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Scenario 016 - The Battle At Koleshire Keep
By Baby Cindi,
as appeared
in
Archive Pestilens,
Transcribed & edited
by The Mordheimer.
How It All Began
Kolshire Keep was built on the borderlands between Empire territory and Orc
territory. Situated next to a small abandoned farm (where soldiers often
slept), it was considered a very crucial holding point for the Empire as a
whole. In fact, it is clearly a very strategic outpost. In the twenty years
it’s been standing, the soldiers at the keep have quickly squelched dozens
of Orc raids that would otherwise have penetrated the Empire’s outer
territories. Unfortunately, this was soon to end.
It all happened on a mist-shrouded morning some three years
ago. The soldiers at the keep were at ease this day, taking comfort in the fact
that Orcs generally avoid making military actions in such foul weather. And
indeed, just as figured, a nasty storm swept the area. All the sentries and
other soldiers closed up the keep, seeking protection from the thunder & rain.
Big mistake.
Just as the storm started to die down, the men inside unlocked
the doors and went out to resume their watch duties. No sooner had the doors
opened, a large group of waiting Orcs sprung their ambush! They rushed into the
Keep, slaughtering the soldiers without any semblance of mercy. The element of
surprise gave the green skins the edge & soon, all the humans had either escaped
or perished in the brutal skirmish.
The Keep was quickly taken over by the Orcs of Clan Skaggle.
They now possessed the very same advantage the humans once had. And from there,
many, many attacks were unleashed upon the nearby human villages & hamlets. War
boss Skaggle was quite surprised that the Empire didn’t attempt to re-take their
keep. But, in reality, the keep would have proved a very tough objective to win
back.
Of course, this eventually would work in the humans’ favor,
for the Orcs have recently began leaving fewer & fewer boys when they went on
raids and other such missions. They had grown lax...just as the humans had
before them.
The Current Situation
With the Orcs at the Keep becoming more and more over-confident, it was only a
matter of time before somebody did something about it. It just so happened that
the first person to develop a plan of action was a well-respected mercenary
captain by the name of Jarsyn Gaylord.
Jarsyn had always been something of a glory hound and a
pompous braggart at that. His tales were always those of great renown, though
most of them were very aptly embellished from the actual truth. And when he
caught wind of the lack of sentries at the Keep, he immediately saw an
opportunity to come off as the hero, which he is constantly guilty of doing.
With that in mind, Jarsyn gathered up a band of warriors and set out to single
handedly reclaim Kolshire Keep for the Empire....not to mention gather any loot
left behind by the Keep’s Orcy inhabitants.
Terrain Each
player takes it in turn to place a piece of terrain, either a ruined
building, tower, or other similar item. There should be a clear space
roughly 8-12" in diameter in the centre, representing the spot chosen for
the single combat. We suggest that the table is set up within an area
roughly 4' x 4'.
Setup Obviously, your terrain collection will ultimately determine how exact
you’ll be able to set up the battlefield. If you don’t have exactly every
piece of terrain you need, you can either improvise or alter the battlefield
from how I’ve laid it out in the map. It’s your call.
The Orcs get to set up anywhere within 5 inches of the Keep, including inside
the structure or even on top of it. The Reiklanders may start within the
set-up zone shown on the map. 18" from the corner & 4" out. It is assuming
that you are using a 3 ½ foot by 3 ½ foot table. Feel free to adjust to your
table size.
Special Rules
Jarsyn’s Mercenary Band: Jarsyn Gaylord’s group can be designed by using
the Reikland War Band list. Feel free to build the war band however you
wish....with the exception of Jarsyn himself. For Jarsyn, you may equip him
anything allowed for a Mercenary Captain. In fact, his profile is the same
as a regular Merc Captain with the following exceptions...
Jarsyn, despite all his bragging, really is a rugged man capable of
battling on even with severe wounds. Some say that his pride refuses to let
him die. To reflect this, he has 2 Wounds instead of 1.
Jarsyn’s a student of the art of sword fighting. This gives him the
Expert Swordsman skill, allowing him to re-roll all missed hits with a sword
during the turn he charges.
Jarsyn’s base cost is 80 Gold Crowns.
Skaggle’s Boys: Unfortunately for Jarsyn, Skaggle himself has stayed
behind, not wanting to get his hands dirty "wif raidin’ doze ‘oomies".
Skaggle’s war band can be constructed however you wish. But ol’ Skaggle
himself is handled a bit differently. You can equip him with anything
allowed for Orc Bosses (which his profile is based on). There are a few
special rules pertaining to Skaggle...
Skaggle is a ruthless fighter and is notorious for using lots of
dirty tricks to overcome his enemies. To simulate this, once per turn,
he may make a low-blow on any single enemy he’s in close combat with. To
do this, you need to make a low-blow roll (1d6) before the combat is
rolled for, regardless of who gets to strike first. If it turns up a 5
or 6, the opponent is considered to be at -1 WS for this turn of combat.
This indicates that ol’ Skaggle stuck a thumb in his eye, bit his face,
gave him a swift knee to the groin, or some other nasty cheap shot.
Skaggle is considered to be "da most talky" Orc Boss around, meaning
that he can inspire his boys to fight harder and such. As a result, he
has a Leadership score of 9 and can let any boy within 12" take Ld tests
off of his score, as opposed to the normal 6" for other Bosses.
Skaggle costs 90 Gold Crowns.
Starting the Game
Roll a die to see who has the first turn.
Ending the Game
The first group to Rout or is destroyed loses the battle.
Experience
+1 Survives: If a Hero or a Henchman group survives the battle they gain +1
Experience.
+1 Winning Leader: The leader of the winning warband gains +1 Experience.
+1 Per Enemy Out Of Action. A Hero earns +1 Experience for each enemy he
puts Out Of Action.
Terrain
