Five Leagues Turns 10 & 11 - 'Field work needs doing'

This turn's Village Event was 'Field Work Needs Doing' which turned out to be true in more sense than one! Our heroes used this event to cash in and gain 4 gold marks (2 for doing 'labour' as one of the town actions, +1 for the village event, +1 for Gregory's 'farming' skill).

Feeling pretty flush with cash, they went on a bit of a spending spree, replacing Finan's damaged Militia armour, giving Thomas a shield, and purchasing a road map, bandages and a potion of fortune.

They also discovered a camp of fanatics had set themselves up on the outskirts of Winterbourne, from which they were attempting to spread their vile twisted beliefs, with rumours that they were abducting villagers and travellers, confirmed by an escapee, who said that the fanatics were holding at least one other prisoner.

This encounter was under the 'Dark Shadows' threat, and would be a 'timely rescue'.  Facing them would be 8 fanatics, including an archer, and Captain, and a 'heavy hitter'.  Two fanatics would stay with the captive, while another was assigned as 'rearguard'.

 

The fanatic's camp.  The captive is in the central tent with a guard on either side

  

 

Robert, Gregory and Guy took position across the track, with Will and Jocelyn on their right, where they could (hopefully) pour arrows into the advancing fanatics.  Whilst Thomas, Finan and Oswald crept around the back of the farmstead to try and get into the camp and free the captive.  The sheep tried to keep out of the way... 

 

The villains rush forth

Things didn't get off to an auspicious start, with Will and Jocelyn fluffing their rolls badly (will rolled consecutive '1's, which would have left him out of arrows if he didn't have that extra large quiver from last time).  

Although the plan was for Robert, Gregory and Guy to hold back to draw out the fanatics and allow the archers to shoot, Robert just couldn't resist an opportunity for Glory, and charged the fanatic's Captain. 

The fanatics archer meanwhile proved no better, running out of ammunition almost immediately.

 Hold the line!

 

Nope!

Although unsuccessful against the Captain, Robert did fell another fanatic that charged him, while Will and Guy each wounded a fanatic, with arrow and sword respectively.  Will's next arrow felled another fanatic, while Robert got his groove back and killed the Captain.

 

The bodies start to rack up around Robert

Meanwhile, Thomas had snuck around, and attacked one of the prisoner's guards, killing him after a bit of back and forth swordplay.

 

However, as things were looking up for our heroes, fate decided she had other plans.  First Jocelyn ran out of arrows.  Then Robert confidently charged the fanatic archer, only be beaten down by him! (a fact that Will is unlikely to let him forget about, should he survive). The villainous archer then continued his rampage, taking out Guy as well before finally being stopped by Will of all people - who rather uncharacteristically put himself at risk for the now outnumbered Gregory, entering hand to hand combat for the first time in the entire campaign and winning!  Something about the former monk just seems to bring out the best in people...

Robert is down!

 

Gregory is surrounded and pushed back

 

 

Will to the rescue?!

 

Back at the fanatic's camp, Thomas' initial success turned on him, as he was put out of action by the rearguard, although he was swiftly avenged by Oswald, who took out not just the rearguard, but the final guard as well, allowing Finan to free the captive.  

By this point, only one fanatic remained, who was first wounded by one of Will's arrows, and then finished off by Finan coming up behind him from the camp.

 

In the aftermath, Robert turned out just to be knocked out.  Thomas' initial roll was dead (!), but a dose of healing herbs was used to get a re-roll, resulting in a light wound necessitating 2 campaign turns out of action.  Guy was similarly lightly wounded, requiring 1 turn.

Loot rolls revealed some silver jewellery (clearly stolen form some poor wretch), a helmet, and a tonic.

The Captive turned out to be a roving Wildlands Ranger, and joined the party as a new hero.

The Dark Secrets threat dropped by -1.

Turn 11

 

The next campaign turn passed without any combat.  However some of the village pallisade was found torn down one morning, a clear case of sabotage (the village event was 'corruption', raising the border threat by +1).

 

Thomas visited the town healer, reducing his healing time by one, so both he and Guy would be ready for action next campaign turn.  Our heroes met a wandering pilgrim, in town but they turned out to be an unfriendly jerk!

The silver jewellery was sold and a shield and longbow purchased for our new hero, who joined the party (minus Thomas and Guy) on the road.  They found no trouble, but did meet a nobleman who, hearing their tale, and being persuaded of their good character by the presence of a heroic knight and pious clergyman in the band, gifted them a fine fencing sword.

Five Leagues, Turn 9 - Looters!

Village actions saw our heroic adventurers forage some healing herbs and gain some gold marks through some successful gambling by Robert Fitzwilliam.  A Wandering Scholar (random village event) came through the village but no one learnt a new skill.

Following on from the border raids last turn, news reached the town of looters roaming the countryside, preying on those bodies left on battlefields, and empty homes and farmsteads.  Our heroes duly strapped on weapons and armour and headed out.

This turn's enemy would be a total of nine looters, including a Lieutenant, one who was 'Manic' (ignores morale results), and one 'Craven' (roles an extra morale die).  The engagement would take place when the party stumbled upon them while traveling along the road, and close to an Old River.  The party's objective would be to 'eliminate' the opposition (kill or knock out at least four).

The party caught up with the looters close to a ford across the river.  With their backs to the water, the enemy had no choice but to try and fight their way out of trouble.

 

 

The opening turn saw the adventurers roll up a bumper crop of activations.  Will drew his bow and immediately dropped one of the looters, while Jocelyn and Thomas raced ahead to block the way to the ford.  The rest of the band advanced into the wood, to meet the advancing looters.

 

My dice rolling is not normally this good!

The looters' leader led the craven towards Jocelyn and Thomas, hoping to clear the way across the ford, only to be felled by a bolt from Jocelyn's crossbow, while Thomas charged and killed the Craven.  Finan and Oswald were the first to reach the main body of looters.  An inconclusive fight followed, but two looters still fled the scene.

Will's bow took another, meeting the party's objective, while swords and hammers clashed in the main fight.  Robert and Guy each claimed a looter, but Finan was less lucky and fell to the ground when his enemy's sword found a gap in his armour (this was a stupid mistake on my part, I had forgotten that Finan's armour had been damaged in the last turn, and hadn't got it repaired or replaced in the town).

 

It was all too much for the last looter, who fled the field, never to return.

Oswald and Guy lifted a dazed Finan to his feet, as he cursed his torn armour.  Will looked at the body of the looter he had felled with an arrow, his face thoughtful.  Thomas laid a hand on his shoulder, "Never should be easy, taking a life".  "That's the thing though, I pulled that string without a second thought" said Will, "but he wasn't doing anything I haven't done myself".  "The wheel turns Will, never know which side you might find yourself on one day to the next.  But the choices you make when you're there?  They're your own.  We can only hope to make better ones on that day than these poor souls did".

Finan proved to only be knocked out (again!).  Looting the looters (!) the party found a large quiver (user can't run out of arrows in a battle) and a potion of Bear Draught (gives extra toughness and a bonus against armour).

XP was awarded, and Guy gained +1 agility and Jocelyn a new skill.

The success in this battle meant that the Outlaw threat in Winterbourne was finally reduced to 0, the first one!

Warhammer! (Part 2)

Time for some photos and a quick summary of the second Warhammer game against Matt from the other weekend.

For this one, we rolled up a different scenario, getting 'breakthrough'.  I rolled to be attacker - but somehow an all cavalry army trying to breakthrough a wall of spears seemed a bit too obvious, so we switched roles.  Matt would need to get a specific points value of troops into my deployment zone by the end of turn six.

I would need to defend with a mobile force.  My battle plan was simple, advance hard and try to pin his troops away from my deployment zone until time ran out.  I deployed either side of the central temple and kept my two units of Pistoliers in reserve.

 

 

Matt's infantry advanced on my left, obscuring the view of his bolt thrower, a problem that would persist throughout the game (well, it was a problem for him)!

 

 

 

Matt's impact hit rolls were a bit better this time.  A charge from a chariot and the dragon princes saw my Knights Panther break, and the Dragon Princes overrun into the Reiksgard. 

The Pistoliers tried to buy time for the Panthers to rally.  They didn't last long.

 

This feels familiar... 

 

 

I ended up getting charged more than doing the charging, which is not good for cavalry. 

A series of unfortunate break tests and poor rolls for fleeing finally put paid to my chances.  Combined with a very stubborn eagle that took ages to die!

 

By turn six, there was just one lonely pistolier marksman flying the flag for the Empire, but even he couldn't stem the tide and bought it at the last minute

 

"Where'd all the humans go?"

 

Looks pretty bad doesn't it?  Not a great advert for using cavalry to fight a defense.  Well, yes and no.  While the result may be indisputable, Matt was only able to get sufficient scoring units into my deployment zone in the very last turn.  If the dice gods had smiled in my direction a bit more, if a couple of units had held for another combat turn, who knows? 

 

Don't get me wrong, Matt won fair and square by marshalling his forces well and keeping his eye on the objective, but that's how the best games of Warhammer should play out - tight until the very end. 

Will I try an all cavalry army again?  Probably, it was fun and presented some interesting challenges.  It was unusual facing high elves and having less units to activate for example!  It's also got me thinking about other interesting list combinations, and the role of magic in my army (the battle wizard did nothing, again).

Oh, and here's Matt's bolt thrower crew walking off in disgust at not even getting a single shot off ;-)

Reiksgard - 90’s style!

 Finally finished the models I needed to complete a whole (albeit small) unit of Reiksgard using the early to mid 90’s sculpts.  I should have at least one of each now.

This marks my third time painting the standard bearer model.  I have two others playing the role of a foot and mounted Battle Standard.

Dwarf Champion

An old (late 1980s) Citadel dwarf champion, from a command set.  Grabbed him out of the lead pile for a quick lick of paint.

Warhammer!

Weekend before last I managed to get a hall pass to go out and do some honest, face to face gaming with my mate Matt.  What with Covid, travel, work, and Matt being a new dad, we worked out that we hadn't met up for a game in five years, so it was good to catch up and get the toys on the table.

We decided on Warhammer Fantasy Battle, mutually agreeing on 6th edition as the joint favourite and the one we are both most familiar with (I'd have gone with 3rd of course, but we only had a day to get a game in...).  Matt took his wonderfully painted High Elves.  I of course brought the Empire but, in a change from my normal 'balanced' list, decided to make the most of all that cavalry I have been painting over the last 12-18 months, and took an entirely mounted army, scarping together every mounted unit I had.  I had no idea how it would perform, but it looked pretty awesome, if I say so myself!

 

Briefly, here was my list:

• Grand Master 
• Captain with Battle Standard (full plate, barded warhorse)
  
• Warrior Priest (heavy armour, shield, barded warhorse) 
• Level 2 battle wizard (barded warhorse, law of beasts)
  
• 10 Inner Circle Knights
• 12 Knights
• 8 Knights Panther
• 6 Reiksgard Knights
• 6 White Wolves (Inner Circle)
• 5 White Wolves

I took no magic items at all, spending all my points on good honest human flesh and steel.

I don't have Matt's list but, from memory, it contained:

• Two Princes
• An Archmage
• 3 units of 15 spearmen
• 10 archers
  
• 3 chariots
• 1 unit of Dragon Knights
• 2 Great Eagles
• Bolt thrower

Matt's a great opponent.  He has played competitively (which I don't), but is never a rules lawyer, and he likes experimenting with interesting lists, but they're never as gamey as well hung poultry.

I didn't keep notes, so this will be edited highlights with pictures, rather than an AAR.  I should also give a shout out to the venue, 'Boards and Swords' in Derby.  I'd not come across them before, but it's Matt's 'local' these days.  Well worth a visit of you find yourself in Derby. 

GAME 1 - PITCHED BATTLE

 

First game was a Pitched Battle.  I rolled 'initiative', but took a risk and allowed Matt to go first.  Matt called it a 'brave' choice, given I had no shooting, but I was trusting to all those 2+ saves, and wanted to force him to commit those chariots, which were my biggest worry.  Id' say it paid off, I took a few casualties (mainly pistoliers on the left flank, which at least protected the White Wolves and battle wizard), but he did show his hand with the chariots and Eagles. 

 

I scored an early success when the pistoliers on my right flank destroyed a chariot with a fusillade of well placed pistol shots, which then allowed them to break through and threaten the bolt thrower (assisted the White Wolves chasing off one the eagles, just visible in the photo above, hiding behind the woods). 

 

On my left, the small unit of White Wolves did a pretty good job of holding up another chariot (Matt wasn't having much luck with his impact hits, and my save rolls were on fire).  He made good use of the spell 'Unseen Lurker' to add his 'hero killer'  Prince to the melee, who challenged my wizard to single combat.  I attempted to cast the Bear's Anger, badly.  At which point the wizard politely shoved the First Knight in to do the job for him instead.  Of course this was all going one way in the end - the wizard was eventually kaput without successfully casting anything, and in the end the one remaining knight (the standard bearer) fled.  I like to think he was 'returning the standard' (or as much as he could cling on to, at least) to the chapter house...  But they had done their job and slowed up the action on the flank for a fair few turns.

 

"I've just remembered an appointment to get my beard trimmed!"

The big action was all in the middle, where my bigger units of knights clashed with chariots and spear-elves.  The smaller units of knights panther and Reiksgard advanced right out there, forcing Matt to either charge with his Elves or be charged in the next turn.  He went with the aggressive option, hoping to break the Reiksgard and Panthers with impact hits from the chariots, but it was not to be, which allowed the 'purple' knights (which contained my heroes) to charge in the next turn. 

 

A series of increasingly complex melees ensued, with charges, counter charges, flank attacks, fleeing, pursuing into new units and so on.  

 

Spear Elves and a chariot try to break the Panthers

A five-unit combat! Note my Grand Master (front left in the 'purple' knights), 

conveniently located where he can't do a damned thing ('doh!')

 

 

The inner circle knights fail to catch a chariot while pursuing, 

but pile into more spears instead

 

 

Although eventually wiped out, the Reiksgard bravely held the left centre from flank charge

(spot the feet of the Archmage at the top, hiding in the woods) 

  

Eventually, thanks to a combination of heavy armour to soak up the blows from being charged, and frequently outnumbering the smaller Elven units, the pressure from the knights told, and the Elf centre crumbled and (mostly) fled.

An attempt to relieve the pressure through a charge from the Dragon knights was blocked by a largely unscathed unit of knights (just behind then in the above photo is the Grand Master and Inner Circle knights reforming after a pursuit, which would prove relevant at the end...).

While on the right, the bolt thrower had disposed of my last pistoliers, but now found itself the wounded antelope in a David Attenborough documentary, caught between panthers and wolves (alright, I know you wouldn't find those two predators together, but cut me some slack, I'm trying my best!).

 

It was looking good for the Empire, but Matt had one last sneaky trick up his sleeve.  His Archmage, who had been hiding in the woods, had enough dice for two spells.  'Steed of Shadows' put him in striking range of my General's unit, and 'Creeping Death' then inflicted enough hits (with no chance to use those lovely 2+ saves) to cause a panic test.  Which I failed of course, resulting in them fleeing off the board with my general and standard bearer!  Veteran players may now be going 'hang on a moment?'... Yes, I know, I'll get to that.

I had done enough damage that was still a win for me, but a minor rather than solid victory.  At which point I remembered that the Grand Master and the unit he is with are Immune to Psychology and don't take panic tests !!! (told you I'd get to that).  Ah well, it was my job to remember that, and a win is still a win.  Just a reminder though that I'm a bit rusty (it has been five years you know!).

All in all a thoroughly fun game.  I think both of us were surprised at just how resilient the knights were in long combats due to those armour saves; although I don't know how they would manage against larger units that had the benefit of greater rank and outnumbering bonuses.  The pistoliers were brilliant or awful as usual (but such fun), and the Knights Panther defied the rule of newly painted models by surviving to the end.  

 

My magic phase was pants throughout the game.  My wizard was useless, not getting a single spell off.  My Warrior Priest managed to cast the prayer 'Hammer of Sigmar' (re-roll failed rolls to wound) just once, but I promptly forgot to apply it! if I used this list again I think I would swap him for another warrior priest (for the dispel die) or a captain.  I can't say I really missed taking magic items either.

We played a follow up game but, as this is quite a long post already, I'll save that for another day!