Battle for the Ancient Oathmarks (Oathmark)

 Following their victory on the Plain of Towers, the hordes of Elkall-Anuz have become even more hawkish. Their control of the River Galder offers new opportunities for their army, while the Kingdom of Storace has vowed revenge and occupied an area with silver-bearing lodes, while the orcs were establishing control of the river.

The Armies

The Kingdom of Storace

1 Prince with a Starsilver Sword and 9 heavy cavalry

1 Champion with 4 cavalry

1 Mounted spellcaster (Level 1 with Fireball)

The Kingdom of Elkall-Anuz

1 Champion with 9 elf soldiers

2 units of 10 elf archers

1 unit of 3 trolls

1 unit of 1 troll

The Battlefield

A relatively flat plain with a stone circle (oathmark) in the centre. Two oathmarks (standing stones) lie to either side of the Elkall-Anuz deployment area, and ruined structures lie near the left and centre oathmarks. A wooded copse lies near the central oathmark. A marsh lies against the Storace deployment area, providing a convenient secure flank.

Storace at the top of the picture. Elkall-Anuz at the bottom

The army of Storace, led by Prince Rohr advanced around marshy ground, ready to sweep down on the feeble orcish horde they were to face. With him was his trusty advisor and wizard, Combibulan the Prestidigitous and two companies of his household cavalry. In his hand, Prince Rohr bore the dread starsilver sword Slicer.

"Milord, I believe these orcs are elves! And I spy trolls too. The orcs are not playing fair once more."

"Did you really believe that those uncultured oafs would ever play fair? Pah! They shall be as dust beneath our feet. I hope you brought your good hoofpick with you for clearing out bits of elf and troll from your horse's hooves."

The Battle

Seeing the enemy approaching from their right flank, the elven commander ordered his archers and soldiers to wheel. Arrows and fireballs began to fly but no casualties were caused. The human cavalry raced towards the oathmark in front of them, while Prince Rohr led his personal bodyguard towards the central oathmark.

"Mah rock. You cain't have!"

One troll took it upon himself to guard an oathmark while the fight developed in the centre.

Prince Rohr raced forward as members of his guard fell to elven arrows. Not long before he would reach them and they would die like dogs.

His guard slammed home against the elven archers and cut down half of them in one go, but their morale held and they held their lines in front of him.

The trolls tried to remember how to manoeuvre to face the oncoming cavalry as the rest of the army of Elkall-Anuz sought to protect their central oathmark.

The human cavalry tore down an oathmark and raced behind the trolls towards the other standing stone. Suddenly inspired, the trolls performed a complex manoeuvre that allowed them to fall on the human cavalry as it tried to sneak past. Meanwhile, Prince Rohr and his remaining knights had trampled the elven archers underfoot and driven them off, before engaging the elven soldiers. Thought cut down to half their number, Prince Rohr was still confident that his knights would carry the day. It is said that Prince Rohr was never not confident though, no matter what.

Combibulan, meanwhile had lost his way a bit, but now found it and launched a blistering fireball at the archers in the stone circle. The archers held, but their numbers were much reduced.

The trolls finished off the human cavalry, but then got distracted eating them. Prince Rohr led his men against the elven soldiers and drove them back once more, causing chaos and dismay in their ranks.

With the soldiers in disarray, Prince Rohr was able to pivot his cavalry and charge the archers in the stone circle. Despite this disrupting his ranks, the archers were annihilated.

The trolls continued to not respond to orders and were having huge difficulty leaving their meal behind to support the rest of their army. Seizing the initiative, Prince Rohr ordered his men to tear down the oathmark. Seeing that his goal was achieved, he gathered his troops and returned home in time for tea and biscuits.

The Result

This was a victory for the Kingdom of Storace won on the very last turn of the game. It could so easily have gone either way. If the elven archers had managed to score one more hit on the human heavy cavalry, the unit would not have been large enough to destroy the oathmark. If the trolls had not failed so many activation rolls, they would have got close enough for their presence to prevent either or both oathmarks being destroyed. If the elves had won the initiative on the last turn, the last remaining soldiers could have reached the oathmark and might have prevented its destruction, although the spellcaster represented a real threat to that: a good fireball would have destroyed them. So many ifs!

To some extent, the ifs are all a result of both players choosing small elite forces. An orcish horde with many more speedbumps would have been much harder for the humans to deal with. A human horde that could attack on more than one front would have presented a similar problem for the orcs.

All in all, this was a fun game. Both players had come up with simple but effective plans that I found easy to implement, and I feel that either of them could have won.