October 2000

This is a replay of the "Albion Alone" 3-turn scenario that I originally posted on consim-l in 2000 (it's also on Web-Grognards). But what the heck, why not repost it here. This was my first play of Albion. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any photos; might be on a zipdisk somewhere.

Turn 1: I played no enchantments since I didn't really know my way around at this point. By now I've come to the conclusion that even in a solo game, playing a scrying enchantment could make sense for the Fomorian player since it can require the Faerie player to decide on the movement of units half a turn early.

Fomorian player turn: Imric's host crosses Dermot's Dyke southwards; the army rests on the coast south of Ravenglass en route to Garryknowe. BranOg, Ainsel, and Magog attack Colleran in Brugh Melton, but are repelled with a bloody nose, losing 2 steps. Bran Og did not want to challenge Colleran, and Colleran (rightly, as it turns out), decided not to challenge anyone, relying on the fortress to protect him. In Caer Arklow, Cormac challenges Elidor and defeats him; then takes the leaderless fortress (with 4 CSP inside) in three attacks (losing only 1 step). Sean joins up with Dando and destroys the ungarrisoned Caer Brollachan. In Erin, Balor and Connan collect their troops on the borders to Ulster.

[VP Fo 20+5+4=29; Fa 3+3]

Faerie player turn: The Faerie commanders in Albion do not act, merely sit in their fortresses and attempt to send messengers to their allies. Dunatis and Gerflax become active.

Turn 2: The first enchantments. Dunatis initiates Vortex creation on Imric's stack; Gerflax does this for Bogan (who is still at sea). Both lose a step to attrition. Imric's host loses 1 SP [Strength 15, mod -3, result 1], Bogan's as well [Strength 14, mod 1, result 2, 1 loss].

Fomorian player turn: Sean moves to the Denby Plinth, while his troops move with Dando to Brugh Melton. Cormac, after some deliberation, decides to fall back on Dun Mendib in case the Gnomes or Gwynedd should activate next turn. Imric decides to take undefended Garryknowe first, while Bogan and MacIver decide to avoid attacking Dorwen in Caer Menador for the time being. Instead they sail up the river to 3235 and march the short distance to Caer Ganmorgan, defended by Eldric and his troops.

In the combat phase, Dando predictably challenges Colleran at Brugh Melton and after initially suffering just as much, gains the upper hand after four rounds. Colleran dies, and the fortress falls in two rounds of combat. Imric takes Garryknowe without problems. At Caer Ganmorgan, Bogan challenges Edric. At first, the fight seesaws with both warriors suffering a number of wounds, then they clash again and again with little effect, but finally (7th round) Bogan lands the deadly blow. Edric dies. In the attack on the fortress, the Fomorians lose four CSP against the Faerie garrison of four before the garrison dies on the second attack, and no less than five wounds to the leaders: Bogan, weakened by his fight against Edric, dies. MacIver narrowly survives.

In Erin, Balor and Connan join forces to attack Caer Knockma. Connan challenges Finvarra, carrier of the axe Trollbane. That could hurt... and it does, initially, but then Connan slowly gains the upper hand. In the end, Connan takes Trollbane from Finvarra's dead hands.

(I challenged with Connan despite his being the weaker fighter because Balor has the better command rating. If Balor had challenged, he'd have remained unhurt.)

The attack on the fortress, defenders now led by Morigu, is much less fortuitous. Connan and Balor both suffer heavy wounds and have to abort the assault after one round. Morigu is wounded as well, but ironically Cluracan with Ulster's other army will now be in a good position to cut off the two Troll armies and destroy them; neither king is going to withstand him in combat. Even without Leinster being active, things look dire for the Fomorians.

[VP Fo 5+4+10+10+15+5+5+4+2=60; Fa 1+3+3+5+3=15]

Faerie player turn: Gwynedd and Misha are finally activated, but both Leinster and the Gnomes decide not to become involved at this point. Morigu heals one wound.

One of the Gwynedd armies under Arwan marches to Emlyn Brugh (because marching to attck MacIver who is still near Caer Ganmorgan would produce a reaction by Imric, and Arwan's force is to weak for that). Midnhir collects Branwen and marches southwards. (Later I noted that it would probably have been better for Arwan to put his men aboard Morningstar and sail for undefended Mulkirk Hall, to destroy it. Them's the breaks.)

Dorwen, sole surviving Albion commander, has the same problem as Arwan - with Imric nearby he cannot leave Caer Menador because otherwise it would suffer while he is away. So there's not a lot of movement there.

However, the Ulsterians are under no such constraint. Cluracan marches south from Arannrook to join forces with Morigu and they attack the forces of Balor and Connan camped west of the fortress. Cluracan's challenge is answered by Connan, who despite his severely weakened state (which does not really leave the outcome in doubt) survives surprisingly long and even manages to draw first blood. Unfortunately this so enrages Cluracan that he ends the fight with a single massive stroke, after 11 rounds. Next, the armies clash. Unfortunately for the Ulsterians, the Trolls predictably choose clear terrain. The Ulsterians are beaten back, but Balor is killed during the battle, leaving his and Connan's army leaderless in enemy territory. (Actually, all of this hewing and slashing was unnecessary from the Fomorian side, since I realised later that with his '5' command rating, Balor could have removed his force from battle and marched back almost to Broch Wyvis.) Now the Fomorian fortresses in Erin lie defenseless.

[VP Fo 2; Fa 5+1+5]

Turn 3: Enchantments: Dunatis is going to try a mental attack on Cormac, Gerflax and Misha will go with vortex creation. Sean and Dobie will also try vortex creation, Dobie is not successful. Dunatis' mental attack on Cormac proves to be a really bad idea, big "hunk of muscle" type guys apparently take a lot of energy to overcome. Dunatis dies from the strain before the attack is successful.

Fomorian player turn: Magog, Rurik, Ainsel recover from their wounds. Sean is losing stamina from his long stay on Denby Plinth[DR5], 4 steps are lost to attrition from the army at Brugh Melton. 2 steps are lost to Imric's army due to Gerflax's vortex [DR12]; Imric and Rurik are wounded. Midnhir [DR3+5 vortex creation] loses 2 CsP (wounding the strongest warrior in the army is a bad idea- I originally wounded him but had to remove this later so he could duel with Cormac.)

Dando collects his army, moves to his ships anchored near Redhill Pits and sails home to Dun Hamel. Not quite what I wanted with that though, Hoddenhill is still undefended. Sean moves south again from Denby Plinth. MacIver also retreats. Imric thinks about finishing off Albion, marching against Dorwen to challenge him to a Duel Arcane. (Shrewd move, really; being guaranteed to lose Rurik against Dorwen, who is carrying Requiter after all, would be annoying due to Rurik's cleverness in battle.) Rurik would be certainly lost when Dorwen comes in his phase together with an army from Gwynedd, but Imric could always use the Reaction phase to withdraw due to his much superior command rating. So Imric stays where he is. The men of the Eastmarch also march back home.

[VP Fo 5; Fa 1+2+1+3=7]

Faerie player turn: Arwan moves to destroy the Ochil troops left behind at Caer Ganmorgan after Bogan's death, while Dorwen moves to protect Emlyn Brugh in case Imric decides to land there. Good that the game is over though as their side is still dangerously overstretched... Imric could easily (well, after a naval battle to be sure) land and take either Caer Cader or Caer Callan since Arwan left them empty. The attack on the Ochils, which they await out in the open, still results in their elimination.

In the last major field battle, Midnhir attacks the wounded Cormac (wounded) at Dun Mendip and challenges him. Both Midnhir and Cormac die. Branwen leads the assault on the fortress. Branwen dies, the leaderless army remains in camp before the undefeated fortress. In Erin things go the Faerie way though, as Cluracan moves to Broch Wyvis and easily takes it.

[VP Fo 5+5+2=12; Fa 3+10+5+2=20]

Total VP: Faerie 59, Fomorian 108. According to the victory conditions (which require a 3:1 advantage at the end) the invasion was a failure, but I was still learning. The fortress assault in Erin was unfortunate, and even then a withdrawal would have left two leaders and their army alive, and would almost have brought the required level in reach. On the other hand, I probably missed some Faerie opportunities as well. (And killing Dunatis was just stupid. :-)

One thing I noted down for future use was that it was a major error on the Fomorian side to leave Grogan and Glastyn at home (to protect against raids), the sailing problems in the Minches should prevent any quick raid against the empty brochs anyway, and they would help a lot on the first couple of turns (after which they should indeed be withdrawn to protect the North).