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Lessons from Estalia

El Battille Grande (The Great Battle)

Just as Cortez and Pirazzo seem to be closing in on their goal of Eldorado and a gold-laden Lustrian empire to plunder, orders from King Ferdinand call them back to the Old World on urgent business, military business. It seems that Estalia has been called on to present its best warriors for the inspection of the nobles of the Empire and to participate in the Imperial wargames on the Altdorf plains. This is a great honour and the first time that Estalians have been invited to attend. In view of his 'claim' to be the next rightful successor to the Imperial throne, Ferdinand wants his best soldiers on view to impress the other elector counts. Every Estalian soldier who can muster a weapon and a proper uniform has been called up. They are to face an equally large collection of state troopers from across the Empire in mock combat. Who will be top of the Imperial league at the end of the day?

What could be better to celebrate 25 years of Warhammer this month than a battle between 2 fully-painted Empire armies of 180 men a side? This battle is slightly different than other league games as Emrys and I have agreed to leave out magic and monsters and to cram in all the painted Empire soldiers we can. Besides looking great, it gives a certain historical theme to the game. Perhaps you other players could think of themes based around army selection for your own games, putting in or leaving out certain things can add a lot of flavour to an army. Our only challenge now is to see if we can finish such a big game in an evening ...

A report to his Imperial Highness' War Department of the "Great Battle" fought on Altdorf Plains over 6 hours of yesterday between Los Conquistadors and The Empire All-comers by Freidreich Buch

A magnificent sight to behold it was, your Highness. 18,000 men on our side, all in full uniform with standards billowing to the fore. Imperial state troops and knights filled the whole of one side of the plain: swords, spears, Handguns, lances, bows, cannons, even some Halflings were assembled and ready for battle. Then the Estalian contingent took their marks opposite. Another army of 18,000 fully equipped men. Imagine our surprise! We had no idea that little Estalia could muster so many troops. Massive blocks of pikes and fierce Estalian swordsmen. Large columns of Estalian knights with batteries of cannon, crossbows,handguns and the dreaded new Hellstorm rocket battery. Truly King Ferdinand must be stripping Lustria bare of gold to afford such an army, and using expensive new Empire technology too!

Time does not permit me to relate the whole of such a massive battle, indeed I feared darkness would fall before proceedings were finished, but both generals were determined men and finished the battle was, so here are the highlights for your Imperial amusement.

The roar of guns and cannons and the shriek of Hellstorm rockets in the first 2 hours of battle was almost unbearable, whole swathes of men were cut down by volleys of fire. I think the Imperial side had the best of it at this point. Most Estalian cannons and rockets missed or did little damage. I am told the poor gun crews are so used to misfiring weapons in the damp Lustrian climate, they dive out of the way every time a fuse is lit. The highlight from our shooting was a cannon ball that overshot its intended target, bounced on top of a hill and took out 4 Knights Panther who thought they were safe by sheltering behind it!

At this point Imperial fortunes declined as several decisive Estalian charges hit home, disrupting the firing lines fatally. Estalian knights smashed through 2 units of hand gunners and into a block of spears. The Spearmen were not protected by a detachment on this occasion and were driven from the field, their colours captured. I fear that a lack of ready detachments did not help our blocks of infantry in this battle.

Worse was to follow as the massive block of Estalian swords weathered our gunnery and smashed into our Averland bowmen. The routed bowmen fled straight back through the Imperial general's unit of Inner Circle knights who unfortunately panicked and fled the field. Disaster on the right flank!

The left flank looked more promising as a small unit of knights and some hand gunners were bearing down on the long thin line of Estalian crossbows, expecting to break it assunder in the next charge. To our amazement the crossbows reformed into a big block and went after the knights supported by their own fearsome detachment of screaming Amazons! It is reported that this is common practice in the close-fought jungle wars in Lustria, which are often decided by cold steel rather than hot lead. Perhaps our own hand gun units could do with some of this Estalian grit when their firing line is threatened! Despite having only swords and no armour, the large numbers of Estalians overwhelmed first the knights and then the hand gunners. A collapse on the left flank looked likely except for your Highness' Halfling catering core led by Lumpin Croop, 'bravely' holding the corner by not drawing attention to themselves (and shooting down an Estalian knight to boot!).

The open centre of the Imperial line had gun crews and a large unit of swords who had actually scored our biggest success in destroying the depleted remnants of the Knights Panther. Unfortunately the Estalian hand gunners and rocket battery had clear sight of the area. The swords were panicked by a shrieking rocket storm and fled, the gun positions were swept clear by hand gun fire.

When the smoke cleared, little of the Imperial all-comers was left. However, your Highness will be pleased to know that Lumpin Croop and his cooks were completely unscathed and have all reported for lunch duty.

Friedriech Buch

Los Conquistadors: 2286 points vs. Imperial all-comers: 817 points

Result: Massacre (olé!)

Many thanks to Emrys for being a good sport and trying out a themed game which looked totally brill.

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