April 987 - Brave as a Wolf

Ragnar's travels had taken him through Altengard to Ekra without mishap but with little opportunity for gain either. He was travelling through the Ekran border country, heading for the Border Kingdoms when a local knight, Sir Roger de Gris, put pressure on Ragnar to help him in his efforts against his rival, Sir Albert de Beauville. Ragnar could do little to resist this and had to send Ulf to help Roger. Fortunately Ulf was able to escape this duty fairly quickly after Sir Roger ambushed Sir Albert and was killed by him. Like the brave soldier he was, Ulf took to his heels and fled the fight.

Another Talk the Talk encounter with the local authorities. Ragnar lost and had to send Ulf off temporarily to help the knight.

Summer 987 - Campaign Progress

Treyine and the Brethren have agreed terms for peace following the recent readjustment of the borders. However, the hawks in the Treyine government have seen Ekran isolationist policies as a weakness, so Treyine has turned its attention to its other neighbour, egged on by Sir Geoffrey Chambers, who sees in this move an opportunity to get one over his rival, Alfred Badenhorst. Badenhorst is currently in the employ of the Ekran government so Sir Geoffrey can be fairly sure of meeting his old enemy on the field of battle.

Treyine rolled to go to war. It only has one legal target so it must attack Ekra.

The Brethren are unable to go to war with anyone else due to the various peace treaties that are in force. The Brethren rolled that they should go to war, but we decided that they should honour their peace treaties with the Zog-Rot and Treyine. There is an argument for breaking their treaty with Zog-Rot on the grounds that the Brethren did not pursue this treaty, but we finally decided that both parties should honour the treaty since this is implicit in the rules.

Zog-Rot and Ekra decided not to go to war.

The situation at the start of Summer 987 (Click for a larger version)


The armies for the war between Ekra and Treyine will remain the same as those they had at the start of the year.

With all this peace breaking out, we really need to start adding new nations to the campaign!

Spring 987 - The Battle of the Black Hole

Treyine had invaded the Border Kingdoms, fearing the increasing influence and power of the Brethren. With the Spear of Saint Lindorf carried in front of the army, they knew they had right on their side. Of course, the sturdy Treyine yeomanry with their bows that were as tall as they were helped too. As they advanced, scouts reported that the enemy had deployed in the open ahead of them, ready to engage them in battle. The Treyine army quickly deployed. They knew that the enemy would ride them down in the open so the archers hammered their stakes into the ground to the right of a thick wood. The halberdiers and knights formed up between the two bodies of archers and the mercenary company of Sir Geoffrey Chambers formed up on the right flank. Lacking cavalry, the Treyine army was relying on Sir Geoffrey to defend the open flank.

The view from the Brethren lines (click all pictures for larger versions)


The Treyine army had the tactical initiative but the commanders chose to cede that initiative to the enemy in favour of holding a strong position, well, apart from Sir Geoffrey, who chose impetuousness over prudence, but more of that later. As the enemy approached, Callifraxia Glories-in-the-Sun approached the army commander with a plan. She began to chant and the sky darkened. With a triumphant shout and almost contemptuous ease she watched as an entire unit of Brethren Knights were swallowed up by a yawning abyss that briefly opened up beneath them. She had barely even broken a sweat. The enemy army was thrown into confusion.

Callifraxia, the wizard, targeted the enemy general with an Abyss spell. She rolled a multiplier of 1 for the cost and the unit died, although the Brethren general did manage to escape. The Brethren army lost a unit of crossbowmen and the unit of Brethren sergeants to the Leader Lost check, but the rest of the army survived in one for or another.

The results of the Abyss spell


With the enemy in confusion and trying to reform, Sir Geoffrey Chambers led his personal unit of knights through a gap in the enemy lines. Some peasants with bows managed to injure some of the knights as they charged through, causing the unit to charge further than expected, but Sir Geoffrey was able to turn them around and they promptly rode down the peasants, who scattered before the armoured knights.

The peasants were able to turn and fire at the knights, causing a retire result, which put one hit on them. The knights then charged and the peasants routed.

Sir Geoffrey's mad dash


While Sir Geoffrey was engaging the enemy, the Treyine troops waited patiently for the enemy to approach within range of their bows. Callifraxia was spending her time summoning minor demons to her service and sending them at the enemy. The demons flew over the Brethren force, causing consternation in the ranks and further disrupting them, while Sir Geoffrey reformed and prepared to charge into the flank of the enemy troops. The Brethren sent forward a party to parlay surrender terms as their numbers thinned due to deserting troops. The battle was over.

The Legions of Night have the Terror ability and can fly. Flying troops cause Threat tests for all enemies near to them, so it only took a few of these flying over the Brethren to start making troops rout, especially with Steve's poor dice rolls.

The End


The Treyine army lost no troops and gained a territory. The Brethren lost 1 unit of Knights and 1 of Heavy Spearmen. Their general survived. Both sides tested their national morale. The Brethren failed miserably and sued for peace. They will now provide a supporting element to the Treyine army. Treyine scored one success and is shaken, resulting in a reduction of 1 from their national morale. The peace between the Brethren and Treyine will last for two years.

This puts the Brethren in the position of not actually having anyone they can attack for the time being because all their possible foes lie beyond territories that they cannot attack. Sounds like time to consider adding new nations to the campaign. I had better get on and paint them, I suppose. Destroying the enemy general on turn 1 was probably what decided this battle. It has made me realise that a Level 3 wizard is rather powerful and worth preserving.

Border Kingdoms/Brethren (post-battle formation)
1 Brother Sergeants
4 Heavy Spearmen
3 Peasant Foot
2 Crossbows
1 Peasant Archer
1 Black Moon Goblins (allied contingent)

Centaurs

"Centaurs!" the shout goes up from the look-out. Suddenly the village is in a frenzy of activity as mothers grab their children and men grab their weapons. They struggle to organise themselves in time but the fast moving dust cloud is upon them before they realise it. The village erupts in a cacophony of screams and shouts as desperate villagers try to stop the oncoming horde. Before too long the surviving villagers are rounded up and corralled. The centaurs walk unheeding of their bloodied hooves through the slain and dying as they loot the village and put to the sword those that will not make good slaves. Then they depart with their booty at a slower pace than they arrived. They do not fear pursuit. The speed of their attack was sufficient to prevent anyone from running for help. Besides, who could catch them anyway?

A 6mm centaur herd comprising the core army (click the pic for a larger image)

Front rank - Centaur hero and centaur wizard

Second rank - centaur spears (left and right), veteran centaurs (centre)

Rear ranks - centaur archers

Figures by Irregular Miniatures

Centaur herds may be found in the non-human lands of north-eastern Talomir. They live out on the plains and raid the settlements around them. Their attacks are fierce and brutal but they rarely hang around after they have what they want. However, occasionally a more aggressive and dominant alpha stallion can unite a number of herds, resulting in an attempt at founding a Centaur kingdom.

The Centaurs can show up in a WH campaign as a random event. Each winter dice are rolled t see if they do try to carve out a kingdom. When they appear, it will be in a randomly determined nation in the north-east. They will try to seize a province and use that as a basis for founding a kingdom. If they fail to seize a province before their national morale gives out then they will fade back into the background. If they succeed, then they will use that province as the base for further expansion and will become a force in the campaign.

The list for the Centaurs in the Warrior Heroes rulebook has a number of typos in it. I have reworked it and it is appended below (click the picture for a larger version. I suggest saving the image and looking at it offline. It should be clearer that way):

Beastmen of Talomir

The Beastmen of Talomir are a tribe that has yet to acquire nation status. They mainly live in the north-east of Talomir, but are also encountered occasionally in the south-west and more rarely in the south-east. It is thought that the Beastmen are descendants of a once-proud race that lived in the Stygustan area and rules a great empire tens of thousands of years ago. These Beastmen were, and still are, worshipped as gods by the humans of Stygustan, although the Stygustani deny the divinity of the modern Beastmen. Modern Beastmen are vicious creatures of limited intelligence and have a fondness for human flesh, which does not endear them to humans.

In game terms the Beastmen can appear as part of the overall campaign. They will show up in a randomly determined area of the world and try to seize control of a province. If they succeed then they will try to expand their kingdom and found a new empire. Rumour has it that a King of the Beastmen will be born, who can lead them to greatness once more.

Beastmen can also be encountered in WHAA. Anyone adventuring in the Border Kingdoms or the lands of the demi-humans could encounter them. Below we see a small warband of Beastmen in Stygustan. Pity the poor villagers that they fall on and devour (click on the picture for a larger image):


Note: I have not found a suitable range of 6mm figures for a Beastman army. I have been looking because I would like to include them in our WH games too. Nothing that Irregular does seems quite right to me, nor do GW Epic chaos types. If anyone has any suggestions, please feel free to post them here and I shall check the ranges out.

Spring 987 - Campaign Progress

Both the Brethren and Treyine have rolled to go to war this turn, so they have each declared war on the other. Seeing a threat developing on their northern frontier, the Treyine king decides to invade the Border Kingdoms. The goblins of Zog-Rot sit quietly, trying to recuperate and rebuild their destroyed armies. The Ekrans also sit quietly. Perhaps they will swoop to pick up the pieces after the other nations are finished tearing each other apart.

Campaign map at start of Spring 987 (click for a larger version)

Mercenaries
The following mercenaries are available for recruitment:
The Black Company (cost = 2 Recruiting Rolls)
The White Company (cost = 2 Recruiting Rolls)

Ekra recruits the Black Company and Treyine recruits the White Company.

Armies for 987
The armies for 987 will be as follows:

Border Kingdoms/Brethren
1 Brother Knights
1 Brother Sergeants
5 Heavy Spearmen
3 Peasant Foot
2 Crossbows
1 Peasant Archer
1 Black Moon Goblins (allied contingent)

Ekra
5 Knights
2 Infantry
2 Crossbows
1 Peasant Foot
The Black Company

Treyine
1 Foot Knight
2 Retinue Foot
6 Longbowmen
The White Company
The Spear of Saint Lindorf
Callifraxia Glories-in-the-Sun (Level 3 Wizard)

Zog-Rot
3 Archers
6 Goblins
1 Black Moon Goblins
1 Wolf Riders

Holy Relics
The locations of the following relics are known:
Spear of Lindorf - Treyine