Dark Elves and Dwarves - Playtest Project

Ziggy and I ran a playtest game of some unreleased fantasy mass-combat rules this afternoon. Yes, I finally got to put my 6mm lovelies on the tabletop for a good ol' fashioned brawl. For this battle, it was the Dwarves and Dark Elves. Ziggy used the Dwarves.

 Our deployments. it turns out, we had a very good number of troops for the table size!

My center - crossbows, Lizard heavy cavalry and warriors.

The thin, short, line.

The Dwarven cannon "Forgebelcher" erupts like a volcano and sends elf riders and their horses asunder!

The riders on my left flank are equally devastated by "Scythe."

Before long, my heavy cavalry smashes into the Dwarf line!

But things aren't very auspicious for the riders on my right or the cavalry in the center.

Towards the left, my riders have flanked the dwarf warriors in an effort to relieve the heavy cav, but the Dwarf Berserkers charge into them in reply. I still have Warriors ready to back up my cavlary.

On the right, my swordsmen and heavy cavalry have made contact and both have units supporting them behind. My far right flank is very busy with two units of their own, but they're hanging in there!

As the melee continues in the center, the multi-barrel monstrosity prepares to unload on the swordsmen in reserve.

And in the blink of an eye, the elves are gone baby gone!

The situation... my lizard cavalry on the left finally finished off the warriors they'd been fighting and continued the battle into the gunners beyond. I sent the healthy unit of swordsmen into the berserkers on that same side of the farm. The crossbowmen in the potato field take aim at the gatling cannon while further to the right, berserkers and gunners fight it out with their elven opponents.

It didn't take long for the dark elves to seize the advantage and roll through the Dwarf second line. The heavy cavalry smashed into the hated six-barrel and the elf swordsmen proved to be too much for the crazed berserkers. My elves had earned another page in the Book of Grudges.

Well that was awesome! It's been a long time since Z and I pushed around ranks of troops like this. I'm very much looking forward to adding in heroes and especially wizards into future battles.

We found a few things, particularly with unit construction, that need tweaking. They aren't issues with the rules, but rather they're things that become very apparent after having played once. Suffice it to say, the troop stats will be getting tweaked. Either way, it was a damn fine way to kill a couple of hours.

Off to Brunswick this afternoon for Star Fleet Battles - woo hoo! Be well and Good Gaming.