Midgard! Ware Mumak or Where Mumak Gone?

An actual lithogrpah from the Battle by A Bystander

 

No one knew from which cold Northern waste the pale blond-haired warriors came. Eager for war they were, mighty were their arms and they came in great numbers, led by valiant heroes and, a God walked among them.

Phwoar the Ebullient, ale-swoggling he came, with a maiden tucked under each brawny arm and a leg of cold beef behind his ear, thirsting for adventure, looking for War and laughing all the while. 

A great way South they came, all fled before them for they were fierce and terrible to look upon and very rarely washed. And on they came unopposed, until they reached the Hot lands in the far South, where the furnace heat of the wide deserts cook the air and the hot winds scorch the very land.

And there they met some who did not flee. A race far older than they, a fierce, cruel race whose Ancient Gods dwelt yet in huge stone edifices and demanded the Blood Price. Bold warriors of a wealthy Empire, steeped in cunning and the Dark Arts. They rode upon great monstrous beasts and had immaculate body hygiene and scented hair.

The two armies faced each other on the plain just North of the Desert of No Tears

The earth shook and trembled as the Empire advanced, two mighty pachyderms striding on the right flank their howdahs packed with eager warriors equipped with bows and long spears. Stalking among them the Royal Assassin F’Khaar

On the left flank rode the Noble cavalry, led by old grizzled general Hakkim Bahad, resplendent in scarlet with armour of brazen plates, their standard, a black serpent on a field of red, waves above their heads and before them gallop the Variags of Khand, horse archers on fleet steeds. (still taken from drone footage)

In the centre march three brave units of formed spears ,in heavy armour with round spike-bossed shields, they march in perfect rhythm. Khamoon Bakir, Margrave of Khand and the sinister Zokhora, sorcerer, Beholden of Demon’s stalks along beside him. No one knows his age, he has always been. Through the long ages of the Empire there has always been a Zokhora.  Before them, skipping and leaping and calling their strange war cries run the Jakhala, each with a bunch of javelins following their Champion Jakakalaka.

As for the Northmen, they came on in a shapeless, raucous mob, knowing little of tactics and caring not for formations, their long delicately woven braids swaying the breeze, a cloud of Patchouli oil and body odour preceding them.

Phwoar stepped out from the ranks and raised his voice in a mighty challenge  “Let he who will… take up  arms agin me, that we may settle all dispute and get the quicker to the alehouse!”

None there were to match blades with a God!

All declined. Empire lose one Reputation.

The armies take up their positions.Both sides send out skirmishers 

The earth shakes beneath their feet, all tremble at their passing, the mighty Mumaks advance, their crews blowing their brass horns and beating their drums.

Before them stand the Hearthguard of the Norts, Phwoar steadies them with constant flow of boisterous songs about drinking and fighting and drinking and whoring and drinking and drinking.Hagar the disagreeable, Magnus Madmansson and Ragnar Svelteleg also great heroes when it comes to a song cheer their respective war bands too!

Something is amiss with the usually dependable heavy infantry, it’s almost as if they have forgotten they are Drilled and stop after failing a Command Test to advance a second ST!

Could this be Northman sorcery? The smell of all those unwashed semi naked beer-swillers? Or is it the residual brain fog of an ancient gamer?

The Gods give and the Gods they take away but mostly they take away. On this occasion they took away the initiative from the Empire and the Northmen used the opportunity to charge into the stationary cavalry who, having also come under the spell of forgetfulness that seems to have fallen on their comrades, did not use their Thunderous Charge to counter-charge. 

At the same time, the Nimble Variags failed their Evade test and also got caught by the Berserkers! A very painful experience.  

Meanwhile, on the other flank, the Mighty Mumaks have become bamboozled by skirmishers and are soon resembling pin cushions. 

Great was the fight that day! Mighty were the warriors! Hacking and slashing and stabbing and gashing! And across the field the sharp, unforgettable stench of battle. A strange mix of unwashed bodies and Old Spice

Back to the drone for a quick report and the field is looking rather empty, casualties being heavy on both sides, but the large hole where the Imperial, cavalry have ceased to be is rather noticeable as is the even bigger elephant sized hole on the other flank.

Which goes to show that the Gods may very well Give and Take but, on some occasions, they simply drop their celestial underwear and let fly

Surrounded by hairy savages and bleeding from a hundred wounds, the last elephant stampeded and was last seen heading over the hills.

  Which pretty well emptied the goblet of fate. The Empire army, like a dropped ice cream on a hot summer pavement, simply melted away

This was another Midgard playtest with regular opponent and part time Viking berserker Mark Taylor. We were testing the new shooting sequence and so kept the scenario to a simple meeting engagement with minimal terrain. Mark fielded a Viking Army and I used my version of the Haradrim, The Southron Empire. At 400 points I could only field about half this army and had to make some tough choices.

I had the most atrocious luck, particularly in the first few turns, so poor that at one point, a really bad roll produced no hits at all. My luck was so bad that Mark apologised when he rolled a handful of sixes!

Zokhora, my sorcerer could only roll ones. He needs both his Mighty Deeds to cast a spell and so is unable to Reroll any failures. Anything but a one is a successful cast! So, we are neither of us any wiser about how well magic works in this game.

The Monstrosities turned out to be wimps! I am not sure if this was down to the bad luck or whether the combination of Towering-Big target, bonus to shooters, Aloof, cannot use heroes Mighty Deeds to reroll Command Tests and a particularly weedy Stampede rule, which just makes the elephant runaway, resulted in such a poor performance. I shall have to test them out again.

The really good news was that the shooting amendment worked very well and fitted seamlessly into the rules set.

Midgard is a fast play Heroic Batlle game written by James Morris and due to be published by Reisswitz Press (Too Fat Lardies) at some future date after playtesting has finished.

I can highly recommend Midgard as an excellent game, great fun, a game where warbands are led by heroes, suitable for almost any pre-gunpowder era and Fantasy genre.