Autumn 993 - The Battle of the Buried Bones

Pagash the Mighty Belcher looked back and wondered at what could have been. Around him his Orcish army fled in disarray. It had all started badly. He was going to have to kill his nephew, Woben, for organising a mealtime meeting with the Undead.
His stomach still lurched every time he thought about it. Why had he gone along with the idea of having a treaty with them? In the end he’d had to declare war on them, despite the fact they had nothing he wanted in their land. Had it been the necromancer clouding his mind? Now he thought about it, it must have been. The initial part had gone well, with his army taking position on the high ground, while the skirmishers and wolfboys had moved around the sides. Then a charge into the centre.

The Orcs charge while the Necromancer fails to summon more troops to aid him. The skirmishers retreat in the face of the Orcish charge. Meanwhile the Orcs seek to envelope the Undead.

Unfortunately the skirmishers had run off at the first sign of trouble. R’Nuld, his cousin, there was another one he was going to have to speak to, preferably after pulling his tongue through a hole in his neck. In the centre, the Undead had proved tougher than he’d thought. Slowly his Orcs had begun to flee the battle, but he could still have won, he was sure.

The Orcs start to flag as the Undead cavalry fall on the Orcish right flank (Those undead look suspiciously like Goblins! Treachery!!), but they still hold their own and take their toll on the Undead too.

Then the Wargs had run off to bury the bones of their opponents. This left him alone in the battle and numbers told. Even worse he had been forced to leave behind the wizard Pawdanyas and the hideous D’Beemagy. Not that they had ever been any use, other than for parties. He’d also probably lose less money at card as well.

Surrounded, the Orcish general uses his own troops as a shield. The Necromancer with his cavalry is nearly spent, but a unit of zombies has closed with the Orcs and chomps its way through the meagre fare that is the Orcish brain.

Still back home now to prepare for the upcoming invasion.

This was an interesting game. The Undead wizard failed miserably to cast any spells successfully. I had planned to use him to reinforce my army by summoning more skeleton warriors to my side. Total failure. Fortunately, a combination of the Terror attribute and the Fanatic attribute kept the undead in the battle long enough to rout the Orcs. With the way my dice were rolling, and the failure of my general to inflict casualties on the Orcs, despite my best efforts and multiple substitutions of dice, it was just as well that I managed to get a fresh unit of zombies into the fray. That made all the difference.

One unit of Orcish warriors and the Orcish mage were captured in the pursuit.