And Yea, behold - the Lead was indeed Brought Out!

Pic courtesy of Foundry - I was too busy forgetting to document my Orc's Drift games!

Well it might seem an age ago but I for one am still basking in the warm afterglow of the Oldhammer Bring Out Your Lead weekend at Foundry.

And the reason for this prolonged feeling of euphoria...

We had a superb venue bedecked with artwork and miniature cases full of 80's splendour. Our extremely generous hosts, the Ansells, made us feel very welcome and even provided us with an evening meal on the Saturday night!

We finally got to meet each other, put faces to names and further cement friendships made over the marvellous medium of the interwebz.

We got to play a lot of Oldhammer.

We got to look at a lot of Oldhammer.

We went out and got pissed together.

We played a lot of Oldhammer hungover.

We all went home determined to make this kind of thing happen again - both in the local groups that have sprung up and, as I'm sure will no doubt happen again, another national (does that sound too grand?!) event next year.

My contribution was to run the Orc's Drift campaign that has been my raison d'etre for some time on this blog. Firstly can I apologise to any prospective Bloodbather's who didn't get a game because I was busy gassing! We had a bit of a slow start on the Saturday - both because I was busy chewing the fat, but also because I suspect quite a few chaps had been drawn to the excellent Realms of Chaos game run by Orlygg.

Anyhow we got the first three scenarios played over the two days - I think folk were flagging a bit thanks to the after effects of Saturday night and overdosing on gaming with actual real life opponents by Sunday afternoon to face the final battle at Orc's Drift - that and there were still quite  few games going on by then and we didn't have the optimum 6 players and GM to do it justice. Keep your eyes peeled though as we're planning on fighting this last scenario out at the first YOBBOS meeting, currently scheduled for the 3rd November I think.

The Battle for Kachas Pass

Thanks to Hetz for stepping up to plate and taking command of the Vile Rune Tribe - their objective - to destroy the Wood Elf garrison and kill the Half Orc spy Silas Meel, who has potentially damaging intelligence on Fangor Gripe, the Vile Rune Chieftain.

The sneaky Orcs use the woods for cover as some of the Elves (possibly unwisely!) leave the protection of the stockade to get a better angle of fire.

A few Orcs are picked off by surprisingly ineffective Elf archery (my usual dice rolling woes!).

The lead elements of the Vile Rune Tribe charge the stockade wall!

The rest of the tribe follow...

Guthrum Mane, the Rock Giant and Erdolas Thringal, the disgraced Wood elf Captain square off.

Guthrum succumbs to alcoholism and is pushed back - tripping over and narrowly missing squashing the Orcs fighting next to him! He presented a rather soft target for Erdolas to finish off in a most unheroic way in the next turn.

I seem to remember proceedings stopping for a great chat about the good old days (most of the pre-3rd edition days being before my time!) with Tony and Alec. Tony has a fantastic blog by the way which is well worth checking out. Thanks Alec for coming back and taking control of the sneaky Half Orc spy - a slightly limited brief as his objective was to flee the table and he was by then being pursued by two Wood elf archers!

Meanwhile the Orcs had reduced the defenders to a handful and pushed the desperate Elves into the centre of the compound - the rules state that the Elves are immune to rout tests whilst in the stockade.

Outside, the Elf flanking force let loose with some more woeful shooting...

Silas Meel uses the terrain to his advantage as his pursuers split to try and draw a bead on the slippery spy.

The Elf flanking force charge the Orcs in the side, realising too late that in 2nd edition this doesn't cause a panic test!

Oh oh...

However, Erdolas does kill Fangor Gripe as they duke it out.

As the Elves in the stockade refuse to rout, their attackers wrap around in an effort to finish off the last stubborn defender.

Predictably the Elves lose the combat and rout in the face of overwhelming odds.

One of the Elves gets a flesh wound on Silas Meel - unfortunately the arrow ended up sticking out of his arm rather than his leg and the Half Orc makes it off the table!

The last defender is slain...

Erdolas finally gets his Death wish - the last Elf alive in the stockade!

Although the Elves were nearly wiped out completely this was a bruising encounter for the Vile Rune Tribe. Both their chieftain, Fangor Gripe and Guthrum Mane, the Giant lay dead, as did a fair number of Orc warriors.

In terms of victory points this was actually an Elf (phyrric) victory! The Vile Rune Tribe will be delayed because of this setback and should arrive at Orc's Drift in Turn 10 of the final game.

Encounter at Ashak Rise

This game was played quite late on on the Saturday - Grumdril had managed to extricate himself from the Relams of Chaos and took control of the Gold mad Dwarf deserters of Ashak Rise and I was back having had to shift the car to the hotel car park. Gaj and Warlord Paul also joined in as the Severed Hand Tribe and King F'yar and his F'yar Guard respectively.

This is potentially a very tough scenario for the Orcs to win with minimal casualties. The Dwarves have two very strong heroes and the regular troops far outclass your average Orc. Added to that, the Dwarves start off with control of the bridge over the fast flowing River Canis - a natural and easily defended choke point.

However, I had made a roll earlier in the day to determine which scenario King F'yar would turn up in - he can normally choose any one of the initial three scenarios as well as the battle at Orc's Drift. Lo and behold he appeared at Ashak Rise, totally destroying the Dwarves' tactical advantage!

What follows is a heroic effort on Grumdril's part to hold the entire Vile Rune Tribe off whilst dodging a flying Wyvern and trying to get the gold off the table as fast as his Dwarves' little legs could carry them.

Borin and Snorrin get their priorities right and look to load up the mules with as much gold to scarper with, while their fellow deserters face off against the oncoming horde!

F'yar crosses the river with eases as the Hobhounds approach the defenders on the bridge.

Accurate crossbow fire whittles down the pack a little...

King F'yar steers his Wyvern towards the distant figures of the Dwarves fleeing with their gold.

The hounds are stopped in their tracks by the Dwarves on the bridge. The F'yar guard weigh up the chances of their crossing the river safely - I ruled that they would have to roll under their strength to withstand the current or else drown in the cold waters!

Borrin and Snorrin prepare to leave with fully laden mules. Another deserter brings up the third mule.

Four of the F'yar Guard make it over - one isn't so lucky and is swept away!

King F'yar closes in.

The hounds manage to push back the Dwarves in what was to become a real see-saw of a combat!

The F'yar Guard shake the water from their britches and advance.

A rather one-sided duel breaks out between the Orc archers and the Dwarf Crossbowmne. Still, the Orcs get a lucky shot in here and there, despite the Dwarves' well protected position.

F'yar swoops and kills off Borrin and Snorrin - the poor heroes struggled to land a blow in response as fliers count as having WS10 in 2nd ed!

I think Grumdril had to go somewhere around this point - hope you enjoyed it mate!

After that I took control of the Dwarves.

The F'yar Guard gain control of the road, bypassing the stubborn Dwarf defenders on the bridge.

Poor old Gaj had seen his hounds routed and now had his main unit of Orc warriors held up by these two plucky fighter!

King F'yar searches for more Wyvern food. The Dwarves look suspiciously like filler in an Orc sandwich here...

The Orc archers form into a Conga line... erm I mean single file and snake past the melee that grinds on on the bridge.

Tasty Dwarves!

The hounds rally and charge the last defender in the side. I think Hagar Sheol, Chieftain of the Severed Hand Tribe, landed the final killing blow, clearing the way for the Orcs to continue their advance on Orc's Drift, collecting the abandoned Dwarf gold on the way of course!

The Severed Hand and King F'yar win a resounding victory here (mostly thanks to all the victory points they earned for picking up most of the Dwarf gold) and apart from the Hobhounds didn't suffer horrendous casualties. They are due to arrive at Orc's Drift by Turn 4.

Massacre at Linden Way

A somewhat fragile Thantsants and Warlord Paul settled down on Sunday morning to play out the Linden Way scenario - an ill-prepared human Militia attempt to stop the advance of the Kwae Karr Orcs, while the terrified villagers flee and the schizophrenic Illusionist, Barrachus protects what he thinks is his gleaming palace of delights.

The Orc archers crest the ridge of the hill and look down on the ruins that Barrachus mistakenly sees as his beautiful palace.

The main column of warriors advance on the village as the militia form into one unit and bar their path.

A second unit of Kwae Karrs attempt to flank the human militia.

Bagrash, the Kwae Karr shaman unleashes deadly fireballs at the Guard tower that houses the five militia archers.

... and it crashes to the ground as a burning wreck, killing all its occupants!

The villagers flee and Bagrash, determined that none should escape, magically flies to cut off their advance. His cunning plan is foiled by a well placed Mystical mist cast by Barrachus! All the villagers manage to escape!

The archers attempt to put a stop to Barrachus' meddling with their archery - the walls of the ruins protect him however.

Frustrated at their lack of success, the archers charge him!

Meanwhile back in the village, the militia is steadily ground down, their pikes being the only thing stopping them being wiped out completely. However, with the arrival of the second unit of Orcs, they are forced to flee.

Barrachus flees too, but rallies and assumes a terrifying and ghostly appearance!

Thanks Gaj for the loan of the Ghoulie!

The militia rally and turn to face their tormentors!

The archers prepare to fire again on Barrachus but he is too quick for them!

Suffering from hatred (you have to roll each turn to see what psychology he suffers from due to his schizophrenia!), Barrachus charges the main Kwae Karr column!

Luckily they pass their Terror test and fight him off. Rather than engaging in close combat, Barrachus chooses to flee so as not to destroy his ghostly illusion.

My recollection of how Barrachus ended is hazy - I think he again suffered from hatred or was forced to charge again. This time he was slaughtered by the steadfast Orcs!

So the game ended with the fairly predictable result of a massacre at the hands of the Kwae Karr. I think they lost only a small handful of warriors to the human militia. It was a most entertaining game thanks to Barrachus and his madness, the magical duel between him and Bagrash and the cat and mouse with the villagers!

The Kwae Karr wina  convincing victory and enter the fray at Orc's Drift on turn 5.

Finally, and much belated - here are the Golden Gobbo entries. I'd agreed to take receipt of Blue in VT's entry (all the way from the US) and FimmMcCool's entry from the dark Southern Wastes of Bristol - a heavy responsibility indeed!

Anyhow I just about remembered to bring them with me, however we found ourselves up against the might of Nico's superbly crisp and bright style in the form of his amazing Ork Gargant - congratulations Nico on a well-deserved win.

Congrats to Fimm and Blue to - it was a privilege to look after and see your entries in the flesh!

Slammbo - by me! Must take a better shot!

Fimm's mad Chaos Warrior/Demon riding Chaos Goblin! Fantastic vivid colours and a clever conversion from a Squig Rider.

Nico's masterful Gargant - so crisp and clean while still being nice and Orky.

Blue's beautifully understated and naturalistic Glam - lovely skin tones and shading. Definitely picked up a few tips just seeing his brilliant painting style in the flesh.

Getting Close to the Bone...

Greetings dear readers - I think its about time I finished off the battle report of the game I played with Warlord Paul a few weeks back, especially as even Gaj has got himself moving ; )

We find ourselves back in the mist shrouded land of Albion with the Orcish and Undead battle lines poised ready to fall on one another.

The story so far from Warlord Paul's point of view -
Part One
Part Two
Part Three

The Tribal warriors of the Paylah Lifficks watched on impassively as a large proportion of the once proud Tyum Teem Tribe streamed past them, shouting and screaming as they went.

"Wut ur dey runnin fer - s'only sum funny lookin' goat with a lion's hed stuck on it..."

One of the Tyum Teem Orcs overheard this particular slur on their martial prowess,

"That's no ordenarrry goat wiv a lion hed on it! Dat's the mostest cruel, foul and bad-tempered goat weev ever set eyes on!"

Others joined in the chorus as they swept by,

"Yer - it'll do youze up a treat mate!"

"... Narsty, big pointy teef!"

And with that the panic-stricken mob were gone with the fearsome creature in pursuit.

The Savages and spear-armed Orcs pressed on to the right of the graveyard - a lone regiment of Skeletons blocking their way. However, a few wary glances were directed at the Undead cavalry edging around their right flank and the Chimera now rampaging through the routers to their rear.

Rob'imsun and the Giant veered to the left to threaten the Skeleton units skulking by the farside of the graveyard, just in case they should expose their flank.

Over on the far left the archers loosed a constant barrage of arrows at the Skeleton units advancing jerkily towards them. Surprisingly accurate archery saw the ranks of undead steadily whittled down. Maliss Grobhurtz further confounded the Undead's approach by conjuring up a Wind Blast spell against the skeletons facing them.

In the centre the Big 'Uns charged their opposing Skeleton unit, managing to put their unease about their supernatural foe behind them - for now...

Alas they failed to make the charge count and fell back before the superior numbers of the enemy. With the Undead snapping at their heels, the cream of the Tyum Teem were unmanned to a man and fled the battle!

The Giant, Mick Vast'Un was to fare little better...

Mick toyed absent mindedly with the bone that ran rather decoratively, or so he thought, through his nose. It was all he had to remind him of his dear old Mam these days - at least he and his brothers had eaten well that day. To say the Giant had a slight superstitious bent and various psychological problems would have been an understatement...

The object of his contemplation (beyond his nose that is) was the group of small humanoids advancing in a strange, jerky fashion. Mick wasn't so sure about these strange figures,

"Littul man fings made out of bones... bones. 

Ma is all bones now. Maybe she's angry we ate her all up. Maybe Ma is little man fings made of bones - we sure crunched 'er up gud...

 No Ma, we nevver ment it. Honest! We's woz just a bit peckish an' all..."

With a great cry Mick swiped madly at the skeletons but the swing went wild, crushing only one of them. The great brute stumbled backwards trying to fend off the oncoming horde with outstretched arms, caught in the throes of his strange reverse-Oedipal complict, before turning tail and fleeing with an anguished cry of "Muvveerrrrr!"

Having sated itself on Orc flesh the Chimera turned and licked its bloodied chops as a bigger quarry began lumbering blindly towards it.

"Roight den me Laddo's! Let's be 'aving a bit 'o fire in ye bellies! Let's 'ear ya - Oi've got a brand new spiky, flint axe and I'll give it you in da 'ed! Oi've got a brand new spiky, flint axe and I'll give it you in da 'ed! Oi've got a brand new spiky, flint axe and I'll give it you in da 'ed..."

Having taken the edge off the Undead assault with a couple of Zones of Sanctuary spells, Fillhar Dring, leader and shaman of the Paylah Lifficks exhorted the spear-armed Orcs of the Tyum Teem to join his boys in a good old frenzy. This was to be the saving grace for a rather flaky looking right flank!

The two Orc units duly got stuck in and had a right good scrum with the skellies facing them - safely immune from all those pesky fear tests I was doing a fine job of failing!

Things were not so good in the centre...

Rob'imsun paused momentarily, or at least as much as one could do when seated on a frothing Warboar with hordes of Undead seemingly pouring in from all sides. Something wasn't quite right.

Is it me... Nope I'm in da fick of it where there's good crumping to be 'ad. 

Is dose ded fings up to any nasty lowdown tricks? Nah, dey's jus trampin' about - got less brains than my lads, hur, hur.

Then it struck the Orc General that it was mighty quiet, other than the rattle of re-animated bones and the dull jingle of ancient and rusted battle gear. 

"Oi lads - where's youze goin' ya yeller bellied Curs! Get back 'ere an' bash sum bleedin' skullz afore I knock sum o' your sorry 'eds togevver!"

But alas it was to no avail. The Big' Uns had already departed and the large mob of armoured Orcs - the best equipped and nastiest set of boys in the tribe had hightailed it back up the hill, rather than charge the Deadites swarming across the valley!

"Bugger dis den!" Roared the furious Rob'imsun, as he swung his manic steed around and launched it at the rear of the Skeleton unit that had crested the ridge his once glorious army had deployed along.

Of course on catching up with the Skeletons, Rob'imsun promptly failed to cause many casualties and was soon rather ignominiously fleeing himself.

Further down the line Maliss wiped the sweat from his brow, or he would have done if he had a spare hand from maintaining the Windblast spell that had just saved him from being charged by a rather nasty looking Dark Elf on a funny looking horse. The skeletons of course still languished at the bottom of the valley futilely marching into the gale they couldn't overcome.

Meanwhile the archers indulged in a rather dangerous game of poke the Ogre over the edge of the crag they occupied. Thanks to their long Dwarf Ticklers and the rocky outcrops they cowered behind, the Orcs managed to fight the Ogres to a standstill for a few turns.

Over by the graveyard the Paylah Lifficks and Frenzied Spears were doing a stirling job of de-constructing their reanimated foes. With the assistance of Fillhar Dring's Zone of Sanctuary, the other Undead units threatening their flanks had either been kept away or weakened by instability. Not that the Orcs would have cared as they were lost in that happy place Orcs go to when they are doing what they do best - frenzied slaughter!

A desperate flank charge by the unstable Undead  Cavalry was easily shrugged off and the remaining  Horsemen reduced to incorporeal shadows.

Seeing the danger, more skeletons give chase...

... and in true Benny Hill fashion, the newly rallied Armoured Orcs join in too!

The archers finally lose their game of Poke the Ogre and flee - the pervy Slanneshi brutes only just managing to stop themselves from following them off table. Lord Savage can be seen gnashing his teeth at the cackling Orc Shaman - still blocked by the Wind Blast spell!

The Battle for the Barrow reaches new heights - beset on all sides, frenzy keeps the Savages and Spears in the fight with an ever decreasing number (apart from when instability majicks a few back!) of skeletons in front of them.

Bones to da left ov us. Bones to da right ov us. Bones in bleedin' front ov us!
Jabbed at and poked, spiked wiv spear and blade,
Boldly we gots stuck right in
to keep on making our dearest war and raidings!

We don't likes the look of dat bloody Goat fing though....

And well might the Orcs at the back look nervously over their shoulders. Nemesis of the right flank and devourer of whole Orc Regiments and Giants alike, the mighty Chimera charges the Paylah Lifficks, leaving only a red mist behind and a rather terrified Fillhar Dring in front!

What foul and cruel beast is this that besets me so and chews upon my 'Arris?

Back over in the centre, tiring of the effort of thinking, let alone sustaining Windblast for the past several turns, Maliss scuttles off to join the Armoured Orcs in a bid to escape the attentions of Lord Savage.

His newly adopted regiment continues to make mincemeat(?) of the skeletons in front of them.

Lord Savage and his sinister retinue take the opportunity to begin sneaking past to the rear of the Orc lines, while his Dark Elf Crossbows continue to try and bring Rob'imsun down.

In amongst this Toady Rob'imsun once more sits astride his mount and contemplates life. For a long time.

Now den, let me see iv I've got dis strait. Dere's not much point crumpin' up dem dedites - cos dere alredy ded. Not cos I'm scared ov 'em - no, no, no. Nuffink scares me. 

But den again, dey move aroun' an all dat - looks like dey follow orders. Not so different to my boys perraps? Anyway, wot iz life afterall apart from a condishun wot distingwishis organik stuff wot moves and inorganik stuff wot dusn't. 

When push comes to shove wot duz it all meen? Wun can live meeningfully in an uncondishunnal commitmunt to summat finite, while devoatin' dat meeningful life to sed uncondishunnal commitmunt and nevermind the vulnerbility inherunt to doing jus' that.  

Bluddy 'Ell, I meen - wot's even the point of askin' wot's da meening o' life?! The stuff like stuff 'appening and folks you wont to bash up have meening as parts of da hole, but as for a meening for life sepurrated from all dat stuff - well it can't be discurned...

Ah, bugger dis - dem pointy eared gits is annoyin' me with dere littul peashooters - CHARGE!!!"

Newly freed from the eldritch winds that assailed them, the indefatigible Undead wheel to block the Armoured Orcs path to the graveyard.

Seeing the beast that ate all their mates, the Orc Spears overcome there fear and terror and charge the Chimera. Now otherwise occupied, the Chimera turns its attention away from the bedraggled Savage Orc Shaman and prepares for its 4th course...

And that's when we had to call it quits.

I have to say it was a really fun game and actually quite a nail-biter too. Although we forgot animosity again(!), I had more than enough on my plate with fear tests left, right and centre. It wasn't much of a surprise to see a large proportion of my rather basic (in terms of characters and special troop types) Orc army running for the hills. I'm just glad a few came back to fight a little later on and that my usual atrocious dice rolling finally evened itself out.

The real stars of the show for me were the Orc Shamans - the less said about my navel gazing General the better! I must admit feeling the slightest twinge of guilt when I chose such spells as Cause Frenzy and Zone of Sanctuary as I knew their pschology negating, frenzy inducing and anti-Undead properties would come in handy. In my defence I had offered to roll up spells randomly!

Anyhow I hope I didn't overuse certain spells and I must say without them the Undead wouldn't have had much to get their teeth into - mind you we did both agree that frenzy is a real force to be reckoned with and definitely the bane of the Undead who are rather weak once you take the fear factor away. As it turned out though the game saw a real, tense see-sawing of the balance of power - early Undead success in the Centre and Right flanks was slowly countered as the Orcs rallied and became frenzied. Who knows what might have happened if we'd got a few more turns in...

So the overall result (apart from two very happy gamers) was a draw - The relic of untold power was left safely underground, the Orc Shamans and General escaped death and Lord Savage sidled off to greater things in the fight against Khorne in the Realm of Chaos battle at the Oldhammer weekend.

If only I had just plowed my Giant into that graveyard...

Talking of the Oldhammer weekend - post coming up soon.

As soon as I can stop grinning like an idiot every time I think about how good it was!