The scenario we played was just your basic Battleline scenario. Nothing too fancy. I felt as though I deployed the Savage Orcs too far from the General and BSB and looking at what they had in front of them (which was a unit of 3 Carrion and the dreaded Casket) I knew I had to get them in the centre to where the fight would be.
Things were not looking healthy at the start and middle phases of the game when I lost the Squig Herd cheaply to the big block of Skellies with his characters. Tried to allocate some attacks on the Necrotect and his Heirophant with the Squigs, but failed to kill any of them only wounding the Necrotect, but leaving the Heirophant with 1 wound. The rest of the Squigs and Night Goblins slaying a few skellies. The big skellie block then reformed to face the ensuing charge from the Warboss and his Big Un unit.
Both the wolf Chariots were taking a battering from the Tomb King bows, leaving both with 1 wound. One of them broke from the same combat as the skellies and the Squig Herd, falling just short of the Nehekharan statue. That chariot would later play a big role....
The Black Orcs copped a charge from one of the Sphinxes and while they managed to hit it with a couple of wounds, they eventually broke. I think Matt's mistake was not pursuing them, opting to reform to face the centre of the battlefield where the big fight was.
Slowly but surely, the game started coming back my way. Charged the Big Uns into the Skellie block, declared a Waaagh! and got in there. Somehow managed to rally the wolf chariot also. This is where it got interesting...
In the ensuing combat, I decided to accept the challenge called out by his Tomb King with my Warboss. Didn't seem like a good idea as the King had Fencers Blade and Glittering Scales, making him hard to hit. But my reasoning was that I would rather let the Warboss soak up all the hits and wounds with his 4+ ward save. The big challenge saw both Lords taking a wound each. I eventually killed the Necrotect and more skellies with some regular Boyz, taking minimal casualties in return. The BSB was proving hard to kill when his allocated attacks failed to do anything. After winning the fight, the combat resolution allowed me to take down more skellies.
Next turn saw an eventual charge on the Big Uns' flank by one of the Sphinxes. Magic didn't do anything of great importance. In the shooting phase, he failed to leave a mark on the Wolf Chariots. Straight to combat, the Warboss was left with 1 wound left, while I failed to even scratch the Tomb Kings armour. He allocated more attacks on the BSB with his Warsphinx crew, but failing to wound the tough nut. I'll have to give this Orc BSB a new name. I finally killed the Heirophant, meaning that he would have to start taking tests for crumbling, but I did little else that round. A few more Orcs dead from the Fiery Roar and Thunderstomp of the Sphinx, I was testing on Leadership 10 and being Steadfast with the ranks. Passed. Phew.
This is where it really started to come back my way as Matt started rolling really high for his crumble tests. Wiped out his Catapult, crippled his Chariots (taking out 2 chariots), a host of archers and most importantly, removing his Casket. That was huge.
It was now the most critical part of the game where the some of the key positioning and lucky rallies of the chariots would come to play. Firstly, I charged the Wolf Chariot into the rear of the skellie block. Then charged the Savage Orcs into the other Sphinx with 3 wounds left. Meanwhile, the remaining 2 Black Orcs were still running for the hills....
Magic did its part, casting magic here and there.
The first combat we fought was the Savage Orcs VS the Sphinx. To put it simply, the Savage Orcs absolutely pumped it, taking the last 3 wounds off the Sphinx with ease. That opened up an overrun into the rear of the other Sphinx which was in combat with the Big Uns. Needing a 7 on the overrun, unfortunately, I fell just short.
The next combat was with the skellies, Sphinx and Big Uns. I knew that my Warboss would not last long in the challenge and unless I got some kills with the impact hits, the Big Uns would no longer be testing on Steadfast if I were to lose the combat. Luckily for me the chariot did his business and knocked off 5 skellies.
The Warboss eventually died after finding it hard to hit the Tomb King. The Sphinx failing to graze the Orc BSB, did little with its Thunderstomp. The Wolf Chariot died to some skellies, but the 7 or 8 skellies that it knocked off was more than enough to prove its value. When the dust settled, I had won combat with enough combat res points to make both units crumble. Yup, it went pretty pear shaped for the Tomb Kings from here on in.
On his crumble tests, more Chariots went down along with some archers. The Heirotitan was extremely resiliant in passing all its Leadership tests. The crippled chariots were not willing to charge the remaining Big Uns and the BSB. There wasn't much else to do...
On my last turn, I had declared a long charge with the Big Uns into his chariot, which failed.
The Savage Orcs charged the unit of archers and made it with ease.
Meanwhile the Black Orcs were nearing the edge of the table, needing double ones to save myself a huge chunk of points. Rolled the dice and wouldn't you know - SNAKE EYES!! The look of dismay on Matt's face was priceless...
We didn't bother going through the rest of the phases, especially in combat where we knew the Savage Orcs would just tear Archers a new one.
So it was a big win in the end, thanks to some very fortunate rally rolls and charges that helped hold off the Tomb King and his skellie unit from running amok.
Up next will be quick summaries of all 6 games at the Pilgrimage. Without pics unfortunately...
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