One of the great things about this time of year is that it gets a little easier to schedule games as people have more time off. Recently, I have been able to find a group of people who still enjoy playing the 8th Edition Warhammer Fantasy (with some variations including 6th edition and the Warhammer Army Project). I thought I would write up my most recent battle with a little narrative. Apologies that some pictures are spotty we occasionally get caught up in the bloodlust of battle haha (a special thanks to Brian for the pictures).
Armies: 2400 points
Beastmen – Using Warhammer Army Project rules
Lords
Great Bray-Shaman – Level 4, Talisman of Preservation
Beastlord – Ramhorn Helm, Heavy Armour, Enchanted Shield, Crown of Command, Dawnstone
Heroes
Wargor- BSB – Gnarled Hide, Beast Banner,Heavy Armour
Bray-Shaman – Level 2, Herdstone
Bray-Shaman – Level 2, Dispell Scroll
Core
50 Gors – Full Command, additional hand weapons
10 Ungor Raiders
5 Chaos Warhounds
5 Chaos Warhounds
Special
30 Bestigors – Full Command, Standard of Discipline
6 Minotaurs – Bloodkine, Additional Hand Weapons
Razorgor
Rare
Cygor
Vampire Counts – Forgot to take a picture of the whole army together : /
Lords
Vampire Lord – Level 3 – Red Fury, Quickblood, Nightshroud, heavy armor, shield, lance,
Mount: Abyssal Terror – Armor Piercing Claws
Heroes
Vampire – Heavy armor, shield, Potion of Strength
Necromancer – Level 2 – Dispell Scroll
Necromancer – Level 2 – Book of Arkhan
Core
30x Skeletons – Full Command, Spears
30x Skeletons – Full Command, Swords and Shields
30x Zombies – Banner, Musician
5x Dire Wolf – Doomwolf
5x Dire Wolf – Doomwolf
5x Dire Wolf – due to a lack of models these units were just bases until I can get more wolves : P
Special
5x Hexwraiths – Hellwraith
2x Bat Swarms
Rare
Terrorgheist
Varghulf
3x Cairn Wraith – Banshee
Narrative:
Nikolas indulged in an extended moment of pride as his army shambled into place. Swarms of bats flitted between shuffling zombies while a darker shape hovered above. His “daughter” headed one column of skeletal warriors interspersed with ghostly creatures flicking in an out of existence while undead wolves loping playfully alongside. His serenity was broken as his mount tried to kill him…again. Ever eccentric, (even for a vampire) Nikolas had found the Cockatrice wandering in the mountains and decided to see if he could tame it (in fact it was this creature that had first alerted him to the coven of shamans that had invaded his realm.)Though it cost him a number of his minions he managed to break the creature’s spirit and get it to do (mostly) what he wanted. In order to preserve him from it’s killing glance Nikolas had fashioned ornamental blinkers that allowed the creature some visibility but mitigated it’s ability to kill him (not that it stopped the beast from occasional attempts.) His annoyance was magnified when he discovered that the beastman host he was trying to dislodge was aware of his presence. Stirring his recalcitrant mount into action Nikolas returned his attention towards trying to deploy his warriors in some form of order.
Mission: Meeting Engagement
Angled deployments, the Beastmen win the roll off for deployment and deploy their whole army, only one Shaman and one unit of hounds has to arrive from reserve. The army deploys on the line with the herdstone in the center. Vampire Counts go heavy on the right flank, hiding the Terrorgheist and Vampire Lord hide behind a hill with the Cairn Wraiths being stuck in reserve.
Turn 1:
Beastmen go first and the flanks move up. Magic sees the Minotaurs get buffed by Wissan’s Wildform to T6 and the Ungor’s shortbows kill one dog. The Cygor throws a boulder at the Varghulf but rolls a “1” to wound. Vampire counts Turn 1: The Dire Wolves charges the pig who flees, the dogs redirect into the Ungor Raiders who stand and shoot but fail to hit. With the raiders pinned the Varghulf also charges in. The cairn wraiths move up to the dogs on the left flank and the terrorghesits plays it safe by moving onto the flank behind the Vampire Lord. Vampire counts roll a double “1” for the Winds of Magic but I still manage to raise a small unit of zombies directly in front of the Minotaurs. The Banshee’s scream does nothing. In combat the Varghulf kills 3 raiders, who kill 3 wolves, which then kill 3 more raiders (they strike at the same time as the raiders). The raiders roll a double “1” to stay in combat.
Turn 2:
THe Razorgor rallies and turns around. The chaos hounds charge the wraiths. The Minotaurs charge the new zombies. The war hounds move up to to protect the Minotaur’s flank. The other battle line units march forward. Magic sees nothing important happen. The Cygor hurls a boulder at the Vampire Lord but misses. Combat sees the Varghulf finish off the raiders and re-position. The Minotaurs cream the zombies, get an additional “Frenzy” attack but only overrun 1″. The hounds can’t hurt the wraiths, who then kill two of them. Failing their morale the hounds flee but are caught by the wraiths. Vampire Counts turn 2: The Varghuf charges the other unit of hounds with the Dire Wolf moving directly in front of the Minotaurs. The Vampire Lord and the Terrorgheist fly over the combats to set up a charge on the shamans and/or the Cygor. Hexwraiths zombies and remaining Dire Wolves all move forward. The magic phase is pretty tame with the exception of a Gaze of Nagash killing two Minotaurs and putting two wounds on a third. Shooting sees both the Terrorgheist and Banshee fail to scare anyone. The Varghulf murders the hounds and repositions.
Turn 3:
The big hoard of gors charges the “invisible” Dire Wolves. The Minotaurs charge the lone wolf. The Lord’s block of Ungors moves into the forest., the various shamans start scurrying out of the way of the incoming wraiths and Terrorgheist. In magic the Bray Shaman casts flock of Doom on the Wraiths but only does 1 wound. The Varghulf gets hit with the Withering for -1 Strength and the Minotaurs are Wildformed once. The Cygor misses ….. again. In the combats all wolves are pasted while taking two gors with them. The minotaurs only stumble forward 1″ (they only go D6 when overrunning) and fail to hit the bats but they are now triple-frenzied. The Gor block overruns into the remaining Dire Wolf Squad.
Vampire Counts: The Vampire Lord charges the Cygor, the Varghulf and bats charge the Minotaurs, the big block of Gors is charged by the Hexwraiths, the vampire (who drinks her strength potion) and skeleton block. The wraiths move up to scream at one of the lone shamans. The necromancers leave the zombie block who then lurch forward (being too far from the general to march). In the magic phase the zombies are buffed by an Invokation and then danced forward, then another unit of zombies is raised blocking the general’s unit.
Vampire shooting sees the Terrorgheist finally kill something, taking out one of the shamans. The Banshee fails to hurt anything (we’ll need to get her some ghost camomile tea after the battle). The combats go two very different ways. The Vampire Lord decimates the Cygor (5 S7 attacks, re-rolling hits will do that). The Varghulf kills the wounded minotaur while the bats do nothing. The Minotaurs then obliterate the bats which then crumbles the Varghulf to dust (uhhhh ooops). The other big combat immediately descends into chaos: the unit champions for the skeletons and the Gors square off as do the vampire and the Beastman BSB. The vampire wins that battle but takes a wound from the Gors. The Gors also kill the dire wolves but take a significant amount of casualties in return. Miraculously only two skeletons die as their armor saves most of the damage, the champions slap each other around but inflict no wounds. After calculating the results the Gors are within 12″ of the general and lost combat by 2 needing an “8” to stay in combat. My opponent promptly rolls a “9” and the big unit flees almost to the board edge (with such a large unit he had to pop through a lot of units before he could find a spot to fit the unit. We decided to call the game here on account of time it being 9 PM on New Year’s Eve.
Conclusion:
Ahhh Warhammer fantasy, when GW says “that morale should matter” this is what I assume they should strive for, though this might be a little too important here. This battle shows a lot of the fun but wacky things that happens in this edition with units and spells waffling wildly between great or terrible depending your dice roll. This is highlighted by the Cygor which, had it hit, or not rolled a “1” to wound could have really shifted the battle. I also think vampire units shouldn’t crumble but be able to flees but that’s a private thought of mine. Regardless we both had fun in this battle and I got to use some units I never use (the Cairn wraiths and the Abyssal Terror).
Narrative Conclusion:
As Nikolas watched the panicked Beastmen army begin to break he allowed himself another moment of self-satisfaction (a pleasure he rarely abstained from). With much of the army slain or routing, particularly the ranged and magical elements he turned towards the remaining block of Bestigors holed up in the grove of trees with their lord. At a glance the zombies and skeletons came to a halt. Then, they carefully parted ranks to create a broad tunnel. Though it obviously sensed a trap, the Beastlord took advantage of the opportunity to hurry his unit past the undead, pausing only to glance quizzically at the vampire lord (something Nikolas missed as the cockatrice was busy trying to stun him.) Regardless Nikolas had accomplished his mission. By dislodging the Beastmen from his mountain it not only removed a potential threat, but also flushed the herd out into the bordering Brettonian lands. As the cockatrice began noisily gorging itself on the remains of the cygor Nikolas patted its neck affectionately, he had some recruiting to do.
And remember, Frontline Gaming sells gaming products at a discount, every day in their webcart!
