Empire vs Lizardmen

Recap

1200 points. 

special setup - major stepped hill on the Empire deployment zone.  River bisected the table with two fordable sections. Empire setup first and were defending the hill. No victory points for holding table quarters in lizardmen side of the table, only Empire half.

Lietzburg's First - Empire Army Background Lore

Some background for my Empire Army as part of the Warpstone Conflict.

Lietzburg's First

Standing army of the small village of Lietzburg on the outskirts of Castle Lietziger, home of Duke Krieglitz. The Duke is loyal to the current Elector Count of Talabecland but still contests the countship, keeping things just on the verge of stable.  His nephew Edmund, however, is more reckless, believing his uncle the rightful heir and wanted to keep the fight alive long after the Duke had ceded the countship to his rival.  To keep him under thumb, the Duke gave Edmund the title of Baron and settled him in the village of Lietzburg.  

<no picture of the Duke yet>

General: Edmund “The Absent” was the nephew of Duke Krieglitz. Edmund was called The Absent Baron due to his proclivity to assist other Empire armies in battle, flying off on his Pegasus to join the fight. The Baron Edmund lost his head at the hands of the feared Fred the Giant in the first battle of Gorfang's Waaagh.

Edmund "The Absent"

General: Baron Edwin III

The barony was assumed by his son, the young Edwin, who valiantly avenged his father's death, defeating Fred the Giant and saving Nuln from the final attack of Gorfang's Waaagh. The new baron was the first to take up the honorific title as Baron Edwin the Second and wields the famous Dragon Blade, handed down from Edmund to son Edwin the First, and now the symbol of the current Baron of Lietziger.  The current Baron is Edwin the III, great-grandson of Edmund. 

Edwin III, the current Baron

General/Hero: The majority of the time the army is led by the local Graf, captain Dieter Krup when Edmund is not present, which is most of the time. Krup is a competent veteran soldier who keeps his units well drilled.  Krup wields a magic sword bestowed to him by Edmund upon return from one of his far-flung campaigns, as well as enhanced armor that a prized possession of the village.

Captain Dieter Krup

The Grey Wizard of Leitziger: Dubbed “The Wiz” by the men, he is a strange character that lives on the edge of town. He had previously assisted the Duke in suppressing the Dead Uprising of 2505.

The Wiz

Spearmen Unit: The Taal Eagles, constitute the main standing army of state troops of Lietzburg

Taal Eagles

Handgunners Unit: The Flinteagles, detachment to the Taal Eagles. Unit leader Andre is a crackshot with the HochlandLongrifle that he won in a game of cards.

The Flint Eagles

Andre, leader of Flint Eagles

Greatswords Unit: The Lietzguard was the personal bodyguard of the Baron before his untimely demise.  Normally led by the Graf, Dieter.  His son Edwin disbanded the unit after his father's passing, mainly out of fear of disloyalty. It remains to be seen if the unit will return in a new form...

The Lietzguard

Pistoliers Unit: Sons of Taal. The Elector Count has gifted this unit to the Baron as “help”, but the unit is populated with sons from the noble houses that remained outwardly loyal to the Count during the contested countship conflict – a way to keep an eye on the scheming Duke and his erratic nephew Baron Edmund.  This was also the unit where Edwin served until he was elevated to the new Baron.

The Sons of Taal

Swordsmen Unit: The Bloodpine Shields, border guards of the Bloodpine Forest in Altdorf near the southern border of Talabecland, they are part of the official State Troop Muster from Lietzburg. They bear a standard with the Twin-Tailed Comet to show their attachment to Talabecland

The Bloodpine Shields

Stirland Archers Unit: A company from the infamous Deathjacks - also part of the Lietzburg State Troop Muster.  This particular company consists of mostly novice Deathjacks, not quite up to snuff.

The Deathjacks

Reiksguard Knights Unit: <name forthcoming...> from the local chapter house

Master Engineer: Irwin the Mad, artillery engineer from Nulnwho resettled in Lietzburg after the Disaster at Kiev. While not the best engineer, he’s fancies himself a pretty good shot with his Hochland Longrifle.

<no picture of Mad Irwin has been found as of yet>

Great Cannons battery: The Ladies of Nuln, Bobbie and Betsy, two cannons that Irwin brought with him.

Bobbie

Betsy

Helblaster Volley Gun: Irwin’s Vengeance, Irwin the Engineers’ latest discovery, an old Volley Gun that he swears is working.

Irwin's Vengence

Amethyst Wizard: There's also an Amethyst wizard that's been popping up here and there.  His name hasn't surfaced yet in the pub - the rumor is that he's an old colleague of The Wiz...

Rogue Amethyst Wizard...

Halberds Unit:

<background coming>

Mortar:

<background coming, part of Nuln>

Battle for the Warpstone

Background and scenario information for an upcoming Empire vs High Elf 3000pt battle.

After the Skaven raided the Empire town of Lietzburg and captured a large chunk of warpstone, the High Elves were concerned that there was more warpstone remaining in the town and the ignorant humands wouldn't realize it. The sophomore class of mages at the White Tower were tasked with searching the town and recovering any remaining warpstone. The Loremaster of the White Tower hopes to further his studies of Skaven Clan Skyre and the Lore of Ruin.   Because of the potential for conflict, they are to be escorted by Prince Althran Stormrider and his army.

Meanwhile, Edmund, Baron of Lietzburg, still hasn't returned from his ill-advised attempt to chase down the Skaven.  Emperor Karl Franz got wind of the approaching High Elf army and has decided to deal with the matter himself, bringing along a small detachment of his trusted Rieksguard Knights to bolster the numbers of the town's standing army, "Lietzburg's First".

We'll be playing a modified version of the Breakthrough scenario #2 on page 201.
Setup with have additional rules as follows:
-Deployment zones for both attack/defender extend to the far edges of each table side.
-High Elves are Attackers, Empire are Defenders.
-Empire will set up first, with High Elves setting up afterwards.
-Both sides roll to see who chooses to go first
-"The Town" is defined as the area of Empire Deployment zone originally described in Breakthrough scenario map on page 201.

Terrain Map:

Victory conditions:
-The game can be won with the discovery of warpstone. Starting on turn 5, High Elves roll a D6 for each scoring unit (as per breakthrough scenario page 202) that is 50% within the Empire "town zone". On a roll of a 6 means warpstone was discovered and the High Elves win.  If no warpstone is found, follow the rules for victory as defined by Breakthrough page 202.

Other Special Rules:
The presence of so much warpstone affects it's surroundings in mysterious ways. Starting on Turn 2 at the beginning of each players turn, roll 2D6 for each unit (both players units!) with at least 50% models within the Empire "town zone".  Rolls of 2 or 3 the unit loses 1 from its toughness.  Rolls of 11 or 12 the unit adds 1 to its toughness.  The effects last for the remainder the current players turn.

In Her Majesty's Name

I picked up the rulebook for one of the new (well, to me) Osprey wargames, In Her Majesty's Name.
It's a skirmish combat game in Victorian-era steampunk setting. Thumbing through the first half of the rulebook and it seems like a great, simple set of rules.  I love the setting, too.

The gameplay reminds me of a stripped down version of Necromunda, one of my favorite games.

I actually had to put the rulebook down otherwise I would have ordered a "company" of figures immediately.  I will definitely play this game in the near future (and by extension, I will eventually convince Rookie Wargamer and Le Coq Fou to play, too).

Empire Pistoliers

Update: I've fixed the pictures, i think. Also updated the title; for some reason i originally referred to these as Outriders.  Not sure why.

New unit almost complete: Empire Pistoliers.  I went with Cuirassiers from Warlord Games because I only had two of the original Citadel OOP figs from the 90s and they fetch a pretty penny on eBay. These match well so eventually I'll mix in the two Citadel figs.

Still need to finish the bases and a few final detail cleanups, but they're essentially done.

Linked Scenario Campaign

We're going to play a few scenarios to spice things up a bit. Some will be straight from the Warhammer 6th edition rulebook, the others will use a scenario as basis for the game, with some specific tweaks.

Some quick background to explain why the battles are happening:
After some warpstone crashed outsite of an Empire village in the southern part of Talabecland, the Skaven retrieved it after fighting off the local militia.  The Skaven chieftan needed to get this warpstone back to his Grey Seer so that they could recharge the Warp Lightning Cannon for their coming battle with the main High Elf force.  The High Elf mage caught wind of the new source of warpstone and dispatched a small force to intercept the Skaven raiding party before they could get it back to the main Skaven force.

High Elves vs Skaven
Game 1: Scenario #2 Breakthrough, page 201
Skaven won the fight for the warpstone, and now are trying to deliver it to the main force.
Attackers: Skaven
Defenders: High Elf
Victory Conditions: As per page 202, at the end of battle, each attacking unit in the defenders deployment zone is worth it's value in VPs. No other VPs awarded. The attackers win if they get one third of their total points into the defenders deployment zone (e.g. 1500 point battle, 500 points in the zone)
Affect on Game 2: If the Skaven win they can use the Warp Lightning Cannon
If the High Elves win, the Skaven cannot use the warp lightning cannon (more details in next section)

Scenery needed: maybe a road

Maybe small warp stone

High Elves vs Skaven
Game 2: Scenario #3Meeting Engagement, page 203
Special Rules: As per pg 204, each army writes an Order of Battle, listing where in the column each unit is marching. During alternating deployment, each player starts at top of the list and places units in that order (etc).
The armies have the same point values, but if Skaven won Game 1, they get a Warp Lightening Cannon for free to represent the Skaven raiding party successfully getting the new warpstone to his main force.
If High Elves won Game 1, the Skaven may NOT include a Warp Lightning cannon at all (the Skaven raiding party lost the warpstone to the High Elves and the main Skaven army did not have enough to power the Warp Lightning cannon).

Victory Conditions: same as rule book with following exceptions - no VPs for table quarters; no VPs for captured standards.

Scenery needed: none

Empire vs Lizardmen

Game 1: Scenario #4 Flank Attack page 205

Special Rules: using Scenario #4 as a guide, the Defenders are Lizardmen, with a walled city or fortress on a hill. Deployment zone will be altered a bit to account for available scenery.  

Attackers are Empire.

Victory Conditions: same as rule book with following exceptions - no VPs for table quarters; no VPs for captured standards.

Results: if Lizardmen win, game 2 will be the Empire rearguard will try a fighting retreat (scenario #8).

If Empire win, the Empire troops discovered the old Dagger of Sotek in the ruins of the razed fortress but the lizards will Ambush (scenario #6) the Empire in game 2.

Scenery needed: walled fortress, lizard glyphs. 

Need small totem pole

Empire vs Lizardmen 

Game 2: Scenario #6 Ambush or Scenario #8 Rearguard 

If Lizardmen win Game 1, use Scenario #8 Rearguard pg 211, with Empire as the Defenders.  The Lizards repelled the Empire attack and now the Empire are retreating back to Talabecland.  They have left a small force to protect their line of retreat and buy the main force some time.

Special rules: none

Victory Conditions: same as rule book with following exceptions - no VPs for table quarters; no VPs for captured standards.

If Empire win Game 1, use Scenario #6 Ambush pg209. When word spread that the fortress was lost, the Lizardmen were scattered a bit and the Empire continued to March south. After some time, the Lizardmen regrouped and managed to organize a response, setting up an Ambush for the second battle. 

Lizards are the attackers in ambush scenario.

Special Rules: Ambush rules, plus Empire set up in an Order of Battle column (similar to Meeting Engagement setup). Dagger of Sotek - this is a Lizardmen-only magic item that an Empire character may use for free, conferring +1 Strength in combat.  However, the thought of losing the weapon has so unnerved the normally cold-blooded Lizards that the special effect on Skaven will affect the Lizardmen.  If a Lizardmen unit takes 1 or more wounds from the Dagger of Sotek, any Lizardmen rank bonus is discounted when working out close combat results.  

Victory Conditions: same as rule book with following exceptions - no VPs for table quarters; no VPs for captured standards.

Empire Army Background

Update:
i've revamped the army background so this entry is out of date.

Draft of Army Background


Lietzburg First Battalion
The Lietzburg First Battalion is based out of the small village of Leitzburg in Talebecland and led by Edmund Krieglitz. During campaign season the First Battalion roams the forests of Talebecland purging fending off the incursions of the many Beastmen, Skaven , and greenskin tribes that threaten the province . Originally formed by Duke Krieglitz in 2505 to deal with a rogue necromancer named Dieter Kratzmann and his undead army, command of the First battalion was transferred to the Dukes cousin Edmumd after success completion of the Dead Uprising campaign.  Ultimately this was a way for the Duke to downplay the strength of his personal army while contesting his family's claim to the seat of the  Elector Count of Talebecland currently held by Helmut Feuerbach.

General: Edmund Krieglitz Baron of Lietzburg
sword of power
-Cousin of Duke Ludwig Krieglitz of Castle Leitziger
-Rides Pegasus Helhoof

The Grey Wiz of Leitziger
Personally recruited by Duke Ludwig during the Dead Uprising of 2505

Talebecland Spearman unit
The Taal Eagles
Led by Sergeant Hef Polstotz

Flinteagles Handgunner Detachment

Altdorf Swordsmen Unit
The Bloodpine Shields
Border guard of Bloodpine Forest  in Altdorf
Led by first sergeant Johann Valdorf

Greatswords Unit
The Leitzguard
Edmund's personal bodyguard

Knights Panther Unit
From the local chapter house of the Order, Led by First Knight Josef Gruber

Pistoliers Unit
Sons of Taal
Recruited from all the noble houses of talabheim