Lord and Lands - A 10mm near run thing

Sneaking in one last game before a travel induced break, we agreed to get our French and Indian Wars chaps out on the table for a spot of Sharp Practice 2.  Unfortunately, due to it being one of those weeks, the above photo was as far as we got with that game as the French and their allies were left at home and failed to arrive at the table. I'm going to count that as a British win...

Instead, we decided to have another game of Lord and Lands - The Hearthshire halfling militia taking on the night elf - skeletal alliance known as the League of Super Evil. Initial deployment shown above: night elves at the top, halflings at the bottom. Both armies were 1,200 points, each had a commander, a captain and a magic user. The halfling army was larger, but included six skirmishing units which meant it's breakpoint was 6. The smaller evil army had a breakpoint of 7.

The opening rounds saw the elves conducting wide sweeping maneuvers to left and right, while the halflings threw forward their skirmish screen, and sent the mounted yeomanry and their chicken-dragon to take on the elven dark riders.

We then discovered that night elf crossbowmen are murdering bastards as they obliterated the skirmishing goose-riders in front of them.  We actually played this wrong as we forgot to reduce the effect of the shooting over half range. Never mind, we'll call it a learning point.

Having lost their screen, the halfling militia were soon faced with a wall bronze-clad, of blue-skinned weirdos.

Over on the halfling right flank, the yeoman cavalry managed to pin the elven knights, while the cockatrice flew in and took them in the flank.  

On the far side, the halfling goose riders failed to evade a charge of giant spiders and were quickly gobbled up. In the centre, the militia and the night elf infantry 'clashed' with a distinctly stabby sound.

Having routed the knights, the cockatrice is stung in the bum by a giant scorpion. Some tree folk rush to the aid of the chicken-dragon, but while they crush the well armoured arachnid, they are too slow to stop the cockatrice being killed.

By this stage, the halfling archers and rangers had advanced into range of the skeletal horde, some of which surprises the archers with a rushed charge. Target practice suddenly became a desperate melee.

Back in the centre, the halfling militia - and their commander - are smitten. And not in a good way.

What happened to those beautiful clean battle lines? The halfling centre crumbles, but they have more luck against the friable skeletons.

The night elves advance... :(

Halfling's pop, and skeletons crumble as the game hangs in the balance. By this stage, each army was a single unit away from breaking.

Recklessly, the night elf warriors charged the catapults which fired one last closing volley. Can they do that? I'm not sure, but we said yes. And that was how the game ended. The warriors broke and ran, and their army's moral broke around them.

It was such a near run battle. The shot above shows the halfling casualties. We may have won, but at what cost? One more battle like that and Hearthshire would be completely depopulated!