Hordes Campaign
THE LAST BATTLE
Spring Year 20 of the Cycle of the Phoenix
Last updated - May 4, 2006
And so at last, the destiny of the Land has been decided. The forces of Evil, the Servants of the Red Sun, have faced up against the forces of Good (well actually more the forces of good-leaning neutrality).
The Evil army was lead by the Sorceror Priests of the Empire of Acheron, who have emerged in recent years as the greatest superpower in the world. With them they brought a mighty host of monsters & armour-clad knights, but their most feared weapon was the massed ranks of their sorcerous power.
With them were their faithful allies, the Dwarves of the White Mountains, bringing with them many grim dwarven heroes. Above them was a great army of the Pteor, the winged people of the mountains of the NE, in such numbers that the sky was darkened by their wings.
Opposing them were an alliance of three free peoples; the fearless barbarians of Hibernica, the sophisticated turbaned horsemen of Quorm, and the valiant citizen-soldiery of the Republic of Kregmire.
The site of this battle was the plain before an ancient castle in Albion, wherein had been revealed an artifact that would give whichever side gained possession of it mastery of the world - the fabled Teaspoon of Ultimate Power. Both armies were racing to reach the castle first, but each found that the other blocked their path.
The Battlefield
The battle was fought in 15mm, and the battlefield was 8 2’x 2’ terrain blocks. The Army of Evil entered from the west and the Army of Light from the east (there was a possibility that a third army might appear to contest the field, and it would have entered from the south, but in the event the players concerned didn’t show up on the day).
Victory could be obtained by either breaking the enemy (50% casualties overall) or by capturing the stronghold on the northern edge of the table. The stronghold belonged to neither side, and defended with a combat factor of +7 instead of the normal +6 to reflect that it is the resting place of such a mighty artifact.
Evil were fielding six armies against Light’s three, although two of the evil armies were understrength. Light got to move first.
The Armies
The number and size of the armies was based on the resources controlled by the respective alliances at the end of the previous campaign turn.
Empire of Acheron (Evil)
Sorceror-Priests of Acheron (A): Mage General, 2 x Mages, 4 x Knights, 2 x Shooters (24 AP)
Sorceror-Priests of Acheron (B): Mage General, Mage, 4 x Riders (16 AP)
White Dwarves (A): Blade General, 3 x Heroes, 4 x Blades, Shooter (24 AP)
White Dwarves (B): Hero General, Beast, 3 x Shooters (12 AP)
Grey Dwarves: Blade General, 2 x Heroes, Behemoth, 2 x Beasts, 2 x Blades, Shooters (24 AP)
Winged People of the Pteor: Flyer General, Aerial Hero, God, 6 x Flyers (24 AP)
Southern Alliance (Light)
Barbarians of Hibernica: Hero General, 2 x Heroes, 3 x Riders, 2 x Beasts, 2 x Hordes (24 AP)
Republic of Kregmire: Knight General, Hero, Magician, Behemoth, Knight, 4 x Spears (24 AP)
Caliphate of Quorm:: Rider General, Aerial Hero, 2 x Flyers, 3 x Riders, 3 x Shooters (24 AP)
The Forces of Evil on the advance (left to right) the Grey Dwarf army (my figures), then a column of Acheron Mages flanked by riders (Chris Wilson’s figures), then a further two Dwarf armies on the left flank (mixture of my figures and Rob Alderman’s), including three elements of Heroes mounted on bears.
The Battle
The Army of Evil was the first to take the initiative, advancing in numbers towards the town, while an advance guard of Dwarven heroes mounted on great ursine steeds raced for the castle. Meanwhile, the aerial army of the Pteor surged forward in a thunder of wings on the right flank, intent on blocking the advance of the Allied forces.
But it would seem that they did not have the skies to themselves. A squadron of Quormian flying carpets, lead by a Quormian Aerial Hero, rose up to oppose them. A desperate aerial battle developed on the right flank, with Hero matched against Hero. Although the superior numbers of the Pteor eventually won this action for the forces of Evil, they were so hard pressed that even when they had the opportunity to summon their God to support them, they were too busy just trying to survive to do so. Thus they were prevented from attacking the flank of the Alliance forces marching up the road, and became too dispersed to have any decisive effect on subsequent events.
The Forces of Light won the race for control of the town. However being Spears in bad going, they were content to hold their position as a company of dwarven Blades supported by Beasts arrived from the west to contest it. Meanwhile the Knights and Riders of the Light army deployed north of the town to face the main body of the Acheron army coming up to oppose them.
Charge! The Kregmirian army force-marches its spearmen up the road to seize the town (my figures), while the Hibernican Heroes, with their Rider escort, make a dash for the Stronghold (Paul Smith’s figures).
Death from above. The entirely aerial Pteor army (my figures) advances en mass on the right flank of the Evil army.
It looked as if this battle would be No Contest, as arrayed against them were no fewer than 5 Evil Acheronian Magicians. Kregmire did not dare to commit its solitary Magician against such awesome magical firepower, and held him back out of range. At first Evil made good use of its ‘Grand Battery’, incinerating a Knight and giving the Kregmirian Hero some very bad moments. But then the One-eyed God of the dice did frown upon them. The larger Acheronian command suffered total command paralysis, and the smaller one a series of catastrophic magical failures, which caused one of the Magicians to self-immolate. Swiftly seizing the initiative, the Kregmire Hero drove forward and destroyed the other Magician (the command’s General), breaking the Acheron command, which promptly fled the battlefield.
Meanwhile, as the armies of Quorm and Kregmire held the Evil forces at bay, the Hibernican general concentrated all his attention on leading a mounted force of Heroes and Riders in a race for the Castle. Opposing them was an equally focused force of White Dwarf Heroes. It was the White Dwarves that reached the road first and were able to take advantage of it to boost the speed of their march. The Hibernican force paralleled them on their right-hand side, and for a turn we had the spectacle of these two opposing forces charging across the battlefield in column, seemingly in formation with each other and within spitting distance of each other (probably literally). But the Dwarves paid the price of the increasing distance separating them from their General, while the Barbarian General was leading his strike force in person. He could order the Riders bringing up the rear of his force to detach and attack the flank of the Dwarf force, tying up one element of Heroes. The Barbarian Riders paid the ultimate price in this unequal combat, but their sacrifice was not in vain. Although the Dwarves reached the Stronghold first, distractions and the distance to their General meant that they could only send one group of Heroes against it. It was close, but their Hero failed in this ultimate test and fled away.
Before the Dwarven General could get his Heroes to regroup for a second attempt, the Barbarians were able to launch their own attack in strength, with their General leading. It seemed as if the whole battlefield held its breath in that moment (Barbarian Hero General with two supporting elements = d6+6; Stronghold = d6+5).
And then with One Bound he was in, the Stronghold fell, and the Teaspoon of Ultimate Power was his. A great wail arose from the army of Evil as all their plans for World Domination came to naught, and great was the rejoicing in the forces of Light, who promptly went down the pub.
The players:
Hibernica = Paul Smith
Quorm = Robin Sharman
Kregmire = George Clarke
Acheron = Chris Wilson
White Dwarves = Rob Alderman
Grey Dwarves = Laurie Netherway
Pteor = Dan Evans
Although the victors in the Last Battle may have held Evil at bay for now, the overall winner in the campaign was based on Campaign Victory Points. The winners of the Last Battle received a substantial VP award for their victory, but was it enough to assure them of overall campaign victory? For the Campaign Final Scores, see here.