Mighty Empires campaign - Kalinor - 1583ic

 

Chaos Launched a late expedition in the season seizing Von Draken along with his retinue of Ogre Mercenaries. See hyper link for that battle.

The Winter of 1582ic was harsh for the Empires of Elves and Chaos both experiencing peasant revolts whilst the Dwarfs had the misfortune of a rebellion.

 The Chaos and Dwarfen empire expanded their army and sent out spies, whilst the Elves built 2 roads and a bridge from their capital west and south west linking it with Forin and Dachen, added 500 points of troops (keep in mind 1 crown = 50pts not 100pts) and also sent out Spies, Assassins, a Saboteur and an Agent.
 The Armies were deployed and the Espionage sent out, with very limited success with Spies, the agent was useless and the elf Saboteur caused 120pts of losses to Chaos by burning down a barracks whilst the Assassin killed a Dwarf General and Runesmith, that's 155 + 90pts!

The First battle of the year was fought between the Dwarves and a local force of Undead lead by a rogue Necromancer in the north west, the 100pts of undead were able to reap 300pts of Dwarves before withering.

The Battle of Grunburg

 The Empire maintained a fortress along the southern coast as a look out against pirates as well as a toehold for further colonisation, this fortress was called Grunburg and was manned by Empire troops. These troops did not have the advanced technology of the Steam tanks, nor the specialised power of Empire Wizards and relied on more mundane and reliable Empire technologies such as Cannon, Crossbow, Knights lance and Handgun. One of the more interesting local designs was the adoption of the War wagon, a nominally Kislev platform it was perfect for Grunburg considering its limited resources.

Nick and I commanded the Empire forces, we decided to alternate taking turns but were unable to give each other advice or direction once the battle began, this was the prove troublesome.

Turn 1 I tried to move the formations around to make sure we had good lines of fire and mutual support between the brigades by got stuck midway through my moves and it was... disgusting to say the least.

Chaos moved forward aggressively, throwing their skeletons forward alongside the Ogre Mercenaries.

Turn 2

Nick threw the right hand infantry brigade into a headlong charge into the Skeletons, whilst I telepathically screamed at him ''WHAT THE F&%# ARE YOU DOING!''. Doing relatively little damage the Brigade was then swiftly counted charged by all the ogres including the Ogre Hero on Rhinox and despite phenomenal rolls was basically annihilated in 1 round of combat.

By the end of turn 2 the Empire was well on its way to its 7 unit breakpoint.

Turn 3

The Empire failed after 2 orders and its lines remained scattered with no clear line of fire for the War Wagon and Cannons.

Chaos Followed up with skeletons wiping the last of the Infantry Brigade, whilst their ogres regrouped and pushed through the central forest only to be driven back by the combined shooting of Hellblaster and Crossbows.

Turn 4

The Empire Managed to charge the knights into the Skeles finally wiping out a whole unit, whilst the Hellblaster and Crossbows unloaded into the Ironguts confusing them and a giant alongside the Chaos warriors. The Empire was precariously close to losing this game sitting on 5 of 7 destroyed units.

Chaos struck!

The Marauders charged home, as did the Ogres. Wiping out the Crossbows, Hellblaster and a unit of handgunners. Being end of turn 4 of the 5 turn game Chaos Achieved victory and took Grunburg.

Campaign Turn 3 - 6

Nick didn't make it so the Elves and Chaos forged ahead, their scouts fighting over a river valley west of Forin with the Elf Reavers securing final control at the end of the year.

A 500 point force of Chaos encountered a Village of Tileans, drawing 50pts to 200pts lost respectively.

The Elves using their road network were able to retreat to their capital turn 6 after scouting the village near Forin and cast 2 spells, the first was call of heroes that allowed them to summon d6x100 troops however they only rolled a 1!, for their second spell they rolled reign of madness and wiped out the Chaos banner that assaulted the Tilean village.

The year closed with a Plague on the Dwarves killing 100points of them, whilst the Elves suffered a Famine meaning their razed settlement couldn't recover and Chaos got a bountiful harvest! 

Final thoughts

I think the road I built really made my opening and closing moves powerful, killing off 500 odd points of Chaos and maintaining the territory west of Forin was really points efficient!

Mighty Empires campaign - Warmaster - Quest to capture Wolfir Von Draken Necromancer of Kalinor

Wolfir Von Draken, busy with his studies didn't spot the encroaching army. Cresting the ridgeline the attacking force came into view and to Von Draken's horror not more than an hours march away, turning to the bog he began to chant the spell of carrying his voice across the land, summoning the host of Ogres that dwelt there paid in coin and meat to guard him against interruption.

 In this Mighty Empires campaign I've included quest missions, to add flavour and make the battles more interesting that aren't a part of the main campaign.

 Outcome, if you win the battle and capture the tower you can allocate Von Draken to any banner where he counts as a wizard but has only 1 spell: Raise dead, any skeletons raised and survive battle are added to the banners roster.

 At the start of each campaign season he also raises d3+2 skeleton warriors for that banner, in battle only he can command them. The additional skeletons don't use baggage, cannot be used to fulfil subsistence and they do not count towards the 500/1500 point min/max of a banner.

Turn 1

The Ogres Moved forward their Scrap launcher and Rhinox Body guards to try and get a shot into the Chaos Knights.

Chaos moved their Hounds around the hill and lined up a turn 2 charge on the Rhinox riders whilst the Infantry block slowly marched through the forest.

Turn 2

The Chaos hounds charge the Rhinox riders and scrap launcher wiping them out in combat, the Ogres counter charge in their turn and end up in the above position.

Turn 3

The Ogres fail their turn and it immediately goes to Chaos, the Chaos infantry charge the Ogre Bulls on the left and after the General, Wizard, his dragon and the Boon of Chaos Spell they overcome the Ogres leaving the Ogre Mercenaries teetering on breaking with only 1 unit left before withdrawing.

Turn 4

The Ogres Pass their first order to swing around to get into a charge, leaving them in the above position. They fail their subsequent order and that's game set and match as the Ogres are forced to withdraw as the Gnoblars inevitably lose the next combat.

Conclusion

Chaos Gains a Necromancer and the remaining Ogres on the field quite a boon for Chaos after lagging behind in the campaign.

Ogre Kingdoms army Showcase

I reused the Goblins from my Orc army as Gnoblars, why buy, print and paint twice? I also used the Giants and Catapult from my Orcs as well.