Chronicle of the Wolfhawks

Chronicle of the Wolfhawks

(Pictured: the current party in miniature; L-R Billiam, Darby, Aloc, Mordain II, Baldric, and Horace)

I’ve been very inspired by Bandit’s Keep and The Joy of Wargamin on YouTube to play Dungeons and Dragons solo. It’s been a long time since I’ve had anyone to play with, and with the move, setting a regular time to play with random people on a site like Roll20 is not a viable option at this time. With resources from Solo Dungeon Crawler (who also has a YouTube channel) to ease the burden of flipping back and forth through rulebooks for wilderness generation and such, I’ve been able to play a satisfying portion of a campaign so far. 

Notes on Rules: The main rules I’m using are OD&D (1974); however, I am using modified rules of character creation and combat from Cairn (by YokaiGal, which is FREE!), and sometimes Chainmail. 

 After testing things out, my starting party consisted of Mordain II (Mordain the first was slain in a test session), Stan the Crossbowman, Baldric the Brave, Darby the Dashing, Baldwin, and Keldon the Swift. 

*Prior to the adventure detailed below, Baldwin was captured by Nixies and imprisoned in their underwater lair to be used as a slave for 1 year; Stan was slain by Giant Scorpions that burst out of the then-unknown dungeon underneath the abandoned castle that the party claimed.

The party, known as the Wolfhawks, also hired 40 Crossbows, 40 Heavy Foot, 10 workers, an armorer, and 2 smiths for their mountain keep.

Day  41: The party delves into the dungeon under the castle and are beset by 3 Thouls. They slay their foes, but Keldon the 1st-level fighter is killed. Mordain II and Darby are wounded and dragged out by Aloc and Baldric.

Day 44: the Northern Foxes (Billiam, 2nd lvl Fighter; and Horace, 3rd lvl fighter) arrive at the castle. They had been invited by the party in a previous encounter.

Day 48: Billiam, Horace, Aloc, and Baldric begin their journey to Stanford to get more supplies and gear. They are barely an hour from the castle when they find 170 Orcs, led by a Necromancer, escorting a wagon train full of gold through the mountains.

They make haste to the castle where, after some heated debate, it is decided that they will gather their troops and March to battle!!!

The battle is fought using the Chainmail rules by Gygax and Perren.

Wolfhawk Castle Forces:

-41 heavy foot (including a hero fighting as 2 men+1)

-42 crossbows

-2 Heavy Cavalry (Mordain II and Darby, dead-set on finding the Wizard)

-1 Armored Foot (Horace, fighting as a Hero-1)

The Necromancer’s Forces:

-140 Green Orcs (fighting as Heavy Foot)

-30 Blue Orcs (Fighting as Heavy Foot)

-The Necromancer himself (fighting as 2 Armored Foot units, plus spells and Missile attacks)

BATTLE REPORT (No Pics, Sorry)

The orcs receive a disadvantage, as this battle takes place in the middle of the day. They receive -1 to their morale rating and -1 to all die rolls!!!

The battle begins, and the forces approach one another. The Wolfhawk crossbows can’t get into range, but the Necromancer can! He throws a fireball that misses most of the army by mere yards (inches)!!!!

The Orcs advance, and the crossbows loose a devastating volley, slaying 60 Green Orcs as they charge! The remaining orcs clash into the Heavy foot, meeting their man-flesh equals. The Necromancer looses a second fireball at Horace, but overshoots once again.

Mordain and Darby flank around on their horses and manage to avoid conflict for a moment.

Meanwhile, the Green Orc vanguard finds itself no luckier against the heavy foot in melee. They roll terrible (even with me forgetting to give the humans bonuses for their commanders), and are cut to pieces.

The blue orcs advance towards the crossbows, who fall back and loose a volley, annihilating the blue fiends!!! Horace advances, positioning himself to flank the reserve band of Green Orcs if they should charge the heavy foot, or to charge the Necromancer if Mordain and Darby fail to reach him. 

The Green Orc Rearguard, the last of the orcs, send one unit charging the human riders, and one into the infantry. Miraculously, Mordain and Darby cut down 20 orcs, and charge the Necromancer, who flees back toward his wagons!

The other unit of orcs are slain by the Heavy foot, and human forces consolidate, chasing the Magic-User.

The Necromancer plans on casting a fireball at his approaching foes, but they take the initiative, and the pair of horsemen speed towards him, charging with sword and mace! Incredulous, the Necromancer stands to fight, but is wounded. 

He breaks away from the combat and flees, leaving his wagons of gold and dead minions behind. The denizens of Wolfhawk Castle have one this day, but who knows what awaits in store, with an injured Magus plotting his revenge…