Battleshed Diaries: SoBH campaign 4 - The First Law versus The Woodland Guardians

SoBH campaign 4 - The First Law versus The Woodland Guardians

My fellow local gaming buddy and I, Sam Pate of Wee Blokes, really do enjoy a good Songs of Blades and Heroes campaign!

Single scenarios are great and excellent for introducing wargaming to new players or some quick, leisurley, gaming but if you want to add a little role-play and narrative into your games the campaign system is where to go. There are a set of basic campaign rules in the source rulebook, with more elaborate ideas in the various supplements such as Song of Deeds and Glory.

This is the fourth campaign we have played together, which started before this blogs inception, so I've linked all the current After Action Reports from Sam's Wee Blokes blog to avoid repetition. It'll be nice to see the remaining battles' from my perspective now this blog is up and running!

For the previous campaigns I used a Dwarf warband, led by the hapless Valgen Maest, however this time round I decided to give the Dwarf lads a bit of R&R. Instead, inspired by my reading at the time, I created a warband using characters from the First Law books by Joe Abercrombie, this time led by Bayaz, First of the Magi.

Left to Right (full campaign warband): The Dogman, Caul Shivers, Curnden Craw, Ferro Maljinn, Bayaz First of the Magi, Logen Ninefingers, Rudd Threetrees, Red Hat, Black Dow, Forley the Weakest, Jezal dan Luthar, Nicomo Cosca

My opponent, always coming up with a new roster each time, introduced the Woodland Guardians - a Wood Elves warband. So lots of long ranged archers then. Oh good!

From Left to Right (starting warband): Galan (Wood Elf Leader), Folmon, Ailuin, Anlyth, Mallosson, Thonor, Tatharon

For the campaign's objective we decided on the first to reach 10 Campaign Points, with no deadline.

We picked out a list of suitable scenarios from Hour 11's scenario conversions, adding in some of the more fantastical terrain from Song of Wind and Water to finish off. Occasionally (when we remembered!) we used Event Cards to add some spice to the scenarios. Unlike our previous campaigns, we didn't incorporate the weather tables for each battle this time - simply because we forgot to for the first couple or so games, so omitted them for continuities sake!

Pre-battle warband roster

At the beginning of the campaign, each warband starts with the amount of gold coin equal to the difference between the initial warband point limit (350) and the total of the character points used.

Prior to each battle we used any gold coin we'd accumulated to either buy new recruits, equipment or services. Individual characters could also 'develop' new abilities of skills by spending Experience Points (XP).

Post battle administration

After each battle we used the campaign rules from Songs of Deeds and Glory;

Injury tables: rolling for injuries (or death!) for any characters 'downed' during the battle
Income: rolling for gold coin (with modifiers)
Expedition Table: rolling on the extensive and entertaining 'expedition table' which describes the experiences of each warband between battles - where they can potentially gain (or lose!) more gold/loot/special equipment, property of abilities.
Allocate XP: Finally, each character that survived the battle gains 1 XP Experience Point (XP)

The Campaign battles

Game 1, Played on: 17/01/13

Scenario: The Tainted Copse [Witch Wood, Cursed Ruins, Woods]

Result: Woodland Guardians Victory
AAR: Wee Blokes

Game 2, Played on: 07/02/14

Scenario: Avalanche! [Frozen lake]

Result: Woodland Guardians Victory
AAR: Wee Blokes

Game 3, Played on: 14/02/14
Scenario: Raven Barracks [Border Town - angry militia/vagabonds]

Result: First Law victory
AAR: Wee Blokes

Game 4, Played on: 28/02/14

Scenario: Snatch

Result: Woodland Guardians Victory
AAR: Wee Blokes

Game 5, Played on: 14/03/14

Scenario: Man Hunt [Mountains, Geysers]

Result: Woodland Guardians Victory
AAR: Wee Blokes

Game 6, Played on 07/09/14

Scenario: The Haunted Wreck

Result: Woodland Guardians Victory
AAR: Wee Blokes

Game 7, Played on 03/10/14
Scenario: Blockade

Result: Woodland Guardians Victory
AAR: Wee Blokes

Game 8, Played on 13/11/14
Scenario: Last Orders
Result: Woodland Guardians Victory
AAR: Liquid Courage, a Buxom Barmaid, a drink spilled...