Foreward: I’m not writing this first post in chronological order, simply because it comprises several sessions, and it’s easier to say “They ask the elves for help and the elves send help” than to try to remember when precisely they asked and then remember some ways down the page to add in a note saying the help finally showed up.
Setting: The Empire of Rylia, described in more detail over in my “Gearing up to start ACKS again” thread. Rylia is made up of five kingdoms, loosely analogous to England, France, Spain, Germany, and Sweden, thus neatly covering the fantasy bases.
The players begin in the nothernmost reaches of Zahre, once the capital of engineering and home to numerous universities, but which has now fallen into disarray and poverty following a disastrous war with the elves that concluded with the loss of their capital. Although that war ended a century ago, the economic and military losses have stripped the kingdom of the ability to expand; now merely maintaining the status quo taxes them to the utmost. In fact, the only reason they’re not steadily hemorrhaging territory to the beastmen was the creation of the Golden Aegis, an order of paladins and knights dedicated to the defense of the north, drawing on funds and volunteers from Zahre’s allies abroad.
Our adventure begins when the Paladin Magnar Westmont III writes to a handful of his old friends, asking them to ride north and join an army that will move to check a beastman horde. The party gathers in the riverside city of Nobridge:
Cast of Characters: (I gave them 4k XP to start)
Adam’s PC Killian Jones Thief 3
Adam’s Hench Dochi Mystic 2
Adam’s Hench Toni Assassin 2
Jimmy’s PC Tyr Mage 2
Jimmy’s Hench Jigby Mage 1
Jimmy’s Hench Jimby Mage 1
Jimmy’s Hench Carrawak Fighter 1
John’s PC Garret Cleric 3
Steve’s PC Dohmnall Saint Nobiran 2
Mike’s PC Magnar Westmont III Paladin 3
Sean’s PC Torque Dwarf Engineer 2
The party arrives too late to join the army, however they do discover that a splinter force has broken off and plans to sack the city while Count Mathias’s army is fighting the main horde to the north. As Nobridge is a major center for blacksmiths, engineers, leatherworkers, and alchemists who make a living supplying the Aegis with all the materials for their unending war against the orcs and lizards of the north, its destruction would be a major blow to the whole region.
The players declare themselves the Shield of Nobridge (or the Shield of Aegis, depending on the context) and set about attempting to raise forces. They manage to enlist the help of the City Watch, a couple hundred of the townsfolk, and convince some of the nearby Aegis forts to give away a portion of their men, although most already marched north and all that’s left is a skeleton crew (metaphorical skeletons.)
They also sent Jigby and Jimby as emissaries to the nearby vassal-Duchy of Yivehar’s Haven, where the “friendly” elves live. Count Vasveuryen of Drindrell sends a unit of veteran longbowmen. He’ll show up again later in the campaign, assuming I remember.
Their first course of action on actually leaving the city was to hit the goblin-held caves and attempt to prevent them from being rolled into the orc force. The Goblin King, Rodney, proves surprisingly amiable to their requests, as he’s something of a reformist among his people. He agrees: He’ll send two warbands to help the human side, on the condition that the goblins be given land and a promise of safety. The treaty is signed, and the party rides to Moorton (the village the beastmen just sacked and are currently looting) to see the beastman splinter force firsthand and assess what they’re dealing with.
It’s about a thousand orcs, lead by mysterious large horned beastmen. They can’t quite make out what they are, because they’re using Torque’s bird-shaped mechanical Omnicopter With Holographic Lens (Or OWL, for short) to record aerial footage of the enemy camp, but the picture quality is not perfect, or in color, and they don’t dare to have it fly too low. They also note that the Beastmen have been piling all the bodies of the slain into a massive pit, around which they’re building… something.
Instead, they capture a raiding party a few miles out of town; Tyr and Dohm both cast Sleep and are able to drop the entire raid during the surprise round. They execute most of them and torture the survivors for information. They learn that the horde is comprised of a number of mountain clans which were united when the Horned Ones challenged their chieftains and seized power via combat. The origins of the Horned Ones, and their leader Daedalus, remain mysterious.
After a few nights, the party is visited by the assassin Has’skein, who casually mentions that he was hired by forces unknown to kill Rodney to ensure the goblins choose the right side, or at least not the wrong one. He posits that beastmen destroying the country would be bad for business though, and offers to help the party assassinate Daedalus in return for a vial of Magnar’s paladin blood. Magnar agrees after consulting with Killian. HA HA HA I WILL DO FUN THINGS WITH THIS.
The assassination goes off with only one minor hitch- Tyr attempts to grab the giant spooky staff in Daedalus’s quarters, resulting in his immediate demise, because you don’t just grab what is clearly a powerful evil artifact. Dohm wraps in it cloth, avoiding any skin contact, and is able to carry it away safely. Also, Daedalus was a minotaur, just in case a horned creature named daedalus was going to be anything else.
The resulting power vacuum causes roughly 1/3rd of the orc force to abandon the army immediately, and the party decides to strike. I organize the battle using Domains At War: Battles, at the Platoon scale.
I disregard the rules for general/commander minimum levels, as this is a special scenario.
Human organization of battle:
Killian Jones
Leadership 4
Units:
1 Crossbowmen
1 Veteran Crossbowmen (Attached)
1 Veteran Elf Longbowmen
2 Miltia
Magnar Westmont: 3
Leadership: 5
Units:
1 Heavy Cav (Attached)
1 Horse Archer
2 Militia
Dohmnall Saint
Leadership: 5
Units:
1 Heavy Infantry (Attached)
4 Militia
Beastman Organization:
Aspiring Minotaur
Leadership 5
Units:
2 Minotuars
2 Heavy Infantry (Orc)
Orc Chief 1
Leadership 4
Units:
3 Light Infantry (Orc)
2 Bowmen (Orc)
Orc Chief 2
Leadership 4
Units:
3 Light Infantry (Orc)
2 Bowmen (Orc)
Killian’s archers take up positions on a hill to the western edge of the battlefield, Dohm’s militia blob form a barrier along the center, and Magnar’s cavalry move to flank along the eastern edge. The Minotuars head straight down the middle, with the orcs covering the flanks. The human forces activate first every turn due to them having vastly better strategic ability. The battle unfolds with the humans using the militia to soak up hits; first they soften them up with arrows and spears at range, then the Beastmen charge into their shield wall and get countercharged while disordered from their first charge.
Eventually the flanks manage to kill the orc chieftains and leave the entire army under one minotaurs control. The very next turn is when the army takes a test for losing too many units and as they were getting pummeled a large number broke. After that it was just a game of peppering the minotaur with arrows while keeping the valuable targets out of his retaliation range. Eventually he was worn down and routed off the field, leaving the Beastmen army totally incapable of acting. I ruled that at that point, the entire army counted as routed.
Now, the players are arguing over what to do with the prisoners, I’m debating what reward would be appropriate for them, and we’re all discussing mechanics that surprised us. For example, it completely blindsided us that Generals and Commanders get XP from every single member of the enemy army, as though they’d just personally fought five hundred dudes. Even minus the value of the militia lost, those three PCs easily acquired a solid level from that battle alone.
Also, we forgot that the general’s leadership determined the number of divisions possible, so some players who might’ve commanded (or at least had command thrust upon them so they got some XP) did not, since we assumed it was just all armies had 3 divisions.