Warlords of Erehwon, a Solo Game - Turn 1

It has been quite a while since I last updated this blog. The reasons are legion, suffice to say that lockdowns and various ailments have kept me away from the hobby, but now I am feeling the itch once more.

Before Covid I invested in a couple of rulesets, among those Warlords of Erehwon by Rick Priestly, and I recently bumped into a post on Facebook regarding that game. I dug out my copy aand started reading - and I liked what I read.

I did not remember that I also purchased the special Order Dice for the game, so I made some Order Chits to place beside the small Poker Chips I was going to use for the random activation mechanic. As it turned out, it was a good thing, as I ended up with 13 units in the Undead warband - one more than the 12 dice included in a set.

After some tinkering with a spreadsheet to manage warband building, I constructed an Elven warband consisting of:

• Mounted Warlord with Bodyguards (Dragon Princes)
• Hero
• Knights (Silver Helms)
• 2 x Cavalry (Illyrian Reavers)
  
• Guards (Sea Guards)
  
• Warriors
• Archers

With upgrades, they added up to 1404 points.

To face the might of the Elven Realm, the foul Necromancer conjured up the following:

• Wraith with 4 Cursed Spirits
• Undead Champion with Huge Sword and Heavy Armour
• 2 x Skeleton Warriors
• 5 x Skeleton Warriors with Spears
• Skeleton Riders with Lances and Medium Armour
• 3 x Zombies

A total of 1402 points.

I had decided to play a head-on battle on a narrow stretch, and thus te Battle of Desolation Pass was born.

Elven Rangers have reported a strong force of Undead warriors approaching the Desolation Pass from the nearby Dark Marches, and the local Elven Lord has assembled a warband consisting mainly of household troops to stem the tide while dispatching couriers for the Capitol to call for reinforcements,

The opposing forces meet in the pass.

The Elven Host

The Undead Horde

The Elven Archers started by downing 7 (seven) Zombies. Sadly, I forgot to take the Break Test for losing half the unit to a ranged attack for the Zombies, but, well ... Those Longbows are a menace with a long range of 30 (thirty!) inches.

Another Zombie group rushed forward with a Run, and almost fell apart (failed Agility Test, got Pin).

The Elves held back and used their bows, while the shambling hordes approached.

Four Longbow wielding units took their toll on the screen of rotting corpses.

By the end of Turn 1, the Dead had covered about half the distance to the enemy, but lack of missile support was being sorely felt (I really need to get a couple of Skeleton Archer units ready for this game).

I got a lot of 'Barbarian horde vs. Roman Legion' vibes from this first turn, with the Elves stoically awaiting the approach of their dreadful opponents.

I shall probably post Turn 2 tomorrow (I finished the game this evening, so it is merely a matter of finding the time to get it done).