Colin brought his Elvish Host over again for a return punch-up against my Dwarves. He had tweaked his army, losing the bolt shooter, making some elf archers into skirmishers to allow the points him to raise his spears to Armour 4, and giving his dragon the Flying trait (he'd obviously been drinking Red Bull). I just kept the same army as before (I had meant to tweak my list as well, but just forgot!).
We played the Take The High Ground scenario and Colin rolled low, so was the defender. He needed to keep 25% of his army off table, arriving in turn 4, so put the dragon and accompanying Beast Master Hero aside, along with a unit of skirmishers. We then deployed for battle.
The Elf host deployed on the ridge. It doesn't really show in this picture, but they do actually have a low slope in front of them. The three standing stones are the objectives which will bestow extra Reputation to whoever holds then from turn 3.
The Dwarves prepare to attack! Baruk Khazâd! Khazâd ai-mênu!
Turn One
The first turn was fairly inconclusive. the Dwarves trudged forward across there entire frontage and the Dwarf sorcerer cast a couple of mist spells which meant that the elvish archery had little effect this turn, except to force the axemen on the far right of the line to retire slightly..
Turn Two
The Dwarves kept advancing and their skirmishers skirmished, not inflicting any casualties but forcing an elf archer unit to step back out of the battle line.
With the Dwarves almost at the foot of the slope the elf spears all charged across the line, crashing into the dwarves. With their heroes, including the army commander in the front, they gain a haealth boost of Reputation points!
On the right flank the dwarves and elves just glared at each other!
On the left (from the dwarves perspective) the attempted flank march floundered, slowed by the rough ground and the need to avoid the elf archery.
The elven charges saw mixed results, in places they pushed the dwarves back and in others were pushed back in turn, or else the vicious melee was fought to a draw with neither side gaining the upper hand. But foolishly accepting a challenge from the Elf Commander cost one dwarf hero dearly.
Whilst the champion leading the ogres was felled by a luck blow! Two heroes down already, things were looking bad for the dwarves. Their Reputation had fallen to 8, whilst the Elves were on a mighty 16!
Turn Three
Things took a turn around at this point.
Although the elves continued to press home their advantage on the right flank, forcing the dwarves back, across the rest of the battlefield the dwarves were victorious and unit after unit of elf spears collapsed beneath the blow of dwarven axes!
The Ogres destroyed the unit in front of them as the belated flank attack swept up the slope unopposed!
An elf hero, left standing alone amongst the bloodied bodies of his warriors scorned to flee, but fell bravely beneath the axes of the dwarves.
Things were looking a little better for the dwarves, but down a shadow swept across the battlefield as the mighty dragon landed!
Turn Four
The Dwarves pressed on, destroying another two units of elves and took possession of the objectives. But could they hold them from the onslaught of the dragon?
The dragon crashed into the dwarven ranks, whilst the supporting skirmishers advanced on the ogres. They tried to drive the big beasts back with their arrows, but were ineffective. The Dwarf sorcerer cast battle rage on the beleaguered dwarves, who some how managed to fight the dragon to a standstill, although at a heavy cost.
At the end of the turn a small advantage to the dwarves.
Turn Five
The Dwarf King left his bodyguard and threw himself into the fight, leading a fresh unit of dwarf axemen against the dragon. His legendary weapon bit deeply through the winged lizard's scales, inflicting a deep wound on the monster.
On the far right flank, the elf commander pressed home the attack in an attempt to destroy the isolated dwarf unit, but they bravely held on.
At the end of turn five the dwarf Reputation still stood at 3, whilst the elven morale had drained away, leaving on -1 Reputation. Another victory to the dwarves, but it was a narrow one and a hard-fought game!
It was a fun game and we played to a conclusion with 400 points in just over two hours!
We are really enjoying Midgard and talking of playing a much larger all day game at some point in the near future!
The Dwarf King left his bodyguard and threw himself into the fight, leading a fresh unit of dwarf axemen against the dragon. His legendary weapon bit deeply through the winged lizard's scales, inflicting a deep wound on the monster.
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