For a cartful of loot.... This One's Split Playtest

The last playtest session saw an orcish tribe throw themselves on the dwarven trading caravan, hoping for easy plunder. Unfortunately the dwarves take their trading dead serious, sending half of their army along with the yearly trade expedition where they trade gold, high quality metalwork and porc (Yes, porc. Don't ask me, I'm just the messenger) for goods such as spices, fabrics, wood and just about anything that can't be grown under a mountain.

The game went well, with real high and lows for both sides. We came across a fair few sections of the rules were some clarifications would be helpful, and these have since been added. Overall the balance with e.g. giants seems better now, and the order system seemed to do it's job just fine. Also, the recommended number of units per command seems to give the right kind of flavour for both the orc and dwarf armies.

Below picture shows the starting deployment, with the dwarves deployed behind a gully, with an impromptu barricade blocking off the open field in the middle. The orcs deployed across the width of the table, with 2 commands on march column on their far left.

 

The remainder of this report is written from the glorious point of view of his greatness tribe leader Krassush of the most powerful orc tribe ever. It is an entirely biased report - just because I can.

Playtest Battle of Blue Gully II - The battle

The mist faded and revealed the two small armies facing each other. On the right flank, Twohorns could see the dwarven blunderbuss regiment under Thorin Crooked move forward, probably hoping to flank the skirmishers. The remainder of the dwarven army so far held still.

 

Not one to be distracted by such a ploy, Twohorns ordered the advance of all troops under his command. Simple plans are always best, and attacking suits orc nature. Defending certainly did not suit Yellowcrest and Akz, both noted for their Rash character. Indeed, Akz was already wading through the mud of Blue Gully. Which turned out to be more of an obstacle than expected - maybe Twohorns should have checked the ground first, but too late for that now.

 

Besides, his attention was on the big green thing, with a small castle on top. Manned with more dwarves. Curious, and possibly a bit of a concern. And what's that, dwarves with pikes? What is the world coming to?

 

Ah, Bigears has finally advanced as well. Trust that idiot to not manage more than send his skirmishers forward. Does a good orc have to do everything himself? Twohorns decided he would stay close to Bigears, in case he would falter at a critical moment.

 

Swarming ahead of the dwarven army came a cloud of bats. And from the looks of it, particularly vicious ones, too. Splitting in three smaller clouds, one dove down onto a unit of skirmishers, covering them in biting, gnawing, vicious bats, thousands of them. Against all odds, these bats would over the coming turns gnaw away and break up the skirmishers. Further back, the remaining bats threw themselves on the orcish front line. They would severely delay and hinder the orcish formation, without inflicting casualties.

Just behind the lines, both Addertongue and the opposing mage were tapping the ether for their magical powers. Sensing a local surge, Addertongue grabbed the initiative, and cast "Despair" on the closest dwarven leader, Balin Digger. Surely he would break down in tears soon enough now.

Unfortunately, fate was not with the orcish shaman. Almost as soon as the corrupting effect of the magic set in, did the dwarf manage to shrug it off again, with no noticeable effect. Much to Addertongue's shagrin, he had to stand and watch while the dwarven Element-mage Mug threw a massive explosion at the front rank of orcs, inflicting serious casualties on two units. And to top it off, Twohorns was glowering at him too, now.

 

On the left flank, meanwhile, Bigteeth's wolf riders waded across the muddy stream. Only to be greeted by a metal and particularly wicked grins. on the far side. Still clawing up the banks, trying to get close to the Shock regiment facing them, the wolf riders were practically scythed down.

 

Three units routed straight away, with only the troops directly under Bigteeth's command able to fight to a standstill. So much for Bigteeth's chance of some good looting, the bastard Twohorns would keep it all to himself now. It almost smelled like a setup. Bigteeth did not get much of a chance to care about it, though, as both Bigteeth and Thorin the Bold fell somewhere in the slaughter, never to be heard of again.

 

With the bat swarms finally dealt with, and fed up with taking more artillery fire, Yellowcrest kicked screamed and threatened his troops forward. On his left flank Akz's ogres were advancing as well, but unfortunately the defeat of the wolf riders left the dwarven shock regiment without opposition and free to move. Little did Yellowcrest know that due to the defeat of their commander, it would take a while for the dwarf flank to get moving. Nobody was surprised to see Bigears lagging behind on the right flank...

 

On the left flank, Akz eyed the big green thing. If anyone would be able to cut that down to size, it would be his ogres. And it would probably make a fine meal, too. Leaving the remnant of the wolf riders and one unit of ogres facing the shock regiments, Akz took one of his ogre units forward and charged the behemoth.

 

A bloody struggle followed, with the ogres smashing into the behemoth and pikemen, and throwing them back in some disarray. Unfortunately the losses suffered by the ogres, and the much more serious losses suffered facing the shock regiments, left the ogres still standing but too fragile to do anything much. Akz having the poor grace to die in the combat did not help much either.

In the centre, a very bloody fight was fought, with the orcs looking about to break through. Another explosion thrown by the dwarven mage, and the combined artillery fire throughout the day, were however starting tot take their toll. Exhausted, Yellowcrest and his orcs glowered at the dwarves facing them.

Balin Digger stared back at the orcs facing him. A quick survey of his troops reinforced his determination. With a loud bellow he ordered his militia forward, into the orc ranks - clearing them off the ground they had just conquered, and sending them running back to where they came from. One of the victims of the vengeful access was Yellowcrest, yet another orc commander to die on that day.

Twohorns saw only one opportunity left in his reach. Taking personal command of some spears, he motioned to his shaman to 'do something'. Only to realize that Addertongue probably was not clutching at his head and screaming because he was doing well. In fact, the shaman had just overreached himself and tapped into more energy than he could handle, leaving him unable to play a further role, and suffering a splitting headache.

Twohorns charged forward, pleased to see that finally it had dawned on Bigears to join in the effort, too. A pleasure that would be rudely interrupted by a descending dwarven axe. Leaving Bigears as the most senior orcish commander on the field.

By this point, the orcish center had disintegrated, with a stretched, battered and exhausted dwarven line holding, and the flanking attack by the orcs too late to turn the tide. Seeing the dwarf with the demon pet (Thorin Crooked) fall boosted Bigears's spirits, but would not turn the battle.

 

Overall summary
* Combat mechanisms seemed to work as expected
* Swarms worked well - basically they act as mobile difficult terrain that latches on to a target unit. Every turn thereafter there is a chance of the swarm dispersing, and a smaller one of the unit suffering a hit.
* Pinning/Zone of Control was kept at 4". This feels as too long for fantasy games, and has since been reduced to 2".
* Melee casualties for continued melee and fall back were too heavy, and will be halved.
* Magic worked well, and added fun & atmosphere. The 'flux' card may be a bit too much though, to be reviewed. Spell costs definitely need more reviewing.
* Even with the significant disparity in numbers and troop types, the battle could have gone both ways and hung in the balance for a good while. (The orcs suffered from really good luck when rolling for troop ratings. They would normally have had more 'D' and much less 'B' class troops)
* We're on way to having a playable system in time for Rheindahlen!

Playtest: Battle of Blue Gully I - the armies

 

Last Saturday we held another playtest of "This One's Split", now that we have most of the troop types defined, and the magic system is in as a rough draft. The battle was between Dick's "Gray Mountain Dwarves" and my orcs. We spent around 3 hours playing, with 20~30 units a side.


Armies: Grey Mountain Dwarves

The Dwarven division of Thorbald the Grim anxiously awaited the onslaught of the Orc raiding force facing them. Thorbald's division consisted mostly of militia and just a few regular units. If they fail to stop the Orcs on this field the raiding force will be able to break through to the foothills of the Gray Mountains and raid the farming communities there with impunity.

Force Commander Thorbald the creepy (So named because of his unfortunate habit of keeping a pet demon with him at all times)
(Able/Bold, Liked, Slayer of All, hesitant)

In the above, Able/Bold refers to the command rating of the character, Liked refers to his "charisma" (LFS factor for those familiar with TFL rules), Slayer of All refers to their individual combat prowess, and hesistant is a special attribute

Magic support by: Mug a magician of the Elements school (Inept, Cold Fish, Weakling), Capacity 15, Memory 2. Mug memorized "Explosion" from his own school and "Boost Morale" from the school of Light before the battle.

Hero: Grimwald Loudmouth (Solid, Liked, Staunch, Hard to kill)

Attached to the division: 3 swarms of vampire killer bats.

Thorbald's force consists of 5 brigades.

1st Brigade: Thorin the Bold (Solid, Liked, Slayer of All, Hard to Kill)
* 1/1 Shock regiment: B class CO EHI, superior polearms, shock class
* 2/1 Shock regiment: B class CO EHI, Shield + superior handweapons, shock class
* 3/1 Shock regiment: B class CO EHI, superior polearms, shock class

2nd Brigade: Thorin the Crooked (Because of his posture not his morals) (Solid, liked, Slayer)
* 1st Lowland Crossbows: C class OO HI, Crossbow
* 3rd Lowland Crossbows: C class OO HI, Crossbow
* The Blunderbuss Regiment: C class OO LI Blunderbuss (Explosive crossbow)
attached:
* 4th Miner's Militia: C class OO MI, two-handers and shield

3rd Brigade: Balin Digger (Poor, Inspirational, Staunch, Hesitant)
* 1st Miner's Militia: C class OO MI, two-handers and shield
* 2nd Miner's Militia: C class OO MI, two-handers and shield
* 3rd Miner's Militia: C class OO MI, two-handers and shield
* Engineer's Militia: C class OO MI, two-handers and shield
* 1st Engineer's Militia: C class OO MI, two-handers and shield
* 2nd Engineer's Militia: C class OO MI, two-handers and shield

4th Brigade: Renatus (Solid, Cold fish, staunch)
* 3rd Outsider Militia Pike: C class HI, Pike and shield
* Stomper's Styracos: C class Behemoths with howdah

5th Brigade: Prof Boris (Able/Cautious, Inspirational, Staunch, Hesitant)
* Elf Hammer: C class Medium Mortar: Medium High Trajectory Artillery
* Orc Splatter: C class Medium Mortar: Medium High Trajectory Artillery


Armies: Twohornzes raiding orcs

Twohorns had killed, intimidated or otherwise rid himself of all competition, and as of last night was in charge of the raiding force headed for the rich dwarven farming communities. Loot would be plenty, and resistance was supposed to be light. No way would the dwarven army be able to react in force fast enough to stop them. Glory was imminent.

A few foolish dwarves had decided to stand and fight. From the looks of it only a few of them professional soldiers of any kind. Although there was a lot of shiny stuff on the left flank. And that big green animal did look intimidating.

A quick analysis of the situation at hand - an easy task for an orc of his great intellect - resulted in an unbeatable plan of action. The treacherous bastard Bigteeth would take the left flank with his wolfriders, and take care of the shiny dwarves. Yellowcrest, a young but reliable upstart would take the center. Twohorns decided that Bigears would have to take the weak looking right flank. How such a moron of an orc ended up in charge of that big a tribe was still beyond Twohorns. Gorge, a tough bruiser would be best kept close to Bigears to keep an eye on things, whereas Nohair would help out in the centre. Meanwhile, the ace in the hole would have to be Akz with his ogres. Maybe they could take care of the big green thing.

Force Commander: Twohorns (Gifted, Born Leader, Staunch)

Shaman: Addertongue, an adept of the Dark magic school. Junior, Capacity 15, Memory 2. Memorized the Dark magic spells "Despair" and the Spirit spell "Spirit Aid".

Bigears's Tribe: Commander Bigears, Atrocious, Inspirational, Staunch
* 1x Spears: B class open order heavy infantry, spear and shield
* 1x Spears: C class open order heavy infantry, spear and shield
* 2x Bruisers: B class open order heavy infantry, two-handed weapons, shock class
* 1x Light Spears: C class open order light infantry, spear and shield
* 2x Light Spears: D class open order light infantry, spear and shield
* 1x Gits: C class open order light infantry, sword and shield
* 3x Archers: E class skirmish light infantry, inferior bow

Yellowcrest's Tribe: Commander Yellowcrest, Solid/Bold, Liked, Staunch, Spoiling for a fight, Rash
* 2x Spears: C class open order heavy infantry, spear and shield
* 1x Bruisers: B class open order heavy infantry, two-handed weapons, shock class
* 1x Gits: C class open order light infantry, sword and shield
* 2x Gits: D class open order light infantry, sword and shield
* 3x Archers: E class skirmish light infantry, inferior bow

Akz's Ogres: Commander Akz: Solid, Liked, Staunch, Allied, Rash
* 2x Ogres: B class small giants, Shock class

Heroes:
* Gorge: Atrocious, Inspirational, Staunch, Has fate by the short and curlies, hard to kill
* No hair: Atrocious, Liked, Slayer of all, Enthousiastic, Spoiling for a fight
* Paddy (Ogre): Inept, Cold fish, Slayer of all, Enthousiastic, Spoiling for a fight