Down and Dirty in the Maw pit

Hi all,

First day of the Summer break =  a chance to get in some Warhammer. Scouts had reported a marauding force of Ogres had made their way down from the Worlds Edge Mountains, so an expeditionary force from the local garrison was sent to intercept.

The force sent to intercept:

Art Collector: GW, Armour of Meteroic Iron, 4+ ward
lvl4: light, scroll
BSB: Full Plate Armour, Enchanted Shield, Warriorbane
lvl1: fire, rubyring
Engineer

48 Halberds: Full Command
2x5 Archer Detachment
10 Archers
10 Inner Circle Knights: Full Command-Gleaming Pendant

2 Cannons
2x4 Demigryph knights: Musician

Hurricanum
Hellblaster

The Scouts had managed to inflitrate the Ogre camp and managed to report back (alive) that their warband consisted of:

Ogre Warband:

Slaughtermaster: Glittering scales, WS10 sword, Crown of Command
BSB: (armour) GW...possibly other stuff but the scouts never managed to break into his tent
Firebelly: ASF sword, scroll
Firebelly: I10 sword, rubyring

7 Bulls: Full Command-Runemaw
8 IronGuts: Full Command-banner of swiftness

2x3 Mournfang: Musician
3x1 Sabretusks

2 Iron Blasters

The Empire marched out at day break hoping to catch the Ogre warband unawares, only to find them ready for battle...the armies lined up and an erie silence fell across the land between them.

TURN ONE
However, it was the Empire's finest that were first off the mark (taking advantage of Ogre cultral pre-battle taunting traditions to start the battle). A bit of a shuffle forward to get into a comfortable position for most of the army, while the archers eagerly marched forward. The light mage muttered under his breath and the Demigryphs to his left found themselves moving as if they were in a timewarp. The Bright wizard then yelled in fury to unleash the largest hail of fire he could muster on the Ironblaster (Empire right), however the Slaughtermaster ate a squirrel just in time (does Ogre magic still work like this?). The Light wizard then had a go, attempting to Banish it to another dimension, taking a single wound. This of course, just encouraged the "Gunshow" who, not to be out done by the posing mages in silly robes, promptly blew the Ironblaster up.

The Ogre General then found himself in an awkward position. The mournfang were eager to get into the fight, but the un-natural speed of the Demigryphs meant they had no way to safely move...so instead they shuffled forward a little confused. The Ironguts and Bulls however, were not restricted by such trival matters and marched foward in blood lust.

The Slaughtermaster then dug into his bag of treats and ate a rock...much counter yelling by the Empire mages stopped the Mournfang on the ground getting tougher, however while the Mages were yelling to stop that, the Slaughtermaster took a sip from his flask; the Mournfang were overtaken by aroma of the brew stolen from a Dwarven stronghold, and were filled with stubborn steadfastness. The Ironblaster took a shot at the Hellblaster...it can re-roll bounce, but it can't re-roll 1's to wound!

TURN TWO
The archers saw this as their moment. The centre detachment ran into the face of the Bulls and pulled funny faces and made rude comments about their mothers.The unit on the right (along with some Demigryphs!) charged a sabretusk. The timewarped Demigryphs smashed into the Stubbborn Mournfang, while the ICKs strategically moved up to tempt the 2nd unit away from a flank charge/provide a good incentive not to take the Demigryph flank!

Magic drew out a scroll, however the real phase was the Gunshow. 2 cannons = dead 2nd Iron Blaster, while the Hellblaster let rip on the Ironguts, stripping a rank.



In combat, the Demigryphs could hit the Mournfang, but only managed 4 wounds...thankfully all 4 went through the armour, for the loss of a single wound in return. The Dwarven brew was still floating around, and the Mournfang stood their ground.

 On the other flank...well archers + Demigryph (could only get a single 1 in base to base) = 2 dead archers, 1 wound on sabretusk = thank goodness I have a musician! Kitty runs, archers unsuccessfully chase, while the Demigryphs turn to face down the Iron Guts (and sit within the Hurricanum bubble...).

 The Demigryphs smelt them before they saw them; the Ironguts came smashing through the undergrowth into combat. The sabretusk thought they would have a go at the cannon, however it was a little too far to pounce on. Tossing up whether to hit the ICKs or the Demigryph flank, the Mournfang decided it was more fun to run at ICKs, and thundered off the hill at the Empire's finest.
The bulls, enraged by the unfounded comments about their mothers ran at the archers who fled...but not far enough. The Slaughtermaster went to cook them up, but the Empire Mages pulled out their recipe scroll and corrected their cooking techniques. In combat...12 Demigryph attacks hitting on 2's...especially when they had just been heated up by the Firebelly = some very, very, very dead, fleeing and run down Iron Guts. The Dwarven brew wore off and the last remaining Mournfang on 1 wound ran from the Demigryphs who decided it was better to turn around than chase. The ICK's didnt fair as well as hoped. 2 were squashed by the impact of the Mournfang. Their swords only managed a single wound before their armour failed them, 2 more dying to s4 attacks. Re-rolling ldship 4, the Standard bearer gets pulled down and the final 5 escape the over run.

TURN THREE
So what do you get when you have Halberds in the front, Demigryphs in the rear, and Demigryphs in the flank? Suspiciously woodelf-like tactics if I've ever seen them!

The ICK's rally and brace themselves for more Mournfang "fun".The Light mage after much "do I cast on single unit or bubble" thinking, decides to target just the Halberds with Timewarp only to IF it, wounding everyone that can generate dice (including hurricanum!)...however the Art Collector's ward proves true. The Gun show decided to light up the Mournfang. HellBlaster kills them down to a single wound. The cannon on Hill fails to finish it off (can't remember how), while the other one over hears the Slaughtmasters "hey wouldnt it be funny if the sabretusk got grapeshotted!"...and grape shots the sabretusk's last wound...thank you archers for your single wound contribution.

In the combat my Halberds rip into the bulls slaying many. The Slaughtermaster is taken down to a single fustrating wound and the BSB is wounded. All this slaughter is for naught as the Bulls hold on, due to the fancy headpiece the Slaughtmaster was wearing.

The remaining Mournfang thought he would try his luck and smashed into the ICKs. The fleeing Mournfang rallied, while the fleeing sabretusk ran off the board. However, the sneaky 3rd managed to make it to the the cannon on the hill. During the slaughter the flask containing the Dwarven brew's lid was knocked off and the remaining bulls found themselves not wanting the leave the presence of the wonderful drink. This of course was their downfall as all the bulls were pecked to death or pulled to their fate by the Halberds. All that remained was the Firebelly and the Slaughtermaster (protected by "hitting on 6's" and my inability to roll 4's to wound). The mournfang combat was lost by one, but the ICK's held true-encouraged by the action in the centre of the field.

TURN FOUR

The Empire went for the kill:

And kill they did. The Sabretusk wore a heap of arrows, The Light Mage IF'ed again (!) killing 4 archers, and everyone now with +1 to hit pulled apart the Slaughtermaster and Firebelly. The Mournfang vs ICK's was an awkward draw.







The Mournfang that relied hid behind the tower, hoping to sneak back to the Mountains to find another tribe to join, while the ICKs vs Mournfang combat continued as a draw for a few more rounds until the final wound was taken and the Empire were victorious!




END RESULT
The warband hadnt been routed, they had been cut down to literally an Ogre for the loss of 5 archers and 1 cannon. The valley had been saved from the marauding warband. Much celebrations and drinking ensued.