Warhammer! (Part 2)

Time for some photos and a quick summary of the second Warhammer game against Matt from the other weekend.

For this one, we rolled up a different scenario, getting 'breakthrough'.  I rolled to be attacker - but somehow an all cavalry army trying to breakthrough a wall of spears seemed a bit too obvious, so we switched roles.  Matt would need to get a specific points value of troops into my deployment zone by the end of turn six.

I would need to defend with a mobile force.  My battle plan was simple, advance hard and try to pin his troops away from my deployment zone until time ran out.  I deployed either side of the central temple and kept my two units of Pistoliers in reserve.

 

 

Matt's infantry advanced on my left, obscuring the view of his bolt thrower, a problem that would persist throughout the game (well, it was a problem for him)!

 

 

 

Matt's impact hit rolls were a bit better this time.  A charge from a chariot and the dragon princes saw my Knights Panther break, and the Dragon Princes overrun into the Reiksgard. 

The Pistoliers tried to buy time for the Panthers to rally.  They didn't last long.

 

This feels familiar... 

 

 

I ended up getting charged more than doing the charging, which is not good for cavalry. 

A series of unfortunate break tests and poor rolls for fleeing finally put paid to my chances.  Combined with a very stubborn eagle that took ages to die!

 

By turn six, there was just one lonely pistolier marksman flying the flag for the Empire, but even he couldn't stem the tide and bought it at the last minute

 

"Where'd all the humans go?"

 

Looks pretty bad doesn't it?  Not a great advert for using cavalry to fight a defense.  Well, yes and no.  While the result may be indisputable, Matt was only able to get sufficient scoring units into my deployment zone in the very last turn.  If the dice gods had smiled in my direction a bit more, if a couple of units had held for another combat turn, who knows? 

 

Don't get me wrong, Matt won fair and square by marshalling his forces well and keeping his eye on the objective, but that's how the best games of Warhammer should play out - tight until the very end. 

Will I try an all cavalry army again?  Probably, it was fun and presented some interesting challenges.  It was unusual facing high elves and having less units to activate for example!  It's also got me thinking about other interesting list combinations, and the role of magic in my army (the battle wizard did nothing, again).

Oh, and here's Matt's bolt thrower crew walking off in disgust at not even getting a single shot off ;-)

Warhammer!

Weekend before last I managed to get a hall pass to go out and do some honest, face to face gaming with my mate Matt.  What with Covid, travel, work, and Matt being a new dad, we worked out that we hadn't met up for a game in five years, so it was good to catch up and get the toys on the table.

We decided on Warhammer Fantasy Battle, mutually agreeing on 6th edition as the joint favourite and the one we are both most familiar with (I'd have gone with 3rd of course, but we only had a day to get a game in...).  Matt took his wonderfully painted High Elves.  I of course brought the Empire but, in a change from my normal 'balanced' list, decided to make the most of all that cavalry I have been painting over the last 12-18 months, and took an entirely mounted army, scarping together every mounted unit I had.  I had no idea how it would perform, but it looked pretty awesome, if I say so myself!

 

Briefly, here was my list:

• Grand Master 
• Captain with Battle Standard (full plate, barded warhorse)
  
• Warrior Priest (heavy armour, shield, barded warhorse) 
• Level 2 battle wizard (barded warhorse, law of beasts)
  
• 10 Inner Circle Knights
• 12 Knights
• 8 Knights Panther
• 6 Reiksgard Knights
• 6 White Wolves (Inner Circle)
• 5 White Wolves

I took no magic items at all, spending all my points on good honest human flesh and steel.

I don't have Matt's list but, from memory, it contained:

• Two Princes
• An Archmage
• 3 units of 15 spearmen
• 10 archers
  
• 3 chariots
• 1 unit of Dragon Knights
• 2 Great Eagles
• Bolt thrower

Matt's a great opponent.  He has played competitively (which I don't), but is never a rules lawyer, and he likes experimenting with interesting lists, but they're never as gamey as well hung poultry.

I didn't keep notes, so this will be edited highlights with pictures, rather than an AAR.  I should also give a shout out to the venue, 'Boards and Swords' in Derby.  I'd not come across them before, but it's Matt's 'local' these days.  Well worth a visit of you find yourself in Derby. 

GAME 1 - PITCHED BATTLE

 

First game was a Pitched Battle.  I rolled 'initiative', but took a risk and allowed Matt to go first.  Matt called it a 'brave' choice, given I had no shooting, but I was trusting to all those 2+ saves, and wanted to force him to commit those chariots, which were my biggest worry.  Id' say it paid off, I took a few casualties (mainly pistoliers on the left flank, which at least protected the White Wolves and battle wizard), but he did show his hand with the chariots and Eagles. 

 

I scored an early success when the pistoliers on my right flank destroyed a chariot with a fusillade of well placed pistol shots, which then allowed them to break through and threaten the bolt thrower (assisted the White Wolves chasing off one the eagles, just visible in the photo above, hiding behind the woods). 

 

On my left, the small unit of White Wolves did a pretty good job of holding up another chariot (Matt wasn't having much luck with his impact hits, and my save rolls were on fire).  He made good use of the spell 'Unseen Lurker' to add his 'hero killer'  Prince to the melee, who challenged my wizard to single combat.  I attempted to cast the Bear's Anger, badly.  At which point the wizard politely shoved the First Knight in to do the job for him instead.  Of course this was all going one way in the end - the wizard was eventually kaput without successfully casting anything, and in the end the one remaining knight (the standard bearer) fled.  I like to think he was 'returning the standard' (or as much as he could cling on to, at least) to the chapter house...  But they had done their job and slowed up the action on the flank for a fair few turns.

 

"I've just remembered an appointment to get my beard trimmed!"

The big action was all in the middle, where my bigger units of knights clashed with chariots and spear-elves.  The smaller units of knights panther and Reiksgard advanced right out there, forcing Matt to either charge with his Elves or be charged in the next turn.  He went with the aggressive option, hoping to break the Reiksgard and Panthers with impact hits from the chariots, but it was not to be, which allowed the 'purple' knights (which contained my heroes) to charge in the next turn. 

 

A series of increasingly complex melees ensued, with charges, counter charges, flank attacks, fleeing, pursuing into new units and so on.  

 

Spear Elves and a chariot try to break the Panthers

A five-unit combat! Note my Grand Master (front left in the 'purple' knights), 

conveniently located where he can't do a damned thing ('doh!')

 

 

The inner circle knights fail to catch a chariot while pursuing, 

but pile into more spears instead

 

 

Although eventually wiped out, the Reiksgard bravely held the left centre from flank charge

(spot the feet of the Archmage at the top, hiding in the woods) 

  

Eventually, thanks to a combination of heavy armour to soak up the blows from being charged, and frequently outnumbering the smaller Elven units, the pressure from the knights told, and the Elf centre crumbled and (mostly) fled.

An attempt to relieve the pressure through a charge from the Dragon knights was blocked by a largely unscathed unit of knights (just behind then in the above photo is the Grand Master and Inner Circle knights reforming after a pursuit, which would prove relevant at the end...).

While on the right, the bolt thrower had disposed of my last pistoliers, but now found itself the wounded antelope in a David Attenborough documentary, caught between panthers and wolves (alright, I know you wouldn't find those two predators together, but cut me some slack, I'm trying my best!).

 

It was looking good for the Empire, but Matt had one last sneaky trick up his sleeve.  His Archmage, who had been hiding in the woods, had enough dice for two spells.  'Steed of Shadows' put him in striking range of my General's unit, and 'Creeping Death' then inflicted enough hits (with no chance to use those lovely 2+ saves) to cause a panic test.  Which I failed of course, resulting in them fleeing off the board with my general and standard bearer!  Veteran players may now be going 'hang on a moment?'... Yes, I know, I'll get to that.

I had done enough damage that was still a win for me, but a minor rather than solid victory.  At which point I remembered that the Grand Master and the unit he is with are Immune to Psychology and don't take panic tests !!! (told you I'd get to that).  Ah well, it was my job to remember that, and a win is still a win.  Just a reminder though that I'm a bit rusty (it has been five years you know!).

All in all a thoroughly fun game.  I think both of us were surprised at just how resilient the knights were in long combats due to those armour saves; although I don't know how they would manage against larger units that had the benefit of greater rank and outnumbering bonuses.  The pistoliers were brilliant or awful as usual (but such fun), and the Knights Panther defied the rule of newly painted models by surviving to the end.  

 

My magic phase was pants throughout the game.  My wizard was useless, not getting a single spell off.  My Warrior Priest managed to cast the prayer 'Hammer of Sigmar' (re-roll failed rolls to wound) just once, but I promptly forgot to apply it! if I used this list again I think I would swap him for another warrior priest (for the dispel die) or a captain.  I can't say I really missed taking magic items either.

We played a follow up game but, as this is quite a long post already, I'll save that for another day!

Knights of the White Wolf

Work on the old school Empire Knights continues, this time a small unit of Knights of the White Wolf, Templars of the Cult of Ulric.  A much smaller unit that the knights Panther, but still took a while with all the interruptions of Christmas - my painting area had to returned to its original purpose of a dining table!

I have painted a unit of White Wolves before, converted from the plastic knights kit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/the_grey_area/602634864/in/album-72157594344276325/

As with the Reiksgard and Knights Panther, I wanted to reflect the 'classic' paintjobs, but in my own style.  Here's how they looked on the cover of the box when released under 4th edition Warhammer.

I decided I wanted to go with the very white pelts, which fits the name and the look of actual Arctic Wolves (which ironically are smaller than their other wolfy brethren), and the darker armour.  I was unsure about the red horse armour; the only other time I have done completely coloured armour was for my daughter's 'blue knight'.  I also find large areas of red challenging, and I found the original colour too bright.  In the end I decided to try it out as a challenge, and use a darker shade of red.  The white hammer shafts were right out though, they look ridiculous!  

I don't quite have one of each model produced.  Whereas most of the knight ranges consisted of a Grand Master, standard and two 'trooper' models, the white wolves had three basic models.  I still need to source the one holding his hammer two handed (I've already done the Grand Master in my old unit).

 

 

 The old GW models look to have been painted in a shade of dark grey, but I wanted to stick with metallics.  The look I wanted was of armour that had been well cared for but still exposed to the elements.  Historically 'munition' type armour was often heat treated, making it darker, and/or rubbed with grease of lanolin to protect it from tarnishing.  The result is a dark metal, with a hint of brown.  To achieve the effect I started with a black undercoat, then basecoated with GW Boltgun metal.  To this I applied washed of Nuln Oil and Agrax Eartshade.  I then used Vallejo Chainmail Silver to highlight any parts of the armour that would rub and wear.  The unpainted parts of the horse armour were treated the same way but without the Eartshade, so that it would look subtly different.

The barding was, in theory, simple.  I used Vallejo Game Colour Red Gore for the base, highlighted with a GW red.  What I hadn't accounted for was putting thin red onto a black undercoat!  It took around half a dozen coats to get even coverage on the large areas.  On the neck of some models it actually helped to develop shading, so pros and cons overall.

The standard is scanned and printed from the original White Dwarf article, as with the other units.

Pretty pleased with the result overall!

Next up I think will be a nice simple single figure as a 'palette cleanser'.