Warhammer 40k Second Edition Battle Report - Necron Raiders Vs Imperial Guard and Space Wolves

 The Battle for Bunker 111

"I can feel them coming! Terrible alien bodies made of metal with hatred towards all life!!" Butch's eyes rolled backwards in their sockets as the company psyker staggered dramatically across the mess hall before his apparent premonition was cut tragically short when a particularly hard cob of Valhallan corn bread bounced off his head.

"Cram it Zandimuus!" Sergeant Cobra growled as he eyed the psyker furiously while reloading his best corn-throwing arm. "One more word and you'll be spending the night in the brig again"

"But...." Zandimuus started, veins still pulsing around his eyes, an edge of desperation to his voice.

"I don't want to hear it - the last time you had a vision of an imminent attack we ended up pulling an all-nighter just because you wanted to try and convince that attractive widow she should spend the night in your tent for safety reasons!"

A raucous outbreak of laughter broke out across the mess hall as the Valhallan 94th sat through another bout of amateur dramatics to accompany a bland meal.

"This time it's really happening... probably" Butch mumbled into his beard as he sat down again sullenly. He picked up a spoon to poke at a still too hot plate of algae protein gumbo.

Colnel Kurn's cybernetic eye clicked as she watched the exchange.  Her enhanced senses detecting just the faintest elecromagnetic residual of psychic activity around Butch's pouting face.

"Double the watch" the almost silent command spoken into her vox bead was communicated instantly to the command center.

Scenario;

Bunker 111 - a remote research station housing a research team dedicated to investigating "the relic" an ancient data storage device said to contain knowledge of the Necron menace... data the Necrons were determined to destroy or even capture for themselves. 

The goal of the game was simple - the Necrons were aiming to defeat the Imperial defenders who were trying to hold the installation - the Bunker entrance to be exact. It was the goal of the Necron force to capture it! It would be worth 6 victory points for the Necrons to capture the Bunker. 

Army Selection:

The imperial forces were allied - split between what was painted of Valhallans and Space Wolves. I'd been working hard to get the Valhallans battle worthy and had around 750 points ready. 600 points of Space Wolves were backing them up. The Necron army was 1350 points in total. 

The Necron Raiders:

Necron Lord - Staff of Light

1 Necron Destroyer

26 Necron Raiders

4 Scarabs

The Valhallan 94th (750pts)

1 Command HQ - Colnel Blazdemona Kurn - power fist, master crafted plasma  pistol, bionic arm , conversion field 

Comm-link, Flamer  

Butch Zandimuus - Champion psyker, Force Rod, bolt pistol                                                                                                                                                          

Infantry squad - Mortar,  Sergeant - Jim Cobra - chainsword and hand flamer, Meltagun 
                                                              

Infantry squad - Missile launcher, Bolt pistol and chainsword, Flamer                                            
                                                            
Leman Russ - storm bolter 

                                                             

Ragnar Blackmane's First Company 

Ragnar Blackmane

5 Blood Claws - 2 power fists, 2 plasma pistols, 3 chainswords, 2 bolt pistols, hand flamer

5 Wolf Guard Terminators, 2 with Lightning Claws, 2 Storm Bolters, heavy flamer, 2 power fists, 1 chain fist. 

A word on rules...

The game was second edition, which I'm still learning, so hopefully rules were followed correctly. It's also worth mentioning the rules for Necrons are very powerful in 2nd and the imperial side would have their work cut out. Every warrior is toughness 5 with a 2+ Save and regeneration  (meaning if they are killed they are knocked down and each turn a dice is rolled and they either die permanently on a 1 or come back on a 6). The Necron scarabs are outrageously hard to kill at T8 with a 2+ Save- meaning they are immune to most ordinary guns entirely. Every Necron also gives off a field with a 6 inch radius that gives a -1 to hit for ranged attacks (this stacks!!) AND 

.....

THEY ARE IMMUNE TO WEAPON STRNGTH BONUSES! - Meaning in hand to hand they get hit by a power fist like you're punching with a normal weapon...

Knowing all that... maybe Butch's premonition of doom would be all too accurate...

Deployment: 

An elecrical disturbance lit the sky as Necrons phased into the forested area East of Bunker 111. Terminators and Blood Claws Deployed from the Bunker to accompany Ragnar (His banners can be seen flying just behind the Bunker entrance)

A unit of Valhallans manned the landing pad with missile launcher deployed up top with a good line of fire and in cover. The Russ, Blazdemona's command squad one the other Infantry squad deployed in cover further to the flank - hoping to hold the line against the terrifying alien menace. 

The Necron line with the destroyer seen at the far end just past the golden Necron Lord.

Pre game draws and Bombardment

Before the Necrons automatically took the first turn (because when  you play Necrons the only thing you don't get is loaded dice...), the Imperial guard began a preliminary bombardment. With only the one heavy vehicle in attendance Colnel Blazdemona Kurn was able to provide coordinates for one 2 inch blast. The strength 8 shot had to be aimed at the closest unit of warriors she could see - this time it was a unit of warriors in the centre. 

Taking careful aim, she called the shot - with a direct hit from the blast hitting 3 warriors and blasting two of them to the ground - down, but not necessarily out... 

Slightly before the bombardment had occurred, Butch pulled 2 psychic powers - getting the very apt Machine curse (a debilitating remians in play template that could disable "robots" which we agreed would work on Necrons) and The Carmine Assassin - a force 1 card that would instantly kill a model in 18 inches if it failed a toughness check (these guys are T5, but at least every Necron casualty was worth a good deal to the imperial side...

Ragnar sharpened his foot Claws in preparation for battle... and also played a strategy card, delaying one of the Necron units so it would have to be deployed from the rear of the table on Necron Turn 1. 

Necron Turn 1

Striding forwards with glowing red eyes, the Necrons scanned for life... and found it. Despite the bombardment knocking 2 down earlier, one was immediately back on its feet... the other phased out of reality defeated. 

The Destroyer sped forwards towards the terminators and the Gauss Cannon thrummed to life as it took aim at the exposed terminators - the skimmer was easily in range as it moved silently over the hilly terrain. 

The Necrons advanced squad by squad, with their delayed squad entering the field and running to try to get in the fight. In the centre, a unit of 5 warriors took aim at the Valhallan squad on the pad and to my horror got 2 hits despite their hard cover. Luckily, their coats appeared to be gauss flayer resistant as the shots failed to wound with a double 2 being rolled. 

The gauss cannon also hit the terminators, but failed to penetrate the relic armour. 

The psychic phase began and ended. Butch was out of 18 inches, but pocketed a force card into his rod for later use. With no psykers in attendance for the Necron side, their turn came to an end. 

Imperial Turn 1:

The comm link fired up - and I rolled for EM interference... rolling a 6. This was the number that would have to be rolled each turn to pull supporting fire, and critically there would only be further bombardments on the roll of a 6. Not a great start, but fitting given the disruption fields in effect from the Necron Raiders. A jam symbol was used for the photo to represent just how bad the signal was - we can assume that rather than  reaching fire support, he had a Pizza place on the line ...

The squad on the flank moved up - taking cover in the ruins and splitting from the mortar team. This squad contained the melta gun. It was getting g dangerously close to the scarabs already, which had flown in close on the Necron Turn, all too likely to disrupt vehicles and shooting soon. 

The terminators advanced past the Bunker on the other flank and opened up with their heavy flamer towards the Destroyer. Despite a good set of hits, the weapon failed to wound the pilot and did not have the penetration to be able to damage the machine itself. 

Dripping with burning promethium, the raider was lit up like a Christmas tree and ripe for rhe picking. Taking aim from the landing pad, a krak missile streaked out from the valhallan position and collided with the body of the machine. It easily penetrated the armour and the machine crashed to the ground and exploded. Despite the damage wrought to the machine, the Necron pilot strided from the flames unharmed.

The Leman Russ opened fire alongside the mortar and flank squad. The mortar misfired and achieved nothing. The melta hit, and wounded, but the scarab he was firing at saved on a 6! Shots blazed out of the russ. The lascannon missed a second scarab, but the battle cannon felled another warrior. The heavy bolters took another warrior down, but both sponsons jammed and would not be able to fire next turn. 

In the psychic phase, Butch attempted machine curse on a group of Necrons, but it was dispelled, he attempted Carmine Assassin, but the power needed a 5+ to kill and the Necron he targeted passed his test.

Overall, it was a successful turn, but the scarabs were getting closer and would be hard to deal with once their negative shooting modifiers came into effect. 

Necron Turn 2: 

One warrior in the mid field stood up and advanced with the force. Scarabs descended on both the terminators and the Leman Russ with a further scarab appearing on the landing pad. It was enough that the Russ would have -2 to hit next turn and they were headed for the tank's armour to reduce its strength further.

Necron warriors opened fire on the landing pad - killing 3 of the valhallans and forcing a a morale check which the unit passed. 

In the upper edge of the field, Necrons crossed the jungle and emerged ready to make a rush towards the Bunker. 

The psychic phase passed without incident, much to the mechanical joy of the Necron Lord. 

Imperial Turn 2:

"Flame units on the line!" The Colnel's order was clear. Only a fool - even a machine approached an entrenched Valhallan position. Ragnar howled with fury - trippling rhe charge range of the Space Wolves. Declaring a charge from the terminators, the Space Wolves bound forward just far enough to engage the Necrons peacemeal in front of the Bunker.

Ragnar charged a scarab - a more difficult situation than you might expect.as at S5 he would need 6s to wound...

Flamers surrounded the scarabs. Jim Cobra's hand flamer and a flamer from the command squad breathed promethium over the scarabs assaulting the Russ while a further flamer on the pad lit up the remaining scarab. Despite being unable to harm the steely bodies of the scarabs, all 3 were set ablaze and without help or a bit of luck, would lose control and move randomly the following turn! 

(I really need some counters, but red dice were used to show flaming robo bugs...)

The terminators charge into the Necrons and 2 reach the Necron lines and combat begins. With swirling lighting Claws, one warrior is cut down, but a lucky blow sees the terminator with the heavy flamer laid low when he rolls a double 1 for his save. Ragnar overcomes the scarab after scoring 7 hits on it and managing a 6 to wound which sneaks through the armour save. 

Necron Turn 3:

After a near death experience, the scarab Ragnar just killed gets up and starts fighting again! In the Necron combat phase, he fails to kill it despite scoring 8 hits! Tough little bugs! 

Flaming scarabs scatter randomly, but one near the command squad goes out while warriors continue to rise again. The march in the centre field continues. Necron warriors open up on the entrenched unit on the landing pad and kill another 2 guardsmen. This time they roll an 11 for their leadership test and decide to hide in cover - effectively taking them out of the action. 

In the psychic phase, Butch draws enough power to enact a machine curse on the Necros in the centre field - pinning a unit in place and preventing them from moving or shooting until his hold on them could be broken. 

Necrons begin a slow march towards the objective, realising they only have a few more turns to secure their objective!

Imperial Turn 3:

Terminators rush into combat and Colnel Blazdemona charges into the newly not-on-fire scarab next to her command squad. The squad in the ruins reposition further forward and begin to pump shots into the oncoming Necrons. Having cleared its jams, the Leman Russ provides covering fire for the guardsmen and blasts 2 necrons  to smithereens with its battle cannon.  

Combined fire chips away a few Necrons, with one falling to a lucky lasgun shot. The mortar continues to do nothing.

Combats are fought with Blazdemona killing the scarab she is engaged with - all thanks to the additional strength provided by her bionic arm. Ragnar fights another unsuccessful round of combat and despite inflicting another 8 hits, the scarab passes its armour save against Frostfang. In combat, the terminators begin to reap a heavy toll - wading through the Necrons and cutting them down.

In the psychic phase, Butch attempts to cast a power, but is thwarted by a sudden daemonic incursion - he rolls a check and gets a 1... and is summarily pulled into the warp and is removed from the table! His machine curse remains in play, but the psychic advantage is well and truly over! 

Necron Turn 4:

The Necrons in the centre begin a run towards the Bunker, avoiding fire from the hiding squad on the landing pad and making straight for their objective. The scarab that was just killed by Blazdemona gets up again... but she kills it again  in the combat phase. There is some solace for the imperial side when one of the burning scarabs flies off the field never to be seen again!

Somewhere in the swirling melee, a terminator with a chain fist gets a monstrous 7 wounds on a Necron who was recently resurrected... all on 5s by some odd twist of fate and the Necron is downed and we can only assume carved into tiny bits by the hulking Wolf Guard... perhaps foaming with rage at the loss of his battle brother with the flamer!

Combat rages, with the Necron Lord suffering 2 wounds in combat with a terminator with lighting Claws, with his relatively low weapon skill, the Necron Lord appears to be on the back foot despite his toughness.

In the psychic phase, the necrons continue to fail to get rid of the machine curse which at this point is trapping about 200 points of essential reinforcements - Butch laughs somewhere in the warp as he struggles with his daemonic adversary as his final gift is given to the valhallan commander when the necrons pull no nullify cards while the imperial side gets 4 for some reason that can only mean the Emperor's blessing is upon them.

Imperial Turn 4:

Hold the landing pad! The squad in hiding have passed their morale check and re back in the fight. Blood Claws break from cover and move to engage the advancing Necrons before they reach the Bunker.they fire plasma pistols at the Necrons, bit the weapons ping harmlessly off the armoured bodies of the aliens.

Everything with a gun opens up and Necrons in the center field are downed again - they're still hard to stop though! Necrons fall to a crack missile, master crafted plasma pistol rounds, a lasgun and the fire from the russ, but as they won't break it hardly seems to slow them down!

The Necron Lord fights on in combat, this turn inflicting 2 hits on his adversary with his Staff of Light, but they fail to penetrate the tactical dreadnought armour of the Wolf Guard. Ragnar kicks the scarab to death finally and takes its head as a hard won trophy! 

 Necron and Imperial Turns 5 (Final Turn):

Fearing the Bunker is almost unreachable even if the game goes to 6 turns, the Necron Warriors advance again, but are charged by the Blood Claws in the Imperial Turn. Necron shooting claims the lives of another pair of guardsmen.

In the combat phase on the Imperial Turn, the Blood Claws battle fiercely. The Necron Lord is finally brought down by the terminators, who by this point have ganged up on him, although he does manage to kill the Wolf Guard with the chain fist on his turn before he's brought down. 

In the Necron psychic phase, they do manage to finally nullify the cursed machine curse, bit the unit is well out of the fight by that stage.

Howling with glee, Ragnar claims the Bunker for himself - planting his dual flags in the plating firmly. Guardsmen and Necrons continue to exchange shots on the landing zone. Throughout the game the comm link has failed to establish communication even with 2 turns where it has rolled a 5... characterful, but frustrating! 

With the Necrons unable to take the Bunker and with the Necron Lord slain, the game ended with an imperial victory... but who could say when the menace of the necron Raiders might return! 

Post game thoughts...

Well, that took a long time to write up. I hope someone will read it. I've been enjoying trying to use better lighting to get photos for these battle reports lately. It was a real push to get the Valhallans in fighting order for the game - with me finishing a squad of 10, Butch and the mortar all in the last week to get them in the game. The Necron army has been a project my brother Ed has been working on alongside his Space Wolves (Berserkerblade blog), with the necron army being painted entirely in the last 2 or so weeks. This was our attempt at a fairer version of the classic Sanctuary 101 style battle, but set out to be more even and fun as a knock-around game, especially as we are learning the 2nd edition rules.

Playing against the Necrons we both felt they were a really scenic characterful force - a bit like battling zombies, they just keep coming. We intentionally limited the number of scarabs as at toughness 8, with the ability to fly and generating a -1 to hit field, they do appear to be one of the most broken things in the game. They are vulnerable really only to anti-tank fire and to strength 5 and above - making them incredibly hard to kill. Still, setting them on fire seemed to work well. I didn't take many notes for this battle, so some of the report may be a little muddled here and there, but hopefully will make for a fun read. This battle was fought on Easter Sunday 2026 - and written up in the evening. Maybe there will be a part 2 in the coming weeks as more Necrons roll out and hopefully a few more imperial reinforcements arrive too!

Battle for the East Gate - Warhammer fantasy 5th Edition Battle Report, Dwarves vs Orcs and Goblins

 The Battle for the East Gate

A Battle in the making since the early 90s. Most people will be unaware, but the Battle for the East Gate is a scenario that comes straight from the old 4th Edition Warhammer Armies Dwarves book (there was no Armies Book change for 5th). It pits Skarsnik - the traditionally cunning night goblin warlord, against the Dwarf brothers King Belegar and Duregar. Essentially, the goal of the Dwarf force is to survive an ambush and hopefully to break through the enemy occupied East Gate and escape towards Karak Eight Peaks. As the scenario progresses, both forces rely upon significant reinforcements. The orc and goblin force is split into 4 sections with one ambush group arriv8ng from the direction of Death Pass (opposite the gate and behind Dwarf forces) automatically on Orc and Goblin Turn 1. The other two forces of reinforcements would need to he rolled for. Similarly a sizeable chunk of the Dwarf force would arrive with King Belegar Alan undetermined time and from a random direction.  

The forces: 

A tabulated view of the forces is added below - Duregar's force would start on the field facing the gate directly facing Skarsnik's West force. The East force would arrive on Golin turn 1 automatically.

To do true honour to the scenario, we followed the official map as closely as possible for the layout of the battlefield. It was dominated by a pair of cliffs thay sandwiched the East Gate wall - creating a bottleneck that would form the perfect t ambush site for the beleaguered stunties.... in theory anyway.

Deployment:

Skarsnik brought his best units... in theory. Trolls, stone trolls to be exact - they were sure to put the wind up the Dwarves. Backing them up was a suitably inebriated band of the rowdiest Savage Orcs this side of Black Fire Pass and the biggest stone thrower too. Things were looking good.

Framed by the inpe impenetrable wall Skarsnik congratulated himself on another cunning plan. 

Meanwhile, the Dwarf force of Duregar consisted of a unit of elite Iron Breakers headed by Duregar (far right) l. A mob of Slayers would hold the centre with the Runesmith heading up a unit of warriors.As they were caught unawares, the Dwarf force had no access to war machines and was going to have to do its best to fight through the old fashioned way!

Skarsnik brought a chequered blade - hoping to confuse and hypnotise the stunties in a dazzling display that would last long enough for Gobbla to deal with his opponents for him. 

Spells were dealt. The level 1 Night Goblin Shaman got Brain Burstar, and the Savage Orc Shaman apparently blessed by Mork pulled "Mork Save Us" and "Mork Wants Ya!". The Savage Orc would start on the field. 

Dwarf Turn 1

With little in the way of tactical options, the Dwarves spotted the oncoming goblin horde and surged forward a mighty 6 inches. They may not be quick, but they would prove hard to shift. Battle lines got closer, but the Dwarves knew they were unlikely to manage to get a charge off - with the trolls moving at double their speed. The slayers would prove a suitable roadblock as they are immune to psychology and would no break regardless of casualties. 

With no shooting, and feeling an intense desire to move away from the encircling forces Dwarf scouts had spotted to the rear, the turn rolled on with no shooting. 

In the magic phase, the Dwarves were dealt cards, but did not have any spell casters. The Savage orc shaman pocketed a rather useful card from the deal....

Orc Turn 1:

Stifling a snort of amusement, Skarsnik watched the first of his reinforcements arrive on the battlefield from the direction of Death Pass. The East force consisting of 5 Savage Orc Boar Boys, 30 Goblin spearman, 5 orc archers and a block of 20 orcs arrived behind the Dwarf lines. It would take them a turn or two to close the gap, and they had already moved onto the field this turn so could not move any further. 

The orc unit tested for animosity, and the Savage orcs failed - apparently already anticipating a slaughter, the unit  broke out in a spectacular bout of bickering over who got first choice of Dwarf-beards to make underpants out of, and failing to do much of anything else. The Trolls - known as the Zug Zug brothers (whose names are all "Zug") somehow got over the confusion  of following orders when you all have the same name and moved forwards just enough to be able to charge on their next turn, but still wellout of reach of the Dwarf unit. 

With little else to do, the archers fired 5 shots. Needing 6s it was predictably ineffective, bit the Dwarves were feeling suitably harried. 

In the shooting phase the rock lobber lined up a perfect guess range that would be devastating, but apparently it wasn't to be and a miss Fire thankfully saved the Dwarves from certain splattercation. The missfire only cost them a turn of firing though. The magic phase passed uneventfully as the Savage orc shaman Zambo Zagzog had become embroiled in discussion over the best way to weave the Dwarf beard underpants apparently he had won the right to have first. 

Dwarf Turn 2

After a close call from the rock lobber and having avoided a near certain catastrophe in the magic phase things were looking oddly good for Duregar. They made for the gate at full speed - positioning the troll slayers and warriors ahead of most of the force hopefully to take the first charge. 

A roll was made for reinforcement from King Belegar, but they needed a 6 and predictably he didnt arrive. 

A distant bonking of atonal trumpeting signalled the fact that in about 2 turns the Dwarves could expect a rear charge from the boar boys. 

The game would run for 7 turns, enough time to break through, but they needed to get moving. 

Orc Turn 2

Charges, charges and well, more animosity. No further reinforcements for Skarsnik this turn. Shockingly, the orcs managed to pass their animosity this turn and charges were declared. The Zug brothers (trolls) had a good line to the Iron Breakers and Duregar and charges into combat. 12 inches was plenty to see the gangly idiots plough straight through into the Iron Breakers. 

Now, the intelligent thing for the Savage orcs would have been to hold back another turn and wait for a rear charge from the East force. Unfortunately as they were frenzied and itching for fresh pants they piled in too in a wailing mess of swinging clubs and untreated pelts. 

In the movement phase, the orcs from the East force moved up, with the boar boys clearly lining up for a charge on their next turn and the other units trailing slightly further behind. The archers were out of range, so shifted forwards as well. 

The rock lobber fired again, but the shot scattered wide from the slayers a whopping 10 inches and struck the side of the tower it was supposed to be using as cover. Good work team... 

With no more funny business, it was time for some serious beatdowns. The Trolls made their attacks. With 9 strength 5 swings, they got 4 hits and 3 wounds. The Iron Breakers have a 3+ Save, but this was reduced to a 5. One still managed to make his Save. The Iron Breakers struck back, but didn't manage anything. Luckily they brought Duergar with them who spanked 3 mighty wounds onto the trolls. At the end of the round, it would have been enough to kill one, but they regenerated and ib the end suffered 2 wounds. Unfortunately for the trolls, with the remaining rank and standard, it was enough to break them. Being dumber than a bucket of rocks, the Zug brothers quickly gor confused over which way to run and their 2D6 inch flee move got them 4 inches. Not far enough - Duregar's unit over ran them and they were removed as casualties! 

Figuring the frenzied Orcs would do better, they laid into the clansman with abandon. Savage Orc Big Boss Running Bottom swung 6 frenzied attacks resulting in two wounds. One was saved. The other boys and Zagzog inflicted an impressive 3 further wounds, but shockingly, the Dwarf unit continued to make a combination of crappy 5 up saves and despite their frenzy, only one more Dwarf was brought low. 

In the back attack, three Savage orcs were killed! - it was mostly the rune priest, but it was enough to win the combat. The Savage orcs passed a break check, but they had lost their frenzy, and some were beginning to doubt they'd have snug warm underpants this winter. It was a harsh day for Orc kind. 

In the magic phase, Zagzog decided he had enough of Duregar and cast Mork Wants Yer! With total power. Helpless Duregar was plucked from the Iron Breaker unit by a huge green hand and was left in effectually floating above the battlefield - unable to break free and helpless to watch the carnage unfold far below...


Dwarf Turn 3: 

Having won both combats to the front in the last turn and sensing danger to the rear, the slayers reform their unit to make a full 180 degree turn and face backwards - ready for the inevitable boar boys charge. The Iron Breakers elect to remain where they are and do not abandon the floating Duregar as he drifts past in mid-air.  

In the c9mbat phase, the Dwarves push forwards against the Savage orcs, confident in another victory - only to suffer two casualties and lose the combat. They hold firm and do not flee, but their rank bonus is getting increasingly more tenuous.

In the magic phase, the Dwarves try for a dispel, but fail. Leaving their leader stranded for another turn as he is effectively removed from the fight until they can somehow bring him back to earth. 

Orc Turn 3:

More reinforcements.. .. and animosity....

The boar boys fail their animosity. Potentially a good thing. These Savage orcs sure do like squabbling, and the confusion stops them charging the slayers. It's not necessarily a bad th8ng as delaying the Dwarves making it to the gate is an advantage and there still facing the wrong way. 

The North force arrives which consists of a night goblin unit with spears abd a unit of squig herders. The night Goblins also include a night gobl8n Shaman. 

The rock lobber finally rolls a nice hit after a good guess. The troll slayers take a respectable 4 hits but i roll up 2 1s to wound and only two of the orange haired Dwarves are squished. 

In the magic phase,  my spell is still in effect holding Duregar in place and the newly arrived goblin shaman doesn't have lign of sight for his Brain Bursta to be used. Skarsnik  fried an Iron Breaker with his Prodda. A rune of Spell breaking is used to finally bring Duregar back to earth and the waiting unit of iron breakers below.

Dwarf Turn 4:

The Dwarfs fail another roll for reinforcements. It was about 50/50 this turn, but they are beginning to look a little outnumbered. The Iron Breakers wheel towards rhe gate for a possible flank charge on the Savage orcs. 

In the combat phase, the runesmith challenges Big Boss Running Bottom and the combat continues. It's a good choice as the runesmith is T5 and has a double handed weapon which will be hard for Boss Running to Hurt at S4. Despite the seeming advantage, the runesmith takes one wound to nil and the units Duke it out and the Dwarves suffer another wound. A leadership check is taken again and rolling up an 11 the Dwarves finally break and flee with the Savage orcs in hot pursuit. 

Nothing happens in the magic phase, but heading into orc turn 4 it's all to play for. 

Orc Turn 4:

The final set of reinforcements ride in from the West! Wolf riders and night goblin archers move into the canyon ready to get stuck in. Animosity kicks in again and for a second turn the boar boys fail and keep squabbling, apparently distracted by the slow advance of the slayers. The Dwarf army is now very heavily outnumbered on all sides. 

The Savage orcs declare a charge on the fleeing clansman in an attempt to overrun them. Due to the slowness of the boars, the orc warriors overtake them and head in the direction of the slayers.  

The fleeing dwarf clansmen fail to escape the Savage orcs and are cut down 8n the middle field. 

In the shooting phase, the night Goblins need 6s to hit and fail to injure the heavily armoured Iron Breakers. The stone thrower cranks up another spicy missfire and throws a dud - missing a turn, but at least it hasn't exploded. 

In the magic phase, Zagzog fires off that same spell again and with a failed dispel attempt Duregar goes back in in the sky for another cosmic wedgie from the greenskin gods. Skarsnik fires the prodda aga8n, but fails to wound. 

With only two units of Dwarves remaining, things were looking hairy... and not just because of all the beards....

Dwarf Turn 5:

Reinforcements! Gloriously late to the battle and with a chance to appear at a random table.edge, the force of Belegar bursts forth from the ancient tombs and from hidden caves on the cliff face just behind the wolf riders. 

Thunderes and crossbowmen man the cliffs at the edge of the canyon and prepare to loose a volley into the back of the wold riders. 

A further 10 thunderers and Belegar with his Long Beards appear on the other side of the grave site behind the advancing units of orcs and Goblins. 

Bugman's Rangers dig in and prepare to fire down on the exposed greenskins. 

In the shooting phase, the Dwarves open up. The Bugmen snipe a straggling boar boy and reduce the number of the deadly frenzied warriors to 4.

Withering fire rains fown on the wolf riders. Immediately after with the thunderes and crossbowmen on the cliffs killing four of them in a withering volley that forces the wolf riders to take a break check. They pass the test, but the shoe is being shoved onto the other foot quite resoundingly. 

To give the orcs some solace, and much to Belegar's chagrin, Duregar is still floating around the sky with no sign of coming down after another failed dispel attempt. 

"Oi put me down yer bloody git!" - this one is going in the Book of Grudges for sure...

Orc Turn 5 - the turn where it all went wrong...

Yes - that photo really is what it looks like. Apparently in the confusion of the Dwarf ambush, animosity runs riot through the Orc force. Both units of Savage Orcs fail and the bowmen fail too. Chief Running Bottom decides to argue over beard-based itching again and freezes up. Possibly mystified by this, the archers do nothing. The boar boys however, perhaps mistaking the crossbow bolt that killed one of them for something thrown from the nearby orc unit decide to charge! - straight into the flank!

Attacks are struck... 8 attacks from the riders, 4 from the boars, but almost miraculously almost no orcs are killed. One orc warrior is gored to death by a boar, but Skarsnik sighs in relief as the units hold together. Despite the lack of casualties, the units are way out of position and will clearly be charged by the slayers next turn...

With little else to do to protect themselves, the goblin spearmen re-form to face the rear anticipating a charge from Bellegar. The wold riders make their way to the gate and other units continue to advance slowly. 

An expert guess from the stone thrower sees the template square on the Iron Breakers, but the shot scatters 4 inches and lands short. The magic phase sees an attempted ead-banger that is dispelled. 

Dwarf Turn 6:

The troll slayers charge and begin hacking away chunks of the orc unit.the side charge allows them to catch both the animosity ridden boar boys - who at this stage are caught 3 turns I to failed animosity checks. The giant slayer engages the boars and the other slayers lay into the orc unit. To make matters worse, the 5 rangers charge out of their cover and slam I to the flank of the orcs. In 5th, this negates their rank bonus, leaving the orcs horribly vulnerable. 

The orcs kill two slayers, but between the slayers and the double handed axes of the rangers, they take 4 casualties and without their ranks to protect them they lose the combat by a horr8ble margin. The boar boys also run, and the Dwarf unit catch both of them due to some horribly slow running from the orcs. Apparently they tied their shoelaces together before the battle or something because this is just getting silly - turbo charged Dwarfs! 

 

King Belegar sizes the moment and a combined charge of thunderes and longbeards hit the goblin block. There are 30 Goblins, but Belegar's runic axe doesn't seem to care and he lands a total of 5 hits which translate to 5 wounds. The thunderers and longbeards manage another 5 wounds, decimating the unit and the goblins break only to be run down yet again. The bloodbath is real this turn.

Somewhere else on the battlefield the crossbowmen continue to shoot at the wolf riders and the thunderes on the cliff turn and start a descent to head over the wall and beyond the gate - planning to score a point for passing into the far part of the field. 

Orc Turn 6:

After berating the boar boys that I'd painted up specifically for this historic occasion, I consoled myself by giving the levitation Duergar a good shake... in theory...

The pictures are slightly out of order for this one. In the movement phase, the goblin archers rear charged the expensive unit of Iron Breakers who were being encircled by the remaining wolves. While they were doing this, the second unit of night Goblins continued advancing while orc bowmen loosed a volley and the Savage orcs reformed and faced the slayers - creating a new offensive line ready for one last push in the final turn. 

The horror of the night goblin assault was real as they rear charged the Iron Breakers. So real in fact that although the goblins did no damage, the haken Iron Breakers fled due to having no rank bonus from being rear-charged and they were overrun by the night Goblins and destroyed. Thankfully the Dwarf leader Duregar was in the air at the time and out of the combat still which actually saved his life. 

Shooting saw a direct hit from the stone thrower on one very unlucky thunderer who was splatted flat like so many before him.

In the magic phase, Brain Bursta was used with total power to try to kill the orc lord, but to no avail as his toughness (like his body...) was simply too high to be defeated. 

Dwarf Turn 7 (Final turn)

The dwarf units re-formed again to face the approaching orcs and goblins at the front of the graveyard. A volley from the crossbowmen on the cliff killed another two wolf riders, while a volley from the thunderes who had been engaged in support of Belegar the previous turn cut down a pair of Savage orcs.

On the other side of the map, 5 thunderers discretely snuck over the cliff and onto the other side of the gate.

Orc Turn 7 (Final Final Turn):

Wondering just what Skarsnik had been up to all battle, bur equally glad to not be suffering with animosity or from loss of their warlord, the Orcs charged again. It just seemed like the orcy thing to do. The night goblin spearmen advanced as well and released a wave of fanatics. Two fell short, but the third inflicted 6 S5 hits on the rangers and the unit was wiped off the field in one hit. 

Combat with Big Boss Running Bottom and the slayers was somewhat less successful for the orcs and they were beaten resoundingly- and wiped off the field. So much got those dwarf beard underpants they wanted! 

In the final shooting phase the st9ne thrower lobbed wide and detonated on the side of the graveyard. The magic phase saw Duergar continue to be held in the sky by Mork, basically where he'd been for about 5 turns of the game. Brainbusta was used again, but to no effect again and the game drew to a close. 

Post game Thoughts:

A marginal Dwarf victory in the end with just slightly more scenario points going to the Dwarf force. The Orcs actually did quite well at a number of points in the game, but rolled horribly for their fleeing moves and I think they were caught every single time they ran throughout the whole game. That said, two Dwarf units perished the same way, and that included the elite Iron Breakers. A really good hit from the Stone Thrower could have honestly swung the whole game. Despite quite a low body count, in other games it has been devastating. There was also another point where the Dwarf reinforcements arrived and actually drew the fanatics from the goblin archer unit straight I to the graveyard wall which killed them instantly. It could have gone a different way at any on a number of points. 

In true 90s Warhammer fashion, we ruminate on the results and many more things over a game on the PS1 Classic RC Stunt Copter.... delightful...