The first campaign game between my Dwarves and James’s (Oshiro Model Terrain) Orcs using Fistful of Lead Fantasy.
We plan to play a number of games in the coming weeks and look forward to sharing the fortunes and misfortunes of our retinues as they battle each other and possibly other forces in the borderlands of the Mid-Lands.
Scenario One: A clash of arms somewhere along the disputed borders of the Dwarves and their hated enemies the Orcs.
Sigmund the Runemaster and his retinue of mercenary knights.
Sigmund has an Arctic Fox as his familiar. His Sergeant/second in Command is Sir Ronald de Corbett seen wearing yellow and black. Other members include Sir Peter of Dinklage, Sir Herve de Villachaize, and bowmen James of Moir and Robert de Mortemur.
The Orc horde: Zhog the pot bellied, Bogrot Twinkle Fingers, Daisy the troll, Goblod, Margot and the Shooty Lads.
They outnumber the Dwarves and include a fearsome Troll, but will this be enough to beat the well armed and trained Dwarf knights?
The initial set up: The Orcs will enter by the bridge crossing into the Dwarf lands. the Dwarves will begin in the bottom left corner and will make their way along the road.
The Orc shaman flexes his muscles and creates a briar hedge to shield the view of the orc force to protect it from the Dwarf bowmen.
The orc archers move to and occupy the ruined tower, intent on sniping at the slow moving Dwarves.
However the Dwarves prove to be the better archers and take out two of the Orcs in rapid succession.
An orc warrior pushes his luck too far getting too close Sigmund who casts runic spell and fires a thunder bolt wounding the Orc.
The Orc shaman attempts to maintain his briar hedge spell, but unfortunately rolls a one meaning the spell backfires and he takes a wound and collapses. Oops!
However the Troll senses he can close the gap and engage the Dwarves knights in one move and charges forward.
Wielding a fearsome giant axe he wounds both Sir Ronald and Sir Herve with ease and both crash to the ground
Sigmund is left exposed as the troll lumbers forward, however he is no pushover and proves to be a match for the troll, wielding a deadly sharp sickle, he steps forward bringing his weapon down he deftly carves a deep gash in the surprised Trolls neck who falls to the ground out of action.
The battle hangs on a knife edge as the Orc leader charges forward and attacks Sigmund, the more experienced Orc almost kills Sigmund who is saved by his fox familiar who takes the killing blow instead. Sigmund recovers and with the help of Sir Peter they defeat the Orch chieftain much to the surprise of James.
Now the battle turns quickly as Sigmund unleashes another spell blasting the remaining Orc fighters.
The only remaining Orc is the shaman who decides the odds are no longer in his favour and decides it’s time to head home before the vengeful Dwarves catch him.
As it’s a campaign those figures who were put out of action roll to see if they were just wounded or food for the crows. Despite James significant losses most will live to fight another day.
The Dwarves by contrast ended with just one wounded and the tragic loss of Sigmund brave Arctic Fox familiar.
We look forward to the next encounter in the coming weeks. Playing a campaign puts a different perspective on the game, perhaps making one care more for the characters, not wishing to see them expire makes the game more exciting and nerve racking. Can’t wait for the next one.
Finally an example of James’s shocking dice rolls: All he had to do was roll two D12s and pick the best one. With FFoL being a card activated system some cards have special options. In this case James could re roll one dice if he wanted. So he did and rolled another one.
18 February 2022, 03:58:47 PM
