Trolltooth Wars: Fielding the Legions of Zharradan Marr

I thought I'd take a moment to have a look at the rules we will be using to fight the Trolltooth Wars and what could be more apt than the Mass Battle rules published in Issue 12 of Warlock (the Fighting Fantasy) Magazine, Fields of Battle, penned by Graeme Davis.

In Graeme's article we get rules on how to make stats up for your armies as well as refreshingly simple details on the turn phase - move or fire, combat and morale. There are some special rules on cover, fortifications and siege weapons and magic is mentioned in the scenario that is provided at the end, along with movement penalties and command parties. I'm sure we can add any details to these rules by dipping into the likes of Dungeoneer or Blacksand from the Advanced Fighting Fantasy series, although with the types of troops we'll be fielding there shouldn't be much need.




The combat system is very simple and mirrors that from the Fighting Fantasy game books. Units engaged in combat roll two D6 each and add their Strike scores - the highest score wins the combat and inflicts two points of damage against the loser's strength score. When a unit's strength score reaches zero it is destroyed and removed from play.

There are various bonuses to be added to the strike score if you have charged, are attacking from the flanks or rear, or occupy higher ground.

Looking forward to fighting mass combat on the table top rather than just with pen and paper in books like Armies of Death!

Shooting works in exactly the same way as combat except the target doesn't get to fight back.

All in all the rules look very easy and should ensure a nice quick game which won't be interrupted by clunky mechanics or endless reference charts.

So I figured I'd have a go at statting up my Legionaries to see how they'd look and potentially perform on the table top.

Units are given four statistics - move, strike, strength and attacks.

Move does what it says on the tin and is measured in inches, although we might have to up the suggested stats from 2" for Humanoids to something more like 4" as per Warhammer - that is if we're ever going to get anywhere!

Strike, as mentioned earlier is added to a units combat score for close combat or shooting and is also used for taking morale tests.

Strength is just like stamina in the game books - once it is reduced to zero then the unit is destroyed. Strength is calculated by taking the creature's stamina, dividing it by 10 and then multiplying it by the number in the unit.

Attacks - again it does what it says on the tin. Most creatures have 1 attack unless they are particularly large or have many limbs.

So with my copy of Out of the Pit in hand here goes!

Rhinomen

Strike - 8

Strength - 18 (unit of 20)

Move - 3 1/2" (typical Warhammer movement encumbered with heavy armour)

Attacks - 1





Black Elves

Strike - 7

Strength - 14 (unit of 20)

Move - 4"

Attacks 1









Lizardmen

Strike - 8

Strength - 16 (unit of 20)

Move - 3.5"

Attacks - 1









Humans 

Strike - 6

Strength - 14 (unit of 20)

Move - 4"

Attacks 1








Dwarves

Strike - 7

Strength - 14 (unit of 20)

Move - 3"

Attacks - 1










Craggeracks

Strike - 6

Strength - 14 (unit of 20)

Move - 4"

Attacks -1










Kobolds

Strike - 5

Strength - 10 (unit of 20)

Move - 4"

Attacks 1









Goblin

Strike - 5

Strength - 10 (unit of 20)

Move - 4"

Attacks - 1









Gorian

I know it's a Gark but what's the odd magical Goblin hybrid between friends?!

Strike - 8

Strength - 16 (unit of 20)

Move 3.5"

Attacks - 1










For the mixed unit of Dwarves, Goblins, Craggeracks, Kobolds and Gorians I thought I'd go with the following averaged out and adjusted stats -

Strike - 6

Strength - 14

Move - 3.5"

Attacks - 1


Soulless Ones

Strike - 7

Strength - 14 (unit of 20)

Move - 3"

Attacks - 1









As I'm fielding Daramouss' creatures in small units of 2 or so in our scaled down games I figures that using their stamina as their strength would work, with one or two adjustments here and there.

Claw Beasts

Strike - 9

Strength - 14

Move - 6"

Attacks - 2








Devourers

Strike - 10

Strength - 12

Move - 6"

Attacks - 2









Manic Beasts

Strike - 7

Strength - 12

Move - 6"

Attacks -2

Special - each time the Manic Beasts are wounded add 2 to their combat score in subsequent rounds of combat. If they win the combat they lose the bonus until wounded again.






Blood Orcs

Strike - 7

Strength - 7

Move - 6"

Attacks - 2







Tooki

Strike - 12

Strength - 12

Move - 6" (acc/decc 6")

Attacks - 2










That'll do for now - I'll have a think about the characters another time I reckon.

Let me know what you think about the stats WP and if any one else has played these rules I'd love to hear from you!