104. The Battle At Koleshire Keep
Source: Archive Pestilen
Setting: The Empire
Author: Baby Cindi
Broheim notes: Skirmish over a keep.
How it all began
Kolshire Keep was built on the borderlands between Empire territory and Orc territory. Situated next to a small abandoned farm (where soldiers often slept), it was considered a very crucial holding point for the Empire as a whole. In fact, it is clearly a very strategic outpost. In the twenty years it’s been standing, the soldiers at the keep have quickly squelched dozens of Orc raids that would otherwise have penetrated the Empire’s outer territories.
Unfortunately, this was soon to end.
It all happened on a mist-shrouded morning some three years ago. The soldiers at the keep were at ease this day, taking comfort in the fact that Orcs generally avoid making military actions in such foul weather. And indeed, just as figured, a nasty storm swept the area. All the sentries and other soldiers closed up the keep, seeking protection from the thunder & rain. Big mistake.
Just as the storm started to die down, the men inside unlocked the doors and went out to resume their watch duties. No sooner had the doors opened, a large group of waiting Orcs sprung their ambush! They rushed into the Keep, slaughtering the soldiers without any semblance of mercy. The element of surprise gave the green skins the edge & soon, all the humans had either escaped or perished in the brutal skirmish.
The Keep was quickly taken over by the Orcs of Clan Skaggle. They now possessed the very same advantage the humans once had. And from there, many, many attacks were unleashed upon the nearby human villages & hamlets. Warboss Skaggle was quite surprised that the Empire didn’t attempt to re-take their keep. But, in reality, the keep would have proved a very tough objective to win back.
Of course, this eventually would work in the humans’ favor, for the Orcs have recently begun leaving fewer & fewer boys when they went on raids and other such missions. They had grown lax...just as the humans had before them.
The current situation
With the Orcs at the Keep becoming more and more over-confident, it was only a matter of time before somebody did something about it. It just so happened that the first person to develop a plan of action was a well-respected mercenary captain by the name of Jarsyn Gaylord. Jarsyn had always been something of a glory hound and a pompous braggart at that. His tales were always those of great renown, though most of them were very aptly embellished from the actual truth.
And when he caught wind of the lack of sentries at the Keep, he immediately saw an opportunity to come off as the hero, which he is constantly guilty of doing. With that in mind, Jarsyn gathered up a band of warriors and set out to single-handedly reclaim Kolshire Keep for the Empire....not to mention gather any loot left behind by the Keep’s Orcy inhabitants.
Jarsyn’s Mercenary band
Jarsyn Gaylord’s group can be designed by using the Reikland Warband list. Feel free to build the warband however you wish....with the exception of Jarsyn himself. For Jarsyn, you may equip him with anything allowed for a Mercenary Captain. In fact, his profile is the same as a regular Merc Captain with the following exceptions....
- Jarsyn, despite all his bragging, really is a rugged man capable of battling on even with severe wounds. Some say that his pride refuses to let him die. To reflect this, he has 2 Wounds instead of 1.
- Jarsyn’s a student of the art of sword fighting. This gives him the Expert Swordsman skill, allowing him to re-roll all missed hits with a sword during the turn he charges.
- Jarsyn’s base cost is 80 Gold Crowns.
Skaggle’s Boys
Unfortunately for Jarsyn, Skaggle himself has stayed behind, not wanting to get his hands dirty "wif raidin’ doze ‘oomies".
Skaggle’s warband can be constructed however you wish. But ol’ Skaggle himself is handled a bit differently. You can equip him with anything allowed for Orc Bosses (which his profile is based on). There are a few special rules pertaining to Skaggle......
- Skaggle is a ruthless fighter and is notorious for using lots of dirty tricks to overcome his enemies. To simulate this, once per turn, he may make a low-blow on any single enemy he’s in close combat with. To do this, you need to make a low-blow roll (1d6) before the combat is rolled for, regardless of who gets to strike first. If it turns up a 5 or 6, the opponent is considered to be at -1 WS for this turn of combat. This indicates that ol’ Skaggle stuck a thumb in his eye, bit his face, gave him a swift knee to the groin, or some other nasty cheap shot.
- Skaggle is considered to be "da most talky" Orc Boss around, meaning that he can inspire his boys to fight harder and such. As a result, he has a Leadership score of 9 and can let any boy within 12" take Ld tests off of his score, as opposed to the normal 6" for other Bosses.
- Skaggle costs 90 Gold Crowns.
The battlefield
Obviously, your terrain collection will ultimately determine how exact you’ll be able to set up the battlefield. If you don’t have exactly every piece of terrain you need, you can either improvise or alter the battlefield from how I’ve laid it out in the map. It’s your call.
The Orcs get to set up anywhere within 5 inches of the Keep, including inside the structure or even on top of it.
The Reiklanders may start within the set-up zone shown on the map: 18" from the corner & 4" out.
It is assuming that you are using a 3 ½ foot by 3 ½ foot table. Feel free to adjust to your table size.
Starting the Game
Roll a die to see who has the first turn.
Ending the game
The first group to Rout or is destroyed loses the battle.