Battle Report: Skirmish #4 Skaven vs Ironjawz , Vortex of Power

In smaller engagements, the influence of spellcasters and god-touched souls is often magnified a hundredfold. The act of harnessing otherworldly forces usually involves a complex spell or a lengthy supplication however – a window of opportunity that the enemy will exploit to bring a halt to the ritual that would see them undone.

The 4th match in the skirmish capaign is tht Vortex of Power mission. One player is casting a spell near the Vortex and the other player must end the ritual. In this game my warband the Ironjawz was the ritualist and the Skaven force was the distruper.

Distruper's territory is the top half of the table

Both warbands are slowly expanding as more followers join them. My warband is now stronger with one Gore Grunta and my borthers force got a Poison Wind Mortar Team for long range backup.

I'm trying to cover both sides of the Vortex with my limited force and planning to charge forward to hold the rats away from my Megaboss as long as possible.

TURN 1 - Ironjawz

Focusing on the biggest threat I can think off  (and reach) the Mortar Team

A succesfull first turn charge allowed me to attack the Posined Wind Mortar Team, but could not kill it with two Ardboyz. On the other side of the map the charge failed, so I could only get a little closer to the Warlock Engineer and his Rat Ogre bodyguards. 

TURN 1 - Skaven

As I focused on the bggest threar, so did the Skaven, and killed my Grunta

The skaven was succesfull with their attack on one side and could kill one of my scary boy the Grunta, but on the other side the clanrats killed themselves on my two Ardboys. They were not able to sratch me!

TURN 2 - Ironjawz

The brute making is brave move

Two more clanrats died and one fleeing away thanks to my other two Arboys arriving to the battle. My lonley Brute decided to bravely defend the Megaboss on the othe side of the Vortex. He wanted to fight close to the Boss to show him how tough Brute he is.

TURN 2 - Skaven

Fall back on one side, charge on the other.

Fall back on one side, attack on the other, typical phatetic Skaven tactic. The brave Brute survives everery attack, and the remaining clanrats cannot leave their fate behind for long.

TURN 3 - Ironjawz

The Megaboss didn't had to swing his axe

Finishing the remaining Skaven, even was able to kill a Rat Ogre with the wounded Brute.

Battle analysis

The poor bravery of the rats give me the victory. I was really expecting a loss in this battle, and the luck was a huge factor in the final outcome. The mortar team could not get a single ranged hit in the entire game, and my first turn charge locked it in place so they could not reach the Megaboss as it was out of range.

I enjoyed this battle regardless the outcome. The central Vortex and the story of the ritual is a good concept and I'm looking forward to play it again or a similar mission.

You can find the other games of this skirmish here:

• Battle 1 Clash at Dawn
• Battle 2 Treasure Hunt
• Battle 3 Fragile Cargo
• Battle 4 Vortex of Power (this match)
• Battle 5 Assassinate
• Battle 6 Seize the Relic (final match with nice photos)