Warmaster Revolution: The Battle of Grudge Pass

We had another go at Warmaster Revolution, this time using the old Warhammer campaign, Grudge of Drong, converted to Warmaster. The epic Grudge of Drong follows the classic Warhammer narrative campaign model, with three smaller battles feeding through into a major contest of arms. Each earlier engagement has an impact on who - or what - turns up for the grand finale.

Those familiar with this blog will recall we have previously had a go at Bloodbath At Orc's Drift, which went well, but lost momentum just before the final battle. I've still got the results from the earlier engagements to hand, so once we have enough ready and eager players, we may resolve that particular campaign.

Grudge of Drong features the internal politics of a dwarf realm called Krag Bryn, which has some elvish immigrants camped on its doorstep at Tol Eldroth, on the coast. The elves could be described as economic migrants, and have successfully curried favour with the local ruler, Queen Helgar, providing Krag Bryn with a useful trading outlet to the empire of the high elves.

A reactionary faction within the dwarf realm, led by Drong the Hard of Kazad Thrund, is challenging Helgar for power and has mobilised the mining unions of Clan Thrund. Krudd Mad-Mattock, a kinsman to Drong, has been stirring up trouble among the miners of Grudge Pass. Helgar has sent an army of her elven allies under Prince Fendar to secure the valuable mines in the pass.

The battle starts with the dwarves - who are all drunk - being presented with an ultimatum by Fendar, which includes not crossing a line in the sand. I was commanding the elvish host. I had little to zero knowledge about dwarves in Warmaster. I was about to find out. Fendar's riot control measures were about to go phat.

Above: The battle lines at the start, viewed from the dwarf side. The Troll Slayers are in orange, naturally and the red blocks are units of muskets. The dark units are all dwarf warriors. Across the field are elf spears in yellow, flanked by pink blocks of archers. The Silver Helms are in white on the elven left flank, with Reavers behind them. The brown buildings are dwarf open pit mines.

The observant will note that we are reverting to our old coloured blocks system which we use for play testing games, and because we don't have time for painting. I went for a classic formation, with my chariots on my right flank, and most of my cavalry - Silver Helms and horse archers - on my left. We had no wizards or monsters in this one.

The dwarves went with a frontal attack worthy of a drunken mob. This was spearheaded by a couple of units of Troll Slayers who turned out to be pretty devastating. I had all my archers and infantry holding the centre, but this was ripped apart by the Troll Slayers. I killed most of them, but the cost was enormous. Toe to toe, dwarves are much tougher than orcs, I learned to my cost, and tackling them in melee, dangerous. And there still seemed to be a lot of them.

Above: A bloody scrum in front of the elf lines between the Troll Slayers in orange and the elven horse archers in green. The latter were a severe disappoint for me in this battle. An elf hero in blue looks on from afar - possibly sensibly. Fendar is the dark blue cone behind the yellow elf spear line in the background. "Light cavalry should really never be engaging dwarf religious fanatics in close combat," I hear you say. You would be right.

Cunningly, most of the miners were held back, so I ended up having to ride into the face of lines of dwarves with muskets. Those familiar with the Japanese battle of Nagashino will know how that turned out. My Reavers (horse archers) were fairly disappointing to be honest. My refused right flank, where my chariots sat, was never seriously challenged, and the elf commander there proved unusually hesitant (fluffed command rolls).

The muskets were really deadly for the cavalry, even the elite Silver Helms, so I will need some kind of solution to that for the next battle. The elvish chariots were pretty deadly, but I was again slow to get them into battle. I love my chariots, but seem to park them too far behind the line.

Above: The award for blood bath of the day, as Troll Slayers duke it out with the elf infantry in the centre - a single block of yellow spears is about to go down in the morass, singing sad songs as they do.

Special mention must also be made of the dwarf ranger regiments, of which I think there were two, who had the ability to pop up behind my line and create havoc. They are hard to defend against.

Strategically, I think my big mistake here - and yes, the elves were defeated, and soundly, at Grudge Pass - was not bringing enough rank and file to the party. I was too distracted by shiny cavalry and chariots, and when my centre was carved up, the elven army eventually broke. Yes, the Troll Slayers were wiped out almost to the last dwarf, but that's what they are there for. The victory means, I believe, that the dwarves will have war engines available for the last battle.

I am hoping we will be able to get the next chapter of the campaign played in the not too distant future.