Surprise at Cobb's Gate: SONG OF BLADES AND HEROES Mithril War Battle Report

PART I

Turn 1: The elves and men advance on the field before Cobb's Gate, while the archers of both sides move to the cover of the trees. The ogre cowers behind [Game note: he rolled three dice for activation and failed all three].

Turn 2: The dragon maneuvers toward Maradon flank as the elven warriors advance. The humans charge the oncoming elven line and warriors on both sides get pushed back and thrown down as the melee begins. Boths sides' archers are off target, and the ogre continues to cower [Game note, again he rolled three dice for activation, and again failed all three]. 

Turn 3: The elves draw first blood as Glythwyl himself finishes a downed Maradon warrior. Glythwyl then penetrates the Maradon line to strike at the next human. Meanwhile an elf warrior on left flank drives back his opponent straight toward the dragon, who kills him instantly with a single swipe of a claw. Things look bad for the humans, when suddenly three Maradon warriors converge on Glythwyl, knocking him to the ground.

Turn 4: The dragon flies over the melee to target Valera, while Glythwyl regains his feet. The remaining two elf warriors press into the fray to help their surrounded leader, killing yet another one of the humans. Arrows continue to fly ineffectively from both sides, but the two human warriors still pressing Glythwyl manage to cut him down.

With his last bit of energy, Glythwyl rolls his torn body over to face the trees, so that their late foliage might be the last thing he sees as the life drains from his body.

Despite the loss of their leader, all three remaining elves and the dragon hold their ground and continue the fight. The ogre suddenly springs to life, charging the dragon, but the dragon fends him off. However, while the dragon is distracted by the ogre, Valera rushes inside the beast's defenses and kills him with a single stroke of her blade! She looks at the ogre, nods, and then turns back to the fight.

Valera catches her breath beside the body of the beast she has just slain.

Suddenly, above the crash of steel, a soul splitting howl comes from the far end of the field stopping all the fighting. Jhanakai and Maradon alike turn to face it, and are startled to see a dwarven warband, supported by a cavern fiend, falling upon them from the hill to their flank! Surprised, some hold their ground, but others stagger backward as they try to comprehend the unexpected change in situation. Without a word, it seems clear that war has just been declared upon both their tattered forces, and an uneasy alliance spontaneously begins.

PART II

Turns 5-6: The dwarves advance in a highly disciplined formation with the cavern fiend on their left flank. The humans and elves quickly try to organize, with the warriors forming a line, the ogre advancing, and the human and elven archers attempting to move back up into shooting positions in the woods. As the dwarven advance continues, the ogre charges and engages the cavern fiend.

Turn 7: While the cavern fiend is driven backward by the ogre, bolts from the dwarven crossbowmen force one of the elven warriors to ground. Then the dwarven line crashes into the human and elven force, with Brogg himself smashing in the helmet of one human with his hammer, killing the man instantly. The troops of both Maradon and Jhanakai are stunned by this sudden kill and are unable to react [Game note: the first human/elf activation roll resulted in two failures].

Turn 8: One of the dwarven warriors finishes off the off-balance elf and Brogg charges past the corpse of the man he just killed straight toward Valera, killing her as well with just one stroke!

As she falls to the ground, Valera's only thought is that it cannot end this way. Her final word is nothing more than a silent curse, lingering on her lips. Then she knows no more.

At the sight of this, all of the humans and elves waver and fall back slowly except the ogre who stands his ground. The last warrior of Maradon takes a blow as he tries to disengage which knocks him to the ground and he, too, is quickly dispatched by a dwarven soldier. Once more the remnants of the Maradon and Jhanakai troops are stunned into inaction, with only the human archer taking a shot that flies wide of the dwarven commander. [Game note: again, two activation failures].

Brogg stands triumphantly over Valera's corpse.

Turn 9: Brogg rushes the last elven warrior and cleaves his skull with his axe [Game note: for those keeping score this is Brogg's third single-blow kill in a row]. The human archer shoots again at Brogg, but once more his arrow flies wide of the mark. As this happens, the cavern fiend throws the ogre to the ground.

Turn 10: The cave fiend finishes off the helpless ogre, and Brogg engages the archer that shot at him. As the archer tries to pull away and escape, Brogg drops him, leaving an axe embedded in the man's back [Game note: that's four one-shot kills in a row for Brogg!]. Now the last survivor of the terrible carnage, an elven archer, turns and runs for his life.

In the aftermath of the struggle, Brogg surveys with satisfaction the silent field, littered with human and elven corpses. Not one of his own soldiers was lost. "This," thinks Brogg to himself, "was a fine day for battle, a day worthy of any Kabad'zem-natar."

GO TO NEXT ENTRY