October 7, 986 – Outskirts of Altengard

The alpha creature sniffed the air a second time sure now that there was food to be had at this small dwelling. Not only from within, but there were many large horses about. The real question was, how much blood would be on his massive axe when it was all said and done…

1 Alpha Lycan (Star) - REP 6, AC 4, Move 16, Hardiness 4; Weapon: Massive Axe
Terror, Magic Resist
Massive Axe: IMP 7
CV: 10

2 Brotherhood Lycan - REP 5, AC 4, Move 12, Hardiness 2; Weapon: Arm Blade
Arm blade: IMP 5
Frenzy, Magic Resist
CV: 6

3 Pack Lycan - REP 5, AC 4, Move 12, Hardiness 0; Weapon: Spear
Spear: IMP 5
Frenzy
CV: 2

Total CV: 28

Raid Encounter roll was an 8 so there are 28 CV of locals about. Since this was an inn, I decided that if I rolled doubles, the type would be: Drunk (CV: 1) – REP 3, AC 2, Move 8, Hardiness 0; Weapon: Improvised Weapon (IMP 3). There are no other buildings in the area, but there are four horses found in the corral on the opposite side of the road.

4 Knights, 2 Skirmishers, 6 Infantry (2 inside), 5 Arquebus (2 inside), 4 Drunks (2 inside), 3 Polearms (1 inside)

Here is the setup for the raid. You can barely see the alpha and his pack on the right. The two brotherhood are on the far left.

Stats for the other combatants are in the following format:
Name (REP/AC/move/Hardiness/RNG:IMP)

Knight (5/6/12/0/-:7 or 4)
Skirmishers (4/2/8/0/36:5)
Infantry (4/4/6/0/-:5)
Arquebus (4/3/6/0/24:7)
Polearm (4/3/6/0/-:6)

The defenders are set up in a random fashion. I split the board into 6 areas and I rolled a d6 for each figure. Once the location was determined, I placed them in a spot that I figured would be if they were on patrol. Funny how of the 24 figures only 7 are inside the inn. Word about the Lycans has spread and perhaps this raid is more of a trap???

As the Pack moves closer to the Inn, it appears that the humans are waiting for them. Hopefully how the human are spread out will help them keep their injuries to a minimum.

The alpha moves his group of pack lycans into melee. The human stand their ground in the test of wills (I knew I should have used the star ability and picked 6 successes instead of 4) and the lycans all charge. The arquebuser doesn’t manage to do anything with his shot, but the skirmisher manages to take a lycan OOF with a well-placed arrow! Both Knights hold their own even though they are outclassed. The poor drunk is sliced through without a care by the pack lycan and one of the knights retires a normal move on the crisis test! The Brotherhood lycans are unable to go due to the activation number.

The same skirmisher manages to take out another pack Lycan OOF. The arquebuser manages to hit the alpha, but the alpha shrugs off the blow, roars and moves to engage (with 3d vs 6d rolls well enough to hit, but then just forces a control test which the star ‘fails’ and engages in melee). The knight wants to charge in, but can’t manage to force himself to do it (the alpha star picks ‘6 successes’ and the knight can’t hope to beat him). The rest of the humans move to create groups in order to fight better (or fail to charge the final pack lycan.

The lone skirmisher on the right is taking out the pack lycans without worry...

The alpha cleaves the arquebuser in half and the skirmisher ‘hero’ routs off the board. A second knight races over to help take out the final pack lycan and after a couple of minor successes manages to run him through (OD result). The rest of the humans stand in wait (I rolled a 6 for the lycans again and a 5 for the humans).

The alpha lycan moves to attack Lord Byron (the leader of this group) but they are evenly matched. The brotherhood lycans finally move into the battle, one charging an arquebuser who fails to hurt him as the lycan comes crashing close. The arquebusers screams of pain force a second arquebuser and a polearm fighter to flee in terror (both failed the crisis test). The second brotherhood lycan attempts to charge the last skirmisher, but halts in place instead (same number of successes on test of wills). The final skirmisher wastes no time in firing at the dumbfounded lycan hitting the foul beast and seriously wounding it (Since they are now within 12 inches, there isn’t a second test of wills so the skirmisher fires her short bow at the lycan rolling 3 successes to 2 hitting it. The result of OOF stands after rolling on the hardiness check)! The alpha seeing that he is outnumbered, fails the crisis test and retires (there are now only 2 lycans remaining).

How the tables have turned for the lycan. Who knew bows are the way to go!

The alpha retires off the board, but the brotherhood lycan doesn’t get the message. The skirmisher rounds the forest looking to take a shot, but misses and the lycan charges in. The second shot manages to hit, but doesn’t faze the lycan who rends the skirmisher in two which causes the nearest swordsman to flee (and a second to retire). The two knights on the flank dispatch both wounded pack lycans. The final lycan grabs his other brotherhood lycan buddy and flees off the table.

The encounter wasn’t a total loss muses the alpha after a couple of days. Sure the pack is smaller, but the two that survived are more powerful then when they started. Perhaps next time they will dine on horse flesh…

The alpha gained a Social status that it lost by fleeing the battlefield. One Brotherhood went up in REP and both went to hardiness 3.

The Velikimrav Nest

October 15, 986 Outskirts of Altengard

Even though Mattis gave Randell some ideas on how to locate a velikimrav nest, Randell hadn’t had any luck actually locating one. Of course, with the rarity of said velikimrav nests, he wasn’t discouraged. Hopefully with a little luck, one would be found before too much time had passed. With the Lycans still at large, time was precious…

Game Notes: "Quest: Is it here?" Result: 4 – Not in the area. Roll for an encounter normally. Result: No encounter

November 2, 986

After weeks of searching, Randell has finally found the signs of a velikimrav nest. He and his current band venture into the cramped tunnels below the earth. The ground gapes open to reveal a fairly large chamber with a single exit. After a quick look about, the party heads deeper into the lair. Moving off into the side passage, the party heads down a very large passageway that ends in a right turn (T1: 2/4). Due to the difficult terrain, it takes them a bit to move down the corridor (T2: 6/3, T3: 2/4). So far, there hasn’t been any sign of occupants.

In a second long corridor, a section of the floor gives way under Andus, a swordsmen. He falls hurting himself very badly (in the second corridor, there was a level 5 trap. The trap randomly attacked a party member, which was a swordman. The trap rolled 5d and the swordsmen rolled 4d. The trap got 4 successes to the swordsman 2. On the firing table, it was determined that he was OOF). After getting Andus out of the collapsed tunnel, Randell orders the party to continue. He can’t turn back now; too much time has been lost in search of this nest.

Continuing down that same corridor (T4: 5/2), the lone passageway continues as it weaves under the ground (T5: 4/1). As the party turns the corner and sees a end to this passageway, a part of the ceiling gives way and Daniel jumps out of the way barely escaping from harm (Again there was a level 5 trap. It randomly attacks a different swordsman, but the trap scored no successes and the swordsman scored 1 stating the target was unharmed and the trap disarmed) – Of course, since there is no humanoid enemies in this dungeon, I continue to make the traps more accidents).

Entering a very cramped chamber (T6: 1/3), Randell and the party discovers some velikimrav sulking about. Blades are drawn with the hope of eggs (Two of the 3 PEFs were to be resolved in this room. The first PEF was nothing, but the second was considered the main body. A roll determined there would be 1.5 times more than the party. Since the only thing to be found in this nest was velikimrav, I kept adding them until the maximum CV was reached. In this case, there were going to be 4 in the room. To determine if there were any eggs in the chamber, I rolled on the Loot and Booty chart modifying as follows. Roll 2d6, for every point over 7, one nest containing eggs were to be present. The roll was a 4 so no eggs were in the chamber).

Game Notes: The room is only 2w in area (1.5 x 3 inches – I modified it to be 2x4”)! I continued to map the passageway so the velikimrav would have enough room to be deployed (yes, with the passageways all at 3w, they are considerably larger than that of the chambers). To make things easier on my self, I changed the 3w passageways to 4” which allows me to use some stuff I got laying about for the rooms and passageways!

4 Velikimrav, but no eggs to be found. At least not in this part of the cavern!

Randell and the party see the velikimrav and with a battle cry, charge blandishing their weapons. The velikimrav that is charged by Randell senses the magic sword and rout! Seeing one of their kind retire, two others also leave leaving a single enemy (The test of wills has the party pass 3 more successes and then the velikimrav only get a single success in the charge test – due to Randell being a star, he picks 4 so the party charges and that velikimrav routs. Due to the rout, two more also flee). Randell and the creature battle each other, but it’s obvious that the Randell is out matched and is wounded and OOF (Randell gets only 4 dice against the velikimrav who gets 6 dice – 4 for REP, 1 due to protected and another 1 for larger base. After a couple of pushes back and forth, the velikimrav scores 2 more success than Randell. The following hardiness test has Randell passing 1D causes him to lose his last two dice putting him OOF). Two of the swordsmen see Randell downed by the creature and retire from the nest, but the lone arquebusier runs out of the cave screaming!

(T6a:5/2): Tealwood grabs Randell’s body and attempts to get out of this nest with their lives while having Daniel pickup Andus. The velikimrav charges Tealwood and wounds him twice in a row putting him OOF. The rest of the party flees the cave once Tealwood is downed!

Tealwood attempts to pull Randell from harm to no avail! The velikimrav win this day!

Randell wakes up on the cold ground of the cave. Surprised to be alive, he looks over and notices Tealwood close by. It looks like the velikimrav are nowhere to be found. Randell quickly wakes up Tealwood, grab their dropped gear and they stagger back to the Compess. Perhaps I need a bigger party before I head into the second nest thought Randell has he recovers his wounds. The days drawn on, but soon the entire party is back on their feet (some of the party is worse off, but there is nothing one can do about that). They have lost precious time since they had to journey back to Compess. Once it all said and done, seven days pass before they are well enough to head back out on their quest to destroy the Lycan.

Game Notes: Both Randell and Tealwood survive their OOF result without any issues, but one of the swordsmen (the one I called Andus) and the arquebusier (now called Tobus) lost a point of REP. Between encounters, a number of days pass equal to the roll on 4d6 (so on average two weeks pass per encounter). This is a change of the rules, but I have my reasons. Since my star went OOF, it adds recovery time to the roll for time between encounters depending on the amount of ‘care’ that can be provided. Compess is a town and it takes an additional 2d6 for recovery (cities are 1d6 and wilderness is 3d6).

Randell's Quest 2 - Dangerous Dealings?

This is a continuation of the previous game that I ran. I decided that it would be fun to continue the tale of Randell so I started thinking about how to play this out. It occurred to me that I could take some elements from the other THW games and make this into a little mini campaign of sorts. Besides I have the rules in my head. Why clutter things up!

"I need more men!” stated Mr. Randell staring at the commander of the small outpost near the Timmerland Estate. He and the men that he had taken with him had recovered their wounds nicely under the direction of the staff here, but he couldn't get the commander to budge on even a single conscript.

"I've heard the tales of the Lycan issue, but we just can't spare any of our defenses. All our resources are currently protecting the towns and roads in the area. We just can't send any more people with you, but you can continue to use the services of Captain Tealwood. He's the best we got! I'm sorry, but you will just have to find a different way."

Randell stormed out without any words. Words were pointless and would not help clean the infection in his lands. Simply put, the Lycan had to be exterminated! What really got under his skin was there were humans helping the Lycans! These Wolfen Cultists would not taint his homelands. If he ever caught one of those cultists, there would be no trial; just a confession and execution. With his dwindling force, he needed an edge. Perhaps a trip to his friend, a local friar would be in order…

A short while later, Randell makes his way to the Village of Compess where his old friend Brother Mattis resides. The village is small and Randell finds Mattis quickly, but it seems that there is something on Brother Mattis' mind... Once the pleasantries are complete, Randell gets down to business.

Game Notes: I worked out if Mattis was to be found using the Larger than Life (LTL) rules also from THW. The Difficulty to find Mattis was 2 (rolled a 5 & 2) and our star passed 1 more die than the quarry so they meet up but with complications. Since in WHAA you only have REP (and no skills) I decided to roll just based on their REP for the outcome of their chat. I determined that Randell would get information to help his quest if he won the opposed task. If Randell failed, he would have to complete a side quest for Mattis in order to get the information he needed. After a bit of discussion (and two more complications), Brother Mattis agrees to give the help Randell needs!

"Brother Mattis, there are Lycans in the area. They must be stopped before any more deaths can occur. My men and I need something to give us the upper hand!”

"I have read tales of a creature called the Velikimrav that might help you in your quest. It is said that the Velikimrav eggs have a potent substance on them! Properly distilled, it’s said to weaken even the most hardy ofcreatures! Beware, the Velikimrav are known for protecting their lairs and eggs with great fervor!"

"Just direct me to these eggs, my good friend..."

Stay tuned for the next installment. Will Randell be able to acquire some of these Velikimrav eggs or will this quest lead him to his doom?

The Timmerland Estate Affair

When reports of fiendish creatures found their way onto the Prelate's desk, he had no choice than to send a contingent of men to investigate. His first choice was the famed Witch Hunter Randell Burrie. To aid Randell, he sent the capable captain Tealwood and a group of determined soldiers. Since the latest report was at the Timmerland Estate, Mr. Burrie headed there to check the disturbance.

Mr. Randell Burrie (star) - REP 5, AC 3, Hardiness 3; Weapon: magical sword & pistol.
Pistol: IMP 7, RNG 6
Magical Sword: IMP 5, -1 to opponent’s hardiness
Dual Class
CV: 6

Captain Tealwood - REP 5, AC 4, Hardiness 2; Weapon: sword & dagger
Sword: IMP 5
Elite Melee Trained
CV: 5

4x Arquebusiers - REP 4, AC 2, Hardiness 0; Weapon: arquebus & dagger
Arquebus: IMP 7, RNG 24
Dagger: IMP 4
CV: 1

6x Swordsmen - REP 4, AC 4, Hardiness 0; Weapon: sword & shield
Sword: IMP 5
CV: 1

Total CV: 21

Quest goal: Check both buildings for survivors and check all the PEF on the board.

For ease, all PEF have a REP of 4.

The heroes split up with each controlling 2 arquebusiers and 3 swordsmen.

The situation at the start of the game. The question mark tokens are the PEF markers (there is one hidden behind the left building).

T1(2/1): Soldiers move first. Randell moves up the road and Tealwood moves to the right getting LOS to one of the PEFs, but it was just some unfettered farm animals...

T2(4/4):

T3(1/4): One PEF moves into the complex, the other moves directly towards Randell's party. Randell and his group moves up looking for the enemy, but finds nothing of note.

T4(1/1):

T5(5/2): Both Hero groups move up towards the buildings. The main body of the Enemy force (as a PEF) moves around the building coming into sight of Randell's group. It consists of: 1 Alpha Lycan (Big Bad), 2 Brotherhood Lycan, 3 Pack Lycan, and 4 human cultists (it's been a while since I've read the book and didn't understand the gaps for the recruit column in the Lycan Brotherhood so I just decided to improvise). It turns out that there were so many enemy figures that they didn't all fit in the space around the house. Decided to place the human cultists in their own separate group coming out of the house's front door...

The PEF is transformed into 10 figures. There isn't enough room to place all the models behind the building...

1 Alpha Lycan (Big Bad) - REP 6, AC 4, Move 16, Hardiness 4; Weapon: Massive Axe
Terror, Magic Resist
Massive Axe: IMP 7
CV: 10

2 Brotherhood Lycan - REP 5, AC 4, Move 12, Hardiness 2; Weapon: Arm Blade
Arm blade: IMP 5
Frenzy, Magic Resist
CV: 6

3 Pack Lycan - REP 5, AC 4, Move 12, Hardiness 0; Weapon: Spear
Spear: IMP 5
Frenzy
CV: 2

4x Swordsmen Cultists - REP 5, AC 4, Move 6, Hardiness 0; Weapon: Sword & shield
Sword: IMP 5
CV: 2

As soon as both enemy groups appear, they encounter a hero group within 12" and both separately test a Test of Wills (as least that's what I went with). The cultists get the drop on the captain's men and they test to charge! As they move in, one arquebusiers draws a bead on the lead cultist and fires but misses. The two groups merge in a scrum. The cultists are able to get numbers on a swordsman scoring a telling blow and putting him OOF (5 dice are rolled for the cultist and only 3 dice for the swordsman). The first cultist scores 2 more successes and takes the swordsman OOF). Captain Tealwood manages to do a bit better fighting both cultists beating them both back but when he is in single combat, the cultist holds his own (Tealwood won with a single success pushing them back 1", then when he was by himself the combatants rolled the same number of success and the combat ends).

The bulk of the Lycan's come in view of Randell's group and even though terror griped the men's hearts, they charged the beasts! A single swordsmen made contact with a Pack Lycan and manages to hold his own at the start of the combat (the Lycan was rolling 8 dice - 5 for REP, +1 for frenzy, larger base and the spear to 4 dice. I managed to roll only 2 successes for the Lycan rolling 4 sixes and 2 fives. The swordsman actually won by 1 success)! But the Lycan pushes the swordsman back and the end locked in combat (the Lycan wins by one and pushes the swordsman back and the finally roll equal the fight is over)! The captain seeing his share of wounded push on, but one of the swordsman stammers back.

T6(4/2): Both arquebusiers fire at one of the cultist but both miss. The swordsmen move to attack the cultists. It looks grim for the Captain's men as another Swordsmen is OOF (a lot of die rolling, but the better REP cultist continue to prevail).

A second swordsman moves to fight the Lycan, but the man that moved up is no match for the Lycan and is OD!

The other two continue to parry attacks! Randell sees an opening on a cultist once the swordsman fighting him is OOF, but misses. A couple swordsmen move back to regroup as reaction to their fallen comrades.

A pack Lycan and the Alpha fail their charge test and stand back. The rest of the Lycan forces moves in and a huge melee about the complex starts!

At this moment, three of the swordsmen are either OOF or OD. The cultist have managed to get the arquebusiers into the fray.

A cultist takes an arquebusier down, but the other holds his own! The Captain is pitted against two opponents, but only pushes them back. Randell gets into melee with a Pack Lycan is outclassed and is wounded, but survives the onslaught. A second arquebusier is killed by a Pack Lycan. Both an arquebusier and a swordsman flee off the board and even Randell chooses to retire. At the end of the turn, the heroes are in bad shape. Only 1 arquebusier, 2 swordsmen, Tealwood and Randell are alive.

The remaining heroes are attempting just to stay alive.

T7(1/2): The final arquebusier is killed by a Pack Lycan and the heroic swordsman is finally killed. Captain Tealwood survives the attack as does Randell, but is startled not once but twice in the combat! On their turn the remaining heroes retreat off the board.

The Aftermath: The two routers and two wounded swordsmen return to base, but the other figures are never heard from again. All in all 2 swordsmen and 3 arquebusiers are killed in the exchange with none of the enemy even being taken out of the fight. Our heroes will want revenge!

Notes: This game was inspired by the games that were played a couple of weeks ago on the yahoo group for Two Hour Wargames, but I never got a chance to play them until now. Once I got the rules in my head, the game went pretty fast. I forgot due to the speed in some places to actually take pictures and the like, but all in all, a good time. I have some questions about the rules, but I’m sure they will get answered quickly on the yahoo group dedicated to the many THW game systems.

Warrior Heroes - The rise of a star?

Warrior Heroes - Armies and Adventures

I finally got through enough of the rulebook to give this game a play. I have had ATZ (All Things Zombie) from Two Hour Wargames for a while, but had yet to try it out (I’ve since decided to stay in fantasy/ historical 25mm gaming). I’ve been meaning to purchase their fantasy version of their system, but when I saw this, I jumped at a chance. The rulebook is fairly robust, but that’s due to all the options that this game gives. I really need to get more historical/fantasy basic troops (I have a ton of hero types, but general troops are sorely lacking).

With that preamble taken care of, I followed the rules of how to make a star (there is a very nice download that goes through it as well). Since I had just bought a bunch of Confrontation models, I felt that the easiest army would be the Brethren.

Star – unnamed
Brethren (from the heart of Ekra) – Full Sun alignment
Rep: 4
Hardiness: 1
Weapon: Long Sword (IMP 5, FR 1”, MIN 4)
AC: 4 (scale)
Melee troop – Warrior (Elite Trained)
Social Standing: 2

This gave me 6 CV of followers. As it turns out, I rolled the exact same thing for all of them:
3x Brother Sergeants, Rep: 4, AC 4, Lance (IMP 7/4), Move 12; Elite trained

It’s funny that my star is the only non-mounted troop in the bunch!

So, March 986: My small band is in search of evil on the borders of Ekra. Most of the month goes by peacefully except for a confrontation in a small village. It seems that a knight and his retainers (a mixture of 8 foot troops) from Altengard were in the area and only some calm talking on my part, the matter ended peacefully (6d for the knight vs. 4d for Star and amazingly both passed 4 dice)!

[I rolled 10 CV worth of characters and ended up with a knight, 5 arquebusiers, 2 skirmishers and a spearman. We had a round of talk the talk in a village – clear terrain and it ended peacefully.]

April 986: We had a little problem with the local Authorities in a city of Altengard. It seemed that they did not want 4 heavily armed ‘characters’ in their town and I’d be damned if I was going to surrender my family’s blade. The knight would not back down no matter what and in a moment of distraction, charged me!

[I again got a walk the walk result on the encounter table with an even amount of CV – 9 in this case. Again there was a knight, 2 skirmishers, 3 infantry and 2 spearmen. This time, the knight scored a single success more than the star and the battle was on! I decided that the battle took place on one of the many city streets in the area. I don't have many buildings so I made due.]

Initial knight attack – Evenly matched (2 successes each).

Turn 1 (K6/S6): Nothing happens

Here you can see the 'city' setup. The small walled squares in the middle represent buildings. The other two sergeants move around to intercept the foot soldiers!

Turn 2 (K2/S1): Swordsmen charges star, passes enough dice and with a 1 pass on the quick move table gets to melee. 1S/1B (1 Success/1 Block) vs. 2S and are evenly matched. Knight attacks 6d vs. 4d and pushes Star back 1”. Melee continues 6d vs. 3d – Evenly matched. Knight’s footmen move to a side street to engage. Brother Sergeant charges (<>Turn 3 (S5/K2): Knight attacks Brother 6d vs. 4d (1S vs. 3S) and is only stunned due to protected armor (lance is IMP 4 since it isn’t the first round of combat). Melee continues 1d vs. 4d, but both are evenly matched with 1S. Swordsman moves and attacks outnumbered Brother with 4d vs. 4d (2S vs. 1S) and the horse rears back 1”. Melee continues 4d vs. 4d (4S vs. 2S) – Brother OOF. The closest two models make a morale check and one of the Sergeants routs!

Turn 4 (K3/S1): Knight charges flank of the final sergeant and a melee ensues (I determined that the sergeant would not get its lance special since it was being attacked in the flank) 6d vs. 4d – Evenly matched. Brother attacks knight 4d vs. 6d (4S to 3S). Melee continues 4d vs. 5d – Evenly matched!

The Knight Charges the flank of the sergeant on a side street!

Turn 5 (S5/K4): Knight attacks sergeant 6d vs. 4d (4S vs. 1S/1B). Brother OOF.

Postgame results: Both OOF sergeants are still OOF and the router is heading for home. The star completely recovers, but I determined that he was captured. On the advancement front, the star gets a Rep increase to 5, a Hardiness increase to 2 and a social standing increase to 3, but is immediately back to 2 due to being taken out of the fight (which I don't think I agree on the social advance).

Yep, it took longer to create the scenario for the second month than it took to actually play the game. How will the star get out of the dungeons alive? – Stay tuned.