Autumm 990 - Goblins invade Treyine.

 

 

 

 

 

Autumn 990 - Civil War in Tereken

Harold's son-in-law Tostig had decided that half the kingdom was not enough for him. He had rallied troops to him and now planned to defeat Harold, take the whole kingdom and divorce Harold's daughter once and for all, so that he could marry the love of his life, instead of having to make some damned political marriage. Unfortunately, it appeared that all those eorls who had declared for Tostig were now changing their minds. Harolds army was twice the size of Tostig's. Never mind. A firm attack would soon put them in their place.

Tostig is outnumbered.

Tostig ordered his men to charge. They would take the fight to the enemy.

First blood

Tostig's skirmishers moved to the flanks to harry the enemy. His heavy infantry charged. The enemy cavalry counter-charged and the first fight was on. The enemy's charge was too much for half of Tostig's men and they routed, but his own unit held its ground and drove the cavalry back, ready to face the infantry onslaught behind it.

Skirmishers cause distractions

The fight in the centre was heavy and the skirmishers' arrows fell quickly on the enemy flanks, causing disorder and a few casualties.

It was not enough.

Unfortunately, it was not enough. Tostig's men fell too quickly and the enemy weight of numbers told. His huscarles routed leaving only a few skirmishers on the field. Tostig's claim to the throne was no more and Harold now rules all Tereken. It would be a long time before Tostig could emerge from hiding and try to claim the throne again, if indeed he ever could.

Autumn 990 - The Unification of Mirholme

Gunnar Broadaxe was a true Mirholmen warlord: tall, blonde, with piercing blue eyes. His shoulders, like his axe, were broad. He grinned happily at the thought of the oncoming battle. He could just imagine his wicked uncle Olaf Squinteye in the opposing shieldwall quivering in fear beneath his crowned chicken banner over on the other side of the valley. It was a good day to go to Valhalla. The Autumn had brought early snow, which meant that they would not get too hot while fighting. Good. A man should be comfortable while killing his enemies. A shout went up. The two lines of troops began the advance. Gunnar was outnumbered, but he feared nought. If death came, he would be in Valhalla tupping valkyries and swilling mead before the sun set. If all went well, he would be at home again by nightfall swiving his wife and swilling mead with his hearth companions. Yes, it was a good day.

The two armies face each other across the snowy valley

A roar went up on both sides. The howling of Olaf's death-dealers reached fever pitch. Torfi the hero responded with his own battle cry. Men beat their weapons on their shields to make a fearsome noise. Then the lines clashed. In the first exchange of blows a howl of dismay arose around the standards of the two leaders. Gunnar took a strong dunt to the head and collapsed unconscious beside his standard. Olaf took a blow to the leg that severed it below the knee. The two shieldwalls pulled back, leaving their leaders among the dead. Each had taken horrendous casualties in that first exchange of blows as each warrior sought to prove his worth.

Charge! No, retreat!!

It was too much for Gunnar's men. They had given better than they got but the loss of their beloved leader unmanned them and they routed, all except for Torfi the Hero.

Torfi stands alone

Even the death-dealers were not strong enough to stand against Torfi. He and his boon companions thrust mightily and struck blows that were strong enough to sunder ordinary swords. Their own blades were aged steel, family heirlooms that had survived the test of battle many times. Their edges were sharp and the enemy death-dealers despite their magic from Wodan could not stand against them.

Torfi destroys the death-dealers while the enemy army surrounds him

"It is better to die on the field of battle than to abandon the gracious despoiler of the dragon's hoard to his fate," announced Torfi. The death-dealers were gone, but the enemy shieldwall still advanced towards him, albeit somewhat timorously. Torfi howled at the archers behind him and they ran like geese before a fox.

If in doubt, charge!

With the skirmishers gone, Torfi charged the enemy lines, twelve men against a horde, but that horde was battered and could not stand before him.

"Yeah, that's right. Run, you cowards!"

Only a small group of huskarls remained on the battlefield after Torfi had finished with the rest. They surrendered and Torfi was able to revive Gunnar and take him home. As an afterthought he dragged Olaf with him to die the death of a traitor in a snake pit.

Heroes are tough! This battle had us both laughing as the two generals fell in the very first melee and all of Gunnar's army bar Torfi the Hero routed. Unfortunately for Steve his main troops had taken a heavy beating in that first round of melee so they were effectively useless from then on and he could not muster the numbers needed to take the hero out. He really needed to get at least two units into melee with the hero else he was not going to even wound him. Ah well, at least the good guys won.

Army lists updated

The Tereken army list has been updated on the New Army Lists page. I realised suddenly that I had made some egregious errors with the version posted, largely due to poor copy editing. The new version reflects the Later Anglo-Saxon army better, in my opinion, and also provides a slightly different army from the Mirholmen army that it would otherwise resemble.

Talomir Tales will return shortly

Attention, all units. Talomir Tales will resume shortly. Hopefully next week.

In the meantime, I have been fiddling with Campaign Cartographer and here is the map I came up with. It still needs fettling, but it shows the maximum extent of our campaign in terms of nations and the current political situation. Personally, I think that it is a vast improvement over the old map! Click on the map for a larger image or you can open it in a new tab to see it full size.

Autumn 990 - Campaign Update

Autumn is usually a time of harvest festivals and peaceful feasting. This year it seems to be a last opportunity for nations to take what they can from their neighbours. At the end of Summer the only war had finished with a Mirish victory over Hykar. Now there are five wars starting. Mirholme and Tereken are suffering from wars of unification. Treyine is being invaded by Seniira and Zog-Rot, while Lothgolin is attacking Mirish. Interesting times lie ahead. Who will be the victors in the upcoming struggles? Only the gods of war know.

(Click the map for a larger image)

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.