Skaven and Bretonnians Fight Bloody Battle

The Skaven and Bretonnians met on the field of battle, and left few survivors to carry the story back to either camp.

The Bretonnians brought several units of knights, flanked by two small units of peasants, and a Prophetess with two Damsels.  They lined up across from two large units of Clanrats, and a unit each of Stormvermin, Plague Monks, Night Runners, and Jezzails.

The Skaven launched the assault while the knights prayed to the Lady of the Lake.  This consisted of the Night Runners moving ahead and the Jezzails firing a few shots, picking off a pair of knights.  Magic was largely ineffective.  The Bretonnians moved forward, readying for an assault.  Their magic also was pretty much a moot point, save for a Comet of Cassandora that was aimed between the Plague Monks and Stormvermin.

The Skaven, now having range, opened up with their Ratling Guns, wiping out an entire regiment of Grail Knights.  A couple more Knights were picked off by the Jezzails as the Skaven maneuvered to receive the Knights' charge.  The Knights didn't disappoint, and charged into a unit of Clanrat and Stormvermin.  The Stormvermin were already knocked down in number by the comet landing close to them, so they weren't in the best fighting shape.  The Knights' lance drove into them and the Clanrats, decimating both units and sending them retreating.  One unit of Knights stopped after a short pursuit.  The other stopped short when it found itself confronting a Ratling Gun.

The Skaven opened fire on the Knights with the remaining Ratling Guns.  However, this didn't go as planned, as one of them blew itself to pieces.  The other ripped apart the Knight unit that wasn't in combat, along with the Jezzails and a Pestilent Breath spell from the Grey Seer.  The Clanrat Spearmen wheeled around to face the Knights in their midst.  The Night Runners did some harm to the Men-at-arms with their slings, but not enough.  The Gutter Runners, having emerged from the ground and chased off the Prophetess, made their way toward the Peasant Bowmen.  The Knights fighting the Ratling Gun crew was a foregone conclusion, as they overran the hapless crew and kept galloping on past the Skaven army, finding themselves having to double back to head back into battle.

The Peasants decided to show their bravery and charged after the Night Runners and Gutter Runners, both of whom opened up with their missile weapons.  The Peasant Bowmen were easily defeated in combat and fled from the battle.  The other Peasants were beaten in combat, but held their ground.  The Knights tried to reform, but were unable to do much in that regard.  They came back into battle to face the Skaven guns again.

The Plague Monks and Clanrats charged the Knights, hoping for support from the Ratling Gun, but it blew itself apart.  The Jezzails could find no target, and had trouble firing their weapons when they did, with three of them jamming.  The Clanrat Spearmen easily defeated the unit of Knights they were in combat with, and victoriously overran them, finding themselves having to wheel around and get back into the battle, chasing one of the other units of victorious Knights.  The Plague Monks, however, had no such success, being unable to pierce the armor of the Knights, and were crushed under the Knights' hooves.  These Knights were then caught in a crossfire, and destroyed by a combination of Skaven guns and magic.

The Peasants fighting the Night Runners finally fled and were overrun, leaving the Night Runners to move for the Bretonnian spell-casters.  The last unit of Knights charged for the Gutter Runners, who chose to flee the charge.  The Knights were pursued in their chase by a unit of Spearmen.  The battle's closing minutes saw the Bretonnian Prophetess finally drop the Grey Seer, who had been feeding himself too much dangerous warpstone throughout the battle, then turned and ordered her Knights to stop their pursuit and head back for Bretonnia, before they were caught in a fight between the Gutter Runners and Clanrat Slaves, a fight they could not hope to win.

The Bretonnian force was beaten, but the Skaven had also taken heavy casualties.  Though they had the upper hand at the end, the battle was seen by both sides as a draw.

Players:

• Skaven: Tom Setzer
• Bretonnians: Dennis B.