Spring 991 - Mirish and Lothgolin - Part One

Editor's Note: Follow the link to a free Rally Round the King Player's Aid. It's a great cheat sheet to help you get your battles going.

By the Numbers Player Aid for RRtK 

Here's a link to what transpired before the battle

Infidel 

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I want to thank Ruarigh for allowing me to take over Mirish as a player in the continuing campaign.   I also wanted to post detailed battle reports to help players to and enjoy the game as well as clarify rules as they come up. So enough of the chatter, on to the game!

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The newly appoint Mirish General Pereira sat on his horse and surveyed the field. He had deployed his forces in three bodies 1200 yards from the Lothgolin line.

Across the field the Elf army, greatly outnumbered, was drawn up in a classic defensive posture.

The General nodded to the Holy Man. With great flourish he unwrapped a long pole. Atop it sat the Crystal Light of Yakub, shining in all it's glory in the mid day sun! A roar of enthusiasm went up as the Holy Relic was revealed.

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The Crsytal of Yakub is one of three Holy Relics (page 64). The relics are usually kept safe in the capital province of the possessor but if they are removed from the province they must be "revealed". Doing this immediately gives all affected units a +1 when checking Reaction. The Crystal does  not affect the Jurgen and Goblin units. 

The main body activates and moves forward. The front line, skirmishers, move at full speed towards the Elf battle line while the rest of the body moves deliberately at 1/2 the speed of the slowest unit. The Elven army waits bracing for contact.

 On the following turn Pereira activates his body of cataphracts and moves at half speed behind the main infantry. The infantry continue their movement forward at the slow pace. The clibinarii, heavy cavalry, activate and trot forward.
With a rush all the skirmish units move forward to overwhelm the right flank of the Elves.

 Light cavalry can move very fast (16"). In addition, skirmish units can move in any direction they want, including turns, and end facing how they want (page 33). As they did not start in charge reach of a facing enemy (page 32) they could move as desired. The two units move around and behind the Elf right while the three skirmish infantry follow. Note how they are all in one body as they are still in base to base contact. This allows them to act together but more importantly provide support when taking Reaction Tests.Tactically speaking, always place your lower Rep units on the ends of the line and never in the middle.


The soldier unit in the second line of the Elf army about faces to defend from the light horse. This triggers a Threat Test and the skirmishers fire, which causes a test and a charge, that results in the skirmishers firing and retiring. Both units have suffered a loss.

Here's a rules clarification. The soldier unit started inside 4" of the enemy but was not facing them so was not a threat. As soon as it turned to face it became a threat and this triggered the test.  This is an example when the spirit of the rule was followed as opposed to the letter of the rule. I play when in doubt, default to reality, or what makes the most sense.

 As the Elves activate I roll to see if the Elf Casters can act. A random roll places them with the Marine unit at the end of the line. A roll on the NPC Cast Table (page 48) allows them to cast. Another roll and they will cast a Steel Wind spell. With a success they hit the Jurgen archers and cause them to rout. Note that they scored high enough on their cast attempt that my Casters could not intervene. My magic strategy was to hold my Casters in reserve in hopes of intervening when the Elves cast.

 As Mirish activates they move from right to left. Pereira was placed on the extreme right for a reason. His body activates first and he contacts the main body infantry and they now become one body (page 34). As one body I can now stop the main infantry from moving any farther. They are just outside of bow range.
The clibinarii now  move forward and contact the main body, join it, but also must stop (page 35).
I realize that I misspelled "whole" in the picture above. Undaunted I carry on.

Skirmish fire picks up with three units firing on one target. The 3d6 are added together and 2 casualties are inflicted. As the number of hits scored on a target cannot exceed the number of units firing it's good to look for these types of mismatches where more than one missile casualty can be inflicted.
As the fire intensifies the soldier to the rear wheels to drive off the skirmisher. This results in a Threat test, fire, charge, and fire and retire. Both units gain casualties.The support of another unit as well as the +1 from revealing the Holy Relic allows the skirmishers to fire then retire.

 The Elves activate again and the Casters go to work. This time the spell, determined at random (page 48) is Healing Hands. If successful it will recover some of the loses taken by the Marine unit. It fails horribly and the Level 1 Caster is dragged to safety, all of his Magic Points having been used (page 45).

 The Elf Marine unit has been between a rock and a hard place. It was under fire from three skirmish units and could not return fire. The closeness of the Mirish main battle line effectively preventing it from turning to face the skirmishers (page 32). If they did turn to face they would be charged in the flank and most likely routed.

Now's a good time for natural break in the Bat Rep and some insight as to how best to play solo games. The Elves are in a Static Defense but are in a tough spot. The main body enemy is out of bow range and appear to be content with letting their skirmishers chew up the Elves (1). By the rules the Elves would stay in place and take it but I prefer to do what makes sense for the non-player side as if I was playing it when circumstances dictate.
So what is the Elf King to do?

Watch for Part 2 later this week.

(1) To see an historical battle demonstrating the problems that skirmishers can cause heavy troops if unabated follow the link
Sphacteria