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.