A fair fight is a losing proposition.
Oct 28- Late at Night:
The South East Gate of Falkirk is breached. Commander Bongo, leading war-party of orcs, torches a building, steals Farmer Muggins' baby and flees into the desert.
Oct 28th is a Thursday night. This is no accident. If there's going to be a session in a given week, it will take place on Friday. The battle of Falkirk is planned for Oct 30th, so this move is designed to direct attention to the East, (the main assault will take place at the South-West Gate) and draw any adventurers out of town on a wild goose chase. Given that the Friday Session (Oct 29th) imploded at the last minute, you may suppose that it was in vain, but I don't.
Oct 30:
The Armies of Gobbiton and New Orc City arrive at the South-West Gate of Falkirk. The main defenders of Falkirk are of course the dwarves. But the Dwarven Embassy is on the East side of town and it's a 1/2 hour walk from the centre of town to any of it's gates. This means that while there was a chance that someone loitering on the wall in the West saw the armies approaching and notified the dwarves, such that the Goblin Coalition arrived to find all the dwarves arrayed before the walls of Falkirk, there was also a chance that the city would be taken by surprise. In this case the dwarves would take half an hour to mobilize, arriving at the battlefield on turns 5, 10, and 15, and taking a full turn to pass through the gate/breach and form up to face the attackers.
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| Discarded U-Track From the Factory Makes a Serviceable Town Wall and Gate |
And this is why I do not believe the Orcish feint from the East was meaningless. I suspect that the Oracular Power of the Dice took this into consideration when they determined that the town was taken entirely by surprise.
Gobbiton and New Orc City deploy 24" from the walls of Falkirk. The Mayor Grublet Sneeks of Gobbiton chooses the right of the road, placing his Broadswords, Ballistae, and Catapults in the centre, his Light Crossbows and Bugbear/Lizardman Horde further out, and his Wolf/Wolf-Rider Cavalry out on the wing. The decision to place the Broadswords directly in front of the Ballistae was curious, but the Mayor insists it was the right call.
The The Orcish General Ringo Star places his Artillery in the centre, with his Short-bows further, and his Battle-axes on the wing.
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| Attackers Deployed |
Of course Falkirk has no defenders to deploy at this time.
The Battle opens with the destruction of the South-West Gate by the 5 Catapults. The Mayor's stated goal is "To Burn The City To The Ground." To that end he has spent much gold acquiring oil for his Catapults. He's even gone so far as to prepare the Goblin Artillerists to douse their siege weapons and burn them on command to prevent them from falling into enemy hands. There will be no retreat. Because of the max height of a projectile of a Light Catapult (10% of it's scale max distance) I rule that he has to first breach the wall, after which point his flaming munitions will take their intended effect.
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| Falkirk's Gate Destroyed and Walls Breached |
After the barrage, the Mayor advances his most of his forces sending the Cavalry right up to the wall. The Orcs hold position.
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| Army of Gobbiton Advances |
Just before the 1st Dwarven Century of Halberdiers (under the command of Centurion Boðvarr) arrives, the Catapults finish reloading, and fire into the city. Falkirk begins to burn. As Centurion Boðvarr tries to array his forces on the plain, the Goblin Cavalry wheels (presumably at no cost given that they're unorganized) and crashes into his flank. The dwarves take and fail their first morale check, becoming shaken. Before they can regroup, the Goblin Broadswords clear the line of fire, and 8 Ballista bolts tear through the Century. The dwarves become disordered. The dwarves flee.
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| Wolf-Riders Crash Into Dwarven Flank |
Now the 2nd Dwarven Centurion has a choice, does he go in on turn 10 with one Century, or does he wait until turn 15 for the 3rd Dwarven Century to arrive? I give it even odds, a d6 determines that Centurion Hundr waits for Centurion Hroaldr and his troops before making their sortie.
The attackers are happy to hold position and bombard the city with fire until then.
Eventually the two Dwarven Centuries march out. The Wolf-Riders, Bugbear/Lizardman Horde, Crossbows and Short-bows make contact. The dwarves manage to rout the Wolf-Riders and Horde, but when the Goblins drop a Catapult stone into their formation, they break too.
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| Orcish Shortbows Move to Engage |
The allies launch a few more volleys into the city, and Mayor Sneeks asks General Star if he'd like to stick around and level the city-walls for a few days.
Sept 29- New Orc City:
General Ringo Star calls a war-council. A messenger has just arrived from Gobbiton proposing an alliance between Gobbiton and New Orc City for an assault on their mutal enemy Falkirk. Commander Bongo, normally the leader of the Orcish Light Catapults speaks up. Commander Bongo volunteers to lead a daring night-raid on Falkirk to draw their attention away from the main assault, and argues passionately that as soon as victory is certain, the Orcs should betray the Goblins.
Oct 30- Falkirk:
Mayor Sneeks asks General Star if he'd like to stick around and level the city-walls for a few days. General Ringo Star responds by turning his Artillery on the advanced army of Gobbiton. "Compliments of Commander Bongo," he says as the Artillerists fire. Mayor Sneeks gives the order to burn the Goblin Artillery and flees the field. The Orcs do not pursue.
Falkirk burns.
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| Army Of Gobbiton Flees |
The Butcher's Bill:
Gobbiton
20 Wolf-riders
2 Lt Catapults (Equipment Only)
5 Ballistae (Equipment Only)
20 Lt Crossbows
3 Broadswords
1 Lizardman
3 Bugbears
Falkirk
39 1st Halberdiers
58 2nd Halberdiers
50 3rd Halberdiers
New Orc City
30 Catapult Stones
15 Ballista Bolts
240 Arrows
Post-Game to Follow.
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