Battle Report 1,000pts Empire vs Beastmen

So I took part in my first big battle tonight as apart of my training sessions at Games Workshop Metro Centre. After slowly picking up the rules with 1/2 units at a time me and Carl decided to up the ante a bit tonight and both run 1,000pt lists with our new army. I took my Altdorf Empire while Carl used his big blocks of Beastmen.
These are the armies;

EMPIRE
Battle Wizard Lord - Lvl3 Lore of Beasts
Master Engineer
Warrior Priest
20 x Spearmen w/Light Armour and Shields
24 x Halberdiers
- 9 x Handgunner Detachment
- 5 x Archer Detachment
Helblaster Volley GunGreat Cannon

BEASTMEN
*Roughly
Great Bray-Shaman - Lvl 3
40 x Ungor Herd w/ Spears
30 x Gor Herd w/Shields
30 x Bestigorg Herd
So this is how the game panned out;

DEPLOYMENT

Carl won the roll and decided to deploy first. He was over pretty quickly so ended up having some extra units to get a good defensive line going. My Master Engineer joined the Volley Gun on top of the hill. The cannon just off to the side to support the Halberdiers and the two ranged detachments. Spearmen off to one side to protect against the Gor herd on the left hand side of the table. Warrior Priest and Battle Wizard Lord both joined the Halberdiers.

BEASTMEN TURN 1

Basically everything marched forwards as expected. Poor dice for Magic and his attempt of Bestial Surge was easily dispelled.

EMPIRE TURN 1

The Spearmen march into the woods to stop the Gors however the trusty servants of The Empire walked straight into a Wildwood suffering two casualties as mysterious creatures within strike without warning. I roll big on the magic and the Battle Wizard Lord casts The Curse of Anraheir onto the Bestigors, hopefully the difficult terrain will halt their progress next turn allowing the cannon and Helblaster to show their worth before the Bestigors can get to our lines. Wyssan’s Wildform is then successful on the Spearmen for the forthcoming battle with the Gors. Finally the Flock of Doom is casted on the Ungors claiming 4 unfortunate victims. The power of the Helblaster Volley Gun is unleashed! A whopping 22 shots ring out across the hill and after the smoke clears there are 14 more Ungors lying crumpled on the floor, scared to face it again the Ungor startle and turn back to retreat. Meanwhile the Cannon over shoots its target while the Handgunners and Archers take out 1 Bestigor each.

BEASTMEN TURN 2

The Ungors fail to rally and flee to just before the table edge. Despite having The Curse of Anraheir the Bestigors march forwards and lose three more servants of Chaos to the difficult terrain. The Gors unsurprisingly charge headlong into the Spearmen, however whatever is lurking the Wildwood seems to be staying away as the two big units beat each other with Shields and Great Weapons. Thankfully with Wyssan’s Wildform the boosted Spearmen take out three Gors and they return with 5 casualties. Despite losing combat the Spearmen hold for another round making the leadership test just! Again Carl unsuccessfully tries to cast Bestial Surge.

EMPIRE TURN 2

Everything holds, the Helblaster fires off 12 rounds of shots this time towards the Bestigors however only 5 are dropped, the cannon tries to grapeshot into the Bestigors and only manages two measily shots which do absolutely nothing. Meanwhile after failing every spell in magic the Gors wipe the floor with the Spearmen and run down the remaining fleeing souls coming up only a few inches away from the side of the Helblaster! Thankfully the Beastmen will need to waste at least one turn to just get into position. Here's hoping the Helblaster can lay waste to almost a full strength Gor Herd in the next turn!

BEASTMEN TURN 3

The Ungors rally! Though their quite far away from the battle and will take another turn at least to get anywhere near marching. The Bestigors and Shaman charge the cannon while the Gors pivot to face the Helblaster and charge next turn. The Shaman casts Mantle of Gorok with Unstoppable Power, then gets lucky rolling gaining +6S and +6Attacks but losing a wound. However due to the miscast the Shaman explodes taking down five Bestigors and himself with the power! So glad the magic was out of it. The rest of the Bestigors tear apart the cannon and all but one of the crew who is overun and sets panick in the Archers who just witnessed the massacre. The Bestigors just stay on the table as the Archers run straight off probably to find more reinforcements!

EMPIRE TURN 3

The Halberdiers and Handgunners both pivot to prepare for the Gors and Bestigors. The Helblaster pivots and at almost point blank range knowing that it'll be their last chance to fire and trying to rush it only manages a below-average 10 shots. Though 5 more Gors drop dead, the Wizard attempts to slow their progress yet again by casting The Curse of Anraheir on the Gors.

BEASTMEN TURN 4

The Bestigors reform to prepare for the Halberdiers next turn. The Gors charge the Volley Gun, crew and Master Engineer. While the Engineer's pistol takes one Gor out they're almost lambs to the Beastmen slaughter as the four men valiantly fight to the literal death. The Gors march forward ready for the Halberdiers.

EMPIRE TURN 4 

The Halberdiers charge headfirst into the Gors. Warrior Priest calls to Sigmar and gets the unit to re-roll to wound. The Wizard also successfully casts Wyssan’s Wildform on the Unit to toughen them up even more however The Curse of Anraheir is sucessfully dispelled against the Ungors. The Handgunners seeing their regimental brothers locked in combat take aim at the Bestigors who are eagerly looking at the Halberdiers, only one of the Beasts drop though to the armour-piercing rounds. The Gor champion foolishly challenges someone and the Warrior Priest with two hand weapons takes him out before they can even get a hit in. The rest of the Halberdiers urged on by their Warrior Priest and feeling the blessing of Sigmar lay waste to the remaining Gors and without think turn their attention on the Bestigors who prepare to charge.

BEASTMEN TURN 5

The Ungors manage what I thought was the impossible and charge into the rear of the Halberdiers! The Bestigors charge into the front of the unit too making the soldiers of Altdorf sandwiched between these foul beasts. Thank god for Wyssan’s Wildform being active though. The Bestigors are cut down to just one remaining beast and despite needing Double 1s Carl manages it! The Ungors cut down a few Halberdiers who in turn return with 2 victims. The Handgunners watch on from the side nervously.

EMPIRE TURN 5

The Wizard feeling cocky tries to uneedingly cast Wyssan’s Wildform and manages it with uncontrollable force! A small round S10 template around the Wizard goes off killing two of his own men and knocking a wound off himself. Strengthed due to the spell the Halberdiers finish off the remaining Bestigor and two more Ungors, who frustratingly kill two spearmen too. With the combat a draw it looks like the final Beastmen turn will be the finishing point.

BEASTMEN TURN 6

Thankfully the Halbediers finish off the Ungors with Carl somehow managing to roll 1s and 2s on every attack he had! VICTORY TO THE EMPIRE!

Post Match Analysis
To be fair it was a very close call in the end. When I looked at deployment I thought I'd have a rather easy shot at winning this but then again that's my noviceness kicking in, because big blocks of infantry really do suddenly ware everything down in Warhammer Fantasy! My cannon again failed and I think part of it is due to me still learning how to use it. This is the third time I've used it and overshot every single shot in it. The star of the show though was definitely the Helblaster Volley Gun, in the very first turn and even at long range it ruined the huge block of Ungors, then at point blank range it took a good chunk out of the Gors too. Being able to use the Master Engineer ballistic skill definitley helped and thankfully I didn't need to use the re-roll ability on a misfire.
Overall a great enjoyable game and cannot wait for next week where we've agreed another 1,000pts on the table is the way to go. This time though I may try something different with some Knights of the Inner Circle and maybe a Mortar!