Orc Horde · The campaign
The Emberwastes Rising
The Gilded March has put forts on the ash. Burn them off it.
The Emberwastes
The Gilded March built forts on our ash and called it a border. Burn it off.
The road
Ten fields — ash country, from the Cinder Ford to the Gilded border. The Human Realm is the rival, and six kingdoms stand in the way.
Chapter I · The Muster
Ash is not empty. It is ours, it is patient, and we are not.
- 1
The Muster · Hold the ground
Cinderford
A crossing the Realm thinks is theirs.
To win: 60s on the crossing. Take the contested ground and keep it — the clock only runs while it is yours.
Against: Dwarven Clans.
Terms: The standing works — A spawner is already raised and already yours.
They put a name on our ford and a boy with a spear on the bank. Take the ford. Keep the name.
- 2
First Blood · Bring down the beast
The Slagfields
Slag, scrap and a Beast warband picking through it.
To win: the beast down, by your hand. Something is loose on the field, and it fights everyone. Whoever puts it down takes the field — so it had better be you.
Against: Mythic Beasts.
Something is eating the slag heap. It was here first. It is not here longer.
- 3
A Twist · Burn the toll-houses
Ashroad Toll
The Dynasty taxes the road. Take the road.
To win: 3 of their toll-houses burned. While one of their toll-houses stands, half your income is theirs. Burn every one. The keep can stand.
Against: Jade Dynasty.
Terms: The empty chest — You march with nothing. Everything you field, you earn here.
They ask coin to walk on ash. Nobody owns ash. Break the toll-houses and the road is free again.
Chapter II · The Rival
He came to see the ash for himself. Let him see all of it.
- 4
The Rival · Break the ward
The Gilded Fort
Their first stone on your ash. Their last.
To win: the ward broken, then the keep. Their keep takes no harm while the ward stands. Break the ward, then raze the keep behind it.
Against: Human Realm — the rival.
First stone they ever laid on our ash. Pull it up and the rest is only a rumour.
- 5
Adversity · Hold out
Emberwatch
The Court has fired the wastes behind you. Stand in it.
To win: stand for 4m 00s. Keep your own walls standing until the horn.
Against: Elven Court.
Terms: No walls of your own — Your keep cannot be fortified. Meet them in the field.
The Court set the wastes alight behind us and sat down to watch. Stand in it. We were born in worse.
- 6
The Ally · Burn the camps
Barrow Reach
The dead are between you and home. Their works, not their keep.
To win: 3 of their war-camps burned. Their war-camps feed this assault, and they will keep mustering until they burn. The keep can stand.
Against: Undead Dominion.
Terms: The war-chest — An ally has paid for this one. Spend it well.
The dead have built sheds on the road home. It is not their bones we want. It is their works. Flatten them and walk on.
Chapter III · The Long War
They have started building walls at us. That is what frightened looks like.
- 7
The Siege · Raze before the horn
Highgate March
Walled, garrisoned, and in your way.
To win: their keep inside 9m 00s. Their walls, and quickly. Time is the other enemy.
Against: Human Realm — the rival.
Terms: Walled against you — Their keep was fortified long before you came.
Walls, then. Fine. Everything that burns is a wall that has not caught yet.
- 8
The Reversal · Hold the closing ground
Whisper Crossing
Hold the ford. Whoever holds it decides the war.
To win: 90s on the high ground as it closes. Hold the ring while it shrinks. By the end there is room for a handful, and they will want it.
Against: Mythic Beasts.
Terms: The thin muster — Only your cheapest ranks answered the call.
Stand on the stones. Whoever is standing on the stones at dark decides the rest of the war.
- 9
The Gathering · Burn the camps · Eight commanders
The Long Ash
Every host on the ash, on one field.
To win: 5 of their war-camps burned. Their war-camps feed this assault, and they will keep mustering until they burn. The keep can stand.
Against: Jade Dynasty.
Every banner that ever wanted our ash, on it, at once. Good. One afternoon, one answer.
Chapter IV · The Crown
Everything they built, unbuilt. Everything they wrote, unwritten.
- 10
The Crown · Bring down the quarry
The Gilded Seat
Their capital. Before the relief column arrives.
To win: the marked one, in the ground. One of theirs is marked, and it holds the prize. Put it in the ground — it runs for its gate when it is hurt. Their keep falling ends it too.
Against: Human Realm — the rival.
Terms: Walled against you — Their keep was fortified long before you came.
Their chair, their gold, and their marshal if he has the stomach. Before the relief column smells the smoke.
The rival
The Human Realm — Knights of the Gilded March.
They did not wait for the forts. The marshal is on open ash, already, looking for us.
There it is - the banner from the forts. Their marshal has come to see the ash himself.
He has learned. Highgate is walled, garrisoned, and waiting for you. Good. Walls burn slower, not never.
No more forts. No more marshal. The Gilded Seat, and then the ash is ours again.
How it ends
Crowned
The Gilded Seat is cinders and the ash is quiet. Let them draw the border again. We will burn that one too.
Broken
The line broke and the ash took us instead. The forts still stand. They will be there when we come back.
The Orcs boons
The branch of the boon tree only the Orc Horde can take:
| Boon | Cost | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| WAAAGH! | 1 | There is always another one behind it. |
| War Paint | 2 | Painted, screaming, and swinging harder for it. |
| The Ash Road | 2 | The horde knows the shortest way across the ash. |
| The Blood Tide | 3 | Thirty more bodies, and no plan for any of them. |
| The Warlord's Due | 4 | More of them, sooner, and angrier. |