Year 1, Turn 4

Still trying to tweak the formatting of these posts a little bit so here we go!

The Abyssal Dwarf Kingdom discovered a fortress hiding out in the Desert that they quickly subjugated into their realm.

On their Southern borders another Fortress was discovered by their newly acquired fleet of ships on an island not far from the coast.  They however refused to relinquish their fleet of ships nor their territory as 1000 points of soldiers defend the walls.  The fleets exchanged cannon fire but no ships were sunk.

In the north the mountains were scouted but nothing of interest was found.

The League of Rhordia expanded into the south claiming a village next to the Salamanders border.

On the western border a band of scouts uncover a city next to a desert oasis proving that this is a well inhabited and apparently fruitful desert.  The city however refused to join the League and their 600 points of soldiers remained in the desert without conflict for now.

The frigid wasteland to the north of course yielded exactly what a frigid wasteland normally does when scouted.

The Salamanders uncovered a village in their norther borders expanding right up to the Rhordian border and stationing a banner in defense should the treaties fail.  In the south they maintained the siege opting this time to assault the fortress.  The ensuing battle can be found here.

The Salamander fleets did well in their trade gaining a Gold Crown and Cargo!

The Elves in the South, war hungry from their previous siege, scouted out an independent fortress but the scouts failed to warn them that they were up against 1000 points of battle ready free people!  The army moved on the castle and has laid siege to its people for now.

The rest of the banners shuffled around trying to position themselves in defense of their neighboring Salamanders should tensions rise.  Their fleets managed to trade with the lizards for some extra baggage.

Only a few free and open spaces remain at this point and winter is only two turns away...

Year 1, Turn 4 Battles

Turn 4 sees the battle between the Salamanders and an independent Rhordian Fortress in the south.  The Independent army consists of 800 points:

Two Halfling (giant halflings) Volley Guns
A regiment of City Spear Militia
A Troop of City Militia
A regiment of (again giant) halfling archers
Two Regiments of Dogs of War (one with a helm of confidence)

For their siege preparations they have Reinforced all but one wall section, gained 2D3 units worth of fire pots, and equipped the walls with boiling oil.

 The Salamanders have come with a full 1500 points led by Khal Sargo with an additional 100 points of deserters from the fortress forces:

a traitorous regiment of city militia
a horde of salamander primes with brew of sharpness
a horde of acients on rhinosaurs with potion of the caterpillar
a regiment of ancients with blood of the old king
a clan lord on fire drake named Khal Sargo (clipped wings so no flying!) with pipes of terror
a battle captain named Red Ripper with inspiring talisman
a mage priest named Sidewinder on mount with soul drain and myrddin's amulet of the fire heart
and an ankylodon battle platform.

For their siege preparations they have opted for the usual ladders, a siege tower and two siege artillery.

 The Salamanders took the first turn and pressed aggressively forward.  The catapults more than earned the two months of building by each hitting the volley guns that were once in the tower destroying them utterly and severely tipping the odds in the lizards favor.

The defenders could only attempt to put fire a few shots from the halflings as the rest of the force braced for the invasion at the walls.

The Salamanders pressed forward quickly in the next turn bringing the Anklyodon into the gatehouse nearly shattering it in one charge while the traitors set their siege ladders and began their attempt at assaulting the ramparts. The only blessing the defenders would receive is the continued bombardment of the artillery falling short of hitting anything the rest of the battle.

The spearmen were able to easily repel the traitor militia shouting insults and hurling boiling oil down into their ranks but to no avail.

The Heavy cavalry and clan lord began to tear down the walls brick by brick surviving both fire pots and boiling oil with ease.

By turn three the horde of primes invade via siege tower and waver the dogs of war pushing them off the wall and breaching the defenses.

To make matters worse the anklyodon crashes through the gate house to take a short rest inside the gate while the battle captain Red Ripper climbs the ladders and wavers the spearmen all by himself showing the humans how a real warrior does it!

 The battle continues with the anklyodon smashing the wavered spearmen one turn only to rampage through the dogs of war in a subsequent turn.  The primes in turn wiped out the militia to secure the left flank of the castle.

The defenses had failed spectacularly so far and the right flank was no better...

Khal Sargo and the rhino cavalry had smashed the wall down after three turns of continued battering sending the dogs of war into disarray and plummeting along with the wall to the ground.   Facing the combined might of the most elite units of the army the humans surrendered the fortress after a four month long siege.

 The Salamander army had taken the castle and surprisingly without permanent casualties to the army!

Year 1, Turn 3

In the Third month of the campaign space is starting to get tight and most of the prime land is taken!

The Abyssal Dwarves a new village in the north east near the Rhordian boarder while their newly acquired fleet heads south to scout out an island next turn.  In the South East of the empire an independent dwarf city is found and laid siege to.

The siege of the dwarven city can be found here.

At this point the Abyssal dwarves have an alliance with the Rhordians to the east and a somewhat unspoken non aggression pact with the other empires.

In the League of Rhordia another village is found and in the far north a Fortress leaving the mountains without a convenient pass (due to needing a city) making travel into and out of the empire difficult.

An alliance is formed with the evil dwarves to the west and a final border agreed upon with the salamanders in the south to ensure some further exploration without war.

The Salamanders expanded their empire slightly however no new settlements were scouted.

Spoken and unspoken non aggression pacts abound with the other races and the siege against the independent southern fortress remains with no starvation losses.  The growing naval fleets however end up gaining an extra gold crown for the empire.

The Elves had a spot of luck scouting out and acquiring two new cities and a single ship!

Outside of this their non aggression pacts are keeping the peace but preventing further expansion along the northern and eastern borders.

The land grab and the year is nearly at an end.  The only question is who will get greedy first and use warfare as a means to expand?

Year 1, Turn 3 Battle

The battle this turn is a grudge match between the Abyssal Dwarves and an independent coastal city of Dwarves.

The dwarf defenders only have 300 points and refuse to give into the forced rule of their evil kindred.  Their militia consists of:

1 regiment of crossbowmen
1 organ gun
1 troop of ironclad.

The Abyssal Dwarves have a large 1740 point army cosnisting of:

2 Hordes of Obsidian Golems (one with a Battering Ram)
2 Katsuchan Rocket Launchers
1 Gargoyle Troop
1 Horde of slave orcs
1 Regiment of slave orcs
1 Regiment of berserkers
1 Horde of black souls

The dwarves were led by two Iron casters with the general being Asgarth (who had blood boil and surge) and his lacky Steve of Accounting (who had only mastered surge...)

The thing to keep in mind about any battle in this campaign is that even if you outnumber your opponent severely all they have to do is cause some casualties to lessen your effectiveness in further battles.  In this case the dwarves have almost no chance outside of demonically possessed dice but if they can take out a unit it will hamper the army later down the line.

The dwarf player opted to setup the gate further towards their right flank with the towers on either side trying to bring the battle into a narrow field in order to wear down the assaulting force.  The Abyssal Dwarves (having to fully deploy first) spread out in hopes of taking the walls wherever the dwarves would be short on dwarf power.

The golems with the battering ram were surged up as fast as possible in order to take the gatehouse.  The dwarves had planned their defenses well and with super hot boiling oil (the kind that burns magmas golems!), crossbows and artillery nearly take the golems down.  They only fail due to a horribly unlucky roll of a 3 for nerve where a 4+ would send them back to the magma pools they were spawned from! 

Thankfully Asgarth and Steve were able to heal the horde before they battered down the gate and hid inside the gatehouse itself!

Meanwhile on the rest of the walls the slaves and blacksouls take to the ladders and sieze the walls closing in turn after turn towards the stalwart dwarves.  It is here that the gargoyles got a little to greedy and ended up in range of the crossbowmen on the tower and were wiped out permanently from the army!

The ironclads abandoned the wall in an attempt to charge the gargoyles in case of another bad nerve roll but only ended up showing their back to the gatehouse and receiving a charge to the rear from obsidian golems.  The slave orcs had already claimed the organ gun and the blacksouls slaughtered their goody two shoes brethren in the tower claiming the city for their own nefarious purposes...

Asgarth was victorious!  The loss of the gargoyles was unfortunate however the loss of the obsidian golems would have been horribly bad.  Sometimes its better to be lucky than good...

Year 1, Turn 2

The Abyssal Dwarves had a fairly uneventful turn only finding a village this month leaving their area fairly desolate so far.  They continued to lay siege to the Independent fortress which paid off as the defenders decided on a whim to surrender rather than face the prolonged starvation and eventual enslavement.

The banner in the Grotto attempted to find a few worthy slaves at the village.  What came forward were 80 points and a few mouths to feed which were quickly dropped back into the grotto.

The League of Rhordia finds another harbor that would have been independent except for their negotiating skills which turns them to the cause of the league!

The Salamanders explore further along the coast line getting uncomfortably close to elf territory.  For their efforts though they find two  villages and a city.  On top of that they claim another fleet of ships!

Their siege of the southern fortress results in another 40 points of starvation for the defenders and a -2 to the nerve of the walls as hardships take their toll. The defenders are now down to 810 points.

Not only do they have some luck trading this turn gaining a gold crown but the salamanders also manage a whopping 200 point reinforcement at one of the villages!
 

The elves only end up finding a village and are now determined to take the city harbor by assault.

The board after moves:

Battles



The only battle this month took place between the Elves and a woefully defended Kingdoms of Men city.

The elves of course quickly took the city without casualties.

All of the empires currently have a string of uneasy treaties and or non aggression pacts however once the free land runs out that may quickly shift...

Year 1, Turn 2 Battles

The only battle this month took place between the Elves and an independent settlement of Kingdoms of Men however it is a siege so the battles a little bit different.

Each turn that a settlement is under siege both the defender and attacker get to build siege equipment or reinforce the walls.  In this case the elves opted for two siege artillery and the defenders chose to reinforce two sections of the wall and equip the wall with boiling oil.

The entirety of the defending force consisted of 160 points, just a troop of shield wall and archers.  They would be attempting to hold out against a full 1500 point elven army lead by Alf the mighty Elf King on his steed!  Most likely they regretted trying to refuse elven rule at this point...

The elves began with releasing volleys of arrows at the troops on the wall to no effect while the siege artillery ranged in on the walls themselves.  With no safer option available the men remained hidden behind the ramparts.

With siege ladders in tow (yes I know I need to get those models done but I'm no factory!) the infantry blocks advance while the drakon riders (minus riders, they were yummy) take the tower.  The drakons would swoop down from the towers to easily destroy the archers while the shield wall moves from the wall to the gate itself and assault outwards.  Whether madness or a simple attempt to slay the enemy general they leave the safety of the castle.

They of course fail to do more than stun Alf at the shear audacity of these men.  Even the wizard Sprinkles could only stand by and shake his head as the Drakons swoop down and dismantle the humans piece by piece.

King Alf won an easy victory this day and lost nothing.  The city was under his rule now.

Year 1, Turn 1 Battle

Only a single battle took place during the first turn which was the Rhordians attacking the Stubborn salamander mercenary banner.

This would prove to be a fairly one sided battle as a regiment of Kaisenor Lancers and a Clan Lord on Fire Drake face off against a fully loaded 1500 point Rhordian Army.

The Rhordians were lead by Duke Von Boos the Headtaker atop his Winged Aralez.  Backing him up on this their maiden battle was the Army Standard Lars and the Wizard Gunther, the Strange.  The salamanders were caught out in the open across the river and thus the battle was joined!

 The Salamanders were not deterred by being outnumbered 3 to 1 (except for the waver penalties for being that badly outnumbered!) and charged headlong into the enemy lines.  The kaisenor lancers were quickly torn to shreds by artillery and archers while the Clan Lord ordered his mount to burninate the Volley Gun destroying it utterly.

The Clan Lord then engaged Duke Von Boos in hopes of scoring some kind of moral victory.  On this day bravery turned to folley as the duke and his entourage slew the mercenary that dared to demand payment from the Legion of Boos!

The battle was one and the Rhordians suffered the permanent loss of their volley gun.