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Saturday, 13 August 2022

Battle for the Green Hills

A blisteringly hot day outside so I thought I'd indulge in an indoor activity, and what better than a game using some Portable Wargame variant rules of my own; to wit Swords, Sorcery and Squares (published in Bob Cordery's PW Compendium).

A simple pitched battle was set up with an army of men commanded by Count Enarriere faced by an invading army of Darkness led by Lord Nul (a Lord of Chaos).

Army of Count Enarriere

General/Hero The Count 6SP
His Wizard, Fiddlestix, 2SP 
Knights of the Green Shield 4SP
3 units of Men at Arms 4SP each
Archers 3SP
Levy 3SP
Total 30SP Exhaustion Point 15SP

Army of Lord Nul

General/Hero Lord Nul 6SP
His Wizard, Gargolous 2SP
Wolf Riders 3SP
Troll 5SP
Orc Archers 3SP
Dead Warriors 4SP
Orcs 4SP
Goblins 3SP
Total 30SP Exhaustion Point 15SP

Both Wizards had the potential use of 3 spells. Fiddlestix armed with Lightning Strike, Shield and Banish Undead; Gargolous with Fire Ball, Fear and Raise the Dead.

The two forces advance both opting to put their Wizards uphill for extra range


The battle begins

Intense fighting on the left flank involving the cavalry and in the centre saw the Army of Darkness suffering the heaviest losses, however they were yet to commit either the Troll or Lord Nul and his Dead Warriors.

Fiddlestix gets close and banishes some of the Dead Warriors 

The battle rages on

The two opposing Wizards blast each other over the heads of the fighting troops

The Army of Darkness reaches Exhaustion Point

On the flank, and unrecorded, the Knights of the Green Shield have defeated the Wolf Riders and attack the Troll.

The Troll falls back

The Wizard Fiddlestix banishes the remaining Dead Warriors. Lord Nul fights on alone. 

Night falls and the battle ends - Victory to Count Enarriere

At the start of Turn 15 (last permitted turn) the two Wizards simultaneously blasted each other with Lightning and Fire; both perished!! 
For today at least, Lord Nul has been defeated and retreats to his realm on one of the Planes of Chaos. The remaining Orcs and the Troll lumber off into the night.
The magic use was undertaken with varying success. Fortunately it doesn't always work as the spells can be quite damaging!

16 comments:

  1. An enjoyable and close game by the looks of it.

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    1. It was a fun game thanks Peter. Playing to a 50% Exhaustion Point makes the battle a bit longer and sometimes leads to swings in fortune

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  2. A fine battle report! I especially like your use of 1/72 scale figures being very partial to them myself.

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    1. Cheers Mark. I've got loads of 1/72nd/20mm figures and it was time for some of them to see daylight!

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  3. Great report. Good to see the rules in action in the hands of their creator 😊👍🏼. Thought the ‘mutually assured destruction’ of the two magic users was a superb ending to the battle ⚔️⚔️💥💥

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    1. Cheers Martin. I tried out the magic a bit more in this game. Never been a fan of too much, hence there's only a 66% chance of it working. Its very destructive and became a bit of an "artillery" duel at the end.

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  4. It's a strange thig but this fantasy set-up with so few figures compared to a lot I've seen, ooks much better and seems to play well too.

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    1. Thanks Joe. In recent years I've found I just prefer to play games with a smaller amount of "stuff"! Much quicker to set up and so there's more chance I may actually play!

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    2. I need to play a game soon with your rules. I think they can work well with man-to-orc skirmish.

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    3. Please let me know how you get on!

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  5. MJT, quick query - The knights/men are plastics, I think….are the knasties also…if so, who makes these?

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    1. They're all plastic apart from
      the 2 mounted knights (Irregular minis) on picture 1
      the 4 archers (Irregular minis) on picture 1
      the 2 wizards (Elheim Minis)

      The Troll is Red Box (Dark Alliance) as are some of the orcs and the others are Caesar Miniatures I think

      The Undead warriors were kindly donated by Sprinks and are also Dark Alliance I believe.

      https://theredbox.com.ua/alliance.htm

      Hope that helps!

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    2. Thanks….I was intrigued by the 20mm baddies. And thanks for the link - just looked at the red box website. All sorts of goodies in there!

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    3. Loads of great Fantasy figures at Red Box though being based in Ukraine I wonder if their production may be affected by Russia's invasion??
      The foot knights/men at arms are from various manufacturers - I do have a large number of 1/72 medieval figures!

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  6. WOW - this has such an old school D&D vibe - I love it.

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    1. Cheers Duc! Reading about Gary Gygax's early 1970s Fantasy Tabletop games and the first drafts of Chainmail has been an influence

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