The Battle of Stumpclaw Way

Hello all. I decided to grab a moment to play another test game for my new element based rules. This time i attempted to put the rules under the stress of a really big battle to see what happened. But first:

Their best album....fact!!.

As I was saying I decided to set up a game that would stretch the rule system. No fancy narrative here unfortunately as I set things up and went at it, I used my kallistra 12mm armies which I decided to split along the lines of goodly human forces (red/yellow and blue/white) Vs an unhinged necromancer and his minions and henchfolk (black/yellow and black/white). I have yet to work out either a magic or points system so the necromancer is classed as a regular commander and I have no idea if the forces are actually balanced in any way.  It's also worth noting that I set up the table to be bloody awkward for both sides hence Stumpclaw Way and it's ruined watch tower was placed in such a way to create bottlenecks and force the units to 'clump' to put the rules for large combats with multiple units under strain.

Stumpclaw way by daylight, forces deployed ready for battle. The ultra evil Necromancers lot to the left and the goodly two daps to the right.

 The main evil battle line is formed.

 Spectres and Git Hounds on the right flank.

When horses go bad. Evil horse on the left.

 Captain evil pants himself flanked by his risen minions!.

His opposite number, the high commander of the goodies has a similar but better tactic, he's surrounded by giants!.

 The good Blokes battle line from the rear.

Their right also overloaded with horse riding types.

This is the first massive battle with these rules. One thing I wanted to stretch was the activation mechanics I am using. The rules use command dice to determine the number of activations each player has each turn. The players roll 1d6 per commander and then take turns to use one dice at a time, activating that number of units. Both forces in this battle started with 4 commanders which should show any major issues with the system. I have also been working on some reactions unactivated troops can utilize during the opponent's activation so even if you roll low on your command dice your troops can still react to the enemy. With that in mind I started the game.

 The action begin with hidden scouts from both sides revealing themselves and engaging in an archery duel.

Which was won in short order by the baddies!.

More good guy scouts jumped out of the treeline over on their left, a decision that looked decidedly dodgy when they saw what was heading their way!.

In the centre both sides advanced their archers and had at it as the sound of twanging filled the air.

 On the goodly right the horse advanced, Knights splitting off to cover the flank of the bow line.

The early stages of the battle.

 Despite attempting to fire and fall back the scouts on the good folk left are pounced upon by the Git hounds.

Prompting the sending of fresh troops to make sure the flank would hold.

 On the other flank the charge (and counter charge) was sounded.

The archery battle in the centre was not going the bad guys way as foot troops were ordered forward.

 One of the spectres couldn't resist a quick haunting in the ruined tower.

The necromancer ordered some of his horse to break off from the left through the pass to bolster the main attack.

 Having polished off the scouts the Git hounds faced some stiffer opposition.

The necromancer ordered his probing foot troops into combat to end the enemy ranged threat.

 Leaving one of the commanders exposed!. An opportunity the goodies were keen to exploit.

Some really very evil horse charged in to help their stranded superior.

Both sides commit troops to try to swing the combat on the arrow line.

Which ended badly for the baddies!.

 The Git hounds were also having a hard time over on the right and would soon be routed.

In the center fresh troops were committed.

 Having claimed the flank a unit of good Blokes push on to threaten the enemy rear.

The situation as it stands.

 The bad folk send in the main attack.

 Which successfully breaks the enemy archers.

However the good guys send in their best in response.

Which has an immediate impact, turning the enemy troops.

 The one bright spot for the not nice force is the breaking of the enemy cavalry over on the left. The horse on horse action had been in the Ballance all game but due to the narrow space had forced a string of really boring stalemates.

With the situation looking grim the chief evil dooer charged along with his reserves.

 Which ended in a bad guy flavoured collapse.

Come on guys we can take 'em....guys?.....

This seemed like a good place to call it. Aside from a few cavalry units over on the right the evil lot were done as an effective fighting force. The whole game lasted about 5 turns and took an hour and a half to play to a conclusion so I'm taking that as a win. I still need to play another big game as neither side lost any commanders until really late in the day so I will need to try it with less command dice for one side. All told it was lots of fun and gave a real 'fantasy battle' feel which is good. You never know, I may be ready to type these up soon......



....'till next time.....