998YK, Lharvion.
Shurraena surveyed the remains of Cinderfall (or so it was called in Common). The drow village had once been named after a cinderspawn, but now the name was grimly appropriate — the humans had burned nearly every building to the ground. Judging from the still-warm embers, they had been here only yesterday. Shurraena's scouts informed her that the invaders had camped just over the next hill last night, and this morning resumed their march west shadowing the other drow army in the area. The Sulatar had amongst the best scouts in Xen'drik and had avoided detection, leaving the invaders unaware of the second army closing in on them.
Shurraena gave the order to advance. Messengers had communicated to the other Sulatar army to stand their ground, becoming the anvil to her hammer — the invaders would be crushed.
L'Art de la Guerre battle report; 197 pts vs 167+149 pts.
Introduction
This battle is part of the Mighty Empires campaign that I have been chronicling on this blog. Commander Markus' army, in the service of the Storm Lords of Stormreach, invaded Sulatar territory pursuing one of their armies west, but has been cornered and forced to fight by a second Sulalar army coming down from the north. The Storm Lords' scouts failed to spot the trap until too late and the army will have to stand and fight, though considerably outnumbered.
This is the first time in the campaign that two armies have attacked a single enemy from multiple directions. As suggested by the ME rules, I will be reflecting the difficulty of coordinating such a pincer movement by having the armies arrive at different times. So the Storm Lords will be badly outnumbered, but have one advantage: at first only one of the two drow armies will be on the field, and the other will arrive later. That might give them the chance to defeat in detail, though the odds are very much against them as even one of the drow armies will be no pushover.
Armies
Storm Lords' army 1: 197 points (using list 220, late medieval Swiss)
Sulatar army 1: 167 points
Sulatar army 2: 149 points (both using list 176, feudal English)
The Storm Lords' army was sent across the river to stall the Sulatar and take any opportunity that presented itself to do damage to their empire. The Storm Lords' force is rather smaller than the one that campaigned last year, however, as an outbreak of disease over the winter in Stormreach claimed the lives of many soldiers and in particular many of the levies that had been raised the previous year.
The bulk of the army consists once again of the Stormreach guard, with around 1300 guards deployed for this invasion force. The bulk of the guard are swordsmen, with crossbowmen in support. These troops have more experience in dealing with crime and disorder in Stormreach, and patrols around the city, than with large-scale battles in the wilds of Xen'drik, but they do have experience of patrols and small actions in the wilds, and many of the soldiers here fought in the Battle of Firebranch last year. And once again it is Commander Markus in command.
The guards are mixed units, with humans in a majority but also a large number of gnomes in service, and smaller numbers of elves, dwarves and warforged. With them is a force of 400 levies, recruited from refugees, soldiers of fortune, and vagabonds from the docks of Stormreach, desperate enough for work that they will risk their lives for pay.
Storm Lords' corps I, CinC Commander Markus:
- 4x Medium swordsmen 2HW — Guards
- 3x Light Infantry Crossbow — Guard crossbow
- 3x Levy — Stormreach Levies
Storm Lords' corps II, led by Captain Thifspar:
- 2x Light cavalry crossbow — Mounted Patrols
- 6x Medium swordsmen 2HW — Guards
- 1x Light Infantry Crossbow — Guard crossbow
The Storm Lords' real strength is money, though, and that brings them their biggest asset in the battle: a contingent of 500 mercenaries from House Deneith — recent veterans of many battles in the Last War in Khorvaire. This is a versatile force with foot, heavy cavalry and artillery. The Deneith contingent is commanded by Taggart d'Deneith, a veteran who has led in dozens of battles on at least three different continents. It was these mercenaries that saved the guards last year at the battle of Firerbranch, where Markus' poor battle plan nearly saw them routed by the Sulatar.
Storm Lords' corps III, led by Taggart d'Denieth (competent):
- 2x Pikemen (elite) — Denieth pikes
- 2x Medium swordsmen 2HW (elite) — Denieth mercenary warriors
- 2x Heavy Knight impact — Denieth heavy cavalry
- 1x Light artillery — Ballistae battery
The Sulatar army that they are pursuing, which has just turned back after retaking the village of Firebranch, is smaller, with around 1200 foot and 300 horse. The backbone of the army are the drow archers — skilled with both bow and sword and experienced in the tribal warfare common in Xen'drik. The cavalry are made up of nobles and other high-status warriors. There are spearmen to support the archers, and scouts and hunters to act as more mobile support. Their commander, Chalinae, fought at Firebranch the previous year and so has some experience against the Storm Lords, though most of her experience is in smaller-scale tribal battles.
Sulatar corps I, commander Chalinae Tael:
- 4x Longbows — Sulatar longbows
- 2x Heavy spearmen — Sulatar warriors
- 1x Heavy Cavalry impact
- 2x Medium Knights impetuous — nobles
- 1x Light infantry bow — scouts
Sulatar corps II, commander Nadan Zolavar:
- 4x Longbows — Sulatar longbows
- 1x Heavy spearmen — Sulatar warriors
- 2x Medium spearmen
- 2x Medium Knights impetuous — nobles
- 1x Light infantry javelin — hunters
Meanwhile, Shurraena force is executing a pincer movement, hoping to catch the Storm Lords and crush their force. Her force is smaller, but composed similarly to Chalinae's force, with 900 foot and 200 horse.
Sulatar corps III, commander Shurraena Orlyrae (brilliant):
- 4x Longbows — Sulatar longbows
- 1x Heavy spearmen — Sulatar warriors
- 1x Medium Knights impetuous — nobles
- 1x Light infantry bow — scouts
- 1x "crossbow" — fire sorcerors including Hazai Haatha
Sulatar corps IIII, commander Durlyn Orlytyl:
- 4x Longbows — Sulatar longbows
- 1x Heavy spearmen — Sulatar warriors
- 1x Heavy Cavalry impact
- 2x Medium Knights impetuous — nobles
- 1x Light infantry javelin — hunters
The Battle
I will use L'AdlG rules for flank attacks to represent the second Sulatar army arriving. That means that the arrival time is random, with a D6 rolled each turn and on a 5 or 6 (or on the first turn on a 6 only) the flanking army will arrive on the following turn.
Setup
The Sulatar want as little terrain as possible blocking the advance of their flanking force, so they take only the compulsory field, one more field and a gentle hill. The Storm Lords want lots of terrain, so they take two woods, a marsh, and a river. They roll successfully to get a river and place it along the side of the battlefield where the Sulatar flanking move will come from — but they then roll a 1 on the type of river, meaning it is dried up and no obstacle (decoration only). So close — having an actual river there would have greatly slowed down the flanking force. The rest of the terrain does not help them much either — some ends up by the river or at the edges, with only one field and a wood in the centre of the battlefield that may offer some protection later on — but they will probably slow down the initial attack by the Storm Lords more than they affect the Sulatar.
The Sulatar decide to use the same basic setup as at Firebranch: archers in the centre, spears in support or on their flanks, and cavalry at both ends of the line. The scouts and hunters will be in advance of the main line to try to slow the human advance — though they are in danger from the enemy cavalry here.
The Storm Lords skew their army towards the south, away from the flanking move. Their plan has to be to hit hard and fast with their full strength. The Deneith mercenaries form their right flank, furthest from the flanking move, and it is critical that they break the enemy line here. The rest of the guards have numbers but not really much else going for them — most of these are only medium swordsmen so they will have an easier time crossing the field in the centre behind which the Sulatar archers have taken up position.
Turns 1-3
The Storm Lords' forces made their advance in good order, with the guard crossbows sweeping ahead in the centre while the columns of halbardiers and levies followed behind. On their left, the Deneith cavalry drove the drow scouts before them, taking no notice of the occasional harassment from their bows. On the right, the one unit of guard crossbows took up position in the wood, where it was to attempt to stall the Sulatar flank march; while in the plain around the wood, the guard patrol cavalry drove back the drow hunters.
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| End of turn 3 |
As soon as they came within range of the Sulatar line, the skilled drow archers began to exact their toll. The guard crossbows took heavy losses on the right, where the drow line extended much farther than theirs; they did inflict some losses in return, but the Storm Lords' troops were certainly getting the worst of it. Similarly in the north, the mounted crossbowmen began to take serious losses.
The Sulatar are in luck — on turn 2 they roll a 6 for their flank march, so Shurraena's army arrives on turn 3. The guard crossbows in the north wood redeploy to meet them, but immediately come under fire from the drow archers arriving here and start taking losses. Shurraena's deploys her own force on the east side, to sweep around behind the Storm Lord's force; her subordinate Durlyn's force is deployed on the west side and will relieve the north end of the drow line.
Turns 4 & 5
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| End of turn 4 |
As her unit crests the bank beyond the dry river bad, Shurraena surveys the battlefield. The paultry force of crossbowmen that the Storm Lords' commander had placed in the woods past the river had already fled after a few volleys from her archers. The next obstacle is a force of less than 200 Stormreach guards, which broke off from the attack and is forming a line to act as a rearguard; Shurraena orders her archers to form a line to begin weakening them while her pikemen and cavalry form up. The rearguard is the only thing going on here right now — the Storm Lords' attack here seems stalled while their commander tries to organize some defence of his flank.
The Storm Lords' are having a bad time over here — they roll only 1 order point on both turns 4 and 5 for their command on the right. As their line of attack is looking both outnumbered and disordered now, the drow warriors opposite decide to charge. Captain Thifspar, for the Storm Lords, proves better in a close fight than in command of an army — despite his unit having taken heavy losses, he inspires them to push back the Sulatar spearmen attacking them. The unit to his right, though, is overlapped on the flank and getting hammered badly — and the rest of his force is strung out behind in no particular formation and will soon have over a thousand drow sweeping over them.
On the Storm Lords' left, things look much better. Taggart d'Deneith advances his seasoned warriors in good order, pushing his line towards the drow archers and leading his own unit of cavalry around their flank. He is immediately counter-charged by the Sulatar heavy cavalry — but he has positioned his unit between the marsh and the end of the Sulatar line, so there is limited room here and the drow cannot bring their numbers to bear. A fierce fight ensues, with neither side getting a clear advantage.
Turn 6
Commander Markus' line of levies and guards charges across the field into the centre of the Sulatar line. The line holds, however, with only one unit of archers becoming disordered by the attack. Markus' troops are taking losses though, and the levies on his left run into particularly fierce resistance and run after only a couple of minutes of combat with the more cohesive drow archers in front of them.
To the north, the situation is much worse; the unit of guards to Thifspar's right disintegrates as their flank is swarmed with drow spearmen. Thifspar's own unit is holding its own for now, but is now outnumbered and unsupported. The spearmen behind him have their own problems as the are attacked by advancing drow spearmen and cavalry; and the rearguard comes under a rain of fire as Hazai Haatha and the other Sulatar fire sorcerors bring their talents to bear — as well as arrows from Shurraena's archers.
Taggart d'Deneith stood up in the stirrups and surveyed the battle. His foot troops had just engaged the drow line, and were having the better of it — he could see drow archers fleeing as part of their line had broken, and the rest looked in bad shape. As he expected, his veterans were more than a match for these archers. Markus' last message said that the other Sulatar army had arrived on the other flank and things were going badly there, but there was no helping it — his men were fully engaged. If they could cut a larger hold in the drow line here, the cavalry could pass through and roll up the drow line. Hopefully enough of the Stormreachers' would still be standing to help them do it…
Turn 7
Opposing him, Chalinae can see her line faltering, but she knows that reinforcements are coming if her troops can hold out. Urging them to hold their ground, she inspires the drow to hold the line despite dreadful losses.
Commander Markus sees that his attack is faltering, and commits his reserve to try to overwhelm the Sulatar centre. The remaining guards charge across the field and into the fray. The levies on his right are having most success, and have inflicted enough losses on the drow archers there to break their formation, driving them back into the spearmen behind them. Then the next unit of drow archers in line, charged by Markus' fresh warriors and already with heavy losses, breaks and runs, creating the first gap in the drow line here.
On the north side of the battlefield, scattered units of Stormreach guards are still fighting fiercly. One unit of guards is charged by a unit of drow spears that just broke up the flank of Thifspar's attack here; but the warriors are tired and are driven back and routed by the fresh guards. But they are then engaged by more drow spearmen and are charged in the flank by drow cavalry. To their right, another unit of guards is run down in the open by Durlyn's own cavalry unit.
The rearguard force, under fire from the archers and fire sorcerors and without orders, decides to attack rather than stand and be shot at. If they knew that there are hundreds more drow behind the formation of archers, they would probably just flee, but their commander is dead and they have no idea what is going on. They charge in, but are met by fierce resistance — the Sulatar sorcerors summon a fire elemental and a swarm of fire mephits, and a hectic fight ensues as the guards try to cut their way through to the summoners. On their right, Shurraena's archers loose volleys into the advancing guards, and she then personally leads in the melee as they cut their way into the guards' formation, quickly routing them.
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End of turn 7.
Deneith troops are mopping up in the south.
Sulatar reinforcements crush the SL's in the north. |
And then, Chalinae herself, commanding the main Sulatar army, is slain in the melee as her unit is overwhelmed by the Deneith veterans. The drow line collapses here, with only one unit of spearmen still holding its ground. The Sulatar cavalry on this flank are still ready to provide support, but they are looking badly outnumbered now.
Battle status:
Sulatar: 21 disorder points (target of 40 to break)
Storm Lords: 31 disorder points (target of 33 to break)
The Storm Lords' could have won this if the reinforcements had not shown up so quickly — Chalinae's army is near to being entirely routed. The losses on the Storm Lords' right are dreadful but they have bought enough time to allow the original attack to succeed. But it is nearly over now, and the drow have enough fresh troops on hand to ensure victory.
Turn 8
There is something of a lull in the battle now, as both sides mop up survivors in the areas where they have won. The Deneith troops in the south charge and sweep away the Sulatar cavalry in front of them, and the last of the Sulatar spearmen here are also routed. The cavalry engaged with Taggart d'Deneith's knights is still engaged in a fierce melee though, and Taggart's knights are taking more losses.
The reserve unit of Deneith heavy cavalry charge into the side of the wavering Sulatar line in the centre, causing more drow to flee the field. All but one unit of Sulatar in the centre are now routed, and many of the Storm Lords' units are able to regroup now that the immediate fighting is over.
On the north side, only one unit of rearguard remains and it is being slowly overwhelmed by the fire sorcerors and many drow archers and hunters attacking its flanks.
Battle status:
Sulatar: 26 disorder points (target of 40 to break)
Storm Lords: 31 disorder points (target of 33 to break)
Turn 9
Commander Markus starts to reform his line in the centre. Nadan is not going to give him time to do it, though — he orders his spearmen to charge and joins them with his own cavalry unit, crashing into the one unit of levies screening the rear of Markus' troops, disrupting them and beginning to drive them back.
The rearguard action in the north-east is going better than might have been hoped — the guards manage to slay several of the sorcerors and kill many of the mephits, though Hazai Haatha himself manages to escape. The guards are exhausted though, and with more fresh drow joining the fight and drow marching around their flanks, they finally give up and run for it. Shurraena has pushed on unit of her cavalry far behind the Storm Lords force's lines now, aiming to destroy their camp and cut off retreat.
And on the south side, the Deneith mercenaries continue to mop up the remains of the Chalinae's force. The drow reinforcement now have cavalry in the middle of the field, approaching the ballistae battery — which opens fire, but is unlikely to be able to resist them alone.
Battle status:
Sulatar: 27 disorder points (40 to break)
Storm Lords: 34 disorder points (33 to break) — it's over
Post-Battle Analysis
And so the battle is over — the Storm Lords have taken too many losses and cannot reform to fight on. As it happens, almost every melee on the board is resolved right now, so I think the Storm Lords just take the opening created by their victory on the south end of the line and use that to withdraw with their remaining forces remain to them. Losses are about equal for the two sides, so although the Storm Lords have to withdraw due to the fresh Sulatar troops arriving, the fighting itself has been a draw.
I thought I had lost it for the Storm Lords when I wasted their crossbow light infantry on a futile frontal advance on the drow archer line. It was premature — but it still had the important effect of absorbing most of the archery while the main body of troops advanced. Sheer numbers managed to get a win in the centre, albeit a costly one, as fresh units replaced routed ones; on the left, the Deneith troops were more than a match for the thin drow line here, and the cavalry were cleverly boxed out by Taggart's positioning of his own unit. The cavalry were no use for frontal attacks on the Deneith pike blocks and so, despite having a strong cavalry force here, the Sulatar got little value out of it.
In the north, the game did not work as well as I had hoped. It takes time to move an army into position in L'AdlG, and the main battle was mostly over before the reinforcements could get involved. That was partly due to a surprisingly effective screening operation by the Storm Lords, sacrificing a lot of guards to slow down the advance. It might have been better to form a proper line out on the right, with a reserve — if I had had any idea that the attack in the south and centre would be so successful, I would have used the right as a screening force, and with lighter losses there the Storm Lords would have been able to contest the battle for longer.
One unexpected bonus for the Storm Lords is that the Deneith contingent, with all the expensive troops, is almost undamaged — so their losses will not be as heavy as they might have been.
Consequences
The Storm Lords get away relatively lightly, with only 510 points lost from their Mighty Empires army — more than ⅓rd losses, but before the battle began I thought it would be worse. Although they had lost far more than half of their units in the battle, they were all the cheaper Stormreach guards units and not the expensive Deneith elites.
The Sulatar take lower losses (losses are adjusted down by ⅓rd for the loser, by ½th for the winner), only 375 points in Mighty Empires. So although they won and the field is theirs, the battle itself was really a draw and they did not manage to inflict really serious losses on the Storm Lords — so this is a lost opportunity. And it could have gone very badly wrong, if the flanking force had arrived much later; the main drow line could have been routed before the reinforcements were even on the field.
