Warmaster Day Battle Report

This past Sunday several of us got together at the local game shop to cry havoc and let slip the chaos hounds of war! It was held at our local game store and we got to slip in a little early because one of the owners was playing. Woohoo! There were four of us total - Ed (Deamons), Gary (Empire), Joe (Tomb Kings) and myself (Orcs). For the first game we split into two groups with Gary and Joe on one table and Ed and I facing off on another with each person pushing 2000pts. Ed has some great Warmaster terrain and we got the tables all decked out and they looked great. We rolled up some scenarios from the Warmaster Scenario Generator with Gary and Joe having to advance their forces off the opposite table edge and they quickly got arrayed for battle and got started.

Ed and I rolled up our scenario and ended up getting the same result we had the first time we played. One of use would have to assault a defended position and after discussing it for a few minutes we decided to flip the roles we had last time. Ed would defend a line of hills and I would assault them. In addition we were tasked with demoralizing the enemy by leaving as many corpse on the field as possible. Only destroyed stands would count for VP and there value would be doubled in this scenario. We added some spice to our table by dividing it with a river. It would be fordable and movement would be half until the last stand left the river but also had a bridge at about the midway point.

Ed was running his standard list with a few small tweaks. But after the defeat I suffered during the last game I decided to do a little more research on effective tactics for my Orc army. Namely how to deal with the poor command rolls. Some of it was bad luck but I took some advice and did some re-arranging and I was much happier with the end result. The biggest change I made was dropping an Orc Shaman and bunch of magic items in favor of taking two more Orc Heroes. I also dropped two units of Wolf Riders in favor of another unit of Goblin Chariots. My cavalry would still be light but the extra punch would help in my opinion. I also made smaller brigades of two to three units instead of the maximum of four. This also helped me a great deal by making it hurt less when a commander did fail a roll. The look on Ed's face when all but a single two unit brigade started across the field alone was worth it. Huzzah!

Game One: 2000pts Orc vs Daemon -

The Orcs begin their march towards the waiting Daemon horde with a steely look in their eyes and butchery in their hearts. Today the fields of Dal'gulon would run red!

Ed moves his flyers into a counter charge position. On the left you can see my brigade and Giants advancing on the bridge. The Daemon cavalry can be seem waiting beyond a small wooded area.

A unit of Chaos Hounds waits behind the woods for the Orcs to come into sight.

On the left can be seen the Curlsore Canyons which was the sight of another battle between the Orcs and Daemons.

The Goblin Wolf Riders outflank the Daemon flyers.

And cause them to retreat but unfortunately can't pursue the flyers. The Wold Riders reorganize for another charge.

The state of affairs on the Orc right flank after the first two turns. The Daemon flyers were confused on a stability roll and you can see the enemy cavalry beginning to advance.

The state of affairs on the Orc left flank after the first two turns. No issues really so far with motivating my Orc brigades.

The Daemon flyers attempt to home back but end up landing directly in the path of a Giant!!! Behind them can be seen the Chaos Hounds which were driven back by a well placed GERROFF!!! spell.

More Daemon flyers... being crafty and preparing a flank charge!

The Daemon cavalry prepares a counter charge in case the Giant makes it to the Chaos Hounds.

The Daemon center begins to advance off the hill in preparation to support on of the flanks.

This is my favorite part! Initiative charges!!! A Giant slams into the unit of flyers, the second Giant goes wild and instead of entering the woods as I wanted him to he bellows and charges 40cm... and just shy of the Chaos Hounds! Ack... foiled by my own spell.

 A brigade of Orc Warriors and Night Goblins slams into the exposed Daemon line in the top left while the rest of the Orc left flank advances just before the Orc hits the fan...

The Giant fails to kill off the flyers and the Chaos Hounds become unconfused... uh oh!

The Orc Warriors eliminate the enemy stands before them but are unable to capitalize on the breach.

Daemon cavalry slams into my Goblin Chariot line! More uh oh!

One of the Giants is flanked and will go down beneath the cavalry onslaught.

Two brigades of Orc Warriors/Night Goblins are charged. On the left side unit you can see the flyers have flown in behind then to stop a possible retreat. Argh! This is going south quickly.

A view of the right flank after the Giant falls!

A view of the left flank after both Orc brigades are destroyed!

We still had the cavalry battle to fight but ran out of time. Ed ended up winning by a large margin mostly due to his turn of free initiative charges and well placed flankers. It really turned the tide for him as before that he was having a hard time motivation his troops while my were marching across the table.

This was a great game and I really feel even though the final result was pretty skewed that I really gave Ed a run for his money. After this game a few of us went down to a local pizza place and bought a few slices and just enjoyed some banter over lunch. Then it was back to the shop for the final game 4000pt per side Orcs & Daemons vs Empire & Tomb Kings. This one would end up being a two on two battle with Joe and Gary on one side and Ed and I on the other each running our own 2000pt armies. Again we used the Scenario Generator and would have to capture and control of terrain feature. We decided to make it a tower in the center of the table and at the end of the game (which could be ended prematurely if anyone ended up having 33% or more of their two armies total within 20cm of the tower) all the units within 20cm would be counted and the difference would be added to the team with the most VP worth of units near the tower. The terrain was setup and we diced off for deployment and first activations...

Game Two: 2000pts Orc & Daemon vs Empire & Tomb Kings (8000pts on the table!!!) -

Canyons, forests and hills with the objective in the middle.

Four armies slug it out on the field of battle!

The Orcs face off against the Tomb Kings and again my army performs admirably advancing quite quickly. Unfortunately Joe's dice are ice cold and most of his army is just standing around.

On the left you can see Empire closing quickly with the tower!

The Daemons must advance through the canyons to reach the Empire lines (sorry for the blurry pic).

Empire was running a cavalry heavy force with just the minimum of foot troops which made them very quick.

Tomb King Carrion birds swoop down on my Goblin Wolf Riders but fortunately are driven back.

Black Orc/Orc Warrior/Night Goblin brigades take the hill while the Tomb King cavalry tries to swing around my flank beyond the hill and take out my Rock Lobbers but Joe's dice get cold once more and they are left hanging out to dry. Argh, I feel your frustration Joe! 

Giants are rounding the hill and eying the enemy lines.

The lead Giant is hit by a DEATH BOLT spell and two bolts from the bone throwers on the hill and is severely wounded.

Empire Knights crash into some Daemon infantry.

Another scrum between Empire and Daemons.

On the left can be seen the Empire lines advancing to block our way to the tower.

Some great armor saves turns the tide in favor of the Daemons on the left flank!

Goblin Wolf Riders charge into the flock of Carrion Birds while the unwounded Giant charges the Undead lines!

A unit of Black Orcs suffering from the effects of DOOM & DESPAIR and advance towards the undead on the hill while  the other brigades prepare to charge the stranded cavalry.

Orcs continue to stream over and around the hills towards the center of the battlefield.

Empire losses a large brigade of knights when they are flanked by flyers and hammered by Goblin Chariots and Chaos Hounds and have no where to fallback to!

Still lots of Empire to defeat before the day is won though.

Undead Archers charge the Black Orcs and a timely RAISE DEAD spell will mean the end of these brave Black Orcs.

A Bone Giant charges my Giant who will end up putting the thump in thumping and go one to destroy the right most unit of Undead Spearman and get himself lined up for a flank charge the next round when we decided to call the game because of time constraints. Four turns were played but the advantage was in the court of Orcs and Daemons so Gary and Joe graciously conceded the game.

Afterwards we talked about starting a campaign up using some rules that my California friends have used in the past to great success. It looks like its a go so I am looking forward to that and of course I had a great time playing with Ed, Joe and Gary. Hopefully there will be even more of us next time!