Battlefield set up for Kings of War 2100 points Northern Alliance Vs The Herd.
To make the battle more interesting, i’m going to set up diagonally. with each force taking an end and part ot one side, as if the Northern Alliance has broken through the defensive wall further along and are now swarming into the valley to pillage the area. (40k style set up )
The Northern Alliance have broken through the defenses with a dawn raid, setting up their attack in the area marked with white dice.While the Herd army must rally between the tavern and the longhouse
Each army gets 5 randomly selected magic items.
The Herd rolled:
Hammer of Measured Force :Woodland critters
Sacred Horn :Great Cheiftain in Chariot
Brew of Strength: horde of spirit walkers
Maccwar’s potion of the Caterpillar : horde of Minotaur chariots
Mace of Crushing : Great Cheiftain
Northern Alliance received:
Sir Jesse’s Boots of Striding: Huscarls
Dragonshard Shield : Half Elf Berserkers trp
Blade of the Beast Slayer: Lord
Blade of Slashing Horde of Human Clansmen
Boomstick: Ice Queen
The Scenario is : Salt The Earth, with a barrel of rich, poteen in the boat in the middle of the bogland as the cetral objective… a worthy trophy indeed for St Patrick’s Day,
The Tuatha De Danaan host: Herd army, was divided into four Battle Formations, dictated as much by terrain as by stratergy:
On the roadway south of the Tavern stood three regiments. On the flank, were Longhorns, elite fighters who would march through the orchard at the back of the tavern. With them strode a Great cheiftain and his warhounds (gur panther).
A regiment of Warriors was followed down the road by Spearmen, and supported by an Arch Druid.
Sheltered in the eves of the Smithy was the second detatchment,:
A gigantic Mythological Raven (Beast of Nature), A Murder of crows, (Woodland critter troop) and a troop of Banshees (harpies)
The third attatchment was a horde of fanatic Spirit Walkers, a horde of chariots, and supported by another Cheiftain riding a chariot.
Finally, hugging the western side of the battlefield was a large Sounder of Wild boars (Hunters of the Wild) and leading them was Morrigan the shapeshifting Goddesss of Nature death and war herself .
(Moonfang). These would skirt around the back of the longhouse and meet up with the two hordes on the open ground beyond.
Units move forward, but the only damage to the Northern Alliance invaders is two Snow Foxes.
The Spirit Walkers destroy an objective rather than risk it falling into enemy hands, thus freeing themselves to focus on attacking their foes
Round One . Northen Alliance.
With 16 units in all, the invaders spread out in one long attacking force, with an Ice Kin bolt thrower perched in the rear on the steps of the watchtower to gain height over the bulk of the army.
They advance together, but the wolves, smelling blood, opt to charge ahead,
The Ice Kin Bolt Thrower aims at the warriors on the road, scoring three wounds. The Giant thunders forward and blasts an icy breath at the giant raven behind the wall at the foot of the hill. causing two wounds. The Ice Kin hunters fire a volley at the Wooodland critters in the bog. causing only 2 wounds , but that being enough to rout them.
The Tundra Wolves are close enough to charge the Banshees, and being on the hill, can get line of sight , but are hindered by the stone wall, therefore lose Thunderous charge bonus for charging off the hill.
The Banshees suffered 6 wounds and were wavered
Turn Two: The Banshees, (harpies) being wavered and disordered could neither back away, fly off , or even pivot. However, the Tribal Warriors did come to their aid with a flank charge into the Tundra wolves, (albiet hindered).
In the orchard at the other side of the tavern, the Longhorns attacked the Snow Foxes that were blocking their way.
The Giant Raven being able to see over the hill, opted to charge the Half Elf Berserkers, hoping to wipe them out before they had a chance to activate their Dragonshard shield protection.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the Blacksmiths forge, there was a lot of tactical shuffling going on, as none of their forces could charge, but with the giant and Frostfang cavalry within charge range, they could and probably would get charged in return. Therefore, they set about laying a trap for whatever came at them. They also destroyed a second of their own objectives, and the third objective was now underneath the Longhorns which would take some shifting to claim.
The Gladewalker druid failed miserably to heal the banshees… maybe because they were already dead.?!
The Chieftains bow was likewise ineffective.
The Longhorns hacked the poor snow foxes to pieces, inflicting a further 11 wounds , and even the Lord’s presence couldnt prevent a rout. The Tribal warriors, struggling with the stone wall to get at the flank of the Tundra wolves, only managed one wound.
The giant raven inflicted 3 wounds on the half elf berserkers., but was unable to rout them either.
Turn Two. Northern Alliance,
The Snowfox chaff had done their job, and prevented the Longhorns from charging out of the orchard. Taking advantage of the sacrifice, a regiment of Human Clansmen charged into the orchard, followed by the Northern Alliance Lord, who, along with his trusty snow fox, leaped the wall of the Tavern, and charged at the Great Chieftain who was marching alongside the Longhorns.
The second regiment of Clansmen charged into the flank of the Tribal warriors who had attacked the wolves, leaving the wolves to finish off the banshees, hopefully.
The half elf berserkers countercharged the Raven, which meant that they could not activate their shield .
The Ice Kin hunters moved down off the hill into the bog, contesting the central objective, but more importantly, freeing up a path for the Giant to charge. He, and the Frostfang Cavalry , opted for a double charge on the horde of chariots , taking advantage of their Strider rule.
The Human Clansmen horde also moved forward at a march on the western flank, abandoning an objective in order to threaten the Moonfang and Hunters of the wild ,
The Thegn, Huscarls Orlaf the Barbarian followed, leaving a second objective unguarded.
The Dwarf clansmen, which had been guarding the third objective, decided to destroy it, and pivoted in readiness of marching forward next move to protect/destroy other objectives.
This meat that the Ice kin bolt thrower had no target in line of sight as all unit were either blocked or engaged in combat
Over the central hill, however, the Ice Kin Hunters and the Ice Queen could fire at the Spirit Walkers , although they did get some protection from the jetty .
The hunters inflicted one wound, which meant that the Ice Queen’s spell benefitted from Master of Ice. Her Icy Breath inflicted a further 5 =6 wounds.
Hoping to rob the Longhorns of their inspiring chief, the Lord attacked first, his Blade of Beast slaying being of no benefit against the Chieftain. he inflicted only 3 wounds .
The Longhorns also took 3 wounds. and as fate would have it, the Tribal Warriors also took 3 wounds, bringing them to 6, which with a nerve roll of 7 was enough to waver them.
The Tundra Wolves ravished the trapped Banshees, bringing them to 16 wounds and routing them .
The half elf berserkers, despite being disordered managed 6 further wounds on the Giant Raven, which was enough to waver it.
Finally, the joint attack on the horde of chariots. The giant did 7 wounds+brutal made 8, the Frostfangs a further 5, =13, and a nerve roll of 11, then reroll of 9 for inspiring presence, saw them routed, and the cunning defensive plan of the Herd in tatters.
The Giant and the Frostfang cavalry both opted to pivot to face the Spirit Walker horde, the greatest of the three threats, with the Frostfang protecting the Giant’s rear.
The Wavered Giant Raven stepped back, unable to do anything else.
The Gladewalker Druid cast heal on it, healing two of it’s wounds, after moving back slightly to give the Tribal spears access to charge the wolves,
The Spirit Walkers charged the giant head on, with the Cheiftain on the chariot taking it in the flank. The hunters of the wild and Morrigan Moonfang could both just about get line of sight on the rear of the Frostfang cavalry, and double charged them, opting to ignore the threatening presence of the horde of Human Clansmen standing in front of them. Everything else countercharged.
The Cheiftain fighting the Lord went first, using his duelist special ability and the Mace of Crushing, but due to the loss of thunderous charge, he only managed 4 wounds on the lord. as it turned out, this, was enough to waver the Lord .
The Longhorns did an incredible ten wounds, despite the loss of Thunderous charge, then rolled 12 for nerve, and 9 on the rebounce. The Clansmen fled the field! and the Longhorns followed hoping to not go too far off the objective.
5 inches! still close enough to contest/destroy.
The Tribal Spears (hindered) attacked the wolves but failed to wound the blessed by the gods Wolves.
The Tribal warriors did better, scoring two wounds on the other regiment of Clansmen.
The horde of Spirit Walkers used the Blood of the old king to gain elite and viscious and attacked the giant. The effect was devistating… to them, not the giant. They scored 4 wounds, but took 8 in return. (note to self… don’t ever do that again!) The Chieftain on the chariot did a further 3 bringing it to 7 and rolled 10 on nerve but needed an 11 to waver. ( i wasn’t sure whether i forgot something on this like the s to hit, so for curiosity sake, i rerolled them and got even worse rolls! 10 wounds to 3 ouch! so it must have been right the first time)
The jetty, robbing the Spirit walkers of thunderous charge by hindering them cost them dearly.
Moonfang did better with the rear attack on the Frostfang, causing 9 wounds, and the Hunters of the Wild did 12 more! Even with the Thegn with Inspiring token and Talanaars banner nearby, the Frostfang were well and truly routed.
Both units swivelled to face the horde of Clansmen and Thegn, who were sure to seek revenge.
Turn 3 Northern Alliance.I’d forgotten all about the troop of Huscarl with the boots of Striding, lurking in the woods, or for that matter Ulric the barbarian, who was also in charge range.“Steady on Lads! Form an orderly queue! we were here first!” protested the Thegn, with grumbles of agreement from the horde of clansmen.
Being the nearest, and having the largest footprint, the Horde charged the Hunters of the Wild, allowing, with soe reluctance, the Thegn to join them.
The giant opted to attack the Cheiftain on the chariot with his countercharge, letting the Ice Kin Hunters fire arrows at the seriously wounded Spirit Walkers.
The Ice Queen decided to heal the Giant, rather than cast an offensive spell, and sods law, healed 5 wounds easily. (when things are going your way, the Gods smile at you)
Which left either the barbarian or the huscarls to atack the Morrigan Moonfang. (not enough room for both really) The huscarls, having the Boots of striding, got there first.
The regiment of Dwarfs still held in reserves sidled closer to one of the three remaining objective markers, struggling on their stunty legs to navigate the low wall at the foot of the hill.
at their pace, they might just reach the objective before the battle is over,
The Wolves, greatlyblessed by the gods countercharged the phalanx of spears, whilst the remaining regiment of clansmen grapled with the Tribal warriors and the Half Elf Berserkers fell on the giant raven. The Lord, wavered and penned in , could do little but wait for the killing blow.
The regiment of clansmen did an impressive 5 wounds bringing the Warriors to 11, but rolled 3 on the rerolled nerve, so only wavered the surprisingly sturdy Tribal warriors. The Tundra Wolves, who had been pushing their luck throughout the battle struggled against the wall of spears and only inflicted 2 wounds to the spearmen.
The Half lves did 5 wounds bringing the Beast of Nature to 11 but rolled a 5, so only wavered it again.
The Ice Kin Hunters, elite bowmen with ice tipped arrows, failed to wound the Spirit Walkers who were already on 14 wounds! 1 wound wound have probably seen them flee. The Giant, also struggled to make his 14 attacks hit home against the Cheiftain in the chariot, only getting 3 wounds. with a nerve roll of 11 though, it was enough to waver the Cheiftain, although that wasn’t much help as the Chieftain had fury, so would still countercharge.The Huscarls, eager and fresh for battle did better, inflicting 10 wounds to the Moonfang who fled the field.
The Horde of Human clansmen attacking the Hunters of the Wild only managed 3 wounds and another from the Thegn, and failed to waver the boars.
Generally, a disastrous round of combat for the Northern Alliance, who had been abandoned by their Northen Gods.
Turn 4 The Herd.
The Longhorns pivoted, readying to help their cheiftain in his duel of heroes should he need it, and destroy their last objective marker.
The cheiftain did 3 more wounds and routed the NA Lord.
The shaman cast a heal spell on the wavered Warriors(healing 2 wounds) whilst the Tribal spears countercharged the wolves again, managing their first wound of the battle!!!
The Wavered Warriors were pinned in and couldnt move, but the raven backed away again, getting within range of the inspiring druid.
The Spirit walkers flank charged the giant, this time unhindered and without the poisonous Blood of the Old King, which had gone down like a batch of dodgy scrumpy! they hit 36 times and wounded 21 times!
The Chieftain on the Chariot might have considered a nifty nimble attack on the flank of the Huscarls, but being wavered could only countercharge the Giant thanks to Fury. he did 2 more wounds bringing the total to 25 wounds. Even had he been in range of the Ice Queen inspiring precense, he would have been routed.
The Hunters of the Wild were under no such restraints though, and decided again to ignore the bulk of clansmen and attacked the Thegn instead. They did 6 wounds and wavered the Thegn as he was not protected by Talanaars standard (core units only)
If the Northern Alliance rolled poorly again, the Herd might just survive !
Turn 4 The Northern Alliance. Somewhat surprised by the death of the Giant, their Lord, and worst still the wound infliced to their lucky wolves, The Northern Alliance reeled in shock and reassessed their battle plan.
Their mission was to win objectives, one of which the more concservative dwarf regiment were tptoeing towards on steel shod boots, slowly, but resolutely.
Two other possible objectives still survived, the one on the western flank, behind the Horde of Human clansmen, but too far away to reach without offering their backs to the viscious boars of the Hunters of the Wild
The Thegn was wavered, doomed even… and might be used as a sacrificial lamb however…
The Huscarls, were of no help, facing the wrong way due to the sudden demise of the Giant. but they could attack the Spirit walkers in the bog and ‘bog them down for a turn or two’ get that… bog them down… never mind!
That left The Ice Queen, The Barbarian and the Ice Kin hunters to lock up the Chieftain in the chariot and the Spirit walkers, and hopefully clain the Holy Barrel of Poteen too, if all went well.
As for the rest of the army, they were locked in a gruelling fight and could not be relied on for assistanc, nor was their struggle in any way beneficial to the overall mission as the objectives on that side had all been destroyed .
They could, however, keep the foes tied up in protracted battle. …
The regiment of Human clansmen again attacked the wavered Tribal warriors, the half elfs pressed their attack on the raven, and the wolves gnashed at the spear phalanx.
The Huscarls charged the Spirit walkers, The Barbarian charged the Hunters of the Wild, The Horde of Clansmen turned their backs on the fighting and prepared to double march for the objective, which left the Queen and the Ice Kin hunters to deal with the chariot.
The Ice Kin fired… inflicting two wounds and a frozen. The queen cast Icy Breath,but failed to wound.
The ice kin bolt thrower tried to hit the Longhorns in the Orchard as it was the only enemy in sight. but missed
The Half Elf Berserkers did 8 wounds … but the Great Raven rolled snake eyes, thanks to the inspiring presence of the druid!! Not only did they fail to kill it, but it would get to attack them back next turn… granted at half attacks. Thankfully, it couldn’t fly away.
Clansmen inflicted 5 wounds bringing thewarriors to 14. and they were finally routed.
The wolves managed 4 wounds on the Tribal spears, who locked shields stubbornly and refused to budge,
The legendary Orlaf the barbarian, hewer of men only managed 2 wounds against the wild boars, now with 6 wounds, but wavered them!
The huscarls having already used their boots of striding, were knee deep in bog water and hindered as they clashed with the Spirit Walkers. but managed to inflict 6 wounds totalling 20 in all and finally the Spirit Walkers fled.
Turn 5 The Herd
The Cheiftain, fresh from slaying the Northern Lord, had continued on to the front of the Tavern, where he, and the Longhorns had been able to see the flank of the regiment of Human Clansmen. However, after defeating the Tribal warriors, the clansmen had also pressed forward , and were now around the far side of the Tavern on the road, ready to flank charge the spearmen. Thankfully, all was not lost, as both were within charge range of the unfortunate Half Elf berserkers, so they charged that troop in the flank… hindered but still … it was going to hurt!
The Raven: Beast of Nature , disordered and therefore unable to use nimble, had no option but to join the fray,
Which meant that the Gladewalker druid would need to take the offensive and fireball the clansmen to prevent the flank assault that was sure to come, while the spearmen tickled away at the wolves, The fireball spell worked much better than his healing efforts, scoring 3 wounds to bring it to 5 , but insufficeint to waver the unit.
The boars were penned in by the longhouse and remained were they were.
The Cheiftain on the chariot , despite losing 1" movement for frozenn still had a charge range of 11 " and a whole array of options to charge. He opted to ignore the huscarls, thegn, barbarian , ice queen and ice kin, and nimbly drove passed them all to hit the Clansmen in the flank instead. he did 8 wounds on them, but failed to waver. Shame they hadn’t started to march off or he could have rear ended them.
The Great Cheiftain attacking the half elf berserkers did 2 wounds, , the Longhorns did a further 17! wounds, and the beast of nature did a further 3 bringing it to overkill 25 wounds on the troop. They didn’t get snake eyes!..oops i forgot about the crshing mace, ah welll.
The Cheif and Longhorns pressed on, heading up the hill towards the dwarfs,
The spears attacked the wolves…again…getting three more wounds=4 and rolling 10 for nerve wavering the pesky wolves. yeahhh!
apologies, i did do a minute long youtube clip, but my wifi suxz so badly it’d take two hours to upload,
Turn 5 Northern Alliance.
The dwarf regiment finally reach the top of the hill and claim that objective, pivoting to put their backs to the walll of the roundtower, just in case.
The Huscarls attack the Hunters of the Wild (boars) flank as it is all they can see-hindered.
This means that the Thegn and Orlaf can both pivot then get LOS on the chariot as they are both Individuals, they can then both declare a charge on the Cheiftain’s chariot behind them.
This means that the Horde of human clansmen can leg it at the double towards the unclaimed objective on the western flank. They get within 3" of it.
That leaves the Ice Queen and Ice Kin hunters in the bog. The hunters pivot towards the hill, and aim their bows at the Beast of Nature Raven, as does the ice queen with her spell. (The archers do enough to bring it to 20 wounds and it fails a nerve check.
The Ice Kin Bolt thrower can finally find a target in the Longhorns on the hill too, but miss.
The wolves are wavered and can do nothing, but the human clansmen regiment can charge hindered into the Spearmen.
… wow 7 hits out of 12 needing 5’s… good rolls. and 7 wounds too. impressive! But the Tribal Spearmen also roll snakeeyes on the second attempt! thanks to the druid. The Clansmen should have charged him instead!
The huscarls need 4s, get 10, and 7 wounds on 3s. bringing the boars to 13 and no snakeeyes this time… bacon butties all around lads!
The Thegn hits once… probably his fox, but manages to wound… ankle biter!
Orlaf hits the chariot four times, + 3 more wounds =9. +6 is 15 wavered!
Turn 6. The Herd. All looked lost for the Herd, with the three remaining objectives in Northen hands, and only two core units left, plus two heroes and a druid, (one of which was wavered and surrounded by foes. But, the gods had blessed them in the latter half of the battle and may do so again.
The Cheiftain on the Chariot moves back 3" so he is out of line of sight of the Huscarls, then pivots using nimble, which puts him behind the proection of a small wooden barricade… Alas, slightly out of range to contest for the poteen barrell. He would need a second pivot for that,
The Longhorns could not see the dwarfs to charge them, and were forced to swivel and march withershin around the round tower to get within sight of the dwarf Clansmen… maybe next round, if they got one
The Great Cheiftain turned to circle the other way around the tower and spotted the unprotected Ice Queen at the edge of the bog… vengence is mine! he thought and charged down the hill. As luck would have it, there was a break in the wall, so his charge was not hindered either. The Ice Queens day’s were numbered, and just beyond her was the Ice Kin Hunters protecting the poteen barrel… sweeter still.
The Spearmen attacked the wolves, and the Gladewalker blasted a fireball at the clansmen, doing 2 wounds but failed to rout them.
The wolves got 5 more wounds bringing them to 9, but rolled 3 on nerve so were not even wavered… blessed by the gods indeed. They had survived 5 rounds of combat!
The great cheaftain ad his hunting cat rolled 5 ones out of 8 hits, wounding only on 3, rolled an 8 on nerve so wavered the Queen, but she stopped his charge notwithstanding. …correction, he had the Crushing mace, so he did 4 on the reroll, so she would be dead,… inspiring roll… 8… The Ice Queen was routed…phew!
The Great Cheiftain overruns into the Ice Kin Hunters. but only does 1 wound… if ever there was a time for Divine Intervention it was now…LOL… The Ice Kin Hunters pull a snake eyes out of their hat and shrug off the wound,