2019-06-14: Age of Fantasy Skirmish AAR

Emil and I played 400 points/5 Rounds Moria Goblins and Gondorians on a 4x6 table in the Attic this afternoon. The sunlight played tricks on my camera for the first couple of pictures, but the red dot marks an Objective Marker..

Boromir lead a force headed by two Knights of Dol Amroth, and supported by the more arcane arts of his father (having a Palantír in his possesson, Denethor seems fit for the rôle as 'Prophet' (Wizard)). I shall paint a Saruman or Gandalf (or even Radagast) somewhen soonish, but in the meantime, Denethor will have to do.

As I have not been able to locate my Mori Goblin Shaman (I know I have one, somewhere, alongside some Goblin War Drums, and a Moria Goblin King (I think it is called)), but in exactly what box they are situated eludes me completely), I have not painted him up for the Goblin force, either, but instead I bolstered their ranks with another Troll (of the Mordor kind).

 

The positions after Round 1:
My Goblins had seized two of the four objectives, while the Gondorians clamed the one on their far left.

In Round 2, the action was focused near the only non-claimed Objective, and the large tree in the center.

Denethor attempted to cast a Fireball, but failed miserably, and my Trolls seemed to have forgotten how to use a hammer.

Round 3.
Denethor all but annihilated a Goblin spearmen unit with a fireball, but was the rapidly dispatched by some archers and my Boss.

The Mordor Troll almost single handedly held back the humans, while the Goblins fell like ripe fruit.

A handful of Goblin archers rushed for the far right Objective, but were spotted by Boromir who failed to wipe them out, and the Objective changed hands.

Round 4.
Both forces were worn down at this point, and the game really hang in the balance.

Round 5 started with the Goblins taking Break Tests.
I tried out my house rules for this, and as I had one Hero standing, each unit rolled two dice and picked the best result. Some of the Goblins farthest away from the Boss broke and ran away (among those the archers guarding the objective in the central ruin, which was kind of a bummer).

I tried very hard to kill off the last Gondorians within reach of the ever contested objective on my left, but the dice were not in my favour, and I had to give up.

As the objective in the central ruin could no longer be defended, the outcome of the fight at the tree was no longer of any consequence, as Gondor would inevitably end up controlling at least two Objectives, while I could only hope for keeping my single one (Boromir having reclaimed the opposite flank), so we called it a day.

Conclusion:

It was a tense and close fought game, and I still really like the simplicity and fast flow of the One Page Rules.
Had I managed to kill a single human more in Round 4, the Gondorians would also have had to take Break Tests at the start of Round 5, which might have changed the outcome decisively. As it were, I did not have the necessary luck with the dice (especially my Trolls were not able to hit a barn with their warhammers), and I may have been focusing a tiny bit too much on taking/holding Objectives, instead of killing the opposition.

We shall definitely play this game some more - but I also want to get some Grimdark Firefight and SAGA Age of Magic up and running, so I think I am looking at a busy summer!

Moria Goblins Rebased

I finished the bases on these two units for One Page Rules Age of Fantasy Skirmish (I did NOT paint the guys in red), and they should see some action later today, when I have an appointment with Emil and a couple of beers.

As with all my Moria themed stuff, I went for the grey rubble look. That may make them stand out a bit from my other minis, but when gaming in their natural habitat, it should enhance the overall experience!

Fistful of Lead: Galactic Heroes & Horse and Musket Rules

I got these two sets of rules in the mail today, purchased them at OSHIRO Models in the UK.

Galactic Heroes is destined to form the basis for some small scale skirmishes in the Star Wars and Retro Raygun universes, and Horse And Musket I got mainly for Napoleonics.

I do not think that I shall find time for getting either on the table before the summer holidays, but at least I now have them readily at hand, and they may help me find motivation for painting some models.

2019-06-10.: SAGA AoM, Kingdoms vs Horde Test Game

Ulolkish and I met up in Argonor's Attic yesterday evening to finally try out SAGA Age of Magic.

We had agreed to play 4 points 'plain', that is without any of the new stuff, such af Creatures and Magic, and I had built a Gondor warband using the Great Kingdoms, 3 points of Warriors in 2 units of 12, and 1 point of Levies in 1 unit.

Upon Ulolkish' arrival, he made a Goblin Horde list comprised of 1 point of Hearthguards, 2 points of  Warriors in 2 units of 8, and 1 point of Levies in 2 units of 6.

We simply lined up our warbands 12" in on my large table, and Ulolkish started his first Turn.

Both warbands made extensive use of the Manoeuvre rule during the first two Turns, only rolling and placing SAGA Dice for practice purposes.

On my third Turn, both my Warrior units charged home, the first annihilating the Goblin Hearthguards, the second almost destroying a Hoblin Warrior unit. We forgot to use each other's Fatigue during the Melee, but that is just a lesson learned.

The Goblin Warlord then charged and beat back the Warriors on my flank -

- and the other Warrior unit took one casualty from the Goblin Levy on the hill.

By then, it was almost 11 pm, and as I wanted to get up early and see off Lea for a four day field trip to Copenhagen, we called it a night.

Casualty count was very even, I think I may have been slightly in the lead because of the destroyed Hearthguard unit, but that might have changed quickly with just a few below-average rolls.

All-in-all it was an enjoyable experience, and I look forward to play SAGA a lot more! I am certain that Kevin is also interested in playing the 'historical' version of the game, and as the game flow is almost identical in SAGA 1 and SAGA 2, we should be able to get the rules 'worked in', so as to not have to look up rules all the time (we did that a lot yesterday, as it always happens with new or not so often played games).

2019-06-06: Age of Fantasy Skirmish, Goblins vs Gondorians, Game 2

We played 350 points right after a short trip to the local store for a cold sixpack. This time the Objective Roll yielded only 3 Objectives, and they were distributed evenly across the table.

Initial setup from the Gondorian side

I quickly seized the Objective on my right, while Emil moved fast to control the other two. I then pushed forward with my Cave Troll and a bunch of Goblins between the center and left Objectives, making it possible to go for either.

At the same time, a single unit was running fast forward on my extreme left to outflank the enemy.

The Minas Tirith Knight succeeded in skewering Tiny on his lance, removing him from the equation, and I was pretty certain, I had now lost the opportunity to take a second Objective.

At this point, though, the Gondorians had lost more than half their models, and each of their units on the table now had to take a Rout Test. As most of the units have a Quality of 5+ or 6+, the Gondor Force crumbled right away, which was kind of meh...



Conclusion:

This was the first time I encountered the Rout Test, and I must say, I think it is far too brutal.

Heroes, per the rules, provide a re-roll of any results of '1' for models within 6" of them, but this is still not good enough, I think.

My suggestion will be as follows:

Each Hero within 12" of a unit provides one extra dice for Morale Tests. That means that a unit within 12" of one Hero would roll two dice and pick the best result for the test (three dice if within 12" of  two Heroes, and so on).

The unit may re-roll one failed dice for each Hero within 6" (not only results of '1').

This way it is possible to bolster the ranks by spreading out the heroes among the common troops, and being close to a Hero will actually strengthen the resolve of the warriors.

We shall have to try this, of course, before we put it down as a solid house rule, but I really do not like to win a game by default, because my opponent's army is smaller.

2019-06-06: Age of Fantasy Skirmish, Goblins vs Gondorians

Emil and I met up in the Garage Attic this morning for a 250 points game of One Page Rules Age of Fantasy Skirmish.

Boromir and an unnamed Knight of Dol Amroth were leading a Gondor patrol, supported by a mounted Knight of Minias Tirith (Heavy Cavalry) into some Goblin-infested ruins, and the Goblin Boss, on the ohter hand, had brought a Cave Troll to the party.

The Goblins advanced in force in the center while the Knight of Minas Tirith swooped round the flank.

Soon, the two sides clashed.

While all the big shots were busy with the grand melee, a pack of sneaksy Goblins ran around the old ruined tower to threaten the Gondorians' hold on it.

The Human heroes were holding their ground against Tiny and the gibbering hordes.

At the end of Round 3, the fighting was centering around the Throne Room objective, and with both sides holding two objectives each, the game seemed destined to be decided by who could secure it.

In Round 4, Boromir, after standing up to Tiny, got knocked down in single combat with the Goblin Boss - and this allowed a single Goblin to slip into the Throne Room and secure it for the Moria forces.

Conclusion:

This third game of AoMS was exciting and a very close fight, and I still think the system is fantastic.
I also think that it would be very easy to come up with other scenarios (Fight at a Ford/Bridge, Fighting Retreat, Escorting something through enemy territory, etc...).
The Cave Troll did well by keeping the Gondor Heroes at bay, allowing the common rabble some leeway to take on the more manageable Human warriors.

We decided right away to play a game of 5 Rounds with 350 points - I shall post the AAR of that later this evening (or, barring that, tomorrow).

Cave Troll Rebased

I also managed to get Tiny's base finished for tomorrow's game.

I expect him to be found in the midst of the action, probably taking on Boromir and/or the Knight of Dol Amroth, and it will be interesting to see how he fares against those Human heroes!

In about 12 hours, Emil and I should be stooped over the Age of Fantasy Skirmish table in Argonor's Attic, rolling dice and probably enjoying a beer or two, and with 250 points a side, a game probably lasts for between one and two hours, which would give us time for a re-match if we feel like it.

But that is for tomorrow - now I shall soon be turning in for the night to get some sleep and be fit for tomorrow's ordeal!