Heya,
We played our latest installment in our epic Warhammer 4th narrative yesterday at Rogue Trader, my local club here in Copenhagen. The last game saw my Orcs&Goblins under the command of the orc shaman Blacktooth defeat the dwarfs of the nearby Karak Zniflin, gaining control over the ancient cairns of the dwarf ancestors. The battle was close fought, but good fun, and we decided that the next battle would continue on in the same setting.
This time the forces were only 1000 pts (last battle was 1500, but we had a bit more time to play it out) and while I decided to keep to my core units, Nils (fearless leader of the dwarfs and eldest of the council of Zniflin) exchanged most of his units for new ones. The scenario we would be playing was a homebrewed ambush on a dwarf column guarding two precious beer-wagons on their way to the nearby trade-station of Gunndorf, a small but well defended outpost in the Border Princes currently under the rule of an exiled Imperial noble and his army of mercenaries.
The story goes, that Blacktooth had donned his black robes and gone wandering amongst the various tribes of the area in search of a worthy bearer of the mighty axe 'Da Mangler'. The bearer would be chosen by Mork (or was it Gork? I keep forgetting) and Blacktooth would be the messenger of the choice of the gods. Wearing the black, Blacktooth would be known to the local orc and goblin tribes simply as "Da Wanderin' Git", a mysterious shaman who would throw bones and bring the fervor of Gork (or Mork for that matter) into the hearts of all the tribes he came across. On this occassion 'Da Git' had stumbled upon a small warband lead by Giblit the Horrible, a small but vicious goblin warboss who never went far without his loyal gigantic spider guarding his back against any would-be assassins. Shortly after meeting 'Da Git', Giblit ordered the warband to move out of their camp and head towards the old dwarven highroad. There, according to 'Da it', they would find something of value, that would make Giblit the most popular warboss in all of the Border Princes...
For the battle I brought a Goblin Warboss on a gigantic spider with the crown of command, Blacktooth the shaman (sans Wyvern...Crunsha had a bellyache after eating an entire regiment of dwarf crossbows on his own, making him even less approachable than usual), a unit of 20 Orcs with a boss and command group, 25 Night Goblins including a boss and his command group plus 3 fanatics, 5 wolf riders including a Big Boss (Snagga da Deaf) with bows, a snotling pump-wagon and last, but certainly not least, a giant. The giant had stumbled out of the hills and joined the warband on their way to the ambush site, obviously drawn by something...
The dwarfs had a general with the rune of stone (Thorgrim, a kinsman of poor Bronn), a battle standard, a unit of Iron Breakers (the guards of the caravan), a unit of Longbeards (Thorgrims kinsmen), a small unit of crossbows and an equally small unit of thunderers, and an organ gun which was being dragged along by one of the wagons.
The dwarfs were strung out along the highway with the orcs&goblins deployed in ambush positions to both sides:
To one side was the night goblins and the pump-wagon, supported by Giblit and the giant, who would charge the front of the dwarf column as fast as possible. To the other were the orcs and the wolf riders, accompanied by 'Da Git', who would be hitting the wagons and drawing them away from the dwarfs while they were busy killing goblins. A real kunnin' plan it all waz.
Soon the dwarfs spotted the greenskins and the shout went down the line: 'Ambush! prepare to defend the wagons!'
A horn blared and the greenskin warband set into motion:
It wasn't long before the fanatics were released, the dwarfs closing ranks, grimfaced and ready to repell the cackeling maniacs:
Their nervousness proved to be for naught, as the diminutive loonies either strangled themselves or passed through their ranks without causing much harm, as only two Longbeards were pulped by their swirling ball-and-chain attack. Meanwhile the snotlings pumped frantically, trying to reach the dwarf lines, but the little fellows ran out of steam just before reaching the dwarven lines, and the Longbeards fell on them, taking their vengance out on the small creatures with hammers and axes. On the other side, the wolf riders crashed into the thunderers, starting a vicious fight for survival on the road:
On the far end of the battlefield a minor riot had broken out amongst the orcs, while 'Da Git' was trying to blast the dwarfs with magic, but finding that his efforts were being twarted by the natural resistance to all things sorcerous in the dwarf metabolism:
Seeing that the attack was faltering and in danger of failing, Giblit ordered the night goblins to loose their arrows into the dwarf crossbowmen and then rode forwards himself on his gigantic spider, motioning to the giant to follow him into the Iron Breakers, who had stepped off the road to form a shieldwall against the two monsters bearing down on them:
The melee between the elite of the dwarf column and the warboss and his two large companions was as brutal as one would imagine, with the giant swinging his club and sweeping five dwarfs off their feet:
In the rear of the dwarf column a cry went up from the dwarf lines as a huge green foot fell down from the sky, aimed directly at the regiment of Longbeards. In the last moment, the foot fell short of the grouped dwarfs and crushed two unfortunate warriors under its toes:
Meanwhile, the crew of the organ gun had managed to unlimber their weapon and aim it at the wolf riders, who had just finished ripping the last dwarf limb from limb. The multi-barrelled gun roared three times, and two goblins vanished in a mist of smoke and blood, and Snagga quickly decided that discretion really was the better part of valor, and duly fled the field with the remaining wolves and their goblin masters:
The night goblins formed up in a long line, trying to bring more of their little bows to bear on their hated foes, but before they could get more than a single volley off a fight started in the rear ranks and quickly spread to the entire unit, leaving the boss trying to get everyone into order, before the Longbeards would reach them:
Back in the front, the orcs had begun moving again, and the fight between the iron breakers and their monsterous opponents continued. In two consecutive rounds of combat, the giant tried to jump up and down on the dwarfs, hoping to squash them under his feet. Instead he fell over twice, crushing the poor iron breakers beneath his huge frame instead, leaving only Thorgrim to face the foe:
Thorgrim did not stint in his duty, and knocked Giblit from his mount and proceeded to bring the spider down as well. All was going well and it looked as if though the dwarven hero would best the monsters arrayed against him when the giant, tired of jumping and falling decided that enough was enough and tramped his foot down on top of him. The last thing Thorgrim saw before being pummeled into the earth was this:
The wagons had by now as good as escaped, and a race started to reach them before they dissappeared down the road towards Gunndorf. A heroic sacrifice by a single crewman of the organ gun secured the forward wagons escape, while the second was caught by 'Da Git' himself:
The orc unit turned around, and faced down the organ gun, which duly fired, killing the giant outright:
The Longbeards had sent the night goblins packing and now closed in on the remaining orcs, while 'Da Git' was trying to make off with the wagon. However, the crewmen of the organ gun were having none of it, and aimed the gun down range at him. The barrels roared, but before the cannonballs could finish off the orc shaman he mumbled a short un-word, and dissappeared with a small pop, and thus the organ gun smashed the wagon to cinders and laid its contents bare for all to see as vast quantities of dwarven beer exploded out over the highroad in a cascade:
When he appeared again the next turn, it was all too late for the orcs, and Blacktooth slipped off into the closing darkness, vowing revenge against the hated dwarves...
All in all another great game of what is becoming my favourite edition of the rules so far. My favourite moment of the game was without a doubt when Nils fired everything he had at Blacktooth, only for him to vanish in thin air into the Realm of Chaos, cheating death yet again. That escape-card has never been so well-timed in any game of warhammer I can remember.
Welcome, Guest. Please 
April 25, 2024, 11:55:32 PM
