Warhammer Fantasy Battle Reporter Forum

this forms the first battle report of the Old World Legion,a high elf expeditionary force commanded by Lord Colfinnian,High King of Caledor.It is written from the perspective of Prince Uridhain of the same country

High Elves vs Brettonians

our battle had come about through the slightest of slights,a misunderstanding perhaps.it appears,on our travels through these lands which were once ours,that of late,Brettonian lords have become more arrogant and fothright in their opinions;asserting themselves more in the mouth than the armoured trouser and would require learning the value of a little humility and obeisance to their eldars and betters.
A tourney was arranged at the seat of a bastard farmer who'd risen to status.myself and several other princes of caledor took part,accompanied by a dozen or so swordmasters of the white tower and this exercise was meant to be a bonding between our races,ordered by Lord Colfinnian,with the intention of winning concessions in trade.it went sadly wrong,however as we proceeded to beat all comers-easily i might add,as these chaps are a trifle ham-fisted.indeed,how are we to know that behind their metal skins they are not part pig in origin.further to which,it was once noted by my good and sore-missed ladywife that all men are bastards...but i digress
The event turned ugly when one of these swine unfortunately fell on his shattered lance,spitted himself and was hurled,squealing,into a brazier.a moment of brevity i thought and even our swordmasters had difficulty controlling their mirth.it was not well received and we were asked to leave with the words,"get orf my land",and,"tell your master we will have recompense for this insult.
Duly we departed and headed for the main body of our army some 12 miles west.on our journey however,scouts from Nagarythe who had been trailing us reported that a large contingent of knights were fast bearing on our road,having raised banners of war and recruited dozens of bowmen from nearby hovels.i sent fast riders for reinforcements and selected a hill upon which we would pitch camp and await our foe.
It transpires our army was already gearing for war further north against our cousins from Naggaroth who had landed in Albion and were launching attacks on merchant shipping in the great sea.rumours also abound of a powerful prescence of undead beastliness roaming these lands and Estalia.i hope to the gods i never have to face them.as a result,few can be spared for this tiresome incident.our foot arrived in the wee hours of the morning.

The two sides drew up faced across a flood plain with a central valley between formed by one hill on our extreme right and one on their left leading to mostly flat ground and with a small copse of trees just off centre left.
i reasoned the obvious place for our warmachines was on the hill and that our opponent would deduce the same,so we deployed them immediately.
then appeared on the mound directly opposite a damsel and peasant bowmen;scruffy and ill-disciplined compared to our archers positioned obliquely to present the whole field to fire and to the left of the bolt throwers.
i next ordered spears right,swords centre and lions left to form the wall against which his companies of knights would smash(i recognised a few from the days before at the tournament and paid my dues).
with hindsight,our bastion should have comprised just lions and spears,with our swords held in reserve.
Our main stategy was to create two channels either side of our foot through which our horse,left and lion chariot,right would flank charge simultaneously and once the enemy was engaged;hoping that our bowfire would render impotent at least one troop on its way.my knights deployed led by myself and our chariot nestled between spears and archers,lions snapping at their restraints...i've no idea what the enemy make of'em but they scare the ears off me..
a journeyman mage had come keen to hone his skilss.i asked him to aid our archers and foot to which end he brought forth Courage of Anaerion and Curse of arrow attraction from the seerstaff.
Late to arrive and just as dawn broke over the far hill came Korhil,escorted by 5 shadow warriors.I've met'im before,on Ulthuan and althogh his dialect and manner were a little hard to understand i was keen to see him fight.he joined his company of lions while the shadows raced for the woods.these i had never encountered till yesterday and was amazed to watch them apparently disappear into the morning,not 10 feet away from me.

Arrayed before us,left to right were pegasus knights;a sole knight also on a pegasus(flying pigs you might say);errant knights bearing a battle standard and with a damsel in their midst-fair to look upon though i've heard they often reek of sour wine;questing knights;knights of the realm,led by their general whose name i've forgotten and far right,plebs requiring assistance stringing their bows while being encouraged by another damsel bearing two orbs of enormous proportion close to her body,cackling and supping from from an animal skin..or my eyes were deceived.
Once deployed our enemy immediately fell to their knees to pray.we held our position whilst the wizard fumbled his first spell(rolled 9)and was knocked to the ground by an unseen blast which scorched his fingers but otherwise left him unscathed.how queer.
Our shadows had moved to the edge of the wood directing a volley at the pegasus,wounding one whilst 18 bolts and 10 arrows left 8 peasants dead.
Their armour trundled forward and the knights errant charged our scouts who melted into the trees.3 companies of knights made it to the very centre of the field and would come no further;their pegasus did not move far either which i believe was a mistake,whilst 3 of our archers died to lucky shots from the dung-eaters.no effective magic was forthcoming.
The shadows rallied.our spears and swords advanced while the lions tilted for a flank attack should the pegasus charge myself and my unit.i instructed my fellows that it would be prudent to increase the distance between us and the flyers,in order to maximise our charge.
This time,our spell'curse of arrow attraction'was cast to good effect on the errants and with 28 missiles raining down,6 were killed leaving a battle standard bearer,musician and a damsel.rather well done i'd say.these bolt throwers pay for themselves significantly.
Now within charge range,2and a fraction horse companies charged my spears and swords.no magic worked and 4 more of my archers died to their bowmen.it appears numbers compensate for a lack of skill.
i'm afraid to say that whilst we held for the charge,3 swordmasters died for 1 questor and several more spears so we lost the initial engagement,broke and fled.fortunately,both sword and spear units slowed and were encouraged by my presence and the barracking of the unengaged white lions(could make head nor tail of what was being shouted.i think it was the laughter and the lifting of the kilts that did for'em).even more fortunate was that the knights pursued too late,not reaching our chaps who rallied seeing myself enter the fray and the lion chariot leap into the flanks of the knights of the realm.i remember thinking that korhil should have been in the waggon,enabling it to cancel the benefits of ranks.the chariot did not perform aswell as i've seen it in the past,lost,fled and was chopped into matchwood,taking the knights of the realm and General(Porcupus,was it?)out towards the bolt throwers.we ourselves were attacked in the rear by the pegasus despite being covered by white lions and shadows.i had forgotten they were skirmishers and able to nip between our formation.sneaky piglets.we found ourselves in a tight squeeze but at precisely the correct moment for it an act of insane courage prevented my chaps breaking and without doubt nobly carking it.we held.this,i believe was the turning point in the melee.
By now the sun had reached its peak and with cries all around of "for the Legion and Ulthuan",our swords charged the damsel and overran into the questing knights,our spears charged their flank and the white lions charged the remaining pegasus.what followed was a lesson in timing,swordsmanship and ruthlessness.pegasus and questors were slaughtered whilst a further 3 knights were cut down by 18 boltsand our extremely useful shadow warriors,having slain the pegasus champion joined the fight.
I magnanimously accepted terms for surrender from their lord.he proceeded to have te audacity to challenge me to first blood in a duel.i accepted,guessing that his weapon of choice was one that cut through armour(no save allowed).sensibly,i was carrying the talisman of saphery for such an instance.


Epilogue

i've learnt:
-3 RBT's are awesome
-shadow warriors are a necessity in the right terrain and with plenty of bowfire to max damage
-Korhil or another character should go in a chariot if it is to charge unsupported
-magic is largely irrelevant with brets,except to counter
-plce white lions where you think most of the hand to hand will take place

Army list

lvl2 mage,seerstaff,courage of anaerion,curse of arrow attraction
3 RBT's
10 archers
20 spears & full command
17 lions & full command
12 swordmasters & full command
5 dragon princes & full command
lion chariot
5 shadow warriors
Korhil
Noble,Dragon armour,lance,shield,barded steed,talisman of saphery


thanks for reading.any suggestions/comments/variations are welcome
there will be more...