Blood bath at Orc's Drift. Scenario 3. Linden Way.

“Linden way is a small frontier settlement and trading post. At present, an emergency guard of citizens from the southern township of Meledir are tasked with the duty of guarding the settlement. The militia are covering for the usual guard of professional soldiery, who have been called south to defend the region around Ortar against the assault of the Goblin hordes. The dilemma facing the militia at the start of play, is that their homes and families in Meledir are undefended. They are the only defence standing between any incursion from the north and their homeland. At the start of play, the civilians of Linden Way still occupy the settlement. When enemy forces appear they will attempt to leave the post southwards and warn the people of Meledir whilst the militia try to buy time for their evacuation.”

Mayor Leofwine is the captain of the Militia and he is a Rep 5, Hardiness 4, AC 4 and armed with a two handed broadsword.

The Militia consists in five long bowmen Rep 4 AC 2 and 20 men Rep 3 AC 2 and armed with improvised weapons.

There are also ten civilians Rep 3 AC 2 with improvised weapons.

“The Linden Way militia begins play within the barracks. Five of them are posted in the watchtower. The settlers begin play within their own respective buildings and must attempt to leave the settlement by the southern road.”

“King F’yar’s own tribe, the Kwae Karr Orcs, has been ordered south down Linden Way for the rendezvous at Orc’s Drift.”

Magyar Ironfist is the chieftain of the tribe and he is a Star Rep 5, Hardiness 1, AC 4 and armed with a two handed mace.

Bagrash is the shaman of the tribe and he is a Rep 5, AC 2.

The Kwae Karr Orcs are 10 archers Rep 4 AC2 and 30 warriors Rep 4 AC 3 with hand weapon and shield.

Special rules

“Old Barrachus is an insane illusionist who lives in the ruined cottage which he believes is a beatiful palace. Old Barrachus suffers from chronic schizophrenia. His multiple personality disorder is reflected by a throw of a 1D6 every time he senses magic being used or Orcs near the ruined cottage.

1 suffers from stupidity (do nothing)

2 suffers from frenzy (goes frenzy and charges)

3 suffers from panic (routs)

4 suffers from terror (retreats)

5 suffers from fear (retreats)

6 suffers from hatred (casts a spell)

The scenario and the whole campaign is being played with the rules Warrior Heroes Armies & Adventurers from Two Hour Wargames. Previous scenarios can be found scrolling down the page. Also, do not forget to click on the images to enlarge.

Turn 1

Militia and civilians run out from all the houses except one. The Orcs run faster by the road.

Turn 2

The Orcs activate first and keep running, they win the test of wills but are unable to charge into melee for a couple of centimetres.

Two archers from the militia shoot at point blank but miss and in return are charged and killed, two men retreat and two more rout. This is a bad start for the militia and a sign of what is to come.

The rest of the militia men in range charge the Orcs but they fail to do any harm and two more die. Knowing that killing the Orc chieftain is the only way to win the day, Mayor Leofwine charges Magyar Ironfist who responses with a killing blow, but fortunately Leofwine resists it as he passes his Hardiness test.

The three last archers near the ruined cottage shoot at the orcs and kill one and force another one to retreat.

So far the situation is holded but for how long?

Turn 3

Bad luck for the militia as they do not activate this turn.

Orc archers spread on the hill and dominates the south road to Meledir. From there they start shooting to the fugitives, but the ten archers miss!

Rampaging Orcs charge all the line and six men die in the first clash, three rout terrorized by the sight of their fallen comrades and three more fall back. They are no match for the brave Kwae Karr Orcs! Some Orcs jump the fence and start to push back the militia.

Bagrash stands in the hill near the ruined cottage and casts the spell “Steel wind” but fails it and loses 1D6 from his Rep for future spell castings. The mad hermit at the ruins senses the use of magic but a veil of stupidity falls upon him and does not react.

Turn 4

Disgrace for the defenders!! The militia fails again to activate, possibly due to their lack of military experience makes them unable to cope with the situation.

The Orc archers shoot again and this time kills two fugitives down the road and make six of them fall back to the houses.

The Orcs at the village charge again sensing victory is at hand and kill three men, forcing other three to retreat and two more to rout. Mayor Leofwine is completely surrounded by Orcs and he is hit again but yet again he resists the blows as he passes his Hardiness test.

More Orcs pass the fence into the village.

Bagrash tries again “Steel wind” and again miserably fails it, loosing another D6 for future spells. The mad hermit senses again the powers of magic working near him and panics, routing from the battlefield!

Turn 5

Finally the Militia can activate, but after the Orcs.

The Orc archers in the hill kills two more fugitives and make the rest to retreat, but when doing so they face Orcs chasing them and four of them decide to charge them. Unfortunately, they fail to kill none of the greeny beasts and have to retreat again when they witness how one of them eats Orc steel.

The three remaining long bowmen and one militia die in the melee at the entrance of the village. Magyar and four of his lads attack Mayor Leofwine who still resists.

Bagrash does not give up and tries again the spell “Steel wind” and guess what, he fails it again, and this time with style. He suffers from backlash and dies consumed by uncontrolled mystic energy. So many years studying arcane lore for that, can you believe it?

The fugitives gather some valour and two of them charge an isolated orc, managing to stun him, but maybe scared by this unexpected outcome, they fail to kill him. The rest of the civilians tries to flee by the south road.

Turn 6

Leofwine attacks but loses again and this time he results wounded; he is now Hardiness 2. The rest are Rep 3 and cannot activate.

Orc archers kill two more fugitives, making another two retreat.

In the village, Magyar and his Orcs attack again Leofwine who is now wounded, but he revolves fiercely and slays down one of them and pushes back two more. He is a lion among wolves!

Two more fugitives are mow down by the chasing Orcs.

Turn 7

The surviving fugitives must flee through the road and the orcs are there waiting for them. Leofwine manages to kill another Orc and another one routs.

Magyar goes really mad seeing how this damned human refuses to die and keeps him away from his glorious victory. He charges again and strikes a fatal blow on Leofwine who cannot resist it as he fails his Hardiness test. Mayor Leofwine is finally dead with all his men as the last two surviving civilians are hunted down.

Conclusion

The Militia could not use their longbows from the distance to soften up the Orcs before the clash as they reach the outpost really fast and then activated alone for two consecutive turns, which allowed them to easily overwhelm the helpless defenders.

Mayor Leofwine and the Militia sacrified themselves for nothing as nobody managed to escape to give the alarm. It has been a total slaughther for the Militia and a major victory for the Orcs who has only lost four warriors and the useless shaman.

This was the first scenario where Magic was used but it was very disappointing as the mad hermit fled the battlefield without doing anything at all and the shaman Bagrash exploded with one of his spells.

For the last battle of this campaign I have to paint some more terrain and characters plus king F'yar on his wyvern. Besides, I'm now starting a new project, an Early Imperial Rome army for DBA with Pendraken 10 mm figures, so I'm afraid this last battle will be delayed a little bit more.