15mm Fantastic Battles: Wylde Elves v Dingly Dell: Serenity

 Back to Fantastic Battles this week and our third game in a loosely linked series of games. This time Ian created the scenario and I was intrigued to see what devious game he had planned...

Serenity.

The Wylde Elves moved further along the Greenspyke River, gathering allies as they go. Dingley Dell scouts followed them shadowing their every move. The elves decided to make a stand. They chose the mysterious mist covered plain of 'Serenity'. To the Wylde Elves this is a sacred place, unseen by most. Talk amongst the older, wiser elves is about a place of healing but also confusion. As the forces march towards one another they spy many flying creatures flying in circles over the mist but non fly into it.   

Ian also told me there were further notes about Serenity which I may discover as we play. 

The dice decided that the Wylde Elves would be the attacker which gave me the advantage of seeing how Ian deployed his nefarious troops of Dingly Dell before I deployed my own.  

Both sides deployed with the mist shrouded'Serenity' in the centre. 

Dingly Dell to the left, Wylde Elves to the right. 

In this photo from behind Dingly Dell lines you can see a strange creature flying out of the mist. 

Thankfully as troops advanced into the mist it dissipated but what else could happen?  

Mishaps were fairly kind to both sides with just the odd unit advancing or retreating. 

Strange creatures emerge from the mist and fly away as it all clears. 

There in the centre of the 'mist' is a strange cairn. Small animals move around, seemingly injured creatures moving towards it, healed creatures moving away. 

 The injured imps move into contact with it and have 2 wounds removed!!!!

The centaur archers take out 'Butch and Sundance' with their shooting. 

The oncoming mushimen then clashed with the centaurs and defeated them. 

The Dingly Dell archmage Pyhruss (the flame demon) summons many little creatures/swarms to harass the Wylde Elf guardians. 

Here the game got so involved I forgot to take photos for a couple of turns. Much damage was done to both sides but the elves also lost a couple of characters which played havoc with the control of their units. 

Last turn and it is so close that either side could win. The crafy Dingly Dell mage managed to 'Blink' my Treemen out of contact with the witches. If I had killed them the Dingly Dell force would have been broken. 

In the same turn, my poor elf guardians, have being blasted by artillery all game get charged and destroyed by the fiendish spider riders taking me over my breakpoint by one point. 

 Victory goes to Dingly Dell! (again!!!). 

As for Serenity, the sacred grove which was just over 4BW wide was classed as Malodorous to all who entered but anyone who touched the cairn also got 'Regenerated' 

 Flying creatures cannot enter the glade. Sadly for me, my mounted elf archers charged through the glade to clash with the imps and were penalised for being in the glade but still squished the imps. 

Once again Fantastic Battles had given us a great game and a very close one too.  One day the elves shall have their revenge!

Hail Caesar, The Battle of Verneuil, 1424.

 It was off to Charlie's house today to play a Hail Caesar scenario based on the 'Battle of Verneuil, 1424. Charlie had the game all set up and ready to go when we arrived with dice deciding that Ian and I would be the English and Nigel and Charlie the French. We were using Charlie's very large collection of 20mm plastic figures which looked amazing on the table. Charlie devised his own army lists but also used some of the ideas (such as 'Arrowstorm') from the Wars of the Roses supplement. 

English deployed behind stakes on the right, looking at the far more numerous French on the left. Ian and I were determined to make the most of being behind the stakes. 

Some of the many French and allied cavalry lined up against us. 

Here comes the main division of French mounted knights. (5x small units).

Another view of all those knights and a glimpse of the town of Verneuil. 

Here come the French. 

The English lines looks thin compared to the rapidly advancing French, all heading for Ian's division. 

Then the longbows started shooting causing mayhem in the French line, one unit of knights threw a double '1' for their break test and legged it. The division of knights ended up being broken by the longbowmen but they had now used up all their arrows. 

Meanwhile over on my flank, a unit of knights tried to break through my line. The knights were dis-ordered as they crossed some stakes. (red marker). Although it took them some time to recover the disorder  they then went on a rampage around my flank and rear. 

In the centre it was mayhem with huge fights going on involving most of the English units. Sheltering behind the stakes and receiving the charge seemed to work well. 

The English troops fought very well but were eventually overpowered by the superior French numbers. 

It took nearly all game for the Scottish pike units to enter the fray. The toughest unit on the table struggled to beat a unit of longbow. 

Amazingly, the longbow unit fought so well that both units ended up 'shaken' buy sadly the pike won after about 4 rounds of melee (and a couple of other allied units helping them out. 

Despite being so outnumbered it ended up being a really close game. The French eventually bulldozed their way to victory but it was a very close battle and a narrow win.