The raid on Hilfenhaus

Today was a momentous day - my first game of WFB3 in over 20 years! Not only that, but the first game I've ever played using fully painted miniatures and decent terrain (back in the day the Australia tax made minis too expensive, so we played 3,000 point games with cut out pieces of cardboard!).

My brother provided the opposition, and a variety of 3-7 year olds were the occasional spectators. Rules-wise we kept it simple, really just using the summary sheets at the back of the rulebook as our main reference. Given the small number of troops, that worked really well - no point over-complicating things when we're just (re-)learning.

The brief scenario was based around the models that I've painted over the last year or so. It was actually quite fun coming up with a storyline that fit with what I had available. I didn't bother with points values, instead coming up with what I thought was a good balance based on the figures available.

In brief, a ragtag band of orcs and skaven - down on their luck and hungry - led by Bane Spittlebreath stumble across a lonely house near the edge of a great forest. Figuring on an easy meal, they plan a raid on the house. They realise too late that a band of wood elves returning from a Great Council have spotted them and taken up defensive positions behind the walls of the estate. Victory would go to whichever side destroyed the other.

At this point I'll apologise for the quality of the photos - I had the white balance set all wrong!

This is from the end of the battle, but shows the layout of the table

The board is about 3' square - a piece of mdf I found on the side of the road and used as a tester for making a gaming board. The house - Hilfenhaus - is surrounded by walls and hedges and sits on a bend in the road. A ruined watchtower on a hill is there simply because I wanted to use the terrain piece! Out of shot in the top left corner is a small field enclosed by fences.

The elves (played by my brother, Ismaan) deployed first, taking up defensive positions behind the walls. They numbered 10 archers, Aralorn Lightblade and his 5 house guard, and Skyrla Wildcall and her two ferocious wild cats.

The orcs deployed on the opposite edge - Bane Spittlebreath leading 14 heavily armed and armoured orcs (Ruglud's Armoured Orcs, in fact) on the right flank, with a unit of 8 skaven and a fearsome rat ogre and its handler in the middle and left flank respectively.

Aralorn Lightblade and his house guard take up defensive positions

First turn went to the orcs and skaven (aka 'the bad guys'). They advanced, with me making my first tactical error of the game by sending the rat ogre off on his own down the left flank. The orcs were going to have a pot shot with their crossbows, but with total to hit modifiers of -4(!) it didn't seem worth it.

The elves began by dispatching the wild cats to advance on the rat ogre (cue cat-and-mouse jokes), and unleashing a volley of arrows from the deadly Laurelorn longbows. I didn't take notes, but I think the orcs survived this volley unscathed.

Elvish archers behind cover

Hold your line, men

I'll depart from a strict turn-by-turn description at this point (no notes, you see), and give you the vibe of the battle. The bad guys continued to advance in the face of the elvish barrage, with the orcs taking a few casualties as they inched (3" movement!) their way forwards. The wildcats charged the rat ogre, and with the two cats having 8 attacks on the charge they soon gained the upper hand.

The first melee of the game

The orcs continued to be whittled away, while the skaven made it to the elvish line and stabbed furiously over the wall. This became an epic battle, with the initiative see-sawing. The weight of numbers favoured the skaven, but they struggled to land a blow on their opponents, and so a game of push-back and counter-push-back took place.

killkill elfthings

Meanwhile, the orcs had lost a rank to bow fire but finally made it to the line of archers. Here's where our confidence with the rules maybe got in the way. The orcs pushed the elves back, but didn't have enough move to get across the obstacle and maintain base-to-case contact. By my reckoning they would have been half an inch short, and been split across the obstacle and so at risk of being charged while unformed next turn. As a result, they declined to follow up and this spelled their undoing.

An orc's eye view of the battle

Meanwhile the cats had pretty easily accounted for the rat ogre, and had set their sights on the orcs (given that the house guard was holding its own against the skaven). The house guard, in fact, managed to land a couple of blows on the skaven, winning the combat despite having been pushed back that round. Unsurprisingly the ratmen failed their Ld test and all bar one were hacked down. The sole survivor had the good sense to not stop running until it had cleared the table edge.

In the thick of it

Seeing the wild cats approaching, the orcs turned to face their new foe, copping more of a beating from close-range arrow fire in the process. They avoided being charged in the flank, but those 8 attacks came to bear, killing a greenskin. Not being able to land a blow, the orcs were pushed back, failed their Ld test and routed straight of the edge of the table. Game set and match to the wood elves!

It was great fun, and really nice to be playing again with Ismaan after all these years. And nice to get my miniatures out the the cabinet and into battle! I was a bit surprised at how easy the elves had it. They were always going to be outnumbered (by virtue of my not having painted many of them), but I thought that they'd have a tougher time of it. But that said, it wasn't too unbalanced and if I'd made a couple of better decisions it could have gone the other way.

Rules-wise, I'm sure there's plenty that we missed or got wrong, but it didn't detract from the fun at all. I was a good re-introduction to a great game!

I'll give it a month or so to get some more minis painted up and then see if Ismaan fancies a rematch!