Vanguard Trial

I finally got to try Vanguard today against good friend, longtime opponent and blog contributor Merlin.  He had already set out the table, so after a good long chat and 'show and tell' session we got down to playing the game. Merlin, of course, used his beloved elves, and I used the orcs I started here.

A lovely lot of terrain, just right for a skirmish game.

Some of the elves along with their Forest Shambler buddy.

Some of the orcs, including the troll from the goblin band I painted ages ago.

The Gore Rider has just trampled the Elf princling under his hooves, the Shambler soon exacted revenge.

The rest of the orc 'big guns' get drawn piecemeal into the Forest Shambler grinder.

By the end only my troll was left, Knocked down and with an angry Forest Shambler and a spear elf looking down.  Fortunately for him the game ended, but the elves had possession of two of the supply dumps, so had a clear victory.  I let myself get distracted by the elves, and chased them rather than victory points; if I'd surrendered the objective guarded by the shambler, the prince and the wizard I might have done much better, but I suppose orcs will be orcs.  Merlin was also very lucky with his exploding 8s, usually getting at least one each time he rolled, or that's what it seemed like from the orc side of the table.*

I liked a lot of the game.  There were some points we were unsure of, and as it was our first game it took ages to play.  We got a few things wrong as well, but I suspect their effect evened out over the course of the game.

I'll definitely play more Vanguard.  I have plenty of orcs for it now, but there are a couple of troop types I don't have, one of which is important for an alternate warband build I have come up with.  I'll do some better pictures of the orcs soon, and show what else I have for them.  I've also got some dwarves almost finished, so I have the useful opposing force, and of course the goblins I did a while ago, though they are short of their troll now.  "Please mister Krudger, can we have our troll back?".

Meanwhile, play Vanguard!  The rules are free on the Mantic website here.

*They say history is written by the victor, in this case its written by the blog owner.