So I met with my friend today to try Siege for the first time (first time for me, second or third for him). We each brought an attacking and defending force. Happily we had plenty of time to do both. By a coin flip I was the first defender. My two lists can be seen here: http://www.lustria-online.com/threads/planning-lists-for-my-first-siege-battle-2500-points.10118/ Battle One, Lizardmen Defend a Fortress First I rolled starvation rolls. We misapplied the rules against my favored and I rolled a Starvation roll per wound when I should have rolled it per model (with Lifebloom healing most of the extra damage, this only cost me a Terradon and maybe a Kroxigor. My Starvation rolls were well above what the average roll would be. My Temple Guard were hit especially bad. We thought it was funny that the one Kroxigor that avoided a Starvation wound was in the Skink unit that took the heaviest starvation casualties. He either stole the Skinks food or ate the Skinks. Defending Force (Post Starvation) Slann, Lore Mastery, Extra Power Dice, Lore of Fire, Forbidden Rod, BSB, Banner of Eternal Flame Saurus Oldblood, Fencer’s Blades, Glittering Scales, (one wound) Skink Priest, L1, Opal Amulet (wasted during starvation phase), Ruby Ring of Ruin (one wound) 16 Skinks, 1 Kroxigor (one wound), Musician, Skink Brave and Flaming Ammunition 14 Skinks, 1 Kroxigor (one wound), Musician, Skink Brave and Flaming Ammunition 12 Skinks, 1 Kroxigor, Musician, Skink Brave and Flaming Ammunition 17 Skinks, 1 Kroxigor (one wound), Musician, Skink Brave and Flaming Ammunition 10 Skink Skirmishers with Blowpipes (relief force) 13 Temple Guard with Champion and Musician 5 Cold One Cavalry with Musician and Standard (relief force) 5 Chameleons with Stalker and Flaming Ammunition 4 Chameleons with Stalker and Flaming Ammunition 2 Terradons with Flaming Ammunition The Gate formed the front, flanked by two towers. The west tower was a Wizard’s Tower. There was a singular wall section closing my three sided square linking the towers to my table edge. Each tower and wall section had a Skroxigor unit. The Slann, Temple Guard and Old One defended my gate and the Skink Priest joined the unit in the Wizards tower. The East and West tower had a pot of boiling oil and my gate was a Hell Gate. The objective tokens were placed on the gate and both the east and west walls. The west wall was threatened by a large block of Big Un Orcs Boyz (with Orc Warboss) and a large block of Night Goblins (with a Night Goblin Shaman). The east Wall was threatened by a large block of Night Goblins (with Night Goblin BSB) and a Giant with a Battering Club. My Gate was threatened by a large block of Savage Orcs (with Savage Orc Shaman and Big Boss) in a Siege Tower. Ringing around the attacking troops were three Spear Chukkas, a Rock Lobber, and two Goblin Doom Divers. My Terradons Vanguarded to what would have been the corner of the Savage Orc’s charge arc if they weren’t constrained by the Siege Tower. My Chameleon Skink units each deployed so as to get a straight run on a separate Doom Diver. Both Night Goblin units were armed with hand weapons and shield and had Netters which never failed their net rolls all game. All of my opponents Siege Points not spent on the Tower Upgrades were spent on undermines. Prebattle Phases During the Defensive Artillery Fire Phase, one of my Sally Forths succeeded in destroying the Rock Lobber. During the Offensive Artillery Fire phase a Doom Diver breached my west wall and one of the undermines succeeded in breaching my east wall. Between two breaches and my nasty Starvation rules, I was not confident about my victory chances. On the plus side his Spear Chukkas had literally nothing to do in the pre-battle phase. Joke’s on you suckers, Lizardmen don’t have artillery! Then came the pre-battle shooting phase. We decided my Terradons and Chameleon Skinks shouldn’t be able to fire here because they were not in the fortress. My Skinks in the eastern tower and wall Section took the giant down to a single a wound. The Skinks on my western tower and wall section killed a small number of Orcs. Orc and Goblin Turn One The Night Goblins threatening my eastern wall failed an Animosity test and squabbled amongst themselves, so the giant had to assault the wall instead. He died from the stand and shoot. The Savage Orcs on the Siege Tower rolled insufficient movement to reach the gate. The Orc Big Uns charged the Western Wall. The nearby Night Goblins joined them in the assault. Magic saw Itchy Nuisance cast on my defending Skroxigor (which took everyone’s Initiative done to 1, not that it mattered). I dispelled the rest of what he tried. His artillery all misfired or missed. One bolt thrower even tried to hit my Chameleon Skinks (yeah that’s going to work!). The attacking orcs only brought one Night goblin (to carry the nets). They beat the defending Skroxigor by a good margin. The general personally pounded my Skink Brave into a bloody pulp. They failed to break my unit, but because the section was breached so the Skroxigor unit was pushed out into the courtyard and the orcs were now holding one of the three objectives they needed to win. Lizardmen Turn One I charged my ousted Skroxigor back into the breach they were just forced out of. I didn’t think it was likely to work but I figured they couldn’t do any good sitting idly in the courtyard. The Chameleon Skinks closed to minimum distance on their respective Doom Divers. The Terradons flew an arc to drop some rocks on the Savage Orcs and line up a shot on the nearest Spear Chukka. I activated the Forbidden Rod inflicting one unsaved on the Slann. My opponent dispelled my initial casting of Throne of Vines. Then I rolled snake eyes on my next spell ending the Slann’s magic phase. My Skink had lore master from the tower so he was more than capable of handling my excess power dice. He cast Ice Shard Blizzard on the Orcs occupying my east wall and then casting Chain Lightning on the Night Goblins. I killed five goblins before it hopped over to the orcs killing three or four of them. Then I cast Harmonic Convergence on my recklessly brave Skroxigor unit attacking them. The Skinks in the eastern tower skipped their normal shooting to make a flaming attack on the Siege Tower burning it down forcing the Savage Orcs to fight me without it. My other Skroxigor now had nothing to do with their flaming ammunition (this was a good problem to have I suppose). My Skinks in the western tower threw some javelins at the now tower-less Savage Orcs, then my Skinks on the west wall threw some poisoned death on the Night Goblins. My Terradons tried a flaming attack on the spear chukka and failed to burn it down. My two Chameleon Skinks also used their flaming ammunition against the Doom Divers they were facing and the eastern most Chamo Skinks succeeded That’s two pieces of enemy equipment burned with four flaming volleys, not too shabby. Despite the magical spells providing support, my pitiful attacking force was easily pushed back. Most of the attacks were directed at my Kroxigor which was now dead. So now it was down to eight Skinks. Orc and Goblin Turn Two The Night Goblins outside my western wall failed their Animosity test again but they rolled the result that caused them to charge the nearest enemy (that’s what he wanted to do anyway). Naturally my Skinks rained poisoned javelins down on them. The Orc Big Uns occupying the western wall moved up to attack my wizards tower. The brave Skinks threw javelins at them as the orcs moved down the hallway, thinning them out slightly. The Savage Orcs charged the gate taking no damage from the Temple Guard’s rock barrage. The Night Goblins flanking the Orc Big Uns did nothing. Their sole purpose now was to reoccupy the eastern wall if the Orcs they moved from the eastern wall to the eastern tower. Itchy Nusiance was cast on my defending Skroxigor in the eastern tower but my dispels and/or bad mushrooms knocked out the rest of my foe’s magic phase. Doom Divers have a minimum range of twelve inches so the surviving Doom Diver could do nothing about the Chameleon Skinks right in front of it. So it fired on the distant Chameleon Skinks who killed other Doom Diver killing all but the Stalker who panicked and bolted towards the eastern table edge. The three Spear Chukkas all took aim at my Terradons and all missed (yay for the penalty to hit Skirmishers!) Close Combat went well for me. The attacking Big Uns rolled fairly poorly. Despite a challenge between the Orc and Skink unit champions, my Skink Champion somehow survived. He didn’t bother attacking my Kroxigor at all (who in turn got all of my kills that phase). The orcs won combat by a modest margin, but they could not break the stubborn Skinks testing with the Slann’s leadership. The Night Goblins attacking the eastern wall failed their Fear test. My Skroxigor unit was barely able to win combat (and thus avoid being forced out due to breach) but now had less than ten Skinks. Despite the fact that we forgot to apply the attack penalties for attacking without a breach or siege tower, my Temple Guard beat the Savage Orcs by a goodly margin. I forgot to declare a challenge, but my Old Blood killed the Savage Orc Big Un anyway and was unhurt (Glittering Scales and Fencer’s Blades are a good recipe to not get hit!). The Savage Orcs were beaten by a slim margin and driven back from the gate. More importantly, they had the Frenzy beaten out them. Lizardmen Turn Two My relief force did not arrive. My Terradons charged the Spear Chukka it was facing. My Chameleon Skinks in front of the surviving Doom Diver did not move (already short range, why move and take the penalty?). The last model left from the other Chameleon Skink unit failed to roll snake eyes and fled off the board. I was reluctant to take Lore Mastery away from my Skink Priest but I had to deal with the Big Un’s occupying my castle so the Skroxigor in the western tower swapped places with my Temple Guard in the gate. My displaced Skinks in the courtyard stayed put (they had perfect facing for shooting the orcs). My second attempt at Throne of Vines was dispelled. I cast Shield of Thorns on my Skinks on the eastern wall to kill some Night Goblins when they inevitably attacked next turn. I cast Earthblood on the Temple Guard. I cast Regrowth on the Temple Guard getting back some of my starvation casualties but I rolled IF. The miscast took three levels and three spells off the Slann (since the Slann was in the wizard’s tower he got lore mastery from an external source so the spells weren’t really lost as long as he stayed in the tower). The Chameleon Skinks killed the remaining Doom Diver easily. I killed some Savage Orcs with javelins from the Skinks on the gate and eastern tower. Then I dropped my boiling oil on them killing a paltry three more orcs (boiling oil isn’t as powerful as it sounds). The Skinks on the eastern wall killed some Night Goblins. My Skinks in the courtyard killed an Orc or two on the west wall managing pathetic token revenge on the Orcs who humiliated them. The Terradons took a wound, but they killed the Spear Chukka entirely and reformed to face the Savage Orcs. Orc and Goblin Turn Three The Orc Big Uns occupying my western wall assaulted the western tower (now occupied by Temple Guard, not Skroxigor) . The Night Goblins nearest them did nothing again. The Night goblins on my Eastern side assaulted the eastern wall. The Savage Orcs assaulted the gate (now occupied by Skroxigor, not Temple Guard). I don’t remember what specific spells were cast because something more important than mere spells happened. The Savage Orc Shaman rolled a Calamitous Detonation taking out many Savage Orcs and a single Skink. They panicked and bolted. In hindsight they shouldn’t have been able to panic because they were in close combat. This time the mistake was in my favor. I doubt this mistake affected the outcome of the game because I still had not used my Hell Gate (it provides a S4 breath weapon) and the Savage Orcs lost their frenzy so the Skroxigor should have been able to handle the Savage Orcs pretty easily. Shield of Thorns whittled the Night Goblins down some. Not only did the two remaining Spear Chukkas fail to hit anything, one of them died due to a misfire. The Temple Guard won combat versus the Orc Big Uns and drove them back. While I technically won, in real terms it was a draw because there were still a lot more Orcs than Temple Guard. The Skroxigor drove off the Night Goblins attacking the east wall once again, but were diminished to a mere seven Skinks. Lizardmen Turn Three Relief Force failed to arrive again (grrr!). My Temple Guard charged the Big Uns occupying my west wall. I charged my courtyard Skinks in to join them. The idea was the Skinks could reoccupy the west wall and the Temple Guard would not have to vacate the tower (this was a mistake as we shall see shortly). My Skinks in the eastern tower switched places with my Skinks on the eastern wall. The tower Skinks didn’t have Shield of Thorns, but I figured thirteen Skinks with a Champion was better than seven Skinks and no Champion (don’t remember if the Skink Brave was killed by the BSB or Night Goblin champion earlier). My remaining Chameleon Skinks decided the last Spear Chukka was not a threat and marched back towards my fortress to try to support my defenders. The fleeing Savage Orcs were just barely outside my Terradons charge arc. I moved my Terradons so that the Savage Orcs would have to flee through them if they failed to rally. I forgot that my Slann was level one and did not budget myself enough dice to cast my spells. I got Earth Blood cast but whiffed Flesh to Stone. I used my remaining dice to cast Iceshard Blizzard on the Skink Priest, scoring irresistible force and wounding the Skink priest (this did not kill him as his starvation wound had been since healed with the Lifebloom attribute). I lost my remaining power die so I could not use my Ruby Ring of Ruin. The Terradon Riders and Skroxigor on the gate killed a few fleeing Savage Orcs. The Skinks on the eastern tower and wall killed some more Night Goblins on the eastern front. The Chameleon Skinks attacked the Night Goblins off the western wall (the ones that did next to nothing so far). My Old Blood whiffed his attacks this turn, but the unit was backed with the Banner of Eternal Flame. Since they were attacking a building they got to reroll failed damage rolls and killed many orcs. Iceshard Blizzard blunted what would have normally been a nasty Orc offensive. Unfortunately every single orc attack was directed into one Skink in my assault force. With step up, the orcs killed enough Skinks to win CR even though in points terms I won by a wide margin. Orc and Goblin Turn Four The Orcs occupying my western wall once more attacked the western tower. The Night Goblins on the eastern front once more assaulted the wall section facing their usual hail of poisoned javelins. The Savage Orcs failed to rally and lost two or three orcs fleeing through my Terradons. The western Night Goblins started wheeling around to the front of my fortress (not sure what his plan was here). Magic phase saw Itchy Nuisance on the Temple Guard again (I think that spell sucks, particularly in this scenario when movement rates are so unimportant, but he cast it nearly every round). I dispelled the consequential spells he attempted. The Spear Chukka once more failed to hit the Terradons (it was starting to be narrow misses for what it’s worth). My Oldblood fought the Orc Warboss in a challenge and inflicted two wounds and received one in return (which was healed next round). The Temple Guard made a good showing of themselves inflicting roughly twice as many casualties as they received. Choppas every round didn’t help the orcs out as much as I thought it would. Lizardmen Turn Four My relief force arrived arriving opposite the gate. Despite an ideal starting position, it was now mathematically impossible for either of my relief units to enter the gate and get me the automatic defender win. The Cold One Riders rode up to the front of the fleeing Savage Orcs and the Skirmishers moved around one of their flanks. The Temple Guard attacked my occupied west wall once again. I thought about moving the solitary Skink Musician in my courtyard out the gate just because I could but decided to hide in the corner of my courtyard to play points denial (in the extremely unlikely event we had to use points to determine the victor). I swapped the Skroxigor on the east wall and tower yet again. The Skinks in the tower were fewer in number than the ones on the wall but they still had Shield of Thorns. All the attrition had worn the eastern Night Goblins down to roughly dozen members. I figured Shield of Thorns would stop the next assault before it began (I was right). My Terradons flew to the front arc to bait the healthy Night Goblin unit away from the west tower. I cast Iceshard Blizzard on the Orc Big Uns and Flesh to Stone on the Temple Guard. The Chameleon Skinks killed an inconsequential number of Night Goblins on the still healthy western Night Goblin block. My Skinks on the eastern sections whittled down the BSB’s Night Goblin unit a little more. My Terradons missed the healthy Night Goblin block. The Skinks on the gate and the relief Skirmishers killed an inconsequential number of fleeing Savage Orcs. My Old Blood killed the Orc general. The rest of the Temple Guard killed many rank and file. I failed to break the orcs, but the section was breached, so I auto-forced them out. He chose to have his orcs exit into the courtyard rather than exit outside. Orc and Goblin Turn Five Note: Siege Games are only five turns The Orcs in my courtyard wanted to assault the gate, but there was a Skink Musician in a way. Remember the one I put in the corner to keep out of harms way? The healthy western Night Goblin block charged my Terradon (not being positioned to charge anything useful). The Terradons flew out of their reach. The Savage Orcs failed to rally. Since there was now a unit of Cold One Cavalry in front of them, they turned around and fled towards my fortress . As I predicted, the depleted eastern Night Goblins did not want to run into a Shield of Thorns and backed away from my wall. Magic was more or less a wash. The Spear Chukka missed its target as usual. The Orcs naturally steamrollered my lone Skink and overran into the Gate. My unintentional sacrificial Skink didn’t get me much of a stall doing little more than buying me a round to cast unnecessary buff spells. Lizardmen Turn Five I controlled all three of the fortress objectives and the orcs needed to two at least to win, but we resolved the rest of the turn anyway, there was still a slim chance he could take the gate. The Cold One Riders ran down the fleeing Savage Orcs. My Terradons rallied. I cast Flesh to Stone on the Skroxigor defending the gate and Iceshard Blizzard on the Orcs attacking the gate. I didn’t bother shooting the healthy western Night Goblins. I tried and failed to panic the depleted eastern Night Goblins by shooting them. Again we forgot to penalize the attacking orcs for assaulting the gate without a tower or breach (in this case it made since because the gate was probably not designed to repel an assault from their own courtyard). With the two spells on the table, the Orcs were easily repulsed by the Skroxigor. Defenders Win. Except for me miscasting and then not adequately adjusting my power dice expenditures for a level one Slann and my relief force arriving late everything went almost exactly as I planned it. I don’t see any incentive for major revisions to my defending force. A solid Temple Guard/Slann unit for trouble shooting backed by Skroxigor seems the way to go. Battle Two, Lizardmen Attack a Fortress My opponent opted to add two towers to the fortress so that towers bordered the table edge, not an empty wall (he had lots of war machines and wanted the extra towers). Last game my Starvation rolls were unlucky, my friend’s were horrendous. We realized that you roll one starvation roll per model and not one per wound. Had we not discovered this, his BSB and his secondary caster would have died outright before the battle even began. Even applying the rules correctly, four of his five characters started with a wound and about of half of his rank and file died. One of his two Doom Divers wasn’t fielded at all due to Starvation! Like before, the objective tokens were once again the east and west walls and the gate. My Skink Priests ended up with Comet of Cassandora and Iceshard Blizzard. The Northwest tower and Northeast Tower each had some Arrer boys (the Northeast Tower had noticeably fewer orcs receiving the lion’s share of starvation). The Northwest Tower had his surviving Doom Diver and the Northeast Tower had a Spear Chukka. The Southwest and Southeast Towers each had a Spear Chukka. Due to his nasty starvation rolls, he chose not to deplete the Night Goblins garrisoning by splitting his Night Goblins between the southern towers and walls. The two towers had no infantry support at all. The Night Goblins had short bows and netters, once again the netters never misfired. In fact he never failed an Animosity roll this game either. His largest strongest unit was Orc Big Uns with and hand weapons and shields garrisoning the gate. Each Night Goblin unit had a Shaman (one had an Orc Shaman rather than the customary goblin one). His general (a Savage Orc Warboss) was deployed with the gate. The BSB was in the center of the courtyard to reach everyone (in hindsight he would have been able to do the exact same thing in the gate and be far less exposed). Hugging the southern edge was his rock lobber. It had no line of sight, but my foe was fond of firing indirectly at things. The northeast tower was a Tower of Blood (bestowing Hatred and Frenzy to the occupants) and the northwest tower was a Wizard’s Tower. All the rest of his siege points were spent on Sally Forths. The Fire Slann and Temple Guard were lined up on the center of the gate. The two Saurus blocks were positioned outside the east and west walls. My Scar Veteran was with the western unit. My two Skink priests and their little Skirmisher bunkers were positioned near a Saurus block to provide strategic channels to the Slann. Each of my three attack forces was backed with a Battering Ram (Stegadon prodded to trudge forward by Salamander handlers) and three Kroxigor with Battering Clubs. Pre-battle Phase Defending artillery shots destroyed two of my three scaly “battering rams.” His Sally Forths then killed my last Stegadon three times over. My undermines failed—Skinks just can’t dig as well as Night Goblins I guess. Next came the pre-battle shooting phase. He took out three or four skirmishers off of both units and put a few wounds on two of my Kroxigor units. Lizardmen Turn One With all my battering ram dinos dead, the Kroxigors were my only option to breach something. My three Kroxigor units charged the northwest tower, the east wall, and the gate taking a few rocks to the head but not suffering many wounds. The Temple Guard charged the northeast tower (the Wizard’s Tower) and failed to reach it. My western Saurus charged the western wall and my eastern Saurus charged the southeast tower. I cast Flaming Sword of Ruin on the Temple Guard assaulting the western wall. I cast Iceshard Blizzard on the Night Goblins facing the Temple Guard. I cast Cascading Fire Cloak on the Slann’s unit. The rest of my spells were blocked. The Skink Skirmishers on the western walked into short range and took out the Spear Chukka with a javelin volley (it had one wound left due to starvation so was easy prey). The eastern Skink Skirmishers had no especially soft targets so they settled for whittling down the Orc archers in the northwest tower. The Saurus assaulting the western wall saw my Scar Veteran pummel the poor Night Goblin champion. I easily won combat (the magic spells more than outweighing their attack penalty for assaulting via grappling hooks), but the Saurus failed to break the Night Goblins defending the wall who tested on the general’s leadership. The Saurus assaulting the Spear chukka on the opposite side easily wiped out the machine’s crew and captured the tower. All three Kroxigor units failed to make a breach in the sections they were assaulting and they took a small number of wounds from the defending forces. Orc and Goblin Turn One No charges. He chose to move his general from the gate into the northwest tower (which had my nastiest unit parked outside it). I dispelled his attempt to zap one of my Skirmishers with a direct damage spell and any other consequential spells (or so I thought!). He cast Fist of Gork on an unengaged orc shaman with some Night Goblins. This became important later. My Kroxigors on the eastern front (the most wounded of the three units) were slain by arrows. Both of my Skirmishers took some wounds and Temple Guard took a wound due to arrows. A Spear Chukka killed three Temple Guard, but the rest of his artillery all missed. Lizardmen Turn Two My western Saurus assaulted the west wall again. My eastern Skink Skirmishers walked into the now empty southeast tower. The Temple Guard assaulted the northeast tower. The center Kroxigor unit tried to breach the Gate. My Saurus occupying the southeast tower surged into the east wall. My Kroxigor joined them hoping the batter a breach in the wall to let the Saurus expel the Night Goblins without a break test being required. My western Skink Skirmishers repositioned themselves a little. Since I had a Skink priest in the southwest tower, I could use the Slann’s channel ability to shoot magic missiles into the Orc and Goblins courtyard. I used a medium powered fireball to roast the isolated BSB hiding there. I cast Flaming Sword of Ruin on the Saurus assaulting the west wall again getting irresistible force. The miscast was passed via cupped hands to the Orc and Goblin side. All their wizards took a hit. I think it killed one of their lesser wizards. Unfortunately I lost the rest of my power dice and my opponent had all his dispel dice left. He used his abundant dice to remove my Cascading Fire Cloak and prevent me from sweeping the northeast tower this turn. My Skinks overlooking the courtyard attempted to shoot down the Rock Lobber but inflicted no wounds. My other Skinks had nothing to shoot at that wasn’t engaged in close combat. The Temple Guard won combat against the tower by a modest margin. My opponent insisted on doing separate break tests for everyone. I do not think that was correct in hindsight. The result was the Orc general broke (and because it was a building assault died) and the rest of the models stayed in place and repulsed the Temple Guard. An odd result. Either I should have gotten the tower or not. I forgot about Fist of Gork thus my Scar Veteran acted in a foolhardy fashion. After drinking his Potion of Fool Hardiness the Scar Veteran declared a challenge. The challenge was met by the Orc Shaman who proceed to paint the east wall in his entrails. I lost that overall combat a slim margin and the eastern Saurus were pushed back. The Saurus attacking the western wall won combat, but failed to take the wall. The Kroxigor failed to make the necessary breach to let them auto-capture the wall. The center Kroxigor unit was wiped out before they could attempt to breach the gate. Orc and Goblin Turn Two The relief force arrived. A wolf chariot and ten wolf riders. The wolf chariot had a straight run to the gate and the wolf riders had a diagonal run. I knew the wolf chariot could have entered through the gate next turn. I didn’t realize that the wolf riders were also close enough to make it to the gate in one go. There was no other movement besides the relief force arrive and moving forward. The Night Goblins on the western wall surged to the southwest tower to dislodge my skirmishers there. I shut down his magic phase with the Cube of Darkness also taking out the Remains in Play Fist of Gork spell. The Spear Chukkas and Rock Lobber all missed but the Doom Diver took out a few Temple Guard. The Night Goblins took out my few remaining Skinks in the southwest tower. Lizardmen Turn Three The Eastern Saurus attacked the eastern wall yet again, this time they took the wall automatically given that the Night Goblins had abandoned the wall to kill my Skirmishers. The western Saurus surged from their tower to attack the western wall. I decided it was not worth having the Kroxigor try to batter the western wall because that meant five Saurus had to sit out of the assault. The Kroxigor moved away from the wall. My surviving Skirmishers positioned themselves to give the Slann a good channel line of sight to blast the O&G relief force. My Slann and Temple Guard once more assaulted the northwest tower. If I had realized that the wolf riders were one march move away from entering the gate, I would have moved to block the gate instead, though I’m not sure the Temple Guard had the sufficient movement allowanced to do so. A maximum power fireball reduced the Wolf Chariot to ashes. I cast Flame Cage on the Wolf Riders but it was dispelled. I then killed two wolf riders with piercing bolts of burning. My Skirmishers had nothing in range to shoot at. The western Saurus wiped out the Night Goblins along the Western wall giving me two of the three objective markers (since their brethren captured the opposite wall without a fight). The Temple Guard captured the northwest tower. I had suffered few Temple Guard losses and thought they were well positioned to assault the gate from the northwest tower, I was wrong. Orc and Goblin Turn Three The wolf riders marched through the gate. If a unit of five or more models from the relief force enters the gate, the defenders automatically win. Curses! The second game is also a Defender win. I think a Fire Slann leading Temple Guard with the Banner of Eternal Flame is the way to go when conducting a siege. I think almost everything else on my list needs serious revision. For starters either need to take a unit to part in front of the gate or opt for Hasty Assaults. If I want Kroxigor to batter down walls I should take larger units of them or not take them all. If I want to use Battering rams I should take more than three or none at all. I may try the unorthodox strategy of not bothering to go for a breach at all, take Hasty Assault to reduce the chance of a relief force making it in and assaulting the walls entirely with grappling hooks. Saurus WS and Initiative is so low that the penalty isn’t really a detriment. Both games were both very close and very fun. Siege is currently my favorite special scenario hands down. EDIT: Rereading the rules in Blood and the Badlands again, a literal reading of the of the rules seems to suggest that defending artillery fire cannot destroy battering rams since they are chariots and not war machines. Similarly a breached section would still give attackers a WS and I penalty to assault it, the breach just means they auto capture the section if they win. I think one could make a strong argument that the spirit of the rules supports this. In most cases the rules we misapplied were in my disafavor it seems. I guess it kind of makes sense the other way. A small hole in the wall does not mean the attackers can leave their ladders and grappling hooks behind and a battering ram is harder to knock out with a single rock than a smaller war machine with complex moving parts
Re: A Tale of Two Sieges (2500 pts versus O&G, Offense and D Thanks for the write up. Very interesting. I've been keen to play a siege game, but couldn't find any rules for it. Where did you get yours from?
Re: A Tale of Two Sieges (2500 pts versus O&G, Offense and D The rules in the Blood in the Badlands sourcebook rules for the Siege (sadly limited edtion book). Each side starts with the same point size army but the defenders roll a d6 for every model and on a 5 or 6 they take a wound. Each side gets an equal number of points to get siege equipment from the Blood in the Badlands book (those were the entries I put after the units in my list). The randomly arriving relief force doesn't have to take starvation tests. There is a a prebattle shooting phase where both sides take some shots at each (this is tilted towards the defender though). In a nutshell each section of a fortess is assaulted like a separate building except: -Any unit can occupy a building, hence why I used Skroxigor -Assaulting a building halves the WS and I of attackers unless they fly or attack from an adjacent building (which could include a Siege Tower) -If a building is breached, the defenders are pushed out without being destroyed or taking a break test. Buildings are breached by prebattle shooting and things like battering rams and other siege equipment. The gate is a special builidng that the controller can allow units to go in and out of freely as if it were open ground. If a 5 model or stronger unit enters through the gate the defendeder automatically wins. -Three sections of the fort have an objective marker. If the attacker is holding one or fewer of these at the end of the game the defender wins. If the attackers are controlling all three the attackers win. If the attackers are controlling two objectives, victory points are used.
Re: A Tale of Two Sieges (2500 pts versus O&G, Offense and D Finally got through that report. Sounds like it was fun! Without Starvation it seems a siege battle would be largely tipped in favor of the defenders. What did you use for the towers and walls? Do you actually have a castle kit?
Re: A Tale of Two Sieges (2500 pts versus O&G, Offense and D Yes, we have a really awesome store we play at it with tons of terrain including a complete castle kit. The owner provides a lot of service and not just items. There is pretty much a game or three going on all the time (granted relatively few of the games are Warhammer...). My eventual goal is to build this for Siege, but that's a ways off since I have many models to finish first: http://www.hirstarts.com/egypt/etower.html
Re: A Tale of Two Sieges (2500 pts versus O&G, Offense and D Rad! I'm looking at getting some Hirst Arts stuff in the next few months for my Mordheim, but I always thought the egyptian stuff would be great, as you'd only need to buy one or two moulds to do almost anything. Do you have any pics of the battle or the terrain board?
Re: A Tale of Two Sieges (2500 pts versus O&G, Offense and D I guess I could probably start taking pictures. This was the fortress we actually used: http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catalog/productDetail.jsp?catId=cat440008a&prodId=prod180001a