Here at c0wabunga towers our second Warhammer Renaissance campaign is underway. Like the first campaign, it is played loose but tight… just like Led Zeppelin. We improvise the story against a backdrop of our choosing.

The story so far

The Chaos Lord Kreothul had been constantly eyeing the southern lands below the Chaos Wastes. He wished bring his armies south to reclaim the Dark Throne which resides in the mountains north of the Troll Country. In the Battle at The Skalle Pass, however, Kreothul was called to fight for the powers of Chaos somewhere else and his whole operation was surrendered to the Dragon Ogre Shars’ka.

In the second game, Shars’ka lead the army onwards still going to the South. He ran it into a Dwarf ale festival. The Dragon Ogre decided to make a statement and kill and the Dwarfs and take the ale for himself. It was a hard fought battle – the Dragon Ogre was severely wounded by the Dwarf king, and all the ale was spoiled.

While the Dwarfs were taking a beating, Kaptain Kroog, the notorious Orc pirate, had been en route to steal their ale himself… When the Orcs saw smoke on the horizon and ran in to vanguard Chaos troops they decided to double back like rats fleeing the sinking ship. This forced them into contact with a couple of Norsca border patrols, which was the basis of game three.

The revenge of the Goblins

Unlike the Pirate Orcs, the Night Goblin Shaman Lord Gaggalak did not fear Chaos. He knew that the Chaos armies often acted more like a big storm than a strategically logic force. They would most likely sweep through the area and lay waste to everything in their path, but not leave behind much to hold their positions. Hence, this was the perfect time to exact a justified revenge on the pesky Dwarfs of Karak Skak Arak. Many times in the past had the Dwarfs taken their aweful hammers to the Goblin holds and killed Gaggalak’s brethren. But now, the moment of sweet revenge had come. The Goblins would defecate in the halls of the Dwarfs and wipe their butts with the draping.

Meanwhile at Karak Skak Arak the Dwarfs were licking their wounds and slowly rebuilding the buildings and defences that were torched by the Chaos army. The Dwarfs are inherently mistrusting and also tactically proved. Therefore they knew that they were vulnerable to attack by fortune seekers, such as the nefarious Goblins of the north. The Dwarfs had ordered part of their able bodies to form a defence perimeter somewhat away from the hold, and let the Dwarf women, younglings and elders handle the rebuilding. This proved to be a very smart move, and allowed the Dwarfs to meet the oncoming Goblin horde head on.

Scenario

We played “take the centre” from the rulebook with 12” deployment from each long board edge. This scenario lasts 5+ turns, and the army with the most scoring units within (not wholly within) 6” of the centre takes the objective (=half of game value in points). Scoring units are infantry/cavalry units of at least 5 bodies.

Armies

I don’t have the Dwarf armylist, but you can more or less see the whole deal on the deployment map.

The same goes for the Goblins. The had dragged along some wild Orcs and a Shaman (lvl 2) as well as an Orc Boar Rider Warlord carrying Morghor the Mangler. Each Night Goblin regiment contained 2 fanatics and one of the fanatics in the spear unit had Mad Cap Mushrooms. Mmmmm yummy! Gaggalak (Shaman lvl 3) joined the arrow Gobboes. Story wise Gaggalak is the leader of the force, but within the confines of the rules the Orc Warlord is the general.

Deployment

The battle

I actually don’t remember who won the roll off to start… but the armies immediately raced towards the centre, completely as expected. The Goblin cunning was immense. Unit moved in strict military fashion, left and right. Surely Gaggalak had some cunning plan!

The Dwarf shooting soon started taking its toll on the poor Goblins. The illustrious Orc Warlord decided that maybe getting into bed with a Goblin dominated force was a bad idea, and started fleeing the table after losing a few of his Boar Boyz. Luckily the Dwarf Flame Cannon was not very effiecient. It misfired in the first turn, but had a rune of “let’s say that wasn’t a real misfire” so worked again in turn two.

The Night Goblin spear regiment lost the battle plan on the way and had placed themselves close enough that the Dwarf Hammerers would release their fanatics… with a nice solid below standard 6″ on both they failed to hit anything.

The Goblin schemes slowly unfolded. By the Winds of Magic the Wild Orcs were transported into the rear arch of the Dwarf hammerers.

In fact the whole army was now in motion and the “deciding charge” was set in. The Savage Orcs charged teh Hammerers from the rear, while the River Trolls charged them from the front. Surely this would end the small fatties. The Night Goblin spears had intended to join the fight, but the Fanatics changed their direction and moved directly towards them instead… which stopped them in their slippers.

Often Warhammer boils down to a decisive charge/turn. This was no different. And of course, it turned out I had steered the trolls into the only unit in the Dwarf army with a character dealing 1d6 Wounds to multiwound creatures… Regeneration saved the Trolls for 1 turn of fighting, but he would hammer them for sure. The combat was not won as decidedly as I had hoped, and the Hammerers stood their ground.

From here it was downhill for the Goblins. The regiments started running left and right, however a fair few Dwarfs were also killed.

The Orc Warlord eventually came around to fighting, and mauleod the Dwarf Warriors (probably after a direct hit from the Rock Lobba made them an easy target).

Eventually the Trolls were killed, the Savage Orcs fled, and luckily the Dwarfs didn’t run them down. There were only 3 Hammerers remaining and the Giant charged into them killing them all and overrunning away from the fight.

At this point most of the Goblin army was running away… including the Giant who got scared because the Savage Orcs were killed (I think). With nearly everything on the run and a leadership of 6 (the general was far away) I thought the game was over.

BUT… to my amazement I managed to my one Goblin unit, the Arrer Boyz and the Giant back on track. A Fanatic had badly mauled the Arrer Gobboes, but they were still scoring. In the final turn I managed to charge the Ironbreakers with the Giant and kill enough to cause a tie on the objective!

The hitting power of the giant (2d6 S7 hits….. !) is IMMENSE. But sometimes it really doesn’t work. But this day he saved the game from defeat and forced a MAJOR DRAW!

Conclusion

This was an awesome battle. It went to the very last figure almost, and all moves counted! Goblins are very difficult to master, but I really like this aspect of not being entirely in control. Fanatics are really a double edged sword, and I swear they always kill more of my own models than of the enemy’s.

My plan is to strengthen the Goblin army with a few more Night Goblin units (Squigs, Hoppers, more Gobs) and then go full Goblin.