First Field Report

With animosity between Dwarves and (spit) Greenskins being the stuff of legends, last night's showdown between my very transitional Dwarf army and my brother-in-law's horde seemed like an ideal place to start. The set up was roughly as follows:

Dwarves:

1 Lord
1 BSB
1 Dragon Slayer
1 Runesmith
20 Warriors
16 Longbeards
10 Thunderers
10 Thunderers
10 Quarrelers
1 Cannon
2 Ballistas
1 Organ Gun
15 Slayers

The lack of Hammerers in my army creates a serious power vacuum, one I tried filling by giving my Lord the Rune of Kingship, at least my Longbeards weren't going anywhere. My block of Warriors was more than willing to die for the cause and Slayers... you get the picture. This is standard gun line procedure and enough hard-to-move Dwarves to press the issue in close combat, needless to say I was hopeful.

The Orc rabble looked something like this:
1 Black Orc Warboss
2 Night Goblin Shamans
1 Orc Shaman
42 Night Goblins
2 Fanatics
20 Black Orcs
25 Big 'Uns
30 Savage Orcs
6 Boar Boys
5 Spider Riders
6 Snotling Swarms
10 Squig Hoppers
1 Rock Lobba
2 Doom Divvers

The size of these units alone seriously cramped my chances for panic. History gave me reason to believe the army would consist of multiple small units of cannon fodder, but someone had been doing his homework. This army packed a fairly nasty shooting phase and enough magic to make me think about dispelling. To make matters worse he rolled Foot of Gork and Gork's Warpath respectively for all Shamans, line of sight and range weren't on my side.

Turn 1

Dwarves: Hold the line and go straight to shooting, at least that was the idea. In a spectacular display of fate, my runed cannon misfired twice and exploded. Do over down? Sadly the angle of the hill in my deployment zone prevented my thunderers from sounding out on the first turn. My Organ Gun blew up a snotling base and the quarrelers brought down a couple of Big 'Uns, all in all I could swear I heard goblin laughter.


Orcs: With animosity jamming up only one unit of Orcs, the rest of the army marched forward to take my position. Only the frozen Savage Orcs sat back. The first magic phase claimed the lives of several thunderers and two warriors, the only favor I found was in the exhaustion of the Itty Bitty Ring on turn one, so much for that sniping goblin. The shooting phase claimed the lives of a few more thunderers and forced me to test for panic. I am proud to say all dwarves stood their ground.



Turn 2

Dwarves: My slayers moved up the flanks to keep the squig hoppers off my ballista. Light gun and crossbow fire dropped a few more Orcs and Gobbos with the only notable exception being the Organ Gun which inflicted seven wounds on the over-eager Boar Boyz.



Orcs: The Spider Riders made it into combat with the ballista on my left flank and the squigs attempted to reach the flank of my Slayers but stopped short in their front arc. This time around my Rune Smith was in total control of the magic phase and kept the Foot of Gork from my missile troops. The shooting phase was less positive, costing me two thirds of my Organ Gun crew and leaving my center unit of Thunderers severely depleted. Moving into combat, the Spiders claimed two of my ballista crew and took no casualties. The sole survivor easily passed the stubborn leadership test.



Turn 3

Dwarves: I still had no charge options as the squigs sat comfortably out of range (I recommend cross country training for all dwarves). I advanced the Slayers to keep the Squigs from cutting around me. Warriors and Longbeards moved up the middle to meet the advancing rabble. Thunderers guarding the left flank reformed to face the Spider Riders, who made a snack out of the last standing ballista crewman on the left.



Orcs: Driven by rage or stupidity (who can tell with Greenskins?) the Squigs charged into the Slayers. The Spider Riders charged the Thunderers facing them. And the Night Goblins advanced and released their two fanatics. Mercifully, the fanatics only claimed two warriors. Big 'Uns smashed into the flanks of the Dwarf Warriors. The Spider Riders took four casualties from the stand and shoot, but the lone rider somehow passed his panic test and moved in, the Thunderers finished him off in close combat. While the Big Uns sent my Warriors running through a fanatic, they exercised some restraint and held their ground. The Slayers lost several of their number and turned three Squigs into jello.



Turn 4

Dwarves: Determined to settle the score for routing the Warriors, the Longbeards charged through the fanatic, crushing him in the process, and straight down the front line of Big 'Uns. The now unmanned Organ Gun sat silently while the last ballista missed the Black Orcs and missile fire brought down another Snotling swarm. This close combat phase would put me back in this game or feed the Orc army for several nights. Longbeards with massive axes cut down three Big 'Uns with the Lord and Battle Standard Bearer tearing open another three. The remaining champion failed to dent the Dwarf BSB and the Orcs, led by a Shaman, fled combat, failing to roll double ones to stand. In a rare show of mobility, the Orcs fled five and were caught by the Dwarves with eleven inches of pursuit! The Slayers broke the Squigs and collided with the flank of a Black Orc mob. My warriors did rally.



Orcs: Even a sound beating doesn't stop a horde. Night Goblin warriors slammed my Dwarf Warriors and netted them. The broken squigs rallied and the Black Orcs hefted double choppas for the impending showdown with the Slayers. This magic phase could have made a difference, but down one Shaman my Rune Smith was now firmly in control of the winds of magic. Sporadic war machine fire continued to harass my gunline which was now all but silent. Spurred on by their hatred of their betters the Night Goblins beat and broke the dwarves (who were sadly out of the range of their Lord and his standard). The resulting flight brought the dwarves into contact with an impassable boulder which destroyed their unit. However much this looked like a reprieve, fortune was not smiling on the green skins. The Black Orcs found themselves crushed by the Slayers and promptly fled off the table.



Turn 5

Dwarves: Mad for Orc blood my Longbeards reform to face the remaining Savage Orc warriors. The Slayers likewise turn to face the rallied Squigs. In a final show of frustration, Dwarf Quarrelers and Thunderers finish off the Snotlings and their accompanying Shaman. Could it be time to break out the ale?



Orcs: With nothing to charge the Night Goblins are left to work out long division as the Savage Orcs squabble. The last Shaman is totally impotent faced with the Runesmith and the magic phase whimpers to an end. Orc war "machines" (spit) pick off one more thunderer. In a final show of defiance the squigs reengage the Slayers, however the weakened unit only manages one casualty. The surviving Dragon Slayer and company wipe out the Squigs as recompense for their trouble.



With Hobbytown closing, five turns was sadly all we had time for. I hadn't expected my gunline to falter so much, but in light of larger Orc units, panic was off the menu. Dwarf Ballistas do much less without engineers, there's no way around this. We'll never know how the game would have ended, but the jumbo block of Orcs hung back for eighty percent of the action, arriving just in time to squabble on turn five. By deploying his war machines after my entire army was on the table, my brother-in-law was able to keep all of his safe from all but one of mine. The game did end in a marginal victory for the Dwarves, but I hardly consider this a repeatable outcome. All things considered an interesting showdown. Rest assured I will be picking up my High Elves for the next go around.