Barons War: Attrition

 Today for our 3rd game of Barons War we went with the third scenario Attrition: whoever kills the most points of troops after 5 turns is deemed the winner. Ian and Nigel combined their troops for a force of 600pts against the same amount of points of my troops led by John de Lacy as usual. Nigel's contingent were led by Robin Hood and Ian's were led by a Baron but I have forgotten his name.  We had previously played at 500pts so this was to be our largest game yet. 

Robin Hood deployed on the left on top of the hill, taking a group of merrymen as his command group. Not sure if this correct within the rules for command groups but he had painted the figures so we went with it. De Lacy deployed his Retinue near his tent, clearly visible. 

De Lacy's mounted serjeants went charging in and were quickly surrounded by the enemy but thanks to some amazing defensive roles they actually survived but minus a few men. 

Robin Hood (stats taken from v1 of the rules) was a bit of a beast with his merrymen causing havoc with their shooting. 

Ian,s small contingent of knights try to surprise my knights led by a Lord (de Lacy's son we decided). This was our first ever mounted knights v mounted knights clash. 

A view of the centre of the table with my red and yellow mounted serjeants still surviving. 

They are quite surrounded by the enemy. 

Happily my knights defeated Ians, some good victory points in the bag for my retinue.

Elsewhere Ian and Nigel had driven off the one remaining serjeant scoring a good wedge of victory points. At this point Ian and Nigel were well ahead. 

Getting a bit cocky, my knights charged into some peasants. To my disgust I only killed one of them and then some upstart peasant slew my mounted Lord. This made Nigel very happy. 

My foot serjeants came down the road and charged Robin Hod and the Merrymen killing quite a few of them and causing them to be broken. You can see them backing off. 

In the final turn my two remaining knights charged Robin Hoods command group killing what was left and causing Robin to become broken. Not much else happened so it was time to tally up the fallen. I had suffered 302 pts of casualties compared to Ian and Nigel's 254. So a win for Ian and Nigel but with Robin Hood and the remaining peasants broken it is a shame I could not count them in my total as they were still on the table. 

Once more we had great fun with parts of this game being very cinematic. Next week we play again using scenario 4: Field of Glory'.   

 

The Map of Albion, a first campaign game of Warlords of Erehwon.

 The Map of Albion. 

Good friend Chris and I have been planning this for a while; using the Warlords of Erehwon rules to play through some of the old Warhammer Scenarios and Campaigns. Chris has been working on Orcs Drift and the Terror of the Lichemaster but we started with Dark Shadows, a campaign set on the misty Isle of Albion. Chris would be using his new Undead army whilst I would be using my Dwarf army, 99% of the figures used are lovely 'old school' models, a current shared obsession of ours. On the table were plenty of figures by Citadel, Chronicle, Ral Partha and Asgard amongst others. 

To kick our campaign off I developed a new scenario: 'The Map of Albion'. The aim of this game would be to locate a map of Albion leading to the owner of the map arriving on Albion first and thus becoming the defender in the first scenario from the Dark Shadows campaign book. 

The scenario for the Map of Albion was as follows...

...In this opening skirmish scenario all characters should be limited to a maximum of Tough 2 and Magic Level 2 until they gain more experience.  

‘The mists of Albion are clearing,

Keep sharp your swords for war is nearing!’

A minion of the Dark Lord has been sent to steal an ancient map from the dwarves. The map is said to show the hidden location of the dread Isle of Albion. As the minion flees with the map the dwarves give chase desperately trying to capture the minion and win the map back. The Dark Lord has sent a force of troops to help the minion escape to safety with the map.  

Set up: Place at least 6  rough terrain features as per the rules on p109, spread evenly over the board. The fugitive minion is hidden in one of the six pieces of rough terrain (woodland, swamp, rocky ground etc…). These terrain pieces must be set up at least 6” away from deployment zones and each other

 Once the terrain is placed players dice to decide which force starts from which side. Deployment will be along the long table edges, upto 6” from the table edge..  

Deployment: Is as per the rules on p111. 

Objective: The object of the game is to locate the minion and take the map from him and hopefully being in possession of the map at the end of the game. To do this players must search the areas of rough terrain to discover which of them the minion is hiding in. The first warband to contact an area of rough terrain will locate the minion on a d6 throw of 6, if not found the next search will be successful on a 5+, the third search 4+ and so on. Note that the minion (and his map) can change hands if the unit currently holding him is defeated in melee (routed) or destroyed by missile fire (the minions body with map is found amongst the dead?). 

Game Duration: The game ends at the end of any turn when the map is successfully carried from the table or one warband reaches its break value. 

Victory: The warband that possesses the map at the end of the game is deemed the winner. With the map in their possession the winners will be the first warband to reach Albion and thus will be the defending force in the first scenario in the booklet “The Mists Recoil’. The winners may also throw a d10 on the after game Progression table. 

Scenario Special rules: The minion is just a figure representing possession of the map, he has no melee capabilities etc…

So, Makhar the Necromancer deployed his Undead on the left whilst Amlodi, the Dwarf Chieftain deployed his dwarven troops on the right. The Green tiddlywinks are the objective markers. 

Moves for turn one were mainly runs or sprints to try and get close to the objective markers, ready to capture them. 

Chris managed to conjure a few extra skeletons for this unit. Note the flying Carrion Beast in the background; my dwarves grew to both hate and fear this beast. 

The skeletons managed to locate the minion with the map on turn 2. I had already rushed onto a couple of objective markers but failed the search which actually made it easier for Chris. 

(sorry for the blurry photo??).

Chris's necromancer, Makhar was also very effective, either hurting my units with his nasty little 'Chill Wind' spell or raising more undead. 

This Carrion Beast was tough. Not only did it have a Resilience of 10 but it could throw 3x rocks 10". Chris very wisely also deployed it well away from my one missile armed unit. The Carrion Beast was able to crush many a dwarf without fear of being hurt back. 

Makhar up to his magical trickery again, targeting the blurry dwarves on the far side of the building. My poor old dwarves gave chase to the undead, trying to catch up with the now retreating skeletons holding the map. Makhar was able to disrupt the pursuit with his spells. 

My depleted Dwarf warriors with big axes finally caught a unit of zombies and managed to destroy them in 2 turns. Hurray, I am finally killing undead!

On the left flank my dwarf archers were also starting to kill a few undead. 

Getting a bit cocky the dwarf warriors then charged Makhar and his skeleton guard. That was not a good idea, both units withdrew from that melee a bit sore. Makhar now withdrew his unit as the game was close to ending. The skeleton unit holding the map was easily able to withdraw from the table meaning that Makhar and his undead warband were victorious. 

This also meant that Chris could throw 1xd10 on the simple campaign progression chart I have developed and he threw a 7 meaning his warband could create a magical standard from the bones of his enemies. The standard grants all of his warbands units within 10" a +1 bonus to their Command stat, well worth having. 

As always, when playing Chris, we both had great fun and perhaps learnt quite a bit about army selection and the rules too. There was just time before Chris needed to leave for us to look at our next game "The Mists Recoil' and how best to convert it from Warhammer to Warlords of Erehwon. Can't wait!. 

More Barons War: The Prize.

 For our second game of Baron's War we played scenario 2: the Prize. We imagined that a local priest had hidden a document listing some of the rebel lords and both sides were keen to lay their hands on it. Ian sided with Nigel to take on my retinue; we are still playing at 500pts per side. 

Turn 1 and I sent in my mounted serjeants to capture the scroll.

Well that was easy...

Easy until Nigel loosed some arrows at my serjeants...   

...and just to finish them off, Ian charged his Knights command group into my serjeants. Three men down and my serjeants were 'broken'. We threw a dice to decide if in their flight the serjeants dropped the scroll. Luckily for me they did not so their flight was quite fortunate as they fled to safety with the scroll. 

Elsewhere lightly armed green troops danced around the wood trying to avoid each other. 

Then Ian sneaked his slingers into the wood to try and attack my archers who pulled back. 

My knightly command group charged Ian's and slew his commander. By the rule this meant game over as we only had one commander each so Ian could not try to elect a new commander (and I also had the scroll). Ian's command group was broken with just one knight left. 

Having claimed the scroll and killed their Commander I pulled my troops back to secure the win and forcing them to give chase but they never caught the serjeants holding the scroll. 

This was our second game (Nigel's first game) but it was really enjoyable once again. We are still finding our way through the rules but are improving our knowledge each week. Next week we increase the points to 600 per side with another leader figure each which should prove useful...I might try using some mounted knights but don't tell the others!  

Barons War: big trouble at Little Bardon.

 Ian came round today for our first game of Barons War. We opted to use a 500pt force each and chose scenario 1: Behind Enemy Lines. Once we had decided who deployed at which table edge I set up my Barons tent as an objective for Ian to head for; it must have had important documents in it? Ian deployed a broken wagon as the objective I was aiming for, filled with the local taxes no doubt. After deployment the table looked like this...

Sir John de Lacy, my leader and his men. 

I have forgotten Ian's leaders name, something to do with a bucket I think? But here is his retinue. Note the wagon at the back...that should have been deployed at least 6" I have just realised.  

As you can see, there was quite a lot of terrain to deal with but the rules for terrain are clearly defined and easy to use. . 

Turn 1 and my mounted serjeants went off on a flanker.

Ian lined the hedge by the cornfield with his crossbowmen. 

In the game, activations, movement and shooting all proved to be quite easy to play. We did have to refer to the rules a bit during play and even then we probably did a few things wrong?

My mounted serjeants swing back into the centre catching Ian's slingers. The combat did not go as well as I hoped and the slingers escaped to run off and hide in the woods. They then proved to be a real nuisance to me all game, slings seem quite effective in the game, Ian certainly used them to great effect.  The game uses d10 for most things and this size of dice certainly gave enough variety to the differing troop abilities. 

Next the mounted serjeants took on a big gang of levy with improvised weapons and fared well here, sending the levy packing. 

Note the tokens. Ian and I thought we may get confused over the tokens but we were soon able to remember which token indicated what. I have put the initial of their meaning on the tokens which not only helped me but means I shouldn't mix my tokens up with other players. 

Here my foot serjeants start a move towards the table centre. Over on my flank my levy archers did very well fending off the spearmen Ian had tried to send around that flank. 

All that remains of Ian's levy, note the weary and broken tokens. The Weary rule is a clever way of deducting a -1 to most of tired or broken troops dice throws. 

Note we used our usual casualty markers to record Morale Penalties. These are mainly caused each time a unit loses a figure. I need to check But I think you cannot have more than 6? 

Now for the main event as our Barons and their command groups clash in the table centre. These heavily armoured knights are difficult to damage.  

After a couple of rounds of melee both units pulled back quite battered. 

This was also the last action of turn 6 so the game ended. Although neither side had captured their objective Ian conceded the game. I had killed far more of his troops than he had of mine and my remaining mounted serjeant had now broken through the enemy lines and was heading for Ian's wagon. 

Ian and I both really enjoyed playing the game, this is a set of rules that are a definite keeper. We both resolve to re-read the rules ready to play again next week where Nigel and Charlie will be playing too.

Barons War progress

 I thought it was time to do an update with my progress painting The Barons War figures. I took up the 'Paint what you got' challenge set by Dave Stone on his blog at... https://wargamesculptorsblog.blogspot.com/ 

My aim was to paint all 24 serjeant foot figures that I got for Christmas by the end of February and I am very pleased with my progress so far. I have assembled and undercoated all of the figures and made a good start with the painting of them. All shields, flags etc are hand painted as usual.   

Six serjeants with falchion and shield. 

Six crossbowmen in padded armour. 

That means I am half way through the challenge with plenty of time left. 

I have also painted a few other figures and suitable scenery. 

Mounted version of Sir John de Lacy with his banner bearer and another mounted knight. 

(I have seen three different versions of the de Lacy heraldry).

All knights need a tent to get changed in, here is Sir John de Lacy's.

(plastic tent from ebay). 

Happily we play our first game of Barons war on Tuesday and I am really looking forward to it. 

The Battle of Siddum Valley, a biblical Hail Caesar game in 6mm.

 The Battle of Siddum Valley: Hittes v Elamites. 

"Habiru, Bright Sun, King of the Hattie challenges Kutti, the base born King of the Elamites to Battle. He promises him a slaves yoke on the Hill of Goyim and his army shall be as bones and dust in the Valley of Siddum."

Today's game was a 6mm biblical clash using the Hail Caesar rules as usual. It was 400 points of my Hittites against the same total of Ian's Elamites (helped by Nigel). With large hills on either flank and the rocky hill of Goyim mid table it was an encounter battle made awkward by the central hill. 

Habiru, King of the Hittites leaving the pub and on his way to the battle.

The Hittites deploy (bottom of the photo) with the Elamites at the top. 

The rough hill of Goyim is central with larger hills either side of the valley. 

Before the game I had made some cards with random leader values and a few traits. Nigel claimed 3 for the Elamites whilst Ian chose 3 for my Hittites - he very kindly (and unknowingly) dealt me the best card from the pack which I quickly allocated to King Habiru. 

My Hittite right division (on the right of the photo) advance towards Nigel's left division and soon discovered that most of them were bow armed. These two divisions ended up in an almost all game face -off. 

My Hittite centre division quickly advanced and took the central hill. 

This is where most of my missile troops were. 

On my left flank we had a great chariot v chariot clash and with the help of my Sea Peoples Warband infantry eventually broke Ian's division. 

Back at the right, with my Hittite Spearman having taken most of the Elamite bowfire. I then got my own archers into a position and started to whittle away at their opposing archers.  With the Hittites getting the upper hand on this flank, the far side Elamite division already broken the remaining Elamites withdrew to fight another day, hopefully next Tuesday afternoon.  

Many are the Elamites that are now reduced to bones and dust. 

King Kutti escaped but we will get him next time. 

The card denoting King Habiru's leadership gave him Leadership 10 with a FV of 4. 

That proved to be most helpful.(there was only one of them in the pack).  

More Dragon Rampant: The Sacred Mole of Ukkert

 So this week for our last game of 2025 the dice decided that this week we would play 'the Sacred Mole of Ukkert scenario. Ian and the goblins were the attackers trying to escape from the cavern entrance with the Sacred Mole. This meant that my dwarves were the defenders rushing to regain the Sacred Mole from the goblins. 

Legends tell that the dwarven caverns were once inhabited by dragons. 

In time this legend diminished and so did the dragons. 

The goblins raid the dwarven halls and escape with the Sacred Mole in the treasure chest carried by the goblin wolf riders. 

The dwarven host musters to rescue the Sacred mole. 

With some good activations the goblin host rush to escape. 

Likewise, the dwarves scramble into position to try and block the goblins escape route. 

Dwarven scouts take up position in the woods. 

The ogre line dancing team race across the board toward the fast moving goblin wolf riders. 

Dwarf wizards take cover in a ruin, a cowardly ploy to enhance their 'armour'. 

The wizards could also reach most of the dwarven units for spell casting purposes. 

Little did the ogres realise but danger was looming. 

The goblin allied giant gets enveloped in sorcerous mists (Dragon's Breath spell) which prevented my dwarven scouts from firing at it.

Then the giant 'wild charges' the ogres and a bloody melee ensues. 

After a few turns of melee the ogres were routed.   

We had both chosen the same colour of magic so more Dragon's Breath comes into play.

My dwarven crossbow troops finally get to shoot and route a unit of goblin warriors with their first shot.   

Then my dwarven scouts shoot at the newly arrived Goblin archers and rout them with just one shot too. 

This took the goblin losses to half their army point total. 

The dwarven axe troops are tough in melee but both they and the giant were turned 'berserk' by a spell (the red gems indicate this). Both sides inflict damage then score very badly on their courage tests and rout. 

Trolls charge the dwarven wizards who amaze us both by winning the melee and the trolls withdrew. Hit by dwarven crossbow next turn the trolls were destroyed. The goblin leader, with only his own unit and the goblin wolf riders left, drop the chest containing the Sacred Mole and run for it. The dwarves eagerly scamper over to reclaim their treasure. 

At last, after 3 goblin victories my dwarves get a win. This was a fun game helped by my dwarves actually doing well with their activations for most of this game which enabled me to co-ordinate their tactics.