Last week we played Orcs & Goblins against Medieval Human (late medieval French actually!).
The rules used my Sword & Spear Ancient & Medieval rules. The fantasy version of these rules is now under development, although for this game we didn't use any extra rules for fantasy – just the standard Sword & Spear rules.
For more information about these rules see
link
I have a page on my forum dedicated to Sword & Spear Fantasy:
link
I was commanding the Orcs and Goblins and had a bigger army, with 15 units compared to 11 for the humans. My core fighting troops were 3 units of Orc warriors (D4 impact), 1 unit of elite orcs (D3 armoured with two handed weapons) and 2 units of trolls (counting as elephants so D4 impact). I also had two units of orc archers, 2 units of skirmishers and 5 units of goblins (the goblins were all D5 so unlikely to be of much use). The humans had four units of D3 heavily armoured knights, some longbowmen and some poor quality (D5) polearmsmen and crossbowmen. The discipline rating of a unit depends on its quality, with D3 being the best (elite or veteran troops) and D5 the worst (poor or levy troops). To activate a unit you have to allocate it an action dice equal to or higher than its discipline, so better units are easier to activate.
I rolled high for terrain and got some useful rough terrain in the centre. This would give me somewhere to put my goblin rabble.
The Orcs outscouted the humans which allowed me to get one unit of trolls facing the knights in the centre.
The battle lines facing each other at deployment.
The humans, with knights interspersed with polearmsmen. The trouble is the polesarmsmen are poor troops (D5) so are not the sort of troops you want to rely on in the battle line. I have more poor quality units but I deploy them on hills and in rough terrain on the flanks.
Cannons and longbowmen on a hill on the human left.
The orc and goblin battle line. The orc archers are on the hill on the left with goblins supporting. In the centre are the orc warriors and one unit of trolls, with another unit of trolls behind. More goblins are on the right, ready to advance against the human cannons and archers on the hill.
The orc right. Goblins with Wolf rider light cavalry behind. The plan is to advance the light cavalry through the brush on the right to outflank the humans on the hill.
In the first turn I try to get as many units forward as possible. The human knights in the centre don't like the look of the trolls opposite so they turn around. With lots of low quality troops it is difficult for me to maintain a unified battle line.
In turn two the human archers on their right move forward so they can both shoot at the orc archers on the hill. They are successful in their shooting and together manage to wipe out a unit of orcs. However their advance brings them into charge range of the goblins. I get good action dice and give the goblins a double six. They charge and rout one of the units of archers.
In the centre I advance my trailing units to try to keep a solid line of troops. A unit of knights charges the orc warriors. The knight have impetus but are charging into two enemy units. I roll well and the knights rout.
The human artillery on the hill shoots ineffectually. At the end of turn two:
In the centre, the two units of poor quality polearmsmen are looking vulnerable against the orc onslaught.
Turn three, and I bring up troops to straighten my line in the centre before the enemy polearmsmen charge. They are charging into greater numbers of better troops, so are unlikely to win, but it's better than standing there to be charged by the orc warriors with their impact ability.
On the left the goblins inflict casualties on the human longbowmen.
On the far right the goblin wolf riders move to outflank the human archers on the hill, and inflict two shooting hits on them. The human cannons continue firing ineffectually.
In turn four the goblins and human archers on the left fight to mutual destruction. The trolls in the centre charge the polearmsmen opposite and rout them. The other unit of polearmsmen fights bravely on against the orc warriors.
On the right the wolf riders shoot at the archers on the hill and rout them.
The human casualties mean they take an army morale test at the end of the turn. The army is close to breaking.
Turn five sees the humans fighting desperately for survival, as they are one unit away from the army breaking. Unfortunately the polearmsmen in the centre have casualties building up, and they cannot hold on forever against greater numbers. They rout, and that takes the army over its breakpoint. The knights in the centre try to do a last ditch charge to earn some glory before the army routs, but to no avail.
It was an overwhelming victory to the orcs and goblins. The luck of the dice was definitely on my side, as both action dice and combat dice went my way. However the human player did not deploy well, with two of his units of knights, which were his best troops, deployed opposite a brush covered hill, effectively taking them out of the game. He was also thrown off by my smelly trolls facing another unit of knights. The result was that the centre of the line was held by two units of levy foot troops, who couldn't possibly expect to stand up against the orc warriors and trolls facing them.
It was an enjoyable game though, and nice to get some of my fantasy figures on the table after a long time hiding away in their box.
