WHFB: A Return Match – Part Three (Final)

The Orc Warriors, predictably given 14+ casualties, collapsed and were run down by the Silver Talons and CoK, who followed up into Eeza Ugezod’s Black Orc Warriors.

At this poinjt it was looking good for me, but not good enough for me to rest on my laurels. I’d lost the Dark Riders to the Trolls who were holding out, CoK Chariots, Shades and Warlocks.

My second lot of Dark Riders also fled failing their LD test and were essentially out of the game. That left my flank exposed.

The dice hated me throughout the game….

And then I had a breakthrough – Eric finished off the Trolls, and charged straight into Harboth’s (a column of 40 Big ‘Uns), and defeated them in combat.

SAY WHAT ?

Yup, I trashed a fair number of his lot and sustained minor wounds to Eric, as they had more Ranks than Eric, Harboth’s were Steadfast, so a straight roll on LD…except with Abyssal Howl I forced him to re-roll his LD roll…and Gav rolled two 5’s (total of 10)…and of course at this point it dawned on both of us that the Orc BSB had just been wiped out in the Orc Warrior unit the Silver Talons and CoK had over-run ! So NO re-rolls allowed, AND they were more than 12″ away from Eeza Ugezod, so no LD 10….ADIOS.

To add insult to injury(s) Eric then followed up and caught them wiping out the entire unit.

The CoK and Silver Talons waded into the Black Orcs, with a rather ferocious assault. Again with predictable results.

Defeating them in combat and again running them down.

My General on Manticore destroyed the goblins min combat, but had the Manticore shot out from underneath him, but was left inches away from a very nervous looking Orc Shaman. The Gioblin spearmen were left stranded deep in my lines fighting the spearmen.

It was 10.30pm, Gav threw in the towel. We calculated that he had 2100 points left and I had 3500 points left – a victory for me.

Comments:

• The army list is highly aggressive and works well with the new rules and army book.
• Warlocks are good in many ways, but even with a Ward Save of 4+ are still brittle when fighting against Orc Wolf Riders.
• Trolls can be very effective against highly armoured opponents.
• Don’t rely on any one part of the army – magic proved to be not as effective this game as the last.
• Gave has now played almost a smany times this year as me and is rapidly improving his game play, so don’t rely on your enemy’s inexperience.
• The novelty of some of the new units wears off – looks like I am going to have to introduce more of the new units in the DE army and rotate through them to keep my opponents off balance.
• 5k is a lot of points – we spent about 2 hours setting up and 7 hours playing to get three turns in.

Most importantly we had a good fun time.

And I got my hat-trick of wins !

WHFB: A Return Match – Part Two

I pumped up the Silver Talons, as they were facing off against a lot of big units – Augment spells like Blades of Aiban and Glittering Robes.

The Warlocks charged the Wolf Riders, with mixed results, and were eventually defeated, so they are not an uber combat unit, at least not against Orc Wolf Riders.

The Dark Riders having defeated the Spider Riders followed up into the Orc Arrer Boys, along with the Shades, who were in turned charged by the Savage Orcs.

The panoramic view. The Silver Talons charged the Orc Warriors.

We broke for our evening meal – a take out curry.

And returned to find BlackJack surveying the battlefield.

Redark (hunter in the Dark…dun dun derr), flank charged the large Night Goblin archers who stood and took it (foolishly).

And the CoK charged in against the Orc Warriors to back up the Silver Talons.

But the Goblin Spear horde charged my rather smaller spear unit, with the lavishly equipped Faegyn Cheapsoul.
Eric, and Spitty charged in against the Trolls following the defeat of the Dark Riders and the CoK chariot.

Combat ensued, with the Orc Warriors racking up the casualties, after their champion wussied out of a challenge against Samartik, the hero leading the Silver Talons. There was only possible result when there is a disparity of ~14 on the combat resolution…

WHFB: A Return Match – Part One

Byakhee Gav and I had a return match on Saturday – again 5k points a side with a full day’s gaming pizza and curry.

Our armies were substantially unchanged. I didn’t have time to photo my new heroes before they hit the gaming table.

So 5k Orcs & Goblins vs 5k Dark Elves.

Deployment was very similar to last time, unsurprising given similar armies !

I deployed my Scouts (Shades) well forward in the ruins on both extreme flanks.

With a hefty back up of Fast Cavalry, and flying critters.

Though Gav won the dice off for Vanguard moves, my scouts stymied most of his moves and (for example) his Goblin Spider Riders only inched (!) forward, whilst my Dark Riders had full rein to move forward 12 inches to support Mengils’.

And the Fast Cavalry on the other flank caught up with the Shades in the ruins.

Gav has learnt from me however, and having won initiative took an aggressive approach charging the trolls in against the Dark Riders (eek), and also hexed them to reduce their Initiative.

And Spider Riders against the rather cooped up Dark Riders on the other side of the board. Fortunately, the Savage Orcs had failed their charge due to animosity and the Wolf Riders also failed their charge.

His army as a whole advanced, Night Goblin Fanatics were released and just got in the way.

But the Dark Riders held in combat, and allowed the Shades to flank charge the Spider Riders.

Mengils’ charged the Spider Riders who had cautiously advanced up the steps of the Temple of Skulls, and proceeded to wipe them out, unable to follow up into the Orc Arrer Boyz because of course they are Reavers and were busy butchering the corpses for brilliant new fashions to wear. 😉

Even a flank attack from a CoK chariot was not enough to save the other Dark Riders from the pestilent Trolls who were busy reliving a friday night’s binge of lager, chips ‘n’ curry on everyone near and far.

And could my newly painted CoK Hero with his smart RXB hit a single Goblin Fanatic and kill him – NO – of course not ! So the nutter remained right in front of the CoK unit and I had to take a hit (literally) the next turn and charge through him and take the damage.

That was just Turn One, which we finished about 4pm after starting at 1pm….