Fistful of Lead Fantasy: "Ambush!"

 It's been a while since my last game, so I decided to get myself organized to play something; I was showing my Oldhammer Orcs off on Discord the other day, and that got me inspired to use them for a Fantasy skirmish. I picked out the Archmage Lutholio to oppose them and a scenario from the second volume of the Fistful of Lead fantasy trilogy and away we went!

The set-up for this scenario is that Archmage Lutholio and his retinue have been hunting the orc warboss Thrashemall Bonegrinder through the dusty hills; when they pause at a bubbling spring to refill their waterskins, Bonegrinder's mob sprung out at them from ambush. Notably, Bonegrinder himself was held in reserve.

 

ARCHMAGE LUTHOLIO'S RETINUE (Group Trait: Fearless)

• Archmage Lutholio (Leader; Spellcaster, Cunning, Impervious), armed with a Sword and Staff 
• Captain Arnulf von Grenzstadt (Sergeant; Brute, Determined), armed with a Sword, Shield and Heavy Armor
• Hans (Regular; Cunning), armed with a Sword, Shield and Light Armor
• Franz (Regular; Thundering Charge), armed with a Sword, Shield and Light Armor 
• Halfling Scouts (Rabble; Deadeye, Small, Slippery), armed with Bows

 

BONEGRINDER'S MOB (Group Trait: Bloodthirsty)

 

• Warboss Thrashemall Bonegrinder (Leader; Veteran, Inspiring, Fearsome Appearance), armed with a Sword, Shield, Heavy Armor and riding a Warboar
• Wyrdboy Oldgit Finkem (Sergeant; Spellcaster, Cunning), armed with a Sword and Staff
• Bogloaf Gunderstank (Regular; Ferocious) armed with a Two-Handed Axe and Light Armor
• Zagrot Scabknees (Regular; Solid as a Rock) armed with a Sword, Shield and Light Armor
• Foamin Mad Arsegit (Regular; Flurry of Blows) armed with a Club, Shield and Light Armor
• Goblin Rabble (Rabble; Ranger, Small, Slippery) armed with Bows 

Activating first, Lutholio threw a fireball at the goblin rabble, incinerating one of the little blighters and sending the other two scurrying for cover. Not to be outdone, Oldgit Finkem waved his staff and summoned heavy clouds, bathing the battlefield in darkness. Zagrot Scabknees leapt out of cover to attack Hans, while the first turn saw everyone else more or less moving into position.  One of the surviving goblins fired a shot at Lutholio, putting a Shock token on the wizard.

 

Turn two is where things started to get interesting. Lutholio tried to recover from Shock and rolled a "1," meaning he routed off the battlefield entirely. Not only did this not bode well for the rest of his retinue, but it also meant that the orcs couldn't get the victory points for killing him. 

 

Zagrot found himself fighting Hans and Franz, and getting wounded. Bogloaf rushed Captain Arnulf, which didn't go well for him; the Captain immediately Shook Bogloaf, then activated and attacked again, wounding the orc. Oldgit Finkem kept his spell of darkness going for a second round, keeping ranged attacks limited. Foamin Mad Arsegit charged the Captain as well, with no better results than Bogloaf had. 

At the beginning of Turn 3, Thrashemall charged onto the battlefield, immediately trampling one of the halflings into paste. Captain Arnulf stepped over Foamin Mad's carcass and finished off Bogloaf Gunderstank. Oldgit Finkem, allowing the darkness spell to dissipate, cast "Lightning Bolt" on Captain Arnulf, frying him instantly. Zagrot, down and getting kicked repeatedly by Hans and Franz, managed to crawl away and route off the table. 

 

The next few rounds are a little samey-samey; Hans and Thrashemall stay locked in combat for a bit, while Hans darts off to challenge Oldgit; the remaining halflings squabble with the remaining goblins. I will say that Hans really held his own against the orc warboss for a lot longer than I expected he would, and managed to score a few hits of his own before being gutted and stomped into the ground. 

 

Hans made short work of Oldgit Finkem once he managed to close into melee with the orc spellcaster, and the remaining halflings finish off the goblins before one of them routed from shock and the other got run down by Thrashemall. At the end it came down to Hans versus Thrashemall, and when the dust settled, Thrashemall was fleeing the battlefield as fast as his pig could carry him. 

In the final tally of victory points (counting each group of Rabble as only 1 point), the Wizard's Retinue scored 10 VP, while the orcs scored 3. But with Lutholio fleeing the table at the first sign of actual danger and leaving his men to die in his absence, we'll see how long it is until the Tower of the Archmage is under new management.