Orc's Drift. Final act.

I finally played the last chapter of this short campaign where King F'yar seeks his revenge. If this is the first time you heard about this, then I suggest you to read before the three previous parts below, belonging to this campaign called Blood Bath at Orc's Drift.

"The Army of the Grand League has been called east to the region around Ortar, where a great host of goblin tribes are at war with the inhabitants. Crossing the river Canis some two days ago, the Grand League General has left his rear at small supply base. The defenders of this outpost are a unit of Elves led by Brommedir and a unit of Dwarfs under the command of Osrim Chardz. ... Unknown to the generals of the Grand League, the actions away to the east are not only threat to the province of Ramalia. Due to the frailty of their oversight, Orc's Drift is the last manned post standing between King F'yar's onslaught from the north and the capital city of Palesandre."

Start of the game
Brommedir's Bows and the Engineers of the Osrim Chardz may begin play anywhere within the perimeter wall of the outpost. Brommedir is an Elf Rep 6 in full plate armour AC 6, Movement 6 and Hardiness 3; he is armed with a long bow and a sword and his archers are Rep 5, AC4, Movement 6, and armed with long bows as well. Osrim Chardz is a Dwarf Rep 5, AC 4, Movement 6, Hardiness 3, and armed with a 2HW; his Dwarfs are Rep 5, AC 4, Movement 6 and armed with assorted hand weapons.
I had prepared the stats and figures from the Druid Snart Ferndale and his patients at the hospital, the top central building, but in the last moment I decided to quit them from the game as they didn't add anything to it.

The Orcs come from four different points. Coming from the top and through the river Canis, Magyar Ironfist and the Kwae Karr Orcs. Magyar is Rep 5 and the boyz Rep 4 AC 2 Movement 8, Frenzy, being the other Orc tribes exactly equal. From the left it is coming Hagar Sheol with the tribe of the Severed Hand Orcs. From the left bottom what it left from the Vile Rune Orcs from Kachas Pass, with Fangorn Gripe and the already wounded giant Guthrum Mane. Finally, from the bottom King F'yar himself on his Wyvern and accompanying him his bodyguard, 5 Black Moon Orcs. King F'yar is Rep 6, AC 5, Hardiness 3 and armed with lance and sword. The Wyvern is Rep 5, AC 8, Movement 16, Hardiness 4, Fly, Terror and Vicious. His bodyguard are all Rep 5, AC 4, Movement 6, Hardiness 3, Frenzy.

Victory conditions
This is a fight to the death! May the best man win!

Notes before the game
As I didn't have so many single miniatures to represent all the Orcs, I had to resort to my Warmaster Orc bases. Each base contains 10 miniatures and it is what it represents. Later in the game I was exchanging them for single bases as the Orcs was suffering casualties.

I used the skirmish WHAA rules for everything except for shooting. The shooting rules for Massed Battles worked perfectly with the skirmish rules and speed up the game significantly.

As usual click on pictures if you wish to watch them bigger.

Start of the game

Turn 1. Orcs 5 - Grand League 3.
All the Orcs move as fast as they can towards the outpost. King F'yar's bodyguards pass through the forest and at the sight of the enemy they instantly charge against the barricade which resists without incidents. On the left, as Guthrum Mane gets closer, the Elves release a volley of arrows that wound the giant two consecutive times, leaving it with Hardiness 1 and blinking incredously at the many feathered sticks popping out from its body. The rest of the Vile Rune Orcs advance sheltering behing the giant.

Turn 1

From the top, the Kwae Karr Orcs run down the road and exchange arrows with the Elves behind the fence, resulting in two Orcs killed, two falling back and one routed. Although eager to reach his revenge, King F'yar holds his Wyvern for the moment.

In their turn the Elves concentrate their shooting on the giant and finally kill it. Poor Guthrum couldn't stand any longer after its severe wounds at Kachas Pass.

Turn 2. Orcs 6 - Grand League 5.
King F'yar decides it is the moment, and spotting Osrim Chardz at the fence, he charges him, killing instantly and riding through him and against two more Dwarfs that also fall slained. He came in style and the surviving Dwarfs run away in front of him like never before!

King F'yar's wild ride

Now the surviving Dwarfs regroup and charge back F'yar on his Wyvern but nothing happens. The rest of the Dwarfs desperately fight off the Black Orcs at the fence. The Elves shoot at the Kwae Karr and the Severed Hand, killing one Orc from each tribe.

Fangorn Gripe and his Orcs charge the Elves but he is the only one to reach the fence as the rest of his lads are killed by the Elves' arrows during the charge!
At the bottom of the outpost the Black Orcs start to turn the tide killing two more defending Dwarfs and jumping over the fence. King F'yar slains all four Dwarfs locked with him in melee. The 26 Kwae Karr Orcs successfully charge the Elves but instead of waiting for the charge, Brommedir and his men leave the defensive position and counter charge them! This is so unexpected that all the Kwae Karr Orcs rout in panic and leave the battlefield. Homeric!
Also, the Severed Hand Orcs halt in place and don't react unable to cope with the situation.

The Elves heroically charging the Orcs, or are they going away from the Wyvern?

Turn 3. Orcs 1 - Grand Legue 6.
Brommedir's Elves clean off the centre of the battlefield by shooting down three remaining Orc archers from the Kwae Karr tribe near the bridge, and killing three more in melee, but losing one Elf in the action.

The Black Orcs finish the last Dwarfs in the outpost while King F'yar locks in melee with two Elves.

Mopping up the outpost

The Severed Hand finally react and charge Brommedir's Bows.

"Get 'em ladz!"

Turn 4. Orcs 2 - Grand League 4.
Brommedir's Bows kill three Orcs and force four more to retreat. Showing their higher quality, they start to put pressure on the Orc rabble.

The straggled Elves at the outpost are put to an end and some more Orcs and Elves die in the melee with Brommedir.

Brommedir in trouble

King F'yar sees his opportunity and heads for Brommedir but the several thousand kilogrames of a green flying and screaming monster proved too much for those already beaten Elves, and to much Brommedir's dismay they all drop their weapons and rout from the battle!

Victory!

Conclusion
The battle was quick and ferocious and the Grand League had still chances to win until the Elves routed from the Wyvern. After so many years of waiting, King F'yar finally obtained his revenge.

With this game I close a project that started in the eighties when I bought this marvellous campaign set from GW. I never played it until now because I didn't like WHB rules then, and because I couldn't get an appropriate ruleset to play it.
Eventually it appeared Warrior Heroes Armies & Adventures from Two Hour Games and it has been a great pleasure to recreate this campaign with that system.
I'd like to say that I'm very happy of finally playing all the campaign up to its conclusion.

The game lasted about three hours incluiding taking notes and pictures.
I hope you have enjoyed all these four AARs and expect to meet you in my next WHAA campaign in this blog.

Best regards,

Javier