Autumn 988 - The Eastern Border Kingdoms

The messenger entered the King's chamber in a hurry, but still performed the usual obeisances.

"Sire," he began, "I bring news from the Border Kingdoms. The Brethren have invaded in the west and subdued the land. The Goblins have invaded in the east. The Border Kingdoms are no more."

The messenger continued his tale hastily as the King looked intently at him. "Sire, I observed all as you had instructed. The Border Kingdoms army was decimated by the Brethren onslaught. They clearly knew that they could not hold the Brethren out and retreated from that battle with the remnants of their force. Perhaps young van der Walk thought he could hold the Goblins off more easily. I saw them deploy on the open plain where the Goblins caught them. The witch summoned a demon to assault the Goblins at the start of the battle. Its first pass caused the enemy skirmishers to flee but the infantry held steady."



"The Goblins were clearly incensed by the demon's presence and lost their minds for they charged heedless at their foes. Their assault was strong but the Border Kingdoms infantry held them off for a while. It was unfortunate that young van der Walk died in the first clash of arms. His presence might have secured a better outcome for his people. There were not many goblins left at the end of the battle, and all of those knew they had fought that day."



"I rode here as fast as I could after the battle to report to you, and I suspect many refugees will approach our borders before long too."

Edward IV of Treyine sat back and looked at the messenger with satisfaction. He indicated that the man should leave and turned to his counsellors.

"So, the Goblins appear to be working with the Brethren. Strange bedfellows indeed. I foresee an advantage in this, once we have dealt with those meddlesome witches from Hykar."

This battle went pretty much as expected, although I feel that I gave a good account of myself against the Goblin hordes. Had I not forgotten that the Goblins had the Frenzy attribute, I might even have done better. I forced enemy threat tests on the Goblins at the wrong moment and did not get to use my wizard again after that. I should have cast first and threatened afterwards. Still, it was not as lopsided a game as the fight between Tropilium and Treyine. The question is, what shall I do with all my nicely painted Border Kingdoms troops now?

Autumn 988 - Brethren in Arms

Luther van der Walk was pleased that the Brethren had chosen to invade. Now he would prove his worth and crush them. The battlefield was constrained by two woods, so he would be able to concentrate his best forces in the centre while leaving the rank and file to secure the flanks with the aid of these natural obstacles.



Seeing the enemy deployed in similar fashion, he directed his wizard, Endora Henbane, to target the enemy general with a blast of mystic power. She obliged and Brethren General Miles Gloriosus exploded in a fountain of blood and guts that caused his entire unit to bolt forward. Despite the loss of their general, the remainder of the army was unperturbed. With the general dead, Luther was convinced that victory would be easy. While his main body stood still, he orderd the skirmishers forward into the woods to secure them against the enemy skirmishers.



With that the enemy began to advance piecemeal. This would be even easier than he had thought. Brethren knights and sergeants charged his position, leaving their less impetuous comrades behind. Seeing a chance to remove some of the enemy threat, Luther led his cavalry forward in a charge against the advancing knights. They were sore hurt already but the fight went against Luther and his cavalry were driven back. A panicked cavalryman grabbed Luther's bridle.

"My lord, they are too strong for us." So saying the cavalryman turned Luther's horse around despite his protests and fled for the rear. Luther's horse bolted with the rest of the cavalry and suddenly Borderers were streaming to the rear on all sides.



A few lone units fought on, struggling to stem the tide of the advancing Brethren.



It was useless. They were isolated and cut down by the faster Brethren sergeants, leaving only a few spearmen to retreat. Many more were cut down in the pursuit.



This battle saw the Wizard killing the Brethren general in the first turn; yet another example of Steve's fabled ability to throw sixes at the wrong moment. Unfortunately, the Border Kingdoms cavalry, with their general, routed in the first melee they fought. This left the borderers much weakened and unable to coordinate their defence properly. The Brethren mounted troops were able to waltz around the Borderers and pick them apart at will after that.

The Border Kingdoms lost a territory and their morale collapsed so they surrendered to the Brethren. I wonder if there will be a Border Kingdom after the Goblin invasion in their other territory?

Losses:
Border Kingdoms
1 Retinue Cavalry
4 Borderers
2 Skirmishers

The Brethren had no permanent losses.

The Border Kingdoms Reborn

For the past two years, the Border Kingdoms have been governed by the Brethren (see HERE for details) . That rule has now come to an end because the scions of the noble houses are now of age to take charge. The armies of the Border Kingdom will no longer march in the black and white of the Brethren, but will ride to battle in their young lords' colours instead.

The leading family of the Border Kingdoms is the van der Walk family. Gunther van der Walk was the third son of a minor Altengardian family, with little chance of inheriting his father's estates. He sought adventure in the east and carved out a kingdom for himself by force of arms. Now it is his son's turn to prove that he has what it takes to keep hold of that kingdom. Luther van der Walk is a real fire-eater. He set out to prove himself from an early age and is renowned for his strength and courage. Were it not for the law of the land, he might well have seized the reigns of power before now.

Gilbert de Beauvriere is the son of Drogo de Beauvriere, a young knight of Ekra when he joined the crusade into what became the Border Kingdoms. Gilbert is a more contemplative sort than Luther, but is known to be competent with arms and willing to fight. His father carved out his province like Gunther van der Walk did but his reign was characterised by more of an emphasis on administration than on beating up Goblins.

Childebert de Valons is the youngest of the three rulers. He relies much on the advice of his uncles to rule his province and is clearly perceived to be the weakest of the three. He is a spindly bookish man with little zest for warfare, but his theories on agriculture are likely to ensure that any province he rules will prosper and become wealthy. Unfortunately, in the recent unpleasantness he was forced to cede his territory to Treyine; ploughshares are not particularly useful against swords. He harbours a grudge against the Brethren, who were supposed to maintain the security of this area until he came of age.

The army of the Border Kingdoms consists of a mix of cavalry and infantry troops. The lords' personal retinues march to battle in their colours and are supported by a citizen militia with more taste for battle than many. The Borderers' primary weapon is the spear, but many are also familiar with the use of the crossbow.

The Borders Army Arrayed (click for a larger version)


The Lords of the Border Kingdoms are:
Lord Luther van der Walk (WR 4)
Lord Gilbert de Beauvriere (WR 3)
Lord Childebert de Valons (WR 2) (currently in exile)

It will be interesting to see if the Brethren willingly relinquish their hold on the Border Kingdoms next year.

I had originally intended to use a Norman army for the Border Kingdoms, although it is given an historical equivalent of Fuedal French in the rule book. However, I had a bunch of Wars of the Roses figures that needed painting, so I have used them as an interim force for this army. The liveried figures are painted in the livery of Sir Henry Grey, Lord Grey of Codnor, who fought on the side of the Yorkists at Tewkesbury in 1471. I made the banners and standards on my computer. I am not sure that the leader figure's standard is exactly correct, but it works well enough to suit me and I very much doubt that many people will know any better either! I do plan to replace this force with a Norman army when Baccus finally produce one, but these will suffice until that day.

The Border Kingdom

The Border Kingdoms are just that, a group of allied kingdoms on the border between humanity and the humanoid hordes. It was once a part of Zog-Rot, the Goblin lands, but the Brethren led a crusade northwards to drive the goblins back from the borders of humanity. Now it is a wild kingdom on the frontier where any adventurer with nerves of steel and a strong sword arm can carve small kingdom of his own from the land. The Border Kingdoms' nobility is largely composed of adventurers, who have braved the dangers of this lawless frontier to establish a new kingdom. Naturally, the Ekrans with their long family lineages look down on the Borderers as common upstarts. The Treyine have a more pragmatic view and recognise the toughness of the Borderers, occasionally recruiting units of them into their own army. The Borderers are indeed a tough breed. They need to be, because they are constantly being raided by the Goblins of Zog-Rot over the border. Of course, the Borderers also regularly raid the Goblins too. After all, fair's fair!

The Border Kingdoms function like a city state, with all collective decisions being made by a council of the leading nobles in the country. Without the agreement of the majority of the ruling council, no laws can be enacted and the country may not go to war. However, due to national emergency brought about by the assassination of many of the ruling council, the Brethren have been asked to govern on behalf of the Border Lords until the Lords' children achieve their majority.

Most common Borderers favour the spear as their weapon of choice. The nobility are not rich here, so they do not have the same armour as their cousins in Ekra and Treyine. Likewise, they cannot afford to maintain similar numbers of retinue troops. They tend to wear older armour and wield halberds alongside their subjects. What little cavalry the Borderers have is not as heavy or as well barded as the Ekran or Treyine cavalry, but it is more than a match for the Goblin cavalry that they usually fight.

No pictures of the 6mm Borderers at the moment. The main (non-game) reason the Border Kingdoms are being governed by the Brethren is that I have not yet painted the Border Kingdoms army. The rulers of the Border Kingdom will come of age when I finally paint it. I do have some 6mm figures to use for this army, but I wanted to model it on the Norman army of the 11th century rather than a later army. This is why the 28mm figures I have for it are Normans.