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| The Blackpoweder rules held some welcome surprises. |
Wargaming the Napoleonic era seriously does not churn my oats. I bloody loved watching Sharpe (as surely every red blooded male in the land should), but the idea of playing out a battle just leaves me cold. Lines of dudes armoured in cloth jackets, armed with guns which struggled to shoot straight, and ordered to walk into enemy fire and simply....die... Pffft. Not for me. But, I'd seen Dougie put on a Seven Years' War game before and his kit looked pretty tidy, so I thought I'd try something new and give it a bash.
The Blackpowder rules are new to me, but there are some aspects of them which are great! The guys at GW should have a good look at these for WFB. Movement is based on what is basically an Ld check. Depending on how well the unit passes (if they pass), the unit get to move 1, 2 or 3 times. That means cavalry can (and often does) move 36" in a turn! By the end of turn 3, one of my units of Dragoons had pretty much toured the entire battlefield (reaping carnage wherever they went of course!). Firepower varies based on unit quality, size and condition. The importance of fresh undamaged units is key in this game - as is having units of reserves to plug gaps left by fast moving troops leaving the line, or fragile busted up infantry blocks legging it. It felt really tactical playing this game, especially as due to the scenario I had to deal with Martin's advance and then handle Alan's successive flanking move, determining who to pull from the line, when to linger to finish things off, when to move on, etc.
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| Doubt bubblegum was around in 1813, but my Dragoons were certainly kickin' ass and chewin' somethin'... |
This was a fair sized game, but it (should have) flowed very quickly. Once units take a pounding, they just crumble and go. The speed of movement also ensures hand to hand comes in quickly. There were - at the level we played at, anyway - no significant characters. Officers were discrete units, but they simply flew about rallying and bolstering units - they didn't fight or have outrageous stats that could motor through units singlehanded like in WFB or 40k. After relying so on vampires to do do the work for me, that was pretty strange! Players also have to state exactly what each unit is doing before any dice are rolled, otherwise they simply take their full move straight forward. Martin fell foul of this in turn one as his entire line marched 36" to stand about 3" in front of my gun line; and moving goes after shooting in this game...heh heh.
Suffice to say, I pounded Martin with all I had, he wilted and I turned to engage Alan's flanking move. It was in the bag 30 mins in, but I got three horrific casualty test rolls after Alan's first turn of firing and literally half my army ran for it. Shit. I was still going to win due to weight of numbers, but it took a damn age and Alan refused to accept the obvious and concede. Dougie was getting quite exasperated by it, which was a shame, but I still enjoyed the game.
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| What? The Frenchies ran away? Mon Dieu, I just cant believe it!! |
Things about the rules I wasn't so keen on was that the game is very vague on unit composition. Its based on what players have, so before the battle they agree how many models in a large unit, how many in a medium unit and so on. There are four set sizes of unit in the game and models are simply arranged onto these agreed footprints. Its too vague for me. When casualties are taken, a marker is put down by the unit (break tests come after 3 casualties are suffered - officers can each test to rally one casualty off in the final phase of the turn. All casualties above three are removed and ignored as long as the unit survives its break test at the end of the turn). Models aren't actually removed unit a unit breaks, and is removed form the table. Another thing that slightly bugged me was my 'medium' unit of riflemen (16 models I think) had only 3 dice to fire. I miss the idea of each model making an attack, Warhammer style. I know it balanced with the dynamic of the game; but maybe GW have indoctrinated me, or its just a touch of the autism...
Overall, a good fast system. Martin tells me the Hail Caesar rules are very similar, but slowed down a bit movement wise for our heavy Greek Phalanxes, so I'm looking forward to that. In fact, I've been building more hoplites tonight ()taking a break to peel the glue off my finger tips). While I'm still not swayed to part with cash to buy an army for this era, i enjoyed the system and had a good game. Nice one, Dougie!
The week before, I ran my Necromancer scenario at the club; a multi-player Warhammer skirmish game where each player takes a single necromancer and his cadre of crumblies and battles for dominance of the graveyard of Mousillon. It was based on the Regiments of Renown Rules we used in the April tournament in the club. we ended up with 7 players (a bit more than I'd expected!). Here's the dit I ran on the club forum:
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| What a handsome looking necromancer we have here... Watch out for that magic missile, pal, its a right bitch. |
NECROMANCER
Ever played against a Vampire Counts army and wished you could have a go summoning hordes of the undead to overwhelm your foes, but don’t have a VC army of your own? Maybe you’ve got a great sorcerer model in your collection, but never had the chance to use him? Did you enjoy Hammer Horror flicks, Evil Dead or World War Z? Love the idea of playing warhammer through a creepy crypt, ruined castle or haunted graveyard? Then this warhammer skirmish scenario is the game for you!
I’m going to run a one-off scenario in the club, using the regiments of renown ruleset we used a few months ago. It’ll be undead Vampire Counts only: you don’t need to bring any models (unless you’ve got some and you fancy giving them a run out of the crypt…
as they will be provided. Each player (2 up to however many are
interested!) takes one up-and-coming necromancer accompanied by a
handful of shambling deadites. The aim of the game is to seize an
objective on the table by the close of play – such as a crypt holding
the body of a sleeping vampire, or a ruinous tower for your nascent
necromancer to appropriate for his lair!The obvious thing about necromancers is that they start small, but if you don’t snuff ‘em out quick, they’ll have hordes of gravemeat pounding at your door (and peeking in the windows, crawling over your roof and pushing up the floorboards too). Each player gets one level 2 necromancer, with raise dead (9+, raises 2d6+3 wounds worth of undead), vanhels danse macabre (6+,chosen unit moves 8” and rerolls missed ‘hit rolls) and soul burn (6+, magic missile, 18” range, d6xs4 hits). Players also have 50 points to spend on their intimate crew of deadites. You may buy:
Zombies (WS 1, S3, T3, ASL) – 3pts
Skeletons (WS 2, S3, T3 w/LA+SH) – 5pts
Ghouls (WS 3, S3, T4, A2, poisoned attacks) – 10 pts
Dire Wolves (M9, WS 3, S 3, T 3, W 1, A1) – 8 pts
*Grave Guard (WS3, S4, T4, w/HA+SH) – 11 pts
*Black Knight (WS 3, S4, T4, barded skeletal steed, ha, sh,lance, killing blow) – 26pts
*Fell bat (WS3 S3 T3 A2 flyer with 2 wounds) – 16 pts
*Crypt Horror (undead ogre w/5+ regen, poisoned attacks) – 38 pts
Players may have no more than one (each, possibly) of the models marked with * in their starting list, although they may get more during the game. Note that standard rules for undead will apply: that is, no psychology, no break tests (you lose a wound for each point you lose a combat by), and if you’re outside the 12” bubble of your necromancer, you cant march. For the purposes of the raise dead spell, necromancers will be able to raise anything on the price list, although they must declare first what they’re going for, and will get considerably fewer black knights than they would zombies for the cost of the spell…
Write up your list (it shouldn’t be long!), and bring it with you on the night. Rules for movement, attacking, etc are all as per the regiments of renown set used previously in the club. This time however there will be a turn limit (d6 roll + turn number at the start of each turn, if the number ever goes above 10, then the sun comes up and its time to scurry away) instead of timed games, and veteran rules wont apply. The table will be a feast of graveyard architecture and goodies, including barrows and crypts where speedy players will be able to unlock anything from bat swarms, to banshees to the mindboggling terror of a black coach!
This could a great bit of fun if you’re interested –depending on the number of players, I’ll either play on one board with several aspiring necromancers mixing it up, or split us off into pairs for ‘quick’ timed gameslike in the regiments of renown. Remember, all models will be provided by me, unless you want to bring some of your own. Who will claim the title as ‘King of the Crypt’???
I fleshed it out with this as interest grew:
The battlefield will be set up to look like a cemetery in Mousillon, on the edge of a crumbling district of the city. There will be burial mounds, monoliths, crypts, graveyards, tombs, rambling walls, statues and of course the fringes of the city as well. Terrain will be tight; plenty to hide behind (or within) as you skulk about!
The table will hold 5 objectives all together. At the centre will be the Van Drak family mausoleum, where you believe a powerful coven of vampires currently sleep. Around the graveyard there are four other objectives: a charnal pit (if we can get a citadel battleboard tile with the skulls in the fissure in the ground, that would be pretty cool, failing that we can use a blast crater piece form the 40k scenery), a Statue of Mhorr (a sinister statue), an arcane ruin (the tomb of a long forgotten Breton mage), and the crypt of Erfried the damned (a banshee, who can be released and mastered by players). The Van Drak mausoleum is in the centre of the field, the other four are arranged in a circle around it, each at least 12" from the mausoleum and 12" away from each other.
The game lasts until only one necromancer remains, or when the sun comes up (ie when a d6 roll + the turn number is greater than 10). The game is won by holding the objectives. Objectives are held by the nearest appropriate model, up to 6" away. The Mausoleum is worth 3 objective points, the others are worth 2. Zombies, dire wolves and fell bats may not hold objectives. All other unit types at a player's disposal may do the job!
Special Rules
The rules below govern magic and the objectives. Fighting in a magic laden, undead infested graveyard does tend to change things...
Spells:
As in older versions of the Vampire Counts army book, we will play under the rule that all necromancy spells may be cast multiple times in a magic phase, as long as a player has the necessary power dice, or doesnt fail a cast. In other words, as long as you dont screw it up and fail to cast a spell, you could theoretically cast raise dead two or three times in your magic phase (although obviously your opponents will be working to dispel you!)
Vanhels danse macabre (6+ cast, range 12", chosen unit moves 8” and rerolls missed ‘hit rolls)
soul burn (6+ cast, magic missile, 18” range, d6xs4 hits).
Raise Dead (6+ cast, range 12". Casting this spell in a necropolis alters it use. The cast number is lower, and with so much raw around, who knows what might come up? If several models are produced, raise them all at the target point, deploying each model as an individual unit, 1" apart. Once successfully cast, roll 2d6 on the following table to find what is summoned:
2-4: 1d6+4 zombies
5: 1d6 dire wolves
6-7: 1d6+2 skeletons (with la / sh)
8-9: 1d6 ghouls
10: 1d3 grave guard (with ha / sh)
11: 1 Black Knight (with barded skeletal steed, ha, sh + lance)
12: Wight Lord (with ha / sh)
Objective Special Rules:
The Charnal Pit - this ossuary provides a delightful supply of spares. All undead within 6" have 5+ regen.
Mhorr's Statue - the God of the Dead is fickle presence. At the start of player 1's turn only, roll a d6 for each model within 6" of the statue. On a 1-3 it recognises them as an ally of its master. On a 4+ beams of light blaze from the stone eyes! The model suffers a strength 4 hit.
Arcane Ruin - the weed-choked, crumbling crypt of some long forgotten Breton mage. Any necromancer within 6" of the arcane ruin may choose to roll up to 4 dice for channelling; however if three or more dice come up as '6s', then the necromancer must take an immediate miscast roll.
Erfried's Crypt - entombed within is the restless shade of Erfried the Damned. Those with the correct knowledge may break the bonds which bind her wretched soul to the crypt. At the start of his turn, any necromancer within 6" may attempt to control Erfried by passing an Ld test. If passed, place a banshee on the table next to the crypt. It is controlled by the summoning player until destroyed, and may move normally. If Erfried is destroyed, her spirit is banished back to her crypt, where she may be freed once more. Necromancers may only test to release the banshee once per turn. Other than frustration, there is no penalty for failing the Ld test to free Erfried.
The Van Drak Mausoleum - This rambling, ornate structure is the ancestral burial site for the noble Van Drak family. Recent occurences have led you to suspect that the Van Draks were not all that they seemed, luring you here in an attempt to harness control of something truly powerful. At the centre of the field, the Van Drak Mausoleum is worth 3 objective points compared to the 2 available for any other objective. The mausoleum houses many unsuspected horrors (or delights). Any Necromancer casting Raise Dead within 6" of the Mausoleum should disregard the standard summoning table and roll 2d6 on this special one:
- 2-4: 1d6+4 skeletons (with LA / SH)
- 5-7: 1d6+2 ghouls
- 8: 1 crypt horror
- 9: 1d6 grave guard (with ha / sh)
- 10: 1d3 black knights (riding barded skeletal steeds, with HA / Sh + lance)
- 11: a Black Coach
- 12: 1 enraged vampire hero! (frenzied, cannot be controlled, will immediately attack the model nearest the mausoleum and continue killing everything near it until it is killed itself!). Immediately place the vampire in base to base with the relevant opponent.
Based on the numbers taking part, here is the plan. If James does indeed join us, then we will have 6 players. If it stays at this, we extend the table to the the normal 6x4 and each player gets a 12"x12" dz at the corners and a 12" wide x 4" deep at the mid point on the long table edges.
If someone else joins in then we go with the arrangements for 6 players as listed above with player 7 or me taking the role of the city guard. The City Guard appear at the start of turn 2 from a random table edge, at a point at least 12" away from any undead models (or the greatest distance possible along the table edge rolled for).
If James doesn't play, or if someone cant make it and we drop to 5 players, then we stick with the original 4'x4' table and I'll take the City Guard. If there's some untold disaster and we only end up with 4 players, I'm back on the necromancy with you guys and we play at each corner of our original 4'x4'. Hope this doesn't confuse matters, lads! The more the merrier, but our little 4'x4' slice of the world would be busier than the bar at an 18th birthday party if I try to cram more than 5 players on it!
The City Guard
The rules for the City Guard are as follows. Prowling through the night shrouded streets, lanterns held high to root out the unsavoury, come a well armed patrol of the City Guard. The Guard Captain himself - Sir Guillame Delberz leads them. There have been some dire rumours on the streets of late and he seeks to root out the source of these tales for himself.
- Guard Captain - Sir Guillame Delberz - Bretonnian Hero (WS5, S4, T4, W2, A3, Ld8) with hand weapon, ha / sh, riding a barded warhorse. Sir Guillame has the virtue of resolve, making him immune to psychology).
- Man-at-arms musician (special rule: as long as this man lives to ring his bell, 1d6 men at arms will appear following the City Guard deployment rules at the start of each turn). - 10 pts
- 1 x Yeoman Warden (WS 3, S 3, T3, A2) w/ La+sh+halberd - 18 pts
- 2 x peasant bowmen (WS 2, BS 3, S3, T3, Ld 5, longbow) - 12 pts
- 2x men-at-arms (WS 2, S3, T3, A1, Ld5) w/ La + Sh + Halberd - 10 pts
Special Rules
Deployment - The City Guard appear at the start of turn 2 from a randomly rolled for table edge, at a point at least 12" away from any undead models (or the greatest distance possible along the table edge rolled for). Models may be placed on and moved normally, including charges. Place a coin or marker to keep a note of this spot, as it will be used by future reinforcements.
Reinforcements - as long as Gilles the bell ringer lives (the Men-at-arms musician), the City Guard answer the call of the bell. 1d6 reinforcements will arrive at the start each turn from the same table edge as the Guard initially arrived. They also appear at the same point the Guard originally appeared from, even if this is now no longer the furthest point from any undead. Models move normally as soon as they are put down. The Guard player may choose to split his reinforcements from peasant bowmen or men-at-arms, depending on the models available. If the musician is dead, then no further reinforcements will come.
City Guard Victory
The City Guard achieve victory on the same conditions as the necromancer players, with 2 VP for each outer objective, or 3 VP for holding the Van Drak mausoleum. In the case of the Guard, its denying the objectives to the filthy uindead that will earn them the victory. Any City Guard model may hold an objective, as long as he is the nearest model standing within 6" of it.
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| The battlefield, crammed with players. Expectation still high... |
The buzz for this one was great! Guys were writing up fluff as background for their necromancers and adding in to the running thread on the forum. We ended up starting with 6 necromancers and Tam came in as seventh man on the City Guard. We set up the table and it looked AMAZING. First turn in and everyone was starting to raise their undead hordes. I'd spent most of the previous week gluing together a box of 30 Mantic Zombies, 3 Crypt Horrors, Krell, and a dozen Mantic Ghouls. The pile of goodies available was huge!
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| Martin and I clash around the Sorceror's Tomb. |
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| John Scott's deadites prowled in through the shuttered streets of Mousillon. |
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| Angus' Necromancer and his burgeoning crew of cronies free Erfreid from her tomb and scale the hill up to the Van Drak Mausoleum. |
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| A rare pic of Craig's short lived mob holding the Arcane Statue and making a dash for the Van Drak Mausoleum. Unseen by Craig, James' Necromancer works up a barrage of magic missiles over by the treeline. |
Then came turn 2. James saw the mighty fucking flaw in the rules I'd written. Drawing a bead from his necromancer to Craig's he cast the magic missile 'soul burn' on him... again.... and again... and again until he fried him. Craig's army promptly did a Bedknobs and Broomsticks and crumbled unanimously to the ground. I'd reverted to the old rules on spamming out spells to make sure players didn't only have a single chance to raise, and get it dispelled by the others. The magic missile was intended to allow necromancers to nerf powerful enemy models such as Wight Lords our Crypt Horrors. I'm such a tit that I didn't see it coming that the lads would simply fry each others casters! With so many of us on the table, most of us were in range of each others casters, so it all went Pete Tong!
I was properly gutted for Craig - he was well into it, and as the game only lasted an hour or so, it rather shafted his (and mostly the others lads' too) night of gaming. James' necro got the same treatment in the next turn, I went next (the good old way at least, my craven necro run down and skewered by a charging enemy knight) and Martin in shot order thereafter. Tam's City Guard turned out to be quite powerful with us dropping like flies, and he took out John. The Guard Captain turned out to be quite the killer.
The entry point for the City Guard proved a bit contentious. Due to his setup rules, he was quite far away from most of the objectives, so the (remaining) necromancer, Angus, had quite a leg up on pinning down the objectives before him. Maybe next time allow the Guard to feed in from the town, as it fits the fluff.
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| Tam's City Guard Captain gallops in to the fray, ready to tear in to the unsuspecting rears of John and James. |
The game finished with Angus winning, although it was a close run thing. He miscast and reduced his mage to level 0, an as last necro, he couldn't raise anymore. We reached our turn limit before Tam's City Guard could make it far enough on to the table to threaten enough objectives and mow down Angus' now very finite force. Tam was a little sour about his chances, but to honest I'd written the guard rules never expecting them to be in with a shout at winning (as I thought the table would be crawling with undead!) and the race against the dice at the end added tension to see if Angus could hold out.
Overall, did not expect that one! A disappointing night it has to be said, and the first fantasy event I've organised that has more or less binned on me! I did not for a moment think that only one necromancer would be left by the end; it was almost comical how fast we were going down! Not a complete disaster though; the game did generate quite a buzz at the club and some of the lads not playing have asked when I'll be running it again. Of course, the talk of the night was how to fix that damn magic missile spell, and damn right I'll be changing it up before coming back to this one. The look of it, the buzz beforehand and the enjoyment of the first turn were great however, so I will come back to this and run something like it again... if anyone will want to play it!
As for this week, I'm not sure what I'll be up to as yet. The Greek play-by-mail game is going well, and Athens is kicking ass and taking names! I'd been frustrated by a bloody non-player neutral - Corinth - which although a large sized city, had fought me (and lost twice) in battle and still managed to bounce off my siege. I sent the troops back in and in an effort to draw a line under the war (and not fall behind the others, some of whom are spreading like mold in a warm fridge) I sent them this message:
To Corinth (to be
delivered by Miltiades’ herald once our army stands at Corinth’s gates once
again): “Hail, Corinth. We salute on the ingenuity of your builders. The
counterwall was well placed and built with courage. Further resistance however
will only cause greater destruction to your city and pain to your wives,
mothers and daughters not yet widowed or bereft. Twice our army has proven your
superior, and bloodied you on this field. Five and a half thousand of your male
citizens have been thrown away. 225 of these have already been sold into the
humiliation of slavery, never to see their homes again. After last year’s
battle, we have no fewer than 1400 of your citizens in our custody. Our army is
here again to press our cause. Soon, we will crush your trade completely, and
your city will starve. Miltiades, Archon of the demos of Athens presents you
with our terms:
You have three options open to you, as chosen by the three
fates. Clotho, the spinner, will give you this: that you will surrender your
city immediately and join Athens as our tributary. You will open your gates and
allow our army to occupy your city immediately. You will acknowledge Athens as
your master and overlord, but will be allowed to maintain your own rights,
customs and practices. Corinth will be allowed to run its own internal affairs,
but will acknowledge and follow any instruction from Athens. Corinth will pay
Athens 15 talents a year, every year, starting from this one. Corinth will also
send Athens 3000 citizen troops to serve in the army of the Demos each year. As
tributary, Corinth will ally with Athens. We will allow you to continue to
build your own projects, manage the bulk of your forces, and trade with
whomever you see fit. Athens will move Athenian troops in and out of Corinth as
we see fit, and may even station men here if we choose to. Once your loyalty
has been proven, Athens will return the Corinthian citizens we hold captive.
This is the bloodless option, the option which your people will thank you for,
and the only option which truly holds any honour for you.
Lachesis, the allotter, will give you this: that you
surrender your city in its entirety to us immediately, and disband your army.
Archon Miltiades will march in and occupy your city with his army. There will
be no bloodshed, and the Corinthian prisoners of war will be returned to their
families. Corinth will become part of the proud and vigourous Athenian Empire,
under Athenian rule.
Atropos, the unturnable, will give you this: if you reject
our overture and stubbornly refuse to accept the inevitable then the Demos of
Athens must show you no quarter. Miltiades will lay siege to your city walls.
The lives of your citizens which we hold in our custody will be forfeit. Each
day we will stake out two of your people on the ground before your gates. There
they will cook in the sun until the vultures come to pick at their flesh, and
their cries clutch at the hearts of your people. Each day another two will be
drawn – one in the morning, one in the afternoon – and dismembered before your
walls. We will slice them piece at a time, like a butcher working a carcass of
mutton and ensure that the life takes a long time to leech from their bodies.
Their screams shall rend at the ears of the men on your walls until they can
take no more. Each piece we take shall be catapulted over your walls to be
found by your people. Let it not be said that the Demos of Athens is without
mercy. Many of your men will return to their homes – even if it takes them a
whole day to cross that wall. When your army fails and your walls are taken,
our officers will not stay their hand or run the rule over their men. Warriors
shall be given free rein of your riches, your women and your children. No coin
shall go unstolen, no daughter of Corinth left unfucked and soiled with
Athenian seed, no child left untaken for a life of slavery and black, fucking
despair. Should the Gods of chance in some way grant you a reprieve and break
our siege once again, rest assured that we will be back. Again, again and again
until everything with a heartbeat in that shithole you call a city is dead.
These are your fates, Corinth. We will not offer you terms
again. Deny us, and there is only Atropos.
I had fun writing that! John was so impressed he let me roll a dice for it when we met up at Dark Heresy. In the end they chose Lachesis and surrendered the city to me. Job done! Now to get on with the conquering...
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| By turn 5, Greece looks like this (with Athens bagging Corinth). The news says Pherae has besieged Amphissa, which puts his armies east of Thermopylae. That puts the cat amongst the pigeons... |
The first player war has begun, between Robert's Pella and Angus' Olynthus up in the far north, and it looks like it may potentially pull in everyone else, as we all seem to be allied to someone up there! Robert made the first strike and besieged Olynthus with what (he thought) was a big army, but I hear Angus had been recruiting men inside and training them up and he sallied out to win the day. That puts Robert in a damn sticky situation now, as Angus apparently has 6 gold mines on the go, just pumping out gold. Over a long war, resources will tell - Robert's in the shitter if he doesn't get help or come up with something intelligent to do real soon. I've been hanging on tenterhooks waiting for the next turn to come in, and its still not here yet! Gah! So many plans to hatch...
Tonight then, I'm off to submit my doubles list for the Warhammer Doubles League. Martin came over Tuesday and we came up with a plan, which will either be awesome or just suck horribly and see us pumped repeatedly. First game should start soon.
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