Tonight I played my second 2500 game against my good friends O&G list. We both had done some tweaking, and I decided to see what the Anvil of Doom was like. I did not tailor my list to take advantage of the Anvil, but given how much it failed, I don't think that would have mattered.

I took better photos this time. However, I want to write this out while it's all fresh in my mind, then try to wrestle with photos tomorrow. We both took advantage of a rules misunderstanding (overrun happening after a reform, so you can redirect in a different direction) but the mistake definitely helped me more than it helped him. I actually think that mistake may have cost him the battle.

Montegue's Throng

Rune Lord
Rune of Spell Breaking
Rune of Stone
Rune of Resistance

Thain, BSB
Gromril, Resistance, Preservation, RoFire on his weapon

30 Hammerers, Grungni, Full command

25 Ironbreakers, Determination, Full command

40 GW Warriors, FC

15 Quarrelers, GW

2 Organ Guns

Canon, Forge, Fire

GT Accuracy, Penetration.

O& G Throng -

Lords: Level 4 Savage Orc Great Shaman on War Boar. Lots of spells.

Black Orc War Boss, items.

Black Orc Boss, naked (except for what he comes with)

Goblin Boss BSB.

20 Black Orcs, FC

29 Orc Boyz, extra hand weapon, FC

29 Orc Big UNz, Weapon and Shield, FC

Rock Lobba

Giant

40 Night Goblin Spears, Fanatics

Big unit of Spider Riders (20?15?)

4 Trolls

16 Night Goblin Archers, Fanatics

Squig Herd

Deployment.

Dwarf Lines, from Dwarf Perspective, Left to right. (Photo will go here)

Deployed in a fairly tight castle against the back of my deployment zone. Left side is a Grudge Thrower, then the Iron Breakers, then the Canon, then the Hammerers (central unit), then the Grudge Thrower, then the GW Warriors, then the other Organ Gun. In the "pocket" was the Anvil. To the far right, deployed directly in front of the can of citadel black primer in the forlorn hope of getting to the Tower it represented and occupying it, were the Quarrelers.

Orcs, Left to right, from Dwarf Perspective.

Left - Black Orcs

Then the Great Shaman

Then the Orc Boyz with two hand weapons, accompanied by the Black Orc boss.

Then the unit of Goblin Archers.

Behind them on the Hill was his Lobba.

Then the Orc Big Unz. Then the trolls and his general behind the squig herd.

Then the big block of Goblin Spears and finally the Giant and the large group of spider riders.

I was once again concerned about the numbers, but less concerned about the Giant. I knew I would be able to get to him with my canon before he engaged. That's not going to play out the way I hope, but it works out none the less.

Scenario: Battle Line.

I should point out that we used the random terrain generation rules. We had a bunch of wacky terrain types, but it only mattered in one instance, when his orcs wound up Frenzied. It didn't help them.

Dwarf Turn 1)

Movement: No movement.

Shooting: Grudge Thrower does one wound to the giant on a direct hit. Sigh.

Canon Hits the Shaman, but he's got a ward save against flame attacks and makes it.

Organ gun on the right flank misfires and explodes. Yeah.

Orc Turn 1) Goblin Spider Riders fail Animosity and squabble.

Other Units move into position, the giant getting the furthest.

The Shaman casts Foot of Gork over my dispell dice. I have to use my spellbreaker to stop it lest I lose a ton of Ironbreakers and crumble the left flank.

Rock Lobba scatters and kills a hammerer.

Dwarf Turn 2)

Movement - none

Shooting: Wrath and Ruin on the Spiders. Kill one spider and slow them down.

Quarrelers kill two more spiders.

GT kills 5 Big'unz. Organ gun does two wounds to the Shaman

Canon fires at the giants and hits him on the nose. Then rolls a 1 to wound. Yeah.

Orc Turn 2)

Shaman Charges the Organ Gun, but fails. Spiders once again suffer animosity. The Giant charges the quarrelers, but the Stand and Shoot brings him down! (this was probably the most important moment of the battle. Had this not happened, the Quarrelers would have been slaughtered, and the Giant would have free reign on my backfield if the other units managed to occupy the GW warriors).

Shaman cast Foot of Gork, but it was dispelled with IF by the Runelord.

Goblins kill 2 hammerers with their Short Bows, despite a ward save from Grungni and their armor. Sigh.

Rock Lobba scatters into a direct hit on the Grudge Thrower, but fails to wound by rolling a 1. At least I'm not the only one.

Dwarf Turn 3) Ironbreakers Charge the Black Orcs, Hammerers charge the black orcs in the flank. This was a big mistake, because I failed to realize that I was going to release the Fanatics. They only killed one hammerer. I was lucky.

Organ Gun kills the Shaman, because that's what happens when you're looking down the 4 barrels of a Dwarf organ gun.

Canon kills two trolls., GT misfires and is out of comission for the next turn. I attempt to cast Wrath and Ruin with ancient power, and misfire, and the Anvil is also out for the next turn.

the Ironbreakers win their fight with the Black Orcs, route the unit and the run them down. This is our first mistake. I reform, then charge the Goblins, who flee. Iron breakers were freaking rockstars in this fight.

Orc Turn 3)

Spiders finally get their "I Swear too much" together and charge the Quarrelers. Stand and Shoot only kills two of them. The Goblin spearmen get close enough to release the Fanatics, which wreck shop on the quarrelers. Between the spiders and the fanatics, the Quarrelers get destroyed. The Spiders reform and charge (again, same rules mistake) into the Great Weapon horde. They do some wounds on the GW horde flank, and take a wound in response. The Orc BigUnz and Squigs fail to charge the GW warriors. This probably helped preserve my victory.

Dwarf 3)

Ironbreakers reform and charge the Orc Boyz with the extra choppa. They win this combat as well, despite the Orcs being frenzied by nearby terrain, then cut the fleeing orcs to pieces. They reform and do nothing more of substance the rest of the battle, because they are so far out of position.

Hammerers fail to charge the block of orcs that are about to flank the GW warriors. They wind up half in a mysterious forest, which winds up being not so mysterious at all.

Orc 3)

Goblins have animosity, and do a wound to the nearby fanatic, who wounds someone in turn. The Orcs next to them also squabble. Squigs charge the GW dwarfs. Trolls fail their stupidity roll and wind up on the opposite side of the forrest, alongside the Orc General, who rolls snake eyes on his attempt to charge the hammerers.

Shooting is uneventful.

Dwarf 4) Hammerers charge the BigUnz in the flank. They win combat handily, and send the Orcs running. The hammerers restrain and reform to face the inevitable charge from the Trolls and the General.

Great Weapon warriors win their fight against the Spiders and reform.

Canon shot hits the Rock Lobba directly and...you guessed it...fails to wound again!!!

GT then lobs a rock into the horde of goblins, and kills 16 models. Except the one who got the STR10 hit. Nope. That one didn't wound. (!). They panic but only flee a short distance.

Orc 4)

Trolls and General charge the Hammerers and my BSB.

The Rock Lobba misses. The Orc Lord kills two hammerers. The hammerers do nothing to Trolls. The BSB does one flaming wound to a troll.

Squigs are killed, and their one remaining handler panics but doesn't go far. I restrain pursuit.

Dwarf Turn 5)

Canon kills the Rock Lobba. Finally. Hammerers fail in the face and lose two guys in trying to kill the trolls and the Orc general. The Iron breakers move twice thanks to the Anvil, but don't get in charge range. The GT does nothing. The hammerers get slaughtered at the end of close combat with the Trolls, leaving jus the tank BSB alive.

Orc Turn 5) The Orc Bigunz, having reformed last turn, charge the GW Horde, as does the reformed Night Goblin spear regiment, who rolled very well for their charge distance.

The Orc General charges the Grudge Thrower and kills it. He then overruns into the Anvil of Doom and kills the two Guards in one turn of combat.

This is where my notes end, so I will try to remember the rest.

The Great Weapon warriors send both the remaining Big Unz and the Goblins running for their lives. They try to run down the goblins, do so, and then overrun into the fleeing Bigunz as well.

The Orc General destroys the Anvil of Doom. The Battle Standard Bearer manages to stay alive against the troll, but despite having a flaming weapon can't bring the darn thing down.

In the end, I wound up ahead by about 700 pts, but he scored a lot better than last time, and didn't really have a lot of time to tweak his list. Again, the absolute dominance of large units was proven.

I made several tactical errors. I exposed my flanks a couple times, and was only saved by Animosity failures. I also allowed his fanatics to launch themselves into my hammerers, a mistake for which I did not pay nearly enough for (just got lucky). My war machines were mostly a failure, enduring several bad misfires and poor wound rolls.

Units:

Anvil of Doom: D. The Anvil just...sucks in comparison to other war machines. The only time I tried ancient power, it failed, which was not surprising (50/50 chance). I managed to slow down the spider riders, but that was about all it did for me.

Organ Guns: B+ One misfired, the other was a boss.

Grudge Thrower: B+ This time. Not as spot on as the last game, but still very effective. Misfire prevented it from being a real hero, which makes me want to always include an engineer.

Canon: B-. An exercise in frustration. Two different shots failed to wound entirely.

Great Weapon Warriors: A+. Repelled three different charges, fighting off and winning against multiple foes at once. Just amazing.

Hammerers: B. They did well, but wound up getting pwnd by the General and a few trolls.

Ironbreakers: A++. Easily the MVP of the game. The decimated two groups of Orcs, including one unit of 20 black orcs. They were amazing.

Runelord B+: Did OK at anti magic, and my opponent really left his shaman vulnerable to organ gun fire. Had he been more careful with the Shaman, or had he successfully charged the Organ Gun on the turn he failed, he might have swept my back field, though. In the end, the Runelord did what he was supposed to do. Two different Gork Feet wound up dispelled. He did die to the General, but that's not surprising, even with the Anvil to protect him.

Battle Standard Bearer: A. He survived, he helped with some leadership rolls, and he made a troll vulnerable. Thanes are more fighty than I think they are, and I need to remember that.

Fun: Using a few large units is less fun than using a more varied force. I realize it's the best way to go, but I think so long as I'm playing friendly battles I'm going to include some smaller units of other models. 25 seems to be enough to do well against anything I face from my friend Orcs list, and since he doesn't have the horde of Savage Orcs and what not to really match me, I think I'm going to start fielding a more balanced and fun force for him to fight.