With the Storm of Chaos summer upon us, the Quattro Croce mercenary company has been busy. Still under the hire of the Empire, they were charged with following up on a previous battle and ordered to pursue Dark Elf forces as they withdrew. 2000 pts of DoW marched to war.
On the other side of good stood a rear guard of 1000 Dark Elves, ordered to give their lives so that the remainder of their army could withdraw in safety.
We rolled up this mission from the Warhammer rule book, and after rolling sides, it turned out the Quattro Croce would be the attackers. This is the mission where the attacker had to get units off the defender's table quarter; to add to the challenge we made the river impassable, so all units had to cross the bridge!
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The small, but potent Dark Elf force set up to guard the bridge and their army's withdrawal. |
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Cold one Riders, 16 repeater crossbow warriors, and a mighty hero on a cold one as well. |
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Too slow to withdraw, the Dark Elves left not just one bolt thrower.. |
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But a second one on top of the bridge itself. |
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Spear equipped warriors blocked the bridge proper. |
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Setting up 24 inches away, the Mercenary company prepared it's assault. Not the most mobile army, our hope was that massed firepower could blast a hole in the defenders. |
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Gorfarg's Ogres led the charge. |
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The ever present, and mostly ineffective cannon readied itself on a nearby hill. |
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The Alcantari Fellowship, Voland's Venators, and Braganza's Beseigers anchored this end of the Mercenary line. |
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Turn one found all units but the cross bows surging forward towards the bridge. |
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With trumpet's blaring, Voland's Venators lead the way! |
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The Dark Elf defenders prepare themselves. |
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The Ogres suffer a wound from the bolt thrower on the bridge - the other one was wiped out in the first turn by concentrated crossbow fire. The remainder of the Quattro Croce move up behind the Ogres. |
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Voland's Venators have turned the corner, and march up the bridge itself, followed closely by the pikemen of the Alcantari Fellowship. |
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The Ogres stand fast in preparation for a charge by the cold ones - and Ruglud prepares 'is boyz for a flank charge when they do. |
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Like a juggernaut, Voland's Venators race up the bridge. Behind them, Baron Scarpia manages to put a pistol shot into the Dark Elf Sorceress in the trees. |
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Action picture |
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Action picture |
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Voland charged the spearman, who chose to flee - and were caught and killed across the bridge. It looks like one unit is going to be able to pursue the Dark Elves! |
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The mighty ogres broke from the charge of the cold ones (what are the odds!), and fled ingloriously back across the battlefield. |
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Their overrun took them squarely in the flank of the Paymaster's bodyguard - not a good thing. |
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The body guard too broke and fled, bringing the unstoppable cold ones right into the paymaster himself! When he died, so did a fair amount of the remainder of the army, including Voland! |
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Scarpia's Comments:
The Quattro Croce failed to win this battle - things were looking good until the Ogre's broke, causing the entire battle line to collapse under the charge of three cold one's. Elsewhere the crossbows were effective, and so was the cannon, even killing off the Dark Elf sorceress.
Success, though, was not to be had. Maybe if we didn't have to cross that bridge....but ca la vie - it was still a blast!
In case you didn't notice, all pictures (and in-photo-captioning) were provided by Jeremy, the Dark Elf general
'ere is dem nasty legal bits:
This website is completely unofficial and is in no way endorsed by Games Workshop Limited. Games Workshop, Warhammer, Citadel, the Citadel logo, 'Eavy Metal, the Games Workshop logo, and a bunch of other words, are trademarks of Games Workshop Limited. Used without permission. No challenge to their status is intended. ©2002-4. This site is the sole work of Scarpia (Thomas Garbelotti) unless otherwise noted. All content not created by Scarpia is copyrighted by the respective copyright holders.