ME campaign 2 - Turn 2 - Orcs vs Empire

Deployment - Empire 1608 pts

The Empire got the Elite army event, and brings a lot of special choices to this battle. They also emptied the imperial treasury to hopefully get a victory this turn. The empire army, from left to right:

• 7 Inner circle knights, War banner, led by a mounted Warrior priest
• 10 Crossbowmen
• 10 Flagellants
• 2 Great cannon
• 5 Outriders
• 10 Crossbowmen
• 2 units of 10 Greatswords with no command
• 7 Inner circle knights, Steel banner, led by the army general (a priest with Doomfire ring)
• 1 Great cannon

Deployment - Orcs 1500 pts

The local bigboss has gathered a lot of boyz today. He was also smart enough to fight in a location he knows rather well. The Orcs won the Tactics roll and got to "steal" a hill from the Empire player. From left to right:

• OB3: 25 Boyz. Spears, Shieds. Led by A mounted BSB with Banner of Butchery and another Boss with two choppas and Iron gnashas, granting him Killing blow
• 1 Spear chucka and 1 Rokk lobba
• 10 Squig hoppers
• OB1: 26 Boyz. Choppas. Led by the army general; a black orc on a boar
• SB: 25 Savage boyz. Choppas
• T: 4 Trolls
• 1 Spear chucka

Empire turn 1

The plan was to be aggressive and flank the orcs with knights while the Greatswords and Flagellants kept them busy for a turn or two. Facing this wall of choppas, however, made the general re-think the situation. The right flank holds, hoping to soften the orcs up with shooting before engaging. The left flank sticks to the plan and advances. The cannons try to snipe the orcs' war machines in order to keep the knights alive a bit longer. An orc or two die, but the chuckas survive. The Crossbows to the right kill four orcs. Not bad at all considering the range and their target's thick skin.

Orcs turn 1

The OB3 block walks slowly towards the advancing knights. The squig hoppers try to rush into the woods to ambush the outriders taking up position there, but they sadly only skip a few inches forward. Both the general's unit and the savage orcs hurry across the battlefield, while the trolls' attention seems to be elsewhere.

The Chucka on the hill manages to kill two knights, which is enough to make them panic and run off the board. That one certainly made its points back...

Empire turn 2

Things are looking pretty bad as both flanks seem threatened by overwhelming amounts of boyz. The whole army stays put while the shooters let rip. A cannon destroys the rokk lobba on the hill, but the other two miss and/or dud. The outriders and crossbows even the odds a bit by gunning down 12 of the OB1 boyz. The black orc general keeps them from panicking, though. The Doomfire ring is dispelled.

Orcs turn 2

Block OB3 dashes towards the remains of the empire's left flank while the squig hoppers fail to reach the outriders once again. The Black orc general decides that the smelly Savage boys are a better company than the thinned down OB1 unit, and joins them instead. OB1 moves up to threaten the outriders and the Savages do what they do best; close the distance. The trolls are smoking weed and don't want to be disturbed. All shooting fails.

Empire turn 3

The flagellants are just in range and throw themselves at the boyz' spears. They manage to kill five orcs, but after the banner of butchery goes off, only two flagellants remain. One cannon picks off the spear chukka on the hill while the other two fire into the Savage boyz block, killing 5. Meanwhile, the outriders and crossbows decide it's time to wipe OB1 out. Most orcs die and the rest run off.

The two small units of Greatswords step forward to taunt the Savages into charging them. Not the best idea if you want to live forever.

Orcs turn 3

OB3 stomps the remaining flagellants into the ground. The Squig hoppers squabble and yet again fail to reach the Outriders. The Savage boyz charge the Greatswords while the Trolls finally sober up and move to protect the Boyz' flank just in time. Full plate armour turns out to be a good investment, and only five Greatswords die.

Empire turn 4

The orcish Battle standard bearer gets blown off his pig by a cannonball, while another smashes the last Chucka. Three squighoppers fall to Xbow fire.

With the Savage boyz' flank covered by the trolls, the knights' only option is to charge them instead. Two knights die covered with vomit, but the trolls are run down. Meanwhile, all able units charge the Savage boyz to buy the knights some time to turn around.

Orcs turn 4

The OB3 block approaches the shallow parts of the river but are now within grapeshot distance. The Squig hoppers finally get to eat some Outriders (all of them, as a matter of fact). The Savage boyz have still not been able to wipe the Greatswords out, but at least one of the small units flee from the combat.

Empire turn 5

Only one of the cannons have time to fire the grapeshot (the other one misfired last turn). Only three orcs die from the combined shooting on this flank. The crossbowmen in the river kill a couple of Squigs.

The other Greatsword unit breaks and runs off, and the savage orcs pursuit into the last remaining unit (the one that fled last turn, but that managed to rally just in time). Threre are only three-ish men left in the unit, and if they don't hold next turn, the Knights probably won't be able to reach the Savages before the game ends.

Orcs turn 5

The Boyz charge the cannon and the Squigs bounces across the water to reach the Xbows. The Black orc hero and his Savage boyz keep clobbering the Greatswords, but one of them not only survives, but also kills the Savage orc unit champion.

Empire turn 6

Thanks to the lone Rambo holding the whole orc block, the knights can get the charge off and wipe them out. The Squig hoppers run down the crossbows. The cannon to the left have just unjammed, and attempts a grape shot against the last Boyz. Could have been a good idea, but sadly the cannon explodes and kills the crew.

Orcs turn 6

The Squigs bounces out of the way of the knights while the Boyz chase off the last crossbowmen.

So, not very much stuff left on the battlefield. It ends up a (very) minor victory for the Empire. The Empire's shooting was very effective and killed more than it should have. Meanwhile, the orcs didn't suffer much from Animosity. Stupid trolls and, most of all, slow squigs however, might have cost the orcs the game. If the Outriders had been wiped out in turn 2 (or even 1) instead of turn 4, there would have been a lot more Boyz alive.