It is only around 11 months since I purchased my copy of the Fantastic Battles rulebook. Having really liked the rules and enjoyed a couple of solo games I am so happy that today I finally got to play a game with other real people. We were using my 10mm Elf and Barbarian armies although both Ian (humans and nature) and Phil (orcs and goblins) do have 15mm armies they are painting up ready for these rules. Happily I have my 15mm Delvians (or Fey as I prefer to call them) and have made a tentative start on creating a 15mm Viking/Northlander army with Copplestone Casting and Forged in Battle miniatures.
A few Copplestone figures rebased for Fantastic Battles
The idea behind todays game was a simple encounter between two forces of just over 850 points. To add a bit more fantasy flavour I used the rules for 'settlements' on p21 of the rules for any unit/character who was brave (or daft) enough to explore the ruins of Unicorn Tower. The tower I built some years ago and suits both 10mm and 15mm figures.
I took a couple of photo's of the army characters exploring Unicorn Tower before the battle began. The barbarian war mammoth also posed for a photo in which, if you look carefully, you can see the unicorn that gives the tower it's name.
So how did the game play? We loved it! We randomly decided that Ian and I would play the Elves whilst Phil would be the Barbarians. Having deployed in fairly neat lines the 'Mishaps' phase played havoc with that as my elf mounted scouts charged forwards only to be met by the barbarian scouts who had to do the same. This action dominated the left flank with neither side able to get the upper hand for some time although Phil made very good use of his 'curse' spell. Elsewhere, on the right flank the Barbarians were able to get a character into the Unicorn Tower and opted to 'Consult the Priests'. Sadly for them they only scored a '3' which proved to be of not much use. Elf archery was good and finally prompted the barbarians forward. Here the Elf mage used her 'Blink' spell to good effect, blinking friends into melee and enemy units out of melee. In the centre my Elf Knights bravely charged into the War Mammoth which was then supported by the Barbarian archer unit.
At this point something crucial happened. During the melee's four out of five Barbarian characters fell in battle. This quickly put a stranglehold on barbarian movement with only one character left to guide them. The two big melee's continued but the elves won them both taking the Barbarians to their break point.
Elf mounted scouts surged forward into all sorts of trouble in the 'mishaps' phase.
The barbarians claim Unicorn Tower
The elves fight back with all sorts of units hurling themselves into the fray by normal movement and by magic using the 'Blink' spell.
All three players really enjoyed the game and in particular how careful you have to be with deploying characters with units to ensure you can move as you wish. We all made leadership mistakes leading to lots of random moves which often foiled our plans. Both Blink and Curse proved to be very powerful spells and certainly added to the story of the game. We probably got one or two things a little wrong but a careful re-read of the rules will help put us straight. Phil has already bought a copy of the rules and now Ian says he is going to get a copy too. When we next play it will hopefully be in 15mm with my Fey taking a starring role.
That sounds like a great game, I'm looking forward to playing it myself.
ReplyDeleteAny chance you could share the army lists?
They were just hand written lists especially for this game, taken from full Elf and Barbarian lists, I could share those.
ReplyDeleteDon't worry if you just used the lists in the book.
ReplyDeleteI'm interested in how people imagine their forces to act on the table top and how they use the rules to reflect that.
My lists were roughly 50-50 taken from the lists in the books and stats I made up for some of them.
ReplyDelete