Age of Sigmar - The Tower

As much as I might have liked to play two or three games a week, I've come to realize that trying to keep up with the painting of new minis in the queue and typing up game reports, that's probably just not a realistic goal... So Finnegan and I decided one game a week would be fine. We also decided to schedule it for Tuesday afternoons (as nothing else is going on Tuesday afternoons - Finnegan runs D&D games on Mondays and Wednesdays - and I seem to be playing Necromunda pretty regularly on Wednesdays now, Thursdays I take Keiran to music lessons, Friday both kids are going over to my folks to hang out... Finnegan runs more games on the weekend... yeah... Tuesdays...).

Picking up where we left off after the Clash at Gloomy Crest, The Hedonite Host fell upon the Ruins of Aklaszazer, where Duardin of the 44th Azyrite Thunderers Regiment, has just finished rebuilding a tower around the newly re-opened Realm Gate to Azyr! 

SCENARIO

The scenario we played was The Watchtower (same as we played for our First Game - except that this game there actually WAS a watchtower!) 

The Tower of Zvoln - This is actually the oldest terrain I own! I made this 30+ years ago when I was still playing Warhammer Fantasy Battles (3rd Edition)! 

FORCES

Howlthrob’s Host

Allegiance: Slaanesh

Host: Godseekers Host

Mortal Realm: Ulgu

Current Quest: Master Magical Lore – 1 Quest Point

LEADERS

• Howlthrob the Quivering Doom Snare (Aogzemmp'ptzhoe), Viceleader, Herald of Slaanesh (140) - General - Speedchaser, Enrapturing Circlet, Born of Damnation

UNITS

• 10 x Daemonettes (140) - the Luxurious Lavendrines – 1 Casualty

• 10 x Daemonettes (140) - Viridians of Vice

• 5 x Seekers (140) - Seekers of Sin

TOTAL: 560 points

Territories:

• The Nexus of Sominus - Arcane Waypoint

• The Pool of Perversion - Wellspring

Vault:

• Warscroll Battalion: Epicurean Revellers

Glory: 1



Erymas’ Stormhost

Allegiance: Stormcast Eternals

Stormhost: Hammers of Sigmar

Mortal Realm: Azyr 

Current Quest: Defend Your Realm – 1 Quest Points

LEADERS

• Knight-Questor Erymas (110) - General - God-Forged Blade, We Cannot Fail

• Averon Stormsire (280) - Chain Lightning

UNITS

• 3 x Steelheart's Champions (110) - Severin Steelheart, Obryn the Bold, Angharad Brightshield

• 2 x Stormsire's Cursebreakers (0) - Ammis, Rastus

• 3 x Castigators (75) - Atymnius, Marius, Throsymelus

• 10x Irondrakes (160) - 

TOTAL: 735 points

Territories:

• Realmgate to Azyr - Arcane Waypoint

Glory: 6

THE GAME

Rolling for Ulgu Realmscape Features we got Shrouded Lands: a veil of gloom hangs over this region, but no immediate dangers are apparent. (no effect on the battle!) 

Swarms of Slaanesh Daemons ready to attack the tower - hoping to overrun the diminutive forces holding it and secure a gateway to Azyr itself, for their Dark Prince. 

The Duardin builders also Irondrake/Thunderers were warned of the daemons approach by Averon Stormsire, who rode the winds to return to the fortress ahead of the Slaanesh Host. 

ROUND ONE

Slaanesh Turn

Teh Slaanesh forces went first in Round One and all charged the Tower. The Irondrake/Thunderers did the Uleash Hell action, in response to the first Daemonettes Charging and blasted away FIVE of the Viridians of Vice! Yikes! 

In the Combat Phase the Duardin blasted away two more of the Viridians of Vice. The Daemons, for their part, took out three of the Duardin and dealt one wound to Averon Stormsire. Stormsire spent too long giving a stirring speach to actually do anything to the invading horde (he missed all attacks).

Three units suffered wounds (+3 Depravity Points) and my General and at least one other unit charged (+D3+1 Depravity Points - for a total of SIX - enough to summon a unit already!) 

Stormcast Turn

Averon Stormcast cast Stormcast (who names a spell after themselves...? or Names themself after a spell...?) The spell finished off the Viridians of Vice, dealt one to the the Luxurious Lavendrines, three mortal wounds to the Seekers of Sin (taking one out and wounding another) and a Mortal Wound to Howlthrob the Quivering Doom Snare!

And then the reinforcements arrived! 

The Castigors shot at the Seekers, finishing off the wounded one. 

Others just had to wait for their chance... 

The vicious battle at the tower saw the Irondrakes take out another Seeker and Stormsire brutally wound the Viceleader Howlthrob. The Daemons took out five more Duardin. One Mortal Wound and five normal wounds were dealt to Stormsire... he saved all five of the regular wounds! Yikes! 

All that Damage-Dealing mean I gained ANOTHER five Depravity Points! The last of the Duardin failed a battleshock test and fled (we figured they retired to the basement of the tower to deal with their injured - and hoped Stormsire could hold off the Daemons until the reinforcements arrived) 

ROUND TWO

Slaanesh Turn

Slaanesh went first again in Round Two. The Viceleader recovered two wounds with Heroic REcovery and then tried to cast Born of Damnation (to recover a few more), but, despite the casting number of FOUR... the viceleader failed (rolling a three - at least it wasn't a miscast - two - which would have cased another D3 Mortal Wounds!?)  

then retreated from the combat at the tower to summon a Bladebringer on a Hellflayer! (Because I COULD!) 

The Viceleader charged back into combat with the inhabitants of the tower... 

And the Bladebringer charged the Stormcast reinforcements - hoping to buy the daemons attacking the tower some time! 

The the Luxurious Lavendrines finished off Averon Stormsire in the tower - unfortunately, in Age of Sigmar, there is no "Consolidation Move" after a combat, so the Daemons would not be able to occupy the tower until they could move in their next turn. 

The Bladebringer dealt some damage to Steelheart's Champions (KOed one and wounded another...?) 

Four more Depravity Points for me (2 for units suffering wounds, 2 for General charging again) 

Stormcast Turn

The Stormcast moved in! 

The Castigators shot at and then charged the Bladebringer. All of the Stormcast were utterly wiped out in this fight...

Knight-Questor Erymas and the Cursebreakers charged the Seekers of Sin at the very door to the Tower. 

The Evocators of the Cursebreakers took out two of them and the Knight-Questor finished off the last of them. At the end of this, however, they were fully within 6" of the tower... 

ROUND THREE

Stormcast Turn

The Stormcast won the priority roll and went first. being wholly within 6" of the tower, that was unoccupied, they were able to rush in before the Daemons could! 

DAMMIT!

The Stormcast focused all of their attacks on the Viceleader and took it out! The DAemonettes of the  Luxurious Lavendrines took down one of the Evocators of the Cursebreakers. 

Slaanesh Turn 

The Bladebringer turned it's attention to the Stormcast in the tower - and summoned another unit of Daemonettes... 

All charged the tower! The remaining Evocator and the Knight-Questor focused all their attacks on the Bladebringer and took them down! 

The Daemonettes managed to finish off the Cursebreakers... but it was going to be a ferocious fight to try and bring down the Knight-Questor.... 

ROUND FOUR

With the Knight Questor able to do Heroic Recovery (regaining any lost wounds every round) and having a 3+ save to begin with... and +1 to save rolls from being in defensible terrain, and a further +1 for All Out Defence - negating any rend the Daemonettes might have... effectively giving him a 2+ save... with a Sigmarite Shield that allows him to re-roll any that he fails... yeah... that wasn't going to happen... 

At the end of the Fourth Round it was clear the Daemons were NOT going to overpower the Knight Questor and we called it a day. MAYBE if both units of Daemonettes were the ones originally fielded (which are part of a Warscroll Battalion that gave Daemonettes an ability where sixes on wound rolls dealt Mortal Wounds! But the full unit of Daemons was a summoned unit and, we assumed, NOT part of said Warscroll Battalion) 

And so the Warriors of Sigmar wrested victory from a nearly devastating defeat! 

 

POST GAME

Finnegan's Stormcast gained NINE Glory Points for the game and then another TEN from finishing his quest - brining his total to twenty-five! I gained five glory points and another quest point.

Two of the Duardin did not recover from their wounds and died. 

Howlthrob the Quivering Doom Snare, Viceleader, Herald of Slaanesh suffered only minor injuries and would return to fight next game. The injured Luxurious Lavendrines all recovered (but they remain one down from the previous game), but the Viridians of Vice permanently lost three of their number - likely due to the incantations of the Stormcast Knight-Incantor! The Seekers of Sin didn't have to roll for casualties due to my Wellspring territory (need to upgrade that ASAP!) 

The Luxurious Lavendrines gained one Renown for surviving the battle, and the Seekers of Sin gained FIVE (for being the Favoured unit) - both are now Veterans! The Seekers gained the Devastating Charge ability and the DAemonettes gained the Disciplined Battle Drill ability! 

Finnegan rolled Special Territory on his Exploration Roll, but, lacking a Faction Territories Table (I guess these will be in the NEW Battletomes...?), he was able to just select Ancient Roads - which would allow him a second allied unit in his contingent - so he spent 10 of his glory on that. He immediately spent another 10 Glory Points to upgrade the Ancient Roads to a "Trade Route" which increased the limit by THREE - for a total of FOUR allied units he can add to his contingent (enough to cover all the Cities of Sigmar units I've gotten ready!) He spent the last of his remaining Glory Points to add barracks to his Stronghold - increasing his unit limit by one - so maybe next time he can add another of those Cities of Sigmar units! 

Lacking enough Glory Points to add a new territory, I didn't even bother with an Exploration Roll. I did add another unit of Daemonettes to the Roster (which, I guess, I'll need to finish painting up before next week!!). I desperately need another HERO to add to the roster - I can't rely one being able to SUMMON a Bladebringer on a Hellflayer all the time! If I lose the ONE hero I currently have, I'm done with summoning units and that's the one things these Hedonites kind of have going for them! 

Another super fun game. Really looking forward to MORE! I hope we can continue the campaign into the fall - and maybe add in a few NEW factions. 

Wednesday I played another game of Necromunda - hopefully I'll get a Game Report of that action posted later today or tomorrow. Later in the week I should be posting some new painting - likely Daemonettes, as I'll need them for next Tuesday - but there are a LOT of things on the workbench all slowly sloshing towards completion - a few Warhammer Underworlds warbands are very nearly done... I did also just pick up some Chaos Knights, and I'm pretty excited about getting a few of those put together! (Although, I think when I had costed it out, it made more sense for my starting Slaves to Darkness host to be made up of the Chaos Lord and a couple of units of Marauder Horse....? We shall see...) I do need to see about painting another Hedonite Hero, though... Maybe it's time I finished up the Infernal Enrapturess... or just save up enough Glory to add the Baldebringer on the Hellflayer...? We shall see...