Battle of Black Pass - Hordes of the Things

This week i've been up to something a little different, breaking out my 10mm armies and putting on a bit of a Hordes of the Things bash.  An Imperial Army of humans have assembled to prevent an orc army coming down out the mountains to raid and despoil the Imperial lands.  The broad Black Pass out of the highlands is a natural defile where seemingly every year the humans have to defend themselves from the marauding goblin-men.  

This battle used the excellent Hordes of the Things (2nd Ed.) rules (we had three 'armies' per side, using basic 'big battle' addenda), and a couple of my fantasy armies built using mainly Pendraken 10mm figures.  

The Imperial forces lined up to the north of the Pass, leveling their cannons in the center and presenting a thin line of halberdiers and archers.  To the east their powerful knights assembled at the foot of the slopes of the Pass, and ahead of a deep marsh.

The orc line separated into three warbands to pass by the impassable rocky outcrops that hindered their advance.  On the western flank the orcs led the way followed by a powerful force of trolls.

In the centre, led by the fearsome giant Guurmsh, a powerful line of orc blades cantered forwards double time.

To the east, the orc wolf riders led the charge and it was here that hostilities would be opened.

The orcs were met in the open ground by a clattering, galloping, neighing wall of heavily armoured knights.

As the lines clashed, the knights prevailed, steadily driving the orc riders back in a flurry of stabbing lances.  

The bitter fighting went the way of the humans and the orc line buckled and broke!

The survivors fled back into the mountains.

And so with the Imperial forces now in charge, the action turned to the centre as Guurmsh and his orcs lumbered up the hill towards the Imperial line.

Archery, artillery and skillful polearm work from the slopes saw the humans fight off the vicious orcs.

Guurmsh himself batted away the brutal cannon balls that slammed into his dreadful belly but this hail of iron couldn't stop him.  Although he smashed the cannons to splinters and fought his way to within a club-swing of the Imperial general, his orcs fared much worse.

As the orc centre command broke and fled, the army broke too and the Empire was safe for another year.

All told an excellent, fun battle with a very enjoyable set of rules.

Battle of Blore Heath (sort of) - WotR Dux Bellorum

This week we decided to have another bash at a game using my Wars of the Roses Dux Bellorum rules.  To try out some extra bits and bobs, like terrain, cavalry, and artillery, so we went for a scenario very loosely based on Blore Heath.

The Yorkists deployed two large battles on a hill to the west of the winding river that separated both armies.

Their battle line was drawn up behind temporary fortifications, and had with them a fearsome looking field piece.  

The Lancastrians advanced out of the woodland to the west in three battles; two infantry and a southern flank of mounted knights determined to run the Yorkists to ground.

The battle opened with the knights thundering forwards through the hedge line.

The supporting infantry struggled through the rough ground, fumbling forwards slowly in a desperate attempt to keep up with the cantering knights.

In the center ground the Yorkists opened proceedings with a good volley or two from the bronze monster.

The Lancastrians opposite the gaping, fire-spitting muzzle struggled over the river as cannon balls bounced through their ranks.

As the Lancastrian knights thundered around the Yorkists flank, the Yorkist heavy foot stepped back to meet the threat.

The knights stormed over the abandoned defenses and crashed into the Yorkist line.  The fighting here was bloody and brutal.

Eventually, the Lancastrian archers struggled into range and exchanged longbow volleys with the Yorkists

 Although the knights swept away much of the infantry before them, the knights were savaged and exhausted.

Meanwhile across the field, the Lancastrian archers finally got into range and in a devastating exchange, both Lancastrian and Yorkist lines took severe losses as the sky was blotted out by swarms of arrows.

The battle ended as the Yorkist line buckled and broke, and the Lancastrians swept them from the field.

Another good tryout for the period amendment rules.  We generally agreed that the mounted troops were a little over-powered so I've tweaked both their Protection and Cohesion down a little bit.

We also discussed whether billmen should have some special effect on mounted troops (perhaps negating their charge bonus), but i'll leave things as they are for the moment.