The undead defense of the beachhead.
For fending off the enemy, I chose 3 bolt throwers, crewed by 6 skeletons.
The invading army turned out to be Skaven....
Chieftan - World's Edge Armour, Tail Weapon, Poisoned Attacks, Shield
20 Clanrats w/ spears, shields and full command
20 Clanrats w/ spears, shields and full command
20 Stormvermin w/ full command
My initial deployment ( note the rock wall marks the 24 inch mark where the water ends. )
And so the Skaven arrive...
....and immediately, the stormvermin's ship springs a leak and dumps the unit into the water. The units of clanrats both manage to paddle closer to shore though.
Considering the poor skill of the dead at using missile weapons, it wasn't surprising that all three bolt throwers missed their marks.
(End of turn 1)
The second turn began with the clanrats continuing their approach to the beach, as well as the black-furred stormvermin swimming along. Three of the heavily armored rats drowned on the way though.
Distance was still a hindrance to the bolt throwers and all three again missed.
(End of turn 2)
The clanrats continued their approach, ending the turn within inches of the safety of the sand, while the stormvermin continued swimming, 2 regular members drowning, as well as the champion, who was unsuccessfully used as a floatation device by the standard bearer.
One bolt thrower finally slid an oversized arrow through the skaven general's unit, but managed to sail straight through without wounding any of the creatures.
(Sorry, not all pictures came out as usable. What I get for thinking my cell phone would be good enough.)
The fourth turn began with both clanrat units pulling up onto the shore. One regular member of the stormvermin drowned, as well as the musician, who was pushed under the waves by the paniking standard bearer.
The bolt throwers continued their poor showing, missing each shot fired.
(End of turn 4)
The clanrat units formed up on the beach and began sprinting toward the defenses. In the water though, one regular stormvermin drowned, as did the standard bearer who found himself with no other rats to try to stand on.
The bolt throwers redeemed themselves in this turn though, as two of the machines killed a total of 6 clanrats from the unit without the skaven chieftan, paniking the unit and sending them fleeing back toward the water.
In the 6th turn, the fleeing clanrats failed to rally and returned to the water's edge. The general's unit charged into the bolt thrower on the far left, slaughter them and overran off the table.
The bolt throwers fired their shots into the fleeing clanrats and took down two of the rat-men as they ran.
(End of turn 6)
The fleeing rats again failed to rally and charged headlong back into the water in their panic. The stormvermin finally crawled up onto land, losing two more of their number to the waves. The Cheiftan's unit returned and prepared to launch their attack into the next war machine
The bolt throwers took aim at the stormvermin as they attempted to shake off some of the water, spearing two of them and sending the rest howling back into the water.
(End of turn 7)
The stormvermin caught themselves, having already lost a fair number of their unit to the water, even as another one disappeared under the waves. The clanrats however had not experienced it yet and continued to swim out to sea, losing their musician and one more rat in the process. The chieftan's unit paused as he saw the beach and saw the rest of his group swimming back out into the water, forgetting for the moment his task to destroy the undead defenses.
The bolt throwers turned on the Chieftan's unit as he paused, sending one bolt in from the front and one from the side, spearing a total of 7 clanrats. The unit paniked, fleeing from the giant arrows and off the table.
Turn 9 began with the clanrats swimming in the wrong direction and still refusing to rally, losing one more to the water as they headed further out to sea. Meanwhile, three stormvermin tired and slipped under the waves, mere feet from the beach, a lone black-furred skaven pulling himself onto the sand.
The remaining bolt throwers took aim at the lone creature, but both fell short of the mark, their bolts standing out of the sand.
(End of turn 9)
The clanrats continued to flee out to sea, hoping to see the rest of their invasion fleet on the horizon, but none of them were pulled under the water. The lone stormvermin brandished his halbard and sped toward the closest war machine, seeing a chance to earn glory and raise his status. Both bolt throwers fired upon the creature, but missed again.
(We pretty much thought the game was over at this point, so I've got no more pictures from here on.
Guess that'll teach me.)
The clanrats finally realised their peril and rallied as another two skaven tired and drowned. The lone stormvermin charged the closest bolt thrower, smashing aside a single skeleton, but only tieing the combat due to the war machine being on a hill. The unembattled war machine fired on the newly rallied clanrats, but shot wide. The combat then continued as the stormvermin's halbard was deflected by a decrepit shield and then was impaled on the rusted point of a rotting spear.
The clanrats began the swim back to shore, one more of their group vanishing beneath the water and another one getting speared by a bolt as it gasped for air.
The standard bearer was the next to drown as they tried to find their way back. Bolts from the war machine splashing into the water around them.
Then the last three clanrats found their feet on sand again, and watched their champion struggle to catch up as bolts once again sailed through the air.
Reformed again, they marched towards the undead war machines, dodging the shots that came at them.
Finally, one rat slipped and was pinned to the sand, the rest turned and fled in panic once again, scattering in different directions.
Whew, was a fun game, didn't expect it to last 16 turns or that I would actually win though with my meager few models against three fully ranked units.