The Glorious Tenth: Orcs & Goblins vs Empire - Warhammer Fantasy Battle

Anniversary time! Ten years ago today, we launched this humble hobby blog with the oft-asked question, "What is a Woffboot?"

To celebrate the occasion, we're bringing our the Warhammer Fantasy Battle armies that began this adventure - now this is a WoffBoot!

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Whether you are a long-time reader, or just stumbled across this blog while shopping for boots, thank you for reading and commenting over the past ten years. Much has changed, but we still like to paint minis and throw dice and hear from other people who enjoy this marvellous hobby.

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It's been a least six years since we last played, but with a lot of reference books (they still do WBF on BattleScribe!) and a good helping of 'oh never mind, we'll just redo that', I, Stylus, will be commanding my beloved greenskins into another Waaagh!

And I, Bold Kraken, will be taking charge of an army I always quite wanted to get but never managed - The Empire! 

Jubilee Procession

How does this work again? Is there a strat for extra magic items, or what?

After I'd vaguely got my head back round things like paying to upgrade a trooper into a musician and so on, I managed to stick this 2000 point list together. It's a little bit of everything, a sort of buffet of Imperial State soldiers. Far more disciplined than the rowdy rabble I'm up against, but perhaps a little less impressive in terms of how hard they hit. 

Very little magical items (I'd forgotten how they all worked), but some extra armour for my Captain and the ever-essential Dispel Scroll for emergencies, today carried by the lesser of two wizards. The magical lore I'm packing is Death to kill off characters and Shadows to mess with their heads, and I end up with a nice variety of horrible templates and hexes to hurl at the greenies. 

There was an initial plan to use Detachments (small units that can help their boss unit with extra charge reactions), but I botched the rules so I scrapped that in the end! Here's what my 2000 points earned me:

• Jurgen Hund, General of the Empire with pistol, hand weapon and The Armour of Silvered Steel
• Jonquil Boston, Hero of the Empire and Battle Standard Bearer, Full Plate Mail and hand weapon
• Wandilf, Wizard Lord of Shadow, a level 4 with Melkoth's Mistifying Miasma, Penumbral Pendulum, Pit of Shades and The Withering
• Janet the Bleak, Wizard of Death on horse, with Soulblight and the Purple Sun of Xereus and a Dispel Scroll
• Rev. Perminute, a Battle Priest with hand weapon and shield
• 20 Crossbowmen
• 10 Spearmen
• 15 Halberdiers, full command
• 15 Swordsmen, full command
• 10 Order Knights, full command
• 12 Greatswords, full command
• 5 Pistoliers
• a Great Cannon
• a Helblaster Volley Gun

Just Waaagh! More Time

Even with my vague recollection of the rules, I knew this wasn't an effective list. But I wanted to take a little of everything from my greenskin collection, and so ended up with quite the jambouree. Bonekrunk Stonesplitter, my Savage Orc Warboss, was first on the list, and had a good chance of being the toughest fighter on the field. I gave him the Fencer's Blades, so he'd outmatch anyone, and the Potion of Speed, for that one-turn boost to Initiative (crucial to hitting first, as I recall). 

My other characters were a Savage Big Boss Battle Standard - partly to keep combat resolution high and ensure I never lose Frenzy, but also because I really like the giant-head conversion. I also had a Lv 1 Savage Orc Shaman, mostly to carry around the Lucky Shrunken Head and boost the Magic Warpaint save to 5+. 

On the goblin side, I had a Lv 4 Night Goblin Great Shaman to bunker down with the archers and be me real magical heft. I gave him a Talisman of Protection for a 6+ ward, but eschewed the ubiquitous Dispel Scroll (because where's the fun in that?). And finally a Night Goblin Big Boss on a Great Cave Squig, because I like the model and it would be nice to have a lone model that could troubleshoot my flanks (with an Enchanted Shield to boost his armour save, and keep him alive). 

The bulk of the army was straightforward: a decent sized block of Savage Orcs Big 'Uns and a Sqiug Herd for melee; Night Goblin archers for babysitting the shaman and hiding Fanatics. Spider Riders, Wolf Riders and Squig Hoppers for three flavours of fast cavalry. A Boar Chariot and Mangler Squig for a spot of random violence. A Spear Chukka, Rock Lobba and Doom Diver for my artillery. And a trio of Trolls, because who doesn't love a troll?

• Bonekrunk Stonesplitter - Savage Orc Warboss. Fencer's Blades, Potion of Speed
• Shroom - Night Goblin Great Shaman - Lv4, Talisman of Preservation.
• Noggchoppa - Savage Orc Battle Standard Bearer
• Skullfink da Arkane - Savage Orc Shaman - Lv 1, Lucky Shrunken Head
• Hopsplat - Night Goblin Big Boss on Great Cave Squig, Light Armour, Enchanted Shield, Spear
• 22 x Savage Orcs - Additional hand weapons. Command Group
• 29 Night Goblin Spears - Full Command, 3 x Fanatics
• 5 x Goblin Wolf Riders - Spears, Light Armour, Short Bows, Musician
• 5 x Forest Goblin Spider Riders - Spears, Shields, Musician
• 24 x Squig Herd - 14 x Squigs, 10 x Herders
• 5 x Squig Hoppers
• 3 x Trolls
• Boar Chariot
• Spear Chukka
• Rock Lobba
• Doom Diver
• Mangler Squig

For spells, the Night Goblin Shaman rolled Sneaky Stabbin', Vindictive Glare, Night Shroud and Curse of Da Bad Moon. The Savage Orc Shaman hit the jackpot with Hand of Gork (I remember enough to know that's a good one!) 

It will be a very simple plan: whatever pays attention to me long enough and survives the march across the battlefield will go ahead and krump the enemy!

Terrain and Battle

Armies need a bit of space to breath in WFB, so we have an excellent expanse of grassy hills, near the edge of a classic village. A few ruins here and there, but nothing complex and no funny rules - we're struggling to remember so much anyway that we thought we'd skip that! 

Looking on from the sidelines, my daughters were unimpressed by such a flat landscape. "It's very boring," the youngest told me, she's far too used to 40K with clutter everywhere. But we're not here to admire the scenery, we're here to crack heads and manouever battalions!

Deployment

We deploy via Battle Chronicler, both deciding our layout in secret before seeing what the other has done. Stylus is on the North, I have the South. 

Their warmachines are watching over them, all three on a hill, with wolf riders and the boar chariot guarding the western flank. A motley pack of squig and spider riders lurk in the village, ready to surge forward and hit my sides. 

On the other side, the Empire is arrayed in neat and disciplined rows of state troopers. The cannon is on one extreme flank, looking across the whole field and guarded by a few spears. I am, however, hugging the back line, keen to stay away from the enemy for as long as possible. It all reminds me of something from an Asterix cartoon, Roman Empire against Gauls perhaps. 

The bulk of the heavy infantry take the centre, with the characters scattered amongst them, and the heavy cav at the back, ready for a counterstrike.

Here's the overview:

And Stylus wins the roll-off for first turn, but I get priority for our Vanguard moves, sending my Pistoliers right up into the middle of the board. The Spider Riders make for the fences, and the Wolf Riders head for the nearest horseflesh. Then off we go!

Orcs & Goblins - Turn 1

My long-awaited Waaagh! begins with ... the Savage Orcs failing their Animosity test. Clearly the Big 'Uns are overly-excited to get to grips with the 'umies and my entire command group has to stop and slap some sense into them. Good start.

My Wolf Riders make the only charge - smashing into their opposing Pistoliers, who shoot a couple of goblins out of their saddles on the way in.

Elsewhere, the army mostly behaves itself. The Trolls pass Stupidity and lope forwards. The Mangler Squig careens forward, followed by the marching Squig Herd and Night Goblins. The Boar Chariot moves to back up the Wolf Riders' flank.

Over the the village, the Spider Riders are unopposed and move to threaten the Great Cannon. The Squig Hoppers jump as far as as the wall, and Hopsplat the Big Boss leaps all the way over into clear ground (and then thinks better of it, and uses his reroll ability to make a much shorter jump and hide out of the cannon's sights).

The artillery opens fire - and misses with everything. The Doom Diver is even tangled up in his launch ropes, and will be missing next turn too.

In the Magic Phase, the Night Goblin Shaman launches Da Bad Moon across the field, to cause problems later (hopefully not for me).

The last action of my turn is the combat between the Pistoliers, who wipe them the remaining Wolf Riders without much effort.

It's all going perfectly!

Empire - Turn 1

It's been a strong start for me, and I do my best to keep that ball rolling by keeping the bulk of my army perfectly still! If I don't move, the dice gods won't see me...

To the East, the Spears move up and charge the Spider Riders, who promptly flee. I'd forgotten you could do that! On the other side, the Pistoliers nip round the side of the Chariot, getting out of its charge arc so they can shoot it up and then head for the war machines later. 

The Magic Phase starts well with my Shadow Wizard landing a Pit of Shades on the Trolls. Two of them immediately get swallowed, but the last one is too stupid to notice and hangs on. 

Alas, I've forgotten about the Bad Moon, which rolls forward over the Volley Gun! But luck it with me, it's attacking on Toughness, so the crew try to shelter under their weapon until it goes away. Only one hangs on with enough power, the other two get sucked to their doom! I'll need to deal with it next turn, too, it's right in the middle of my lines now.

Lucky I've still got the guns, though - the last Troll cops a cannon ball, the Volley Gun and Crossbows wipe the the Mangler Squig from the map and the Pistoliers continue their hot streak by taking three wounds off the Chariot. A few more turns like this, and I'll be golden!

Orcs & Goblins - Turn 2

In this round of greenskin discipline, the Spider Riders decide not to rally and continue to scuttle into the village.

Elsewhere, the Boar Chariot is unable to charge the Pistoliers and so makes the worst of all possible choices: spins around and presents its rear to them for an easy charge (my tactics weren't great with that one).

The thinking was to aim for where I was probably going to be next turn, but that's always the problem with Light Cavalry, they're never going where you expect them to!

The Squig Herd and Night Goblins (so far my most reliable units) continue forward, and the Savage Orcs finally get it together sufficiently to march ahead. The Great Squig and Squig Hoppers also bounce along the flank.

In Magic, Kraken uses all his Dispel Dice to stop another Curse of Da Bad Moon (boo!). I throw the rest of my dice at Hand of Gork, which flings the Savage Orc downfield, perilously close to getting counter-charged (I was keen to get stuck in).

This, I'm quite happy to allow, I reckon I can take them down before the others arrive.

In Shooting, the artillery finally find their range (although my target allocation wasn't the best), the Doom Diver takes out a couple of Flagellants, and the Rock Lobba squashes two Knights. The Spear Chukka misses again, but the Night Goblin archers fell a couple more unarmed Flagellants.

No combat yet, so time to weather the Empire counter-stroke.

Empire - Turn 2

The casualties for the Greatswords and Rock Lobba take place next turn. We got ahead of ourselves. 

I have them just where I want them - time to capitalise on my strong first turn!

The Halberds and Knights are just a bit too far out for charges, so I opt to hang tight and hit the Squig Herd with crossbow bolts and Volley Gun fire. Lots of casualties, but those lunatics are immune to psychology and aren't going to panic. The Cannon loads Grapeshot and blasts a couple of Squig Hoppers away, then the Spears charge Hopsplat on his cave squig, taking a couple of losses to its teeth but skewering the Goblin himself before he can get going.

I gave that idiot Hopsplat all the armour I could, and he still failed all of his 3+ armour rolls!

In the middle, the Flagellants pour into the Savage Orcs, but nobody manages to back them up. Both Greatswords and Swordsmen fail their charges, presumably happy to let the madmen do the heavy lifting! At least the Pistoliers make their charge, swarming the Boar Chariot and hacking it to bits with aplomb before overrunning into the Rock Lobber.

Flagellants start a combat by beating themselves up. The more than do themselves in, the harder the rest fight, and these guys fight like the clappers! I've also made it harder for the Orcs by hitting them with a boosted Melkoth's Miasma and The Withering, so they have penalties to WS, BS, M, I and T. The Flagellants take a hefty chunk out of the unit.

A terrifying amount of casualties - something like 13 Savage Orcs - considering this unit is the best I've got left!

Alas, it's nothing like enough - combined with the losses to fire they've already taken and the magical weapons of the Orc Boss, the entire unit gets wiped. Then the Savage Orcs overrun into the Greatsword unit. We got a bit tangled in rules at this point, and fought a second round straight away. This shouldn't have happened until the next turn, in fact, so we just kept the resolution results and carried it forwards. 

Orcs & Goblins - Turn 3

My Savage Orcs took a right savaging from just one unit (on reflection, it was probably unwise to have placed them so perilously - if all three Empire units had hit them, they'd have been dogfood). But their Frenzy continues unabated. The Spider Riders also decide they want to rejoin the battle and rally (being Fast Cavalry, they could have done this automatically last turn, but I guess goblins are cowardly).

Despite the loss of their Big Boss, the surviving Squig Hoppers bounce into the Great Cannon, so that's a bonus too.

And because everything can't go to plan - both Squig Herd and Night Goblins fail their Animosity!

This isn't as disastrous as it seems, since their results table means they just have to charge into the nearest enemy. It's what I wanted to do with the Squig Herd anyway and I think even thirty Night Goblins might be a match for a single Volley Gun crewman.

So the Squig Herd crashes into the Halberdiers and the Night Goblins hit the Volley Gun (spewing out Fanatics as they do - and hitting nothing, as they're way out of range).

There's little to do in the Magic Phase, as Kraken dispels another Curse of Da Bad Moon from appearing. In Shooting, the only war machine that can fire is the Doom Diver, who minimum range is too close for the Pistoliers, but with greenskin low cunning, I can aim behind the unit and scatter back in with my flying goblin. I score a direct hit! But then fail to kill any. I don't think the Doom Diver crew will live long enough to regret their ineptitude.

Combat is much more promising. The Halberdiers cut down a handful of Squigs, but the little monsters chomp through half the unit (I'd forgotten what combat beasts they are - die like goblins, hit like black orcs). The Halberdiers flee from combat and are cut down by the pursuing Squigs. The Volley gun suffers a similar fate to the masses of night goblins swarming over it.

There's a sticky bit in the middle when the Night Goblins unleash their fanatics mid-charge, but Stylus sends them all off to one side. Nobody is hurt - yet! They're all spinning in the middle of a lot of pricey units, though...

This carnage causes the Knights and Amethyst Wizard to panic and flee from the table! It appears the Empire line has been broken by Night Goblins.

Come back, you gibbering cowards! This, as Stylus cheerfully points out, is the great disadvantage of loitering at the back and hoping the enemy won't reach you.

The Squig performance continues on the other flank, as the Squig Hoppers eat the Great Cannon. On the opposite end of the field, the Pistoliers overrun the Rock Lobba and move onto the Spear Chukka (oh, I wish I'd placed an Orc Bully among them).

In the central battle, the Greatswords will be swinging last, so the Savage Orcs get the rare benefit of striking first. Let by the frenzied warboss, Bonekrunk and his lads thump two-thirds of the Empire elite, suffering only a few losses in return. The Grey Wizard takes on his opposite number, the Savage Orc Shaman, and they take a wound off each other.

The Greatswords lose the combat badly, but they are Stubborn and hold fast - knowing that their general is reading the Swordsmen for a flank charge to save them.

Empire - Turn 3 

And what a flank charge it is! The Swordsmen come thundering in.

The Crossbows try a combat reform, but their musician hasn't plugged his keyboard in, so there's no shooting. Those Fanatics might just do the job for me, though! 

The fighting gets started after a rather poor Magic Phase, in which I undercook an attempt to Wither the orcs again and lose all my power dice. 

I'd forgotten this was a factor in the Magic Phase - fail to make the minimum cost for a spell, and that wizard stops casting for the turn. This is probably why I throw so many dice at my spells and miscast with alacrity.

The Savage Orcs start screaming challenges, and I reluctantly accept, letting my General duel the enemy leader. Alas, I'd forgotten my magic armour in the heat of battle, and just fail to save enough wounds that I die before I can even strike - the bugger has swigged his Potion of Speed at just the right moment!

Instead, I concentrate on killing the rank and file. But so does Stylus, and we're left with the Greatswords and my Wizard Lord dying, as well as several Swordsmen. Although there's only a few Orcs left, I don't beat them despite the Flank charge. And if I manage to hang on, they also manage to reform into my faces, and I realise there's quite a lot still to arrive behind me. 

The Pistoliers are my bright spot, killing another War Machine and practicing their dressage into the last. 

Orcs & Goblins - Turn 4

No Animosity to trouble me this turn, which is helpful as the Spider Riders are lined up for a perfect flank change on the Swordsmen. The last Squig Hopper jumps at the flank of the Spearman (but impales himself immediately and we'll say no more about that).

The Fanatics whirl through the Squig Herd, killing enough of the goblin handlers that the rest of the Squigs go wild and run everywhere, chomping a few Crossbowmen and Night Goblins and two of the Fanatics (the third one escapes the carnage unharmed).

Straight to the Magic phase, and I continue my long-held tradition of reckless endangerment. The Savage Orc Shaman. I attempt to cast Hand of Gork on the Night Goblins (to draw them out of crossbow range) and - despite being quite frugal with my power dice - roll three 6s. That means the spell goes off with Irresistible Force and the Night Goblins are dragged safely across to the right flank.

It also means a Calamitous Detonation right in the middle of the combat. Half a dozen Savage Orcs and the same number of Swordsmen are obliterated by the magical explosion. Bonekrunk himself manages to come away unscathed, thanks to his warpaint, and hacks away at the survivors, who also have to face the Spider Riders on their flank.

The Swordsmen break and flee, managing to out-pace both Spider Riders and Savage Orcs, as the edge of the battlefield looks very inviting.

Oblivious to the collapse of their own lines, the Pistoliers take out the Doom Diver and then prance about for a bit, quite satisfied with how their battle is going.

Empire - Turn 4

Not much to say here! The Crossbows kill off the Fanatic that is their only target, the Pistoliers are convinced they've won the day and keep trotting around the empty back field, and my Swords can't rally, but can't quite reach the safety of the edge of the field. Instead, the Spearmen attempt to take the Savage Orcs on from the front, but prove extremely inefficient as a speedbump, merely dying in seconds and helping the Orcs chase my banners. My big yellow banners. 

Orcs & Goblins - Turn 5

With three units left, my army has become very simplified. Although that doesn't stop what remains of the Savage Orcs from failing their Animosity once again (I don't know how - there's not many of them left to argue with). They charge into the fleeing Swordsmen, seeing them off.

The Spider Riders rally, and the Night Goblins pull faces at the distant Crossbowmen.

And that's really all she wrote! With nothing left in effective range, we skip over the last couple of rounds and start adding up the damage.

Scores

• Orcs & Goblins: 1750 destroyed + 100 general slain + 25 banner captured (x 3) = 1,925
• Empire: 1,268 destroyed = 1,268

Result: 19 : 13 - Victory to the Orcs & Goblins!

Locker Room

That was incredible! I couldn't have wished for a better demonstration of just how madcap a greenskin army can be. Lots of characterful moments (I'm glad I got in my signature Calamitous Detonation) and a game that swung back and forth.

Yep - I started out so well that I was beginning to feel bad for the Greenskins. Never get complacent, you fool!

I'm sure we got a lot of rules wrong (even writing it up, I'm spotting a few), but probably not many more than we previously did. Not having all the rules on the datasheet was a drag, as we did lots of flicking back and forth through the rulebooks. That said, not having to think about stratagems, command points or overlapping buffs was a breath of fresh air. It was very bracing to be totally at the mercy of the dice gods - if you fail that roll, you just fail it. Tough luck!

It was also impressively quick, at least if you took away all the rule checking (which you would with familiarity). Many units can't shoot, so that's usually quite quick. And I'd forgotten how much fun the Magic Phase can be, the tactical mini-game of trying to get your opponent to use up their dispel dice on double bluffs before unleashing the real showstoppers.

After such a long time away, I'm very much warmed up to Fantasy Battle. If nothing else, the spectacle of rank and flank on the table is something special (this is a visual hobby after all, that's why we paint the miniatures). It won't be this long before our next game, I reckon.

Absolutely! I have been working out a Warriors of Chaos list, it's been a long and lonely time for my collection of chariots and monsters. 

I think another factor that helped was the army selection - no massive 'death star' units or killer combinations. The last edition of WFB did lean towards massive hordes that could steamroll units, but we didn't really have that (unless you're a Pistolier - what was happening there?). Even the most 'killy' unit of Savage Orcs was riding its luck in the battle, and there was a nice back-and-forth to the combat.

Plenty of character on display without having a lot of souped-up Characters. And nice to see how even the toughest chaps only have a few wounds and can swiftly vanish under the blades of lesser types. Take note, 40K!

So I think the WoffBoot moral of the day is: approach the game in the right way, and you'll have a lot more fun.