i figure no one else is gonna pay too much attention to this thread other than me and some of my fellow players, but here i am posting this anyways: a semi-weekly thread chronicling my triumphant victories, my belittling defeats, and everything inbetween in the realm of mage knight.

i write this mainly so that i have a place to record my ingenious army ideas, a means of preventing my glorified dream teams from fading away from the all too limited vaults of my memory. :D ;)

a little about my play style: i will say right now that i am not the best of players, though i'd like to claim that i'm not that bad either. i make mistakes and, if i notice them, i take advantage of my opponents' mistakes. either way, i try to learn something new from each battle.

in terms of storyline, i'm a softie for the nature-loving elementals. in terms of gameplay, i like to use just about all the factions (or, at least the ones i believe i can make good armies from). i try to keep my armies faction pure though i usually through in a couple of other units from other factions if they seem to work well together.

since some of the players i go up against frequent these realms every so often, i'll only post my armies after they've had their experience on the bloody field of battle.

hope you enjoy, dear reader

Fearing I'll build counter armies, are you?!?!?!
Remember, my orcs can counter ANYTHING!

Boo-Yah! :D

-Eli

Well, I know that no matter what army build you have, there will always be room for a Zombie Centaur or two. It seems to be your favorite unit. Other than that, you've surprised me every time we've played.

I originally planned to start things off with some grand battle report on my experiences with the Graveyard of the Mountain Troll scenario but after losing a huge chunk of information due to some freak browser accident, I've lost some of my patience.

So without further ado, I'll start this thread off with a Dark Crusader army.

Graveyard of the Mountain Troll - Part 1 of 2

Kossak Darkbringer
wielding the Solonavi Soulbinder
wearing the Cloak of Shadows

Priest Sydin
equipped with the Necromantic Bonestaff

(orcish mercenaries)
1 weak orc violator
3 standard orc marauders

Seldom do I get the chance to work with a 400 point army so I took this opportunity to field my first Mage Knight 2.0 unique, a mighty close combat behemoth of a warrior, my trusty red champion: Kossak.
"Big Red" is pretty much a killing machine. I know it and my opponents know it, so what usually happens is that while Kossak kills just about anyone unfortunate enough to get in his way, his faster enemies simply outmanuever him and score victory through objectives.

However, with the Bonestaff capable of revenanting the dead just about anywhere on the field, Kossak needs only to do whatever he needs to do to claim center objective, while Sydin's relic takes care of anything outside of the Darkbringer's strike radius.

To make up for Kossak's mediocre speed, giving him the Cloak of Shadows was an obvious choice.
From there, I debated with myself on whether to give him the Galeshi Sunsword or the Solonavi Souldbinder. Certainly with the Sunsword, Kossak would be given protection from his weakness of range, not to mention another inch towards his movement capability, though without the sweep offered by the Soulbinder, Kossak could just as easily fall to a swarm. Reminding myself that it would be a 400 point build, I figured swarms would be a given and went along with the Soulbinder. I decided that the stealth offered by the cloak would help against any ranged threats provided I placed hindering terrain in all the right places.


Round 1
My first opponent ran a Black Powder Revolutionary army made up of Blackwyn, some steam tinkers, some dwarven axemen, a couple of those oh-so-scandalous Amazons, and a single Prieskan warrior. I played recklessly and underestimated his numbers. While the dwarves tied up Kossak and my troop of orc mercanaries, the Amazons booty-danced their way over to my objectives and I lost 2 objectives to 1. Had I understood earlier than revenanting with the Bonestaff didn't cost an action, I may have won afterall.
Oh well, at least then I had that information handy for my next two rounds.


Round 2
I faced yet another Revolutionary army, this time consisting of Blackwyn again, though this one equipped with the Magestone shield, Blackthorn, Turbine and a steam mauler.
Not wanting to risk another loss, I quickly tied up my opponent's ranged units with my marauders and as soon as Blackthorn was in charging distance, Kossak rammed and struck her for 5 damage. Within another turn, the half-elven beauty was dead, the ranged pieces were still tied up, and I now had something for Sydin to revenant. I then proceeded to eliminate the remaining units one by one using a combination of revenant and Kossak attacking each turn thanks to Sydin's leadership.

Round 3
For my final battle, my army was pitted against the one thing (or orc for that matter) I knew I would have trouble against - the bounding, piercing terror that is Khan Rava. Not to mention a handful of miscellaneous orcs, a couple of zombie centaurs, a Solonavi Oathsworn healer and a Scalesworn honorguard riding an elemental sky dragon. Thankfully my opponent played defensively, which aided him at first, but would eventually lead to his downfall. Naturally I would've sent my marauders to tie up Rava. However, my opponent arranged his fodder around Rava in such a way that it became impossible for me to base him but still giving Rava enough space to shoot back at me (not that he needed it anyways what with arcing fire). So, dealing with the second biggest threat, I sent orc after orc after orc to keep the sky dragon and its rider busy. I then moved Kossak into hindering terrain and sic'ed him on the Solonavi magic healer. First blood belonged to me!! I then revenanted the Oathsworn behind Rava and shoot through one of the cracks he left in his meat shield. Rolled a Critical Hit! though I only ended up dealing 3 damage thanks to the Khan's shadowkhan ability. Still, 3 damage was all I needed to get Rava out of bound, severely limiting his strike range, thanks to the meat shield. Kossak charged out of hindering terrain and sweeped at my opponent's mounted figure. With my main threats more of less neutralized, the game went downhill (for my opponent that is) from there.

My warband ended up in first place and I walked away with a new spellbook.

typo.

throw! not through...

eh...

nice report

I wouldn't say so much that it's my favorite unit. Just a great harrasser for its cost. Besides, it's my understanding that zombies in general can be controlled by just about anyone, provided that the controller has a hand on their leashes.

They're like mindless...decaying organic golems. Find a means of controlling them and they'll follow any command.

Now, having something like a snooty High Elven Warrior serve as a mercenary is a little more unbelievable, what with their holier-than-thou attitudes and all. :P

So before this thread gets buried under by all the clutter here ;D , I might as well post my long overdue second battle report for the Graveyard of the Mountain Troll campaign.


I recently got my hands on Scorch (my only other Orc Khans unique other than the Heartdrinker) and as soon as I got a good look at the lightning bolt that was manifesting on his arm, I thought to myself: now here be a good wielder for the Book of Lightning. That Scorch combined with a mount could zap any figure on the field two turns in row without a pushing penalty was frosting on the cake.

I mean, an orc zapping off heat seeking bolts of lightning, how wicked is that?

Add in the facts that I had never really played an orc army before and that I wanted to try out some of my Orc Raider warriors before they'd go off into retirement, and voila! I decided to create a mighty band of blood thirsty greenskins.

Graveyard of the Mountain Troll Part 2 of 2

Scorch
carrying the Book of Lightning
riding a captured Elemental Horned Stag

orc slaver

1 tough orc violator

1 tough Ironclad

4 standard orc marauders

1 weak zombie centaur (guide for the orcs to reach the graveyard)

(If were able to add in Podo, it would've been perfection :P)

Round 1
bye (My orcs were making their way to the graveyard)

Round 2
First Encounter. I faced none other than the two headed Draconum menace Vithzerai, lord of the skies, carrying a wand of reanimation and a potion of vitality , with a motley group of vampiric skeletons of zombie centaurs. Scorch managed to zap Vith the winged terror twice for 6 clicks before Vith used his potion to healup 4 clicks- right back to a click with bound. The rest of the orcs moved up to face the undead in the meantime. Just as Vith was about to move in for the kill, Scorch in a final action of heroic sacrifice, managed to zap Vith for another 3 clicks, taking him out of bound, and soon it was my opponent's turn - poof! no more Scorch. From there on, my orcs scattered like the wind - some still engaged in combat with the undead, others trying to get away from Vith's shooting range. At the end, everything - my orcs, my zombie, my stag - was killed, save for a single warrior: the orc violator. Thankfully, my opponent was too occupied with trying to obliterate my warband to concern himself with objectives; meaning my sole survivor, thanks to me being second player, claimed my opponent's objective for a win of 2-1.

Round 3
Check out Falderal's battle report. Orcs are too lazy to write. :D

For Kossak, have you thought of Fire Shield? He doesn't gain the negative to his abillities since he has the MI shield type. Interesting, no?

Good thread! I might have to start one of these as well...

Adam [ag]

Thanks for the compliment, Sentinel. :D

I've only recently obtained a Fire Shield so I guess I'll try using it with the Kossak the next time I decide to field "Big Red."

Actually it wasn't the whole Atlantean Empire, just a swarm of regular troops, and actually, they didn't take on the world, just a solonavi and an orc.

So the inspiration for this army falls mainly on me looking through some of the domains I had. The City of Fairhaven happened to catch my attention, and checking to see if I had Tezla's Avatar, I decided to create an Atlantean swarm.
And by swarm, I don't mean anything flashy either. No relics, no mounted riders, no uber unique, just some simple Atlantean nons from the base set and probably the second easiest LE to obtain: Maximillion (the first easiest being Kieren Starsdawn :D ).

Maximillion's Platoon - 300 points constructed tournament

Maximillion
2 weak Empire veterans
2 standard Empire veterans
2 weak shocktroopers

firing squad
3 standard combat magi
2 weak combat magi

Domains
City of Fairhaven (+1 to attack and damage values against a target with a higher point value, warriors with wand type can surge)
Tezla's Avatar (warriors get +1 to damage and ranged damage values, -1 to defense values)

Round 1
Bye (the troops were marching in). :D

Round 2
My attack squad faced off against a mish mosh warband that included Scorch riding a Crusader salamander, some zombie centaurs, a couple of harkas, a violator, and maybe some other warriors. Thanks to their fighting at the City of Fairhaven, my close combat warriors had the home field advantage, giving the the skill and discipline to hit harder and more accurately. When the hand to hand combat had ended and the dust had settled, it appeared that the orcs and zombies and the veterans and shocktroopers had pretty much taken each other out. Only a few demoralized warriors had survived the chaos. Meanwhile, Scorched had crawled off on his pet lizard to tango with my conga line of women wizards. Seeming to forget that the combat magi could surge, Scorch and his salamander went in to attack one magus, while the next turn allowed for my remaining magi to surge in and save their wounded comrade. Scorch fell and the salamander slithered back to its swamp. Victory at Fairhaven!

Round 3
My warband had wandered into the Deeps of the Wylden Forest, severely limiting their movement capabilities. But, with the Tezla's Avatar guiding them foward, Max's troops gathered their wits and staggered forward, only to discover that they weren't alone in this section of the woods. A single solonavi warrior by the name of Valkalis and a group of zombie centaurs awaited them. The solonavi, overly confident in its fighting prowess, charged foward and, almost immediately, took out captain Maximillion. What Valkalis didn't expect was an ambush from the rest of Max's troops. A group of veterans surrounded him, eventually overcame his defenses, and whittled the solonavi down into purple goo.
My combat magi eventually got close enough to shoot at the undead centaurs and though they missed a couple of times because of the hindering trees, the bald ladies eventually got through and laid waste to the zombies. Another victory for the Atlanteans.

For glory! For honor! For Empire!!

Thank the Dragon Gods I managed to pull a Pathis Arcana right before my venue's Magestone Isle campaign. I figured I'd take full advantage of the special rules allowing me to equip the Pathis with the Draconum Star Shield for free!
"Dodge, parry, 21 defense, what more could a lady drac want?" as Orczilla would say.


Untouchable - 400 points, Magestone Isle Draconum warband

Pathis Arcana
equipped with the Draconum Star Shield (no cost)
carrying a Potion of Vitality

tough revered mystic
holding a Scroll of Storms

4 weak feral whelps


Round 1
Moments after Pathis and her strike team arrived on the Magestone isle, she encountered a rival Draconum party headed by the renegade Draconum turned mercenary Vorgoth. Sporting bracers of the giant, Vorgoth was assisited by the eternal Drakona champion, the Throne Monk equipped with Torengrim's Helm, along with a single whelp firecaster. As the battle began, it was quickly noted that the revered mystic wouldn't be able to do much as all three opposing warriors had some form of magic immunity. The feral whelps were quickly sent out to deal with the firecaster and to prevent the two big hitters from doubleteaming Pathis. By the time the whelps were defeated, either from succumbing to the isle's energy streams or from the flaming edge of Vorgoth's mighty weapon, the firecaster was defeated and the untouched Pathis had already inflicted injury upon the Throne Monk. Vorgoth, having disposed of the rabid whelps, attacked Pathis while the wounded Monk set off to claim an objective. Vorgoth was never able to penetrate Pathis' defenses and eventually fell to her many blades, ensuring that Pathis would have complete control over the central objective. The ignored mystic reached the enemy's objective, and with two objectives to the Throne Monk's one, the Pathis was able to move on and continue her conquest of the isle. Alone, defeated, but still alive, the surviving Drakona warrior set off to look for some different opponents.

Round 2
As Pathis and her team continued into the interior of the isle, she came across yet another opposing Draconum warband. Consisting of the Drakona ally, Drakor, and the mysterious warrior duo of dragon women, Caldera and Chroma, it would appear that this fight would be a true test of Pathis Arcana's fighting prowess. Immediately the whelps set out to tie off the trio of terror though before any of em were able to reach a single warrior, they fell to the powerful effects of the island's energy streams. Truly, it was starting to shape up to be an epic three on one battle of the titans. Pathis gave a solemn look to the mystic, and the mystic nodded. Drakor was sporting the Dragonplate afterall, Caldera was naturally immune to the effects of magic, and it would already be difficult trying to get a shot off at Chroma what with her spell resistance coupled with the isle's chaotic energy streams. The whelps had already fallen, the three opposing warriors were drawing steadliy closer, and as invulnerable as Pathis may seem, it'd be unlikely that even she could hold off the combined assault of three experienced, matured Draconum of their caliber. The revered mystic nodded at the Pathis and set off to do what he could, to fulfill his duty and try and fend off the attackers from his beloved leader. He knew he would not survive their onslaught, but to die, honorably, on the field of battle, what more can a Draconum ask for? He flew and flew and reached the opponents' closest objective. Distracted, the trio flew back to retake what should rightfully be theirs. Blow after blow the mystic took, and then, he was gone. Only one remained now...Alone, Pathis doubletimed to the central objective, and there she beckoned and she waited.
Caldera was the first to arrive, a missed blow provoking a missed counterattack. Chroma was second, attacking from the rear, another miss, but no counterattack. And then Drakor came, another miss, successful counterattack, though a weapon master roll of 1 would prove useless against his toughness.
Again and again, they'd strike, and again and again, whether by parry or by dodge, they'd miss. Pathis would counterattack when she could, though more often than not, the wisened warriors would stay away from her front arc. Drakor was the first to shed blood from a direct attack. Chroma, the one warrior without toughness was slowly being whittled away by Pathis' shakeoff maneuvers, so she eventually broke free from the elaborate sword dance to try and claim objectives. 'No matter,' Pathis thought to herself, 'this is a battle of skill, integrity and honor. Shallow victories are nothing compared to a few moments of glorious combat.' Caldera, overcoming sky- high defenses, parry, and dodge, finally managed to get a hit in. Pathis, though wounded, respectfully nodded to Caldera, acknowledging her fine swordsmanship. Still she had to live on and continue her fight lest her comrades' sacrifices go to waste, and successfully healed back to her full health using her potion. Chroma, now coming to realize that taking down the Pathis would require a group effort, rushed back to aid her companions. Caldera, shocked and dismayed that the her efforts had achieved nothing save for the loss of a single potion, attacked now, head on, with a reckless fury . Pathis, sympathetic but keeping her cool, parried Caldera's attack and then countered with a crushing blow. With Chroma rushing into the fray, Caldera broke away so that a resting Drakor could heal her up. Soon, Pathis was single-handedly taking on all three Draconum once more, and the flurry of clashing blades resounded over the battlefield. Drakor, in his weakened state, was the first to go. Infuriated over the loss of the blue skinned Draconum, the twin females lunged at Pathis. The leader of the Dragon Mystics once again parried and successfully countered each of their blows. The battle had turned to Pathis Arcana's favor. The twins looked at each other. True they could've broken away and out claim the Pathis in objective but where would be the honor in that? It would a duel to the death they decided, and pushed themselves to strike at Pathis once more. Once again they could not conquer the Pathis' overwhelming defenses and fell to resulting counterattacks. Pathis took their weapons and plunged them into the central objective, marking the graves of the three formidable warriors. Victorious, but saddened by the loss of such capable warriors, Pathis Arcana moved onwards.

Round 3
At last Pathis and her weathered band of warriors came across some non-Draconum combatants. Kossak Darkbringer and a zombie centaur had allied himself with General Volkare along with a battalion of myriad dwarves.
With everything she had just been through, this, thought the Pathis, would be a piece of cake.
The feral whelps made short work of the dwarves and the revered mystic, overjoyed that he finally had some oppostion he could shoot at, set off towards the Atlantean general and the zombie. Kossak charged towards the four-armed Draconum and one strike and couple of counterattacks later, the vampiric troll was slain.
Only a single whelp had fallen when the battle was finished and with complete control over the Magestone isle, Pathis could now establish a fortress for her Draconum kin.


One thing I noticed about this battle was the lack of support
for the Atlantean Empire. Unless you're a die hard Atlantean fanatic then players will obviously go for the better and cooler looking faction. My suggestion is to pit the weaker factions against each other (Atlantis, BPR, Elven Lords, and maybe to some extent, the Elementals), while the power factions duke it out with other power factions (Draconum, Crusaders, Orcs and Solonavi). Well...whatever...

Nice story telling :D

Say... I hope you're willing to write another great tale about a BPR victory at Enos Jappa? ;)

BPC

Great battle reports :D I have grown found of my Pathis as well.. and she really does quite well with the starshield... just mean...

Time to dig this thing back up again :P

Having never ever, and I mean never ever, played a Black Powder Revolutionary team before, I thought the Vengeance of Rivvenheim scenario would've been perfect to bring out the Black Thorn.

I mean so what if she only has, at most, a 10 attack to work with. So what if she's not magically immune. So what if Chroma or Kem Ravensbane or Drakor or Khan Harrowblade or maybe even General Vale's a better deal for the points. It's a bloody Black Powder defense scenario against the hoity toity High elves. They should've attacked the Atlanteans. Those gold plated knuckleheads were the foos who backstabbed those pointy ears in the first place!! Of course, I'll be supporting the underdog. It's my moral obligation (for this game at least ;D) Oh and Black Thorn's just too sexay to turn down anyways. :D

Defense of Enos Joppa - 400 points, Black Powder Revolutionary warband

Black Thorn
equipped with the Paragon's Shield
carrying a Potion of Vitality

Prince Warden
wielding the Blade of Shadows
riding a horned stag (gifted to the revolutionaries from the Elemental Freeholders)

Zamiel the Wise (yes, Zamiel the Wise)
sporting Magestone Bracers


Round 1
Trying to take advantage of the confusion wrought by the chaos of battle, a Drakona strike force composed of Caldera, Drakor, and the immortal Throne Monk were the first of many to stand in the way of Black Thorn's defense unit. Nadia os Darras had managed to stop them before they had infiltrated deeper into the city though not without some surprise. Apparently the Drakona affiliated warriors were led into the city by a warrior with an uncanny resemblence to Prince Warden.

"That couldn't be," said the real Prince Warden, "it must be some sort of illusion."

"There appears to be more sinister things at work here than a simple battle between opposing factions," said Nadia. "Still, further investigation shall wait; we must deal with the matter at hand. Go forth Warden and deal with this doppleganger. Me and Zamiel will handle the draconum."

Warden set off and charged against his mountless impersonator, though before he could get any answers or deal a killing blow, the drakona set a deadly ambush. Outnumbered and overpowered, Warden was finished in no time.

Angered that one of her best men had been defeated, the Black Thorn rushed off to join the fray of battle. Blow after blow Nadia parried and countered, but in her recklessness of charging along into battle, the Throne Monk found an opening and scored a critical hit. Now that she was hurt, the half-elf realized she couldn't afford to take anymore chances: she drank the potion, healing back to full health and beckoned to her Galeshi ally. "Zamiel!! Cover me with your magic."

Now, backed by the powers of Galeshi sand magic, the defensive might of the Paragon's shield, and her own natural grace and agility, the Black Thorn was nearly invulnerable. Little by little, by strike or by counter, Nadia made short work of Caldera, Drakor, and the mysterious Warden clone. Only the Throne Monk remained.

Sensing a futile battle if she continued to match blades with Black Thorn, the Throne Monk broke away and moved closer to Zamiel; an easier target to deal with by far. Zamiel didn't survive the Throne Monk's onslaught though he did buy enough time for Nadia to catch up and weaken the Drakona warrior a little more. Now it had become one on one. Having wings allowed for the Throne Monk to avoid Black Thorn's attacks, though Black Thorn had the advantage of a greater speed and the ability to double time. Those advantages were all she needed to claim victory. The Throne Monk, her comrades beaten and her plans sabotaged, left to plot and fight another day. Her immortality is indeed more than just myth.


(rounds 2 and 3 to be continued)