Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Hello dakka, This week Red_Zeke and i are going to play the first battle of a narrative campaign that will span a 5-6 games, with the overall story arc being a chaos incursion into dwarven occupied lands, that ends with a battle at the gates of the mountain city! If you are anything like me, you cant get enough neat fantasy bat-reps, so i figured i'd start a mini-blog here so we can keep you informed on how everything turns out. This weeks game takes place on the very fringe of the dwarfish territory, a small but well defended outpost hunkered into the only path through the mountains. Unfortunately a chaos army has recently swelled to seemingly limitless numbers, and is on a collision course through said pass towards more fertile lands.

Game 1: Overrun the Outpost! (or Remember the Dwarfalamo!)
Before the chaos incursion can spill into the dwarven lands, they must break through a fortified mountain pass manned by battle-hardened dwarves.

Table Size: 6’x4’. The long board edges (East and West) are impassable, except two entry points on the southwest and two entry points on the southeast.

Attackers Deployment: One unit per turn will enter from the North board edge, in the following order: Warhounds(4), Spawn(2), Beast Herd(2), Forsaken, Centigor, Bestigor, Warriors(2), Knights.

Trapped Paths: Any unit without an armor save may enter via the trapped paths instead of through the north table edge. Only one unit may enter per path, per turn. Roll a d6 for each unit:
1: The unit triggered a dwarven mine! The path collapses and is removed, the unit does not enter play this turn.
2: The unit gets lost. It does not enter play this turn.
3-4: The unit enters through an entry point to the southwest of the outpost.
5-6: The unit enters through an entry point to the southeast of the outpost.

Limitless Number: Any chaos unit that is fleeing or destroyed is placed back into reserve and arrives along with any other units next attacker turn.

Defenders Deployment: The Defender may place a single building (the outpost) with up to three levels in the center of the board. He then deploys inside, or within 12” of the outpost.

Oath of the Outpost: All dwarves stationed at the outpost are aware of their situation and sacrifice. As long as a dwarf unit is within 12 inches of the outpost it is immune to panic and counts as being in range of a battle standard bearer.

Fortifications: The outpost was built for this purpose, and has been modified for every possible battle advantage: all dwarf units count as being behind a defended obstacle until they move.

I’m an engineer not a miracle worker!: The outpost’s gyrocopter needs to fully refuel for the long flight to the mountain hold. Beginning on the fifth dwarven turn roll a d6, on a roll of 6+ the gyrocopter is fully fueled and may move as normal. Add +1 to the roll every turn.

Game Length: The game ends when the dwarves have been wiped out.

Objectives:

Warn the King!: The closest allied hold is a week’s march away; in order to ensure allies arrive before the chaos incursion hits the city gates the dwarves need to get one unit off of the southern table edge before the outpost falls. If successful, an honor bound thane and personal guard will answer the dwarfs’ distress signal: During the final game a thane and up to 15 warriors, will enter via reserves at no points cost.

Every second counts: The longer the dwarves can keep the hoard occupied, the more time the rest of the kingdom has to mobilize.
The game lasts 10 turns: During the final game begin rolling for reserves turn 3.
The game lasts 15 turns: During the final game add +1 to all reserve rolls.
The game lasts 20 turns: During the final game begin rolling for reserves turn 2.

That sounds really really bad ass, maybe i will try to get something fun like that going at my flgs!!!1

There arent enough scenario games for fantasy. We need a devoted scenario book like 40k has.

Oh man, this is looking great! Can't wait. Painting situation is looking pretty good, so we'll be hot to trot for pics.

This sounds great. I would much prefer playing story driven campaigns than a tournament style game.

I have a couple of questions. How many points will each army have? I understand that the chaos army will continue to come, so I guess I am more curious as to how many dwarfs are there. Am I understanding it correctly that on the first turn it will be 4 units of warhounds against the whole dwarf army? Even if the warhounds are all killed in turn one, they will just arrive again in turn 2 with the 2 spawn, right? You guys are playing longways, right? So even if the dwarfs started 12" from the center building, they would have to travel 24" to get off the board edge? I was wondering if there was going to be enough chaos to catch them, but it will take them 4 turns at a dead run to get there and hopefully not run into chaos from the trapped paths. I would think the dwarfs would just send the gyro back to warn the king anyway. That would be turn 6 and the other dwarfs would probably have to fight their way through, so probably turn 6. I assume you guys would continue to play even if the dwarfs or gyro made it off the table.

This really does sound like a lot of fun to play. I was suppose to be in a campaign like this but the first scenario was more like the break through one, in which I (dwarfs) needed to prevent the enemy from exiting my table edge.

Good to hear Zeke, I was in houston this weekend doing taxes and picking up the beastmen... I think this game will look great, and a few pics for a batrep are in order.
On to the questions: First off, the games are a product of casual conversation between zeke and I... So not all aspects have been considered, and honestly, we don't really know how it will play out.
One the subject of army sizes. I think zeke said his force was roughly 1300 points including gyrocopter, I'm sure the list will be posted in the outcome... As for chaos: I have two units of five warhounds and two units of ten, and was thinking they would enter one at a time. So: turn 1 five hounds, turn 2 five hounds, turn 3 ten hounds, turn 4 ten hounds, turn 5 one spawn, etc... As to dwarf tactics, i don't know anything about them. I don't think either of us have mathhammered out a dead race, or how easily the copter will zoom off... But I feel good about the paths getting fast units to intercept any cowardly dwarves that abandon their post... The game is thursday, so all questions will be answered then...

Yep, we'll hammer out the last of the details as we play it. Really just looking to go 100% hobby on this to tell a good story. We can adjust Chaos forces entry rate on the fly if we need to, and of course post up any notes and lessons learned for folks who want to try it out themselves.

Right now the Dwarves have to make the tough choice of banking only on the gyro, which might not take off before the post is over-run or completely cut off, or sending a unit on foot to make sure the message gets out. It doesn't matter how long you hold out if no one knows about it!

RZ

P.S. I'll post up the list here when I'm sure what will be painted. Probably Wednesday...

I am looking forward to reading how the battles go and the developing story.

No offense Kiwidru, but I will be pulling for the Dwarfs.
Go Dwarfs!

Needs moar Dark Elves! You know the Dwarfs wish they had a pair of Hydras on either side of that last bastion.

Kirbinator wrote:Needs moar Dark Elves! You know the Dwarfs wish they had a pair of Hydras on either side of that last bastion.

OR repeaters! a few of those blasting from the top of the walls!

So! I've sorted out what I'll be taking. The list was built with two concepts in mind: What would reasonably be at a small outpost like this, and what I expect would make for a good last stand:

Thane Hroddr Avnirson- Oathstone, Great axe, Gromril Armor inscribed with the Master Rune of Gromril, Hunting horn inscribed with the Master Rune of Dismay and a Rune of Luck

Thane Avnirson's Garrison:
25 warriors with shields and full command
12 thunderers with shields

Ketill Snorrison's rangers:
10 Longbeard rangers, heavy armor, great weapons, throwing axes

The Granite-splitter cousins:
6 Miners

Wyvern's Lament:
Bolt thrower with engineer, Flakkson's rune of seeking

The Slayer:
Dragonslayer, Rune axe inscribed with Master Rune of Swiftness, and 2 runes of cleaving


Pre-game notes:

The tough choices will be in a couple of spots- who to send back up the valley will be the first and hardest. The more units I keep on the line, the longer I'll be able to hold out. Of course, none of that counts if I can't get the word out in the first place. The gyro should be able to do the trick, but I'm expecting fast movers to encircle the position and they may have enough speed and numbers to bracket me in. If I send anyone, it'll probably be Ketill's rangers as they are hard enough to deal with most of the chaff (and are immune to panic even away from the outpost). Back at the outpost, the slayer tries to clog things up for as long as possible, and shooters will try to trim rank bonuses and the nastier stuff down.

Ready as I'll ever be...

RZ

Sounds like a plan, knock 'em dead!

Looking forward to hearing how it goes. Good luck.

A bit of fluff background by zeke and I. Enjoy the teaser as we prepare to determine it's outcome!

The small band of rangers filed into the modest drinking hall.

"Ketill Snorrison you old kruti, to what do we owe such an undeserved pleasure?"

The veteran ranger dropped back his hood and let out a chuckle. "Thought we'd make the run down Kadrin way. Just our misfortune to stop here tonight, you wannaz."

Ketill glanced around the hall. Most of the garrison was present, a crackling fire and ale proving more welcome than chilly bunks. In the corner a group of young miners huddled together, casting furtive glances over around the room.

Ketill looked back at his host and jerked his head at the conspiratorial corner, raising an eyebrow.

"Bahhh, just some shortbeards think they're going to make their fortune out here." Thane Hroddr Avnirson waved his hand dismissively.
"Anyone tell them Bjarni Stonefeet's been through here just some 100 years back?"
"Who listens these days? They think they've got the smell of some of the sweet stuff, but they'll be off soon enough. Just getting the lay of the land from our flyboy."
"Thought it looked like gold fever. Who was that up on the wall when we were coming in?" asked Ketill.
"One of Grimnir's cult. Told him we ain't seen aught but a couple lost grobi in months."
"Didn't listen either, eh?" murmured Ketill.

Outside, snow fell softly in the night. Sentries paced the walls, stepping around a solitary figure standing stock still and staring into the night.

---------

As the first light of dawn cast a grey-blue hue on Hroddr Avnirson, he stood motionless as the morning snow slowly began to acumulate on his aged features. Grimr, the morning perimeter guard approached him from behind, "strange tracks on the trails... Not sure what, but they wernt native that's for sure."
Hroddr Avnirson remained motionless as he peered out over the wall, imagining himself as a statue that could weather the snow indefinatly. He barely noticed the half naked slayer move up beside him. From far to the north a horn blasted a single gutteral note, breaking the morning silence. A moment later a thousand beastial screams rang out, echoing through the pass from all directions.
Grimr looked to Hroddr Avnirson as his eyebrow raised, dropping it's snowy cargo onto the floor.
Distraught, Grimr turned to see a smile growing across the slayers scarred face.
A sudden chill worked its way from his finger tips, up to his scalp and down into the pit of his stomach.
Just as Grimr turned to go sound the alarm, the morning fog parted briefly, revealing a column of Northmen stretched back as far as he could see.

Awesome job guys!

Kiwidru wrote:"strange tracks on the trials...

Sorry, nitpick.

Looks like it will be great, I really can't wait to see how it turns out!

hehe, no worries... Typed that bit on an iPhone.... The game went great, and the dwarfs lasted longer than I thought they would! Working on a bat rep, and have some pics on the way!

First: Sorry for the blurriness of the pictures. I'll see if I can't improve with the settings for next time. And now, without further ado, the report!



Turns 1-5



Ketil Snorrison led his rangers to the eastern flank of the outpost, and almost immediately the thunder of dwarven gunpowder alerted him of the chaos vanguard. The warhounds unnatural speed brought them into combat before grizzled dwarf could shout a command over the echoing madness of the descending northmen. Forcing the corpse of a warhound off his great axe Ketil Shouted, "Ready throwing axes!! Give us some breathing room while the boys in the tower find their aim..." The shockwave of an explosion on the nearest eastern path, and the destructive rumble of the following avalanche overpowered the rest of his order. It was only after Ketill threw his axe, that his realized his mistake. Although he and his rangers dropped 3 of the beasts, their speed brought the remaining two into combat before he could re-ready his great axe. Only as the remaining rangers kicked the lifeless dog off their leader did its grip on his throat release... The last thing Ketil Snorrison saw was his boys forming a dwarf-wall and charging into the horde.



Turns 6-10

Another massive explosion to the southeast shook the outpost as Hengil frantically ran through his preflight checklist. "Oooooooohhh, come on baby..." The pilot muttered to himself while he poured the last can of fuel into the rune covered burner tank. The clamor of battle was already all around, and he was tasked with taking Thane Avnirson's last correspondence back to Karak Und. A sudden volley from the tower towards the southwest alerted Hengil to the danger that might entail. Who knew how far the dark worshipers' scouts had roamed unnoticed.



"Alright little one, start up for me one more time, and I promise you I'll give you that tune up I've be--" Another detonation to the southwest rattled his teeth and made his eyes swim as he secured the correspondence and climbed in to the cockpit. As the Gyro built up pressure, Hengil saw the Orange tuft of the slayer's mohawk moving south as he hacked through warhounds. The gyro slowly gained altitude as the intricate machinery revved up to full steam. Not a moment too soon: when The Pilot cleared the outpost he could see the horde cascading through the pass like a flash flood.



To the far north the ranger's grey cloaks disappeared under iron, teeth, and fur. The last path to the southwest exploded, sending warhounds flying through the air like rag-dolls, and the suppressive fire from the outpost had what few beasts that made it through cowering in the forest. Sensing his moment, Hengil circled the outpost, saluted Thane Avnirson, and then made a bee-line south to warn the kingdom.

Turns 11-15

The Slayer allowed himself a grim smile as he looked up from slaughtering a flanking pack of warhounds to see the Gyrocopter fly overhead. "Let us be remembered!" he shouted. Looking south he could still see a few of the black skinned beasts desperately chasing the gyro before giving up and converging back toward the outpost. "Bah, let the shortbeards finish'em off, there's gotta be something in this mess worth my time." Advancing up the western flank he came alongside the Granite-splitter clan up to their ankles in warhound corpses. "Your flyboy's made it out safe, our grudge is recorded...let's let them know we're here!"



Just then the thunder of centigor hoofs rumbled towards their position, the slayer easily made short work out of the two that he could reach, but the remaining aberrations slaughtered the miners to a dwarf. Roaring with savagery to match his attackers, the Slayer easily hacked the remaining centigor down. His heart pounding with adrenaline, his ears echoing with heathen chants and bestial howls he began to enter a trance-like state. Time seemed to lose meaning as he instantly encountered a lumbering monstrosity, some poor creature that had been 'blessed' too many times by the dark gods. Dodging its wild attacks, the slayer could feel his body taking over his actions. He drove his rune axe into the unprotected flesh of his enemy, dropping it lifeless to the ground. "This is it!" he thought to himself, "At last, an end to my shame!" He watched his body rush forward and hack another monstrosity to the ground. Tears of joy ran freely down his cheeks, and he watched himself rush even further into a pack of wild dogs. It was like his spirit had departed at a station, and was now watching his body steam forward as an engine of destruction, riding the tracks to its destiny. A tentacle whipped around his throat. He bit it back, and an ichor blistered his lips, though he felt nothing. He witnessed himself punch a cluster of eyes, and saw the beast take his arm at the elbow in return. He gazed on in awe as his body drove through a pack of dogs into a pair of lumbering beasts and was torn apart.




Turns 16-18

Grimr and his clan-brother, Snorri stumbled backward, dragging their bloody, unmoving thane with them. The charge of the Chaos Knights had finally done it. Waves of savage chaos things had broken across their lines again and again, but the last push had been to much. Grimr wasn't sure who was left and who wasn't. The rangers had held the pass to buy precious minutes for the rest of the garrison. He'd last seen the slayer disappear underneath an avalanche of gnashing teeth and slavering jaws.

Up above he could hear a few dwarven shouts. Someone was still holding out. It gave pause to their headlong flight. In that moment, a shadow loomed over Grimr. He turned to see a nightmare of black iron looming over him. He lifted his axe instinctively and his stomach lurched with the impact of a blow. His weapon dropped to the ground, and Grimr sat down heavily, reaching for it in a stupor. He could hear Snorri shouting something. Grimr couldn't seem to pick up his axe. He blinked to clear his eyes, and realized he was looking at his fingers scattered across the dusty earth.

Grimr looked up. The chaos warrior wrenched his sword loose from Snorri's belly and stepped forwards. Grimr choked out a wordless cry and threw himself over Thane Avnirson's corpse. The blade bit deep into his back...

Turn 19



Engineer Olaf Snorrison could hear the frantic sounds of battle and death from inside the outpost below his feet. The thunderers letting out point blank volleys and then readying their shields as the beasts surged against the outpost. Forsaken shouting gibberish and trying to claw through the walls, Spawn ramming their hulking bodies against the weakened doorways, Gor shoving Ungor through splintered windows...the outpost had fallen. All that was left was to load the Flare-Bolt and launch it skyward, so that Hengil would know the outpost held to the last. Olaf loaded the bolt and began cranking Wyvern's Lament one last time: to maximum altitude. For a brief second his life flashed before his eyes, every training session, every skirmish and battle, and today's last stand. The trapdoor flung open, pushing one of the crewmen off the door and against over the wall. In the blink of an eye the parapet was full of savage beastmen, fully enraged in an orgy of carnage. Olaf made a dash for the firing mechanism, before being pincushioned by spiteful Ungor.



The Chaos hordes swept through the pass, leaving the bodies of the dwarfs piled deep, unburied and open to the carrion-eaters, a tribute to their dark gods.

AWESOME! I really like your rangers Zeke. Both armies looked great.

I have 2 suggestions.
1) I would like to have seen a close-up picture of each army since they both look so good.
2) I think it would be cool if we hear Kiwidru's version.

Great job, guys. Thanks for the report/story. Looking forward to the next.

Awesome.

Simply awesome.

Hey guys, thanks. This battle was an absolute blast.

Kiwidru will be along to comment soonly, but it should be noted that the write-up is collaborative. I started with the pictures and the segment in Turn 16-18, Dru sent it back with everything else, I ran a final edit and posted it.

I think we'll get some post-game commentary and thoughts up tomorrow, shortly followed by the plan for the next scenario.

Expect to see some characters from the Chaos side start to work into the fluff soon. This first scenario we really wanted the focus to be on the waves of nameless bad guys overwhelming the doomed heroes.

Also, we'll look at getting some up close shots of the armies involved next time.

Thanks again for reading!

RZ

Thanks fellas! As Zeke said... Everything about the campaign is about two gamers trying to collaborate an interesting narrative, rather than individuals battling armies. The chaos point of view will come out as characters are introduced, in this game I had no characters or even command upgrades! The game was a nail-biter at many points and it came down to three light armor saves on three bolt thrower crew to send it to the next turn for the final bonus.

From a metagame stance we only altered the main rules a bit by having no chaos command and changing the trapped paths mechanics a bit. We decided after the two eastern paths blew by turn 5, that 3-6 on the chart allowed you to bring the unit in through any path, and more than one unit could enter per path per turn.

I though I would be making pyramids of dwarf skulls by turn 13-14 going into this game... And it's a testament to dwarven resiliance that zeke pushed the game to the bottom of 19. My other objective wasn't helped by rolling 1's on the trapped path table about 50% of the time, so I wasn't really able to get units into a position to ambush the gyro... And by that time the thunderers had perfected the lead on warhounds and were reliably panicing (or just mowing down) anything they could see to the south.
All things told the game provided an epic last stand, and we attracted quite a few bystanders as we played it out... which was a good convo starter. Suggestions, comments, or friendly criticisms are always appreciated... Thanks again!
49 dead dwarfs out of 50 ain't bad...
Dru

"49 dead dwarfs out of 50 ain't bad." Says who?

I understand where you guys are coming from with the unmentionable chaos swarm engulfing the dwarf outpost. I can wait on hearing the conflicting viewpoints until there are leaders on each side. It will be cool to hear the commands of a chaos general; "Send in the hounds! Send in ALL the hounds! Unleash chaos and let them quiver from the baying of the hounds!" to the dwarf champion's commands of; "Here come the puppies. I want one shot and one dead dog. I will show you how high I can really count when we drink for every dead dog today. Now, SHOOT them all!"

Granted you guys will be much better at the dialog. I thought I should mention too, that I really liked the slayer's last dance.

Thanks again for the story.

It was pretty epic. The thunderers had a bad first turn, but once they found their range, they were truly outstanding. They even excelled in hand to hand, repulsing 5 assaults into the tower before a 6th final got them. One of those included killing a spawn in close combat, and another included an insane courage roll to hold despite being outnumbered by fear causers.

The other modification that I thought was appropriate was to restrict the gyro to 10" for its first move as it warmed up. This gave a little thought to the backfield game. That was as much decided by the slew of 1s Kiwidru rolled to trigger the mined approaches.

The slayer was cold to start (including taking 3 turns to kill a single hound with his 3 ASF strength 6 attacks), but then going on to slaughter his way through all manner of beasts (including a one turn kill on a spawn!)

The game really matched what we were hoping for... now to craft the follow-up.

RZ

Hello dakka! This weeks battle is the Battle of the Northstone; a Wood Elf waystone situated within dwarven territory. A demon prince has manipulated one of the hoard's beast tribes to topple the offending elf construct, while a canny runesmith leads a dwarven detachment to engage the beastmen as they arrive. The waystone was constucted to dampen magical activity over the entire region... And possessing it would be a boon to either army. A little fluff teaser and the games rules will be up after lunch

Halldorr surveyed his lines. Defensive positions bristled with war machines and thunderers. Quarrellers were arrayed in a second, more elevated line. Below, regiments of warriors sat, concealed by revetments. He snapped out his telescope and scanned the horizon again.

Nothing. He sucked his teeth and spat. Honorless Northmen.

Where were they?

--------------

Gorechild watched the tribe's shaman intently. The rest of the tribe pressed as close as they dared to the jagged herdstone. Aside from an occasional snort or stamp of a hoof, the twisted clearing was deathly quiet. A rare occasion indeed.

In his hands, Rotterhorn clutched a gnarled braystaff, heavy with talismans. He rattled it slowly at first, then faster and faster. The sound grew louder, impossibly loud, filling the air. The shaman stopped suddenly and drove his staff into the ground above the head of an unconscious dwarf. He snatched up a crooked dagger, carved from a minotaur's jawbone and drove it at random again and again into the dwarf, eight times in total. He stepped back as the blood pooled, boiled, steamed.

A shape loomed in the bloodmist. A burning brass skull smoldered in the darkness. It spoke.

"Gorechild. Seek out the elf-stone. They seek to use it against us, binding us with cowardly fey-magicks. Tear it down with your rage. Sunder it with your fury. Let your name ring throughout the lands as one worthy of our blessings. GO!"

With a howl, Gorechild threw himself through the throng, and the warherd thundered after in his wake.

With the clearing again empty, but for the dwarven body, the shape slipped from the boiling shadow. The brass skull melted away, to shimmering blues, then shifted again, and again. The thing leaned down close over the dwarf, inspecting the shaman's work. It casually reached out a talon, driving it in to create a ninth wound, and in so doing, gave the random butchery a horrible, perfect symmetry.

Can't wait

Will there be Wood Elves about?

Sorry for the wait fellas, after a hectic week the Great Chaos Grudge continues! first the particulars:

Game 2: Battle for the Northstone.
A Khornate beast tribe clashes with a dwarven warcolumn with the fate of an ancient elven waystone hanging in the balance.

Table Size: 6' x 4'.

Deployment: Each side may deploy up to 12" from one of the long table edges (Dwarfs-East and Beastmen-West) as per normal pitched battles, with the following exceptions:

The Northstone: A single waystone is placed in the middle of the battlefield.

On The March: The Dwarven army may not include war machines other than the Gyrocopter.

Game Length: 6 turns

Objectives:

Defile the Northstone: The beastmen army must hold the northstone for 3 turns to break its magical barriers. If the beastmen successfully defile the waystone the demon prince may use an additional dice per spell in the final game, as per slaan rules.

An Enemy of My Enemy: The Northstone is not as unattended as it appears, if the dwarves finish the game in control of the waystone a spellsinger and her winter contingent of 5 scouts and 3 treekin may be used in the final game by the dwarves at no points cost.

Chaos Army: (using the old rules)

Gorechild: Wargor w/ General, Great Weapon, Heavy Armor, Mark of Khorn, Crown of Horns
Rageheart: Wargor w/ Battle Standard Bearer, Heavy Armor
Rotterhorn: Bray-Shamen w/ Staff of Darkoth, Powerstone (Ambushing)
10 Bestigor: Mark of Khorn
10/10 Beast Herd: Full Command, Ahw
10/5 Beast Herd: Full Command, Ahw (Ambushing)
10 Warhounds
10 Warhounds (Ambushing)
5 Centigor
3 Minotaur: Mark of Khorn, Ahw

Dwarven Army:

Svari Runecutter: Runesmith w/shield, Rune of Stone, Rune of Warding
Hengil's Hawk: Gyrocopter
King Olaf Egillson's hearthguard: 15 Hammerers with full command, shields
Clan Lodesmith elders: 15 Longbeards with full command, shields, Rune of Stoicism, Rune of Battle
Clan Lodesmith clan-brothers: 25 Warriors with full command, shields
Clan Whiterock oathbound: 25 Warriors with full command, shields

Ha! I knew the WE would be around. I was thinking it was going to be a waywatcher noble and some waywatchers though. I like the little spellsingers group though. The scouts to guide them and the treekin as her bodyguard.

As always looking forward to the continued story. When will you guys be playing it?

Go Dwarfs! Sorry Kiwidru.

Ah, but it's already been played! Just takes a wee bit to write 'em up. I also gummed up the works by forgetting my camera, so we were using Kiwidru's backup. Still working on uploading the pics, and we have our first draft of the report, but they'll be along soon.

I took a whole bunch of dwarfs for this, with the idea that they knew they'd probably be plowing into an ambush, and shooting would be of limited use.

More later!

RZ

Contempt fueled Gorechild's headlong charge through the skeletal, snow-covered forest. The stench of fey-kin saturated his senses as it led him to the Northstone, his anger building with each stride forward, each beat of his heart, each deep breath of the Elf-stench. The muffled thunder of dozens of cloven feet racing through the slush echoed behind, an avalanche of fur and flesh careening through the underbrush. As the warherd broke into the clearing, Gorechild was surprised to see a throng of dwarves, bristling with armaments, deployed across the field. He had sent Rotterhorn to circle around, and approach from the East. If the shaman was ready, the Dwarves would soon be completely encircled.

The Dwarven column marched into a clearing after 3 grueling days, eating and drinking on the move. A delicate monolith stood in the center, exactly where the erratic old runelord predicted it would be. Ancient even by dwarven standards, the column was perfectly sculpted to match the surrounding landscape... or perhaps the landscape was grown in order to compliment this single stone.

The thrill of discovery was short-lived: across the clearing, scores of mutated half beasts surged out from the sparse underbrush, pausing a moment to form a loose battleline. The dwarves paused, shifting their forces in the center of the desolate clearing to form a proper battle-line. The Svari Runecutter surveyed the upcoming battle. Though he'd spent over 100 years in apprenticeship to Karak-Und's runefather, and though he had faced the grobi at the Battle of Two Crossings, he had never led a military encounter before. The Runefather had trusted him, however, and the King had sent his personal guard to ensure success.

"Remember your training," he muttered to himself in an attempt to jumpstart his tactical acumen. Still the beastmen waited, stamping and braying as the largest of their kind shouted to his followers in the crude grunts of the dark language. The runesmith's mind raced in reply, "The Beasts don’t form conventional battlelines..." With the tension mounting, Svari broke into a sweat, despite the frosty air. The largest beast casually strolled to the front of one of the unruly beast herds, like a predator approaching wounded prey. With great effort he bent over forward, a low rumbling from his chest began as his body shook with tension, "kkkkhhhh..." Mesmerized the runesmith watched as the wargor exploded into a charge, letting out a howl that almost sounded human: "...OOOORRRRNNN!" His disciples echoing the warcry as they struggled to keep pace.

Turn 1

Gorechild directed the centigor to keep pace on the north in order to provide flanking support for his advancing beast herd. The trio of blood-mad minotaur situated themselves in between Gorechild and his battle standard, who was directing the bestigor shocktroops. Both units were eager to gain further favor by personally defiling the elfstone. To the far south a pack of warhounds began corralling movements around a grove of trees, while Rotterhorn and his followers stalked unseen behind the dwarven battle lines, waiting for a signal to fully exploit the chaos of battle.

From Hengil's elevated position he could see many of the tell-tale black and red markings making their way along game trails quietly flanking the dwarven infantry as they formed defensive lines and began slowly advancing towards the Northstone. In an effort to warn Svari he flew over the king's personal hearthguard to relative safety behind the main dwarven battlelines, shouting over the roar of his machinery, "They! ... are! ... behind! ... us!" Svari quickly looked behind his formation, still preoccupied with the beastmen vanguard barreling across the field. As he turned a monotone horn sounded from the main chaos battle line.



Turn 2

Rotterhorn patiently doubled back through the winter trees, the musk of fear and adrenaline wafting stronger with each northern breeze. He led his small beast herd by smell, stalking along the same path the dwarven contingent had used minutes before. They approached the outskirts of the clearing just as Gorechild's horn rang out its damning note over the clamor of battle. Rotterhorn recognized the flying contraption hovering just above one of the hated dwarven nullsmiths: the survivor! He briefly shivered in ecstasy at the thought of his reward for bringing the last component to his master. With stampeding warherd reaching full speed, the dwarves strategically maneuvered to minimize the inevitable impact into dwarven lines. Rotterhorn began chanting dark praise to the red faced demon, first morphing his arms into massive bear claws, despite the noted resistance by the runepriest. Angered by the audacity of the dwarven interference, Rotterhorn consumed his powerstone, invoking the magical power of his staff to grant his herd unnatural speed, charging them into combat with the gyrocopter before it could react. Hengil quickly pulled the gyro up out of combat, the beasts braying in defiance as they crashed into the back of the runesmiths entourage.



Turn 3

From his elevated position Hengil could see the warherd descend on the dwarfs like a the jaws of a great beast. Across the field the screams of battle gave way to the erratic clang of metal, as every dwarven unit suddenly found themselves in desperate swirling melee. In the center of the battleline, Svari moved to the rear of the Lodesmith Elders issuing a challenge to the beastmage. To the south the Whiterock Oathbound were charged by the frenzied bestigor. Immediately to the north, giant minotaur towered over the Lodesmith Clan-brothers, while just beyond, the Hearthguard stowed their greatweapons and formed a shield wall to repel the general's massive beastherd. Hengil watched in horror as the beast mage swung his gnarled staff with both hands, connecting with the runesmith's temple and dropping his body limp to the earth. With the loss of their leader the Lodesmith elder's attempted to withdraw to a more defensible position, in order to reform and face the ambushing threat... unfortunately the beastherd continued their onslaught, cutting them down as they turned. Hengil was again surrounded, and forced to gain altitude again for safety. His machine struggled to rise, and he looked down to see a heavily muscled beastman hanging to his landing strut, dragging himself upwards. Hengil reached under his seat, unstrapping a heavy pistol and firing it point-blank into the savage's muzzle. The Hawk lurched upwards as the body tumbled back into the surging mass.



To the south the Oathbound withstood the impact of Rageheart and the frenzied bestigor. The bestigor lost momenum but were determined to defend the army standard, while the unengaged goatmen began hacking wildly at the elf stone. To the south the corralling warhounds prepared a rear charge. The north flank fared better, The drunken centigor stupidly passing around a jug of plundered ale, rather than charging into the Hammerers. The Lodesmith clan employed their ogre fighting tactics, quickly gaining an advantage over the rampaging minotaur, and routing them. Hengil could hear the growing battlecry, "Grimgazan Doki, for Karak Und!" As the dwarves not only cut down the retreating minotaur but also slammed into the flank of Gorechild's unit, panicking the unruly herd. The king's royal guard easily surrounded and cut down any Gor that didnt immediately scatter from the overrunning Lodesmith clan.



Turn 4
Torn between pursuing the survivor and defiling the waystone, Rotterhorn chose to slam his beastherd into the flank of the Oathbound as the circling warhounds nipped at the rear ranks. To the north the centigor sobered up enough to threaten the King's guard, forcing them to move to intercept the inevitable charge, while the Lodesmith's clansmen moved to engage the beastmen swarming over the northstone. The Oathbound's valiant stand ended as they were finally surrounded and cut down where they stood, the remaining beastmen reveling in the continued debasement of the elven monolith.



Turn 5

The centigor, finally realizing the scope of the battle, bellowed in rage as they bore down on the depleted hammerers. Solid oak spears splintered into dwarven flesh as the centigor tried to use their momentum to trample through the hammerers and into the Lodesmith clansmen. Hengil, finally given a moment's respite, turned his small cannon's grapeshot on Rotterhorn's beastherd, but only managed to blast a few of the smaller monstrosities. Above the battle, a large bolt of energy arced through the sky grounding itself on the Northstone, and sending a single massive fissure cracking down its center. Rageheart and Rotterhorn both noted the gods approval as they moved to engage the last dwarven infantry block.

Turn 6

Out of time and surrounded, the remaining dwarves did the only thing they could: fight like cornered wolverines. The Hearthguard, knew they were the last hope for a proper burial for the fallen. A wave of hounds swarmed over their flank. The dwarves disappeared almost entirely for a moment. Only the sound of crunching bones and shouted oaths made it clear any were left. Suddenly, the centigor broke formation and ran for the treeline. As panic swept through their ranks, both Rotterhorn and Rageheart analyzed the battle. Having completed their mission, neither of the wounded heroes tried to reign in the full scale retreat. In a final gesture of defiance Hengil flew over the cracked northstone, unloading round after round into the treeline...



Conclusion: Hengil set down his Gyro to inspect the broken waystone, It was covered in small runes, elegant and interwoven, now sundered from tip to base. While inspecting them he barely noticed the slender figure approaching from behind a nearby tree. "It has been a long time since i have seen a dwarf here, and longer still one who came under a banner of peace. There was a time when our kind lived in harmony, jointly creating the finest works the world has seen; our bond was so strong that my people decided to stay and share this land rather with you rather than return to our ancestral home. Although our numbers are few, tell your King that once again we will stand together against the evil tyrannies of the world."