11/01/2008

Blood bath at Orc's Drift. Kachas Pass Battle.

BBAOD is a supplement published in 1.985 for the second edition of Warhammer Fantasy Battles and designed by Ian Page, Joe Dever and Gary Chalk. As I never liked WFB rules, I never got to play this mini campaign; but now I finally have found a system that I like and that also it allows me to play alone. This new system is Warrior Heroes Armies and Adventurers, of the American house Two Hour Wargames.


INTRODUCTION

After his last defeat in the winter campaign of the Kol hills five years ago, the orc king F'yar and his wyvern have returned to take revenge. By fatally poisoning the leader of the Alliance of elves, dwarves and men who defeated him in the past, F'yar manages to disorganize the armies of the Alliance and retake his leadership at the front of the orcs of his tribe, the Kwae Karr.


Now, in the deserts of the north, F'yar is named warlord of all the tribes and decides, together with the king of the goblins, to launch a major attack. Goblins will attack the lands of the east, attracting the army of the Great Alliance, while king F'yar and his hordes of orcs will charge frontally the capital of the kingdom of Ramalia, Palesandre.


And thus the campaign begins. The orc tribes have been summoned by king F'yar to meet in Orc's drift and from there to advance towards Palesandre. On their way to the meeting point, they must raze all the settlements they may find and not leave anything alive behind. These settlements are three: Kachas pass, Ashak rise and Linden way.

Kachas is a narrow pass that ends at the plains of Fendal. The pass has a small outpost kept by elves from the Fendal forest, who are watching the passage from any intruder. The tribe of the orcs of the Vile Rune has orders of king F'yar to destroy this post and meet the main army at Orc's drift on the following day .


The outpost is kept by 15 elves of Rep 5 and armed with long bow; plus its leader, Erdolas Thringal, Rep 5, Hardiness 3 and armed with long bow and sword. The Vile Rune orcs are forty Rep 4 armed with hand weapons and shields; their leader Fangorn Gripe, a Rep 5, star, hardiness 3 and armed with shield and sword. Also there is Guthrum Mane, a mountain giant of Rep 7, Hardiness 5 and armor 6.


Obviously, the elves do not have many possibilities of winning, but the important thing here is how many orcs they can take with them, because the orcs that die here will not participate in the great battle at Orc's Drift, where the destiny of Palesandre will be decided.


Turn 1

The Vile Rune orcs exit the ravine and are inmediately sighted by a wood elf on duty. The alarm is raised.

Turn 2

The first big wave of orcs headed by their captain, Fangorn Gripe runs towards the outpost while behind them, the second big wave

with the giant Guthrum Mane begins to leave the pass.

The elves quickly deploy behind the fence, windows and doors of the barracks. Thirteen elves shoot and the first orcs fall down.

Turn 3

After the first rain of arrows, Fangorn Gripe decides it is enough and leads his orcs as fast as possible to the small wood to his right. Meanwhile the rest of the tribe advances directly towards the outpost, tightening itself behind the giant to avoid being shot by elves’ arrows. This time they shoot in mass towards the towering mountain of meat approaching to them; Guthrum Mane is then severely wounded and he pauses momentarily to recover.

Turn 4

All the elves shoot again against the giant with the hope to kill him once and for all, but without success. The first group of orcs finishes crossing the wood and pause at the edge and in front of some elves from the outpost. The orcs in the centre continue running like possessed people towards the objective, while the giant absorbs all the enemy fire.

Turn 5

Orcs move first and the ones in the wood leaded by Fangorn Gripe charge the elves. After one round of fierce fight two elves and four orcs are killed but nobody abandons the position. The orcs at the centre advances again and two of them manage to charge but one is shot down and then the other one stops the charge and falls back. Another one cannot resist it and flees from the battle.

Now the elves fire at the big group of orcs that are about to assault the fence. The orcs suffer several losses, five of them fall back and three more break off the battle.

Turn 6

Unfortunately for the orcs, elves activate first and loose a cloud of arrows at point blank range and with more penetrating power; two more orcs bite the dust, one more flees and another one falls back; the frontal attack is contained so far. Three elves shoot the giant but they do nothing. On the left flank they also shoot and but only to leave the captain of the orcs momentarily stunned.

The surviving orcs finally charge. It is payback time! The giant squash two elves in a single blow and crosses the fence into the outpost.

Turn 7

Elves activates first again but they are now just a few. They fire again at the captain of the orcs and at the giant, but without luck. Another orc is killed and some of them fall back but that is all.

The orcs keep methodically slaughthering the elves and two more die. The remaining ones hold the green tide heroically for one more turn, but without hope.


Turn 8

Activation is a draw. A momentary pause between the combatants takes place.


Turn 9

This time the elves, surely disheartened, do not activate. Its the time of the orc. The giant crushes another elf, and another one dies more at the hands of the green boys.


Turn 10

There are only three elves now, completely surrounded and outnumbered. They do their best but it is the end.

Conclusion

As expected, the orcs won the day but at a dearly cost. The elves killed 25 orcs and force six of them to flee. When more orcs fell was right before the clash, where the great penetrating power of the long bow at short range was noticed.

Regarding Guthrum Mane and the rest of the orcs, on the following day they will head for Orc's Drift, but tonight there will be a great feast with elf meat!


The next encounter is the Kwae Karr orcs and the hobhounds of Grashak Kha raiding a dwarf mining camp at Ashak Rise, but first I must paint those poor dwarves ; -)


The end.