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The Red Prince surveyed the ground before him. Astride Pierre, his faithful pegasus, Matthias Gisors had a commanding view of the surrounding battlefield, a relatively featureless valley spotted with farms and woodland. On his flank were proud ranks of knights, the old guard who had followed him staunchly from Bretonnia, their pennants fluttering in the breeze. Veteran men-at-arms deployed in the centre, layers of heavy shields decorated with the colours of their liege lords locked together, making for an impressive defensive bulwalk. Meanwhile, levies of longbowmen fanned out ahead in skirmish formation, preparing a volley from the cover of the swaying wheat fields. Finally, to his right, dozens of hireling foot-knights took position, backed up by an enormous bombard and Tilean crew that he had hired in the Border Princes. He could trust them no more than he could trust the black powder. Nevertheless, they would be crucial to his success in the coming battle.
From his elevated view he could see the enemy approaching over the horizon. They were many and myriad, an assembled horde of monsters. The servants of chaos appeared first, emerging from thick forest to the East. They spewed forth into the valley, defiling as they came with leader beasts at the fore. Hundreds of lesser creatures milled around the feet of minotaurs and ogres, violently jostling for a position in the from rank.
‘Degenerates’, Matthias muttered to himself in disgust.
‘Sire!’ His squire had to yell to get his attention above the din of clanking armour and chattering men.
‘It must be same host of beastmen that razed Castle Bloodhorn!’
Matthias spat. ‘Aye, Claude. I shall be avenged upon these reprobates’.
He lowered his view and scanned further to the west as more enemies appeared. They approached with an eerie silence and monotonous shuffle. It could only be the undead, his keen eyes spotting the pagaentry of two separate hosts. It mattered not, he was equally offended by both and quietly swore to banish them in turn for the insult they had offered in recent months.
The Red Prince turned his attention to his erstwhile allies. He mused at the term. How could anyone truly ally with reptiles? They had their own agenda and would turn on him as soon as it suited them, Matthias was certain of it. Regardless, they had his left flank. It would have to do for now.
General Hiemerdinger of the Empire formed up on the right. Even he had to admit it was impressive sight. Columns of Knights Panther wheeled to face the oncoming horde of zombies, outriders checked and loaded their repeating rifles, whilst disciplined crossbowmen took an advantageous raised position behind enormous pavises. He smiled at his own benevolence. Although they now bore the signal of Hiemerdinger, Matthias had provided those very shields in his last delivery of military aid to Empire forces.
Matthias turned back to face his squire, looking down from his mount. ‘Claude, get me one of those war wagons, would you? Impressive.’
Before he was able to finish his thought, Hiemerdinger and his retinue of Knights Panther began thundering across the open field toward the mass of undead. Not to be outdone, Matthias Gisors ordered his knights on the charge.
‘Forward men! For glory, coin and for the, uh, Lady!’
His archers had already begun to engage, loosing an ineffectual volley into the undead vanguard.
‘Stupid peasants,’ he cried, spurring his pegasus to flight. He would join his knights in the fray.
Just as he begun his charge, he saw several archers cut down by missile fire. Where did it come from? He had never seen skeletons fire bows before. Suddenly it dawned on Matthias. They were crossbow bolts and they came from his flank!
‘Treachery!’ Exclaimed the Prince.
He turned Pierre to the right so he could better examine the movements of the Empire troops. Not only had he been fired upon by his trusted ally, but more of Hiemerdinger’s knights had reformed to face his own. What was this? He could not believe what he was seeing. Matthias vision went red with anger. Taking a sharp turn with Pierre, he flew low behind an outcrop of trees to shield himself from the missile fire. He would kill those perfidious Empire troops and win the day himself.
Matthias was incredulous.
‘Take me forward Pierre! Hiemerdinger’s ego must be as big as his moustache if he thinks he can betray me and get away with it!’
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Well, if you didn't guess.. We just played a game of Triumph and Treachery at the club to round of out our Old World Campaign Season. A six player extravaganza with Beastmen, Bretonnia, the Empire, Lizardmen and two flavours of Undead!
It was loads of fun, and heaps of laughs. The random turn order and card system are great mechanics that add some chaos to the mix. There were a few times where I thought I had made a great manoeuvre or had a cannon shot lined up, only to be foiled by a card..
Some examples of the cards that can be played at anytime.
The only problem with multiplayer games of Old World, is it takes a LONG time. I think we only got through three turns before we turned it in and had to head for bed.
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| Deployment. |
Clockwise from the top right we deployed Beastmen, Vampire Counts, Vampire Coast, the Empire, Bretonnia and Lizardmen. The game started with Empire cavalry flying down the right flank and chewing up a unit of 'skeleton archers' (actually zombie pirates), overrunning into a hired helblaster volleygun and basically making short work of anything that got in their way.
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| Knights Panther & Hiemerdinger. |
The Lizardmen saurus warriors and carnosaur made short work of some gors on my left flank and looked like cutting through the line of the undead as well. Richard, our Beastmen general was overcome with bestial rage and betrayed his alliance with the Vampire Counts, charging into the Graveguard flank in the centre of the board. Meanwhile, the Terrorgeist made short work of my Knights as they tried to emulate the success of the Knights Panther!
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| They didn't last long. |
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| Bretonnian Deployment. |
Mad Matt attempted to get even with the Empire, after his troops were shot at from behind.. killing three crossbowmen and sending them fleeing. That's about all he did, infact I didn't do much! My wizard didn't get a single spell off and my cannon didn't fire, thanks to those pesky T&T cards and poor rolling. Even my knights failed their terror check and failed to charge into the Empire Demi-grphys. It was hilarious though. A proper anti-climax.
The Empire war wagon.
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| Matthias taking cover before launching his revenge attack! |
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| Cail's amazing 'Ushabti' - Vampire Coast zombie ogres. |
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| The Wizard Richter Strauss attempts to unleash a magic missile, bit is foiled by a duplicitous ally. |
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| The treacherous crossbowmen. |
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| Design by Crom over at the Down Under Empire Discord. |
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