Castle Byana Falls (Hex 70)

 At the end of three battles the Fezian castle finally fell! Here are the details:

FEZIAN/BOGAVANIAN COMBINED ARMY

START of battle                                                                     END of battle

Characters:
Commander Epheba                                                          Lost one life. POW
Commander Safan                                                                    Dead
Sorceress Illurine                                                               Lost a second life (2 remaining) POW

Hero Rolland                                                                             Lost one life POW                                
Hero Anolo (Captive)

24 archers (short bows)                                                                    0      

22 Ebon short bows                                                                          0
24 archers                                                                                          9  POWs
10 Light infantry                                                                               

24 Muskets                                                                                        5 POWs

13 Plate infantry with halberds                                                            0

1 cannon & crew                                                                          crew 0   gun captured

Wagons with 78 Credits                                                                 captured

                                                                                     Dead:    105    POWs  17

BEERSTEIN

Initial Force:                                                                           No casualties in initial force

Characters:

Commander, Prince Rupert

Hero, Hobbes

Sorceress, Sylvia the Serpent

Units:

20 Muskets

14 Muskets

6 heavy cavalry

6 cannon crew and cannon

Beertein Relief Force:                                                

Commander Ben, the Loved                                                                     unharmed

 2 Cannons with 8 crewmen                                                                      unharmed
24 muskets (red)                                                                                           23
24 Muskets (red)                                                                                           21
24 Muskets (white)                                                                                        0

24 Pike (red)                                                                                                  21

24 Pike (white)                                                                                                0

12 Mounted Plate Knights                                                                               0
12 Lobsters (non-knight plate with firearms)                                                  12

(other detached troops at a secret location)

                                       Total losses after wounded treated:                            64

The first moves of the battle favored the Fezian/Bogavanians. From her position on the Southern wall Illurine fired down deadly lightning bolts at the Beerstein relief force which entered the field from the South. The Fezian archers there were out of range. The Bogavanian cannon was not and it contributed to the Beersteiener casualties. By the Eastern wall the joint Bogavanian/Fezian force advanced. It was a strong force of muskets, bows, pike and halberd plate infantry. They poured fire into the enemy.

  Nevertheless, the Beersteiners remained resolute and counter advanced. The column of pike suffered terribly. Then the mounted knights advanced but their horses balked at charging enemy pike, which, instead attacked the cavalry! For a while it was a stalemate but the Bogavanian hero, Roland was a whirlwind of savage sword swings and thrusts. He killed knights by slicing off the horses' legs and then falling on the prone knights, driving his sword through their visors. Then the mounted Commander Safan joined the fray. Neither he nor Roland were equipped with plate armor, only heavy armor of cuirass and helmet. However, they more than made up for the armor disparity with their weapon skill.

Eventually not one Beerstein knight remained. But the victors were perilously vulnerable to enemy muskets.

   Meanwhile the Beersteiners at the South wall continued to pop off archers on the walls. They outranged the short bows. At the West wall other things were happening. The heavy cavalry searched for a river crossing but found none. The two units of muskets had their own competition to kill enemy on the battlements. They pruned them down slightly with long distance fire, again, with the Fezian short bows (in this case the black as soot Ebons) being outranged. They also managed to kill off the Fezian artillery crew. The cannon also opened up, adding to the carnage. The two cannons facing the Southern wall had also arrived and begun shelling the archers on the wall.

  But the final nail was the activity of Sylvia the Serpent. So far, she had killed a few enemy archers with her magic spell of attack of the raven cloud. Now she performed her most deadly spell. Her Lore of Beasts enabled her to turn into a Mountain Fire Dragon. She had previously done this in the first battle for the castle, something the Fezians had survived. In casting the spell there was magical backfire which would have killed her if she was still in her human form, but her toughness was such that it damaged not one scale on her chinny-chin-chin.The Fezian commander had repeatedly fretted about Sylvia dragon entering the castle and scorching him to death. Perhaps Sylvia heard! She lifted her mighty wings and soared up onto a tower. from there she flamed the Ebons on the battlement - twice. (The remainder cowered and tried to flee). There was nowhere to go. Then she dropped to the courtyard, landing on the wagon horses and turning to Commander Epheba. He turned and brandished his toothpick of a sword. She flamed him and he suffered terrible burns but the wagons must have partially shielded him. He lost one wound. Then the dragon pummeled him with his mighty claws. Epheba fell, apparently dead, but later to be shown to be unconscious. He became a POW of the admiring Beersteiners. One thing they did respect was courage. However, the Ebons and lights cowered anywhere they could get away from the terrifying beast.

  As this was happening the Beersteiner Lobsters maneuvered to a place to threaten the Fezian halberds just as the Beersteiner pike closed with the Bogavanian musketeers. The halberds left themselves in a vulnerable position. The Bogavanian musketeers fled to the castle door but it was barricaded, and they could not enter. The halberd men were facing the front to deal with other Beersteiners so the Lobsters charged their rear - and annihilated them in two moves!

 Even that was not the worst for Fezia and Bogavania. Safan and Rolland stood among the remnant of their pikemen, weary and stunned from the fierce melee. Two regiments of Beersteiner muskets were facing them as if a gigantic firing squad. The muskets spoke and all of them fell to the ground. Rolland lost a life, but he later regained consciousness in captivity.

    Facing a leaderless and hopeless situation the remaining Fezians and Bogavanians surrendered. Sylvia must have had her animal form bloodlust up for she slaughtered the surrendering Ebons and light infantry before she comprehended the drumbeat of mercy. Some of the few remaining archers and musket men were spared as were the captured personalities of sorcerer, hero and one of the commanders.

  The capture of 78 credits in the wagons was happy news for the Beersteiners as supplies were stretched. Happily, for the prisoners, it also meant they would, hopefully, be fed, if only half rations. The nobles would, most likely, be better fed, as they could produce ransoms, or perhaps, even be turned to Beerseiner service. Illurine would be especially useful - if she did not use her powers to escape. Sylvia said she would place a binding spell on her to hopefully prevent such an occurrence.

    
  Below: Mat's photo of the approach of Sylvia, in dragon form. More photos to come (when I find my camera!)