The Return of the King

After the Goblin Clan took off with the Golden Idol at the end of the last battle, The King gathered a strong selection of units to set off in pursuit.

The Goblin Chief deliberately kept his host and the prize away from the undead horde and the Orc Tribes...afraid of his treacherous allies taking his precious idol.

This decision left his clan isolated when The King arrived to reclaim the Golden Idol.

The Goblins are set to defend the rough ground and woods near the pond. The Alliance forces arrive with the women folk of the Hill Clans on the left supported by the Hobbit cavalry. The King's chosen champions of the Adventurer's Guild, the Merry Men of the Forest, and the Hunters of the Dead occupy the center and are tasked with reclaiming the idol. Two more groups of hill folk make up the right wing.

The Goblins would not fight alone for long as Orcs, Ratlings, and undead are marching to their support.

I rolled up the leaders for each side along with the sequence deck...the forces of evil would have a big advantage with a skilled deck and d12+1 commander (The Vampire Lord) facing The King having and abysmal day (and deck) as a d8.

The battlefield from the vantage point of the arriving alliance forces.

The Merry Men secure the high ground but fail to hit much with their arrows. The Adventurers' Guild presses the Goblin Scouts back towards the idol.

It is neck and neck as the two armies close in towards the idol.

An evil sorcerer stops the Hill Clan forces with a wall of thorns.

After taking heavy losses, the Goblin Scouts counterattack only to be destroyed by the experienced Adventurers.

The Women Folk's sorceress drops a wall of fire to stop the Orcs.

The Guild captures the idol after seeing off the Goblin Riders...and staring down the Armored Orc Warband.

The shambling zombie horde was just too slow to come to grips with the Hill Clan warbands.

 

The battle ended shortly after the Guild claimed the idol. The FoE pulled 3 Army Morale cars in quick succession, passing 2 with the great 12+1 commander, but finally failing the 3rd after the Alliance had built back up to 6 morale points (from a low of 3).

 

 

Some notable moments:

- Goblin Scouts holding out for much longer than expected and even counter-attacking.



- Great use of the wall of fire and the Hobbit Cavalry to protect the left flank.

- Terrible shooting by the Merry Men...I think 1 UI loss in six shots.

- Randolph the Wizard failing every spell attempt.

- Orc Chief rolling a 1 for movement twice in a row when the idol was unprotected.

- Vampire Lord passing 2 of 3 army morale checks (and only failing the 3rd by 1 point)

 

Good fun with the new Pulse of Battle rules adapted with parts of Hostile Realms for fantasy battles.

- I use 4 UI for all units and rate the units based on my feel for their strength, armor, and "role". This will allow me to incorporate monsters and special units by increasing the # of hits required to cause a UI loss, and even making some units have more or fewer UI.

-Working out the magic system...most of HR applies.

- Need to work out a character/hero system including personal challenges.

- Will make some custom card decks. I like random/special events as I usually play solo.

 

The next battle will involve the Alliance getting the Idol back to safety through the Elven lands. Luckily, I am painting about 13 Elven units including unicorn and elk cavalry.