Minihans & Minibart: Empires Second Battle

In the second review battle, MiniBart was the leader of the Goblins, and MiniHans would lead the Empire into battle. This time we played the game in 'landscape' style: the players sat down along the long sides of the map. MiniBart's capitol was in C2, and MiniHans founded his capitol in N8. (We assume that MiniBart is on the south side of the board, and MiniHans is on the northern side.)

In the first turn, MiniBart spent his money on the Wolf Riders, a fast skirmishing unit with a deadly D6 melee blow. MiniHans opted for Jorghan the Paladin, a famous personality in the Empire because of his D7 melee attack. The Wolf Riders went west, and Jorghan the Paladin rode to the south, close to the mountains.

In turn 2 MiniBart built a village where his Wolf Riders were, and recruited Trolls in his capitol. MiniHans built a village too, and - trying to save some money for more expensive units later on in the game - bought a Mob in his capitol. They would prove to be really tough guys.

MiniBart moved his Wolf Riders towards Jorghan the Paladin. This might look foolish, but now MiniHans wouldn't earn money for his province. (MiniBart had remembered very well that sufficient funds are essential for the Empire.) Of course, Jorghan could do nothing but try to stop the Wolf Riders - and moved next to them.

The first sounds of furious battle would be heard in turn 3. But first, general MiniBart spent his time on recruiting and building new units (Harpies and more Wolf Riders) and a village. MiniHans chose the Noble Crossbowmen, and built a village too.

Then the melee started between Jorghan the Paladin and the Wolf Riders. Due to his higher initiative, Jorghan was to roll first. 7 dice were rolled, and showed the impressive score of 5 hits! Now you know why these dice are colored red! MiniBart's guys had an extra defense bonus for being in the mountains, but still they rolled only 1 defending die...and were wiped out completely. The first point went to MiniHans. But... winning a fight does not mean you win a battle.

MiniBart used turn 4 to bring 2 more units (Spearbearers and Ogres) into the game, and built another village. MiniHans had only money enough to build the Monastery of the Order south of the mountains, and recruit another Mob unit. (By building the Monastery, he wanted to bring the special units into the game.)

The Goblin army spread over the lands. The Wolf Riders went far east, the Trolls towards the mountains, and the Harpies to the north. MiniHans sent all of his Empire units to fight them. A tough clash of units would follow next turn.

But - as usual - turn 5 started with raising new units. MiniBart added the very rapid Spider Archers and Basilan the Victorious to his green army. MiniHans was very pleased with the Noble Crossbow Archers and recruited another unit of them. Also, Querin Tendris - a member of the Monastery - was added as a spellcaster. He sold himself as an experienced level 3 spellcaster.

During the shooting phase, the Noble Crossbow Archers managed to hit the Wolf Riders once. Jorghan the Paladin was more succesful - again 5 hits were rolled, and the unfortunate Trolls were slaughtered (because they only rolled 1 defense).

The Noble Crossbowmen finished what they had started in the shooting phase. They scored another 3 hits on the Wolf Riders and wiped them out. But the costs were high: the Wolf Riders managed to score 2 hits on them.

The Harpies scared the Mob in the woods. This meant they could not attack this turn, and had a -2D on their defense. MiniHans was glad that MiniBart only rolled 1 hit on 4D! Things were going well for MiniHans so far. So far...

During the movement phase, MiniBart chose to move his units from his towns to make place for new recruitment in the next phase. MiniHans moved towards his enemy, and moved his Mob out of the forest.

In this turn - number 6 already - MiniBart recruited 2 units of Light Archers. MiniHans had only money for Mounted Lancers.

During the shooting phase, the Noble Crossbowmen - who had wiped out the Wolf Riders in the last turn - tried their battle skills on the Spearbearers. They scored 2 hits on them, so the Spearbearers only had 1 hit left. An easy prey for Querin Tendris, who would cast a fireball on them. Battle nerves probably made him lose his concentration, though, so he was not able to cast any spell at all! The Spearbearers were fortunate. In return, the Light Archers scored 1 hit on the Empire spellcaster. Jorghan the Paladin was also in a very bad situation. He took 4 hits from the Light Archers and was killed instantly!

On the northern side of the map, the Mob resisted the Spider Archers. We told you they were tough guys, didn't we?

During the melee phase, Querin Tendris fumbled again: he rolled only defenses. He looked quite silly there on the battlefield. A level 3 spellcaster? Well, if you ask MiniHans' opinion he is rather green.

The Harpies tried to scare the Mob again, but in open field the Mob could not be scared by anything at all.

The Noble Crossbowmen tried to finish the Spearbearers, but it looked like they forgot to put their crossbows away in the melee phase! On a 5D roll they rolled... 5 defenses! The Spearbearers made long noses - with their spears! They shouldn't have done that. This left their defense open to an attack by Querin Tendris, who scored 1 hit on them - enough to kill this unit. Poor Querin in return received 1 wound from a melee attack by the Light Archers.

The Mob in the mountains lacked battle experience. They were an easy prey for the Light Archers, who killed them all with a formidable 4 hits.

The other Mob (north of the mountains) left the Harpies for what they are, and concentrated their attack on the Spider Archers. 1 hit was the result. The counterattacks by these hideous monsters were turned away, as was the attack by the Harpies.

This was the first turn that MiniBart succeeded in hurting MiniHans' armies, and he also conquered a village in the north.

Money problems in turn 7 meant that MiniHans could only afford 1 unit. He chose the Rangers - an expensive unit, but he was hoping that both their shooting and melee power would make that good. MiniBart called in the Clangett's Furies and Gorat the Mystical.

The shooting phase was a disaster for MiniHans. The Light Archers caused 2 hits on the Noble Archers, and they - in return - scored only 1 single hit. The Noble Archers already had 2 hits from an earlier attack, so they were killed in this phase.

MiniHans'Noble Archers in the mountains hit Basilian the Victorious 4 times, but this formidable personality defended 3 of them. Wow! Only 1 hit was scored on this unit.

The Mounted Lancers had a serious problem with their lances. Which end should be pointed at the enemy? Apparently someone gave the wrong answer, because during the melee phase they rolled 6 defenses against the Ogres. The Ogres in return used the wrongly held lances to score a magnificent 5 hits on the Lancers. Another unit was lost for MiniHans. All other melee attacks but one had no results. In the north, the marvelous Mob had overcome their fear of the Harpies, went into the woods, and killed them all!

This meant that MiniHans lost another 3 units. This - and the victorious grin on MiniBart's face - was more than he could take. He left the battlefield and victory went to MiniBart! The Goblin army cheered at their glorious leader. "Hurrah, hurrrah, hurrah!" their green throats shouted. The Empire was plundered, and burdened with gold, jewels and other interesting stuff, the Goblins went home.

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