Ailech had been under siege for only four days but already the situation was becoming dire. The unnatural forces of the Undead had appeared as if from nowhere in enormous numbers and had been pounding the walls of the city with infernal catapults incessantly since the siege opened. Refugees were being taken out of the city by elven ships and those merchantmen able to sail but a strange, pall had fallen over the river which had destroyed the boom within hour, burnt through the River gate and spreading along the shores and into the harbours damaging ships, docks and wharves and soon he remaining ships would have to leave or be left sitting in the silt of Ailech's harbours.
In an effort to buy time before the walls were breached Lord Erkenfried and the Silver Elf Admiral Tirieth Starbow hatched a desperate scheme. Small bands of warriors drawn from all the defenders would go out into siege lines under cover of nightfall and destroy the screaming skull catapults.
On the west wall, between the towers of the Watergeat and the Westgeat, three brave souls volunteered with their personal retinues; the self-styled Dwarf mercenary Kronin the Barbarian; Silver Elf woodsmaster Siriel Greencloak and the militant bishop Aisans Guire of the Border Kingdoms. Lowered from the walls the heroes headed towards the river hoping to outflank the Undead artillery in the darkness. They had been warned of undead "patrols" but had no way to know how many or where these patrols would be.
Misfortune befell the heroic warriors quickly though. As they moved cautiously over some difficult ground by the river bank they met a large patrol of undead infantry and archers. The elves at the forefront of the group were taken by surprise and with uncharacteristic emotion let loose a swift hail of arrows and made an impetuous charge into the middle of the patrol. Some of the elves fell to a return volley from the skeletons but when melee was met the sorcerous power of undeath was little match for elven steel. The clash and clamour though drew more skeletons to the fray but as they moved towards the elves in an effort to overwhelm them with numbers they were distracted by movement on the hill above. Suddenly the clash had turned into a melee. Noticing the bishop's retinue a number of the skeleton infantry turned up the hill toward the shield line, but Kronin's dwarf band in their turn were not about to let tall-folk have all the fun and led by his cousins, the berserks Throrin and Thali, the dwarfs tore into the approaching undead tide. The fighting was swift and deadly with all the skeletons falling to axe, spear and sword with little injury in return. The bishop's wizard to cast a shielding spell but failed causing himself to be dazzled with his own enchantment.
After some healing and regathering of their forces the heroes resumed their flanking manoeuvre, this time being more lucky than before as a number of suspected patrols and ambushes turned out to be false alarms. on the final approaches to the catapult emplacements, the dwarfs, the lightly armed but effective borderers and a few of the elves were surprised as a large force of undead cavalry came crashing across the empty fields of the abandoned village to the east of the undead lines. On the hill, scene of carnage only minutes ago, the retinue of the bishop himself and the remaining elven archers formed a line and prepared to sell their lives dearly to provide the main strike force by the catapults time to finish their task. In the confusion, as the catapults fired blind into the oncoming warbands, a stray screaming skull fell amongst the gatehering forces and felled three of the borderers while Greencloak was seemingly killed outright. Afterwards in the retreat back to the city though, no trace of his fallen form could be found...
Throrin the berserk leapt into the trenches of the undead lines, as the undead horsemen crashed up the hill towards the stalwart defenders and the fighting now became truly desperate. On the hill, the melee circled and wheeled back and forth. Sometimes the defenders were on top, other times their straits seemed dire indeed. Several of the retinue fell and the elven healer Moontouch was killed but ultimately the line held and several of the defenders aided by the remaining elven archers and infantry dispatched the last of the vile horsemen. Throrin meanwhile had been fighting a similarly back and forth fight against the wight leading the undead forces until eventually, as his dwarven comrades and the remaining borderers broke into the trenches, he struck the wight down with a truly mighty axe blow. The trench fighting was quickly over after the wight fell as dwarfs and humans frenziedly hacked, slashed and smashed skeletal bodies and infernal constructs to pieces.
The triumphant, though battered forces made their way back to the rendezvous but before the signal could be given and ropes dropped from the walls an almighty inward rush of air blasted over the walls into the city and an enormous crash heralded an explosion in Valjevo Castle, the inner keep and the head-quarters of the city defence. Rubble and ash fell to the ground all across the city and it was obvious from the growing, fey, green glow in the eastern quarter of the city that something truly evil had occurred.
Friday, 27 January 2012
Wednesday, 25 January 2012
WHAA Skills
In line with the Skills house rule, this post will contain the list of skills and will be updated when new skills occur to me or are suggested.
Warrior - character is Elite Trained
Caster - character can use magic
Healer - character can use the healing rules
Thief - character can carry out thieving type skills (e.g. picking locks, checking for traps, hiding in shadows)
Alchemist - character can create potions as per the rules
Marksman - character can take two shots per activation as though he had fast moved (-2d6).
Blademaster - only elite trained characters can choose this skill. The character never suffers the outnumbered penalty.
Assassin - as long as the character approches from behind the target he may backstab the target with +1d6 and the opponent's armour cannot count as protected.
Sniper - Missile fire from beyond twice the target's movement rate will always count as Armour Pierced if it hits.
Cleric - Clerics are warrior priests of the Red Sun (and occasionally, but more rarely of the Black Moon). They have limited casting powers and can Turn Undead. Clerics can cast the following spells as though they were a caster of the same Rep: Air of Strength; Stench of Weakness; Resist Magic; Entrap Demon; Banish Demon.
Turn Undead - only cleric characters can Turn Undead.
Paladin - a Paladin is immune to the effects of terror and dread both for reaction tests and for melee.
Athlete - an Athlete rolls an additional 1d6 for Fast Move tests.
Agile - no shooting penalties for fast moving
Tactician - character can choose when to activate rather than activating in strict REP order.
Persuasive - Add a 1d6 bonus to the Talk the Talk test
Disciplined - Add a 1d6 bonus to the Crisis test
Scout - Add a 1d6 bonus to the Terrain Scouting table???
Inspire - once per game Pass 2d6 all characters in the group are fanatic for the rest of the game; pass 1d6 all characters in the group are fanatic for the turn; pass 0d6 No effect
Battle Cry - pass 2d6 all characters in the group are frenzy for the turn; pass 1d6 all characters in the group are frenzy for the player's activation; pass 0d6 all characters in the group must take a crisis test.
Thief type skills to follow
Underlined skills have been playtested or have limited implications on game-play and so are very unlikely to be changed. The effect of other skills hasn't been determined and so may be subject to change or removal.
Warrior - character is Elite Trained
Caster - character can use magic
Healer - character can use the healing rules
Thief - character can carry out thieving type skills (e.g. picking locks, checking for traps, hiding in shadows)
Alchemist - character can create potions as per the rules
Marksman - character can take two shots per activation as though he had fast moved (-2d6).
Blademaster - only elite trained characters can choose this skill. The character never suffers the outnumbered penalty.
Assassin - as long as the character approches from behind the target he may backstab the target with +1d6 and the opponent's armour cannot count as protected.
Sniper - Missile fire from beyond twice the target's movement rate will always count as Armour Pierced if it hits.
Cleric - Clerics are warrior priests of the Red Sun (and occasionally, but more rarely of the Black Moon). They have limited casting powers and can Turn Undead. Clerics can cast the following spells as though they were a caster of the same Rep: Air of Strength; Stench of Weakness; Resist Magic; Entrap Demon; Banish Demon.
Turn Undead - only cleric characters can Turn Undead.
TURNING UNDEAD TABLE Roll cleric's Rep d6 v. Rep d6 of Undead-1d6 from the cleric if moved in same turn. |
| Number of Successes | Result |
| Cleric scores more successes | Undead in target group all take a hit on the Firing Damage Table as though Armour Pierced |
| Cleric scores same successes | Turning attempt fails |
| Cleric scores fewer successes | Turning attempt fails and all Undead in target group take a Control Test |
Paladin - a Paladin is immune to the effects of terror and dread both for reaction tests and for melee.
Athlete - an Athlete rolls an additional 1d6 for Fast Move tests.
Agile - no shooting penalties for fast moving
Tactician - character can choose when to activate rather than activating in strict REP order.
Persuasive - Add a 1d6 bonus to the Talk the Talk test
Disciplined - Add a 1d6 bonus to the Crisis test
Scout - Add a 1d6 bonus to the Terrain Scouting table???
Inspire - once per game Pass 2d6 all characters in the group are fanatic for the rest of the game; pass 1d6 all characters in the group are fanatic for the turn; pass 0d6 No effect
Battle Cry - pass 2d6 all characters in the group are frenzy for the turn; pass 1d6 all characters in the group are frenzy for the player's activation; pass 0d6 all characters in the group must take a crisis test.
Thief type skills to follow
Underlined skills have been playtested or have limited implications on game-play and so are very unlikely to be changed. The effect of other skills hasn't been determined and so may be subject to change or removal.
House Rules
This post is growing out of the ongoing commentaries and reflections, alongside the way some things work in other THW rules or just other rulesets/milieus. I'll update this post with new rules and point to it from other posts if necessary.
Casting - first of all because of the unmitigated power of the Big Battle magic for a cabal with 20-odd REP it's going to have to be NPC spellcasters use spells normally. Big Battle magic only happens in Big Battles.
Stars don't count as part of a Group. This grows out of the nature of the game we play and a little bit of vagueness in the way the relationship between Stars and Grunts is explained. So, a star lives or dies by his own dice rolls just as the Grunts do. It makes the outcomes of reaction tests easier to interpret and it overcomes the issues where the Star chooses his reaction successes. To help mitigate the disaster for my PC's groups(!!!) I'm going to allow Stars to activate on any valid REP they want (i.e. instead of activating at 5 REP, they could go in any order on their side, thus allowing them to wait and see which groups or fellow stars need their help before having to weigh in).
On reflection this won't work, so I'll just have to find other ways to split stars from their followers. Admittedly with my lot of players that won't be easy 'cos basically the stars are frightened of being separated from their groups. I think only the Black Moon Elves have ever tried to be more tactically flexible.
Skills - I'm going to start a separate post with a list but the way we discussed it skills can be gained by giving up progression rolls. The tariff we thought might work would be to give up as many rolls as you have skills. Stars all have a skill already (Elite Trained, Healer, Caster, Thief) so to gain the first additional skill would cost two rolls, to gain a third skill would cost three rolls and so on.
Melee - not so much a house rule as a clarification. Melee should be broken down into as many individual one-to-one fights as possible, but where outnumbering exists everybody rolls the dice they are entitled to and compares the results with each opponents rolls in turn. So an elf outnumbered by two goblins would roll his dice (with the outnumbered modifier) and each of the goblins would roll their dice. The ONE set of dice rolled by the elf would be compared in turn to each of the goblins' rolls and results applied. This is how Bob says it works on the Yahoo Group and is the implication in Swordplay.
This differs considerably from Big Battle where both sides roll all their dice entitlement and the results are applied to the body.
Armour - AC 3 and 4 is practically worthless, so in order to make it worthwhile I am intending to impose additional penalties on characters wearing AC 5 and above. Foot movement for these characters will be reduced to 4" and Mounted movement reduced to 9" (effectively an additional quarter move penalty).
On reflection this won't work, so I'll just have to find other ways to split stars from their followers. Admittedly with my lot of players that won't be easy 'cos basically the stars are frightened of being separated from their groups. I think only the Black Moon Elves have ever tried to be more tactically flexible.
This differs considerably from Big Battle where both sides roll all their dice entitlement and the results are applied to the body.
Armour - AC 3 and 4 is practically worthless, so in order to make it worthwhile I am intending to impose additional penalties on characters wearing AC 5 and above. Foot movement for these characters will be reduced to 4" and Mounted movement reduced to 9" (effectively an additional quarter move penalty).
Tuesday, 20 December 2011
The Battle for Menglad - Narrative
The brave heroes having survived the trials of the Redwake Valley make it to Menglad, home of the wizard Heinrich Kemmler, where they hope to enlist his help in stopping the goblins and recovering the Gem of Mahallaplenti. As they crest the ridge and skirt the woods in front of the wizards home a surprise awaits them. All along the walls surrounding the Tower, goblins stood and derisively shrieked at the approaching heroes.
Quickly taking stock of the situation the Border Kingdoms and Treyine forces broke right heading behind a rise in the ground to approach the walls from the flank. The Mirish and their Hykar mercenaries, along with the Black Elf sorceror and his cabal, broke left to cover the woods that screened the facing walls of Menglad. The Elves stayed in the centre taking aim through the still open gateway at the forces marshalling in the bailey before the Tower itself. It seemed obvious that Kemmler had either been killed or captured by the marauding Goblin hordes.
As the heroes approached the walls however it became apparent that all was not as it appeared. On the Tower rooftop a cabal of necromantic sorcerors were attempting to use black magic to thwart the heroes' advance and behind the goblins in the bailey were creatures of undeath!
As the heroes broke into the bailey the Cabal on the Tower rooftop unleashed a powerful spell, blasting many of the attacking forces unconscious and forcing most of the rest to run in fear for their lives.
The heroes, with their few remaining retainers supported by the Mirish resisted home their attack on the remaining forces of evil arrayed in the courtyard before the Tower. While they fought bravely, the vile sorceress cabal descended the Tower steps and brought the might of their magic to bear. Realising that they could not easily kill the Lich that had taken Kemmler's place as master of Menglad the heroes redoubled their efforts to destroy his minions and the few remaining archers in the greatly diminished heroic forces picked of the members of the Cabal one by one.
Still this proved not to be enough. The Lich, calling himself Psammon, cast another terrible spell forcing all but the heroes and a handful of the Mirish horsemen to flee in terror. Making a last ditch attempt the heroes threw themselves at Psammon hoping to destroy his evil once and for all. The diabolical laughter of the Lich rang across the charnel house of the Tower courtyard as he destroyed the remaining mercenaries and cut down two of the brave heroes. Realising that their end could be near the closest heroes grabbed their fallen comrades and locked themselves in the Tower, hoping to gain some respite, while the Black Elf wizard fled to rally the tattered remnants of the heroes' retainers.
-----------------------------------------
As dawn broke over the walls of Menglad, the trapped heroes could hear the tramping of a large force approach the gates. Looking out from the highest windows of the Tower they realised that time was running out. Psammon's dark followers had arrived bringing a force of animated dead and vile cultists. It was painfully obvious that unless they could escape quickly, the Tower would offer little protection and may ultimately become their tomb.
As Psammon gathered his new Cabal about him and readied his degenerate minions for an assault on the heroes hiding place, the heroes seized their chance and made a dash for the wall, dragging their injured comrades behind them. Escaping, ironically, by the same route by which they had entered Menglad less than a day before the heroes tried to make their way to the camp they had made just north of the wooded hills before the Tower walls. As they desperately made their way northward, with baying cultists and the shambling dead on their heels they used as much cover as possible to hide from the questing spells of Psammon's foul magic. All seemed lost when suddenly horns sounded and the remnants of the heroes' warbands came over the horizon. Healers rushed forward and archers took position and started to pick off targets in Psammon's Cabal, while infantry formed defensive formations around the heroes and their injured charges. It was obvious to all that Psammon could not be defeated this day but that escape was possible to bring news to the beleaguered valley and the rest of Altengard, and yes perhaps to return one day to visit revenge upon the Lich and his Necromantic Cabal.
Quickly taking stock of the situation the Border Kingdoms and Treyine forces broke right heading behind a rise in the ground to approach the walls from the flank. The Mirish and their Hykar mercenaries, along with the Black Elf sorceror and his cabal, broke left to cover the woods that screened the facing walls of Menglad. The Elves stayed in the centre taking aim through the still open gateway at the forces marshalling in the bailey before the Tower itself. It seemed obvious that Kemmler had either been killed or captured by the marauding Goblin hordes.
As the heroes approached the walls however it became apparent that all was not as it appeared. On the Tower rooftop a cabal of necromantic sorcerors were attempting to use black magic to thwart the heroes' advance and behind the goblins in the bailey were creatures of undeath!
As the heroes broke into the bailey the Cabal on the Tower rooftop unleashed a powerful spell, blasting many of the attacking forces unconscious and forcing most of the rest to run in fear for their lives.
The heroes, with their few remaining retainers supported by the Mirish resisted home their attack on the remaining forces of evil arrayed in the courtyard before the Tower. While they fought bravely, the vile sorceress cabal descended the Tower steps and brought the might of their magic to bear. Realising that they could not easily kill the Lich that had taken Kemmler's place as master of Menglad the heroes redoubled their efforts to destroy his minions and the few remaining archers in the greatly diminished heroic forces picked of the members of the Cabal one by one.
Still this proved not to be enough. The Lich, calling himself Psammon, cast another terrible spell forcing all but the heroes and a handful of the Mirish horsemen to flee in terror. Making a last ditch attempt the heroes threw themselves at Psammon hoping to destroy his evil once and for all. The diabolical laughter of the Lich rang across the charnel house of the Tower courtyard as he destroyed the remaining mercenaries and cut down two of the brave heroes. Realising that their end could be near the closest heroes grabbed their fallen comrades and locked themselves in the Tower, hoping to gain some respite, while the Black Elf wizard fled to rally the tattered remnants of the heroes' retainers.
-----------------------------------------
As dawn broke over the walls of Menglad, the trapped heroes could hear the tramping of a large force approach the gates. Looking out from the highest windows of the Tower they realised that time was running out. Psammon's dark followers had arrived bringing a force of animated dead and vile cultists. It was painfully obvious that unless they could escape quickly, the Tower would offer little protection and may ultimately become their tomb.
As Psammon gathered his new Cabal about him and readied his degenerate minions for an assault on the heroes hiding place, the heroes seized their chance and made a dash for the wall, dragging their injured comrades behind them. Escaping, ironically, by the same route by which they had entered Menglad less than a day before the heroes tried to make their way to the camp they had made just north of the wooded hills before the Tower walls. As they desperately made their way northward, with baying cultists and the shambling dead on their heels they used as much cover as possible to hide from the questing spells of Psammon's foul magic. All seemed lost when suddenly horns sounded and the remnants of the heroes' warbands came over the horizon. Healers rushed forward and archers took position and started to pick off targets in Psammon's Cabal, while infantry formed defensive formations around the heroes and their injured charges. It was obvious to all that Psammon could not be defeated this day but that escape was possible to bring news to the beleaguered valley and the rest of Altengard, and yes perhaps to return one day to visit revenge upon the Lich and his Necromantic Cabal.
Thursday, 10 November 2011
Circle of Power - Narrative
The current was strong and the trip downriver was short. As the heroes grounded the boats and disembarked within sight of the Stone Circle, the bellow of ogres could be heard all around. Knowing that the Stone Circle contained great power, the heroes spread out along the river bank and moved towards the circle from a number of directions. Stout hearted Yeomen worked their way down the left flank, while the elves and Mirish moved down the middle. The Black Moon Elves in the party opted for the far right flank and prepared to cast magic.
The ogre-led goblin war parties swiftly moved towards the nearest threat and a large group of goblins led by a large, mean, and above all ugly, looking black moon goblin emerged from the ruins to the south west of the circle. The war party to the north faced with knights and yeomen was quickly broken with a volley of bow fire and a swift charge, and while it took a little longer the Mirish mercenaries also broke the group in the centre who were being supported by wolf riders. The Black Moon Elves fared less well. Summoning magic allowed some respite from the war parties to the south of the Circle, but the pin prick shots of repeater crossbows and summoned daemons simply enraged the ogre leader and with a roar that seemed to shake the ground itself he and his war party quickly dispatched the summoned warriors and they rushed the Black Moon positions.
The Mirish warriors continued through to the Stone Circle while the Silver Elves held back to finish off minor resistance and to cover the distant goblin war band being led by Fowlmugg himself. The Borderers and Treyine continued their moves across the north of the field but the Borderer knights quickly outstripped their infantry support. With wolf riders and goblin warriors in front of them there was some jostling and hullooing and suddenly the Borderer's prince and his liegeman found themselves separated from the rest of the band.
The Border prince and his lieutenant were rushed by Fowlmugg's band and in the ensuing melee, the Borderers were briefly bested. A long distance shot from one of the Elven archers took out Fowlmugg with a single shot, and just as suddenly the goblin victory became a rout.
As the goblins fled the field the last ogre led band defeated the Black Moon brethren and killed one their crossbowmen. The Black Moon elves led the ogre and his remaining goblins through the woods directly into a hail of missiles from the Mirish cavalry and the Silver Moon elves.
The Mirish noble searched the Circle, hoping to find magic, but instead only found some treasure.
Sunday, 16 October 2011
Escape from Cinder Island - Commentary
A good game. Still loads of stuff on the table and the heroes seem to be averse to losing men to help even up the games and make them playable. I didn't make the best use of my caster and tried to use him as a Star caster when I should have probably used the NPC/Battle magic option. I'll need to study the magic options, as there are at least two more caster NPC's out there in the valley.
I'd checked out the definition of a group on the THW Yahoo Group and a NUTS! example defined the issues beautifully. We also played the rules as written that says that a Star chooses his reaction but a Grunt lives or dies by the roll of the dice. It may not be right but it leads to more HTH and still gives the Star his autonomy although the rest of his group may charge (or be charged) without him.
Rule wise, I think we're playing the game more like it's supposed to be played. I think I may have over-egged the effect of the loss of leader test (in fact I didn't even use the test as written I kind of assumed something along the lines of a crisis test for everyone). I'll give it a look. There were some issues about rules, as a couple of players confused some reaction tests and effects with Rally Round the King. That may be a problem if or when we get around to playing Chain Reaction or 5150.
I'd checked out the definition of a group on the THW Yahoo Group and a NUTS! example defined the issues beautifully. We also played the rules as written that says that a Star chooses his reaction but a Grunt lives or dies by the roll of the dice. It may not be right but it leads to more HTH and still gives the Star his autonomy although the rest of his group may charge (or be charged) without him.
Rule wise, I think we're playing the game more like it's supposed to be played. I think I may have over-egged the effect of the loss of leader test (in fact I didn't even use the test as written I kind of assumed something along the lines of a crisis test for everyone). I'll give it a look. There were some issues about rules, as a couple of players confused some reaction tests and effects with Rally Round the King. That may be a problem if or when we get around to playing Chain Reaction or 5150.
Escape from Cinder Island - Narrative
The sun broke over the distant mountains as the heroes splashed across both the western fords onto the island. It was immediately obvious that something was wrong as none of the fishermen were working the boats and several buildings on the far side of the island appeared to be burnt out. There was a hush on the island that hinted at evil afoot. Knowing this the heroes approached the village on the eastern side of the island with a little more care.
The boats were still at the waterside, but the stillness and silence just got more and more unsettling. The heroes were about to make a dash for the boats when wolf howls and the yells of goblins were heard from the south. Spiders, wolf riders, archers and goblin warriors burst from the trees and ruins and from the empty village. The sorcerer prepared to cast his first spell only to have the spell stopped by a caster on the enemy side, a goblin shaman cackled and spoke the words of the dark tongue that both beguiled and terrified all who could hear it. The successful dispel was quickly followed by a failure that caused a dreadful backlash which damaged he shaman and weakened his magic.
While the ensorcelments and incantations flew back and forth the heroes worked their way around the island trying to outflank the goblins but a well timed word of power from the shaman drove all those around him into a fanatical frenzy and they surged forward to meet the closest hero and his entourage head on. It seemed briefly as though the goblins may gain the upper hand but a well timed, long distance shot from an elven archer took the shaman in the throat and he fell choking on his own blood. The loss of the shaman sent a wave of panic through the goblin warband and most of those left on the island fled for the southernmost ford and the plain.
The heroes grabbed the boats and headed south along the Redwake to the Stone Circle, an ancient ring of power.
The boats were still at the waterside, but the stillness and silence just got more and more unsettling. The heroes were about to make a dash for the boats when wolf howls and the yells of goblins were heard from the south. Spiders, wolf riders, archers and goblin warriors burst from the trees and ruins and from the empty village. The sorcerer prepared to cast his first spell only to have the spell stopped by a caster on the enemy side, a goblin shaman cackled and spoke the words of the dark tongue that both beguiled and terrified all who could hear it. The successful dispel was quickly followed by a failure that caused a dreadful backlash which damaged he shaman and weakened his magic.
While the ensorcelments and incantations flew back and forth the heroes worked their way around the island trying to outflank the goblins but a well timed word of power from the shaman drove all those around him into a fanatical frenzy and they surged forward to meet the closest hero and his entourage head on. It seemed briefly as though the goblins may gain the upper hand but a well timed, long distance shot from an elven archer took the shaman in the throat and he fell choking on his own blood. The loss of the shaman sent a wave of panic through the goblin warband and most of those left on the island fled for the southernmost ford and the plain.
The heroes grabbed the boats and headed south along the Redwake to the Stone Circle, an ancient ring of power.
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