Return to Kislev: 1,500pts grudge match

Domnall the Deviant sat by the fire, running his hand through his thick black beard, deep in thought. His tribesmen were busy burying their faces in horns of ale or women’s bosoms, but Domnall was their chieftain – he had more important matters to consider. It had been three weeks since he had led the raid into Kislev. He remembered the surprise of finding a gang of grotesque ogres appear to the east as he headed south. The moment of doubt had been short, for he was a servant of Slaanesh and a hardy man of the North; he would not let the Lord of Pleasure down – nor did he. He smiled as he pictured again the elevation of victory, as he had fended off the ogres and crushed the horsemen of Kislev.

So what next? A shadow stirred beside him.

“Haw there, Fingal. What have ye read in the rune bones this sweet evening?”

“The signs are unclear,” answered the sorcerer. His great crest of hair shimmered in the fire light. It reeked of the animal fat the priest of Slaanesh used to keep it stood up.

“Unclear…” Domnall repeated, weighing the word.

“Aye, unclear,” Fingal said again. “But ‘am afeared the Lord of Pleasure will nae reward idleness. Nor can men fill their bellies wi’out food.”

“Aye… Well… We’ best be away then,” Domnall said, rising and adjusting his tweed and fur cloak. “A’right, men!” he shouted and picked up his twin axes, “we off back south tae give the horsemen a kickin’!”

The night echoed with drunken roars of approval. The snowy plains of Kislev would soon run red once more.

A headache at the start

Having unexpectedly thrashed Niklas' Kislevites and held off the other Joseph's Ogre Kingdom army, it only seemed fair to give Niklas the chance of a rematch - besides, I could do with the practice, as I've yet to (re)acquaint myself fully with the 6th edition Warhammer Fantasy Battles rules.

 I took two main lessons from the previous battle: 1. No matter how terrifying they look, full cavalry armies can be beaten with careful timing and judgement; 2. Light cavalry are FAST!

Deployment therefore gave me a big head-ache; literally. Right in the centre of the battlefield was a huge skull, which split the field in two. I would have to decide during the deployment phase which way Niklas would go, as reforming and wheeling to get past the skull would take time. If there’s one luxury an infantry army without shooters doesn’t have against a cavalry army bristling with bows, it’s time!

Realistically, ‘denied flank’ deployment didn’t seem a great option, as both sides of the field also had small woods, which limited the space. Nor did I want to risk starting even further away from him by sitting in a corner. No – there was only one thing for it: I was going to have to split my army into two equal forces and send each one either side, using the skull to anchor their respective inner flanks.

Niklas mirrored this deployment, with one large lancer block & character on each side, supported by horse archers. The boyars were far back. Bronzino’s galloper gun set up camp in a corner opposite my far left, behind the woods (but with a clear line of fire diagonally).

A predictably annoying start

The right flank (west, facing south)

Learning that light cavalry is annoyingly fast didn’t make it any less irritating to see Niklas (who won the roll off to go first) send the block of lancers which had deployed opposite my right flank back around the skull in preparation of supporting a now obvious all-out attacked on my left flank. He left just 2 units of horse archers in place to whittle down my right flank. They targeted the hounds who were on screening duty. Two of the hounds died and the rest fled. Happily, their low unit value meant no one nearby had to take panic tests. My ogres, giant and block of 20 marauders on that flank were too far to be able to quickly redeploy. The ogres nonetheless about-faced to force march over to the east. I decided to press ahead with the giant and marauders though, rather than present my flank to cavalry in a costly wheel. They would serve as a rear-guard to my left flank – a very points-expensive rear guard.

The left flank (east, facing south)

My best bet was to use the narrow gap between the skull in the centre and the woods on the left to funnel the horsemen towards my lines.

Niklas’ cute little pop-pop gun took out one knight (unpainted and not shown), reducing them to 5 knights. These fearlessly headed into the fray and took on the elite Griffon Legion. On the eastern-most point of the battlefield, my light cavalry headed round the woods to hold up a block of lancers and a unit of horse archers – a big ask, but they only needed to buy me a couple of turns while I dealt with the main chunk of his army in the centre.

The Griffon Legion sent my Chaos Knights packing in the centre.

“Shall we dance?” 

The fight on the west end of the field can be described in few words: 1. horse archers loosed arrows (few casualties); 2. my marauders and giant advanced; 3. horse archers fell back to safety - repeat steps 1 to 3 for the duration of the battle. Highly frustrating. 

The ogres head slowly over to the other end, while the rest plough on.

I didn’t want to show them a flank by attempting to move in support of my force on the eastern side, as flank charges are never fun. Fingal the Frisky lured one unit closer with Titillating Delusions, but to little avail. 

With a mere 184 points, Niklas tied down over 500 points of my army and slowed down the arrival of the ogres (176 points).

Nothing quiet on the eastern front

While this merry dance was going on on the western front, the forces in the east were getting stuck in. 

A valiant stand to hold back the flanking attack round the woods.

My light cavalry performed their office well, holding off the Kislevite flank attack around the woods - and paying with their lives.

My best performing unit was the smaller block of marauders led by Domnall the Deviant himself. They broke the Griffon Legion and sent the unit of boyars on foot packing. Things were looking up.

Undaunted by the fleeing knights, Domnall leads his marauders into the fray.

They beat back the Griffon Legion and take on the boyars.

 They pursued the boyars, but fell just paces (1”) short of slamming into the block of lancers. The next turn was painful, as the general Alekzandr and his winged lancers charged. The ensuing fight was close run, but the marauders broke and were ridden down.

But then fall just short on the lancers who arrived around behind.

A bird's eye view of the eastern half of the battlefield, where it was all being decided.

Bang! Bang!

Around the same time, Bronzino ordered his gun to take a pot shot at Sileas the Seductress. She had been causing a few Kislevite casualties with her Lore of Death spells. The cannon ball flew over her head - phew! - and bounced right into one of the ogres who had been slowly making their way over from the western end. The thug was slain, causing his fellows to promptly panic and run off the field - argh!

Wrong place, wrong time.

Revenge came swiftly, though, as on the next turn the gun misfired and blew up! Luckily for him, Bronzino himself had already left to join Alekzandr’s lancers.

Every gunner's worst nightmare

Sileas’ reprieve was short-lived, as Niklas’ other hero, Ivan, cut her down (helped by me forgetting that Chaos sorcerers have Chaos armour by default - lesson learned).

Ding! Dong! The witch is dead!

A final roll of the dice

Hamish the Hairy Giant and my rallied chaos knights arrived just in time to drive off Alekzandr’s lancers, but couldn’t catch them in pursuit.

A much emptier field...

The battle ended with Hamish being charged on by the other unit of lancers. The hairy giant was slain and fell on the knights, killing two of them.

Err... Yeah... Oops!

A surprisingly balanced game on the left flank thus ended in a massacre - and a grinning Niklas.

Dusk fell once more, as Domnall regained consciousness. The field was covered in the blood of his men. He saw a familiar crested figure walking towards him. 

“Will the lass live?”

“Just abou’,” Fingal said, looking towards the priestess of Death. “Perhaps this will teach her tae serve Slaanesh himself. Though I doubt it.”

“And the giant?”

“Hamish?” Fingal laughed. “Aye! He wasnae hurt. The clumsy oath fell asleep on top of ye knights!”

Domnall grunted.

“Unclear signs, ey?... Well... Next time!”