我が家に長年眠っていた、マイティ・フォートレスが発掘され、Ｄａｖｉｄさんのダンジョンにデビューしました。
Ｄａｖｉｄさん新規購入の攻城塔や攻撃側防御側の各モデルが揃って、夢に見た攻城戦のプレイが実現しました。
早速我がエンパイア軍仮名「レイクランド・ガーディアンズ」が篭城します。
徒歩のキャプテンが率いるのは城正面左右にマークスマン含むハンドガンナー１０人が２部隊、城左右の塔＆城壁にそれぞれアーチャー１０人が２部隊、そして守りの要のヘルブラスターヴォレーガンが城の中央の塔に陣取ります、今回は守備側のモデルは使用しませんでした。 

A quick 40 minutes in the morning spent drybrushing Makoto's Mighty Fortress model, and we have a new castle to attack! Our newly-arrived siege equipment (siege tower and ladders etc) were put to good use in two very tense games today - Empire vs Orcs, and Goblins vs Ogres.

２ラウンド目にいきなりヘルブラスターがミスファイア！
２ラウンドの間使用不可になってしまいます。
しかし残りの射撃部隊が奮戦！中央の攻城塔を押しているゴブリン部隊を敗走させます。
一方右翼の塔にジャイアントが突撃してきます。
３ラウンド目には左翼の塔をスパイダーライダーに落とされますが、４ラウンド目に復活したヘルブラスターが火を噴き、４体を倒し敗走させます。
しかしオークのストーンスロワーでクルーを二人倒され次ラウンドは発射できなくなってしまいます。
右翼の城壁ではアーチャーがジャイアントに打ち負かされ敗走しますが、次のラウンドになんとか敗走から復活、残存部隊は右翼の塔に篭ります。
中央のハンドガンナー部隊は左側ラム装備のオークと、中央の攻城塔を捨て梯子に切り替えたゴブリン部隊とオーク弓兵、と右側梯子装備のオークビガンズ部隊の数を着実に減らします。
５ラウンド目左翼城壁防備のアーチャーが、スパイダーライダーに敗退敗走してしまいますが、６ラウンド目に復活したヘルブラスターが火を噴き敵を一掃します、もっともクルーが一人のため活躍はここまで、最終ラウンドは弾込めの為お休みです。
中央ではついに左側ラム装備のオーク部隊が城門の扉に突撃しますが数が少なく突破ならず、右側のゴブリン＆ビガンズ梯子部隊も城壁に取り付きますがなんとか押しとどめます。
最終ラウンドも城門は突破されず、梯子部隊も引き分けに持ち込みなんとか守りきれました。
勝因はダイスの目がこれまでになく走った事で、攻撃部隊の数を減らすことが出来た事です、守りには強いぞハンドガンナー！絶妙のバランスのシーソーゲームで、最後まではらはらどきどきの展開でした、またやろうね！ 

Game 1 : Empire (defending) vs. Orcs (attacking)

A very tense 7-turn game, pitting 1000 points of attackers against 500 points of defenders. The Empire's Helblaster cannon misfired on the first turn, and spared several units painful death - if only for a while. Goblin Spider Riders quickly scaled the corner tower walls, overwhelming the Empire archers, only to flee shortly after. They gained one more chance later on, when they rallied and again threatened to break into the courtyard - only to be blasted apart by the repaired Helblaster cannon, firing from the middle tower against its own corner tower. Ouch!

 Meanwhile, the Orc giant on the far left has successfully assaulted the other archer unit, but seemed content to pick them up one by one and stuff them into his lunchbox for later. Being too large, he couldn't get into the castle anyway!

 The central orc attack turned into a complete farce, as animosity and panic tests took their toll. The siege tower was abandoned as too slow, and the ladder units only reached the walls on turns 5. Twice the Orc Big'un elites fled from the attack and were outdone by lowly nightgoblins, one of whom survived 5 attacks against him over three turns, and even killed a defender (remember that attackers need 6s to hit!).

 After 7 turns of fierce fighting the gates still stood undamaged, and the two units of handgunners  cheered as the greenskins slunk away into the night. They'd be back to pick up their siege tower some other time...

Game 2 : Goblins (defending) vs. Ogres (attacking)

Another tense game that hung in the balance until the very last turn. A horde of goblins had obviously sneaked into the castle on the Empire's lunchbreak, and were now defending against a horde of hungry ogres! Cunning spider riders tried a preemptive strike by climbing down from the battlements and sneaking off towards the ogre flanks. This proved to be a mistake, as a harpoon promptly skewered 3 from their saddles. The unit fled in panic, leaving the castle's flank unguarded!

 It went from bad to worse in the second turn when the goblin stonethrower blew itself up, leaving the castle's side even more indefensible. The Yhetees swiftly scrabbled up the empty walls only to find their way blocked by a dribbling troll, who had been lurking in the gateway out of site. 

 Ogre units quickly thumped into the castle gates with a huge battering ram, and despite cracking the gate timbers they were repelled by a well-placed cauldron of boiling oil and stones dropped by the defending goblins. A second unit ran forward to pick up the ram and slammed into the gates again, leaving it hanging precariously. This second unit also panicked under the hail of hot oil and rocks, and ran back a few paces. The general stepped into lend some muscle and this time the gates were rammed aside, allowing the general and two bulls to squeeze through.

Amongst all this excitement we were now given a moment to laugh ourselves silly, as the Ogre Scraplauncher blew itself up. For five turns this inept gnoblar crew had misfired three times and even hit itself once! A fitting end for a useless bunch of gnoblars!

In the final turn of the game, the general charged into the courtyard but not quite far enough to make it off the table edge and win the game. The Yhetees up on the ramparts were still slogging it out with the lone troll, but didn't quite manage to kill him. So they too didn't quite make it off the board. We called it a draw, as the goblins would have been dead'uns after that!

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So, two great games, each taking about 150 minutes to play. We found that despite early expectations, the game was very well balanced for both armies, and both games pretty much came down to the seventh turn. Can't wait to try more!