Sigmar's Blood - the Climax (17)

And so to the final game of the campaign.
This was to be a biggie - all the forces from the previous games, plus a few more besides. Fortunately the kids were away, so we were able to get started early!

I was once again the Vampires as we figured I'd played them the most.

I deployed with my infantry in the centre, the cavalry and weird chariot thingy on my left and held the right with just a couple of ethereals.
My main plan was to use Von Carstein to buff the dead daylights out of my infantry in the centre, whilst sending the Vargheists in pursuit of Volkmar.

Mannfred von Carstein's Boney Army

Volkmar's boys in blue

And largely this was a plan that worked very well.
Whether because this scenario is a bit imbalanced in favour of the undead, or just because (for once) I was fortunate with the dice all went very well for me.
The Ghouls were buffed to the max and creamed the swordsmen and ran them and the level four light wizard down. The Zombies were flattened by the flagellants, who overran into a poorly positioned Mannfred. But he duly demonstrated that he's at least as good a fighter as spell caster and chopped them down. The chariot thingy held the knights for a turn or two before crumbling but Mannfreds marvelous magic saw them off. The Dire Wolves were dire and failed to kill the handgunners but the ethereal cavalry finished them off.
In the centre the arch lector piled into the ghouls, but some frantic buffing from Mannfred and the timely arrival of the Vargheists saw the War Altar chopped into kindling and Volkmar carried off to the tower.

The swordsmen get grabbed by the ghoulies

Dearly beloved we are gathered here today to TRAMPLE GHOULS!

The Bloody Wolves come to a bloody end

Empire reinforcements crept on over on my right but were held up by some ethereals. In the end the ghouls got overexcited and charged the Reiksguard and were duly despatched.

However by this stage I was well in front and my only worry were the demigryph knights heading for the tower to try and release the arch lector.

If we sneak quietly around here...

At this point I made a substantial error and in my eagerness to thin the demigryphs I left Mannfred exposed to a cannon shot.
The inevitable happened and, from a huge lead, crumbling rapidly reduced the forces of undeath. Fortunately the damage done to the demigryphs meant the Vargheists were able to hold on to the arch lector and their prize.

And so the game drew to a close.
I was ahead on seven victory points to six. However we had each achieved a goal in the game that was worth D3 victory points.
We rolled, and the empire got the full three to my measly one.
The Empire had triumphed and Sylvania remains just out of Mannfred's grasp!

This was actually a great fun game to play. We had the hang of most of the rules and it was largely a stand-up pitched battle affair without too much nonsense.. Probably my favourite game of the whole campaign.

However I did feel a bit gyped by the end resolution of the game.The entire campaign came down to a single dice roll. We could have just rolled a dice each at four months ago for the same result. A fixed VP each for achieving our goals would have seen me win, but an insistence on randomness turns a narrow victory for me into a narrow victory for my opponent.

That said I've largely enjoyed the experience of collecting the armies and the narrative element of the campaign. Just slightly let down by the execution of the scenarios.