Jungle Altar-cation - Mythic Americas AAR

I've been pushing the local group to play more Mythic Americas, which had languished in the Covid void since last year. Josh took me up on my battle challenge and so macuahuitls and tomahawks clashed in a skirmish set in the jungles of Mesoamerica. 

I set up a pretty standard table, with some contributions from Sam - like the massive ziggurat - who was watching alongside Bill as Josh and I played. 

The Balance of the Way (primary scenario) was "Build Altars to the Gods." To score victory points, warbands would need to spend a turn either building an altar in the opponent's half of the table, or knock down an altar that the enemy had built on their own side.  

My Everliving Aztecs had ten Order dice, and the warband consisted of:

• Tlalocan High Priest
• 2 units of Tlalocan-Bound Dead x10
• Tlalocan-Bound Marauders x3
• Jaguar Warriors x7
• 2 units of Eagle Warriors x5
• Spider Sisters x3
• Ayar (Bound Monstrosity) 

Josh's Everchanging Tribal Nations also had ten Order dice, and had:

• Sachem on War Eagle
• Medicine Man
• 2 units of Mohawk Warriors x5
• 4 units of Seneca Archers x5
• Wolves x5
• War Eagles x3

Deployment was pretty simple - 6" from a table edge. The ziggurat divided the table and turned the game into two smaller conflicts: my living warriors and Ayar facing off against most of Josh's infantry on one side, and my undead against Josh's mythical units on the other. 

The game started with my Ayar getting absolutely hammered by Josh's ranged units. While it did end up chewing through a few Nations units, it was a harsh reminder that the Erehwon rules aren't vey friendly to Monstrosities!

While my undead horde rolled forward, my living warriors had to take a more cautious approach as they were under fire from Josh's archers. I also didn't know where the War Eagles and mounted Sachem was heading, since they could easily move 30" in a single turn. 

Josh decided to have the Eagles split off into two groups. The Sachem led his mount deep into my lines, hoping to quickly drop off an Altar somewhere I couldn't easily reach. The other group went straight into the morbid mess of the Ayar. Unfortunately, while their claws did some damage and stripped the monster of some of its cadaverous armor, the Eagles were wiped out in the process. 

Over the next couple turns, the battlefield was quickly emptying as units wiped each other out. The Ayar's "Stuck-In" special rule caught two Nations units, and the monstrosity killed the Medicine Man and a unit of archers before dying in turn. This let Josh reveal and score a victory point for his Devotion (secondary objective), Trophy Hunters. The coin in the picture showed where the Ayar fell, and Josh's units would need to stay near the trophy to score another point at the end of the game.

I then rushed up the useless Spider Sisters (since the Ayar was gone and the Sisters were only in my warband to increase the monstrosity's armor through spells) to the light cover on Josh's side of the table, as I had chosen it for my own Devotion, Consecrated Ground. Josh wasn't going to let such an easy target go, and massacred the Spider Sisters with a well-timed volley of tomahawks from his Mohawk Warriors.

In response, I charge the Mohawks with my unit of Jaguar Warriors, and after a fierce melee, only a couple of the Aztec knights were left standing. This let them score the Devotion on the next turn, scoring me a point.

Just out of sight, Josh had a unit of Seneca archers build an altar to score a point for the turn.

 

With the final turn of the game, Josh managed to sneak by and knock down one of my altars as my undead chased around the surviving Mohawk Warrior. 

I also used my Eagle Warriors to knock down an Altar, scoring another point. 

Unfortunately, a disastrously timed failed Order test kept Josh's Sachem from flying in and preventing him from scoring the bonus point for his Devotion, which left the Aztecs with 4 points against the Tribal Nations' 2. The gods of the Triple Alliance were pleased with the sacrifices!

Another fun game of Mythic Americas. There's still plenty we need to explore, like the scenarios, and Josh and I need to become more familiar with our chosen factions' strengths and weaknesses. 

However, it's great to get the game on the table. I think the Devotions of the Way and the Blessings of the Way (the single-use cards each players get) adds a great set of twists to the original Erehwon rules. 

It looks like Josh will be picking up the Inca when they come out, and I'll be waiting for the Maya to be released. 

Cry Orcs a River - Warlords of Erehwon AAR

Sam, Brandon, and I joined John for a hosted lunch (fantastic burgers, thanks John!) and other great food (like Christine's Creme de Menthe dessert).

Our hunger satisficed, we were then joined by Dick, a newcomer to the club and wargaming who wanted to check out the hobby.

We fought the Second Battle of the Erewhemos, with the forces of Chaos once again descending upon the lands of Order. Brandon and I combined his Barbarians and my Orcs to face off against Sam's Olympians and John's Elves (with Dick commanding John's allied Dryads). 

It was the same scenario as last time - six turns to do as much damage as possible. This time we had had increased the amount of points from 1,200 to 1,500! This let each army field more and powerful units (as Brandon and I would soon lament!). 

Much like last time, the main battle centered on the left side of the battlefield, around the mountain. You can see three of the four Monsters gathered together - Brandon's Mammoth and riders, my Orc Champion on a Wyvern, and Sam's Dragon. 

I decided to send my cavalry through the woods to head off John's elves. Charybdis still lurked in the river waters, so most of the crossings were done over the fordable sections. 

Both sides were moving towards each other on the more open side of the table, with Wizards trading spells. 

You can see John's Monster, a Giant Eagle. I forgot that you don't need Line of Sight to charge in Erehwon, so didn't send my Boar Riders after it. John didn't forget, however, and sent it after my artillery, which was behind the skirmish screen of goblin archers. While the Giant Eagle easily beat one of the artillery units, the goblin archers turned it into a pincushion with their bows. 

While Sam was positioning his Dragon around the mountain, I had brought my Wyvern and its rider over to confront the Olympian Monstrosity. With the Wyvern and Mammoth, Brandon and I hoped the combined might would be able to handle the 500-point behemoth. 

That hope was quickly shattered when the Dragon blew flames at the Wyvern. With one shot, the flames did enough pins on the Monstrosity damage table that my Wyvern was instantly removed from the table, leaving just the Orc Champion. Since I had forgotten to bring a model, John was kind enough to provide a goblin riding a squig to stand in. 

With the Wyvern gone, the left flank was open for the Dragon to pick and choose its opponents. And once again, the Barbarian Chariot was quickly pinned off the table by Sam's shooting elements. 

After a disastrous charge of my Goblin Wolf Riders into Dick's Dryads, I rerouted the Boar Riders over to the other side of the table, going after the open ground and the Olympians. The Elves followed the river. 

Unfortunately, Brandon's Mammoth took enough hits from Sam's units to break and rout off the table. With our Monstrosities gone, Sam's Dragon seemed to be relatively untouchable by this point. 

While we had only reached turn 4, we had run out of time and decided to call the game there. The Forces of Order had a definite lead in captured Order Dice. 

Much like the previous game on this layout, the forest blocked much of the fighting and the river restricted where units could cross. However, Sam's Dragon had the movement, ranged attacks, and toughness to handle most units on our side and made the difference. Maybe if Brandon and I had the chance to mass our archers against the dragon we could put more pins on it and reduce its effectiveness, but we ended the game before that could play out. 

So we'll learn from our mistakes and see what will come of it. 

Skirmish in the Sylvan Forest - Warlords of Erehwon AAR

Warlords of Erehwon is a great set of skirmish rules for generic fantasy gaming. It's amazing that Rick Priestly turned a system intended for long-range, sci-fi action into a bloody fantasy melee. 

John hosted a game intended to help those unfamiliar with the rules, and to perhaps get one more game in before the year's end. Brandon and I led the forces of evil with a dread alliance of Orcs, Goblins, and Barbarians. John and Sam combined to command the forces of good, with Olympians (fantasy Greeks) and Nymphs (fairy Elves) defending a series of river crossings. 

The horde of evil rumbled on to the table, with the Greenskins on one flank and Barbarians on the other. 

Arrayed against them were the Olympians and Nymphs.

The horde, with its lower quality troops, had 20 dice while the defenders had 15.  

Also, a good look at John's hobby bunker! It's a dream of mine to have something half as nice as John's space. 

My Orc Warboss lead his Orc warriors and cavalry over the river and into the woods. Unfortunately, we misread the rules for rough terrain and thought any movement through it halved a unit's move speed. It turned out that the unit needs to take an agility test, which for the Orcs was a 50% chance. 

This could have given them a better chance at getting into the fight, but this wing of the forces of evil never really got into combat. 

All of the sections of river that weren't fordable could be crossed, but at the risk of being attacked by a lesser cousin of Charybdis.

Brandon lead the charge against the Olympians with his Barbarians, while my Wizard led my Goblins and artillery in support. 

John's Nymphs were also split. He moved his Hero, Guard and treekin to counter my Orcs, while the rest of his force raced to support Sam's Olympians. 

With only one area to cross the river, most of the combat between the Olympians, Barbarians and Goblins was ranged. Here the forces of evil had a definite advantage, although Sam had a flying unit of Harpies that could throw rocks off the cliff that the waterfall emerged from. 

Brandon's Berserkers and Chariot raced to get across the ford and into the thin line of Olympians, who had left the hoplites at home and had instead brought smaller units of skirmishing cavalry and peltasts. Out-manned, out-gunned, and out-magicked, Sam could only hold on as he watched the Nymph reinforcements race down the river's edge. 

The Berserkers tore apart the unit of Peltasts blocking the river but Sam's Warlord and some supporting fire forced the raving warriors back. Likewise, the Chariot was charged by the Olympian hero and, thanks to a number of pins that was already on it, was destroyed. 

It was the unit of Wolf Riders that first managed to make it out of the woods. Having sprinted to do so (they have a special rule that allows them to sprint four times their 6" move instead of the normal three times) they didn't get a chance to fire their bows at the Nymphs. This allowed the Nymph Guard to charge into the Wolf Riders. 

The combat , however, end in a draw - no casualties on either side! Both sides backed off, with the Goblins nervously looking for their supporting Orcs foot troops. 

With the Olympians close to breaking, the Nymphs finally reached the battle, sending a group of Goblin archers fleeing off the table. However, the elder folk's light armor wasn't effective against the return fire of black-fletched arrows and fireballs!

Unfortunately we had to call the game there as we ran out of time. The group felt that we had gotten a better handle of the rules, and rescheduled for another game in January. There's also talk of a campaign, with the greenskins as the antagonists. 

All Along the Watchtower - Warlords of Erehwon AAR

This past weekend, Josh and I got a game of Warlord of Erehwon in at Les' place. Les has been looking for a possible Age of Sigmar replacement, and Warlords was one of the rules offered up. 

The scenario was The Watchtower, which is a Fantasy classic - one side controls the watchtower and has to defend it until the end of the game, while the other side wants to capture the watchtower.

Instead of my Orcs & Goblins, I decided to use the Samurai army list with my Wrath of Kings Shael Han, with an Allied Wyvern to represent the Fulung Devourer.

My samurai ended up defending, so I placed a unit of Oni in the tower, as no unit in my list had shooting attacks.

Not much had happened in the first two turns of the game. Both sides advanced towards the watchtower, while my Oni hunkered down against Josh's dwarven guns.

The Wyvern turned out to be the MVP of the match, with its 20", SV 4 Flame Breath attack that could get through the Dwarves' heavy army and place mutliple pins. Additionally, it was a MOD2 monster, so it could be activated twice a turn!

Unfortunately for the Oni defending the tower, a Dwarven hero reached the base, bashed through the barricaded door, and slaughtered the eastern ogres.

However, my Wizard had brought a new spell to the table - Peculiar Portal. When successfully cast on a unit, it's controlling player has to place it back at their table edge! And in a game where most units can only move 10" a turn (and these Dwarves couldn't sprint thanks to their Bloomin' Big Axes), this can easily put a critical unit out of reach and unusable. I was throwing out Portals left and right, especially on the Dwarf Guards and the Dwarf Hero.

My Onna-Bugeisha and Daimyo took up the left flank, as my remaining Oni waited to claim the tower again after the Wizard had portalled the Dwarf Hero away.

And while my Samurai had been routed, the Ashigaru took up the slack in their absence. Aided, of course, by the fire-breathing Wyvern.

For once, I was able to thin the Dwarven lines. Between the naginatas, halberds, and flames, Josh's stunties were dwindling in ranks.

The remaining Dwarves weren't enough to stop my Oni and Hero from taking the tower. Both watched on as my Onna-Bugeisha and Wyvern press the retreating Dwarves.

This was an interesting match, and fun as always. I have to admit, it was the Peculiar Portal and the Wyvern won the game for me. The army list itself was rather bland, as nothing really screamed "Samurai" to me. I think I'd rather play another army and just ally in a monster instead.

Command Challenges - Warlord of Erehwon AAR

Recently I met up with Josh, who I'd met when he posted his interest in playing Warlords of Erehwon online. Some of the SJGA members have also been building warbands for Erehwon (and I even got a chance to playtest a scenario with a couple of them), and my Orcs & Goblins for my Classichammer project work perfectly. 

Josh brought his dwarfs, and we both built warbands of 1,000 points (a little under what I'd call a standard sized game, which is 1,250 points.

We decided to play the "Upon the Fields of Battle" scenario, which is a pretty straightforward punch-up, with the goal either being to break the opposing warband (drop them below half their original order dice) or do the most damage after six turns.

The first couple turns were spent by both sides running up the table. There was some exchanges of missile weapons with a few pins and a couple losses, but nothing spectacular occurred.

In the third turn, I got a preview of how the game would do when my Orc Chieftain charged a unit of dwarf Warriors, bounced off, and promptly fled the table after accruing a ludicrous amount of pins thanks to my terrible rolling! My Goblins were much more effective in their long-ranged battle with a unit of Dwarf Rangers.

On the other side of the table, the Orc Chariot bounced off another unit of Dwarf Warriors, while my second mob of Orc Warriors hustled towards the Dwarf Guards, blithely unaware of the fate of their leader.

My Orcs continued to be fed into the meatgrinder, and the Dwarfs happily obliged. Another of my Warrior units was routed and were unable to rally and so ran off the table. My Goblins wore down the Rangers to just the leader left, but they were running out of time as the Dwarf Thane and his retinue approached.

I had to use my Bolt Thrower to rally the routing Chariot, but my Boar Riders routed a unit of Dwarf Warriors, who fled off the table. They were going to have to deal with the Dwarf Guards, who had handily deleted another of my Orc Warrior units.

My Goblins didn't last very long against the Dwarfs (no surprises there), and they were able to take out the remaining Dwarf Ranger before being slaughtered.

And, unfortunately, the Boar Riders weren't going to fair much better. A crossbow bolt un-boared one ride, but the greenskin cavalry passed their break test. They then failed to activate on their turn, which left them in the perfect position to be charged by the Dwarf Guards, who expertly applied their greathammers to Orc and Boar alike, destroying the unit.

By this point, my Warband was reduced to my Goblin Wizard, the Bolt Thrower, and the Chariot. They were out of range of any of the Dwarf units, and we had reached the end of turn six.

With a score of six order dice claimed compared to my single die, Josh and his Dwarfs had a solid victory to take back to their Holds.

While my Orcs and Goblins were pretty well massacred, I had a great time playing. Erehwon's a pretty simple ruleset to pick up with some intricacies that aren't apparent at first. Hopefully we can pitch it to some of the Age of Sigmar players in the area to give it a try, and I'm looking forward to playing more.

Wood Nymphs Don't Surf - Warlord of Erehwon AAR

I had my first chance to play Warlords of Erehwon last weekend. Erewhon (and I need to check my spelling every time I write that) is one of of Warlord Games' newest rulesets, taking their sci-fi Antares rules and molding them into a fantasy skirmish game. 

With limited data, I'd say they were fairly successful. 

We were playtesting a scenario for this month's SJGA meeting.

The scenario saw a force of invading Olympians entering the forest from the top left road. On the opposite side of the board was a giant mushroom - the Olympian's goal. They had to move across the table and cut down the mushroom.

Meanwhile, a smaller force of Wood Nymphs (dressed up Elves) awaited the Olympians. Each terrain feature was assigned a number and, as the Wood Nymph commander, I had to choose which units occupied those terrain pieces before the game began.

In the first turn, Sam would bring on his units at his choosing, and then I could react with my hidden ambushing units. From the second turn on, we'd used Warlord's patented "draw Order Dice from a bag" mechanics.

The Olympians came on by the main road. With the infantry clogging the way, the cavalry was forced into the light woods on either side, lowing them down. A unit of Wood Nymph Archers appeared and fired at the Olympian Centaurs, but scored no wounds.

More Olympians poured onto the table, with their commanders calling out for order. Meanwhile, a Wood Nymph Champion and a unit of Guardians appeared in the woods closest to the enemy, where they had been waiting for the Olympians to exhaust their turn's actions. The attack was rebuffed, however, with the sylvan Nymphs taking the worst of it. The Champion, not realizing how tough the Cyclops was, was quickly overwhelmed and pushed back.

The Olympians continued to struggle to move through the terrain, and the appearance of enemies on their flanks meant their slow march screeched to a halt. The Wood Nymphs in range felt the full brunt of the Olympians' frustration. Their Champions slew his Wood Nymph opposite, and the Guardians continued to be whittled down by ranged fire. The Wood Nymphs did manage to slay the last of the centaurs, but could only watch from the safety of the woods as their sisters were slaughtered.

In the third and last turn (the game progressed somewhat slowly since we were busy reviewing the rules as we played), much blood was shed upon the forest floor. Sam's unit of hoplites had swung up in a shieldwall to chase the Archers out of the woods. The Olympians were taken by surprise when what they had assumed where trees turned out be be Dryads, allied to the Wood Nymphs' defense of the woods.

The tree spirits launched an assault into the hoplites, and after a couple rounds of combats, broke the enemy unit. However, the Dryads were in turn wrecked by the Cyclops's hurled rock. The same monster then chucked another rock into the Wood Nymph Archers, who had just knocked most of the Olympian Harpies out of the sky. The celebrating forest spirits were crushed under the improvised artillery. Then a few more arrows from a unit of Amazon Archers caused more casualties. The Wood Nymphs were barely able to hold on, though their Haughty Disdain meant they ignored the result of their first failed Break Test.

We called the game there. Both sides had been bloodied, and it wasn't clear who the winner might have been if we continued. The Olympians definitely had more units on the board, but they still had to move all the way to the opposite edge of the table while being harassed by the Wood Nymphs. But the Wood Nymphs only had a couple units left that could threaten the Olympians.

Sam decided he would adjust his list to reflect something more focused towards raiding enemy territory (more light troops and cavalry, most likely). John agreed that a hard time limit (6-7 turns) would both put impetus on the attackers to get a move on and not get stuck in combat and give the defenders a chance to win if they managed to delay the attackers for long enough.

It's a shame I won't be able to make it to this month's meeting to see how the game goes, but I'm sure Sam and John will post about in on the forum.

As for Erehwon, I found it to be a decent attempt at adapting the Antares rules to a fantasy warband skirmish game. The game moves along quick enough once you get a feel for the rules. It doesn't do anything to really invoke a fantasy flavor, apart from the spells, but it's fun to play.