8th Edition Empire Blog

[Arguleon Veq]

Wulf Brennan, one of the three high priests of Ulric, second only in their faith to Ar Ulric himself, had been entrusted by his Elector Count for a great undertaking.

Boris Todbringer was determined to finally establish an unbroken chain of fortified coaching inns along the main Drakwald trails. Many counts had tried before him but always they were sacked before the chain could ever be fully completed. The Drakwald too wild and dangerous to impose any kind of order on.

This time Todbringer reasoned, they would prevail, he would muster a force with the specific aim of guarding this undertaking, an army that would clear the warbands and herds of goblin and beasts that plagued the forests around the trails. That could also respond to any reports of any concerted attacks on the inns. This would provide the time for each of the inns to be fully fortified and garrissoned.

The only problem was to muster such a force in such hard times, the land had been virtually emptied of fighting men by the Storm of Chaos and Middenland was still reeling.

Faith in Ulric would be his answer. With such a warlike god, many followers of Ulric were warriors and so in petitioning high priest Brennan to lead the force, it would greatly increase the muster, or so he hoped. The Elector was not wrong. The Tuetegans pledged a regiment to the cause, as did many warlike priests of Ulric. The Knights panther also agreed to send troops, their youngbloods recruited to cover their losses from the storm of chaos. This would be a great way to blood them before they were given the honour of riding beneath any of that chapters proud banners.

Warmachines and blackpowder were plenty, the quantities stockpiled for the great war still not depleted. A regiment each of sword, halberd and spear to protect one of the counts own banners in battle. The grizzled bear blasters handgun regiment could tutor a newly raised regiment of handguns although no amount of persuasion could make the veteran gunners take up the newer longer handguns, despite the better range they would stick with their outdated short barrelled weapons.

With such steel and valour in the impressive force and with Ulrics favour, this army would bring a measure of peace and prosperity to Middenland as if its roads were safe, gold would flow into its coffers. Gold that was sorely needed to rebuild a shattered province.

I've been working on my Empire lately, so I thought I should start playing some games with them!.

My army is very much influenced by the models I have in my collection. Besides what is in my list, all I really have are some more Cannons, lots of Knights and Handgunners and some Free Company.

So here is my initial list:

Lector: Dawn Armour, Great Wep, Shield. ALTER.
Priest: Heavy Armour, Great Wep.
Priest: Heavy Armour, Great Wep.
Captain: BSB, Armour of Met Iron.
Wizard: Lvl2.

30 Spears: Shields, Full Command.
Det - 15 Swords
Det - 15 Halberds

10 Handguns:
10 Handguns:

5 Knights:

Cannon:
Cannon:
Mortar:

15 Greatswords: Full Command.

Hellblaster:
Hellblaster:

My army has quite an ulrican theme, my BSB is a tuetegan standard bearer, my greatswords are tuetegans, my priests are priests of ulric, my alter is Ar Ulric in a war wagon. My knights are knights panther.

It is also very similar to the list I used last edition, Ive just dropped a few knights for a bsb and a wizard.

[Arguleon Veq]

Game 1 Vs Night Goblins - 2000 Points - Battleline

His army was as follows:

Gobbo Warboss: Great Wep, Tricksy Trinket, Amulet of Protectyness.
Night Gob Boss: Great Wep, Bauble.
Night Gob Boss; 2 Hand Weps, Brew.
Night Gob Boss: BSB, Poison Banner.
Night Gob Great Shaman: Lvl4, Staff of Sneaky Stealin.

50 Night Gobs: Bows, Full Command, Nets, 2 Fanatics.
50 Night Gobs: Spears, Full Command, Nets, 2 Fanatics.
50 Night Gobs: Full Command, Nets, 2 Fanatics.
20 Night Gobs: Bows
20 Night Gobs: Bows

8 Hoppers:
8 Hoppers:

4 Bolt Throwers:
Rock Lobber:
Doom Diver:

Snikrit was a cunning Warboss, the Ulricans of Middenland had once again tried to establish a chain of fortified coaching Inns along the dark and dangerous trails of the Drakwald. He knew it would spell doom for his growing warband who had set up camp in an abandonned quarry in the heart of the forest. He knew that casting down these coaching inns before they were fully completed would earn him glory and other Goblins would flock to his banner, the Purple Moon tribe would grow mighty indeed.

He was still reflecting on his future glories when he heard the harrowing warhorns of the Ulricans echo through the forest, the barks of their savage hunting dogs and feral roars of their bearded warriors sending a chill down his spine. Despite his drunken stupour, he cursed his own stupidity. He couldn't believe his luck when he and his tribe had discovered a newly erected Inn that had not yet been garrissoned, fully stocked with ale and food but with not a soul to defend it, now he could see it for the trap it was. His scouts had not returned, he had put it down to them getting drunk and the looted ale and passing out in the forest.

He quickly set about beating his tribe into soberness. He had over 200 Goblins at his command, their drunkeness would lend them the courage they normally lacked, his dreams could still be salvaged.

Pre Game Thoughts: I was actually very concerned about his firepower, especially that 50 poison bow unit. That could quite easily kill any of my warmachines or support units in a single round of shooting. His heavier weapons could also take out my own war machines, and for a fraction of the cost. With that in mind I planned to use my Alter and Knights to hunt down his war machines, hopefully taking out the squigs in the process so they would not be a threat to my own. My firepower would focus on those bows with the BSB. My Alter and Knights would also try to pick up points from his small bow units too.

I was still worried about his 2 big combat blocks though as I didnt think either of my blocks could deal with them one on one and my firepower would be needd elsewhere, animosity could play a part in holding them long enough for me to bring some firepower and magic down on them. After rolling my spells I knew magic was going to be of little help, left with the signiture spell and regrowth from the lore of life.

Early Game:

I got first turn and advanced my Knights and Alter up my left flank around a stepped hill. My spears held the centre and my greatswords my right flank. Handguns anchored the ends of my lines with my warmachines interspersed between my unit. The Hellblasters central. He had both small bow units out on my left, along with 3 bolt throwers, one on the far right. A squig unit on each flank and his big blocks central.

My shooting seen my Cannons try to pop some bolt throwers, one was smashed apart on the left flank, the one on the right flank was hit but I rolled a 1 to wound. My Mortar then lined a shot up on that big bow unit, and misfired but it would be ok to shoot next turn.

He passed all his animosity. His hoppers on my left tried to get a jump on my Knights but fell just short so his 2 small bow units moved up to try and soften the Knights up. His 3 big blocks advanced, as did his Squigs on the right over a hill.

He aimed the Lobber at my Mortar, scattered well wide, landing on my Hellblaster and smashing it to pieces!. The Bolt Throwers aimed at my Cannons but failed to do any damage. His Doom Diver aimed at the Knights but hit my Alter, doing no damag. His Bows felled a Knight from close range. I shut his magic down.

Charge of the White Wolf:

With a curse for the cowardly nature of Goblins on his lips, my Alter charged one of the small bow units, suffering no damage from stand and shoot. My Knights Panther smashed into the nearby Squigs.

My magic again failed to do a thing. My Cannon popped another Bolt Thrower on my far left, just leaving the more central one and the one on my right. My right side Cannon misfired but would be ok to shoot next turn. My Mortar sent a shot down on those poison bows, killing 20. Seeing the devestation caused my Handguns and Hellblaster added their firepower, when the smoke cleared, only 20 Goblins remained in the unit.

My Knights smashed the Squigs and broke them whilst my Alter did the same to the bows, running them down. This left both of these units deep in the Goblin deployment zone. The Knights had lost two brothers to the Squig attacks though.

His lines continued forward besides his poison bows, who clearly rattled by the firepower they were recieving, decided to keep their heads low and squabble.

His Squigs with a massive move ended their turn right in front of my Handgunners and Cannon out on my right flank. His small bow unit on my left shot a Handgunner unit, killing 3 and panicking them off the table. His Diver missed this turn and the Lobber misfired and killed itself. Bolt Thrower on my right shot down 2 Handgunners whilst the other missed.

Trying to save my right flank, the Tuetegans threw themselves at the hand wep Gobbo unit with Great Mage and Bauble Boss as they surged down the hill. 2 Fanatics were unleashed and smashed into the proud Ulricans, killing 9!. My Alter lined up a charge on the most central Bolt Thrower whilst my Knights did the same to the Doom Diver.

My Handguns shot the Squigs right in front of them and killed 1. My Cannon grapeshot at them too, but only killed 2 more, leaving 5 to run amok through my warmachines and gunners. Sensing the danger my Hellblaster added its firepower and frustratingly chose this turn to unleash 28 shots at the 5 strong Squig unit, definately overkill.

The Mortar misfired again and couldnt shoot this turn or next.

The Tuetegans took some casualties from the Gobbos but struck back quite well killing a fair few, my Priest and Champ also put all their attacks on the mage and killed him. I lost the combat but held.

Whirling Death:

His Spear unit with Warboss moved up, unleashing the fanatics, one stopping between my Spears and his, the other smashing down some Swordsmen. His Bolt Throwers killed a Knight, leaving just 1. His Poison Bows shot my Hellblaster and killed it in a flurry of 6's. In combat my Tuetegans and Priest were killed before they even got to strike.

I didnt want to risk my Spear unit landing on that Fanatic so I didnt charge his Spears. My Knight charged the Diver and my Alter the Bolt Thrower, which should leave an over run into the rear of the small bow unit.

I turned the focus of my firepower on the hand wep unit bearing down on my Handguns and Cannon, killing a few but not enough to panic them.

I managed to cast regrowth on the Knights withthe enemy Shaman dead, bringing 1 back. The Knights smashed the Doom Diver and my Alter the Bolt Thrower, he rolled a 4 for his over run and didnt reach the back of those bow gobbos.

His Fanatic between our two units smashed right through my Spears, killing 4 and leaving the way open for his Warbosses unit to charge my Spear unit, which they do. His other Fanatic goes back through my Swords, killing some more. His Fanatics that had smashed my Tuetegans both roll doubles and die. His Poison Bows squabble whilst his Hand Wep unit move up to further threaten my firepower on my right.

His small bow unit also moved up to try and get out of charge range of that Alter.

In the Spear vs Spear combat, my Detatchments crash into the flanks. I roll well with all my units and cut down a swathe of Goblins for very few return casualties, thankfully I do just enough damage to mean I have 1 more rank than him, breaking steadfast, and so breaking the unit and running them down.

My Spears and Halberds move up to threaten the remains of that Posion Bow unit whilst my Swords take one for the team and stop on a fanatic, killing it. I desperately pour fire into the Hand Wep Gobbos but they pass a panic test. I try to regrow the Knights but miscast and end up killing a load of my own Spears. I do get 1 Knight back though...

His small Bow unit in an attempt to save his Poison Bows from a flank charge, crash into my Halberd detatchment and the combat is drawn. His hand wep unit bearing down on my handguns and cannon fail an animosity test and squabble, saving my unit.

My Alter smashes into the rear of the Halberd/Bow combat. My Spears charge the Poison Bows but get smashed by fanatics on the way on, my Knights hit the rear of this combat to lend their support to the now depleted Spear unit. My Cannon smashes his last Bolt Thrower whilst the rest of my firepower finally panics his hand wep unit. I end up breaking and running down the Gobbos in both combats I am engaged in.

In his last turn his Hand Wep unit rally leaving them as the only Goblins left, their sacrificial Big Boss with the Brimstone Bauble in line for a meterioc promotion to Warboss.

Result - Victory for the Empire

Post Game Thoughts:

I managed to take out all his support units as I hoped, thankfully the big combats went my way too although I was greatly aided in that by his failed animosity tests. His big units were as dangerous as I expected though, easily dealing with my Tuetegans and Priest.

His Firepower was also quite deadly, but my Cannons and fast elements silenced them pretty effectively.

I am unsure on my Wizard. I put him in for the +2 to Cast and Dispel but I am not sure if he is worth it. I could take a unit of 20 Militia for the cost of him and he really didnt help in this game.

Any suggestions on the list, I can make changes based on the models I listed in the first post.

Wulf Brennan rode down the last of the Goblins that still stood before his force, his mighty war wagon, hung with wolf pelts and topped with an enormous silver wolf head crushed them under its iron shod wheels. The same mob that had shot down his veteran handgunners. The trap had worked well, the Goblins getting drunk too quickly to ever realise their folly.

Only one mob had survived, and he sent his huntmasters and their snarling hounds to run them down. He watched as two packs bounded into the thick woodland surrounding the trail, one pack consisting of short haired, stocky, muscalar dogs, often favoured in the fighting pits, these dogs would make the goblins beg for death as they were fonding of ripping their prey limb from limb as opposed to a quick effective kill. The massive long haired flock guardians of the second pack would make just as short if not as brutal work. The Goblins wouldn't last the night.

He regretted the loss of resources used in the decoy but the loss of life had been short, the timber lost in the construction of the decoy was more than plentiful in this blighted forest. The Purple Moons had already sacked two of the newly erected inns and they had to be dealt with before they began to jepordise his campaign, as stern and powerful as he was he would not wish to face the wrath of Boris Todbringer should he fail.

[Arguleon Veq]

Game 2 - Vs Dwarfs- 2400 Points - Battleline

Well I was pretty determined not to get into this edition of Fantasy, but a friend of mine who attends lots of Fantasy tournaments wanted some help coming up with a new army for his next one. He has been finishing in the top 25 out of fields of about 100-150 in the last few he has been, using his Warriors and High Elves but he wants to try something new to try and push on into the top 10 where he usually finishes in his 40K tournaments.

So he figured Dwarfs would be a good bet, not wanting to buy the amy before he was sure about it, he asked to use mine in this game, facing off against my Empire.

As the tournament is 2400 Points, has a cap of 5 war machines and a limit of 400 points on any single unit. My list has had a few changes. This is a bit of a problem as I dont really have that many points for my Empire, this is what i went for;

Lector; Alter. Dawn Armour, Speculum, Great Wep, Shield
Wizard Lord; Lvl4, Shadow, Rod of Power
Priest; Barded Steed, Great Wep, Heavy Armour
Priest; Heavy Armour, Great Wep
Captain; BSB, Amour of Met Iron

30 Spears; Shields, FC
Det - 15 Halberds
Det - 10 Handguns

20 Handguns; Marksman, Long Rifle

10 Handguns;

5 Knights;

20 Greatswords; FC
Det - 15 Swords

Cannon;
Cannon;
Mortar;
Hellblaster;
Hellblaster;

My opponents list was as follows:

Lord; Rune of Stone, Great Wep, 5+ Ward, ReRoll Saves
Runelord; Anvil
Thane;BSB, Master Rune of Gromril

30 Warriors; Great Weps, FC
20 Long Beards; Great Weps, FC
25 Hammers; FC
25 Slayers; FC

Cannon; Rune of Reloading
Cannon;
Grudge Thrower; Rune of Burning + Pen, Engineer
Organ Gun;

Pre Game Thoughts;

Dont have much hope for this game to be honest, I think his shooting is better and that his force will beat mine in combat. Still, magic could have a massive role to play and I have more units to try and tie some of his up so that I can isolate others.

Deployment/Terrain;

In the centre of my deployment zone lay a set of ruins, he had the same in the centre of his. Right in the centre of the table is a massive ruined archway. On the right flank is a large rocky hill, on the left is a pool. He deploys his Warriors right up against my leftflank, his Anvil behind this. Then from my left to right he has a Cannon, then his Hammers, then a Organ Gun, Longbeards, Cannon, Slayers. His Thrower is behind his central Hammers.

This has left his whole force castled out on the left flank of the table.I dont want to stack units behind each other so my force will be more stretched out. I have my Greatswords on my left flank supported by its detatchments and 10 Gunners. A Cannon between the parent and detatchment units. Then a Hellblaster, then the Spears with its detatchments then another Cannon and Hellblaster between the parent and detatchments again.My Mortar behind my main line.

Im reaching the middle of my zone now and that big archway is in the way so i deploy my Knights and Lector on the right of my battleline to go either side of that arch. Just behind the arch is my 20 strong Gunner unit, ready to swing in and close the gap between my army and the Arch once the Alter has passed through, this should also bring them into range of those Slayers.

Turn 1 ;

He goes first and obviously doesn't move. He opens up his shooting with his Thrower landing dead on my Cannon and killing it. Thankfully his Cannons fail to do anything. His Anvil shoots my Knights, none die but they cant March.

As most of my units are out of range, everything moves up besides the Cannon and Mortar.

My Magic Phase sees me roll a 6+1, so he has more dispel than I have power, I get nothing off.

My two Warmachines also kill nothing. Terrible first turn.

Turn 2;

Thankfully he now has an equally bad turn, a lot of his Warmachines misfire but suffer nothing worse than not being able to shoot this turn. His Anvil kills a few Handgunners from the ten man unit on my far left flank.

My combat units continue to advance whilst my Handgunners now stand still and ready their guns.

I roll much better for the magic phase and have also remembered to save 3 of my Dispel to turn into Power with my Rod. I only manage to get Pit of Shades off but this does kill about 18 Hammerers. I then pour my Fire into this unit, killing another 5, leaving the champ, standard and Lord.

My Cannon then also destroys one of his Cannons. The big Handgunner unit shoots down 5 Slayers as not all can see past that Arch. The Long Rifle killing the Champion.

Turn 3;

He decides to go for broke with his Lord and Hammers and heads at my Greatswords with Priest.

His Slayers try to charge my Alter but fail, his Anvil tries to get them into combat with it but they still fail. He does land his Thrower on my Lector though, taking him and the Alter both down to 1 wound each.

I decide its time to do some charging, My Knights, having swept around that central arch in my second turn, slam into the Slayer flank. My Alter and Spears then crash into their front. The Spears losing 2 men from charging through the pool. My SwordDet from my Greatswords get a charge on that Organ Gun, losing 1 man from charging through the pool.

My Tuetegans hold as I figure that Lord can beat the unit on his own thanks to me being in 2 ranks of 10. I then unload into those 3 models; 2 Hellblasters and about 20 Handguns, despite NO misfires, I kill ONE dwarf, the champion.

I heal my Lector with his Prayers, my Wizard then Miscasts, getting a 7, killing some Spears and Slayers. I butcher the Slayers down to about 5 models although they do 2 wounds on my Wizard. My Swords kill 1 of the Organ crew for no losses but it holds.

Turn 4;

His Longbeards charge into the Sword/Organ Gun Combat whilst his Dwarf and lone Hammerer charge my Teutegans. His Stone Thrower scatters well wide of my Cannon and his other Cannon misfires and cant fire this turn or next. His Anvil kills afew more Handguns with Wrath and Ruin.

His Slayers are wiped out in this round. My Swords wipe out the Organ Gun Crew but lose a few men to the Longbeards but I hold.

The Lord kills my champ in a challenge whilst I kill off the last Hammerer. I hold.

My Knights charge into the remaining enemy Cannon whilst my Spears and Alter turn towards those Longbeards fighting my Sword Det. I start to focus my shooting on those Warriors shielding the Anvil on the left flank, killing a few.

I manage to get Mind Razor off on those Swordsmen to try and help against those Longbeards, it goes off and they kill 6.I still lose the combat but hold again thanks to the nearby BSB.

The Lord cuts down more of my Tuetegans but I hold again.

The Cannon loses 1 crew and holds.

Turn 5;

His Warriors start to make a move on my now depleted Greatswords/Tuetegans. He goes for broke and uses ancient power on his Anvil, panicking two of my small Handgun units off the table thanks to it. His Thrower Scatters away from my Lector.

I wound his BSB and cut down some more Longbeards thanks to Mind Razor with thise Swordsmen but I am finally wiped out. The Lord beats my unit again but I keep holding.

The Cannon loses another crew and holds again against my Knights.

My Spears and Alter charge those depleted Longbeards. I get Mind Razor off again, this time on my Tuetegans/Greatswords.

I pour my fire into those Warriors, causing a panic and seeing them run off the table.

Thanks to Mind Razor I do 2 wounds on that Lord, he loses but holds.

I butcher the Longbeards although they do finish my Wizard off. I run them down. The Knights finally wipe out the last of the Cannon Crew.

Turn 6;

His Anvil goes for another Ancient Power Wrath and Ruin but it doesnt do any real damage this turn.His Thrower destroys one of my Hellblasters.

His Lord kills some more Teuetagans but I hold again.

I charge my Alter into his Anvil as my Cannon and Mortar fail to kill his Grudge Thrower. My Lector kills the Runelord but the Anvil Guard survive.

Result - Empire Victory!

Post Game Thoughts;

Well that went WAY better than I expected. Magic only really had one good phase, blasting those Hammerers and both of our shooting was pretty hit and miss although his Thrower did great. I think his problem was that he just didnt support his units, with me killing his Hammers early he then only had 2 units to fight my 5 combat units that got engaged, because he didnt bring his Warriors into action, too concerned about looking after that Anvil instead. That Lord was a pain but my Sword Det did fantastic with Mind Razor on them.

[Arguleon Veq]

Game 3 - Vs Bretonnians - 2400 Points - Batteline

Another Battleline mission as this is the same player I played last game who is working out his list for his upcoming tournament. He has decided to just finish his Brets [who are Empire themed, White Wolves as Questers, Reiksguard as Knights of the Realm etc]. He has had some good results with them so far and so wanted to rematch my Empire.

My list remained pretty much as it was last game besides me swapping out a Hellblaster for a Hellstrom and splitting that 20 strong handgunner unit into a 10 strong parent with 2 - 5 strong detatchments and putting the other free 10 strong unit as a detatchment of my Greatswords.

His list is as follows;

Lord: Quest Vow, Barded Horse, Great Wep, Gauntlet of Duel, Grom Great Helm, Virtue of Confidence.
Paladin; BSB, Virtue of Purity, Enchanted Shield, Wyrm Lance. Barded Steed.
Paladin; Virtue of Heroism, Potion of Speed. Barded Steed, Lance, Shield.
Prophetess; Lvl4, Chalice of Malfleur, Barded Steed.

11 Knights of the Realm; FC, Flaming Banner.
11 Knights of the Realm; FC, Banner of Chalons.
11 Questing Knights; FC, Valorous Standard.
8 Grail Knights; FC, Banner of Defence.

15 Bows; Flaming
15 Bows; Flaming
Trebuchet; Yoeman

Pre Game Thoughts;

Another game where I think I wil struggle. I figure I can lock up his Questers with my Lector as his Lord is kitted out for challenges and he thinks he can take my Lector out despite the Speculum thanks to his Re Rolls on pretty much everything, every turn. I very much doubt it, so that should deal with his Questing Knights and Lord.

The Grail Knights are a real headache and would bear the brunt of my Fire Power. The normal Knights I trust my two Infantry blocks to beat. A lot would depend on my shooting, as I would only get two good turns max out of it.


Deployment/Terrain;

Large ruined Arch right in the centre of the table. Ruins middle of his depo zone, ruins in the middle of mine. Hills on right and left flanks with a pool between the centre arch and left flank hill.

He put his Treb and Archers out on my left flank. Then going across, facing me from left to right he had his Grails with Prophetess, then Knights with BSB, then Questers with Lord and on the other side of the centre arch he has his Paladin with Knights of the Realm.

On my left flank I place a Mortar and my Handgunners with Handgun detatchments and then a Cannon and Hellblaster. I REALLY want to shoot down those Grail Knights. Then in the centre of my line i have my Spears with BSB and Wizard. Then my Lector, followed by my Greatswords who are right behind my ruins. My Knights anchor my right flank ready to flank anything that engages my infantry.

Turn 1:

I go first and open up with my shooting [magic all out of range] The Mortar shoots at the Grail Knights, landing right on the Prophetess, she fails her look out sir roll, then takes 3 wounds and dies. The Hellstrommisfires and cant shoot this turn or next. The Cannons kill 1 Knight of the Realm between them and my Hellblaster is out of range.

He advances straight at me as expected. His Treb scatters off target but his bowmen shoot down 4 Handgunners from the main unit with my Long Rifle. They panic and flee off the board.

Turn 2:

I attempt to charge my Lector into his Questing Knights and Lord but as usual he gets a rubbish charge roll and fails, he needs some new horses!. My Knights are in a bit of a bad spot as I realise that I cant get out of his charge arc of his Paladin Knight of the Realm unit, so I decide to go for broke and charge them.

Magic sees me kill one Knight of the Realm from the BSB unit and 1 Questing Knight with Pit of Shades, thats all I manage. Shooting sees me open up 20 Handguns a Hellblaster and a Cannon on the Grail Knights. I only kill 2.

My other Cannon misfires and it cant shoot this turn or next and my Hellstrom still cant shoot. The Mortar then also shoots at the Grail Knights and kills none despite a direct hit.

My Priest accepts the challenge from his Paladin. He tells me that in the Bret FAQ the Virtue of Heroism now just gives heroic killing blow so he gets normal killing blow too, he then killing blows my Priest before I can strike.

My Knights do no wounds, at all, and then 2 are somehow cut down by S3 attacks. I break and I am ran down.

That unit in his turn then charge my Tuetagans through those ruins, no longer having to fear being flanked by my Knights but they are flanked by my Sword Det and the Handgunner Det shoot 3 Knights down.

His Lord and Questing Knights charge my Lector on Altar.

His Grail Knights charge my Hellblaster and wipe the crew out with ease. His BSB unit try to charge my Halberd Det of my Spears but dont make it.

His shooting downs half of the Handgun Det from my Spears and kills a 5 strong Handgun Det from the main Handgun unit which fled last turn.

In combat the Lector and Lord do a wound each. His Paladins Knights of the Realm lose a further 3 Knights charging through those ruins but he does a lot of kills and his Paladin Killing Blows my Champ. I kill a couple in return but he wins and my Greatswords and Swordsmen hold.

Turn 3:

I again try to shoot down those Grail Knights but again kill none at all. The Mortar hits an Archer unit and sends them fleeing after killing 8. The Hellstrom kills 4 of the BSB's Knights of the Realm. My Magic did nothing at all again, him dispelling all my spells despite having no wizard, I did get off soulfire with the Lector, but did 1 hit that didnt wound.

The Lector and Lord again take a wound from each other. The Paladin then challenges my Priest and Killing Blows him too. I do cut down most of his Knights though for very few losses, leaving him with just the standard and Paladin but he rolls a double 1 and holds.

His Grail Knights smash into the front of my Spears, my Handgun Det killing none with stand and shoot. They are clearly blessed. The BSB and his Knights charge the Spears Halberd Det so that I cant flank those Grail Knights.

The Grail Knights smash down loads of Spears and my Wizard for no losses but I hold. The Knights of the Realm with BSB roll poorly against my Halberds only getting a few kills and losing 2 Knights, he wins but I have more ranks so am Stubborn and I hold.

My Tuetegans finally smash down the Paladin of Doom and finish off his unit too.

Our Lords fight, both of which are down to 1 wound. We strike each other, but neither of them can cause that final, fatal wound.

Turn 4:

My Sword Det flank the BSB's unit whist my Tuetagans charge through those Ruins to flank the Questing Knights, I lose 4 as they stample and fall through the ruins but the charge suceeds.

I try to heal my Lector with all my dice but he dispells it with a double 6!

My two Cannons shoot down his Treb.

In combat my Spears continue to be cut down and despite me causing about 6 wounds a turn on him, he just will not fail a save, I hold though.

The Halberd Det are mostly burnt down by the Wyrmlance this turn but they kill another Knight as do my Swords. The Halberds break and flee the table but my Swords hold and are now facing the BSB on his own, his unit wiped out.

My Tuetegans smash into the Questing Knights flank, killing 3 for no losses, our wounded Lords again can not hurt each other. I win by a few but he holds thanks to his cold blooded banner.

His bows shoot down my other5 strong Handgun Det whilst his fleeing unit continue off the table.

The Grails keep chopping down my Spears but finally lose a Knight, I lose but hold. My Tuetagens chop down a lot of the Questing Knights whilst my Lector FINALLY kills his Lord.After I had again failed to heal myself in the magic phase thanks to a double 6 to dispel, again. The unit break with only 3 models left but I cant catch them and they can still rally.

My Swords and his BSB fight to a standstill.

Turn 5:

My Cannons shoot down a Questing Knight so that they cant rally. After my Lector and Altar both again failed to catch them with another charge.

My Mortar blasts the other Bow unit and they also flee the table.

The Grail Knights just keep hacking down my Spears but I continue to hold.

Straight to combat in his turn, he losses 2 more Grail Knights but wins big again, I am still Stubborn so hold but I will no doubt lose my remaining rank next turn.

The BSB and Swords are still locked in combat.

Turn 6:

I again fail to kill any Knights and he wins again, I hold thanks to only losing by 2.

In his last turn I AGAIN fail to kill any Grail Knights, they cut down another 4 guys with their 4 attacks. I take my break test, fail it twice and flee the table. Thankfully my Handgun Det and 2 Cannons pass their panic.

Result: Victory to the Empire!

Post Game Thoughts:

A really fun game that we both enjoyed. A lot of big swirling protracted combats and some cool challenges and the game was pretty tight for quite a while despite me winning by about 700 points in the end.

Plus it was cool to see a mounted Sigmarite army vs an infantry Ulrican army.

He overestimated his Lord and that cost him both the character and all his Questing Knights in the end thanks to the timely charge by my Tuetegans. He shouldnt even have done those 2 wounds on my Lector and I should have easily healed them back, as it was his Lord almost did it.

His Grail Knights were an abomination.I could not shoot them down and then could hardly scratch them in combat. I thought my Spears would hold out for the whole game but the were doing that many wounds a turn that they just churned through them.