The Battle of Osterwald - Part 5

This is the continuation of our battle report. You can find the previous part here, or go back to the start here.

Orcs Turn 5

Azhag the Slaughterer had fallen, but the battle continued. The fleeing night goblins on the eastern side of the forest rallied, however their kinsmen continued their retreat. The orc horde also regained its composure right in front of the flagellants, but the now-leaderless trolls continued their shambling advance in the wrong direction, with little hope they would ever recover.

Most of the units in this picture were fleeing at the start of the turn, and only the orcs and one of the night goblin regiments managed to rally.

The wyvern behind the Empire lines charged the rear of the nearby crossbowmen, and though they tried briefly to fight, their hearts were not in it. They fled and were trampled and chewed upon by the marauding beast, to the approval of his black orc rider.

The emperor was doing his best to keep the ruined tower between himself and the enemy, but Deathclaw was a very large target, and he was not entirely hidden. A strange shrieking seemed to be coming from overhead, and as Karl Franz looked up, it became rapidly louder before a gleeful doom diver cannoned into the griffon at unimaginable speed, felling both the beast and of course the suicidal goblin himself. The emperor himself managed to roll free of the mess and stagger to his feet, looking sadly at the crumpled form of his companion.

Oh no, the griffon is gone!

Yes, I know this is undignified. I never made a model for you to run around on foot, I'm afraid...

Presented with the irresistible target of the flank of the demigryph knights right in front of them, the black orcs gleefully bellowed a charge. They were only a little surprised when their prey turned and fled rather than facing them (or not facing them, given they were looking the other way), but instead turned their attention to the swordsmen. In a disgusting display of cowardice, the swordsmen also turned and ran, but were not quick enough to elude the charging orcs, and were hacked to pieces.

The demigryphs decide being flank-charged would be terrible, so they flee. The black orcs settle for charging the swordsmen instead, and they also flee.... but not fast enough.

The swordsmen are caught, leaving the black orcs free to reform looking back at their original fleeing targets, with a nervous-looking hurricanum in between.

The remaining volley gun had been firing at the approaching squig hoppers, but they were a difficult target and very few shots had found their target. The crew now found it was time for them to regret their inaccuracy as the squigs bounded into them and tore them to shreds.

Help! We're being eaten!

Further to the east, the halberdiers had been putting up a heroic resistance against the idol of Gork. The stone monstrosity had culled nearly half the regiment, but still they held their ground. The situation took a turn however, when a regiment of goblins worked their way around into the flank and did their best to undermine the halberdiers' brave stand.

Goblins arrive to tip the scales. Well, they were already pretty tipped. They arrived to jump up and down on the already one-sided scales...

Nasty skulkers appear in the goblin ranks, reveling in the chance to hack at enemies who were really not in any position to defend themselves.

Even to the last, the halberdiers fought bravely. The soldiers on the end managed to hack down a couple of goblins, whilst the rest hurled themselves one last time at the unstoppable brute to their front. Once again they managed to land a single seemingly telling blow before they finally admitted defeat and broke, only to be run down and trampled by the rogue idol, the momentum of which carried it into the flank of the nearby greatswords. 

Having lost steadfast, the halberdiers finally break and are run down.

Rather frustratingly, the greatswords are interrupted in their efforts to dislodge the orcs from the tower by the arrival of the rogue idol.

Scribe's notes:

Black Orcs in centre declare a charge on the Demigryphs who flee, redirect into swordsmen and run them down, reform towards the Huricanum. Goblins in the centre charge flank of swordsmen holding up the Dark Giant and Yellow fanatic reverses towards Knights Panther.  Boar chariot in centre rallies, as did the Night Goblins and Orks in the centre, and the Gobbo spearmen on the far right. Ork Boar Riders near the centre tower wheel around towards Demigryphs while the Wyvern charges the crossbowmen in the hill in the rear.

Magic - Hand of Gork dispelled, no other magic.

Doom Diver takes out Deathclaw - KF on foot!  Bolt thrower on Empire far right misfires when shooting at Knights Panther

Wyvern takes out the crossbowmen in a round of combat..  Swordsmen vs Dark Giant are hit in flank by Gobbo ninjas and lose a casualty and kill 2 Gobs in return.  The swordsmen then do a wound on the Giant, who does 5 casualties and the regular Gobs do 2 casualties.  Out on the far left of the Empire left, the remaining Black Orks are wiped out by the Venators and the rest of the Orks and Gobbos there fail leadership and leave en masse, with a single unti of Goblin spears left out there!  The Flagellants win and wheel into the Orks.

Empire Turn 5

The field was beginning to clear as regiments from both sides fled or were destroyed. The knights on the western flank had wiped out the remainder of the smaller black orc regiment, and turned to advance along behind the enemy lines, although to what end it is hard to say. The spearmen turned in toward the remaining fighting, seemingly forgetting about the completely vacant tower nearby.

The flagellants wheeled about and engaged the newly rallied orcs next to them. Many were unable to get to grips with the enemy, and their enthusiasm for flailing themselves suffered as a result. Seeking to aid them, the Light wizard cast Speed of Light upon them, but lost control of the spell and it seared itself from his memory.

Speed of Light should have given the flagellants an enormous advantage in this combat, but they failed to give themselves even re-rolls to hit with their halfhearted self-flagellation, and then 4 of the 8 wounded orcs managed to parry their attacks!

Even with magically enhanced skills and lightning fast reflexes, the flagellants fought miserably. They were beaten by the orcs, and forced to contemplate their potentially imminent dooms more cool-headedly than they would have liked. 

The flagellants slide along after losing combat, Frenzy, and the strength bonus for their flails. Well, they dug this hole for themselves. I was rolling for them by this point... Can you tell?

Realising they were not being immediately pursued, the demigryph knights rallied their formation and turned to face the approaching black orcs.

It's better than being flanked, but it's hard to hold out much hope when there are still so many black orcs, with that lunatic with the axe at their head.

Still in mourning over the loss of his griffon and with the enemy closing in all around, Karl Franz spotted the fleeing trolls and sought to take out his grief upon their miserable hides. The trolls took the battle cry behind them as their queue to hasten their departure, and he stumbled to a halt not far from where he had started, alone and bereft of purpose.

After a quick wardrobe change to allow him to actually stand on a base, the emperor declares a charge on the trolls to try to speed them off the table before rolling terribly and basically not moving at all.

On the eastern flank, the Knights Panther had been enduring a steady barrage of rocks, sticks and flying goblins as they closed on the artillery. There were not many of them left, but enough to deal with the pitiful resistance they encountered when they arrived.

The Knights Panther make it to the hill in the Orc back-lines and start to Pacman through the artillery.

The rogue idol crashed into the flank of the greatswords, crushing almost a quarter of their regiment with its brutal charge. Somehow they then managed to force it back and hold their ground, turning their formation to better get to grips with their assailant.

 

The rogue idol killed 14 greatswords on the charge, but they were up for the challenge and reformed to get some attacks in next turn.

Having sat trapped behind the halberdiers and forced to watch their eventually demise, Kurt Helborg now roared for blood as the Reiksguard lowered their lances and charged the goblins.

Finally free to join the fight, the Reiksguard crash into the goblins.

Led by the flashing blades of the nasty skulkers, the goblins did not go down without a fight. The already-wounded beast wizard was cut from his saddle, and the Reiksmarshall himself sustained a nasty stab wound to his side. A few of the knights also fell, but the goblins took the worst of it and with typical greenskin tenacity, they turned and bolted - but did not get far.

Thanks largely to my saving throws, the goblins actually nearly won this fight. But once they lost, their steadfast leadership was not enough to convince them to stick around for another go, and they were ridden down.

Scribe's notes:

Speed of Light is cast at the cost of a level of Magic.  Boosted whatever fails.

Dark Giant kills 14 Great Swords but they stand. Gobbos fight Reiksguard and lose 8, kill the Beast Wizard and inflict a total of 5 wounds. Gobbos flee and are run down. Flagellants do 28 attacks on a horde of Orks, for 8 wounds and 4 casualties (parry saves!), taking 3 wounds in return. The lose combat but stand.

End of Turn 5

You can find the final part of the report here.