Intro

Intro

Saturday, 31 August 2024

MESBG... WARG ATTACK!

With the coming of the dark times, Theodan, King of Rohan, rescued from the malevolent  grip of Saruman the White by the wizard Gandalf, leads his people from the wooden city of Edoras to the mighty fortress of Helm's Deep. Seeing an opportunity to inflict a grievous defeat upon the enemy, Saruman orders Sharku to lead out his Warg Riders to intercept the rustic country-folk of Rohan and spread unimaginable terror across the land! 
The camp of the refugees... an idyllic country scene about to be rudely interrupted!
Sharku and his warband of repugnant Warg Riders smell human flesh and hasten into battle.
Sensing an easy victory and an opportunity to slaughter defenceless peasants, a group of Wildmen of Dunland, Lurtz, a plethora of Uruk-Hai scouts and a passing Troll, decide to join in the attack!
Theodan, gallant King of Rohan, Aragorn and the Royal Guard heroically leap into the saddle and prepare to repel Saruman's vile marauders...
while the courageous Eowyn assembles the peasant masses and prepares to lead them to safety.
From his lofty perch, atop the great flat topped hill, gallant Legolas sends forth a barrage of Eleven arrows and the leader of the Wildmen, The Headtaker, having injudiciously placed himself at the head of his forces, takes a nasty wound, but forges ahead, with his warband swarming around him to protect their much beloved and feared leader.
Theodan the King, leads his Royal Guard around the hill to intercept the approaching hordes of Saruman and Gimli makes a prodigious leap from the hill to join the coming fray.
With Saruman's forces advancing across the entire front, the Rohirrim are forced to divide their warband to meet the disparate threats and one of the valiant Royal Guard is unhorsed and overwhelmed by The Headtaker and his Wildmen.
Sharku's plan to outflank the enemy and strike the fleeing peasants is thwarted by Aragorn and a party of the mounted men of Rohan who bravely hurl themselves between the Warg Riders and their prey. Eowyn refuses to be intimidated by the vicious Wargs and continues to encourage the peasants to press onwards towards safety.

However, some of the Wargs do manage to break through to attack the peasants, who bravely engage the beasts, encouraged by the indomitable Eowyn.
As the battle rages, Aragorn makes a heroic move against Sharku and the two become locked in a mortal struggle. Sharku fights with demonic determination, matching his enemy blow for blow but, with his superior strength and skill, Aragorn overwhelms his opponent and Saruman's Warg Riders lose their leader, slain by a mighty torrent of blows.
Aragorn's victory gives Eowyn and the peasants a brief respite and once again gives them the opportunity to make their escape to the safety of Helm's Deep.
Over by the hill, the Wildmen are in danger of being wiped out, as the Rohan cavalry, lead by Theodan and Legolas, with his unerring bow fire, but large numbers of Uruk scouts begin to advance towards Gimli, who suddenly finds himself alone and at risk of being overwhelmed.
The advantage begins to swing further in favour of Saruman's horde, as Lurtz and the Troll advance menacingly towards Theodan and his few remaining warriors. The Uruk bowmen launch volley after volley of their deadly arrows towards the hill and Legolas is soon brought down under the deluge of the arrow storm.
Too late, King Theodan realises the peril about to befall him and the remaining Riders of Rohan. Beset on all sides by Wildmen, Uruks and the mighty troll, the riders fight desperately to force back the enemy.
Under the unyielding onslaught, King Theodan is laid low and the remaining men of Rohan are left to face the enemy without their beloved and heroic leader. With the tragic death of their king, the peasants lose heart and begin a desperate flight away from the field of battle. Eowyn, however, has only vengeance upon her mind and launches into a despairing charge across the battlefield, intent upon bringing down those responsible for the death of the king.
Can the gallant lady wreak her vengeance before she is ploughed down by passing carts or intercepted by yet more reinforcement Wargs hastily arriving on the battlefield?
Long before Eowyn can arrive, Aragorn thunders into the troll, Gimli blusters into Lurtz with Dwarf Axes flailing and the two remaining mounted Rohan desperately engage Wildmen and Uruk Scouts.
The situation now turns desperate for the enemies of Saruman as Gimli and Aragorn are surrounded, and even their extraordinary powers can no longer save them from the inevitable conclusion. Both heroes are hacked down by their vile foes, leaving only the valiant Lady Eowyn to stand against the forces of darkness.
And even she fell under the vicious onslaught of Uruk-hai scouts, leaving just a single Rohan Royal Guardsman to face Saruman's horde.

With their enemies slain, Lurtz, the troll, Uruk Scouts, Warg Riders and Wildmen were left to celebrate their victory in their own inevitable style. The forces of Goodness had paid a heavy price in their attempt to escort the peasants of Rohan to the relative safety of Helm's Deep and the virtuous of Middle Earth could only wait to see if new heroes would arise to lead them in their fight against the forces of darkness!

Tuesday, 13 August 2024

BLOOD & CROWNS... 1487... ON ILKLEY MOOR... WITHOUT A HAT!

This is my first trial run out with Blood & Crowns, in a scenario designed to test my understanding of how the rules work. I've watched a number of videos of the rules in action and really like how they appear to play. A slight spanner in the works is the fact that Blood & Crowns are written for the Hundred Years War and I'm using them for events taking place at the opposite end of the Wars of the Roses! I can't see anything that might cause any issues and there are already files on the Blood & Crowns Facebook page which deal with things like 'Handgonners' which fit firmly within the Wars of the Roses era.

Having landed in Cumbria in June 1487, John de la Pole, Earl of Lincoln, with the young Edward, Earl of Warwick and an army composed of Englishmen opposed to the newly installed Tudor regime, Irish adventurers and German mercenaries have marched relentlessly across northern England in search of support for their cause.

A small group of Lincoln's force, out searching for supplies and shelter, are approaching an isolated settlement, high on the Yorkshire moors. Advancing towards the same settlement, with the same intention, from the opposite direction, is Henry, 10th Baron Clifford, with a similar sized force. With Clifford's intense hatred for all things Yorkist, this surprise encounter is certain to bring about a bit of bother!
The isolated settlement, with an isolated henge, an isolated wood and lots of isolated boulders.
Lord Clifford and his nefarious retinue were determined to deny anything that the Yorkists may find of benefit from the isolated settlement. Henry's grandfather, Thomas, was brutally slain by the Yorkists back in 1455, at the Battle of St. Albans and hatred of the Yorkist line has coursed through his veins since he sat upon his Nanny's knee as a child, listening to tales of his predecessor's slaughter.
The Yorkists approached the isolated settlement expecting to find crucial supplies for their numerous forces... the sight of Sir Henry and his hurriedly assembled forces came as a great surprise.
The Yorkist veteran bowmen quickly advanced and took up a position behind the enclosure wall. They would look for an opportunity to use their Arrow Storm to great effect against the Lancastrians before them.
Clifford's hastily recruited bowmen, poachers and vagabonds from the moorlands around Skipton, raced to take cover behind the wall on the opposite side of the enclosure. They were able to loose a volley before the Yorkists could make ready, but their arrows fell harmlessly around the enemy.
The Irish Kerns sped forward to hurl their javelins amongst the Lancastrians...
A second volley from the Lancastrian bowmen caused three hits upon the Yorkists, who quickly played a favour, having rolled abysmally in their attempt to cancel the hits upon them...
The favour was smartly played and two casualties were saved. This turn in fortune would soon pay dividends for the Yorkist archers and bring sorrow to their opponents.
Both sides, Yorkist and Lancastrian, closed upon the isolated settlement and took up defensive positions...
In sudden blinding sunlight, the Yorkist archers laid down their Arrow Storm upon the Lancastrians, who rolled even worse than their opponents... even their Favour roll could avail them nought as four ones replaced their initial roll! Thus, four of their number were consigned to oblivion.
Having dramatically gained the upper hand, the Yorkists pushed themselves on and the final two of Clifford's bowmen bit the dust.
On the other side of the enclosure, the Yorkist men-at-arms rushed headlong into Clifford's retinue to complete the victory...
Clifford and his men, however, had other ideas and, in spite of loosing their bowmen, out-fought the Yorkists and gained the upper hand in the melee.
The Yorkist archers advanced into the enclosure to out flank the enemy...
Their manoeuvre was, however, too little to late, as Clifford's men butchered the remaining Yorkist men-at-arms and the battle was effectively over. The Irish Kerns had inflicted some damage on the Lancastrian footmen, but they realised that the fight was lost and took to their heels, leaving the isolated settlement and all its treasures to the victorious enemy.

It took two hours to complete the game. a lot of which was spent  looking up the effects of the special rules! Ready for next time, I've printed them all out on a two sided sheet for easy reference! Blood and Crowns really is an excellent game and I'm already planning how to expand my forces for the next bigger game. The whole system is smooth and full of twists and turns while maintaining a realistic historical feel. In the action between the two groups of archers, the Lancastrian bowmen were quicker to the draw but, once the more experienced retinue archers on the Yorkist side had made themselves ready and were able to bring their Arrow Storm to bear, they suffered terribly from the hail of arrows falling upon them. Admittedly, rolling four ones was a bit of a catastrophe and ultimately sealed their fate!

Next time, I should have some additional forces to field in a scenario where the Lancastrians are defending supplies in a not so isolated settlement.