1k O&G V Empire rehash

A couple days ago I published a story-driven version of this report. This will be a bit more straight forward. Well, sort of...many strategy and tactical digressions. And anything else that interests me.

I wanted to try out the O&G book, Fullur wanted to try out the new Empire book. 1k is pretty small but hving played little lately, it seemed about right.

I built three lists; all Night Goblin, all Savage Orc and a mixed Orc and Goblin list. At the last second I went the Savage Orc version.

Pretty compact list; 20 Savage Orcs w/full command and extra hand weapon. This unit fills two rolls; 1, if we roll up Watchtower they are agood starting block and 2, should we roll blood and gloy, they provide a banner.

Next I put in a pair of Savage orc warbosses, one with Crown of Command and the other with battle standard and sword of...might? giving him S5 and S6 on the first turn of combat.

A level 3 Savage Orc shaman for magic defense. An Orc chariot (okay, not ALL savage orcs...this was lone exception) and 10 Boar Boyz rounded out my army.

I am really looking forward to seeing how the chariot and Boar Boyz work. I have a pretty good idea of what the Savage Orcs and Shaman will do.

I specifically built this army with a specific thought in mind. A lot is made on many sites about the importance of "having more drops" than the opponent to out-deploy them.

My force is designed to do one thing; enter combat quick, hit hard, get into the next combat. As a result, I am going to find a place where I can protect one or both flanks, get in combat quick and Hulk-smash stuff. Hey, Orcs and Hulk are all Greenskin, so the analogy works.

The upshot is...I do not much care where or how the opponent deploys. I am basing my deployment on what my army does well. Adopting the Robert E Lee principles that allowed him to constantly have more troops at the point of contact despite being vastly outnumbered overall, I am going to force the action when and where I want it.

In this case, poor Fullur ended up reacting in deployment and cramping himself...thus allowing me to generate exactly what I wanted, a way to force the combats I wanted when I wanted them and where I wanted them.

My deployment would more or less have looked exactly like it did regardless of what he put where.

My flanks are protected, my path to the enemy unimpeded, and I can avoid unneccessary dangerous terrain tests or mucking about with the Mysterious Forests that dotted the field.

We got "Blood and Glory" for a scenario. Cool. 2 unit standards, an army standard and my General...I am covered.

He won the roll to go first.

Empire Turn 1
He walked his archers on the left flank forward to get a shot at my Savage Orcs. The Knights moved forward a bit, the Greatswords behind them.

H started by firing his handgunners at my Boar Boyz. 3 hits, 2 wounds, and I am down to 8. His archers get 4 hits in 10 attempts needings 6s...that is a pretty good roll. He makes up for it by wounding just one Savage Orc who duly finds paint does not protect against iron and dies to the arrow.

Then he opens up with his volley gun. 8/8/misfire. He gets 8 shots. 4 hit the chariot. No problem, I will take a wound or two, I am okay with that...except, needing 4s...he rolls 5/6/6/5 and blows up my chariot. In one go. before it ever moves.

!@#$%^&.

This continues my run of looking forward to trying stuff out. My Shaggoth famously died to Dark Elf Repeater Crossbows before ever seeing combat. Galraug did nothing in his debut. And so forth. Welcome to "Darth Weasel's Hall of Shame", Orc chariot.

On the bright side, Fullur had to LOVE the effect of his @#$%^& Volley Gun.

Orc Turn 1
I want to play the Orcs differently than I do the WoC. Typically with the WoC I play a very conservative game; charges need a high percentage chance of success to be declared. I seldom get into "fair" fights; the outcomes are all but predetermined when the lines crash together.

This time I needed a 9 to charge the knights with my Savage Orcs and I think the same with the Boar Boyz. I declared both charges (and just now note I forgot to declare the Waaaagghh).

This, of course, is because both units passed their animosity test. I actually remembered to roll for it.

The Savave Orcs make it, the Boar Boyz fail by a couple inches and thus move forward just 6"...a good roll on that die. Too bad the other two combined to total less than 3...

I then roll a 3ad 1 for the winds of magic and successfully channel. It is at this point I notice I mis-positioned the shaman. He is out of range to cast his augment on the unit in combat. So instead I Foot of Gork the Greatswords, throwing all 5 dice and forgetting to make it the powerful version. Would have been successful.

A scatter means I hit just 3 greatswords, but they all die.

My general hits thrice, wounds twice, one saved. Uh oh. I was counting on my Choppas rule to help out...falling strength in round two will hurt against his 1+ save.

But the standard bearer shows the power of the Sword of Might/Choppaz combo. He hits thrice, wounds thrice, and that extra point of S leads to 3 kills.

The knights and their horses hit 5 times but cannot wound. The last one breaks...and I pursue all of 3". Whatever.

I feel this means he will have a full turn of shooting at my unit which will whittle them down, then I will charge his greatswords who by then will have both detachments positioned to counter-charge. I would have much preferred a pursuit roll that took me into his next unit.


Empire Two

He chargs his greatswords and one unit of Swordsmen, advances his archers, moves his volley gun.

The handgunners get a whipping 11 hits in 19 tries but kill just 2 Boar Boyz. Still, I have lost 4 of them already, 40%...and am probably two turns from combat. They will not be a force to be reckoned with when they get into combat.

I send my boss after his Captain, but just 2 of my 4 hits wound and one of those he saves. My standard bearer kills a couple greatswords. My unit champ goes after his general but he saves the only wound I get off.

Then my unit opens a can on the greatswords, hitting 7 times in 7 attempts and, even more awesomely, wounding all 7. I had made them Big uns which means I had S5 in the first round...he saves just one wound and is in deep trouble.

The Greatswords get some back, killing 3 savage orcs, his general fluffs all but one attack which kills another, and then the swordsmen detachment wounds 2 more, one of which I save (yeah, I saved 1 time in 11 tries with my ward save...so I expect to get the next one :-) )

He breaks...has just one standard left...game.


Looking back, I think he lost this game in deployment. He had the wrong units in the wrong place, was too crowded and thus I was able to have huge advantages at every point of contact; roughly 387 points did all my work in this game.

Hthe greatswords been in front, the knights ready for a supporting flank charge and he softened me up with a couple turns of shooting, it might have gone differently.

Instead I was able to get my best combat unit into situations that negated his advantages (his nights got no strength bonus, his detachments were out of position, his archers and volley gun only fired once).

Of course, my Boar Boyz and Chariot were huge disappointments...but I am used to that. Next time they will do better.

I enjoyed the orc army a lot. I like their feel...but never failed an animosity attempt (onl had to roll for each unit once, so...)

Looking forward to more games with them.