Here we see the two generals, both Heroes, dicing for ends:
I used Kaptain Kobold's random terrain generation suggestions. Worked pretty well, thanks, Kap! 2 woods, 1 swamp, 1 hill & 1 heath.
The Armies Arrayed
The Nutcracker (NC) from LtoR: 3 x Blades, Sneaker, Stronghold, Artillery, Hero General,
2 x Shooters, 2 x Spears.
The Peasants' Revolt (PR) RtoL: Flyer, 8 x Hordes, Hero General, Shooter, Horde, Shooter, Paladin, (Off-Table is the PR Lurker who will deploy when a NC unit enters rough going).
The defenders go first with a roll of 2 PIPs. Realising the Sneaker would be useful against the PR General so began moving from one flank to the other. The other PIP saw one of the blades move into line. The NC Sneaker finished in bad going and, after rolling for PIPs, the PR Lurker sprung at her. You can guess from the pictured dice rolls what happened. 1-0 to NC
NC PIPs were enough to deploy the Lurker, advance the Flier to contact with the NC Blades and start the huge mass in the centre moving forward. The central forces were hampered by the woods and swamp to their front.
The right flank PR Flier decided to zoom ahead of the main battle line on a death or glory charge. He's got big wings, a fiery sword hand and a big red thing hanging off his belt. what could possibly go wrong? Pic caught the moment he slammed into NC Blades.
OOPS!
(it was 2, honest, guv)
Even at this stage NC Blades were proving to be nails, hard as.
On the PR left flank the Paladin had the same idea as the Flier. And charged the NC Spears to his front. Again, what could go wrong? He's a PALADIN! And sure enough he forced the NC Spears to recoil perilously close to oblivion. So far so good, at last one of the PR 'Special Forces' was doing its job.
The tragedy for the Paladin was as simple as it was obvious. He was too far in advance of supporting troops who were only just getting clear of the woodland as can be seen in this picture. Hit in front by a column of NC Spears and assaulted from uphill by a unit of NC Shooters. There could be only one winner. And it wasn't the PR Paladin. 5-0 to NC.
Seeing their Paladin go down in a hail of bullets and forest of spearpoints seemed to encourage The Great Mass of the PR Army. Their PIP die rolls improved considerably; for a short time anyway.
The PR Hordes came into range of the NC Artillery. Which fired. In scenes reminiscent of Waterloo.....La Horde récule! Two hordes in fact, forced to recoil and tearing a huge gap in the PR line.
The Flier, chastened by his earlier brush with disaster returned to the main body and advanced in line with it. Now, some will say he should have flown off and avoided combat until he could attack The Stronghold. and you'd be right - Christmas cheer again. Anyways he didn't he came back into contact with the NC Blades at the same moment a large group of PR Hordes hit the rest of the NC Blades. They came on in the same old style and it was a massacre. The Flier got so bounced he fled 600p off the field and one of the Hordes also came to grief. 6-0 to NC.
Here's a shot of the battlefield at the end of Move 6. The measuring stick lies on the exact path the flier took off the table. The alternative was to end up in the wood, also a no-win. 8-0 to NC.
With his plan in ruins the PR Hero General used his PIPs to launch a massive attack on the NC hill. A breakthrough here would either give him a run at The Stronghold or kill the NC Hero General and win the game. No blinking now.
But what's this? No, not the massacre of another Horde. Look at that Horde group to the right of the NC Blades. They've only gone and slipped through the line on the direct, and undefended, route to The Stronghold. The Blades on that flank had done a fantastic job but couldn't be everywhere. if only that Sneaker hadn't buggered off.....9-0 to NC
In an outbreak of tactical nous and heroic self-sacrifice the remaining pair of Hordes on that flank steel themselves to assault the all-conquering NC Blades. While their Horde brethren bust through the line. Could the battle be lost even as it is won? Well........
Here we see the PR Hero General's division of Himself, 1 x Horde and 2 x Shooters attacking uphill against the NC Shooters.
A poor die roll saw the Horde shot down. A better throw allowed the PR General to force their Shooters to recoil. Good but it wasn't the breakthrough that was required nor the destruction of enemy units either. Endgame 10-0 to NC
More rubbish PIPs for the PR Army - 1PIP! The Hordes' thrust for The Stronghold was stymied. Instead with the 1 PIP available the PR Hero General moved forward to engage the Shooters and force a breakthrough. A wiser move may have been to side-step in front of the NC Hero General, hindsight etc. The Shooters held on, just. The PIPs for the NC Army were better and their Hero General was able to swing through 90 degrees to flank his opposite number. The dice rolled and the PR Hero General went down riddled with bullets and sword thrusts. 14-0 to NC and game.
Happy Christmas!
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