Original Battle Report

Empire Forces: 1000 Points

Captain von Steinhof, Barded Horse, Dawn Armour, Shield, Lance, Pistol
Leading the swordsmen

25 Swordsmen, Full Command
9 Swordsmen Detachment
5 Bowmen Detachment

20 Spearmen, Full Command, Shields
10 Crossbows Detachment

10 Handgunners

5 Knights, Musician

5 Outriders, Musician, Champion

Mortar

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Orc forces defending the town:

Orc Hero on Boar (Gen)
(leading the orc block)

Goblin Hero on Squig

25 Orcs with additional Choppa, Command

30 Goblins, Netters, Command

10 Savage Orcs

5 Wolf riders

Goblin chariot

Orc Chariot

Doom diver

This is the account of Sergeant Kurt Brenner of the 4th Mountainguard, written after the attack on Orc forces looting the town of Auenbach.

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“I was assigned to the 4th as Detachment Corporal for Captain Steinhofs Swords, en route to relief elements of the 2nd on guard duty in the Blackfire pass. Two days ago, we came upon refugees from Auenbach, reporting of an orc raid on their town. More than half the population of Auenbach was unaccounted for and probably dead or held captive. Captain von Steinhof immediately sent messengers back to the Commander and ordered a forced march to Auenbach.

Our scouts reached the town yesterday shortly before dusk, the columns of smoke rising from the village blackening the sky. The wind stood in our favor for the moment, so as soon as the rest of us had assembled in the surrounding hills and the mortar had been set up, von Steinhof ordered the attack. We had surprise on our side, but it was not to last long.”

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Deployment saw the empire right flank heavily loaded with all of the infantry, the Orcs willing to advance across the open fields outside Auenbach. This was all fine by me, for I had brought a considerable amount of shooting to a 1000 Point game and hoping for a few hits on the bunched up blocks on my right. Silly me. The Doom diver did not worry me much, my knights were deployed out of sight and I had a feeling the fickle nature of artillery dice would provide enough protection for my brave outriders tasked to shut down the left flank lanes of advance. I worried about the squig-hopping hero, for I have a reputation for being easily devastated by all kinds of squiggly things. I just can’t get the hang of dealing with them. Well, maybe the little nutter would hop in front of my Outriders with his erratic movement, and that would be that.

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“As soon as we crested the last hill a hundred yards outside Auenbach, we saw how much of a “surprise” we were: The Orc warband was formed up already on the outskirts of the town! I still don’t know how they managed to detect us soon enough to organize the defense, I only know that they were quick to turn the surprise on us… Von Steinhof sent the outriders to the left flank, ordered the artillery to start firing and was about to signal the advance when the orcs began to charge our position.”

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Turn 1

The Orc lines advanced, led by the chariots that were parked nicely in front of my missile troops. Magic was non-existant in this game, and the shooting phase of my opponent saw only a misfire by the doomdiver, taking it out till turn 3… So far so good. The doomdiver out of order, I sent the outriders to a position to either shoot the wolfriders, the squighopper or charge the doomdiver next turn. Right flank inched back a bit with the exception of the archer screen trying to bait the chariot into range of my knights, who started to look like I deployed them a tiny bit wrong with half the enemy army on their right flank, should they charge. But the shooting phase would surely make everything right, I could just feel it. For the actual results, please refer to the picture above…

Turn 2

My opponent managed in his turn what I could not do in mine. Three orcs were killed when their boss bashed their heads in for “Squabblin’ in da ranks”, and the gobbo chariot disappeared in a blaze of glory when the stand and shoot from my crossbows scored three wounds. The orc chariot took the bait, but charging it would be risky. The wolf riders on the left flank were either sacrificing themselves for the squighoppa or didn’t remember me explaining the 360° shooting of the outriders – Good either way. The knights charge in my turn resulted as expected in them being stranded and narrowly avoiding a fanatic (I tend to forget about the little nutters), but the knights had room to flee and the fanatic was picked off by Von Steinhofs pistol – remember kids: always give pistols to BS 5 characters!

I was happy with the left flank. With the wolfriders destroyed in a hail of lead, the doomdiver in range and still room to flee from the squig which would take itself out of the game if it went after the outriders, being so far out on the flank. My center had repelled the boar chariot but had the handgunners too close to the squig, so I felt forced to face them towards the wood to discourage my opponent from charging through and rolling up the flank. This started a long dance of redeploying and thus not shooting with the handgunners to scare the squig (worth around 100 points). It neutralized them, but I have much respect for squigs and wanted to keep my opponent honest, knowing he is not one to take risks gladly – as an O&G player, mind you! The rest of my turn was rather uneventful, with the exception of my mortar, which I forgot to fire before the outriders. Although this had no “range guessing” consequences at all, my opponent did not allow me to take the shot, for I had already forgot to fire it first in my previous turn… mmmmmmhh… My cheerful attempt to disallow his squig moving because he already had declared charges in the next turn was dispelled, however, because it was his first error, and therefore allowed.

Meanwhile, the enemy line was approaching fast on the right side of the board…

Turn 3

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“The enemy was approaching fast, now close enough to see the murder in their eyes. Steinhof was trying to get into a flanking position to crush the orcs barreling towards the spears. Having crossed to his right with my detachment to allow the mortar a final shot, we swung around to the captains flank just as the line was about to engage. I cought a glimpse of the lancers trading a few blows with the goblin unit before luring them toward the swords, then readied the men for the countercharge.”

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Nearly there… The orcs were getting into range to WAAAGH-charge my line, my shooting wasn’t able to diminish their numbers enough and the knights were in danger of being run down by a bunch of gobbos. But I was still in shape to surprise the unwashed barbarians a bit… Contrary to the image, the knights actually held the charge out of reasons that momentarily escape me – machismo perhaps? They escaped and later rallied directly in front of the mortar, thankfully not causing panic in the captains unit. Gobbo pursuit brought them to a halt half an inch in front of the swords. The Squig kind of approached my left flank, being very cautious not to become a target. My opponents doomdiver however was back in the game and started a constant barrage of comic relief as gobbo after gobbo streaked across the sky over Auenbach before finally going SPLAT into the scenery. Not a single hit, as I had guessed, bothered my outriders, giving them the chance to single handedly save my ass in the turns to come…

Outriders and handgunners secured the left flank, the mortar was out of targets and redeployed to avoid squig-handgunner-overrun-syndrome and the good captain did not charge the gobbos gallivanting around two meters in front of him. I did this to allow the detachment to get into position for countercharge, as well as to avoid exposing his flanks by aligning to the gobbos. I did not realize the danger in this: My opponent later told me that he planned to just park the gobbos there, pinning the swords and allowing the orcs to prepare a flank charge. What would you have done, fellow generals? Anyway, fate had other plans for the poor gobbos…

Turn 4

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“As the enemy commander roared a battle cry, I thought for a moment that all was lost. The missile detachment was about to be charged by the frenzied orcs on our right, and the spears were already with their backs to the ragged hills outside the town where they would get disorganized and lost, should they be forced to retreat. But as the orcs charged the spears, I saw Captain Steinhof grinning like a madman… He signaled for the spears’ lieutenant to fall back, and the orcs stopped in their tracks, enraged at their prey dissolving into the hills. Suddenly I realized that their flank was now open! The goblins were carried away with their generals rage and charged the swords. I signaled the countercharge, knowing that breaking them would probably give us victory.”

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As the corporal said, it was time for close combat. Sacrificing the spears to strand the orcs was risky, but I was confident to win against the gobbos with Brenners timely countercharge. As if things were not bad enough for the goblins (Who only charged because they were forced by the power of the WAAAGH!), their netters were so excited that they accidentally threw the nets at their own unit… They lost combat by 8 CR and were run down, with the swords crashing into the orc units side!

The savage orcs charged the crossbows, losing one by stand and shoot and another one in CC . Crossbows broke, however, but it was not the last of their heroisms on that day. The chariot and the squig finally approached my left flank, but with the center going so well I was ready for anything…

WARNING: THE FOLLOWING EVENTS ON THE EMPIRE RIGHT FLANK ARE NOT SUITED FOR CHILDREN UNDER 8 YEARS OR EMPIRE PLAYERS WITH KNOWN CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASES

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“I do not remember much of the following events. Steinhof charged through the scattering goblins while we fell back to kill the survivors. Victory cries were on our lips. I saw Steinhofs horse rear back from the boar and smash into the other orcs instead. I guess sergeant Bronner wanted to buy time for the captain, and challenged the enemy general. I have never seen a bigger orc in my life. Bronner has always been an arrogant son of a witch, but I respect his sacrifice. The orc cleaved him in two, and I could see the men shrinking back before this fury. Soon the first men began to run…”

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Sweet baby Sigmar, this was not pleasant at all. In the combat that should decide everything I suddenly failed my stupidity test and declared a challenge.

With my champion. Instead of my General. Who had a 1+ AS. Re-Rollable.

I am stupid.

The orc general managed three wounds in the challenge, the other orcs killed another three, and without outnumber and me killing a single orc I lost CR by three, rolled double six, turned to run and was run down by a surprised looking enemy who had already thought himself defeated. Well well. The knights, who had ridden out of the chariots LOS to threaten it later, were suddenly charged in the back by an angry orc mob and fled through the chariot they were supposed to stealthily shadow. At least they got behind it somehow. Corporal Brenner now led his detachment, mere moments ago happily celebrating victory, in a desperate attempt to march block the orcs.

The only thing to brighten me up were the outriders who shot the squig dead just as it was about to hit my lines – I was not feeling sorry for my opponent who just bought the model and wanted to try it out.

Turn 5

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After the shock of seeing Steinhof and his men run down, I brought my men to order and assumed command of imperial forces. The orcs were slowing down and realized that they were pretty much alone on the battlefield and looking down into a considerable amount of handgun barrels. We followed the orcs and I ordered the missile troops to open up on the remainder of the enemy.”

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Easier said than done, good corporal. The mortar was charged by the now dismounted gobbo hero who was out for blood and victory points. After failing all his attacks and getting bonked over the head with a shovel by the mortar crew, he ran away and was killed by the pursuing ninja artillerists. The half-forgotten, rallied-an-inch-before-the-board-edge crossbow detachment does not only draw the combat against the frenzied savage orcs two times in a row but also kills one of them, earning 50 VP for half strength before finally falling back to the hills. The boar chariot also reaches the end of his life expectancy:

Again the orcs need to remember the meaning of “360° shooting”, as the chariot lurking on the edge of the forest for a charge in sixth turn gets targeted by the outriders (with doomdiver goblins raining down all around them) and vanishes in a small mushroom cloud. As the enemy army disintegrates and mine barely holds together, the final turn approaches

Turn 6

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“The orcs came under fire and began to fall one by one. With the knights readying for the charge and my detachment in their flank the enemy general bellowed a retreat. I ordered the knights to pursue, but they could not engage in the narrow streets of Auenbach.”

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The final turn went by, with me trying to work a miracle and panic the orcs, but it was not to be… The battle was over.

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“After the enemy disengaged, we cleared the town of remaining goblins and found more than 50 citizens of Auenbach held prisoner near the orc fireplaces, presumably chained there to be eaten later on. Right now our halfling scouts are following the remaining orcs to Blackfire pass, with the outriders and the knights not far behind. Lieutenant Karcht of the spears has given me a field promotion to sergeant and I have received command of the remaining swordsmen. My detachment now forms the first two ranks, almost bringing up the unit to full capacity. We recovered the body of Captain Steinhof and buried him along with his men. The Lieutenant now wears the Dawn Armour and acts as force commander. I was assigned with writing this report, which is to be sent by runner to the Commander of the 4th Mountainguard.

With the wounded left in the care of the returning townspeople, who have a priestess of Shallya among them, and the dead buried at the cemetery, we will now attempt to catch up with the mounted elements and kill the remaining orcs as they march towards Blackfire pass.”

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Results:

Empire:
496 points of enemy units destroyed
100 points for holding one table quarter
= 596

Orcs & Goblins:
438 points of enemy units destroyed
100 points for killing enemy general
100 points for capturing enemy standard
= 638

DRAW