Dreadloque by Danny O'Hara

http://www.sfsfw.org/a/30/dreadloque.php

Issue: 30
System: Flintloque
Publisher: Crescent City Industries

Dreadloque

by Danny O'Hara
Being the true tale of BANDITRY, INSURRECTION and the infamous PIPEWEED! (Recorded
for posterity by Mr. Damnall O'Hairy, itinerant Bog-Orc)
It being suggested that such frippery may be of some passing interest to players of the
most excellent and much lauded FLINTLOQUE game, perchance.
The following is a true recounting of recent events in the WINDY ISLES, involving slave
insurrection, Elven interference, glorious victories and strange Halfling cults.

The Setting - The Windy Isles:

On the sea route from Albion to the Dark Continent lie the Windy Isles, so-called because of
the incessant trade winds, through which virtually all shipping bound for those mysterious
lands must pass. This gives the islands a value much more than any intrinsic worth, and
they have been sporadically inhabited by various races. On all the major islands 'plantations
are maintained, growing various crops which are then distilled into devilish liquors. These
are run by settlers (elf, orc and even dwarf), using slave labour (mainly halfling and goblin).
At times slaves escape into the wilds and form wandering gangs who prey' on isolated
settlements, mule trains, etc.
The islands have seen many changes since Mordred's ascension. At that point the islands
owned predominantly owned by Dark Elves, with others held by Dwarves, Orcs or High
Elves. On the rise of the Ferach, Mordred proclaimed that all the slaves were free. This
caused widespread slave revolts, and High Elf troops moved into many islands to assist'
these rebels. However, once ensconced Mordred retracted the slaves freedom and made
the majority of the islands into High Elf colonies with the plantations in operation as
previously. But a few ex-slaves, notably the HalFling Bilbo Marley, have refused to accept
this turn of affairs.

'Hobbiton Me Come From':

Born in Hobbiton, Jamcakey, some eighteen years before Mordred's seizure of power, Bilbo
Nesta Marley is the son of a slave-girl by an H.E.V.C. (Halfling) soldier, and worked as a
plantation slave until Mordred's calculated proclamation of slave emancipation. An early and
enthusiastic supporter of the freedom movement, he joined the forces of Drogo Dekker
(much against his mother's wishes), and fought in the ill-fated slave revolt of Jamcakey.
Fleeing the Orcish response, he sought refuge in the Elf-dominated islands, but was sorely
disappointed by the Elf treachery. Now a homeless outlaw, he set Out with a group of
hardened, desperate comrades to spread revolt. Unsure whether he hated Orc or Elf most,
he quickly realised that the High Elves presented the most immediate threat - thus the

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rebels came to a loose alliance with the forces of Albion.

While wandering the gang came to be known as the 'wailers' from their war cries, and they
have come into contact with the scattered remnants of the indigenous goblin tribes. From
the famous tribal warrior 'Ganja' they learned of the 'pipe-weed' which inspires some Goblin
shamen. Whilst Halfling slave beliefs tend to include the old hobbit folksy lore, Goblin
shamanism, Orc and Elf philosophies, together with local slave ideals, there has been little
direction to these, However, under the influence of pipe-weed Bilbo saw a vision of the
great, semi-mythical Halfling leader 'Ras Gaffer', and the whole melting pot of Halfling
religion crystalised into the principles of 'Rasgafferianism'. Now both revolutionary and
prophet, Bilbo set out on his insane mission - to ignite the Windy Isles into an inferno of
righteous, Rasgafferian awareness, which will sweep away the colonial powers.
The rest, as they say, is history...

The Scenario:
Bilbo and the Wailers have kidnapped young Gloriette Glorfindelle, daughter of the High Elf
governor of Makemshriek, together with her slave-girl Lobelia (a female halfling), Having
slipped away from Makemshriek in their canoes, they have reached the sparsely inhabited
island of Hatey. A message has been sent to the Orcs, and an Orcish ship is due to collect
the hostages as soon as possible. Meanwhile the rebels are hiding in the jungle of Hatey
with their valuable cargo. But they have spotted a ship closing on their position, and it is
flying the Ferach tricoleur!
From the crows' nest of the Laiquend, a keen eyed Ferach matelot has spotted smoke from
an area of jungle on the coast of Hatey. Perhaps they have caught up with the disgusting
halfling rebels who stole young Gloriette Glorfindelle from her father, Governor Louis
Glorfindelle. Thus Sergent DuBois and his marines have quickly landed by longboat, and are
setting off into the jungle to locate the possible rebels and rescue the elfette. The Governor
would be very well disposed to his daughter's rescuers!
Meanwhile, approaching at a more leisurely pace is HMS* Saucy Snaga, an Orc sloop under
the command of Lt. Flassz-Orc, hero of the Goblin Wars and arch-rival of the low-born
Sharke.

The Setup:
The game is set on the island of Hatey, which is basically a tropical island with fairly dense
vegetation. As I also run occasional pirate games, I already possessed a suitable island, but
you could run the game with one table edge as "sea", or even set the whole action totally
inland and avoid using boats altogether.
Either way, the halflings are set up using 2' square cards, preferably green-coloured. One
such card is marked as the real rebel group while there are five other dummy cards. The
halfling player sets up and moves all these cards, using halfling movement rates. There is a
small encampment (grass huts, etc.) in a clearing, but otherwise all is jungle with very
limited visibility.
The Elves enter from the shore-line, and must obviously locate the real rebels and hostages.
They should try and determine the nature of each card they encounter by either directly
contacting it, or attempting to "spot". As a bit of light "umpire relief", I designated two of
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the cards (unknown to their halfling controller) as encounters with giant snakes (which
really spoil an Elf's day!) or similar. (In our first game, the Elf player lost his cool after the
second of these and started using the tried and tested "Nam' tactic of shooting first and
determining card contents later. This resulted in the death of Gloriette and Lobelia without
damage to any of the halfling party!).
At some point after the Elves move into the bush, Flassz and his Ore marines should arrive,
either by boat (moving at five centimetres per rowing figure) or from another table edge.
(Longboats are surprisingly easy to make from card, balsa or similar). Their aim is to collect
the hostages and get away, not to chase Elves through jungles!

Forces:
The Wailers:
Bilbo Nesta Marley (halfling experienced)
Pippin Tosh (halfling, average)
Mern Wailer (halfling average)
Ganja (goblin, average, bow)
The Wailers count as a Guerrilla unit. All the halflings are armed with short swords or short
spears. I used a mixture of converted fantasy and historical 25mm figures tor this group.

The Elves:
Sergeant DuBois (experienced, musket and sword)
Corporal Lejeune (experienced, musket)
Four average Marines, with musket
Four raw Marines with musket
The Elves count as a regular unit. I used the voltiguers from the original box-set for these

The Orcs:
Lieutenant Flassz-Orc, (raw Orc, sword and pistol)**
Marine Sergeant Griknak (experienced Bog-Orc, blunderbuss)
Corporal Spillguts (average Orc, sword and musket)
Marine Gnash (average Orc, musket)
Marine Gnosh (raw Orc, musket and bayonet)
The Orcs count as a Regular unit. I used the Albion Marines set for these, with a converted
"Harpy" for the sergeant and a converted "Sharke" for Flassz.
* HMS = His Monstrosity's Ship
** Lt. Flassz-Orc, despite his fearsome reputation, is actually a true coward and will never
willingly engage in combat. He will tend to stand at the back and accuse all his men of
cowardice. Best to give this command to a good role-player!

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Ed Note: Flintloque is a set of Black Powder Fantasy wargames rules produced by

Alternative Armies and was reviewed in Ragnarok 23. Flintloque won both Best New
Fantasy/SF Rules and Best Fantasy Rules in the 1996 SFSFW Awards and Alternative Armies
also retained the Best Fantasy Figure Manufacturer category as well. For further details
regarding price and availability, send an SSAE to Alternative Armies, Unit 6, Parkway Court,
Glaisdale Parkway, Bilborough, Nottingham, NG8 4GN.
This scenario originally appeared on Danny O'Hara's Weird Wars Website and is reprinted
here with his permission.

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