Warhammer The Old World battlereport: The Sandglass of Ghur

On a cursed desert plateau, known as the Red Mirage, ancient Elven ruins rest in the shifting sands. Time warps between weather-worn obelisks and the winds howl with forgotten voices. In the shadows of a particularly high dune, storms uncover a forgotten barrow. Its looming gate creaks open, revealing Azhag the Slaughter, or rather Azhag the Time Traveler. Guided by prophetic visions (or possibly a concussed brain squig), he has led a rampaging horde through a time portal into the desert. He's searching for a mythical artifact known as the Sandglass of Ghur. According to the whispers in his skull, this relic allows the wielder to change the flow of time itself. Will anything stop the time-warped warlord from getting his green mitts on this great prize? 

Azhag the Time Traveler and his pointy-horned friends fight a bunch of pointy-eared glitterboys and their mercenary friends.

Four of us got together to play a 2vs2 game of Warhammer The Old World. We fired up the Abominable Intelligence to generate a quick backstory, objectives and special rules. We added a twist this time: the story had to involve Azhag the Slaughterer, né Time Traveler. 

I couldn't resist using the new Old World rules to return an Old World character to the new setting (set in the past). Confused yet? Get ready to travel in time as an old, but as of yet unborn, favorite returns from the future to fight in the past over an artifact that controls time itself.

For this battle report I tried something new. Well two new things. First off, a bit more coherence in the summary of what actually happened during the game. Second, I actually tried plotting out the flow of the game on a map. It took quite a bit of work, but I think it looks okay. Maybe a small disclaimer is in order. I didn't take any notes, so I had to work from memory and sketchy photos. If some units seem to skip around, it's either because my maps are highly unreliable or due to distortions in time and space around the battlefield.

This overview map of the battle is mostly correct (in the way most historical battle overviews are correct (as in: we're usually not sure of the battlefield's actual location, but can still draw amazingly accurate maps showing troop maneuvers down to the inch)).

We each brought a 1000 point army to game night. Before generating the scenario, we decided the Ogres were hired mercenaries working for the High Elves and coupled Azhag's Greenskins with the roaming Minotaur Blood Herd (a special Beastmen Brayherd formation from their recent Arcane Journal). Here's a semi-detailed breakdown per army (I only have my own army composition handy, so it's quite light on detail).

I'm not entirely sure why the Lothern Sea Guard decided to ignore their movement trays. I suspect the Elves considered themselves too hip for movement trays.

The High Elves were spread over the map. Their center consisted of 2 units with 15 Lothern Sea Guard each. Apparently they had some seamen special moves that allowed them to do fancy spear twirling (Naval Discipline). A lone Elf Mage stood between them. Behind the knife-ears, 10 Gnoblar Trappers, were hiding, These were part of the Ogre Mercenary contingent, and could be heard complaining that they weren't getting paid to fight. The joke was on them: the Ogres weren't planning to pay the Gnoblars at all...

A chariot-mounted cannon that can shoot in a 360 degree arc AND fight in close combat? Sounds a bit deadly, if you ask me. Someone might get hurt!

On the right flank, an Eagle Claw Bolt Thrower was positioned on a handy hill. In front of the Elves the Ogre Tyrant stood, accompanied by 5 Ogre Bulls. Having secured 'danger pay', he was already up and shouting orders at the Ironblaster and a unit of 2 Mournfang Cavalry. The cavalry turned out to be a mirage. After we diced for mercenary behavior, we discovered the cavalry had gotten drunk and would arrive at the battle late (and hung-over, presumably).

I'm still traumatized by the discrepancy between Silver Helms with their 8" move (that can be boosted) and the Dwarves I used in my first battle with their 3" move (that can be impacted).

On the High Elves' right flank the High Elf general, a Noble, had joined a unit 9 White Lions of Chrace. This infantry squad was wedged between a very smelly bunch of Ogres wielding cannons (3 Leadbelchers) and a unit of 5 Silver Helms.

A Stampede of Minotaurs stomped onto the table, ready and eager to charge anything that moved. If only they had ignored the sage 'advice' from Azhag's Wizarding Hat, they might've actually gotten their wish.

Opposite of the Elves' left flank (the one with the Bolt Thrower and the Tyrant) a Minotaur Doombull, accompanied by 6 mooing Minotaurs, had taken up station behind 5 Chaos Warhounds. A second unit of 3 Minotaurs, stood at the front of the group humming the Milka tune.

Back on squares, and in the center of my formation, this unit of Ruglud's Armored Orcs has been marching on tabletops for almost forty years (and through multiple game systems).

The center of the line was taken up by 12 Orc Big ‘Uns, 20 Orc Boyz (Ruglud's Armored Orcs). The Ladz were reinforced by 4 Minotaurs and got shouted at by none other than Azhag the Slaughterer, né Time Traveler. To transport Azhag to the new ruleset, I gave a standard Orc Warboss on Wyvern the Sword of Might (S+1, AP -1, Magical Attacks), a Talisman of Protection (5+ Ward Save) and the Wizarding Hat (Get a lvl 1 spell and Stupidity). I think this matched his stats with 8th edition Azhag as closely as the new ruleset allows. To be quite honest, I just wanted to experience Azhag on a square base this one time as he's always lounged around on a round base with AoS rules guiding his actions.

I keep making a mental note to add a couple of desert-themed hills to my collection, but haven't gotten around to it yet.

The Greenskin and Beastmen left flank (opposing the Silver Helms) was taken up by 5 Orc Boar Boyz and a unit of 11 Black Orcs, led by a Black Orc Bigboss.

Let's reuse the picture you've already seen above to add some semi-clarity to the tabletop at the start of the game.

On with the generated backstory (edited for brevity and clarity). 

Azhag wasn't the only one searching for the Sandglass of Ghur. A tribe of Ogres, acting as mercenaries for a High Elf expedition, had been hired to protect the excavation of an ancient Elf temple beneath the sands. 

The High Elves—arrogant, secretive, but well-moisturized, despite the climate—intended to secure the Sandglass. They would display it in an Ulthuan palace (or destroy it if it failed to match the décor).

A loud Waagh, accompanied by terrifying Moos, interrupted any contemplation about interior decorating. What began as an archaeological dig would soon turn into a full-scale brawl.

There were four victory conditions in this game: 

• To win one side needed to be in control of the ruined temple. This could be accomplished by holding the statue objective at the center of the table. 
• Two obelisks on the sides of the center objective were secondary objectives. 
• The High Elf and Ogre alliance could win extra victory points if Azhag was killed. 
• The Greenskin and Beastmen alliance would score victory points if the High Elf general didn't live through the battle. 

To make things interesting, there were four special rules for the scenario:

• Every turn we had to roll for temporal instability. 
• On a 1-2 all units* would slow down and suffer -1 to move because time would slow down.
• On a 3-4 nothing would happen. 
• On a 5-6 all random movement (charges, pursuits, etc.) would gain an extra D3" due to time speeding up. 
• Due to shifting, treacherous sands, any march or charge test would require a dangerous terrain test on a roll of 1.
• Azhag heard echoes of the future, allowing him to re-roll a single failed casting or charge roll during the battle. This re-roll came with a twist, because I had to announce my intent to use it before rolling the first result.
• * High Elf units were unaffected by the temporal instability. Maybe because their minds are attuned to the magical flow of time, more likely because those kultcha'd gitz read about it in a scroll with gold leaf margins.

We rolled off to see who got to pick turn one. The Greenskins and Beastmen won the roll off, and gave first turn to the High Elves and their Ogre mercenaries. Here's what happened next. 

Turn 1 featured a lot of moving around, except by the Orcs on the left flank, who chose to cower behind a hill instead.

At the start of the game the Gnoblar Trappers used some kind of sneaky ability to teleport in front of their left flank. I was busy opening a beer, and missed the trick they used. It did look quite clever though, and placed them right in front of any of our chargers, blocking better targets in the back row.

Those Gnoblars sure look harmless and innocent in their little skirmish formation, but just wait until they start pelting your unit with improvised missiles. 

Another noteworthy event was the Ironblaster opening fire. The Ogres get a cannon mounted on a heavy chariot. This allows them to move around with heavy artillery and shoot in a 360 degree arc. It's quite a threat when you see it bearing down on you. 

I see your problem there, mr. Ironblaster, you should fire metal balls instead of plastic polyhedral dice.

As the Ogres lined up their first shot, I desperately (and fruitlessly) leafed through the rulebooks, hoping to prove that this move and shoot wasn't possible*. As far as I could find out, it was. Luckily the shot bounced badly and came to a stop millimeters away from Ruglud's unit. The green D20 above is the cannonball's final resting point. Yes, we made a Return of the King 'stone missing the Orc general' reference here. We're not barbarians (reminder: I should paint some barbarians soon).

* Warhammer and wargaming in general  isn't as much about gaming, painting and collecting as it is about adults standing around a table, desperately leafing through rulebooks while muttering 'I'm sure I saw that somewhere'. 

As the Chaos Warhounds ran off the table, the Doombull and his friends started doing a weird circular dance.

Turn 2 started with the Silver Helms making a beeline back to their own side of the table. My Black Orcs and Boar Boyz had quite cowardly cleverly decided to hide behind the hill instead of getting charged. Unfortunately the High Elves weren't planning to get charged either. The deft maneuvering turned the flank into a boring place that reeked of cowardice. 

Azhag decided he'd had quite enough. He flew forwards, relaying some whispered orders from the voice in his head to the Beastmen, advising them to let the Gnoblars live. The idea was to hinder the Ogre overlords with their own dispensable, good-for-nothing Grots. The Gnoblars took advantage of their continued existence by shooting two Chaos Warhounds. The rest of the unit failed a panic test and routed off the table's edge (they were right beside it). 

The Doombull, unimpressed with Azhag's tactical advice, asked whether the voice sounded like a poncy elf for the rest of the battle. 

In the center, my Orcs tried 12 inch charges. The Lothern Sea Guard, experts at stand and shoot, opened fire. I lost a few brave Orcs to their arrows, only to remember that 12 inch charges are an Age of Sigmar thing. Orc Boys in The Old World roll 2D6, pick the highest dice and add their movement (4). They can't charge an inch above 10 without cheating. 

It was a bit embarrassing to lose Orcs to impossible charges, so I joined the Beastmen in blaming the voice in Azhag's head for this tactical error.

Somewhere in the back of the Greenskin and Beastmen alliance, the drunk Mournfang cavalry showed up. This new threat forced the Doombull's unit to reform and change facing (expressed by the wonderful, modern art masterpiece clustered arrow I drew on their unit (on the tactical picture above)). 

At this point in the battle, the Orcs on the left flank (Elves' right) finally decided to get 'stuck in'.

I have to admit that I lost the plot around turn 3. Somewhere around this time Azhag was charged in the flank by Ogre Leadbelchers. They failed to damage him (an Orc Warboss on Wyvern has a Toughness of 6 making it very hard to take any of his 7 wounds!). In return Azhag killed one Ogre and wounded another. The unit lost its break test (badly) and ran away. 

Three Ogres charged Azhag, two got a chance to flee after one round of getting smashed in the face.

On the left flank (right for the Elves and Ogres), my Black Orcs and Boar Boyz somehow found the courage to crest the hill. The White Lions of Chrace immediately charged my Boar Boyz. At this point I gave their rules a proper look, and discovered they have counter charge, proving once more that Orcs shouldn't cower behind hills. I blame the Wizarding Hat for this mistake. 

The Orcs in the center took more arrows and got skewered from the side by a bolt from the Eagle Claw Bolt Thrower. 

The Minotaur Herd behind my Orcs was hit by an Ogre cannonball. It turned one of the cows into burger meat. If only there were some Wood Elves, we could ask for pickles.

On the right flank (left for the Elves) a Minotaur Herd charged and demolished the Gnoblars. The Doombull's unit and the Mournfang cavalry pelted each other with bad language as they moved around each other like nervous debutantes at the Grand Ball.

Confusingly, the Lothern Sea Guard decided to charge Ruglud's Boyz. Meanwhile the slowly dissolving unit of Big Uns (arrow fire takes its toll, especially if you don't have shields), had to reform to get unstuck from behind the central statue.

I've labeled this overview Turn 3 (continued), because this happened somewhere in turn 3 or turn 4 (maybe 5). I'm not sure, but it definitively happened, at least it sort of happened before the next tactical overview. Give me a few decades and I might get the hang of making coherent battle reports...

The Ogre Lead Belchers, barely missed the White Lions as they fled from Azhag towards the table edge. Azhag managed to refrain from pursuit (his hat was probably distracted by something shiny nearby) and lined himself up for a more useful charge. You really have to wonder if Wizarding Hat causes stupidity by adding a second voice to someone's inner monologue, or if the soul within was very stupid to begin with.

Look on the right and wonder how those foolish Big 'Uns managed to get stuck behind the representation of future Sigmar. Wasn't a single Orc in the unit capable of looking far enough ahead to see this problem coming? I blame the Wizarding Hat.

The Lothern Sea Guard, tired of shooting Orc Boyz, decided to charge them instead. Ruglud hur-hur-hur'd, deeply satisfied with his decision to steal better-when-getting-charged spears from the hapless Dwarves those long years ago (in the future, because this scenario is set in the Old World of the past (suddenly my head feels as if I'm wearing a Wizarding Hat)).

The Doombull and his mooing friends kept up their circular dance. I'm still not entirely sure if it was a ritual dance or confused stumbling. 

On the other flank, the Ogre Tyrant slammed into the side of a unit of Minotaurs while the Doombull and the Mournfang Cavalry still sort of wheeled or something. I have to admit that most of my attention was on Azhag and the Black Orcs around this time, so I missed most of what was happening on the right (left for the Elves*).

* Sorry, I can't resist this stupid addition (must be the Wizarding Hat).

Azhag put the pedal to the metal, the Elf Mage followed suit, high-tailing it towards the table edge. 

Somewhere around turn 4 I got to make a charge that warrants this long red arrow. Azhag had lined himself up to charge the Elf Mage. The magic user showed off his talent for numbers, calculating the odds of survival in record time, and fleeing at top speed as a result. He ran through his fellow Elves, who remained steadfast despite the Wyvern lumbering their way.

Lothern Sea Guard are made of sterner stuff than Elven Mages, unfortunately (for them) that stuff is just as squishy as regular Elf stuff. Hur hur.

Azhag, in full pursuit of the Elf Mage, hit the flank of the second Lothern Sea Guard unit. In The Old World a fleeing unit that ends its movement on another unit is picked up, and placed at the other side of the unit. This can lead to some interesting high-speed chases, especially if the other unit flees as well. Another interesting detail is that a Wyvern with a Fly movement of 9" can charge up to 15" (on a D6 roll of 6). Take that AoS! 

The Ogres tried fleeing from Azhag past their employers, only to end up getting stomped into the ground by an approaching mob of Black Orcs (not pictured here). 

The Boar Boyz on the right flank had taken a bit of a beating, especially by the Elf Noble embedded in the unit. Luckily my Black Orcs had gotten into a position from where they could slam into the flank of the White Lions. The ensuing combat forced the Elves to give ground.

Using squished Ogres as guidelines, the Black Orc mob reformed, brilliantly exposing both its flanks to potential attackers.

A few rule shenanigans kunnin' trikz followed. The Black Orcs set off in pursuit first, slamming into the fleeing Ogres. This instantly killed the fleeing unit, which allowed the Black Orc unit to reform. The Orc Boar Boyz set off in pursuit of the High Elves next. Lacking a speed-bump-shaped fleeing Ogre unit, they managed to reach the retreating White Lions, and got on with a second round of combat.

Look at the wonderful lines as more and more units slowly leave the table. 

This picture is called 'Turn 4 continued', I suspect it is turn 5 (at least). This turn requires a lot of red lines to show all the movement and reforming on the left flank (right for the Elves). It shows the Black Orcs reforming their unit, and the Silver Helms lining up for a flanking charge. 

The Elf Noble and his accompanying White Lions made mincemeat boar stew of the pursuing Orcs. Burger meat, boar stew, say what you will, but a fight with Greenskins and Beastmen leads to good eatin'.

Azhag obliterated the Lothern Sea Guard unit. Presumably, the lone Elf Mage picked up his pace as he raced for the table's edge.

It turns out that bringing a close combat cannon to a fistfight isn't quite as useful as it sounds. 

To the Ogre player's great joy, he got to charge his heavy chariot-mounted cannon into combat with three angry Minotaurs. The bulls were covered in the cannon-blasted guts of their friend. The anger this fed, might've played a part in the demise of the Ironblaster. Charging monstrous infantry with what is (at best) a hybrid melee and ranged unit, may have played a part as well...

Look at the little (properly scaled) green square depicting the Black Orc Warboss between his Boyz and the White Lions of Chrace. I'm almost ready to (mis-)call myself a master map maker.

And with that, we end up in Turn 5 (if we're foolish enough to believe the file name I gave this overview picture). The Ogre Tyrant and his friends destroyed the smaller unit of Minotaurs and somehow ended up in a fight with the Doombull and his friends. 

The Beastmen player properly marked his improvised movement trays with battle chants.

I suspect the Ogre and Beastmen players decided to shuffle their units together to get good crumpin' going before the night was done. I'm very sure the fight happened, because I've got a picture of it here. I don't really understand how the Minotaurs got there. I also missed what (if anything) happened to the Mournfang cavalry. I like to think that upon seeing how badly the battle was going, they slunk off back to their drinking den.

This special maneuver is called the Rugh-Hugh in Orcish. It loosely translates to 'Please kill us' in proper Reikspiel.

Most of my attention was on our left flank (right for the Elves). I had somehow, quite cunningly, maneuvered my Black Orcs into a position where they could get charged in both flanks at the same time. It must've been based on Wizarding Hat's advice. Luckily, my Black Orcs Warboss took charge of his Boyz in the most Orcish way possible.

Fights coming up: Black Orc Warboss vs. Elf Noble. 

"I've got this ladz," the Black Orc Warboss said. He left his unit and took up position between Da Boyz and the White Lions. The unit of Black Orcs used its full move to reform, allowing them to present their front to the Silver Helms.

Even though I think the game had ended at this point, we decided to go for a last round of combat. We wanted to see how the High Elves fared against the Black Orcs. The Elf Noble challenged the Black Orc Warboss to a duel. This turned out to be a bad decision. The Black Orc Warboss curb-stomped the High Elf Noble, taking both of his wounds (and one extra) without getting any damage in return. 

The sight of their glorious leader's face decorating the sole of an Orc boot motivated the White Lions to beat a hasty retreat (I think, I can't quite recall the combat on that side). With that the High Elf and Ogre army broke ranks and left the ancient ruins to Azhag the Time Traveler.

Azhag the Time Traveler ended the game lined up for a nice charge into the back of the last Ogre unit. I wonder what the High Elf Eagle's Claw crew in the back are thinking at this point in time.

At the end of the game, the Greenskins and Beastmen allies held all three objectives, and took the bonus victory points for killing the High Elf noble. This rousing victory gave Azhag the means to time travel back to the future (Great Scott!) 

As far as I'm concerned Azhag can stay there. As fun as it was to make jokes about the Wizarding Hat, it is a terrible artifact. You pay 45 points to give a very expensive Orc character stupidity. Sure, you get a level 1 spell, but you probably won't be able to cast it and even if you did, it wouldn't make much of an impact on the battlefield. 

Having said that, this game was a blast and the many laughs we had at Azhag's hat's expense almost made the points cost worth it. On to the next adventure!