Turn 6 - The Battle Comes To A Close

Six turns is the usual length of a Warhammer game, and yikes, here it is the sixth turn already...

Please see The Thunder Mountain Turn 5.

TURN 6

Shooting at dwarves weighed heavily on Yorri Svensenssonen.  He and his fellow Skirmishers had brought down two of the noble dwarves crewing the Thunder Mountain Bolt Thrower.  And it turned his stomach.  Now the last crew member was giving him a thumbs up sign!  When would it all end?...But wait...what was that?...That distant horn sound...That unmistakeable descending pattern...Dwarves are in trouble!...A Hold is being attacked!...Orcs!..Goblins!...And who knows what else!?...Why would a Dwarf stay fighting Dwarves when Dwarves are trouble??!?(Say that five times fast)...And look!  Ballin hears it too...He feels it too!  He is turning his warriors around...He is leaving the battleline!!!  And there goes Nevermiss and his unit of Crossbows, they are breaking out of their wedge formation and ... and there go the other brave lads of the Grenadier Clan...

Movement:

   All my Dwarfs except for Asgard's unit, hear the call for help and turn around and move towards my table-edge.

Out of the corner of his eye Lord Asgard sees his troops leaving their positions!...How can this be?...And he sees the gleaming enemy General in front of him...but how can this worthy foe really be an enemy?...and why is he holding his hand to his ear?...and that sound...that sound?...that sound is drowning out the ringing in Asgard's ears...it is clearing his head...it is the call of Clan Prince August!?!  They are dire need!  Dire, dire need!  For Asgard knows Prince August well, and he knows that August would never blow his Hold's Warning Horn if it were not for the direst of dire reasons...THEY MUST BE HELPED!!!...A TRUE DWARF MUST ALWAYS AID HIS FELLOW DWARF...Asgard drops his battleaxe, turns his back to his opponent, and quickly puts his armour back on...He spins around to face the Gleaming Dwarf and bows...My Worthy Foe, you and yours have fought well...but you hear that?...we must go...Honour calls us...come with us...the more Dwarves the better...Dwarves must always stand together...Come on Lads!!  Follow Me!...

Asgard and his unit voluntarily withdraw from hand-to-hand combat, turn and move towards my table-edge. 

Shooting:

There is no shooting. 

Combat:

None of my dwarves are in combat any more.  If you choose, you may have your free hack at my back, Mouse.

Reserves:

All of my dwarves rush towards the nearest route to the besieged Hold of Prince August.


And so ends my portion of the game.  The battlefield is in your hands, Mouse.  Nicely fought and played!  Thank you for an enjoyable gaming experience and experiment!   Happy Holidays too!!

Rogue Trader, A Renegade Zoat and...

Still dream of FoundryLand for Dec. 15...but instead:

Simon had never seen a Zoat before...

...but now there was one banging on his door!  And it brought friends...THE ULYSSES GANG!!!

So Simon called the local Imperial Constabulary.  And they arrived in a flash.

Led by no other than Brother Inspector Monotheus Himself!

Ulysses knew it was a bad idea to rendezvous with the Renegade Zoat here on this primitive world.  But no matter.  He has seen worse.  And he always makes it.

Mad Dog Finnegan takes aim at the twit in the Space Marine armour...and takes him out!

This is all too much for the local Constables.

And now on to Taris 6...

And everyone left with a Fishman with a Laser!

If only REAPER had pictures too!

Here are some photos that I was just enjoying from Gary Chalk's and Ian Bailey's wonderful and classic FANTASY WARLORD:

Beautiful stuff.   

Turn 5

Mouse's action-packed Turn 4 is here.


Lord Asgard sees the Thunder Mount Dwarves charging towards his unit.  The enemy's gleaming General still has his glowing armour on and still has his weapon...Wait...he doesn't have his weapon...he's throwing it!...HE'S THROWING HIS AXE AT LORD ASGARD!!!!!!!  Asgard stands taller and waves his bare fists, "HONOUR IS EVERYTHING!", Asgard shouts, and WHAM!!, the thrown axe hits Asgard smack hard in the head.   Just at that moment Asgard suddenly has a vision:

 

Yes, a vision, a revelation that strikes just as hard, no, harder then any ol'Magic Axe - "Dwarves in the Future will band together as brothers..."

The flush of Destiny fills Asgard.  "If I fall today," thinks Asgard, "I will rise again." 

 He arms stretch out and form a T. 

But then he shakes himself. 

"But no!", he thinks, "But NO!", he shouts, "I Will Not Fall Today!!"  And he quickly bends down and picks up his battleaxe. 

Unfortunately, he is still naked.

My table at the end of Mouse's Turn 4:

TURN 5

Movement - Before I do anything I roll a S test for Ballin's unit because of the Wind Blast.  I love this spell and I find it very Classic Warhammer.  I roll a 7 on a D10, and Ballin's unit can't do anything.  Alright!

The Grenadier Speardwarves have two choices for a charge:  either a flank charge (that is on the edge of possible) on Lord Thorrir's unit which is in combat with Asgard, or a frontal charge against the Wizard Ol' Hamm's unit.  I take a GM decision.  (The GM is The Mighty D6.)  The GM decides that the Spears must declare a charge on Ol'Hamm's unit.  Afterall, and doubly so, the charge MUST be made against Ol'Hamm's unit because it was HE who killed Grendir Bagotrix, the Speardwarves great kin (see Mouse's Turn 1).  The Speardwarves charge Ol' Hamm's unit.

"HUZZAHH!!, REMEMBER GRENDIR!!!!  THIS IS FOR BAGOTRIX!!!"

I measure, and yes, they can reach.  But wait!   The Poxy Wind Blast spell!!!  When the Speardwarves align themselves they cross the Wind Blast and... I roll another D10, I pass, but they now move at only half speed and FAIL THEIR CHARGE!!!!  AHHH!!  How I hate the Wind Blast spell!!! 

The Grenadier Handweapon unit moves forward 3 inches.

The two Missile units do not move.

SHOOTING:


The skirmishers shoot at the Bolt Thrower crew and score two wounds. 

The Crossbow Wedge fire at the Spears approaching them and have five shots hit and three wound.


COMBAT:

You go first, Mouse...

WHACK! The enemy General hits Asgard hard.  Asgard sees stars, space... Dwarves in Space, he sees his future self as a Space Dwarf...

And then...and then he swings his battleaxe, "For The Love Of All That is Good!"...he shouts as his Battleaxe hits home 3 times (3, 5,5,6)!! and wounds three times!!!! (4,5,6) (D20's rock)!  HUZZAH!!

Four other of Asgard's dwarves now roll.  Two hit and one wounds. 

Hey Mouse, I'm going to put my Reserves move up too while the rest of your guys fight back.

Reserves -

The Grenadier Hand Weapon unit is the only one that can Reserve Move.  And they Wheel 3inches pivoting on the right corner warrior.

Combat Results:  Asgard's unit loses the combat by 2 (extra rank and follow-up) and is pushed 2 inches back again.

At the end of my turn, it looks like this:

The Battle on the Plain of Crows Halts for An Emergency Letter To Santa

Dear Santa,

  Please send me an early Cristmas present this year.  Please send me a plane ticket to England!  I NEED to go to Foundry Miniatures for Dec.15!   Santa, Santa, there's going to be a Rogue Trader game there.  And those cool guys from Talesfromthemaelstrom are running it.  And the Man Bryan Himself might be there giving out unreleased Fishmen with Lasers!!!!!!  FISHMEN WITH LASERS, Santa!!  Please Santa, I've been good.  This is all I want for Christmas.

                                                                          Your Friend,

                                                                                           Private Wierd

P.S. - Back to the Battle on The Plain Of Crows, shortly.

P.P.S - Hey Mouse, how would you feel about a internet/blog game of Rogue Trader sometime?

Turn 4

Thunder Mount's Turn 3 was...

The battlefield at the end of Turn 3:

"...whoa...What?",  blurts Ballin, "Did you hear that?  Did they just say, 'THEY and US'?"

"Yes, yes", says Alfred the Standard Bearer, "I distinctly heard them say 'They and Us'."

"But 'They and Us' what?"

"Maybe they're finally realizing that 'They and Us' is all the same.  That we's all be Dwarves.  Maybe they're coming to their senses..."

Suddenly a Ballista bolt stops short of Ballin's unit.

"Yes, YES!!!", exhorts Ballin, "That's it!!  Just look at that bolt.  They didn't mean to hit us.  They don't want to fight us!  It's all been a big mistake!"

Ballin steps forward and shouts towards the Thunder Mount Dwarves, "BROTHERS, BROTHERS , YES, YOU GOT IT!...THEY AND US, YOU AND US, US AND US...WE ARE ALL US, YOU HAVE IT RIGHT!  WE ARE ALL DWARVES.  BROTHERS, ....ONE LOVE, ONE CAUSE, ONE PEOPLE UNITED!!!!"

TURN 4

Lord Asgard hears big-hearted Ballin shouting at the Thunder Mounters.  "Careful, good Ballin," thinks Asgard, "I don't think this is over just yet."

Movement - Asgard's unit moves forward 3inches and wheels ever so slightly so it is in line opposite to Thorrir's Company.

The Crossbow Wedge and the Skirmisher Crossbow unit do not move.

The Speardwarves pivot on their right corner warrior and wheel forward 2 inches.

Ballin's troops move two inches forward to be back in contact with him.

The Grenadier Hand Weapon unit moves forward 3 inches.

Shooting -  The Skirmisher Crossbows fire at the Bolt Thrower crew.  They need 6's.  One hits!  And...wounds!  "Huzzah!!"

The Crossbow Wedge fires at the centre company again.  It is now short range.  Three hits are scored.  Only one of them wounds.

Reserves -  Lord Asgard's unit moves forward 3inches.

             The Speardwarves hold their position and start pounding on their shields.

"Why aren't the Thunder Mounters responding to my calls?", wonders Ballin.

He halts his unit.  Ballin's unit does not move.  Some of his warriors start to pound on their shields too. 

The Grenadier Hand Weapon unit moves straight foward 1 inch before wheeling forward 2inches, pivoting on their right-most warrior.

The Skirmishers and the Crossbow Wedge do not move.

My table at the end of Turn 4:

Lord Asgard notices that Ballin has stopped shouting.  He can feel Ballin's disappointment.  "Dear lad," thinks Asgard, "if only these Thunder Mounters were as true as you."

This makes Asgard angry.  He hears some of his Dwarves start to pound on their shields.  More soon join in.  The strong rhythmic pounding seems to match the pounding of his own heart.  And then he looks over at the gleaming, glowing, general of the Thunder Mount Dwarves.  "Look at him!", Asgard thinks, "Just look at him glowing and gleaming in all of his magic do-dads..."

Suddenly Asgard steps foward and calls out to the Gleaming enemy General...

"HEY!!  YOU!  YES, YOU!  NO, DON'T YOU TRY AND HIDE!!  I WANT THIS TO BE BETWEEN ME AND YOU!  LET US SETTLE THIS LIKE DWARVES!"

As Asgard says this, he throws down his beloved battleaxe and starts taking off all of his armour!  Soon he is naked and weaponless.  He waves his fists.

"I DARE you to face me without all of your Elfish trappings!!!  Meet me with Honour!!"

Note:  Although this is a game of Warhammer For Adults, this is still a family-friendly blog, so hence the tasteful censoring of Asgard's nakedness.

Turn 3: Battle on The Plain Of Crows

Please see Mouse's Turn 2.

The battlefield at the end of turn 2.

As Lord Asgard rushes his unit to shore up The Grenadier Counts As Crossbow company, he hears the sickening sound of a ballista bolt piercing through shield and armour.   He turns to see one of  Ballin's troops down and then a second taking the remaining force of the bolt.  "Long Live Dwarves!",  the dying Dwarf shouts, "May We Always Stand Together!"

"What a Hero!", thinks Asgard, "I have an Army of Heroes!!"

Movement - Lord Asgard's unit pivots on the Standard Bearer figure while the far right warrior wheels forward 3 inches. 

The Crossbow unit stays where it is.

All other units move forward 3inches.

Shooting - The Crossbow Wedge fires at the Centre enemy unit and scores 4 hits, three of them wounds.

Reserves - The Speardwarves and the Crossbows do not move.  Everyone else now moves up 3 inches towards the Thunder Mount line.   The Skirmisher Crossbow unit now has a clear Line Of Sight to the Bolt Thrower.

Asgard's unit is 16inches from the front right warrior to my table edge. 

The Spear unit is 23 inches from the front right warrior to my table edge.

The now 10 strong Citadel Hand Weapon and Shield unit is 25 inches from the front right warrior to my table edge.

And the Grenadier Hand Weapon unit with no Standard is 26 inches from my table edge to the front right warrior. 

As Lord Asgard now marches his unit towards the enemy line, he catches a glimpse of something gleaming.  It is the unmistakable gleam and glow of Magic enhanced weapons and armour.   The gleam is blinding.  "Great Grungni!", exclaims Asgard, "Is that their General?!  He's got more Magic Items than an Elf!!" 

Asgard spats on the ground in disgust.

"Coward!", curses Mighty Lord Asgard, "If  Dwarves must fight, then let us fight like real Dwarves!!"

And he spats on the ground again.

Turn 2

Please see Mouse's turn 1.

"AHHHrg!!" 

Lord Asgard stops singing as he watches in horror as The Wizard Grendir Bagotrix gets first shot by the Thunder Mount Bolt Thrower, and then hit by a Fireball thrown by the opposing wizard. 

"Oh, that poor, poor old fool", thinks Lord Asgard, "When I told him to Dazzle them I meant conjure up an illusionary army or make the sky turn a sickly orange or...oh, that poor fool...but no..."

Suddenly all of Lord Asgard's Army stops singing.  Moans and wails are heard from all the Clan Grenadier troops...

The table at the end of Mouse's turn.

Movement -  The Grenadier Speardwarves and the Grenadier Hand Weapons surge ahead 3inches. 

"...No!", shouts Lord Asgard, and he turns towards the Grenadier Counts As Crossbow unit.  "They mustn't move..."

I decide to take a Leadership Test to see if the Grenadier Counts As Crossbows are overcome by emotion and charge towards the evil Thunder Mount Dwarves.  I hold my breath and roll...Whew.  They stay in position.

"Clansmen", says Grendor Nevermiss, leader of the Crossbows, "let us avenge our brave cousin with our bolts.  Take aim, my kin, and know that those that have done such a thing cannot be Dwarves..."

Before they fire, Lord Asgard's unit turns 90 degrees to the right and moves forward 3inches.  (I love the manoeuvre and formation rules in Third Edition!) 

The other Citadel Hand Weapon Unit wheels slightly to the right, moving forward three inches from the leftmost warrior. 

The Skirmishers move forward three inches.

Shooting

"This can't be happening", thinks Lord Asgard, "Grungni forgive me, but they drew First Blood!" 

He lifts his beloved battleaxe and shouts over to the Crossbows, "Fire!  Brethren, Fire!  This is for Grendir Bagotrix!!!!"

The Crossbows fire at the unit with the evil Thunder Mount wizard.   I roll seven dice.  Four hit.  Two Wound.  (Hey Mouse, when you roll your saves, please put your results in my comments.)

Reserves -  Lord Asgard's unit wheels slightly to the right while moving up three inches.  (Mouse, how do you want to play manoeuvres in the Reserve Phase?  This is Lord Asgard's unit's only manoeuvre in this phase but it is his unit's second manoeuvre for the turn.  I rolled a Leadership test and passed, but this really wasn't really necessary (but it is fun).  Do you want to have it where Leadership rolls are required for a second simple manoeuvre for the whole turn or if it is just done within a phase?  Either way, I'm happy.)

All other units move up 3 inches.

 
Magic - AAHHHHHH!!!  There is no Magic!


The table at the end of my turn:

Turn One of The Battle on The Plain Of Crows

The two Dwarven armies stood across the Plain of Crows staring each other down.  The air was still.  All was quiet.

  "This can still be stopped," thought Lord Asgard.

All of a sudden he begins to sing:

                                "When I first felt the pride of a beard on my chin..."

His beautiful bass voice carries across, and up and down the Plain of Crows.  Every Dwarf knows this song.  Every Dwarf knows that it is, "I Am A Dwarf", the first song from the immortal Song Cycle, "Songs of My Ancestors".  Every single Dwarf on this field of battle instantly remembers the first time he felt his own beard ... and with that first stroke, how he felt the first flush of belonging to the great Fraternity of Dwarves.

                                "When I first knew the love of my Clan and my Kin..."

Without hesitation, all of the Dwarves of Asgard's army raise their voices, voices shaking and surging with emotion, and join this song of what it really means to be a Dwarf...

And they begin to march.

Every single unit moves forward three inches in the first movement phase.

There is no shooting.   But the song continues:
 
                                   "I am a Dwarf.   I am a Dwarf.  I AM A DWARF..."

In the Reserves phase, the unit of Crossbows (rather, the unit that counts as crossbow) performs a simple manoeuvre and forms itself into an Archer Wedge.
        

The Spear unit wheels slightly towards the left and moves three inches. 

All other units move straight forward three inches.

In the Magic Phase, the Wizard Grendir Bagotrix remembers Lord Asgard's words to him before the battle:

                                    "You must dazzle them, dear Bagotrix, dazzle them with your power!"

Well, Bagotrix is a Level 10 Wizard and he knows the Battle Magic Spells, Fireball, Flight and Hammerhand.   He has 6 Magic Points.

He uses 3 of them and casts Flight.

 

                            " Hey!  Hey, Down There.  Behold the Mighty Magik of Me, the Mighty Grendir!!
                               Behold what I can do!!"

And he flys through the air, landing 7 inches in front of the Thunder Mountain Bolt Thrower.

The field as my turn comes to an end...