The scenario is this - Recently there has been a large number of orc raids along the border. So Lord Talin and a force of soldiers are dispatched to the fort at High Pass to help them hunt down the orcs. What he does not know is that the fort has fallen weeks ago, and now the orcs are moving south through the woods in order to attack some of the villages along the frontier. Even as he is marching one force of orcs has spotted them and is moving in to attack.
I will be adding some pictures to this report this weekend.
Turn 1
Humans activate first and move forward unaware of the enemy taking up position in the woods around them. The orcs slowly move forward.
Turn 2
The Orcs continue to take up position as the humans march forward totally unaware of the ambush.
Turn 3
The human riders riding out front notice some movement in the woods to their right. As they look, they catch a glimpse of orcs in the trees. The alarm is sounded and the humans turn to the right to meet the threat.
The orcs (who activated second in this turn) moved forward, and to the human's rear, orc archers emerged from the rear, and their deadly arrows fell one of the knights and 2 archers. At the same time the orc wolf riders emerged from the trees far to the human's right.Turn 4
The orcs activated first and their archers dropped 2 of the human archers. The orcs to the front of the humans emerged from the trees. In the distance some of the main body of the orcs could be seen clearing the forest, and to many people's horror, the giant could be seen.
When the men activated, the archers took out two more orc archers and 1 of the wolf riders. The three riders charged the orcs who were emerging from the treeline. The assault was so fierce that they killed three orcs, but one of the riders went down by a freak attack.
Turn 5
Both sides rolled very high on their activation (6 for the men and 5 for the orcs). Only the main body of men and orcs activated. The human archers fired and killed another orc. The rest missed. The main body of orcs moved forward.
Turn 6
Another bad roll for the orcs (6) and only the main body moves forward. The men continue to fire at the advancing orcs, but once again only score a single kill. The riders continue to ride down orcs killing another two, and the others, now panicked fall back into the forest.
Turn 7
Again the orcs roll a 6, and only the main body moves. They are getting very close now! The human archers continue to fire, this time with a little more effect. Two orcs are cut down and one wolf rider. The human riders move to intercept the wolf riders, and Lord Talin and his knights move to intercept the oncoming giant.
Turn 8
The orcs roll a 5 for activation, and the humans roll a 1. The orcs move forward again after a few turns of indecision. The heavy orcs and the giant decide to move into contact. The human archers get off a quick shot as they come in, but only 1 orc falls to their arrows. A bloody melee follows, and the human's shields help out as 4 orcs fall and three men. Lord Talin and his knights charge the giant and there is a period of dodging back and forth as neither side can land a telling blow.
Turn 9
The humans go first with a 5, and the orcs follow with a 1. The human archers continue to fire, but once more miss a lot, only killing 1. The bloody melee continues with the humans regrouping their line and dishing out more damage to the orcs. 5 more fell at their feet, but three more men went down, and the men could not afford the losses. Lord Talin kept the giant confused and away from his infantry.
The riders struck into the flank of the wolf riders, but one did a quick and deadly wheel kill
ing the warrior that attacked him, and only one wolf rider fell in the attack.When the orcs moved they regrouped and continued their attack, and now all of the orcs were moving forward again. However, the human shields continued to give them the edge. In the melee 2 humans fell, but 2 orc warriors also fell. The heavy orcs were growing thin in numbers very quickly! Once more Lord Talin and his knight managed to avoid the giant's heavy attacks.
Turn 10
Humans roll 1 and orcs roll 4. The orcs attack first and everyone moves into the fight! The remaining orc archers open fire on the human archers and manage to bring two of them down. Then, the orc infantry sweep in. Two orcs manage to swarm Lord Talin's knight and bring him down, but amazingly the human infantry hold their line killing 3 orcs. The giant, upon seeing the last of Lord Talin's knights fall charge Talin, but Talin is quicker and manages to land a blow on the giant injuring him. Out in the open, the wolf riders wheel around to charge into the human riders, and kill two of them.
When the humans activate, the infantry fall back a little and regroup their lines. The archers
open fire on the orc archers and the wolf riders, but only manage to take out one wolf rider. Lord Talin sees a chance to charge the commander of the heavy orc infantry, and rushes him, and in a dazzling melee, he kills the orc.Turn 11
Humans roll a 1 and orcs a 2. All of the orcs charge again. The giant rushes Lord Talin who tries to dodge the rush, but only gets partially out of the way. He has been injured. The orc heavy infantry tries to regroup while the other orcs rush the humans. Two orcs fall in the attack, and no men. However, the wolf riders rush the exposed archers and kill two of them.
When the humans activate, the soldiers on the right flank move to push back the wolf riders attack. They kill one, and the others fall back. Lord Talin charges the giant once more, and this time manages to kill it. The humans cheer at seeing the giant go down.
Turn 12
Orcs roll 4 and humans roll a 5. The orcs charge, but the heavy orcs are out of commission as the orc leader regroups and takes charge of them himself. The regular orcs are not able to penetrate the human line, and are pushed back, but amazingly only one orc falls. However, on the left Lord Talin and his remaining knight are rushed by some orcs, and the knight falls, but Lord Talin manages to push his attackers back.
When the men activate, they fall back as far as possible. Lord Talin falls back with his troops and holds the far left flank.
Turn 13
Orcs roll 4 and humans roll 1. Now that all of the orcs are in position, they swarm forward. The heavy orcs rush the human's left flank, while the lighter orcs rush the rest of the line. The wolf riders rush the last of the archers who break and run. They are cut down by the persuing wolf riders. In the melee at the line 2 men are brought down, and two orcs fall, but on the far left flank, Lord Talin is swarmed by the majority of the heavy orcs, and can not fend them off. He is cut to pieces, and the men around him on seeing this, break and run. Nearly half of the remaining men are now fleeing for their lives.
When the humans activate, the two remaining captains regroup their force and push back the orcs killing two of them.
Turn 14
Humans activate with 3 and orcs a 1. The humans decide that they have to try to get out of there with whatever they can. They fall back at full speed.
When the orcs activate, the orc general is calling for blood, and the orcs charge managing to engage the humans. It is a bloody fight for the men, and 4 are killed, along with one of the captains. They kill 2 orcs and one of the wolf riders. Their only chance is to get out.
Turn 15
The humans desperately need to get initiative, but the orcs roll a 4 to the humans 2. This is the end of it. The orcs manage to surround the remaining humans. All but one captain are massacred, while only 2 orcs go down. The lone captain knows that he is finished, but will not go down without a fight. He takes one more orc down before they rip him apart.
Results
It was a bad day for the humans. The ones that fled the battlefield are eventually tracked down and killed in the forest. However, one manages to get all the way back to the fort to warn the others about what happened.
As I had the humans moving forward, I made them roll a test to see if they spotted the orcs. I said that they had to have three successes to see them. It was the third turn before they spotted the orcs.
I had planned on using the large battle combat rules for this fight, but the way it happened was that the orcs engaged the men in small groups instead of one massive push. I think that I will have to do an even bigger battle than this to use the large combat rules. That makes me happy because I know that the rules will handle fairly large fights. After I did this, I realized that I didn't really do the combat between Talin and the giant right, or it might have ended even sooner. Still, this was a lot of fun. Next I want to do a larger fight that will focus on a siege of a small castle. There aren't rules for a siege, so I will have to do some house rules.
