Despite having my girlfriends’ cousins in town this past week, I still had the opportunity to squeeze in some hobby time. I only had a couple of hours on Saturday morning free to game, but that was the perfect opportunity for John to test out his newly painted Greatswords.
Veteran preceptor Fritz Von Gorstein, is a storied knight, who rode with Kurt Helborg at the battle of The Cider Groves. This was an incredibly bloody fray, where a great hoard of orcs were defeated, although the empire suffered incredible losses. In fact Only Kurt, Fritz, Fritzs’ minstrel, and his standard bearer walked away from the battle. Upon returning to Altdorf, Fritz and his comrades had met up with Otto Stienerbocken and the 16th Nulnic Greatswords. After a brief period of rest, the group embarked on a quest to capture a griffin that escaped from the Imperial Zoo. They followed the Teufel River until they reached the foothills of the Grey Mountains. It was here, in a small clearing surrounded by pine trees, that the brave men of the Empire heard a blaring hunting horn.
The forces were as follows:
2 Empire Knights
4 Great Swords
1 Preceptor
1 Counts Champion
Vs.
10 Orc Boyz
1 Orc Big Un
1 Orc Boar Boy Boss
The orcs burst through the trees, and began charging across the meadow toward the men.
Fritz lowered his lance, and with great shout of “For the emperor!” charged the nearest orc. His lance connected, throwing the orc to the ground.
The orcs enveloped the knights, as the clash of steel rang out. In the swirling melee Fritz found himself facing off against the biggest orc he had ever seen.
On the other side of the meadow a hulking orc made a leap at Otto. Easily sidestepping the clumsy attack, Otto swung his sword, it bit deep into the orcs’ thigh, causing it to the fall to the ground.
Fritz brought his sword down In a lightning fast arc. At the last second the orc deflected the blow with its’ shield. The orcs’ crude blade lashed out, but missed its mark. To his left, an orc was run through. On his right an orc was kicked in the head by a warhorse. The horses’ rider was thrown from his saddle by the animals’ frantic bucking.
Otto drove his sword through the orcs’ back as it struggled to stand. The other Greatswords closed with the orcs, neither side was able to land a blow.
A massive boar tore out of the under growth, the battle crazed orc riding atop swung his spear wildly, nearly slicing a Greatsword in half. The lucky trooper was only saved by his finely crafted full plate.
Fritz parried a heavy blow from the massive orc. The impact caused his arm to go numb. Mustering all his strength, he brought his sword up beneath the creatures chin, slicing its’ face in half. Even as the orc fell, more orcs piled in around the knights. For a moment it looked like they would be drown in a tide of green muscles and steel. Sigmar answered their prayers, and no less than three of the foul brutes were killed.
More orcs battered the greatswords. Odwin, the banner bearer, and Dietrich were knocked unconscious.
Otto rushed at the orc riding the boar. His blade hit the orcs’ shoulder, causing it to tumble from its’ mount.
Fritz and his companions made short work of the remaining orcs and turned to face the orcs battling with Otto and the greatswords.
The orc boss is butchered, his thick, black blood pooling around him.
Ottos’ blade swung at the orc, causing it to throw itself to the ground to avoid the blow. Staggering to its’ feet, the orc bellowed defiantly. Fritz noticed the orcs’ fatigue, and swiftly closed with the beast. The orc barely had time to turn its head to face this new threat before it was impaled by the preceptors’ lance.
Fritz kicked the lifeless corpse from of his lance. Glaring at Otto he said “Your days at fencing school are over boy. Learn to fight like a real man.”
Another fantastic game! Although I couldn’t drop a single human, it was great to see two fully painted forces square off. For a moment it looked like the knights would be overwhelmed, but the orcs just couldn’t get through that armor. These games move very fast, and are wonderful if you don’t have the time for a full scale battle. In the near future I hope to incorporate some skirmish games into a larger campaign I am working on. Thanks again to John, and to you for reading this.
The Grey Mountains 