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| Oslac the Fighter & Leof the Brute are assaulted by orcs in our big game of Four (10?) Delvers |
The goal of cooperating with Rich Brown of
RRB Minis & More on revamping
David Bezio's fantasy skirmish rules,
Four Delvers, was to see if it would work for my
Sunday evening gang. Typically, we have 6-7 players, and the original rules were written with only four adventurers in mind. So, it would need some expansion to accommodate. My plan was to have each player control two Delvers, so with six of us present this past Sunday for the playtest, I would have 10 Delvers on the table. I decided not to play myself, though it is a cooperative game and no GM is really necessary.
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| Somewhere inside Moonrest are 3 shepherd boys, kidnapped by orc raiders - can you free them? |
I created a dozen characters to give the players some choice. Rich and I had greatly expanded the original Fighter, Wizard, Elf, and Dwarf characters to include a Barbarian, Cleric, Thief, Brute, and others. The core of my original adventuring gang from my
two solo games was chosen, so Oslac and Company would once again be exploring the abandoned city of Moonrest. The scenario was that Orc raiders had kidnapped several shepherd boys (along with some sheep, of course), and were dragging them back to their haunt in Moonrest. The adventuring party tracked them to the city, spied out where they were encamped, and concocted a plan to free the captive boys -- if they were still alive. Except this was our Sunday Evening Gaming group, and they skipped the whole "plan" stage and just lined up on the board edge they were sitting closest to and charged in!
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| My group of five players for the play test: 'Plan? We don't need no stinking plan...charge!' |
That might have worked as a plan, but it had one noticeable flaw. Joel and Mike S didn't have a "fighter type" among their four Delvers. Joel controlled the "halfling" Setch and the cleric, Friar Horace. Mike had the Elf Erevan and thief Cain. Their best two in melee would be the elf and cleric, with Setch and Cain being the weakest with only 1 Hit Point each. On the other side of the table, there was a bit more beef. Jenny controlled the dwarf Baldur and the ranger Minatur, Allen the barbarian Callum and wizard Malik, while Keith had Fighter Oslac and the new Brute, Leof. Lots more fighter types on this side of the table!
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| The 19 orc defenders were deployed randomly throughout the 3'x3' board, including in this square |
In an attempt to streamline the game process, Rich and I had made the Wound Table more deterministic. Rather than being able to take an unlimited number of Wounds after dropping to 0 Hit Points, monsters could take a maximum three, but would likely be knocked out of action on their second wound with the modifiers were had created. However, the possibility of rolling a 8-12 on 1d12 still existed, so models taking their first Wound could still be knocked out. Rich had also wanted to limit Wandering Monsters to one on-board at a time. So, my thought was that I would need to beef up the initial monsters by about 50%, with those changes. That mean 19 orc enemies were randomly deployed on the table, 7 of which had bows.
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| Setch the Sidhe 'halfling' and Erevan the Elf occupy a ruined building & begin shooting orcs |
The Delver's pregame scouting of the orc location led them to believe the creatures had the shepherd boys stashed somewhere inside the 10 buildings on the 3'x3' tabletop. When a Delver searched the inside of a building, they would roll a six-sided die: 1-2 they found a treasure token; 3-4 sheep, 5-6 one of the shepherd boys. Each player also received one token for a free re-roll of a die during the game. They also randomly determined their player order, resulting in Joel and Mike's weaker force coming on first. The lack of strategizing likely handicapped the players, along with what would prove to be awful die rolling. Or, should I say, their excellent rolling for the monsters? Time and again, they would roll successful "Battle" rolls against the Orcs only to have the nasty creatures make their Save rolls. I insisted they roll for the enemy, since this was meant to be a cooperative game, and I didn't want it to have to do all the rolling for the enemies.
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| Minastur the ranger & Baldur the dwarf are beset by orcs, but Callum rushes to their aide |
Under the rules, the Delvers and monsters alternating activating a figure until all models on the board have activated. For the Delvers, we had each player activate one of their characters in turn going around the table, then their second figure. In between, of course, a monster would activate. Since the orcs outnumbered the players, we would resolve the remaining half dozen or so at the end of each turn. The players split up, with Mike and Joel arriving on table and occupying a ruined building in the middle of their table edge. They immediately began shooting at the orcs, who quickly closed in on them or began to shoot back. Soon, four Delvers were crowded inside their little "Alamo," doing their best to fight off the attacking orcs.
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| Oslac (quartered blue shield) is the toughest fighter in the game & immediately bloodies his enemies |
Keith brought his two warriors in on one street, while Allen and Jenny entered in the alleyway behind the church. All were immediately swarmed by orcs when spotted. The "A.I." for the monsters has them advance relentlessly towards the Delvers unless armed with a missile weapon. In that case, once within range, they fire away. If Delvers come within 6", they fire and back off. I think the A.I worked fine. There were only a couple times when it seemed the rules had the orcs not being clever enough. This happened on Keith's front, whose Brute and Fighter blocked off a narrow street, creating a bottleneck of orcs behind those engaged with the Delvers. I solved this by having a couple of the orcs circle the buildings to attempt to fall upon their rear.
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| Wounded, Malik the Wizard is stalked by orcs, but Callum bravely rushes to his aide |
Only one Delver was knocked out of action. Malik, roaming about his side of the board rather freely instead of sheltering behind the fighters, was targeted by orc archers and eventually fell to the street, riddled with arrows. Several others reached 0 Hit Points and had to make rolls on the Wound table when they were hit again. More than half of the players cashed in their re-roll tokens to save their Delvers. When the wandering monster (a troll) finally showed up, this prompted the "Alamo" to be abandoned by Erevan, Setch, Horace, and Cain. This actually allowed Cain to find one of the shepherd boys when he sought refuge inside a building. Horace made up for his excellent rolling in my l
ast solo game and struggled to heal Erevan, who was down to 0 Hit Points for the last one-third of the game or so. Joel and Mike did a great job, though, keeping their under strength force alive, though. I don't blame them for fleeing rather than facing the troll when it finally wandered over to their makeshift stronghold.
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| Joel & Allen's 'Alamo' defensive position is getting crowded when joined by friar Horace & Cain |
Jenny's characters, augmented by Callum the barbarian, did a good job holding off the orcs in the alley beside the church. Keith, though ringed by orcs thirsting for his Delvers' blood, slew more enemies than any of the others. I feel the Fighter is the single strongest Delver type, so was not surprised he slowly and steadily racked up the kills. However, Keith was plagued numerous times by orcs saving against his successful blows an unlikely number of times. He fully got to experience the frustration I felt might be inherent in the system.
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| It took several turns, but finally a wandering troll showed up, drawn by the sounds of fighting |
How did the game go? The players said it went fine. They seemed less bothered by the frustration than I felt they might be. Keith admitted it did get to him at times, but seemed philosophical about it. Bad die rolls or lucky opponents happen in wargaming. We discussed how the rules worked out for about 20 minutes after the game. Had I overestimated how many monsters would be needed with the changes to the combat system Rich and I had made? Possibly. I used 50% more than the equivalent number would call for. I felt the limit on Wandering Monsters would really hamper the monsters. I had 3-4 show up in each of my previous games, with 2-3 on the table at the same time. The troll didn't come on until turn 3 or 4, and his "Stupid" trait meant he spent one of those turns scratching his head, wondering where all those Delvers that were holed up in the ruin had gone.
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| Though orcs are bloodied all around them, the ring of foes around Oslac & Leof seems not to falter |
For myself, I am still not 100% sold on the mechanics. Many, many games using a Saving roll. However, when you are in control of only two characters instead of an army or large force, enemy saves seem to have a bigger impact. Time and again, Keith would roll for Oslac, have him inflict a hit or two hits on an orc, only to have it save against all. Then, the monsters would counter-attack, inflict a hit on a Delver, only to have the Delver save, too. Four rolls, but a whole lot of "no effect" going on! Like I said, I think I was more bothered by the potential frustration of this system than my five players were. Still, we got through at least 8 turns in three hours. However, the players were not near to completing their mission. There were still a good number of orcs on the table -- enough to prevent the players from breaking off a Delver or two to begin searching rooms (only four buildings were searched, finding one shepherd boy, two treasures, and some sheep).
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| Another look at medieval Moonrest before the battle begins, with orcs patrolling the alleys |
We'll see, though. I reported back to Rich Brown, so I may have him take over 100% of the rules tweaking for awhile. I'm still tempted to try a variant of my
Mean Streets gang warfare rules to see how they play out for a small scale medieval or fantasy skirmish. So, that will likely be the next thing I try. I'd already crunched a bunch of numbers and written a few pages of things down for a fantasy Mean Streets variant. Maybe it is time to get that on the table and compare how the two games go? Stay tuned to see what comes up!
In the meantime, my next batch of Elves is all but done. So, I will likely be posting pictures of them soon. I'm working on another medieval building, too. So, now that I am back from vacation, I should get back to posting more regularly!
MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026
- Miniatures acquired in 2026: 159
- Miniatures painted in 2026: 85
TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026
- Terrain acquired in 2026: 3
- Terrain painted in 2026: 22
SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2026
- Scatter acquired in 2026: 16
- Scatter painted in 2026: 56
