A Pitched Battle

Note: This post is image-heavy

We tried to play Round 2 of the stagnating Escalation campaign, but fell short on the painting requirements so we decided to get in a one-off game of 1000 points between now-familiar opponents High Elves vs Orcs and Goblins.

High Elves
28 High Elf Spearmen, led by High Elf Prince Lord with Pure of Heart, Longbow, extra hand weapon
10 Swordmasters of Hoeth
10 Archers
10 Archers
Level 2 High Mage with a few magic items (knows an extra spell, has Drain Magic, something else...)

Orcs and Goblins
Night Goblin Warboss with Great Axe, Talisman of Protection
Level 2 Night Goblin Shaman
20 Night Goblin Spearmen with 3 Fanatics
20 Night Goblin Spearmen with 2 Fanatics
20 Night Goblin Archers with 1 Fanatic
19 Orc Boyz with Choppas and extra hand weapon, Banner of Butchery
18 Orc Boyz
16 Orc Arrer Boyz

The biggest change in the army lists was the presence of 3 additional Fanatics.  The High Elves had no idea that 6 total Fanatics would appear, so the shock value was very high.

We had an impartial judge to set up the terrain (and do some "advance scouting" for the Skaven...).  This made things interesting because the terrain setup had a direct result on the battle.

Here's a few shots of the battle lines:

From the view of the Night Goblins

Overhead shot of deployment:

We're playing on a short board that's only about 5 feet wide. With the terrain set up on the edges, this really squeezed things.  The hill in the center dominated the deployment options that I had.  Here was the thinking behind my deployment: the 2 units of goblin spearmen had 5 of the 6 Fanatics. I packed 'em in there for maximum effect so I wanted the goblins in the center and advancing as fast as possible. The main Orc unit with just to the right of the goblins, intending to advance across the middle hill, with the second unit formed into a column to march between the hill and the town on the right flank.
The Orc Arrer Boyz would take the hill and act as a reserve unit. The goblin archers, with the remaining fanatic, deployed in two ranks in front of the hill mainly because there was enough room to put them there. I didn't want them on the far left - again, the entire plan was to get the goblins across the field to unleash the fanatics, then clean up the mess they would leave.

The other consideration I had to make was Animosity. I've fought about 8 or 9 battles with the greenskins now and I knew I needed to avoid units in front of each other.  One long line is the way to go, otherwise a failed Animosity check can clog up the works. But the short board and the encroaching terrain would force this situation anyway.

So with deployment complete and a basic plan in place (anything more complicated is just not gonna work with Orcs and Goblins), I was ready for battle.  Then the first complication arrived: it was decided that the center hill was difficult terrain after I had deployed.  This completely trashed my plans for the right flank: the main Orc unit, which was going to advance across the hill and hit the flank of the Elves, was now stuck behind a hill that would take at least 3 turns to move over. I had a choice: continue with the plan, or have the unit advance behind the goblin spearmen.  I decided they would follow the goblin spearmen, which in hindsight was a mistake.

Anyway, onto the battle.

We diced for first turn, and the High Elves went first.  No movement, the mage failed to get off a spell, and the archers shot at long range and killed a few goblin archers. The greenskins had no affects of Animosity and I initiated the new plan.

After Turn 1

The Goblins advanced up the center and the main Orc unit wheeled to the left and followed in support. The smaller Orc column marched up the right flank near the town. No magic, so we moved to Turn 2.

To everyone's surprise, the High Elves moved forward. This would be pivotal as it helped bring out the fanatics a little earlier than expected.

The greenskins continued with the plan advancing forward up the center, except for the goblin archers who failed their animosity and stayed put.  This annoyed the orc archers on the hill who had a clear view of the squabbling goblins, so they decided to take a shot at the little buggers and killed 3 of them. That'll show 'em!

With the Night Goblin spearmen advancing in the center, it was time to unleash the fanatics.

Blammo!

The middle unit of Night Goblins with the Warboss tossed the first 3 fanatics directly towards the High Elf spearmen block.  All distance rolls were short and the fanatics did no damage but were left as a wall of whirling death right in front of the elves.  This also blocked their movement unless they wanted to risk moving through three fanatics.  At this point, the High Elves thought that was the end of the fanatics.
The second goblin spearmen unit moved up and threw out the next batch of 2 fanatics much to the utter horror of the High Elf general. The first fanatic went 11 inches through the Swordmasters unit. killing three of the 10 elite warriors,  then bounced out and slammed into the High Elf Spearmen unit as well.   He lost a little steam and only killed one spearman.  The other fanatic in this batch also came out short and stopped in front of the Swordmasters.  The Swordmasters passed their panic check and had survived the turn.

Aftermath of the initial fanatics

Top of the Third Turn

As the third turn began, the High Elves were still reeling from the shock of 5 fanatics appearing on the board, and struggled to stay focused. They didn't move, and the mage couldn't cast a spell. The High Elf prince tried to shoot one of the fanatics with his longbow, but he was so shaken he shot wild.  With the elves trying to recover their composure, it was the greenskins half of Turn 3.

After seeing their cowardly goblin cousins unleash the insanity of 5 fanatics, the main orc unit decided to stay put for this turn and argue amongst themselves.  This turned out to be a good idea because 4 of the fanatics headed back towards the middle of the greenskin battle line, with one of them killing 4 goblin spearmen from the central unit.  The night goblin archers moved up the left flank and let loose the final surprise: a sixth fanatic.  He spun towards the high elf archers and the spearmen.  The fanatic that caused the damage on the high elves when he first popped out swung wildly backwards and smashed into the high elf spearmen from behind killing another 5 elves and eventually ending up in front both goblin spearmen units.  The fanatic that the Elf Prince tried to shoot down continued on his deadly path, just missing the prince himself, and killing 3 more elves.  Two fanatics and 8 dead elves.   This caused a panic check but the elves held firm.

Whirling Deathballs

 With the chaos of the fanatics calming down for this turn, the second goblin unit decided to charge the weakened Swordmasters unit. The fear the elves, but passed their leadership check and charged in.  The magic phase proved to be important because the Night Goblin Shaman successfully cast "'Ere We Go" on the goblins that charged the Swordmasters. This gave them a free round of hand-to-hand combat with no return attacks allowed by the elves, and before the charge was resolved.  This round killed a few Swordmasters, leaving only a few to handle the charge round.  During the charge, the goblins killed another few Swordmasters, who only managed a few dead goblins in return. The losses proved too much for the Swordmasters who broke and ran, and the mass of goblins ran them down, capturing their standard as a trophy.  Seeing the Swordmasters broken and run down on their flank almost caused the elf Spearmen to run, but their prince steeled their resolve in the face of the goblin menace.

Goblins on the right ran down the Swordmasters

Half the battle was over and both sides could tell that the outcome would probably be determined on this turn.
The High Elves have now regrouped and are taking the fanatic casualties with typical Elf stoicism.  The  mage causes pretty bad casualties on the night goblin archers, whittling their number down.  The prince orders one unit of archers to take out a fanatic, while he tries to shoot one himself.  The prince should just hang up the longbow because he missed again.   His archers, however, are more successful and kill one of the whirling deathballs.  The rest of the archers take vengeance on the remaining goblin archers, killing 8 of them and causing a panic check. The goblins lose their nerve (they didn't have much to begin with), turn tail, and run right through the Orc Archers.  The Orcs completely ignore them, surprised that they stayed on the battlefield this long.

Run away!

End of High Elf Turn 4

Bottom of the 4th

 It's turn 4 and the fanatics need to move. One of them flips around and smashed into the High Elf spearmen again, killing 4, then another fanatic hits them killing another two. The 6 casualties cause another panic check but the High Elf prince refuses to let his troops run. They just take the punishment.

Punished

 Meanwhile the orcs on the right side of the hill have finished their column march, and change formation to the left, facing 6-wide and ready to roll the High Elf flank.  In the shot below, you can see that the main night goblin spearmen unit has charged the High Elf spears...

Left Flank, HUH!

 The Night Goblin general, Warboss Skagg, ignored his innate fear of elves and charged into combat with the High Elf spearmen, convincing the other goblins to follow him.   The goblin shaman cast "'Ere We Go" on the unit and again allowed the goblins a free round of combat, killing 3 elves.  Recognizing the prince from a previous scrap, the warboss challenged him to personal combat.  The Pure of Heart elf prince was not about to decline a challenge to his honor, and met the goblin.  The prince was much faster than the goblin and attacked first, landing two serious blows, but the goblin's shiny talisman of protection warded off the killing blow, leaving the goblin with one wound remaining. The goblin swung his great axe and inflicted two wounds on the prince.   The goblins stabbed their spears with fury on the charge and killed a number of elves, leaving only a few to strike back.  The combat was heavily in favor of the goblins but the High Elves would not run while their prince was locked in a mortal struggle.

The greenskin horde envelops the elves

"Have at thee!"

The 5th turn would begin with the High Elves killing more orc archers, and the mage casting Flames of the Phoenix on the second goblin spear unit.  This fried a bunch of gobbos but they managed to pass their panic check. The personal combat would continue between the army generals: the elf prince swung his sword but completely missed the shifty goblin warboss.  The goblin sensed that this was his chance to finally dispatch the smelly elf, and swung the great axe violently.   But he was too exhausted from the previous combat to muster enough strength and completely failed to wound the prince. He only needed to roll two's!! 

However, the rest of the goblins were so excited that they survived the first round of combat that they took the chance to kill more elves, and the weight of numbers was on their side. The only elves remaining were the prince and his standard bearer, and they couldn't hold their nerver. The elves ran, and the goblins pursued after them.

At the beginning of the last turn, the High Elf mage took command of the remaining elf forces, trying to salvage either a draw or a fighting retreat. He directed all remaining archers to fire at the central goblin unit with Warboss Skragg, killing 5 goblins and forcing them to take a panic check. They promptly failed that check and ran.  Hope rose in the hearts of the elves.

"on second thought, let's get out of here..."

The mage himself channeled the Flames of the Phoenix that was still burning the second goblin unit, increasing their intensity and killing 3 more goblins. At this point, the goblins looked around and didn't see any other goblins on the battlefield and had no interest in sticking around with the smelly elves.   They ran away, too.

only the Orcs are left..

There were two fanatics left that were capable of damage, and both struck home.  The first swung himself right in the path of the elven archer units, cutting through both of them, killing another three elves.  The other fanatic swung his Deathball into Skragg's fleeing goblin unit, killing two spearmen and severely injuring the Warboss. Luckily it was the final turn, as Skragg's wounds were bad enough to remove him from combat. It was unclear whether he would survive.

splat!

Greenskins Win!

The battle ended, and the Orcs and Goblins scored a Solid Victory over the High Elves, with a Victory Point differential of 427pts.

It was a challenging and entertaining game.  Can't wait for the rematch.

I'll follow up with a after-action analysis later.