After disposing of a Skaven list in my first match with my
Orc-heavy army, the Greenskins elected to go pranching around in the forest in search of foes, where they ended up finding some! A Wood Elf army came at them, led by a Highborn flying a Forest Dragon, flanked by two Treemen and two small units of Dryads. In the back were three units of 10 Glade Guards, joined by two Spellsingers of Athel Loren and a unit of Glade Riders. Overhead were three Eagles, two of them carrying Nobles with trinkets and great weapons. An interesting list for certain and I was curious to see how my slow-moving infantry army would be able to tackle a Monster/Skirmishing force.
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| The two armies after deployment |
Things of note:
- Highborn on Forest Dragon - Maybe it was the early threat of boulders and gobbos flying from my artillery in the back, or maybe it was something else, but the Forest Dragon made a long 1st round charge into a Troll that was marching ahead of my Savage Orcs. After smiting the Troll, it had little choice but to overrun into the Savages that were bringing all three of my Orc characters into battle. The next combat would then take place during my round, which if of course any Greenskin player's ideal situation. An overwhelming magic phase against his two hero-level wizards saw my Great Shaman come in with 7 S9 WS10 attacks (Fists of Gork), all my Orcs nearby re-roll their misses ('Ere We Go), while the Dragon attacked with an initiative of 1 (Itchy Nuisance) and re-rolled all its 6's (Gork Will Fix It). The Highborn cried out a challenge but the Orcs merely laughed in return, refusing and gladly moving my Great Shaman to the back ranks, before they (Warboss, Big Boss and all) unleashed on the Dragon. Although the Highborn was carrying a broach that gave it a 3+ ward save until it failed, that happened pretty quickly and the Elf died before he got to swing his great weapon, and the Dragon broke from combat with two wounds remaining, only to be chased down by the eager Orcs.
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| Two flying elves, Highborn and Noble, kill off the Trolls and overrun into the Orcs behind. |
- Black Orcs - While one flying elf proved an easy smash, the second one proved to be a lot more difficult for my Black Orcs, even though this one only had an Eagle as a mount. Turns out the elf was carrying the Dragonhelm for a +2 ward save against flaming attacks, which of course my Black Orcs were equipped with. Although that only can be dealt with a handful of flanking Wolf Chariots, he was also wearing an amulet with a 3+ ward save against non-magical weapons. Even though I charged the elf with a chariot and jumped through him with a Mangler Squig, that pesky elf remained standing on a single wound. It was, however, my tactical shortsightedness that proved fatal, as I elected to go with two handweapons with the Black Orcs to maximize my attacks, hoping for one too many 1's for the anti-flaming save, this allowed one of the Treemen to join the Noble in combat with the Black Orcs having tucked away their great weapons. With low strength against a tough Treeman, the Black Orcs were trimmed down having only inflicted 3 wounds on the behemoth, and they fled with only 4 of them still alive, making rallying difficult. Note to self: If I ever get locked in combat with an anti-flaming hero, always go with the weapons that you intended to use against the regenerating enemy, just in case.
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| Noble and Black Orcs locked in combat, with Chariots and Treemen eager to join in. |
While this was taking place, the second flying Noble was surging around on the other side of my battle line, surviving fanatics and bow fire thanks to yet another annoying ward save, managing to take out my Doom Diver before being locked in combat against my Night Goblin bowmen and their two Shamans, fighting them to a stalemate. Meanwhile, my Great Shaman headbutted both of the Spellsingers to death, stomped one of the Glade Guard troops to a pulp and destroyed a unit of Dryads. The Orc Big 'Uns were resigned to chasing down more pesky Glade Guards, easily shrugging off their arrows on the way there, while my Savage Orcs spent the rest of the battle chasing vengeance a surprisingly evasive Treeman, who wanted nothing to do with my Orc characters and their entourage after having killed off their Black Orcs kin. The second Treeman took two Boar Chariots to the gut, then had a rock lobbed at its head to crush it once it disposed of the chariots. After that, the battle was over, with a Treeman, some Glade Guards and a few Dryads still standing against the Savage Orcs, the Orc Big 'Uns, my Rock Lobber and my three Orc characters. Enough for a green victory, but it got quite close.
