War of the Shrine, Turn 5 Review

If not for the (hopefully) epic duel between Sigvald and the Dwarf Thane atop the pyramid and the battle between the Savage Orcs and Chosen, I would not bother with turn 6. The game is decided and at this point it is down to a few random dice rolls.



The amazing thing is...the Wood Elf force had some incredible rolls. In one battle, they saved 12 of 12 potential wounds...but kept rolling high, broke and ran.

I let them because the game is really over. The out-sized Chaos army, once they broke out of their opening cramped position, just ran wild on everybody else on the table, slaying left and right in huge numbers.

Still, this was an incredibly fun game I look forward to re-playing...with minor tweaks and under 8th edition rules.

War of the Shrines Turn 4 Overview

What a miserable turn for the Dwarf army. They broke and broke and broke and kept getting run down. Over half their army wiped out in one turn.

Conversely, the Warriors of Chaos, now having all their forces in play, are roaming the battlefield freely and bringing their skill and power to bear.

In an attempt to mitigate their power, I started deliberately doing some risky, insane things with them..but it worked.

Meanwhile, the Orc half of the army looked to be the equal of the Warriors of Chaos, killing everything it touched.

Unfortunately, the Night goblins began melting down.

The Wood Elfs can do a little bit of damage, but their days are numbered also.

It would be a major, major upset if anyone but the Warriors of Chaos won this thing. But I do anticipate a highly entertaining battle between Savage orcs and individual units of Warriors.

Turn Three recap

Things are beginning to clear up.


The Dwarf gambit failed, though not in epic proportions. Their shooting was fairly ineffective throughout the game, even against the Warriors of Chaos (the only army I did not allow Ward saves).

Not only their shooting, but their key charges...as soon as the Slayers failed to do a single wound and the Hammerers could not break the Marauders on the charge, their last flickering hope died. Now it is just a "last stand/do massive casualties as we die" scenario for them.

The Warriors of Chaos are in a dominating position. While the Dwarf lines still have a couple of units holding up the center of their lines, both flanks have dealt with every threat and are ready to bring overwhelming force to bear.

They will capture the left most shrine this turn and most likely the right most shrine in turn 5, leaving only the primary shrine...and by then, they should have Chosen, Chaos Warriors, and whatever else they need to take that.

The High Elf army is down to a single Dragon Prince and a mounted Mage...who just got flanked by an Orc chariot which might, with good rolls, finish him off with Impact hits.

The Orc and Goblin army is in an interesting position. The Archers have surprisingly held up two units of Miners while doing a handful of casualties.

The Night Goblins have been shredded by the treeman and Wardancers, but are still alive...and the goblins are about even money to defeat the Dryads and Glade Guard they are engaging.

Meanwhile, the Savage Orcs have a good chance. If they do enough casualties to the Miners on the charge, they should win the combat. If not...well, the Miners might do them in.

The Wood Elf army is done for. When the Treekin, Treeman and Wardancers were slain or broken, it let the wolves into the henhouse. There is no way a handful of Glade Guard can stave off Varangia, Knights, and the Giant. Their future is bleak indeed.

From a gaming standpoint, turn three was outstanding. It had a bit of everything...surprising combats (Night Goblin archers winning combats against Dwarf Miners), epic, multi-turn combats (Marauders v. Dwarf Warriors, the charges of the Hammerers and counter-charge of the Dragon Ogres), and individual duels of epic proportions.

I particularly look forward to the one on one duel between Sigvald and the mighty Slayer. Sigvald SHOULD win...but the Slayer has the charge and enough attacks to kill Sigvald in one go.

If I were to start over, I might at least approximate the points and make a couple of allies. It does not have to be even, but this game is going to tilt for the Warriors of Chaos simply because they have so many points available that the only army that had a chance was the Dwarf army....but they would have had to solely face the Warriors of Chaos.

nevertheless, I look forward to turn 4. Should be titanic and fun.

War of the Shrine Part 2 Recap

The Warriors of Chaos made some nice progress. They are well set up to do some serious damage on both flanks.

Turn two saw some holes open on both ends. On the left, the Shaggoth and Dragon Ogres, bottled up until now, finally have lines at some important charges. If those charges succeed, they will roll up the left flank and left-center of the field.

It would be boosted by a Knightly charge if not for the epic defense of the high Elf archers, who managed to save, between armor and Wards, something like 11 wounds from the Chosen. Not only have the Archers fought the Chosen to a standstill in two rounds of combat, they actually have WON both rounds...one of those, "No, that has no chance of happening" moments that are great about the game.

Meanwhile, the Dwarfs threatened momentarily to completely obliterate the center of the WoC lines. They still might win one of the combats, but their situation is suddenly rendered precarious by the success of inserting 2 Exalted Warriors into one of the fights.

The Dwarfs still figure to win the combat against the other Marauders, but it will be too little, too late as they will not have enough juice left to take on the Chaos Warriors and Sigvald who are behind that Marauder unit.

Meanwhile, on the right flank the Treekin initially held up well but then disappeared more or less in one go, essentially dooming the Dryads and Wardancers on that flank.

With pressure from the Dwarfs in the middle, the WoC on their left, and the O&G army on their right, the Wood Elf hope at this point is simply to take down as many enemy as possible before being slain. They are simply incapable of fighting a three front battle.

The High Elf army is shattered and will have no important role in the remainder of the battle.

The Orcs and Goblins are still hemmed in. They have enough power to cause some problems, but seem highly unlikely to do well unless the WoC and Dwarfs absolutely wear each other out and are therefore easy pickings for the too-small Orcs and Goblins.

The Dwarf army made the right move in trying to swing over and develop a battle line, and their desperate gamble to charge nearly gave them a real chance at winning, but when it failed...it probably doomed them to nothing but a heroic last-stand effort against the WoC.

Overall, it was a very fun turn with some great moments...the Wood Elf shooting phase, the Wardancers and Treeman knocking off mass amounts of Night Goblins, the Fanatics running amok, and the clutch refusal to die of the High Elf archers.

I cannot wait to see what surprises are in store in turn 3.

War of the Shrine: Turn 1 Overview

Wow. That was...well...AWESOME.

I had certain ideas about how it would go. I hoped to weight things slightly towards the underdogs (any force outnumbered/outpointed by whoever it was facing would receive a minimum 6+ Ward, stuff like that) but still figured the 2 dominant forces would be the Warriors of Chaos and Dwarfs...not necessarily in that order.

The first turn figured to be dominated by shooting. With the table so crowded, it would take a while for the Warriors of Chaos to bring their numerical superiority to bear.










Sure enough, the first turns required some sacrifices of troops and position to present opportunities for turn 3 or 4. They are having to physically obliterate every opponent because, outside of some goblins, NOBODY is running.




The Orcs and Goblins could have wreaked havoc if they had rolled higher, but having to endure Dwarf and High Elf shooting before they started, then getting waffled by High Elf charges really hindered them. Now they are cramped in and will find it difficult to get off the combo charges they desperately need.

On the bright side, the Fanatics have been wreaking havoc.



The High Elf Force was all but demolished in their first turn. Failing a restrain test meant their spearmen had to fight the Chosen on turn one instead of turn 2 which in turn forced the Dragon princes to charge in a desperate, all-or-nothing charge. If they could have somehow defeated the Chosen, it would have completely demolished the WoC battle plan on that flank and the Dwarf army might even have made a move to help as a form of self-preservation.

Instead, the only armored troops the High Elfs have are at the far end. If the Chariot can hold out for a round, they might rally and help there...but that flank is facing some powerful troops in their own right in the Giant and Troll.





The things that went really right were for two of the three weakest armies.

First off, Orc magic was unbelievable with fully 3 units attacked by the ongoing Gork spell, sweeping a unit into action in a favorable position, and just generally wreaking havoc.

Second, Wood Elf shooting did surprisingly well. On the one hand, over half the wounds they did were saved. On the other hand, they still caused 9 wounds with just a single round of shooting.

Turn 2 presents some tremendous tactical decisions, particularly for the Dwarfs.

Do they simply maintain their defensive position around the pyramid, counting on their shooting to whittle down enemy forces and the bonus Ward Save to keep them alive?

Or do they go aggressive:

- Charge the Marauder blocks in an attempt to keep the WoC army bottlenecked as long as possible.

- Swing the Slayers/Warriors who were facing the shattered High Elf army around to block off the WoC army?

- Conversely, swing the other way, make some charges, and try to rapidly wipe out the entire Orc and Goblin army, allowing them to reduce their fronts and concentrate more force but later on the WoC?

- Either way, they simply MUST move towards the Wood Elf army who otherwise will simply sit back and pick them off with bow-fire. The deadliest close combat Wood Elf troops are almost all occupied with WoC and Orcs and Goblins, so it might be a good opportunity.

The WoC will continue their blunt force trauma straight ahead advance, bringing pure power to bear everywhere.

The High Elfs might just try to form a small, tight defensive square and hope nobody notices them.

The Wood Elfs will keep shooting and counting on their shock troops to win that way.

But the Orcs and Goblins...ah, what a choice. Hide behind their wall as they slowly but surely lose a shooting war, then charge in once their bow-packing screen is dead? Or go all Waaaaagggghhh and charge in with true Orcy disregard for chance to win and good planning?