The Grudge Pony - Part 2

This is the second half of a Warhammer Fantasy battle report. You can find the first part here.

Orcs and Goblins Turn 3

Tim spent some time trying to decide whether it was worth sending Azhag into the front of the Longbeards, whilst the Trolls hit them in the flank.

On the other flank, the Slayers had moved out of the path of the Giant enough for him to have line of sight to the flank of my Quarrellers who were still fighting to rescue the Hammerers. That combat was becoming a mess.

In the end Tim decided that Azhag should go in, even though he clearly knew it was dangerous. I believe Soulblight was key to his plan for survival. Risky as this plan was, it was made worse by the fact that I still had my Rune of Spellbreaking. When the time came, Tim threw 6 dice at boosted Soulblight, but rolled unconvincingly. I probably could have stopped it with dice, but figured I might as well use the Spellbreaking Rune given Azhag's life was likely on the line. No Soulblight for Azhag.

Poor Azhag. He fought well, but with the Longbeards using their great weapons at full strength, he was always going to be in danger. He and his Wyvern died together. The Trolls shrugged off all the blows aimed at them and Tim actually still won the combat, but my regiment held its ground and reformed to face the Trolls.

In the centre, the Black Orcs finally broke the last Irondrake and declined to pursue him, turning instead to face my main units. The Irondrakes had well and truly done their job - by this point the Black Orcs had lost half their number, and had missed 2 opportunities to engage new targets.

The Irondrakes were not the only ones to break this turn. The Hammerers and Quarrellers fought reasonably well against the Orcs, but the newly arrived Giant decided to yell and bawl, ensuring that the combat result was a moot point. The Hammerers were Stubborn on Ld10. They were perfectly safe, right? Well,  no... And now they would need double 1s to rally as the unit champion heroically escorted Helga from the field, secret service-style.

The Orcs reformed to face the Quarrellers, and my rescue plan for the Hammerers was looking rather questionable now. The Hammerers were as good as dead, and their rescuers were now in real trouble.

Whilst all this was going on, the Boar Chariots were forming a second line against my remaining forces. Oh, and the Gyrocopter failed to survive the charge of the Arachnarok. Boo, hiss.

My brave fleeing Dwarfs.

Dwarfs Turn 4

This turn saw me in the midst of a very impressive series of dice rolls. From late the previous turn, I had started rolling a long series of 10s, 11s and 12s on 2D6. Things started to break; things fled really, really quickly; things failed to rally; and I failed multiple swift reform tests on Leadership 10. I was very impressive. Thankfully none of it was really important.

To prove that I had learnt nothing from my previous rescue mission, I sent the Thunderers into the flank of the Orcs in an effort to save the Quarrellers.

Meanwhile, the Daemon Slayer was sneaking up behind...

The Longbeards beat and broke the Trolls, but were well and truly out-paced by them as they fled. The 2 battle lines were now forming up length-wise down the field, with the grudge pony in the centre.

Orcs and Goblins Turn 4

The Giant finally stopped singing and started swinging (and stomping) on my Quarrellers. This was unsporting timing, as although I was able to kill the remaining Orcs, there was only a few wounds left in their unit. It all ended up meaning the Quarrellers had lost quite badly, failed their Steadfast test, and were promptly run down by the Giant.

Rather unsurprisingly, the Trolls failed to rally. To Tim's annoyance, they did not exactly hurry as they fled, either. They kind of shambled slowly away from my troops, stopping directly in the path of the Chariots. It made it very hard for him to plan a coordinated charge.

Dwarfs Turn 5

I considered just shooting the Giant, but honour demanded that the Daemon Slayer be given his chance to shine. So he charged into the rear of the Giant, whilst the Thunderers hit him in the front (they wanted front row seats to watch the Daemon Slayer do glorious things)!

Wait. What? OK, so what happened here is the Daemon Slayer fluffed his attacks and only inflicted 2 wounds on the Giant. The Giant didn't even bother attacking the Daemon Slayer. He just thumped half a dozen Thunderers to death with his stick. The Thunderers then finished off the Giant with their hand weapons, only to see him topple over backwards and crush the Daemon Slayer, killing him outright. I don't know, does that count as a great and glorious Doom?

I actually did Tim a favour by declaring a charge on the Trolls and then redirecting onto the Savage Orcs with the Ironbreakers. This pushed the Trolls out of the way of Tim's forces, and I then failed the charge roll. I think I also charged at the Black Orcs with the Longbeards, but they failed too. Oh well. Fresh from having finished off the Arachnarok, my Cannon continued its fine performance by killing one of the Chariots outright. The Organ Gun continued its own dazzling display by giving a Black Orc a minor flesh wound or something (it was rolling a lot of misfires, even with the Rune of Forging).

Orcs and Goblins Turn 5

With the Trolls out of the way, the Orcs were free to assault my lines in force. They chose to do so against the Longbeards, as Tim (probably rightly) assessed that Thorgrim's unit was a bit tough for what he had available. 2 Chariots (one of which was driven by his BSB) and the remaining Black Orcs piled enthusiastically into my Longbeards. 

Meanwhile the Savage Orcs had rallied and rather less enthusiastically placed themselves directly in the path of Thorgrim's unit, hoping to draw them away from the objective.

Oh yeah, and defying all expectation, the Trolls rallied on their own leadership. Right in front of my Slayers. Well I guess they're really not very bright, hey.

Tim's charge took a terrible toll on my Longbeards. 12 wounds were inflicted upon my regiment, but then they fought back and their hatred and great weapons took a serious toll. I also did 12 wounds, spread across both Chariots and the Black Orcs. It meant I barely lost combat and held my ground.

Dwarfs Turn 6

The field at the start of my final turn. Time to clean up!

There really wasn't enough left to face off against my Longbeards. With the impact hits spent and both Chariots on a single wound, the next round of combat was going to be brutal.

The Slayers excitedly set upon the Trolls, and no amount of Regeneration was going to save them from what followed.

With the Longbeards looking to have the objective well under control, Thorgrim led the charge into the Savage Orcs. It was a very one-sided combat, and the Dwarfs ran down the remaining Orcs as they fled.

The Longbeard combat went about as well as you would expect. Both Chariots died, the few remaining Black Orcs fled, and the BSB died defending his banner.

The Black Orcs failed to rally on double 1s, and with that, the battle was over. The Dwarfs had carried the day and could run off with their precious beer pony!

Dwarf Victory

The MVP was probably my Cannon, which was remarkably consistent in always hitting its target and never failing to do less than 3 wounds. The most heroic effort was my Irondrakes, however. Their stoic resistance really took the momentum out of Tim's assault on my centre. I shall obviously have to paint more of them as a reward!

Thanks for reading.