Chaos Wars - Scratching the Nostalgia Itch

[Zingara]

I first had some games of Chaos Wars back in the 80's, just before Warhammer came into fashion. For those not familiar, Dragon Rampant would be a derivative.

I have been putting together some armies and giving them an outing in a friend's shed.

This last weekend I fielded a force of mainly Ral Partha elves against Steve's Empire forces.

fyi - Coblynnod - Elves, Dynion - men

The Cleansing Of The Shire
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The pressure on Coblynnod border lands had been growing due to the incessant expansions Westward of the Dynion tribes. The Coblynnod had already in recent history destroyed one settlement that was too near them for their liking, and it was indeed in the area of the ruins of this settlement that battle was joined between the forces of the Coblynnod and the Dynion. The Dynion had brought a cannon which had to be factored in, but their deployment was hampered by impassable ground in the centre of where they had drawn up. The Dynion were strong on their right, but were more than matched by the Coblynnod who only had a token force facing the Dynion left, and planned to silence the cannon with sharp shooting from the hero Seithenyn flying his war eagle. The sorceress Blodeuyn also summoned a being of light to hurl at the cannon.
The ensuing encounter was brief but deadly for the forces of Dynion. On the Coblynnod right the Summoned being advanced on the cannon where it was shot and wounded. Supporting infantry then engaged it as well as a champion. It was banished. However, it bought time for Seithenyn to get in range for his archery, and the cannon crew were soon laid low having inflicted damage on the rightmost infantry unit in the centre.
The battle was decided on the left where Dynion forces, including two waves of knights, advanced and attacked piecemeal and were mown down by massed archery. The retreat was sounded.
y Coblynnod knights. The right flank Coblynnod forces did not engage and when the Dynion left flank pushed on fell back to form a defensive line in the centre.
This battle again showed that concentration of forces is important, and piecemeal attacks into a firing line of the deadliest archers in the world is doomed. I don't think in any ruleset or any period this kind of approach would succeed.

Pictures - 1) Seithenyn now in range to start shooting down the cannon crew (end of turn (1)
                2) Cavalry and Peasants on the Elven right. The cavalry would demonstrate on a hill to their right, before the whole lot retired on the centre when the enemy advanced on their position
                3) the elven centre running away to their left - the foreground infantry would take some cannon fire and archery before linking up with the right flank forces to form a refused line. Two units of mounted archers off the top of the picture, archers at the top of the picture in the second rank make a firing line of 6 units (including a bow armed champion attached to the unit with the standard) - the piecemeal approach of enemy forces wilted away before this storm
                4) Another view of the deployment. Axemen remained unengaged throughout. Reserved knights poised to smash into weakened human knights when the retreat was sounded.

[Zingara]

and the previous week I got an outing with Lizardmen (GW) and Undead (mainly Grenadier) against Steve's humans.

fyi - madfallod - lizardmen : cerdded yn farw - walking dead

The Fall Of The House Of Edwyn
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On the death of his father Gwriad, Edwyn assumed leadership of the clan. As was customary, Edwyn sought to establish himself and make a name. To this end he decided to launch a major raid into the lands of the madfallod. Not just a border raid, but Edwyn dragged along the clan's artillery and every spare man and headed for Llyfantal yn y twll deep inside madfallod territory.
Such an undertaking could not be made in secret, so the madfallod had time to assemble their own forces under the wily Cadfrdog Llwyd and the feared sorceror Llyffant. These duly marched out to meet Edwyn's forces in the borders. Both sides approached each other near an old forgotten settlement with the remnants of a barricade present. As battle started Edwyn dragged his artillery forward to this rudimentary defence on his central right flank and occupied a hill on his left.
Cadfrdog Llwyd advanced across the front with no intention of entangling with the troops on the dominaing hill or the more numerous enemy on this left. But the cannons had to be neutralised. Llyfant summoned the wind and hurled it howling at one of the artillery pieces and its crew, and after being held at the barricade temporarily, the crew fled and the wind, abated somewhat followed them. Meanwhile the other artillery piece had badly wounded one of the madfall tan, fire breathing drakes, so Llyfantod summoned the light and sent it against this other cannon and men struggled for their lives behind the hedgeline.
Elsewhere, on the left Edwyn's forces had surged off the hill and carried the fight to the madfallod, achieving a break through with a unit of horse, but the fire that had been summoned was extinguished by madfallod champion Lladwr Anferth and another fire drake and other units, including household cavalry were put to flight, . The advance on Edwyn's right flank was also stalled, despite the Earth being moved to attack the wounded drake.
Then Edwyn met his end battling the air and trying to rally the remnants of the artillery crew and as news of this spread Edwyn's forces quit the field. Many did not elude the hunt.  The ravens feasted well on the household of Edwyn.
News spread and the Necromancer Heinrich Kemmler and his cerdded yn farw came out of the wilderness seeking to profit from the clan's misery. They were bravely met, and Edwyn's cousin Rydderch was keen to not let his guns get overrun, deploying them deep and deploying the rest of the army evenly across the battle front. Heinrich deployed mostly on his left flank with a light force of ghouls and a bolt thrower on his right. Rrhyderch's left was encouraged to advance by the fire of another bolt thrower which outranged his own archers. The preponderence of Heinrich's forces here prevailed.  The undead were getting the better in the melees here in the left centre, and a third of Rydderch's forces were still left hanging. Seeing the writing on the wall Rydderch ordered the withdrawal.
However, the cerdded yn farw are relentless and a few days later Rrhyderch was forced to make another stand. This was a much harder fought battle, but the undead dragon corff y draig snuffed out any local victories Rhyderch's forces achieved. The will of men failed and they abandoned their fields and settlements to the cerdded yn farw. A miasma has settled on the land.

Pictures:
1) Lizard Centre at deployment
2) and from behind
3) Lizard left a turn before the humans quit the field with the death of Edwyn
4) heavily engaged centre / right
5) the right flank - the knights would rout, the fire elemental destroyes, the fanatics rout under fire and the fire drake also rout due be shot at by the men in green. The mounted troops whose horses are visible would advance to the area vacated by the routing drake before the retreat was sounded

[Zingara]

and undead deployment from the first of the 2 battles

1) Centre Left
2) Left
3) the weak right

[has.been]

Nice to see all this on LAF. Well done Gregor.

[robh]

Great to see the old Tom Meier Zombie dragon on the table. One of my favourite undead models of all.

[RSDean]

Chaos Wars! I played quite a bit of it when it was new, and dusted it off when my brother was getting back into the hobby and looking for some good simple rules. That happened to be about the same time that Iron Wind Metals/Ral Partha Legacy were reviving the rules and rereleasing the minis, so it’s been a family staple since. The rules are miniatures-agnostic, but I had a fair amount of Ral Partha from back in the day Which I was happy to reinforce.

[Zingara]

Another outing today with some 80's Egyptians and Ral Partha Amazons.

DEATH IN PARADISE
-----------------------
The tramp of feet as units moved into their final positions. The inevitable tension as troops readied themselves to face death. Stillness with the occasional nervous exclamation.

The Chosen had not seen outsiders for years, not since the Great Upheaval when the earth moved and formed a wall around their lands. The Great River flowed from the cataracts in the South and lost itself in the marshy delta in the North. The lanes through the marsh lands were always changing. It was an unhospitable place and home to the swamp dwellers who took ill to those who made incursions into their territory. The odd fishing or hunting expedition to the outer reaches was usually safe enough, but too many who had tried to go further had not returned, so over the years people stopped trying. With the great River watering the country, food was not lacking and so the years passed by.
Over the last few months there had been reports of activity in the mountains to the West. At first these were disregarded, but the reports kept coming so scouts were despatched. They discovered a large number of Earth Born making a way through the mountains following traces of Sun metal. What excited them so much about this was difficult to comprehend. It was plentiful enough in the land, but being soft was not much use for anything but pretty baubles and as a decorative coating. The colourful rocks which were mere children’s play things also seemed to excite them. With a grim inevitability the Earth Born had continued their advance and had discovered the land of the Chosen. They had come down from the mountains equipped for war. Today there would be Death in Paradise.
Facing the serried ranks of the Earth Born, whose very presence polluted the Blessed Land, Candace had her trumpeters give a blast on the Ram’s Horns giving the signal to advance.

[Zingara]

The terrain was not ideal for mounted troops, but the Earth Born had spread themselves across the battlefield. The Chosen decided to hold their right flank, pin the left flank and make a push in the left centre where they deployed deep with the option of swinging onto the flank of both forces as they pushed past the wood.

[Zingara]

Things went according to plan and the Earth Born were cut down in swathes as they struggled to make a coordinated attack. Once again it was shown that you need to concentrate your efforts.

[Zingara]

Candace surveyed the battlefield and mourned those who had died, though in truth they had got away far more lightly than could have been the case. The carcasses of the Earth Born lay thick on the ground and the pursuit had been merciless. The carcasses would burn for a day, but Candace ordered all the heads to be severed and piled up at the point where the Earth Born had entered the Blessed Land as a warning against further intrusions. In future however, they would need to send out patrols beyond their borders.

[has.been]

Nice to see your troops back in action Gregor.