Attack on Jomstead, Orcs and Goblins clash playing Warlords of Erehwon.

 Attack on Jomstead

A day of pure gaming pleasure today. Friend Chris and his nasty Orcs came up for a game of 'Warlords of Erehwon'. His Orcs were facing my goblins again in a glorious old school figure fest. Very few of the figures on the table were around before the year 2000. It was 899 points per side. 

Being the host I created the scenario which was as thus...

Kruk the Destroyer looked down on the green fields below. All looked calm. His scouts had told him of the easy target for loot at the remote settlement of Jomstead. As Kruk formed his plan, (mainly suggested of course by Gurk his mage and chief advisor). Gurk suddenly called out “Boss look, it’s them damned Orcs again”

Kruk snarled in response, “ Get those sparkly spells of yours ready Gurk, it’s time to grab some loot and sort out those pesky Orcs of the Severed Hand once and for all”. 

As Kruk glanced across to the far side of the valley he could see the Orc Leader Hasgar Sheol pointing up at him and his goblin horde, was the rancid orc actually laughing at him???

Kruk roared in anger, “ Come on lads, we have work to do”!

Set Up: Jomstead is a small farm of a couple of huts and a field or two, centrally placed on the table. Each player throws a d6, the score determines which table section they will be allowed to deploy in, upto 12” in. 

Players will need to roll randomly to decide who is nominally the attacker or the defender. Highest throw choose’s. The attacker gets to choose whether to deploy along the northern or the southern edge. 

Deployment: Each long table edge is divided into 3 equal sections, numbered 1,2 on the western edge, 3,4 in the centre section and 5,6 by the eastern flank. 

Each player throws a d6, the score determines which table section they will be allowed to deploy in, up to 12” in. (see map).

Objective: the objective is for both sides to acquire loot from raiding Jomstead (and hopefully Victory Points too) and if they can kill the enemy leader so much the better.  

Game Duration: the game lasts until one side reaches its Break value or until 6 turns have passed. At the end of turn 6 roll to see if a seventh final turn is played. 

Victory: the side that acquires the most Loot and Victory points is deemed the winner. To claim loot, any one unit or character from a force must spend one turn stationary next to  any of the buildings in Jomstead. 

Jomstead Farm is home to Jom the farmer and his son Osbet. If looting Jomstead throw once on the Loot Chart for each building looted. Jom and Osbert are trying to flee with some of their livestock. At the start of the game (and each other turn) throw a d6 +5” and also throw a random direction dice. This is how many inches that Jom and Osbert have fled from the centre of their farm. Jom and Osbert have a base of livestock or a wagon each. Any player that moves a unit or character into contact with one of these bases also throws 1xd6 on the Loot Chart and places the livestock base at the rear of their unit. 

Note: Loot can be swapped about amongst friendly units by simply having the units move into contact. Loot can also be stolen by an enemy unit that defeats any unit holding loot. 

Players can also gain Victory Points by causing the death of the opposing leader. If either Kruk the Destroyer or Hagor Sheol are killed the opposing player earns an extra 3 VP. If Kruk or Sheol actually deal their foe the actual final death blow they will earn an extra 5 VP.

Special Scenario rules: Loot: when a player loots a building or wagon, throw a d6 on the Loot Chart below to find out how much loot they have collected. 

D6 score…	Loot
1-3	1 loot
4-5	2 loot
6	3 loot

Jom and Osbet, having spotted the Orcs and Goblins round up their livestock and possessions and are ready to flee. 

With dice having decided that the Orcs were to be classed as the attackers we started pulling order dice out of the bag for deployment. 

Hasgar Sheol deploying his troops. 

Deployment, orcs on the bottom left, goblins right centre. This random deployment left the goblins a bit closer to the village which proved to be an advantage. 

Jom and his son started to run off. I think we were so worried about what each other was doing we left them to it until it was too late and neither were caught. . 

Moves from turn 1, note the two units of gobbledogs near the village,(mine look like wolves) about to get into melee. 

The orcs try to sneak some archers round the goblin flank. 

Note the runic stone fantasy scenery that Chris has made and gifted to me today, thank you my friend. 

The goblin gobbledogs made short work of the orc ones, leaving just their dying leader, Grasak Kar who made a lovely snack for my gobbledogs.  

Turn two saw some goblin warriors enter Jomstead and start grabbing some loot. 

The goblin dervishes by the tree proved to be very effective, destroying two orc units including their Shaman which was a very good thing as we were wary of his 'Fiery Balls' 

I thought I had taken more photo's but I must have got too interested in the game. 

Gurk the goblin shaman finally got round to casting his 'Timidity' spell during turn 3. He badly affected 3 orc units making it difficult for Chris to activate them with the number of pins they had now suffered. 

A second goblin warrior unit looted the other building and both goblin units with loot started to withdraw. 

Trying to force his way back into the game the Orc leader Hasgar led his unit into battle only to be defeated and he ran off with the few remaining warriors of his bodyguard.  

Kruk was charged by a large unit of Orc warriors but he and his (newly painted) bodyguard defeated the orcs in melee but only Kruk was left alive. 

By this point things were looking bad for the orcs. Chris charged another orc warrior unit into  the goblin archers on the edge of the wood. Amazingly, the goblins even won this melee by just one point and the orcs failed their break test. I certainly got the best of the dice throwing today. 

With the orc horde now down to half and even some of them running off a victory to the goblins was declared. They had earned 4 victory points and the orcs 0. 

We both really enjoyed this game and feel we are getting a clearer understanding of the rules. The dervishes performed very well and Gurk's 'Aura of Timidity' spell was cast at just the right time. Good dice throwing when casting the spell made it very effective. Kruk certainly enjoyed watching Hasgar Sheol run away. What a great way to spend a day. 

I have a sneaky feeling that Chris will also be writing a blog, proving perhaps that history is not always written by the victor. 

After the battle Kruk was seen giving this guy some of his loot. 

"Ere" said Kruk, "what is that mad stuff you give the dervishes Gurk?"

"Oh, that is some powerful stuff" answered Gurk, "why?"

"I just put some in your tea" answered Kruk. 

Capture the Bridge: 15mm General D'Armee v2.

 Nigel very kindly hosted us today for a 15mm game of General D'Armee. The scenario was kept small with a simple objective of capture the bridge for both sides. I was using my British with Ian as my Prussian allies, meaning that Nigel was in control of the French. Deployment was simple with no side out scouting the other. 

There were two fords so I sent my cavalry off across the ford to threaten the French cavalry and their horse artillery support. 

The French cavalry and artillery waiting for me. 

Crossing the ford slowed my cavalry advance. 

The view down the table from our Prussian flank. The Prussians (on the right) were to try and prevent any French advance on that side. Ian boldly sent his Infantry across the river and took the battle to the French. 

Ian sending his Prussians forward; sadly he deployed his artillery support badly and failed to get much use out of them all game. However, his advance across the river really tied the French up on that flank. 

Nigel charged his cavalry into my  British Heavy Dragoons just after they got across the river. The dice were with the British as we defeated the French heavies and spent the next few turns out fighting all of his cavalry brigade. 

British cavalry pursuing the retreating French.

The British cavalry pursued the French right across the board, effectively destroying their cavalry. 

In the centre the British Line Infantry got onto the bridge first and managed to hold off two French attacks. The second French assault had come in the very last turn of the game, and with the French centre foot Brigade now wavering and pulling back gave the victory to the British and their Prussian allies. 

Over on the Prussian flank, they suffered many casualties and really could have done with their artillery support. However, Ian had completely stalled the French advance there allowing the British to secure the bridge. 

Another fun game but as always we managed to come up with new situations where we had to stall the game whilst we checked how to work various situations out correctly. We certainly got aspects of the British v French cavalry melee wrong but we also then learned how to do it correctly. We play again next week but in the Peninsula rather than in France. 

 

 

Old School Goblin Goodies

 With a game against my friend Chris coming up next week I felt it was time to add a few more figures to my goblin army. We have settled on the 'Warlords of Erehwon (WoE)' as our set of rules and we have both been busy (in our slow way) adding to our 'Old School' armies. Chris is collecting very early slotta based Orcs (amongst other things) whilst my preference is for pre slotta figures and I am happily collecting dwarves and elves as well as my goblins. I just wish I could paint them as fast as I can buy them. 

The central figure of Kruk the Destroyer is not new but his four chunky bodyguard figures are.

 All Nick Lund sculpts from Chronicle or Grenadier? 

This is an old pre slotta Ral Partha goblin chariot, still available.

These little guys are also Ral Partha goblins I think. In WoE you can have goblin dervishes and these little guys are what I have decided to use. Wimpy but psychotic!

In WoE you can have a pack of Gobble Dogs but I use this wolf pack. Gobbledog sounds a bit daft to me. The wolves are not new but the goblin leader with a whip is. He is a citadel hobgoblin maybe? The wolves are from the 'Old Glory' fantasy range. 

Here is a real treat. My friend Alan that I gamed against whilst we were still at school in the 1970's recently gifted me his entire collection of over 650 figures, all painted in enamels and dating from around 1975 to 1985. The photo above shows the part of his collection that I have cherry picked for myself. The bulk of these are Skytrex/Age of Joman goblins, early sculpts by Bryan Ansell . These are quite crudely sculpted figures by today's standards but back in the day they were amongst my favourites and are full of character, leaping straight out of Mirkwood right at my imagination. They are out of production now but Alan also had a few of their elves and I have managed to acquire some of their dwarves which are currently in the post and on their way to me. These will all be stripped and given a fresh coat of paint eventually. 

The rest of Alan's collection is gradually being sorted into lots and sold with the money going to him. 

Anyone recognise this guy? This is Mund the Troll (in my little world). Back in my youth I had this exact same figure, a small troll from Heritage I believe. I have tried to paint him in the same colours that I painted the original back in the 70's. He was called Herman back then.  

One thing to note about my goblin army is it's many sources of figures. When we were first collecting, painting and playing with these figures we quite happily bought figures from as many ranges as we could. We were quite happy with this free form collecting back then so I happily embrace it again as I try to recapture the armies of my youth. 

General D'Armee v2, Battle for the Crossroads.

 As we are still getting used to the rules we kept today's game quite small, just a few brigades per side. The scenario was also kept simple; a battle for a centrally placed crossroads. Ian took control of the French and Charlie and I were commanding the British. 

British on the left, French to the right. The crossroads is easily seen in the centre. 

Charlie positioned the British artillery on the central hill, overlooking the crossroads. He spent most of the battle firing on the French artillery to great effect. 

A steady advance from Charlie's Infantry Brigade. 

Ian's French cavalry prepare to attack, supported by some horse artillery.

Ian also tried to advance his infantry but they often became 'Hesitant'. 

Sadly for Ian he was bedevilled all game by poor command and equally poor dice throws. 

The view from behind the British foot artillery. 

Charlie using 'tasking' on his skirmishers. 

The French lancers come charging into the British Hussars. Much to my surprise, the Hussars won causing the whole French cavalry brigade to withdraw leaving that whole flank open.  

On the other flank the French Line Infantry charge the British line, fail and become unformed so the British charged in. This fight was still on going when Ian's other Infantry Battalion had to withdraw. This led to a comfortable victory for the British who had also advanced onto the crossroads thus improving the victory conditions. 

We still had our heads buried in the rulebook for large parts of this game but this has hopefully taught us a lot about many aspects of the rules. We play again next week . 

15mm General D'Armee.

 A couple of weeks back Ian and Nigel had their first game of General D'Armee v2 for a while (I was ill with a cold at the time). Today Charlie and myself joined them for a game down in Nigel's cellar which makes an excellent gaming venue. Nigel has been busy painting up Prussians so it was no surprise when some of them made an appearance on the table. Our main objective of this game was for all of us to gain a better understanding of the rules. 

Nigel had created a scenario loosely based on a Peninsula battle but with his Prussians replacing the Portuguese as we moved the scene forward to 1815. 

My English troops with their Prussian Allies (led by Charlie) are defending the hill on the left whilst Ian and Nigel command the French who have to advance over the river to attack us. There is one bridge and two fords which helped to channel the French attack. 

The French come pouring across the bridge and fords. 

Nigel always presents a good looking table to game on and today's looked great. 

Nigel's central Brigade had their advance hampered by not only the river but by his Brigade becoming Hesitant at least 3 times during the battle. 

In this photo Charlie's Prussians stayed on the hill pushing his skirmishers forward. With the river slowing down his progress Ian was only just getting into position to assault the hill. However, quite a few of his front units were 'worn' by Charlie's skirmish fire. 

Nigel finally gets his troops ready for the attack. 

Charlie and I had made good use of 'Skirmisher Tasking' to also slow down the French. 

On my extreme right, winning the initiative proved useful as my small cavalry Brigade charged home against Nigel's cavalry Brigade to great effect, breaking the lead unit and forcing the supporting unit to retreat back over the river and in need of rallying as they were now a Faltering division.  

Another view of the cavalry action, with the flash on this time. 

So with 9 turns played and the French attack stalling we called the game a British victory. However, the main objective, to gain a better understanding of the rules was achieved. 

We play again next week. 

A quick game of Wars of the Roses

 With Ian and I spending some time sorting through the 'Old School' Fantasy figures recently gifted to me by an 'old school' friend (see upcoming blog on that subject for more info) we decided to just play a quick, 2 divisions per side game with randomly generated leaders and forces. We used some of the suggestions in the excellent Wars of the Roses supplement to help us. I let Ian arrange some simple terrain then we diced for deployment and set too. 

Ian and the Yorkists on the left, my Lancastrians on the right. 

Each side was allowed two divisions each of 2x Household bill and bow, 1x bow only and then we diced on a simple random chart I had created to allocate upto 2 more units per side. These could range from more household infantry to cavalry and even light artillery. This gave us two quite differing forces, probably not even the same points. 

The view from Ian's commanders position as he starts a steady advance towards me. 

Plenty of Arrow storm's were loosed to good effect by both sides.  

Ian fires his light cannon at my troops, two dice allowed needing a 5 or 6 to hit at that range. 

 Look what he threw!

My light cannon did not score a single hit all game. 

On my right flank, my commander (a newly painted command base of Sir Henry Holland) went on the attack. I expected the usual disaster from any newly painted forces.

 To my surprise he did very well. 

In the woods just visible to the left of this photo my handgunners were able to chase of Ian's bow armed light troops that were hiding in there. The handgunners then killed the artillery crew and got rid of that threat. 

There is Sir Henry Holland waving his banner having just broken the Yorkist division facing him.

Look at the fleeing Yorkists in the background, what a lovely sight!!!!  

My Lancastrian Mounted Men at Arms were told to go off on a flanking maneuver. It took me until turn 3 to actually get them moving but they soon broke the red archer unit that had turned to face them. 

With only three units left, two of which were shaken, Ian chose to withdraw his troops and concede the game. I had not lost a single unit although I did have three badly shaken units. 

Once more we had a great game with the Wars of the Roses becoming one of our favourite periods to play with the Hail Caesar rules. 

28mm Macedonian Progress.

 With no game this week due to me being full of cough and cold I took the time to finish off basing a unit of 28mm Macedonian Cavalry that I had recently completed. It therefore seems like a good time to give a progress update on my 28mm Macedonian army first started in January of last year. Initially the army is based on Macedonians under Philip II at the Battle of Chaeronea in 338 BC will but eventually expand well beyond that into all of Alexander the Great's campaigns and even the Successors!

This unit of Macedonian Companion cavalry is an all metal figure unit.

 I am not sure which make though as I got these figures from ebay. 

No, they are not running away, just a photo of their rear to show off their cloaks. 

All 8 units and two command bases (Philip on foot and Alexander mounted) that I have painted so far. So this is a slow grow project because as usual I am painting up figures for several projects (and scales) and keep swapping about. 

The army is a real mix of Warlord and Victrix plastic figures with a few metal figures dotted about. (Mainly command figures and characters). 

At this rate of painting I may get them on the gaming table before the end of this year. 

Alexander leading his Companions. 

Victrix light cavalry ahead of 2x Warlord Games Phalanx units, each of 32 men. 

Next up I have another unit of Mercenary hoplites to finish plus a hoplite command base, an all metal unit of pike and another metal unit of Companion Cavalry to paint.

Many more still in the box (lead and plastic mountain).