The Iron Queen’s War – Taking Ryyne, Part 2

After the successful scouting mission of Roxane’s Cavalry Brigade, General Dorothea sent her vanguard forward to seize the village before the Asterians could destroy the dock works. She placed the vanguard consisting of two brigades of infantry and the remnants of Roxane’s Brigade under the command of Thalassa. In addition, she instructed the sorceress Ate to accompany the vanguard and use powerful magic against the Asterians.

Nycenaean Force

Unit	Commander	Unit Name	Type	Rep	Size
	Ate	Sorceress	Caster	4	1
	Right Wing
	Thalassa	Taxiarch (C-in-C)	Leader (6)	5	1
1		Eudokia	Peltasts	4	7
2		Psamathe	Warriors	4	10
3		Alcandre	Nobles	5	10
4		Thessala	Warriors	4	10
5		Electra	Peltasts	4	10
6		Auxesia	Nobles	5	10
	Left Wing
	Melanie	Taxiarch	Leader (5)	4	1
7		Berenike	Archers	4	10
8		Acte	Warriors	4	10
9		Hilaera	Warriors	4	10
10		Gygaea	Nobles	5	10
11		Antiope	Warriors	4	10
	Reserve
	Roxane	Taxiarch	Leader (3)
12		Theophano	Cavalry	5	9
13		Glyke	Cavalry	5	10
14		Ismene	Cavalry	5	8

When Thalassa reached Ryyne, she found a sizable force arrayed in front of the village. The heavy rain had turned the ground into a muddy morass; movement across the battlefield would be a nightmare. She considered postponing battle until the next day, but then she smelled smoke. The Asterians were setting fire to the dockside buildings from within. She ordered her force from its columns of march to form the phalanx.

Asterian Force

Unit	Commander	Unit Name	Type	Rep	Size
	Ione Swift Sparrow	Taxiarch	Leader (6)	6	1
1		Oitane	Sword Maidens	6	11
2		Phryne	Sword Maidens	6	10
3		Kharmion	Warriors	4	10
4		Khloe	Archers	4	10
5		Chloris	Slingers	4	10
6		Arsinoe	Peltasts	4	12
	Militia
7		Lais	Peltasts	4	12
8		Anysia	Peltasts	4	10
9		Periboea	Peltasts	4	10
10		Eriopis	Peltasts	4	0

Turn 0

House Rules

• Mud in your eye – The battlefield is so muddy that whenever a unit attempts to fast move, roll 1D6 and on a result of 4, 5, or 6, remove one figure due to treacherous footing.

Turn 1

The Asterians seize the initiative and advance.

The Nycenaeans surge forward, but no contact is made.

Turn 2

The Asterians have a saying that the goddess of Amazons smiles on democracy. Of course, they only quote that saying when they are winning and the Asterians have won the initiative.

The Asterian skirmish screen is in range to fire upon the Nycenaeans, they cause casualties, but the Nycenaeans carry on.

The Nycenaeans return fire and then two units of Nobles charge, Gygaea led by Melanie and Auxesia.

Auxesia’s unit charged the slingers, Auxesia herself killed Chloris the slingers’ leader. The slingers were routed.

Gygaea engaged the militia peltast unit Periboea. Though the peltasts were routed, Melanie lost nearly half of the Gygaea unit.

Turn 3

The Asterians again win the iniative.

Asterian archers fire at Nycenaean archers, the Nycenaeans take casualties but hold firm.

Phryne’s sword maidens charge Electra’s peltasts, the peltasts rout.

Arisone’s peltasts charge Auxesia’s nobles. Both sides take heavy casualties, but carry on.

Ione Swift Sparrow’s sword maidens charge Melanie’s nobles. Melanie’s Gygaea warriors are destroyed.

The Anysia militia peltasts charge Electra’s peltasts. After the first round of melee, Electra is the last woman standing of her unit.

Ate mistakenly casts the Shieldwall defensive spell as Thalassa’s unit charges Phyrne’s sword maidens. Both sides take casualties. but carry on.

Auxesia lose their melee against the Arisone peltasts and are destroyed.

Electra loses her melee to the Anysia peltasts.

Acte’s warriors charge the Lais militia peltasts. There are casualties on both sides, Acte routs.

Archers exchange fire, Nycenaeans rout.

Turn 4

The Nycenaeans not only take the initiative for the first time in the game, a score of 7 is rolled meaning the Nycenaeans receive reinforcements. The warrior unit Hekaline arrives on the battlefield.

This means the Nycenaeans now have eight of their nine units at full strength, while the Asterians have only one of their seven units at full strength. Ione Swift Sparrow signals for a withdrawal.

Thalassa’s nobles devastate the sword maidens, only Phryne remains. The cost is high, Thalassa’s nobles are at half strength and the sorceress Ate has fallen to Phryne’s blade.

Psamathe’s warriors overwhelm the Arisone peltasts in a charge.

Thessala’s warriors charge the Anysia peltasts, the peltasts rout before contact is made.

Hilaera’s warriors charge Khloe’s archers. Despite taking heavy losses from bow fire, the archers are defeated.

The Nycenaean cavalry reform in anticipation of riding down the Asterians.

Ione’s sword maidens, Lais militia peltasts, and Kharmion’s warriors begin their retreat.

Phryne goes beserk and is finally cut down leaving Thalassa standing alone.

Turn 5

The Asterians win the initiative. They retreat off of the board leaving the battlefield and the village of Ryyne in the hands of the Nycenaeans.

After the Battle

If I were just playing a one-off game of Warrior Heroes Warbands, I’d be finished, but since I’m playing a campaign, I have to pay the “butcher’s bill” and determine which units will be available for future games. Units that were routed or took casualties must roll on the After Battle Recovery Table.

Nycenaean Recovery

While the sorceress Ate recovered, brigade commander Melanie died of her wounds.

All units recovered all of their losses except for peltast unit Electra which now only numbers 5 figures.

Asterian Recovery

There were two Asterian leaders lost, Khloe and Chloris. In fact, the entire unit of Khloe’s archers was lost. Chloris’ slinger unit recovered all of its losses, the slinger Thaleia was promoted to command and the unit is now known as Thaleia.

All but two units completely recovered. Peltasts units Arisone and Anysia recovered to 6 and 7 figures respectfully.

Summary

Instead of posting a lot of photos of how the units were deployed, I created my first ever video using my phone to film and edit it. Let me know what you think of this. I’m sure I have a lot of learning to do. Thirteen years ago, when I started this blog, I couldn’t take decent pictures and had to learn how to photograph miniatures.

This game of just a few brigades used most of my collection of painted Amazons. If the campaign calls for larger battles, I may have to switch rules to Warrior Heroes To Be King for huge battles.

The Iron Queen’s War Posts

1	Making a Darn Good Game More Complicated
2	The Outline Map
3	Adding Terrain to the Map
4	Armies and Navies
5	Campaign Mobilization
6	The Iron Queen’s War, Part 1
7	The Iron Queen’s War, Part 2
8	Battle of the Planetkore Delta
9	Taking Ryyne, Part 1

The campaign hasn’t seen the last battle on this rainy day. Next time, we look south and the battle before the gates of Ciouda.

Your comments and suggestions are always appreciated!

Finance Stuff