Kings of War Ambush, Karpath vs Basilea.

I played another Ambush game with my Karpath Kingdoms of Men recently, this time against my son in law's Basileans.

Set Up

We chose the Pillage scenario, so placed five objectives around the neutral ground between our forces.

Even before the action began, the Sisterhood Scouts snuck forward to claim one objective. 

Before the action

Opening Moves

The Basileans seized the initiative and marched forward. The Spearmen claimed another objective, as did the Gur Panthers.

The Sisterhood took out a few of the Mounted Scouts facing them, though they held steady. The War Wizard chose to remain safely out of sight behind the lines.

In response the lead Karpath Phalanx advanced to claim an objective and the Mounted Scouts moved to loose a volley at the Sisterhood. The Bowmen targeted the Basilean Spearmen, but none of the Karpath arrows struck home.

 

The Sisterhood Scouts turn to face the main action, casually loosing a volley that finishes off the Karpath Scouts.  The War Wizard bravely steps out of cover to enspell the Bowmen, some fall, but they hold steady.

The Basilean Spears charge the leading Karpath Phalanx causing some casualties, but not enough to daunt the brave men of Karpath. 

The Bowmen exact their revenge against the War Wizard, despite him being a small target they bring him down in a hail of arrows.

The Phalanx hits back against the Basileans, causing some damage, but the power of their faith lessens this.

Middle Phase

The Sisterhood are able to draw a bead on Artem, but the Karpath leader survives, blooded, yet unbowed.

The Basiliean spearmen continue their assault on the Karpath Phalanx, while the Gur Panthers lurk, ready to spring in to action when the time is right.

The Bowmen shoot at the Sisterhood.  Despite them being partly obscured, the archers cause sufficient damage to waver the Scouts.

The 'spear grind' continues, and the Basilieans take more damage, wavering them too. 

Basilea's choices are severely limited, with only the Gur Panther reserve unwavered.

The Karpath Bowmen eschew their arrows and swing round to hit the Basileans in the flank.  This is enough to finish them off.  After disposing of the Men-at-arms, the Bowmen turn to face the Sisterhood and the victorious Phalanx advances.

The Bowmen swing into the flank of the Basilean Spearmen. It's enough to seal their fate.

The Battle's Ending

The Sisterhood loose arrows at the Bowmen, wavering them.

The Gur Panthers seize their moment, crashing into the flank of the Karpath Phalanx and wiping them out completely.

The Wavering Bowmen can't shoot, so they retire to claim an objective.

The second Phalanx charges the Panthers, along with Artem. They hit hard, but not hard enough to get rid of the Gur Panthers.

At the end of the battle each side controls one objective, so it's a well fought draw.

This was a great fun game, the Basilean tactics were sound and I felt he made me work hard for the draw. I had some bad luck with the dice, but it probably balanced out over the game (taking out that pesky Wizard when I needed 6s to hit was great).  Once again the Mounted Scouts survived the first turn, though they fell soon after.

It was also great to face the Basileans, my first experience of fighting them. I had wondered if the two human armies would seem a bit samey, but the Basileans are quite different.  I'm looking forward to facing them again.  I wonder how they'd fare against my Orcs?