Song of Drar and Murin: Game 6

This scenario is inspired by a Tabletop Teaser from an old issue of Battlegames, which is the only frankly "fantasy" scenario I have seen so far. It gave me the idea that I can actually combine underground and overground tiles in the same game.

The dwarves must cos the overground tiles to reach the entrance to the mines, then search for a stolen relic which is in one of the three rooms there.

Warg riders attack!

A dwarf warrior is slain!

The dwarves push on despite their loss. More warg riders attack!

Birgir is felled by a war rider, but I use the warband upgrade I bought from the victory in the previous scenario to avert his death - rank hath its privileges.

With the overground tiles cleared, the dwarves enter the mines.

Puny goblins are no threat to my experienced dwarf warriors.

The first room is empty! Move on, boys!

Die, foul goblins!

Found it! Let's haul it home, boys!

Despite the loss of one warrior and the near-death of Birgir, the game wasn't really challenging; I gave myself a limit of 40 turns, and completed the scenario in fewer than 30. Should I increase the number of cards per tile? Or the number of points of enemies on each card?

I may shelve the campaign while I try to think of some way to make it more interesting. In the mean time I should get started on my Egyptian warband for OGAM, or catch up on some reading...

Song of Drar and Murin: Game 5

As promised, I took the fighting outdoor and added some warg riders to the pack.

Instead of placing the cards on the tiles, I changed the rule for this scenario: the dwarves must make their way to the entrance to the mines, with the pursuing goblins being placed on the starting tile each turn. Since the goblins move faster than the dwarves, the dwarves must make their way across the open area quickly before the goblins can surround them.

To make sure that the goblin commander and the warg riders make an appearance in this scenario, I picked the goblin commander and one war riders card out, then drew another four cards at random, and then shuffled the six together.

The dwarves need to make it to the top left corner. The goblins enter from the bottom right corner.

The first two cards I draw are the goblin commander and the warg riders! Birgir, the new leader of the dwarves, orders the men to leg it.

But it is not possible to out-run the warg riders. The dwarves form a defence at the defile.

The goblins are pushed back after the first scuffle, but more warg riders arrive and one warrior ventures too far ahead of the line...

The warg riders charge again, and the warrior stumbles. Birgir face a tough choice: should he try to save the warrior, or get the rest of the men to safety?

We are dwarves - that's not even a question! Birgir sends two dwarves to prepare a second line of defence while he and the slayer charge in to rescue the downed warrior. The goblins begin to gather but they are unable to make it into combat.

A gruesome kill by Birgir sends many goblins fleeing - you can see the "casualty pile" on the top right of the photo.

The goblin commander rallies his men for a second charge, but another gruesome kill, this time by the slayer, sends more of his followers scrambling for safety.

Now outnumbered, the goblin commander decides discretion is the better part of valour...

Lucky tile placements allowed the dwarves to hold off superior number of enemies in this game. The most tense part of the game was when Birgir was faced with the choice of abandoning one of his men or risking all their lives. It took me a while to decide, but I realised I had to do the dwarven thing.

I played the whole thing through in an hour, with History Channel's Vikings in the background, and managed to pack all the figures and tiles away in less time than a commercial break took. Now I wonder what the next scenario should be.

SODAM Rules

I've been thinking about consolidating all the rules I made for the solo campaign, and a request by a fellow TMPer provided the impetus for me to do so today.

The Tabletop Rules and Lists

I use the SOBH rules unmodified, as well as the lists in the basic rules.

Murin is a Dwarf Commander, Drar a Dwarf Elite Crossbowman. Dwarf archers are Dwarf Crossbowen, Dwarf warriors with axe and shield Dwarf Warriors, and Dwarf warrior with two-handed axes Dwarf Goblinslayers (Orcslayers, except Lethal vs, Goblins).

The Goblins are Goblin Warriors and Archers, with the leader being a Goblin Commander.

I start with a warband of 300 points. Each victory gives me one Victory Point. One VP allows me to buy a warband upgrade or a warrior or crossbowman, and two VPs allow me to buy a character upgrade for Murin or Drar, or a slayer.

Tile placement

When using random tile placement, start with a small tile, which is the deployment zone for the dwarves.

Randomly pick one large tile, numbering its three open sides 1~2, 3~4, and 5~6. Roll 1d6 to determine which side of the large tile is joined with the small tile.

Then, number the two remaining sides of the large tile 1~3 and 4~6, Roll 1d6 to determine which side the next large tile will join to, then pick another large tile and repeat the process as above.

If it is not possible to fit the tile as determined by the dice, simply fit the tile as best you can.

When the desired number of tiles are placed, add the smaller tiles to close off the open sides of the large tiles.

Place one Encounter Card per tile. A card is revealed when a dwarf enters a tile, or when the Goblin Commander enters a tile.

Goblin Placement

Once revealed, the figures indicated on the card are placed onto the tile.

Each large tile has 8 rows and 8 columns. Number the rows and columns 0~7, then roll 1d6 twice to see which row and which column the figure will be placed.

If a square is impassable or already occupied, simply place the figure on an adjacent, unoccupied square.

If a goblin is placed next to a dwarf figure, it is in melee contact and counts as having Ambushed the dwarf. If this happens during the dwarves' turn, the dwarves' turn ends immediately.

Goblin Reaction

If a figure is within command of the Goblin Commander, the player may decide how to activate the figure. If a figure is not within command, follow the reaction as indicated on the card.

A goblin warrior or troll will attempt to move into contact and melee with the nearest dwarf. A goblin archer will attempt to move to Medium but out of Short Range and shoot.


That's all I can think of for now. Do let me know if you want to know anything else by leaving a comment.

Song of Drar and Murin: Game 4

Following the suggestion of readers and friends, I decided that this scenario will depic tthe dwarves' attempt to recover the bodies of Murin and Drar.

The set-up. The dwarves need to fight their way through to the bodies at the other end of the board. If they have fewer than two figures on a cleared tile, a new card will be placed on it.

I recruited three more slayers this time, and they clear the first tile easily.

One down, three more to go!

Leaving two figures behind to guard the first tile, I push a slayer past the third tile into the fourth to beat the clock, unveiling the troll and the goblin commander.

Sending a warrior against the lead slayer, the goblin commander dashes to the tile to his right to raise the troops there. The archers keep the troll penned in in the side room.

I then make a mistake of sending the goblin commander back to attack the isolated slayer - he is cut down and his minions flee in terror. Murin and Drar are avenged!

With this win, I can purchase another leader figure to lead the warband.

I think the "Lethal against goblins" trait is perhaps too powerful in this campaign where every figure except the troll is, well, a goblin. I think I shall limit my warband to one slayer hereafter.

Song of Drar and Murin: Game 3

Alas! Would that I never laid out the dungeon tiles this hateful day!

With the figures I am planning to paint this weekend in the flocking tray drying, I decided to play another game of SODAM; Murin and Drar paid the ultimate price for my decision.

For this scenario I wanted to try out the Leadership trait of the Goblin commander. The dwarves start at the centre of the board and must exit via any of the three ends to win. The Goblin commander is randomised to one of the three immediate tiles, and may "activate" a card if he enters a tile.

The set-up.

The deployment. With the dwarves protected/blocked by a wall, I decide to head left and avoid the Goblin commander.

The measuring template from Litko makes an appearance.

Murin faces off the Goblin commander while the rest make off to the left. The Goblin commander decides against a confrontation and calls for more troops instead.

Things are looking good... but it won't for long...

The Goblin commander closes in. Drar is beset by two goblin warriors and Murin decides to come to his rescue.

Murin charges in and orders Drar and the archers to retreat... but Drar is cut down while trying to break off contact!

While Murin is stunned by his friend's death, the Goblin commander falls upon him and slays him too!

The rest of the dwarves lose heart and flee pell-mell, and one more archer will fall at the hands of the Goblin commander before the battle ends.

With a figure with the Leader trait on the goblin side, they become much deadlier. The dwarves were a little unlucky this game - the Goblin commander made 3 activations to charge at Murin and make a Powerful strike, and then rolled high enough to kill him.

I guess my question now is whether I should continue the campaign with the surviving dwarves and hopefully gain another leader figure by winning a game, or whether I should play the next games from the point of view of the goblins instead.

Song of Drar and Murin: Game 2

I managed to squeeze in a game of SODAM on Wednesday evening.

The scenario is based on the Moria fight scene from The Fellowship of the Ring: the dwarves are trapped in a room with a troll and some goblins on the other side of the door, and must make a break for it.

Hmm, quite a few choke points there...

Lucky die-rolls put the attackers in a side-room - time to make a break for it!

The troll falls down in the first combat, and won't get up for many turns. The slayer holds off the goblin warriors while the rest push on to the next room.

The third room is empty! What luck! Let's lug it, boys - I think I can hear the troll coming...

Uh-oh. This doesn't look good...

The dwarves are caught in a choke point and unable to bring their full force to bear.

Until a warrior scores a Gruesome Kill on one of the goblins, which sends the rest fleeing.

The troll gains on the dwarf bowmen, who try to hold him off with their arrows, while the warriors clear the goblins guarding a line of rubble in the fifth room.

The warriors cross the obstacle and clear the last room, but the bowmen, needing two successful activations on 4+, are stuck! Finally, Murin runs back to motivate them...

The end position. Miraculously, none of the dwarves were killed.

The game took about 90 minutes and lasted a little over 30 turns. I gave myself a target of 4 turns per tile, which means while they all survived, the dwarves failed the mission.

The time limit does make the game more challenging and exciting. I am a little disappointed by the troll's performance, but when led by a Goblin Leader, I think he will be deadlier.

I think I will introduce the Goblin Leader in the next game...

Song of Drar and Murin: Game 1

Well, I managed to get the tiles from my brother and play the first game in the solo campaign! I'll give a narrative of the game, followed by my thoughts.

The dungeon set up using the random method I devised... OK, I cheated - the first time I rolled, all the tiles were in a straight line, so I re-rolled.

The dwarves enter in formation. You can see the stat cards in the foreground.

The first room is... empty!

Feeling confident, Murin moves into the next room... and is ambushed by goblins!

Things get hairy for Murin, and only one of his followers recovers his senses in time to rush to his rescue.

The dwarves quickly regain their composure, and despatch the goblins.

Murin decides to get everyone organised before they head into the next room, which is a good decision because they find four goblin warriors ready to spring on them.

The Slayer does sterling work with his two-handed axe - I think he had the highest body count for the evening!

All right, boys, two more rooms to go!

Once again, an over-confident Murin nearly gets into trouble.

By the time they tackle the final room, the dwarves have got it more or less organised - warriors to the front, archers to the rear with clear lanes of fire.

I had fun.

Setting up was a breeze with the tiles and the cards made things simple and clear.

For this first scenario I used 5 tiles and removed the goblin commander and troll from the deck. The goblins are rather weak compared to the dwarves, and given that the dwarves tackled them one room at a time, it wasn't really very challenging for me. Well, except for the time Murin nearly got killed. I think a turn limit may be required to make the dwarves move faster.

The "terrain" on the tiles were great. There were narrow doorways which prevented all the dwarves from moving together, and enough obstacles to block line-of-sight and thus line-of-movement; this is important as in SOBH figures may only move in straight lines, so to charge a goblin around a corner a dwarf may have to make two or three successful activation rolls, which makes things riskier for them.

The goblin placement rule worked quite well, and added another element of variability to the game. I think I will add the rule that if a goblin is placed adjacent to a dwarf it counts as an ambush and ends the dwarves' turn.

In terms of tactics, I think I didn't really use Murin's Leadership special rule well. In the next game I will move the warriors in a group move to enter new tiles, and group the archers to perform concentrated fire from behind them. For all his Combat skills, Murin should not always be at the forefront of fighting. The slayer proved to be a real asset with his Lethal v. Goblin skill.

I will be busy for the rest of the week, but I hope to be able to play the next game in the campaign next week. I think I will let the troll make his debut next...