Campaign Battle #1

This battle report describes our first battle using our campaign system (the rules for which will eventually be available here).  It's also the first time we used the Geo-Hex that I bought.  It was pretty expensive, and I hadn't realized how using it on such a large table would make it look quite small.  This battle took us nine hours to play, mainly due to the lack of the time limit which spoiled the scenario (we didn't realize this until it was too late).  It was fun anyways, but totally exhausting, and the end was a disappointment, as you'll see!

On the plus side, this was a very engaging game as we had several dramatic upsets.  On at least three occasions, an engagement that everyone around the table assumed was a completely one-sided affair inexplicably produced exactly the opposite result.

Setup

The slope you can see represents about 75% of a Gamescape set of Geo-Hex - there's another hill on the other end of the table that never really came into play and doesn't appear in the photos.  The layout itself was an experiment, and by the time it came to play we had decided to keep what we had instead of spending another hour rearranging it.  Next time, I'll definitely go for a large number of small hills, rather than one large tile-eating rise.

We also had the same terrain pieces we used in the last game, my experimental forest hill, a train set plastic mountain, a number of Warhammer-style round-edged hills (really inconvenient for Warmaster), as well as a three gorgeous hill pieces made by my Chaos opponent's brother, only the tiniest of which appears in the photos.

The campaign rules we're using are fairly simple, keeping track of battle honours, ownership of unique magical items, and a handicap calculated from wins and losses.  Scenarios are devised using a hex-based tactical map - the armies move across it, trying to lure one another into disadvantageous positions.  More about this when I finish writing them up.

Four players were involved in this game, myself (High Elf) and my ally, the Empire player, fighting against a Chaos army with a smaller (points-wise, that is) Undead ally.  The luck of the tactical game was with the forces of evil.  A diversionary raid drove us into a disadvantaged position, and exceptional organization on the part of their army gave them advantaged status when they attacked us.  This combination meant that they had managed to drive a wedge through the centre of our army, separating it into two halves.

The resulting Breakthrough scenario represents our army trying to consolidate itself, lest it be defeated piecemeal.  The disadvantaged army can collect victory points only by having units leave from the far side of the table.  The advantaged army collects victory points as normal.  If the divided army manages to get more points off the other side of the table than the dividing army can destroy, they reunite their army and vanquish the attackers, otherwise all is lost.

The campaign rules were in a fairly preliminary state at this point, and I had neglected to specify a time limit.  This spoiled the scenario, as I'll explain in the next section.

The Armies

We set up on the western table edge.  The rise looked like the best place to be, since we were going to have to wade through some thick enemy opposition no matter how we sliced it, and his cannons seemed the natural choice to be closest to the highest part of the table (the northern edge at the right of the picture, below).  I set up right in the centre of the table edge.

My last battle had taught me that my Chaos opponent might be enticed to divide his army to chase down apparent stragglers, so the plan going into the battle was to send a small group to the southeast (past the mountain) to try to split their forces, while the remainder went straight over the rise to try to punch through the enemy line.

We each fielded 2000 points, most of which I'd managed to paint.  The Empire player (along with most of the forces of evil) are still mainly primed or bare metal, with the exception of a unit or two.  As with the previous battle report, this makes it fairly hard to tell what's what, so I've labelled the photographs.  Eventually (they assure me) this won't be necessary.  :-)

From left to right, in the front row:

• Reaver Knights (unpainted)
• A rectangular brigade of three Spearmen units fronted by Archers
• The High Elf General
• A cavalry brigade containing Tough as Nails Silver Helms in column, 2 Reaver Knight units, and Chariots in column (unpainted)

In the back row is:

• 2 Heroes on Dragons, one with the Sword of Cleaving
• A wide brigade of 2 Spearmen units and 2 Archer units
• 2 Giant Eagle units

Tucked away somewhere I can't make out is a unit of Repeater Bolt Throwers and two Wizards, one of which bears the Ring of Magic.

I'll get the composition of the Empire army up when I can work out what everything is.

The Chaos and Undead players responded in force, mirroring our setup.  Although you can't see it here, the boundary between the green and blue mats (well, curtains) is actually half of the length of the table.  The Undead player is set up in the northeast (top left of the picture, below), with a devastating line of Chaos troops in the south (top right).

Forces of Evil Turn One

The dark gods smiled and the forces of evil not only win tactical advantage but first turn as well!  Lots of frightening movement - nearly everything advances.  Chaos leaves behind some infantry and Chaos Spawn.  No shooting or magic that I can recall, we're all way too far away.

Forces of Good Turn One

Had we known we'd be fighting Breakthrough, we'd have brought different armies, but one of the things about this campaign system is that you have to make up the army list before you know the scenario or the terrain!  If you make a specialized list, you could win the day if you can force the enemy to fight on terrain that's to your advantage - such as a chariot-heavy army fighting on open ground.  As it was everyone fielded general-purpose armies.

At this point, I should have realized the scenario was doomed.  Seeing the full might of the army opposing us, I quickly realized that punching through was unlikely to work - there was no way we'd get more stuff off the table than they would destroy, so we dug in for a fierce battle for a tie.  If we could break the enemy army, they would withdraw, capping their victory points to the amount we had ourselves, a tie for sure.  A time limit would have prevented this.

I moved my cavalry and Wizards forward, but managed to fail a roll for moving half of my Eagles off to the north, after forgetting to brigade them during setup.  The first of many mistakes, the second was failing to cast attempt a spell at the advancing Chaos Knights from my lead wizard (bottom, below).

Out of frame, to the south, I've managed to move my large rectangular brigade of infantry, one unit of Reavers, and a Hero/Dragon far to the southeast onto the hills to try to divide the Chaos player's forces.  This is visible two photos down.

The Empire player immediately ran into problems moving his artillery, which quickly got mired in the northwest.  This trend continued through the afternoon, and as far as I recall it never managed to fire a shot.

Forces of Evil Turn Two

Charge!  The Chaos Knight brigade game pounding up the valley towards us, but his charge was foiled by unexpected LOS difficulties - only one of the units could see my defending line.  He decided to press forward anyways, and in combination with his Hero on a Chaos Dragon and some hastily Raised Dead, proceeded to slaughter nearly the entire High Elf cavalry brigade, leaving only the Chariots.

My leading Wizard was displaced by the charge, and retreated to a unit that was subsequently destroyed.  That hurt, but it wasn't until two days later that I realized I'd lost my Tough as Nails Silver Helms.

Two units of Undead chariots and one unit of Skeleton Cavalry advance parallel with the reserve Chaos Knights, making a formidable-looking wall.  In better news, however, the Chaos player sent his two units of Dragon Ogres towards my waiting diversionary group.  What a nasty surprise he's in for!

Forces of Good Turn Two

At this point, I got my first surprise of the battle.  Wanting to make mincemeat of the Undead cavalry and chariots, I sent in the Giant Eagles from the northwest, accompanied by a Hero on a Dragon.  The surviving Wizard boosts them with a Light of Battle to bring them to sixteen attacks.  They come screaming out of the heavens into the front of the Skeleton Cavalry, and bounce off in a puff of feathers.  One stand dead.  Fortunately the enemy cavalry can't pursue them, but they're left in a disastrous position.

The Empire player sends his Knights into the Undead Chariots, with a similarly disappointing result.  I'm not clear what happens exactly, but the chariots deflected the attack, killing most of the knights in the process, although they are themselves quite reduced in strength.

In the southeast, however, the forces of good win a surprise coup against Chaos.  The other unit of Giant Eagles homed back to the hill, leaving them a perfect opening to charge the unprotected flank of the Dragon Ogres.  What a slaughter!  After a long engagement, six stands of Dragon Ogres had fallen in exchange for one stand of Giant Eagles.  The highlight was when the far unit of Dragon Ogres moved back for the retreating unit - both rolled sixes for confusion!  It sucks when you're confused and flanked by a terror-causing enemy, doesn't it?  The flyers fell back further southeast, hoping that their position behind the enemy line would save them from immediate reprisal.

Meanwhile, I'd moved my infantry brigade near the edge of the plateau, in preparation for a charge from the Chaos Warriors.  A bad roll left the Reaver Knights behind, and bad planning left them leaderless for several turns.

Forces of Evil Turn Three

In the southeast, the Chaos player defies the odds and orders a very angry mob of Chaos Warriors into the flyers that destroyed the Dragon Ogres on the previous turn.  They are wiped out in the first round of combat, and I'm now short two characters - my Wizard from earlier, and now my Sword of Cleaving-bearing, Dragon-riding Hero.  The other brigade of Chaos infantry draws nearer the plateau, but fails to make the charge.

In the west, the splintered (but still pointy) evil cavalry does some more damage.  Fortunately, the Undead can't charge by initiative, and the Liche Priests ran out of luck before managing to bring the surviving Chariots to bear.  The unpainted Chaos Knights wheel to face my chariots that are lurking (not in picture) behind the mountain.  the painted ones seem to have failed a command role, and are sitting only a few score yards away from the Empire Crossbowmen.

The Undead player tries to kill my last Dragon-mounted Hero by chasing after the unit it's still with, the one surviving stand of Giant Eagles.  Some raised dead spring up to help, but the Eagles and Dragon escape without permanent losses.  More enemy units on the field, however, is never a good thing.

The Undead rear lines are quite far back now, something that starts to hurt them as they are unable to bring their full force against the softer Empire units in the north.  The harpies seem to be a victim of forgetting their home back initiative move.

Forces of Good Turn Three

Not a lot of activity here.  The Empire player was having similar mobility problems to our Undead friend.  His cannons are still languishing in the northwest, unable to make both range and line of sight to anything unfriendly, and the mass of infantry seem completely unable to make the hoped-for break for the enemy line.

Most of my orders failed too.  I wanted to bring my eastern block of infantry forward to the edge of the hill to prepare for the enemy charge; I wanted to bring the Reavers in the southwest up to join them, but none of that worked.

The only the that went as planned was the Ulthuan Archer Club practicing on the painted Chaos Knights.  Damn that Banner of Shielding, though (why did he have to get it?!) - they lose only one stand, but retreat just out of initiative charge range.

Force of Evil Turn Four

Lots of motion this time.  In the southeast, the Chaos assault goes awry.  The Chaos Hounds flank charge the brigade, but the Sorcerer fails his second order for the infantry brigade, and the attack is unsupported.  Hounds are nice when they flank charge unsupported infantry, but when it's a square brigade like this one, there are plenty of enemy stands in contact.  The archers take severe damage, but the hounds are wiped out to the last dog.

In the north, the Undead player finally gets his troops in order and sends a wave of bone lurching across the battlefield.  The artillery is left behind, but the Sphynx and Bone Giant pair draw uncomfortably near.  The front isn't quite a smooth as the back, however.  The only combat is between the Chariot and the Giant Eagle, which luckily (for me) results in no pursuit.

The painted Chaos Knights initiative charge the Empire Crossbowmen, destroying one unit outright.  The advance into the second unit, however, miraculously results in a tie, and both sides bounce off further.

Forces of Good Turn Four

Retaliation in the southeast.  After getting my surviving stand of archers out of the way, the spearman brigade swarmed the Chaos infantry, with a Hero on a Dragon and a Light of Battle thrown in to round things out.  The Chaos infantry was predictably butchered, although I lost a full units' worth of troops (fortunately for my breakpoint divided between two units).

The five-unit combat spanned the edge of the inch-tall hill in just such a way to convince everyone involved how much better smoother hills are for Warmaster.  At one point during pursuit it got so difficult to work out where units were supposed to be standing that we had to resort to a nearby piece of paper to draw out.

In the north, some Empire units make a break along the top of the ridge, and in the west, I finally manage to bring my second infantry brigade forward towards the action.  Their archers kill the last stand of painted Chaos Knights.

Forces of Evil Turn Five

Following the pattern of retribution, the Chaos general orders an attack in the southeast with his second brigade of infantry.  This time the spawn makes it all the way there (the other one has been left back in the field a few turns ago due to confusion or something).  My disorderly brigade collapses, with losses including the two partial units of spearmen from our previous attack, and my last Hero with Dragon.  With only a General and a Wizard left, things are looking grim.

The Undead player concentrates on getting his heavy hitters, the Sphynx and the Bone Giant, up the field.  They make good progress, stopping one order away from the Empire line.  In the west, the Chaos Knights move threateningly towards the Pistoliers, but also stop short of their target.

I think my hands were trembling when I realized that the Chaos General was more than 30cm away from everything except his Chaos Knights, parked right in front of our front line.  Catching him in this way would collapse the Chaos army and secure a desperate tie for us.

Forces of Good Turn Five

This turn took ages to plan - probably far too long for smooth game play.  We made sure that we had triply redundant ways of getting a unit over to displace the Chaos General, and then we needed all the luck we could muster to bring enough firepower against the Chaos Knights to collapse the unit.  Unfortunately, we ran a little short.  Two failed orders right off the top took us to plan 'C' for displacing the General, which worked (the Pistoliers at -2).

In the southeast (bottom right of the above photo), I've moved my infantry back to the top of the rise to gain defended status against the next Chaos charge (which never came).  In the north, a unit of Flagellants charges through a surviving stand of Raised Skeletons, but breaks uselessly against the fearsome pair of monsters.  The Empire units press forward along the ridge.

Two units of archers, a battery of RBT's, the Pistoliers, one unit of Reavers, my Wizard, and even the surviving stand of Elven Archers all joined in for what we hoped would be a turkey shoot against the Chaos Knights, but alas, it was not to be.  Hundreds died, but the unit stood firm against the withering fire, infused with unholy vitality.  The Chaos General survived the ambush, and the battle continued.

Forces of Evil Turn Six

The Undead player moves his artillery forward off for the first time in a couple of moves, but the major threat is in the northwest, where the monstrous duo surge into the Empire line.  Incredibly (at the time, we've since realized that players invovled neglected to remember their terror, although the dice-rolling was pretty unfortunate) the infantry repelled the attack.

The Chaos Knights leave their General behind, charging into the flank of the nearby Reaver Knights.  Here again, the expected result is upset; some bad dice-rolling earns the Chaos Knights a defeat.  They are pursued, surrounded, and defeated.

In a tragic error, the Chaos General is again left without a nearby unit to flee to.  Orchestrating his capture this time is a much simpler affair.

Forces of Good Turn Six

The Reaver Knights seize the opportunity and ambush the Chaos General.  This time, however, there's nowhere to hide.  Word of his capture spreads quickly (the messengers carrying his body parts helped) and the Chaos army withdraws from the field.  With the Forces of Evil now beyond their breakpoint, the battle concludes swiftly.

The remaining photos are close-ups of the same thing, showing the state of the battlefield when the horns were sounded signaling the retreat of the Forces of Evil.

Victory Points

This was a bitterly disappointing result for the Forces of Evil - the Undead player was very annoyed that the Chaos General was left to die, but mistakes happen all the time in a game like this, and it was really an unfortunate coincidence in my opinion.

The final tally for the victory points was zero for either side.  We hadn't broken through with any units at all, giving us 0 VP, and the Forces of Evil retreat caps their victory points at no more than their opponent - zero!

Apart from the short-sighted scenario construction, I was pleased with how the battle went; I felt a bit more in control of my forces this time, although I'm as guilty as before of not sticking to my original plan.  Warmaster armies just don't cover ground very quickly in a confrontational situation.  Alas.