On Saturday we played two full months of campaign time in our game. Before the game, I gave out this list of rumours:
Rumours
- Goblins are becoming increasingly active in the Dunwood. Some say that they always strike after the Feast of Aleda
- Tiv Ungali – Mercenaries are unhappy with how their peers were simply thrown away in battle and are charging far more from Rithian, the local lord. Additionally, the warrior societies are livid at the use of Dalmorian mercenaries and many have left and headed to Markadal, where Teminina is seen as more aggressive and more true to the Rovian ways. Undead from the edges of the Woodmere have raided some towns in Tiv Ungali
- Markadal – warriors from several different societies have shown up for some meetings. Some horsemen have been seen arriving from the north, though in small numbers still
- The Iron Band is holding the Pass at Tur Liath with few casualties. Reinforcements are being trained near Battleton Bridge and local leaders should be able to expect some additional assets sometime in the coming months
- The King’s forces have won their first major battle against Duke Florick
- Some demons have been seen in the Greenwood!
- Trained troops from the north have been seen in Meg Ushil, the plains to the north of the Gardal. These troops are heavily armed and armoured
- A reminder. A beggar’s bowl is due to the Iron Band just before Winter
A little bit about time. In this world, Winter lasts for 4 months. At the end of Winter the year starts with the month of Ulcitanus. In order to make things easier, I’m adding a table to display what is happening when:
| Month | Gron Gard (Nate) | Rikdal (Matt) | Gron Toft | Tiv Ungalli | Markadal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ulcitanus | Raided Gron Toft | Raided Tiv Ungalli | No activity | Lost support of warrior societies by using mercenaries | No activity |
| Aberas | Non-Aggression Pact with Gron Toft | Raided Tiv Ungalli | Non-Aggression Pact with Gron Gard (ransom) | No activity | Raided Rikdal |
| Molarin | Attacked Tiv Ungalli | Attacked Tiv Ungalli | No activity | Lost battle. Province will fall in 4 months | No activity |
As you can see, the second month of the campaign was interesting. Matt raided Tiv Ungalli who were unable or unwilling to field a response as they were licking their wounds from the defection of some of the warrior societies. Nate sent an envoy and negotiated a temporary peace so Gron Toft could face the Gobblins instead of the Iron Band. In exchange, Gron Toft would pay a beggar’s bowl of wealth (the lowest unit of wealth in the game) for two months of no fighting, and would volunteer a unit of warriors to attack those terrible people at Tiv Ungalli.
Matt responded to a raid from Markadal, but in his typical way, rolled for the placement of the farm and his own troop arrival place terribly.
Nate rolled well for the forces of Markadal, and quickly brought his troops into the farm. We used our modified searching rules, where every figure searching adds a d6, but all search requirements are increased. In this case, I used 4 successes to find loot, and this needed to be done in 2 houses. This worked well, and I think we’ll limit the number of searchers to 8 for a small house to make things reasonable.
Matt realised that he would be unlikely to bring the enemy to battle, so used his activations to increase the quality of his fate card deck (which can impact the post-raid outcome). He did push his troops forward and came under some ineffective arrow fire.
Overall, the raid was fun and fast and left us JUST enough time for the next month. As both Matt and Nate were able to pay for their advancement to the rank of Captain, they decided to attack Tiv Ungalli to take the province and so we fought our first battle. The rules work a treat and are simple but effective at getting troops moving. Unlike Hail Caesar, which is also a great ruleset, there is no worry about not activating, only figuring out where you are going to spend your activations.
This battle was lopsided as the forces were not equal. Sadly, I didn’t anticipate this happening, so some of my forces were unpainted, but in my mind, a game is more than just pretty miniatures and I’d rather play with unpainted miniatures than not at all.
In any event, the battle went well. I played the beleaguered forces of Tiv Ungalli. I rolled for divine aid and got a 1, reducing my force morale and fate card hand size. Nate asked if he sacrificed one of his lieutenants if I would give him a bonus on the roll. I said yes and he rolled a 6, giving him a huge bonus in morale and in fate card hand size. I declined a duel, figuring that my champion was worth more on the battlefield than as an instrument of morale.
As you can see from the slideshow below, the battle was quick. My light cavalry were extremely dangerous for a bit, but Matt played a Carpe Diem card and wiped them out. In the future, I think that light cavalry will help to turn the tide.
Matt’s main forces advanced and closed with me, as Nate slowly moved forward. I was never able to attach my general and champion to a battle line, which was frusterating as due to the cards, they would have added as many dice as another full unit of elites.
My forces were unable to break the shieldwalls in the end, as they disregard the first kill on each group. In several rounds of combat I inflicted 1 or 2 kills per group but most were ignored and I got ground down.
Nate charged his force at my right flank and used javelins and axes to give me a huge amount of shock before slamming into my line.
The battle was over but it was great fun. Now Matt needs to hold some forces here for the next 4 months and then he will own it. The question is will Markadal and Athramere let him? Will Markadal attack Rikdal and cut Matt off? The dice will tell and we’ll find out in 2 weeks as we take a break from this to allow for some other gaming to happen – I am very fortunate to be able to game every week!