Some of you may remember my previous AAR. Unfortunately, most of the images are now lost as imageshack lost them. Anyway, as it's summer I have lots of free time so I've decided to start another third age AAR. I hope you like it as much as the last one.
Since you all enjoyed watching me struggle with little hope in the last AAR, I've decided to try VERY HARD/VERY HARD settings in this one, which I've never done before and will probably die with.
I'm using Massive Overhaul Submod 1.6
Last edited by Antonidas; August 07, 2014 at 05:26 PM.
So in the last chapter we were getting into debt and OH THEY'RE SALLYING OUT
Battle for Ost-in-Ly
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
So some village in the west doesn't appreciate us surrounding the village and stopping them from receiving any food. They start charging out so we move up as well to try and surround them.
This would work a lot faster if VH settings weren't absurd.
After we kill all 60 peasant axemen, we feign a retreat in order to draw out their ranged units.
It's hard to believe how hard they take the bait.
After a long fight, they break and retreat back to the town center, and we follow. This leads to a grueling fight where the peasants kill as many of our elite armored warriors as humanly possible.
I don't think we'll be able to take any more villages any time soon...
We may have lost half of our Western army, but that combined with the new village taxes means we now are just able to turn a profit. In the east, Dain besieges a wooden castle North of Mirkwood, while another army besieges a wooden castle in the great plains of the Far East.
Dale, in their foolish naivete, sends us a unit of horsemen. No doubt they will be extremely valuable when we sack their beloved city. Until then, they join Dain's army. Meanwhile, the Silvan elves send us a diplomat. We gain trade rights, map information, and we even strike an alliance with them. Eventually, their time will come, but until Dale is sufficiently destroyed those bows would be better pointed elsewhere.
Oh. Well that was easy. At least SOME people realize the wisdom of joining our cause.
And others... don't. Well, not everyone can be extremely wise.
Battle for what will soon be named "Thorinland"
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
With the heir and Eastern commander Thorin leading the troops, and with a unit of Iron Guard here, it's hard to imagine taking so many casualties as the western armies did.
With both sides having 4 units, numbers are about equal, but we have the edge in quality and formation.
If we can get them all to rout at once, the battle is won.
Thorin and his bodyguard take on a unit of spearmen.
3 of the 4 enemy units rout, but the unit fighting Thorin's bodyguard continues on. Before the enemy can rally, we send all our troops to crush this lone unit.
Goodbye!
After that unit is utterly crushed, we turn back to the returning axemen, and quickly rout them.
An extremely crushing victory, with only 14 men lost compared to their 341.
As promised, the settlement is renamed Thorinland. With the gain of the last 2 settlements, we're finally starting to make some real money. In the West, Wrakyaburg is besieged by Dain's glorious army. Even FURTHER west, we start training some new troops.
In the mean time we besiege a piss-poor motte & bailey in the West, and a piss-poor village in the east.
More glorious displays of our wealth to show off.
Wrakyaburg surrenders to Dain just as the castle did before. As soon as the army moves North, they are stopped by the ancient citadel of Dain's Halls.
Blasted goblins get to use the garrison script from our own fortress...
As of right now, we don't have the forces to take the citadel, so we begin training troops in Erebor. In the mean time, we hold the pass, so they can't leave.
In happier news, Gimli is married to a beautiful maiden with a beard of gold.
Once we take this village, our border with Rhun will be established.
Oof, they didn't do so well.
Back in the west, another settlement is ours as the motte & bailey surrenders to our siege.
One day, I'll be able to build one simple building without going bankrupt.
Much to the dismay of Gimli's new bride, Gimli now marches east to meet up with Kazador's army, to take more land. Back near Erebor we send a diplomat to speak with an orc army. The talks go so well, we strike a peace treaty and form a trade agreement. With orcs. We need to make sure to keep that diplomat around.
Oh, and also, the royal family had a disgustingly ugly new baby.
It turns out peace was struck with the orcs just in time, as a massive Rhun army starts moving towards Scarn.
Well, nothing of interest here. Time to pack up!
Dain begins the march east when Gimli and his army discover a force of goblins from Gundabad, guarding a river crossing near one of their villages.
Nobody can stop a dwarf from passing!
Battle for the River
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
This is the only crossing for miles, and the buggers aren't budging. Fortunately, Gimli never takes no for an answer. If they're not leaving, we'll just have to "persuade" them.
Knock Knock!
After their infantry are totally destroyed their archers withdraw from the battle and retreat to the village. We take one solitary prisoner. He is "gifted" a suit of mail armor and thrown into the river.
Unfortunately, that battle had some unexpected ramifications...
.
.
. THAT IS WHAT YOU ARE, SIRS.
Dain turns his army around and attacks the nearest orcs he can find, which would be this unlucky army.
The great part about huge orc armies is that they all get together in one place, so we can get them all at once!
Battle under the Mountains
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
They set up on a hill, but it makes no matter. 10 command stars and Dwarven armor can beat a bit of dirt any day.
As annoying as men may be, they prove immensely effective on top of their horses in this battle. Many snaga units rout almost instantly after being crushed under the charge of the cavalry from Dale.
If we could just teach horses to charge WITHOUT the men on top of them...
Soon enough, our troops make it up the hill, annoyed after being forced to under-go a little hiking.
The enemy wastes no time charging straight at us. Apparently they've already accepted their inevitable defeat. Our infantry greatly outnumber theirs, as most of their troops are snaga skirmishers or archers. While this does lend to extremely easy infantry domination, it is rather annoying chasing all of those pesky units with just one unit of horsemen. Oh well, it gets done eventually.
As shown here, returning units come back to die some more, and rout while the previously routing units return and continue the cycle.
After a while they finally get tired of our company and rout for good.
Took them long enough.
After the battle, Dain besieges Wrakyaburg, after that battle is won, Dain's Halls will be next, unless our casualties are too high to overcome the garrison.
In the west, the garrison of the hovel this war started over sallies out.
This village better be damn well worth it.
Battle for Ruskea Vene
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
With only 300 dwarves to fight with, Gimli's force is typically spread thin. The majority of the battle takes place at the main entrance to the village, but Gimli and his bodyguard go to the left entrance to fight some archers.
Once the archers are through, Gimli might be able to win a sneaky victory.
The main battle is engaged. We normally would wipe the floor with snaga troops, but they also had archers laying waste to our troops the entire fight.
After chasing the snaga archers a while, Gimli decides the village square is looking nice and empty. THEN the archers decide to try their luck against him.
I must say the odds seem against them.
After a while one unit of snaga troops retreats from the main battle, but unfortunately for them they don't find safety in the village square, they find... Gimli!
Bad luck there, might've been better off staying in the fight.
Soon the rest of the army joins Gimli in the square. The only enemies left are the blasted archers who killed so many dwarves from afar. They don't last long up close.
The village is taken, but if Gundabad should send anything more than a token force to retake it, Gimli will be forced to retreat across the river.
The settlement is renamed V.W.E.U.S.A.W. ; Village Which Ended Up Starting A War. Truly a place to inspire young dwarves to greatness.
Our faction ranking, not so inspiring. Our military ranking is only higher than Dunland and the elves of Lorien, and our overall ranking is exactly the same. The only positive thing is that our financial and production rankings are experiencing sharp increases. We will need this. The war has only just begun.
Things immediately go WRONG for us, as they so often do. A Gundabad army looms from the East, forcing Gimli to retreat west across the river. Surprisingly, the Rhun army near Scarn disappears.
Oh, hey, maybe things are finally looking up-
Oh... Nevermind then.
Thorin retreats from his namesake stronghold and retreats back to our original fortress in the Iron Hills. We also begin training troops there, in case the Rhunlanders push even further. If they do, We'll have to make a stand there.
For once things go as expected, and the goblins in Wrakyaburg sally out. It's important we don't take too many casualties, or Dain's Halls might be too strong to take.
Battle for Wrakyaburg
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
We actually have a significant number of troops now, so we can afford to spread ourselves out an encircle the enemy a little bit.
Once we get into melee combat, they’re doomed!
At first they don’t seem to excited to leave the village, but with a healthy blend of stupidity, insanity, and misplaced optimism they decide to charge out the front entrance.
Their wargs are so eager that they charge faster than our horsemen can react.
They have so few dedicated infantry units that we actually outnumber them in the blob of melee fighting. The rest are snaga that our cavalry have to run down, unit by unit. Meanwhile our axes make short work of the fools who step too close.
The aforementioned fools.
The orcs who are smart enough to keep away from the dwarves aren’t fast enough to outrun our Dalish helpers, however.
The entire enemy army retreats back to the town center, but we don’t follow them and instead reform the line. Strangely, the orcs then don’t move from the village center. They’re supposed to be sallying out? Instead the battle boils down to an intense no-blink staring contest.
They’re good.
But our troops are used to this kind of engagement.
We split our infantry up to surround the village from 3 sides, and our cavalry take the last side. But the orcs don’t seem to like that, so they charge our general and his 2 units. Fortunately for us, that leaves the village center wide open.
Kind’ve a big hole in their strategy…
So Wrakyaburg is retaken for the kingdom, but VWEUSAW is taken from us immediately after.
I didn’t even remember to change the name in time. ;(
Another unit of Dalish horsemen arrives near Erebor. They are sent immediately to the front of the war effort, which just so happens to right now be the gates of Dain’s Halls.
Finally, a conquest of worth. I also seemed to be wrong about it having any auto-garrison script, which is aggravating in hindsight.
Siege of Dain's Halls
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
Well, that's an imposing fortress.
Dain's Halls are a stellar example of Dwarven architecture and engineering, which means that working the camera is IMPOSSIBLE!
Camera difficulties aside, our infantry push the ram to the gate, while the orcs wait in this entry hall.
Archers shoot from above in heavily fortified alcoves, but we are determined to take back our rightful lands.
Our troops pour into the opening hall, but as Dwarven architecture tends to produce a LOT of empty space, we take the time to line up before charging the defenders.
In the main hall behind the first room, the enemy general and his bodyguard attempt to slip away behind a 2nd gate. We can't have that, so the Dalish horsemen are sent to stop them.
They reach them in time, but it remains to be seen whether they can kill them.
Meanwhile, our infantry destroy the wargs and skirmishers, and rout the infantry. Unfortunately, the archers climb down from the wall and both they and the routed infantry start attacking our cavalry.
They finally do manage to kill the enemy general at about the same time our infantry catches up. The entire enemy force routs at once.
A key fortress is taken, and with 700 men to spare. Well, 700 DWARVES to spare. We have just about 3 men to spare. Those were the only survivors in the company of riders.
Dain's Halls is not renamed, because that is obviously an already perfect name. The first building commissioned is a brewery. We need mead to celebrate our victory! Nothing can dampen our spirits!
Well, that might.
But hey, at least our 3 riders have a lodge now.
Should be... uh ... really spacious, huh? Too soon?
The conquest of Dain's Halls has brought a brief lull to Dain's campaign. No orc parties have been spotted for a while now. For our troops, it is a welcome respite to hard fighting. While the men of Rhun besiege our holdings in the plains, Thorin has been gathering a large defensive force in the Iron Hills, securing our Eastern front. The only conflict of note is the siege of Irerock, the last orc settlement east of the Anduin.
And an easy conquest it will be.
Right after Mim, our newest General, besieges Irerock, Thorinland is taken by the Easterlings, soon followed by Scarn.
Big empty plains are no place for a dwarf anyway.
Immediately after, our council gives us a mission about blockading a port. What port?
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
First thought: Ka-ching! We can finally get naval trade!
Second thought: WE HAVE NO BOATS OR PORTS. DAMMIT.
Moving on. The orcs are sallying out.
This will be Mim's first, and probably only test as a general.
Battle for Irerock
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
Honestly, the battle is hardly worth writing about.
Their snaga units charged out and our infantry got to work mowing them down. The enemy general tried to help, but our Dalish cavalry (a new unit, not the crippled one) repeatedly charged his bodyguard until he was cleaved in two.
All the snaga troops ran, but the bodyguard fought on. We turned our cavalry to 'erase' the routed snaga, and eventually they even took hold of the town square.
One or two snaga units who charged out the side entrance of the village aren't able to stop the countdown to victory.
Irerock is renamed to Mimrock, and one unit of miners is left for garrison.
The majority of Mim's army continues on to Dain's Halls, to link up with the Grand Army, so we can continue our march west. In the meantime, our spy trails the large Rhun army, which is now holding its position near a village. Our generals are also creating more watchowers, one of which revealed another castle to take.
TARGET LOCKED
On the Western coast, our friends from Gundabad are getting a little close for comfort.
If they don't leave I shall have to reveal the Ultimate Weapon...
MORE DWARVEN MINERS!
We starting training some more miners, but just when we finish, they ignore us and start heading south. The inconsiderate bastards! We'll teach them a lesson with our new army.
Oh, by the way, the Dalish cavalrymen FINALLY made some new friends and retrained their unit.
Down South, our diplomat arranges a meeting with the "noble" Gondorians (swine). Together we agree to exchange map information and form an alliance. Purely ceremonial of course, as neither of us are anywhere near each other.
I hope Sauron stomps all over your White City!
Honestly, Men are even worse than orcs. At least orcs joke about you to your face, and are easy to kill. And they aren't so tall.
Still, there's no substitute for Dwarves.
Battle for Framsburg
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
The assault begins when nightfalls, so they don't receive any reinforcments. Rain begins to fall as our forces split into four groups, one for each ram.
I am a sucker for cool nighttime pictures.
Just as our rams broke down the gate and pathetic little palisades, all the enemy troops retreated back to the town center. Damn their magic flags!
No worries, however, as our Dwarven armor makes our troops perfect for this sort of long infantry fight.
Our cavalry, however, do not have such a benefit. Yet again the men take large casualties while most of the work is given to Dwarves anyway. Typical.
The enemy can't hold out forever, and eventually we take control of the town center.
An excellent battle, it would seem. We're still at very strong numbers.
After the taking of Framsburg, as it shall remain named, we have reached the Eastern border of the lands of Gundabad. For now, at least, our war against the orcs of the Misty Mountains is over. But their time shall come. The age of the dwarf is coming!
Apparently I've reached my monthly bandwidth limit with photobucket, so the first 4 chapter's pictures won't be visible until the 13th. I've deleted some pictures not related to the AAR, and I'll see if the limit is reached this month.