Hi,

Lately my gaming group has been playing some custom games using fully racial armies of Dwarves vs. Goblins vs. Hmans. We decided the goblins needed a little more power that didn't come strictly from musical instruments. ;-)

I picked up some old Grenadier 15mm minatures, and some Eureka miniatures:
http://eurekamin.com.au/index.php?cPath=87_110_116_119&sort=3a

I wrote up some house rules - please have a look and tell me what you think! I'm looking for anything that make them fair, fun, and balanced. I'm not hoping to cause a big discussion about Goblin strengths/weaknesses since I lost badly playing against them as the humans! lol

Thanks!

~ CEG

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Orcs
Orcs are large heavily muscled Goblinoids who dwell in the dark and dangerous forested lands to the North. While not as quick and nimble as their Goblin cousins, Orcs are brutal and vicious combatants who love a good fight and will seldom run from a challenge. Orcs don't suffer from Goblin panic, or Goblin’s frightened nature, nor do they benefit from the Goblin rush, however, any turn in which an Orc charges an opponent, they roll +1 dice.

Infantry
Orc Infantry are Blue Infantry units and follow all the rules for regular blue infantry.

Orc Fell Beast Cavalry
Blue Cavalry - Orcs
Ferocious – Any unit (friend or foe) adjacent to a Ferocious beast loses Bold status except for creatures and other Ferocious beasts. Troops that are not bold become frightened.
E.g. Bold2 units become Bold. Bold units become Normal. Normal units become frightened. Frightened units stay frightened – they don’t get any more frightened.

Orc Wolf Chariot
Green war machine (consists of 2 crew and a chariot drawn by 2 wolves that counts as one model which is also the flag bearer)

As a war machine, the chariot acts like a Green Cavalry unit except it is not affected by command cards, or lore cards that specifically target cavalry units.

Combat: 4dice on the charge (3 +1 for being a charging Orc), 2 dice normally. Hits on banner colors and bonus strikes.

On any turn in which the chariot charges, it rolls 4 dice in combat. However the chariot cannot “back out” of any combat. If engaged with an enemy on any side it must remain in combat and cannot move. If forced to retreat, it moves away as normal.

Ferocious – Any unit (friend or foe) adjacent to a Ferocious beast loses Bold status except for creatures and other Ferocious beasts. Troops that are not bold become frightened.
E.g. Bold2 units become Bold. Bold units become Normal. Normal units become frightened. Frightened units stay frightened – they don’t get any more frightened.

Orc Catapult
Blue War Machine (consists of 3 crew and a catapult)

As a war machine, the catapult launches large rocks at the enemy at long range and therefore functions like a ranged unit. However, it is not affected by command cards, or lore cards that specifically target ranged combat units.

Combat : Range 6, 3 Dice. Scores hits on banner colors and bonus strikes.

Can move 2 - but if this unit moves, it may not fire.
The Catapult itself counts as the Banner Bearer and is the last figure to be removed. If the crew is dead, the catapult my not move, shoot at range, or attack in close combat.

The Catapult can fire over friendly or enemy troops, but not over terrain. If you can't draw line of sight to your target you risk a misfire.

Misfire
If you fail to roll any hits and you don't have line of sight to your target, each friendly unit adjacent to the target takes one automatic hit - remove one figure without rolling. If this eliminates the flag bearer in a unit, your opponent gets it. If this hits a creature, roll one dice and resolve a critical hit as normal. If there are no adjacent friendly units, the shot dissipates with no effect.

Chaotic_easy_going said:

Hi there,

sorry for the delay in replying heres my first quick thoughts on your thoughts,
Orcs
Giving them a +1 dice in the charge without a negative makes them mighty powerful (races so far have strengths and weaknesses) in eeping with your description perhaps their opponents get a +1 when battling back against them as they aren't really used to opponents withstanding their initial onslaught?

Infantry
I don't see a huge reason not to have the usual range of colours, orcs edge comes from their first impact after all and still leaves tactics open

Cavalry
I like this ability, part of me thinks seems a bit much for a non creature unit but see what happens in play test (I'd leave creatures immune but not other Ferocious units)

War Chariot
Hmmm, I think this is a might too strong for an ordinary unit as green normally roll 2 dice, I could see 3 dice for the charge (but not 1 for ferocious as there are only 2 orcs rather than an entire unit), either that or make it a 'creature' and give two units for the slot.

Catapult
With the size of a board the ability to take 2 figures from an enemy unit from virtually their back row might be too strong perhaps range
Range dice (or perhaps)
2, 3 6 6, hitting on matching and bonus
4, 5 4 6, only hitting on matching
Catapults were mainly used for seiges and didn't see the battle field very often so you could even make it a blue creature and keep it as is.

I do like ferocious and the idea of having units that aren't treated as ranged / cavalry, I think they have lots of potential without being overly complicated.

Chris

Elberon said:

I would say that Dwarves have a mighty strength with no real weaknesses. If you ever count the number of extra dice Dwarves will roll during a game for being bold - it is far more than you will get for rolling +1 dice on the charge.

I think I should clarify my initial idea for orcs was that they are not a racial army unto themselves, they act sort of like mercenaries in a Goblin army. Like how dwarves and Goblins acted as mercenaries in an all-human army. So you wouldn't have an entire army of people crashing into your ranks rolling +1 dice - only two or three units within a Goblin army. For a similar reason, that's why I didn't create Red orc Infantry units - they could be too powerfu. In some ways they are sort of like fast Red infantry but with a weakness.

Elberon said:

For Ferocious - I really wanted it to be a big powerful ability - but balance it by only ever giving them one or two units that they could take in any game with that ability.

I agree with you about the charriot though - I struggled with how to make it really fun on the charge but really weak afterwards. I may leave it at 4 dice, but drop the Ferocious ability and make them only use one dice on follow up turns.

Elberon said:

Well I agree that Range 6 is pretty far, but I think this would be mitigated by where the scenario places the catapult. If it's three or four hexes in, you will have to protect it with other units, but then they will risk being hurt. This one likely needs the most tweaking to make it fair. If anyone else has rules for catapults, or knows whre some are - let me know.

Elberon said:

Thanks for the comments, I appreciate the input!
~ CEG