The journey into exile had been trying. It seemed every potential foe had sought them out, as though Duchess Malfleur’s host sang a siren song to battle. Beastmen, the Elves of Athel Loren and now Dwarfs from Karakzil all sought to challenge her army. A wry smile touched Lisseult’s face. She knew these trials pushed the army beyond what they could sustain. She also knew that her magics were getting stronger as they journeyed south. ‘Malfleur’ had no clue what was going on… she simply saw the Lady Lisseult played so well.

This time out my Bretonnians are facing Dan’s Dwarfs. We’re setting this battle near the southern edge of Bretonnia, close (too close for the Dwarfs’ liking) to the Vault mountains and Karakzil. Belegar Ironhammer mustered a small force to dissuade the mostly mounted Bretonnians from coming nearer. The witch Lisseult orchestrated events to ensure another clash. She feeds off the desperation of loss and depredation…

Deployment

Here’s how things looked after deploying our 1000pt forces.

Dan concentrated his shooting units on my right flank. I placed the Pegasus Knights and a Lance there in the hopes of moving up behind terrain to outflank them.

On the left, I placed my larger Lance with the Duchess (a Baron) and a Paladin. They had two units of Yoemen acting as an escort. Opposite them were a unit of warriors and Longbeards.

The Right Flank

This battle can be told as two converging stories… well, at least that was the plan.

The plan went pretty well, with the Pegasus Knights and Lance mopping up the Gyrocopter, Organ gun and some Irondrakes with relative ease, but the Thunderers proved to be a stumbling block. The Lance overran past them, leaving the battlefield, only to return right in front of them. The Pegasus Knights bounced off them, allowing the Thunderers to reform to face the Lance. The Dwarfs then proceeded to blast them to pieces, leaving only the champion alive. He eventually charged the Longbeards in the rear when the left flank burst into life…

The Left Flank

This flank was a waiting game. With no shooting brought to bear on the Bretonnians, the large Lance and accompanying Yeomen held station until the right flank unfolded. They were hoping that either the other Lance or Pegasus Knights would survive to assist.

They held, then held, then held and then went pell mell into the Longbeards, opting to slam into them as the lance hits should negate their saves. The risk with the charge was that the warriors led by Ironhammer himself could hit the flank of the Lance should it be held in place. I pushed a unit of Yeomen up to block that charge. The Longbeards were solidly beaten and failed to hold their nerve, breaking and fleeing. They were run down by a unit of Yeomen. The warriors beat back the other Yeomen and reformed to take a charge from the Lance. This happened, along with the other Yeomen hitting their flank. We had a challenge between Ironhammer and the Duchess, but the combat ended in stalemate and the battle ended there.

It was really fun playing Dwarfs… I look forward to facing them again soon.

Until next time,

Owen