Dracknare - Age of Sigmar Path to Glory Campaign Battle Report - Turn 12 - Seraphon

Me and a friend have a long running “Path to Glory” campaign between the two of us. At some point, I’ll describe the custom rules we use between the two of us, because we definitely, in the interests of variety, mix and match concepts in the Age of Sigmar rules :) But in the interests of making a start on writing up some battle reports I thought I’d just jump in! So here we go!

Army Lists

Seraphon - Primal Talons

  • Army Type: Coalesced
  • Subfaction: Koatl’s Claw
  • Grand Strategy: Realmshaper Guardians
  • Triumph: Indomitable

LEADERS

  • Saurus Astrolith Bearer (140)*
  • Skink Starpriest (130)*
    • Spells: Light of Chotec
    • Spells: Merciless Blizzard
  • Tetacu / Saurus Oldblood (190)*
    • General
    • Command Traits: Thickly Scaled Hide
    • Artefacts of Power: Blade of Realities
    • Frenzy (AoA)
    • Regenerate (AoA)

BATTLELINE

  • Skinks (180)
    • Skink Alpha
    • Meteoric Javelin, Celestite Dagger and Star-buckler
  • Saurus Guard (280)*
    • Saurus Guard Alpha
    • Icon Bearer
    • War-drummer
  • Saurus Warriors (180)*
    • Icon Bearer
    • War-drummer
    • Saurus Warrior Alpha
    • Celestite Club

BEHEMOTH

  • Bastiladon with Solar Engine (250)

OTHER

  • Terradon Riders (110)
    • Terradon Rider Alpha
    • Starstrike Javelin
  • Hunters of Huanchi with Dartpipes (130)

CORE BATTALIONS

  • *Warlord (Extra Spell)

TOTAL POINTS: 1590/2000

Soulblight Gravelords

  • Army Type: Legion of Blood
  • Grand Strategy: Spellcasting Savant

LEADER

  • Necromancer (100)*
    • Spells: Hoarfrost
  • Vampire Lord (140)*
  • Vengorian Lord (280)**
    • General
    • Command Traits: Doomed Minions
    • Artefacts: Cloak of Mists and Shadows

BATTLELINE

  • 20 x Deadwalker Zombies (120)**
  • 5 x Black Knights (130)**
  • 10 x Deathrattle Skeletons (100)**

BEHEMOTH

  • 1 x Zombie Dragon (260)**

ENDLESS SPELL

  • 1 x Purple Sun of Shyish (80)

OTHER

  • 5 x Blood Knights (230)**
  • 10 x Grave Guard (150)**

CORE BATTALIONS:

  • *Andtorian Acolytes
  • **Battle Regiment

TOTAL POINTS: (1590/1000)

Battleplan and other notes

We played Fountains of Frost from the 2023-24 GHB. The Primal Talons are a path to glory army and can use their path to glory veteran upgrades. We used the Honest Wargamer Terrain Pack.

Deployment

"Deployment" Both armies deployed their wizards out of unbinding range. The Seraphon chose to keep the Hunters of Huanchi in deepstrike, and the Soulblight Gravelords chose to do the same with the Zombie Dragon. Soulblight finished deploying first and chose to take the first turn.

Turn 1

"Movement Turn 1" Soulblight chose “Magical Dominance” as their battle tactic and immediately succeeded. The rest of the turn was cagey and they slowly moved their army up the board,ending the turn on 4 VP.

Seraphon responded in kind, also choosing “Magical Dominence”, successfully casting a spell and then some rather cagey movement. The skinks garrisoned one of the terrain pieces and the Bastilidon took a few wounds off the Vengori Lord. They also ended the turn on 4VP.

"End of Turn 1"

Now its worth pointing out that we weren’t sure on the rules for garrisioning and whether that meant you could contest objectives at the same time. We decided between us to allow it, but when we researched it after the game, it seems the consensus is to not allow it, the rules themselves not being overly clear. So for the rest of this its worth knowing that the skinks were contentesting that objective.

Turn 2

"Movement Turn 2" Soulblight won the priority and gave the Seraphon the first turn, hoping that the second turn would be as innefectual as the first in terms of killing and maybe even battle tactics. Unwilling to move out of their own territory, or outside of 12 of the Realmshaper Engine or the Astrolith Bearer, the Seraphon were forced to pick a battle tactice they couldn’t achieve, “Pack Hunters” and castled up closer to their terrain piece. After popping a few more wounds off the Vengorian Lord their turn ended with only 2 VP.

The Soulblight continued to move up towards their enemy and using their magic phase to buff as much as they could, they bared down on the enemy. The Zombie Dragon deepstriked and then attempted the charge, and failed, at this point, given that initial failure, with the re-roll, the rest of the force did not even attempt it. Having picked “Intimidate the Invaders” and ensuring that over half their force made it outside their territory, they completed their battletactic and scored 4VP. Inching ahead.

"End Turn 2"

Turn 3

"Movement Turn 3" Soulblight won priority again and moved in for the kill. In preparation the Vengori Lord through out the Purple Sun managing to do 7 mortal wounds to the Bastilidon. Then the Black Knights, Zombie Dragon, Vengori Lord and the Blood Knights all moved into charge range, the remainder of the army moving up.

"SBG Movement Turn 3"

All units managed to make their charges with some long charge rolls. The Black Knights and the Zombie Dragon going into Tetacu and his Saurus Guard, the Vengori Lord going into the Bastilidon and the Blood Knights charging the Skinks.

The fight was vicious, the Vengori Lord going first in an attempt to heal some wounds… unfortunately, it didn’t do enough to kill the Bastilidon. Next Tetacu laid into Zombie Dragon doing massive amounts of damage, leaving it on only 3 wounds afte his bite attacks. Invigorating his bodyguard, the Saurus Guard activated and even when decimated by the mortal wound charge of the Black Knights, managed to get the Zombie Dragon down to one wound!! But then came the bite attacks… 1 mortal wound got through and the Zombie Dragon was killed to the wound.

Predicitably the Blood Knights moidered the Skinks very quickly and the Black Knights did nothing.

The Soulblight had managed to take control of more objectives and completed their battle tactic, “Led into the Maelstrom” for 5 VP. However, Soulblight had double turned and not managed to deliver a knock out blow. Tetacu was still alive and half his guard as well as the Bastilidon. The Vengori Lord was looking nervous.

The Seraphon response was vicious, with no quarter given. The Purple Sun was dispelled and the army got ready to charge. The Terradon Riders chose this time to drop their bombs on the Blood Knights managing to kill 2, the Bastilidon wiffing into the Vengorian Lord. The Astrolith Bearer and the Saurus Warriors went into the Vengori Lord, Tetacu and the Saurus Guard got ready to destory the Black Knights.

Sneakily making their way through the Jungles, the Hunters of Huanchi arrived at the back of the board. Using their blow pipes, in an export show of blow pipery? They sniped the Necromancer from behind completely unexpectedly!

The deciding fight of the turn would be the Vengorian Lord, surrounded by enemies on all sides. The Astrolith Bearer went first, getting the Vengorian Lord down to 1 wound, so they would have a chance to regain wounds with ‘Hunger’… however, the dice said know, the Vengorian Lord failing to do even a single wound to the Astrolith. This meant the Saurus had no trouble finishing them off, taking them off the board with their attacks.

In the other fight, the Black Knights barely had chance to raise their swords before they were cut down by Tetacu and his Saurus Guard.

The Seraphon had slapped back, and whilst they still failed to control more objectives, they did complete their battle tactic this turn, “Cold-blooded Resiliance”, and got 2 points on the objectives for 4VP in total. Whilst still behind, they had delivered a major blow to the Soulblight forces losing 2 of their 3 wizards and losing control of the primal dice as they no longer had 2 antdorian locus’ to get the benefit of their battalion.

"End Turn 3"

Turn 4

"Movement Turn 4" Soulblight maintained priority in what could be a decisive turn. Trying to keep control of as many objectives as possible to max out their score and take a commanding lead in the game, they chose “Expand the Grave Empires” as their battle tactic and tried to pin the remaining Seraphon in their territory so they couldn’t score as many points on their turn.

The Zombies and the Vampire Lord moved up, the Zombies looking for a charge, and the blood knights moved up to block access to the objective for the Saurus Warriors, hoping to withstand their assault.

The Zombies made their charge and with Black Knights also returning and able to start on the objective, even though the zombies were slaughtered, they managed to have a few left alive so Soulblight could easily cap the objective. Soulblight again managing to score 5 VP for the round.

The Seraphon made their move, picking “Overwhelming Numbers” as their tactic the Hunters of Huanchi ensured they succeeded in this by taking the bottom objective. Tetacu and his retinue slaughtered the remaining Zombies and the Astrolith and the Saurus Warriors made long charges into the Blood Knights. The combined weight of the Bastilidon and the combat meant the Blood Knights were reduced to one vampire by the end of the combat phase.

The Seraphon had managed to complete their battle tactic and claim more objectives than their opponent for 5 VP this turn. The Soulblights gamble had failed and they were now looking very low on numbers.

"End Turn 4"

Turn 5

"Movement Turn 5"

Seraphon won priority and pressed their advantage. They chose Magical Mayhem as their battletactic and using the power of primal dice, the Starpriest promptly Blizzarded the Black Knights off the table. Battle tactic down, its now just a case of securing the objectives. Tetacu and the Saurus Guard charged the Vampire Lord and mullered him. The Saurus Warriors and Astrolith Bearer finished off the remaining Blood Knight.

Objectives secure the Seraphon ended their turn maxed on 5 VP.

Soulblight were in trouble. They couldn’t complete any battletactics and with only 2 units left and non returning from the grave, they were unable to get ‘more objectives to score 3 points. It looked like the Seraphon would win the game but then age old question popped up as ever in these situations … Whats your grand strat?

Soulblight could already not achieve theirs, but the Seraphon still could, in an effort to deny then a crucial 3 points the Grave Guard marched up the board to get themsleves within 12” of the Reamlshaper Engine. This was enough to deny the Seraphon 3 points at the end of the game and score themselves 2VP for the turn.

"End Turn 5"

## Result

Seraphon 20 - Soulblight Gravelords 20

Wow. A super hard fought battle that could have swung either way in the middle. I played Soulblight in this battle and here are a few things I think I learned:

  • I wasted the Blood Knights, they only really killed a unit of Skinks
  • I wasted the Zombie Dragon, but it was a tough choice picking which unit to fight first as the Vengori Lord needed to heal some wounds. I think I should have kept those 2 units closer together

Super fun and great to play in!