Captain Moore reread the report that had been handed to him.  sighing he looked at the map.  The only place the rogue halflings could be headed was the old stone circle up at Glebe.  Hunting for raw Arcanite crystals again.  Cursing his miserable luck to be posted to such a miserable backwater where the locals resented everything the Albionnicans did to protect them from the denizens of the Mildaark forest, Captain Moore reached for his sword and Arcloque pistol; “Sergeant!! Ready the troops!”

On Tuesday, my friend Carl and I tried out the beta rules for Arcworlde; which can be found on Warploque’s current Kickstarter campaign:  Arcworlde 2nd Edition

We both used a starter warband, I was using a small Albionnican group, consisting of a Captain, Sergeant with pike, trooper with two handed weapon and shield and 2 crossbowmen

Carl was using halflings, we had a Sheriff armed with a hand weapon, shield, healing potion and 2 Arcanite crystals (which could be used to roll additional dice, add extra activations and suchlike.  He was ably supported by 3 rangers armed with bows, one with a spear and one with a handweapon and shield

The scenario was a very simple one, as this was our first attempt at playing the game:  dotted around the stone circle were random Arcanite crystals which needed to be collected.  The game ended after 4 rounds (or more if the dice gods decided so)

We deployed opposite each other with the stone circle between us.  The game is played on a 3′ x 3′ board hence the 4 red dice marking the perimeter:

After deploying, we rolled to see who activated first and much to the chagrin of Captain Moore, it was his adversary Sheriff Chloowig Longhole who activated first….

Chloowig glanced through the ever present mist that surrounded the stones, he was sure he’d spotted the tell tale bright red of the cursed Albionnicans.  No one wanted them, or their Empire here.  Still the Arconite that they would collect would go a long way in the rebellion.  He whispered orders to the rangers.  Spreading out and travelling as quietly as only a halfling can they edged towards the stones, readying their weapons…

Turn 1

Most of turn one was spent with both sides moving towards the circle.  all models on the table have a base move of 4 inches, however each model also has 2 Activation Points (AP) which can be used for attacking, feats and also ‘Leg it’ rolls.  Basically you roll a d6 and this extra movement can then be done.  However if you roll a 6 then your turn is over and you are lain prone (Being prone is bad!!)  You can then potentially leg it again, only this time a 5 or 6 will lay you prone and so on, 3rd AP it’s a 4,5,6 etc etc.  No one failed their rolls in turn 1 and some of the halflings even managed to get into base contact with a crystal and attempted to pick them up.

Picking them up is a simple feat, meaning you need one success to pick it up.  Rolling for a feat costs action points, the more action points you throw at the test, the more likely you are to succeed.  Being a simple feat, 1 success is needed, medium feats require 2, hard 3 and legendary 4.  Apart from the Captain and the Sheriff all of the models had 2 AP, the 2 leaders had 4.  A success is if you roll a 4 or 5.  A critical success is rolled on a 6 and counts as 2 successes.

The 2 halflings that managed to get close to the crystals both failed their rolls though and stood sheepishly by them

Turn 2

Chloowig looked up in alarm.  Whilst he and the rangers had started to dig up the crystals the mist had lifted and he could see the Albionnicans readying their crossbows, “Watch out lads!” he bellowed, just as he heard the unmistakable sounds of crossbows letting fly.  Captain Moore smiled as the mists cleared and he saw, quite plainly the plumed helm of the local Sheriff  look up, just as he whispered to his troops “Now boys, a farthing to any trooper that drops one of the thieving scum”

This turn the Albionnicans got initiative and started with Captain more using his’Make orders’ ability.  After moving up to try and get a shot off with his pistol he ordered ‘As one!’ to the crossbowmen (With hindsight I should have used ‘Volley’ but never mind) meaning they both moved up to get the Sheriff in range and shot at him.  One bolt whistled past his ear, the other clearly caught him in the leg, removing 5 hit points.

The Sheriff activated next, he collected the Arcanite in front of it and bravely ran round the standing stones out of the line of sight of the crossbowmen.  This proved to be pretty much the theme for turn 2 until the Halfling bowmen opened up on Wee Archie MacTavish

After losing a wound to the ranger, Wee Archie charged them, causing 5 wounds on the luckless halfling, just not quite enough to kill him.

Turn 3

Captain Moore glanced across the field.  He’d clearly heard the warcry of the Lowlander Archie meaning some poor devil was on the receiving end of his claymore.  More worryingly he could see that the Sheriff had a bulging sack of Arconite.  The halfings couldn’t get away with that.  He raised his pistol ready to fire…

Chloowig Longhole looked across at his rangers.  The tall skirt wearing human was raising his massive sword again, surely to cleave one of them in half.  Before the maniac swung, Chloowig charged in with his axe….

Turn 3

The halflings got the initiative, and this was the turn that probably decided the game.  It started with the death of Wee Archie.  Before he could decapitate the 2 halflings he was in combat with, Sheriff Longhole moved in and using his Furious Wallop ability he took all 5 of the humans hit points.  Not content with heroically saving his minions he then legged it across to the Arcanite Wee Archie had dropped and stuffed that into a pocket as well.

Time for the Albionnicans to avenge him, or so i thought.  One of the crossbow men moved around the rock and took a potshot at the spear armed halfling, causing another 5 wounds to a halfling (aggravatingly halflings have 6 wounds, humans only 5).  This was to be his last action as said spear armed halfing, clearly seeing red, charged into the crossbow man and after 2 swift thrusts of his spear, left another man dead.  It was all going wrong for me

The other crossbowman moved up to shoot at a bow armed halfling, 3 wounds.  The return fire missed and I thought I’b be OK.  Captain Moore decided to be hasty.  He moved up, took a shot at a halfling with his Arcanite pistol, missing, and then rolled to leg it across the circle to get closer to the halflings hiding behind the rock…

‘With Me!” Captain Moore bellowed as he shot at the cowering enemy, not looking where he was running but concentrating too hard on his target.  As his right foot caught the rock hard, he heard the crack as his toe broke and he fell to the floor with a thud.  The crossbowmen Ned called across “Are you alright sir?” but all Captain Moore was concerned about were the 2 halflings that stopped cowering behind the rocks raising their bows, wicked grins appearing on their faces

Gleefully Carl opened fire on the hapless Captain that now lay sprawled in front of him.  Remember I said being prone was bad?  Well, when rolling to defend you roll 2 dice and choose the lowest.  8 wounds later and the turn ended

Turn 4

This would be the last turn, unless the dice said otherwise.  Initiative would be all important.  Captain Moore had to be the first to activate or he’d be dead, I was sure of that as I picked up the dice… Carl rolled 3, I waited for my dice to stop bouncing… a one.  Curses, and more curses.  I think the thud of my head hitting the table might have drowned out Carl’s cackling but I doubt it

Ned looked across at Captain Moore just as the second arrow took his commander in the eye socket.  As Captain Moore’s lifeless body dropped to the ground it was all too much for the young man, dropping his crossbow and wailing he took flight

No surprise at all as the young crossbowman failed his bravery check and hid behind a rock.  Hoping to avenge Captain Moore’s death I activated him next.  Failed another bravery roll and he ran further from the field of battle

The halflings continued to pick up Arcanite (I was powerless to stop them, I only had my sergeant left, he collected a piece as well, so I wouldn’t end with 0 VPs)  and then Carl decided to go for, what would effectively be a total party kill.

Chloowig Longhole grinned.  Although his rangers were all bruised and battered none of them were mortally injured and he had almost all of the Arcanite that was visible.  Then he saw the Albionnican sergeant stopping to pick a crystal up.  It was a long way away but he reckoned he could get there. Raising his axe he yelled “Oi!  Longshanks!” and set off at a sprint…

Considerably further than the 4″ movement that a halfling has!  First action point to leg it, 3″, 2nd Action point, 1″, 3rd action point and he was still an inch away.  He failed the leg it roll.  Undettered as halflings are agile and as such can reroll one failed Leg it roll per turn, a 6.  Definitely a failure

And that was it, the end of turn 4.  And, the end of the game.  We called it there, we could have rolled, and maybe should have, I might have saved face 😀

Aftermath

The game was an absolute hoot.  Every halfling was injured, I had a Sergeant and a fleeing crossbowman.  More importantly Carl had 8 victory points to my 1, a pretty crushing defeat!  For a first game it was great.  Such easy rules.  Loved it, more games to play asap.  just need to varnish and base the halflings.. and wait for the kickstarter to end as well so I can pledge more of my hard earned cash on the big stuff!

Chloowig Longhole slowed up, his leg wound meant he wouldn’t catch the sergeant who was retiring from the field.  No matter, they had the Arcanite that the cook wanted.  Who knew what he was planning to bake with it.  Something explosive no doubt.  He hobbled back towards the rangers and they melted back into the forest