10/29/2022

Road to Lothgolin II

After safely reaching the border of the Elves forest, Eilif and his man dismount and try to sneak behind the Orc patrols to get in contact with the Elves.

This is a Defence Encounter played by the rules WHAT but with at twist. This time both sides, attacker and defender, are moved by the game's AI, and I'll be a third party trying to pass through the Orcs and kill as many of them as I can to help the Elves and have a favourable welcome. Eilif and his Ranger companion will start on turn 2 behind Orc units. Also, the three PEFs will be alrady loaded and resolved.

I am using new rules for weapons, armour and other things such as Combat Perks, Co-Stars, wounded characters, etc. from the supplement for WHAT,Crunchy.

Eilif is a Star and Ranger (dual class), with the Combat Perk Critical Hit, Rep 5, AC4, magic Sword of Rage, short bow and knife.

His companion Arne is Co-Star, Ranger (dual class), with the magic Armour of Protection AC2, short sword, knife and short bow.

All Elves are Rep 4. Archers with long bow, AC2, Marksman (3d6 for shooting). Fighters with two handed swords and AC4.

All Orcs are REp 4 except their leader who is Rep 5; their armour vary from AC2-3-4-5 depending on what they are wearing. The are all Rage (3d6 when charging into melee).

Turn 1. Orcs 1 - Elves 3

The Orcs entering in Lothgolin.

Elves keep their positions and then Orcs charge. Some are shot down but others reach melee and slaughter the Elves.

In the centre they suffer more casualties due to cross fire but they finally reach their target and eliminate it.

A closer view of the massacre.

The Orcs on the left cannot reach the Elves and suffer a casualty while another ducks back behind some bushes.

Turn 2. Orcs 4 - Elves 2

After killing the first Elves, the Orcs charge to another group but this time they are stopped with one shot down, another shocked and a third running away in panic. The one standing is killed later on the Elves activation.

The surviving Orcs in the middle with their chieftain charge the Elves infantry, suffering both sides one casualty each and both holding their ground.
On the left the Orcs finally charge and kill the Elves but they pay the price too.
On the Elves turn Eilif and Arne enter the board behind the Orcs and kill two of them with their bows.

Turn 3. Orcs 4 - Elves 6!

Elves do not activate and Orcs charge. Their leader kills another Elf and the succumbs overwhelmed by the Elf superiority in numbers.

The surviving Orcs in the left flank charge Eilif. One falls before them but the other attacks Arne who is down Out of Fight. Then, Einar dispatches the last Orc and finally meets with the Elves.

 The Elves are happy to see them and very receptive. Einar is quickly taken to their lord to who he will speak on behalf of his king Einar for an alliance against the invading Orcs.

But first he is allowed to loot all the slained Orcs. The Elves despise registering Orc bodies and let Eilif keep all the loot. He gets 14 Advance Rep d6, one magic Armour of Agility, one magic Sword of Rage (another), one magic Sword of seeking and one magic short bow of Seeking, yay!

P.S. - I think I should have made Orc groups of eight instead of six. That would have made twice as much as Elves, which I think it would have been more balanced and interesting.


10/12/2022

Dark Alliance Orcs set 3

Happy Orctober!

Orctober is as good as any other excuse to splash some paint on some Orcs. Below you can see the ten different poses contained in the box, with four sprues like that.

In my view, this is the best box of Orcs from the three sets delivered so far as they have special characters like the female or the chieftain, as well as more dynamic and colourful poses. Regretfully, there are not any musician or standard bearer in the box, nor anything that could be used as a magician.

This time I decided to give them a darker skin tone, more akin to Tolkien's description.


If you look closely, you'll see there is some flock adhered to the figures. This is because in my eagerness to get them finished, I sprayed matt varnish without brushing off the excess of flock first, and when I realised it was too late :(