I played host to two mighty armies, Jeff's Undead vs Braden Lizards. It was a 300 point game with four players. We had some challenges in the first game, an error by the undead player saw his forces slaughtered due to a mistake about how much damage they could take.
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| Empire initial deployment |
So this was a repeat of the Bloody Beck scenario but with both armies having only 350 points and two players. I had reduced the point total from the earlier game as we only had two players and the games was starting around 5:30-6 pm and we did not want to go too long. That would not be a problem!
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| Once again Orcs took advantage of the uncontested areas and sent their cavalry charging across the shallow river |
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| Fortunately Empire cavalry had arrived on the table in reserve |
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| In an unexpected move, the Empire sent their hand gunners across the river! |
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| The hand gunners eliminated one skirmish unit, but failed to wound the Orc Army Commander, then the Giant attacked! |
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| Defenders deployment |
So, our recent gameday saw us play two games of Midgard and one game of What a Cowboy! Both Midgard games were the same scenario, The Bloody Beck but with different players and different army values. Game one saw two 450 point armies and four players battle it out while the second game saw two players using two reduced armies of 350 points each.
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| Orc disposition |
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| Mad dash across the river! |
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| The battlelines are drawn |
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| Orc right flank |
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| Hilltop defenders |
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| Dwarf attackers |
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| Opening moves |
So, we had a game day this past Saturday, two groups of players two games, same scenario. In game 1 the Dwarfs were the defenders vs a horde of Orcs. The scenario was too eager and both sides were built on 499 points. This time around I created my own army list, I built the Dwarf army inspired by a Roman army, for the Orcs I upgraded their armour and made the odd other tweek. The two army lists can be found here Midgard army lists The battlefield was largely devoid of terrain save for the large hill at on the Dwarf left flank. The scenario called for the deployment of an advance unit of Dwarfs on the hill with the remainder of the Dwarfs deploying to the right of the hill. Starting at the end of turn 2, the top of the hill grants one reputation at the end of each turn to whichever army controlled it.
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| The Dwarf commander deployed two elite units supported by a formed crossbow unit |
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| Orcs deployed in force, focused on the hill |
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| Orc opening moves completed |
The two armies were from the rulebook, built on 400 points. It was the first time playing the game for three of the players, but they picked it up pretty fast.
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| Some Dwarf units take advance positions off the hill |
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| Goblin cavalry continue their flanking move |
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| Orcs engage in the centre |
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| Orcs won on their right flank and try to turn the Dwarfs but the Orcs loose in the centre |
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| The Dwarf left flank drive back the Orc attackers while Orc units are routed in the centre |
The Orcs, while numerically superior were just no match for the Dwarfs. The difference in armour had a major impact. Interestingly the Brittle trait did not have that big an impact on the outcome like I thought it would. Missile fire was not a major factor though the Dwarf cannon inflicted a lot of damage more than than any other missile unit.
The inability of the Orc commanders to roll their command for movement was a major impediment and stopped them from being a credible threat regarding the salient points.
Ultimately we found the scenario was not well balanced. the bonus reputation for the salient points all went to the defenders who really just had to hold their ground, all the effort was by the attackers. The Dwarfs had too much reputation, the Orcs were never going to catch up, and as they lost units they just saw their reputation in tatters. Giving the attackers more points than the defenders may have been a simple solution to the apparent imbalance.
Nevertheless we had a fun time playing the game.
Orcs and Dwarves form their battle lines. The Dwarf defenders were in a defensive stance primarily on three hills., while the Orc invaders stacked their centre but also deployed troops on both flanks in an attempt to flank the defenders.
The Orcs had deploy on some hills on their own side of the battlefield. Turn one saw them advance into the grasslands between the two ridges.
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| Mounted bows advanced into range to harass the Dwarf left flank |
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| The Orc centre advanced towards their Dwarf counterparts |
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| On the Orc left flank, two units of Orcs with a Mage try to outflank the Dwarf line |
For the most part the dwarf army stayed in place, playing the waiting game. On the dwarf right flank one unit was move off the hill to defend against the Orc flanking march.
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So, we had our first real test of Midgard today. Last week me and Steve hashed out a small battle based on the first scenario, but it was really more of a walk through of the rules rather than a proper game. This weekend I played GM to two other players as we played the first scenario with 300 points a side. We used the sample Orc and Dwarf army lists as it seemed a good place to start.
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| Orc light wolf cavalry and Ogre bodyguards flanked by rank and file troops |
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| The Dwarven defensive line, scouts on the left flank and massed rank and file in the centre and right flank. |
Actually, a mix of Man O War and some of the ships from Mighty Empires.
I was inspired to dig these out of storage after watching a game of Galleys & Galleons run by a fellow named Morgan at a recent OMG meeting. The game looked fun enough(more interesting than I thought it would be) and digging these out was no problem.
The picture above shows nine pirate ships from Mighty Empires and some Empire ships from MoW. I am missing one of the Wolf ship hulls, but I do have the aft deck should it show up.
So more ideas, not all of them are mine.
While I have moved away from Warhammer I still have fond memories of some of the quirky rules and effects. So for your consideration here are some quirky ideas mixed in with some ideas that seem somewhat reasonable.
For the most part they are untested, but we did try the artillery rules, they worked fine. Some like the oblique marching just seem reasonable as do the marching rules (I think maybe Nic talked about that)
Anyways here they are:
So, two 2 company units of light Dwarf infantry are done. They were actually fun to paint but kept getting shunted aside for other tasks which is why it took so long to complete. In the end I just wanted them off the painting table so flocked them up today.
Again these are going to be fast moving skirmishers.with decent shooting skills. It should make them fairly flexible.
Here, despite the lack of demand to see them, are my cards for Fantastic Battles. They are in no order and are a mix of spells and relics.
Disclaimer: I found these images through online searches and was unable to determine if they were copyrighted, hopefully not. At any rate I, perhaps foolishly, thought I would share these, no copyright infringement is intended & if I offend let me know and I shall remove them.
I have found them somewhat useful as all required information is included on the cards. I tried to make the cards visually interesting and the images matching the spell.If you are using character cards you could clip these to those cards to indicate who has what.
For the spells you would want to record what level any given spell was selected at. I use plastic card sleeves for these cards, so dropping a damage marker into the sleeve is a quick way to record the spell level.
Anyways, for what it is worth here they are!
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| Rematch Goblins vs Dwarves |
So, with the battlefield still set up, we thought we would have time to play FB and still get in a game of Pulp Ally. However we were delayed in starting the game and just did not have time or the energy for two games.
This was another stab at a Dwarf army defending against a horde of fast moving Goblins. I acted as ref for the game as neither player was all that familiar with the rules. The armies were 1000 points each and each army had 5 captains, 3 wizards and a Warlord. The dwarven army was made up of my FB purpose based Roman Dwarves (with a couple of WH based hand-gunner units) while the Goblins, for the most part, were on my homemade movement trays.
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| Deployment after mishap roles. Not much impact on either army, one Dwarf unit suffered -2 Resolve & one wolf rider unit rushed ahead 4BW. |
Yet another classic match up Dwarf vs Goblin, was played today. This was a game originally planned for last November, but had to be postponed. Thankfully Craig was able to attend this game despite the resurgence of winter!
