The Battle for Slippery Mountain

The Battle for Slippery Mountain is a 2,000-point battle between my High Elves and Andrew's Empire army. We did something we've never done before, taking photographs of the battlefield after every phase of the game. The camera was mounted on a tripod, so with a bit of Photoshop tweaking, I was able to line them up for a play-by-play of the entire battle.

Putting together the animations and writing the battle report was really educational, because none of the details of the battle were lost. When I recall how a battle went, I usually remember the times when my plans worked well, when they failed miserably, or when I was especially lucky or unlucky. Doing this report, though, I realized just how many opportunities I missed. Normally, you don't remember these, because you never notice them in the first place!

Here's a little thumbnail animation of the battle:

Much larger animations of individual turns are available on the following pages. If you're impatient, skip to the opening moves.

The Scene

The battle took place on a 4' x 4' section of Andrew's pool table, with a liberal coating of his new Warzone hills. Although we were a bit concerned we'd overdone it, hills don't break up the table in the same way that forests and buildings do.

The High Elves

I won the dieroll to choose sides, and chose the one unhampered by forests (hereafter, the "West"). I didn't have much of a plan, but I'd never seen a hill that size and it looked important. My forces, roughly from North to South, are:

• 2 Eagles
• 2 Silver Helms
• Archers w/ 2 Spearmen
• 2 Bolt Throwers (one unit primed)
• Archers w/ 3 Spearmen
• 4 Reavers

Leading them are:

• General
• 2 Wizards
• 2 Heroes, one with a Dragon Mount

No magic items.

The Empire

Andrew's Empire troops set up in the East. He used:

• General (of course!)
• Hero on Griffon with Sword of Destruction
• Hero with Sword of Fate
• Wizard with Scroll od Dispelling
• Wizard
• 4 Crossbowmen
• 2 Flagellants
• 4 Halberdiers
• 4 Knights
• 2 Pistoliers
• 2 Cannons
• 1 Hellblaster (which blew up on it's first shooting attempt!)
• 1 Steam Tank

Next: Turns 1 & 2 - Opening Moves

All of this crap is Copyright © 2000-2006 Michael Prescott except
the registered trademarks of Games Workshop.