Somewhere north of Ulthuan lies an island. For a century or more, its only inhabitants have been a group of forgotten Beastmen and their prey. Once, long ago, the High Elves had tried to establish a colony here- an outpost to warn against invasions of Chaos. They had brought with them many relics and items of power. They had not, however, brought with them enough troops to deal with the horde of Beastmen who had suddenly appeared and swept down on the outpost. The elves held for a while before retreating to their ships. The Beastmen could do nothing but stand on the shore and howl their rage- they did not know how to make ships and so eventually retreated inland. Much time passed and Chaos turned its eye (eyes?) from the boring little island. With no one but themselves to fight, the Beastmen grew fat and lazy; their leaders mere shadows of the great warlords they once followed. Even their most powerful shamans had no understanding of magical tactics. (Translation- I have never played Beastmen, nor used any of the Chaos spell decks [except in training game for my cousin] so this would be a learning experience).
Yet, as it so often does, history was repeating itself and the poncy ones (HE) were returning to the island.
 Far to the south other forces were stirring. In a long ruined temple, a liche sat before a strange black orb. His forging complete, he felt the sword surge with the orb’s unholy power. Yet, the link was not perfect. Some latent force was blocking one of the lines of power and preventing proper functioning. He felt sure that the orb could remove the block for him, but after decades of studying, he still did not know how to command the orb. “No,” he thought, “better to discover the interference and destroy it personally. Its nature may give some clues to the usage of the orb.” Slowly rising from his dais, he began gathering his troops and a fleet.

 (Campaign rules. HEs [command by John Connell] got a Pass [100 points], a village and a treasure trove. UNDEAD [command by Brett, aka Takeshi, Kiantaro, Minamoto or something, got a Temple, a Town, and a Forest [1 WM]. BEASTMEN [me] got a Pass [110 points], a lost valley [wizard tower, temple], and some ruins [30 pnt magic item]).

 Note that MOAB rules will be used for TP and Drain Magic.

Armies
HE- 10 Archers, 12 Archers, Reavers, Seaguard with general, Silver Helms with champ, Lvl 1 wizard, Chariot, Shadow Warriors
Undead- Liche on steed, 2 Skull Chuckers and Wraith, Skellies with Spears led by wight, 5 Mummies, skellies with x-bows, skellie horse, 2 carrion
 
 The island’s Beastmen had grown so lax, that both the Undead and the High Elves had established bases before the Beastmen could act. In fact, these two armies (4 turn battle) encountered each other before seeing the Beastmen.

 The High Elves first encountered the Undead near the remains of their colony. A couple of houses and a hedge (with our lone tree as the hedge’s inside edge) were on their left flank about halfway between the two armies. On the elves right flank was a hill on which they deployed their archers. Beside them, further to the right were the Silver Helms, while on their left were the Seaguard, chariot, and the Reavers. The shadow warriors rose from hiding just behind the wall. The Reavers marched between the two house to threatened the Undead’s right flank.
 On the Undead side, across from the elves hill was a dense thicket (impassable), the skellie x-bows deployed beside this, the mummies beside them, then the skellie spears and skellie horse with liche. The ‘Chuckers deployed about even with the inside house and had a view of most of the HE army. The carrion flapped into position behind the Mummies.
 
 The unnatural vitality of the Undead was greater then the HEs vaunted speed and they were the first to move. The liche detached himself from the Skellie horse, who advanced. The Skellie spears, Mummies, and Carrion all advanced. The ‘Chuckers and x-bows both took aim at the archers and two from each unit drop, but they held their ground. The skellie horse then begin to dance to the tune of Van Hel and charged the Reavers who fire and flee (this is wrong isn’t it? No charge reaction to magical charges). One skellie is killed, but the Reavers are slow to turn their horses and are run down. The Shadow Warriors are unworried by this development though.
 
 Little movement was seen on the HE lines, save for the Silver Helms who advanced up the right flank. The Seaguard and both units of archers took aim at the skellie x-bows and destroyed the unit. The Shadow Warriors put two wounds on the Liche, who is failed by his amulet of jade. Magic is quite uneventful as the HE was dealt really awful spells (yes, I dealt- an omen of things to come with my luck).
 
 All undead units who previously advanced continue to do so. The horse swung around the houses and occupy the position where the Reavers began the game. The Mummies turned a bit to face the Silver Helms, then Danced a bit forward to protect the Skellies’ flank.. The Liche, however decided it would be prudent to join the Skellie spears. The ‘Chuckers hit nothing. The Skellie Spears danced forward as the Liche used the power of his new sword. Yet, the blockage is stronger closer to the source and the sword will be useless for the remainder of the battle.
 
 The Seaguard turned towards the horse and unleashed their arrows. Together with the shadow warriors they destroyed the unit. The Silver Helms and the Chariot charged the Skellie Spears. Great was the carnage and soon only 5 skellies and the characters remain. The Archers fired at the Mummies, and scored a couple of wounds.

 The Mummies then charged the Silver Helms’ flank. Their two handed weapons slowed them, but the ‘Helms could not manage to kill even a single Mummy. By the end, the High Elves had lost combat (by 4) as the chariot was mauled, but resolved to fight on. The Liche then summoned all his dark powers. A nimbus of black light surrounded his hand, by the magic was drained away by a swirling vortex. He then summoned a power he was sure to be Total, but the elf, though only an apprentice, demonstrated a command of magic well beyond his years and prevented the Liche from raising any more dead (rolled a 6 to dispel).

 Again there was little movement, but the Seaguard turned to face the main battle. The Archers, lacking other targets, fired into combat, but fortunately for them, did not hurt any of their own troops. The high elf champion finally challenged the Liche (I though he should have challenged on the charge), but is cut down. The Silver Helms managed a couple more wounds on the Skellies, but the Mummies cut down all the remaining elves- grabbing their banner in the process.

 The battle was drawing to a close and the Liche, with only one wound remaining, chose to hide behind his Mummies. The Skellie Spears could do nothing but advance. The carrion hid and the Skull Chuckers missed. Magic was uneventful. The High Elves had little choice and shot down the remaining skellie spears, drawing the tense battle to a close.

 The elves were unwilling to stay longer with the Skull Chuckers quickly finding the range and the Mummies approaching close to the archers, so they chose to withdraw. (Final score was Undead- 708 HE- 553).