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Wednesday, 12 December 2007 00:00 |
Introduction
At the beginning of the Fourth Age of Valon when Orc colonists first moved east into the New Territories , they encountered a new type of human, completely different from the men of Dresda that they were used to fighting, they had a darker skin and a more Orc-like outlook, especially where horses were concerned.
An Orcish commander, Colonel Orcfaud, realized the advantages of these Native Humans as scouts, and quickly set about drafting whole tribes to the Orc cause, it became rare that an Orcish officer stationed in the east would be without at least a section strength unit of these unique troops, in fact most races that had colonists or forces in the east employed at least a handful of native humans, though only the Orcs ever used these troops in other theatres of war.
Sadly with the racial hatred against Human's so strong, the sections that weren't disbanded early on in the Mordredian wars became used for suicidal missions deep behind enemy lines. Often the few survivors of these missions became dangerous, developing a loathing for their previous commanders and as a result they became hunted to near extinction. To see one in the later days of the Fourth Age became very rare and in the Fifth Age they all but disappeared completely, once again lost to Valon and not destined to return until the Ion Age.
Spells
Native Humans have chances to have spells as per normal, however they roll on the following table.
% Rolled Spell
01-05% Heal one wound (own)
06-10% Heal one wound (own or others)
11-17% Speedy flight (may run for two turns)
18-37% Light small fire immediately
38-45% Worker (chosen opponent, in hand to hand, must make a moral check on the fired column at once)
46-50% Stalking (character may make hidden move this turn, chance to spot equal to improbable action, cancelled by attacking)
51-70% Follow Trail (character able to follow any trail automatically)
71-80% Steady Shot (+5% to any aimed fire)
81-90% Hide (as stalking except character cannot move as this will cancel the spell)
91-97% Night Vision (can see at night as clearly as if day, for 1 turn)
98-00% Shaman Ability (see below)
The principle native humans in Orc employ are the tribes that make up the Iraquoi people, they will fight as light infantry or light cavalry as skirmishers only and are considered to be Guerrilla for unit type.
Usual Equipment
One of the following: Bow, Standard Musket, Standard Blunderbuss or Standard Pistol.
Two of the following: Axe, Knife, Spear, Lance, Club or Shield (deducts 1 from difference in hand to hand combat if wielder loses).
Native Humans use the statistics below, Native Human scouts will always loot better weaponry from fallen enemies, therefore after a few battles some may even be armed with rifles.
Crawl 4cm
Walk 20cm
Run 30cm
Defence Factor 2
Wounds 2
HtH Mod +2
Shaman Abilities
Whenever a character gets a 98-00% roll on the table above, it indicates that he has received some training from a shaman, this training is of no help in a battle, but may be used beforehand to give a slight advantage; all of these abilities require days of preparations and cannot be used during a battle. A character that rolls Shaman ability two or more times can either add +1 to his current shaman skill, or roll another ability, however only one ability can be used by each shaman before a battle.
Roll a D4:
1. Change Weather - Character may change the weather at the start of a scenario to suit player for 1d6 turns, weather then reverts to the weather listed for the scenario.
2. Spirit Scout - Shaman can scout ahead in spirit form and can discover D3 random unknown things about target or area.
3. Dragon Track - Shaman can send his spirit forward in time and knows how to avert disaster, player may re-roll any D3 bad results of his choice.
4. Cast Omen - Roll 1D6 on the following table:
1-2 Bad Omen (-2 to unit morale, -1 in hand to hand)
3-4 No Result
5-6 Good Omen (+2 to unit morale, +1 in hand to hand)
7+ Auspicious Event (+3 to unit morale, +2 hand to hand, all characters ignore first wound)
Figures
Alternative Armies still produce thier Plains Braves (original order code Code F19) and they can be ordered by dropping them an email.
Webmasters Note
This was first published in Orcs in the Hills, Issue 4 in Autumn 1996.
I have amended the text slightly to bring things "slightly" more in line with plans for Frontear and the current Flintloque background. |
