This is a battle report from the old Warbard – Corey

A millenium ago, Kzah Robad had been a great Dwarven provincal capital, massively built and echoing with the stamp of Dwarven armies and the noise of trade, one of the centers of the Peace of the Axe that the great Dwarven Empire had maintained in the area. Then had come the Plague Years, killing one dwarf in four and ruining the Empire. Kzah Robad had been abandoned then, all the dwarves killed or moved back over the great mountains. Humans and other races less affected by the Plague had moved into the area, but some half-remembered fear of Dwarven might or of the Plague had kept Kzah Robad empty. The great stones had weathered and tumbled, but not even a millenium of nature’s work could destroy this city.

His forces were drawn up outside the ruined West Gate of Kzah Robad, and his scouts reported that the humans were coming directly towards them. He took a moment to look over his lines. Axemen, as always, and a force of crossbow dwarves, drawn up just behind the leftmost small hill. The Warbears were off skirmishing, but the boltshooter had been repaired and rejoined his forces, deployed on the far right. He leaned on his sword and waited for the enemy to come over the low hills in the middle distance.

Dwarven Order of Battle: 1x Hero General (Reorax), 6x Blades (axedwarves), 2x Shooters (crossbow dwarves), 1x Artillery (boltshooter)=23pts. Dwarves were defending.

Terrain: Several low hills in front of the dwarves, including one immediately in front of their inital left wing setup. No other significant features.

The human knights came into view first, thundering over the rightmost hill and onto his right hand line of axemen and the boltshooter.

Human Order of Battle: 1x Knight General, 3x Knights, 4x Swords, 1x Wizard, 1x Artillery=23 pts.

Reorax cursed, realizing that both he and the human leader had made mistakes. He was almost certain to lose the boltthrower now, as the knights crashed into it. The knights had, however, charged forward too fast for their infantry support – their flank was wide open for him to charge into…he thought the human’ s mistake was far more likely to cost him the battle.

Reorax shook his head. “Human, you are nobody, and in charge of nothing. I am Reorax, and the Dwarves are in charge now.”

Advancing after their triumph at the Ketan River, Reorax’s army moved deeper into human-occupied territory, their ultimate goal the Kzah Robad ruins, ancient Dwarven capital of this region, and the return to rightful power by this land’s true Dwarven rulers.

The airboat Khadan had moved on ahead scouting, and word had been sent back that another human force was attempting to intercept the Dwarven forces. Reorax picked a defensible area and swiftly another stockaded camp went up. The Dwarven force settled down to await the humans.

Reorax had been pleased to see that some of his other units had caught up to his main force. The great warbears were especially pleasing. He knew the humans feared the great Dwarf-ridden grizzlies, and with good reason. Only the most powerful wildmagic and runework kept the bears in check. The wildmagic had been learned from a renegade Elf ages past, but the Dwarves had used it with their own magics to create a unit that was utterly unique in the world. Yes, Reorax was very pleased with his single troop of Bearriders.

He was less pleased that the massive Bolt Thrower had broken an axle the previous day…these damn roads could break even Dwarven machinery. He made a mental note: Get Dwarven stonemason rebuilding proper stone roads soon after the territory was secure! At least the new crossbow dwarves would help make up for the lost Bolt Thrower.

Dwarven Order of Battle: 1x Hero General (Reorax), 6x Blades (Axedwarves), 3x Shooters (Crossbow dwarves), 1x Knights (Dwarven Warbears)=24pts. The airboat and artillery have been traded off for two more Shooters and one Knight unit. Dwarves were defending.

Reorax looked forward into the afternoon light, cursing the trees that grew in large patches all over the area, including his chosen battlefield. He could see human units moving beyond the trees, and the horns and drums thundered the advance.

Human Order of Battle: 1x Knight General, 3x Knight, 4x Blades, 1x Wizard, 1x Artillery. Same as last battle.

The Dwarven axers moved into trees on the left to await further orders as Reorax moved with his Warbears and the crossbow units closer to the enemy. The human witch proved to have less sense than a juvenile tunnelslither as he dashed forward in an attempt to cast majics on the advancing dwarves. With a howl of triumph, Reorax charged forward, catching the human witch by surprise and earning himself a new staff and silly cloak to add to his collection…he truly was Reorax Witchkiller!

Bands of human knights appeared on both sides of the woods ahead of the Dwarves, and a human gun had been set up beside the wood. With a crash and billow of smoke, the gun began to fire on the Dwarven crossbows, who advanced and began to fill the air with deadly Dwarven-steel crossbow quarrels. The human knights fell during the charge, their armour no match for quarrels. The human swordsmen emerging from the woods were driven back in a similar storm of quarrels, whilst the bombard was unable to disrupt the stalwart Dwarven archers.

To the left, however, Reorax had a more immediate problem. A band of human knights had swung out and were moving in on the flanks of his archers. Moving quickly to block them, Reorax and his immediate followers drove the knights back, giving the Dwarven axedwarves time to arrive and seal the flank.

As the human army continued to take casualties, they began to falter. Finally, over half of them had been killed or fled, and the remainder lost their courage before the remorseless Dwarves and fled the scene.

In Hordes, loosing half of your army (measured in points, not bases) will cause the rest to rout.

The way was clear to Kzah Robad and the return of Dwarven power after a millennium of absence from this land!