A Narrative Battle-report
Early in the morning the pickets saw it – smoke. The group of volunteers had been mustered by the young elven noble Celendaer upon hearing of a band of orcs that had descended from the mountains and was raiding and plundering the hill-men of the souther slopes. Accompanied by these volunteers, a band of mounted retainers and his cousin Beleg he had marched north – eager for adventure and filled with altruistic righteousness.
In any case, adventure would find them. The smoke was from two barns razed by mountain-orcs. At the same time the elves passed a nearby village, the orcs formed a crude battle-line, ready for battle. Either overconfident or filled with blood-lust, a band of orcs mounted on great wolves rushed ahead of their peers on their own initiative, ignoring their leaders orders.
Seeing the approaching foe, the elves deployed into their own line, the cavalry moving to the right flank and the infantry forming up in the fields past the village. The green volunteers felt dread as they observed the approaching foe – these elves were for the most part untested youths, and the march north had felt more like an afternoon stroll and camping trip than a prelude to battle.
The wolf-riders were now far beyond earshot of their leader, and continued charging forwards on their own accord. They were now close – close enough to toss their javelins at their foes. These harmlessly bounced off the elven shield wall. The orcish infantry desperately tried to catch up to their reckless kinsmen.
Seeing their foe in front of them and unwilling to sit and take further missiles, the elvish spears charged. This countercharge caught the orcs completely by surprise – their attempts to stem the onslaught by pelting them yet more missiles failed completely. They where caught, far from any support and too shocked to withdraw. The few that were not slain fled in disorder.
The orcs were stunned to see the ease with which their riders dispatched – not a single elf had fallen! Rage filled their hearts, but mixed in with this rage was also fear – fear and doubt. The elves were surprised to see the ease with which they had defeated their first foe and were filled with confidence – in any case the main forces were now face to face – the battle was about to begin in earnest.
As the sun rose over the sides of the valley the lines crashed together. The orc warlord and his retinue joined one of the orc units and led them in a charge against the elven horse, hoping to avoid being charged themselves. This, however, meant that the other unit hesitated – remembering the fate that had just befallen their fellows, and instead received the elven infantries charge.
The elven infantry surged forwards – still high on their previous victory, they fell upon the orcs with fury and utterly crushed them, driving the few survivors from the field. The elven horse, however, took a great deal of damage – while relatively few elves were killed, many were wounded or lost their horses. Beleg who had been leading the riders single-handedly turned the situation. Spotting the orc leader he challenged and slew him – splitting his unhelmeted head in twain.
With their leader slain and their right flank annihilated, the orcs broke and fled for their lives, back towards the mountains whence they came. With a great deal of their number wounded, the elvish horse did not pursue and the orcs, who were lightly armoured and had abandoned their weapons swiftly disappeared into the hills. The engagement was over: it was an overwhelming victory for the elves!
This battle was intended to introduce a friend of mine – commanding the elves – to wargaming in general and fantastic battles in specific. She had played a couple of games of age of Sigmar in the past, but did not have good memories of it – I suspect her foes where more focused on winning rather than teaching. That said she had expressed interest in my narrative campaign project, so I decided her first engagement should be an introduction to the rules.
As such the scenario was simple – her character was an altruist who had gathered a force upon hearing about the plundering of their human neighbours to the north. They had marched a day north and camped. On the following morning, upon spotting smoke, they advanced in column up the road.
As such the elves would start in this formation, with the orcs set up on the other side of the board. Terrain was kept simple – the farmhouses were impassable, the stream as well as the ground beyond it was rough ground and the hills were, well, hills. the rest of the terrain was purely decorative.
Despite my rotten luck as the orc player (my wargs impetuously advancing after deployment to beyond my command range, and then advancing again) it was great for teaching the command mechanics and the importance of command range! We both had a great time, and i’m looking forwards to the next battle.