Let's Play Warlord Ascendant 2e! The 12th Infernal Legion Part 1
It’s time for another campaign through No Man’s Land. I’ve played Warlord Ascendant before, but since the game was revamped into a new version with new content, mechanics, systems, and art, I’ve decided to post a new run.
This won’t have a regular periodicity. I’ll post it every once in a while, in-between a few other things I have going. And while I’ll explain all changes and go into details at first, my goal is to eventually turn the playthrough into a kind of actual report, going over what happened during the session.
I haven’t fully committed to a style yet, so we’ll see.
This is another fantastic title by Blackoath Entertainment, and I think it should be a lot more popular. It’s my second favorite game right behind Riftbreakers.
Brief overview
In Warlord Ascendant 2e, we still command a small warband on a hex map, conquering new locations, gathering resources, and growing our influence and power in No Man’s Land.
This time, however, we can also build a fortress as our base and develop its buildings, and capture towns and manage them! Those are really cool additions that add a lot to the game.
There are 8 warbands available in the second edition, like barbarians, trained soldiers, mercenaries, a bunch of ragtag commoners, demons, overzealous inquisitors, and even undead led by a necromancer. Each warband has unique units, lore, and abilities.
The gameplay remains the same, divided into two phases: Management and Battle.
In the Management Phase, we manage our territory, recruit units, explore adjacent hexes, trade, search for supplies, expand our fortress, manage our towns, and deal with post-battle consequences.
In the Battle Phase, we engage in combat using a fantastic d100 system aided by the new Momentum Engine, a very fun ruleset developed by Blackoath.
All the other layers are still present to influence combat: tons of gear with different Traits, terrain features, Commanding Actions, maneuvers, feats and abilities, enemy AI, initiative, and more.
Warband creation
Last time, I went with the expert archers of the Cadaennorian warband, and it was a blast. I have to say that every time I start a new run (I’ve done a couple), I always get nostalgic about the Royal Brigade and feel like choosing the Cadaennorians again.
But let’s do something new. I’m going with the awesome Demonic Cohort.
Instead of rolling on the name table, I chose one: Legio XII Infernalis. If you excuse my pseudo-latin, that’s the 12th Infernal Legion.
Note: The naming tables in this game are my favorites, be it for places or warbands. I use them for a lot of other games.
The Infernal Legion starts with a Witness, the Leader, two Twisted Soldiers (Veterans), and two Grunts (Recruits).
We can’t use ranged weapons nor hire mercenaries to join us, but no member can ever be Broken (character runs from battle while defending with disadvantage). That’s good, because the starting Loyalty of the Demonic members is quite terrible.
To see if a character is broken, we make a Morale check, having to hit 15 on a d20 There are several modifiers to the roll. Loyalty provides modifiers depending on its value. The Twisted Soldiers have 8 Loyalty (-2 modifier), and Grunts have 5 (-5 modifier!).
Note: Leaders never make Morale checks.
That might pose a problem during events in the Management Phase, but I’m getting ahead of myself.
Let me name my demons:
Witness: Absalom, commander of the 12th Infernal Legion
Twisted Soldiers: Durvael and Mahalat
Grunts: Kano and Oboro
Command Actions
These are the Command Actions for the Demonic Cohort:
We choose 3 different Command Actions before each combat, and we can use the ones we pick once per battle.
Supplies
All warbands start with 1d20+30 Supplies. They’re the main currency of the game, used to pay upkeep, buy gear, and expand our fortress (along with Construction Materials, but with don’t start with any of those). Let’s roll:
d20 = 10
40 Supplies, not bad!
Equipment
We choose one weapon for each character. They can only wield weapons they have proficiency in. Then we get one random armor per character (5 for me), and two random gears.
Armors also require proficiency (shields and helmets don’t). Absalom, Durvael, and Mahalat can wear medium and light armor. The Grunts Kano and Oboro only have proficiency in light.
We can also use our starting Supplies to buy any equipment we want, but we can only sell when we find our first town. We should save some Supplies to pay our units, though. We start paying Upkeep from the second round onwards.
After choosing, buying, and rolling for everything, here’s my initial loadout:
Absalom: Maul, heavy helmet
Durvael: Battle Axe, medium armor
Mahalat: War pick, large shield
Kano: Mace, war ensign, hood
Oboro: Mace, medium shield, hood
I also rolled for a Fruit of Concentration, which gives any character 1 XP. I put it in the stash, along with my 30 remaining Supplies (I spent 10 on the medium shield).
Note: The stash can hold 150 items, and that includes Supplies.
Weapons, armors, and several other items have unique Traits. When we roll an attack or defense check, we also roll an additional D12, the Trait Die. If the result is 9 or higher, the corresponding item’s Trait activates.
Take Absalom’s maul, for instance.
Simple enough, right? If his attack hits and the Trait Die rolls 9+, Absalom makes an opposed Athletics check against the target, who is knocked Prone if they lose.
This creates a lot of cool possible combinations and synergies. Fantastic addition to the game!
Maneuvers
Now we choose one Combat Maneuver for each character. We get a new one at each level up, and they can be used once per battle. We can choose the same for different characters.
Here are my picks:
Absalom: Battlecry (Leader or Veteran only). During their activation and as a Free Action, the character lets out a fierce cry, inspiring their allies. All friendly units in a 3 square radius receive +10 to their attack checks for the next 2 rounds.
Durvael: Target Weak Spot. As a Standard Action, the character makes an attack against an enemy. If successful, the attack automatically becomes a Critical Strike.
Mahalat: Fearsome Brutality. As a Standard Action, the character makes an attack against a target within melee range. If they strike, all enemy creatures within a range of 3 squares of the target must pass a Morale check or become Broken.
Kano: Unfettered Rage. As a Free Action, for the next D4 rounds the character is incapable of pursuing any objectives, focusing only on killing their opponents. It will forcibly act on every one of your turns (consuming an Order in the process, as usual), heading in a straight line towards the nearest opponent, disregarding cover or anything else, and only attacking with a melee weapon. While in this stage, the character deals an additional D6 damage with its attacks.
Oboro: Inspire. As a Free Action, choose a friendly character within Line of Sight of the character; they gain a free activation this round.
And that’s it for the 12th. Here are the sheets:
Momentum Pool
All warbands start with a Momentum Pool of 5. This is part of the new Momentum Engine system. Each MP point allows you to either:
- Assure. Get a +20 bonus to a skill check before rolling.
- Push. Reroll a failed check. Failing on the pushed roll makes you suffer a Complication.
Failing a pushed check from the first action in a turn and rolling a 4 hurts. And since this uses my long time nemesis, the spiteful d4, we’ll definitely see that outcome at some point.
Storytelling
One more thing. Last time, I barely did any storytelling because the game is crunchy and it takes a lot of space to explain mechanics. I was worried that writing fiction parts would make the posts too long. And honestly, the awesome mechanics were the main dish, so I really didn’t want to detract from that.
All that still applies, but I wanna give some more flavor to my warband, so I’m gonna do a kind of journal written by Absalom. All that low Loyalty made me think up a backstory for the 12th.
Year 1403 of their Lord
Hateful Lilith,
I hope this finds you in pain and anguish. I don’t actually know what year it is in this shithole, but that sounded like a real number, did it not?
We have settled in Neia. Unlucky few survived the banishment, you made sure of that, but here we are.
The mostly useless Kano and Oboro are surprisingly good at renovations. And at whining, too. “The work never ends!”, they cried as Durvael lashed their backs and burned their hamstrings. Durvael is still the Legion’s comedian. His sense of humor brings much-needed relief.
We found an abandoned fort that we quickly took over and restored. It will serve.
Mahalat is the most despondent among us. She was always a sensitive one, never inclined to torture or torment, unless you count dismemberment, which I certainly don’t. It all ends so quickly.
She asked questions, and I answered with my maul first, breaking a few teeth, but she insisted. We can’t overdo it here in this world, mortals as we are, so I explained.
I told her of your betrayal and usurpation of Lucifer’s title, that you now reign as absolute Queen over the demonic dominion.
“What does that have to do with us?” she asked.
Well, I said, as the human messiah had his twelve apostles, Lucifer had his twelve generals. We were as loyal as our kind can be, and that meant something. To consolidate her power, I told Mahalat, Lilith exiled us to the human world. This was especially humiliating for the original Legions.
Not exiled, pardon me, sent us on a mission to rule over mortals and conquer new lands.
I can’t help but admire you. I would have done the same.
As Lucifer’s general and commander of the 12th Infernal Legion, I had had no choice but to comply.
I tried to inspire them. I said with great gravitas, “The continent of Neia is our proving ground. Stripped of our might in this mortal coil, we must conquer this realm and reclaim our honor for having failed the Lightbringer.
And for not having the initiative and industriousness to betray him first.”
Mahalat said that all sounded like my problem, and she didn’t volunteer to be bundled up with me.
She lost more teeth and now she talks funny.
As you ordered, I’m sending this missive to the tiny satans you sent over to spy on us. I mean, to use as a means of communication.
I can be so remiss sometimes. You should come over to discipline me. I shall serve you a local delicacy called ‘arsenic.’
Yours in hate, Absalom
I know, I know, I can’t help but settle to a more lighthearted style. I have a hard time taking myself seriously, so back off.
Anyway, that’s it for this session. Thank you very much for reading.
See you next time!
If you want to use those character sheets, grab them here (File > Make a copy).
Warlord Ascendant 2e is available on Itch, DTRPG, Amazon as POD, and the Blackoath website.