SoBH Campaign 2 - Beastmen vs Dwarves

Tall and Hairy vs Short and Hairy

This page is a base to catalogue my fantasy "Songs Of Blades and Heroes" campaign with my gaming buddy MacSver. I have moved the campaign page to this post to make room at the top for the next campaign (so for those avid readers this isn't anything new, just a bit of re-organising)

The basic warband makeup is Dwarf vs Beastman (with occasional Chaotic interlopers) : Initial Warband Compositions. The campaign winner is the first warband to 6 Campaign points.

Battle #1: Light the Beacon

Battle Aftermath:No Beacon lit, so Johan's Beastmen win.

Running CP Total: Dwarves 0, Beastmen 1

Injuries:

• Dwarf: Falkaya Bloodsworn: Serious Injury = misses next battle
               Falster: Moderate Injury = Q-1 next battle
               All others: dead.
• Beastmen: Chaos Warrior: Dead

Also a few of the warriors on both sides (Falster, 2 Younger Beastmen) were fatiqued (Q-1). If the heatwave continues into the next battle so does their fatigue.

Income:

• The Dwarves searched around and found 20 gold.
• The Beastmen looted 10 Gold.
• Exploration. The dwarves found an abandoned watchtower tucked in the hill land and took refuge there. The Beastmen, full of their victory stumbled into a cyrsed glade and the oldest of the herd was cursed to Q-1 for the next battle.
• Gold Reserves for Battle 2: Beastmen 31, Dwarves 34.

Battle #2:  I was in town today and bumped into...

Valgen bolstered his ranks by replacing his fallen crossbow man. Johan lacked the cash to strengthen his warband significantly but used his funds to purchase a Healing Elixir (15 gold) for a future wound.

Battle Aftermath:

• Dwarves: 32pts killed = 1 VP
• >Beastmen 96pts killed = 4 VP - Beastmen Win

Running CP total: Dwarves 0, Beastmen 2


Injuries:

• Dwarf: Valgen (personality) was robbed as he lay on the ground unconscious (not by the beastmen) losing 5 gold, but made a full recovery.
• Beastmen: The healing Elixir was used on the fallen beastman to bring him back to full health.

Income:

• The Beastmen could only scavange 20 gold from their victory
• The Dwarves took full advantage of their underdog bonus for losing 2 battles in a row and scooped 50 gold
• Exploration. The Beastmen, not learning from the the aftermath of their previous battle failed to properly look where they were going and wandered into a Haunted Wood. Fortunately the spirits left them alone. The Dwarves were too worried about their leader to do any exploration.
• Gold Reserves for Battle 2: Beastmen 36, Dwarves 60.

Battle #3: Ambush in the Snow

Valgen had his returning wife and a new custom Beastman Slayer, who was fueled by focused hatred at the news of the previous battles. He also bought a healing potion to guard against casualties. Johan did not change his warband due to lack of funds, saving his meagre cash for future reinforcements.

Battle Aftermath:

• With the only kill of the battle Beastmen win.

Running CP total: Dwarves 0, Beastmen 3

Injuries:

• Snowbeard did not survive his injuries and died. 
• No beastmen casualties.

Income:

• The beastmen earned 30 gold from their victory
• The Dwarves collected 10 gold (inc underdog bonus)
• Exploration: The Dwarves found themselves confronted by a Dangerous Ravine, a treacherous narrow walkway the only way forward. With quite a few wobbles they all finally made it across safely. The beastmen came across a travelling caravan of merchants, but Johan's lack of haggling experience combined with the low level of funds meant he just let it pass without trade.
• Gold Reserves for Battle 4: Beastmen 66, Dwarves 10

Battle #4: Fighting along the West Highland Way

The Dwarves took to the field unchanged from the post-portem of battle 3 (mostly due to lack of cash). Johan brought in a Chaos Dwarf (40 Gold) to combat threat the of the Dwarven Beast Slayer.

Battle Aftermath:

• Dwarves: Killed 82 Pts = 4 VP
• Beasts: 274 pts made it through the board = 18VP - Beastmen Win

Running CP Total: Dwarves 0, Beastmen 4

Injuries:

• Dwarves: Ror Burgermash received a Moderate Injury (Q-1 for next battle), Falkaya Bloodsworn made a full recovery and her Husband Valgen took a Healing Elixer to make a full recovery.
• Beastmen: Grimdar the Chaos Dwarf made a full recovery, but the Heavy Armour of Kodar the Chaos Warrior didn't help him and he died.

Income:

• The Beastmen earned 30 for their victory
• The Dwarves musted 20 gold post battle (inc underdog bonus)
• The night after the battle the spirit of an Adventurer visited the Beastmen camp. But due to their evil ways it didn't stay. The Dwarves didn't explorer after their defeat, too concerned about their leader.
• Gold Reserves for Battle 5: Beastmen 56, Dwarves: 30

Battle #5: A Slippery Assassin.

With most of his warband reaching a decent Experience level there was a spate of training before the fifth battle of the campaign. A Sharpshooting crossbowman was also recruited to try and provided some additional ranged threat (30 gold). Johan brought in a fourth beastman to his crew, feeling that he needed to strengthen the core numbers of his beastman warband with beastmen and not other races or types (32 gold). He also invested in a Healing Potion (15 gold).

Battle Aftermath: Johan wasn't killed, so a Beastman win.

Running CP total: Dwarves 0, Beastmen 5

Injuries:

• Dwarves: Rorr Burgermash died of his wounds, but everyone else (Cerri, Mrs Valgen and Squint) made full recoveries.
• Beastmen: No casualties.

Income:

• The Beastmen gathered a meagre 20 Gold post battle
• The Dwarves gathered up 10 gold for their defeat and a further 30 gold as their underdog bonus
• On their trek back to base the beastmen met with a Cenataur Hero. But the Centaur was not interested in joining Johan non-neutral warband. The Dwarves stumbled upon a forgotten Keg of Ale, which they gleefully added to their equipment.
• Gold Reserves for Battle 5: Beastmen: 29, Dwarves: 40

Battle #6: King Of The Hill

Needing to bolster his forces again Valgen brought in one of his Elite Scottish cousins, and immediately plied him with the ale found at the end of the previous battle. Johan didn't make any changes to his warband, more due to lack of funds again than any tactical purpose.

Battle Aftermath: A Beastmen win

Campaign Outcome

Victory to Johan's Beastmen

( 6 Campaign Points to Nil)

Campaign Thoughts:

Arabianknight:

That all went surprisingly quick. We'd set a 6 CP victory point and expected to get in 10 games to see how the warbands developed but I suppose you never know how things will pan out.

Things that made the difference from last campaign?

Well, from my (beastmen) point of view I was up against the same racial makeup of opponent. Even though the basic beastman is no better than you normal ratman (Q4+, C3) I'd taken the experience to go into hand-to-hand against the dwarves with lesser figures. I'd also given myself a big hitter by way of the Minotaur, who was a crucial frontline for the beastmen warband. As I result I was probably more confident in the effeciveness of my forces. MacSver commented several times during the campaign that I was playing more aggressively that last campaign. I'd say more confidently, but when the action is melee combat one is pretty much like the other.

Another major factor I must say is MacSver's luck on two fronts. Firstly the weather was shocking this campaign (much like the UK summer weather outside the battleshed in fact). With his Dwarves already on short move, we had 5 scenarios in a row (Battle #2 onwards) that halved the movement rate. That means he has to roll 2 activations to move a figure once. This makes moving and attacking a 3 dice affair. Also this campaign MacSvers dice rolling has been shocking! Last campaign it could only be described as almost cheating. It was a standing joke that he'd be rolling 5s and 6s whether he needed them or not. He must have drained his dice though because the amount of ones he rolled at times beggared belief. The number of turnovers that happened with his force (considering he was rolling on an adjusted Quality 2+ alot of the time) as he struggled through the mud or snow really pushed all those short legs.

 MacSver: 

Valgen will be having a serious word with his lads before their next expedition. After an abysmal campaign against the Burger Men, he was last seen stomping off towards the warband quarters even redder in face than usual and furiously vexing Old Dwarven expletives. Even the battle-hardened warriors scuttled off and did their best to be inconspicuous. Most serious of all, Valgen was overheard threatening to remove beards with his war axe, including Mrs Maest’s.

Once again the awful weather this campaign took its toll on diminutive legs. Bad dice roll averages didn’t help but mostly it was down to strategy; Valgen stubbornly split his warband on almost all encounters with the hairy burgers, even though any single loss or injury had a serious impact on his ‘small’ (pun intended) force. Inevitably, Valgen had to draw ever more gold (no mean feat for any Dwarf) to replace losses and subsequently his warband struggled to match the increasing numbers within the enemy warband.

Overall though, it was a thoroughly enjoyable campaign and Valgen is anticipating testing out a revised strategy and hiring fresh recruits to face the challenges of new terrain, scenarios and enemies on the next outing.

Baruk Khazâd! Khazâd ai-mênu!