Battle Empire vs Orcs on 24/05/2001
The Empire Strikes
Back - The Battle of Haven Plateau
Upon the grim news of the
defeat and tragic death of Count Marius of Ostermark, and the destruction of
his entire army, the Empire's border stood wide open, ready to be pillaged by
the Black Orc General and his vast greenskin army. An army was therefore hastily
assembled from the nearby provinces and it is rumored that the Emperor Karl
Franz himself provided the
general with a regiment of
Inner Circle Knights. The battle was only a few days away.
Meanwhile, imperial scouts
were sent on the eastern border to establish the enemy position. The Orcish
general crossed the bridge over the river Talabec with his army, which were
then joined by various other smaller greenskin tribes from the nearby forest..
The savage greenskins then feasted on their previous victory with their
disgusting food and heavy drinking bouts. One brave imperial scout ventured
even deeply and heard the speech of the great orcish general. Although it was
difficult to understand the dialect uttered by their savage tongues, it was
clear that the orcish general spoke to his brethren with great pride and
exaggeration upon his victorious challenge and his defeated foe, the Count
Marius. He then proceeded to share his vision of a broken human empire, overrun
by the greenskins. His minions then roared and waved their axes as a show of
bravery and their eyes showed lust for war.
The Emperor Karl Franz,
chose the Elector Count Ludenhof of Stirland to command the army that was
assembled to repel the greenskin invasion because his province was nearest and
most probably the next orcish target. But Count Ludenhof also had other
personal reasons. The fallen Count Marius was a great friend and ally, and
fought many battles together, and a personal vendetta to remedy this matter was
inevitable. He immediately ordered the troops to march the very next morning
and catch the orcs by surprise.
But the greenskins, being
savage as they are, are not so ignorant. Just a few hours prior to our arrival,
a scout reported that the orcs all of a suddenly began re-arming, forming
regiments and proceeded with their marching. Although we may never be sure as
to how they had an idea of the Empire's army marching towards them, it can be
assumed that several small goblins scouted ahead, hidden in trees. To this
news, our general ordered his troops to increase their pace. They may have
gotten tired more quickly, but the our wise general needed to arrive first to
the place know as Haven Plateau.
This place is known for
its great beauty. The left is a great impassable ridge and to the right is a
small thick forest.
Between them is a great
hill with a further plateau on top, which is sacred to the empire and rumoured
to contain special powers.
The orcish general sensed
the magical properties of this plateau and rushed forward. The imperial army
now stood just below the southern area of the hill whilst the greenskins stood
below the northern area of the hill. As both were barely visible to each other,
each general ordered his troops to a halt. Both armies stared at each other
quietly, but ready for war.
The only thing that stood
between them was this grassy hill. Thus for a moment, a stalemate occurred and
both began assembling
their war machines and
ordering some of the troops into formations. The Count of Stirland, being a war
veteran, knew that if he marched his troops onto the hill, they would be
outnumbered by the greenskins. He would have to fire projectile and missile
weapons to reduce the enemy numbers. He then proceeded to form heavily
defensive formations with the help of spearmen and the knights, whilst the
handgunners and the mortar pointed their weapons towards the hill.
Meanwhile, on the other
side, the orcish general realized that a stalemate would demoralize his troops.
Furthermore the empire had better long range weapons. He then looked high upon
the hill, towards Haven Plateau, and smiled evilly. Thoughts of being imbued
with special powers must have filled his mind as he immediately jumped on his
chariot and ordered the crew to steer it towards the plateau, whilst ordering
the Orc boyz and another chariot to pass through the hill, and the Orc Big 'Uns
were secretly dispatched to pass through the eastern forest and surprise the
humies.
The missile fire from each
side was not very effective and the same can be said regarding their magic during
these early stages of the battle. The chariot that contained the orcish general
did not take long to climb the hill and shortly ascended Haven Plateau. The
black orc roared as a sign of early victory and from below the hill, he was
cheered by the thousands of troops that marched fearlessly and reached the
middle part of the hill. The black orc then proceeded to demoralize the humans
by pointing a bloody finger at Count Ludenhof and with the other hand raised a
severed human head...
It was the head of the
Count Marius! Some of the imperial troops now began to show fear, as their
handgunners killed only a few tens of greenskins, whilst the mortar only
managed to partially disable the orc rock lobber. But our general contrary to
them, was filled with anger, gazed upon the sky and his commanding voice
shouted "Our father Sigmar, I may not be worthy of your help, for I am
filled with anger and vendetta clouds my eyes. I pray you to please bestow my
army with courage and imbue them to counteract the desecration of Haven
Plateau."
Silence fell on the
battlefield, and everyone stopped moving or firing. A breeze lifted from the
east and suddenly the clouds darkened above Haven Plateau. Count Ludenhof then
looked at the black orc and shouted "You fool. Only righteous warriors
will benefit from that sacred ground. The only thing that you'll get is
damnation upon yourself !" To these words, the black orc roared with
laughter, but a dark shadow stopped him. It was a nightmarish shadow, a sight
to behold from afar but doomed to those that stand just underneath. It was the
shadow of the descending fabled Comet of Casandora. The black orc would not
believe his eyes and jumped back from the chariot. His crewmen tried to ride
away but were panic stricken and it was too late. It hit them with full force,
burning the chariot, its crew and the boars beyond recognition. The imperial
army shouted with joy, but their cries were short lived, as the black orc
himself surprisingly enough, stood back on his feet barely injured and shouted
"My chariot may h
The greenskin armies, upon
seeing these chain of events, marched forward with full force. The count would
not retire and fiercely encouraged his troops and told them that he only had a
minor scratch. But he hid his pains so as not to frighten his troops and was
confident that Sigmar's help was far from over. In fact, the two battle wizards
Mademoiselle Denisette (trained in the Lore of Fire) and Monsieur Philippe
(trained in the Lore of the Heavens) felt strong tingling sensations on their
arms. It was the true sign of divine magical imbuing. They recited long
forgotten sentences in unison and in perfect harmony, and after long
incantations the sky turned red.
It was the sign of another
one of the greatest spells; Conflagration of DooM. But they sky was so
intensely hot that multiple meteorites formed and all of a suddenly the sky
rained fire. One after another, burning masses plunged onto the ground. One
could easily say that it may be compared to the same magnitude of Chaos spells.
The black orc general fled and tried to found refuge within his troops but each
meteor would fall upon his tracks. It would have seemed that he was truly
damned after all. Throes of pain were heard across the battlefield as hundreds
of greenskins were burned alive and their general suffered serious wounds. But
his toughness was incredible. He remained giving orders, even limping on foot.
The Count flew near the mortar and gave strict orders to direct their fire as
much close to the orc general as possible. Unknown if it was luck, skill or
blessing, the mortar almost hit the orc boss directly and was cut down by the
shrapnel. To this, most of the remaining greenskins fled into the fores
But suddenly the Orc Big
'Uns, unaware of what had happened, emerged from the eastern forest and
surprised the spearmen to the point that they had to retreat and every spearmen
was cut down. The mortar crewmen now stood too close, and decided to try
knocking as much Big 'Uns as possible. The shot went beautifully in the middle of
the Big 'Uns regiment and destroyed half of them. Although the Big 'Uns later
charged the Handgunners, they were so few that they had to retreat and fled
back into the forest.
The Knights then scoured
the battlefield and massacred the remaining greenskins, whilst the battle
wizards concentrated their magic onto the Orc shaman, where he was killed by
Monsieur Phillipe with a forked lightning. The Count then beheaded the last
Arrer Boyz mercilessly and the battle was over.
The battle took a whole
day, and apart from the unlucky spearmen, the imperial casualties were at a
minimum. The same can not be said on the greenskin part. Their general was
killed, most of the troops were massacred and the remaining few fled. Great
festivities were held that day, and bards sang songs of the heroic deeds. A
great temple in honour of Sigmar was ordered to be raised on Haven Plateau by
the Count of Stirland and was mostly funded by him. The previously fallen
province, Ostermark, was rearmed and a new count was elected.
Felip
Empire Scribe
Battlefield
Note : The highest ground had the special ability to allow any Shaman or Wizard to gain 1 Power or Dispel dice. However the Shaman or Wizard would become a large target for shooting.
Turn 1
Orcs (12:12) Animosity All passed
Magic No spells cast
Shooting Arrer Boyz @ Captain 4 hits 0 wounds
Rock Lobber 40 @ Handgunners 2 died
Empire (12:31) Magic Battle Wizard (M) Comet of Cassandora failed
Battle Wizard (F) Conf. Of Doom failed
Shooting Mortar 42 @ Rock Lobber 0 wounds
Turn 2
Orcs (12:43) Animosity Big Uns failed (Well Show Em)
Magic No spells cast
Shooting Arrer boys @ Knights 1 died
Rock Lobber 37 @ Knights 1 died
Empire (12:59) Magic Battle Wizard (F) Conf. Of Doom Miscast (4)
Battle Wizard (M) Comet of Cassandora failed
Shooting Handgunners @ Arrer Boyz 2 died
Marksman @ Arrer Boyz 1 died
Captain @ Arrer Boyz 0 hits
Mortar 43 @ Rock Lobber 1 wound, 2 crew died
Turn 3
Orcs (15:13) Animosity All passed
Magic Orc Boss Eadbutt @ First Knight Killed
Shooting Arrer Boyz @ Knights 1 died
Empire (13:24) Magic Battle Wizard (M) Comet of Cass @ Orc Boss IF
Battle Wizard (F) Fiery blast @ chariot 0 wounds
Shooting Captain @ Orc Boyz 0 hits
Handgunners @ Arrer Boyz 2 hits 0 wounds
Marksman @ Arrer Boyz 3 hits 1 wound
Mortar @ Orc Boss Chariot 1 hit 0 wound
Turn 4
Orcs (13:41) Comet of Cassandora Chariot 2 wounds, 1 Arrer Boy died
Animosity All passed
Magic Orc Boss Eadbutt @ Captain 1 wound
Comet of Cass. failed dispel
Shooting Arrer Boyz @ Handgunners 2 died
Rock Lobber 26 @ Captain hit house 1 dmg
Empire (13:58) Comet of Cassandora Added marker (2 total)
Magic Battle Wizard (F) Conf. Of Doom @ Boss Chariot
5 hits 1 wound, @ Orc Boss 2 hits 0 wounds
Battle Wizard (M) Forked Lighting @ Boss Chariot
1 wound. Destroyed.
Orcs dispelled Comet of Cass.
Shooting Handgunners @ Orc Boss 1 hit 0 wound
Marksman @ Orc Boss 1 hit 1 wound
Mortar @ Orc Boss 1 hit 1 wound
Turn 5
Orcs (14:33) Animosity All passed
Magic No spells cast
Shooting Arrer Boyz @ Handgunners 5 hits 0 wounds
Empire (14:45) Magic Battle Wizard (F) Conf. Of Doom @ Arrer Boyz 7 died
Battle Wizard (M) Forked Lightining failed
Shooting Handgunners @ Orc Boyz 2 hits 1 died
Marksman @ Orc Boyz 1 died
Mortar @ Rock Lobber 1 hit 0 wounds
Turn 6
Orcs (15:07) Animosity Big Uns Failed (We Show Em)
Charges Big Uns charged Spearmen
Magic Shaman ere we go @ Big Uns dispelled
Shooting Rock Lobber overshot target
Arrer Boyz @ Handgunners 1 hit 0 wounds
Combat Big Uns attack Spearmen 1 died
Boss attacked Spearmen 1 died
Spearmen attack Big Uns 2 died
Comb Res. Orcs 5 (2 wounds, 1 Standard, +2 ranks)
Spearmen 4 (2 wounds, 1 Standard, +1 rank)
Spearmen fail Break test destroyed.
Empire (15:35) Magic Battle Wizard (F) Conf. Of Doom @ Orc Boss 0 wounds
Battle Wizard (M) Forked Lightining @ Orc Boss
3 hits 1 wound. Orc Boss dead.
Rock Lobber & Chariot fled off the battlefield
Shooting Mortar @ Big Uns Misfire.
1 crew dead & disabled until Start of turn 8
Handgunners @ Orc Boyz 6 died
Turn 7
Orcs (15:50) Animosity Orc Boyz failed (Squabble)
Arrer Boys failed (Get em)
Magic Shaman Hand of Gork @ Big Uns failed
Empire (16:00) Magic Battle Wizard (F) Miscast. Disabled until start turn 9.
Battle Wizard (M) forked lightining failed
Shooting Handgunners @ Arrerboyz 1 died
Arrer Boyz fail Panic Test & flee
Turn 8
Orcs (16:07) Animosity Orc Boyz (Squabble)
Rallying Arrer Boyz rallied
Magic Shaman Hand Of Gork @ Big Uns dispelled
Empire (16:12) Magic Battle Wizard (M) Comet of Cass. @ Big Uns cast
Battle Wizard (M) Forked Lightining failed
Shooting Captain @ Big Uns 0 hits
Handgunners @ Orc Boyz 1 died
Marksman @ Orc Boyz 1 died
Mortar @ Big Uns 8 died
Biguns passed Panic test
Turn 9
Orcs (16:29) Animosity Arrer Boyz failed (Get em) @ Orc Boyz 1 died
Charges Big Uns charge Handgunners (flank)
Magic Shaman Hand of Gork dispelled
Combat 1 Big Un died & failed Break test. Fled
Empire (16:46) Comet Of Cass. Removed
Charges Handgunners charged Big Uns who fled off Battlefield
Magic Battle Wizard (F) Conf. Of Doom @ Orc Boyz 7 died (all)
Battle Wizard (M) Forked Lightining @ Shaman 2 wounds
(dead)
Shooting Captain @ Arrer Boyz 1 died
Arrer Boyz failed Panic Test & fled
Mortar @ Arrer Boyz overshot
Turn 10
Orcs (17:00) Rallying Success
Empire (17:01) Captured Banner of Orc Boyz (to check)
Magic None
Shooting None
Turn 11
Orcs (17:04) Animosity Passed
Shooting Arrer Boyz @ Captain 1 hit 0 wounds
Empire (17:06) Charges Captain charges Arrer Boyz
Combat Boss challenged Captain but was killed. Arrer Boyz fled.
Captain pursued & killed. Banner captured.
KILLS