Hello and welcome to another Battlelore battle report. This is the 8th scenario in the Adventures Booklet in the main boxed set. Likewise, it is the 8th scenario in a campaign between me (the English) and my good friend Steve (the French). This game was particularly exciting because it was the first one to be played on my recently finished custom 3D Battlelore board. Hopefully the report will be interesting to veteran players and captivating enough to get new people to give the game a try. So read on and (hopefully) enjoy.
INTRODUCTIONThe key to a really good game of Battlelore is to properly prepare. I was heading over to Steve’s house to play, so it was imperative that I packed the necessary gear (numbered, to make it easier for you to assemble before going to play).
1) One 40 year old gamer who is so full of himself he likes to post pictures of all the crap he makes and does for the games he loves on various gaming forums.
2) A copy of the Battlelore rules (duh!), one of the best miniature/board/wargames ever to be created…so says the arrogant gamer described above.
3) Painted Battlelore miniatures stored neatly in Plano containers for protection and quick set-up. Painted miniatures are much more lucky than unpainted ones…it’s a fact!
4) Custom made 3D Battlelore board. The regular board that comes with the game works fine, but taking things a little further greatly enhances the game experience…and it looks cool, and impresses the chicks (OK, my wife thinks I’m a dork for doing it…but I’m sure some chick somewhere will be impressed).
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/3833855) Custom made dice tray. I was going to build a dice tower, but didn’t get around to it yet. I decided to bring my dice tray for Steve, as he needs something to roll his dice in. Myself, I have better control over my dice and don’t need a tray…comes with experience I guess.
http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=4114186) Eluveitie CD! For the trip to play Battlelore I like to play Eluveitie. It’s only fitting, since I discovered this band shortly after discovering the Battlelore game. If you look up “Battlelore” on youtube.com, you mostly come up with videos of a Lord of the Rings obsessed pagen metal band by the same name as the game. I sort of liked the idea…but they really aren’t that good. A little searching, and I found the best such band out there…Eluveitie. Now you may not think you’ll this type of music, but give it a listen and see if I’m lying. (check out Inis Mona on Youtube)
7) Coffee. Coffee has replaced Mountain Dew as the gaming beverage of choice for us middle aged geeks. Since I have acid reflux, I brew a special 1/8 caffeine batch for myself (with a little vanilla creamer) to take along.
So, now we are ready to actually play the game…
A BURGUNDIAN CHEVAUCHEEWhat I like about this battle is that it is one of the fairly balanced ones in the Adventures Booklet. I don’t mind “unbalanced” ones, as I like scenario battles, but sometimes it’s nice to pit equal forces against each other and go at it. Below are the map and the briefing for the battle as they appear in the Adventures Booklet. After that you can see our game, all set up and ready to go.
To get the game going, we take turns reading the Historical Notes to set the mood. Steve’s son was watching as we did this (before having to run off to school), it was very dramatic.
LEFT FLANK!!…And the battle was underway!
My commander was only 1st level, so I found myself having only 4 command cards every round. This is generally a handicap. The fact that I got several card for the left flank only the first two rounds of the game had me thinking this wasn’t going to be a good game for me…
…Fortunately, I was wrong. Being to concentrate all my effort on the one flank had me not only in contact with the enemy in the second turn, but it also had me in the desirable bold formation. Some quick stomping by the regular infantry and cav (supported by the heavy cav) and I earned my first victory point!
I was feeling pretty cocky at that point, but was quickly put in my place when Steve’s regulars swooped in from the center with reinforcements to the flank. Opening a can of whoop-ass on my, he countered my attack and took a victory point just as easily and quickly as I had. Revenge was swift for the French!
The French didn’t have long to celebrate. All my Left Flank cards allowed me to keep hammering away (every time I used one I drew another one). For one turn I relentlessly beat on the troops of the French, and on the next I positioned myself for the destruction of his weakened troops and earned another victory point.
The pursuit of my cav wreaked even more havoc on the French on my Left flank, and the archers added insult to injury when they picked off a lone infantry man for yet another victory point!
The war council of the French had obviously not expected the pounding on the left flank, and their poor orders (read as “unfortunate cards”) meant that the majority of their turns were spent traversing the long distance in the center of the board to reach my troops, who had been standing idle in the rear.
Unfortunately, once they finally got there, the English used the Attack card! By this time most of my Left flank veterans had moved to straddle the left/center of the board, and used their activations to surround the French in the center. The pummeling was horrid (and the die rolls awesome!) and the English stole another 2 victory points!
Things weren’t looking very good for the French. It had taken them a long time to get into attack position, but, now that they were there the score was 5 to 1. The English only needed one victory point to win the game.
Of course, the English had not come through all of this unscathed, and I made the fatal mistake of spreading myself too thin. Depleted troops, while still alive, limped into battle in a maddened frenzy oblivious to the fact that their formation was sadly lacking in tactical design. The French took advantage of their fresh forces and moved in to crush the remainder of my most powerful Heavy cav, taking their second victory point.
On the other side of the board, Steve sent my Green infantry scampering back to the table edge, thus ruining my plan for the next turn. I figured it had been to good of a run for the English, and now that I had had my fun it was time to get my comeuppance in the center and right flank…or so I thought.
On internet boards I often hear people talk about how useless Green troops are. I’ve never understood this. First, their low dice make them ideal for attacking troops in woods or on hills, second they are fast as hell! Sometimes getting into position in a timely manner is just as important as packing a huge punch when you get there IMHO.
Even though they had fled 2 squares away from the enemy, on my turn I was able to move the Green infantry back into position and ready for the attack! With only one victory point to go and two units in attack position I played my best Lore card…Cry Havoc! Which would give both Green infantry +1D to their attack…until the stinking French threw the foiled card at me! 9 Lore down the toilet!
Oh well, turns out I didn’t need it anyway. My first unit of rolled 2 sword and shield against the French’s Cav. The first was ignored, and the second gained my final victory point and a win for the English!
I’d be lying if I said the victory was due to my tactical superiority. In all honesty, I owe my victory to the unexpected abundance of left flank cards (which I thought was going to be my death warrant) that allowed me to dominate that side of the board while Steve was stuck advancing all over the rest of the board. Add some good die rolls and things went well for me.
There is no doubt in my mind, that if the game would have gone a few more rounds, the French would have finally made mince meat out of me…but fortunately for the English, we didn’t have to find out (Just glad to use my victory picture from 4 or 5 months ago that I’ve never had a chance to use until now).
BATTLE RESULTEnglish: 6
French: 2
CAMPAIGN RESULTS (so far, 2 battles to go)
Battle #1
Winner: French (+1 Victory Point, added in)
Victory Points: French 5, English 3
Battle #2
Winner: English (+1 Victory Point, added in)
Victory Points: English 6, French 2
Battle #3
Winner: French (+1 Victory Point, added in)
Victory Points: French 7, English 3
Battle #4
Winner: English (+1 Victory Point, added in)
Victory Points: English 7, French 2 (Do Goblins count?)
Battle #5
Winner: French (+1 Victory Point, added in)
Victory Points: French 7, English 3
Battle #6
Winner: French (+1 Victory Point, added in)
Victory Points: French 7, English 1 (Stupid Spider!)
Battle #7
Winner: English (+1 Victory Point, added in)
Victory Points: English 6, French 1 (a terrible blow to the leader!)
Battle #8
Winner: English (+1 Victory Point, added in)
Victory Points: English 7, French 2
Campaign Total: English 36, French 33
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April 26, 2024, 01:38:18 AM
March 30, 2008, 11:28:58 PM
