Orcs vs. High Elves part 1

Mk6marine's High Elves:
18 Lothern Sea Guard: full command, shields
12 Archers
20 Phoenix Guard: full command, banner of sorcery
6 Dragon Princes: musician
Great Eagle
Archmage: level 4, silver wand, folriath's robe, talisman of Saphery, Life magic
Noble: Battle Standard Bearer, Armor of Caledor, Guardian Phoenix, Great Weapon

Zork Rumpscratcha's Orcs:
29 Orcs: shields, full command
29 Savage Orcs: shields, full command (I had equipped them with spears but I forgot them.)
29 Black Orcs: banner and boss
1 Doom Diver
Orc Warboss: armor of destiny, spiteful shield
Black Orc Big Boss: heavy armor, shield, bsb, mork's war banner
Savage Orc Shaman: level 2, potion of toughness

The Orcs gained the first turn. The three massive units of orcs were a little intimidating. Then rubber twanged and a doom diver landed amidst the seaguard killing 5. The shaman sought to thin out the ranks even more but his magic missile fizzled in his mind (as I rolled snake eyes to cast.)

The great eagle flew out in front of his army and the dragon princes conservatively moved up the flank. The archmage enthroned himself on magical vines irresistably. But the shaman was not to be resisted from dispelling "dwellers below" and "flesh to stone." He was mightily assisted by the three dispel dice every turn from Mork's spirit totem. Is it only 3 or do you get as many dispel dice as you have ranks in that unit?

Then the Orcs let out a mighty shout and Waaaghed forward. The frenzied savage orcs charged the dragon princes whilst the other orcs merely marched forward hoping to magically waaagh into combat. Alas, it was not to be. (I rolled four 1s to cast waaagh.) The doom diver misfired. The savages killed 3 dragon princes, they broke, but they failed to catch the knights.
On his turn he rallies the dragon princes, the phoenix guard (and eagle?) charge the black orcs and the seaguard charge the savages flank. Flesh to stone is dispelled. Regrowth only regrows 2 seaguard. He fails to cast dwellers. Black Orcs make their break test. Combat is a draw with the savages. (do I get a free reform?) I fail my reform leadership check on the savages.

The Orc Horde charges into the Great Eagle flanking the Black Orcs. The Orc Shaman attempts to prevent the elves rerolling failed hits by casting Waaagh but the Archmage dispells it. The Doom diver kills maybe 5 archers. The The black orcs just barely pass their leadership check after failing combat. The horde of Orcs wounds the eagle but he'll just heal it with life magic. The Savage Orcs rout the seaguard and chase them down.

At this point I'm hopeful. The dragon princes and archers are handicapped. The seaguard is gone. The orc horde is going to squish that eagle and get into the flank of the phoenix guard. And hopefully I'll eventually come around with that savage orc block and either finish off the phoenixes or decimate the archers.

Orcs vs. High Elves part 2

Then the Dragon Princes charged the savages in the rump and the archers charged the black orcs in the flank. The archmage casts flesh to stone on the phoenix guard. He regrew one phoenix guard from regrowth. And I failed to dispel throne fo vines. Finally, he failed dwellers below on three dice. The noble issues a challenge to the black orc big boss who (can't believe he's doing this) slips to the back of the unit. The savage orcs failed their test to reform again (do I have to do this?)
Even though the orc warboss had moved over to get into contact with the eagle, the horde still doesn't kill the thing. Bird vs. Horde, bird wins. They fail their break test because they no longer have steadfast because his phoenix guard has more ranks than me. (I thought hordes were steadfast but I couldn't find that rule.) The eagle runs the horde down. The black orcs barely escape. The savages finally reform to face the dragon princes.

I rally my fleeing black orcs and angle them so that I can waaagh into the archers and get out of range of the phoenix guard. I get waaagh off, roll 7 inches for my doom diver team to walk forward and then roll snake eyes for the forward movement of the black orcs. They're done.

On his turn he charges the archers and the phoenix guard into the black orcs. This time the bsbs fight it out and, as I imagined, the black orc got slaughtered before he was even able to decide on a choppa to use. The eagle flies over to kill my doom diver. And he regrows a whole bunch of dragon princes.

The savages are still able to kill the dragon princes but the doom diver machine, not crew, loses it's combat result (charge) and flees off the board?

In the final turn of the game, he casts dwellers below on my savage orcs. Irresistable force. Half of them die. They fail their panic check and flee. Game over.

Post game thoughts: 30 is not enough for horde formation. I had originally thought of going horde on the orcs when I had them at 45 strong. Reduced down to 30, the horde formation gives plenty of attacks but not enough combat resolution and doesn't give steadfast. I chose to lower the number of orcs in that unit in order to afford protection for my characters. Of course the armor for my lord never came into play.

The mage lords seem much more capable of putting out damage than the warlords. Up to this point I've been playing with the Slann who is a strong lord choice. The orc warboss felt extremely weak by comparison. I'd given him those magic items in order to protect him from a high elf who would be striking first and rerolling misses.

I really like those savage orcs. No wonder they were the basis for my army back in the day. I kept forgetting about the spears but it's just as well, having that extra strength in the first round of every combat was better. Should I ever try the spears again?

I avoided using goblins because of fear but I'll probably take them next time against elves because the fear test isn't that bad, so long as they are in the leadership bubble.

I love using life magic. I don't like having it used on me.

Those phoenix guard are tough! They cost 2 points more than my black orcs and they get a 4+ ward save, striking first and usually rerolling hits. What they lack is the extra points of toughness, strength, and attack that black orcs with 2 choppas would have. That ward save is tought to get through. I think I'm going to have to use a character with the other trickster's shard on them since I don't have magic that negates it.

Lizardmen/Chaos vs. Ogres pics1

pics2

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Lizardmen/Chaos vs. Ogres pt 1

Villitch was in danger of losing control of his army...to Wulfrik. Wulfrik represented to him all that his brother had been: brawn, boasting, battle prowess. Villitch could barely stomach Wulfrik to operate in concert with him but now...now Wulfrik was gaining an upper hand in command of the legion. More and more marauders were flocking to his ship daily. Meanwhile, Villitch's own cadre of elite warriors was dwindling, succumbing to the madness of Chaos our else dying on the blades of the enemies most elite troops. Villitch needed to regain ascendancy in the legion, but how? He could not just kill Wulfrik in his sleep, he still needed him and Villitch didn't know if he could...

That night as the evil twin, Villitch slept, a vision came to him of the Lord of Change. He told him to step through the portal at the altar of chaos and he would be transported to Lustria where he could gain more troops. Troops that were under the will of one master. "Master their master and you will have power indeed. Even now, Tenochtitlan of the Slann is entertaining ambassadors, considering a campaign against chaos. If you can take over his mind, as you have others, you will have not only his magics at your disposal but also a new army. An army to rival Wulfrik's popularity.

So Villitch stepped through the portal that very night and was transported into a Lustrian temple. He proclaimed himself an emissary from Kislev entreating support in a campaign against Chaos. Tenochtitlan allowed him to enter his court and speak. That was his first mistake. Villitch spoke with great rhetoric of the need for assistance in the far north. But as he spoke he weaved a mighty spell into the mind of Tenochtitlan, mighty and subtle. And by the end of his speech, Tenochtitlan was under Villitch's sway, and so was a new army. Villitch recommended that they leave at once in order to gain the first move in a battle that was about to be underway. Tenochtitlan agreed. Of course he did.

Lizardmen Army: Slann with extra power dice, and immune to non-magical attacks and battle standard bearer. 25 Saurus with full command. 28 skinks with champion and standard and 3 kroxigor in a cohort, a salamander, a stegadon, a Scar Veteran riding a horned one with the initiative 10 sword.

Chaos Army: Villitch, Wulfrik with 39 marauders with full command, 2 units of 5 maruder horse, 3 dragon ogres, 10 chosen with the mark of tzeentch and a champion with 1 spell, Purple Sun.

Ogre Armies: Skreggers, Tyrant with Giant upgrade and killing blow, Giant, 7 bulls, 6 bulls, 6 bulls, 3 bulls, 2 units of 4 leadbelchers, 6 ironguts, and 20 gnoblars.

The swamp on the far left was a deadly swamp, you failed on a roll of 1 or 2 and if you failed, you died.

The Slann cast throne of vines on himself but his other buff spells were dispelled. Then the champion of the chosen threw all his dice at the purple sun and came up one short. The great bow killed one leadbelcher.

Skreggers kills a chosen and gives himself regeneration. The Bulls on the right with their tyrant fail their charge against the skinks terribly. The leadbelchers misfire horribly, killing one skink but in return also killing another leadbelcher.

Wulfrik manoevers Seafang up a river to the east and is able to come at the ogres from the right flank. The stegadon fails a charge at the Leadbelchers but the dragon ogres make it. The chosen champion orders the Marauder Horse up on the hilltop to protect his unit and to throw their axes down the hill at the ogres. The scar veteran joins the skink Kroxigor cohort. The skinks move over to challenge the bulls since the Tyrant Bulls will be managed by the marauders. This also protects the slann who gives the cohort +4 toughness for their protective move. Purple sun is conjured and then dispelled with a scroll. But then Villitch casts Gateway on Skreggers doing 3 wounds. The salamander moves into the swamp and does 1 wound to a bull but they easily pass their panic test. The dragon ogres make it into combat with the Leadbelchers but the combat is a draw.

The Tyrant and his bulls line up to face Wulfrik. The Leadbelchers stick around for another round in hand to hand with the dragon ogres. The Bulls charge the skink cohort and kill 10 skinks but the skinks manage to hold. The Ogre hero pounds the skink champion into a red smear. (overkill 1) Meanwhile the scar vet does nothing. But they pass their break test. The giant squashes the salamander with a monstrous stomp. The Bulls2 do some serious damage to the Saurus, taking out a rank and a half, but the lizards are still steadfast. Skreggers and the irongust both fail their charges. Skreggers gets some nasty buff spell off on the ironguts. (The stegadon doesn't actually fire like the map shows.)

Lizardmen/Chaos vs. Ogres pt 2

Then Wulfrik charges and challenges and is beat to a bloody pulp by the Tyrant. So much for Villitch's competition. But the marauder horde vastly overwhelms the Tyrants bulls and they fail their break test and are run down.

Skreggers holds off both Villitch and the Slann in the magic phase but doesn't bother to dispel throne of vines. The Stegadon goes for a Then the Skink Kroxigor cohort beats the Bulls3 in combat but they can't manage to catch up to them in pursuit. The leadbelcher vs. dragon ogre battle is still raging and drawing. The Marauder horse cause one wound with all their throwing axes. The stegadon goes for a longshot on Skreggers to kill him, but misses.

The gorgers finally enter the board but he fails to face them toward Villitch by mistake. He charges Villitch with three bulls but fails to make it, landing in the fireswamp, but the bulls are fine with warming their toes. Skreggers and the Ironguts finally make their charges though and demolish the marauder horse thus regaining lost wounds for Skreggers. The buffed Ironguts land in the chosen. The Saurus gain the upperhand in their combat and run down the bulls. The giant moves to pursue the Slann. The dragon ogres finally beat the leadbelchers.
Villitch kills a gorger and takes wounds off of Skreggers with magic. The marauder horde marches (not charges) over to the center of the board. The dragon ogres and the scar vet line up to deal with the leadbelchers in the tower. The skinks and the stegadon move to get into position on the center of the board. The slann edges out of the giant's charge arc. The saurus charge the gnoblars and demolish them.

The ogre bulls on the left charge and kill Villitch thus removing the slann from his spell. Now Tenochtitlan faces off directly against Skreggers, the last standing lord. The gorgers rush to get into the battle. Skreggers marches over to the center. The Ironguts turn to face the still buffed skinks. The giant moves to get off a charge. The leadbelchers obliterate the scar veteran in front of them with cannonfire.

Charge!!!! The dragon ogres assault the tower and this time they waste no time frolicking around with leadbelchers, they route them off the board in the first combat. The Skinks fail their charge against the ironguts. But the Slann and the Stegadon slam into an already wounded Skreggers. Skreggers allocates all of his attacks against the Slann before realizing that they don't affect him at all. The Slann is immune to non-magic attacks and Skreggers just has two regular hand weapons (literally, they're weapon hands.)

Lizardmen/Chaos vs. ogres pt. 3

The ironguts and the giant charge the skink cohort and route it. But now there's only two ironguts left and the giant is wounded too. Skreggers falls in combat as the mighty stegadon tramples him underfoot. The gorgers make a long dash to get into combat next turn and the last unit of bulls on the board turns to face the far off action.


The lizardmen and the maruders turn to face the surrounded ironguts and giant. The dragon ogres head back toward the battle. The slann buffs the saurus with +4 toughness and attempts to kill the final ogres with dwellers below. The stegadon shoots and misses.

The gorger charges the Saurus but is unable to do anything to the super-tough Saurii. The giant backs up to get a table quarter. And the last bulls head south to contest the southwestern table quarter.
Tenochtitlan orders his skinks to retrieve the barely breathing, bloodied body of Olmec the scar veteran as he watches the last of the ogre horde lumber off into the east. The Marauders had already left carrying Wulfrik's body to the ship.

How could he have let himself be so foolish as to not practice occlumancy when an ambassador came to parley. He would never let his guard down like that again. Ambassadors would get a colder welcome from here on out. A murmur escaped his lips as he laced his fingers through unseen strands of the geomantic web. He began the spell to bring his brood back to Lustria with him, folding space as the Old ones had taught his masters to do, he transported them back to their temple city. Safe and sound, except for a salamander and a scar veteran.

One turn game

The forest is fugus forest, the pond is a khemrian quicksand I think, and the altar and statue we played as nothing since it wasn't until after I deployed that he told me what they were.

My army: (Tenochtitlan) Slann with 2 disciplines, bsb. (Toltec) scar vet with horned one mount and initiative 10 sword. (Olmec) scar vet with always strikes first and glittering scales (hehehe)
And (Maya) level 1 skink priest on engine of the gods. 2 salamander packs, a unit of 9 cold one calvary with standard, 24 lizardmen with spears, full command, a unit of 28 skinks and 3 kroxigor, full command, a unit of 10 skink skirmishers, and a stegadon.

His stuff: Wizard Lord with an extra spell, Warlord with chaos runeshield and ogre blade and bloodcurdling roar riding a steed of slaanesh, a level 2 nurgle sorceror. Then there was 2 units of dogs 5 and 10 strong. A unit of 10 forsaken, mark of khorne, with a champion who had the random spell chaos magic item. 2 units of 15-20 warriors, one with the mark of khorne. And last placed...10 chaos knights with mark of khorne.

So we finally deploy and roll for spells. The thing was, lots of his army was just from the store showcase. It made for a nicer looking game but... I just figure if you don't have the models lets play a lower cost game and get it all done faster.

So I choose metal for something different since everything looks pretty heavily armored. He chooses nurgle magic for his level 2 in the tower and 5 dark magic for his level 4 in the tower and another dark magic spell for a champion in his khorne warriors unit who has a special ability to choose a spell at random. (I don't think this dude should be allowed in a khornate unit.) At this point I don't care what he gets I just want to get the game on with. I take all of metal since I have the discipline of loremaster and exchange for the signature spell. On my skink priest, level 1, I get wind blast.

So he got first turn, which was good for him because it didn't allow me to get up my potent of warding on my engine of the gods. I also told him about the vanguard move because he was explaining that his steed of slaanesh was fast cavalry. But now that I think back, I'm not sure he should have been able to make that vanguard move since he's not fast cav. He's heavily armored.

Anyway in his movement he moves that chaos lord way up to threaten my slann. Then he frenzies my skirmisher skinks who were about to get some good shots on him. Then he also gets off purple sun on my skrox cohort. I'm okay with that because the skinks Initiative is fine... but Kroxigors aren't. One Krox and 3 skinks bite the dust.

I charged his lord with the skirmishers because I had to. I charged the lord with my scar vet on horned one to hold him up so that my slann could continue to operate without problem.

On my turn I don't declare charges on his doggies on the right flank or on his knights on the left. I think that was a mistake. I had wanted to hold back as much as possible because I knew what monsters chaos were in hand to hand. Plus I knew that I had ranged weapons that he didn't have. I'm still unsure about whether or not I should have charged. So I tried to buff my skinks in combat with the Lord with armor piercing but he dispelled it. Then I tried to do the 2d6 strength signature spell on his knights. I could wipe these guys out. But... I failed to cast. I had 2 dice left over and I tried to cast windblast to push his khornate warriors back into the forsaken causeing damage. But alas the priest failed too. So much for running the magic phase. Purple son also took out a couple more skinks in the cohort.

The salamanders did manage to kill 3 knights on the left flank. Woot! The other salamander ate three handlers. The warriors were just barely out of range for my skrox cohort to fire. But this time I had given the skink priest the staff of the lost sun instead of an extra level because I never end up using the preist. So anyway the staff of the lost son killed one warrior from the khornate unit. But I had to hit on 6s. That item has to go on a skink chief. I should have just given the priest a dispel scroll.

In combat with his Lord I excitedly declare that I have initiative 10 but then he says that he has the magic item that cancels out other magic items. So he distributes and gets a wound on Toltec and maybe 4 on the skinks. Toltec returns one wound. The cold blooded ones stick around for another round.

He was under the impression that his frenzied knights had to charge the closest unit. I don't think this is the case but I didn't question it. So he utterly destroyed the salamander, repaying it for burning up three of his costly knights. I know that he gets a free reform after destroying my unit but does he also get to free move into my cold one cavalry? I didnt think so.

The smaller hounds charged my skrox cohort and lost two in the process. I couldn't figure out whether they would have to take a panic test right then or whether they just finish their charge. In the rule book it only talked about taking a panic test in the shooting phase but I think they probably should have had to take a panic check.

His large hounds charged my stegadon and now I'm wondering why I didn't just charge his hounds last turn. I didnt' charge his hounds so that I could shoot one more time with the giant bow. But which is more effective, the giant bow or d6 impact hits, attacks, d6 stomp hits? I guess I also had the salamander which misfired and ate all its handlers.

So I learned from this game that it's better to set your game up in advance against someone you know. And if they don't have the models, just play a smaller points value game.

Orcs vs. Lizardmen short

I got together with a friend to give him a trial run of warhammer fantasy. He usually plays historical (black hawk down, desperado, circus maximus, civil war, fire and fury, etc.) He usually trounces me on tactics because he’s cautious, but this time he was feeling rather impetuous in order to get a quick feel for the rules.

Orcs and Goblins

14 wolf riders (shields, bows, boss, banner)

10 spider riders (boss, bows, banner)

38 night goblins (bows, boss, banner, 3 fanatics)

19 savage orcs (bows, boss, banner, musician)

29 black orcs (banner ad boss)

2 spear chukkas

2 doom divers

1 GIANT

goblin shaman level 2 on wolf (2 magic missile spells)

goblin hero gorblum (battle standard bearer, spider banner)

Black Orc big boss morglum (heavy armor)

Savage Orc Shaman level 2 (dispel scroll)

Orc Warboss Zork Rumpscratcha on Wyvern (waagh cleava, shield, armor)

Lizardmen

28 skinks (brave, standard, 3 krox)

19 saurus (full command)

10 skink skirmishers w brave

stegadon

9 cold ones

2 salamanders

scar veteran (l.armor, warrior bane, horned one, shield)

priest level 2 on

ancient stegadon

slann w 2 disciplines (+1 die each spell, loremaster) and bsb

oldblood (great weapon, gambler’s armor, luckstone)

So Orcs and Goblins go first. Everybody passes animosity. In movement he brings his wyvern over into the center and moves forward with the wolf riders to get their shots off. The black orcs march forward, the archers manoever, the Savages, spiders, and giant go full forward down the flank.

In magic, Gork goes on the warpath rolling 6 hits each stomp before wandering off. This was a great spell for him to get on my cold ones, killing 3 of them. Oh and he miscast, giving himself a wound.

Shooting also seriously damaged the saurus. YOU DON:T HAVE TO GUESS RANGES ANYMORE!?! wow. I was usually dead on, but that makes warmachines much better since they’ve got randomness already worked in with the misfire dice. Anyway, a total of 8 sauri were taken out by magic and shooting. I tested after losing 5 in magic and they passed panic. Do I have to test each time? I don’t thinks so. The chukkas didn’t hit this time and one doom diver scattered off. What’s the rule for them now? They can still only correct d3? doesn’t matter, he was way off.

Lizard turn. Everybody moved forward. During magic, the priest who had wind blow of lameness spell and something else just made the engine do the gungan shield. (I should only take a level 1 here with the default spell. I just haven’t gotten into heavens yet. All my dice are usually taken by the everliving slann.)

Slann gives himself a throne of vines irresistible force. So the spell gets worked out first right and then I get to roll a 2+ and the miscast doesn’t count. How sweet is that! So he’s fine. Then I go all in for dwellers on the savages and kill 11 including his shaman. Do they get ward saves on that? I forgot their ward saves. woops.

Then in shooting I just barely singe the chinny chin chin of a savage with a salamander. It doesn’t wound. Then the great bow hits the wyvern! Now here I need some help. Does it randomize? Do both get skewered? We rolled and it hit his General. 2 wounds! Ouch. I love my wyvern model but it is just really open to war machine fire in the new rules.

His turn. He waagh’s. Wolf riders get into the skink skirmishers, Black orcs roll low and fail. Zork flies in (how do flying charges work? 3d6 plus ?) he waaghed forward and then we let him charge 20 in. The spider riders charge in. The giant doesn’t make it. Does a giant benefit from a waagh? We didn’t have him move an extra d6.

Night goblins shoot with 20 poisoned shots and kill maybe one guy. Savage Orcs don’t kill anybody. Doom Divers crash down on Ancient stegadon killing all but one crew and the steg Steg gets one wound. Again I wasn’t sure exactly how to work this so we put 1 strength 9 hit on the priest and one on the steg. Priest was gone even with his ward save. Steg only took one wound. 3 crew die.

At this point I remember my stand and shoot reactions. I had tested for terror from the giant and stayed. So the skinks put a hail of javelins into the Wyvern (over half range, stand and shoot, but large target so 5,6 is that right?) Anyway we randomize the hits again and the warlord dies, bites it before he ever sees combat. Ouch. And the wyvern takes a wound and GRRRRs from his reaction table. Wolf riders on the other hand don’t take any wounds from stand and shoot.

In magic he dispels throne of vines.

In close combat the skink skirmishers get slaughtered but hold due to insane courage. 3 poisoned attacks kill 3 skinks without flesh to stone on them yet. Krox whiffs. If he’s in the middle of my 3 kroxs, do supporting attacks go diagonal as well. I thought not so I only had one krox attack. I forgot the thunderstomp. AND FEAR, so I test and pass. Anyway, Orcs and Goblins are pretty pitiful on the charges now due to not going first. Finally, the spiders get demolished and caught. Those saves are pretty invulnerable to most troops.

So my friend had to go at this point but in a hypothetical next round. The wolf riders would have won and reformed ready for a charge next turn on the skrox. The stegadon would charge the black orcs. The skrox would try to defeat the wyvern and overrun into the black orcs but fail. The Ancient Stegadon would charge the black orcs too. The saurus would march up. Sallies would singe the savages and they in turn would flee. The cold ones would turn to face the giant. The slann would cast dwellers on the night goblin archers if they weren’t fleeing already from a 2 failed panic tests from their general biting it.

Thoughts after the game. Even though I wasn’t playing Orcs and Goblins, I learned a few things for them. Warmachines are a must. Wyverns are not. Put all my guys in big blocks. Don’t worry about that stupid spider banner strategy. I haven’t figured out where to put my casters yet. I’d like them mounted for the save and to get in range but I don’t want them racing in and being unable to cast their spells. And maybe a look out sir would be better than a save.

Remember thunderstomp and steadfast! Oh and stupidity, I forgot that.

Lizardmen thoughts…Slann life build is beardy. All I need now is some temple guard to protect this guy and he owns. And I’m not tired of the cold one cavalry yet. I like that save, now if I could just get them to actually flank someone.