Dwarf Woes: A Gentle Stroll

Dwarfs trundle up on to a low hill

It's been a whole month since my last game, but last night I was finally able to roll some more dice. Once again I met up with my old adversary in his wargaming dungeon. Having got to grips with the rules in the first game of Fantastic Saga, we decided to borrow steal a scenario from Lion Rampant and plumped for Gentle Stroll. The dwarfs start in one corner and have to traverse with at least half of their force to the diagonally opposite corner. The enemy forces start in the remaining two corners and have to stop them, by slaying half of their opponent's force. A simple enough scenario, though possibly not ideal for the slow moving dwarfs.

Tinned dwarf for lunch?

From their vantage point on a low hill, the dwarf gunners were able to shoot at both incoming chaos forces. Each of these contained a giant beast of some kind, which from the past game I knew were very potent in combat. They also contained Chaos chosen troops, which are possibly even better at killing dwarfs. With the dwarf warsmith supporting the gunners, they could fire further and with more accuracy, but even so they made little impact on the incoming enemy. A couple of chosen warriors were downed, but most of the shots thudded into the giant beasts. Roaring with pain and anger, they closed in on their tormentors.

On my left flank, chosen warriors charged into slayers, who had moved forward to protect the main dwarf line. Luckily I had saved a Saga dice to enhance their combat and they fought to a Glorious Death. Six of the eight were slaughtered, but they did take down the chosen warriors. One of this surviving pair was then squashed under a rock thrown by a troll, leaving a lone slayer facing a Chaos Lord and Troll in combat! Needless to say, the slayer fulfilled his sacred oath and fell in battle.

Trail of Destruction

On my right flank, the giant moved forward and stomped on a whole unit of dwarfs. Barely pausing for breath, he charged headlong into the gunners who had annoyed him earlier in the game. Maybe he tripped on a dwarf corpse, but somehow he was brought down, just two unfortunate gunners crushed under his fallen bulk. There was no cheer from the dwarfs though, as their elite ironbreakers were charged by chosen warriors and completely butchered. The Chaos Lord too was slowly making his way up the hill, a trail of bloodied and crushed gunners in his wake. With over half of the dwarf forces dead, the game was over. Another tale of woe to add to the Book Of Grudges.

Yet again I felt as though the chaos forces had won the game with just half of their troops. The chaos chosen and giants are killing machines. The marauders, hounds and ogres simply stood back and cheered them on. The giant in particular caused me all sorts of problems again. I probably should have used my Lord and his bodyguard to take on these elite units. After just two games we are still at the foothills of the learning curve. For the next game, we will be trying out the two remaining boards, Elves and Undead.