"All The Remnants of King Otto V"
An Expansion for Flintloque 3rd Edition by Gavin Syme
Gavin Syme, Lead writer at Alternative Armies, gives OITW readers something rather splendid in the form of this superb long sought after (by me at least) rules supplement to put Humans into your games of Flintloque 3rd Edition.
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To download this rules supplement as a fully formatted PDF produced by Alternative Armies click here, - Craig, Editor.
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A broken tusk jutted from its lower jaw and pierced through its upper lip drawing blood. The arrow had grazed the mouth. With its free hand the Orc tore two more arrows from its chest breaking the wooden shafts with apparent ease. It awaited the order. Blood trickled down its face staining the rough white fabric and leather around its neck. Blood flowed out of injuries and mixed dark with the red of its crudely stitched coat before dripping onto its course black leather boots. It awaited the order. Ahead the Hoomans rode horses their armour sparking brilliant in the sun; lances shining as they began to charge. Arrows rained down from the Men further back behind the riders and struck the Orcs along the thin two deep line drawing grunts but no movement; a couple of Orcs toppled forward onto the grass. It awaited the order. The spear had been lighter, the spear has been faster but the spear was gone and now he had Bessie. The order was shouted gruffly. Bessie moved from resting on the shoulder into both hands and up until it pointed at the Hoomans. The plains had been his hunting ground and the spear had thrown far and silent. Now the ranks and the lash for speaking out of turn. Bessie spoke with fire and anger but there was no fear. No fear now of the Hoomans. The lances came down to level and then gouts of grey smoke and fire stabbed out and the Men died. Dresda was theirs and his Lordship would give sips of Ladye Juniper to all who served in the ranks. Blood mingled with bitter powder as the unbroken tusk bit into a new cartridge and then he spat the lead ball into Bessie's smoking maw.
Using Humans in Flintloque 3rd Edition
Upon returning to his beloved city of Dresda the most powerful of the Human rulers on Valon, the grandson of 'mad Otto', Otto the fifth was confronted with something undreamed of. The stone walls of the mighty city were surrounded by earthworks and sounds of rolling thunder could be heard whenever a party of knights rode near to investigate. None of these riders returned and though the tiny figures walking along the ramparts were plainly Orcs in weird red jackets carrying sticks on their shoulders none of this made sense to Otto V. The Human army attacked and was utterly routed and destroyed by volley fire and complex manoeuvrer carried out by Orcs under the command of the warlord turned General Wheeling-Turn. Otto V died as did his army and the annual migration and attacks of the Orcs were over and Humans were vanquished from the land. The General overturned the desire to name Dresda after him and the name Londinium settled upon the soon sprawling city that rose atop the ruins of what was once Man's. Albion came into existence and soon the Orcs joined with the Ratmen of Joccia, the Bog Orcs of Guinalea and the Hob Goblins to form the nation and army of Greate Britorcn. All this before making war in Catalucia against the Tyrant Emperor Mordred of the Elves. But what in all of this became of the Humans of Valon. Did any survive? Any away from the cities, the armies and the other creatures in possession of Black Powder.
This article gives you the rules for making use of Humans in Flintloque 3rd edition so that you may skirmish with your musket armed Orcs or Elves and so on against the sword wielding knights who used to be a real power on Valon during the Darke Age. We present these bolt on mechanics with statistics for you to enjoy.
Flintloque Statistics:
Double March: 28
Quick March: 21
Slow March: 14
Half Step March: 7
Steady: 2
Wounds: 2
Discipline: -2
Melee Modifier: +0
Raw: 10
Average: 15
Experienced: 21
Veteran: 34
Legendary: 43
Elite: +5
Regular: 0
Militia: -2
Cavalry: +4
Guerilla: +3
Building a Section in Flintloque using Humans is straight forward and you can use the section building rules, with these statistics, which are found in every Game Book. In 5025 War in Catalucia turn to page 46 and assemble your section. Section size is normal and you may use types and experience ratings as allowed here for Humans. Humans may NOT have any firelocks of any kind; no Muskets, Pistols, Rifles, Carbines, Grenades or Artillery etc. Humans may use any melee weapon as normal. Humans MUST roll on the Magicke Talents table (page 63) and assign a talent as all surviving Humans have some magicke in them. Humans may make use of any of the generic Skills, Traits and Flaws (page 52-54) with all firelock dependent ones counting as missile weapons such as bow or crossbow. Humans ride Light Horse or Heavy Horse with standard statistics and points cost. Between Games for your Human section is treated as normal if you are playing a skirmish campaign.
Humans and Black Powder
Those of mankind who fled Dresda and other places when Wylde Magicke dissipated simply cannot fathom nor stand firelocks and their explosive powder. They will not use nor even touch such weapons or barrels or artillery pieces thinking them possessed by evil spirits. The first time a firelock takes a shot in play all Humans within 50cm of the firer must take a test, rolling 1D10, on an odd result (1,3,5 etc) they have a Shaken token placed next to them and on an even roll they are not affected. This only happens once per game.
Humans and Missile Weapons
Among the fighters of the Humans are skilled archers and men at arms who make use of Bows and of Crossbows as their ranged weapons. Here are the statistics for using those weapons in play.
Long Bow
Points cost is 27 due to skill.
The bow is the distance killer used by Humans and it takes a long time to be able to use it well. A character who is not skilled with a bow may not use one (unless they have paid the points cost for Long Bow). Unlike a Musket a Bow may shoot TWICE during every firing action picking two allowed in range targets. Bows will function normally in bad weather.
Crossbow
Points cost is 12.
The crossbow is easier to use compared to the Long Bow and it may be picked up and used by any other Human in play. It takes the standard one turn to reload and the character MUST be stationary to do this. Crossbows will function normally in bad weather.
Human Warriors in Flintloque
There is no direct comparison between the ranks and types of soldier in Flintloque and the Darke Age terms used by mankind for their fighters. We have created a crossover though which will work for you. You will see that Humans may choose five Troop Types which function as normal in play. Here is how they equate to Humans.
Regular (any typical warrior or fighter or man at arms), Militia (Peasants and ill trained Humans), Cavalry (all mounted warriors and knights), Guerrilla (Adventurers, Fortune Seekers or Raiders) and Elite (Knights in armour must be Elite type). Humans are typically led by experienced Knights or such in play and while many of them will wear armour it has little effect upon musket balls in battle. Except that is for plate armour as worn by Knights. If your Human character is wearing full plate or plate mail armour it does offer some protection in play. Against ranged fire this armour reduces the Impact Rating of the shot at that range by -2. In melee combat the wearer may add +2 to their other modifiers. This armour costs 20 Points per suit.
Can I get my Humans from Alternative Armies
Certainly you can and in fact this article was written with Alternative Armies high fantasy Humans in mind. Choose from Knights, Men at Arms, Adventurers, Warriors, Peasants as well as mounted versions armed with a variety of weapons. These are in the Knights and Adventurers, Knights and Footsoldiers and Barbarians ranges. We recommend these codes: FL12 Men at Arms, FL15 Men at Arms II, FL16 Peasants as well as FL7 Knights of Dresda, FL8 Mercenaries of Dresda and FL21 Dresda Demi Lancers for your core 'fleeing from Dresda' section. We also have Magicians and perhaps we will tackle such major magicke in another article for Flintloque.
The Scenario
Sir Reginald Brindle formally of Dresda is confused and somewhat desperate. His home is gone, his city lost and his army scattered. It seems only like a week since his retinue fled the field and rode away from the terrible noise and thunder atop the city walls. They had rode all day and night only stopping when hunger and fatigue grasped at them. Delirium or malady grasped at his men with weird glows in the sky and tremors in the earth as they rode on into dryer lands before halting at the foot of a cliff where a door seemingly cut from the rock itself offered shelter against rain which was blood red in colour. Venturing inside, leaving their horses tethered the retinue, found a large chamber upon whose walls mysterious sigils were carved. With none of them noticing the door closed sealing them in and they spent what, to them, seemed like a few hours wandering and talking. Outside this magicke chamber time passed. Time passed much more rapidly than within.
Elements of the 50th Foote on patrol in a remote Catalucian valley came across the long dead skeletons of horses tethered to a blank expanse of cliff. They were about to move on when Private Belcha, in the process of rifling through the bones of these beasts, uttered an archaic Londium curse at not finding any gold and the sheer wall of the cliff split open to reveal a door. The Orc patrol leaped back in fright and before they could do anything further a group of strangely garbed creatures emerged into the afternoon sun. Astonished the Orcs just stood stunned until the Exploring Officer leading them exclaimed 'Hoomans!' The leading creature drew a sword and the one behind it loosed an arrow which struck Private Belcha. Both sides resorted to the practice they knew best...war and the shooting began.
In order to play this scenario you will need the following table set up, terrain and miniatures as well as this article and a copy of 5025 War in Catalucia (if you wish to use other miniatures that is fine such as 5024 Escape the Dark Czar). Miniatures are from the 50th Foote and from the FL Range detailed shortly.
The gaming table is a standard six foot by four foot which features a sheer cliff at one end with comes 30cm into the playing area with the open magicke door set in its centre. The rest of the playing area is scattered with trees and a shallow stream running partially across the opposite end to the cliff. The Orcs set up anywhere which is at least 50cm from the magicke door and the Humans set up within 5cm of the magicke door.
The Albion Orc Section: Create a section of ten Albion Orcs armed with Bessie Muskets as normal with typical experience level spread with Regular type and then add one officer with a sword and standard pistol who is experienced level. Lastly add a mounted Orc on Heavy Horse who is Veteran and armed with a Bakur Rifle, Standard Pistol and Sword (this is the Section Commander).
The Retinue of Sir Reginald: Create a section of fifteen Human characters of whom ten are Men at Arms and five are Knights. The Knights wear plate armour and carry a mix of sword and axe. The Men at Arms carry a mix of sword, pike, spear as well as Long Bow and Crossbow. Standard spread of experience levels with the higher ones going to the Knights (remember to assign troop types and use special rules). Only four of the Humans may have missile weapons with at least one of each kind. Sir Reginald is then added and he is a Veteran, Regular, Elite Human armed with a Sword and wearing plate armour.
The scenario lasts ten turns and victory goes to the side with the greater number of living characters at the end of the tenth turn. There are no special conditions beyond those for Humans as outlined. This is not a points based scenario it is a narrative based one as is the grand tradition of Flintloque. Will steel and bow prevail over black powder?
Where to go from Here
I hope you enjoyed this article for an 'evolutionary dead end on Valon' created for Craig Andrews and Orcs in the Webbe for the 2017 Advent Calendar. If you fancy putting Knights and Men at Arms in to more games of Flintloque you most certainly can. It is an part of the lore of Valon not often discussed in the collapse of the Crystal Empire of the Elves, the rise of Mordred and the Wars of the Ferach Revolution of what happened to all the Humans. There would have been other pitched battles, other big skirmishes and other fleeing retreats. How did Humans fair against the Elves? Against the minions of the Dark Czar? What would happen if an army patrol in remote locations found a hidden refuge filled with Humans? This article gives you a start in all of this. As always if you want to ask questions or talk Flintloque please get in contact on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and we will be delighted to speak to you.
Thanks as always for playing and supporting Flintloque.
Gavin Syme (GBS)
December 2017
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Webmaster's Notes
An Orcs in the Webbe Original! The above scenario was published on Orcs in the Webbe on the 20th December 2016 as part of its 2016 Advent Calendar.