KOW Battlereport: Abyssals vs Imperial Dwarves

First game of 2021. Martin's Dwarves face my Abyssals!

My list was:

• 3 x Succubi Regiments with Lurker
• 2 x Flamebearer Regiments with Sacrificial Imp
• Moloch Horde with Sacrificial Imp
• Abyssal Fiend
• Despoiler Champion
• Seductress with Enthral
• Abyssal Warlock with Bane Chant, Drain Life
• Manifestation of Ba'el

Martin took his favoured Dwarf horde list.

• 3 x Ironclad Horde (two with throwing mastiffs)
• Shieldbreakers Horde
• Ironwatch Rifle Horde
• Ironwatch Crossbow Horde
• Cannon
• 2 x Organ Guns
• Warsmith
• Flamepriest
• Army Banner
• Lord (Beastslayer Sword)

The Game

Game was control scenario, so goal is to hold as many as possible of the six table sectors. As usual terrain was set up with Lars Random Map Generator from the Dash28 site.

Setup has the Dwarven centre full of shooting, with melee troop on the flanks. The Warsmith is giving his reroll one's ability to all the artillery and Ironwatch.

Undaunted I charge straight for them...  The two flyers have stealthy so -1 to hit them with ranged attacks. Seductress also an individual so another -1. I figure if the Dwarves try and target the flyers it will also at least save the other units...

No problem...

Dwarves blast away, choosing to spread fire against three units. Mr Ba'el on left takes six wounds, Abyssal Fiend takes 7 wounds and is wavered, Molochs take a couple, but no-one is lost.

Mr Ba'el and Seductress charge in and disorder their targets, though disappointingly the Seductress does not kill the cannon in a single round.

The Dwaves begin their second turn, advancing their flanks and shooting again.

The Dwarf Lord charges Molochs in the flank and does a wound. Throwing mastiffs hit the Despoiler champion for three wounds. Abyssal Fiend takes another three wounds from Crossbow but doesn't die.

Other throwing Mastiff hits Succubi in woods and does 5 damage! Mastiffs can smell 'em and ignore the Succubi stealthy and cover modifiers for range attack.

Mr Ba'el is countercharged by Ironwatch Rifles, who are banechanted, and he is killed!

The Rifles reform and in my turn I charge the Molochs in, doing a bunch more damage but not routing them. Seductress finishes off the cannon.

Dwarves charge into Fiend and Despoiler Champion...

Warsmith has charged the Seductress but he fails to wound her. Both Organ guns blast the Molochs and destroy them...

The Dwarf Lord charges the Warlock and wounds him.

Fiend and Despoiler Champion are killed.

Seductress and Warlock doubleteam the Dwarf Lord who takes a couple of wounds but fights on.

Handy hint... you know a game is going badly, when all the Dwarf War Engines and shooting units, start rolling forward turn 4...

On my left an Ironclad horde has been pushing forward into a storm of Flamebearer firebolts for 3 turns...

And they are finally broken...

The Flamebearerers then turn and blast the Ironwatch Rifles, who have taken 17 damage, but nerve roll is a double 1 and they live!

Warlock has been killed, but Seductress wavers Dwarf Lord and prepares for killing blow...

What is this? Surely Martin would not interfere in this contest of honour between two heroes?!

Actually he would, the Dwarf Warriors seeing their Lord in danger, charge in and kill the Seductress. 

The Hammerers finish off the Succubi in the woods. Game goes to turn 7 and I take out the Ironwatch Rifles with the Flamebearers. But game is over and I only have the two Flamebearer regiments left. Dwarves have lost their Ironwatch Rifles, one of the Ironclad units and the cannon...

Conclusion

Another fun game despite the disaster, thanks Martin! I need to get a better feel for the punishment these Abyssals can dish out and take in various situations, more practice needed! :)  

Martin also says he has Ogres, Goblins, and Elves in process, plus he also has Abyssal Dwarves and Abyssals in boxes! I'm working on Dwarves and Orcs, plus a few Trident Realm (the Frog part anyway...).

Kings of War: The Mammoth Hunt!

A scenario game today at the local wargame club. Andy brought along his Kingdoms of Men vs my Herd for the Mammoth Hunt! A 1000 point Kings of War game played on a 4' x 4' table.

'The Great Hunt' narrative scenario was published yesterday on Dash28, and Andy and I decided to  give it a try. You can read more about the scenario at the link, but to summarise there is a wounded mammoth stuck in the centre of the table. Both sides are trying to capture its "Frozen Heart" a sacred artifact that can only be claimed in ritual close combat. The mammoth thrashes around when you fight it doing damage to units attacking it. Whoever has the heart at the end of the game wins!

Andy's Kingdoms of Men list was:

• Knight Regiment
• 2 x Foot Guard Regiments with Double Handed Weapons
• 2 x Pike Regiment
• Knight Hero
• Wizard (Bane Chant, Fireball)

My Herd list was:

• Tribal Warrior Horde
• Longhorn Regiment
• 2 x Tribal Trapper Troops
• Chariot Troop
• Tribal Trapper
• Gladewalker Druid (Heal, Bane Chant, Fireball, Sanguinary Scripture)

The Battle

Here's the setup.

My Trappers scout forward before the first turn.

Kingdom's of Men win the first turn roll, and make my Herd go first.  I charge the Mammoth immediately with the Longhorns, doing seven wounds to it (and taking half that in return, not sure why dice says 5, it should be 4)! All my archers shoot the Foot Guard in front of them, doing 3 damage to them.

Men advance forward, and I back off from the Mammoth and heal the Longhorns with the Druid. The Trappers all step back and shoot the Foot Guard and Pike doing a couple more wounds.

Men's turn and they decide to charge the Mammoth with both Pike units, doing another 5 wounds to it. The Knights charge my Chariots doing 6 damage to them.

My turn three. My Warriors charge down off the hill  into the Foot Guard, while my Longhorns move to support my left. All my Trappers and the Druid target the Pike.

The Warriors rout the Foot Guard, and the Druid's fireball and archery finishes off the Pike unit on my right. My Chariots battle back against the Knights doing a couple of damage.

I reform the Warriors to support my chariots.

Bad move, as the Knights rout my chariots and turn to face, while the other Pike and Hero charge into the rear of my Warriors. The other Foot Guard charge my Trappers.

Triple attacks for a rear charge and Bane Chant sees the Pike skewer the Warriors and rout them, and the Foot Guard chop up my Trappers.

My Longhorns charge the Pike, losing their Thunderous charge because of the Pike's Phalanx ability, but still doing 8 damage to them. My Trappers and Druid's fireball shoots down the Foot Guard on the right. The Pike (Banechanted again) and the Hero countercharge into my Longhorns and rout them.

My Archers and Druid then shoot down the victorious Pike. This is very bloody...

Turn five, and the Knights and Hero charge the Mammoth and kill it at last, gaining the Frozen Heart (the cauldron - grabbed by the Hero), but taking much damage in the process!

My archers and the Druid shoot down the weakened knights, and also wound the Hero though he survives the volley of arrows.

The Hero and Wizard turn and run carrying away the Frozen Heart! My Trappers and Druid chase after them but are out of range of the Hero with their Short Bows. They fire at the Wizard but miss. 

And escape! Victory to the Kingdoms of Men!

That "Frozen Heart" better be pretty damn special - here are all the casualties!

Conclusion

The game looked like it could go either way and came down to the last turn - well done Andy! Getting my chariots charged, and the rear charge into my Warriors were probably mistakes on my part, with the Bane Chant from the Human Wizard adding to the melee destruction each turn. I should have charged my Warriors into the flank of the Knights perhaps. At least my Druid and Trapper managed to do a fair amount of damage with their fireball/archery attacks, to my surprise!

The challenge with the mammoth is that you don't want to be the one taking too much damage in capturing the Frozen Heart. However if the enemy is doing this then they might win the prize and spirit it away as the Humans managed here. A fun little scenario to try, recommended :)