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. 

Painting Update - Battletech, Squadhammer, Mythic Americas

As more wargamers in the area get their vaccines, more opportunities for games are starting to pop up!

In the meantime, I'm still working on various projects. 

 

I still have a Clan Jade Falcon force to paint for Battletech, so I though I'd tackle the Star that comes in the Clan Invasion boxset. 

The big guns are mounted on an Assault-class Executioner and a Heavy-class Timber Wolf (likely claimed from Clan Wolf as isorla by the Falcon mechwarrior). 

Supporting the larger mechs are two Medium-class mechs, a Nova and Mongrel, and a Light-class Adder.

Also finished is a combat squad of Astral Claws, the main antagonist of the Badab War from the Warhammer 40,000 universe. I've got it in my head to play out a campaign using Nordic Weasel Games' Squadhammer, a fun-looking beer-and-pretzel ruleset. 

I've worked out a number of profiles for the rules that cover the essentials of an old 5th Edition 40k Space Marine force, and recently discovered and purchased an out-of-print Space Marine Strikeforce boxset, which will give me everything I need for a Squadhammer force. 

I also finished another unit of Tlalocan-Bound Marauders for the Aztecs, which will let me field a warband up to 1,000 points. I'll need an Ayar (a massive undead monstrosity) and another unit of Tlalocan-Bound Dead to reach 1,250. That's a decent sized game for Erehwon-based rules. 

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.