Kings of War campaign - game 3

This weekend saw me in Bristol for the third instalment of our Kings of War campaign, that features my Persian-themed army against the Dark elves (Kin). For this game the terrain was rolling grasslands with three powerful artefacts to capture.

I slightly misread the brief in two ways - firstly I thought the idea was to hold the most objectives by the end and second I had nt spotted you would retain the artefacts for the next game - d'ho. So my set-up was to challenge for only 2 of the 3 objectives, with a solid infantry core attacking the centre and a large mounted force looking to hook to my right. I massed my archery on the left to slow the enemy and deployed the Mamakil wide left to stop the elves from executing an easy flank attack of their own.

Persian left with the imposing Mamakil

Persian centre and right

The Kin had pretty much the same plan - a strong attack on their right with the small force on the left to delay me. The difference was Kin's left flank force was of lightly equipped flyers and was easily swept aside so caused no delay.

Kin's right and centre, with the flyers in the distance

I began the game with a rapid attack by all my cavalry on the right flank quickly capturing one of the artefacts and pushing past the flyers. I also attacked the scrub land in the centre with my heavy infantry.  

Persian cavalry with flying carpets in close support

Infantry advances

The Kin responded in kind with a rapid advance in the centre and a more cautious attack on their right flank led by a hero and lizard riders.

Kin's right on the attack 

The faster Elfish and Lycan units were able to secure the centre objective and I was forced to withstand a charge from them. the Elves dice were poor though and a desperate tussle developed in the scrub over the precious artefact.    

Scrap over the central artefact

The arm wrestle continues

On the right my mounted troops moved forward almost completely unhindered allowing me to threaten the Kin's centre and rear. With cavalry moving 18"-20" per turn the attack developed rapidly. On my left the Mamkil was assaulted by the elves and routed, but it bought me precious time for my own attack.
  

Flank attack pushed ahead with Flying carpets to the fore

The Kin clear the Mamakil

 In the end my superior numbers told and I was able to throw back the Lyans and break through the centre with an air elemental pushing into the Kin's massed archers to distract them

The centre falls 

Blow the man down!

The Kin's lizard riders made hay against the lightly armed human archers, again buying me 2 turns with their sacrifice.  By now most of the Kin's army was dead and the rest was pushed-back into a small corner to the table under attack from two sides.

Lizards assault the flank but too late 

Persians hold most of the table

So the game ended with 2 artefacts in the Persian's possession and most of the Kin routed. a good victory but definitely helped by some below average shooting dice from the Elves. As the games are strictly timed at 6 moves (we played this to conclusion in 5) I applied my Armati learnings about the importance of time over space.

For a Kin's eye view of the battle look here
http://fishpondswargames.blogspot.co.uk/2017/11/artefacts-of-kyron-campaign-battle-3.html