Warmaster: Wood Elves v Goblins

[nikharwood]

Well, a day off with few interruptions meant I could get my newly-painted Warmaster armies into action 

Simple set-up, with the Wood Elves deployed at the edge of their forest home, waiting, watching as the green horde arrives...

On the WE left flank, the Wild Riders and Dryads are led by the Spell Weaver on his Warhawk:


On the far right, the Glade Riders sit restlessly, supporting the Glade Guard...


...with the General marshalling the troops:


The Goblin battle line is drawn-up:


- with the Wolf Riders on the right, on top of the hill:


The trolls are itching for a scrap...




...and the bulk of the force is confident in the presence of the Giant:


The Goblins begin their attack - with the Wolf Riders hurtling recklessly forwards:


A couple of units of trolls amble forward, but the rest of the army stalls & squabbles, in what is going to be a recurring theme in this battle:


The Wild Riders need no encouragement to break from the treeline and engage the Wolf Riders to their front:


They make short work of this engagement...




On the Wood Elf right, the battle lines decide to take the initiative in the face of the unruly green tide:


In the next turn, the Goblin army fail all of their command rolls...allowing the Wild Riders to press their advantage further:


Even with the Troll regeneration, it's short & brutal:


The rest of the Wood Elf army stutters forward and then mimics the opposition by standing around vaguely staring at them...allowing the Goblin front ranks to charge in:

[note - I got this wrong, forgetting that Goblins fear elves and can't charge on initiative...remembered this after this turn...]



A combat of mixed success really, showing how vulnerable the Glade Guard are when caught in the open; the Eternal Guard are pretty tough though - saw off the opposition and consolidated their position:


The Wood Elves regain their momentum and move forwards, pinning the Goblin horde on pretty-much its baseline:






Starting to mix it up:






The Eternal Guard doing their job, grinding away at the greenskin horde:




But are killed in the end - a valiant effort though:


The Goblin lines get more and more depleted:




The bloody melee continues, with the Giant getting into the action:




It's vicious, and he's as hard-as-nails, but he had some poor attack rolls followed by same appalling saves...


The Wild Riders are on a roll:


And the Goblins capitulate...


You know what, I fecking love Warmaster - in all its lovely variants - and it's superb to be playing the original again 

I can see some more Fantasy armies in the near future 

[Fenton]

It has always been underrated...ok some of the knights are too powerful but over all one of the best fantasy games out there

[kyussinchains]

Great report, great armies and great setup!

I too love warmaster, being a recent convert, I can't believe just how different (read:better) it is to warhammer

Surprised there wasn't much notable shooting from the elves, I would have gotten the archers stuck in to disrupt and break up brigades as early as possible for the wild riders, but they didnt have any problems anyway!!

Looking forward to more fantasy armies and batreps

[Fenton]

I have the original rulebook...were there ever any supplements or changes thru the living book thing GW did?

[kyussinchains]

It has always been underrated...ok some of the knights are too powerful but over all one of the best fantasy games out there

I think using the warmaster ancients rule of 2 rounds of combat in any one turn helps mitigate that somewhat and stops cavalry rampaging all over the place, most of the WM players on specialist-arms tend to play with that tweak

[Fenton]

Thanks

Good to know

[nikharwood]

I too love warmaster, being a recent convert, I can't believe just how different (read:better) it is to warhammer

Surprised there wasn't much notable shooting from the elves, I would have gotten the archers stuck in to disrupt and break up brigades as early as possible for the wild riders, but they didnt have any problems anyway!!

Yep - I've always rated Warmaster as great...never looked back since playing it when it came out (still find it astonishing that it was 2000!)

There was some shootiness - but some appalling rolling to hit, so nothing of real effect to report really...

I have the original rulebook...were there ever any supplements or changes thru the living book thing GW did?

Yep - the living rulebook is great; Warmaster Armies has more army lists, the GW Annuals have some good stuff to (a lot culled from Warmag)... Let me know if you want anything & I'll share my drive with you rather than you having to trawl for it...

I think using the warmaster ancients rule of 2 rounds of combat in any one turn helps mitigate that somewhat and stops cavalry rampaging all over the place, most of the WM players on specialist-arms tend to play with that tweak

Yep - agreed...didn't do that in this game, but it does mitigate the uber-knights.

[Techno]

Great fun to look at..... and read that Nik !
Cheers - Phil

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Great report Nik! 

[Fenton]

Thanks Nik

I havnt played it for years but a few friends were thinking of getting back into it, so I was wondering what had happened in the intervening years

[nikharwood]

Thanks Nik

I havnt played it for years but a few friends were thinking of getting back into it, so I was wondering what had happened in the intervening years

It's like a fine wine and Michelle Pfeiffer...got better with age 

[petercooman]

Great stuff Nik!!

[jchaos79]

Really nice report and exciting battle. The armies are also great so far!

what armylist do you use for the game?

It is a real pleasure read warmaster battle reports!

well, just for comment, as far as I remember there is no rule that impide the goblins charge by initiative to elves, but... warmaster can be play in a very open way so it is not a critique.

[nikharwood]

Great stuff Nik!!

Really nice report and exciting battle. The armies are also great so far!

what armylist do you use for the game?

It is a real pleasure read warmaster battle reports!

well, just for comment, as far as I remember there is no rule that impide the goblins charge by initiative to elves, but... warmaster can be play in a very open way so it is not a critique.

Thanks chaps  

Army lists for these are from the Warmaster Trial Armies lists put together by various members of the Yahoo Warmaster group - I've shared it on my G Drive so you should be able to get it here: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B6FMo1_jZpeQd1c3azdXbHM0WWc/edit?usp=sharing

The "Fear Elves" rule is a special rule for the Goblin army list in this book  

[jchaos79]

Yep, absolutely. I'm not a goblin player, but I am a orc n goblin player, so there it is my confusion.

great. And... nice batle again!