Winter 990 - Campaign Update

Winter is coming. Actually, it has arrived already, and with it we welcome Sean and Javier to the campaign.

Javier will control Altengard.
Sean will control Mirholme.
Steve will control Naz-Goth.
I shall umpire and sort out the actions of non-player nations.

The Current Situation
At the end of the Autumn, Treyine had won two battles and driven back both the Goblins and the Seniirans. Mirholme had been united under the rule of Gunnar Broadaxe, while Tereken has been united under the rule of Harold I.

Mirish has been cut in two by the Elven attack.

Character Death Checks
Emperor Cesare Salato of Tropilium has died while being dressed by his nephew, Nic Salato (WR 3). His chirurgeon reports that he died of a surfeit of olives, but rumour has it that he was assassinated, because that is the traditional and proper method of succession.

The great Mirholmen hero Torfi has died of wounds received in an attack by person or persons unknown. His sword had blood on it, so the assailant(s) was wounded. Olaf Squinteye is the main suspect in this case.

The Tropilian wizard Pherros has perished in an alchemical experiment that created a large crater in the middle of Tropilium.

National Morale
The winter is hard for Zog-Rot and they sue for peace with Treyine. The peace will last until Winter 992.
Treyine and Seniira are still at war.
The Silver Elves and Mirish are still at war.

Magical Items

The Brethren control The Drums of Doom but have not passed them on to anyone else.
The Fiddle of Calling has been found in Zog-Rot.

Artefacts
The Brazier of Durman has surfaced in Hykar.
With the discovery of an artefact, a rogue dragon has also made an appearance, making its lair in Hykar.

Holy Relics
Treyine still controls The Spear of St Lindorf. 
The Goblins of Zog-Rot control The Book of the Hungry Moon.
Mirish controls The Crystal Light of Yakub. 
 
The current state of the world:

The campaign area at the end of Winter 990

New Armies
No new armies are joining the campaign this winter.

Autumn 990 - Battle for Novempopulania

Princeps Alerio Nequam was convinced that devine providence had selected him to found a new and glorious empire from the husk of the once great Tropilium. Treyine had already shown that the old empire was ripe for conquest. And they had picked off the low hanging fruit.

The province of Novempopulonia lay on the borders of Seniira and Nequam reasoned that if he could defeat Lord De La Warre in battle the people would rise up to greet him as liberator, sharing language and custom with the folk of Seniira.

The battle was joined along the banks of the Phaedrum river. Lord De La Warre had selected an area of  rough terrain, in an attempt hamper the Seniiran heavy cavalry, but Priceps Alerio had skillfully maneuvered to minimise the effects.

Phaedrum River, rocky terrain to the left, gully in the center.

Autumn 990 - The Battle of the Telkar Bird

Spahblod Shahin the Rash, held the perfumed cloth to his nose.

“Can’t you move the blasted Ogres further away, Rashom, even through the perfumes I can smell the thrice damned things,” he growled at his subordinate, “Well at least this battle should be over quickly. The elves have only sent a scouting party.”

 

The battle was fought in the arid regions in eastern Mirish, a land once bountiful but now a dust bowl. It was an utterly featureless landscape. The Elven army comprised six units of battle elves and a small coven of three wizards. Their opponents had eighteen units, including some of the heaviest cavalry in the world. It should be an easy battle for the Mirish.

Set-up

With a signal the army advanced. The Ogres lumbered on ahead straight towards the elves.“See if the pointy eared scum like their smell any better, hey Rashom”, yelled Shahin.

The Mirish army advances while the Elven reserve moves to counter the enemy skirmishers. The Mirish general's unit advances precipitately as a fireball hits them and encourages them to charge to soon

The cavalry followed the Ogres with the skirmish cavalry on the right and the foot skirmishers on the left and the elephants next to his cavalry, the Mirish Army made an impressive sight.

The archers shoot at the ogres while the Mirish army seeks to surround the Elves

As the Ogres approached the Elven lines they faltered and began to shuffle backwards. A fireball arched from the Elven ranks and into Shahin’s unit. Still onward they charged into the Elven line, but instead of falling back they held. Shahin’s men began to panic.

The Mirish general charges the Elven line and promptly routs along with a chunk of his army

Then from out of the blue a huge Telkar bird flew across the sun carrying a young goat in it’s claws. Such an evil omen could mean only one thing, the battle was lost. Shahin and his men turned and fled with many of his other units following.

After the rout few remained

Rashom tried to rally the remaining units, but it was too little and soon the tide of the battle had turned with the Elves in the ascendancy.

It's all down to mopping up now

A brave effort was made to defeat the Elves but the wizards raised the bodies of the dead Mirish to fight the living ones.

Only a few Mirish left.

And then there were just the levies left to deal with

The loss of the Mirish general early on killed the Mirish effort to beat the Elves. They were never able to capitalise on their numbers after that and the Elves just had to pick the skirmishers off piecemeal. The Mirish have sworn vengeance on the Elves and will certainly attack them next year to recover their territory.

Autumm 990 - Goblins invade Treyine.

 

 

 

 

 

Autumn 990 - Civil War in Tereken

Harold's son-in-law Tostig had decided that half the kingdom was not enough for him. He had rallied troops to him and now planned to defeat Harold, take the whole kingdom and divorce Harold's daughter once and for all, so that he could marry the love of his life, instead of having to make some damned political marriage. Unfortunately, it appeared that all those eorls who had declared for Tostig were now changing their minds. Harolds army was twice the size of Tostig's. Never mind. A firm attack would soon put them in their place.

Tostig is outnumbered.

Tostig ordered his men to charge. They would take the fight to the enemy.

First blood

Tostig's skirmishers moved to the flanks to harry the enemy. His heavy infantry charged. The enemy cavalry counter-charged and the first fight was on. The enemy's charge was too much for half of Tostig's men and they routed, but his own unit held its ground and drove the cavalry back, ready to face the infantry onslaught behind it.

Skirmishers cause distractions

The fight in the centre was heavy and the skirmishers' arrows fell quickly on the enemy flanks, causing disorder and a few casualties.

It was not enough.

Unfortunately, it was not enough. Tostig's men fell too quickly and the enemy weight of numbers told. His huscarles routed leaving only a few skirmishers on the field. Tostig's claim to the throne was no more and Harold now rules all Tereken. It would be a long time before Tostig could emerge from hiding and try to claim the throne again, if indeed he ever could.

Autumn 990 - The Unification of Mirholme

Gunnar Broadaxe was a true Mirholmen warlord: tall, blonde, with piercing blue eyes. His shoulders, like his axe, were broad. He grinned happily at the thought of the oncoming battle. He could just imagine his wicked uncle Olaf Squinteye in the opposing shieldwall quivering in fear beneath his crowned chicken banner over on the other side of the valley. It was a good day to go to Valhalla. The Autumn had brought early snow, which meant that they would not get too hot while fighting. Good. A man should be comfortable while killing his enemies. A shout went up. The two lines of troops began the advance. Gunnar was outnumbered, but he feared nought. If death came, he would be in Valhalla tupping valkyries and swilling mead before the sun set. If all went well, he would be at home again by nightfall swiving his wife and swilling mead with his hearth companions. Yes, it was a good day.

The two armies face each other across the snowy valley

A roar went up on both sides. The howling of Olaf's death-dealers reached fever pitch. Torfi the hero responded with his own battle cry. Men beat their weapons on their shields to make a fearsome noise. Then the lines clashed. In the first exchange of blows a howl of dismay arose around the standards of the two leaders. Gunnar took a strong dunt to the head and collapsed unconscious beside his standard. Olaf took a blow to the leg that severed it below the knee. The two shieldwalls pulled back, leaving their leaders among the dead. Each had taken horrendous casualties in that first exchange of blows as each warrior sought to prove his worth.

Charge! No, retreat!!

It was too much for Gunnar's men. They had given better than they got but the loss of their beloved leader unmanned them and they routed, all except for Torfi the Hero.

Torfi stands alone

Even the death-dealers were not strong enough to stand against Torfi. He and his boon companions thrust mightily and struck blows that were strong enough to sunder ordinary swords. Their own blades were aged steel, family heirlooms that had survived the test of battle many times. Their edges were sharp and the enemy death-dealers despite their magic from Wodan could not stand against them.

Torfi destroys the death-dealers while the enemy army surrounds him

"It is better to die on the field of battle than to abandon the gracious despoiler of the dragon's hoard to his fate," announced Torfi. The death-dealers were gone, but the enemy shieldwall still advanced towards him, albeit somewhat timorously. Torfi howled at the archers behind him and they ran like geese before a fox.

If in doubt, charge!

With the skirmishers gone, Torfi charged the enemy lines, twelve men against a horde, but that horde was battered and could not stand before him.

"Yeah, that's right. Run, you cowards!"

Only a small group of huskarls remained on the battlefield after Torfi had finished with the rest. They surrendered and Torfi was able to revive Gunnar and take him home. As an afterthought he dragged Olaf with him to die the death of a traitor in a snake pit.

Heroes are tough! This battle had us both laughing as the two generals fell in the very first melee and all of Gunnar's army bar Torfi the Hero routed. Unfortunately for Steve his main troops had taken a heavy beating in that first round of melee so they were effectively useless from then on and he could not muster the numbers needed to take the hero out. He really needed to get at least two units into melee with the hero else he was not going to even wound him. Ah well, at least the good guys won.

Army lists updated

The Tereken army list has been updated on the New Army Lists page. I realised suddenly that I had made some egregious errors with the version posted, largely due to poor copy editing. The new version reflects the Later Anglo-Saxon army better, in my opinion, and also provides a slightly different army from the Mirholmen army that it would otherwise resemble.

Talomir Tales will return shortly

Attention, all units. Talomir Tales will resume shortly. Hopefully next week.

In the meantime, I have been fiddling with Campaign Cartographer and here is the map I came up with. It still needs fettling, but it shows the maximum extent of our campaign in terms of nations and the current political situation. Personally, I think that it is a vast improvement over the old map! Click on the map for a larger image or you can open it in a new tab to see it full size.