It’s been a very long time since I did a battle report, mostly because I enjoy my games to the point of forgetting to photograph them! I made a special effort last night as we gathered for another bash at a One Page Rules: Age of Fantasy Skirmish.
Usually there’s four to six of us at a session, but for various reasons we were down to three players. We discussed a one-on-one round robin (one of the advantages of OPR skirmish being that you can get several games in of an evening), but instead decided to go with a three-player free for all.
We set up and played the ‘Bear Hunt’ scenario. The bear was revealed on turn 1, and by the end of turn 2 the game was over with a win to the goblins, so moving quickly on, we set up for a more enjoyable free clash over 5 evenly spaced objectives. This game would be simple. At the end of 4 rounds, the player in control of the most objectives would win. Once captured, an objective remained captured until it was taken by another player.
Note, in the skirmish versions of OPR we ignore the requirement for a 1” separation between friendly units.
The Forces
Eternal Wardens – 400pts Competitive Validation
Crikey lads, there's loads of 'em out there!
I decided to try out a small but tough force and went with
my Eternal Wardens. Only six figures is
less activations that the seven we consider minimum (with somewhere around ten
being optimal) so I was worried I’d struggle with objective-based scenarios.
But I deployed the following.
- 1x Guardian Elite [1] (dual hand weapons) – 55pts
- 4x Paladins [1] – 60pts each
- 1x Destroyer [1] (Meteor Great Hammer) – 105pts
Goblins – 400pts Competitive Validation
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| Wicked cackling could be hear resonating through the ruined streets... |
- 1x Goblin leader [1] (great weapon) – 30pts
- 1x Goblin leader [1] (dual hand weapons, caster[2], pet cave beast) – 80pts
- 2x Warriors [3] (spears) – 20pts each
- 1x Beast riders [3] (spider riders) – 35pts
- 1x Nasty assassin [1] 25pts
- 2x Shooters [3] – 30pts each
- 1x Troll [1] (heavy great weapon, cave breed) – 65pts
- 1x Fanatic [1] – 65pts
Ratmen – 400pts Competitive Validation
So could the skittering of sewer-caked feet.
- 1x Battle master [1] (dual heavy hand weapons, army standard bearer) – 85pts
- 1x Champion [1] (spear, caster[3]) – 90pts
- 1x Night scout [1] -15pts
- 2x Warriors [3] (spears) – 25pts each
- 1x Grenadiers [3] – 30pts
- 2x Rat ogres [1] – 40pts each
- 1x Storm veterans [3] (heavy great weapons) – 50pts
We set up the urban ruin table, and an “X” of objectives and got to deploying. We each deployed to try to seize as much ground as possible, deciding to deploy within 12” of the centre of a table edge. The ratmen also had a sneaky scout who rushed forwards to immediately try to seize objective 3.
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| Look at that sneaky she-rat tryng to win the game from turn 1! |
At the end my Eternal Wardens felt distinctly ganged up on! This is going to be a hard fight it seems.
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| The eternals are definitely the filling an a "nasty mob" sandwich here. |
The goblins seized objective 4 and advanced to contest objectives 3 and 5.
The ratmen chose to leave objective 1 for later in the battle
and focus their forces on contested 2 and 3.
The eternal wardens spread out to contest 2 and 5 and move
to contest the centre objective (3).
As set up by the deployment dispositions, my eternal wardens were in the thick of the fighting, with both flanks swamped by enemies.
On my right, swarms of ratmen and their leader similarly tried to overrun my position. The eternal paladins really held their own though and proved to be very tough fighters.
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| There's rats coming through the walls over here chaps! |
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| Err...there's one over here too...but I'm more worried about them goblins. |
All three forces sent warriors into the centre. As the ratmen pushed in a rat-ogre I decided to send my slow-moving destroyer in to take it down and contest or hold the centre objective.
As is usual for the first turn in OPR it’s mostly a positional turn where each side tries to get into a solid position to launch its main attack on turn two. This game followed that pattern pretty closely but there was some fighting on both of the eternal wardens’ flanks, with wounds exchanged by all sides.
The eternal wardens ‘battle wedge’ advanced in formation, and the goblins and ratmen both swarmed forth to meet it.
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| The fight begins at objective 5 |
One notable combat was between the ratmen’s leader and one of the eternal paladins. Both had the capability to destroy the other in one round of fighting but neither did!
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| "When he bends down, you smack his brain out with your sword" |
Turn 2
The real fighting began in earnest, with exchanges all along the front lines.
Around objective two, the ratmen swarmed the paladins there, wounding him but losing a few warriors in return. The other paladin here continued to trade blows with the ratman leader in a vicious hand to hand fight.
At objective 3 in the centre, some goblin warriors skulked about, while a paladin was torn to pieces by the rat ogre. In response the eternal wardens’ destroyer lumbered forwards and in a single mighty attack with his meteor hammer obliterated the rat ogre, much to the alarm of the onlooking ratman spell-caster!
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| SKWEEEE!!!! Gold boy be dead soon! Yesyes!! |
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| Maybe so, but he will be avenged |
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| Shocked ratmen wavering in the face of the destroyer. The rat-sorcerer looks on in horror and throws some ineffective rat magic at him. |
At objective 5 a desperate fight continued with the paladin this time contesting with the goblin swarm, their troll and spider riders. It was only a matter of time for the paladin to fall, but that time was not quite yet, despite a series of relentless attacks.
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| I'm not sure I'll survive this... |
There were a few limited exchanges (mostly goblin archery) between the goblins and ratmen.
At the end of turn 2 the goblins remained in the lead, controlling objective 4. All other objectives remained contested. The ratmen had suffered the worst losses of the fighting but most of the eternal wardens were badly wounded. Goblin losses were much lighter.
Turn 3
As ever in OPR, this was the decisive turn of the game.
The skirmishing continued around objective 2, with the ratman warriors chopped up, and the ratman leader on the losing end of another bitter melee.
The combined melee attacks by the troll and spider riders, and a vicious volley of close ranged bow fire from the goblin archers, the paladins were finally cut down, giving the goblins control of objective 5.
In the centre, objective three remained contested by all three forces.
Losses mounted and by the end of the turn both the eternal wardens and the ratmen were testing morale. Significant numbers of ratmen, seeing how things were going, decided to slink off into the ruined sewers. The noble wardens stood their ground and at the end of turn 3 the victory conditions were pretty much set.
The goblins held objectives 4 and 5.
The eternal wardens held objective 2.
Objective 3 remained contested.
Objective 1 remained uncontrolled.
Turn 4
With the game pretty much over, we played out turn 4 with what was left.
The main two flashpoints were objective 3, where the eternal warden destroyed tried and failed to clear out the petty warrior scum around him. Over at objective 1, the ratmen rushed over to seize it, only to find the goblin nasty assassin, until this point lurking in ambush, arrived to deny the ratmen their prize!
We played out the remaining fights, and at the end of the turn the goblins took their hard-fought victory!
After action comments
OPR continues to delight with some excellent and enjoyable
gameplay. After a year or so of playing the larger game, we’re having fun with
the skirmish version for a while that plays differently due to the possible
survivability of the units/models. It changes your considerations and
frictions, and means you often concentrate of finishing off stunned models to
ensure they don’t recover.
For this battle, as the eternal warden’s player I definitely felt ganged up on! The eternal wardens played far better than I thought they would, and despite only six activations, I was able to contest where I needed to. Its interesting that a unit of three 1-hit models seems like a unit of one 3-hit model, but the difference is the 3-hit model retains all its attacks whereas the 1-hit model unit is reduced by losses. I really missed not having a caster though. I’m not sure if they are decisive because they are so random, but it felt wrong not to have at least one knocking about throwing magic!
I’d planned to try to seize three objectives. I think that overstretched my resources. In hindsight I should have put 3 units onto capturing objective 2 and 3 units onto objective 5, secured those and then if needed, gone for the centre. None-the-less it was a great game and a lot of fun.
We’ve seen the goblins on the table for a few games now and they are a good, solid force with a lot of flexibility. Played well they are a force to reckon with.
The ratmen, like the eternal wardens, were making their first appearance at our table. Like the goblins they seemed like a good force with lots of options. The poisoned bomb throwers were nasty, and two rat ogres were scary to face!
A note on the models
Obviously, the eternal wardens make use of Games Workshop fantasy models, but our group now has a few 3D printer owners in it and 3D prints are making their way into our games in force. Its hard not to see this technology as at least part of the future of wargaming as it becomes easier and more available to use. It does need a bit of set up and the kit won’t be usable by everyone but still.
Anyway, our game here made use of a variety of 3D printed models and terrain (as well as terrain from our club stock to bulk the table out.
Sandfang Ratkin: Artisans Guild - https://www.myminifactory.com/object/3d-print-sandfang-ratkins-complete-set-51-308008
Faldorn Goblins: Artisans Guild - https://www.myminifactory.com/object/3d-print-faldorn-goblins-complete-set-46-272514
PLA Terrain Sets: Philip Sinn Miniatures -
https://www.myminifactory.com/object/3d-print-scatter-ruins-i-295675
https://www.myminifactory.com/object/3d-print-scatter-ruins-2-323506
https://www.myminifactory.com/object/3d-print-scatter-ruins-3-324277
https://www.myminifactory.com/object/3d-print-scatter-ruins-4-325300
Resin Terrain Set: Cast N Play - https://www.myminifactory.com/object/3d-print-town-ruins-set-pre-supported-318365
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