Report On The North Aztecia Suppression & Deceased Characters

 RATIONALE & SETUP

Characters; Fezian wizard, Costrum, Aztec: General Singing Bird, priest Blackblood, Sorcerer, Starhum and hero, Screamingskull.

As part of our campaign between my Beerstein and Mat's Bogavania and Fezia we roll dice for every four moves to test for rebellions. Mat's land includes two hexes cut out of Aztecia. He did not garrison these hexes and consequently he increased the chances of rebellion. Luckily for him the rebellion occurred in only one province and involved only one unit of rebels. Further dice rolls revealed it to be an elite unit and to have a general, a hero, and a sorcerer.

Mat took the risky option of emptying his Southern capital city of Farooku, of troops, to put down the rebellion. It looked like a foregone conclusion - six regiments, even of lights, plus a wizard against one rebel unit. We could have just diced for it, heavily loaded against the Aztecs. However, Mat was keen to play it at table top so to make it a competitive game I also gave the Aztecs breast plates, helmets and metal weapons. Added to that the Aztecs had concealment of position and movement unless Mat could roll a 5 or 6 on a D6 as he came within 30cm of their possible positions. I got him to roll for this every move whether he was near or not. (One of his units had a native guide from a rival tribe who could spot the Aztecs on a 4,5 or 6) but he did not get near the position).The placement of my Aztec troops were secretly indicated with a piece of fluff.

Mat's troops entered from one end of the table and could travel on the road or through the jungle. He had a central column on the road and other troops entered the jungle. Based on the premise of familiarity the Aztecs could move 35 cm in the jungle and Fezians 25 cm. Movement on road was 54 cm and off road 50 cm. Mat's wagons moved at 35cm on road and 30 off road but could not enter the jungle. They came on from reserve.

WIZARDS

Both of us had wizards with Lore of Beasts (from Warhammer magic lists) but whilst Mat''s wizard was level 2 mine was level 3, which gave a slight advantage. (On attempting to cast a spell a wizard has his level added to the result to increase the chances of casting whilst the opposing side may roll to dis-spell with the number of dice decided by the caster's highest roll to see how many casting dice he has and then the dispeller - of he has a wizard- adds the level of HIS wizard to the result).

CONDITIONS FOR VICTORY

Fezians: Major victory: Destroy all Aztecs. destroy shrine (which takes D6 moves and minimum of 3). Minor: kill all Aztecs,

Aztecs: Major victory: Destroy 3 enemy units (units include characters and the three supply wagons), Escape with at least three figures off the side of the field leading to the other occupied province where it can kindle a new rebellion. It can only do this from move ten and only if not forced into defending the shrine. Minor: Destroy one unit and escape with five figures. Draw: anything else when mat and I roll a dice to see who won. 

PROGRESS Of GAME:

The Aztecs spring an ambush on the road column, attacking the leading unit whilst the wizard, casts a spell on the unit behind reducing their effectiveness in combat and making terrain dangerous terrain (any men entering the forest would be killed on a roll of 1 - 2 on a D6) and this lsted until the beginning of my wizard's next magic phase. The Aztecs cut through the Fezians, destroying the front unit in two moves then it ran across the road and into the jungle on the other side where it temporarily disappeared..

The Fezians' Ebons were sent into the jungle to search for the Aztecs but could not locate them. Then the jaguar knights attacked another light unit on the road and attacked from the rear which meant they could not retaliate the first move of combat. The fezians were mauled and pushed further up the road but then the other forward unit turned to join the combat and the Fezian wizard cast a spell to strengthen them in combat.

Both wizards suffered perils of the Warp and were hit with a mass of energy from their miscasts. My wizard was killed first. Level three and higher wizards can try a magic save but cannot come back that battle; the Aztec wizard manged the 5-6 save but Mat's wizard was permanently dead!

OUTCOME:

The Aztecs wiped out one unit and the best part of another. The enemy wizard's death also counted but that was not quite three units. Aztec numbers were severely reduced after they made a run for it and the Fezian wizard, Costrum, cast a dangerous terrain spell on them as they ran through the jungle. tree roots rose up and sharp branches stabbed at the fugitives. Three of them survived to get off the table.

We decided it was a draw and rolled the dice to make a final decision, which mat won!

Mat will now return to his dangerously unmanned capital and must decide if he will leave any troops to try to prevent more rebellions.

The Aztecs lost all their characters except for Blackblood and were demoralised, so that their rebellion ceased.

It is possible that a secret expedition is on its way from Beerstein to increase the chances of new Aztec rebellion!

Below: (deceased) Screaming skull. He features my favourite shield, one version of the Timpo Roman shield. 

DECEASED CHARACTERS AND CHARACTER PERCENTAGES

Characters usually have the advantage of two or more attacks and a +1 to their results. They are placed in the front rank to participate in melee. Usually they also have higher leadership than the rank and file which increases the chances of them charging on command or in passing tests to continue fighting, passing fear and terror tests, rallying if running away etc.

Unfortunately, Screamingskull had only one life so that battle was the end of this character. That brings me to what to do with the figure. Obviously I put an hour or so into the work on him so I don't want him to now just sit on a shelf - or perhaps buried under a suitable miniature grave stone in the garden. He will thus either be relegated to the ranks or be reincarnated as a new character who might or might not have more than one life. (Numbers of lives, as well as other characteristics are determined by dice rolls, somewhat weighted so the heroes are not potential wusses. However, they can be a bit unimpressive as all the Aztec characters and the Fezian wizard had leaderships of eight, except for the Aztec general who was given leadership of nine. Some characteristics can be dangerous or annoying, for example a character might be over-bold (think of General Custer) or too cautious. Their level of loyalty might be low which means that if captured they might change sides. For some of the characteristics I use a percentage dice so a disloyal character, on capture will change sides if he rolls for over his loyalty percentage. (Ordinary warriors have a smaller chance of changing sides but somewhat higher if they are mercenaries).

Obviously, as the campaign progresses the numbers of characters available to each side diminishes. We may decide to generate new characters for new campaigns.