Edwin Earns His Keep

 Fought a quick game of WHFB 4th edition in the continuing story of the Warpstone Conflict.

A quick recap of the most recent events: 

Lord Edwin the 3rd, newly honored as the Baron of Lietzburg, was young to his title and had not yet earned the right to bear the family heirloom, the Dragon Blade - the traditional sign of the full and rightful Baron.  He would need to prove himself on the field of battle; until then he would have to carry the Blessed Sword, a secondary artifact in the family's armory. 

So far, Edwin had not fared well as a young commander, recently attacking a Dwarf keep in the mountains of Wissenland, thinking the Dwarfs had found the warpstone and if he could retrieve it he would finally prove worthy enough to take up the Dragon Blade.  Unfortunately for Edwin, King Azegor repelled the Talabeclanders and Edwin was seen fleeing the battle field. 

Edwin regrouped, and after a few months, raised a small force to invade the Loren Forest where his commanders believed orc and goblin camp of Waaaggh Grom the Paunch and Night Goblin boss Skragg was located.  Of course, Boss Skragg was not involved in this scrap because he was too busy licking his wounds after his embarrassing defeat at the hands of Dwarf King Azegor.  Grom was also not at the camp, so the greenskins would be led by Skullface (notorious Black Orc, riding his chariot The Basher.

So that's the setting. A small battle, roughly 1100 points per side (4th ed army books).

Some Deployment shots:

Newly acquired squig hoppers in the Orc camp

Yes, that's a unit of common goblins.  A sight rarely seen on the battlefield.

Lord Edwin's newly raised force. 

Now, some action shots. 

This is somewhere around turn 2 or 3.  The Doom Diver catapult malfunctioned and shot the diver straight ahead, bouncing along the ground slamming into the first thing it hit which was...

...Skullface's chariot The Basher!  The impact killed both boars, so Skullface had to abandon his ride and trudge forward on foot.

The two battle lines approach each other. The other orc chariot on the greenskin left flank when far across the hill trying to outflank the Empire, but Baron saw it and ordered his halberdiers to wheel and counter. The common goblins were led by the NG shaman, Zom the third.  Originally they were going to hold back until Zom realized his Waaagh spell was a hand-to-hand combat only spell, so...they reluctantly moved towards the skirmishing Stirland Archers.  On the right flank, Blok the troll passed his stupidity tests by staying nice and close to Skullface, advancing towards the empire cannon on the hill, "Old Blue".   Fred the Giant was roused from a long nap and decided the pistoliers looked like a tasty snack.

It's about to get interesting...

Fred and the squighoppers approach the Pistoliers (i need a name for them, too). 

Back on the Empire right flank, the orc chariot was short on the charge the previous turn, so the halberdiers took the initiative and charged into the chariot, winning combat, and breaking them.  This caused the goblins to lose their panic check and flee.  

The amethyst wizard looks on as the halberdiers begin to chase the fleeing greenskins 

In the magic phase, the wizard cast Hold Fast on the chariot (night goblin shaman Zom was fleeing so he could not dispel).  This meant they would be stuck and would not be able to rally on their upcoming turn, potentially setting up a charge and destroy by the halberdiers next turn (cunning!).  

Nothing much happened on the next greenskin turn - Skullface and the orc boys tried to charge but were short, setting up the counter charge by Lord Edwin and the spearmen.    The Halberdiers successfully charged the orc chariot that was stuck by Hold Fast, destroying them, and causing the goblin unit to flee off the board.  The entire goblin left flank had collapsed at the hands of a single empire unit.   Also, Old Blue fired the cannon at Blok the Troll, killing him outright!

This would be the penultimate combat, as we reached the 4th turn. The spearmen failed to cause much damage and the orc boys (with additional hand weapons) caused enough damage to win combat (despite the spearmen carrying the Banner of Defiance into combat) and rout the spearmen...however...

...Lord Edwin saw his chance to prove his doubters wrong and launched into combat against Skullface with a fury he had not previous brought to bear.  Edwin used the power of the Blessed Sword and defeated Skullface, causing to fail his panic check as well. 

At this point, I called the game for the Empire.  The young baron defeated the greenskin army led by Skullface, sacked their camp, and recovered the warpstone.  Upon returning to Castle Lietziger, the seniors of the family presented the most treasured family heirloom, The Dragon Blade, to Edwin III, hailing him as the full and rightful Baron of Lietzburg.

This battle was a lot of fun, and it's time name the amethyst wizard as well as the unit of halberdiers.