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Riders of the Storm vs. Boss Waaaaaagh!! Okay, this is my first ever Fantasy Battle Report. It was also my first ever Fantasy game without a referee. I tried my best to do the rules from memory, so it's possible I overlooked something. Here's what the forces looked like: Riders of the Storm Setup is 18" apart, with the Big 'Unz and Boss across from the knights and the Exalted Champion. After the roll off, Chaos takes first turn. The Knights with the Exalted Champion wheel and move to the right flank, while the other Knights move straight forward at a trot. The Orcs, seeing the impending charge, hold in place. The Knights with the Exalted Champion move further out and wheel toward the flank of the Big 'Unz, but are out of charge range. The other unit of Knights wheels and charges into the Big 'Unz. After a series of sad rolls, one horse kills an Orc and Boss BigOrc kills a Knight. With a standard and outnumbering and ranks on their side, the Orcs break the unit of Knights, forcing them to flee. The Orcs lumber after them ineffectually. Now, their appetite whetted, the Orcs move forward to get to grips with both squadrons of Knights. They fail their charge by a hair, and wait for the response. The fleeing Knights rally, while the Exalted Champions' unit moves forward and charges the Big 'Unz in the flank. A challenge rings out and the Exalted Champion cleaves Big BossOrc in two, while his Knights take out 3 Big 'Unz and their horses kill two more. With no one to fight back, the Orcs flee and are cut down as they run, leaving the Knights to charge into the side of the other Orc unit. Caught unprepared by the sudden flank charge, the Orcs can do little but fight. The charging Knights strike down 2 and the Exalted Champion takes 3. (For once, the horses do no damage!) With no one to fight back, the Orcs run like the wind. The Knights, tired after their previous pursuits, give chase but do not catch them. The next turn, the knights that fled turn back toward the combat. The Knights with the Exalted Champion charge the remaining Orcs. The Orcy musician manages to get the unit calmed down enough to fight. Although the Knights kill 2 Orcs and the Champion takes down 2 more, the Musician keeps the Orcs fighting.The Knights and champion (and their horses, of course) take down 6 more Orcs, but the musician stubbornly refuses to yield (the reroll netted them a 2, exactly what they needed to hold.) The 2nd squadron of Knights moves into position for a supporting charge, while the combat continues. The Knights and their horses wipe out the remainder of the Orcs, and the Champion surveys the field, victorious. Wow! That totally did not go the way I expected. When the first squadron failed it's charge, I thought the game was over! I learned quite a bit from this game. One surprise was the impact of a powerful unit. That squadron with the Exalted Champion did so much damage on the charge that there was rarely anyone to strike back, leaving them intact for the whole game. Even without getting both units into combat at the same time, the chaos forces still steamrollered the Orcs. It would have been a different story if I had done a frontal charge, however. I think the two biggest surprises, though, were how important Movement and Morale are to Warhammer Fantasy. Movement. When I failed the charge with the Exalted Champion's squadron, it left the other squadron high and dry against the Big 'Unz. After they fled, the squadron had to take a turn to rally, then a turn to turn around, then a turn to move back to the battle. That squadron was effectively removed from the game! (gone for 3 turns of a game that only went 5 turns.) Morale. Even when few casualties were caused, things like ranks and outnumbering made a big difference. Alternately, when ranks were taken away by a flank charge and there were lots of casualties, the Orcs were rolling on some very low numbers (a 2 on the penultimate turn) to stay in the game. I can see I'm going to have to adjust some of my plans for Fantasy, based on this battle. Well, until next time, stay alert, trust no one, and keep your laser (crossbow?) handy. If you enjoyed this, email me and let me know |