"Wheel's" Ogre Kingdom vs. "Chretien's" Wood Elves / Drycha's Maidens
2000 pts., pitched battle, 32" x 72" table
(The following is a basic summary and the events may not have happened exactly as it appears here.)
Turn 1
The Ogres were deployed in a mass in their centre and advanced, with the Hunter and his Cats advancing quickly up the left. Only 2 stands of trees on the field, so Drycha opted to use them to her advantage, dreadfully fearing the legendary Bull charges and cannon fire (still a bit jumpy from that Chaos Hellcannon piece of junk) and the Scraplauncher. 2 Units of Dryads were placed, 1 in each wood, the remainder to be rolled on in subsequent turns. This caused the Ogres some concern, as 1 of the woods was in their left / rear flank. The Scraplauncher attempted to release a hail of some nasty sharp bits but misfired and destroyed itself! Whew!
Turn 2
The Ironguts wheeled about and fired almost
at point blank range at the Dryads to their rear, while the Yhetti's
wheeled about and the newly rolled-on Gorger came on towards them also.
Another band of Dryads appeared in the Wood Elf side, while a unit of
Treekin emerged from the Ogre's woods. The Ogre line had been basically
stalled and split, while the Hunter began his ascent of a large hill
deep ahead on the Ogre left. The horde of Gnoblars kept on truckin'
down the centre/left. Some Treesinging was used, but also dispelled,
but had no effect on the game. No magic was used, but the Ironguts
caused some wounds when they shot.
Turn 3
Still unable to call on the rest of the Wood
Elf units except for the last batch of 16 Dryads, the 3 Treekin and the
Treeman (10 Dryads and the 1 Level 2 Mage still awaiting deployment),
Drycha led her unit ahead towards the centre of the Ogre line and
charged into a horde of Gnoblars (who fired nasty little sharp stuff!),
killing the front rank, causing them to also flee. She pursued and
destroyed them. A Branchwraithe and her unit of Dryads advanced towards
the Ogre left between the large hill and the large unit of Bulls in the
Ogre centre (at some Maneaters?) The newly-arrived Woodies advanced
forward behind / beside the Dryads led by Drycha. Some Treesinging
again but only on the Wood Elf woods. The Ogre line re-organized and
advanced. The big action was in the Ogre rear as the Yhettis, Ironguts
and Gorger attacked the Dryads and caused them to flee off the table!
The Hunter then unleashed a gi-normous harpoon and killed a Dryad in
Drycha's unit.
Turn 4
The Hunter, who had made his way to the
pinnacle of the high rocks, fired at the Treeman but could not damage
his towering foe. The Treeman in turn sent his strangle-roots out and
took a couple of wounds from the Leadbelchers/Bulls to Drycha's front.
The Treekin in the Ogre rear lost some wounds (#?) and were forced to
flee off the table. The Branchwraithe's unit had been charged by the
Maneaters, Yhettis and Gorger - the Dryads lost combat (about 10 of
their number in 1 round!) and the remaining 6 fled away, up the hill
almost to the edge of the cliff and table edge, while the Yhettis and
Gorger joined in pursuit. The Treekin in the Ogre rear charged the
Leadbelchers and killed 1.
Turn 5
This is the turn in the game that really changed things, as up
until this point it looked very "not good" for the Woody's. In this
turn the fleeing 6 Dryads managed to rally, but were charged by the
Yhetti's, who actually lost combat, fled, and were destroyed by the
pursuing 6 Dryads! The Gorger (I think) fled off the table, and the
Maneaters panicked and fled and were caught by Drycha's unit and
destroyed. The Hunter remained unscathed and undaunted upon his rocky
perch. The Treekin and the Treeman charged the Bulls in the centre and
killed all but 1 (out of 5), causing them to flee and were destroyed
after being caught by the Treekin. The 6 Dryads on the hill advanced
towards the 3 Leadbelchers in the Ogre rear.
Due to the lower leadership (I think, maybe) the Ogres suffered
devastating losses in this flukey turn. I thought for sure that this
round would go from bad to worse for the Woody's, especially as I still
couldn't roll on my Mage or the last unit of Dryads!
Turn 6
The Treeman advanced, and the Treekin charged into the
Leadbelchers...and that was all they could take. Having seen their army
bloodied and beat hasty retreats off the table, they lost heart in the
fight and fell, fighting to the last, to the ground. And still the Mage
and the Dryad unit remained off the table.
Summary
I would love to have video-taped this battle - I have no idea
really how it could go so well and then so bad for the Ogres. Was it
really just some bad rolls on the Leadership? Treesinging and magic
were non-existant, so too was shooting.
I did nothing too extraordinary in strategy, and actually I think I
goofed terribly (A) by not deploying more troops right off the bat onto
the table and (
by placing a unit deep behind enemy lines, unsupported, and with
basically no alternative but to fight to the death in a losing battle.
I would think that Wheels might need less
variety of troops and make larger units, because if they could only
last a turn or 2 longer his units would have crushed my lower strength
/ toughness / no armour save Dryad units. I have very little diversity
but larger numbers in my units and they are doing wonderfully, with or
without trees and and magic (which is really sucky anyway). Just a
thought - I don't know much about the Ogres.
A very enjoyable game between gentlemen. Huzzah!
Chretien de la Colombe
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