Back for Moor - Field of Battle 3 AAR

Hey, look at this! An in-person game, here on the blog. 

Ted was kind enough to invite me over for a game he was hosting. We used Field of Battle 3, which Will and Steve (the other two players) were completely unfamiliar with. I had perused the pdf and printed out the period-rules and QRS, while Ted had at least played a couple solo games. 

From my overview of the rules, I was intrigued by the use of a dice chain instead of modifiers when rolling dice. The game uses a d4 through a d12, and circumstances shift you up or down that ladder. 

Ted set the table up using the Battle for Lessie's Moor scenario from For King & Parliament (which I've posted about previously on this blog).

Last time I commanded Parliament's infantry center, while this time I was commanded half of the infantry and the cavalry on the left flank. Steve was the other Roundhead commander, while Will and Ted fought for the King. 

Interestingly, in Field of Battle, you can randomly determine basically all of the unit stats before the start of the game - the overall force's command and morale, as well as each unit's offensive and defensive capabilities. For this fight, the Royalists had the better command, but the Parliamentarians had the better morale. 

My command started behind a series of hedges, which slowed my advance. Will's cavalry, on the other hand, had most of an open field to cross. Plus they had the better commander and won the initiative for most of the game. 

Will's cavalry were Gallopers (Swedish style that charged into melee), compared to the Trotters (Dutch style that fired pistols on the trot before charging) that Ted, Steve, and I had. This gave him a higher chance to get his cavalry into combat as Gallopers could initiate melee combat during the move phase. 

Meanwhile, the cavalry clash between Ted and Steve resulted in most of the Royalist chased off the battlefield. 

While my infantry were mixing things up in the center and handling themselves well enough, things weren't going well for my cavalry. I didn't have the cards to get my cavalry in position, while Will had both forced back my advance and was positioned perfectly to leap through the hedges and flank my dragoons. 

Ted's remaining cavalry retreated back to the cover of a couple units of shot that Steve decided to stay away from. Meanwhile the infantry traded fire in the center. 

Another aspect of Field of Battle is that units can rally and regain Unit Integrity points. This does not recover the lost Army Morale points (which are removed whenever Unit Integrity is lost), so the table stayed fairly crowded with infantry as commanders rallied their regiments and sent them back into the fray.

That was less of a case, however, with cavalry. As it turned out, I have as much luck with ECW cavalry in Field of Battle 3 as I did in For King & Parliament. Will cleared the field of my units, and set his sights on a certain Roundhead nuisance in the center of their lines.

While the scenario didn't give the Royalists any artillery, the Parliamentarian forces had lugged a few cannons into place and was sending round after round into the enemy lines. After routing my cavalry, the guns were Will's next target. And I only had a single regiment of battered infantry to try and deter them. It wasn't going to end well. 

And then... the game ended. While Ted had (if I remember correctly) both initiated and won the only infantry melee, the Royalists in the center were fairly outnumbered. Steve was snatching Army Morale points (represented by dice hidden in a mug) left and right from the Cavaliers, and eventually the King's men ran out. 

In fact, in Field of Battle, once you've run out of Army Morale points, any further losses are added to the enemy's total!

Without any remaining Army Morale points, the next time the Army Morale card came up, the Royalists had to test their overall command (a d10) against a d12. Unfortunately, this failed, and the Royalists quit the field. 

We finished this game in about 3-3.5 hours - not bad for a decently sized game and a bunch of new players.

While I do miss the simplicity of FK&P's grid-based movement, I enjoyed the dice chain mechanic. And the activation cards added a decent amount of randomness to the battle, allowing the commanders to bet whether or not they'd get the right card during their round of draws, or keep in mind that certain cards had been used up when formulating plans. 

Since Field of Battle 3 covers a wide range of conflicts (from the English Civil War right up to the eve of World War I), I imagine we'll be seeing it again on the table. And I'm looking forward to it!

Painting Update - Mythic Americas

This year's painting progress continues!

I finally had more units arrive for my Mythic Americas Aztecs. These Jaguar Warriors are the elite infantry for the faction, but are still lightly armored. I'm guessing they're best used as a second wave, once the enemy has ground themselves down on the various undead units or have taken pins from the Eagle Warriors. 

I've been using Steven Thomas' guide for painting Aztecs for the shields. It's a great reference page for inspiration. 

Spider Sisters are a disturbingly posed unit (perhaps based on the Spider Goddess of Teotihuacan?) that are support casters - they're weak in combat and can only be magic level 1. So they're best used to buff a single unit that will probably keep the enemy's attention, like the monstrous Ayar. I'll have to pick up one soon!

Painting Update - MESBG, Mythic Americas

Great news, everyone; I'm vaccinated! 

But that means I've got to wait another 2-3 weeks before I feel comfortable enough to reach out to other vaccinated gamers to start playing again. 

In the meantime, you might (not) be surprised to learn that I've been painting. Although less than I'd like since the weather isn't cooperating and I don't have a decent indoor spot to prime. 

I finished another set of Mordor Orcs to bulk out my Black Gate Legendary Legion, including a Captain and a Banner Bearer. Each of the basic sword- and spear-armed Orcs have a duplicate model, but I couldn't fit them in the lightbox. 

I also finished two units of Aztec Slingers for Mythic Americas. 

I've found that having ranged units in Warlords of Erehwon (and by assumed extension, Mythic Americas) to be really important. Pins are how heavily armored units can be countered, and even a single pin forces your opponent to roll a die to see if the pinned unit activates, which can disrupt their plans.

While the Tribal Nations already have their ranged units, Seneca Archers, since the game's launch late last year. In contrast, the Aztecs haven't had their unit, the Eagle Warriors, even shown yet. So I picked these Eureka Miniatures Aztec Slingers up to use in games instead. Since the Eagle Warriors can be upgraded with light armor, these will be the cheaper, unarmored versions.

I was worried about how the Eureka figures would scale, but I think they compare well to other Mythic America Aztecs. They'll certainly fit in from arm's length at the gaming table. 

Painting Update - Mythic Americas, MESBG

New year, new minis!

Just before the last year closed out I picked up the collector's edition starter set for Mythic Americas, a new wargame based on the Warlords of Erehwon ruleset and set in a mythological pre-colonial Americas. The starter set comes with small warbands for two of the four initial factions, the Tribal Nations (essentially the Haudenosaunee/Iroquois) and Aztecs. 

I found the Aztecs the more interesting of the two factions, since they're a horde faction that uses undead infantry and monsters, supported by comparatively expensive units of lightly armored, elite living troops. The Tribal Nation focus more on hit-and-run tactics using small groups of lightly armored warriors. 

The warband is lead by a Tlalocan High Priest and his bodyguards, a magic-user who can enhance the various undead units that make up Aztec warbands. He's not as strong as other factions' Warlords, but who needs that when you've got a horde of undead warriors to fight for you?

Tlalocan-Bound Dead are the mainstay units of Aztec warbands. While they are rather weak compared to most other combat units, the various magic-users in the faction can make these units tougher, stronger, or raise reinforcements. 

In addition to the Bound Dead, there are also Tlalocan-Bound Marauders, hulking monsters that wield massive macuahuitls, the famed weapon of various Mesoamerican cultures. 

I'm looking forward to playing Mythic Americas, and to get my hands on the rest of the Aztec faction miniatures.

I also finished a Mordor Troll Chieftain, as well as the mounted and foot versions of the Mouth of Sauron. These are regular options for Heroes in the Mordor faction, but they're critical for the Black Gate Legendary Legion (which covers the very end of The Return of the King when Aragorn leads the men of Gondor to the Black Gate to distract Sauron's gaze from Frodo and Sam). 

The Legion supercharges a Troll Chieftain, giving it an extra point of Might, Will, and Fate, as well as making it Fearless. So as long as the Black Gate Chieftain is alive, the rest of the army will likely be sticking around. 

To accompany the heroes for this list, I've got a bunch more regular Mordor Orcs to paint, which you'll likely see in the next update. 

Mythic Americas - Rules Review

Unfortunately, the overall clusterfeth of the pandemic mixed with the holiday season meant that Warlord Games has had some trouble getting their shipments out.

I thought I would just wait, but the opportunity presented itself for me to pick up the limited edition collector's set and, well...

Yeah. So I thought I'd do a little overview of the system. (I'm still waiting on part of that order from Warlord. I want my Jaguar Warriors!)

To start, at it's very core, Mythic Americas is Warlords of Erehwon, and you can find a very good review of the system by DakkaDakka user auticus here. The bones of the system are the same: D10's, low rolls are better, randomly drawn order dice, etc.

Mythic Americas thoughtfully put together a single page that summarizes the differences between itself and Erehwon:

The Way

After creating a warband, you are randomly assigned one of two Alignments: The Everchanging or the Everliving. Since this is done right before the game, you never know exactly what resources your warband will have. Your Alignment will determine which Blessings (a set of six, single use abilities) your warband receives, which Devotions (secondary objectives) you can get, and potentially which Magic your wizards can take.

That's another difference - unlike Erehwon, magic in Mythic Americas is faction specific. An Inca High Priest and a Tribal Nations Medicine Man will have radically different spells.

There's a very nice set of cards that have all these rules on them, which makes selecting Devotions and keeping track of spells and Blessings simple.

So, to play a game, you make your warband, find out which Alignment you are, choose the Balance of the Way (the primary scenario) and randomly select a hidden Devotion of the Way (secondary objective), and your off! Games last for six turns or until one side breaks, with a 50% chance of continuing on for an additional turn.

The primary scenarios are pretty interesting. No straight up brawls here. "Build Altars for the Gods" has players building objective points and destroying the opponents. "Rainy Season" sees both players struggling over a series of bridges to push onto the enemy side of the table. In "The Great Hunt", warbands compete to run down randomly spawned spirit animals. During "Pillage the Village" both warbands need to raid five buildings while preventing the opposing player from doing the same. With "Liberators and Captors", the warbands will need to transport captured enemies across the field while trying to free those under the opposing warbands control. And in "Fog of War", only half the warband is deployed, as reinforcements pour into the fight from all sides.

The secondary objectives add some spice to the primary scenarios. For example, the Everliving have "Endocannibalism Ritual in Honor of Gaia" which will score a victory point if a ritual can be enacted at the site of a friendly unit's destruction. The Everchanging have the reverse, "Cannibalism for the Devourer King" where the ritual must take place using a destroyed enemy unit. More Devotions include, "Divide and Conquer!", "Through Enemy Lines", "A Worthy Sacrifice", and "Trophy Hunters".

I think my only complaint about the book is the imagery. There's some repeat usage of models and some black and grey renders of units that haven't been made yet. There's also a few images that are blown up to a degree that their quality takes a hit, or could have been replaced by better pictures. I think these could have been worked on a little more, or replaced with artwork.

To close this out, here's a quick look at the four factions included in the rules:

The Tribal Nations are described as "a hit-and-run, finesse army." You have a number of lightly armored, fast troops that can ignore terrain restrictions (and even have magic to move certain terrain features around). Wolves and giant eagles act as fast flankers, while hardier monsters like Sasquatches and the terrifying Wendigo can strike from the woods and cause havoc.

The Aztecs are "designed around a core of many, lower quality undead warriors that, when enhanced by magic, can stand toe-to-to with tougher enemies." Their living warriors are elite but fragile. The faction is supplemented by a number of decent spellcasters, including the formidable Quetzalcoatl, as well as the corpse-throwing, undead monstrosity of the Ayar.

The Incas "represent a balanced, elite force that excel in magic and other ranged attacks." Many of their units have the Shieldwall ability, giving them a slow, grinding playstyle. This is helped by ayllus (a bola-like weapon) throwing warriors, Condor Riders, and the snake-like Maras that works well as a harassing monster. The Incas also have access to the only spellcaster that can cast two spells per turn.

The Maya are an "elite, well trained force with warbands that usually muster fewer models. They rely on psychology rather than brute strength" to win fights, and many of their units have the "Cause Fear" and "Vicious" special rules. Apart from the regular units of infantry, the Maya can count on units of Werejaguars and swarms of Alux (small, totem statues that cause pins instead of wounds). They're backed up by the bat monster Camazotz, which can use its speed, flight, and Baleful Glare to strike fear into the heart of enemy warbands. Unlike other warbands, the Maya rely solely on their Alignment to determine their magic.

In the book, each of these army lists are accompanied by a well-researched (as evidenced by the reference section in the back) overview of the historical peoples that the factions are based on.

All in all, I'm very excited to start playing Mythic Americas, and I've begun work on my Aztec warband. And I'll be picking up a Maya warband when they're released later this year!

I'm also interested to see more units and factions added into this game.

When the original pre-orders for Mythic Americas went up, I decided to pick up the small starter set and some additional units to try out the game.