Hoarluk Doomshaper, Rage of Dhunia vs Kommandant Irusk

Mulg was certain he was smarter than most other Dire Trolls, he was also certain he could kill and eat pretty much whatever he wanted..  Krol sat in front of him though, flexing his new hand again, for some reason it made Mulg's stomach churn a little and his appetite wane... a little. 

My buddy texted me for a quick 25pt game and I accepted.  Usually he plays Khador with a bunch of heavy jacks and the Butcher or Karchev.  I figured we'd do a battle of the bigs so I brought some heavies of my own.

My List

Hoarluk Doomshaper, Rage of Dhunia -6

Dire Troll Mauler +9

Earthborn Dire Troll +10

Mulg the Ancient +12

He decided to throw me a curve though and he went infantry heavy.

His List

Kommandant Irusk -6

Kodiak +8

Great Bears of Gallowswood+5

Iron Fang Pikemen (Leader and 9 Grunts) +8

Iron Fang Pikemen Officer & Standard +2

Winter Guard Rifle Corps (Leader and 9 Grunts) +5

Kovnik Jozef Grigorovich +2

I don't know about you folks, but Pikemen make me a little nervous.

Mulg felt a fimilar twinge in the magic carved into the runes on his back that told him a human with some spellpower was nearing.  Krol seemed to feel it too, he started almost bristling with anger ready to lash out.  Mulg knew he never wanted to have to eat Krol, but he also knew that fighting with him would fill his stomach.  Mulg looked up to see a lesser Earthborn Dire Troll come out of the trees, always impressed with how well they moved through difficult terrain, the Earthborn began to speak in the language of the Dire Trolls.  Unlike even the other Troll warcasters Mulg appreciated that Krol was one of them and that they could use their own speech with him... other languages were difficult for a Dire Troll tounge to work out. Krol listened intently to the Earthborn that called himslef Cannonball, "Angus sent me, three platters of Red Food come," holding out his hands to help explain the Khadorian unit sizes Cannonball continued, "First meal carry sticks, second meal carry small rock thrower, small meal looks tough to eat... and tasty.  Last meal is big for Slags and then one who stands alone."  Mulg was a little confused, Angus had found a smart one in that Dire Troll, today was not the day to wrestle though he turned back to Krol who did not speak but him and Cannonball felt what he said, "Fluffy and Cannonball, we go to eat.  We will bring an angry younger brother who resides ahead to feast with us."

Our Table had a 4x6 house on my right side right before an 8" shallow pond.  The were a few random walls in the middle and some rough terrain hills on each side.  I rolled highest and opted to go first.

Deployment
Trolls - With only four models it wasn't too much to deploy.  Earthbron wanted to take advantage of the house and water and lined up on Doomys right side to take advantage of the house.  Mulg was in the middle with the Mauler on his left and Doomy right behind Mulg.
Khador - Irusk and the Kodiac lined up directly across from my Eartborn, his pikemen in the middle with the bears right next to them and the Winter guard accross from the Mauler but farther out to flank.

Irusk was always confident going into battle, they had been following a rather Wiley Dire Troll that seemed to be able to move too well with the terrain.  It had to be an Earthborn.  As the neared a small cabin and a clearing he clearly felt the familiar twinge of someone weilding magic, though it felt more like one of the wild Warlocks instead of a warcaster.  One of the Winterguard ran up to him with a scouting report, "There are only four of them from what we can see sir, three huge Dire Trolls; the one we have followed, one that is smaller than the other two and the biggest one I have ever seen carrying a tree trunk in one hand with glowing runes carved into its back." Irusk frowned and asked, "the fourth Troll, is it a gnarled lookinng old Troll leaning on a staff?" The rifleman nodded  the affirmative and Irusk had a shortlived feeling of dread before he finally decided to commit. Even though it was the now somewhat infamous Trollblood Caster Hoarluk Doomshaper, Irusk was confident that his losses would be acceptable if it were to take down three of the huge beasts and the crazy old Troll Shaman.  Though, if he let him live he might keep disrupting Cygnar's supply and hospitol trains for him.  "Form up, attack from spiked hammer," Irusk snapped and his troops snapped to attention, "These beasts no longer walk the Iron Kingdoms, they fall to Khador's might."

Turn 1
Trolls - I run all three beasts.  Doomy hits Mulg with the EBDT animus, casts wild agression on Mulg and Refuge on the Earthborn.
Khador - Pikemen move up just oustide of my normal range, Irusk hits the Kodiak with Superiority and moves up.  Kodiak moves up to the pond just inside charge range of the EBDT.  The riflemen move up the flank and the bears stay just to the side and bheind the pikemen.

Turn 2 -
Trolls - I decide to wait on Doomy's feat and move all my guys up about 2".  Upkeep Wild Agression but let refuge go as the Kodiak could now traverse the pond as well as my EBDT.  Doomy hits the other two Dires with the EBDT animus.
Khador - Pikemen move up and mini feat for extra movement all of them getting close enough to take away my charge.  Winterguard follow up the flank with Joe, Bears sit back with the standard and wait to counter charge as does the Kodiak in the pond with Irusk behind them.

Mulg could feel the power of Krol seeping into him, he bellowed to his brothers the Dire Troll equivlant of "lets eat" and began stuffing pikemen into his mouth swalling them whole.

Battle hardened Irusk knew instantly he was in trouble when the Dire Troll with the stick began... eating his troops instead of outright killing them.  Taking heart that his Kodiak could deal with the threat his heart sank a little when the big Troll was already next to the Kodiak bashing it with such ferocity that huge pieces of armor and mechanisms were flying everywhere.  The sheer ferocity of the attack left him stunned.

Turn 3
Trolls - Doomy upkeeps Wild agression on Mulg, casts Rage on Mulg, then Primal shocks the two closest pikemen to clear potential free strikers out of the way.  Mulg tramples all the remaining pikement except the standard and officer, killing all but one who hits him for 9 damage.  Mulgs proceeds to beat down the Kodiak at dice +2 killing it with one attack to spare (doomy's bond attack) maxing his fury.  The Mauler charges into the winterguard taking a freestrike from the pikement Mulg failed to kill, snacking the front two , and goading into another.  Not to be outdone the Earthborn Cannonball tramples over the standard and officer after taking a freestrike from the one pikeman, killing them both and snacking to full.  Cannonball then buys an attack on one of the bears he is now in b2b with and snacks on him, then goads into the other two snacking on them as well, unlike the mauler and mulg, Cannonball is not full on fury.

In disbeief at the utter destruction of his force Irusk makes the hard decision and decides to go for Doomshaper.  A being with that much destructive power should never be allowed to walk the Iron Kingdoms unchecked.   Meeting Doomshapers eyes Irusk moves up and proceeds to shoot him.  The old Troll takes the first shot well, but the next shot seems to melt away...

Khador -  seeing his only opening he goes all out on Doomy Irusk feats then hurts him from range twice but Doomy transfers once to the EBDT.  I have one fury left and 5 health.  The remaining winterguard move around the mauler getting three killed, but only one of them are in range to shoot Doomy and he only does 4 damage so I don't need to transfer.  The last pikeman charges but all the damage gets put on Cannonball.

Turn 4
Trolls -  Wild agression upkept, Mulg proceeds to Eat Irusk.

Mulg was upset that he didn't get to eat the last human he got his hands on.  Krol smiled wickedly at Cannonball, "You take this to Angus, tell him sometimes you use a hammer."