HOTT 52 - Week 51 - Asag vs Tiamat

I was thinking of doing a seasonal nod in this week's HOTT game, and playing something involving Elves. But I couldn't find the Elf army I was looking for (we have several in our house). However I did unearth Asag and the Stone Allies, and since Tiamat and her chaos hordes was to hand as well, I decided to have an Ancient Mesopotamian mythology game instead.

On the right you can see Tiamat defending - Tiamat herself (magicial general), hero, four beasts, two knights and four hordes.

On the left were the attackers, Asag and his stone allies: Asag (aerial hero general), a behemoth, three beasts and eight hordes.

Tiamat.

Asag deployed well down the line in order to avoid an early defeat being ensorcelled by the opposing general.

Asag concentrated his attack on the grove on Tiamat's left, hoping to avoid Tiamat herself. It did mean fighting in woods, but that was better than being ensorcelled.

The stone hordes went for Tiamat's centre. A pair of hordes were also way out on the left just to screen that flank.

As the rocks advanced Tiamat tried to bespell them, but failed.

Tiamat moved some beasts forward to block the screen.

Asag organised his forces for the attack on the grove.

And in they went! Asag swung across his flanking troops to a more central position.

Asag's forces pushed back those of Tiamat, destroying some of the beasts.

This put Tiamat under PIP stress, leaving her unable to move or bespell as she tried to repair her line. Qingu, the army's hero, was sent into action on Asag's flank.

On her left, Asag's rocks were breaking through and threatening the stronghold.

Tiamat moved across to ensorcell Asag, but failed. 

Asag's largest rocks destroyed the hordes facing them, and their advance now saw them close to the stronghold.

Tiamat tried to ensorcell Asag again, as the remains of her army put pressure on Asag's centre. her magic had no effect. At this stage the Asag's loss wouldn't have broken the army anyway, due the the losses Tiamat had taken. 

Asag ordered an attack on Tiamat's stronghold, which threw it back.

But Tiamat couldn't do anything practical to prevent a second attack, which did succeed, giving Asag the victory.

I thought that Asag would struggle in this one having to dodge being ensorcelled, plus having only a limited strike-force. But everything came together in terms of PIPs with the main attack, and Tiamat never was never successful with her magical attacks (she has a 1 in 6 chance of ensorcelling Asag). As with previous games in this series, the defender went for the high-risk strategy of defending close to their stronghold, and this time it did't work.