Cleric of Sune:  Oooh, Legolas, I could chase you around these tombs all night!  Wanna play ‘I’ll be your zombie if you’ll be my necromancer?’

Half-Elf Bow Initiate:  Stop talking to me you stupid hag!

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For a few seconds there I thought it might be possible for Zombow to win.  I had planned if Zombow won the die toss for them to play on King’s Road.  My thought was the cover would help their AC, and having the Bow Initiate would force Zune’s Goons to rush.  However, they lost the roll and ended up on Keep of Fallen King’s as chosen by Sune and friends (I have no idea whether this was a good or bad call yet).  While it was definitely hard for the Blood Golem to maneuver, once he was in place he was a stone, and managed a couple of nice Whirlwind attacks…with his attack bonus of +13 I don’t think he missed a roll all match.

Round one Sune had the Air Mephit rush the Victory Space.  I thought that might have been a bad play as the Bow Initiate was able to get line of sight and a hit after moving forward through the rubblie…but he didn’t get through the Conceal 6 of the Mephit.  Knowing they had long odds, Zombow decided to split their forces and try to flank and maybe get to Cleric of Sune.  The Orc sub-squad (Orc Sergeant, Silent Wolf Goblin, Bladebearer Hobgoblin, Mountain Orc and Sahuagin Ranger) started in the top setup space and moved straight forward to try to cut down through the top center door.  The Destrachan (MVP of Zombow), the Myconid Guard, Fiendish Dire Weasal and the Zombie Ogre moved forward through the bottom rubble, planning to block for the HEBI.

Things ended up going OK, a touch well, and then very badly for both squads.  Sune moved Pentifex Monolith to behind the statue across from the victory area, forcing the HEBI to either attack it (28 AC with cover and Soulmeld) or move to try to hit something else.  HEBI stayed put and did plink the Pentifex a bit, but he only did 10 damage across turn 2 and 3.  Turn 2 the Air Mephit ended up getting off a cone hitting four of Zombow, 3 of whom failed their saves (35 total damage).  However, the Orc Sergeant abandoned his flank and ended up able to one shot the Mephit.

Around turn 3-4 is when I thought Zombow might win, as the Destrachan managed to hit 2 units with his cone in one round (forcing one rout), and 3 (including a kill and another rout).  I thought he might have gotten off the third cone as he was at 5 hp (he was one of the few the whole game to pass a morale check), but I forgot Zune hadn’t moved her Fire Mephit (Where you see him in the above picture) and he blasted the Destrachan with his cone to guarantee it’s death.  The Fire Mephit died the next turn, but that was the beginning of the end for Zombow.  The flank didn’t go great as the Silent Wolf Goblin couldn’t make up his mind where he wanted to be and the Orc Sergeant abandoned his humanoid buddies to kill the Air Mephit turn 2.

IMG_0080Phalanx Soldier and Bugbear Gang Leader fought it out with the flanking crew of Sahuagin, Bladebearer and Mountain Orc.  It was pretty even, though the +2/+5 Bonus from Sune gave their team the edge.  I kept trying to find a way for Zombow to get within 6 without taking an attack of opportunity so they could get the bonus too, but never managed it.  When the Mountain Orc was at 20 health, Cleric of Sune made what was sure to be an awesome play…she charged the Mountain Orc to force the Morale Save (Edit:  I have to reread the charge rules, I think I might have made an illegal charge here, sorry folks!  If I’m remembering right the Cleric might have been required to attack the Sahuagin?).  With her +9 to hit AC 11 she rolled…a 1.  Again, I thought Zombow might be able to capitalize (See pic…Sahuagin was routing here so she could charge).  Not.  Many whiffs later and while the Bugbear was killed, Sune followed up with her Castigate LE, forcing the Bladebearer to rout and outright killing the already routing Sahuagin.  The mountain orc failed its morale check via the Phalanx Soldier, leaving the flank clear of Zombow minions.

With the Destrachan dead, the main push faltered as well, with the Blood Golem killing the creatures Zombow kept using to get victory points…part of the reason the game was so close as Zombow managed 40 victory square VPs to Sune’s 10.  The HEBI/Destrachan did manage to finally cause the Pentifex to rout, but it didn’t really matter.  The priestess came back to the main battle and the Half-Elf Bow Initiate was forced to succumb to the little hottie’s wiles.  I could have played it out, but the HEBI just couldn’t kite without any blockers.

All in all, it was a fun battle.  A couple of questions that came up that I will ask on DDM Guild…Can a routing creature get VP’s from a victory square?  Also, I couldn’t tell from the book (I’m using the War Drums rulebook) if an Outsider a ‘living creature’.  I was trying to figure out if the Fiendish Dire Weasel Blood Drain would work on a Mephit.IMG_0081

Conclusions:

Blood Golem is indeed a House in sealed, and might be worth playing in a regular skirmish.

Cleric of Sune’s Commander Ability is definitely relevant and worth building around, especially as on this map I was able to deny the enemy its benefits through positioning.

Morale is everything and that is one of the things I absolutely didn’t remember from my playing days 6 years back.  The Fearless ability just got bumped up a couple of notches in my mind.

D&D Miniatures Sealed Match #1 Complete: Sune’s Goons Win 172-130

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