Spring 991 - The Battle of Dat Look Like A Hill

Da Moon

All da noos what is fit to scrawl

GOBCHA!

In a feat not seen since the days of Nurg the Slowhand and Arg the Screamin’ Axe, our boys has gone out and dun us proud.

The two battle lines form up

Lining up against the massive army of invading goblins, our few brave lads looked firm with their 3 dinners on my shirt, war costume, sponsored by Umtroll. At the shout from King Pagash the Great Wind, the fearless bunch moved up in 11-0-0 formation at the sneaky goblins.

The goblins headed towards our brave lads and the two met on top of Dat Look Like A Hill. While our archers caught their archers on Dat Anuvva Hill. Our archers soon showed them what shooting is about and they ran off, like the little girlies they is.

The two battle lines meet

The damage after the first round of combat

And then we took reaction tests.

And then we fought another round of combat

The goblins then tried sneaking some wolf riders round the back, but out fearsome hero, Hogash, raced round the back to chase ‘em off. Funny that was the only time Pagash looked worried all day.

The End

The two armies put up a right good fight with toing and froing all along the line, but the lads betta training showed and class will out. Soon the goblins were running off the field carrying the fallen figure of their leader with them. Several of the dire wolf lads and the buggies got carried away and chased them back to their burrows. The screaming continued long into the night, as we celebrated our glorious victory in true orcish style. Goblin taste yum.

Like a sleeping giant we is now awake and are going to go on and bring orcish rule to the world.

Poor Goblins. Their lower Rep really told in this battle. They actually did more damage early on but soon started to suffer. It's a shame the skirmishers all routed from the first volley fired at them. Had they stayed on the field, they might have made a difference. Ah well, pity the poor Goblin nation which is no more. The Goblins are now Orcish slaves. Time to write a mixed Goblin and Orc army list so the Orcs can use the Goblins as cannon fodder.

Autumm 990 - Goblins invade Treyine.

 

 

 

 

 

Spring 989 - The Battle of Hamnorthtoun

After rather too long we finally got around to the next campaign battle. It is Spring 989 and the Mirish army has invaded the Goblin-held territories that were once the Border Kingdom. Near the ruined town of Hamnorthtoun, the two armies meet up. The Goblins have adopted a defensive position on a large hill to the north and the Mirish army must drive them from it. A large but sparse wood occupies the Mirish left flank.


Seeing the enemy ahead of them, and being brave and dashing cavalry types, the Mirish army advanced quickly on its right flank. Meanwhile, on the left flank the skirmishers headed for the cover of the wood.


As the Mirish cavalry approached, the Goblins decided to descend from their hilltop eyrie and try to catch the cavalry on the hop. The Goblin hero in his chariot, with a wolfrider escort seemed to be trying to ride past the Mirish army and caught the eye of a passing elephant or two. Meanwhile the skirmishers danced around each other to no great effect.


With the Goblins in range, the Mirish cataphracts and clibanarii (that's cavalry to you and me) charged and drove off some of the Goblins without even breaking into a sweat. The elephants were now facing the enemy and the great Goblin hero could be heard yelling for ale as he turned his chariot and prepared to deal with the Mirish army. Meanwhile the skirmishers danced around each other to no great effect.


The Mirish cavalry turned around and prepared to charge the Goblin infantry again. Mughrant's wolfrider escort had been driven off by the elephants and he had turned his attention to the Mirish light cavalry. Meanwhile the skirmishers danced around each other to no great effect.


And so the Goblin line disintegrated and was destroyed piecemeal. The Goblin skirmishers finally decided to join the fray in the centre. But it was really too late.


In a last ditch attempt to salvage something from this fracas, the Goblin general girded his loins and prepared to charge. The skirmishers were moving into position to deal with the elephantine nuisance in the centre and Mughrant had seen the writing on the wall. He kept his chariot moving away from the battlefield.


Naturally I got too excited to photograph the final turn. Needless to say, the photograph would only have had a very small number of Goblins on it. The Goblin general charged the Mirish general and drove him back. Following up he attacked again, screaming fearsome cries as he cleaved his way towards the Mirish general. Then fate struck. Whether he tripped over a root, or just stepped in someone, we shall never know now. As he stumbled a Mirish clibanarius drove his spear through the general's body. The Goblin standard fell and soon the whole Goblin army was in rout. For the loss of just a few clibanarii, the Mirish army had utterly routed the Goblin horde. The Border Kingdoms were now back under human control.

This will be one of our last WH battles. We shall be upgrading to Rally Round the King at the end of this campaign year. The battle saw the Goblin army routed and their national morale utterly destroyed. The Goblins have sought peace. As part of that they will now supply a contingent to the Mirish army for the next six years.

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 986 - The Battle of the Two Hills

The Brethren had advanced steadily into Zog-Rot and had met little resistance along the way. There was certainly no sign of the Goblin Khan that they had expected to find. However, Zog-Rot was a hilly land and riddled with caves. While many Goblins lived above ground and tended the fields, others lived underground in great cave complexes.

"Technically speaking, of course," thought Brother Gloriosus, "it was the Goblins' slaves that tended the fields. Goblins were just not that good at agriculture. Gobbos don't garden."

When he saw the fields ahead of him with the wheat waiting to be harvested, Brother Gloriosus knew that they were approaching a large settlement and that they would probably be in for a fight. The land looked about right for the goblins; a couple of hills and some woods bordering the area. Yes, this would be the site of the battle. This was confirmed when he saw a detachment of Goblin Wolf-Riders wheeling their mounts away from the crest of a hill ahead of him. His own scouts were soon reporting the presence of a large Goblin force ahead of them. Both armies were aware of each other and the Goblins appeared to have deployed in his path. Time to show them why that was not wise.



The Goblins deployed with their centre on a hill are in the foreground. On their left flank is a unit of Wolf Riders (Skirmish mounted) and on their right are the Goblin Archers (Skirmishers). The main body consists of one stand of Black Moon Goblins (Big hard melee troops by goblin standards) and the rest are ordinary Goblins (slightly weedier melee troops). The Brethren Knights are deployed behind the Brother Sergeants at the top of the picture. On the right of the picture is a unit of peasant archers (poor quality missile troops). The crossbows and heavy spearmen are deployed on the left side of the picture just in front of the woods.
(Click the pictures for larger images)

Brother Gloriosus deployed his troops quickly in battle formation. His cavalry were in the centre and his infantry were deployed on the edge of the woods on his right flank. Time to advance on the enemy. His knights took the vanguard with the sergeants following in echelon on his left flank. As they approached the Goblin line on the hill, they noticed Goblin archers deploying in the woods on their left. No time to worry about that though. Brother Gloriosus ordered the charge and his knights smashed home into the Goblin line.



The melee was brief and the Goblins were quickly driven back. Their general's standard fell at the first charge and their general's bleeding body was quickly carried from the field. Although driven back, the Goblin warriors still held their nerve, unlike the Goblin skirmishers, all of whom routed from the field at the first sign of trouble.

Whenever a unit with the general in takes hits, you must roll to see if the general is a casualty. I rolled a 6, he was a potential casualty as a result of this, he made his armour save but I then rolled a 5 on the wound severity table, so the Goblin general was grievously wounded and would die shortly after the battle. Take a Leader Lost test into account and about one third of my army evaporated without even getting into the fight!

The Goblin warriors continued to fight an casualties piled up on both sides. Unfortunately, the Goblins were outgunned and outnumbered now. Brother Gloriosus pressed his advantage and directed his sergeants onto the flank of the Goblin line as his own unit charged another unit of goblins. The knights burst through the goblins and then into and through another rank of goblins behind them. The sergeants rolled up the line from the flank and it was all over bar looting the corpses.



Brother Miles Gloriosus surveyed the battlefield. He was pleased because his troops had all held their nerve. He would be in line for a promotion if he could keep this up.

Notes: The Goblins suffered horribly because their general died in the first melee. This completely reduced their ability to fight back, and the loss of their skirmishers did not help either. With the general and the skirmishers present, the sergeants would have had a harder time getting onto the Goblin flank, and the Wolf Riders might have been able to get onto the flank or rear of the enemy infantry and harass them so that they could not join the main battle until much later. The whole game took about an hour and a half, with time out during that for gossiping and discussion of other projects as we usually do. Wargaming for us is a social activity, so our games tend to progress fairly slowly. I can't wait for the next one, though. Warrior Heroes is a most excellent system, even if the rulebook is not as well organised as it might be. It is not currently available from TwoHourWargames, but Ed has indicated he may get around to reworking it and issuing a free copy in similar fashion to Chain Reaction 3.0, which is also well worth checking out.

The Goblins of Zog-Rot

The goblins of Zog-Rot are a mixed bunch. The majority are poorly clad, small and malnourished but with a huge appetite for carnage. The toughest of them ride the dreaded Ripper Beasts, large flightless birds with a terrible carnivorous appetite. It is fair to say that most goblins that try to tame one of these beasts wind up as its dinner instead. However, those few that succeed are well on their way to glory and fame among goblin-kind. Just taming a Ripper Beast is cause for a rise in social standing. Most goblins try to tame the less aggressive male ripper beasts, which are readily recognisable by the red stripes on their backs. Obviously, less aggressive in this case refers only to their aggressiveness when compared to the female of the species.

Some rare goblins are tough enough to tame the female Ripper Beasts, and a very few manage to tame two of them. The sight of a goblin standing proudly in his chariot pulled by two Ripper Beasts is a sure sign that you are confronting the chief of the tribe. This will be an unusually large and aggressive goblin.

Zog-Rotten society is warband-based. It relies on a regular income from raiding other groups. It is rare that a single war-leader can rise to the fore and unite the goblin hordes, although this has happened on occasion. That is one reason why Zog-Rot is ringed by Brethren fortresses. The Brethren maintain a constant watch for just such an occurrence and do their level best to prevent it reaching the point where goblin armies storm across the borders once more.