Orcs & Goblins ⚔︎ Empire
The battle had been long and hard-fought, but the warband was ultimately shattered. Ugag and his mob had descended upon a small village in the foothills of the Grey Mountains when another host arrived. However, these humans were not the shiny boyz previously encountered. They were mercenaries from Reikland, likely under the service of a local Baron who received news of their latest pillaging. Not only did the mercenaries have more bodies on the field; they also had black powder.
Ugag had broken off on his own, again, to charge directly into a group of fanatical rabble. Gruuma knew the mob wasn't worth their time. The sound option was to ride along the flank and take these new challengers from the rear.
A handful of potbellied halflings hid in the woodline. Red-shafted arrows whizzed past their heads as the boars gained momentum. The halflings tried to turn and scamper up the boughs of gnarled oak and elm, but it was too late. Tusk and tooth shredded through the feeble bowline, and the woods rang with the high-pitched, jovial squeals of the boars as they feasted on flesh and bone. From his vantage point Gruuma took a moment to survey the situation. Ugag was out of sight. He knew it would be up to him to salvage whatever victory he could.
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| Halfling archers moments before impact |
In the center of the field, Krekka the mad shaman and his mob of spears advanced toward the center formation of swordsmen. Gruuma could hear their battle cries as a company of quarrelers behind them let loose a volley of bolts. They missed the goblins, and in return Krekka gave the order to release the rabid fanatics hidden amongst the company. With ease the hooded freaks swung iron ball and chain, sweeping a path through the densely packed swordsmen and into the quarrelers. Gruuma saw the panic as the mercenaries sought to close the gaps made in their formation, and sprang to action. He broke from the trees and swept through the backline to aid the shaman.
The sound of black powder rang across the field. From his saddle he could see a group of outriders break the mob of boyz that held the warband's right flank. Boyz fled towards the woods, and the outriders made sport of it. They rode down the slowest lads, and wasted no time shooting them point blank. Ugag was nowhere to be seen, and the rabble that had originally been chasing emerged. In a tidal wave of fervor and hatred, they descended on the goblins. They wielded farm tools and crude weapons as if they were great-swords and battle axes. It didn't take long before the goblins broke and ran off into the woods too.
Ugag had led them over the mountains months ago, carving out the cave warren as a base to raid the region beyond. Now they retreated to it broken, boars lathered and blowing hard, the smell of blood and powder still thick in their nostrils. It was not the victory Gruuma wanted, but a warband that still breathed.
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| Ugag charging solo (again) |
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| Enemies all around, luckily the goblin fanatics could be deployed |
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| Swordsmen v Night Goblins |
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| Campbell's classic Empire army |
+ /+/ +
Summer has been full swing. It's taken me a while to write up this battle report (happened back in April). This 500 pt game took 6 full rounds and Empire packed quite the punch. The objective was simple: destroy your enemy. I made some errors (again) using my warboss solo which led to his early demise. Fanatics did a lot of work, but it wasn't enough. The Empire flagellants were crazy strong too, putting out a ton of hits and being relentless on the battlefield.
A lot more stuff has been painted since this battle report; and I'm hoping to be done soon. My poor playing has helped form a narrative for my warband that I'll expand on in Part 2. Battle March has recently came out and the crowd here is pretty hyped for the format. Looking forward to playing more TOW in the coming months!
- Mike
