Battle report - Storm of Magic

So finally I managed to get a game of Storm of Magic in and the short version is it was absolutely fantastic. Even if you don't read the rest of this battle report rest assured it was one of the best games of Warhammer I have ever played and the most fun I have had with toy soldiers in a while. If you'd like to know why then read further! The last battle report I wrote was using battle chronicler. Whilst I enjoyed that it was a lot of work and the result was a very long winded report that could have done with being shorter for the average reader. So this time around I'm going to show off a few photos of the game and literally focus on the highlights (which after all are the best bit!) As a final caveat I'm not photographer so I apologise in advance for the quality of some of the images.

The game started out as pictured above with the Empire army and Tomb Kings facing off against each other in nice neat lines. Areas of note are mostly the bound monsters! The Tomb Kings are fielding Trolls, an Arachnarok Spider and a Giant whilst the Empire have somehow ensnared not one but two Black Dragons into their control! The Tomb Kings control the two fulcrums on their side of the table with both a level 1 in Death and Light magic whilst the Empire have a level 1 Fire Wizard and Level 1 Life Wizard protecting their fulcrums! The roll for first turn was won by the Tomb Kings and so battle commenced!

 


The first few turns saw plenty of action! With a winds of magic roll gifting them 24 the Tomb Kings wasted no time in dumping 6 dice into their Casket of Souls giving them irresistible force! The most impressive kill was a Black Dragon blasted into smithereens by a terrible leadership roll from the Empire. If that wasn't enough the Life Wizard also had his soul ripped from his body from the arcane warmachine gifting the Tomb Kings magical dominance early on! Despite these heavy blows much of the Empire lines remained unmolested and in particular their fabled artillery remained unsilenced which would have heavy consequences in the turns to come.

The Empire already reeling from their loses were met with despair upon receiving two successively poor magic phases. With the general cursing the wizards who had tricked him into believing they were up to the task he turned to his guns to readdress the balance. The artillery backed up by its Engineers remained true to form and were unerringly reliable much to the consternation of the advancing Tomb Kings! The mortars went to work and over the course of three turns blasted the Tomb King infantry to pieces. As the Liche priests turned to their incantations to raise their fallen warriors the forests surrounding them uprooted and began to attack them viscously! The Empire truly had some dark magic at work with an Arbonecromancer on the field turning the battlefield into an enemy that rivalled even the Empire guns in destructive power.

 

 

The battle had turned against the Tomb Kings although they still held their fulcrums defiantly against the enemy. Unable to support their units without the reprisal of the forests around them they began to fall back. The enemy would have to come to them and as long as they still held their fulcrums the prize would remain theirs for the taking. In retaliation the keeper of the Casket of Souls continued to bombard the enemy with flights of the tortured souls of the Tomb Kings long dead enemies. The Death Priest tapped into the Wild Magic surging around him and attempted to fell the Fire Wizard whom had moved opposite him only to lose control of his spell! Unbeknowst to him the Puzzlebox being used by his comrade had destabilised the winds around him with dire consequences. The denizens of Chaos dragged the priest of the mortuary cult kicking and screaming to a fate worse than the Undeath he already endured. Suddenly the battle had taken a very different downward turn for the Tomb Kings as this cost them their dominance of the field. As if roused by the flicker of magical energy the unit of trolls stopped picking their noses and looked upwards to see the remaining Black Dragon approaching. Ordinary a creature would think of self preservation but being the thick witted creatures they are the trolls merely rubbed their stomachs and shouted "Dinner!" to each other. The lumbering monsters crashed into the gargantuan beast vomiting their putrid acid and wounding the creature. As if surprised by the affront of actually being charged the Dragon failed to return any meaningful damage.

On the opposite flank the Empire artillery continued its chorus by felling the Arachnarok. An Empire captain on a pegasus finally cut through the remainder of a flock of carrion that had seemingly attacked him from nowhere and made his way towards the Light Wizard with all due speed. The Tomb Kings right flank collapsed when the chariots found themselves caught out of position and were annihilated as punishment for their error. The damage to the centre of the line held by the skelletons continued and they were forced to withdraw further into a building to protect their hierophant from the on coming army and their tree allies!


 

 

A small crumb of comfort was gifted to the Tomb Kings when the Casket blasted apart the Fire Wizard removing the Empire presence from the fulcrums and gifting magical dominance to the Undead once more. However with the right flank now truly folded and the remainder of the Tomb King army suffering from continued artillery fire prospects looked bleak. The Tomb King's own artillery had thus far failed to achieve any damage at all throughout the entire game as if to add a final insult to injury. A glimmer of hope came when the Tomb Guard found themselves resurrected to a decent combat strength and smashed into a block of swordsmen. The humans fell like leaves in autumn to the skilled warriors of Khemri and promptly fled the fight giving some hope to the Tomb King left flank.

After such a long time in combat the Dragon finally grew bored of all the vomit that was continually being spewed across him by the Trolls. He stirred a rumble in his own belly breathing his own corrosive venom across them in reply. The stupidity of the last remaining troll finally lifted and he decided dinner could be had elsewhere. The Dragon gave chase but was unable to catch his quarry but instead smashed headlong into the Casket of Souls, surely now the war machine would be silenced? Despite the best efforts of the Dragon however the Casket remained on the field only to be brought down by a rampaging blood forest. In his last act the Keeper of the Casket smashed the lid of the hellish tomb releasing the souls of the damned in all directions. Still sticky with troll vomit the Black Dragon was swamped by the ethereal beings and brought down adding another impressive kill for the Casket in its swan song.

In the final turn the Tomb King army lay in tatters but still the Liche Priests would not surrender their claims. In a last act of desperation the Hierophant clambered atop of a nearby fulcrum risking himself so that victory might still be bought for his King. In a act that mirrored the rest of the battle the Empire artillery reliably stepped up having failed to miss a target for the entire battle. A single cannonball sailed into the fulcrum and when the rubble had cleared the Hierophant had fallen. The resultant magical shockwave unbound the remainder of the force holding the Tomb King army together and they crumbled from the field. The lone Light Priest remained ensuring the Empire could not wrestle magical control of the area leaving the conflict to be fought again on another day....

Conclusion

My army itself got well and truly smashed which if you revert to Victory Points means I lost the scenario...but only just! Since it was a draw on objectives I'm keen to claim this as a moral victory! Either way the game itself was immensely fun and far from just a series of random events. Yes a lot of things happened and for sure alot of death occured from spells and such forth but none of it felt game breaking. If anything it seemed to add a really rich and wonderful flavour that enhanced the game beautifully. 

What went wrong / what did my opponent do well?

As usual I found myself on the receiving end of cannonballs and mortar shells and as usual they proved to be the single most devastating thing I faced off against. During the game it felt like I was in a lot better position than I actually was as I held the fulcrums but this neglected to take into account the heavy toll the Empire artillery was having on me. In furtherance the use of the Blood forests by my opponent really locked down my magic phase and prevented me from healing my troops, which for Tomb Kings is huge. 

What could I have done better?

Kill the artillery! Its something I always struggle with and certainly think Empire are my hardest match up to play against with all my armies. I'm certainly learning and I think concentrating on them a little more might pay off. As for the Blood forests? Not much really! Beyond killing the character holding the wand controlling them you just have to take your lumps. Not casting magic in them helps.... Not risking my Death wizard would have made a huge impact on the game as it effectively gave away my advantage without making my opponent have to remove him.

What did I do well?

Casket of Souls! Well...technically I can't take the credit for that but it was certainly my man of the match for taking out 2 dragons, 2 wizards and an assortment of other things. I think I targeted the right units with it even if I could have perhaps tried to do more damage to the artillery. Other than that I did make a lot of mistakes which is reflected on how I lost the rest of the fight so badly. Never the less I did remain objective focused and forced the game to Victory Points with victory actually in my grasp on turn 6, so in terms of the scenario I didn't do too badly. As always when you lose a game its difficult to highlight the positives!

Overall

A throughly enjoyable game. I think going forward I would make a few alterations to my list and try a couple of different tactics. The main thing is both I and my opponent had heaps of fun and it has left me hungry for a rematch!