War of the Shrines Part 22: Turn 5, Dwarves

Things were falling apart on every side. Rigal, Lagir, Grim, the Slayer whose name they had never known...all dead or fled, along with other mighty heroes.

Their numbers were diminishing, the cannons ineffectual.

Their morale shattered, the already slow Dwarfs were just a bit slower to get their shields up, just a hair slower to attack with their mighty axes.

About the only good news they had was the rangers rallied...though how good that news was remained open to interpretation when they were promptly charged by the Chosen.



Casualties
1 Night goblin Netter
2 Savage Orcs
2 Chaos Marauders

Suffered:
13 Miners (8 when a unit broke)
1 Dwarf Thane
7 Thunderers
1 Cannon & Crew

War of the Shrines Turn 2: Dwarfs Part 8

Rigal hesitated. Should he command his men to maintain their defensive positions? He knew his dour, courageous men would stand solid, letting the waves of the Warriors of Chaos break against them...

Yet would it not give him the element of surprise if instead he took the fight to the enemies?

Decision made, he gestured to his standard bearer.

Instantly the Dwarf lines swung into action.


The two blocks of Warriors guarding the front of the pyramid suddenly surged forward into the oncoming Marauders, pinning the Chaos Warriors behind them.

With surprising speed and skill, the Slayers and Hammerers swung out from where they defended the eastern wall to begin forming a wall on that flank before the northmen could chew threw the weak Elvish defenses.


Other Warriors charged in to help the pirate crew as the battled a chariot.


In the west, his stern warriors moved towards the shrine guarded by the Glade Guard. They would have to face another devastating volley before they could charge.

And in the south, his front lines surged forward, a handful of hammerers reaching a long line of Night Goblin bowmen.



The expected cannon fire proved useless as three of them mis-fired. The fourth tore through lines of Waywatchers and Glade guards, then the lighter crack of the highly accurate Handguns roared into action with more success.

It was in close combat the Dwarf defenders proved their mettle. On all sides they wreaked havoc, killing Marauders, Night goblins, and charioteers.

Then the impetus of their charge gave out. Grimly Rigal looked on as the opposing lines began their counter-punch.

Casualties:

2 Waywatchers

5 Glade Guard

1 Dryad

2 Repeater Bolt Thrower crew...and 1 wound on a machine.

A White Lion Chariot

6 Orc Bowmen

4 Night Goblins

5 Chaos Marauders

Lost:

1 Dwarf Warrior

1 Pirate

1 Hammerer

Warhammer Warbands: Chaos Versus the world

The Starving Crazed Weasels decided to try some Warbands Escalation. Starting with 200 point armies, we were going to try to run all the way up to 500. So I frantically painted but was unable to complete any Marauders so I would be using some proxies. 

In just 200 points I was going to have to use Marauders in order to fit in any Knights. Per the rules, I either had to have a character of no more than 150 points or else a unit Champion. However, to get a unit Champion, I had to have a LEGAL minimum size unit instead of a 2 Cavalry or 3 Infantry unit.

Since Chaos Warriors cost a minimum of 16 points apiece after their mandatory upgrade, if I took 10 of them and a Champion I am at 172 points, leaving 28...not enough to fit in the requires 2 Knights. Actually, I could not even fit in one of the 40 point buzzards. 

At the same time, part of my army-building philosophy is to never take units that can't do anything. For example, Chaos Marauders have the combination of traits I try to avoid. To keep them affordable they have no armor, a strength of 3 and a toughness of 3. That means they are easy to kill. With no ranged weapons in the Chaos Army they are likely to get shot down while crossing the field. That means they are worse than useless; not only are they unable to accomplish anything, they are basically free points for the opponent. I am better off taking nothing than taking Marauders.

Of course, you could argue I CAN tool them up; give them light armor and shields (Save 5+), maybe the Mark of Tzeentch (6+ Ward Save). Except now they are over half the cost of a Chaos Warrior and, in the group we play in, unlikely to have a save anyway: the Dark Elves have Armor Piercing on their Repeater Crossbows meaning the save is 6+, the Dwarf army has Armor Piercing on their strength 4 Weapons meaning no save, the Ogres have S4 Weapons meaning the save is at best 6+: in other words, the points spent on tooling them up are essentially wasted.

Well, what I REALLY wanted to do was put some Knights on the table. I had 5 of them painted to at least tabletop standard, though I still have some highlighting and shading to do. But I really, really, really wanted to get some Knights rolling. I would rather roll out 5 Knights and lose than no Knights and win. 

But the rules forced me to put some Marauders out there. If I am going to have to use pointless troops and get limited or no Knights then I want to win a little bit.

So I went for an army that would be well-balanced enough to have at least a fighting chance against Dark Elves, Ogres, Lizardmen, Dwarfs, Wood Elfs and possibly the Vampire Counts based on who I thought might show up.  As it turned out, the V.C. guy was out of town, the guy playing the Wood Elfs had to work, and the guys playing the Ogres and Lizardmen were only there for a game or two each.

I started with my General. Since the cheapest hero I have is the Chaos Sorcerer, in he went, 85 points, level one, Lore of Death or Fire (I chose Death). 

Then I needed two core units. Chaos Marauders at 4 points each mean if I go 3 of each, another 24 points, I am up to 109. Cool, that let me fit in two Knights, the only models I REALLY wanted to play. 280, we were letting people have up to 203 points so I bumped one unit of Marauders to 4 and the other to 5 guys. 201 points. 

Game one I drew Kev and his Ogres. Uh-oh...exactly one of the reasons I hate Marauders. 

Lets assume I get 100 attacks and Kev gets 100 attacks. I have a higher weapon skill so SHOULD hit about 66% of the time, so I will hit him 66 times. I then have a 1 in 3 chance of wounding so 22 wounds. He has a 5+ armor save so will save 1 in 3 so I will do about 14 wounds in 100 attacks if all goes strictly according to statistics. 

He will hit me 1 in 3 times, or about 33 times. He will wound 2 in 3, or 22 times. All of those will kill me.

So I am doing 14 wounds in 100 attacks, he is doing 22. Each wound I cause goes 1/3 of the way toward reducing the number of attacks he gets whereas each wound he does reduces the number of attacks I get. See the problem here? I need way more force in Marauders to equal his Bulls. 

So for this battle, my Marauders will basically try to maneuver out of his way and let the Knights do all the heavy lifting. That is where Kev has the problem.

He will still hit 1/3 of the time. However, he then wounds just 50% of the time, let's round up to 17. I am going to save 5 out of 6 of those, so he should do about 3 casualties in 100 attacks. 

Conversely, I will hit 66 times, wound 33 of those, and he will save just 1 in 6, so I should do 27-28 wounds in 100 attacks.

Of course, these are just basic statistical models and as any competent mathematician will tell you, a sample size of 100 is ridiculously small and inaccurate. These numbers will be born out of hundreds of thousands of rolls, not over a short time. On to the game.

Setup

We had a small village in the center of the table, a river basically closing off one corner, and a tower opposite the village. Plenty of obstacles to make maneuver important. I won the roll to go first. My mission was Hold Table Quarter.

Chaos Turn one

I march everyone forward planning to hide behind the village with the Marauders (and occupy a table quarter with each of them), get off a little bit of magic, and when they got close, charge the Knights.

I did try to cast my Magic Missile. I used both allowed dice, rolled a 5. Successful...but dispelled. What? Magic failed? I...I...I...I just don't believe it. This has never happened before except every other time I have tried to use magic...

Ogre Turn 1

His Gnoblars bickered, so they stood still. Everyone else advanced a march move. He also wanted to get into hand to hand since he had no magic and only his Gnoblars had range.

Chaos Turn 2

Walk forward with the 5 man Marauders, move my sorcerer to the left to get line of sight on his Bull, move my Knights further left to either give me a flank charge if he ignored me or just plain give me the charge if not. This time for Dark Hand of Death I roll a 6 and again he dispelled it. Ah, Magic, how I love thee. Like a superfluous second belly button you are. Not really good for much and not all that attractive.

Ogre Turn 2

He advanced everybody and had one charge. He charged the Marauders with 2 Bulls. Rules Error: We forgot he had to have 3 Bulls for the Bull charge and he killed one Marauder with a Bull Charge, killed 2 more in close combat, I broke 7", he pursued 5. 

Chaos Turn 3

His breaking of my guys meant I had no charge. Fortunately (?) my fleeing guys rallied. Of course, standing 2" in front of his Bulls...did it matter? I maneuvered my Knights to get a charge hopefully next turn. Oh, and in case you wondered...I rolled a 7 (getting HIGHER!) to cast and yeah, he dispelled it.

Ogre Turn 3

2 charges. He Bull Charged the 4 man Chaos, 1 Impact hit, 2 more in close combat, I actually do a wound (!) in return, needing a 5, I pass my break test...RULES ERROR;when outnumbered by someone you fear, you auto-break. 

He also charged the remainder of the 5 man, they lost the combat, ran 5", he over ran 7" and they were done. 

Chaos Turn 4

My Knights finally charge. Then, Magic phase. This time, to save time, I did not even cast it successfully. 

First we do the combat of my one remaining Marauder. He actually caused a wound! I am highly impressed. Just 9 Marauders somehow inflicted 2 wounds. Of course, he is then slain...still, 36 points of Marauders did 24 points worth of damage...or 24 points more than I figured they would. On the dark side, his fast-moving Ogres prevented me from hiding behind the buildings which meant I could not control a table quarter...

The Knights actually did what they were supposed to. They kill one of his Ogres outright and the suffer no wounds in return. The remaining Ogre breaks and runs just 6". I roll my 3D6 to pursue...and roll out triple 1s. 

Ogre Turn 4

He fails to rally, runs 11". Everyone moves towards my Knights but stay out of my line of sight. Because of the direction he fled I cannot even see the fleeing Ogre. Great turn for the Ogres. 

Chaos Turn 5

Move my Knights to follow the fleeing Ogre (and prevent him from getting a charge) and move my Sorcerer back to also avoid a charge. And something very, very exciting happened.

I rolled a 6 to cast Dark Hand of Death...and he rolled Snake Eyes! Finally! A SUCCESSFUL magic spell! I now get to do D6 hits at S6. So I roll for how many...1. Then I roll to see if the hit wounds...and roll a 1. 

Let me just save time; the rest of the day in games against the Dwarf army, Dark Elf Army twice, Lizardmen, I do not again get a spell cast successfully even though  three of those games I had a level 2 wizard and was rolling the maximum three dice. Magic on my behalf totally sucks. Worthless. Wasted points. So depressing. 

Ogre Turn 5

He does not much, can't catch me, and his Ogre finally rallies.

Chaos Turn 6

I charge his rallied Ogre, kill him. 

Ogre Turn 6. 

Grabs table quarter. That is all he can do.

Final Results

He killed 36 points of Marauders. We thought he got 100 points for table quarter, but  re-reading of the rules says no points for Table Quarter unless it is your objective. Meanwhile, that WAS my objective and it turns out the minimum unit size is only 2. Unfortunately, he controlled as many table quarters as I did. Actually, with his Gnoblars in one quarter and 2 1-bull units in the other, he out-controlled table quarters 2-1. I did, however, score 108 points of damage for a final tally of 108-36 (which is different than what we thought at the time).

72 points, Victory belongs to Chaos.

Game Two: Chaos Versus Dwarf Army

We fought on the same battlefield. Again I won the first turn. This game was pretty quick. I simply moved my Marauders behind two different buildings to grab two table quarters and started maneuvering my Knights to charge his Warriors. He had a gun line of Thunderers and I had no intention of allowing them to shoot at my Marauders and did not particularly want him shooting at my Knights, either.

Meanwhile, he was maneuvering his Warriors to get the charge, so we did some hide and seek before finally he had to leave me line of sight to them for turn 5

Chaos Turn 5

By the time we reached turn 5 we were maybe 6 minutes into the game...INCLUDING setup. I finally got the charge.  Planning to support them, I move my 5 man Chaos Unit forward knowing they would be covered by the battle and also thinking I was out of range of the Thunderers anyway. Plus I joined my Sorcerer to them. Space Monkey passed his Fear test, I did two casualties to him, he did none in return but he did not run.

Dwarf Turn 5

Oops. During turn 5...well, a couple of my Marauders were exposed. He shot and killed 2 of them. They broke. 

In hand to hand I killed 2 more of his guys but he killed one of my Knights. This time he broke and I followed, overrunning him and running clean off the table. 

Chaos Turn 6

My fleeing guys rally, I forgot to bring my other Knight back on...not that it would have mattered. I was out of the firing arc of his Thunderers and could not contest the table quarter.

Dwarf Turn 6

He had nothing to do, game.

Final Results

We mis-figured it again* thinking he got points for the table quarter. I actually held 2 table quarters to his one and had chosen Invade so his points were 40 points for killing the Knight. I scored 126 for killing his Thane and Warriors, nothing for Invade. It was an 86 point advantage for me, another Victory. 

*(We initially thought he got 100 for the table quarter + 40 for the Knight + 40 for achieving his objective giving him 180 points which would have been a victory for him)

Chaos Victory, 2-0.

Game Three:Chaos Versus Dark Elf

This time we would be on the other table that had been set up. He had a hill on his side of the table, I had a forest on mine. I hid two units behind the forest, one unit on the right planning to overwhelm that side of the field. But I forgot how fast Elf armies move...

Once more I rolled Capture a Standard so got to choose my own. I knew the only way to win was kill his Sorceress fast so I chose Assassinate.

Dark Elf Turn One

He advances everyone up onto the hill. I see my Marauders will get shot down next turn.

Chaos Turn One

I start moving my Marauders over to hide behind the Forest. I know his crossbows will get 3 turns of shooting at them so they are just casualties. I put the Knights in front and move towards him as much as possible but he is too close for me to march.

Dark Elf Turn Two

He successfully casts a magic spell that kills both of my Knights and shoots down a Marauder.

Rest of Game

I have no chance of getting to him before he can shoot and magic me down so I just move behind the forest and will not move again. There is no point to him moving either so the game is over at that point. 

I thought I had a table quarter...well, he had one too. So he scored 80 for the Knights, an 80 point Dark Elf Victory.

2-1

We bumped it up to 300 points and again it was Dark Elf versus Chaos. At this point we had stopped taking pictures and notes, so this is largely memory.

I now had a level 2 sorcerer, 3 Knights, and 10 Chaos Marauders. He had a Bolt Thrower, level 2 sorcerer, and a couple other units.

The field we rolled meant we would start about an inch apart. His Bolt Thrower was on the corner as were my Knights. Behind his Bolt Thrower were 3  Repeater Crossbows and down the hill behind a fence were his Sorceress with that same stupid 18" area of effect spell and a few warriors. I had 5 Marauders and my Sorcerer to my Knights' left and the other unit behind them.

I won the first turn.

Chaos Turn 1

"Charge!" My Knights and Marauders declare charge. His Bolt Thrower crew failed their fear test. Depending on point of view...that was HORRIBLE.

If he stands and I get into hand to hand I should easily defeat him and either kill him outright or else overrun right into his repeater crossbows. I could do lots of damage right off the bat. Instead, it became a failed charge. I mean, sure, I marched up the hill and destroyed the bolt thrower, but it put my Knights and Marauders in the open in front of his Crossbows and within 18" of the Sorceress.

Dark Elf Turn 2

His fleeing crew failed their rally test. Again, bad for me. I could have charged them with my Marauders on the left flank the next turn but this meant they got out of my range. Then he cast his magic.

First he rolled 2 dice on the one that adds D3 dice to his pool. Looking back at the game he thought he rolled a 9, I thought he rolled an 11. Either way, with only 3 Dispel dice, I wasn't going to try to stop it. So then he had 4 dice, rolled them all for the Area of Effect spell. I planned to Dispel it but he rolled Irresistible Force. 

2 of my 3 Knights died, the other one fled. 2 of my 5 Marauders died, the other 3 and the Sorcerer fled.

Chaos Turn 2

Everyone RALLIED. Yeah.

Dark Elf Turn 2

He moved his Crossbows forward to get line of sight. His shooting missed. Oh, some good news! His magic did no damage.

Chaos Turn 3

I get the charge on his Crossbows, kill them, get to the crest of the hill. 

Dark Elf Turn 3

Not much happened.

Chaos Turn 4

I advance down the hill, too far away to get the charge. My other Marauders also advance.

Dark Elf Turn 4

Again he gets Irresistible Force. My last Knight died, as did another Marauder. 

Chaos Turn 5

At this point it looked pretty bad for me. I had my Sorcerer (who remember had cast 1 (one) spell successfully all day, doing a total of zero casualties. He had a couple small units and his sorceress behind a fence which meant I could not really get any benefits from charging. However, I HAD to charge or else sit there and let him cast magic. So I did. I charged even with no expectations. 

But then something happened. My Marauders killed a couple guys. He did no return wounds. He failed his break test and ran. I could not catch him.

Dark Elf Turn 5

He failed his rally test. He fled the table. Game over.

What? He killed all my knights, over a third of my Marauders, twice cast successful spells and I crushed him? I am confused.

Sure, him losing 1/3rd of his army in the first moment hurt...but that still shocked me. It was the first points my Marauders earned all day in combat.

Final tally: He got 130 for Knights and Marauders (ironically, the highest total scored against me all day). I got 300 for his army plus 60 for achieving my Assasinate goal. A Massacre.

At this point I was 3-1 with one Massacre for me and one against me (both against the Dark Elf army.)

Game Five: Chaos Versus Lizardmen

Fullur came over with his Lizardmen, pointed out that we had been playing wrong. He pointed out that, depending on your reading of the rules, we could NOT, in fact, have characters worth more than 75 points. It was 150 points TOTAL, not each. 

In other words, I could not use any character in my entire army since the cheapest one is a mere 85 points...10 points over the maximum allowed. So I had to retool.

Well, there was no way I was going with a Marauder Champion so I went with Chaos Warriors, a unit I typically eschew because they are too expensive for a unit that is unlikely to ever actually get into combat. 10 guys at 15 points plus a mandatory upgrade plus a Champion, 172 points. 

3 Knights, another 120 points. 3 Marauders 304 points. Due to my victory, I was actually allowed 310 so I added a 4th Marauder.

Facing me would be I think 3 units of Skinks, one of which had a Kroxigor in it, and a Skink Priest.

Lots of shooting by him, lots of marching forward by me. Somewhere along the line I lost a Warrior to his shooting so no rank bonus for me. I got the charge with my Knights on one of his Skin units. Their Stand and Shoot killed a Knight, the other two rampaged through his unit.

Meanwhile, he outmaneuvered me on the other flank and got a flank charge on my Warriors but also charged them frontally with his Skinks. 

I made all my saves, did back five casualties (this is the moment Fullur was talking about  where he gave me an unneeded advantage. He let me make a lot of attacks that I should not have gotten. As a result, both his units broke and fled. From there it was just mop-up and the game became a massacre.

Eventually his Kroxigor and Skink rallied only to be charged by my Knights.

Oddly, he out-generaled me in the maneuver phase. I typically feel I win the maneuver phases, but not this time. He made just one mistake...charging my front. 

For the day I went 4-1. Much better than I thought I did and better than I wanted to do. Oh, well. It was all right.

Ultmiately looking at Warbands I am a bit disappointed. It forces you to use units that have little to no capability and does not let you use units that are actually fun to play or, if it does, they are disproportionately penalized by individual bad moments. 

My Knights did perform fairly well. They wrecked the Dwarf Warriors, killed a couple Ogre Bulls, their Fear caused a Bolt Thrower to get destroyed. On the other hand, they were much more fragile than I anticipated, taking casualties in every game except the Ogre game...which, by the way, was the one I thought they wer most likely to take a casualty in.

The Sorcerer was worse than ever. I am seriously considering taking no magic at all in future battles since it never does anything. However, in light of the need to stop stuff like the hyper destructive Dark Elf magic, I think I will probably have to take some low level guys with Dispel Scrolls. 

All in all, it was okay, but I would much rather play games where I can actually have enough Knights that I don't have to fear I won't get them into combat if they take even a single casualty.

Dwarf Verse Chaos Game 2

Immediately following my complete humiliation, we refought the battle. This time he won the roll for set-up and had me set up first. So I put my smaller 10 man unit behind the ruin in the center. He placed his Thunderer unit identical to the first game. My 12 Made Men then went on my right, his Warriors opposite, and my General/Sorcerer once more joined the larger unit. I won the roll to go first. This time I have Flickering Fire, Pandemonium, and Infernal Gateway.

Chaos Mafia Turn One

I advance 8", veering my 10 man unit to the right, away from the Thunderers. 

Infernal Gateway requires  15: I roll a 13. But wait...I use Blood of Tzeentch to re-roll one die which gets me to 15, and the Homonculus adds 3. He fails to Dispel it!

I get 10 hits at S4. 6 hit. 3 Dwarf Warriors make their way through Deaths Door. The Banner of Wrath then hits unopposed since he used all his Dispel Dice on Infernal. Another Warrior dies. I have already done 300% more casualties than I did the entire first game! Woo-Hoo!

Awesome Magic my old friend

Grace me with your presence once again

Dwarf Turn One

Warriors move forward a moderate 3". His Longbeard Scouts about face so they will be able to flank me when I clear the building. Only 2 of his Thunderers have Line of Sight, take a couple pot shots, one hits, no wounds. This game is going my way!

Chaos Mafia Turn Two

This time I remember his scouts and know I can't march, even though I desperately want to. Instead, I only walk forward 4". Infernal Gateway never reaches the needed total of 15. With him having 4 dice, my Bound Spell of 4 is doomed as long as he can at least avoid double ones.

Pointless magic my old friend...

Dwarf Turn Two

Apparently tired of playing well, Space Monkey advances his Rangers into L.O.S. of my small unit and wheels his Warriors to better get in position to face my larger Made Men unit. This presents both flanks to me and I am excited. 

Since it closes off his shooting lanes, he retreats his Thunderers an inch and a half to buy more time should I win the combat. I thought he might be better served to wheel them instead, thus allowing ten guys to fire, but since I just lost a game by 1250 points when we started with 750, why would anyone find value in any advice I could offer? 

(Space Monkey would have listened, to be fair).

Chaos Mafia Turn Three

I unattached my Sorcerer/Don just in case there was a repeat of last game. Both units charged. My smaller Made Men took his Rangers in the flank and my larger ones hit his Warriors head on. I had sent my rule book home with Chad for him to learn the game, so could not remember if the flanked unit aligned to face me or not. 

Meanwhile, with both enemy units involved in combat, my only option for a spell was Pandemonium. Uh...yay? It was successful, which just meant instead of using the Thane's leadership of 9, the units had to use their own leadership of just 9.

Yes, that is sarcasm.

I finally get a spell off successfully...and what is the result?

Pointless magic my old friend...

On the bright side, it was time to try close combat again. Turning the flank to meet me or not did not matter.

As it turned out, I hit him 4 times, wounded 2, killed just one. He did nothing back, broke, and was overrun. (Forgot the Old Grumblers rule. D'oh! Doesn't matter...with me hitting him in the flank, having a rank bonus, and wounding him 1-0, he had a healthy -4 to his save, so he needed I think a 5 or less).

In the other combat, 9 of my 13 dice were good for hits. Needing 3s to hit, or 67%, that is actually about right. I wounded 4 (again, needing 4s, or 50%, that is about right, ever so slightly on the low side) and he saved 1 (real close to right; he needed 5s to save, so 33% chance:1 or 2 would have been right). Hey, when the percentages play out, I do real well!

His Thane managed to hit with all three attacks, but did just 1 wound and that was saved. His Warrior Champ could do no better. 

He broke and ran. I overran him. It is all rolling my way, now.

Dwarf Turn Three

His choice to make a retrograde movement meant even with a generous interpretation of the field of fire, he had but 3 guys firing. Of course, in those three he got 2 hits, and one of them killed a Chaos Made Man. After the first game debacle, this was my first game 2 casualty. Just for fun he dispelled Pandemonium. No real effect, but hey...it was something accomplished.

Chaos Mafia Turn 4

Charge!

 Only had my 10...okay, 9 man unit of Made Men, but that SHOULD be enough. Dedicated instruments of death and destruction against weak Close Combat troops. He Stand and Shoots, hitting twice, killing one more.

I roll 11 dice in Hand to Hand. With a higher Weapon Skill, I need a 3 to hit. I should hit 7 to 8 times. I hit twice. I did kill one Dwarf...uh...yay? Pathetic. He cannot wound back. I have his flank, I have rank bonus, I have running Dwarfs, I overrun, I smashed him nearly as bad as he smashed me.

In game one, I did one casualty. In game 2, he did two.

I actually managed some more appalling dice rolling as I could barely do any Close Combat damage, even needing 3s to hit as opposed to him needing 5s (Mark of Nurgle), needing 4s to wound and him needing 5s to save. Magic was a little better, actually doing 4 casualties this game. 

Final Tally? Magic did 5 casualties in 8 rounds. Not even a casualty per round. Was it worth 35 points to upgrade to level 2, 65 points more in Gifts and Magic Items? Uh...no. Did nowhere near 100 points. 

Oh well. Regardless, the combined outcomes was very cool. Very evenly matched armies overall, even if the outcomes were each complete annihilation's. Fun games, and a perfect .500 record. 

Dwarf versus Chaos Game 1

Some new models purchased from Ebay arrived so after the song-writing portion of the day, Space Monkey tried out a Dwarf army I developed while I tried out a Warriors of Chaos army. At 750 points, it is not ideal for the high-priced Chaos army...but hey, the models were painted, I had an opponent, what else could I do?

The Dwarf army was pretty tight:

Thane with Rune of Shielding (2+ Ward v. Shooting & Magic Missiles), Master Rune of Spite (4+ Ward) and Rune of Stone (+1 to save), making him pretty tough to kill and "only" 152 points.

10 Thunderers with the nasty Dwarf Handguns. I did give them shields, giving them a 5+ save. (150 pts)

17 Dwarf Warriors with Veteran, Musician, and standard bearer. (202 points)

13 Longbeard Rangers with a veteran, Musician, and Standard Bearer with Runes of Battle (+1 to combat Resolution) and Stoicism (Count as double strength). This unit has the Scout rule, 248 points. 

Total:752 points.

Facing them would be my most awesome, newly arrived Mafioso Evilosa

Led by a Mafia Don with Treason of the Mob, Call to Glory, and Flickering Fire. With a Spell Familiar and Conjoined Humonculus I figured to get off some good magic. 205 points.

10 Mafia Made Men with a Champion, Standard Bearer with Banner of Wrath, Mark of the Capo (-1 to be hit by shooting, -1 to be hit in Close Combat), and a shield giving them a 3+ Save verse Shooting and 2+ in close combat. 253 points. 

12 Mafia Made Men as above except with Musician and Blasted Standard (5+ Ward verse shooting), 292 points.

750 points. Yes, a 2 point deficit :-)

Space Monkey built a completely symmetrical field with ruins in the center, trees to my left and ruins to my right (and the reverse for him).  I won the pre-game set-up roll and elected to set up a unit first, thus completing set-up first. Good and bad decision...I unwisely set up my larger unit first on my left in the open, thus allowing him to plant his Thunderers opposite them. My smaller unit went on my right and he planted the warriors opposite them. I then put my General in the center of the larger unit to my left and he put the Thane in his Warriors, then put his Longbeards behind the central ruins. 

We then rolled for turn. We both rolled 2s, but since I finished setting up my units first, that meant I won. Bwooohahaha, my error paid off!

Chaos Mafia Turn One

Basic. March forward 8". Try to cast Treason of the Mob (enemy unit attacks itself). My roll was high enough after re-rolling one die with Blood of the Mob and adding 3 with the Conjoined Homonculus but the Dwarf magic resistance dispelled it. 

Dwarf Turn 1

His Warriors marched forward the full 6" and his Thunderers fired at my Warriors. Three hits led to 2 wounds of which I could save just one. I took my first casualty. 

Chaos Mafia Turn Two

My Made Men on the right advanced just 3". Here was my thought: we started 24" apart. I moved forward 8", leaving 16". He moved forward 6" leaving 10, 2" too far for me to charge. If I marched 8 he would get the charge. If I moved forward 3", it should leave 7"...too far for him, perfect for me.

Meanwhile, my Made Men on the left advanced a full 8". I suspect this was illegal in retrospect as I think I might have been within 12" of his Rangers but that just now occurred to me as I typed this. *sigh* So much to remember.

This time I was successful in casting Treason of the Mob on his Thunderers. They would attack themselves. Excellent! Needing 4s to hit, 4s to wound, and 5s to save, I figured he would lose 2 -3 and perhaps need a break test. Perfect! 

Until only 2 of his guys hit themselves and neither wounded. 

Pointless magic my old friend

You've come to mock me once again.

Dwarf Turn 2

No movement.

Thunderers hit 3 times, wound 2. One I Armor saved, one I Ward Saved. Sweet! They are working they way they are supposed to. Shooting and Magic are about the same.

Chaos Mafia Turn 3

I announce two charges. The Made Men on the left had his Rangers in sight and made it with an inch to spare. Good, that was the one I was worried about. I almost didn't bother to measure on the right since, as seen above, I was a solid 1" within range. But I did measure...and was about a quarter inch short.

Somewhere my math went wrong. Either I set up too far back or he did. Either way...I was short! Because of the nature of people we are, he offered to allow the charge to hit home and I refused.

Oh, well. I did cast "Call to Glory" on my unit on the left, but he used all 4 of his dice to Dispel it, thus letting the Blasted Banner hit his Warriors. Well...sort of. I rolled a 2 for number of hits, then failed to wound. 

Pointless magic my old friend...

But at least I had some close combat. With him being 6 wide, I had 5 guys with 2 attacks each and one with 3. My Sorcerer/General (yeah, I know...in close combat, he can't cast. Oops) did wound one, but it was saved. My warriors?2 wounds, , 1 save, but 1 kill...

except then we remembered his save was one better in close combat. Re-rolled and he saved both. 

Yep, my awesome hand to hand unit, with full force, just did a combined ZERO casualties. 

On the bright side, I saved his paltry wound. 

So let's see...equal rank bonuses, both have Banners, both have musicians, tie...no, wait, he has that rune giving him +1 Combat resolution. My warriors broke. At least I had not waited 14 years to put a premier hand to hand unit into combat only to see them break at the first sign of resistance...these broke just a week into my desire to play them.

And ran 5". Fortunately, he only pursued 2. Would have been more fortunate if this occurred on his turn...

Dwarf Turn 4

He declared 2 charges. On my left, his charge into my fleeing unit overran them and destroyed them.  But hey, look at the bright side...his Warriors charged by other Made Men. Here we go.

His Thane hit just one time and could not wound. His Warriors hit twice, zero wounds. With the Mark, they needed 6s. Excellent, my plan was working.

I struck back. 9 Hits. Now we are getting somewhere. Of course, only 3 of those wounded. And he saved all 3. 

He had a rank bonus of 2. I had a rank bonus of 1. He won the combat by 1. I had a leadership of 8, now modified to a 7. I rolled an 8. He overran me.

He wiped out my entire army in four turns. 

I did a total of 1 (one) one casualty in the entire game. Three magic phases. 2 Hand to Hand combat rounds with 9 of "the best hand to hand core units in the game" and a mighty Champion. 

One casualty. 

Pathetic.

Check out the picture above: that is the casualties experienced by each side during the game.

Space Monkey asked if this happened to me often. 

I remember when I was about 10 playing a game of Risk where my opponent had Quebec and Peru. I went against each of those with almost 20-1 numerical superiority in each case...and lost both. 

Since then I have never had anything remotely close. I lose occasionally, but it is always a close game. I have never, ever, ever lost by over 1000 points in a 750 point game. (I did 17 points to him; he did 750, + captured 2 banners for another 200, plus would get 3 table quarters for a total of 1250 points to zero). 

So here is the traditional picture of the survivors. Considering the bloody nature of the battles we typically fight, this is pretty unusual to see...complete units.

If that is not the definition of a Massacre, I don't know what is. My Banner of Wrath did the only casualty I caused in the entire game.

I suppose you could argue my set-up was flawed in allowing his Thunderers to shoot. I would buy that argument much more if it had ANY impact on the outcome. He shot down one guy. That guy did not remove a rank bonus, did not cause a test, or in any way affect the outcome. Ironically, it was one of only two actual kills in the entire game.

I broke in two hand to hand combats without ever taking a casualty in either. 

*Sigh*. 2 failed break tests wiped out my once-proud Mafia. Time for a re-match.

Dwarf versus Wood Elf battle

Chad had never played, so after the Lizardman game was over, he and I set up to play. He wanted to try the Wood Elf army, so I grabbed the Dwarf army Rick had just played. I ripped out 2 cannons and replaced them with the Organ Gun just because I wanted to try it out.

On the right side of the field was a small ziggurat, on my left was the King's Wall, on his side of the field was a small building on his right (my left) and a forest on his left (my right). A small stream guarded the edge of the field, essentially meaning my left flank was protected. I put a unit of Thunderers (move or fire, 24" range, s4 guns, 150 points) behind the King's wall on my left, the Organ gun behind and to their right to control the center of the field, the cannon on my baseline to it's right, the second Thunderer unit (same as first) to its right but up towards the edge of my deployment zone, and a 17 man Warrior unit with the Thane in it behind them to protect their flank. 

I explained to Chad how to set up. It took some convincing, but finally I got him to put the 23 Glade Guard (30" range on their bows, no penalty to move or fire, BS 4)  in a line from the building over to the Woods. Behind them he put 12 dryads (2 attacks, cause fear, 156 points) and 7 wardancers (2 attacks, Shadow Dances), their General supporting them, and then planted the Waywatchers behind the ziggurat.

He won the roll for first turn. The Waywatchers came up over the Ziggurat, everyone else advanced straight ahead. He opened fire. Effectively. The Waywatchers shot down 3 Thunderers  on my right while the Glade Guard shot down three more. 

I knew how the Dwarf army was designed and kept my turn short; no movement and then I returned fire with pretty good results. The Organ gun flamed to life, killing 7 Waywatchers, forcing them to break. The Thunderers both shot at the Glade Guard, combining to kill just 2 or 3 of them. The Cannon killed a Glade Guard, a Dryad, and even got a wound on the General. 

His next turn saw him fail to rally the Waywatchers and everyone else advance. He decided to open fire on the Thunderers to my left, killing 3 despite them being behind the King's Wall.

Again I moved nobody and this time the Organ Gun fired on the  Glade Guard, killing 5. The Thunderers also shot pretty well, taking him down to about 10 Glade Guard. It was looking good....except his Dryads and Wardancers were untouched and almost ready to charge. He kept trying to take them out from behind the screen and I kept convincing him it was a bad idea. When facing a shooting army, let your screen do its job; absorb the damage until you are ready to charge. Unfortunately, the cannon ball simply stuck in the mud, failing to do any damage.

His next turn saw the Wardancers cross the ziggurat and everyone else move forward. This time he shot down 3 of the last 4 Thunderers on my right. 

Now I moved. My Warriors, who all game were hanging out defending my right flank (actually, I had moved them slightly each turn to deal with the Waywatcher threat, then the approaching Wardancer threat, so they were out on the extended right wing), got the charge on the Wardancers. Time to shoot.

First, the Cannon. I had his last 4 Glade Guard lined up, the cannonball would wipe them all out...except the cannon mis-fired. Then I opened up with the Organ Gun on the Dryads...only to watch it mis-fire and blow up, taking the Master Engineer with it. 200 points gone, just like that. But it DID do a lot of damage; I got 1/2 the Waywatcher points (147 cut in half) and 1/2 the Glade Guard points in exchange for 200. Costly.  My Thunderers could not even kill a single Dryad. I did win the hand-to-hand, but his Wardancers would not flee. 

The Dryads charged home against the Thunderers behind the King's Wall. The General unleashed the Hail of Doom arrow against the cannon, killing one crewmen. The Dryads killed about 5 Thunderers. The Wardancers lost a couple more.

I now had 4 Thunderers behind the King's Wall locked in combat with Dryads, 2 guys standing behind a useless cannon as they were charged by his Glade Guard, and 16 warriors battling Wardancers. After this turn I had 16 Warriors and my Thane. He had 3 Waywatchers, 2 Glade Guard, and all his Dryads, and his General. 

We totaled the points. We each controlled a table quarter. I did in half his Waywatchers and half his Glade Guard, 5 guys from having over 600 points, instead I had I think 3 hundred and some. Meanwhile, he killed 2 units of Thunderers (150 each), a cannon (90), and my Organ Gun/Engineer blow-up for 200 points gave him about a 220 point win, a solid victory. 

Oh, the pain...had his Waywatchers not fled I would have killed them all and had at worst a draw. Had my cannon not misfired I would have wiped out his Glade Guard instead of leaving 2 alive and had at worst a draw. Or had my Organ Gun not blown up (on turn THREE) I would have had at worst a draw. 3 dice rolls that went against me. *sigh*

On the bright side, Chad is hooked and fun was had by all. I think. And I did get a game in after all, so that was a good thing.

Lizarmen Vs. Dwarfs 3-14-09

I did not take notes, so this is my best effort to recall the progression.

We set up terrain with a lake surrounded by forest on what we will call the north side of the table about 13" from the edge, a steep hill about 2" south of that, and a 12" wall just west of the eastern deployment zone.

The Dwarfs won the roll to pick sides, they chose the east side. This meant that the scenery would only serve to impede my advance in the middle, since the trees and water would not slow down my skink skirmishers, and my saurus warriors would advance on the south side.

The Dwarfs won the roll to choose who went first, they chose to let me go. Until I moved past the hill and forest there would not be many targets for the thunderers and cannons, but I had to get in close as quickly as possible because that is where I had the advantage. Fortunately, a 12" march that is not impeded by terrain (skirmishers ignore most terrain, and skinks are aquatic so they ignore water, one of the few terrains that skirmishers don't) can get you across the field pretty fast.

Lizard turn 1
I moved my whole army straight forward their full movement with a couple small exceptions. Additionally, my chameleon skinks had been placed on the northern table edge just far enough forward so I would be outside the required 12", so I moved them east-southeast to get them closer to his thunderers and behind them so they could not fire on me. I had placed my lone skink priest behind my middle which meant his line of sight would be severely limited, so I moved him off to the south flank. He was just able to get LoS to the southern line of thunderers.

Then came the magic phase, I suddenly felt naked when I realized I had not rolled for my priest's spells. We agreed to have me roll them then. I rolled a 6 and a 4 giving me a thunderbolt and meteor spell. I am going to spare the suspense and just tell you that I successfully cast the thunderbolt once in the whole game when it was not dispelled. I rolled a 1 to see how many S4 hits his unit would take, then a 1 for the "to wound" roll. Very effective spell casting.

The shooting phase was a little more successful. I was able to take out 2 of his northern thunderers with my chameleon skinks. I believe I also took out 1 with my northern skirmishers. I had made some kind of mistake moving my southern skirmishers, and they were just out of range.

Dwarf turn 1
He considered some moves, but after checking the rules on his move-or-fire units decided to just leave things as they were. He had no movement at any point during the game. As I understand it, this is how a dwarf army is supposed to operate. I do not think I could play a proper dwarf army.

His shooting phase saw some dissapointing rolls. I believe he took out 2 of my northern skirmishers. His cannons did 1 or 2 casualties. He did manage to cause my southern skirmishers to break, running back 3".

Lizard turn 2
My northern and southern troops once again marched forward. My chameleon skinks ran south behind the line of thunderers to close to within an inch of his northernmost cannon. I figured he would have to get very lucky to hit anything with a cannon at that range, and the thunderers could not turn around to fire at the chameleons. My skinks which had broken the turn before rallied. Cold Blooded is a beautiful thing! However, this still prevented my Kroxigor from advancing much because they were directly behind the skinks. I was able to get them down off the hill, but they would be out of charge range for a while yet.

Shooting saw another couple of thunderers in both lines go down to the skinks' poison blowguns. It is funny how you don't care too much that you have to roll sixes to hit when you have 14-20 shots and any sixes automatically wound. I shot at his cannon with my chameleons, but if I remember correctly did not do any damage since all of the sixes went into the cannon, and any that hit the crew failed to wound.

Dwarf turn 2
He fired away again, taking out a couple from the northern skirmishers, and one or two from the southern group. This may be the turn his cannon took out one of my saurus warriors. His northernmost cannon misfires and rolls a 2 or 3 causing it to not fire that turn or the next.

Lizard turn 3
My northern skinks walked towards his line stopping within 1" of his thunderers. Here they would be protected from his cannons, prevent his thunderers from firing at my more valuable troops, be able to use their multiple-shot blowguns, and not have the disadvantages of being in melee with a regular unit with higher WS. My southern skinks walked forward in front of the Kroxigor who were still outside of charge range. My saurus warriors wheeled on the southern flank and plodded on towards the thunderer line. Shooting went about like it had except for taking out one of his cannon crew.

Dwarf turn 3
Same as before, shoot with rifle and cannon, do a couple of wounds. At some point he managed to do a total of 3 wounds to my Kroxigor unit with his cannons. Had I taken the wounds properly, this would have taken one of my Kroxigor out.

Lizard turn 4
I charge his southern thunderers with my saurus warriors. He stands and shoots taking out 1 saurus on the way in. This is the last wound my saurus will suffer.

I fire at his cannon doing little or nothing. I fire at his northern thunderers taking them down to 3 left in the unit.

Close combat goes about like you would expect I take out all but 2 or three of his thunderers who, needing snake eyes, run like scared little girls. I pursue into the warrior unit right behind them.

Dwarf turn 4
He fires at my northern skirmishers doing some damage. Then he gets to try his northern cannon, which misfires, this is the same one that misfired on turn 2. This time it explodes. His other cannons don't do much.

In melee, I am counted as charging so I tear through several of his guys before he gets his attacks. Had we remembered how CC works, he would have only hit back with his general and his champion. As it was, he did not do much, he needed a three to stay in the fight and rolled an eight. He rolled 10 making it 9" that he ran, I rolled an 11 putting my front line on the edge of the board and overruning both of his routed units.

Lizard turn 5
My saurus reformed to face his cannons to the north. My chameleons marched towards his middle cannon. My Kroxigor, still out of charge range, marched forward behind their skink screen.

Shooting saw the southern thunderers go down to 2, and the middle cannon lose the master engineer.

Dwarf turn 5
His northern thunderers took my northern skinks down to 2 or 3 left. His southern cannon fired... and exploded. They just were not helpful to him.

Thinking this was turn 6, we called it. I missed something in there because at the end of the game he had only one crewman on his remaining cannon. At the end of the game, he had 2 thunderers and one crew on one cannon. I had lost most of one unit of skinks, 2 or 3 saurus, and taken enough wounds on my Kroxigor unit that I should have removed one.

Wood Elf vs. Dwarf

Bro'k'ien L'eafblower nodded as he listened to his scout. "Return to your unit, Toom 'uch Sno'thisyear. I will gather forces to relieve you."

His scout nodded and departed. The news he had brought was exciting indeed. The small scouting party had discovered a lost temple, possibly even one belonging to the Slann. It would be great if L'eafblower could lead his forces there, check out the ziggurat, and perhaps bring home some great lore for the Wood Elves of Nomoresnowforafewyearsplease.

Quickly he gathered together a small but potent force. Ishov'le'd Wayto Muchsnow would carry his flag, riding alongside the well mounted L'eafblower.  Magi'cofth'eskies would come along to provide some magical ability. 

With the 10 scouts already on the field, he could only muster 8 Glade Riders, a 20 man unit of Glade Guard, a 10 man unit of Glade Guard, and a dozen dryads. Still, he should be able to get there unopposed, even though there were rumors of a massive Goblin horde in the area, not to mention some Dark Elves out looking for slaves and even some Dwarfs on some random mission or other. 

With Too'much and his scouts holding the ground, L'eafblower had little worry. However, he was in for a surprise.

When he arrived at the ziggurat, he saw this worst fears were realized. The dwarf army proved to be more that just a rumor. They were approaching the ziggurat!

Quickly he sprung into action. Throwing a line of Glade Guard in the front of his lines, he put the Skirmishing Dryads behind them. He noticed the Dwarf army had some Rangers skulking about a hill to his left, so he put the smaller unit of Glade Guard on his left to protect his flank against them. Then he noticed the Dwarf general had a couple of their feared cannons and ten thunderers where they could threaten his beloved dryads so he sent the Glade Riders off to deal with them.

(setup): We had 4 armies; the Dark Elves Kenneth just got the day before and had not had time to paint, the Goblin army, the Dwarf army, and the debut of my Wood Elves. We pondered a couple ideas; some sort of 2 sides/allies, maybe the Dark Elves/Goblins against the Dwarf/Wood Elf alliance, or a four-way battle where each force had restrictions that would ensure nobody got ganged up on. Ultimately, we decided to fight 2 separate battles. 

We rolled to see who would face who. We went with low 2 rolls would fight on the 2 card-table set-up and the 2 high rolls would fight on the 4x4 plywood table. Josh rolled a 1 for the goblins, Phillip rolled a massive 2 for the Goblins, I equaled his roll, and then Ken rolled a sad 1. It would be his Dark Elves against Chris, Josh and Kevin playing the goblins while I played my Wood Elves against Phillip and Rick as the Dwarf army.

Due to our excitement to see as much of Ken's new army as possible, we "bent" a couple rules trying to build up army points; The Goblins goblins were bolstered by a Saurus unit and 2 skink units. The Dwarf army had a whopping four cannons. Had they fought the goblin masses, it could have gotten ugly quickly. 

We had a small hill to the left, the ziggurat in the middle, and the ever-present woods on the right (cleverly disguised as a hill...but played as trees).

I won the roll to set up first. I put my 20 model unit of glade guard in the trees to the right of the ziggurat, giving them a good field of fire. The second unit, 10 models strong, went directly behind the ziggurat to keep them out of the line of fire, planning to climb it and shoot his left wing. Then I put the Glade Riders off on the right to get across the field and go cannon hunting. Finally, I put my Dryads behind the big Glade Guard unit. My scouts seized the backside of the ziggurat. 

Meanwhile, the Dwarf army (Rick and Phillip) placed 2 cannons on either side of the ziggurat, controlling nice lines of fire. One 10 man unit of Thunderers was on their left (my right) alongside the cannon while the other was directly behind the ziggurat. Finally, their scouts went behind a hill on my left flank. 

Looking back, I should have done a couple things differently. By placing my Dryads behind the Glade Guard, I gave him very tempting targets for his cannons. I would have done better to place them as close to the ziggurat as possible. They could have moved onto it without taking any fire, leaving him to pick off individual models instead of having multiple lines to shoot at.  Second, the Glade Riders were set up to get across the field and charge. Dumb, dumb, dumb. They suck in close combat but are good at moving and shooting.  *sigh*.

Fortunately, they made an error or two as well. By placing 10 thunderers behind the ziggurat, they basically took them out of the game for some time. Later they said the plan was to climb the ziggurat and shoot from there. The problem with that is it would have been 3 - 4 turns before they could get in position and stop moving. The slowness of the Dwarf army would cripple that plan. Thunderers need to be in position to start shooting on the first turn whenever possible and never later than the second turn. 

Second, both my early deployments were on my right flank. They were trying to keep their units separate, so they put a couple cannons on their right. I never did place a unit over there, so essentially for the first few turns they had half their cannons and half their Thunderers doing nothing. Meanwhile, their Rangers going behind the hill did a good job of threatening my flank...but without support, they really had little chance of doing enough damage. 

I also would have liked to see them keep the Miners off the table and roll in rather than supporting their right flank (my left). But that is personal choice. Certainly trying to control the ziggurat was also a good plan so really that may have been their best option. Certainly that was their deadliest unit...

WOOD ELF TURN 1

"Forward!" shouted L'eafblower. He smiled as Too'much led his scouts around the crest of the ziggurat even as the Glade Riders, Glade Guard, Dryads and so forth moved forward.

Magi'cofth'eskies cast " gave protection to the otherwise exposed scouts even as the Wood Elf army unleashed a hail of arrows.

The Thunderers, thinking they were safe behind the ziggurat, watched in pain as 4 of their number fell to the accurate fire of the scouts. Meanwhile, the Glade Riders rained arrows on the cannon, but all their shots bounced off the cannon and did no harm. The Glade guard also fired, but could slay only one Thunderer.

I moved the Glade Riders toward the cannon, hoping to shoot the cannoneers before they could unleash their lightning. My shooting was quite ineffective, however. The scouts had to choose between cannon and thunderers. With the protection of the "Hidden Ways" spell, I knew he could not touch them this turn so I elected to shoot at the thunderers. I got some nice rolls and killed 4. The large unit of Glade Guard killed just one of the other Thunderer unit. Ouch.

Dwarf Turn 1

His smile fell as he watched the Dwarf army react. unperturbed, the Thane-led Miners moved towards the ziggurat, grimly planning to attack the lightly armored scouts atop it. The disciplined Rangers started coming over the hill, threatening his flank, and then the Dwarf weapons unleashed. The Thunderers saw the threat of the Glade Riders and dispatched 5 of them into mulch. At least that would help the trees grow...that thought was ripped from his mind as the cannon ball ripped through the ranks of the Glade Guard, killing 2.

Phillip moved on cannon out towards the flank to get a better angle at my mass of Glade Guard and Dryads as Rick marched his miners towards the ziggurat and Phillip marched his Rangers up over the hill. I had nothing on that flank, so it was a very real threat to roll up my flank. 

The shooting phase started poorly for me as the first cannon was able to tear through both my Glade Guard units do to some poor movement on my part. Each unit lost a guy. Not so bad yet, and I was less worried when both of Rick's cannons had no shot at all.

Then the Thunderers showed why they are such a great value, killing a whopping 5 of my 8 Glade Riders. That hurt quite badly.

If his shooting was that effective every round, I was in deep, deep trouble.

Wood Elf turn 2

L'eafblower had not become a general by failing to respond to threats. He quickly moved his smaller unit of Glade Guard into position to shoot at the Rangers and began moving the fearsome Dryads over to back them up. Meanwhile, the large unit of Glade Guard and the Glade Riders forward.  Magi'cofth'eskies was unable to protect the scouts. This time the shooting was much deadlier as the Glade Riders took their vengeance on the hapless cannoneers. He smiled as the Dwarfs thought about their response.

The 9 man Glade Guard would have to take on the Rangers. A simple wheel movement gave them their target. The larger Glade Guard unit and Glade Riders moved forward as the Dryads shifted over to prepare for a charge at the Rangers. 

They dispelled my Hidden Path attempt and, as it would all game, my attempt to cast my secondary spell failed. Actually, I would not again cast any spell successfully. On one turn I rolled a 12 and they equaled my 12. Magic was not kind to me after the first, crucial turn.

Shooting, however, was very kind. The Glade Riders killed 2 cannoneers. the large unit of Glade Guard killed 4 thunderers, the scouts killed a Miner, and even the small unit of Glade Guard was able to kill 4 of the Rangers. The Dwarf army was shrinking precipitously.

Dwarf Turn 2

The Miners continued their inexorable, albeit slow, advance, the Rangers completed their journey over the hill, and they were in position to charge. 

Meanwhile, all three cannons overshot badly. The Thunderers did manage to kill 2 more Glade Riders, leaving just one! and 2 of the Scouts were shot off the ziggurat by the deadly Thunderers. 

Elf Turn 3

The last remaining Glade Rider (foolishly) charged the single cannoneer, the Dryads continued moving towards the Rangers, and I did not move my large unit of Glade Guard as I was within 15" and did not need to. 

Magic was unkind as I mis-cast and took a wound. My shooting was decent; my large Glade Guard unit unleashed their arrows on his 5 man unit of Thunderers. 4 of them went down like bowling pins to a well-thrown bowling ball and the other decided he had enough, taking to his heels. The Scouts killed just one Miner and the smaller unit of Glade Guard could only kill one Ranger this turn.

Meanwhile, the charge into the cannoneer was pointless as neither side could harm the other.

DWARF TURN 3

The fleeing Thunderer rallied. The Miners finally were able to charge the Scouts. Kevin the Dragon Slayer moved around the Ziggurat and headed for the Elven Standard Bearer. The Rangers made a nice march move, coming real close to the Glade Guard. The cannons unloaded, killing one Glade Guard from the large unit and one dryad.  

The close combat was all Dwarf as they slew 6 of the scouts who therefore had nobody who could attack back. The last 4 fled and the Dwarfs were to slow to catch them, rolling a sad 3. 

ELF TURN 4

The fleeing scouts rallied. The Dryads charged into the Rangers as the Glade Guard moved out of their way. However, the Rangers were overcome by fear and fled, only to be run down by the Dryads and killed.

 The Glade Guard then unleashed the full might of their arrows on Kevin the Dragon Slayer who went down to their massed fire. The recovered scouts fired at the cannon but hit only the cannon, doing no damage. 

The Glade Rider finally killed the lone cannoneer. I tried to overrun off the table, needing an 8 on 3d6... and rolling a 7.

DWARF TURN 4

The Thane and Miners moved along the face of the ziggurat, trying to get close enough to charge the Glade Guard. Cannon Fire killed one of the last 4 scouts and a Dryad while the other cannon overshot. The Thunderer shot at the Glade Rider, hitting him but no wound inflicted.The large unit of Thunderers then shot down one of the large unit of Glade Guard.

ELF TURN 5

The army moved forward. The Glade Rider shot point-blank at the lone Thunderer but missed. The large unit of Glade Guard shot at the 6 man Thunderer unit and killed 3 of them. Needing a nine because of Thane proximity, they rolled  9. No Thane, they run...

Meanwhile, the small unit of Glade Guard killed a Miner.

DWARF TURN 5

The Thane and his last 3 Miners continued their advance. The cannons then roared...well, whimpered. 

The first one mis-fired. On the first roll, it would have only been unable to fire the next turn. Using the Engineer ability, they re-rolled...and the cannon blew up. The second cannon hit dead center on one Glade Guard and was prepared to tear through several ranks of Dryads...but rolled a mis-fire for bounce and stuck in the mud. 

The solo Thunderer missed the Glade Rider in their solo battle, while the larger unit killed one more Glade Guard member.

ELF TURN 6

The Dryads had no real target, so they moved towards the ziggurat, putting it between them and the last cannon, and getting ready to fight the Thane's unit should the battle extend. The Glade Rider finally shot down the Lone Thunderer.

 The three Miners fell to the smaller Glade Guard unit fire, and the last three thunderers, seeing one of their number fall, had enough. The last 2 fled the field. Only the Thane remained alive.

DWARF TURN 6

The Thane, though alone, had no fear. He charged the Glade Guard, taking one wound from their stand and fire reaction. The cannon overshot. 

In the combat, the Wood Elf champion challenged the Thane to one-on-one. The Thane easily disposed of him, but outnumbered, seeing the standard, he chose to flee. 

We elected to play to last man standing.

ELF TURN 7

The Glade Guard managed to hit the cannoneers, killing 2, the other fleeing off the table. Meanwhile, the rest of the army chose to see if the Thane would come fight again.

DWARF TURN 7

The Thane did recover but could do nothing constructive.

ELF TURN 8

The general charged. He could not wound the Thane. The Thane killed his horse to dismount him.

DWARF TURN 8

This time, the general slew the Thane. Only Wood Elves remained.

POST-MORTEM

This one came down to a few small details; initial set-up meant a great deal; I was able to employ virtually all of my forces except the Dryads from the first turn while minimizing the damage his cannons could do. Conversely, it took him several turns to get the bulk of his army into position to do much damage.

Successfully getting "Hidden Paths" gave my Scouts on the Ziggurat a protected first turn. Their shooting was effective, which negated a large part of the effectiveness of his Thunderers. 

Meanwhile, the Dwarf units were separated far enough that I was able to take them on a little at a time, hitting them with massed fire. Their shooting was divided too much so while they did a lot of damage, it was too separated to cause me to take break tests. With the number of tests I forced them to take, some were bound to fail...and a lot of them did. I only had to take maybe three tests in the entire game.

All in all, a fun, entertaining battle. A few lessons learned;

1) Always have plenty of tape measures available

2) Always have a hard copy of the rulebook on hand

3) Reference sheets RULE!