"Sharke's Revenge"
A Flintloque Scenario by Tom Oxley
Major Sharke and other units from the Grande Alliance must prevent Ferach Spies from escaping whilst being harassed by several enemy units in this Flintloque Demonstration Game for two to ten players.
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Sharke and Harpy had been fighting their way across Al-Garvey as the troops of Albion, under the Duke of Wheeling-Turn lead them and the Goblins of Al-Garvey ever closer to the border of Catalucia. If things continue at the current rate, they would be helping to liberate those hills and fields again in the next few months.
The remainder of Sharke’s company of Rifleorcs had been combined with the red-coated orcs of the 33rd South Wessex shortly after the Duke started the recent string of victories, and Sharke had been promoted to Major and was acting as the executive officer of the combined battalion, but still fought with the light company and the rifles, still preferring his green jacket to the red.
On their path through Al-Garvey, they had constantly been harassed by the Ferach light troops, often at times and places that the enemy should not have been aware of their movement or the weekspot that the enemy chose to attack. It had become clear that there were enemy spies working among them, and after the Exploring Officer discovered some interesting information concerning their identity and location, Wheeling-turn had turned over the job of finding and eliminating them to his best officer.
Of course, the Duke was smart enough to know he needed to send a contingent of the Al-Garvey troops along, so that the victory wouldn’t appear to be completely an Albion victory.
The word from the Exploring Officer was that Sharke had a good chance of running into the spies and their small escort near an abandoned village that also marked the location of the only bridge in the area to cross a small stream, thought to have a strong current and a very soft and dangerous bottom, which made fording extremely dangerous at best. Sharke would try to get there and ambush the spies at the bridge.
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LaRoo and DeGalis, for two spies who had long histories of working in similar jobs, detested each other. Neither understood any reason as to why they should suddenly find themselves working together on the project to assassinate the enemy leader. Both thought they would be better able to do the deed alone, and without so many stupid infantrymen around to interfere.
Both spies were assigned a small element of Ferach light infantry and voltigeurs to accompany them on this mission, and since there was the chance they might have to escape to the sea and to ships that were supposed to be waiting for them off the coast, there was even a Marine infantryman along for the ride. LaRoo secretly thought that the Dragoon sergeant was probably the only other man on the expedition that he trusted, but he wasn’t about to tell anyone that.
And why somebody decided the Finklestien allies needed to be involved was beyond everyone’s imagination, but part of the accompanying infantry were three Finklestien ogres. Noisey, smelly brutes, both LaRoo and DeGalis hoped that their strength and toughness would offset their size and general clumsiness.
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Victory Conditions
The Ferach players win if they succeed in moving both spies off the other side of the table by the end of the game. The Albion players win if they prevent the Ferach victory.
Number of Players
This is a good multi-player scenario for 2 to 10 players running up to 5 small elements of characters on each side. If there is only 1 or 2 players to a side, they may take 2 groups of characters for their unit.
Setup
The players will be given cards lettered from A to J, corresponding to the lettered units. As the players reveal the letter, they will be given the troops, roster and move log sheets for the troops. Players should be given one more opportunity to trade if other players are willing to do so, then players will set up their figures within the first 6 inches of the table edge. Albion sets up on the side of the river with the village, Ferach start on the opposite side. Orchard and woods are considered light woods for shooting and moving purposes. Figures in base contact with a tree will get hard cover if shots fired at them have to go through the tree area to hit them. Figures in hand-to-hand combat will get open cover bonus for the woods. Figures on the bridge will get low wall cover unless being fired on directly from down the length of the bridge, and figures in base contact with the end of the bridge wall will get high wall cover.
In order to simplify and speed play, the cards used for determining which player uses which troops will then be used to randomly determine player sequence. Each player will run through their complete turn, except for possible interrupt fire by the opposing side. Experienced players may decide to use the Initiative rules in place of this shortcut.
The village is a deserted goblin village of 6 buildings. The buildings are obviously of little value except perhaps to hide behind. The ramshackle nature of the roofs make it unsafe for characters to enter them. GMs should feel free to create building interiors if desired. I chose not to for two reasons – I didn’t have buildings with interior detail, and I felt it would give the defending force too much of an advantage. The stream is considered unfordable and may only be crossed at the bridge.
Note: If the GM wishes to make it a bit easier on the Ferach forces, he/she may let them roll for a possible hidden ford – roll a 1-5 on a d20 to succeed when a group of characters walk up next to a spot on the stream. Only one fording point may be found, but unsuccessful die rolls may allow the unit to move further up or downstream and try again at another point, and other elements on the same side may also try during their turn. Fording is done at a –2 column shift to movement, resulting that some troops may not complete crossing during the one turn. Troops in the middle of the stream when fired on will cause a –1 column shift for the firer. When the ford is completed, there is a chance that the powder they carry, including that in the flintloque, will be wet and unuseable. Roll a d20 – a result of 1 or 2 results in wet powder and the character will not be able to fire the weapon the rest of the game, but will be able to use it as a small improvised weapon (ogre Kanonderbuss is a large improvised weapon) for hand-to-hand use.
Map and Setup
Elves set up within 6 inches of this edge
Orcs set up within 6 inches of this edge
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Scenario Forces
Note that these were written with the Flintloque Reloaded ruleset in mind but can easily be replicated using Flintloque 3rd Edition Stats.
A: Orc Rifles
Major Rekhardt Sharke - Elite Veteran Light Troop - Bakur Rifle, Sword
Expert Reloading – Reload and fire same turn with –1 column shift, also reload and fire if already fired in aimed fire phase with –2 shift.
RifleOrc Hagsmun - Elite Average Orc Light Troop - Bakur Rifle
Gets Aimed Fire Bonus every shot regardless of actually aiming.
RifleOrc Purkinz - Elite Average Orc Light Troop - Bakur Rifle
RifleOrc Muir - Elite Raw Orc Light Troop - Bakur Rifle
B: Orc Rifles
Sergeant Harpy - Elite Experienced Bpog Orc Light Troop - Volley Gun, Bakur Rifle
May ignore first fatal wound, but must take next. May re-roll 1 die roll during game.
RifleOrc Battunz - Elite Average Orc Light Troop - Bakur Rifle
RifleOrc 'Arris - Elite Average Orc Light Troop - Bakur Rifle
Treats attacked in rear as attacked in side.
RifleOrc Darkly - Elite Average Orc Light Troop - Bakur Rifle
C: Orc Light Infantry
Cpt William Brooke - Veteran Orc Light Infantry - Sword
Pvt Johnnie Walker - Raw Orc Light Infantry - Orc Bessie
Roll 1d10 each turn – 6 or more=drunk - -1 to fire, ignore wound modifiers – lasts 1d10 turns.
Pvt “Crabby” Crabbe - Raw Orc Light Infantry - Orc Bessie, Bayonet
Pvt Stewart Jackson - Raw Orc Light Infantry - Orc Bessie, Bayonet
Ignore morale check for hit for first time and being pushed back.
D: Orc Light Infantry
Lt Harry Flashorc - Experienced Orc Light Infantry - Pistol, Sword
Must be within LOS to Orc privates, otherwise –1 Morale
Sgt Daniel Shaw - Experienced Orc Light Infantry - Half Pike
Wont join in melee if involves Lt Flashorc
Pvt James Bovic - Average Orc Light Infantry - Orc Bessie
Pvt Edgar Abel - Average Orc Light Infantry - Orc Bessie
If pushed back or wounded, morale –1/+1 to all shooting
E: Goblin Cacadores
Cpt Juan de Diablo - Elite Experienced Goblin - Rifle, Sword
+4 hth. Ignore hth penalties for 2 opponents
Hernandez - Elite Average Goblin - Rifle, Sword
Paulo - Elite Average Goblin - Rifle
Arturo - Elite Average Goblin - Rifle
Escobar - Elite Average Goblin - Rifle
Pablo - Elite Average Goblin - Rifle
F: Elven Voltigeurs
Maj Michel D’Kless - Raw Elf Regular - Knife
Sgt Didier Delon - Elite Veteran Elf - Elf Dragoon Musket, Sword
Dragoon attached to unit. May Run 2 consecutive turns
Cpl Andre Mouchon - Experienced Elite Elf - High Elf Musket
Ignore wound modifiers to movement
Pvt J.P. Gautier - Experienced Elite Elf - High Elf Musket
G; Elf Voltigeurs
Col Daniel La Roo - Elite Veteran Elf - Sword
Spy – avoids combat unless he can attack from behind. May run for 2 consecutive turns.
Pvt. De Place - Elite Average Elf - High Elf Musket
Pvt Mange-tout - Elite Raw Elf - High Elf Musket
Pvt Antoine Quayle - Elite Average Elf - Hgh Elf Musket
Elf Marine attached to unit. May “tap-load” musket, load and fire same turn with –2 column penalty, may not use if fired during aimed fire phase.
H: Elf Light Infantry
Cpt Luc de Payen - Veteran Elf Light Infantry - High Elf Musket, Sword
Wont join in melee if DeGalis involved
Spy Master Huges DeGalis - Experienced Guerilla Elf - Sword
If outnumbered in close combat, may ignore one enemy when calculating melee modifier
Pvt Paul Bedivere - Raw Elf Light Infantry - High Elf Musket, Sword
Pvt Henri Armand - Raw Elf Light Infantry - HIgh Elf Musket, Sword
Avg vs Orcs (no –2 Morale for Raw)
I: Elf Light Infantry
Sgt Jean Bodin - Experienced Elf Light Infantry - Sword
Ignores pushed back result as draw
Cpl Francois Dupont - Average Elf Light Infantry - High Elf Musket, Sword
Pvt Saint - Average elf Light Infantry - High Elf Musket, Sword
+1 morale if DeGalis within LOS
Pvt Deveraux - Raw Elf Light Infantry - High Elf Musket, Sword
J: Finklestein Ogres
Sgt Heinrich Rimmer - Average Ogre Regular - Double Musket
Double Musket made up with a halfpike blade for HTH
Pvt Erich von Donnerken - Raw Ogre Regular - Kannonderbus, Knife
Doesn’t suffer Fired At First Time morale check; carries 5 canister & 4 roundshotte at start
Pvt Hacksman - Raw Ogre Regular - Halberd
Doesn’t suffer Fired At First Time morale check
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Author’s Notes
I wrote "Sharke's Revenge" as a demo game. I mixed elements from the original set, the Sharke's Victory module, the Reloaded set, the Czarlingrad module, and the Bridge Over the River Que module. Individually, some of the elements proved not to be balanced very well, but if you have three or more players on each side, the better elements will support the lesser elements well, pushing a teamwork approach rather than having a bunch of elements all out there doing their own thing. Feel free to make any modifications you see necessary to make the scenario work for you. I think my notes are pretty well explained, but if you dont understand something, please let me know.
Tom Oxley
20th September 2006
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Webmaster's Notes
The above scenario was originally published on the sadly now defunct Flintloque Yahoo Group on the 20th September 2006.
It was first published on Orcs in the Webbe on the 7th December 2023 as the seventh entry in that year's Advent Calendar and, of course, is part of Orcs in the Webbe's ongoing Flintloque Archive Project.
Any comments in maroon in the article above have been added by me either to provide additional information or clarity. I may also have made small changes to grammar and layout but have not marked these.