[15mm Fantasy] Lord and Lands Battle - Battle of Uram

Today I had my first (solo) game of Lord and Lands, a set of Fantasy Mass Battle rules written by Craig Armstrong - there's a Facebook page for the rules. It was nice to finally get some of the figures I've been painting for the last year on the table.

Rules: Lord and Lands
Scale: 15mm
Table Size: 3' x 3'
Game Size: 1000 points a side

Background:

The North-West Corner of the Olde Worlde

The lands between the arms of the Attak Mountains are dominated by a number of hostile Orc clans. Internal divisions and inter-tribal warfare have thus far limited Orcish adventures beyond the Attaks to small scale raids. Periodically, an Orc Warlord arises who attempts to unite the tribes but, fortunately for their neighbors, such warlords seldom cling to power for long.

In the 942nd Year of King Deldrach of Ruvaen, in the month of the Osprey, Grogmar Khan of the Orcians of Mt Durfang lead his clan out to war. With dreams of glory dancing in his head, he decided that an easy victory would set him on the road to power. Consequently, he headed south-westward against the Goblin Town of Uram.

Orcian Army - my adaption of the basic Orc List

As "news travels fast in the Attaks, and bad news doubly so", King Biark of Uram was aware of Grogmar Khan's movements. Summoning his nobles in their chariots, and raising his levies, Biark set off up the Durfang Road. Along the way, he recruited Orog Mossridge and his band of Ogres and summoned a clutter of Giant Spiders from the deep woods north of Uram.

Deploying across the Durfang Road, Biark arrayed his forces and awaited Grogmar's approach.

My Goblin List - a variant on the basic Orc List

Deployment:

The Goblin Army deploys across the Durfang road (bottom of picture) while the Orcians deploy through the pass (top of picture).

Orcian Right Flank

On the Orcian Right Flank, five units of Orc Warriors.

Orcian Center

 In the Orcian Center, two units of archers deploy across the road, ahead of two units of Orcian Brutes. A unit of wargs is deployed to their left. The Orcian Shaman is in front of the lead unit of Brutes while Grogmar, on his warg, watches on from the ridge.

Orcian Left Flank

Way out on the left wing is deployed the second unit of Wargs.

Goblin Left Flank

A unit of wolf riders deploy on the left flank, supported by a unit of chariots. To their right is deployed the first Clutter of Giant Spiders.

Goblin Center

In the Center, King Biark in his chariot lines up with two units of Goblin Foot. In front of them, Orog Mossridge and his two units of Ogres deploy with the Goblin Shaman. In front of them are deployed two units of Goblin Archers.

Goblin Right Flank

On the Goblin Right Flank, another Clutter of Giant Spiders stand ready to advance into the large wood, while on the far Right Flank are another unit of Goblin Wolf Riders, followed by another unit of Goblin Chariots.

The Battle:

Goblin Left Flank

The Orcians seized the initiative (they were to dominate the initiative rolls for the entire battle - the Goblins only getting the initiative on one turn when they equaled the Orcian initiative roll) and Grogmar Khan ordered the advance. He had concentrated his foot units on his right, and in his center - all the better to overwhelm the Goblin left.

As his right rolled down from the ridge, the Goblin Wolfriders moved up to the little wood on the Goblin left, while the left-most Clutter of Giant Spiders slipped in amongst the trees.

Action in the center

 In the center, a warg unit rushed ahead of the advancing Orcian archers, ready to sweep down on the Goblin Archers slowly advancing towards them.

Goblin Right Flank

On the Orcian left, the second Warg unit was only meant to demonstrate against the Goblin right while the main attack was delivered by the Orcian left and center. Seeing the Goblin Wolfriders, the Wargs advanced rapidly towards them. Grogmar sent his Shaman to support the Wargs as he had noticed the second Clutter of Giant Spiders slipping through the Great Wood to outflank them. The Shaman fired a Fire Ball at the Spiders, only to have it fizzle out harmlessly in the brush and ground cover.

Goblin Left Flank 

On the Orcian Right Flank, a unit of Orcian warriors pressed home their attack against the Goblin Left Flank Wolfriders. With support from the Giant Spiders, the Wolfriders began to inflict casualties on the Orcians.

Goblin Left Flank and Center

While Goblin Wolfriders and the Giant Spiders held up the Orcian advance on the Orcian Right, another Orcian unit moved towards the center, passing around the left edge of the little wood. 

In the center, a unit of Orcian Archers, with their heavier bows, swiftly dispersed one of the units of Goblin Archers.

Orcian Right Flank

On the Orcian Right Flank, casualties began to mount on the lead Orcian unit as the Goblin Wolfriders and the Giant Spiders pressed home their attack.

Goblin Right Flank

 On the Goblin Right Flank, the Orcian Wargs and Goblin Wolfriders were mixing it up as the Giant Spiders in the Great Wood swept out of cover to attack a unit of Orcian Brutes.

Goblin Right Flank - the Spiders attack!

 The Giant Spiders began to chew into the Orcian Brute unit.

Goblin Right Flank

The fighting on the Goblin Right flank was fierce, with both the Goblin Wolfriders and the Orcian Wargs taking casualties.

Goblin Left Flank

In short order on the Goblin Left, as the Goblins briefly seized the initiative, the Goblin Chariots moved up to provide rear support to the Goblin Wolfriders. The lead Orcian unit was dispersed, as were the Goblin Wolfriders in the fierce fighting. The Giant Spiders swept forward and heavily damaged the next Orcian unit, only to be dispersed in turn.

Center

 In the center, the Ogres dispersed the Orcian Wargs and then engaged a unit of Orcian Archers. The left hand Ogre unit then charged into an Orcian unit. While the Goblin Archers rushed up to support the Ogres, a second Orcian unit moved up in support of the unit fighting the Ogres.

Center

 The Ogres soon disposed of the Orcian Archers and began to roll forward. On the Orcian left flank, Grogmar rushed up to join the battered unit of Orcian Brutes who had just dispersed the right flank Giant Spider unit.

Goblin Right Flank

On the Orcian left flank, once the Giant Spiders had been dealt with, the battered Orcian Brute unit could see the Goblin Chariots starting to move up against them.

Goblin Left Flank

The Goblin Chariots charged home against the Orcian foot, just as a second Orcian unit moved up to support them.

Goblin Left Flank

The Goblin Chariots were recoiled by the Orcian Foot.

Center

 In the center, casualties were mounting on the Ogre units.

The battlefield in Turn 4

 In the center, King Biark slowly advanced his line of Goblin foot, ready to exploit any Orcian collapse.

Goblin Right Flank - the final moments of the battle.

On the Goblin Right Flank, the Goblin Chariots crashed into the Orcian Brutes. Grogmar Khan had intended to rally his Brutes, but he ran out of time. The Orcian Brutes fought hard but, battered by the earlier encounter with the Giant Spiders, they could not resist the Goblin Chariots and broke and fled. Grogmar was pulled down and killed in the route.

And so ended the Battle of Uram - an unexpected victory for the Goblins of Uram.

I really enjoyed the Lord and Lands rules, and I expect I made some mistakes with them. Having played a bit of DBA 3.0 lately, I found myself moving each side in its entirety, rather than alternating moving units as Lord and Lands requires. It was also late in the game when I realized that units can support from the rear.

The battle was very close. The Goblins had lost six units, with an army break of 7, when the Orcians lost the Brutes and the General to hit their break of 6.5. If Grogmar had managed to either rally the Brutes, or move away from them, the Orcians would have had a chance in the following turn of taking out the Goblins.

Figures used:
Orcians - Orcian infantry and Wargs from Battle Valor Games
Goblins - Goblin Chariots and some Goblin Infantry and Archers from Magister Militum
                Goblin Wolfriders and some Goblin Infantry and Archers from Splintered Light
                Giant Spiders from Copplestone
                Ogres from Battle Valor Games

Casualty Markers - Battle Valor Games

[15mm Fantasy] Army Building - Painting Progress

The Army of the Unseelie Court - as of mid-December

My Army of the Unseelie Courts is slowly taking shape. At the moment I have more Orcs and Goblinoids painted than Dark Elves, so the army is more an Orc Army with Dark Elf allies.

My latest unit completed is a regiment of Man-Orc pike from Eureka Miniatures.

Man-Orc Pike

These are great figures and very reminiscent of Saruman's army at the battle of  Helm's Deep in the Two Towers movie.

Orc Legion with Shaman and archers plus Dark Elf troop and archers

 These Orcs are from Splintered Light Miniatures - Orcs with great axes at the rear and Orc Shaman and archers at the front. The Dark Elves are from Ral Partha Europe and are essentially the figure mix from the Blighthaven company pack (with an extra archer).

Ogres, Orcs, Goblins, and Dwarves

A pair of Ogres from Splintered Light; Goblin and Orc Archers, also from Splintered Light; an Orc Regiment from Splintered Light; three Dwarves from Splintered Light; and an Orc Shaman from Eureka Miniatures.

The Witch King leading his Orcish Hosts

From 15mm.co.uk, a Wraith Lord (or Witch-King) on his fell-beast, leading his Orc hosts.

The Queen of Air and Darkness, ruler of the Autumn Courts

The Queen of Air and Darkness, an Elf Queen from 15mm.co.uk,

Dark Elves

And some of her subjects, from Ral Partha Europe.

[15mmFantasySkirmish] Ogres and Orcs

Khurasan Miniatures announced on TMP a planned expansion to their 15mm Fantasy range by showing off greens for an upcoming release of large Orcs. An interesting discussion ensued on the nature of Orcs which proved to me that Jon of Khurasan is a Tolkien buff and really cares about his source material.

Along the way, as you do, the conversation wandered off course and we began discussing 20mm scale, Angus McBride inspired, Orcs, originally released by Dark Hold Miniatures and sculpted by the late James Tharpe. These figures had then been produced by Rebel Minis, before ending up with Splinted Light Miniatures and rebranded as Armoured Ogres.

As it so happened, I had bought a set of these Armoured Ogres from Splintered Light recently, and had just finished painting them up. For some reason, I had originally thought that these figures were Hobgoblins - and it so happens that in this TMP thread from early April, Khurasan Miniatures announced the up-coming Mighty Hobgoblin Army, which I'm rather looking forward to - but once I realized my mistake, the Ogres' vaguely oriental style armour inspired me to paint them up in a vaguely bakemono fashion.

While I painted the chainmail black and silver, I went for a gloss black on the plates for that lacquered samurai look. As red always works with black, straps and clothes were painted various shades of red.

The second ogre from the right had a pre-quartered shield so I ended up painting it contrasting blue and yellow. The left and right ogres had skulls embossed on their shields so their shield designs were pretty straight forward. The second ogre from the left had a plain round shield with a central boss so he got a maltese cross design from a pack of Veni Vidi Vici 15mm shield transfers I bought from Spirit Games.

The second group of ogres - the second ogre from the right is actually holding his sword in an over-hand stabbing style.

These ogres all had plain shields. Greek hoplite shield designs work really well with this style of shield, particularly the hydra pattern on the second from the right ogre (looks a bit like a yellow blob from this angle).

In this group shot we have, from left to right: Splintered Light Orc, Splintered Light Ogre, Splintered Light Adventurer, and Ral Partha Europe Dwarf Veteran.

One question that was debated on the original TMP thread was whether the Ogres would work as large Orcs. This is where we move into the "vision" part of gaming.

Khurasan Jon states that he is developing a Tolkien-inspired line of fantasy figures. To this end, he is carefully following such descriptions as feature in Tolkien's various writings concerning creatures found in Middle Earth. This is why Khurasan's Orcs are crook-legged, stoop-shouldered, and less than man height. Even Saruman's Man-Orcs, as described by Tolkien, are still shorter than men, even if they can pass for men. As Jon pointed out, the James Tharpe Ogre figures are taller than man height, and walk upright.

In my opinion, the Ogre figures, while excellent, are too dissimilar in both equipment and appearance to be larger versions of "standard" orcs in a pure Tolkien-esque setting. And, if anything, these Ogres are too slight of body and lightly armed to be used as Olog-hai - the great Gorgoroth trolls that feature in the Battle of the Morannon. For Olog-hai, I would be inclined to use Khurasan's Trolls as they seem to have the heft and are armed with the massive clubs and hammers described in The Return of the King.

If we switch focus, however, to a slightly more generic Fantasy world, the Tharpe Ogres then become likely candidates for a large Goblinoid race, used by Dark Lords to stiffen Orc assault columns, or operating as apex bosses of goblin raiding bands. While your standard Fantasy Ogre tends to be rather brutish and primitive, this niche can be easily filled by various troll types. The Tharpe Ogres, with their relatively sophisticated helmets and body armour appear too advanced for the traditional ogre stereotype.

In conclusion, the Tharpe Ogres, with their Angus McBride inspired armour, are very nice figures. In a pure Tolkien-esque setting, they probably won't work as they are too tall (20mm scale), and too upright. In a more generic, Dungeons and Dragons inspired fantasy world, they would, in my opinion, make excellent large Goblinoids - either working on their own, or as apex bosses of smaller Orcs and Goblins - as, I think, their armour and equipment is too sophisticated for traditional Ogres.

Of course, this is Fantasy, and Your Mileage May Vary.

Ogres leading a band of Splintered Light Orcs. The Ogres are taller even than the Boss Orc (to right of center with the elaborate hair style).

A core unit of Ogres adds heft to an Orc warband.

 
A comparison between Splintered Light Ogres and various Splintered Light Orcs and Goblins.

[RRtK] Family Snapshots

Beastman Army from Microworld Games

Just tidying up after the end of 2013 and thought I would share these photos of my three completed 6mm Fantasy Armies as posted on my website.

[RRtK] Campaign Spring 1012: The Battle of Barzak Vale

Spring 1012: The Battle of Barzak Vale
Duke Grimoald of Oberlichenwald in Valgasmaa lead an army of 7250 men on a raid against Mt Hofburg, the capital of the Szepetnek Mountains. Serogn, the Goblin King of the Szepetnek Mountains, assembled an army of 11,800 warriors and offered battle to the invaders in Barzak Vale, just south of Mt Hofburg.

The Goblin Army				Valgasmaa Army
5	Archers	Foot Skirmish		2	Knights - Elite, Shock	Mounted Melee
8	Goblins	Foot Melee		3	Archers	Foot Skirmish
1	Ogres	Foot Melee		3	Infantry	Foot Melee
2	Wolf Riders	Mounted Skirmish		2	Mercenary Arquebusiers	Foot Missile
2	Black Moon Goblins	Foot Melee		1	Mercenary Pike	Foot Melee
				2	Mercenary Light Horse	Mounted Skirmish

On the grassy plain at the northern end of the Vale, Serogn deployed his wolf riders in a column at the right of his line. He then deployed his Goblins in a double column, with his archers in a line parallel with the head of the column. Behind the archers, he stationed his Ogres, while his Black Moon Goblins were stationed in reserve, parallel with the rear of the Goblin column.

Barzak Vale - the armies deploy

Over the central hill, across the southern end of the Vale, Duke Grimoald drew up his army. His Light Horse formed his left wing while two units of archers formed his skirmish line. Behind them, Grimoald formed up his two units of knights in front of a pike unit and three units of Men-at-Arms. On his right flank, Duke Grimoald placed another unit of archers and two units of Arquebusiers.

The right of the Goblin Line

The left of the Goblin Line

The Valgasmaani deployment

The main Valgasmaani battleline

The Valgasmaani right flank

Hesitantly (as, after deployment, I realized that with a WR of 2, Grimoald could only activate two groups per turn), Duke Grimoald pushed forward the Light Horse on his left flank, and the Archers and Arquebusiers on his right, while refusing his center. Over the hill, King Serogn dispatched his wolf riders against the Light Horse while ordering his mass column of foot to advance. The faster moving Archers, with the Ogres in support, pulled ahead and gained the crest of the ridge, while King Serogn remained to the rear with his two units of Black Moon Goblins.

The Goblin battle line crests the ridge

The Wolf Riders battle the Light Horse

On Duke Gimoald's left flank, the Mercenary Light Horse was soon engaged with the Wolf Riders. After a short action, one unit of Wolf Riders fled the field while the other retired to the very margin, where it waited the result of the battle.

Midway through the battle, the Knights are not making headway in the center
 while the Valgasmaa skirmishers and Light Horse are having success on the flanks

On Duke Grimoald's right flank, the Archers and Arquebusiers soon caused the Goblin Archers to retire in confusion. He had halted the Archers covering his front and moved his battle line closer to the hill, even as the Goblin column crested it, halted, and began to expand into line. Grimoald ordered his Light Horse to harass the end of the Goblin line, even as his Knights moved up to attack the Ogres on the hill.

As King Serogn moved his Black Moon Goblins up to fill the gap on the Goblin left, the Valgasmaani Knights charged home. Both the Ogres and the Black Moon Goblins held the charge of the Knights and threw them back. It was here that Duke Grimoald discovered that his line of infantry were too close behind the Knights.

The Goblins begin to push down the southern slope of the hill

Again and again, the Knights charged desperately up the hill against the Ogres and Black Moon Goblins and, again and again, they were thrown back. King Serogn in his chariot led the Black Moon Goblins to first hold, and then to advance against the Knights.

On the Goblin right, the lead units of the great Goblin column charged down the hill, dispersing the Light Horse and sweeping away the Valgasmaani Men-at-Arms unit on the left of the Human battle line. In desperation, Duke Grimoald about faced the rest of his foot and marched them back to give room to the Knights struggling on the lower slopes of the hill. The careful withdrawal quickly became a rout as the Knights, exhausted from the battle on the ridge, broke and ran.

Seeing that the battle was lost, Duke Grimoald quit the field. Two units of Archers were lost in the rout but the rest of the army eventually reassembled at Oberlichenwald a couple of days later.

---

Well, that was a fun battle. I'm pretty sure I got some rules wrong, and the Retire rule caught me out with Duke Grimoald's deployment. As Grimoald has a WR of 2, I am assuming that what he lacked in experience, he attempted to make up for in enthusiasm.

King Serogn was in a tight spot. With two invasions, he had to decide whether to split his army and attempt two battles (and risk defeat in detail), or concede a province, risk unrest, but concentrate on beating his toughest foe first. Having beaten back the Valgasmaani, his gamble may have paid off as Kypselos' Beastmen have fielded a smaller force - though they do have a mage.

The Goblin figures in this battle are by Baccus 6mm while the Ogres and Lesser Goblin Archers are by Irregular Miniatures. All the Human figures are from Irregular Miniatures Men of the West range.