Original Battle Report

One of my friends wrote this battle report.  He was playing the Ard Boyz list against an Empire army.  The scenario was as follows:

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Scenario 1: Don’t Let the Smokey Mountain Smoke Get in Your Eyes

The General is thirsty!  Your commander has heard of the excellent moonshine made in the Smokey Mountains. You’ve tried to tell him that it will be hard locating them in the early morning mists but he is adamant. The Farnum Brothers have three moonshine stills located on the battlefield. One of them is the main distillery. Your orders are to locate and capture the moonshine for your General!

Special Rules:
Smoke from the mountains is reducing battlefield visibility. Roll 3d6 x2 to determine visibility range each turn. Any missile weapon, which uses BS to fire, shoots at 1 to hit (Tomb King archers are unaffected). This includes Tzeentch flamers. Any missile weapons that fires without using BS will not fire on a 4+.

Deployment:
Set up as for a standard meeting engagement, rulebook page 203.

Units with special deployment rules may NOT use them. Each player rolls a die. Winner gets to pick either the side of the board he wants or whether to deploy 1st. Loser gets the remaining choice. Roll for choice of first turn as normal. Standard VP rules with additions noted below. At the end of the game to hold or contest a board quarter units must have AT LEAST US5.

There will be 3 objectives on the Table. Starting at a point midway between the two long edges of the board at one short side of the board, the objectives will be at 1, 3, and 5. The two outer objectives are worth 200 VP’s; the middle objective is worth 300 VP’s. Possession of the Objective goes to the player having the highest total unit strength within 6″ of each of the objectives

Battle Points: 20/15/10/5 for Massacre (900+ VP) /Win (300 VP-899 VP) /Draw/Lose
Bonus Battle Points:
+1 For possessing more objective than your opponent
+2 For possessing all 3 objectives (cumulative)
+1 For killing your opponents general
+1 An enemy wizard, including any model or unit which can cast spells or adds dispel or power dice, is dead or fleeing at the end of the game

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Game One

My opponent was Carl Cannon, a seasoned veteran who fielded a mean Empire Army. After deployment the battle was on. (I apologize in advance for my poor quality pics and my unpainted army)

Turn 1
Empire got the first turn and maneuvered around to get the best defensive stance possible. Magic was nearly null and void and shooting was ineffective as entire Orc army was barely concealed in the fog.

The Orcs just lumbered forward. They too couldn’t see the enemy but they could smell the gunpowder on the horizon.

Turn 2
Once again the Empire general called for shifting the lines a bit more to face the coming Orcs. And to the dismay of the Empire artillery, the Orcs were just barely out of visible range again.

The Orcs moved forward as fast as they could but still not see the enemy ahead.

Turn 3
This time there would be no shifting as the enemy approached. Once again the Empire artillery was just barely out of visible range of the Orc onslaught and could not fire their artillery. (yeah that’s pretty amazing that the may army was about 7″ away and he rolled a 6, I think, for visibility) Bad luck went to the Empire artillery this game.

Here Comes the WAAAGH!! From my left to right the charges went like this.

Chariot charged the cannon crew. The crew fled, thus a failed charge.
Boar Boys charged the detachment. They held.
Black Orcs (silver) charged the Swordsmen (blue) and they held. They were out of range so a failed charge.
Giant charged Swordsmen (red), they failed their terror test and ran but the Giant couldn’t catch them.
The rest of the Orcs moved around to get better line ups next turn. Waaagh magic killed 2 of the Helblaster Volley Gun crewmen (I think the 3rd crewman failed the panic test or something but it he fled the machine in this turn) and the Rock lobber couldn’t see past their noses.

The Boar boys demolished the detachment and overran into the knights.

Turn 4
In a retaliatory strike, a unit of Swordsmen (red/yellow) charged a unit of Orc Boys (black) which held.  The fleeing Swordsmen (red) rallied and the Griffin Banner regiment wheeled in preparation of a charge from the Giant. Its detachment also maneuvered to counter charge the incoming giant.

The lone cannon finally saw the imposing Orcs and fired at the Giant taking it to half of its original wounds. The hand gunners also made visible contact with the enemy and began picking off Orcs from various units for the rest of the battle.

The Boar Boys and the knights squared off, but the furious charge was a little too much for the knights and all but 2 met their demise. ( I think one of the remaining ones was a hero but I can’t remember). The unit of Swordsmen that charged the Boys (black) killed enough boys to win the combat but being within range of the general and the BSB they held their ground.

The Black Orcs (silver) charged a unit of swordsmen (blue). The giant charged the unit of swordsmen (red) that were already engaged with the Orcs (black). The Swordsmen (red) failed their panic test and fled but the Giant caught them and ran them down (at least that how I remember it, but probably wrong). The rest of the Orcs just shifted the battle lines around a bit preparing for what was coming next.

Not that it mattered any more but the Rock lobber STILL failed to see anything that was going on. I think they were just goofing off anyway and didn’t really want to participate.

The close combat of this turn was brutal. The Black Orcs (silver) caused enough wounds on the swordsmen (blue) to cause them to flee off the table. The same happened in the battle with the Boar Boys and the Knights. The Boar boys tried to restrain but failed and pursued off them table.

Turn 5

The Griffin Unit charged the Black Orcs (black), which held, while the Flagellants charged the Orcs (white), which also held. The crew that initially ran away from the cannon finally made their way back to re-man the cannon.

The hand gunners continued to pick off Orcs while the cannon missed its mark.

The griffin unit took more casualties than the Black Orcs but the magic of the griffin banner help the swordsmen to win the combat. Even though the general was in that unit, and the BSB was really close the Black Orcs failed both Leaderships tests and fled the scene. Good thing the Griffin unit couldn’t pursue or my general would have been toast. The flagellants lost more casualties than the Orcs and lost the combat but they are unbreakable or something like that and were stuck in combat for another round.

The Orc turn began with the unit of Orc Boys (black) charging the spearmen. The generals unit of Black Orcs (black) rallied, close to an objective marker, I might add. The rest of the army was either locked in combat or busy maneuvering to enter combat with anything.

Yup, you guessed it. The Rock Lobber crew was still busy doing whatever it was that they were doing. I’m almost afraid to ask.

The Orc Boys (black) lost the combat against the spearmen but managed to make the leadership and stay in the combat. The Orc boys (white) managed to kill off the remaining flagellants.

Turn 6
Not much movement in the Empire movement phase, if there was any.

The Hand Gunners still picking off Orcs. One Cannon misfired ( I believe) and the other took out a few Boar Boys.

The Spearmen and the Orc Boys were locked for another round.

I don’t really remember my last turn and forgot to take a pic to jog my memory. I know that the Orc Boys (white) barely squeaked through the space between the Griffin unit and the Orc Shrine to charge the detachment but don’t remember the outcome of the combat. I know it’s kind of a lack luster ending to an incredible game but other than that I can’t remember.

Result

Winner = Orcs
All in all it was a great game. I thought he had me a few turns into it, especially, when my generals unit fled the scene like little girls. His defensive stance was pretty tight and if not for a few bad rolls (mainly visibility rolls), I believe I would have lost.  GOOD GAME CARL!!!