Bronze Age Midgard Playtest AAR

Keen to play test James Morris's Midgard rules again and get my Bronze Age figures on table, Chris agreed to help me organise a game at Steve's,

It is only a small collection so we would be pushing the boundaries at the lower end of what the rules can handle but we managed to scrape together enough figures for a very small game.

We would play "None shall pass" with defenders holding two passing points on an obstacle gaining a win if they held both points at the end of the game. The attackers had 2/3 the strength of the defenders.

I ahve a shaman with my force and Steve has a witch, both spend a point to cast the omens, I roll a six and the Omens are excellent adding 2 points of reputation tomy pot, Steve rolls a one, oh dear "Are you sure you wish to fight today my lord?" 1 reputation point is removed.

As the game is heroic the individual characters play an important part and the gaining or losing of reputation one of the key elements of the game. Once one side has lost all their reputation they flee the field.

So as Attacker goes first Steve pushed forward with nearly every unit moving twice to get to grips as quickly as possible. My skirmishers all lined the steep impassable beck to be able to shoot at Steves figures as they tried to concentrate on the two crossing points.

As Heroism was the order of the day and I hadnt noticed a change James had made to the rules for Hero's I decided to try surprise Steve by charging out of the crossing points with my Chariots and Horse and two of my three heros. This lead our Chariots into an immediate confrontation. Unfortunately this did not go well with my Chariot unit being destroyed and my isolated Hero taken out of the game. I remembered a previous game where an isolated Hero was allowed to ride around causing havoc even after his unit had been wiped out. Made complete sense for James to change this I just wished I had noticed.

With the forces being so small my reputation was immediatly in trouble. Oh dear!

Steves turn again and his two units of light horse leap forward to pounce on my one that has been left exposed, my error is obvious now but the die is cast.

Steves forces all go forward as quickly as they can except the chariots who are pulled out to take a break.

Whilst Steve has the advantage initially that he is charging and is also supported he has not noticed that Balor of the Evil Eye is leading my Cavalry unit. One of his traits nullifies the supporting units which are the only way to create saving throws, he also adds 4 extra fighting dice to the melee.

We are pretty much coming to grips right along the line with showers of spear and arrow back and forth, mostly ineffectual.

Despite the odds in my favour I only just beat Steve, he is pushed back through the unit behind and I follow up.

On the left its now my turn and my elite Warriors charge through the ford to engage Steves Warriors, My Chieftain is with them and issues a challenge to the enemy Hero as both sides close on each other.

At this point Chris bursts out laughing "Thats the Dagda" I have mistakenly issued a challenge to a level 4 Hero with my level 2 Chieftain. We keep markers next to the leaders so they can spend their might points, 4 for a level 4, I hadnt noticed Steve spending his so the Dagda only had one marker and I mistakenly thought that meant he was a level 1.

Imagining my Cheiftains gulping down his adams apple as he realised who had challenged we went into battle.

I quickly decided I would not challenge him to a duel to the death and thus may escape alive, having spent most of his might points Steve added the one remaining to his 4 for being level four I had 2 might points unspent so tart off with 4 dice against Steves 5. I get lucky and win.

Steve losses 2 points and we go straight into second round of melee, this time its 4 dice against my 2.

Steve rolls 4 1's and 2's, I get double six and Chris is laughing even harder, the Dagda is dead and a handful of reputation points are removed from Steves goblet (A plastic pot really).

At this point Steve is at zero and I am at -1 but we have one further combat to go with our Elite Warriors having at each other. 

We are on equal numbers of dice, Steves troops have the Brutal bonus with their double handed axes so they hit on 4's rather than 5's, however with shields on their backs their armour is reduced by one. As I am charging I get a bonus and also hit on 4's, the dice are rolled and I manage to push back Steves Warriors, the extra points of reputation take me into plus figures and the end of the turn sees Steves reputation pot empty.

The attackers have lost and stream away in disaray, no doubt dis-heartened by the death of the Dagda.

 A short bloody and amusing game, I hope to add more figures to make this work a little better and we are already discussing using this for an Arthurian vs Picts game where we have a lot more figures to hand.

Overall I continue to be impressed by these rules. Fun, different and definately an heroic feel. I am already thinking about the best way to re-base the current collection to fit better with Midgard.

Great fun, we will do it again soon.