Friday, 10 May 2013

The siege of Bogenhafen


"After running through a series of adventures in the Empire, me and Gotreck headed to Altdorf looking for some rest and meeting with my brother Otto me and some nightmarish adventure in which he could found his long desired death my friend. If trouble whas he had been looking for, the desperate situation that engulfed Reikland that season surelly provided ll what he whished for, to my absolute despair. Whe were in route to the capital, in the city of Bogenhafen when it all started"

Felix Jaeger, "my travels with Gotrek, Vol XI, printed in Altdorf 2505


With a friend we decided to start a warhammer fantasy campaign for the dominon of Reikland, the mechanics of the campaign is simple: each player has a turn in wich he can move his forces, the land forces and the fleets moving upstream have up to 10 cmt of movement (the map is a DinA4), fleets moving downstream move up to 20cmt. When an army meets another it stops inmediatly and fights.
Once his army conter collides with another army there is a battle, if the defending army is inside a town it can decide to fight a campal battle or a siege (in wich cas we'll play the siege scenario from 6th edition). The losses are counted by some innovative system: percentages, after the battle you count the total percentage of losses you have suffered and add it to the campaign's control sheet, an arrangement can be made to 25%, 50% or 75% of losses; when tho armies clash you must check the percentatges to determinate the points value of the armies, the one that has most percentatge alive deploys 2000 points (or 1000 defending a siege), the other accordingly to his difference of percentage respect the other. Also each army has a supply base, if it starts a turn without a clear supply line towards his base or a friend's base (because another army blocks the path for exemple) it losses a 10% extra of percentatge due to starvation. The bases can be destroyed just passing over them.



The evil forces  moved first, from the haunted ruins of drachenfels castle (once lair of the dreaded Constant Drachenfels), emerge an undead army that heads for the imperial supply city of Bogenhafen, the imperial forces fortify themselves inside the city and prepare for the siege.
The imperial forces: two units of arquebusiers, one of greatswords, a great cannon, a level 1 fire wizzard, and of course Gotrek and Felix!

Siege preparations
overview of the battlefield
The defenders take the battlements, the piles of skulls represent boiling oil cauldrons,
Gotrek and friends defending the chapel of sigmar
The undead silent horde: a unit of ghouls another of zombies, one of skeletons, two of wights, one vargulf, one spectral host, one necromancer and the vampire lord Luthor von Drak.
The undead start their advance
In the empire's turn, their wizard throws a double one trying tho launch a spell and becomes unable to launch further spells for the time.

The vampire flyes forward with the clear intention of launchng an invocation of nehek inside the town!
The lack of luck of the imperial player becomes evident when after throwing his second misfire of the game the imperial cannon explodes, luckily no one quits the walls
The vampire also thorws a curse of the years over the gratswords
Who after suffering from it tho consecutive turns quit the wall in terror.
Luckily, the vargulf suffers a wound due to harquebus fire.
Also does the vampire who had come perhaps too close of the wall
But the wights and ghouls advance unharmed.
Finally the vargulf is the first undead to reach the walls
A lucky shot of a firearm kills the vampire mount, now he must use a stair to reach the rampart.
The creatures of the night coming closer.

the Vargulf climbs the wall, but due to his disavantageous position finds difficult killing but manages to end off some arquebusers.
But them manages to not to lose the combat for now
Serious peril is reaching menawhile the other end of the line.
But in the empire's turn the arquebusiers kill the vargulf just by making him loose the combat and inflicting one wound. Next to them, the reagruped greatswords prepare to repell further attacks.
The majority of the undeads reach the wall and stairs arise from their ranks to proceed with the storming.
But are meet by a nasty surprise! the defenders pur into them boiling oil with devastating effects, the units suffer casualties by dozens.
Gotrek and felix also bath the wights with the fryer.
Luthor von Drak, furious with the losses sufferd climbs to confront gortek, his wights take rapidly the wall section will it be enough? No! faithful to his anythingslayer reputation Gotrek kills the vampire with just one strike of his ancient axe, suffering in return just one wound. Next to him, Felix is more than able to handle three assaulting wights.

To their left, unfortuanately the arquebusiers lost the combat to the ghouls giving up their section of the walls.
In the empire's turn the reamining arquebusiers manage to kill the undead necromancer and so the opposing army starts to crumble into dust.



After loosing two sucessive rounds of combat and disitnegrating just the champion remains of the units of skeletons, in exchange, the greatswords haven't suffered any casualties.
Last hopes: the tower and the zombies advance against the wall

while the skeleton is beheaded by a greatsword.
Lots of casualties
The spectral host attempts to put the greatswords in the run, but them remain in their place after even winning the combat due to sheer numbers. In the background, gotrek and felix destroy the remmants of the zombies.
The ghostbustres doing their job: in just one round the host is no more.
A solid line against the siege tower
The last attack, the tower reaches the wall, but the wights are unable to cause any casualties loosing half of their strength due to Gotrek, Felix, greatswords and a lost combat.

The outcome:
Empire 25% of losses
Undead 75% of losses

At the end of the battle, the good player makes his move: the dwarf slayer army moves to intercept the dark elves army that's sailing up the reik. The next battle will see the dwarfs and the druchii fighting a battle alon the shores of the reik.

Friday, 19 April 2013

The battle of Pidna



After the death of the old king Philipus of  Macedon (who had been defeated in the 2d macedonian war) an new prince is crowned, Pereseus, after killing his own brother (a close friend of the romans). The new monarch has the ambition to restitute the homeland of Alexander to it's former glory, and starts to expand in the balcanic peninsula seizing numerous cities and states. His ambitions clash with those of Pergamum, and after cityes assignet tho them by the senate fall tho the macedonians an inmediate request for aid is sent tho Rome. The roman people unwilling to tolerate the re-arise of a strong power in greece declares war on Perseus (anyway there would be lots of  plunder), the proclamation is received with enthusiasm and soon the tribuni have dificulties to handle the excess of legionary volunteers (for as Livius said, the legionaries who fought in the pervious macedonian wars had returned home far richer from when left the banks of the Tiber).

After two years of stalemate the war will be finally decided in the field of Pydna, where the legions, lead by the recently elected consul Aemilius Paulus (a veteran from the ligurian wars) will decide the fate not only of Macedon but the whole orient!


 
The roman camp
 




 Before the battle the consul, Aemilus Paulus adresses to his troops

 Meanwhile, the Macedonian army, led by king Perseus himself deploys in front of them.
Amongst the macedonians is clearly visible the disciplined wall of pikes of the royal phalanx.
 Pezethairoi ready for the fight
And so the battle begins, the romans, deployed in triplex acies (three ranks) seize the initiative and advance boldly against the foe.

The royal cavalry, led by Perseus himself rushes to meet them, menacing the left of the roman formation and leaving the phalanx behind.
 Perseus at the head of it's hetairoi (companions on horse)


The roman cavalry are the first to meet the foe, after routing an unit of light cavalry, are in their turn routed by the hetairoi (the unit inmediately behind the mounted archers). But the Hastati (roman unit behind the cavalry) wil hold the impetous king and his elite cavalry for the rest of the battle.

For his part, the consul, in his senatorial red boots, leads the tirarii, veteran legionaries from the wars against the hated hannibal. This unit will have an extremelly sucessful performance destroying in his own (with rear support of some velites) the phalanx, and holding back the hipaspistai (macedonians armed in the hoplitic style). Clearly, after hannibal all enemy was nothing to worry much for.


 
 The battle at it's peak: in the background the hastati hold heroicly against the hetairoi, in the center the consuls fights with the hipaspistai after routing the phalangites. In his right, principes (legionaries from upper middle class) try in vain tho destroy a unit of elusive light infantry that have harassed them greatly during ALL the battle. Finally in the foreground the second unit of hastati cut to pieces the second unit of macedonian cavalry (who after eating the roman horsemen had been severely damaged by pilum volleys).

 And so ends the battle, the roman cavalry has fled as ususal leaving the job of whinning the battle to the legiones (those nobles, one can't trust on them). The romans have lost two units, the macedonians five so a clear roman visctory!

Macedon will be divided into three week and interindependent states, the macedonian royal house is erased from earth, and the near orient falls into the hands of the republic (whose only threats will be in the future brief wars against Mithridates of Pontus ans some cilitian pirates).

Si vis pacem, para bellum!