'Come Out, Come Out, Wherever You Are...'
A Flintloque Scenario by Simon Evans
Some Ogre Provosts, charged with keeping order in Wheeling-Turn's army, are dispatched to bring in a band of deserters hiding out in a barn in the Al-Garvey countryside...
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The Orcish army of the Duke of Wheeling-Turn are without doubt the best troops in Catalucia. But being good in a scrap doesn’t mean being good out of one, and the army needs constant harsh discipline to keep it in line. Without this discipline the troops quickly get bored and restless, often falling back on bad old habits... The Iron Duke has a high regard for their abilities with bullet and bayonet, but has less respect for them as fellow Orcs. He once described them as: “a right rabble of stinking scum”, and was also heard to comment: “I don’t know about the enemy, but by the Gods I certainly sleep with my eyes open around them”.
As a consequence of this, the Army of Albion is well supplied with Provosts who are kept busy flogging, torturing, hanging and generally keeping order. The bulk of the Provost Corps is made up of Ogres on the basis that they’re the only race who can hit an Orc with enough force to make it matter.
The Provosts are mean, nasty and impartial. They work to a strict code: suspects are guilty until proven very guilty. It’s tough, but it’s fair... well, almost.
After escaping from the Elves in Northern Catalucia, the Orc Army retrains, prepares and waits in the Goblin Regency of Al-Garvey. The Iron Duke keeps his Orcs as busy as he can to avoid trouble, but desertion is a big problem despite all the efforts of his Provost Corps. Patrols are constantly operating to sweep up bands of fugitive Orcs attempting to slip over the border or just off to a safer place. Justice for those captured is swift and terminal at the hands of the Ogre Provosts...
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The Action at the Hacienda del Vimto
With desertions starting to reach an alarming rate, a four Ogre Provost patrol has been dispatched to sweep an area from which reports of a band of deserters have come in. After two days of patrolling the Provosts pick up the fugitives trail and track them to the Hacienda del Vimto, a small Goblin olive farm. Showing remarkable restraint for an Ogre, the Lieutenant in charge of the patrol, scouts out the area first and discovers that there are ten deserters in the farm.
The deserters are all Regular infantry types and have fled the harsh discipline of the Army to seek out the rumours of a deserter “army” in the mountains. It is said that you are safe there and that each deserter has his pick of many fair Elf and Goblin maidens. Food is plentiful and the booty enormous...
This motley band comprises of three Experienced Orcs (one a Corporal who has appointed himself leader), two Average and five Raw. The Experienced and Average Orcs are armed with muskets, the Raw Orcs a sword, musket or improvised weapon (chosen on a random die roll).
The Ogre Provosts are Elite and the patrol comprises of one Raw Lieutenant and three Corporals, one of whom is Experienced, the other two Average. The officer carries a sword and pistol, the Corporals carbines (all Provosts are either officers or non-commissioned officers in the Corps and there are no privates. This is to allow them to reinforce their authority with rank if required).
The Lieutenant decides to leave their mounts and attack on foot after lunch when the Orcs will be sleepy after their meal of the local cheap wine and the late olive farmer and his wife. The Orcs have posted no sentries as they think they’re far enough away from the Army to be safe.
To simulate the state the Orcs are in, there is a flat 10% for the Experienced Orcs, 20% for the Average and 30% for the Raw that they are somewhat tipsy. If they fail this roll, they suffer a -10% modifier to all movement and firing for this game.
To win, the Provost must capture or kill at least seven of the Orc deserters. The Orcs can claim victory if half of them escape to the north.
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Webmaster's Notes
This scenario was originally published in issue one of Wessex Games Orcs in the Hills magazine in the Winter of 1995 and was first published on Orcs in the Webbe on the 10th October 2008.
It was absent for many years due to a prior regeneration of the website not transferring everything over correctly, the wrong has now been righted and it returned on the 5th December 2025 as the fifth entry in that year’s Advent Calendar and, of course, is part of Orcs in the Webbe's ongoing Flintloque Archive Project, bringing you fondly remembered and long forgotten adventures from the world of Valon.
Any comments in maroon in the article above have been added by me either to provide additional information or clarity. In many cases I have also made small changes to grammar and layout and may not have not marked these.