Strangely, the sight brought a smile to Volker's face. He relished the chance to fight with Tzeentch, or at least Tzeentch's minions, directly. The Brettionians who accompanied him also welcomed the oppertunity.
Surveying the goblin army, Volker was quite surprised at its make-up, given what he knew of the Orc and Goblin leaders in the area. Obviously, the Orc and Goblins forced did not want to be here, but were compelled to do so by the will of Tzeentch. The Savage Orcs and their wild boars had been the easiest to convince, as they were always willing to fight. The goblins and night goblins, with spears and bows respectively, lacked the will to resist for long, and fell into THE CAUSE so completely that they even dragged along one of their chariots, a couple of squig hunters with three squigs and a snotling pump wagon. At first, the Black Orcs and their warlord Grank, the wyvern tamer, had resisted, but deep within their genetic makeup was something that predisposed them to be slaves (something which the Chaos Dwarves may one day remember?) and eventually they to fell in with Tzeentch's cause. A lone Troll followed along in hopes of an easy meal, he especially liked Halfling [Basically he used every Orc and Goblin model he had, so to make up points had high level characters, and had to use Black Orcs instead of normal Orcs, etc.)
Despite the speed of their march, Volker's forces arrived just in time, for as they entered the village, the Orcs and Daemons were planning to attack. (The village consisted of 3 houses, two nearer the Orcs and Goblins [one in each quadrent], and one nearer the Empire [in the right hand quadrant from my point of view], a village blessing pole in the centre, and a recently completed pig farm [my first piece of terrain, which looks quite good if I do say so myself] towards the left side of the Empire lines. The lack of hills severely hampered Volker's missile troops as the struggled to see any targets through their own forces and the various buildings. Noticing that the Orcs had deployed with most of their force in the east (left side from my POV), Volker did the same to compensate, hoping his Brett ally would follow suit and their combine cav. could smash apart the enemy's line. It was not to be however, as the Brett commander decided to attack the daemons and so deployed his heavy cav. on the opposite flank. [Orc deployment from left to right was Savage Orc Boar Boyz, Night Goblin archers (with 4 lvl shaman, plus other characters and 3 boring fanatics), Black Orcs (with Black Orc BSB) [behind a house], Troll, Squigs, Goblin Spears behind the squigs (lvl 2 shaman), and finally the pump wagon, just past the middle of the field, the wolf chaiottr on the far right flank and General on a wyvern behind the Troll. The Daemon Prince and Pink Horrors (controlled by a Japanese friend playing his third game) deployed behind the pump wagon.
Volker's forces deployed with the three units of Horse Archers spread evenly across the battle line (one on each flank and one in the middle), on the left, the Winged Lancers were behind the horse archers, while the Knights of the Realm deployed in a similar position on the opposite flank. Beside the Winged Lancers was the first of the cannon with the hot pot on its right. Then was a group of flagellants screened by some halfling archers. Beside this, just behind the pig farm, the pistoliers waited behind the horse archers, while the Knights Errant waited behind them. Then came a group of archers, a unit of halberdiers with two crossbow detachments, and additional unit of crossbows, the second cannon, another group of halfling archers, and a wedge of Brett bowman, who stood beside the Knights of the Realm (Bretts commanded by another Japanese guy playing his second game).
Due to the logistic problems of deploying so many units, the Orcs were moving before the Empire was able to react. Both Orc general and the Daemon Prince flew high (presumably to avoid the cannon). Under the influence of Tzeentch, the Orcs and Goblins were untroubled (for the whole game) by the infighting and mutual animosity that general plagues such hordes. They all rushed across the field, the Boar Boyz swinging out wide, the Night Goblins coming to stand beside the first house, the Black Orcs and Troll moving beside one another on the opposite side of the same house, the squigs and goblins advancing straight towards the pig farm, the pump wagon moving straight forward, the Pink Horrors moving to protect the right flank, and the chariot swinging wide to hide from the cannon on the right side of the second house. The Winds of Magic blew briefly very strongly, but as a giant foot descended towards the Winged Lancers, all magic was suddenly sucked from the field, taking with it much of one of the Empire wizard's understanding and his impressive spell of heal.
The Empire lines showed less movement. The horse archers all broke into skirmish formation and advanced. One group hid around the corner of the house from the chariot. One advanced to the ceremonial pole in the centre of village, and the final group moving towards the NGs and SOBBs. Expectedly as they approached, three whirling balls of death, with very drugged or very stupid goblins attached, were hurled from the NGs ranks. Two plunged through the horse archers and with their spinning enhanced by the Magic mushrooms, they had eaten, they crushed the entire unit to a bloody pulp (19! Str 5 hits on 5 horse archers). Seeing this, the WL decided to wait before approaching the fanatics. The Flagellants turned slightly to protect the Hot Pot and cannon while the halfing archers advanced. The archers broke into skirmish formation and rushed towards the pig farm. The Pistoliers advanced towards the same destination and turned to go around it on the left, hoping that without the general nearby, the troll would forget why he had come, and allow them to flank the Black Orcs. The Knights Errant advacned on the right of the same obstacle, while the KotR approached the Pink Horrors, and used the house to hide from the chariot. The many missile troops took aim but the results very unimpressive. The cannon killed two BOs. The Hot Pot killed one Speargobbo. The other missiliers killed one squig. Only on the left flank where the Brett Bowmen killed all three wolves on the chariot was there any success. Magic again proved uneventful, as despite the staves and good magic rolls, the only spell that was cast was Protection on the WLs (it was dispelled before they reached combat).
With the screech and a shriek, the Orc general and the daemon prince charged the KEs and the KotR respectively. The KEs fled, not willing to face the Black Orc in combat, and leaving him in the crossfire of two cannons. Despite their hero urging them to stay and fight, the KotR were terrified of the Daemon and they also fled ( oh no, looks my cursed Ld rolls also apply to my allies). Neither unit fled the field though. The Troll stupidly shambled forward, to stand right in front of the Pistoliers. The Pump wagon made some very impressive turns (what do you mean it can turn on a dime and not use any movement to do so, you have got to be kidding?) and squished the horse archers. The two fanatics, which had decimated the horse archers, decided that they were no longer having any fun and ran into each other. The other moved a bit towards the left flank, but his spinning was so slow that his steel ball was rolling on the ground (the dice rolls for this fanatic were like 4,3,4 and he ended up about 3 inches from where he strated) The SOBBs cannot advance because of the fanatic. The NGs, choose to stay put and shoot, killing one halfling. Everyone else advances along the same routes as before. Magic again was uneventful (WoM-8, but his mushroom only gave him 2 cards so nothing got through).
The KEs fail to rally. Then suddenly, the Empire army finds its backbone. The KotR rally. No one is worried by the Daemon Prince, nor the Wyvern, nor the fleeing knights (bloody amazing for me). The Pistoliers charge the Troll (after the Champ gulps his strength potion). The flagellants move forward to charge the Black Orcs, but not far enough to block the cannon's line of sight to the Troll (who happens to be standing directly in front of the wyvern). The Winged Lancers move up, confidant now that their is only one fanatic) ready to either flank the Black Orcs, or charge the NGs. The archers reach the pig farm and shoot at the squigs, doing nothing. The Halberds turn to charge the wyvern if he goes for the fleeing knights. The Hot Pot fires at the SOBBs but the shot deviates harmlessly away. Both cannon aim at the wyvern. One guesses 6and 3/4" short. The artillery dice move this 2" forward and bounce is another 4" damn. The second cannon guesses 8"short, the artillery dice move this 10" forward (just clearing the diagonal of the base) and then bounce is then another 10" far enough to kill two horse archers (damn, which leads to a question, Do you take a panic test if hit by friendly fire? They passed) The Halflings kill one Black Orc. The crossbows do not wound the Wyvern or its rider. The other halflings score three wounds on the Daemon Prince but his magic nature shrugs them off (3 saves). The Bretts, attempting to score some points, fire at their only target, the chariot, but the goblins have hidden underneath it as all the arrows in the next two rounds impact the woodwork.
In combat, the champion does two wounds to the Troll, which aren't regenerated, but no one else can hurt him, and he kills one pistolier. Since the general has returned nearby, he makes his break test. Magic is again uninteresting.
The battle in now enterimg its final stages. The Wyvern charges the KEs, over runs and kills them, but can't stop itself in time, and for the moment, leaves the battlefield. The Daemon Prince, misjudging the strength of humans, again charges the KotR. He fails to do any wounds, takes one or two in return and is run down by the knights who pursue into the Pink Horrors. The Black Orcs charge and kill 3 halflings, sending the others running. The squigs charge the pistoliers. The pistoliers manage to beat off both them and the Troll, but their pursuit crashed them into the BO (each unit moved about an inch in pursuit, then hit each other). The goblin spears charge the archers in the pig farm who stand and shoot, doing nothing. Then an amazing string of dice rolls results. Needing 6s, he kills only one archer, but with ranks and standard he is now assured of winning combat, but my 4 archers strike back and kill 4 gobbos, but wait, he rolls 3 saves on 6s, meaning only one gobbo falls. The skirmishing archers lose by 4, he gets ready to pursue, but wait the archers roll 3 for the break test and stay. To begin the magic phase, with units around him now in HtH, the gobbo shaman headbangs (I fink I'm gonna) and causes the head on one gobbo to explode, besides that, magic is again uneventful except that Incandesant Assassian kills the Brett hero (why he didn't just Drain Magic, I'llnever know).
eeing their chance, Volker's forces strike. The WLs charge the NGs, who pass their fear test and kill one WL in the stand and shoot. The Flagellants charge the BO who are engaged with the pistoliers. A group of crossbows charges the pump wagon. The Hot Pot and cannon kill one SOBB. The WLs drop 4 gobbos, while the Champion and his warhorse kill the big boss (my WL champion's horse has now killed a NG Big Boss and a Chaos BSB, hoody hoo!). They break and are run down. The Black Orc Boss kills two Pistoliers while the Pistolieers kill two black Orcs. The Flagellants crash in and thier flails kill 5 black orcs. The Orcs break allowing the pistoliers to run down them, the troll, and the squigs.
On the other side of the field, the KotR fight hard to avenge their fallen leader and kill 2 Pink Horrors. The Horrors cannot find a weakness in the knights' armour. Despite the closeness of the fight, the Horros break and run (they only lost by two) and are run down by the knights. At this point, Tzeentch's hold on the remaining greenskins' mind slipped and they retreated from the field. The halflings were joyous that their village had been saved and Volker's men were gladden by the victory that had been so long in coming. Publicly, Volker shared in the celebration, but privately he worried as it was his allies, not his forces that had directly confronted those of Tzeentch, and he was unsure why. Was he afraid that the curse was still in effect, or did Tzeentch's influence go deeper than that so that unconsiously, he was unwilling to harm Tzeentch or his forces?
Final score- Empire- Lots- NGs, Black Orcs, Troll, Squig hunters, *from the Bretts- Daemon Prince, Pink Horrors
O&G- some, 2 units of horse archers, 8 Halfling archers, *from the Bretts- Knights errant plus wizard champ, hero