Thaw of the Lich Lord – Game 10 – The Final BattleThis…is…it! The grand finale of Thaw of the Lich Lord. We were really stoked for this game and were eager to take this bag of bones out. Before the game we agreed to play this cooperatively. And with 21 creatures and the Lich Lord on the table this seemed like a good idea!
The tableOn the left a long, big, evil wall with in the middle the Lich Lord at his throne and altar. He had just raised an Armoured Skeleton to help him. His two bodyguards were close to him, ready to intercept any interlopers. In the middle 6 Cultists were in the middle of a ritual to bring more undead to their master. And finally, on the far right a full regiment of 12 Armoured Skeletons, ready to obey their master’s wishes.
Time for some action.
DeploymentDragos and his forces deployed in the lower corner. His ranged Soldiers were aiming for the big block of Armoured Skeletons. Better take these out fast! The Captain and Barbarian would move in to intercept any Armoured Skeletons coming for them.
The rest would move towards the Cultists and the Tunnel Fighter was sent to single out the Wraith Knight in single combat. He couldn’t wound the foul creature, but at least occupy it for a while.
In the upper corner the Elfs had a similar approach with the archers ready to shoot the Armoured Skeletons and the infamous Captain and his trusty Treasure Hunter buddy ready to jump in to take on the rest.
The gameWe started the game and both moved up. The Elfs flung Bone Darts and arrows at the Armoured Skeletons and shot down three of them right away. Excellent start! The Captain and Treasure Hunter moved up to take on the rest. The rest of the Elfs moved over the flank or through the centre, making sure the evil Lich didn’t have line of sight to them.
Dragos had a sneaky idea right away. He moved and cast a Push spell at one Armoured Skeleton. The undead was flung back…right off the floating castle, crashing down hundreds of feet below. Mwuhahaha, that was fun! The Apprentice followed his example. The firing squad followed and two more Armoured Skeletons fell down. Only 5 left now! But then it was their turn…
Four Armoured Skeletons engaged the Elf Captain and Treasure Hunter and one moved for my Captain and Barbarian. The Cultists in the centre spotted my Warhound and saw a perfect victim for their ritual. They all stormed towards him. Oh dear…6 Cultists going for my forces straight away. Seeing nobody, the Lich Lord moved down the stairs, coming closer…
The Elfs tried to take down the Armoured Skeletons quickly, but both the Treasure Hunter and Captain were hurt instead! Only one Armoured Skeleton went down. This wasn’t going to plan…My opponent saw he would need to send in reinforcements, which was annoying as the Lich was on the other side of the field!
On my side of the field, the Barbarian slew the Armoured Skeleton and ran into the ruins. In the centre my forces managed to take out two Cultists without much problems and injuring two more. It was looking good on my side.
Time for the creatures…the Cultists continued their frenzied assault and injured the Knight and took the Warhound out of the game. One of the Cultists was killed too…only three left. The Armoured Skeletons attacked the Elfs and two more were taken out, only one remained.
The Lich Lord scanned the field…and spotted the Elf Apprentice in the distance. Easily casting an Elemental Bolt, he fired his icy beam at the Elf:
Yes, that is a 20. The Apprentice was one-shotted (36 damage I believe?)…the first Elf to go down!
Seeing his Apprentice gone, the Elf Wizard knew it was time to act and get the drop on the Lich Lord. So he moved into combat with the Armoured Skeleton. Having two supporters he was at an effective +9 Fight. We rolled the dice…
…and yes, I rolled a 20 again for the creature! Two in a row…the wizard took 22 damage and was also gone. WOAH! This was weird. We were in the third turn and the Elfs had lost both of their spellcasters already. Shocking.
The Elfs then took down the last Armoured Skeleton, taking revenge. By now the Elf Captain was wounded and decided to take some sips from the Horn of Healing. He really needed to catch his breath, poor Elf.
On my side my forces killed another Cultists and the other two were bound to follow quickly. My Knight had fun with his Vampire Blade, slowly healing back the damage. Near the evil wall, the Tunnel Fighter engaged the Wraith Knight for combat (without effect). The Elfs managed to engage the Wraith Knight with four Soldiers, trapping it. The Templar moved in with his magical blade, ready to take out the thing. The Elf Thief did her thing and quickly secured a treasure.
My Barbarian ran up and shouted a challenge to the Lich Lord, while in the back Ash shot the Lich for some damage. Groovy…
My forces finally killed the last Cultists, clearing the path towards the Lich Lord. My strongest Soldiers then made a run for the Lich Lord. If they survived this turn, they could swarm him and clobber the foul thing! The Elfs took down the Wraith Knight and the Monk moved up to take a second treasure.
As the Elf Captain healed up some more, he was shocked to see a fresh creature to appear close to him…an Ettin! The two-headed monster spotted the Captain and roared a challenge.
The Lich saw the Soldiers coming and cast a ball of cold energy towards the greatest group. Boom! The ball exploded and showered four Soldiers with ice shards. The Archer was wounded and the Barbarian and Treasure Hunter got some nasty cuts. But none went down and they continued their charge. The magically hastened Knight, the Barbarian, the Treasure Hunter stormed the Lich to pin him down. This gave my Captain room to charge in with Sprint, Elemental Hammer and Fleet Feet…the Captain slammed his huge Club down on the Lich and the terror was severly hurt, leaving him on a couple of wounds.
The Elfs joined the struggle with the arch enemy. The Templar hit it for some damage and then the Warhound jumped on its back. The Lich was caught by surprise and fell face first unto the stairs. The hound grabbed the Lord’s skull and tore it off. The Lich Lord was destroyed!
A thunderclap could be heard and purple clouds started to appear in a maelstrom over the castle. The floating castle started to shake and groan…it was obvious it would come down! Time to leave.
The Tunnel Fighter was still duelling with the Wraith Knight. Fortunately the guardian couldn’t get through the Tunnel Fighter’s defences. Dragos’ Soldiers quickly rushed in to support him, with the Knight raising his magical blade for the kill. In the meantime the Zombie, Dragos and Apprentice grabbed treasures.
On the other side of the castle the Elfs were trading blows with the Ettin. The Archers distracted the dumb creature, giving the Captain an opportunity to strike it from behind. Even with two heads, the Ettin didn’t see the magical axe…and then it lopped off both heads.
As Dragos’ wounded Soldiers quickly moved back towards the chains to climb down a Bat Swarm entered the castle. Either it was loyal to the Lich Lord or it was attracted by the action…but it came to feed! The Soldiers were in bad shape, so hoped they could evade it. That would be hard…
The Wraith Knight was surrounded by three soldiers now and it seemed the Knight would have an easy time dispatching the evil creature. At the same time the Apprentice moved off towards the exit point.
As the Knight raised his blade to strike, the Wraith Knight suddenly struck unexpectedly, stabbing the Knight through the heart with his icy blade. The Knight instantly became a withered husk and dropped to the ground. Curses! The Barbarian saw it happen and jumped in with his giant magical axe. He swung it down, shattering the Wraith Knight’s blade and then cleaving the thing in twain. It was gone. Now it was time to get moving! The castle was about to come down.
Dragos and his forces quickly moved back towards the exit point. Fortunately for his wounded soldiers the Elf Archers took down the Bat Swarm, making the return easy. The Tunnel Fighter was the last to leave the field with moments remaining before the Castle fell down in a thundering crash of stone, snow, ice and corpses. It was done and it was over.
THE END
AftermathWhat a cool game and what a fantastic campaign. So much fun and so varied in design. The last game was epic in scope and although there weren’t a lot of casualties, the first half was tense and could have gone differently. The demise of the Elf Mage and Apprentice were stunning and odd. On the one hand it was sad for my opponent, on the other hand it was refreshing and gave a new experience.
The Lich King was a tough nut to crack but we had so many Soldiers coming for him…there was no way he could win this one. At the start of the game, we decided models could only exit from our deployment zones and not from the other two corners. This made it harder to escape and we had to hurry to get all of our models off the table. It worked really well and it worked very well this way.
For my 4 treasures I found a load of gold, Staff of Power (1) and an Ivory Scroll (Familiar). The Apprentice received the Staff of Power (1) and the Ivory Scroll. Dragos advanced a whopping 5 levels and read two new Grimoires and advanced three spells. Then it was time for the ultimate spell: Lichdom. With the Lich Lord destroyed, Dragos saw an opportunity to step in as the new major power Gathering his power he cast the difficult spell and tried to become a Lich… Dragos needed a 14 to cast the spell.
Alas! He failed, losing a level and some health and crept back to his base. His plan had failed and his withered body had to heal. He fired his Soldiers, took his Apprentice and moved out of Felstad to his castle. For now Dragos’ adventures in Felstad are over…for now…
The Final warbandDragos the Everliving (level 51 – 5190XP)
Move 6, Fight +5(+6), Shoot +3, Willpower +4, Health 19,
Items: Gloves of Casting, Magic Staff (+2 damage), Potion of Restoration, Fire Heart Gemstone, Ring of Life
Spells (effective casting value): Raise Zombie (7), Control Undead (9), Bone Dart (7), Lichdom (14), Fleet Feet (7), Time Walk (20), Elemental Ball (15), Elemental Hammer (11, ), Teleport (11), Fool’s Gold (12), Illusionary Soldier (16), Push (10), Imp (10), Miraculous Cure (18), Shield (14), Animal Companion (8 ), Brew Potion (13)
Krazlov the Apprentice
Move 6, Fight +3, Shoot +1, Willpower +2, Health 15
Items: Staff of Power (1), Drinking horn of Healing, Elixir of the Chameleon, Ivory Scroll (Familiar)
Lord Stanislav, Evil Captain (level 4 – 410XP)
Move 6(5), Fight +3(+4), Shoot (+1), Willpower (+3), Health 12
Items: Club of Battering, Mail Armour, Potion of Healing, Potion of Fire Breath, Potion of Toughness
Tricks: Furious Attack, Sprint, Leadership, Riposte, Nerves of Steel
Constantin the Archer (magic bow +2 damage)
Yuri the Crossbowman (magic crossbow +2 damage)
Kozov the Treasure Hunter (belt of animal repelance)
Serghei the Tunnel Fighter
Xor the Barbarian (magic two-handed weapon +2 damage)
Ivan the Assassin (magic hand weapon +1 damage)
Ash the Daemon Hunter (magic crossbow +1 Shoot)
Beast the Warhound
Base: Inn, Carrier Pigeons, Kennel, Shrine, Weapons Rack, Celestial Telescope, Dark Cauldron
Vault: Book of the Rangifer, Grimoire of Restore Life, Bottle of Null
712 Gold Coins
And...that's it folks. For now it's the end of Dragos' story. Time to move on, time to let another wizard shine!