A skirmish in the Great Forest

[mhsellwood]

The sun rose slowly, burning away the last clouds in the sky and already hot enough to sweat slicken the two ancient enemies.

The battle line of Clan Drakk stood silent, pre-battle rituals completed the night before and the bonds of brotherhood once more affirmed, nothing remained now but the defeat of the chaos warband that had been dogging their heels for the past week. To their right the stern figure of Uther-Grimnir on his magmadroth and his personal guard stood quietly, contemplating both their long sundered brethren and the foe.

By contrast the warband of the self-styled Lord of Blood screeched and howled, eager to spill blood and claim skulls in the name of the Blood God. A rag tag assemblage of debased tribesmen, daemons and monstrous beasts strung out in a long line, strong flanks threatening a quick start to the business of death. Seemingly leaderless, when the advance started it was curiously organic, first individuals, then bands, then the whole army.

Ulfar Stonegrind, Warden King of the Clan Drakk raised his hand and with a single chopping motion the irondrakes and quarrellers picked their targets and with rolling salvos began to take chunks out of the chaos horde. No serious losses were inflicted though before the Chaos Warband across the line crashed on to the battleline, gorebeast chariots crushing duardin beneath steel shod wheels while tribesmen grappled with Longbeards, Quarrellers and Hammerers across the line.

Stonegrind knew he needed to respond to the pressure of the Chaos forces - he could see that Uther-Grimnir was battling with a trio of bellowing Dragon Ogors, which was tying him down. To his immediate left his personal household of Hammerers had already crushed the bloodreavers they were battling. Quickly assessing the weak points of the Chaos line Stonegrind motioned towards the towering Chaos Altar and the heavily muscled Lord of Blood sending his Hammerers into the maelstrom of battle, and turned to the fight to his right determined to relieve his Ironbreakers…

With a flick of a mighty claw the Dragon Ogor fell, the last of the three. From his position on his magmadroth Uther-Grimnir surveyed the battlefield. It was clear that the forces of Chaos were broken. His warriors stood over the smouldering ruins of a gorebeast chariot, while Chaos tribesmen bodies littered the battlefield with none remaining standing over two thirds of the battlefield. The blood spattered Hammerers stood triumphant over the broken war altar, the Lord of Khorne and a whip wielding warrior in the centre. The far left of the line had held, barely, but long enough for even the maddest of the Blood Gods followers to recognise the hopelessness of their situation and fall back.

As the sun set the Clan Drakk redressed their ranks and marched on, the names of the dead on their lips.

My brother in law and I played a game recently using SCGT  to select our armies. I used the Dispossesed War Throng, with a small contingent of Fyreslayers to bring in some colour. My brother in law used a couple of Chaos battalions, mainly focussed around the boxed set Bloodbound and Marauders with a War Altar, a unit of Bloodletters, and Dragon Ogors in support.

He played very aggressively, but didn’t have enough of a schwerpunkt to break my line and roll up a flank. The left was the closest but lost momentum and not enough in reserve to get over the line. On the right it was a slightly disjointed attack and the centre did not have enough bodies. My play was probably best described as workman-like as I feel I used my buffs to tip things from slightly in my favour to very heavily in my favour, and my deployment was good with plenty of overlapping supports.

Good game overall.