The orc drums echoed through the
foothills. The Greenskin host had encamped in their thousands around
the base of the ancient dwarf hold of Krag Vladok. From the highest
towers the Dwarf Lords had surmised the total encirclement of their
position. They had dispatched ravens to carry messages to their kin
but it was only formality. The messages would simply announce the
death of the Hold. All that mattered now was how the dwarfs accounted
for themselves in their final battle. . .Below in the under-channels,
night goblin tunnelers had begun and subterranean assault. And like a
great beast awakening the Horde began to move as one, countless units
of orcs, goblins, and worse began clawing at the slopes of the mountain.
Thane Braughn Redburn and his detachment of Dwarves were tasked to
hold the southeastern slope and had deployed by the ruins of an old
manling farm. Although still a youth in dwarf years, Redburn saw the
tactical advantages provided by the collapsing barn and its fieldstone
wall. The open fields, growing nothing but weeds, provided an ample
killing ground for his quarrelers and thunderers.
"Hrodmir! Plant the standard behind the wall and keep the men
fighting to the last!" Redburn shouted at his Standard Bearer. "and
have the cannon brought up to the barn door!" The ancient longbeard
harumphed, bristling at taking orders from a dwarf so young. But he
could only mutter under his breath, the young Thane's deployment was
sound. . .
So the battle began. 1250 points per side.
I took
1 Thane Gromril armor w/rune of stone Greatweapon with +1A
1 Thane BSB Gromril armor w/rune of stone.
20 warriors with shield & hand weapons (full command)
20 ironbreakers (full command)
13 thunderers
1 cannon w/engineer & rune of forging.
Across the table lay the greenskins
1 Orc Warboss
1 Gobbo Shaman
1 Giant
20 Black orcs w/shield (full command)
20 Orcs with spears/shield
20 Night Gobbos with spears/shields (3 fanatics)
20 Night Gobbos with bows
1 Boar chariot
15 quarrelers (full command)
Warboss
Krunga Ruffhide smashed his fist into the face of the squealing goblin
sergeant who had been a bit too slow in issuing orders to his archers.
The tiny soldier's facial bones crunched and splintered into a stew of
gristle and blood. The mob was itchy and irritable, squalling brawls
broke out in the ranks as Krunga howled to keep his assault force in
order. He smiled as he looked to his right flank; the black orcs stood
stoically unaffected by the bickering that seemed to infect the other
troops. These iron clad beasts were straining to surge forward and chop
the stunties to bits, but their discipline, so uncommon for the
greenskin kind, held them in order. In the center stood the hulking
giant Gnapface, jumping up and down and howling at the dwarfs, it was a
terrifying site even for Krunga. The gobbos at the center were under
the command of Shaman Grizdizzle. The night goblins' hatred of the
dwarves was well know, and the littler blighters were frothing mad,
gnashing their teeth & clashing their crude spears on their
shields. His own tribe of orc boyz waited in the center too, eager to
get stuck in and start smashing. Behind them was the boar chariot,
scythed wheeling glinting in the cold morning light. Finally on the
hillock a unit of gobbo archers were stringing their bows.
Across the open field the stunties waited, oddly quiet, like
small statues. Their green and blue banners flagging in the still air.
Then from far off came the signal. A great blaring horn echoing over
the foot of the mountain. Krunga raised his axe and bawled for the
advance. . .
The battle was a fun one. My dwarfs
held the line and waited for the assault. I hoped that two shooting
units and a cannon would thin out the orcs enough to make a difference.
It didn't :(
Dwarf magic resistance kept most of Jesse's spells bottled up, but
when they got through it was pretty damaging. Sadly Jesse rolled
double ones on a cast and his shaman's head shattered in a ball of
incandescent light . . .
Jesse's units were solid but some poor animosity rolls left his
army squabbling instead of marching and his assault hit the dwarf line
in staggered order.
The giant can easily tie up any unit on the
table, but on his own cannot win combat (no rank bonus, standard, or
outnumbering) and the ironbreakers proved to be pretty resilient (my
armor saves were pretty awesome too!)
Turns one through four are explained in the images attached.
After
turn four and me catching the boar chariot (I think Jesse rolled a
total of 5 on three dice) things began to go downhill for the orcs.
His goblin archers routed after being raked by a fusilade from my
thunderers. The Thane and the ironbreakers chopped up the giant (who
collapsed and fell to the left onto my warriors unit killing four of
them.) The Black orcs broke and ran and the dwarf warriors had to give
chase.
Even though the game was quickly turning into a rout fun and exciting
things still happened. Jesse's Warboss called out my standard bearer
in single combat and butchered him. The Black Orcs rallied and the two
unit champions fought a three turn duel with lots of tense dice rolling.
By 9 o'clock with only one orc unit left on the board we ended the
game. It was a lot of fun and we walked away with a better
understanding of the rules. . .
Krunga howled in frustration and pain. All around him his Waagh was
running away. The giant Gnapface laid in a huge bloody heap on the
field. The boar chariot smashed to bits, both units of night goblins
scurrying back to the main camp. He snarled as the dwarves came
closer, trying show dominance. The stunties did not approach too
closely, they simply stood at a distance and drove home the charges on
their muskets. Krunga felt dizzy, blood loss, fury, & fear all
swirled in his brain and it hurt. He tore the dwarven standard out of
the hands of the corpse that lay at his feet and shook it over his
head. "ERE! You little bastards! I killed your bannerman and took
his stinking pole! Our lads'll crush your skulls in the next wave!
WAAAGH!" Krunga charged forward three paces and was torn apart as a
dozen lead slugs blew fist sized holes through his body. The orc
warboss pitched back into the blood slicked dirt of the field, stone dead.
