Orcs in the Webbe

Harpy pulled the grey blanket tighter around his shoulders in a vain attempt to fight off the chill wind blasting down from the Deadlands. Looking around the piteously small camp fire at his frozen companions, the huge Bog Orc cursed the gods for the nightmare that currently engulfed Valon. The world turned upside down was how Wheeling-Turn had described it, when, at the moment of victory against the cursed Ferach, the Undead turned on ally and foe alike plunging Valon into a new bitter war of living against the dead.

Harpy was shaken from his reverie as a ghost like figure emerged from the mist shrouded darkness into the pale glimmer of the fire.

“Well soir, did ye find out where the buggers took ‘im?” Harpy asked the newcomer. His fireside companions also turned to face the newcomer. The Dwarf, his beard caked with frost, the Elf almost totally wrapped in blankets and scarves, but still holding his musket at the ready.

“Aye sergeant, I did as that”, replied Major Sharke, late of the 67th South Mordor. “I did as that…”

Introduction

Sharke’s Hogswatchnight is crossover mini-campaign for Flintloque and Deadloque featuring characters and races from both games. The campaign is set in a post-Ferach Wars background which I had started to work towards before I quit freelancing for CCI. The idea was to continue the history after Mordred’s final defeat outside Londinium and have the Orcs and High Elves on the same side against the Undead (moving on to a fantasy-Crimean War from a fantasy-Napoleonic one). Whilst they have a common enemy in the Undead, the Orcs and Elves still do not trust one another…

The mini-campaign starts just before the Krautian festival of Hogswatchnight on the snow swept border between Krautia and Albion. The war against the Undead is not going well and potential disaster looms for the allies, a disaster only Sharke can prevent.

Dwarves, as everyone knows, are a strange race, superstitious and steeped in arcane tradition. One of their most important traditions is the Hogs-Koeing coronation on Hogswtacht Eve, when a prize hog, reared by the Brewmaster Guild is crowned Hogs-Koeing (Pig-King) for a year. The pig is an animal of almost mythical standing in dwarf lore as it is seen as a magical animal from where they get the staples of the Dwarven diet - bacon, sausage, ham and pork chops. If the hog is not crowned at midnight on Hogswatchnight, then the Dwarves believe the year is cursed and that disaster will befall the Dwarven race.

From an allied military point of view the prospect of having whole dwarf armies struck down with poor morale would be a disaster from which the allies might not recover. Allied intelligence services have discovered that the Undead KGB have seized the crown hog in waiting and are attempting to secret him back to the Witchlands so Alexander can feast on him. Tracking the Undead raiding party down to the Albion-Krautia border there is only one Orc who can be trusted to complete the mission to recover the hog and bring home the bacon – Sharke!

Playing the Game

Sharke’s Hogswatchnight differs from normal scenarios in that it is a series of linked games that can be played many times with differing results each time. The Sharke player starts off with a small group of four characters (Sharke, Harpy, Steiner and Adragain) but may come across allies in the course of the campaign that may join his band on their desperate mission. The Undead are randomly generated throughout the campaign.

The Initial Unit Comprises of:

Major Sharke: a Veteran Character, armed with his trusty Bakur Rifle (fitted with saw edged sword baynet) and carries a sword.
Sergeant Harpy: an Experienced Bog Orc, he carries a Seven Barrelled Volley Gun and an engineers axe.
Hauptmann Steiner: an Experienced dwarf, Steiner is armed with Rifle and sword, but has no magical ability.
Corporal Adragain: an Average character armed with a High Elf musket and bayonet Montage has magical attributes (roll before playing).

To play the mini campaign you need a pack of playing cards with the picture cards and jokers removed. This leaves 40 cards, 10 of each suit remaining. These cards are shuffled and then laid out face down in a 5 card by 8 card rectangle. Each card will represent a location which is connected to the cards next to it horizontally or vertically (but not diagonally). A card is revealed when Sharke’s unit moves onto it and the suit (and card number) will determine what, if anything, is at that location.

The Sharke player can spilt his unit up into smaller groups as he sees fit to try and complete the mission more quickly but obviously faces the prospect of these smaller groups facing larger odds when they encounter any Undead.

The mission must be completed within 24 strategic turns for Sharke’s side to win.

To start, the Sharke player picks one card on the edge of the grid to start from. This card is revealed and this represents a standard 6’ x 4’ wargames table. Terrain should be randomly generated using a % dice and the table below.

If the card is a diamond or club there is nothing but snow swept countryside and movement continues. The Sharke player may move to any adjacent card (vertical or horizontal, not diagonal)

Allied Troops

If the card is a heart, then allied troops are encountered. These may be taken by the Sharke player to add to his unit(s) if he succeeds in persuading them. To persuade any allied troops encountered, the Sharke player uses the most persuasive character in his unit and rolls against the following chart:

Allied Troops

If a heart card is uncovered, allied troops of some description have been encountered. The exact nature depends on the value of the card.

Undead

If a Spade card is uncovered, Undead troops of some description have been discovered. The exact nature will depend on the value of the card.

Terrain

To randomly generate the terrain on the table, throw a % dice six times and consult the table below:

The Undead player places the terrain on the table but no item should be within six inches of the table edge (unless a river).

Table Set Up

In any encounter scenario the Sharke player unit(s) enter from the appropriate side based on their movement on the strategic card grid, so if they move horizontal long edge of a card to the card on the right, they enter the table along the left edge (just imagine the table is the playing card!). The Undead are positioned wherever the Undead player wants but not within 12” of a table edge.

End Game

Once the hog has been discovered the Sharke player has to await rescue by the Elven Corps d' Aerostiers. They will arrive as soon as possible but flying is not an exact science so this may take a while. In the meantime the undead will be trying to get the pig back.

For the final scenario generate the terrain for a 6’ x 4’ board. The pig and his rescuers start in the middle of the board. On turn one (and every subsequent turn) the Undead player rolls a D10 and consults the Spade chart to see what undead unit enter the table (from whatever side they wish). On turn two (and every subsequent turn) the Sharke player rolls a D6 – on a roll of 6 the Corps d' Aerostiers arrive and fly the pig to safety and Sharke has won.

Any other allied units on the strategic (playing card map) may move towards the final battle crossing one card each turn (unless cavalry in which case they can cross two). They can enter the table from whatever side they wish.

Author's Notes

I think this is the first piece of Flintloque material I have written in over 11 ½ years and hopefully it all makes sense! The core strategic game is based (well nicked if I am entirely honest) from Matthew Hartley’s excellent Scudbusters rules (available in PDF from Wargames Vault), possibly the best special forces game in the world! Not only does it have a strategic game element but can be played solo using random force tables and recreates the friction of warfare as the special forces abilities worsen the longer they are in the field. For ideas alone this game is well worth picking up.

Webmaster's Notes

An Orcs in the Webbe Exclusive ! 

The above was written by Steve Blease for Orcs in the Webbe's Countdown to Christmas Advent Calendar in 2008 and marked his return to Flintloque more than a decade after he and Mac Coxhead created it.

Anyone interested in following through the planned timeline that would have seen the Star Wraith's March of Damnation, Albion invaded by the Ferach and the unexpected conclusion to great Battle of Wheeling-Turnshould check out Steve's unpublished draft of Flintloque II.

Matthew Hartley's Scudbusters can be purchased from Wessex Games website, there is also a link to the Wargames Vault where as Steve mentioned you can buy it as a downloadable PDF.