Helly and I opted to begin playing on the Storm of Chaos Campaign Tree whenever it is just he and I at Battle knights with our gaming club, The Venerable Warriors Guild. What a neat little set-up that is - very organized, and within 6 battles or so it is ended.
Right, so for this one the idea was that the Hordes of Chaos decide that they can kick everyone's buttocks and start invading the known world, in this case it is Bretonnia, in the Province of Quenelles.
The armies both including troops amassing to 2ooo pts:
Chaos of Khorne
-
2 units of 12 Foot Knights
-
2 units of 5 (mounted) Knights
-
1 Lord on a Juggernaut
-
1 Hellcannon
(all of these pink buggers were suped up like crazy...)
Duke of Quenelles
-
1 Lord (Duke of Quenelles)
- 1 Paladin Army Battle Standard Bearer
- 1 Damsel of the Lady (Level 2)
-
1 Sir Amalric of Gaudaron
-
3 units of 5 Knights Errant each with 1 Grail Knight
-
1 unit of 9 Knights of the Realm
-
1 unit of 7 Questing Knights
-
6 Pegasus Knights
The battle was quite seemingly one-ided from the get-go: the Bretonnian
forced were confined to a limited deployment zone, whereas the Chaos
forces had rather free reign in their deployment, and they also moved
first automatically.
The Chaos troops set off, all advancing into the Bretonnian frontier -
Foot Knights side-by-side in the center, flanked on both sides by a
unit of mounted Knights. On the Chaos right between the Foot Knights
and the mounted Knights was the Lord on his Juggernaut, while to the
Chaos left and far rear was the Hellcannon.
Opposing these was the force led by Chretien, the Duke of Brienne. All
of the army was compressed into a 24" x 12" box, and they literally
were on top of each other - standing room only.
The Battle's Objectives: Chaos - destroy all before turn 7; Brets -
have at least 1 model / unit survive unil turn 6 (minor Bret victory),
turn 7 (major Bret victory), turn 8 (Bret victory- massacre).
Pretty simple, really, and it did not look good for the Brets.
Straight off from the beginning the Hellcannon caused casualties -
which such a mass of enemy troops still in their deployment posiitons,
it could not go wrong!
All of the Chaos troops advanced forwards for the first 2 turns, while
the Brets basically scattered left and right to gain a flank and/or
avoid a crushing onslaught that was inevitable.
Each round, from the beginning to the end, the Hellcannon caused
casualties. The only magic on the table was used b the Bret Damsel -
Master of Stone - on the unit of mounted Knights on the Chaos left,
which killed 2 Knights on a cast of Irresistable Force. The rest of the
spells were dispelled...
The Chaos Knights on the Chaos right were charged by a unit of Knights
Errant, who barely survived the first round and lived long enough to
regret it. The next round (turn 3) the Pegasus Knights swooped in and
charged these same Chaos Knight in the rear, while the Knights of the
Realm charged in on them also. Wonder of wonders, the Chaos Knights
still stod when the dust cleared, though reduced to 3 models. Charging
in to the rescue came the Chaos Lord, Juggernaut and all and some kind
of Armour of Friggin' Damnation that made the enemy re-roll successful
"hits".
Anyway, the end of this combat was not what we expected - I had
expected the Realm Kinghts to be basically flayed, and the Chaos
Knights to be destroyed in turn. What happened was the Lord lost combat
resolution, fled, was caught and was destroyed, whereas the Knights
Errant fled combat, but were not caught.
The Pegasus Knights charged the 3 Chaos Knights in the rear and killed
them off, eventually, so that by round 7 the Pegasus Knights were
pre-occupied with just trying to get out of Hellcannon range.
On the other flank, the Chaos left, the remaining 3 Knights were
charged by the other 2 units of Errant Knights and later by the
Questing Knight unit containing the Duke and Sir Amalric. It was a
fantastic battle there, but the Chaos Knights were destroyed.
Ironically, just as this occurred, in the following turn the Hellcannon
plopped a direct hit (again) on the Questing unit, caused enough
casualties for a test - they failed (Leadership 9!!!), ran off the
table, which also caused the other 2 units to flee...and yup, you
guessed it, they fled off the table, too. Man!
This left the Brets with only 3 Errant Knights, 4 Pegasus Knights, and
about 6 Realm Knights to oppose the 2 units of 12 (unscathed) Foot
Knights in the centre of the table, and the Hellcannon.
Unfortunately for the invaders, the defending Brets were able to survive until they achieved a Massacre Victory condition, Turn 8.
As for Victory Points - the Brets still had roughly 950 points left alive, while the Chaos troops had about 1100 points still on the table.
Great battle, not just because we halted the invaders, but because it really felt like we were fighting for something!
Anyway, not a bad way to spend a Battle Night. Next up on the Campaign
Tree: Hold the Line. Can the Brets keep the forces of Chaos at bay?!
Chretien de la Colombe
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