Shadowborn vs Aelves - The Hidden Artefact

Hi guys,
So here's the first of two battle reports from the last Campaign day in the Southern Escalation league. This battle is a rematch between the Aelven forces and the Shadowborn.
So lets get into it!

The Setting
Having pursued the Shadowborn fleeing with the artefact, the Highborn Aelves and the Shadowborn find themselves in the Deadscale Wastes. The Shadowborn carrying the artefact are heading for the pass to escape pursuit.

The Armies
This month the armies are 12 deployed points in the game. The Highborn Aelves can instead of deploying a unit, send a unit to encircle the army. If the general uses the command ability, these units can appear ahead of the fleeing Chaos army to perform a pincer attack.

The Shadowborn
2 Chaos Sorcerer Lords
10 Chaos Warriors with Hand Weapon and Shields
10 Chaos Chosen
5 Chaos Knights with Glaives
5 Marauder Horsemen with Javelins and Shields
1 Chaos Gargant
1 Chaos Spawn

The Highborn Aelves
1 High Elf Prince on Steed
2 High Elf Mages
1 Lothern Sea Helm on Foot with Banner
1 High Elf Prince on Dragon (Encircling)
10 Swordmasters
10 Sea guard
5 Ellyrion Reavers
5 Silver Helms

The Battle
The Shadowborn had crested the hill, the Highborn Aelves in pursuit in the distance. Zagul Darksoul, leader of the Shadowborn hadn't been seen since the swamps. Argrar Darkblood, the Sorcerer Supreme quickly barked orders to keep the Idol safe at all costs. He quickly dispatched his Warriors to rearguard and delay the enemy, and peering into the future saw a lone Prince and Mage had wandered away from the army. Grinning evilly, he sent the warbands Chaos Gargant to add some new corpses to his bag before barking the order to head for the Pass.

The Chaos forces flee the Highborn in pursuit

The two Chaos mages quickly used their powers of wizardry to boost the defenses of the Knights, but the Aelven Mage even with the threat of the Giant looming overhead dispelled the shield over the Chosen right before he was pummelled into the ground with the Gargants masonry.

The mage is pummelled into the wasteland floor

The Chaos Warriors and Spawn moved to delay the remainder of the Highborn force, and were swiftly engaged by the Swordmasters while the Aelven Cavalry swiftly evaded to the north. The Swordmasters made short work of the Chaos Spawn, but the Chaos Warriors would put up a much tougher defense. The Aelven Prince on his mighty dragon also arrived from the north, having been sent ahead of the Highborn army to cut off the Chaos in their retreat.

The rearguard engaged while the rest of the Chaos army flees

The Chaos Gargant finished off the High Aelven Prince, who would join the Mage to be picked clean by the scavengers of the waste for their folly of being too close to the Giant. The battle between the Warriors and the Swordmasters contined, but the stronger toughed Chaos Warriors were starting to take their toll on the Aelven elite.

The Aelven Race dwindles even further under the swords of Chaos

While the rearguard was fighting off the Aelven infantry, the faster elements of the Aelven army looked to engage and stall off the retreating Chaos elements. The Aelven cavalry coming up from while the Dragon looking to engage from the north.

Aelves in pursuit of the Chaos force

The dragonfire was deflected by the Chaos Runeshields, but the Marauder Horsemen were not as lucky, one being shot down by the Ellyrion Reavers who promptly moved closer to the Chaos forces while one of the Marauder Horsemen flee the battle.

One of the Horsemen flee the battle

However, this would prove folly for the Reavers. With it being increasingly obvious who held the artefact, the Horsemen and Chosen turn swiftly to the north. While the Horsemen look to engage and stall the Silver Helms, the Reavers are slaughtered in a bloody mess of horse and Aelf by the great axes of the Chaos Chosen.

The Chosen lord over the dead bodies of the Reavers

With the Dragon being a bit too far away to engage the Chaos Knights, they take this opportunity to head towards the pass. The dragon was still very much a concern though, and could potentially ruin Argrar's plans. He swiftly weaves dark enchantments on the Chaos Knights and offers them his gifts of foresight.

The Knights head for the Pass

However, it's not enough to escape the mighty Dragonlord. The Aelven Prince orders his Dragon to cut off the Chosen, and it swoops in spewing dragon fire while attacking with lance, claws and fang. Even the protection of the Artefact cannot help as one of the Knights is slain while another wounded. The Knights in return without the charge cannot deal much damage in return, barely scathing the mighty Dragon.

The Dragonlord swoops in

Elsewere on the field, the Swordmasters were wiped out by the Chaos Warriors, the Bladelord being the last to fall.

The Sea Helm must face the Chaos Warriors alone

While the Silver Helms quickly dispatched the Marauder Horsemen, but in return were quickly torn to shreds by the Chaos Chosen.

The High Helm falls, with the Mage being the next in the Chosen's sight

But all interest in the battle was on the fight between the Dragon and the Knights. The battle was fierce, with both sides landing blows. But it was becoming evident that the fight was starting to look unfavourable for the Knights. Argrar had the gift of foresight you see, and the future looked grim, someone would need to be expended to ensure the Idol was delivered to the masters.
Quickly he screamed the orders to his Sorcerer apprentice "Delay that Dragon fool!", both of them combining their arcane powers to launch dark bolts of energy that wracked the Dragon in pain. The Knights quickly disengage from the Dragon and gallop into the pass while the two Sorcerers enter into the melee with the Dragon.

The two mages engage the Dragon

The Prince on Dragon could tell the day was lost, the Knights were too far away to catch up. In his rage and fury, he lashed out at Argrar instead of the apprentice who was holding up his beast. While wounded, Argrar smirked quickly before both mages disappear in a cloud of smoke.

The Knights escape through the pass

Finally the battle was over, the forces of Chaos had won the day. The Highborn Aelves had been bloodied, to eager to engage the forces of Chaos and had paid dearly for it.

After Game Thoughts
So my opponent made a big mistake this game was putting two of his characters right on his deployment line. This proved costly as I just plonked my Giant right down into combat with them straight away which is possible in this scenario (no minimum distance between units/territories). He quickly realised this though, and made sure that his general was the Sea Helm instead of the Prince. On the flipside though, the Giant was basically taken out of the game as well. So probably not a huge deal.

The other thing that probably cost him as well is he didn't understand the rules properly that you could have multiple units in reserve, so he only put his Dragonlord in. I think if he had put the Silver Helms also there, it may have helped him out.

Otherwise, I certainly made a mistake or two as well. I put my Chosen into a position to charge either the Reavers or Dragon depending if I made a good roll or not. A good roll on the charge to engage the Dragon would've meant the Knights would've easily got away, but alas I rolled short and they slaughtered the Reavers instead. However, I probably should've still tried to bring them back towards the Dragon to contest it and allow the Knights to escape.
Instead, the Knights had to spend time trying to put damage onto the Dragon while being whittled down themself. My opponent had some pretty poor rolls with his Dragon, and it could've swung in his favour quite easily (even if my forces were slaughtering the rest of the army).

Overall, It was definitely fun and cool to do another different style of scenario. Really enjoyed the game, and it never felt that my opponent was out of the game with the big bad dragon flying around in my backfield.