Redwake River Valley

This is the area where the current adventure is taking place. I've condensed strategic time so that the various encounters can take place in a single strategic turn. The valley is in the far south of the border of Altengard, where Altengard meets Capalan League territory and the Sea of Stryfe.
Ath Cliath - Altengard settlement. No news from the south in weeks. Caravans going south have failed to return. Civic leaders are seeking intrepid adventurers to investigate.
Forsetta - Altengard settlement. There is a significant Capalan community here. Fenmen from Forsetta know the Fens like the backs of their hands.
Black Mountains - Forbidding and uninhabited by civilised peoples. Almost totally impassable except at Ordin Pass or by following the headwaters of the Buri River.
Forsetta Fens - A desolate and unpleasant place reputedly occupied by trolls and worse, although the Fenmen have never encountered such creatures.
Silberry Ferry - A tiny Altengard settlement. The ferry can carry both passengers and livestock.
Mael Duin - A tall, isolated hill that affords excellent views of the Redwake and the Southern plain.
Stone Circle - An ancient and powerful ruin. Allegedly it predates the tribes that roamed Altengard before it became a Tropilium province.
Menglad - Tower of the wizard Heinrich Kemmler. Kemmler was a master of the Order of Magic in Altengard Proper but gave up the world of magic and politics to return to his home to help the peoples of the Southern plain.
Dumezil Hold - Ancestral seat of the Redwake Dumezils, a small Dwarf house. The Hold is accessible only by following following the stream up through the Black Mountains.
Fortrenn - A Silver Elf settlement. There are significant communities of both Altengard and Capalan humans. The town is renowned for trading fine Elvish wines and silks.
Ailech - Altengard settlement. There is a large community of Silver Elves here with a separate harbour. The port of Ailech trades with the nations all around the Sea of Stryfe. Rumours abound that the port has been recently attacked by Seniiran sea raiders.
Mount Borgann - Legend tells of a cave deep in the mountain that is the lair of an ancient red dragon.

Out of the Fens - Commentary

Fewer rule problems. Same trouble with amount of stuff on table.
Still, had some discussion about the melee rules, and the test of wills.
For combat, I'll need to remember to print of the adapted Chain Reaction Swordplay melee resolution for the next game and we can give that a try.
For test of wills may need to give the rules on stars a re-read. Because a star gets to choose the result on a test of wills (and a charge test for that matter) and I've been allowing the stars groups to go with the Star reaction then it's possible for the heroes to hold up a bad guy for two or three activations. I'll double check and it may be that bad guys will just need to make sure that they get within half move in sufficient numbers to carry a combat.
As for the lots of stuff on table, I'm thinking I should only have allowed Social Standing worth of CV each at the start, and then I can control opportunities to recruit. But they've all caught lung fever now so maybe I'll be able to pockle some CV away from the good guys.

Out of the Fens - Narrative

Having been slowed down by the swamp troll attacks the intrepid warriors and their retinues are forced to camp in the wetlands overnight. In the dank, dreary light of day as the mere-mists rise in the distance a village is spotted. There is however no sign of habitation. No people or animals go about their business, no smoke rises from the fireplaces of homes and cottages. This close to the Fen, perhaps it is difficult to work the land or swamp troll attacks have driven off the small folk.
All is not well. A movement is spotted by the group of to the right, but nothing is there. A fish or frog perhaps. Suddenly from behind some low hills, shapes are spotted... Goblin riders and their ever attendant foul spiders are moving at speed toward the Fen's edge and the group's safest exit. Swiftly the leading forces of the heroes' retinue prepare for the attack. Bows are readied and some of the riders even consider trying to mount up before the enemy meet them. Just as arrows begin to fly, again a movement is spotted, a splash in the water is heard, a shadow moves in the mists and suddenly as if from nowhere, ugly swamp-men erupt from the pools. The fighting is now desperate, and with arrows and javelins flying, the crack of gunfire, the flash of magic and the whinnying of scared and injured horses all around, two large bodies of goblins approach the heroes defensive position. Coming from the village and through the sparse copses of trees on the edge of the fen the greenskins get perilously close but as the heroes cut down the swamp-men and the goblin riders the goblin warband leader calls a halt to the assault.
The heroes have not escaped unscathed, some warriors lie wounded or dying and one of the horses has to be put down and it is now obvious that the Fens themselves have not allowed the heroes to escape unmolested. Many of the men show signs of lung fever and a stop in the village will be necessary...

Into the Forsetta Fen - Commentary

Another good game. Only one significant error. We've been doing combat a little wrong, using base to base combat and running multiple combats where figures are outnumbered. Apparently we should be adding all the dice together and then taking the result. Still a lot of CV on the table and I've now learnt that the bad guys need to work in efficient groups (with more shooty bad guys as well). The good guys are proving to be a little reticent in encounters so I think I may need to push them along a bit.

Into the Forsetta Fen - Narrative

The heroes have decided that the Forsetta Fen is the quickest way south. Hiring two guides at Forsetta, the heroes and their retinue head deep into the swamp. The fenmen advise the group to stay close together and not to wander near the deep meres, but in the water, below the surface, dark creatures hear the large group and move to feast. For a very long time swamp trolls had lived in the Fens, but the Fenmen had never travelled in large groups or near the deep meres (stupid Fenmen don't live long). The heroes were making noise, smelled of horse meat and straying close to the troll lairs. It was inevitable that the trolls would attack. Although the trolls attacked in small groups the heroes and their followers fell into a defensive formation and chose to let the trolls come to them. The troll attacks were broken up mainly with archery and sorcery, but even so the heroes' band would fall back rather than let the trolls close. In only one notable case did a troll make it to the distant heroes line and it was quickly surrounded and despatched by men-at-arms. Unfortunately for the warriors their hesitance and fear of the trollish menace meant that they were forced to camp in the cold, dank and fetid confines of the fen.

The Handover - Commentary

Another game, another load of fun, another pile of errors.
Didn't do Hardiness tests properly. We allowed the Rat Ogre to recover form its OOF using a Hardiness test 'cos I'd forgotten to take it and then the thing proved impossible to kill. The main reason was that I was using Rep dice counting successes rather than 2 dice against Rep...
There wasn't much melee, but I'm fairly certain that in what melee there was nobody used shield dice.
We've still got too much stuff on the table with 50-ish CV a side. It works but I don't think it's really what WHAA was designed for. We don't get games finished and the large numbers are actually hindering scenario/encounter completion.
We definitely didn't manage group activation properly (I didn't twig until more than half way through and the adventurers never did). We'll need to be stricter on Rep order and on finishing activations before moving on.
We're not managing multiple combats correctly (more in the next commentary).
Got a feel for magic, still missing minor points like targets, ranges and radius for different spell effects but with channelling, Kev's magic was more successful and had some impact.
Otherwise no other problems :-)

The Handover - Narrative

A light mist was rising from the damp grasslands in the southern borders of Altengard. Skeet Moontail sniffed the air briefly. The pinkskins were still following. The item he had stolen from the village didn't seem like much, a lump of orange coloured translucent rock, but the Warlock Council were getting paid a handsome amount of silver for the movement of the rock which would soon be out of his hands. The goblins were waiting in the hamlet ahead and he could smell orcs on the fresh morning air somewhere off to the left.

Suddenly, a group of horsemen crashed through the underbrush and Moontail recognised the spoor of the man-things from the ruined village days ago. Quickly ordering his rats into some semblance of a defensive formation he instructed is Ogre-rat to kill the horsemen while ordering his jezzail team onto a nearby rise to take a better shot at the interlopers. Moontail himself headed to the hamlet .

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In the hamlet the goblins awaited the arrival of the wererat pack. Their leader worried that rats were untrustworthy even by goblin standards but had no choice. An incursion by his tribe further north would have encouraged the humans to investigate and that would not fit the master's purpose at all. The chieftain new that his orc allies were out on his flank watching for the rats and that reinforcements would be here soon. It was just a matter of waiting.

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The human adventurers and their retinue moved quickly over the cold grasslands, the Mirish thief quickly picking up the tracks of the wererats. The pack came into view and after some long range shooting the rat-thing monstrosity, easily the size of an ogre, charged the Mirish mercenaries. A lucky sword thrust dealt the beast a cruel blow, but elation was short lived and the loud report of a massive handgun was heard briefly before one of the light horsemen was blown bodily from his saddle. Falling back with their wounded the Hykar and Mirish horsemen gave the rat-thing breathing space to pick itself off the ground and roar defiance at the humans.

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Looking out from their vantage point in some light woods the bugbear leader spotted some human cavalry and some elves if his eyes did not deceive him. Of the rats there was no sign, but the opportunity to crush some skulls was too tempting. Unleashing the tethers of his war dogs and yelling his own guttural war-cry the bugbear war patrol burst from cover right into a hail of missiles from some human crossbowmen and their elven allies. The fight was over quickly with all the patrol dead or dying in the long grass before the human line. As the death mist clouded the bugbear leader's eyes he thought that perhaps after all this was not a good day to die.

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The sound of fighting was troubling the goblin leader. It was obvious now that he and his warband faced some difficult choices, run in the face of an enemy to avoid losses and detection or wait on the cursed rats in the hopes of retrieving the gem the master needed so dearly. Just as he was about to order a retreat two things happened. The promised reinforcements, wolf riders and giant spiders, arrived and the rat warrior came over the nearby rise and rushed towards his position. Quickly giving orders to his Black Moon bodyguard and his archers to take up positions and provide cover he anxiously waited the delivery of the gem.
The reinforcements split in to two groups. The spiders scuttled off towards the bugbears position while the wolf riders rode straight at the human mercenaries. The spiders gave some account of themselves avoiding the withering fire that had destroyed the bugbear war patrol but were soon embroiled in a battle against Border Knights which they had no real chance of winning. Speared on lances and trampled under hoof the spider threat, while never underestimated, was quickly dealt with. The wolf riders were less fortunate, the Mirish cavalry and their Hykar mercenaries aided by Elven bow work shot every goblin out of his saddle.

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Foul magic had dealt with the last of Moontail's rat pack. A suggestion whispered on the wind had sent the packrats running and endless befuddlements had left the ogre-rat insensible to the battle raging around him. It was too late though, sensing that the tide of battle was unstoppable the goblins and the remaining rats completed their dark deal and fled southward.