Blood in the Badlands. Game 8 (pt1). Decent into the (marshes of) madness.

Captain Guthook waded through the waist deep waters towards the arranged muster point with the Orcs. He had to smile at the thought of several Gnobblars drowning in the putrid waters before they managed to scramble up the flanks of the massive Stonehorn and clung to it's dripping fur.

So far that had been the only thing to smile about during the days of endless toil while traversing the Marshes of Madness.

In the distance he could see the dilapidated top of the fabled 'Black Tower', their agreed meeting point with his Orc allies, soon they would be on firmer ground and he could finally wring out his sodden britches.

To be honest he also hoped he could climb clear of the vapours of the marsh. Truth be told the incessant voices in his head that had started whispering to him since entering the marshes was starting to really wind him up. Surely the 'Ogre eating, brussel sprouts, of Morgheim' the voices kept going on about were just a rumour!

As Guthook laboured through the final, cloying, scrub of the marshes he could not believe his eyes. There they were arrayed before him!

The Ogre eating, Brussel sprouts of Morgheim!!

Captain Guthook bellowed at his vanguarding forces to form a battle line.

The exhausted Ironguts and Gnobblars looked around them bewildered. Even when confused by their leader ranting on about 'Ogre eating, brussel sprouts' they knew better then to question their boss when he was in this kind of mood.

Obediently they formed up and faced their Orc allies milling about on the other side of the Black Tower. . . . . Maybe there had been a change of plan?



This week saw the four generals of the Badlands campaign try to wrest control of Morgheim from the opposing generals.

First battle would see opponents and battlefields randomly picked and then the two surviving forces would immediately fight for the fabled Morgheim.

I was drawn against Lee's Orcs on the Black Tower battlefield.

This was good because I wanted to have a word with him since our last 'Triumph and Treachery' game! ;0)

As we were playing over 2500 points on a 4 X 4 table we were allowed to deploy 1600 points and the remainder of the forces would arrive in the second turn.

Lee's Spider occupies the ruins on my left and the rest of his forces march forward.

I march forward to give the rest of my forces room to deploy and the Gnobblars arrange themselves to direct any over runs away from my 'Gutstar'.

Turn two sees my Gnobblars charged by the Trolls and Giant Spider.

The rest of Lee's forces arrive on his left flank.

Lee's Trolls only take one wound from my trappers and boil through the Gnobblars!

My other unit of Gnobblars are also massacred by the Giant Spider. Both of Lee's units manage to restrain themselves and reform facing my 'Gut star'.

My Tyrant bellows the charge and my Ironguts crash into the Giant Arachnid!

My Ironguts start to pull the legs off the spider but fail to kill it outright.

This leaves them in a very dangerous position as Lee has lined up a flank charge with his battle bus!

It is during this master stroke that Lee's Orc's decide to fail their animosity test.

It's not so bad as anything other then a one will result in the Orcs charging into my Gutstar.

YEP! He rolled a second one!!!!!

So much for that plan!!

Got to be honest I might of actually pissed my pants laughing at this point!

Somehow Lee manages to fight through the tears and keeps his head.

My cackling is immediately stifled when Lee casts 'Hand of Gork' on the stone Golem and it reappears an inch from my Irongut's flank!! 

"Laugh it up Mother fuckers!!"

It's my turn for reinforcements to turn up and my Leadbelchers and Ironblaster start merrily blasting away at the recently arrived Goblin relief forces!

Despite the appearing of the Stone Golem on my exposed Irongut flank I also manage to keep my head. 

I finally finish ripping the Giant Arachnid to pieces with my Ironguts and perform a 'combat reform' to focus down on the surviving Trolls. This also opens up a charge lane for my 'Stone horn' and Mourn fangs next turn.

Immoveable object meets irresistible force as the Stone horn and Golem collide!!!!!

The boom of the impact resounds across the battlefield and both Generals hold their breath!

Both Monsters are left teetering after the melee.

The photo below shows the state of affairs as the forth turn comes around. So far both Lee and I have thrown everything at the battle and any lapse in concentration at this point could be devastating!

Lee tries to tip the balance on the left flank by bringing his Goblins forward to unleash their dreaded 'Fanatics'.

Lee has timed this attack almost perfectly as the bulk of my forces are arranged in a battle line. If the Fanatics make contact with just one unit they will barrel through the entire battle line causing carnage!!

The photo below shows how compacted my forces are. The Fanatics boiling through this would cause devastation!! 

Thankfully ALL THREE of the Fanatics roll short and I (literally) wipe the sweat from my brow!

Up to this point I have been sneaking my Sabretusks forward. I have deliberately had them move round the board in a hap hazard manner to hide their intent. Their real intent has been to be an assassination run on at least one of the characters residing within the front rank of the Orc battle bus. It was my intent to unleash this attack next turn and rip the Orc Shaman to pieces in a blizzard of teeth and claws.. . . . . .

. . . . That was until Lee plays his master stroke and uses 'Hand of Gork' to pick up the unit and plonk it down behind my main battle line!!!!!!!!!

Having just recovered from the shock of the fanatics failing to decimate my battle line my heart rate rockets up again as I have to respond to this sucker punch!

In order to buy some time I detach my Firebelly from his unit and have him make a bee line for the abruptly appearing Orc battlebus.

He unleashes his breath attack into the surprised Orcs.

His job is now to hound the flanks of the battle bus and go nuts with fireballs!

In order to escape the Orc battle bus in their rear the Ironguts charge into the Night Goblins to their fore.

Yer some would call it running away! ;0)

My Ogre bulls enter the outlying ruins of the Black tower.

Being unable to destroy the Stone Golem the Hunter and Mournfangs are left to their fate as the Orc Battle boss 'WARRRRGHS UP' and charges in!

It's no surprise (for once this game) that the Stonehorn and Mournfangs are pulled to pieces!

The Orc over run once again brings them precariously close to the rear of my Ironguts!

Thankfully my Gutstar crushes the Goblin unit and continues it's over run (some would say away from the Orc battle bus!).

While unleashing fireballs into the Orc battlebus my Firebelly manages to miscast and now becomes just a bloke with a sword trying to take on forty Orcs!!!!!

Things are turning from bad to worst for the Ogres.

Thankfully I have managed to manoeuvre my Ironblaster in order to enfilade entire ranks of the Orc battlebus and the carnage begins!

Unable to get a charge in, the Stone Golem contents itself with pivoting on the spot and bellowing at the Ogre Firebelly.

In order to continue the whittling away of the Orc battle bus the Slaughter master throws a 'nothing' spell at the Orcs.

Of course this causes a 'Dimensional cascade', miscast and decimates the Irongut unit!

Thankfully the Slaughter master avoids being sucked into the warp.

The Ironblaster continues to decimate ranks of Orcs with cannonballs. I think it was at this point the Orc Shaman failed a 'look out sir' roll and took a cannon ball full in the face. . . . He did not enjoy it at all and had to have a little sit down for the rest of the game ;0)

In a desperate attempt to score points my Sabretusks charge the recently rallied Goblins.

With the Stone Golem bellowing in his face my Firebelly takes this as a direct challenge and declares a charge against the Golem. A surprised hush falls over the battlefield and the Firebelly lumbers forward.

This is so unexpected the Golem is not even looking the right way!

EH??

Even Phil and Lano come over from the other table to witness the madness of this charge!

My Firebelly manages to roll the one six required to wound and a hush fills the shed as Lee reaches for his die to make an armour roll. . . . . Even Lee closes his eyes as he releases the die. . .  . and opens them to resounding cheers as he FAILS the roll and the Golem crumbles to rubble!!!!!!!!!!

The Firebelly will forever be known from this point on as 'Bronoff the Iconoclast' and his deeds sang throughout the Ogre tribes!!!!

With the destruction of the Stone Golem the game is called there and tallies taken. Somehow I have managed to pull this one out of the bag!

That has to be one the hardest and most compelling games of WHF I have ever played!

I have to tip my hat to Lee this game and we both consider the beef between our forces well and truly settled.

Got to be honest despite the massive discrepancy in points left on the table I though Lee deserved the nod on this one.

Meanwhile on the other table the former, desperate allies, the Elves and Skaven were contesting the 'Galbaraz mining camp'.

This was another absolute massacre which saw a handful of Elves survive the conflict to stagger on into Morgheim.

The photo below, of Lano's surviving forces, gives only a small indication of the ferocity with which the battle was fought!

The next battle report will see both Lano and my surviving forces clash within the ruins of Morgheim!