Triumph and Treachery surround the marshes

A few weeks ago I played a Triumph & Treachery game with some friends. We really enjoy these games as the mechanics make the game really unpredictable as you never know if someone is going to play a card to help themselves or screw you or someone else over. Along with that vendettas quickly come to the fore.

So this time I wanted to try out a few things, so I modified my Fimir army list slightly:

Fimir Army List

• Rictumal - Dirach
• Level 2 caster, Miasma of Malodorous Mists, Lore of Beats, Deployed with Fimm Warriors
• Marroar - Fimm Finmor
• Battle Standard Bearer, Heavy armour, Runic Bellyshield, Froidrach's War Hatchets, Luckstone (that I completely forgot to use!), Deployed with Fimm Warriors
• 28 Fimm Warriors
• Additional hand weapons, Fimm Fian, Musician, Standard Bearer, Fimul's Hatred banner
• 3 Fiana Fimm
• Fimm Fiarach, Standard Bearer, Banner of All-seeing, Great weapons
• 3 Marsh Reavers
• Musician
• 20 Fir Bolg
• Great weapons, Crypt Keeper

Total = 1494 points

Dwarven Mercenaries

• Nurbere - Master Engineer
• Rune of Stone
• Organ Gun

Total = 195 points (allowing me to start the game with two bronze coins, totalling 100, in my paychest)

My forces were facing off against:

• Warriors of Chaos, with Skaven mercenaries
• Chaos Dwarves, with Orc mercenaries
• Wood Elves, with Lizardmen mercenaries

The Meargh had given Rictumal strict instructions, to take the warband and protect the edges of their domain from the incursions of the approaching forces. She had not told him the full story, however, but his daemon friend scouted ahead and informed him. Wood Elves had come pouring out of the forests to the North of the marshland, Chaos Dwarves trudged belligerently, and the brutal chariots of the Warriors of Chaos were quickly rushing to the scene. Clearly this region was of greater importance than the Meargh had let on. Rictumal tried to cast his magical senses to scry for a reason that such forces would converge on this point, yet his magic was not sufficient to explain the intricacies that fate weaves in this world. He looked at the forces arrayed around him and against him, this day would be hard on the Fimir, but they had a few tricks and might of their own.

I didn't take full details to write a complete battle report, but what follows are the notes of significant events in the game for me (obviously there were significant events for the other players, but I'm clearly an innately selfish person and didn't write them down. I do remember a large unit of Chaos Dwarves getting destroyed by the Wood Elves as a result of marginally losing a combat that they had charged into, failing their break test despite a reroll, and getting run down!):

• The Fimir forces destroy three units of Chaos Warhounds, causing the Warriors of Chaos general to swear immediate vengeance upon the marsh dwellers. Consequently the Skaven engineer fired his unpredictable Doom Rocket, aiming for the regiment of Fimm Warriors facing off against the Chaos battle line. Somehow his calculations were uncannily accurate and it exploded in the centre of the unit, killing 22 unfortunate Fimir.
• The unit of Fiana Fimm were charged by the Skull Krushers, killing two of the mighty Fimir. As a result the Fimm Fiarach decides that this is not a combat that he wants to partake of much longer, so he flees.
• The Giant recruited by the Chaos Dwarves was bearing down on the Organ Gun, the Dwarves rushed to shoot the vile beast, but were sabotaged in their attempt, leaving them unable to fire. However, as the Wood Elves used their ranged superiority against the Chaos Dwarves and Orcs, the Fimir's Dwarven mercenaries were able to take advantage of the distraction and, having resolved the effects of the sabotage, were able to unleash all barrels of the Organ Gun to blow the Giant to oblivion before it had a chance to reach them.
• The Chaos Demon Prince was hassling the Fimir lines, laying waste wherever he landed. Marroar, the Fimir Battle Standard Bearer bravely stood up and challenged the demon, putting his faith in the swirling mists around him and the powerful Runic Bellyshield to protect him, and that Froidrach's War Hatchets would give him the might to slay this fiend. Unfortunately the Demon Prince took full advantage of the narrow gaps in defence and cut Marroar down before he could strike.
• The Demon Prince sets his sights on the Organ Gun which had been a thorn in the side of Chaos for the majority of the battle. Charging headlong at the Dwarven warmachine, he failed to spot the cunningly deployed caltrops which caused him to pull up short of his target, sparing the war machine for the time being. Outraged by this failure, the Demon Prince summoned the winds of magic to cast a Purple Sun of Xereus at the unfortunate Dwarven mercenaries. Nurbere, the Dwarven engineer, quickly succumbed to the magical tempest, but the crew of the Organ Gun stood resolutely in defiance.
• A solitary survivor of the Marsh Reavers unit charged boldly to attack the Chaos Dwarf Bull Centaur Taur'ruk, bringing him down with an exemplary display of defence and combat prowess.
• The Demon Prince continued his assassination attempt of the Organ Gun, finally making it into combat and summoning the power of his mighty demon blade. However, his skill was lacking and the Dwarven crew were well entrenched, so the onslaught left one of the Dwarven crew still standing. Further to this, the cursed magic within the demon blade betrayed its master and saw him cut himself down, much to the relief of the solitary remaining Dwarven warmachine gunner.

All in all the game started quite well for me, but led to an almost instant vendetta from the Warriors of Chaos which resulted in very heavy casualties. By the end of the game all I was left with was the Organ Gun with 1 crewman left standing, and 1 Marsh Reaver (and even that I'm not convinced about!). However, the kills had been totting up, especially in the final few turns as I received the points for the Demon Prince and the Taur'ruk. It was a really fun game and just goes to show that despite how badly things can look early on in the game (I thought that I'd be wiped out by the end of turn 3!), if you keep on persisting you can turn things around.

Final paychest totals:

1. Warriors of Chaos - 2150
2. Fimir - 1350
3. Wood Elves - 1150
4. Chaos Dwarves - 700

The Warriors of Chaos charged around the battlefield, collecting grisly trophies of their dominance from this battle. Rictumal's spirit had been collected by his daemon friend and escorted through the shadow land back to the Fimir camp for the Meargh to revive. Gold had been collected and borders defended, but too many Fimir had fallen that day. It would be necessary for the raiding parties to step-up their search for suitable human females if the clan was to survive. The Dwarven slaves had performed excellently, but with no Fimir around to shepherd them back to their hovel they would shake off the enchantments they were under and seek to return to Dwarven society. It would be necessary to hunt them down once more.