spears, Warbows, Master Charioteer (champion), Standard bearer, Musician)
2 Carrion [54 pts] (Hand weapons (Beaks and talons))

--- Created with "Old World Builder" [Old World Builder - Army builder for Warhammer: The Old World and Warhammer Fantasy Battles]

vs. The Barrow Host (vampire counts, my bro)

++ Characters [341 pts] ++
Vampire Thrall [221 pts] (Hand weapon, No armour, Level 1 Wizard, General, Nightmare, The Flayed Hauberk, Biting Blade, Master Of The Black Arts, Supernatural Horror, Dark Magic)
Wight Lord [120 pts] (Lance (when mounted), Heavy armour, Shield, Battle Standard Bearer, Skeletal Steed, Talisman of Protection, Burning Blade)

++ Core Units [250 pts] ++
5 Dire Wolves [46 pts] (Claws and fangs (Hand weapons), Doom Wolf)
5 Dire Wolves [46 pts] (Claws and fangs (Hand weapons), Doom Wolf)
5 Black Knights [158 pts] (Lances, Skeletal Hooves, Heavy armour, Shield, Barding, Hell Knight, Standard bearer, Musician)

++ Special Units [158 pts] ++
5 Black Knights [158 pts] (Lances, Skeletal Hooves, Heavy armour, Shield, Barding, Hell Knight, Standard bearer, Musician)

++ Rare Units [249 pts] ++
5 Blood Knights [249 pts] (Hand weapons, Lances, Iron-Shod Hooves, Full plate armour, Shield, Barding, Kastellan [Lord Of The Night], Standard bearer)

--- Created with "Old World Builder" [Old World Builder - Army builder for Warhammer: The Old World and Warhammer Fantasy Battles]

++ Narrative ++

Through ghastly divination and careful study of a captured library in Araby, Arkhan the Black had discovered the approximate location of certain relics of Nehekhara that might prove useful to his efforts to revive his fell master. These relics, plundered by grave robbers centuries ago, he now believed to be buried in a series of long forgotten barrows in the old world, the graves of petty kings and tribal chieftans who rose to power on their stolen wealth, only to die out and be forgotten by history. Arkhan's attentions at the time were focused squarely on Khemri, as Settra's campaign in the north provided a prime opportunity to strike at Nehekhara's capitol and perhaps even reclaim the Black Pyramid itself, so instead of retrieving the artefacts himself he chose to send the high liche priest Sethon, one of his most capable disciples, to find the hidden barrows and retrieve their treasure.

Sethon knew the barrows would likely be defended by the skeletal remains of the grave robber kings and their servants, their corpses animated by the fell power of the artefacts they stole. But the ancient liche, steeped in necromantic power, was confident that he could compel the obedience of such lesser undead. His plans of returning to Arkhan with both the artefacts and a new undead host to wield against Khemri were dashed, however, when one of his army's advance scouting parties discovered one of the hidden barrows. They found that it had already been occupied and its skeletal defenders conscripted by a coven of vampires, survivors of the Von Carstein wars and refugees from the Scouring of Sylvania.

As the scouting party made their way back towards Sethon's main host with news of the barrow's location and the vampire threat, a hunting party of the vampires and their minions raced ahead to cut them off.

++ Battle Report ++

With no infantry in the Vampire Counts hunting party, one of the key weapons of the Tomb Kings force - the terror's below - was rendered useless. Worse, though they were able to shut down the opposing vampire's blasts of dark magic, the necromantic superiority of Sethon's students was itself largely wasted, as their undead opponents were little affected by leadership penalties and psychological attacks.

Expendable chaff units on both sides were sacrificed while the main offensive units tried to position for advantageous charges. When combat was finally met in earnest, the Tomb Scorpions were able to bring down the wight lord battle standard bearer and shred through most - but not all - of his black knight retinue. However, the superior force and armour of the enemy heavy cavalry, particularly the fearsome blood knights, eventually won out, smashing through the necroserprents, chariots, and even the scorpions, before turning on the liche priests. Deciding discretion was the better part of valour, the liche priests sacrificed one unit of horse archers to delay pursuit. This, along with the Incantation of the Desert Wind, bought just enough time for the remaining horse archers and both liche priests - all that remained of the scouting party, to escape the battle.

++ Victory Points ++

Barrow Host victory points
71 - 5 horse archers slain
78 - 2 tomb swarms slain
77 - tomb scorpion slain
77 - tomb scorpion slain
120 - 3 necroserpents slain
147 - 3 chariots slain
50 - chariot banner captured
54 - 2 carrion slain
674 total victory points

Disciples of Arkhan victory points
120 - wight lord slain
50 - bsb slain
46 - 5 dire wolves slain
46 - 5 dire wolves slain
40 - 5 black knights reduced to under 25%
302 total victory points

Result: Crushing Victory for the Barrow Host

++ Post-Battle Narrative ++

A malignant halo of dark magic cracked and shimmered around Sethon, attesting to the anger concealed behind his expressionless burial mask, as his acolytes recounted how the unexpected vampiric opposition had claimed his prize and destroyed a scouting party full of precious animated constructs. This news after other scouting parties had reported sighting multiple mortal armies in the region. It seemed Arkhan was not the only one to have discovered the location of these forgotten tombs and their treasures, and now it seemed a simple retrieval mission was going to become a long and complicated campaign.

Though he seethed beneath the surface, the ancient rasp of Sethon's voice remained steady as he thanked his servants for their report, and dismissed them from his presence. Once he was alone, he opened a sealed, gilded chest in the corner of his tent, and began picking through the ancient scrolls within. Against the malignant power of vampires, necromantic mastery alone would not suffice. But necromancy was far from the extent of Sethon's arcane talents....

 

[Sception]

Another month without an actual old world game, so once again I'm playing against myself more or less. Still no pictures, phone had died, but new one is here now so maybe next time.

Since I'm playing against my own vampire counts again, and probably will in the future (no regular opponent to speak of until the High Elves arcane journal is out), I figured I'd give them some actual lore....

Roderick von Carstein

Spoiler

As a lowly apprentice necromancer, Roderick Pale learned the dark arts from no less a master than Mannfred von Carstein, under whose tutelage Roderick excelled, striving to impress the vampire in the hope of earning the gift of immortal unlife. Unfortunately, Roderick soon realized that Mannfred's jealousy and paranoia would never allow him to elevate a potential rival, especially one with Roderick's innate talents. After Vlad von Carstein was felled in battle, Roderick took the opportunity to abandon his master, pledging his services to Konrad von Carstein instead, Vlad's heir apparent.

As little talent for the arcane art as Konrad had, he had even less respect for its practitioners. Most of the necromancers in his service were treated little better than slaves. But Konrad hated Mannfred above all, and the insult of taking Mannfred's apprentice as his own progeny was enough to earn Roderick special treatment. And so he was granted the blood kiss and the von Carstein name. He was also trained in the martial disciplines, as Konrad would not have a member of his inner circle who couldn't swing a sword.

But eventually Konrad von Carstein met his own end in battle, as his sire had before him. Without Konrad's protection, Roderick knew Mannfred would be quick to avenge the insult of Roderick's defection, and so he fled to the South, fighting off attacks from lesser vampires and spirits sent by Mannfred to hunt him. Thankfully Mannfred was too busy asserting control over Sylvania and launching his own wars against the empire to go after Roderick himself.

While seeking refuge in the wilderness, Roderick eventually came across a number of forgotten burial mounds, the barrow tombs of ancient warrior-kings whose people had once carved a petty empire in the region. Within the barrows Roderick found ancient treasures from across the old world, including inscrutable artefacts of clear Nehekharan origin. Better yet, Roderick discovered the remains of the kings and their warriors themselves, preserved with their souls partially intact due to the necromantic power of the stolen artefacts. It took little effort for Roderick to raise these remains as a company of fearsome wights. This 'Barrow Host' had formed the core of a small but growing undead legion.

With Mannfred now dead, having met the same fate as Vlad and Konrad before him, there was no more need to cower in the wilderness. Soon, Roderick von Carstein, last and most perfect scion of the von Carstein dynasty, trained in magic by their greatest sorcerer and in battle by their greatest swordsman, will lead his army back to Sylvania to stake his claim as the Vlad von Carstein's true heir and thus the rightful Count of Stirland. From there he plans to launch a fourth and final Vampire War, one which will finally see the Empire fall under the dominion of the night.

But first his dark ambitions would be put to the test by an altogether unexpected foe...

.........................................

Campaign Round Two

Army restrictions:

• 1500 points
• 2-3 heroes
• 0-2 war machines
• 0-1 rare choice
• no behemoths
• must include a battle standard bearer
• 0-500 points core
• 750 to 1000 points special
• must include a special choice 'bodyguard' unit which includes both the general and battle standard bearer

These restrictions put me in a bit of a weird situation. I don't know anybody else playing the campaign, so I was hoping to find a pick up game opponent to play against. That means my army needed to be a legal army by the normal rules, which then makes the '0-500 core, 750-1000 special' bits very awkward.

I was able to work around this by running Tomb Kings Grand Army instead of Mortuary Cults, and taking a unit of tomb guard as the bodyguard unit. For the purpose of the campaign I can say I'm running them as a special unit, allowing me to meet the high special requirement, while for my opponent I can say they're Core, putting me above the usual minimum for core and below the normal maximum for special. Add a level 4 wizard, some ushabti, a couple tomb scorpions, and a casket of souls to get some of that mortuary cult feel even though I was using the grand host list, and the list more or less wrote itself.

Of course, I didn't end up getting that pick up game, instead I'm playing against myself, so I guess I could have done whatever, but I had already printed unit trays and magnetized bases, so I wasn't changing the list.

To keep things fair and balanced, I imposed the same double restrictions on the Vampire Count army. I didn't want to run too similar a list though, so instead of pulling the tomb guard trick with grave guard, I opted to use Black Knights as the bodyguard instead, since they also can be run as either core or special. Unfortunately, the vampire counts are much more limited for special options at 1500 points, forcing me to make some odd choices to fill the points.

........

Before Battle Narrative:

Roderick von Carstein rode out with his inner circle of wight knights as soon as he heard word of his subordinates's skirmish with the Nehekharan undead. They had doubtless been drawn to the arcane relics he had unearthed from the forgotten barrow. He had never faced the Tomb Kings himself, but he remembered that Mannfred hadn't seemed to consider them a serious threat. With any luck, he'd be able to assert his necromantic dominance over these would be foes, adding them to the ranks of his growing undead legion. Even if that wasn't possible, he hoped to strike a swift and decisive blow while the foe was still recovering from their prior defeat. He certainly didn't want them getting any closer to the barrows, and the relics within, lest the enemy spellcasters be able to tap into their power in some way.

Yet now, as he overlooked the larger than expected enemy army sprawled out in the hidden valley beneath him, serried ranks of skeletal soldiers and lumbering stone constructs clearly preparing for an assault on the barrows, he began to have doubts. His initial attempts to exert control over the lesser skeletons had taken purchase for a moment, only to be forcibly repelled by a frighteningly powerful necromantic presence, and now the skeletal legion beneathin him were scrambling to respond to the threat. If only he could find the... There! In the middle of the valley, the enemy's mumified commander, easily picked out from the smaller skeletal forms of his soldiers, was marshalling his bodyguard. And just behind them, praying over some sort of makeshift alter, that must be the enemy spellcaster holding this undead army together, the one that had repelled his command.

Roderick could just turn around, ride back to the barrows and prepare for the larger battle to come. He had but a fraction of the enemy's strength with him, and had given up the element of surprise. But the enemy was still in disarray. Spread out through the valley as they were, the bulk of their forces wouldn't be able to respond in time if he charged in now. He could cut through the enemy general's bodyguard and crush their spellcaster beneath the hooves of his steed before they could react. With the liche out of the way, the rest of this army would be his to command, an opportunity that would likely be lost if he turned back now. The reward was well worth the risk, and he still had a trump card...

With a nausiating incantation, Roderick von Carstein summoned the White Lady, a banshee he had bound to his service when he was still a high ranking member of Konrad's court. With her came a host of intangible spectral soldiers, their wailing cries joining the thundering hooves of his cavalry as they charged down into the valley below.

.......

Vampire Counts Army - the Barrow Host

Spoiler

++ Characters [667 pts] ++
Roderick von Carstein - Vampire Count [381 pts]
(Hand weapon, No armour, Level 2 Wizard, General, Nightmare, The Flayed Hauberk, Power Scroll, Lore Familiar, Biting Blade, Dark Acolyte, Lord Of The Night, Master Of The Black Arts, Illusion)

The Barrow Lord - Wight Lord [196 pts]
(Hand weapon, Heavy armour, Shield, Battle Standard Bearer [Banner Of The Barrows], Skeletal Steed, Luck Stone, Burning Blade)

The White Lady - Tomb Banshee [90 pts]
(Hand weapon)

++ Core Units [80 pts] ++
5 Dire Wolves [40 pts]
(Claws and fangs (Hand weapons))

5 Dire Wolves [40 pts]
(Claws and fangs (Hand weapons))

++ Special Units [752 pts] ++
10 Black Knights [368 pts]
(Lances, Skeletal hooves, Heavy armour, Shield, Barding, Hell Knight [Obsidian Lodestone], Standard bearer [Drakenhof Banner], Musician)

6 Fell Bats [90 pts]
(Claws and fangs (Hand weapons))

6 Spirit Hosts [294 pts]
(Hand weapons)

---
Total [1499 pts]
Created with "Old World Builder"
[Old World Builder - Army builder for Warhammer: The Old World and Warhammer Fantasy Battles]

.......................

Tomb Kings Army - the Black Disciples

Spoiler

++ Characters [510 pts] ++
Black Priest Sethon - High Priest [225 pts]
(Hand weapon, Level 4 Wizard, On foot, Cloak of the Dunes, Earthing Rod, Elementalism)

Prince Nahkt - Tomb Prince [140 pts]
(Hand weapon, Light armour, General, On foot, Biting Blade, Warding Splint)

Shabaka - Royal Herald [145 pts]
(Hand weapon, Light armour, Battle Standard Bearer, On foot, Armour of Silvered Steel, Sword of Might)

++ Core Units [105 pts] ++
10 Skeleton Archers [50 pts]
(Hand weapons, Warbows)

5 Skeleton Horse Archers [55 pts]
(Hand weapons, Warbows)

++ Special Units [750 pts] ++
22 Tomb Guard [302 pts]
(Hand weapons, Light armour, Shields, Drilled (0-1 per 1000 points), Nehekharan Phalanx (0-1 per 1000 points), Tomb Captain (champion) [Sword of Might], Standard bearer, Musician)

3 Ushabti [154 pts]
(Hand weapons, Greatbows, Heavy armour, Ancient (champion))

3 Ushabti [154 pts]
(Hand weapons, Ritual blades, Heavy armour, Ancient (champion))

Tomb Scorpion [70 pts]
(Decapitating claws, Envenomed sting, Heavy armour (Bone carapace))

Tomb Scorpion [70 pts]
(Decapitating claws, Envenomed sting, Heavy armour (Bone carapace))

++ Rare Units [135 pts] ++
Casket of Souls [135 pts]
(Hand weapons, Great weapons, Light armour)

---
Total [1500 pts]
Created with "Old World Builder"
[Old World Builder - Army builder for Warhammer: The Old World and Warhammer Fantasy Battles]

........................................

I'm out of time to type, so the actual report will have to come later

 

[Sception]

Spells

Roderick chose spectral doppleganger, crystal column, and Hellish Vigour.
Sethon rolled Travel Mystical Pathway, Earthen Ramparts, Plague of Rust, and Flaming Sword Djaf's Incantation of Cursed Blades

Battlefield

I was lazy, so 4x4 no terrain.

Deployment

Vampire Counts deployed on their forward deployment edge with the Black knights + vampire count and wight lord 6x2 in the center, flanked by the the spirit hosts and banshee on one side and fell bats behind the other, with one wolf each on the far flanks vanguarding forward.

Tomb Kings deployed a few inches back, with the tomb guard with tomb prince and royal herald deployed 6x4 in the middle, casket to one side opposite the spirit host and bowshabti to one side and bladeshabti to the other opposite the fell bats. then scorpions past those units, then the archers & horse archers on the bowshabti side and bladeshabti on the casket side. Sethen was positioned on the tomb guard's flank next to the casket.

First Turn

Fitting the narrative, Vampire counts won the roll off and went first. Roderick miscast Vigour, dealing himself one wound in the resulting detonation, which he failed to save. Between normal and reserve movement the rest of the army moved up, one dire wolf unit parking directly in front of the casket, blocking its line of sight to the ethereals, while the other parked just in front of the archers, blocking line fo sight to the fell bats. Roderick tried to summon a crystal column, but was dispelled by Sethon.

In the tomb kings turn, Sethon casts a bunch of spells that don't matter yet, then one that does, using Pathway to shift the casket to the other side of the tomb guard so it could see the ethereals and be out of the bat's charge range, then moved to that side himself to stay near the casket and out of line of sight of the dire wolves and fell bats, killing one dire wolf with the cloak of dunes on the way. Archers kill some dire wolves, Bowshabti kill a couple bats. The casket casts light of death on the spirit hosts and the spirits fail their save, even with inspiring presence, even with hold your ground, and suffer the maximum 18 wounds, killing four bases outright and leaving one at half health.

Second Turn

Roderick heals himself and the fell bats. He again tries to cast vigour and fails. some dire wolves and the bats charge the argers, the other dire wolves move behind the tomb king lines to threaten a charge on the casket, inviting a charge from the scorpion to draw it out of position. Everything else moves up. Roderick fails to cast pillar. In combat the wolves and bats wipe out the foot archers.

Nahkt uses mwbd to grant the tomb guard +1 weapon skill. Sethon casts Cursed Blades, but failes to cast plague of rust and earthen ramparts. The casket casts light of protection. Sethon fails to cast path. The horse archers and bowshabti target the fell bats, killing one, with the horse archers moving enough away that if they get charged they can still stand and shoot. The two scorpions charge the two dire wolf units and wipe them out, though it leaves them out of position.

Third Turn

Roderick again tries to cast vigour and again Sethon dispels him. The remaining spirit hosts charge the blade ushabti. The Black Knights charge the Tomb Guard. The Fell Bats charge the horse archers, suffering one wound to stand and shoot. The banshee moves up and screams at the tomb guard, but they pass the leadership test. Bats cause some damage to the horse archers, take some in return, and win combat by one in the end. The spirit hosts cause no damage to the ushabti and suffer a single wound of crumble to close order. They give ground, and the bladeushabti do not follow up. In the main combat neither side manages to do much damage. The black knights technically win combat, but not by enough to matter.

Prince Nahkt grants the tomb guard +2 initiative via mwbd, while sethon heals them back to full strength. Sethon regains control over the winds of magic after his momentary lapse last turn, and casts rust on the Black Knights, Ramparts on the Tomb Guard, and Cursed Blades on himself. One scorpion charges the fell bats still fighting the horse archers, while the other moves around to get back into position. Sethon casts bridge on the Bladeshabti, moving them into position for a rear charge on the black knights next turn, even though this leaves the casket exposed to a charge from the spirit hosts. With pretty much everything in combat, the bowshabti move to threaten a flank charge on the black knights. The casket casts light of death on the spirit hosts. They make their leadership test but suffer a wound anyway, dropping down to a single base. Bats kill another horse archer, dropping them to one. The scorpion causes some damage in return, winning combat by one. The bats are pushed back and the scorpion but not the horse archer follows up.

In the main combat, with things looking their most dire, Roderick finally gets a spell through Sethon's arcane defenses, causing 6 wounds with doppleganger, one of which is regenerated. He then causes a single additional wound with his own attacks, which is also regenerated. Nahkt fails all of his attacks, Shabaka causes a single wound which is regenerated, and the tomb guard champion takes out the black knight champion this time, before the barrow lord and the remaining black knights and steeds together drop two more tomb guard. four more tomb guard crumble, dropping the unit to 13 plus the two heroes.

Fourth Turn

Things are looking grim for Roderick as he's slowly surrounded, but another turn like that and he might yet break through. The Spirit Hosts charge the Casket that's been causing them so much trouble, and the banshee screams into the tomb guard once more, but once more they pass their save. In combat the scorpion finishes off the bats, and in combat neither the black knight unit nor the tomb guard unit manage to do much damage to each other. The black Knights win again, barely. The casket and spirit host do nothing to each other.

In the tomb Kings turn Sethon casts rust, rampart, and blades again, and the black knights are charged in the rear by the bladeshabti and the flank by the bowshabti, while the other scorpion joins the tomb guard in the front. The last remaining horse archer uses its move and reserve move to get into healing range of Sethon. The combat isn't quite the massacre one might have expected, but in the end the Vampire's bodyguard is wiped out regardless, losing only a couple more tomb guard in the process.

Of course, for narrative purposes, Roderick weasels out of his fate of course, getting one more spell through Sethon's defenses to whisk himself away from the battlefield in a trick he learned form Mannfred.

The tomb guard, with thier heroes and champion armed with magic weapons, then turn to face The pale lady, and rather than playing out the last turn I decided she also sees the better part of valour and flees after her master, leaving the last remaining spirit host base as the only vampire count model on the table while sethon heals the horse archers back to full.

.......................

Results

Vampire Count victory points:

50 - 10 Skeleton Archers

Tomb Kings victory points

1205 - everything but the spirit hosts
74 - spirit hosts reduced to below 25%
100 - slain general
50 - slain bsb
50 - captured standard

1479 to 50, overwhelming victory for the Black Disciples.

................

Conclusion

Thoughts - here we see the power of having a level 4 vs. not having one, especially in low point games. The scenario requirements, especially hefty special minimum, also prevented the vampire count list from bringing its biggest guns to bare, as their greatest strengths are in rare and characters - blood knights would have been much more threatening than black knights, and if I didn't need to take an ethereal hero to unlock spirit hosts then the vamp counts could have run with a hero level general and a level 4 wizard to back them up like the Tomb Kings did. Opting for black knights rather than grave guard might have been good for variety between the lists, but also worked out against the vampires, as the black knights lacked both damage output and static res, and the vampire count just could not make up the difference. Doppleganger is a neat trick, but it's no replacement for red fury, especially with how unreliable it is in the face of an opposing level 4 wizard.

All that said, the vampire side's dice were also just way worse than the tomb king's.

......................

Post Battle Narrative

Roderick von Carstein burst from the shadow gate he had conjured to escape the battle, which desperation alone had given him the strength to force through the vice grip that damned liche seemed to have on the winds of magic. Fighting that thing had almost been like fighting Mannfred himself - maybe not quite the same level of raw power as his old teacher once had, but more than making up for any deficit in sheer implacable control. Roderick had badly underestimated the Nehekharans, and now was forced to plan an defense of the barrows without his prized horsemen. Maybe he should just have his swiftest servents grab what relics they could carry and flee before the Nehekharans arrived? He would need help if he hoped to defend his refuge, but who could he turn to for aid?

Roderick couldn't have imagined that aid had already come to the barrows in the form of an unexpected guest, one who brought Doom for Roderick's foes, perhaps for Roderick himself, and certainly for any unlucky mortals caught inbetween.