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Friday, September 17, 2010

The Battle of Jawa

Minarets of dusk swirled around the feet of horses and men. Here in the flats of Jawa stood the Imperial armies under Rognar Fireforge and facing him were the hosts of the Great Evoker. Rognar’s forces were cladded from head to toe in heavy armor and are more than a match to any rebel soldier, if they can catch them. In contrast, the rebels were lightly equipped and relied on skirmishing. The Imperial army was encamped in the main road blocking the supply lines of the rebel cities of Siwa and Thebes. Rognar knew that he must somehow force his opponent to come to him as this would be the only way for him to defeat an elusive and more manoeuvrable enemy.

So here is it! My first attempt to test the WAB rules!!! This battle has been planned for months but unfortunately the Byzantines are not completed on time. I could have postponed the game further but I feel that it is better to make good use of the break from my reservist.

So the story is that a great rebellion has taken place in the south (in an Egypt-like setting) and the Imperials led by Dwarf Lord Rognar Fireforge was dispatched to stop them. One may ask why I incorporate some fantasy elements such as dwarves and magic when my main goal is to play test a historical ruleset. The reason is that I do not have sufficient models to form a proper historical army and so I have to resort to proxies. And since I got to use fantasy models anyway, I may as well let them be fantasy soldiers using historical rules. All rules used will be based on WAB and any special warhammer rules will be replaced by WAB equivalents. I also took the liberty to add special rules for the various units such as Shieldwall for the Dwarf Warriors and Light Infantry for the Duellists. What about magic? I originally plan to use 6th ed rules but decided in the end to use the 8th ed rules instead. The reason is that the 8th ed rules works better in a setting where only one side has magic users. In addition, the over the top magic effects only serve to illustrate the awesome power of the Great Evoker! I am using Fire Lore anyway and if many imperial troops die then so be it! We are here to playtest the rules and have a great story so who cares if some random guys die to pyrotechnics! Anyway so here are the army lists (special rules in italics).

The Imperials led by Prince Rognar Fireforge

After the dreaded Eastern Intervention Wars, the Emperor acknowledged the need to raise a standing army of human soldiers. However the army was not ready when the Great Evoker struck, therefore the cavalrymen were sent with Dwarven infantry for support. Prince Rognar was to lead the army to atone for his previous failings!!! Added to all this are the local loyalists forces in the area (I want to use the chance to playtest the chariot rules).

Prince Rognar Fireforge – Free

Imperial Bodyguards, 10 Cataphracts - Cataphracts, Superior Byzantine Cavalry, Wedge Formation

Greek Cavalry, 10 Kavallarioi, Superior Byzantine Cavalry

Skullpass Warriors, 20 Dwarf Warriors – shieldwall

Orphan Legion, 30 Dwarf Warriors – shieldwall

Dwarven Musketeers, 10 Thunderers – WAB handgun rules

Rangers Wannabes, 10 Quarrellers – Light Infantry (Open Order Infantry), WAB Crossbow rules

Sons of Ordu, 10 Longbeard Rangers – Light Infantry (Open Order Infantry)

1 Bolt Thrower – WAB Bolt Thrower rule

3 Ahmose’s Charioteers – WAB Chariots!!!

20 Aegyptus Militia – BTGG Arab City Militia

The Great Evoker’s Host

The army of the rebels consisted mainly of mercenaries, bandits, pirates and remnants of invaders from the recent wars (Someone has been busy gathering men from all places). Added to all these are the Bantu warriors from the south!

Great Evoker (Lvl 4 Wizard) – Free

Pewas the Heartbreaker (of women) - Mercenary Paymaster (BSB)

Mercenary Pikemen, 20 DOW Pikemen – Pikes, Medieval Phalanx

Swashbucklers of the Seas, 14 Duelist with Pistols – Light Infantry (used as skirmishers in this battle)

Rodeleros, 10 Duelist with sword and bucklers – Light Infantry (use as open order infantry)

Hidalgoes, 10 Duelist with sword and bucklers – Light Infantry (use as open order infantry)

Mercenary Crossbowmen, 10 - WAB Crossbow rules

Mercenary Knights, 10 DOW Heavy Cavalry

Bantu Knights (Supposed to be those knights of Ethopia) , 10 DOW Heavy Cavalry

Bantu Light Cavalry, 6 DOW Light Cavalry, Light Cavalry (use as Skirmishers)

Steppe Mercenary Light Cavalry, 6 DOW Light Cavalry, Light Cavalry (use as Skirmishers)

Halflings Archers, 14, Skirmishers

Pewas’ Bodyguards, 20 Paymaster bodyguards with Heavy Armor

Rebel Halberdiers, 20 Paymaster bodyguards

1 Cannon, WAB Cannon Rules

The table is arranged using the WAB ruleset and the battle played will be flank attack. I will use the Army Break Point System also. Now to the Battle Report!!!



The two armies before the battle commenced.

The battle began with a challenge! Stepping forward ahead of his army, Rognar roared and demanded that his foes nominate a champion to engage him in personal combat. Eager to raise the morale of his troops, paymaster Pevas leapt out of his unit’s formation to the cheers of all combatants! The fleet footed Bantu hero sprinted towards his foe. Using the momentum of his run, Pevas launched three might thrusts at the Dwarf Lord. Rognar bent down to avoid the first thrust and quickly sidestepped to his right to avoid the second. However he was too slow for the crafty Pevas who suddenly changed his angle of attack and aimed at the Dwarf Lord’s throat; only to be blocked at the very last minute by Rognar’s shield. Annoyed, Rognar launched a series of wide but mighty swipes at his nimble foe. Despite blocking with all his strength, the Dwarf’s blows were too much for Pevas who lost grip on his shield. This chance was all that the Rognar need and he slashed into Pevas’ chest. In vain, Pevas tried to retaliate but he was losing blood quickly. Weakened by exhaustion, the human hero was unable to avoid a downward swing from the Dwarf Lord and collapsed to the ground. But the killing blow never came. Rognar simply walked off, leaving his foe to be picked up by the latter’s soldiers. He wants to win this battle as a general and not as a fighter!

To represent the increase morale, the imperial army is able to gain 1 CR for (2-0)*2 combats in the game.


Will you duel with me?


Haha, an opening!


Pewas is knocked out.

Pregame
Rebel skirmishers move forward using their pregame movement.

Turn 1 Imperial
The imperial army’s right remain still while the left advance. The palm forest had slowed the cavalry’s advance to a crawl! In the shooting phase, the crossbows fell one mercenary knight. First blood to the Imperials!!!

Turn 1 Rebels
The rebels quickly march out of the Jawa Crossing onto the flats. The knights especially hope to eliminate the imperial gunline before getting blown into bits! The Evoker then proved his worth by killing seven dwarves with fiery magic. In the shooting phase, two Dwarven musketeers were killed.


The rebels rushing out of the river.

Imperial Turn 2
The Imperial cavalry pondered about charging the Evoker and his pikemen bodyguards but wisely chose not to. Other than a single knight killed by the bolt thrower, all the shooting achieved nothing.

Rebel Turn 2
The mercenary knights charged the musketeers who fire and flee (this is a charge reaction unique to WAB) and one knight is killed in the process! Bantu knights and Pevas’s bodyguards charge Rognar and his retinue. The two units of horse archers rode up the hill and peppered the Longbeard Rangers with arrows but no casualties are caused. The Evoker killed two cataphracts with magic who panicked and fled. In the close combat phase, Rognar challenged the Bantu knight leader who accepted. He realise his mistake too late when the Dwarf Lord shrugged off all his blows and rammed him out of his horse! The combat eventually ended in a draw as casualties were light on both sides.


The rebels charged!!! Seems like Rognar's plan is working, the narrow battlefield had forced the rebels to come to grips with him.

Imperial Turn 3
The cataphracts regained their senses and rallied. The musketeers also rallied and then reform to form a firing line. The Greek Kavallarioi then aided Rognar and his peers by charging Pevas’s bodyguards. In the shooting phase, the Longbeard Rangers flung their throwing axes at the Bantu light cavalry and killed four! The latter passed their panic test though. The quarrellers killed one mercenary knight and the bolt thrower did nothing.

Rognar called for another challenge and the paymaster bodyguard champion accepted. The human was slain. The Kavallarioi tried to hit Pevas but fluff all their attacks and lost two men in return. Combat is a draw again.

Rebel Turn 3
The Rodeleros bucklermen flank charged the Kavallarioi. The mercenary knights charged the skullpass warriors while the steppe light cavalry charged the bolt thrower. One quarreller was killed in the shooting phase. During the combat phase, the mercenary knights fluff all their attacks and suffered three casualties in return. Having only four models left, they autobreak. Seems like the earlier shooting had paid off!!! The skullpass warriors pursued and ran the knights down. In the main fight in the center, the Rodeleros attack paid off and the Imperials broke and fled. Fortunately the Bantu knights were panicked by the fleeing mercenary knights and end up fleeing instead of pursing Rognar and company. (in WAB, panic checks are done simultaneously in the end of close combat phase. At first I thought units in cc have to take panic checks normally also but after the battle I realise that they are allowed to re-roll failed panic test if they won their own combats. In fact the imperials will lose another unit due to this rule later on so I guess it is fair to both sides?) The battlefield was too cramp for the Kavallarioi who cannot escape in time and were cut down. Rognar and his dwarven warriors narrowly escaped. In the warmachine fight, the bolt thrower held.

Imperial Turn 4
Rognar and his retinue rallied. The cataphracts charged into the Rodeleros who fled but were ran down. The Dwarven quarrellers heaved their great weapons and charge the steppe cavalry to free the bolt thrower. The skullpass warriors charge the Bantu knights who fled back into the Nile. The longbeard rangers then did an about turn and finished off the Bantu light cavalry with their throwing axes!!! In the close combat phase, the quarrellers manage to kill enough riders to make them autobreak and flee (less than five men again, they can no longer rally).

Rebel Turn 4
The rebels manoeuvred and perform a duck shoot. Three dwarven warriors and two cataphracts were killed by the magic and shooting. The presence of the Bantu knights caused the rebel rear to panic, both the cannon crews and the Hidalgos fled! The irony was that the Bantu knights rallied!

Imperial Turn 5
Ahmose’s flanking forces had arrived! Deploying themselves at the left, they intend to encircle the Evoker’s pikemen. In coordination, the entire imperial army manoeuvre to ensure that the rebel head honcho is surrounded. Rognar’s unit charge Pevas’ unit who quickly fled. But their woes were not over as six fell to the bolts of the quarrellers. Meanwhile the Aegyptus city militia flung their javelins and eliminate the cannon crew. Not bad for militiamen.

Rebels Turn 5.
Pevas and his guards were so disoriented that they continue fleeing. The Hidalgos rallied. Meanwhile the swashbucklers charged the chariots, hoping to deny the latter the opportunity to hit the Evoker’s unit. The rebel’s reinforcements also arrived, appearing at the imperial right flank behind the bolt thrower. Meanwhile the Bantu knights realigned themselves to face the charge of the Aegyptus militia. In the magic phase, the Great Evoker killed another three cataphracts before miscasting. The magical vortex that resulted wounded him and killed countless pikemen. As a consolation, another cataphract was killed. In the close combat, the swashbuckler, lost combat but held.

Turn 6 (Imperial then Rebels)
The skullpass troops charge the pikemen in the flank while the cataphracts assisted by charging into the medieval phalanx. In the shooting phase, all of Pevas’ bodyguards were killed and he was left with only one wound. The longbeard rangers turned and killed four rebel halberdiers with their throwing axes. In the close combat phase, the swash bucklers broke the chariots while the militia broke the Bantu knights. However the sight of the fleeing chariots led to the militia fleeing also. In the pikemen fight, the skullpass warriors managed to break the pikemen and ran them down! The Great Evoker is taken. In the rebel’s turn, the halberdiers charge the bolt thrower and destroy it. The swashbucklers managed to revenge the rebels by killing the last cataphract with a pistol shot.

A quick count revealed a victory to the Imperials. The Evoker was taken and his field army was defeated. However all was not rosy and all the Byzantine soldiers were killed. The cowardly governor Ahmose had also fled with his troops (including the young boy Basti who was destined for great things to come).

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And so it is over. The man of the match is no other than the Great Evoker who had a field day killing countless dwarves and cataphracts only to miscast and have his unit ran down by vengeful dwarves. Rognar did well too and kill off every character, champion that he lay his hands off (technically he killed Pewas in the duel but I have to keep the paymaster alive to make the pitch battle less one sided). I must say that the battle was very close and a clear winner was only revealed after the pikemen were destroyed. I had made a few mistakes for the Imperials though, I forgot all about the bonus combat resolutions! That will have kept the chariots from breaking and thus preventing the militia from panicking. Imagine Basti the Kushite fleeing in his first true pitch battle! I was also greedy with the Kavallarioi, and focus all my attacks on Pewas in the turn they charge. In the end, the Kavallarioi lacked the punch to inflict damage in the subsequent combat rounds.

What are my views of WAB? The most obvious observation is that it is harder to kill an enemy now due to everyone being S3 (it is very obvious from the performance of my Byzantines). Combats with the Dwarves are generally one sided as they are the only true "fantasy" units in the game and could generally shrug off opposing attacks. The weakening of pikes, handguns and crossbows also make a big distinction. I must say the Imperials won mainly because of the dwarves who deviate from the S3 T3 statline. As for other rules such as charging, movement etc I will say it is largely equivalent to fantasy. I hardly get the opportunity to use the unique WAB rules such as the fast march, shieldwall and wedge formation (due to the cataphracts dying in large numbers). That said, I did use the Byzantine Superior Cavalry rules and the Medieval Phalanx rules (the phalanx is awesome!!!). I also made the mistake in playing the Rodeleros and Hidalgoes as skirmishers despite recording them as open order infantry in the list!!! However I did play the LB Rangers as open order infantry and i find it cool to have a ranked unit that is able to travel through terrain without difficulty.

I am getting more historical models soon and I look forward to the next WAB session to try out even more rules. That said, it was very tiring. From setting up to the game and finally keeping took me six hours!!! But it is great!

Once I am more familiar with the rules, I will have some trial games with those who are interested in historicals. Yay!

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Rognar eyed at the bounded prisoner before him and fury rose from his insides. For two hundred years, the human wizard had humiliated the Dwarf Prince. To Rognar, this is not business but extremely personal. Now finally came the time to settle old scores.

"Finally Oathbreaker, you are in my hands. Now let me show you how we deal with traitors." With that, Rogar swung the executioner's hammer and cracked the skull of the warlock.


Traitors will be judged.

However the death of the rebellion's leader was not sufficient to quash it. It merely changed the nature of the conflict from a revolt based on a one man cult into one based on ethnicity. Already leadership of the rebellion has been transferred into the hands of the Bantu leaders such as Pewas the Heartbreaker who are trying to woo even more tribes into rebellion. All eyes now focus on King Shaka of Isandhwana, the greatest of all the Bantu leaders. Will he hold back his blade or will he assist his fellow tribesmen and unfold the flags of rebellion. The second phase of Bantu Rebellion has begun.


BLOOD AND FIRE

Dust Clouds of the South Part 4

Nine months since the fall of Thebes, nearly two years since the great Evoker left the Southern Sands.

The streets of Alexandria were filled with cheers. The Imperial army had finally arrived! Unlike the hastily conscripted militia of the south, these were well trained warriors from barracks of Constantinople.

Like the rest of the young men, Basti could not help but admire the uniforms wore by the new arrivals, their huge horses and the coats of mail that shine like silver coins in the sunlight. How he wished that he could be on of the Emperor’s cavaliers! But it was not the heavy cavalrymen that caught the people’s attention nor was it the fleet footed light horsemen that equally skilled with bow and spear. The people could only stare as they sighted the latest arrivals. These soldiers were a head shorter than most men but they are huge. Each warrior’s girth was twice that of the largest soldier that Basti had ever since so far. A fellow comrade whispered into Basti’s ear, “These are the Dawi, guardians of the North from far beyond the Great Realm, they are not human.”

Basti’s reply came swift, “After witnessing the vile sorceries of the Great Evoker and his army, this is exactly what we need.”

======================================

“Thebes fell nearly a year ago and after that insurgents in Siwa opened the city’s gates to the enemy. The entire Upper Aegyptus has fallen to the enemy.”

Prince Rognar Fireforge snorted as he heard the reports. The local forces had lost every battle in nearly two years! Rognar could not imagine anyone who could lose so many battles and not feel ashamed. The Dwarven prince sighed and thought to himself, “In a way I am also here to atone for my disgrace.” For it was known among the nobility that Prince Fireforge was the one who defeated the Great Evoker two hundred years ago in the Battle of the Silver River. Instead of seizing or killing the traitor, it was the Prince’s negligence that allowed the warlock to escape and became the menace that he is now. Rognar is sent here today to finish what he failed to accomplish previously.

“So what are the Emperor’s orders?” Lord Ahmose asked. Despite losing Thebes to the rebels, he still possessed an army of ten thousand men and the dispossessed governor is anxious to restore his lost charge before it was being re-assigned to another feudal lord.

Rognar pointed a finger towards one of the major river crossings. “Here! We will blockade the roads between Siwa and Thebes. We will pretend to try to cut the cities off but in reality, we will be forcing a pitch battle. There we will grind the foe into dust with our armoured horses and men. We will slay all of them and leave none alive. Here, in the crossing of Jawa will I, Rognar Fireforge, undo my disgrace. Gather the men, we march for war!”

Dust Clouds of the South Part 3

It has been six months since the Great Evoker’s forces were first sighted. All the settlements at the borderlands were either conquered or had defected to the rebels. Finally after months of skirmishing, the rebel army reached the southernmost major city of Thebes. The rebels spared no time to encircle the city and build siege engines. Huge mangonels flailed the cities with diseased corpse of the dead while the Evoker’s Bantu allies tried to mine beneath the walls. Most deadly of all are the machinations of the great sorcerer himself, raining comets of fire into the city and killing by the thousands.

Governor Ahmose had long fled the city with his crack troops, leaving the city’s inhabitants to their fate. Declaring that he will return with reinforcements, he commanded the city militia to hold the city to the last, keeping the enemy in place while he and his reinforcements will return and hit the foe with a vice-like grip.

The city fell within a week.

======================

As the army of the Great Evoker pillage the city of Thebes, they were being observed by the loyalist army hiding in the surrounding hills. Basti watch as the city below burnt. He could hear the screams of the city inhabitants, the cries of helpless women and children. It did not require much to remind him that he narrowly escaped death. He had been drafted to become one of the runners for the chariot teams and had left the city just days before the rebel encirclement was completed. His family had remained in the city, his mother, his five sisters and his father who joined the city’s garrison.

Basti watched but he did not weep. The time for crying had long passed. In a way the boy Basti had also died in the flames of Thebes. From that day onwards he will be Basti the Warrior, and one day vengeance will be his.

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Dust Clouds of the South Part 2

The procession of refugees plodded northwards. Consisting of men, women and children, the refugees had brought no possessions other than whatever that could be loaded onto the few draught animals they had in the village. Thanks to Basti’s early warning, the villagers had narrowly escaped slavery from the Evoker’s army, having made their way to the safety of the hills just before the rebels’ vanguard reached their village. Disheartened and traumatised by their ordeal, the refugees’ only hope lies in the city of Thebes, fifty miles to the north. There they hope to find food, shelter and perhaps protection from the army of the Aegyptus province. Hope is what they drives them forward, for behind them was death and despair.
The last thing that Basti saw as he looked back was the sight of his burning village.

======================================================================

News of the Evoker’s army only came in as the first refugees reached the city of Thebes. Riders that were subsequently dispatched soon reported that the southern border forts were already taken, an unsurprising fact since most of these were abandoned in the decades of peace. Governor Ahmose immediately sent letters to the neighbouring cities requesting for reinforcements. It would take months for any messengers to reach the capital and seek the assistance of the Imperial army, for now the province of Aegyptus will have to fend for itself.

Thursday, September 09, 2010

Dust Clouds in the South

It took Basti only mere moments to climb up the huge stone boulder in the middle of the savannah. Eleven feet tall with a diameter of over 30 feet, the mother of rocks was no match to the boy’s sharp eyes and agile limbs. Basti was ten years old but he had been tending his family’s flock since six; while his herds graze, the young boy spent his time conquering these “miniature mountains” of the plains.

Basti liked this particular rock a lot, and had named it as Al Jahab, or “My Grey Fortress” in common tongue. For the boulder granted him an unobstructed view of the countryside for miles. Here he was able to spot predators long before his sheep could be threatened and if he was thirsty, the stream was just a dozen paces away.

The sun had left its eastern palace two hours before and the rock was slowly getting warm. Basti lay down with his hands and legs fully stretched, enjoying the warmth that his rocky bed was giving him. As Basti recalled tales of kings in the North spending fortunes to construct steam baths for a similar experience, he could not help but laugh.

The young boy closed his eyes and was about to doze off when a speck of bird droppings hit him on the cheek. Irritated that his sweet dreams were disrupted, the child got up and ready to treat his harasser with a shot from his sling. To his huge surprise instead of a single stray bird, Basti spot a huge flight of flamingos racing over his head. Though young, the boy had lived through sufficient winters to know that it was not the time for the annual migrations yet. Curiosity took over and Basti stood straight up on his favourite rock, eyes peering into the horizon in the south where the birds had came from.

Far ahead nearly ten miles away was a long dust cloud stretching across the horizon. The boy suddenly yelped and jumped down his rock. He wasn’t sure if he was right but he will be not taking his chances today. After a quick whistle to his dog to round up the sheep, the boy sped back into his village, yelling on top of his voice.

“Tima, tima. Ashanti kuk ni-ah!”

“Run, run. Grab your things and go.”

It seemed that misfortune had finally caught up with Basti and the boy had just witnessed something that the village had not faced for nearly a century. For ahead is a creature that is able to stir up the clouds and cause all beasts and birds to flee from it.

Men.

====================================================================================

Long forgotten since his banishment to the southern sands, the Great Evoker has returned with a great host to bring about a time of bloodshed and despair in the Southlands.

Sunday, September 05, 2010

Night Battle at Namly Pass

I had my first 8th edition game on sat night. We rolled 3 for the mission but as we did not have the rulebook, we chose to play pitch battle instead. (I roll for it anyway coz i m curious). Anyway mission 3 is supposed to be a battle for the pass. Since we played a pitch battle deployment, I suppose the pass is rather wide. As we started only at 10 pm, I shall call it the Night Battle at Namly Pass.

Victor's list is as follows

Dreadlord on Coldone (equipment unknown)
Supreme Sorc on foot with focus familiar and inverse ward save
BSB with banner of murder on steed

40 spears
2 x 10 Rxbmen with shields
5 Dark Riders
5 or 6 knights
2 x 5 shades with extra hw
15 blackguard
2 rbts
1 hydra.

I rather like this list as it has a good composition with horses, men and beasts of war. Rather balance and tend to have a "historical" feel in it (you can easily translate each unit into a historical equivalent). It is a pity that I tend to have specialised armies and the only non-specialist army in my collection are Dark Elves also. Thus I will almost never use a balanced army against this one.

I played my Dwarves. I am happy that they are mostly done. I originally want to focus on finishing my warmachine crew but my hammerers ARE SO OBVIOUSLY UNPAINTED that I think I will work on them after my byzantine cataphracts and bolt thrower crew are completed.

My list is as follows

Dwarf Lord (Rognar Fireforge) [i changed the name slightly...this is the finalised one]
Thane BSB (Josef Bugmen)
Runesmith (Hegar Lorekeeper)
Runesmith (Master Engineer Flint Thunderbeard posing as one. Hegar has given him some last min advice on the runes before the battle)

20 Warriors (Skullpass warriors)
30 Warriors (Orphan Legion)
10 Quarrellers (Rangers Wannabes led by Feros Thunderbeard)
10 Thunderers (no nickname)
10 Longbeard Rangers (led by Orthan Treefeller. The unit is nicknamed as Sons of Ordu from now onwards)
20 Hammerers (Prince Rognar's bodyguards)
6 Miners
1 Bolt Thrower
1 Cannon
1 Organ Gun

I cannot remember all the details so I will simply mention the highlights. For me, I killed the hydra in turn 1, the sons of Ordu killed 1 darkrider each turn and panicked them off the board in turn 2. Rognar, Josef and the hammerers charged the 40 spearmen phalanx. It was supposed to be a combined charge but i rolled badly for the Orphan Legion and thus the hammerers went in themselves. We lost badly in the first round but as the effects of hatred wear off in the second, my troops prevailed, broke the spears and ran them down...bringing a brief relief to my forces. Another highlight is that my organ gun exploded in turn 1 after trying to fire at Vic's shades. This exposed my cannon to his shades who swiftly took it out and ensuring that he got overwhelming shooting for the rest of the game.

For Victor, his highlights are the general and cok who failed stupidity by rolling 12 twice and had no contributions to the game with the exception of destroying the bolt thrower. His sorc miscastd twice. Fnally his blackguard slaughtered the skullpass warriors and the champion killed BOTH Hegar Lorekeeper and Flint Thunderbeard in close combat. The dude was the only one that survived in the last round, thus keeping his 200+ VP. Having kill 300 points worth of characters and gained 100 points of bonus from the challenges...the guy is worth 600 VP. If Flint had not rolled a 1 to wound it will be a draw.

That said, I deserved to lose. I had been rather rusty with my dwarves and my deployment was not tight enough. I deployed the Orphan legion in the forest and could barely get them out. If Victor had charge them, I would lose my steadfast bonus! I also make the mistake of deploying my line too wide. I orginally plan to deploy my longbeard rangers on my left hoping to use the terrain to my advantage and bombard the Blackguard with throwing axes. But Victor deployed his knights there and my longbeards had to avoid them by deploying to my extreme right. As a result my left is extremely fragile since all 3 infantry blocks will be advancing in midgame. To make the matter worse, the sons of Ordu are placed in the far right, in front of Victor's darkriders but far from my big guns and from cover. Thus when my organ gun exploded, Victor's shades had the free rein and tied up my shooting for quite sometime. Thanks to some advice from some frens (my allies in disguise?) Victor made the mistake of charging my GW wielding crossbowmen and got chopped into bits.

Despite my mistakes and some horrendously bad dice rolls for almost everything. I lost by 350. It will be a draw game if we were using the 7th ed scoring system as i managed to reduce victor's BG to half strength.

-----------------------------------------------

Rognar tried to fight his way through but the enemy were too vicious, too tricksy and too many. The spear warriors had tied him and his elite guards for too long and when he finally broke through, the Elven witch and her standard bearer simply ran away! It was at this point of frustration when he saw an elven unit captain taking out Flint with a halberd, with Hegar's unconcious body only a couple of feet away!

"To me my warriors. We must protect the keepers of our traditions from harm!" The hammerers ran towards the two fallen Dwarven heroes as fast as they could. Forming a shieldwall to block off the elven crossbow bolts, the stunted folks executed a fighting withdrawal. In the distance, Feros led his men to provide covering fire while his brother was being saved.

With tears in his eyes, Rognar quitted the battlefield. It is of umost importance to save his friends, but that does not meant that the day's defeat will be forgotten!!!