Menite Incursions – Game 1 (VASSAL Battle Report)

Recently Phil and I have been getting our game on in VASSAL. We decided to play out a 4 x 25pt game variant of the ANNIHILATION rules. Phil brought his beloved Protectorate of Menoth and I decided to bring my Khadorans out to play. Over the course of the four games we had some great fun – VASSAL plus Skype is a natural combination and it feels almost like the real thing, well 75% of the tabletop experience anyway. Given that Phil and I live over 1000km apart I think that’s pretty good. Anyway, here’s a brief report on the first game (click to open larger images on Flickr).

Campaign Overview

The Menite Incursions campaign is set in eastern Khador with forces from the Northern Crusade moving from Llael into Khadoran territory. The battles in this campaign take place near Fort Bruzig. The Khador forces are jus protecting their lands, but the Menites have are attempting to move north to retrieve and destroy the Scourge Bringer pieces. This campaign is part of the Orgoth Legacy campaign.

Game 1

Scenario: Killing Field (from Prime MkII)

	Deployment Armies: Phil’s army comprised Feora, 2 Repenters, a Revenger, a max unit of TFG with UA, a min Choir, a Sunburst, 2 Vassal Mechanics and three Wracks. My army had the Butcher, a Juggernaut, a max unit of IFP with UA, a max unit of Shocktroopers, a Marksman, a Manhunter and the Wardog. You can see the deployment in this image.
Round 1 Not a lot to report in the first couple of turns. Both sides moved up rapidly, while keeping an eye on the scenario points.
	Round 2 Things hotted up this round. The Menites blasted several Iron Fangs apart at range and Feora put a wall of fire to prevent the rest charging. On the left the Manhunter charged the Flameguard to stall them, but he was a fraction out of range. The Marksman grabbed the scenario point on the right and picked off one of the Sunburst crew. The Butcher moved back into the middle of his force and camped focus again.
Round 3 There was a lot of melee in this turn, but it started with Feora arcing spells at the Iron Fangs killing several, but there were still enough to scrap the offending Revenger and deal some damage to the Repenter. One of Feora’s walls of fire prevented the Shocktroopers from doing much. The Temple Flameguard dispatched the Manhunter and the Juggernaut remained on the left to stop them sweeping in from that flank. The Marksman picked off another Sunburst crewman and snagged another control point.
	Round 4 I hate Feora’s feat and it hit this round. It finished off the rest of the Iron Fangs, but at least I took out the Repenter that foolishly charged the Butcher. The Shocktroopers took a small amount of fire damage and moved to block the Flameguard on the and the approaching Feora in the middle. On the right flank the other Repenter moved to engage the Marksman, but failed to hit him. The Marksman survived the free strike to move out of the wood and shoot the Sunburst.
Round 5 This was the final round – it saw the Repenter on the right finally blast the Marksman. Feora mistakenly charged the Shocktroopers, killing one. Realising the error Phil ran the Choir to engage the Butcher, but he laughed off the freestrikes as he charged into Feora. I boosted his attack roll, ut somehow managed to miss! The followup attacks were more than enough to strike down the Priestess of the Flame.

As this was part of an ANNIHILATION campaign every lost model hurts. I was down all of my IFP, most of my Shocktroopers, a Marksman and a Manhunter – Ouch! Phil was down a couple of ‘jacks and a few minor bits an pieces. So, we ended with a win to Khador, but at what cost?

Owen