Wood and Iron - Warmaster Revolution AAR

Although I had only played a single game of Warmaster last year, I've had a lot of interest in getting the game to the table again (with the arguably better version that is Warmaster Revolution). So, when I found out that Shawn, who had taken part in the local Blood Bowl League, also had some High Elves in 10mm, we set up a time for a game. 

The tabled featured some woods, hills, broken ground, and impassible terrain.

We played a 1000 point game with the following lists:

High Elves
General
-Giant Eagle
-Sword of Cleaving
Hero
-Sword of Might
Wizard
-Wand of Power
Spearmen x3
Archers x2
Silver Helms
Chariots
Elven Bolt Thrower

Empire
General
Hero
-Sword of Might
Wizard
Halberdiers x4
Crossbowmen x2
Skirmishers x2
Knights x2
Pistoliers
Cannons

Shawn had his fantastically painted GW miniatures, while I was using tokens from A League of Ordinary Gamers.

Shawn won initiative. The first turns were spent by both sides trying to push their brigades forward.

Shawn continued to push his units forward. A single round of shooting from a unit of Elven archers and the bolt thrower was enough to push my Pistoliers off the table, and they fled. That'll teach me to run my units too close to the table edge.

I moved the brigade of two Halberdier units with attached skirmishers into the woods, with the the knights to their left.

Our two cavalry wings were the first to reach each other. Shawn took the risk and sent in his chariots, impacting against one of my Knight units. After a back and forth, both sides were reduced to a single stand.

The accuracy of the Elven archers was enough to disrupt the combined Crossbowman/Halberdier brigade. However, I managed to counter with a charge from the remaining Knight stand, killing his last Chariot.

Now the infantry were getting into the fight, as Shawn launched his Spearmen brigade into the woods, devastating one of the Halberdier units.

He brought in his knights in an attempt to remove one of my Knight units. But a lucky roll saw a tie in the combat, and my knights retreated out of the danger.

Continuing with his infantry attack, Shawn removed the unit of Halberdiers from the forest, and his bolt throwers slaughtered my cannons.

With the High Elf army at two units lost, and the Empire army at three units lost, both sides were only two unit away from breaking. However, poor dice on the part of the High Elves, and some very hot dice from the Empire, saw the combat in the woods break for the humans. With an additional unit lost from a Halberdier charge into a weakened archer unit, the game ended with an Empire victory.

It was a fun game, and really came down to a single turn. If I hadn't had some pretty lucky dice rolls, Shawn's elves would have rolled right through my lines. Hopefully we'll get more Warmaster on the table in the future, and this does lend some motivation for me to work on my Dogs of War.