Thursday, February 9, 2012

Raid on Halliwell Gap: The Scenario







Raid on Halliwell Gap is a scenario pitting an 18th century raiding party against three witches and their attendants. Although set in the French and Indian War, the action is easily transferable to any of the world’s wilder places.

 Rules Used

As mentioned in the game session recorded here , this scenario uses a combination of the “Long Rifle” and “Warrior Heroes: Armies & Adventures” rules available from Two Hour Wargames. The rules will hereafter be referred to as LR and WHAA respectively.

Generally speaking this is a “Raid; Attacker” encounter from LR, and all LR rules apply with the following exceptions:

  1.         Some characters have the Hardiness attribute (WHAA p. 7).
  2.         Some characters have Additional Class Characteristics (WHAA p. 9)
  3.         The WHAA melee rules are used (WHAA p. 24).
  4.         The magic rules from WHAA are used (WHAA p. 28 and/or Big Battle Magic p.68).
  5.         NPC Actions from WHAA are used (WHAA p.47).
  6.         PEF Resolution rules from WHAA are used (WHAA p.54).

The Sisters Army List

During the course of the scenario, the raiding player will encounter the residents of Halliwell Gap. When this occurs refer to this section for game stats for the figures encountered.
The Sisters
West Wind Gothic Horror Witches

There are three Sisters living in the Gap. Each of the three Sisters is Rep 4 and unarmed. They rely on their skill in magic for protection.

Power of Three* If all three sisters are in base to base contact with at least one other sisters, they may use the Power of Three. When using the Power of Three treat all three sisters as a single Rep 6 Caster for all purposes other than receiving damage.

Bartholomew
Converted Rackham Wolfen

Bartholomew is a devoted servant of the Sisters. He is a hulking Rep 5 figure with a normal move of 10 inches. Bartholomew causes Terror, is vicious, and is subject to the Taking Trophies reaction test (LR p. 14), counting as Rep 3 for this test only. He carries a giant axe that is classed as a sword in LR terms.

The Hounds
Rackham Dirz Beasts

The Sisters are also protected by their three loyal hounds; Despair, Disbelief, and Justice. Each hound is Rep 5 with a normal move of 16”. They are vicious, and their fangs allow them to count as armed with an axe in melee.
The table below summarizes the game stats for the Sisters and their followers.


The Sisters


















Type
Class
Weapon
Rep
Move
PEF Resolve
Max #
Hardiness
CV
Notes
Sister
Missile
-
4
8
1-3
3
-
2
Caster, Magic Resist
Power of Three*
Missile
-
6
8

-
2
-
Caster, Magic Resist
Bartholomew
Melee
Sword
5
10
4
1
3
7
Terror, Vicious
Hound
Melee
Axe
5
16
5-6
3
2
2
Vicious

The PEF Resolve column is used when players need to find out the composition of a revealed PEF. Simply roll 1d6 and consult the table.
The Max # column indicates the maximum number of that type of figure that may appear in a game.  Should a PEF Resolve roll call for more of a given figure than allowed by Max #, move down the table row by row until a suitable figure is indicated. If you reach the bottom, start again from the top. If all possible Sister and follower figures are already in play, don’t bother rolling for new ones!

The Raid: Attack Encounter

Below you will find the outline for a Raid: Attacker Encounter from LR ( LF p. 41) with the bits needed for the Halliwell Gap scenario inserted:

OBJECTIVE
  •  Your objective is to loot/burn the enemy buildings and capture prisoners.
  •  Once you have accomplished this you must exit the table from the edge that you entered.

FORCES
  • You may use ten figures generated from the Warrior, Irregular, or Soldier Professions (LR p.6).
  • Do not worry about gathering the enemy force as all enemy forces, if any, are determined in the Special Instructions section.

TERRAIN
  • Generate terrain as you normally would (LR p.26).
  • Place one (1-5) or two (6) buildings in section 2 as the objective that must be raided.

DEPLOYMENT
  • No figures start on the table.
  • Your band will enter from the table edge bordering sections 7, 8, and 9.

SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS
  • The Encounter takes place during the day.
  • The Territory Investment Level is 4.
  • Now move your force onto section 7, 8, 9 or any combination of those sections if you choose to split your force.
  • Generate PEFs normally (LR p. 33) but place one of the PEFs inside each building. These do not move.
  • Resolve PEFs as needed (WHAA p. 54).
    • When rolling on the “How Many of Them” table, always treat your CV as 3.
    • Figures encountered will be drawn from the Army list provided above in this article.
  • When one or more player figures moves to within LOS of a building resolve the PEF that is inside.  The figures, if any, will be inside the building if any shots have been fired. If no shots have been fired roll 1d6 for each figure.
    • If an even number is scored the figure is inside the building and may (1-3) or may not (4-6) be looking out of a window or door facing the player figures.
    •  If an odd number is scored the figure 1+1d6" outside the building and may (1-3) or may not (4-6) be facing the player figures.
  • When a raiding figure enters an empty building roll 1/2d6. This is the number of uninterrupted turns of activation a figure must spend inside the building to loot it.
  • Buildings can also be burned with fire (LR p., 25).

Play continues until the player has looted the
buildings, captured prisoners, been destroyed, or
chooses to leave the table.

Summary
That should be enough to help you blur the line between reality and fiction. Hope you have as much fun with the scenario as I have.

Luck plays a large part in this scenario. Quite a lot can hinge on how many of the Sisters you find and when. Also the effects of magic range from overpowering to self defeating, although the Sisters a powerful practitioners when using the Power of Three. This is balanced to some extent by the raiders fire arms and use of the fire combat rules from Long Rifles. In Warrior Heroes: Armies and Adventures a missile system was chosen that mimics popular fiction in that the prowess not only of the shooter but that of the target as well play a role. In Long Rifle it’s all down to the shooter and a good marksman is a deadly foe.

Should you dare to give it a go, drop me a line to let me know how it all turned out.

2 comments:

  1. Love it. The only thing I missed in WHAA was scenarios. Keep them flowing...

    cheers

    david

    ReplyDelete
  2. David,

    Thank you!

    I generally shy away from such scenarios in favor of the random encounters in the rules. The randomly generated encounters provide limitless variation in the games where more typical scenarios offer only limited replayability.

    That having been said there is room for both types : )

    ReplyDelete