Adrian's Blood Bath at Orc's Drift campaign - OWAX IX wrap up

Wrap up

The hordes of King F'yar surround the desperate defenders that still resist at Orc's Drift

A peculiar challenge for this year, mixing all those entirely different miniatures. However, a fun one to complete, because it demanded me a bit of planning ahead on the different approaches but also allowed me to switch a little bit and do not feel burnt. I still remember the gazillion goblins of my first orc army, while miniatures that I love to paint it started to feel a bit tiring.

In this case, go back and forth between the orcs, dwarfs, the villagers and different flavor of elves was a little bit less repetitive.

And I wanted to make a proper wrap up of the campaign playing some scenarios. Unfortunately I had few time to play the entire campaign as I was in the field for several days but we could play the battle at Kacha Pass and the crossing of Ashak Rise.

Scenario 1: Kacha Pass

The small wood elf garrison at Kacha Pass guard three major in-roads of the region. The patrols have been intercepted, but the company of wood elves still resist and has also in captivity one half-orc spy with knowledge of the composition and movements of the armies of the Grand League.

The orc horde moves along the path in order to assault the entrance of the compound and block any potential scape route with the half-orc spy by the elves.

Guthrum Mane does not need to assault the entrance while he can breach a new one. The picture includes only three elves without the proxy for the rest of the elf miniatures, 10 enemy archers in total that were alerted by Guthrums roars and noisy stomps. So I flanked the compound also with the archers for support.

First turn for the elves. My friend prepared the scape with the half orc spy just in case he could not force the withdraw of the large orc mob coming from the South. The archers at the gate rise their bows and pointed toward the large blob of greenskins.

Again, the picture is without the proxies but there are 10 archers, with a larger footprint so more of them could shot the first turns until the innevitable combat come to them.

An impressive dice roll will hurt a lot for the orcs.

I always thought that the campaign is almost impossible for the defenders as the orc numbers are almost unstoppable for all the scenarios. But man was I wrong, the elves are lethal when they aim right and the casualties pile up pretty fast.

fortunately for me, the orc mob relentessly continues forward, coming for the elf garrison.

Well, some of the newly painted orcs during the current challenge were able to be in play for a turn.

The elves caused some havoc in the flank, but the orcs were able to resist.

Guthrum Mane is not happy that their friends, who happens to give him all the alcohol he needs, are hurt. He crushed the wall and was able to tackle those pesky archers.

I forgot to take another picture in my second turn but I reorganised the flanking orcs just to move near the main road so their bows can contribute in the hunting of the elves trying to sneak the half orc spy.

My friend in his desperate turn tried to move fast towards the border with the spy and continue shooting. This time however, less orc casualties meant trouble for the orcs defending the gate.

The orc mob was able to get to the gate and engage the elves there. Herndil Merl felt that turn as well as several other elves. So practically you can see the rest of the elves without the need of proxies anymore (Herndil was the banner, he will be gone after this picture). Erdolas avenged his friend and slayed several orcs, further depleting the horde.

Guthrum slayed the rest of the elves defending the southern wall and I decided that as the main combat was going good for the orcs, start razing the stockade as the spy and 4 wood elves surely will scape. My orc archers are not as good as the elves afterall.

In his turn, my friend got the spy and his captors closer to the border and failed to kill my commander. Which left me with an easy option to win. The orcs finally razed another building and Guthrum joined the combat to stomp completely the rest of the elves. I razed the outpost after that as the elves were just able to escape with the spy. Poor Erdolas gave his life trying to kill the horde but he could not beat Fangor Gripe just by a bad dice roll, because he was reduced to a single wound.

The orcs walk with less than half of their forces for the last battle nonetheless.

Scenario 2: Ashak Rise

The Severed Hand orcs move to assault Ashak Rise en masse. The greedy dwarfs are still mining ore there despite the rumors of war against the goblins again. The rush for gold in the River Canis is unavoidable.

We modified this scenario because we measured our small skirmish table and found that it will be unfair for the orcs. As they will crush the dwarfs nonetheless but have no space to try to get to the baggage train as they'll have to waste a turn for each dwarf patrolling. In the original scenario there is some room to maneuver and try avoiding the greedy dwarves going kamikaze so their gold is safe.

This change is a more boring, normal defence scenario which may be less hobhounds killed (bad for the good guys) but increasingly heavier casualties for the orcs as they will get to fight an entire front row of dwarves, instead of going after units of a single engineer or three engineers.

The key to this scenario seems to be the complete roadblock of the bridge crossing, so I placed several orcs and the hounds slightly to the West. I'll try to cross the river with this mob instead of using the bridge.

The large mob will cross in a column so it can fit the small passing. Oh look, invisible hobhounds! I don't have wolves or anything to proxy them for now so I have to left them in the pictures because of their footprints, not like with the wood elves.

I realised that I commited again another mistake given that I didn't play for a loooong long time. I would have better deployed the hobhounds front just to flank the dwarfs hoping to snipe the baggage train and that sweet sweet gold.

The dwarves are so few that the only option for my friend is to divide them and expect that some good dices and their resistance blocks the entire orc mob.

Both our second turns will be moving. This is my turn, I tried to cross with the orc flank and they're passing very very slow. The hobhounds reorganised and are behind my main horde, forming a column. It's in his next turn were I spotted the terrible mistake as he started moving his baggage train to the road and I have nothing for pursuing them at the time. By the way, one orc finally fell from a crossbow hit. He was pretty unlucky both turns with his small shooting phase.

The mistake required me a bold move and charge the small batch of dwarves with the main horde instead of going for his heroes. That will make troubles for the small unit, but I needed to get rid of them and try to get for the baggage.

Unfortunately, bad dice rolls and their heavier armour means that the entire unit is blocked. I was completely misguided by later editions were other rows of the unit contributes. Now I am left with Hagar Sheol doing the heavy lift for this bunch of idiots.

Grashak Kra moves the hobhound preparing for getting to the baggage train in future turns.

We forgot to take pictures of the next turns besides we just started the action. As a summary, my second orc unit just got oblitarated by Osrim Chardz and his companions and he almost got me in the flank of the orc horde. He sacrificed one of the mules to save the rest of the baggage train with the gold bags.

At this point we thought of another clever option that would have made an entirely different outcome, even the victory of the dwarfs by points. Maybe the next time some dwarves may hide some of the bags behind the house while the orcs advance, as some of them do not have anything to shoot.
That way the sacrificial baggage mule could get the orcs nothing in return. With the casualties piling up for the orcs, that way it makes this scenario much more difficult.

The wrap up

This has been a fun project as I said. The mix bag of miniatuers made it more easy to get done without getting tired at some point.

I have got almost all the orcs I need for the scenario. Well, in reality I can play the orcs and expect to field every survivor in the final scenario. As I found to my surprise that the orcs do not have such a large advantage I think they got. They'll probably win all the scenarios easily, but the casualty count start to rise pretty fast. That can be problematic in the Orc's Drift against Brommedir elves, as well as trying to get through the heroes.

Now, some pictures of the armies with the miniatures painted in this challenge as well as some of the orcs from my first OWAC.

Hope your liked as much as I like the final results for all the units.

Now, in numbers:

For the armies of the Grand League

Osrim Chardz and 11 dwarf engineers

Commander Brommedir and 14 of his elves

Erdolas Thringal, Hernril Merl (banner) and 9 of his wood elf folks

13 militiamen from Linden Way as well as the storekeeper, his wife, the stable owner and his assistant, the baker, the busker, the inn keeper, his father, his daugther and a serving wench.

The heroes at Orc's Drift including Bertolac, Fembreth and Beli.

The orc hordes of King F'yar

Grashak Kra, the still unemployed hobhound handler without hobhounds from the Severed Hand orcs.

Fangor Gripe, 10 additional orcs and the rock giant Guthurm Mane from the Vile Rune orcs.

Magyar Ironfist, the shaman Bagrash and 15 Kwae Karr orcs.

And finally, King F'yar in his wyvern.

Sadly, I have to get the final photos before a work trip so there is no mighty Ansell pose with the complete challenge as we forgot in the session and could not reshot :(

For the next challenge, I'm preparing something special and definitely I will continue with a Fantasy theme. Maybe even with my own rule of "finnish an army before trying to get something else" and doing some kind of story to follow while getting done some of the dwarf units that are still unpainted from my collection. A bunch of 4ed to 6th ed miners, slayers, thunderers and war machines.

Until next challenge,
Adrian’s out

Adrian's June Leader Month - King F'yar might! )(521 points)

Leader month

King F'yar descended over Linden Way to burn the settlement to the ground. The silhouette of his wyvern recognised in the skies, imposing fear in the hearts of its inhabitants.

- "This is my hour! run you maggots! run fo' your lives! Tehehehe"

Whacking some villagers was a pleasant activity afetr so much hate and bad blood for the Goblin Wars. Also, a much safer sport until they get to the real combat against the armies of the Grand League.

- "Bagrash! remember to hunt for that pesky wizard drunkard of some sort that our spies spotted in 'ere. I do not want any surprises at our backs while we march to Orc's Drift.

Bagrash would have been much happier if he could have razed this village to the ground commanding the Kwae Karr orcs himself. Dunno why the boss has to show. Boosting the morale of the ladz is not good if you want to be seen as the leader in the sad event that a loose arrow end your job as the boss.

Now he has to hunt down a smelly human beggar that who knows if he can remember any spell at all.

Commanding the orc horde, King F'yar himself mounted on his wyvern. I got him ages ago without wyvern and always was thinking about an appropiate mount. I was in love of the fourth edition wyvern too, but didn't quite wantede it with the orc shaman. With its brief re-release some years later, I got him too and suddenly a plan began to take shape in my head. Why not having both with the power of strong magnets?

Sadly I got no picture in time for this update of the magnet system but I will upload the in the recap. The orc boss has had some precision operation in his unseen parts and now it is detachable from the other magnet in the wyvern. It is strong enough so there is no risk that he, or in the future the shaman, fall from the saddle. Unless there is some strong motion of course. 

But why you will want to start playing with your wyvern making him fly over the table while you make roars and wind noises, it's entirely made out of metal! we all are adults in here with enough reasoning for concluding that at least you need to use the sixth edition one for that, of course.

Bagrash as I said is an addition that I liked more than the original Bagrash. I want him nonetheless, but it seems more like an orc champ or hero rather than be read as a shaman. Instead, the old orc shamans are easily recognised in the table. I went for a subtle green glow in his eyes but was undecided between this or merely a pale with blood stains like @Rosengarten_paints_black amazing orc shaman which was an inspiration. It lacks some pattern in the clothes but I couldn't finish them in time, so it is as it is for now.

Osrim Chardz, well, in reality BC3 King Gorrin. But the real Osrim is quite difficult to get, this one is awesome, I wanted him in my collection nonetheless and share some sort of pose and weapon. I will still hunt for the real Osrim because he is an amazing miniature.

As this is not real Osrim, I took some liberty with the colours, fitting in some ways the art of the campaign cover as well as blending with my dwarf army. I will make the scene of the cover for the recap.

Not-Bertolac, the Battle Master soldier ascended as sergeant of a militia I'm planning to have at some point. Sadly another miniature that is almost impossible to spot. The human and elf characters are the most affected by not having their characters recycled in the main lines, while the dwarfs and orcs are able to be seen from time to time.

I really liked how the two different blues I got in the clothes and the shield contrast between them even with the freehand and patterns over the main colours.

Not-Fernbreth and Beli from the hospital at Orc's Drift. Choosing which elf would be a wounded hero left at the hospital, the hurt wardancer was something that I wanted to paint and this was an opportunity to add him to the rpg collection.

I forgot to take a picture of Beli's back, because he has a giant bag and I think that the best part of this miniature is all the leathers that contrast with the plate armour he wears.

That's it, most of the Blood Bath at Orc's Drift collection finished or proxied. It needs still some Kwae Karr orcs, but it is only matter of adding more old Ruglud's armoured orcs. Also, some wood elves, so in the future I will try to get my hands in a small unit of Skarloc to complete the rest.

This month was a complete mess, with huge amounts of work and other related activites so sadly I couldn't finnish some stuff to complete the campaign collection. 

I do not have the druid Snart, Gymlet or Borin yet, I would need to make a to-do list in the recap. However,  I intended to paint one of the Perry's carts with some casualties for the hospital and got my hand into the perfect miniature for the hermit. The hermit at Linden Way never had a proper miniature, and I spotted the perfect one looking at the old Citadel catalogues, as well as Midlam Miniatures, the stuff at Mirliton or Foundry, as well as Ral Partha. And I found it between some newer stuff from Ral Partha. Maybe finnishing him for the recap? Lets see.
By the way, I also spotted the perfect banner bearer for the Linden Way militia as well as mayor Leofwine (which I do not quite like his miniature) among the old citadel collection at Foundry. But he is definetly not getting in time for a rush for the recap. I'll maybe show you the results of that conversions in the future in the FB group.

The traditional point recap:

King F'yar in wyvern = 271 points

Bagrash, the Kwae Karr tribe orc shaman = 60 points

Bertolac, Fernbreth and Beli = 140 points

Osrim Chardz, leader of the dwarf engineers = 50 points

That's 521 points, more or less, if that makes any sense in this case lol

For the next entry, hope I can finally have some spare time, leave you all the appropiate comments in your awesome entries, and play some scenarios to take pictures of this challenge minis battling in the Orc's Drift as it should be.

Until then,
Adrian’s out

Adrian's May Rank 'n File month - The Kwae Karr orcs (328 points)

Rank and File month #4

King F'yar's own tribe, the Kwae Karr orcs, must not fall behind the other tribes gathered for the battle against the Grand League. On the contrary, they should make an example utterly crushing the crossroad settlement of Lind Way. 

King F'yar gave orders to one of his chieftains, Magyar Ironfist, to utterly crush the resistance in Linden Way.

However, such a menial task is nothing but an insult. Magyar is made for something more than wacking petty villagers in their homes. He should complete the objective fast and with few casualties, as if F'yar is killed or something bad happened to him at Orc's Drift, surely someone with a powerfull army should arise as the next king of the orc tribes...

I truly wanted to paint this unit. I think that, along Harboth's orcs, these are the most iconic regiments ever produced for the orcs. While I want to play them as regular orcs, I gave everyone of them the crossbows at their back.

Gudruk the champion is not truly armed with a magic sword but the evil lookin two handed sword and the runes demanded it to be painted as something wrong is contained inside that piece of metal. Magyar miniature blend with the rest of the unit pretty well and I think i'll deploy him as a regular boy when I use them in a battle as a normal unit.

Sadly I couldn't get my hand in additional troopers and I didn't want to convert the initial 18 or so from the original box. So there is no Kwae Karr banner as for now.

Look! I finally broke the shield curse and could finnish all the shields for the entire unit! yeah, that includes additional shields for the rest of the 20 or so. While I have to expand up to 30 for the campign I'm aiming at a realistic objective for this year after the challenge.

Ruglud got his shield too. Love how everything went for those shields. However, is not that easy to put a evil face in them, so I managed to include some messages here and there instead as well as the Kwae Karr symbol (a camel dragon? a jabberwork? the bastard child of a cockatrice and a dragon?)

Magyar Ironfist itself. Lovely miniature. Its face is covered by the arms in a pose about to give someone a bad day, and it is a same because the face has a great expression difficult to photograph as it is.

But wait THERE IS MORE

I have the oportunity to purchase the old citadel Legolas which can act as Erdolas (or degraded as Herndil) for ttrpg and make the iconic photograph of the campaign box. If I have Erdolas (or Herndil)... I should have some wood elves to accompany him.

I do not plan to own an entire wood elf army but I wanted to have a small unit mostly based on Scarloc archers, that can be boost up to 25 with a batch of monopose wood elves. which I purchased for this challenge. And that way I also can convert someone to have the iconic banner of the campaign book.

Also, despite not having 100% all the units of the campaign, with the wood elf small unit it gives me the opportunity to proxy the different troops and replace some of them for a good pictures. So I can do an entire report with the proper miniatures deployed.

In an extremely productive month, I got both Erdolas and some elves painted.

I didn't plan this unit originally and while I mix tones here and there, I do not know for now if they should have some pattern in the capes as in my high elves or leave them as they are. But at least it was fun to paint some wood elves for the first time.

Oh, and I could finnish also their shields just in time!

Lastly, as I got free from my curse at least for the time being and I was pretty motivated, I got the shields of the other units (except for the poor four dwarves from Uther company, I do not had time to replace the shield that desintegrated).

And finnish also the bases, now that I've repaired my homemade applicator.

Woah, what a month.

With both units finnished that makes:

Magyar Ironfist + 14 orcs with shield = 170 points

Erdolas + 9 wood elfs with shield = 158 points

For the next entry, the Kwae Karr orcs and let's hope for some surprise I got in the mail.

Until then,
Adrian’s out