Sunday, July 5, 2015

Warband - This time it's personal

 
Dave  popped over last night for another evening's wargaming: Dwarves vs Dragonmen once more.
 
This time we decided to do a scenario so as to avoid standard Dwarven Battlelayout v1 (tm). So we rolled and got Grudge Match... Deploy armies and terrain as standard. Great. The only difference being the respective commanders got power-ups but could lose control and go impetuous on their own. Game could be won by routing the enemy general with yours, or 50% ap loss as normal.
Mind you our respective armies have been at it for months now so personal grudge match with the enemy leader seems logical :-)
 
 
We picked terrain,  yes...I took my mine and mountain fortress.  They look great, sue me. Dave put some rough his side left, my mountain fortress just beside it. Dave then placed a wood centre in my deployment area.
 
Dragonmen sighted!
 
 
 
Blimey! He's tall!!
 
 
Those Dwarven cannoneers, so damned mercenary.
 
 
Important safety tip for all enemies of Dwarves... Terrain in my deployment area doesn't upset Dwarven Standard Battlelayout,  we just anchor on it and protect our flank. Especially when I close off that flank with impassable terrain.
 
Right chaps, everyone comfortable and safe?
Right, you two sit on this cart and hold these bronze barrels. What do you mean recoil?
 
So we got a glass of wine and settled to play. Dave cast of and group moved... Or tried to and failed. And here was an important lesson for us all...
 
Grudge Match makes commanders impetuous.  Group moves cannot receive extra motivation, so if you fail then your comnander is of on his own! Oops.
Cue Dave's general running towards my line. "BOOOOOOM!" went the Dwarven guns. Oh how we laughed. The general survived but was very pale for the rest of the game.
 
Follow me men!... Err... anyone?
 
 
Oooh look! Shall I shoot Sir?
 
 
Whilst Dave rearranged his army the Dwarves remained nailed to the ground,  it worked for Wellington so who am I to argue. Dave's arty (indentured Dwarves) moved forward only to be blown to bits when counter battery fire hit their powder supply.
 
 
 
Are you sure this is safe?
 
 
Open fire! All weapons! Bring back the cannoneer bodies
 
And so perish all turncoat artillery
 
Eventually Dave's giant and knight units mounted a strong attack on my left. Table edge penalties hurt and soon the Dwarves were losing morale, but equally kicking tge knights. The giant seemed mildly irritated by small creatures hacking its toes with play axes.
 
 
 
 
Over on my right Dave's infantry surged forward to take on my missle troops in the woods. But they withered under a hail of crossbow bolts. One unit made it into contact but on 1 morale it did not last long.
 
 
In the centre Dave faired better, his powerul archer with normal archer support took a heavy toll on Dwarven morale, quickly knocking 2 units to 2 morale. I managed to pull them out the line lest they routed.
 
Dave was now losing units fast, in the final 2 turns we both list control of officers but I recovered mine, Dave's was once more stranded in line of my guns...  They roared once more and the Dragonmen general fled the field.
 
 
Get the ram to turn right a bit...
 
 
 
With that his army broke and the Dwarves broke out the flatbread to celebrate another glorious win. Dwarves kick butt, and in our group have yet to lose. They've come close but the paperwork wasn't handed in on time so it doesn't count :-)
 
Dave's army is almost looking dangerous now :-)