Battle of Averelles Gap: 2000 pts.

Bretonnian Army: 1997 pts. Lord – 262 Grail vow, heavy armor, shield Virtue of Audacity Sword of the Lady’s Champion Gromril Great Helm Barded warhorse Battle Standard Bearer - 203 (with QK) Questing vow, great weapon, shield, heavy armor Virtue of Discipline Banner of the Lady of the Lake Barded warhorse Paladin A – 133 (with GK) Grail vow, heavy armor, shield Virtue of Duty Wyrmlance Barded warhorse Paladin B - 157 Knight’s vow, heavy armor, shield Virtue of the Ideal Biting Blade Royal pegasus Damsel of the Lady - 169 Dispel scroll Power stone Barded warhorse 6x Knights of the Realm - 168 Gallant, musician, standard 5x Questing Knights – 167 Paragon, musician, standard 5x Grail Knights – 250 Standard, musician Banner of Defense 6x Knights Errant – 262 Standard, musician Errantry Banner 20x Men-at-Arms – 127 Yeoman Warden, musician, standard 10x Peasant Bowmen A – 65 Braziers 10x Peasant Bowmen B – 65 Braziers 10x Peasant Bowmen C – 70 Skirmishers Orc and Goblin Army: 1995 pts. Orc Warboss General – 468 Shield Wyvern Krumpa’s Club of Krumpin’ Armor of Mork Orc Big Boss – 114 Light armor, shield Hacka’s Sword of Hackin’ Warboar Goblin Big Boss – 99 Light armor, spear Ironskin shield Wolf Orc Shaman – 150 Level 2 Ditto’s Double-Doin’ Doo-Dads Power Stone 20x Orc Big Un’s - 258 Light armor, shield, spears Musician, standard Boss Gork’s Waagh Banner 20x Orc Boyz – 188 2d hand weapon, shield Musician, standard Boss 40x Night Goblins – 223 Standard 3x fanatics 6x netters Boss 2x Goblin Spear Chukka – 70 Goblin Rock Lobber – 70 3x Trolls – 150 Giant – 205 Deployment: Bretonnians had a farmstead and trees in the middle of the deployment zone and a ruined grail chapel on the left. One group of archers deployed behind the farm wall on right side, other group before the trees on the left. Men at arms formed the middle of the line, with the knights errant between them and the left group of archers. The general, questing knights and knights of the realm deployed far right, the grail knights and skirmishing archers far left, and the Pegasus knight behind the trees out of sight. The damsel settled in between the farm wall and the trees, where she stayed pretty much out of sight the entire game. The orcs deployed mostly between two ridges (the gap), with the night goblins forming the center of their formation. On the right ridge (from the Bretonnian perspective) was the catapult, with the two bolt throwers on the left ridge. The trolls formed up on the far right, downhill from the catapult. The orc boss settled inside the trolls, with the Big Uns between him and the night goblins. The shaman hid between the night goblins and the orc boyz on the right. The giant started far left, even outside the bolt throwers. The warboss and his wyvern deployed behind the night goblins. Turn One: The orcs opted to let the Bretonnians go first after praying. The Bretonnian formation moved cautiously forward, and the Pegasus knight moved to the left board edge out of the bolt throwers’ line of sight. The damsel (who drew Master of the Woods and Master of Stone, making it a target-rich environment), cast MoS on one spear chukka, killing a crewman and causing one wound on the bolt thrower. The skirmishing bowmen march moved and couldn’t fire. Bowmen A fired at the night goblins, but were too far away. The other group hit the night goblins for two wounds. The orcs immediately suffered from stupid trolls and squabbling night goblins, but everything else was able to move forward. The giant suddenly realized he was to exposed and moved over next to the orc boyz. The orc big boss joined the trolls to wake them up. The orc shaman (drew Hand of Mork, Fist of Gork) passed on magic, since he was out of range for both. The war machines opened up, the catapult missing the questing knights and the bolt throwers missing the grail knights. Turn Two: Still advancing cautiously, the Pegasus knight moved farther up to the orc flank. The KotR held back slightly to cover the questing knights’ flank, while the grail knights let the skirmishing bowmen move ahead between them and the night goblins. The damsel cast MoW on the trolls, causing four wounds, two regenerated. She also used her power stone to cast MoS on the giant, doing only one hit, no wounds. The bowmen fired on the big un’s (one wound), the orc boyz (one wound), and the giant (0 wounds). The orcs managed to pass all animosity and stupidity tests. The trolls charged the questing knights and missed. The giant charged the grail knights and missed. All other units advanced cautiously, the general moving up to cast his leadership around the right flank. The shaman cast HoM on the giant, hoping to propel it into the grail knights, but was dispelled. The catapult fired at the questing knights, hitting only one, who took two wounds, one of which was saved by the Lady—leaving him still dead. The bolt throwers fired on the grail knights again. One hit and wounded, but was stopped by the Lady ward save. Turn Three: The Bretonnians open up. The grail knights charged the giant, who tried to flee and rolled pathetically. On the other hand, the grail knights, in passing through the orc lines (and over the giant), set off the fanatics. One fanatic moves only three inches toward the grail knights. The others are out of range, but move toward the knights errant and the Bretonnian general, cautiously following behind the questing knights. The knights errant, managing a clear path past the fanatic, charged the orc boyz. The questing knights charged the big un’s, and the KotR attempt to charge the trolls but fail their fear test. The death of the giant causes the goblin big boss to flee. Men-at-arms continue to advance toward the night goblins, while the general settled in behind and left of the questing knights to avoid a troll charge on the next turn. The damsel cast MoW on the trolls again, but was dispelled. The first group of bowmen fire flaming arrows at the trolls, killing one. The second group targets the fanatic near the knights errant and kills it. The skirmishing group fires at the previously-hit bolt thrower to no effect. In combat the knights errant do four wounds to the orc boyz, who respond with one wound back. With ranks and outnumbering the combat ends in a draw. The Questing knights smack the big un’s 4 to 1, but the orcs pass the break test with the general’s assistance and a little luck. The orcs, passing all animosity and stupidity tests, respond by charging the trolls into the questing knights’ flank, who pass their panic test. The night goblins charge the men-at-arms, and the goblin big boss rallies. The fanatics bounce around behind the lines, nearly hitting the night goblins and the warboss. The shaman cast FoG on the knights errant, which the damsel failed to dispel, doing one hit and no wounds. With his dangly doo-dads, the shaman used a power stone to cast FoG again on the grail knights, causing the damsel to use up a dispel scroll. The catapult targets the KotR, doing a glancing blow that potentially hit three knights. All three avoid the hit. The bolt throwers again fire at the grail knights, one hitting, but being saved by the Lady yet again. In combat the trolls hit the questing knights, doing no wounds between armor and the Lady. The orc big boss, however, did two wounds. The questing knights respond with three wounds on the big uns, resulting in a tie, broken by the big uns musician. The questing knights pass their break test, and hold. The night goblins, with nets and spears, beat the men-at-arms 7 to 5. They fail their break test, but pass the Battle Standard reroll. The orc boyz and the knights errant each do one wound, but the orc boyz win on ranks, 5 to 2. The knights break, causing the skirmishing bowmen to panic as well. The knights flee, but roll triple ones! The orc boyz, not to be outdone, roll double ones, failing to run them down. Turn Four: The knights of the realm and the general come to the questing knights’ aid, charging the knights (who passed their fear test this time) into the trolls and the general into the big uns. The Pegasus knight charges the orc boyz in the flank (not big enough to cause panic, though) to keep them from charging the knights errant (who rally). The grail knights charge the orc general, who flees toward the catapult. The skirmishing archers fail to rally and run farther away. The damsel casts MoS on the orc general, but is dispelled. The two remaining archer groups also target the orc general, who shrugs off their puny little arrows. The knights of the realm and the general collectively cause five wounds (two on trolls, three on big uns), while the trolls, big uns, and big boss finish chopping the questing knights (including the BSB with Banner of the Lady!) to shreds. They lose the combat 8 to 7, but all pass their break tests. The men-at-arms still flail hopelessly away at the night goblins, whose spears are proving nasty. They lose the combat, but pass the break test (general still nearby). The Pegasus knight kills three orc boyz and receives no wounds, but numbers, ranks, and banner still cause him to lose by one. He passes the break test. The orcs continue their amazing animosity/stupidity luck. The orc general charges the grail knights in the flank, which I just realized he shouldn’t have been able to do! He was fleeing and should have needed to rally first! Oops! On the other hand, on the way there he gets hit by a fanatic for one wound. The other fanatic misses the grail knights. The shaman casts FoM on the knights errant, is dispelled. The stone thrower fires at the knights errant as they are reforming, but misses. The bolt throwers have no valid targets. The orc general and wyvern, in a pathetic display of beast and rider teamwork, only deal out one wound between them. The grail knights, caught in the flank, can’t counter attack. End result is a draw, broken by the musician. The orc general passes the break test. The orc boyz fight back against the Pegasus knight, doing no wounds. The knight causes three wounds back for a draw, broken by the orc musician. The knight passes. The men-at-arms, hopelessly outmatched, take five wounds and break like toothpicks in a hydraulic press. The night goblins run them down. The big uns and the Bretonnian general fan at each other, with the big uns winning on ranks and standard. The general passes the break test. The knights of the realm overpower the trolls, break them, and run them down. Turn Five: The Bretonnians charge the knights errant into the orc boyz, while the KotR attempt to help out the grail knights. Their charge fails. The skirmishing bowmen fail to rally again. The damsel casts MoW and is dispelled. The archers all target the far-too-close night goblins and kill four. Meanwhile, the general and the big uns pound on each other again, the general barely losing, but passing his break test. The knights errant and the Pegasus knight combine to break the orc boyz and runs them down. The orc shaman panics. Meanwhile, the paladin makes his way through the unit toward the orc general and manages to wound him. The general, in turn, continues his lousy display of martial skill, breaks, and is run down. The game has suddenly taken a poor turn for the orcs, but they battle on. The shaman rallies, and the night goblins pass animosity, then turn around to assist their greenskin brothers. One fanatic just misses a bolt thrower, the other plows into the grail knights, causing five wounds, three of which are saved by the Lady. The catapult targets the knights of the realm and misses. The bolt throwers target the Pegasus knight, one hitting, but not wounding. The big uns continue to hold firm against the general. Turn Six: The knights errant charge the shaman, who flees, but is run down. The Pegasus knight charges in to help the general. The scared-but-slow skirmishers fail to rally yet again, leave the board, and were last seen somewhere around Toronto, Canada. The damsel casts MoW on the night goblins with irresistible force. Still only does two wounds. The bowmen add another wound after the gobbos save against three other hits on a 6+. The general and the Pegasus knight overpower the big uns, who break and die. The night goblins try to charge the general, but miscalculate the range. As one last act of defiance, the catapult targets the general, hits, and deals three wounds, one of which is saved by the Lady. The bolt throwers try to finish the job, but both miss. The game ends, 2332 to 818, a massacre for the Bretonnians. Analysis: The final score doesn’t come close to telling just how close a game this was. The orcs, while not so effective with their gimmick troops (fanatics and trolls), did amazingly well with their core units. Part of it was the dice, but they managed to tie up nearly the entire Bretonnian force for several combat rounds. A few more rolls the wrong way and the Bretonnians might have been the ones breaking and running. As it was, the Bretonnians’ near undoing also proved their salvation. While the orc army is the same as the last game I played, I redesigned the Bretonnian list to test the idea that smaller lances are better. What I found in this case was that they lacked the punch to decisively win the first round of combat. On the other hand, the smaller lances allowed for me to buy more lances, which were able to come to the rescue. The Bretonnians actually had more melee units than the orcs in this fight, which made the difference. Between the Pegasus paladin and the KotR, a game that could have gone badly for the Bretonnians tipped over to become a major success. That said, I may do the same with the orcs next time. Had they had a few more units to cover flanks the Bretonnians might have lost by the same margin. The trolls’ flank charge was very nearly the death of the questing knights. If a few more units had been available to do the same the Bretonnians would have crumbled. I’m currently questioning the effectiveness of war machines against Bretonnians. Either I need more of them, or I just need to stop using them. The two bolt throwers didn’t kill a single model the entire game, and have only claimed one model in all of two games. The catapult fared slightly better, but has ultimately claimed fewer victims than the Bretonnian archers. War machines have failed to make a discernible difference in either of the two games in which I’ve used them. As for magic, I’m relatively convinced that unless you either bring more wizards then your opponent or significantly outnumber them in magic levels you’re not likely to see magic change the course of the game much. The orc shaman and the damsel of the lady pretty much tied each other up. Even though the damsel got off more successful spells, they failed to inflict a significant number of wounds. And in two games I’ve seen only one irresistible force and no miscasts. Magic played a much bigger role in the previous game I played, but there I had two damsels to the orc’s single shaman. Standards and musicians are useful purchases, however. Both made significant contributions in this game, which saw many ties and many minor advantages in combat results. Had the Bretonnians not taken them they would have lost. Had the orcs not taken them they would have lost sooner. All in all, this is probably the best game I’ve played against myself yet. This is the first time since I started using orcs that the outcome of the game has been in doubt as late as turn five. That said, I’m going to have to find a real opponent soon. Until then, though, these battle reports are very useful for learning from each game.