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Dreadloque - Reloaded |
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Written by Danny O'Hara
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Thursday, 01 November 2007 00:00 |
Being the true tale of BANDITRY, INSURRECTION and the infamous PIPEWEED!
(Recorded for posterity by Mr. Damnall O'Hairy, itinerant Bog-Orc).
It being suggested that such frippery may be of some passing interest to players of the most excellent and much lauded FLINTLOQUE game, perchance.
The following is a true recounting of recent events in the WINDY ISLES, involving slave insurrection, Elven interference, glorious victories and strange Halfling cults.
The Windy Isles
On the sea route from Albion to the Dark Continent lie the Windy Isles, so-called because of the incessant trade winds, through which virtually all shipping bound for those mysterious lands must pass. This gives the islands a value much more than any intrinsic worth, and they have been sporadically inhabited by various races. On all the major islands 'plantations' are maintained, growing various crops which are then distilled into devilish liquors. These are run by settlers (Elf, Orc and even Dwarf), using slave labour (mainly Halfling and Goblin). At times slaves escape into the wilds and form wandering gangs who prey on isolated settlements, mule trains, etc.
The islands have seen many changes since Mordred's ascension. At that point the islands were predominantly owned by Dark Elves, with others held by Dwarves, Orcs or High Elves. On the rise of the Ferach, Mordred proclaimed that all the slaves were free. This caused widespread slave revolts, and High Elf troops moved into many islands to 'assist' these rebels. However, once ensconced Mordred retracted the slaves' freedom and made the majority of the islands into High Elf colonies with the plantations in operation as previously. But a few ex-slaves, notably the Halfling Bilbo Marley, have refused to accept this turn of affairs.
'Hobbiton Me Come From'
Born in Hobbiton, Jamcakey, some eighteen years before Mordred's seizure of power, Bilbo Nesta Marley is the son of a slave-girl by an H.E.V.C. (Halfling) soldier, and worked as a plantation slave until Mordred's calculated proclamation of slave emancipation. An early and enthusiastic supporter of the freedom movement, he joined the forces of Drogo Dekker (much against his mother's wishes), and fought in the ill-fated slave revolt of Jamcakey.
Fleeing the Orcish response, he sought refuge in the Elf-dominated islands, but was sorely disappointed by the Elf treachery. Now a homeless outlaw, he set out with a group of hardened, desperate comrades to spread revolt. Unsure whether he hated Orc or Elf most, he quickly realised that the High Elves presented the most immediate threat - thus the rebels came to a loose alliance with the forces of Albion.
While wandering the gang came to be known as the 'wailers' from their war cries, and they have come into contact with the scattered remnants of the indigenous goblin tribes. From the famous tribal warrior 'Ganja' they learned of the 'pipe-weed' which inspires some Goblin shaman. Whilst Halfling slave beliefs tend to include the old hobbit folksy lore, Goblin shamanism, Orc and Elf philosophies, together with local slave ideals, there has been little direction to these. However, under the influence of pipe-weed Bilbo saw a vision of the great, semi-mythical Halfling leader 'Ras Gaffer', and the whole melting pot of Halfling religion crystallised into the principles of 'Rasgafferianism'. Now both revolutionary and prophet, Bilbo set out on his insane mission - to ignite the Windy Isles into an inferno of righteous, Rasgafferian awareness, which will sweep away the colonial powers.
The rest, as they say, is history....
The Scenario
Bilbo and the Wailers have kidnapped young Gloriette Glorfindelle, daughter of the High Elf governor of Makemshriek, together with her slave-girl Lobelia (a female Halfling), Having slipped away from Makemshriek in their canoes, they have reached the sparsely inhabited island of Hatey. A message has been sent to the Orcs, and an Orcish ship is due to collect the hostages as soon as possible. Meanwhile the rebels are hiding in the jungle of Hatey with their valuable cargo. But they have spotted a ship closing on their position, and it is flying the Ferach tricoleur!
From the crows' nest of the Laiquendé, a keen eyed Ferach matelot has spotted smoke from an area of jungle on the coast of Hatey. Perhaps they have caught up with the disgusting Halfling rebels who stole young Gloriette Glorfindelle from her father, Governor Louis Glorfindelle. Thus Sergent DuBois and his marines have quickly landed by longboat, and are setting off into the jungle to locate the possible rebels and rescue the Elfette. The Governor would be very well disposed to his daughter's rescuers!
Meanwhile, approaching at a more leisurely pace is His Monstrosity’s Ship (HMS) The Saucy Snaga, an Orc sloop under the command of Lt. Flassz-Orc, hero of the Goblin Wars and arch-rival of the low-born Sharke.
Map and Setup
There is no set map for this scenario. The game is set on the small island of Hatey, which is basically a tropical island with fairly dense vegetation. There is a small encampment (grass huts, etc.) in a clearing, but otherwise all is jungle with very limited visibility. If you do not have a suitable island tabletop layout, you could run the game with one table edge as "the sea", or even set the whole action totally inland and avoid using boats altogether.
Either way, the Halflings are set up using six tokens. One token is marked as the real rebel group, while there are five other dummy tokens. The dummy tokens are detailed in the 'There they are !' rules below. The Halfling player can place these anywhere within the jungle. The Elves enter anywhere from the shore-line (placing a model or market to represent their boats) and the Orcs arrive as per the ‘Send in the Marines’ special rule below.
Scenario Objectives
Here are the objectives for each force in the Scenario:
Dubois’ Elves
The Elves must locate the rebels and rescue the hostages.
Bilbo’s Wailers
The Wailers have to avoid capture by the Elves and meet up with their allies, the Orcs, so they can ransom Gloriette back to her father, Governor Glorfindelle. Then get safely off the island.
Flassz-Orc’s Marines
Having received the message from the Halfling rebels the Orcs must take possession of the extremely pretty hostage and they should really help the uncouth rebels escape too so they can fight the Elves another day.
Game Length
There is no maximum length to this game scenario it ends automatically upon the completion of the objective of either force in the game or the death of all troops except your own.
Victory Conditions
The Elves win if they manage to get control of Gloriette, get her to a boat and escape off the island. The Wailers win if they hand Gloriette over to the Orcs and escape off the island. The Orcs win if they get Gloriette and escape of the island with Bilbo.
Scenario Forces
The Wailers
Bilbo Nesta Marley [Experienced Halfling Guerrilla] 19 Points
Short Sword (+2)
Pippin Tosh [Average Halfling Guerrilla] 15 Points
Short Sword (+2)
Merry Wailer [Average Halfling Guerrilla] 13 Points
Short Spear (+1)
Ganja [Average Goblin Guerrilla] 22 Points
Short Sword (+2), Bow
Total Force: 3 Halflings, 1 Goblin and 69 Points.
Sgt Dubois’ Elves
Sergent DuBois [Experienced Elf] 29 Points
High Elf Musket, Sword (+2)
Corporal Lejeune [Experienced Elf] 25 Points
High Elf Musket
Soldat Belanger [Average Elf] 21 Points
High Elf Musket
Soldat Deréon [Average Elf] 21 Points
High Elf Musket
Soldat Fournier [Average Elf] 21 Points
High Elf Musket
Soldat Hébert [Average Elf] 21 Points
High Elf Musket
Soldat Gagnon[Raw Elf] 17 Points
High Elf Musket
Soldat Echoné [Raw Elf] 17 Points
High Elf Musket
Soldat Cloutier [Raw Elf] 17 Points
High Elf Musket
Soldat Abrial [Raw Elf] 17 Points
High Elf Musket
Total Force: 10 Elves and 206 Points.
Lt. Flassz-Orc’s Marines
Lieutenant Flassz-Orc [Raw Orc] 25 Points
Standard Pistol, Sword (+2)
Marine Sgt. Griknak [Experienced Bog-Orc]
Standard Blunderbuss 32 Points
Corporal Spillguts [Average Orc] 30 Points
Standard Musket, Sword (+2)
Marine Gnash [Average Orc] 24 Points
Standard Musket
Marine Gnosh [Raw Orc] 23 Points
Standard Musket, Bayonet (+1)
Total Force: 4 Orcs, 1 Bog Orc and 134 Points.
The Hostages
Gloriette Glorfindelle [Raw Elf Militia] 11 Points
Unarmed (-3)
Lobelia [Raw Halfling Militia] 6 Points
Unarmed (-3)
Scenario Special Rules
Adding more variety to a standard battle this scenario uses the follow quirky and unique special rules.
The Jungle: The jungle counts as dense woodland. As such all units moving in the jungle suffer a three column shift to the left as per the Flintloque Reloaded rules (p. 93). They also suffer a three column shift to the left when firing (p.96).
The Bow: Ganja is armed with a bow, it has the same stats as an Othari bow as shown in the on the Alternative Armies supplement “Flintloque Statistics Tables v1.2” which can be found in the files section of Alternative Armies Notables Yahoo group.
Flassz-Orc: Despite his fearsome reputation, Flassz-Orc is actually a true coward and will never willingly engage in combat. He will tend to stand at the back and accuse all his men of cowardice.
Send in the Marines: Three turns after the Elves move into the bush, Flassz and his Orc marines should arrive, either by boat (moving at 5cm per rowing figure) or from another table edge (depending on your table setup). Their aim is to collect the hostages and get away, not to chase Elves through jungles!
Captured!: Before discovery the Wailers use the movement rate 'prone' (p.94) because of the slow prisoners. Once discovered only the characters holding each prisoner is limited to this speed.
'There they are !': As mentioned above there are six tokens in play, any one of which could be the Wailers. Two of them are 'Wild Boars', two of them are 'Blank' and one of them is a 'Trap'. The blank ones are just that, nothing is found; the boars, once discovered are played as per Matthew Hartley's excellent "Wilde Things" rules for Dresda/Flintloque (reprinted in Scenario Notes below); and the 'Trap' token can be deadly. Upon a character discovering the 'Trap' card you have to roll under the characters Run speed on percentage dice to avoid be skewered by deadly spikes causing instant death to the unfortunate character.
'Quick Lobelia, run!': If a character holding either prisoner is pushed back, knocked out of action or killed then control of the prisoner passes to the Elf player. If they are recaptured (see 'Bring them back!' below) control passes back to the Halfling player (or Orc/Halfling player in a two player game).
‘Bring them back !’: To try and catch an escaped prisoner a player must engage them in hand to hand combat and declare before rolling the die that they are attempting to take the prisoner hostage rather than kill them. If at least one wound would be scored they are considered captured.
Webmaster's Notes
This scenario was originally published on Danny's excellent website.
You can play this scenario with two players, just give control of the Halflings to the Orc player.
I have added to the original text and also have made slight changes to the scenario in order to remove the need for a GM and to match Alternative Armies new scenario format making the scenario more accessible to players of Flintloque Reloaded. Don’t forget this can still be played with a GM allowing for much more variation in the random encounters and the behaviour of the prisoners.
The wild boar and it's actions are from Matthew Hartley's excellent 'Wylde Thinge' rules from Orcs in the Hills, Issue 5. They are reprinted here for ease of play, the only difference for this scenario is upon discovery of the token representing one of the boars immediately make a roll for 'Enemy Within Charging Distance' and resolve the attack before continuing with the game:
Each Turn, immediately before the Movement Phase, a D6 roll is made on the relevant Action Table for each creature. The table columns are read from left to right. The result of the roll in the first relevant column applies. The column headings refer to both current events, or, in the case of the "Wounded" column and "Shot At" and "Fired At" columns, events which happened on the previous Turn. In all cases however, it is the first relevant column which is rolled on . For example, a creature with a enemy within charge range, which was fired at last Turn would roll on the "Fired At" column for this Turn's action, as this is the first relevant column. Similarly, a creature which was wounded last Turn, but is currently in melee combat will roll on the first column ,"Melee", for this Turn's action.
Any actions which are required by the table results occur in the relevant Movement, Firing, and Melee phases as normal.
Any figure who is charged by a creature, must make a morale check as if charged by cavalry, but with a - 2 modifier on the die roll.
Wild Boar Statistics
Defense Factor 2
Wounds 3
Prowl 6cm
Run 22cm
Charge 32cm
Melee Modifier +4
Boar Action Table
1D6 Roll
| In Melee | Wounded Last Turn
| Shot at Last Turn
| Firing/Fire Within Run Speed Distance
| Enemy Within Charge Speed Distance | Enemy Beyond Charge Speed Distance
| | 1 | Flee | Retreat | Retreat | Flee | Retreat | Retreat | | 2 | Retreat | Prowl | Halt | Retreat | Halt | Halt | | 3 | Attack | Attack | Attack | Retreat | Prowl | Prowl | | 4 | Attack | Charge | Attack | Halt | Prowl | Prowl | | 5 | Attack | Charge | Charge | Prowl | Attack | Attack | | 6 | Attack | Charge | Charge | Attack | Charge | Charge |
Attack: Move at Run speed towards nearest opponent and engage in Melee.
Charge: Move at Charge speed towards nearest opponent and engage in Melee.
Halt: Make no Movement, defend itself if in Melee.
Flee: Move at half Charge speed away from opponent(s). If this is impossible then treat this result as an Attack (A) result.
Retreat: Move at 75% Run speed away from nearest opponent(s). If this is impossible then treat the result as an Attack (A) result.
Prowl: Move in a randomly determined direction (roll d12 and use a clockface) at Prowl speed, fight if in Melee.
The rule for capturing escaped prisoners is taken from Steve Blease’s excellent scenario 'Prisoner Snatch' from Orcs in the Hills, Issue 5.
My gaming group and I played this on the 25th October 2007, a battle report for it can be found here. |
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