Spring Lion - The Battle of Latien
My mages started to spam Gifts from the heavens into the Gathian lines. Fortunately it didn’t hit one of the amigo’s. Unfortunately this set didn’t hit any of Gath’s troops as well. A bad day is when a meteor hits you. I don’t know how many meteors were thrown in this battle, but both sides were throwing them. I suspect there were at least 15 spell castings and each casting has three meteors. Watch your step. As Tenuki points out, Twist Fate is a real good bless to have when these things are being scattered about the battlefield.
And then in round three comes Doom, an astral spell that curses every one of my units on the battle field. So, all of my units are cursed and all of his units have luck. OOPS.
Finally my flying non leader units release off of their hold and attack orders. The spirits go to attack Bune in the center. About half of the Pegasus decide to hit Gath’s back line. The pincushion squad of light infantry breaks under Bune’s assaults, but one of my squads of Yamabushi turns away from Gath’s troops and heads towards Bune.
What is that at the back surrounded by an astral shield?
Why, it’s Carbonara the Arch Devil. I wonder what unique he holds? Why, it’s the ember. Oh-oh.
Here’s a picture from the Gathian side of the battle with Nether Darts in the air and burning units along with a cold effect on the left and an astral shield on the right. Giants and zombies, ethereal eagles and demons, Pegasus and earth elementals.
After a couple of turns Carbonara moves forwards and it starts to get confusing.
So in my back line is my prophet, Mikio and several flying warriors trying to fend off Bune the ice devil.
In front of them are four Ryujin, one of whom has been paralyzed, along with Kado with the scepter of corruption. They are going at it hand to hand with the arch devil Carbonara.
In front of that group, my Yambushi are desperately trying to cover the ground between them and the main Gathian force. Small groups of Gath troops get overwhelmed, but nether darts and stellar cascades are taking their toll on my troops.
In front of that group is the main body of Gath troops that is stuck in place fighting the three amigo’s.
And then towards the back of Gath’s lines were several Pegasus riders and another paralyzed Ryujin fighting with giants, several earth elementals and Patsta Nera the Wraith Lord.
In the very back, fatigued by his earlier casting work is Ai Fanghi, the insane giant carrying some of the best astral gear in the game.
….it was a little disorganized.
My prophet was right next to Bune going toe to toe with him.
The mages were off script now. Instead of using his artifact, Kado is throwing paralyze.
My Yamabushi is just breaking through his line and into his mages….and the death casters start skellispamming.
And that’s the spell that breaks my back. Level 3 Raise Dead. It puts more meat into his meat shield. My troops are exhausted and ready to start cutting through his mages and….here is an endless supply of giant undead coming my way and I have…maybe 4 priests on the field of battle. The dragons start casting cleansing water an effective anti undead spell, but it was too late.
The unarmored Pegasus warriors take too much punishment and finally decided to flee the battlefield.
Ai Funghi woke up and cast opposition on Noatun my flying mechanical giant and he is gone. Pasta Nara and Bune are now stronger than they were when the fight started.
I believe one squad of living troops from Gath does not break, but the fresh squads of giant undead are too much for my troops. When my sacred Yamabushi break on the front line, there are three of them left alive. About 80 started the battle and 3 survived. It makes Pickett’s charge look like a walk in the park.
As we flee from the battle the Ice Devil Bune and the Arch Devil Carbona team up to strike down my prophet Mikio.
Two of my nine dragons survive. Three mages. two priest and Akeno the wind priest survives. All three amigo’s survive the battle.
Both armies ended up losing ¾ of our rank and file troops. I was only able to kill 3 of his 21 commanders while I lost 22 of my 36 leaders.
It’s game changing. Just not in the way I wanted the game changed.
Sure enough with the loss of my forces the vultures start to circle. Arco sends an army my way. T’ien Ch’I has a little army sniffing around there at the bottom of my empire. At the end of the next turn. Gath stormed the fort at Latien and managed to strike down Long Tall Summer Grass.
