Over the long weekend I had due to school closings, Archer
and I played a couple more games, continuing to test the skirmish rule I have
developed. I decided to pull out
some really fantastic ruin pieces I purchased from Crescent Root Studio years ago. These were designed for 28mm but work
perfectly for 15mm.
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| Ruined City |
For this game Archer chose to play the adventurers.
He took a paladin, a fighter, a ranger,
a cleric, a druid, a wizard, a dwarf barbarian, and an elf assassin.
This gave him 3 close combat warriors,
2 long range figures, and 3 spellcasters.
After learning the dangers of splitting a small party in the previous
game, he set his figures up closer together.
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| The Adventurers |
I took a force of
troglodytes, led by a naga and its hook horror bodyguard.
I absolutely love these troglodyte
figures and can’t wait for them to be released for the general public in a few
weeks (the naga and hook horror will be in a second dungeon set coming later
this spring).
The trogs had two
powerful warriors, a wizard, 8 standard warriors, and a guardian lizard.
The naga was a powerful spellcaster and
the hook horror was a strong melee presence.
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| Troglodytes |
The trog force split their
force with 2 warriors, the chieftain, the naga and the hook horror on the left
flank and the rest of the force on the right flank, moving down the center of
the street.
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| Troglodyte Left Flank |
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| Troglodyte Right Flank |
In the opening moves the adventurers decided to stay
together and set out down the left flank towards the smaller, but stronger,
force of trogs. The wizard moved
out to the front with the assassin flanking him in order to get some early
spells in play.
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| Opening Moves |
Falling into the trap of over confidence, the trogs moved
too far up and immediately lost 2 warriors to a well placed fireball, which the
chieftain managed to survive with minimal burns. The ranger
placed a well shot arrow through the eye of the hook horror, dropping him
before he could reach the melee.
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| Fireball! |
Unfortunately for the adventurers, the guardian lizard moved
more quickly than anticipated on the right flank and charged the druid, who was
bringing up the rear with the cleric.
The fight was quick and bloody and suddenly the adventurers were down a spellcaster.
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| Fallen Druid |
Another group of troglodytes
moved down a center alley, hoping for an opportunity to strike at the wizard
and were met by the chieftain, who dashed across the rubble strewn courtyard to
reach the safety of the alleyway.
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| Sneaking up on a Wizard |
The naga stayed in the cover of a large piece of rubble,
hoping for a good opportunity to unleash his arsenal of spells.
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| The Naga |
The next turn brought a lot of action. The troglodytes won initiative and
charged the adventurers from two directions. The troglodyte brute rushed the cleric, who had hoped to
heal the druid but ran out of time.
The guardian lizard charged the assassin; the fighter was attacked from
the flank and the front, and the ranger was rushed by the troglodyte
chieftain.
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| A Bloody Fight! |
Four troglodyte warriors moved into position for a later
charge.
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| Troglodyte Right Flank Moves in |
After this round of combat, the situation looked dire for
the adventurers. The assassin
managed to kill the guardian lizard, but the cleric was smashed down by the
troglodyte brute. Though the
fighter eliminated the foe to his front, he fell to the foe on his flank. The troglodyte chieftain dropped the
ranger and suddenly the adventurers only had 4 models left.
Archer, refusing to break player morale, seized the
initiative and turned a tough situation around. His dwarf barbarian yelled his defiance and charged a
troglodyte warrior while the paladin used a heal spell to put the ranger back
into play. The elf assassin
charged the troglodyte wizard, who had gotten too close to the combat. In the game saving move, however, the
wizard cast a wall of fire, blocking the troglodyte brute and the four warriors
from being able to move into the rear and flank of the adventurers.
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| We Have a Chance! |
Brilliantly (and luckily) winning the initiative the next
turn allowed the adventurers to go a second time before the troglodytes could
move. The paladin and barbarian teamed up on the troglodyte chieftain while the
ranger moved into position to shoot at the naga. The elf assassin continued to fight the wizard, who had
managed to survive one round of combat.
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| The Fight Continues |
Suddenly, the situation
looked grim for the troglodytes and naga as the chieftain and wizard both fell, though the adventurers lost the paladin as well.
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| Die Monsters! |
Not to be taken for granted,
however, the nage moved into range and unleashed a fireball of its own, killing
the ranger but only slightly burning the assassin and dwarf.
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| The Naga's Fireball |
Winning initiative and being
out of spell points, the naga decided to run away and called to his remaining
forces to cover his getaway. The
adventurers moved into position for the next wave of troglodytes, who would be
charging once the firewall dissipated.
The elf assassin used the cover of a building and a handy window
to shoot at the troglodytes, without effect.
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| The Assassin Shoots |
When the final assault came
it was brutal. The troglodyte
brute fell before the dwarf and elf assassin, while the wizard cowered in the
corner out of spell points.
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| The Brute Falls |
The final four troglodyte
warriors fell beforet the elf and dwarf but not before fatally wounding the elf
assassin.
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| A Grim Situation for the Assassin |
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| End Game |
Overall, I am very happy with how these rules are playing
and will begin playtesting with two warbands against each other as opposed to a
warband vs adventurers.
In the coming weeks, I will be posting and asking for
playtesters. For now, it is just
nice to be playing some games!
