I recently started work on my Empire army, painting up some of the plastic handgunners that came in the 6th edition boxed set (empire and orcs & goblins). I realized I needed to take inventory on exactly what Empire figs I have, and what I'll need to purchase as I'm planning out the structure of my Empire army.
Here's roughly what I currently have:
Plastic
16 Handgunners
16 Spearmen
1 cannon
1 hero on horse
8 Knights from the new boxed set
Pewter
2 Handgunners
4 Kislev Winged Lancers
5 Pistoliers without horses
3 Knights of the White Wolf bodies, missing legs and horses
1 Grandmaster of the Knights Panther, no horse
1 Emperor Karl Franz, no horse (looks like the one from the griffon, but don't have that either)
1 Ice Queen of Kislev
2 cannons, full crew
1 mortar, full crew
1 Helblaster Volley Gun, full crew
2 infantry standard bearers
1 infantry musician
1 crossbowmen without plastic crossbow
4 infantry hero/champion models
24 archers (i think it's 24)
4 halberdiers
I'm pretty sure I have enough of the old plastic armored horses laying around somewhere to make use of the pistoliers. The White Wolves without legs present a few problems: I need to get legs only (found some on eBay already, hopefully I'll win that auction), and I only have 3 of these guys. Will need to get at least 2 more for a unit.
The Winged Lancers just need horses, and I might need to buy a few more in order to use them without having to take the Ice Queen.
The two pewter hangunners are another problem. Surprisingly, they are the same scale and size as the plastic handgunners, but they don't really fit "lookwise". So I'll have to pickup a bunch of the same old citadel handgunners to fill out that unit.
Saturday, March 30, 2013
Friday, March 22, 2013
Round 2 Background
The Skaven of the Black Chasm lair formed a shaky alliance with Night Goblin Warboss Skragg's Orc & Goblin horde that resides deep in the forest of Loren to invade the Bretonnian town of Parravon. The Bretonnian Baron de Parravon was not prepared for an invasion from both hordes, as his crusader army was off in Lustria looking for an old family relic. He called in a favor from the High Elves and they dispatched the small guard unit from the trading post outside of Marienburg. The High Elves fought off the initial attack, but everyone knows it was simply a minor probe to test the defenses.
While the Baron rushed back from Lustria the High Elves fought multiple delaying actions against the goblin horde. The elves continued to repel the goblins, but the most recent engagement exacted a severe price on the elves. The Baron's arrival could not come at a better time. The elves need to regroup and rest. Unfortunately, the Baron's vanguard were not aware that the elves were aiding their lord, and decided to engage the elves.
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| Bretonnia |
Meanwhile, the shaky alliance between the Skaven and Goblins erupted into violence. The Night Goblin Warboss felt like his horde was doing the brunt of the fighting, and as they returned to the forest to prepare for the next assault on Parravon, they ran into the Skaven and a fight ensued.
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| Zoomed in Bretonnia |
With this is mind, we prepare to fight Round 2 of the Escalation campaign!
Awesome maps courtesy of Winds of Chaos.
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
The Time is Nigh...
Finally. After lots of painting and practice games, we're going to have the official Round 2 battles for our Warhammer Fantasy Battle 6th Edition Escalation Campaign. Yes, it's 2013 and we're playing 6th Edition.
More to come, but in the meantime here are some very rough maps for the upcoming battles. They're also very lime green.
More to come, but in the meantime here are some very rough maps for the upcoming battles. They're also very lime green.
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| High Elves vs Bretonnians |
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| Greenskins vs Rats |
Sunday, March 17, 2013
Post-Game Analysis
I wanted to take a quick look at the pre-game strategy, the actual results, and mistakes I made. I'm hoping this is a way to chronicle performance and use it as a way to get better.
Deployment and Battle Plan
As I mentioned at the beginning of the battle report A Pitched Battle, my general plan was to get the Night Goblins in the center of the line across the board as fast as possible and unleash the 6 fanatics. My big Orc unit with the magic Banner of Butchery would then follow across the center hill and clean up the mess left by the fanatics. The auxiliary orc unit on the right flank would swing around the hill and then slam into the flank. The Orc archers were my reserve unit.
I believe that the High Elves plan was to advance the foot troops forward a little and try to entice a charge (since the elf spearmen fight in 3 ranks when not charging). The elves had no idea that there were 6 fanatics, and not the usual 3.
When we decided that the center hill (see below) was difficult terrain, I had to change my plan.
The old plan was to send the main block of Orcs over the center hill. Since the hill was difficult terrain this would reduce my movement to half, potentially taking two turns to get over the hill. The new plan was for the orcs to wheel to the left and follow behind the two center units of goblins.
The two risks with this idea were a) getting stuck behind the goblins if they failed animosity and b) never getting into the battle because of the logjam in the center. Looking back at the battle itself, risk "b" is the one that materialized and the orc unit never really participated. They got stuck behind the two goblin spearmen units, which didn't move for two turns because the fanatics were in the way. Of course, the goblins ended up doing much better in combat than I expected. It was more likely that the goblins would have been annihilated or fled from combat and at that point the Orcs would have been there to plug the gap. But I still think it may have been better to stick with the original plan and just deal with the reduced movement getting over the hill.
Another thing that didn't work out great was the second orc unit on the far right flank. It took them 4 turns to get around the hill and get in position, and by that time I was thinking about holding table quarters for the victory points. What were the alternatives? Well, I could have swapped positions with the goblin archers on the left flank, but because of the hill in my deployment zone they would have been to the left of the orc archers and farther away (in reality, equally as far away as they were on the right flank). If I had deployed the goblin archers on the right flank they could have marched around the hill and then moved in close enough to release the remaining fanatic. But that would have likely taken until Turn 5.
Looking back, I think the overall plan was sound, most of the deployment choices were pretty good given the terrain setup, and I think the only mistake may have been changing the main orc unit's plan. I'd love to get a second opinion.
The High Elf strategy was sound. The only wrinkle was that he decided to advance his line forward, and that hastened the release of the fanatics. There's only so much you can do when facing fanatics, so I don't think you can dwell on it too much.
Troop Choices
The goblins and fanatics performed as expected. Going with 6 fanatics really helps the Night Goblins, and I'm likely to bump it up to the full 9 allowed. I'll probably wait to purchase older fanatics off of eBay. The Night Goblin Warboss continues to impress in combat. Well, at least in combat against an elf. I'm not sure how he'd fare against some of the harder lords in the game. I'm certain a Dwarf lord would rip him apart. The one thing I'm thinking about tweaking is his equipment. The great axe has been very effective however it means the warboss is always striking last. This weapon was a great selection for the escalation campaign where points were scarce and magic items very limited; I needed something cheap and effective. Outside of the campaign I think the warboss needs something that doesn't force him to strike last. But I should remember that my original reason for going with the great axe was that having the Night Goblins in hand-to-hand combat isn't an ideal situation in the first place, so if the warboss managed to survive and actually fight back, I might as well get a +2 strength for a great weapon. One other point: I accidentally stumbled upon just how effective the 'Ere We Go spell can be. Goblins + close-combat is not really a winning formula. But if the fanatics have softened up an enemy unit then the extra free round of combat from 'Ere We Go spell gives the goblins a decent chance of winning combat.
The Orc boyz haven't seen a round of combat in three games. I need to reconsider how I'm deploying and using them. I haven't come up with the answer.
Our post-game discussion also touched on the army composition of the High Elves: the big block of 25+ spearmen is becoming impractical at these lower point level games. Any game under 1000 points probably needs more flexibility in the troop choices. The block of spearmen is most effective when it doesn't move, but at over 300pts, it occupies almost a third of the points, and this hamstrings the general. At least one artillery piece would help this situation. The mage was also a pretty expensive dude, eating up a large percentage of points. Shaving off some points here might allow another unit, maybe some Reaver Knights to draw out the fanatics, or a small block of Sea Guard.
Things we weren't sure about
We ran into a few rules questions from 6th edition that were unclear:
1) When a fanatic hits a unit how do you handle a character? We decided that if the path of the fanatic brings it close enough to the character, he would get a Look Out Sir roll just like a template weapon.
2) The biggest question was for spells that Remain In Play: on the turns after the spell has been cast, do the effects of the spell occur immediately and then you get a chance to dispel it, or do you get a chance to dispel it and then it causes damage? The order of these things were unclear. We decided on dispel attempt first, then damage. I'm going to re-read the magic section a few times and see if we missed something, and also see if there are any 6th edition FAQ's that answered that.
That's enough for now. I may add some additional thoughts to the post if I remember them.
Deployment and Battle Plan
As I mentioned at the beginning of the battle report A Pitched Battle, my general plan was to get the Night Goblins in the center of the line across the board as fast as possible and unleash the 6 fanatics. My big Orc unit with the magic Banner of Butchery would then follow across the center hill and clean up the mess left by the fanatics. The auxiliary orc unit on the right flank would swing around the hill and then slam into the flank. The Orc archers were my reserve unit.
I believe that the High Elves plan was to advance the foot troops forward a little and try to entice a charge (since the elf spearmen fight in 3 ranks when not charging). The elves had no idea that there were 6 fanatics, and not the usual 3.
When we decided that the center hill (see below) was difficult terrain, I had to change my plan.
 |
| The Center Hill |
The old plan was to send the main block of Orcs over the center hill. Since the hill was difficult terrain this would reduce my movement to half, potentially taking two turns to get over the hill. The new plan was for the orcs to wheel to the left and follow behind the two center units of goblins.
 |
| change of plans... |
Another thing that didn't work out great was the second orc unit on the far right flank. It took them 4 turns to get around the hill and get in position, and by that time I was thinking about holding table quarters for the victory points. What were the alternatives? Well, I could have swapped positions with the goblin archers on the left flank, but because of the hill in my deployment zone they would have been to the left of the orc archers and farther away (in reality, equally as far away as they were on the right flank). If I had deployed the goblin archers on the right flank they could have marched around the hill and then moved in close enough to release the remaining fanatic. But that would have likely taken until Turn 5.
Looking back, I think the overall plan was sound, most of the deployment choices were pretty good given the terrain setup, and I think the only mistake may have been changing the main orc unit's plan. I'd love to get a second opinion.
The High Elf strategy was sound. The only wrinkle was that he decided to advance his line forward, and that hastened the release of the fanatics. There's only so much you can do when facing fanatics, so I don't think you can dwell on it too much.
Troop Choices
The goblins and fanatics performed as expected. Going with 6 fanatics really helps the Night Goblins, and I'm likely to bump it up to the full 9 allowed. I'll probably wait to purchase older fanatics off of eBay. The Night Goblin Warboss continues to impress in combat. Well, at least in combat against an elf. I'm not sure how he'd fare against some of the harder lords in the game. I'm certain a Dwarf lord would rip him apart. The one thing I'm thinking about tweaking is his equipment. The great axe has been very effective however it means the warboss is always striking last. This weapon was a great selection for the escalation campaign where points were scarce and magic items very limited; I needed something cheap and effective. Outside of the campaign I think the warboss needs something that doesn't force him to strike last. But I should remember that my original reason for going with the great axe was that having the Night Goblins in hand-to-hand combat isn't an ideal situation in the first place, so if the warboss managed to survive and actually fight back, I might as well get a +2 strength for a great weapon. One other point: I accidentally stumbled upon just how effective the 'Ere We Go spell can be. Goblins + close-combat is not really a winning formula. But if the fanatics have softened up an enemy unit then the extra free round of combat from 'Ere We Go spell gives the goblins a decent chance of winning combat.
The Orc boyz haven't seen a round of combat in three games. I need to reconsider how I'm deploying and using them. I haven't come up with the answer.
Our post-game discussion also touched on the army composition of the High Elves: the big block of 25+ spearmen is becoming impractical at these lower point level games. Any game under 1000 points probably needs more flexibility in the troop choices. The block of spearmen is most effective when it doesn't move, but at over 300pts, it occupies almost a third of the points, and this hamstrings the general. At least one artillery piece would help this situation. The mage was also a pretty expensive dude, eating up a large percentage of points. Shaving off some points here might allow another unit, maybe some Reaver Knights to draw out the fanatics, or a small block of Sea Guard.
Things we weren't sure about
We ran into a few rules questions from 6th edition that were unclear:
1) When a fanatic hits a unit how do you handle a character? We decided that if the path of the fanatic brings it close enough to the character, he would get a Look Out Sir roll just like a template weapon.
2) The biggest question was for spells that Remain In Play: on the turns after the spell has been cast, do the effects of the spell occur immediately and then you get a chance to dispel it, or do you get a chance to dispel it and then it causes damage? The order of these things were unclear. We decided on dispel attempt first, then damage. I'm going to re-read the magic section a few times and see if we missed something, and also see if there are any 6th edition FAQ's that answered that.
That's enough for now. I may add some additional thoughts to the post if I remember them.
Saturday, March 16, 2013
The Bretonnians are coming...
Our Bretonnian player moved south just before the escalation campaign kicked off, but he's still painting. I received these in-progress pics from him yesterday.
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Not bad for someone who hasn't painted a Warhammer Fantasy fig in at least 10 years. He's been totally focused on 40K. Definitely looking forward to fighting against a fully painted Bretonnian army.
Not bad for someone who hasn't painted a Warhammer Fantasy fig in at least 10 years. He's been totally focused on 40K. Definitely looking forward to fighting against a fully painted Bretonnian army.
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:
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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...
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.
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.
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.
The battle ended, and the Orcs and Goblins scored a Solid Victory over the High Elves, with a Victory Point differential of 427pts.
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 |
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 |
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 |
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| Top of the Third Turn |
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.
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| Whirling Deathballs |
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| Goblins on the right ran down the Swordmasters |
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.
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| Run away! |
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| End of High Elf Turn 4 |
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| Bottom of the 4th |
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| Punished |
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| Left Flank, HUH! |
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| The greenskin horde envelops the elves |
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| "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.
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| "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.
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| only the Orcs are left.. |
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| splat! |
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| Greenskins Win! |
It was a challenging and entertaining game. Can't wait for the rematch.
I'll follow up with a after-action analysis later.
Monday, March 4, 2013
Mistakes
I've previously mentioned that we're playing Warhammer Fantasty Battle 6th edition rules. Another recurring theme that we run into is minor mistakes we make with the rules. So in an effort to get better, I'm going to document some of the rules questions or screwups that we had in the game. Hopefully this will help us not make the same mistake for six games in a row.
Hatred and Fear were to two things we routinely forgot, along with capturing standards and issuing challenges. I also think we forgot half of the Frenzy rules, and had a question about Marching (do you finish the complete march move if you come within 8 inches of the enemy, or do you stop at 8?).
We were also unclear on some of the rules for shooting at characters in or near units, although I don't specifically remember the situation. Combat resolution tripped us up a few times, too.
The last few rules discussions were whether casualties from shooting and magic were a combined 25% to force a panic check, or 25% in each phase.
I believe we adequately answered everything during the game but I definitely want to re-read all of these before the next game.
Hatred and Fear were to two things we routinely forgot, along with capturing standards and issuing challenges. I also think we forgot half of the Frenzy rules, and had a question about Marching (do you finish the complete march move if you come within 8 inches of the enemy, or do you stop at 8?).
We were also unclear on some of the rules for shooting at characters in or near units, although I don't specifically remember the situation. Combat resolution tripped us up a few times, too.
The last few rules discussions were whether casualties from shooting and magic were a combined 25% to force a panic check, or 25% in each phase.
I believe we adequately answered everything during the game but I definitely want to re-read all of these before the next game.
Sunday, March 3, 2013
Marathon of Pain
Ok, so a recap of last night's battle (pics are in the previous post):
The original plan was to have a quick fight of my Orcs & Goblins vs the High Elves.
Then we decided to introduce a new player to Warhammer, and next thing you know we have a full scale 2000pt battle on our hands. Not the best way to get a new player started, but it was still fun.
The lineup was 800pts of Orcs & Night Goblins, plus 1200pts of Skaven, vs 800pts of Dwarfs plus 1200pts of High Elves. The newbie would control my beloved Dwarfs, while the rest of us would command our Escalation armies (without the Bretonnians, obviously).
The Good:
High Elves rolled with 8 Dragon Princes, 10 Swordmasters, 10 Archers, a Repeater Bolt Thrower, 18 spearmen, Level 2 Mage, and a High Elf Prince Lord as the Alliance General. The Dwarfs had two blocks of 25 Clansmen, one of which had a Dwarf Hero (I refuse to use the term "Thane"), 10 Dwarf Crossbows, and a Dwarf Cannon.
The Bad:
The Orcs & Goblins went with a variation of the escalation armies that I plan for round 5 and 6. Two blocks of 20 NG Spearmen, one unit of 20 NG archers, (3 fanatics in the spears), 16 Orc Archers, 18 Orc Boyz, Level 2 NG Shaman, and a Night Goblin Warboss. The Skaven had a huge block of 40+ Clanrats (i have no idea how many rats were actually in this unit), about 15 Plague Monks, 2 Warp Lightning dudes, a Warpfire Thrower, 3 Rat Ogres, and a Plague Lord as the Evil Alliance General.
The Ugly:
This battle took an ungodly 6 hours to play, finishing at 2:30am.
What happened?
Basically, having 4 generals in the room (two who are new to the game, one who was playing for the first time, and one (me) who can't keep the rules straight between 20 years and 8 different editions) is not a good combination. Plus, with four different army types playing, we had four different sets of army-unique rules, etc, so it really slowed things down. And we hadn't played in over two months. Yikes. I think this will be the last of our 2v2 "alliance" battles for a while.
As for the game, the evil hordes moves across the field, while the Elves and Dwarfs stayed put for about 3 turns. The Dwarf Crossbowmen win the game MVP, annihilating units left and right, and almost repelling the plaguemonk charge in turn 4 (5?). Warp Lightning dudes kept getting Irresistible Force until the very end, and the Dwarf Cannon was brutally bad. The Orc Boyz in the center kept getting pummeled by the repeater bolt thrower, and the rest of the greenskins were either failing animosity checks or failing panic tests. Things were looking bad for Evil when the big charge that was setup in Turn 3 got only halfway home. The Clanrats charged the first Dwarf Clansmen unit, while the Plaguemonks attempted to charge the second Clansmen unit and failed. Ouch! This left the flank of the Clanrats wide open for the charge in the flank the next turn, which the Dwarfs wisely executed and caused the panic check we all knew was coming. Fleeing rats followed. At this point, Evil was contemplating conceding the battle.
Some other things of note: the plaguemonks decided to take their frustration out on the dwarf crossbows, killing them, but then ending up right in the path of the dwarf cannon for the rarely used grapeshot. This of course took out half the plaguemonks. The Rat Ogres on the right flank charged the cannon, routing it off the board (yay victory points!).
The other shocker of the night was on the Evil left flank. The Dragon Princes were holding that extreme flank and eventually tried to march directly in front of the Orc Archers that were advancing on the same flank. This left the Dragon Princes with the flank exposed. Now, Orcs aren't that smart, but they're smart enough to know when it makes sense to charge a unit of knights. This made sense. The 16 Orc Archers charged the knights in the flank, tying them up for 3 turns, effectively taking them out of the battle until turn 6.
Anyway, by the end of the battle the Good Guys started giving up victory points when the victorious flanking Dwarf unit got hit by two vicious Warp Lightning storms, killing 15 dwarfs and causing a panic check, which caused another panic check on the other dwarfs, running off the board. Suddenly, all of the Dwarf units were gone and 800 victory points went to the Bad Guys.
After all was said and done, the entirety of the Dwarf contingent was gone, and almost all of the Orcs & Goblins, and with table quarters, etc, we ended up with 863 vs 853 in VPs, a Draw!
The original plan was to have a quick fight of my Orcs & Goblins vs the High Elves.
Then we decided to introduce a new player to Warhammer, and next thing you know we have a full scale 2000pt battle on our hands. Not the best way to get a new player started, but it was still fun.
The lineup was 800pts of Orcs & Night Goblins, plus 1200pts of Skaven, vs 800pts of Dwarfs plus 1200pts of High Elves. The newbie would control my beloved Dwarfs, while the rest of us would command our Escalation armies (without the Bretonnians, obviously).
The Good:
High Elves rolled with 8 Dragon Princes, 10 Swordmasters, 10 Archers, a Repeater Bolt Thrower, 18 spearmen, Level 2 Mage, and a High Elf Prince Lord as the Alliance General. The Dwarfs had two blocks of 25 Clansmen, one of which had a Dwarf Hero (I refuse to use the term "Thane"), 10 Dwarf Crossbows, and a Dwarf Cannon.
The Bad:
The Orcs & Goblins went with a variation of the escalation armies that I plan for round 5 and 6. Two blocks of 20 NG Spearmen, one unit of 20 NG archers, (3 fanatics in the spears), 16 Orc Archers, 18 Orc Boyz, Level 2 NG Shaman, and a Night Goblin Warboss. The Skaven had a huge block of 40+ Clanrats (i have no idea how many rats were actually in this unit), about 15 Plague Monks, 2 Warp Lightning dudes, a Warpfire Thrower, 3 Rat Ogres, and a Plague Lord as the Evil Alliance General.
The Ugly:
This battle took an ungodly 6 hours to play, finishing at 2:30am.
What happened?
Basically, having 4 generals in the room (two who are new to the game, one who was playing for the first time, and one (me) who can't keep the rules straight between 20 years and 8 different editions) is not a good combination. Plus, with four different army types playing, we had four different sets of army-unique rules, etc, so it really slowed things down. And we hadn't played in over two months. Yikes. I think this will be the last of our 2v2 "alliance" battles for a while.
As for the game, the evil hordes moves across the field, while the Elves and Dwarfs stayed put for about 3 turns. The Dwarf Crossbowmen win the game MVP, annihilating units left and right, and almost repelling the plaguemonk charge in turn 4 (5?). Warp Lightning dudes kept getting Irresistible Force until the very end, and the Dwarf Cannon was brutally bad. The Orc Boyz in the center kept getting pummeled by the repeater bolt thrower, and the rest of the greenskins were either failing animosity checks or failing panic tests. Things were looking bad for Evil when the big charge that was setup in Turn 3 got only halfway home. The Clanrats charged the first Dwarf Clansmen unit, while the Plaguemonks attempted to charge the second Clansmen unit and failed. Ouch! This left the flank of the Clanrats wide open for the charge in the flank the next turn, which the Dwarfs wisely executed and caused the panic check we all knew was coming. Fleeing rats followed. At this point, Evil was contemplating conceding the battle.
Some other things of note: the plaguemonks decided to take their frustration out on the dwarf crossbows, killing them, but then ending up right in the path of the dwarf cannon for the rarely used grapeshot. This of course took out half the plaguemonks. The Rat Ogres on the right flank charged the cannon, routing it off the board (yay victory points!).
The other shocker of the night was on the Evil left flank. The Dragon Princes were holding that extreme flank and eventually tried to march directly in front of the Orc Archers that were advancing on the same flank. This left the Dragon Princes with the flank exposed. Now, Orcs aren't that smart, but they're smart enough to know when it makes sense to charge a unit of knights. This made sense. The 16 Orc Archers charged the knights in the flank, tying them up for 3 turns, effectively taking them out of the battle until turn 6.
Anyway, by the end of the battle the Good Guys started giving up victory points when the victorious flanking Dwarf unit got hit by two vicious Warp Lightning storms, killing 15 dwarfs and causing a panic check, which caused another panic check on the other dwarfs, running off the board. Suddenly, all of the Dwarf units were gone and 800 victory points went to the Bad Guys.
After all was said and done, the entirety of the Dwarf contingent was gone, and almost all of the Orcs & Goblins, and with table quarters, etc, we ended up with 863 vs 853 in VPs, a Draw!
Good vs Evil Pics
Here are the pics from last night's Good vs Evil marathon battle.
It was an unholy alliance of High Elves & Dwarfs vs Skaven & Orcs and Goblins.
I'll post a brief recap later.
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| the hordes advance! |
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| the oncoming hordes |
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| charge the knights? why yes! |
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| rats are wide open for a flank charge. |
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| Fleeing rats... |
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| ...and fleeing orcs (both units!) |
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| things are not looking good for Evil... |
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| a grapeshot! |
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