Ancient Greeks vs Orcs / Dragon Rampant Battle Report

On Friday I played Dragon Rampant with Krüger. It was our third game using Daniel Mersey’s popular ruleset and we enjoyed it a lot. It has elements of other games I like. Movement feels as free as in 40K, troop types remind me of HotT and the battles look a bit like Warhammer. On top of all that the rules are streamlined, simple and encourage creativity.

The game was part of our ongoing campaign which takes place on the tropical island Waltrop. The Greeks from Kalimera under the command of Foibos moved into a piece of jungle controlled by the orcs.

I put a lot of tropical forests and some swamps on the board and other pieces of terrain to represent the jungle.

We choose scenario A (Gory Bloodbath on the Plains of Doom), forgot to dice for leader traits and decided not to use quests in order to learn the basic rules first. Foibos’ enchanted weapon didn’t work.

We played with 24 army points. Krüger played the orcs. He was the defender and deployed his troops in this order, as seen from my perspective:

Bellicose Foot / Heavy Riders / Light Foot / Elite Foot (Leader) / Bellicose Foot / Light Riders (Short Range Missiles)

I deployed my troops like this:

Scouts / Light Riders (Short Range Missiles) / Heavy Foot / Elite Foot (Leader + Enchanted Weapon) / Heavy Foot / Light Missiles

I took two pages of notes during the game but unfortunately I can’t decipher them any more. What happened was basically this:

On my left flank I moved the Thracian scouts into a piece of swamp. I sent a unit of Thracian light riders to support them. I also had a unit of hoplites (heavy foot) in that area.

Krüger sent a unit of boar riders (heavy riders) and some night goblins (light infantry) to attack the Thracians. He also wanted to attack with a warband of orcs (bellicose foot) but couldn’t activate them during the first rounds.

The boar riders were able to destroy my light cavalry, but then I attacked them with my hoplites. The boar riders were battered and retreated into the swamp where they were attacked by the Thracian scouts. They had to retreat once more and were destroyed as the result of a failed rally test.

The orc warband arrived too late and made a wild charge into the swamp. They lost the battle against the scouts and were also destroyed.

I don’t remember how I lost my scouts. Maybe the night goblins (light foot) killed them.

I had placed a large piece of forest in the centre. Krüger’s orc boss (elite foot) and an orc warband (bellicose foot) were moving towards my general (elite foot) and a unit of hoplites (heavy foot), while some goblin riders (light riders) and a unit of psiloi (light missiles) were shooting javelins and throwing stones at each other. I didn’t want to enter the woods with my hoplites, so I formed a spearwall and waited for the orcs.

The orcs attacked. Both units were destroyed.

Then the armies’ generals and their guards (elite foot) attacked each other. After a couple of rounds only Foibos and the orc boss survived, they had lost all their companions.

I asked: What is the name of your general?

Krüger said: Gurkbatz.

I thought: Finally the orc tribes, that live on the northeastern coast of Waltrop, have a boss with a name.

In a desperate move Gurkbatz attacked my slingers (light missiles) and was slain.

(Let’s just say Gurkbatz crawled away and left the battlefield, all beaten up and in pain. Otherwise the name „Gurkbatz“ will be lost and Krüger might take two years or so to come up with a new name for another general.)

When Krüger’s night goblins were also destroyed, only four units were left on the table: a unit of goblin riders (light riders) on Krüger’s side and Foibos (elite foot), a unit of hoplites (heavy foot) and a unit of psiloi (light missiles) on my side.

We rolled a die to see if the game ended. It did. I won. The Greeks from Kalimera now control hexagon 11 on our campaign map.

Tupi + Giant Insects vs Orcs / HotT Battle Report

After a three-month summer break, in which I spent most of the time cleaning up my parents' house and taking my children to swimming lessons, Krüger and I had a game of Hordes of the Things on Friday (The Waltrop Campaign / Day 11).

He played the orcs who live on the northeastern coast of Waltrop.

Warband General, 5 Warbands, 1 Hero, 3 Riders, 1 Shooter

Krüger was the defender and placed a hill in the centre of the table and two tropical forests right next to it on each side. This is something he had wanted to do for a long time and it looked kind of silly.

He deployed his hero and an element of riders on his right flank, two elements of riders on his left flank, all of his orc warbands and a shooter in front of the hill.

I played the inhabitants of the jungle.

Behemoth General (a very big insect), 5 Shooters (Tupi Indians), 4 Beasts (Fiendish Giant Praying Mantis), 2 Water Lurkers

As seen from my side of the table, my army was deployed like this:

Beasts / Beasts / Shooters / Shooters / Behemoth (General) / Shooters / Shooters / Shooters / Beasts / Beasts

So this is what happened:

Krüger’s hero destroyed one of my beasts.

My behemoth general made it to the top of the hill and destroyed two orc warbands.

Two Orc riders destroyed one of my beasts.

My behemoth was pushed back into the forest and destroyed another element of beasts in its path.

(We had some doubt if the rules actually work this way.)

My last surviving beast destroyed Krüger’s shooters.

Three Tupi shooters combined their forces and shot down two orc warbands.

Krüger’s warband general chased my general through the woods and finally destroyed it with the help of some side and rear support.

Krüger’s hero destroyed one of my shooters.

The orcs won and now occupy hexagon 11 on our campaign map.

Six-year-old Hendrik watched us prepare the game and drew his version of the campaign map. He thinks it looks much better than our map. I think he might be right.

The Waltrop Campaign / Day 10 / HotT Battle Report

Day 10 of our Waltrop campaign was fun. Normally our HotT games are decided quickly, but this time the armies were broken up and there was lots of interesting movement on the battlefield.

The Greeks under the command of Fibos invaded hexagon 39 on the campaign map. Krüger played the orcs with this list:

Warband General, 5 Warbands, 1 Hero, 2 Beasts, 2 Shooters

He was the defender and placed the terrain. Since the battle took place in the jungle where the orcs live, he filled the tabletop with tropical forests. I think he used all the area terrain and model palm trees we have.

I played the Greeks:

Spears General (officer Fibos), 5 Spears, 2 Riders, 4 Shooters

Krüger deployed one part of his army, the hero and the beasts, on his right flank and all his other troops on his left flank, in front of a very large forest.

I deployed all of my army on my left flank. I placed my block of spears opposite to Krüger’s hero and his beasts and I placed 3 shooters opposite to Krüger’s block of warbands.

Krüger moved his warbands into the large forest. It took him several rounds to get near my shooters. Also, he had an element of shooters all the way on his left side. This element wasn’t able to do much during our game.

Early in the game my spears destroyed both of Krüger’s beasts and one of his shooters.

I went with my general for Krüger’s hero, which was kind of risky, and with my riders for his base camp. Krüger avoided fighting my general, though, and my riders weren’t able to destroy the camp.

My daughter had been watching the game and started to play „I put … into my suitcase“ with Krüger. A toothbrush, a doll, a car key, a barbie DVD, a Greek figure, Greek dice, a robot with mustard, a camera.

When the orc warbands got into close combat with my slingers, they destroyed two of them. I had my revenge, killing two warbands with an element of shooters, with the help of two elements of spears as side support. Krüger’s orc warbands killed a third element of shooters, but then my last remaining element of shooters destroyed another one of Krüger’s warbands, with the help of some spears giving side support.

Having destroyed two elements of beasts, one element of shooters and three warbands, I won the game after two hours. Well done, officer Fibos. Now the Greeks occupy hexagon 39.

By the way, I keep getting asked if we use 28 mm, 15 mm or 6 mm miniatures. I assure you these are 28 mm miniatures. The terrain we are using isn’t your usual wargaming terrain though, I guess. It’s more abstract. Let’s call it old school, if you need to put it in some category. Maybe it looks odd to you. The reason why it looks the way it does is that I like glueing coloured paper on objects. I seriously don’t know why. Might be some mental disorder. But as you can see, it’s pretty harmless.

The Waltrop Campaign / Day 8 / HotT Battle Report

On day 8 of the Waltrop Campaign young officer Fibos asked general Heracleides: "Please allow me to lead a small army into the Orc territory." (He is talking about hexagon 30 on the campaign map.) Heracleides accepted.

Krüger and I played out the battle between Fibos army and the Orcs with the excellent ruleset Hordes of the Things, using these army lists:

Spears General (officer Fibos), 5 Spears, 2 Riders, 4 Shooters

and

Warband General (Krüger can’t be bothered to make up a name for his general), 5 Warbands, 1 Hero, 2 Riders, 2 Shooters

I played the Greeks. I was the defender and had to place the terrain. I have just finished a paper mache hill which took me a long time to make, a couple of years actually. If this interests you, you can read more about it here. I placed the paper mache hill in the center of the board. I also placed three pieces of tropical forest on the tabletop, a large one and two small ones.

Both armies started with some elements in the woods and ran for the hill. When the battlelines met, some elements were left behind, two shooters on my side and two shooters on Krüger’s side.

It was my turn when the dice for close combat were rolled for the first time.

I started with a fight on my right side where I had an overlap. My slingers, supported by another element of shooters, destroyed one of Krüger’s Orc riders. Then my luck left me. Two of my spears were fighting two Orc warbands and lost the fight, although they were supported by an element of shooters on their right side. Then my general and another element of spears were destroyed by the Orc general. Thus I lost the battle. The Greeks weren’t able to occupy hexagon 30 on the campaign map.

"What was the problem, Fibos?"

"I had never fought on a hill before, Heracleides. I thought, we had to be on the hill before the barbarians could reach it. When our phalanx reached the slope of the hill, with some troops still left behind in the woods, I realized my mistake, but we couldn’t go back. We destroyed their cavalry but then they crushed us. They are horrible creatures, green and bulky."

"You have to be more patient. Wait for the enemy, until he is where you want him."

"Yes, Heracleides."

"If you make another mistake like this, I will send you back to the academy in Athens and have you study philosophy and mathematics."

"Yes, Heracleides."

The Waltrop Campaign / Day 7 / HotT Battle Report

Here’s a Hordes of the Things battle report from the 7th day of our Waltrop campaign. It was Krüger’s turn. He played the orcs who have their villages in hexagon 20 and 38 on the campaign map. They invaded hexagons 29, 30 and 39 without further resistance. In hexagon 21 they encountered a small Greek army under the command of officer Fibos. Fibos had just lost a battle against an orc tribe and a dinosaur, so he was ready to fight for his honour and life this time.

I played the Greeks:

Spears (General), 5 Spears, 2 Riders, 4 Shooters

This is Krüger’s Orc army:

Warband (General), 5 Warbands, 1 Hero, 2 Riders, 2 Shooters

I was the defender and placed the terrain, 3 tropical forests and a swamp.

I deployed my army on my left side, placing a phalanx of spears in the centre, flanked by two shooters on each side. On my right flank I put two riders, my Thracian allies.

Krüger deployed his troops opposite to mine. He fielded six warbands against six spears. Krüger likes symmetry, I guess.

While the two battle lines moved towards each other, the Thracian riders went around the swamp, which I had placed in the centre of the board, to attack an element of orc wolf riders and two orc shooters on Krüger’s left flank.

When Krüger’s hero came into range of my shooters, I was very lucky. I rolled a 6 and he rolled a 1 and lost the hero. This demoralised Krüger so much that he was about to give up already. He said: “Hordes of the Things is really all about luck.“

Next, I attacked one of Krüger’s orc riders with the two shooters on my left side. I won that fight too. The element of riders was removed.

Then two of my Greek spears, with support on both sides, destroyed two orc warbands.

On my right flank I wasn’t that lucky. One of my Thracian riders got into a life or death situation with one of Krüger’s orc riders and I lost the fight.

Finally, my general, who had support on both sides, destroyed the orc general. I won the game. The orcs weren’t able to occupy another hexagon.

Now every player owns about 7 hexagons on the campaign map. We will change the rules a bit. From now on, every move on the campaign map will trigger a battle, either with another player’s army or with a random encounter, green creatures, wild orcs, dinosaurs or something else.

The Waltrop Campaign / Day 6 / HotT Battle Report

On the 6th day of the Waltrop campaign, the Greeks under the command of Fibos explored the jungle next to the beach where they have their camp. (Hexagon 21 on the campaign map.) There, they encountered a group of ferocious orcs and a silly looking dinosaur. Fibos, a young unexperienced officer, was not prepared for the battle that ensued. We used Hordes of the Things as a ruleset to simulate the battle.

I invited our neighbour Simon to play the orcs. He likes strategy games but had never played HotT before. I hope I explained the rules well. I always have a difficult time explaining the combat outcomes. Don’t know why. 

We used the following army lists:

THE GREEKS

Spears (General), 5 Spears, 4 Shooters, 2 Riders

THE ORCS

Warband (General), 5 Warbands, 1 Behemoth, 4 Riders

I was the defender and placed 4 tropical forests as the terrain.

I deployed my whole army on my right side of the board. I placed a phalanx of 6 spears in the centre, flanked by 2 shooters on each side. On my left side, a little apart from the rest of the army, I placed 2 riders.

Instead of deploying the orcs opposite to my army, Simon placed them on his right side.

In the first phase of the game I attacked with 2 riders and 2 shooters on my left flank. Simon lost 2 riders, one was shot down, the other was destroyed standing in the way of a recoiling dino (behemoth). I lost 2 riders and a shooter.

In the second phase of the game, I attacked with my phalanx. The spears were able to destroy an orc warband and an element of goblin wolf riders. Then Simon’s behemoth, in a forest, but supported by an element of riders and a warband, destroyed one of my shooters and 2 of my spears.

All in all I lost 2 spears, 2 riders and 2 shooters, while Simon only lost a warband and 3 riders. The orcs won. Officer Fibos wasn’t able to occupy hexagon 21, but at least he didn’t get himself killed in the battle. Well done, Simon!

This picture was taken shortly before Simon's behemoth killed 2 of my spears, thus ending the game. It was taken with a pink Fisher Price kid tough digital camera which belongs to my daughter.

The Waltrop Campaign / Day 5 / HotT Battle Report

On the 5th day of our Waltrop campaign, the Orcs tried to occupy hexagon 39 on our campaign map. There, they encountered a group of Greeks exploring the jungle. We used the ruleset Hordes of the Things to simulate the battle that ensued.

Krüger played the Orcs:

Warband General, 5 Warbands, 1 Hero, 2 Riders, 2 Beasts

I played the Greeks:

Spears General, 5 Spears, 4 Shooters, 2 Riders

I was the defender and placed a couple of palm tree woods on the board to depict the jungle.

I deployed a block of 6 spears in the center, with 2 shooters on their left and 2 shooters on their right side. I placed 2 riders on my left flank.

Krüger deployed his 6 Orc warbands opposite to my spears. On his left flank he placed a hero and an element of riders; on his right flank, opposite to my cavalry, he placed another element of riders and 2 beasts.

I destroyed most of Krüger's cavalry early in the game. First, my two Thracian riders destroyed one of Krüger's riders (Orc boar riders) and one of his beasts (Goblin wolf riders). The element of beasts had supported the riders, recoiled into another element and was removed. Then, on my right flank two of my shooters shot down another Orc boar rider.

When our battlelines collided, instead of going for Krüger's last element of beasts, which was hiding in a wood, I moved the 2 Thracian riders behind Krüger's line.

In close combat, Krüger's warbands killed 2 of my spears, his hero killed two of my shooters, my spears killed 2 warbands and Krüger's last element of beasts killed one of my shooters.

Then I attacked Krüger's hero with 2 spears, placing one of them in his flank, and one of my riders was able to give rear support while my spear general attacked Krüger's general. Krüger lost the hero and the general, loosing the game. Thus the Orcs weren't able to occupy hexagon 39.

My mother in law, who is from Honduras, and Hendrik, my son, watched the game. We tried to explain the rules to them and what it's all about. After the game I asked her for a short battle report. Here it is.

The Waltrop Campaign / Day 4 / HotT Battle Report

On the 4th day of our Waltrop campaign, the Greeks under the command of Heracleides explored and occupied hexagons 22, 13 and 12, without further resistance. The Aquarians, lead by Spiros, took hexagons 62 and 71. In hexagon 81 they encountered a large group of green creatures and a behemoth.

Spiros said: „Hmmmm.... that's unusual. The light yellow guys are very colourful.“

I played the green creatures:

Warband General (yellow), 9 Warbands (green), 1 Behemoth

My cousin Sven played the Aquarians:

Hero General, 6 Spears, 4 Shooters

I was the defender and placed the terrain.

Since Sven had brought a box full of rocks from Munich and hexagon 81 shows a thin coastline next to the stormy sea, I filled the board with rocks and some tropical forests.

This gave me some trouble deploying my warbands in a battleline.

I placed the behemoth on my right flank. Sven placed his hero general opposite to it.

Although my behemoth didn’t have a chance to win the fight, it attacked the hero and almost chased it off the board, but alas, with the help of an element of spears, the hero finally managed to slay the beast.

Taking a picture of the battlefield from above, the remote control cable of my camera got stuck in the tripod and almost damaged it.

This made me nervous and without thinking too much I attacked an element of spears with my warband general.

Both elements had rear support but the spears were also supported by another element of spears on their left side. My combat and tactical factors added up to +4, Sven received +5. I rolled a 1, Sven rolled a 6. I lost the general and Sven won the battle, a well deserved victory for the Aquarians who occupy a large part of the coast of Waltrop now. 

Chaos Space Marines versus Space Marines / 40K Battle Report / 1250 points

The other day I asked Krüger to bring his entire Space Marine Army and he brought: a captain, a terminator squad, a dreadnought, 2 tactical squads, a scout squad, a drop pod and a stormraven, a total of 1250 points.

I played Chaos Space Marines: a winged daemon prince, a chaos lord with a daemon weapon, 2 units of plague marines, a rhino, 3 obliterators and a summoned greater daemon.

Being very laid back old school gamers, we used the 5th edition of 40K as a ruleset. The scenario was capture and control / dawn of war.

turn 1

My daemon prince wiped out Krüger’s scout squad in close combat.

In Krüger’s shooting phase, his dreadnought destroyed my rhino, so the chaos lord and 9 plague marines had to leave the burning vehicle. Krüger fired a twin-linked plasma cannon, 2 melters, a storm cannon, 4 storm bolters and 10 bolters at them and managed to kill 2 plague marines. Then Krüger’s terminators attacked the same unit and killed the chaos lord in close combat. None of the terminators survived. (I rolled a 6 for the daemon weapon.)


turn 2

My obliterators arrived, fired 3 lascannons at the stormraven, landed a glancing hit and immobilised the vehicle. I attacked the tactical squad of space marines next to Krüger’s objecive with my plague marines and lost another 4 of them.

Krüger’s drop pod landed close to the objective on my side and 10 space marines disembarked. Then Krüger’s stormraven shot all of his weapons at my obliterators, including 4 bloodstrike missiles, and killed 2 of them.

turn 3

Next to the objective on my side a plague champion was transformed into a greater daemon. Nevertheless only 4 of the 10 plague marines, which were supposed to guard the objective, survived close combat. Next to Krüger’s objective my winged daemon prince was able to attack and kill 3 space marines.


In Krüger’s shooting phase, I lost my last obliterator. Damn. 

turn 4

The greater daemon destroyed Krüger’s tactical squad.

In Krüger’s shooting phase, the stormraven shot down another one of my plague marines, so only one plague marine survived next to my objective. (I had already lost the other unit, but I don’t remember when. Probably in turn 3.)

turn 5

Krüger’s captain killed my winged daemon prince in close combat and what was left of his tactical squat reached the objective on his side.

Then the dreadnought shot down my last plague marine. Krüger won the battle 1:0. Grrrrrr …

The Waltrop Campaign / Day 3 / HotT Battle Report

The Greeks under the command of general Heracleides and officer Fibos left their camp to explore the beach in hexagon 23. There they encountered a small group of Goblins. Krüger and I played out the battle that ensued using the ruleset Hordes of the Things. I was the defender, Krüger the attacker. I placed four pieces of rough terrain with bushes and some stones to depict the beach.

My army consisted of these elements:

Spear General, 5 Spears, 4 Shooters, 2 Riders

Krüger played this army:

Warband General, 4 Warbands, 1 Hero, 3 Riders, 2 Beasts

I deployed my phalanx in the center, 3 shooters on the right side and 2 riders on the left side. Krüger placed his warbands and hero opposite to my phalanx, his beasts opposite to my shooters and his riders opposite to my riders.

My strategy, if you can call this a strategy, was to send my riders and a shooter forward on my left flank and wait with the rest of my army.

Thus I lost 2 riders and a shooter.

On the other flank I was able to shoot down Krüger's beasts, combining the attacks of my 3 shooters. And one of Krüger's riders was pushed back over the board edge. In the center the battle wavered back and forth - I lost 2 spears, Krüger lost a warband - until 2 of my spears killed Krüger's hero.

The Greeks won the game and were able to occupy hexagon 23.

This is how our campaign map looks like now. Next turn Krüger's orks will start moving from one of their villages in the jungle.

The Waltrop Campaign / Day 1 + 2

This is how our campaign map looks like after two days of gaming. So what happened?

The Greeks from Saganakia, also called the Aquarians, who started shipwrecked in hexagon 61, moved up the beach. They didn’t encounter monsters and were able to occupy hexagons 51, 50 and 41. In hexagon 32 they met the Greeks from the island Kalimera who have their camp there. The two commanders had a short conversation.

-Γεια σου.

-Γεια σου. Πως σε λένε;

-Με λένε Σπύρος, εσένα;

-Ηρακλείδης.

-Ωραίο όνομα!

-Ευχαριστώ, Σπύρο! Πώς είσαι; 

-Δεν ειμαι και πολύ καλά σήμερα.

-Γιατί; Τι έχεις;

-Ειμαι πολύ χάλια σήμερα.

Heracleides was able to convince Spiros, the Aquarian, to join his army and explore hexagon 31. There they encountered a group of Orks. The Greeks had never seen such horrible creatures before. The Orks probably thought the same about the Greeks.

We simulated the battle that ensued with a 36 point game of HotT. I played 22 points of Greek hoplites and Thracian riders:

Spear General (C-in-C), 8 Spears, 2 Riders

Sven played 12 points of peltasts and psiloi:  

Hero General, 3 Shooters, 2 Lurkers

Krüger played two battle groups that were 24 and 12 points strong, using these elements:

Warband General (C-in-C), 6 Warbands, 1 Hero, 3 Beasts

Hero General, 4 Riders

(I was so busy counting the other players’ elements that I forgot to count mine. I ended up with 22 points, instead of 24 points. And the same happened to me the next day.)

We placed a couple of large rocks, some rough terrain and a waterhole on the board. We decided to play without a stronghold. Krüger started to deploy his troops and put his large battlegroup on one side of the table and his small battlegroup on the other side.

Since warbands are very good against spears, Sven and I decided to field the spears against the riders and the lighter troops against the warbands. Our plan worked and we won the game. So the Greeks under the command of Heracleides were able to occupy hexagon 31 which gives them access to fresh water.

On day 2 of the campaign Spiros, who was in a better mood now, convinced Heracleides to explore hexagon 40. He wanted to look for a base camp for his army. There they discovered an Ork village. Krüger told us the locations of the other Ork villages: hexagons 20, 68, 78 and 38.

We placed tropical forests and some rocks on the battlefield. Krüger was the defender.

Krüger’s large battle group (24 points): 

Warband General (C-in-C), 7 Warbands, 1 Hero, 2 Shooters

His small battle group (12 points):

Hero General, 4 Beasts

My army (22 points):

Spear General (C-in-C), 7 Spears, 2 Riders, 1 Shooter

Sven’s army (12 points):

Hero General, 4 Shooters

The armies deployed more or less in the same way as on the first day and we used the same strategy. We fielded our spears against Krüger’s beasts and our shooters against his warbands.

There was a moment in the game when Krüger thought he would win. He got very nervous and started to chew on my DBX ruler.

We lost 2 spears, 1 rider and 2 shooters. Krüger lost a hero, 3 warbands and 4 beasts, thus loosing the battle for hexagon 40 and a village on the campaign map.

The village was occupied by the Aquarians under the command of Spiros.