Sprinkles
Serf
'Now tell me, what do you see?'. Magnusson regarded Thristan keenly, enjoying the confusion on his charges face. Thristan struggled to catch his breath as he reached the top of the ridge.......'A plain'..., he coughed a little disappointedly as he peered over the top....'an empty plain, no wait theres some rocks, they must be the thing that's so bloody important we had to get up at some ungodly hour to come and look at are they?' he snapped, his cheeks still flushed from the hike.
Magnusson gave him one of his long looks 'try again young man, what do you see?'.
'What do you mean 'what do I see?' I can see rocks, grass the odd bird and a mad old git that dragged me all the way up here to show them to me!'.
'Watch your tongue you wee pup' snorted Magnusson, 'im in no mood to be growled at, not without my first drink inside me!. You young man are in a position many would kill for, chosen as the best among your peers, given the chance to become a general in the kings own army. Your hardly my choice but, well, I have been wrong before. BUT', he spat the but 'if you want to get anywhere in your training you have to learn to see things as they really are!'
'That's a joke' replied Thristan 'officer training, that's what you call this is it?. Given to a flatulent, alcoholic, half mad old git who takes me on stupid hikes to see stupid rocks at stupid bloody times of day, with the added addition of being patronised at every moment of the day!. Whats your next training exercise? got a house that needs painting, floor that needs sanding eh?.
'As a general would see it' continued Magnusson, ignoring Thristans tirade 'we can see a flat plain, no adverse terrain, a ridge of high ground and no cover to speak of. If an enemy marched against you to meet on this field you would meet on even terms, head to head with no place to hide. Its the perfect place to learn the basics of command and control of an army. That my dear boy, is what a GENERAL' he spat the last word turning to look at Thristan as he did so, 'would see'.
'So what now?' asked Thristan a little sheepishly, 'we imagine a battle?'.
'Better than that' replied Magnusson raising his staff as he did so 'you may want to shield your eyes this may be a little bright'.
The old man lowered his staff and caught his breath. 'Open your eyes lad'. Thristan slowly lowered his hand from his face, blinking against the rising sun. The sight that greeted him made his jaw drop to his knees. Ranks of troops lined up at each end of the plain, armour glinting in the light, banners fluttering in the morning breeze. He could hear horses snorting and stamping, horns sounding the call to arms, orders being barked by leaders attempting to organize the troops.....'but...but..how?...I don't understand... is all he could manage to force from his swimming brain.
'There is an awful lot you don't understand my boy replied Magnusson with an amused look at the lad. 'Just a little trick I picked up on my travels'.
'You MADE them?' blurted Thristan, unable to hide his amazement.
'Sort of' said the Wizard. 'They neither exist or not exist, sort of an illusion if you will, ones we will control to give you a taste of command.......without getting yourself killed!'.
'We can control them?!' Thristan was struggling to take it all in.
'Of a sort' replied Magnusson, 'they have a degree of free will, they can experience emotions such as pride and fear and can feel pain just as you or I can and as such will act to preserve themselves just as real troops would. They will endeavour to follow our commands but are not prone to recklessness.
Thristan dident know what to say. How had this senile old goat created armies out of thin air?. The only things he had created so far had been foul and antisocial!. 'So, what now?' he ventured.
Magnusson looked at him with a broad smile on his face 'TO BATTLE!'.
@
Well its a load of 1sts on this one. This is the 1st time I have played a game of Warhammer in near as 20 years and its the 1st time ive ever played 2nd ed (it was always 3rd back in the day as it was actually current at the time!). I don't know why but 2nd seems to be the best starting place (it seems more user friendly for some reason, perhaps its the layout?). I decided to keep it as simple as poss, no fancy stuff like champions, artillery, magic etc and reasoned that identical forces would make it easier to just concentrate on re-learning the rules (before I home brew them to death!). I was also playing solo (settle down at the back!) because I am unpop....er it was a week night. However I couldent play without a narrative, hence the above twaddle.
The forces im using are all human and are both identical. They are as follows: 12 Spearmen- light armour, shield, banner
10 Warriors- hand weapon, shield.
5 Horsemen- Spear, Shield.
8 Bowmen - Bow, hand weapon.
Magnusson commands the yellow force and Thristan commands the grey.
As stated in the narrative there is little in the way of terrain, just a few rocks and both forces are set up opposite each other, I don't want to complicate things at this point (but later battles will be messy). On to the battle!
TURN 1
Magnusson gave him one of his long looks 'try again young man, what do you see?'.
'What do you mean 'what do I see?' I can see rocks, grass the odd bird and a mad old git that dragged me all the way up here to show them to me!'.
'Watch your tongue you wee pup' snorted Magnusson, 'im in no mood to be growled at, not without my first drink inside me!. You young man are in a position many would kill for, chosen as the best among your peers, given the chance to become a general in the kings own army. Your hardly my choice but, well, I have been wrong before. BUT', he spat the but 'if you want to get anywhere in your training you have to learn to see things as they really are!'
'That's a joke' replied Thristan 'officer training, that's what you call this is it?. Given to a flatulent, alcoholic, half mad old git who takes me on stupid hikes to see stupid rocks at stupid bloody times of day, with the added addition of being patronised at every moment of the day!. Whats your next training exercise? got a house that needs painting, floor that needs sanding eh?.
'As a general would see it' continued Magnusson, ignoring Thristans tirade 'we can see a flat plain, no adverse terrain, a ridge of high ground and no cover to speak of. If an enemy marched against you to meet on this field you would meet on even terms, head to head with no place to hide. Its the perfect place to learn the basics of command and control of an army. That my dear boy, is what a GENERAL' he spat the last word turning to look at Thristan as he did so, 'would see'.
'So what now?' asked Thristan a little sheepishly, 'we imagine a battle?'.
'Better than that' replied Magnusson raising his staff as he did so 'you may want to shield your eyes this may be a little bright'.
The old man lowered his staff and caught his breath. 'Open your eyes lad'. Thristan slowly lowered his hand from his face, blinking against the rising sun. The sight that greeted him made his jaw drop to his knees. Ranks of troops lined up at each end of the plain, armour glinting in the light, banners fluttering in the morning breeze. He could hear horses snorting and stamping, horns sounding the call to arms, orders being barked by leaders attempting to organize the troops.....'but...but..how?...I don't understand... is all he could manage to force from his swimming brain.
'There is an awful lot you don't understand my boy replied Magnusson with an amused look at the lad. 'Just a little trick I picked up on my travels'.
'You MADE them?' blurted Thristan, unable to hide his amazement.
'Sort of' said the Wizard. 'They neither exist or not exist, sort of an illusion if you will, ones we will control to give you a taste of command.......without getting yourself killed!'.
'We can control them?!' Thristan was struggling to take it all in.
'Of a sort' replied Magnusson, 'they have a degree of free will, they can experience emotions such as pride and fear and can feel pain just as you or I can and as such will act to preserve themselves just as real troops would. They will endeavour to follow our commands but are not prone to recklessness.
Thristan dident know what to say. How had this senile old goat created armies out of thin air?. The only things he had created so far had been foul and antisocial!. 'So, what now?' he ventured.
Magnusson looked at him with a broad smile on his face 'TO BATTLE!'.
@
Well its a load of 1sts on this one. This is the 1st time I have played a game of Warhammer in near as 20 years and its the 1st time ive ever played 2nd ed (it was always 3rd back in the day as it was actually current at the time!). I don't know why but 2nd seems to be the best starting place (it seems more user friendly for some reason, perhaps its the layout?). I decided to keep it as simple as poss, no fancy stuff like champions, artillery, magic etc and reasoned that identical forces would make it easier to just concentrate on re-learning the rules (before I home brew them to death!). I was also playing solo (settle down at the back!) because I am unpop....er it was a week night. However I couldent play without a narrative, hence the above twaddle.
The forces im using are all human and are both identical. They are as follows: 12 Spearmen- light armour, shield, banner
10 Warriors- hand weapon, shield.
5 Horsemen- Spear, Shield.
8 Bowmen - Bow, hand weapon.
Magnusson commands the yellow force and Thristan commands the grey.
As stated in the narrative there is little in the way of terrain, just a few rocks and both forces are set up opposite each other, I don't want to complicate things at this point (but later battles will be messy). On to the battle!
TURN 1
.
