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| The Ubhadi |
During the strategy phase, each nation rolls for its strategy for the coming campaigning seasons. This consists of its Army Build Strategy and its aggression level.
The Army Build Roll
Roll 2d6 at beginning of year
11+ Call out the Guard! = Must use Elite/most expensive unit. Must have more expensive units than cheap ones
9-10= Best Foot Forward! Must have at least one high end unit. Must have more expensive units than cheap ones.
6-8= On the Fence= can have choice of any units, must be equal mix of expensive and cheap units
4-5= Your Country Needs You! Cannot use most expensive/elite units. Majority 60% + must be spent on lower end troops
2-3 = Rabble Raiser! Must use 80% + lower end troops
Subsequent years successful Warlords will want to keep a winning formula, army remains unchanged.
Warlords that have lost may want to change strategy, roll on the table with a -2 modifier if previous army was of higher quality, +2 if it were mostly comprised of cheaper troops.
Aggression stance 2d6
>10 very aggressive will cross multiple subdued regions, will always strive to bring enemy to contact
9,10, aggressive will cross one subdued region
4,5 defensive, will protect occupied regions if owns more regions than opponents
<4 very defensive, will protect occupied territories
Modifiers
Owns least regions +2
Owns most regions (min 6)-2
Army Build Roll Best Foot Forward/Call out the Guard +1
Army Build Roll Your Country Needs You/Rabble Raiser -1
Subdued regions are referred to as friendly regions
With an Army Build Roll of 12, Call out the Guard, and an Aggression Roll of 11 it looks as if Harno’s King Denoeth intends to compensate for running away at Snake Pass
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| The situation at the beginning of the year. |
Spring Harno attacks Golden Valley but fails to subdue it
Dahar has a choice 1-3 Uphill 4-6 Broad Plain rolls 4 attacks and subdues Broad Plain
Morrod attacks and takes Mudwater
Malthodor attempts to subdue The Forest of Nee but fails
Summer Harno attacks Golden Valley for a second time but fails
Dahar from Broad Plain has a choice of Uphill 1-3 or Mount Spyre 4-6 ,attacks Uphill but fails to subdue it
Malthodor can’t subdue The Forest of Nee
Morrod takes Snake Pass
Harno Finally takes the Golden Valley
Dahar fails to subdue Uphill
Morrod being aggressive attacks Dahar in Uphill
Bat-rep below
Malthodor fails for the third time this year to subdue the Forest of Nee
The Battle of Uphill
As
you might expect, the battle field is very hilly, overlooked by the highest of
these, Big Hill, on the centre of the southern edge. The hill in the South West
is broken and strewn with rubble so as to be impassable
There are two settlements, joined by a road. The one in the middle of the North edge adjacent to a small wood has a walled area
Central in the battle field, there is a large area of rough ground, scrub and thorn to the South of the Northernmost hill adjacent the road
Dahar’s army,on the right of the picture, defending, is led by the Mage-lord Zokhora, victor of Snake Pass. He has the dreaded Ubhadi, huge men, like half trolls that rip their enemies to pieces. Otherwise, it’s pretty much the army he used at Snake Pass
Gorlakh leads the attacking army of Morrod. He has a high-quality army by Orc standards Black Uruks, Orc Berserkers and wolf riders as well as the usual Snagas and Orc Rabble
Zokhora rolls his Prophecy dice. During the battle, he can replace any of his or his opponents rolls with any or all of these
I like this spell as it frees up the mage to lead a unit. In the previous game it proved decisive at a critical point. I wonder would I like it so much if it rolled up 3’s and 4’s!
Mishaps occur!
The Dahar spear unit arrives late by 4 b/w, this will have a profound effect on the battle. The Variags are enthusiastic and charge 3 b/w forward
The Ubhadi have caught some awful disease, minus one resolve per company. It won’t spread as no one is brave enough to go near them.
Disease has struck the Orcs too; Berserkers and Rabble are poxed. The enthusiastic Snagas, run ahead towards the hill.
Turn 1
No shooting. Everyone pushes forward. The Easterling archers get on to North Hill. Zokhora rallies the Ubhadi
The Snagas and wolf riders climb Big Hill in the South.
Gorlakh rallies the Rabble.
Turn 2
Shooting; Snagas and Variags score two hits on each other
Berserkers turn towards Big Hill
The armoured archers of Dahar wheel on North Hill
Everyone advances
How close was this? The lil red dice show the loss of Resolve. Each unit will disperse at 12 hits. Zokhora uses two of his prophecy dice, the “2’s”, to replace two of the Wolf Riders results to prevent the Variags from dispersing! High drama indeed!
Turn 4
All troops creep towards each other. The Wolf Riders massacre the hapless Variags
The Dahar axes, already late, are slowed by the tangled bramble patches of the rough ground and are further delayed from getting involved in the melee.
The archers of Dahar command North Hill but are out of rangeof the Orcs below them
Turn 5
Shooting-Dahar cause two hits on the Orcses
Snagas cause three hits on the Ubhadi
The Orcses crash into the Spear armed heavy infantry of Dahar
The Orcses inflict 4 hits and take 8 themselves, they have total resolve of 9!
Turn 6
Shooting the Snagas score 3 hits on the Ubhadi
The Wolf Riders about face and charge the rear of the Ubhadi, while the Uruks charge them from the front. The Orcses get a last desperate 3 hits on the spears of Dahar but take 3 themselves and disperse.
The Ubhadi cause 9 hits on the Uruks, the Uruks cause 5 and the wolf riders cause 6 the Ubhadi disperse!
Turn 7
Shooting -Dahar archers fire at the Rabble causing 6 hits, they disperse like the unreliable rabble they are and as they are expendable no one cares!
The Uruks charge the Spears sustaining 3 hits but causing 5 which is enough to disperse the spear unit and win the battle!
Outcome-Morrod takes Uphill
The Dahar spear and the Ubhadi take to the hills and are not seen again. The Bloodied Variags have -1 resolve per company. Fortunately, it is now the end of the Autumn campaigning season and they will have the winter to recover.
The orcses and the Rabble are also bloodied.
The campaign map now looks like this. Morrod have subdued 6 regions and will get the maximum 1000 points budget.
It truly is the year of the orc!
