After messing about with some graphic sets and modding in the Orcs, I genned a new world and went hunting! At first, I wanted to give the new Dig Deeper version a go, but I still think I need some more training. Anyway. Found a nice 4 by 4 with HFS, trees, some flux and a river. I struck the earth and started digging like mad. Got some farms up and beer up, carved out a training room (stocked with 8 pumps) and started to carve out my "forge floor". No magma on the map, so I knew I needed the charcoal. My fortress reaches 50 dwarves and things are looking up. The recruits are training (their stats first, weapons once they are almost legendary pump operators) and I got my gate secured using 5 floodgates linked to a lever.
I had some problems with snatchers and thieves (meaning,they ran off faster than my recruits could wrestle and rip them apart), but then AMBUSH appeared. 8 goblins, only one of them armed with a hammer. They start chasing around my woodcutter and so, I decided: let's go rip them up! I select a squad of 4 and move them near the gate. Another squad was resting a few levels down, so the first squad would have to stall them. I felt victory was near, considering that in earlier ambushes (in different games), one armed dwarf (not even champion) would make mincemeat out of goblin wrestlers. I was sure that almost-legendary pump operators (with almost legendary stats) could cope with a few "gobbos".
The reverse happend. 2 Goblins came in and my 4-dwarf-team set upon them like a pack of rabid dogs. But I saw them go down, one by one. Arms were ripped off, one head come loose, blood everywhere. Not one gobbo went down. And then their buddies came along. You can guess what happend to my second squad.
I was screwed. I had no weapons to speak off (felt a bit too secure), so I did what every dwarf would do. 42 Dwarves formed up near the main acces shaft, yet I felt a bit ... unsure. That hammergoblin had killed that second squad all on his own. But as those wretched goblins came down, they were overwhelmed by numbers. It was bloody, it was carnage, ... It was GLORIOUS!
Butchersbill:
15 dwarves killed (including a legendary mason and carpenter. My Gem Setter keeps tantruming, but he always calms down without a fault. One child is going to die too, since I don't have leather in my stocks)
7 goblins (the hammergoblin got away)
This teached me some humility, but the real facepalm moment came when I found a small stockpile in the corner of my fortress. It said weapon storage. It had one steel hammer, an iron sword, and two bismuth bronze maces in it. All this time, I thought I didn't have weapons. Even in the hands of inexperienced recruits, it would have prevented the loss of so much Dwarfs. Now I gotta bury them all. Correction: my "Doctor" Dwarf has to bury them all. He has lost about 5 friends. Poor Dwarf.
(fun fact: my fisherdwarf [a mentally unstable one according to his profile] went into a martial trance and managed to break a few limbs before he was swarmed and wrestled to death. The Captain of the Guard tantrumed and started punching a few donkeys and my trader. This caused my Gem Setter to tantrum and run around, foaming at the mouth. When I looked at the Justice screen, my Captain has his crimes recorded, but he won't punish himself. Punching himself to dead is kinda ... hardcore, even for a dwarf.)
EDIT: This fort must be a bit cursed. Before the Goblin Ambush, my Stonecrafter-to-be got possessed, but he wanted gems and cloth ... which I did not have. He went berserk, but my woodcutter was near. So, a quick draft and problem solved, right? Nope. The berserker took my woodcutter head on and whooped her. The crafter was injured though and he bled to death, right in front of my squad of recruits (yes, the same squad that got butchered by a hammergoblin not too long after).
EDIT 2: My gem setter keeps tantruming and calming down. My mayor (my brewer) went insane however and is now running around, babbling and naked. I guess she too went insane after listening to my Gem Setter for the umptheenth time. The child went nuts too by the way. Better go dig a few more graves.
FINAL EDIT: Well, tantrum galore! Everyone was unhappy, but shit hit the fan when a child went berserk and MURDERED my legendary miner! Everyone started slugging it out and instead of abandoning, I did my last and final act. I opened the gate to the Orcs. First time I met those in quite some time and they cleaned up the place real quick. God, I'm loving this game. Gonna try a reclaim expedition later this evening.