Battle of Lost Souls

A cheer rose like a rolling clap of thunder from the Dwarven line. The hero, Thor Whome, was making his way through the troops yelling words of encouragement. He made his way up to the general, Bal Torls. Bal whispered a silent prayer to his evil god. His father had tasked him to push back the undead horde that had invaded their sacred country and had made their way straight to one of their holy sites. His father was unable to fight this battle himself as he was leading an army against an Orc invasion. His confidence had slipped as he noted that his army was out numbered 3-1. Now things had changed, with the appearance of Whome, not only did he envision a vicotry but his thoughts drifted to his father and how a victory here would give him the power necessary to 'remove' his father.

The Liche, Wearz Meskin, casually surveyed the battlefield and slowly his gaze concentrated on the Dwarven holy site. How is army would swell when he made his way in there and summoned the dead to rise and follow him.

The scenery consists of an impassable area (the statues), 2 woods and an area of rocky terrain.

Disciples pass 0D6 on Casualty recovery, the servants pass 0d6, 1 soldier passes 2d6, 1 passes 0d6, hero passes 2d6.  Both Thor Whome and Bal Torls survive the battle. 

Apologies for the lack of written details but I have succumbed to a massive throat infect part way through playing the game and so not up to writing much.

Summer 992 - All Hail Aluminum Khan!

The dust covered horseman rode into the camp of the Mirish General Pereira. It took him the better part of an hour to get an audience with the General who was being entertained at a party. Life was good in Mirish but not for a soldier like Pereira or for that matter a mercenary like Alfred Badenhorst, commander of the mercenary Black Company. They had spoke at length and in whispers of the "opportunities" for men like them.

As the two now sat alone drinking the night away the horseman entered the tent.
"General, I have news from Stygustan!"
Pereira stood up and gave the spy a cup of water. After he had drunk his fill he spoke...

 "The Stygustani caught the invading Mangu in a valley with a river protecting their right and hills to their left. But that didn't concern the Mangu."

 "The Mangu attacked at speed and there was an exchange of archery fire as I have never seen in my life. Both sides got as good as they gave until the Stygustani chariots and archers in the front routed away."

"It was then that the Stygustani General Wartchthestep ordered the charge with what remained of his army.  I saw his Casters hurl a black cloud upon the Mangu right and they became unsettled then fled in despair. But Aluminum Khan at the head of his horsemen counter-charged and drove them to flight after a fierce battle."

"After that the Mangu charged across the line surrounding Wartchthestep and his small escort.
He fought better than I thought he would taking three wounds before he went down."

"Was he killed?" Pereira asked as he extended a cup of wine to the spy.
"No, he was wounded and captured by the Mangu on the battlefield," was the reply. "What became of him I cannot say."

 

The spy reported that the Stygustani army had fled and that one unit of archers and infantry were lost, the rest scattered.

Pereira tossed the spy a bag of coin and bid him to go. "I will have more work for you soon."

Pereira looked at Badenhorst. 

"So what do you think?"

"Maybe the Spring will present us with an opportunity we cannot ignore," he replied.

******************************************************

It was an interesting battle. The Stygustani rolled a Static Defense so went into two lines with their missile armed chariots to the front along with the lone archer unit. Behind them were the infantry in contact to provide support.

The Mangu rolled Encircle the Flank. On the first turn I threw the whole army forward and into missile range with the front line being mounted skirmishers. They couldn't move and shoot so I knew they would take fire on the next turn before they could fire themselves.

On the Stygustani part of the turn they opened fire. I knew the Mangu would survive the first round of fire so would fire back. I didn't expect the Stygustani to also do so.  I forgot that their chariots were elite as well. It became a bloodbath with both armies passing 2d6 on the Received Fire tests. Only after a few rounds of fire back and forth did the Stygustani retire then rout. Truthfully the Mangu were lucky as their last test scored a 2 and 1.

When the front line of Stygustani broke there wasn't any choice but to attack. Their Casters fired off a Despair spell on three Mangu units and they fled when charged but the reserve mounted units of the Mangu with the general counter-charged. The Mangu general actually was at risk twice but passed both to continue the fight.

The Stygustani couldn't stand and routed. After that the Mangu surrounded Wartchthestep who went down after two rounds of fighting.

Much closer than expected due to me understating the strength of the Stygustani chariots. Definitely luck was on the Mangu side this time and if I fought it again I would do things differently.

Summer 992. Valkeans, the few, the proud.

Summer 992 - The Battle of Duffer's Bluff

The clanging of the shields and weapons reverberated through War-Leader Pagash’s brain. He was beginning to think, maybe finding the unguarded storeroom of Dwarven beer wasn’t so lucky. In fact maybe they had been meant to find it. In fact now he thought about it, the warrior who had found it was rather short and a funny shade of green.

The outnumbered Dwarves deploy with Duffer's Bluff at their back while the Orcs emerge from the woods to attack them.

They jogged towards the dwarves, every step jolting both his head and stomach.

Both armies charged towards each other. The Dwarves thought their only salvation lay in taking the fight to the enemy and crushing them quickly

“Charge”, he groaned. Most of the orcs lurched forward. Off to his good hitting hand-side he saw the unit lead by Uggran Gutwretcher come to a halt, as Uggran lived up to his name, curling up and discharging from every orifice, in a spectacular and messy display.

The Dwarves were right! The enemy general fell wounded and most of the rest ran away.

They clashed into the dwarven line and he raised his shield to ward off an axe. As the axe struck it forced the shield back onto his head and bringing with it sweet oblivion.

With the Orcish general fallen, the Dwarves made short work of the rest and were soon lined  up to tackle the Wolf Riders, the last remaining Orcish unit.

“Did we wi……”, his sentence trailed off, as he looked at the bedraggled band of orcs gathered around him. This was going to need all of Pug Mangleson’s wordskills to make this one sound good. Maybe he’d better kill a few of his rivals as they were recovering, he thought, as he got to his feet and felt for his dagger.

Steve had really poor luck in this game. His general fell early in the conflict and his Orcs really did not want to close with the Dwarves at all. The war will continue in the Autumn.

Summer 992 - Battle at the Flaming Woods

"What's this place here?"
"Where?"
"There, just under that ale stain you left on the map."
"Oh there. That's Northern Tropilium. They annexed Hykar in the Spring."
"Really? Oh dear. I don't like the sound of that. Don't we have some Hykari in the army somewhere?"
"Yes, your majesty. A detachment of Hykari cavalry led by a rather wild girl called Barbax."
"Ah, right. Yes, she was something to do with that Brethren plot, eh?"
"Not precisely. She was chasing that Brethren chap, who tried stealing The Spear."
"Oh yes, that's right. What did she want with him?"
"I think it was a misunderstanding about the title Father in the brethren."
"Oh, ok. Why did they send him against us? As I recall, he was nice but dim."
"Yes, your majesty. He completely failed to escape and solve the diplomatic problem he created by getting captured. It was all rather awkward. He's running a preceptory up north now."
"Ah, good. Not too much damage he can do there. Are our spies looking after him properly?"
"Yes, your majesty."
"Very good. Now, about Northern Tropilium. It's just not done, you know, attacking our allies. I think we need to teach them a lesson."
And that is how foreign policy is made in Treyine.

The Tropilium army realises just how outnumbered they really are.

The Tropilium army does a rapid about face and disappears into the edge of the woods while their cavalry try to flank the Treyine army

The Treyine army advances rapidly to bow range before the archers place their stakes in front of them. A detachment of archers wheels to face the enemy cavalry and annihilates the light cavalry. Meanwhile a unit of mercenary Eskelin knights races across to contain any attempt to move around the Treyine flank by the enemy cavalry.

As Treyine cavalry races across the battlefield, Treyine archers open up on the Tropilium infantry and draw them out of the woods.

With nothing left of tactical finesse in their arsenal, the Tropilium army charges the Treyine archers and is repulsed with heavy losses. The Treyine cavalry is now deployed on the Tropilium flank.

And the battle ends with a charge and a rain of arrows. Northern Tropilium sues for peace.

"Your majesty, I have the envoy from Northern Tropilium here. He wishes to broker a peace treaty with us. It would appear that they wish to gift us one of their provinces in return for the extensive military training we have given them."
"Very good. Sort it out then, would you? I have a game of croquet this afternoon and dare not be late. The Queen has organised it on behalf of the Ekran Orphans Fund."

I cannot remember at what point the Tropilium commander was wounded, but it was certainly early on. This hampered the Tropilium effort, although Steve reckons he made a couple of errors that handed the battle to Treyine. The funniest thing was seeing him turn his infantry about face and march away from my battle line on the first turn of the game. I don't think Tropilium really stood a chance in this one as Treyine was able to cut them down with bowfire before slicing and dicing them from the flank.

Summer 992 - Campaign Update

Spring was brutal and bloody on all accounts. The Orcs lost territory to Treyine and sued for peace. Altengard continued its war with Capalan and severely mauled the Capalan army. Mirish annihilated the Black Moon Elves of Gorath. Tereken invaded Mirholme, capturing a province and killing the great Mirholmen hero, Hedin Silkybeard in the process. Can Mirholme fight its way back from this defeat?

With the coming of Summer and planting out of the way, it looks like everyone's blood is up. Suddenly there is practically nowhere that is not at war with someone else!

Continuing Wars
Altengard invades Capalan
Mangu invades Stygustan
Tereken invades Mirholme

New Wars
The Abyss invades Bal-a-Tor
Naz-Goth invades Bal-a-Tor
Treyine invades Northern Tropilium
Valkae invades Altengard

The Altengard high command decides to defend their territory against the Valkae invaders, leaving Capalan alone to regroup over the summer. This means that the Capalan League will be on the offensive against Altenguard in the autumn.

Bal-a-Tor chooses to split its army and defend both of its provinces:
Army 1 versus Naz-Goth led by their normal general (WR 3)
1 Crossbows
2 Soldiers
2 Servants of Null

Army 2 versus The Abyss led by a subordinate general (WR 2 increased to 3 because of the Hero)
2 Soldiers
1 Disciples of Null
1 Servants of Null
1 Hero (ET, TER, WR1, Melee, Rep8, AC6)

N.B. The rules do not cover who leads armies when you split them. It seems too harsh to leave an army leaderless (WR 1), so the army will have a base WR 2, unless the extra general is killed.

Talomir - Summer 992

Spring 992 - Battle for Crater Lake

This was the battle between Mirholme and the invading forces of Tereken. Once again I'm trying a slightly different style of report. This battle was characterized by absolutely horrible dice rolls for Mirholme. They basically rolled high when they needed low and vice versa.

Gunnar Broadaxe led from the front, as vikings are wont to do, while King Harold sent his General, Lord Uhtred (thanks Bernard Cornwell) to conquer his implacable foe.

You can see here Godwin made 7 of 13 dice, Hedin 2 of 14!?!

Although they won, Tereken took a beating as well. In the pursuit all of the Mirholme forces recovered, I did not roll for Hedin as he was killed in heroic combat.