Tower Heist: Dwarfs vs Orcs & Goblins

Battle rages over a genuine artefact of the old times ... cardboard scenery from White Dwarf!

We return to the Old World once again as Monkey casts away his successful run with the Dwarfs and takes up command of the Empire (in anticipation of the Empire force he's building for himself - watch this space).

I, Stylus, will command Orcs & Goblins. Partly because I'm a glutton for punishment, and partly because I've just got a lot of Trolls ready for battle (see previous reason).

Nuln But The Brave - Empire

• General of the Empire
  Light armour & Shield.
  Armour of Destiny, Sword of Might
• 20 x Veteran State Troops
  Command group. Halberds, Light armour & Shields. Drilled.
  
• 20 x State Troops
  Command group. Hand weapons, Shields.
• 10 x State Missile Troops
  Crossbows.
• 10 x State Missile Troops
  Crossbows.
• 5 x Pistoliers
  Veteran. Brace of pistols, Heavy armour. Vanguard.
• Great Cannon
• Helblaster Volley Gun

Rock 'n Troll - Orcs & Goblins

• Grushnog Ironsplitta - Black Orc Warboss
  Full plate armour and Shield.
  Da Choppiest Choppa
• Howdoo - Goblin Oddgit
  Level 2 Wizard
  Bad Moon Rizin', Itchy Nuisance
• 10 x Orc Mob
  Boss. Hand weapons, Warbows, Light armour, Skirmishers.
• 30 x Night Goblins Mob
  Command group. Thrusting spears, Shields, Netters 
  2 x Fanatics
• 6 x Goblin Spider Rider Mob
  Boss and musician. Cavalry spears, Shortbows, Light armour & Shields.
• 6 x Goblin Wolf Rider Mob
  Boss and musician. Cavalry spears, Shortbows, Light armour & Shields. Reserve move.
• 6 x Stone Troll Mob
  Additional hand weapons

Mission and deployment

I've played The Lonely Tower scenario before and it's an early favourite, especially as we're adding a proper tower to the scenario (it can be occupied by infantry with unit strength 10 or less, and fighting to get them out is properly brutal).

In true narrative style, the Empire are defending the village. Both units of Crossbows take up positions behind the stone walls, with a Great Cannon on the extreme right.

On the high ground to the left go the State Troops, Veteran State Troops (led by the General) and Pistoliers.

The greenskin deployment is even simpler: Night Goblins and Trolls in the centre, with the Black Orc Warboss hanging at the back to keep order, along with the Goblin Oddgit.

The Orc Arrer Boyz are next, aiming to make a dash for the tower (as my only unit that can occupy it), and the two fast cavalry - Spider Riders and Wolf Riders - on the extreme right flank.

The Empire wins the first turn, and we're away!

Turn 1 - Empire

With not much in range, the whole Empire line moves forward. The green Crossbows don't make a play for the tower yet, and snipe away one of the Night Goblins.

Monkey then fires the Great Cannon and - in a shocking turn of events - it doesn't blow up and ploughs through four Night Goblins.

Turn 1 - Orcs & Goblins

The Stone Trolls pass their Stupidity tests, helped by encouraging words from the Black Orc Warboss, and lumber forward towards the central forest. The Arrer Boys run behind them, still with eyes on the tower.

The Night Goblins head off on the other side of the tower, intending to reckon with the flank that's been shooting at them.

The fast cavalry elements move to harass the advancing big units. The Spider Riders hang back on the hill, but the Wolf Riders move to threaten the flank of the State Troops.

They may not have realised that this also puts them within an easy charge range...

Turn 2 - Empire

Sure enough, the State Troops charge the Wolf Riders, who are far too close to the table edge to risk fleeing. So they have to take the charge on the chin, get predictably thumped, and flee off the table, pursued by the State Troops.

The rest of the Empire line is more circumspect: the Veteran State Troops pull back from the Trolls. The Pistoliers try to shoot the creatures, but with the forest in the way, they only success in murdering a few squirrels.

The Crossbows and Cannon continue to pick on the Night Goblins, stripping away another rank, but the glowering presence of the Black Orc Warboss prevents them from panicking.

Turn 2 - Orcs & Goblins

Flinging their crude grappling hooks, the Arrer Boyz scale the tower and occupy it. If they're still there by the end of the game, 200 VPs is mine!

On their flank, the Night Goblins continue to shuffle forward, stopping just short of the stone wall (they're keen on getting cover after all the shots they've been taking).

On the other flank, the Trolls crash through the forest and hit the Veteran State Troops head-on.

With no enemy to charge (they were hoping for a flank change on the State Troops), the Spider Riders run directly towards the Volley Gun (in the spirit of 'he can't shoot all of us, can he?').

Combat with the Trolls does not go well. Surprisingly, it's not the hitting that is the problem, but the wounding lets me down badly. 

At least their thick, regenerating hides prove difficult to damage, and I only lose one Troll as they fall back through the trees in good order.

Turn 3 - Empire

Demonstrating their Drilled discipline, the Veteran State Troops reform on the spot and then declare a charge on the flank of the Spider Riders. I wasn't expecting that, but the bugs get squished except for the boss, who falls back right to the edge of the table, but somehow clings on.

The Volley Gun opens up on the Trolls, scoring a decent number of hits, and felling one of them. 

The Pistoliers join in, but they're really fast cavalry harassers, and their firepower is not their main asset (despite the name), so none of their shots hit home.

The Empire left flank continues to shoot away Night Goblins, but there's always plenty more where they came from.

The State Troops return from chasing wolves, and start to march towards the forest flank.

Turn 3 - Orcs & Goblins

After two punishing turns, the greenskins are in a place to make things happen! They start by hexing the Pistoliers with Itchy Nuisance, dropping their Toughness, and then the Night Goblins release a pair of Fanatics.

One of the Fanatics immediately drops dead from mushroom overdose, and the other one wheels into the Crossbow unit, who calmly open ranks to let him pass through, only losing one of their number.

The lone Spider Rider, now forgotten, scuttles around the flanks, ready to threaten the Volley Gun in the the next turn.

With their Fanatics a busted flush, the Night Goblins charge the Crossbows, but fall short and stagger to a halt just inches away.

Above them in the tower ramparts, the Arrer Boys shoot at the Pistoliers, dropping two of them.

The Stone Trolls are more eager, and charge through the forest once again to hit the Veteran State Troops.

It's a familiar story of the Trolls inexplicably whiffing their wounding rolls on the halberdiers. They manage to Stomp and Vomit on a few (what a great combo), but the ranks of the Veteran State Troops win out (Monkey has carefully kept them out of the trees, so they don't become disordered).

Even the shouting presence of their general can't stop the Trolls from breaking and fleeing. The Veteran State Troops pursue, but the Trolls are clearly in a hurry, and cover half the battlefield on their way back!

Turn 4 - Empire

Straightforward tasks for the Empire: they charge the fleeing Trolls, who race another massive distance towards their own side.

The Crossbows shoot at point-blank range at the Night Goblins. The Cannon tries to depress its firing angle, but manages to blow off the head of one of it's own Crossbowmen.

The State Troops keep marching towards the tower, the Volley Gun searches for a decent target and plinks away at the luckless Night Goblines, and the remaining Pistoliers trot around in search of something to shoot at.

Turn 4 - Orcs & Goblins

Predictably, the Trolls fail to rally and dash off the table with a flourish (I rolled a 12, 11 and 12 for my flee rolls, so they really covered some ground!)

What's left of my army does charge in. The lone Spider Rider hits the Volley Gun crew, who try to fend it off with swabbers and slow-matches.

The one-third of the Night Goblins that made it across the table charge into the Crossbows, aided by the Black Orc Warboss, who's feeling pretty murderous by now. He cuts down five of the Empire men single-handed, and the Night Goblins account for two more.

That does leave two survivors, who calmly fall back from the combat and reload their crossbows.

The Volley Gun crew shows less fortitude, and as two of them are eaten by giant spider, the last one flees and is cut down.

Turn 5 - Empire

With night drawing in fast, the Empire need to capture the tower to be assured of victory. Both units of State Troops move into charge range and hope they haven't left it too late.

The Great Cannon sees the Night Goblin flank and hastily loads grapeshot - but too hastily and they scramble to recover their machine and the fuse splutters out.

And the Pistoliers finally find a task worthy of them - they fall upon the lone Spider Rider and gun him out the saddle. 

Turn 5 - Orcs & Goblins

With very little left on the table, the Goblin Oddgit backs up against the tower and throws hexs at the large Crossbow unit, while the Orcs in the tower shoot arrows at them. Half the unit are felled and the rest fall back towards their original entrenchments.

Leaving the Night Goblins to mop up the last two Crossbowmen (which, with a breath-taking display of adequacy, they do), the Black Orc Warboss sprints back to the tower, to see what he can salvage there.

We roll for the end of the game ... and it continues!

Turn 6 - Empire

Both units of State Troops hit the tower at once, although only five from each unit can fight (it's a bit of a scramble through the windows and doors).

Meanwhile, the Pistoliers continue their assassination trail and try to take out the Black Orc Warboss - but their shots just bounce off his plate armour.

The Empire General leads the attack on the tower, and they succeed in killing a few of the orc defenders. However, troops within a tower can be very hard to shift - unless they catastrophically fail their break test and then all are immediately slaughtered.

Turn 6 - Orcs & Goblins

Hoping to improve on their performance against the Crossbows, the Night Goblins simultaneously hit the Great Cannon and Crossbow unit.

That's as good as it gets, because the gobbos then manage to throw nets over themselves and the combat drags itself out to a draw.

Trying to save the situation, the Black Orc Warboss charges in and hacks down a whole rank of State Troops.

However, the Empire troops can smell victory and the reassuring presence of the General holds the State Troops steady. The ranks close in on the greenskin warlord as the Empire claims the tower.

Result - 731: 200

Victory to the Empire!

Locker Room

That was great fun - I'm really enjoying the Tower scenario as a means of additional victory points, and some built-in narrative to a battle. There's other rules about claiming points for special of scenery that I'll have to try out.

And it could have made a difference! Despite my army crumbling in the traditional fashion for Orcs & Goblins, if the Orcs had managed to hold onto the tower (which should have been easy) and the Night Goblins had managed to destroy their final targets (again, not a difficult task - unless they netted themselves), the points tally would have been much closer.

Obviously, fielding six Strone Trolls in a battle this size was something of an eggs-in-one-basket gamble, and I really needed to keep the Warboss alongside them - not only to prevent Stupidity, but also to add some more killing power when they flub their attacks. I was impressed by their durability though, and being able to Stomp and Vomit on an enemy is a special kind of coup de grace.

I'm glad Monkey got some more joy from his war machines this time around, especially as they'll be featuring in his own army. At close range, with an Engineer to supervise, that Volley Gun could be fun.

And I don't think anyone excelled with their use of Fast Cavalry this game (the Spider Rider came closest, but that was more luck than judgement). I remember now that there is a knack to using them - and they're a little less manoeuvrable than they were - but they can be very effective once you master them.

Eight games in and I'm still loving The Old World. I already feel like these should be stitched together as a narrative.