A Tale of Two Forts: Light the Beacon

The first battle of the campaign saw the sides clash over a signal beacon in Salamander territory. The Melas Oneiros sought to set the blaze to call up reinforcements whilst the Argent Defenders tried to keep the fire out and allow the Salamanders time to act. This scenario gave the defenders 220 points to use and the attackers the full 250 points.

The Melas Oneiros fielded a strong force consisting of:
1 * Shade with Heavy Weapon - Company Commander
1 * Mind-screech with Bandages
2 * Shadowhounds
3 * Spectre - including the Quartermaster
3 * Reaper
2 * Shadow
1 * Horror

Deployment

The Argent Defenders fielded a force they hoped could weather the attack consisting of:
1 * Veteran Sergeant
1 * Ogre Palace Guard
1 * War Wizard - Salamander Advisor
2 * Sergeants
2 * Paladin Defender
3 * Men at Arms with Spear

First Turn

The first turn saw a general advance with the Argent Defenders moving in towards the centre to cover the path to the hill and the Melas Oneiros staying out of charge range of the Basileans but within range for the Shade and Shadowhounds to charge. At the start of the second turn the Argent Defenders made a mistake and moved the Ogre into rough ground to stop it being triple charged but this then left the War Wizard exposed. The plucky Salamander fell under the combined assault and was swiftly removed. In the centre the left hand Basileans had left cover and soon two Men-at-Arms fell to Spectre fire. Not a great start for the Argent Defenders.
It should be noted at this point that the dice gods smiled kindly on the Melas Oneiros for most of the game whilst the Argent Defenders had obviously offended them. At one point a 3D8 attack resulted in 7 hits (if I recall correctly).

Second Turn

 In the next turn the Palace Ogre charged out into the Shade and managed to down the Melas Oneiros leader but could not finish it off. Things got even worse for the Argent Defenders when the Reapers charged into the rear of the Sergeant and Man-at-Arms next to the Ogre killing them both. On the Melas Oneiros left the last Sergeant charged and downed a Phantom but again could not kill it off. The Phantom then stood up and killed him with one mighty blow.

Third Turn

Somehow I managed to not take a picture of the final turn but the Ogre was overwhelmed and killed and the Melas Oneiros moved up to start bombarding the remaining Basileans with ranged fire. At this point we remembered the rules about warband breakpoints and the remaining Argent Defenders beat a retreat leaving the field to the Melas Oneiros.
The good rolling on the Nightstalker side made the victory quicker and less bloody that it should have been but I think allowing them to concentrate their best melee troops against only a fraction of the Basilean army was the key. Taking out the War Wizard so early who offered the Basileans their only shooting option and the ever useful heal was also a bonus.
In the after action phase I came away with 24 Campaign Gold and managed to promote a Shadowhound to Rank 1. Probably the biggest bonus was not loosing any troops so I don't need to spend gold on replacements.

Each Vanguard scenario comes with a hook into the next KoW game so for winning the Herd get to field a free Infantry unit worth upto 10% of the size of the army deployed. In theory this would be a 300 point unit but as the most expensive Herd Infantry unit is 230 points the advantage isn't as big as it could have been.