Legends of War: For the People

Iuna Fuories did not know what to do. He had been born in Atikus and raised as to be one of the three hundred Rod-Bearers: slaves with the task of protecting the citizens from themselves. All they had to do was capture the odd thief, debtor, runaway, and murderer, while also protecting the People's Council from any non-citizen. The Rod-Bearers had been preforming this task since the creation of Atikus, though Iuna had only witnessed twenty of those years. The Rod-Bearers existed only to keep the peace in Atikus.

They had never been trained to deal with this.

On the day of the People's Council met, a careless, bribed, drunken, or murdered gatekeeper had left the gate open for an invading army to. Iuna had barely been out of eyesight of Atikus, so he had no idea who these foreign men slaughtering their way through the streets were. Their clothes were of foreign designs, and many of their outfits seemed to be an amalgamation of crudely woven cloth and repaired armor pieces. Most of them had a strange laughing motif  adorning their armor, banners, and bodies, but their harsh tongue made it impossible for Iuna to be sure if they were just a far away city-state or a race other than pale skinned Stygians. What Iuna and the other Rod-Bearers did understand was that it was their duty to protect the citizens.

Clothed only in a simple identification robe, and armed with only a copper blunted rod, the Rod-Bearers set about the task of defending the people. Whenever they engaged the enemy, they were summarily slaughtered. While they did manage to knock out the occasional enemy, most of them failed to land a single blow before being overwelmed. Still, they managed to protect the citizens by drawing the raiders attention away. This allowed the People's Council to escape to their homes, while skirmishers and other auxiliaries began peppering the enemy.

Of all the Rod-Bearers, Iuna was making a decent enough account of himself, managing to knock out at least seven enemy soldiers, with the auxiliaries finishing them off. Following Iuna's resolve, the other Rod-Bearers also began to attract auxiliaries to their positions, and eventually, it was possible to discern where the battle lines were. Soon, lesser Hoplites began smashing into the combat, and the enemy's resolve began to falter. Iuna himself could not contain his feelings of excitement as the Hoplites began slaughtering the enemy, with their lesser weapons breaking against the Hoplites' superior armor. For an instant, Iuna locked eyes with one of the Hoplites, from house Turphine if he remembered correctly, and Iuna immediately swelled with pride.

A single blow shattered Iuna's pride.

All it took to fell the Hoplite was a single blow. There was no way he could have survived the blow either, as it very neatly parted him in half. Worse still, the attacker hadn't even acknowledged the existence of the shield, and this too was neatly severed. Stunned, the Hoplite desperately clung on to life as his attacker simply allowed him to fall. With an introduction as well pronounced as this, Iuna saw the Hoplite's assailant.

It was a monster.

It stood a good foot taller than any of its minions, and was clad in a full suit of plat armor painted by countless battlefields. Even with all the buildup, the original designs of the armor somehow seemed even more pronounced, with spikes adoring the joints; skulls the hands, feet, and helm; and the laughing face born proudly on its chest. In it's left had was a round shield bearing the stretched of some luckless victim, oddly free of scars, while the right hand spouted a large, rounded axe, with a continuous edge connecting the two sides. All it had to do to defeat the nearby soldiers was fix its gaze upon them. When Iuna had snapped tto his senses, he realized that he was alone with the monster.

True, the other combatants were still there, but most of the raiders were now chasing down the fleeing Stygians. Even if Iuna wanted to run away, the tide of raiders behind him would have made it impossible. But Iuna did not want to run away: he could not let this thing attack the citizens. He could not let other Hoplites meet the same fate. Without remorse, Iuna shifted his stance and prepared to lung.

General Proclamation:Counter Orders

Counter Orders are orders which can be issued during the enemy's turn. These orders can only be issued in reaction to orders issued by your opponent. In order to issue a Counter Order, the unit must have command points left over from the player's previous turn. The counter orders are as follows:
Give Fire
Same as in rule book.

Counter Charge
Command points: 2
Can only be issued to a unit that is charged. Both the charged unit and the charging unit may roll on the charge table/

Back Peddle
Command points: 1
Can only be issued to a unit that is charged. The unit may move directly backwards D3". If this is not sufficient to bring them out of charge distance, then the unit loses all attacks it would have received this turn. If the unit is outside of charge distance, then treat it as a failed charge.

Controlled Retreat
Command points:1
Can only be issued to a unit that is charged. Have the unit take a courage test. If passed, then the unit counts as breaking from combat, but does not suffer any of the consequences. On the owning player's next turn, the unit automatically reforms. If the courage test is failed, then the unit loses all attacks it would have had this turn.

Stand Ground
Command points: 2
Can only be issued to a unit that is charged. The unit gains the "Not One Step" Special rule until the owning player's next turn. 

General Proclomations: Relenfeast 2013

In honor of the Dominion's holiday of Relenfeast we will have several two very special contest for you.

What is Relenfeast?

Battle Report contest.

Throughout the month of October, we will have a competition for the best battle report. A battle report can be sent either through posting it as a comment on this link, posting it on the Facebook group wall, or in the forums. At the end of October, we will have a poll, and the person who submitted the Battle reports with the most votes, can create a special character for the army of his/her choice, and they may place an "ad" in the next Garmarian Daily Codex. Any battle report submitted, will be posted on the blog. When writing your battle report, you must include:

The composition of both armies
A description (or picture) of the field
A turn by turn account of the battle (pictures are not necessary).

Writing contest.

Throughout the month of October, we will have a competition for the story. A story can be sent either through posting it as a comment on this link, posting it on the Facebook group wall, or in the forums. At the end of October, we will have a poll, and the person who submitted the story with the most votes, can create a special character for the army of his/her choice, and they may place an "ad" in the next Garmarian Daily Codex. Any battle report submitted, will be posted on the blog. When writing your story, it must contain:

Between 500 and 1500 words

No Major use of profanity

No Nudity

Legends of War: Legend of the Cursed Rock (Gingersanps)

            A rock. It was all I was. A rock. Yep, that’s right. Yet, I can hear every word you’re saying about me being big and dumb. I landed in this area thousands of years ago. I can’t help where I land. I don’t have legs. I can’t walk away from this inconvenienced place. You have no right to talk about me as if I wasn’t here.

            They deserved it. They deserved it for every word they spoke about me. I’m not a bitter rock, but they shouldn’t talk about me as if I’m dumb. I can’t speak to them, but they got too annoying for me. It wasn’t hard to have a few smaller, yet large rocks coming tumbling toward them as they watched helplessly as they fell. It felt nice -- extremely nice. I have this power to keep those I don’t like in line.

            Hey, wait, what are you doing? Why are you praying? It’s not going to help -- hey, who are you anyway? I’ve never seen you in your robes before. You’re not from this village are you? Hey, stop. That hurts. I don’t want it to hurt. Please, stop hurting me. Please, sto …

            It was a rock. A rock that had fallen into the middle of a road thousands of years ago. The people recently started to complain about it; it was annoying to have to walk around it. It was a huge rock, more of a boulder, but a rock nonetheless. The people had wanted to chip at it until the workers met terrible accidents. After, strange events began to occur more often. Smaller rocks would be moved to different locations. People would stop to talk to the rock. Some even apologized.

            A traveling priest came to the village to ask about the rock in the middle of the road. It had become a legend around the village and neighboring villages. He had explained the rock was possessed by a Shoshin. Shoshin were lonely spirits that normally possessed inanimate objects. Something had angered this one, and it had taken on the form of the rock itself. A poltergeist of sorts that allowed it to move smaller rocks. The rock wasn’t harmful anymore. It was eventually destroyed since the priest had cast out the Shoshin. The legend of the village remained spoken word throughout the surrounding area.

Legends of War: Battle of Wensa Pass

Wensa Pass is an obscure mountain pass on the edge of Vissaria, which has a population of barely five hundred. In years past, it was used as a trading route between the Dwarfs and the Satyrs, but a massive Goblin Warband destroyed the trading posts long ago and there have been no further attempts to use it as such. The rocky conditions of the pass make it very poor for growing crops, and the frequent earthquakes have prevented any meaningful attempts at mining. For this reason, there has only been a single minor estate and a only three small villages under the control of the Altium family, who attempted a failed revolt at the founding of Vissaria. Lacking the manpower to raise armies or the resources to hire mercenaries, the Wensa Pass has been an obscure curiosity for almost a thousand years.

However, Wensa Pass does indirectly have an important role Vissarian military affairs, as it is the only unguarded path to Seltem. In an attempt to cripple the Vissarian ability to respond to attacks, Da Dred Perat Robsya decided to destroy the College of Knights, and with it, the Vissarian's ability to raise effective knights. Using Goblin "mercenaries", Robsya proped the outer defences for Seltem, and determined that the College was far enough away from the border that they would have ample time to respond to the Trolls attack. Attempting to swing around and attack the providence from the East or North would mean having to go through other Vissarian Providences, which would mean that he would need a force five times the size of the one he had just to keep an open line of retreat. While poring over his map, a Goblin under Robsya's "employment" reported on the overall weakness of Wensa Pass, which Robsya had originally dismissed as it involved going through Dwarf territory.

And then Da Dred Perat Robsya got a wonderful idea: He could attack Dwarven cities en-route to the College, burn it to the ground, and then leave through the Dwarven territory again. In addition, he could leave behind dead Dwarfs and thus convince Vissaria that the Dwarfs were behind the attack. Before the Dwarfs could explain, the Vissarians would retaliate and lead to full scale war between the two sides. Distracted by the war, Robsya would be able, nay hired, to raid settlements, ships, and ports far away from the battle zones. On the first of Yuletide 1893 a.d.c., Robsya launched his attack.

At first the plan was going perfectly, as Goblins screened their movement in Dwarf territory, and Robsya obliterate looted several outposts. Unfortunately, one of the outposts was housing a Dwarf merchant named Rulstd Kargin, who managed to escape to the Altium estate. Alerted to the Trolls presence, Iliz Altium dispatched a messenger to the College of Knights to alert them. The day before the Trolls entered the Pass, Altium was informed that, quite politely, that no Trolls would be dumb enough to attack Seltem through Dwarven territory. Without reinforcements, Iliz Altium had only one-hundred and eighty peasants to fend off almost twelve-thousand Trolls.

Deciding that a frontal attack would suicide, Altium decided to use the mountainous terrain to their advantage, and set up numerous ambushes along the path. For an unprecedented nine days, Altium and his peasants managed to not only kill almost a thousand Trolls, but also prevented them from advancing. Enraged at the mounting costs, Robsya ordered almost half of his "mercenaries" to scour the mountains for them. Despite never catching Altium's band, the Goblins did distract them long enough for the Trolls to advance into Seltem; and a Vissarian army which had been organized in response to the reports of fighting from Wensa Pass. While Robsya did manage to rout the Vissarians, the casualties he had suffered were too high, and the Goblins had reported Dwarf forces mobilizing.

Not wanting to have his lines of retreat cut off, Robsya called the attack off and headed back through Wensa Pass. During the retreat, copies of Robsya's plans were captured, and the full importance of Altium's defense became apparent. Combined with the fact that Altium lost only a dozen peasants and managed to kill about one-hundred more Trolls during their retreat, and the Altium family instantly went from disgraced to honored above all others. As for Da Dred Perat Robsya, he returned to the Blasted Desert to discover that other Trolls were taking over his territory. To this day, Robsya is still fighting to regain the power he had before the Battle of Wensa Pass.

Rules of War:Altitude

These are some experimental rules for you to disuse. Please keep in mind that you should only use them if you have flyers:

Altitude

Altitude is how high or low your flyers are.  This is useful for flyers, as a height advantage can allow a flyer to avoid enemy fire. In addition, it can allow a flyer to  travel faster or make a more devastating attack then it would have before. On the other hand, if a flyer is in the wrong altitude, it can result in it in the Flyers destruction. A Flyer on the same altitude as another Flyer is capable of shooting/charging it at the normal ranges for the activity, and it is best for both players that the altitude of each flyer is marked. There are four altitudes:

Landed
-The Flyer cannot ignore any terrain. The Flyer has normal movement speed. The Flyer has normal range on all weapons.

Ground Height
-The Flyer, and any unit trying to shoot at it, is capable of ignoring any terrain piece up to 6" in height. The flyer has double movement. In addition, all shooting attacks made at the Flyer have normal range. All shooting attacks made from the flyer have half their normal range.

Air Height
-The Flyer, and any unit trying to shoot at it, is capable of ignoring any terrain piece up to 12" in height. The flyer has normal movement. In addition, all shooting attacks made at and from the Flyer have half their normal range rounded up to the nearest inch.

Sky Height
-The Flyer, and any unit trying to shoot at it, is capable of ignoring any terrain piece up to 24" in height. The flyer moves at half of its normal movement. In addition, all shooting attacks made at and from the Flyer have one quarter of their normal range rounded up to the nearest inch.

To determine at which height a Flyer starts at, roll a D3 and consult the following table:
1-Landed
2-Ground height
3-Air Height

Terrain and Flyers

If at any point a Flyer comes into contact with any piece of terrain that isn't open ground, roll a D6 and compare it to the Flyer's speed. If the result is lower than or equal to the Flyer's speed, complete the movement as normal. If the result is higher, then the Flyer suffers D6 Power 4 hits.

Commands

Raise
1 command point
- The Flyer goes up one altitude.

Drop
1 command point
- The Flyer goes down one altitude.

Dive
2 command points
-Can only be done from the sky altitude. For all intensive purposes, treat this as the charge command. However, the flyer gains and extra D3 Power (Max 8) and an extra D3 attacks per flyer. In addition, the Flyer is now in the ground altitude.

Legends of War: Shoshin, the lonely spirits

Whenever someone declares that all of the races of the world have been cataloged, there is always another race that proves them wrong. New races are often discovered by people setting out to find them, such as with the Gnolls of the Laughing Savannah or the Faeries. On other occasions, a race literally falls from the sky and causes untold destruction, with the Trolls and Night Ones being prime examples. Still, other races were once major forces in the world, but lost out to the elements of time, like the Orcs or the Old Dragons. And then there are the Shoshin.

No one knows exactly what a Shoshin looks like, because they have no set physical body. Instead, the Shoshin are more of a wandering consciousness which can take up residence in any type of inanimate object and can then manipulate objects within a small distance from them. The objects can be anything, from a lucky coin or doll to useful tools or weapons. While there would seem to be male and female versions of the Shoshin, they claim not to have the ability to reproduce. The Shoshin rarely show up at more than one or two at a time, but have also been known to appear several hundred at a time in abandoned towns or forgotten graveyards.

Overall, the Shoshin are an incredibly peaceful race, and will even go out of their way to aid others in need. Unfortunately, this often means that the Shoshin in question is helping someone bent on sowing death, which has made some people label the Shoshin as aggressive. There have even been people who have purposely sought out the aid of a certain Shoshin, as the items that they posses are almost indestructible. It is often said that Haxor is one such weapon, but there has yet to be proof that Trolzor knows of its secret. In addition, there have been cases of Shoshin bent on spreading destruction, the most famous of which was the Blood Harlequin.

The Blood Harlequin is said to have once been the suit of a Harlequin who had been murdered by a Prince who wanted his wife. This is backed up by the fact that one of the first people to be killed by the Blood Harlequin was Prince Tilmera Felm in 452 a.d.c.. Not satisfied by this, the Blood Harlequin amassed an army of Shoshin and and began raiding human settlements across the known world. The Blood Harlequin's reign of terror lasted until 494 a.d.c., when it's army was defeat by the Combined might of Vissaria and the Dominion at the Battle of Shalin. Ever since, whenever a group of Shoshin is discovered, whole armies have raced to their locations, meaning that the only time the Shoshin can survive is when they are alone. The forced solitude of the Shoshin has lead to their nickname of "the lonely spirits".