Hordes with the Boy #2

A belated battle report from a Hordes game with my boy, prior to his return home.

Madrak and his remaining warbeasts were tired of running. They had been harried by that feral female warlock long enough. It was time he ended this. Madrak mentally ordered his two impalers to his side and sent his axer into the trees to hopefully outflank the pursuing driud.

Moments later series of howls resonated through the forest. Madrak readied his great axe and his impalers had their spears at the ready. He knew it would only a few moments before the enemy would be upon him.

The boy wanted another game of Hordes so I was happy to oblige. However, he wanted to try the Circle Druid force. Well that was going to make it wyrd. I would have to throw down against my beloved crazy wolf and dog monsters. Still, a change of pace couldn’t hurt.

Druid Orboros battle box vs. Trollblood battle box

I won the roll for first turn, but chose to set up and go second. Our forced were set and off we went!

Druid turn 1- Troll turn 1

Just movement on both sides and a Surefoot on Madrak.

Druid turn 2- Troll turn 2

More movement by both forces. The lead argus gets an Occulation. Madrak shuffles his army and keeps Surefoot going.

Druid turn 3-Troll turn 3

The warpwolf is now the target of Occulation, warps for a +2 SPD and runs forward. Madrak continues his Surefoot and riles his forces. They shuffle about to keep outside of a charge range.

Druid turn 4

Occulation stays on the warpwolf to keep me from throwing spears at him. The big wolf warps for +2 ARM. However, a choice is made to not charge the nearest impaler.

(I do ask why not and the boy thinks he will fail, so he warps for +2 ARM.)

His remaining force moves forward.

Troll turn 4

The Surefoot stays on Madrak. The two implaers move forward and are inside the range of the warpwolf’s stealth buff. The first impaler to throw boosts to hit…and misses. The second impaler boosts to hit…and misses as well. Damn! Madrak and the axer shuffle about and prepare to have an uninjured angry warpwolf in their face very soon.

Druid turn 5

The warpwolf shifts to gain +2 STR and charges the axer. I was hoping to bait him to go after the less melee oriented impaler, but damn if the boy didn’t see that coming. The charge attack misses as does the first claw. The second claw connects. A fourth attack is forced and a few more points of damage are caused. A total of 12 vitality points are lost. First blood to the druids! Kaya and the pair of argus move forward.

Troll turn 5

Keep the Surefoot up! The axer activates and regenerates 3 points. Wow that never seems to happen when I roll for regeneration. He takes a swing at the wolf, boosts the hit and boosts the damage.

Madrak throws up Carnage to buff the boys and burn some fury. The impaler nearest the warpwolf advances an inch and then has range to attack with his spear. A hit and boosted damage and the warpwolf notices that he is in trouble. A second attack is forced and connects. The boosted damage come up a 5,6,5! Well that makes a difference. A third attack is forced, hits and does just enough damage to drop the big bad wolf.

The remaining impaler is in range and hucks a spear at the nearest argus. Madrak uses his fury to boost the hit. Then he uses his fury to boost the damage: 6,4,4. Ouch!

Druid turn 6            The beginning of the end?

Kaya heals the argus ,who was almost killed last turn, with her 6 fury.

The freshly healed argus advances on the impaler looking for revenge. It uses both heads in a combo strike, boosts to hit and boosts damage. The impaler takes some damage. A third attack is forced, but with the DEF buff from Surefoot still active, the attack misses.

The second argus charges the other impaler. The charge attack hits and the boosted damage knocks out ½ of two separate aspects. The second head hits, but the boosted damage does zero damage. A third attack is forced, but misses.

Troll turn 6

Crap I left too much fury on the beasts. After leeching a threshold check is needed on one impaler. He passes easily.

Madrak drops Carnage and Surefoot.

The near dead argus is attacked. The first spear strike misses. A second attack is forced, which misses. A third attack is forced and hits, but only does a piddly 1 point of damage.

The axer tries to get into the mix, but just cannot get his big butt there yet.

The impaler with the fresh and angry argus. The first attack misses. A second is forced and hits with boosted damage to ruin ½ of two aspects, much like the troll fighting him. A third attack is forced and misses. Hmmmm….Carnage is not working as well as I hoped!

Druid turn 7

Kaya has line of sight to the axer. She unleashes a Spirit Fang spell. It hits and box cars for damage! Ouch! She repeats this and hits. However, the damage is exactly the same as the troll’s ARM. Still the troll will be -2 DEF and -2 SPD for a turn. She then heals the near death argus 2 points.

The badly wounded argus attacks in hopes to finish the impaler. The first head bites and misses. The second head boosts to hit and boosts damage. The impaler loses his mind aspect and most of his body. A third attack is forced and misses.

The second argus attacks the second impaler. He boosts to hit and damage which ruins ½ of another aspect. A third attack is forced and hits! The damage is another wash as it matches the ARM score.

Troll turn 7

Damn another threshold check is needed. An impaler takes it  and passes.

The crippled aspect impaler is forced to regenerate…and another 3 points! He then attacks. Madrak uses his fury to boost the hit and forces the impaler to boost the damage. The dice stop with a 5, 6, and a 6. Wow is that argus dead!

The axer shuffles forward and attacks the remaining argus. He attacks, with Madrak adding his fury to the swing. The axer is forced to boost the damage. The second argus falls after another good bit of rolling ( 4, 4,6).

Kaya is now alone and has an impaler with a straight shot at her. He moves forward a tiny bit to ensure he is within range. Madrak uses his fury to boost the hit. The spear flies and connects! Madrak also uses his fury pool to boost the damage. The dice turn over 5, 4, and 6! Kaya takes 15 points of damage and falls! Holy crap that was awesome! One shot. One kill.

Madrak slowly approached the wounded female druid. The impaler’s spear had punched completely through her abdomen. She lay bleeding as the troll warlock advanced.

“Too long have you druids been a thorn in my side. Today I take steps to remedy that!” said Madrak as he raised Rathrok for the killing blow.

The human female raised a hand in what looked like an attempt to shield herself. However, as the axe fell she became incorporeal and then vanished. Madrak’s blow sunk deep into the earth where she had been moments before.

What I learned, or more what did the boy learn…..

He is getting more comfortable forcing and using his warlock’s fury.

He is still wary to charge, but that is more about guessing/knowing  distances.

Trolls can beat druids in my house, guess it just needs a better player (BURN!)

When your dice are hot, this game gets ever more brutal. My boosted damage rolls were all combos of 4’s, 5’s and 6’s. Hot dice were hot!