Shaar's Wrath - Ben's Round-Up

So the first part of the Months End games has been played and Ben has successfully defended the Cursed Orb again. Shaar the vampire is in serious trouble now, Mannfred will surely know that he has failed him... Melvin's Wood Elves ran it close and I'll post his round-up of the game when he gets it too me. On with the report:

Pre-Game
 
Mel tried to steal turn 1 and failed on a 5.

Having lost to him recently with a combat army using vanguards and knowing he had to attack me to get the orb I went with a gunline - 4 warmachines and 2 units of quarrelers with two combat blocks and 4 gyros. He went his usual mix of scout / archer units, a big unit of Eternal Guard with stubborn, 3 Treekin, a dragon and rider, 2 eagles , 2 wardancer units, a lvl 4 on life (or whichever the one with dwellers is) . He also had an ambushing treeman and a unit of dryads with another mage in them. Shaar went with a unit of wardancers.


Early game

The dwarf warmachines with help from a brand new master engineer opened up some devastating fire killing the dragon with the first stone from a grudgethrower. The scout archer units were hit hard by organ gun fire whilst the gyros tried to block the eagles and failed miserably with their bombing runs. Knowing he'd place a poisoned wood in the middle of my deployment zone I took the rune of safe passage on my Lord with the ironbreakers and placed them in it safe from the dangerous terrain tests.

He charged in a unit of archers into my organ gun and an eagle into my gyro on the left. His combat blocks moved up towards mine and my quarrelers. He moved his treekin around the right flank slowly towards a unit of longbeards waiting there.

Not much magic the first few turns - I tried to eat dwellers and failed.

His scouts killed my organ gun and ran into my engineer. I sent a second gyro in to help him. My 2nd organ gun kills his other eagle. More fire from all my units thins his combat blocks down further and I start trying to drop grudgethrower rocks onto his level 4 but Look out Sir keeps saving him.

Turns 2-4

I wipe out his chaff (2 eagles, 2 skirmisher units) for the loss of 2 gyros, a master engineer and an organ gun but still have 2 grudgethrowers and an organ gun (all runed up) left and now he has no chaff to throw at them. His 2 units of wardancers with characters charge my 2 units of quarrelers who stand and shoot.

His big unit of Eternal Guard charge my Lord with Ironbreakers frontally whilst his ambushing Treeman who can charge the turn he arrvies!!! charges them in the rear! Ugly! His treekin charge my Longbeards who fear nothing being old grumblers! The longbeards combat res the treekin easily and run them down before reforming. The main combat is my Lord with ironbreakers and runesmith, versus his treeman and Eternal Guard. The ironbreakers and lord outmatch the spearmen (but he keeps getting off the toughness buff on them with stops me tearing through them). The treemans thunderstomps do the most damage. He wins combat 4 or 5 rounds in a row but my banner makes me stubborn.

The big unit of quarrelers wipe out the wardancers and importantly the dragon rider to get all those lovely points! The other quarrelers get wiped out by wardancers with the vamp.

The big play comes turn 4 where my now free gryo flies to his backfield and flames his archer unit hiding his sniper and level 4. It removes enough models so Look out Sir no longer applies. My two grudgethrowers hit perfectly wiping out his level 4 and sniper instantly and killing the last archers. Unbelievably his dryads and caster fail to roll the 3+ ambush roll all game and never turn up! So he's left with only the vampire as a mage on the table.

In the main combat I charge my longbeards into this remaining Eternal Guard flank and he charges them in the flank with his remaining wardancer unit and characters. In the last round of combat we had time to complete my ironbreakers are finally wiped out defending their Lord nobly for so many turns even though they had a treeman in the rear and 3 ranks of Eternal Guard with toughness 5 or 7 depending on buffs pretty much the whole game. Losing the ironbreakers meant my lord was no longer stubborn but thanks to the charge by the longbeards I'm able to wipe out his Eternal Guard and win combat by 3 or 4., 1 of his units with characters in flees leaving the treeman facing my Lord and runesmith and the longbeards about to reform to face the vampire.

Had we played a final turn and his dryads arrived it would have been close as he would have tried to combat res kill my Lord but we had to call it then.

Shaar's Tribulation - 2.0

Shaar knew this wasn't going to be easy... The Wood Elves were capricious and arrogant and would most likely kill any one that even had an aura of evil - he would have to be on top of his game to fool the Elves. But they had a weakness, thanks to the betrayal of Magnar Grimlokson.

Shaar knew he needed to use this happening in his favor and began planning a devious scheme to win the elves over and get them to fight for him without realising their folly, but the Vampire needed to be careful these were not the simple minds of the humans. Shaar began by changing his physical form using dark magics, turning him into one of the fey with flowing hair and blue eyes - he repulsed at the sight of himself and cursed at his plight. He hoped that Nagash would be the first to thank him for his assistance, but deep down he knew that there was a fat chance of that, all the glory would fall to Mannfred and that made his skin crawl with hate.

But he paused and thought about his plan, "Time will show them all", he muttered to himself as he cleaned his grubby face revealing the pale elfish skin beneath.

Shaar had until the next full moon until his transition would falter and disappear so needed to dispose of a Wood Elf to gain the right attire and work on his intellect and dialect - the Bretonnian accent was very difficult to shake even after hundreds of years. But if everything was in place he knew his plan couldn't fail, firstly he needed to track down some Dwarfish armour from the Orb battlefield. His next objective would be to run bloodied and screaming into the Wood Elves encampment, shrieking that his family and brethren had been butchered by the Dwarfs - and that an unknown green ball of energy had disintegrated their fledging outpost.

If all went to plan Loec would be enraged, first by the defiance against his kin and then the memory of the betrayal. Surely even an Elf wouldn't think twice about waging war anew against the Dwarfs, the wounds would still be hurting and fresh. And if they didn't believe him then he would have evidence of Dwarfish armour and steel - and then he would play his part in the battle until the time is right to dissapear with the Orb.

It will finally be his...

The Cursed Orb - Round Up

THE CURSED ORB - ROUND UP

So the Cursed Orb has been found! And found by none other than Ben and his mighty Dwarfs who managed to smite a Scar-Veteran within the Crypt at the last moment. Additionally everybody else managed to get involved as the Orb cast lightning onto the other tables, blowing up units and ruining battle plans... Sorry about that! If anybody has any reports or thoughts about the games that they played and would like to post them here then send them over too me and I'll make sure they're here for everyone to read over. We had three definite players on the Cursed Orb Scenario table, however we had to have a 'General Off!' to determine who else would be joining them as Simon, WillB & Hendrik all had a joint total of 8 Gold. This meant that their finest champions had to fight each other man on man (or Ogre on Vampire), and the victor would make their way to the big game - which left Simon Scar-Veteran victorious as he took no damage and dealt a lot out in return.

THE CURSED ORB SCENARIO - PLAYERS

Ben (Dwarfs)
Spent - 6 Gold

Melvin (Wood Elves)
Spent 15 Gold!!!

James (Dark Elves)
Spent 9 Gold

Simon (Lizardmen)
Spent ? Gold

Ben and Melvin made an allegiance, whilst James and Simon also raised arms together on the other side of the table. The Crypt was placed in the centre of the table and as far as I could tell, all hell broke loose! When the players have done a write up of the game I'll post it here for everybody to read, however in the end Ben's Dwarf Lord Magnar fought long and hard but eventually smote Simon's Scar-Vet down low. The Orb has been captured by the mighty dwarf throng of Grimlokson!!!

Congratulations to Ben, I'm sure the other players will be seeking swift revenge in the weeks to come.

ROAD TO THE ORB SCENARIO - PLAYERS

Francis (Empire)
Spent - 0 Gold

Hendrik (Vampire Counts)
Spent - 0 Gold

Will B (Ogre Kingdoms)
Spent - 0 Gold

Jack (Bretonnia)
Spent - 0 Gold

Sam (Empire)
Spent - 0 Gold

Mark (Beastmen)
Spent - 0 Gold

Nobody spent any gold for these scenarios as it seemed everyone was 'banking' on future games... Could be a beneficial choice, we shall see! We all managed to get 1 game completed, and each of us managed another half a game until we had to head off to the restaurant.

Francis (Empire) vs Hendrik (Vampire Counts)
Francis managed to sniper Hendrik's Vampire on Turn 2. Ouch! Time to crumble away...
Empire Victory

Jack (Bretonnia) vs Sam (Empire)
Knight on Knight action, but the knights in multicoloured fleur de lys won this one!
Bretonnia Victory

Will B (Ogre Kingdoms) vs Mark (Beastmen)
One word... CARNAGE
Beastmen Victory

Hendrik (Vampire Counts) vs Will B (Ogre Kingdoms)
These guys managed a few turns but in the end called it a draw.
Draw

Francis (Empire) vs Jack (Bretonnia)
These guys managed a few turns but as far as I'm aware called it a draw.
Draw

Gareth (Beastmen) vs Sam (Empire)
Gareth took control of the Beastmen with a bit of assistance and we managed two turns before we had to call time.
Draw

OVERALL STANDINGS

Now I'm going off of information that I've got written down so if anything doesn't add up then let me know and I'll make an amendment.

Ben    21   Orb
Melvin    14
Jack    12
Simon    11
Hendrik    11
Will B    10
Will S    10
Mark    10
Francis    8
Sam    4
James    3
Luke    2

Magnar Grimlokson's Victory

Magnar Grimlokson looked out over the carnage. It had been a hard fought victory and the Orb pulsated and crackled in his hands its corrupting power was dissipating around him but he knew it couldn't infect his mind - Dwarfs were not affected by such things. Magnar knew that betraying the Wood Elves was essential, if the Elves had grasped the Orb they would have most likely kept it and eventually lost it to the dark powers, Elves were not to be trusted...

Magnar held the Orb up high, and prepared to smash its delicate frame on the hard earth. "Such a small trinket, such dark purpose - but now it must be extinguished," Magnar said as he closed his eyes and whispered a protective rune.

"Sire," a panicked Dwarf shouted!

Magnar opened his eyes and glared as a thunderous explosion ripped across the ground where one of his Gyrocopters had been grounded.

"Skaven... The true owners have shown their face. Dawi, form ranks and prepare for battle!"

Magnar wrapped the Orb away and unloaded his axe; the Skaven will have to be extinguished before this day was out. How could he have remained blind not to realise that the Skaven had created this device, but why were there other races fighting for its influence. He realised then that these were answers that needed answering and in such dark times, any form of threat could put the Dwarfen race at danger of extinction.

Grimm turned and headed into the fray as his warriors began culling their verminous foes that beset them from all sides. "We will avenge a Grudge today", Magnar grunted.

The Grimlokson Clan - The Players

Army Name:
The Grimlokson Clan

Player:
Ben Farndell

Background:

For generations The Grimlokson Clan have lived worked and fought for the noble hold of Zhufbar. Through times of war and times of prosperity members of the Grimloksons have served their hold with honour and pride. Famed for their ability to fight underground the Grimloksons have contributed many of their number to the Ironbreakers - those dwarfs dedicated to protecting the lower levels of the hold from foreign invaders - and continue to do so to this day. With the underground Skaven threat much reduced of recent years, the famed Lord of the Grimloksons Clan, Magnar, has sought to expand his family's influence by settling more of the land around Zhufbar and perhaps even establish some new trade routes, for the inventions of Zhufbar remain much in demand across the civilised world.

CAMPAIGN GENERALS
NAME: Lord Magnar Grimlokson (Campaign General)
ARMY ENTRY: Dwarf Lord
SIGNATURE ITEM: The Iron Warden (Also known as 'The Dancefloor') - Dwarven Runed Shield
BRIEF HISTORY: Magnar Grimlokson took over as Thane of the Grimloksons some 40 years ago after the death of his father in a battle deep below Zhufbar. Through his innovative tactics both in battle and trade, Magnar won victories and wealth for the Hold. So impressive were his feats that little over 10 years ago the High King himself granted him his Lordship. On becoming a Lord, Magnar thought it befitting that he now be borne into battle upon his shield
 - the Iron Warden - by his young family members Ulf and Dolf Grimlokson. Upon witnessing his first battle so mounted, Ulf quickly renamed the Iron Warden to the 'Dance Floor' in light of some of the unusual moves Magnar performed.

NAME: Thane Rippys Grimlokson (Campaign Lieutenant)
ARMY ENTRY: Dwarf Thane
SIGNATURE ITEM: Armour of Grimlokson - Dwarven Runed Gromril Armour
BRIEF HISTORY: Rippys is the eldest son of Magnar and so rightfully sits as a Thane of the Clan. Regarded by the Clan as less of an innovator than Magnar, he is nevertheless keen to embrace dwarven technology and was the first to embrace clan members joining the famed Zhufbar air corps. A former shield bearer for Magnar, Rippys now proudly carriers the Clans battlestandard (Old Nora) into battle. Outsiders to the Clan have never been able to find out why the standard is named so but speculation is rife that Old Nora - who ever she may be - sacrificed more than one dress in the making of it.

NAME: Calmin Evenforge (Campaign Lieutenant)
ARMY ENTRY: Dwarf Runesmith
SIGNATURE ITEM: Calmin's Amulet - Spellbreaking Amulet
BRIEF HISTORY: Calmin is one of the youngest runesmiths in Zhufbar. He first became noticed by the Grimlokson Clan when doing some work for a senior family member that surpassed expectation. His reputation for outstanding work was sealed when tasked with improving the Iron Warden for Magnar. Through his skill and endeavour he was able to engrave runes that meant the great shield now offered far more protection when stood upon than ever it did held above the chest.

REGIONS
NAME: The Gates of Zhufbar
REGION: Mountainous
REGION RULES: Biting Cold
BRIEF DESCRIPTION
The legendary Torrent Gate of Zhufbar see's mechanised defences steam, blast and detonate any foreign invaders. Death rains from the skies as the Zhufbar Air Corp launch from air pads hidden throughout the mountains.

REGIONS
NAME: The Depths of Zhufbar
REGION: Cavenous
REGION RULES: Under the World
BRIEF DESCRIPTION

In the lower chambers of Zhufbar battle wages as brave dwarfs fight off invaders that have gained access after the ferocious earthquakes from the Time of Woes split the once impregnable hold open. Skaven have made much of the depths their home but many routes in to the underworld still remain to be found and it may be other foes that find them first.

REGIONS
NAME: Sylvanian Forest
REGION: Forested
REGION RULES: Entangled Woods
BRIEF DESCRIPTION

Once the black mountains that home Zhufbar have turned into little more than hills comes the forest of Sylvania. Once a bright and pleasant place the forces of darkness have now made it a foreboding place not beloved of the dwarf folk.