Oathmark: Holding Action (Humans versus the Unseelie Court)

I don't seem to be getting on very quickly with the painting and terrain I need for the next Rangers of Shadow Deep scenario, so I played another Oathmark game instead.

The rampaging humans were in full flight after their defeat at the hills. Their captain succeeded in rallying them enough that a core of the army could make a stand to let the rest get away. He opted to occupy the hills beside the pass into the human-controlled kingdom.

The Orcs had sent messengers to the Unseelie Lord, their overlord, who had sent two companies of the Royal Rangers led by his daughter Patience, a person whose very existence proved that nominative determinism was a load of rubbish, to lead the remnants of the Orcish army. She had picked up a selection of additional troops along the way and had orders to strike deep into the human kingdoms so that they could never rally again.

Following on from the previous Programmed Scenarios game, I looked to see which scenario might suit next. "Holding Action" seemed appropriate. This scenario has the defending force fighting a holding action covering a road. The attackers must break through the pass to the human lands beyond. If the humans can hold off the Orc/Elf army without losing too many troops, balance is restored and the two kingdoms will return to their previous status quo. If the attackers win, then they will be in position to attack the Human capital and hopefully subjugate the human menace once and for all.

The Armies

The Unseelie Army (Attackers)

• 1 Mounted Elven Princess
• 1 Elven Wizard (Level 3)
• 1 Mounted Orc Champion
• 1 unit of 10 Orc Soldiers
• 1 unit of 9 Orc Soldiers
• 1 unit of 10 Lizardperson Soldiers (count as Orcs)
• 1 unit of 10 Goblin Soldiers
• 1 unit of 10 Orc Linebreakers
• 2 Trolls
• 1 unit of 10 Orc Archers
• 2 units of 5 Elven Mounted Rangers each

Humans (Defenders)

• 1 Captain in 1 unit of 9 Warriors
• 1 Mounted Champion
• 1 Wizard (Level 2)
• 1 unit of 15 Soldiers
• 1 unit of 12 Soldiers
• 1 unit of 10 Soldiers
• 3 units of 10 Archers each
• 1 unit of 5 Linebreakers
• 1 unit of 5 Heavy Cavalry

The Battle

This battle sees the humans occupying a hill line with a pass in its middle. Their goal is to stop the Unseelie army from exiting the table through the pass at the opposite corner from the one they enter on.

The Unseelie army has staged entry along the road (newly made for this scenario from Warbases road/river templates). Their scouts will arrive first then their main force and flank guards. The rules  randomise the entry of the main force and flank guards using specific times. E.g. the flank guard can arrive 10 minutes ahead of the main force, which can be one hour behind the vanguard. Oathmark does not have a specific time frame for turns and the turn length feels like it might be longer than the minutes given, so I am going to have to fudge it a bit:

• Turn 1: Vanguard
• Turn 2: Flank guards and/or main body
• Turn 3: Flank guards and/or main body if they did not arrive on Turn 2

As with the previous programmed scenario, I am dicing for the orders for both sides rather than taking charge of one of them. May the luckiest general win!

Victory Conditions

The human commander is desperate now that he sees that the Fair Folk of the Unseelie Court are involving themselves in this fight. He had not anticipated this type of response to his raid and must protect his King's lands from reprisals. Therefore, he is willing to accept higher casualties than usual to achieve his goals. He has 89 men at his disposal and will account it a success if he loses 31 or fewer of them while delaying the Unseelie advance until nightfall. However, aware that he will need his troops for later, he will start to withdraw once losses reach 28 troops.

Princess Patience's goal is to exit at least two units through the pass. Casualties mean little to her, so she is willing to throw all her troops at the enemy and hope to swamp them.

It is entirely possible that this could effectively be a draw with the humans being spent but the Unseelie not making headway quickly enough.

The two armies will have 12 turns in which to achieve their goals. It is hard to gauge how long the scenario should be without having played it before, so I am basing the length on how fast an infantry unit marching down the road could take to enter and then exit the table. I hope I have allowed enough time for a theoretical Unseelie victory. As the Humans outnumber the Unseelie army, they could theoretically just engage every single Unseelie unit and delay them that way, but the Human army rolled a static defence, so they will wait for the Unseelie, rather than moving to engage them.

Deployment

The humans have deployed a forlorn hope of 1 unit of archers in the village. The human captain has also chosen to keep a reserve comprising his heavy cavalry and a small unit of soldiers. The bulk of his troops are deployed on the western hills with the remainder on the eastern hills. He has decided on a static defence on the hills with his troops deployed in a single line. He has also decided that if a single Unseelie unit breaks through, that is acceptable. Local militias should be able to deal with that, so he will focus on defeating the main body in detail instead, but will have to respond if more Unseelie troops start to make headway.

The Unseelie army is deployed in 3 bodies. The advance guard comprises 1 unit of Orc archers and 1 unit of Goblin soldiers. The left flank guard comprises 2 units of mounted Elven Rangers. The right flank guard comprises 1 unit of Orc soldiers and both Trolls. The rest of the force forms the main body. Princess Patience has decided that the advance guard must move as quickly as possible to secure the village and then to move on to take the high ground. If two or more units are in a position to push through the pass, then Princess Patience will order them to do so. She will report a success if she can do this by nightfall.

Terrain

Roads do not give bonus movement in Oathmark. Shame. The Unseelie could do with it. Moving a unit on the road will negate any other terrain the road passes through, so units will not be slowed by woods or villages while on the road.

Hills provide a defensive bonus. A single contour has no other effect. A second contour is treated as rough ground in addition to the defensive bonus.

A unit in the village gets a bonus in melee and counts as in cover versus shooting attacks. The village also counts as rough ground.

Woods are treated exactly as in the Oathmark rules.

Turn 1

The Unseelie advance guard moved up the road onto the battlefield. As they rounded the edge of the woods, the Orc archers spotted the human archers but neither party was able to draw a bead on the other.

Humans are deployed in the bottom half of the picture. The Unseelie army enters from the top left corner

Turn 2

The Orc archers advanced in line with their orders and loosed a shower of arrows at the humans in the village but to no effect. The humans responded by showering arrows down on the Orcs, slaying many and disordering their ranks. The Goblins following the Orcs balked at this and refused to advance further than they had to.

The remainder of the Unseelie army arrived and the flank guards started making their way towards the enemy. Princess Patience, true to her nature, gives orders for the main body to advance as fast as they can towards the pass without waiting for the following units to deploy properly in support of them. The flank guards are ordered to take the high ground and roll up the human flanks.

Seeing an opportunity, the Elven Rangers fired a volley at the human archers and slew one of them.

The main body and flank guards of the Unseelie army enter the battlefield

Turn 3

The Elven wizard began to chant and unleashed a blast of flame at the humans in the village. Another of their number fell and the archers became disordered. Their officer quickly got them back in line and they shot at the nearest unit of Elven Rangers, slaying two of them! Both units of Rangers fired as they wheeled towards their left flank, slaying more human archers. Meanwhile, the Orc soldiers on the right flank were advancing on the hill and took fire from human archers there. They took their casualties in their stride and marched steadfastly forward, although it might have been the following Trolls that kept them moving.

The first shots are fired. Elven archery proves superior to human as the forlorn hope desperately holds on

Turn 4

The Unseelie army continued to advance, although slowly on the road as the Orcs and humans continued to shoot at each other, slowing the following infantry down. The humans were starting to get the worst of it now as their numbers dwindled but their courage remained strong in the face of arrows and fireballs. The Orcs on the right flank suffered another casualty but also continued their advance.

The Unseelie forces on the road squabble about right of way while the humans patiently await the onslaught

Turn 5

As the exchange of missile fire still continued, the Orc soldiers and Trolls marched on their foes. A unit of human soldiers attacked the Orcs in the flank, but were rebuffed in disorder despite their superior numbers. Meanwhile the Elven Rangers were racing for the hills on the left flank.

Stout Orc yeomanry stand firm against the fiendish humans, while the forlorn hope is reduced to a single archer now

Turn 6

The last of the human archers in the village fell as the Orcs advanced down the road. A queue of following units had formed behind them and it was not looking like they would be able to reach the pass in time. On the right flank, the Orc soldiers were reduced to a single survivor who defiantly shook his spear at the enemy and yelled. However, the Trolls were now able to move into a position to attack. The Orc soldiers had done their job and would be sung of in the halls of the Orcish horde.

The forlorn hope is gone. Has it delayed the Unseelie army enough?

Turn 7

The Trolls were now in range of the enemy and were keen to charge but the arrows flying toward it caused one of the Trolls to become confused. The other charged the flank of some human soldiers and cut their numbers in half, driving them back and causing the human archers to scramble backwards out of the way. The humans, despite being disordered and torn to bits, held their nerve, even when the last remaining Orc soldier on that flank decided to rush in and kill one of their number.

The human wizard finally found his spellbook and blinded the Orc archers so that they had to spend some time rubbing their eyes before they could see again.

The Elven Rangers on the left flank were now in bow range and cut a unit of human soldiers in half. It was only with great effort that the human officer managed to keep his troops together and in line, turning them to face the oncoming Unicorn riders.

Even in the face of the horrendous casualties, the other humans kept their nerve and remembered their orders to hold their positions. Their captain started to consider how best to withdraw his troops to guard the pass. He was losing too many valiant warriors.

The human left flank is sent into disarray by Trolls while the Elven Rangers start whittling down the human right flank

Turn 8

As one troop of Elven Rangers disappeared in a hail of missile fire, the heroic Orc soldier charged again and killed another human soldier, only for him to then be cut down in a rain of arrows by the nearby human archers. Seeing his heroic Orc companion cut down like this, one of the Trolls charged the human soldiers and crushed many of them underfoot, although it was also wounded in the process. The remaining soldiers routed.

Seeing the soldiers routing, the human captain ordered his troops to fall back to the pass. They would narrow their frontage and defend there. He and those around him began edging backwards as the Unseelie fired fireballs and arrows that whittled the human numbers down to the point where the human captain grimly decided that all he could do was sell the battle dearly. His force would not be fit to fight again any time soon.

The Unseelie main body finally starts to deploy properly

Turn 9

The human archers continued to make their presence felt. One Troll was wounded again while the Elven Rangers lost a rider. However, the human archers on the Unseelie left flank did not last long as the Orc Champion crashed into their flank and routed them. The Orc archers then cut down all bar one of the human axemen as the rest of the human army manoeuvred backwards to try to hold the pass.

The Elven wizard showed her worth by destroying the last of the soldiers on the Unseelie left flank with a well-placed fireball. The human captain would need to commit the reserve there to prevent an Unseelie breakthrough. He gave the order and his reserve started moving to plug the gaps and support the withdrawal as the Unseelie army surged forwards, urged on by Princess Patience's angry commands.

The human captain commits his reserve in a desperate attempt to stem the tide

Turn 10

The Trolls moved to engage the archers and crushed several of them, driving the archers back into the woods. A Lizardpeople unit crushed the last of the human axemen, but suffered horrendous casualties when the human heavy cavalry countercharged it. Nevertheless, although it was driven back, its resolve never faltered. The battlefield was now a muddy, bloody morass of carnage as Princess Patience lost patience with her troops and raced ahead. They bravely followed.

Princess Patience leads from the front and the Unseelie army follows

Turn 11

Seeing the enemy commander alone, the human heavy cavalry charged her. She was wounded, but it was a mere scratch. In return, she slew their commander and threw them into confusion. Taking their cue from their leader, the Unseelie forces smashed through the enemy lines. A depleted unit of Lizardpeople and the Orc champion were now clear to drive on through the pass as their comrades smashed into the enemy forces to further clear the way. Even the heroic Goblin soldiers got carried away and charged the enemy cavalry, only to be beaten back in disorder. At this point, the Elven wizard got into the game once more and cremated the human champion with a fireball.

The Unseelie break through the human lines in small numbers

Turn 12

The Elven Rangers charged the enemy soldiers before them and pushed them back but at the cost of one of their own. The Orc warriors charged the human captain's warriors and cut the unit to ribbons. Only three men remained in it by the end of this fight, but all were stout and undismayed. They were protecting their homeland after all. As the fighting continued, the unengaged units of the Unseelie army moved as fast as they could for the gaps in the enemy lines. As night fell, several Unseelie units entered the pass. Princess Patience would, of course report a crushing victory against the humans.

As night falls, the Unseelie army bypasses the exhausted humans. The remaining few make their escape to regroup later

The Butcher's Bill

The human army lost 65 soldiers from a starting total of 89. This was way above the threshold that the captain was willing to tolerate. However, it could also not be helped. They simply could not withdraw fast enough to escape the Unseelie army once it was upon them.

The Unseelie army lost 35 of 74 soldiers. This actually leaves Princess Patience's force in a reasonable position to carry out a punitive raid against the humans. The Orc champion also managed to exit through the pass and leave the table. With a contingent of Lizardpeople very close behind him and other units breaking through the human lines, I think this means a minor victory for the Unseelie army even though it took a little too long to actually break through.

No doubt the remnants of the human army will use the extra time they have gained to retreat and seek to regroup with new recruits elsewhere, but they are in no position to prevent the coming reprisals and it will be a long while before the humans are able to launch large raids against the Unseelie again.

Conclusion

This is an interesting scenario but I felt that it needed better editing in the book. Some of the options where it said to dice seemed incomplete. So, for example, the defenders diced and were willing to accept a single attacking unit breaking through, but there was no further explanation about how they would deal with additional attacking units getting close to breaking through. As a result, I knew from the outset that I would need to interpret the defenders' orders on a situational basis, even though the initial roll called for a static defence.

Deciding how to call the game at the end of turn 12 was difficult. It really comes down to how you interpret "breakthrough" in the scenario. If the goal was to get past the enemy lines with a clear route to the pass, then the Unseelie army achieved a solid victory. I chose to interpret it as moving off the table, so it was a qualified victory with one unit leaving the table and one ready to follow it.

The biggest issue in this scenario was the activation rolls for the Orc units. They failed as many as they passed so they moved a lot more slowly than needed even with Princess Patience's "commander" ability giving them an extra die for activation. They also spent a lot of time getting in each other's way. This seems in character but it certainly caused the army issues, as did the forlorn hope in the village.

It was another fun scenario though, and I look forward to trying more from the Programmed Wargames Scenarios book. Oathmark works really well for my solo games. The activation system means that I do not have total control of my armies. I also use it to help me make decisions about whether units follow their orders or not. So, for example, I have a unit of Orcs on a hill. They have been told to hold there, but see a pesky human unit within charge range. Do they charge or do they obey their orders? Rolling against the activation number tells me.

Full Throttle Lemmings PLC (Battletech)

 Commander Jennifer Raytor marched to the podium. The assembled mechwarriors watched attentively as she took up her place in front of them and attempted to show the PowerPoint 3025 slideshow that she had been working on all night. Eventually one of the mechtechs took pity on her and showed her what to press to display her slides.

"Ahem," she began, "Thank you all for turning up. As of today, The Board has acknowledged and accepted our application. It is my pleasure to announce that Full Throttle Lemmings is now officially a mercenary company and that each of you will receive a standard share of our profits as contracts are completed subject to the usual deductions for maintenance, subsistence, transport, etc. If you read your contracts you will see an itemised list of legitimate deductions in footnote 62 on pages 391-405. See also Annexes 4, 5, 7, 23 and 48 for additional potential deductions That understood, welcome to the Full Throttle Lemmings. I look forward to working with you all."

The Lemmings PLC all cheered. They were certain that they would all soon be rich. After all, the galaxy had been riven by war for centuries. Others had profited before them and now it was their turn.

Command Lance: (L to R) Commando, Locust, Awesome and Catapult

Jennie banged her commander's baton on the podium, and they all calmed down and listened attentively.

"So, to the first order of business. We need to ensure that our 'mechs present the proper air of professionalism and corporate branding to the world. For this reason, I have had the advertising techs prepare a brief."

Comm units pinged as Jennie pushed a button and the brief was sent to all the pilots. She moved her slideshow on.

"So that we make a good impression from the outset, I have authorised expenditure from the central warchest to cover repainting all of your mechs in accord with the brief. This will be your first order of business. Go and see to it while I and the admin team review possible contracts. Dismissed!"

Striker Lance: (L to R) Griffin, Wolverine, Shadow Hawk and Blackjack

She handed the brief to her own mechtech and went to see to the administrative business that was her burden as commander. She could hear distant cheerful banter from her pilots as they went about the business of getting their mechs painted. She was looking forward to seeing them all in uniform at the review next week.

A week later, the pilots had parked their mechs up in review order by lance. Jennie was cheerfully downing her first coffee of the day as she finished up the admin and prepared to review the mechs in their new livery.

She marched out of the barracks office to the parade ground and stopped dead as she saw what awaited her. Her mood instantly became blacker than the coffee she had just drunk.

"What in the name of all that is unholy is going on here?" she thundered.

The assembled mechwarriors looked puzzled.

"Why have none of you followed the brief?" she roared.

Silence reigned as the mechwarriors beside their mechs stared carefully straight forward into the middle distance.

"Commander," her personal mechtech approached her, "Permission to speak?"

Jennie nodded, not trusting herself to actually speak.

The mechtech pushed a commscreen into her hands.

"Here's the brief you sent. We all followed it."

Hands shaking, she looked at the screen.

Full Throttle Lemmings Executive Order #54

Painting of unit battlemechs: The executive commander authorises the use of central warchest funds for all pilots to paint their mechs in a scheme of their choosing. Go wild!

Gritting her teeth agains the stream of expletives that wanted to come out and shaking with rage, she stood silently and immovable for thirty seconds before she trusted herself to speak.

Heavy Battle Lance: (L to R) Battlemaster, Marauder, Thunderbolt and Wolverine

"If I find out who hacked the painting brief, I shall deduct the full cost of painting all of the unit's battlemechs from their wages and make them pay for repainting them in the chosen uniform scheme. In the meantime, we shall have to put up with this godawful mess, because the central warchest does not have the spare funds in it for us to do this again. Dismissed!"

She stormed back into her office and pondered the use of shooting a random company member just to register her annoyance. it would be very satisfying...

Discussion

I spotted Battletech in the local games shop a while back. I had not played it since the early '90s but the nostalgia was huge so I bought the Beginner Box and Battletech: A Game of Armored Combat. At the time, I managed to get the Griffin and the Wolverine from the Beginner Box painted and I played a couple of games using only the Beginner Box rules. It was fun but I did not get the rest of the mechas painted. However, I did buy a bunch more mechas between then and now, including the Alpha Strike boxed set and the Clan Invasion boxed set, and I suddenly had the urge to paint them (probably because I am meant to be painting Rangers of Shadow Deep figures). So, I now have a mercenary company as a result. I figure that by painting them in a mix of liveries, they can stand in anywhere as newly salvaged mechas that have not yet been painted in uniform colours. As such they can support any other factions I collect, as well as being generic mercenaries in their own right. Also, the varied paint schemes mean that I can play games using just these mechas and none of the mechas will look out of place, whichever side they are on.

In terms of rules, I obviously have the Battletech rules and the Alpha Strike quick start rules. I want to play them, because both fulfil a need, but I am unsure how they will play solo. I have 5150: No Quarter - Mecha Warfare, which fits the bill for solo play. I also have Battle Suit Alpha, a Fistful of Lead spin-off. My experience of Fistful of Lead is that these will work well solo while also offering a quick game for when I have an opponent but not too much time. I'm looking forward to playing all of these, but I really should get back to painting figures for Rangers of Shadow Deep and not let myself get distracted again.

Oathmark: Hill Line Defence

I suddenly realised that I needed to paint more figures for my next Rangers of Shadow Deep scenario, and that I have been very lax in putting in time on painting lately. That means that it is time for an Oathmark game, while I crack on with the needed painting. Hopefully the painting will not take long, but that really depends upon whether I get distracted or not. Did I mention that I have a butterfly brain that alights on many different things in the course of the day?

So, I've spent a chunk of time rebasing my figures onto mdf bases and have bought some movement trays from Warbases, because I was not satisfied with the trays I made or the way my figures sat on them. My solution for basing for a long time has been to use matte board for skirmish figures, but my measuring and cutting is not as accurate as it needs to be for those figures to fit on the movement trays they need to fit on. All sorted now thanks to Warbases and they turned my order around very quickly, so I am pleased with that too. At the same time as ordering the bases, I ordered some terrain templates from them and have prepared those for use on my table. I made a couple of rough ground templates using rocks and statue pieces from GamersGrass basing bits. I assume these are really intended for 28mm but they work well for my 15mm figures. I made some generic templates that I can put rocks, trees or anything else onto, that you can see in use in this scenario, and I have some mdf templates left to make into other terrain when I finally decide what I need.

I bought a neoprene mat from Battlefield in a Box. It's grass on one side and desert on the other. There are a couple of wrinkles in the material, but I'm happy with it and it works nicely with my figures.

The frame around the playing area is from Sarissa Precision. They delivered the order very quickly and I like how it can be reconfigured to mark out different playing area sizes. It's not strictly necessary, but I like the aesthetic effect. I do need to paint it, but cannot decide if I have the energy to put in on a fancy Viking-style knotwork design or not.

The figures, as usual, are a mix of Demonworld from Ral Partha Europe and Two Dragons. The human wizard is an old Tabletop Games fantasy figure and the Troll is a Stone Elemental from the boardgame Temple of Elemental Evil.

Hill Line Defence

This is the first scenario in the Programmed Wargames Scenarios book and was my first introduction to this style of solo play back in the Palaeolithic era when I was a neophyte gamer (The link is the first edition version, which I have. There is an expanded second edition, but I do not have that one).

The Scenario

Wild humans have been rampaging and raiding in Orc territory again and the Orcs have been pushed back. With the humans pushing forward as hard as they can, burning and looting all the way, the remants of the Orc army has reached a series of low hills that forms a natural defensive line. Here they will make a stand. If the humans get beyond the hill line, they will be able to fall on the major settlements beyond it and the Orcs' loved ones will be easy prey. Can the Orcs hold off the humans, drive them back and prevent further incursions by the vicious human hordes or will they be driven back, such that the humans can make off with their spoils of war?

The Armies

Both armies are constructed based on the percentages in Programmed Wargames Scenarios rather than giving myself free reign, although compromises must be made based on what figures I actually have. I shall be using the programmed instructions for both sides, rather than taking direct command of one of them, and this scenario will also be my first attempt at using spells in Oathmark. Let us see how it goes.

The human army comprises 1500 points:

• 1 Captain in unit with 4 Cavalry
• 1 Mounted Champion
• 1 Spellcaster (Level 2)
• 4 units with 10 Soldiers each
• 2 units with 10 Archers each
• 1 unit with 9 Warriors
• 1 unit with 10 Linebreakers

The Orc army comprises 1249 points:

• 1 Prince in unit with 10 Warriors
• 1 Mounted Champion
• 1 Spellcaster (Level 2)
• 1 unit with 20 Soldiers
• 1 unit with 10 Archers
• 1 unit with 10 Goblin Soldiers
• 1 unit with 10 Goblin Archers
• 2 units with 5 Wolves in each
• 1 Troll

The Battle

The rampaging humans dice for their deployment and it turns out they are going to attempt a pincer movement. They deploy 40% of their troops on each flank and the remainder in the centre as a pinning force. The archers will advance to long range and snipe. The troops in the centre will hold their line. All other troops will swing round to try to take the Orcs from the flank.

The battlefield from the human side

The Orcs deploy all their light troops (archers) divided evenly between the flanks. The remaining force is deployed with 35% on each flank and 30% in the centre. They are keeping the Orc champion mounted on a bear and the Troll as a tactical reserve. The Orcs have orders to fall back slowly to maintain a coherent frontage in the face of the enemy, and the general is adamant that he will not commit the reserve.

The view from the Orcs' lines

Looking at the orders and the terrain, it is clear that there is not much room for the Orcs to fall back, so they could quickly be pinned or routed if they cannot hold their line at the edge of the hills. The human commander may regret not committing his archers and centre more aggressively to drive the Orcs back. Still, the programmed rules do allow for changing circumstances, so the initial orders could be changed as the battle develops.

Victory Conditions

Oathmark battles are typically 8 turns long, so the humans have 8 turns to drive the Orcs from the hills. If the Orcs still hold the hills at this point and there are no human units on the hills, then the Orcs have won. Any other result is a draw and means that the conflict will drag on.

Turn 1

The Orcs waited as the wild humans approached and deployed. Taking their chance, their shaman cast a fireball at the enemy wizard who immediately disappeared in a pillar of flame. The humans howled their outrage but cheered as the wizard emerged from the flames singed but still standing. On the left flank, the human archers advanced to long range and fired ineffectively at the Goblin archers. The human wizard conjured a bright light that blinded the Goblin archers so that they could not shoot as the rest of the human force advanced on the poor Orcs.

The humans advance

Turn 2

The Orc shaman attempted another fireball but it fizzled, while the human archers scored hits on the Goblin archers in the woods. The unit of Goblins immediately became disordered, but their officer quickly got them back in order and they returned fire killing a human archer. As the rest of the humans rampaged forwards, their wizard blinded the Orc archers. The remaining Orcs waited patiently on the hill.

Casualties from missile fire start to appear

Turn 3

As the humans continued to advance, Goblin archery took its toll on the human soldiers, but the Goblins were being hammered by the human archers in turn. The Orc shaman seemed unable to repeat his earlier success with the fireball but the human wizard was doing much better at blinding the Orc archers to cover his side's advance. The human archers on the right flank destroyed half the wolf unit on the hill as they advanced. The human cavalry raced forward towards the gap opening in the Orc line, as the human soldiers struggled to keep up with them.

Turn 4

As the Orc shaman finally got it together, he unleased an ineffective fireball at the oncoming human cavalry, while his counterpart stood in a dither and forgot his spells. The Orc archers took this chance to fire a volley that killed a cavalryman. Shocked at having lost one of their own, the human cavalry could only move slowly onwards into the arrow storm. Outraged, the human archers on that flank fired a volley at the Orc warriors and killed two of them. The human left flank had reached the hill line now, but their soldiers were driven back easily by the Orc soldiers.

The Orcs receive the worst of it

Turn 5

With the enemy reaching the base of the hills on both flanks, the Orcish prince had a decision to make. He sent his runner to his reserve and ordered it to commit to his left flank and to drive the enemy back. He ordered the right flank to hold in place. He would rely on the advantage of height there to keep the enemy at bay while the rest of his force swept around from his left.

The human right flank was in disarray and did not seem to know what to do next. Their captain was dithering and his cavalry seemed to have lost momentum. An Orc volley caused further casualties and disarray on that flank. It did not last long and they continued their advance to the base of the hills. As the Goblin archers took further toll of the human soldiers, the human archers cut down more Goblins, but they held steady. They were defending their homelands now and could not run yet. The human captain launched his heavy axemen up the hill towards the Goblin soldiers and was pushed back, although the Goblins withdrew too (That was massively unexpected! No casualties on either side). The Orc prince charged his unit of warriors down the slopes of the hill at the oncoming human soldiers. His warriors crushed many of the soldiers and then returned in good order to the top of the slopes. As they did so, the human archers manoeuvred to get a bead on the Troll and the Orc champion on his bear, who had moved down from the hill and were moving to take the human soldiers in the flank.

The Orcs commite their reserve 

Turn 6

Seeing the enemy advancing off the hill, the human captain's nerve failed. He sent runners out to order his troops to pull back and regroup. He hoped the orders would arrive in time, but feared the worst. He was right to fear. The Troll charged the flank of his disordered soldiers before they could move and wreaked terrible havoc. The entire unit fled the battlefield in terror. On the other flank, the last of the heroic Goblin archers were slain by the human archers. As the fighting raged and troops fell on both sides, the human wizard decided it was time to attempt a more difficult spell. The words came easily to his lips and the spell zapped across the battlefield. The Orc champion and his bear died without even knowing the danger they were in. As the human captain and his bodyguard charged up the hill once more, the Goblin soldiers gave as good as they got. both units withdrew a few paces to recover their breath. The Orc soldiers next to them also stubbornly held their part of the hill. They were not going to be outdone by mere Goblins!

Carnage!

Turn 7

Inspired by their success versus the Human linebreakers, the Goblin soldiers charged wildly and drove the humans back in disorder for the loss of only one of their own! (Yes, I cannot believe it either. This was a combination of great dice rolling and rolling a Strange Event that gave the Goblins a heroic charge. As a result, they killed 4 heavy axemen. I bet the Orcs are fuming at being outdone like this!). On the other flank, the human cavalry finally got their act together and charged the wolves on the hill, driving them off easily. The Orc prince wheeled his warriors into the flank of the human cavalry and crushed them. He grunted his satisfaction as he withdrew his sword from their leader's body. The human soldiers charged up the hill at their Orc opponents and killed two of them but suffered two hits in return. They were pushed back in disorder while the Orcs maintained their ranks. The Orc archers fired a devastating volley at the human archers on the human right flank and cut more than half of them down causing dismay and confusion among the enemy humans. Seeing this, the human wizard targeted the Orc archers with a Lifebane spell and slew one of them.

The end is in sight

Turn 8

With the humans on the back foot, the Orc soldiers charged down the hill at the human soldiers and slew four of them. The remaining human soldiers fled as the Orcs halted in disorder. The human captain withdrew his axemen in good order as the Orc archers slew the last of the human archers on the human right flank. The battle was over and all that remained was for the humans to see if they could escape the pursuing Orcs.

All over bar the screaming

Conclusion

That was good fun. Oathmark lends itself well to this type of solo scenario, The activation rolls for the units adds just enough friction to the game that you cannot do everything you want every turn. Magic was not overpowered at this level and the spells that were cast did not dominate the game. I was very surprised by how resilient the Goblins turned out to be. The dice were clearly on their side. Similarly, I expected the human cavalry to dominate the game more, but they did not get the chance thanks to their commander's orders. Things might have gone better for the humans if their commander were willing to commit his troops in the centre, but he turned out to be overly cautious and unable to exploit his advantages. The Orc prince, on the other hand, was obviously a much more capable leader and made sure that his troops were used to good advantage. This was merely a product of the dice rolls called for in the programmed scenario but it made for a good story.

So, a surprise Orc win and a very pleasant afternoon's solo gaming. I'm definitely up for more of this sort of thing.

The Thrappled Lemmings and the Decanter of St Emilia: The Final Boss (Rangers of Shadow Deep)

 "Listen up, Lemmings. We need to get this Decanter back to base. Ash, you're the fastest of us, so you will be carrying it. Stay out of the fight and just run. We'll keep the bad guys distracted and will follow as quickly as we can. Any questions?"

No one had any questions. They were not even in the mood for a little humour. This would be a serious fight and that demon thing that had appeared was no joke.

"Form up, Lemmings, and CHARGE!"

Aethelwyrd led from the front, with Onund and Kalfr beside her.

"Hey, ugly! We're over here!"

The Terror Wing and the Orcs and wolves charged towards the small knot of plucky warriors as the rest of the Lemmings moved up into position too. Both sides fired but missed and a wolf appeared through the leftmost exit.

"On them, Lemmings, I call you all to action! Scrag the scumsucking sods!"

As Aethelwyrd, Onund and Kalfr advanced in close formation towards the Terror Wing, Aelfwyn fired at an Orc and missed. The Terror Wing charged. Its fearsome claws gouged huge tears in Kalfr's arm. An Orcish arrow pierced Incunabulum's breast and blood gushed out. He only just managed to stay on his feet. Another arrow winged Aelfwyn as the wolves and Orcish warriors charged forwards. Despite the pain, Incunabulum blasted out a fireball that badly wounded one of the Orc warriors and then heroically charged one of the wolves that was about to attack Onund. Ash threw a throwing dagger that lodged in the shoulder of an Orc and then raced for the cover of one of the shacks. As he did so, another wolf emerged from the leftmost exit.

Aethelwyrd launched a frenzied attack against the Terror Wing and left it just barely clinging to life. It responded by cutting Kalfr down and slashing huge holes in Onund. It then counterattacked against Onund, who managed to duck in under its defences and slew it with a wicked stab to where its genitals probably were if Terror Wings have genitals.

"Take that, you hellspawn of an incontinent goat's faeces!"

As Incunabulum engaged a wolf, an Orc ran in and stabbed him in the back. He fell to the ground unmoving. Doggo then fell beneath the teeth of a wolf.

"NO!" screamed Ash.

Despite seeing his new best friend fall, Ash obeyed orders and sprinted for the cover of a shack, where the archers could not reach him.

With the Terror Wing dead, Aethelwyrd laid grimly into one wolf and slew it, while Onund badly wounded another and then Aelfwyn slew an Orc with a shot right through the ears that cleaned out its earwax. The remaining wolves swarmed Aethelwyrd who slew one and was bitten badly on the leg by another that attacked her from behind, while she was slaying an Orc warrior that had also decided she needed dealing with. Suddenly the courtyard was looking quite empty.

Aethelwyrd focused on this wolf which mauled her some more and then took out Onund when he tried to help. The Lemmings were looking few and far between too now. The Orc archers now focused on Aelfwyn and Ash took this opportunity to race past one of them that had moved to a better position to shoot. As Ash ran, the wind picked up, blasting dust and debris around.

Aethelwyrd finally got the measure of the wolf as Aelfwyn slotted an arrow right through the eye of one Orcish archer despite the high wind that seemed to carry arrows wherever it willed. He and Aethelwyrd then raced off in support of Ash.

Aelfwyn fired at the remaining Orcish archer and then moved into the cover of a nearby pillar, while Aethelwyrd made herself an obvious target. The Orc's shot missed and Ash sprinted towards the farthest exit from the Orc. Aelfwyn's next shot grievously wounded the Orc while Aethelwyrd and Ash continued to sprint for the exits. Unfortunately, the Orc now seemed to have got the measure of the wind and its arrow found its mark in Aelfwyn, who grunted and stumbled, clearly critically wounded.

As the heroes raced towards the exit, a sudden calm temporarily came over the courtyard. An image of St Emilia appeared over the fountain. Aethelwyrd and Aelfwyn both felt great peace come over them as their many wounds knitted together and they felt reenergised and even more ready to take on the Shadow Deep.

Aelfwyn took one last shot at the Orc and put the arrow right through its heart, in spite of the wind that had arisen with renewed fury. The last of the monsters fell to the earth and the heroes were able to leave the courtyard with the Decanter.

A week later, the Lemmings straggled into their base. A week of dodging patrols in the Shadow Deep and the long climb up the broken stairs had left them exhausted. Along the way it had felt as though St Emilia was watching over them, but that help only went so far.

As they revealed their success to their comrades a huge cheer went up around the base and a small celebration ensued. Every success against the Shadow Deep was worthy of this. Ash did not celebrate though. He was normally the life and soul of the party, but this time he went off on his own to brood. Doggo had died in that courtyard, torn apart by a wolf even as he sought to save Ash and his comrades. Ash did not have the heart to celebrate after the loss of his best friend.

Why do my dice hate me? The early stages of this fight saw my party getting ripped to shreds. Until St Emilia showed up, Ash was the only unhurt figure, while Aethelwyrd was on 6 Health and Aelfwyn was down to 1 Health. Fortunately, things changed in the second half of the game as Aelfwyn scored a couple of critical hits. Aethelwyrd's Frenzied Attack ability taking the Terror Wing down to 1 Health was really useful too. Good job Onund scored precisely 1 damage to kill it! The worst thing though was rolling a 1 for Doggo's injuries. He did not deserve that dice roll.

Doggo, RIP. The goodest of boys.

On the plus side, when it came together, it really came together and half the enemy force was slain in a single turn. Also, the surviving Lemmings recovered the Decanter and suffered no lasting injuries. It was an exciting and quite brutal mission that I am not sure the Lemmings would have survived if I had needed to search more areas for clues before working out where to find the Decanter.

Now I need to work out which mission they will take on next and what I need to make or paint for it.

The Thrappled Lemmings and the Decanter of St Emilia: The Herb Store (Rangers of Shadow Deep)

 Ash found Doggo a place to hide while they entered the next building they planned to investigate. Doggo whimpered pitifully and limped on three legs into the cavity in the fallen wall. He would be safe there but was not happy about Ash leaving him.

The building they were entering looked like an apothecary's or herbalist's store room. It was a mess though with bits of the roof having fallen in. Moreover, visibility was low due to mist and dust in the air. On top of that, it also looked like some of the contents had taken root and were out of control. A huge Darkroot plant had grown in the corner of the storage room and its offshoot vines were waving around dangerously all over the place. They would have to destroy the plant quickly so that they could check the room out safely.

I'm using foliage from my terrain set as the Darkroot plant and its vines. Shocking breach of standards, I know!

The Lemmings advanced into the room and were immediately assailed by flailing vines. As with the skeletons, these were not a huge threat, but a misstep could lead to pain and death just the same. Incunabulum blasted them with fireballs and magic bolts. Aelfwyn shot arrows at vulnerable areas. The others waded in with axe and sword and cut the vines down but more kept sprouting out of the ground.

It's like wading through an ambulatory jungle!

Ash raced for the various cupboards around the store but was delayed by vines attacking him. He eventually reached them and started searching, only to be poisoned by mushroom spores. Onundr and Kalfr fought their way across the room. Incunabulum made his way to the centre of the room where he found a small pile of treasure that he quickly stuffed into his backpack.

"I found someth... ack ack ack!"

Weakened by the poisonous spores, Ash was slower to search, but he did find some useful herbs in the next cupboard. Incunabulum had moved on by now and was searching the cupboards on the other wall, and Kalfr and Onundr had made it to the Darkroot plant. They cut it down and the vines died back. The room was quiet apart from the buzzing of two giant flies near the entrance.

The dust settles

Assessing the information available, Aethelwyrd announced that she thought she knew where the Decanter was. The party disposed of the giant flies easily and set to searching where Aethelwyrd told them to search. Very soon they had the Decanter in their hands. At that point, they heard a commotion nearby. Ash, who had been on watch paled.

"Umm, bad guys approaching. Fahsands of 'em! And they look annoyed!"

I realise now that I missed an opportunity to use some cool figures for this scenario. The various Sprout figures from Super Dungeon Explore would be a fun way to represent the Darkroot plant and the Darkroot vines. Never mind. Next time. I can console myself with the fact that I played the game using what I had instead of worrying about having the "right" figures.

My plan was to have Onund and Kalfr race to the Darkroot plant and kill it, while Ash and Incunabulum searched, and Aethelwyrd and Aelfwyn guarded their backs. With the Darkroot dead, no more vines could spawn and the scenario would be easier. Unfortunately, they got held up along the way and it was only killed late in the scenario. The Darkroot vines were not really a threat to the Lemmings, but they slowed the whole group down, meaning that the party did not get to investigate all the clues either.

Regarding the clues, the mission has various paragraph numbers for you to check, like a choose-your-own-path adventure, when you investigate them. Sometimes you have to roll a skill test and are then directed to a paragraph based on your roll. Some of the results are negative, some are positive and some give you hints where to find the Decanger. When you think you know where it is, you have to pick a room in the Convent to investigate. You then go to that paragraph to see if you deduced its location correctly. You only get one chance at this, because the forces of the Shadow Deep are massing and the Boss Monster arrives immediately after you check. By this point, I was fairly certain that I knew where the decanter was, so I chose to check at the end of this scenario. I was correct. That means the next scenario is the boss monster and his minions. The goal will be to escape with the Decanter via one of the exits. This could get messy very quickly.