One Titanic Battle, 10098pts (Good) vs 10770pts (Evil)



When one has (too?) many D&D miniatures standing around, strange ideas pop up. We had had a running challenge 1000 pts vs. 1000 pts, the rules being that each time one won a battle, one would get "+1 level" on one's boss, the other one would get +10% on his points to spend on his warband.
So far I had lost once, giving me 1100 points, and several levels on my aspect of bahamut, Tobi had one level on his sorcerer on black dragon - and 1770 points.
We then decided to add 9000 points to each warband, and give each two factions ... Good vs Evil, the classic conflict.
Additionally, per 1000 pts only 12 minis were allowed - plus one for each previous loss. So Good had 121 minis maximum, plus creatures to be summoned during battle.

So this is my warband - front row: the dragons, second the commanders, third, the spellcasters, then the ranged attack unit, behind them two rows of melee, and in the back seats the uniques - the back left holds summonables for the bonded fire summoner (and Elminster).

And here's what the good warband consisted of:

The Dragons Group:
Name Cost
Aspect of Bahamut 318
Huge Gold Dragon 291
Epic Golden Protector 141
Large Silver Dragon 122
Gold Dragon 70
Large Bronze Dragon 65
Large Copper Dragon 65
Medium Silver Dragon 52
Brass Dragon 48
Medium Copper Dragon 32
Total Dragons 1204
 
General Commanders Group:
Name Cost
Epic Solar 284
Epic Dragon Totem Hero 157
Trumpet Archon (x2) 256
Ghaele Eladrin 124
Sword Archon 82
Brass Samurai 56
Paladin of Torm 51
Moon Elf Fighter 49
Half Orc Paladin 48
Dark Traveller 43
Couatl 42
Copper Samurai 32
War Chanter 30
Total Commanders 1254
 
Spellcasters Group:
Name Cost
Epic Archmage 264
Lion of Talisid (x2) 102
Greenfang Druid (x2) 100
Silver Sorcerer 49
Cleric of Syreth 47
Warden of the Wood 46
Lillend 44
Bonded Fire Summoner 43
Githyanki Renegade (x2) 84
Mephling Pyromancer 38
Wizened Elder Watcher 34
Elf Pyromancer 32
Spellscale Sorcerer 31
Combat Medic (x2) 56
Crow Shaman 26
Aasimar Favored Soul 20
Total Spellcasters 1016
 
Ranged Combat Group:
Name Cost
Storm Giant 278
Epic Storm Archer 160
Stone Giant 81
Centaur Hero 78
Arcane Ballista 48
Clawfoot Rider (x2) 96
Arcane Archer 48
Nentyar Hunter (x3) 141
Half Elf Bow Initiate (x2) 86
Valenar Commander 38
Bralani Eladrin 35
Dwarf Sniper (x3) 102
Storm Archer (x2) 66
Free League Ranger (x5) 125
Total Ranged Combar 1382
 
Melee Fighters Group:
Name Cost
Epic Iron Golem 266
Epic Mounted Paladin 226
Epic Aspect of Kord (x2) 416
Epic Marut 191
Purple Worm (x2) 378
Epic Slaughterstone Eviscerator 179
Epic Griffon Cavalry (x2) 334
Epic Justicator (x2) 326
Warforged Titan 151
Huge Fire Elemental 302
Divine Crusader of Corellon 79
Behir 75
Centaur Warhulk 58
Warbound Impaler (x3) 156
Djinni 45
Kolyarut 45
Dire Bear 44
Elf Dragonkith 38
Dragonborn Fighter 30
Total Melee Fighters 3339
 
Uniques Group:
Name Cost
Epic Elminster of Shadowdale 269
Epic Mordenkainen the Mage 269
Epic Tordek, Dwarf Champion 240
Epic Drizzt, Drow Ranger 235
Epic Storm Silverhand 178
Epic Rikka, Angelic Avenger 143
Epic Guenhwyvar 141
Ulmo Lightbringer 77
Ryld Argith 55
Rask, Half-Orc Chainfighter 52
Alusair Obarskyr 46
Meepo Dragonlord 31
Vadania, Half Elf Druid 22
Regdar, Adventurer 20
Ember, Human Monk 18
Nebin, Gnome Illusionist 18
Krusk, Half-Orc Barbarian 16
Eberk, Adventurer 16
Aramil, Adventurer 13
Lidda, Adventurer 9
Ragnara, Psychic Warrior 7
Kerwyn, Human Rogue 7
Devis, Half Elf Bard 6
Mialee, Elf Wizard 6
Ialdabode, Human Psion 5
Jozan, Cleric of Pelor 4
Total Uniques 1903
 
Overall Total 10098


Setup:

Oh, in case you're wondering what those colored chips are for - they're damage counters: blue is 5 points of damage, green is 10 and purple is 25. We just didn't have enough of the original ones to keep track of the tremendous amounts of damage we dealt.

After Round 1:

The following participants had bitten the dust:

NameSidePointsComment
Ochre JellyEvil19
Large Red DragonEvil83
Epic Aspect of HextorEvil234
Huge Fire ElementalEvil151
Thayan KnightEvil30
Aspect of DemogorgonEvil101
BeholderEvil83by Tordek, teleported in by the Archmage

After Round 2:

The following participants had bitten the dust:

NameSidePointsComment
Orc ChampionEvil39by Tordek
Eye of GruumshEvil44by Tordek
WolfEvil5by Tordek
Ochre JellyEvil19
Dire BearEvil44
Fiendish TyrannosaurusEvil122
NightwalkerEvil393
WolfEvil5
Huge Red DragonEvil216by a ranged crit from Aramil!

After Round 3:

The following participants had bitten the dust:

NameSidePointsComment
Cursed SpiritEvil11by Tordek
Death KnightEvil80by Tordek
RoperEvil74
Huge Fire ElementalGood151
RakshasaEvil41
Steel PredatorEvil94
RoperEvil74
Sword ArchonGood82
Xendrik ChampionEvil23
GlabrezuEvil269by Mialee's Magic Missile!
Githyanki FighterEvil35

After Round 4:

The following participants had bitten the dust:

NameSidePointsComment
Epic Aspect of KordGood208
SpectreEvil44by Tordek
Death KnightEvil80by Tordek
BeholderEvil83by Tordek
Elf PyromancerGood32
Nebin, Gnome IllusionistGood18
Bonded Fire SummonerGood43
Small Fire ElementalGood8(summoned by Bonded Fire Summoner)
Small Fire ElementalGood8(summoned by Bonded Fire Summoner)
Small Fire ElementalGood8(summoned by Bonded Fire Summoner)
MagminGood11(summoned by Bonded Fire Summoner)
MagminGood11(summoned by Bonded Fire Summoner)
Mialee, Elf WizardGood6
Aspect of BahamutGood318by two crits in a row by the Bluespawn Godslayer and Warduke
Ryld ArgithEvil55
Githyanki FighterEvil35
ErinyesEvil72
Epic JusticatorGood163
DjinniGood45
GlabrezuEvil269
Large Blue DragonEvil68
Warforged TitanGood151
Bluespawn GodslayerEvil145
Horde ZombieEvil14
Helmed HorrorEvil45
NightwalkerEvil393
Zombie White DragonEvil37
Cleric of NerullEvil28
Epic Blackguard on NightmareEvil195

End came somewhen in round 5, when a total of 25 hours were gone by - and Good had over two times the points of Evil remaining on the battlefield:

The following participants had bitten the dust up to that occurrence:

NameSidePointsComment
FomorianEvil119
Hill Giant ChieftainEvil95
Zombie White DragonEvil37
Epic Aspect of NerullEvil210by Tordek
Steel PredatorEvil94by Tordek
HarpyEvil15by Tordek
Death KnightEvil80by Tordek
Zombie White DragonEvil37by Tordek
BeholderEvil83by Tordek
Dire BearEvil44
Bone DevilEvil74
ThaskorEvil86
Huge Fiendish SpiderEvil142
SpectreEvil44
King SnurreEvil165
Yuan-ti AbominationEvil48
WolfEvil5
Epic Mounted PaladinGood226
WolfEvil5
Sorcerer on Black DragonEvil200
Colossal Red DragonEvil1000by Mordenkainen's Sword (the spell)

Q&A

Q: Turn 4 was much less successful for Good than all the others?
A: The key lay in turn 3, when Evil put all non-commanders out of command ... As a result of this, Tordek ran away (Elminster had to dim-door in and quick cast a remove fear on Tordek, that's how he came to do useful stuff without interruption), and Good was out-manoeuvered badly. And Good made several bad choices on who to let live at the beginning of turn 4. The Glabrezu, Erinyes and Githyanki that had dim-doored into my ranged/spellcasting division could have been avoided to make kills at all. (Including the Bonded Fire Summoner, Mialee, Nebin and Elf Pyromancer. Only the Summoner hurt, because he'd represent a total of 6 activations - the others had nothing useful left).
Q: How come Tordek was so horribly successful?
A: The teleport behind enemy lines, plus some magic items (he carried nearly everything Good had, including the Shirt of false life, that carried him through to round 5 - he would have died in round 4 otherwise), several buffing spells (including Elemental Protection from Fire, regeneration 5, blur) that gave him an AC of 30. Additionally, the Trumpet Archons gave him access to Commander Effects over line of sight, and careful planning was put into having him in LoS from the Solar, Dark Traveller andBrass Samurai, not to forget the Ghaele Eladrin... giving him AC 34, whirlwind attack with damage 55 and melee reach 2, and when he rolled a 19 or 20, he got to activate one more time the same round. That, and his prime targets (the Beholders) are slow.