Spring 996 - Stygustan vs N. Tropilium - Fugam Abolita

Since my flight yesterday was canceled I thought I'd get off the stick and play out my battle. This one went quick.

Northern Tropilium never really had a chance. They need to get up close and personal and that just doesn't work in the teeth of heavy bow fire. Add to that a Minor Demon and you've got real trouble. Surprisingly the army shrugged off the Leader Lost check after the generals unit evaporated, I didn't even bother to roll for Leader at Risk. If Priapus Harmonius had been on the other side things might have been different. Once the general was lost I didn't have enough War Rating to do much.

The Archers, both Auxiliaries and one Legion were lost in the pursuit. Not that it matters as I think North Tropilium has been completely conquered.

Let's see if I can make it on a plane today.

Riots in the Streets of Tropilium!

Swordplay will be released next week. The soccer rules, playable in 15 minutes and only use d6, can be found here. I have "stated" out all the teams in Talomir and am playing a Talomir Cup Soccer rules.

Autumn 995 - The Cliffs of Xobeohs

This battle was a lot of back and forth. It was mainly a contest between the Chariots of Stygustan and the Clibnarii of Northern Tropilium. They would ride up to within bow range, draw fire and be forsced to retire in turn. The magic advantage of Stygustan was huge as they were allowed to cast with impunity and to fairly good effect. The terrain really squeezed the battle to a very small area in the middle, which should have benefited Northern Tropilium. See what you think.

Comic Life 3 came through in the end but I had a few instances of it crashing unexpectedly as I started. Hope you all enjoyed it. The armies are still semi painted,  one day I will finish them (and the terrain).

Dragon! Rogue Dragon Over the Northern Marches

The troops watched in awe and fear as the enormous beast flew lazily in the sky.

“What is it doing, Caster?” asked the General. “What is it waiting for?”

The old magic-user watched in silence and thought back to his younger days. Far too many springs to count, he thought. Back to when he had seen his first dragon. He shook his head and replied.

“Who can say? Dragons do what they want, when they want, and none can figure them out.”

“Can we kill it?” asked the General.

“Perhaps we can; or perhaps it will tire of the fight and fly away. Or perhaps we will all perish. Better to prepare for the worse and hope for the best.”

Gracefully the dragon made a wide, sweeping arc, towards the army as it had before. But this time it was different. This time its massive wings beat fast and it began to pick up speed.

The fight was on!

When you’re facing a dragon, best played as a Non-Player, we need to determine how it will act. Will it melee or fly over your army attacking with its breath? When will it leave, if ever? Here’s how we do it:

Dragons in RRtK

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Here's what happened:

Each activation I rolled on the NP Dragon Test to see what the dragon would do. It continued to fly over the Tropilium line breathing fire and death on units at random. As long as there are more units than the Rep of the dragon it will  fly over, breathing fire, and weakening the enemy. Until there are less units than the Dragon Rep or...

It rolls three or more "ones" on the NP Dragon Test. Then it acts as if it has more Rep than enemy units and attacks the opposing unit with the highest Rep, the leader. It did, so it attacked. The first round of melee was a draw and more Tropilium units surrounded the dragon, who left after taking 3 hits.

After a few more rounds of fire breathing it rolled three ones again and went back to the attack, eventually chasing off the leader and routing off quite a few opposing units.

But for each hit the dragon takes that's one less d6 it rolls on the test. It rolled zero successes (a score of 1, 2 or 3) and that means the dragon flies off. This meant that the few battered units left on the field could claim a victory.

My guess is that if the dragon had stuck around for two more turns it would have won.

I like this new procedure with the NP Dragon Test as it allows for the dragon to behave in a Non-Player way. I realized this was necessary because if I had played the dragon there wouldn't be much of a battle. AC 8 meant few hits from missile fire, if any and I would spend the whole time flying over and breathing fire on the units until they all routed.

"Are you seeing what I'm seeing?"

Coming soon!

North Troplium versus the Rogue Dragon

No Love Lost - Tropilium Blood Flows

"Ha ha ha!" the Mirish Prince laughed loudly. " How can we lose? The Tropilium fools kill one another while we relax."

General Pereira kept quiet as the Prince continued to laugh. "Fools like him cause these wars and we fight them," he thought to himself.

"General! Why so serious?"

"Sorry, sire,"Pereira lied. "I have much to do for your Father and little time to do it. If I may take my leave."

"Yes, yes," the Prince replied with a hand gesture.

"Oh yes, sire. The Tropilium army was victorious."

"It does not matter, general," the Prince had already moved on his next conquest, the new girl in his Harem. As Pereira bowed and left the Prince thought to himself..."That man must be dealt with and soon."

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This battle was between the Northern Tropilium army and a slightly larger Tropilium force. More than half of the table contained gullies and the Northern Tropilium army used one of them to anchor their right flank.

The plan was to absorb the first Tropilium attack then counter-attack with fresh troops.

 The battle opens with ballistae fire doing damage to the Northern Tropilium right flank. This was followed up by a Blast spell causing the opposing ballistae to flee.

The Northern Tropilum wizard countered with a blast of his own forcing the Tropilium ballistae to stop firing.
The damage from the attack was so great that the Northern Tropilium commander decided it would be best to get stuck in than to allow the fire to continue unabated.

 The two lines met and the fighting was particularly brutal. Both sides kept rolling at least one "1" so they stood in melee for multiple turns.

Finally when both sides simultaneously routed the Northern Tropilium line fled with the bloodied Tropilium units standing their ground. Meanwhile the commanders of both sides maneuvered to the flank and engaged in  melee. Sadly the Northern Tropilium commander retired and the rout was on.

 The newly reinforced Tropilium infantry charged the terrified Northern Tropilium second class infantry who fled on contact.
Luckily the Tropilium army had suffered enough casualties to shorten the pursuit with the North Troplilum army losing only a ballistae.

Northern Tropilum Sunset

The view outside of General Pereira's tent.

"Damn him! Does he not ever lose!" the Prince asked to no one in particular.
"He is competent sire," the adviser replied. "The army has become quite fond of him."
"Fools led by spoils no doubt," the Prince said. "Pereira is becoming  a bit of a problem. I fear he may be outliving his usefulness."
"True my Lord, but Treyine grows stronger each day."
"Treyine is led by a dolt who comes from a  long line of dolts no doubt," spat the Prince. "And this Badenhorst? Can he be trusted?"
"Can any mercenary?"
"Then can he be turned to do our bidding if needed?"
The adviser shook his head. "I do not believe so. He and Pereira have a history of sorts."
"Fine, then send for Rashid, I may have need of his services."
"But sire, if Treyine..."
The Prince cut him off with a glare. "Do not overstep your role ...adviser. I said, get me Rashid.

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 Northern Troplium was the attacker and terrain was clear except for a fordable river between the two armies. Significantly outnumbered the  Tropiliumites  chose a Static Defense with archers and engines to the front and supported by the melee troops. The newly appointed general was in the rear with the cavalry.

Mirish started with the Casters flinging fireballs at the engine who fired back but caused little damage. The Mirish army, missile troops to the front moved to the edge of the river and both sides  getting into a shooting match.

 Outnumbered the Tropiliumites saw their missile troops run from the continuous fire of archery and fire balls.  As this was happening the two cavalry wings were entering the river in hopes of outflanking the Tropilium forces.

 The Tropilium general shifted his second line to the right and charged at the head of his cavalry as the Mirish cavalry was still in the river. Brilliant plan but terrible execution ( and dice). The two cavalry forces fought at the river banks to a standstill. 

As the second Mirish caster was taken to the rear with exhaustion Shazam the Magnificent fired off another fireball, this time into an auxillary unit, which broke and ran. As the whole Mirish line entered the river the cavalry on the left broke the Tropilium cavalry who routed away. The Tropilium general fought valiantly receiving three wounds on the same turn.

The Tropilium infantry stood their ground and was charged by the victorious Mirish cavalry. After a vicious fight they also routed. As the enemy elephants rose up from the river the Northern Tropilium army dissolved.

 

The Mirish pursuit, aided by the overall low morale of the  Tropliumites, was devastating. 2 Legionaries, 2 Auxillaries and the engine were lost.

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.

Spring 992 - The Battle of Thelwell's End

Thelwell's End was a place of little interest to the casual voyeur of scenery. It had nothing but low rolling steppes as far as the eye could see, which was a long way because these plains had been scoured clear of all tall vegetation by years of wind. It was perfect cavalry country, and Hardecg Legbiter intended to make best possible use of it. The Northern Tropilium army had been caught napping and was now trying to form up as Hardecg ordered her left wing to move around the flank of the Tropilium army.

 Her right wing, including herself would hold for now, awaiting the inevitable onslaught of the Tropilium clibanarii, although that seemed slow in coming. They were remarkably reluctant to charge.

 As her left wing dealt with the enemy skirmishers, Hardecg's confidence grew.

 She called out orders and her wing advanced on the Tropilium cavalry, who were still reluctant to charge. With wild yells and howls her girls raced forward, ribbons streaming out from the ponies' manes and tails.

 A hail of arrows and javelins soon cleared the clibanarii out of the way. The Tropilium general had detached a couple of forlorn hopes to slow her down, but her girls were in position now to harass the main body of the Tropilium army.

 Her left flank surrounded the forlorn hope there as the main body of the Tropilium army broke the square formation it had adopted. Unfortunately the forlorn hope on her right flank seemed to be made of sterner stuff. She last saw it pursing two cohorts of her ponygirls as they routed from the field rather than face the Legionaries' steel.

 Seeing that she needed to do something drastic, Hardecg ordered her bodyguard to charge the flank of the nearest Tropilium legionary unit. She was sure that the unit would break and run and that she could roll up the flank of the Tropilium troops before disaster struck. Too late. The unit held, her own bodyguard was repulsed with heavy losses, and it all went downhill from there. Soon her bodyguard was fleeing from the field, and only a few of the ponygirls remained to harass the enemy.

Hykar was lost. Northern Tropilium was victorious. However, the Brazier of Durmun was also lost. No one knew who took it or where it will resurface.

Hmm, so, totally flat terrain to suit the cavalry. I easily stripped Steve's cavalry and skirmishers away, but his infantry were a tougher proposition. I could not charge them and he had them in a square formation that provided mutual support to front and back, leaving only a narrow flank to harass. The real problem came with my formation. My troops needed a second rank to max out the bonuses for reaction checks. Unfortunately, this also meant that any time the front rank had to retire, the second rank routed for being interpenetrated by a retiring unit. I lost a large chunk of my army to this mechanism. Once my troops started taking casualties I had to move them into single lines, which further weakened them, but at least I was able to not lose completely fresh units. Breaking up the Tropilium infantry proved very difficult because my troops decided that they did not like being faced by enemy units that could threaten them. They did not like being charged either. Having only a WR of 2 seriously hampered my efforts to keep my troops together too. Still, it was a good game and I shall now repurpose the Hykar army either as Valkae cavalry or perhaps as Mangu. I like the idea of the Mangu army because it has a larger core of heavy cavalry as well as the Rep5 elite light cavalry. They should perform much better than the Hykar did.