Orcs against Gnomes, Imps and Elves in Fantastic Battles (15mm).

 

Orcs against Gnomes and Elves

A 1200 point game of Fantastic Battles.

Orc warlord Ba’arn Dor having defeated the Gnomes and Imps was pushing deeper into Gnome/Imp territory. This took the Orcs closer to the Elven borders. It was no surprise then that as the Gnomes fell back with the Orcs in wild pursuit, the Elves surged forth from their woodland realm. With the various forces hastily drawing up their battle lines, battle was soon to be joined.

To represent the hastily assembled forces deployment will be randomised by drawing counters from a bag as is usually done in the action phase. Each player needs to allocate a counter to each character and any units they may be leading. As counters are drawn from the bag players must deploy characters and their units. Once all characters and units are deployed roll for mishaps as usual.

So deployment was fun with one treeman rushing forward, my elf skirmish cavalry going backwards but best for us was poor Phil lost a company of Orc Boar riders to disease, this proved to be quite important when that unit got into combat later in the game. 

The Wood Elf skirmishers took up a good position on the edge of the woods on the right flank. 

Two units of Orc Boar riders, tough units with Fierce Charge but one is now weakened.  

Ian's forces of  Dingly Dell was a mainly flying force, fast and agile. 

Maisie the Dragon proved very effective  in melee. 

Phil's Orcs on our left flank, quite strong but we chose to ignore these units with the Imps distracting them with a giant eagle to chase. 

The start of what turned into a multi-unit melee right in the centre of the board. Here Ian used the blink spell very effectively to foil some of Phil's moves. Phil was also having one of those days when his dice did not like him. 

The main battle seen from the Orcs side. 

Several units all in one big melee. The elves and the gnomes/imps slowly got the better of it due to some very good dice throwing and those nimble flyers being able to get in on the enemy flanks. 

Elf light troops battle Orc archers in the woods on the right. 

My elf sorceress was very useful with her 'empower' spell. 

One of Ian's Gnome/Imp dice throws, needing 5+ to inflict damage. The dice really seemed to favour us today (how come my own dice were so good today and so poor last week).  

The Orc archers scattered my skirmishing elves (our only losses) but were then straight into battle with my light cavalry. 

Phil's Orc captain with a Phoenix Bow had been chasing the gnome captain (hiding behind the tree) all game but could never quite get him. 

Elf losses at the front, orc losses behind, a clear win for the forces of good today. 

The table centre once all those orcs had been scattered. 

A very interesting game today where a smaller but faster force of Elves, Gnomes and Imps were able to refuse one flank and concentrate on destroying the Orc centre thus winning the game. Great fun. 

Now for a change of rules...when good friend Chris popped up for a game recently he got me interested in Kings of War again. Mantic have published a 'red' copy of v3 of the rules (v3.5?) which seems to correct some of the army list changes I had not liked. The new book also collects all the rules and all the army lists in one book-much better than having rules followed by amendments etc.... Hopefully we shall enjoy this version of the rules and stick with it. Mantic do seem to have a habit of changing their rules more often than some folk change their underwear! 

So, suitably inspired it was on with painting some 28mm elves. Not too long ago I purchased a set of Mantic's Silver Breeze Elf Cavalry and had assembled 3 of them, quite possibly some of the worst figures I have ever had to assemble. I know the aesthetic of Mantic's elves is to be skinny but (for example) trying to get the hands glued onto the end of tiny wrists was a real pain. (the last few Mantic figures I have had have all been poor quality models really discouraging me from getting anymore) By contrast I had some of the Oathmark Light Elves which are so quick and easy to assemble and anatomically far more accurate. I think the Mantic elves may get sold on when I can find/create/kitbash better cavalry models. It would be nice if the Oathmark Elf Cavalry came out soon. Having enjoyed Fantastic Battles so much it will be interesting to see what I make of Kings of War which we certainly all used to enjoy. 

Anyhow, here are the two units, I have painted so far, useable as Elves or Sylvan Kin. Note how I have chamfered the base edges to hopefully create a less regular, rougher more rustic look?   

I had fun with the cloaks.