The Battle of Y Stream
After his time in the Chaos Wastes the minotaur Moosamiss had returned with the herds. Rank upon rank of beastman and their allies, the foul and twisted chaos dwarfs. Wizza Wotnot watched the herd advancing on his positions. He’d given Grog Tooftayka explicit plans on how to deal with this enemy, whether or not Grog listened or even cared about it was unknown.
To ensure his chances for survival Wizza had taken the right flank and left the centre and left to Grog to control. The Skull Crusher was wheeled into position on the hill, supported by the goblin archers. Wolves howled and snapped at each other and their riders, impatient to be moving and hunting. The army had swelled since last time with another group of Orc Boyz joining the clan. The Trolls were back, looking even more hungry than last time.
Soon it was time, Wizza summoned his pet familiar and prepared his spells for the coming encounter.
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| The thick green line! |
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| The herds on the move. |
The actual Battle
This would have to have been one of the most enjoyable battles I have played in a very long time. I honestly thought I was toast by the end of turn 3. My centre looked to be on the verge of collapsing and my baggage camp looted and lost to the enemy. What saved me was the Trolls and the Goblin Wizard, Wizza Wotnot, hero of my stories. To be honest the dice were kind to me today (on the whole). My ability to roll 6 and under for tests (on 2d6) was remarkable.
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| The centre is weak. Two units of archers to hold off the advancing herds. |
The Trolls held up one unit of beastmen for the entire game and ultimately lead to their defeat, with only two beastmen at the end of the game, and they were broken. Their ability to regenerate their wounds each and every time was spectacular, and when they did fail, the managed to come back in the following round fully regenerated and ready to rumble further.
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| Those trusty trolls, refusing to die, and tying up the centre. |
Wizza Wotnot would have to be the hero who saved the army from a total and humiliating defeat. His use of his Lightning Bolt destroyed the Tenderizer before it could get into battle. Mind you the Bull Centaur still managed to destroy a unit of wolfboyz and came close to attacking the goblin archer line before Wizza finished it off with another lightning bolt. The Vortex of Chaos was the one spell that saved the day. It cleaned up huge numbers of beastmen and minotaurs, almost lasting the entire battle before petering out. Wizza’s only brush with death was the homing goblin fanatic who injured Wizza, I honestly thought he was dead meat. Yet he survived and managed to limp of the battlefield with his honour (for it’s worth to a goblin) intact.
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| Wizza's brush with death at the hands of his own troops! |
The battle was difficult statistically for my troops. Needing on the whole 5’s to hit the majority of my opponents was a difficult proposition, and then I still had to wound them and hope they wouldn’t make their armour saves. My archers were on the whole impotent, with maybe one wound to a unit each turn. Rolling a D20 for the artillery was highly entertaining, certainly for Orcs. The artillery from the Chaos Dwarves was devastating, even when it missed.
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| The view from the ridge, my troops copped a pasting from these troops. |
What I have noticed is that in our games our generals are for the most part providing support to units where needed in the form of their leadership score. Where I sent my general in unsupported to engage a unit of beastmen I was courting disaster. It was blind luck that saved me in the end, you know, those low die rolls. In future, unless my general is a killing machine like the minotaur lord, then he will be attached to a unit in future.
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| Don't get caught up in a battle with blocks of troops. Death was soooo close. |
Poor Glen was finding that his dice were not particularly kind. When he hit, less than half would connect, and even less would wound. This was another saving grace for my army. Had luck been kinder to Glen then it would have been a totally different story.
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| The minotaur general, wishing he had been able to get into the thick of it towards the end. |
On the whole I am happy with my Orc & Goblin army. It is full of character and highly entertaining even when it actually works, which is not all the time. I will write a more entertaining story in the days to come, embellishing Wizza Wotnots notoriety as the leader of greenskins!
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| The lay of the land at the end of turn 6 and game ended. |
End Result
Chaos 7vp
Orc & Goblin 6vp
