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| Battle lines are drawn |
After a total drubbing at the hands of my regular fantasy opponents' Orc & Goblin army, I challenged him to a rematch- this time using my Ogres!
Early in the day I went to my less than local Games Workshop location for a warm-up match. My opponent, much to my surprise, was also using Ogres. Instead of the more balanced approach I had opted for, he went for the total Gut-Star, deployed in Horde formation (6 wide, 4 deep if I recall correctly). I forgot to strip the unit of its buff spells during my magic phase, so the Gut-Star was impossible for me to deal with. I lost in a total massacre.
Needless to say, this dampened my spirits immensely going into my rematch.
We started by discussing what models were where in our armies (who was my Battle Standard Bearer, who was his, etc.) and then began deploying terrain. I rolled a 6 when determining the number of terrain items, resulting in us to needing ten pieces of terrain for the battle.
Now, contrary to people's belief at my not-so-local G. W., randomly generating terrain is an
OPTIONAL rule, so instead we opted to just choose from whatever terrain was available. This led to the usual jungle-themed board we're used to. Also, as usual, we agreed that random types of forests is a stupid rule, so all forests would be "normal" forests. Random forests just tends to clutter up the game, and adds an unnecessary level of complexity to an already complex game, so might as well just remove that hiccup altogether.
We then rolled for scenario, and got "Battleline". Cool, a simple scenario. Just bash your opponents' skulls in. Perfect for Orcs & Goblins vs. Ogre Kingdoms.
Yes, we set up terrain and rolled for scenario in reverse order, but it tends to lead to a more interesting battlefield, so as far as I'm concerned it's okay. Also, we have a standing agreement that "The Watchtower" is a stupid scenario, so we would re-roll it if it came up.
My opponent won the roll to deploy first, and we set about forming our battle lines. I opted to have my Ironguts hold the center of the line, flanked by my Bulls. The Leadbelchers would attempt to get a few potshots in at the Black Orcs, and then, after thinning out their numbers, would attempt to off anything that stayed in the Orc & Goblin backfield (in particular that stone thrower).
Having deployed fewer units and finishing setup before my opponent, I easily won the roll to go first with the +1 modifier. My army advanced toward the center confidently. In my magic phase I began throwing up buffs on my units, preparing for the coming onslaught of choppas. My Slaughtermaster took a pair of wounds from casting spells, but I was confident that with his
Bloodcleaver he'd be back in fighting shape in no time.
The Orc & Goblin line advanced in kind, releasing the three fanatics from the mass of Night Goblins in which his Battle Standard Bearer had bunkered up. One impacted my rightmost Bulls, inflicting a single wound before dying in the forest behind them. The other two sat in front of the Night Goblins, ruining my hopes at getting a charge in against the weedy little things. The Trolls ambled forward daring me to charge them.
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| Uh-oh. This could be very bad indeed. |
During The Orc & Goblin Magic Phase I managed to fend off the
Foot of Gork (or whatever it's called, I don't own the book) managing to keep the greenskin deity from flattening my Ironguts. It took all my Dispel dice to do this though, so
The Hand of Gork easily went through, moving the Warboss' unit behind my lines. Behind my Tyrant's Irongut unit, to be precise. This coming charge could be a game-ender if I didn't quickly reform to face the coming threat.
The Orc & Goblin shooting managed to put a pair of wounds on the Leadbelchers, and killed an Irongut.
Over to my turn, and my Tyrant failed his re-rollable Leadership 9
Stupidity test (he's a
Mawseeker, you see). He and his Ironguts wandered forward six inches, setting up a perfect Orc charge. Oh, no. My left flank Bulls charged the Trolls, hoping to blow through into the Common Goblin unit sheltering the Great Shaman behind them.
The rest of my battleline held position. My Slaughtermaster continued to throw up buffs, taking another wound which he negated with the
Bloodgruel spell.
Shooting led to both Leadbelcher units unloading into the Black Orcs, felling three of the brutes. That did not go as well as I had planned...
In the ensuing combat between the Trolls and the Bull Ogres, my opponent swung with two trolls at my Slaughtermaster failing to wound him even a single time. So much for that assassination attempt! The Bulls handily defeated the Trolls, and they fled sending my Bull Ogres into the Common Goblins behind.
It was now over to the Orc & Goblin turn, during which the inevitable happened. The mass of orcs with two
Choppas each rushed the rear of my Irongut unit. This was
very bad news. The Black Orcs charged my Leadbelchers, who fled, and the charge was redirected into my Bull Ogres, only managing to get a few into combat due to a bad charge roll.
The Magic Phase for the Orcs & Goblins was very short due to a lack of valid targets for spells, as was the Shooting Phase, so on to close combat.
My Tyrant used his
Make Way! movement to get into the fighting rank, while the battle standard toting Bruiser stayed away from the ruckus. Shouting out a challenge to any who would dare face him in close combat, he was shocked to be paired up against the Orc Warboss. Hmmmm... He must have something up his sleeve. After a flurry of blows from the Warboss, modified by a -1 to-hit modifier from the Tyrant's
Glittering Scales, and failure to wound due to the Tyrant's Toughness of 6, the Warboss stood dumbfounded. Now it was the Tyrant's turn. With his 5 attacks at a whopping Strength of 7 the Tyrant inflicted three wounds. Two of those wounds were save by the 4+
Ward save. Unfortunately for the Warboss, the Tyrant had brought
The Other Trickster's Shard, which forces a re-roll of all successful
Ward saves. A second wound was let through the Warboss' magical protection, and once multiblied into D3 wounds each, the Warboss fell with 5 wounds inflicted on him. Combined with the Ironguts' ability to slaughter Orcs, the
Overkill bonus was enough to win the combat for the Ogres. The Orcs held. and the Ironguts reformed to face the now Strength 3 Orcs.
The Black Orcs killed a Bull Ogre in their combat, but between the Tyrant's Leadership of 9 and the battle standard's re-roll, they held their ground.
From here the battle is a blur, as I forgot to take pictures from this point on. My Ogres continued to throw up buffs, and the
Bloodcleaver continued to restore wounds lost to Gut Magic spells on my Slaughtermaster.
The Bulls on the right flank finally broke from the Black Orcs' onslaught, and they fled the battlefield.
The Common Goblins were broken by the now Strength 5 Bulls, who elected not to pursue, as they were getting out of my Slaughtermaster's range to buff up my army, and were about to get charged by a Giant. The Giant did indeed rush the Bulls, but after a failed "
Thump With Club" attempt the Ogres were able to shred the Giant handily. Luckily the Giant died falling away from combat, and failed to squish any Ogres.
The Ironguts annhilated the Night Goblins, taking both their standard and the battle standard.
The now Strenght 7 Bull Ogres crashed into the rear of the Black Orcs, and the game was called.
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| Endgame | |
This battle went a lot better than my last two games. I was able to get up, and keep up, my Gut Magic spells, and this helped me deal with the Orcs' immense hitting power on the first round of every combat. The hero as well as the zero of the match is definitely the Tyrant. He almost lost me the game, but with his immense close combat prowess he managed to avert disaster.
This was a much closer game than it appeared, as had some vital Orc spells gone off, of had they gone off with more effect, I would have lost the game immediately. I was incredibly lucky on two occasions when
Gork's Warpath failed to kill my Ironguts, despite going off with
Irresistible Force.
In the end it was a hard-fought battle for both sides, and an enjoyable game. Thanks to my opponent for a most enjoyable evening!
