Dark Elf First Battle

 The Dark Elf Army that appeared in yesterday's post got their first taste of combat today with a quick game of Dominion of the Orc. They were pitted against a veteran force of Dwarves.

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a newly formed wargaming unit or army will suffer defeat on their debut. Would this fate await the evil Elves?

The attacking Dark Elf Army comprised two heavy infantry units, one heavy cavalry unit, one archer unit, a giant spider and a sorcerer. The defending Dwarf Army consisted of three heavy infantry, one cavalry, one crossbow unit and a wizard.

 During the early phases of the battle the magic users concentrated on supporting their combating units. Both sides began to take hits.

Axe wielding Dwarves destroyed the Giant Spiders, however not before the monster's poison affected their slayers (I have made the spiders hit on 5 or 6 but always poison a unit they are in combat with, -1 on the latter's future throws). 

A good number of poor dice later, the Dwarves had the edge over their foe.

Finally, the Dark Elf force admited defeat and grudgingly withdrew allowing the Dwarves to quaff much ale and sing about gold and the like. The old maxim has proved to be true.

Heading for battle (hopefully soon)

 Very little to report recently due to work demands and a short trip to dear old Blighty (visiting family). I have however painted another very small army for my very small fantasy games. 

My Dark Elf Army is made up of virtually all Irregular Miniatures figures from the 10mm Fantasy and Historical ranges (apart from the Magic User in the last pic that is from Pendraken). The Giant Spider is from Irregular's 6mm Fantasy range - it's still fairly giant though!

I'm hoping to start a Mini-Campaign using Dominion of the Orc this Autumn, time allowing.

Once again the picture quality isn't great - we're in the grips of another Storm and it's very overcast.

Heavy Cavalry

Heavy Infantry and Archers

Wizard & Giant Spider

I hope to have some more news soon.

Mythical Earth - Old figures, Contemporary rules

 A recent post at The Duchy of Tradgardland has prompted me to pull my Mythical Earth figures out of storage for a little battle using Portable Wargame Fantasy rules. An additional rule was added for the Nazgul as the Ringwraithes created Fear among their foes. Units in close combat with the Nazgul must roll a d6 each turn; 456 they may fight on, 23 they must fall back a move (where possible) 1 they run away and will leave the field if not rallied by the King.

A (false) rumour suggests that a ring of power has been found and is being held in a ruined manor house. Both Gondor and Mordor send a force to recover it. The two armies arrive simultaneously and clash.

The battle in pictures

The King charges with the Knights of Dol Amroth

Men of Gondor bravely confront the Nazgul

Men of Ithilien fighting Large Goblins

Men of Dol Amroth, who had joined the fight with
the Nazgul, were overcome with fear

The King rushed back down the road in order
to rally them

They rejoin the battle

The Army of Gondor begins to get the upper hand

The Army of Mordor reaches Exhaustion Point (50% total SP)

The orcs are shown no mercy, the Nazgul vanishes
returning to its master. Gondor is victorious.

The Two Armies (mostly MiniFigs)

Testing OHW Fantasy Game ideas

 John Y over at the 54mm or Fight! blog kindly shared ideas and mechanics he uses to adapt Neil Thomas's One Hour Wargames (OHW) rules to Fantasy Wargames. I've tried some of them out this morning in a little game using some 10mm figures; here 2 foot, or 1 horseman on a base equates to a unit.

I have included a Hero on each side (Knight on the Human side, Ogre on the Orc/Goblin side) as defined by John and used the Advantage/Disadvantage mechanic that John discusses for Heroes and for flank/rear attacks instead of a bonus, which seemed to work. For this game I gave all units 8SP to start with (this is convenient as I have some small 8 sided dice to track damage). I used d3 instead of d6 for firing and combat. In true OHW style I didn't use a morale check in this game so it was a bloody fight to the finish. The types of unit are a mix of different rule sets from OHW, as John states in his post, but as this is Fantasy that's par for the course!

The Army of men comprised:

A Knight, a company of horsemen, 3 Heavy Infantry units, a unit of archers and a unit of peasants.

The Orc/Goblin Army comprised:

An Ogre, a company of wolf mounted orcs, 2 Orc Heavy Infantry, 1 Orc archer unit and 2 Goblin Light Infantry units.

First encounter

The Orc army is blocking a pass through the hills through which the Army of Men must move. A pitched battle ensues. (Note: a grid square with a tree counts as wooded and has a defence bonus). Things started off well for the Men (apart from the peasants who were pitted against Goblins hiding in a wood).

Orcs attempt to out flank the Army of Men

The Orc Army began to fight back, and as so much depends on which side has initiative, a run of good luck meant that the Orcs could equal the early damage done by the Men.

Hero v Anti-Hero

Both sides lost their Heroes but fought on desperately.

The last remaining company of Orcs fought to the finish in true Fantasy style.

Two units of men were all that left the field

The mechanics of John's that I've tried in this game worked well and I hope to try out some more in another game in the future.

This and that

 Below are a few of the things I've been fiddling around with between game reports - hopefully something may be of interest...

First off, I found a couple of buildings to make on Hugh Walter's Small Scale World blog (here) that are quite fun and would look nice for a 20th Century game or Railway layout (if made better then I managed of course); Matchbox cars for scale.

I tried an Inter War period Portable Wargame using block units made from MDF bases with images from the Junior General site stuck on to them which worked ok and seemed a good way of testing out a period for which I didn't have two completed forces - not everyone's cup of tea but really no different from playing a Boardgame (and its a very cheap option!)

Many years ago I created a game called Giant! - I've since lost the rules (that were on the back of an envelope) however I found some of the figures (6mm from Irregular and Bacchus) and scenery (6mm buildings from Irregular) which are quite fun. The stand-in Giant is a Prehistoric Man in 28mm.

At the time I'd started making a couple of Fantasy game armies in 6mm (my eyesight was better then....)

Army of the Dead

Elves

Talking of Giants, here are a pair from many years ago - both are still available (Hinchliffe from Broadsword Miniatures, and MiniFigs from Caliver Books)

On the Left Hinchliffe Giant from 1980. On the Right MiniFigs Giant 1973

Next post will hopefully be a game report...

Arnor Project - Battle of the North Downs

Harl the Helmless led what was left of the fleeing Arnorians towards the North Downs after their defeat at the hands of Angmar's vanguard (see HERE). 

The Orcs were moving faster than their quarry and caught up with them at the very feet of the hills. The Downs Guard, regular soldiers of Arnor, could see the two forces from their earthwork defenses.

Men of Arnor turn to give fight

The Orcs, once again led by their fierce Captain ('Orrible 'Ornblower), rushed forward and battle ensued.

The heavily outnumbered Arnorians fought bravely but slowly gave ground, falling back to the more defensive position and the fresh soldiers guarding the Downs.

The Arnorians finally reached Exhaustion Point, but were at least now uphill of their enemy and able to defend themselves. The Orcs fought on but they too fell at last to exhaustion.

The battle of the North Downs was over.

Next time, attention turns to the main force of Orcs whose passage West has bypassed the hill country and now begins to progress South towards the City of Fornost.