Battle Report - Continued
Spells
I got Flesh to Stone, Throne of Vines, Regrowth, Dweller Below (so all the good ones
).
My opponent rolled the Little Waaagh magic missile, Gork'll Fix It and Bad Moon Curse.
High Elf Turn 1
The silver helms moved through the village and angled to face the boar boyz while, on the right flank, the champions and eagle both advanced: the eagle to draw the small boar boyz forward and the champions to countercharge them. My units in the centre remained more or less stationary, excepting Lecalion's archers, who moved forward 5” to bring him within 24” of the enemy blocks...
But Dwellers Below wasn't going to go off this turn, because I only got three power dice. No spells went through.
The shooting phase went better, however, as my archers opened up on the wolf riders and killed 6- an excellent result marred only by the goblin cavalry's failure to panic. The repeaters quietly went about their business as usual and plugged two Big Un boar boyz- not bad at long range.
Orc Turn 1
Movement was heralded by the small boar boyz on my right declaring a charge against the eagle, who fled and duly forced a failed charge, placing the boars nicely within range of the champions.
As for the Big Un boar boyz, they'd finally found themselves opposite the prince's cavalry. The question was what they were going to do about them: either moving to block off their advance (albeit risking a charge from them next turn), perhaps with the giant in support, or they might just try and avoid them. The orcs decided that sweaty cowardice was the better part of valour and marched forward towards the white lions, passed the advancing elven knights in the village. The giant advanced in support and, to the centre, all the orcish infantry came on as expected. The wolf riders alone decided to stay put so they could get some more accurate shots off.
Magic saw the great shaman get a decent number of dice which, in conjunction with the magic mushrooms he was eating (+1D6 to casting value per cast- roll of 1 on this dice= miscast), allowed him to smash 4 or so of Lecalions's archers with a magic missile (panic test passed), and throw Curse of the Bad Moon at my lines, forcing my units to test against their toughness or suffer a wound. I held my breath but, fortunately, the vortex didn't reach my spearelves, landing just infront of them, directly on top of the chariot. The chariot and an archer or two took a wound, but that wasn't a big deal.
Shooting was less eventful. The few remaining wolf riders couldn't hit water if they fell out of a boat, while the rock lobba's missile, directed into the heart of the spearelves, scattered wildly. One of the spear chukkas managed to bring down an elven champion knight, but that wouldn't save the small boar boyz from the charge which was coming...
The boars ride forward to escape the elf prince, effectively surrendering their right flank.
The Bad Moon leads the greenskin advance while High Elven magic struggles to make an impact.
The greenskins suffer on their left flank from elven missiles while the champion cavalry prepare for the charge.
High Elf Turn 2
The Elean Champions sounded their battle cries, lowered their lances and charged the small boar boyz, who held. The prince's silver helms galloped out of the village on my left on wheeled right into the rear of the big 'un boar boyz.
On my right flank, the 14 archers advanced 5” to add further pressure, but the rest of line redressed itself in only small ways. The chariot moved to get away from the Bad Moon but the spears, unable to do much, just gritted their teeth and stood their ground. To their left, the swordmasters shifted left 3” to avoid bad moon blues, while the white lions advanced a little to place themselves within charge range of the big boars. If a charge was made, the lions would happily start chopping the cavalry up and my knights could either counter-charge or, if things were going well, strike the orc centre. If the charge failed then my prince would get a devastating rear charge into boars.
The fast elven knights exploit the massive gap opened on the orcs' right flank
Magic: Lecalion drew a mighty 9 dice, opened with Throne of Vines and then channelled all his remaining power into Dwellers against the 40 orc spears. The ground exploded and 20 orcs disappeared from view. Nice. Fortune rewarded me for being bold too, taking the bad moon vortex, which I hadn't saved any dice for, drifting towards the orc lines and away from my spears.
BOOM!
Shooting was also good, seeing my archers destroy the wolf riders outright and my repeaters slay two more big 'un boars (after their companions made a lucky 3 armour saves on 5+).
In combat the Elean Champions actually only killed 3 boar boyz and lost 1 of their own, but this was still enough to force the break. The pursuit was disappointing, however: the boars fled off the table but my cavalry failed (infuriatingly) to reach the rock lobber, leaving them exposed to a round of shooting from the chukkas...
The High Elves clear the orcish left flank...
...and prepare to demolish the other.
Orc & Goblin Turn 2
The boars were readying themselves to charge to safety against the white lions (fine by me), but a fight broke out in their ranks, paralysing their efforts. My silver helms, standing immediately behind, chuckled. The rest of the orc army marched straight at my lines, excepting the giant and boar chariot which stayed back to set up a charges against the silver helms and white lions respectively, covering the flank of the orc spears.
Magic- and the few dice granted to the shaman were easily swept aside by my archmage, while the bad moon vortex swirled further into the open, interposing itself between the night goblins and spearelves. On the plus side (for the greenies), the great shaman dispelled Throne of Vines. Shooting, and the chukkas' only chance to save themselves from the champions. Being goblins, they blew it, both missing and one misfiring. Aha.
The orc lines advance.
Timmeh Two-Heads plans to end the silver helms' party with a counter-charge.
High Elf Turn 3
The prince led his knights at full tilt, crashing into the boar boyz' rear. On the far side of the field, the Elean champions hit the rock lobber. Other movement saw my white lions advance around the flank of the orc spears and to within range of a tempting long charge from the boar chariot, my swordmasters shift right to their original position in front of the orc spears (now that the bad moon had moved on), and, on the right, my 14 archers and chariot moved to the flank of the 50 night goblins. I was very happy with this move- if my opponent kept his goblins going forward, I could pin them with a nice flank charge. If he turned them to face my archers I could simply redeploy the chariot out of their way and shift the archers back for some 'shoot and retreat' harassment. In either case, my opponent wouldn't be able to focus an assault against my defensive right flank with both his killy black orcs and steadfast-breaking goblin column. I therefore had all the time in the world to fold up half the orc army before the half at this end really came into play.
Magic was a slightly underpowered 5 dice, but that was plenty enough for me to cast Throne of Vines (dispelled), and Flesh to Stone on the white lions (my archmage having left his unit and moved behind the hill to get in range), giving them the toughness they'd need to hold off a chariot charge. As for the bad moon curse, that was looking like more of a liability for my opponent than to me. Even so, he didn't choose to end it, perhaps feeling it would be worth the loss of a few goblins to have a shot at killing some more elves without having to cast it again. As things turned out, the vortex rolled onto the corner of the night goblin unit, wounding the great shaman and killing a couple of goblins.
The archers who hadn't marched took down a couple of goblins and the bolt throwers scored a couple of wounds on the giant. Fair enough.
Combat, then! The champions slaughtered the crew of the rock lobba with terrible ease and overran into the nearest spear chukka. Fine. Now for the slaughter of boars... except that my great cavalry bus rolled, in all, a magnificent seven 1's to wound.
Seven! I managed to bring the orc hero down but three of his companions were left after the massive bungle. They didn't manage to kill any silver helms, however, and needed double 1's to hold. And guess what? My opponent rolled double 1's. Fantastic.
Orc & Goblin Turn 3
The giant charged the flank of the stunned silver helms and the boar chariot attempted (but failed) a charge against the white lions, putting it between the corner of the orc spears and the combat being waged against the struggling elf knights. Remaining moves saw the orc infantry advance, the great shaman leave his unit (to avoid Dwellers). The night goblins themselves, meanwhile, took the bait and reformed to face my flanking archers and chariot. They were now out of whatever important combat materialised in the centre of the field. Ace.
The night goblins, top right, take the archers' bait and rule themselves out of the battle for the centre.
Orc magic saw my opponent completely forget to do anything about his ongoing vortex, despite the fact it was sat right on top of his night goblins. Doh! This was bad because the
only big thing that happened this phase (I dispelled the shaman's attempt to fry my 14 archers with a green fireball), was that the bad moon moved right through the night goblin block- corner to corner, hitting almost all of them and killing a fistful. Swell!
Silly goblins.
The crucial combat phase started with my mighty elven heroes smiting the giant- the talisman of loec and the (appropriately named) Giant Blade proving invaluable. Even as great cheers rang out from the beleaguered elven knights, however, the giant used all his remaining energy to hurl his massive body down onto the unit. He was dead before he hit the ground, but so were 4 silver helms and a boar boy. The carnage was terrible but the elf heroes, at least, had been protected by their armour.
Timber!
Despite the unintended boon that their falling giant had brought them, the remaining boars found themselves badly outmatched and they broke and ran. Rather than pursue and lose position, Seredain reformed his knights to face the boar chariot's flank and, beyond it, the rear of the orc spears...
High Elf Turn 4
The largest attack of the battle so far saw the silver helms charge the boar chariot, the white lions charge the flank of the orc spears and the swordmasters charge their front. On the right flank my archers and chariot charged the much weakened night goblin block.
The archmage moved over the hill and into the open, behind the swordmasters, to gain more targets for his spells. Meanwhile, in order to pin the black orcs in place while I destroyed the units surrounding them, the eagle (who had failed to rally on Turn 2 and had ended up behind the house- where he'd started), charged them in the flank. If he could hold, the black orcs would waste a turn fighting him (best case) and, if he fled from them, the black orcs would overrun into the small unit of archers which I'd moved up to receive them. The short point was that, with these small tactical sacrifices, the black orcs would be unable to engage the High Elf spears for another turn at least and, when they hit the archers, my spears would have a flank charge on.
The High Elves launch their killing strike against the greenskin right flank...
...while the greenskin left flank is pinned and harassed into inaction
In another disappointing magic phase, Lecalion managed to get Throne of Vines up (healing the eagle), but failed to cast Regrowth on the silver helms. During the shooting phase, the only targets open to the repeaters were the fleeing boar boyz sinced the damned great shaman was hidden behind the massive bulk of the orc warlord. The hits were good but my opponent rolled an enormous quantity of 5+ armour save rolls to ensure that one orc rider lived to keep running next turn.
Combat. On my right, the archers and chariot did well but not spectacularly, slaying perhaps 8 goblins (I think my opponent rolled three 6's to save out of the 7 wounds my archers inflicted!), and losing 4 archers in reply. The goblins were shaken but, thanks to the leadership of the nearby warboss, held their position. Nearby, the Elean champions chewed through their last war machine and reformed to face the flank of the night goblins. Next turn, the gobbos would be in trouble. The eagle, unsurprisingly pretty much bounced off the black orcs, killing one or two but then turning and fleeing. They couldn't catch it but overran into my waiting archers as planned, their flank exposed to my column of spearelves.
On my left, the prince, noble and silver helms absolutely shattered the boar chariot before overrunning into the rear of the orc spears – now surrounded on three sides by my army's best fighters. I can best explain what happened next with a couple of pictures:
Now you see them...
...now you don't.
The lonely black orc BSB, who my swordmasters had failed to bring down despite allocating 7 attacks on him (and rolling another load of 1's), punched my bladelord in the face before my forces finally overwhelmed him.
Now, some tactical silliness from me which deserves to be remembered. The way this combat phase should have gone, normally, is as follows:
1: Silver helms kill chariot, overrun into orc spear combat.
2: Silver helms, white lions and swordmasters break spears.
3: Silver helms reform (they can't pursue because they overran already); white lions and swordmasters overrun into flank of black orcs.
4: White lions, swordmasters and eagle fight against black orcs.
Now, I deliberately fought the eagle combat first for two reasons: firstly, by pursuing into the archers, the orc warlord would himself be engaged in base-to-base contact. This would mean that he would be unable to
make way! through his unit to engage my attacking units and characters to the side or rear. As for the fact that my combat against him would be delayed by a turn, that was fine by me since there were no orc units which could come to his rescue – time was on my side. The second reason was that, in closing the door against my archers, the black orcs would turn further away from my elite units, meaning I could get in on the flank
and rear (if I'd pursued before the eagle combat, however, both white lions and swordmasters would be in on the flank). In short, I thought I'd wait and get the certain kill.
My mistake was technical: in the end I fought the eagle combat first and then pursued with the white lions and the silver helms, reforming the swordmasters to face the black orcs' flank. In all the excitement my opponent and I had completely forgotten that a unit can only pursue or overrun once in a single turn. This was slightly academic, since the black orcs were surely dead anyway, but Fate was determined to punish me for my insolence...
Orc & Goblin Turn 4
So, this is how things looked for the greenskins at the beginning of the turn:
Pretty bad, eh? Yes. I'd got the black orcs right where I wanted. Except I'd completely forgotten about the tiny little shaman hovering by the night goblins, looking shifty. Long story short, during his magic phase my opponent chucked seven dice (6 power dice plus special mushroom dice roll) at the big version of bad moon (large template, moves 4D6, models touched test on either Str, T or In as chosen by my opponent, failures suffer a wound with no saves), got it off irresistibly and hurled it 18” all the way along my line of knights, white lions and into my swordmasters. My opponent chose toughness as the stat test. He lost 2 or 3 black orcs. I lost a knight and a wound off Caradath (fine), along with half of my white lions and half of my swordmasters (
not fine!). Bloody hell. I should have taken the pursuit move and fought another round of combat against the black orcs, alongside the eagle, last turn. Damn.
In combat I wiped out half the black orc unit (and the archer unit managed to survive!) but, even so, the look of the field at the end of this turn wasn't pretty...
Aaaarrgh! The elven prince and noble carve their way into the enemy even has whole ranks of warriors fall beside them
High Elf Turn 5
Never let it be said that I don't prepare for the worst. The spearelves had positioned themselves so that any orc unit which happened to overrun into the nearby archers would present its flank to them for a counterstrike. They declared their charge and, along with the swordmasters, surged into the flank of the black orcs. My champion cavalry, finally free of its task slaying machines, charged the night goblin great shaman, filled with a thirst for vengeance. Once magic (not eventful) and shooting (RBTs finished the last boar) were over, they skewered the shaman with contempt and ploughed straight into the flank of the night goblins. The champions, archers and chariot then did bloody work and the gobbos were completely routed, the chariot thundering them down and overrunning into the black orcs' near flank. The one remaining combat, then, saw my opponent's last unit surrounded on all sides by my troops.
Once again, all the orcs were put to the sword (though my last two archers were killed), the warboss broke and my knights ran him down. The enemy army was tabled and, despite the casualties of Turn 4, I'd only lost the unit of 11 archers. Another great day, then, but this time Lecalion would have to get working on those regrowth spells if he was to clean up the mess left by that bloody bad moon...
Massacre to the High Elves!