Welcome to my tale! Or, more rightly, the Tale of Heinrich Merowinger, equally mad General to Marius Leitdorf. It was a pick-up game and the points are a little skewed as I had to adjust down from 3,000 to 2,500 on the fly, while my opponent removed a single character I believe from 2,600. It came off about equal at 2,500 in the end. So onto the lists!
The Army of Averland
{ICK}
Heinrich Merowinger (Marius Leitdorf)
Warrior Priest
- Barded Warhorse, Shield, Heavy Armour, Dragonhelm
9 Inner Circle Knights
-Full Command
{GoG}
General of the Empire
- Imperial Griffon, Lance, FPA, Charmed Shield
{S}
Battle Wizard
- Level 2, Lore of Light
30 Swordsmen
- Full Command
{H}
Captain
- BSB, FPA, Enchanted Shield, Dawnstone
40 Halberdiers
- Full Command
{G}
Battle Wizard
- Level 2, Lore of Shadow
30 Greatswords
- Full Command
{K}
5 Knights with Great Weapons (aka Mounted Greatswords)
{C}
Cannon
{HRB}
Helstorm Rocket Battery
The Dwarven Line
{GT}{B}{C}
Grudge Thrower with Rune of Accuracy, Rune of Penetration
/ Bolt Thrower with Rune of hit on 2+
/ Cannon with Rune of Forging
{I}
Dwarf Lord
- Rune of +1 to Armour, Rune of no KB, Rune of Fire
20 Ironbreakers
- Full Command
{OG}
Organ Gun
{S1}{S2}
hero Slayers
{D}
Runesmith
- Rune of 4+ Ward
28 Dwarf Warriors
- Shields, Full Command
{L}
Runesmith
- Rune of +1 Armour, Rune of re-roll armour save
28 Longbeards
- Full Command, Great Weapons
{Q}
20 Quarrellers
- Full Command
{T}
10 Thunderers
- Full Command
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Story
And thus it was that the manic General Merowinger declared war on the Dwarf column who, only a few hours earlier had been kind enough to share some ale with his regiment. In his drunken haze he claimed the Dwarfs were trying to trick him, and couldn't fight fair as they were too short to behead cleanly. Naturally, the Dwarfs took serious offence at his comments, the Lord unaware of Merowinger's reputation of having complimentary insults and generally being dwarfy enough to not have a sense of humour. Once the axes had been raised, the fight was imminent.
__________________________________________________ ________
Deployment:
Deployed my Warmachines for greatest coverage, but failed to notice placing them first meant my opponent could place his own Cannon out of LOS of my own. Infantry set up to maximise Leadership, all in 12" BSB, State Troopers in 12" of the General (Leitdorf, on left-hand side of Knights) as the Greatswords had the Standard of Discipline.
Enemy deployment scattered and spread out, much to my faster army's advantage. Though I questioned he wanted to 'cover both flanks'. Hm.
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Turn 1 Averland
Griffon moved up out of LOS of artillery again by use of large trees, and just over 15" from the Quarrellers. ICK moved up quickly but just enough to keep the Halberdiers within General's bubble, Knights moved to threaten artillery turn 3. Magic came up 8v6 and I managed to cast Melkoth's to lower the Dwarf Warriors I to 1, then tried to cast Pit of Shades but failed on a 13 to cast. Great Cannon cannot fire next turn due to misfire and the Rocket Battery lives up to it's inaccurate name.
Turn 1 Dwarfs
Dwarf lines literally shuffle a little for better lines and charges/charge blocking, otherwise decide to pelt me with missile fire. Damage is minimal, however, and I lose a Knight from each unit and the Griffon General takes a wound from crossbow fire.
Turn 2 Averland
Knights, unlike picture, were out of charge arc for the Ironbreakers. The ICK charge the tower and the Griffon assaults the Quarrellers, everything else moves into position for turn 3 charges instead. Magic was 12v8 and I manage to cast Pit of Shades on the Dwarf Warrior unit, only for it to scatter and only kill a poxy 3 Dwarfs, yeah that was really worth 6 dice. Also manage Timewarp on the Halberdiers to ensure charge next turn and a Shem's on the Organ Gun to no effect. The Griffon General rolls miserably and only manages to win by 1 against the Quarrellers, and they hold easily. The ICK charge in, with a bonus Frenzy from Marius Leitdorf and manage to kill 7 of the 10, losing one in return. Dwarfs still hold, annoyingly.
Turn 2 Dwarfs
The Dwarfs took to the offence and assaulted the Halberdiers, with the eastern Slayer engaging the Griffon General. Shooting fell 5 mighty Greatswords and a second Knight, in combat the Griffon General destroyed the Slayer, while the Griffon itself fell a few Quarrellers and they fled only to be cut down by the chasing Griffon, combat between the Halberdiers and Warriors was not decisive.
Turn 3 Averland
The Knights were still just too far for me to be comfortable declaring a charge, so instead elected to just march right up to the artillery. Probably should have risked it in hindsight, as the next turn they were annihilated, but had been excellent distractions so that's fine. Greatswords charged the Ironbreakers, the ICK could do nothing due to thei stupid General amd the Griffon veered around for potential rear-charges next turn. Magic was quite strong again and I managed Timewarp on the Halberdiers again, and the Greatswords gained a 5+ ward save from the Priest. The Halberdiers butchered the Dwarf Warriors, who attempted to flee but were cut down, the Halberdiers then positioned themselves ready to dual-charge the Longbeards. The Greatswords higher volume of attacks crushed a few Ironbreakers, only to lose a couple in return, there was no way that the Dwarfs were moving, however, and the combat continued.
Turn 3 Dwarfs
Fearing being trapped on three sides, the Longbeards attempted a breakthrough attack by charging the Swordsmen, their only real chance of escape, while the Slayer, unlikely to ever catch up with the mighty Griffon, elected to behead a Battle Wizard instead. The Dwarven artillery finally obliterated the flanking Knights, and sniped the General off his Griffon mount. The Griffon, also taking a wound to a Cannon, decided to go exact revenge however. The Longbeards, unsurprisingly won combat, but not by much and the Swordsmen held fast, thanks to a very lucky hit from the Light Wizard, in a challenge with the Runesmith, that causes a wound through a high re-rollable armour save hehehe. The Ironbreakers were further decimated by the Greatswords, but again were holding on stubbornly, and even the death of the Shadow Wizard to the Slayer couldn't swing the combat.
Turn 4 Averland
Turn 4 came and the Longbeards were in serious trouble, flanked by Halberdiers and rear charged by a very angry Griffon. The ICK again performed excellently and failed to kill the last 2 Dwarfs... Runefang eh? Magic was a non-entity this time and I had nothing to shoot at. The Longbeard combat started poorly, though the Wizard killed off the Runesmith.. yeah I know.. the Griffon fluffed it's attacks and only 4 Dwarfs died while they killed around 6 state troopers in turn. Then came the Thunderstop, 6 frenzied leg swipes later the Empire side had won combat by a fair margin - thanks to flank, rear and charging also, and the Longbeards were annihilated. The Greatswords took out the Slayer and a few more Ironbreakers, losing a couple in return. With nothing left to damage my ICK and still reasonably large state troop blocks, my opponent then conceded the game.
Major Victory for the Empire!
Aftermath
Not expecting Merowinger to display such generalship, nevermind while barely conscious from drinking, the Dwarfs were soundly beaten and the Empire troops looted their camp. Merowinger, the battle now over, reverted from his stern tactical personality to his more genial, if unhinged, self and decided to have a political discussion with a fallen state trooper, a Dwarfen axe and the Griffon newly named 'Anvil'.
Well that was certainly an odd game in terms of dice, Leitdorf's special rule hardly came into play at all except that one turn, but his dice rolls were utterly pathetic after his first swing at the Dwarfs. I certainly didn't expect an unarmed Battle Wizard to defeat a well-armoured Runesmith in a challenge, and neither of our artillery pieces performed very well. My opponent's army was far too spread out, as I had the numerical and movement advantage he would have been safer to castle up, not necessarily along with the artillery, indeed, probably using the watchtower building as an anchor instead. I don't know Dwarf rules too well, but the Dwarf Lord really had no damage output at all, he was reasonably tough sure, but must have cost quite a lot for what he accomplished.
I loved using the Griffon, it's reasonably cheap, pointswise, and at 3k as I was expecting I could fit it, Leitdorf and a Level 4 Wizard in my allotment. I made a foolish manoeuvre with the state troops, having the Halberdiers as a horde would have served better, or even just 7-wide from the start, but their proximity to the Swordsmen prevented this, not a problem in this game but something to keep in mind in future.
All in all I hope you enjoyed the report! (and it took ages to get those pictures :P)
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Originally Posted by SevenSins
just model some trophies on his base (I'm a tad superstitious I know...)
" 
go go 100mm by 100mm!