Friday, July 28, 2017

Edge of the Abyss - On the Precipice

With the book in hand and my army just about complete, it was time for my first game! My local opponent was running his Goblins, so not the Good vs Evil that you may have expected. Maybe this Goblin leader was looking for glory against The Abyss or just didn't get the memo about what side they were on!

First scenario for the campaign is On the Precipice. Using the Kill scenario as its base, the Evil player (The Abyss) will get to go first and all units in my army will now have the Brutal special rule if they did not already.

Sorry for anything I may miss in the this report, I didn't take any notes and was really have a good time playing so I am giving my best recollection of my opponents list and the game.

The two armies are below:


Archfiend of the Abyss (Lightning Bolt, Blessing of the Gods) 300pts
Mau’ti-Bu-Su 165pts
Twisted Victims [1] 220pts
Efreet (Boots of Levitation) 165pts
Abyssal Champion (Wings, Lightning Bolt, Quick Silver Rapier) 220
Chroneas [1] 210pts
Moloch Horde 200pts
Moloch Horde 200pts
Lower Abyssal Horde (Brew of Haste) 215pts
Succubi Regiment (Hammer of Measured Force) 210pts
Tortured Souls 220pts
Hellhounds 125pts
The Great Arch Host Formation 50pts
Grand Total 2500pts



Grogger Split-Tooth [1] 115pts
Goblin King (Fleabag) 110pts
Goblin King (Fleabag) 110pts
Goblin Wiz (Fleabag,Boots of Levitation, Bloodboil) 120pts
Fleabag Riders Horde (Helm of the Ram) 270pts
Fleabag Riders Horde (Potion of the Caterpillar) 275pts
Fleabag Riders Regiment 145pts
Fleabag Riders Regiment 145pts
Mawbeast Pack Troop 60pts
Mawbeast Pack Troop 60pts
Mawbeast Pack Troop 60pts
Mawbeast Pack Troop 60pts
Troll Horde (Blood of the Old King) 205pts
Troll Horde 190pts
Big Rock Thrower 80pts
Big Rock Thrower 80pts
Giant 190pts
Giant 190pts
The Voracious Mawpack Formation 35pts
Grand Total: 2500pts


Table and terrain were arranged like this:


My opponent had some new 2D terrain he wanted to try out so the table was a little lighter than we would have liked, but the massive river made up for it! We played the river as Height 0 difficult terrain.

Deployment


The Goblin army had about 5 more drops than I did and so he would be free to throw his chaff and characters out before I had any real idea where his army would be. The river did help as his faster units would have a tough time positioning without being able to move at the double through it.

I decided to go more centralized with my slower units, even with their speed increase the Moloch's are still on the slower side for my army. On my left I used the Succubi, Twisted Victims and Mau'ti-Bu-Su to keep the Giants from attempting to flank around the forest as they could prove difficult to handle if they are able to freely move about.

With the forest on my left I wanted to use the Efreet and Chroneas to be a fire-base to hopefully slow down the Trolls or Giants.

In the middle I planned to use the Lower Abyssal Horde to jam up the Trolls. With their high nerve, Regeneration, and the ability for the Well of Souls to help manage their wounds I think they could hold up for a little bit.

Turn 1

Both of us moved up and prepared to see who would commit to engage first. Efreet and Chroneas move into the woods and prepare to start setting things on FIRE! Since I had to go first per the scenario it meant that I was not going to be in range of anything for shooting or magic.

My opponent does do 5 wounds to my Arch Fiend with Rock Lobbers but these would be removed by the Well of Souls next turn to keep him fresh.

Turn 2

I charge one of the two Mawbeast Packs on my left with the Moloch's to pressure that flank. I felt that I would be ok with the counter charge of the Fleabag Horde and second unit of Mawbeasts. The Lower Abyssals charge across the river to clog up my opponents center. He placed both Giants and a unit of Fleabags behind the Trolls so this would limit his ability to move and engage me.

My Abyssal Champion and Arch Fiend use their Lightning Bolts to remove one of the Rock Lobbers.

Succubi charge a unit of Mawbeast to break the Mexican standoff on my right. They are than removed by the other unit of Mawbeasts and Fleabag Horde.

In a blaze of fire from the trees, both the Chroneas and Efreet shoot the second unit of trolls and waiver them!

The Molochs are counter charged and survive the attack, with some very poor rolls on my opponents part. The Lower Abyssals did a few wounds to the trolls and had a few put on them in the counter charge.

Turn 3

Heavy action on my left with the Moloch Horde finishing off the Fleabag Horde with the help of some Tortured Souls. Sadly the Moloch's were in turn taken out by Bloodboil from the Wiz.

I forgot both my regeneration for my Lower Abyssals and the ability for the Well to remove some wounds, glad I planned on that for deployment! They are finally removed be efforts of the Trolls and one of the Giants.

The Tortured Souls charge the remaining Rock Lobber on the hill and set themselves up to help in teh center.

Mau'ti-Bu-Su and her Twisted Victims charge the remaining Fleabag Horde on my right and take them out with some great rolls on my part. Her D3 bonus to Nerve checks for combats she is involved in is fantastic and rolling a 5 for +3 helped here.

Turn 4

Goblin units are few and far between at this point. Arch Fiend and The Well of Souls charge the second Troll Horde, but they hold and in turn remove the well with the help of one of the Giants.

Tortured Souls get a sneaky charge against Grogger but only manage a few wounds and the slippery hero lives!

My Abyssal Champion swings to my left and waivers the remaining Mawbeasts with a Lightning Bolt.

Turn 5-6



With only a few characters left and the Giants there wasn't much else my opponent could do. Mau'ti-Bu-Su kills one of the Kings on Fleabag.

We had a few combats and in the end it was a victory to the Abyssals!

Thoughts

This was a great game, and sadly with some less than impressive rolls my opponent was taken out of the game in some ways.

Playing with the river was interesting, but could cause some advantages for some armies like mine with flying units. Being able to charge over it without being hindered was huge, so I think we will stay away from this for future games.

Next game I need to remember the Regeneration for my Lower Abyssals and to use the Well of Souls ability to help mitigate wounds in important situations.

See you next time for game 2!

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