OUTRUN MY BOW!

[Steeleye]

OUTRUN MY BOW!

Unfortunately at present I've no way of taking images let alone posting them, so I'm going to have to describe things the best I can.

THE FIGURES.

Clan of the Cave Bear.
Entirely made up of Copplestone Castings, Cave Women figures, the leader figure is a Wargames Foundry (I think) special limited edition figure from many years ago. The Cave Bear was bought from a Pound Shop, he came in a pack of two creatures (both different of course).

Leader; Queen Etheldreda, Enchanted sword and shield, also 'big hair'!
Hero; Thane Frigyth, sword, long thrusting spear, javelins and shield.
Select Fyrd; hand weapon, long thrusting spear, shield, fur bikini and big boots. Well trained with good moral, two twelve figure units.
Fyrd Archers; hand weapon, longbow. Markswomen with fur bikinis, good moral and training, two twelve figure units.
Cave Bear; large (6 or 7 feet tall at the shoulders when on its four paws) Bear, friend to the Clan of the Cave Bear, armed with big teeth, wickedly sharp claws and a bad attitude.

Woodland Denizens.
Forest Wildmen; made up of Copplestone Castings yetis armed with the stone age weapons (spears and axes) that I didn't use when I was arming the Clan of the Cave Bear figures. These creatures go on two legs and are about 7 feet tall. A little like a Great Ape they're covered in shaggy hair and have big teeth and really badly cared for finger nails.
Trogg Infantry; bought from a company I can't remember the name of, they're sort of primitive Orcs.
Giant Spider; bought from a Pound Shop, it was one of six sold as Halloween decorations, the model is about 70mm across which would make it about twelve feet across in scale.

Leader; Gyotan the Black, a large, black, ape-like creature about ten feet tall and armed with a stone tipped spear and axe.
Trokrush, Trogg Leader; Human sized fellow armed with a big stone tipped warhammer and accompanied by a horn-blower (for those really important messages like...RUN AWAY!).
Forest Wildmen; Big, hairy creatures armed with big bones, stone tipped spears, axes, teeth and poor personnel hygiene. Brave but not particularly well trained. Four six figure units.
Troggs; Human sized creatures armed with stone tipped spear, axes and warhammers, they mostly have wooden shields. They're neither particularly brave or well trained, basically they're there to make up the numbers. Two twelve figure units.
Giant Spider; as noted before it has a leg span of about twelve feet across. Its main weapons are its fangs capable of injecting its victim with venom, it also causes Fear in human fighters. Spiders (even big ones) aren't very well trained and sometimes forget who's side they are on, or what they are supposed to be doing.

Rules: My adaptation of Osprey's 'Dragon Rampant' rule set.

THE TERRAIN.
The battle is fought North/South along the long axis of the board with the short axis being the East/West axis.
About half way down the West edge of the board is a homestead with a well and couple of standing stones. There are pine trees that lead off north and south of the homestead. On the East edge opposite the farm is a bigger area of pine trees forming a choke point to anyone moving north or south. There are a few small clumps of trees that don't really form any sort of barrier to the movement of troops. In the North-east corner of the board there is a larger area of trees which are good for concealment. The rest of the area is gently undulating meadow perfect for raising cows.

THE NARRATIVE.

Rowena hath a swift hand,
She doth gaze upon the fyrd,
And she maketh a plan
And she hath a jaunty cap,
Perched upon her head,
She is a longbow-girl.
She did find an old bow of yew,
And a quiver of arrows in her mother's chest,
Wherefore I cannot say,
But she cometh for thee,
Yea she cometh for thee.

All ye bully-rooks with your buskin boots,
Best ye go, best ye go outrun my bow.
All ye bully-rooks with your buskin boots,
Best ye go, best ye go, faster than mine arrow.  

Follow the link to hear the full song...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRIfsFefatg&list=RDcRIfsFefatg&start_radio=1

Pulling her cloak more tightly around her shoulders, Queen Etheldreda sat down on a log and held her hands out to warm them over the camp fire. It might be spring but it was still cold at night and unless she'd missed her guess there would be a mist come the morning. Shivering quietly she listened to the chatter of the Fyrd women as they sat around their own camp fires, most of the talk was about why she, the Queen, had dragged them away from their homes to fight in this desolate northern forest.

Well, the answer to that question was simple. They were here to put a stop to the Wildmen raids on Cave Bear villages. Every spring the Forest Wildman would raid into Cave Bear lands. Not only did they burn crops, villages and drive off game, they also stole away young women and girls to sell them to the Northern Barbarians for iron weapons. The Wildmen had no knowledge of iron-smithing and used stone weapons and tools unless they could steal something better.

This had to stop! Last autumn an army commanded by herself had driven off a large Northman army. Unfortunately the Northmen had been 'driven off', far too many of them had run and not been killed. Even though she'd killed the Northman King, Glin Smolbornsaerd, another 'King' had soon taken his place and unless there was a civil war between the Northman factions they'd be a threat again by the end of this year.

Until Queen Etheldreda had dealt with the Wildman threat she wouldn't be able to confront and destroy the Northmen with her entire army. As it was she'd had to send the Huscarla to support Lady Sandra and the light forces she'd set to watching the Northmen. Of course the Bears would help, but bears weren't human troops, bears got distracted and had no idea how to obey orders from human leaders.

Tomorrow, hopefully, the Queen's archers would shoot down the Forest Wildmen while her spear women impaled them on their spear points. It would be a slaughter and she'd be able to release all the Fyrd back to their villages for the spring planting. If, on the other hand, it was the queen's forces that were slaughtered then it wouldn't matter about the spring planting.



The sun was barely above the tree-tops as Queen Etheldreda led her forces from their camping ground on that fateful day. The grass was wet and there was a mist that obscured what the Wildman army was doing, but you could certainly hear them. They pounded their weapons on the ground making a loud, rhythmic 'thudding' sound. There barking calls echoed off the trees making the mist shrouded forest even more eerie than it was to begin with.

Reaching the spot that she had chosen the day before, Queen Etheldreda bought her army to a halt before setting about deploying them in battle array. Marshalling her troops the Queen formed the Select Fyrd in the center of her battle line with an archer unit thrown forward a little on either flank. The archers on her left flank were placed between a large area of trees and a smaller copse that separated it from the rest of the Cave Bear line. Mindful that the archers might feel isolated the Queen dispatched Thane Frigyth, the well known and popular hero, to support them. On her right, Queen Etheldreda found that the right flank of her archers was hanging in thin air there not being anything to anchor the unit's flank on. The Queen persuaded the Cave Bear, Koda, to guard the flank of her archers. The Queen, herself took post with her personal standard bearer in the centre of the line of spear women to await the appearance of Gyotan and his army.

The sun rose higher in the sky and began to burn off some of the mist. As the mist thinned the queen and her army saw the hairy shambling shapes of the Wildmen advance in two uneven lines, of the Trogg infantry that her scouts had informed her of, there was at first no sign. As the Wildmen advanced they began to chant their war-cries and clash their weapons together in accompaniment to their chants.

Then at a range of about twice effective bowshot the Wildman came to sudden halt with a great shout that sent a wave of apprehension through even the Queen's heart. Looking to her left and right she saw the looks of fear on her warrior's faces, it was time for her to say something to calm everyone's (and her own) hearts.

"Well, I'm glad they've shut up!" called the Queen in a conversational tone, "All that noise was starting to give me a headache. Remember, ladies," she stepped forward a pace or two before turning to face her warriors, "all that noise can't hurt you, they do it to keep their own courage up because it them that is frightened of YOU!"

The Fyrd gave a hearty cheer at the Queen's words as she stepped back into the ranks.

"When they come..." the Queen added, "...no one is to attack until I give the word, then it'll be them split upon your spear heads!"

This time the Fyrd gave an even heartier cheer. Listening the Queen could hear the officers of the archers calmly talking to their bow women.

"Mark your target when it comes," called the leaders, "draw and loose on my order..."

Confident now that her warriors would stand and fight, Queen Etheldreda turned back to see what the enemy was doing.

Moving amongst his forces Gyotan had formed his warriors into two loose columns of three lines. The first two lines were made up of Wildman with the Troggs forming the third and rearmost line. No doubt Gyotan had placed the Troggs where he had so they wouldn't disorder his lines when they ran away. However, of the Giant Spider that the Queen knew to be with Gyotan's forces she could see no sign. Perhaps, she told herself the loathsome creature had fled or had been killed by its allies when it had turned on them, the Spiders of the World's End could not be trusted even when things were going well.

Noticing that the Wildmen were steeling themselves to advance Queen Etheldreda, checked that her sword was lose in its scabbard and moved her shield into a more comfortable position. Looking left and right she saw that her spearwomen were in line and holding their spears vertically so as not to tire themselves before the battle started. The archers stood on the flanks, their lines thrown slightly forward of the spears, so as to funnel the Wildmen onto the spearpoints of the Fyrd.

Turning her head once again to look at the Wildman army she saw that Gyotan, himself had taken post in the middle of his front rank. Then with a great shout the Wildman started to advance, they cried out their war chants sounding to the Queen like dogs barking and howling. At first the Wildman advance was made in good order, but before the shambling creatures had got within bow shot their lines began to become muddled.

The front rank of Wildmen advanced steadily towards the Cave Bear line. But one unit of the second line stopped or slowed their advance for no reason that Queen Etheldreda could see. The Troggs behind this unit rushed forward to take its place but then they also stopped suddenly. Thinking that there must be an area of soft ground holding up the Wildman advance, The Queen looked over to her left. Here the Wildman advance was steadier, although it looked to her as if the first line of Wildmen was pulling ahead of its comrades.

Very soon the first unit of Wildmen came into range of the archers on the Queen's left. Calmly the archer's leader told her warriors to notch an arrow, draw and then after only a moments pause...LOOSE!

The arrows blurred as they streamed towards their targets, one Wildman fell dead at this first volley while others were wounded and halted in hesitation. By the time the second volley of three foot long shafts were headed towards their target the Wildmen line had started to move again and walked into the arrow storm. Loosing arrows a quickly as they could the archers filled the air with shafts. The Wildmen walked on as one after another the big creatures fell until they could take no more of this punishment, turned and fled.

The archers cheered this easy victory but were called back to silence as Thane Frigyth and the archer's own leader pointed to the second line of Wildmen approaching them. Quickly the archers fell silent as they started to select the arrows that would send the next unit of Wildman stumbling and running to the rear.

Over on the Queen's right the Wildmen had advanced to a small copse of trees just within range of the Fyrd archers. It was a long shot and most of the target was obscured by the trees, but the senior archer decided it was worth at least one volley, after all the Queen had supplied them with extra arrows it seemed a shame not to use them.

The archers notched and drew their bows before sending a flurry of shafts sleeting towards their enemy. Much to everyone's surprise a Wildman fell dead having been hit by at least half-a-dozen arrows. Shocked and surprised, the surviving Wildmen decided that it might be best to hide in and behind the trees. A further shock awaited everyone as the Troggs stationed behind the Wildmen rushed forward to attack the archers. They were greeted by another volley of arrows that brought down two or three Troggs.

However these Troggs must have had some strong alcohol for breakfast and continued towards the archers. Shaking themselves out into a rough line the Troggs charged the archers hoping to get into hand-to-hand combat. The archers simply increased their rate of shooting stopping the Troggs a dozen paces from their line. The Troggs halted wavered as more of their number fell victim to the deadly shafts of the Fyrd. Eventually the Troggs turned and ran pursued by the cries of the Fyrd archers...

"...best ye go, best ye go, outrun mine arrows..."

Unfortunately for the Troggs their day only got worse when Koda the Cave Bear burst from the trees next to the disorganised Troggs and jumped into the middle of their shattered formation. The Troggs tried to fight back, but in all honestly, more of them would have lived out the day if they'd just run faster. Slashing with his great paws, Koda sent broken spears, smashed shields, heads, arms and legs flying in all directions. Great sprays of dark red blood flew in bright glistening arcs as the Troggs fell to the great bear's claws and teeth. Running for their lives the surviving Troggs discovered that bears, particularly big bears like the one they were trying to escape from could actually run fast than they could.

Eventually there were only two Troggs left and they only survived because they ran off in different directions confusing the angry bear as to which one to chase after. As a result Koda came to a halt and chased neither.

Over on the Queen's left an unusual situation had arisen. The lead Wildman unit had passed the archers by and headed towards where the Fyrd spears stood. The Wildmen had only lost one of their number and were now getting themselves into position to charge the Fyrd spears. The Trogg supporting unit had seen the archers but had baulked at attempting to charge and had instead formed a shieldwall to receive the Fyrd's arrows.

In the centre, Queen Etheldreda found herself facing two units of Wildmen. Although both Wildman units had received a casualty from archery, she could see they were psyching themselves up to charge. If she let them take the initiative the weight and fury of their charge stood a good chance of breaking her line, so she decided to charge first. Drawing her sword, 'Soul Drinker', she ordered the Fyrd forward. The unit on her left charged with great determination; they crashed into the Wildmen impaling them on their spear points and sending them reeling backwards. However, the unit on the Queen's right were not so bold as their sisters and halted before making contact with their target.

Cursing under her breath, Queen Etheldreda raised her sword and charged the Wildmen by herself! Crashing into the wild beasts the Queen's sword rose and fell not doing as much damage as she'd hoped. However, 'Valiant Defender', her enchanted shield, blocked the Wildman attacks and caused them to give ground in fear and confusion. The Queen attacked again and this time Soul Drinker ripped the life force from its mistress's foes and sent them to their gods howling in agony!

To the Queen's left the fyrd spearwomen had killed about half of their foes for a loss of only two of their own. The Wildmen were on the verge of fleeing when they saw Gyotan, their leader, move forward to engage Queen Etheldreda in single combat.

Standing amid a pile of dead and dying Wildmen, Queen Etheldreda turned at the approach of the giant Wildman who stood head and shoulders above his warriors. With a high-pitched yell, the Queen launched herself at the enemy leader. Slashing at the monster she inflicted two grievous wounds on her foe in as many seconds. Gyotan's own blows were easily turned by Valiant Defender allowing the Queen to press her advantage and inflict more damage on the now terrified creature.

Howling in pain and despair, Gyotan turned his back and ran taking most of his surviving warriors with him.

While this was going on, Thane Frigyth had broken the stalemate on the left by the simple expedient of following her Queens example and charging the Troggs single handedly. Throwing javelins as she closed, Frigyth brought down a couple of Troggs before taking her spear in her right hand and skewering a couple more. This proved too much for the Troggs who turned and ran losing a couple more warriors to Frigyth's spear as they did so.

On the Cave Bear right flank things were almost peaceful. The Fyrd's archer stood in ranks waiting for a target to present itself, but none did as most of Gyotan's army was either dead or running. Koda the Cave Bear was now standing watching panicking Wildmen run towards him. The Wildmen must have really been panicking because no one runs towards a Cave Bear who isn't on your side.

Sensing something move behind him, Koda turned to see the Giant Spider creeping up on him. This sort of underhand tactic annoyed the great bear. Snarling, Koda lept at the loathsome spider and ripped it apart before the spider could even try to defend itself. After only a very few seconds, Koda found himself surrounded by pieces of roughly butchered spider and wondering if anyone had a jar of honey they didn't want.

Wiping her sword clean on the fur of a dead Wildman, Queen Etheldreda watched as the last few Wildmen and Troggs disappeared into the forest. Congratulating herself on a battle well won, she knew now that the Wildmen and their Trogg allies would not try and raid the lands belonging to the Clan for at least a couple of years. Now she could turn and take the army to deal with the Northman threat.

Then once Queen Thorkatla of the Sea Dragon Clan had destroyed the Little People, the two clans could join forces and raid across the Inner Sea. Once in the South Lands they could help themselves to the riches of the peoples who lived there.



Well, that's it for now. I think the next battle may be Lady Sandra's army against the Northmen, or...perhaps we might go and see what's happening in the Southlands.

[sean66]

A very nice batrep.
Regards
Sean

[Techno II]

Seconded.

Cheers - Phil

[Lord Kermit of Birkenhead]

Likewise

[mmcv]

 

Very good!

[Steve J]

Very nice AAR . Fingers crossed you can soon post images too.

[jimduncanuk]

Don't shout. Use UPPER CASE in the correct places only.