Pride of Lions Battle Report

Dad and I played a massive battle of PoL yesterday afternoon.  A typical army has 300-400 points and we were playing with 1500 or so points per side.  This was one of the first times I have been able to focus on really playing as opposed to teaching or helping someone with the rules and I had a fantastic time playing and appreciating what a great set of rules my dad has here.  We used a little of everything from the rules with Godfearer prayers, necromantric arts, and shamanic magics all being used as well as hordes and flyers and spirits and weres.  Dad will be writing up a turn by turn battle report for the Pride of Lions yahoo group but here is one I cranked out last night.  It certainly is not high prose but will hopefully give a sense of how the game went.

"No one quite knew who was to blame but the great Logres fortress keeping the undead of the Vasty Vault from pouring into the undefended countryside was suddenly besieged without any warning.   For weeks the combined forces of the Vasty Vault, the Moonglade orcs, and the Eaters of the Dead had led assault after assault on the walls.  Most of the defenders had fallen and the great skeletal catapults had smashed a hole in the wall.  The situation looked grim.  Early into the siege, Logres light horse had spilled into the night, hoping to make it through the enemy lines and recruit whatever allies they could find.  No one knew if any had made it through.

The horns and drums of the enemy forces sounded and the great death wheels began moving towards the great gate.  The great vampire lord mounted his black unicorn and sent the first wave of troops against the breach.  Grimly, the Logres heavy infantry, backed by archers moved to block the way as they awaited the zombie dwarves and deadly vampires.

High in the uppermost portion of the keep, the high king watched all of this unfold. 

Suddenly, he saw to the east a great shaggy form mount a rock outcropping and heard a tremendous roar.  From the woods line of the great Wyldewood came rank upon rank of Leonine, Halfling, Badger, and Bear Warriors.  The great werebear giant bellowed again and the men of Logres dared to hope as the hyenas, orcs, and undead wheeled their cavalry to meet this new threat.

Growling orders, the terror bird, hyena, sabertooth, warg and skeletal cavalry hurtled towards the new threat.  Behind them lumbered the skeletal mammoths and giant zombie horde.  The light cavalry of Wyldewood and the Dark Pride attempted to slow them down and inflict some casualties before the lines met. 

Meanwhile, at the breach the heavy infantry unit prepared to meet the first wave of foes.  The witch hunter stood silent amongst them, waiting for the best opportunity to utter a prayer as the portly friar did the same from the upper walls.  As the zombie dwarves lumbered through the gap in the walls, the archers in the rear ranks launched a devastating volley, dropping many of the zombies.  The rest closed in on the men of the front ranks and quickly fells to their spears and swords. 

As the last of the zombies fell the men cheered but in looking up and seeing the vampires approaching, their cheers turned to groans.  Here was a foe beyond the ability of mere mortals to defeat.  Beyond the vampires, they saw the great vampire lord rearing on his black unicorn and summoning another of the demonic spirits who would soon assault their minds and spirits.

Suddenly, the men saw a walls of thorns spring up in front of the gap in the wall and the vampires were halted in their charge—the druid of Wyldwood had sent magical aid!  At the same moment, however, the men felt fear and despair touch their hearts as the great demonic spirit hit their ranks.  Their captain yelled his defiance and the witch hunter chanted a prayer and the men succeeded in combating this malevolent new force. 

As the vampires struggled through the wall of thorns, two things happened.  First, second wall of thorns sprang forth to further hamper the vampire’s advance, and second, the witch hunter uttered a prayer that was answered by giving the archer’s arrows strength against the powerful undead.  The archers fired a volley and a third of the vampires fell exploding into ash and dust.  As the vampires hit the front ranks of the men, the fat friar on the walls also uttered and prayer and the men’s swords and spears took on a new glow, which hewed down the vampires as they hit the line.  Looking up from their grim work, the men felt great hope, despite the skeletal forces continuing to come through the breach in the wall. 

As the battle raged at the breach, the front gate was also under assault.

 A unit of manticores swooped over the heads of the defenders and prepared to turn to attack them from the rear.  Hastily and desperately, the archers and bolt throwers attempted to turn and fire, but to no avail.  The defenders watched in horror as the manticores swooped in and mauled a unit of archers.  At the same time, several great stones from the trolls below smashed into another unit of archers, turning them into pulp.  The great death wheels banged against the gates, slowly but surely tearing them off their hinges. 

            All was not lost, however.  With a mighty roar and screeches of hatred, lion dragons charged the manticores from the front as hippogriff light cavalry hit them from the flank.  Bolts from the light artillery ripped into the trolls, dropping them to the ground. 

Across the plains, the relief force battled their way across to relieve the castle.  The Leonines tore their way through the hyena cavalry as the Wylewood forces deadlocked against the undead and giant wargs.  The great werebear crushed the skeleton boartaurs to powder but suddenly lost some bear companions to the zombie horde shambling into him.   

 

Though the battle was going well for the forces of light, the enemy forces were still plentiful.  It was at this point that the forces of Sun Pride entered from the flank.  The men in the breach cheered as the great lion centaurs poured onto the field and into the skeletons and dark elf cavalry waiting for them, having been warned of their approach by skeletal light cavalry.  Such was the fury of the new arrivals, that the opposing forces fell quickly beneath their claws and spears.  At this point the enemy forces decided to quit the field and regain their strength before assaulting again.  The vampire lord knew that there would always be more dead to raise against the living."