"The Cossack War Wagon"

A Flintloque Scenario by Ed Proctor

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Captain Angules and his remaining Elves of the 21st Ligne are fleeing Moskova. Harried at every step by damned Cossacks thankfully they think they now have developed the tactics to escape the Witchlands. Little did they know that Aleksander's malign forces can adapt just as well as they can...

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Captain Angules of the 21st Ligne has been harried for weeks by Cossacks during the desperate retreat from Moskova. His Elves were so very tired but he was proud, thus far they had performed valiantly against the Undead. Thank Buon-Partee only a few had so far been lost against the endless hordes of dead faces.

Sergeant Le-Piface had been lost two weeks ago. They had been caught in the open by a large group of Cossacks which had charged them from nearby woodland. Thankfully the Elves had dispatched them, pretty quickly by the Elven line firing and not flinching. Trooper Beleck had taken charge when Le-Piface fell and kept the men from running. That had earned him a battlefield commission of Sergeant.

The standard tactic the Cossacks had been using to great effect was simply to charge their enemy, and not engage in a firefight. But over the weeks Angules has seen occasions when some Undead would stay hidden at the edge of a wood going on to ambush passing the Elves when they came within range. Their tactics were adapting to outwit the defences the Elves.

Early one morning, Angules and his men were moving through a frozen gorge when suddenly they spotted a group of mounted Cossacks approaching from behind, gaining speed. The Elves started to run for cover to take up a firing line at the end of the gorge, the tactic had been sound. None of the Elves had expected what came next. A wagon appeared at the end of the gorge, it stopped and muskets from within the wicker sides started to fire.

This was a completely new tactic for the Cossacks, the ability to move a group of armed Undead into position quickly to release a hail of shot was something that could severly hamper the already perilous retreat from the frozen North.

Will Angules and his men escape to pass on word to high command ?

Scenario Outline

The following is a simple scenario outline based on the engagement described above:

Both sides should be created equal in point’s value with up to one third of the Undead points to be spent on the War Wagon unit.

The Elven unit are hardened war veterans so none of them are can have the Raw experience level.

There are two Undead units. The War Wagon unit is made up from one or more wagons and can be supported by a group of Cossacks on foot. The other Undead unit is a group of mounted Cossacks.

The terrain is a frozen gorge so setup terrain on your table to create a frozen river, number of piles of rocks, snow drifts and a few trees.

The Elven unit is placed in the middle of the table. The mounted Cossacks on the south side of the table and the War Wagon unit in the North East corner of the table. No units can move off the west and east sides of the table because the sheer sides of the gorge.

The Elves win by escaping off the North side of the table and the Undead win by stopping them.

Cossacks War Wagon Profile

The Cossacks War Wagon is a simple hay wagon drawn by an undead horse. Constructed out of wood with wicker sides and crewed by a Zombie or Skeletal driver with four Zombie or Skeletons in the back armed with firelocks.

The wagon does not gives much protection to its crew, but when it has already moved in the turn at quick march or above any figures firing on them suffer an additional -5% to accuracy to target them.

When a character is shooting at the wagon, due to it’s size, they can decide to either target the mount or the crew. They cannot target the crew if they are shooting from directly behind the wagon.

The wagon has the troop type, Light Troop, so the crew can be armed with any firelock weaponry (dependent on your unit points build) and they do not suffer any penalty for being mounted/carried by the wagon.

Note that the wagon cannot perform a charge action.

If the mount is killed than the wagon will tip over, all the crew immediately receive a shaken token.

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Webmaster's Notes

An Orcs in the Webbe Original! "The Cossack War Wagon" was written exclusively for Orcs in the Webbe's 2011 Advent Calendar and was first published on Saturday 17th December 2011.

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