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Author Topic: Night goblins vs. skaven- 1000pts  (Read 2153 times)

Offline Demonslayer

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Night goblins vs. skaven- 1000pts
« on: February 22, 2017, 11:53:40 AM »
Battle report of a game I played recently with my unfinished goblin army, against a skaven army. To clarify;

Night goblins
- NG: Night goblins
- NGA: Night goblin archers
- B: Night goblin big boss
- S: Night goblin shaman
- T: Troll
- SH: Squig Herd
- G: Giant
- SR: Spider Riders
- H: Squig Hoppers

Skaven
- PW: Poisoned Wind Mortar
- CR: Clanrats
- WE: Warlock engineer
- G: Globadiers
- SV: Stormvermin
- C: Chieftain
- WLC: Warp Lightning Cannon
- S: Slaves
- J: Jezzails



Intro


'Green-things'.

Skeek Gnawbone scoffed when he heard the word his engineer sputtered. 'Bah. Weak-fools, slave-meat. Kill-kill quick-easy. March of Clan Kreet cannot be delayed. Open fire!'

The engineer hesitated. His one organic eye was cast down, while his mechanical right eye lit his face with its red glow, the light reflected on the metal contraption which had replaced his snout. 'Costly,' he finally intoned, laboriously forming the words through the iron snout which crackled with green streaks of energy. It had made his bite a potent weapon, but made speech difficult. 'Much-many green-things. Go around?'

Skeek bristled at his lackey's impudence. To suggest there was a plan better than his own! To challenge his authority so, in the presence of his stormvermin! He should have the warlock engineer flogged and flayed for his lack of obedience. Would have, if he hadn't paid such a hefty sum for his services. Disposing of him just before battle seemed wasteful. He'd have a word or two with clan Skryre when he returned to Skavenblight, though- no doubt they had given him this rebellious little rodent to vex him! Surely, a sign that they recognized his greatness, for why else would they hinder him so if not for fear of him rising above them?

For now though, there was the battle to focus on- he had no time to waste on impudent underlings. The goblins were still unaware of their presence among the rocks, and it wouldn't be long before they left the cavern's open ground. 'Do-obey as told-ordered, Vurrtik.'

The engineer made a low hissing sound, which might've been one of the many steam outlets on his mechanical backpack, before raising his head- baring his neck- and crouching away. If the fool chieftain wanted to expedite the inevitable doom of his little warband, then so be it. Maybe he'd die, and then Vurrtik wouldn't have to kill the rat himself. Twisting several knobs and levers on his mechanical arm, he disappears in a flash of green energy, leaving nothing but smoke in his wake as the skitterleap spell took him to his underlings.

Turn 1- skaven

'Fire-kill!'

The order send a shudder through the skaven ranks- every one of them knew any shot from their warmachines might be their last. No doubt there were countless saboteurs who had tampered with the warmachines to make them blow up, so nobody really wanted to be near them when they went off. This time, miraculously, both the warp lightning cannon and the pair of poisoned wind mortars fired successfully. They were hopelessly off target, and the cannon didn't even singe its target- a drooling troll standing as tall as three skaven, no doubt the green-thing boss's pet. But at least none of their own had died, and that was really all the skaven could hope for.

'Hopeless,' one of the sharpshooters barked. 'Let's show slave-meat how to fire properly!' The rats behind him, both his fellow sharpshooters and the ammo-bearers, muttered their displeasure at the rat taking the lead- who was he to order them around. Still, the chieftain had ordered them to fire, so fire they did. Each of them lined their jezzails up with one of the distant orange, rotund creatures, and snapped off a bullet streaking green lightning. Two of the shots hit, and the goblins riding the orange puffballs flew backwards as their heads exploded from the impact.

Turn 1- goblins

Boss Zagsquig screeched when the globes of poisoned gass fell among his goblins, a sound borne of surprise and anger alike. 'Who did dat? Who woz dat?' He frantically looked up and down the cavern before finally spotting the skaven among the rocky outcroppings. 'Ratsies! Boyz, get ready ta scrap! If dem skaven wonts a fight, den we'll give 'em a krumping they'll never forget!' Pausing for a moment, considering his own words, he finally added, 'cuz they'll all be dead!'

Then he saw shaman Wurrgob approach. 'Great,' the night goblin boss thought, 'more unpleasantness.'

'Boss,' the shaman called. His voice, deep and trembling, gave Zagsquig the chills, but if he showed any sign of it then Wurrgob ignored it. 'Dem rats gots a magicky git with them.' He sniffed the air for a moment, as if to confirm. 'Yup. Da Great Green tells me so. A black stain in da green, like sum git is takin' a whizz in a pool o' water. If da water woz green, dat is.'

Zagsquig gave the shaman an uneasy look. 'Well, you know wot ta do about that, don't ya?'

Wurrgob nodded. 'Yus, I do boss. Oh, by the way, looks like da shooy boyz got hit wit one of them stinky orbs. Looks like dem'z out fer payback.'

'Wot? No,' Zagsquig said, clearly irritated. 'I needz dem ta shoot a few arrerz in...' he looked around for a moment, before resting his eyes on a mass of skaven which had taken up position among two outcroppings, blocking their path.

'Well,' Wurrgob chuckled, 'good luck telling them that.' He pointed out the mass of archers which was currently running pell-mell at one of the enemy mortar emplacements. Which was right next to the horde of clanrats Zagsquig had indicated. The boss sighed, dejected. 'Suppose it was too much ta hope fer dem gits to do wot they was told few once.' Then he saw the smug expression on the shaman's face. 'You put them up to this?'

The shaman held up his hands. 'No boss, wouldn't dare. Yer da boss, boss. But da Great Green showed we wot'z gonna happen with them, and it'll be a good show fer sure.'

'Great. Dun suppose you'd tell me about it, would ya?'

The shaman looked surprised. 'Now wot'd be da fun in dat?'

'Didn't think so,' Zagsquig said, exasperated, before turning to one of his nearby servants. 'Just tell da spider riders and squig hoppers to charge da enemy flanks already. Oh, and send Big Lug wiv' em, will ya?' Clearly more scared of his boss than of the giant, the servant only took a moment of hesitation before running off.

It took only a few minutes for the servant to deliver his message. Moments later, Zagsquig and Wurrgob watched with some satisfaction as the humongous giant smashed his way through a massive horde of skaven in rags, while the hoppers picked off any survivors. The lowly slaves ran for it as the fearsome giant came bellowing at them, but Big Lug couldn't be bothered to pursue. Apparently the the musk of fear's bitter scent quenching his appetite. The squigs on the other hand weren't as discerning, and happily gobbled down any slave they found in their path. Distracted by the carnage, the skaven sharpshooters did not see the chittering spiders approach along the low ceiling, and didn't react before they were upon them. Their weapons destroyed, the survivors fled while the spiders filled their victims with paralyzing venom, quickly wrapping the unfortunate skaven in their webs. There they left them, ensnared and paralyzed, to munch on later- after the venom had made them all soft and tender.

The shaman grinned. 'Yus, show's gonna be gud. Mork 'n Gork will like.'

Turn 2- skaven

'Shoot- shoot! Kill-kill!' Skeek's voice was clearly tinged with panic, but he managed to keep the musk of fear from escaping his glands. To his right the slaves were broken, and to his left the clanrats... Broke as well, assaulted by an enraged group of goblin archers of all things, who were apparently as surprised to find themselves in combat as the clanrats were. The skaven had felt superior in their position, prepared to take any charge head on. When the goblins suddenly appeared in their flank, the skaven lost their nerve- things definately weren't going according to plan, and when the plan failed each of them decided to save themselves rather than try to face this unexpected threat. Of course the goblins caught up with them and cut the lot of 'em down, too. And meanwhile, the artillery failed to even hit a single goblin.

'Fool-rats! Weak-meat deserves to die-die!' His warband had been reduced to his own stormvermin, and most of the purchases from Skryre- the cannon, globadiers and one of the mortarts. And Vurrtik, of course. Of course! Skryre had betrayed him! No doubt Vurrtik planned to flee the battle and claim glory for seeing Skeek dead! Such was his worth, that Skryre was reduced to these tactics to take him out!

'Stormvermin, march!' he roared angrily. 'Fool-meat stalls-dies, Skryre-traitors flee! We retreat-run to safety!' The stormvermin complied to his orders. 'Good-good,' the chieftain thought. 'Own stormvermin still reliable. Now, where is treacherous engineer-thing?'

Turn 2- goblins
http://trueds.nl/images/warhammer/game17-02-21/04_goblin2.png
'Raaaargh!'

Big Lug's bellowed as he smashed the skaven cannon with his club, over and over again, until nothing but debris remained. The giant stood still for a moment, staring at the pretty green fire he had made with empty eyes while biting the head off a skaven he'd caught earlier.

'Pretty...' he mumbled. He didn't notice the globadiers creeping up towards him, their poisonous globes in hand, ready to bring down the giant with their suffocating orbs. Unfortunately for them, they were so focused on their target that they didn't notice the squigs barreling down on them- which was miraculous of its own. The squigs' riders were likewise unaware of their opponent. Hanging on to the bouncing squigs for dear life took up most of their attention, and so they only noticed the globadiers when the squigs slowed down to devour their prey. Which took only moments, before the squigs bounced on towards a mortar emplacement, the screaming goblins still on top.

Closer to the center of the battle, Mug and Nuk, the warband's squig handlers by virtue of not being eaten yet, herded their squigs into the ranks of the armoured stormvermin. They were happy to stay at the back while their squigs ate their way through the ratmen, chewing metal and bone alike. They were less happy when the ratmen fought back, and eventually they were more than happy to run for it when the stormvermin rallied around their banner, pressing the squig herd back and scattering the beasts in all directions. The squigs, now free of their handlers, happily jumped out of the way, some still munching on the stormvermin, others running onto the oncoming squig hoppers and the poisoned wind mortar. The results were... Predictable, with skaven, goblin riders, and the squigs themselves being devoured.

'Oh well,' Zagsquig remarked. 'More where dey came from, and less rats is always good.'

Turn 3- skaven
http://trueds.nl/images/warhammer/game17-02-21/05_skaven3.png
Vurrtik cursed his luck. His underlings were dead, and Skeek would no doubt blame him for their loss- if the chieftain survived, that was. The Stormvermin were still standing, but they had suffered many casualies, and they found themselves in the center of a green sea. No, Vurrtik was done here. Skeek would not survive, but staying here to make sure was too risky. Better get out while he still could.

Switching several levers on his mechanical arm again, Skeek felt the Horned Rat's energy enveloping him again, his technomancy ready to Skitterleap away from the battlefield, when suddenly he felt something strange. The energy he had summoned began to close in on him, scraping his skin, tearing at his flesh.

'Oh,' was all he could say before his spell imploded, leaving naught but a smoking crater. Elsewhere, Wurrgob chuckled even as the magic from his feedback scroll dissipated.

'Works every time,' he said to noone in particular.

Meanwhile Skeek directed his Stormvermin against the enemy's troll. The primitive brute had him shaking in his boots, but if he removed the goblin boss's pet, then he could get to the boss himself. And if he killed the boss, then all the other goblin's would run as well. At least, that's what he hoped would happen.

The troll, however, turned to be a bit more difficult to remove than he'd imagined. Having suffered so many losses, the stormvermin were as afraid as their chieftain was. Fear gripped their hearts and sapped their strength, making their strikes ineffective. The troll on the other hand did not hold back, smashing several of the stormvermin to a pulp with the heavy rock in its claws. It only stopped its assault to stare at the Stormvermin's banner, drooling. This gave the Stormvermin the opening they needed...


Turn 3- goblins
'Oh no ya dun,' Wurrgob said, seeing the skaven readying themselves to take down the troll. He mumbled a few words, crushed a handful of bugs in his palm, and directed the power of the Great Green at his opponents. Immediately the Stormvermin began to twitch, dropping their halberds to scratch at the horrible rash the shaman had given them. Their squealing woke the troll from his daydream, and it decided to continue bashing Stormvermin to pulp.

Skeek tried to scurry away, but soon felt the clammy hand of the troll close around his tail. Holding the squirming chieftain up, the troll looked at his new toy lovingly, moments before biting its head off...

********

So, that went pretty well! Lost the squig hoppers and squig herd, but in return the skaven lost all their units. Seems like a bargain!

To be entirely honest, my opponent was plagued by bad rolls even before the game began. For his spells he rolled Skitterleap and Howling Warpgale- a hex to make shooting more difficult against an army with no missile weapons (ok, one unit of goblin archers, but they didn't even get to shoot due to animosity). The warp cannon did nothing all game long, managing a total of one S4 hit against my giant (which failed to wound) while the poisoned wind mortars managed to kill one measly goblin archer in total. And of course, I entirely forgot to unleash my Fanatics.

Still, fun game!
« Last Edit: February 22, 2017, 12:09:24 PM by Demonslayer »
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