Rumble in the Bronks
Dusk was quickly approaching. Within two hours the sun will have sunken below the horizon, darkness will have encroached the land. That would be no good. Darkness is not the friend of an archer, and to make it worse there would be no moon that night. It was under Isha's direction that they had ventured here, her gentle hand always drawing him nearer to some unseen goal. He knew what was to come, but not why the battle had to take place here...what was so important about the small human village called Bronks?
It was only a week ago when his army was marching through the wild heaths in search of signs of a rumored necromancer skulking into Athel Loren when he came across the refugees. They begged for mercy and shelter. That night the village elder sat down with Thalamyrr to discuss what had happened. It seems that for the past few weeks they had seen creatures in the night, hiding at the edge of the shadows...watching. The villagers took precautions and readied a small militia, but it was not enough. Three days ago, a small band of rat-men overan the city. The villagers that survived the initial attack fled.
Thalamyrr and his advisors consulted on this and after gathering some more information concluded it the Skaven force must have been a scouting party preparing for the arrival of a larger army. Even before consulting the mystics, he knew what he must do. Bronks could not be taken. A Skaven outpost so close would put all of Athel Loren in danger. He had his scouts escort the humans to the nearest settlement and began to march towards Bronks.
A day ago they arrived and drove out the small occupation force. Since then they had been awaiting the army. Now, so near sunset, that time has come. His troops readied themselves as they heard the distant chatterings and bell-tolls.
The time for waiting was over...
Wood Elf Force: 993 pts.
Thlamyrr: General mounted on steed. Shield, Lt.Armor, Lance, Hail of Doom Arrow, Longbow.
Riders of the Word: 5 Glade Riders. Lances, Lt.Armor, Shields.
Briars of the Yew: 9 Archers
Thorn of the Yew: 9 Archers
The Ishcarynthin (Wrath of Mother Isha): 6 Wardancers
The Fated: 6 Dryads
Servants of the Unseen Mistress: 6 Waywatchers
Skaven Force: 1000(?) pts (as much as I can remember of it)
Warlord General with 5 Stormvermin bodyguard
2 units of 16 clan rats (One with champion and magic armor)
Group of 2 warpfire throwers
Packmaster with 4 swarm
Giant Rat and Packmaster
Setup: WE set up on S. of board, Skaven on N. Table was 4x4 with static terrain (grumble). A road split the table down the middle, and made a circle drive just outside WE depolyment zone. A clump of trees was just about smack dab in the middle of the table. 5 houses reprenting Bronks were placed in a U shape around the circle, with there being a large gap between houses at the S. end of the U (which was in WE deployment zone). N. end of table had a few hills and a pond.
Deployment: The biggest gap was just large enough to put fit my 2 groups of archer between and still have about 14 of them fire even with the general placed in between units. If the Skaven advanced up the middle they would be easy targets but flanks were out of LOS due to houses. Dryads and Wardancers were on the east side of the village to gaurd the flank. Glade Riders were on the West side. Waywatchers were deployed in woods in the middle of the table.
Skaven setup along the edge of their deployment zone. One unit of clanrats and general + entourage were placed on the road while the other unit of clanrats and warpfire throwers were on the east side of the table. Both packmasters with swarm and giant rat were placed along the west side.
Turn 1: WE
The Wardancers and Dryads advance north towards the unit of clanrats, the dryads heading a bit west to prepare to charge a flank. The Glade Riders, ride east seeing that the enemy was concentrating on coming up the middle. Waywatcher hide in woods and then unleash their fury, annihilating the warpfire throwers.
Turn 1: Skaven
Each of his units advance south toward the WE battle line. The center clanrat unit and general + stormvermin move around the center grove and into WE archer LOS. Waywatchers prevent march moves.
Turn 2: WE
Wardancers charge the clanrat unit (now without warpfire support) with shadow's coil. Drayds flank charge in Oak aspect. 6 clanrats go down screaching under the barrage of limbs (no pun intended)leaving none to strike back. The unit holds (just barely). Both groups of archers fire into the center clanrat unit. Ten arrows hit, but only 2 wound!!! To show his troops how it's done, Thalamyrr takes aim and fires a single arrow into the air, and a vast torrent of projectiles descends on the clanrats. Eleven arrows, 11 hits, 7 rats fall, but the unit manages to hold due to the proximity of their general. The Glade Riders continue east, but then shift north swinging around between a house and the wardancer/dryad/clanrat battle. Waywatchers loose their arrows at the command unit, but no causalties.
Turn 2: Skaven
The embattled clan rat unit makes an attempt to overtake the wardancers, but the wardancers begin their deadly dance of whirling death before the clan rats strike inflicting 6 rats to fall. With panic striken into their hearts from the fury of the wardancer's and dryad's attacks, the rats crack and run for it...but are too slow and the wardancers chase them down and destroy them. The packmaster with the swarm moves ever closer to the archer line, while the packmaster with giant rat and the center unit of clanrats turn their attentions toward the dryads. The clanrats charge, but as they close the distance they find that they are tangled in whiplike branches. Only the champion is able to attack and he fails to penetrate the dryads flesh. The command group moves closer to the wood elf archer line.
Turn 3: WE
The archers take aim and fire at the closing swarms virtually wiping away the entire unit. Wardancers and Glade Riders both travel behind the trees and the Glade Riders set up for a charge to the command group next turn. The Dryads switch to Oak aspect and the remaining unit of clanrats becomes nothing more than a pile of blood and gore. The Waywatchers plink away at the command group, but still not a single one falls. Archers fire at the Giant Rat and manage to cause a single wound (talk about your bad rolls!).
Turn 3: Skaven
The Giant Rat charges the dryads and is recieved in oak aspect. The fight between them is nasty, but neither the dryads nor the giant rat fall this round. The command group moves into the woods and out of Glade Rider LOS.
Turn 4: WE
Glade Riders and Wardancers move to follow the command group. The entire army does nothing as it sits and watches the battle between the dryads and the giant ogre. The dryads attack again in birch aspect, but fail to wound the giant rat, fortunately suffers from the same luck.
Turn 4: Skaven
All eyes are on still focused on the showdown in the middle of the board. This time, though, the giant rat mananges to kill a single dryad, while they again fail to damage him (cursed dice!).
Results: The battle ended after turn 4, the Wood Elves the decisive winner considering the only thing they lost was a single dryad when the other army was annihilated except for two small units.
My opponent really played into my hands by moving up the middle which was either arrogance, bad planning, or a little of both. I'm also going to need to use my Glade Riders more effectively next time...
Thalamyrr sighed in relief...Isha had surely been with them today. Bronks was safe for human occupation again, and The Forest was safe from threat of invasion...for now...