Article 20 The Adventures of Gorgon Lightfoote - Part 2

Following up on Part One of Gorgon Lightfoote we are back with the twentieth article on Flintloque with Andy Jefcoate.  This time it is three way fighting and nifty ideas for planning your scenarios. If you missed any of the previous articles you can see them all for free on the blog by clicking on this TAG. If you would like to Begin in Flintloque visit our website HERE for Escape the Dark Czar and free content and videos.  Enjoy!  GBS

The Adventures of Gorgon Lightfoote - Part 2 

Fighting Battles with 3 opposing forces 

In my last article I introduced you to the core of Gorgon Lightfoote's Britorcn section that I've now included in my Witchlands games. This has enabled me to create some interesting little scenarios, and establish a third party with no loyalty to the Ferach or the Witchlands armies. My initial games were small scenario driven skirmishes such as raids to capture supplies or personnel for interrogation as Lightfoote's force is fairly small but as his force grows I plan to tell you what I have added in future articles. 

However, in the meantime I have also had battles between 3 opposing forces which have been great fun and for my twentieth article I wanted to tell you about my simple system for doing this, which I feel gives variety and unpredictability to keep the games interesting. I have made them small affairs with forces of around 300 points a side on a 4' square table but you can increase or decrease the force size and/or the gaming area and the system will still work. 

Stage 1 

Set up the playing area and all scenery to your personal taste. For a skirmish game such as Flintloque I like to have several pieces of scenery to break up line of sight, give your miniatures cover and generally to look good. 

As this is a three player game the fairest way to set up the table is to divide your scenery items between the players and each place one in turn. On a 4' square table I would recommend 2 to 3 scenery items per player and as all of my trees for Flintloque are based individually I usually count a clump of 3 trees as one piece of scenery. 

Stage 2 

As there are 3 opposing forces, I like each force to start in a different corner of the table as this keeps the forces well apart. I suggest each player rolling a D10 dice and the players choosing their starting corner from highest roll to lowest (with ties re-rolled). 

Stage 3 

All troops are placed up to 12" from each players own starting corner, placing one character each in turn. Start with the player with the lowest dice roll in stage 1 then work clockwise around the table. 

Stage 4 

Randomly determine force A, B and C. Three counters are placed face down with A, B and C marked on them. One player shuffles them and the other two players pick a counter each. - Force A attacks force B - Force B attacks force C - Force C attacks force A 

Stage 5 

Each player decides their main objective by a D10 dice roll. I use the following scenarios but you can change them to your preference. 

1-2 Capture enemy commander. To do this the commander's last wound must be taken in close combat to represent them being overpowered. 

3-4 Assassinate enemy commander. Close combat or shooting is fine. 

5-6 Give the enemy something to think about. Destroy at least 50% of the enemy force by shooting or close combat. 

7-8 Get off our land. Force all the enemy troops back to their starting zone or rout them from the table. 

9-10 Take the ground. Measure a 1' square centred on the exact centre of the gaming area. You must have 50% of your starting force in this zone by the end of the game with no enemy forces in the zone. 

Each main objective gives 5 victory points. 

Players gain 1 additional victory point for each complete 30 points of either enemy force destroyed. This is cumulative and I recommend increasing this if you use larger forces e.g. 1 victory point per 50 points if using 500 point forces. Likewise, if the enemy commander is the main objective then don't count his points value for additional victory points. 

Possible Variations 

As stated earlier you can use other scenarios if you wish, but be careful if you use something like 'have 50% of your force exit the table via your enemy starting zone' as if all 3 players roll the same it could be a very strange game, something like a relay race. 

You could also initially keep the rolls for the main objective a secret if you wish to add an extra element of unpredictability. Players would then have to be more careful how they proceed. 

Each of the scenarios can be expanded on if you wish i.e. if you have to capture the enemy commander is it just a matter of taking his last wound in combat or do you then have to escort him from the table, giving your opponent a chance for a daring rescue! This sort of thing complicates matters but if you have time for a longer game it can add to the fun. 

For most games I usually restrict them to 10 Turns but if you have more time then don't use a Turn limit and see how the victory points rack up in the time that you have. 

In Conclusion 

I have had some great games using this system. Imagine Lightfoote's force trying to capture a Ferach commander for interrogation (Capture enemy commander) while being attacked by the Dark Tsar's forces (Get off our land), then the poor Ferach player has the main objective of taking out the Vampyre leading the undead (Assassinate enemy commander) while being attacked by the Britorcn force and trying to protect their own commander. This rightly sounds confusing but I promise it isn't as complicated as it sounds once you give it a go and can lead to some good games! 

A couple of tips I would like to give are that the forces need to be able to move if required so taking artillery pieces can make life difficult, and you also have to be able to mix attack with defence so while a completely mounted force will be fast moving and hard hitting, it won't be able to defend the ground as well as an infantry firing line. I'm sure there will be exceptions but I just want to give you something to think about! 

What's next 

As always I hope that you've enjoyed reading about my system for creating battles using three opposing forces. I will expand on all 3 of my forces in future articles but for now I am concentrating on the Britorcn force as it is much smaller than the others. As ever I'll let you know how I get on. 

Thank you for reading. 

Andy