The Pursuit

The Bogavanians, confident in the recent victory which drove the Beersteiners from their capital have pursued the retreating army. The Bogavanian King Matterson, weakened by his wound from fighting King Long Shanks has remained behind with a unit of archers and two catapults. The pursuing army is small, consisting of two small units of archers, including Hill Men mercenaries, a captured catapult and a captured cannon trailing, a handful of castle and king's guard and the remnants of the crack unit of halberd armed knights.

The disheartened Beersteiners have been abandoned by the shattered Great Swords unit but still have a strong unit of Hill Men axe men headed by the hero, Thor Redtooth with his axe, Brainbiter. A unit of archers and a small unit of medium knights and a handful of plate armored knights is also present. Four catapults are strung out on the North/West road.


As the morning fog clears the Beerstieners spy the arrival of the Bogavanians. The Bogavanians moved forward and the Beersteiners took positions to defend. The Bogavanian halberd knights were advancing on the road when a handful of Beersteiner knights charged in to them, selling their lives dearly. meanwhile the Bogavanian combined king's and castle guard charged the Beersteiner's Hillmen axemen. These later were led by Thor Redtooth who killed the Bogavanian commander! A ptentially terminal ending to Bogavanian hopes were reversed when the Bogavanians rallied and chose a new leader. The battle continued

                                     Bogavanian forces spot the Beersteiners and make pursuit.

Beersteiners turn and prepare for battle.

Bogavanians note the size of the force they face and send the Hillman archers back to the castle to ask for the larger archer unit. The unreliable Hillmen stay at the castle

Bogavanian archers head for the cover of the trees and a handful of Beersteriner knights charge the halberd armed Bogavanian knights. The former are quickly wiped out but inflict near equal casualties on the enemy, stalling their advance.

The Beersteiner archers kill all the mounted enemy crossbowmen.

Beersteiner medium knights and Hillmen prepared to join battle.

The Beersteiner catapults have continued their journey to join the larger Beersteiner force but the large catapult remains to give support in the battle. The knight, Valance Shultzburger, can be seen on horseback directing his forces. He has taken over command due to the earlier loss of King Long Shanks.

A fight soon occurs between Thor Redtooth and his Hillmen against the Beersteiners. Thor kills the Bogavanian knight, Lucius Tito, who had taken temporary command of the pursuit force. The Bogavanians did not even pause but another knight, Rynald Stoothnick, took over command. The Hillmen sustained casualties but their great axes hewed through the enemy's plate armor. The Hillmen had also engaged the enemy castle bowmen. The Bogavanian castle guard and king's guard were wiped out and the Hillmen, despite their growing losses, had almost finished off the archers and halberd armed knights. Then the Bogavanian archer unit supported by some halberd armed commoners turned from their shooting at enemy archers and emerged from the trees to join the melee. The Hillmen gave as good as they got but were eventually all killed and Thor knocked unconscious, bleeding profusely from his wounds. At this point both sides had had enough and withdrew.

The remnant of the Beersteiner force included a virtually undamaged large unit of archers, the large catapult and the commander as well as the three catapults that had already continue their journey. They had lost all their Hillmen and knights. The Beersteiners sustained more casualties but were able to save some of the wounded and return to their capital. they claimed a victory due to having reduced the possible reinforcements to join the attempt to re-take the Beersteiner capital. However, the Beersteiners claimed victory due to their siege weapons being intact and the large force of archers that remained. Thor was loaded on to a wagon, unconscious but if he survived it was unlikely he would be participating in the next battle.

Beersteiners continue their journey.

B

Bogavanians withdrawing

NOTES ON THE RULES

Presently the rules allow for a half move to change formation to reverse and a half move left for movement or firing but we might change this to a full move except for some well trained units or perhaps those with a musician. The heroes have two wounds and most commanders three wounds with the same number of attacks. If a wound is inflicted the character has a 50% chance of dodging it which gives further survivability to characters. For each wound lost one attack is lost. Characters cannot be specially targeted by firing if they are with a unit, assuming characters are dismounted if with foot troops. If a character is an individual target there is a minus two to hit. A character who loses all his wounds may be deemed unconscious and unable to participate in the next battle. He gets one more chance in the next battle he can participate in and after that he is dead if he loses all his wounds. A hero who falls when there is a defeat has been captured. This means that King Longshanks and the Hillman hero, Locki Purplecloak may actually be a prisoner of the Bogavanians and may be imprisoned, executed or used for a ransom!

Great Swords and axes are two handed and have greater impact so give a plus two on the chances of a kill but go last in combat unless the unit has impacted the enemy so they can go first for one turn. The halberds give a plus one every turn of combat and can go first unless facing higher initiative figures without great weapons or units that have impacted them.

On the death of a commander we roll on an outcome table, which includes the possibility of retreat or surrender. Loss of a king or capital city has more serious possible results including complete capitulation of that country!