Path to Glory: In the Hall of the King of Ghouls

Right!

So I started playing in this Path to Glory -campaign some time ago and totally managed to miss the second round. Well played, me. Luckily I got back on track in time for the third and fourth rounds, both of which have now been played and no clear victor has emerged as of yet. Me and my aelves might still have a chance!

Although this report will be marked as Part 2 in the Campaign menu, it's actually the third scenario of the league. I obviously didn't receive any Glory or new units for the missed game, so my warband still consists of only four units and my points total still stands at 3 GP.

This time I got paired with a Flesh-Eater Courts warband, a faction I've never faced on the battlefield before.

"I do not like this," Loremaster Aerelian said, letting his gaze sweep across the autumnal landscape. Lord Sundamar shifted his weight from his left leg to his right, having waited for the Loremaster's evaluation for a good hour by now. He and his warband had found Aerelian the Sage from a ruined temple in the Zendorn Foothills, lost in his studies of the dark rites that had apparently taken place there. The Loremaster had agreed to join them after A'undtur helped in translating the ancient scripts, directing them through the foothills on their quest to track down the source of the corruption spreading in the region.

"Dark magic? I can faintly sense it in the air myself," Sundamar stated while petting the long scaly neck of A'undtur.
"Yes, magic of the undead. You can tell by the dusty reek of it," the Loremaster replied.
"I believe I have fairly proficient evidence to back up my claim that we may have entered the sacred halls of the King of Ghouls."
"So you're saying we just walked into his or her chamber without knocking?" Sundamar Blazeborn asked. A silent nod from the Sage was all the reply he needed to realize the severity of the situtation.
"Sound the alarm and gather the group!"

My warband, left to right: Dragonlord, 10 White Lions, Loremaster, 5 Dragon Blades

My opponent's warband: 10 Ghouls, Ghoul King on Terrorgheist, Vargulf Courtier, 3 Crypt Horrors, 10 Ghouls

I was one unit behind my opponent because of the missed game, so I prepared myself for a tiring uphill battle. The scenario was Vendetta, in which both players secretly pick a unit in their army. The chosen units are then revealed at the start of the game and gain +1 To Hit and To Wound for when attacking each other. The side that managed to slay the chosen enemy unit would be declared a victor immediately.

Both of us picked our Champions, a Dragonlord and a Ghoul King. A battle of the titans was about to begin!

My opponent begun the first battleround and formed a protective circle around his heroes. The Ghoul King cast Unholy Vitality on the Ghouls to the left, strengthening his flank while sending the Crypt Horrors around the hill on the right to make me feel uncomfortable.

I didn't see the approaching Ghouls as a threat, but the King himself along with his Courtiers and Horrors gave me the chills. I would have to focus down his units one at a time and each in one go, otherwise they'd just keep coming back until my feeble forces would wither away under the pressure.

In my turn the Loremaster cast Hand of Glory over the Dragonlord, who then flew ahead to land on the altar in the middle. The White Lions followed suit, having been buffed with Inspiring Presence from their liege lord. The Dragon Blades remained fairly still, hanging back as a reserve and waiting for the enemy Crypt Horrors to make their next move.

I wanted to approach this battle with extreme caution. I had one less unit than my opponent and the Aelves are not exactly known for their resilience in the brutal cut-and-thrust of close combat, after all.

The Dragonlord spat fire over the Ghouls and the White Lions charged in, collectively taking down 6 enemies while losing only 1 of their own number. To my disappointment the Ghouls didn't disappear in the battleshock phase, and two of the bastards were still left when we rolled to see who got to take the first turn of the second battleround.

I managed to take the first turn and set about taking down his units. The White Lions received Inspiring Presence once more and made short work of the remaining Ghouls, wiping the unit off the table. My Dragon Blades moved up to support the Lions, as I was expecting a counterattack on the middle, and my Dragonlord (buffed with Hand of Glory) swooped across the field to assail the Crypt Horrors.

A gout of dragonfire and a round of combat proved insufficient in wiping out the three buggers, and two were still standing by the end of it. Fortunately they didn't manage to take any Wounds off my Champion.

As I had predicted, my failure to destroy the Crypt Horrors in one go resulted in the slain model coming back as reinforcements. My Dragonlord was now locked in combat with a full unit of 3 Horrors and flanked by the Ghoul King and the Vargulf who both smelt an opportunity to end the game before it had even properly begun.

My opponent also took his remaining unit of 10 Ghouls from the flank and brought them to the middle to deal with my victorious White Lions. We now had an even number of units on the table and the scales of battle hung in the balance.

The Ghouls charged in, taking down 4 White Lions in exchange for their own 5 fallen. The Crypt Horrors only managed to inflict a single Wound on my Dragonlord, who in return slew one Horror and wounded another badly.

The initiative of the third battleround would decide a whole bunch of things. If my opponent won the roll-off he would get his Crypt Horrors back to full strength once more, and my Champion would be in the perfect place for him to descend upon and tear apart. Should I get the first turn, however, I would have the chance to wipe his Horrors off the table and bring up some units to support my Dragonlord.

And so the dice rolled...

The Aelves won the initiative and my Dragon Blades charged in to fight alongside the White Lions while the Loremaster cast Hand of Glory upon my Champion.

Dragonfire managed to take a couple of Wounds off the Ghoul King, weakening the enemy hero for the inevitable final encounter. I began the combat phase by taking down the remaining 2 Crypt Horrors with my Dragonlord for good, wiping another enemy unit off the table. The Ghouls in the middle activated next, taking out 2 White Lions before getting trampled to the ground by the aelven cavalry.

My Champion was still stuck in the teeth of the enemy, but at least the two heroes in the temple ruins were the only units my opponent had left. I still had all my units at my disposal, although the White Lions had already been severely depleted.

My opponent began his third turn.

Both enemy heroes crawled from their nest to prepare for a charge at my Champion. The Ghoul King on Terrorgheist released Death Shriek upon my White Lions, destroying the unit completely with more than enough mortal wounds before charging in.

My Dragonlord used his Quicksilver Potion to try and take the oncoming enemies by surprise, but he gloriously failed to inflict more than a couple on wounds on the Ghoul King and took 9 wounds himself from the combined efforts of the two Death heroes.

The fourth battleround was just around the corner and my Champion still stood surrounded by enemies. Initiative for the Flesh-Eater Courts would mean very harsh times for the Aelves: my Dragonlord only had 4 Wounds left and he was in dire need of help from the rest of the warband if I desired to survive this encounter.

Once again I managed to win the initiative and the fourth battleround began with Aelves. My Dragon Blades charged the Ghoul King to support their liege, while the Loremaster cast Hand of Glory over him to boost the attacks of both the lord and the dragon.

I picked up a handful of dice and set about rolling the Dragonlord's attacks, hoping to play towards the objective by directing all the attacks against the Ghoul King. All I needed was to take him down before my own Champion succumbed to his injuries!

Fortune smiled upon me as my lord's blade and dragon's claws lowered the enemy Champion to its last few Wounds. The three dice I rolled for my dragon's jaw-attacks were successful, and my opponent scooped up some dice to roll for his saves. The Ghoul King had something along the lines of three separate saves (sources of which I unfortunately do not recall) and many of my attacks were negated, but in the end I managed to deal just enough to take out the enemy Champion for good.

A major victory for the Aelves!

The lonely Vargulf Courtier scattered away into the woods as soon as the Ghoul King's severed head rolled on the bloody grass. The Blazeborn Household Knights rode up to their liege lord through the corpse-strewn field in haste as they realized the severity of their lord's injuries. Sundamar hung in his sadle with an empty gaze in his eyes and a bloody longsword barely hanging from a numb hand, while A'undtur's whole form was covered in bloody cuts and vicious bite-marks.
"Are you alright, my liege?" one of the knights called up to him as he forcefully straightened his back in the presence of his followers.
"I'm quite fine, thank you. Would you be so kind as to find our Loremaster so we can be on our way once more?" Sundamar called back at the knights, who rode off to carry out the command without a second thought.
"We may need to call for reinforcements from my father, I'm not sure we can keep on this pace with our current escort," he mind-sang to his dragon, his thoughts clouded by grief for the loss of yet another band of rangers. A'undtur's reply was as unsettling as always.
"Do what you will, little one. Whatever makes you think you're safe from the challenges of our journey..."

A very interesting and tight match for which I had no real expectations (I was missing a unit, after all). The Flesh-Eater Courts are a peculiar faction to play against, and despite suffering from the same lack of ranged options they seem to be a fresh take on Death as a Grand Alliance. Fighting them is pretty much like fighting other undead; focus down units one at a time and take them out with the first try, otherwise they'll simply come back. Unlike Skeletons or Zombies though, the Flesh-Eaters replenish their ranks without spells of summoning. This makes it more difficult and annoying to try and stem the endless reinforcements as you cannot simply unbind the some spells and be done with it.

My opponent's warband was gorgeously painted and I really loved the autumn forest look our battlefield had. Now I stand at 5 Glory Points (one of which I'm going to use to acquire some Reavers for my warband) which almost takes me halfway up to the final scenario. I have no realistic expectations for any great rankings in this league, but I'm having a blast and that's all that matters in the end. And I can always try again!

The next scenario (already played, currently in writing) will be some kind of altar-hunting and sacrifices. Interesting. Until then!