Town Defense of East Bight - Battle Report Part 2

 The conclusion to the Battle of East Bight...

With Daemonettes and the Nurgle Blightkings making their way into the City Gate, Alpha must decide about using his grappling hook and getting out of there or to stay against all odds and call in one more Hobbit Artillery strike. And unlike his usual mercenary outlook on life... for once, he surprises himself and the rest of the team and chooses to do something different ... he makes a heroic last stand. Today we see the birth of a hero in the making. But will it also be the first and last day for our new hero?

Alpha: Here I remain! Go tell to Sparta, thou who passest by, that here, obedient to her laws, we lie.

Alpha decides to stand at the top of the northern building edge and engages the 3 Daemonettes trying to come up. He salutes the mindless demonic furies and strikes 2 of them down!

Alpha: And... stay out! *gets on the Hobbit field radio handset* Redleg, Redleg, Ripper Bravo Two actual. Be advised we got chaos daemons in the wire. For the record its my call. Dump everything you got on my pos. I say again, expend all remaining in my perimeter. Its a lovely effing war. Bravo Six out.

Redleg Artillery Station: Copy that Alpha... artillery is away... Danger close. May the Force be with you!

Solaire: We should sally forth and help Alpha and make a heroic last stand at the City Gate!

Goldberry: Not yet. You wont make it there in time anyway. Hold your ground, brave knight. Alpha's fate is in the hands of the dice gods now. The fight will be coming to us soon enough. This Beer Fountain must prevail at all costs or all is lost.

The Hobbit Artillery makes a great splash! 3 wounds on the Chaos warriors which kills one and brings another down to 2 Health.

Stroika sizes up the situation at hand. The Tzaangors can withstand alot of punishment with 4 wounds a piece, but they are ranged based and will most likely stay at distance and snipe them.
Stroika emerges out of the southwest building and makes a seemingly suicidal charge into the Tzaangors. From above, Xanthia watches the Kislevite's conviction. Sigmar help her.

Stroika: For Kislev! Ice for the Ice Gods!

Xanthia: C'mon, Hobbit Bobo! Let's give Stroika some fire support!

In the north, Zoltar fries another Daemonette with a Fireball. Hobbit Bumbo totally misses. Goldberry casts Banish and one Daemonette moves back 6". Kano prepares for ground assault!

Another 2 Chaos Warriors move towards the Beer Fountain. Beside them, 3 Daemonettes move towards Kano and the building where Zoltar is. With another Daemonette not far behind them.

Chaos surges forwards! One daemonette and 2 Nurgle Warriors attack Alpha who defends the City Gate. 

The Daemonette hits Alpha with a Rending hit, but Alpha's armor saves him from damage. But the 2 Chaos Warriors strike Alpha with 4 hits. But with no Rend, 2 hits are saved and 2 hits wound Alpha - leaving the heroic merc with one last remaining wound! He has survived this turn, but will he survive 3 more Turns?

In the south, 2 Tzaangor beastmen and the Shaman move forward to get a better shot at Xanthia. 2 Tzaangors decide to remain locked in melee combat with Stroika.

Xanthia wounds and freezes a Tzaangor. Bobo misses.
Stroika causes 2 wounds to another Tzaangor.

The Tzaangor Shaman casts Glean Magic on Xanthia and succeeds. Xanthia forces a reroll with the Bad Luck spell on the Shaman. But the Shammy succeeds again! So he is able to use Xanthia's Ice Blast Spell starting next turn.
A Tzaangor arrow misses Xanthia, but another slays poor Bobo the Hobbit. Only one Hobbit remains - Bumbo who is with Zoltar in the northwest building.

Stroika is wounded and is down to 2 Health.

Alpha grapple hooks down from the Gate and attacks one of the Nurgle Warriors below him. He may survive this battle yet!

And while the enemy on the vacant upper floor look around...

Zoltar goes for a Hail Mary and casts Vorpal Bunny... and succeeds! One of the Nurgle Warriors on top the Town Gate is struck for an amazing 6 wounds! A Critical Hit and the summoned Vorpal Bunny leaps and tears off a Blightking's head clean off with its sharp pointy teeth! Just look at the bones~! This couldnt have gone any better or at least more cinematic than if it was planned.

With Alpha on the ground level, the Beer Fountain defenders are in range to help this time.

Goldberry: Now! Charge forth brave warriors! 

Solaire charges the Nurgle warrior that Alpha is attacking from behind. And Rattlebones charges the other Blightking that is already down to 2 wounds.

And nearby, Kano charges 2 Daemonettes.

Bumbo the Hobbit actually hits a Daemonette who fails her Save. Score another one for the Shire! Now only 2 face Kano. Well another one is coming up not far behind.

Kano makes 2 hits and the Daemonettes fail both hits and are slain! The north looks pretty much won.

Goldberry has a decision to make. Try to cast that 5+ Kindle Hearts Spell to heal Alpha. Or the easier Banish 3+ Spell to drive off 1 attacker? She goes for the easier Spell and Banish succeeds. But on which one? If she targets one of the ground warriors they will simply charge back into combat on their turn. So either the Daemonette or the Nurgle Warrior on the 2nd floor of the City Gate will be driven back and wont make it into combat this turn at least. But which one? The Daemonette has Rend and 2 attacks. Or the Nurgle Warrior with 3 attacks but no Rend. She Banishes the Daemonette.

Rattlebones hits twice but the Nurgle Warrior's armor makes both Saves. Solaire ignites his sword but because of the Nurgle Blightking's Cloud of Flies his hits are at -1. Only one hits and gets through the Chaos armor, but it causes 2 wounds. So the Blightking is down to 2 Health. Alpha is able to cause another wound which brings the Chaos Warrior to 1 Health.

So a Blightking attacks Alpha from behind hits twice... and Alpha makes both Saves! He lives another turn!
The other Blightking attacks Solaire and misses all 3 attacks.
Rattlebones takes a wound and is down to 3 Health.

The Tzaangors remember the game Victory Conditions and decide to rush Goldberry and the Beer Fountain, hoping to hold it to win the game. One is still at a full 4 Health, the others are at 2 and 3 Health. And the Shaman is still at  6 health! And he has the stolen Ice Blast Spell from Xanthia. But he is still under Bad Luck. 

The Tzaangors blast Goldberry with arrows and spells. The Tzaangor Shaman casts Ice Blast on Goldberry, but fails the reroll due to Bad Luck. # Tzaangors fire arrows at Goldberry. 2 hit and get through her Save. Goldberry takes 2 wounds and is down to 4 Health.

Goldberry also knows the victory conditions and attempts to block the Tzaangors from getting closer to the Fountain. If they charge her, she causes Fear and they must test their LD. Seeing what Goldberry is doing, Zoltar bades Bumbo the Hobbit to help form a chain around the Fountain.

Zoltar: Dont worry, young Hobbit. We can be heroes... just for one day.

Bumbo: What, me worry?

Stoika takes a wound from the 2 Tzaangors still facing her. Which leaves her with 1 Health! These Tzaangors might be weak in melee but they have alot of Health and are slowly choking Stroika in a Jiu-Jitsu Death Grip. These Tzeetchian Beastmen play the long game!

Stroika kills the wounded Tzaangor facing her. So now just one other Tzaangor at full strength.

Kano kills another Daemonette, leaving him free to help out in the center, or to go to the Fountain.

Solaire is able to hit twice and both get through the Blightkings armor, slaying it. Rattlebones is able to hit his enemy and gets through its armor with Rend and is able to cause 2 damage with his 1 hit which kills the Nurgle Warrior. Rattlebones might only have 2 attacks but when he hits... he hits with high damage!

And Stroika is hit by the Tzaangor facing her. She fails her Save and is slain!

The Tzaangor Shaman casts Flickering Fire and succeeds. Then succeeds again despite Bad Luck, which causes another wound on Goldberry. A Tzaangor archer also succeeds in causing a wound on Goldberry and she is now down to 2 Health!

And in the last turn, with no hope of winning, the Forces of Chaos can only hope to slay as many heroes as possible - out of spite. But the heroes slay the last Daemonette and another Tzaangor. The Tzaangor Shaman attempts to charge Goldberry but fails its LD test! So he instead casts his Fire Spell again and succeeds twice! Goldberry is down to 1 Health! The Forces of Chaos may not win but they might slay Goldberry! One Tzaangor archer misses, the other... also misses! Oh wait there is a 3rd archer. The one who killed Stroika makes the final To-Hit roll of the game. Will it hit Goldberry? The Tzaangor rolls a 1! Goldberry breathes a sigh of relief and the game is over and won. But at what cost?

Because the Heroes won, any fallen PCs get to roll a 3+ to survive.
Stroika survives. As does Bortai and the Hobbits Bingo and Bobo. But the Scoutmaster himself, Jumbo is slain. Rest in peace, Hobbit. May winged Sprites carry you to Hobbit Heaven where Hotpot Soup and Meat Pies await you!

Group photo of the valiant defenders of East Bight.

Goldberry: Well done, heroes. By protecting others, you have saved yourselves! If you only think of yourself, you'll only destroy yourself. The Hobbits of East Bight have prepared a feast of Meat Pies and Laketown Beer.

Bumbo: Miss Goldberry! Im sorry to say this is no time for celebration! The Hobbit refugee camp in the Brown Lands has been pillaged and burned! Vengeful Snake-Women have defeated and slain the Dryad and Hobbit defenders! They have taken Hobbit and Tree-kin hostages, who are being held in a slave labor camp!

Alpha Fett: Lady Goldberry, I think I speak for the others when I say "Im ready for another mission"

Goldberry: Very well, you men (and women) have an "uncommon valor"... a bond and loyalty only shared by those who have faced death in battle, together. I will recreate a mock prison camp that we can practice our rescue mission on.

~~~

So these are actual in game shots, this time around. I usually recreate the battle afterwards with better shots and a better script. I didnt spend too much time on this AAR, and Im sure it shows. Sorry for the wound dice in the pics and some of the pics may not match the words at the time they were taken and vice versa.

At any rate, another battle where the Hero side won a Decisive Victory. Except for Scoutmaster Jumbo's sacrifice. Maybe im getting soft in my old age. Im just not designing scenarios with much chance for a TPK anymore. Im sure I will over compensate and get all our heroes killed at some point in the near future. OR perhaps, our heroes, are really that... Heroes. The Force was with them (or the Dice Gods). I like Alpha's character arc. Im pulling for him in the future battles to come on this blog. Just like the other teams, I got my favorites - Haystacks (oh sorry "Sir" Haystacks) and Istriya the Witch. And Aly the Elf! But now that Ive named them, they are sure to meet some grisly and terrible fate... never get too attached to anything in a game, kids. Especially pets! Those things die, they do! Its a wargamer rule, as old as time... paint something nice and its the first thing to die in a game!

Cheers,

Mar