Julius Crassus vs. the Gothians

Dear Gaius, I hope this letter finds you well. I am so happy that your wife is once again with child! Truly you are blessed with many fine sons and daughters. Not a day goes by when I don't think of my poor Maria, gone these ten years.

But much more important matters are afoot than the cares of people such as you and I. The entire empire was shocked when our emperor Draco Severus sent peace envoys to the Gothians after their raid on St. Marks! Shameful indeed. Julius Crassus, leader of the border legions, raised a cohort of men at his own expense and marched off to seek redress of our wrongs from the Gothians. Honour is not yet dead in the Roman Empire.

Julius force was a single 480 man cohort of legionarii, assisted by 120 archers and 5 large ballistas. Our small force crossed the river Kwai and marched for 3 days into Gothian territory before we found the Gothians who had burnt St. Marks. There were no less than 300 of them, all well-mounted nobles. The barbarians quickly offered battle.

The Gothian horde.

The heroic band of Julius Crassus.

The entire battlefield seen from the
south atop my hill. The Romans are on the left.

The Goths advanced en masse. Our archers sprinted forward to shoot from close range,  and our ballistas shot as well. Alas, only minor causalties were inflicted. The rampaging Gothians then impacted our legionarii. The archers fled, and the impact of the heavy Goth cavalry pushed our legionarii back. The Goths continued to surge forward until the legionarii broke and fled the battle. In all, our romans lost 93 killed, though our archers and ballista crews escaped unscathed. The Goths lost 72 men killed or wounded, a poor trade indeed. I fled for my life for several days until I crossed the border back into the empire. I found your letter waiting and wrote back soonest.

Please do not worry about me, I am exhausted though unharmed. Pray instead for Julius Crassus who tried only to avenge Rome but brought shame instead. I fear the emperor will be wrathful.

Your friend, Flavius Flachus.

Goths over the River Kwai

Year 100 of the Roman Empire

Dearest Gaius, I'm sure by now you have heard of the dreadful happenings here in Panon province. I myself witnessed the raid of the Gothian hordes and massacre of the poor people of the village of Saint Marks. I want to assure you that I myself am unharmed and safe, but I thought you would like an eyewitness account of the happenings.

Two weeks after the full moon, the Gothians attacked the bridge over the river Kwai. Julius Crassus led the legions of our empire against the barbarian horde to defend the vital river crossing. 1200 legionaries set themselves to defend the bridge, while 1200 more stood atop Marcus hill in a more defensible position. 900 barbarians atop their mighty warhorses stormed at the bridge, while 600 of their brethen looted and burned the unhappy village of St.Marks. The legion and the horde first met in a hail of darts and javelins with many causalties. The battle for the bridge was then joined in earnest with many hundreds dying on either side until the waters of the river Kwai ran red with mens lifeblood. Eventually our heroic soldiers of the empire secured the bridge and took no less then 300 barbarians prisoner. The other 600 barbarians continued to loot the unhappy village of St. Marks, oblivious to the plight of their brethen. Julius Crassus ordered the legionaries set atop Marcus hill to cross the bridge and attack these dastardly raiders in the rear whilst they were distracted with slaughter and plundered riches. But before they could arrive the villains, sated at last with loot and wine, climbed atop their horses and left for their own lands.

Praise the gods for the hero Julius Crassus who saved our empire from worse devastation, and pray for the poor souls of St.Marks village, may they rest in peace. There is talk that Julius Crassus will lead a raid into the lands of the Goths, and I will of course keep you informed.

P.S. Is your wife still having trouble sleeping? The flowers of Astorious picked at dawn and eaten at dusk are sovereign against insomnia.

Your friend, Flavius Flachus.

The Raid to Rescue Caradryan

Caradryan the Silent has been captured by the hideous beastmen for use in one of their foul sacrifices. Caradryan is a great elven hero and must be rescued at all costs. Lomsec the mage has assembled a force to attack the tower and save Caradryan's soul from being condemned forever to the Realm of Chaos. Meanwhile, Yohan the necromancer has received word from his ally Malagor the Dark Omen, beastman shaman, that the beastmen are outnumbered and need reinforcements. Yohan summons a small unit of skeletons and marches quickly to aid his evil ally and punish the hated elves. Will they arrive in time?

The forces:
Beastmen: Malagor the Beastman shaman - Level 15, poison fangs, poison claws.
Bazor the beastman champion: Level 15, Frostblade, Magically Inscribed Armour and Protective runes. Various mutations, including obesity, extra toughness (T7!) and, crucially, stupidity!
14 beastmen with razor sharp claws, and hideous mutations giving them an especially fearsome appearance.

The elves: Lomsec the level 15 mage, 5 silverhelms, two groups of 16 spear-armed warrior kindred (the green and blue) and 12 archers.

The undead relief force: Yohan the level 5 necromancer and 20 skeletons.

The beastmen defend the tower to the left, the elves approach from the right.
The skeletons are expected to march up from the bottom along the road.
Malagor is atop the tower.

Bazor the Beast leads his unit aimlessly, tempting the silver helms
to charge - and they did!

The skeleton reinforcements advance.

Bazor started off the battle by going stupid. He led his unit forward, drooling and scratching his behind. Malagor summoned 8 lesser demons. The silver helms tried to charge the mutant beastmen, but couldn't summon the nerve. Soon after the beastmen, still being led by stupid Bazor, wandered of to their right, completely exposing their flank. The silverhelms duly charged in and a bloody melee developed. Lomsec cast a fireball at the demons, killing 3. The silverhelms fought several rounds of combat against the beasts before they routed and all died to the victorious elves free hacks - except for Bazor, who managed to escape howling into the wilderness, not sure what had happened but very angry about it. The silver helms overran into the demons and started another melee, the blue warrior kindred quickly joined in as well. Under the combined assault the demons quickly evaporated. At this point, the skeletons on the road from the south arrived, led by Yohan. Were they in time?  Yohan quickly summoned a skeleton champion, then charged his unit into the spearmen. Yohan quickly went down, but the skeletons persevered under the leadership of their new champion.

The elves attack Malagor, Caradryan lies bound in the
foreground.

At the tower, the blue elf kindred burst open the door and four interpid elves charged into the tower. More elves kept piling in every turn, and untied Caradryan. He borrowed a weapon and shield from a trooper, and fought a heroic one on one duel with Malagor. They fought several rounds until Caradryan struck a nasty wound to his erstwhile captor. Malagor snarled his rage and cast a spell. He disappeared in a puff of noxious smelling smoke and was nowhere to be found. The skeletons had meanwhile lost their champion, then faded in a bout of instability. The elves had rescued their comrade, defeated the beasts and slaughtered the relief troops as well. A major victory for the high elves.

Thoughts: The crucial part of this battle was when I rolled the stupidity mutation for Bazor. Otherwise with his magic items and helpful mutations, he was the most bad-arsed killing machine on the table. But once he was stupid, he never managed to get into combat personally and his unit was routed while he tried to figure out what was going on. The whims of Chaos! A fun scenario game, I enjoyed it.

Revenge is a dish best served bloody

Still smarting from their last trouncing by the Elves, the Undead realized they needed to really shake things up. I have a house rule for solo gaming: the losing army can completely change their army list, by the winners have to use the same as before. So the Undead booted out Vlad and his dragon, and Skullgore the undead hero took the helm. Here's the lists:

Elves: Same as last time; Telor+Griffon, Lomsec the level 15 mage, 2 units of 14 warrior kindred with champion (blue spearmen and green spearmen), great weapon kindreds with champ and archers with champion. 55 figures.

The Undead: 3 units of skeletons, two of 20, one of 10. All had level 15 champions armed with hell-honed blades. Two units of 20 zombies with champions, 20 ghouls with champion and Skullgore with Frostblade and Magically Inscribed Armour. Very useful gear! 117 figures total.

The battlefield laid out.

The Battle: Turn 1: Both armies advanced on each other.
Turn 2: Skullgore and his skeletons routed and slaughtered the great weapon kindred with free hacks. This panicked the Green Spearmen who left the table.
Turn 3: Telor fought against skeletons, causing instability which removed four. Skullgore, his skeletons and another unit put a serious beating on the blue spear kindreds.
Turn 4: Lomsec, on his third attempt (missing twice before due to range) ran right up to Skullgores unit and cast Steal Mind. Being undead, Skullgore didn't get a magic save and was instantly effected. He became mindless for the rest of the game. Telor, fighting againt skeletons, zombies and ghouls was finally routed and fled the table. He's really good at that, and people once more started calling him "Telor the Coward".
Turns 5 and 6: The archers launched two more volleys on skeletons, but just barely missed destroying a unit. Turn 6, game over. My first 3rd edition game to go all 6 turns. The undead had remaining Skullgore (mindless for another turn), 3 out of 5 undead champions, 24 out of 50 skeletons, 36 out of 40 zombies and 20/20 ghouls.
The elves however had only Lomsec and 13 archers left, all three units of warrior kindred and Telor having been killed or fled.

Thoughts: A very fun game, it lasted long enough, and it's fun to see the undead win again.

The battlefield at the end of turn 6.

Going Commando

I'm going commando for this battle - that's right, no movement trays! Takes me right back to my earliest fun with Warhammer. I was inspired by reading the old White Dwarf battle reports on http://realmofchaos80s.blogspot.com/ to run a battle a little bigger than my recent ones, so here's a 2000 point battle between the High Elves and my trusty Undead. I don't have enough figures to do 3000 points.

Archers on the Hill, Blue Spearmen, Swordmasters, Telor on Griffon, Green Spearmen

High Elf List: Telor, Level 25 hero on his Griffon. Armed with a Freeze Sword, an extremely deadly weapon. Lomsec the mage, level 15. Fourteen warrior kindred armed with spears with champion (blue spearmen), Fourteen warrior kindred armed with spears and  champion (the green spearmen, twins of the blue), 10 warrior kindred armed with double handed weapons and champion (the swordmasters) and finally 12 archers with a champion. I can't remember what level the champions were, but they were all the same. 54 figures.

20 Zombies, 20 Zombies, Vlad on Dragon, 21 sword skeletons,
21 spear skeletons, 20 ghouls.

The Undead: Vlad on his dragon, level 20 vampire and level 1 dragon. Two skeleton units of 21 figures each, each led by a level 5 hero. Two units of 20 zombie and one of 20 ghouls, each led by a level 5 undead hero. Nobody had any magic items. 108 figures.

The Battle: Turn 1: The deathless legions advanced en masse, all along the line. Vlad bravely flew his dragon directly into the swordmasters. Many died from desicating dragon breath (an appropriate breath weapon for a dragon ridden by a vampire). However in the ensuing combat the swordmasters managed a draw. Telor atop his griffon then charged into Vlad and attacked him with his mighty Freeze sword - instant kill! The dragon then routed off the table. First turn and the undeads greatest asset was destroyed.

Turn 2: The Elves sounded the advance and all units except the green spearmen charged (the green spearmen never saw any action all battle). The blue spearmen pushed back their skeletal enemies, while the swordmasters were pushed back by their bony foes. Telor and his griffon routed a zombie unit, and in the free hacks totally wiped them out. This panicked the other zombies who routed and fled off the table. Mighty Telor had destroyed half the undead army in two turns, a hero whose glory will surely never fade.

Turn 3: The ghouls charged into the archers, but were quickly routed. The other combats continued with no clear winners.

Turn 4: One unit of skeletons was finally destroyed by the blue spears. The other was charged in the rear by Telor, and caught between him and the swordmaster elves. 

The Aftermath: At this point only one skeleton and one level 5 undead hero remained. The elvish army was almost completely intact, except for the swordmasters who had nearly been destroyed by Vlad, but managed to hold on against their skeleton enemies.

So that's it! I enjoy the rules, playing without movement trays was very fun and old school, and a good time was had by all (i.e. me). You'd think it'd bother me that some armies seem to always win, but in all 5 of the versions of warhammer I've played that has always been the case. I love my Undead so much I'll play them anytime, win, lose, or embarassing slaughter.

Assault on the Tower of Sorcery

After his loss to the horrible high elves, Yohan fled for refuge into his Tower of Sorcery. The Tower is cloaked in a shroud of darkness making missile, magic or flying into it impossible. The tower also allows any wizard within to cast spells far farther than normal.

The elves have pursued Yohan to his tower to prevent him regrouping and forming another army.

The armies: High Elves: Telor "the Coward", level 25 atop his griffon. Lomsec, level 15 wizard. 16 Archers (BS 5!), and 16 warrior kindred, 1097 pts and 34 figures.

Telor on griffon, archers, warrior kindred.

The Undead: Skullgore the level 25 undead hero with his Sword of Ferocity (+1A), Yohan the level 15 necromancer, two level 15 undead champions, 30 skeletons and 30 zombies. 1081 pts and 64 figures.

Skeletons with Skullgore, Yohan atop his tower, zombies with undead champion.

Telor ordered his army to advance. The archers marched forward a short distance, then let fly wave after wave of arrows into the zombies as they shambled forward. Most of the zombies were killed, but a few entered combat. The undead champion inflicted a wound on Lomsec, but Lomsec finished him off with a blast of fireballs at point blank range. The warrior kindred assaulted the skeletons, fighting back and forth for several turns. Skullgore, despite being a level 25 hero, did his best to miss almost every time, even with his extra attack! Telor then charged the skeleton unit in the flank, and between him, his griffon and the warrior kindreds, the skeletons were pushed back until they were forced to take an instability test and faded from physical reality. Yohan knew he was doomed, so ran out the towers secret passage, cursing his luck and planning revenge on the elves who had defeated him.

Thoughts: I like how griffons and some other critters work: You roll on a chart for each stat to see what you get, so not all griffons are created equal!

The end of the game. The skeletons had no physical substance
and were incapable of causing harm after a terrible instability
roll.

Third Edition and Revenge of the Elves

I got my Third Edition books in the mail the other day! What better way to celebrate than a little tabletop slaughter?

Yohan the Necromancer has been magically preparing the Lonely Graveyard for weeks with countless incantations and dweomers. Soon this vast repository of charnal might will arise and swell his army to gigantic proportions. But the High Elves know all about their plans, informed by the birds and beasts of necrotic activity. So Lomsec the Elvish wizard leads a strike force to thwart the undeads plans. Yohan summons his ally Skullgore and the skeletons and zombies he currently has, and battle is joined!

The lonely graveyard. Ten skeletons with Skullgore on the left, 20 zombies with Yohan on the right. The elvish archers and just behind the hill on the left (with Lomsec) , the Shore Riders behind the forest on the right. 

 Yohan summons an undead hero to bolster his zombie unit. The Shore Riders kill 2 zombies with their bows, while the archers (with Bs 5!) kill 4 skeletons. Yohan set his zombies marching directly to the Shore Riders, while Skullgore sent his skeletons marching into the woods to get some cover. Yohan kept summoning zombies to replace losses from archer fire, and found time to cast Hand of Death on himself. Lomsec and his archers kept on the hill. Lomsec cast Leg Break on Skullgore, slowing him down to half movement, meaning his skeletons would take even more punishment from the archers atop the hill as they approched. In the end he elected to simply stay put in the woods the rest of the game. Better to do nothing than be slaughtered for no reason! But there was more action on the right: the Shore Riders charged the zombies and a bitter battle was started. Yohan killed one Shore Rider with his hand of death, but the elves did just enough wounds to win every round of combat. The worst thing for the undead was that every lost combat resulted in an Instability test which cost them many zombies, including their standard bearer, until Yohan fled for safety leaving his zombies to die again.

Victory for the High Elves! A long time coming. Lomsec doused the Lonely Graveyard liberally with holy water and magical blessings, ensuring it could not easily be used to stage any mass raising of undead. Yohan fled into the wilderness, plotting his revenge...

Thoughts: So I've played Third Edition! There's a lot of rules in there, I'm sure I got all sorts of things wrong but its ok because it was still fun. I'll try and polish up my rules knowledge a bit and continue the Elf/Undead saga of this blog. Thanks for reading!