Yrfog of 'The Bones' and the Temple of Doom-more 15mm Fantastic Battles.

 We are really enjoying our games of Fantastic Battles, so much so that we decided to play again this week, this time introducing my newly assembled 15mm Barbarian Army playing against a mix of Ian's wacky Gnomes and Phil's evil Orcs. Most of the barbarians are from the Mighty Armies boxed set, originally based for Dragon Rampant but just needed rebasing to suit Fantastic Battles with a few added Copplestone barbarians and some Vikings on loan from my Forged in Battle Viking army.  Astute readers may spot from the photo's below that even on their new bases most of these figures can still be used with Dragon Rampant too if I so wish. 

1,000 points (apart from the characters which I forgot to put in place). 

Copplestone Northlander Cavalry (or Elite Sworn Warriors in Fantastic Battles). 

Copplestone Characters, some painted a while ago, some newly done. 

Mercenary Ogres which are from the old DnD range of miniatures. 

Conan the Barbarian (my Rogue) from a company whose name I forget (but it may be the now sadly defunct Rank and File?). 

Fire Giant (make unknown) and Frost Giant from Alternative Armies, actually sold as a Fire Giant. 'Bearserkers' are a mix of Forged in Battle and Splintered Light Vikings and a Copplestone Bear.  

Stag drawn chariots from Mighty Armies/Rebel Miniatures

So, with the Barbarian's ready to play it was time to create a scenario. Would the Barbarians suffer the fate of all new armies as they approach...the Temple of Doom! 

Yrfog of 'the Bones' and the Temple of Doom

Terrain: player A sets up the terrain (keeping it fairly balanced and neutral) and place the temple in the centre of the board. Then player B chooses which side of the table they wish to deploy on, player A will deploy opposite, (rolling for Attacker and Defender as per usual rules on p19).

To counter the growing power of the Northern Barbarians, the Orcs and Gnomes have forged an unlikely alliance. As the two forces march towards battle one of them has captured the infamous (and very old and smelly) half-orc sorcerer, Yrfog of 'the bones', renowned for his collection of bones, bad temper and very effective curses. Yrfog was on his way to the ruins of the Temple of Doom to search for ancient artefacts and it is here that the two armies clash.

The two sides each throw a d6, highest score is the side that has captured Yrfog of 'the Bones'. The controlling player places Yrfog with either one of his units or characters.

At the start of each turn the controlling player throws a d6. On a score of 6, Yrfog is persuaded to join your cause and become an extra Mage character with a Level 3 Curse spell. However, if the player throws a 1, Yrfog escapes and immediately runs 4BW towards the nearest enemy unit or character and tries to ally himself with them.

It may be that from now on players have to fight for control of Yrfog, he can be captured if any character or unit he is with scatters or if a player can move into contact with the figure of Yrfog.

The Temple of Doom:

Any Character who reaches the very centre of the Temple of Doom finds a hidden cellar and may roll 1d6 in an attempt to retrieve any relic hidden there.

1-2: Character is slain by a hidden trap, remove the character from play immediately.

3-6: the character emerges with the relic, roll on the relic table on p18.

Note: there can only be one Relic.

So with the scene set, on with the battle. My 'Bear'serkers on Stimulants threw a 6 thus gaining Beserk and Proud and the dice also decided that Yrfog would be held prisoner by the Barbarians, so a good start for me. The deployment was as in the photo's below.  

The Orc and Gnome alliance deployment and their pesky dragon. Take note of the small gnome captain (Ro'Bin) by the dragon. This character had the new magic item the Phoenix Bow of Precision. During the game he managed to get off four shots at characters, needing a 6 to hit and managed to kill my rogue and a captain, well over the odds and points well spent for Ian.    

The Barbarian's deploy facing the Temple of Doom.  

Close up of Ian's dragon, a super Reaper Bones figure, ideal for a 15mm dragon. 

Deployment after mishaps had sent various units forwards. 

Ian's gnome allies, the flying witches corp and the berserk elks. 

Ian seems to excel at using flying units and these witches were a real pain in the Barbarian butt on my left flank. 

Phil has a really annoying unit of Orc archers that seem to do so well every game. Here they shoot my giant down who then falls on my 'Bear'serkers, not the best of starts now for the Barbarians. The orcs then shoot my 'Bear'serkers before they get chance to charge them. 

Ian's Elks charge into my Sworn Warrior cavalry for an epic scrap between these units. The Sworn warriors scraped the win, things are starting to look better for the Barbarians. 

It was around now in the game that Yrfog of the Bones decided to fight with my Barbarians. Yrfog successfully cursed the orc archers but then that damned Gnome Ro'Bin shot him! That was a  brief but action packed game for Yrfog. 

The orc Rogue also charged one of my Mages and they managed to kill each other-there was a high character death rate in this game. My other Mage, Talorcan managed to get into the temple and escape alive with the Titanic Diadem of Foresight. Talorcan also had the Blink spell which he used to great effect during the game. My archers used the blink spell to avoid the enemy trolls and managed to shoot them to pieces over a few turns. 

The Dragon tried to get behind me but moved too far and went out of command and his 'Impetuous' roll sent it charging into my Chariots who defeat it after two rounds of melee. 

Wulfnoth, my Warlord, finally catches up with Ro'bin the Gnome captain archer and gleefully pulls him to pieces. Boy but do I hate that gnome! 

Both sides are now just two companies away from their break point. 

Some people think it's all over...and it is as the 'empowered' Orc archers take down the Fire Giant who then falls onto them. Sadly for me the orcs also manage to defeat my Ogres who had recklessly charged them and kill my Warlord too. These Orcs must be men of the match? 

 I think I hate those Orc archers more than Ro'Bin the gnome.  

This was another great game and one of our closest fought yet. 

Guess what? We are going to play again next week.