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

pics3

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.