Mighty Armies Campaign game 1

I had Orc and Goblin over at the weekend. MBB was due to come over too, but a scheduling mix up meant he wasn't here at the same time as the younglings. They both said they wanted to play with the armies that AGG and I had painted for them at Christmas, so we set up a quick 44 point game, with flying units. Whilst choosing armies, we also decided to start up a quick campaign. Between the three of us we worked out a nodal campaign map for four players (Me, Orc, Goblin and MBB). I'm working on a campaign map for us, but we decided that certain locations would give certain benefits. We worked out the following:

Mill - extra supplies. Gives owning player 2 extra army points for each battle

Fletcher - Archer units get Long Ranged for free, or if already long ranged can use artillery range.

Volcano - You can try and persuade a Dragon to join you for 1/2 price. Roll a dice. 1-3 he eats 2 army points worth of troops, 4-6, dragon for 1/2 price (flying monster)

Wizards Tower - you can try and persuade a wizard to join you for 1/2 price. Roll a dice. 1-3 he turns 2 army points worth of troops into frogs, 4-6 buy a magic user for 1/2 price (can't also be general)

Town - Alchemist. Your artillery gain exploding ammunition. If a unit is destroyed by an artillery shot, roll a dice. 1-3, no effect, 4-6 another unit adjacent to it in a group is also destroyed.

We decided that the campaign would be over once one player owns the majority of the locations, and that if a players home location was destroyed, he'd carry on playing but as a vassal of the conqueror. To keep it simple we assume that each empire always has enough troops to field an army, so there are no rules for attrition or supply. We did say that each player can nominate one Group that can gain experience from game to game, but haven't decided how that will work yet.

Here's a rough draft of the campaign map:

Still a work in progress....

The players are:

Orc - The Barbarian Hordes

Goblin - The Undead Legions

MBB - The Orcs of the Red Hand

Me - The Lizardfolk Tribes

We started the campaign turn off by each player selecting a territory to advance into. The board quickly filled up until there were no empty spaces left and we had to advance into enemy territory. This resulted in three battles this turn:

Barbarians vs. Undead in the town.

Lizards vs. Barbarians at the Wizards Tower 

Orcs versus Undead in the mountains

We decided to play the first battle in the town. The Barbarians had claimed Wizards Tower, and the Undead the Fletcher, so they built their armies accordingly. The Barbarians petitioned the Wizard to join them, but Wizards being the cantankerous things they are he declined and blasted away two of The Barbarians army points, so they started with 42 instead of 44 (we normally play with 44 point armies and flying units as standard).

The armies lined up:

Initial setup

The river was impassable except at the two fords and the bridge. The fords were difficult going. The town blocked line of sight and the forests blocked line of sight and were difficult going.

Turn 1

Turn 1 saw initial manoeuvring on both sides. For the Undead the bone beast and wolf pack moved along the Eastern flanks into the woods. The Barbarians moved their Bison Cavalry to the west and advanced the warriors towards the eastern ford. The pictures were all taken with my phone camera, so apologies for the  variable quality:

Blurry turn 1

Turn 2

Turn 2 saw the Barbarians continue their advance. Their Shaman got line of sight to the mummies on the western flank and bound them in place. The Undead began to put their long-ranged archers in place to cover the western ford, and the wolf pack and bone beast moved through the forest. The flying Vampire general took to the field and moved up to support the eastern thrust.

Turn 2

Turn 3

Turn 3 saw the Barbarians gain initiative again. The Barbarian King had the Tactician skill, so gained +1 to his initiative roll each turn. The Bison Cavalry moved up and crossed the western ford. In the centre the King and Shaman advanced into the town, and the catapult slowly advanced. On the east the warriors held position  just out of range of the wolf pack, and the dire wolf moved up to support them. The catapult took a pot-shot at one of the wolf packs, but to no effect.

The Undead only had a few command points this turn, so had to pick carefully. The archers wheeled in place and fired on the Bison, killing one of them.

Archers in position...

The wolf pack and bone beast moved up towards the ford, but couldn't quite reach it.

Turn 3

Turn 4

Turn 4 saw the Undead win initiative. They only had a few maneuver point this turn, so on the western flank they finally roused the mummies into action to try and protect the archers, but it seemed to be too little, too late. They also diverted the bat swarm to bolster the archers and fired on the Bison to no effect. The wolf pack and bone beast held their ground as they were blasted by lightning no less that three times by the Shaman, fired on by the artillery and then charged by the barbarian warriors. They warriors, hampered by the difficult terrain of the ford, lost the battle and had a stand killed and were pushed back. The wolf packs rampage meant that they could follow up, and their mobility meant they were unhindered by the difficult terrain of the ford, so they immediately chased the fleeing barbarians down.

In the west the Bison riders charged the archers and bat swarm and emerged victorious. One stand of archers was killed and the rest recoiled.

Barbarians flee, chased by the wolfpacks.

Turn 4

Turn 5

I forgot to take any pictures on turn 5, so my colourful prose will have to suffice. The bat swarm flew back to support the Vampire, who moved into the town ready to confront the barbarian king. The wolf pack attacked the barbarian warriors in the rear and destroyed them. The archers wheeled in place and fired on the bison riders to no effect. The bison in turn charged and killed the archers. The catapult fired on the wolf pack and killed one, and the hawk man conducted a surprise attack on the rear of the group and the other!

Turn 6

I've included the casualties for turn 5 and 6 in the picture below. The barbarians won initiative this turn. The king advanced onto the bridge with the shaman. The bison cavalry wheeled around the village and the catapult fired on and killed the bone beast. In the Undead turn the vampire advanced onto the bridge and the bat swarm flew and landed behind the Shaman and the King. Caught between that Vampire and the Bat Swarm, the Barbarian king and his Shaman were both killed.

Turn 6

Turn 7

Turn 7 was mostly consolidation for the final battle. The vampire flew north to join the mummies and single stand of Skeleton Warriors. The hawk man and Dire Wolf moved up ready to join with the Bison Cavalry. The catapult fired on the landed bats on the bridge and killed them.

Turn 7

Turn 8

Turn 8 saw the Barbarian forces link up as the undead shuffled about in place.

Turn 8

Turn 9

Turn 9 saw the barbarian forces charge, with the hawk men diving to the rear in a surprise attack. Unfortunately for the barbarians, even with the assistance of the dire wolf and the hawk man surprise, the might of the vampire and his Mummies was just too much. All of the bison cavalry, and the hawk man, were destroyed. The Dire wolf made his death save and loped off howling. With just a catapult and the Dire Wolf left, the Barbarians had been roundly defeated.

 This was a really fun and exciting battle, and the fortunes wavered back and forth several times. With the Undead now in control of the town and the fletcher's, next campaign turn will no doubt see a very shooty undead army emerging (although Goblin has enquired about undead, flying, heavy cavalry - a scary thought!). We realised afterwards (well, I realised) That's missed off a few important rules, like the proper victory conditions, and how armies react when generals are killed, but we'll fold them in for the next game.