Under the cover of darkness the Dark Elf forces rapidly captured the renowned Abbey of Ell’essey.  Quickly the great building was engulfed by fire and within hours the ancient centre of religious learning was a smoking ruin.    The surviving monks were soon put to work in the abandoned dwarven mine whilst the witch elves took great delight in the desecration of the great shrine on the cliff top.

Dark Elf scout forces soon identified other hostile forces operating in the region, so a force was despatched to engage the undead brigade which was seen outside a nearby town.

The two forces deployed in the early dawn and as the mist dissipated they moved to engage each other.

The Vampire leading the Undead took the initiative and quickly moved his forces towards the Dark Elves.  Their hordes of ghouls seemed to swell in numbers as they approached.  The Dark Elves responded with the Corsairs, Witch Elves and Spearmen rapidly advancing to engage the enemy.  The Repeating Bolt Thrower along with the crossbow units opened up on the undead cavalry dispatching three of the knights along with a few ghouls.

In the next turn the Vampires force charged, bringing both hordes of ghouls into action, as well as the hounds, and the two cavalry units.  The spearmen and crossbowmen succeeded their fear tests whilst the frenzied Corsairs and Witch Elves carried on regardless.  In the Vampires magic phase even more ghouls came to swell their ranks as well as a replacement knight.  The combat was quick and brutal, as both the Corsairs and the Witch Elves were beaten and overrun in their flight by the ghouls.  The Undead cavalry suffered  as the Blood Knights were brought down by a combination of Assassin and Masters, whilst the Undead Knights lost against the crossbows.  One unit of ghouls then ploughed into the spearmen but they stood firm despite seeing their comrades swamped by a sea of ghoulish flesh.  In the Dark Elf turn the spearmen eroded their ghoulish enemy whilst the crossbows engaged the Undead Hounds.  The hounds were defeated and the crossbows overran them but failed to reach the Graveguard who were lurking behind. This was unfortunate for the next turn.

In the third turn the Undead reformed their second unit of ghouls to the flank of the Dark Elven spears who were already engaged to the front by their brethren.  The Graveguard charged into the advancing crossbows.  The battle reached it’s critical juncture in the Vampires magic phase.  The Dark Elves failed to dispel the Dance Macabre spell which brought the ghouls charging into the flank of the Dark Elven spearmen.  The combat round was vicious with ghouls reducing the Dark Elven spearmen and the Dark Elves killing almost a dozen in return.  However it was insufficient to counter the ranks, flanks and numbers advantage which the Ghouls held, and the spearmen were broken.  In their haste to flee many Dark Elves stumbled and the unit was run down, along with the host of characters within.  The crossbow unit also suffered at the hands of the Graveguard, fled and was quickly run down.The Dark Elves attempted to stem the tide, but with the demise of the spearmen they had little to threaten the advancing horde with.  A round of missile fire did little to stop the tide, and in the next turn the Undead were upon the repeating Crossbow line and over-running it.

As the evening approached the few remaining Dark Elves departed the field.

A well played Vampire Counts victory which had come about with the successful casting of the Dance Macabre spell in turn 3 and the rapid demise of the Dark Elf line following it.

Warren