The follow thru of creation (AAR)

As viscount Oritz berried his axe blade into the last of the foul animated dead he breathed a sigh of relief. They had come from nowhere, the scouts reported nothing, the forest was still as he led the patrol through the rout they had been tracing for the last week since the reports of ransacked villages and walking corpses had gotten back to the city. They all scoffed when they heard, how could the dead walk let alone fight?. As the weeks went on the men grew more and more restless, wondering why they were bothering to patrol at all so close to the harvest that was so vital to their families?. He had begun to wonder himself. But this dawnlight had been different, the mist refused to clear, if anything it got worse as the day progressed. And the smell, like rotten flesh in the baking summer sun, like a thousand battlefields after the slaughter was done. It was faint at first but grew stronger as the morn progressed. Some of the men were gagging and wretching before it happened. Not his honerguard, they were made of the blade-steel of the defenders of true Tradjev but the leve, they had no stomach for it.
 It happened in an instant, they were talking and laughing as they rode, poking fun at the green faced footmen trying to keep down their breakfast when the horses became unsettled, one tried to buck his rider. Oritz struggled to control Sabre, his great black wolf he had ridden since he was in his first years. Then the trees erupted!. They were on them in a moment, Rusted blades and rotten clubs biting flesh as the silent dead attacked. Oritz summoned all his resolve to rally his men and lead a counter attack. Too late to save the foot troopers closest to the trees he roared a cry to the glory of Tradjev and charged. They swept the enemy aside with ease, soon they were among the last of them, Sabre crushing a skull like chalk between his powerful jaw as Oritz and the honerguard hacked and slashed around him.
  Oritz looked at the bodies of the enemies. He could only count thirty at the most. So few, how could this pathetic 'host' be a threat to the power of Tradjev?. Then he herd the cry of the men by his side. 'The mist, the mist has gone!'. The men began to cheer their victory. Then it came. A horn on the morning breeze, then another, a longer blast, panicked . More and more came. 'DAMN THEM!' Oritz shouted 'HOW COULD WE BE SO FOOLISH. WE'VE BEEN TRICKED, THE CIRCLE, THIS WAS A BLOODY DECOY, THEY ARE ATTACKING THE CIRCLE. TO HORSE, RIDE, RIDE FOR YOUR LIVES....RIDE FOR TRADJEV!'....


Another game report it is then! (well it is a gaming blog so...). Lion Rampant again which is a set i am really enjoying at the moment. This time i thought i would play out a scenario from the book. I am playing the 'Defending the indefensible' scenario, one side must split it forces with one half defending a static area or object in the middle of the battlefield and the other half entering the battlefield on a chosen table edge. The attacker sets up his whole force opposite the defenders table edge and must get into contact with the defended area in order to hold/smash/grab etc the objective from under the defenders nose!. I decided to tweak the rules slightly as i felt just contacting the objective would not be enough, whichever attacking unit did so would have to hold it until the end of the turn.
 For this game the forces of the old and venerable nation of Tradjev, jewel of the east, empire of the ages etc defend a stone circle from an attacking horde of undead. The stone circle being a point where the eldritch power that fuels the mist that animates and leads the undead requires to make itself even stronger!. If the stones fall into enemy hands the fate of Tradjev will be sealed!.

THE FORCES
 Tradjev. The defenders of the stone circle

Clockwise from back left: FOOT YEOMEN (3 pts), ARCHERS (4 pts), FOOT YEOMEN (command) (3 pts). This is the force defending the stone circle. Its important to note that i gave commanders to both the defenders forces as i figured they were both doing different jobs so would both have their own leaders. 

Viscount Oritz' patrol

Rear: ARCHERS (4pts), Front from the left: BIDOWERS (2 pts), MOUNTED MEN AT ARMS (command) (6 pts), MOUNTED SARJEANTS (4pts).
Combined cost 26 points.
All the foot troops and the mounted sarjeants are hat minis and the men at arms are Zvesda ( Sabre the wolf is by dark alliance).

The foul, nasty, maggot riddled,...er... smelly and otherwise....um....yeah.... FORCES OF THE UNDEAD:

 Rear: 2x MOUNTED SARJEANTS (8pts), Front from the left: 2x FIERCE FOOT (one is the command unit) (8 pts), ARCHERS (4 pts), UNDEAD OGRES! (classed as foot men at arms) (6 pts).
The whole force cost 26 points. The undead miniatures were all produced by light alliance except the ogres which are Mantic zombies.

SET UP
 The battlefield at the start of hostilities:

The stone circle in the center defended by the ...um, defenders, the relief force on the right of the picture and the attacking undead coming from the tree line on the left.

At this point i should point out that  i use a colour coded basing system. The forces of Tradjev are on green bases with yellow trim and the undead have black bases with white trim. And mist (cough*cotton wool*cough!).
I have not written this as a blow by blow turn by turn account but am trying to let the 'story' of the game flow (who said 'pretentious twat') so its not split into turns or anything (and may be shorter than the last AAR if you are very lucky!).

Deployment:
The defenders of the stones:

The foot yeomen take the center while the archers are ready to support from the wing
.
Oritz' patrol:

Horse (and one wolf) on the flanks with missiles in the middle.

The undead right:

Fierce foot and archers in the front and mounted Sarjeants behind.

and the left:

Ogres and Fierce foot with the second unit of Mounted Sarjeants on the flank.

THE PEACE SHATTERS
 From the trees the tide of undead attacked, sweeping towards the outnumbered defenders.

The (former)horse sweep wide to allow the (decaying)foot to head towards the stone circle.

 The shout goes out to form up, even in the face of such a horrifying enemy the brave men of Tradjev form up into a wall of spear tips, ready to sell their lives dearly. The famous schiltron of Tradjev will not break today!.

                                                'Hold......hold.......HOLD!...'

THE CARNAGE BEGINS
 The first wave of undead smash into the Tradjev ranks:

                                                     Fierce foot charge the right.

(ex)horse hit the left!.

On both sides the defenders formations are broken and they are pushed away from the stones, nothing can stop the undead!. 

THE THUNDER OF HOOVES

 From the rear the renforcements charge!

                       The Men at arms smash into the (no longer)horse destroying them!

The mounted sarjaents sweep around the left pushing back their opposite numbers!

THE STONES FALL

Despite the patrols charge the unguarded center allows the ogres to shamble up to the rocks!. They need to hold it until the end of the turn. The fierce foot move to block the Mounted men at arms. Can the Yeomen make one last ditch charge to save the stones and the nation itself?........Before i answer that i need to ask you if you have ever played Lion Rampant?, or are you familiar with the activation system used to allow the regiments to perform actions? (you need to roll 2d6 and equal or beat a stated target number for the troop type you wish to activate in order to perform that action).Its a good system which adds an element of randomness to each turn. Guess what happened next?. Yep, the Yeomen failed the activation and blew the only chance they had to save the day!. The circle belonged to the undead in a really rubbish anti climax!. 

Well that was a bit naff in the end!. I wrote a bloody narrative, actually a 2 PART BLOODY NARRATIVE  JUST FOR THE BLOODY YEOMEN TO FLUFF THE ENDING!!. THEY WERE ALL SET TO SAVE THE DAY IN A BIG CINEMATIC MOMENT THAT WOULD HAVE MADE THEM TRUE HEROS! (or probably pate against those Ogres!)  BUT NOOOOOO!!!! THEY HAD TO BLOODY.....o.k., calm down Sprinks..its just the luck of the dice....whoo...right....yeah.........till next time.

Actually before i do sign off id like to say a big hello and welcome to chris, the first ever follower of Wronghammer!. I dont know much about Chris but i do know he has an fantastic taste in blogs!. And as the first follower of these pages i officially owe him a beer!.

Right, now then. Till next time.......