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.

Spring 991 - The Battle of Dragon Downs

Umbellifera Cruciferox was a patient dragon, as dragons understood these things, but the noise of the neighbours was too much tonight. She was trying to digest her latest meal and rest on her treasure horde. Outside the cave, a group of human horsewomen were making enough noise to wake the entire country.

"Darn these Johnny-come-lately races," she thought to herself. She was a very proper dragon and not given much to uncouth language, so this was a clear demonstration of how irked she was. It was time to remonstrate with the humans. Perhaps they would leave her in peace if she could only talk with them.

"Some of us are trying to sleep in here, you noisy humans!"

As soon as she emerged onto the hill top, the humans swarmed forwards on their ponies, ribbons blowing in the air and tried to surround her.

Pesky humans everywhere

Clearly she needed to speak to the leader of the humans. Presumably that was the one with the most ribbons on her pony that had stayed well away from the cave. So much for courage, eh.

The human leader clearly does not wish to discuss the matter

As she approached the human leader, the leader tried to attack her. That was just downright unfriendly, so Umbellifera ate some of her companions. The human leader ran away. Umbellifera tried to approach the leader, but to no avail. Most of the humans had formed a square, while their leader ran away. Oh well, time to try to talk to them instead. As she did so, they shot arrows at her. That hurt!

The humans tried to surround her and shoot her

Annoyed, Umbellifera breathed fire at the humans and scattered them

The human arrows were really starting to hurt now. Every time she tried to pin some of the humans down they melted away on their ponies and reformed around her again in a slightly different formation. She was picking them off slowly, but her wounds were starting to hurt a lot.

Surrounded and outnumbered

Eventually it was all just too much for Umbellifera. The humans had hurt her badly and she could not retreat to her cave so she took to wing and flew off in search of a quieter place to nest.

Epilogue

Hardecg Legbiter congratulated her troops on their victory over the fearsome dragon that had been terrifying the area. It was hurt badly and had been driven off. Better yet, the coffers of the nation had been enhanced by the dragon's treasure and her troops reported that they had found an ancient artefact among the loot.

"Great leader, here is the artefact. Is it not a glorious thing?"

Hardecg looked at it puzzled, "How am I meant to wear that? It looks proper uncomfortable."

Now it was the scout's turn to look puzzled, "Wear it, my leader? No you are meant to burn things in it."

"But I thought you said it was the Brassiere of Durmun," replied Hardecg disappointedly.

This was a great game. We both thought the dragon would have an easy time of it, but that proved not to be the case. Steve kept his light cavalry together so that they could not be easily routed piecemeal. This also meant that they did not rout when the dragon attacked his general and the general routed. The dragon was able to fly off the table and back on, picking at the Hykari ponygirls but Steve's use of circular and square formations gave him the best opportunity for reaction fire, bringing more shots to bear and pinning the dragon in place due to reactions. This wore the dragon down until it could no longer pass a reaction test and routed.

Summer 990 - Battle at Ford's Crossing

The Hykar army had deployed in two wings. Light cavalry were on the left flank across the river, ready to sweep around the Mirish flank and cause chaos and confusion in the Mirish ranks. Hardecg Legbiter was on the right flank with the other half of the light cavalry. Their job was to crack the Mirish nut. They would cross at the bridge and use their superior mobility to fall on the Mirish flank and rear while they were distracted by the left flank. The Mirish deployed with light infantry on their right flank and light cavalry on their left flank. Their heavy cavalry was right of centre while their elephants and ogres were left of centre.

The initial manoeuvres went well. The Hykari ponygirls were able to draw off the enemy skirmish infantry, surround them and drive them from the field at little cost to themselves. The enemy light cavalry was also drawn quickly to the right flank.
(Hykari movements marked by blue arrows and Mirish by red. For reference, the Mirish also have lighter bases. Click the pics for larger versions)


Although the enemy light cavalry was destroyed they astoundingly managed to rout a larger number of Hykari ponygirls.


With most of the Mirish light infantry destroyed and the rest about to be destroyed, the Hykari ponygirls set about harassing the Mirish Clibanarii, although enemy cataphracts managed to catch and drive from the field a unit of Hykari.
(Mirish Cataphracts are the top two stands in this photo)


With the enemy light cavalry destroyed, Hardecg Legbiter rallied her troops to her and took up position behind a hedge. The enemy sent in Ogres and Elephants at her and she drove off the first unit of elephants, who stampeded over the enemy levy infantry and destroyed them.

As the action on the Hykari right flank became more desperate, the war artist was unable to capture the images of it. In the swirling melee between the Ogres, remaining Elephants and the brave Hykari girls, Hardecg was knocked from her horse and badly wounded. Despite this, her troops fought on, but were overwhelmed without her leadership.

Meanwhile, on the left flank, two units of ponygirls remained. They had given the Mirish Clibanarii a pasting (The dice show hits. Those Clibanarii were not going to be a serious part of the fighting now with so many hits on them). The Cataphracts, who were fresh, were a different matter. Their horse rumbled slowly across the ground towards the heroic ponygirls, who decided that discretion was the better part of valour.


The result was a close-fought Mirish victory with no permanent casualties on either side. As long as the Hykar light cavalry were able to retain formation they were a serious threat to the Mirish and could have fought on. Unfortunately the loss of their leader to a freak OOF result left them scuppered. With her war rating they could have retained formation, regrouped and taken the fight to the enemy. Without her the Mirish were able to focus on smaller groups of Hykari and destroy them piecemeal. Steve's comment about the light cavalry was one of amazement at the brutality of their attacks in the early game. Clearly we are learning to use them properly now.

Spring 990 - The Plain of Unfounded Hopes

My Dearest Cedders,

It is with heavy heart and heavier belly that I must tell you the tragic news. I shall seek to join you in Treyine as soon as I can, for I have no Queendom at the moment. Do not worry though. Together we shall take back my inheritance and you shall rule at my side in Hykar. It's that Legbiter ratbag's fault, you know. She took half our army off to the south, leaving the Hykari vulnerable. I'll scratch her eyes out for that when I get my hands on her.

The Mirish army turned up in force with heffalumps and ogres and large numbers of heavy cavalry as well as infantry. We were totally outnumbered but we were dashed well going to do what we could to see them off.


As they advanced on us we took off on our ponies to ride rings round them. I sent a bunch of the girls off on to their flank and that caused some confusion while the rest of us set off to do our own bit.


They did not know what to do and were trying to send their foot troops all over the place. It's uncivilised, you know, all this running around on foot. Not for proper people. Their light cavalry was a bit rubbish too. We saw that off quickly enough.


Then came the crunch as my own bodyguard was charged by some cataphracts. We withstood the charge and gave better than we got, but could make them push off before their general joined the fray. My girls came to the rescue but were not up to the task of seeing off these oiks.


So, it was up to me to get rid of the blackguards. I think the sight of my fat ankles put them off and I soon sent them packing. Some of the girls were down but we had done more damage to them than they did to us. It was all looking so hopefully.


At that point it all went wrong. Their general charged into the flank of my bodyguard. I got a cramp in my belly and my pony bolted with the rest of the girls flying behind me. I swear I am going to eat this pony. It keeps bolting in the wrong direction at the wrong time.


That just left some of the girls on the field. I'm told they did what they could.


Jemima Neckslasher joined me after the battle. She was very full of herself. Turns out that she and some of her friends had drawn the enemy general on into their bows and turned his unit into Tropiliam cheese. He was last seen clinging to the saddle of a bolting horse as the rest of his bodyguard were fleeing as fast as they could for Mirish.


It's a shame it was too little too late. Had he fallen sooner I think we could have won, but that Mirish armour is really good stuff. With their arrows exhausted the girls could do no more than head for home, although they had certainly accounted for more of the enemy than we had lost. I am so proud of them.


So, Cedders, I have no home no and that Legbiter witch rules in the remains of Hykar. Had she not led a rebellion against me I feel sure that we would have prevailed in this battle. I hope you will forgive me that I have no more ponies to give you at the moment. Instead I must throw myself upon your mercy and ask you to take me in, a supplicant at your yurt. Please, Cedders, be kind when you see me. I know that I have not lived up to all that I should and have lost too much of Hykar, but I can still be queen again if you will help me.

Ever and always yours,
Barbax Gutripper

Spring 990 - Battle at the Old Swimming Hole

My Dearest Cedders,

I cannot understand why you are still staying in Treyine. My girls tell me that it is quite the worst hotel they have ever seen with bars on the windows and the food ... well, words cannot describe the slop they serve there. The girls tell me that you are happy there though. I don't understand it, but I am happy that you are happy. I shall come to join you as soon as I can. However, first I must deal with the girl that claims to be the true ruler of the Hykari. Pah! Hardecg Legbiter is a jumped-up wannabe. No Legbiter has ever ruled the Hykari and none ever will. Right, must go now. The Legbiter ratbag wants to use the same swimming hole as my girls and that will not do. We're off to tear their hair out.

SWALK,
Barbax, True Queen of the Hykari

Dearest Cedders,

Well, the battle went jolly well, all things considered. We were outnumbered but the area around the Old Swimming Hole is not really cavalry country.


Hardecg was really keen to get to grips with us and her girls all charged whooping and hollering as if they thought that would scare us.


Well, what a shock she had. I led my girls in a charge against her line and pretty soon had her and some of her cronies backed up against a cliff, and me in my state too. It was an education, I tell you, to see her turn white and gallop her pony off out of there followed by her bodyguard and some of her other cronies. Ha! That showed her.


Unfortunately, my girls were not all as stout-hearted as I am, and my left wing collapsed pretty quickly, although not before getting some licks in against the remaining Legbiter supporters. My right wing was a bit windy too. More cumis next time, I think.


After that it was a real whirlwing melee. I went off after the Legbiters that had seen off my right wing while the others turned on the Legbiters in the centre.


I charged some of them into the actual Swimming Hole, you know. Well, if they wanted to swim, I was certainly not going to let them change their minds.


The rest of the Legbiters did rather well in the melee, mainly due to large numbers. Still, my girls held their own and there were only a couple of units of Legbiters left when the last of my girls headed for the pavilion.


I soon sorted them out too. No Legbiter is a match for a Gutripper and I surely showed them that as I was left Queen of the Hill at the end of it all. The Legbiters are all hotfooting it for the south now. Unfortunately I have heard reports of a Mirish invasion here in the north and must try to deal with it next.


I remain yours ever,
Barbax Gutripper

P.S. Not long now. I'll send for you before the happy event.

Summer 989 - Barbax Rides Out

My dearest Cedders,

It is with heavy heart and belly that I have to tell you that my attempts to join you have been thwarted by the Treyine army. The blighters have invaded Hykar. I could not believe the cheek of them when I found out. Anyway, I led my army out to meet them and proceeded to surround them just as the Hykari Battle Book tells us to. They advanced to meet us, as is only proper, while my ponygirls were riding around onto their flank.


So, anyway, then they suddenly stopped and planted stakes and other impedimenta in front of their lines. Dashed if I know what they were doing but it certainly upset the ponies. Worse yet, they had a wizard, who summoned a demon that spooked the ponies. I mean, what kind of an idiot comes to a battle and spooks the ponies? How are you going to catch them again afterwards? And what is the point of going to war if you cannot win some ponies to bring home? Idiots.


Worse yet, they summoned two of the things. Well, that set the girls right on edge and next thing we knew a whole bunch of them were bolting from the field of battle.


I decided that I should have to lead the charge home myself, despite my condition. Well, those Ekran knights are no gentlemen. That is all I shall say. The girls were positively mortified by the treatment they received. Worse yet, most of them had decided to head for home.


I decided I needed to make a break for it and charged at some of the Treyine footsloggers but that did not work as I expected. Next thing I knew my pony was bolting for home and me unable to do a thing about it. Ridiculous. These Treyine wallahs really should learn how to fight a battle properly.


So, this letter finds me currently a bit indisposed. I know you will be concerned, but you need not worry. I and my little treasure are fine but you will have to wait a little while longer before we can meet again. I am impatient for that moment and I know you must feel the same.


As a token of my esteem for you, I am sending these six ponies to you with the messenger. She will carry any message you care to send back to me. Please write. You have not responded to any of my previous posts and I fear for you.

SWALK,
Barbax Gutripper

The Treyine juggernaut once more pounded one of its opponents so badly that they had to submit. Hykar is now at peace with Treyine and must provide them with an allied contingent. Treyine lost no troops while Hykar permanently lost six stands of light cavalry. Ouch!

Spring 989 - The Battle of Three Rivers Crossing

Brother Cedric was fleeing before the Treyine army when he saw the Brethren army approaching. He was saved. But wait, what was that? The thunder of thousands of pony-sized hooves were approaching from the other direction. That looked like Barbax Gutripper's troops. Brother Cedric wondered if he would be able to reach the Brethren army before the Hykari reached him. Their ponies were fast and might well get there first. Suddenly he heard a shout and saw the advancing banner of Sir Alan Fitzhugh.


"Hold, knave," yelled the Treyine knight, " Are you such a coward as would refuse my challenge."
With his retinue around him, Sir Alan couched his lance and charged. As Sir Alan and his retinue tore across the emerald sward, Brother Cedric remembered his duty and:

Brave Brother Cedric ran away.
Bravely ran away, away!
When danger reared its ugly head,
He bravely turned his tail and fled.
Yes, brave Brother Cedric turned about
And gallantly he chickened out.
Bravely taking to his feet
He beat a very brave retreat,
Bravest of the brave, Brother Cedric!

Or maybe it was the sight of Barbax forming her girls on their ponies into neat columns and rushing them across the bridge in a bid to apprehend him that spurred him on his way.


With Brother Cedric disappearing as fast as he could, the heart seemed to go out of the Brethren force. As the Brother Knights and Sergeants charged towards the Treyine forces, the Treyine archers in a well-disciplined move swiftly hammered stakes into the ground before them, a move designed to disrupt the charging knights. At the same time Dennis Moore, who had pursued Brother Cedric summoned a demon right in the path of the knights.


Their horses were spooked and they retired quickly to regroup. The other lance of Brother Knights had passed the demon and engaged the Treyine archers. They fared little better and were driven off but not before many Treyine archers lay dead. In their retreat, a single arrow found its mark and the Brethren general fell to the ground mortally wounded. The Brethren soldiery stood firm. They knew their duty, but the loss of the general was too much and their efforts were disorganised. Soon they were surrounded by yelling girls on ponies and they had to retreat or suffer a fate worse than death.



Meanwhile, on the Treyine right flank the White Company had advanced together with a small contingent of archers. They faced a holding force of girlish cavalry. The archers were confident that their superior range would ensure victory and the knights of the White Company knew that their mounts and armour were superior to those of the Hykari warmaidens. Their confidence was well-founded. Soon ponies and girls were fleeing the field.


The other ponygirls regrouped and considered the situation. With the Treyine archers forted up behind their stakes, a frontal assault would be suicidal. Barbax decided that her search for Brother Cedric was more important. She had gifts of ponies for him that he must not refuse! She led her remaining troops from the field in good order.

Will Barbax get her man? Can Brother Cedric reach safety in time? Tune in later to find out.

Losses
Brethren
General died
1 Brother Knights
1 Heavy Spears
1 Crossbows
1 Peasant Archers

Hykar
4 Cavalry

Treyine
1 Archers

This battle was an experiment that turned out to be a bit of a curate's egg. We tried making it a three-way game using the solo rules, which worked well enough, but the dice led to decisions that disadvantaged Steve's Brethren force too much. They were justifiable within the campaign context but that did not make it any better and they made it rather easy for the Treyine to win. It also meant that the game went on too long and we had to call it before the ultimate conclusion, which was a shame. Still, it has been a while since we played Warrior Heroes and it was good to get back to it. We are now looking forward to the next game, which will feature the Goblins taking on the Mirish army. That should be fun. As a consequence of this game, Steve has decided to try something called 'tactics'. I'm really not sure what he means by that though.

Autumn 988 - Girls Gone Bad

Sir Geoffrey Chambers was ecstatic. He had beaten back the Tropilium invasion and now Treyine controlled a part of that once mighty empire, and he had preserved enough of the army to now face the Hykar with some possibility of victory. He felt sure that he was destined for greatness in the nascent Treyine empire. Still, there was the small matter of thousands of young, vicious girls on ponies facing him. He was outnumbered and would have to fight aggressively to counteract their advantage. He formed his troops up with both flanks refused. About half of his archers had set their stakes out to hinder the Hykari advance. The enemy had deployed their heavy troops in the centre with vast numbers of light horse on the flanks. It was clear what their plan was and Sir Geoffrey knew what was needed.



The enemy began their advance. The light horse swept down on his flanks as expected, so Sir Geoffrey raised his arm and yelled, "CHARGE!" His knights leapt forward beside the Ekran contingent. The infantry, even the Brethren spearmen who had finally turned up, followed, while the archers moved to guard their flanks as best possible. Then the fight began in earnest. Sir Geoffrey's knights crashed home against the enemy general's horsewomen, who fired a desultory rain of arrows at him. A few men were wounded but none fell from their saddles. The Ekran knights, however, took many casualties as they hit the enemy spearwomen and were driven back, but not before the spearwomen routed from the field.



The fight in the centre raged on as Sir Geoffrey's knights whittled down the enemy horsewomen, but it was taking too much time. Meanwhile, the light horse tried to encircle the archers, who desperately turned to face them and tried to loose as many arrows as possible. They certainly gave as good as they got and drove off many of the light horse, but archers died too and the Treyine numbers were being reduced too. Unfortunately, even the rout of the Hykari general did not discourage the light horse. Clearly they had little respect for their leaders and they fought on just as hard, but their command was hampered and they were soon facing more arrows as well as the Treyine infantry, who had turned to chase them. Slowly the girls on ponies died and slowly the Treyine army gained ascendancy.



Eventually there were only a small number of horsewomen left and the Treyine archers were all around. The end of the matter was no longer in doubt. It was merely a case of how much damage the Hykari could do before they routed. The answer was: not too long at all. The approach of Sir Geoffrey and his knights was enough to break the Hykari morale and soon they and their ponies were streaming from the field. Sir Geoffrey was most pleased, and he was sure that the King would be too.

I was worried about this battle. There were twice as many Hykari as there were Treyine troops. Also, they had significantly greater manoeuvrability than I did, so I expected to be surrounded and cut down. As it turned out, I was surrounded but driving off the enemy general severely hindered Steve's ability to make use of his advantage in speed. My longbowmen's advantage was range and hitting power, which allowed them to hold their own against twice their number of light horse. Steve still routed and severely hurt a lot of my archers, but not enough to win the battle. That said, it could have gone either way really.

One thing we learned from this battle was that light horse are quite hard to use en masse effectively. Steve suffered because some of his light horse routed when friendly units retired into them, but he will have learned by next time! I have some ideas of my own that I would like to try out, so I plan to use the Hykari army myself at some point. Can't wait!