Edge of the Abyss

Having successfully led her forces through the hellish Edge, Artakl had decided to move her troops south after receiving reports of increased activity in the Rhyn Dufaris region. With her troops now hardened against both hell fury and reanimated death, she was confident that a Salamander presence may assist King Golloch and his Dwarven forces in the region against their dark cousins attempting to cross the great cataract. While Salamanders and Dwarfs rarely saw eye-to-eye on many things, she would much prefer them over their lost brothers who had sold their souls to the abyss.

The Salamanders were just at the foothills of the Halpi mountains when Artakl felt a strange vibration rumbling through the rocky landscape. Instincts as sharp as ever, she called a halt and waited for the trembling to stop. “Caution is a gift to those who would live longer” old Itzi would say. Instead of easing up, the trembling grew more pronounced and a low drone began to sound in the air. Something big was coming their way. Sensing danger, she organised her troops into their formations and prepared an ambush, using the hilly ground as cover. Whatever was approaching wasn’t going to stop. Hearing the mad screams now echoing through the hills, Artakl grimaced. Whatever they were, they weren’t coming to assist the Dwarfs. With the Salamanders now in position, she gave the order. This force could not be allowed to pass. Here they would stop, or die.

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This was a 2500 point game played over Universal Battle, an online platform for playing tabletop games. One of the best things about playing over Universal Battle is being able to play people from all over the world so lots of different lists pop up all the time. This is my second game against Fued for this campaign and he is trying out a new orc list.

We played the Ransack! scenario and location was Rhyn Dufaris. The pillage markers for the scenario are shown on the map below. Ransack is identical to pillage except each marker is worth D3 victory points at the end of the game. I’ve marked out the values for each marker rolled.

Lists and Deployment

This was a relatively new list for Fued so I’m sure that it will get more refined in the future. The core of it is quite solid however. With 6 troops of morax floating around, at least some of them will be around to slaughter by mid game. Backed up with war drums, a rallying flag and the new fury buff, these troops are actually pretty hard to take down. 3 mounted krudgers are the speed of the list and will help the hammers more easily do their things. Of course the fight wagons are pretty scary too if they manage to get a good matchup. Overall, this list has many more drops than me, excels in melee and is able to take a bit of a beating thanks to fury and the nerve buffs. Apart from the krudgers however, it is quite slow and lacks shooting. I’ll have to use those advantages well and ensure I don’t get sucked into playing a melee game. Or at least ensuring any melees aren’t fair for the orcs :)

Deployment (from left to right)

Salamanders: ghekkotah regiment, flying clan lord (courage), unblooded, flying captain, clan lord on drake (elite), ghekkotah horde, ghekkotah regiment, mounted clan lord (slashing), Orlaf, tyrants (headstrong), ancients on rhinosaurs (pathfinder), 2x lekelidon, herald (rally), lancers (haste)

Orcs: orclings, war drum, fight wagons, morax, mounted krudger (slashing), orclings, morax, greatax (stealthy), mounted krudger (rally), orclings, fight wagons, 3x morax, war drum, mounted krudger, orclings, fight wagons, morax

In lieu of writing everything down, I have indicated unit movement, ranged attacks and melee on the screenshots taken at the end of each turn. For those interested, it should paint a pretty clear picture of how the battle went, turn by turn.

Final Score:
Salamanders with 9 VPs and 2160 attrition points
Orcs with 3 VPs and 1065 attrition points

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It was done. The rampaging orcs had been utterly crushed and the Dwarfs needn’t fear a greenskin incursion into their flanks. Artakl hoped that it had been worthwhile. The Salamander losses had been high and it was difficult to see how her now decimated forces could contribute further to the cause in Rhyn Dufaris. Later, she would send out scouts and get an idea of how King Golloch was fairing in his efforts against the abyssal dwarfs. Perhaps they could send aid in the future. For now though, she would be needed amongst her own troops, tending the wounded and encouraging the survivors. It had been a difficult expedition for all who had journeyed out from the Three Kings. Perhaps it was time to head home. There were after all, many things that Artakl had learnt in the past month and she needed to get back to the mage priests to report on all that had happened here. Perhaps with their combined wisdom they would know how to seal the scar of Mantica and remove the plague of evil from the world. Unlikely Artakl realised, but while there's life, there's hope - and Artakl wasn't finished with either just yet.