This game was played right after the large Lizardmen vs. Orcs/Undead game. I was still taking crappy pictures and didn’t realize it until later in the game where I’m sure you’ll notice an improvement in the image quality. While I didn’t actually play in the game myself, I figured I’d put it up here anyways and see if Brook or Chris can fill in the blanks. Since my wife and I had our baby 2 weeks early, I didn’t start work on this until now and I’ve lost some of the details since this was played over 3 weeks ago. No terrain, 1500 points per side and a pair of rather interesting builds.
Set Up
Hawkshold played by Brook from top to bottomLight Cavalry
Peasant Mob
Swordsmen
Great Swordsmen (not so great vs. trees)
Swordsmen
Light Cavalry
Light Cavalry
Elves of Ravenwood played by Chris from top to bottomWolfkin
Swordsmen
Treant
Swordsmen
Brownies
Centaurzzzz!
Early Turns
I believe the above pic was taken on the Ravenwood turn. I don’t think there was anything much fancy going on and everybody was set at a close standing order. Some of the units where targeted on specific enemies, but I’m not 100% sure if the corresponding units wound up engaged to each other. Damn these blurry pics! Brook seemed to gain a bit of an advantage by setting up a twos company with 2 of his Light Cavalry units on the Centaurs whiles still setting up a pinch position on the opposite side of the line on the Wolfkin.
Mid Turns
On Chris’ turn he opted to have his Centaurs charge the left-most Hawk Light Cavalry. The Centaurs got totally jobbed here as both units inflicted 5 damage on each other (including the Centaur javelins) and both units routed! On Brook’s turn the other Light Cavalry on that side totally ploughed Chris’ Brownies as you can plainly see. The Treant rammed into the Greatswordsmen and avoided taking any damage at all. I don’t recall how the Wolf Kin on the far side died, but it was probably due to the Light Cavalry over there. I'm thinking they got some pinch help from the Peasant Mob.
Ah yes! I finally found the correct setting for my camera! And no, I was not drinking heavily that night at all. In fact, I think I topped off at 2 beers. Brook had his clean Hawk Light Cavalry go after the wounded Centaurs after both routing cavalry units had been reformed. Hawk Swordsmen and Ravenwood Swordsmen clashed with the early advantage going to the Hawk unit. The Treant was really knocking the snot out of those Greatswordsmen who seemed more intent on merely staying alive than inflicting any real damage. The Ravenwood Swordsmen on the far side of the Treant seemed to have dispatched the Hawk Swordsmen there pretty quickly, so I’m guessing that there was a failed courage check there. Did those Swordsmen have Bravery Brook? Regardless, the victors of that fight wound up getting flanked by the Peasant Mob and their outlook wasn’t good as the Hawk Light Cavalry on that side was a turn away from pinching them into oblivion.
Endgame 
This pic was taken on Chris’ turn. You can see that the Centaurs have charged into that Hawk Light Cavalry unit and inflicted grievous harm – while avoiding any damage to themselves! IIRC the Light Cavalry actually failed their courage check despite the Bravery and perished in embarrassing fashion. That is pretty much all that transpired on this turn that was notable.
Oh how those Centaurs redeemed themselves! After blasting the one Hawk Light Cavalry into oblivion, they did it to the other one. Still without taking any damage! The Treant finally squashed the Greatswordsmen (who fought to the bitter end) while only taking about 3 damage in return and they where then able to pinch in on the unfortunate Hawk Swordsmen unit that was next to where the Greatswordsmen where. The Ravenwood Swordsmen on the far side of the Treant met it’s demise when rear-pinched by the sole remaining Hawk Light Cavalry, but Brook didn’t see the point in continuing as the last Hawk Swordsmen where going to fall soon and there where still Centaurs running about. Not to mention the giant freaking tree.
Final Thoughts I really thought that Brook was going to win early on when the Centaurs ran off and the Wolf Kin got squished, but the rest of the Ravenwood troops rallied and stood firm while Brook suffered a crippling courage failure with that Hawk Light Cavalry that was engaged by the Centaurs later into the game. If Brook would have kept the standing orders on those guys, they would have been able to blow up the Ravenwood Swordsmen to the left of the Treant and then pinch the Treant itself. In hindsight, Brook’s decision to go after the Centaurs wasn’t a bad one because he only needed to inflict 2 more damage on them to finish them off with a fresh cavalry unit. As the Centaurs got jobbed early in the game, both Hawk cavalry units on that side of the map got jobbed later in the game.
Brook and Chris, feel free to fill us in on anything I missed or got wrong. My recollection of games I’ve watched isn’t quite as good as my recollection of games I’ve actually played in.
Heroes of the GameRavenwood – The Centaurs that started out flat but redeemed themselves by single-handedly polishing off 2 Hawk Light Cavalry units. What a comeback! Honorable mention to the Treant for squishing the Greatswordsmen with ease then pinching the last remaining Hawk Swordsmen. Chris truly got maximum usage out of his heavy hitters this game.
Hawkshold – Nobody really stood out as outstanding, but kudos to the Peasant Mob for being one of the last units standing and being involved in the death of both the Wolf Kin and a Ravenwood Swordsmen unit. Hail to the pitchforks!
Right before the second Hawk Light Cavalry smashed into the wounded Centaurs, I took a peek at the next 3 cards that Brook was about to draw. I figured offensive cards would be golden for that Cavalry unit and the Attack Formation, Surge to Victory, and Force cards I saw coming up would really help Brook out. The Attack Formation would have been nice to play against the Centaurs while the Force would really help those Greatswordsmen jump-start their attack on the Treant. As we now know, it didn’t work out. Was it clever card play by Chris or just cold dice from Brook that effected the outcome at that point in the game?
