The main host of the marauding ogres had departed, leaving only a token force as a rear guard. The region's livestock and game had been depleted; devoured by the insatiable brutes, who were now moving on to more verdant lands. If the Regnum Aeternum could mobilize quickly, the land could be reclaimed. Mayhaps even a few ogre noses could be bloodied in retaliation for their transgressions while new fortifications built up and the venerated Mausoleum secured once more.
A large force took the field. Numerous infantry were appropriated from the surrounding territories to serve as guards and laborers, and two regiments of knights joined as well, hoping their steeds would let them catch and bloody the ogres before they had fled too far...
But the spies had not been thorough. The ogre rear guard had not departed; far from it. They were prepared for battle! To further complicate matters, a vanguard of the neighboring undead had been roused, the shambling dead undoubtedly attracted to the massed humanity nearby, and eager for new conscripts. The ogres likely thought that slaying some puny humans would slow the undead, providing a window for the brutes to withdraw in safety. They were likely right.
There would be no coy diplomacy this day. This battle was quickly becoming unavoidable, but the Regnum Aeternum had come to reclaim this land, and brought numbers to do so. Battle it was then.
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| A long shot of the table. I didn't deploy entirely forward, as I wasn't expecting to get the first turn and wanted a little extra space to react (I figured I'd like the newbs go first since the game is all I-go-u-go... but we rolled off, I won, and off we went). |
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| Roughly speaking, List 1 (the simple cavalry + shooter) list deployed opposite the dead; List 2 (the MSU mess) was deployed opposite the ogres (with a regiment of Crossbowmen guarding the Ballista), this was opposite of what I really wanted to test, as I assumed my MSU could envelop and defeat the undead hordes. As it stood, I would need to rely on two regiments of knights to punch through and delay the dead. |
Little of consequence happened on my turn. The Regiments Knights advanced, looking to get in a glorious charge with the other Regiment and the General against anything on the undead side of the table. My left shuffled around a little bit to create possible flank charges for the coming turns (the ogre player generally likes to push his stuff forward). The wizards were out of range for Lightning Bolt; the Ballista failed to hit; and a few pittance of damage was distributed to a few enemy units from my Scouts, Arquebusiers and Crossbowmen.
TURN 1: THEM
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| I'm liking these odds.. |
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| Then a crushing, re-rolled nerve check saw the odds tip slightly against me. Not a good way to start the game.. |
On my left, things started out a little better. In my turn, the Scouts with Carbines had stepped up to pepper a few ogre units, but remain out of charge range. The ogres advanced their brutish fighters, and their shooters, hiding in a forest, (with 36” range!) shot at the Scouts, wavering them.
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| Trying to exploit the strengths of MSU... |
On the left, the pistoliers decide they won’t be flanking anytime soon, and move up to try and scare off that ogre warlock. The wavered scouts decide to change face and regroup, allowing the Foot Guard Troop with their big, nasty swords to charge in against the chariots. It wasn’t the combo/flank charge I was looking to get, but I’ll take it.
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| So what if their unit base size is 3 times ours? We got this. |
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| Bad luck leads to some poor decisions. I'm on tilt! |
The catapult fired again, obliterating my wizard on that side of the table. Werewolves and troop charged the hero and pistol scouts respectively, and routed them both. On the right, the Knight’s charge had failed. The dead charged in, boosted with Bane-Chant for 2, and began tearing through all my shiny armor. They took a lot of punishment, and were wavered, even with the reroll provided by the nearby general. Nobility… I tell ya…
I do not remember what happened on the left flank. Most of the game there was him coyly trying to get 11” away from my units – long enough I wouldn’t be able to reach him, but short enough that he could charge me next turn.
I do know that the chariot combat flubbed, and my Foot guard survived. Huzzah!
TURN 3: ME
On the left flank, the ballista failed again, my mounted scouts and wizard tried to dislodge the ogre warlock in the forest, and actually wavered the brute! The sturdy foot guard again charged the chariot, and this time, routed the unit. The Arquebusiers fire at the right-most ogres and manage to waver them...
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| WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! First blood! |
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| "I dare say, look at all those other people I could Inspire. You won't mind if I leave, would you?" |
On my left, the dead, having suffered some damage here and there, but not lost a single unit yet, continued their relentless advance, overrunning the wavered Regiment of Knights. The Catapult lobbed a shot at the Arquebusiers, but thankfully missed this time.
On my right, the ogres finally decide to commit. Who will win? the plucky regiment of Shield Wall or the charging ogre horde?
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| Oh yeah. The charging Horde definitely wins that. |
On the left, I found myself out of position. The victorious Foot Guard had, in their ecstasy of victory, forgotten to change facing. On my previous turn, I had decided to abandon the shooters to their forest, and try to mop up the ogre infantry… until this turn started, and I realized my errors. Out of position, and out in the open, the Foot Guard moved at the double to try and draw fire away from the rest of my army. The Regiment of Pole Arms on the left (the Fancy Hats) changed facing to hopefully get a flank charge in next turn.
The other troop of Foot Guard charged one unit of ogres, aided by the Army Standard Bearer, and the other Regiment of Pole Arms (the Feathered Helms) charged the other (wavered) unit of ogres, which had been softened up my missile fire. The Feathered Helms routed they spineless quarry, then repositioned to deal with those menacing looking skeletons...
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| Alright, this is looking a little better. Right? |
The little, still unknown troop rear-charged my General, and I learned that Werewolves are crazy quick, as they rampaged across the board into the flank of my Arquebisiers. Then Skeleton horde pivoted to face the Feathered Helms. And then they surged into combat.
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| Whoops. Forgot about Surge. Well played. |
TURN 5: ME
I charge my Regiment of Pole Arms (Fancy Hats) into the flank of the ogres. The attacked flubbed, and the nerve test also flubbed. They were barely wavered due to lots of poor rolls.
TURN 5: THEM
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| ......and that's game. The undead have arrived. |
It was really just a formality playing out the turn at this point. I didn’t have a lot on the table. The ogre ASB again took a swing at mine... and missed! However, the werewolves slammed into my last remaining regiment, and I'm not sure if we even tested nerve at that point. The game was done. Not quite tabled! But... we did still have a turn to play... so.. not a good outcome for me overall.
The expedition was a failure. The army obliterated; the land uncontested; and the mausoleum unprotected. Routed stragglers would do their best to bring word to back to their provinces. In the face of brutes, living dead, and all manner of unsavory beast in the world, intellect and tactics were what the humans would need to carry the day. The Regnum would learn, and it would return.
I should stress that the game was technically a success, as both new players enjoyed it and are open to more games. I’ll publish a few follow up posts on the game over the next few days. I’m thinking one will deal with game specific thoughts (unit/list comp ideas, stuff I was testing) and one will deal more generally with running introductory games.
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