[BattleTech] Battle for Dubnica

In my last post I wrote about training for a tournament - so here are the results!

I won. Than would usually be a good news, however, thanks to my ignorance (and TO's benevolence) the victory was rather undeserved.* Not having TechManual at hand I wasn't aware of BV2 increase on each mech in C3 network (and noone told me), so I entered the competition with approximately 1k BV2 advantage. Well, I had fun, and I hope my opponents had some too (with challenge included).

The tournament consisted of three games with different scenario in a swiss system.

My Lance:

• AS-7CM - an anchor of the whole lance, due to its armor the best place for a C3 master. Also, slow as a glacier. About as tough too.
• TDR-9r - trooper, workhorse. ECM (I had thought there would be more c3 lances) an active probe were a nice bonus (and a ticket to the frontline).
• SDH-9D - light mech hunter (AC5 with precision ammo), striker (2xMML worth of SRM? Yes, please!) and support with semi-guided LRMs.
• OW-1C - about the best Owens one can get, with target acquisition gear, active probe and all lasers.

Game 1 - Battle lines

Each player had to place two objectives, one in the middle of the battlefield, one in his rear. Points were scored for destroying/crippling enemy mechs and holding objectives (or having an uncontested home one) at the end of sixth round.

My opponent had Thor Prime, WVR-9M, JM-7D, COM-2D. My lance sallied forth, having taken both center objectives with SDH and TDR. While titans exchabged greetings on my left, right wing hosted much more fierce battle of lesser mechs: TDR fought JM while being flanked by COM, chased by SDH. OW did not contribude much and was put to better use by taking opp's home objective.

Thor decided to chip in on the right too (by that time the JM was on the ground and TDR just refused to die). I had remarked that it would be hilarious if the Owench charged Thor's rear, and this idea was immediately supported by nearby players and my opponent as well. Hilarious indeed: Owens charged the Thor, dodged the incoming fire and hit it hard - part of the damage went to the head. After that Thor fell, scoring more dmg to head and killing its warrrior. Wiped the rest of enemy forces in round five.

Game 2 - Recon in force

5 recon objectives on each side of the board, points awarded for every examined objective on opponent's half and destroyed/crippled mechs.

This time I had met a force better tailored against C3: Vulture IIIA,  RFL-3N2, PHX-3PL and Arctuc Wolf equipped with ARAD missiles. As dreadful as it seemed, Arctic Wolf bit the dust due to ammo explosion in round 1 or two, becoming just a target of opportunity in the rest of the game. This shocked the opponent enough to keep out of my half of the board. As usual, big boys played with each other, failing to reach any conclusion, while the lesser mechs fought like hell. I have managed to destroy PHX and finish off the wounded Wolf, while my Thunderbolt acting as a bullet magnet remained standing.

Game 3 - Scoured land

Two buildings of CF40 are placed on each half of the map, you get points for keeping your together, destroying opponent's and destroyed/crippled mechs.

This time I was facing a striker lance of 6th Lyran Guards: GLT-10B, BHKU-0, NG-4S, WFL-2; all on a lovely 3d board with a river flowing between my and oppt's home edges. That striker lance was like a pack of velociraptors, any pair of them able to outflank and core my Atlas from behind. I put AS on my right back, guarding the buildings and the bridge while sending SDH on the left flank to watch a pass and OW with TDR on the right to pillage and burn. My opponent erred in the deployment, sending three mechs on my left (they jammed a bit in the pass) which left only a BHKU on my right.

BHKU ran anound TDR and OW (giving some, but getting twice as much) to join with GLT in order to shut down c3 network, preferably along with the Atlas. I had to send TDR back, so after a while AS and shot up TDR were against GLT and WFL  that were eager to avenge their comrade, while SDH lured NGS away from my rear. Again, TDR just would not die. Missing one arm, ecm, probe and most of armor it retreated in the last round, much to the chagrin of my opponent. In a rage his mechs destroyed both my buildings and Nightsky tripped an Owens, but the final score was my two buildings vs one of his, his Black Hawk and a crippled Wolfhound.

Summary: I had seven hours of great time (that is, until I learned about the c3 bv2 thing), and adding to that countless hours of putting together a lance and testing it against my local bt player I can say I regret nothing. What's next, aside from waiting for the new boxes to arrive? There should be a 3039 tournament in the autumn, and until then I mean to try sort-of-linked games in 3039 period, inspired by the warchest system.

*) A trial of grievance is scheduled for the next 3050+ tournament.

[BattleTech] My First Tournament!

or, Not bad, after five games...

I got lucky. There's a wargaming club beyond the borders that is still relatively close, and some of its members are fond enough of BattleTech to organize a tournament. I got even more lucky and could schedule a whole day for the event, so there was no hesitation as to whether to go or not. The journey there was not too adventurous, but still gave me enough time for sight seeing.

Trencin Castle. Definitely  L4-5 fortified terrain.

It was nice to meet other players from all at least three distinct regions. The atmosphere was friendly, as was the tournament itself - it was a fair competition without any waac attitudes. Unfortunately, the games started little later than expected, so only two of three rounds were played, but at least it allowed me to get home before midnight.

Having unpacked my mercenary lance "Ronin's Tonnes" I felt satisfaction for all the evenings spent painting and those nerve wracking decisions on paint scheme. Even composing the lance was a tremendous fun in itself: I could field any 3-5 mechs totalling 5000 BV2, and although proxying and borrowing were options, I used mostly what minis I had available:

• Archer ARC-5W (70t, 1337 bv2): heavy missile boat with reasonable speed and armour
• Charger CGR-3K (80t, 1656 bv2): typed as skirmisher, this was my all-purpose heavy mech.
• Wolverine WVR-7K (55t, 1331 bv2): medium brawler, fast, well armoured and deadly at close range
• Owens OW-1D (35t, 655 bv2): scout, whose purpose was to tag enemy targets for indirect fire and grab distant objectives. I had to proxy it by a plastic Jenner.

 

Archer, Charger, Wolverine, Jenner

Game 1

I knew this game was going to be tough. My opponent was more experienced and well equipped, having a nice mix of mechs from a slow 100t beast of Fafnir to a small and nimble Snow Fox. Fafnir was extremely intimidating, fielding weapons that could rip a heavy mech apart in just one round. Avoiding it would be a good strategy, however, the scenario awarded points for controlling objectives on each starting line and most importantly in the middle.

Round 1-2: Glorious synchronized advance

Round 2-3: Deploying to position, Owens running from the beast.

In the first few turns, everything went according to the plan: Archer was in cover, raining death on those tagged/spotted by Owens, Charger and Wolverine intercepted enemy light mechs on the flank. The same mechs then dashed past them and threatened to occupy or neutralize my home objective.

Round 3-4: Enemy lights attempt abreak through, Owens tagging Rifleman.

I did not want that to happen, so both Charger and Wolverine chased them, managing to down a Raptor. The Snow Fox was too cunning and quick to suffer any serious damage, and I had to reinforce the center, so I sent Wolverine to chase it away, and Charger back to front. I belive this was the first serious mistake I made - I should have done it vice versa, as the Fox easily escaped the cc oriented Wolverine.

Round 4-5: Raptor's a toast, WVR securing the rear, CGR returning to the fray.

In the middle all went from ok to horror as Fafnir came to range. I managed to rough opponent's Rifleman, but my Owens had an arm shot off and scurried beyond the hills. My Archer got between Fafnir and Rifleman, falling under the weight of fire. It managed to stand up and advance, only to get shot in the back by the Fox. With reactor shielding breached, Archer was out of action.

Round 5 ends: Archer shot to pieces by Fafnir and SnowFox.

As a last ditch I ran my Charger to the top of the hill, hoping to kick the head off the Fafnir - never got the chance as it was shot to pieces.

Round 5-6: WVR and Owens securing objectives, Charger goes banzai (and boom).

Having lost two mechs and both center objectives I could only console myself with my and enemy rear objectives and a single light mech destroyed. Even then, it was a great, exhausting game.

Game 2

This game's scenario was nearly identical, only differing by a single middle objective. My opponent for this game (son of my previous opponent :) brought two heavy missile boats supported by two light mechs acting as spotters. This time, I believed I had a stood a reasonable chance.

Round 1-2: Both sides advance in good order.

I did not expect my opponent to go for the objective with his heavier mechs, so I rushed in as fast as possible. Fortunately, my JennOwens got to the objective first, and I didn't mean to abandon it. Enemy Raven hid in the forest, while Gambit rushed to meet Owens. Both spotted, tagged and shot each other, and following semi-guided indirect fire obliterated them both. Fine, no more lapses in calling Owens a Jenner! And also, hooray for an exchange of 600pts for 700+ pts and limiting enemy options!

Round 2-3: Owens and Gambit playing a game of TAG. They both lose in the end.

The only active mech my opponent had after the first blood was the Raven. Though it was not as sneaky and fast as the Snow Fox, I held back my Wolverine in case of a breakthrough attempt and sent Charger to flank. This time, the decision was right, because Wolverine had more armour that Charger, and I was sure it would be needed to hold the central objective, which was now secured by Archer.

Round 3-4: Charger flanks, Archer holds, WVR deters Raven.

Raven wasted its time running around the hill tagging my mechs, while the Charger got his sights on opponents Yeoman. Wolverine and Archer stood on the hill like Old Guard, getting shot by 60+ missiles each turn.

Round 4-5: Archer quite beaten up, WVR joins the hill party.

Much better picture of the hill party.

Meanwhile, the flanking succeeds.

Fortunately, my opponent was enjoying himself too much with Raven acting as spotter, and suddenly he found out that the game is coming to an end and his Raven can't reach my home objective. Too bad. Furthermore, he kept pouring everything into those poor bastards on the hill, almost completely ignoring 80 tons of hurt coming for his Yeoman.

Round 5-6: RVN too slow to capture my base objective, ARC fails to stand up.

You're one dead missile boat.

In the end, the Yeoman was destroyed, but so was the Archer, and Wolverine had very little armor left. I guess that this time I won due to luck (few crits to the Wolverine and I might loose the objective in the last round) and the all-rounded composition of my lance and general utility of its mechs (as opposed to rather specialised list the opponent had).

End: RVN puts ARC out of misery, WVR stands fast, CGR kills Yeoman.

Summary: It was GREAT! Although I ended up on the fourth place, I had lot of fun, with fine people. It is rather fascinating how deep the game experience can be with only eight mechs on board. True, my inexperience meant lot of table searching and few rules questions, but even then I love the game just the way it is. Streamlining it and scaling down the complexity makes it into a completely different game, one that has problems to stand out among today's multitude. Yeah, I'm looking at you, Alpha Strike.

[Bladestorm] Well, that was a disaster...

Recently, I got an opportunity to organise a skirmish game after a long time. With the same players as usual, I decided for something new - a system that offered interesting decisions even with low model count. At first I had thought of Open Combat, but considering all its paperwork I picked Bladestorm instead. Why? It offered more weapons, interesting turn structure, single combat roll for both hit and wound, more choices for the player (which attack to block, whether to put one's skill to attack or defence,...) - and I wanted to try it for almost a year. It looked like a solid plan. How could anything go wrong?

I have read the rules there and back. I knew there are point values for everything, but I decided that we all roll our characters and minions, with the dwarves being slower and more cumbersome, but also tougher and more disciplined, goblins being rather a small and nimble nuisance and orcs rather average. So far, so good.

 

Quite a long trek for short legs...

But, I set the limits and averages not having played at least a small solo demo. And, which was worse, in my pride (and ignorance of the flow of the game due to the sin above) I decided not to use one of the rules - the "death die" (it is not used in the intermediate rules anyway).  As a result, it was difficult to hit anyone, but a hit that succeeded was likely to kill a character, or at least take more than half of HPs, calling for a morale check - thus the game was dull, until the moment someone felt extremely unlucky.

...let's do it again.

So, have I learnt from my mistakes? I believe so: Two weeks later, the dwarves (in teams of 2 and 3) had to escape with a secret map of the underground tunnels stolen from the orcs. How-ever, many things changed...

Having pity with their short legs (and considering the time limitations) I used only a single map. In best case, the dwarves had to break through a week and negligent garrison of the fort (an orc archer and three night goblins) - quickly, because on their heels were another three orcs, and the pursuit was closed by black orc boss with another two goblins.

My opponents made a tactically sound decision to let the map-bearer run for it, using the rest of their force to tie the garrison and get in the way of the pursuers. And, with a bit of luck, escape too.

The archer took a key position.

Things went more or less just as planned - one of the three goblins from the garrison was mown down, orc archer took a position of such strategic importance that he wasn't able to participate in combat and the key dwarf, heading round the fort, was tied by a single goblin.

That brown bead means a failed morale check. At least his shame didn't last long.

The goblin didn't last long, but kept alive and stabbing long enough for the first pursuers to arrive, and suddenly, there was enough greenskins for everyone. Except the Axe-dwarf, who obeyed his orders and ran.

Almost there. Note the massacre in the background.

The rest of the dwarves put up a resolute defense, with their leader even showing his back to the orc boss only to stop possible pursuers. The only one who could do anything to cross the dwarves was the dumb archer, so he charged the escaping longbeard, hitting him hard - being hit even harder in return. By then we had ran out of time, so we decided that the dwarves eventually succeeded, though at a cost.

Summary: Bladestorm is a fine game. Its RPG roots are quite apparent, as it offers enough granularity to distinguish fighters of the same race, of the same type, from each other. I can well imagine awarding them experience and improving their stats - assuming they survive the deadly encounters, because not even the steel clad knight nor the nimblest of elves is safe from a random hit getting through. I also like the turn structure, although the "move or shoot" rule is a bit harsh on ranged attack types. Having played SoBH and Open Combat I also miss any kind of push-back. The reception in our group, however, is rather a mixed one. One guy likes it (used to be GM, so he's open to new ideas and he's not afraid of stats and modifiers), the not so much (in the late evening, after work). Well, gone are the days of our youth... With second edition is on its way, I hope that the issues can be amended with some training, because Bladestorm deserves it.

P.S.: Regarding the turn structure, I'm coming to like the one used in BattleTech, LotR or Blood Eagle (there may be a difference, but the gist is the same) - Everyone moves (alternating or player by player), then, everyone fights. Maybe next time? Or maybe I'll go wild and try the reactive nature of Rogue Planet... (Just to see their heads pop, muhahaha)

Open Combat - AAR&R

Report and Review Mixed Together

Bad form, I know. Anyway, here goes: Saturday night, when all the household was silent and peacefull, I decided to finally try (and even play!) Open Combat. Not eager to set up the terrain  I opened the Melee Box, set up the Goblin Slayer Dungeon, decided on a simple treasure hunt scenario, picked the core of warbands and got to the first plus of Open Combat:

Statting up

In some skirmish games, you are just given fixed values and point costs. In some, you have the freedom to make up your own stats, but use of calculator or even a spreadsheet or app is necessary - there's nothing wrong with that approach, especially when you can see the underlying formula, but Open Combat has another one: Each point of a characteristic, each weapon (except fists and nails), each special ability costs exactly one point. Quite refreshing, isn't it?

There are five basic stats in OC:

• Speed (needs no explanation)
• Attack and Defence - their comparison gives the number of dice the attacker rolls (capped at three)
• Fortitude - HP, can be regained through resting
• Mind - seemingly useless, but there are mental abilities using and affecting this stat - and the first three stats are halved when the Mind reaches 0.

In addition to the stats there are rules for equipment covering most of pre-gunpowder weapons, and twenty special abilities, divided between combat skills, physical and mental abilities. Note that there is no magic - that's right, no list of spells. You can always proxy some of them by combination of weapons and abilities, but still, no fireball. Twenty abilities can seem as too few, however, along with open-ended stat system they cater for most needs. On the plus side, it's less rules to keep in mind - and if you really want more rules, you can always make them up : )

There are no hard and fast rules for any stats (the system is supposed to balance itself), but you can find many sample characters in the 2016 edition. At least similar mindset is required during warband creation though, if you don't want to meet opponent's skaven slave as strong and tough as your ogre (although you can explain it by suitable narrative). Fortunately, I got to create both warbands so I made my own rules. 

I wanted a humanoid, no matter how tough, to go down in two attack actions when all goes wrong, possibly even in just one attack. As the maximum damage a character can inflict in single attack on open plain is 3, I choose that to be the baseline Fortitude. Weak humanoids would be For 2, tougher ones For 4, heroes anywhere between 4 and 6.

Another nice thing is that the attack and defence scores are independent of actual equipment: You can have two guys with a sword, and while one has Atk 7, Def 3, the other may be less experienced and more defensive with Atk 4 and Def 4. Hell, you can even throw in a skaven slave with Atk 6, as he can be unbelievably agile and determined - there are no limits!

In the end I came up with following two warbands - they are rather small and weak, as the recommended warband renown is 150, but this is good enough for the demo. Also, it would make the bookkeeping easier.

Dwarves
Name	Spd	Atk	Def	For	Min	Weapons	Special	Renown
Leader	3	5	4	5	4	Axe	Focussed Blow, Exert	24
Axeman	3	6	4	5	3	Great Axe	Focussed Blow	23
Defender	3	4	5	4	3	Spear, Shield	Resolute	22
Crossbowman	3	3	3	4	3	Crossbow, Axe	Aim, Shooter*	20
Breakpoint:	16

*) Houserule: +2Atk for ranged attack.

Orcs and Goblins
Name	Spd	Atk	Def	For	Min	Weapons	Special	Renown
Orc Boss	4	6	5	5	3	Two Cleavers	Intimidate, Ambidexterous	28
Orc Warrior	4	4	4	3	2	Sword, Shield	Shield Bash	20
Orc Glaiver	4	4	3	3	2	Glaive	Focussed Blow	18
Red-caped Goblin	4	2	2	2	1	Spear, Shield		13
Blue-caped Goblin	4	2	2	2	1	Spear, Shield		13
Breakpoint:	12

At first I intended to use Orc Bowman, but for the sake of different numbers I sent in the goblins. Yes, O&G are 2 pts stronger - however, they only need to lose 12 points of For/Min to throw in the towel.

Scenario

OC offers 5 base scenarios, further modified by variant deployment or other parameters, with ample designer comments. Most of the scenarios are supposed to take place in 2'x2' area with enough terrain, so that the action begins immediately.

I used a modular hexagonal dungeon map, and being in no mood for studying their rules (late night, remember?) I came a simple treasure hunt:

• There were three tokens marking possible locations of the Object. 
• Character could spend one or more actions by searching: 
• Roll the amount of dice equivalent to actions spent, pick one. 
• 1 - fail, lose initiative, 2-4 nothing found, 5 - seen something! remove other tokens, 6 - Got It!
• The game is won by any warband that carries the Object off the board through its entry point.

 

Game

The dwarves, being the good guys, came in through the door (kicked in, which can be interpreted as an attempt to knock). With a speed of 3 they were in slight disadvantage, usual in this type of scenarios. The Orcs & co. sallied from the dark corridor and managed to reach the first possible location, while sending the gobbos to flank / check the other locations.

The dungeon size ensures a short game.

Dwarven crossbowman shot at the hulking orc boss, hitting its left arm. The brute only snorted, bellowed at the red caped goblin to "Get'im!" and paid no further heed. Axeman and defender rushed to form a line of defence, while their leader searched the well. With years of experience, he discovered the Object at first sight! This simplified the decision making for the orcs considerably, reducing their strategy to refined "Surround and Beat'em Up".

The Object found!

Thing did no go that smooth, however. The surrounding part was easy, beatin'up - not so much. One goblin engaged the crossbowman and the other threatened the leader, while the axeman stoically bore the brunt of the attack, knowing well that the payback comes soon. He hefted his axe and swung it hard, throwing both orcs away and biting deep into the wall.

[Actually, in this attack I rolled both Solid hit and Fail: Turn over, and because of the two handed weapon attribute had to apply them both. And I promptly forgot about the Leader special ability, granting three re-rolls per game. Oh well, live and learn.]

The goblins have their use, after all.

His heroic moment gone, the axeman was soon finished off. On the other hand, both goblins were gone - although the blue one acquited himself well, wounding the dwarven leader - and the rest of the green band had lighter or heavier wounds. Unable to help his comrade, the leader grabbed the Object and headed for exit. Seeing that, orc boss took the matter with crossbowman into his own hands, with his remaining two underlings attacking dwarven defender in vain.

[In OC, damage in combat comes from two sources: Direct hits, and being forced back with no room for retreat. (Un)fortunately, the brave dwarf was equipped with a shield (minimizing the effect of the force backs) and was Resolute (minimizing the occurence of force backs).]

The crossbowman may have been a lousy shot, but he had definitely fight in him enough to kill the annoying goblin and go toe-to-toe with orc boss. He would have succumbed, no doubt about it, but the dwarven leader hit the exposed flank of the brute, sending his opponent bleeding in front of the wall. Crossbowman took the hint, and and with one mighty strike he fell the beast. Seeing that, the remaining orcs fled in panic, leaving the dwarves victorious.

Game over for green team!

Summary

Well, that was quite an appropriate amount of fun for nine miniatures and one hour of playing.

Open Combat falls somewhere between Melee and ASoBH regarding the amount of detail, bookkeeping is probably on the same level as in Melee. I used to play Melee as overlord vs a band of four dwarves where each player controlled a pair, and I am not sure there is enough detail to use this configuration with OC. But if I tossed in more dwarves (or Elves?) and split the players into two warbands it might be worth a try. I guess I'd need a bigger dungeon though.

[FiFu] It's a kind of Magic...

Long time no play - so when there was an opportunity, we had to use it well: As a premiere for my goblins and for a larger mayhem in general. Also, I was looking forward to see FiFu magic in action.

Gorm's Ironclads

Objective: Kill goblin shaman. (Secondary objective: Rout the goblin warband)

• Gorm: Q3+ C3, Leader, Group Fighter, Heavily Armored, Block, Short Move @ 78pts
• Goth'Rack: Q3+ C3, Boiling Blood, Fearless, Unruly, Stubborn, Block, Short Move @ 48pts
• Ragnar: Q4+ C3, Hammering Blow*, Heavily Armored, Short Move, Steadfast @ 42pts
• 3 Warriors: Q4+ C3, Heavily Armored, Block, Short Move, Steadfast @ 36pts
• Lorm: Q4+ C3, Crossbow, Heavily Armored, Short Move, Steadfast @ 42pts
• Skadi: Q4+ C2, Crossbow, Good Shot, Heavily Armored, Short Move, Steadfast @39pts

Notes: 8 characters, 357pts
*: scratched the AND WINS condition. 7pts should be worth spending.

Night Goblins

Objective: Let the intruders come... and destroy them! (Rout the dwarves)

• Leader: Q3+ C2, Huge Weapon, Leader, Low Kick (personal squig) @ 70pts
• Shaman: Q3+ C2, Stubborn, Unruly, Spellcaster: Blast, Courage, Noxious Cloud, Protection From Arrows @ 60pts
• 3 Skinkslayers: Q4+ C2, Block, Dashing, Gang @ 29pts
• 2 Bowmen: Q4+ C2, Poison, Short Bow @ 27pts
• 5 Warriors: Q4+ C2 Melee Block @ 18pts

Notes: 12 characters, 361 pts - Yes, they have a 4 point advantage (I want the dwarves to drown in the green sea, after all :) but the leader is rather pathetic and the spellcaster has a rather limited quality - and is the enemy's main objective.

The Game

Joining two D&D maps gave us a nice playing area with underground mushroom garden/forest on one side and an abandoned dungeon on the other. Nice playing area... not. We declared the bigger mushrooms / groups of bigger mushrooms linear obstacles - they didn't block LoS, but gave -1 to shooting and to continue through them one had to pass the Q test. This made moving in a coherent group a little challenging.

The dwarves arrived and goblins rush to meet them.

I was both feeling confident and afraid of the dreaded crossbows, so my goblins advanced to an area with less mushrooms and more LoS blocking cover.

The plan was simple: Leader with common warriors and a single archer went to block (and perhaps charge through) a great pass on my right. The Skinkslayers went through the middle, along with the remaining archer, and the shaman was sent to the left to both distract and harass the enemy.

The plan worked - for some time. Dwarves feared goblin magic, and all goblins (except the shaman) feared dwarven crossbows. The shaman even got to cast the Noxious/Spore Cloud, but sadly, something went wrong in the incantation and a nameless dwarven warrior managed to react in time, running away from the shrinked area of effect. Had it worked, one warrior and one crossbowman would be neutralized.

Spore cloud in action - see them run, ah hahaha!

With a well cast Protection from Arrows the shaman got very confident, even willing to act as a living shield for the Skinkslayers. The elite goblin warrior gang was well known for using up every advatage given, and this was the same case. The bowman assigned to shaman's wing spotted some dwarves massing on the far right, and hurried to take an advantageous position.

Impervious shaman as a living cover

The shaman sensed an opportunity to impress these simpletons even more, and got even more cocky: He joined the bowman, hoping to envelop thegroup of dwarves in a spore cloud - but his pride proved to be his undoing.

Tactical blunder thoroughly exploited

Ragnar (the dwarf with a huge hammer) seized the initiative, and with a nameless warrior charged across the battlefield. While his comrade slipped on the mushroom and was subsequently shot, Ragnar engaged the proud shaman. The bowman, probably hoping to earn favour of their new shaman, because "selflessness" is just a strange, meaningless sound among his kin, tried to exploit the mild advantage in numbers - but he was struck down, barely conscious.

Ragnar's about to make a Mushroom Puree

[And here the reactions came into play: Anything I'd try to do would most likely have one or more failed activation dice, enabling Ragnar to attack the hapless shaman.] Just as the spellcaster was going to throw his pot in defense, the dwarf was faster, and his hammer squashed the greenskin all across the floor. And walls. And perhaps even ceiling.

After the inevitable moral check

Thus the dwarves succeeded in their mission, and the best I could hope for was a revenge. The last goblin  bowman to snipe at dwarven leader, but Gorm's shield stopped the poisoned arrow. That poor sod got another chance, but under all the stress broke his shortbow. While the Skinkslayers regrouped, the goblin chieftain sent all the warriors forward, advancing behind them. But it was too little, too late.

Among goblins, "Elite" and "Boss" means you know when to run...

In a short moment, the last bowman and two warriors were dead. Being really experienced combatants, the Skinkslayer gang decided to get lost, quite simultaneously with goblin leader. The dwarves had only a single wounded, and surely they did bathe in glory, money and beer upon their return.

Summary: OH MORK WHAT A DISASTER! And I have noone to blame for it but me myself! I got too cocky with the shaman, sending him forward without any meatshields... 

Otherwise, the game was great. We played with unrestricted reactions, and saw it was good - I had been afraid they would only strengthen the warband with better quality, but in the end I was able to use them for risky moves and the whole game was more lively. I had only few opportunities to use magic, but even now I like the sheer amount of spells. And the new special rules: Weapons, armour, all kinds of stuff... just excellent, I can't recommend it enough! And if you don't like the funghi theme and explicitly don't want to buy that book, just wait for the next Kickstarter. It should contain dwarves, hobgoblins and even a vanilla ASoBH.

[SoBH/FiFu] Down By Law

This time, I wanted something new in our games, so Gorm's IroncLads had to participate in a man-hunt. Their task was to cooperate with other companies in order to capture or eliminate a band of outlaws that formed around an escaped pit fighter. The pit fighter and his band had their lair in an old keep, and reckoning that their current position is untenable, they decided to either break through the encirclement or die gloriously.

Gorm's Ironclads

Objective: Kill, incapacitate or demoralize half or more outlaws.

• Gorm: Q3+ C3, Leader, Group Fighter, Heavily Armored, Block, Short Move
• Goth'Rack: Q3+ C3, Boiling Blood, Fearless, Unruly, Stubborn, Block, Short Move
• Ragnar: Q4+ C3, Hammering Blow, Heavily Armored, Short Move, Steadfast
• Gimli, Robur the Scabby, The Other Warrior: Q4+ C3, Heavily Armored, Block, Short Move, Steadfast
• Lorm: Q4+ C3, Crossbow, Heavily Armored, Short Move, Steadfast
• Skadi: Q4+ C2, Crossbow, Good Shot, Heavily Armored, Short Move, Steadfast

Outlaws

Objective: Freedom or death!

• Pit Fighter: Q3+ C4, Inspiring, Master Duellist, Terror
• Bowman: Q4+ C2, Shooter: Long, Good Shot, Unerring Aim, Reload
• 3 Outlaws: Q4+ C3
• Halberdier: Q4+ C3 Heavy Weapon

Inspiring is a version of Leader, who can't issue commands but still gives Q bonus to figures in 1xL. Terror represents the renown of a veteran pit fighter, just as Master Duellist represents his combat skill. Perhaps giving him C3 and Combat Master would be a better choice, but in the end it had no effect on game.

The Game

As soon as a patrolling bowman rushed in with the bad news, the outlaws set to motion. The plan was to break through the dwarves no matter the cost.

Dwarves appear...

Most of the group headed out through the main entrance, while two men volunteered for a diversion through a ruined tower. Or perhaps they saw better chance of escape there.

Breached tower, later known as an oasis of peace and tranquility.

Ironically, all they managed in the whole game was to enter the tower and stare menacingly at the grim dwarf with big hammer blocking their way. (This was the main argument for lifting the restrictions on reactions - both those men and the dwarf were of Q4+, so none of us didn't want to risk activating them, when there was so much happening on the other side of the keep. Another point for FF!)

The other side of the keep was where the fun was being had.

Things went a bit more lively where the leaders were. Missiles crossed the air and fighters were closing in. Perhaps the ale was a tad too strong last evening, perhaps it was too early, but the dwarves didn't advance in their characteristical coordinated fashion. (Until then I thought I had been the only one with such horrible activation rolls...)

The dwarves spread out in fear that their quarry might run away.

Still in clutches of a hangover, Gorm ordered his lads to charge, and threw himself forward. Gimli and another warrior also joined the fray, determined to show the pit fighter how not impressed they were, while Robur and Goth'Rekk intended to flank the enemy (and take down the pesky archer).

Up close and personal. Also, reactions galore.

All changed when Gorm was struck down (as another victim of the dreaded 6:1 split). Robur fled and Gimli retreated. The dwarves then had the advantage of two to four, and intended to use it.

This was Ironclads' best chance for a kill...

Goth'Rekk failed to fell the bowman but he had little time for regrets as the pit fighter charged him. And knocked him down. And stylishly took out him of action.

...which they failed to realize.

The bowman headed for the ruined tower, hoping to stay out of sight of at least one crossbowman, but soon after that the remaining dwarf in contact was mobbed and brought down. This was too much for poor dwarves, and they retreated.

A good moment to reconsider plans.

Summary: This game was formed by the bad luck of my opponent - he may have even trumped my horrible activation failures from games past. He was also quite pressed by dwarves' short legs - the fear of the outlaws running away made him to spread his men in a rather risky fashion. I have to agree that some scenarios favor more mobile warbands - either I raise the quality of his dwarves, or give him cavalry (which is quite hard to do without the minis) or we'll have to make mixed warbands. We've also agreed to try the "reactions" without any limits on LoS and distance, which might eliminate staring contests such as the one around the tower.

[FiFu/SoBH] Indoor Fighting

I got a bit verbose with the introduction - if  you want, you can skip right to the game.

Lothar's gaze was fixed on the tip of the shortsword. He did not regret anything. This time, he may die, but all his men were alive and the enemy suffered heavy casualties. "Hold! I have a better idea..." Who said that? With that thought, his spirit fled.

"Pity he can't see his men running away like rabbits." said Lorm, still pointing his weapon at unconscious Lothar. Gorm was fishing something in his bag. "Aye. Now go check Gimli and Ragnar."

Lothar opened his eyes again, almost instantly forgetting all those weird dreams. The first thing he saw was a bearded face with deep eyes. "So, you're awake. Good." The dwarf gave him something to drink and then fed him. None of this made any sense.

The next day, more dwarves came. "Stand up." Lothar wanted to look down on the dwarves with disdain but being so weak, all his effort went to staying upright. The dwarven nurse smiled. On his command, Lothar was tied, hands and legs. Still naked. "Gimli, pay the bill and ready the wagon."

The day was quite warm and sky was clear, yet the Small Square still had a pond of mud in front of the alehouse. Avoiding the pond was quite difficult in a busy hour like this, especially when some dwarves had the great idea to halt their wagon on the dry ground close to the pond. Some people stopped to watch, because something was certainly going to happen. First, an armoured dwarf jumped down and walked through the people to the pound. Next, some clothes and stuff were thrown into the mud. By this time, a small crowd gathered. "The audience is here, we can't let them wait!" Then, a naked man was kicked from the wagon into the mud, landing square on his face.

"This is going to cost you, dwarf..." The words almost drowned in the mud and (not only) dwarven laughter, but Gorm heard them. The commander stopped laughing and looked Lothar in the eyes. "Remember, my name is Gorm Haraldson, captain of the Blue Peak Ironclads. Do not shame me ever again." With that, he sat on the wagon and rode away.

As the crowd dispersed, one man remained, his face without a smile - as usual. Wilhelm helped his former captain to stand up and dress, playing the old game of good news - bad news. Good news were that they had lost no man but Lothar that day. Bad news? Their message had arrived late, and now, Udo was self-appointed leader of Bad Company. Clearly, Lothar had a position to reclaim and vengeance to enact. But first, there was a job to be done.

Bad Company

Objective: Find and retrieve the signet ring.

• Udo: Q4+ C3, Block, Leader 
  
• Lothar the Black: Q3+ C3, Block, Unruly, Hatred:Gorm
• Antar: Q3+ C3, Veteran Group Fighter, Unruly  
• Wilhelm: Q4+ C2, Fearless, Crossbow, Good Shot
• John: Q4+ C2, Good Shot, Shooter: Long, Reload (taken from Short Bow)
• 3 Halberdiers: Q 4+ C3, Heavy Weapon

I have made Udo the leader, although without upgrading his quality. I'm certain this will cause trouble from which Lothar will try to benefit. Lothar is not inspired by Udo at all, and he hates Gorm with a passion. The shield may be represented by Block trait in FiFu, basically giving an armour save.

Gorm's Ironclads

Objective: Find and retrieve the signet ring.

• Gorm: Q3+ C3, Leader, Group Fighter, Heavily Armored, Block, Short Move
• Goth'Rack: Q3+ C3, Boiling Blood, Fearless, Unruly, Stubborn, Block, Short Move
• Ragnar: Q4+ C3, Hammering Blow, Heavily Armored, Short Move, Steadfast
• Gimli, Robur the Scabby: Q4+ C3, Heavily Armored, Block, Short Move, Steadfast
• Lorm: Q4+ C3, Crossbow, Heavily Armored, Short Move, Steadfast
• Skadi: Q4+ C2, Crossbow, Good Shot, Heavily Armored, Short Move, Steadfast

Both Ragnar and Gimli recovered, and Lorm proved to be as deadly in melee as from afar, raising his C score for close combat. Armour got simplified in this iteration of FiFu rules: Either it is calculated in C score, or represented by "Heavily Armored", which is more or less Heavy Armour without penalties.

The Game

This game was a treasure hunt - both warbands were hired to retrieve a lost signet ring from a plundered castle. I incorporated new rules for shield and armour, and decided to house rule reactions to 2x long, LoS and not engaged or engaged with activated figure.

I put together two maps from Shattered Keeps an placed three treasure tokens more or less in the middle between the two warbands - forgetting that the stunties have wee legs and therefore short move. Honestly. It didn't help that I set the same Q score for troopers and character from both sides, something my friend still hadn't got used to. Due to our house-limits on reactions there were plenty of turnovers, but that belonged to SoBH and we were quite content with it.

Warbands rush in from the opposite corners

Shooters are rightfully feared in our games, and it was the same this time - especially with the reactions in place. Peeking from behind the corner, or keeping an eye on "fire lanes", shooters were worth their salt.

While shooters keep each other in check, Lothar finds the treasure

"I've found it! I got it!" Shouted Lothar, perhaps too loud. Men on the other side of the building turned to retreat, but the halls also echoed with the stomping of heavy boots. A bolt whistled past Wilhelm, who in turn shot Lorm.

Rushing forward, Lorm is incapacitated

"Any orders?" Asked Lothar with a grin, taking Udo by surprise. (Yes, three failures - turnover.) A surprise that the dwarves exploited all too well - all of a sudden, they were around the men of the Bad Company. Lothar could have led the withdrawal - but there was a status to be won back. He threw the ring to Udo (who failed to catch it, of course) and headed back to meet the Ironclads.

Be a winner, or a hero? Lothar would like to have both.

Udo managed to find the ring and ordered his men to retreat - and cover him. In an unusual fit of discipline, most of his men obeyed.

The fray was fierce - men were mown and shields shattered.

Here, the reactions came to the full bloom: They were used to put men into the way of charging enemy, to knock the defender aside and charge forth, to create local pressure points... as an example, I tried to stand up one of the knocked down halberdiers, and while I didn't want to risk a turnover with Q4+, I wanted him to succeed. Of the two dice I rolled, one failed. Robur, who was adjacent, managed to use it to smash the halberdier's head with his hammer, causing a gruesome kill (good thing I didn't name the halberdiers). The following morale check went almost great, with only one halberdier staying in place and the rest of the men grouped around Udo (who was conveniently out of the checked range).

The otherwise insignificant halberdier is going to influence the game...

They were all shaken a bit, but then Lothar saw a familiar figure - and threw himself at Gorm, thinking little of the consequences. Much to his surprise, men of the Bad Company followed him.

While men charged back, Udo knew better.

After a proper scrap, a sudden lull in fight occured. Gorm, noticing that the ring is gone and his dwarves disorganized, ordered a proper withdrawal, while the men tried to talk some sense to rabid Lothar. Both sides more or less succeeded, and both sides lived to fight another day. Also, there could be little doubt about the real leader of the Bad Company - now, Lothar has only the vengeance to fulfill. As the winner of the game, I have also given the trait "Steadfast" and name Yira to the single halberdier that didn't run.

Summary: This game was quite close in the end, considering how lopsided it looked after first few turns. We had to finish before a proper conclusion, but Udo got the ring and the fighting could have gone both ways, so I declared it a minor human victory without any further casualties. I liked how the reactions worked, they became rather a spice than a bread and butter of the game. The change of rules for shield and armour was definitely for the better - the rules are more straight, and shields/blocks are even stronger than before.