Bretonnia vs Dwarves 2250 pts battle report (pictures)

"Warriors grab 'Bambi'. Longbeards move up just past the awesomely desirable Buffy, carefully not grabbing her scrumptuous body. Western Hammerers continue guarding Longbeard flank." [Ed. Hmmm... what sort of battle is this ?!]

(A well summarised Warhammer tournament report, good overhead battle photos)

source : warhammer.org.uk

credit : David L

23-May-2009

Dwarf Army Warhammer tournament list

Dwarf Lord, shieldbearers, great weapon
MRoSteel, Resistance, Stone, MRoChallenge, Furnace 286 points
Thain BSB, Strollaz, Guarding 175 points
Runesmith, shield, great weapon, spellbreaker, spellbreaker, Stone, Furnace 136 points
Thain, shield, great weapon, Stone 76 points

10 Thunderers, shields (150 points)
15 warriors, shields, banner, musician (150 pts)
24 Longbeards, full command, Battle, Stoicism (363 pts)
17 Hammerers, shields, full command, Stoicism (276 pts)
13 Hammerers, shields, banner, champion, Battle (218 pts)
bolt thrower, engineer, Penetrating (86 pts)
bolt thrower engineer, Burning (65 pts)
Stone Thrower, engineer, Accuracy, Penetrating, Burning (155 pts)
Organ Gun (120 pts)

2250 exactly

Bretonnian Warhammer tournament army list

Fay Enchantress with Lore of Metal - Brass, Lead, Silver, Spirit of the Forge
Damsel with Life (Howler Wind and Rain Lord)
Damsel with Beasts (Crow's Feast, Hunter's Spear)
BSB with Wyrmlance, +1 CR virtue

7 Realm Knights
7 Errants with Errantry Banner
5 Grails with 4+ ward vs shooting banner
5 Errants with nothing
5 Errants with nothing
5 Mounted Yeomen
3 Pegasus Knights
11 archers
10 skirmished archers
Trebuchet

Justin's statement is he wanted to try playing magic heavy Bretonnians. Since the normal Prophetess only has access to sucky lores, he considers the Fay Enchantress necessary. Can't really argue with that. This has 11 power dice, plus her bound spell. It's a special character, which I generally dislike, but anything that isn't a bunch of knight busses is so nice to see!

Scenario was grabbing 3 women - Muffy, Buffy and Bambi [Ed. Lol, I love it. Do you have any pictures ?]. Beforehand, you secretly nominate the "woman of your dreams" and holding her is worth +200 VPs while the others are just +75. Once you have a woman, you cannot march, so I had to be really careful about grabbing one and losing ALL mobility. This opponent and this scenario are a perfect pairing for me, as now I get to really use Strollaz rune!! I made the "woman of my dreams" the one in the middle (Buffy).

Ironically, this table has one of the best hills for castling in the tournament and I'm not going to castle. Big Hammerers and Runesmith take the front of that hill with Thunderers and Stone Thrower behind. Warriors deploy with BSB and Lord west of them, then Longbeards, then other Hammerers with Thain. A forest nicely anchors my western flank. Organ Gun on west tightly between Hammerers and Longbeards, S7 in Longbeard-Warrior gap. Flaming bolt thrower further east at my edge.

He deploys far too spread out. Realm with Fay on extreme east, skirmished archers near them to move into tower. Going west, big errants with Damsel, trebuchet, Grails with BSB and Damsel, forest, Pegasus, Errants, archers, Mounted Yeomen, Errants.

I strollaz forward then win the first turn. (No prayer since Fay makes blessing automatic)


Turn 1

Lord and BSB leave warriors for Longbeards, which make the point of my wedge. Western Hammerers wheel slightly west, they just need to guard the flank. Warriors advance to just out of charge range, eastern Hammerers get off hill. Since going first means no range to shoot, Thunderers advance to front of hill.

Once again, when I go first, my shooting does squat. Stone Thrower hits Errants perfectly but only kills 1. Everything else misses.

End of Dwarf turn 1

His middle barely advances. The Fay moves up just to ensure magic range. West flank begins the large turning movement. Pegasus are terrified of the Organ Gun and fly west. (???)

Fay rolls Irresistable Force for Spirit of the Forge to kill 6 Hammerers. Damsel puts up Howler Wind (plastic flame thingy intended for wall of fire used as a reminder). Trebuchet guesses wrong at Longbeards, scatters and produces a partial on the Organ Gun, which kills it!!

End of Bretonnian turn 1

Turn 2

Warriors grab 'Bambi'. Longbeards move up just past the awesomely desirable Buffy, carefully not grabbing her scrumptuous body. Western Hammerers continue guarding Longbeard flank.

Stone Thrower lands on the Fay Enchantress and drops 4 knights, but Thunderers fail to get any more. Bolt throwers take out 2 Grails.

End of Dwarf turn 2

Big Errants charge warriors who flee and drop Bambi. Bretonnians choose not to "maiden in the way" for Bambi and fail the charge. Western Errants charge Hammerers. Mounted Yeomen attempted to flank charge Hammerers along with, but failed by 2 inches.

Fay abandons the remaining 3 Realms and hides behind the tower. They move towards the eastern bolt thrower. Grails shift east. The western movement continues.

Magic and shooting do little this turn.

Dwarf armour is too much for the wimpy Errants and my champion smashes his champion. But my Thain meets blessing and kills none. With so few attacks coming in, I should have used great weapons on the regular guys not just the Thain. Knights hold.

End of Bretonnian turn 2


Turn 3

Warriors rally. Longbeards grab Buffy and face east.

Stone Thrower smashes 2 Errants. Bolt throwers get another 2 Grails, so just one lives (plus Damsel and BSB with him). Thunderers, at short range to the Realms, entirely fail to wound, much less kill.

Errants fighting Hammerers break, I restrain.

End of Dwarf turn 3

Errants charge eastern Hammerers. Grail charges Warriors. With so few attacking, I hold. Last 3 Realms charge bolt thrower.

Errants rally. Pegasus finally fly behind me. Yeomen and other western Errants manuever to triple charge Hammerers. Magic and shooting do little.

Errants get 2 Hammerers while I get one of them and wound the Damsel. Forgot to make Runesmith use his great weapon. Grail and BSB only kill 2 warriors. Realms kill only the engineer. All hold.

End of Bretonnian turn 3


Turn 4

Western Hammerers wheel to keep all Errants in front and prepare to smash more tin cans. Longbeards turn around.

With no useful targets, my Stone Thrower hits the building and kills 3 archers. With no targets at all, the Thunderers also shoot it and waste awesome luck killing 2 irrelevant archers. Hammerers finish off one Damsel and Bretonnians make their break tests.

End of Dwarf turn 4

This game was going way too slowly, so no more pictures [Ed. Booo !]

Fay decides she needs to help and charges into my Warriors alongside the Grail. Errants and yeomen charge western Hammerers. I MRoChallenge Pegasus into the Longbeards.

Fay is enough to break the warriors and all pursue into the bolt thrower. Pegasus champion dies, they break and I pursue into the flank of the Fay. Hammerer units hold happily.

Fay initiative tests hurt, the bolt thrower crew gives up combat resolution, but I wound her twice and the crew finishes that Damsel. Western Hammerers chop up yeomen and pound some Errants, but all the Bretonnians hold.

I thought we could race through turn 5, so we started. We didn't get to do the bottom of the turn though. I'm confident the top of 5 was enough of a points push it didn't matter - half Fay and half Damsel vs half BSB, half big Hammerers and two bolt throwers.

I end up killing 2 Damsels and the Pegasus Knights, half points of every other cavalry unit, plus half the Fay. Plus Buffy.

I lose Warriors and their banner, the Organ Gun, bolt throwers, and half the big Hammerers.

Victory for the Dwarfs!!