French North Africa 2

I'm getting on with the Tuareg figures first, before tackling the French Foreign Legion. The plan (huh!) is that I start with the Tuaregs and Mark paints his FFL first, so that we have enough for a couple of trial games quite quickly. Then I go and buy a load of stuff from Pendraken to fill all the gaps!

So here are some pics, the first batch of infantry (skirmishers and warband) finished, along with wip of batch 2 (warband and command) and batch 3 (camel riders, mmgs and more warband).

....And The Game.

I played through my second Middle Earth Sellswords and Spellslingers scenario over the weekend. Hallas decided an aggressive approach was the best defence, trying to kill the orcs' leadership as quickly as possible. Sitting on the river crossings would allow the orcs to concentrate in greater numbers and give the archers a static target.

Here is the set up in the early stages of the game, Hanar has just failed two activations and moved the nearest orc horde closer to the ford. I was lucky in that the orcs with bows deployed right on the northern edge of the table if they had been in range of the ford I would have been in big trouble straight away!

The orcs start to advance whilst Hanar reties his shoe laces.

The Orc Leader (with battle horn) and his bodyguard.

Hallas charged across the river and cuts down two of the orcs.

Closely followed by his soldier who finished the last orc off. On the other side of the table the plan was for Doltalagan and his soldier to advance across the bridge whilst Iavasonnen hung back to give covering fire from the southern bank. Iavasonnen tried to take a few pot shots at the orc brute nearest the bridge, but 2 failed activations sent the orc charging towards Doltalagan. Doltalagan leapt on the bridge to meet the brute.

The orc swung at Doltalagan, who dodges aside and inflicted two wounds on the orc in return.

The soldier rushed up to aid in the attack, but took a wound before finishing the beast off with a spear thrust.

Another orc appeared close to the bridge and rushed forward, as he grew closer he seemed to grow in stature (3 failed activations for Iavasonnen, Reinforcements, Monster activates and That's a Big 'Un!).

Doltalagan moved into the attack, inflicting a wound on the orc, but receiving one in return. As the soldier plunged into the fray, he also took a savage cut from the orc before he finally fell.

As Hanar moved across the river to join Hallas, where they kill an orc brute foolish enough to chalange them unaided. One of the Orc Leader's bodyguard broke away and charged towards them.

But Hallas' soldier took him down, but suffered a wound himself.

Now the Leader and his 2 remaining guards rushed forward. Hanar dispatched one of the orcs, then swung at the leader, missed and took a nasty blow that drew blood.

The soldier took out the other bodyguard, but again missed the leader and took a viscous slash across the chest. Hallas charged into the fray, cutting the Leader across the leg, but taking two heavy blows in return, fortunately stopped by his armour.

Now a second group of refugees arrived.

The melee continued with Hallas almost slipping on the blood-soaked grass, taking a cut that sliced through his armour before stabbing the orc in return.

The soldier now attacked the orc, who parried the attack and felled the valiant man with his axe.

Iavasonnen tried a couple of long range shots at an orc brute, but missed as a sudden downpour made shooting even more difficult.

The epic fight continued with Hallas taking another wound before Hanar finished the orc off with a mighty blow of his axe. With the orc leader dead at least there wouldn't be any more orc reinforcements to come.

By now the orc archers were in range and as arrows started to fall around them, Hallas and Hanar fell back towards the ford. As the ran back, the dwarf took an orc shaft in the shoulder.

Iavasonnen decided it would be best to cross the river and close the range, but was ambushed by a sneaky as he started to move.

In the meantime Doltalagan and his soldier were engaging another horde of orcs.

Iavasonnen killed the ambushing orc, then rushed across the bridge, just as an orc brute started to move behind Doltalagan.

On the other side of the table, the orc archers moved forward to try and get eyes on Hallas and Hanar.

As the orcs close in of Doltalagan,  Yavasonnen gets his eye in and sticks the brute with 2 arrows.

The brute charges Doltalagan, who spins and cuts him down. Then, with the soldier's help, finishes off the last of the horde. Only one of the orc leadership, the last orc brute, remains on the table. Iavasonnen hits him with an arrow as Doltlagan moves forward, supported by the soldier.

The first group of refugees reach safety.

As the third group start their dangerous journey.

An orc rushes up behind Hanar, but Hallas intervenes and kills the orc.

The last orc brute charges Doltalagan, who deals a mighty blow that knocks the orc backwards.

Then the soldier thrusts with his spear, piercing the orc's armour as he crashes to the ground. The last orcs turn and flee, wailing in fear.

But a final volley of arrows strikes Hallas, two bounce of his armour but the third strikes home and he collapses in the middle of the ford. Hanar drags his body onto the bank as Doltalagan rushes over to utilise his healing skills.

A victory for the good guys, but at a heavy cost!
6 Experience Points for the party to split and 4 Renown. Doltalagan gets 2 RP (2 brutes), Hallas gets 1RP (brute) and Hanar also gets 1 RP (orc leader).

What of the fallen leader? Rolling on the Out of Action table he was "comatose but alive", so I playing it that Hallas is too badly injured to take part in the third scenario. That is going to make things difficult for the party next time!

Second Scenario for Sellswords and Spellslingers in Middle Earth

Hallas and his patrol have successfully given warning of the orc raid and troops are hastily being gathered. In the meantime there is a risk of the orcs raiding nearby farms and villages. Patrols have been sent out to warn civilians of the danger and gather them at places of refuge.

Save the Refugees

Hallas is leading a patrol directing locals to a fortified signal tower, which will be strong enough to resist any orcs in the short term. But a large party of orcs have been spotted, heading towards the tower. Can Hallas and his men hold the orcs back long enough to get the refugees into safety?

Terrain: A river runs east/west across the centre of the table with two crossing points. A road running parallel to the river along the southern table edge leads to the tower. Otherwise it is a flat area with rock outcrops bushes and clumps of trees.

A group of refugees is placed on the road at the western edge. There are two more groups of refugees who will enter on the Scenario Event card (I’m putting 2 of these in the deck).

Refugees activate at the end of the turn, after all the characters have had their go. They automatically move 8” each turn. If a PC is within 4” they will move as the PC directs them.

Unaccompanied refugees will either move eastwards along the road or, if there are any orcs within LOS and 8”, directly away from the orcs.

Foes:

● 1 randomly deployed Orc Chieftain with 3 Orc soldiers (bodyguards).

● 3 randomly deployed Orc Brutes.

● 2 randomly deployed horde of 3 Orc soldiers. A single horde is armed with short bows

● 3 randomly-deployed Orc soldiers.

Foes must be on the northern side of the river and at least 8” away from either crossing point.

(These are the foes I used for my solo game. If you are playing this scenario as a cooperative game use the following:

● 1 randomly deployed Orc Chieftain with 3 Orc soldiers (bodyguards).

● 2 randomly deployed Orc Brutes per player.

● 1 randomly deployed horde of 3 Orc soldiers per player. A single horde is armed with short bows

● 2 randomly-deployed Orc soldiers per player.)

Traps: There are no traps.

PC Deployment: PCs are deployed on any point to the south of the river AFTER all foes have been deployed.

Wandering Monsters: Roll d6. The wandering monsters arrives on a random table edge, d6 x d6” away from a random corner:

1-5 d3 Orcs (deploy as horde if 2-3 Orcs appear)

6 1 Troll (if the Troll is already on the table, ignore further 6’s).

NB: any orcs entering the table (except for ambush) can only arrive to the north of the river.

Victory Conditions: The mission is completed as soon all the villagers are safely in to refuge (or killed by the orcs), or if the orcs flee. 

If the orc chieftain is killed no more orcs will enter the table except on an ambush card. If the chieftain and all 3 brutes are killed, any surviving orcs will flee.

Experience rewards: The party gains 2 XP for each group of refugees that reaches the tower, or is on the table when the orcs flee.

Renown rewards: Killing the chieftain or a brute earns 1 RP each.

The problem with this scenario is that a viable tactic would be to hold the river crossings, but that could lead to a rather boring game as monsters need failed activations in order to move. To remedy this, after all the PCs have completed their turn there will be an additional Monster Frenzy phase. This will be the same as if a Monster frenzy card had been played, except this will only apply to monsters who have not moved or engaged in combat previously in the turn. 

I'm hoping to play this scenario through over the weekend.

First Middle Earth game with Sellswords and Spellcasters

I played my first game in my Arnor campaign, which I'm currently planning as a 3-game mini adventure (but that could change depending on what happens during the games).

Hallas and a patrol came across a mortally wounded royal messenger close to the Arthedain/Cardolan border. Before he died, the messenger told them that he had been ambushed by orcs and his message pouch had been taken. He did not know the content of the message, just that it was extremely important. Iavasonnen picked up the tracks of 4 Orcs and the group followed them for half a day before locating their camp at the edge of the Barrow Downs.

The orcs seemed agitated and Hallas feared they had been spotted, when he noticed a troll shuffling about nearby. That would account for the orcs' agitation!

As Hallas prepared to lead his men in a surprise attack, Iavasonnen scouted the enemy position. He swiftly returned with bad news, more orcs were approaching, a lot more, maybe a hundred or so. The orcs they had been tracking were obviously just the scouts for a much larger raiding party. They needed to escape fast and get word of the raid to the nearest garrison. The escape route would take them straight through the orc camp!

This game was going to be based on Scenario 1 in the rules Through the Badlands. The party needs to cross the table to reach safety and get word to the garrison. However, one of the 4 orc brutes starting on the table is carrying the lost message pouch, so retrieving that is also important. I was going to give Experience as per the scenario, but also give Renown points for attempting to retrieve the message. Each brute killed and searched had a chance of having the message, the first would have it on a roll of 5 or 6, the second on 4, 5 or 6, the third on 3, 4, 5 or 6 and the fourth would automatically be carrying the message. Characters got 1 Renown point for killing and searching a brute and a bonus Renown point for finding the message.

This has always been a hard scenario to win and I wasn't sure how it would go without a wizard to lob fireballs around!

 The first move went amazingly well, all the characters passed 3 activations! That had never happen before as the party rushed across the table with the orcs still unaware of their presence. Hanar then passed 2 more, failing 1 which meant the orc nearest him started to move closer.

 Now Iavasonnen failed two activations, which bought a horde of 6 orcs onto the table and allows the brute nearest Hanar to charge him. However the dwarf knocked the orc back, slicing him with his axe.

 In the meantime Hallas moved forward towards another brute who started to charge closer in resoponse (1 failed activation). Doltalagan almost flew across the table with 3 more passes.

 The newly arrived orc horde just milled around in confusion.

 Hanar finished the orc off and quickly search him, but no sign of the message!

 Hallas and his follower were charged by the nearest brute at the same time as a hidden orc sprung an ambush on Hallas.

 In the meantime Iavasonnen redeemed himself by taking out 2 of the orc horde with well placed arrows.

 Hallas and the orc brute battered away at one another, each wounding the other.

 Before Hallas' follower finished the orc off with a spear thrust. A quick search revealed no sign of the message here either.

 By now Doltalagan and his follower had closed on another orc brute, whilst keeping a wary eye on the troll.

 Hanar moved across to join Hallas, as the orc horde finally started to advance.

 Whilst more orcs started to arrive. After a vicious fight, Doltalagan killed the orc and found the missing meassage!

 Having made short work of the orcs, Hallas led the way towards the escape route.

 The party made a breack for it as the troll moved closer.

 Another ambush, but Hallas cut the orc down without even breaking his stride.

 All the party had now escaped, save Iavasonnen, who found the troll to be uncomfortably close now. However two passes (and the 20 cancelling out the fail) saw him nimbly slip past the troll to safety.

Leaving a very angry troll behind.

Well this was the easiest game of Scenario 1 I'd ever played, the first time I hadn't had at least two characters needing to be carried off by their friends! The dice certainly helped, just 5 fails in the first 36 activation rolls (I stopped keeping count after that!). When drawn, the cards had also fallen in my favour, only 3 cards brought more orcs onto the table and only 2 Ambush cards in the whole game!

I did not notice the lack of offensive magic, but then I hadn't had to deal with many orcs. The party had only engaged 7 orcs in close combat, killing them all. But still Doltalagan took 2 wounds and Hallas and one of the followers had taken a wound each. We shall see.