I was able to get another game in last week against local and friend of the Network, Andy Gould (who appeared on “Beards, Ears, and Skulls” to talk about Orcs and Goblins). We tried out the new free scenario “Upon Shrouded Shores” with my High Elves using the Sea Guard Garrison Army of Infamy while Andy brought his Orcs and Goblins Grand Army. We played at our local store, Bearded Dragon Games and had a great time! I have been printing terrain like crazy, thanks to King Ding Doppledonger ExPaxis and Professional Cake Sitter Brooks, so all the terrain in this game was printed and I tried to use High Elf-esque pieces to set the stage of the beach invasion.

But first, the lists!

Sea Elves [1999 pts] Warhammer: The Old World, High Elf Realms, Sea Guard Garrison ===

++ Characters [785 pts] ++

Ishaya Vess [170 pts]

• Hand weapon
• Mathlann’s Ire
• Warbow
• Heavy armour
• Shield
• General

Sea Guard Garrison Commander [260 pts]

• Hand weapon
• Warbow
• Heavy armour
• Cavalry spear (if appropriately mounted)
• Lothern Skycutter
• Bow of the Seafarer
• Seed of Rebirth
• Charmed Shield

Dragon Mage [355 pts]

• Hand weapon
• Light armour
• Level 2 Wizard
• Sun Dragon
• Seed of Rebirth
• Talisman of Protection
• Battle Magic

++ Core Units [747 pts] ++

33 Lothern Sea Guard [486 pts]

• Hand weapons
• Thrusting spears
• Warbows
• Light armour
• Shields
• Veteran
• Drilled
• Sea Master (champion)
• Standard bearer [Razor Standard]
• Musician

10 Ship’s Company [105 pts]

• Hand weapons
• Warbows
• Light armour
• Skirmishers (Replaces Open Order)
• Champion [Midshipman]

10 Shadow Warriors [156 pts]

• Longbows
• Light armour
• Feigned Flight
• Ambushers
• Shadow Walker

++ Special Units [60 pts] ++

Great Eagle [60 pts]

++ Rare Units [407 pts] ++

5 Ellyrian Reavers [101 pts]

• Hand weapons
• Cavalry spears
• Light armour
• Shortbows
• Skirmishers
• Musician

5 Ellyrian Reavers [101 pts]

• Hand weapons
• Cavalry spears
• Light armour
• Shortbows
• Skirmishers
• Musician

Frostheart Phoenix [205 pts]

• Full plate armour

— Created with “Old World Builder”

Characters [775 pts]

• Black Orc Warboss [341 pts] (Hand weapon, Great weapon, Full plate armour, Shield, General, Wyvern, Trollhide Trousers, Talisman of Protection)
• Orc Bigboss [144 pts] (Hand weapon, Great weapon, Light armour, Battle Standard Bearer [War Banner], On foot, Dead ‘Ard Armour)
• Orc Weirdnob [240 pts] (Hand weapon, Level 4 Wizard, On foot, Ruby Ring of Ruin, Idol of Gork, Waaagh! Magic)
• Night Goblin Bigboss [50 pts] (Hand weapon, Light armour, Shield, On foot, Wollopa’s One Hit Wunda)

Core Units [520 pts]

• 18 Black Orc Mob [303 pts] (Hand weapons, Full plate armour, 17x Shields, 1x Great weapons, Boss (champion), Standard bearer [The Big Red Raggedy Flag], Musician)
• 35 Night Goblin Mob [217 pts] (Hand weapons, Shields, Netters, Boss (champion), Standard bearer, Musician, 3x Fanatics [Fanatic ball & chain])

Special Units [345 pts]

• Goblin Bolt Throwa [45 pts] (Bolt thrower, Hand weapons)
• Goblin Bolt Throwa [45 pts] (Bolt thrower, Hand weapons)
• 10 Orc Boar Boy Mob [255 pts] (Hand weapons, Cavalry spears, Heavy armour, Shields, Big ‘Uns, Boss (champion), Standard bearer [Da Banner of Butchery], Musician)

Rare Units [360 pts]

• Goblin Rock Lobber [85 pts] (Stone thrower, Hand weapons, Orc Bully, Whip)
• Goblin Rock Lobber [75 pts] (Stone thrower, Hand weapons)
• Giant [200 pts] (Giant’s club, Light armour)

Deployment and Round 1

Due to the scenario, I deployed and went first. Sadly, I forgot about my army rule to redeploy a unit. If I had remembered, I’m not sure if I would have changed anything, since I needed the Sea Guard by the elf pillar to score points.

First turn I moved up cautiously with Reavers, Eagle, Dragon Mage, Garrison Commander in his Skycutter, Phoenix, and the Reavers at the bottom of the image. My Dragon Mage attempted to cast both of his spells- Fireball and Pillar of Fire, but both times was shut down by the Level 4 Orc Weirdnob. A little bit of shooting killed one Boar Boy and a handful of Night Goblins (I forgot about the Bow of the Seafarer on the Garrison Commander!).

The O&G came out of the gate as aggressive as one would assume. The Boar Boys failed their Impetuous test and declared a charge against the Reavers. They fled, allowing the orcs to redirect into the Frostheart Phoenix. Sadly, the Phoenix was hit with the spell that reduced its WS and I and the Boar Boys had their fill of chicken. They restrained their Overrun and reformed to face the center of the battle. The rest of his lines repositioned and the Night Goblins surged forward, ready to unleash the Fanatics! Important note- ALL of his artillery missed this turn. Rock Lobbers scattered far and the Bolt Throwas just missed- typical Goblins.

High Elf Turn 2

Shadow Warriors stayed in Ambush, naturally. Dragon Mage and Skycutter crash into the front of the Black Orcs- who pass their Terror check. The Fanatics release, plucking the feathers off my Great Eagle. The Goblins take a beating from arrows, but the Warboss glares at them and they pass their Panic test. Combat goes… poorly. The Dragon Mage Challenges, attempting to draw out the Weirdnob but the Champion steps forward instead. The Dragon Mage kills him, but only does two wounds! Even with Stomps, the Dragon barely kills the Black Orc Champion. The Skycutter manages to kill two from their ranks, but the Elves lose combat and Give Ground. The Orcs stay where they are, ready to Charge in on their turn.

Orcs & Goblins Turn 2

The Black Orcs charge into the Dragon Mage while Warboss on his Wyvern slam into its flank. The Black Orcs and Giants both Charge the Skycutter. I deemed them too close to risk Fleeing, especially with the Wyvern rider there. The Night Goblins back up, happy to let the Fanatics do their work for them, and the Boar Boys begin rounding the house to get the Sea Guard in their sight. Andy’s shooting was much better this turn, whittling down my Lothern Sea Guard a bit. Combat continues to go as expected, the Dragon Mage survives, but Flees from combat. The Black Orcs join the fight against the Skycutter and the Warboss surges forward, ready to slay more elves. I Challenged the Black Orcs again and the Big Boss BSB stepped up and was promptly cut down by the character and his Swiftfeather Roc. The chariot still lost the fight, and was smashed into the ground by the pursuit of the orcs and giant.

High Elf Turn 3

There wasn’t much to do in my third turn. The Shadow Warriors still didn’t arrive, so I simply shot everything I could into the Warboss- taking off two wounds! Then I was done.

Orcs & Goblins Turn 3

At this point, Andy was just mopping up. His Warboss charged into the Ship’s Company to avoid the Stand and Shoot from the Sea Guard and the Ship’s Company. The Boar Boys and the Giant charged the Sea Guard, who killed one Boar Boy on the way in. The Black Orcs turned, ready to get back to their home objectives. The Warboss ate the archers and drove them back, two surviving. Andy held the Warboss from chasing them so it could help against the Sea Guard. Meanwhile my general, Ishaya Vess, Challenged the Boar Boys, killing their Champion. The Giant Jumped Up and Down on the Sea Guard before stomping on them and killing a bunch. Their spears were useless back. The Sea Guard were forced back, and their combatants followed up.

High Elves Turn 4

With very little to do, my Shadow Warriors finally showed up. They Ambushed by the elf statue that the Black Orcs had left in an attempt to score me some Victory Points. They shot at the nearest Rock Lobber and killed a goblin! The Reavers moved to block line of sight to the artillery and try to survive. Combat went as well for me as the other turns, the Giant Bellyfloping on the unit! They did a total of 12 Wounds and the elves retreated off the table with the Giant following.

Andy’s last turn saw to mopping up. His Black Orcs moved up and removed the Shadow Warriors with a few offensive spells from the Weirdboy. Everything else positioned as if the battle were continuing, but at that point we called it. With only five Reavers left, Andy would be scoring 50-100 VP/turn, while I couldn’t score any more. The elves tried to put up a fight, but in the end, the Orcs & Goblins proved the superior force.

Tired Dice

We didn’t get to discuss the game much afterwords, but I feel like I need to give the big block of Sea Guard with the Razor Standard a break. Even with Vess giving them -1AP, they did very little damage for their point cost. They didn’t have many good targets this game though, I would have loved to shoot the Black Orcs with all that AP, but it wasn’t to be. Also, if I were to take a Dragon Mage again, I would make sure to give it more offensive abilities, like a magic weapon instead of the triple save. The Skycutter Chariot showed signs of life, and I’d like to see that on the table again. I think I’ll be trying out a more infantry-based list next time with some White Lions for some hard hitting models.

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