The Goblins are revolting!

 Well, it has been a LONG time, but I got a solo game in at last.  

And I opted for the One Page Rules game Age of Fantasy: Skirmish.

The reason being I had all the models available painted, it doesn`t need a big table, and I could put down enough scenery for an intresting game on a 4'x4' area.

The Goblin slave tribes have suddenly gotten it into them they can overthrow their Havoc Dwarf overlords, and a small warband is send out to prod the defences around their territory.  But they encounter a patrol of the Havoc Dwarfs, who quickly decide to decimate all ideas... and goblins!

The forces for this game have been set at the recommended 150 points to get a hang of the rules, for which I used the basic One Page rules, and the AI generator rules.

For the Havoc Dwarfs, it is a small and elite warband.  They are led by an Iron Champion and his great weapon, together with his Bull Centaur bodyguard.  Three warriors are in the patrol, supported by a lone handgunner.  Finally, to quell the revolting goblins, a flamethrower is accompanying them.

The Goblins on the other hand don't have to shabby troops either, for goblins that is.  Under the guidance of their Goblin Leader and his Pet Cave-beast, the little band consists mostly of archers, with two units of three each, I just used double based models to make the band look bulkier then it actually is.  Amonst them, an Assassin is looking for his prey, while a Shroom-Sniffer makes up the final member of the band.

Setting up 24" apart, the hunt for the goblins begins, while the plucky little guys just will try and gain their freedom!  With the lay of the land placed down, a 2 was rolled for the objective markers, so three where placed on the field, represented by the smaller statues.

 

 

 Both warbands deployed on their halves, 24" of bloody battlefieldness seperating them, and the slaughter could commence.

The Goblin archers didn`t have their bows trained, as both units loosened volleys, all missing their shots.  The handgunner replied to the volley, but he also misses his shot.

Apart from movement, there wasn`t much going on in turn one for the rest, as the forces moved closer, and both scored the objective near their deployment zone, even though the Bull Centaur is coming close to claiming the second one.

In the second turn, the flamethrower opened up on the assassin, stunning the sneaky goblin.

 

 

The shroom-sniffer reached the middle objective first, but is charged by the Bull Centaur.  The might beast misses his attack though, and in return, probably scared by it's appearance, the shroom-sniffer stabs a hole in the sky.

 

 

 The goblin archers are more succesfull this turn, putting the handgunner down with their volleys as the other group does hit the flamethrower but fail to penetrate his armour.

In the center, the goblin leader charges in on the Bull Centaur, but managing only one hit which glances of the heavy armour, he receives a wound in return from the beasts great hammer.

And so turn two comes to an end, with the central objective now heavily contested, and the Iron Champion standing ready to join in that skirmish.

Charging the goblin leader, he smacks him for the remaining two wounds on his Tough buffer, meaning the plucky guy is now in danger of being taken out due to the AP of the champions weapon, his returning hit bouncing of the layers of plater of the fierce warrior.  In desperation he charges the champion himself, and actually causes two wounds on him.  The champion strikes back, but fails to knock the little guy out, or even stunning him for that matter.

The Bull Centaur and the shroom-sniffer continue their battle, the mighty beast stunning the goblin.  This causes the assassin to come to the aid of his companion, but as he misses all his attacks, he is actually taken out by the Bull Centaur.  This must have been the lowliest assassin the goblins could muster to bring to battle.

 

 

On the flank, seeing their centre smacked around, the goblin archers take their revenge however by taking the flamethrower out of action with some well placed arrows to it's fueltank.

 

 

In the meantime on the other flank, the other group of goblins charges the warriors that had approached, and in a flurry of attacks and bad saves, two of the warriors fell to the revolters.

The handgunner tries a sneaky shot at the goblin leader, but misses again.

So with the last turn about to start, the Chaos Dwarfs have suffered more casualties, yet look in a better position to win the game as they have a stronger, and better armoured, presence at the central objective.  if only that measly shroom-sniffer would fall...

In the leader duel, the Iron Champion hits the goblin leader, stunning him.  As the Bull Centaur and the shroom-sniffer continue to battle, they don`t manage to take one or the other down, keeping the objective contested.

On the far flank, the lone warrior takes out one of the archers, but this won`t effect the battle as he keeps being locked away from the objective.  

The other archers try to shoot down the Iron Champion, and while managing to wound his last Tough bonus, can`t take the mighty warrior down.  

This means it all comes down to the handgunner, if he can finally hit something and take down the shroom-sniffer, the battle would swing towards the Chaos Dwarfs on the final moments... and he does what he does best, missing his shot.

And so the battle ends in a draw, all due to the valiant efforts of a lone goblin who just refused to go down to the mighty swings of the Bull Centaur.

 

 

The goblins can claim moral victory though, losing their assassin and an archer versus the flamethrower and 2 warriors...

So, these rules are okay for the occassional small skirmish game against myself in the evening, all in all this battle took about an hour to play out, which is perfect for those evenings to be filled.  Expect some more Age of Fantasy solo gaming as such in 2024.