BOYL 2016 - The Siege of Dumezil Hold - First Edition Battle

Norse

Member
At GROG we have been running through the Redwake River Valley Scenario from the back of the First Edition Characters Volume - played using Harry's fantastic winter terrain. We refer to it as Coldhammer. The story so far, if you are interested:

The band of adventurers left Ath Cliath in search of news about the Redwake River Valley, from which no one has heard anything in some time. Anders Son of Ian, Glod, Lara the Croft and Barrowburner and their retinues of 2 wood elves, 1 overworked dwarven apprentice, 5 dwarf peasants and 2 fen warriors travelled first to Forseta, where they hired a guide to take them through the fens. From there they struck northwest to cinder island to discover a sizeable goblinoid band encamped on the island. Deciding to make for the Buri river ford instead, they are chased down by wolf riders in the night. The small party of wolf riders was seen off by some efficient bow fire and a well placed fireball.

They find the Buri river ford guarded by a small force of goblins and orcs, but with a combination of withering bow fire on the rear ranks, a fireball or two and a frenzied nobledwarf and his retainers the orcs were slain and the goblins routed.

The party made their way through the forest and decided to head for Silberry Ferry. They discovered the village burning and full of partying orcs and so decide to move on to enlist the aid of the powerful wizard Psammon in his tower at Menglad. They reach the tower to find the rat banner of the goblinoids raised above the battlements. They make for the river to the north in the hope of finding some cover and crossing to warn the sea elf colony at Fortrenn of the destruction of Silberry Ferry. After a heroic swim across the raging torrent by Lara the Croft to take over a guide rope, they fashion a makeshift ferry and cross to the other side; but are attacked in the night by a small party of orcs.

The dwarf sentries charge groups of orcs coming in from the north and east, whilst the party coming in from the west fall foul of the traps set by Anders. The Dwarf Farmer Giles singlehandedly destroys the threat from the north whilst his friend to the east is sorely pressed by 3 orcs. To the west, the slowly waking members of the band form up and take out one orc with a volley of bow fire whilst the other charges the thin line. Glods apprentice stands firm before him and holds him at bay before Lara the Croft wrestles him to the ground. To the east, the arrival of Farmer Giles to the flank of the orc band sends the orcs into panic and the last of them is routed, leaving two captives.

The party interrogate the orcs and discover that Psammon has raised an army of orcs and is attempting to cut off the north. They don't know the exact purpose of his evil plan, but he appears to be trying to seize control of the valley.

The party then moves on to Fortrenn. Warning the town of Psammon's intent and the destruction of Silberry Ferry, the elves agree to gather forces from the other major elf town of Aeilech and the dwarven hold at Dumezil and meet the party at Menglad in four days time whilst the party attempt to enlist the aid of Thelma the friendly fire dragon.

The party arrive at Mt Borgann to discover that Psammon has abducted Thelma's daughter Teena. She will do nothing to aid Psammon's defeat until her daughter is rescued. The party agrees to rescue Teena and Thelma provides them with enchanted weaponry and the promise of aid should they succeed in rescuing her daughter. They then return to sneak into Menglad and attempt a rescue.

Meanwhile, the party of elves accompanied by Barrowburner's sheriff gather more elves from Aeilech and march to Dumezil. They discover it surrounded by orcs and realise that the only hope of gathering an army to assault Menglad and stop Psammon's evil plot is to break the siege.

This weekend we will be playing through the Siege of Dumezil Hold as part of our campaign - the result of the battle will have important consequences for the party of heroes currently hanging around Menglad. As none of the player characters are directly involved in the battle, anyone and anybody should feel free to turn up and take part. There will be figures representing the Dwarven defenders of the Hold, the goblinoid invaders and the elven relief force - but the more the merrier so if you fancy bringing along a character model and/or a regiment or two then please do. We can work any combatants into the scenario in some fashion, but of course dwarfs, elves, orcs, goblins and hobgoblins will work best. Small regiments work best in First Edition, 10 figures is ideal (or 5 cavalry or skirmishers).

Characters can be created with me on the day, or if you have time to do it in advance use the following procedures:

For ease of setup, all character models will have one more WS, BS or I than the standard profile, plus one additonal Wound. The overall commanders will have 2 additional points of WS, BS or I and two additional Wounds. Roleplaying characteristics can be generated as follows:

Intelligence:

Roll the following dice depending on race.

Men 1d10
Elves 2d6+2
Dwarves 2d4+4
Orcs 1d10
Goblins 1d10

Cool:

Roll 2d6. Orcs and Dwarves minus 2 from this total.

Willpower:

Roll the following dice depending on race.

Men 1d10
Elves 2d6
Dwarves 2d6+4
Orcs 2d6
Goblins 2d4

Leadership:

Roll 1d6 on the following table.

Score Value
1-3 1
3-4 2
5-6 3

Skills:

Roll 1d4-1 to determine the number of skills your character has, then throw 1d100 on the following table to discover what they are. If the same skill is thrown more than once, record it as second or third level etc.

Score Skill
1-10 Trapper
11-18 Tracker
19-25 Trader
26-30 Sailor
31-32 Ships Mate
33-34 Ships Pilot
35 Captain
36-40 Forger
41-44 Con Man (increase Cool by 3 points)
45-53 Pickpocket
54-60 Pharmacist
61-67 Actor
68-76 Minstrel
77-81 Jeweller
82-85 Woodsman
86-88 Fisherman
89-92 Nomad
93-95 Armourer
96 Miner
97 Engineer
98-100 Linguist - Choose two other languages to be fluent in.

Magic:

To become a Wizard a character must have an Intelligence of at least 5. Dwarves may not become Wizards if they have a Willpower of 10 or more. Wizards may not cast magic whilst wearing armour.

A Wizard begins with a Mastery of 1.

Constitution equals Will Power plus 2d6.

The Wizard's total Life Energy is equal to

Man D10x200
Dwarf 2d6x200
Elf 2d6x200
Orc D10x200
Goblin D6x200

A Wizard in this scenario knows 3 spells, generated randomly (I have some tables prepared we will use on the day).
 

Harry

Moderator
Re: BOYL 2016 - The Siege of Dumezil Hold - First Edition Ba

Hi,

As Chris has said ... anyone is welcome to come along and join in ..... either with some fo your own toys or taking command of some of the stuff we have on the table.... and you don't ever need to have played or even read 1st edition to join in the fun..

Here is the map from the back of the 1st edition.

 

Grumdril

Member
Re: BOYL 2016 - The Siege of Dumezil Hold - First Edition Ba

Hopefully I'm signed up for this via Gaj's shiny website, but at risk of duplication I thought I'd chime in here as well.

I'll bring some extra orcs.

See you at the weekend (all being well - car has started playing up...).

Paul B
 

Norse

Member
Re: BOYL 2016 - The Siege of Dumezil Hold - First Edition Ba

Well, I can't find any way to see who has booked into things through that - so chiming in here is helpful! See you there then Paul B!

A quick word on timeline. The main battle will be on Saturday. Friday will be for setting up and for playing out any pre-battle cunning plans formed by players, such as night raids to destroy equipment, assassination etc.
 

Grumdril

Member
Re: BOYL 2016 - The Siege of Dumezil Hold - First Edition Ba

Unfortunately I'm not there for the Friday as I'm working. It's probably safe to assume that my chaps won't have any cunning plans to worry about though...

Paul
 

Norse

Member
Re: BOYL 2016 - The Siege of Dumezil Hold - First Edition Ba

Not a problem Paul! I imagine most people won't be about for the Friday.
 

Norse

Member
Re: BOYL 2016 - The Siege of Dumezil Hold - First Edition Ba

Thank you to everyone who took part in this battle! It was an enjoyable day, and has contributed to the direction our campaign will now be taking.

The orcs and goblins overran the hold, but the clan managed to evacuate their entire court and their sacred relic in just the nick of time. Paul's orcs fought hard to break into the hold and cut them off from escape, but unfortunately the handful of dwarfs still defending that entrance managed to hold him back just long enough. In addition, the sneaky elves managed to shoot down the orc and goblin commander! This means that not only will the dwarfs be able to aid the elven assault on Menglad, but that a large chunk of orcs will still be milling around in Dumezil unable to take part in the final battle.
 

Scalene

Member
Re: BOYL 2016 - The Siege of Dumezil Hold - First Edition Ba

That battle looked absolutely magnificent. Well done
 
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