ME campaign - Turn 9 - Empire vs Dwarfs

Deployment - Empire

The empire's right flank consists of two small units of knights, a big block of religious fanatics and 30 spearmen led by a warrior priest and the BSB. There is also a big block of 30 swordsmen just to the right of the spearmen. That unit is led by the army general and another warrior priest. Two cannons have taken position on the hill.

A block of greatswords (their swords, as we all know, are actually smaller than the speartips on the new skeleton models, so what's so great about them is anyone's guess) are marching alongside the swordsmen in the center. Five outriders are hiding behind the forest, mostly recruited to protect the rear of the army from gyrocopters and miners. Then we have 20 halberdiers and another small knight unit on the far left flank.

Deployment - Dwarfs

The dwarven right flank is solidly anchored with two units of thunderers, making anyone think twice before going that way. A gyrocopter is there as well. Closer to the centre is a a small unit of iron breakers and two big blocks of iron breakers and longbeards. The hill is thick with organ cannons, protected by a unit of 10 quarrelers. An anvil of doom is placed by the foot of the hill, covered by 10 slayers. There is also a bolt thrower back there.

Dwarf turn 1

The gyrocopter takes off towards the enemy lines while the slayers and other infantry blocks advance more slowly, according to the dwarven way. A knight or two fall in the shooting phase, but not much else is going on. Oh yeah, the greatswords get targeted by the Anvil's rune of stand still and take damage, so they won't get very far this turn.

Empire turn 1

Everything dash forwards, eager to pull some beards. One of the knight units takes a "shortcut" through a small swamp, but they should be able to reach the slayers nonetheless. The greatswords are dazed and don't move at all. The Gyrocopter, we can see in this picture, is in position to marchblock the poor sods as well, so they won't see any action anytime soon.

Dwarf turn 2

Hey ho, hey ho! Yes yes, we are quite used to this song by now. Why don't you try "Lali ho" next time?

As we all know, the outriders can kill just about anything within 360 degrees except directly to the sides. Guess where the gyrocopter lands? None of them dies to the steam spray, though. The copter still marchblocks the greatswords.

The anvil of doom gives the slayer unit a turbo boost, making them charge the knights in the swamp. Probably a good time to leg it. Or hoove it, I suppose. Neither the spearmen or the outriders panic due to this, though, and now the slayers will get outflanked by knights or flagellants.

Empire turn 2

The left flank will probably get badly hurt by the dwarven gunline if they carry on. The knights prepare to move through the woods to roll up the dwarven flank without getting shot. The halberdiers are on cannon fodder duty today, and are ordered to move on to keep the dwarfs busy for a round or two.

The infantry in the center march on, while the flagellants charge the slayers. That might take a while... The knight unit on the right flank ignore the redbeards and ride around them.

Empire turn 3

Sorry, no pics of the dwarf turn 3. But as you can see, the general's swordsmen unit has eaten a bullet or two while the halberdiers are actually unscratched this far. There are now four infantry blocks marching into the dwarven half of the table.

The knights that fled from the slayer's charge have now rallied and are engaged with the miners in the back of the empire deployment zone. The imperial artillery on this side was wiped out by those buggers in a previous turn.

Dwarf turn 4

The halberdiers get severly decimated by the thunderers in the corner and five-ish spearmen die from other shooting. Other than that, not much going on. One unit of iron breakers move up to protect the flank on the bigger blocks from the oh-so-intimidating halberdiers.

Empire turn 4

The knights on the right flank has made it through the woods and get busy chasing the thunderers away. The infantry blocks close in on the dwarfs. The other guys have sacrificed some speed to let the greatswords make up.

The knights have destroyed the miners, while most of the slayers have been stomped into the ground by the flagellants. Probably not a good idea to charge those knights in the swamp earlier.

The rest

The greatswords charge the big unit of iron breakers while the knights (having wiped out the thunderers on the flank) get ready to charge in as well to seal the deal. The spearmen manage to run the longbeards down and continue on into the quarrelers. The halberdiers are too pussyficated to charge the other iron breaker unit.

The slayers are wiped out, and the knights charge the flank of the iron breakers. Many greatswords have fallen to some nasty dwarf character in the unit, but they have held and allowed the knights to flank the 'breakers. The swordsmen haven't been able to charge anything at all, but being so decimated, that was probably a good thing. Even the spearmen have done well, killing the quarrelers.

Lots of dwarfs dead, but most empire units were severly beat up as well. All in all a solid win for the empire.

ME campaign turn 8 - End of turn

The daemons burn down the empire's capital and gain a lot of gold for it. The empire player raises a fortress near the dwarven capital.

The dark elves conquer one tile from the dwarfs and claim the last unoccupied tile left on the map, far to the west. The dwarfs only have enough Empire points to raid, gaining a few measly gold pieces.

As of now, it will take a miracle to keep the dark elves from winning the campaign.

ME campaign - Turn 8 - Daemons vs Empire

So... no pictures of this battle, I'm afraid. And no actual report either. Basically the Empire player considered using the Diplomacy event to keep the Daemons from attacking the imperial capital (the daemon player likes large battles and attacking a capital makes it a whooping 4000 points). Sadly, he decided he had a chance of winning the battle by choosing the Scouts event instead. Had he won, he could have conquered daemonic tiles easier since they didn't have any fortifications. And the more cheap tiles he could claim, the greater the chance of challenging the Dark elven superiority in this campaign.

In short, the daemons won a solid victory, which combined with the All or nothing event allowed them to raze the imperial capital and basically ruin the empire player's chances of winning the campaign.

ME campaign - Turn 8 - Dark elves vs Dwarfs

Deployment - Dwarfs

The dwarfs have gone to town with a gyrocopter backed up by crossbows on the flank, organ gun and thunderers on the hill, in front of which is a bolt thrower and blocks of hammerers and longbeards. The dwarf lord, suffice to say, leads the hammerers and is mounted on a shield.

The center of the deployment zone is occupied by a small but irritating and very smelly swamp which divides the dwarven forces. On this side of the swamp two blocks of dwarfs are placed; both of them might be ironbreakers, but one of them probably is ordinary warriors. Them we have a second gyrocopter and two warmachines hiding in the woods; one organ gun and one bolt thrower. Hiding in woods is generally a good idea if you are likely to face flyers, because they can't land on top of you.

Deployment - Dark elves

Facing the dwarven left flank is repeater crossbows, a reaper bolt thrower and a block of corsairs with handbows, led by two sorceress...es(?) Obscured by the watchtower is two units of Khainites screened by harpies; witch elves and executioners. Behind those is a pot with boiling blood in it. What's the point of that, I wonder...

Behind the hill is a unit of Xbowmen supported by a reaper bolt thrower. On the flank is another RBT and a big unit of cold one knights; a unit type that has proven to be extremely usable against dwarfs. They kill everything and what they don't kill, they break with fear.

Turn 1

The harpies abandon their screening duties and take position to threaten some war machines. The Khainite center advances while the crossbowmen consilidate on the hill. The cold one knights prepare to charge the iron breakers, a matchup that they have never lost before. Nine hammerers and six longbeards fall to shooting and magic. Ouch!

All the dwarf infantry march on while the warmachines kill an elf here and there. One gyrocopter flies up to marchblock and shoot some steam while the other places itself as a speed bump for the cold one knights. If they charge it, they will overrun into the iron breakers and get flanked by the other dwarf block.

Turn 2

The cold ones have defeated many units of ironbreakers on the charge, and charge in despite the risk of getting flanked. They smash the gyrocopter and engage the ironbreakers. The Khainites continue to advance, more slowly this time as they are matchblocked by the gyrocopter. Which, by the way, gets shot down by handbows, RBT and magic. The longbeards and hammerers take heavy casualties as well as they march onwards.

The dwarf block that was supposed to support the iron breakers panic and flee from the rain of bolts from the hill. Many warmachines have problems finding any targets as harpies land in front of them.

Turn 3

The decimated hammerers and longbeards advance to within "shouting-crap-about-your-mom-and-gesturing-it-in-sign-language-as-well" distance of their enemies while the fleeing block behind the swamp rallies. The witch elves die in droves as thunderers and organ guns let it rip from the hill.

The iron breakers actually had decided to stay around this time and so were equipped with several runes on anti-fear-and-stubbornness-etc. Sadly their support unit was now far behind, but at least they had survived the charge. The organ gun in the forest tried to clear the view from harpies but misfired and would take some time unjamming.

Turn 4

The frenzied witch elves charge the longbeards while the Xbows and handbows on the right flank make short work of the dwarf lord's retinue of hammerers. The executioners move up to threaten the flank of the engaged ironbreakers. The harpies move slightly to keep stuff from firing at the executioners.

Dwarfs turn 5

The dwarf lord (or rather his shieldbearers) runs towards the corsairs and the sorceresses, unharmed by their puny little bolts. An assassin turns out to be hiding in the witch elves unit, so the longbeards have to fight for their lives. They manage to cut all the witches down, and at the end of the turn only the assassin remains. Many longbeards died in the combat, though.

Having managed to survive the charge, the iron breakers break the cold one knights but fail to catch them. The dwarven shooters finally see the executioners and kill most of them with crossbows and bolts in the flank.

Dark elves turn 5

The crossbowmen and corsairs form up to shoot the dwarf lord, and actually kill him. The two elven wizards left the unit just in case the dwarf would survive. The assassin makes short work of the remaining longbeards. The cold one knights (not shown in this picture) rally and prepare to engage the iron breakers again. (a flagellant is in the process of getting a paintjob in the bottom of this photo.

Turn 6

The last few executioners and cold ones get a charge off on the ironbreakers and wipe them out. At this point, the only dwarfs left are the shooters and the decimated warrior unit that was supposed to support the iron breakers.

A reassuring victory for the dark elves, but it was close. If the cold ones had been flanked, things might have turned out differently. The dwarf infantry was supported by a solid gunline, that didn't do much damage on the whole (partly due to harpy terrorism, but still).