Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Swordplay/WHAA Batrep - Fantasy Smackdown

LTL Dad is still sick as a dog so I'm gaming at half speed.  After a lot of nagging, Nick managed to get me out for a game that he designed for CR3 Swordplay/WHAA.  He had dragged out my old castle bits and built such a nice looking table that I couldn't resist.  This scenario clearly illustrates that no matter how idiotic your ideas, you can game them with the THW rules sets.  With a little experience you can blend games and hardly ever look at a chart while jumping periods and trying stupid things.
The layout.  A frontier outpost with some old ruins across the river.
The old fort hasn't been used for ages.
The new fort is manned by a small mixed force of regulars and militia.
All of a sudden a couple of bands of Goblins come filtering through the woods.  They seem to be agitated about something.
Three Rangers sprint through their ranks like a bat out of hell.  It seems these Goblins have been pursuing them for some time.  The Rangers are trying to make the safety of the keep.
The archers start providing support from the walls.
Before closing to contact, one Goblin's javelin finds it's mark in a Ranger and he goes down.  The other Goblins halt but the leader continues on and takes down the Ranger leader.  That's a tough Goblin.
Then the other Goblin group attacks from the left and overwhelms the last Ranger.  Goblins 3, Humans 0.
Finally one of the archers on the wall finds his mark and a Goblin leader goes down.  His mates aren't worried about it though.
Inspired by their initial success, the Goblins regroup and approach the keep.  A firefight ensues between the Goblin skirmishers and some Human archers.
The Goblin leader pulls out of archery range with his warriors and leaves the skirmishers to continue the duel with the archers.  Slowly, the archers begin to get the upper hand as they are in cover.
The Goblin skirmishers start losing the duel badly and the survivors decide to go somewhere else.
The Goblins are in the trees as they move up to regroup and decide what to do next.
Goblins having a conference.
The conference is abruptly disturbed as a couple of shafts come screaming in to take down a couple of Gobs.  I guess I misjudged the distance to the keep and the archers found their range.
Ok, now the Gobs are out of bow shot for sure.  They resume their wrangling and taunting.  The Humans in the keep are feeling pretty good about things.
That is until...  A Predator is hunting this region!
He steps out of the shadows and takes his victim from behind with his spear.  Then he's gone in a flash!
Another fine skull to add to his trophy collection.
Meanwhile, outside the keep, a band of Orcs has made the scene.  The Goblin leader starts to fill them in on current events.
Uh oh, bad luck for Nick.  Preddie is back and stalking one of his Heroes.
This time Preddie goes for his constricting net!  The Heroes plight is hopeless.
The Predator is really happy with this magnificent Rep 5 skull.
Even more trouble for Nick.  The greens kins have received more reinforcements in the form of a band of ogres and trolls complete with a huge catapult war machine.
They just don't make 'em like this anymore.  Darn that's a bunch of big ugly brutes.
A lot of arguing in the Goblin camp!  It seems the big boys are asking for volunteers and as none are forthcoming, the Goblins are being surrounded and made to volunteer!
 Oh no, here we go again.  Preddie is back at it again.  Poor Nick, he's the unlucky one again.
Another Human skull for the collection.
Here we are just in time to witness the Trolls first attempt at shooting a Gobbie over the walls.
Doh!  Dat won no live.  Must be week!  We try 'nodder.
Hrrrumf!  Leds try two Gobbies dis time!
Wun liv dis time!
But with a timely activation the Humans are all over the hapless Goblin and he goes down!
Okie, dis time Ogre try aim.  Too more Gobbies coming!
Ha ha! Dis time bof live!
But once again Nick's Humies activate and take out the Gobbies.
And finally a little good news for Nick.  His archers' fire arrows are starting to take their toll on the immense war machine.
Ooh, ooh, ooh, another bulls eye!  Burn baby burn!
Ugh, we out uv Gobbies!  We start uze Orksies now!  So the Goblin leader and the first of the Orks goes over the wall.
Only the Ork survives.
Back in Green skin camp the Orks are not happy campers.  The Trolls have put a guard on their munitions supply.  None of the Orks make their courage test to try an escape.
That last unlucky Ork doesn't activate in time and the Humans are all over him.
Tu more Orksies on da way!
And one survives.  You know, those Gobbies and Orks are pretty darned tough.  They are surviving the trip at about 50%.  Not too bad.
But once again, the Human defenders are really on top of things.  They get over and whack the Ork.
The big lads aren't giving up.  They are keeping up a barrage of flying Orks and trying to get them all over before the catapult collapses from the fire.
One Ork makes it again.  yep, we are definitely looking at about 50%
The last Orks went over as the catapult collapsed from the fire.  One of the Trolls was temporarily stunned, but he'll be alright.
 The Humans activate yet again and get to the last Ork.  The poor Orksies jsut can't get a break today.
The big lads decide to rush the castle gates.  Some superb shooting from the wall drops an ogre dead.
Trolls, Ogres, and Ork Shaman all closing in for the assault on the gates.
The shafts are flying thick from the castle and the Ogre leader goes down just as he gets to work at the gate.
The Ork Shaman goes down too while the others pound the gates.  The gates hold, but just barely.  It is getting critical.
Now a troll goes down to the archers fire in the desperate battle at the gate.  Oh, and the Preddie makes another appearance, but this time it looks like he will finally pick on the Green Skins a little.  he takes out the Troll..
And then he runs down the last Ogre who flees into the woods.
Whoa dude!  Those last skulls were awesome!

 This foolishness was just kind of a test game for some upcoming Fantasy stuff we have planned.  The Predator was designed to be a random nemesis that could strike anyone, anyplace, making it very difficult to plan ahead.  This was all just something that popped into my kids head and the only twist from me was the bit about using the catapult to fling Gobbies and Orks instead of rocks.  Obviously I made them very hardy to survive the impact.  We used elements from CR3 Swordplay, WHAA, and ATZ in this game.   From the sick bay, LTL Dad signing out..




10 comments:

  1. Fun!

    That reminded me of an old game I think was called Crossbows and Catapults. You and an opponent would set up minis and try to take out each others forces with little, rubberband-powered, siege weapons. Great game for the youngbloods.

    I have a feeling you weren't sending your hand-painted gobbos over with that bungee-powered catapult, though.

    Thanks for the fun batrep!

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  2. Sounds like a great game for the old bloods too!
    You're right about not sending them over with the catapult, but it almost happened by accident a couple of times. The catch on that thing is broken and I almost lost it. The thing is, that catapult can fire a 28mm figure about 40 yards. Seriously! So it would be very ugly.

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  3. I was settling down to read a fantasy batrep when you completely blindsided me by introducing a Predator! That one came straight out of the left field. Awesome, dude! There you go, putting the fun back into gaming. The trolls using "live ammo" for their catapult was just inspired. It's another winner, Willy!

    By the way, your two forts looked mighty fine. Was that a WWG card building I saw in the courtyard of the new fort?

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  4. Hi Bryan,
    Nick's always dieing to have Predator around. I'm thinking about bringing Preddie back for other games when I need a neutral nemesis. He fits quite well because as the story goes they travel worlds for the hunt.
    That little house is out of one of the Fat Dragon sets. In fact, I think it is the very first card building I ever made. It turned out horrible but we still use it. I have a half built FD tavern I really like, I need to finish it up sometime. FD is not as good as WWG but it is a bit cheaper and still quite good.
    The castle is a really nice resin set that I scored already painted in a trade a million years ago and shutter to think what it would cost now. Nick uses it all the time for anything, he just loves it. Even Star Wars figs have battled in that primitive castle.
    I have got to shake this bug. I've been knocked down like a bunny rabbit for a couple of weeks now and am beginning to wonder if I'm going to recover. I may have to break down and see a doctor. I'd rather face a MG-42 nest!
    Willy

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  5. Another brilliant report. I love that you have so much fun with your games. The variety of elements in the game and that awesome catapult is just great.

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  6. Whoa, your catapult can throw a 28mm miniature about 40 yards?! How did you discover this? I guess there is a very unhappy miniature on your front lawn...or in someone elses garden...

    I have to agree with vampifan: the predator came as a big surprise. Gobbos, are great, you can't have enough of them (especially when using a gobbo-catapult!). At the end of this batrep I would have expected to see some zeds or dinosaurs storming the castle.

    Get well soon!

    Whiteface / Oliver

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  7. And dice will go at least 50 yards! You must remember, I have a large pack of 10 year old boys around, these things get tested.
    Zeds and Dinos would be great. Maybe just add some Pirates for good measure and everything is complete.

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  8. hey man,

    i love that castle! we gotta do a castle siege sometime. u got medieval knights and stuff right?

    gotta do it!!

    oh and love this batrep.

    jil

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  9. crossbows and catapults was very fun. I'm sure my mom still has it. many hours of fun.

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  10. Hi LTL Dad;

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    Stephen Carr
    Editor

    ReplyDelete