Chapter one. Rogues at dawn.

According to the rule set the playing surface must be at least 3'x3'. As I halve all distances when playing with 10 mm. I'd have to play in a 45x45 cm. board, so I decided to use my DBA portable board of 60x60 cm. as it would be easier to divide the board in nine squares to deploy the terrain. The encounter takes place in a woody area near the border of Mirholme with Altengard, when Winter is dying and the last of snow is melting away. To represent those patches of snow I cut some pieces of toilet paper. Also, as the encounter is at dawn and it's still dark, I took the pictures in the dark and without flash to represent the poor visibility conditions.

It's near dawn when Helli comes out from the hut to attend the animals and hears something coming from the woods at the West. He hurries inside and wakes up the others. Einar and Thord come out with Helli to investigate that noise coming from the dark; Hrafnkel, Fafnir and Snorri are still inside gearing up.

I rolled for the three PEFs (Possible Enemy Force) location and scored three ones so they started together by the West side and through the woods. The first PEF came out but it resulted a false alarm.

Helli confesses Einar he's worried because before Winter he had some quarrel with his neighbour regarding the mule he's having at the back of the house. His fears come true when they see his neighbour and his men coming out from the woods, and bringing with him a Death Dealer means he hasn't come to a tea party!

The second PEF came out from the woods and it turned to be the main body of the enemy forces with the leader in it. The highest Rep in the group was the Death Dealer so he became the Big Bad and leader of the group. He is a nasty and very dangerous opponent as he is Rep 6, AC 2, Hardiness 5, Frenzy, Fanatic and armed with a 2 handed axe! The others are a veteran warrior Rep 5, AC 4, and 3 warriors and one archer, all Rep 4.

Without a word of warning the Death Dealer charges Einar who steps back towards the door of the house where the berserker cannot properly swing his axe, thus leveling things a bit. Thord manages to hold two charging warriors while Helli pushes back the veteran warrior. While they fight and contain the charge they do not stop shouting for backup.

Einar, Thord and Helli doing their best while Fafnir, Hrafnkel and Snorri comes out from the back of the house

Snorri comes out from the house, shoots and misses the enemy archer but the enemy doesn't and puts Snorri out of the battle! (Out of fight -OOF-). Hrafnkel also comes out and rounds the house, shooting and effectively killing one of the enemy warriors. Fafnir rushes in help of Helli and charges the veteran warrior but he manages to keep off both him and Helli. At the other side of the house Einar makes his best to hold the enraged Death Dealer whereas Thord falls OOF in front of two warriors. Einar then retreats into the house and comes out to the other side of it.

Hrafnkel takes the opportunity to shoot at the berserker and stick an arrow on his back, leaving him wounded. Einar rounds the house and charges the veteran warrior in help of Helli and Fafnir, and they three finally manage to kill him. Seeing how the veteran warrior is slain, another warrior drops his weapons and flee the fight.

Einar, Fafnir and Helli joining forces to slain the veteran warrior

Einar used his Star Free Will and chose to retreat in the Crisis Test, disengaging from the Death Dealer. Hrafnkel killed the Death Dealer but he used his Hardiness 5 and saved his life, leaving his Hardiness at 3. BTW, here I'm using the Star Power from CR 3.0 Sword play, instead of the test of Hardiness.

The Death Dealer charges again Einar who is pushed back twice, barely resisting his wild attacks. Another warrior charges Helli and the archer exchanges shots with Hrafnkel but both miss.
Now Fafnir charges the Death Dealer to help Einar, hitting and leaving him with another wound and stunned, but with a mighty roar he quickly recovers and keeps fighting.

The berserker is surviving to so many wounds due to his high starting Hardiness points. He started with Hardiness 5, then it was three and after Fafnir's strike is down to two as he rolled another six.

The berserker vengefully strikes back at Fafnir, stunning him on the ground and then striking him again on the ground and leaving him OOF. Einar wisely retreats once again, desperately seeking a way to either escape or kill the mad warrior. Helli finally falls OOF before one of the raiding warriors.

Fafnir and Helli lying motionless on the ground whereas Hrafnkel and Einar get together to face the berserker

The Death Dealer charges Hrafnkel who reacts firing his bow before the clash, definitely killing the berserker, and forcing the remaining warrior to rout. He quickly puts another arrow on his bow and stick it into the enemy archer's eye, thus finishing with the last member of this PEF. Now Einar runs towards his friend Fafnir and picks him up.

Einar picking up Fafnir and Hrafnkel running for Thord and Snorri. Helli is left behind.

Heavy rain begins, slanting from the west. No missile fire in this direction, no bow fire at all.

The berserker was killed by the high penetration factor of a long bow at close range and then he failed his two rolls of Hardiness, so he was dead. I decided to use an accident chart borrowed from Battle troll by Howard Whitehouse and adapted by me to WHAA mechanics. Everytime there is a double in the activation I roll in the accident chart; this time rain happened. The accident chart can be seen at the THW yahoo group.

Hrafnkel picks up Thord first and then Snorri, and puts them on the mule and follow Einar with Fafnir off the board. The last PEF is getting close and they decide to put as much distance as possible between them. Regretfully they cannot carry Helli, who is abandoned to his luck.
The rest of the raiders, seeing their leader and many friends down, and the offender Helli on the ground, they content themselves with capping him, burning the house and go back home with their leader.

Einar's party left the board before the last PEF was resolved. I rolled for a possible persecution but scored a six, so there wasn't any and Einar could safely escape.

They kept walking through woods during all day to finally halt at the top of a mountain and settled up there the camp for the night. From there they can still see the smoke of Helli's house. Hrafnkel suggested to name the mule Helli and Fafnir barked a short laugh in response. A strange mood descended upon the party.

They all were heavily bruised and Hrafnkel even had to spend one of his healing potions on Fafnir, but in the end they all survived and the experience had hardened them.
Hrafnkel started to sing some trying verses about the encounter but whenever Einar closed his eyes he saw the screaming berserker covered in blood and maniacally wielding his axe towards him. Suddenly he thought Sagas were a phony and that being alive was a very good thing.

I rolled for recovery after the battle and all returned to normality thought Fafnir needed a healing potion. Then I rolled for Experience and none of them raised Rep but Fafnir and Einar gained one point of Hardiness being now Hardiness 1 and 2 respectively.

This first encounter was very tense as I was thinking all the time that my main character won't make it. I discovered myself several times thinking this cannot be, that my character was going to die in his first encounter.
Einar was very lucky with his dice rolling and could survive the berserker in melee, and miraculously Hrafnkel could slain him with his bow in the end, and thank God some warriors fled the battle while some others never entered. Moreover, at the end all the members of the party completely recovered, so nothing happened in the end except the lost of the poor Helli.

This is one of the things I love about THW games, that you never know how things are going to turn. It's just like watching a good film.

Do you want to know what will happen next? I do for sure.

Einar's Saga. A WHAA campaign.

MIRHOLME

Historical equivalent: Norsemen.

The land of Mirholme lies to the far north of the Known world. This is a harsh land of snow and ice with mountains of Frost and Dusk that reach unto the heavens themselves and march right down to the sea.

The humans that live here are powerfully built, with large, well muscled frames and long limbs. The Norse are a bloodthirsty people whose society is based entirely around war and fighting.

They make or produce very little in their inhospitable homeland and their attitude is to take whatever they need from the lands of others. Many a time their dreaded long ships have brought terror and destruction to the lands of men and the other races.

CHARACTERS

Einar Ragnarsson

Alignment Twilight. Star Rep 4 warrior elite trained with no armour AC 2 and Hardiness 1. Equipped with broadsword I5 and medium spiked shield I3. Climb attribute as he’s always been climbing the high mountains of his country since child. CV 3.Social standing 6.

Party total CV: 9. Followers:

Fafnir

Einar boyhood’s best friend. Death dealer Rep 4 with no armour AC 2 and Hardiness 1. He's armed with a 2HW battle axe I6 (using it with penalty). Frenzy and Fanatic. He will follow Einar up to the end. CV 3.

Hrafnkel

Rep 4 Skald, cook, thieve and healer. Equipped with long bow I7/5 and dagger I4 and AC 2. He goes with the party to record Einar’s deeds in a Saga and also to see the world. Perhaps the most important person in the party. CV 1. He's carrying two potions of strengh 4.

Snorri

Rep 4 grunt with bow I5. CV 1.

Thord

Rep 4 grunt with spear I5 and medium shield I2. CV 1.

Introduction

Einar is the only male son of a minor noble and was foretold that the day he owned a weapon worthy of a king, he’d become king of his own.

Believing this to be truth, he imposed himself with the Quest of finding such weapon. Einar had heard from passing merchants that in the far East, close to the land of the Dead, there was a strange people called Dwarrs or something, who lived under the mountain, and that they were the best weapon master craft forgers of the known world. Thus, determined to go there and get his weapon and his throne, he gather his few possessions, farewell his father and kindred, and with some adventuring friends he set off to the civilized world in search of his destiny.

Starting point

Spring (April) of 896, Ragnar’s Farm is in Svinadal, a long, wide valley with a shallow river and rocky hills on either side, somewhere inside the country of Mirholme. ER 4+1=5. There is where Einar has been living until now.

Einar’s party moves to the border of Mirholme and towards Altengard in March, and finds refuge in a hut of a lumberjack called Helli, settled among the vast woods of the region. Resting there they suffered at dawn a raid from a neighbour farm which has a feud with Helli concerning something about a stranded mule.

In Mirholme all feuds are blood ones and now that Winter snows is melting away, Helli’s neighbours are coming in full force to recover their mule, and in the process burn Helli’s hut (National sport in Mirholme!) and kill him. Einar is caught in the middle of this dispute and his barbarian code of honour makes him to help Helli in payment for his hospitality.

So Einar’s first encounter in this campaign is as defender of a Raid from locals. Will he survive to his first fight?

Dipping Caos Marauders

Time ago I discovered a dipping technique in an Spanish Forum that intrigued me. This dipping technique is as usual, either submerging the miniature or doing it with a brush. What it's different to other systems is the products used. Instead of using the Army Painter or a wood stain like Minwax, I'm using a matt colourless wood varnish and mixing it with a product to shade wood called "Betún de Judea" (surely this has a name in English but right now I cannot remember it -Betumen of Judea?-). The good thing about it is that you control the mix and can do it more or less dark according to what you want to dip.

Here are the materials, the Tamiya tin is containing the mix used to dip the marauders.

And here is a picture of the marauders painted and before the dip...


...And after the dip.


A close up of the riders. I specially like their skin (look their arms), but also the horses.


Another close up. Notice the definition of the shields.

I'm very pleased with the results, both speed and quality, and I'm definitely painting all my Caos army with this system.

Orc's Drift. Final act.

I finally played the last chapter of this short campaign where King F'yar seeks his revenge. If this is the first time you heard about this, then I suggest you to read before the three previous parts below, belonging to this campaign called Blood Bath at Orc's Drift.

"The Army of the Grand League has been called east to the region around Ortar, where a great host of goblin tribes are at war with the inhabitants. Crossing the river Canis some two days ago, the Grand League General has left his rear at small supply base. The defenders of this outpost are a unit of Elves led by Brommedir and a unit of Dwarfs under the command of Osrim Chardz. ... Unknown to the generals of the Grand League, the actions away to the east are not only threat to the province of Ramalia. Due to the frailty of their oversight, Orc's Drift is the last manned post standing between King F'yar's onslaught from the north and the capital city of Palesandre."

Start of the game
Brommedir's Bows and the Engineers of the Osrim Chardz may begin play anywhere within the perimeter wall of the outpost. Brommedir is an Elf Rep 6 in full plate armour AC 6, Movement 6 and Hardiness 3; he is armed with a long bow and a sword and his archers are Rep 5, AC4, Movement 6, and armed with long bows as well. Osrim Chardz is a Dwarf Rep 5, AC 4, Movement 6, Hardiness 3, and armed with a 2HW; his Dwarfs are Rep 5, AC 4, Movement 6 and armed with assorted hand weapons.
I had prepared the stats and figures from the Druid Snart Ferndale and his patients at the hospital, the top central building, but in the last moment I decided to quit them from the game as they didn't add anything to it.

The Orcs come from four different points. Coming from the top and through the river Canis, Magyar Ironfist and the Kwae Karr Orcs. Magyar is Rep 5 and the boyz Rep 4 AC 2 Movement 8, Frenzy, being the other Orc tribes exactly equal. From the left it is coming Hagar Sheol with the tribe of the Severed Hand Orcs. From the left bottom what it left from the Vile Rune Orcs from Kachas Pass, with Fangorn Gripe and the already wounded giant Guthrum Mane. Finally, from the bottom King F'yar himself on his Wyvern and accompanying him his bodyguard, 5 Black Moon Orcs. King F'yar is Rep 6, AC 5, Hardiness 3 and armed with lance and sword. The Wyvern is Rep 5, AC 8, Movement 16, Hardiness 4, Fly, Terror and Vicious. His bodyguard are all Rep 5, AC 4, Movement 6, Hardiness 3, Frenzy.

Victory conditions
This is a fight to the death! May the best man win!

Notes before the game
As I didn't have so many single miniatures to represent all the Orcs, I had to resort to my Warmaster Orc bases. Each base contains 10 miniatures and it is what it represents. Later in the game I was exchanging them for single bases as the Orcs was suffering casualties.

I used the skirmish WHAA rules for everything except for shooting. The shooting rules for Massed Battles worked perfectly with the skirmish rules and speed up the game significantly.

As usual click on pictures if you wish to watch them bigger.

Start of the game

Turn 1. Orcs 5 - Grand League 3.
All the Orcs move as fast as they can towards the outpost. King F'yar's bodyguards pass through the forest and at the sight of the enemy they instantly charge against the barricade which resists without incidents. On the left, as Guthrum Mane gets closer, the Elves release a volley of arrows that wound the giant two consecutive times, leaving it with Hardiness 1 and blinking incredously at the many feathered sticks popping out from its body. The rest of the Vile Rune Orcs advance sheltering behing the giant.

Turn 1

From the top, the Kwae Karr Orcs run down the road and exchange arrows with the Elves behind the fence, resulting in two Orcs killed, two falling back and one routed. Although eager to reach his revenge, King F'yar holds his Wyvern for the moment.

In their turn the Elves concentrate their shooting on the giant and finally kill it. Poor Guthrum couldn't stand any longer after its severe wounds at Kachas Pass.

Turn 2. Orcs 6 - Grand League 5.
King F'yar decides it is the moment, and spotting Osrim Chardz at the fence, he charges him, killing instantly and riding through him and against two more Dwarfs that also fall slained. He came in style and the surviving Dwarfs run away in front of him like never before!

King F'yar's wild ride

Now the surviving Dwarfs regroup and charge back F'yar on his Wyvern but nothing happens. The rest of the Dwarfs desperately fight off the Black Orcs at the fence. The Elves shoot at the Kwae Karr and the Severed Hand, killing one Orc from each tribe.

Fangorn Gripe and his Orcs charge the Elves but he is the only one to reach the fence as the rest of his lads are killed by the Elves' arrows during the charge!
At the bottom of the outpost the Black Orcs start to turn the tide killing two more defending Dwarfs and jumping over the fence. King F'yar slains all four Dwarfs locked with him in melee. The 26 Kwae Karr Orcs successfully charge the Elves but instead of waiting for the charge, Brommedir and his men leave the defensive position and counter charge them! This is so unexpected that all the Kwae Karr Orcs rout in panic and leave the battlefield. Homeric!
Also, the Severed Hand Orcs halt in place and don't react unable to cope with the situation.

The Elves heroically charging the Orcs, or are they going away from the Wyvern?

Turn 3. Orcs 1 - Grand Legue 6.
Brommedir's Elves clean off the centre of the battlefield by shooting down three remaining Orc archers from the Kwae Karr tribe near the bridge, and killing three more in melee, but losing one Elf in the action.

The Black Orcs finish the last Dwarfs in the outpost while King F'yar locks in melee with two Elves.

Mopping up the outpost

The Severed Hand finally react and charge Brommedir's Bows.

"Get 'em ladz!"

Turn 4. Orcs 2 - Grand League 4.
Brommedir's Bows kill three Orcs and force four more to retreat. Showing their higher quality, they start to put pressure on the Orc rabble.

The straggled Elves at the outpost are put to an end and some more Orcs and Elves die in the melee with Brommedir.

Brommedir in trouble

King F'yar sees his opportunity and heads for Brommedir but the several thousand kilogrames of a green flying and screaming monster proved too much for those already beaten Elves, and to much Brommedir's dismay they all drop their weapons and rout from the battle!

Victory!

Conclusion
The battle was quick and ferocious and the Grand League had still chances to win until the Elves routed from the Wyvern. After so many years of waiting, King F'yar finally obtained his revenge.

With this game I close a project that started in the eighties when I bought this marvellous campaign set from GW. I never played it until now because I didn't like WHB rules then, and because I couldn't get an appropriate ruleset to play it.
Eventually it appeared Warrior Heroes Armies & Adventures from Two Hour Games and it has been a great pleasure to recreate this campaign with that system.
I'd like to say that I'm very happy of finally playing all the campaign up to its conclusion.

The game lasted about three hours incluiding taking notes and pictures.
I hope you have enjoyed all these four AARs and expect to meet you in my next WHAA campaign in this blog.

Best regards,

Javier

Thunderhawk and Warhounds.

Motivated by our recent games with FWC I retook the couple of Warhounds that I started to paint in the late eighties. They are the figures that have taken most time to be painted, just about 20 years! Also I discovered with them that it is more difficult and time consuming to repaint an old mini than start from zero, as I did with the Thunderhawk.
As usual click on pics for bigger view.

Second FWC game. Surgical Strike

Another Sunday and another game, FWC again of course. This time we raised our points up to 4.000 per side and chose the eleventh scenario, surgical strike. Marines being the attacker, need to destroy four missile silos and retreat with at least 25% of its forces intact, while defending Orcs must stop them.

Marines have so many funny things in their army list that I decided to try as much of them as possible. Also, as my mission was to strike fast and run I based my strategy on an air assault. Thus, my force consisted of 1 CO, 2HQ, 1 FAC, 2 recce bikes, 2 drop pods with six assault marines each, 3 terminators, 2 bombers, 3 land raiders with 1 tactical stand each, 2 M13 Night Howl air defence and 1 Reaver titan. The total break point of the army was a pitiful 9!

My idea was to support from distance with the titan and the night howls while taking the objectives one by one with my air force. Also, I planned to destroy possible Gargants coordinating pin point air strikes with smart missiles after that, as they negate all saving throws.

I supposed that my usual opponent would deploy a lot of infantry to defend the four objectives and I wasn't wrong. Here is his force of 4.400 points: 1 HQ, 2 FAOs, 2 Recce Trackers, 4 Infantry - Runts, 15 Infantry - Scavengers, 5 Support - Mighty Death Dealers, 4 Walkers - Death Cans in the first city with objective. 1 HQ, 1 FAO, 2 Recce - Trackers, 4 Infantry - Runts, 15 Infantry - Scavengers, 5 Support - Death Dealers, 4 Walkers - Death Cans spread amongst the blast walls and the medium bunkers with 3 Artillery - Mighty Death Dealers. That was a huge lot of infantry to kill before reaching the objectives!

As reinforcements he bought one division with 1 HQ, 6 Tanks - Death Wagons, 1 Artillery - AA Wagon, 4 Infantry - Death Bikes, a second division with 1 HQ, 6 Tanks - Death Wagons, 1 Artillery - AA Wagon, 4 Infantry - Scavengers Riders. A third division with 1 HQ, 15 Infantry - Scavengers, and a last division with 1 CO, 1 Recce - Doom Buggies, 1 Walker - Super Heavy Industrial Support, 3 SPAT - Death Crushers. The total break point was 53, the table was going to be crammed with green maniacs!

Early turns in the game. Marines desperately waiting for air support

I chose to attack on one of the narrow sides of the board to delay as much as possible the Ork reinforcements. I didn't have many troops to deploy as most of my force was off board. All my plan was based on air assault and support, so until I managed to do that, my earth forces could only stand and wait.

Regretfully, I forgot about air strike on first turn and when I realised about that it was too late and my friend and opponent didn't let me go back so I had to wait for the second turn. On the second turn the FAC failed its roll so I had to wait for the third turn. On the third turn I didn't got air superiority so I had to wait for turn four! I was starting to panic when on turn four I got air superiority and my FAC successfully ordered two air strikes with the bombers and then one of my HQs successfully commanded a drop pod to attack the first objective. The drop pod killed and suppressed many Orks already wounded by the bombers, and then the marines assaulted, won melee and consolidated positions. After that my CO successfully launched the terminators into the same objective who swept the area and then teleported again inside the objective and killed all the bastards. There had been a perfect assaulting manoeuvre on a tough defensive position!

Ork defensive position before the marine assault...

...and after the assault :)

On the right flank the land raiders easily took a second objective which was practically unprotected and previously pounded by the Reaver titan for several turns.

Tacticals from the land raiders taking the silo.

Sadly, as we run out of time, we had to quit the game on turn five with the Ork reinforcements getting nearer and the marine titan destroyed by Ork guns. Nonetheless, as I had still my Termies intact and an unused drop pod as well the FAC and the bombers, I thought I could easily repeat the assault manoeuvre and took a third objective without much difficulty.

Ork reinforcements approximating from the bottom and the marine titan about to die by Ork fire from the bunkers

But even as the game was finished, marines had taken and destroyed two of the four objectives and keep quite more than 25% of casualties mark to exit the game, so they doubled their victory points, getting 8 VPs vs. Orks 4. Marines had achieved a Major Victory!

Mayor Marine victory. For the Emperor!

The more we play FWC the more we like it!

Future War Commader introductory battle

This Sunday we decided to try FWC for the first time. As we had already played BKC a few times in the past we thought it wouldn't be any problem but the truth was that we made a lot of mistakes during the game, though this was not important as the battle, scenario 7, encounter at 2.000 points each, was an introductory one and after all we had great fun.

I dusted off my very old Epic Space Marines and my buddy his Orks, and both decided to try some units but keep it as simple as possible as it was our first game, so no FAOs, FACs, shield domes, teletrasportation, drop ships, etc.

My 2.000 points marine force consisted of 1 CO with 1 bike recce, 6 regular marines, 3 M50 (rhinos), 2 SPG M1 (whirlwind) and one Coyote (Warhound), and 1 HQ with 5 M4 all terrain bikes and 3 M18 (predators).

My opponent deployed 1 CO (8) with 1 SPAT (Death Crusher), 1 Walker (Super Heavy Ind Killer), 2 Tanks (Death Wagons), 2 Support (Death Throwers), 1 HQ with 2 Tanks (Assault Wagons), 4 Infantry (Hunters), 2 Infantry (Runts), 2 Support (Death Dealers), 4 Tanks (Death Wagons), 4 Infantry (Brutes), 1 HQ with 10 Infantry (Scavengers), 6 Infantry (Runts).

The orks chose static deployment and the marines mobile deployment. Believe or not my HQ rolled 10 and then my CO rolled 11, so I had to wait for the second turn to do something. This was not the only time my CO screwed it up as in the second turn he rolled a blunder and left the battlefield, so in the third turn I had a CO with CV 9! Moreover, he blundered again and lose two CV points for the rest of the game. Yes, my CO had CV 7 on fourth turn.

Deployment. Marines at the bottom.

To compensate my awful command rolls my opponent forgot all about his infantry being carried in the Ork vehicles and by the time he realised about that I had killed most of them with the forgotten infantry inside them. Also, my Coyote massive walker abnormally resisted several turns against his Gargant.

Half of the game. Failed marine charge on the left, Ork Gargant ruling the centre, and shooting duel at the right flank.

It looked like I was going to win the day with my whirlwinds killing a lot of Ork infantry and some vehicles, while marine infantry held near the village and I threatened the right flank with the bikes, but the Gargant finally got near enough and she alone destroyed the Coyote, one wirlwind and some infantry stands whereas his tanks and artillery on the right finally finished the three predators on the hill.

The marines reached his break point on turn five and as it was impossible for them to win in the current situation, we decided to finish the game giving a total victory to the Orks.

Final turn. Gargant running amok among marine lines and killing everything.

We had a lot of fun and loved FWC system. I have started to repaint some of my old marines units while finishing others for our next game in two weeks. This time a 4.000 points battle with everything included.