Science Fiction, Stargrunt

Stargrunt II House Rules, Part I

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Semi-Autonomous Combat System (SACS)

Fixed (sentry guns a la ‘Aliens’ movie) or Mobile (mini-tanks a la ‘X-Com’ computer game). (F-SACS or M-SACS)

Target as Size 1 point targets for both Fixed & Mobile.

Design:Fixed and Mobile SACS can mount any TWO SAW-type weapons, or any ONE of the following: any Class 1 heavy weapon, GMS/L or GMS/H.

Firing is as normal for vehicle-mounted weapons. Most SACSs will be SUP or EHN systems. SAW-mounting SACSs will roll Quality as VET (d10) plus one Support die per SAW. E.g. a twin Gauss SAW SACS will roll 3 d10s.

M-SACSs can be any Mobility type. Tracked and Grav are the two most commonly used Mobilities.

SACSs of both types have d10 Armour. F-SACS can be armoured up to d12 Armour; they can also be designed to retract into bunkers. While deployed in firing position, such F-SACS have either d10 or d12 Armour depending on design; when retracted, they are protected by the armour of the bunker housing them, but cannot fire. It takes 1 action to extend or retract such an F-SACS system.

SACSs do not get the usual ‘free’ SAW of other vehicles, only the weapons specified in their design.

Command & Control: SACSs are independent units, forming ‘squads’ of one or possibly two units. SACSs do not have Confidence levels, nor do they take Suppression markers from fire. SACSs can be activated during the regular turn sequence if desired, or left to engage targets on their own. For other applicable rolls, SACS are Leader 1s, and should be given any color 1 chit for recordkeeping.

M-SACS on independent activation can move half their regular movement (6″ or d12) with one or both of their actions.

SACS on independent free fire will fire at the END of all other activations.

ALL SACS WILL ALWAYS ENGAGE THE NEAREST TARGET TO THEM, modified by the following rules, and if two targets are at equal range, use the following rules. If two identical targets are at identical ranges, determine target randomly.

  • SAW-equipped SACS will target infantry over light (Size 1 and 2) vehicles, and those over larger vehicles.
  • Gun-equipped SACS (those with Size 1 weapons) will engage light vehicles and infantry equally (random roll if needed), and those over larger vehicles.
  • GMS equipped SACS will engage larger vehicles over lighter ones. They are incapable of engaging infantry, and will not do so.

There is one last way to activate SACS: as part of an infantry squad’s activation, with the SACS acting as a squad SAW. Both the infantry & the SAC System have to have LOS to the same target. The squad takes a Communication action as it’s first, then a Firing action. If the Comm roll is passed, the SACS adds it’s Support die to the squad’s fire, and both are then finished as usual. (The Reorg action represents the squad leader’s communications with the SACS AI system, and sharing of targeting information)

Limited Ammunition: Man-portable F-SACSs could have limited ammunition available in some scenarios. How limited depends on referee’s decision – I’d say four to six chits, each of which is one Firing action. As a carrying load, I’d say such an F-SACS would be an Encumbering load for three or four troopers.

Building-mounted F-SACSs or regular M-SACSs wouldn’t normally have ammo limits, save maybe for GMS units. If GMS/P equipped M-SACSs are used, they can only mount 1 GMS/P, but ignore or increase ammo limits.

Models: There are a couple of 25mm Sentry Guns, and otherwise they’d be good scratch-building or kitbashing projects. For a mobile system I’d be inclined to start with a largish 6mm tank chassis , and replace the turret – I’d think more of these systems would be open-mount type things, for weight saving.

John Crimmins wrote:
There was a pack of true 25mm Sentry Guns produced by Leading Edge Games. Not bad figures, but kinda drab. They do not look much like the ones from the movie. Grenadier/Scotia/etc. produced some Resin SGuns for the Kryomek line. These look more like permanent installations than anything else, but they are VERY nice indeed. And just last week, I saw a pack of SGuns for White Wolf’s “Trinity” line. Excellent sculpting, though they may be a bit big for some–they are 28mm scale. I’m certainly going to get a few packs, though, for use with my Grenadier “Future Warriors”. Lastly, didn’t GZG produce some mobile SGuns? I have at least one of them–a Gatling Gun mounted on a small hover chassis–and I seem to remember a GMS version, as well.

It sounds like 15mm Stargrunters are out of luck for the moment – it’s scratchbuilding or go without for us. Fortunately, I like scratchbuilding and kitbashing, so I’m modifying a spare 6mm grav MBT chassis into a single-SAW mounting M-SACS. I’m also going to get ahold of some larger grav or tracked tank hulls and make slightly larger M-SACS. Scratchbuilding F-SACS (sentry guns) will take a bit longer – some open-mount sentry guns first, then later bunker-mounted emplaced guns when I finally get started on buildings.

Brian Burger (thanks to GZG-L members as well)

Mounted Troops in Stargrunt II

Wayne Pollerd

In the following rules these term should be taken as:

  • Mounted infantry should be taken to mean an infantry squad riding small, unarmed one man vehicles, used mainly to enhance the moblity of the unit. This can include things like motor bikes, grav powered bikes or even jet skis.
  • Dismounted infantry is a mounted infantry squad that has gotten off their bikes.

MOBILITY
Being mounted on a bike gives mounted infantry a basic move of 12 and a combat move of D12 x 2. The mobility type of the bike (ie. Grav powered, high-mobility wheeled, etc) is used to determines the effects of terrain on the movement of a mounted infantry squad. In the case of grav powered bikes, the power plant is not powerful enough to allow them to use high mode movement or popup attacks. (This keeps the production costs down). When encumbered mounted infantry squads have a mobility of 10 and a combat move of D10 x 2.

Dismounted infantry use the mobility and terrain modifications to movement of normal infantry and when encumbered are effected as per normal infantry.

COVER
Mounted infantry squads can make full use of available cover but the mobility type of their bikes will will often limit the type of terrain they can enter. Mounted infantry squads can not go into position. Dismounted infantry follow the same rules for cover and terrain restrictions as regular infantry and if they go into position are assumed to have moved their bikes into covered positions as well (ie laid them on the ground).

PERSONAL ARMOUR
Due to the restrictive nature of powered armour, only troopers wearing non powered armour can be mounted on bikes. The norm is to wear partial light armour.

DISMOUNTING / REMOUNTING
Mounted infantry can dismount during a reorganise action. The advantage of this is that when dismounted they no longer have a range restriction on their weapons and they can also use any IAVRs they may be carrying (See Fire Procedure below). Unless you form a detached element the entire squad has to be either dismounted or mounted. While dismounted the squad is treated like a normal infantry squad which allows them to leave their bikes and move into buildings and other terrain that may have been impassible to them while mounted. To remount, the dismounted squad must be move so that all the dismounted figures and the bike models are within a 6″ diameter circle and then they need to perform a reorganise action.

MOVING BIKES ON FOOT
A dismounted infantry squad can move their bikes while on foot by the simply pushing them and should be considered encumbered for movement purposes while doing so. It takes one figure to move a single bike. Enemy squads can also move unattended bikes in the same manner, though they will have to deal with any guards first. If the dismounted infantry push their bikes into terrain that would normally be prohibited because of the movement type of the bikes, they can not mount their bikes again until they leave this terrain.

FIRE PROCEDURE
Shooting at mounted infantry: A mounted infantry squad is considered a size 1, dispersed target. The fact that they are mounted on small one man vehicles does not make them point targets. Hence when you shoot at a mounted infantry squad you use the standard fire procedure for firing at a normall infantry squad. This includes heavy weapons only getting an impact dice of a D8.

Shooting at dismounted infantry: When shooting at dismounted infantry use the normal fire procedure for shooting at a normal infantry squad and ignore the bike models. If a dismounted squad takes casualties that result in the death of a trooper, his bike will be left behind for latter salvage (assuming their side wins the battle). See MOVING CASUALTIES for more details. While dismounted, a mounted infantry squad is effected by all combat results as if they were a normal infantry squad.

Shooting at bike models: If a mounted infantry unit dismounts and then moves away from their bikes there is a possibility that the opposing player will want to shoot at the bike models. I would suggest that the bike models should not be considered a valid target but if you must shoot them, then treat each bike as an individual point target with armour 0 (D6). This means it will take a number of separate fire actions to destroy all the bikes and this is time you should really have been using to deal with the dismounted riders instead.

Mounted infantry shooting:
Due to the need to concentrate on manoeuvring their bikes across the battle field the mounted infantry do not have a lot of time to aim at distant targets. In fact a lot of their fire is just pointing their weapons in the general direction of the enemy and letting rip with a burst of fire, making it inaccurate at anything over close range. Hence mounted infantry weapons can only be fired at close range (within one range band). Due to the need to use one hand to steer and the fact that anything other than small arms is too cumbersome to carry and use on a bike, mounted infantry can only be armed with infantry small arms (No heavy weapons or support weapons). Theone exception to this is that mounted infantry may carry IAVRs strapped to their bikes but the IAVRs can only be fired when dismounted.

Suppression:
When a mounted infantry unit first receives incoming fire the troopers will do one of two things. If the fire is light and inaccurate the normal response is to hunch down low and gun the bike’s engine so as to quickly remove themselves from the fire zone. If the troopers judge the fire to de too dangerous to continue they will instantly bring their bikes to a sudden halt and quickly take cover on the ground, normally behind their recently vacated bikes. This has become know, rather affectionately amongst mounted infantry units, as a ‘crash dismount’. On the other hand normal leg infantry call it ‘cowering in the dirt and hugging your bike like a long lost sweetheart’ but everything depends on your point of view. A crash dismount is not meant to be a new action just a nice descriptive term for the result of failing the reaction test.

To see what your mounted infantry squads reaction to incoming fire is you should make a reaction test with a threat level based on the number ofsuppression counters it has. The threat level is +2 for the first counter and +4 for the second counter. If a mounted infantry squad gets a third counter they automatically perform a crash dismount with no reaction test being made. If a mounted infantry squad suffers a casualty from incoming fire they will also perform an automatic crash dismount again without a reaction test being made.

If a mounted infantry squad passes the reaction test to stay mounted they can continue to perform movement and leadership actions while affected by a suppression counter but no fire actions. They can also perofrm a reorganise action if they are in cover. Suppression counters can be removed as normal. A dismounted infantry squad and one that has performed a crash dismount are affected by suppression counters like a normal infantry squad and cannot remount until all its suppression counters have been removed.

A mounted infantry squad can only perform a close assault action if it currently has no suppression counters. See CLOSE COMBAT for more information about mounted infantry performing a close assault.

Suppression information about mounted infantry performing a close assault:
Suppression counters effect a mounted infantry squads ability to perform final defensive fire during a close assault in exactly the same way as they effect normal infantry and final defencive fire is the only way a mounted infantry squad can perform a fire action while affected by a suppression.

Casualties:
Casualties are determined for mounted infantry squads in the same manner as when firing at a normal infantry squad (ie. the fire needs to be fully effective and the firer needs to beat the armour dice of the trooper with his impact dice). If you get a kill result in it is assumed that you have hit and penetrated the fuel tank / engine compartment resulting in a spectacular explosion and crash that kills any riders. If you get a wounded result it is assumed that you have damaged the bike causing it to crash and in the resulting crash the rider is also wounded.

Treatment & Movement of Casualties:
During a reorganise action it is assumed that the squad members attempt to treat any casualties as well as attempting to repair damaged bikes. Roll a D6 for administering to the wounded as usual. If the roll results in a full recovery it is assumed that the squad members also manage to get his bike back into running condition. Any other result on the treatment dice means that the bike has been damaged beyond the ability of hasty field repairs to fix.

Moving Casualties:
Untreated casualties: When a mounted infantry squad moves with untreated casualties, it is assumed that two of the wounded troopers squad mates are holding the casualty onto his bike and moving the bike and rider along with the unit. This means it takes two squad members to move a single untreated casualty. The unit is considered to be encumbered when moving casualties.

Treated casualties: When a mounted infantry squad moves with treated casualties it is assumedthat the treated casualty is carried on the back of a fellow squad members bike. Hence it takes only one squad member to move a single casualty. The unit is also considered to be encumbered when moving treated casualties.

CLOSE COMBAT:

A mounted infantry squad can initiate and be the target of a close assault action like a normal infantry squad. If the mounted infantry squad is the attacker they get a ONE DICE SHIFT up for the first round of close combat, this die shift does not apply when they are the defender and is in addition to any other die shifts that they qualify for under as normal (ie. Cover, close assault weapons etc.).

If a close assault action continues past a single round of combat it is assumed that the mounted infantry has dismounted and if they are subsequently forced to withdraw from the combat they will abandon their bikes when they fall back. If they win the combat they will not pursue the enemy for this would mean abandoning their bikes also. If the combat is resolved in a single round the mounted infantry are assumed to still be mounted and can hence pursue the retreating enemy provided they pass therequired reaction test. This means that follow through attacks can only be carried out by mounted infantry if they defeat their opponents in a single round.

If a mounted infantry squad is the target of a close assault action, passes the confidence test to receive the charge and is still mounted and able to perform movement actions (ie. They have previously passed the reaction test for not doing a crash dismount. See SUPPRESSION above for details) the player can chose to have them withdraw even if they have suppression counters. If the mounted infantry is dismounted then they should follow the normal rules which in that case the suppression counter would stop them from withdrawing.

Mounted infantry who suffer the effects of final defensive fire while performing a close assault are affected in exactly the same manner as a normal infantry squad. If they suffer a casualty from final defensive fire they will not perform a crash dismount until after they have fallen back.

If involved in a close assault action, as either the target or attacker while dismounted, a mounted infantry squad should be treated like a normal infantry squad and receive the normal die shifts.

Wayne P

Conventions

Dragonflight 2000 convention report

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This is a repost of an old article from the old Warbard pages – Corey

I went to DragonFlight 2000 in Seattle, WA at the end of August, same as last year. Here’s some pictures of the events I saw and ran, along with lengthy babbling on the whole thing… Enjoy!

Continue reading Dragonflight 2000 convention report →

Fantasy

Tony’s Undead FR! battle report

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This is a battle report from the old Warbard – Corey

Tony wrote this battle report after our most recent FR! game, the first in which his Undead appeared.
—

“When an invading force crosses a river in its onward march, do not advance to meet it in midstream. It is best to let half the army get across and then deliver your attack” – Sun Tzu, The Art of War.

On Wednesday night, Brian, Mike, Darren and myself played out a 750 point FR! battle. Mike and I allied against Brian and Darren.

It was cool to finally get a game with some undead on the table. I had some lucky rolls, but overall I was pleased with how they played. They are pretty tough to kill (being undead and all), and demoralization is a waste of time. I did manage to summon one unit back, although it was rather difficult. I always find that few spells go through in FR! Part of it is that the army pool is always so much bigger than the second level magic users pool, so it is easier to dispell than cast.

It is tough to say where the battle was won or lost. I think that the western side where Mike was was decided by his massed archers. That gave him the ability to sit on the south shore of the river and fire arrows at the dwarves. That destroyed one unit, and broke up the line enough that his troops could get across the river. Also, Brian had a series of abysmal rally rolls…

On the eastern side, the early loss of the battlewagon was disheartening for the dwarves. They never really recovered from that. The skeletons were able to prevent the human villagers from attacking the flank, and managed to roll really well in combat. By the time the wolves were in striking distance, that part of the battle was already over, with only one dwarven unit left standing.

Tony

Fantasy

Three-player FR! – Capture the Flag!

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This is a battle report from the old Warbard – Corey

This is a battle report from this summer – I wrote it up for the Chipco List, but just found it again and realized I’d never HTML’d it. Here it is, then. Enjoy!

Had an interesting 3-way FR! fight last night – three 750pt low magic armies, racing to grab an ‘alien artefact’ that was in the center of the table in a stone circle.

The ‘Capture the Flag’ format works really well for more-than-two-player matchups. It was close and tense right until the end!

The armies this time were Dwarven, Medieval human, and Orc/goblin. First turn, the humans Flew a HW w/ Hero into the stone circle, grabbing the artefact. The rest of the forces raced toward the center, with Orc forces moving to block the human’s retreat.

The Orc wolves and wolfriders hit the flanks of teh human force, while the orc infantry and the dwarves faced off up on the central hill and the human HW w/ the artefact ran as hard as they could – the humans couldn’t manage another Flight spell.

The dwarven infantry blew away the orcs & goblins, swiftly reducing them to utter rout, but the humans deployed a few units in a screen to stop the dwarves, sacrificing them to get the HW w/ artefact marched off the table. Damned close – the humans left the table at One on the Morale Clock…

The Dwarves were left in possession of the field, but the humans had the powerful mystic artefact!

If you want to do multi-sided FR!, I really recommend trying the Capture the Thing idea – makes for a really good game.

The advantage of a “Capture the Flag” game is that it doesn’t make any sense to hang back – you either want to grab the ‘flag’ first, or go beat on the guy who grabbed the flag and grab it from him.

The other thing to do (ahem…) is have a beer with your game… puts you in that “charge…charge…charge!!” medieval frame of mind! If you’re running an actual Medieval army – knights and all – have two beers. (but not if you’re driving home right afterward, of course…)

Conventions

Dragonflight 1999 convention report

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August 27th, 28th, and 29th 1999 I was down in Seattle, WA for the DragonFlight convention, held on Seattle University’s parklike campus just east of downtown Seattle. I had a great time, shot most of a roll of film, and wish I’d shot more. Here’s the best of the photos, and some notes on the games.
Continue reading Dragonflight 1999 convention report →

Fantasy

Gladius & Axe: Roman Early Imperial Legions Vs. Dwarven Axedwarves

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This is a battle report from the old Warbard – Corey

Neil and I had a very interesting FR! battle on Sunday – 1000pts of Dwarves vs. 1000pts of Romans. These are the two ultimate Handweapon armies – fairly small battlelines of really, really good troops. My Dwarves had a Light-Artillery equipped Battlewagon, a flying Small Monster, 1 Elite HW, 8 regular HW and 3 crossbow units. The crossbows had stakes, and the regular HW all had Bombs. Two Traps filled out the list.

Neil’s Romans were an entirely ‘straight’ historical early Imperial army – a line of Elite HW Legions with throwing weapons, backed by bow-armed Skirmishers, with some throwing-weapon equipped Mobs and Light & Heavy Cav as support, and one light artillery piece.

What was really unique was that the Romans had no magic user at all, while the Dwarves had a Level 2 War Cleric. As it turned out, this mattered less than you might think. The Romans stubbornly refused to believe that magic was really happening, it seems – using just their Army Pool, and some luck, they stopped the bulk of my spells in their tracks!

The battlefield was quite crowded – a very large hill and a pair of smaller hills dominated the center of the field, with a river and small forested area off on one flank.

Roman setup had the Legions, skirmishers and light arty. together in line, at the back of the large hill. The mobs deployed along the bottom of the large hill, and the cavalry deployed farther out along the flanks, the bulk of it on the right flank.

Dwarven setup was my standard Dwarven setup – a line of 6 HW, with refused flanks of crossbows & HW and a pair of HW behind the main line as reserves. The battlewagon was on the right flank with two of the CB units, facing down the Roman cavalry. I`ve found that this double-refused flank with reserves setup works very well with Dwarves, and helps protect this slow-moving army`s flanks very well.

Both armies advanced slowly toward each other, the Dwarven light arty getting a couple of shots in, but the Roman artillery being masked by the bulk of the hill they were behind.

The Dwarven wargod`s Avatar, summoned by the War Cleric, howled forward and engaged the Legion`s righthand units, being banished shortly but throwing that flank into terrible disorder. Down on the flat, the Dwarven CB deployed their stakes and faced down the Roman cavalry, with both Traps holding units stationary for turn after turn, securing the flank. The battlewagon had charged forward to attack the cavalry, being eventually surrounded and destroyed but fighting grimly for many turns and leaving the cavalry in disarray.

The first clash of the infantry battlelines was thunderous – Dwarven Bombs versus Roman pilum and shortbow, with the bombs destroying the center of the Legion`s line, including the light artillery piece. Although the Dwarves were fighting uphill the whole time, they generally prevailed, gradually grinding the Legion down, although not without cost.

One notable (although temporary) setback for the Dwarves came when a valiant Roman mob beat a Dwarven HW unit twice, throwing it back off the hill in disorder, although not destroying it.

On the left flank, the Dwarven flying small monster (a small Silver Drake) had flown forward and destroyed the only Roman Light Cavalry unit on that flank, while HW & CB units slowly flattened the Roman mobs.

The Dwarven general challenged a Roman Hero to a duel, but the craven Roman, muttering something about `…being an officer, not a duelist, dammit…` went and hid in the rear ranks. The Roman general had more guts – and, as it turned out, more skill, slaying the Dwarf general in epic single combat. The Dwarven axers where not much dismayed, however, and continued to battle it out with the Legions, although both armies where now very much in disorder. (Both armies had been chasing each other down the moral clock, with the Dwarves hitting 4 first, then stopping at 3 while the Romans continued to fall…)

The turning point came when the Dwarven Silver Drake shook off it`s fatigue and soared over the Roman lines, terrifying and then destroying first a unit of skirmishers and then a Legion HW unit, while at the same time the Dwarf War Cleric convinced the wargod to return, slaying one of the trapped Roman Heavy Cav units. Dwarven axers continued to fight grimly, and some sembelence of order was imposed on sections of the Dwarven line.

All of this was too much for even valiant Legionnaires to take, and the Romans fell back, ceding the field to the Dwarven forces!

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Thoughts on ‘Magicless’ FR! Games: I’m not going to claim that magic had no effects at all on this fight – the Dwarven wargod’s Avatar was instrumental twice, although he didn’t stick around a long time. Part of this has to do with the peculiar nature of the War Cleric’s spells – the bulk of them are far more subtle and tactical, so that while they can change the outcome of the game, they’re not going to do it single-handedly. Even if you had a more distructive spellcaster – the Fire Shaman comes to mind – the deciding factor of the battle is always the actual clash of units, and usually the clash of battlelines.

It also shows off, I think, the integrity of the FR! ruleset – the tactical, combat part of the rules are sound enough, and the magic is not generally overpowering, so that a pure tactical combat army – which is what Neil’s Romans were – can still give a magic-enhanced army a stiff fight. This game, as I said in the report, was neck-to-neck almost right to the end. A really great game!

Fantasy

Grashnek da Uruk on Unbolg’s big raid into ‘uman territ’ry

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This is an old battle report from the original Warbard – Corey

We had a Medieval Human vs Orc FR! fight Tuesday (April 27, 1999), and I’ve finally written a battle report. This one’ s from the Orc point of view (after all, victors write history, right?) and I had a lot of fun writing it!

The fight was a 750pt Orc army vs a 750pt Medieval army.

Grashnek da Uruk on Unbolg’ s big raid into ‘ uman territ’ ry

So, da big boss Unbolg, he decide dat de Dwarfs, dey’ re entire too tough. Lousy eatin’ and dem buggers is bloody good fighters, too. Dey maul de Tribe when we last went into Dwarf territ’ ry, so Unbolg look for easy pickins.

He say he found good target for da raids in territory of ‘ uman lady, da Duchess of Sout’ fold. Humans is better eatin’ an’ da horse is better eatin’ still, sez Unbolg. Da snagas go “Whoo-hoo!” – it don’ t take much to get dem snaga excited. Me, I tink damn kniggets on big damn ‘ orse is pretty mean, but Unbolg got ‘ dat look’ , mean and set in ‘ is ways. It’ s why ‘ e’ s still da Boss.

So we wanders into ‘ uman territ’ ry, a big mob of da snaga, a bunch of us uruk, lots o’ dem mad frotin’ -at-da-mout’ wargs, some wit’ snaga ridin’ dem, and a couple a dem big, big trolls. Boy, do dose troll buggers stink! Unbolg was da Boss, o’ course, and I’ m like da other kinda boss, cause I’ m meaner dan most, and I gets to carry da big big Banner, wit’ flames all over it. We had dat mad bugger Graz and ‘ is drum, and dat ‘ orrible little snaga fire shaman, cause for a snaga ‘ e’ s mean, and ‘ e’ s got a way wit da fire. A bunch of dem archer-uruk came, too.

We come up over a bunch a hills, an dere’ s dis little village of da ‘ umans, wit lots a dere peasant types running’ away when dey sees da big Banner overhead! We kinda start chargin’ toward da village, wit’ da wargs and da snaga-riders on da sides and dose stoopid archers ahead. Calls demselves Uruk, dey do! Da cheek of it!

Den dere’ s big, big walls of flame and all ‘ orribleness in front of us! Da snaga charge at it, but dere afraid, no surprise dere. Dere was a damned ‘ uman mage or sommat in da area! So we kinda move to da left, up onto da hill, wit’ da snaga in front and us uruk behind, and da archer types even farther ahead.

Da archer-types, dey say ders great big bloody ‘ orses on da plain, all covered in cloth and wit’ guys in armour on da backs of ‘ em! Da bloody ‘ uman knights ‘ ad showed up, and dey were gonna fight! Dere was ‘ uman footmen wit’ da big swords down dere as well, but da mad warg poured all over dem and dey wasn’ t doing so good.

Graz da Mad an’ ‘ is drum lead a couple mobs o’ snaga into da town, and da snaga on wargs are goin’ round da far side, and da little shaman, ‘ e sez for sure ders a damn ‘ uman mage in da area, cause ‘ e can feel da spells. Dere’ s more flames and ‘ orribleness in front of us, but da Boss Unbolg he sez to charge da flames, dat dere fake like! So we do, an’ ya know, dey were fake?! Damn ‘ uman mage, ‘ e could only do illusions like!

Da archers were shootin’ at da knights on da plain, and dey actually brought a bunch o’ dem down, filled full o’ arrows! Damn good, I’ ll say, even if dey ain’ t uruk! Da shaman, ‘ e was keepin’ da ‘ umans confused wit’ big damn walls o’ flame and by makin’ ‘ em all real hot, so dey couldn’ t move like. Dat shaman was pretty hot, ya know?

Da snaga ridin’ warg were away on da side, but we could see dem messing wit’ some knights, running around dem an’ shootin’ , and dem knights couldn’ t catch dose fast wolves, so dat was looking pretty good.

Da ‘ umans were gettin’ a bit discouraged, I tink, and mebbe slowin’ down a bit, but dey was still tough basterds, and da batch dat came ‘ round da forest ahead of us, dey were even tougher looking, and dat Duchess, she was wit’ dose knights, so dey’ d fight real good! Da shaman cast lots o’ walls a flame, and cut da mean-looking knights off, but da other knights ran over da last o’ dose mad wargs, and nearly all da archer-types was run down as well, but da ‘ uman’ s were loosing, and dey knew it too.

Da end came wit’ out me even ‘ aving to fight, and I calls dat pretty good! Dose wolf-snagas swarmed all ov’ r some knights dat were fightin’ wit some snaga mobs, and da surrounded knights went down, and da rest kinda ran away, but dey left lots an’ lots o’ ‘ orses an’ ‘ umans on da field, so we had a good feed and got to plunder dat village, and it was pretty damn good, ya know? Dat village burned real nice, too.

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Postscript: I’m in the middle of reading “The Art of War in the Middle Ages” by Charles Oman (my light recreational reading of the moment) and ran across this passage:

“…each commander took his own route and made what speed he could, the French army arrived upon the field in dozens of small scattered bodies. These were attacked in detail, and in many cases routed by the Mamelukes. No general battle was fought, but a number of detached and incoherent cavalry combats had all the results of a great defeat. A skirmish…would overthrow the chivalry of the West, even when in went forth in great strength and was inspired…” (pg 59)

Now, substitute “Duchess of Westfold” for ‘French’ and ‘West’, and “Orcs” for ‘Mamelukes’, and we have a perfect snyopsis of Tuesday’s FR! fight between Tony’s medieval humans and my orcs and goblins!

“Art of War in the Middle Ages” is a great book – I highly recommend reading it.

Fantasy

Battle #2: The Duchess of Southfold’s War on the Dwarves

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This is an old battle report from the original Warbard – Corey

750pt Dwarves (Corey) vs. 750pt Medieval Humans (Brian).

The Duchess of Southfold did declare war upon the Dwarves, declaring that Dwarves were offensive, thieving, braggartly, and furthermore were foul to look upon. Summoning a great host of knights (4 Knights), her personal knightly retinue (2 Elite Knights) a lesser host of lowly footmen (4 Handweapons, 1 Mob of peasants), and many of the great nobles of the land, including Sir Danel, Master of Horse (Hero w/ Exeptional Weapon), Sir Vilheim, Master of Foot (Hero) and the ignoble but skilled illusionist Sarnain (1st Level Illusionist Hedge Mage), she did lead her troops against the offensive Dwarves. (the Duchess was her own General.)

Greatly alarmed at this mighty host, the Thane of Greymount (General) mustered a great host of axedwarves (6 Handweapon), his personal Guard (1 Elite Handweapon), the crossbowdwarves (3 Xbow), a party of Bearriders (1 Hvy Cav, causes fear), and his great battlewagon (Battlewagon w/ Hvy Arty). The great heroes of the realm accompanied him (2 Heroes), as did a Cleric of the Wargod (1st Lvl War Cleric).

The human army moved through great woods towards the River Flueve, which was entirely fordable at this, the height of summer. The footmen did hang back, not desiring to combat the superior Dwarven forces, whilst the great body of Knights, lead by the Duchess and her Master of Horse and the illusionist Sarnain, did crash through the forest in hope of outflanking the Dwarves.

The Dwarves had drawn up their great infantry battleline, with crossbows on the flanks and a smaller party of axedwarves in reserve, and hoped to move forward to contact the knights whilst they were still struggling to leave the river. Sarnian, however, skillfully cast illusions, which had the appearance of great walls of flames, and did prevent much of the movement the Dwarves had hoped to make.

Thus the knights were able to cross the river and deploy unmolested, and form up great ranks to thunder upon the Dwarves, spitting them with lances and trampling them underfoot. The knightly ranks did wrap entirely around the Dwarven line, and the further part of the Dwarven line fell before the knights, yet the knights were greatly in disarray from their charge, and there were still many Dwarves upon their flanks.

Furthermore, a party of Dwarven Bearriders had come over a great hill and fallen upon the human footmen far behind. The great warrior Vilheim, who was Master of Foot for the Duchess, slew the Dwarf Razan Bearrider in epic single combat, but was lost when the vengeful Bearriders destroyed his men about him. Despite their loss and the terror the bears stirred in men’s guts., the footmen continued to hold off the Bears.

All might still have been lost if it had not been for the skillfully cast illusions of Sarnian, who made it seem as if great lines and walls of fire blocked the Dwarven advance, thus allowing the knights to dress their lines and fall upon the enemy again. Thus trapped between great lines of knights and the river, their own lines in terrible dissarray, the Dwarves fled, or fell, or surrendered, each according to his own fate.

More battle reports coming soon.

Fantasy

FR! Battle #1: Unbolg the Uruk Offends the Dwarves

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This is an old battle report from the original Warbard – Corey

750pt Dwarven force (Joel commanding) vs 750pt Orc/goblin force (Brian commanding).

The foul uruk-hai and snaga underlings of the uruk chief Unbolg had been raiding and plundering the fringes of Dwarven territory for too long already, and their latest move was the last straw: the uruk had moved into and desecrated a hilltop site dedicated to the Dwarven Smith-God. Mustering the axedwarves and warriors of the realm, the Thane of Greymount marched out to recover the holy site.

The Dwarves had a great body of axedwarves (7 Handweapons), the best of whom were in the Greymount Guard (1 Elite Handweapon). Two companies of crossbowdwarves (2 Crossbow), a unit of feared Bearriders (Hvy Cavalry, causes Fear) and a great balista-mounting battlewagon (Battlewagon w/ Hvy Arty) completed the Dwarven line. Thorin Silvershield (Hero) was first amongst the Axedwarves, and Razan Bear-rider (Hero) lead the Bearriders into combat. The Thane himself lead the army (General), and an outraged Cleric of the Smith-God (1st Lvl War Cleric) accompanied the force.

The Uruk of Unbolg were not many (3 Handweapons) but were accompanied by a great mob of slave-orcs (6 Mobs of snaga) and a group of terrible Trolls (1 Elite Handweapon), while the low-ranking Uruk took up their bows (4 Skirmishers). The wargs and their riders rounded out the force (2 Light Cavalry wolfriders; 2 Small Monster units of wargs). Unbolg himself lead the force, waving his plundered Dwarven axe overhead (General w/ Exceptional Weapon). The Uruk Grashnek carried the revered tribal Banner of the Flame God (Hero w/ Army Standard), and Garz the Mad hammered his drum to inspire the troops (Bard) and aid the slimy snaga shaman Sqee (1st lvl Fire Shaman) in incinerating the hated Dwarves.

Battle was joined in a narrow valley between the holy hill and a larger hill toward the river. The warg-riders poured ahead on the right flank, the wargs moved onto the large hill to the left flank, and the main orc mass moved ahead slowly, with the skirmishers out in front. The Dwarves advanced in two lines of infantry, one behind the other, with the Bearriders and battlewagon gaurding the right flank and the Greymount Gaurd on the left flank.

The first clash came when the artillery of the battlewagon fired upon the snaga wargriders, who pressed on until fully half of them were destroyed, the remainder falling back to find easier targets.

As the Dwarves moved forward, they encountered the uruk skirmisher screen, the foul arrows of which slew many great Bears and their riders, utterly destroying the unit. Undismayed, the Dwarves slew many skirmishers with crossbow fire until the remainder fled behind the main body of the uruk, there to harass the enemy with bowfire.

A great fight developed on the very top of the sacred hill, as a Dwarven crossbow unit that had pressed ahead was attacked by a great mob of snagas and the wolfriders pressed upon their flanks. The great battlewagon thundered to their aid, but too late, as the crossbow Dwarves were swarmed under by the snagas, who were inspired by the great Flame Banner in their midst. The snaga found themselves overmatched by the great battlewagon, however, which crushed them under it’s great wheels.

Down below in the valley, the two infantry lines impacted with a great noise and greater slaughter, as the Dwarves had been filled with the battle-lust and power of their Wargod, and their rage was terrible to look upon. The uruk and snaga had fully half their battleline obliterated in the first minutes of combat, and the remainder were sore pressed despite the power of the Trolls and the efforts of the snaga fire shaman, who did summon great sheets of flame to protect the flanks of the surviving uruk and snaga.

On the far left flank, the ravening packs of wargs had been driven back and destroyed by crossbowdwarves and axedwarves, although the unit of crossbowdwarves had fallen when the great berserk fury of the Wargod siezed them and dashed them against the wargs, who were still more terrible that the berserker Dwarves.

The horribly outnumbered, outflanked and hard pressed remenants of the tribe of Unbolg fled cravenly into the wilds, and never troubled Dwarven lands again.

Great game – hope my opponent enjoyed it as much as I did. More battle reports coming soon.

Wargaming & Such (formerly Brian's Wargaming Pages)