Another battle with Merlin, and once more, my ogres faced his goblins. This time we went for 1500 points as we are gradually increasing the size of our armies and both wanted to try some new stuff.
Merlin was hosting, and devised the following scenario;
Gold Rush
A Kings of War scenario set in
Brynglan, based on 'Fools Gold' on p62.
Recent
storms and torrential rains have caused severe landslides deep in the Gernuk
Mountains. The heavy fall of rocks and earth have torn open a rich seam of gold
that has now spilled out across the plains leading down to the river Eck.
King
Kra'ag has eagerly ordered his goblin forces to collect as much of the gold as
they can. Whilst the goblins toil to collect the gold they are alarmed to hear
that a large host of Ogres is heading their way intent on claiming the gold for
themselves. Re-acting quickly King Kra'ag assembles his forces ready to meet
the rapidly advancing Ogres challenge.
The
table should be set up with a couple of low foot hills and/or woods with two
areas of muddy, marsh land, one in each half of the table. The marshes
represent the boggy conditions caused by the landslide and count as difficult
terrain.
Each
side selects a force of 1,500 points and has 5 gold counters. Two of the
counters are marked with a 0, two are
marked 1 and the final counter is marked with a 2.
Each
player throws a dice, the higher score chooses his table edge and deploys his
first gold counter in the opponents half, following the rules for placing 'Loot
Counters' on p59. Players then alternate placing counters on their opponents
side of the table until all of them have been placed. Note that for this
scenario players may not look at the counters value before deploying them, they
should be placed totally randomly.
Only 1
counter may be placed in each of the marshy areas.
Each
player now throws a dice with the higher score deploying one of his units in
his deployment area. Players then alternate placing units until all units are
on the table.
Players
then dice again, the higher score chooses whether to take the first move or let
his opponent move first.
Game
length is 6 turns then throw a dice, score 1-3 = game ends, 4-6 = play one last
turn.
Victory
goes to the player who can collect the most gold: this is counted by adding up
the total on the gold counters collected.
The '0' counters represent 'Fools Gold'!
My ogre army was;
1 Warlord (Brak-na-Hak again)
2 Warlocks both with Drain Life and one with the Conjurer's Staff
2 regiments of Red Goblin spitters
2 troops of Red Goblin scouts
1 horde of Berserker Braves with Brew of Haste
1 legion of Ogre Warriors
1 regiment of Ogre Shooters
I was trying out a legion, and had a second Warlock.
The goblin army consisted of;
1 Goblin King in chariot with the Blade of the Beast Slayer (King Krag)
1 Wiz with Boomstick
1 Flagger on Fleabag
1 horde of Trolls
2 regiments of Fleabag Sniffs
1 regiment of Fleabag Riders with Mawpup
1 horde of Goblin Rabble with Mawpup
1 regiment of Goblin Spitters
1 Giant
1 Sharpstick Thrower
Here are a few photographs of the action;
Both armies face off and look at all that lovely gold.
Goblin advance, already inflicting damage on the ogres.
Contact as the Fleabag Sniffs charge the Berserker Braves
Ogre missile fire makes short work of the Goblin King, the legion wipes out the Goblin Rabble and the Berserker Braves run through the sniffs. Red Gobins charge their mounted cousins in a foolhardy move. Never-the-less, the manage to waver the Riders, and hold out far longer than anyone imagined (in fact they got a bit in the way)
Goblin shooting followed by the Trolls gain revenge for their King on the Warlord and also hold up the legion for two turns, basically turning them into sitting ducks. The Berserker Braves do what they do best, cruising through the giant, then the Wiz and the Sharpstick Thrower before taking out the Spitters and turning to face the Trolls.. The Red Goblins have finally fallen to the Riders, but the Red Goblin Scouts take payback, then they also turn to face the trolls.
As the battle nears its end very few troops remain and the ogres finally try to snatch some gold.
At the close the only remaining goblins, the Fleabag Sniffs, hold 2 gold, the ogres have only two lots of fools gold. Curses, the little greenskins tricked us!
This was a great fun battle with some very interesting points. We both tried to snatch gold at the beginning of the battle, but, given the reduced speed of units carrying it, we both ended dropping gold or ignoring it for the extra movement, e.g. my Fleabags on my left flank ignored two lots of gold in order to be able to charge the trolls.
Merlin kept a better eye on this and made a point of holding on to some, and this paid off at the end.
It was a risk sinking so many points into the legion. They performed admirably in melee, but were too tempting a target for the various gobin missiles and became bogged down and were shot to bits.
I'm least happy with my Warlord, as I haven't yet worked out how to use him effectively. His Inspiring helped at least one unit, and he got in a charge against the giant, though I suspect the Berserker Braves would have dealt with the giant on their own. I might look at other hero possibilities next time.
Merlin's Mawpups were fun, though he lost the use of the one the Rabble held as they got wiped out in one turn. The Spitters wavering the Fleabag Riders meant we thought that Mawpup wouldn't see action either, but it eventually did, chomping my Red Goblins.
Merlin's shooting was excellent, the Sharpstick Thrower hit with one bolt every turn and the Wiz with Boomstick combination is nasty (hmm, ponders a Warlock with Boomstick behind a couple of units of ogres....). I forget how good regiments of Fleabag Sniffs are, they shoot well with Steady Aim and aren't slouches in melee either, for missile troops. I'll have to see about getting some myself.
!
