Time for another game of AoF Skirmish this friday at the club, and facing me was Andy.
He fielded a very pig themed army of Beastmen, meaning my flamethrower is out to make a barbeque!
My army was the same as the one used in the previous game against the Wood Elves, meaning a Caster 2 Abyssal Leader, a Flamethrower weapon team, 2 Sentinel Centaurs, 2 units of 3 warriors and a unit of 3 cultists.
On Andy's force, we had a Ndoli Beast Lord with the Bestial Boost Aura, 3 Ndoli elites, 2 units of 3 Ndoli warriors and a Kemba Brute.
So the leader and the brute hit like a train, so my focus will be on taking out the Ndoli warriors as soon as possible and start forcing morale checks on his force as a result. Let's hope the blast of the weapons team does some good things, while the Cultists will be used to sneak around and draw some of his forces hopefully away.
Game 1
He also brought his newest purchase, a set from Tenfold Terrain boxes, along to try out on the field of battle. And so both sides deployed on the sparkling new terrain, ready to face off. Fate had dealt four objectives to the table, so the battle was on.
The Cultists had deployed close to the objective on my right, and so I was posing threats to all the ones on my side as a result.
The Beastmen moved forward to confront the Cultists, but those where soon joined by the Sentinel Centaurs to try and push the attack off.
In the meantime, the Flamethrower weapon team, who would become known as the "Bacon Burner" over the evening, took down the first of the advancing Beastmen on that flank.
This all resulted after the first turn in a standoff, as the Beastmen prepared to pounce on a variety of objectives, while the Havoc Dwarfs battered down to defend them to the end.
While the Beastmen Elites came in, the last of the regular warriors was pummeled to dead by a pile of thrown rocks from the Cultists.
But soon they where charged by his leader, resulting in one of the Cultists nearly immediatly biting the dust.
In the meantime, more of his warriors assaulted the Havoc Dwarfs objective at the building, but the Havoc Dwarfs charged them taking one of the pigfaced beasts out.
And then in a counterattack of being so called fatigued, the Havoc Dwarfs caught their second wind and with two sixes and failed saves and wound checks on his side, smashed the rest of the unit into the dust and under the iron boot!
With the round closing, the Havoc Dwarfs still had solid control over two objectives, compared to a single one for the Beastmen. The one on the right flank though was starting to become a real heatpoint in the fight, with multiple units exchanging blows!
The Cultists there kept holding out for some reason, as one of the Sentinel Centaurs took down an elite.
Eventually though, the last of the Cultists fell to the Beastial blows, while one of his elites just refused to die after taking a serious pounding and magical barrage hits...
On the other side of the board, his injured Brute was beset by both units of Havoc Dwarf warriors, as the score remained status quo with two objectives for the Havoc Dwarfs and a single one for the Beastmen.
Over on the contested one though, the round started with the armoured bulk of the Sentinel Centaur crashing into his leader, and trampling the big beast underneath it's iron-shod hooves.
One of his elites tried to take revenge, but missed the Sentinel Centaur. Fatigued, he swung his huge hammer back at the wild warrior... and duly crushed it's skull in...
The other Sentinel Centaur wasn't as lucky though however, and was swiftly cut down by the last of his elite warriors, leaving the objective contested.
The warriors did away though with his Brute in the center of the table, as the Bacon Burner shot down the final elite.
And so this left the field of battle to the Havoc Dwarfs, with the enemy totally annihilated, and three out of the four objectives under their control. Victory for Hashut!
Game 2
Now, as the first game had only taken about 40 minutes, we went in for a re-match, this time with five objectives being generated. Once again, the Cultists appeared right next to an objective on my far right, as the Beastmen took a more grouped together approach.
Soon though, forces started swarming left and right to contest various points, barely any casualties caused bar two of his warriors from a flamethrower burst. The Havoc Dwarfs controlled three objectives after the first turn, compared to a single one for the Beastmen, while on the left a battle began for the fifth.
The second turn began over there, with a Sentinel Centaur taking down one of the Elites in a charge.
His brute however charged to the far away objective, trying to take down the Sentinel Centaur guarding it, but failed in doing so and took a wound in return as the mighty beast held.
In the center, his leader took down two Havoc Dwarf warriors, as my Caster and my Bacon Burner drew eyes on him to try and keep the situation in check.
Away on the other flank, the second unit of Havoc Dwarf warriors and the Cultists where involved in a fight with two elites, one being taken down by the warriors, as a Cultist fell to the other elite beastman.
The second Sentinel Centaur left the Brute alone, and with a lucky hit smashed the elite on that flank down to keep control of the objective.
As on the right flank the Cultists (NOBODY messes with Hobgoblins) cut down the other elite, the Havoc Dwarfs remained in the lead controlling two objectives against one, but the big beastmen where seriously battered. However, the battle had also shifted as such that it was doubtfull the Sentinel Centaurs would play any role in it anymore.
The final round didn't see much action, with a Rune of Darkness disintegrating an elite as abotu the only thing happening. However, due to damage inflicted on his forces, he had to take Morale checks, and his leader who was Shaken after being hit by a Rune of Darkness legged it to come back for a another day...
And this resulted in the Beastmen only having a seriously wounded Brute on the table as the round ended, but the Havoc Dwarfs controlling all five of the objectives, claiming a very solid victory...
Game 3
Still not giving up, and the previous game also only haven taken about half an hour, Andy challenged me to a third and final encounter. The forces deployed once more on a table now containing four objectives.
And the Bacon Burner lived up to it's name, reducing both three man units to a single model each together with the spell barrage of the caster, but not scratching the brute though.
At the end of the first round, the Havoc Dwarfs now controlled two objectives against one for the Beastmen, and looked in a solid defensive position as the Beastmen have the first activation now.
After causing so much grief and burnmarks, the Bacon Burner now became his center of attention though, with the Brute lumbering down on it.
The score however remained unchanged, as some Cultists had fallen to his leader but one still held on to contest the central objective.
But that was not to last, as he was smashed to a puddle of ooze by the big beastmen leader pretty convincingly.
The warriors stepped in to occupy his leader as a result and prevent him from taking control of the objective, while on the other flank the second unit of warriors and a Sentinel Centaur kept his flanking move in check. As a result after the third turn, the score still remained at two for the Havoc Dwarfs, one for the Beastmen. The battle with his leader would prove to be all deciding for the outcome!
My Caster stepped in to try and take out his leader, managing to Shake him with his Rune of Darkness as his armour started to disintegrate under the eldritch assault, as my remaining warrior had been shaken by the big guy. This meant his leader couldn't contest the objective anymore and victory had been secured now.
On the other side, the Sentinel Centaur took down his elite to prevent any last moment shennanigans.
The Bacon Burner had fallen to the Brute, who had later also been finished off by the Rune of Darkness spell from earlier, meaning only his leader was left on the field. And as he was shaken, he legged it for the second time in a row against the bullying violence of the Havoc Dwarfs, who took the victory by claiming two objectives to one.
And so we ended three games of Skirnish in about two hours, including quite a lot of breaks as it was warm and the cool breeze outside was more then welcome. The difference in this game was mostly due to my preference to play on morale instead of hard strikes, and paid off in all the games, scoring the Havoc Dwarfs a hattrick. Heck even with in total 12 turns played, the Havoc Dwarfs have never even been tied or behind on objective control, so that went pretty smooth all things considered, though having two blast effects went a long way.
Now all that remains is to find some Hordes Farrow Minions to add three Beastmen to the trophy slaves unit and paint those ugly buggers up in the colourscheme of their not much less ugly pigfaced player...
