Another Greenskin Wars - Game 2 - Updated 18/09

[Swordmaster of Hoeth]

Greetings!

I have played two battles recently with the use of Universal Battles websie (http://www.universalbattle.com), both against greenskins. The idea was to test the army for my opponent before the tournament he is going to attend soon (for the rules details go to: http://z15.invisionfree.com/Brighton_Wa ... topic=1832). Basically the armies are 2 x 1000 with some additional composition rules (the main being with which army you can ally). For me it was a great opportunity to play after some break and at the same time to find out if I like playing warhammer online I decided to play 2 x HE as it would be quicker to prepare and then I didn't know how much user friendly the Universal Battle system is. Here are the armies (although I do not know what was in which one in my opponents armies apart from the fact that one was supposed to be Orcs and the oher - Goblins ). You also have to forgive me for a lack of details on magic items.

Orcs & Goblins
Orc Warboss
Savage Orc 2 lvl Shaman - Shrunken Head
Goblin Shaman - 1 lvl
Night Goblin Shaman - 1 lvl
Goblin BSB

Around 40 Savage Orcs
50 Goblins (with Nasty Skulkers)
3 Wolf Chariots
2 Wolf Chariots
5 Wolf Riders
1 Troll
4 x Mangler
2 x Doom Diver

HE combined forces
Mage - 2 lvl, Ring of Fury, Silver Wand, Lore of Light
BSB - GW, Armour of Caledor, Dawnstone

30 Archers, Light Armour, Full Command
30 Spearelves, Full Command, Standard of Discipline
10 Dragon Princes, Musician
14 Swordmasters, Full Command, Banner of Sorcery
6 Ellyrian Reavers, Bows, Spears, Musician
5 Ellyrian Reavers, Bows, Spears, Musician
2 x Great Eagle

Deployment


I still used Battle Chronicler, however, as I forgot to take a snap shot each round and then we used a default free armies, which were kind of funny to use. For example "Deer Riders" as Ellyrian Reavers etc. O&G had more units so I had +1 to roll to determine who has the first round. I rolled higher anyway and opted to take the first turn, in the meantime all units allowed to do so made their vanguard moves.

HE Turn 1


Ellyrian Reavers and Eagles moved forward to be able to attack Doom Divers as soon as possible. However, light cavalry on the right flank didn't want to risk being too close to Manglers just yet and positioned themselves close to Wolf Riders who in their vanguard move used a peculiar formation ... turning their tails towards incoming elves. In the magic phase HE wizard cast his first spell with IF (Pha's Protection, 12" area version) and the resuting detonation wounded him, killed 8 Archers and sucked all remaining dice. The shooting phase saw Archers aiming carefully at Mangler between Goblins and chariots. They skewered the jumping beasts and this greatly unnerved nearby charioteers who fled despite angry shouts of BSB. Unfortunatley Warboss was positioned too far away to grant his Inspiring Presence and greenskins started the battle with a gap in their lines. Ellyrians shot down two Wolf Riders who were exceptionally brave and passed their panic test being far away from warboss or bsb.

O&G Turn 1


The warboss ordered counter attack. Mangler on the left jumped towards Elven warriors anyway and decimated light cavalry which despite their cautiousness was still too close. Chariots charged Dragon Princes hoping to break them or at least kill some and not be charged. Remaining Wolf Riders tried to shield the flank of attacking chariots. The magic phase was quite good for O&G as one of their Shaman managed to 'Eadbutt elven wizard and kill him. Now HE are with no magic at all. Somehow, luckily for HE, Doom Divers completely miss their targets. In combat Goblins manage to kill 4 Dragon Princes but elven knights are steadfast and pass their break test.

HE Turn 2


He push further on the right flank. Great Eagle charges Doom Diver. His cousin has to fly behind enemy lines, however, as Troll blocked the path to another Doom Diver. Swordmasters charge the flank of Wolf Riders (a mistake on my opponent part, he thought it is still front charge) who flee and elven warriors hit the flank of chariots instead. Shooting sees another Mangler dead. In combat Swordmasters make a very short work of charioteers. Great Eagle kills two goblins but the last one refuses to abandon his catapult.

O&G Turn 2


With their right flank collapsed greenskins are in trouble. Remaining Manglers cannot hit anything just yet while Wolf Riders rally and are ready to slow down elven assault. Troll gets stupid and forgets to defend doom divers behind him. Despite huge advantage in magic it does not bring much destruction. Doom Diver kills 2 Dragon Princes. In combat great eagle finishes off the last crew member of doom diver catapult and reforms towards the centre of the board.

HE Turn 3


Great eagles charge again. The one on the left flank attacks remaining Doom Diver while the one on the right flank charges Wolf Riders. They flee but hit the Mangler in the process whiel the eagle slows down and watches from the safe distance as his enemies kill each other. Spearelves, Swordmasters and Dragon Princes move towards poor Goblins. Ellyrian Reavers use the woods to shelter themselves from the last Mangler. In combat great eagle kills one goblin and his two comrades keep fighting.

O&G Turn 3


Troll decided to charge Ellyrian Reavers but light cavalry elected to feign retreat. The rest of the greenskin army braced for incoming impact. Again, despite all the efforts of three shamen magic didn't bring much destruction.

HE Turn 4


Spearelves attacked Goblins and immediately three goblins dressed in funny rag-tag, formerly black clothes appeared as from nowhere. Swordmasters and Dragon princes moved to better positions to attack the flank of goblins next turn. One of the eagles sacrificed itself and landed in front of frenzied Orcs. Shooting saw the last mangler killed. In combat elven BSB tried to kill his adversary but ome magical trinkets saved goblin bsb. The skulkers were, however, pierced by many spears and didn't have a chance to hit their enemy. Goblins managed to wound a few elves but still lost the combat. Being steadfast and under the watchfull eye of the warboss they kept fighting.

O&G Turn 4



Orcs Charged the eagle and had to overrun. They were not close enough to Archers just yet and at the same time were in a wrong posotion to try and support Goblins. Little ones kept fighting bravely but it was clear that in the next turn they will die in large numbers when Swordmasters and Dragon Princes charge their flank. In that situation my opponent conceded.

Summary

That was quite interesting battle becouse despite the lack of powerful characters there were still eventful moments. Early loss of my mage was a heavy blow and I was concerned with the advantage my opponent got. However, probably also to not the best spells selection, he had only one which could harm my units at the distance and that was the only spell I dispelled with dice I was given. I let him cast spells which increased the number of attacks for Orc Shaman or which granted poisonous attacks to goblins. We also spotted a few mistakes in the way we played, such as forgetting -1 to hit when shooting at manglers. It is due to the fact he played with this army just a few times and used them for the first time while I do not play O&G on regular basis and simply didn't remember that rule either. He learned from his mistakes and next battle was very bloody indeed. So stay tuned for part 2 and a rematch.

Thanks for reading!

[Elessehta of Yvresse]

While I like that people can play online I dislike the screen shots, thanks for using BC, You are trying out the Archer horde and it worked pretty good, concentrated shooting can help, those Reavers didn't do much but I love them anyway ^_^

[Swordmaster of Hoeth]

Hi Tiralya!

It seems I didn't present the performance of ER properly so they seem not to do much. They put a nice pressure from turn one on light troops of the enemy and if not for random movement of Manglers (so you cannot flee from them) light cavalry would be more aggressive. I took the risk and lost one unit unfortunately. The second one actually performed very well by just being there and covering the flank. That is why he didn't rush towards the archers as he know I could always redirect him. What is more they kept shooting at Manglers too and inflicted wounds on their own just to make sure the beast goes down. They always stayed in a range distance from Savage Orcs and they always had to test for Frenzy. Small chance to fail but it can happen if you force the enemy to do so often What I didn't do and could do better was to position them together with an eagle in front of Savage Orcs and flee both units rendering his ability to redirect useless and simply rally next turn.

Cheers!

[Swordmaster of Hoeth]

Greetings!

After a defeat in the first game Greenskins were even more eager to fight a rematch. The minor change of the list was to replace one doom diver with rock lobber. I changed my army as well as I noticed it is not really 2 x 1000 without a general for one half Because of that Silver Helms replaced Dragon Princes and were joined by noble on elven steed with GW. BSB had only Armour of Caledor in that battle.

Deployment


HE finished deploying first and won the the first turn. Mage and BSB are with Spearelves and their formation is to prevent too many hits from rock lobber. Goblin charactes join Goblins while Orc characters are in Savage Orc unit obviously

HE Turn 1


All light cavalry units made their vanguard moves. Ellyrian Reavers could not make their full moves just yet as they didn't want to risk meeting with a mangler or even two. Eagles landed behind the woods feeling safe there. HE mage used all his might to destroy manglers in front of him but Banishment was dispeled, Ring of Fury dispel scrolled and he managed to protect troops with Pha's Protection. Archers on the hill opened fire on the Mangler close to Goblins and ... inflicted zero wounds. Not good.

O&G Turn 1


Greenskins approached cautiously keeping tight formation. Wolf Riders withdrew for war machines protection duty. The Mangler on the elven left flank past through ER but managed to inflict only single wound! His companion jumped forward in a lazy way. The other two on the right flank didn't reach any target yet. In the shooting phase Doom Diver killed 2 Silver Helms but before that Warboss used his magical ring and fried one of the eagles. His charioteers encouraged by such display opened fire at nearby Ellyrian Reavers, killed 2 and ... panicked elven light cavalry. Defnitely not good for elves.

HE Turn 2


Elves contiuned to outflank their enemy but still could not do that full speed. Only Great Eagle was able to land behind enemy lines. Yet again HE mage tried to kill mangler with his magic but 3 enemy shaman channeled their power and combined efforts to prevent anything like that to happen. Archers yet again failed to kill Mangler suig. Now that is a very bad situation.

O&G Turn 2


The mangler on the left flank, who survived magical and missile barrage hapily bounced through elven knights and killed them all save the Noble who now found himslef without any bodyguard. Other units moved towards elves but at a very steady pace. Troll and Wolf Riders tried to block any charges on war machines as much as possible. Now it was time for Greenskins to unleash their magic and HE wizard stopped all but one spell. Foot of Gork. Big green foot stomped Swordmasters and proud warriors from White Tower were no more. That was a very heavy punch, elves lost two of their heavy hitting units. What is more Spearelves fail their Panic test and flee (I rolled 11 two times in row when needed 10 to pass the test, damn! )

HE Turn 3


Situation looked grim but elves decided to keep fighting. Lone noble charged exposed flank of the chariots, hoping to break them, catch them and pursuit into Orc Shaman. Then he would be able to kill that crazy wizard as well and retreat on his fast steed from pursuing Orcs. Great Eagle managed to attack Rock Lobba. Spearelves rally and reform into deep formation. Shooting and magic are still not bringing any casualties on the enemy site. The Noble defeats chariots, destroying one but is not able to cathc the other one, which flees through Savage Orcs. He pursuits into a flank of that unit and gets ready to attack Orc Shaman. Great Eagle finishes Rock Lobba and turns to charge Doom Diver.

O&G Turn 3


Orc army again moves little, Wolfs exposing themselves for a charge of Ellyrian Reavers. One of the Manglers reaches Archers line and kills plenty but they hold (it is possible they also lost some of their numbers due to magic this turn). Night Goblin Shaman sprints in front of his unit and stops between Goblins and Spearelves (if they charged him he was positioned in a way that overrun would not allow elves to hit goblins behind him). In the combat phase the Noble has no chance to kill Orc Shaman as he is challenged by Warboss and killed outright. His sacrifice was wasted.

HE Turn 4


Spearelves indeed charged lone Shaman, while Reavers attacked Wolf Riders. Archers turned to shoot at wounded Mangler hopefully to finish this one off but unfortunatley could not do that again. Spearelves easily killed lonely shaman and reformed. Reavers defeated Wolf Riders but decided not to pursue as this would lead them away from Doom Diver.

O&G Turn 4


Yet another mangler hits archers (I don't exactly remember where other manglers jumped later in the game but since they didn't hit anything important I simply left them motionless on the diagram) but they are still alive. Troll charge Ellyrian Reavers who stand and shoot. They inflict some wounds to each other and elven cavalry keeps fighting. Chariots move in a wide flanking movement against lone Spearelves.

HE Turn 5


Spearelves do not charge Goblins as they probably would hold and then Savage Orcs could flank them easily. ER keep fighting against the Troll and refuse to break. Archers turn around, tired of trying to kill a single mangler and constantly failing.

O&G Turn 5


Wolf Chariots charge the flank of Spearelves but surprisingly alone (if Goblins were to declare a charge too Spears would flee as both charges were on quite long distance and elves would easily flee both of them). The lone chariot seemed to forget his orders and didn't attack greatly depleted archers. In combat chariots inflicted great casualties but elven BSB and other warriors killed two chariots in return. Elves remained steadfast. Ellyrian Reavers managed to defeat the Troll and were ready to charge Doom Diver.

HE Turn 6


Archers elect to charge lone Chariot but it flees to safety. Spears finish off last Chariot from the gorup which charged them. What is important HE mage manages to cast a spell which lets Spears to pass any Ld based test automatically so they are not going to flee no matter what. ER charge Doom Diver and finish it off.

O&G Turn 6


Not much happened this turn. Goblins refused to charge Spears while Orcs could not make it to combat. Wolf Chariot rallied and in the last jump of joy one of the manglers goes through archers again and 2 remaining elves flee the battle. With only Spears left on the battle field it is clear Elves lost.

Summary

That was a proper rematch and I must say I was devastated by three things:

1. Mangler Squigs + One Big Foot.
2. Poor shooting of my Archers
3. The fact that I lost when Savage Orcs didn't really enter the battle meaning I lost to much smaller goblin army. What a shame!

The lesson is that I should have had some kind of plan B to deal with manglers. First thing which comes to my mind is to sacrifice eagles to kill the critters. Especially in the situation when one is positioned very close to my units and if something goes wrong (as it did) it is in a perfect spot to inflict a lot of damage. I wonder if it would not be good idea to charge it with Spears on turn 2. I would lose half of the unit but then could overrun to goblin flank and save the Knights. It would also help cavalry to position themselves better for next turn attack.

I think my opponent played very good but he seemed to relax too much later in the game and didn't finish my lone Spears which meant I lost "only" 7-13. If I were him I would move Goblins forward, without shaman, as he was safe alone and move Wolf Chariots closer so that I could not escape from charges. I could try and charge him but with so many ranks and Warboss nearby he would be steadfast. Combined with Chariots charge he would definitely kill the Spears. He also forgot to charge his lone chariot into my archers and didn't earn full points for that unit. But considering it was his second game with O&G it is a very good result anyway.

I hope this game was much more interesting

Thanks for reading!

[Elessehta of Yvresse]

Did that panicked unit of Reavers flee off the board? Those manglers are devastating!

[Swordmaster of Hoeth]

Hi Tiralya!

Unfortunately yes. It is a shame that this particular unit failed two panic tests in a row when they would be needed to further slow down that flank. I really like the light cavalry but they need to pass these Ld tests to be fully efficient

Manglers are really dangerous. They are quite fast and because you cannot react to their "attack" you need to deal with them quickly. Their S6 AP attacks are painful for any unit (well, maybe not for 50 skaven slaves ). What is more, if you want to attack them they inflict 3D6 instead of 2D6 hits so you literally sacrifice whole unit if you want to do it. The good thing is that we have just found out it is not possible to field 4 of them but only 2. Still, with the huge variety of units and annoying things in O&G army it is not a great comfort

Cheers!