Ill Tides: Ragnarök

Kings of War: 3000 points of Control
Armada: 300 point fleets

Arlantrix grimaced, this was it, she'd managed to entice the short-arses into a pitched battle and now all she had to do was emerge victorious. In months of skirmishing on land and at sea neither side had managed to gain the upper hand (or paw in the case of the Dwarves) but with their last victory on land her forces where on the ascendancy. Now she had complete victory within her grasp and was determined to take it. Triumph here would make her foremost among the Crones of the Conclave.

Her grand army was arrayed against the enemy who had been forced into deploying units of Human slaves only recently taken prisoner and off shore she could see her reinforcing fleet arriving with even more units. The short-arses also had a fleet but Arlantrix had ordered Zor'damos and her Heartseeker to make sure they did not interfere with the land battle. 

Over to her left Arlantrix could see the fleets getting closer, most of her fleet headed towards the stinking-smoking Dwarven ships on an intercept course whilst the troops transports headed straight for the beaches. The Dwarves seemed to have decided on a similar plan and a clash seemed inevitable. 

Looking back to her front Arlantrix could sense that Sycorax had hesitated at this most vital junction so giving the signal to advance she urged her forces onwards towards the enemy lines hoping to force them onto the back foot. 

At sea her ships had miss-timed their approach to the enemy and allowed them to concentrate fire on the end Butcher, Arlantrix could see smoke pouring from it's gun ports and starting to lick the ends of the sails. She'd been in enough naval battles by now to know that the ship had but moments to avert disaster. But with both fleets heavily engaged their respective transports made full sail towards the coast, only the Heartseeker looked to have the speed to try and stop a transport.

But Arlantrix did not have the time to watch the naval engagement unfold her attention was now focued entirely on the land battle as the first units started to engage. Her Phantoms floated forwards with deceptive speed and caught first one then another unit of foul Gargoyles at the halt, allowing her slower infantry to push onwards into striking range. The advance was not without it's casualties however as concentrated Dwarven fire evaporated a entire regiment of Corsairs holding the right flank.

Arlantrix heard and felt the explosion of the Butcher but did not have time to look and see it's fiery death (*I seem to have forgotten to take the Armada photos*) but she could well imagine the pieces of the former ship being thrown high into the air in a massive fireball.

She could make out the first of the reinforcements coming ashore just as the main battle lines started to clash. As she had hoped her army still had the initiative and all the fighting was taking place with the short-arses well and truly on the back foot. Even the earlier loss of the Corsairs had not stopped her armies advance as the mighty Gordrake had launched itself into the gap left by their deaths.

Looking to her left Arlantrix could see more and more units pouring ashore on both sides of the port, including Zor'damos who should have been onboard the Heartseeker but who instead had been on one of the transports. No wonder the fleet was performing so badly and hadn't even managed to stop one enemy ship. Arlantrix promised to make her pay if she emerged victorious. 

Thanks to her leadership the land battle was going much better than the one at sea, after the initial clash of lines her forces had slowly started to break down the Dwarven lines with gaps now appearing all along the battle front as the cowardly short-arses broke and ran or where totally annihilated. 

The gaps in the enemy lines started to grow larger and larger as her units doubled up on the enemy and totally broke their formations. At last Arlantrix could start to relax with victory seeming to be totally within her grasp. Most of the enemy units where by now broken with just a single winged halfbreed left to cause a serious threat, best not to be eaten at the very moment of her triumph.

From atop a hill Arlantrix paused to gaze out to sea and surveyed the remains of the fleet. The second butcher had gone the way of the first at some point and a smoking hull was all that was left of the fearsome fighting vessel. The Dwarves had certainly gained the upper hand at sea but not without a few losses and their flag-ship was beached in easy reach of her land forces.

On land the victory was complete with hardly any Dwarves left standing, Sycorax looked like he was about to be taken prisoner and the winged halfbreed still flitted about but otherwise victory was total. Nothing would now stop her from ravaging what was left of the human lands and then returning in total triumph to her home lands. The campaign had been a success and she would return back with many slaves and large quantities of valuable materials to continue the reconstruction of Ileureleith, one day it would rise again and all of Panithor would bow to the Twilight Kin, and hopefully Arlantrix.

Ill Tides: Grand Finale

This week if work allows we plan to kick off the final battle of our mini-campaign. The Ill Tides campaign has seen the Twilight Kin led by Arlantrix fighting on land and at sea with the Abyssal Dwarfs led by Sycorax Ironjawz. It has been a keenly contested campaign with both sides winning stunning victories and also some hard fought draws.

The plan is to fight a combined Armada and Kings of War battle across either two or three weeks to determine the over-all winner. We will play a turn of Armada and then a turn of Kings of War with the result of the KoW game using the Control scenario determining the outcome.

Both sides will be fielding 300 points of Armada and 3000 points of KoW with around 700 points of KoW starting on the ships of their respective Armada fleets. The fleets will be trying to transport their cargo of troops to the battlefield where they will then be able to take part in the battle. Do the Admirals play it safe and try to deliver their troops onto their own half of the table or try to setup a flank attack by landing in the enemy half? Of course each fleet will also have a chance to disrupt the other and potentially send much needed enemy reinforcements to the bottom of the sea.

As this is going to be very much a continuation of the narrative campaign I've not got all the details ironed out and things are subject to change but some ideas have formed:

• Fliers may not cross from Armada to KoW or vice-versa. Nor can ships fire onto the land battle or KoW units fire onto the ships at sea.
• Ships land their troops by beaching, destroyed ships lose their troops if not beached. Troops landed arrive on the table in the next KoW turn (on the controlling players go) that is played but cannot charge or double. If the ship carrying the troops is destroyed by the beaching then the unit(s) it is carrying suffer 2D6 damage each.
• Small ships can carry a troop's worth of units, medium a regiments, large a horde's worth. Any number of characters can be carried.
• Whilst boarded a troop adds 1CS to a ships combat strength, a regiment 2CS and a horde 3CS.

Otherwise I think we can just play as normal and see what happens.

Recently won trophy acts as terrain. 

Ill Tides: Push

Push / 1500 Points / TK Victory

Arlantrix desperately needed a victory, after a series of humiliating defeats her grip on power had been almost completely eroded. Zor'damos and her famed crew had at first been undefeatable and had threatened to outshine Arlantrix but her fall had also threatened to drag Arlantrix down to the depths along with the Heartseeker. 

Now instead of having to put her faith in the captain and crew of that ship she had instead laboured long and hard to summon forth the most hardy and viscous fighters from within the Void. Creatures that had been bent to her will and would fling themselves against the hated Dwarfs as long as her mental dominance did not waver.

Sycorax and his minions did not seem unduly concerned by the change in the enemies forces and pushed forwards by the arrogance of recent victories advanced steadily towards the Elven lines.

Arlantrix had initially held her forces back to tempt the Dwarves forwards and to try to avoid the worst of the shooting they had to offer but once they had committed themselves forwards her lines swung into action. First to strike where her flying elements with the mighty Goredrake launching itself into the flank of the Dwarven Grotesques. The had rushed forwards and unwisely left their flank open to attack. With a sound like a thunderclap the Goredrake had descended upon them and it's mighty jaws had scattered the feeble Grotesques to the winds. If this wasn't enough bad news for Sycorax then the Phantoms routing half of his Decimators with a single charge was. The once well ordered Dwarven lines now looked very exposed and fragile.

Next to be dispatched where the mighty Golems, these had caused many problems in past battles so Arlantrix was careful to ensure she committed more than one unit to their destruction. They could not stand up to the attentions of both the Impalers and Soulflayers and again a Dwarven unit melted at first contact.  

Now she felt she could not lose this battle as her forces began to rampage through the Dwarven lines.

The Infernox that had proven to be a dangerous foe in the past was at first pinned by the Goredrake and then faithful Khresh on his Soulbane had charged into it's rear to complete the kill.

The Dwarves did still have some fight in them as the Corsairs found to their cost, their charge had failed to scatter the Dwarven foot guards who had in return wiped the skiffs out, but this was of little consequence as the remainder of the Dwarven force was wiped from the battlefield.

And as night fell it was left to a unit of Impalers to inflict the final blow on the Dwarves who they wiped out with a single charge.

 

So, at the end of the fight some prestige had been recovered by Arlantrix and she's gained a much needed victory to turn a worrying trend of losses around. Her decision to side-line Zor'damos had been  vindicated. Now she felt was the time to double down on her advantage and launch a full scale, winner takes all assault. The Heartseeker and her crew would have a chance to redeem themselves and Arlantrix felt confident that she could wipe out Sycorax, his Dwarves, and anyone stupid enough to do a deal with them all in one fell strike.

Next time : 3000 points KoW and 300 points Armada at the same time!