A bit of enchanted cottaging - a Sword Weirdos AAR

Background

Both the Elven band of Dyvima, and the Dwarves of Bigae Elf Woe have been seeking an enchanted cottage.  If they can claim the ancient dwelling they will gain secrets from the old times to help their people.  The Fates have intervened and both groups have converged on the cottage at the same time,  There is only one way to settle the claim and that is by combat.  

The forces

This is a 75 point game of Sword Weirdos.  The Elves are led by Dyvima, a Fighter/Healer and comprise of another Fighter and two Archers.  Bigae Elf Woe a Commander/Pit Fighter leads a Dwarven Berserker, a Dwarven Fighter and a Human Hunter.  Full rosters can be found here. 

Set up

This game is a variant of the Objectively Normal Scenario on page 12 of the Sword Weirdos rules.  Rather than have a number of objectives, the aim is to have as many combatants be within 1/2 a stick of the enchanted cottage at the end of the final turn to claim the dwelling for their side.

Starting positions, Dwarves at the top

Round One

The Elves roll highest for initiative and Dyvima uses all 3 of her actions to move up to the mystic cottage.  The Dwarf leader, Bigae Elf Woe uses his full Speed (Spd) allowance to do the same.  He is just out of reach and can’t engage Dyvima in melee.  Valharik the Elf spearman moves up in support of his leader.

Valharik surveys the objective

Ilmaren the human Hunter takes one action to move forwards and then spotting Valharik makes a Ranged Attack firing his bow at the Elf.  Both roll 11, but Valharik gets his shield up and just deflects the arrow, the shield giving +1 to Defence (Def). 

Spotting this action, Saramal the female Elf Archer move forward for one action and draws line of sight on Ilmaren.  He gains a +1DT Def and her first shot misses.  As her Class gives her the quick attribute she get another shot.  The result is the same though as her second shot also misses.  Ilmaren has used his skills of concealment from decades of hunting to good effect.  

Smax Dwarf uses his full Spd allowance to move to the cottage, his stumpy legs pounding away to just reach it.  

The enemies converge on the enchanted cottage

The last Elf to move is Hashgan the male Archer.  He moves for two actions to position himself on Bigae Elf Woe’s flank, then for his third action he lets loose an arrow at the Dwarf leader.  Unbeknown to the Elf, Bigae carries an Enchanted Shield which means he can’t be targeted by ranged attacks.  The arrow sails hopelessly wide much to Hashgan’s frustration.

The final character to activate is Haraer who gets his little legs pumping to run towards the cottage.

Round Two

Starting positions Round 2

The Elves once again roll high to win the Initiative.  

Dyvima moves into Base-to-Base Contact (BtB) with Bigae Elf Woe and attacks him with her sword.  She succeeds and landing a mighty blow he is knocked Down.  Bigae Elf Woe responds by using an action to Stand.  He shakes his head and makes a Melee Attack on his assailant. Dyvima declares to use a Manoeuvre point to use Parry which gives her a +1DT using her shield.  It doesn’t do her much good as she only rolls a total of 5 on 2d10, against Bigae's 11.  That’s double the score so that’s +1 on the roll of 8 on the Attack Result table.  Dyvima is Down and Staggered. 

The two leaders clash

Saramal the female Elf archer moves forward two actions and then makes a Ranged Attack on Ilmaren.  Due to the movement, she suffers a -1DT to Might (Mgt) and she misses.

Haraer Dwarf uses one action to charge forwards to attack Valharik the Elf Fighter.  This gives him +1DT and he rolls a whopping 18, with +1 for his warband trait to score 19!  The Elf Spearman responds with a paltry roll of 6+1 for his shield for a total of 7.  It’s a 10 on the Attack Results Table and Valharik is Out of Action. 

The Hammer comes down

Hashgan the male Elf archer uses his  Elf speed to make two Moves across the table and then make a Ranged Attack on Haraer Dwarf.  Alas he rolls snake eyes and his attack fails.  

Ilmaren keeps his position and fires his bow at Saramal.  His Class trait means she gains no advantages for cover.  The dice gods aren’t with the Elves as her Defence roll is a measly 3 against his Mgt roll of 13.  Luckily the adjusted roll for being triple the Def roll is only a 5 so she escapes with a Take Cover roll moving 1 stick back. 

Archery duel!

The final action of the turn is when Smax uses two actions to Move up and Melee Attack the suffering Saramal.  This time luck is with her and her Def roll is higher than his Mgt roll so the attack is unsuccessful.

Smax waves his chopper at an unimpressed Saramal

Round Three

Starting positions Round 3

For the first tine in the game the Dwarves gain the Initiative.  

Ilmaren the human Hunter moves forward for one action and then fires at Hashgan.  His arrow strikes home and the Elf Archer is Down and Staggered.  

Hashgan activates next. The only action open to him is to Recover and he fails his roll.  That’s the end of his turn and things are about to get worse for him.  Haraer moves in and takes a swing at the prostrate Elf.  Incredibly considering it’s 2d4 Def against 2d10 Mgt the Dwarf misses.  Maybe Hashgan will survive after all?

Hashgan downed by archery, is attacked by Haraer

Saramal is next.  She drops her bow and attacks Smax with her dagger.  Spending a Manoeuvre point she strikes but the Dwarf’s defence is too strong and both her attacks are beaten away.  Haraer now returns the complement.  Her Defence holds as her roll beats the Dwarf’s by a pip.

Saramal and Smax hard at it

The final Dwarf to activate is their leader Bigae Elf Woe. He moves on Dyvima who is still Down and Staggered.  Unsurprisingly his attack is a success but the result is Breakaway which the Elf leader is incapable of doing.  It’s now her turn to activate but her Will roll fails so she’s still Down and Staggered.  Bigae really did clobber her. 

Round Four

Starting positions Round 4

The Elves wrest the initiative back for what could be the last turn.  

Saramal uses two actions to Disengage from melee with Haraer.  Once clear she uses her remaining action to make a Ranged Attack at Ilmaren.  The rolls tie so the Hunter isn’t hit.  

Ilmaren responds by firing at the Elf Archer.  She’s hit and the result is Dive for Cover which moves her 1 stick away and renders her Down.  The Hunter completes his activation by moving to be in contact with the cottage.

Ilmaren and Saramal exchange arrows

Dyvima makes a successful unopposed Will rose and Recovers.  However, Bigae Elf Woe has other ideas and swings his large chopper at her.  His attack is wild and misses.  

Haraer uses his activation to move to be in contact with the cottage.  

Hashgan fails his Will rose so can’t recover.  Smax leaves him where he is and moves to be in contact with the cottage. And that’s the end of the turn.  

A dice is rolled and it’s a 3.  That means they’ll be an extra turn.  

Round Five

Starting positions Round 5

The Elves gain the initiative and Dyvima attacks Bigae Elf Woe.  The attack is feeble, she must still be feeling the effects of being down and staggered for so long.  She can’t disengage as that would put her in BTB contact with Haraer so she stays in position.  

Bigae Elf Woe returns the attack.  He scores double the Elf’s defence roll but the roll on the Attack Results Table is 4 meaning Defensive Strike.  Somehow Dyvima manages to flick out her sword and catches the Dwarf.  It’s a 7 and he’s Knocked Down.   

Dyima downs Bigae with a Defensive Strike

Saramal is next. Her Will roll isn’t high enough so she remains Down. 

The Hunter remains in position at the cottage.

The last Elf to activate is Hashgan who also fails his unopposed Will roll so remains Down. 

The final two Dwarves stay in position at the cottage wall.  End of turn and game.

Bigae's boys claim the cottage

Conclusion

With three characters in position at the enchanted cottage the Dwarves secured the objective and won the day.  This was a good, fun game.  When working on the forces I'd added the Human Hunter to balance out the two Elven Archers.  He actually turned out to be a deciding character.  This wasn't as bloody a game as I've played of Sword/Space Weirdos with only one of the characters being put Out of Action.  

Every time I play either of the Weirdos games it always encourages me want to play more.  It's great to give those models in the collection that might otherwise not see the table a game.  The Dwarves are plastic Oathmark models.  The Elves are mostly Oathmark but two have Victrix Dark Age Archer legs, and the two females have Frostgrave Barbarian heads.  The Human is  a Victrix Dark Age Archer.  The enchanted cottage comes from my Burrows & Badgers collection and is a mouse house! 

I'm currently working on a 1foot square terrain board for use with 10 and 15mm figures.  The idea is that I can leave this set up and play a turn when I get a half hour here and there. Hopefully I'll be playing that soon and I'll write that up in a post.