On Saturday evenings this fall I
am hosting a Skirmish Game Night on Saturday evenings. The Family and I sort of
started
last
week with a game of Frostgrave, but this week OTHER people showed up
as well! Other Tim, Dave, Patrick, And Rick came out to play with us!
It was really good to see Rick
and Dave and Patrick (who played this game with me) as I don’t think I’ve seen
(or at least played games with) any of them since… last fall…?
SCENARIO
The scenario, as with
last
week,
is designed for
four players on my mountain pass terrain board – though we only played with
three this time (I’d thought of bringing out my Halfling Warband again… but
couldn’t locate the warband roster so ultimately decided just to run the game –
and the dragon if it showed up).
The players groups have heard a
dragon that lives in the pass has laid an egg – a rare thing – and many would
pay a high price for such a thing. Their respective groups have been waiting
and watching for a moment when mama dragon is away and now is the time!
Each group starts on a different
side of the table and must set up within 1 Long of the center of that side, up
to 1 Medium from their table edge. Dice to see who chooses and sets up first.
A solitary egg is set in the
exact center of the table. It takes an action to pick up the egg (though
dropping it is a free action). It cannot be picked up in any enemy are in
contact with the egg or when in close combat contact. The figure carrying the
egg is slowed due to it’s bulk and weight – Long moves become Medium, Medium
moves become short, etc. Mounted characters would have to dismount to pick it
up and then remount (each an action) – but I won’t be giving anyone mounted
figures when I run the scenario at the Con and no one took any mounted
characters when we played it.
Anyone knocked down or failing morale automatically drops the egg.
There will be a deck of four
cards (well… three, this time…) each with a factions name on it. At the
beginning of each turn the four (three!) cards will be shuffled and then they
will be drawn randomly to determine the order of the factions during the turn.
On the second turn a fifth card will be added in for the Mama Dragon! If on any
turn the Mama Dragon’s card is the first drawn the Mama Dragon returns and all
hell breaks loose!
The Mama dragon will enter from
one of the mountain tops and will immediately swoop down and try to recover the
egg - attacking anyone carrying the egg.
FORCES
A fair bit of time was spent
coming up with new warbands for the Skirmish Saturday Campaign…
Dave borrowed my loaner “Goblin
Spam” warband, Rick brought some of his son’s (who also used to game with us)
old LOTR figures and Patrick brought some of his own figures – it’s too bed the
picture below turned out so crappy, because he’s really come a long way with
the painting! So awesome!
The Dark Mantle
Jorlund – Dark Elf Leader
Q 2+, C 3, 88 points
EVIL! Heavy Armour (it’s under
those heavy cloaks), Leader
Loos – Goblin Standard Bearer
Q 4+, C 2, 15 points
Standard Bearer
5x Goblin Warriors (Nogg, Crad,
Truj, Shos, Brez)
Q 4+, C 2, 15 points
5x Goblin Light Infantry (Orch,
Lesh, Pinn, Dorg, Crod)
Q 4+, C 1, 8 points
4x Goblin Archers (Nich, Onjj,
Plug, Drin)
Q 4+, C 2, 21 points
Shooter (Medium)
Jackson’s Jedi
General Jackson – Human Infantry
Leader
Q 3+, C 4, 70 points
Leader
The Boot – Human Warrior
Q 3+, C 3, 30 points
Boromir – Human Warrior
Q 3+, C 3, 30 points
Virgil – Human Elite Archer
Q 3+, C 3, 50 points
Shooter (long), Unerring Aim
Legolas – Elite Elf ARcher
Q 2+, C 3, 70 points
Shooter (long), Unerring Aim,
Good Shot
Curly - Dwarf Warrior
Q 3+, C 4, 34 points
Short Move
Stormy – Halfling Veteran
Q 4+, C 3, 18 points
Short Move
Nuri Lord of the the Frosted
Vale
Nuri Frostbeard – Dwarf
Commander
Q 2+, C 3, 95 points
Leader, Fearless
Burik One-eye – Elite Warrior
Q 3+, C 4, 46 points
Short Move, Steadfast, Fearless
Valia Peakmaiden – Elite Warrior
Q 3+, C 4, 46 points
Short Move, Steadfast, Fearless
Alvin “Bootless” Goodbarrel –
Halfling Theif
Q 3+, C 1, 16 points
Short Move, Stealth, Free
Disengage
Maggdella – Elite Dwarf
Crossbowwoman
Q 3+, C 3, 38 points,
Shooter (Medium), Short Move,
Good Shot
Duri Frostbeard– Elite Dwarf
Archer
Q 3+, C 3, 38 points,
Shooter (Medium), Short Move,
Good Shot
THE GAME
(Remember: click on the pictures
for a bigger version)
Rick, Patrick and Dave setting
up.
Rick went first with General
Jackson’s Jedis – within a turn they were within a single move of grabbing the
egg!
By the second turn he’d grabbed
the egg and was headin back towards his table edge. The ponderous goblin mob
and slow moving dwarves were starting to look like they might not have a
chance. Then Dave got lucky giving the Goblin archers a group move at the end
of his turn and they got three actions – he swiftly skirted around General
Jackson’s Jedis and spread out to block the way…
Patrick also got lucky with some
activations and hurried his leader ahead to try and block the way…
Oh, and then the DRAGON showed
up on the third turn!!!
I thought the arrival of the
Dragon would end things rather quickly- and there were a few times where it
looked like it would be all over, but then Patrick would slmost literally pull
it out of the fire and turn the tables… it took me a few turns to figure out
how to actually USE the dragon… flying is awesome (with the free disengage
against non- flying creatures). It allowed me to just leap up out of any
situation that looked bad an stand back and just try to fry people with the
dragon’s breath weapon (C 5, Shooter: Long!)
Also in the same turn Burik
One-Eye, one of Patricks Elite Dwarf Warrior knocked down General Jackson, and then Nuri Frostbeard took him out
with a Gruesome kill – the subsequent two morale checks saw the majority of
General Jackson’s Jedis flee from the table!
I’d even snatched up the egg and
was ready to fly off with it at one point!
But Patrick’s bloody FEARLESS
Dwarves would rush in a knock down the dragon! GAH!!
At one point Jorlund – Dave’s
Dark Elf Leader charged into combat with Virgil – one of Ricks remaining
warriors – who was surrounded by Goblins. An incredibly unlucky bit of
dice-rolling saw Jorlund taken out of action! Luckily Dave had taken a Standard
Bearer – the first time anyone’s taken on in one of our Song of Blades and
Heroes games – and was able to use it’s Rally Around the Flag ability to keep
his remaining goblins from fleeing off the table when their leader fell!
(I may actually have to look
into getting one for the Halfling Hollow Defence Committee!)
When the Goblins finally got it
together again, they surrounded Virgil and ganked him (leaving Rick with just
“The Boot”) .
And the egg is back at the
center of the table where it started… if they’d just left it there we might
have let bygones be bygones and called it even… but nooooooo… those greedy
dwarves actuall thought they could get it off the table.
The Amazing thing is they very
nearly did! They got it to within a move or two of their table edge before I’d
finished off the last of them… It was a bit of a slog as they were severely
hampered by their Short Move and being further slowed by the heavy egg.
Then the remaining GOBLINS made
a grab for it and started sprinting down towards THEIR table edge!?
And then THEY nearly made off
with the egg!!!
In the end it was a very good
game. I think they scenario will work fine for the convention! I’m not sure
what to use for warbands (as I will be providing them all). I am reluctant to
use any SPAM warbands (lots of low quality troops) – they are tricky to use –
especially for new players. I am also not so sure about using any troops with
Short Move… as others could easily rush to the center of the table in a turn
and be off with the egg before they even get anywhere. Although that didn’t
really happen this time. Short move being slowed by the heavy egg, though, made
it really hard for the Dwarves to get anywhere once they got it… still… even so
they very nearly made it to their edge with it…!?
POST GAME
Two of Ricks main guys were
Greusome Killed and gone so he didn’t even bother with the post game sequence –
he’ll be starting with a totally new warband the next time we play SoBH (though
it may be identical to the one he used last night…).
Two of Patricks Dwaves died of
their wounds (Valda Peakmaiden and Maggdella – both the female dwarves in his
warband!?) and Nuri Frostbeard received a serious injury that will bother him
until the end of his days (permanent -1 C!). Burik One-Eye will be -1 Q for his
next game, due to his minor injury. Eveyone else managed to heal up quick
enough… He didn’t make much income and was only able to hire a replacement
Elite Warrior – Ertha Peakmaiden (Valda’s sister, perhaps…?)
FIVE of Dave’s goblins died.
Another three will miss the next battle and two more will be -1 Quality for the
next battle. Jorlund was also seriously injured and was permanently reduced in combat
ability! Luckily Goblins are cheap and two new light infantry and an archer
were hired to replace some of the lost Goblins…
Next Week…?
Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:
Hopefully I’ll get a bit more painting in this long weekend
and be able to post some progress before next weekends skirmish games! Amanda’s
been talking about having a one –on-one game of Frostgrave BEFORE the next
weekend – so perhaps there’ll be a game report for that if we find some time…
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