The Idol of Gork campaign opens with the eponymous Idol falling upon the Imperial settlers trying to pull the idol down. Fearing sinister magic is at work, Count Rutger calls a halt to the work and sends messengers back to the Empire for the assistance of the College of Magic and the Cult of Sigmar. In the meantime he dispatches a small force to guard the Idols and prevent Greenskin mischief…
In the first scenario of the original campaign, a goblin raiding force under the Night Goblin Shaman Oddgit attempts to snatch the Crown of Gork from a small force of Imperial guards, commanded by the veteran captain Manfred von Bock.
Armies: The battle was originally to be a small 1000 pts battle, which for 9th Age is simply doubled for 2000 pts. In the original campaign the Greenskin force could include any goblin troops, but given the prominence of the Night Goblin Shaman, that the attack happens at night and that Gary has a large and varied force of Night Goblins, I have decided it would be more flavourful to have an all Night Goblin force (including Night Goblin themed units like Squigs etc.). For the Empire, guard duty suggests infantry only and less prestigious troops, so the Empire force will be limited to Core infantry models as well as Greatswords.
Deployment: The original campaign has deployment as below.
There is also a Warmaster conversion which has the idols of Gork and Mork slightly closer to the Empire deployment zone (as below). To me this makes more sense both from a narrative point of view (the Empire are on guard duty after all) and is likely more balanced if the original victory conditions are used. So we’ll have to decide which one to go for. It should be noted that the Greatswords can be deployed in front of the Idols in both versions of the scenario.
First turn: This one is not controversial – it’s a night raid under cover of darkness so the Night Goblins go first!
Number of turns: The original scenario listed 5 turns, representing the 5 hours from midnight until sunrise when the Night Goblins, who hate the light, break off the attack. This seems very thematic – the only thing I am tempted to tinker with is to make the turn length random to build tension on both sides – when will the sun crest the hill? The rule would be something like: after turn 4 roll 1d6 and the battle ends on 5+; after turn 5 role a dice and the battle ends on 3+; the battle ends after turn 6 regardless. Another thing to consider.
Victory conditions: In the original scenario only Oddgit the shaman could retrieve and claim the crown of command, so the following special victory conditions followed:
1.) The Empire automatically wins if Oddgit is killed.
2.) The Night Goblins automatically win if Oddgit reaches the fallen idol.
3.) If neither of the above ‘sudden death’ conditions are met, then the Empire just need a draw in terms of points to win (they are considered to have beaten off the attack). The Night Goblins require a points victory in order to claim the Crown of Gork.
From my reading about this scenario it seems the Night Goblins ‘automatic victory’ rule walking Oddgit into the idols is a little bit easy for them, particularly given the special rules (below). One option would be to insist that Oddgit has to actually either get off the board with the Crown of Gork or survive till the end of the battle with the Crown of Gork in his possession in order to get it. The other option would be to keep the original victory condition but have the Idols of Gork placed closer to the Empire deployment lines as in the Warmaster version (see deployment, above). More thinking required on this one.
Victory Gains: If the Night Goblins win then Oddgit presents the Crown of Gork to Grotfang, which means the Orcs and Goblins do NOT suffer animosity in the final battle. Now, the 9th Age has done away with animosity for Orcs and Goblins. I am not going to go into the debate about it (though I personally think there has been a bit of an overemphasis on balance at the cost of flavour, and find the rule characterful myself). One option would be to replace the Crown of Gork with an alternate magical item, but none of the items in the Orc and Goblins 9th Age book really excited me. Instead, I thought why not just include the old animosity rule for the purposes of this campaign? Perhaps the Iron Claw orcs are particularly unruly or undisciplined? Perhaps their cohesion has been shaken by the Empire’s invasion of their lands? All that is left to do then is choose WHICH VERSION of animosity from previous Warhammer editions to use.
Special Rules: As per the original scenario, the following special rules apply:
1.) Darkness – Night Goblins re-roll any missed to-hit rolls when shooting due to fighting in their preferred conditions. In contrast, the Empire receive a -1 to hit when shooting and are unable to make march moves due to their poor vision. Ouch.
2.) Sneakin’ Up – Prior to movement on the first turn the Night Goblins may move forward d6 inches to represent them sneaking up on the foe before spotted by the Empire pickets. Will have to figure out whether this happens before or after animosity!
3.) Eerie Noises – No Empire troops may be deployed on the Idol of Gork terrain, and must make a leadership test in order to move onto or through the Idol terrain. Superstition!
I’m inclined to keep the special rules as written. Overall, they are fairly heavily in favour of the Night Goblins, which in combination with the rather limited Empire army list leads me to consider modifications to the Deployment (having the Idols closer to Empire deployment zone) and Victory Conditions (making Oddgit have to flee with the Idol) which give the Empire a bit of a boost.
For now, there is lots to think about. I will make decisions about these issues and discuss the characters in my next post…
In the Land of the Tall Trees 