Steve Jackson's Ogre Vs Oldhammer Part 2 - Prepare For Ground Assault

Some last info before the actual battle begins...

Balgar Blackwing, Level 2 Dwarf wizard has 12 constitution points
Useful spells include:
Windblast, cost of 2 energy, prevents enemy from moving next turn.
Flight, 3 energy, fly 12"
Lightning Bolt, 3 energy, 24" range, Str 4 attack
Aura of Protection, 3 energy, an extra 4+ save
Cure Severe Wounds, 3 energy

Rune Vane Totem:  has a Toughness of D, 6 Wounds
Immune to Beholder's eye powers, must be destroyed in close combat.

The game ends when either the Rune Totem or Beholder is destroyed.

Before the game starts, we allow the Dwarves to shift their deployment around, knowing what type of enemy they now face.
Initial thoughts on Dwarven strategy is about weighing the risks of bunching up to do damage to the Beholder but suffering casualties from its various template weapons.

Prince Helfast decides to split his forces and have 3 crossbows in his unit on the bridge.

The 2nd unit is led by Counsellor Thadar and is further back in the midfield of the board.

The Dwarf Slayers are near the southern edge of the board.

Prince Ulther also splits his forces in two.  The militia is deployed to his south.

The Rune Vane Totem is carried out of the fortress and to the furthest eastern position, right next to the Organ Cannon.  The Ratnik Clan deploys in front of it.

Beholder Turn 1:
Since the Beholder can float around, it doesnt need the bridge.  It moves right over the seemingly bottomless chasm.
Beholder moves up 6" in first phase, then another 6" in the reserve phase.  Now for the magic phase, where it can fire off its arsenal of eye powers...

The Beholder considers its power points: 3 points for main eye, 1 point for each minor eye.  He fires his main eye at Prince Helfast and freezes 4 Dwarves to death, not enough to cause a morale check. 

Prince Helfast himself, survives by making his save throw, but barely.

Hoth Rebel:  “Your tauntaun will freeze before you reach the first marker.”
H. Solo:  “Then I’ll see you in Hell!”

The Beholder has 3 more power points.  Fires off a disintegration at an unlucky crossbow Dwarf up on the battlements of Easthold fortress.  That was a lucky shot, even with the Beholders WS of 4 which is a 3+ to hit, the hard cover modifier is -2, which means 5+ to hit.  Followed by a d6 roll of 3+ to roll over a Dwarf Str of 2.

The Beholder uses Telekinetic Blast at Prince Ulther and 7 Dwarves including the Prince are blasted back 9" against the rocky base of Easthold's walls.

2 Dwarves are slain from the impact, and Prince Ulther himself takes a point of damage!  Finally the Beholder uses its last point to cast a Charm Person but fails.  Thats 7 Dwarves frozen, disintegrated, or been thrown into rock walls, in the first turn!

Dwarven Turn 1:
The turn starts with the Catapult lobbing off a rock at the Beholder.  First we roll a d6 for overshoot, then undershoot, then left and right deviation.  Then we place the 3" template and amazingly, the Beholder is hit! 4+ to hit any model underneath, but a +1 for being large, and another for having more than 5 wounds.  Thats a 2+ to hit, and it is easily rolled.  Damage?  d3 Str 5 hits... causes 1 wound.  Lets review Beholder damage allocation, 3 areas to choose from: carapace, main eye, or randomized minor eye.  The Dwarves further consider where to cause the damage: Main eye has 3 hitpoints, carapace with 12, or minor eyes with 1 point each, total of 9.  If we choose main eye, it will lose 1 point, but will still fire, and the carapace will need at least 2 to cause a -1" of movement loss.  So they decide to damage the minor eyes for an immediate loss of a Beholder weapon... which we randomize to be the minor eye stalk with the Paralyze power.  Buh-bye, Paralyze power, we hardly knew ye!

Then we get 8 crossbows up in Easthold, 2 from Prince Helfasts unit, and 2 more from the militia (Penny and Sleepy!  Who knew he could use that thing for more than leaning on and napping!) The 8 up in Easthold are long range and need 4+ after modifiers and score 4 hits, need 4's to wound and cause 2 wounds!  The Dwarves below roll and Sleepy and Penny hit, but only Sleepy hits to wound!  Thats 3 wounds on the Beholder!  After consultation, the Dwarves use 2 wounds on the carapace, so Beholder is slowed to 5" per move.  And the last wound to knock off another minor eye, which turns out to be the Slow eye...  The Dwarves are cautiously optimistic.  "If it bleeds, we can kill it..."

Finally, we have the Dwarf magic phase.  Balgar has 12 constitution points for casting spells.  Useful spells he has are: Windblast to prevent movement for 1 turn, Flight, Lightning, Aura of Protection, Cure Wounds.  He decides to start simple and cast an Aura of Protection around himself for an additional 4+ Save.

The Beholder considers where to move.  It must fall under the 18" minimum range of the Catapult to avoid getting hit again with a big rock.  Those crossbows hurt alot too, he must somehow kill them or avoid their attacks.  He also wants to get straight to the Rune Totem, so no dilly dallying around the fortress.  So, the Beholder moves right towards Prince Helfast and rolls a d3 and gets 3 power points for the turn.

He first uses the Death Ray, a template weapon where the narrow end touches the Beholder... and is used against the militia to deadly effect!

6 poor Dwarves are knocked out, including both Penny and Sleepy with their crossbows.  Also Stilts and Cheery Dwarf!  Revenge for their earlier insults at the bridge and their pesky crossbow attacks!  The militia are below half strength, promptly fail a morale check, and are routed.

Then a great idea pops into the Beholder's giant head.  He fires his Sleep power against the crossbow unit up on the walls and 5 of them fall asleep, missing their next turn.  Things are looking up.  Should he use his last power on those crossbows?

No, he must pay some attention to the danger nearby.  He uses Telekinetic Blast to fling Prince Helfast's unit back into Counsellor Thadars unit...

... and knocks out 3 more Dwarves.

Prince Ulther tries to charge the Beholder, but must roll a 4+ to charge a Fear causing unit.  He fails.

The Slayers go under the bridge ledge and come up behind the Beholder.  Which is a mistake, and they realize that too late.  The Beholder is too fast to catch.  Unless some one slows it down further downfield.

Next post:  Steve Jackson's Ogre Vs Oldhammer Part 3 - Finale, A Close Run Thing