Margana- the second battle of Snake Pass

 

The lovely illustration by Orestix that I won in the prize draw held by Irregular Wars, I am fairly sure that Orestix himself was present at the second battle of Snake Pass and drew this as it happened as it is uncannily life like

The Second Battle of Snake Pass

 Both Malthodor and Dahar have fielded 600-point armies for this battle.

The army of Dahar is led by grizzled old veteran Hakkim Bahad. He has two companies of cavalry, formed of the Nobles of Dahar, four companies of Dahar spearmen in their fine brazen scale armour and crimson tunics, two companies of similarly dressed infantry armed with axe and shield and two companies of Dahar archers, carrying their short composite bows.

And towering over them all a Panithol, one of the magnificent fantastic beasts of Margana, an anagrammatical Mumak, a gigantic elephant with its tiered howdah carrying men armed with bows and javelins.

 

 

 

Malthodor fields three companies of the elite unit, the blue clad, Swan Knights led by Prince Hiralim himself. Marching along with them are three companies of the archers of Northdom led by the rotund Longfor the Aft and three companies of the warriors of Meoland and two companies of Hearthguard. 

Accompanying them is the famous wizard, the grey pilgrim, Fagland the Yerg.

Fagland “You shall not pa…”

 

 

 

the Swan Knights of Malthodor with their noble captain Prince Hiralim

 

 

 

 

 

Snake Pass-Somewhat busy with terrain, a river wends briskly across the field, shallow and fast, the Serpentis gives the region its name. It can be crossed at the narrow, 1 b/w, bridge or at the 3 b/w ford, marked as is usual in Margana, by two statues. There are four areas of rubble /scree (rough ground) four hills, four wooded areas and one area of rockfall that is impassable.

 

Pre Battle

For this game Dahar will be the attacker and use the red tokens, Malthodor will defend and use blue

Objectives-Malthodor- regime change, they will need to kill Hakkim Bahad

Dahar roll iconoclasm, there are three tokens on the field that they will need to destroy to achieve their objective.

Both sides roll 6 on the Outflanking roll. Hiralim heads off with the Swan Knights. Zhaax, captain of Dahar, takes the Easterling Infantry with him.

Mishaps Occur

Malthodor roll with minus one modifier as they have hurried through one region. They roll well, the archers are late 3b/w no one else is affected

Dahar- The Panithol is suffering from desertion, must be some of the crew, and will be minus two Resolve

The Hearthguard are not in command range and will start as impetuous

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Malthodorians form up North of the river, the army of Dahar advance from the South, their heavy spear armed infantry are in column ready to cross the bridge

 

 

 

 

 

Turn 1 no random events

The forces of Malthodor are in disarray.  Fagland can only command the unit he is attached to, the Archers of Northdom. Attaching him to this unit seemed like a good idea as the archers can shoot in the shooting phase leaving Fagland to cast his spells. Placing them on the hill gives them a good field of shoot across the battle field.

 However, the Hearthguard have been left out of command range of Longfor. Luckily, they roll “in your name” and remain where they are. The Panithol takes out one of the tokens.

 

Turn 2 No random events

The Hearthguard are still impetuous and roll “in your name” for a second time

Bahad rallies the Panithol “Deserters will be dessert!” and he means it

Hiralim rolls a “1” for flanking, rolls a second one and comes on to the field on the left flank of his own army 

On the other flank, behind the Hearthguard, Zhaax enters with the Easterling foot!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Turn 3 Random Event!

A Troll hoard is rolled, it is  on the wooded hill and proves irresistible to Prince Hiralim who enters the noisome lair and is….

 

 

 

 

 

Never…

Seen…

Again!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The men of Malthodor are aghast to lose their prince, minus one resolve to all!

The Noble cavalry of Dahar have reached the bridge, the heavy spear infantry are heading towards the river, the Panithol destroys another token. There remains only one, and it is on the hill, next to the Hearthguard

Fagland attaches to the Hearthguard leaving the archers to be impetuous.

Turn 4 No random event

Shooting Easterling Archers score one hit on the Hearthguard

Having lost their leader, the Knights are impetuous “let’s not be too hasty” they stand still

Longfor the Aft moves to where he can command both Knights and Meoland spears leaving the archers uncontrolled. Leaving archers uncontrolled is usually a reasonable gamble in this game as they can still shoot in the shoot phase. But that day is not this day, as shall soon be seen.

The Meolandian Spears wheel towards the Tholpain

The Noble cavalry of Dahar are across the bridge, the Dahar spearmen have reached the river and are about to cross.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Turn 5 Random Event!“Change of Allegiance – Both players roll 1d6 (reroll if tied). The loser’s unit with the lowest current Resolve and no attached characters immediately changes their allegiance and is now controlled by the higher rolling player. If two or more units are eligible to change allegiance, the higher rolling player picks one”

 

Dahar win the dice off! Only the Malthodorian archers or the spears are eligible, a dice roll picks the archers

 

The Archers of Northdom are now fighting for Dahar. They always were a rebellious bunch!

Shooting- the archers of Northdom take careful aim and let loose into the backs of the Hearthguard of Meoland- 4 hits

 “Treachery! Treason! Perfidy! Deceit!” they cry ,they are caught in a cross fire as the Easterlings shoot at them from their front

 

The Furious dwindling Hearthguard even take a desultory hit from an arrow fired from the Panithol They are at 8/10 Resolve!

Fagland orders them “About Face!” Reluctantly, they turn their backs on their enemy and face the enemy within their own ranks. The Archers are impetuous and are not too hasty

Bahad and his cavalry have crossed the bridge

The Hearthguard are completely surrounded by enemies. Somewhere, in the background, a lonely trumpet starts playing a soulful, soliloquy, the obligatory “Last Stand” music.

Rules query! When the Archers defected to the other side, did that alter the “army rout” levels for each army? It stood at 6 for each side at the beginning of the battle as there were 11 companies on each side, does it now increase to 8 for the Dahari and reduce to 5 for the Malthodorians as there are 14 and 8 respectively?

Do the defecting units count towards that rout level?

I am going to guess that it does, and they do, which is bad news for the army of Malthodor!

 

 

 

 

Turn 6 no random events

Shooting- Northdom and the Easterlings score a paltry one hit each on the Hearthguard, only Fagland’s Resolve holds them together!

Impetuous Units- The Archers of Northdom roll “let us not be too hasty!” which is great considering their treachery, maybe it’s what they are saying to Fagland and the Hearthguard as they angrily climb the hill towards them!

 

 

 

 

 

The Panithol crashes into the Meolanders and rolls pathetically low dice! 2 hits

  The spear armed men cause 4 hits to the beast

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fagland gathers the Hearthguard to him “All we have to decide, is what to do with ……these despicable, treacherous, deceitful, false and fickle perfidious recreants. Hounds of Nauros!” he cries anagrammatically “Now shall you learn why….”  And is lost in the dust as the Furious Hearthguard charge up the slope and onto the waiting blades of their treacherous kinsmen.

They deal out 4 hits, take two themselves and disperse like a bad dream in the first light of morning.

Malthodor have reached their new Treachery adjusted Rout Level and the Army flees the field.

Post battle

By the book Hiralim is “never seen again” but those lost in battle in a campaign, get to roll on a table post game. Does Hiralim get to roll? Or is he indeed lost and inside a fat and noxious troll? Let the Gods (dice) decide!

He is found!  Wandering horseless, muttering an explanation about “turning the wrong way in the dark, the horse bolted, turned my foot in a hole, there were spiders, I lost my shoe…”

Fagland the Yerg survived. He was found sitting under a hedge, pipe in hand, nibbling on some strange purple mushrooms and chuckling and muttering to himself “The treacherous are ever distrustful…”

The Hearthguard reformed, bloodied, minus one resolve but angry as a bagful of cats and ready to fight

Meanwhile…in nearby Mudwater…