Halpi's Rift: Kill the Bard

This week saw the Vanguard companies clash in a effort to seize the Lute of Insatiable Darkness from a wondering minstrel. The sides would need to re-kill the minstrel and then take and hold his instrument by the end of turn 5.

The opposing forces start in opposite corners of the table with the bard moving along the road, at the start of each turn a dice roll decides how far the bard moves. One rule I don't recall noticing before is that 1/2 of each warband needs to enter the field of play starting at the beginning of turn 2.

The first move saw both sides move up some with both commanders opting to bring on their fastest troops in the second wave.

Turn 2 saw some more manoeuvring and Akatasos (former Kingdom of Men hunter) managed to kill one of the two grunts the Men had pushed towards the bard. The living KoM hunter managed to get a wound on the bard

During Turn 3 both sides mostly concentrated on attacking the bard but Akatasos did manage to kill the second KoM Grunt. The Undead charged in two revenants and a raised Skeleton and the KoM a Foot Guard. The bard managed to survive the assault but took a couple more wounds.

The Bard and his Magic Maracas

Turn 4 saw the bard skip a little further and be group charged by the Undead Revenants and Skeleton who where in turn charged by the KoM Leader and Foot Guard. In an impressive display of defensive ability no one died (or re-died)

With the KoM finishing their activations well before the Undead it left Radolf able to charge in and finish off the bard and then claim the lute, it also meant that his back could be covered by Pascal (Soul Reaver) and another raised skeleton.

The start of Turn 5 saw the Men try to shoot down Radolf and only cause one wound, he was then able to skedaddle out of range of any pursuit and claim victory for the Undead, we called it a day at that point.

This was an unusual game in the low number of casualties caused, only 2 KoM Grunts and the bard died and not many other models where wounded. It does mean the Undead have the benefit of the Lute in the next big battle which will be Salt the Earth. It will be the first time either of us have played that scenario so that should be interesting.