The Dwarves adopted a defensive positon (now that was a surprise), seen here on the left, as the Orc hordes swarmed forward.
The Orc army was led by a Krudger on a flyer (sounds like something that would make your eyes water, and in this particular case it did!!!)
After inflicting several turns of artillery fire on the Orcs as they advanced, thr Dwarves then launched an attack against the advancing hordes .. SPLAT!!!
The initial assaults routed one unit of Orcs, but bounced off the remainder.
Foolishly (I'm a slow learner) I had yet again placed the Dwarf Berserkers on a flank. They attacked an Orc unit, but were then in turn hit front and flank by Orc units, and routed. They dish out the attacks on the charge, but are not too hardy when the enemy strikes back.
Meanwhile the combats continued in the centre, while an Orc Horde routed on the Orc left flank, after taking too many hits from Dwarf cannon and rifle fire.
The Dwarf Horde of warriors was then hit in the flank and front, and... ouch!! the first Dwarf rout!!
The Dwarf King meanwhile was busily engaged holding back the Orc riders.
The Orc Krudger swooped in and attacked a unit of Dwarves in the flank.. another Dwarf route!!
And the game was over - 6 turns for each side, and a solid Orc victory.
This was interesting. The Orcs (as with other game systems) dish out the punishment, but are also relatively fragile. Their low Nerve value means that they tend to route relatively more easily, but when they get into contact.. ouch. And the Dwarven toughness makes them relatively more resilient.
The Orc Krudger costs a lot of points, but is well worth it.. he dished out a lot of Dwarven pain!!!
The game ebbed and flowed nicely. In the early stages of contact the Dwarfs grabbed the initiative and several Orc units were routed. After 4 turns it was looking like a Dwarf victory. But this is a game of flanks, and it was the ability of the Orc riders to get on to the flank that caused the Dwarf collapse.
At 1100 points these are still small games in KoW terms we think. On the one hand the larger games will allow more resilience for both sides. On the other hand the games may possibly have a feeling of sameness about them (and that's after only 3 games). I'll reserve my opinion on that until we have played more games. Certainly for the Dwarves the Orcs presented a different set of challenges to those met when facing the Humans.
HI Robin, great AAR as usual. I see the dice rolls behind the dwarrven unit looking rather nasty, Im surprised you lasted that long with those kind of damage numbers!
ReplyDeleteThe Humans would have joined in the fray but were waved down by some damsels in distress (honest truth guv...), but were not ready for the gnome attacks that happened after....damsels were a decoy.
Anyway, great AAR and am looking forward to the next game so we can dispell any "sameness" theories you have :)
Andy
Thanks Andy.. you see what I mean about 'Headstrong'.. the casualties were such that they either stood or routed..
ReplyDeleteThe 'sameness' issue is just a 'gut feeling' at the moment.. certainly the Orcs were a different proposition to the Humans... fragile but savage. The Dwarf artillery fire certainly took its toll.
As always Dwarves have to watch their flanks miore so than most simply because there seem to be fewer of them. My turn 3 assaults on the Orcs gave me an initial edge (as I said, by the end of turn 4 it looked dodgy for the Orcs), but at the same time were the factor that drew me out and exposed my flanks, so ultimately costing me the game.
I guess the thing that worries me is maybe that an army like Dwarves needs to be used in a similar way every time. Might be that the composition is the same fpor every game at the moment, as what you see is basicaly all I have. Different army compositions might change things.
Looking forward to another game with you too!!
R