The following article was published in Lone warrior 94. While Billy wrote it specifically as a fantasy scenario, you will see that it has applications for generating a lively ambush in a historical or science fiction scenario as well. INTRODUCTION You are Colonel Hobotruss of the regular army. You have been posted to Fort Sablestone in the south of the province as second in command of the Third Division. General Kleatos commands the division. Fort Sablestone is a relaxed posting compared to others in the Empire, and you have enjoyed the five weeks that you have been posted there. However, starting last night, and continuing this morning, townsfolk from the distant city of Amkelosk have been pouring into the fort in their hundreds. They tell of an attack by a marauding army of orcs and goblins, with many ogres and trolls, who attacked the city some three days ago. They say that this was no hit and run attack, but highly disciplined, and it looks as if the goblins intended to stay! General Kleatos was ecstatic! Here he was thinking that he would retire within twelve months without seeing any more action and now here was his chance to go out in a blaze of glory!!! The Third Division comprised of five battalions: three regular and two training battalions. The regulars consisted of 1,000 men - 800 infantry and 200 cavalry. The training battalions numbered 640 men - 480 infantry and 160 cavalry. On questioning the civilians, the goblinoids were thought to number anywhere up to 1,000 troops, but General Kleatos dismissed this number as exaggerated due to panic. The attackers probably numbered no more than 5-600 at most. The general sent word to the county capital, some four days hard ride away, to inform them of the situation, and then called his officers together. “At dawn tomorrow”, he said, “we will march on Amkelosk with the three regular and one training battalion, and smash the invaders!” The silence was deafening. NOTES This scenario, and battle, is intended to be played as a fantasy wargame. However, next to the force list in brackets I’ve put what I consider the equivalent troop types for those who wish to fight this battle using either ancient, ECW, or such like troops. I fought the following battle using a figure scale of 1:40 which gave the empire forces the following troops: 28 Cavalry plus 72 infantry divided into: 1 general mounted 1 character figure (you!) 2 “B” class units fully armoured knights (10 figures each) “C” class unit cavalry, leather armour, sword, shield (6 figures) “B” class unit crossbowmen (12 figures) “B” class unit of pike/spearmen, sword and shield (20 figures) “B” class unit of infantry, axe and shield (20 figures) “C” class unit of infantry, sword and shield (20 figures) General Kleatos is 65 years old, and a quick victory will secure his comfort in retirement. He is in a hurry to come to grips with the goblinoids and he pushes his troops fast as they can go, trying to cover the forty-five miles to Amkelosk as quickly as possible. ORDER OF MARCH I used the following order of march: General Kleatos You 1 unit of knights light cavalry other unit of knights crossbowmen swordsmen axemen pike/spearmen For each unit I threw 1D6. This represented the number of troops that dropped out of those units on the march, due to lame horses and fatigue etc. So far then, we have a straggling column of men in a known order of march (either as above or worked out by yourself) and so many figures missing from each unit. Once you have done that, read on!! THE ENEMY Unknown to general Kleatos, all is not as it seems. A goblinoid army did attack Amkelosk three days ago. However, it was part of a much larger goblinoid force, whose intent was the conquest of the entire Empire no less - a force numbering 5,000 creatures!! At this moment they were on their way to Fort Sablestone. ORDER OF MARCH “C” class General mounted in chariot 2 “C” class units of goblin cavalry (10 figures each) (light missile cavalry) 2 “C” class units of orc infantry (15 figures each) sword and shield (medium infantry) 2 “C” class units of goblin infantry (20 figures each) sword and bows (light missile infantry) 2 “C” class units of ogres (5 figures each) hand weapons (heavy/shock infantry) 2 “C” class units of trolls (5 figures each) hand weapons (heavy/shock infantry) total 20 cavalry and 90 infantry Now look at the map. The terrain is typical of the country around this side of the empire. General Kleatos and his troops arrive from road A. Throw 1 D10. This is how far the general and leading troops are across the table. Using your rules movement rate (my rules allow 7 inches move along road per turn, I throw a six (6 x 7 = 42 inches). This means General kleatos is 42 inches down the track with the rest of his troops in order of march behind. More Fighting Off that Nasty Ambush Scenario Goblinoid Options Empire Options Back to Table of Contents -- Lone Warrior #135 Back to Lone Warrior List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 2001 by Solo Wargamers Association. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com