Monday 30 December 2013

[RRtK] Campaign Spring 1012: The Battle of Barzak Vale

Spring 1012: The Battle of Barzak Vale
Duke Grimoald of Oberlichenwald in Valgasmaa lead an army of 7250 men on a raid against Mt Hofburg, the capital of the Szepetnek Mountains. Serogn, the Goblin King of the Szepetnek Mountains, assembled an army of 11,800 warriors and offered battle to the invaders in Barzak Vale, just south of Mt Hofburg.

The Goblin ArmyValgasmaa Army
5ArchersFoot Skirmish2Knights - Elite, ShockMounted Melee
8GoblinsFoot Melee3ArchersFoot Skirmish
1OgresFoot Melee3InfantryFoot Melee
2Wolf RidersMounted Skirmish2Mercenary ArquebusiersFoot Missile
2Black Moon GoblinsFoot Melee1Mercenary PikeFoot Melee
2Mercenary Light HorseMounted Skirmish


On the grassy plain at the northern end of the Vale, Serogn deployed his wolf riders in a column at the right of his line. He then deployed his Goblins in a double column, with his archers in a line parallel with the head of the column. Behind the archers, he stationed his Ogres, while his Black Moon Goblins were stationed in reserve, parallel with the rear of the Goblin column.

Barzak Vale - the armies deploy
Over the central hill, across the southern end of the Vale, Duke Grimoald drew up his army. His Light Horse formed his left wing while two units of archers formed his skirmish line. Behind them, Grimoald formed up his two units of knights in front of a pike unit and three units of Men-at-Arms. On his right flank, Duke Grimoald placed another unit of archers and two units of Arquebusiers.

The right of the Goblin Line
The left of the Goblin Line
The Valgasmaani deployment
The main Valgasmaani battleline
The Valgasmaani right flank

Hesitantly (as, after deployment, I realized that with a WR of 2, Grimoald could only activate two groups per turn), Duke Grimoald pushed forward the Light Horse on his left flank, and the Archers and Arquebusiers on his right, while refusing his center. Over the hill, King Serogn dispatched his wolf riders against the Light Horse while ordering his mass column of foot to advance. The faster moving Archers, with the Ogres in support, pulled ahead and gained the crest of the ridge, while King Serogn remained to the rear with his two units of Black Moon Goblins.

The Goblin battle line crests the ridge
The Wolf Riders battle the Light Horse
On Duke Gimoald's left flank, the Mercenary Light Horse was soon engaged with the Wolf Riders. After a short action, one unit of Wolf Riders fled the field while the other retired to the very margin, where it waited the result of the battle.

Midway through the battle, the Knights are not making headway in the center
 while the Valgasmaa skirmishers and Light Horse are having success on the flanks
On Duke Grimoald's right flank, the Archers and Arquebusiers soon caused the Goblin Archers to retire in confusion. He had halted the Archers covering his front and moved his battle line closer to the hill, even as the Goblin column crested it, halted, and began to expand into line. Grimoald ordered his Light Horse to harass the end of the Goblin line, even as his Knights moved up to attack the Ogres on the hill.

As King Serogn moved his Black Moon Goblins up to fill the gap on the Goblin left, the Valgasmaani Knights charged home. Both the Ogres and the Black Moon Goblins held the charge of the Knights and threw them back. It was here that Duke Grimoald discovered that his line of infantry were too close behind the Knights.
The Goblins begin to push down the southern slope of the hill
Again and again, the Knights charged desperately up the hill against the Ogres and Black Moon Goblins and, again and again, they were thrown back. King Serogn in his chariot led the Black Moon Goblins to first hold, and then to advance against the Knights.

On the Goblin right, the lead units of the great Goblin column charged down the hill, dispersing the Light Horse and sweeping away the Valgasmaani Men-at-Arms unit on the left of the Human battle line. In desperation, Duke Grimoald about faced the rest of his foot and marched them back to give room to the Knights struggling on the lower slopes of the hill. The careful withdrawal quickly became a rout as the Knights, exhausted from the battle on the ridge, broke and ran.

Seeing that the battle was lost, Duke Grimoald quit the field. Two units of Archers were lost in the rout but the rest of the army eventually reassembled at Oberlichenwald a couple of days later.



Well, that was a fun battle. I'm pretty sure I got some rules wrong, and the Retire rule caught me out with Duke Grimoald's deployment. As Grimoald has a WR of 2, I am assuming that what he lacked in experience, he attempted to make up for in enthusiasm.

King Serogn was in a tight spot. With two invasions, he had to decide whether to split his army and attempt two battles (and risk defeat in detail), or concede a province, risk unrest, but concentrate on beating his toughest foe first. Having beaten back the Valgasmaani, his gamble may have paid off as Kypselos' Beastmen have fielded a smaller force - though they do have a mage.

The Goblin figures in this battle are by Baccus 6mm while the Ogres and Lesser Goblin Archers are by Irregular Miniatures. All the Human figures are from Irregular Miniatures Men of the West range.

Sunday 29 December 2013

[RRtK] Campaign: 1012 Spring

1012 - Spring:
League of Foranimenagii - Prince Vincenzo Sgro secures the continued dominance of the League by the Sgro Familia of Tagliacozzo.

No Heroes are available this season.

The Pyromancer, Adamo the Red, a Level 1 Magic User, offers his services at the Sgro Court in Tagliacozzo, Foranimenagii, and is taken into service by Prince Vincenzo Sgro.

A Level 1 Weatherwitch and a Level 2 Druid, Pharlis Taproot, offer their services in the Beastman city of Jabelitz. High Chief Kypselos takes Pharlis Taproot into service.

Armies are recruited. Both Valgasmaa and Foranimengarii retain spare recruitment rolls, just in case. Wildlands and Szepetnek Mountains use all their recruitment rolls.

Valgasmaa goes to War with Szepetnek Mountains.
Wildlands goes to War with Szepetnek Mountains.

King Chlodomer of Valgasmaa permits Duke Grimoald of Oberlichenwald to launch a raid into the Szepetnek Mountains to overawe the Goblin tribes who have been making a nuisance of themselves. At the head of a thousand Knights and just over six thousand infantry, Duke Grimoald marches on Mt Hofburg.

Meanwhile, High Chief Kyselos of the Wildlands decides that his people need more living space and, at the head of  just over 5000 of his warriors, launches a raid against Mt Gorfang.

King Serogn of the Szepetnek Mountains summons the Goblin tribes to battle near Mt Hofburg. Kozurn of Mt Gorfang reluctantly complies, marching south-eastward and leaving his homesteads to be sacked by the Beastmen. If Serogn fails to defeat the Valgasmaani, then he will probably not remain Goblin King for long.

Just south of Mt Hofburg lies the Vale of Barzak, a narrow passage between forests and outlier foothills of the mountain. As Duke Grimoald marches north, his scouts bring word that the Goblin King has come out to meet him.



[RRtK] Rally Round the King Campaign set up

With some annual leave time for the Christmas season, I decided to start my Rally Round the King campaign. A hard drive failure in the midst of my preparations has delayed things but I have managed to plot the first Spring Move and fight the first battle.

As the continued existence of my expanded campaign map is still in doubt (I need some drive necromancers to have a look at the dodgy hard drive), I have been forced to revert to the earlier map I posted a little while ago.

Map of Orbis Terrarum

To keep a track of people and events, I set up a series of spread sheets:

Province, and Provincial Leaders WR value, spread sheet
This first one records the provinces controlled by each state, who the leader of the province is, and what his War Rating is. Thus, we have five states - the Kingdom of Valgasmaa under King Chlodomer; the Confederation of Foranimenagii under the Primera Familia Sgro of Tagliacozzo; the Wildlands under High Chief Kypselos of Jabelitz; the Goblin Clans of the Szepetnek Mountains under King Serogn of Mt Hofburg; and the Mountain Giants of Jotunheim under King Thrym of Mt Jotun.

Mt Jotun is in the northern mountains, near the white hex - the Rhimebeard Glacier.

As other states are added to the campaign, both the spread sheet, and the campaign map, will expand.

Friday 20 December 2013

[RRTK] Beastie Boys


You Gotta Fight
For Your Right
To Eat Humies


I've finished painting a few more Irregular Miniatures Men of the West and have also started my Beastmen Army from Microworld Games.

For the Beastmen army, I bought a couple of packs of mixed Herd, a pack of the Minotaur Warriors, and a command pack.

The detail on the minotaur figures is amazing. I was able to pick out sets of horns and the straps holding the shoulder armour on. I mixed up the pelt colours - having some brown, some black and some grey for variety - and then mixed them again when filling up the bases. The two-axe wielding boss minotaur is from the command pack. I kept one as a hero, one as a general, and used the others as unit commanders for my four Great Beastman units.


The common minotaurs are about 10mm tall while the boss minotaurs are closer to 15mm.

I've just started painting the Beastman Herd figures. These appear to be like satyrs or fauns (as appeared in the The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe movie, and Prince Caspian) and are either armed with javelins or throwing spears (two poses) or large, cleaver-like swords. I'm looking forward seeing how they come out.

Today, my Dread Elf army arrived from Microworld. I had been torn between the Dread Elves or Irregular Miniatures' Dark Elves for my Evil Elf needs. One thing I was sure of was that I wanted cavalry for my Evil Elves, not silly riding lizards. The Dread Outriders looked interesting, though I was uncertain about the horses as they looked a little wonky to me. arcaopino, on the 6mm Fantasy Yahoo Group, attested to the quality of the Microworld horses so I decided that the Dread Elves would be my Entropic Pointy Ears force.And I am very pleased with my choice. Pictures to come.