Warhammer fantasy

[Noisysteve]

The door to the great hall thundered open as the dishevelled group entered. The duke looked up bored from his meal as a shapeless sack was thrown bodily across the floor.
"What do you have there cousin?"
" We found a survivor , My Lord, from your Nephews host"
The sack moaned and slowly sat up, revealing itself as a dirty, pale man, eyes wide in terror.
The Duke licked the grease from his fingers and slowly pushed his chair backwards as he stood. Eyes never leaving the figure on the floor, he casually walked over, and crouched down in front of the man. he reached forward and tenderly raised the mans chin, until he was looking directly at him.
The gaze that was returned was full of terror and the recollection of a visit to Hell itself.
" You're safe now ", his voice barely above a whisper, " Tell me, what happened?"
The mans lower lip quivered, tears welling up in his eyes, " dead, all dead, so quick, so quick" he sobbed
The Duke waited patiently before asking" The Knights?, what happened to the Knights?"
the mans gaze wandered, before returning to the Dukes face.
" Dead my Lord, slain without mercy, all dead"
" And the Count? What happened to my Cousin?"
" Cut down, the Knights rallied, before falling one by one, all dead my Lord, all dead, all dead"
The Duke patted the man on the shoulder as he stood, looking up at the hushed crowd that had watched the exchange.
" Albert, see that this man gets a hot meal and a bed for tonight, Hubert send messengers to the King and the neighbouring provences"
" saying what , My Lord?"
" Tell them we are going to war"

[Agincourt]

...and back in Ulthian (infamous for its modesty).

"Report Prince of Ulthian. How did the battle conclude?"

"I would do the foe honour sire by stating that they went to their deaths bravely. Even their general gave me his personal challenge to fight to his assured death.

"We followed your orders to the letter sire. The Pheonix Guard advanced with purpose and weathered all that was thrown at them. The enemy was in awe that its best efforts had no effect on the silent ones.

"The swordmasters too did not wait for action but advanced with purpose, charging their knights - no man or beast was left alive who met them on the field.

"However, as requested, the slaughter was not absolute and a handful of men were allowed to run traumatised and bleeding from the field to warn their masters of the ruin that awaits them should they dare to return."

"...and will they return, Prince of Uthian?"

"Men are proud and impetuous my lord. They do not understand when they are beaten. There is no doubt they will return. For sure they will lick their wounds then send a host bigger than the last.

"...then next time, Prince of Ulthian, spare only the horses."

[Noisysteve]

The hot sun beat down on Gilberts face, as his body seemed to cook in his armour.What he had done to offend his Grace so much to deserve command in such a barren land , only the Lady knew. He looked once again across the desert plain at the clouds of dust thrown up by the manouvering enemy. This was supposed to be a mission to convert the heathens in this land, but no one had told the locals.
Gilbert glanced down at his younger brother Pierre, " why don't you ride a bloody horse?"
Pierre , in full armour didn't move , " You know i don't trust them, your transportation shouldn't think"
" Yes but you're a knight brother , a horse is normality"
" I'm a Knight of the people, they expect it" and with that he spun round raising both arms , to be met with lound cheers form the ranks of peasant bowmen assembled behind them.

a rider approached them, " Time my Lord"
" Very well, good luck Pierre, see you after"
" stuff your luck, I have the Lady, my hammer and the people!" This was met with another rousing cheer
The regiments of Knights moved out and the Bowmen strung their bows. Gilbert joined the front rank of the famed Grail Knights, nodding to Claude, holding the Battle standard.
" Ready Madame" he called not turning round.
" oh do get on with it you insufferable little man2, came the female reply. The Sorceress was forced on him before they sailed, and she had been as aghast as he had.
Figures started to appear out of the sandy haze ahead. Gilbert could make out figures twice the size of a man, a stone thrower on a hill, war chariots, a small unit of cavalry , and then a large figure loomed forward, easily thrice his height, even when mounted.
The air tasted burnt on his tongue, and he turned to his right to see the large unit of Knights seem to crackle with energy, magic was being used.
The sorceress was busy waving her arms and muttering dispels, when a large stone landed amongst them crushing young francis and his mount.
The knights moved forward when suddenly the sorceress gave out a shriek, falling from her horse, her head charred, semingly from inside.
The charge sounded, the call ringing from all four units of knights, the silence retreating before the sound of metal, flesh and bone impacting at speed.
On the left flank a small unit of knights charged into a unit of mounted skeleton archers, shattering them before their lances.
Three enemy units converged on the grail knights, and ordering them forward to charge the big monsters infront, Gilbert charged right and slammed into the bone giant that towered above him.
The large unit of knights slammed into the tomb Kings unit before being flanked by a large unit of skeletons. The small unit on the right flank slammed straight into the skeleton archers.
the archers now switched targets, so as not to hit the knights. the war machines on the left proved evasive, but the giant scorpion in the middle looked like a pin cushion.
This is the moment, thought Gilbert as he dodged a giant weapon, when things could get very messy. the Giant sliced across his legs, the pain, bringing his mind back to the fight. gilber spurred his horse and closed, slicing upwards, smaching through rotting flesh and bone, until the Giant dropped down, motionless.
Gilbert raised his visor and took stock of the Battle.
The left flank Knights had been charged by the chariots and were coming off worse, The grail knight were wearing the tomb guards down, but many holes appeared in the mounted ranks. Gilbert glanced to the right, where the Knights were surrounded , the tomb king swinging his large weapon to great effect. Behind him, he could just make out his brother, seemingly dancing with another giant scorpion, surrounded by the bodies of a unit of archers.
making a decision, Gilbert spurred on his mount and charged the tomb kings flank. the tomb king, enraged, screamed out a challenge. Gilbert raised his hammer in acceptance.
already hot and tired, Gilbert swung his hammer, chipped bone, as the tomb king screamed, his cut through the horses ear , bridle and gilbers already painful leg.
The horse panicked and bolted.
Using all his remaining strength Gilberr reined in , and calmed her down.
He turned back to the tomb king, expecting the finishing blow. But the enemy General met his gaze and gave just the slightest of nods.
Horns blared out from their ranks, as the combatants pulled apart.
Gilbert searched out his own bugler, " Sound the withdrawal"
" My Lord?"
" You heard me Renee, seems we live to fight another day"
As he rode to the rear of the battle field, he came upon his brother, coverd in blood and gore
" Yours Pierre?" he inquired.
" Scorpion, came up underneath the archers"
" Unfortunate"
"Yeah for the Scorpion, so whats the damage?"
" oh the archers, half our knights and mystic meg"
" Not all bad news then, never did trust that woman, hate magic more than horses"
" Yes but next time we might just need her"
" There will be a next time?"
" Oh yes Brother, you can count on it. now back to camp, i have a dispatch to write"

[Noisysteve]

So this time I played Justin and his Warriors of chaos, First time I've played against both !! As Usual had no idea what i was facing, but I kinda like it that way!! Not a great start as I had forgotten half my army, and Vince very Graciously ran me back to get them. I eventually fielded my Bretonnians, unit of Knights with my General on my left flank, Grail knights, with a damsel in the centre and more knights with a Lord and the battle standard bearer on my right. Also had 2 units of archers, one placed near to a fence , the other on a hill, with a great view of the opposing army. I prayed, so justin went first moving his army towards mine, the only magic was some leper spell on his Chaos Knights. My first turn saw charges declared from all my Knights. On the left they charged some forsaken, the centre into some jugganauts and a Chaos lord, and the left into the Chaos knights.The left saw some forsaken killed, but no knights despite justin having killing blow. The forsaken passed leadership and held. in the centre the Chaos lord offered a challenge, readily accepted by a grail Knight, but it was all over very quickly. I lost the combat, but held in place. On the right it was a bit closer , I did loose the combat, just, and held. My damson threw a spell at the chaos sorcerer and his body guard hiding in a wood, killing 7 of the unit. But they held.
Turn 2 developed into mass melees, my left winning again, this time the forsaken running, I pursued but didnt catch them. another challenge in the centre saw another grail knight fall, and on the right the Knights were slammed in the flank by some more forsaken.Justin cast a plague wind, but the grail knights shrugged it off.
Turn 3 more hand to hand. On the left my knights charged the fleeing forsaken, cutting them down, then reforming. The centre saw the last stand of the grail Knights, with just one left locked in mortal combat with the Chaos Lord. The Damsel was also stricken down.On the right, the Chaos knight champion challenged my lord, who promptly cut him down. Unfortunately the rest of the unit lost the combat and fled, then getting the chop. the Forsaken then charged the flank of the grail knights.
Turn 4 and my General and his unit charged the jugganauts, offered the Chaos lord a challenge, then getting sliced in half for his trouble !! Both Archer units got charged, the only other consolation was the 2 chaos knights lying dead with a flaming aroow sticking out of them!! So another Bretonnian massacre, but a very enjoyable, bloody game. Warriors of Chaos are very well named!! My thanks to Justin, a very patient, friendly player, and that always makes a defeat easier to take. However next time .......

[Noisysteve]

My bretonnians keep on giving. Mainly blood!! This time they proudly arrayed themselves against Gaz and his Lizards. I prayed,as usual and Gaz went first, his flyers dropping rocks on my archers. On my left a battle between skirmishers was developing, blowpipes against arrows, the background ,an advancing Stegadon. The right saw my Errant Knights and the Knights of the realm charge against some skinks, who promptly ran away. In the centre my grail knights charged against more skinks. They too fled, causing a Slann to run too. My Archers let loose ,and one unit of skink scouts were nearly wiped out, the sole survivor running for his life. The Knights came on, one cold one charging a whole unit of Grail knights. I challenged him with my General and cut him down with a Heroic Killing blow. So far so good, and I had light casualties. Then I realised , this was all part of gaz's cunning plan. In the centre he charged into the grails with a large unit of skinks and Kroxigors, the flank with a cold one. I challenged again, and slew a skink hero. Big mistake to take him out of the main combat, as I lost the melee, and fled, the whole unit getting caught and slain. The army now fell apart and was destroyed piecemeal, my Errant Knights managing to survive right to the end. A great game, learnt a lot, and had a lot of fun. I now have haday leats 5 armies destroyed now, so the King might be reluctant to give me command of another !!

[Gareth]

Your big issue was sending TWO units of Knights off to run down 70 points worth of Skinks. It then left your most expensive unit, that had all your characters, and was worth a bonus 225 points (General/BSB/Unit Standard,) without support.

However even expecting a HKB character to fight my Scar-Vets, I was a little stunned when he got cut down. Fortunately for me, he survived my turn, and died in yours, meaning that you couldn't charge in your turn, giving me the opportunity to get the charge off. If you got the HKB in my turn, then there was a good possibility, that you run in on my SKrox block, and without the possibility to buff my unit, and your lance bonus, I was probably going to be legging it.

[Noisysteve]

Yeah , you're right. Lost it down to some bad decisions on my part, rather than bad dice !! But I learnt a lot, and would definitely approach it differently next time. Thanks for the lesson Gaz !

[Gareth]

Don't worry Steve. Today I have played 3 Games and lost all 3 comfortably. Pounding head ache and two more defeats to come tomorrow. I'm looking forward to the new book, as the Lizards appear to be switching to more of a combat army, than a tricksy one.

[Noisysteve]

What armies you played against?

[Gareth]

Ogres, Empire and Deamons. Didn't even get close to the Empire and Deamons giving away 2947 VPs. The Monsterous Cavelry/Infantry in all three take far too long to take down, and my magic and shooting is so short ranged, I'm having to let three pure combat forces get close to me, before I can even attack. I get one or two turns to do something, before they plow through the army. I have also faced 6 cannons across the games, so the Steg and Scar-Vets have not lasted long, leaving me playing 600 VPs down from the start.

Today I start with TK on the bottom table, and my shooting and combat blocks are better than his. The fact he can only attack me with small template scattering barrages, mean I should be fine, and a clip will leave me with armour saves on the key fighters. Round four should be a breeze, unless its something from left field I'm facing.