SoBH: Taking the Fort pt.2

Warm-up in the Pit

In continuation of our unofficial Pit Fighter campaign, my untested Orc faced an equally fresh Undead last week.

• Orc: WS 31, S 33, T 30, I 34, W 12



From the jaws of victory...

• Undead: WS 32, S 31, T 31, I 33, W 13

I thought I had a victory in my pocket, as the higher initiative was always a great factor. Well, I was wrong. The Orc dashed to his opponent, refused to dance to his tune and charged him straight. Unfortunately, what should have been a decapitation (or a stunning blow at least) only made a dent in Undead's helmet without any further effects. In return, the Undead slashed at Orc's arm drawing blood, and added the insult to the injury by almost knocking his helmet off. 

Stunned as he was, the Orc managed to avoid a flurry of attacks and then lunged forward. The undead however blocked his attack, and already the first of his ripostae was enough to send the Orc to the ground.

Looks like I'll have to take the Undead next round - so far I'm losing 1:2 on victories and it's about time to settle the score.

Taking the Fort - SoBH

While the scenario and pieces were exactly the same as in the prevoius post (Melee Box, DnD map, more or less straight up fight), this time I decided to try SoBH with adjusted profiles: All the troops had Q4+, while both leaders were Q3+. Because turnovers are fun - when they have a chance to happen to both players.

I also used some of my special rules, Reach (counts as outnumbering if adjacent to engaged friend), Heavy weapon (if your total melee combat score is higher than opponent's one, add +1 to your total score) and Reload (takes two actions to reload). While I like them as they are, I wasn't apparently the only one who wanted more difference between weapons - and our pleas where listened to: The Fightin' Funghi ruleset is basically advanced SoBH!

Now for the game itself: I let the dwarves rush to their fortress, and then I ran my orcs from the more distant corner through tight passages. The dwaves were completely taken by surprise.

In a kunnin' move, the Orcs entered from an unusual corner.

Obludd ruled his minions with an iron hand and succeded in beating a semblance of discipline into them. The dwaves were still reeling from such an unexpected move (and scored the first turnover).

Confused and spread, the dwarves were in a difficult situation.

The orcs split into two groups, one was heading to the doors while the other was supposed to keep the dwarves at bay.

The dwarves are still quite spread...

An orc warrior apparently feigned being hit by a crossbow bolt, which stirred the pride of dwarven warriors and two of them charged forward.

The missile exchange was rather ineffective.

The second one to reach the orcs was mobbed and brought down, while another axeman still ran to the enemy.

Charging piecemeal against a group - that's a recipe for disaster.

The dwarven spearman still had some teeth, however, his best chance was a heroic (and a rather stupid) death when the axeman near him succumbed to superior numbers and Obludd's choppas.

Sending the dwarves one by one...

A lone axeman fought on, as the retreat was something unthinkable.

The dwarves didn't flee, so they were butchered.

After a short fight even the third of melee warriors got death instead of dishonor, and dwarven morale began to crumble. We ran out of time at that point, but I had only a little doubt about the possible outcome. 

Summary: I was happy about a more level playing field and my opponent was glad to play. Next time I'll prepare a different scenario, and -because I'm a backer- use the playtest rules of Fightin' Funghi.