Best. Battle. Ever.

My High Elf buddy is moving to France. What better reason to reenact a cool battle from 8th edition fluff?

Scenario Special Rules:

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Dwarf objective 1 - Hold the Plaza. If a Dwarf unit is on the round plaza by the end of the game, 250 extra VP.

Dwarf objective 2 - Kill Caledor and Elf Noble. For each, an extra 100 VP is awarded.

Elf objective 1 - Defend Tor Alessi. If no Dwarf unit is within the walls by end of game, 250 extra VP.

Elf objective 2 - Kill Ambassador and Gotrek. For each, an extra 100 VP is awarded.

If Gotrek and Caledor are within 18" of each other, either of them can immediately declare a challenge. They then meet in the middle (even if they are already in a combat) and will fight to the death. They are ignored by all other units (however, magic can be used to buff Caledor - though it will be considered a great dishonour).

If the Elf Noble with Cloak of Beards is within 18" of the Beardless Ambassador, the same rules apply.

REINFORCEMENTS: The Elven Cavalry, with Caledor, are placed in reserve. Roll a dice at the start of each turn. 1st turn they arrive on a 6, 2nd turn a 5+, 3rd turn a 4+ etc. They automatically arrive on the 5th turn.

HIGH ELF DEFENCE FORCE (3000 points)
Archmage Galdor [Lore of Heavens, Wizard Level 4]
····Magic Items [BRB - Fencer's Blades, BRB - Power Stone, BRB - Talisman of Preservation]

Elbereth
····Magic Items [AB - Cloak of Beards, AB - Shield of the Merwyrm, BRB - Sword of Might]

26 x Archers
5 x Ellyrian Reavers
5 x Ellyrian Reavers
23 x Phoenix Guard
24 x White Lions of Chrace
Eagle Claw Bolt Thrower
Eagle Claw Bolt Thrower
Eagle Claw Bolt Thrower
Flamespyre Phoenix
Great Eagle

reserves:

Prince Caledor II on Steed
····Magic Items [BRB - Dawnstone, BRB - Enchanted Shield, BRB - Ogre Blade, BRB - The Other Trickster's Shard]

Noble [BSB] on Steed
····Magic Items [AB - Golden Crown of Atrazar, BRB - Dragonhelm, BRB - Sword of Anti-Heroes]

17 x Silver Helms

DWARVERN ASSAULT FORCE (3500 points)

Lord Gotrek
[Great Weapon, Shieldbearers]
[Rune of Iron x 2, Rune of Stone, Warding x 3]

Beardless Ambassador Slayer
[Master Rune of Snorri Spangelhelm, Rune of Parrying]

Josef Bugman

Runesmith [Shield]
[AB - Fiery Ring of Thori, Rune of Spellbreaking (1st rune), Rune of Stone]

Runesmith [Shield]
[Rune of Spellbreaking (1st rune), Rune of Spellbreaking (2nd rune), Rune of Stone]

Thane BSB
[Rune of Slowness (1st rune), Rune of Slowness (2nd rune), Strollaz' Rune]

40 x Longbeards
[Rune of Stoicism]

20 x Thunderers w/ Shields

25 x Hammerers
[Rune of Sanctuary (1st rune), Strollaz' Rune]

27 x Slayers
[Strollaz' Rune]

26 x Bugman's Rangers

SPECIAL UNIT:

30 x Miners
[Steam Drill] - secretly held in reserve - my opponent didn't know about them

Deployment:

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Bugman was hoping to infiltrate through the secondary gate, to the north, but it was being guarded by Ellyrian Reavers.

The rest of the force would charge forward (strollaz) and storm the main gates.

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TURN 1 (elves)

The Elves unleashed a fury of arrows and magic - mainly on the main force (Greatbeards). Almost a quarter of the unit fell!
Also, the great flaming phoenix flew over the slayers, while the great eagle tried to slow them down.

And the Archmage managed to actually push the Longbeards back with a great gust of wind!

TURN 1 (dwarves)

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Undeterred, the Dwarves charged onwards. Both units of Reavers fell easily to Bugmans Rangers and the Royal Guard, but it did slow them down.

The Slayers to the south had better luck - they not only killed the eagle, but overran right into the walls of Tor Alessi!

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TURN 2 (elves)

Suddenly a horn sounded to the East, behind the Dwarvern host. It was Prince Caledor himself! He and his Silver Helms appeared right behind the Thunderers - far earlier than expected! (He rolled a 5!)

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And so the Elves, heartened by the arrival of reenforcements, unleashed even more death on the poor Dwarves. Magic and arrow managed to whittle down the Greatbeards to almost half their number.

TURN 2 (dwarves)

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The Dwarves had no choice - they must breach the walls and take the city before Caledor could charge!

The Greatbeards attacked. The elven archers attempted to flee - a clever tactic which would have left the Greatbeards surrounded inside the city. But the elves were too slow and the dwarves ran them down! Not only that but to the north, inside the city, a unit of Miners had managed to tunnel under!

To the south, the Slayers had poured over the wall and overcome the defences (2 bolt throwers).

So now it was the Elves who were surrounded! Miners to the north, Slayers to the south, Greatbeards at the gates. Could Caledor make it in time?

TURN 3 (elves)

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Caledor charged the Thunderers first, hoping to go through them easily. But instead, they put up a mighty defense (4+ and 5++ really makes a huge difference!!). The mighty Caledor and his royal guard were only able to kill a few dwarves.

Even so, the Thunderers made a tactical retreat....and the swift horses were unable to catch them!

Meanwhile, inside the city, the White Lions (led by the cowardly Noble who wore The Cloak of Beards spits) charged the Greatbeards. The ensuing battle was BRUTAL. Each side lost around half their numbers. The flagstones of Tor Alessi ran red with dwarf and Elf blood.

But it was the White Lions who fled. The Greatbeards pursued them all the way to the Great Plaza...

TURN 3 (dwarves)

The Miners charged the Phoenix Guard. Again, the battle was ferocious. Both sides stood their ground.

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The Thunderers turned around to face another charge from Caledor...

And Bugman milled about, not doing much at all. We think he might have been drunk...

TURN 4 (elves)

The Noble who had fled with his White Lions rallied. But his bodyguards all abandoned him. So now he stood on his own in the great Plaza. (ok so the White Lions fled off the battlefield but we really wanted the Noble to stick around so he could face the Slayer...)

Caledor managed to wipe out the Thunderers and managed to get to the gates of Tor Alessi. Gotrek called him out to a challenge. Caledor hesitated but saw that he had no choice. His troops would think him a coward and lose heart...

So the two kings fought each other (as they were with 18" of each other)!

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TURN 4 (dwarves)

Finally the Slayer would have his revenge. He left his unit and challenged the cowardly noble to a duel. This was to be fought infront of the holy statue in the great plaza.

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Unfortunately, the tricksy Elf noble managed to easily slay the Ambassador. Now all dwarves had hatred toward him and he was right behind the greatbeards...

REST OF THE GAME

For the rest of the game, the two Kings exchanged blows in the centre of the battlefield. Each round of combat saw another wound taken. Despite having a massive 6 wounds, compared to the 3 of Caledor, Gotrek was actually losing by turn 6! He had lost 4 wounds, Caledor only lost 1. It seemed that Caledor would slay Gotrek.

Meanwhile, the Phoenix Guard managed to kill off the Miners - but not without losing most of their numbers!

And the Wizard almost got sucked into the void! The detonation killed off half the phoenix Guard (cheers, large round template) and a lot of miners.

Eventually the Dwarves managed to kill the Phoenix Guard and Silver Helms (unfortunately the details of this were lost in the reports).

And meanwhile, Gotrek was down to a single wound....and so was Caledor. Both could be killed by a single blow. It genuinely came down to a single roll.

Gotrek managed to save his wounds...

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And then did 3 wounds on Caledor...who had a rerollable 4+ saving throw. He saved 2 wounds and just had to reroll the last. But didn't manage it.

So Prince Caledor fell.

THE END.

This really was the best battle we had ever played. It was so fun! We usually play really ultra competitive games (which end in tears) so this was refreshing. Don't get me wrong - we were still trying to win! And we were still trying to out flank and out play each other. But our lists were FUN and SOFT (ish). I mean....no gyrocopters or warmachines. He didn't have any frosties or any really hard magic items. No Banner of the World Dragon.

Also, the game was really close. Despite me having an extra 500 points! Without the extra 500 points, he would have won very easily. Instead, it was extremely close (and really a draw).

I think this is how 8th should be played. Fluffy!

Hope you enjoyed.