Troll Country - Battle 1: Slaanesh Vs Dogs of War

“Oh aye, Willy! They do have fancy armour!” Domnall exclaimed with a big grin. “Now grab your bag and give ‘em a welcome.”

Willy put his blowstick to his mouth, filling his sack. The bagpipes made a discordant sound as if a cat were trying to escape from within, before Willy found the tune he wanted.

“Wha’s wi’ ya, Fingal, my frisky friend?”

The shaman nodded towards the enemy battle line.

“Tha’ fellow there, next tae the dwarves. See him?”

“The man wi’ with the stick and candles? He’s a funny man, is he nae?”

“A sorcerer,” Fingal said curtly. “But no real servant of the dark gods – and no match for a servant of Slaanesh.”

“Right. So nae problem, then.” Domnall raised his axe. “Come on lads! Someone’s come tae pick a fight. Let’s show them how it’s done!”

Fresh meat

Dogs of War are a truly magnificent-looking army!

For my first battle of the Troll Country campaign, I had the pleasure of facing a new adversary. Andrzej had come all the way from Kislev -  sorry, Poland - for a weekend of wargaming. He has a beautifully painted Dogs of War army, with a great selection of units. They're mainly painted in the classic colour scheme from the book - but if it ain't broke, don't fix it, right?

Line Vs columns: I feel like Napoleon - but without the guns or heavy cavalry!

We rolled for the scenario and got pitched battle. Fair enough! this was going to be a good experience. I didn't get many games in back in the day, so am still getting to grips with the rules, as well as learning my army's strengths and weaknesses against different opponents. Andrzej is clearly a good player: he has an excellent grasp of the rules and is fair play; just what I need when I'm learning!

As he won the roll offs, he decided I should deploy and go first. I decided to concentrate my force as much as possible, with only my one cavalry unit far off on the right flank. The great thing about light cavalry, as I have learned in my games against Niklas' Kislevites, is how quickly they can redeploy.

the Dogs of War set themselves out in a gun line. Apart from a small copse in the middle of the field, there wasn't much cover for my men to hide behind. It would just be a question of biting the bullet and charging head on. The only consolation was the lack of enemy cavalry to outmanoeuvre. 

Fingal the Frisky spots an enemy sorcerer across the battlefield

Then let the trumpets sound the tucket-sonance and the note to mount;
for our approach shall so much dare the field, that these dogs shall couch down in fear, and yield.

 I wasted no time in turn 1 to throw my war tribe forwards. They surged out from the ruins at a forced march. The only repositioning was to bring my light cavalry back in from the flank. The Dogs of War has duelists out there, and I didn't feel like wasting light cavalry is a futile charge. Instead, the horsemen would act as a flying reserve, to plug any gaps.

On my left flank, Fingal the Frisky successfully cast Titillating Delusions on the crossbowmen - part of my devious plan, but the enemy sorcerer produced a Dispel Scroll, meaning the delusion vanished before it had fully appeared. 

This was not good - and I should have seen it coming. It left the crossbowmen free to fill Hamish the Hairy Giant with bolts. A cannon ball from the Dogs of War's pop gun finished him off in their first turn. Hamish fell flat on his back with a thud.

Hamish falls, filled with bolts and a cannon-ball!

 Things did not go much better on my right flank.My large block of marauders with hand weapons and shields got peppered with bolts from Ruglud's Armoured Orcs, promplty turning tail. In so doing, the newly arrived cavalry panicked and fled off the field. I hadn't expected my flying reserve to fly away. Oops.

My right flank collapses

Things picked up a little bit during my second turn. Final finally cast Titillating Delusions on the crossbowmen. The illusion of a sexy daemonette temptress appeared behind the tower. The crossbowmen would be forced on their next turn to wheel and march swiftly towards her, meaning they wouldn't be able to shoot. I absolutely adore this spell, which has caused more than one headache in the past for my Kislevite nemesis, Niklas. 

Fingal the Frisky whips out his favourite spell

My opponent's wizard cast Unseen Lurker from the Lore of Shadows on Long Drong's slayer pirates (allows unit to move 8" for free), propelling them through the woods. I was perfectly happy with this, as it meant my ogres could get stuck in. One of them fell in the charge, but they proceeded to slaughter the red-haired little gits. Unfortiunately, slayer are unbreakable, so all it meant was their unit size went down, despite my ogres winning every fight.

My marauders with shields rallied and about-turned to head back towards the enemy - albeit without cavalry support.

At least the ogres get stuck in!

Pivot! Crossbowmen can't resist temptation!

As the last dwarf fell, the last ogre got spooked (I'll be honest - I don't remember what caused the panic, as the battle was 3 weeks ago) and decided to run away.

The crossbowmen continued their pursuit of the sexy illusion, the cannon continued to take pot-shots with surprising accuracy, and the sorcerer went and hid in the woods.

My marauders with great weapons were desperate to actually do some fighting and tried to run after him, but he sensibly ran off, leaving them stranded in an awkward position in the woods.

Having slain the last of Long Drong's slayer pirates, the surviving ogre calls it a day and runs off the field.

 Over on the right flank, my marauders with shields fearlessly rushed into the gap between the copse and the mound to sell their skins dearly. Alas, they all fell under a hail of crossbow bolts and pistol bullets. Not even the greeenskins' animosity could dampen the hail of missiles.

Pistols to the right of them, crossbows to the left. Into the valley of death went the ten!

The duelists then moved in to take out Fingal the Frisky. The game then ended with just the unit of marauders with great weapons stood forlornly in the woods, surrounded by enemies.

In the entire battle, only the ogres actually managed to fight!

Lessons learned

It was a great game, though it was almost over before it started. I want to make sure I learn as much as possible, so will be including lessons learned at the end of battle reps where possible. The main points from this battle were:

• Though I love the theme of my clan, the lack of heavy armour is painfully obvious. I need to make some difficult decisions if it's ever going to hold its own against massed volleys.
• When it's likely my opponent will have either a full sorcerer or a scroll caddy, I need to consider dropping Domnall (my Aspiring Champion of Slaanesh) and including a second sorcerer. Had my opponent been forced to use up his scroll on another spell, his crossbowmen would have been distracted by the sexy daemonette on turn 1 and Hamish might just have survived. Magic is clearly one of the main weapons in the Chaos arsenal, so I really need to use it better.
• Domnall never fights on his own, so giving him the Mark of Slaanesh is a bit redundant, as he can't confer the Immunity to Psychology it give him on the unit he joins. When I do include him, those 20 points could be better spent elsewhere.
• The rush towards the enemy felt slow. It might be worth looking at extra cavalry or possibly a chariot or two to take the fight to the enemy faster.
• Hamish the Giant is a large target. It sounds obvious, but I hadn't considered the implication of crossbowmen being able to shoot in two ranks at him.

I look forward to improving my tactics and army selection. What a fun game Warhammer is; I love the challenge!