Topic: 5000-points photo battle report

[rufus sparkfire]

Last Saturday, FR1DAY and I teamed up to take on Uryens in a 5000-points mercenary vs mercenary Treachery and Greed campaign battle. In Ackworth.


This is the hall Padre hired, and my sidekick FR1DAY inspecting our troops.




This is the rest of the hall. Our opponent Uryens can be seen on the far right, avoiding the fearful glare of the camera lens.




Jamie's ogres, including large rhino things.




Padre's greenskins and neat tankard. No idea what that wooden thing is.



I forgot to take pictures of the other guys' armies, but I'm sure Padre took some.


The allied mercenary army. This is FR1DAY's half.



I think his army list was something like this:

General: unknown equipment
wizard Lord: magic carpet, squid tattoos
(spells: fireball, firestorm, glittering cloak, golden blades of whoever)
Ogre captain: HA, brace of handguns, privateer's sabre, troll elixir
Captain: warhorse, HA, Sh, ogre blade

28 pikemen: Command
30 Marauders: HA, command
10 Marauders: GW
10 Marauders: GW
10 Halberdiers
10 halfling archers
4 Ogres: GW, Musician
9 knights: command, ranalds banner
6 Border Horse: LXBow
5 Border Horse: Javelins, musician
5 Border Horse: Javelins, spears, shields, musician
Mortar
Ribaudequin   
8 brigands with LXBow
2 x 10 skirmishing longbowmen


No battle standard, because he misread the army list and thought you had to take a carroccio to use one.


And this is mine.



Lords   Condottiere      squid tattoos, shield of Myrmidia, privateer's sabre,                         
            potion of excessive speed, pistol                       
            Tactician, stubborn                       
      Sorcerer Lord      Level 4, panda pelt, magic carpet.     
(spells: doom and darkness, occam's mindrazor, soulblight, aspect of the dreadknight)               
                                                                                                                                   
Heroes      Carroccio                     
                                                                                     
Core   30   Condotta Soldiers      pikes, command                     
   25   Dwarf mercenaries      dwarf pikes, command, banner of Ranald                       
            (Condottiere's retinue)                       
   10   Condotta Marksmen      arquebuses                     
   10   Condotta Marksmen      arquebuses                       
   24   Condotta Soldiers      command                     
   10 Knights      command, full plate, barding, lances             
   10   Border Horsemen      command                     
                                   
Special   10   Halfling Rangers      light crossbows               
      Horse Artillery                             
      Mortar                             
      Mortar   
     Great Cannon                   
                                   
Rare      Ribaudequin                 


Hopefully, Uryens will post his army list.


Deployment:

We went for a solid infantry line across the battlefield, with the cavalry on the flanks (all the heavy cavalry on the right flank). I didn't use my 'tactician' special skill (which would allow me to re-deploy two friendly units), since there didn't seem to be any point.




Uryens' scouts took the tower. My hobbits claimed the woods.




You can see my baggage train looking scenic in the bottom right corner, next to the mortars.




The battlefield, post vanguard moves.






It occurs to me now that we forgot that all troops have to maintain a 1" distance from each other now. Oh well.


To be continued!

[Uryens de Crux]

Excellent pics Rufus, I will indeed post my army list this evening, if we had kept the 1" rule thing space would be even more limited!

[BAWTRM]

So was this only 1 battle being played? Assuming you're the one taking the pictures here I'm spotting 5 people here, with you that would mean a 6-player battle.

I just love the look of full battlelines.

[Uryens de Crux]

There were 3 other battles played. The other two being 3500 points a side I think.

IIRC it was T&G Mercenaries v Lizardmen & T&G Goblins v something else that I cant think now...

[rufus sparkfire]

Assuming you're the one taking the pictures here

I'm saddened that you don't remember what I look like.


Anyway, as Uryens said, the other two games were mercenaries vs lizards, and greenskins vs ogres. Padre will have pictures of those games.

[rufus sparkfire]

Turn 1:


FR1DAY and I won the first turn, which is always nice. We opted for a general advance, since Uryens had far more missile weapons than we did. Plus FR1DAY is just a really aggressive person.

Since vanguard-ing cavalry can't charge on the first turn, they settled for moving up really close to the enemy and looking scary.



FR1DAY hogged the power dice, and put a 'glittering robe' spell on his medium cavalry, transforming them into proper knights.




See the empty space to the left of the cannon battery? That's where Uryens' siege cannon was, before I killed it with my cannon. Also notice the suspicious wing behind the temple. We didn't.



To make up for my lucky cannon shot, I misfired and blew up my horse artillery. One of my mortars misfired, causing it to pass next turn. The other scattered away from the pikemen unit on the far right flank, and landed on Uryens' ribaudequin instead. Destroying it!


FR1DAY dropped a mortar shell on the halberdier horde, killing one or two. Note the funky new template.




We combined fire with our ribaudequins to panic the buccaneers in the tower, forcing them to run out.


Uryens charged my light cavalry with his knights. I announced that I was going to win the combat, but I didn't. Surprisingly.




Then he cast 'chain lightning' irresistably on my general's unit. It bounced around and killed a few models in several units, and the miscast wounded all of his wizards. Then he shot my general's unit until it panicked and ran away.





Turn 2:

FR1DAY's mounted crossbowmen charged a cannon. My dwarf pikemen clip-charged the ogres. FR1DAY's enhanced cavalry charged the mounted handgunners, and my knights failed to charge the same unit. Most of our other units advanced, and my general rallied his unit. FR1DAY's archers took the tower.




FR1DAY cast 'magic blades of somebody' on his cavalry. I was left with just enough power to cast 'aspect of the dreadknight' on my dwarfs.

The cavalry broke and ran down the mounted handgunners, following on into some knights.




My dwarfs beat the ogres, but failed to catch them.




Uryens suddenly brought out a griffon from behind a building. FR1DAY and I had carelessly forgotten he even had one.





To be continued!

[Fandir Nightshade]

Tadaaaaaaaa! Entrance....the Griffon!

I hope Uryens at least made some BUguaaaahhh Buguaaaaha noises.

[Uryens de Crux]

No, but I was making some "please dont shoot my giant chicken" prayers in my head. And also "arrrgh why did I leave those knights there" and "stupid vanguard moves"

[rufus sparkfire]

[I forgot: in the previous turn, I had a lovely flank shot lined up on Uryens' knights, but blew up my cannon.]


We had run out of beer, so FR1DAY went off to the shop, leaving me in overall command of the army. Big mistake!


Uryens charged FR1DAY's brigands with his pistoliers, causing them to break. This resulted in two panic checks: one for FR1DAY's light cavalry (which I passed) and one for his unit of pikemen with his general and an ogre captain (which I failed).




Uryens also shot FR1DAY's ogres, killing all but one. The survivor panicked. Also, he charged my dwarf pikemen with his human ones, my halfling rangers with his halberdiers, and my halberdiers with his men-at-arms and captain. He tried to shoot my carroccio with his cannon, but misfired.




Here's my baggage train again, looking unfocused.




I did manage to stop a 'final transformation' from turning FR1DAY's cavalry to gold, but I couldn't stop them suffering a 'curse of windy nights' or something. Also, they were flank-charged by buccaneers.




FR1DAY now returned with the beer, and demanded to know what had happened to his ogres.



Still, he won the combat with his cavalry, and caused absolutely everything to panic. A unit of pikemen ran right off the board.




The dwarfs were winning against the human pikemen. Also, the halfling rangers were holding fast against the halberd horde.




I think turn 3 is about here:


FR1DAY charged the crossbows in the flank. My halberdiers broke and ran down the men-at-arms. The carroccio also showed up to do a bit of drive-by shooting.




My dwarf pikemen ran down the human pikemen.




FR1DAY got his little unit of halberdiers ready to take on the knights!




The griffon and ogres charged the dwarfs. I tried to insist that the 'phalanx' rule applied sideways too. Of course it doesn't! The ogres still had to suck up the -2 to hit, but the griffon deployed its 'thunderstomp.' I forgot to challenge, and so lost loads of brave dwarfs.




FR1DAY's super-cavalry killed the crossbowmen and panicked the archers on the hill.




Still not quite finished!

[rufus sparkfire]

I convinced FR1DAY to charge the ogres and help my dwarfs, though he wasn't very keen to do it. The griffon flew away, and the cavalry ran down the ogres. Unfortunately, a big unit of men-at-arms was now in front of them.




My knights finally manged to do something: they charged and ran down some buccanners.




Uryens' knights charged my arquebussiers... but the stand-and-shoot killed four of them, and they panicked! Next turn, the arquebussiers charged a mighty 15" and ran them off the board.




Uryens' men-at-arms charged the cavalry and broke them, pursuing into my remaining dwarfs. It seems to be turn 5 now, according to the dice on the tower.




FR1DAY rallied his cavalry. My dwarfs fled, and the men-at-arms pursued into the cavalry. My knights ran the archers off the board, and hit the mortar.




And that was it! FR1DAY's super-cavalry unit was destroyed, but Uryens' army was clearly defeated.




Victory for the mercenaries against the mercenaries!


My general never made it into combat, which was disapointing considering how many points he cost. So, here he is together with the squid banner from my carroccio.



I also wore yellow shorts, but stopped short of painting a large blue squid on my chest. I'll keep that in reserve for next time.



Thanks to Padre for organising everything, to Uryens and FR1DAY for the game, and to the other guys for being cool.

[Shadowlord]

Great report without tedious text - just like a comic. 

Your general seems to be transported from a Beach Boyz video down to this battlefield.

[rufus sparkfire]

Thanks!

He probably failed the panic test on purpose so he could go surfing instead.

[Mogsam]

I like the Squid tattoo and banner. Would obviously have made him immortal.

Good too see people drinking and gaming. It's an important facet of making it more fun.

[damo_b]

3 great armies and a great day

[Uryens de Crux]

I think I would have failed my panic checks if my troops had all had Ld13, great fun against two much better players than me (they could remember which version of the rules we were playing and everything)

[black,water]

Which army lists are you using for this mate?

Lords   Condottiere      squid tattoos, shield of Myrmidia, privateer's sabre,                         
            potion of excessive speed, pistol                       
            Tactician, stubborn                       
      Sorcerer Lord      Level 4, panda pelt, magic carpet.     
(spells: doom and darkness, occam's mindrazor, soulblight, aspect of the dreadknight)               
                                                                                                                                   
Heroes      Carroccio                     
                                                                                     
Core   30   Condotta Soldiers      pikes, command                     
   25   Dwarf mercenaries      dwarf pikes, command, banner of Ranald                       
            (Condottiere's retinue)                       
   10   Condotta Marksmen      arquebuses                     
   10   Condotta Marksmen      arquebuses                       
   24   Condotta Soldiers      command                     
   10 Knights      command, full plate, barding, lances             
   10   Border Horsemen      command                     
                                   
Special   10   Halfling Rangers      light crossbows               
      Horse Artillery                             
      Mortar                             
      Mortar   
     Great Cannon                   
                                   
Rare      Ribaudequin                 

Especially intrested in  Ribaudequin and some of the magic items i havent seen before?       

[Mogsam]

The lists are from the Warhammer-Empire summer campaign so they are not official in anyway. Though they do have halfling pikemen. Which a link to can be found here:

http://warhammer-empire.com/theforum/index.php?topic=31766.0

Lots of information in the stickies.

[Uryens de Crux]

My army list for this battle: (apologies again chaps, I kept muddling up which of my THREE Condotta Lords you were fighting)

General: Lord
Sword of Swift Slaying
Sacred Shield of Myrmiddia
Full Plate
Brace of Pistols
Crown of Command
Tactician

Lord
Whirlwind Attack
Enchanted Shield
Talisman of Protection
Privateers Sabre
Potion of Excessive Speed
Warhorse, Barding, Full Plate

Lord
Griffon
Barding
Full Plate
Shield
Dragon Helm
Seed of Reebirth

Wizard Lord
Level 4
Robes of Cathayan Silk
Prohetic Book

BSB Captain
Armour of Silvered Steel
Brace of Pistols
Luckstone

Wizard
Level 2
Dispel Scroll
Ring of Rhuin

Wizard
Level 2
Dispel scroll D'oh
Amulet of Coal

Captain
Pistol
Sword of Might
Full Plate
Ironcurse Icon

Captain
Full plate
Gold Sigil Sword

Captain
Full Plate
Blacksteel Buckler
Infernal Blade

9 Knights of the Blazing Sun, FC, Rampaging Standard
20 Men at Arms, FC, Great Weapons, St4, Banner of Eternal Flame
6 Knights, FC, FP, Lances, Barding
30 Marksman, Longbow, Champion, Musician
40 Halberdiers, Hvy Armour, FC, Banner of Swiftness, Halberds
35 Pikemen, Heavy armour, FC
20 Marksmen, FC, Hvy Armour, Xbows, Pavises
24 Marksmen, handguns
15 Buccaneers, pistols, scouts
10 Buccaneers, pistols.
25 Men at Arms, FC
24 Pikemen, FC, Hvy Armour
10 Border Horse, handguns
7 Knights, St4, FC, lances, FP, Barding
7 Pistoleers, FC
3 Ogre Mercs, BoH, Great Weapons
2 Great cannons, each with an extra crew, master gunner with pistol
Mortar
Siege Cannon
Ribauldquin

[Mogsam]

No wonder you lost. Not a single halfling!

Also, do you actually have a model on a carpet wearing a panda cloak rufus?

[Von Ulrich]

Great Report.   Would love to see more of these for 8th Ed and also the Merc campaign.

[scabbard]

This was great! I would like to see more of this type of thing. I am currently building my first WFB army in years, Empire obviously, and this was really inspiring. Armies looked wonderful, full of character and some really nice variation. If I lived anywhere near you guys I would look you up for a game.

[Grutch]

You guys seriously need a terrain board.

-Grutch

[Finlay]

No wonder you lost. Not a single halfling!

Also, do you actually have a model on a carpet wearing a panda cloak rufus?

Fr1day has a flying carpet model.
Does anyone have a panda cloak?

[Shadowlord]

Lord
Whirlwind Attack

So you just copied the rules from the Diablo game and added it to Warhammer?

How could you even loose?

I mean whirlwind does like a gazillion in damage.

[Padre]

Excellent report Rufus - now I know all about the battle I kept running over to watch bits of. The bits I actually saw were in the report too!

I would have answered sooner but half of Ackworth lost its phone lines for some reason yesterday. And the BT man who was working on the phone line pole the exact same moment it happened swore blind it wasn't him. Hmm. I suppose coincidences do happen, and stranger things happen at the sea side.

Your game got me all fired up for the campaign, and I too want to use a mercenary army. Good news that there is no 'greenskin' faction then, as that means I can join a faction as and play with both human and greenskin (and Ogre) mercenaries in that faction. Huzzah! (My Mercenary army is currently parading around my wargames table right now!)

Must go now and get back to growing my beard. It has to look like Lord Wilmot's beard of the 1640s by two weeks time.