Dwarven Quest

When Whitebeard gifted the runestaff to Dormeund he quoted and ancient prayer to the goddess and turned back towards the portal. "But how will I know we are ready?" called Dormeund after him trying not to sound desperate. "You're a runesmith now... just build the grudge cart and select the worthy to accompany you." The old loremaster grunted.

Two Thunderers, Brayx and Bronner approach the Bakkul cousins while they are constructing the grudge cart with which to ferry the queen. Dormeund never asked if they were spoken to by Loki Whitebeard he just accepted their help and set out with the whole party.

"Our route passes into the underway for days but we must traverse the open ground toward the sea. In this last leg, I sense there will be troublesome encounters. Keep your wits about you on the road to FireHawk."

Encounter

The dwarves exit the underway and cross a long plain for several hours. After the ground becomes rocky and the path narrows they arrive at an abrupt drop in elevation stretching out to the foot of a sharp peak. Here they spied a small camp of orcs huddled close to path as it wound around the mountaneous speaker tower. "They aren't that many of them." quoth Bronner slapping his handgun. "If we shoot first we're likely to tip the odds in our favor before the fighting even starts!" he shout-whispered eagerly. "We're already being watched from above by those Fell Bats. They are just waiting to make their move." Pointed out Dormeund.

Before the Thunderers have a chance to even try for long shots the fell bats screech and start circling.

Alerted by the screeching above the orcs give a rousing "WAAAGH!" before falling into formation.

Turn 1: Both

The squads approach either and the few warriors with ranged weapons begin shooting.

Shooting

The Dwarf Thunderers moved already this turn with the grudge pony so they can't shoot. Lurtz the archer from the red fangs, however will take a shot at the small dwarven line. Lurtz is at long range and has moved, but he is a boss archer so he still hits on 5+: 1... even with all his prowess Lurtz misses.

Turn 2: Orcs

Brimzac has the higher initiative of the two leaders so gets the first chance to attempt a long charge or march forward. Fourteen inches is a long shot charge but if they march forward 8 inches the dwarves will only have to make a 6 inch charge in response. The orcs roll animosity: 6 they are under control. Brimzac orders the attempt to charge they roll: 7, unfortunately (7+4) < 14 so the charge fails and they only advance 5.5 inches. The normal march distance for orc boyz is 8 inches so they are not unformed due to the failed charge.

Lurtz takes another pot shot at the dwarves rolling: 3 when he still needed 4 to hit because he has not moved.

Turn 3: Dwarves

The dwarves only need to make an 8.5 inch charge to hit the orcs, Dormeund sees this as an opportunity. They roll their charge distance: 7 same as the orcs except (7+3) > 8.5 so they successfully charge into the line of orcs.

With the combat engaged the thunderers can only shoot at lurtz from long range, they have 3 ballistic skill and are also at long range so they will need 5+ to hit: 1 gunman hits and will roll 4+ (S4 vs T4) to wound: 3, failing to penetrate..

Combat

The dwarves and orcs have equal initiative except for Brimzac who gets to strike first. Dormeund calls him out in a challenge however and Brimzac has no lines to hide behind, nor would he. Accepting gladly, he steps towards the center dwarf, "Shoulda let me waste yer boyz" he grins and rolls his 4 attacks at 4+ to hit (WS5 vs WS5): [3,5,4,1] 2 hits, Brimzac strikes with S5 on first turn of combat due to the orcs' choppas special rules so these two are at 3+ to wound: [2,3] one wounds, Dormeund is wearing gromril armour with a shield and has a rune of stone but his 2+ armour save is reduced to 4+ by the strength of the blow he rolls: [4] tinking off the wound with his dwarven forge-ware.

Dormeund strikes back with 2 attacks at 4+ to hit: [3,1] but he will re-roll these misses due to his dwarven hatred of greenskins: [1,3] to no avail. The other 4 dwarves strike however against the boyz at 3+ (WS4 vs WS3): [5,1,1,5] and the misses get re-rolled for hatred: [5,3] for 4 hits, the dwarves are resolute so they get +1 strength in the turn that they charged giving them 4+ to hit T4 orcs: [5,2,3,6] two wounds, the orcs are wearing light armour but it is broken by S4 so two of them die. The 3 surviving orcs strike back at 4+ to hit: [3,2,1] they all miss anti-climactically.

Combat Resolution

In such a simple combat we can easily see that the dwarves win by 2 because they dealt 2 wounds and no one has any other modifiers. The orcs roll their break test: 8 which fails because Brimzac's leadership is 8 and (8 - 2) < 8 so they flee. The dwarves get a free hack in which Dormeund and one comrade will target Brimzac with their attacks the other 3 roll 5+ to wound: [3,6,6] so 2 success killing two more boyz and Dormeund rolls 5+ to wound Brimzac, his comrade rolls 6+ Dormeund rolls: [1,5] for 1 wound and the other dwarf rolls: 4 failing to deal the finishing blow. The orcs roll their flee distance: 6 and the dwarves roll pursuit: 5 so they do not get another free hack.

During the remaining moves phase the fell bats swoop down behind the dwarf line sensing the perfect moment has arrived.

Turn 4: Orcs

Brimzac rolls to rally: 9. Things have gone horribly wrong, they've been ambushed and they have to get out. All he can think of is running to safety. Lurtz also realizes the situation, "How did I get stuck widdese guys?" he mutters but he lets off one last arrow before he turns to run, at 3+: [6] hitting the closest dwarf at 5+ to wound: [3] but it doesn't wound, he trots away cursing.

Turn 5: Dwarves

The dwarves perform a 180 degree turn as a free maneuver and then roll leadership to charge and then again to wheel on the charge the first test is: 7 so they can easily charge and their charge distance is: 8+3=11 inches which is successful, they roll for the wheel: 8 but that fails this time because the 3rd maneuver is at -2 and 9-2=7, when a unit fails a wheel during a charge it still happens but they lose their charge bonuses.

Combat

First the dwarves roll to master their fear: 6 they are fine. The fell bats have 3 initiative so they strike first. They roll 6 attacks at 4+ to hit (WS3 vs WS4): [1,6,4,5,5,6] five successes, they roll to wound at 5+ (S3 vs T4): [4,5,3,1,3] only one wound, the dwarf gets his full 4+ armour save (heavy armour, shield): [1] he fails though and dies. Dormeund strikes back with 2 attacks at 3+ to hit: [4,1] one success, he rolls 3+ to wound: [1] failing. The other 3 living dwarves roll their attacks: [4,5,6] all three successes, they roll to wound at 4+: [3,5,3] 1 wound, but fell bats have 2 wounds each so no model goes down.

Combat Resolution

Each side has dealt 1 wound so tie goes to the musician with the best tune, but neither side has a musician so it is an actual tie

Turn 6: Fell Bats

Combat

The dwarves must roll for fear again: 9 they barely control themselves. The fell bats attack again: [2,6,6,3,4,1] 3 hits they roll 5+ to wound: [6,1,2] 1 successful wound, the dwarf rolls his 4+ armour save: [2] he dies. Dormeund hits back at 3+: [1,6] with 1 hit at 3+ to wound: [6] there is no save for the fell bat and one model actually gets removed. The two other dwarves strike at 3+ to hit: [5,6] to hits at 4+ to wound: [6,1] dealing one wound.

Combat Resolution

The dwarves deal 2 wounds to the fell bats 1 so they win by 1. The fell bats are unbreakable, unstable so instead of taking a break test they lose another wound due to their undead tethering to this world weakening, this will cause the removal of another model.

Turn 7: Dwarfs

The thunderers rush the bats from the rear their charge roll is: 7 giving them 10 inches total which easily succeeds. The dwarf warriors roll for fear: 7 and the thunderers: 6 so neither cowers. The dwarves expect to defeat the last bat but it gets to attack first at 4+: [6,3] 1 hit at 5+ to wound: [3] which fails. Now Dormeund strikes at 3+: [1,6] one hit at 3+ to wound: [3] which does sink in, the fell bat still has one wound. The other dwarfs have the same stats so they all strike at once: [6,4,6,5] they all hit, a flurry of hacking commences they roll 4+ to wound: [3,1,5,1] only one actually wounds.. but that's all that's necessary the monster dissipates into undead dust.

"Onward brethren! In Barak Varr the queen can be saved, our Bronnling oaths cannot rust or weaken!"

The party marches on but they know there will be more trials for the Bronnlings yet to come even if their mission is a success.