Don't Say the Z Word!

Vampire Counts vs Orcs & Goblins

Great game against Anthony Lown's greenskins. After missing out on not getting a game in the second round, my Undead were hungry for blood and battle.

The Forces

Orcs & Goblins

Anthony had a unit of 15 Orc Big 'Uns on foot with his Warboss general in it and another unit of 5 Big 'Uns riding Boars.

For goblins, there was a large block of thirty or so goblins and a unit of ten spider riders. Two goblin shaman wizards, one armed with Curse of da Bad Moon and Sneaky Stabbin', the other with Itchy Nuisance and Gift of the Spider God.

Aside from this, he also had two trolls.

Vampire Counts

I had a unit of 20 Skeleton Warriors with full command and the Screaming Banner (which never got used), a unit of 20 Zombies with just a standard, and 5 Dire Wolves for core units.

My special units were 7 Black Knights with a Hell Knight and standard bearer, and a Spirit Host.

My Necromancer general, Gotred Onjur, was equipped with an Obsidian Lodestone and went in the Skeleton Warriors unit, along with two hero Cairn Wraiths. I also had a Vampire mounted on a Nightmare leading the Black Knights. He was kitted out with Red Fury, a Sword of Swift Slaying, Charmed Shield and a Potion of Strength.

For magic, the Necromancer had Invocation of Nehek and Curse of Years, and the Vampire had Raise Dead.

The Battle

Turn One

The Vampire Counts won the roll-off for the first turn. The Black Knights led by the Vampire advanced on the left flank. The Skeleton Warriors, Zombies and Spirit Host moved up in the centre, the latter moving into a forest to find out it was a Blood Forest. On the right flank, the Dire Wolves moved cautiously up to take position behind another forest. The Necromancer increased the Zombie numbers by about half a dozen with Invocation of Nehek.

The orcs and goblins moved forward to meet the advance of the undead army. Having no missile troops, they would have to take them on hand-to-hand. The Orc Big 'Uns and big block of goblins advanced towards the skeletons and zombies, with the two trolls shuffling alongside. The goblin spider-riders and Orc Big 'Un Boar Riders went for the Dire Wolves. In the Magic phase, the goblin shamans, which were skulking behind the main blocks, cast Gift of the Spider God on the goblin spider-riders. There wasn't room yet to cast Curse of da Bad Moon at the undead without hitting their own units in the process.

Turn Two

The Orc Big 'Uns had exposed their flank to a charge from the Black Knights, which they capitalised on. Meanwhile, one of the Cairn Wraiths charged out of the unit at the big goblin block that was alongside the Big 'Uns, and the Spirit Host charged the Trolls. Anthony wasn't too familiar with Ethereals, and had I known would have given him a few pointers before the game. Then again, there is no substitute for experience.

In the Magic phase, the Vampire raised a few zombies behind the shamans.

The Vampire and Black Knights hold the centre....

In combat, the Spirit Host actually managed to put a wound on a troll. The trolls passed their Break test, seeming to enjoy swinging their clubs ineffectively through the air. The Vampire and the Black Knights went to town on the Orc Big 'Uns. The Vampire himself slew seven orcs, having drunk his Potion of Strength at the start of the turn, and several more fell to the Black Knights lances.

Having failed to land a single telling blow, the orcs broke and were run down by the knights, who ran straight into the flank of the goblins that the Cairn Wraith had charged. Another bloodbath ensued (about six kills to the Vampire alone) and despite being steadfast the goblins also broke. The Black Knights couldn't pursue, having already made a pursuit this turn, and the Goblins outran the Cairn Wraith.

....while the Orc & Goblin army is in tatters.

The fleeing Goblins trigger panic, and the Goblin Spider-Riders come close to the edge of the board after being fled through.













In the greenskins turn, both fleeing goblin units rallied. The Boar Riders failed their animosity check and beat up some fleeing greenskins. The goblin shamans moved out of charge position of the undead.

In the Magic phase, the goblin shamans remembered that they were level 2 and should have an extra spell each. One of the shamans cast Itchy Nuisance on the zombies with Irresistible Force and lobotomised himself with Power Drain.

The only combat was between the Trolls and the Spirit Host. The Spirit Host managed to put another
wound on a Troll, again winning combat. With their general dead, the Trolls failed their break test and ran, with the Spirit Host failing to catch them.

Turns Three, Four and Five

The Vampire and Black Knights tried to catch the Orc Boar Boyz that were moving around a building, whilst raising more zombie units to slow the greenskins down. This was hampered both by the fact that they had charged so far ahead that they were too far away from the Necromancer general
and so unable to march, and were blocked by another unit of zombies that the Vampire had raised behind the Boar Boyz and Goblins, intending to charge them into the rear of the Orcs but rolling snake eyes for their charge.

At one point, I had all sixty of my zombie models on the battlefield.

Meanwhile, the Spider Riders advanced down the board and charged the Dire Wolves. They wiped the Dire Wolves out but were then too far away to have any effect on the rest of the battle.

The Trolls were chased off the board by the Spirit Host. The greenskins bravely took down the lone Cairn Wraith in two rounds of combat when it charged into them and whiffed most of its attacks, before running into one of the newly raised zombie units

One goblin shaman did a lot of damage to the zombies with a couple of Curse of da Bad Moon spells, and only the Necromancer's Obsidian Lodestone prevented the Skeleton Warriors from being severely whittled down.

A warning to Skaven player's using Doomrockets...it CAN happen!

One of the castings of Curse of da Bad Moon (I think it was in round four) was cast Irresistibly, causing a Dimensional Cascade. Luckily, the shaman was not in a unit and only took a wound himself, and avoided taking a trip down the rabbit hole.

By the Orcs & Goblins fifth turn, goblins with the help of the Boar Boyz, had hacked their way through the zombies, and the Boar Boyz had turned to smash their way through the zombies previously to the rear and charged into the flank of the Black Knights.

Turn Six

The Vampire made way to fight the Boar Boyz, and despite being attacked in the flank, managed to draw the combat and reform, with three Boar Boyz slain for two Black Knights. The Boar Boyz champion bravely fought on but was hacked down by the Vampire on the Orcs Goblin's last turn. The Black Knights unit was whittled down to just the Vampire, the Hell Knight and the standard bearer by a final Curse of da Bad Moon, again cast Irresistibly, though the shaman only lost one Wizard level from the resulting Power Drain.

End of Game

Only the Goblins, Goblin Spider-Riders and one Shaman remained of the greenskins. The undead had lost a Cairn Wraith hero and the unit of Dire Wolves, and only twenty two of the original twenty zombies remained. A crushing victory for the Vampire Counts, scoring 801 victory points, while the Orcs & Goblins scored 100 victory points.