Albionic Muster ov Dwarf Steel

The (re)discovery of Albion would have been nothing more than idle gossip, had Oni, the famed/mocked wanderer not arrived at the doors of the King requesting an audience with Ravensoak

Oni - considered by some of the clan nobles as little more than an annoyance with better days  long behind him, retained the ear of many high figures in Dwarf society, for some reason they kept to themselves.

A period of private discussion followed, until Ravensoak sent for Ungrim Grunnson, middle son of a family in long decline, decent reputation and reliable, and informed him that he had an opportunity for him. Simply put - to assemble an expeditionary group for Oni and head out to Albion

The purpose of this mission, Grunnson was informed, that Oni had come into certain information about undiscovered runic lore contained on the island, carved onto the Ogham Stones themselves.

"Albion is an untapped resource, so some form of exploration should be done at least. If Oni has it right, then could be worthwhile. I'll send Burlinson with you, as well, just his sort of affair. Good sort to have on a job like this"

Not thinking it politic to state his reservations at this point, Grunnson accepted and headed out to begin recruiting for the trip, quickly followed by salesdwarfs specialising in ships, waterproofing and blacksmithry.

Ungrim Grunnson, force leader. In it to restore his family name and fortune.

Hearthguard, carrying double handed axes. Not to be trifled with.

Oni, former Runesmith of high regard, took to wandering post forge accident, often seen muttering to Nia the Crow, and Skeggi, his long suffering apprentice, who is considerably more sociable and practical in day to day matters.

Burlinson. Famed amongst Tuath Duar for his scouting abilities, and accompanied by his Rangers.

30 solid Dwarf spears. Backbone of the force.

Grima Facebiter. Complete lunatic, but on a job like this, exactly the sort you need to get shit done.

Any trip into the unknown with a high chance of death, shitty weather and large monsters, is going to be gathering Slayers.

Crossbows and bolt thrower. Due to the wet weather, black powder (of scant availability in the wilds of Tuath Duar anyhow) was considered to be a risk.

Archers, just in case.

The full expeditionary force marches. Makes yer proud.

Midgard - Proposed Setting and Campaign Rules for Albion

 

WFB Albion is illustrated and described as dank, boggy, wet land, with persistent cloud cover. A land of standing stones, moors, crags and fens.

To accommodate this within the framework of Midgard rules, the below adjustments are proposed:

Weather

Scenarios and armies to be chosen as normal. Post deployment and prior to first turn, roll a D6 and consult the weather chart below:

1 - A thick mist has gathered whilst the armies were deploying. Consult the rules on page 94 of the Midgard rulebook. The scenario continues as intended - the fog is a nuisance, but this does not affect the needs for the battle!

2 - The general rain has increased to a heavy downpour. All weapons with the Hels Breath rule fire at half dice. All command tests involving movement through, around or over scenery are always on 2D6.

3 - Heavy Winds. All flying units suffer a -2 ST penalty to movement. All shooting ranges are reduced by -1 ST

4 - Steady Drizzle. Expected, so no effect

5 - Steady Drizzle. Expected, so no effect

6 - Its not raining right now, for once.

Wandering Druidry

Albion has more than enough wandering holy men/hedge wizards to provide for all.

Prior to deployment, each side rolls a D6. 

1 - If an Evil aligned army, a Dark Emissary arrives with beast in tow.

2-5 - Nothing

6 - If a Good aligned, a Truthsayer joins the army, with beast in tow

Neutral armies get nothing. Pick a side or step back.

Truthsayer - Level 2 Hero. CD 2, SD 0, Ar 2, St 2, Rep 2. Skills: Beastmaster, Sorcery, Non Combatant. Spells: Dispel, Protection

Dark Emissary - Level 2 Hero. CD 2, SD 0, Ar 2, St 2, Rep 2. Skills Beastmaster, Sorcery, Non Combatant. Spells: Curse, Wall of Mist.

Fen Beast - CD 8, SD 0, Ar 3, St 5 Rep 1. Skills: Fearsome, Aloof.

Note: Fen Beasts are entirely under the control of the handler. They may not receive commands or Mighty Deeds from other sources, and if the handler if killed, the beast withdraws from the battle immediately. If in combat, it will retreat and disappear.

The Toll of Campaigning

To represent the ongoing effects of being in the field.

Characters

Any character killed in battle needs to roll on the below table:

1 - Properly dead.

If it is considered that the character died a heroic death and was not running weeping for their mother at the first sign of danger, a level 1 character may be generated in their stead, obviously inspired by such reputational legends being witnessed. 

Quite what constitutes a "heroic death" should be considered post game, but only something suitably hardcore will suffice.

2 - Injured. The owning player can make the choice of either not having the character available in the next game, due to recovery, or fielding the character at -1 stamina in the next game.

3-6 - Fine, no ongoing effect

Units

Any unit destroyed in battle needs to roll on the below table:

1 - Shattered and Standards lost. Struck from the roster and no longer available.

2 - In need of recovery. The owning player can make the choice of either not having the unit available in the next game, due to resting up, or fielding the unit at -1 stamina in the next game.

3-6 - Fine, no ongoing effect.

Rewards for characters or units doing well? You survived the battle, thats the reward.

First Age Middle Earth - Midgard Battle Report

 Like many others, we've been playing Midgard since it came out a while back (recommended!), so decided to give it a multiplayer, rather than the one vs one gaming we'd been using it for. 

Having grown familiar with the rules meant hosting became a lot easier too, so we plumped for a classic First Age Middle Earth fight.

No real scenario, but a large Orc force from the North had moved down and found themselves against an alliance of Dwarves, Elves and Men. Straight fight it is!

Table Layout:

Deployments from both sides. Dwarves mainly held the alliance centre, with the Elves attempting to swing around, and the men holding the flank, whilst the Orcs opposite went with full frontal attack on all parts

Both sides send out a champion to duel in front of the lines.

The dwarf prince finds himself struggling almost immediately, before getting hacked down in the second round of fighting. This sends a bad omen throughout the alliance, whilst the Orcs jeer and get beery.

Accordingly, the Dwarves hold back and give the Orcs take an early peppering of archery - which doesn't slow their advance in the least.

Elves begin pushing around the flank to try and enact the agreed on plan. However, their general was having trouble remembering *exactly* which battle and game system he was currently in, so they ended up moving slower than anticipated. Much to the muttering of oaths later when this was realised.

Orcs opposite begin moving up and trying to disrupt the Elf lines.

The Orc line advance continues, as the chariots and warg riders start hitting the Human force and causing plenty of panic for the General.

Humans continue to hold, whilst the Elves advance and Orcs bring through more reinforcements on the flank, attempting to break the Human side of the army and turn on the Dwarves in the centre.

At this point, the Elves begin pushing through and engaging in combat, not doing badly, which makes the Orc line begin to divide to counter this attack and fend it off. 

One of the Orc generals also weeps in terror when he finds out exactly how ferocious a Son of Feanor really is!

Humans continue to hold their own, in spite of repeated charges.

Orc lines begin turning to face the potential threat to their centre

Crucially, the Dwarf general either ignores, doesn't hear or is scared of the orders/pleading he gets at this point to advance on the reduced Orc centre!

Taking full advantage of this, the Orcs commit fully to the centre

Orc reinforcements from the centre prevent the Elves breaking through

HUGE fight in the centre, with challenges, oaths and clashing melee.

Elves forced into the defence now.

Humans having their own stuggle, so the line is turning into a mess of individual fights rather than a coordinated whole.

And with that, we called time and counted the Reputation

Alliance - 13

Orcs - 16

Narrow win to Angband.

Was a really great game, even accounting for mistakes with the rules and mix ups which happen.

Thoughts on Midgard at this scale - it works, and it does work very well. We had 900 points a side, which we decided afterwards was probably too much, so will reduce that a bit in future. Game flowed v well, and once people got into the swing of it, nothing huge really cropped up and all the mistakes were detail ones that'll come in time.

I think one giant army, with three large contingents, per side will be quicker and easier, rather than the sub contingents we tried.

Not sure whether its worth going with one giant pool of rep per side, or tracking the individual army reps in an alliance? Academic really in the overall score but useful to know who let the side down (Dwarfs missing the signal to attack - I'm looking at you!)