Midgard The Iron Valley Campaign Game 2

 We played through the second scenario in the Midgard Iron Valley campaign.

Scenario B: Trouble at Saltsee., Prinzessin Adalheid’s advance party of Dwarves clash with Khrag Bittercleaver’s Orcs over the lakeside village of Saltsee. The dwarves have been cought out while some of the force are off scouting. Can the Prinzessin hold out until the reserves arrive?

For this game I went for two units of Shieldmaidens (a mix of spears and bows, less punch than the Long Axes, but equally strong armour) supported by two units of Troll-Foes (fanatics, deadly in the initial combat, but less staying power once suffering casualties) and my only giant. Finally I had a unit of skirmish Hunters in the village to protect my flank. Arriving sometime in turn 2 or 3 was a unit of Bear Riders and another unit of Troll Foes.

Mark went for less Goblins and more Soldier-Orcs, supported by a unit of Troll-Bloods, a unit of true Trolls and some wolf riders.

The Orcs initial deployment, that impassable rocky outcrop interfered somewhat with his original ideas. 

So he decided to mass most of his force, and all his elite units, on one flank, intended to quickly extend his line using the skirmishers and wolf riders.

 Then screen the village with a weaker contingent.

The Dwarves deployed with the flanks protected by the village and skirmish archers at one end and the giant at the other!

TURN ONE

The main orc force advanced...

...with wolf riders moving out to turn the flank.

The Dwarves held their ground, other than the giant turning to face the wolf rider. Initial archery was fairly ineffective, other than the Dwarf Hunters inflicting a casualty on the Orc Skirmishers.

TURN TWO

The main Orc attack closed in, but some poor activation rolls meant that the wolf riders were unable to get close to the giant (who can blame them?).

On the other flank theOPrc bowmen screen the village and the Soldier-Orcs started to turn towards the main Dwarf positions.

The Dwarf reinforcements failed to turn up, so they would arrive at the start of Turn  Two. This meant things were looking a bit nasty for the Dwarves, who responded in typical Dwarf fashion by charging forward, crashing into the Troll-Bloods, throwing them back with heavy casulaties.

TURN THREE

The Dwarf reinforcements arrived, in the corner furthest away from the main action! Whilst the fast-moving Bear Riders might play a part, the unit of Troll-foes had no chance of reaching the battle in time.

In the centre, fresh Orc units and Trolls charged into the ongoing melees. At the same time both units of wolf riders charged the giant.

The Dwarves took heavy casualties, but forced the Orcs back and cut down half the towering Trolls, whilst the badly wounded giant tramples a unit of wolf riders into the dust. 

Khrag Bittercleaver fell in the vicious melee with Prinzessin Adalheid and her Shieldmaidens. The Bear riders closed in on the flank of the orc archers but failed to make contact.

TURN FOUR

The Orcs managed to extract the decimated Troll-Bloods and replace them with fresh units as the carnage continued. A unit of Troll-foes fell, as did the unit of Trolls and a unit of Soldier-Orcs.

Whilst facing the remaining wolf riders, the giant was charged in the flank by fresh Orcs. The huge creature finally succumbed to his wounds, but not before he had effectively destroyed the second unit of wolf riders.

In the Dwarf phase I kept up the attack as four more Orc and Goblin units dissolved under the Dwarf onslaught.

At the end of Turn Four the Orc Reputation had fallen to -5 to the Dwarf +6. An overwhelming victory to the Dwarves!

Victory came just in time, as I had three units at the point of collapse. If the Orcs could have lasted another turn, it might have been a very different outcome.

In campaign terms the results were much closer. I had lost my only giant and a unit of Troll-foes, both of which could not be replaced. Mark had lost his only unit of true Trolls, but he still had three giants. All his other losses were just orc and goblin sword fodder, easily replaced in future games.