Astron 4, 1400 SR
We'd been growing more quarrelsome till Ol' Brassboot was fed up with
us all. "What are we? Dalish border troops?" he huffed. "I don't want
to have to watch a third Easterling lawn bowling tournament! It's
obvious that their players are badly mismatched..."
He had us strike camp so quickly that I had to leave some things
behind, and off we marched toward the Easterling position. He told the
startled rangers that they could fall in if they had a mind to do
something other than whittle bird whistles, and after the space of
about half an hour, they came galloping up in support.
As we descended the heights, the Easterlings scrambled to a defensive
line between the foothills and the sea. Before we got into range of
their archers, Tundin yelled, "Where are you going, Lumpkin?" and
ordered me to stay behind to guard the supplies.
"At least you won't be missing lunch," my cousin sympathized.
I was left batting stones with my two-hander as the company marched on,
their ranger escort pausing out of range of the bows. The Easterlings
kept up a steady stream of fire with absolutely no effect. As the
dwarves closed in on one archer, the rangers surged forward to gang up
on the other. Not liking the odds, the Easterlings swiftly consolidated
their line and charged in.
I saw the middle of our line buckle, but the dwarven armor held true, much to the shock of the enemy. Then the dwarves yelling "Baruk Khazâd!"
flourished their axes and swept the entire company of Easterlings down
where they stood. The rangers charged up to finish off the survivors.
Not one of us sustained an injury, though Macwyr's armor showed a bad
scratch from where one Easterling arrow had almost pierced it.
Perhaps these good tidings may offset the bitterness of your recent losses.
--Lúmin
Notes:
In the first campaign, the Erebor 38th Corridor Crew had gotten beat up
one side of the Misty Mountains and down the other in a handful of
battles with Banys' Elf and Warg BCs. If anything, they were weaker
than Banys' virgin Easterling BC! Nevertheless, my recruits tipped the
expectation of the game over to me. I think Banys joined battle to pick
up some experience and perhaps kill off a ranger or two, but I kept
them back, so they didn't amount to much more than a threat until the
end of the game.
This game was interesting because (unlike in the first campaign) the
BCs bore marked similarities. Heavy armor pretty much squashed the
archery game. It came down to his better mobility and spears in melee
against my slightly better armor and fight value. His initial attack
should have succeeded, having trapped one of my warriors and picked the
fights, but he couldn't roll a wound. The dwarves gaining initiative on
the second round of melee rolled spectacularly, killing off two thirds
of their opponents. If Banys had had that sort of success the first
round, I would have had to have risked my rangers to pull out a victory.
I'm beginning to think that half one's success on a campaign is recovering from the vagaries of the dice in these small battles!