Tales from the Table
The Players and Armies:
Kyle - playing the Mahkim, with two Behemoths, a Great One, Mighty
Garnoth, Warleader Mathan, Dri and two Wosq Marsh Slugs, Aipham the Farseeker,
the Keeper of the Mists and a Familiar, a Fairy Swarm and assorted Miasmen
and Net Masters.
Robbie - playing the Orcs, with Urgg, one of each Ogre, Khazzrek, Gorzac,
Weerel Moog and a Familiar (and a Fireball and Vigor), a Beastrider, an Ulkan
Skulker, an Orc Assassin, an Urkan Bowmen, two Shieldgrogs and, of course,
many Grugs and Goblin Crossbowz.
Russell - playing the Elves, with Ailan, Leronoth and a Familiar, a
Tree Ent, three Longbowmen, a Nimbli Woodsmen, Tarrianor and a Windrider,
Sonja Ravensblade, a Fairy Swarm and some Deepwoods Warriors.
The Setting:
150-point Ring of Fire, each staging area set 4 feet from both others (in
a triangle) and each faction placing a Terrain disk (Ruins for the Elves,
Swamp for the Mahkim (with a house-rule making Mahkim immune to the Swamp's
effects) and Evil Temple for the Orcs.
Everyone deployed, and generally moved toward their respective Terrain disks (all of which were roughly on the Elven side of things). The Mahkim heavies moved toward the Orcs, the Orcs spread in an arc with toughs concentrated in the middle and the Elves spread out and sent Longbowmen for the Ruins. The Orcs used Call to Arms to feed their advantage in Activations, while the Elves cast a Feet of Clay on the Mahkim to inhibit deployment.
The Mahkim initiated combat, pinning the Elven fliers with a Fairy Swarm, then sending in Warlord Mathan covered by a Frogs of Muurkru (which managed to jump on a Deepwood Warrior). The Orcs followed this lead by sending in Trolls to attack the Tree Ent, attacking a Warrior with the Beastrider and bringing in several other units to continue the assault the next turn. The Longbowmen failed to do significant damage, wounding a Darkwood Ogre and killing the Frogs. The Keeper came in the following turn to cast Twister on a Troll, Warrior and 2 Longbowmen to send them onto the Orc/Elf front, and the Mahkim then brought forward a Great One, Garnoth and Slugs to take the attack forward on their Elf front. The Keeper discovered why one doesn't sit in the middle of the battlefield when Weerel Moog sent a Fireball his way, ending any magical threat from that faction. The Orcs mopped up the remaining Elves on their end of things and started marching Gorzac, Urgg and several small units in the direction of the Mahkim homeland, figuring that the Mahkim were going to get to the Elf homeland too quickly.
As the Elves disintegrated, the Orcs discovered that they were going to be able to challenge for the Elf homeland, but the Mahkim were able to pull back enough forces that the Orc assault in that direction turned out to be ill-conceived. Some miscalculations allowed the Behemoths to charge in and stop the assault, while supported by enough other disks to break through and send Aipham and Mathan toward the Orc home. The game was conceded when it became clear that the Orcs couldn't take out Garnoth and his small supporting contingent at the Elf homeland in time to snatch the win from the Mahkim.
The game was fun for a couple of the participants, although Russell felt from early in the game that his army wasn't going to make it. There were a few critical problems with the Elven play. The army could really have used Oberienne Triamlathari, whom Russell didn't know was available. He also didn't notice that Sure Aim was a 6 inch range spell, and so didn't get to use it before Leronoth had to enter combat. Finally, only two Elven arrows managed to hit enemy targets. With his remaining disks, Russell did manage an effective delaying action (aided by several Feet of Clay spells cast on the Mahkim by Weerel Moog) - Nimbli Woodsmen are very effective against Slugs, Miasmen and Garnoth, none of which can attack the Woodsmen much of the time. The Mahkim have some very effective defensive disks, but have a hard time launching a full-scale assault. The Orcs need to be careful not to lose their Activation advantage, because most of the disks they take to get that advantage aren't all that powerful in combat.