The Road to Merlinas

Finally the first engagement to be fought in the series of skirmishes and massacres that will lead up to the bloodbath at Orc's Drift has taken place!

 I used Dave King's fantastic Skulldred rules (sorry SOBH!) and they were very quick and easy to pick up - even for the wife! Not sure we got everything completely right as we were playing whilst reading them through pretty much for the first time! It all worked out nicely as they're a really quick and intuitive rule set with minimal dice rolls, no charts and no difficult mental maths! I took some crappy in game photos (which I might post later to show a better view of the whole table) but have reshot most of those afterwards to get better pics of the more tense moments!

The story follows the misadventures of the Wood Elf night patrol led by Herndil Merl. I've slightly changed the course of events - instead of being completely wiped out in one stroke I've given the Wood Elves a small chance of escaping...

Having interrogated the half orc spy, Silas Meel, the Kachas Pass garrison commander, Erdolas Thringal, sends out Herndil and a patrol of 10 elves to scout out the Orc War party hinted at by their captive. Unfortunately for the Elf patrol they run into the aforementioned Orcs in the hill fog that descended in the night and lost 4 of their number. Herndil beats a hasty retreat down into the valleys - outnumbered and realising there is not much hope in returning to defend the garrison the determined Lieutenant decides to make a break for the road to the nearby town of Merlinas to raise the alarm...

... and this is where the action spills onto the tabletop -

The Road to Merlinas

The seven surviving Wood Elves hurry away from the uplands, racing for the nearby road to Merlinas.



Meanwhile, having descended another gully with the scent of elves thick in their nostrils, a second band of orcs, drawn by the recent sounds of battle clatter into the valley just ahead of the beleaguered patrol...

Urging his comrades to make all haste, Herndil catches his foot in an upturned root and falls heavily to the ground. He urges his fellows on through gritted teeth!

Spotting the stricken Elf part of the Orc warband peels off and heads towards him...

Seeing the danger Herndil hauls himself to his to his feet and staggers a short distance before turning his ankle once more! Two of the Elf archers snatch off a volley as they run to buy their leader some time, although their hasty shots whistle harmlessly over the pursuing Orcs. Two Goblin archers join in the firefight to no avail.

The two archers, forming a rearguard, stand and fire, whilst the other two turn and add their weight to the hail of Elven arrows - Two Goblins fall dead and an orc has a narrow escape with a clumsy sidestep. The Goblin archers return fire but once again their cruel arrows fail to find their mark.

Herndil finally finds his feet and dashes to join the ranks of his comrades. His rearguard continue to give him covering fire, forcing the pursuing orcs to duck and weave.

The two swordsmen, heeding Herndil's cries, turn and move to head off the Orc advance and buy the archers time enough to make their escape. One is stopped in his tracks by a black arrow as the Goblin archers finally find their range.

Two of the bowmen climb a nearby hill to spy out the land, and the best route to the road. They are horrified to see another group of Orcs marching purposefully to cut their escape to the road off! Worse still a shambling troll emerges from the wood licking his lips and making for the Elf swordsmen...

The downed Elf wipes the blood from his wound and stands up, yanking the Goblin arrow from his shoulder. Two Elf Bowmen let fly a volley at the Goblin archers but agian their arrows fall wide. Their Orc pursuers approach a little more carefully, regrouping in preparation for the final rush. Turning to the threat posed by the advancing troll the archers on the hill fire. The foul creature side-steps one arrow but is struck in the eye by the second! Falling heavily to the ground the troll writhes at the feet of the Elf swordsmen, pawing at its wounded eye...

Seeing their opportunity, the two swordsmen and Herndil rush the prone troll in an attempt to kill it outright...

They rain down blows on the monster but fail to pierce its warty hide!

And that folks is pretty much the end of Part cos its past my bedtime! o_o

Next time in The Road to Merlinas...

Will Herndil kill the troll before the Orcs reach him and his swordsmen?
Will the archers manage to tear themselves away from the fight to escape to Merlinas and raise the alarm?

What has the second band of Orcs heading for the Woodcutter's cottage got in mind?

Will the Goblin Archers ever hit anything else?!

Stay tuned - Part 2 coming to a blog near you!

None Shall Pass...

Got the next two militia men painted up. In keeping with the nature of the minis I managed to collect together I've changed the backstory a little...

As the professional soldiery that normally garrisons Linden Way has been called away to fight off the Goblin hordes assaulting the region around Ortar, an emergeny guard has been raised from the nearby city of Meledir. However, not all the soldiers left Linden Way - a small rear guard of the young, old, inexperienced and wounded has been left to shape up the militia into as an effective a fighting unit as is possible.

Here we have the young and impetuous Rearguard Captain Leofric (a hasty and not altogether wise field promotion) and his old Breton sergeant-at-arms, Corbin Grincheux.

Rearguard Captain Leofric is a young, impetuous corporal who's field promotion has gone straight to his head! Being left behind as a rearguard has also wounded his pride. Little does he know what is coming his way...

The Garrison Commander wisely left Corbin Gricheux, a grizzled veteran of many campaigning seasons in Bretonnia, to keep Leofric in check. Despite, this laconic old sergeant's dour exterior, inside he secretly nurses an almost maternal affection for the young conscripts under his care!

A bit of flag waving...

I was intending on motoring on with painting the militia up in batches to have them ready by the weekend...

... and then I thought I'd practice drawing the banner design for the militia out of the scenario booklet of Orc's Drift...

... and then I painted one side of it - and after that I had to finsh it off and do the standard bearer too!

So here he is - the brave standard bearer of the Linden Way Militia (and friends!)

Sixty! We dropped at least 60, wouldn't you say?

... That leaves only 3,940...

So here are the first elements of the Linden Way Militia. The five bowmen made a nice first batch - thanks to Rob Alderman for the nice little halfling archer!

I've added to the storyline a little to explain the make-up of the militia - according to the scenario background:

... at present an emergency guard of citisens from the southern township of Meledir are covering for the usual guad of professional soldiery, who have been called south to defend the region around Ortar against the assault of the Goblin hordes...

As citadel peasant militia minis have been either too pricey (ironic considering their low quality as troops!) or thin on the ground I've used a real mixed bag of other minis - professional soldiers, rangers, woodsmen, fighters and Norsemen(more of which later...)! I've kept the emergency guard idea but given the Linden Way garrison commander a bit more credit - he had the forsight to leave some of the regulars as liaison officers and trainers with the ragtag militia raised from Meledir - hence some of the better quality troops in amongst the rabble. I had to include the halfling too as a stubborn/brave Linden Way farmer who refused to budge!

The Dwarfs of Ashak Rise

Another command is finished!

Thanks to Phreedh by the way for the nice Dwarfs armed with crossbows - finished off the unit nicely.

I've mentioned the scenario for Ashak Rise a few times but here is the information in full...

Ashak Rise is inhabited by a small group of Dwarf gold prospector, renegades from the Dwarf army of the Grand League of Ramalia. The dwarfs lie in a log cabin by the River Canis. They are well and truly in the throes of gold fever having recently discovered huge amounts of gold nuggets deposited in the silt of the river banks. They have already stock-piled a hoard of treasure, but are determined to continue prospecting until every chest, sack and empty water bottle has been filled to overflowing. They have been absent without leave for some time now but have so far managed to keep their lucky strike a secret from the few travellers that pass along the road. Cautious in their greed, they maintain a constant watch at either end of the raod that passes through the centre of the rise, while the remainder of the force pan for gold at the river's edge. The guards at each end of the road carry an alarm bell. If anyone approaches, the bell is rung. In this way they and their wealthy secret have remained undetected. At the beginning of play the Dwarfs store of gold is hidden in the floorboards of the cabin, and they will fight to the death to keep it...

The eagle-eyed among you may be wondering why there is a gnome lurking with the clansmen of Borin Fimbull! Well firstly he has a crossbow (although I have just bought a replacement dwarf crossbow on ebay!) and secondly I like the mini! He came as a joblot with some other gnomes, a gnome wizard and one of the pack mules and I intend to paint the rest of the gang up as a small party of adventurers for SOBH games...