Laura and I played a quick game of Warhammer Fantasy (6th Edition this time) to try out my newly painted (by Lukes APS) Empire army.
I came up with a quick story for the scenario:
The Empire had recently cleared a path through a section of the Reikwald Forest between Grunburg and Auerswald, with the intention of making the journey between Altdorf and Ubersreik more expedient. The Emperor had plans to pave it eventually, but before these plans were put into motion Ubersreik had called for aide - greenskins were rampaging towards the city from the Frugelholm mountains and the Ubersreik soldiery were already under great stress and insufficient to defend the town from organised assault.
Emperor Karl Franz dispatched troops from Altdorf to help reinforce Ubersreik. A vanguard detachment was sent first to secure the route and inform the von Jungfreuds of Ubersreik that reinforcements were coming.
Meanwhile, deep within the Reikwald Forest, the Yndan Wood Elf community was furious. The Empire had made a pact with the Yndan Deep Council not to cut any further swathes into the dark woods they called home. The pact was a mere 200 years old and the Reiklanders sought to betray it already. It was outrageous! The felling of tress around the small human communities was tolerable, but this mindless destruction of such a huge section of the forest was unthinkable.
Iriel Kinstalker, the most vocal and militant of the Yndan Asrai had had enough. She gathered a group of her most trusted glade guard and deepwood scouts and set out to mete retribution upon the humans of the Empire.
***
Karl Vorstadt - captain of the Altdorf Vanguard 1st Company - ordered his men to continue their march. They were 3 days away from Auerswald and the woods did not look inviting. The sooner they got through these accursed woodlands, the better.
Beginning deployment.
We played on a 3x3 board, and we deployed within 8" of each edge. Laura's Deepwood Scouts (6th edition version of Waywatchers I think) could deploy further into the board as infiltrators, but she chose to keep them in the wood. Her archers could shoot at up to 30" range, which is pretty much the entire board, so it was in her interest to stay in cover and unload as much as possible.
Empire Army:
1x Captain w/ magic Amulet (6+ Ward Save)
10x Militia w/ pistols & hand weapons
10x Ironside Handgunners w/ heavy armour & handguns
10x Greatswords w/ heavy armour & greatswords
Wood Elf Army:
1x Waystalker Captain w/ trueshot arrows (ignores cover)
15x Glade Guard w/ Asrai Longbows
5x Deepwood Scouts w/ Asrai Longbows
Empire Objective: Get as many men off the other side of the table as possible.
Wood Elf Objective: Kill as many Empire soldiers as possible.
We would compare her kills to my number of soldiers who'd left the board. Whichever had the highest number would be declared the winner.
Altdorf Vanguard deployed and ready for battle
Superb paintjob by Lukes APS
Glade Guard archers and Waystalker captain hiding in the woods
Deepwood scouts in the woods at the other side of the road
Laura went first and was immediately in range of my forward troops due to her Asrai longbows. She had a penalty for shooting at such long range, but she also fired double shots and with two ranks due to various Wood Elf special abilities. This meant my poor Militia had to deal with 30 shots at 4+ to hit & 4+ to wound in the first turn!
The Militia are cut down by multiple volleys of arrow fire
Only two stout lads remained, but luckily they were inspired by their captain to stand firm
The Militia managed to resists fleeing immediately, but only because the Captain was nearby and encouraged them to remain steadfast.
"We can take these elf mongrels!" he shouted, "Flee, and they'll attack your loved ones next!"
The Vanguard move out.
The Greatswords march towards the Deepwood Scouts.
The Ironsides position themselves on the hill and ready their guns.
I figured if I could use the militia and Captain to distract the Glade Guard for a few turns, that should give the Greatswords and Ironsides enough time to kill the Deepwood Scouts and escape through the right-hand side of the forest.
Another turn of withering arrowfire.
The glade guard managed to resist temptation to shoot the militia and targeted my greatswords instead. The heavy armour protected them fairly well, but three of them fell to the elf arrows. Meanwhile the deepwood scouts attacked the ironsides and managed to claim a couple of their lives too.
Finally the Waystalker snapped off shots at the militia, and killed another one of the poor lads.
The last militia continues on, intending to avenge his fallen comrades.
The Ironsides steady themselves and fire at the elves, targeting their leader.
I was just in range of the elven captain with my Ironsides, and because I was on a hill it meant I could fire with both ranks, so I unleashed the power of blackpowder on the Asrai commander and she was struck with multiple lethal rounds!
Iriel Kinstalker falls to the might of Imperial steel.
The greatswords charge the deepwood scouts.
The Greatswords were finally able to charge the elf scouts, and lost another man to their swift blades (the elves strike first due to cumbersome greatswords & higher initiative).
However most of the Scouts were subsequently sliced down by the zweihanders. Both sides steeled themselves and remained in combat for another round.
The last militia and Captain Vorstadt charge the glade guard.
Captain Vorstadt and the militia fought as bravely as they could, but their numbers were so dwindled that it was a hopeless battle. They died valiantly, and managed to take three of the elven archers with them to Morr's Garden.
The glade guard move out of the woods, intending to get a better shot at the Ironsides.
The greatswords finish off the last of the deepwood scouts.
The greatswords finally managed to defeat the scouts, but the deadly elves cut down another one of their number in the process.
The handgunners fire more volleys at the glade guard, but fail to hit.
The elves retreat back into the woods, still firing shots at the Ironsides.
At this point I realised I could have my greatswords leave the board, but there's no way the Ironsides would survive with so many archers still trained on them. So I looped my swordsmen back round and attempted to get a charge in on the elves. I knew that if they survived the initial attack from the elves I would have a very good chance of winning the combat and forcing them to flee.
The Ironsides struggle to remain calm, and almost retreat off the board when another of their number is slain!
The greatswords make one last valiant charge.
The elves were prepared for the lumberfoots, and cut them down with their elven steel before the greatswords even knew they'd engaged the enemy.
Unfortunately for me, the glade guard managed to cut down all but one of the greatswords in their initial turn of combat. The last survivor gave it a good attempt, but only managed to best one more elf.
With the Ironsides struggled to mantain morale, and the greatswords decimated, I decided to concede. The elves won, and not a single Altdorf soldier managed to get to Ubersreik! the von Jungfreuds would be furious, and tensions between the free town of Ubersreik and the capital of the Empire would only heighten as a result.
The victory for the elves came at a heavy price, their beloved captain Iriel Kinstalker had been killed by the evils of human industry, but they had successfully delivered a message to the Empire that the wanton slaughter of innocent trees would not stand.
