Gaming Arena March 2026 Aftermath - Part 3

This is the third and final part of my account of the recent one day tournament at Gaming Arena. You can find the previous part here, or go back to the start here.

Game 3 - A Chance Encounter
Nicolas Hellstern - Bretonnian Errantry Crusade

Duke on Barded Pegasus with Heavy armour, Shield, Crusader's Lance

Lady Élisse Duchaard (Level 3, Elementalism) with Chalice of Brionne, The Staff of the Elements

Paladin Battle Standard Bearer on Bretonnian Warhorse with Heavy armour, Shield, War Banner, Crusader's Clarion

12 Knights Errant with Lances, Shields, Heavy armour, Barding, Full Command, Banner of Châlons
12 Knights Errant with Lances, Shields, Heavy armour, Barding, Full Command
12 Squires with Longbows, Scouts
12 Squires with Longbows, Scouts
5 Pegasus Knights with Lances, Shields, Heavy armour, Barding, Full Command, Errantry Banner

6 Grail Knights with Lances, Shields, Heavy armour, Barding, Full Command, Crusader's Tapestry

There must have been another item or two in there, as that's not quite the right points total. But it's close enough.

I had enormous difficulty with the deployment in this scenario. The strange, narrow shape of what is effectively the "front" of the zone and the impassable terrain everywhere (including the special feature in the middle) left me feeling like I couldn't deploy anything where I wanted it. I compensated for this by deploying very badly, with units overlapping and blocking each other, and generally not thinking well enough ahead. Didn't help that I wasn't sure how I was going to face an army that could get through the gaps, charge further than me, and mess my units up... Nicolas placed a scouting unit behind me, near the baggage train.

The Grail Knights and Pegasus Knights took pride of place in the centre, with the big Errant units on the flanks.

I got the first turn through great skill (and because the Bretonnians stopped and prayed to the Lady), and set about trying to undo the damage of my deployment. The stupid Archer detachment wheeled out of the way of the Swordmasters, who shifted into something approaching a combat formation and advanced. The Griffon swept out into the flank, hoping the Prince's Spearmen could hold for a turn. The special feature could have made them Unbreakable, which would really have helped. Instead it gave them Magic Resistance which... didn't help at all. The Silver Helms wheeled around on the other flank, theoretically giving the Bretonnians something else to think about. The Sea Guard turned about and took a shot at the Squires behind the lines, but landed no hits at all.

It was looking less clumsy now, if you didn't count the Archers staring right at a wall. The Chariot had also spun about and headed back toward the Squires - something it might actually be able to threaten. It hadn't actually managed to declare a charge on anything yet in the tournament.

The Bretonnians responded by charging my Dragon Princes with both the Pegasus Knights and the frenzied Grail Knights. This was bad - both units would surely be too much for us, even with Glittering Robe in play. Both units were too fast to realistically fail the charge, so we fled. As it turned out, the Grail Knights would have failed, but not if we had counter-charged to allow us to really fight back.

The Errants decided to take their chances with the Spearmen. They killed 5 (less than I was expecting), I killed 2 or so of them, and not much happened.

The Squires could not actually hide from the Chariot, but they put some distance between them and hoped for the best. At least the fleeing Dragon Princes were in the way of the Sea Guard now.

Excited that it was actually getting to flank the Knights Errant as he had hoped, the Noble on his Griffon charged into the flank. We won combat, but not very convincingly.

The rest of my movement however, was a complete shambles. The Chariot finally got to declare a charge, and rolled 1, 1, 2 on its dice. That was not enough, and now the Squires were going to trash my luggage. The Swordmasters realised they were not going to have anything to do if they persisted in their path around the pillar, so instead turned and headed back into the centre. The Dragon Princes rallied and backed up a bit, and the Sea Guard spun around again. The Archers turned and took a shot at the Squires, but of course achieved nothing.

The Grail Knights declared a charge on the Sea Guard, and I elected to flee them off the table in order to give the Dragon Princes a chance to counter-charge and fight. So here they were, counter-charging the Grail Knights who had redirected rather than chasing the cowardly Sea Guard.

This combat was very bad, but it's hard to imagine how I could have avoided it.

After a few more rounds, this combat started to tip in my favour. My characters gradually worked their way through the Errants, and the Spearmen fell at an acceptable rate in return.

Lacking anything interesting to do, the Duke spun and charged the Silver Helms (who had been sitting there with nothing at all to do, thanks to an entire large lance of Errants just floating around spare nearby). This combat went very poorly, and a single Silver Helm lived to flee the table.

This combat went better than I could have hoped, thanks to the Dragon Princes being quick enough to strike first, and the Grail Knights very obligingly failing their 7 or so layers of saving throws they currently had in play. I lost a Dragon Prince, but won the combat. I have a feeling the Grail Knights gave ground, but I'm not sure. I just know there was at least 1 left at the end of the game.

The Pegasus Knights wiped out the Sisters and carried on into the flank of the hapless Chariot.

At this point I seem to run out of photos. The Spearmen broke the Errants and chased them. Couldn't catch them, but there were only 2 of them left so they were unlikely to rally. The Griffon restrained, reformed, and charged into the flank of the Pegasus Knights. He was unlikely to save the Chariot, but maybe he could win the fight. As it turns out no, he couldn't even do a wound. The Chariot died, I lost combat by a heroic amount, broke and fled, with the Pegasus Knights close behind...

At the end, the Pegasus Knights charged and caught the fleeing Griffon. The Errants continued their flight from the table, but that was nearly all the points I had collected. I didn't even control the objective in the centre.

Well... That couldn't have gone much worse really. I don't think my army was really equipped to deal with the Bretonnians, and then I handled the difficult deployment terribly before cementing my failure with some unhelpful dice. Having to just throw away the Sea Guard in order to give my better unit a chance to actually fight was a proper "feels bad" moment. At least the Dragon Princes had fought well. I think I actually fled with them in the last turn as the other Errant unit and the Duke charged in - better fleeing than dead. That didn't feel great either, but we were out of time.

Result: Loss

In the end, I came dead last in the event of 16 people. Overall, some things were probably learnt from this event. I shouldn't just throw together a list the night before an event, knowing that some of the stuff wasn't great (even if it was painted). The Silver Helms and Chariot did nothing all tournament. Even the Sea Guard and Archers mainly contributed by dying. The Swordmasters fought a couple of rounds of combat. Basically I got no return from most of my army. If I want to avoid that sort of thing again with the High Elves, I need more of a plan on how to ensure everything can find a way to pull its weight - at least a little.

Oh, and next time I need a plan for killing a Star Dragon. Stupid Star Dragon...