"Boss, there's fresh green pasture across that ford." The leader of the centaur scouts reported to the Minotaur Lord Ky-Grox as he reclined under a tree, chewing the cud.
"Last time you told me that, there was a troll under the bridge!"
"It's a ford this time boss..."
"Great, let's get the boys together then."
"But there are Elves and Dwarves eyeing up each other the other side instead!"
"Dinner and a show, what else can we desire!"
We decided to do something different and dust off Warband, especially as Jarkko and John were both down the club at the same time!
My new terrain cloth from Loke, just because...
Three armies were involved:
Jarkko with Hugh Elves (all Pendraken), they're like High Elves, but nicer!
D6 + 2 general
D6 + 2 Mage
2 x knights with fierce, one was also a hero.
2 warriors with formed
2 archers with powerful
1 Guards archers with resolute.
John was trying out his dwarves for the first time (from his Battle of Five Armies set, this stuff goes for serious money on eBay! ) and a set of 15mm Magister Militum Stone elemental.
D6 + 2 general
D6 + 1 Mage
Three warriors
Artillery with powerful
Stone Gollom
Me with Taurians, also from Pendraken
D6 General (fierce, fear, powerful)
D6-1 Shamen (fierce, fear, powerful)
3 minotaurs (all fierce, fear, powerful)
1 Centaurs
1 Centaur Knights with impetuous, fierce and powerful
1 Centaur archers with parting shot
We randomized the scenario, and got Take the River Ford
Another randomization, saw John being the defender, me being the attacker, and Jarkko laughing at us.
This meant John had to pay for the river (5 points out of 8), I had to pay for the road (2 points out of 6) and Jarkko got away Scot free, so would have all 8 of his terrain points to spend!
So, what to buy with the rest of the points?
John went for a hill, I took a small piece of impassible, trying to limit the ways into the ford, the only crossing point on the river. Jarkko took two small and one large hill. We randomised where the terrain should go. John's hill rolled a 1, my impassable pond went in sector 1, as near to the crossing as possible. All Jarkko's hills went, in sector 1! This meant nothing elsewhere, and a very tightly packed table quarter!
We then decided the easiest thing to do was randomise deployment, as the standard deployment rules wouldn't work, we used the rule of 1,2,3,4 5 owner picked, 6 opponents pick. John, defending, rolled... 1! Then I rolled, a 1! Then Jarkko rolled a 1!!!!!
8 straight 1s between us.
So, we went John in 1, me opposite in 4, and Jarkko in 3, all rushing for the ford. No one could start within 4BW of the enemy, and all had to be 3BW away from teh river, so no force had an advantage, the race was on.
Deployment underway, note the hills of John's homelands!
Well, in John's case, not so rushing, as his dwarves have only got short legs! More embassingly, he had not bought 'hillwalkers' special ability for his army of Hill Dwarves, so would be moving at half speed over those hills! D'oh!
Final deployment, John top left, Jarkko to the right, me to the bottom right. Not the pond also butting up to the hill, this would further hamper the Dwarves (not great swimmers, by all accounts). Jarkko appears to be forming square, but he was planning to swing out and make an early dash for the ford.
Which, aided by a boost from his mage. he did. The objective only goes 'live' on turn 3, but it would stop my minotaurs forming an early bridgehead.
Behind the knights, the elven archers formed a line facing off against the (slowly) approaching dwarf warriors. The Elven guard continued their reputation from previous games, and decided not to move!
One thing about the Taurian army is they have great mobility, and aided by their Lord, were also quickly contesting the ford.
Of course, one unit was not quite as speedy!
Nor were the centaurs or centaur archers, the only real firepower in the army, normally a minor distraction, but in this game they would be able to fire over the river at anything approaching the crossing. We were not going to have to face the fearsome elven archers!
Also, at the top, Jarkko's mage decided to wander off towards the dwarven line, by himself. That could not end well!! The dwarf mage immediately put three dice into a long range 'stone shower' magic missile that was rather powerful and knocked off one of the the daydreaming mages wounds off.
John had moved his heavy artillery up to the top of the hill, and was rubbing hands with glee, unfortunately, he also managed to park his Dwarf lord right in front of the guns, so they wouldn't be firing just yet, much to John's annoyance! Also, his heaviest hitters, the Stone Gollums, were stuck at the back, had the lowest motivation and movement of his force, they would not be hitting hard soon!
Not sure how, but up against two D6+2 generals, I won the initiative with my Minotaur Lord! I managed to get my javelin armed centaurs up to help guard the ford, and the centaur knights were now in a position to support the bridgehead. There was only one thing to do, CHARGE!
Through the ford, the first unit of minotaurs splashed as they stampeded into Jarkko's isolated knights.
You rememeber that wandering mage? Well, the Dwarf warriors decided that this was too good an opportunity to miss, and piled into him.
This could have been fairly one sided, but a brace of powerful Elven magic missiles evened it up for the pointy-eared daydreamers!
As John closed, the Elfs shooting was starting to bite, except he missed.
Allowing the Dwarves to move up in support of the warriors. A nice, soft elven underbelly had presented itself to the doughty warriors!
The minotaurs swung! Five dice, four hits! RESULT! They had also taken a hit from my centaur archers as the minotaurs had charged in. Five hits was going to tell, especially as four were powerful! The knights... fearing the bull-headed monsters, missed, completely!
The elves were not going to stand for this, their knights withdrew, with two wounds left, and their heroic knights levelled their lances, and charged in.
Both sides retired, but the charge shattered my minotaurs, who routed back down the road! Meanwhile, the elf mage had fought hard, but could not stand his ground, and was safely back in his lines. Jarkko finally got the guard archers moving, taking the place of the spell weavers! His Guards were hit from two sides, by two enveloping dwarf warrior units. However, they took so many hits they also had to withdraw, routing, hand the closing fire from Jarkko's archers had caused enough hits that the other enveloping warrior unit also had to retire. This allowed the guards to redeem themselves after their initial reticence.
John had managed to get his hero off the hill, clearing the sight lines of his artillery to fire on Jarkko's archers, four shots, four hits! The archers pulled back, looking slightly discombobulated!
Jarkko positioned his warriors to hold the ford, and block the dwarves from reaching it.
The next turn, things were getting rather involved!
John grabbed the initiative, he managed to get his stone gollums across the hill (ironically, the only unit in his army to actually have the 'hillwalker' ability, and also turned his artillery to target the ford. His general stormed forwards to contact Jarkko's elven warriors, and then charged the guard archers,
John slammed his general into Jarkko's warriors in an attempt to reach the ford. He recharged the Elven Guards (top) and carried on trudging forwards with the rest of his army. This charge was enough to shatter both units. The Dwarf Lord had previously rallied a breaking warrior unit, but these doughty warriors were out of luck, they had nowhere to run and evaporated!
Across the ford, my Centaur Knights charged Jarkko's knights, and who then brought in his heroic knights as a support (not a direct charge, so suffered from not getting their massive charge bonus). My minotaurs stormed across the bridge to slam into the rear of the elf warriors, whose time on this mortal plain was limited.
See that big, elf, shaped hole?
I'm ignoring the huge tally of hits inflicted on my knights there, honest! For the elves, the upper unit of knights also fled (thanks to some assisted shooting from their flank) and the minotaurs joined them, splashing back across the ford. The Centaur knights could have routed too, but they managed to save two wounds, and just retired back down the road.
Jarkko and John threw everything at each other, the stone gollum charged, facing Jarkko's archers. Unfortunately, John had forgotten to check the Mohs Scale, and while a stone gollum had been summoned, it was obviously as Talc gollum! Jarkko's lord and other warriors piled into the Dwarf Lord. The elf general had 8 points spare, all of which were added to the combat, and all...
MISSED!
With this, the Elves disintegrated.
The elves shattered, being well over half points, they could not retain their position on the field. The Dwarves and Taurians agreed that, as night fell, honours were shared, and that would stay on their own side of the ford!
Ky-Grox observed the scene as he wiped his cleaver on the lush grass near the ford. "Nah, we shan't have that grass, it's too bloodstained!"
Excellent evening's gaming gentlemen! Looks like a lot of fun.
ReplyDeleteIn that last turn I could have just sit back and play for a draw but that is not my style. My armies either win gloriously or die gloriously. This time it was the latter, a week ago the former. Have to say though that I was expecting a bit more from my general with 8 points in that last turn. Probably a traitor, bought with dwarven gold!
ReplyDeleteA great report and nice looking armies.
ReplyDeleteExcellent battle report
ReplyDeleteTake care
Andy