SoBH Campaign 1 - Dwarves vs Rats

All Creatures Rat and Small

This page is a base to catalogue my first fantasy "Songs Of Blades and Heroes" campaign with my gaming buddy MacSver. I have moved the campaign page to this post to make room at the top for the second campaign (so for those avid readers this isn't anything new, just a bit of re-organising)

The basic warband makeup is Dwarf vs Ratmen: Initial Warband Compositions.

  

Battle #1: First Blood in the Hill

 

Battle Aftermath:

Valgen Maest: 6 Victory Points, 1 Campaign Point
Blightvale Autho-RAT-y: 3 Victory Points

We'll deal with the Rats first, as it's a bit simpler. The thrower and fleeing warrior made a full recoveries, one of the rat swarms is injured and misses the next battle, but the other 2 casualties (Scout and swarm) are confirmed deceased. 15 Gold coins were gained following the defeat and whilst exploring the surrounding countryside an unusual looking boulder with a lock was found. Unfortunately the lock proved too difficult for the rats and they couldn't open it.

The dwarven crossbowman and the elite warrior succame to thier injuries and died. 40 gold coins were gained following the victory, but when searching the area the remaining crossbowman became feverous and will fight the next battle with an increased quality score.

Now things become complicated. Once the dust settled, it was realised that the dwarven leader had been played as a dwarven leader and not as a dwarven magic user as listed. The confusion came from the term "Leader" not being enough to get the bonus's, etc combined with our lack of match practice. In the end it made little real difference - no magic was used, the figure was only in the fringes of the battle, no real advantage was seeked or gained and we had fun.

 

Battle #2: Blood On The Frozen Tundra

So MacSver has used all his cash and points and rejigged Valgen Maest to be the Dwarven Commander he was meant to be from the core book rosters:

• Valgen Maest: DWARF COMMANDER 95 Pts
  Quality 2+, Combat 4Short Move, Leader, Fearless:

Battle Aftermath:

Valgen Maest: 3 Victory Points, 1 Campaign Point
Blightvale Autho-RAT-y: 2 Victory Points

Running CP Total: Dwarves 2, Rats 0

Injuries:

• Dwarf: The cavalry-dwarf and his bear died of their wounds.
• Rats: All make full recovery

Income:

• The Dwarves 60 Gold for winning. In the aftermath the warband came across a caravan of traders and managed to trade and extra 20 Gold. (total 80 gold)
• The Ratmen managed to scavenge 25 gold after the battle (loser income + underdog bonus). On their scuttle away they happened on another strange looking boulder with a lock on it, but again couldn't open it. (total 25 gold)

Battle #3 Target in the Trees

MacSver had been busy spending his hard earned cash from the second battle. A Healing potion was purchases to give his Elite warrior a little backup, and two new recruits arrived in the camp - A crossbowman and a magic user:

• Klob Garathal: CROSSBOWMAN (Chainmail, Crossbow) 24 Pts
  Quality 4+, Combat 3
  Short Move, Medium Shooter
• Delgar Faderg: MAGIC-USER; (dagger) 41 Pts
  Quality 4+, Combat 3
  Short Move, Magic-user

Battle Aftermath:

Valgen Maest: 0 Points
Blightvale Autho-RAT-y: 1 Campaign Point

Running CP Total: Dwarves 2, Rats 1

Injuries:

• Dwarf: The Thief suffered a serious wound, so will be out for the next battle (but back to full strength after that), whilst the magic user is permanently "Not All There", so his quality is worsened by one.
• Rats: No casualties

Income:

• The Dwarves accrued 1d6 x 5 Gold for for their efforts.On their way back home they happened on a strange looking boulder with a lock on it (and probably lots of frustrated rat claw scratches surrounding it) , but couldn't open it.. (total ?? gold)
• The Ratmen managed to scavenge 50 gold after the battle. Whilst exploring the area they happened upon an old Watchtower, which they made theirs (+1 to initiative rolls at the game start/setup). (total 50 gold)

Battle #4: Pulsating Power in the Pillars

With several of the combatants reaching the "magical" 3 experience points there were quite a few improvements made for this battle.

The improvements in the rats were mostly pretty basic - boosting their Combat score to try and compete with more powerful dwarven opponents. The Swarm master, though, had managed to train a swarm to carry him aloft, and he gained the mounted skill (via the buy-a-mount-and-half-the-skill-cost loophole). Magic user also joined the ranks, with the hope that some Transfixing way also help the toe-to-toe battles.

MacSver went for the more subtle approach of improvement to his experienced warriors. Free Disengage for his best warriors and fearless for his longest standing standard warrior. Some extra oomph was also added to the ranged section of the warband with an improved quality for one crossbowman and a new recruit by way of a javelin wielding skirmisher.

Battle Aftermath:

Valgen Maest: 0 Victory Points
Blightvale Autho-RAT-y: 2 Victory Points. 1 Campaign Point

Running CP Total: Dwarves 2, Rats 2

Injuries:

• Dwarf: The 2 crossbowmen died of their wounds. The Skirmisher had a serious wound that will keep him out of the next battle.
• Rats: No casualties.

Income:

• The Dwarves searched around and found 30 gold (and bagged an additional 40 as an underdog bonus): 70 total.
• The Ratmen looted 60 Gold.
• Neither warband had any results during the exploration phase.

Battle #5: Hold the Ground

With the rat tactics being to outnumber the enemy, two new warriors were added to the warband. The second Elite Warrior joined the ranks of the Dwarves, along with a replacement crossbowman. the Thief was back from his convalescing period.
Battle Aftermath:

Valgen Maest: 2 Victory Points - Win by slaughter!
Blightvale Autho-RAT-y: 7 worthless Victory Points

Running CP Total: Dwarves 3, Rats 2

Injuries:

• Dwarf: The crossbowmen fully recovered from his rat bites.
• Rats: The leader recovered, but the rat shaman, experienced warrior and a swarm are gone for ever.

Income:

• The Dwarves searched around and found 40 gold.
• The Ratmen looted 30 Gold.
• Exploration was a bit more eventful this week. The dwarves stumbled upon an Eldritch Graveyard. Whilst poking about for any valuables "left behind" the unhappy dead spirits rose and attacked. The thief became injured and will be suffering a reduction in quality for the next battle. In the confusion of the retreat, the ratmen became lost as they tried to regroup and will suffer a -1 to their initiative roll next battle.

Battle #6: Slaughter in the Swamp.

Valgen bolstered his dwarven force with a couple of new recruits: a third crossbowman and a skirmisher. MacSver also re-iterated that he was retiring his magic user. Not only was he a Q5 liability, but he didn't feel that magic fitted into his view of the Dwarve theme. The rats, with limited funds, could only afford to replace one of their fallen from the last battle. An experienced warrior was replaced with a Ratman Champion, who is comparable in stats.


Battle Aftermath:

A draw, so no Campaign points for either warband.

Campaign Outcome
Victory to Valgen Maest's Dwarves
(3 Victory Points against 2)

And Finally some thoughts on our inaugural campaign

Songs Of Blades and Heroes - First Campaign Thoughts

Campaign Thoughts:

This campaign has been a while in coming - there was a years delay between agreeing to play and actually rolling he first dice. The intention was always to get a flavour of how the warband developed during a run of games and to see how the variable battle conditions effected play. I never expected the weather rules to have such an impact on the game. But the snow, heat waves and thunder storm all had vital roles in the games we played, impacting on the movement and activations of the both forces. Similarly the terrain board terrain played it's part - more so than we've seen in general one off games. I will definitely be using these generators for one off games in the future, as they add a bit more thought to how you play your force and dice. The scenarios also helped even the playing field as well. There was no way my Ratmen could ever face up to the Dwarves in a straight to-the-death battle. But victory conditions being applied they had a chance to at least snipe round the edges and pick up enough victory points to sneak a win. I would recommend their use to those players who fancy fielding the "weaker" races to make the battles more competitive.

I don't think either players managed to fully change their dicing tactics. By the end of battle #5 it was noticable that with the leader bonus there were mostly 3 activation dice being rolled for most figures (with 2+ being the target). I think this is where the Thunderstorm caught us out in the final battle (although MacSver needed to roll at least 2 to get his dwarves to move).

The warband development was interesting. I had thought after the first two battles that the rats were onto a hammering every time, especially as the cash reserves of dwarves vastly out weighed those of the rats. I thought that Vargen's force was going to become huge. But with a couple of wins battled back it became apparent that the cash being generated was in many cases hardly covering the costs of the loses. We both ended up with more powerful warbands (point wise) but not as much as I'd invisaged. Only one warband (Blightvale Autho-RAT-y) made it over the 400pt mark, and that was put to rest that very battle with a tactical mistake by myself and a mass moral failure from a Leader kill. With a much longer campaign (planning has started already) we will see how they develop. Riches won; experience points spent; casualties replaced: will be interesting to see how they balance out.

Overall the main thing was that we both had a lot of fun. Even the final battle, in which only one, hopeful, aggressive action was taken was entertaining. It was nice to be able to field a thought out themed force. I know that MacSver, who has invested in quite a few extra dwarves now, is looking to continue his dwarves into the next campaign. My rats have also been fun, if not difficult at times. But then I managed a couple of wins with them (no mean feat), so they can hold their snouts high.

A different force for the next campaign, though. I've a lot more unpainted figures I want to press into action in another theme...

SoBH Battle #6 - Final Battle

Battlefield: Swamp
Weather: Thunderstorm
Scenario: On Difficult Ground
Defender:Dwarves

Forces:
(New additions/changes to the warbands are in italics. Full stats shown for new recruits)

Valgen Maest's Warband (366 Pts)

• Valgen Maest : DWARF COMMANDER (1XP) 95 Pts
• Ovthur Whurdar: Crossbowman (1XP) 32 Pts
• Falster Vonlyr: Elite Warrior (1XP) 52pts
• Gnok Radamal: Elite Warrior 46 Pts
• Harthic Urduum: Warrior (1XP) 40 Pts
• Tyban Duerstenr : Crossbowman 24 Pts
• Horget Goodseeker : Crossbowman 24 Pts
• Venfi Fiendbreaker : Skirmisher 18 Pts
• Bolbir Dwifik: Thief 36 Pts

The Blightvale Autho-RAT-y (344 Pts)

• Skeener - Leader (1XP) 75 Pts
• Rusineth - Swarm Master (1XP) 46 Pts
  [Heavy Armour]
• Masssch - Warrior (1XP) 46 Pts
• Kritsk - Warrior  27 Pts  
• Skritskik - Warrior 27pts
• Grisak - Champion Warrior 35 Pts
• Durlik - Thrower  (1XP)27 Pts
• Ikineth - Standard Bearer (1XP) 27 Pts
• Rat Swarm (x1) 22 Pts

 Setup:

The Setup was as above. All the table was considered swamp (and therefore broken/rough terrain) except for the road. Other terrain features (pond/bog, woodland) were considered appropriate for the "On Broken Ground" special rules (risk of death upon entering). The battle was played to a time limit unless one force was completely defeated.

When the weather was rolled it became apparent that this battle was going to be a long slog. The swamp was already reducing movement length by one category, which meant that the Dwarves were needing 2 actions to just move at all. The Thunderstorm rules also meant that if a "1" was rolled the model became stuck for that turn and couldn't move, even if it had rolled enough other actions to do so.

With the rats needing at least a kill to try and win (and draw the campaign) they manouvered themselves into a disorderly column and made as best haste as possible down the road. The dwarves, having started in the far corner from the road were making heavy work of making any progress.

After quite a few rounds the main rat force had moved up table, whilst the dwarves tried to move in table. Both sides were avoiding the potential perils of crossing terrain pieces. The group of warriors had moved round to square off with the approaching dwarves, whilst the beastmaster (and his lagging swarm) manouvered into a flanking position.

The main rat group held back from the ranged dwarves that had moved up to protect the advancing warriors. They knew that with the swampy condition a long range charge was out of the question. The dwarves also took a risk (a false risk as it turned out) and moved into the forest areas to get out of the bottleneck and give good flanking protection to the advance crossbows. The Rat Leader positioned himself round the corner from the ranged foe, but close enough to give his warriors as much a boost as he could with his leader skill. Time was running out and any successful attack was likely to be the winning one.

But at the last gasp the rats threw a succession of triple ones on the dice (much to MacSver's amusement) and the attack faltered. The swarm-master was too far away to make an attack, so retreated to not get caught by a crossbow bolt. The lead crossbow dwarf took the last action with an extremely long range shot which missed.

And so the battle ended. The rats were cagey, and the dwarves couldn't make headway in the mud. That would be the match summary.

Battle Outcome: Draw.

SoBH Battle #5

Battlefield: Open Ground
Weather: Heat Wave
Scenario: Take The Land
Defender: Ratmen

Forces:
(New additions/changes to the warbands are in italics. Full stats shown for new recruits)

Valgen Maest's Warband (366 Pts)

• Valgen Maest : DWARF COMMANDER (1XP) 95 Pts
• Ovthur Whurdar: Crossbowman (1XP) 32 Pts
• Falster Vonlyr: Elite Warrior (1XP) 52pts
• Gnok Radamal: Elite Warrior 46 Pts
• Harthic Urduum: Warrior (1XP) 40 Pts
• Tyban Duerstenr : Crossbowman 24 Pts
• Delgar Faderg: Magic-User; (1XP) 41 Pts
• Bolbir Dwifik: Thief 36 Pts

The Blightvale Autho-RAT-y (407 Pts)

• Skeener - Leader (1XP) 75 Pts
• Hasnaar - Shaman (1XP) 46pts
  [Equip: Magic scroll]
• Rusineth - Swarm Master (1XP) 46 Pts
• Masssch - Warrior (1XP) 46 Pts
• Griszarr - Warrior (1XP) 46 Pts
• Kritsk - Warrior  27 Pts  
• Skritskik - Warrior 27pts
• Durlik - Thrower  (1XP)27 Pts
• Ikineth - Standard Bearer (1XP) 27 Pts
• Rat Swarm (x2) 22 Pts

 Setup:

The pillars represented objectives to be captured and held.

The ratmen decided to use their superior movement and rushed forward for the opening turns to take the nearest objectives and rack up some  early victory points.

The advance group of rats had managed to reach the area around furthest away objective at the same time as the dwarves. But at the crucial turn, the commander (ie me!) took the decision to fall back and not be surrounded by the tough dwarves. In hindsight, pushing on to the objective could well have won the game, that'll teach me not to pay attention to the scenario enough!

An experienced crossbowman took out one of the new rat recruits on the group fringe before a warrior rushed in and attacked at the same edge.

Another knockdown was won, whilst the crossbowman fell back as the rat reinforcements arrived by way of a rat swarm and their master.

Things looks dark for the dwarves. The rats swarms round the lone dwarf warrior, whilst the crossbowman was frozen by magic.

But a series of rolls that would have seen MacSver run out  of Las Vegas(and me with out a shirt on my back) had the warrior fighting off rat attack after rat attack. The crossbowman did fall, but the crucial action was at the other side of the melee.

With the rats tied up by the warrior a lone crossbowman skirted round and shot down the rat leader with a single bolt, killing him outright!

With all the action happening such a small area there was mass panic in the rat ranks, as they fled, or at least tried to several of them couldn't flee far enough away from their foes and were destroyed. WIth the rat force wiped out the dwarves controlled the battlefield and the win.

SoBH #4

Battlefield: Open Ground
Weather: Heat Wave
Scenario: Place of Power
Defender: The Blightvale Autho-RAT-y

Forces:
(New additions/changes to the warbands are in italics. Full stats shown for new recruits)

Valgen Maest's Warband

• Valgen Maest : DWARF COMMANDER (0/3XP) 95 Pts
  Training applied; 3XP for Free Disengage
• Ovthur Whurdar: Crossbowman (0/3XP) 32 Pts
  Equipment: Ammunition.
  Training applied: 3XP for 1 improved Quality
• Falster Vonlyr: Elite Warrior (0/3XP) 52pts
  Training applied; 3XP for Free Disengage
• Harthic Urduum: Warrior (0/3XP) 40 Pts
  Training applied: 3XP for Fearless
• Klob Garathal: CROSSBOWMAN (1XP) 24 Pts
  
• Delgar Faderg: MAGIC-USER; (dagger)
  Quality 5+
• Baz Farthal: Skirmisher (javelin, shortbow or small crossbow) 18 Pts
  Quality 3+,Combat 2. Short Move,Shooter: Short.

The Blightvale Autho-RAT-y

• Skeener - Leader (0/3XP) 75 Pts
  Quality 2+
• Hasnaar - Shaman 46pts
  Quality 3+, Combat 1. Fearless, Magic User [Equip: Magic scroll]
• Rusineth - Swarm Master (0/3XP) 46 Pts
  Mounted
  
• Masssch - Warrior (2XP) 27 Pts
  Combat 4
• Griszarr - Warrior (2XP)27 Pts
  Combat 4
  
• Durlik - Thrower  (2XP)27 Pts
  Combat 3
• Ikineth - Standard Bearer (2XP) 27 Pts
  Quality 3+
• Rat Swarm (x2) 22 Pts

 Setup:

The magical place of power was a temple overlooking the battleground. The scenario conditions meant that any magic user in the temple at the end of the game would get 3 Victory points.

Both commanders realised that the key to getting to the temple was the foot of the stairs, and both camps risked multiple 3 dice rolls as they sprinted to their goal. Despite most quality checks being 2+ (with leader bonus's, etc) double fails were inevitably being rolled, not only stretching out the warbands, but also causing fatigue in the Heat Wave conditions (1 dwarf and 2 skaven warriors tiring in the first 3 turns!).

The forces reached the foot of the stairs at the same time, if not in tight formation. A dwarven crossbowman took position to block the ascent to the temple, whilst a rookie skirmisher thought to prove himself and rushed in the affray, knocking down a rat warrior.

The rat swarm rushed in from the flank to increase rat numbers, though, and the new dwarf recruit was gruesomely killed, causing a morale check to the front line of dwarves. But the new training of the dwarf warrior, and the abilities of the Elite warrior left them unmoved by they comrades death. The crossbowman however wasn't so strong, and fled away from the fight.

The skaven pushed forward to block any more dwarves reaching the steps, whlist a warrior met the crossbow man blicking the way to prevent his losing off a ranged attack. The now mounted beastmaster and his pets dashed over to tackle the isolated dwarf crossbow, who put up a fight but eventually fell to the swarming bodies.

final moments of the battle the dwarves made a push, but were held by the newly trained up rat ranks, and as a bitter final blow they watched their other bowman fall. No-one had made it up to the temple, but it didn't matter, the rats had won.

Battle Result:

Blightvale Autho-RAT-y: Victory

SoBH Battle#3

Battlefield: Forest
Weather: Heat Wave
Scenario: Assassination
Defender: The Blightvale Autho-RAT-y

Forces:
(New additions/changes to the warbands are in italics. Full stats shown for new recruits)

Valgen Maest's Warband

• Valgen Maest : DWARF COMMANDER (2XP) 95 Pts
• Ovthur Whurdar: Crossbowman (1XP) 24 Pts
• Bolbir Dwifik: Thief (2XP) 30pts
• Falster Vonlyr: Elite Warrior (2XP) 46pts
  Equipment: Healing Potion
• Harthic Urduum: Warrior (2XP) 34 Pts
• Klob Garathal: CROSSBOWMAN (Chainmail, Crossbow) 24 Pts
  Quality 4+, Combat 3
  Short Move, Medium Shooter
• Delgar Faderg: MAGIC-USER; (dagger) 41 Pts
  Quality 4+, Combat 3
  Short Move, Magic-user

The Blightvale Autho-RAT-y

• Skeener - Leader (2XP) 60 Pts
• Rusineth - Swarm Master (2XP) 46 Pts
• Masssch - Warrior (2XP) 27 Pts
• Griszarr - Warrior (2XP)27 Pts
• Durlik - Thrower  (2XP)27 Pts
• Ikineth - Standard Bearer (2XP) 27 Pts
• Rat Swarm (x2) 22 Pts

Setup:

Rats at the nearside, Dwarves far edge (ranged on road, melee off road)

The whole table is considered to be forest, with the exception of the road running the length of the table and a circular clearing in the table centre. This meant that for the second battle running the dwarves would need two actions to move if they were away from the road or the clearing (as well as all the usual line of sight restrictions). The assanination scenario had the dwarves trying to kill the ratmen leader.

The rats and the ranged attacking dwarves took advantage of the better movement up the road. The melee dwarves battled through the undergrowth, although early on the heat wave took effect on the Dwarven Elite warrior, worsening his quality by one due to fatigue.

The rats cut west towards the clearing and the melee dwarves, hoping to pick off an insolated warrior, but with the going slow they were not quick enough to get round before the crossbowmen moved into support positions. Not wanting to get caught battling in the clearing the rats cut east across the road to the safer forest undergrowth there, knowing that the dwarves needed to attack their leader.

A new recruit, the dwarven magic user decided to make a name for himself and raced to the edge of the road to crack off a fire ball, but with little effect. Despite his struggles (knocking down a swarm) he was swamped by rats and fell.

As time for the game end approached, Valgen made one last effort, ordering his troops i range further down the road to try and get a shot. Unfortunately for them the Rat leader stayed in the shadows of the forest, and the rats rushed the short legged thief, taking him down in the last action of the battle.

Battle Result:

Blightvale Autho-RAT-y: Victory

SoBH Battle#2

Battlefield: Tundra
Time of Day: Day
Weather: Snow
Scenario: On Difficult Ground
Defender: Valgen Maest's Warband (Dwarves)

Forces:
Valgen Maest's Warband

• Valgen Maest : DWARF COMMANDER (1XP) 95 Pts
  Quality 2+, Combat 4, Short Move, Leader, Fearless:   
• Ovthur Whurdar: Crossbowman 24 Pts
• Bolbir Dwifik: Thief (1XP) 30pts
• Falster Vonlyr: Elite Warrior (1XP) 46pts
• Harthic Urduum: Warrior (1XP) 34 Pts
• Glanthur Harfik - Cavalry (1XP) 52 Pts

The Blightvale Autho-RAT-y

• Skeener - Leader (1XP) 60 Pts
• Rusineth - Swarm Master (1XP) 46 Pts
• Masssch - Warrior (1XP) 27 Pts
• Griszarr - Warrior 27 Pts
• Durlik - Thrower  27 Pts
• Ikineth - Standard Bearer (1XP) 27 Pts
• Rat Swarm (x1) 22 Pts

 
Setup:

As usual the first few turns were movement. The Dwarves were finding it hard going in the snow, as they needed 2 actions to move their short movement range. By comparison the rats "sped" up to the table.

The main band of rats grouped at a natural fork in the terrain, with the beastmaster and swarm moving forward hoping to draw the dwarves round. Glanthur Harfik on his mighty bear flanked round behind some trees looking to cut them off.

The mounted dwarf moved round to his blocking position, with the main rats messing up their rolls. But the weakest dwarf warrior on the force fringe the beastmaster decided to try and use his swarm to even up the odds and attacked.

But the attack was to no avail. The attacking ratman was knocked to the ground, and before he could get up his pets were dispatched before he experienced a similar fate.

The Dwarves took advantage of another set of poor dice rolls and the mounted Dwarve tried to get a rear position on the enemy, with the Thief making a risky path through the ruins.

But the bear had left himself an isolated target, as the rats had been looking for. They rushed over and surrounded him in attack, but his teeth and axe kept them at bay.

But Glanthur only managed one action next turn. Faced with the options of retreating with numerous free strikes or attack there was only one option - attack. Unfortunately the numbers proved too great a second time and was knocked the ground, leaving the rats to swarm over and finish him.

The rats had a scalp, and with the Dwarves wading round the corner as a group they decided to leave the battle field. There would be good eating tonight!

Battle Result:
Valgen Maest: 3 Victory Points,
Blightvale Autho-RAT-y: 2 Victory Points

SoBH Battle#1

Battlefield: Hill Land
Time of Day: Night
Weather: Calm
Scenario: On Difficult Ground
Defender: Valgen Maest's Warband (Dwarves)
Setup:

Skaven in centre, Dwarves split into 2 groups:
Mounted and Thief on left of picture, all else on right.

End turn 2

The first few turns were just movement, although the dwarves were miss-firing so making little (if any ground) . The ratmen showed their battle rustiness by not taking advantage of their gregarious group moves properly.
 

The swarm surged forward looking to tie up some opponent forces before the main group came in, and the bear mounted dwarf came in on interception course.

A dwarf crossbowman moved into the valley end to meet the swarm, but poor activation rolls denied him support. The swarm moved up to say hello, as the bear mount fell back.

The swarm master caught up to support his pets, but their combined attack was stalemated by the dwarf, as some support finally arrived.

The crossbowman scattered one of the swarm bases as more dwarves finally started to arrive in the table centre. A group of ratmen started come into the scene as well, but poor rolling from the now distant leader and standard bearer halted any attacks hoping to press home the swarms numerical advantages.

It's all action in the valley. Another Swarm base is dispatched, but the remaining swarm combine with thier master for him to take down the battling crossbow wielding dwarf.

 With the encouragement of his leader, an Elite Dwarf charges forward and knocks down the rat scout at the edge of the advancing group, whilst the leader himself come in to help finish off the writhing swarm. Unfortunately he is mesmarised by the mass of bodies and is knocked down in his own attack. The swarm turn and help the beastmaster floor the other dwarf warrior, but the desperate rolls to bring up the rat leader still cause problems and end the turn.

 The Elite Dwarf warrior takes advantage of the scout still lying at his feet and sets and example - gruesomely him. The resulting morale tests have the beast master and swarm fleeing over the rocks. Fortunately for them they don't come across any of the hazards that can lie in these areas. Of the group with the ill fated scout, one fled a short distance, where as the other completely routed. Meanwhile the dwarf cavalry decided to come into challenge the lone rat thrower, who was so intimidated by the roaring bear that he completely failed his rolls and ended up frozen to the spot.

The mounted dwarf closed into the thrower, first knocking him back and then resisting his poisoned attack before finishing him off in the final turn. On the other side of the hillock the Elite dwarf, obviously caught up in a blood-lust from the rat scout gave chase to press home an advantage to the now fleeing ratmen. Unfortunately he found himself too isolated and was swamped and taken down as a final act as the rats left the battlefield.