Reaper Message Board: Warlord Scenario - Reaper Message Board

Sleeping Village

It was twilight, a few hours before the dawn still. The land was covered in shadow and fog lazily drifted above the ground, collecting over ditches and recesses. The moon was shining weakly now, casting a subtle light over the field and the surrounding landscape. The grass had grown tall over the summer in the field, and the blades of grass poked upwards like miniature spears.. Ditches had formed all about from rain spells, and weeds had thoroughly conquered the place. Wheat had once been grown here but the place had been deserted now for some time. A wood met along the edge of the field on the eastward side, and it extended far beyond, creeping over the hills that lay at the foot of mountains far in the distance. The woods were shrouded in an impenetrable darkness.

The Crusaders had chased the things all the way from the village, and had been so caught up in the pursuit they had followed them across the field towards those cursed trees. They had been taken completely by surprise as they neared the dark wood. It had been a trap. The enemy had had archers in place hidden amongst the trees concealed by the darkness of the night and the foliage. When they had chased the fleeing vandals across the field they had met with a volley of arrows that had taken its toll on their numbers. Overwhelmed by the cloud of whirling missiles many of them had fallen to the ground pierced by the deadly bolts. The survivors had hastily retreated and had regrouped near the barn, outside the range of the invisible foe nestled somewhere in the darkness of those trees across the field.

The Crusaders were grouped together now on the western edge of the field. There was an old barn that was falling apart, and a single dead oak tree rose up beside it with bare branches clawing upwards to the sky above. Some bails of old moldy hay were scattered about in piles which the soldiers were now using for cover. A wooden fence had once been strung about the field but now it was mostly broken and in various stages of decay. A few farm tools were lying about here and there where they had been abandoned.

"Snap!", grumbled the Captain. "Who's left?" After the head count was taken he spoke again, and there was grief in his voice. "Only 10 left, and myself." They were silent for a long spell. The Captain was grieving over the error he had made and the soldiers he had lost. At last one of the younger soldiers in the group spoke up. "Sir, what are we going to do?". The Captain remained silent for a few moments. A few arrows whistled in the air and fell somewhere outside their proximity, but the enemy remained for the most part unnaturally silent. Then finally the Captain spoke. "Well, we don't know how many of them are over there, or even what they are. I suspect they are Necropolis, as those things we chased looked like the chattel that serve their dark masters.. Now we must.." but he was abruptly cut off by a piercing scream that chilled them to the bone. One of them who had been keeping an eye out grabbed the Captain's shoulder and shouted "Look!".

Something was emerging out of the darkness of the trees. Something big. The shadow of a the hulking thing was moving now out of those trees and onto the field, lumbering its way towards them. In the moon light it appeared to be an enormous, ghastly thing; an unnatural lumbering behemoth constructed of what looked like the bones of unknown dead things of enormous size. Behind it could be seen a group of human shaped silhouettes, shuffling along behind it slowly and awkwardly. "What is that?" the young soldier spat out, his voice betraying his fear. "I don't know. It looks as big as this barn." The thing screeched again, getting closer. "What are we going to do?" asked the young soldier.

"Run back to town. Go find Duke Gerard. He is camped to the north. Tell him we need reinforcements as quickly as possible. We are going to try and hold them off from getting to the village. Pray for a miracle. Now go, run!" The young soldier then sped down the road back to the village at breakneck speed.

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Here is a little scenario you can play out. You are free to change it however you like.

It is dark, about 3 hours before sunrise.

There is a large field, a barn, some piles of hay and some woods on the other side of the field.

You have 10 Crusaders, a captain and some soldiers. Yes, there 10 + the captain. One soldier runs off to get reinforcements.

Necropolis have a large bone monster, zombies, and undead archers. They also have some chattel and a necromancer type. At this point, Necropolis out number crusaders 2:1.

In a few turns Duke Gerard will arrive with reinforcements. You will have to pick out an appropriate point cost.

There is a chance of a miracle happening, and a guardian angel or celestial lion coming to the aid of the Crusaders. You will have to figure out how to work this. If the miracle occurs, then maybe Duke Gerard doesn't arrive in time.

The goal of the Crusaders is to keep the necropolis forces from going up the road and destroying the sleeping village.

Necropolis goal is to kill the Crusaders, turn them into undead and of course destroy the village.

Crusaders will be outnumbered for the first few turns, but they have enough distance from the enemy. They can strike and fall back until reinforcements arrive.