An army of duergar has come all the way to the capital of the White Fang orc's empire, Lagakh Mor. As the city walls were ruined by a magical earthquake — summoned by the duergar — earlier in the summer, the orcs decide to mount a defence outside the city, in the plains called Lagakh Hon by the orcs. Here the orcs will make their final defence against the duergar of the Hammerhead Clan.
The duergar have around a 50% advantage in army strength, making this battle similar to the battle at Threnal between these empires in the previous year, with the orcs outnumbered, hoping to hold on in a defensive posture. But this is a much smaller battle: these are small scouting armies, less than one quarter of the size of the main armies that met at Threnal. However, for the White Fang this is the final defence, with their capital falling to the Hammerheads if they lose. Translating their armies in Mighty Empires into l'AdlG points, the orcs get 68 points and the duergar have 100.
The Armies
The Hammerhead Clan's force is around 900 strong, with over 800 duergar warriors and around 100 Vulkoorim drow auxilliaries. In charge is Commander Drukh, a solid if unimaginative commander who, before the conflict, was in charge of a complex of mines in the Dragon's Teeth mountains. His troops are sturdy and disciplined, but their food supplies ran low during the long march south, so their strength has been depleted by disease and desertion.- 5x Heavy swordsmen armour impact — duergar warriors
- 1x Heavy swordsmen impetus — duergar shock troops
- 1x Medium spearmen — duergar spears
- 2x Crossbows — duergar crossbows
- 1x Heavy artillery — duergar heavy ballista battery
- 1x Light cavalry bow — Vulkoorim mounted scouts
- 1x Light infantry bow — Vulkoorim scouts
Against them, making a desperate stand to protect their capital, is a force of just 700 orcs, led by Shaman Armnok. They were expecting reinforcements that did not come, and may never come now as the main duergar army is laying siege to the city to the east. While ferocious fighters, the orcs lack the discipline of the duergar, leaving them both outnumbered and with inferior troops.
- 1x Medium swordsmen elite — orc veterans
- 5x Medium swordsmen — orc warriors
- 2x Medium cavalry — orc worg riders
- 1x Light infantry bow — goblin archers
- 1x Light cavalry javelin — goblin wolf riders
The Battle
Deployment
The Hammerhead forces set up in the open plain, where their dense infantry formation should be able to crush all in its path.
The woods and fields to the west are guarded by the Vulkoorim scouts, and on the east side is the ballistae battery on the slopes of a ridge. The Vulkoorim mounted scouts fill the gap in the line between the artillery and infantry.
The White Fang have only medium infantry, and have no desire to meet the duergar in the open plain. So they position only cavalry in the plain to the east, with their infantry in the fields on the west side.
Turn 1, 2, & 3
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| End of turn 2 |
The orcs advance their infantry, turning their line to match the terrain, while the cavalry rides out to flank the duergar line. They hope to trap the advancing infantry between their own infantry line and the cavalry.
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| End of turn 3 |
Meanwhile, on the left, the vulkoorim scouts advance and start firing on the orc line in the field here, causing some disruption to their ranks. The goblin archers in the field in the centre are also taking heavy losses from the duergar crossbowmen in the centre. The orcs rally, however, and charge to drive back the skirmishing drow.
Turn 4
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| End of turn 4 |
The duergar must deal with the threats to their flanks. One unit of dwarven infantry turns to face the orcs moving around their right flank, while another unit peels off to face the cavalry across the plain. Growing impatient, the orc cavalry now charges, but the cavalry are already disordered by ballista fire and the impetus is lost as the heavy dwarven infantry stands their ground against the charge without problem. Meanwhile, the goblin cavalry charge the Vulkoorim mounted scouts, but are quickly routed and driven off.
Turn 5
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| End of turn 5 |
As one unit of the White Fang's cavalry is routed by the duergar in the plain, the orcs realise they can wait no longer and must exploit their advantage on the left now or never. The line here charges, joined by a flank charge by the unit on their far left that already advanced. The duergar line manages to meet the charge, but it is thrown into disorder as the ferocious orcs take advantage of their local advantage in numbers and press their attack.
Demoralisation points:
White Fang: 7 (target of 12)
Hammerhead Clan: 3 (target of 12)
Turn 6
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| End of turn 6 |
The duergar are in a mess — they moved their line too close to the orcs, giving them all the flexibility about choosing when to fight. On their left, the duergar are cleaning up: the remaining orc cavalry are routed by the duergar infantry there, who have done an excellent job driving off cavalry despite their greater numbers and the open ground here, with only a little assistance from their ballista battery. But there are a lot of troops over on the left here, and meanwhile their right is being swamped by the main orc attack.
The White Fang orcs warriors in the centre cut a path through the duergar crossbowmen, causing heavy losses, and slowly but surely the duergar begin to break away in groups, until the crossbowmen are all fleeing for the rear. The duergar line infantry next to them are also taking heavy losses, but are at least able to stand again the charge. Although the Commander Drukh charges his own regiment to take the weight of the flank attack, the damage is done and the duergar spearmen, already disrupted, give way before the orcs still facing them — fleeing through the commander's unit behind and throwing that into disorder as well.
Demoralisation points:
White Fang: 10 (target of 12)
Hammerhead Clan: 8 (target of 12)
Turn 7
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| End of turn 7 |
The duergar charge another unit of heavy infantry into the melee in the middle, trying to relieve their embattled unit of line infantry there. But the unit has already sustained heavy losses and collapses into rout, leaving the new troops to handle the rampaging orc warriors.
On the duergar right, Drukh is leading his personal regiment in the melee, and they manage to hold their ground against the orcs despite being attacked in the flank as other units flee. The orcs in front of them waver and, with mounting losses, then break and run.
The rest of the White Fang line is staying in the field, where they can cover the flank and be ready for a counterattack by the duergar coming from the left.
Demoralisation points:
White Fang: 11 (target of 12)
Hammerhead clan: 10 (target of 12)
Turn 8
Commander Drukh emerges from a protracted and bloody right with the orcs on the right, he and his personal regiment victorious and the orcs, despite their numbers, finally put to flight with heavy losses. But, as he surveys the battlefield, the sight is grim: most of his main battle line has been broken up by the orc charge — the final unit of duergar warriors here, after heavy losses, is overwhelmed and breaks ranks to flee. Beyond, his units on the left are regrouping and mounting a counterattack against the orcs in the centre, where they seek to bring the White Fang commander, Armnok, to close quarters. But the orcs are ready for them, and the rough ground of the field is better suited to the orcs than to the heavily-armoured duergar in close formation.
With his army in disarray and in danger of being entirely overwhelmed, Drukh reluctantly calls a retreat. The duergar must regroup.
Demoralisation points:
White Fang: 12 (target of 12)
Hammerhead Clan: 13 (target of 12)
Post-Battle Analysis
Well, that was a remarkable turnaround for the orcs. I thought that, having wasted their cavalry, there was little chance that I could turn it around. So I decided to try with their only advantage — local numbers on the west side of the field, plus the slow-moving duergar would have a hard time redeploying to meet it. The duergar has foolishly put themselves in a place where the orcs could charge them, but they would take several turns to charge the orcs, and were dithering due to the poor formation of their line. The orcs got unlucky with rolls with their cavalry, but made up for it with the main infantry push.
The duergar may have won the east side of the battle, but their troops there were so scattered that they could not be easily redeployed to meet the main orc force in the centre. The duergar started with a 50% points advantage, but much of it was left scattered in the east because their commander was too far away to use it.
Technically, the battle is a draw, but that means (in the ME rules) that the attackers have to withdraw so they are effectively the losers here.
L'Art de la Guerre held up okay again here. I think it struggled a little with such small armies, as sometimes little happened on a turn since there were so few order points to go around. But it still strikes a good balance between making an interesting battle while feeling reasonably balanced and not totally arbitrary.
Consequences
Most imporantly, the orcs remain in posession of their capital, and are not out of the game.
The White Fang lose 140 points from their ME army — fairly heavy losses for a victory, around ¼ of their army, but that's not surprising considering how badly outnumbered they were to start with and had all their cavalry and skirmishers routed early on.
The Hammerhead Clan loses 225 points, 30% of their army. That is expensive but not a disaster — the battle was very close, effectively a draw, and the Hammerheads had fewer routed units than the orcs (who had over half of their army routed). If they attack again, these same armies could face off again and with the duergar having only a slightly reduced relative advantage.
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