Rotwater Blight Game 1: Orcs vs Sylvaneth

The first game at Rotwater blight and its Hold or die against a Sylvaneth force. As we have special rules for the games my orcs become followers of Nurgle for this game, well they are green so that's close enough I guess.

The Mission

For game one its Hold or die, so one army (the Invader) separates into two. One force is the invading force and can set up where ever it wants on the table, with the other force coming on turn 2. However the reinforcing force has to be twice as large as the starting force. The other army (The custodian) sets up where ever they want that is more than 12 inches away.

The Invaders objective is to kill everything the custodian has, while all the custodian has to do is kill the invaders starting force.

We roll to see who is which force, and Sylvaneth chooses to be the Custodian, leaving me as the Invader.

In all the games over the weekend we are in the realm of life (so a roll of 1 for battle shock brings every one back to life) and a few more other things which didn't do much.

The Armies

Before we pick our models we go through what each of us has, and going though our forces it becomes apparent that I really can't deal with 4 monsters, so he is kind enough to drop a Treeman for me. We use the following forces:

The Invader: Orcs and goblins

Starting force

Grimgore Ironhide (general)

17 black orcs – full command

Orc Bigboss – Waaaagh banner

Savage Orc shaman

Reserve force

Orc Warboss on Wyvern (General)

Orc great shaman

Orc great shaman

20 Orc boys – full command

Giant

Doom diver

Rock lobber

Orc Bully

The Custodean: sylvaneth

Durthu (general)

Lord on Forest Dragon

Treeman Ancient

Branch wraith

Branch wraith

6 Treekin

14 Dryads

14 Dryads

Stormcast Knight-Vexillor

9 Stormcast Liberators

Converted forest dragon

Deployment

I set up my waaagh banner first right in the centre of my deployment and encircle him with black orcs and characters, I don't see how I can win this but I will defend the flag to the last.

He encircles me with all of his force, with most of his monsters towards the south of my deployment and the stromcast towards the north. I don't see this ending well.

Deployment

The Battle

Turn 1 – Priority to the Sylvaneth

Durthu calls forth and summons a new forest onto the table, close to my black orcs.

Movement has the forces of the Sylvaneth move straight towards my lines, but durthu spirit walks and sets up as close as possible in the new wood. The tree man ancient does the same but sets up in the forest to the east of the black orcs.

Shooting from the Treeman ancients staff targets the Waaagh banner and manages to deal a single wound to him, it could have been a lot worse.

Combat and both the Treeman ancient and Forest dragon manage to charge into Grimgor. And because of the dragons ability all of my units will strike last. First the dragon attacks and he manages to kill Grimgor with ease, however with the special rules we are using, the nurgle player (that's me) gets to try and ask Nurgle for help and on a 5+ you can bring a hero back from the dead once in a game. Taking notice of my need, Nurgle brings Grimgor back from the dead ready to strike back! But then the Treeman impales him killing him once more... there is only so much Nurgle is willing to do. The black orcs move in and attack back but only manage to deal a single wound to the Treeman ancient.

The monsters take on Grimgor

Orc turn

In the hero phase the Savage orc shaman calls on Gork to stomp on the forest dragon, dealing 3 mortal wounds to it, then wonders off. Raising his banner high then slamming it down, implanting it in the ground with a WAAAAAGH! The warboss tells the back orcs no one runs, making ever one immune to battleshock (its a mission special rule).

Seeing a branch wraith behind the orcs, the savage shaman moves towards it wanting to show it who the best!

Charges and the Savage orc shaman charges into the branch wraith. As the shaman is the only one I can have go first, he does and deals 0 damage, missing his single attack. Amused by the orcs display the branch wraith swipes with its claws and deals a single wound back. Somehow, the treeman fails to deal any damage to the black orcs, he just rolled badly, but the dragon however rips 5 black orcs to pieces, so it balances out. Striking back the black orcs deal 3 wounds to the dragon and 3 on the Treeman! Not a bad combat considering.

Savage orc Shaman vs Branch wraith

Turn 2 – Priority to the Sylvaneth

Hero phase and the Treeman ancient casts arcane bolt onto the waaagh banner, dealing 3 mortal wounds to him. Calling down a comet the Stormcast Knight-Vexillor kills off the banner, so i'm not longer immune to battleshock.

Again the army moves towards the black orcs, getting very close now.

Shooting and the treeman ancient targets the shaman and chips another wound off him, reducing him to 2.

Combat and Durthu and a unit of dryads from the bottom of the table charge into the black orcs. Trying to kill off the Savage orc before he can strike, the Branch wraith again claws at him and reduces him to a single wound, but he's still kicking. The savage orc attacks back and again does nothing. Swinging his great sword, durthu kills 6 black orcs with ease, yet some how the dragon, dryads and trees fail to do anything with some terribly bad rolls. Striking back, the black orcs manage to deal a single wound to Durthu and the Treeman ancient.

Battleshock and I have 5 guys left, and having lost 6 I can roll anything but a 6 to have at least 1 model left. So I roll a 6 and they all run for it. I have 1 model left before he wins.

Orc turn

Trying to damage the dragon again the savage tries to cast foot of gork, but the spell fails.

Reinforcements arrive

The reinforcements arrive to my left, attempting to save the single model one 1 wound left. The giant and wyvern appear towards the top of the table ready to smash a unit of Dryads. In the centre the boys and a shaman appear, flanked by the trolls and the artillery. Spooked by the branch wraith and its inability to die, the savage orc shaman falls back to the safety of the orc line.

Now I have the doom diver and rock lobber on the table they both try to shoot at the forest dragon, but miss, the doom diver can't even redirect. However the trolls vomit on the branchwraith and kill it with ease.

The ground shakes as both the giant and wyvern charge the dryads at the top. Striking first the giant swings with his club killing 9 of the little trees, but the rest of his attacks miss. Attacking back the dryads cause 2 wounds on the wyvern and none on the giant. Angered by their puny attacks, warboss and his pet wyvern kill off 4 more dryads.

Battle shock and the dryads run for it.

Turn 3 – The orcs steal the priority

Shouting his battle cry the Warboss on wyvern calls a WAAAAAAGH!, and a shaman shields the orc boys. The other shaman shield the savage orc shaman. The savage tries to foot of gork the dragon but fails to cast.

The boys move towards the dryads while the giant and wyvern move towards Durthu. Trolls amble forwards towards the dryads.

Again all of my shooting scatter off, rather unfortunate but such is life.

Seeing Durthu, the Giant charges him wanting to show his strength, but the warboss on wyvern fails his charge to aid him. In the centre the boys charge the dryads and the trolls can't fit in anywhere, so can't charge. I activate the giant first and he smacks durthu with his tree causing 2 wounds. Durthu strikes back but only deals 2 as well. My orc charge was a little misguided as they are within 3 of the dragon (so go last) and the treeman ancient. So the ancient goes next but can't get past the orcs armour, the same is true for the dragon! However the sheer number of attacks from the dryads kills 2 of them. Finally the orcs can attack and kill off 2 dryads.

Battle shock the orcs all hold, but 2 dryads run!

Sylvaneth turn

Attempting to end the game right now, the treeman ancient tries to cast arcane bolt on the savage orc shaman, but fails to cast.

The treekin move towards the wyvern and the storm cast move closer as well.

Treeman Ancient shoots with its staff but misses the savage orc shaman.

Charging though the woods, the treekin make combat with the wyvern. Durthu goes first and reduced the giant to 3 wounds, crippled but not out of it. Surprised by the sudden emergence of the treekin, the wyvern snaps at them killing 1, and thankfully when they activate next I take no wounds back. Grappled by Durthu the giant only manages to do a little damage, causing 3 wounds back. Thanks to arcane shield the treeman ancient fails to do any damage to the orcs, the dragon kills 2 of them though. The dryads kill 1 more, then the orcs get to attack back and cause 1 wound to the dryads and 1 to the treeman ancient.

Battleshock and I roll a 1 for the orcs, so life blooms and all the dead orcs come back to life.

Turn 4 – Orc priority

Again I cast arcane shield on the orcs to keep them alive, and on the wyvern. The savage shields himself. Again the Warboss calls a Waaaagh!

As he's a little too close to danger the savage orc shaman moves back away from the trees.

Shooting from the rock lobber manages to actually hit the Dragon! And it deals 3 wounds to the beast. Doom diver shoots at Durthu and hits, but fails to wound.

Mustering up what strength he has left, the giant head-buts Durthu but only deals a single wound. However he doesn't take kindly to that and impails the giant, killing him off with ease. The warboss manages to kill off another treekin, who again fail to do any damage back. The dragon kills off 6 orcs and the treeman kills a few more. Dryads do the most of the work killing off all but 1.

The last guy runs for it.

Sylvaneth turn

The treeman attempts to cast arcane bolt on the savage shaman but it gets unbound by an orc shaman.

The treeman ancient moves closer to the savage orc but can't get very far as the trolls are in the way.

Shooting and the ancient attempts to shoot the savage but fails to kill him.

Combat and the treeman ancient charges the trolls with the dragon. Durthu charges into the wyvern. He attacks with Durthu first but only manages to deal 3 wounds to the wyvern thanks to arcane shield. I have no choice other than to attack with the wyvern and he manages to kill off durthu! Finally he dies. The treekin go next but fail to do anything to the wyvern. Dragon attacks the trolls killing 2 and again the treeman fails to do anything. Trolls attack back and reduce the treeman to single wound and deals 2 more wounds to the dragon.

Battle shock and 2 trolls run for it.

At this point we run out of time. I say that he can have the major victory as I only have 1 wound left and he still has 2 monsters running around plus his stormcast. But he was a gentlemen and insisted we have a draw which was awesome of him.

Draw

Post-Battle

That was a fun game and my opponent was a great guy for tailoring his list so we could have a close game. Its a shame that the mission was so awkward and one side would have a massive advantage but we knew it was coming ahead of time. It was my fault for not preparing for it. Still I think I have learnt a few things from the game:

• Starting force: As I only had 60 models and the starting force had to be half the size of the reinforcing force, I only had 20 models. Thematically I had the right choice of force, Grimgor the Immortals and two back up characters looked right. However if I wanted to play the game more strategically I probably should have swapped Grimgor and the shaman for the wyvern and giant so I had a lot more wounds. Maybe it would have changed the game a bit, not sure. I doubt it would have helped me win the game though.
• Sylvaneth: They can be a tricky opponent when your table is full of trees and they have 3 treemen. Still it was a good game and I need to be more careful about how close I get to trees when they can just teleport between woods and turn them into weapons.

With this scenario though it is massively based on who is the attacker and who isn't. Its a lot easier to kill 20 models than 48, which is a flaw to the game. Granted I got 60 in total but such is life, it might have been a different game had we swapped sides. Still it was a good game.

Not a bad start, a draw.