I'M BACK!!!!! I have had this battle report due to be written for so log I apologise in advance if it seems a bit diffuse in some parts. My opponent was this time an Abyssal player, and I believe that he was also undefeated in the league (both Abyssal players were at this point undefeated) so I knew the list will be tough to beat, best news are I would be facing the other Abyssal player in the next and final round, so just FUN FUN FUN for me. The list he took was the following (more or less, remembering this from the top of my head) - Horde of Molochs - Horde of Larvae - Horde of Lower Abyssals - Horde of Tortured Souls - Regiment of Abyssal Horsemen - Troop of Flamebearers with Jar of the Four Winds - Archfiend with Wings, Lightning Bolt and Blade of Slashing I took my usual list, no changes but for those of you new here, it goes like this: - Horde of FE with Wine of the Elvenkind - Horde of FE with Brew of Haste - Horde of Ancients on Rhinosaur with Blood of the Old King - Regiment of Kaisenor Lancers with Pathfinder - 2 Lekelidons - Mage-Priest with Surge and Inspiring Talisman - Skylord DEPLOYMENT I went for a very safe flank denial, to protect me from his flying units and he decided to deploy his nasty stuff in front of mine. My initial thoughts were good on my deployment. We rolled for first turn and he took it I believe. TURN 1 His turn 1 was very uneventful, he just shuffled his units a bit and moved forwards with caution. He took some shooting into my Lancers making 4 wounds but nothing not doing much. I went aggressive trying to bait him into charging his Archfiend, that i considered the biggest threat in his entire army, into either my Lancers or my Skylord so I could kill him next turn with my Ancients. The rest of the army just moved forwards. ABYSSALS TURN 2 Sadly he didn't took the bait and instead charged his Cavalry into the Skylord hoping to get rid of him and hid the Archfiend behind them. Repositioned the Tortured Souls back into the right flank and moved the rest of his army forwards to take the centre with a very solid defence line. In the shooting he took some shots ans wounded a lekelidon but didn't manage to waver it. The Horsemen but 8 wounds into the poor Skylord but only wavered him, witch was great. SALAMANDERS TURN 2 I decided to take those Horsemen out in one go, then in theory I thought he would charge both his hard hitters into the Ancients (in theory they should hold thanks to the inspiring and banner) then I could counter him. Of course that's just theory. In the centre I really didn't knew what to do, I felt a bit overwhelmed by the sheer numbers. In retrospective I should have gone full strength into the Lower Abyssals to take them out fast. The combat went as expected and the Horsemen were no more, I decided to advance to protect the Skylord (bad choice as backing up would have left him hindered if he decided to charge me, but at that moment I didn't wanted to lose the only flying unit I had) ABYSSALS TURN 3 He went as I expected and charged my Ancients with both the Archfiend and Tortured Souls, and in the centre he kept pushing forwards slowly but securely. His shooting Flamebearers took my wounded lekelidon with ease this time. When he started rolling his dice for the combat I realised I was in for a hard beating, my god his dice were hot when he most needed them. Can't remember exactly how many wounds I took but I remember his Archfiend putting something like 8-9 wounds on his own with 9 attacks. The tortured souls sealed the deal an my poor Ancients were down in one go. I really, REALLY should have backed them up. SALAMANDERS TURN 3 My right flank was crumbling and my Lancers couldn't see any of his juicy units, so I decided to take them out of the way and in the process gain advantage over him by getting in his rear. I could see and charge the Flamebearers in the flank and I did. Also moved the Skylord out of any line of sight from his hard hitters while I could menace the rear of his Tortured Souls. In the centre I saw an opportunity and took it, he left the flank of of his Lower Abyssals exposed to a Surge Charge and took it along with a front charge from the other FE Horde. The centre combats went really well and I completely obliterated his Horde in one go. I repositioned my Nimble Horde to face the Molochs, and the other one was left in a very delicate position, they were in range of the Molochs and also had the Tortured Souls in the flank, as did the Nimble Horde. My plan at the time was to back the Horde out of the Molochs range so he would have to charge them into the Nimble Horde along with the Larvae (being Hindered I could take that charge with ease and hold) while the other Horde offered that juicy flank to the Tortured Souls, but I kind of expected the Lancer menace to be enough to distract them. The Lancers did as expected a TON of wounds and when rolling for Nerve... yeah, double ones. FAN-TASTIC. ABYSSALS TURN 4 With the lancers out of the way for a turn he was free to do as he pleased, and charged the Tortured Souls into the FE and both the Molochs and the Larvae into the other FE. He moved the Archfiend into a position where he could see the Skylord and counter-charged the Flamebearers. He shoots the Skylord and kills him easily, and that starts the trend for the turn. I'm not going to try and be mysterious here, he killed everything he touched. The flanking Tortured Souls were a given but the other FE Horde wasn't, but he rolled like a god once more and they were gone. SALAMANDERS TURN 4 Not much options left for me to be brutally honest. I knew the game is over but I just wanted to play my last cards. The tortured souls are wounded thanks to the constant shooting from the lekelidon, and skylord last turns so my plan was to try and take them out with more shooting while the lancers kill the damn Flamebearers for good. Shooting was amazing and the Tortured Souls are badly wounded just with the shots from the lekelidon so I measure and realise the Archfiend is in range for some fireballing so I take that chance. The Mage-Priest proved to be ace again and managed to WAVER the Archfiend, amazing result!. The combat went also as expected and the Flamebearers were destroyed and with the Archfiend rendered useless for next turn I reposition to face the center of the table. If I'm REALLY lucky I could kill the Molochs and maybe the Archfiend next turn with more shots. ABYSSALS TURN 5 My opponent played for the objective and moved the Larvae into one of the control zones, and charged the Molochs into the Lekelidon (not sure about that part) while the archfiend repositions himself to face the centre. I know my Lekelidon got wavered, so I assume Molochs charging in the flank got an EPICLY bad roll to achieve that. SALAMANDERS TURN 5 From now on there are no pictures but they are not needed. I realise my only chance of getting at least a draw is to kill either the Molochs or the Larvae AND the Archfiend. As the Archfiend is quite wounded I decide to try and shoot more Fireballs at him with my Mage-Priest. To take one of the other Hordes out is another matter and taking the Nerve values into account the best shot is the Molochs, wounding him on 2s with Vicious is amazing but hitting on 4s not so much. I'm expecting around 9 wounds statistically so I hope for a good to hit roll so i can up that to maybe 11, 12 wounds and have an easy Nerve roll. Shooting goes badly, and I mean it, really bad. can't remember exactly how it went but the bottom line is the Archfiend is not even wavered. My brave lancers charge valiantly but they flop and I roll again not well. TURN 6 I will do this fast, as that way it hurts a bit less. Molochs kill my Lancers and the Archfiend kills the lekelidon, leaving me no units that can score so I concede. ENDING Battered and broken Itexpicauh and the rest of his forces retreat from the deep and hot scar in the face of Mantica. The forces that guard The Abyss were far greater than he expected and killing the Archfiend that haunted his people was impossible but surrender is not an option, he will gather the remains of his army and attack again, all his campaign has lead to this and he shall not fail again.