First game of Open Combat

I played my first game of Open Combat yesterday. It was a blast! The plan was to play in my office after hours against my friend Jocke, but he could not make it so instead I played a solo game, taking time to document the whole affair.

First of all, a word from our sponsors:

Ok, so neither Belhaven nor The Dicebaglady actually gave me these things, but they have great products that are essential for a good gaming experience.

I used the excellent Opencombat Warband spreadsheet that can be found on the Second Thunder Forums to create rosters for my warbands. Thank you, Branflayk, whoever you are.

The game is about a small group of Gondorian bailiffs going out into the woods to do some enforced tax collecting. There are three bailiffs and five peasants, each group making up a 100 p warband.

 As can be seen, I have taken pictures of my minis and added to the roster, making it easy to tell who is who, an important factor in Open Combat as it is a skirmish game where each figure is a character with specific traits and abilities.

The table was set up using some stone walls, trees and patches of rough ground. The bailiffs need to collect the cattle, marked by the grey counters, and bring them back off the table. The peasants need to stop this.

At the start of the game, the bailiffs arrive far left. Beltic and Corey are guarding the cattle in the pen. Aldin, Deogol and Eamon have arrived in the nick of time!

The first Turn sees very little action but some interesting tactics. The bailiffs move straight for their target. Beltic and Corey, seeing that the bailiffs have a bow, realise that there is no point in trying to hide and instead rush out. Aldin, the leader of the peasant band, sends Deogol and Eamon on a flanking move around the Rough Ground and runs forward to back up his men.

The second turns starts with the Head bailiff Aubert rushing forward with his Sergeant Bertin while Rifleman (ok, Archerman) Colas looses two arrows at the only clear target, Aldin. Aldin is hit once, losing a point of Fortitude. The peasants move cautiously forward to position themselves for the charge. (while doing this editing, I realise that Aldin has a shield that should have saved him from losing Fortitude to a Minor Hit with a bow)

Coals fires once at Eamon, forcing him back, and then moves further away. Bertin goes straight for Beltic and whacks him a good one (boxcars!). Beltic loses 2 Fortitude and is Forced Back. Bertin decides to follow up, intent on finishing the job. Aubert goes straight for poor Corey. The difference between a trained man-at-arms and an armed peasant becomes brutally obvious. ATK 8 vs DEF 3 means three dice. 6, 6, 5! 0 Fortitude left and poor Corey goes down as if struck by lightning. He is now out of the game but I will leave him where he fell for clarity.

Deogol and Eamon run towards the action. Aldin runs straight at Aubert, achieving a Force Back, while Beltic manages an Impasse against Bertin.

Turn four and Bertin hacks away at Beltic, forcing him back. Aubert attacks Aldin, another Force Back. Colas shoots at Deogol. Two hits but the shield takes one. (this time I remembered) Lose 1 Fortitude.
Deogol and Eamon rush towards Colas but to not engage him. Aldin hits Aubert for 1 Fortitude and drives him back. His follow-up blow misses. Even poor Beltic manages to make a difference, hitting Bertin for 1 point and forcing him back but he does not follow up.

Turn 5. Colas shoots twice at Deogol at point blank an still only manages a Force Back. Beltic survives another attack but is Forced Back. Aubert strikes twice at Aldin. Two solid hits drops him to the ground with 0 Fortitude.

Eamon goes for broke with a might swing at Colas...and misses in a spectacular fashion! Our first Terrible Miss sees the peasants lose Initiative at a very, very bad time...



Turns 6. A quick calculation shows that the peasants have 12 points of Renown left and can be considered Broken. The survivors all surrender. The next scenario could well include a jail break to free Aldin...if he survives.

I have no idea if I played this right. I suddenly realised that I forgot to use Leader Re-rolls, but as no-one got to use them the game remained fair.

In conclusion, this was great fun and I am glad that I backed the Kickstarter and will be getting a nice hard-cover book after the summer.