Firstborn Warband & Devout Warband | On Difficult Ground

As I did not pay attention, I deployed one more Archer than I should have - so the Devout actually played with 324 points. Shame on me. Two archers was one of the variations I toyed with when designing the warband, somehow I still had two in my mind…

The Firstborn won the initiative roll. The Enlightened, Mounted Axeman and one Swordman moved boldly forwards, but the second Swordsman stumbled over his own feet, which somehow was a setback for Firstborn morale, and initiative passed to the Devout.

The Devout advanced on the village. The Cursed took position on the hill, but the second to climb it fell into a hole in the ground, vanishing from view. The Skeletons advanced, but the scond failed two activation rolls and the turn passed to the Firstborn again.

The Firstborn continued their advance, the Paladin and Mounted Axeman trying to flank the Devouts.

The Devout attack also faltered again and again, but the Necromancer managed to keep his warband together, more or less.

Looks like last turn? Yep, that happens when the first activation roll fails miserably…

The two Skeleton Archers took up position on the hill, luckily avoiding the hole the Cursed fell into.

Noticing that the Swordmen were seriously lagging behind, Richard declared the direction of movement taken so far by the Enlightened and the Mounted Axeman had been a ruse actually, and they moved onto the bridge to the other Firstborn flank.

The Archers fired the first arrows of the battle, but on 3xLong they missed of course.

The Swordsmen formed a shieldwall. The Enlightened moved towards the attackers, while the Mounted Axeman moved around the house to attack them from the other flank.

The Devout warband advanced further towards the village, under the covering fire from the Skeleton Archers - which this time missed the Double-Handed Swordsman twice. The Necromancer felt save behind the broad back of the Harbinger.

The Mounted Axeman rolled three actions, and Richard had the cunning plan to storm through the Devout ranks to attack the Necromancer. Unfortunately, the roll while crossing the stream failed, and horse and rider were floating down with the hardly existing current, out of sight…

The turn started with one of the archers activating on 3 dice, two of which failed. This made the one available action even more important, the arrow flew straight towards the Enlightened - and straight past him…

The Enlightened managed to cross the stream without any mishap and engaged the Harbinger. The Double-Handed Swordman was supposed to cross the stream as well and engage the Skeleton opposite him, but, you know, the water being so cold and … wet… he just remained where he was and it was the Devout's turn again.

The Devout's turn was over very quickly though, as the Cursed who activated first to charge the Enlighened failed two of his three activation dice - thus he was only able to charge in before the initiative passed to the Firstborn again.

The Enlightened attacked the Harbinger, but due to being outnumberd was beaten and had to recoil into the stream. The Double-Handed Swordman worked up the courage to put his foot into the water… and wuickly waded through.

The Skeleton Archers both hit the Enlightened in the stream, the first arrow had him recoil, the second pushed him over and he fell to the ground. The Cursed then charged the Enlightened, and nearly was also swept away, but managed to pull through the stream. He was hampered by his wet robe, though, and the Enlightened pushed him even while being prone.

The Skeletons ganged up on the Double-Handed Swordman, the first two distracting him which allowed the third one to push him over as well.

The Harbinger then charged the Enlightened, and nearly got stuck in the river, with his weight and all, but managed to free his feet. The Enlightened manages to archive a tie in the melee, being a superior fighter allows you to fight from any position apparently.

The Necromancer send a cloud of necromantic magick the Swordsmen's way, and managed to score 1 higher then them, but the shieldwall negated this small success.

The Enlightened stood up and attacked the Harbinger, all blows from both sides were parried, though. The Double-Handed Swordman also tried to stand up kill… destroy some Skeletons, but rolled three fails on his activation roll.

Smiling on the bad luck of the Double-Handed Swordman's activation roll, the first Skeleton rolled two dice to get at least one success to attack the Firstborn - and rolled two fails! The smile changed owner…

The Enlightened finally landed a telling blow on the Harbinger and toppled him. The Double-Handed Swordman managed to stand up, but had no actions left to attack. One of the Bowmen missed the Cursed. The Swordsmen in the shieldwall rolled two fails and one move action.

(The Enlightened in the picture above has been moved down the bank as the mini was prone to fall over there.)

A Skeleton Archer was activated first with three dice, which rolled two fails. The one success was used to shoot at the Paladin, but missed.

The Enlightened scored a kill result versus the helpless Harbinger, but the Tough Trait saved the Devout beast. Still, his Q was raised by one.

The Doubled-Handed Swordman pushed back one Skeleton, the Swordsmen on the other flank advanced and one of them attacked the Cursed, but was only able to score a draw.

One Bowman scored two fails and one success on his activation roll, using the success to shoot an arrow at the Necromancer. The attack was a draw, though.

The Double-Handed Swordman was attacked by one Skeleton and managed to crumble his attacker to dust. The second Skeleton that attacked him rolled two fails, and was pushed back for his efforts.

The Enlightened again landed a hevy blow on the Harbinger which would have killed a human being, but the Harbinger again was saved by his Tough trait, raising his Q to 6+.

The Swordsmen kill the Cursed.

The Double-Handed Swordsman rolled three activation dice, scoring two fails ending the turn. The one success though, was worth it as he scored a gruesome death on a Skeleton. The Harbinger failed his morale test on three dice (vs. 6+, what have you expected…) and ran away. All Skeletons passed their moral test, the Necromancer had to withdraw one move.

He decided that this was a good idea seeing his decimated forces, and orderd all remaining Skeletons to retreat.

Song of Blades and Heroes is a fun game. It has very easy mechanics but still provides tense games. The activation roll is a bit of a gamble, and makes the whole battle a bit unpredictable - not everyone's cup of tea but I enjoyed the tension created by this. It really does matter who you activate first. With this being our first game ever, I am sure we just scratched the surface of the system can offer, but I definitely look forward to more songs :-)