The New Year's War

[Redback]

So here it is folks, my first proper battle report. My friend was on his way back to uni in Rochester after the Holidays, so we decided to have a game before he had to go. And what better way to celebrate the new year than to send dozens of minifigs to gruesome deaths!

Setting up and Deployment


Setting things up


Ollie's Skeleton Army, featuring a squad of skeleton archers, a squad of mummies, some skeletal chariots and cavalry, Anubis guards and 3 wizards. In this setup, the skeletons have the ability to possibly be resurrected after being killed, but only if at least 1 of his wizards was still alive and conscious. Hence him getting 3 of the bastards (And putting 1 in a chariot, no less)


The United Medieval Front (UMF), basically a coalition of multiple factions and groups from all across the Castle and Kingdoms franchises, all coming together to fight a common threat. Mostly infantry, with a squad of knights, a dragoKnight, and a couple of heroes on horseback.


Oh, and did I mention the UMF have a Castlemech as well? Because they totally have a castlemech.


An overview of the very patchwork battlefield. The land is so bizarrely coloured that, according to popular local legends, the gods made it by lazily slapping together whatever baseplates they could find.


And of course, you can't have a Brikwars game without a bloodsplosion.


One of the secondary objectives of the battle: To obtain this oddly-positioned crystal shard.


And the other secondary objective: To capture and hold uncontested the UMF's outpost.


One of Ollie's skeleton wizards in his vehicle of choice: A magically propelled siege tower.


An overview of Ollie's complete forces, including his skeleton army, and a few extras who tagged along...


...Like these goblin troops and scorpion swarms...


...And a trio of troublesome trolls (And the Skeledroid, over there in the background)


From the sea (represented by any bit of the table without a baseplate) comes Lawrence's Samurai forces, incluing a very impressive flying Leng Dragon


A flock of Tengu also decided to join the Shogun's forces


As well as some flying beastmen in their gliders (Thank you, Legends of Chima sets!)


Lawrence's army in its entirety, coming in via ships and flying


Some Mongrolian mercenaries joined the fight, along with a ronin, who steers the ship for them.


Back on land, the UMF have a small cannon emplacement, heavily guarded by some UMF ubertroops (Heavy armour AND heavy weapons for the lot of them)


The UMF's positions all around the outpost.


The DragoKnight takes up its perch ontop of the outpost, overlooking the land...


...while the Castlemech overlooks the coastline.



And so the board is set. Lawrence's samurai attacking from the sea, Ollie's Skeletons and Goblins coming from the land, and me caught in the middle looking on in desperation. Stay tuned, for the pics from Turn 1, coming soon!

[Rev. Sylvanus]

I am quite excited for this; may [the pictures] come quickly!

[Kalvinator]

This looks so awesome. Can't wait for pics.

[Maverick]

Go castlemech!

[Redback]

Turn 1

Mike's Turn



So first move of the battle and... it doesn't go great. A squad of footsoldiers attempt to jump down from a rooftop, stunning 4 of them and breaking up the squad. A bad omen perhaps?



Dirk the Archer decides to take up a vantage point on a coastline watchtower. And promptly wishes he'd brought a change of pantaloons after seeing the Samurai fleet.



Wait! We have a latecomer to the field! A local dinosaur...monster...thing, crawls out, enlists in the UMF and lies in wait for the enemies.



Over on the landward front, the knights have charged the Skeletal cavalry, slaying one undead horse in the melee.



As the successful attack rolls stack up, two more skeletons are slain.



On the other side, the Castlemech takes a shot with its multicannon and... completely misses everything. Huh... well, I did manage to kill 2 skeletons and a horse, so not a complete waste of a turn I guess.

Ollie's Turn



A squad of scouting UMF footsoldiers are ambushed by the hulking trolls and the scorpion swarms.



He wheels his goblin infantry around to help the skeletons against the UMF knights, while his skeleton infantry advance around them.



The goblin mech (Yeah, they somehow managed to cobble together a mech as well) stumbles over an ill-placed pyramid in its enthusiasm to join the fight,




And the Skeledroid clambers over the walls of the harbour.



A quick overview of Ollie's advance...



"Okay, so here's the plan: Maybe if I stare at this wall long enough... it'll feel bad and stand aside. Anyone have any questions?"
"Yes sir... several..."



Necromancer's stupidity aside, he does manage to cast a successful spell, and give the Skeledroid flying ability! Though this won't prove quite as useful as you'd think...



And another of his necromancers sends a good old-fashioned magic missile at the archery tower and blasts the top off, with two UMF archers going with it! Oh darn, and they were being so useful too!



And his third and (Thankfully) last necromancer castst the most vicious spell of all... he gives the dragon a sore throat, negating its firebreath attack!



His skeleton chariots move into the action, completely kettling in my knights...



...Whilst one of the trolls is deftly picking pieces of splattered UMF soldier off of his hammer.



The troll mech takes a shot with its quad-fire crossbow...



...Taking out another soldier.


Lawrence's Turn



"SURPRISE!" Lawrence's samurai spearmen clamber up the watchtower (A dumb bit of architectural design put the access ladder on the side facing the sea...) while Dirk can only look on in horror.



The Leng Dragon spot a few tasty looking UMF soldiers (Including one of my heroes) on their way, and floats in for dinner.



The raven gliders start their attack run, unaware of the Dinomonsterthing skulking below them.



But one of their shots does damage the Castemech, halfing the range of one of its two shots.



"Mmm, knight flambe." A hearty breath attack chargrilles 2 of the footsoldiers, and would have slain my hero if a nearby footsoldier had not bravely leapt in front of the blast.



Fare thee well, Dirk the Useless. You will be mocked.



And as a pesky sea monster snaps playfully at the Samurai ship, Turn 1 of the battle comes to a close.

[Kalvinator]

Awesome first turn! Keep 'em coming!

[Zahru II]

I already adore this, looks like a blast!

[Maverick]

Nooo! Castlemech has been hit. Now i will vote for The Sea Monster instead.

[Scribonius]

Nooo! Castlemech has been hit. Now i will vote for The Sea Monster instead.

I dunno, I still like the Castlemech... Sucks to be Dirk, though.

[Rev. Sylvanus]

Excellent shots, carnage and creativity going on here; keep it coming.

As a report making side-note: including a field-overview at the beginning or end of each player's turn can help give a concrete sense of "what" is going on "where" in the battle.

[Redback]

Turn 2 (Sorry for the wait, Uni just started up again)

Mike's turn



Off to a good start, the Dinomonsterthing is finally on the attack, snapping at one of Ollie's knights.



Another squad of UMF soldiers joins the fray to help hold back the goblins, trolls and scorpions...



...While what remains of that squad of soldiers who fell off the roof back at the beginning, makes their way through a valley towards the coast.



Artillery barrage next! The cannon emplacement blasts the front off of one of Lawrence's ships, taking out a samurai archer and startling his friends...



Whilst the castlemech blasts the Leng dragon right in the face!



The shot is followed closely behind by one of my heroes, who uses his heroic feat to leap onto the beast's snout and get to choppin'!



Ollie takes casualties in melee fights all aound the battlefield, including one of his goblin pikemen...



One of his skeleton warriors...



A couple of his skeleton cavalry...



And even a couple scorpions!

Not a bad turn. Nothing exactly big happened, just a whole lot of little things.

Ollie's turn



Ollie is swift to retaliate however, and swings his goblins around to completely trap my knights!



Things don't exactly look good for my DragoKnight either, as his skeleton warriors press on the attack...



Whilst another gang of skeletons hops down from the assault tower and goes straight for the knight himself.



The skeleton chariots are on the move as well, getting dangerously close to the outpost



The Skeledroid gets a burst of courage as well, deciding to leap down and smash the Dinomonsterthing before it can chomp any more soldiers...



While a few more skeletons, including one of his necromancers, clamber up onto the harbour walls (One of them slips on a loose tile, however, and plops right into the water.)



Suddenly calamity strikes! The Goblin Mech takes a shot with its four-shot crossbow, but misfires, and somehow blows its entire arm off!



The shots themselves go everywhere, one of them taking out a skeleton,



While another blasts the Skeledroid's arms clean off as well! Someone decomission that damn mech before it causes any more damage!



A few shots hit home though. One was so fast and awesomely shot that it lops the Dinomonsterthing's tail clean off (Or maybe that was Ashitaka on his way to the set of Princess Mononoke)!



And the mech has some better luck with its melee weapon, pulverising a UMF soldier.



The skeleton soldiers score a blow against the dragon, chopping its tail off as well! What is it with Ollie and his vendetta against monster tails?!



The gobins also finally take out one of my knights as well, the one who likes to pretend he's a king to be precise.


Lawrence's Turn



Lawrence starts off his turn with quite a bang, using his ship's ram to smash clean through the harbour wall! Hey, it wasn't gonna fit any of his ships, so why not have some fun with it?



His Mongrolians are the first to disembark.



But one of his Tengu gliders is the first to score a hit, taking out the UMF cannon!



Unfortunately, my heavy guards are heavy in every sense of the word. They can barely run, let alone jump up high enough to swipe at the glider.



The Leng Dragon turns a hungry eye toward the Castlemech, and it's insane Scottish pilot.



But it needs tenderising first!



His samurai cavalry and ninjas disembark as well, ready to fight.



And his Tengu get the drop on the UMF soldiers in the valley



CRAZY SCOTT?!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Leng Dragon: Mmm... Tastes like haggis, whiskey and Glaswegian heroin.



And another swipe of its claws smashes the cannon arm clean off. But then again, the arm itself does have its own pilot...



And as the ninjas and Tengu take out another poor soldier from that unlucky squad of soldiers, Turn 2 comes to a close.

[Bragallot]

The land is so bizarrely coloured that, according to popular local legends, the gods made it by lazily slapping together whatever baseplates they could find.

[Captain26618]

An excellent battle! I look forward to seeing the next turn.

[Kommander Ken]

RIP Scottish Pilot.