Incursion - Auroch Calf Capture (Au)
You arrive after being abruptly summoned just in time to hear a gnarly warrior conclude what must have been a heated debate. “Balance, it’s all about balance.” The conversation came to an end almost in perfect timing with your arrival. The elderly Alchemist who had been the focus of the warriors’ statement looked up towards you, the warrior turned “ah, here at last”. The warrior and Alchemist standing before you had clearly been more than engaged with each other and it was probably no more than ten minutes since the guard had come seeking you.“Yes, excellent. Please do sit down with us. My friend here was just expressing herself as forcefully as she does with a blade.” A wry smile passing across the Alchemists face at the wary look shot at him by the warrior. “We have a job for you” said the warrior continuing as directly as before. “Yes, correct. We are in need of your assistance.” the Alchemist interjected.
“With respect, please tell me why I am here”.
The warrior laughed and slapping you on the back said “We want you to bag some bovine, are you up to a little Auroch calf capture?” she said continuing to laugh and slapping you again. “Aurochs?” you say in reply.
“Yes, Aurochs” the Alchemist continued, “The Aurlok kill only the older, larger cattle but of course those cattle were once calves. Hmm, yes, and the more we know about those calves the more we can consider our, options.” Seeing this had made things no clearer the warrior now spoke up “You and your Warband need head over to Itse Pilaya, capture the calves and bring them home alive, our cunning conjurer over here can then consider how best to kill or care for them.”
The warrior turned back to the Alchemist and started laughing again, “See what I did there?” she said obviously pleased with herself. “Yes, quite clever” the Alchemist said flatly. Looking over to them both the conversation had apparently come to an end once more. “Aurochs, back alive. Got it” you conclude and head back to your Warband. “What did they say?”, “I’ll give you the sensible version”.
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This scenario is one of four adventures in the 'Incursion' series by Winter Hill Games (www.winterhillgames.co.uk)
For details of this series of adventures and others in the Alkemy Trilogy (Incursion, Crypt Raiders, Books of Knowledge) visit website forums. (www.winterhillgames.co.uk/forum)
Setting up the Battlefield
This scenario is intended to be played on a table measuring 48” by 36”.
The players must place at least 8 scenery elements with the following constraints:
- Roll a die to see which player starts placing scenery elements, highest score goes first.
- Each scenery element must be placed at least 3” from any table edge or any other scenery element.
- The players alternate placing one scenery element at a time.
The players then define the gaming area:
- The table is divided in two equal halves, lengthwise.
- Each deployment area is set at 13” from the center line of the gaming area.
The players then roll to determine on which side of the table they will deploy, highest score chooses.
The players then place 8 Alchemical Component markers with the following constraints:
- The markers must placed on a scenery element
- They must be at least 5 inches away from any other Alchemical Component marker.
- The players place at least 2 of their components in their table half, and 2 in their opponent's half.
- The players place the components alternately, one at a time, starting with the player who did not choose the side.
- All components MUST be placed on the table.
Deployment
Player warbands must be Aurlok Nation defending against one other attacker of Avalon, Khaliman or Jade Empire.
(There are 3 other scenarios on the Incursion series that switch Defender and Attacker roles. The Defender's scenario in the series is denoted by Av, Au, Kh and Ja in the title)
The players alternate deploying the miniatures of their warband from one card at a time in their respective deployment areas.
The player with the most cards starts.
- If both players have the same number of cards, the one with the highest total Mind value starts.
- If both players have the same Mind value, Roll a die to see which player starts, highest score goes first.
Victory Conditions
The first player to reach 16 Victory Points at the end of a turn wins the scenario.
- If both players manage to get 16 or more victory points in the same turn, the result is a draw.
- If at any time one player has no living miniatures the result is a draw. (See special Rules)
Special Rules
[Finding the Auroch Calves]
Groups of Auroch are found at scenery elements which represent grazing and watering locations in the plains of Itse Pilaya. However, given the size of the older Aurochs and their tendency to hide calves within the groups both defender and attacker will need to check to see if there’s a calf being hidden.
- Any miniature that is within 1” of an Auroch group can spend 1 AP to check if there’s a calf hidden.
* Attackers
- Roll one white die, if the score is 1-3 the attacker is unable to get in between the older animals and will need to find another group to examine, if the score is 4-6 they get into the group and find a calf.
- Mark the Auroch group (terrain element) to show it is the location of a calf.
[Capturing or Hiding a Calf]
* Attackers
When a calf has been found a miniature can spend 1 AP to tie and bag the calf in readiness to make off with it.
Minor Animal Fury - When a miniature grabs a calf roll a white dice. For each Axe symbol on the dice roll, all miniatures within 1” of the miniature grabbing the calf suffer 1 Dam due to the older animals shoving and biting.
* Defenders
When calf has been found a miniature can spend 1 AP to herd the calf into the Auroch group and hide it once more.
Kiss of Walosi - When a miniature hides a calf roll a white dice. For each Axe symbol on the dice roll, all miniatures within 1” of the miniature performing the hiding action are healed 1 Dam.
Once a calf is hidden a miniature cannot try and check for a calf at the same spot until the next turn. The Auroch group will be wary of further interference and need time to calm down again.
[Gaining Victory Points]
At the end of the turn, each player scores a number of victory points depending on the number of claves they’ve found and captured or hidden
- 1 for each calf found
- 2 for each calf captured or hidden
These points are accumulated from one turn to another as a measure of the success of the attack or defence.
