Salazaar crashed into the ground kicking up a plume of dust as he did so. The ancient Tomb Prince glowered up at the tower in front of him, specifically at its occupant. He climbed to his feet and began to steadily scale the wall once more, this time determined to wrest control from the foul vampires grasp. Twice already had he been thwarted and expelled from the magical hub, but each time he had learned a little more about his foes. This time he was sure he could best her and with it help turn the tides of energy in his favour...
Battle 3 - 3000pts - Storm of Magic
The third and final battle of the series would be a cataclysmic Storm of Magic. As well as the further 1250pts worth of reserves each side would pull in, an additional 750 points of Pacts and Bound Creatures would make each army a formidable force.
Oozugs Orc Legion
Oozug the Savage Orc Shaman was now joined by a coven of Night Goblin Shaman as well as a Vampiric Sorceress and Dark Emissary giving a total of seven casters. The rest of the army was bolstered by a Night Goblin core and a Giant with a Cockatrice as a final touch.
Prince Salazars Mighty Army
The Tomb Kings bolstered across the board with a bit ore of everything, foot troops, characters and cavalry. A Necrosphinx would also lumber into battle. A Cockatrice was also fielded here as well as a Black Dragon.
The Game
The early part of the game was characterised by big events on both sides. For the Orcs part the Cockatrice was on a rampage first killing the WarSphinx then the enemy Cockatrice. In return though the Black Orcs barely saw any of the game, breaking and being destroyed in the opening turns. The Tomb Kings got an early cast of Return to the Golden Age in but this success was short lived as a miscast detonated one of their fulcrums causing massive damage to the area and handing dominance to the Orcs. The greenskins capitalised on this to cast use Shadows Dominance spell to to equalise the effects. Big losses on both sides early on.
By the mid game ongoing struggles were starting to emerge. Tomb King Salazaar was starting his first of many(!) attempts to take the Vampires fulcrum by force mean while the Savage Orcs and skeletons found themselves in a long battle that the greenskins would eventually lose. The critical moment was the early dispelling of Return to the Golden age, effectively robbing the Tomb Kings of a turn. Meanwhile the Arachnarok Spider and Black Dragon both wandered to opposing fulcrums to attempt to take them by force. Where the Spider succeeded the Dragon did not, finally being driven off by ghouls while in a peak of magic despair.
As the final turn beckoned (we managed 4) the story was an odd one. The Tomb Kings clearly had the advantage on the field but the Orcs two guest casters had held onto thier fulcrums giving them the crucial edge. The final turns saw a last attempt by the Tomb Kings to gain control but it did not come about leaving the Orcs to just about cling on to victory and be glad of the respite the end of the battle gave them.
Conclusion - All About the Fulcrums
The detonation of one of the fulcrums early on painted the picture for this battle. In a straight fight the Tomb Kings were the better force, but they did not have enough of an edge to beat an Orc force that spent three quarters of the game in dominance. The game was full of big hits and nothing could claim to be truly safe as characters, hordes and beasts were all slewn by 'lesser' models.
