wfb3 - battle report - it's fun to slay at the wyemm seeyay

8/10/2019 WFB3 - Battle Report - It's Fun to Slay at the Wyemm Seeyay

1/128


2/128

It's fun to slay at the Wyemm Seeyay2011WFB3Wyemm-v1.2

Creation date: 22 August 2012

Modification date: 28 September 2012

Authors

GajDreamfish

Copyright Notice

2012 by Warhammer for Adults.

All rights reserved. No part of this document may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or byany means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior writtenpermission of Warhammer for Adults.


3/128

3- 128

It's fun to slay at the Wyemm Seeyay

Table of Contents

Meet the Conte stants! ................................................................................ 1-5The Wood Elves - Gaymar the Foccers House Patrol ................................................................. 1-5

The Dwa rves - Ironbeards Conquerors.........................................................................................

1-6The Rules of th e Game ............................................................................. 2-8Scenery Rules ..................................................................................................................................... 2-8Deployment ......................................................................................................................................... 2-8

Prologue ...................................................................................................... 3-10Turn 1 .......................................................................................................... 4-15

Start of T urn ..................................................................................................................................... 4-15The Movement Phase ..................................................................................................................... 4-17The Shooting P hase ........................................................................................................................ 4-19

The Reserves P hase.........................................................................................................................

4-21End of Turn ...................................................................................................................................... 4-22

Turn 2 .......................................................................................................... 5-24Start of Turn ..................................................................................................................................... 5-24The Mov ement Phase ..................................................................................................................... 5-25The Shooting P hase ........................................................................................................................ 5-27The Reserves P hase ......................................................................................................................... 5-28End of Turn ...................................................................................................................................... 5-30

Turn 3 .......................................................................................................... 6-32Start of Turn ..................................................................................................................................... 6-32The Movement Phase ..................................................................................................................... 6-32The Shoo ting Phase ........................................................................................................................ 6-34The Reserves P hase ......................................................................................................................... 6-36The Magic Pha se .............................................................................................................................. 6-38End of Turn ...................................................................................................................................... 6-39

Turn 4 .......................................................................................................... 7-41Start of Turn ..................................................................................................................................... 7-41The Mov ement Phase ..................................................................................................................... 7-41The Shooting P hase ........................................................................................................................ 7-44

The Combat Ph ase ........................................................................................................................... 7-45The Reserves P hase ......................................................................................................................... 7-48End of Turn ...................................................................................................................................... 7-48

Turn 5 .......................................................................................................... 8-50Start of T urn ..................................................................................................................................... 8-50The Mov ement Phase ..................................................................................................................... 8-50The Shooting Phase ........................................................................................................................ 8-52The Combat Phase ........................................................................................................................... 8-54The Reserves Phase ......................................................................................................................... 8-55End of T urn ...................................................................................................................................... 8-56

Turn 6 .......................................................................................................... 9-58Start of Turn ..................................................................................................................................... 9-58The Mov ement Phase ..................................................................................................................... 9-58


4/128

4- 128


The Combat Phase ........................................................................................................................... 9-59The Reserves Phase ......................................................................................................................... 9-65The Magic Phase .............................................................................................................................. 9-66End of Turn ...................................................................................................................................... 9-67

Turn 7 ........................................................................................................ 10-68Start of Turn ................................................................................................................................... 10-68

The Movement Phase ................................................................................................................... 10-68The Combat Phase ......................................................................................................................... 10-69End of Turn ..................................................................................................................................... 10-75

Epilogue .................................................................................................... 11-77Post Mortem ............................................................................................. 12-86

The Dwarves ................................................................................................................................... 12-86The Elves ......................................................................................................................................... 12-88Our Heartfelt Thanks! .................................................................................................................. 12-89Our Shameless Plug! ..................................................................................................................... 12-90

Appendix A. Remote Gaming ............................................................... A-91Appendix B. House Rules ...................................................................... B-92Appendix C. Dicelog ............................................................................... C-93


5/128

Meet the Contestants! The Wood Elves - Gaymar the Foccers House Patrol

28 September 2012

5- 128


Meet the Contestants!

The game is a 1000 point battle between the Wood Elves and the Dwarves. The reasonfor the size is that (as some astute readers no doubt have noticed) when I introducedDreamfish, I mentioned that he lived over in the Netherlands. This remains true, so we'll

actually be playing over the internet. Dreamfish will host the game and is supplying thetable and the miniatures, together with an IP camera that will give me a view of thefield. So we thought we'd start small and see how this went. I will issue instructionsin real time or via email. Not quite sure about dice rolls just yet, but we could use theHamete dice server , which allows us to have a dice log, or mails out the results of dice,which is ideal for this sort of thing.

The intention is to stay as true to Warhammer 3 as is practical, but we've added somestuff from White Dwarves published in the era, and we've carried over at least one reallysensible rule from later editions.

So, lets meet the contestants!

As mentioned earlier, things are being kept small because of the remote nature of thegame for me. Fortunately, we've managed to keep almost everything old school, apartfrom the current release Wood Elf wizard. Here, we asserted that painted is still better

than old... 1

The Wood Elves - Gaymar the Foccers House Patrol

1. And, of course, this blog is all about Warhammer 3rd edition - the rules. We love the old

miniatures, but not having old figures should not stop one playing 3rd edition. If anything, someof the new figures such as the new monsters from Storm of Magic should be very, very suitable forWarhammer 3...
http://dicelog.com/dice


6/128

Meet the Contestants! The Dwarves - Ironbeards Conquerors

28 September 2012

6- 128


The Dwarves - Ironbeards Conquerors


7/128

Meet the Contestants! The Dwarves - Ironbeards Conquerors

28 September 2012

7- 128


Note that that magic items (if any) have not been listed.


8/128

The Rules of the Game Scenery Rules

28 September 2012

8- 128


The Rules of the Game

Dreamfish and I have completed a whole turn. It remains, then, for me to describe thefinal elements of the game setup and rules, before I describe what went on.

Scenery Rules The steep sides of the stepped hill can't be climbed on. Can fly over hill on level +10 and rocks and woods on level +20. The rocks and the barreled defense count as hard cover and the fences are soft

cover. The woods except for the road within the woods and the rocks are difficult terrain. Extra victory points can be gained by occupying the hill and zones. The terrain is divided in four equally sized square zones. Controlling the Dwarven encampment counts as a baggage trophy. Needless to say, having Gaymar's head on a stick serves as the Dwarven trophy

(slain general).

Deployment

This is how the table looked after deployment:

Following the scenario, the Wood Elves have basically blundered into a valley to facethe dwarves. We agreed that they should deploy in their order of march, whereas thedwarves were more ready for the approach. The Elves would have the first turn.


9/128

The Rules of the Game Deployment

28 September 2012

9- 128


Also, Ellendee and Spar Gettyand Sors (the wizard and the spectre) would only deploy inthe following Wood Elf turn, as they had been delayed by the binding.


10/128

Prologue Deployment

28 September 2012

10- 128


Prologue

"Daddy, can I borrow the chariot?"

Lord Vass Saleen regarded his son cooly. "No."

"Daddeee," moaned the young prince, "pleeeeease? How'm I gonna ever be a properprince if I don't have battles and stuff?"

Vass sighed. He loved his son and deeply wanted him to grow up to be a powerful, wiseelven prince that would do his name and his household the honour it deserved. It was sovery unfortunate, then, that the young Prince Gaymar the Foccer was such a blitheringidiot. So far, Vass had managed to keep the fool out of any serious engagements, butother members of the court would start asking questions soon. Why should they committheir firstborn to battle whilst he hid his progeny deep in his hold?

Gaymar sensed his father softening. "Please?"

"What've you got in mind?"

"Yippee! Woohoo! Daddy, you're the best!"

Vass winced as he watched his son hopping about and clapping. Bloody fool. "Hang on,son - just hang on . I haven't said yes yet. What is it that you want to do? What do youwant the chariot for?"

"Oh, nothing much. There's a few dwarves setting up some sort of outpost on westernborder of Wyemm Seeyay. I want to nip that in the bud."

"Are they inside the border? Have they broken our laws?"

"No," Gaymar said. "Not yet. But you know dwarves, Daddy. They're probably inside theborder even now. Chopping stuff down and making stuff and singing their vulgar songs.We need to act now!"

Vass raised an eyebrow as Gaymar prattled on with his ever more excitable diatribe. Anyminute now he would start shaking his fist. That was usually when Vass interrupted.

"Gaymar. Son. Calm down, dear - it's just a dwarf outpost."

Gaymar watched his father's placating hands. "And they wear beards. Beards, Daddy,

beards! Will their abominable practices never cease? They must be cut down beforeour children are tainted - what if our future generations all grow up wanting beards?Knowing they can never have them? How will they feel , Daddy?"

Vass blinked at his son. It was the beard thing again. He was sure his son was sufferingfrom some sort of beard envy. He'd be the laughing stock of the aristocracy if news evergot out his son wanted a beard. Maybe if he ran a few dwarves through this fascinationwould wane...

"Okay, boy, maybe we should keep an eye on these beard-wearing dwarves." He raisedhis eyebrow as Gaymer nodded eagerly at him. "How many dwarves are there?"

"Just a few, Daddy."


11/128

Prologue Deployment

28 September 2012

11- 128


"How many?"

"Um...ten? I think?"

"How. Many. Bloody. Dwarves. Are. There. Gaymar?"

"Fourteen. Definitely fourteen."

"You're sure about that? Fourteen? You only have to count on three hands in order toaccount for all the dwarves?"

Gaymer squinted at his father in concentration. "Yes," he declared finally. "Definitelythree hands only."

"Okay. Here's what you do. Take Danak Royd and some of the household guard. Also, getJorj Miy Kael and his men from Chippin Dale - "

"Daaad - "

"Don't interrupt - I'm not done yet. When you get to Wyemm Seeyay, I want you toget the House Troubadours there - chap's name is Gayestin Theland. He's got someexperience with dwarves already.

"Daaaaaaad - "

"Shut up. And I want you to take your cousin Ellendee with you as well."

Gaymer was dumbstruck, his mouth forming a perfect 'o'. Great . Now he had to take hisdumb cousin with as well. Ellendee Generis had no sense of humour and took everythingfar too seriously.

"Daddy," he said, shaking his head, "it's no place for a girl - Ellendee's beauty is only justbeginning to flower, how could I possibly take responsibility for her in a war situation?You know I - "

"You're not taking responsibility for her , she's taking responsibility for you! " Vass eruptedbefore he could stop himself. "Just take her along!"

"Fine!" Gaymar stomped off, but stopped at the door. "And the chariot? Can I take AstinnMarr Ten?"

Vass shook his head. "No - take DeLorien."

Gaymar snorted and stormed out.

Why me? Vass pleaded silently with the gods. Why me?

***

"I can't believe you brought a chariot," Ellendee complained.

"Well if you don't like it, you can get out and walk, you know," Gaymer replied, lookingahead.

"That's not what I meant. How are you planning to sneak up on their position with agreat rattling chariot like this?"


12/128

Prologue Deployment

28 September 2012

12- 128


"I wasn't planning to sneak up on them. We're just going to thunder through andannihilate them."

Ellendee pointed behind her. "What about everyone else not riding a chariot?"

Gaymer glanced over his shoulder, taking in the sight of his loyal patrol jogging along.

Even the wardancers were looking tired. "Er..." was all he could volunteer.

"What you've described isn't a plan. Do you know anything about dwarves, or how theyfight?"

Gaymer looked down and mumbled something under his breath.

"What was that?" Ellendee demanded. "Nothing, you said? Stop this chariot, let thepatrol rest and let's form a plan before you get us all killed!"

"I'm in charge, you know," said Gaymer, carefully avoiding her stern gaze.

Suddenly, Ellendee grabbed his right ear (and as we all know, elves have prodigiousears) and twisted it right around until the chariot ground to a halt and Gaymer was onhis knees whimpering.

"There we go," she said sweetly. The chariot crew stared into the distance, focussing onanything that wasn't Gaymar.

By the time Jorj and the Chippin Dale Regiment of Foote caught up, Ellendee hadGaymar in a headlock and was furiously rubbing her knuckles into his head, whilst hewailed and called for his father. Jorj noticed the remaining chariot crew had taken an allconsuming interesting in a an old abandoned gravestone by the side of the road.

Ellendee dropped Gaymer on the floor. He pushed Ellendee away and straightened hisleather jerkin. Jorj snickered.

"Silence in the ranks!" Gaymer wailed through quivering lips. "Lady Ellen Degeneris andmyself were just ... discussing the plan."

Danak Royd and the Household guard had just arrived now and formed up respectfully.

"Lady Ellendee was just about to describe..." Gaymer trailed off. Ellendee was not aboutto describe anything. She, too, had taken grave interest in the headstone.

"What are you doing?" He asked in a strained voice.

"This is the gravestone of Spar Gettyand Sors," she declared.

"So?"

"So? You've never heard of - oh wait. Of course you haven't. He was a great hero of our people and was instrumental in freeing the Wyemm Seeyay area from the Dwarveshundreds of years ago."

"We're wasting time. So what - he's dead now!"

"I can ... sense him. He's here, I think."

"Ellendee - "


13/128

Prologue Deployment

28 September 2012

13- 128


"Wait - he wants to make contact, I'm sure of it!"

"Right men - form up. Lady Ellendee has lost her mind, and we need to leave her here,so that she can try and find it."

He walked up to Ellendee, who was mumbling and gesturing, inviting Spar to make his

presence known.

"Ellendee, dear. Um, me and the big boys are going to go ahead and have a quick fight -you know, see to business and all that. Why don't you stay here and chase the butterfliesa bit, okay? We'll be back before dark to come and get you. Don't eat any mushrooms,okay?"

Ellendee gave no obvious signs that she'd heard him, so Gaymer swiftly turned andmounted the chariot. "Follow me, men - to victory ."

"Er...what about Lady Ellendee? We can't just leave her, can we?" Jorj asked.

"Watch me," Gaymer growled as he cracked the whip.

***

"What now?" droned Spar Gettyand Sors. "I just want to go to bed..."

"We need your help, oh Great Spirit of the Forest. Now is our darkest hour!" Ellendeesang.

"Darkest hour? Now? That's a bit dramatic, wouldn't you say?" the spirit said, inclining itshead.

"You don't know my cousin, oh great one - he's, how do you say... tactically - "

"Retarded?"

"Retarded," she nodded.

"Yeah, I saw that whole thing with the headlock. Nice moves, for a girl." The spectrenodded appreciatively.

"Thanks. With the forest like it is these days, a girl's got to look after herself, you know.Anyway, enough about me - let's talk about you. Can you help us?"

The spectre shimmered for a second. "In a word - no," it said.

Anger flashed in Ellendee's eyes. "What? Why?" She quickly added: "er...oh great one?"

"Spectre. Can't leave the gravestone, see?" Spar pointed at the gravestone andshrugged.

"Oh," Ellendee said, her anger subsiding. "I can help with that..."

***

Morgrim looked up from his lunch. "How many d'you say there were?"

"Sir! About thirty, give or take. Sir!" The young dwarf's hand seesawed.


14/128

Prologue Deployment

28 September 2012

14- 128


"Straight down the pass?"

"Yes sir, straight down the pass. No scouts that we can see, sir!"

Morgim scratched his chin. "So they're just walking into the valley?"

"Sir, yes sir!"

"With a chariot?"

"Sir, yes sir!"

"Enough with the 'sirs', okay? You're driving me insane."

"S - yes, er...chief?"

Morgrim raised a hairy eyebrow. "Look - thanks for the report. Now sod off and find meArek."

The young dwarf stuttered, did a half salute and ran off. Arek ambled up shortlyafterwards.

"Beanbag sez you've got an elf problem?" he muttered.

"Looks like it, mate."

"Wadder ya need?"

"They're just rolling down the pass, by the sounds of things. Got a chariot. Seems weshould just point Earthquaker straight down there and give 'em hell when they arrive."

"Yer...okay. I'll sort it," drawled Arek as he wandered off. "I'll get the lads set up withsome crossbows, mebbe?"

Morgrim nodded. "Ta mate. That's the stuff."

Good dwarf, that Arek, Morgrim thought. Be a good commander, if he didn't mess about with all that black powder and stuff...

***


15/128

Turn 1 Start of Turn

28 September 2012

15- 128


Turn 1

Start of Turn

***

"Stop the chariot," Gaymer said. He clambered down and waited for his patrol toform up. He had noted with dismay the number of dwarves as he had come downinto the valley. There were hundreds of them. Well, forty, give or take. He squinted inconcentration - had the report said fourteen or forty?

Daddy would be furious.

Anyway, the only way out was through, now. He faced his men, hands on his hips.

"Today, we stand on the great of brinkness!" he stated.

Elves looked at each other in confusion.

"Er...that is, the stand of greatness!"

Danak raised an eyebrow. One of the chariot crew leaned down and whisperedsomething to Gaymer.

"The brink of greatness! " Gaymer yelled in triumph. He glared at those assembled."Today, we are on the very brink of greatness! For too long now, those Dwarves hav-"

Gaymer's soliloquy was cut short by distant pops, followed by an almighty bang and along and pronounced hiss.


16/128


28 September 2012

16- 128


Gayestin stepped forward. "Your Lordship - I think that is one of those unusual warmachines the dwarves seem so fond of making. I presume they must have spotted thechariot coming into the valley." He pointed at a panting wardancer. "Gimpmaersk herehas just popped back from the forest border there and says they are lining up for anengagement. I suspect our moment of greatness has already begun."

"Right!" Gaymar drew his sword and jogged to the front of the column. The chariot crewstepped aside to make space for their leader.

"No thanks, chaps - I lead from the front! Follow me!"

Gayestin looked at Danak, who shrugged. Gayestin inclined his head. Go on, then. Youfirst.

***

Gaymar strikes a manly pose


17/128

Turn 1 The Movement Phase

28 September 2012

17- 128


The Movement Phase

Unlike later editions of Warhammer, there are no march moves in Warhammer 3.Instead, there are 2 movement phases - the typical one we all know and love, and asecond Reserves phase towards the end of the turn.

Also, reforming, wheeling and other manoeuvring require discipline, training and

leadership tests. 2 In this case, the Steelaxes needed to pass two leadership tests inorder to complete three simple manoeuvres. This is one of the places where, althoughit looks like it makes WFB3 more complicated, it is actually simple to process and addsextra depth to the game - rewarding highly disciplined and expensive troops more thanin later editions.

***

"As you can see," Morgrim gestured towards the pass, "there are around thirty or soelves coming our way. Intelligence tells us they are armed and determined, so I don'tthink this is a diplomatic visit. I'm going to form up here with the Firehammers. I wantthe Ironaxes there , the Arrowheads there and the Steelaxes there. You all got that?"

"Sir, yes Sir!" thirty nine dwarves chanted in unison. "Sir...er, chief..." muttered one.

"Torin. You'll be... airborne ." Morgrim seemed to struggle to say the word. "That meansyou'll be able to see aver that hill. So far, they've not done anything to conceal theirapproach, but they will surely take cover there. I want you to relay instructions toEarthquaker and get them flushed out of there as soon as possible. Okay?"

2. Manoeuvre, Manoeuver, Manuever - you pick the one you like the most and substitute itwherever you see the English (well, French) one.


18/128


28 September 2012

18- 128


Torin nodded. Torin glanced meaningfully at the stone thrower's crew. "You boysremember the signals, yeah?"

They nodded. One offered two thumbs up.

"Right, lads. To your positions!" Morgrim shouted.

***

Vass Saleen's Household Guard moves into position


19/128

Turn 1 The Shooting Phase

28 September 2012

19- 128


The Shooting Phase

Dreamfish's intention was to hit the DeLorien with a rock. Although the chariot ishidden behind the hill, we allowed the stonethrower crew to take direction from thegyrocopter. Of course, many players will only have seen indirect fire as a 'new' feature of Warhammer 8, but it was already there in the 80's.

***

Steeplechase looked up as the gyrocopter belched its way over them. It's bizarrecollection of clanks, pops, bangs and hissing combined into a raucous cacophony whichleft speaking impossible.

"He's a complete nutter!" he yelled to Pipsqueak, who had just finished windingEarthquaker.

Pipsqueak frowned at him and shrugged. "No," he mouthed. "I don't have any butter."Why the hell would he want butter now?

"No - nutter! " Steeplechase tried again.

Pipsqueak stood up. At 4'6", he was one of the largest dwarves in the clan. A lifetime of working stone throwers had created powerful muscles and a short temper. "Calling me anutter? You just-"

Dumpling elbowed Pipsqueak and pointed up at the gyrocopter. "He's signalling," heyelled.

The crew squinted up at Torin, trying to make sense of the signals.


20/128


28 September 2012

20- 128


"Hang on...hang...on, I got this one," Steeplechase frowned. "Okay, it's a play. Firstword. First syllable. Sounds ...like... fir?" He looked at the other two.

They shrugged and nodded.

"Second syllable...is...tea? Fir tea?"

"Thirty degrees elevation," Dumpling yelled.

"That's already set, we can shoot-"

"Righto!" Dumpling said. He pulled the lever.

"-after we...reduce the tension." Pipsqueak watched as the rock sail into the heavens.

Dumpling grinned sheepishly. "Ah...after we reduce the tension. Yes. Got a bit carriedaway there..."

The trio looked up at the gyrocopter pilot. His angry gesticulations caused the gyrocopterto sway uncertainly.

"Doesn't look to happy about that one," Pipsqueak mumbled.

***

Torin shows off his ride to the Arrowheads


21/128

Turn 1 The Reserves Phase

28 September 2012

21- 128


The Reserves Phase

So the reserves phase is the 2nd stage of movement. Not everyone can move - much

the same as later editions where not everyone can march.


22/128

Turn 1 End of Turn

28 September 2012

22- 128


Morgrim leads the defence

End of Turn


23/128

Turn 1 End of Turn

28 September 2012

23- 128


The game turn actually went quite quickly - it only took about 24 hours to process thewhole thing by email. It took longer to get the thing posted because of crazy rainfall andflooding and roads being shut screwing up my schedules. On to turn 2!


24/128


28 September 2012

24- 128


Turn 2

Start of Turn

This was the state of play at the end of turn 1. Nothing exciting happened...

Warhammer 3rd Edition made use of trailing forces. Modern versions of Warhammerintroduce reinforcements onto the table via a dice roll that gets progressively easier asthe turns pass. This was different in Warhammer 3rd Edition - one could make use of trailing forces. Again, this is an excellent example of the subtle tactical nuances availablein the game - a trailing force's arrival depends on its leadership - a successful leadershiproll means the troops are available.

In this case, Ellendee Generes and Spar Gettyand Sors, being highly disciplined

individuals who know when they're needed, arrived at the beginning of the turn.


25/128


28 September 2012

25- 128


The Movement Phase

These were the orders for the movement phase:


26/128


28 September 2012

26- 128


Having just referred to the value of high leadership, I proceeded to prove the point byhaving both units of archers fail their reform manouevres. The rest of the army keptit simple and just moved onwards. The dwarves also pressed forwards, apart from theArrowheads, who were preparing to fire.

***

Danak Royd signaled to Loreal Elvive, the musician, that it was time to reform. Hewanted the unit in single rank. Loreal nodded, and trumpeted the instruction, clear notesreverberating off the nearby hill. Immediately, the unit stopped, still marching on thespot, whilst they started forming a single file.

"No, no, NO!" Danak yelled as he watched in horror. "Single RANK, not single FILE! Whatthe hell do you think you're doing!"

Loreal rounded on him. "What? What now? You signaled single file, so I played singlefile!"

"I signaled rank. Rank , man, rank . How hard can it be? There are only two options - rankor file!"

"When you put your hand so, that's file. This is rank!"

"Listen to me, you-" Someone was tapping on Danak's shoulder. He turned to see theunit looking at him.

"Sorry to interrupt, sir, but what should we do? Did you want rank, or file?"

"Just hang on. Stay where you are. I need to get Loreal's head out of his arse so he can

direct the unit properly!""Now just you-" Loreal started.

The whole unit jumped in fright when a rock the size of a sheep slammed into Loreal'shead, crushing his whole body inwards and downwards to the floor before shattering.Elves dived in every direction to avoid the razor sharp stones flung from the impact.

There was immediate silence, which bled into dull moaning and the sound of one of theelves fainting.

Danak wiped the dust from his eyes. He looked at the newly fainted elf and heard

himself say, "he's dead."

Another elf knelt down next to Radocs, the fallen elf. "Yes, he's dead. Looks like his heartstopped."

Danak raised an eyebrow. "He died of fright? You're saying he got such a shock that hedropped dead? We probably didn't need a ninny of such epic..." He sighed. "It doesn'tmatter. Look, is anyone else injured or dead? Can we get on with this now?"

They took one last look at Loreal's crushed body.

"You'll never get his head out of his arse now..." someone muttered.

***


27/128


28 September 2012

27- 128


The Shooting Phase

The elves took first blood in the shooting phase, killing one of the elite longbeards in theFirehammers. The dwarf response was swift, bloody, and four times the magnitude.

***

Torin wrestled with the controls of the gyrocopter as it kicked and shuddered. Experienceand force of will combined to bring line him up for a run on the chariot. How basic itlooked, that ancient machine, with it's horses and standing crew. Torin's flight capexposed a grim smile as he thought how his modern warmachine - the future of warfare- would lay waste to the archaic warmachines of the foolish elves. He pushed the stickfoward, causing the machine to enter a slow dive. Here, his vast experience showed:other pilots closed their eyes when they pulled the trigger - the steam was too muchfor them - but Torin wanted to watch the elves squeal. It was for this reason that he

caught the glint of silver so suddenly and impossibly close to him. His brow furrowed ashe leaned forward to get a better view-

THWING!

-the tip of the arrow glanced off the rim of his goggles, shooting straight up into therotor where it disintegrated. In that moment, his entire body clenched, including histrigger finger, and he felt the steam cannon erupt beneath him.

"Balls, bullets and buggering badgers!" he yelled, his eyes wide with shock.

His senses returned and he swore violently and viciously as he realised that he hadcooked half the hill with his cannon, and none of the elves. He looked around. Just left of the chariot was a lone elf on one knee, shaking his head.


28/128


28 September 2012

28- 128


Torin's eyes narrowed. So , he thought, the little elf wants to play...

***

Gaymar proved to be an excellent shot, landing a hit on the Gyrocopter pilot.Unfortunately, his ammunition proved to be less excellent, as he failed to wound the

stout dwarf.

The Arrowheads also managed to kill one of the chariot's horses, costing the chariot 1"on its future movements.

The Reserves Phase

The reserves phase was again very straight forward, with the elves pressing the attack,both eager to engage and desperate to get within the minimum range of that stonethrower.


29/128


28 September 2012

29- 128


Amongst the reserves, Ellendee drifted up the road and positioned herself in order tolaunch a fireball at the gyrocopter. Unlike later editions of Warhammer, the magic phaseis the last phase of the turn in 3rd edition, so I was able to use her reserve move to

bring her closer to the action.This is a good example of the trust required for a remote game: I had to ask Dreamfishto help with the estimation of range here, because I just couldn't do that without beingthere. In Warhammer 3rd edition, one still needs to declare actions before measuring(unlike 8th edition), so a feel for ranges is important.

Based on his trusted advice, I decided not to waste the fireball, as we agreed that itdidn't feel close enough.


30/128

Turn 2 End of Turn

28 September 2012

30- 128


End of Turn

The situation at the end of turn 2.


31/128

Turn 2 End of Turn

28 September 2012

31- 128



32/128


28 September 2012

32- 128


Turn 3

Start of Turn

Turn 3 was catastrophic for the elves.

This was the situation at the end of turn 2:

The Movement Phase

The elven left flank continued to struggle with discipline problems...


33/128


28 September 2012

33- 128


The right flank pressed on, also moving under fire.


34/128


28 September 2012

34- 128


The Shooting Phase

The elven shooting phase was dismal. The lack of battlefield experience was evident forthis small patrol...

The dwarves, on the other hand, had a fantastic shooting phase, with all of their rangedassets scoring kills.

***

It was all Kimirye Kenin could do to hold onto the reigns. Rocky and Fido were especiallyfeisty and unsettled. Buddy was harnessed on the outside left, but both Rocky andFido had flanked Buster when the dwarves had shot him dead. Both horses kicked andwhinnied, with Fido nearly taking Fern-Andoarlon Soh's head off when he scurried downto cut the dead horse from the chariot's harness.

"GO, GO, GO!" screamed Fern as he scrambled back onto the chariot. Two crossbowbolts thumped into the hand rail of the chariot where he had just been standing.

Kimirye needed no encouragement. With a mighty crack from his whip, he forced thehorses into a canter, shaking his head as he did so. What would he tell Lord Vass Saleen?

The crew heard the whizzing of missiles as they cut through the air around them.Although the cold fingers of fear clutched at them, they were collectively thrilled to be incombat, tsting their wit against the foe. Abject terror balanced pure exhilaration as theyreadied themselves for the charge. Kimirye cracked his whip a second time. Why weren't they moving?


35/128


28 September 2012

35- 128


It was then that Filli Paymassah shouted out. Dismay carried in his voice as the crewfollowed his pointed finger and saw that Buster had been dragged along behind themand was now stuck between a rock and a stubborn bush.

"What did you cut it loose with? A butterknife? " Kimirye shouted at Fern. A bolt sailedbetween their angry faces.

Kimirye pulled the chariot to a halt again.

Thock, thock, thock! Three bolts slammed into the chariot. Bolt shafts protrudedeverywhere - DeLorien would be spending a long time at the body shop at this rate. Wehave got to get moving, he thought.

He watched in frustration as Fern struggled with the thick leather. He hacked and hackedand it one point, it looked like he was flogging the dead horse, but to no avail.

"Let. Go. You. Bastard! " Fern grunted through clenched teeth.

Suddenly, inspiration dawned on Kimirye. He felt the adrenaline pulse through his veins,and it seemed as if he was moving faster than time. If the horses were pulling, perhapsthey could help tear the leather straps that Fern was working at. He cracked the whip atthe horses and actually opened a cut in Fido's rump. The horses strained with the chariotand he felt the carriage creak underneath him.

Of course, the huge advantage with adrenaline is that it really allows one to processevents faster. Eyesight is clearer, hearing is crisp - for a short period in time, one really issuper-elven.

The downside of that is one gets just enough time to determine the consequences of an

action before it takes place.

As Kimirye struck the horses again, his eyes focused on a single bolt, which, to him,looked as if was lazily drifting through the air. Even as the slap of the whip formed asound in his ears, he watched the bolt nick the leather strap about six inches from Fern'shand. In fascination, he watched the leather separate, the two ends almost waving good-bye to each other as they flapped in their new found freedom. His eyes widened as herealised that the horses were now pulling with all of their might - might bred into themthrough a breeding program a thousand years old, so that each horse had the strengthof two. As the chariot started to lurch forwards, his gaze rolled over his hands and thehands of the others in the chariot. He wasn't holding the reigns. Filli wasn't holding the

reigns. Jennon Butson, the fourth crew member, wasn't holding the reigns.

His body began to tumble. Hoping against hope, Kimirye looked back at Fern. No. Hewasn't holding the reigns either.

"Oh shit," he grunted.

***

The sound of the leather snapping was like a gunshot. The Arrowheads watched as allthree elves appeared to somersault out of the back of the chariot, as the enraged andmaddened horses lunged for the Steelaxes. For a short time, the wheels of the chariotactually left the ground. None of the dwarves were that sure about horses to begin with,


36/128


28 September 2012

36- 128


but the noise that the crazed animals made now was truly frightening - unlike anythingany normal animal should make.

Beeffan Unyun nudged one of his colleagues. "Glad I'm not them," he said, nodding inthe direction of the Steelaxes.

***

Borri gazed dispassionately over the rim of the shield-wall to see who had fired the gun.

"Oh, shit," he grunted.

***

Simply put, the chariot was annihilated. Unlike later editions of Warhammer, however,Chariots do not have wounds or a Toughness rating - they have a special damage chartinstead. Dreamfish scored the highest damage on the chart, which reads as follows:

16+ A massive jolt throws the crew overboard. The over-exerted draft animals arenow beyond control and run amok . The crew must make their basic saving throw .Survivors may be formed into a single unit.

Dear reader, let me tell you - not one of the four crew made their saving throw.

There is some good news, however. When a chariot runs amok, it must charge thenearest unit within reach, otherwise it will move about randomly. Fortunately, thenearest unit in this case happens to be the Steelaxes, so at least the chariot will still becontributing in some bizarre, twisted way.

The Reserves Phase

The elves, having taken a pounding, get serious and continue to advance in the reservesphase.


37/128


28 September 2012

37- 128


Spar was able to get close to the dwarven lines, where hopefully his fear effect will startmaking a difference for the elves...


38/128

Turn 3 The Magic Phase

28 September 2012

38- 128


The Magic Phase

This was the first magic phase where Ellendee would be able to contribute. Magic inWarhammer 3rd edition is dramatically different to the various attempts in the latereditions. The key differences are as follows:

1. The magic phase is the last phase of the turn2. Each wizard can only do one spell in the magic phase3. Wizards make use of magic points when casting spells4. If a wizard has less than 12 MP's, they need to pass an Intelligence test in order to

cast a spell

Ellendee Generis, being a level 10 wizard, starts out with 10 magic points. Although thespectre (Spar Gettyand Sors) is paid for from the army points allowance, an etherealhost must also be bound with magic points. We'll discuss that in later turns when itbecomes relevant, but in this case, Ellendee used 5 magic points to bind Spar, so sheonly had 5 left.

Ellendee decided to use a magic point to launch a fireball at the gyrocopter. All sheneeded to do was pass an Intelligence test. I was pleased when I looked it up, because Isaw that she had an Intelligence of 10. I can roll less than 10 on two dice, right? Right?

***

Ellendee looked up at the gyrocopter. She watched as her idiot brother had fired his bowat it, predictably with no useful outcome. Silly boy. With the down force the rotors weregenerating, what chance did he stand? No, the solution to the gyrocopter was not in thenatural, but in the unnatural. The supernatural.

Just how would she do it? She new that dwarves had extremely firm resolve, so therewas no use in trying to terrify the pilot away. She wasn't confident that she couldsummon enough wind to blow the infernal thing off course. No - it would have to bedirect. A fireball it was, then.

How did that go, again?

She recited the words in her mind. They seemed simple, but a small doubt struck her.She remembered that she had to do something that she normally wouldn't do. She hadto invert something, or something like that. There was an inversion in the spell - didshe have to re-invert the inversion? Was that the thing? All spellcasters knew that twoinversions made a subversion. Or was it a diversion? Maybe it wasn't a double inversion,but rather, reversion. That kind of made sense. If she inverted a reversion, wouldn't thatbe a re-reversion? Which was a conversion. No - there were no conversions in a fireballspell. She started again. You invert an inversion in order to create a conversion, whichled to the reversion of the fireball subversion, thus creating an eversion. Which wasexothermic. Which created a fireball. That's it!

Ellendee pronounced the wytching words with conviction, pointing her hand at thegyrocopter. Louder and louder she chanted, until she felt the power surge through her.She closed her eyes, reveling in the magical bliss. She felt the magical force writhe downher outstretched arm and the final, satisfying jolt of a fireball launching itself from herhand.


39/128

Turn 3 End of Turn

28 September 2012

39- 128


She opened her eyes expecting to see the gyrocopter bloom in a fiery haze. Her browfurrowed as she realised there was no fireball soaring towards it. Instead, about fifteenor so feet away, a large, fluffy marshmallow bounced on the grass and came rolling to ahalt.

That wasn't there before, she thought.

Let's see: invert a reversion, which causes conversion. Conversion of the fireballsubversion leads to eversion, which-

She slapped her palm to her forehead. Idiot! She forgot the ambiversion. You have toinvert an ambiversion, because it must be introversion or extroversion. Idiot, idiot, idiot!

Spellcasting. It was all perversion, in the end.

***

End of Turn

The situation at the end of turn 3.


40/128

Turn 3 End of Turn

28 September 2012

40- 128


Surely turn 4 is the turn where the elves will handle the dwarf butts hand the dwarvestheir butts on a plate?


41/128


28 September 2012

41- 128


Turn 4

Start of Turn

Things appear to be looking up for the elves.

Nah. I'm lying. I just said that to make you read the rest of the report.

This was the situation at the start of Turn 4:

The Movement Phase

Combat was finally reached as the uncontrolled chariot slammed into the Steelaxes.Other movement involved lots of posturing and preparing for Turn 5 combat.


42/128


28 September 2012

42- 128



43/128


28 September 2012

43- 128


Spar bears down on the hateful stone thrower

***

Arek smiled as he watched another perfectly placed rock crunch into the distant elves.Make no mistake: he liked hitting elves with an axe as much as the next dwarf, but tohim, this was the way warfare should be conducted. It was elegant, it was civilised, andthere wasn't much chance at all of one having his beer knocked over.

He reached down and rewarded his brilliant shot with a deep draught from hismetal mug. What was this one again? He looked over at the barrel forming part of Earthquaker's defences. Wudbeiser Extra Lite. He wasn't that keen on these new modern'lite' beers that the army had started issuing. Ever since that flame cannon thing back in'55, clan leaders and other namby-pamby civilians had gotten all upset about accidentsrelating to drunkenness. The chaps involved had only had about seven or eight pintsanyway. It was evidently a problem with the city-hall curtains that they had burstinto flame like that. Besides, if you insisted on putting curtains everywhere like that,you were asking for problems. And now the whole bloody army had to drink bloodyWudbeiser Extra Freakin' Lite. Sugar free, caffeine free, flavour free and just aboutbloody alcohol free too.

Arek sighed. Anyway. He noticed that the crew were all looking over the barrier atsomething.


44/128


28 September 2012

44- 128


"She's not going to load herself, you know," he said.

No one appeared to have heard him. He cleared his throat and tried again.

Still nothing. What the hell are they looking at? He was loathe to get up. He hadstruggled to find a comfortable place to sit and relax whilst he had waged war against

the elves. Now the bloody crew decide to look at something interesting...

He stood up groaning and wandered up to the barrier. He focused in the direction therest of the dwarves were staring.

Bearing down on them at top speed was a lone elven horseman. Arek squinted at him.There was definitely something odd about him. Besides the fact that he was chargingtowards a fortified dwarven position, that is.

He continued to stare at the horseman, shading his eyes with his hand. It was almost asif he could see ... through the elf. He looked down and swilled the contents of his mugaround, trying to see if he could see anything unusual in the beer. No. He looked at thespectre again.

Hmmm, he thought. I can definitely see through him. Arek looked down at the beeragain, impressed.

That's some good shit in there.

***

The Shooting Phase


45/128

Turn 4 The Combat Phase

28 September 2012

45- 128


Again, the Lornalim equipped elite archers embarrassed the entirety of the woodelf people by collectively slaying two dwarves. I presume this lot of wood elves arevegetarian, because they must be dreadful hunters.

The dwarves dished out the pain, with the Arrowheads killing three wardancers and theEarthquaker scoring a third direct hit!

Torin fires the steam cannon at Ellendee, but his bitterness towards Gaymar pushesthrough unconsciously as he mistakenly hits the elven general instead. Gaymar,seemingly used to hot, steamy situations, survives the attack unscathed.

The elves face down their hated foe. Not the Firehammers, but the bloody stone throwerin the background:

The Combat Phase

Combat! Hooray for combat! I rolled spectacularly for the chariot impact hits, causingthree, but dismally when it came to wound. In spite of my best efforts, however, thehorses still managed to kill a dwarf. The dwarves make short work of the chariot,

however, and easily chase it off:


46/128


28 September 2012

46- 128


The Steelaxes face their frenzied, feral, four legged fate


47/128


28 September 2012

47- 128


***

Shortbredin Caek sat on the floor, arms wrapped around his knees, rocking back andforth. He was not responding to anyone. Borri and the other dwarves looked on insympathy as he whimpered quietly.

"Poor bastard," Borri said, looking at Shortbredin's helmet, which he was holding in hishand. He looked at the indentations the horses teeth had left in it. That had been oneangry horse, all right. "He's shell-shocked."

Borri had seen it before. Even veteran dwarves, having seen battle hundreds of times,would have cracked under the strain of what Shortbredin had experienced. The horrorwas still fresh in his own mind.

They had all been expecting the chariot hit. Being dwarves, they trusted their trainingand the strength of their shields. Chariots had no fear for them - it was textbook case- raise a shield wall when facing a chariot. Simple. In the textbook example, however,

the horses would falter and turn at the last minute. In this case, however, the blastedcreatures had just slammed into the shields - it was all the dwarves could do to not betoppled.

Even as he thought about it, he had to acknowledge: the boys had done well. Everyoneheld their ground. They had seen the horses off. He'd even given one a thorough wallopon it's rump. But still, it wasn't enough to save poor Shortbredin.

Once the horses realised they could not force their way through the dwarves, theyhad broken and scattered to the left, dragging the infernal chariot with them. It wasthen that Shortbredin had met his fate. As one of the brutes ran down the line, it hadbitten down firmly on Shortbredin's helmet. The helmet had held - it was sturdy dwarf workmanship, so no worries there. But the poor dwarf had buckled his helmet strapunder his chin - how was he to know? So when the horse had grabbed him, the poorbugger was lifted from his feet and shaken hither and thither by the enraged horse. By his head.

"Aaaaarrr! Geddidoff! Geddidoff! Geddidoff!"

They had watched helplessly as Shortbredin cried for help. It was hard to tell whether itwas his or the horse's spittle that was flung left and right. It was like watching a terriersavage a rag doll. Even Borri had been mesmerized by the flailing dwarf. Fortunately,Borri's presence of mind had returned just then. He had stepped forwards, giving thehorse another almighty thrashing with the back of his axe. Panicked, the stupid beasthad dropped the thoroughly shaken Shortbredin and the hateful creatures had fled intothe distance.

A simple question dragged Borri back to the present.

"What do we do with him, boss?"

"There's nothing much we can do, Chippin Dippe. Not after what he's been through. Justhave to leave him there and come back for him when he's in a stable condition."

Shortbredin moaned pitifully.


48/128


28 September 2012

48- 128


"I don't think we should mention stables anywhere near him, Sir," Chippin whispered.

***

The Reserves Phase

The reserves phase was rewarding, given that the dwarves couldn't make any reserves.This was mainly down to Spar Gettyand Sors. Being a spectre (and a spectacularlyterrifying one at that) he causes fear in a 12" radius. Units cannot make a reserve movewhen in a fear effect, so Spar managed to stifle their flexibility.

Again, this is another subtle, but effective difference between the simplified march asit appears in the later editions of Warhammer, and the reserve move in 3rd edition.Units cannot reserve move if they are within 4" of an enemy, or in some other cases,like the fear. This means that units cannot actually march past each other, because the'balance' of the march occurs in the reserves phase. March blocking takes on a wholenew meaning in Warhammer 3.

End of Turn

I want to write about the magic phase. I really do. I want to write about fire rainingfrom the heavens and lightning bolts shooting forth from glowing eyes. Of course, thoseevents require the actual casting of spells, something that is proving to be a problem forEllendee. The dopey mare failed her intelligence test again!

This is the situation at the end of turn 4.


49/128

Turn 4 End of Turn

28 September 2012

49- 128


Will Spar save the archers from Earthquaker? Can the Household Guard face Morgrimand his Firehammers? Will Ellendee ever cast a spell? You'll have to wait for turn 5 to findout!


50/128


28 September 2012

50- 128


Turn 5

Start of Turn

Turn 5 starts like this:

The Movement Phase

Plenty of movement in the movement phases. The elves manage to execute a plannedcharge, even as the chariot rumbles off the field.

The Wardancers could have charged the Steelaxes this turn, but if they had done so,they would have opened themselves up to a flank charge from the Arrowheads. Basedon that, they decided to move to the flank of the Steelaxes, allowing them to control the

charge in the following turn and use the Steelaxes as cover form the Arrowheads.


51/128


28 September 2012

51- 128


Spar finally gets to grips with the stone thrower

Some dwarves sneak past the abandoned war machine


52/128


28 September 2012

52- 128


The Shooting Phase

Again, the dwarves out-shoot the elves

***Gaymar was having the time of his life. He had loved reading the adventure books hisuncles had given him and his mind had been filled with stories of heroes of old dealingout justice and retribution to all the enemies of the elves. And now he was there. In theaction! Even when that infernal flying machine had scorched him from above, he realised

just how alive he really felt. And...the steam had left his jerkin tattered, his musclesexposed and gleaming, and his hair wet and wild. He looked like a hero. He looked epic.

He tossed his hair.

It was only in so doing that he came to witness the demise of the Chippin Dale Regiment

of Foote, behind him. Where before ten brave elves had followed him unquestionably intobattle, there now only stood three bedraggled warriors and a string of broken, moaningcasualties spread out behind them.

Gaymar knew how fate worked. It happened like this in all the stories he read. Entireregiments were decimated by dragons and sorcerers, leaving only the toughest fightersand their brave commanders. In this case, he reasoned that he must be the bravecommander, although he did note with irritation that Jorj Miy Kael was still alive. Maybethat's so he can leap in front of an arrow or something and save my life, Gaymarthought.

Anyway, he knew fate. And fate was telling him he would win the fight with the ChippinDales. He knew at that point he needed to join with them and lead them in a dazzling


53/128


28 September 2012

53- 128


display of bravery and cheek - he must lead them directly against the approachingdwarves.

Hair tossing complete, he turned to face them and was about to shout to them when hesaw them completely engulfed in torrent of boiling hot water and steam. Even as far ashe was, he felt the violent heat of steam cannon.

Brilliant, he thought, as he savoured the feeling of his hair whipping in the wind. I'mtotally epic!

He waited for the steam to dissipate, expecting to see the vehicle of his victory standingfirm and cheering for him. What he saw was three screaming elves rolling around on thefloor. Jorj Miy Kael had gone from a suitable lieutenant to the worst hair disaster this sideof the Forest of Loren.

Gaymar looked up at the approaching gyrocopter. He looked across at Morgrim andhis approaching Firehammers. Evidently, Fate had an even better outcome for him.

Evidently, he didn't need the Chippin Dales. Evidently, Fate had chosen him to singlehandedly slay the dwarves.

He gripped the pommel of his sword and in one fluid movement, hoisted the blade highabove his head. He hoped the others were watching, so that his moment of greatnesswould be remembered for ever. It was only when the sword was above his head that heheard the traditional schwing of the blade being drawn from the scabbard.

Hang on, his subconscious said. The schwing normally comes before the blade goesoverhead. Doesn't it?

Yes, his subconscious replied to itself. Schwing, then up. Not up, then schwing. Definitelynot that way around.

Gaymar's keen eyes spotted an object descending in the distance. His heart dropped. Ohno. Oh no, no, no, no. She would never let him live this one down.

"Ellendee!" he shouted. "ELLENDEE!" He waved his arms furiously.

He winced. Too late.

***


54/128


28 September 2012

54- 128


The Combat Phase

The elves finally eliminate the devastating Earthquaker

Spar is a bound spirit host. Storm of Magic (for Warhammer 8th edition) is the first timesince 3rd edition that GW have even contemplated this sort of thing - another bit of evidence indicating the true source of inspiration for WFB8.

In Warhammer 3rd edition, hosts (being Spirit, Monstrous or Chaotic) can be boundinto service if there is a wizard to do so. Although the full points cost is payed for thehost, the wizard also needs to spend magic points in order to bind the host. In this case,I could only afford to spend 5 points in the binding. That means that once Spar has

finished this engagement (as he did at the end of the combat phase), he will simply 'blip'out of existence.


55/128


28 September 2012

55- 128


Had I had a more powerful wizard with more magic points, I would have been able touse more of them to use a stronger binding with the spectre. Or...had I known thatEllendee would be completely incapable of casting spells, I would have used the rest of her magic points for a stronger binding...

The Reserves PhaseIn the reserves phase, both sides prepare for the 'end-game'. Warhammer 3rd editiondoesn't have a turn limit like the later editions, but in this case, it really appears thatturn 6 is the one that will decide the outcome.

***

Ellendee was embarrassed. She should have been able to manage the damned flyingmachine and she had messed her spells up twice now. She was glad her tutors were

nowhere near to watch her crumble like this. Granted, it was her first battlefieldexperience, and she didn't really know many dangerous spells, but she was sure shecould do better than this.

Checking to make sure no one was looking, she quickly drew a small book from herrobes. This was her spell book. She had been desperately hoping she could do the thingfrom memory, but fireball was a difficult spell. She quickly paged through, flipping to the'F' section.

Ah. Here we are.

Seeing it on paper brought it all back to her. She slapped her forehead. Of course! How could she be so stupid?


56/128

Turn 5 End of Turn

28 September 2012

56- 128


She looked up at the gyrocopter. Her eyes narrowed as she chanted in the language of the wytch. Her hands weaved this way and that, drawing impossible signs on an unseenpage. She contracted with nature and the elements and allowed their combined grace toflow through her veins. It's coming, she thought. It's coming.

At the moment when she thought she could hold it no longer, she launched a fireball.

At exactly the same time, the steel tip of the bejeweled scabbard of Gaymar the Foccerdescended from the heavens and bounced off her head.

-Poc!-

Her eyes rolled up as she fell backwards.

This event left three things floating in the air: a scabbard, a spellbook, and a fireball.

The scabbard, having bounced directly up, dropped down again onto Ellendee's stomach.Her eyes jerked open as she grunted in surprise. This gave her just enough time to see

the spellbook, travelling upwards, meet the fireball, travelling downwards. A properlycast fireball will explode on impact, but it came as no consolation to Ellendee that her'swas a properly cast fireball. It exploded exactly as it ought to.

She watched in horror as her spellbook disintegrated in a rain of ash and cinder. Shegrabbed the object lying across her stomach and, still lying on her back, brought it intoher field of vision to identify.

I. Am. Going. To. Kill. Him. She rolled onto her stomach and slowly regarded her cousin.The simpering idiot was waving at her. I am absolutely going to castrate that retard, if it's the last thing I ever do on this earth...

***

End of Turn

One of the most disappointing elements of this game (for me) has been the completeabsence of magic. Although the story suggests the fault lies with Gaymar, in rules terms,the silly cow failed her intelligence test for the third time in a row. She needs to roll10 or less on 2d6. Three times she's duffed that now! She has now consumed 3 magicpoints in her attempts, and only has 2 magic points left. Surely, surely, surely, she'll beable to get a spell off in turn 6?!?

I was really hoping to demonstrate how simple the magic phase really is and what agame might look like without the uncontrolled, top-heavy magic of Warhammer 8thedition.

Anyway.


57/128

Turn 5 End of Turn

28 September 2012

57- 128


The dwarves and the elves prepare to engage

This is the situation at the end of turn 5.

Will Gaymar survive the impending contact with the dwarves? Will Gaymar survive hisnext encounter with his cousin? Will Gaymar survive his next encounter with his father?Join us next time, for turn 6!


58/128


28 September 2012

58- 128


Turn 6

Start of Turn

She cast a spell! No, really, she did! Come and see!

Ahem. Anyway, this is how turn 6 started:

The Movement Phase

Both Dreamfish and I thought that turn 6 would be 'the one', so I thought I wouldcommit the elves to the fight - you know, a big bang and all that. So, everyone charged:


59/128


28 September 2012

59- 128


The Wardancers finally made contact

The Combat Phase

Morgrim challenged Gaymar to single combat. Gaymar had no choice but to accept,

because he bravely charged by himself.


60/128


28 September 2012

60- 128


***

Morgrim gripped his sword in both hands. Finally - the elves were coming. He hadpositioned himself in the centre of his Firehammers to face the elven archers when heheard a maniacal ululating screech emanate from somewhere on his left. Craning hisneck, he spied a wild, lone elf hurtling towards his unit at high speed.

It was only when the elf was much closer did Morgrim recognise the fool as the one whohad led the column down into the valley. So, he thought. This must be their leader.

"Step aside, boys," he said. "Looks like our host is coming to greet us personally."He pushed his way out of formation and positioned himself in front of the rapidlyapproaching elf.

***

Danak Royd also watched Gaymar's meteoric approach to the dwarven line. I supposewe have to save him, he thought. No one else left to do it, now.

He took a deep breath.


61/128


28 September 2012

61- 128


"Charge!"

***

There are many ways to approach single combat. Of course, gentler races, such asthe elves, approach combat with finesse - moving quietly and on light feet, caution

lining their attentive faces. Hardier races, such as the dwarves, rely on their unflinchingdiscipline and sublime confidence.

Witnesses to the battle might later claim that the dwarves had indeed evidenced theirconfident discipline, as all dwarves do. But no-one would claim that Gaymar's approachwas at all cautious or well considered. As soon as he was close enough, he leaped intothe air. For a brief moment, his profile formed an almost perfect 'c' - his feet nearlytouched the tip of his sword as he arced through the air, belt buckle first.

***

Morgrim had been in the army for a while now. He had seen many things, including thesort of indulgent arrogance that no doubt led to the elf leaping at him as he did now.But, that arrogance had never materialised in such a fashion. He had never faced anairborne elf moving at terminal velocity.

***

Gaymar felt the sword hit home. A thrill unlike any he had ever experienced flooded hisentire body with excitement and adrenaline. It didn't feel planned, but he knew it wasall him, baby. He had seen the dwarf raise his sword above him in order to deflect theelf. But Gaymar had expected that. He didn't know how - he simply knew that the dwarf would do just that.

He switched his grip on the blade in one swift motion. Now, dagger-like, the bladepointed downwards. As he sailed over the dwarf, he thrust down. The dwarf's defensewas against a hack, not a thrust, so it was almost too easy to force the blade into thedwarf's shoulder.

The next thing he knew, he had broken his nose.

***

Morgrim swore as the elf stabbed him. The little shit had been lucky. He had managedto force his blade directly into Mogrim's shoulder, right where the back plate and breastplate met.

Enraged, Morgrim swing his two handed sword with all his might. In his youth, he hadbeen a prolific Baze Ball player. Baze Ball was an ancient pastime the dwarves indulgedin, where one dwarf would lob a rock (called a Baze) at the other, who would attempt tohit it with a club before his head was smashed. All of that muscle memory came to thefore as his powerful arms drove the blade forwards in a sweeping arc. Sparks flew as theblade crunched into the metal greaves protecting the elf's shins.

The impact was enough to stop the forward flight of the lower half of the elf. The upperhalf, however, had no such impediment, so it continued on it's original trajectory.


62/128


28 September 2012

62- 128


Morgrim looked up and saw the elf flip head over heels twice before slamming face firstinto the ground.

***

Danak Royd expressed such a look of amazement at the sight of his lord somersaulting

in the air that the dwarf he faced cast a brief look over his shoulder. It wasn't planned,but Danak took the opportunity none the less, and walloped the foolish dwarf just behindthe ear with the pommel of his sword. The little fellow crumpled.

***

Gaymar rolled onto his back, moaning and clutching his face. There was bloodeverywhere. He felt no pain, but he knew for certain that his nose shouldn't be so ...flexible. He groped around for his sword before realising that the bloody thing was stillsticking out of the dwarf like a banner pole. Animal instinct took over as he moved to acrouch and leaped at the dwarf again.

***

Morgrim was a pragmatic dwarf. The wound hurt, but he wasn't dead or dying. And aslong as the blade was in his shoulder, it wasn't in the hands of the sodding elf, so he hadmade no effort to remove it. Firming his grip on his own sword, he watched as the elf got onto all fours. Morgrim enjoyed the brief look of despair on the face of the elf as heregistered the location of his sword. But, even though Mogrim was expecting it, the littlebastard was just too fast. The elf hurled himself at the sword, again moving to leap overMorgrim. He narrowly missed the elf in an overhead chop which would have cleaved theidiot in two. He spun to face the elf. As he did so, he saw the blood running down hisbreast plate. Morgrim ran a hand over his shoulder and grimaced at his opponent.

The elf had his sword back.

***

Hargen Darce drove his hammer deep into the midriff of one of the archers. Dopey knob,he thought, as the elf folded in front of him. The dwarves had given ground, steppingback to consolidate their formation. Evidently, the elves considered this a victory and hadpursued into a hardened, reorganised dwarven line. But, as this elf - who was now on hishands and knees coughing up blood - had just discovered, the dwarves were not aboutto give up. Tactical redeployment, kids. That's all it was - tactical redeployment.

***

The combat phase was the first place we came across some issues. As you know, we'vefound it easier to run the report if we process each other's equivalent phases one afterthe other, as opposed to the whole IGO UGO mechanism so common to Warhammer. Thisled to the interesting situation where two combat phases would follow directly on fromeach other - one for the elves and then one for the dwarves (both sides still fight in each,though). So, we were able to see the elves win (I know, can you believe it?) both combatevents in the first combat phase, and then see them grind to a halt in the second.

Morgrim and Gaymar each manged to knock a wound off each other in the first round,and both failed to hurt each other in the second!


63/128


28 September 2012

63- 128


The first combat phase

Combat in Warhammer 3rd edition does have some subtle but powerful differencescompared to the later incarnations. In later editions, if an attackers WS is equal to the

defenders WS, then traditionally the attacker must roll 4 or more on a d6. In WFB3, a5 is required. Also, later editions of Warhammer only really allow for a scale between 3and 5 on a d6, so if the attacker has WS10 and the defender WS1, the attacker must stillroll 3 or higher. In WFB3, the scale is bigger, running between 2 and 6+. 6+ in this casemeans that a 6 followed by another number is required to score a hit.

All of this told heavily in combat, meaning that most of the time, very few hits wereactually scored. So, ultimately, not many casualties occurred.


64/128


28 September 2012

64- 128


The second combat phase

The second and more interesting debate we had was about number of attacks and baseto base contact. In later versions of Warhammer, the notion of diagonal base to basecombat is accepted as the norm:

...but, is the same true in Warhammer 3? From what we could see, no. This wasespecially interesting, because this led us to investigate the rules, in which it claims thatattackers can only attack forwards unless they have gore or stomp or tail attacks. Thatthen led us into the question about models with multiple attacks - how many figures canthey actually kill? On face value, this looked like a good natural limiter to some of themore powerful (I'm looking at you, chaos) armies that have many models with multipleattacks. Assuming the above is true - it then suggests that you can only kill as manymodels as you are in base to base with...which takes us full circle to the beginning of the

argument - is diagonal contact base to base contact...


65/128


66/128

Turn 6 The Magic Phase

28 September 2012

66- 128


The Magic Phase

And...last but certainly not least - Ellendee finally cast a spell! With 2 magic pointsremaining, she successfully launched a fireball at the gyrocopter, scoring 3 hits.

No wounds, though, but we gotta crawl before we can walk, right?


67/128

Turn 6 End of Turn

28 September 2012

67- 128


End of Turn

So...given that Gaymar and Morgrim are locked in mortal combat...we thought it madesense to move on to turn 7!

Will Ellendee finally eliminate the gyrocopter? Will the Arrowheads reach theirdestination? Can Gaymar eliminate Morgrim?


68/128


28 September 2012

68- 128


Turn 7

Start of Turn

It is the end. Victory has been claimed.

This was the situation at the end of Turn 6:

The Movement Phase

Given that almost all of the forces on the table were engaged, there wasn't muchmovement. Torin charges Ellendee with the gyrocopter:


69/128


70/128


28 September 2012

70- 128


***

Danak could feel his muscles burning. And if his muscles hurt, he knew the chaps in theunit would also be taking strain - exhaustion showed in their faces and in their fighting.

The dwarves were tired too, and it seemed to Danak that both sides realised that the endwas near. He certainly wanted to survive the day, and, it seemed, so did the dwarves.Both sides still struck at each other, but by some unofficial agreement, both sides simplydecided to make lots of noise by striking each others weapons.

Gotta look busy, the glances of understanding foes said to each other. No one has to die, just gotta look busy. After all, it's all about them anyway.

***

Gaymar was oblivious to the pretenses of the other fighters. His legs ached where thedwarf had struck him and tears streamed freely down his cheeks to mix with the dryingblood of his burning, broken nose. Whereas before he felt the excitement of battle, nowhe felt the desperation.

What was the most frustrating was that the dwarf didn't appear to be flagging underhis wound. It was all Gaymar could do to stay out of reach of the dwarf 's blade, but theblasted dwarf didn't appear to have broken a sweat.

***

Morgrim knew he would be sore tomorrow. The elf had been lucky, and Morgrim wouldbe paying the price for weeks to come. It never crossed his mind that he could die today

- even as he parried and dodged, he simply assumed that he would struggle to pick uphis nephews or play baze ball for a while. Besides, it was evident that the elf couldn't see


71/128


28 September 2012

71- 128


straight, judging by some of his wild swings. But, he had to admit, he was having troublehitting the bloody twit back. He watched in frustration as the little shit bounced this wayand that, constantly avoiding the ministrations of Mogrim's great sword.

It felt to Morgrim that he might have to think outside the box a little here. Clearly the elf wasn't prepared to stand still and fight like a dwarf, so he'd need to pin the irritating little

runt down. He took a lazy swing at the elf, designed more to clear some personal spacethan to actually do any damage. The elf dived to the left and rolled over, stopping justnext to an old tree stump, barely sticking out of the ground.

***

Gaymar came to his feet quickly. He knew he couldn't stay down at all - the great swordthe dwarf was casually throwing about would easily split him in two. He was just in timetoo - the dwarf was coming at him in a reckless charge, with his sword high above hishead. Time slowed to a standstill for Gaymar as he watched as the blade came down,knowing even as it sliced through the air, that he would easily side step the blow. It was

times like this when he realised why the dwarves were so jealous of the elves - theywere just so ... clumsy.

Intent on showing off, Gaymar didn't even move his feet first. As the blade came down,he first twisted his shoulder out of the way, then arced his back, forcing his hips tofollow. It was like watching a ripple pass through his body, as his body almost curvedaround the descending sword. His thighs and then his knees swayed sensuously, neatlyavoiding the gleaming metal. In his final display of elegance, Gaymar flicked his feet outof the way, spun in the air, and promptly tripped over the tree stump.

***

Mogrim had never hit anything quite so hard as he hit that tree stump. His wrists,elbows, shoulders and jowls shook with the massive shock of a mighty swing stopped bywhat felt like a block of granite. Even his teeth ached as they rattled with the vibrationof the impact. With an impact like that, he either cut the bloody elf clean in two, or he'dcompletely missed the sod. Realising that his eyes were clenched shut, he blinked rapidlyas he shook his head.

Damn.

He'd missed completely. But, the elf was on the floor, so this was his chance. He tried toheft the sword up high.

Double-damn.

wfb3 - battle report - it's fun to slay at the wyemm seeyay

Documents