Warhammer Fantasy Battle 6ed game: Empire vs Goblins 1300pts
Report: Jakub Polkowski, Jakub Jesiotr; Story: Jakub Polkowski
Art: Meggie M. Art
Story
It was cold and misty night when Kornish ‘ard Fista was walking through the camp of his tribe. His captured double-handed axe was resting at his arm. Hundreds of fire camps, thousand of guttural screams were surrounding him. The noise was overwhelming.
Well, after the last victory over the ummies, many lesser tribes joined his glorious horde, bringing their wacky machines and even stone trolls. To be honest, he didn't even notice when all those new warriors had joined. He was in constant battle-fever. He felt that he was chosen by the gods. He was leading a real horde now. It was growing rapidly and there was no one who would be challenging him. Not yet. Soon he will be the greatest goblin leader of all times. Maybe even bigger than the legendary Grom.
Still dreaming about the future glory he reached the outskirts of the camp. In the safe distance were living the shamans. No one known what made them so crazy and unpredictable - was its consumption of the hallucinogenic fungus or the direct connection to the Gods. Or both.
Kornish boots hit something. The creature whined and puked on warboss boots. Yes, the Gherk Rednoze was found. His ability to fabricate fungi mixtures were legendary. Many of the goblins died trying his potions and each died in merle a minutes after the consumption of even the smallest amount. Miraculously, Gherk seemed to be almost immune to the toxins. Was this a gift from the Gods Kornish didn't know.
With disgust, he wiped his boots with unconscious shaman robe and moved further.
The two remaining shamans were sitting next to a small bonfire with their heads raised up. The rising smoke was nothing like he had ever seen before. It behaved like a living creature. He could swear that he was watched by the presence and it made him shiver.
Then the shamans noticed him and everything suddenly everything got back to normal. The fire and the smoke were again like he used to know and this strange feeling disappeared. Was he dreaming?
Kusk pet-squig snarled at him, showing its impressive collection of fangs.
— Fetch! Kusk ordered and tossed helmet that one day belonged to some noble knight of the Panther order.
The squig run after it leaving three of them in silence.
— How do can serve You oh great Kornish? asked Kusk. Giglorr was sitting in silence. Only his crooked fingers were rhythmically typing his staff.
— Have the Gods talked to You?
— Oh yes. A great victory is just ahead of you. A massive army of ummies is approaching us. The omens are clear. Look!
Kornish tried really hard to see the same thing the shaman did. But all he could see were broken bones and guts laying on the ground. He turned his head left and right but still was unable to catch even the smallest glimpse of Gods plan.
— Yes! I can clearly see it. Tomorrow we will move to meet and crush them.
Warboss turned on the heel and marched toward his tent dreaming about his next victory.
When he disappeared the Night goblin shamans looked at each other.
— Idiot. Kusk said.
Giglorr once again looked into the flames.
— Yes, but we need him. At least for now. He is just like a puppet at the top of my staff.
The shape made of smoke appeared once more and it spoke.
— Are both of you are so different from this pathetic creature?
Kusk grimaced and wanted to say something but his throat tightens as someone was choking him. He hit the ground coughing with blood.
— That I was thinking.
Armies
Empire
The Grand County of Averland has been struggling for centuries with the lurking danger from the south
that threatens the entire Empire.
The eyes of every Averland citizen are directed towards the Black Fire Pass,
which separates the Black Mountains from the World's Edge Mountains.
It is a place that tells stories of the legendary clashes of human forces with greenskins
who have tried to invade the Empire since the dawn of time.
During a frosty and a lazy morning, a messenger arrived to a small garrison near
the city of Grenzstadt. He brought the news that several granaries and lesser towns
nearby were plundered. Only the ruins left. Rumours say that there must be a bold
goblin war band behind everything, which somehow managed to use a system of mountain
cave tunnels to bypass the Black Fire Pass and remained unnoticed to contingent guarding it.
The garrison is commanded by Captain Rudolf Wagner - he has the status of a hero of the
southern lands of Averland among the populace. In local taverns, you can hear numerous
songs about his deeds on the battlefield. Unfortunately, nobody knows exactly how much
truth is in them, but the fact is that he was entrusted with the honour of wielding the
banner of the family of Marius Letidorf himself.
Cedric Stürmische. In the past, the mere mention of him on the battlefield caused anxiety,
because of his power to tame the heavens. The aged wizard is at the end of his life and his
best times are long gone. The Celestial College decided to delegate him to a peaceful garrison
as a retirement than actual service as magical support.
August Feuersbrunst is a wizard, who came to the garrison in his scarlet carriage,
decorated with the symbol of a burning key to visit his former friend. August
devoted all his years exploring the arcana of the College of Flames. This elderly
wizard, came to Cedric to recollect the old days and exchange the foundations of secret knowledge.
An almost 30-member Averland halberdier regiment under the command of Sergeant Otto Lutzen
is stationed also here. Thanks to the daily drill, which the soldiers undergo under the
watchful eye of a veteran, they are characterized by high skills in using halberd. As their
support on the battlefield, a squad of trained shooters armed with lethal muskets was assigned.
Local crossbowmen are responsible for the guard in the garrison tower and manning its' walls.
There is also a small detachment of heavy-armed cavalry of the Reiksguard order. Knights of this
order are assigned to Averland military contingents as the "eyes" of the imperial capital, which
remembers insubordination and crazy moves of the nobility from the Leitdorf family.
The substantial machine park is also garrisoned. It consists of two powerful imperial cannons, known throughout the Old World for their destructive power.
In the depths of the room, you can also see a crude, old mortar model. It is fully functional, but very impractical and requires a lot of effort from the staff to move it on the battlefield.
In the central point of the warehouse, the barrels of the rotary cannon gleam, commonly known as the "hellblaster".
Although it comes from an older product line and does not look as dignified as its new model released from the forges in Nuln, it is still the pride of the entire garrison.
Before all, I would like to point out that the number of my battles played in Warhammer 6th
edition can be counted on the fingers of one hand. As a result, my idea of how to play with the Empire is not something revealing.
I have a nature of a defensive player and in this spirit. That is why like to play with an army designed to be the defender.
With such a large potential of the machine park, it would be a sin not to use all these possibilities.
My list is based on a large regiment of halberdiers located in the centre of the battlefield. They will
have a detachment of a handgunners unit.
To secure one of the flanks, I will use an armoured and heavy-armed knights, whose task will
be to smash light and fast enemy units.
The army will be completed with a crossbowman unit and the support of machines that should
blast everything that would want to approach my forces.
From the hero section I have chosen a captain who will be an army standard banner for possible LD tests.
As magical support I will use 2 second-level wizards from the college of heaven to have
D6 re-rolls thanks to the Second Sign of Amul spell.
Goblins
So my brave goblin horde has to fight for their right to live in peace and prosper once again. After the successful defensive campaign against Aldorf invading force, this time Elector Count from the Averland wants to banish my poor goblins…
This will be a 1300 battle, so once more I had to field almost all of my units painted units. The only one that was left on the shelf was a giant, whom I find quite useless for such small battles.
Therefore my army composition is quite easy.
My army is led by the Kornish ‘ard Fista a goblin big boss, who is there only to give higher leadership to the other units. With Backbone Brew I hope to be able to pass that one crucial panic/break test. Hope. You know how it is with goblins and hope…
My other heroes are 2 second-level Night goblins shamans and a single 2nd level regular one. They are equipped with a variety of some nasty items and dispel scrolls.
From the core section, I opted to field 3 big units of Night Goblins with 1 or 2 fanatics. I will keep my shamans in each.
Next, I have added 3 units of spider riders(I am using rules of the wolf riders) with spears, shield and musician.
Then from the special section, I added 2 squig chariots, 2 spear chukkas and a squig lobba(which uses regular rock lobba rules).
...and this is it. 0 points spent on units from the rare section,
My battle plan is easy - use spider riders and chariots as a distraction and blast enemy units with magic and shooting. Sounds easy, but with the greenskins, it is never peachy. Animosity can ruin even the best plan and the miscast are much more likely to kill the unfortunate caster than in other armies. Also, it happens sometimes that the goblins’ shooting causes zero damage to the enemy. And much to Your own forces. Have I mentioned the randomness of a fanatics?
But I guess this is what I like/hate while playing those cowardly gobbos…
I predict that my enemy will field much more shooting approach. As a result, I am almost sure that there will be a full contingent of war machines. I am mostly afraid of the Hellblaster and the Mortar - both machines are extremely dangerous to my Night Goblins units, which can flee from any panic caused. So the key is to make the machines occupied with something else and pray for a misfire :) I will try to deploy quite wide, so panic of one unit won’t cause a cascade of running away units. This leaves my units vulnerable due to the fact that they will unsupported but hey! The Old World is not the best place to be born as a Goblin!
Pre battle
Mission: Pitched battle
Spells:
August Feuersbrunst: Second Sign of Amul, The Comet of Casandora
Cedric Stürmische: Second Sign of Amul, The Comet of Casandora
Gherk Rednoze:Gaze of Mork,Brain Bursta
Kusk Da Squigkeepa: Brain Bursta,Hand of Gork
Giglorr Toyrsta: Gaze of Mork,Brain Bursta
Deployment:
Empire won the roll-off for the side selection and opted for the side with the hill.
Sons of Sigmar also won the roll for the deployment and goblins were forced to place their unit first.
Next was the roll for the first turn, and this one was won by the greenskins
Battle
Goblins turn 1
We started with animosity test on a Night Goblins unit with Gherk Rednoze.
Of course 1 was rolled and this unit will spend this turn squabbling.
Gherks' eyes suddenly gleamed with a green light. He felt on his knees vomiting wildly. The shaman shriek in the voice of a thousand dying creatures at the same time. All surrounding goblins dropped their rusty weapons, bent and squeaked in terror, while blood flowed out of their ears, eyes and noses.
Unit of spider riders in the middle also failed their check, which was quite a blow, because the empire shooting units will have one target less.
Every unit that could moved forward.
In the magic phase, Kusk Da Squigkeepa cast Gaze of Mork at the Handgunners on the hill. It was a success but the spell was out of range.
Giglorr Toyrsta cast Brain Bursta at the Crossbowmen and August Feuersbrunst used one of his dispel scrolls to save the shooters.
Giglorr Toyrsta targeted the Knights with his Itty ring but dispel dice were used to save them from the harm. Then he cast Brain Bursta at them, but the second scroll was used by the Empire mages.
In shooting phase the Squig lobba launched the screaming squig into the halberds but it was poorly aimed and did nothing.
Exactly the same miserable effect was achieved by the spear chukkas, which were unable to hit.
Empire turn 1
The movement phase was really fast - the knights moved forward and the halberds backed.
In the magic phase, both attempts to cast Second Sign of Amul were denied by the greenskins shamans - first - with dices and the second with the scroll.
The shooting phase started with great BOOM, when the canon on the hill misfired, exploded and killed its crew.
Then the mortar opened fire. It was targeted perfectly but the strong wind scattered the shell. Even though 3 Night Goblins were hit and 1 was killed.
It was the moment when the Hellblasters' barrels started to rotate and shoot at the Spider riders in the centre. One after the another the deadly projectiles flew. With 12 hits the goblins were simply annihilated.
Hand gunners rolled 1 for extra range, and it meant that only the front rank was in range
to the Night goblins and only 1 was killed.
Then the crossbowmen let loose their bolts aiming at the second unit of the spider riders. Their aim was true (8!!! hits) and 3 vile creatures were dead. This was more than enough and even though the army general was nearby they failed their morale check and fled.
Goblins turn 2
Greenskins had to check animosity. Night goblins unit consisting of Gherk Rednoze was the first one. Of course, 1 was rolled and this unit spent second turn squabbling.
The same thing happened to the unit on the right flank, which meant that only 1 shaman will be able to cast spells.
There was only one charge - squig chariot charged the knights.
The 2 spider riders that failed their panic in the previous turn did not rally and fled from the battlefield.
Night goblins in the centre moved forward. The last unit of the spider riders darted forward. The second chariot moved closer to be able to charge next turn.
In the magic phase, Kusk Da Squigkeepa tried to cast Hand of Gork on the spider riders but generated a miscast...
As a result, he lost the magic level and forgot this spell. Great...
Next, he tried to cast Brain Bursta against Crossbowmen with 2 dices and 1 from the mushroom but it was dispelled with the scroll.
A further attempt was much better, as there was an Irresistible Force! 5 of the shooters were killed. They passed their panic check easily.
The Squig lobba spat one more of his smaller cousins into the air. This time its aim was true, but at the very last moment the strong wind gale changed the trajectory of the free fall and the squig hit the ground doing no harm to the lucky halberds.
The spear chukka on the right flank shot at the Handgunners and killed 2 of them. The second machine missed the halberds.
Chariot caused only 2+1 impact hits, which was enough to kill a single knight. With no one to hit back - the combat was a draw.
Empire turn 2
The only movement was small pivot of the halberd units.
In the magic phase, August Feuersbrunst tried to cast Second Sign of Amul but it was dispelled.
Cedric Stürmische tried to do the same thing but he was stopped by the shaman that used his scroll.
The remaining canon opened fire at the Night goblin unit in the centre killing 4 of them. 3 more were torn into pieces by the mortar shell that exploded nearby.
Handgunners shot 4 of the spider riders, leaving only the musician alive.
The crossbowmen managed to destroy the chariot, generating 7 hits out of 10 shots!
Then it was time for the Helblaster.
Karl was the youngest of the prentices assigned to engineer Ruther, who was responsible for the garrisons'
Hellblaster. The youngster was fascinated by the machine and loved to simply sit and watch how it was done.
Today, he saw for the first time its' deadly potential.
His face was still red from the excitement after he was allowed to fire the first volley,
which changed the upcoming spider mounted goblins into meat and bones pulp.
— Hurry up, lads! More of those scums are coming! Load the barrels! Ordered Ruther.
Karl run with the new load as fast as he could.
— Be careful boy! screamed the old veteran.
But it was too late. The boy tripped and fell over. The charge flow from his hands and hit the stone on the ground.
It glinted and ignited. This caused the chain reaction and the whole machine exploded killing all the crewman.
The lone spider rider supported by the Big boss leadership and Guzzla’s Backbone Brew passed his morale.
In close combat, the Knights managed to cause a single wound on a chariot. There were no wounds caused in return and goblins failed their brake test. Knights wanted not to chase them but failed their morale. The chariot fled 15 inches and the knights followed. This brought them into the fanatic range, but spinning greenskin was unable to reach them.
Goblins turn 3
Animosity. For the third time in a row, a Night goblins unit consisting of Gherk Rednoze failed their check... To make things even worse, the unit with Giglorr Toyrsta also failed....
The lone spider rider charged the mortar..
The charriot rallied.
The unit in the centre moved forward but it was not close enough to release the fanatics.
The magic phase was terrible, as the only shaman that was able to cast spells was Kusk Da Squigkeepa, who was now a 1st level wizard... He cast Brain Bursta and failed. The second attempt was a success but it was dispelled with dices.
The giant squig choked while he was trying to split at the halberds.
The spear chukka on the right flank managed to kill one knight, the second one missed its target completely.
The Knights once more passed their morale.
This close combat was crucial. If the spider rider would be able to kill a single crewman than he would win the combat and prevent the canon from shooting next turn. If he would break the empire soldiers than he had a possibility to pursue into one of the mages. The goblin and the spiders attacked and.... missed. In return the cannon crewman caused one wound which miraculously was saved. But the goblin lost the combat and failed his break test and fled 15 inches from the machine...
Empire turn 3
The turn started with the Knights deciding to charge the chariot who decided to hold.
The halberds moved slightly forward.
During the magic phase August Feuersbrunst tried to cast Second Sign of Amul and due to misdispel it was a success - 2 re-rerolls were generated. Cedric Stürmische attempt was even better, as it was an Irresistible Force. 1 more re-roll was added to the pool.
Empire artillery contingent started with a cannon, which blasted 6 Night goblins from the unit on the right flank.
The mortar shell scattered and did no harm to closing greenskins.
The Handgunners shoot 3 hooded goblins and the crossbowmen added 2 more to the tally. This was enough to panic them. The unit fled 6 inches.
In close combat, the knights turned the chariot into splinters.
Goblins turn 4
Animosity. Yes, you guessed. For the fourth time, a Night goblins unit consisting of Gherk Rednoze failed their check...
There were no charges to declare. The fleeing unit in the centre continued to run away.
Unit on the right flank wheeled to receive a charge from the knights in upcoming turns.
Giglorr Toyrsta tried to cause some damage. The bound spell in the Itty ring was dispelled. The same happened to the Gaze of Mork. His last try was to cast Brain Bursta. It was a failure...
The squig lobba finally caused some damage - it hit the halberds and 4 of them were killed. Not enough to cause a panic though.
The spear chukka in the right flank managed to kill a knight. They failed their morale but then one of the re-roll dices was used and knights managed to hold their nerves.
Empire turn 4
The knights wanted revenge and decided to charge the spear chukka. Its crew decided to flee. They run off the battlefield and the charge was failed.
The halberds moved forward.
August Feuersbrunst tried to cast Second Sign of Amul but his attempt was countered by the mist of green energy. Cedric Stürmische managed to break through the magic barrier and one re-roll was at the disposal of the Empire army.
The canon shoot again but this time the shell was imperfect, which caused a misfire "3". It was a time for an artillery duel. The mortar aimed at the squig lobba. The distance was guessed perfectly but the wind again tossed the projectile away from the target.
The handgunners had no other target than running away unit of the Night goblins. They killed 1 more of the vile creatures.
The crossbowmen killed another goblin from the second unit.
Goblins turn 5
Yes! Yes! Yes! The unit with Gherk Rednoze passed its animosity test. Hahaha.... I was joking. They failed again...
Night goblins on the right side of the battlefield charged the knights in the flank.
Night goblins unit in the centre rallied.
In the magic phase, Giglorr Toyrsta used the bound spell in the Itty ring but it was dispelled with a single dice. Next, he cast Gaze of Mork and it was a success - it killed a whooping one men from a halberd unit... Brain Bursta was dispelled.
Kusk Da Squigkeepa was next. He tried to cast Brain Bursta but there were two "1"s. The result of the miscast was that he received 3S5 hits and his head exploded...
In shooting squig lobba misfired again with result "3" and remaining spear chukka failed to hit...
Herman von Midwald was sure that he would die today.
He and his brothers from the sacred Reiksguard were sent to watch over the Leitdorf house and there was much to report to the capital. But then the greenskins attacked and their host used this opportunity to get rid of their watchers. "How convenient..." thought Herman during the war council. His unit was supposed to attack the exposed flank of the upcoming horde and then be joined by the halberds led by Otto Lutzen.
The knight didn't like the Leitdorfs' lap dog. He was vicious and sneaky. The total opposition of honour code he was born to follow.
They rode into the battle with sunbeams reflecting on their polished armour.
They broke the first line of greenskins with ease. And were left alone. Unsupported. From his saddle, Herman saw the traitors back away from the fight.
Then the goblins counter-attacked flooding the knights with mass of bodies. Reiksguard fought, killing enemies without mercy. But they were outnumbered and surrounded. The noble sons of the Empire started to die and Herman had to choose between his honour and the possibility to let the Emperor know that he was betrayed. It was one of the most difficult decisions that he had ever made. He cursed.
He cleaved the nearest goblin with his sword in two and tied his horse.
— Brothers! To me! Break the encirclement. Call the retreat!
Even though the goblins did nothing to the knights in close combat, their static combat resolution allowed them to break the knights.
Empire turn 5
There was no need to move anything.
In the magic phase August Feuersbrunst cast Second Sign of Amul and was able to to generate 1 re-roll for future use. Cedric Stürmische tried to cast The Comet of Casandora but failed.
The mortar crew aimed at the Night goblins in the centre. They managed to kill 2 stabba wielding gobbos.
But then the 7 remaining Handgunners once again showed their skill. They were hitting on 5's and still managed to kill 4 more goblins!
The crossbowmen added 2 more and the unit failed a panic check once again...
Goblins turn 6
To my real amazement, the unit with Gherk Rednoze actually passed its animosity test. What timing!
Gherks' body was lying on the ground. Each of his limbs spasms in a different rhythm.
Saliva and remnants of gastric contents slowly flowed out of its jaws. He slowly opened his eyes and raised his head.
The consciousness slowly was coming back to him.
"I am free!" He thought.
"At last! After weeks of pouring all those toxins, I have released myself from the grasp of this demon!".
Gherks' leaned on his hands and tried to raise. His arms were trembling and the pain took the breath away of his lungs. But he was stronger than anybody could suspect.
The unit in the center managed to rally again.
In the magic phase, Gherk managed casted Gaze of Mork on two dices with a result of "11". It was dispelled with 2 dices...
Then he managed to cast Brain Bursta with Irresistible Force and 5 of the halberds were fried by the green energy beam. Which was still not enough to cause a panic check.
The only thing that was left for the greenskins was to shoot with a spear chukka. The only visible target was a canon... so the bolt flew through the air and managed pierced through the luckless crewman.
Empire turn 6
The halberds moved forward to grab a table quarter.
It was time for a magic phase. August Feuersbrunst had a miscast when trying to get the Second Sign of Amul but nothing happened to him. Then the Cedric Stürmische was able to get 1 re-roll for the sons of Sigmar.
All shots were aimed at the goblins in the centre, as they were worth quite a lot of points. But only 2 goblins died and the game ended.
Epilogue
Gherk was running away with the pathetic remnants of the survivors of the once-great horde. Running away was natural to their kind.
Earlier the shaman saw the abandoned headless body of Kusk Da Squigkeepa on the battlefield, which was still guarded by the faithful pet-squig.
Just before everything went crazy he saw the Giglorr Toyrsta who surely was still under the influence of vile entity. He tried to reach him but the damned ummies war machines made it impossible.
So he ran with his kin to the caves. There they will be safe. At least for some time.
They reached the caves just after the dark. Exhausted goblins lied on the ground breathing heavily. They all knew that regaining its’ strength fast is crucial for further survival. When the hunger will hit them, then the weakest ones will be sacrificed that the others could live.
Gherk was walking around the hooded brethren driven by the familiar scent of power. In the next cavern, he saw Giglorr. His body and clothes were covered in drought blood. Mostly not his. When their eyes met Giglorr body stiffen. Like a puppet that has its’ strings strained.
The voice that came from the Giglorr mouth didn’t match the body at all.
— I am impressed, Gherk. I thought that you are simply an addicted idiot.
The aura around Gherks’ body begun to shimmer and pulse.
— I had enough time to pick out your weaknesses, demon scum. I will send you where you came from.
Goblins moved closer to them. They listened, and they reacted. They started to beat with the weapons on their shields shouting "Gherk, GHERK, GHERK!!".
Gherk snarled with satisfaction when he accumulated the raw power into his tormented body.
He raised his hands and released a beam of energy, empowered with hatred. Giglorrs’ body was consumed and incinerated. Leaving only ash and a small, flickering distortion of reality.
— We shall meet once more. Said voice and the shape began to fade away.
FINAL SCORE
Empire 632 (12) : 406 (8) Goblins
Post game
Empire
From the beginning of the battle, I tried to consistently do what I planned before it began. I placed my whole army in one half of the deployment zone so that it would not be scattered throughout the entire battlefield line.
I gathered all the shooting units in the centre, taking advantage of the location of the terrain, and I secured the flanks with melee units.
With this deployment in the first place, I had to shoot all spider troops and chariots because of their high mobility and the possibility of them charging in the second round.
Unfortunately, the dice played tricks from the very beginning of the battle to both of us. In the first two turns, I lost two machines through the misfire on artillery dice and the subsequent D6 roll on the effect table.
The explosion of the Hellbalster in the second round was particularly painful because my opponent was the most afraid of this particular machine and I lost my slight psychological advantage.
The heaven college and the Second Sign of Amul spell are created for the Empire players in mind because it allows us to re-roll D6 dice, which would be very useful to me in both throws on the misfire tables. Unfortunately, my opponent was aware of this and for the first two turns did not let me use it by dispelling my all four attempts to cast this spell.
The crucial moment in this battle was for me when the mortar crew clashed with a single spider rider charging at them. Somehow, he managed to get close enough to charge me.
From the beginning of the battle, I was going to sacrifice the cavalry unit and I was reconciled with this. On the other hand, I didn't like giving my opponent free points for exploding machines. Next time, for 1300 points battle, I have to rethink taking an engineer instead of a captain.
I was happy to play this battle and I am looking forward to the possibility of another clash with the armies led by Kuba.
Unit of the game:
I have to admit that the 10-man crossbowman unit pleasantly astonished me with their performance on the battlefield.
To my surprise, they were very accurate when firing deadly bolts towards the oncoming goblin horde. They proved to be very effective at shooting goblin chariots and are able to destroy such a vehicle with just one salvo, so as efficiently as an imperial cannon!
Goblins
Oh, that hurt... Everything that could go wrong, went wrong. The best evidence was the unit of Night Goblins with the best Shaman on my left flank that failed 5 animosity tests in a row... I have actually failed about 40% of animosity tests... How could I win when the Dice Gods were clearly against me? Actually - I had a chance. Even two.
If I used Backbone Brew to pass panic on 2 Spider Riders that survived the crossbowmen shooting than I would be able to
charge any war machine and then overrun (hopefully) into one of the mages. With this victory would be so much easier...
But yeah... I thought that Ld 8 from the general should be enough...
My magic was poor, due to miscast that reduced level of my shaman. Also Gherk Rednoze was able to cast a spell for the first time on turn 6... The best summary of this terrible bad luck was that one of the Empire mages still had a dispel scroll on turn 6!!!
My shooting was also incredibly ineffective. Spear chukkas did some damage but the Empire passed all their morale checks. Squig lobba managed to kill 4 halberds during the whole game.
Close combat was even worse. Only 2 impact hits on a chariot charging the knights was very poor. But the game was decided when I failed to kill a single crewman with a lonely spider riders musician and lost the break test. This single combat could give me at least a draw. All I had to do was to cause a single wound with 2 attacks…
My enemy, on the other hand, played very well. His army was created with an idea, and he performed his battle plan almost flawless. Two misfires that destroyed the Helblaster and a cannon were almost all the points that I have earned during the battle. So great job Jakub! We will see how it will go when we meet again on the battlefield.
Goblin of the game:
For the first time I had a real problem with this category, as each and every unit had failed my expectations. But the Night Goblins on my right flank actually managed to break Knights. That we're all the points that I earned by myself, so the title goes to them.
