Our little group just had a great night playing with the mass effort rules in Heroquest, and also showed how much damage a determined bunch of Heortling thanes and priests can do when the Lunars aren't expecting it.
The Lightbringers [1] found an ambush site along the road to Elkoi. We had 60 citadel warriors, 100 hunters, Joh Mith and his group, and the local Lightbringers. Led by Korlmhy the Priest, the Lightbringers performed the Summons of Evil to bring Halcyon var Enkorth to them.[2] Everyone thought of their worst enemy, and named a related feature of Halcyon var Enkorth.[3] Herger sacrificed his Cat's Eye Bracelet. Korlmhy felt that the ceremony was a success. But Halcyon was off in Elkoi, 40 km away.
On Wildday, the hunters reported a group of 300 men approaching from Elkoi. We estimated 200 peltasts, 20 priests, 50 hunters, and 30 warriors, including King Glyptus. Our forces numbered 185: 100 hunters, 60 citadel warriors, and 25 Lightbringers. Herger held everyone until the perfect moment for an ambush. Korlmhy ordered the charge on the peltasts. The Lightbringers were formed up in a Boars' Snout and charged through the peltasts, driving them into disarray, with Yalaring's warriors close behind. The hunters hung back. Glyptus ordered his warriors to attack the hunters.
The priests hastened to heal the peltasts. But the Lightbringers once again cut through them. Yalaring turned to attack the hunters, who drove him off. But they were vulnerable to our hunters. The Lunar priests once again healed the peltasts, who drove our hunters off. Glyptus tried to attack them too, but they fought back.
To change the tide of the battle, the Varsmarings' champions chose to attack specific Lunars.[4] Herger rushed in and attacked the leader of the peltasts. Brenna galloped around and struck down six peltasts. Nisk flew to the standard, and while he couldn't snatch it, made it less effective.
Korlmhy pressed our advantage, and the Lightbringers routed the peltasts.[5] The priests tried to flee, but couldn't escape the Lightbringers. Glyptus fled with the citadel warriors while Yalaring was busy rallying our hunters. We attempted to finish the priests, but they called on the powers of the full moon and held us at bay. Yalaring captured a number of hunters.
Brenna, Herger, Nisk, and Pay Surney took off after the priests. Their magic confused us, and we could not find them. We went back to gather the main army to march on Elkoi.
[1] In our campaign, the Lightbringers of Trilus have been joined
for a year by a Colymar heroband called the Reaching Storm.
[2] The Summons of Evil is a powerful, fearful ritual that attracts
the celebrants' worst enemies. The only good things about the
ritual is that it forces the celebrants' worst enemies to come to
them at a time and place of the celebrants' choosing and increase
the odds of victory.
[3] For example, "our enemy bore the seal of the six-armed horse-
eating demon."
[4] I allowed the players to make individual, high-risk efforts to
reduce the mass effort rating of the enemy peltasts. With a
generous expenditure of heropoints and good dice rolls, the players
managed to reduce the peltasts mass effort rating by about 5 - which
made it very close to the Lightbringers mass effort rating.
[5] In other words, I fumbled the role and the players got a
success. Rout!
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