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:
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| My Goblin List - a variant on the basic Orc List |
Deployment:
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| The Goblin Army deploys across the Durfang road (bottom of picture) while the Orcians deploy through the pass (top of picture). |
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| Orcian Right Flank |
On the Orcian Right Flank, five units of Orc Warriors.
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| 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.
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| Orcian Left Flank |
Way out on the left wing is deployed the second unit of Wargs.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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:
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| Goblin Right Flank - the Spiders attack! |
The Giant Spiders began to chew into the Orcian Brute unit.
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| Goblin Right Flank |
The fighting on the Goblin Right flank was fierce, with both the Goblin Wolfriders and the Orcian Wargs taking casualties.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| Goblin Left Flank |
The Goblin Chariots charged home against the Orcian foot, just as a second Orcian unit moved up to support them.
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| Goblin Left Flank |
The Goblin Chariots were recoiled by the Orcian Foot.
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| Center |
In the center, casualties were mounting on the Ogre units.
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| The battlefield in Turn 4 |
In the center, King Biark slowly advanced his line of Goblin foot, ready to exploit any Orcian collapse.
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| 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
