The War Returns to Cluntyn. A Burrows and Badgers Campaign Day.

Yes alright !I totally missed week 4 of Zomtober but I can assure it was with good reason! Basically the final weekend clashed with a Burrows and Badgers Campaign Day being held at Board in Brum on the 26th October it was always going to be a busy week as I was breaking up on the Friday for half term and had a party to attend the night before so spare team that week was soon eaten up for various reason. In the end I was still picking my warband and writing the roster sheets at 7 am on the day itself!!

This is the second narrative event run by Andy Bridgwater but the first at Board in Brum. The story continues from the previous event.

The War Returns to Cluntyn.

A year has passed since the Royalists ousted theRebels from Cluntyn in a furious battle around the

old ruined Abby. The Raven Lord of Cluntyn has since clamped down on citizen of his parish with

iron talons. The taxes levied to pay for the mercenaries has taken a heavy toll on the common

folk and no support from the Crown has been forthcoming.

Vulpine Valentine the Fox agitator has returned from the north is coordinating bands of freedom

fighters willing to join the cause and overthrow the yoke of the greedy hereditary title holders.

This time an all-out assault is going to be launched at the town of Cluntyn itself, but in order achieve

this the surrounding rural districts must be controlled. Feeling the snows blowing in and knowing a

clash is imminent the civilians stay in their homes and the watch have put a curfew is in place. All is

tense as everyone awaits the moment they know is coming.

Will the Royalists hold sway or will they be ousted by the Rebels?

The Campaign itself  in total had 20 players booked in for the event (though I believe 5 or 6 dropped out so could of been bigger. The sides were pre determined before the day via Facebook where possible.  At the time a large number of folks had chosen the rebel side so I elected to throw in my lot with the Royalists.

The day would comprise of 3 separate games followed by a huge finale game at the end. Warbands would also progress after each game. Certain injury rolls would be ignored such as death or miss a game as this if really unlucky could seriously impact the next game.

Warbands were chosen from the book following the standard selection process up to 350 pennies.

Choosing my Warband.

I really struggled to pick a themed group from the models that I had painted so far. I had at one point chosen a mixed warband with Hounds, Hares Mice and a mole, just needing to write up the roster sheets Saturday morning only to just be flummoxed with names etc and then totally reversing what I had chosen. To cap it off I had been chipping away at a couple of my figures for it and in the end I went with an all airbourne warband.

League of Eagles.

Fiercely loyal to the King the League of Eagles are a warband made up of only creatures who can fly often scouting out threats and carrying messages around the kingdom. Occasionally carrying a bit of assassination as and when required. Swooping down from above when least expected.

The name came about from a daft little piece of art I had drawn when helping Pulp Citizen come up with ideas and symbols for factions for his miniature line. I had drawn up a symbol for what at the time was called the League of Evil. I had left the drawing out only for it to picked up by my eldest Carmen who coloured it in and not realising what it stood for came up with the name League of Eagles. So that answered what my warband was going to be called.

I fell in love with the Barn Owl model and its what drew me to the game in the first place so wanted to field those as my Leader and Second supported by my Small Birds and Bat that I had painted up.

Skills and Stat upgrades.
When choosing a warband several of your members can take skills and upgrades. More if you take a single species warband. Sadly there isn't an all bird one so I would not be in a strong position as say an all mouse warband who recieved an extra two skills or stat upgrade as a offset.

As Royallists there are several bonuses you get with this faction. Firstly we get a free Blacksmith add on to our Den. I went with the Ruined Farmstead as this meant I didn't have to pay upkeep on my creatures which seemed fitting. The Second is that two members of your warband can increase their strike roll due to the military training they receive.

Choosing the white Barn Owl as my Leader I named him Moonwing. Leaders gain a stat increase and can choose a skill. 

I gave him the Skill Fearsome and increased his Strike stat by one taking it upto a D10. Fearsome forces your opponent to test when ever they have to strike or block and failure means the get a negative to their roll off's it came in quite hand as the Owls (Large Raptor) only have a block stat of D4. I game him Light Armour, A Talisman and a Healing Potion. No weapons are need for large raptors as they have the unarmed fighter skill and are also strong 2. Also worth mentioning is that birds when flying can't use weapons on the turn the land and if they don't have the unarmed fighter skill they are then at -1 to attacks they make. Talisman's basically save D8 wounds on the first wounding hit caused per game.

The fawn Barn Owl was my second and they get a free skill. I gave him the Killing Blow abiltiy which allows you to add on +7 to any single successful strike roll once per game. So I called him Darkclaw I used one of my faction upgrades to also increase his Strike roll to a D10. Again I gave him Light armour, Talisman and a Healing Potion. Again no need for weapons.

Next up I needed someone to grab objectives and carry them off the board. I plumped for a Bat and called her Fergys as they come with some useful skills built in. They can of course fly, have unarmed fighter so need no weapons. But they also have Gifted which allows a +2 casting bonus on whatever type of magic they select when created. They however have some negative skills in this case Delicate 2 which means when they take damage it is increased by the level in this case 2.

This seems like a bad choice however I made Fergys a mage. Choosing the Noble spell Radiance. The Radiance Spell has a target of 5 and last D4 Turns due to the blinding light it basically renders he caster immune to strikes, ranged attacks and spells that require line of sight to be cast. Choosing a mage has its downsides as for each starting spell you choose it also adds Weak 1 and Delicate 1 increasing it to 3! However I was counting on Radiance to be her shield. I also gave her a Mage Focus which adds +1 to casting rolls and a Talisman for protection. My intention if for her to cast Radiance in the first turn (if she doesn't move then with bonuses it is autocast) then flies about picking stuff up or helping out the two Barn Owls with outnumbering. I also  used my remaining faction bonus to increase her Strike to D8.

The last two members of my warband are pretty much identical copies of each other. They are both small birds and I used my Sparrow and Robin figures for these. The Sparrow I called Squidge and he Robin Chirp I gave them both swords, talisman's, Camouflage Cloaks and Crossbows. These would be my fire support. Using there flight to get into position then sit in Ambush with there crossbows using there cloaks to give them a bonus when the target makes Awareness tests to see if they get spotted.

My intentions were to shoot stuff with my small birds using ambush if possible(ambushes if successful means the target doesn't get to block or dodge your attacks). The two Owls will be my main fighters with support with outnumbering from the others against tough or bigger creatures. Fergys would be my go fetcher if needed.

Moonwing (Large Raptor) Fearsome, Strike +1
Light Armour, Healing Potion Talisman.

Darkclaw (Large Raptor) Killing Blow, Strike +1
Light Armour, Healing Potion, Talisman.

Fergys (Bat) Radiance Spell, Strike +1
Mage Focus, Talisman

Chirp (Small Bird)
Crossbow, Sword, Talisman, Camouflage Cloak

Squidge (Small Bird)
Crossbow, Sword, Talisman, Camouflage Cloak

Game 1
Opponents were drawn at random from each faction with repeat players being drawn again later in the day. I drew Alex's Fellowship of the Cheese as my first opponent of the day which was an all Mouse warband. We played the first Scenario which was Open Battle with the objective being of having a bit of a scrap and taking out of action over 50%  of the opposing warband (I think).



This was my second game of Burrows with my first being over six months ago. I set up with my all my birds in cover. Squidge and Chirp were ready to hop into Ambush position's. The game started out ok we did plenty of getting into position. Chirp getting a shot off but missing. Moonwing, Darkclaw and Fergys flew up onto a nearby church in preparation to swoop into attack next turn. Fergys cast Radiance on herself which would last several turns. Then it all went a bit wrong. Turn 3 started I swooped in with Darkclaw and despite using fate only caused as fair bit of damage on Gandalf. However Boromir, Gimli and some other bastard (Aragorn I think) all charge in and cut down Darkclaw for his trouble! (D4 Block and -3 for being outnumbered reall hurt.) The looted his corpse (Secondary objective) Turn 4 started and Moonwing swooped in did a bit of damage then was also outnumbered and cut down. As both my Leader and Second where down my warband automatically routed.

Post game.
Everyone all got a point of experience for surviving. I had saved some fate points for the injury tables and both Moonwing and Darkclaw passed their fortitude rolls meaning they also gained experience and made a recovery. No upkeep. We gained a few pennies from the battle and from wandering's. Chirp ended up with divine wrath for the next game which meant he got +2 on all roll off's (some kind of standing stone he found) We also got local knowledge (3 models can start the next game hidden and choose scenario which the second bit we ignored). Rare items in trade were two arcane tomes one with a wild spell the other an unbound. Due to meeting a black marketeer the tomes were both only a few pennies in cost. So after replacing talisman's and potions I bough the unbound spell and got a Magical Blade this went to Fergys naturally which was kind of cool as when cast it gvies the user a +1 strike weapon that ignore armour. (as this is after creation there is no penalty so does not gain weak/ delicate 1 for the new spell). I had a good chunk of pennies saved up but not enough to recruit and equip anyone so stashed the rest for after the next game.

Game 2 
This next game again was randomly drawn. I was up against Dan's Blackthorne's Brigands. It had a Beaver which I was dreading as when armoured the are like tough 5 or 6 meaning it soaks 5/6 damage when you do hit them! eek! We were playing the Find the Paychest scenario. A Paychest had been lost in the centre of the board and we had to search the woods there and locate the chest and escape from your own deployment zone with it. I was dreading this one as I hadn't realised when carrying it you have to roll for your movement meaning my bat if it found it would only be able to move D4 per turn!!!!


led by a Fox with Fast shot, a healer Otter and a bloody big beaver!


As the Brigands were Rogues they had an abandoned Burrow which allowed them two deploy two members of the warband anywhere on the table so the warbands second an Otter and a squirrel archer naturally were placed in the centre to begin searching straight away!

Squidge and Chirp in full on wrath mode deployed hidden opposite the central wood both in ambush with the Squirrel in plain sight of their crossbows. The game started with the squirrel searching the woods for the paychest failing to find anything. Chirp began proceedings with letting rip at the Squirrel getting a Perfect head shot and causing a massive amount of damage (I manged to get a perfect roll which adds +7 to the roll off. With Strong 2 on the crossbow and divine wrath I nearly killed the squirrel in one shot). The Otter second then searched the woods again failing to find the paychest. Squidge also unleashed the bolt from his cross bow again striking the squirrel in the head (again I got a perfect roll) taking him out of action. The Beaver, Fox and Mouse all advanced closer. The Kingfisher flew upto the edge of the central wood. Fergys cast Radiance, The Owls flew cautiously into position.

Turn 2 saw the Fox leader and Mouse rain arrows into Moonwing. A Charge from the Kingfisher failed to kill him off. Moonwing's talons ripped into the small bird and Darkclaw flew in and crippled him taking him out of the fight. The Otter found the chest and began its retreat. The beaver advanced forward. Fergys cast his new spell a magically dagger appearing in front of him.

Turn 3 the Otter passes off the chest to the Beaver (dammit!!!) sends a shot off at Darkclaw but misses. Moonwing quaffs a healing potions and flies himself out of harms way. Fergys swoops in and attacks the fox leader causing a small amount of damage but more cruically prevent the fox from being able to shoot. Darkclaw also swoops in and using his killing blow takes the Fox leader out of action. The mouse bowman takes a shot at squidge but misses. Squidge and Chirp wound the Otter who heals some of the damage with a spell.

Turn 4 the Beaver tries to use fate to escape the board but sadly doesn't get far enough to leave the area. Squidge and Chirp trade bolts and arrows with the Otter as he retreats firing his bow. Fergys swoops in and causes a bit of damage to the Otter. Darkclaw then swoops in and using the last of my fate tears down the Otter causing the Brigands to drop the paychest and flee.

What a tense game! So many roll offs could of taken it either way. I had learned from my first game to save my Owls until later in the turn. Where they couldn't get mobbed to quickly. Thankfully due to the scenario and how Dan deployed his warband I was able to pick his members off one by one. One the Otter went down he automatically routed.  Chirps Divine Wrath turned him into a right little evil sniper with his crossbow! Secondary objective was also completed which was Purge the Witch and killing the Otter who was Dan's mage scored me some extra pennies and experience points.

Post Game
We both got a good deal of pennies from me winning the chest by default as he routed. But also as Dan's brigands had found the chest got some also. Sadly there were no magic items in there! Nobody was out of action on my side so no need to roll on the injury charts for me. Some members gained some advancements. Moonwing gained Killing Blow, Darkclaw's Presence got increased by 1. Fergys gained a strength skill so I used it to take Tough/Strong ( I forget which one) to negate the delicate 3 down to 2.  Wanderings drew a few pennies in which was enough for me to recruit another small bird which I purchased a sword, light shield and talisman for. I used my Kingfisher model to add Swifty to the warband. We found several apothecaries on our wanderings adding a large number of healing potions to the warband's stocks. (Got the same roll twice giving me 10 potions!) The rest of the pennies were then spent on replacing talisman's on those who needed it. Handing out potions to those with spare slots.

Game 3
This was Take And Hold I didn't take a photo of the warband for this one. It was a new player who had only received his minis the day before and as such were unpainted. The table 3x3 was split into 1x1 sections each with a building in which had to be captured. By turn 4 whoever controlled 3 or more buildings than the opponent would win. I face a pirate themed warband which had a bow armed badger, Otter and then several shrews and rats with superior firearms.

The game really played to my strengths as my mobility allowed me to capture 5 buildings in short order. The pirates advanced contesting a few. The Otter second clambered up a building to attack Darkclaw causing a small amount of damage. Chirp and Squidge shot bolts into several pirates and Moonwing swooped in hoping to finish off a Shrew pirate who had a bit of a gimpy leg. Several pirates poured leadshot and arrows into Moonwing injuring him quite badly. However a stray bullet took out the poor wounded Shrew Pirate. The Otter was raked by Darkclaw talon's causing a lot of damage. The Badger tried to chase Fergys who had sat casting spells behind a building he was controlling. The Pirate Rat took a couple of crossbow bolts wounding him. Darkclaw timed it right to aim a killing blow at the otter pushing him off the building and taking him out of action. Moonwing drank a potion then flew off away from all the missile weapons. The badger caught up with Squidge turn 4 ended and I had more buildings than the Pirates and achieved a victory!

Post Game
No injuries again.  Everyone gained experience with Swifty gaining enough to get a cunning skill so got Slippery added to his skills allowing him to leave combat without suffering a free strike. Wanderings were quite mediocre with most having no effect. Trading I replaced Talisman's and found a magical suit of Heavy armour of Protection. Trading in Moonwings Light armour I managed to scrape together enough pennies to buy it leaving me with just 3 pennies to the warbands name but a very nice suit of Tough 3 armour for Moonwing for the finale game.

Finale.
This game was bit different. Several table were linked together. Royalist's down one side Rebel's the other. A building was placed in the centre of each table which was the objective. At the end of each turn whoever have had the most models in the building or central point would score a point the side with the most points would add to the days total to see who gained victory. You were also able to assist neighbouring boards. If and when you had defeated your opponent could you then move into any other neighbouring areas and assist the fights there. I was very lucky to be drawn first and picked the right flank of the Royalists meaning I would only have my opponent on that board and one to the left flank in the worst case scenario that my Royallist Ally to the left got routed.

Everyone would move at the same time and for each activation 2 minutes was all you were allowed to carry out your actions.

We had a team talk and had decided to abandon the central board and concentrate on the adjacent boards to it. In the hope we could overwhelm the rebels there then roll up the flanks overwhelming the Rebels.


Sorry about the finger!



Matthew's all Fox Warband.

Our Deployments. The Church Graveyard being the point to which we had to capture. All my warband deployed behind the church and woods ready to sweep out and over in the coming turns.

The Foxes spread out

Both Squidge and Chirp spread out to either side of the church and woods and concealed themselves ready to ambush the foe. Swifty flew straight over the church and into the graveyard capturing it. The foxes skulk forwards with the brigands leader entering the edge of the graveyard and contesting it.

Fergys flew up onto the church and cast Radiance. Moonwing did the same with Darkclaw climbing upto the top of the church steeple. Turn 2 saw the Fox leader charge Swifty who took a few wounds. Darkclaw swept in badly wounding the fox leader. The foxes second was ambushed with a crossbow bolt by Squidge as he entered in the grave yard taking a grievous wound.  

The Fennic Fox is also gets shot by Chirp as he enters the graveyard but then conceals himself. Moonwing swoops in and with a killing blow deals the Fox leader a mortal blow taking him out of action. The Fox mage stalks along the edge of the graveyard. The Vixen archer advances and takes a shot at Squidge but fortunately his talisman absorbs most the damage. Fegrys casts the magic blade spell. As there were more Royalists we score a point!

Turn 3 begins. The Vixen charges into Swifty causing some damage with her dagger. Fergys swoops down and with Darkclaw and Moonwing tear down the Foxes second causing them to rout (we forget that the warband was supposed to be removed and played until the end of the turn) The Fox mage unleashes a fireball into the graveyard wounding many birds as well as the vixen. As the foxes rout we scored a second point for the Royalists.

Elsewhere the Royalists were crushing the left flank and were now rolling up onto the third board having defeated the first two rebel warbands.

Turn 4 Begins and as my opponent has routed my Owls quaff potions and swoop over to the next board across and begin to harass some more fox Rebels. Moonwing is clipped by an arrow as he swoops in.  The game ends here as we ran out of time and the foxes on the next board also get routed.

When the points get counted up and added to the days total it was a very narrow victory with the Royalists taking the win by 1 point!

It was a really fab days gaming and I am thirsty for playing more Burrows gaming especially in the campaign format. I have been told about another event but its more a pitched battle where you select your warband at 500 pennies but it resets each game and there is no progression so more of tournament type style. It sounds good and now I have a better grasp of the gaming might give it a go next year if they do it again.

The day was great it flew by so quick with the post game sequence there wasn't much time for a break would be my only niggle. However I think this sped up as the day went on so perhaps my lack of experience with it are fault there 

Everyone got a prize for participating supplied very generously by Michael and Jo from Oathsworn miniatures.

The newly released Sternpaw's Almanack 2! This was super to receive as at the time it hadn't been released!