Warmaster Battle Report: 2000 pt Orcs vs Daemons

Today my buddy Ed stopped in to help get my new table bloody and carnage did ensue! Ed played his marvelous Cthulhu themed Daemon army which is mostly non-GW miniatures as well as a few of his own conversions and sculpts. He is a talented guy. While he fielded an impressive looking army of daemons I mustered up my ravening horde of greenskins. Mine don't look as good of course but thats because most of my personal stuff is unpainted (those of you who have been following my blog since the beginning should not be surprised by this). I also had to hot glue some strips to bases as I did not quite have enough. But, combine my units with Ed's own orc units and I was spread all over! Mwah ha ha!

We used the Warmaster Scenario Generator (provided by my good friend Aron) and I can't recommend this little gem enough. If you don't have a copy get one. I believe it was printed in one of the Fanatic magazine issues, although I am not sure which one. So, Ed rolled to determine the engagement type which was Assault. One of us was going to have to attack a prepared enemy position. Ouch! We rolled on the Objective chart and came up with Advance. Hmm, interesting... so one of use had to advance off the defenders table edge and doing so would earn that player VP equal to the unit value. Finally we rolled to see if there were any Special Circumstances. This is where both players roll a die. If the result is doubles there is a Major Effect and if the result adds up to seven then there is a Minor Effect. We ended up with the minor effect of Motivation, the result of a motivation speech. This would allow one of the players to automatically pass the first order given to each unit on his first turn. After some discussion we decided that the attacker assaulting the fixed position would get the advance objective and the motivation effect. Ed would attack with his daemons and I would defend. I invite you to watch as the story unfolds...

The battlefields is set. Orcs will defend the Hangman's Hills and the Woods of Lost Hope and try to prevent a Daemon Horde breakthrough. Off in the distance you can see the Curlsore Canyons. Today blood will flow!

A view from the Curlsore Canyon side. The Orc General can be seen on his chariot on the Orc left flank leading the cavalry. The Daemons had time to scout out the Orc positions and so have  set their cavalry (as such) on the Orc right flank. The Orc general plans to be aggressive with his cavalry.

Daemon cavalry advances and makes it quite far thanks to the Great Cthulhu's motivational speech before the battle... It probably went something like,"Kill them all, or I'll eat you." I know that would work on me. In the foreground you can see the Rock Lobber on the hill ranging in on the enemy cavalry.

Daemon fliers take to the canyons while the enemy infantry swarm over the first hill. These Daemons are thirsty for Orc blood today! I think I will have my work cut out for me.

A view from the Orc center. There is a large bear between the woods and hill on the left which a model from BotFA that is being used as a giant. I personally have three of them but they are at the moment not assembled. In the background you can see Great Cthulhu himself and in the center one of his Star Vampire minions (a sorcerer) and on the right side I believe a Formless Spawn (all eyes and teeth).

As I said... aggressive and perhaps to much so. The enemy lines are charged!

A well placed rock from the Rock Lobber breaks up the enemies cavalry brigade... Squish!!! That card on the back unit indicates that it is confused which is something that happened alot in this game. Things are looking good so far.

In the Orc center a hero commands the Giant to advance. Oh No!!! Wild giant!!! Upset about the Trolls stealing all the grubs from his seven day old porridge the Giant sets upon them slapping them around a bit. No real damage done but it scared the heck out of me and the trolls learned to never assemble behind a Giant (probably has something to do with the stench as well).

 

Oh no! Disaster! The Goblin Wolf Riders are surrounded!

The Battle of Noose Hill! It does not look good for our goblins and the Orc Hero on the Wyvern. :(

Disaster indeed. Not only are my Wolf Rider units surrounded and destroyed but enemy cavalry runs amok just to my left flank. Only the Wolf Chariots remain but they are not in a position to help at the moment.

 The Wolf Riders assaulting Noose Hill dished out the punishment but there were just to many enemies and they were overwhelmed... including the Hero on the Wyvern! A lone stand of Wolf Riders is all that remains to deny the Daemons sole possession of Noose Hill. Ed's sorcerers used the summon daemon spell to great effect as it save a number of his units from destruction. Well played my old foe, well played indeed!

Wha!?! A gigantic rock soars over Great Cthulhu's head and lands on the Daemonic infantry behind him.! I am personally becoming a big fan of the Rock Lobbers ability to drive back the enemy which is especially nice when it can do so while ignoring armor saves!

On the left, you can see the Wolf Chariots have finally found the room to swing around and just in time too as a blundered command roll sees the brigade of Daemon infantry consumed with blood lust charge the cavalry line! On the right, a unit of Daemon cavalry charges the Giant. I think this battle shall be interesting... 15 dice for the Daemon chariots and 8 dice for the Giant.

Black Orcs stream off the hill but it is the Daemon heavy cavalry that gets to charge. Ouch! Hmm... its seems the Orc General is making some poor decisions. It would have been better to stay on the fill in a defended position.

You might make out amongst the swarm of Daemons on Noose Hill that the lone stand of Wolf Riders is still fighting for its life. Regrettably this will be their final stand.

On the right, the Giant is badly injured but has hammered the enemy chariots. There were two rounds of combat and each time I got 6 hits out of 8 dice. Unfortunately Ed saved half of them each time so I was unable to destroy the unit and lumber into the flank of the other unit of heavy cavalry to the Giants front. On the left, the Wolf Chariots and Daemons have fought to a stand still, but the Chariots are in good order and prepare to slam into the enemy again!

Ah! Enemy fliers threaten my precious Rock Lobber! As you can see one of the Black Orc units has been annihilated and the other stands behind a few units in the center that have refused to move the entire battle. Grrr...

Although the Wolf Chariots put the hurt on the Daemon infantry the Goblin Shaman was not able to cast his Gotcha spell. At this point the Orc General felt it better to withdrawal from the field then let his troops be over run (Ed had to get going). But, the game was a blast and I look forward to our next one.