This game was played 28th feb 2016 in Fantasiapelit Oulu (a local game store). Thank you Tumppi for letting us use the gaming boards and scenery pieces!
We used WFB 3rd edition rules and army lists from Warhammer: Armies book. Point limit 1200. Characters were limited to max LVL15 and no mages. Troop miminas from dwarves were removed.
SETUP
The dwarves set up first. Their main melee unit of 12 hammerers with general and army standard stood on dwarf right flank. Next to hammerers there was a team of sappers then the flame cannon and a flame thrower team. Safe distance from both on dwarf left were 20 dwarf warriors. In front of warrior and war machines in skirmish formation 10 crossbow armed dwarves too position.
Setup is ready. Elven marine bolt battery is just out of picture to the right.
High elf line was pretty spread up. Farthest to the left were warriors with their two handed swords, heading for dwarf flank around a little hillock. On the other side of that hillock, facing dwarf warmachines, stood Thabioh the giant. Behind a hegderow in the elf middle general Janarion and his merchant company were readying their longbows and next to them were the wardancers. Far to the right of anyone else the crew of the bolt battery set up their machine on a hill.
A closer look on the dwarf setup
TURN 1
The elves moved first. Warriors and Thabioh advanced towards dwarf line while wardancers jumped over the hedge and headed for woods located on the dwarf left. Merchant company took aim on skirmishing quarrelers but failed to wound any. Bolt battery fired at hammerers and missed. On reserve phase both warriors, Thabioh and the wardancers continued their forward movement.
On their first turn the dwarves held position and waited for elves to close in. The sapper team worked busily and set up a palisade to protect the flame cannon from missile fire. Quarrelers shot a the advancing giant hitting him multiple times and managed to find a weak spot in his hide. Thabioh was wounded once. First blood to dwarves. A startling hissing could be heard as flame cannon was building pressure to be able to fire next turn.
The elves advance
TURN 2
Second turn continued with the elves advancing. Warriors marched on the other side of small hillock and wheeled a bit to face the hammerers. Thabioh slowed down his pace so that warriors could keep up with him and he wouldn´t have to face the hammerers alone. Wardancers almost reached the forest on dwarf left. Merchant company was able to down one quarreler but bolt battery missed again. Reserve phase saw some more advancing with Thabioh readying himself to charge the hammerers next turn.
Having competed the palisade the dwarf sappers were out of things to do and were ordered forward by their general to slow down the approaching giant. The quarrelers moved out of the flame cannon´s line of fire but were stuck in front of the dwarf warriors who were not able to move to support the hammerers on their right. Having moved the quarrelers were unable to shoot but flame cannon had now enough pressure for their first shot. Or perhaps more than enough pressure...
Waiting for quarrelers to move out of way...
A huge explosion ripped apart the flame cannon and the crewmember who lit the charge. Two other crewmen were spilled with burning liquid and for a moment two living torches were seen stubling on charred ground. The flame cannon had misfired and was destroyed taking it´s crew with it. Not intimitated by their colleagues fate the flamethrower crew managed to hit Thabioh but failed to wound him. During reserve phase the quarrelers hurried to clear the way for warriors.
TURN 3
Turn three started with Thabioh and the wardancers charging. Thabioh went for the sapper team and wardancer moved through wood to take on the quarrelers now standing between the dwarf warriors and woods. Quarrelers decided to move out of harms way and managed to do so. Wardancers were now threatening the dwarf warriors´ left flank. On the other side the sappers stood fast as Thabioh charged them. They were told by their general to buy some time and that they would do. Shooting continued with merchant company hitting and killing the flame thrower crew. Bolt battery finally hit something and nailed two dwarf warriors together with one large projectile. In the uneven melee between a giant and two dwarves Thabioh thought it would be funny to do some midget tossing. A hapless sapper got picked up and thrown at the hammerers four of whom were hit by the living missile. The hammerers survived, the missile didn´t. The remaining sapper tried to hit back but to no avail. Even though pushed back he did not break. Elf warriors wheeled and moved closer to be able to charge the hammerers who would undoubtedly charge Thabioh on their next turn.
In the beginning to dwarf turn three things were starting to look a bit grim for the stunties. Their warmachines were out of play, hammerers were getting outflanked and warriors were in danger of getting charged to flank. Something had to be done to swing the momentum. Thus the hammerers changed the giant. The dwarf warriors reformed to face the wardancer troupe and quarrelers stopped next to the warriors. Hammerers managed to wound Thabioh twice and he was down to four wounds now. Angried by being hurt he started jumping up and down on the little bearded ones but tripped and fell on his right side. The remaining dwarf sapper was unlucky enough to crushed beneath him.
Big man down
TURN 4
As turn four begun the elves saw Thabioh trying to get back to his feet. The giant was clearly in trouble but the hammerers were now alone and exposed. It was time to act. Elf warriors charged for the hammerers flank and general Janarion with his merchant company left the cover of hedgerow and started advancing towards the middle of the battlefield. Luckily for the hammerers the elf warriors were too far away and could not charge the dwarves. They became unformed and would spend their next movement phase reforming. On elf right the wardancers decided to evade the dwarf warriors and charged the quarrelers who now readied their axes and stood. In shooting phase a single dwarf warrior was killed by the merchant company´s arrows. Bolt battery once again hit nothing. In combat phase the hammerers scored multiple hits on Thabioh but could not wound him. Despite charging the quarrelers the wardancers missed all their attacks and even lost one of their number to the dwarves´ attacks. During reserve phase merchant company continued to advance.
Charge fails and elf warriors become unformed
As wardancers were in combat with the quarrelers the dwarf warriors changed formation to face the merchant company and moved forward. In the hammerers vs. Thabioh melee the dwarf general was finally able to wound Thabioh with his degenerating sword that drained the giant´s toughness to 1. With just one wound left at that stage Thabioh jumped for last time in him life killing four hammerers before succumbing to two handed hammer blows. In wardancers vs. quarrelers brawl no hits were scored. The hammerers reformed to face the elf warriors and dwarf warriors mached forward during the reserve phase. Would the dwarves be able to take the initiative now that the giant was dead?
TURN 5
The elf warriors on the left spent this movement phase reforming after failed charge. Merchant company stopped and prepared their bows. General Janarion took an enchanted arrow from his quiver, released it and watched it turn in flight into 14 arrows. The merchant company really found their mark this time and mow down four hammerers who were now down to general, army standard bearer and three elite dwarves. With the help of generals high LD dwarves passed their panic test for losing great numbers to shooting. Bolt battery missed yet again. Wardancers performed abysmally vs. quarrelers. Wounding none and losing two of their number they broke and ran for cover in the woods.
Missile fire is super effective versus hammerers
Hammerers charged the elf warriors and the dwarf warriors started to threaten elven general and his unit. Quarrelers had no targets in range and moved forward a bit. In close combat dwarf general and hammerers managed to kill two elves, lost one of their number and lost the battle due the elves´ rank bonus. They were pushed back but their morale held.
TURNS 6-7
I´ve put these two turns together as they were pretty uneventful. The grinding melee between the elven warriors and the hammerers went on with both sides losing one or two per round, elves winning the combat with rank bonus and dwarves refusing to break despite being pushed back time and time again. Finally at turn 7 the elves remembered to wrap around the remaining dwarf general and standard bearer and started getting free hacks.
Hammerers are slowly cut down by elf warriors´ two handed swords
In the middle merchant company showed what proper training and leadership can acchive as they first wheeled backwards, then shot at dwarf warriors and finally on reserve phase marched backwards to get out of charge range on both turns. Two dwarf warriors were lost to missile fire. Wardancers failed to rally and left the battlefield.
TURN 8
Having the hedge behind them and seeing that the dwarf general was about to go down the merchant company readied themselves and charged the dwarf warriors. They would just have to hold on for two rounds and elf warriors would be able to charge the dwarves from behind. As expected the dwarf general and his stardard bearer were finally slain. A grenade tossed from the dwarf warrior unit killed two of merchant company´s elves before they charged. Not suprisingly the elves lost the combat and were pushed back. But not having lost too many of their numbers the elves did not have make a rout test. In reserve phase elf warriors reformed to face the dwarf warriors´ backside. But when trying to move closer they failed their LD check, stopped and became unformed. They would lose their next turn reforming and not be able to help merchant company.
Dwarf warriors push back the merchant company
Dwarf quarrelers took advantage of eight elf warriors milling around in front of them. They released a deadly wolley that cut down two foes. The elves however passed their panic test. Close combat between dwarf warriors and merchant company went on with elves being pushed back. Both sides lost one or two warriors but morale held.
Not a good place to be unformed
TURN 9
Elf warriors spent the turn reforming and being shot at. With their back against the hedge elves of the merchant company found new strenght, felled three dwarves without any casualties and were now able to push back the dwarves who passed their morale check.
Elven casualties on the side of gaming table
Quarrelers kept on peppering the elf warriors whos ranks were quickly thinning. They were down to five elves at this point but their morale was still high. Dwarf warriors were not impressed but merchant company´s sudden burst of inspiration and avenged the previous push back by killing three elves and pushing them back agains the hedge again.
TURNS 10-11
Elf warriors hurried to help the dwindling merchant company now in danger of being overwhelmed. During these two turns last of the elf general´s unit was slowly cut to pieces and finally in the dwarf combat phase of turn 11 was the elven general surrounded and killed. The elves had however seld their lives costly. Only the unit champion, standard bearer and three warriors were left of once 20 strong unit. One more elf warrior was killed by crossbow fire. After many rounds of missing everything the bolt battery managed to kill a quarreler.
Marine Bolt battery overlooking the battlefield
TURN 12 - THE END
The last remaining elf warriors charged the last of dwarf warriors. The dwarf hero leading the unit and a single dwarf were killed. Both armies exhausted we called it a day.
In the end there were eleven dwarves and six elves left alive on the battlefield. By looking at points the elves had won but the cost was horrible. Both sides lost their general and about 90% of their troops. Elves managed to capture dwarves´ army standard. They can be sure that the dwarves will try to get it back in the future.
All in all we had great time. Some mistakes with rules were made as we forgot a couple of fear rolls and so on. Even though the game lasted 12 rounds it was played in just over three hours as there was so few units and no magic.
Hope you enjoyed!
