Greetings!
I had a nice opportunity to play to battles against Eastern Barbarian and his green horde in a lovely gaming club he attends regularly. First battle was played with 2200 points per side, while the second one with 2400 points per side. Below I present some highlights from both battles. I hope you will like it. And if you are in Brighton by any chance, pay a visit to "Wargames Heaven".
BATTLE 1
In this battle Orcs started to advance first. HE had a better defensive position and just reformed to use it in a more advantegous way. The picture below shows the deployment of both armies just before the battle started.
The Orcs tried to advance cautiously with mixed luck. Then HE spotted their chance and with the aid of Orb of Majesty, great eagles supported by the hoero on dragon attacked a flank of the ogres/giants brigade in the centre of the greenskins battle line (apologies for the poor picture, I guess the excitement of the forthcoming clash was responsible for shaky hands
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This introduced some more chaos into the ranks of Orc army. The strongest brigade was partially destroyed, partially scattered. The hero on dragon moved away from bloodied eagles. In the meantime wolf chariots tried to attack infantry brigades on HE right flank.
They did some damage but not as much as Orc general hoped for. HE counter-attacked and wold chariots were destroyed. Greenskins continued their attack, this time finally destroying eagles and advancing into damaged infantry. However, spearelves were in a defended position and Gork or Mork didn't smile upon greenskins as they attacked poorly and were pushed back. HE counter-attacked with heavy cavalry, destroyed some goblins and postioned themselves on the flank of the stubborn Boar Boyz, who refused to move for several turns. Orc general, spotting the danger tried to save the day by urging nearby trolls to intercpet elven knights. Big brutes responded surprisingly and attacked the flank of elven cavalry. Unfortunately just after that they decided to do nothing more and whatever few attacks they managed to hit with were saved by superb elven armour. On the left HE flank wolf riders tried a bold maneouver but on the last possible moment, when they were already on the flank of spearelves, they refused to charge. That left them open for elven counter-attack. After which greenskins reached their break point and dissapointed Orc general had to admit a defeat.
BATTLE 2
This time both armies seeked reinforcements. The greenskins especially were boosted by the presence of the hero on wyvern. It seemed like Orcs had a good tactical position with a hill to occupy and serve as an anchor for more mobile regiments. Both armies advanced slightly towards the centre of the battlefiled. Unfortunatley for Orcs early troubles with commands issuing meant that strong brigade with giants stayed far away in their own deployment zone.
There were some initial successfull situations for HE when they managed to destroy one unit of boar boyz by combination of magic and shooting. However, the orc artillery returend the favour and destroyed a unit of reavers. To add insult to injury, careless hero on dragon was also destroyed, as he previously joined that unfortunate unit. Orc decided it is a right moment to attack and charged with chariots and infantry with ogres, supported by hero on wyvern, into elven infantry.
The fight was bloody and only by some miracolous saves some of the elven units remained after the Orcs finished their business. This is the situation after the combats were finished.
Fortunately for HE their cavalry and shooters waited in the second rank and counter-attacked. This time it was much faster but hero on wyvern survived this.
However, the outcome of the battle was decided on the HE right flank. Great eagles attacked unprotected lobbers, destroyed them easily and followed into small brigade of 2 units of orcs and goblins. As the attack was from the flank the eagles managed to destroy these regiments as well. This swinged the favour into HE side as Orcs again reached their break point.
Second battle was definitely much more bloody and I was shocked by the power of ogres. Only good rolls on armour saves literally saved the day for me, as combats lasted longer, I could inflict more damage in return and had some units to attack with by initiative. I must admit that greenskins shamans are very annoying with their constant "Geroff!" spell. Fortunately this time they were not focused properly. Orcs have a great difficulty with issuing orders, even with so many heroes. It definitely helped HE to win when some brigades simply refused to move. It would be much more challenging if Orc general had a leadership of 9. I believe that leadership 8 makes this army too difficult to command. On the other hand, as HE player, I moved my army with general only. Wizards were always close to the enemy, casting spells, while hero on dragon joined the fighting units as soon as possible. It is quite risky but then, whenever I tried to issue orders with my heroes, they almost always fail. With the army I fielded it worked just fine but for bigger battles or when the battleline is longer it might be a problem.
Thanks for reading!
