Lustria | The Lost City of Carcosa

WHFB: Xmashammer 2012 Rich’s view

04/01/2013 4 Comments

Byakhee Rich is a very active member on many Warhammer forums, has his own internet stalker, but still managed to surprise us with his Fozzrik’s Folding Fortress made out of brass tape (?) (Hmm I feel another Special Guest Superstar DJ posting coming this way). His Luminark was not ready for the battle but he fielded his demi-Gryphs for the first time. Here’s his take on the two days:

So, a couple of days since Xmashammer 2012 and I’ve finally got my breath back and my thoughts together…

The first thing we all learnt is that you CAN deploy 8000 points of army in a 6’ by 1’ deployment zone, but you SHOULDN’T! Both sides started off with a vague plan, about half way through deployment both realised that there would be a unit in every space on the table – in fact, we waived the 1” apart rule and the Orc / Skaven alliance still hardly fitted on the table.

Smaller armies? No, simply the King in Yellow needs a bigger room and table! [New Kickstarter project, fund my purchase of a bigger house, only £100k needed, and in return you get errr….]

Going first had pros and cons for the forces of Good. Ultimately, taking the initiative and pressing the enemy back into a confined space was crucial. In the short term, any shooting advantage was lost in the swirling dawn mists of Lustria (half range, bah!) and the initial Imperial flank attack was seen off with minimal effort – a crowded table has no place for fast cavalry and scouts to hide!

Despite Evil artillery exploding, missing and generally entertaining rather than functioning, Jim’s Skaven punched through the middle of our armies in short order, and after two turns things looked bleak for the good guys. Especially after the epic duel between the High Elf and Skaven generals ending in victory for the (heavily wounded) Queek Headtaker. With the cream of the Good armies bogged down in difficult terrain and enormous Orc units on one flank, it was a massive relief when the ratmen fled the battlefield at the end of Day One.

Day Two dawned, and suddenly the log jam on the left flank looked like a stroke of genius! The steam tank “Ekaterina” and 20 Phoenix Guard had, with the aid of the ruined temple and jungle, held up about two thirds of the Orc army on their own, with the massed greenskins unable to push past their fellows to get at the enemy. The tank alone held up a gang of trolls and the Orc general for most of the battle! The fleeing Skaven left a huge space in the central plain, and the arrival of the Dragon Princes and Reiksguard Knights allowed the Good allies to reform a battle line beyond the half way point of the field. Conversely the massed Evil artillery made it very hard for the newly arrived Dark Elves and Orc reserves to join the battle in good order. Even on the weak right flank, the arrival of the mighty Eltharion and his Giant Eagles allowed Good to gain ground and secure their objectives.

Key to the eventual good victory was the performance of their Elite troops. The Phoenix Guard eventually destroyed twice their number of orcs and swept into the trolls with their fiery halberds, seeing them off and dispatching the Orc General at last. The flanking SIlver Helms crashed into the Dark Elf Silver Talon regiment, fighting a prolonged battle which helped secure the flank. And then the Talons of the Ulricsberg, just six Empire Knights on their mighty Demigryph mounts, tore into the heart of the Orc and Goblin army, accounting for 120 or more greenskins on their own!

The final acts of the battle saw Emperor Karl Franz enter the fray on the Imperial Dragon. Although he fought in just one combat, crushing a Dark Elf Champion and putting an end to the Silver Talons, his influence was massive as he helped rally the leaderless High Elves (in game terms, covering half the battlefield with Leadership 10 cannot be underestimated!) His dragon also scorched 15 elite Black Orcs, reducing a potent threat to a nuisance level. And in a final desperate bid to salvage the battle, the Orc Great Shaman blew his escort to pieces as the Winds of Magic escaped his control.

After being on their knees after Day One, Good had taken the opportunity to triumph! In secure possession of the ruins of Copalotaothat and the battlefield as a whole, and despite heavy casualties amongst the Empire forces especially, a final score of 5500 to 3000 was estimated!

My….

Humans of the Match: despite other acts of heroism, like the archers who took a flank charge from wolf riders and held, it has to be the Demigryph Knights, who caused carnage!

High Elves of the Match: The Phoenix Guard were good, but you’d expect that. Mention must be made of the High Elf Archmagi who carried the burden of magical support for the forces of good. But the stars of the army were the Silver Helms, who we really never expected to hold up against the Dark Elf Spearmen for so long.

Skaven of the Match: the whole Skaven army was fierce, swamping the enemy with superior numbers and an apparent disregard for amour (does the whole army ignore armour saves and / or make strength 5 attacks? It seemed like it!). Special character Queek Headtaker was certainly special, taking down the High Elf Prince with only a tiny squeak of good luck.

Orcs of the Match: Notlob and his bolt thrower crews. A woeful previous record of 1s to hit and wound was laid aside as Notlob’s boys mowed down Empire White Wolf Knights and High Elf White Lions and put a bolt through all 6 ranks of the famous Weisspanther Spearmen! Hmmm, maybe he likes white targets???

Dark Elves of the Match: There was a rare lack of Dark Elf glory to go around, perhaps the most distinguished was Samaertik the captain of the Silver Talons – at least until he shoved their champion into the path of the onrushing Emperor!
[hey we’re Dark Elves, just what you’d expect]

Dice rolls of the Match:
1 – the Orc General makes 4 consecutive 5+ armour saves to preserve his last wound
2 – Notlob scores a 6 to snipe my Heaven’s Wizard, who is hiding behind an Eldritch Statue
3 – Empire archers roll a 2 and 1 needing a total of 3 or less to stand against the Orc Wolf riders

Player of the Match: Jim for giving us another hard lesson in Warhammer! Well done for taking this one just seriously enough Jim!

All in all it was an epic game, 25 hours of game time from starting unpacking on Day One to finishing packing up on Day Two. It had chaos and confusion and drama and glory, and five people having a good time, which is the main thing. Roll on Xmashammer 2013!

I’m working on extracting commentaries by Jim and Anthony.

Filed under Warhammer Tagged with Dark Elves, Demi Gryph Knights, Empire, High Elves, Lustria, Orcs & Goblins, Skaven, Warhammer, WHFB

WHFB: Xmashammer 2012 Day Two

02/01/2013 2 Comments

Day Two starts with us deploying reserves and (part of) my army.

Needless to say a shiney dragon’s tail overhanging from the edge of the table attracted the attention of BlackJack, and we had to move it fast following the first exploratory dab with a cat’s paw almost hooked it off the table and onto the tiled floor.

The Eagles are coming !

It took til the fourth turn for all my troops to come on. This was due to the Orc artillery being placed only a few inches in from the board, and because several large units of Orcs and Goblins had spent time squabbling ratheer than moving forward.

I deployed the Silver Talons (30 DE Spears) on the flank to fend off the inevitable flank attack by HE heavy cavalry.

Hoever, it was the turn of the HE and Empire to start, so our forces were pinned down immediately including the inevitable charge by the cavalry onto the spearmen – which almost won combat if it were not for the fact I was steadfast. Elsewhere we had “wind back time” due to Gav forgetting he had to release his Goblin Fanatics into the fleeing remains of the White Wolf knights, which were predictably ddestroyed, and for the HE and Empire to destroy the whirling loonies. The DE bolt throwers reaped a heavy harvest, but in return about 30 HE Spearmen charged my Dark Riders and pursued them off the board on our extreme flank.

After much humming and hawing, the demi-gryphs climbed the pyramid, to be attacked by the Spider riders – and destroy them. The Emperor on his gopld dragon pussyfooted around, before finally commiting a flank charge into my DE Silver Talons that finally destroyed them after 3 turns in combat. The Orcs and Goblins still found time squabble in amongst this and eventually my Cold One Knights wandered over to their side of the board but had no one to engage in combat. I blew up one of my own sorceresses, and Gav blew up on of his shamen. the trolls aided by their General destroyed the Steam Tank.

The final act came when after several rounds of combat the Phoenix Guard finally defeated Harboth’s horde, and my Cold One Chariot supported by Goblins bounced off the another unit of HE Spearmen that had been brought up to support them on the flank.

And that was the end of the game – at nearly midnight !

The forces of Good had triumphed – by quite some way.

Players perspectives to follow.

Filed under Warhammer Tagged with Dark Elves, Empire, Goblins, High Elves, Lustria, Orcs

WHFB: Xmashammer 2012 Day One

01/01/2013 2 Comments

On Day One, each general was allowed to field up to 4,000 points from their 5,000 points army. Byakhees Jim and Gavin fielded Skaven and Orcs, and then Rich and Anthony fielded Empire and High Elves respectively. As host for two days, and as GM, I did not field an army on Day One as I have found it very difficult to host four players and attempt a semblance of order on the games as well as trying to play my own army.

Here’s the table, showing the ruins of Copalotothat:

First surprise was Rich’s deployment of the Folding Fortress of Fozzrick:

Meanwhile, the players were unearthing their treasure troves of figures, including Jim whose wife had bought him yet more Skaven for Xmas:

Nominally the players arrived at 11am, but it was not until gone 1pm thatb we actually started the game – its takes a lot of time to deploy 4 x 4,000 points. Rich deployed a unit of X-bowmen in the tower, and then both he and Anthony deployed a lot of heavy cavalry. Jim had lots of plague monks and a screaming bell as well as sundry war machines, and Gavin’s Orcs had several massed hordes.

And their opponents the Empire & High Elf alliance:

With Pistolier outriders:

These, along with the Drakwald Greencoats,flanked the Skaven and Orcs hoping to get at their artillery, only to be driven off.

In the centre, the armies headed straight for each other.

The fleet of foot Empire and HE armies seized the objectives early on. The secret surprises started to be revealed, with the Rich being able to summon triffids from the jungle terrain.

Whilst the Orcs & Goblins squabbled, the Skaven entered combat with the enemy.

The Skaven caused a lot of damage whilst the Trolls finally got into combat with the Steam Tank.

There was a lot of cobat, a lot of shooting, and units were runing hither and thither, and this after only two turns, but then a large surprise happened, the entire Skaven army fled the scene of battle, and my Dark Elves had arrived pursuing them for a hitherto unknown reason, to find their hated enemies locked in battle with long time “allies” hte greenskins…

(AKA: Jim had to disappear for domestic reasons so I took over, with the 2,000 points Jim had left plus the 1,000 points for Day Two)

More to follow tomorrow.

Meanwhile, Clawed was deeply unimpressed with all this:

Filed under Scenery, Warhammer Tagged with Dark Elves, Empire, Goblins, High Elves, Lustria, Orcs, Skaven, Triffids, WHFB

Xmashammer 2012

27/12/2012 5 Comments

Yes, here it is, Xmashammer 2012, two days of games, beer, wine, pizza and curry.

The Scenario

Deep in the jungles of deepest darkest Herefordshire Lustria, is the ruins of the city of Copalotaothat.

Within these ruins are rumoured to be great riches, and there is a race to gain those riches.

There will be the stepped pyramid oif Itzadotal, the head of Notalotabotl and the recumbent remains of Litatraybox.

In order to win the rights to loot the ancient city, you must win on the following Victory Points:

– Number of PV left at the end of the battle

– Plus 200 points per tile of the board occupied with no enemy presence

– 100 points per tile where you have the greater points value

– 400 points for occupying the pyramid of Itzadotal

– 200 points for the head of Notalotobtal

– 100 points for the remains of Litatraybox

The city also has other notable features, like the eldritch statues: For each Wizard/spellcaster/runesmith in base contact with them then you add a d6 to your Power/Dispel Dice Pool.

The rules from the Lustria supplement: Loose Order; Events, and Encounters will be used

There will be other surprises on top of this.

Yup, this is the third year of Xmashammer, two days of about half a dozen of us having a no holds barred game of Warhammer, each fielding armies of 5,000 points (each).

I’ll be posting the Evidence(TM) of this mayhem over the next few days, including some scenery you haven’t seen before.

But we’ll start with the board….

Filed under Scenery, Warhammer Tagged with Lustria, Warhammer, WHFB

Mordheim – Dark Elves

15/08/2012

As a stunning surprise for all the Byakhees, when the Lustria articles came out for Mordheim in The Town Cryer, I opted for Dark Elves. It was actually at the same time as the last but one set of Dark Elf models were released, and at that time I was not playing WHFB.