Raid on Halliwell Gap: The Scenario

Raid on Halliwell Gap is a scenario pitting an 18^th 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.

The Loup Lenape

Left Mouse Click to Enlarge

Just finished converting these Rackham Wolfen. A few firearms and feathers care of Alternative Armies and they are ready to join the fight against General Braddorc.

Hard to see but the chap left rear has a bow and quiver left over from the GW Savage Orcs that have become the Hurorc/Mohorc tribe.

These fellahs will use the stats for large werewolves in Flintloque.

There are actually quite a few more that are simply standard Wolfen figures. I figured fellahs as big as these wouldn't need that much firepower and would be better off getting stuck in straight away.

As well as being the Loup Lenape tribe these chaps will appear from time to time in other wild places of Valon as needed.

Thanks for stopping by!

Raid on Halliwell Gap, September 1760

The stoicism and courage of the frontier settlers of the Green Mountains is taken as writ. What then should we make of a locale shunned even by this rough folk?

Today we know Halliwell Gap as an idyllic spot for a day’s recreation. The hunter, the angler, indeed the outdoorsman of any stripe, will find much to pique his interest in the Gap and its surrounding environs.  Yet it was not always so.

In the dark days when Tomahawk and Warpaint haunted the imaginings of even the most taciturn of woodsmen, there stood a cabin in the Gap, which was home to three young widows. That three ladies should brave the frontier on their own is remarkable, that they should have been shunned and abandoned by their neighbors even more so. The three, known to lore only as the “Sisters”,  were whispered to have engaged in the most base and horrid of acts. Rumors of witch craft, disappearances, ghost lights, and associated phenomena abounded. “Come to bed lest the Sisters get hold of thee” was a phrase in common used by Mothers seeking to corral their unruly offspring.

Such tales of quaint folk myth would be amusing were it not for the real danger of French and Indian raid to which such thoughts left the Sisters open. Yet as it happened the Sisters were still reportedly living in the Gap as late as 1794.

-- Myths and Talismans of the Mountains, Bertim O. Doane, 1884

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NEAR FORT NUMBER 4, OCTOBER 1759

As usual you may left mouse click on any photo to enlarge it. A second click will often enlarge yet again.

The war was not going well. No matter how many times they were beaten back it seemed there were always more red coats to fight the next time. Well let the hated Anglaise come. For now they were sitting comfortably in winter quarters and the business of raiding could go on without fear of their intercession.

Lieutenant Garamond could smell the chimney smoke of their target. Their march had been delayed the inhabitants must already be stirring. He gathered his men together and outlined his plan...

The cabin at Halliwell Gap

The table consisted of a small homestead in a clearing. The raiders (me) would be approaching from bottom of the photo above. We did not know where any of the enemy were at the start of play although we had some clues:

Possible Enemy Force (PEF) number 1

Almost certainly there would be victims in or near the cabin itself.

PEF number 2

There was another possible enemy force to the left rear of the farm, skulking in the woods and...

PEF number 4

... a third possible enemy force in the woods to the right rear of the farm.

Chances were that only one of these would actually be real contacts, and the others more likely to be a product of nerves on the part of my war party.

The war party consisted of 10 warriors all told. Lt. Gararmond a Canadian irregular, assisted by two more Rep 4 irregulars and the rest of the party consisted of 7 Indians. All were armed with muskets save for one of the warriors who was toting a spear and a bow.

I split the party into three groups each with a specific task. The left most group consisted of a Rep 4 and two  Rep 3 warriors. They were tasked with circling around the cabin and scouting the PEF behind the farm on that side. The when the signal was given they would assault the cabin from that quarter.

The middle group was the largest, consisting of one Rep 5, one Rep 4, and two Rep 3 Indians. They were to stay undercover until given the signal to attack by Lt. Garamond, or until fighting broke out, whichever came first.

The right hand group consisted of Lt. Garamond and his Canadians. They would circle the farm to the right and scout the PEF on that side of the farm. Once that was accomplished they would stealthily advance on the cabin. Once they were discovered, the discharge of their pieces would signal a general assault by the other two parties.

Skirting the clearing

As it happens the action unfolded in a largely left to right fashion so I shall tell the tale of each party in turn from left to right as well.

The Left Flank

The warriors carefully made their way across the table  to scout the woods behind the farm. At one point they were able to see the cabin's occupants, three women. As it was clear the women had not seen them, the party pressed on.

At this point a great deal of crashing through the branches announced an arrival from the woods ahead of them. This PEF was no case of the nerves. It was...

...a creature of nightmare.

If you go into the woods today...

Bartholomew had been off doing whatever it is he does when he is off (I certainly do not want to know), and emerged from the wood only to be confronted by three very scary Indians indeed. 

Bartholomew

 When one of the warriors took a shot at him, Bartholomew got really mad and charged!

Add caption

 The lead warrior was forces back by the violence of Bartholomew's assault and...

...lost his head.

.

His companions hadn't signed on to raid anyone who could actually resist and promptly fled.

The Center

On first hearing a musket discharge, the center party crept forward to the edge of  the clearing, only to see the three Sisters emerging from their cabin. 

Before the warriors could fire, the Sisters chanted an incantation.

 A brilliant flash of light left the Indian leader dead, and his followers temporarily dazed.

Having already dealt with  the left flank party, Barltholomew turned his attention to the center.

 Slowly he turned, step by step, inch by inch

Finally he charged!

Though one of the junior members of the raiding party, his target was fierce. The warrior fended off the attack even though he was still dazed.

The Sisters chanted and let out another burst of energy. This one killed all three remaining Indians, even the one who had just fought so well.

The Right

Lt. Garamond led his men through the woods to the right of the cabin. 

 

Before them a covey of birds broke cover!

Out from the underbrush burst the hounds!

  Disbelief, Despair, and Justice would protect their Mistresses to the death..  

Shots rang out and Despair fell. 

The hounds muddled about in confusion long enough for the Canadians to fall back.

And then on they came!

The hounds would not be denied.

Lt. Garamond was the last to fall on the field. 

The two warriors who fled were eventually hunted down and slain.

 Aftermath

Well that went about as poorly as could be imagined! Finding the entire coven on the board was a bad break. It was also unfortunate that the Sisters were all together from the start as this allowed them the Power of Three, which proved so overwhelming.

In retrospect the left flank should have sent a volley into the house the minute those witches were spotted. If even one had been hit that would have weakened their magic considerably.

My chaps got off distressingly few shots during the game, yet the fate of Despair shows just how well the Power of Shot can counter the work of the Adversary : )

As a final note I had originally planned to set this game in Virginia during the aftermath of Braddock's defeat on the Monongahela. Following that disaster, French and Indian parties unleashed a crippling series of raids on settlements that all but depopulated the colony's frontier. However having set the creation of Bartholomew after Roger's raid on St. Francis, I had neatly caught myself in a web of continuity. As a result the game is now set in New England five years later.

Hope you enjoyed reading about the mayhem!


This game was played using a combination of  "Long Rifle" and "Warrior Heroes, Armies and Adventures". I will put together the scenario notes and post them separately as a bonus for folks who own both games.

The Wistful Widows of Halliwell Gap

Early September, 1755; As they do every morning, the widows Halliwell greet the dawn.

Three young women, three sisters, all widowed at an early age.

Locals shun Halliwell Gap and will tell any who care to listen lurid tales of ghost lights, disappearances and apparitions.

The French and Huron weren't locals.

If anyone had tried to warn them, they wouldn't have listened anyway,

USE ME 15mm High Fantasy AAR Strangers in a Strange Land

The Ultra Simple Engine for Miniature Engagements (USE ME) is a series of low cost, low complexity sets of miniatures rules available from 15mm.co.uk here.

Today I played a game using the High Fantasy entry in the line-up. Here is the blurb from the website:

Ultra Simple Engine for Miniature Engagements - 15mm Fantasy

USE ME means 'Ultra Simple Engine for Miniature Engagements' and this system delivers just that. Tactically challenging, easy to learn and for any age of wargamer interested in ANY fantasy setting.
From skirmish to full battles, games last from five minutes to an hour or two for the largest battles. Play in your lunch break or in the evening when the idea of a really complex system with a long set up time really does not appeal. Pick up any of you Fantasy miniatures and get playing in minutes. This complete rules system is printed in A6 format which is a booklet which will fit in your pocket (110mm by 180mm) making it truly portable as well as fantastic value for your money. USE ME is just that...its for you!

UM002
USE ME 15mm Fantasy
A6 Booklet
32pp
Colour Covers
ISBN & Barcode

The printed cost of 3.50 GPB, or 5.00 USD covers the low cost bit, but what about the rest?

Basically you build an army from points, set up the terrain, lay down your troops, and fight to the last man/orc/elf/whatsit, and see who will recover in time for the next set to.. I'll address each point a bit as the after action report unfolds.

The Armies


Being noticeably short in the15mm fantasy figure department I knew going in that some funky army building would be going on up in here.

 I decided to use Rebel Minis faboo Scourge as one side. These masters of heavy metal mayhem have crash landed on Fantasy Planet X, and are just trying to say alive. Actually I don't know if they actually are "alive", so lets just say "functional".

USE ME gives you the option of statting up a figure as infantry, cavalry, creature, monster, titan, personality or artillery.

I rather cleverly decided these would be infantry.

That having been done you need to assign an Elan (think initiative rating), move rate armor, weapons and any special characteristics to your figures.

One would be Elan 6, the others Elan 5. They were all armored, armed with Long Bows, Eagle Eyed, and Iron Willed. Long bows as there are no gunpowder  let alone laser weapons in the rules, gave them a long range of 36", and an optimum range of 18". Eagle Eyed gave them a +1 to hit, and Iron Willed allowed them to shrug off some damage. Not quite up to Cyberman capacities but then they aren't so why should they be?

This gave me a force of 148 points so I decided to build up to 150 points of opposition.

To oppose the Scourge I pressed what few fantasy figures I do have into service:

Some sort of flying ghosty thing (GW 80's) and a few Splintered Light Kobolds.

I wanted this force to have a hard hitting leader, a shaman, and however many goons to bring it up to points allowed.

The boss would be a flying Monster, Elan 5, Move 10". Even though the figure has a distinct rider and creature they would be considered as one entity in the rules (31 points).

The shaman was Elan 4, Move 4", and a practitioner of yellow or "Speed" magic (48 points). There are four schools of magic, War, Missile, Speed, and Alteration, each with four spells. Of the four spells it seems that three are useful generally while the fourth is only useful in conjunction with formations. more on which after the AAR.

The remaining points went to Elan 3, Move 4", kobolds armed with spear and shield (10 points each), of which I took 7. That brought the force to 149 points.

As a side note I generally loathe building armies and much prefer pre-generated characters and troop types, doled out according to scenario creation rules. That out of the way for folks who like this sort of thing, USE ME High Fantasy, certainly gives you the tools to obsess over point costs as much as you like.

Setting up the Terrain
On this aspect of play the rules remain silent, other than to enjoin you to set up terrain in a manner suited to the scenario you have decided upon or to contact the publisher for some basic scenario types.

Given the brevity of, mission statement of, and number of examples included in, the rules for the price being asked, fair enough!


 I simply used the terrain I had still set up from Sharke's Halfling . The story for this fight was that the Scourge the were camped out on a hill, and the kobolds were attracted by the lights of their camp, a la, "Fellowship of the Ring" of all things. To this end I added a tiered hill in the center of the playing area and set the Scourge upon the lowest tier.

The kobolds started in  wood, just about 18" from the hill.

The Fight

Models activate in Elan order with a dice roll determining the order among opposing forces of the same Elan. The Scourge began to fallback up the hill side as they had no targets at start. Soon the kobolds erupted from the wood with the shaman using his wiles to speed some warriors on even faster. The monster held back, trusting to its superior speed to allow the warriors to soak up any fire the Scourge managed to lay down.

Firing is resolved by throwing one d6 to see if a hit occurs and a pair of opposed d6 to see if a target that has been hit has suffered any damage. Damage consists of being Winged, Struck, or Killed in worsening order. Both the to hit roll, and the damage rolls are subject to modifiers for such things as range, armor, type of weapon hitting type of target and so on.

Here the kobolds were consistently lucky often being able to shrug off hits by virtue of better dice rolling. The cunning plan worked and the monster got suck in without having taken any fire...only to be wounded in the first round of melee.

Melee combat is like missile combat without the to hit roll. Anyone choosing a melee action automatically hits his opponent and if he does not kill them, also suffers a return attack.

The Scourge gamely fell back, firing all the time until their backs were against the wall.

The monster pressed the assault and killed the Scourge leader. The rest of the kobolds joined the scrum.

Spear thrusts and blaster fire continued and more and more figures suffered wounds. The Scourge dropped one by one.

Finally there were only kobolds standing.


In keeping with the Old Skool feel of the rules, there are no morale rules. Your figures fight and die like so many Chessmen, without any concern for their own safety.

After the Fight
The battle ended with all five Scourge slain.
The kobolds had suffered:

1 Monster Struck
1 Kobold Killed
3 Kobolds Struck
1 Kobold Winged.

The rules allow for dice rolls to see if figures recover after the fight. Even "killed" is not a career ender as such figures might just have been severely wounded and able to crawl back to camp later. 


Now even though the Scourge were just as entitled to after the fight recovery as the kobolds, I  only rolled for the latter.

Turns out their actual losses were:
1 Monster Winged
2 Kobolds Struck
1 Kobold Winged.

So there it is. Fantasy Planet X has survived the alien incursion (deliberate or not), and will keep up with all their fantasy world high jinks for the foreseeable future.

The game was a lot of fun and the rules do what they say on the tin. Here are the bits I didn't get to use:

Formations:  Formations have been mentioned in passing above. As with my own Warrior Heroes, Armies and Adventures, USE ME High Fantasy, is both a skirmish and mass battle game. In USE ME this is catered to by allowing infantry and/or cavalry figures to be grouped in multiples of 3 to form "formations". Figures with in a formation have many advantages over those fighting as individuals and indeed except in the instance of "Personalities", individual infantry and cavalry figures offer no threat to formations at all.


I love this aspect of the rules but then I would. I wish every set of  rules would provide for both skirmish and formation combat and allow for seamless switching between the two. Save quite a bit of flipping through multiple books, and paying for repeated information.


Personalities: You will have already read of the shaman used in the AAR above. In terms of the rules the shaman was a "Powerful Wizard" one of four personalities. The other three are "Cunning General" , a "Mighty Hero", and a "Blessed Cleric". Each of these types brings something different to the game. The General allows your forces more actions. the Hero is  a fighting machine and can increase the fighting ability of some nearby figures, and the Cleric allows for some healing of injured figures.


I only used the wizard in the game above. I could have used the Might Hero instead of the Monster but the two could not be combined in one figure and I didn't feel like fielding both types.


In sum then USE ME High Fantasy gave a good simple game that is easy to pick up and play. The rule book is full of examples supporting the concepts introduced. In order to fit all of this info in the space provided the text is a bit tiny, and so perhaps a game for younger eyes than mine. However with the availability of pdf versions, the print size need be no obstacle.

If you like statting out your figures, list building, and a combat system that gives you full control over your forces the USE ME provides a very enjoyable game at a very reasonable price.