Skaven Vs Dwarfs - Warhammer Fantasy 5th Edition Battle Report

The Skirmish at Karakton Village

Skweegak stroked the twistedly muscular side of his verminsteed boastfully; enjoying the feel of hundreds of shining black eyes admiring him as the Clanrat horde gathered at his back. The creature’s physical superiority was worth the warpstone token he had traded for it, and it was definitely worth the lives of the three Skavenslaves it had eaten while being led to the surface. Horned Rat be willing, he could see himself sitting on the Council of Thirteen in a few years.

There was no doubt this surface raid would be a great success. With a high pitched squeal of excitement, Skweegak congratulated himself for his sublime planning as his dark beady eyes drank in the sight of the all too vulnerable settlement far below the cliff edge.

It was exactly as his gutter runners hard reported - without a doubt, these man-things were the worst example he had ever seen of the already clearly inferior human species. They waddled around on stunted legs, bulging rotund bodies bobbing along. The ridiculously long fur on their faces stretched till they almost tripped over it, and to add to it all, they appeared to be drinking hefty amounts of ale. Skweegak  decided they must already be quite inebriated. Yes, if there was one thing he knew, it was when to strike a vulnerable enemy! 

These humans were obviously ponderously slow and over fed. So what if they had a cannon down there – they would be in too much of a drunken haze to load it! He was sure this would be an easy conquest… 

I play a lot of old Fantasy Battles - this time is a pitched 1500 point battle. I'm a big fan of fifth edition, but I should add in a preamble that we do play with a few caveats agreed by both players. First of all, no magic items are bought as part of the list. One item is randomly drawn for each army per 500 points from a pre-agreed set of "fair" items - so for 1500 points 3 minor items were awarded each side. This stops any foul-play in terms of item combinations or overpowered characters. Other than that, the rule-set speaks for itself, so with that in mind, it's time to battle like it's 1996!... 

The Armies:

Drong's Dwarf Company

Skweegak's Surface Raid:

Skaven Warlord Skweegak - Halberd, Heavy Armour, Pistol- 97

Verminsteed - 80 (Custom rules used to represent the Age of Sigmar Gnawbeast based closely on a Winged Nightmare- without Wings...)

Warlock Master Fangkwole, 2 hand weapons - 191

Harpo The Plague Priest - Flail 74

Clanrat Champion Gizmo - Light Armour, Shield, Spear, 31

Stormvermin Unit Champion Clamungoose - Light Armour, Halberd, 31

23 Clanrats with Spears, Standard and Musician - 162.5

19 Plague Monks with Standard and Musician - 147

19 Storm Vermin with Standard and Musician - 241

7 Plague Censer Bearers - 105

Warpfire Thrower - 70

4 Jezzails - 120

Doomwheel - 150

Pre-Game Preamble

No excuses were given or asked for - why was the old green sheet being used as a battlefield so wrinkly.... nobody cared, it was time for battle!

As a general, both armies were quite balanced with plenty of troops. For those who haven't played this edition of the game, Dwarfs are a terrifying prospect to face. They have hands down some of the most destructive war machines in the game and they know how to use them. They are however, almost outrageously slow. With a march move of 6", the Skaven would need to come to them... and get shot along the way... a lot. Here's hoping for some good magic and for the Warpfire thrower not to just blow up the first time I use it. At this stage, I should probably explain that I was playing the Skaven (Blazmo/Will) while Ed was playing the pathetic and clearly inferior Dwarf horde.

We rolled off for first turn and the Dwarfs for a 6. Never one to be outdone, the Skaven also got a 6. For a minute, it seemed mighty Warlord Skweegak brought his good pair of Warpstone Magnoculars and was actually going to make a surprise attack. We rolled again and the Skaven lost the roll off. Ed would take first turn with the Dwarves - evidently, they were expecting a Skaven attack this time, but he would deploy first. 

Magic Item Draw and Spell Cards:

As mentioned earlier, we drew 3 random magic items each. The Skaven received The Chalice of Sorcery, Ring of Volans and War Banner. The War Banner was given to the Stormvermin and would give them +1 combat resolution. The ring gives a free spell cast - supplying all power needed and the Chalice can allow a wizard to draw additional winds of magic cards. Unfortunately, my spell draw with Fangkwole was a bit uninspiring and he drew Skitterleap (a single-model teleport spell, Pestilent Breath - a short range flamer type attack, and Crack's Call. Crack's Call is an 18" line attack that causes models hit to take an initiative check or be destroyed. I was hoping to get some War Machines with that one - but the range isn't massive.

Ed's Dwarfs drew the Dread Banner which was given to his Clansmen - causing the Unit to now cause fear. He also got the Armour of Fortune which was given to Drong which gave him a 5+ special save and also Van Horstman's Speculum which he equipped to the champion leading his greatsword regiment. The Speculum allows a weilder to swar strength, initiative and toughness with an opponent in a challenge. Useful... but probably not when you're fighting Skaven!

Fangkwole rolls up 3 pieces of Warpstone too. 

Deployment:

The Dwarves Deployed First - Choosing a battle line mostly grouped in the rear corner of the table with the flame cannon, troll slayers, Longbeards and Greatswords and grouped. Past the middle building, Ed deployed the cannon, Thunderers and crossbowmen.His Gyrocopter isn't in these photos as far as I can tell, but was somewhere in the middle well out of sight!

As the Skaven Player, I then had the opportunity to try to think tactically about where to put things. i'd be getting shot on the first turn no matter what, but I wanted to hide the Doom Wheel and the very sensitive Skweegak from that Cannon. I put the Jezzails in place to shoot at the Flame Cannon ... or so I thought. At this point, I think we both realized, I had been a bit over zealous with the terrain and getting a firing resolution on anything was going to be difficult. One thing was clear, the main fighting would be in the corner with Drong and his troops. I put the Storm Vermin up top to deal with the ranged troops and cannon hopefully - and resolved to engage his main force with the Plague Monks and Clanrats and hope that magic and War machines could do the heavy lifting. Ed's army looked large, but the units were low model count and with enough casualties inflicted, the hope was that my ranks and standards would help carry the day. Frenzying plague monks help too, and provided the warlock wasn't shot straight off the top of the Doomwheel I was hoping it would reap a heavy toll. Hopefully on the enemy though, as the last time I used the infernal thing it went out of control and hit my own Clanrat regiment!

Dwarf Turn 1:

In their movement phase, the Dwarf army begins its slow shuffle forward - not leaving their cannons, but adjusting to better positions. The Troll Slayers advance out front ready to take the first charge at some point (as they're unbreakable, they make an excellent fighting tar-pit!). The Thunderers also move to a more advantageous angle.

It's then onto the shooting phase. The crossbows can see the unit of 20 Stormvermin across the table from them and take a very long-distance shot. They do manage to cause one casualty. Eyeing up the unit of plague monks, Ed fires the flame cannon, but despite a good guess, the misfire dice rolls a low 2" and the template falls just short of clipping the plague censer bearers skirmished in front of the unit. Unfortunately for the Skaven, the same is not true of the cannon which blasts a clean line through the unit of plague monks - the cannon ball skips straight through nailing 4 of the pukesome rat-men and one of the rather expensive censer bearers too!

The combat phase is uneventful as charges are well out still. Magic is dealt, but as the Dwarf army has no wizards, it's just an opportunity for Fangkwole to pocket a single power card for his later use, and thus ends Dwarf turn 1!

Skweegak "A meteor... a meteor just hit the plague monks! I knew being in the open sky was dangerous. Can't have been a war machine maim-killing my puss-brothers! The range is too far! - we must send some gutter runners to investigate this event later - it could be warpstone!"

Skaven Turn 1:

Skweegak "Forward - Forward you idiots before another meteor hits us!"... *Skewwgat took cover under his Verminsteed and waited for the deluge to end*

Full speed ahead - the vermintide needed to close quickly. Those war machines are no laughing matter. I marched the plague monks 10" forwards, along with the Clanrats and Stormvermin. The doomwheel rolled up 3D6 for movement and rolled a 9" move - pretty average. I advanced it along with the Clanrats

As the warpfire thrower had moved alongside the Clanrats there was no shooting to be made with it, the Doomwheel was also holding back the warp lightning.At this point, I realised I'd made a terrible mistake deploying my Jezzails. They were supposed to be shooting at the flame cannon, but only 2 could actually see! I hadn't played for about a year and forgot about the way woods are treated as basically being solid! Despite the setback, I fired 2 Jezzails and got 2 hits on the flame cannon - things were looking up. When the hits were randomised, they both came up as hits on the T7 body of the machine. At S5, I needed to roll a 6 to wound. The Jezzails do D3 wounds a piece, so it was still a threat, but sadly they failed to wound it.

No charges were made. One plague censer bearer succumbs to his own fog of death in the combat phase. In the magic phase, Fangkwole rolls up a good number of cards and tries to target the Dwarf force with Crack's Call for 2 power, but Ed has got drain magic and plays the card; ending the phase and stopping any damage from the spell!

Dwarf Turn 2:

With the Skaven closing in, the Dwarf turn is basically all about firepower. The movement phase sees the Gyrocopter jump out of cover to make a bombing run over the top of the Jezzails. The bomb bounces and only clips the unit which causes one wound on one of the teams. The cannon blasts a shot at the plague monks, but on the bounce rolls a misfire straight in front of the unit and the shot falls dead to the ground narrowly missing an eager plague monk right at the front of the unit. The flame cannon is more successful this time and hits the Clanrats head on hitting 6 of the rat warriors and killing 4 of them.The Thunderers also kill another 2 plague monks.

With no combat to be fought, the magic phase slides by. After drain magic was played last turn, Fangkwole manages to store a card, but the Dwarf force can;t do anything in the magic phase and the turn ends. 

Skaven Turn 2:

The Skaven are moving quickly - next turn we'll be in charge range for some units and everyone knows it! The doomwheel moves mother 8" forwards and takes a position alongside the pub. Plague monks and Censer Bearers continue to surge forward along with the Clanrats which try to position just slightly forward to allow the warpfire thrower a shot and Fangkwole a chance to lob some magic. I'm hoping to get Crack's Call in range of the flame cannon! The Stormvermin also advance at a pace; positioning themselves for a charge against the crossbows next turn. 

In the shooting phase, the warpfire thrower fires, but travels a measly 2" and the template falls well short. The Jezails turn on the gyrocopter and open fire. At short range they should decimate it, but someone has been at my dice again! I roll a measly one hit, but it hits the pilot. I roll to wound with a 3+ needed to kill the wretched thing... and roll a 2. Things are looking up in the magic phase, I draw Total Power and fling an unstoppable Crack's Call across the field only to find out I haven't made it to within 18" of the flame cannon! I direct the shot through the slayers and warriors - hitting 2 slayers and 2 warriors, but despite their awful initiative, the Dwarf army's legendary luck carries the day and only 1 warrior is killed. Have I mentioned at this point that they've never lost a game in about 30 years....

Dwarf Turn 3:

The Dwarf army does not move and again opens fire - this time at point blank range. The flame cannon scores a direct hit on the plague monks - scorching a withering 6 models off the field including one of the censer bearers. The crossbows open fire on the Stormvermin again and kill another 2, but it's not enough to force a panic check and the charge is about to be upon them. The Gyrocopter moves alongside the Jezzails and fires the steam cannon - killing one team and causing a panic check. Being Skaven with a leadership value of 5, the cowards flee, and start running away from the fight!

Skaven Turn 3:

Beginning with compulsory movement, I roll to rally the Jezzails, but they don't feel like it and keep running! The Doomwheel rolls a mighty 13 and careens directly into the Slayers! - finally something to get my nibbly teeth into! The Stormvermin at the other end of the table engage the crossbows and lose one model to stand and shoot on the way in.

The plague monks and censer bearers move into position to charge next turn and the Clanrats wheel to give Fangkwole a shot with his magic. In the shooting phase, I unleash the warp lightning from the doom wheel rolling an 8 for strength on the missfire dice. The shots automatically hit the engaged slayers and 2 models are removed. I also fire the warp fire thrower which misses again. 

Fangkwole also moved up on his Verminsteed to support the Plague monks in the coming charge

in the combat phase, the Stormvermin kill 4 crossbowmen and take no casualties in return which causes them to flee. The Stormvermin do not catch them, but with only 2 models remaining, the unit is mostly silenced. A panic check is taken by cannon and thunderers, but they remain steadfast.

The Doomwheel continues it's assault. I roll a mighty 5 for the ram attack hits and add 2 for the scythes... 7 hits, and there are only 8 slayers remaining. I get all 7 hits as woulds (at S7 this is a 2+ roll). One slayer remains, but luckily the warlock engineer rolls 2 hits for his attacks and lands the final wound - destroying the Slayers in one round of combat!

With the Slayers destroyed, panic checks are taken for the Dwarf units within 12". The Flame cannon, Drong's unit and the Clansmen all pass, but the unit of Warriors with greatswords fail and flee a whopping 11" towards the rear edge of the board. Things are finally looking up.

In the magic phase, Fangkwole rolls a measly 3 cards up...and doesn't have any power. I use the ring of Volans to power Crack's call with the hope of finally killing the Flame Cannon. Ed plays his only rune of Spellbreaking and the phase comes to nothing. Leaving us in the interesting position of basically staring down another ton of guns again.

Dwarf Turn 4:

Another turn of shooting. In the compulsory movement phase, both the crossbow men - all 2 of them rally and the greatsword unit rallies as well, but they're way out of the fight and will take turns to get back. The unit of warriors charge the Doomwheel as it can't inflict ram attacks unless it charges which makes it very vulnerable to counter charges! The other units open fire. The flame cannon attempts a shot at point blank range on what is remaining of the plague monks, but the machine finally rolls a misfire and explodes - causing no damage and being removed as a casualty. The gyrocopter moves and uses its steam cannon on the plague monks which kills 2 more monks. The unit at this stage is looking very depleted. The cannon fires grapeshot which kills 2 Stormvermin. The thunderers open fire and hit 3 ore plague monks and fail to wound any of them (as this point I had to pause to remark on the Bulletproof Monks and have resolved to call one of their characters Fat Yun Chou now!).

The only engaged unit is the warriors with the Doomwheel. They manage to cause a wound on the wheel of the Doomwheel and receive a wound in return from the rats. As the warriors have a banner they win the combat by one. Unfortunately for the Doomwheel, the unit is holding the Dread Banner and the Wheel is now "outnumbered by a fear causing enemy" which causes the Doomwheel to automatically flee. It blasts 10" backwards with the Dwarf unit in hot pursuit! 

Skaven Turn 4:

In compulsory movement, the Doom wheel rallies and so do the Jezzails!

Charges are declared and the Plague Censer Bearers smash into the front of the Longbeards. The Stormvermin are left in an odd place alongside the Cannon and have to reform to face it for a charge the next turn. Plague monks shuffle forward facing the Longbeards and the Dwarf General the unit contains trying to stay outside of charge range for the Dwarf unit, but inside their own charge range. Not wanting to get into a real fight, Skweegak is sick of the Gyrocopter. It's outside his charge ark, but he decides to turn around and have a go at the annoying buzzing machine with his brand-new pistol!

In the shooting phase, the Warpfire thrower lands a solid shot on the Longbeards and kills 3 of them. 

Combat phase sees the plague Censer bearers engage the Longbeards. The fog of death claims one Longbeard with another 3 falling beneath their frenzied flails. Longbeards have very good stats in old fantasy, so despite the low numbers they're doing well! With the front rank mostly gone, Drong attacks back with his double handed hammer, but the Horned Rat is with me and despite the 4 attacks he only scores 1 hit and one Censor Bearer is unceremoniously smushed. Despite that, the Skaven win the combat, but the Dwarf force holds fast. 

In the magic phase, Fangkwole rolls up 1 power card and tries pestilent breath, but he's out of range. A bit of a ditch attempt, but things are looking up for the Skaven.

In the shooting phase, Skweegak's pistol hits the Gyrocopter, but it's a hit on the main body and he fails to wound it!

Skweegak: "This pistol must be a broken, this can't be right? The finest engineers of Clan Skryre create better weapons than this - Slave, bring me another and a copious helping of Warpstone Snuff!"

Dwarf Turn 5:

The Dwarf turn opens with another rare Dwarf charge. The Doomwheel is engaged by the Runesmith's Warriors again; keeping the dangerous machine in check. 

The cannon fires on the Stormvermin again, but only manages one casualty., and they are ready to charge the War Machine in the next turn. 

Drong is engaged with the plague Censer Bearers, and after a round of combat manages to personally dispatch the 3 remaining Skaven warriors, but his unit is reduced now down to only 8 models, and he is now open to a charge from the plague monks which are still lined up to charge him on the next turn. 

Combat with the Doomwheel continues, but this turn the Dwarfs are in better shape and manage to put a wound through on the engineer - killing him and a wound on the rats. The Wheel is now running out of control, but as it's locked in combat, it doesn't make a difference. The rats fight back and the warrior unit is slowly damaged by the conflict, but still winning and holding well. Despite losing the combat, without the engineer, the wheel is immune to psychology. 

Skaven Turn 5:

The battle continues. The remaining plague monks including Harpo the Plague priest charge into the fray. The Stormvermmin Charge the Dwarf Cannon and the crew flee, leaving them engaged with the machine. 

Never one to be shy about shooting myself, I fire the warpfire thrower again over Drong's unit which hits and kills another 3 longbeards, and 2 of my own plague monks! I'm sure it was an accident and they meant for the shot to go longer... The Doomwheel also produces Warp lightning uncontrollably, but it's strength 2. It still manages to kill a dwarf though.

Tired of wandering about at the back, Skweegak moves forward and positions to charge the thunderers. 

With the Jezzails rallied, but well out of the fight, they shoot at the remaining 2 crossbowmen and kill one of them. 

In the combat phase, the stormvermin fail to wound the cannon, but I like to think they claim it as their own or scent mark it or something. The real meaty battle is with the plague monks. Drong challenges the plague champion to a duel. The champion hits him twice (already can't kill Drong who has 3 wounds) and gets 2 wounds through, but one is saved by his magic armour. Drong causes 3 wounds in return and Harpo is slain. The plague monks manage to kill a single Longbeard and 2 are killed in return. The plague monks are routed and Drong fails to catch them - so much for hot pursuit!

Dwarf Turn 6:

With everything in the balance, we extended another turn

Drong Charges the Clanrats with his few remaining Longbeards (After this turn it's just him and 2 warriors left!). He issues a challenge which is answered by the Clanrat Champion - who gets pulverized. Another Clanrat is also killed, and the steam cannon on the gyrocopter mercilessly reduces their rank bonus too. Despite the challenges, they manage to cause a little damage and don't flee off the field! The battle with the doomwheel also continues, but is another drawn combat with minor losses on each side.

Skweegak is shot by 4 thunderers, and takes a wound to his Verminsteed. "Damn these meteors...good job I know the correct way of riding a verminsteed - hanging upside down underneath them!"

Skaven Turn 6:

In the final Turn, Skweegak charges gleefully into the Thunderers and kills 3 of them, but they are not routed!

In the final round of combat of the game, Drong issues a challenge which Fangkwole cunningly accepts. He causes a wound on Drong - leaving the general on only 1 wound and then recieves 3 wounds in return killing the Warlock outright.... or so it would seem, but he has a cunning plan....

Unknown to Ed, Fangkwole has been holding onto the Escape Card from the magic deck since about the second turn of the game! He is removed as a casualty and immediately placed back on the field on 1 wound in my deployment zone.

I play out the final magic phase of the game and draw Total Power again! - He's out of range though, and bemoaning a mediocre draw of spells this game, Fangkwole instead elects to use Total Power and Skitterleap together and decides to flee the field with his life intact. Ending the game in a very scenic and Skaveny way! Looks like he lives to fight another day after all!

Post-Game Thoughts

Skweegak stuffed his muzzle into the trumpet-shaped chitter-box of the Farsqueaker and shouted a reply as loudly as his high pitched grating voice would allow:

"Yes Lord, all is proceeding as planned!"

The device rumbled for a few moments and spewed a thick green mucousy discharge inexplicably from the top before a tinnitus-inducing response issued forth from the ear piece.

"...ood ...erk...eegak....."

Skweegak strained to hear. The final words were drowned out by a loud backfire as the machine began to billow a thick black smoke.

"Thank you Lord, now about the thousand warriors I requested?..."

Squeegak implored the machine with his head bowed - the image of the Skryre Lord flickered on the view screen as if impatient and disappeared literally in a  puff of smoke as a small fire broke out in the Farsqueaker's combustion chamber...

Everything was going very well indeed

Well, that about does it for this game - and the write up. I'm tired. Writing this thing up took about 4 hours! What a game though - it was very close in the end, and really if we'd kept going the winner probably would have only had one or two models left in the end. A good old fashioned blood bath. It may be out of style these days, but I still rate 5th Edition as the best edition of the Fantasy Battles Game. The randomness of the war machines and unpredictability is always cinematic, and I rate the Winds of Magic Cards as the best magic system they have ever done. It wasn't showcased as much in this game as the Dwarf army had no wizards, but the interplay can be awesome. The scenic ending with the Escape card is one of those moves that can only be done in 5th, but is always a real nail biter! Tactically, mistakes were made, and especially I was kicking myself for leaving the Jezzails completely out of position at the start, but it worked out OK in the end. I've played Skaven quite a lot, but as the latest releases included new Jezzails, I finally got some and painted them up which has made a great addition to the force!

Part of me does wonder what would have happened if I had used Skitterleap at the end to charge Drong again with Fangkwole and chanced to see if I could get another wound on him at the end of the game! With his double handed weapon, he would strike last, but it would have been a long shot at best.

I did say at one point that the Dwarves had never really been defeated, but at least this one was a draw with the Skaven, and who knows - there could be another installment some time!