Manhunting

Second battle of the Twilight Prince campaign!

My 60-renown Freeguild warband got paired with Khorne Bloodbound in a custom scenario called "Escape from the Silver Tower". The escaping warband begins the match on the table and tries to get off the opposite board edge, while the hunter begins off-board and tries to stop as many models from escaping as possible. Hunter's models arrive in their own movement phase on a roll of 4+. Scenario points are scored as follows:

Models that leave the board score points to the escaping player
+4p for each escaping model with Move 4"
+2p for each escaping model with Move 5" to 7"
+1p for each escaping model with Move 8+"

Enemy models slain before tehy leave the board score points to the hunting player
+4p for each slain model with Move 8+"
+2p for each slain model with Move 5" to 7"
+1p for each slain model with Move 4"

My opponent was the Escaping player and his Bloodbound were all worth 2 points for escaping or getting slain.

On with the story!

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"That's.... that's quite a bunch," Wolfgang whispered as he looked upon the Khorne warband sprinting across the forest opening.
"You sure we have a chance here?"
"Of course, Gunmaster! We're the men of the Puffington Empire, a couple of screaming blood-perverts have nothing to say against our honest steel... and some gunpowder," the lieutenant replied, smiling as they both crouched in the undergrowth of the forest edge.
"Those buggers have no idea what they're sprinting into."


With a wave of his gloved hand Leopold signaled a couple of guardsmen to crawl closer.
"Right, now I need the two of you, Johann and..." Scholz began, but trailed off as he couldn't recall the other man's name. He bit his lip in thought.
"Manfred, sir."
"Yes, Manfred! Now, Johann and Manfred, I need the two of you to go north of here and see that none of the barbarians gets past us there. Understood? Go."
The two handgunners crawled away into the given direction.

"And you, Wolfgang... you go select yourself one of the militiamen back there and go around that big hill from the left. Try to catch any bloodbuggers that seek to avoid me and the boys in the middle."
The Gunmaster nodded, drawing his repeater from its holster and setting off to find the companion he'd been assigned.

One of the militiamen gladly agreed  to follow the Gunmaster, reasoning that sticking with a scholar would increase his life expectancy on the battlefield. The man's face went snow-pale when Wolfgang ordered him to follow out into the open. The militiaman gulped, cast a quick look at his sneering fellows and followed.

For several moments Wolfgang and the militiaman were the only ones in the open. The Bloodbound spotted them, and three of them started directing their sprint towards them.
"They want our skulls... and I quite like mine. Load your weapon, good man, and let's see these barbarians off, shall we?" the Gunmaster suggested, receiving a quick nod in reply.

Just then the forest's edge exploded into a storm of motion. Greatswords, militiamen and handgunners burst forth from the treeline, led by the roaring lieutenant. Johann and Manfred on the far right flank opened fire on the approaching barbarians, but their shots went wide in the hurry. Both began reloading their handguns with all haste.

The Bloodbound were closing in. The warriors sprinting towards the freeguilders' right flank reached the duo of guardsmen before they had the chance to take aim again. A massive axe whirled through the air, gutting Manfred on the spot. As his comrade slumped to the ground, Johann quickly brought up his rifle and squeezed the trigger, but the Bloodreaver fighting him merely swatted aside the barrel, causing him to miss his second shot.

Johann never fired his third shot. The same axe that had slain his friend fell on his neck from behind, severing his spine and ending his young life before the body even hit the ground. The right flank had fallen.

In the middle a daring Handgunner had climbed the hill to take a better aim at the foe. Once reaching the hilltop, however, he was greeted by two barbarians who ran up to him and sent him back to the bottom with a swing from a flaming chain-hammer.

The enemy Slaughterpriest lunged across the muddy pond to strike at the lone militiaman at the end of the freeguilder line. His huge hackblade sailed past the nimble soldier, who answered by sticking in his pistol and firing off. The shot bounced off the thick vambraces of the giant man, and the pair continued circling each other, looking for an opening in each other's defenses.

All across the field the battle had been joined. Gunmaster Wolfgang and his companion managed to keep off the Bloodbound on the left flank, their combined fire even felling one of the brutes. In the middle the freeguilders charged in to meet their foe, and several whirling melees sparked up here and there. One Khorne worshipper was beheaded in the pond by a Greatsword, while another one met his demise on the far right as a lone Greatsword ran in to avenge the Handgunner duo.

The Slaughterpriest finally managed to catch the militiaman's knee with his blade, crushing the fallen soldier's head under a heavy plated boot. Scholz saw this and charged in to avenge the young man.

"Come and fight one of your own size!" Leopold bellowed as he charged towards the hulking brute. His greatsword was met mid-swing by the priest's hackblade, resulting in a quick exchange of blows that neither of the combatants backed away from. His initial strike blocked, Scholz let his sword's blade fall backwards as he rammed in the hilt under the priest's guard, hitting the cheek of the brute's helmet. Before the could make use of his advance, Leopold had to back off as the foe's chain-hammer came swinging from the right. As soon as the hammer passed, the lieutenant lunged back in, but this time his impetus was stolen by the knee that struck his stomach.

Backing off once more, Leopold grinned while holding one arm across his belly.
"A tough one, eh? Come here and let's dance, beauty!"

On the left Wolfgang took down another Bloodbound, the shots from his repeater striking the man dead on his tracks. In the middle the Greatswords made short work of the barbarians, slaying two in brutal close combat, yet losing one of their own in the carnage too. On the far right the lone Greatsword was hacked to death by a Blood Warrior, who now turned his gaze to the gunner reloading his longrifle...

To the freeguilders' surprise, the Bloodbound didn't linger to fight any longer. The remaining four sprinted past them, with the one on the right claiming the rifleman's life before disappearing into the forests. On the left Wolfgang saw his companion's arm being cut off as a huge Blood Warrior ran past, the barbarian's axe making quick work of the militiaman on the go. All four warriors disappeared into the forests behind the freeguilders, leaving the Slaughterpriest alone on the field.

The priest's hackblade slashed a gaping wound on Leopold's arm as he brought his weapon up for another swing. Through gritted teeth he carried through the attack and brought the greatblade down on the brute's shoulder, carving out a lump of flesh. Before the lieutenant managed to gain distance again the chain-hammer came around to score a glancing hit on his thigh, ripping off a plate of armour and scrathing the skin beneath.

Scholz went in for another series of hacks and slashes, his glittering blade dancing with the foe's rusty hackblade in the air between them. Pinning down his opponent's weapon with his own, Leopold reached out and landed a punch to the brute's face with his free fist. The Slaughterpriest went off-balance for a moment, and the lieutenant used this small fraction of time well. He reached to this belt, drew out a vial and drank it empty.
"Care to join me for another spin?" he asked the priest, tossing away the expired vial. There was no answer as the towering man straightened himself and began chanting in some foul language.

For a split second the air around them seemed to shimmer, but then the priest screamed out and shook off his helmet, spasming in pain. The man's eyes were bleeding. Using this opening, and the quickened reactions the Quicksilver Potion granted him, Scholz charged in once again.

His greatsword slashed across the foe's chest, ripping flesh. As the priest lashed out with his hackblade, the freeguilder was already behind him. Two precise strikes struck the hams of the priest's legs, dropping him on all fours. The Slaughterpriest violently pushed himself back up to a kneeling position, but then the greatblade came down on his neck and sent his head rolling across the grass. The rest of the carcass lurched sideways and fell slack on the ground.

Scholz realised he was grinning as he looked upon the body of his defeated foe.
"You gave me a good dance, I'll give you that," he complimented the headless priest and reached down to his belt again, this time for the water flask. He eyed the scene opening up before him as he was slating his thirst. The ground was littered with dead and dying men from both sides.
"Nasty business, war..." bemoaned Wolfgang as he approached with the last two surviving Greatswords in tow.
"Quite unsettling, so say the truth."
"You have seen nothing yet, Gunmaster! Wait 'till we meet some bigger baddies that these pesky gorebuggers," Scholz replied, kicking the leg of the dead barbarian.

"Why were they in such a hurry... and where are they coming from?" Fersen began, changing the subject after the lieutenant's suggestion of even worse upcoming encounters.
"Why were these ferocious warriors running like there's no tomorrow?"
"Who can say! These folks were never right in their heads. I believe whatever they were running away from is worth checking out. It seems there's something that has given these Bloodbound a good fight, and such power only means there's something valuable there to draw in such forces. Right?"
"The cold rationality of your logic is... stunning," Wolfgang admitted, raising an eyebrow.
"So we set off to find this even greater foe?"
"Yes, exactly! But first I suggest we scour that forest we just walked through again, might be there's more of those searching parties that have found our little secret portal-mist. Yet even before that I say we bury the brave men who gave their lives here today," the lieutenant let his eyes sweep the field.
"They deserve it."

With that, he lifted his greatsword to his shoulder and wandered off to dig graves for those who fell under his command. The Gunmaster and the two soldiers followed his example, and none spoke a word until the job was done.

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Whew!

This game was a close one. At first it seemed my Freeguilders were getting smacked to kingdom come, but then the tide turned and the Bloodbound began to fall to my greatswords and gunfire! In the end I had managed to kill seven of his models, with only four managing to escape. 

14-8, a Major Victory for the Freeguilders!