The Battle of Heffengen - Part 2

This post is part 2 of the report on the Battle of Heffengen. You can read part 1 here.

Before we continue, I should mention that there are a great many characters involved in this game, however most of them are moving as part of larger units, and so I didn't note them down. There was also a Tzeentch sorcerer kicking about on a flying disc who I didn’t bother to track (because, you know, priorities). You’ll just have to bear with me and accept that some of the detail didn’t make it onto the maps.

Chaos Turn 2

Chaos Turn 2

Time to engage

The Chaos forces close in on the eastern flank as Vlad looks on from his boat

Wave after wave of Chaos troops move up

The opening Empire salvo had been impressive, but it was not enough to completely arrest the momentum of the Chaos assault. All across the field, bitter combats began to erupt.

On the west flank, the hounds recovered their wits and realised the pistoliers that had taunted them previously were still within reach. They surged forward, and although the Empire pistols brought down a few more of the dogs, this time they would not be denied. Men shouted and horses screamed as the pack leapt into the fray. With casualties mounting on both sides, the hounds drove the pistoliers from the field, chasing close behind.

The daemon prince of Nurgle swept over the heads of the Khornate ogres and into a large regiment of swordsmen. The ogres would have followed, however they were delayed when they engaged in a heated debate about who was the angriest, which looked likely to come to blows very quickly. If this bothered the daemon prince in the slightest, he didn’t show it. Instead he set about hacking apart the Empire swordsmen, their raised shields and defensive formation doing little to slow his bloody rampage.

The Nurgle daemon prince decides to pick on a soft target rather than looking for a real challenge. Bully.

The dragon ogres take their frustration out on the unfortunate archers

What was left of the pack of dragon ogres bellowed as they crashed into the mass of skirmishing archers in front of them, taking a heavy toll which quickly broke the discipline of the human formation. They turned to run, but were too slow and the few survivors scattered amongst the nearby artillery. The display of carnage was too much for a team of outriders who wheeled their horses about to ensure they would not be caught up in the monsters’ rampage, and fled the field in a cowardly fashion. The dragon ogres continued their mad rush into the front of a waiting steam tank, intent on tearing it apart.

The dragon ogres set their sights on something a little more exotic than skirmishing archers

Another group of outriders lowered their weapons and unleashed a volley at a regiment of ogres as they charged, but in their haste, their aim proved to be poor. The ogres shrugged off the storm of smoke and shrapnel and crashed bodily into the light Empire cavalry, using the momentum of their armoured bulk to crush man and horse alike.

This does not end well for the outriders

The ogres reform, making use of the Empire orders to hold their ground rather than charging for the first 2 turns

Toward the centre, a small regiment of Empire swordsmen found themselves the target of a raging pack of Khorne-worshipping marauders. They responded like the well-drilled soldiers they were, shields meeting viciously barbed flails. However, they were not prepared for the way the Chaos lunatics threw themselves bodily into the melee, the sheer momentum of the charge breaking the line and dragging men from both sides to the ground. The struggle was short and bloody, and though the swordsmen still had a numerical advantage their discipline was shattered by the reckless aggression of their opponents and their formation broke. The marauders scrambled after the survivors, hacking them down with their flails as they proceeded at a dead run toward the waiting Empire lines. 

The victorious marauders pursue 12", looking for new challenges

Buying time with their lives

A unit of pistoliers had bravely moved well forward to intercept the advance of another band of marauders, and they paid the price for the courage when they were hacked apart without a second thought by the Chaos-worshippers.

At least it was over quickly

One of the steam tanks had changed its course to fire across the lines at some distant target, and a screaming horde of marauders took the opportunity to assail its exposed flank. Hammering frantically at its steel hide, they somehow managed to land several telling blows and the machine started to hiss steam in an alarming fashion, and the voice of the engineer within could be heard shouting in alarm.

What is that clanging noise? How did they possibly do 4 wounds in a turn?

Any hopes that the machine would be rescued were dealt a blow when the Stirland halberdiers panicked as some of the number fell victim to a stray hellcannon shot. The damage was not significant, but their nerve failed them despite being under the stern supervision of the Emperor himself. With a chorus of girly squealing, they turned tail and fled through their own lines and away from the field of battle. 

The Stirland halberdiers take the first opportunity to depart the field, despite Karl Franz glaring at them with Ld 10

Another hellcannon shot landed in the halberdiers on the nearby hill slaying 16 of their number, however they held their nerve and glared at the retreating backs of their less courageous comrades.

Thanks to Karl Franz making everything within his range stubborn, 12 pistoliers can face off against 60 charging gor.

A huge herd of beastman gor managed to trap the larger group of pistoliers in combat immediately in front of the rise in the centre of the Empire lines, leaping into the fray before they could move to escape. The struggle was bloody as crude weapons bludgeoned the mounted humans and they fought back with pistol, blade and hoof. Remarkably the pistoliers managed to hold their position despite being vastly outnumbered, although only a third of their number remained to fight on.

Stand fast!

Ow, that hurt. Uh, I mean still stand fast!

5 pistoliers can totally take 15 minotaurs and a doombull, right?

OK, so maybe it's not an even fight.

The smaller unit of pistoliers had moved forward in an attempt to prevent the gang of minotaurs from reaching the main line, however their efforts proved insufficient as they were swatted casually aside and the lumbering brutes maintained their momentum to crash into the waiting ranks of White Wolf knights.

Efforts to prevent this from happening were ultimately unsuccessful. But then all the best combats involve far more than 2000 points of models.

Give it to them, doombull!

Those Empire infantry units that had the temerity to be aggressive now found themselves in severe danger. The free company that had been chasing skirmishing ungor ran headlong into the charge of a large mob of bestigor. A brief and very one-sided combat erupted, before the demoralised human survivors turned and fled, eluding their bestial pursuers.

The greatswords lose their momentum in the face of growing opposition

As the greatswords engaged the ungor herd, they were in turn flanked by a regiment of forsaken, whilst a pair of tuskgor chariots crashed into the front. More than a dozen of the greatswords fell, but they fought back savagely and killed half a dozen of the ungor as well as hacking apart one of the chariots. It was a losing battle, however their discipline held and they fought on.

To the pain!

Ow, that hurt! It is a good pain...

A chimera swooped down from the sky upon the unengaged steam tank near the centre and set about trying to tear a hole in the machine’s armour. Its talons could find little purchase however, and it received no reward for its efforts.

Chimera vs steam tank - nothing much happened

On the east flank the tide of Chaos infantry continued to drive forward, but some faster elements were ready to engage. The wounded daemon prince raced forward on cloven feet and leapt into combat with a group of ogre leadbelchers, who tried to fend it off with their unwieldy cannon barrels. One ogre fell and another was badly wounded, however he swung back, using his cannon as a club. A lesser creature would have been crushed, but the unnatural vitality that pulsed through the daemon’s veins allowed it to shrug off the blow.

The free daemon prince and chimera attack

The daemon prince was hoping to break through to join the other combat, but steadfast was always going to be a problem.

A chimera swept past this struggle and into one of the mobs of flagellants behind. It arrived like a thunderbolt of enomormous teeth and claws, belching flame into their midst as it crashed home. Its charge was greeted with frantically waved flails, predictions of doom and pleas to Sigmar. More than half of the 30 flagellants met their doom in the opening exchanges, but the survivors merely pushed closer in an attempt to claim a similar fate. The chimera itself was staggering slightly after it was sorely battered by their frenzied flailing, but its ferocity remained undimmed. 

The spirits of flagellants slain by the chimera depart, looking for the afterlife and/or their army case

The survivors reform

The light in the heavens above the forces on the eastern flank continued to grow ominously, but the advancing Chaos forces gave it little heed. A sorcerer of Tzeentch summoned forth an Infernal Gateway and tore apart nearly half the regiment of greatswords by the river, but the survivors refused to be cowed and held their ground.

Forsaken leading the charge of the infantry, whilst a lone Empire soldier runs for his life as the giant punts a huge dice at him

The view across some of the field

Who's a pretty boy?

This combat would prove one of the most entertaining of the game

Empire Turn 2

Empire Turn 2

The Empire forces respond

Already the lead elements of the Chaos hordes were upon them, and the Empire forces were moving to respond. On the western flank, the dragon ogres rushing toward a pair of seemingly idle steam tanks discovered that they were well prepared for their arrival. The machines lurched forward just as the beasts reached their position, and with a belch of steam and a jaunty toot of their whistles, they ground straight over the dragon ogres to a chorus of pained roars and the sound of crunching bones.

The first steam tank ground 2 dragon ogres into the ground before the charge of the other one cleaned up the last guy

Hey, the charge seemed like a good idea at the time. Also, RAARR!

A team of demigryph knights sounded the charge in an attempt to intercept the advancing flock of furies, however their beasts were slugging in responding and barely shifted beneath the spurs of the frustrated knights. The Reiksguard beside them had more success, crushing the remnants of the marauder unit that had been running toward them enthusiastically. The ranks of swordsmen managed to hold off the worst of the daemon prince’s attentions, however they made no progress in felling the fiend, nor did it seem possible to drive it away.

The Reiksguard ride straight through the remainder of the marauder unit

The Nurgle daemon prince continues to work his way through the swordsman regiment

Enact the Dino Protocol! Detonate your own steam tank in order to make room for more favourable engagements!

Its companions on the flank might have been enjoying success with the dragon ogres, but the steam tank in the centre of the lines was a different story. Marauders swarmed all over the crippled machine, looking to hammer an opening through its battered hide. The engineer inside had all but lost control of the damaged mechanisms inside, and in a final act of resignation, he disengaged the safeties and deliberately overloaded the boiler. The pressure built rapidly, starting as a low hiss and rising to a deafening whistle before the machine exploded with an ear-splitting crack. Twisted shards of steel burst in all directions, scything down friend and foe alike. Marauders were flung about like rag dolls by the force of the detonation, and what was left of the pistoliers resisting the horde of beastmen were felled by the blast. Nearby Empire regiments were quick to recover however, and the marauders soon found themselves in a struggle with spearmen whilst a regiment of knights lowered their lances to charge the stunned gor. In the subsequent confusion the beastmen turned and fled from the oncoming cavalry, retreating through their own lines. The knights tried to turn their charge in the direction of a chimera, however their momentum was lost and they pulled up short.

Spearmen vs Nurgle marauders. This epic fight of uselessness would continue for the rest of the battle

With their path to the beastmen suddenly cleared, the knights lowered their lances and charged...

... and the beastmen turned and ran like big, hairy babies

Toward the east, the greatswords trying to address enemies on two fronts received some assistance in the form of a regiment of swordsmen charging into the flank of the forsaken. The swordsmen soon came to regret their heroic rescue attempt however, as the mutated Chaos worshippers turned and hacked apart the front rank of soldiers before they could land a blow. Their momentum and numbers ensured they continued to press, though the greatswords were dwindling in number as they struggled on bravely against many foes.

The swordsmen attempt to rescue the greatswords, but find themselves in a losing combat nonetheless

Having swatted aside the screen of pistoliers, the minotaurs launched themselves into the massed ranks of White Wolf knights. The warrior priest saw them coming and granted a blessing upon the hammers of the regiment, as the grand master of the order bellowed for his men to stand fast. 

The minotaurs struck like an avalanche of hairy muscle and pitted steel, hurling their huge bodies into the fray whilst their swung their enormous axes with unstoppable force. The knights responded with well-placed blows from their own two-handed weapons, crushing skulls and battering down their assailants. Half a dozen of the huge cow-headed beastmen fell in the opening exchanges, but the price was heavy. A score of the White Wolves lay dead and dying, the Amber wizard and the grand master amongst them. The rest of the regiment held their position grimly and fought on.

The minotaurs and White Wolves lay into each other, tallying well over 40 unsaved wounds

Artillery roared and volleys of fire continued to crack overhead as the Empire soldiers tried to thin the lines of the oncoming enemy. One chimera was felled by a well-placed cannon ball, which was enough to spook the horses of a nearby chariot, and it wheeled about and bolted back through its own lines as the crew fought to regain control. Handgunners poured fire into the ogres, sheer weight of fire enough to overcome the amazing toughness of a few of them. Another chariot was torn to shreds by a helblaster volley gun, but not all of the Empire’s fabled black powder weaponry was as effective. One of the cannons misfired, detonating in a deafening explosion. Crew from several nearby weapons dived for cover, whilst an entire regiment of crossbowmen turned and fled, the wizard of the Bright college leading them in their glorious departure from the field.

A chariot flees after seeing one of its allies blown to pieces

The remaining chimera on the western flank would not be so easily felled as its fellows. A cannon scored its flank, but the damage barely slowed it down. Several more cannons fired at it, but it shrugged the shots aside with unnatural resilience. Bullets glanced from its hide and mortars fell around it, but the beast continued its advance as though protected by the chaos gods themselves, and a terrible hunger burned in its eyes.

Don't even bother, man. That chimera can't be killed my mortal weapons.

The wizards in the Empire lines did their best to bolster the fire pouring into the enemy. The luminark blasted a hole in a chariot, though the damage was not fatal. A fireball landed amongst the furies, though it was poorly guided as the wizard was already hitching his robes up in preparation for his imminent retreat. Spells were cast forth only to be intercepted by the sorcerers in the Chaos lines, but the daemon prince of Slaanesh found that its hiding place behind the trolls was insufficient to shield it from Shem’s Burning Gaze, and it barely escaped with its life, one arm hanging scorched and useless at its side.

One of the steam tanks tried to propel itself into a sorcerer floating nearby on a hovering daemonic disk, however the distance proved too far and the engineer grew careless in his efforts to bring down his foe, misfiring the cannon in his haste and further damaging his already wounded machine. The other steam tank had better fortune, as it found itself rescued from the attentions of the attacking chimera when a regiment of demigryphs crashed into it and drove the beast away.

The wolfygryphs rush to relieve the steam tank from the chimera

The chimera admits defeat and departs. Quitter.

Further to the east, the chimera continued to tear into the remaining flagellants. Wounded though it was, the fanatics found themselves unable to finish it off after they tired of their frantic flailing. The feeling was mutual, however; the chimera hurled itself bodily into the crush only to find itself confronted by single defiant flagellant, whipping himself excitedly and happily proclaiming details of the world’s end to the dull brute. If the chimera cared one whit about what the lunatic was saying, it gave no sign.

Some good defiance and delaying from the remaining leadbelcher and flagellant

The struggle between the ogre leadbelchers and the daemon prince continued nearby, though neither gained a clear upper hand. The other team of leadbelchers stomped forward to block the advance of the huge mob of trolls, daring the idiot beasts to engage them. Given the sheer size of the troll gang, It was not entirely clear who was the more stupid of the two parties.

Leadbelchers block the advance of the trolls

Eat this!

Meanwhile the clouds in the skies overhead continued to glow angrily as the power of the magically summoned comet grew and grew...

A nasty hill threatens to trip up the centre of the Empire lines

End of turn 2. Note the disc rider near the bottom of the picture. I told you he was there...

Let me sing you the song of my people. Doom, doom, doom, doom, doom...

So many daemons

3 ogres against a tide of Chaos

Such obnoxious shorts. Oh, and that is the crossbowmen panicking and running from the table when a cannon blew itself up

Akkorak, lord of the flash photo

This was me taking a photo from the other direction at the exact time of Harley's flash. That, or Akkorak rides bathed in eternal sunshine. Weakest of the gifts of Tzeentch

The shooting phase on the western flank required many hands to speed things up a bit

Chaos hounds mocking the Empire orders to hold their ground

Tzeeeeeentch!

You can find the next part of the report here.

Turn 2 Original Notes

Turn 2 Chaos

Movement

Shooty

• khorne ogres and daemon prince charge swordsmen, hold, ogres fail, DP makes it
• big dogs charge pistoliers, stand and shoot, kill 3, can’t fail
• dragon ogres charge archers, stand and shoot kills none, make charge
• chaos ogres charge outriders, stand and shoot kills none, make charge
• chimaera charges peg rider needing a 12, rolls triple 2
• khorne marauders charge small swordsmen, make it
• fleeing chariot runs off table

Middle

• nurgrauders  into stank. one stood and shot. chimera into other stank. it loves it. 
• chariots into greatswords
• chimera into big knights
• many gor into kislevy horses
• minotaurs? they are doing something? oooo. wheely wheely. clang. poor pistoly men.also potentially clang into big knights? confusion and tape measures and roll of four…
• small dave marauders into small swordsmen near shooty flank.
• forsaken flank greatswords.
• “Oh, remaining moves, shit” - Dave. A mass trundelage occurs.
• The chimera flies majestically over the gor.
• bloodletters mosey forwards.
• as do bloodcrushers and drones.
• soul grinder wanders sideways.
• fish cannon of khorne slalom madly forwards.
• pumbas rally!

Valten

• hellcannon fails rampage
• daemon prince charges leadbelchers
• chimaera charges flagellants
• forsaken flank greatswords
• tuskgor chariots charge greatswords
• reeeeeely reeeeely reeeeely fast trolls are reeeeeely reeeeely reeeeely fast
• Vlad watches from his boat.
• not much else interesting.everything shoved forward eight inches. by the empire side.
• a lot of green things advance
• The hyperspace speed trolls are too far forward?
• Greg takes a nap, instructing the players to ‘wake me when it’s over.’
• Rhys does not like trolls. He wishes he had not been given trolls. Leopold assures him there is either an unbreakable beer fridge or unbreakable deamon prince behind them. Owen is worried he’s going deaf.

Magic

Power: 23 (channels: 0 - the chaos players do not tell us how many channels.)

Dispel: 18 (channels: 2 + luminarch)

Shooty

• 5 dice boosted searing doom on demis fails to cast

Middle

• 6 dice final trans on giant white wolf bus, stopped

Valten

• Comet does not fall
• Weird things happen to owen’s cursor. Owen fixes his cursor.
• 6 dice gateway on greatswords, irresistible. S7. 11 hits.8 dead. feedback miscast causes many wizard headaches, loses 6 of 6 remaining dice
• Psychic duel, owen V. pete for control of the notes.
• Pete wins.

Shooting

Shooty

• hellcannon hits boros (red/white) halberdiers, kills 16
• hellcannon shoots greatswords, drifts and hits stirland halberdiers, kills 2, panics on KFs Ld, flees off table through many things, nothing panics 

Middle

• fish cannon, two wounds on stank.
• hellcannon debate results in shot on stank?
• gregs phone beeps, distracting both greg and owen.

Valten

• Nothing

Combat

Shooty

• dogs chase pistoliers off table
• archers do no wounds to dragon ogres, flee and get run down, panic some helblasters, outriders panic off table, DOs pursue into steam tank
• ogres kill outriders with impact hits alone, reform narrower
• khorne flail marauders maul swordsmen, get mauled, swordsmen fail steadfast, marauders pursue 12”
• daemon prince kills 8 swordsmen, ignores return attacks

Middle

• some sort of argument about flank and over runs.
• minotaurs wipe out pistoly men, overrun into white wolves.
• gors gore pistoliers wthout doing much at all.
• chimera bounces of stank.
• marauders do many wounds to stank. it sucks at saves, and takes four wounds. aw yeah.
• benrauders destroy pistolymen.
• great greatsword combat. chariots… one is wounded. forsaken  - do  one wound. sigh. ungor primaly furious. kill two. bestigor slay two. 14 dead total.  gs’s hit back. chariot deaded. 9 ungor smote. 2 parry. 7 deaded.
• greatswords stubborn, they love it. 

Valten

• five wounds on leadbelchers from prince of deamons. 1 wound back. Saved.
• Chimera combat - one sacrificed, hatred gained. flagellants flail furiously. fourteen times. Chimera has one wound left. It breathes. Double sixes(?) nine dead. 7 dead from tail or something. total: 14?

Turn 2 Empire

Movement

Shooty

• Steam tank in combat generates 4 steam points, grinds 2 dragon ogres; other generates 3. 

Middle

• Steam tank initiates the Dino Protocol and self-destructs, killing pistoliers and leaving marauders and gor open to charge
• small knight unit charges gor who flee through a million daemons, redirect into temur (red/blue/green) chimaera
• demigryphs charge furies
• reiksguard knights charge remains of khorne flail marauders
• esper (blue/white/black) swordsmen flank warriors flanking greatswords

Valten

• nothing important appears to be  happening.
• stank moves up for point blank cannoning on disco fever.
• no charges over here. none at all.
• that was the most epic movement phase ever.

Magic

Power: 21 (channels: 1 + hurricanum)

Dispel: 13 (channels: 2)

Shooty

• doom and darkness on general’s unit, dispelled
• banishment from war altar on daemon prince, dispelled
• rerolls to wounds on giant white wolf unit
• luminarch laser on wounded chariot, 2 wounds

Middle

• fireball bounces off furies

Valten

• boosted shems dies 3 wounds to daemon prince

Shooting

Shooty

• cannon kills chimaera, panics chariot, nick gets very good mileage out of BSB
• cannon explodes, panics cannon, helblaster and crossbow unit with fire mage (off table)
• 4 cannons do 2 wounds to chimaera
• helblaster shoots 20 shots at chimaera, 5 wounds, walks it off like ben playing halo
• handgunners do 3 wounds to chimaera, walks it off 
• 22 helblaster shots at chariot, nick rolls 123456 for saves (chariot dies)
• mortars fail to kill the chimaera
• various BS shooting kills some chaos ogres 

Middle

• Nothing

Valten

• helblast giant. a wound.
• stank pistol a guy in the head, but does not wound.
• stank misfires the cannon. it takes more wounds, now up to seven.

Combat

Shooty

• daemon prince kills 4 swordsmen, loses combat
• remnants of marauders kill 2 knights, are wiped out

Middle

• combat comes early to the middle.
• great greatsword bash: 5 swordsmen fall to forsaken. 1 gs killed. 3 gs dead total. forsaken lose 1. 2 ungor dead also. swordsmen runneth not. gs runneth not.
• the lone demigryph… wounds the chimera. chimera loses and buggers off at speed.
• minotaurtaur! knight champ chomped. 8 wounds on minotaurs. 18 total, 6 guys. 3 wounds on grandmaster, he s cleaven in twain. some other guy killed. 4 wounds on unit, 4 dead. 11 more wounds. the horror. no saves. doombull is a chump. kills 3. doombull now up to 9 attacks. knights hang round.

Valten

• one belcher of lead eaten by dp.
• flagellants be not affeared. also not frenzied.they bounce. chimera does stuff. it kills 4. then another 4. there is one left. he is not happy about this. 

In light of Gurug'ath no longer being present and Karl Franz's complete lack of involvement in the battle thus far, a decision was made that from Turn 4 onward the Chaos players may shoot Karl Franz, however models wishing to do so must pass a Ld test or not be allowed to shoot that turn.