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.

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.

Autumn 991 - The Battle of DunDunDoomb

The Black Moon Dwarven kingdom of Bal-a-Tor was sick of the sanctimonious preaching of their Red Sun neighbours, the Dwarven Kingdom of Drum, so they did what any other Dwarven nation would do: they invaded them. The plains of DunDunDoomb on the border of Drum were flat with a few small hills and both armies deployed in the open ground. The Drummers had their soldiers on the left and in the centre with their crossbowdwarves on the right. The Bal-a-Tories had their soldiers on the right with the Servants of Null to their left and their crossbowdwarves on the far left.

The battle began with the whole Drum army advancing while the Bal-a-Tories detached their crossbowdwarves to skirmish on the left.

While the rest of the Bal-a-Tor army advanced at a steady pace the Servants of Null charged forward, just failing to make contact with the Drum army, which quickly charged into contact with them. The Bal-a-Tory crossbowdwarves were dispatched swiftly by the Drum crossbowdwarves.

Then the two main battle lines clashed. The Drummers took heavier casualties but their superior discipline held, while the Bal-a-Tories had their line broken up by retreating troops. The Servants of Null managed to drive off one of the Drum crossbowdwarf units.

As the Drum crossbowdwarves advanced behind the enemy line, the battle heated up. The Drummers were taking heavy casualties but it was the Bal-a-Tories whose discipline was not holding and several units were driven back or routed.

Then the Bal-a-Tory general was driven off and several of his units went with him. Only the Servants of Null and an isolated soldier unit remained. Victory looked assured for Drum.

Unfortunately it was not to be. The isolated Drum unit was fresh and on the flank of the remains of the Drum line. It charged and rolled up the line, routing the Drum general in the process. The remainder of the Drum army decided that enough was enough and fled as fast as their little stumpy legs could carry them.

Victory went to the Bal-a-Tor army. It had taken very heavy casualties but it held the field and was able to march on the capital of Drum immediately. The nation of Drum was no more.