Fantasy action

                                                   Undead v Dwarves 300 points 

With all the new rule sets we have been playing of late I decided that this weeks game would be a fantasy affair using the quick and easy Warband rules. I decided to field a Undead army which would do battle against my dads Dwarf army. 

The armies consisted of: x 2 Undead warriors, X 1 Undead riders (skirmishes) X 2 Zombie hordes, X 1 Scrubs, 1 X Undead Catapult, Nexromancer and Undead Lord (powerful/regeneration). The Dwarves had X 5 Warriors (steadfast) X 1 Troll Slayers, X 1 Hounor Guard (steadfast) 1x Dwarf cavalry and a Exceptional Dwarf commander.

The battle lines advanced towards each other 

In the opening moves I utilised the commander to move my troops as a group move, it can be painfully slow going trying to get the undead army up into combat, especially when there are hills and fields hampering your progress. This was probably my first mistake as I had positioned my catapult behind the hill, the idea was to get it on the hill so it would be in a position to have a good field of fire. However  I couldn't get it to move more than once so I wasted a good couple of turns when it could have been firing. When I did get it into position the catapult caused severe damage onto a Dwarf warrior unit, but after this most of the Dwarves managed to get into combat so my targets were limited much to my frustration, oh well lesson learned!

The much under used catapult, when it did shoot it showed its potential to devasting effect with the added help of the commanders points.

The dwarves are ready to charge as the scrubs eye the badly wounded warrior unit which has just suffered from a almighty rock landing amongst there ranks 

The Dwarves hurl abuse at there foe under the watchful eye of their commander aloft on his throne.

With the initiative this turn the dwarves are Unable to contain themselves and charge the line of undead, however despite having the bonus of the charge the undead line held firm with the Undeadlord particularly fighting well. However these bearded folk were made of stern stuff and been steadfast they refused to give ground.

Try as I might I could not break the Dwarf warriors who had suffered at the rock of the catapult. The scrubs charged over and over again but I couldn't get the one remaining hit I required to rout them, even with the added help of some magic from the necromancer. The Skelton riders joined the melee  and were in turn counter charged by another drwaf warrior unit. This multi combat turned into a fight of nutrition as both sides just couldn't get enough hits to rout or destroy there foe as the combat lasted the entire of the rest of the game. The undead Lord eventually managed to retreat the troll slayers but the undead warriors in support crumbled to dust as there last casualty was reached. The other undead warriors were also forced out of the combat leaving the undead Lord,at least at the moment fighting on his own.

Gaps start to appear in the battle lines as units are pushed back from the fighting.

The Dwarf baby horses ermm sorry cavalry move around to support the warriors who have just charged and forced the necromancer to retreat opening a gap in the undead line.

At this stage of the game I charged as many of my troops as I could into combat. Right along the line most of our units were in combat. However a combination of some fine dwarf armour protection and my necromancer not getting enough magic points to cast his combat boosting spells onto the undead units saw me unable once again to cause any panic in the dwarf line as another of my warrior units crumbled to dust. The honour guard and troll slayers pushed back both my units on the far right side of the hill as my right flank started to look very vulnerable.

All out action as both armies are locked in a swirling melee across the entire front line

The troll slayers look to meet a fitting doom they fight against the ranks of the undead

The combined fighting power of both the troll slayers and the Hounor guard over powered and destroyed my zombie horde and pushed back the undead warriors. With this result the slayers managed to charge into the flank of my Undead Lord who was already locked in combat to his front. This sparked a series of charges as my necromancer and warriors charged to help the Lord in a desperate struggle to try and tip the balance of the combat. In return the hounour guard charged into the melee in what was a series of charges counter charges and flank attacks.

The big melee in the centre, if the Undead Lord was to be defeated it would surely lead to the final destruction of the undead force.

Still on the my left flank the scrubs and riders continued the fight against the stubborn dwarf warriors, two of the three dwarf units were now  down to one final hit point but I was unable to inflict the required damage to rout the units. A zombie horde also managed to keep the dwarf cavalry and warriors locked in combat for a number of turns 

The dwarves King charges into the Undead Lord in a challenge to the death

Despite the best efforts of the troll slayers and the challenge from the Dwarf King, the Undead Lord holds his own and survives to continue the fight as his powerful attacks inflict damage onto the King.

With this turn completed we had ran out of time and the battle had ended in a stalemate. The Dwarves were definetly holding the upper hand at this point and I don't know how much longer the Undead Lord could hold out before he would be destroyed . His destruction would have been the final nail in the coffin ( ha no pun intended ) and my army would have crumbled. Although I hadn't manage to destroy any dwarves units they far from had it their own way as the fact a number of their warrior units were down to their final hit. It was good to have a game of Warband again and get out the fantasy armies, always makes for a nice change from historical periods.

The final battlefield position

Fantasy game, Vampires v Woodelves

The weekend saw my dad and I return to a bit of Fantasy wargaming with a game of Warband pitting my vampire army against my dads Woodelves. The game was close for long parts, but in the end the Woodelves got the upper hand as my dad just seemed to rally his troops at just the right time. When my army was broken a quick scan of the battlefield showed that a number of Wood elves units were down to their final point of morale. Another really fun game using these rules and we both definetly now  that our battles are becoming a lot more tactical. Here are some shots of the action.

Tree Ents who are as tough as,and a unit of spears taking refuge in the comfort of the woods

My Gargoyles managed to quickly get around the elves flank and launched a charge at a unit of Spearmen 

However the Spearmen win the combat and tne Gargoyles fall back as the unicorns move into the fray.  The dire wolves also made an appearance onto the elves flank.

Slowly the Mummies and Thralls move towards the hill line

Werewolves hunt for in the woods for the elves kin.

The Werewolves charge from the wood into a unit of archers, as the Vampire Lord leads by example and charges into a unit of elve Spearmen 

This was were the thick of the action was to play out. The werewolves would destroy the archers but the Gou,s fighting along side were to be early destroyed. The Vampire Lord won his combat

With the Gouls destroyed the Stag riders and Spearmen have the initiative and make there charge first into the werewolves rear. The unicorns and Gargoyles both join into the combat with the vampire Lord.

The Tree Ents make hard work of the thrall archers before finally coming out on top

The mummies join the fight to lend there muscle to the combat against the unicorns

After finally destroying he werewolves to tree Ents and stag riders flank a unit of thrall warriors

To little to late as my vampire Lord wins his combat and pursues into the highly weakened elf Spearmen.

The final positions on tne battle field as the Vampire army defeated.

First class transport for the vampire Lord

Here is my Vampire Lords base for my Vampire Warband army compete with a black coach and accompanying vampire bride. Not the best light available when I took the pictures but you still get a good idea of how it looks. The model is by Pendraken 10mm and is very nice model indeed. Might have to purchase another one for my Napolionics although it won't be accompanied by ghosts and spirits :)

Find the Prize Undead v dwarfs

I decided to pick a 500 point Undead army to take on my dads drawf army on Sunday in a find tne prize scenario. The armies were as follows,

Undead

X 4 Warriors (2 with water walkers ability)

X 1 Zombie horde

X 1 Necromancer D6

X 1 Undead Lord D6 (powerful/regenerate ability)

X 1 Dire Wolves

X 1 Spirt Host 

X 1 Ghoul unit

Drwafs

X 5 Dwarf Warriors (resolute ability)

X 1 Dwarf Lord D6+2

X 1 Boulder elements

X 1 Bezerkers (troll slayers)

X 1 Noble riders

My dad chose 3 hills and I elected for 2 marshes and a rocky area. I managed to roll 2 6's so lost a marsh and the rocky area. Only one hill was deployed on my side of the table with two hills and a marsh ending up on my dads right hand quarter with another hill to the left flank. All these areas had markers put on them to represent their could be treasure in this area. My dads army deployed all their strength on the hills with only the noble riders opposing my spirit host ready to race to the hill to check out if their was any plunder to be had on the hill to the left. 

The dwarfs won the initiative and advanced straight onto the hills to check the hidden markers, the very first roll saw my dad roll a 6 on discover the hidden treasure....not good for the undead as I would have to march across a hill and marsh just go reach the drawf battleline who were at full strength lined on a hill and resolute, this would be a tall order to defeat for any army! The cross on the hill marks the treasure spot.

The spirt hosts had used their fast movement to threaten the dwarf flank o the noble riders charged them along with the troll slayers who had become impetuous and stormed into combat at the first opportunity obviously keen to die a glorious death. However not wanting to be out done the dire wolves sensed blood and they also charged into tne combat after becoming impetuous. 

The undead horde using their Lord to move them due to their slow movement rate ground to a halt when they reached the hill, they remained here for three moves after three failures by my Lord. Luckily I managed to move into range of the objective on tne fourth time of asking as I would have lost the game if they hadn't as the draws would have been in control of tne treasure after 4turns.

The combat between the ghosts and noble riders swings to and fro as does the dire wolves and trollslayers. A warrior unit comes to tne aid of tne troll slayers and manage go rout tne dire wolves although I did manage to rally these in tne next game turn.

After beating tne dire so,vets the warriors Perdue into the ghouls who prove to be more than a match for the drawf warriors. A second unit enters the combat to help (the single dwarf represents the units hero) but still the Gouls stand fast with the aid of my Necromancer who was rolling well on his magic points, so I was able to boost the protection and melee attacks of the units involved in the combats. The troll slayers down to one morale point started to retreat away from danger.

After what seemed an age tne skeleton warriors finally launch a charge against tne dwarfs on the hill although each Attack which I launch us repulsed time after time although the undead Lord and warrior unit start to win their combat, but tne dwarfs been resolute ment I couldn't shift them off the hill. Good command rolls for tne best part of God game allowed my dad to save most of tne hits I managed hi inflict onto tne warriors.

The Dwarf Lord charges into the Zombies as the gouls still hold tne dwarf warriors. The Necromancer goes behind tne dwarf lines where he manages to fire a magic bolt at the troll slayers who had become impetuous again and had charged towards the Necromancer in the process routing tne unit from tne board.

A magic spell from tne Necromancer sees tne dwarf Lord struggle to inflict any sounds onto tne zombie horde as tne unit starts to regenerate its fallen warriors in true undead style.

With the undead line repulsed tne dwarfs take the initive and charge into tne repulsed undead units. The bolder elements destroy a undead warrior unit.

After destroying one warrior unit the boulders charge into the flank of another warrior unit who are also destroyed as they are alredy fighting to their front with tne dwarf warriors protecting tne treasure. There was no way I could claim tne objective now do I was goingo have to try and break the dwarf army to claim victory

The Necromancer changes his target after frazzling the troll slayers and starts to turn up tne heat on a unit of warriors.

Pretty much the who,e game these two units fought in melee to a stalemate although come th end of e game tne noble riders were down to one wound and just about ready to break.

The drawf Lord becomes bogged down with the zombies and he is joined in combat by a unit of drawf who had routed tne dire wolves foe a second time. By this stage my Ghpuls have been destroyed too.

The Undead Lord finally breaks a unit of dwarf warriors and pursues and destroys the unit before the dwarf warriors over come the magic Attack against them and charge tne Necromancer who somehow hold his own in combat.

The bolder elements after destroying its second unit of Skelton warriors turns and charges another in the flank. Somehow my dad manages to miss with all his attacks in this combat so the skeleton warriors although down to one life hold,  the dwarf warriors on the hill suffer to and are down to one life but still been resolute they hold steadfast in the hill

The zombies are pushed back and pursued back towards their own table edge and with that we ran out of time. I just about managed to contest the objective stopping the dwarfs from claiming an all out victory but my army was on its last legs (or bones). The dwarfs had suffered to though and a couple of their units were down to one casualty remaining and ready to break anytime now. However my warriors were about broken and I don't think I would get lucky again in the combat with the Boulder elements again!

It was a good game and for a first outing I think my undead did reasonably well. I felt I was up against it from the off as I lost my terrain pieces which I would have benefited from and with my dad finding tne treasure on the very first turn ment he could construct a very tough battle line on top of two hills. I found the undead to be slow moving and you do need to rely on Boss to get the troops moving which   unfortunately my boss failed to do for a couple of turns. However if you can get your magic user on song this really can boost your army especially in combat which is very important as the undead are quite fragile in that area although they are quite a durable army. The undead proved to be a challenge to use but it was also fun especially when you can regenerate all those fallen warriors, and even maybe one or two of those dwarf warriors or troll slayers lol.