Raid on Gazadan Holdfast

Greetings!

Time to kick in the year's first battlereport. So, what's better than an Age of Sigmar narrative battle? Two Age of Sigmar narrative battles, of course!

We played Battleplan: Key to Victory with Skirmish rules before following up with Battleplan: Monolith using the regular ruleset. The idea was that my Sunsplitter orruks are assailing a duardin outpost, but before launching the actual attack the sneaky savages try to wrest control of a nearby Realmgate in the hopes of using it for flanking maneuvres in the actual battle.

The first battle determined whether or not the orruks can deploy a flanking unit in the final battle by using the Realmgate. The second battle represents the actual raid the Sunsplitterz launch on the duardin holdfast of Gazadan!

On with the story!

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Grom the Punch of the Shifty Mountain was determined to raid the bursting granaries of the duardin holdfast of Gazadan. After the defeat of the Sunsplitterz tribe in the Flamescar Plateau, they had wandered from Realm to Realm, aimlessly following their prophet, Wozoc Squinteye. The tribe had known little success in the Firestorm War against all the ghosts, humies and daemons that had kicked their orange arses over and over again: now their numbers were lower, and their abysmal luck always seemed to throw them into barren wastes and other environments were food was hard to come by. Dozens of boyz had already been eaten by their fellows.

Now Grom saw a chance to put things right once again. He would raid the duardin food storages to sustain the tribe until they could once again find a suitably epic scrap to enjoy. To this end he had sent Wardokk Muhgar Bonejaw to take over a nearby realmgate in the dead of night: it was cunning to send a mob of boys to the enemy's flanks, Grom had heard.

At nightfall, a small band of orruks led by Wardokk Muhgar Bonejaw snuck up to the realmgate on a ridge overlooking the Gazadan holdfast. In the darkness the Sunsplitterz crept closer and closer, keeping their glinting eyes constantly on the duardin sentries that patrolled the area.

The closer they got, the greater the risk of discovery grew. Eventually one of the Irondrakes walking along the walls of one of the watchhouses spotted movement in the woods and raised the alarm!

At the sound of a duardin warhorn warning everyone of their presence, the orruks sprung into full-blown charge. Crooked arrows were shot at the Irondrakes lining the passageway to the realmgate, both duardin falling to the rain of shafts. All around the gate orruks clashed with its determined duardin guardians, and casualties were heavy on both sides.

Slowly but surely, Mohgar and his mob were drawing closer to their goal...

A duardin Thane, carried to the fray upon an ancestral shield, was leading the guardians of the gate. He led his men in a fierce defence that halted the Sunsplitter advance, and personally cleaved Wardokk Mohgar in half with his axe.

With the Wardokk dead, the rest of the orruks quickly scattered, bringing word of defeat to Grom the Punch of the Shifty Mountain. Several skulls were cracked in the aftermath, but the orruk warlord decided to proceed with the original plan. Gazadan holdfast would fall.

As the dawn broke over the crooked woodlands somewhere in Ghur, the Sunsplitterz arrayed themselves for battle. Closing in on the duardin holdfast, they found their adversaries ready and waiting for them, no doubt thanks to the failed suprise attack in the night. Grom led his boys in a rousing pre-battle chant that drowned in volume even the sombre warhorns of the duardin.

The duardin were safely tucked in behind their walls of stone. Shieldwalls and glinting barrels of dawi handguns were standing in between the orruks and their goal. The holdfast itself was still under repairs from some previous attack or environmental phenomenon, and a team of duardin were working on it under the supervision of two Runelords atop the tower.

Grom knew he had to defeat the stunties and topple the tower before it was completed, lest his mob be driven away once again, hungry and defeated.

Heralded by a downfall of shafts, the boyz charged in. Several gaps opened in the duardin shieldwall as the arrows delivered death, but the veteran stunties merely tightened up their formation and met the incoming attackers like a cliff meets the raging waves of the sea. Stone axes met steel and gromril, shields sundered and skulls split, but the shieldwall did not budge.

With the duardin frontline engaged, the Big Stabbas were sent around the flank to close in with the rest of the mountaindwellers. Late Muhgar's colleague, Wardokk Dotzruk, tried to weave a hastening spell on the spear-bearers but the Runelords in the holdfast thwarted the attempt with merely a wave of their stubby hands.

With their momentum spent, the boyz fighting the duardin shieldwall begun to fall. The stunties hid behind their targes and bucklers, absorbing the hits of the orruks, before peeking out to deal death with their axes and mattocks. Even the magical warpaint of the Sunsplitterz offered no protection against a whirlwind of strikes and a hail of handgun fire.

The Big Stabbas barged through the woods on the duardin's flank, closing in with speed that belied the size of their weapons. The Hammerers were not impressed, though, as they climbed over their wall and charged in to meet the spear-bearers on the run.

An ear-cracking crash resounded across the battlefield. Huge spears ploughed into the ranks of the Hammerers, even as their heavy sledges swung out to crack ribcages and shatter kneecaps. Both sides were wiped out almost to the last, as the last Big Stabbas hurled their weapon at their killers with the last of their strength. Only a trio of the veteran duardin stood amidst the sea of corpses after the impact.

The shieldwall in the front hadn't given an inch of ground to the orruk attack, instead grinding the assailants into a bloody heap before them. The Arrowboys unleashed another volley of shafts, this time targeting the duardin Thunderers further back. Over half of the stunties fell to the barrage, with the rest turning their backs and retreating to safety.

Grom himself ran inside the wall perimeter to meet the duardin Thane head-on in one-on-one combat. This was his chance to avenge his boyz against a worthy foe!

The Arrowboys sent a volley at the shieldwall that had just managed to kill the last of the orruks of the first wave, thinning the stuntie ranks down to quarter of a dozen defenders. A cohort of Ironbreakers was rushing to the aid of their Thane, but they were too late. Grom and the duardin lord exchanged heavy blows at a blistering pace, but neither of them seemed to be able to gain the upper hand. Each time Grom managed to smack aside the stuntie's axe and bring his huge choppa around for a lethal blow, the shieldbearers took their lord out of reach. It was frustrating.

Eventually Grom figured out a way to break the stalemate: he feigned a strike from the right, then kicked the leftmost shieldbarer to the belly to bring the Thane tumbling down from his perch. After that, cleaving the stunned bearded one in twain was grot's play.

The other Thane, most likely some close relative of the dead one, already had its eyes on lonely Wardokk Dotzruk. With the Ironbreakers rushing to avenge their fallen lord, the Thane made its way towards the unfortunate orruk mage.

The duardin elite closed in around Grom the Punch, their gromril shields and armoured bodies surrounding the warlord completely. Hammer- and axeblows began raining down on Grom's muscular form, and even his thick hide couldn't mitigate all the damage coming his way. Bruised and battered, the warlord tried to force his way out of the encirclement.

On the other side of the holdfast the remaining Hammerers and the Thane desceded upon Wardokk Dotzruk, crushing him into a bloody pulp with their sledges. The duo of Runelords had also now completed the repairs on the holdfast's tower, making their way down to join the fighting.

It was all lost, again, Grom knew. With a mighty bellow of impotent rage, he shouldered his way out of the Ironbreaker trap and retreated into the woods with the remnants of his battered warband.

The Sunsplitterz had been bested once again!

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A Major Victory for the duardin!

I am not surprised. The Sunsplitterz are not good at winning anything, although they are really fun and satisfying to play. I love their lore, their models and their fluffy rules. The only beef I have with the faction is their Battleline: the regular Savage Orruks. With 2 Wounds and a 6+ (5+ with shield) Save that cannot be lowered beyond 6+ thanks to Warpaint, they seem durable enough. But their attacks? 

One attack per orruk, 4+/3+/-/1. That's not good, not even close. With all the slabs of muscle and all their background one would expect a bit more from the boyz, but the rules make these guys pretty meh. Their low model count means they hit like grots, even though they can sure take punches in return. Chaos Warriors, Ironjaws Ardboyz and Stormcast Liberators are roughly the same size and health, and boast 2 Attacks per model. Can't figure out why.

I'm looking into taking some Morrboys (they have two melee weapon profiles!) to see if they can pack more of a kick, and leave the regular shield-boyz to their meatwall role on the battlefield. I'll also try adding an Orruk Warboss as an Ally, to get that sweet Extra Attack per Melee Weapon bonus through his "Waaagh!" Command Ability.

20 Morrboys with 4 Attacks per pup, anyone?