May Sotek forgive me, I aligned with our mortal enemy, the Skaven. Servants of Tzeentch and the woodland terrors, the Sylvaneth fell upon us, as we were about to battle, forcing a pact of convenience to save our collective scaled and furry hides.

Ok, that was my mediocre attempt at a short narrative for today's battle. My main opponent and I were going to play each other today, but had interest from a third party. I suggested we play doubles and a fourth competitor quickly emerged to fill out the idea.

We played the Starstrike Battle Plan. The armies were 1K each and we operated on the Doubles Tournemant rules from Oct of last year. The primary takeaways from that were:

1. No abilities or buffs could be placed on an allied army from your army
2. Command Points were generated per team, not per player
3. Endless spells could be utilized by both players on a team

Army compositions were as follows:

Tzeentch:

Sylvaneth:

Skaventide:

Seraphon:

Before deployment, I made note to our opponents of what Shadowstrike does, as neither had ever played Seraphon. I pointed out that screens were an important blocking mechanism to it's effectiveness. Deployment ended with the opposing team finishing first and choosing to take their first turn. See the pictures with Initial_Deployment in the name for how we all set up.

Opponents T1 sees Tzeentch generate fate points. My Starpriest managed one unbind, but the Slann's were all 6s and failed, allowing the Gaunt Summoner to be elevated atop a Balewind. Skaven managed an unbind as well. Tzeentch Acolytes and Kurnoth Greatswords advanced towards my Slann and his guard of 10 Skinks. In the center, Drycha and 10 Dryads faded into the woods, while the unit of 20 Dryads, 10 Pink Horrors, and the Magister moved forward. This effectively left the Gaunt Summoner unguarded! The other unit of Pink Horrors moved forward, while the Herald and Kurnoth Bows remained unmoved. The Bows managed to knock the Gray Seer down to 3 wounds, ending their T1.

Our T1, I placed the Blot Toad 2" from the Summoner, but just out of range of the magister. I got Serpent Staff for the Constellation and left it alone for the game. Starpriest and Slann's Skinks moved up with Stealthy Advance. I did make note to keep the Starpriest within 15" of the Slann to potentially utilize Arcane Vassal. The other unit of Skinks shuffled up a bit, but their whole role for the game was to pounce on our T3 objective. The Slann got off Balewind and then sat their generating Summoning Points... 10 on T1.

Skaven's Clanrats advanced and the Gutter Runners popped up near the Herald. My Rippers descended on the Summoner. Shooting saw 12 MW into the Bows from the WLC, reducing them to one model with 3 wounds and then exploding it down to 1 wound. Oh those Skaven, SO RISKY! Side note: I REALLY hate WLCs! The Slann's Skinks managed two wounds on the Acolytes. Combat saw my Rippers annihilate the Summoner and put two wounds into the Magister. Strike back only inflicted 1 wound on the Rippers. The Gutter Runners apparently had a rough ride from underground and forgot to charge! They did take some wounds off the Herald with their throwing stars, though.

Our T2 (YUP, we got the double turn). On top of that, first Starstrike landed center of the right side, where the Clan Rats could easily control it. The Gutter Runners managed to kill the Herald with their shooting. The WLC got 6 MW on the Pink Horrors in front of them. The Slann's Skinks managed 1 more wound into the Acolytes. The Slann generated 13 Summoning Points... and I forgot to spend them at the end of movement. >_<

Clan Rats advanced to take the objective and tie up Horrors and Dryads. Rippers piled in on the Magister and killed him, even without the Blot Toad which only got to move 2". Tzeentch now has no summing ability!

Opponents T2 saw Tzeentch's last hurrah with Pink Horrors putting 7 MW into my Rippers. The Acolytes widdled the Slann's Skinks down to 5 with 18" shooting. The horde battles of the middle and right have begun. Drycha charges the 40 Clan Rats on the 1st Objective and slaughters 14, but Inspiring Presence keeps the rest in place, securing our hold. T2 ends 2-0 in our favor.

T3 priority went to our opponents, but it mattered little. The last two objectives fall from the heavens, one landing dead center of my 2nd unit of Skinks and they are no longer impatiently awaiting their purpose. The other lands well within range of the Gutter Runners. The objective placement has been most unfortunate for the Sylvaneth/Tzeentch coalition.

Drycha manages to murder more rats, but not enough to take the objective from us. The central hoard battle has seen Dryads and Pink Horrors fall, but largely has been a bog, thanks to my Rippers and a unit of Clan Rats keeping the unit of 20 Dryads and a unit of Pink Horrors tied up. The Slann's Skinks are finally slashed through by the Greatswords, but they have done their job.

Our T3 hero phase went quickly. I did cast the Athervoid Pendulum and ran it across the Greatswords, removing one of it's models. The Slann now has 36 summoning points, which I would have used on an Ark Bastildon and 2 units of 10 Skinks, but it was obvious at this point that our opponents would be unable to wrest control of the objectives from us and so we all agreed the game was over, with an 11-0 win for Seraphon/Skaven.