On Sunday, January 31st, Ellen Morin, Chris Smedile, myself, and Lynn Morin gathered in the Morin basement to beta-test the rule set I have been working on for a while. The battle consisted of two forces attacking. First, for the forces of Evil a skeleton regiment, two supporting Wizards, and other Undead forces attacked by crossing a bridge on their right flank. Second, on their left flank, the bad guys (led by Alzura a female half-orc pirate) attacked with warg-riding Goblins, Insect Men, a Wizard, an Umber Hulk, Orcs, and a demon by crossing a river at a ford. The overall leader was Urldra, another female half-orc.
Defending against The Undead were a group of Ents in the forest next to a mass of cavemen. In the middle were a high-level Wizard, and an Elven heavy ballista on a hill facing the bridge. The overall Elven HQ was also on the hill. The right flank faced the orcs with Swedish and Finnish Dwarven skirmishers, backed up by a Finnish Dwarven regiment. The Finnish Dwarven HQ also commanded the Dwarf with No Name who readied himself from an overwatch position with black powder pistols that were way out of range. In reserve were two Wood Elf Cavalry Squadrons.
On the bridge side, the Nightmare Legion and a Skeleton Sword unit quickly crossed. The Elven ballista quickly misfired at the Nightmare Legion and missed a few more times before killing a few. The good Wizard (Whitebeard the Envoker) flew out of his protected position and used a couple of Cold Spells against the Nightmare Legion to a small effect. The Ents sent Greybeard out after he found a boulder, which took out a few more of the Legion. Luckily, the Activation Deck draw allowed him to get away from the Legion before they could retaliate. The other Ents recruited smaller trees for the fight, and the cavemen (being Peasants) waited for the fight to come to them.
Meanwhile, on the other flank, the Umber Hulk went subterranean for a planned surprise attack on the Dwarves from underground. An amphibian demon (Mxomycetes, Duke of the Mire) was attacked by the Swedish Dwarves and was driven back. The Insect Men skirmishers went into battle with the Swedish Dwarves and began to make headway.
The Death Head Orc Longbow set up to provide withering fire on the Dwarves while one of the two Insect Men attempted to move around the woods with the warg-riding Goblins. It looked dire, so the reserve Elven cavalry squadrons conducted a pincer move – hitting the Orcs in the rear by the river and the Insect Men in the rear by the heavy woods. This was made possible because of the withdrawal of the wizard Waldo who had been protecting the bad guys’ rear by the river.
Finally, the cavemen were engaged by the Grayshield Skeletons. The fight was a draw until we called it. But two wizards were about to go at them, and the Ents were coming as well.
The game ended without the Umber Hulk getting to launch his attack, which would have been a great move by Chris. The ballista was not so effective, and it was a good playtest for all the rules. Even Lynn had fun!
Next, I will update a few things in the rules based on the feedback I got. The journey continues!
I now need more crew-served weapons and will hopefully get some done.
THANKS ELLEN, CHRIS, AND ALWAYS LYNN! GREAT AFTERNOON!
Mark A. Morin 