Battle report: Might of Empire vs. the Ogres of the Snowy Mountains
I recently defeated a friend who plays ogres with my current list; I practically ripped his regiments apart with bullets, cannonballs and spells. Now hungry for revenge, he demanded a rematch, confident in his new tactic: Wave after wave of muscle and flesh!
As can be seen in the picture, he had learned from his mistakes, and instead of spreading his force he hid his elite behind cheaper Bulls. I decided early on not to try and shoot him down before he got to me, as that would not succeed. Instead, I opted for a more cunning plot and deployed more or less like I normally would.
As the opponent still only had one Butcher, I felt confident in my magic, and rolled two magic missiled from Death Lore for Teppo Tulipallo, my lvl 2 wizard, and all but Shades of Death and Unseen Lurker (the best ones!!) from shadow to Timo, the Wizard Lord.
The ogres won the roll for first turn (just like last time) and there we went!
1. Turn
The steady advance of the ogres was met when - to the dismay of the Ogre Tyrant - the human regiments marched to meet him, accompanied by a lethal volley of cannonballs and bullets, felling down three Bulls and an Irongut! Meanwhile Pegasus Bill landed behind the ogre line, shooting a wound on an Irongut with his pistol! Magic did absolutely nothing on both sides, with the first spell cast my Empire Wizards being a miscast that shut the magic phase down - luckily dispelling an ogre RIP-spell that slipped trough during their turn.
Things were looking fairly good, with one regiment of ogres practically gone, but the batle was far from won.
2. Turn
It was time to roll for two Gorgers - and sure enough, both creeped up from their hidingplaces to appear just behind my cannons and handgunners! The Ogres launched a couple of charges against flagellants (too far away) and greatswords (whose detachment took a counter-charge against the ogre’s front).
Ogre magic fizzled, but as the Leadbelchers - who had risen to the hill in front of the Greatswords - opened fire, five gallant warriors were blasted to Valhalla!
The Bulls hit hard, but not hard enough to break the human line supported by their Battle Standard, and were soundly defeated, ashamed and trampled upon by the skilled swordmen.
Empire’s turn! Even though Pegasus Bill failed to carry his duties, the Greatswords did not, and charged valiantly against three Ironguts and the Ogre Battle Standard! (This is where I had second thoughts about the plan, as I had only aroun 13 Greatswords and a mounted BSS alive to challenge 12 unit strength worth of fear-causing muscle and steel).Flagellants charge the lone surviving Bull, who baited the frenzied lunatics. On the hill, the other Greatsword unit drives the Leadbelchers away. Some manouvering by handgunners - the other unit reforns a rank against the close-by Gorger, while the other unit relies on Teppo and Timo to save them, and open fire on far-away Gnoblars.
Again, magic proves useless, partially because of a stupid decision to cast Creeping Death on a Gorger (never try that one at home, kiddies!).
The desperate cannon crews take their last shots: While one manages to cause one wound against a Gorger, the other one jamms at a crucial time. Some Gnoblars die to handgun bullets, while at the other flank Crossbowmen shoot an ogre down and drive the rest of the unit away. Hurrah!
The turning-point of the battle arrives early, as a smallish unit of Greatswords with BSB engages three Ironguts and their BSB - succesfully. While the Greatsword champion sacrifies himself to keep the Ogre hero busy, the Captain leads his men to kill an Ogre - and to cause an excess wound on another one, winning the fight. The Ogres refuse to give ground, and the battle continues.
3. Turn
Ogre’s third: Fleeing ogres rally and Gnoblars decide to bicker while under enemy fire. Frustrated by being blocked by a fleeing fellow ogre and a detachment, the Ogre Tyrant charges! The Gorgers follow the example, and attack cannon crews.
Their magic being shut down by Teppo and Timo, and their shooters re-loading, it’s time for hand-to-hand action! Ogre Bulls dish out a bucketfull of dice, but fail to cause more than a few wounds, and are broken and trampled over by Empire warriors.
The wounded Gorger manages to drive it’s prey away, but the other is met by furious struggle by the crewmen of the other cannon, and is stuck. Meanwhile the key fight of the battle - Greatswords versus Ironguts - is resolved in Greatswords’ favor, as the Ogre hero whiffs it’s attacks and the faster-than-an-ogre -Greatswords cut down another Irongut. The Ogres break, and the humans overrun into a Butcher, who ventured down a wrong lane - the pursuit lane. The Tyrant’s Ironguts charge an unlucky detachment, and after a quick dismembering the Ogres overrun into Flagellants.
On the hill, the Swordmen detachment, ”those dashing, heroic figures” make a daring charge against the Leadbelchers: Out of nine men, seven are killed in a hail of various metallic bits, but encouraged by the Imperial Banner, the two survivors engage the Ogres. Pegasus Bill hunts down the surviving fleeing Ogre Bull, and on the hill Greatswords advance. Seeing their religious brothers being massacred by the foul ogres, the other Flagellant warband reforms into a huge front, ready to dish out some righteous penalty.
Magic goes back to miscasting, this time only forbidding Teppo from casting for the remainder of the magic phase. Timo causes an odd wound on a Gorger, and that’s it.¨
The shooting phase sees only misses by Crossbowmen, and some wounds on Gnoblars.
In close combat phase, Greatswords rudely slay the Ogre Butcher, and pursue to the edge of the world. Tyrant and it’s possé devour 13 flagellants in a turn in revenge! Not enough to overrun, though. The courageous two swordmen are eaten alive by the Leadbelchers. The Gorger finishes it’s crewmen treat.
4. Turn
At this point, the battle was somewhat decided allready. There was no chance the Ogres could *really* pick up the pieces any more. What followed, was a crude underlining of this by fate, as the dice turned badly against the Ogres.
Gnoblars kept on bickering. A gorger charged the ranked-up handgunners. Leadbelchers charged the Greatswords on hill, who stood their ground. Failing to cause enough wounds, they were defeated and driven away. Meanwhile the Tyrant mauled the last two flagellants, and the Gorger stuck on handgunners.
In return, the other, WIDE flagellant unit charged the Tyrant’s unit, which fled - and threw double 1’s as their fleeing distance! 500 or so points were picked up from the table. Magic killed a Gorger, while on the flanks more wounds were dished out by the shooters.
In close combat, the Gorger continued to struggle with the handgunner unit.
5. turn
The last thing that remained, was for Battle Standard and Captasus to make a combined charge against the Gnoblars, drive them away and the battle was over. A crushing victory to Empire.
-- AFTERTHOUGHT --
First of all, it is damn slow to write a battle report! Second, I have a serious problem against Fear with my list (a single bad combat turn and that would have been it). Third, there’s a certain advantage to be gained from an enemy that tries to use shielding units in front of other units. This time I went for the option of advancing, but at a great risk. Luckily, my trusted Greatswords made hits and wounds.
Mielestäni ne ei oikein kuitenkaa sopinu tähän englanninkieliseen tekstiin, mutta eipä sekään haitannut juuri.
