Suddenly the peace of the night was shattered by screams and thrown sticks and stones and shit. Broneslav had inadvertantly camped in the territory of another troop of rock baboons. He grabbed his stuff and found another place to camp that was quieter but not as comfortable. He would cross the bridge tomorrow and find out if the rumours of a mysterious city were true.
"Listen up, Lemmings! That last patrol has highlighted several targets for assault. We're going in after one of them. There's a hill overlooking the main route into Dorm 564 where Kurita are currently holed up. If we can take it, it can form the staging point for a full scale assault to take the Dorm town. Secondary objectives in this ops area are two small Hab Zones and the crossroads beneath the hill. Bravo Team will move in on the objectives, secure them, and hold while we follow up. If it all goes sideways, skedaddle. Got it?"
Bravo Team nodded with a mix of trepidation and adrenaline-fuelled elation. Theirs would be the danger and the glory. They would be the point of the spear for a change.
"Everyone else, be ready to move out on my signal. We're not sure exactly what Kurita has in this sector, so we need to be ready for anything. We know they have assault mechs, because we've blown some of them up, but they might have more and we can't rely on them running away like last time. Barb, you have command until we get there. Good luck and, hey, let's be careful out there."
Bravo team gathered round their team leader.
"Andy, you're on point. Get in there, scout the zone and delay any hostiles. Ophelia will provide indirect fire support. Call on her as much as you need to screw Kurita up. We'll take our approach path from your report. Understood?"
"Copy that!" echoed both pilots at the same time.
"Ok, losers, mount up! We're going to a party and there will be fireworks."
A short while later, Andy moved into the ops area. His display picked up a single heat signal.
"Bravo Team, medium mech on other side of ops zone. Looks to be moving on Hab Unit 4621. Lemming 5 moving towards Hab Unit 4629."
He pushed his mech forward as fast as it would go.
"Bravo Team, this is Lemming 5. Hab Unit 4629 secure. Radar shows hostile in Hab Unit 4621. Moving to flank."
From his new position in some woods on the hill, he spotted the enemy mech.
"Lemming 5 reporting. Kurita Shadow Hawk has moved to occupy the crossroads. Engaging."
He stabbed the fire button. Chunks flew from the enemy mech, which turned in his direction and knocked out his machine gun.
"Grudnabbit, Bravo Team, where are the rest of you? I'm taking heavy fire here. I have weapons systems down and cannot hold if this keeps up."
Andy's machineguns had been knocked out and the laser that was his main weapon had gone offline. He frantically fired everything else he had at the Shadow Hawk as he simultaneously tried to fix the damage to his mech.
"Lemming 5, this is Lemming 4. Moving in to engage."
Barb's Awesome had advanced up the road and could see the Kurita Shadow Hawk. She was annoyed that Ophelia's Catapult was lagging behind. They would need its firepower. She focused on the Shadow Hawk and waited to hear tone. The second it came, she hit the firing stud. Rockets flew from the pods on either side of her and turned the crossroads into a pitted wasteland. The Shadow Hawk crumbled under the onslaught.
"This is Lemming 4. Hostile is down. Advancing on remaining objectives."
The ops area was quiet apart from the burning wreckage. Andy took the opportunity to move into position on the hill, while Ophelia finally caught up and Barb advanced towards the nearby Hab Unit.
"Lemming 5 to Bravo Team. Hostile Atlas in ops zone. Kill it! Kill it with fire!"
"Don't be so overly dramatic, Lemming 5," came Barb's short reply, "Bravo Team advance."
As they pushed forward, the Atlas, which had previously secured Hab Unit 4621 suddenly found itself in a cat and mouse game with Andy's Wolverine. Using cover as best he could, he tried to pick bits off it, but it returned the favour and hammered his mech. He dodged back among the buildings and called in fire from Ophelia, but the Atlas's heavy armour held despite multiple hits. The pilot probably had a shocking headache though.
Barb had neared the crossroads now but was taking fire from a Kurita Warhammer that had moved in to back up the Atlas.
"Lemming 6, this is Lemming 4. Lock on my marked coordinates and fire at will."
"Roger that, Lemming 4."
Ophelia connected her targeting computer to Barb's signal and pressed the firing stud. Huge salvos of rockets powered down onto the Warhammer and blew its right arm off, taking a rail gun with it. Armour plates melted under the onslaught as the Warhammer fired at Barb.
A second full rocket salvo launched and the Warhammer collapsed under the weight of the fire.
Barb grunted with satisfaction. The Warhammer was down and they had control of the ops zone within the mission time limit. The Atlas could be picked apart at will now.
"Bravo Team, this is Lemming 1. Entering ops zone on your six now."
As Bravo Team regrouped for the next push, the other Lemming teams were now moving in behind them. The Atlas, if it had any sense would retreat as fast as its massive, slow behind could carry it.
I like the Fistful of Lead series so I decided to run this scenario using Battle Suit Alpha, the mech variant of those rules. I mapped my pilots and mechs onto Battle Suit Alpha as best I could, but I figure it does not make too much difference if they vary a bit, because both sides have the same advantages and disadvantages in this process. The campaign results are still adjudicated using 5150: Mecha Combat though.
For this game, I had 33 points of mechs in my team, which would normally require me to reduce the quality of some of my pilots, but I chose instead to just make the Kurita mechs match them in points value by drawing mechs from a deck until I had the right value. This created an enemy force comprising 1 Warhammer, 1 Atlas and 1 Shadow Hawk.
The scenario began with both medium mechs (Wolverine and Shadow Hawk) on the table. The remaining mechs would reinforce them by rolling at the end of each turn. On a dice roll equal or less than that turn number, they would enter the battlefield the following turn. As it turned out, it was turn 3 when Barb Dwyer and her Awesome arrived and turn 5 before the Atlas and Ophelia Paine's Catapult arrived. The Warhammer was way late to the parade. This clearly favoured me, but could have gone entirely the other way.
For the campaign, the Lemmings scored 1 more success than Kurita, so Kurita morale went down and Lemming morale remained the same.
That was a fun game. It was made easier by the bad guys not showing up on time, but the Wolverine nearly got slagged a couple of times. Drawing the card that lets you repair damage was supremely useful, especially because the Wolverine was fast enough to move to the furthest objective and contest it simply by being there.
In terms of game play, it all went smoothly and I do not think I played anything wrong other than forgetting to roll a d12 for Barb when shooting. I rolled a d10 which disadvanted her. My fault. I should pay attention to my pilot's abilities. Speaking of abilities, I really need to note their effects on the stat cards, so that I remember them all. There was much thumbing through the rules to check them. Next time.
Solo play went quite well. I started with the draft solo rules from Wiley Games, but wound up doing what was likely to be best for each mech. The card draw system for activation created enough chaos that I did not need to make any difficult calls on who would do what. The only bit I really retained was activating enemy mechs in order of precedence. Lance leader first, then 2IC then the trooper. That does not always make complete sense, but it does fit with the pecking order in House Kurita battalions.
Campaign Morale: (3 at start) 2
The Kurita mechs are not organised into teams for this campaign. I have made a deck of stat cards and draw the appropriate number of cards as needed when they are encountered. The mechs available are:
All mechs on both sides are Battletech figures, so I have listed them with the names they have in Battletech.
This is a miscellaneous list of monsters for Oathmark that are not part of the human or orc terrain lists, which I have covered in previous posts. It does not actually make much difference which terrain list the creatures are in, but it makes for a neat way to divide up my posts. Most of these monsters are not technically 15mm figures, but they have one significant benefit over other figures that I might prefer: I already had them.
These weird, gangly humanoid figures with massive talons on their hands live in lakes and feed on unwary travellers. They drag them to the bottom of their lake, where they feast on the drowned victim, eating everything but the liver, which floats to the surface of the lake and is all that anyone will find of them ever again. I am using doppelgangers from the Temple of Elemental Evil boardgame for these creatures for now, but have my eyes on some of the Demonworld figures that should suit nicely at a later date.
Tally: 3
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| Temple of Elemental Evil Doppelgangers |
In ages past, Elven technomancers created strange and terrifying war machines and unleashed them against their enemies. Barghests are just one such creation. All tales of eldritch black dogs with burning red eyes that prey on unwary travellers stem from these. The figures are some kind of mechanical giant dog that I found in the local games shop and liked the look of. Barghests are another entry from the Dwarf terrain list.
Tally: 2
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| Nolzur's Marvellous Miniatures: Iron Defender |
The Bodach is a fey creature sometimes called a redcap, because it dyes its cap in the blood of its victims. It usually takes the form of an older, human man, and uses its cunning and magic to lure its victims to their deaths. Sometimes the Bodach will side with an army because it sees the chance for even more carnage and destruction, and an even redder cap.
Tally: 1
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| Two Dragons peasant |
Everyone knows what a dragon is, right? In Oathmark, they can be wyrms that slither along or have wings and fly. I only have flying dragons so far, and way more than any person needs for a game like Oathmark. The collection includes a 15mm dragon from Alternative Armies, and two 28mm DDM dragons that look more impressive with my 15mm collection. Why do I need three dragons? I really don't but I do like having a choice.
Tally: 3
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| An Alternative Armies 15mm dragon and two D&D Miniatures 28mm prepaints |
These are 10mm Gargoyles from Pendraken. Each really needs the space of two normal figures because of the wings, so I use spacer bases to make them not look ridiculously crowded. This has the added benefit of making the figures go further, meaning that 12 figures count as a full unit of 20.
Tally: 20
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| 10mm Pendrakon Gargoyles |
The Seelie forces are the humans and their allies against the Unseelie. The Unseelie consider humans to be a blight on the land, and they may have a point from their perspective: humans cut down holy hawthorn bushes, plant their farms over the grave mounds of the Fair Folk and block access to the Other Realm by tolling their bells and chanting their prayers so loudly that none can find their way from Here to There. Humans think that the Unseelie are being unreasonable and making a fuss about nothing.
For more on my head canon for this conflict, see my roll call of the Unseelie. There I lay out the basis for the two main forces of any future game: The Seelie versus the Unseelie.
This is the full roll call of human-related figures. The whole force works out to somewhat over 6000 points. There are a few unit types that I do not have for the human forces, but there is still plenty of choice, especially when considering that I can draw on the other species as well. Most of the figures here are Two Dragons Vikings and Normans, with a smattering of Tabletop Games fantasy adventurers plus some ogres from Ral Partha Europe's Demonworld range, and a couple of figures plucked from boardgames.
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| The whole army arrayed. What are the chances I shall ever field all of it at one time? |
These are the elitest of the elite in the human armies. They lead and inspire the other humans to greatness, and many are legends in their own lunchtimes. I have way more character figures than I shall ever field in a single Oathmark army, but it is nice to have a choice.
Tally: 5 mounted and 14 dismounted
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| Two Dragons Normans and Essex Miniatures Vikings |
Battlefield support is provided by an eclectic bunch of sorcerous types. Again, I have more than I need but they will all get names and become beloved to me as they achieve glorious sorcerous exploits.
Tally: 7
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| Ral Partha Europe and Tabletop Fantasy Sorcerers. The TTF ones are scrawnier but carry a much greater weight of nostalgia for me |
The rank and file of every human army is a person with a shield and a spear or other hand weapon. Because many of these have spears, I could field them as spear units instead if I choose to, but I am listing them here as soldiers, because I also have an idea of buying figures for a high medieval army with long spears or pikes to use as spear units. I wonder if this is one of those ideas that will never come to fruition. Either way, soldiers or spear units, they are the backbone of the army. Some of these figures have been in my Pile of Shame since the early 90s, so it is a great feeling to have got them all painted at last.
Tally: 80
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| Two Dragons Vikings and Normans |
These basic missile troops gain strength from their numbers rather than their individual skill. The carry a range of missile weapons from bows to crossbows to thrown rocks. I lump them all together as basic archers. After all, you cannot afford to be fussy when you are recruiting from the lower echelons of society. At least they do not smell as bad as the militia!
Tally: 43
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| Two Dragons Vikings, Normans and peasants |
The better class of soldier has a chain vest or hauberk as well as their shield and sword/spear.
Tally: 25
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| Two Dragons Vikings and Normans with two Asgard 15mm barbarians towering over the others at the back |
Men with big axes or two-handed swords are useful when the heavy cavalry are not suited to the terrain. The linebreakers are just such a shock unit. Armed with large axes and good armour, they are well-practised at cleaving their way through their foes.
Tally: 17
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| Two Dragons Vikings |
What they lack in quality they make up for in quantity and pungency. They are also useful for carrying things for the rest of the army.
Tally: 60
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| A mix of Two Dragons peasants and Essex Mniatures monks |
These are lightly armoured cavalry, usually younger men who have yet to prove themselves, but they are fast and can still hit hard with all the enthusiasm of youth and a young person's firm belief that they will always survive and win.
Tally: 11
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| Two Dragons Normans |
The heavy cavalry are the elite of society, just one rank below the commanders and champions. They are well-armed, well-armoured and their foes know to fear their thunderous charges. While they might do poorly against a fully-formed unit of soldiers with spears readied, they will almost certainly sweep unprepared infantry away.
Tally: 24
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| Two Dragons Norman cavalry supported by a couple of Essex Miniatures Vikings |
These can be either normal ogres or ogre linebreakers according to whim. With the large swords and axes, they are more like the latter, while the former should technically have shields. However, the terrain that gives you ogres makes you choose either normal or linebreakers, so there will be no confusion there.
Tally: 6
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| Ral Partha Europe Ogres |
Buggane are large, shaggy ogre-like beings with an innate magical ability. I am using bugbears from the Temple of Elemental Evil boardgame for these. They are larger than I would really like. In scale they are about 25 feet tall, which makes them as tall as giants are meant to be and thus far too large, but I have them and do not need to buy more figures, so I am content with that for now. If I play enough Oathmark, I might replace the figures with some that are more in scale and use the bugbears as giants, but that is a plan for another time.
Tally: 3
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| Bugbears from the Temple of Elemental Evil boardgame doing sterling proxy service |
Massive humanoid monsters. They are constantly hungry because it is hard to gather enough food when you are this big, so they will fight for food. This is a Mage Knight berserker, who is very giant-like when placed next to 15mm figures.
Tally: 1
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| Mage Knight Berserker doing service as a giant |
Broneslav spent a while the next morning cleaning his gear. The rock baboons had really made a mess of it, and it was rather too smelly for comfort, like the midden behind his grandmother's house. Then he set out, picking his way out of the jungle and up into the mountains ahead. As he climbed, he kept his eyes out for danger, and he was right to do so. Ahead, he spotted a group of mould-encrusted zombies. Unfortunately, they had spotted him too, and were heading in his direction. He could easily outrun them, even in this terrain, but they would certainly catch up with him when he stopped to rest. Feeling that he could not take a chance, he unshipped his bow and waited.
There was no time left. He picked up his shield and sword, and charged. Two zombies were brutally slaughtered in his initial onslaught. Claws shrieking on armour were testimony to the ferocity of the remaining zombies' attacks, and Broneslav staggered under the impact of five undead bodies, but he held his feet and fought on. He knocked the feet out from under one of them and crushed its head with his booted foot, even as he spun with a terrific blow that sliced through the neck of a second zombie and through the dried up, rotting torso of a third. Undeterred, the last two zombies clawed at Broneslav and tried to drag him to the ground, but to no avail.
Spinning on his toes once more, he grabbed his sword with both hands and unleashed a fearsome roar. His sword might as well have been cutting through butter as it sliced a zombie in two, and the follow through gutted the last of the zombies.
Broneslav paused to catch his breath a moment before cleaning his blade and carrying on. As twilight arrived, he looked for a place to camp once more. Ahead he saw a slight fire. He tried to sneak up to see who it was, but a huffing noise followed by a low growl told him that he had been spotted.
Standing up, he looked over the rocks and saw a small hunting party of Rakasta gathered awaiting him. Two sabre-toothed tigers were standing alertly looking in his direction. Before he could even call out to ask permission to approach, one of the Rakasta beckoned him in.
"Welcome, Broneslav from the Far North. We have heard of you. You are welcome as brother and warrior to us."
From the sound of it, Rakasta moved faster through the jungle than he did, if this hunting party had heard of him already. He and the Rakasta traded tales and food, before Broneslav enjoyed a completely mosquito-free night's sleep.
"THE VIKINGS ARE COMING!"
The feared cry rang out as the church bells tolled their urgent warning.
Lady Meghain du Court summoned her retinue as fast as she could. The urgency of the situation told her that she only had time for her fastest troops and that the heavy infantry would not be able to keep up, if she were to meet the Norse raiding party in the open moors east of the village. She leapt into the saddle and led the charge. Three troops of knights, her retinue archers and some local villagers with bows would have to suffice. They raced off, with the archers holding onto the knights' stirrup leathers to help them keep up.
Meanwhile, Hroerekr ur Dölunum, jarl of Ferjaby, was leading his doughty warriors towards the village and the wealth of the local monastery. He cursed as he got a clear view of the village and saw the advancing knights.
"By Odin's hairy bollocks, we've a fight on our hands," he roared, "Form up my heroes and we shall send them to Hel, before we feast in their village! TO VALHALLA!"
For this game of Lion Rampant, the defenders are a standard Norman from the lists in the book, with the crossbowmen replaced by archers because those are the figures I have. The whole retinue comprises:
The attackers are a standard Norse army:
The Norse list allows you to choose between Berserkers and Archers, but I have "views" about who and what Berserkers were, so I am not going to field them this time. I also have a feeling that the Norse archers should really be a couple of units of skirmishers, but that is a pleasure to save for another time.
Deployment of both forces focused on the terrain on the Norse left flank with the Norse warband securing their right flank between woods and hills with a unit of Heavy Infantry. The plan would be to refuse that flank, while advancing on the other and in the centre. The Norman force formed up with the archers interspersed between their cavalry. They planned to advance slowly and whittle the Norse down a bit before the knights charged.
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| Storming Normans at the top of the photo. Vicious Vikings at the bottom. |
The two forces faced each other across a shallow valley.
"Let them take only as much land as they are tall!" Lady Meghain cried to her followers, "They shall keep that part of the land they are buried in and no more!"
She took her father's bagpipes from the saddle in front of her and began to play a rousing march. The skirling of the pipes rang out across the dale and the adrenaline pumped all the harder in her followers' veins. They truly appreciated that she had a better ear for music than her father had.
The Norsemen hammered their weapons on their shields and advanced with gruff bellows and insults. Well, except for those that could only do one thing at a time. The heavy infantry on the Norse right took some time to get moving, but were soon on the go.
As they advanced, the arrow storm began. A warrior beside Hroerekr fell with an arrow through his throat. First blood to the Norman archers. Not to be outdone, the knights rushed forward too, but it was the archers that scored second blood, while the Norse archers returned the favour, killing two Norman archers.
Lady Meghain's knights bore down on Hroerek's personal bodyguard, their hooves thundering across the sward. The rumbling of their advance could be felt in the bones of the men on foot.
"Who is this that dares oppose me?" bellowed Hroerekr, " I challenge you to holmgang! You shall dine in Hel this night, or I shall feast in Valhalla!"
The bagpipe playing stopped as Lady Meghain replied.
"I am Lady Meghain du Court and you shall grovel in the dirt before me, foul blackguard! This is my land and I shall defend it with all that I am. Though I have only the body of a woman, I have the heart of a lion, the wings of a dragon and my father's lance, which I have often bloodied in such as you!"
The two leaders approached each other and squared off. Their bodyguards stood back respectfully and gave them space.
"Die, foul Norseman!"
Lady Meghain wasted no time in attacking. With a speed and fury that Hroerekr did not expect, she was upon him, showing no sign of fear. He swung his mighty axe at her as she approached. They traded several blows and then suddenly Lady Meghain's lance found its opening and the Norse leader's lifeblood nourished Norman soil.
"Revenge!" cried Hroerek's bodyguard. They charged and in the furious melee that ensued, Norman knights and Norse champions died. But in the end, Lady Meghain was the one standing with one of her bodyguard beside her. The Norsemen lay still.
Elsewhere on the battlefield, Norman archers and skirmishers were slaying Norsemen, and other vicious hand to hand combats were being fought. The archers and skirmishers were carrying the day, as the melees were mostly inconclusive. The Norse archers were nowhere to be seen. They had been cut down in their droves and had retreated into the lee of a hill to regroup. However, as the last of the Norse champions died, taking with him enough Norman knights that he would have a story to tell in the halls of the gods, the Norse archers decided that enough was enough. They ran for their boats.
Others of the Norse free men decided the same thing. Battered, wounded and facing an unrelenting storm of arrows that not even all their shields could protect them from, they turned and fled.
I think I got most of the rules right this time. Now to work on tactics.
This game saw more units failing their activations than the previous one. The Norse warband had a couple of turns where no one moved at all, even with the leader's reroll, for example, and many turns saw only about half the troops on each side moving.
It was also my first time trying a duel. I just felt that a Norse jarl would have insisted on it. I gave the Norman leader a 50% chance of accepting. She did, and then she scored 3 hits to the Norseman's 2 hits, thus beating him. I guess Hroerekr wins either way though; taking Norman treasure or heading to Valhalla.
The loss of their leader did not seem to dismay the Norse warband much at all. Both elite infantry units fought to the very last warrior, aiming to join their leader in Valhalla presumably. The rest seemed ambivalent. They ran at the last, but mainly because the Norman arrows were particularly well-aimed.
All in all, another good fun game. I really enjoyed the chaos of the activation rolls, and the need to pick and choose where I would act first. I just need to make sure that I give my side the better dice next time!
Refreshed and alert, Broneslav wished his hosts goodbye and set out once more on his journey northwards. He realised that he had been far too optimistic about his chances of getting to his goal and back in the time he had allotted, but he was determined to find out what the deal was with this city, so he would just carry on and see what happened. The first day trekking through the jungle passed without incident and he was less bothered by the mosquitoes thanks to an unguent his Phanaton hosts had given him. Even his sleep was better now, but he would have to conserve his supply because there was not a lot of it.
Broneslav heaved a sigh of relief as he reached the edge of the hills beyond the jungle. The oppressive heat was getting to him, and even with the unguent, the mosquitoes were plaguesome, and he began to wonder if it was all worth it. Suddenly loud screaming and a hail of sticks, stones and shit showered down on him. He ducked back into the cover of the jungle as fast as he could and looked around. Ahead of him, partially in the jungle and partially among rocks in the trees was a troop of oversized baboons. They seemed to think that Broneslav was not welcome here. He decided to circle around them and find a place to camp for the night, before he carried on into the mountains that barred his way to the city.
As he made camp, he reflected on his discussion with the village elders at Tanaroa. They had suggested that the city lay just the other side of the mountains, so he was near his destination, but it would still be a heavy climb to get there.
Sir Rodrigo de la Valle had been insulted by Sir Stefan du Court. It mattered not what the insult actually was, because it would shortly be erased, although rumour said that it had to do with Sir Rodrigo's sister and some bagpipes. Sir Rodrigo ground his teeth in annoyance at the thought of the insult and considered with satisfaction how the village of Piddling Parva in Sir Stefan's demesne would soon pay the price, and how all the grain stored there would soon be stored in his own granaries.
Even before the early morning mist had started to lift, Sir Rodrigo was riding into position.The ground was not good for deploying his whole retinue easily. It was too hilly, but he chose to place his skirmishers in position to harass Sir Stefan's retinue, if they dared even to crawl from their beds this morning. One group would occupy woods in the centre of his line. The other would take a hill on the left flank. His own bodyguard would take the open ground between them. On his right flank, his heavy infantry occupied the large hill there and his retinue knights took the ground between them and the wooded hill.
As the mist lifted further, Sir Rodrigo could see Sir Stefan's troops deploying in their usual lackadaisical manner, many still rubbing sleep from their eyes. They would be easy meat for his own disciplined and battle-hardened troops, even though they had the defensive advantage. I mean, they were such a slovenly lot, how could things fare differently? He ordered the advance.
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| Sir Rodrigo has deployed at the bottom of the photo. Sir Stefan has deployed at the top |
Both armies are exactly the same in this scrap to keep things simple for me. Each army has:
I diced for terrain type and location, and got rather more than anticipated. It makes sense though. As the attacker, Sir Rodrigo deployed first and I chose where the deploy the troops myself. Sir Stefan's deployment was semi-randomised. I knew I wanted his skirmishers to occupy bad going or defensive terrain and diced to see which terrain features they would aim for. The result was that they would occupy the field on the right and the woods on the left. I also chose to deploy one unit of his heavy infantry to defend the walls in front of the village because it made narrative sense. The remaining heavy troops had their locations diced for.
It seems like Sir Stefan intends to attack on his right flank, clear the hill of skirmishers with his cavalry and try to fall on Sir Rodrigo's flank, while the remainder of his troops fight defensively with their flanks anchored on terrain features.
Sir Rodrigo also intends to attack in strength on his own right flank. His infantry are tasked with taking the field and then the village while the rest of his troops provide support. I wonder how these plans will fare when contact with the enemy is made.
Like a well-oiled machine, Sir Rodrigo's troops advanced to their initial positions. But then he reined up as he saw Sir Stefan.
"Look at the coward all the way over there on the other side of the village. He clearly dare not face me!"
He blew a raspberry at Sir Stefan.
"Your mother smells of elderberries!"
Sir Stefan, hearing the cries across the field, even as his own troops moved out to occupy the positions he had assigned them also reined up. He listened carefully to the insults and chose his own words carefully.
"I taught your sister to play the bagpipes!" he cried. As if to back up this point, he lifted the bagpipes that lay athwart his saddle and began to play. A dissonant droning wailed across the battlefield and the peasants of Piddling Parva fled their homes to regroup out of earshot of the horrendous caterwauling.
Around the two leaders, their personal bodyguards chuntered and muttered at the insults, but neither unit moved forward as this important prelude to the business of the day was undertaken.
I am greatly amused by the fact that everyone else passed their tests to move, but not the two leaders' units. I suspect both leaders of preferring to let the spear fodder take the brunt of the fighting.
Sir Rodrigo's troops advanced steadily forward and the skirmishers were soon in position. Sir Stefan's troops also advanced, although in a clearly much less disciplined manner. His knights on the right pushed forward as fast as they could. They could see pitiful peasant skirmishers ahead gladly crushed them under hoof when they reached the hill the peasants were arrayed on.
Sir Rodrigo charged, but the other knights' blood was up and they countercharged, pushing Sir Rodrigo back. Casualties were even on both sides this time, but Sir Rodrigo was determined that this not always be the case.
The knights charged and countercharged in turn, and each lance was driven back in turn until Sir Stefan's cowardly cavalry were crushed by the remnants of Sir Rodrigo's own brave, stouthearted knights.
On the other flank, Sir Rodrigo's infantry was advancing but his knights had charged ahead to engage the unearthly, soul-shattering cacophany that was Sir Stefan's attempt at playing the bagpipes. The two units clashed and then clashed again. Sir Stefan's knights were cut down until all that remained was Sir Stefan himself. His unwashed, pitiful excuse for infantry climbed over the fence to aid him, charging forwards towards Sir Rodrigo's knights.
However, it was too late. Even as they rushed towards the fray, Sir Rodrigo's knights charged at Sir Stefan. He was thrown to the floor, and the sound of deflating bagpipes signalled his end. This seemed to encourage the rest of his troops who redoubled their efforts. Sir Stefan's skirmishers on both flanks were scoring hits on their foes and soon Sir Rodrigo's left flank skirmish unit was no more, while his infantry were whittled down on the right flank by skirmish fire. Annoyed beyond all endurance, Sir Rodrigo charged the skirmishers facing him.
"Blast them," he cursed, "They are naught but smelly peasants and should know their place."
His horse trampled two of them underfoot, but it was to no avail for he too was cut down, his horse tripped by bow fire and the last thing he saw was a poniard being thrust through the eye slit of his helmet by one of those self-same smelly peasants.
By now though, there were few combatants left. The remaining two knights took charge and directed the late Sir Rodrigo's remaining infantry unit and skirmish unit against the lesser of the two enemy skirmish units, even as the other one sought to close to bowfire range. However, both had second thoughts upon seeing what faced them. The late Sir Rodrigo's men let them go. They were exhausted and had wounded friends to help. They also knew that the pub in Piddling Parva sold good real ale. They could plunder the battlefield and get properly drunk tonight.
That was fun. I bought the 1st edition of Lion Rampant when it first came out, and prepared a couple of 6mm forces for it. I always thought it would be fun to play, but we never seemed to get around to it. Maybe one day I shall put together a proper travel kit with the 6mm figures, Anyway, I have managed to play the game solo now, but using the 2nd edition rules. The hardback book has much more appeal and is easier for me to engage with than the digital rules, which has contributed to me learning and trying the rules. I got things wrong along the way but I shall know better for next time.
As this was a practice game, I was not too worried about tactical finesse here and just pushed figures into contact. Then I rolled dice and removed figures. Combat was less bloody than anticipated, and the real killer was the Courage tests that saw units being whittled down slowly until they ran away. Well, except for the knights who all stood firm and died like knights.
Sir Stefan's skirmishers really played a blinder. They scored some amazing rolls and killed way more knights and heavy infantry than they should have. I also had one turn where none of Sir Rodrigo's troops moved at all, although it turned out that most units managed to activate on most turns. The leader's reroll came into its own here, except on that one turn.
The rules include a simple five game mini-campaign, that will be worth trying at a later date. It would be simple enough to assign character traits to the leaders on each side and then use a Yes/No oracle based on simple odds for how they respond to the way the battle develops. The game should also function well using Programmed Wargames Scenarios.
As I noted before, this was a fun game and not too onerous for solo play. The chaos of the activations works well, and I like rules where you do not necessarily get to activate all your troops. I shall definitely aim to play Lion Rampant again, and I rather look forward to getting Dragon Rampant 2nd Edition when that comes out later this year.
Unarmed and outnumbered, Broneslav had no choice but to obey his captors. Well, technically he did, because he was larger than these creatures and stronger, but they had not attacked him, so he would bide his time before deciding if attacking them was necessary. As a merchant's son, he knew that you could not sell things to dead people.
The creatures motioned him to a rope ladder that ascended into the trees. Climbing it, he found himself in a treetop village where more of the strange people awaited him. Many chittered at him in a language he could not understand, but eventually he was brought across the platforms of the treetop village to a grey-haired creature who addressed him in strangely accented Common.
"Who are you and why are you in our domain?" the creature asked.
Broneslav answered truthfully that his curiousity had been piqued by tales of a city to the north and that he was passing through. He declared himself to be peaceful and not hostile to the creatures.
The clan chief, for such it turned out that she was, relaxed as the interrogation progressed. Eventually, she explained that she and her people were Phanaton, a Lawful tribe that lived on the island.
"We are opposed to the Anarea spider-people, who are the personification of Chaos here, because they keep attacking us and sending giant spiders to kill us. A group of these giant spiders, Tarantellas, have been spotted to the west. You are clearly strong and well-armed. Will you help us to be quit them? We can reward you?"
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| Giant Spider token. (c) ProFantasy Software Ltd (Found in Token Treasury 1) |
Broneslav explained that he had seen these Tarantellas just the day before and had avoided them because there seemed no reason to attack them, but he would certainly help the Phanaton. The chittering around him grew louder, and the guards returned his armour and weapons.
"There is little reason to delay," he declared, "If they are still where I saw them or you know where they are now, we should go at once."
He set out accompanied by a half a dozen Phanaton warriors, who glided between the trees ahead of him on flaps of skin that stretched between their hands and feet. The warriors made sure that the young warrior could always see them as their skirmish line advanced and he found it relatively easy to keep up. A couple of hours later, they found the Tarantellas at the same time as the Tarantellas found them. The two foes viewed each across a clearing in the jungle.
Broneslav immediately fired an arrow at the frontmost of the enormous spiders. It was a solid hit, but it took four more arrows from the accompanying Phanaton to take it down. The other two spiders charged, covering the ground between the two groups in giant leaping bounds. Broneslav grabbed up his shield and blocked the attacking spider. One of the Phanaton warriors was not so lucky and died as the other spider bit its head off. This gory death was too much for four of the accompanying warriors, who fled up into the trees. The spiders did not seem to care about their dead companion.
Howling a fearsome warcry, Broneslav hacked right through the spider facing him. Glistening ichor sprayed him and those around him as his follow-through also wounded the other spider. Put off its attack, the spider only injured the next Phanaton warrior that it faced. Alas for that poor warrior, the spider's venom was fierce and deadly. Almost immediately, the warrior started twitching in a hideous semblance of dance. Too Broneslav's dismay, the other remaining warrior quickly followed suit. Although he could feel the call of the twisted dance, our hero was made of sterner stuff and resisted. Gritting his teeth, he turned to face the remaining spider.
A couple of quick blows finished the hideous beast off. Broneslav breathed a sigh of relief and went to the aid of his two afflicted companions. He found there was nothing he could do to stop their dance, but they quickly fell exhausted to the ground. About this time, the remaining warriors returned shamefacedly and the group carried their fallen comrade home.
Back at the village, the Phanaton mourned their fallen comrade, placing his body high in the trees near their home, so that his soul would journey more quickly to the afterlife.
"Thank you, human Broneslav, for your help. You did us a great service today. My warriors could not have taken on three such beasts alone."
The chief presented Broneslav with beautifully carved pendant of dark wood and silver inlay in the form of a Phanaton with jade eyes.
"We have little to offer by way of the wealth that our Elven friends tell us humans crave, but we hope that these will suffice as a reward. When you wear this pendant, all Phanaton will know that you are our friend and will aid you if they can."
Admiring the ornately carved pendant, Broneslav considered his options and decided to broach the subject of trade.
"If you can supply us with good arrow heads and other goods that are not easily made here, we shall trade with you."
Broneslav thanked the chief and they talked quietly as night fell, before a villager showed Broneslav to the guest rooms for non-Phanatons. From this he concluded that others also visited here and perhaps traded too. For the first time in some days, Broneslav had a good night's sleep far above the hunting grounds of the local mosquitoes.
Phanaton like Elves and are Lawful, so Broneslav had bonuses for dealing with them, both because of his alignment and because of his trait Elf Friend. With a half-decent die roll, he got a very good reaction and so was welcomed. Just as well, because the dice for him to wake up before they sneaked up on him were terrible and they could easily have murdered him in his sleep.
That said, I felt that as a Lawful species, the Phanaton would not execute Broneslav out of hand. There would have to be a trial of some sort first. Good job it did not come to that.
I was somewhat surprised how many "elite" Phanaton warriors fled when I made their morale roll, while the spiders easily passed theirs. Maybe Broneslav should have said something about this to the chief, but he held his tongue. Never badmouth your hosts, I guess.
The trade roll was average. There will be no special deals for Broneslav in the future.
There is much satisfaction to be had from marking off hit boxes on mecha sheets.
I set up the first of the scenarios in the rulebook that comes with the Battletech: A Game of Armored Combat and played it out solo to refamiliarise myself with the rules. The scenario features two identical lances fighting until one side is no longer combat effective. I took control of one side and left the other to be controlled by a solo bot I found online.
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| The good guys charge in from the left (multicoloured mechs). The bad guys enter from the right (red and unpainted mechs). |
The game was fairly simple and I made many tactical mistakes, resulting in my lance losing its light mechs early on when the bot sneezed on them. Who knew my Locusts and Commandos were so vulnerable and the enemies' light mechs were built of hardened adamantium plates? Lesson learned.
Beyond my tactical mistakes, I also concluded that my dice were fifth columnists determined to sabotage my chances. They missed easy shots, while the enemy poured home all kinds of improbable hits. It only took a single internal hit for the enemy to score a critical on my Commando that detonated its ammo and blew it to smithereens, for example. Meanwhile, the enemy mechs took hit after hit to their internal structure and never once suffered a critical hit.
The bot added a layer of uncertainty to the proceedings. For some reason, the enemy Commando spent a lot of the game running away from my force or hiding behind the enemy Catapult. It's pilot clearly saw what happened to my Commando and decided not to suffer the same fate!
It was a dice-intensive game, but with four mechs per side it was larger than was comfortable for solo play and took a lot of energy and brain power to keep everything straight in my head. As a result, I played a couple of turns a night over the course of a couple of weeks. In the end, I finally got my game together and ganged up on the enemy light mechs, taking them out, then turned on the Shadow Hawk and Catapult. This became a slugging match where the enemy Shadow Hawk had no armour left at all, but stubbornly refused to suffer a life-ending critical hit, fighting to the very last internal structure point on its central torso.
Meanwhile, my Catapult ran out of missiles and had to close on the enemy Catapult which had also run out of missiles. In a brutal slog, both mechs blasted bits off each other until only the core of each remained. The two mechs faced each other and went for their lasers. Mine missed. The enemy hit. My pilot was forced to eject from their destroyed mech.
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| They don't look it in this picture but both mechs are trailing armour plates and shedding bolts at this point |
My Shadow Hawk limped over to the enemy Catapult and faced it down. The duel could have gone either way. Both mechs were trailing critical bits of their structure and dropping bolts all over the place, but the gods spoke and the last mech standing was my Shadow Hawk.
This was a brutal game in many ways, but good fun.
The second game was the second scenario in the rule booklet. It was much shorter. It featured a Battlemaster attempting to break back through to its own lines. A Wolverine, a Commando and a Locust were all that was in its way. I chose to pilot the Battlemaster myself and let the bot take the others.
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| The Battlemaster enters from the left. The enemy is massed behind the hills awaiting their chance |
I raced towards the enemy, trying to use cover to stop them from ganging up on me. As I neared the enemy, I managed to single out the Commando. After a huge number of missed shots, a PPC to the chest followed up by a couple of laser shots disintegrated the Commando. The Battlemaster's cockpit was heating up but it was still manageable. Time to single out the Locust. Damn, it was fast and hard to hit! A lucky PPC shot took its leg off and it fell to the ground. I kicked it until it stopped moving.
But the Wolverine had moved up on me while I was doing this. No way I was going to escape the faster mechs so I took cover and fired a series of shots, needing only a 6+ to hit. Every single shot missed. The Wolverine blasted my Battlemaster's head, ripping all the armour away and melting bits of the internal structure. Blood dripping from my head, I tried to focus on hitting the Wolverine with everything I had. The situation was critical, so I went full alpha strike. Again, every single shot missed and as the heat built up in my cockpit, the Wolverine took aim and fired. It was the last thing I ever saw.
Two turns, two head hits, no more Battlemaster. Wildly improbable shooting from the bot, but a great fun game. From a solo perspective, having a non-combat related goal is more interesting than just blasting the other side, as this game showed.
I have found other solo bots online, including scenarios, so I shall try some of those out, and am very tempted to combine them with the mercenary campaign rules found in the Mercenaries boxed set and in Hotspots: Hinterlands. Restricting solo games to a couple of mechs a side max will reduce fatigue and make the games go more quickly. I can easily play larger games if ever I find a group to play with, but I can see the option for a nice little solo campaign building up the Full Throttle Lemmings using yet another different rules set. It will be like Fox Tales with much more situational humour and dad jokes (not that Fox Tales is not already the best Battletech fiction around, but, you know)!
On the solo front, I cannot wait for Battletech: Aces to be released. I feel like Alpha Strike and the solo system in the Aces boxes will suit me nicely, although I have not actually played Alpha Strike yet. It is up for playing in the near future though, as soon as I have painted all the mechs from the boxed set. Not sure when that will be though. I am right off painting at the moment.
After a good night's sleep in the camp, Broneslav bid the Rakasta farewell and headed north once more. The Rakasta had told him that the hills ended and the jungle began a few miles north-east of their camp. Perhaps he would make better time through the jungle. Well, he would find out.
The day passed fairly quickly and Broneslav made good time. The hills were soon behind him and the light jungle of the island proved to be easier going as the Rakasta had suggested. The jungle around him was alive with exotic creatures he had only read about, birds the size of his thumb, small apes and large lizards. However, the trek that day was peaceful and he bedded down for the night to the sound of monkey calls and rustling in the bushes.
The following day dawned warm and dry. Broneslav packed up and continued northwards. He made good progress and found trekking through the jungle easier than in the hills, so he was in a good mood until mid-afternoon. He stopped in his tracks, peeking out from behind a tree to be certain of what he had just seen ahead. Three giant spiders, their bodies longer than he was tall, were lurking in what he assumed was ambush. It was lucky that he had spotted them first or he would have been in for quite a fight. Broneslav chose discretion after assessing the size of the spiders, and marvelling at the venom dripping from their fangs. He headed west instead of north to get around them.
As he continued his journey the hoots of monkeys grew louder and he thought he saw large figures about the size of a halfling gliding through the trees. However, they did not bother him, so he ignored them. The noises of the jungle were loud, but he was tired from trekking and getting to sleep that night was easy for him.
The next morning, Broneslav awoke with a start to find a ring of raccoon-like monkeys or monkey-like raccoons around him. About the size of halflings with tails the length of their bodies, they had sneaked up on him in his sleep and he found his weapons and armour missing, when he reached automatically for them. Broneslav surrendered. They could have killed him in his sleep, so he thought that things would likely not be worse than being a captive for a while. Unless they planned to cook him, of course...
It had been a long road, but the Full Throttle Lemmings were now established mercs. That first ticket on Zhongsha had turned everything around. With that ticket under their belts, more tickets followed. Most were small, but a mounting series of successes weighed against only a few failures saw the Lemming's reputation increase and with it the value of their tickets.
The increase in income had led to the company buying more mechs and pilots, and now their establishment comprised a full company and a small dropship of their own. It had also led to Jennie wishing she could die in battle instead of bored to death by the ever increasing amounts of paperwork that their employer on Galtor kept demanding of her.
The new ticket was a full-on war, and the Lemmings were just one of many units involved in fighting off the rapacious Draconis Combine. Jennie mulled all this over as she strapped into the Battlemaster she had salvaged on a previous ticket. She liked this monster mech. It let her get up close and personal.
"This is Lemming 1, do you read me Control?"
"Roger, Lemming 1. Control reads you loud and clear. Give 'em hell, and, hey, let's be careful out there!"
"Good to hear you're on Control today, Anna."
Anna's voice over comms took Jennie right back to that first ticket and watching Anna's Locust be blown to pieces. She had grieved for weeks, especially because there was nothing left of Anna's body to recover when they salvaged the ops area. But then, two months later, a wandering band of mendicants entered the compound where the Lemmings were based. Anna was with them, though barely alive. The mendicants had found her shattered body and kept her alive as they followed their path through the wilderness. By the time they returned to what passed for civilisation, the damage to Anna's nervous system was permanent. She would never pilot a mech again, but Jennie did not care. Her friend was alive. She paid for the best medical care she could and they were able to source prosthetic limbs. Soon Anna was up and moving around. She took over the role of XO of the Lemmings and often sat as Control on missions.
"Lemming teams Alpha and Delta. Lights are green, you are good to go."
"Roger that, Control. Lemmings ho!"
Six mechs moved out in something resembling a military formation towards the ops area. Given the individualistic nature of mech pilots generally and the Lemmings in particular, anything resembling a formation was a triumph worth celebrating. They would patrol towards Kurita territory and see what they could find. The eyes in the sky were all very well, but there were ways to hide troops and fortifications from them. Sometimes the Mk. 1 Eyeball was needed.
The ops area was hilly with woods all over. Alpha Team moved to secure a woods line in the centre. Bravo team moved up into a wooded hill on the right.
"Bogeys centre and left, Lemmings."
"Roger that, Control."
Delta team moved into position to scout.
"Negative on bogeys one and two, Alpha Team. Just some hopmonkeys stirring up dust by the look of it. Wait! Bogey three is hot. Team and a bit of goons. I count one Atlas, one Battlemaster, one Shadow Hawk, one Griffin and one Warhammer."
As Delta team ducked back into cover, the Kurita goons did the same, scared by the appearance of a fearsome Locust in the distance.
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| Heroic Kurita mechs duck for cover! In the foreground, you can see the stat cards I made for the game. |
"Ok, Delta Team. Hold position. Alpha Team moving up."
Jennie led her team to the edge of the woods, where they had clear sight to the bravest of the enemy mechs. The Warhammer and the Shadow Hawk had occupied the edge of the woods, using cover while giving themselves a good line of sight towards the Lemmings. They reacted instantly, firing at the Lemmings. Armour plates were melted from various parts of the Lemmings' mechs as rockets and lasers blasted across the battlefield.
"Take that, you scumsucker," Eileen crowed as her PPG blasted crimson fire straight through the middle of the Warhammer. The enemy pilot bailed out, but the Warhammer would need serious repairs.
"Don't get cocky, Eileen," Jennie admonished as she blasted the leg off the Shadow Hawk, causing it to fall to the ground. A PPG shot and a fusilade of rockets than blew its head off. "Gotcha!"
Turning their attention to the Battlemaster and the Griffin, which were the only goons left visible, Alpha Team loosed several salvoes of rockets. Both enemy mechs fled.
Delta Team took this opportunity to move up and start scanning towards the enemy lines. The sole remaining enemy mech realised what was going on and turned towards them. Green lasers cut Paul's Locust in half. The rest of the team sighed in relief as he successfully ejected.
"Pull back to cover, Delta Team. Alpha Team moving in."
Delta Team knew better than to argue and retreated to the cover of some woods behind them.
The three heavier mechs moved towards the woods where the enemy Atlas had taken up station. Seeing its easy targets withdrawing, the Atlas moved back towards the new threat.
As Alpha Team advanced, a blip appeared on their displays behind them. The final member of the Kurita squad had turned up. It was a Phoenix Hawk that had used its superior mobility to try to flank the Lemmings and attack them in the rear.
While still moving towards the Atlas, Jennie swivelled the torso of her Battlemaster and blasted the head off the Phoenix Hawk with a single shot.
"Hah!"
Alpha Team was soon in position beside the wooded hill. The Atlas seemed to have frozen for a while, its pilot unsure whether to retreat or engage. There was a big difference between attacking a team of light mechs and facing a whole team of mediums and heavies.
By the time the pilot had made their mind up, Alpha Team were in position. In a smoothly coordinated and most un-Lemming-like manoeuvre, all three moved up simultaneously to surround the Atlas. Jenny fired first... and missed with every shot.
"What the frack?!" She cursed as the Atlas returned fire and melted huge plates of her chest armour to slag. Lights all over her display turned red, warning of imminent collapse. She stabbed the fire button again and this time she was right on target. A single shot blasted the Atlas' head clean off and the enemy mech collapsed where it stood.
"Delta Team, clear to scout. We have your six."
Delta Team moved up again as Alpha Team stood guard. They recorded what they needed to and headed towards home. Tim collected Paul on the way. The cockpit of the Blackjack was cramped but they would soon be back at base.
As Delta Team transmitted the results of the patrol to Control, they raced their mechs home. Alpha Team followed at a more stately pace, ready to cover the lighter mechs if any more goons showed up. None did.
"Control, ops area is secure. Send in salvage teams."
Back at base they debriefed and headed for the bar, while the salvage teams recovered the damaged and destroyed mechs. Paul's Locust would fight another day, once it was repaired.
"You lost your mech, so you're buying the beers, Paul!"
The rest of the Lemmings cheered as Paul was made to dig deep and pay the bar tab for all the Lemmings.
I'm not sure if this will be a campaign or not, but it is always fun to set things up that way. Everything is recorded here, including post-game rolls, so I can pick up again if the urge strikes.
Campaign Morale: 3 (4 at start)
The Kurita mechs are not organised into teams. I have made a deck of stat cards and draw the appropriate number of cards as needed when they are encountered. The mechs available are:
All mechs on both sides are Battletech figures, so I have listed them with the names they have in Battletech.
So, I decided to give Anna some Plot Armour(tm) after the last game and return her in the role of XO of the Full Throttle Lemmings. I mean if Catalyst Game Labs can give Clan Wolf implausible plot armour like that, then why can't I?
The game went smoothly and I got more of a handle on how it is meant to work. Helps if you read the rules, you know! I found answers to the questions I had in it. Can you believe that?
In retrospect, I should have had Alpha Team move on the Atlas before Delta moved in to scout, but I got careless. Then I realised that Delta was no closer so it would become the focal point of the Atlas' attacks. Oops! Luckily, I rolled well and the Locust will be repaired and available for the next mission if I continue the campaign.
Kurita has huge resources, so I have not rolled for mech or pilot recovery. Their campaign morale represents the will to invest in the battle rather than anything else.
The Lemmings had great Campaign Morale rolls, while Kurita's were as bad as it gets. As a result, their morale went down one point while the Lemmings' morale went up one point. Obviously, getting Paul to pay for their beer is good for morale!
