WHFB: Orcs & Goblins vs Dwarves and Empire – Reflections

Rich’s Reflections on last w/e’s game:

Army list (approx)

• Arch Lector with magic armour, Van Horstman’s Speculum, great weapon and the War Altar (army general)
• Level 2 Light Wizard on horse, with Dispel Scroll
• Mounted Captain Battle Standard Bearer accompanying
• 19 Inner Circle Knights of the White Wolf, with Command and the Ranger Standard (to ignore Difficult Terrain)
• 10 Reiksguard with Command
• 2 x 5 Pistoliers with Outrider and Musician
• 5 Outriders with Sharpshooter and Musician
• 11 Huntsmen

Plan
To get lots of S6 attacks to bear on a narrow section of the orc battle line, with the War Altar providing enhancements (Hatred, Battle Prayers) to the cavalry units. The fast cavalry units are to keep small enemy units from flanking the heavy cavalry, or to hunt down war machines and wizards if the opportunity arose. The huntsmen are scouts and give an opportunity to counter enemy deployment.

All this depended on Dwarf allies providing supporting firepower and a secure base line to fall back on.

The Battle
Went largely to plan in the end. We were caught out a little by the speed of the orc advance and the size of some of the units – you can’t hold off 30 orc archers with 5 or 10 fast cavalry for long, and I thought I sacrificed them without gaining much benefit. At key moments our armies performed as expected – no orc unit could handle 30 Knights with rerolls to hit and sometimes to wound, and the Dwarf artillery was effective in wiping out the trolls and whittling down the other orc threats. The Dwarf Handgunners proved their worth in melee, holding up the flanking wolf riders until the troll slayers could arrive to help them out, which was crucial. Probably the moment which swung the game finally our way was when the Orc Great Shaman caused a Dimensional Cascade, removing himself and his Wyvern from the game

Aftermath
I need to think about how to best use expensive fast cavalry, and also how to pick a balanced army from the huge array of choices the Empire book has. And I think the Wyvern Shaman is an interesting pick for the Orcs and worth persevering with.

Quote of the Day
“Have you really got those movement trays UPSIDE DOWN!?”

Anthony comments (as typed by Rich):

The purpose of the Dwarf Allies force was to provide an artillery and missile cover for the advancing Empire cavalry army. The stone throwererers, as usual, proved to be effective (read: deadly! R) due to the usual souping up with runes. The trolls were toast (thanks to the flaming attack rune). The flanking thundererers managed to intercept the orc wolf riders, despite not being able to shoot at them, and held their own until help could arrive. (And in many ways, that was the game right there! R)