ASoBH: The Dwarves Have Been Shopping.

With Ganesha Games Hammer and Forge Kickstarter now rolling out it's pledges it was inevitable that a game of Advanced Song of Blades and Heroes was to be played. The main rulebook is out now and the Dwarven supplement, "Hammer and Forge" will be on general release in Feb (maybe already?), but sent out to KS backers.

I appear to have mentioned Hammer and Forge without adding "Long Awaited" before it, as MacSver has been eagerly and impatiently (to put it lightly) waiting it to come out for years! But he has it now and can run wild furnishing his collection with all manner of figure appropriate whimsies.

This brings us nicely to the game played. The scenario was a basic rummage for items from a scrap pile in the centre of a ruined temple and get off the table.

MacSver had had a good time flicking through his new book and decided to experiment with a few new special rules (or Traits as they are now known) and his troops had come finished with a aquebus (sniper rifle!), rune magic grenades and a Thunder Hammer from the new rulebook.

My force was made up mostly of a half dozen Beastmen Warriors with a Chaos Warrior Leader. to push a couple of new profiles or Traits I had a Minotaur Guard and stated up a Two Headed Ogre with Ball and Chain (a special weapon trait in the new HaF rules).

The Dwarves had a bit of a stuttered start, so the beastmen rushed forward to the loot or enemy (as they were all in the same direction). With no ranged options they were needing to get hoof-to-toe with the enemy, hopefully behind the carnage put down by the Ogre ball and chain up front.

This basic plan, however all fell in ruins as the Aquebus dwarf knocked the Ogre to the ground from long range. The aquebus had an unmodified range of 3 x long (boosted at shorter ranges) and although slow to reload (with an outside chance of exploding) is a mighty threat in a game focused on melee. The poor quality stat of the beastmen also was proving problematic, with the ogre failing two dice get to his feet this not only gave the turn a quick turnover but allowed the enemy crossbowman to get into range unchallenged and finish off the job his black powder comrade had started.

The Dwarves continued a slow, but steady advance. It was clear that the Beastmen needed to engage the ranged threat to have any chance and rushed forward. The Dwarven Leader, however was armed with a magical weapon, and Thunder Hammer. He struck the ground causing it to shake. Again the poor quality of the Beastmen played and most of them fell, whilst the better quality Dwarves (boosted by their leader) kept their feet. More beastmen loses.

With numbers low there was no point in picking up a just a couple of pieces of loot and scarpering and the Chaos warband (or what was left of it) rushed in. A couple of dwarves were slain before numbers became over whelming and when the Chaos Warrior went down the remaining Beastmen broke and fled.
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Fair to say that MacSver is happy with the new developments. I can see the aquebus making a regular appearance and will have to think of a counter. The poor quality of the Chaos warband really caused problems, giving crucial reactions and vital failed actions. With the leader expertly placed the dwarves had no such problems with their activations, only failed the odd roll on a "1".

It will be good to see MacSver get some more of his Dwarf Lead painted and all tooled up now whilst I look to adapt my existing warbands to the advanced stats. There are only basic advances for campaigns at Advanced level at the moment, but I can see us having a few one off games (or at least linked trios) to get the differences bedded in.