Summer 995 - The Battle of Craggy Bluffs

Mirish ignored the incursion of the Black Moon Army to focus on decisively defeating The Abyss. It might be said that the Black Moon Army and The Abyss were equally bad and this decision to focus on defeating one in detail was wise. Would events bear this out, or would the military planners of Mirish have egg on their faces by the end of the year?

The Mirish army deployed with skirmishers on each flank. Their centre comprised a front rank with shock troops including their elephants and a rear rank with still more shock troops including all their cataphracts and clibanarii.

The Mirish army advanced quickly with the right flank to threaten the pitifully small quantity of undead, who had deployed with all their infantry together and a small cavalry reserve.

 As the Mirish army advanced, the undead sounded the charge. They had but one hope: to drive through the centre of the Mirish army and defeat the general. It began well as the cavalry reserve saw off one unit of skirmishers and the infantry routed one unit of elephants and their supporting infantry, although the ghouls were driven back in the process.

However, their efforts were not enough. They drove off the elephants and piled into the cavalry behind, routing two units, but the damage they took in the process reduced the undead to nothing, leaving only their general behind. He was soon surrounded by cavalry and skirmishers, and was cut down in short order. The undead cavalry drove the Mirish skirmishers back once more, but they rallied, surrounded the undead cavalry and cut them down.

In the pursuit, the Mirish army caught and cut to ribbons one unit of ghouls and one unit of zombies. With only one province left and only three units in their army, The Abyss must surely surrender. But no, I rolled a double 1 and they chose to continue the war even though it must surely mean their utter annihilation. One can only think that the Necromancer has a greater plan than mere territorial domination.

Spring 995 - The Mirish Invasion of The Abyss

The Mirish Empire was in ebullient mood and had decided to eradicate those desiccated old sticks in The Abyss as part of their plan to make Talomir better by making all Talomir be like Mirish. The Abyss had other ideas and deployed with their right flank anchored on a large hill with a stagnant lake in front of it. The Mirish army was deployed on the plain in front of them.

Mirish advanced, leading with the elephants and infantry. Their light cavalry refused the right flank and their skirmish infantry advanced to attempt to sweep around the Undead flank. The Abyssal general with his cavalry rode to meet the Mirish skirmishers. The rest of the Abyssal army advanced at full speed, putting their hope in their ability to reach and kill the enemy general before they were all destroyed. Actually, as Undead they had no hope, so perhaps that was the problem.

As the Undead advanced, the Mirish light cavalry bore swiftly down on their left flank. The Undead skirmishers sought to stay their advance but failed, being blasted and destroyed by a coven of wizards. The Undead general rode his cavalry through the enemy skirmishers on the right and drove off two thirds of them but the cavalry were grievously hurt in the process. The Mirish skirmishers were too accurate with their slings and Undead bones were broken with too great ease. In the centre, the Undead front rank carved up the Mirish elephants with consummate ease, although the Riatan mercenaries thought better of their presence here and headed for the nearest pub.

At this point the melee devolved into the usual ruck. Mirish cavalry were driven back and routed but Undead bones were not numerous enough to absorb the punishment that they received. It was a battle of attrition and Mirish had greater numbers. They had taken severe casualties, but it was the Undead whose bones littered the field at the end of the day. Mirish had won and the Undead were driven from their homelands. They still had territory, but their morale had taken a beating and they had lost more than half their army in the battle and subsequent pursuit. Despite this they remain a threat and will continue the war next season.

Summer 994 - Dead Walkers of the Mountain Tarn

In an uplands valley in the former nation of Naz Goth, the Treyine army faced the invading undead hordes. They anchored their right flank on a hill with a mountain tarn beside it and deployed their archers behind stakes. The Abyssal general deployed his outnumbered troops on a hill, seeking whatever advantage he might gain from that.

Undead to bottom of photo, Treyine to top

 The Treyine general launched his meager cavalry force on the flanks first and the undead redeployed their skirmishers to harass the Treyine troops.

This did not last long as the Eskelin knights on the Undead left flank rode over both the Undead archers and the ghouls that were supporting them. They pursued the routing ghouls out of the valley. On the right flank, the Hykar cavalry sought to turn the Undead flank, but wound up fleeing instead. Seeing this, Sir Geoffrey Chambers charged the White Company knights into the Undead cavalry and promptly decided that he preferred discretion to valour.

Charging back into the fray, the Eskelin knights were driven back once more, their horses blown and their will to fight almost eradicated. The Treyine infantry left the safety of their stakes and marched forward.

The fight for the hill was short. The Undead routed half a dozen units of Treyine archers but were no match for the better armed and armoured infantry and knights that stood behind them. The Undead infantry were destroyed and only their cavalry and centaurs remained. The Undead cavalry began a charge that ended with half a dozen more Treyine units routed, but then they paused at the wrong moment and were caught by the Treyine general. His charge destroyed them quickly, while the Treyine archers feathered the centaurs with more arrows than they had bodies for. The battle was over.

In the pursuit, the Undead lost their cavalry, centaurs, zombies and a unit of ghouls. These losses caused Undead morale to crash and they immediately sued for peace.

This was a fun game to play, and I was particularly pleased with the Undead cavalry. They wrought havoc wherever they went, but I think the end was never really in doubt. A combination of low Rep and low numbers meant that the Undead would have to be really clever and lucky to defeat Treyine. Had the numbers on each side been equal, however, ...

Spring 994 - Orkerdammerung

The Undead army had little to say for itself. The Necromancer deployed his melee troops on the right and his skirmishers on the left, ready to swarm around the woods in the middle of the battlefield. The Orc army matched his deployment.

Deployment (Undead at bottom of picture looking a bit like Goblins)

 Both armies advanced as expected with the skirmishers quickly coming to blows.

As the skirmishers met, they quickly realised that the Orc skirmish line included a unit of main battle wolfriders, who saw off their opponents very quickly.

Steve reveals his cunning plan: pretend that a unit of wolfriders is skirmishers and manoeuvre them like that until they met the enemy in battle, then feign confusion about their true nature! :)

 While the skirmishers were destroying each other, the main battle lines met. The Orcs were pushed back while the Undead stood their ground. This was going to be a battle of attrition.

The battle rages as Orcs are pushed back and Undead stand steadfastly

Orcs start to rout but the undead line is close to falling apart

In the end most of the Undead were destroyed but the Orc commander fled with his unit and the rest of his army followed.

The aftermath. All that remained of the Undead

This was a real slugfest. Both armies stood and took a pounding. My poor rolling on the attack might have contributed to this but it really game down to the wire as the Undead Fanatic status counted for more than the Orcish higher Rep. Naz-Goth is no more and Steve must choose another nation to lead to defeat. The Book of the Hungry Moon has been temporarily lost in the Orc rout. It will reappear in Winter 994.

Autumn 993 - The Battle of the Buried Bones

Pagash the Mighty Belcher looked back and wondered at what could have been. Around him his Orcish army fled in disarray. It had all started badly. He was going to have to kill his nephew, Woben, for organising a mealtime meeting with the Undead.
His stomach still lurched every time he thought about it. Why had he gone along with the idea of having a treaty with them? In the end he’d had to declare war on them, despite the fact they had nothing he wanted in their land. Had it been the necromancer clouding his mind? Now he thought about it, it must have been. The initial part had gone well, with his army taking position on the high ground, while the skirmishers and wolfboys had moved around the sides. Then a charge into the centre.

The Orcs charge while the Necromancer fails to summon more troops to aid him. The skirmishers retreat in the face of the Orcish charge. Meanwhile the Orcs seek to envelope the Undead.

Unfortunately the skirmishers had run off at the first sign of trouble. R’Nuld, his cousin, there was another one he was going to have to speak to, preferably after pulling his tongue through a hole in his neck. In the centre, the Undead had proved tougher than he’d thought. Slowly his Orcs had begun to flee the battle, but he could still have won, he was sure.

The Orcs start to flag as the Undead cavalry fall on the Orcish right flank (Those undead look suspiciously like Goblins! Treachery!!), but they still hold their own and take their toll on the Undead too.

Then the Wargs had run off to bury the bones of their opponents. This left him alone in the battle and numbers told. Even worse he had been forced to leave behind the wizard Pawdanyas and the hideous D’Beemagy. Not that they had ever been any use, other than for parties. He’d also probably lose less money at card as well.

Surrounded, the Orcish general uses his own troops as a shield. The Necromancer with his cavalry is nearly spent, but a unit of zombies has closed with the Orcs and chomps its way through the meagre fare that is the Orcish brain.

Still back home now to prepare for the upcoming invasion.

This was an interesting game. The Undead wizard failed miserably to cast any spells successfully. I had planned to use him to reinforce my army by summoning more skeleton warriors to my side. Total failure. Fortunately, a combination of the Terror attribute and the Fanatic attribute kept the undead in the battle long enough to rout the Orcs. With the way my dice were rolling, and the failure of my general to inflict casualties on the Orcs, despite my best efforts and multiple substitutions of dice, it was just as well that I managed to get a fresh unit of zombies into the fray. That made all the difference.

One unit of Orcish warriors and the Orcish mage were captured in the pursuit.

Autumn 992 - Battle of Shady Palms

The undead army continued its advance through the Dwarven countryside and cornered the remains of it's army in a wooded valley.  The Dwarves set up in a classic hammer and anvil manner while the undead having out outmaneuvered them set up to try and counter this.  Wearz Meskin now understood how his army fought and had discovered that terror was his strongest ally today.

The set up.

 Deciding that a swift brutal stroke was required, the cavalry charged the crossbow unit in the hope that they could do some damage and damage they did, the crossbow passed 0d6 on their being charged roll (5,6) causing them to rout and the cavalry chose not to pursue.

 Following the dwarven battle plan, they advanced up the centre.

 The undead needed to rely of terror and unfortunately for the soldiers a double 5 on their being charge test caused them to rout while the last remaining soldier unit halted while the servants and the hero counter charged.

 Hits flowed back and forward as all bar the ghouls that had taken hits were all fanatic so they jst remained in the battle.

 The ghouls had decided to extend the line to the left which while was successful in removing the servants of null on the right, did allow the other ghoul unit to fail its test and rout.

 Only the hero remains and while the archers may have been able to catch him, they couldn't charge him so they allowed him to flee the battlefield.

The dwarven hero managed to move far enough away that he wasn't going to be stopped. 

Thoughts on the game - Terror played a big part in this game, with unlucky die rolls for the soldiers compounding this.  The low rep of the undead units has made them brittle and against larger armies I think the army will struggle as units will evaporate rather quickly but it will be an enjoyable journey. 

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.