Trying Fantastic Battles

At last I've got in another gaming day with Bodvoc. Various hitches have prevented us from meeting since we tried Galactic Heroes, but we finally got to try Fantastic Battles today.

I've been building up a Mordor force, in fact I painted it up for Orctober, but I have nowhere near enough for a decent force, so Bodvoc kindly lent me some of his orcs and trolls. 

As the host he devised the following scenario. Very seasonal. 

THE MYRIN TREE

Once every thousand years, during the winter festive season a mysterious large tree, known as the Myrin Tree appears somewhere in the Elvish border lands. No-one is ever sure where the Myrin Tree will appear but it only ever appears for a single day. It is due to appear this winter so large elf patrols are scouring the Border Lands to seek the tree and collect the bright red fruit it bears. This fruit is highly valued for it's healing properties.

Having heard that the Myrin Tree may have appeared, a force of Orcs is also searching the Border Lands for it. Legend tells that if the Myrin Tree ever falls a foul evil will be released upon the land. By chance, an elf force finds the tree just as the orcs also locate it.

 

Place a large wintry conifer tree in the centre of the table and the two forces will deploy either side of the Myrin Tree, 5BW away from it (per the usual deployment rules).

If the orcs wish to attack and destroy the Myrin Tree they must attack it using the following stats: Res: 8, Def: 5+. Once it's Resolution has been reduced to 0 it will fall causing damage in the same way as a falling Giant (page 12).

The elves must try to prevent this from happening and also collect the red fruit. The orcs may also try to collect the red fruit once they have 'captured' or felled the tree.

 

If the Myrin Tree is felled a great evil will blight the land...(a possible second scenario). 

I'll not give a blow by blow account, but here are some pictures and some highlights. 

Both sides deployed prior to mishaps

The Forces of Mordor

The Elven Host

And after Mishaps.  The Elf Scouts and the Mordor Trolls, among others, have already advanced, while some of the Orc units are late

Mishaps are a pregame roll for each unit to see if they are late, (moved back a random distance), enthusiastic (moved forward a random distance) or suffering some unspecified disease (already start with lost Resolve).  All these happened to us, and there are other results possible too.  Not every unit will be affected, and since most of my army is Unreliable, they were more prone to it than the elves.

Elven scouts clash with a host of Wargs in the woods...

...and the elves come off worse (units don't retreat, they are removed, we just thought it looked good for the photo)

By the second turn the Trolls have smashed into the tree and felled it.  It squashed the elven spears.

Orc warriors clash with elven archers accompanied by the elven general.  Although neither side can yet destroy the other, a lucky sword cut fells the elven general, causing dismay in the elven ranks.

The Trolls clash with the Elven cavalry.  the elves come off worse, but still hold the line.  The Trolls later find themselves magically transported out of melee

Orc warriors and Wargs gang up on the Ent.

Both sides reached half strength at the same time, ending the battle.  Since the tree had been felled, a Mordor victory.  What will be the result of that?

You can read Bodvoc's account of the battle here.

That was my first ever game of Fantastic Battles, and I really enjoyed it.  There were points where we misinterpreted the rules, but eventually we got it right (I think).  There are a couple of aspects in particular that give the game its character.  Pre battle each side rolls for Mishaps, as mentioned above, these can have quite an effect on the course of the battle.  Both the Ent and the Trolls were moved forward, as were some of my archers and riders.  This took the Ent out of command from the general, but allowed my Trolls to reach the tree by turn 2.  I can see this being unpopular with some players, I'm not completely sold on the idea, but I think of it as representing for one off games the effects of past battles in a campaign.

There is also a chance that units not under command will act randomly, rolling on the Impetuous Actions table.  Again, being unreliable, most of my units were more prone to this.  The archers at the back of my lines turned up late, were out of command as a result, and kept retreating, disappearing off table by turn 3.  The Ent also suffered, being out of command he was forced to remain stationary. 
This is a game where being aware of the chain of command is important.

I'll also mention the army building process.  There are seven troop types, ranging from Irregular to Dragon or Vehicle.  To these basic profiles you add up to 3 traits, plus one optional extra army trait to represent the race (for my orcs I chose Unreliable, reducing their points cost but making them more prone to Mishaps and random movement if out of command).  It is possible to build up quite different troops using these traits, and they are all accurately costed too.  As examples, my orc warriors were based on the Irregular profile with the traits Unreliable, and Furious charge (meaning they hit hard when they charge), for Warg riders I added the Mounted trait.  The Mordor Trolls were based on the Elite profile with Monstrous, Furious charge and Heavy weapons.

My aim with this game is solely to play Middle Earth battles, I may be tempted to build other fantasy armies, probably in other scales (I already have plans to repurpose loads of 6mm fantasy, and I may do a small 15mm army), but I'm keeping 10mm for Lord of the Rings.  Some of the traits will be irrelevant, as will some of the spells, though some imagination can sometimes repurpose existing stuff, my Wargs were accompanied by a Chieftain, I used the Rogue character with the Blade of Unsurpassable Power to represent it's sharp teeth.  If you want to know how well this worked, ask the elf scouts, if you can find any.

I think Fantastic Battles will work very well for Middle Earth.  There are a few things I'd like to see that seem to be missing, notably something to represent the terror effect of the Nazgul (I gave them the Curse spell, but it didn't seem quite right).  Now to paint more orcs.