Hello fellow dwarfs.

Last week I played a game against Empire.
The lists:

BsB MR Gromnil, Rune of resistance,
MR o Ch
Runelord MR of Balance
Rune of spelbreaking
Rune of stone
2X rune of iron
Shield
21 Hammerers, champ, st, MR Grugni
40 Warriors, Great Weapons, FC
21 slayers+ st
12 Quarreller rangers, gw,mus

Organgun

Cannon RoF, fire, eng (most left)

Cannon RoF, fire , reloading,eng

Note: I was trying a list without GT and with slayers

Empire player:
Arch lector on altar
BsB (in unit swordmen) sword of might, some magic armour
Engineer with pigeon bomb
Wizzard lvl 2 (life)

40 spearmen FC
40 swormen FC + 15 swordmen attachment
35 swordmen FC + 15 swordmen attachment
Mortar
Mortar
Volleygun
Great cannon
Stank

Both his wizzard as his BsB went into block S3.

We rolled low on terrain features and the scenario was Dawn attack.
The only noticeable feature was the building in the middle on the left making units stubborn if within 6 inch.
I got to deploy my army first, but because of the bad roll for my hammerers (starting in the left corner), my battle line was somewhat broken and my slayer where without the protection of the MR of Grugni.
The scouting quarrellers went behind the building (could not enter because too close to the enemy).

When rolling for spells the wizard rolled the one giving a 5+ ward save on a unit and dwellers from below.
DEPLOYMENT:

FIRST TURN:

I got first turn and moved forward, confident in the ability of my dwarfs to outfight mere humans.
My warriors moved to link with the hammerers and my rangers took position in the building, the organ gun also moved up.
The cannons destroyed the volleygun, giving my hammerers and warriors a clear path towards the bulk of the empire troops (and kept them away from the steam tank)

Meanwhile my slayers went full throttle towards the steamtank (I was not going to waste cannonfire on it unless absolutely necessary giving the fact that a cannonball only wounds on a 4+ and the thing has 10 wounds)

EMPIRE FIRST TURN:

The steamtank moved full speed forwards towards the center , the shaken engineer made a dash to the artillery park and most empire units moved slightly backwards to avoid the clash with the advancing dwarf infantry.
Shooting was largely ineffective , even blowing up an empire mortar with a misfire.
In the magic phase however dwellers from bellow was cast on my warrior horde with IF (no bad effects for the empire player on the miscast except a wound on the wizzard), resulting in 20 dead warriors + one dead BSB, things where starting to look grim for the dwarfs.

DWARFS TURN 2

Regardless the dwarfs pushed on, the rangers left the building in the hopes of triggering a charge from the empire state troops (remember that all units 6 inch from that building are stubborn).
Shooting saw a misfire from the OG (5 on the misfire table) and an astonished look on the empire players face as I targeted the waralter with my cannons while telling him that in 8th cannons hit both archlector and waralter (no randomizing) as they are template weapons.
This resulted in a dead archlector, but it seemed that the stupid alter doesn’t need a crew to operate (thanks Allessio).

EMPIRE TURN 2

Now the empire’s left flank started to move and started to encircle my left flank.
His Stank rammed my slayers killing eleven, getting 2 wounds back in return
Empire shooting was uneventful but in his magic phase dwellers was again cast with IF on my warriors, reducing them to 10 , the miscast resulted in 3 dead swordmen and healed the wizard back to full wounds.

DWARFS TURN 3

Given the fact that both the slayers where out of the game (locked with the Stank) and the warrior horde was no more, it was time to change tactics, so the hammerers and the depleted warriors veered off towards the building to make a final stand while all hope was on the artillery to make the difference.

Shooting resulted in 2 wounds on the altar ( 2 hits from the cannon , 1 wound from each) and an other misfire from the organ gun rending it useless for 2 rounds.

Combat saw 2 more wounds on the Stank (go slayers!)

EMPIRE TURN 3

Both the swordmen and the attachment charged the rangers, stand and shoot panicked the detachment (they would flee of the board the next empire turn)..
The unit swordmen with his wizard and BsB and the waraltar moved up to my left while its detachment went for my OG.
Shooting saw 2 hammerers blown up by a mortar hit.

The Stank misfired for movement getting one wound and another from the slayers (still plenty of wound left but now not able any more to move safely.)
The fight between the rangers and the swordman resulted in some dead swordmen and a breaktest for the rangers , but with stubborn due to the proximity off the building the test was passed.

DWARFS TURN 4

The hammerers and warriors reformed to take the charge next turn from the approaching empire troops.
The superior dwarven cannons obliterated the empire cannon

Combat between the rangers and swordman was a stalemate , the slayers meanwhile where using the Stank as a punch bag giving it another wound.

EMPIRE TURN 4

Detachment fled of the table and the altar (with the dead Archlector splattered all over it) charged the hammerers, killing 5 and getting 2 wounds in return leaving it with one wound (but the thing is unbreakable).
The other detachment continued towards the OG while the spearmen and swordmen units set up for a charge next turn.
Magic did nothing and shooting saw 6 warriors killed from a direct hit from the mortar, making the unit 4 strong now!
Rangers and swordmen continued to fight each other with the rangers whiffing a lot of attacks but passing the break test on a 9.

DWARFS TURN 5

Warriors (the 4 left) charged the Waraltar destroying it and surged forward into the flank of the already engaged swordmen.

Shooting evaporated 9 swordmen from the detachment (they passed the panic test) thanks to the OG and the cannons killed the last piece of empire artillery (the mortar).

EMPIRE TURN 5

The spearmen charged the warrior in the back and the unit swordmen with BsB and wizard (he had to stay in the unit in fear of being snipped by the cannons) charged the hammerers.
The 6-strong detachment charge the OG
Combat saw 2 dead warriors, leaving 2 warriors left!, both warriors and rangers passed the break-test , de hammerers and swormen with BsB and wizard drawed combat.

The OG crew lost 2 but passed due to stubbornness.

The slayers failed to wound the Stank.

There was no shooting (everything was sent back to Nuln for reassembling).

Magic was easily dispelled.

DWARF TURN 6

So far so good, I only lost the BsB and killed a lot of points on the Empire side, but one or 2 unlucky breaktets can still cost me the game at this point and the warrior horde (consisting of 2 warriors at the moment) are a lot of points if killed.

Combat: Nothing happened , my 2 warriors survived the bucket full of attacks directed at them and passed their breaktest (proximity of the building giving stubbornness), the swordmen with the BsB made their breaktest but the organgun crew was destroyed, the detachment reformed to face the cannon.

EMPIRE FINAL TURN

The detachment charged the cannon but failed to reach it.

In combat 1 warrior was slain and although my rangers made the breaktest, the warrior didn’t and was caught by the pursuing spearmen (damn!)
His swordmen with BsB passed their breaktest, magic was dispelled and the Steamtank ended the game with 3 wounds left.

RESULT:

Draw, I won by 100-200 points but to win in that scenario you have to have more than double the amount of victory points as your opponent.

But in the end I was not sad because with no BsB left I passed almost all my breaktest (okay, all on a 9 , but still).

Some errors where made from my part (i can't remember why I didn't shoot his lonely engineer the last turn, or why I didn't hit his wizzard with my hammerers), but all in all it was a fun battle proving the resilience of dwarfs.