30 Dec 2013
STORM OVER ALBION 5 THE WINTER BITES
Tormerish Dale, the Ogre Bruiser, dragged his great bulk up the hill and saw, at last, the sea. Behind him, the remainder of the warband straggled back to the base of the hill in disarray. The forced march hade been brutal, even for the tough Ogres, but it had been worth it to get off this accursed island.
Or had it? Looking out to sea, Tormerish saw a sail in the distance, a sail sporting the emblem of the Ouroborean tribe. As he watched, the sail dipped below the horizon and out of sight. Was this it? To have struggled this far only to see his hopes of escape dashed? Tormerish looked to the sky and from his throat there escaped a great shout of despair.
With the campaigning season over and the bitter winter approaching, the leaders of the armies campaigning in Albion have been keen to withdraw to sit out the chill in warmer climes. If only it was that easy.
Unfortunately, the rush to find the Gorgoron Bull (Storm over Albion 3), the subsequent fighting (Storm over Albion 4: http://warhammer.org.uk/phpBB/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=84230), and the harsh march to the coast for re-embarkation, resulted in many armies becoming separated with some warbands left behind.
Desperate circumstances call for desperate measures and, in order to ensure survival through the winter, warbands from different factions have joined together creating some strange bed-fellows.
THE CAMPAIGN
Storm over Albion 5 was a short and informal one day, 4 person event using armies composed of 2 different warbands.
WARBAND COMPOSITION
Each warband will be selected to a total of 800 points using the normal rules from the core rulebook:
Lords up to 200 points, Heroes up to 200 points
Core minimum 200 points
Special up to 400 points, Rare up to 200 points
But:
No special characters
A warband may be led by a BSB (see army composition rules)
ARMY COMPOSITION
The army will comprise 2 warbands, ideally from different armies, selected as above. Regardless of the races selected, the warbands will be considered to be trusted allies:
The leader of one warband (not a BSB) will be selected as the army general and all units in the army may use his inspiring presence rule.
All units may use the hold your ground rule from a BSB in a different warband in the army.
Characters from one warband may not join units from the other warband.
Units may cause panic checks in units from the other warband.
Composition rules across the army are:
No more than 2 war machines, or units that shoot like war machines (eg: Hellcannon), in an army.
No more that 3 levels of magic in an army, including units that count as magicians.
Additional rules:
Ethereal creatures may be injured by mundane weapons but count as having a 4+ ward save against them.
SCENARIOS
Game 1: Battleline.
Game 2: Blood and Glory. (The 1st army to break the enemy gains an additional 500 points but the battle continues.)
THE DREGS
The Dregs was my army the dregs of the once proud Chas Warrior and Ogre armies that had campaigned so valiantly earlier in the year but were now stranded as winter hit and had decided to combine their warbands to assist in survival.
Chaos Element:
Plaguefather Nzgob, Level 2 sorcerer of Nurgle on a barded steed. Army General.
Fenrirs Greybacks: 29 hounds - poisoned, vanguard.
Devil Dogs: 5 hounds - poison
Sons of Morr: 6 Knights of Nurgle standard, musician.
Ogre Element:
Tormerish Dale: Bruiser. Army BSB.
Drakeholms: 5 Ironguts - full command.
Galing Gits: 10 Gnoblars - standard, musician.
Iceblast: 3 Yhetees.
Kartadza Killer: Ironblaster.
WHY?
My army was chosen more for an unusual play style than for a realistic chance of winning. I should at least benefit from high speed and an element of surprise not many people will have previous experience of a horde of poisoned and vanguarding warhounds! And Yhetees, when did you last see them in a list?
THE OTHER ARMIES
Paul fronted up with an all mounted Brettonia and Dark Elf alliance, Dan with a Dwarf and High Elf army and Stuart with a double Empire build.
GAME 1 - BATTLELINE
For Game 1, I was drawn against Dans Dwarves and Elves comprising:
Elves:
Level 3 with High Magic, Army General
8 Silver Helms
21 Swordmasters
Eagle
Dwarfs:
BSB
12 Thunderers
18 Great Weapon Armed Hammerers
Organ Gun
Cannon with Engineer
Dan deployed, left to right from my perspective:
Eagle
Silver Helms
Thunderers in building
Organ Gun
Hammerers with BSB
Swordmasters with General
Cannon behind
I deployed, left to right:
Small Hounds
Yhetees
Maneaters with BSB
Knights with General
Gnoblars behind
On the further flank:
Ironblaster
Vanguarding Hounds
I vanguarded my hounds and we were off.
URL=http://s1123.photobucket.com/user/KoshtraBelorn/media/2013%20Storm%20over%20Albion%205/107_zpsb9dfd9a9.jpg.html]
[/URL]
I pushed forward trying to get my large pack of hounds into the flank of the Swordmasters while Dan took some wounds off m me through shooting. The big unit of hounds obviously concerned him and he used magic to blast a heap of them to oblivion but they passed their panic test.
I was really concerned by the Organ Gun that could have decimated my Knights and so tried to draw a bead on it from my Iron Blaster but cunning placement behind a hedge meant that I could not see it and so had to settle for taking a couple of wounds off the Cannon. In the next turn of shooting I was able to hit the enemy General who had left the Swordmasters in order to target the flanking dogs, unfortunately only rolling 2 wounds.
In Dans next turn he again targeted the flanking Hounds, this time panicking them and sending them fleeing for the board edge.
I was now close enough to charge and so what was left of the Ogres went into the Organ Gun and the Knights went into the Hammerers while the left flank small Hounds blocked the Silver Helms.
The Ogres beat the Organ Gun crew to pulp and turned to stare at the Hammerers flank. In the Knight on Hammerer combat, my General got stuck into a challenge with the Dwarf BSB in which neither was able to wound the other while the Knights slowly chewed their way through the stubborn Hammerers.
I charged my BSB and one surviving Ogre into the flank of the Hammerers but they could not fight as the challenge occupied the flank of the combat. In the next turn, Dan charged his Swordmasters into the Knights flank, killing 2 which meant that the Swordmasters were no longer in combat as they were blocked by the flank of the remaining Hammerers, who promptly failed their stubborn break test and fled allowing me to turn to face the Swordmasters who charged in. Meanwhile, a round of shooting from the Thunderers in the building took out the last Ogre, leaving the BSB on his own.
Bizarrely, the right flanking Hounds had rallied and lade their way back towards the sound of gunfire where they took a round of Grapeshot to the muzzle, losing 2 of their number before charging into the Cannon, which had previously destroyed my Iron Blaster in a single hit that resulted in 5 wounds.
In the last turns, the Swordmasters killed my remaining Knights, forcing the General to flee, overran into the BSB and killed him too. The Hounds failed to kill the remaining Cannon crew in combat and were then charged in the flank by the Silverhelms who killed a predictably high number of them. The Silverhelms were also responsible for dealing with the small unit of Hounds the Yhetees and the Gnoblars who had all been fed to them as charge blockers at some stage.
At the end of the game, all that was lefty of my once proud army was the General who was busy fleeing for the hills.
We totted up the scores which were 3,174 to Dan and 964 to me. On the other table, Paul scored 3,599 against Stuart who scored nothing.
GAME 2 BLOOD AND GLORY
On to game 2, this time facing Stuarts double Empire build of:
Arch Lector
Level 3 Mage
BSB
10 Handgunners
16 Handgunners
6 Knights
10 Inner Circle Knights
3 Demigryphs
Hellblaster
Stuart deployed, left to right from my perspective:
Demigryphs
Inner Circle Knights with Arch Lector
10 Handgunners in building
Hellblaster
16 Handgunners with Wizard and BSB
6 Knights
The Blood and Glory deployment rules limited my flanking opportunities for my vanguarding Hounds and I ended up rather compactly deployed with, left to right:
Large Hounds
Knights with General
Ogres with BSB
Ironblaster behind
Yhetees
On the further flank:
Gnoblars in a building
Small Hounds
I did not take so many pictures of this game which swung one way and then the other. My vanguarding Hounds were badly placed and were charged by the Inner Circle Knights which murdered a large number of them although one poisoned attack did get through the Arch Lectors defences. More casualties were caused as the Knights pursued and caught the fleeing Hounds but only by crossing a hedge and failing 3 dangerous terrain tests, including the Arch Lector who suffered a second wound. This over-run also left the unit flank on to the Ironblaster which promptly hit and killed a number of them, including the Arch Lector who failed his look out sir roll.
Elsewhere, the Chaos Knights destroyed the Hellblaster, the Ogres destroyed the larger Handgunners and characters and the Yhetees got into combat with the smaller Knights. This combat went on for several turns with neither side able to cause much damage and the Knights winning on 2 occasions by virtue of a musician in the front rank. Eventually, the Yhetees lost combat and, with the BSB out of range after turning to face the Demigryphs, fled and were run down.
Meanwhile, on the left, my Knights got into combat with the Demigryphs and were killed, leaving the General on his own while the remaining Inner Circle Knights charged into the Ironblaster.
The Inner Circle Knights beat the Ironblaster which fled and was run down, at the expense of yet another Knight failing its dangerous terrain rest, leaving 2.
In the final turns, the Ogres charged the Demigryphs and were in turn charged ion the rear by the small Empire Knights. The 2 remaining Inner Circle Knights charged the Gnoblars in the flank, losing yet another to the dangerous terrain of the forest on the way in. The one remaining Knight whiffed his attacks but still won combat and ran down the fleeing Gnoblars.
In the centre, the combat did not go well for the Chaos and Ogre alliance which lost heavily on combat resolution and both the Ogres and the General fled and were cut down. With only a small unit of Hounds remaining, we called the game.
Stuart scored 3,970 to my 1,078 points.
On the other table, Pauls cavalry army got the first turn and was quickly upon Dans army, destroying the Dwarf and Elf alliance in quick time for a 4,000 to 375 point win.
THE FINAL RECKONING
The final scores were:
Paul: 7,599
Stuart: 3,970
Dan: 3,549
KB: 2,042
And so victory went again to Paul, winner of Storm over Albion 4. The others retired to lick their wounds and plan revenge in the next campaigning season.
Tormerish Dale, the Ogre Bruiser, dragged his great bulk up the hill and saw, at last, the sea. Behind him, the remainder of the warband straggled back to the base of the hill in disarray. The forced march hade been brutal, even for the tough Ogres, but it had been worth it to get off this accursed island.
Or had it? Looking out to sea, Tormerish saw a sail in the distance, a sail sporting the emblem of the Ouroborean tribe. As he watched, the sail dipped below the horizon and out of sight. Was this it? To have struggled this far only to see his hopes of escape dashed? Tormerish looked to the sky and from his throat there escaped a great shout of despair.
With the campaigning season over and the bitter winter approaching, the leaders of the armies campaigning in Albion have been keen to withdraw to sit out the chill in warmer climes. If only it was that easy.
Unfortunately, the rush to find the Gorgoron Bull (Storm over Albion 3), the subsequent fighting (Storm over Albion 4: http://warhammer.org.uk/phpBB/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=84230), and the harsh march to the coast for re-embarkation, resulted in many armies becoming separated with some warbands left behind.
Desperate circumstances call for desperate measures and, in order to ensure survival through the winter, warbands from different factions have joined together creating some strange bed-fellows.
THE CAMPAIGN
Storm over Albion 5 was a short and informal one day, 4 person event using armies composed of 2 different warbands.
WARBAND COMPOSITION
Each warband will be selected to a total of 800 points using the normal rules from the core rulebook:
Lords up to 200 points, Heroes up to 200 points
Core minimum 200 points
Special up to 400 points, Rare up to 200 points
But:
No special characters
A warband may be led by a BSB (see army composition rules)
ARMY COMPOSITION
The army will comprise 2 warbands, ideally from different armies, selected as above. Regardless of the races selected, the warbands will be considered to be trusted allies:
The leader of one warband (not a BSB) will be selected as the army general and all units in the army may use his inspiring presence rule.
All units may use the hold your ground rule from a BSB in a different warband in the army.
Characters from one warband may not join units from the other warband.
Units may cause panic checks in units from the other warband.
Composition rules across the army are:
No more than 2 war machines, or units that shoot like war machines (eg: Hellcannon), in an army.
No more that 3 levels of magic in an army, including units that count as magicians.
Additional rules:
Ethereal creatures may be injured by mundane weapons but count as having a 4+ ward save against them.
SCENARIOS
Game 1: Battleline.
Game 2: Blood and Glory. (The 1st army to break the enemy gains an additional 500 points but the battle continues.)
THE DREGS
The Dregs was my army the dregs of the once proud Chas Warrior and Ogre armies that had campaigned so valiantly earlier in the year but were now stranded as winter hit and had decided to combine their warbands to assist in survival.
Chaos Element:
Plaguefather Nzgob, Level 2 sorcerer of Nurgle on a barded steed. Army General.
Fenrirs Greybacks: 29 hounds - poisoned, vanguard.
Devil Dogs: 5 hounds - poison
Sons of Morr: 6 Knights of Nurgle standard, musician.
Ogre Element:
Tormerish Dale: Bruiser. Army BSB.
Drakeholms: 5 Ironguts - full command.
Galing Gits: 10 Gnoblars - standard, musician.
Iceblast: 3 Yhetees.
Kartadza Killer: Ironblaster.
WHY?
My army was chosen more for an unusual play style than for a realistic chance of winning. I should at least benefit from high speed and an element of surprise not many people will have previous experience of a horde of poisoned and vanguarding warhounds! And Yhetees, when did you last see them in a list?
THE OTHER ARMIES
Paul fronted up with an all mounted Brettonia and Dark Elf alliance, Dan with a Dwarf and High Elf army and Stuart with a double Empire build.
GAME 1 - BATTLELINE
For Game 1, I was drawn against Dans Dwarves and Elves comprising:
Elves:
Level 3 with High Magic, Army General
8 Silver Helms
21 Swordmasters
Eagle
Dwarfs:
BSB
12 Thunderers
18 Great Weapon Armed Hammerers
Organ Gun
Cannon with Engineer
Dan deployed, left to right from my perspective:
Eagle
Silver Helms
Thunderers in building
Organ Gun
Hammerers with BSB
Swordmasters with General
Cannon behind
I deployed, left to right:
Small Hounds
Yhetees
Maneaters with BSB
Knights with General
Gnoblars behind
On the further flank:
Ironblaster
Vanguarding Hounds
I vanguarded my hounds and we were off.
URL=http://s1123.photobucket.com/user/KoshtraBelorn/media/2013%20Storm%20over%20Albion%205/107_zpsb9dfd9a9.jpg.html]
[/URL]I pushed forward trying to get my large pack of hounds into the flank of the Swordmasters while Dan took some wounds off m me through shooting. The big unit of hounds obviously concerned him and he used magic to blast a heap of them to oblivion but they passed their panic test.
I was really concerned by the Organ Gun that could have decimated my Knights and so tried to draw a bead on it from my Iron Blaster but cunning placement behind a hedge meant that I could not see it and so had to settle for taking a couple of wounds off the Cannon. In the next turn of shooting I was able to hit the enemy General who had left the Swordmasters in order to target the flanking dogs, unfortunately only rolling 2 wounds.
In Dans next turn he again targeted the flanking Hounds, this time panicking them and sending them fleeing for the board edge.
I was now close enough to charge and so what was left of the Ogres went into the Organ Gun and the Knights went into the Hammerers while the left flank small Hounds blocked the Silver Helms.
The Ogres beat the Organ Gun crew to pulp and turned to stare at the Hammerers flank. In the Knight on Hammerer combat, my General got stuck into a challenge with the Dwarf BSB in which neither was able to wound the other while the Knights slowly chewed their way through the stubborn Hammerers.
I charged my BSB and one surviving Ogre into the flank of the Hammerers but they could not fight as the challenge occupied the flank of the combat. In the next turn, Dan charged his Swordmasters into the Knights flank, killing 2 which meant that the Swordmasters were no longer in combat as they were blocked by the flank of the remaining Hammerers, who promptly failed their stubborn break test and fled allowing me to turn to face the Swordmasters who charged in. Meanwhile, a round of shooting from the Thunderers in the building took out the last Ogre, leaving the BSB on his own.
Bizarrely, the right flanking Hounds had rallied and lade their way back towards the sound of gunfire where they took a round of Grapeshot to the muzzle, losing 2 of their number before charging into the Cannon, which had previously destroyed my Iron Blaster in a single hit that resulted in 5 wounds.
In the last turns, the Swordmasters killed my remaining Knights, forcing the General to flee, overran into the BSB and killed him too. The Hounds failed to kill the remaining Cannon crew in combat and were then charged in the flank by the Silverhelms who killed a predictably high number of them. The Silverhelms were also responsible for dealing with the small unit of Hounds the Yhetees and the Gnoblars who had all been fed to them as charge blockers at some stage.
At the end of the game, all that was lefty of my once proud army was the General who was busy fleeing for the hills.
We totted up the scores which were 3,174 to Dan and 964 to me. On the other table, Paul scored 3,599 against Stuart who scored nothing.
GAME 2 BLOOD AND GLORY
On to game 2, this time facing Stuarts double Empire build of:
Arch Lector
Level 3 Mage
BSB
10 Handgunners
16 Handgunners
6 Knights
10 Inner Circle Knights
3 Demigryphs
Hellblaster
Stuart deployed, left to right from my perspective:
Demigryphs
Inner Circle Knights with Arch Lector
10 Handgunners in building
Hellblaster
16 Handgunners with Wizard and BSB
6 Knights
The Blood and Glory deployment rules limited my flanking opportunities for my vanguarding Hounds and I ended up rather compactly deployed with, left to right:
Large Hounds
Knights with General
Ogres with BSB
Ironblaster behind
Yhetees
On the further flank:
Gnoblars in a building
Small Hounds
I did not take so many pictures of this game which swung one way and then the other. My vanguarding Hounds were badly placed and were charged by the Inner Circle Knights which murdered a large number of them although one poisoned attack did get through the Arch Lectors defences. More casualties were caused as the Knights pursued and caught the fleeing Hounds but only by crossing a hedge and failing 3 dangerous terrain tests, including the Arch Lector who suffered a second wound. This over-run also left the unit flank on to the Ironblaster which promptly hit and killed a number of them, including the Arch Lector who failed his look out sir roll.
Elsewhere, the Chaos Knights destroyed the Hellblaster, the Ogres destroyed the larger Handgunners and characters and the Yhetees got into combat with the smaller Knights. This combat went on for several turns with neither side able to cause much damage and the Knights winning on 2 occasions by virtue of a musician in the front rank. Eventually, the Yhetees lost combat and, with the BSB out of range after turning to face the Demigryphs, fled and were run down.
Meanwhile, on the left, my Knights got into combat with the Demigryphs and were killed, leaving the General on his own while the remaining Inner Circle Knights charged into the Ironblaster.
The Inner Circle Knights beat the Ironblaster which fled and was run down, at the expense of yet another Knight failing its dangerous terrain rest, leaving 2.
In the final turns, the Ogres charged the Demigryphs and were in turn charged ion the rear by the small Empire Knights. The 2 remaining Inner Circle Knights charged the Gnoblars in the flank, losing yet another to the dangerous terrain of the forest on the way in. The one remaining Knight whiffed his attacks but still won combat and ran down the fleeing Gnoblars.
In the centre, the combat did not go well for the Chaos and Ogre alliance which lost heavily on combat resolution and both the Ogres and the General fled and were cut down. With only a small unit of Hounds remaining, we called the game.
Stuart scored 3,970 to my 1,078 points.
On the other table, Pauls cavalry army got the first turn and was quickly upon Dans army, destroying the Dwarf and Elf alliance in quick time for a 4,000 to 375 point win.
THE FINAL RECKONING
The final scores were:
Paul: 7,599
Stuart: 3,970
Dan: 3,549
KB: 2,042
And so victory went again to Paul, winner of Storm over Albion 4. The others retired to lick their wounds and plan revenge in the next campaigning season.