Battle Tale: On the Snows of Abercarr, Orcs Vs. Dwarves [Gaming]

Beneath the Blanketed Sky...

Clenching the trim of my thick red robe my captain gifted me, I watched the steam of my breath float toward the grey skies. Perched on a tall hill far above a snowy valley we listened to the distant clanking of metal and chain as the Dwarves of Abercarr mustered from their holds under the mountains, marching towards the battlefield which sat below us. My commander sat ahorse next to me, ever silent and without expression. The darkness of his black hood and robes were all I could see of him, the creaking of his steel gauntlets all I could hear.

My Orcs called him Krudger, as elegant of a name I’ve heard from them, a title they often give to fierce warriors and leaders amongst their ranks. Though the silent and brooding nature of the man like figure hidden beneath his cloth would suggest a deeper history, and a long lost name.

The trumpets began to blare, the drums quaking as the battle was about to begin. My armies were about to take the field for the first time, the christening of a dark horde. From our hill my commanders watched as the first ranks of growling beasts came into the open, and opposing them the shimmering armors of the dwarves which stood to defend their homelands.

They had told me this would be our first target, Abercarr. Win or lose here we would stand no chance to reach the homes of the Ice Kindreds on our campaign if we did not sort the angry and bitter dwarves of Abercarr. So from our place of strength we marched and pillaged our way through the Ardovikian Plain, till we came north near the Bitter Lands. Fumbling with the threads of my red robe I thought of who my Orc captain may have taken this from, it was devoid of rips or blood, was it adorning the body of the dead before it was given to me? I have learned it's best not to think of such things, my master told me to not dwell on the past, it was gone now. Now I am more powerful. The pitiful villages of man which my horde had razed were of no consequence.

The first ranks of my Gore Riders chanted my name atop their wild hogs as they charged like a tide across the snow. Yet I hardly heard them, my eyes fixed on the purple regalia of the dwarves as they marched forward. The color infuriated me, reminding me of that place I came from, and the men who killed my family. They wore purple too, surcoats of violet adorned with the white hawk of the Kingdom which had been my home. All of that was in the past now, I could hear my Master’s voice telling me. But it left me little relief from the anger.

Suddenly a loud bellowing shout like the wind chanting across the mountain filtered over the battlefield, and from the forest the product of dwarven rock magic burst forth on our flank. The orcs called them Stone Golems, but I knew of their true sorcery that was cast by the Stone priests of the Abercarr mountains. The large elementals took to the field to oppose my Gores, while the legions of dwarves challenged my army’s center.

For what seemed like an age the two forces led by my horseback commanders pushed against each other like two great waves. The purple bearded folk were fierce in their resistant to my fanatical Orcs, but even the fear of leadership and the devotion of my beasts could not keep the dwarves fighting for their futile homes back. It was not long before my commander beside me in his usual low whisper informed me that we must leave, and ride to join the remainder of our forces. I implored him to allow me to take the field, wielding my powerful magic which was gifted to me from my master. But his dark hood only shook side to side, it was not yet time for me to join the battles of our army, not yet time for the mortal realms to fear my name.

While the disappointment of defeat in our first battle was enraging, there would be other battles. And for now the Dwarves of Abercarr would bask in their victory, yet be forced to lick their wounds as we marched north along the road. Dwarves were slow after all.

-Trinity

The Battle Report

So this is the first installment of what I will be calling Battle Tales, a series of narrative battle reports that will give a fluff story mixed with a battle report about games I have partaken in that I wish to highlight. The story you see above is about my first game as Orcs against Cody S’s Dwarves of Abercarr. I sort of wanted to keep theme with it being my first battle as orcs so I let that trickle into the story a bit as the leader of this Orc horde assembles her army into a formidable force.

Sadly since this is my first game as Orcs I do not have any of them painted or based as of yet, so therefor the pictures of the game that I was able to take won’t be as nice. Unless you look at Cody’s dwarves which are magnificent.

My 2300 pt list

My list for orc is still under development as I am still trying to figure them out (see my list in image form to the right). I guess since I am coming from being a Brotherhood player that I still can’t break away from having several units of cavalry. The main idea was to have the Ax and Greatax be the

main anvil of my forces while the Gore riders cleaned up the flanks under the cover of the Varangur Horse Raider allies. We played at 2300 points as both Jamie W and Cody are getting ready for Jekyll GT coming up in December.

Deployment seemed to go allot easier than my games as Brotherhood. It felt as if I didn’t have to deploy so carefully as to get the perfect charges but instead I just had to line my Orcs up in formation and proceed forward. Our objective was loot so all I needed to do was push forward and grab tokens. At my center I placed a Ax and Greatax regiment with the goal in mind to move them forward, grab tokens, and pass them back to the horde of Ax behind. It seemed to me that would make the objectives pretty safe. To the right flank Cody had deployed his elementals next to a tower which was impassable terrain, so I set down two regiments of Gores to quickly move and claim to loot token there and then get out of the elementals way. The left flank a regiment of Gores and the Horse Raiders would harass and hopefully grab the token there, but so long as I got the other two all they needed to do was distract the berserker brock riders opposing them there on the left.

First through second turns were just a slow march forward as the dwarves came to meet my horde. Some shooting happened, I believe Cody’s rangers which had vanguarded were in range to put wounds in my units early game along with his sharpshooters. Around the 3rd turn our centers met and my Ax regiment and Giant faced a horde of Ironclad which had made it to the objective first (don’t ask me how the dwarves made it to the obj first, I can’t remember but there must have been a reason). So at this point I'm realizing that Dwarves and Orcs are very much the same style of army, push forward and grind against the enemy. And thus our forces did.

On the right flank one regiment of Gores engaged a horde of earth elementals in hopes of stopping their advancement, while the Krudger fought a greater earth elemental to do the same. All the while the idea was to let the second regiment of Gores grab the objective token and then run off into the snowy sunset. However during the two turns this took place I made a tactical error which Cody in a very sportsman like way pointed out. It was very clear I had missed the fact my gores with the loot token had an available flank charge on his Ironguard which in my haste to get my gores out of dodge missed. Being a nice guy he was going to let me take the flank charge, but since I didn’t see it and I had moved them already I stuck to my mistake in hopes of making a learning experience out of it.

And boy did I learn a lesson. At the center with his horde of Ironclad destroyed and all three loot tokens in my possession (Horse Raiders on the flank did well and grabbed the left token), I was in the perfect position to receive several counter charges and flank charges which caused my orcs to evaporate. Even the war drummer on the right side was not spared as he was crushed by the greater earth elemental who still wore the blood of my krudger on his hands.

In the end my Ax horde which had received the center loot token on the pass back, and my sunset riding gores were both destroyed and their tokens claimed by the enemy, giving Cody the secure win.

Despite a loss it was still super fun and I am quite surprised how close the game was even though it was my first game playing as Orcs. I suppose all that time playing as Brotherhood on hard mode had payed off and I had truly learned some tactical skill that makes a more competitive army like Orcs easier to play.

As my Orc horde retreats from the Dwarves of Abbacarr surely Trinity the sorceress will set her sights on new battles to claim glory in Mantica.

Till next time.

-Fred On Fantasy.