"For centuries, wanderers from the race of men had roamed over the Badlands. While a few fierce nomad clans, herders of horses, dwelt in the region, most of these men were outsiders from the Old World. At the time of the Dragonback Expansion Effort, a flight of knights on winged horses soared over the Black Gulf. From the high heavens, these gallant adventurers, six in number, espied hundreds of their fellow men chained amongst fields of grain.

"These unfortunate souls had been taken captive in greenskin raids on the Borderlands, else they were shipwrecked sailors. The goblins of the Dragonbacks forced them to sow and reap without ceasing through the long seasons. In winter, they dragged their prisoners into the ruined cities of the dwarves and there compelled them to strengthen the fortifications. Those too weak to work, they devoured.

"When the knights of far Bretonnia saw this, their wrath burned hot and they fell like thunderbolts upon the slavers. Many goblins perished and the remainder fled up the Vale of Ekrund to the shelter of Barak Urbar. The slaves rejoiced at their freedom and took up the arms of the enemy. As for the knights, while none had suffered harm, three had lost their winged steeds to the sharp arrows of the goblins.

"Now the dwarves of yore had built a curtain wall a league wide across the vale, with a fort to hold the center. Many of the freedmen were so enfeebled by the cruelty of their long enslavement, they could do no more than hobble back towards the safety of Gronti Mingol. Therefore, the knights directed the stronger men to take up arms and bar the gates to the fort.

"In the Dragonbacks, Dularg Ironnose scoffed at the cowardice of the goblins. He knew no more of knights than is told at any campfire and he did not fear them. So, he drummed up his orcs with many goblins beside and they marched down the vale.

"The men greeted the greenskins with a rain of arrows and they jeered from behind the safety of the ancient dwarven walls. Ironnose drew back his warriors and directed them to build instruments of siege, for he had learned how to storm a stronghold in the Badlands. For their part, the freed slaves polished an old cannon the goblins had kept as a trophy and they dug out a hidden magazine of gunpowder. The knights affected not to notice the dishonorable ranged weapon.

"The next day dawned and the ground creaked under the hefty siege towers of the greenskins and the stamp of a thousand boots."

Siege!

Alright, my first ever Warhammer Siege. How hard will it be to wrest a fortress out of the hands of a few measly Bretonnian peasants? They have a weapon skill of two. Two! My orcs will hit them on a three plus. So what if they have a cannon and a few Pegasus knights? Nothing can stop the Waaaagh!



War Machines:
We brought four rock lobbers and a spear chukka. The chukka hit nothing all game. If it weren't for gravity, those imbeciles probably couldn't have hit the ground. The rock lobbers started off by scoring some good hits on the right wall {stage right} and the gate but in the second half of the battle, they failed to hurt anything. In any case, the enemy Pegasus Knights spent the last three turns massacring the war machine crews.

Spider Slam:
Dularg dispatched two units of ten spider riders to scale the far right wall. One unit took heavy arrow casualties. The other squabbled twice in three turns. Both attacked the walls, killed one peasant apiece, and then retreated after getting cut down with halberds. From the optimist's point of view, they did pass a lot of panic and rally tests on LD6. Finally, the last surviving spider skittered over the wall and charged five men-at-arms to the rear, only to be killed by a scattering rock lobber shot.

Main Assault:
We started off with a good stroke of luck, as both siege towers rolled a ten on their pre-game move. Unfortunately, that blasted cannon toppled both of them, leaving the units inside with nothing to do but stare at the walls while grapeshot rained down on them. The orcs with the battering ram bickered for the entire first turn over who had to do the hard work of pushing it, so the giant rushed ahead, headbutted the gate, punched a big hole in it with his club and then tried to shout it open. By that time, the swarms of archers in the towers got out enough arrows to kill him. The orcs dragged his carcass out of the way, battered down the gate, and spent the rest of the game slogging with stubborn grail pilgrims {glaze eyed former slaves eager for revenge}.

Left Thrust:
Black Orc bosses led a unit of forty night goblins and a unit of forty common goblins. These reached the walls largely unmolested and between them hooked twelve spiked ladders to the ramparts. The peasants responded by dropping a vat of boiling oil onto the common goblins, killing eighteen. They fled, rallied and then returned to help the night goblins win the fight. This combat took more than half the game. Assailants need sixes to hit when storming a wall. I had bought magic weapons which gave the black orc characters bonuses to hit but a bold knight with a re-rollable 2+ armor save got in my way. In the final turn, we threw the defenders off the wall and seized the ramparts but we were too late.

Conclusion:
In the siege scenario, victory is determined by who holds the most quarters of the castle courtyard. I had none. Fie! Who could have imagined those half starved peasants would put up such a fight? Hopefully, with this new found experience, my next siege will result in a glorious victory.

"Dularg Ironnose squeezed through the splintered gates of the fortress with his few remaining warriors. The freed captives retreated out of the vale in good order, with the winged horses making any pursuit impossible. He snarled. All that meat escaping put him in a surly mood."

Wonderful report! Very well done; clear to read even with so many different fronts. And entertaining as well.

I enjoyed it as well! Fun report, what an ending to.