Two Undead armies clashed at Castle FusterCluck this past weekend in a Big Battle of D3H2 (DBA 3.0 with HOTT additions). We tried to play the rules as straight up as we could, since Bruce and I were coaching Aaron and Steve in their very first game.
Each army totaled 72 points divided into 3 commands. Lord Kha-Ris (MY Undead) fielded a large command of mainly Replaceable Hordes and Behemoths. Aaron led a mounted right wing command of Knights, Beasts and Heroes. I also led a third smaller command of Aerials, an Aerial Hero (Cruella, of course) supported by 4 Flyers.
Bruce's Army of Heck was more balanced, Heroes supported by Spears, Shooters, Cavalry and Behemoths, with two small groups of Aerials integrated into the two wing commands. Steve commanded the left wing, so the New Guys faced each other.
The Army of Heck Defended, so chose terrain - Ploughed Felds, Gentle Hills and one patch of Scrub, so terrain played little part in the game - and took first bound. . . a general advance.
Kha-Ris responded in similar fashion. . . two masses of Undead trundling forward toward potential mutual destruction . .
When Bruce advanced his right wing Aerial Hero and Flyers, Cruella pounced, killing a Flyer and drawing first blood (presumably "true death" AND some kind of blood was involved). Cruella was then promptly set upon by the Heckish Aerial Hero and destroyed!
Another Heckish Flyer was eliminated as the melee continued. . . until the Aerial Hero noticed another more enticing target . . . Kha-Ris, all by himself, on his zombie dragon mount.
Meanwhile the center commands embraced, and on the opposite flank, Kha-Ris' Beasts and the Heckish Flyers were at a stand-off.
Then the Heckish Aerial Hero pounced on Kha-Ris and the battle took a dramatic turn! The dice were rolled, and Kha-Ris lost by a single point! Death had come to Kha-Ris, the C-in-C of his army.
But wait! I remembered a rule in DBA Big Battle which entitles the C-in-C of each army to re-roll one die-roll per game after the results have been calculated. Only a re-roll of 6 would save Kha-Ris by causing a tie-score!
"What?!" exclaimed Bruce, suspiciously. "Let's look that up." It is not unusual for us to check the rules several times a game, always in the spirit of fair play, so in we went. Turns out I was wrong. The rule actually states that the C-in-C can add +1 to his die-roll after the results have been calculated. . . so Kha-Ris gets an automatic draw instead of chancing a re-roll, as I wrongly "remembered" it. Thanks, Bruce! Kha-Ris survives another bound.
On my next bound, I got enough command PIPs to surround the Heckish Aerial Hero and send it back to Heck! Just in the nick of time, as Heckish archery sent another of my Flyers to its doom, breaking and demoralizing the Aerial command.
In the center, the relentless combination of Hordes, Behemoths and Knights, though sustaining its own losses, inflicted even more on the Heckish troops. On the right flank, the Beasts swept past the PIP-starved Heckish Flyers to fall on the flanks of the Heckish center.
While the Heckish right flank troops bore down on Kha-Ris, their center finally broke. A couple bounds later, the Heckish army reached its breakpoint (half its total element points) and fled the field.
Victory to Kha-Ris and his Undead. . . and to good sports, including the New Guys who said they'd be willing to play again.
