We'd agreed to boost our forces to 1000 points, and Bodvoc mentioned trying out his newly painted goblin chariot. In response I painted my Old School Miniatures orc chariot. If he was trying out the chariot rules, it made sense if I did too.
As host it was up to me to come up with the scenario. I struggled a bit, but since I'd recently painted up some trolls, but couldn't quite squeeze them into my army, I decided to make them an objective instead.
Note: both Bodvoc and myself are quite rusty with the rules, we may have made mistakes, but we're getting more confident.
Also, we're using home made order dice, partly because, having no gunpowder weapons, 'FIRE' is a meaningless term.
I'm not giving a full turn by turn report, but here's some highlights.
Opening Moves
The two sides advance, wary of each other, but more interested in the potential trolls.
The goblins are first to search troll holes, but the first two are empty.
Bagrat the orc shaman, still nursing bruises from their last encounter, creates a magical portal in front of the goblin dervishes, sending them right back, much to their frustration.
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| The two sides advance towards each other |
The orc spears prod a troll out of it's hole, but the vile brute comes out fighting and drives them away and off the battlefield.
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| The goblin force as they march in |
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| The orcs as they advance |
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| Troll hunting is a risky buisness |
The goblins find an occupied troll hole. It's not friendly.
The goblins think they've got the beast, but it's wounds knit back together and it runs off.
Middle Phase
The goblin dervishes slog towards the action, only for Bagrat to send them back again (absolutely the best way to deal with them, although I have an even more cunning plan for next time, mwah ha ha haaa).
The orc archers move up to the wall, ready to shoot, while the orc swords advance. The guard approach a troll hole, hoping to get there before the goblins, but it's empty.
The goblins in the woods abandon their empty hole and the gobbledogs eye up the guard. A tasty snack?
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| That's the way to do it! |
Hagar Sheol and his ladz uncover and slay a troll. The chariot sights the troll that dealt with the spears and rides it down.
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| The chariot claims a troll |
The dervishes advance and the goblin chariot rides towards the troll that slew so may goblin halberdiers. Alas, it rides through a strange magic portal and finds itself back at the baseline.
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| The battlefield mid action |
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| The bulk of the goblin infantry |
End Game
The goblin chariot shamelessly copies the orcs and ride down the troll that caused so much damage to the halberdiers.
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| Goblin chariot vs troll |
Hagar Sheol and his ladz drag their troll trophy away out of the woods. On the right flank the goblin spears charge round the wall and into the orc guards, peppering them with javelins as they go. The stoic orcs hold, and despite minor losses they wipe out the goblins.
The orcs then charge the gobbledogs and send them packing too.
The goblin wizard targets the orc swords, causing them to lose heart (aura of timidity), the goblin bows then loose a volley and wipe them out.
Gurk now targets the archers who also lose heart.
Bagrat then shot his fiery balls at Gurk, incinerating the gobbledog guards. Gurk himself only survived through sheer luck (Tough reroll saved him, but the extra pin).
Despite their magical timidity (order test at -6, rolled a 1), the orc archers shot back but Gurk had had enough and scarpered.
The orc chariot driver cracked his whip and charged the goblin chariot, the two vehicles lock together, but neither gain the upper hand.
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| Chariot on chariot action |
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| Brave halberdiers watch on |
Conclusion
Well, a great fun game. I'm not sure if my rather complicated special rules helped or hindered, but I enjoyed hunting down those trolls. In hindsight, it was theoretically easier for the orcs to kill a troll than for the goblins. That said, I did lose my unit of spears to a troll.
As for the chariots, they were great fun to use, and looked great. I'm not sure that our chariot duel was that good an idea, they seemed a bit too equally matched, struggling and failing to cause any damage to each other. I'm sure we're missing something here.
It did take us a little while to recall the rules, play speeded up during the day.
If you're interested, I gave out VPs as 10% of a unit's PV and +35VPs per troll. Bodvoc won by a few points, a minor victory, but has we fought on I suspect that the orcs would soon have broken.
In the end, the winners were both of us.
Final Thoughts
We are certainly enjoying Warlords of Erehwon. It's not perfect, (I don't think there is a perfect set of rules), but they give me the old school feel that I'm looking for. I'm sure they are here to stay, and we'll be playing more games in the near future.
I do have one complaint though, the counterintuitive nomenclature. I'm sure they are good reasons for this, but it adds a layer of confusion for new players (and, perhaps, makes it harder to introduce them).
I'm looking forward to Bodvoc's next scenario, will we benefit from the troll trophies?
A very entertaining account of our battle. I look forward to your next cunning plan, meanwhile the goblins are busy making troll jam!
ReplyDeleteThanks, it was lot of fun.
DeleteThe Severed Hand are also rendering down that troll fat.