Decemborc, Rise of the Orc Lords; Finale

 

Porcus vs Hollyfelled

Planning

The Southeast Conference and allies were riding high after our victory over the Klon Triumvirate; immediately there were calls to turn our might against others such as Hollyfelled or Garek Bloodtide. I was feeling magnanimous and would not hear of such talk, either I was looking at the big picture or was not playing an Orc properly. When the dust settled I was very happy Bloodtide, with his Battlemaster ability, was on the far side of Malturrim. 

Khaleb Ghines was also a concern, he was placed to hit the farms himself and could conceivably do so twice in the 3 days available to him.

Slowly, like a fresh kill, my goodwill decayed into suspicion; I realised that I had become an obvious target. Everyone, including me, publicly expressed their desire to finish in Carnatium, but I realised that if I agreed to participate in such a plan I would be susceptible to betrayal. I also, somehow, thought there was another Orc Lord force in (4,6), and this phantom force shaped my decision making. 

I had gold and slaves to trade in to the Dread Lord, but what I wanted most was to stay out of trouble and hopefully score more easy loot from the farmers. For this was the real secret of the game, sacking Carnatium was good as a trophy, but the farms were where the best loot was.

So, I could split my forces, send some south to Carnatium with the others and send the rest through the portal, or, I could keep my force together; I could even bunker down in Grimdark Town; but, whatever option I chose I would be a target. I didn't want to put my comrades in the position of betrayal being their best option. There seemed to be no clear move that could guarantee safety while still getting a little human action. 

Being on top of the Leader board, I could have done without this short week of three days entirely. As far as I could tell, all I could do was lose the game if I made the wrong move. With the pressure of Christmas approaching, and a bit of uncertainty over when orders were due, I made an error; I went to an obvious place.

Although it worked out in the end, in hindsight I should have given up on a last hurrah with the farmers and just marched North or North West.

Orders

Week 5 Orders

Day 1

• Porcus Junior at Malturrim to sober up and asap deliver to the Dread Lord the 6800 gold and 680HD human Slaves he's been sitting on
• Main Porcus Force Army in 4,6 to move to 4,7 (Portal) 

Day 2

• Porcus Orcus and 10hd of orcs with 1275 gold & 210 humans to move through the portal to Malturrim and immediately cash in all gold and humans
• Gizzard Force (Gizzard the Wizard & his invisible body guards, 480HD Orcs, 410HD Goblins) moves to 3,7 

Day 3

• Gizzard Force raids the farms in (2,6)

Results

Khaleb Ghines surprised me with a brilliant manoeuvre that saw him hit the farms on day 1, rest AND join up with Kul and Kris Karnhell on day 2 in the outskirts of Carnatium, then the three of them together sacked the city on day 3.

I had figured that keeping my army together and moving my entire force to the portal at 4,7 was the percentage play, but at least one Orc Lord anticipated the move, which, in hindsight, was an obvious one. 

In the end though, only Hollyfelled moved there to attack. I guess some of my close allies had passed up a chance to join him (for which I will reward them). I had to appreciate Hollyfelled's commitment, it was a battle he would lose on a roll of anything less than a 6; but, fortune favoured him and I was forced to withdraw back to (4,6). I renamed it New New Porcus Town and ordered my troops to settle in and wait there. Though a setback, this was no disaster, and, by avoiding any large scale killing of other Orcs I had strengthened my own hand, as, after the final tallies were made I was awarded the title of Warlord and full command.

Warlord Porcus Orcus

Epilogue

I've gone into a lot of detail in these reports, thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed them. Many thanks again to Mr Wargaming who went to such lengths to keep us entertained with Decembork, I'll never forget it. 

As I write it appears that Lamalla herself has been defeated; but, fear not, the forces of Porcus Orcus, refreshed and prepared, are planning to march on in a BROSR campaign near you.

Decemborc, Rise of the Orc Lords; Week 4

 

Conundrum

Planning

Everything pointed to the Klon Triumvirate (as I called them) sacking the city of Carnatium in a one off event that would bring to an end the easy pickings from the human farms. Could I risk trying to hit the farms in (2,7) again on day 1, the last day possible before this happened? But, what if they that was what the Triumvirate planned; lure me to (2,7), turn from the city and face me there with a 1000+ HD army (the minimum need to attack the city) instead? 

There was another factor as well. I was not entirely sure their combined army did number to over 1000 HD; after all, Klon needed a force to retake his home village lost to Sivor, Grimdark likely had left a substantial force to guard his home village, and Rockbrain was still working with his initial numbers of troops. If so, this raised the chance of running into them since they could not advance on the city. The mere possibility of ambush caused me to rule out moving into the farm area, I would have to send my treasure through the portal and find some way to give battle to the Triumvirate as they tried to get their treasure and loot to Malturrim.

Diplomacy 

I don't think of myself as a strong diplomacy player, this goes back to a game in the 80's where I played Germany and by the end was reduced to just one fleet in Portugal (see above re-enactment); but, this week I needed to make many diplomatic overtures to the other Orc Lords, and, fortunately, every conversation I had went well in the lead up to issuing orders for Week 4. I was probably helped by the fact that the Klon Triumvirate, by starting the week in a position to raid Carnatium, had made themselves a natural enemy to rally against. Facing them we had a strong coalition of forces; the Southeast Conference (Kul of Dripping Blades and Kris Karnhell), the mighty Garek Bloodtide with his Battlemaster ability, the enigmatic Khaleb Ghines, and the wild card Hollyfelled with his Weathermancer ability. 

The problem was, how could we be sure to bring the enemy to fight when they would likely evade if they could? There was a 50% chance of evading in the open, somewhat less if they went past a village we controlled.

I don't know if Hollyfelled had already thought of it, but I realised that the Weathermancer ability could be used to stop treasure trains dead, making evasion impossible. Using it, he could force a fight with any unit in his hex. With this going for us, our combined numbers, and Gareks' ability to shift the battle in our favour; we might just pull it off.

Orders

Porcus Orcus Orders Dec 22-28

Day 1

• Porcus Force (Porcus Orcus, 1 Subchief, Gizard the Wizard, 400HD orcs, 270HD goblins, 6800gp, 680hd humans) moves from (3,8) to (4,7) Portal.

Day 2 

• Send all Gold and all slaves through Portal with a sub-chief and 10hd Orcs  (only cash in after below)
• Porcus Force (Porcus, Gizard the Wizard, 390HD orcs, 270HD goblins), moves from (4,7) to (4,6) Grimdark's stronghold - estimate defences with an eye to attack with Karnhel (and Garek maybe). Have Levitate ready for invisible orcs to sneak in an open the gates. Make it New New Porcustown.

Day 3 

• Depending on timing/success of taking Grimdark's stronghold (4,6) and making it my new home, cash in slaves and gold in Malturrim so they arrive there.

Day 3 or 4 

• Reinforcements arrive in New New Porcustown.

Day 3+

• Prevent Klon & co "the Triumvirate" reaching Malturrim with their treasure, Co-operate with Karnhel, Kul, Garek and Hollyfelled to attack Klon & co. Hollyfelled to use rain to stop them moving through the portal. 
• Use the defensive bonus in 4,6 to attack Klon & co if they go that way. Pursue them if they evade. Be ready to advance to the 'sound of the guns'.
• If Klon & co do not take Carnatium, advance to do some farming of my own (with support from other Orc Lords if possible).

General Orders

• Intercepting the Triumvirate's treasure train is the TOP PRIORITY.
• Time cashing in to allow for reinforcements to hit 4,6. If taking this fails, then cash in and get reinforcements at New Porcustown (8,5) instead, then this force is to advance to meet Porcus, the sub-chief in Malturrim will advance and take over garrisoning of (8,5). 
• If/when 4,6 is taken and becomes New New Porcustown, forces from 8,5 (1 subchief, 10 orcs, 454 gold) to move to 7,5 then Malturrim and cash in gold and join up with the subchief there. This might be day 2-4.
• If for some reason no home hex is available for reinforcements, hold onto gold and slaves in Malturrim. 

Klon Krushnag (maybe)

Results

This week the brain of Mr Wargaming was severely stressed by a series of cascading orders and dependencies from most of the Orc Lords. He emerged victorious; though in the end some of my secondary orders didn't quite get actioned, which was fine with me. The main priority, the big battle of the game, did happen; and it was glorious. 

He had a point for sure about the combat table not quite living up to the occasion; but, having a huge decisive battle on the randomly decided location of the Portal, involving all but one Orc lord's forces, featuring the use of weather magic in combination with the battle master ability; you could hardly have asked for a more epic showdown. The extra delay until after Christmas to resolve the battle was the icing on the cookie.

Incidentally, the Triumvirate did go to the farms in (2,7) on Day 1, so I'm glad I didn't! 

At the end of Week 4 the Triumvirate was completely destroyed and the name of Porcus Orcus was still on top of the Leaderboard. There were 3 days remaining in the game.

 

Decemborc, Rise of the Orc Lords; Week 3

  

Orc Goals

Planning

"...Gizzard the Wizard lead a force deep into enemy territory and was well placed at 4,6 to strike in Week 3"

Wait a minute, why attack with just 150 odd Orcs, risking serious losses and making them a target for other Orcs, when I could wait and hit the humans with a bigger force? If I moved Gizzard Force back and met with Porcus Force on day two, then rolled this combined 750hd force south east to hit the farms, I would get the same big score but with less risk. Having made this decision, the rest was straight forward. I schemed with the Southeast Conference to be within mutual support range for Week 4.

Orders

Porcus Orcus Orders Dec 15-21

          --------------------------------------- 

 

Units Available 

Gizard Force (4,6)

Estimated Numbers 

Sub-chief & Body Guards, Gizzard the Wizard & 3 Invisible 2hd Ninja Orcs Bodyguards

130HD Troops

Total HD = around 150

Porcus Force (8,5)

Estimated Numbers

Warlord Porcus Orcus & Body Guards

Sub-chief & Body Guards

560HD Troops

Total HD = around 590

Day 1

• Porcus Force leaves a 10HD Garrison and Sub-Chief & Body Guards behind and moves to 7,6
• Gizzard Force  moves to 5,7 

Day 2 

• Porcus Force meets Gizzard Force in 6,6 and absorbs it, numbers now at approx 750HD

Day 3 

• Porcus Force moves to 5,7

Day 4

• Porcus force moves to 4,7

Day 5

• Porcus force moves to 3,7

Day 6

• Porcus Force raids the farms in 2,6 before retiring to 3,6 on Day 7

After the raid Gizzard will Invis up and I would like a ruling on if he and the 3 other 

invisible orcs can between them secretly carry the gold from the raid back to Malturrim in week 4.

 

Results

This week went almost completely as planned, how about that? There was an exception though:

"Random Encounters

While passing though hex (4,7), the forces of Porcus Orcus discover a Strange Portal down in a sheltered hollow.  A large stone doorway filled with purple glowing mists stands there, and through the ethereal light, the orcs dimly perceive a familiar and dreadful sight - Malturrim.  Any force that starts its day in this hex can opt to enter the portal, which whisks them to Malturrim.  This is a one-way journey."

Portal to Malturrim

The Portal changed the whole game. I had scored a big haul from the human farms and now there was no need to try and sneak gold back to Malturrim using invisible orcs as I was effectively only one hex away from cashing in. I was pretty happy with life, but, throwing things wide open; three other Orc Lords: Klon Grushnag, Rockbrain, and Grimdark Morbad had spent the last day of the week passing through the outer suburbs of Carnatium. Were they going to sack the city itself? What to do?

Decemborc, Rise of the Orc Lords; Week 2

 

New Porcus Town

Planning

In Week 1 my gamble on Goblin Town failed and yet I lived to fight another day. I even gained more Goblins to bolster my numbers up to 430HD in my main army (Porcus Force). My ally, Kris Karnhell, had traded in his Goblins at the end of week 1, which got him on the score board; but, I considered it a mistake; my plan was to grow my army as much as possible and Goblins were as good as any other grunt. 

When I tried to reconcile the Week 1 daily battle reports with the combat tables I found I did not understand at all how they worked; Mr Wargaming told me to think harder.

This week I intended to follow through with my allies in the Southeast Conference and take Oghma Town for my reinforcements to arrive in. Once again we were concerned that he might slip through to Malturrim and pick up his own reinforcements, so I wanted to attack on day 2 before that could happen.

Kul of Dripping Blades wanted to end the week with a dwarf raid, and so enthusiastic was Kris Karnhell that he left his stone walled home village with nothing more than "orc dummies propped up peeking behind my walls, lol". This gamble would have consequences.

With a sub chief dead in Goblin Town, I had 3 spare 2 HD bodyguards who did not count in battle (being less than 10HD), I would make use of them in other ways. 

Orders

Porcus Orcus Orders Dec 8-14

-------------------------

Main Goals

#1 Take Oghma's village (8,5)

#2 Deposit gold in Malturrim 

#3 Get reinforcements in Oghma's former village 

#4 after #1 is achieved, split rewards with Kull & KK, sub chief and 10HD orcs from old home 10,9 to move up to new home 8,5, other sub-chief will hand over gold in Malturirm, Porcus may purchase some goblins from Kul if this works out.

-------------------------

Day 1

Porcus Force in 8,6 430HD total

• Moves to 7,6
• Gizzard the Wizard casts Invisibility on a 2hd former bodyguard

Be ready to engage an Oghma force if encountered moving through 7,6.

Day 2 

• One sub-chief an co. in 7,6 take gold to Malturim in 6,5
• Porcus Force moves to 8,5 and attacks Oghma's village (in conjunction with Kul & KK)
• Gizzard the Wizard casts Levitate on an invisible former bodyguard, he will attempt to go into the village and open the gate at an opportune time.
• Gizzard also will cast Ventriloquism at max range (90 yards) to project behind the wall and yell things like "The (opposite side to the gate) wall has been breached, flee for your lives!" & "Oghma is down, Oghma is down!" And, in Porcus' voice, "I, Porcus Orcus, will spare all who surrenders to fight hoomans for loot and slaves!"  

Day 3+ Porcus Force continues siege if required, 

• Gizzard to (re)invis other 2hd former body guards if nothing else is required of him

Due to events on Day 2 there were Supplemental Orders for Week 2:

Day 3

• Because the are currently no subchiefs at (8,5) Warlord Porcus has to stay there, so Gizzard the Wizard leads Gizzard Force; comprised of all but 10 HD of warriors from (8,5) including the recently arrived reinforcements (I guess around 300hd in total), along with all the gold (500 plus any loot gained from Oghma). He leaves Porcus and moves to (7,6), he also casts Invisibility on a "ninja orc" (what I'm calling the former 2hd body guards)

Day 4 

• Gizzard Force moves to Malturrim, picks up the Sub-Chief there, and hands in an even number of points in Gold (ie if he has 600 then all of it, if 500 then only 400)
• Gizzard casts Invisibility on another "ninja orc"

Day 5 

• Gizzard Force moves to (5,6)
• casts Invisibility on a "ninja orc" if we still have 3, otherwise on himself.

Day 6 

• Gizzard Force moves to (4,6)
• Assess defences in place and have levitate ready; if very lightly defended then he may attack the village. However, the priority is to be in position to raid humans in week 3 so only if they really have their pants down

Day 7

• Gizzard Force moves to (3,7) ready to hit humans in Week 3

Meanwhile, as discussed

Day 3

• Subchief and all HD of Orcs from my old home hex (10,8) move to meet KK and for the siege (8,7). After defeating the Hoomans, or after the loss of 40 or more HD, the subchief and survivors will march north to (8,5).

Results

The Siege of Oghma Town itself went very smoothly (vale chief Oghma) with Gizzard's sneaky wizard tricks helping, and I now understood the siege combat table. Everything after that was a mess, KK had lost his home village to humans; Kul had to return home to pick up his reinforcements; my reinforcements spawned in the wrong place, but, somehow, in the right place to help KK retake his town then make it back up to New Porcus Town by the end of the week. Meanwhile, Gizzard the Wizard lead a force deep into enemy territory and was well placed at 4,6 to strike in Week 3. 

Oh, and not only was I on the leader board; thanks to rain preventing others scoring with their treasure, I was on top, for now.

Decemborc, Rise of the Orc Lords; Week 1

Planning

Having staked everything on regime change in Goblin Town, I began setting the stage with some propaganda. Yes, I was the big protector of our little brothers the Goblins.

A secondary part of all this was that if I could keep the others from Goblin Town for a day or two it would make a big difference to the number of Goblins remaining there when I arrived. Oghma and Kul of the Dripping Blades could make it on day 2. The earliest I could get there was day 3, which was the same as Kris Karnhell and Lorem Ipsum (which I figured he would do). If all 4 Orc Lords hit Goblin Town there could be 500 or more Goblins taken before I could execute my plan! 

In the lead up to the beginning of December Kris Karnhell, Kul of the Dripping Blades, and I had made contact and, thankfully, realised that our close proximity (no other 3 tribes were located so close together) and relatively poor location made us natural allies. From there it was inevitable that the unfortunate Oghma became our target, as the nearest other Orc Lord in a prime location that we could hit. But he wasn't just a target for plunder, since, if he was allowed to grow strong, we could be bottled up in the south east indefinitely.

South Eastern Conference 

What to do? I figured Oghma would split his force on day 1:

• "He's got a lot of extra troops from the draw, I'm thinking he'll send his gold with a light force to Malturrim. That will get him I think 110HD reinforcements on day 3."
• "He'll probably send another force to goblin town and come away with slaves he can also get to Malturrim in the first week." 

I pushed for KK to immediately move north to attack Oghma on day 2, which, if I was right, would catch him with his pants down at home and before the day 3 reinforcement's I expected him to get. This wasn't just about delaying both in getting to Goblin Town; If Oghma managed to get the reinforcements behind his walls then he could stand off all 3 of our armies. Kul and I would then arrive later in the week to finish the job.

Orders

Porcus Orcus Orders Dec 1-7

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Day 1

Porcus Force consisting of:

One 5HD warlord with five 3HD bodyguards

Two 4HD sub-chiefs with three 2HD bodyguards

One 3HD spellcaster (magic-user Wizard)

190 Orc warriors at 1HD each Total HD = 240

2,000gp

• Moves to 10,7
• Gizzard the Wizard casts Invisibility on a Sub-Chief
• Subchief with body guards and 10HD Orc Warriors left in 10,08 (Porcus Town) total HD = 20

Day 2 Porcus Force moves to 10,6

• Gizard the Wizard casts Invisibility on Warlord

Day 3 Porcus Force moves to Goblin Town (10,5) 

• Recruits Goblins due to goblin friend ability
• Execute Plan "Goblin Town is ours!": Invisible Warlord and Sub-Chief sneak in to capture (or kill) the goblin leader and convince him to follow the commands of Porcus Orcus.

Day 4 

• If plan "Goblin Town is ours!" is successful then merge the entire force of available Goblins into Porcus Force and move to 9,5. 
• If plan "Goblin Town is ours" is unsuccessful and Porcus Orcus is no longer "Goblin Friend" stay and raid Goblin Town, if still "Goblin Friend" then split into Porcus Force B (One Sub-Chief and body Guards with 40HD Orcs) & Porcus Force (the remainder)
• Porcus Force B moves to 11,5
• Porcus Force moves to 9,5

Day 5 

• Porcus Force moves to either 8,5 or 8,4 depending on situation in 8,5...

Day 6 

• Porcus Force moves to 7,5

Day 7 

• Porcus Force moves to Matlurrim

Contingencies:
1) On day 3 & day 5 there is likely to be conflict with other Orc Lords, will have to adapt to the situation.
2) One Orc Subchief with invisibility will attempt to infiltrate any opposing force that has Goblins and attempt to have them defect to Porcus Orcus in exchange for their freedom and a reward.
3) non-hostile Orc forces with Goblins will be offered 125gp per 10HD of Goblins

Results

The problem with the 'Attack Oghma' plan was that KK would be going out of his way and taking all the risk himself, so, in the end, he decided to go straight to Goblin Town instead. On the plus side, Oghma himself only raided Goblin Town and did not get the reinforcements from Malturrim that I was worried about.

The Goblin Town Coup didn't work out so well, as everyone knows by now. I like to think that my propaganda helped a little way and that my goblins still believed I was a goblin friend after all as I rounded them up later.

Things worked out rather differently than planned with the Oghma attack, KK and I, for our various reasons, did not reach him, and Kul ended up attacking by himself. Kul was none too please about this; but we pledged to make it up to him in Week 2. 

The big unforeseen boon was that Lorem Ipsum went elsewhere and, for now, was not our problem.

Orc Lords at the end of Week 1

Decemborc report; a view into the mind of an Orc Lord

First I'd like to thank Mr Wargaming for running such a great game, I enjoyed every moment of it. It's taken me a while to work out how I wanted to write up my experience of the game; blog posts allow me to be as detailed as I like, so here goes.

Before Brovenloft died down, Mr Wargaming introduced the idea of a more structured Braunstein/Wargame with orc tribes instead of the ungodly (and godly) powered forces that had run amuck in November. The idea was so popular that it became a reality in record time.  The rules and all are recorded here. I don't know how he was able to set it up so quickly, but anyway I jumped at the chance to join in.

First, I needed a name, something suitable but not like all the others; I've always liked pig face orcs...

The Draft

When I understood how the draft worked, which, let me tell you, I did not at all get it to begin with; and that I was in the middle of the pack, I realised that the best locations would likely be taken by the time my first choice came around, and that the best special abilities would be taken by the time of my second choice. Likely, none of the "best" stuff would still be available to me; I needed a specific strategy that worked with the lesser choices to have a better chance.

Draft Map

I also had to choose what kind of Shaman I had in my tribe; Cleric or Magic User.

Cleric Spells

Magic User Spells

I found out later that one Orc Lord chose Cleric and used Speak with Animals to help with random encounters, which sounds pretty useful; but, when comparing lists above I realised that the DMG Magic User spell list for Witch Doctor's was chock full of useful and versatile spells. Invisibility stood out, but how to use it? Assassination? Ventriloquism could help with that. 

Who should I target? Clearly, moving on the Dread Lord was right out, which left the humans, dwarves, elves and goblins; out of these the goblins stood out as likely targets. The "Goblin Friend" ability might give me the edge I needed to take over Goblin Town and to push me over the top with 1000HD of goblins all in the first few days of the game!

With Location I knew I had to be close to goblin town; but, here I hedged my bets. I figured the six Orc Lords ahead of me in the draft would go Location or Special ability first (probably someone would pick troops), then the opposite for their second choice, followed by Troops or Wealth.

If I was right I could pick Troops or Wealth first, have a good shot at the best picks in those categories, and trust that the Location and Special ability I wanted would still be available later. I really wanted Location I (and in hindsight should have given that a higher priority) but I also wanted some decent Troops and Wealth to offset the otherwise poor location and special ability.

So, these were my choices;

Draft Choices for Porcus Orcus

Troops

Wealth

Ability (8. Goblin Friend, 9, 1, 2,  4, 5, 6, 7, 3, 10, 11, 12)

Location (I,L,C,H,F,K,B,E,G,J,D,A)

And how did I do?

I watched the stream with excitement as my first pick came up. As expected, though the best locations were gone, there were still some good ones that could have been mine, but I was locked in to my plan.

Troop Draft list

I really wanted an extra Subchief. In a possible oversight by Mr WG, 60hd Orcs is the same strength as 50+ a Subchief, but the Subchief was more versatile and would allow me more fog-of-war freedom (I had planned to send out a Subchief alone as a feint, but never needed to). I also figured that extra Subchiefs to cover losses in battle would be important. I was very happy to see Lorem Ipsum grab the number 1 troop pick of 60 HD orcs and I got number 2.

Wealth Draft list

By the time my second pick came around, 7 Locations and 2 Wealth selections had gone, leaving me to pick up the 3rd place of 1500gp (which was just as good as the second place).

When the time for my third pick arrived, 9 Locations had gone, 7 Special abilities had gone, and I got my crucial 'Goblin Friend' ability. Looks like I was right in thinking that the other players considered this a weak choice, but I would show them otherwise (I hoped).

4th, and last, pick; Location I was long gone, I would have had to have selected it as my first choice to beat Lorum Ipsum to it, but I got L which was just one day further from Goblin Town. 

That one day difference would turn out to be significant; but, with these results, on the day of the Draft it was all going according to KeiKaku.