The Swindon 2007 Warhammer Fantasy Campaign

Paul Nettle (Dwarfs) vs Derek Whittenbury (Orcs & Goblins)

Derek had cleverly tricked me into thinking his army was mainly Goblins, so my Warriors dropped their Great Weapons – only to find themselves facing two tooled up units of Orcs! I took two Bolt-Throwers in case Derek had a Giant, and 10 Rangers to take out the Fanatics early.

Dwarfs

General, Runesmith, Hand Weapon, Gromril Armour, Shield. Runic Talisman, Master Rune of Balance.

Thane, BSB, Hand Weapon, Gromril Armour, Runic Standard, Rune of Determination.

23 Dwarf Warriors, Shields, Full Command

23 Dwarf Warriors, Shields, Full Command

10 Handgunners, Shields, Musician

10 Handgunners, Shields

10 Rangers, Great Weapons, Shields

17 Slayers

Bolt Thrower, Rune of Penetrating, Engineer, Brace of Pistols

Bolt Thrower, Engineer, Brace of Pistols

Flame Cannon

Aftermath

Well, after a very strange game, the Orcs & Goblins got 772 Victory Points to my 692 Victory Points. It was a draw.

My left wing hardly moved, after superb shooting killed the Giant and fled two opposing units. My two Warrior units braced for the Big Uns charge, but as the Big Uns failed animosity test after animosity test I elected just to shoot at them – an error, as it turned out, because I couldn’t get them below half strength, and then my Flame Cannon blew itself up on my last turn, gifting Derek 140 points!

Just as my left wing shooting was very lucky, the right wing was just the opposite. The Thunderer’s failure to kill many Spider riders left the Spider Riders free to flank and over-run my missile units. The Bolt Thrower with the Rune of Penetrating would have destroyed the chariot if it had rolled anything other than a ‘1’ on Turn 2, and the General would then not have been able to destroy the Slayers.

Derek also had terrible luck. His Shaman miscasting on Turn 1 (on just two dice!) meant he couldn’t cast anything for the rest of the game. His four (yes four!) failed animosity tests for the Big Uns relegated his hardest unit to the role of spectator. The final ignominy was my Flame Cannon overshooting the Night Goblins and hitting the Orc Boyz unit, panicking them off the table! However, my shooting did make the Night Goblin keep their distance, and I never found out if they contained Fanatics, one of the units I really fear.