Hello all,
I finally found some time to post a battle report from our annual gaming session. One of the players in our group made an Orc village so we decided to use it as the centerpiece of the battle along with some (low) cliff faces I had made. It was a battle between 6.000 points of HE and Empire vs 5000 points of O&G, 3 players per side. I was acting as referee and helped out the Empire player who only played his second Warmaster battle ever. It turned out I only had to explain some rules, he had sufficient tactics up his sleeve.
The ScenarioThe scenario was quite simple: High Elf and Empire troops are attacking an Orc settlement in an overseas region - part of a colonisation project by Marienburger merchants. HE and Empire troops were marching upriver when scouts reported an Orc village further upstream in a valley. The scouts also found a second entrypoint into the valley from where light troops could enter.
The BattlefieldBelow you can find a picture of the battlefield. The valley is surrounded by cliffs that can not be entered by regular troops. Only fliers can move up the cliff sides. There is a bridge over the river in the center of the table just across the village.
DeploymentThe O&G army had to be divided into 3 parts:
- A force defending the village - which was entirely deployed within the village
- A force to counter the colonists - these had to be deployed between the rulers on the picture
- A supporting force that was about 1500 points and that could only deploy during the first O&G turn
The colonist armies (each 2000 points) had to deploy as specified in the WMA deployment from march rules. The marching order was determined before the O&G army was deployed. The HE Light Army entry point was only suitable for light troops, meaning no silver helms and no bolt throwers. The total HE army list restrictions were based on 4000 points so the HEs could deploy quite some heavy cavalry coming from the bottom of the table.
The colonists decided to deploy the empire troops on the left bank of the river. The heavy HE army would be faster in defeating the O&G defenders and march up the bridge. The Empire player would rush some heavy cavalry to reinforce the light HE army and try to disorganize the O&G army by threatening the river flank with cannons and flagellants.
O&G Deployment
The O&G players put almost all of their cavalry in the reinforcement army. They deployed two small brigades of spider riders and boar riders across the river to threaten the HE cavalry. The other troops were deployed out of sight for any artillery with some really heavy troops close to the Heavy HE deployment zone. Alas they didn't put any cavalry onto that flank which would make it a bit useless to attack HE cavalry and chariot units.
Colonists turn 1The colonists had a very good first turn. Quite some commands succeeded on all three flanks:
- The Light HE force managed to get quite far with all troops getting two units of reavers and two units of archers in range of the boar riders and spider riders. Combined with some magic they were able to drive off these units and let them bump into the nearby forest. Two stands destroyed and all units confused - not bad for a first turn. not visible on the picture is a unit of giant eagles that was moved to the top of the ridge to threaten the O&G flank for subsequent turns.
- Two brigades of Empire knights (3 units each) valiantly moved forward to help the high elves against the upcoming green tide. One unit of cannons was able to get quite far onto the table as well.
- The heavy HE force managed to move all of its units. A lot of infantry moved quite far, followed by two units of Silver Helms and two units of bolt throwers. The bolt throwers took a good aim at the goblins that were in front of the Trolls and managed to completely destroy the unit.
Orc & Goblin turn 1The O&G army had a few really bad commands this turn:
- The giant brigade tried to charge the bolt throwers this turn but got stuck after a first failed command. And apart from a brigade of infantry that pivoted the entire flank did not move (or didn't want to move). A few good shots with the doomdivers managed to kill a stand of knights. The other knights refused to make way, preferring to keep the remaining 2 stands to stay put while they headed to the bridge.
- On the other flank the reinforcement army arrived. The boar riders only got a single succesful command, keeping them stuck on the ridge (exposing their flank to the eagles). The chariots managed to get two successful commands getting them very near but not into the reavers.
All in all a frustrating turn, but nothing compared to what would happen in the Colonists' turn...
Colonist turn 2Another good turn for the colonists on both flanks.
On the bottom side of the river the knights only slowly progressed but several other infantry units managed to get on the table, including two units of flagellants that urged the cannon crew to look to the other side of the river where four giants were neatly lined up, ready to receive Sigmar's rage under the form of a cannonball.
A 4-unit brigade of chariots and silver helms also entered the valley and like a bat out of hell (3 successful commands) they charged into a the Orc brigade. Only a single stand survived by fleeing into the river.
In the meanwhile the HE bolt throwers were also aiming for the 600 point brigade. The result was devastating: one giant killed and two other giants confused. At that point one of the O&G commanders already wanted to give up. Their battle plan with the heavy giant&troll flank totally gone up in smoke.
On the other flank the giant eagles crashed into the boar riders' flank totally destroying one unit and crippling a second one. The archers and reavers managed to keep the other units at bay, again causing confusion amongst the O&G troops. In the meanwhile another wave of HE reinforcements arrived on the table.
Orc&Goblin turn 2The second O&G turned out to herald the downfall of the O&G army.
The confused giants didn't really do anything. The trolls tried to take over the job but also stranded after one command in plain sight of the elven artillery. More than half of the 10! O&G Shamans tried to cast spells to destroy the bolt throwers but Gork and Mork did not come to their aid!
Some Orc units surrounded the remaining elven chariots and destroyed them in pure Orc fashion but suffering quite some casualties in the process.
Meanwhile on the other flank things went from bad to worse. The O&G players had made the mistake of only having two heroes on that flank. Not only did some commands fail - leaving a lot of wolf riders stranded - but one of the heroes decided it was more honorable to personally lead the charge into the reavers. Two units of chariots plus a unit of boar riders plus a hero - against two units of reavers.
The HE player must have fudged the dice in that turn because the elves won the combat and managed to wipe out the chariots in the ensuing fight - killing the hero in the process. This left the O&G cavalry flank with only a single commander.
Turn 3At that point the loss of the O&G players was already quite certain (and my wife left with the camera so I didn't take any systematic pictures anymore).
On the Giant flank the silver helms first destroyed the trolls and two remaining giants. The last giant was left badly wounded and would not pose a further threat during the battle. The Elven force was aided by the flagellants that crossed the river (killing the swimming Orcs in the progress) and helped to put pressure on the O&Gs near the village.
in the centre of the table the empire knights went closer to the bridge and the light HE force took advantage of the disarray in the Orc battle line. The Orcs - tired of being shot by archers - decided to cross the river but had second thoughts halfway through - the orcish thing to do.
Subsequent turnsThere was some fierce fighting on the bridge where the knights charged the Ogres but were pushed back and nearly destroyed by a flank attack by the swimming Orcs (oh boy).
The remaining turns were a slow wearing down of troops until the O&G force reached it's break value, nearly breaking the fast HE army.
AftermathThe O&G players were not so familiar with their army, with two out of three players that played O&G for the first or second time. They might have overestimated the giant brigade which turned out to be a 600 point brigade that was stopped by three units of artillery. This had a big psychological impact as well - a battle plan that collapses after less than an hour into the game.
They also fielded quite large brigades for O&G, when I field them I try to make them smaller and I throw in more heroes as well. They also didn't use any Gerroff spells which I thought would have a serious impact given the slow deployment of the troops.
The central O&G army could also have used some additional cavalry as well to take out the advancing elves. But let's face it - they had a few very bad initial turns with bad dice rolls as well. Imagine having 10 shamans casting the same 5+ spell and only 1 or 2 succeeding. Or three doom divers not hitting a single thing in a crucial turn.
The Empire player had a very big impact on the game. The quick advancement of the knights put quite some confidence in the light HE force and the devastating giant-bowling-cannonballs had a decisive impact on the game as well. The flagellants managed to hit further into the O&G troops than the heavy HE force as well. On top of all this the Empire player only suffered minimal losses (I don't think Empire only lost one complete unit). With this as a second game he is certainly a player to reckon with.
The scenery for this battle was the best we ever had. I invested in Kallistra terrain a few years back. For our previous group battle I made the river, this time it was completed with the modular rock faces. One of the Orc players created the village so I was a bit obliged to paint as many greenskins as I could.
There was quite some discussion on using the hexes however. I had played 3 battles using hexes instead of measuring before, each time with great success (the kallistra hexes are 10cm across so stands can move 1, 2 or 3 hexes). But this time there was a lot of discussion on the fairness of it (only coming from the O&G side for some reason). I'll have to review my rules a bit as now a stand can be in 2 hexes at the same time.
Again a nice day well spent!
Take care,
Jo
