We've been itching for another siege battle ever since our End of the Year 2014 Siege Battle, and six months was enough time to pass. Hence, another siege battle. For this one, I kicked my painting into overdrive and added three new models to my Skaven force: three Stormfiends all with Ratling Cannons. These guys put out an absurd amount of firepower (each model fires 3d6 shots), so I was happy to add them to my team. I also love the little rat-brain controllers strapped to their backs (you can see the one on the left).
"Hot Warplead" is the absolute right name for their rules.
The battle itself featured the two races that are the children of Morrslieb versus a mighty host of Undead. It was my Skaven (ratmen) and Brian's Beastmen (goatmen) that held the walls against the onrushing force of David and Tom's combined Undead host. The defenders each had 2,000 points, while the attackers fielded 3,000 each. Victory was counted by the sections of the castle controlled at the end of six turns, plus the courtyard. For each piece of wall it was one victory point, plus one victory point for each half of the castle courtyards, and a bonus one point for the gate section. With weapons sharpened, rocks gathered, and hot oil bubbling on cauldrons, the defenders were ready to repel the attack.
I forgot to take close-ups of the Skaven and Beastmen starting forces, so the long shot is the best we'll get. The Skaven were led by Warlord Ripear in his Wizarding Hat, who commanded a unit of Clanrats in the gate section. The Stormvermin held the adjoining section, led by the Plague Priest Cardinal Fang. Two units of Slaves held the two far ends, the one led by an Warlock Engineer. The courtyard held two Plagueclaw catapults, two units of Giant Rats, and a Hellpit Abomination. I also placed the Stormfiends, the Stormvermin's Warpfire Team, and a Warp Lightning Cannon in the towers. The Beastmen had two huge units of Gors to hold each of the wall sections flanking the center, one led by a Beastlord and Great Bray Shaman, and the other with a Wargor with Battle Standard. Behind the wall waited an enormous Cygor with a pile of rocks, and a unit of Ungor Skirmishers were moving up to the remaining Tower. Finally, a big unit of Minotaurs led by a Doombull were waiting right at the gate to be let out--they were not the type of creatures to (beast)man the walls!
The Undead Warhost in all their glory. Their blocks of infantry and weapons of destruction crept forward--the menace even worried the Skaven and Beastmen. Normally, Skaven and Beastmen were far more comfortable in tearing down buildings rather that defending them--but the Undead needed to be stopped, so a loose alliance of the children of the Chaos moon was struck.
The right flank of the Undead host contained a variety of units, most worrisome the Siege Tower. Pushed by a unit of Skeleton warriors and containing a small squad of Ghoul assault troops, it would be grim for the defenders if it reached their walls.
The rest of the left side of the force contained a massed unit of Skeletons, a huge mob of Ghouls, and a big group of Fell Bats.
The Undead had been busy and constructed a covered battering ram to assault the gate (great building and painting work by David on this one... it was even motorized so you could pull it back and it drove forward). Two Banshees floated near the ram and a massive Necrosphinx strode alongside as well.
A horde of Skeleton Bowmen, led by a Hierophant (on the right) and Queen Khalida herself. Their asp arrows were likely to be highly deadly to the attackers--even with the wall between them.
The left flank of the Undead force were a unit of Blood Knights and a massive Terrorgheist.
Near last but hardly near least, a Vampire Lord astride a Zombie Dragon lurked in the backfield, his spells and deadly mount ready to wreak havoc across the battlefield.
The true back line of the Undead force was a Casket of Souls, and a line of Screaming Skull Catapults: four total catapults!
As planned, the game began with the defenders flinging the gate open and the Minotaurs surging out. They began to close on the enemy, but quickly found themselves taking casualties. Most were from the screams of the Banshee, but a few came from friendly fire--the Stormfiends' shooting was a little less than reliable.
The Terrorgheist proved to be the first main threat to the integrity of the walls--with a single scream it killed scores of Skavenslaves, who then immediately fled from the walls and off the battlefield, leaving that section unguarded. I suddenly realized why the Skaven were more inclined to tear down buildings than defend them: they add their rank bonus to their leadership, but don't get rank bonuses while inside buildings. So the Slaves were perhaps the worst possible castle defenders ever (no surprise)--with Leadership 2, they were gone like rats off a sinking ship!
While the first turn had only some maneuvering and shooting, turn two saw combat reached. The Skaven sent their tunneling Gutter Runners forward, taking out both a Screaming Skull Catapult with the Warp Grinder and the Casket of Souls with the Gutter Runners--the flashing Weeping Blade of the Death Runner making short work of the defenders. The casket burst open, and blasted the Warp Grinder and some nearby Skeletons--mercifully the Gutter Runners avoided the deadly retributive curse they released.
The other back line support, a Skaven Assassin, showed up to menace the artillery crews. While his throwing stars did nothing, his wicked poisoned blades were ready to attack next turn.
The Minotaurs also reached combat--failing their Frenzy test they had to charge the nearest unit, so they flung themselves headfirst into the Banshee. Both the champion and the Doombull had magic weapons, so the ethereal Banshee was cut down in an instant--and they crashed forward into the Necrosphinx. While that combat would last for a bit, and a couple Minotaurs were killed, they kept winning their fights--so their Bloodgreed Frenzy kept increasing (Minotaurs get a bonus attack for each combat they've won, which stacks until they are defeated). They eventually cut down the Necrosphinx, and were up to 3 bonus attacks each by the time they did so.
The ominous approach of the Siege Tower had the Skavenslaves on the left side of the castle worried. They saw how weak the leadership was from the other slaves, so it was only a matter of time until they might break. They called to their Warlock Engineer leader to do something, anything, to help them.
So help them he did. The Engineer coordinated the shots of all the weaponry in the area--the slings of the slaves, the Warp Lightning Cannon, and the two Plagueclaw Catapults, to attack the unit pushing the Siege Tower. If enough were killed, they wouldn't be able to move the tower--wasting time by having another unit have to begin pushing it. All that firepower got them down to 10 Skeletons, the exact number needed to push it. It was then that the Warlock Engineer drew his Warplock Rifle, and took aim at a single Skeleton. With a crack, the pellet of Warpstone flew down and struck the Skeleton, destroying him and leaving the Siege Tower temporarily immobilized. A great cheer came up from the Skaven because of his accuracy.
Things didn't go quite as well for the Assassin, as the left the war machine crew to the Gutter Runners and charged to protect them by taking on a small unit of Skeletons--the crew that had been pushing the Battering Ram until they took too many casualties. However, his blades missed their marks entirely when he struck. And the Skeletons found a spot for theirs: right in his stomach. Wounded multiple times, the Assassin died ignobly taking on just a few weak troops.
The Minotaurs, having downed the Necrosphinx, continued their trail of bloodshed and destruction. The Skeleton Archers, however, let forth a mighty volley of arrow fire--killing each of the Minotaurs except for the champion and the Doombull. While they were frothing at the mouth, the casualties were piling up.
The Warlock Engineer was also in a frenzy, albeit one of dead-eye shooting. He had suffered a wound miscasting a spell, but that spell had damaged the Zombie Dragon. The Warp Lightning Cannon had self destructed in a shot against the same Dragon. Yet he led on--and the fusillade of slings from his Skavenslaves improbably managed to wound both the Dragon and its rider severely. He mounted the ramparts yet again, and took aim with his Warplock Rifle--and again scored a wound on the target. This time, the mighty Zombie Dragon took the bullet straight to the brain, and it collapsed in a pile--leaving its wounded rider standing below.
On the defenders right flank, the Beastmen held a valiant defense against their attackers. The Blood Knights had a magical banner that allowed them to ride their steeds directly up the walls to fight. Yet the boiling oil of the Beastmen Gors managed to kill a number of them, and while the Blood Knights were the superior fighters, the Gors managed to tie the battle--and with a burst of sound from their horn, they won! The Knights crumbled a little, and had to retreat back off from the walls.
At the center of the ramparts, the Skaven Stormvermin and Clanrats waited and watched. They took some fire from Skeleton Archers, but otherwise were waiting as the strength of the enemy attack seemed to be in the wings--their battering ram lay damaged and abandoned by the unit that had been pushing it.
The Vampire who had been mounted on the Zombie Dragon continued rushing forward, planning on potentially assaulting the walls himself. Another wound from slings hit him, leaving him hanging on by a single wound. And the Warlock Engineer, twice a hero before, leaped up to the battlements to fire his now-signature Warplock Rifle for a third time. As he pulled the trigger, however, the gun misfired. Even the reliability of the Skaven warplock technology couldn't save him, and the gun exploded in his hands. He was slain in a single instant by the very weapon that had made him a hero twice before. Such is the (short) life of a Skaven.
With their leader dead by his own misfiring weapon, the Skavenslaves were in no way ready for the arrival of the Siege Tower. The Grave Guard had taken over pushing it, and they finally reached the wall. The Ghouls poured out of the tower, and lay about attacking the Skavenslaves who quickly faltered and broke, leaving the Ghouls in control of that section of the wall.
The two remaining Minotaurs crashed into the Skeleton Archers. The champion of the unit slowed down their attacks somewhat, but the sheer destruction they meted out continued to increase their frenzy. Eventually they hacked Queen Khalida and the Hierophant to bits, and then quickly carved their way through the rest of the unit. By the end of it all, they had won a whopping 7 rounds of combat during the game: that meant 7 bonus attacks each, over and above their already whopping stat line.
On the wall, the Beastlord led his unit of Gors from their side of the wall to try and repel the Ghoul assailants. While they lost some of their own number, they destroyed the Ghouls and left that section of wall empty.
The Skaven General, Warlord Ripear, had struggled with the subtle commands of his Wizarding Hat all game--at one point not even being able to cast spells for a round. But that all changed when he used the spell Transformation of Kadon. With a burst of green smoke, he transmogrified into a massive Emperor Dragon. Perched atop the gatehouse of the castle, the mighty beast gave a bellowing roar of defiance--ready to swoop down from the battlements onto the Undead below.
Rallied by the magical prowess of their leader, the Stormvermin watched as a unit of Ghouls tried to scramble up their walls with grappling hooks. After killing a great number with dropped rocks, the combat was quick and decisive--the Ghouls crumbled and were thrown off the wall.
The Great Bray Shaman led his unit of Gors in a similar fusillade of dropped rocks--theirs clattered off the unit of Ghouls assaulting them with devastating effect, leaving only a single Ghoul left standing from that first unit to reach their walls.
Yet not all the Undead were dispatched climbing the walls. The Grave Guard, now led by the injured Vampire who once rode the Zombie Dragon, climbed up the siege tower themselves, taking the wall segment and offering a deadly foe to the Beastmen nearby.
Likewise on the right side of the castle, a Spirit Host managed to get a purchase of room up on the wall. With the Gors unable to damage the ethereal creature, they had to rely upon their leadership--which managed to hold through the end of the game, leaving that combat locked between the two foes--and that section of wall not awarded to either side for victory points.
One last large block of Ghouls remained, again threatening the walls of the castle. The Plague Priest Cardinal Fang was ready, using his magical powers to send a tide of scurrying rats swarming over the battlefield in their direction. While it killed a few Ghouls, it was not enough to stop or slow them down.
The battle ended with a last desperate surge for control over the castle. The Grave Guard and Vampire charged down into the courtyard, hoping their charge into the Plagueclaw Catapult would panic the Giant Rats that were possessing the courtyard. While the war machine was close, it wasn't that close and the Grave Guard failed their charge. This left them only contesting that half of the courtyard, not scoring its point at the end of the game.
The game concluded with a pretty steady defense of the walls by the Skaven and Beastmen. The defenders scored 5 total points: one courtyard, three sections of wall, and the bonus point for the gate. The attackers only scored 1 point, as they were left contesting in two spots. I think everyone had a fun game, and there were triumphs and follies on both sides. We all agreed that Undead are not particularly suited to attacking castles, and that Skaven and Beastmen are not particularly suited to defending them either. In the battle of bad ideas, at least the Skaven managed to triumph.
Battles
Total 2015: 23 (Win/Loss/Tie: 15/6/2)Total 2014: 15 (Win/Loss/Tie: 8/6/1)
Skaven:
10 Wins (Undead 2, Empire 1, Lizardmen 2, T&T Daemons and Dwarfs, Siege Dwarfs and Bretonnians, T&T Daemons and Empire, T&T Dual Undead, Siege Dual Undead)
9 Losses (Lizadmen 1, Skaven 1, Empire 1, Dwarfs 1, Daemons 1, T&T Daemons 1, T&T Dwarfs 1, Special Game Nurgle, T&T Bretonnians 1)
1 Tie (Empire 1)
Dwarfs:
11 Wins (High Elves 1, Lizardmen 1, Dwarfs 3, Wood Elves 2, T&T Undead and Dwarfs, T&T Lizardmen and Wood Elves, T&T Chaos Legions and Lizardmen, Team Daemons and Tomb Kings)
2 Losses (Dark Elves 1, Empire 1)
1 Tie (T&T Dual Undead)
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