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[Thane Morgran]

Hi all,

Well, the dust has settled and I've just about recovered from two fantastic days of gaming. To try and share with those of you who weren't able to make it (and remind those who were) just how much fun it was, I'm going to try and put together battle reports of all the games.

Of course, the second day was too big an affair for me to know more than a fraction of what was happening, so if any others who were there want to chip in with their version of events, please by all means add it to this thread and I'll edit my posts to quote you in the relevant turn, so as to at least keep it in (as best we can manage) chronological order.

[Thane Morgran]

Game 1
Well, my first game of the day was against the only person I hadn't met over dinner the night before, the charming Ethilmar of Lothern. A 500 point skirmish battle to get the day underway.

My list:
Thane, shield, RoStone, RoResistance
Dragon Slayer
15 Quarrellers with great weapons and a musician
Bolt thrower with engineer
7 ironbreakers

High elf list (approximately)
Level 1 mage with lore of fire
11 archers
5 dragon princes
10 white lions



The table had a huge ruined tower (the one in the picture above, the dragon slayer atop should give some sense of scale) dominating the centre, which we agreed was 2 impassible walls and effectively split the battlefield in two. Jutting out from the left table edge was the spur of a hill, level with the tower. I began deploying by placing my bolt thrower towards my right, but where it could see to either side of the tower and the elves opted to refuse the right, placing their archers (which later included the mage) immediately to the left of the tower. My quarrellers went to the left of them. His white lions went to the left of the archers, facing my quarrellers, and his dragon princes went to the left of the white lions, hidden from my quarellers by the hill. My ironbreakers (including my thane) deployed opposite his archers, and my dragon slayer held my left flank.

The first turn saw the armies advancing on each other, with the only shooting of note being my boltthrower killing a couple of white lions who had now advanced far enough to be seen around the ruined tower and exposed their flank to it. Although the mage failed to cast, I was already feeling rather exposed without a runesmith...

Turns 2-3 saw the high elves advance very aggressively, and the shooting and magic begin to (veeeery slowly) whittle down the ironbreakers. Turns out the advance was rather too aggressive, as the dragon princes were in range to be charged by the slayer. Rather than face him, they fled through the lions, causing them to panic. Although both units subsequently rallied, this allowed the quarrellers a couple of turns sniping at the lions, bringing them down to about 5. The ironbreakers continued to slowly loose models.

To start turn 4, the dragon princes charged the lone slayer who they'd fled from, and the (depleted) white lions resumed their advance. The heroic slayer was deprived his honourable death beneath the hooves of the elven elite, only suffering a single wound before cleaving two knight from their saddles. In the dwarf turn 4, the quarrellers charged the flank of the dragon princes, and in the ensuing combat 2 more knights died for the loss of a single quarreller, but the remaining knight held (I think that was a break test on a 5), resolute after his earlier cowardice.

In the last couple of turns the few remaining white lions charged the quarrellers in the flank, but by then there were too few and they were ground down by the greatweapon wielding dwarfs (albeit at considerable loss of life), although not before the slayer, fresh from butchering dragon princes, had charged his second elite elven unit of the day and got his well earned honerable death. The ironbreakers charged the archer unit containing the elven mage. Rather than face the vengance of the dwarfs the elgi fled, allthough they quickly rallied, pausing in their retreat for the mage to fling a fireball at the dwarfs bearing down on them, one lone ironbreaker emerged from the conflagaration!

Result:

Game 2
Again 500 points, this time against highelf, who is a pretty adept general. I used the same list as before, he had:

Noble with GW (and possibly some magic toys)
25 Spearmen
10 archers
1 Giant Chicken (sorry, eagle)

The game was played on the same board, but this time down the right hand side of the tower. This side had a normal sized tower just my side of the halfway line and about 6" in from the short table edge, and a small wood butting up against the huge ruined tower on the side nearest my back right table quarter.

I deployed my bolt thrower in the same place as before, and highelf responded by placing his archers directly opposite it. My quarellers went to the right of the bolt thrower, his spearmen (plus noble) went to my left of his archers, and my ironbreakers (plus thane) faced off against them. My dragonslayer went just to the right of my quarrellers. I don't recall where the eagle deployed, but it was out of LOS and with the speed of movement was long gone by the end of turn 1! At this stage, I figured all of his eggs were in one basket, and if I could wear the spearmen down with ranged fire followed by getting a combo charge on them, I could win easily enough.

His eagle came a hunting, and identified the quarrellers as the main shooting threat, getting a flank charge against them after a brief detour to avoid the slayer. The giant chicken fluffed it's attacks, took two wounds in return and promptly fled the field of battle.

The elgi archers hung waay back, plinked away with minimal effect, and generally had no impact on the outcome of the game.

The spearmen came straight for my bolt thrower, taking some losses along the way. All was going to plan. But then I moved the ironbreakers up a little too far in preparation for a flank charge against the spearmen, mostly due to me having a flash of 7th ed thinking and expecting that they'd have to measure charge distance around the wood. Quick as a flash, the elves jump on the mistake and declare a charge against the ironbreakers, who elect to flee. Perhaps not the most noble of responses, but I'd have to loose the roll of by 4-5 points for them to catch me, otherwise they'd be stranded with their flank open to the quarrellers and their flank/rear (depending on just how far they went) open to a long charge from the slayer.

Instead the ironbreakers roll a double 1 and are overrun by the jubilant elves, taking them clear out of the threat zone of all my units except the bolt thrower. Which misses. From there, the elf unit reformed, and over the next couple of turns munched its way down my line whilst the archers used the frustrated slayer as a pincushion.

Result:

Game 4 (no, I haven't forgotten game 3, but this one has pictures, so I wanted to do it first!)

And now the big finale for the first day, a 2,500 point game which saw me once more pitted against Elithmar of Lothern. Incidentally this was the largest game I'd ever played with my dwarfs. A record that was to last all the way until the beginning of day 2...

My list:
Runelord, shield, RoStone, RoResistance, MRoBalance, RotFurnace
Thane, BSB, MRoGromril, RoResistance
Dragonslayer
38 warriors with great weapons and full command
25 Longbeards, Shields, full command and MRoGrugni
15 Quarrellers, great weapons and full command
15 Quarrellers, great weapons and full command
25 Ironbreakers, full command, RoBattle, RoDetermination
Grudge Thrower, Engineer, RoAccuracy, 2*RoPenetrating

Grudge Thrower, Engineer, RoAccuracy, RoPenetrating, RoBurning
Bolt Thrower, Engineer
Bolt Thrower, Engineer, MRoImmolation

Elithmar's list (approximately):
Level 4 Archmage of heavens
Level 2 mage of fire
Noble with BSB
10 Archers
10 Archers
35 Spearmen
10 silver helms
10 white lions
10 swordmasters
2 eagles
10 dragon princes

Deployment and terrain were thus:

I set a strong defensive line which still allowed my shooters clear fields of fire, with the intention of creating a fearsom kill zone to the front and my left flank covered by a big hunk of impassible terrain and my spear (GW) horde guarding my right.

My units from the left of the shot (right as I was at the table): Bolt thrower with RoImmolition, GW warriors inc runelord, slayer, quarrellers, grudge thrower with 2*RoPenetrating, longbeards inc BSB, grudge thrower with burning, quarellers, ironbreakers and then on the very edge of shot my second bolt thrower.

Elf units, again from the left of the shot: Dragon princes, white lions (inc lvl 4), archers, swordmasters, silver helms (in front of the swordmasters), spearmen, eagle, archers (inc lvl 2), both repeater bolt throwers.

Elf turn 1

A general advance by the elven cavalry, with the lions and swordmasters following up behind (slowly in the case of the swordmasters who had to swift reform to get past the archers. The level 4 mage failed to cast his first spell, breaking concentration, and the fire mage was out of range. Some desultory elvish shooting killed a couple of dwarfs, but nothing too serious.

dwarf turn 1
The dwarfs held their positions, the only movement being the spear block moving forwards a little, and the longbeards shuffling a fraction to one side to allow both grudge throwers a clear shot. And then the artillary barrage began. By normal grudge thrower has served me well since I painted it, but this was the first game for my freshly painted goblobber and I was keen to see how it would fare. In it's inaugral shot it killed 3 silver helms, and the quarellers took care of another. The non-flaming one shot at the dragon princes, but scattered off target by a whopping 10 inches.....right into the centre of the white lions behind them, killing 7 of the 10 in an instant! The immolating bolt thrower almost earned its keep in a single shot, killing 2 of the dragon princes, and the other quarreller unit accounted for another 2, bringing that cavalry unit down to 6 as well.

elf turn 2

Following the savage shooting, Elithmar made his biggest mistake of the game and decided that his cavalry would be safer waiting until the spearmen could support their charge. Sadly for them, this meant dallying in my kill zone... Oh, and the spearmen advanced, but to save the headache of trying to fit such a large unit into a wood, their position is marked by the battle standard.

The depleted white lions made a dash for cover to preserve VPs, and the right most eagle charges a bolt thrower. I don't recall exactly how long it took, but after a little while the crew were bird food and the eagle was back on the prowl.

The winds of magic faded to a gentle breeze, and the combined magic and shooting of the elgi achieved little.

dwarf turn 2

You see the unit of dragon princes? Yeah, that's what my shooting did! I also discovered, after sending a flurry of quarrels his way, that the level 4 was immune to non magic attacks. Ho-hum, still a good turn!

Elf turn 3

The silver helms decide they don't fancy waiting around for a dose of what the dragon princes got, and charge the quarrellers. Between the stand and shoot and the dangerous terrain for the wood, not all of them made it, and those who did barely make an impression before the great axes of the darwi cleave through most of the remainder as the sole survivor flees for his life. Hah puny elves, you might blast through other foe's shooting troops like that, but we are dwarves!

Elsewhere the eagle that hadn't already snacked on bolt thrower crew charged the Immolating bolt thrower, and although the end result was predicatable, the crew held it off for a round or two before machine, crew and eagle were turned into a feather lined crater!

Meanwhile the spearmen decided they weren't in range for a charge, so heroically stayed hiding in the wood to combine their assault with the swordmasters. The sole surviving dragon prince joins the 3 remaining white lions as they cower behind the ruined tower and wait for the end of hostilities...

Dwarf turn 3

The artillary turns it's attentions on the spearmen and swordmasters, knocking a couple of ranks off the spearmen and all but wiping out the swordmasters. Here you can also see that pesky eagle swooping in in readiness for more mischief.

Also, the pint glass has proved useful for getting photos in the right order, and has inspired me to make a beverage based turn tracker.

Rest of battle
The elf BSB decided to make a heroic solo charge against the ironbreakers, but they cut him down with ease. The eagle swooped on the goblobber, but the crew held it off long enough for my quarrellers to intervene and send if fleeing the table. The last silver helm kept on riding, and was last seen headed for Athel Loren.

I can see your mage from here...

The grudge thrower continued it's record of pinpoint accuracy by headshotting the mage with a massive boulder. The runes making it magic came as quite a shock to the otherwise secure archmage. And then this is all that was left:


All told though, I only killed the Archmage, BSB, silver helms, eagles and swordmasters, for something like 900 VPs to 150 VPs for the elves, which in a 2,500 point game is much closer than the above picture would suggest. Those last few models from each unit that Elithmar had sheparded for most of the game (along with the spearmen who didn't quite reach the table edge) were worth around 800 VPs, but I just couldn't quite cash in on them.

Result:

Edited by Thane Morgran, 20 February 2012 - 10:37 PM.

[Thane Morgran]

reserved for Vanyon's day 1 games

[Thane Morgran]

Reserved for Dourin's day 1 games

[Thane Morgran]

Day 2 - setup

[Thane Morgran]

day 2 - turn 1

[Thane Morgran]

day 2 - turn 2

[Thane Morgran]

day 2 - turn 3

[Thane Morgran]

day 2 turn 4

[Thane Morgran]

day 2 turn 5

[Thane Morgran]

day 2 - the aftermath

All done reserving, feel free to post

Edited by Thane Morgran, 19 February 2012 - 10:11 PM.

[Elithmar of Lothern]

May I just point out that in my notes the Mage casts a fireball in the last turn of the first game, so the archers must have rallied?

And may I also point out that in the 2500pts game, I was waiting for my Silver Helms to catch up, not my Spearelves? Probably was the biggest mistake though. I just didn't want to tackle the GW horde with 6 DPs. I could have gone for a softer target, I suppose. Didn't think that at the time though.

You were a really good opponent, for a Dwarf. Very enjoyable games, even if I didn't enjoy the results.

I'll be posting my reports on Ulthuan, I've just finished the one against you.

[Elithmar of Lothern]

Ps You only had 7 Ironbreakers!? I seem to remember there being a lot more...

They looked like rather a large, intimedating block.

[Thane Morgran]

They're ironbreakers, they do that! Plus they had my thane leading them, who's also quite impressive looking.

Whatever the reason, dithering in that killzone was a mistake! Especially so with my artilary rolling as well as it did that game, but even without that any units hanging around there were sure to take a pounding. The only way to deal with that is to attack from a different direction, or a frontal assault where too many targets are presented at once for me to shoot all of them before they hit. I'm glad you enjoyed the game though, and post a link here when you've put your report up at Ulthuan, or better yet post it here too!

[Alebelly_Cragfist]

I've never seen a player roll as consistently badly as Ethilmar across both days! Not one curse of frustration either. Fair play to the lad!

[Elithmar of Lothern]

My reports will be slowly appearing here.

[Blue in VT]

I've never seen a player roll as consistently badly as Ethilmar across both days! Not one curse of frustration either. Fair play to the lad!

Well the LUCK was clearly with the dwarfs...where it belongs!

hahaha...truly epic boys...you might even convince an old stick in the mud like me to learn 8th edition if I could participate in an event like this.

Cheers,

Blue

[Dourin]

Alright, I have my battlereports written out. Once I get home, I'll just upload the relevant pictures to my gallery and post it. Also had my view of the big siege battle on day 2.

[Dourin]

Note: Almost all of the pictures were either taken by Alebelly, Thane Morgran, Vanyon or Highelf. But the narration is all mine!


Day 2: The Siege of Tor Alessi... sort of. 11000 points of Dwarfs vs 8000 points of High Elves.

The day before during the evening, we had pretty much decided that we would have to pick up the pace if we were going to finish the game. With almost 20 000 points of mini's, siege towers and a thunderbarge on the table, we had a very interesting game in front of us. I'll describe what I can which might involve a lot of Thane Morgrans moves as we worked together to secure the center and the left flank against Highelfs stern generalship. Vanyon and Elithmar had a private war on the right flank.

Terrain:

It seems that Warhammer World doesn't have a lot of elven themed terrain (or dwarven themed terrain for that matter) so we had to make due with what we could scavenge and borrow from other tables and the collection of terrain that they did have. Two wall sections and matching towers were found, the rest of the wall would already have been ruined to the extent that they were gone (always easy to come up with fluff reasons to fit the terrain. ) Combinations of the dreadstone blight and the Witchfate Tor towers made for enough towers to fit a siege scenario. The huge piece of an elven tower ruin which you can see on the sides formed the end of the wall.

We talked a lot about deployment. In the end, Vanyon would take the right flank, Thane Morgran would take the left and since my throng was the largest I would take the center. Highelf had seconded a large part of his army to Elithmar so he could focus on their left flank, Highelf took the center and right flank. To speed things up, we simply deployed our entire armies in one go. Warmachines were placed in between the various blocks. My two huge siege towers would house both an organ gun at the top and a unit that would push it forward so to say. The first one would have GW warriors with a runesmith where the second one would hold the hammerers with lord and a thane.


Prebattle pic. The Highelf generals on the right, trying desperately to come up with any kind of plan to stop the oncoming tide of Dawi stone and steel. Meanwhile Alebelly is taking pictures.

Objectives:

A Blood in the badlands siege battle end result is determined by holding 2 out of a possible 3 objectives. We placed one of the objectives on the wall in the center, one on a wall on Vanyon's and Elithmar's flank and the final one was placed in the ruined High Elf tower.

Pre battle artillery phase: Defensive.

The various flaming ammunition and Sally Forth! siege options destroyed one of my siege towers. The organ gun and the crew evacuated followed by the GW warriors. One of the cannons on Vanyons side was also destroyed.

Pre battle artillery phase: Offensive.

Right, our turn. Our combined firepower, which equalled 4 grudge throwers, 4-5 cannons and two bolt throwers succeeded in breeching two walls and a tower and successfully destroyed all but two of the High Elf bolt throwers. It made my remaining siege tower useless but hey, it looked cool so I was going to use it to storm the wall, breached or not.


The wall and tower that were breached by offensive artillery fire. Also note the objective on the wall.

Alright, with that out of the way, lets move on to the battle report. I'll state up front that it's not easy to write this down 100%. A LOT of stuff happened and with 3 generals on one side and two on the other, we had a lot of phases intermingling in order to speed it up. This did lead to strange situations, but mostly, we did succeed in running a pretty lean game.

Turn 1: Lock shields and advance!


The battle commences...

As the noise of the artillery fire died down and a calm descended over the battlefield, it was time to assault the walls proper. Moving the remaining tower forward, the hammerers inside were impatient to dispense some proper Dawi vengeance. The Longbeards, Warriors, Quarrelers and Slayers to left of the siege tower advanced as well. The quarrellers to the right wheeled in order to let the second unit of hammerers through, followed by the second unit of GW warriors.


The Quarrellers move forward.

On the left flank, Thane Morgran ordered most of his units forward as well. His main block of GW warriors, excellently represented by his marauder speardwarfs, would move forward on to the objective inside the ruined high elf tower. His ironbreakers would make for the same bottleneck between the ruined high elf tower and the last unbreached tower on our bit of the map. My slayers and longbeards were making for the same gap however and to make matters worse, it was defended by a thin red line of swordmasters. Gasp!



On the far left, my anvil shield dwarfs unit was slowly making its way as well towards the objective tower. Meanwhile, The Skyhammer (yes, I've finally decided upon a name for my thunderbarge!) moved forward from the far left. The plan was for it to make its way to the rear of the High Elf army and fire organ broadsides into it until nothing was left but smears of meat on the grass. As it did so, it moved into view of one of the last remaining High Elf bolt throwers. The crew was frantically adjusting their machine but for naught: a swift broadside killed them outright allowing the thunderbarge to move in unopposed.


Taking out the bolter crew and leisurely floating forward.

The rest of the war machines weren't far behind. Grudge throwers launched their stones high up in the air causing them to land on top of the elven units. Cannons opened fire as well, their barrels vomitting forth deadly shells which exploded against the walls still left standing. Organ guns added to the bombardment and shot lead balls of death. With the artillery crew frantically reloading and the gunpowder smoke clearing, the last of the bolt throwers had been taking out. Elves had died by the dozen and a general fear nestled inside the heart of every elven warrior.

The elves shot into action, desperate to inflict any damage in return after the beating they had received. The elven mages started to draw upon the winds of magic but even with the massive amounts of power dice they generated (note: since the size of the battle was anything but standard, we had decided to use 4D6 for the winds of magic, just like with Storm of Magic) the runesmiths and runelords present generated more dispel dice. Sadly however it didn't matter. The book of hoeth making almost every roll an IF cast and even when any of the other mages casted, they still got IF casts of. Luckily enough, Dwarfs are made from sterner stuff then weedy elves and their magic didn't help them. A few dwarfs were picked of here and there and even one or two war machines but for the entirety of the battle, magic would be almost a non-factor (for our side of the board at least).

A few slayers went down, multiple arrows sticking from their bodies but aside from a stray dwarf here and there, shooting didn't do much. The organ gun that had vacated the destroyed siege tower was missing a crewman however.


Turn 2: Get ready lads... Almost there...

Turn two was almost a repeat of turn 1. More movement forward to get close to the walls, the siege tower moved forward as well. The Slayers however, together with the Ironbreakers declared a charge onto the Swordmasters, who obviously held. However, it seemed that the distance was still too great as low roles ensured the Swordmasters another round of looking fiercely at the oncoming throng.

With everything moving forward, the shooting phase was another copy of the first turn. Stuff was launched, stuff landed, dead elves appeared. Life was good.


Everything moves forward.

Rolling for the relief force, the roll came up too low. I've always said that elves are too girly to read a map properly. Movement for the elves was non-existent.

The elven magic phase saw a Comet of Cassandora cast (IF ofcourse, damn that Hoeth book). It's landing point was right in the middle of my longbeards, Thane Morgran goblinlauncher/grudge thrower, my GW warriors and organ gun.

The remaining archers on the walls loosed a few volleys which succeeded in killing the last of the organ gun crew on the ground. Grrr, more grudges to settle.

Turn 3: Uzkul Elgi! Uzkul!

The Slayers, mad with battlelust, charged forwards towards the Swordmasters. Quick elven treachery however saw these warriors stricked down or impaled on their huge swords. Their honour restored, these dwarfs would be dining with the Ancestors.


Slayers kick up so much dust as they charge that they unfocus the dwarfs behind them on the photo.


Loads of dice rolling!

The GW quarrelers charged the unbreached tower with the last bolt thrower in it. The last remaining crewman was no match for 10 Dwarfs wielding great axes and the tower was quickly taken.

The siege tower moved forward and assaulted the archers on the wall guarding the objective. The hammerers, led by King Dourin Grudgesworn, stormed down the ramp and layed into the elfs with their great hammers, breaking bones, arms, legs, ribs and caving in skulls. Standing on top of the slain elves, King Dourin claimed the central objective. Today was a good day to be a Dwarf. The remaining archers retreated into the adjacent tower.


The Hammerers take the wall and the objective!

The Skyhammer Thunderbarge meanwhile had moved up towards the rear of the elven battle line and together with the gyrocopter proceeded to fire upon the large block of spear elves that had been holding the ruined elven tower with the objective. Killing a fair few of their number, the elves didn't panic, yet their numbers had been substantially thinned. This would become important a little later.


The Thunderbarge making its way around the elven lines. Due to the size of the base and the scenery, we used dice to show where it was. In this case the white artillery die.

In the centre, our units were moving hastely forward, out of the reach of the potential landing zone of the Comet. Thane Morgran positioned his Marauder Dwarfs just in front of the ruined tower objective, daring the spear elves to attack.

At the end of the third Dwarf turn, all the objectives had been taken. Most of the right flank had been secured already by Vanyon, the centre was looking good with reinforcements en route and the left flank looked ready to get stuck in.

The elven turn started with the sound of hornblasts echoing over the table. The elven relief force, which had seemed unable to find their own backside with a map, had finally blundered onto the table and even then in the worst possible location (for the high elves, for us Dwarfs it was yet another reason to point and laugh.) Relief force rules meant that they would be unable to move until the next turn.


The party crashers arrive...


... and promptly set their sights on the Dwarven flank.

With magic being the dunce phase that it was (comet didn't land), we moved quickly on to combat. The swordmasters attacked the quarrellers inside the unbreached tower, killing many but unable to break them (unbreached + stubborn inside a building).

The spear elves inside the ruined elf tower had foolishly charged the marauder spear dwarfs. Forgetting their own palsy T3, they were quickly reminded that elven spears are as nothing against Dwarven steel. They had opted to forego the additional ranks and had stayed 6 wide. Combined with the kills from the gyropter and the thunderbarge, the speardwarfs had killed enough elves for them to lose steadfast. Breaking, the were quickly run down by the Dwarfs that now claimed the last objective. And just in time...

Turn 4: Look Snorri! More pointy eared gits!

The anvil Dwarfs on the left flank reformed to shield the centre from the arrival of the lord on a dragon. Prepared to die to the last Dwarf they would stand firm. As did the marauder Dwarfs; together with the Longbeards that had followed, they would be able to secure the flank long enough to claim the objective.

The runelord on anvil, seeing the relief force getting ready to barrel down on them, decided to do everything to slow them down. Hitting the rune of Wrath and Ruin, the first of the Dragon princes units was hit and slowed to half speed, slowing down everything behind them.


"Remember lads, always strike the iron when it's hot!"

The hammerers on the wall assaulted the archers taking shelter inside the tower, together with a quarreler unit. Quickly dispatching them, the quarrelers took up residence inside the empty tower.

The Ironbreakers moved forward and charged the swordmasters. Ha! The time for vengeance has come! The flimsy swords were useless against the gromril armour of Thane Morgran's finest. As a sword was deflected by the armour, so would the return stroke of the axe kill the elf that dared to hit a dwarf. Losing combat, the swordmasters had been down to one last model, which promptly fled.


The iron breakers charge the sword masters. A test of elven steel against dwarven armour.

The elves responded by assaulting the tower that had just been occupied by the quarrelers. Winning combat, the spearelves forced the Quarrellers out.

The dragon on Lord charged the shield Dwarfs. Challenging the thane inside it and killing him stone dead, the dwarfs nonetheless held bravely.

The two eagles that had been hiding underneath the objective wall, flew over and towards two war machines.

Turn 5: Time to break out the beer!

The Thunderbarge fired a few volleys into the Phoenix guard, further cutting down their numbers. The Thunderbomb thrower misfired however and was out of the game (not able to fire this turn and the one after that) One last volley took out the fleeing swordmaster.The gyrocopter had also started to steam the phoenix guard. Grudgethrowers firing blindly showed that even a blind Dwarf still knows how to make a kill, with stones landing on top of the frail elves, killing a fair few. One of the cannons took out one of the eagles threatening the war machines.


Thunder from the skies!

In a stroke of tactical genius, Thane Morgran asked the Runelord with Anvil to move his Ironbreakers into the Phoenix Guard. It's this bit more than anything else that made me really appreciate how fun it can be to play with allies against a common enemy. Cheers Dan! Breaking them in a single round of combat, the ironbreakers shuffled after the longlegged robed gits that showed more sense than any of the other elves so far by fleeing.


An example of typical elven combat doctrine when confronted with Dwarfs.

The hammerers on the wall assaulted the spearelves in the tower and drove them back out. The second hammerer unit had charged the archers unit that had been behind the wall all this time which promptly fled.

With most of the elfs dead or fleeing on the right and center boards, we moved to the elven turn.

The comet finally landed. With a strength 7 hit and an 11" radius, it only hit one cannon and one stonethrower, the other units having long since evacuated to a safe location. The cannon was destroyed outright but having been denied any valid target for two turns now, since all the elves were died or in combat, it wasn't really that much of a loss. The stonethrower even survived unfazed. Comet? What comet?

The scouts charged the anvil to allow the dragon princes together with the chariot to charge the shield dwarfs already in combat with the dragon lord. Uncharacteristicly, the Dwarfs, though being steadfast, broke from combat and were wiped out. The combat with the anvil did nothing. The silverhelms had passed the wood housing the anvil, now in combat with the shades and charged bolt thrower. (This bolt thrower had the Master rune of immolation on it and had Thane Morgran chuckling the entire match). 'Sadly', the crew held and Thane Morgran did not yet wish to detonate his machine if at least one more dwarf remained.

The last eagle charged one of the warmachines but didn't succeed in killing the crew and the combat was a draw. Luckily, the Master Engineer that had been standing right behind it, doubtless to yell orders, stood ready to charge it in the next turn (which was not to be).


The flank before combat with the shield dwarfs.


Counting the dead. The dwarfs break...


... and are overrun. The Longbeards and GW miner dwarfs had already reformed.

Looking at the board after the High Elf turn 5, we realised that the match was pretty much over. The three objectives were firmly held by the Dwarfs with no possibility of being contested for another two turns. With only an hour left on the clock before we had to leave, we decided to call it and start packing. Putting away 20,000 points of miniatures doesn't happen all at once.

Battle result: VICTORY TO THE DWARFS!


Nothing says victory than Bugmans on tap!

There we are, one brilliant battle later, the Dwarfs were victorious once again. Even with their new (well, newer) armybook, we were able to solidly beat them. Just goes to show that the older army books are the best, why they were good for my father and his father before him. Ha, you beardlings, wanting the latest shiny thing to come out of the engineering guild workshops... Ahem.

After battle thoughts:

We pretty much agreed that the relief force should have turned up sooner. Turning up on turn 3 with only being able to move on turn 4 and held up by the anvil for another turn saw the relief force being utterly useless. Well, alright, they did kill one unit. But 400+ points of Dwarfs holding up 2000+- points of elves for long enough is a good investment. In any case, the late arrival allowed us to completely focus everything on getting the objectives as soon as possible. Once we had them, we didn't let go.

It's fair to say that everyone had an absolutely brilliant time. A special thanks to Highelf for bringing close to 7k worth of points which allowed this battle to go ahead. Also thanks to Elithmar for commanding a good defence of the right flank. But for a couple of crucial failed Ld-tests, the battle could have gone very different.

Thanks everyone for an excellent time! Looking forward to redoing this, in one form or other, next year.

Dourin

Edited by Dourin, 09 March 2012 - 06:22 PM.

[Targ Ironfist]

Gnollengrom to you, mghty warriors!

I bow my head and am sending my best ales to your holds for the bravery you have shown and honour kept!