Sunday 22 November 2015

ORC'S DRIFT - The outcome......

Well we finally got together and fought out the final battle at Orc's Drift. 
How did it go?  ..... There were some issues with the conversion of a 2nd Edition scenario park and 6th Edition rules - most were fudged but some just didn't seem to work. Probably because I didn't think about it enough! 

The compound at morning muster. 

Turn 1 - King F'yar and the Severed Hand Orcs arrive from Ashak Rise. 

Turn 2 - The Kwae Karr Orcs arrive fresh from Linden Way.

The Elves pepper the advancing orcs with arrows - but they pass the morale check

Excellent use of Mistress of the Marsh - on either side of the bridge really slowed the Kwae Karr Orcs!

King F'yar goes in for the kill...... Forgot the fear tests!

The wall makes it difficult for the orcs to land hits - but their unit strength, ranks mean they "win" the melee - but the special rules mean the defenders don't rout! I hadn't thought this through - I felt this poor bit of fudging by me turned the game into a bit of a dull grind fest. 

Approximately turn 7 - More Orcs arriving from Kachas Pass and more attack the outpost compound. 

Brommedir holds the Orcs back - this character had a poor game - I don't think he killed a single Orc with his bow! Using the skirmish rules the orcs would have been able to surround him!

Meanwhile King F'yar and Chardz battle it out - the use of the Beast Cowers made the Wyvern impotent in the combat....... The result was a see-saw fight which F'yar lost!
I should have made the orcs take morale checks at this point to see if the loss of their King would dishearten them ... Another error!

The distressed Wyvern defends F'yar's body! As more Orcs and Guthrum Mane (although he was too drunk to do anything this turn) attack to test the defenders resolve!

The mass of Orcs break into the compound - which is where I called time.

I have to say that I was disappointed with the way the game played out - it started well but didn't develop how I hoped it would. There were errors in my reading of the rules (and I should have used considered rules from the 6th Edition's  Skirmish and Seige Appendices, but I didn't think about it at the time). 
The key sticking point was the defenders not routing within the compound - so no break tests - but this meant the Orcs couldn't push the defenders off/away from the walls - I think playing the game as a Skirmish would have made a lot more sense - after all Warhammer Rules are basically large skirmish rules anyway. Or if the Orcs won allowing some over the wall, or pushing the defenders back 1" and the Orcs get over the wall ... The benefit of hindsight!

However there were some really cool parts it the game as well - the Druid being an Alcoholic which mean the defenders lost the ability to cast or defend magic - although when be was sober he made the Orc shaman Bagrash a little redundant with the disparity in levels. 

Hopefully Steedo and Snake-eyes (the defenders) and DK and Sylon (the attackers) enjoyed the game - which was also curtailed due to time constraints. As I have said the game didn't flow right for me and I made too many errors GMing - not sorting the "wall" issue, Wyvern and Giant fear tests and not making the Orcs take a morale check when F'yar was killed......

I am wondering about running this battle again, now that I know what to do or what might be more appropriate solutions.

Morts

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