Part 2 (
turn 1 and much of turn 2)
With a flurry of drum rolls and blaring horns upon both sides, the battle began. Having a mind to see if Agrabog’s brutes could do the lion’s share of fighting, Uryens ordered a minimal advance by his own troops. The two Maneaters moving cautiously upon the left, and only the two Handgunner detachments and a detachment of Swordsmen joined them forming a ‘forlorn hope’. The men behind watched as their fellows moved away from them, some feeling relief, others apprehension, but all laced with guilt.
The Baron hoped that Agrabog might think he was probing the foe with such a manoeuvre, testing their mettle, finding out whether they had powder. The truth was that Uryens wanted to come out of this battle not only victorious, but with his own men substantially intact and Agrabog’s force weakened. There was no doubt in his mind that he could not trust his foul ally. This was his chance to kill two birds with one stone – fight the enemy, and weaken his troublesome ally.
Agrabog had given such considerations no thought. He was here to fight, to win, to loot – and the enemy’s (stolen) baggage looked substantial. Not that he was in a rush, but his caution was more to do with the Black Company’s reputation, and not with hoping his allies would bear the brunt of the fighting. To his mind the brunt of the fighting was what he expected and wanted. Yet he was not so foolish as to advance too hurriedly or clumsily at the foe. So he sent two leadbelchers out ahead and watched with interest to see how the enemy reacted to their particular form of punishment.
Behind, he and his main line moved much more slowly forwards. Agrabog and Thaddeus his Bruiser scrutinised the massed ranks ahead of them looking for weaknesses. Both wanted to apply blows where the effect would be most damaging.
Out on the far right, however, one of the Butchers felt no such hesitancy and marched out along the rocky bank of the river, considering what spells he might employ. His fellow magic user wound the spell ‘Trollguts’ about the Bulls he was marching with, and they felt a new vigour and strength course through their frames. Uryens’ own Priests attempted to conjure blessings of their own into being, and one of them succeeded in imbuing his regiment of Halberdiers with a magical fortitude. Sigmar himself smiled upon them so that they brimmed with courage and purpose.
While these prayers were being uttered, rather more mundane efforts were being made elsewhere on the field. The cannon, however, only felled two Crossbowmen and not the cannon it was aimed at, while the Hellblaster stayed quiet (the crew well aware that they were still out of range). But it was amongst the Ogres that the most dramatic artillery incident occurred. The Scraplauncher was badly mishandled by its Gnoblar crew, and in attempting to shoot they instead drove the beast into the rear of Thaddeus’ regiment of Bulls, slaying two of them with its sheer bulk, and damaging itself irreparably in the process. Agrabog roared with anger as he realised that the enemy had not yet even been reached, nor had they unleashed even one arrow, and yet his own warriors were already falling!
Upon the other side of the field, and far from the sight of the Ogres’ discomfort, Don Matthias and Captain Luitpold, manoeuvred themselves as best they could to prepare for the delivery of charges. Both were aware of the limited space available to their Lancer units, as well as the fact that the enemy commander was riding a monstrous Griffon. Perhaps foolishly, the nearby Light Horse now moved up ahead, intending to draw the enemy on and thus break their line.
On the Black Company’s left, a score of skirmishing Archers mounted the hill and notched their arrows, while the second company of Light Horse arrayed themselves at the foot of the hill to consider which enemy they might charge. It seemed that every Light Horseman on the field was feeling confident and impetuous, for they were now the foremost on both flanks. The Norsemen, having almost lost their chance to fight in the previous battle, also made their way to the top of the hill, from where they intended to pour down onto the foe in a an overwhelming charge. Perhaps less boldly, the Estalian Duellists crept up on the far left in the shadow of the hill.
The massed ranks of Black Company foot soldiers simply stood as they were, while their drums beat ever more rapid peels of defiance. Jan Van Junge glanced to his left to see the archers atop the hill and made the quick decision to magically aid their efforts with the Portent of Far. He succeeded in casting his spell, even though his concentration almost failed when the boom, boom, boom of artillery fire burst to the right of him. A lot of smoke and several iron balls later and only two Sollanders had fallen, along with only two Ogres scratched by splinters. Yet there was to be a huzzah yet, for the two companies of crossbowmen upon and in front of the hill let loose every one of their quarrels at the approaching Maneaters. Both brutes fell to the ground, pierced umpteen times – too many to count. As this huzzah was sounded, far to the left of the line there was another such cheer as Pirrazzo’s men brought down one of the Leadbelchers daring to approach.
Agrabog might have had the brain of an Ogre, but he had wits enough now to realise that dawdling was not going to be the best course of action on this day. He pointed at the foe and shouted,
“At ‘em! And fast. Tear ‘em to pieces!”
His warriors, a little dazed by what the Scraplauncher had done, gathered what wits they had together and began the advance proper. The Butcher out on his own thought that he might be able to swipe the Duellists aside, and so moved towards them. The Gnoblars next to him also advanced, keen to show their masters that they too were willing to fight (and greedy to get at the shiny, sharp things the enemy carried).
Uryens still wanted to see what the Ogres might do, and although he ordered a general advance, it was only to bring his main regiments closer to his forlorn hope. Those men at the very front had already halted, preparing to deliver a volley of handgun fire before they moved again. The crew of the Hellblaster, now realising that the enemy probably had no intention of moving any further forwards, now tugged and heaved at their warmachine to drag it laboriously forwards. Having sweated hard to fetch this great metal beast over the Winter’s Teeth Pass, they were determined that the contrary sod would fire at the foe.
Uryens urged Lillith over a little, to sit behind his Heavy Knights, but he was glad to see that they chose not to accept the enemy’s bait and charge at the Light Horse – they too could obviously see that the enemy was trying to lure them into a trap.
Little magic was brought to bear as Butchers, Priests and Wizard all failed to usher their magical conjurations past the enemy’s guard. The crew of the light cannon had now spotted Don Matthias with his elaborate armour, and laughing, they chose to target him personally (he was sitting right in the middle of his Lancers). Their good humour was dulled however when their piece misfired - a flash in the pan. Better luck was had by the Leadbelcher and the Gnoblars on the right, for between them they brought down four of the Light Horse. The brave Black Company riders, however, were steadfast, and continued their rapid advance. The Handgunners could only add two crossbowmen to the tally of the enemy’s dead.
Considering what the Scraplauncher had done to its own side, this was all in all a disappointing effort by the missile troops of the Solland alliance.
Seeing an opportunity, the Light Horse ahead of Luitpold’s Lancers now charged at the detachment of Free Company ahead of them, knowing they had a good chance of victory over such a weak foe, and that if the enemy Lancers tried to charge them subsequently, their own Lancers would be able to strike at the enemy knights’ flank. A good plan, they thought. Of course, little on a battlefield goes exactly to plan, and this was to prove the case here: the Free Company fled (being run down in the process) and the Light Horse ended up charging the enemy’s knights! They would be the first to admit that this would never be their first choice of target, yet at the same time, they had the initiative, and if they could fell one or two, maybe the courage of even such elite and heavily armoured warriors would fail?
To be continued …..
