So a few days ago, I sat down to play a serious game of Darklands, paying attention to the rules very carefully, and taking careful note of what went on so I could share it all. The results are below the jump.
I settled on 610 points for the battle, because that's what seemed like a good idea at the time. I rolled a random dice to determine which kindreds I would use and ended up with Ysians against Fomoriaic Tarvax. I also took some liberties with Ubiquity and unit sizes in the interest of just playing the game. The lists were:
Ysian battle-drune with battle axe.
4x ax drunes with an-ax-drune
Torku, bone-aberrant
Ungefelic, mantichora.
Tain of the Tarvax with heavy armor
3x Tarvax with light armor
Tarvox in all his naked glory
The Ysians deployed their ax-drunes in the middle of the board and Joined the battle-drune to their unit, with Torku on their right flank and Ungefelic on the left.
The Tarvax deployed on the left flank, with the Tain in the middle and the Tarvax on the right. The battle-drune passed his initiative test and revealed the ax-drunes to be under an Attack order. They moved forward.
The Fomoraic responded by moving the Tarvax unit up and slightly towards the center.
The Ysians advanced Torku a bit ahead of the ax-drunes.
The Tarvox bellowed and advanced forward.
Ungefelic flew towards the Tarvox to keep him away from the softer drune unit.
The Tain shifted to the left, to try to stay out of ungefelic's charge range.
The second hour began!
The Ysians again won the initiative, and Ungefelic declared a charge against the Tarvox.
The unpainted battle rages!
We looked up the Strike Value for Ungefelic's skill of 22 vs the Tarvox's 18, and saw he would need a 4+ to strike, modified down to a 3+ because of the charge. Ungefelic rolled his attack dice. The Lion Bite got a 2, 9, 4, and 5 for four strikes (due to the swift strike) and one miss. The Raking Claws rolled a 0, 8, and 1 for another strike. The Scorpion Sting rolled a 3 and 7, for two strikes. Finally, the Trample got a 6 and a 9, for three strikes. The charge was not Swift, so no impact strikes were rolled.
Next, we compared Ungefelic's M+W to The Tarvox's C+A of 86. The 71 M+W of the Lion Bite would need a 5+ to parry. The Tarvox got a 7, 5, 5, and 4 for one failed parry. The 67 M+W of the Raking Claws strike needed a 4+, and was parried with a 7. The 79 M+W of the scorpion stings needed a 5+ to parry; one was parried with a 7, but the other was a 2 and went through. Finally, the 68 M+W of the Trample needed a 4+ to parry; a 7, 6, and 1 were sufficient to parry two of these strikes.
Next, Ungefelic rolled to wound. The Lion Bite and Trample were straight d10s, and resulted in a 2 and an 8. The scorpion sting had a Wound+ of d10, so once it's first roll of 7 was confirmed not to be a graze, I rolled the bonus d10 and got a 7. The Tarvox took 24 points of damage, costing it an attack dice from its Trample and Arm Spike. It's new C+A was 67.
The Tarvox, now enraged, swung back. Again, we looked at Skill vs Skill, and found his 18 would need a 5+ to hit the Mantichora's 27.
His spiked club rolled a 5, 4, 6, and 9. The arm spike (down a dice from damage) got an 8 and a 1, while the arm club got a 5, 6, 0, and 5. The Trample (down to one dice) missed with a 1, and the Axe rolled an 8, a 0, a 9, and a 6.
We compared M+W to Ungefelic's 77 C+A for all the weapons to determine Parry value. The spiked club's 91 needed a 6+, and Ungefelic missed all of them with a pair of 1s and pair of 3a. The arm spike's 87 needed a 6+, and went through with a 2. The 97 on the arm club needed a 6+ to parry, and one strike was negated with a 4, 6, and 4. Finally, the 90 of the axe needed a 6+; one was parried with a 7, but a 0 and pair of twos let the other strikes through. The Tarvax rolled damage for the Arm Spike separately due to its Wound+ of 2d10; with an 8 rolled, a 7 and 2 joined the damage pool. The other strikes rolled for a 0, 1, 5, 9 (and subsequent 2), 5, 2, 4, 0, and 3. Totaled together, the mantichora took 49 damage, costing it two dice on its bite and claws, and one on its trample. It's new Constitution dropped to a 19, with a C+A of 28.
The fomoraics had the next activation, and seeing the weakened mantichora, the Tain declared a charge on it.
We measured the distance and show the Tain is indeed within the 12 charge distance. He is also more than his Pace away, so this will be a Swift Charge!
The completed charge.
The Tain prepares to smash the mantichora to small pieces.
This is the best part of Darklands - massive creatures battling it out!
Comparing skill values (35 to 27), the Tain would need 4+s to hit. Since he charged, this drops to a 3+. He rolls a 7 and a 4 for his two impact strikes. His M+W+Ch is 58, which requires a 7+ for the Mantichora's lowered 28 C+A to parry. The 4 and 3 both go through, and the Tain rolls his damage. The mantichora takes 15 points before the Tain even goes! His new Constitution is 4, and with a C+A of 13, the rest of the Tain's attacks have a lot of potential.
The Tain rolls to hit with his broad axe. He still needs a 3+ to hit, and gets a 9, a 4, a pair of 1s, a 2, a 6, and another 4. His M+W will require an 8+ for the mantichora to parry, and it fails all of them. The Tain rolls to wound, and one only grazes. The other four add the Wound+ of 1d10, and the Tain does a whopping 39 damage. The Mantichora is removed as a casualty.
The Tarvax take a risk and attempt to retain the initiative. The Tain is in command range, and the Taevax get an 03 on their Authority test. Emboldened, they declare a charge on Torku!
The three Tarvax charge into combat.
Torku stares down her beef dinner.
The Tarvax require a 3+ to hit, but whiff and only strike with 9 of their 18 hits. Torku's C+A is 101, and she requires a 3+ to parry their M+W of 61. She fails one, and the Tarvax roll to wound. The 0 whiffs, and the Bone Aberrent swings back.
Torku needs a 5+ to hit her opponents. Two of her three bite and skull butt attacks miss (though the skull butt's strike is a 9), and a pair of 0s, a 4, and a 2 mean that her trample attacks all miss as well. The Bite's 78 M+W will need a 7+ to be parried, as will the 80 from the skull butt. The Tarvax parry the bite with an 8, but both the skull butts get through on 6s. Torku rolls to wound for her two Skull Butt strikes and gets a 5 and a 9. She rolls the extra die from the 9, and gets another 9! She rolls the new extra die and gets an 8. Then she adds the Wound+ - a d10 - to each of these, getting a pair of fives, a 6, and a 2. Adding all these together, she does a staggering 49 damage to the Tarvax - enough to kill one and leave another at a Constitution of 21.
The axe drunes prepare to take their revenge, and also charge the Tarvax. Unfortunately they can only get the Battle Drune and An-Ax-Drune into the combat, so those two will go, and since they're both charging, they go simultaneously instead of in Skill order. The battle drune will need a 2+ to hit, because his 55 against the Tarvax's 23 needs a 3, but he charged, while the An-Ax-Drune will need a 3+ since his skill of 38 is lower than the Battle Drune's. The battle drune rolls a 2, a 4, and a 7 for three strikes, while the ax-drune rolls a pair of 1s and misses with both. The battle Drune's M+W of 35 require a 7+ to parry because of their Swift Charge and the Tarvax's modified C+A of 29. The Tarvax rolls a 2, a 0, and a 4, so all three strikes go through. He rolls to wound, and gets a 7, a 6, and a 9, which produces an extra 6. He then rolled the 1d10 Wound+ dice for each wound, getting a pair of sixes, a 4, and a 3. Totaled, the battle drune does 47 damage to the Taevax, killing the injured one and putting a Constitution of 19 on the remaining one.
The battlefield after the second hour.
The Tain of the Tarvax prepares to crack some skulls!
The Tain has a skill of a 35, which will require a 5+ to hit the 38 of the Ax-Drunes. Since he charged, that means he will need a 4+. He rolls to hit with the Impact Strikes, and gets a 3 and an 8. The ax-drunes fail their 8+ parry, and the strike does a whopping 1 point of damage. Then the Tain swung with the broad axe, missed with a 1, and then rolled a six, four eights, and a nine. The 21 C+A of the ax-drunes require a 7+ to parry a M+W of 69, but the swift charge increases that to an 8+. The drunes fail all of them. The Tain rolls to wound with his seven Strikes, succeeds with all, and adds a d10 to each. When all is done, he does 66 damage, enough to wipe out the ax drune unit.
The battle drune performs an attack move to get into contact with the Tain. He then performs his Attack, needing a 4+ for his 55 skill to hit the Tain, who declares his parry die. Unfortunately he rolls a 6 and a pair of 2s, only striking once. The Tarvax rolls his parry dice, missing with his heavy armor but getting an 8 on the other to successfully parry.
The Fomoraic player then activates his Tarvax, swinging against Torku. Two of his 5 attacks hit on a 4+, though one is a 9. The still uninjured Torku needs a paltry 2+ to parry with her 101 C+A, and stops two of the strikes. The third succeeds in wounding with a 6, and adds its Wound+ of d10, rolling a 9 and adding another 5. The bone-Aberrent takes 20 damage and chooses to lose two Trample attacks. Her new Constitution is a 58, with a C+A of 81.
Torku rolls to hit against the Tarvax and succeeds with one Bite and a Trample, as well as rolling a 9 with the Skull Butt and another Trample. The Tarvax needs an 8+ to parry and manages to do so twice due to rolling a 9. Torku rolls to wound with the three remaining dice, rolls a 9 and two successes, adds her Wound+ dice, and does 41 damage, more than enough to wipe out the Tarvax.
The Ysian player has already activated both his units, and is forced to Pass the Initiative back to the Fomoraic player. He marches the Tarvox up to join in the combat to come.
Because its late and I'm not paying attention (possibly due to the application of beer) somehow Torku ends up in combat. I think this was the first move if Hour 5, but I can't recall. I do recall that he epically failed to do anything to the Tain, who made a bunch of parries.
Ah, here we go, Hour 5. The Ysians pass their Authority test and charge Torku in. The stuff I mention above happens.
Fighting the rest of the combat in Skill order, the Battle Drune swings at the Tain. He Strikes twice and with the Tain's Parry Die used on Torku, he is only able to parry one of the strikes. Fortunately the bovine gods are smiling on the Tain, and the drune grazes with the wound, doing no damage.
An invulnerable Tain faces off against very mountable odds!
The Tain decides to go after the Battle Drune, pokes one wound through and does 9 points of damage.
The Fomoraic player activates the Tarvox, and charges Torku.
I'll let you read the dice because its 1AM and I'm sick of repeating the process. The Tarvox pushes 49 damage onto Torku, leaving her at 9 Constitution.
Hour 6, and the Authority tests might determine the game. Both generals fail their first test and roll again. The Ysian gets a 30, but the Fomoriac get a 27. However I misunderstand how combat works, and do it in skill order.
The Battle Drune pushes 32 damage into the Tain with some 9s on damage, and the Tain loses three Axe attacks. It's something.
The Tain swings back, pushing 24 damage on the battle drune and leaving him at 6 Constitution.
The Tarvox hits Torku but the bone-Aberrent is able to parry four of the six strikes due to some well timed 9s. Unfortunately for the Ysians, the Tarvox does 12 damage and slays the Bone Aberrant.
The end of hour 6 sees the Ysians take a Ravaged! test, which the Battle Drune fails! He shakes his fist in defiance as he withdraws. The Fomoriac carry the day.
Finally, here are a few pictures of demo games at Dragon's lair.
No comments:
Post a Comment