Fantasy Campaign Move 7 Second battle for Jameswick.
EVENTS PRIOR TO THE BATTLE
Three Beersteiner cavalry units continued to hunt down Undead supply wagons. (The Undead were less dependent on supplies than normal armies but there were supplies of rotting bodies for the zombies and some spare weapons). One wagon of the three remaining wagons escaped and the other two captured and destroyed.)
Meanwhile a mounted messenger from among the wagon drivers, on a special mission to Hex 29 Tower was seen by the Undead force called The Bridal Hunting Party. He was one of the best horsemen in the country and the horse need little urging once he caught the scent of the pursuing nightmarish foe. he escaped to tell the large force there of the pursuers. (Contrary to rumors, this was not General Ziggy who lays unconscious in the capital). They have thus turned and moved into Hex 47 to face the female vampire led force which had been on its way to help with the attack on Jameswick.
JAMESWICK STILL UNDER SIEGE
The attack on the Beersteiner capital continues. My Beersteiners were confounded by a heavy storm with torrential rain. The majority of forces thus sheltered in the castle. The exception was a lone cannon and cannon crew arriving from a Northern garrison to reinforce the castle. The Undead were also hindered by the rain but as they lacked missile troops the disadvantage of reduced movement was outweighed by the castle defenders' inability, for four moves to shoot at them. The exception was a lucky shot by the castle cannon.
BELOW
2 photos taken by Mat. His Undead approach the castle. (The background shows my chaotic garage workbench and shelving). That shaft of light might mean that 'Gott' is protecting the Beersteiners.
BEERSTEINER FORCES
King James 3
General Ziggy (unconscious from wounds from the previous battle)
Priest, Linus the Bold (Unconscious from wounds in the previous battle)
Wizard Emerick (East wall) Hit by magic missile - unconscious
Archbishop, Lucas (East Wall)
Hero Ostberg
Hero
18 Longbowmen (Northern wall) 17
24 Flintlocks (The Bastards) (South wall) 24
17 Flintlocks (The Tower regiment) Western wall) 17
24 Halberd plate knights (In courtyard) 24
Cannon and crew (in open) 6 Crew dead
Cannon and crew (on East wall) 4 Crew dead
NECROLIAN FORCES
Vampire Lord
Vampire
21 Skeleton warriors 21
17 Zombies 17
18 Grave Guard in plate armor 14
10 Mounted Plate 'The Bleeding Hearts' 0
NEWLY GENERATED ZOMBIES 15
14
The Wizard Emerick cast a direct missile attack on the enemy cavalry, emptying five saddles. As the cavalry passed along the Northern wall the rain had abated, and the bowmen emptied some more saddles. Finally, the cavalry charged the retreating cannon crew, killing two of them and the crew who to kill one of them. But the crew was then wiped out. Then the Tower regiment opened up and finished off the enemy cavalry.
The vampire and vampire lord threw spell after spell at the defenders. The Beersteiner wizard had already been shaken by a misspell from his attack on the enemy cavalry; he lost his ability to cast spells. Then a magic missile hit him knocking him out. Next, the vampire magic killed all the crew of that cannon.
Two spells cast on the archers had limited success as one template magic attack passed harmlessly over them. An aging hex spell felled two of them before the archbishop called on the power of prayer to dissipate the spell.
The archers and Bastards Regiment began moving on to the Eastern wall and shot at the Grave Guard at long-range managing to slightly whittle their numbers down. The few muskets in range also did some small damage.
The Undead army stayed at maximum range and the Vampire Lord contented himself with raising two additional zombie regiments.
CONCLUSION
The moves were very quick with limitations on what was happening. The game took less than two hours. WEATHER - for the first four moves there was almost no firing from the Beersteiners. The magic attacks still occurred from both sides because of the wizards' Second Sight. The first and successful spell by my wizard was his last, due to magical feedback which caused him to lose his casting spells for this battle.
The significant Beersteiner losses were two cannon crews, but the cannons themselves were undamaged and retrievable. They can be manned by infantry next battle at significant penalty. The castle wizard's loss of one life from a magic missile, means he cannot take part in the next battle. I did make sure that the Necrolians suffered for the damage they caused as the retreating artillery, outside the castle, led the mounted undead past my archers and the Tower regiment positions on the battlements of North and Western walls.
The archbishop was well worth the investment in points. he managed to dispel some nasty Vampire spells and might have protected the castle cannon crew if I had remembered to use him! The castle church was also a good investment as it increased the chances of prayer stopping Necrolian attacks.
The Necrolian force has no way of getting into the castle. The moat was an obstacle to any climbing efforts. The only ones that could have done it were the plate cavalry which had ethereal mounts that can ignore terrain so long as they don't finish in it. But now they are dead, or should I say double-deaded. However, the vampires had some nasty spells to cause damage from a distance.
RULES
We have been using modified Warhammer 8th Edition rules. The distances and ranges are approximately doubled for the larger scale we use. The melee and movement rules are also simplified. Unlike in Warhammer, most units have to roll a successful leadership test to charge. If they must do a fear or terror test this is on top of that. The Undead don't; they just do what they are told. But like in Warhammer, if they lose a round of melee they lose additional figures equal to what they lost by. Knights have to roll leadership, NOT to attack close units. Also, we have our various homebrew character and other rules.
CASUALTIES We each got 50% of our casualties back except for units wiped out. hen there is an odd number of casualties we roll dice to see if an additional figure 'comes back'.
In addition to casualties the lucky Undead actually finish with more 'men' than they started with. That is because the vampires during the game summoned two additional zombie units with dice driven numbers; mat's dice rolling here was favorable.
NEXT BATTLES 2 more MOVE 7 Battles.
The Bridal Hunting Party versus Beerstein- the forces include a giant on the Beersteiner side and a monster in the vampire sister army. We are planning to play this game at the end of next week.
AZTECIA
Fezian cavalry and some infantry versus a large mixed Aztec army, including two dinosaurs. Have the Fezians bit off more than they can chew. Will they be the ones doing the chewing? Nevertheless, two other armies, a Fezian and a Bogavanian one lurk nearby and may attack a weakened Aztec force in Move 8. The access to Aztecia is on a narrow front with massed battles near the border.
MOVE 8. This map move will include our random event roll. We do it part way through any battles in case it influences the immediate battle.
HOW MANY CAMPAIGN MOVES?
As with our battle moves we go for up to 12 moves with a dice then rolled each subsequent move to see if it ends. This assumes exhaustion of the two armies, fall of night and so on. (We have not introduced night fighting rules, that would certainly advantage the Undead. However, the Undead are already allowed to fight in the day with the vampires having a permanent black cloud over them to protect from the sun's rays. So, they don't need a further advantage!
SUPPLIES
We have interpreted running out of supplies fairly liberally with two further map moves grace before things begin to fall apart. This is assuming emergency supplies are available. I think in future campaigns we will make this tougher with random supplies of ammunition available for each unit which next runs out completely.
FUTURE GAMES
We are potentially over the half-way mark of the campaign. When the campaign is over, we will play some other games for a while before starting the next campaign. I would like to organize a Funny Little Wars game on the lawn.
ADDITIONAL PHOTOS
The Bastards on the Western wall
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