The Adventures of Slade Horton

Currently, I am playing a pre-made campaign from the Pulp Alley partnership. Here my intrepid adventures, Slade Horton and other members of Department E6 uncover the mysteries that surround an ancient Egyptian serpent god, Apophis. The campaign is broken down into four chapters. The story starts in various locations worldwide but ends in the Egyptian desert. starts

The Cast

Sir Francis 

Head of the Department of Ancient Esoteric and Magical Practices (Department E6) at the Mace Insitute. A war hero who is well connected with the government and some more unusual assets.

Slade Horton 

Socialite archaeologist is the lead academic of the Department of Ancient Esoteric and Magical Practices at the Mace Institute. He was known for several famous discoveries but was also a source of jealousy and ridicule by some of his colleagues.

Dr Laura ‘Honey’ Middleditch

Dr Honey is the linguist in the department and has worked with Slade on several digs/adventures. Despite his academic pedigree, she was also the Home Counties pistol champion in 1924, 26 and 27.

Thawites

Sir Francis, old batman and now his chauffeur and protector, and a noted boxer being the army champion during the Great War.

The Honourable Daphne Wells.

A socialite turned reporter and adventuress. Originally, she joined Mace to get a scoop but soon became enmeshed in the strange world of Department E6. Her beauty is deceptive because she is handy with the pistol and fears little. A modern girl from the post-war revolution.

Alfie Lindenhurst III

The sinew of a rich American industrialist, he has come to London to study with Professor Horton but soon found him recruited by Department E6 because of his enthusiasm and marksmanship. Alfie is accident-prone but has the constitution of an ox. He is a bit soft on Daphne. 

New Age Comics

Rather than write a traditional battler report, I turned Chapter 1, 'The Evil Lies Below', into a pulp comic. This has allowed me to build up the background of some of my characters, which is always a good idea when playing solo. Here is my attempt at a 1930s Pulp mini-series. I hope you enjoy it. Click the front cover to download the story. 

Battle of Nidbodmar

The Purity Crusades

This battle report is the last part of my three campaigns that will be fought in the world of Telemar. The idea is that sometime in the future, the three strands will join to reveal the true villain behind these conflicts.

See, The Shadow Wars; The Ancestor War.

The Conclave of Caelthyr

Aenarion II, ‘The Pious’, Lord of the Hidden Light, High King of the Five Realms, 1087, summoned the Elven High Lords to a conclave at Caelthyr. Aenarion stood before the great and good of Elven Kin and preached a crusade against the Unbelievers. His speech would change the isolationist strategy the Elves had adopted for two centuries and launch a series of holy wars.

Kin and the Kindred.

Aenarion II’s first was the hated Kindred or Umbrians, a tribe of Elves that had broken away from the Hidden Light to walk a much darker path. The rivalries between the Kin and the Kindred had lasted centuries since the Wars of Division when the Elven path to enlightenment separated. Ever since those ancient days, both sides had raided the other land in search of plunder and as a coming-of-age ritual for the younger Elves. Therefore, it was easy to use one of these events for Aenarion to claim the moral high ground to launch a significant retaliatory ‘raid’ against the Kindred.

The First March of 1088

In late spring the following year, Aenarion’s army marched towards the river Nidmar, the boundary between the ‘lands of the sun and shadow’. However, despite the speed of Aenarion’s advance, the Kindred’s Triumvirate despatched one of its number, Mor ‘a Gul, the Lord of Beasts, to intercept the High Elves' advance. The two armies met where the Old Way crossed the river Nidmar, close to the now-ruined watchtower, Nidbodmar.

The Battlefield

The river Nidbod runs east to west across the battlefield and is spanned by a substantial stone bridge. Close to the bridge is an old watchtower, which is now in ruin and not ideally situated to guard the bridge; the river must have changed its course since the tower was last used. The Nidbod is fordable to the east and west but not within 18 inches of the bridge. Low hills feature on either side of the river, and small woods dot the landscape, incredibly close to the Old Road that runs north to south across the battlefield.

The Strategies

Aenarion concentrated his attack on the bridge, utilising his spearman supported by the deadly elf archer regiments. Enior, the mage, would also support this attack. The fords further up and down the Nidmar course created a problem because they would allow a possible outflanking movement. To counter this, Aenarion stationed smaller commands on the low hills, with orders to defend and protect his flanks. If they thought the attack was blunted, the commanders could counterattack to draw the Kindred away from the centre.

Mor a’ Gul decided to attack the right to turn the High Elf’s left. The centre, Mor a’ Gul, deployed sufficient forces to contest the bridge without committing too many resources. The aim was to buy time to allow him to defeat the enemy's right flank. On his left, he placed a small command composed of Dark Reavers and Saurian Riders. Their instructions were to make a nuisance of themselves, but if they hit strong resistance, to fall back across the river and defend.

The Armies Advance

Both armies were noted for their speed, but the striking opening moment was the Kindred’s War Hydra that rushed to devour Elven flesh. The Great Eagles seeing a creature that for them sickened the laws of nature, flew to intercept. However, the Nargutun knights intercept the eagle’s flight, and their long-necked lizard mounts make short work of the feathered host.

In the centre, things were going better for the High Elves. Here the elf spearman forced a passage across the bridge, despite coming under heavy fire from the Kindred’s crossbowman. Trying to protect the Kindred lives, the crossbowman withdrew, and the Slave Legion charged home. However, these enforced troops were no match for the Elf spearmen and were brutally dispatched.

In the meanwhile, on the flanks, the skirmishing continued. Both commanders had orders to probe the High Elf’s left flank, and a series of ongoing skirmishes broke out. However, on the other flank, the Nafgutun knights defeated the High Elf knights, and Aenarion’s left battle slowly had to disintegrate.

The Unstoppable Elf Phalanx

In the centre, Aenarion phalanx of spears continued to push up to the road. Combined with their inherent strength and fantastic dice rolls, they destroyed all comers. The road was soon clear of the kindred. However, the High Elf’s flanks continued to collapse as the superior Kindred number took its toll. On the right, the hastily recruited crusader elves and their knightly support routed. On High Elf's left flank, Mor ‘a Ghul was now only kept at bay by a thin line of elf archers supported by the light cavalry. The total collapse was a matter of time (one or two rounds). Aenarion started to withdraw. Mor ‘ Ghul suffered heavy losses and decided he could not threaten Aenarion’s retreat.

Aftermath

Overall the battle was a draw, although either side at one point could have achieved an outright victory. However, Mor ‘a Ghul held the battlefield and gained his triumph. Aenarion’s first battle of his Purity Crusade was not the success he wanted, but neither was it a disaster. Several frontier towers had been regarrisoned, including Nidbodmar. He now knew he needed the power of his regular forces rather than relying on some over-enthusiastic ‘crusading’ volunteers.

Wargaming & Campaigns

Wargaming is about a narrative, a story that I can continue on the tabletop. I achieved this storytelling in two ways. First, by recreating historical encounters. Here the backstory comes pre-packed with the events surrounding the battle that enrich the narrative. Here is the fun of researching the background of the conflict, the commanders, the terrain and why the encounter happened. The second approach is to place my battles in an invented campaign setting—this approach I tend to use for non-historical encounters and skirmish games. I have loads of notebooks, either on paper or electronically, with random jottings about people, places, belief systems and the rivalries between the leading players. Occasionally, I brushed the dust off these musings and turned them into a wargame campaign. Here are two different ways of setting up and playing a campaign.

A Pre-Made Campaign - The Tomb of the Serpent

The Tomb of the Serpent is a pre-made campaign from the Pulp Alley father-daughter partnership. Here my intrepid adventures take on the horrors of an ancient Egyptian God named Apophsis. In this campaign, I plan to follow the Tomb of the Serpent’s chapters but add more details that will give rise to several sequels and introduce some new characters. For example, the test game, set in a Chicago warehouse district, has already given birth to the Mist and his struggles against the Moretti crime family. Two leagues that will be the centre of a later campaign.

The Home-made Campaign - The Second Shadow Wars

The other campaign uses the Fantastic Battles rules by Nic Wright. The campaign will be played using my old 10mm Warmaster figures; minimal painting should be done. However, I have said that numerous times before! I have already played several battles using these rules, reported elsewhere on this blog.

• Blackthorn Abbey, where the oaks clash with the Wilderness tribes of the Steppes
• Battle of Landon Gate, a high medieval army, fought with the armies of the undead in the most peculiar of family disputes.
• Nidbodmar Bridge, Where the High Elf King launched the Purity Crusades against the Dark Elves.

The project's next stage is to develop these three battles into three separate campaigns. Ultimately, the aim is to combine them into one epic-style campaign.

Old Rivalries and a Forgotten History - The 2nd Shadow Wars.

The first campaign is the continual struggle between the Orcs (Umbarji or 'Shadow Ones') of the Howling Mountains and the tribes of the Wilderness Steppes. The campaign events occur two years after the battle of Blackthorn Abbey and link into the history of Umbarji dynastic rivalries. Meanwhile, the surviving members of the First Umbarji wars amongst the Steppe Tribes are few, and the old stories are lost. The Wilderness tribes also lack a strong leader, as they bicker amongst themselves. It is against this backdrop that the Second Shadow Wars will be fought.

Inspiration and Ideas

For this campaign, the rules and the ideas are my own, although I have drawn heavily on the writings of others. Most recently, Henry Hyde's book on Campaigns has inspired me to have another go at trying to set up my campaign. Henry's book is full of ideas, and rather than trying to take on all his ideas in one go, I have used the book as a toolkit. From the book, I have selected the areas that appeal to me and only involve a little bookkeeping. I have also gained inspiration from classic works, like Tony Bath’s Setting up a Wargames Campaigns, etc. The plan is to share the development of the campaign rules on this blog, with posts and, in Tahoe future, a downloaded rules outline.