Collaborative Campaign Year 14

 In Game Year 14 of our collaborative campaign, the Year of the Dog (an auspicious year, uh, for dogs), the action once again moves South...

Martin Smith provides the text and photos (that are all his intellectual property) for the latest game.

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King of Kings Xeroz, almighty lord of Zigura was furious. The decadent, godless Pylonians had thwarted his moves time and again, the most recent seeing his faithful Master of Horse Mahariz slain and yet another army repulsed. But now he wanted closure on the business of control of the southern shores of the Great Sea, and the Priests of Taran proclaimed the hour to be right for revenge.

Never short of volunteers to seek glory on his behalf, he summoned Hulipakar, nephew of General Amukar (disgraced in the Battle of the Wastelands). A student of all things military, Hulipakar was not a liked young man, but had a reputation for a ruthless streak which Xeroz saw as a blessing. The thought that when Raphan province was taken the harsh and brutal suppression of its populace would follow gave the King of Kings a warm feeling. And so he assigned the cruel young commander his duties and sent him off to Nyos to settle the Pylonian conundrum.

Battle of the Utbaru

Ever conscious of the Ziguran threat, Hepu, Pylonia’s Governor of Raphan, kept his guard well and truly up. Hearing from desert tribe traders of the buildup of Ziguran forces in Nyos he despatched Mercenary Captain-General Imbrios southwards with the bulk of his bronze-clad Cyraenians, the Maraway archer-tribes in his pay and the few Pylonians he could spare to watch for any enemy thrust.

Camped east of the Great Ypokos river, on the banks of its tributary the Utbaru, the Cyraenian veteran waited by the Nyos to Raphan highway, sending out patrols to probe any likely approach routes. Sure enough, early one morning a returning patrol sent word of a large dust cloud spotted to the south. Hurrying back to the main force, the patrol’s militia spearmen soon found a Ziguran army hard on its heels, with Hulipakar at its head.

The young Ziguran leader’s plan was to form up facing the Utbaru and then pelt the defenders with his massed archers, and he skillfully manoeuvred towards that end.

Seeing the oncoming host, and assessing the missile threat Captain-General Imbrios did not hesitate.

Attack, the wily mercenary commander deemed, was always the best form of defence.

Orders flew out and his Cyraenian phalanxes started forward, splashing gamely into the fast flowing Utbaru to reform on its southern bank. Simultaneously the Maraway tribesmen, bows held clear of the water, waded a ford and proceeded to array themselves before the rapidly approaching enemy.

To either side of the highway a shooting battle commenced between the Maraway and their lightly armed Ziguran opponents, but no side could gain the upper hand, though the Ziguran skirmishers were forced to slowly give ground.

Meantime, in the centre, Imbrios’ spear wielding phalanxes pushed forward in two formidable lines. Ziguran archery was intense, but, shields up, the Cyraenians struggled on, despite their formation being greatly disrupted. Soon the two lines met, bodies rapidly piling up as bronze met flesh, both sides suffering terribly. But the stubborn Ziguran foot soldiers held, while their cavalry began to lap around the exposed Cyraenian left flank.

Pylonia’s mercenaries were now facing Ziguran regulars from the Nyos garrison, who were proving to be tough and unyielding. Many Cyraenians fell in the carnage, but their resolve held, and while seemingly equal numbers of Zigurans added to the piles of dead it was a relatively minor scrap nearby which tipped the balance : Aiming to break a small and isolated body of the bronze warriors, Hulipakar led his personal bodyguard in a headlong assault. However, his opponents locked shields and dug their heels in, and were saved when a mass of Pylonian militia ploughed into the flank of the horse-riding nobles, causing instant chaos. In the confusion Hulipakar was pulled from his horse by a lowly peasant spearman and skewered…

Word of the unpopular commander’s death spread rapidly, and in an instant the Zigurans’ will to fight evaporated, with archers and spearmen dropping their weapons to flee. Lacking cavalry to press a pursuit, Imbrios sent light skirmishers to harass and chivvy the Zigurans back to Nyos, but there was no sign of them rallying, for which he thanked the gods.

Later, while overseeing the counting of severed hands in the established Pylonian way, Imbrios reckoned the Ziguran threat well and truly dealt with. One particular hand, brought him by a beaming peasant militia spearman, was seen to display a Ziguran ring of command, confirming the story that the lowest Pylonian had felled the highest Ziguran. The handless remainder of the downed general was lost among the great pile of his slaughtered countrymen.

Once again the Pylonians had defeated a Ziguran invasion force, but at the cost of great loss among their prized mercenaries from the Cyraenian Pentapolis. A weary Mercenary Captain-General Imbrios now began to wonder how he might beg God-King Hipohap for his release from service payment.

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Many thanks to Martin for another splendid battle report - Looks like it's time for the King of Kings to concentrate on defending the land he's managed to grab to date....

Will the Pylonians attempt to recover the land they've lost? Only the dice can answer.