Mighty Empires campaign - Kalinor 1584ic - Battle of Entromor

 

Elves Rise as the Infrastructure kings! Completing a road from Endenath, through Forin and to the newly constructed castle Arenfel, the ship wrights of the sea elves also laid down 2 more fleets as the Elves vie for Dominance of the Seas after the Chaos Grand Fleet sat at anchor for 2 years. 

The opening magic was powerful! Dwarves went first and cast Storms on the Elf city deep within the Numor mountains, Chaos cast Summon host and generated 100 extra points of chaos troops whilst the Elves cast Withershins on the (Presumably large, I don't really know) chaos garrison on their capital, Withershins means the Banners in that Hex cannot choose where they scout but roll randomly, this was to tie up that Banner for the 3 turns we've played so far so a great boon for the elves. The second spell was Summon host and I brought in 200pts Ethereal troops in the fortress of Darchen.

2 turns passed of not very much happening other than chaos taking some cities along the coast, then the Dwarves marched on Entromor. The Eastern (bottom banner) Dwarf host was unable to find their way through a vicious storm that held up the elves a turn before to the south whilst the Western Dwarf Banner was able to find their way and prepare for a siege, the Elf host was awaiting them! The massive cavalry force with some Elf archers and spearmen as Baggage guards was arrayed for battle.

The Dwarfs made for the central dominating hill whilst the Elves split their cavalry Brigades and sent a third light brigade of reavers forward to skimish with the Handgunners.

The High elf mage cast Havens fire on the Reavers with a Natural 6 - no reroll required.

Scoring 7 hits and zero saves the Handgunners were driven more than 20cm and broke.

The Dwarf warriors pushed forward to charge the Reavers but failed their last roll, ending the dwarf turn. The Reavers then used Initiative to withdraw and the Silverhelms charged forward with Chariots on the flank and ploughed into the disciplined ranks of Dwarfs.

Combat didn't last long, with the Elf Hero Lortheil Rondirlan riding his mighty Scarlet Dragon ahead of the thundering Chariots, and the Elf General leading the charge of the Belrose Knights of Kalinor the combined charge overwhelmed then ran through the Dwarves.

The Silverhelms on the right then charged through to wipe out the cannon settling the battle. 

The Belrose knights of Kalinor

The second half of Year 1584 coming next month.

Update!

The campaign ended, Life got in the way of the Dwarf and Chaos player and I made to call to end it here. Thanks for reading!

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.

Mighty Empires campaign - Kalinor - Starting year of 1582ic

Eroded stone

Mundun-Lok was the Dwarfen lord of Kalinor and his empire is in decline, after years of slow decay and corruption the breaking point came from the west, a great migration of Ogres of the Shear Tooth tribe.
 The subject towns and cities of Men and Elves called for aid but no Dwarfen army crested the ridge to save them, after the first few settlements fell the people of Kalinor turned their backs on their pretending benefactor Grangraf-Lok (Mundun-Loks father), they bargained their own deal or fought their last stand with the Ogres, the back of the migration was broken on the Forks of Forin located adjacent to the Wood Elf city of Forin. Beginning when the Ogres started to forage the edge of the forest, they were struck down by poison arrows fired from beyond the treeline. The Survivors scattered and most were chased down and despatched by Wild Rider patrols but a few survivors returned with a massive force of Bulls, Ironguts, Lead belchers, Rhinox riders and Gnoblars. The Wood Elves allowed the Ogres to cross Forin River and advance within a twigs breadth of the forest before storms of arrows pelted the trespassers, Eternal guard poured forth, War dancers and treekin among them, finally the Wild riders turned the flanks and crushed the army in on itself, the rout turned into a slaughter as the Ogres reached Forin river and floundered. The Shear tooth tribe no longer exists, the survivors broken down into feral roving bands equally mercenary and bandit.
 Mundun-Lok gathered the clans after his broken fathers death and formed the last grand army of the Kalinor Dwarfs, they would reclaim their empire or burn up the last of their kind in the crucible of war.

The Sapphire of Kalinor

 An organised and central Elf kingdom in Kalinor was a relatively recent thing, the Capital Endenath had existed for centuries, established long before the war of the beard it was a victim of that conflict and remained razed until the year 1497ic when a small sleek fleet pulled into Enden bay and unloaded the colonists. Initially trying to establish relations with the then expansive Dwarfen empire their old grudges, corrupted bureaucracies and the stranglehold of Reicheim's trade network and fleet meant any attempt to broker some kind of deal failed before it began. 
 The Elves have come to understand the only way to secure Endenath and dominate trade in the region is to establish their own competing empire, using the resentment and frustration of the people of Kalinor towards the Dwarf they'll carve out their own industrial, agricultural and mining networks in Kalinor.

Chaos Rises

 Voryr spat blood as he slinked away from the champion Garnak the destroyer, Khorne had called him put his hand in the ring to take the Demon sword of Dor-lak and lead the Chaos host but he had failed, rising up from amongst the Norscan race Voryr became a fear pirate of the Seas and to the seas he ran.

 Taking his fleets and remaining loyal followers Voryr has sworn revenge on Garnak once he can raise his own Host of Chaos and through foul sorcery and grand sacrifice become a Demon Prince of Khorne. Quickly overwhelming the Garrison at Altenburg and christening it in blood and Ichor renamed it GhorGul the Keep of a thousand corpses, Voryr now sets out to take his slaves and grow his personal fief before returning to the wastes and killing Garnak.

Returning for another Mighty Empires campaign, Battles and army lists are made up of Warmaster armies whilst naval battles will be auto resolved this time around and we have 3 players!
 The Dwarves (Nick) are located north with the capital Ithra-Glum, I'm playing Elves with their capital at Endenath and Scott is playing as Chaos Located in the south at the capital GhorGul.

 The Elves and Dwarves started with 3400 and 1 fleet, and 3500 points respectively whilst Chaos started with 2400 points but 6 Fleets!

 Chaos had terrible luck finding mostly barren tiles in the regions directly adjacent to their realm, no doubt from centuries of raiding!

 The Dwarfs expanded northward subjugating several villages and cities to their rule, the most significant boon was securing a city midway up the northern river securing a safe crossing point for eastern and western expansion.

 The Elves pushed everywhere at once, the Dwarfs cast a Vortex of Chaos just north of Endenath blocking quick expansion north, instead the armies move into the Numor Mountains and ran into an independent fortress of Skaven, the Elf army of 800points met the 1000pts of Skaven on the field of battle in the first battle of the campaign.

The Battle of Numor

The High Elf army was composed of:

General

Mage

1xArcher

3xSpearmen

1xBolt thrower

1xGiant Eagles

2xChariots

1xBaggage wagon

The Skaven army was composed of:

Grey Seer

Hero

4xClan Rats

4xRat Swarms

2xRat Ogres

Plague Monks

Jezzails

Warp Lightening cannons

2xBaggage wagons

The battle opened with both players deploying in secret, the High Elves got the jump on the Skaven turn 1 by pushing their infantry block into the forest directly in front of them. The Giant Eagles lined up a threatening charge ready for turn 2.

The Skaven Push forward conservatively again but halt within charge distance of the Elves, in the Elf turn the Mage casts a spell that allows the archers to shoot after the Elf general launches a charge at the head of a Speartip of Chariots, with the sound of Wheel scythes vibrating the air several vermin pissed themselves as the white and azure war engines wheeled around the forest and drove home their assault into the front of the Clan rats, at the same time as this the Giant eagles had come to land directly behind the massed columns ready to slaughter any ratmen that fled the archers and Bolt throwers fired their volleys pushing the rat ogres back and disordering as well as pushing the Plague monks out of the supporting position.

The Skaven with a bloody nose attempted to regroup but the shooting had pushed the general and his unit out of command range of their extreme left flank, the plague monks were forced to charge the archers in the forest, closing shots and extremely lucky combat delt 8 wounds whilst the plague monks managed 4, having beaten off the Plague monks the archers regrouped.

The Elves finished off the Skaven this turn, the Archers and Bolt throwers pasted the plague monks whilst the Giant eagles charged and wiped out the Rat Ogres and General in 2 rounds of combat.

The Elves killed 430points including the general for the loss of 55 points.

High elves I painted shortly after fighting the Battle of Numor mountains.

Month 4

The High elves descended from the Numor mountains, the Dwarfs marched out to meet them in the Dur-Tor Valley as they had no subsistence to survive a winter siege, the Dwarfen army was composed of: 

General
Hero
2xWarriors
Thunderers
Cannons
Rangers
Trollslayers

The Elf army was composed of:

General

Mage

1xArcher

3xSpearmen

1xBolt thrower

1xGiant Eagles

2xChariots

3xBaggage wagons

Turn 1

The High Elves deployed and moved their troops up in 2 brigades, one of Chariots and the other of infantry, the big issue I was worried about was the rangers hiding in the wood that were going to be ordered out any turn.

In retrospect I should have probably withdrawn my troops to the ridgeline and dug in, forcing the Dwarves to attack but I've become impetuous in my 30's. My infantry block moved up just outside cannon range whilst my Chariots swung around the Orc totems and lines up for a charge.

Turn 2

My mage ordered the Giant eagles into the intercept position on the Dwarven infantry block after it partially moved onto the hill, the chariots then charged home whilst the infantry moved up and strung out to reduce the effect of cannon fire. The Chariots ended up drawing combat but took a stand of Dwarves with them.

Turn 3

In the Dwarven turn the slayers within 20cm had to charge the Chariots as the single stand of Dwarves lost meant they could see them now, The Dwarven player was also (unsurprisingly - Dwarf Command 10 general) able to swing his other infantry like a door and flank charge the Chariots.

The Slayers were SLAIN to the man by the defending Chariots as they charged however their attacks combined with the flank charge wiped a unit and a bit of the Chariots, being flank charged the chariots couldn't run away like normally would happen with cavalry. The poor Giant Eagles got caught out of position an over 2 turns scattered.

Turn 4

Turn 4 Saw the general get away as well as the chariot, following a charge by the spearmen that caught the Warriors in the flank, the press of bodies meant the warrior unit was largely wiped however the spearmen were caught in their own flank charge by the Dwarf warriors coming from Scattering the Giant Eagles. The High Elf general died alongside his loyal Spearmen and after a small but impressive game of back and forth the High Elf Fled the field.

On the other side of the battlefield the Rangers emerged from the wood and charged a unit of spearmen in the flank only to be repelled!

The Dwarves ended up pursuing the fleeing elves and killed their mage as well as the General, total losses for the Elves were:
2/3 of a chariot unit

Chariot unit

Spearmen

General

Mage

456pts

Dwarven losses were:

1xWarriors

1xTrollslayers

1/3 Warriors

216pts

The final moves of the year were further exploration and absorption of villages and towns into each empire, the Dwarves however came across a powerful city state in the north called Reichheim, it had a standing army of 1500points and 3 Fleets with which to assert its independence, certainly all Empires will despatch agents and diplomats to attain their favour.

 The start of winter and the closing of the year, the Dwarves suffered a plague wiping out a village but luckily not taking a banner with it whilst the Chaos and High Elf Empires suffered Peasant revolts reducing their revenue for the year!

Lets see what 1583ic brings!