Prologue.
Previously, Moonclan Grot Warlord Merl struck a deal with a local clan of BeastClaw Raiders to help ambush an unsuspecting army of Stormcast who had wandered into the mortal realm of Ghur. The ambush was a success, the main force of the Stormcast was annihilated. Their scouting party returned to camp, saw that it was lost, turned heel and left to plot revenge.
While the ambush was successful, my photography was not, so I will not be posting that battle report. This battle report is from week two of a narrative campaign we are running in the Age of Sigmar game system. We are using forces of 1500 pts., where each person picks a Grand Alliance and must stick with that alliance throughout the campaign. They can change lists from week to week and even factions as long as it is still part of the same Alliance. We are using realm rules and Malign Sorcery/Endless spells. The focus is on fun and fluff and not just showing up with unpainted netlists from the latest tournament, in fact a three color minimum paint job is required to participate to be sure we are all equally invested in the game.
I had a bunch of night goblins sitting in a bin since the ancient era of Warhammer Fantasy 5th/6th edition. In August we decided to try a campaign so I decided those goblins would be a great painting project for the campaign starting in October. I have them tabletop ready, but when I finish details and varnish I will put together a proper post for the army. For now, the battle report…
Logue
Merl and the Merlgits made off with the spoils of the ambush and headed back to the mountains. The clan of BeastClaw Raiders took their food and loot and headed to the plains to gorge themselves and celebrate the bounty. The Stormcast general knew that Merl was behind the machinations of the ambush so his scouting party followed them for days and mapped out the location of the caverns where Merl resided. Knowing it would be foolish to attack the grots in their own territory, especially with his diminished numbers, he set off to recruit others to avenge the ignoble death of his men. He learned of a local coven of Wytch Aelves and sent an envoy promising the blood spoils of battle in exchange for reinforcing his army.
Meanwhile Merl’s spy network revealed the location of an arcane orb of unknown function and power in a nearby village. That it was magical and shiny was all Merl needed to hear, he rallied the troops and went to capture it. The Stormcast and Wytch Aelves, upon reaching an agreement for an alliance, returned to the mountains to see the fresh tracks of destruction forces. They set out to follow them to the unfortunate village.
We had an odd number of people for this meet, so two Order players decided to each field 750 points as a Grand Alliance Order list against my 1500 point Grand Alliance Destruction list (posted in the epilogue). We decided to roll for scenario in the general’s handbook this week and we got ‘The Relocation Orb’ battleplan, which turns out to be a pretty wild scenario, it was my first time on this one. I think both of my opponents had played it once before.
Turn 1.
Order won the initiative roll and deferred first go to the Destruction forces. The grots with some help of a bellowing tyrant Merl, ran forward to get on the central objective (the relocation orb, marked by the Blue Eye of Horus token). Order called down a Meteor of Sigmar, this was the first time I saw this in action and boy does it hurt. Mortal wounds were dealt to grots, troggoths, and three grot heroes. The Wytch Aelves prayed a bit, drank some brew and rushed into the waiting nets of the buffed up grot horde (Moonclan Grot command ability plus mystic shield, To wound roll of 6 is a mortal wound and normal wound and reroll 1s to save). Eleven grots died on the charge and their counter attack managed to kill sixteen Wytches. Grots had a slight number advantage on the objective. This battleplan awards victory points to the player with the most models on the objective, 1 VP if you had first turn, 3 if you had second. The score is Destruction 1 : Order 0.
Turn 2.
The orb moved right on top of the Cauldron of Blood. Order won the initiative again and chose to go first. The Meteor finished off a shaman and killed some more grots. The Stormcast moved in to assist the Coven. Ravenak’s Gnashing Jaws came on the field and started biting and reducing bravery. Quicksilver Swords started to chip up the paint on the Cauldron of Blood. Melvin the giant rushed in on the flank, rolled 5 attacks on 3d6 and killed a single castigator. Two more rounds of combat and somehow the grot horde (now more of a rabble) ended up winning the battle against the Wytches (thanks nets), with the help of lots of tiny arrows. The cauldron has the wizard keyword so it counts as 20 models for scoring, no chance for destruction here. Order ties it up. Destruction 1 : Order 1.
Turn 3.
The orb jumped to the middle of the Stormcast force. Destruction won the initiative and gave first go to Order. Doomfire Warlocks live up to their name and Doomfire 6 grots, shot them with some crossbows and charged in. Stormcast followed them. The Cauldron of Blood failed a charge roll and decided to sit this one out. The grot horde was reduced to a mere mob, with numbers under 20, they are not going to be doing damage to anyone now. A shaman sprinted toward the objective and barely managed to be within the 3” required. The giant redeemed himself, stuffed a castigator into his pocket and smashed all but one. Fellwater Troggoths puked on the Cauldron of blood and then charged, managing to finish what vomit and tiny arrows started. Not looking good for the forces of order. Destruction 4 : Order 1.
Turn 4.
The orb jumped twice to the advantage of Destruction. Destruction won the initiative and deferred first turn to Order. The Stormcast charged the troggoths and killed two. With the help of the grot shaman’s spell-casting, the grot bowmen hit on 4+, wound on 4+ and have rend -1, 25 shots from this hurt the remaining Stormcast pretty bad. The shaman ran to the objective and sealed the victory. Destruction 7 : Order 1.
Epilogue
The moonclan grots are pretty fun to play. The 60 strong horde with nets, shields and spears are a decent core unit. 4+ save against ranged, 5+ in melee, -1 to hit, plus there are 60 of them that have to be killed, I need to paint a second unit. I have played two games with them and they have been successful for me. The troggoths hit harder than I expected them too, which was nice to have. The giant and trolls add some rend to the mix for armored opponents. I’m happy with this list, it is pretty well rounded and doesn’t rely on a gimmick.
I have a mangler squig that needs painting as well as some fanatics, those will be the next addition to the army.
It was a great game against some fun opponents, thanks for reading!