Warmaster Revolution - Chaos Dwarfs v Ogre Kingdoms

Introduction 

After last month's test game, I sat down and read the rules more closely and then gave my Chaos Dwarf and Ogre Kingdoms armies another outing.  I used the previous edition of the rules (version 1.2) and army lists (version 1.22) purely as I had these printed.  I'm not sure what the differences are in the newer version.  All of the rules and army lists can be downloaded for free at https://www.wm-revolution.com/articles/download.html

Set up

Each army was just under 1000 pts.   The lists are here.

Starting positions, Chaos Dwarfs at the top

Turn 1

The Ogres gain initiative but it doesn’t do them much good as Tyrant MountainGut fails his first Command roll and that ends the turn for the Ogres.

Flametache, the Chaos Dwarf general does better and sends his Hobgoblin Wolf Riders off to reconnoitre the battlefield.  His next order moves a mixed brigade of Axemen and Blunderbusses forward.  And that’s where the dice fail him and the movement ends.

No one is in range of any missile weapons and they are all far from being in melee distance so that’s the end of the turn.

Turn 1 end positions

Turn 2

The Chaos Dwarfs win the initiative roll and Flametache manages to successfully move all his army forward to meet the Ogre onslaught. 

The Hobgoblin Wolf Riders wheel forward and shoot at the Gnoblars, scoring two hits.  The Gnoblars are driven back to the edge of the table. 

Chaos Dwarfs on the march

The Chaos Dwarf Bolt Thrower shoots at and hits the Ogre giant.  There’s no armour save and although it doesn’t mean much, it shows the big ejeet that the little fellows mean business. 

None of the Chaos Dwarf units are in Combat so it’s now the Ogres turn.  Their Tyrant does much better this turn, moving the brigade with the Leadbelchers so they are aligned to fire at the Wolf Riders.  On two subsequent orders he also moves the other brigade of Ironguts and Bulls into contact with a Dwarf brigade. 

Onto shooting and the Ogre Leadbelchers unleash a hail of scrap into the Hobgoblin Wolf Riders, driving them back 7cm.  

Eat scrap short arses!

The Ogre Ironguts slam into the Chaos Dwarf Axemen.  Swinging their two handed weapons they score 8 hits.  Their armour saves 4 of them but that’s 4 hits and a stand removed.  The Dwarf’s response is 3 hits of which 2 are true.  The victorious Ogres decide to pursue and fight a follow up combat.  The Ogres score another 8 hits, with the Dwarfs armour saving 2, so another 6 hits on the Dwarfs and another stand down.  The Dwarfs do manage to get another 2 hits in which results in the Ogres losing a stand, but the Ogres win this combat and the Dwarfs fall back 4 cm.

Ironguts in action.

As the Ogre Bulls charge the Chaos Dwarf Blunderbusses, they manage to get a last gasp volley in.  Hitting 4 times they take down a stand of Bulls.  The Bulls are also driven back 13cms and rolling a 6 on one of the drive back dice means they are confused as well.  Top shooting from the little guys!  

The deadly Chaos Dwarf Blunderbusses

Turn 3

Turn 3 start positions

Tyrant MountainGut regains the initiative and barks an order for the Rhinox Riders to charge into the Wolf Riders.  His next order is for the Leadbelchers and Bulls brigade to move onto him.  He then orders the Bulls to attack a brigade of Chaos Dwarf Axemen.  At this point his luck runs out and he can’t command anything further.

It’s now the Ogres Shooting Phase.  The Leadbelchers open up on the unit of Hobgoblins.  They’re hit 4 times and have no armour save so lose a stand, carrying 1 hit over.  They’re also driven back 16 cms becoming confused in the process. 

For the Combat phase the Hobgoblin Wolf Riders manage to score one hit as the charge hits home, but the Rhinox Riders carve into the Hobgoblin Wolf Riders scoring a whopping 12 hits.  The Wolf Riders, rolling only 1 armour save are obliterated. 

Ouch! The Rhinox Riders charge home

The Ogre Bulls charge into the Chaos Dwarf Axemen, scoring 6 hits, of which the excellent Dwarf armour absorbs all but 2.  The counterattack by the Dwarfs also scores 6 hits but the Ogre armour isn’t as good and 4 hits get through causing them to lose a stand and the combat.  They move back 2 cms and the Dwarfs decide to pursue.  This time the Ogres defend better with only 1 hit getting through.  The Ogre response hits the Dwarfs 4 times and 3 of the hits get through.  This is enough for them to lose a stand.  The combat is drawn and both units fall back 5 cm.

The Bulls and Axemen hard at it

Play now switches to the Dwarfs.  The Bull Centaurs charge into the Ironguts.  A unit of Blunderbusses moves to target the Rhinox Riders.  And the last unit to move is a fresh unit of Axemen that charge into the mauled Bulls. 

The Blunderbusses open up on the Rhinox Riders.  They hit 4 times, there’s only 1 armour save so 3 hits.  That pushes their accumulated hits for this turn up to 4 and they lose a stand. 

The Blunderbusses on the other flank fire on the Bulls they’d previously driven back.  Only 1 hit is scored and they’re only driven back 1 cm.  It keeps them at bay though.  The Bolt thrower scores three hits on the Leadbelchers and they’re driven back 4 cms.

It’s now the Combat phase.  The Bull Centaurs score 10 hits but the Ironguts armour does the job and they only take 2 hits.  The response is 6 hits but the Bull Centaurs armour saves 5 of these so the Centaurs win.  They decide to pursue so another round is fought.  This results in 5 hits getting through their armour and the Ironguts lose another stand.  One Irongut attack gets through but they lose the combat and retreat 4 cms. 

The Bull Centaurs hit the Ironguts

The Chaos Dwarf Axemen hit the Ogre Bulls for 5 and they lose another stand.  They manage to retaliate by scoring a hit but lose the combat.   They decide to pursue to try and finish off the Ogre unit. The Ogres throw 2 armour saves but the 6 hits that get through are enough to destroy the unit. 

Turn 4

Turn 4 start positions

The Dwarfs gain the initiative.  General Flametache moves up to gain better control and starts issuing orders.  Firstly he moves the Axemen who had just seen off the Bulls to charge the Leadbelchers.  Then the Bull Centaurs follow up to try and wipe out the Ironguts.  He leaves the rest of his force in position. 

Onto the Shooting phase and the Blunderbusses on the left flank again fire at the Rhinox Riders.  4 hits no armour saves and that’s another stand of Ogre cavalry gone.  The remaining stand are driven back 14cm and confused. 

The Blunderbusses on the other flank now fire on the Ogre Bulls, scoring 3 hits with 2 getting through, driving them back 2 cms. 

Onto the Combat phase.  The Bull Centaurs once again crash into the Ironguts.  They hit 9 times and the Ironguts are cut down.   

The Bull Centaurs win the day

The Chaos Dwarf Axemen who had vanquished the Bulls last turn now attack the Leadbelchers.  They score 7 hits, 5 of them getting through the Ogre armour to reduce them by a stand.  The response from the Ogres is only 1 hit.  The Ogres are pushed back and the Dwarfs pursue.  The feisty little devils are up for it!  They score 6 hits of which only 2 are saved and that’s another stand down.  They get 1 hit back and are pushed back another 3cms. 

The Axemen and Leadbelchers clash

With less than ½ his force intact the Ogre Tyrant decides to go and eat some Gnoblars to make himself feel better and retire from the field.  Victory to the Chaos Dwarfs! 

The victors!

Conclusion

This was my first proper game of Warmaster Revolution.  What can I say?  Well I really enjoyed it.  I deliberately kept it simple with no magic and I didn't go into the more involved forms of melee combat.  I'm not sure that you dice for initiative each turn, but I like that when playing solo.  I probably got other nuances wrong as well.  My game of Black Powder in the summer gave me a taster, and once you start playing you can see the many similarities in the Rick Priestley games.  

I've owned Warmaster Ancients for years and years and have never got round to playing that.  I'm currently revisiting my 10mm Punic Wars collection to use with Midgard, but it'd be good to give it a go with Warmaster as well.  

I love the ethos behind Warmaster Revolution and how the community have kept a game they love going after GW discarded it.  And the fact that it's all free is so good.  There's some absolutely cracking 10mm 3D printed miniatures out there and I can see myself collecting other armies in the future.