Da Hogwashsa vs. The Salzenmund (a Naval Battle!)

Kap'n Mogrum da Butcha looked up at the Hogwasha's crow's nest and called out to the messenger Grot stationed there.

"Ahoy aloft! Send to Gloomwyrm: close the gap; I want a word with Kap’n Rukbadruk."

"Aye Kap'n" called the Goblin then he started frantically flapping signal flags at the ship a mile and a half across the blue waters. From the top of the Gloomwyrm's main mast signal flags flapped an answer.

As the ships adjusted their courses and drew together Mogrum clapped on to the Hogwasha's futtock shrouds and hauled himself up onto the gunwales. The ships pitched and rolled in the rough coastal waters and the Orc pirate captain swung on the rigging with practiced ease. He cupped one hand to his mouth and bawled across the waters to the Gloomwyrm.

"Da Adm'rul is goin' ashore tonight and he's gimme command o' da Hogwasha for the duration: he's told me to keep enemy shippin' outta his way so I'd be obliged to ya if ye'd stay out here and sound a gun if ye sees any sails headed in!" said Mogrum at the top of his voice.

Over on the Gloomwyrm Rukbadruk swore under his breath at the injustice of Mogrum always getting the choice assignments while he was left on watch. He had been with the Ironfangs for more years than he could count (which doesn't say much) before Mogrum joined them. The older Orc was given seniority over him on the ground of his being a pirate for years and this grated with Rukbadruk deeply. He swallowed the comment he wanted to make, called back "Aye-aye!" and left it at that. He just kicked a cabin-grot and ordered sail taken in.

The Hogwasha ran up Mogrum's colours and hoisted more canvas. Soon it was flying in towards the shore with the rigging swarming with Orc Pirates, all wanting to be the one who spotted an enemy sail first – the extra share of the prize motivating them through pride and greed!

The Hogwasha at sea, coast of Lashiek. Wind north-east veering north 9 knots. Good visibility.

"Sail Ho!" screeched the look-out Grot in a mild state of panic – he'd been dosing and awoke with a start to see a ship hull-up on the horizon, much closer than the full distance they could have been seen a sail at on such a clear day.

"On deck there Sail Ho on the port beam!" he called again. "Come out of a fog bank hull up!" he lied.

Mogrum raced up the ladder from the cabin, grabbing his telescope on the way. As he reached the quarter deck he could plainly see the she though and only needed the spyglass to identify it as the Salzenmund out of Nordland.

"Curse that lubberly Grot! Beat to Quarters Mr Grognog! Run out the guns!" he bellowed. Orc pirates ran to their stations, grabbing pistols and choppas as they went. In a few short minutes the Hogwasha was ready for battle.



The Orcs fired first but the Empire's men returned fire immediately. Both ships kept up a furious rate of fire for the opening minutes of the engagement - the Hogwasha's lighter guns pummelled the Salzenmund repeatedly, if a little ineffectively, many of the cannon balls just bounced of the sturdy hull; the Empire ship's heavier shot mostly fell long. The combined result was that they both soon took heavy damage.







Through the smoke Mogrum could see that two good hits amid-ships and the Empire crew started look desperate and were about to flee - the Hogwasha was unable to close the distance to board as the Salzenmund kept the small spit of land between them and the pirates (and the Nordlanders put a few Handgun-armed Marines ashore on the way, who kept up a high rate of fire to irritate the Orcs!). When one of the Pirate's guns misfire and killed its crew the Hogwasha's firepower was reduced and it became less certain that they would be the victors. Mogrum stomped about the quarter deck shouting orders, oblivious to the handgun bullets that zipped past his head. Finally when a second gun jammed Mogrum had had enough and decided to ware around to windward and met the Salzenmund head-on on the north east side of the rock.






In a heroic effort the last pirate gun fired until the barrel was glowing red hot and the Salzenmund was crippled and started to sink by the stern. In an effort to save their own skins the Empire Captain rammed the Hogwasha and both ships foundered. A few Nordland Marines tried to board the Hogwasha but they were repelled and the Orcs boarded the sinking Salzenmund.





But in a couple of minutes both ships were in going down and the crews abandoned them and scrambled for the island. In a brutal exhibition of the power of gunpowder the Orcs were laid low at the last. Mogrum took a handgun ball to the chest and went down in a soggy heap. How ignoble!

~ ~ ~

Coughing and spluttering and spitting out sea-water a small group of Orcs dragged themselves out of the water and onto the shore. Kap'n Mogrum walked up to the closest and clipped him round the ear.

"What took ya so zoggin' long?" he roared.

The Orc carpenter held his sore ear and look forlornly at his captain, noticing a huge dent in his steel chest-plate with a lead ball embedded in the centre.

"Sorry Boss" was all he could manage, but the one-eyed, bearded pirate was already gone tramping down the white sands shouting orders for ropes to be tied round palm trees, pulleys and anchors to be recovered from the shallows and for volunteers to swim out to the hulk of Hogwasha, just visible off the shore….

Awesome!

Haha! Once again, I really enjoyed your battle report a lot. You narrate it in such a humourous and vivid way, it's a real pleasure to read. Plus, the minis are (as usual) very beautiful and the pics amazing. I really liked the special effects you added to the pics (the smoke and the hole in the main sail).

Too bad you were defeated though. But then again, orcs can't really lose, can they? Because if they do, they just come back with more boyz for "anutha go"

Great job WBK!

Thanks Tom!

It really was a very close game - We were both on 5 hull points, then both on 1 hull point, then Jeridian's ship started to sink but not long before mine did too, and mine went down faster (we both got the "sinks in D3 turns" result - Jeridian rolled 3, I rolled 1... )

When the crews were struggling to the island many of both sides drowned, then it was down to shooting (him) vs no shooting (me). I got blasted.

It was great fun though!

Very nice report!

I'm getting more and more interested in these ship battles(and of course in building a ship ).

Btw. do you know by chance if the Empire player is a member of Warhammer Empire?
I think I saw his minis on their forum.

Yes, Simon is just called "Si" there. He's also known as "Master Jeridian" and "Jeridian" on other forums.

Simon's report:

Chapter Four- Nordland Rules the Waves

The hordes of Chaos had been driven off but at terrible cost. Night had fallen during the tortuous battle and the heat of the day rapidly dwindled.
“Reform,” rang out from various Sergeants as the surviving Nordlanders picked through the detritus of the battlefield, praying for the dead, carrying the wounded and dispatching the enemy. A deathly silence gathered outside the garrison as Jeridian dismounted his horse to move amongst the men.

Cannon shot rang out from seaward and many of the men cowered anticipating the inevitable hit from the endless pirate bombardment. It never came.

“The fleet, the fleet,” a distant call from the soldiers still manning the garrison walls.
Mutterings of confusion grew amongst the men outside.
“Sergeants, reform your men, gather the wounded,” Jeridian barked, already breaking into a jog towards the garrison’s battered wooden gates. More distant cannon shot, Jeridian straining under the weight of his plate armour as he broke into the courtyard and marched up the stairway to the battlements.

“My Lord, their here!” a soldier blurted, excitedly. Jeridian turned to the sea, still perplexed at the cryptic references. There amongst the anchored pirate ships sailed the war galleys of the Nordland naval fleet in broadsides, battering the sitting targets as their pirate crews hurried to get under sail. Jeridian grinned, the gesture masked by dirt and dried blood.

“Prepare the stores for transport, ready the men to embark on ship,” Jeridian ordered, “spread the word!”
A sigh escaped from nearby soldiers, the weight of being trapped in this cursed garrison lifted from them.

Jeridian strolled down the stairway towards his quarters to gather his maps and belongings. He was already looking ahead to hunting down the flagship of the scurvy pirate that had bombarded his men for the passed days. The only place Nordlanders fought better than on land, was by sea.

Week 4, Game 5- Pirates of Araby

Been a while since I’ve played a Naval battle and we both had to have a refresh of the rules.

I took the Salzenmund, medium ship, with the following crew:
Captain Jeridian- Sword, shield, pistol, full plate armour. 66pts
Handgunners- 10x 1xMarksman- Hochland Long Rifle. 105pts
Free Company (Ship’s crew)- 10x 50pts.
Swordsmen (Nordland Marines)- 13x78pts
Great Cannon- 1x. 3xCrew. 200pts

500pts

Saul took the Hogwasha, medium ship with the following crew:
3x Stone Throwers. 9xGrot crew.
Big Boss- Stuff.
A lot of Orc Boyz- roughly 15-20.

500pts

I had 3 Rock Lobbers (with 9 Grots and three Orc crew), 22 Orc Boyz with extra Choppas, 2 Orc Bosses with extra Choppas, and an Orc Big Boss (but no bling, just an extra Choppa). WbK

The board was a 5’ x 4’ stretch of sea with a small island at the centre. Initially a deadly game of chase was started, both ships being either side of the island and moving anti-clockwise around it whilst trading cannon shot.

This lasted for several turns, with the Stone Throwers doing damage to the Salzenmund and the Great Cannon replying in kind.
With much of my Handgunners unable to get good line of sight I made the bold move of pushing them overboard to swim onto the island. There they set up small firebase to pepper the Orc ship as it sailed passed.

The sniper in the crow’s nest used his Hochland Long Rifle to great effect picking off the standard bearer and anyone foolish enough to pick the flag from his corpse.

Saul soon realised that I could afford to keep sailing around trading shots, especially with Handgunners on a patch of land without risk of sinking. He made the bold move to turn about, the wind behind him so he managed to begin sailing clockwise, a collision course with the Salzenmund.

At was at this point the remaining Stone Throwers cracked a hole in the Salzenmund’s hull and it began taking on water. It would sink in 3 turns.
I could no longer afford to stay at distance. With a battlecry, Jeridian ordered the Salzenmung to ram the Hogwasha, tearing a hole in its hull- through good fortune the Hogwasha would sink in 1 turn.

The Nordland Marines stormed aboard but where predictably repelled by Orc’s who then boarded the Salzenmund. A vicious close combat ensued.

Both sides took casualties, but held. The Great Cannon crew bravely staying with their sinking cannon to fire shots rather than save themselves.

Finally the Hogwasha sank, and most of the Orc crew ended up flailing in the drink whilst being picked off by the Handgunner firebase.
The Empire good fortune was short-lived as the Salzenmund a few turns later sank beneath the waves, and now everyone was flailing in the water.
Trying to fight hand to hand whilst swimming is not the easiest task and numerous warriors from both sides drowned.

Jeridian, wearing full plate armour dropped like a lead weight on touching the water, an embarrassing end.

The few survivors from each side scrambled for the island, but the Handgunner firebase ensured I had the upper hand, taking out Orcs as they crawled onto the beach.

In the end only a few Empire Handgunners defiantly stood amongst the dead on the island, wondering how exactly they would be rescued.
Jeridian of course, washed up on shore moments later, to fight another day. As did, no doubt, a number of ‘important’ Orc combatants.

A great game, I always like naval battles, and not just because Nordland has a proud tradition of sea-faring and can kick ass when their enemies must swim to them.

A Draw for the Araby Reclamation Pact against the Brethren of the Sea.

Nice reports, to both of you!

So, now what? Your ship is sunk, your captain's dead...? Is it really the end of Da Hogwasha's adventures?
Reading your reports, it seems this battle was completely devastating for both your warbands... I wonder how you will be able to rebuild your ships and/or hire more troops.

nice report

but which rules do you use for your navel battles ?

Tortiou wrote:

Nice reports, to both of you!

So, now what? Your ship is sunk, your captain's dead...? Is it really the end of Da Hogwasha's adventures?
Reading your reports, it seems this battle was completely devastating for both your warbands... I wonder how you will be able to rebuild your ships and/or hire more troops.

We always find a convenient way to save characters in the fluff. Kap'n Mogrum just has a big dent in his armour and Captain Jeridian washed up on shore a while later. The ships were just careened and repaired, they both be ship-shape and Bristol-fashion by the time they meet again!

matt wrote:

nice report

but which rules do you use for your navel battles ?

The ones in the The General's Compendium. They aren't perfect but they are great fun!

There is also another set of naval rules called Warhammer Ahoy! (http://www.spiritofthegame.org.uk/warhammerahoy/) not as good but faster and suited to really big multi-player games.