Roll Call: Creatures and Monsters for Oathmark

 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.

Eachy

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

Temple of Elemental Evil Doppelgangers

Barghest

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

Nolzur's Marvellous Miniatures: Iron Defender

Bodach

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

Two Dragons peasant

Dragon

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

An Alternative Armies 15mm dragon and two D&D Miniatures 28mm prepaints

Gargoyles

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

10mm Pendrakon Gargoyles

Roll Call: The Seelie (Humans and related monsters for Oathmark)

 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.

The Figures

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.

The whole army arrayed. What are the chances I shall ever field all of it at one time?

Human leaders and champions

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

Two Dragons Normans and Essex Miniatures Vikings

Human spellcasters

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

Ral Partha Europe and Tabletop Fantasy Sorcerers. The TTF ones are scrawnier but carry a much greater weight of nostalgia for me

Human soldiers (and possibly spears)

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

Two Dragons Vikings and Normans

Human archers

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

Two Dragons Vikings, Normans and peasants

Human warriors

The better class of soldier has a chain vest or hauberk as well as their shield and sword/spear.

Tally: 25

Two Dragons Vikings and Normans with two Asgard 15mm barbarians towering over the others at the back

Human linebreakers

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

Two Dragons Vikings

Human militia

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

A mix of Two Dragons peasants and Essex Mniatures monks

Human cavalry

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

Two Dragons Normans

Human heavy cavalry

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

Two Dragons Norman cavalry supported by a couple of Essex Miniatures Vikings

Ogres

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

Ral Partha Europe Ogres

Buggane

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

Bugbears from the Temple of Elemental Evil boardgame doing sterling proxy service

Giant

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

Mage Knight Berserker doing service as a giant

Roll Call: The Unseelie (Orcs and related monsters for Oathmark)

 I have enjoyed Oathmark so far, and am planning to play more. So, that means it is time for a roll call and march past of my armies, especially because ... *drumroll* ... I have painted every single Orc and Goblin figure that I have in my collection (unless there are some in hiding in the attic somewhere).

Oathmark's kingdom design system does not constrain you to a single race/species for your armies. I really like this, because it allows for a glorious mix of different peoples in one and the same army, and I think that was a brilliant design decision, despite it leading to analysis paralysis on my part. I mean, with so many good choices, how do I choose just a few? Well, fortunately there are ten territories in your kingdom, so that means plenty of room for all most of my favourite figures. The problem then is deciding which ones to include in any given army for a game.

That said, this post catalogues all the figures I have for territories marked as Orc or Goblin plus Orc-related figures that stand in for other troop types, such as my bear horde which I am treating as Human Cavalry. Although the lists are for Orcs, I am using the same stats for Beastfolk and Lizardpeople, who are honorary Orcs as far as my Oathmark games are concerned.

Time to get on with the last of the human forces now, I guess.

The Seelie versus the Unseelie: My Head Canon

There is a war between the Seelie and the Unseelie. That is, those that side with the human kingdoms and those that oppose them. All non-human types are considered Fair Folk, although whether they appear fair to human eyes is variable. Some definitely do not and the Unseelie often deliberately adopt forms that are repellent to humans! The Orcs fall into this latter category. They are hard to control because they are massively individualistic, but are more numerous than their fairer cousins, the Sidhe (Elves).

Not all Orcs are opposed to the humans, just as not all humans oppose the Orcs, so you can see Orcs in some human armies. That is the joy of Oathmark! However, the majority dislike humans because they desecrate and build on the Fair Folk's sacred spaces, albeit unwittingly in many cases. Even though armies can contain figures from both factions, my plan is to use the two armies that I have for my games, until I add more. Human and Orc figures will not be mixed in the same army until I have more of both, but I am using Human and other stat lines to field equivalent figures. For example, my Bears and Iguanasaurs will be fielded using the Human cavalry stat line, while the Orcs get their air support from Harpies, who will be fielded using the Gargoyle stat line (a neutral faction).

The Figures

So, here's the full roll call. This lot adds up to about 6000 points of Orcs and Goblins, depending what options you choose for the characters. It is more than enough for a lot of gaming with a bit of variety. Despite that, I would really like to be able to field huge numbers of Goblins, but that would entail buying and painting them first. Shame, because the idea of swarming my opponent with cheap troops just appeals. I would also like to add more wolves and wolf riders, plus more Orc warriors and linebreakers to the army as well as some artillery, but that is also a project for another day

The massed forces of the Unseelie Court. That should be enough Orcs and associated types to give almost anyone a headache.

Orc leaders and champions

Big Orcs with big weapons and good armour. Nuff said!

Tally: 4 on foot, 1 mounted

Orc shamans and wizards

The Orcs have a range of spellcasters available to them to provide battlefield support.

Tally: 3

Orc soldiers

The rank and vile of any Orc army is its soldiers. Oathmark has a stat line for Orc spears, so these could be used as those. However, I feel that units of spearorcs imply more discipline and teamwork than my Orcs are supposed to have.

Tally: 80

Orc archers

I don't have many archers for the Orcs yet, but these provide a useful ranged ability. I am inclined to deploy them in small units as skirmishers for the most part. Somehow massed units of Orc archers do not feel quite right to me.

Tally: 30

Orc warriors

Tougher Orcs with better weapons and armour, who fight in a more orderly fashion.

Tally: 20

Orc linebreakers

Orcs with big choppers. They like to get stuck in fast.

Tally: 20

Orc Huntmaster

The Orc Huntmaster leads a troop of cave lizards into battle. This is actually a stat line from the Elf lists, but I felt that the cave lizards fitted this, even if the unit will be far more disciplined than the average Orc unit. I guess cave lizards are more inclined to cooperate than Orcs. Another option would have been to field them as wolves instead, but I already have a wolf pack. I suppose I could have several wolf packs...

Tally: 1 huntsman, 12 lizards, 7 medium rats

Wolves

Sometimes the Orcs and Goblins ally with wolf and rat packs, and some few wolves allow themselves to be ridden by Goblins.

Tally: 9 wolves, 4 giant rats

Bears and Iguanasaurs (Cavalry)

Orcs use bears and iguanasaurs as cavalry troops. They hit hard and fast. These guys use the human cavalry stat line. If I ever buy Orc bear riders, they will be fielded as heavy cavalry.

Tally: 22

Goblin leaders and champions

The toughest and most intelligent of the Goblins.

Tally: 4 on foot, 1 mounted

Goblin shamans and wizards

Battlefield support at a budget price, but with an opportunity cost. They are more likely to cower in cover than their Orc colleagues.

Tally: 4 on foot, 1 mounted

Goblin soldiers

Weedy by Orc standards, but they normal appear in huge numbers, although not in my army yet. I really need a lot more Goblins! Although there are only 13 of them, I could use spacer bases to bulk them out to a unit of 15 to 20, but then they would look even weedier than they do now.

Tally: 13

Goblin archers

Speed bumps? If they get lucky, they can still cause you to have a bad day. There are 13 goblins here. I reckon that fielding them using spacer bases to bulk the unit out to 15 to 20 archers would make it look like a skirmish unit, which might not be too bad for these guys.

Tally: 13

Knucker

The knucker is a giant snake with poisonous breath. Here I am using a 28mm DDM Naga figure.

Tally: 1 Knucker

Trolls

Trolls are some of the larger and more feral of the fey types.

Tally: 6

Harpies

Aerial support for the Orcs. I am using the Gargoyle stat line for these fine ladies. Although I only have 10 of them, they look ridiculous when fielded as a unit of ten because of their big wings, so I use unit spacers to make them look less ridiculous and to field a larger unit while simultaneously cutting down on painting time and saving money. Win win!

Tally: 20

Giant Spiders

These are in the Elf terrain selections, but I just associate giant spiders with Orcs and Goblins from reading The Hobbit when I was wee, so they are in the Orc list for now. I have more if the Elves want their spiders back.

Tally: 6

Orc army reinforcements! Waargh!! (Oathmark)

I'm making slow progress on getting things painted, but work means I cannot do both painting and playing. Or even much of either right now, to be honest. I hope to be able to focus properly on the important things in life (gaming) once the current deadlines have passed. Have you ever noticed how much of adult life involves telling yourself you'll have time once the current urgent thing is done, and yet there is always another urgent thing that appears after it?

Me being me, I always need to collect as many options as possible for my armies. For Oathmark, that really means being able to field as many different troop types from as many different territories as possible. My main focus at the moment is sorting out my Orcs and associated monsters. Orcs are associated with two monster types: Trolls and Knuckers. That does not mean that these monsters are only found in Orcish armies, but it does mean that it is easier for armies led by Orcs to include them.

Trolls

These trolls add one more territory to my kingdom with the option to field the maximum amount of trolls. They will have names like Rocky, Smashey, Gneissey, Chalkey and Grant (he's a bit hard!). Hopefully none of them will be too schist when they take to the field, and I really hope that they offer the Orcs something that can help deal with the human heavy cavalry, which has shown itself to be very hard-hitting.

Trolls are associated with the River terrain type in Oathmark, presumably because they live under bridges. In Utavoll, these are known as troll bridges and are usually marked at either end with a troll booth, so that unwary travellers quickly become wary.

U18-4004 Trolls (2 packs)

I really like these sculpts from the old Demonworld range that Ral Partha Europe now sells, and they were quick to paint so that is a major bonus.

Knuckers

Knuckers are giant, limbless, amphibious serpents that breath clouds of poisonous gas and live in the most inhospitable bogs and swamps. They only ever appear alone and are unmitigatedly evil from everyone else's perspective. No one has ever asked a Knucker what their perspective is on this. Or, if they did, they did not survive to report back the answer.

A giant snake with very bad breath (28mm DDM Naga)

My Knucker is a DDM Naga that I had lying around. It fits nicely on the standard big monster base for Oathmark, which is 30mm x 60mm for my 60%-scale, 15mm games, and looks suitably monstrous next to my 15mm figures. I have dipped and highlighted the pre-paint a bit, although that does not really show in the picture, except on the face. It's an acceptable level of painting for the tabletop IMO, but I am not as happy with it as I am with the trolls.

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.