Here is the starting disposition:
Grishnak, L2 and Bolg, L3 L top, Boromir, L3 and Faramir, L2 bottom.
Turn 1
First card of first turn is Grishnak, the Warg Rider commander. He has 2 points. He spends 1 point activating his unit to move straight ahead. Being cavalry they get 3D6+3 when doing a full move for a total of 15cm, as I am playing in cm rather than inches to match the scale better, and because my desk is small.He ends his turn by drawing Beloved of the Gods from the Fate deck.
Second card is a L2 Seize the Ring.
3rd card is a L2 Seize the Ring. I promise, I did shuffle the deck thoroughly!
4th card is a L3 Seize the Ring!
5th card is Faramir. He now has access to two StR cards so he picks them up and uses the two Intiiative points to purchase two cards from the Fate deck,Accuracy and Beloved of the Gods. He activates his group of archers and wants them to form a line and fire at the Wargs. I found no specific rule for formation changes so I just played it as 1D6 spent on movement to bring the rear base up in line with the front base. Having moved, they will shoot with a -1, but Faramir plays Accuracy to counter that.
He now has 28 archers shooting longbows at the AC2 Warg Riders. Base To Hit is 2, but the long range shifts one column and I decide that the ruin that is partially blocking the LOS is another shift, so two columns, meaning a To Hit of 4. My trusty TFL dice give me 13 hits. The Warg Riders are Warriors so it's 4-5 to Shock and 6 to kill.
Three Kills and two Shock. Not too shabby. And yes, that is an official Dicetower Podcast dice tower, best friend of spatially challenged gamers everywhere.
6th card is the Turn Card which I put in in case I wanted to add reinforcements, should not really be in the deck from the start.
7th card is Bolg, the Orc leader. He grabs the L3 RtR card, buys 3 Fate cards, Accuracy, Rally and Fury, and spends one point activating his Group to move full speed ahead, 3d6.
Bolg and his boys rush forward 17cm.
8th card is Boromir. He spends two points buying two fate cards, Fury and March. He spends his last point activating his group and ordering them forward 2D6. They roll 7.
Last card of the turn is the second L3 StR card.
End of turn. The Warg Riders have 2 Shock but they are still 5 plus Grishnak so no tears.
The situation at the end of turn 1.
Turn 2
1st card is L2 StR.
2nd card is Faramir. He grabs the Ring card and buys two Fate cards, March and Beloved of the Gods, the spends his last point activating his archers. Same again, 28 men, 4+ to hit and 4-5 Shock and 6 to kill. 2 kills, 3 Shock. A bad day to be a Warg!
3rd card is L3 StR
4th card is Bolg. He grabs the Ring card and buys 3 Fage cards, Take Charge, Fear and Rally, before ordering his troops full speed ahead, 11 cm.
At this point in the game, I got some feedback from the author, Jeremy, who reminded me of the five card hand limit for Fate cards. I have decided to simply allow both sides to play the cards they have but not to go beyond five cards from now on.
5th card is L2 StR
6th card is Grishnak. He grabs the StR card, spends 3 points reducing Shock and the last point to activate his troop to move full speed ahead in a charge that would make Lord Cardigan shake his head. A total of eleven impresses no-one...but it does bring him inside Short range for Faramirs archers...
7th card is Boromir. After seeing what the archers did to Grishnak, Boromir feels his flank is secure and orders his men to charge at Bolg. Seven is a pretty weak move for 3D6, but they are closing in.
8th card is the Turn card and I start thinking about sending one side reinforcements.
9th card is L3 StR.
End of turn. Only Grishnak has any Shock, three points in his 3 figure Warg Rider unit so no problem with morale. I realise that I have forgotten to drag Fate cards of both Grishnak and Boromir. Never mind.
Bolg counters by playing his Carpe Diem card, allowing him to play three card during the ongoing activation. The first is Fury. Time for combat!
Boromirs side have spears, meaning the first three ranks fight, meaning 42 dice! Add 3 for Bormir and another 2 for his remaining points spent on fervour brings us to 47. The dice are rolled against 4+ to hit for 1-handed weapons against AC3 with a +1 on the roll. 22 his are rolled against Warriors, ie 3-4 to Shock and 5-6 to kill. 8 kills and 6 Shock!
The orcs hit. Same deal, 42 warriors with spears, plus 3 for Bolg but no added points. The humans are AC3 and Bolg has also played a Fury so the roll is against 3+. Seems like that Fervour made all the difference, or maybe the orcs were just unlucky. 4 kills, 9 Shock.
The orcs fall back 6cm. Both sides roll a D20 for leader kills, no problem. Bolg plays a Rally card and reduced Shock to 1. Activation finishes with Boromir drawing Fleet of Foot.
5th card is the turn card, time to seriously think about chucking in some more Orcy stuff.
6th card is L2 StR
7th card is Faramir who draws Accuracy using the StR card and plays it right away along with the Fleet of Foot card. He activtes his group to move forward 2D6 to make sure they are at Short range and shoot at the Warg Riders. They advance 6cm and shoot at 14cm range. 28 dice against 2+ as the range is now Short with no cover. A waste of an Accuracy card as odds can't get bettet than 2+, but shit happens. After rolling 9 1's on the To Hit-roll, they manage 2 kills and 8 Shock. Suddenly Grishnak is commanding 1Warg Rider with 11 points of Shock! I rule that they will simply leave the table never to return.
8th card is Grishnak, but he has left!
9th card is L3 StR.
End of turn, no Shock levels that threaten any units, but the orcs must roll for morale. The roll for the loss of the Warg Riders and I rule that a routed hero counts as killed. Both rolls are 1 so the orcs lose a total of 2 force morale.
End of turn 3.
Situation at the end of turn 3. Grishnak has left, Faramir has advanced and Bormir has pushed Blog backwards.
At this point in the game, I got some feedback from the author, Jeremy, who reminded me of the five card hand limit for Fate cards. I have decided to simply allow both sides to play the cards they have but not to go beyond five cards from now on.
5th card is L2 StR
6th card is Grishnak. He grabs the StR card, spends 3 points reducing Shock and the last point to activate his troop to move full speed ahead in a charge that would make Lord Cardigan shake his head. A total of eleven impresses no-one...but it does bring him inside Short range for Faramirs archers...
7th card is Boromir. After seeing what the archers did to Grishnak, Boromir feels his flank is secure and orders his men to charge at Bolg. Seven is a pretty weak move for 3D6, but they are closing in.
8th card is the Turn card and I start thinking about sending one side reinforcements.
9th card is L3 StR.
End of turn. Only Grishnak has any Shock, three points in his 3 figure Warg Rider unit so no problem with morale. I realise that I have forgotten to drag Fate cards of both Grishnak and Boromir. Never mind.
Turn 3
First card is L2 StR.
2nd card is Bolg. He takes the L2 StR card and buys the top Fate card, Carpe Diem. a shot at charging and activates his Group. The run forward using 3D6, 8, just over half of what they need. Bolg plays Fear as the enemy s now within 6cm from him. The human Warriors take 1 Shock. Blog is left with a few points he was saving up for the close combat that never happened, but they are wasted now that no contac was made.
3rd card is L3 StR.
4th card is Boromir. He grabs the StR card and uses it to remove the point of Shock on his Group. He then spends a point activating them, and to make double sure he plays two March! cards. His troops now have 5d6 to move 8 cms! 15 and the lines clash! Boromir chucks in a Fury card as well, giving +1 to hit in the first round of combat.
Boromirs side have spears, meaning the first three ranks fight, meaning 42 dice! Add 3 for Bormir and another 2 for his remaining points spent on fervour brings us to 47. The dice are rolled against 4+ to hit for 1-handed weapons against AC3 with a +1 on the roll. 22 his are rolled against Warriors, ie 3-4 to Shock and 5-6 to kill. 8 kills and 6 Shock!
The orcs hit. Same deal, 42 warriors with spears, plus 3 for Bolg but no added points. The humans are AC3 and Bolg has also played a Fury so the roll is against 3+. Seems like that Fervour made all the difference, or maybe the orcs were just unlucky. 4 kills, 9 Shock.
The orcs fall back 6cm. Both sides roll a D20 for leader kills, no problem. Bolg plays a Rally card and reduced Shock to 1. Activation finishes with Boromir drawing Fleet of Foot.
5th card is the turn card, time to seriously think about chucking in some more Orcy stuff.
6th card is L2 StR
7th card is Faramir who draws Accuracy using the StR card and plays it right away along with the Fleet of Foot card. He activtes his group to move forward 2D6 to make sure they are at Short range and shoot at the Warg Riders. They advance 6cm and shoot at 14cm range. 28 dice against 2+ as the range is now Short with no cover. A waste of an Accuracy card as odds can't get bettet than 2+, but shit happens. After rolling 9 1's on the To Hit-roll, they manage 2 kills and 8 Shock. Suddenly Grishnak is commanding 1Warg Rider with 11 points of Shock! I rule that they will simply leave the table never to return.
8th card is Grishnak, but he has left!
9th card is L3 StR.
End of turn, no Shock levels that threaten any units, but the orcs must roll for morale. The roll for the loss of the Warg Riders and I rule that a routed hero counts as killed. Both rolls are 1 so the orcs lose a total of 2 force morale.
End of turn 3.
