Sunday 21 May 2017

Battle Report: Age of Sigmar Blood and Glory!

Hello all!

Well as I had just put together a Gutbuster Wartribe not too long ago I thought I'd take a chance to do a quick battle report.  It'll be part of a narrative story I'll be posting here for fun while I work on other projects/enjoy summer.

So for starters lets set the stage so you have somewhat of an idea of whats going on.  I've stated several time sin my blog that while I'm not a super fan of Age of Sigmar, I like the narrative approach it has inbuilt in the game. So I figured I could turn AoS/9th Age into my own sort of mini campaign.

To set the stage the battle take place in the Mortal Realms just after the destruction of the Old World and the birth of the new one by Sigmar.  Thousands of years pass in this place before the Age of Sigmar begins.  For my purposes however, we will start as the new world is born and the spirits of those guarded by Sigmar are reborn into a new fantastic Realm.

Enter the ruins of Averheim, soon to be reborn and rechristened Averholme!  For now however, the world is new and strange.  The survivors of the Old World will have to work hard to survive in this new, savage land.


Blood and Glory!

Now this is just a test game as I have never really played my Empire army (I guess Freeguild now) in AoS, but I have played my Gutbusters.  So I'm just doing one of the missions in the Generals Handbook to have a go and see how things roll.

I rolled up Blood and Glory and setup my table.  Playing 1000 points I setup a 4x4 table and rolled up some scenery:


Now lets take a look at the armies that will be battling it out:


My Gutbuster Wartribe consisting of two 3 man units of Ogors, a 6 man unit of Ironguts an Ironblaster and a Tyrant.  My Tyrant selected the Battle Brew and the command trait "Bellowing Tyrant".

The Gutbusters are looking to do battle against the forces of the Averholme!


Lead by a Freeguild General and a Battle Mage the rest of the forces consist of a a 40 man unit of Freeguild Guard, 20 Freeguild Hangunners, a 5 man unit of knights and a 5 man unit of Outriders. The Freeguild General had selected the Relic Blade artifact and the Legendary Fighter Command Trait, while the Battle Mage being amber mage with the Wildform spell.

The Freeguild won the roll off and selected a side of the board to deploy. Here's a look at the armies after deployment:


The Freeguild won the roll and we are off!


Turn 1: Freeguild

Hero Phase
Things didn't start off too well as the Handgunners failed their test and were befuddled next to the mystical terrain, knights pass their test.  The Battle Mage sitting in the arcane woods on the left cast Mystic Shield on the Guard unit and the general used his inspiring presence on them as well.

Movement Phase
The Outriders, Freeguild Guard and General run up to put a buffer between the objective and the Ogors.  The knights on the right flank run up to threaten the objective on the top right next turn.


With nothing in range and no combat turn one ends.


Turn 1: Gutbusters

Hero Phase
The Ironblaster fails it's mystical terrain test and is befuddled.  The Ironguts and one of the Ogor units close to the general extra make their destruction movement and surge forward.  The Tyrant used his Command ability on the Ironguts making them immune to Battleshock.  He also gives them his command trait "Bellowing Tyrant" giving them +1 to hit until the next hero phase.


Movement Phase
The Tyrant and the Ironguts move towards the Freeguild Guard to try and contest their objective while the Ogors move to intercept the Knights.  The other unit of Ogors on the left move infrom of their own objective to block the Outriders from trying to contest it.


Shooting Phase
The Tyrant whipped out his Ogor pistols and fired on the guard unit killing one soldier.

Charge Phase
The Ironguts and the Tyrant both fail to their charge attempts.

With no combat and no and units that have taken damage immune to Battleshock the turn ends.  The roll for off for next turn goes to the Freeguild once more.


Turn 2: Freeguild

Hero Phase
The Knights and the Handgunners pass their mystical terrain test.  The Freeguild General issued his "Hold the Line!" command ability on the guard and the Handgunners.  The Battle Mage cast Mystic shield on the Guard unit again as well.


Movement Phase
With the Guard and Handgunner unit unable to move due to the command ability only the knights move up to threaten the Ogors on the right.  The General, Outriders and Mage hold position.


Shooting Phase
The Outriders fire on the Ironguts but only manage 1 wound while the Handgunners manage 15 wounds on the right Ogors, wiping out the unit!  Handgunner fire is truly terrifying when buffed up.


Charge Phase
With the Ogors now gone the knights try a long charge to tie up the Tyrant but fail to reach them.

With no combat this turn the Ogors get ready for revenge on the Freeguild!


Turn 2: Gutbusters

Hero Phase
The Tyrant grants the Ironguts his Bellowing Tyrant ability and his Inspiring Presence before the Destruction allegiance ability kicks in.  The Ironguts move 3" towards the Guard while the Tyrant moves 5" toward the gunners.  The Ironblaster passed it's mystical terrain test this turn.


Movement Phase
The Ogor unit on the left runs over the hill to threaten the guard or the Outriders next turn. Meanwhile the Ironguts get even closer to the Guard unit and the Tyrant moves closer to the Handgunners. The Ironblaster moves up the get into better firing position.


Shooting Phase
The Ironblaster fired on the Handgunners and managed to kill 6, while the Tyrant whipped out it's pistols and killed 2 more.


Charge Phase
The Ironguts charge the guard unit and the Tyrant charges into the Handgunners, both rolling 9" on their charge.  The Ironblaster, looking to defend the objective from the knights, charges into them as well rolling a 10".


Combat Phase
Combat has finally joined!  The Ironguts, fearing how deadly buffed up Freeguild Guard can be attack first.  The Ironguts lay into the Guard and cause 15 wounds.


The Freeguild elects for the Handgunners to attack next but the Tyrants armour saves all the wounds they manage to get through.


The Ironblaster elects to go next and, due to the bonus from charging, manage to cause 4 wounds killing two knights.

The Freeguild Guard went next, hoping to hit back as good as they received, they pile in and cause 8 wounds and kill off two Ironguts.


The Tyrant went next, he unleashed his fury into the Handgunners killing 6 more.


Lastly the knights attacked the Ironblaster, but the armour of the giant cannon was too strong for the knights. All the wounds caused were saved.

Battleshock Phase
Perhaps "Hold the Line!" was not the best command ability to have unleashed this turn.  The Guard unit, even with the re-roll, lost 10 more troops who packed up and fled.  The Ironguts, due to their own inspiring presence were immune this round.

The Handgunners were also not as lucky, they lost the last of their number to Battleshock too. Leaving only the knights who passed their test.

At the end of Turn 2 with only the Tyrant on the objective in the bottom right the Gutbusters now claim 3 objectives.  One more and it will be victory to the Ogors!


The roll for turn 3 is won by the Freeguild again.


Turn 3: Freeguild

Hero Phase
The Knights pass their Mystical Terrain test.  The General uses his "Hold the Line!" ability once more on the remaining Guard unit.  The Battle Mage manages to cast Wyzan's Wildform on the Guard as well.

Movement Phase
The Freeguild General moves up to make sure they can get a charge off to help out the Guard unit. The Knights elect to retreat and sit on the objective in the top right.


Shooting Phase
The Outriders fire into the Ogors in front of them but manage no wounds on the unit.

Charge Phase
The General seeing his troops in danger charges in and manages to pass his dangerous terrain test he has to take going through the Deadly scenery.  The Outriders, wanting to keep the Ogors off the Guard unit charge in as well.


Combat Phase
The greatly diminished Freeguild Guard attack the Ironguts but only manage 3 wounds which was enough to finish off one of the Ironguts.  The Ironguts elect to attack back immediately and put all their attacks into the Guard causing an additional 12 wounds against the Guard leaving only one left.


The Outriders then go next and manage to kill off one of the Ogors but take 1 Mortal wound back from their Ironfists.  The Ogors then attack back but cause no wounds in return.


Lastly the General, seeing his troops decimated lays into the Ironguts with his Greatweapon but only manages 3 wounds.  Not enough to finish off another Irongut.

Battleshock Phase
Even with the re-roll from the Order Allegiance ability the last Freeguild Guardsman flees.  The Ironguts are still immune due to Inspiring presence. The unit of Regular Ogors manage to pass their test.



Turn 3: Gutbusters

Hero Phase
The Tyrant passes his Mystical Terrain test.  With the Objective in the bottom right corner taken the Tyrant makes his destruction allegiance move toward the last objective.  No unit is in range for his command abilities.

Movement Phase
The Tyrant moves toward the last objective but doesn't run as he will see if he can charge into the Battle Mage.  The Ironblaster turns to face the knights sitting on the objective in the top right corner.

Shooting Phase
The Ironblaster first it's cannon at the knights and hit, but the Knights armour saves them.  The Tyrant fires his pistols at the Battle Mage and misses.

Charge Phase
The Tyrant fails his charge while the Ironblaster makes it into the knights.


Combat Phase
The Ironguts are elected to go first, one of which is pulled away from the main group into the fight with the Outriders.  The two Ironguts engaged with the Freeguild General manage to put 12 wounds on him killing him outright.  The last Irongut manages to take out two Outriders.

The Outriders elect to go next but only manage one wound which was only caused by a horse (typical).

The Ironblaster elects to go next and, due to great luck with the dice, kills off the remaining knights.

The Ogors engaged with the Outriders finally get their chance to attack and, once again, cause no wounds.


Battleshock Phase
The Outriders, the only ones who need to make a battleshock test this turn, pass.


At the end of turn 3 it is looking dire for the Freeguild.  For any chance to avoid a massacre they must hold the last objective for as long as possible!  The Freeguild manage to win the roll for turn again.


Turn 4: Freeguild

Hero Phase
The Battle mage casts Arcane Bolt on the Tyrant and causes 2 wounds.

Movement Phase
The Mage moves slightly closer to the objective.


Shooting Phase
The Outriders fire into the Ogors but cause no wounds.

Charge Phase
No Charges this turn

Combat Phase
The Outriders attack the Ogors but only manage one wound (again, go horses!)  The Ironguts, still stuck in combat with the Outriders pile in and attack back but cause no hits on the unit.  The Ogors attack and this time manage to kill one of the Outriders.


Battleshock Phase
The Outriders pass their Battleshock test


Turn 4: Gutbusters

Hero Phase
The Tyrant makes its destruction move forward and get in range to give the Ironguts his Inspiring Presence.


Movement Phase
The Tyrant moves forward to within 3" of the Battle Mage.  The Ironblaster in the corner top right corner goes and sits on the objective

Shooting Phase
The Tyrant pulls out his pistols once more and fires into the Mage causing 3 wounds.

Charge Phase
The Tyrant easily makes the charge into the Battle Mage.

Combat Phase
The Ironguts elect to attack first and manage to get 1 hit through causing 3 wounds and leaving only one outrider (with one wound) left.

The Wizard is elected to go next and, desperately, tries to harm the Tyrant.  Alas, no wounds are caused.  The Tyrant attacks back turning the wizard into a stain on the grass.

All that remains is the battle between the Ogors and the remaining Outriders, neither of which is able to cause a wound on the other.

Battleshock Phase
The lone Freeguild model left on the table passes it's Battleshock test.


With that the turn ends with all four objectives in the hands of the Ogors the game is over. Major Victory to the Gutbusters!


Conclusion
Well that was a lot of fun.  This test game gave me a much better idea of how to use the Freeguild troops and once more re-affirmed that Gutbusters are dangerous as all hell!  Welp, I better gate back to painting, I have so much to do and so little time.

Bye for now,

-Commodus

Saturday 6 May 2017

Heroes Inc. Operation: “The Sunless Citadel”

Hello Everyone,

So as I have stated in several posts earlier I’m a Dungeon Master.  As a Dungeon Master I’ve run many a game for my players.  Some quests have been of my own design, some were straight from modules I had purchased, and others were a mix of both.

With D&D 5th Edition currently out there have been quite a few modules released that have been interesting but nothing I had particularly I have wanted to run…until now.

Next month Wizards of the Coast will be releasing a new supplement "Tales from the Yawning Portal".  A compilation of some of the most popular modules ever created for D&D.  Inside of which there are two modules that I am super excited that are being re-released for 5th Edition, The Sunless Citadel and The Forge of Fury.

I ran both of these modules back in 3rd edition and I loved every minute of them.  Some of the best D&D memories come from the trouble my D&D group got into trying to complete them.  Because of this I decided to but some of my Bones miniature to use and get the minis painted up to run the adventure!

First on the list…"The Sunless Citadel"


This was the first module I ever ran. Everything else before it was stuff I made up myself or quests I had taken from Dungeon magazine and completely re-written to suit my world.  As I currently do not have the new supplement, I’m going to use my old module to use as a reference for the miniatures I will need in order to run the campaign.

The Sunless Citadel, and all the modules that came after it, were designed to progress the PC’s from level 1 to level 20.  The Sunless Citadel was the first, designed to take PC’s from level 1 to level 3.  This was followed by my most favourite module ever! The Forge of Fury, designed to take PC’s from level 3 to level 6.

My plan is to run both, using all the various nerdy stuff I have accumulated over the years to do it.  The Sunless Citadel uses many creatures that, while not strong, will always be useful to have painted up and ready to use at a moment’s notice.  My goal right now is to paint the miniatures in order to get through the first part of the quest, basically rooms 1 to 12 in the module.  These will include:

Twig Blights x 3
Dire Rats x 3
Skeletons x 3
Jot (Quasit)
"Dragonpriest" Troll

I have quite a few Bones miniatures from my Kickstarter I can use for most of the creatures in the dungeon.  I also got REALLY lucky and managed to find these bad boys on Ebay:


These D&D minis were released at the beginning of 3rd edition.  Many of the minis were designed for the various quests they released.  In this case ACTUAL Twig Blight minis!  I only managed to get one pack but hopefully I can find three more.

Wish me luck!

-Commodus