This is a the first game in a mutlipart series where I was trying out the Lone Blade solo rules for SoBH. I've played a lot of Sellswords and Spellslingers and I was keen to use larger parties against each other.
The game is Songs of Blades and Heroes and as I was a bit rusty I wanted to keep the forces smaller at 300pts per side. The scenario is "Holdout" which was rolled randomly but it works really well with the terrain and as a solo game. At least 1/3rd of the Crusaders start on table with the rest coming on as reinforcements. The Gnoll objective is to break or destroy the scouting force before reinforcements arrive. Otherwise it’s down to who kills the most points of enemy.
The terrain is a mix of scratch built (the well and walls) along with the mat. The temple, outhouse and wagon are 3D printed.
On the edge of the Great desert near the Purple hills sits a temple run by the priestesses of Argamite. While they are going about their daily lives they hear reports of Gnolls (Hyena-men) attacking nearby villages and settlements. They call for help from the Crusaders of the Purple King. A small scouting force is sent ahead to assess the situation but they run into some trouble...
The raiding party and starting position
The Crusader forces of the Purple king
The rescuers - Lead by a champion (Sir Barnaby the Honorable) with 2 warriors (Bill and Bob)
The rescuers reach the temple but it is locked up. They call out to see if any is there but then they hear distant dog-like noises.
A Gnoll who is eager to prove themselves, rushes ahead of the pack to attack the humans
Meanwhile the rest of the gnolls advance a bit more cautiously
Some more Gnolls advance after poor activation by the humans, and begin their attack.
A good round for the Crusaders where a Gnoll is killed
And their Champion is knocked down and later killed by a power blow from the Crusader champion.
While Sir Barnaby is fighting the Gnoll, more Gnolls arrive and they knock one of the Human warriors.
Then disaster stuck as the warrior is killed and both men are knocked down. And to make matters worse after 5 rounds there is still no sign of reinforcements.
Another Crusader warrior is killed and the champion is left to defend the temple on his own. He decides to retreat in the hope of meeting up with the reinforcements (which still have not appeared!)
But poor activation rolls means the hyena-men swarm the knight.
Sir Barnaby is knocked down but in a final heroic deed, he manages to roll 3 activations and stand up and deliver a power blow, to kill another Gnoll.
In the last act of the game the Gnoll leader decides to lead by example and kills the knight, and wins the game.
A great game with lots of tension and quite an epic outcome. I realised later I could have started with more human forces on the table which would have helped! The Lone Blade solo system works very well and its tough going as they activate more figures a turn than you (and my dice rolling for the humans were not great all game).
Thanks
21 February 2009, 11:05:52 PM