Battle report - Goblins and Dwarves

[Luddite]

Tonight we took Warband out for a spin, with an enjoyably chaotic result.

http://luddite1811.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/warband-hill-dwarves-vs-goblins.html

[Upgraydd]

Great report, it really gave a feel for how the game flows. How long did it take to complete? Could you post a list the Warband compositions?

Cheers

[jambo1]

Nice report.

[Techno]

Great report.....Great pics !
Cheers - Phil.

[AndyT]

Excellent report - inspiring !

[jchaos79]

Yep, great battle, a litttle chaotic as you said.

Damage markers also took my eye while reading your report....  I should take a bunch of them.

I am still waiting to arraive my copy of warband (some books I like them in paper no ebooks), an for curiosity, can you tell us the probabilities of orc moving, because they were freeze in the first stages of the batltle.

[Bodvoc]

Great battle report, sounds like a really fun game.

[Nosher]

Nice one Luddite. My pre-planning had the two armies down as pretty similar - clearly I was mistaken!

[brothercrow]

Orc movement, or lack thereof, was down to my dice rolling and nothing else. Two turns trying to move a battleline, two dice per turn, zero successes (4+ was needed), followed by two turns rolling for each unit individually......a dozen or more dice per turn, in the first, not a single success in my main line, and only limited success in the following turn.........It was spectacular....!

Great game though, very enjoyable.....I went with a plan and it worked!

[Luddite]

Great report, it really gave a feel for how the game flows. How long did it take to complete? Could you post a list the Warband compositions?

Cheers

It took about 2.5hrs.

The hill dwarf list is up, i'll sort out the goblins asap.

The write up was a bit rushed last night so i'll review the blog post and add in some detail sometime today.

[Luddite]

can you tell us the probabilities of orc moving, because they were freeze in the first stages of the batltle.

Should be around 50:50.  2d6 needing 4+ on each die. 

As Brothercrow (my opponent) said, his Motivation dice rolls were terrible!  He ever poured most of his command points into the rolls but fo a good couple of turns nothing moved!  Fortunately when the fighting started, his dice perked up a bit and he did some terrible damage to my units!   

[Luddite]

I went with a plan and it worked!

Care to elaborate on the plan old chap?   

[brothercrow]

Well, the plan was a cunning one....as cunning as a fox who has just been appointed....well....you know the rest...

My army composition was the best Leader and Shaman I could take, 5 x Warriors (all fierce), 2 x Wolf Riders (Skirmishers), 1 x Scout (Skirmisher) and 1 x Giant. The plan was, rather than pump Command Points into hits/saves, instead use them to rally broken units, keeping them on the table, thus not losing too many points. The Shaman just had to get into range, roll a 5 or 6 for his magic points, then unleash the Consuming Rage Spell to soften the enemy, before charging in, hopefully with the Surge of Savagery spell if I could roll the points at the right time (which I did).

It seemed to work pretty well, I burned out my Shaman with the CR spell, but kept him on the table using command points. I used the Giants to distract the opponent and force him to commit troops, or ignore the threat. He committed, and the giants broke, but again I was able to rally him. The 6+2 command points meant i was able to rally broken units and keep them on the table once or twice a turn.

When the Surge spell was cast, I managed to get all bar two units into combat and used the command points to target weakened units, my Shaman adding to the combats by positioning himself on a hill, thus shooting over everyone to do maximum damage where possible.

It was a different take on the army, where I deliberately didn't take any shooters (though I forgot that scouts could shoot during the game) as they would be outshot by the dwarves, and using the Commander in a different way, away from the front line (thoughpart of that wasn't choice, he had to retreat when shot at), but primarily to rally was a change from the games I have tried in the past. A successful formula, but one I may not get away with again as Mr. Luddite will no doubt be working out ways to counter it.

Great game, finished in two and a half hours, and tense right up to the last bound.

[Luddite]

I think that's a sound tactic - relying on the inherent strength of your warband's units, and using the command as a rallying point.  Very sneaky!

It did the job too!  My dwarves were far too defensive, and the plan to use shooting to try to win doesn't work.  You have to have melee units able to press on into the enemy, beat them toe-to-toe and then crucially, stay close enough to stop the opponent rallying them (or simply running the routed units down and destroying them).

My archers did a LOT of damage, but as i sat back, the goblins had an open backfield and plenty of space with an exceptional quality Chieftain to rally his routed troops back into the fight.
Whereas, the goblins did something similar with reanged magic, but followed that up by charging in with fierce troops...my backfield was shut off, and my routers cut down by pursuits...dwarves are tough, but not that tough!

Aye, great fun and wildly different tactical options available to each army.  I was beaten by better tactics!

I think i'll be investing in some gyrocopters, and hoping that my opponent doesn't have bows...

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Top report boys!
Thanks for all the dissections and feedback too