Warband - Search for the Treasure - A three player remote game.

Wednesday and a new game in a new lockdown...

Warband by Pendraken and Stephen Hardy. An experiment on my part to see whether it would work remotely. 

 Over the Xmas break the guys had chosen their armies from my figures, and I was running teh game remotely..

Ralph was Taurean with a +1 Lord, a +1 Shamen, three minotaurs, a centaur archer with skirmish and parting shot and knights with powerful, fierce, hero and any other upgrade going.
Clive was Dragonmen, with an Earl at +2, a -1 mage, two foot knights, 2 archers-at-arms, two billmen, and a DRAGON!
Mark was Dwarves, +2 warlord, +1 mage, 5 warriors (3 with resolute, all with formed), archers (handgunners) and artillery.

Again, I have left some of the banter from the WhatsApp group in for flavour!

 

Ralph: Hopefully my magic doesn't go off at all. It's not passed its sell by date.
Will: It is a bit moldy
 

The table, I tried to keep the terrain as symetrical for this one as possible.

My dining room table fitted the game nicely!

 

Ralph: I like the cloth. Wide open planes for horsemen. (Good thing he has lots of half-horses!)
 

The game was one of the six that come with the rules, 'Find the treasure'. Somewhere in this desolate wastelands lies an unimaginably valuable treasure. It lies within a terrain feature.

Find it.

Hold it.

Ralph: My preciousssss...

Will: Rough deployment via private channels please.

Mark: Anyway let's do this! If you surrender now I will only execute you all now and not torture and execute you later 😀
Ralph: We've already got one (terrain feature)
Will: But you have to search it...
 

Dwarves deploy in an arc, centre top of table.

 

Ralph's two attack columns form up to attack on the right.

 

Clive's forces in two lines with the Dragon on the right flank deploy far left

 

Each turn, the generals generate command points and the mages magic points, turn 1:

Clive gen 7 points, mage 5

Ralph gen 7 points, mage 3
Ralph: Good throwing
Clive: Ok
Mark gen 4 points (on +2) and mage 5.
Mark: Crap rolls and I haven't even touched the dice 😀🤣😂😅
 

Ralph's minotaurs searched his hill while his two columns were moving directly forwards maximum move.

One success for cincs column, the shaman passes once. The minotaurs behind get carried away and burst through the shamen, no damage.

The minotaurs searching the hill found...
Nothing.
 

Ralph: Skirmishes move as quickly as possible onto hill to left
Will: They... fail twice.
Ralph: Just a question will if they find nothing on a terrain feature does that mean there is nothing or they can try again
Will: Oh, I should have mentioned mage and generals points do not carry over.
Will: It means its not there...
Ralph Baker: Ok
 

Mark's artillery shoots at nearest enemy (range of 6BW is HUGE, practically across table) while his troops on hill searched it.

The artillery missed (twice), and Mark's archers were just out of range.

Ralph Baker: Who did the artillery miss?
Mark: Everyone!
Ralph: Oh I wouldn't know they missed.
Will: Your minotaurs on the hill.
 

Will: Good news everybody...
Ralph: What the Duck has arrived?
Mark: What's that then

Mark's first search roll has revealed the...

Ralph: Ha ha
Mark: That's quacking good luck for me! So what do I do with it? Hosin sauce and pancakes? I'm not moving.

 

The simple answer is hold on to it! If Mark controls it after turn 4, and no one is withing 3BW, he wins! (copied from the rules, sorry Stephen)

Clive marched the whole lot to march forward together towards the feature on Mark's right. Use any spells or anything else available to move everyone as far as possible together. Firing everything!
He also cast 'Zeal of the Dragon King'. This allows all friendly units within range gain 1 motivation within 3 of your mage and hero trait (basically an extra die per unit, and hero adds an extra die to be used at the unit's descretion during the turn, so this turn it was exrta move rolls).

 

Oh, and the dragon needed orders... And with 7 command points, Clive could order 7 extra moves, if he got this right, he could be in Mark's face turn 1!

 

Will: Where do you want the dragon to go?

Ralph: Up
Clive: With everyone else
Ralph: Is it Pete's Dragon. Oh no its Clive's
Will: He can go up to 8bw!!!
Clive: Charge! Take the duck!
Ralph: Hang onto your hats Dwarves

Clive: Yes, good. Not too impressed with the infantry formation!

Ralph: Is that dragon called Ney

 

Clive: They were meant to move together!

Clive: Trigger
Clive: Puff
 

Will: The hero and extra points didn't help, some units got oer entheusiastic, others failed!
Ralph: Where is Jacky Piper?

Will: Dwarves can be boosted Mark, you have four points you could put into attacks or saves.

Ralph: Not in height surely?

Mark put all his many points into attacks, which lead, with an almost certain inevitability, to four rolls and four misses!
Mark: Yay.
Clive: Par for the course mark 😀
Mark: Yep
Mark saved one and took one wound. It would have been a lot worse but his 'resolute' ability stops him being pushed back into his own CinC and that stops the push back causing an extra hit. This ability makes Dwarves notoriously difficult to move in Warband.

 

A few glory shots of the dragon and dwarves in combat.

It's a big beast!

And causes fear, with powerful, dice knocked off Mark's dwarfs, and a dice off their saves too!

 

Turn 2.
Clive three points general, mage gets 1
Will: Mark gen 7, mage 2
Ralph gen 5 shamen 7!!!
 

Clive went for as many aggressive moves as possible, to get his army within three BW of the duck.

Clive: Move the stragglers up. Fire anything I can including the wizard spell
Will: Stragglers catch up. Line of sight blocked by some blokes in armour. (His own blokes, Warband does not allow overhead fire, unless you are flying or on a hill).

Mark tried to move the left flank by pivoting those units back. and wanted to get his dwarven unit with the bath toy pass it back to the General, while shooting will be at nearest targets. and in the fight against the dragon add in as much Generals do-day as possible into scoring hits on the  beastie.

Ralph: You cannot pass the Duck.

Ralph: Or did I mean buck

 
Ralph: Dwarves never retreat!! 

The artillery hits the minotaurs who failed to save.

 

Clive: He's running off with that duck!
 

The doughty dwarf unit with duck is pinned by dragon so could not break off or hand off the duck.

Mark's archers hit Clive's men at arms, who manage to save...

Ralph, with his maxed out Shamanic group, cast 'Walk The Forever Maze' spell. The chieftain and the centaur knights are moved to the flank of the woods. The skirmishes move onto hill as quickly as possible to their left (skirmisheres ignore the slowing effects pf terrain). Shaman and Minotaur angled and moves as quickly as possible towards dwarf line. The other two minotaur units move towards flank of dragon men line

 

Ralph: He's not getting the duck out now Clive without a fight.

 

Ralph: Ok I see so there not able to fly as such. Therefore I will put them on the left flank of the two minotaur units. As if by magic, the warlord appeared!
 

 

In combat the dragon swings; scoring 3 hits, but the dwarves, heavily boosted by his nibs, also score 3! Dragon HAS to break off. Dwarves with resolute hold their ground.

Mark Kapalo: Yay! 

Dwarf wound saves, they lose on one point while the dragon takes but a single wound. It doesn't help the dragon has powerful that knocks out one of the save dice. Dragon pulls back to safety, they don't live thousands of years without learning caution. Mark decided not to pursue.

 

 

Mark's line, dented but unbowed.

Turn 3:

Clive general 5, mage 4
Ralph general 5 and shamen 3
Mark gen 6 mage 1!!! 

For Mark to win, he had to make sure sure there are no enemies within 3 BW of the treasure from next go.

Mark: Thats going to be tricky! I don't have points to do anything in initiative ☹️

Will: Dwarves are surprisingly good at holding their ground.

Mark: Thats what I must do then!
Will: Okay. Beer break while we wait for Clive? 🍻 (Clive popped out to walk his dog)

 

While we waited, Mark's archers hit once, but Clive saves. Artillery hits the centaur knights in the flank taking two hits which Ralph used his command points to save. All saved and his nibs has two CP left. 

Mark: Boo hisses!! I should have used mine to boost shooting!
Ralph: Excellent. Not my fault.

 

Clive had enough magic points for 'Zeal of Dragon King'.

Ralph: Go Go Powerangers!
Clive sent his archers and wizard to face Ralph's flanking force, while everyone else charged whoever had the duck, even if terrain was an issue terrain is slowing his forces up.

His archers at arms had a shot on Ralph's boss, and hit! But Ralph saves!!!

Clive had 3CP left, he could tried to get two units in on those three dice. Which he did. 

Clive: So is it just my units that are stopping Mark winning? I can't see Ralph anywhere near the duck?!
Will: Not yet, but he moves rather quickly.
 

Ralph's skirmishes moved over hill towards duck, suddenly he his in range to affect game win.

"Quack!"

Ralph's minotaurs and centaurs with boss moved to engage Clive's wizard. They moved once, but were slowed by the bog. As his archers were range and could 'Parting Shot', he used his CP to move his command group again. 

 

Meanwhile, the Shaman moved towards nearest dwarf unit and their attached minotaurs charged the nearest dwarf unit.

 

Ralph: See, I am helping Clive!

Clive: No you're not!

Ralph: Ordered a charge with the command group and the rest of his line, but he rolled a 3! Not good when standing in a bog with a VERY squishy enemy ahead of you!!

 

Ralph's skirmishes shoot at the nearest unit, but miss. His shaman's line of sight was blocked from launching 'Mind Wrack' (magic missile).

 

Clive's dragon leaped back in before dwarfs react, breathing ice breath. But the breath does nothing to the stalwart dwarf clansman.

Ralph: Nice Dragon
Clive: Well he's a white dragon
There were two hits on dwarves from Dragon. The Dwarves swing...
Ralph: I'd call it murky blue really.
Clive: Thought more likely ice than fire.
Ahem - The Dwarves hit with one die.

Ralph: Dwarves in trouble.
Mark: Boost my saves!!!
Clive: My army is white dragon knights. 

Mark had six points and one hit.

Elsewhere, the foot knights bounced. Dwarves with resilience stand still.

 

In the vital dwarves vs dragon fight, they take one and  save one, then take 5 rerolls to save!!!  

Down the line, more dwarves vs knights save all after one reroll. The dragon saves, and combat will continue.

The Foot knights save one hit, lose one, but are bounced back.

 

On the other flank, minotaurs charge in. Causing three hits (they are brutal on the charge).

Clive: Dragon seems poor for the cost. 129pts and it hasn't killed anything yet! 😆

Will: Dragons work best with support, and need generals to boost.
Mark: I put everything in to saves though.
Will: Mark has put ALL his points into saving.

Back on the flanks, the Dwarves miss the minotaurs.

Clive: Dwarves are good against dragons though according to Tolkien

For the Dwarves, one hit goes through! 3 saves!!
Will: Bloody excellent roll for Mark. Unfortunately these guys can't fall back because of the table edge and take an extra hit.

Clive: I'll start distracting him soon. How close is the baron to the dragon? That far..

 

Turn 4:
Clive gen 7, 2 magic
Mark gen 7, 5 magic!
Ralph gen 6, magic 3.
 

Clive (looking at his archers and mage): Who put them in that formation?
Will: You did, thats the way they turned. Pivot from centre. 

Clive ordered the wizard to move back to line up with the archers behind and the archers nearest the enemy to retreat onto the hill. 'The blokes on the left flank' charged the enemy, which was Mark's archers, who missed in their closing fire. The Baron moves up too, positioned to influence as many units as possible. Anyone else who could charge an enemy unit does so.
Then Clive spotted something to save his Priest from being flattened by a charging Minotaur lord! He used 'Aspect of the Dragon' which gives the mage and one other group either 'Flight' or 'Fear'.

Clive: What does flyer do?
Will: Flight allows you to ignore terrain and not be contacted unless by another flyer. Might be useful here.
Clive: Yes
Will: Okay: Flap flap (unit at front)

Clive shots, and hits a minotaur, who saved.

Ralph: So I cannot attack any of Clives troops in any way.

Clive: Sounds like a bit of luck 😀
(The right hand one was still on the ground. The others are flapping about, Clive tries a shot)

 

Ralph's main line with boss move forward. Skirmishes charged dwarf cannon. Minotaurs keep fighting. Shaman moved and shot using 'Mind Wrack' on the nearest unit using all three Magic points.

Clive: Ralph you don't want to get underneath the flyers. They'll wee on you.

Ralph: Not bothered come down and fight if your hard enough. We horses wee on ourselves.

Clive: I'm busy looking for the duck

Ralph: It's that yellow thing.

Clive: Yes I can see it from up here.

 

Ralph's Shaman rotates and causes two hit from magic. But the dwarfs saves one... and take one wound.
Ralphs skirmishers take a hit from closing artillery fire on the charge, but two wounds get through! Ouch!

 

(At this point the game was somewhat distracted by events in Washington).

Ralph tried to boost his save on the wounds on the skirmishers. But he was out of range at 3.5 bases. Dean: 3 base widths to influence Ralph. 

His Shaman looks on...

 

 

Mark decided to stay put to maintain his line. In shooting phase he tried to get his wizard (of Oz) to blast dragon with all his points, unfortunately shooting into combat is not allowed.

Will: May I recommend 'Granite Aspect' Mark? ;)
Mark: If you say so!
Gives massive amount of extra protection... Taking warriors up to 4 dice each. "Heavy man"

Mark noted that especially for artillery crew where he needed durability, definitely for unit with the Shredded Duck take away!

Mark needed to fight for "My rights to Paaaartttaaaayyyy!"
Clive put all his CP into his dragon attack.
Will: Eek. This is bloody

Even Mark threw in a unit of Dwarfs to try and silence the Minotaur Shaman!

 

Even Mark's archers took a hit.
Mark put loads of boost save vs dragon!
Only one reroll was needed, dragon's hits saved and they were locked in combat!!

The Dragon fails to save. Basically, it looks very embarrassed.
Elsewhere, both the artillery and skirmishers saves too.

 

In the dragon fight... Clive had 5 points to allocate. Mark had 6.

Go on, make my day..
Clive: I'll attack with everything, I want that duck!!
Mark: I will match his 5 with 5 also and save one for a save boost
 

 

I got the other fights done first. The centre Foot knights fail all three saves and bounce with two wounds lost, and the warriors followed up with charge bonuses for their next go.

 

Right, main fight... Dragon does one extra hit.

Clive Dean: Crap!
Dwarves hits back with two. Dragon will break off. 

 

The dwarves... SAVE! And the  Dragon loses a wound.and is down to 2/4, and flaps off. The warriors have a charge now with a lot of bonuses...

Mark Kapalo: DO IT!!
Will: Stompystompy!

 

Turn over
Mark: With my Duck Warbanner of Slaughter I shall prevail! Quacks for the Quack God!

Clive: We cannot prevail! We're off!!
 

Ralph was concerned how he could attack Clive as he feared he will fly up. But Clive had no points to fly with his mage this turn and the Minotaurs would steamroller his mage. He would attack with 5, the returns with 1!!! If both Ralph and Clive had got their heavies into Mark, they would have cracked him.
 

 

Ralph Baker: Horses don't like ducks.

Mark: I hold the Duck of War all fear me and tremble!
Will: I was going to place a real treasure token. But Imi brought out a teeny duck!!! Couldn't help it. Sorry.
Ralph was attacking Mark on the flank with 3 out of 7 units and Mark would have won on turn 4 if Clive hadn't sent the dragon off on his own. 

I suspect that in real life we would have got a resolution in real life. Sorry it didn't finish chaps. It was worth a try...
 

Hopefully it was a good demo of what I think is a fun set of rules.
Mark: It would have been better if we were more familiar with the rules but great is just how it is! Great game, great figures and terrain was cool too!

And I won.
 

What made it hard was all three had maxed out generals standing behind the front line giving them a LOT of longevity by dealing out CPs for hits and saves.  🍸

Mark: Did I mention I WON?
Will: Lol well done mate.
Mark: The Duck of Luck was with me!

Ralph has bought the rules and will have a go with them again.
Mark: I have no doubt about it!
Clive: No one lost a unit did they? 😆
No losses. But an embarrassed dragon...

I really was not sure it was going to work, but it kind of did.
Mark: Don't say that will was a complex game to run! Good job
Clive: Yes you gave yourself a lot to do Will. So many units to move and so much going on. Then us badgering you. It was fun. I like badgering you 😀
Will: Wait until I do put units out with badgers in...

Mark: Did I mention I WON?