Three carts rumbled their way along the weathered road, the pony teams cracking stones under their heavily shod hooves. The plump but resilient animals hauled the carriages rhythmically and relentlessly towards the Walls End drift mine at the far end of the valley. Members of the Pigiron and Slagmark clans were being shuttled back out to the mining camp and Lord Marduk Hellhammer and his security team had hopped aboard to inspect the progress of the defensive outpost that was under construction there. The occupants of the lead cart passed the trip mostly in silence until about 20 minutes out of the main gate of Dok Loren young Beherit Pigiron piped up to break the silence.

“Tell us Lord Marduk of the time you battled the Elves and their scaly hided creatures at the Granite Pass.” The beardling miner Beherit had been fascinated with reptiles and all creatures scaly ever since he had caught and kept as a pet a Crate Dragon in his early youth.

The battle that he drew attention to had occurred when Marduk was a very young Thane leading a contingent of his clansmen charged with guarding an area of the Grey Mountains, west of Karak Norn. Marduk stroked his beard and replied circumspectly, “Perhaps we’ll pass the time with a tale and ye’ll learn a few things about defending a pass such as this one. No doubt twas as glorious a battle any of us faced in those times and should take no longer in the telling than the rest of our trip.”

Asva Grimfist, the reknowned Longbeard and longtime companion of Marduks, smiled menacingly at Beherit. “I’ll make sure he stays acyrate in the telling, for I was there too, don’t forget my Lord,” he added, turning back toward his liege.

DARK ELVES
Master - Cold One mount
Witch Elf with Cauldron
5 x Cold One Knights – FC with Banner of Murder
5 Dark Riders - FC
5 Dark Riders – FC
War Hydra
(+ about 35 points worth of equipment and magic items)

DWARFS
Thane – Shield, Ro Snorri, Ro Resistance, Ro Stone,
Thane – BSB, Oathstone, Ro Fire, Ro Striking, M Ro Gromril, Ro Furnace
14 Warriors – Shields, FC
10 Quarrellers – Shields,
14 Ironbreakers – Shields, FC, Ancestor Rune
Bolt Thrower – Ro Penetrating
Gyrocopter

Deployment
Adam deploys from left to right on 12” line, the War Hydra, Cold Ones with Master, first Dark Riders and second Dark Riders on the eastern flank. Cauldron of Blood deploys behind troops on his table edge.

I deploy my Bolt Thrower to the extreme left on a hill in the hope of getting a flanking shot on his cavalry units. Then Quarrellers in one row of 10 on the next hill slightly left of centre. Next to them on the field of battle are the Ironbreakers with General, then Warriors with BSB about 8 inches to the right. Gyro deploys centrally.

Turn 1
Dwarfs T1
The Warriors wheel an inch or two towards the Ironbreakers to start to expose a juicy looking right flank and the gyro flies to about 8” in front of the first Dark Riders.

The Gyrocopter steams the Dark Riders and kills 2. The Bolt Thrower hits the Hydra and takes off 2 wounds. The Quarrellers open up on the Cold Ones and fail to wound any.

Dark Elf T1
The Cauldron gives the Hydra a 5+ ward save.

The Dark Riders are rather annoyed that they bore the brunt of the Gyros volley of hot lead, rather than their much more dangerous Cold One Knight brethren. They charge him and he elects to flee. I roll 9 and he is caught by one inch, the 3 remaining horsemen beating the flying machine into the ground and killing the incautious pilot in his seat.

The Hydra and Cold Ones move up ominously towards the Quarrellers and the full strength Dark Riders move up towards the Warriors flank.

Turn 2
Dwarfs T2
The Warriors turn to their left, move an inch and a half towards the Ironbreakers, before turning back to face the enemy.

The Bolt Throwers hit the Cold Ones in the flank with a strength 7 bolt, the Master passes his Look out Old Mate and then I roll a 1. (As often happens with incredulous regularity in epic battles of good vs evil a fortuitous item of memorabilia hanging under a shirt proved to be the lifesaver. This particular Dark Elf just happened to have hanging around his neck a broken shard of knife blade that his dear mother tried to gift to him as he hoisted her above him to throw her from the Tower of Internecine Excoriation in Clar Karond, the massive bolt glancing off it and embedding itself harmlessly in the ground behind him).

His luck soon ran out though with the Quarrellers unleashing a salvo of quarrels at the Cold Ones. Another of these smaller bolts struck the knights knife shard and ricocheted into his closest companion killing him. Amazed at his luck, the Cold One Knight wasn’t watching where he was going and his mount tripped in a rabbit burrow and came down upon his neck. With two of their number dead and fate swirling about their unit with strange clutching tendrils, the Cold Ones and their Master decide to leg-it back towards their own lines, fleeing 13.”

Dark Elf T2
The Cold Ones fail to rally and flee to within 1 inch of the table edge.

The Cauldron once again tries to protect the Hydra with a ward save.

The two Dark Rider units move closer to the Warriors right flank. The Hydra moves towards the Quarrellers and Ironbreakers.

The 8 remaining Dark Riders shoot at the Warriors, whose heavy armour is more than a match for the pitifully weak elven bolts, which fail to wound a single Dwarf. The Hydra breathes his fiery breath at the Ironbreakers, who would have laughed at the mild warmth that penetrated into their safe metallic shell if it weren’t for the four, fifteen-foot high snapping maws that were now within spitting distance.

Turn 3
Dwarf T3
The Warriors once again turn towards their more heavily armoured comrades, move a little closer to them and then turn back towards the enemy lines.

Despite the field of warped space and time around the Hydra, the Bolt Thrower looses a bolt at it, but it is saved by its ward save of shimmering shimmeryness. The Quarrellers also unload a volley toward where the heavy bolt disappeared and manage to take a 3[sup]rd[/sup] wound off of the scaly beast.

Dark Elf T3
The Cold One Knights rally, and confused by their masters change of mind, fall into a rut of stupidity, much to their riders chagrin.

The Hydra charges the Ironbreakers and they fail their Terror test. They then also fail the reroll under the BSBs influence. They flee 10” to pull up about half an inch from the table edge and the Hydra saunters after them.

Both units of Dark Riders charge into the Warriors flank.

The Cauldron gifts the full strength Dark Riders unit an extra attack each.

5 of the 8 Dark Riders including 2 Champions swing 12 attacks at the Warriors, wounding 4 and killing 2 after saves. Their smelly mounts kick at the Dwarfs but fail to cause anything remotely classed as a ‘wound.’ The BSB strikes back (having deployed in that corner of the unit) and kills 1 Dark Rider. The Warriors pass their leadership test.

Turn 4
Dwarf T4
The Ironbreakers rally and turn rather sheepishly to see the Hydra now only 20 feet from the Quarrellers.

The Engineer at the Bolt Thrower draws deeply from his pipe, tosses his now seemingly unnecessary pistols back on his rucksack and carefully takes aim at the Hydra. Exclaiming that it ‘don’t look so shimmery now’, he unleashes the bolt and manages to take one of the heads clean off, leaving it with just 1 wound left. The very excited (i.e terrified) Quarrellers fire their bolts wildly at the Hydra, with the only bolt to hit the beast bouncing off of an untrimmed toenail.

To the east the Dark Riders strike at the Warriors as their agitated horses strike at the Dwarfs with their hooves. The Dwarf clansmen hunker down behind their shields and none fall to the onslaught. The BSB strikes back at the smallest Dark Rider unit and surprises himself by inflicting 3 wounds, annihilating them. The Dark Elves lose the combat and the full strength Dark Riders flee 11” with the plucky Dwarfs running as fast as they can to end up 6” behind their former combatants.

Dark Elf T4
The unit of 5 Dark Riders rallies.

The Cold One Knights finally get their mounts under control and march them back towards the battle, hoping to play some part in the quickly failing attempt to sweep the Dwarfs from this valley.

The Hydra and its long-suffering handlers charge the Quarrellers who pluckily decide to stand and shoot, passing their Terror check. Even with a reduced chance of hitting the charging beast they manage to wound it 3 times and it fails to regenerate its last wound. As the beast slumps to the ground with a last great exhalation, the handlers slam into the Quarrellers with whips cracking and dirks stabbing at gaps in the Dwarf shieldwall. 2 crossbows fall from lifeless Dwarf hands before one of the handlers is dispatched with an axe slipping silently into his ribcage. With the combat drawn, the Handler crouches down to take a breath, his centre of balance resting forward on his toes, leg muscles taught like springs, whilst the Dwarfs adjust their shields and line.

Turn 5
Dwarf T5
The Dwarf Warriors turn to face the opposition line once again to prepare for the possible threat of the approaching Cold ones. The Ironbreakers march towards the Quarrellers and put themselves in the path of the Cold One Knights.

The Bolt Thrower shoots at the Knights flank and misses.

The Beast Handler fails to kill any Quarrellers as he attacks in a blind fury of hatred at those that felled his pet and his lifes work. They strike back as a disciplined unit and dispatch the gaunt wretch.

Dark Elf T5
The Cold One Knights move closer, but are frustratingly out of range of their Dwarf foes. The rallied Dark Riders wheel and manoeuvre their way towards the Cold One Knights and pull up in front of the Warriors who had recently broken them and sent them fleeing towards the Grey Mountain foothills.

They fire their repeater crossbows at the Dwarf Warriors and manage to slip a bolt past one of the solid, round shields, killing one.

Turn 6
Dwarf T6
The Engineer manning the Bolt Thrower once again sees the flank of an enemy cavalry unit and vows to make this bolt pay. Slipping the bolt into the breach with a kiss, he sights the machine towards the enemy general, unmistakable in his gothic finery and fluttering banners, trotting forwards on his Cold One mount. Withdrawing the firing pin with a steady pressure, the bolt speeds its way towards the general and his knights. At the last moment another Elf calls out ‘Look out old mate’ and takes the bolt in his generals stead. The bolt then continues on to kill the last two knights and leaves a furious Dark Elf Master wondering how he will explain to his Lord how he had lost his expeditionary force and failed his mission.

Dark Elf T6
The Hag at her Cauldron sees the Dark Riders as the only intact friendly force on the field and decides to fill them with battle lust to distract the emboldened Dwarfs whilst she and her sisters pack up their kit and caboodle to scarper from the field. With a serious lack of thought or any real purpose, the five remaining Dark Riders charge into the front of the Dwarf Warriors and send 3 of them off to quaff ale with their ancestors. An enraged BSB knocks 2 of the riders from their mounts and sends them to cheat at dice with their forefathers.

The battle obviously lost, the Dark Elf master urged his reptilian mount away from the devastating Dwarf artillery. He, the Hags and three Dark Riders would be the only remnants returning to his Lords encampment to the north. He was sure that he had severely hampered his Lords ability to accomplish the mission they had come to this accursed Old World for. Tonight wasn’t going to be much fun.

The Dwarf forces were overjoyed. Two Quarrellers and six of General Marduks clansmen had fallen, along with the Gyrocopter, but they would be remembered in victory ballads for many a year to come. Whatever their foul purpose may have been, the Dark Elves had been repulsed from the pass through the Grey Mountains and the Dwarf lands.

Final Score
Dark Elves 140
Dwarfs 665
Dwarf Solid Victory

Mistakes
Deployed my Quarrellers in only one rank, when both ranks could have still fired. Planned to reform when the enemy got close to Ironbreakers to allow a charge into their flank, but could have achieved this one turn earlier if it had come up.

I was way too impatient with my Gyro once again and should have got behind the enemy troops to avoid being charged. I should have fired upon the Cold Ones too as they were the most threatening unit.

Marduk finished his description of the battle as the cart neared the last rise before the road dropped into the large open cut where the main section of camp was located. Told with more elaborate description and embellishment than the wily veteran Asva would have liked, the event was more a skirmish than an outright battle. Marduk still remembered with pride how his reputation had grown at Karak Norn after defending the western end of that pass against several enemies in his time there. He’d upheld his responsibilities and managed to keep the majority of his men alive too.

“What a massacre,” beamed Beherit. “You can count on my pick any time my Lord.”

“While I welcome the offer lad, I hope that you never have to face the likes of that cursed race. We fight when we must, but every Dawi lost in battle is one less pick at the wall. I will never forget the lads that fell that day. Comrades like Cliff, Piggy and Dimebag were amongst my closest companions during that time guarding the pass.”

Marduk paused for a moment before continuing. “It was not all death and disaster, however. King Ironpick gifted our clan the remains of the Gyrocopter as a reward after the victory and indeed it is that very vessel that Nasum Throttlerod buzzes around in, although somewhat repaired several times now.”

Marduk released his mind from that past victory and turned to the important tasks at hand. It was commented throughout the day though, by several miners, that he was in an extremely cheerful mood, especially for one known far and wide as the Black Dwarf.