Margana- a Fantastic Battles Campaign
Initial Strategies-Army building
Morrod rolled 3 “Rabble raiser” and so had to recruit an army of poor-quality troops Warlord Gorlakh took a captain, Guluk, and went for 3 companies of Snagas, 3 trolls and 7 companies of Orc Rabble-their traits of Unreliable Expendable Rabble, sound like a typical Orc character description.
Harno rolled 11 “Call out the Guard” and so had a completely opposite strategy of a small force of the best hand-picked troops 4 companies of Royal Guard and 3 of wild riders led by the king Denoeth alone.
Malthodor and Dahar both rolled 8. As they had no combat, I will not detail them further this season.
Initial Strategies-Charge! Year One
Each nation has a choice of three directions to send its army, I resolved this with a d6
Spring-Malthodor invaded and subdued the Forest of Nee, Morrod heads Westward and subdues Dourcliffe, Harno subdues the Golden Valley,
Dahar invades Ashemoore but fails to subdue its stubborn population.
The big Army counters are 2p pieces painted, the smaller territory markers are cut from card
Summer
Malthodor continues its successful campaign by subduing Lake Morovere
Dahar is still struggling to control Ashemoore
Morrod and Harno both invade the Hills of the Moon. In the ensuing battle, the Orc Rabble manage to overwhelm King Denoeth’s finest and send them running back to Harno Vale (Battle Report below)
Autumn
Malthodor invades and suppresses Mount Spyre
Dahar finally subdues Ashemoore
Morrod is unable to subdue the people of the Hills of the Moon
Harno takes Harteshorne
They must have picked the flattest part of the Hills of the Moon to fight over-only one hill!
King Denoeth cannot resist the lure of the troll lair, he finds the Billowing Banner of Encouragement, but is out of command range of the Wild Riders who arrive late, become impetuous and charge off towards the enemy
Gorlakh marshals his rowdy rabble into a line of sorts between the hill and the settlement. The Snagas and the Rabble are diseased, well they never wash their hands so no surprise really
Denoeth enters the troll lair, treasure is a kings prerogative after all…
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| The Three Eyed Snake |
Grishnakh attempts to rally the rabble!
The Third Turn
Denoeth turns both units towards the Orcses
Grishnakh rallies the rabble
The Snagas shoot at the Wild Riders causing loss of 3 resolve
The fourth and fifth turn
The trolls move through the rabble and are charged by the Royal Guard
The snagas creep into the walled enclosure keeping a steady rain of missiles falling on the Royal Guard
The rabble charge into the Wild Riders who counter-charge
The rabble are wiped out but do plenty of damage to the Wild Riders leaving them with only one point of resolve
The Royal Guard only cause 3 hits on the trolls with 20 dice needing 4+!!!
The Trolls hit back causing 10 hits
The Gods of War are not smiling on the unfortunate men of Harno
Denoeth fails to rally even one point of resolve off the Wild Riders even with his banner
The sixth turn
The Snagas leap the wall and charge into the flank of the Royal Guard causing three hits the trolls cause 8 more. In return the Royal Guard inflict 6 hits on the trolls but it is too little too late and they disperse …
…which causes loss of two resolve to the Wild Riders and they disperse too!
Denoeth throws away his banner and flees the field
Post game
The rabble of Morrod win the day and take the Hills of the Moon.
The Royal Guard and The Wild Riders roll “Bloodied but not Broken” and suffer loss of one resolve per company
So that’s the first year finished
Malthodor have subdued 3 regions
Morrod and Harno have subdued 2 each
Dahar has subdued only one
I should point out the obvious ...that I started this campaign before I scratch built a force of Rohirrim, these are my old GW figures.
One of the great attributes of Fantastic Battles is the Excel Army Builder with which you can print an Order of Battle for each army for each game. The game is felxible enough that you can actually balance the forces by adding or removing traits from units to adjust the number of points they have
Great start to the campaign. I also enjoyed the battle report, although I can't believe the poor luck of the Royal Guard against the trolls - that might have been a game changer. Still, it makes for a good story which is important. Looking forward to seeing more.
ReplyDeleteThank you , it certainly was a suprise! Maybe a panicked steed upset the charge by bolting or bucking, maybe they were cowed by the ferocity and size of the trolls, as you say it all helps to build a narrative
DeleteThat is a great read, really good start to the campaign. I look forward to the next installment.
ReplyDeleteThank you,I have already played it and shall write it up as soon as I get time
ReplyDelete